Catching up...

The past two-ish weeks have been pretty nutty. I left off after my dog party and my weekend training on August 6-7...

Well, my only workout two weeks ago was my Tuesday August 9 swim. I thought I’d swim on the morning of August 11...until I realized we would need to be on the road by 6AM to make sure we arrived in Mooresville, North Carolina in time for the 2PM housing orientation for Andrew.

So, Thursday August 11 we (myself, Andrew, and Patrick in our three-car caravan) were truly out the door for a little after 6AM then two of us (myself and Patrick) immediately gassed up before heading South on I-95. It was to be about a 6 hour drive to Mooresville and I figured on at least 2 stops. Things really went well and we had little traffic. I think we did make 2 stops, 3 counting the one in Mooresville for lunch, and we arrived at the NASCAR Technical Institute for the housing orientation at 1:45PM. Perfect timing!

The meeting was pretty simple – maybe lasted an hour. After they went through the basic rules they were to visit with each student individually to sign the housing paperwork. Arriving early paid off – we were second on the list to be called! We got Andrew’s keys and directions and headed over to his new place! It is on the third / top floor of garden-style apartments. Fully furnished so little was really needed for moving in – just essentials. This was to be dorm-style living but with a full living room, dining room, and kitchen. It is a really nice apartment! Being on the top floor they have a vaulted ceiling in the living room. We met two of the other roommates while we moved Andrew’s things in then went off to get supplies and dinner. When we arrived back we met the fourth roommate. They all seem like nice kids. Patrick and I then departed for our hotel – a NASCAR-themed Holiday Inn Express!

The next morning we (Patrick and I) met Andrew for breakfast before heading out of town. I had to remind the guys to ‘shake hands’ and say good bye since they would not see each other till Thanksgiving! Sheesh - boys!

Patrick and I then continued on towards the ‘final destination’ of the trip – Auburn, Alabama. This was also to be a 6 hour drive (how perfect) and we had one planned stop for an extended lunch just north of Atlanta at my old high school friend and cheerleader squad-mate, Kecia! Her three daughters had all gone through or were going through University of Georgia and she had just moved her youngest in two days prior. She made us a yummy lunch of assorted paninis (turkey, ham, and roast beef) and mini peach pies with vanilla ice cream for dessert. Delicious!

We now had just over 2 hours left in our journey. We got caught in a bit of rush hour traffic in the Atlanta area but it was not too bad, and we pulled into our lovely motel parking lot at 4:45PM, right behind Patrick’s dad who was meeting us for the move in. Move in was the next morning but we spent time driving around campus again and this time knew what dorm Patrick was going to be in so we scouted that out for the next morning. We decided to have dinner at Sonic! A nice treat since we don’t get that at home. We hung out there long enough that we decided to have dessert, too. Why not? Move it was at 8AM so we decided we’d meet for our complimentary Waffle House breakfast (it was right next to the motel) for 6:45AM. It was a good move because we beat the rush. After breakfast it was time...

We headed back to the dorm and also beat the rush and got up front parking. We had just one hour to get all things in or they would tow our cars! (So they warned!!) No problem – Patrick was on the second floor and I did not have to carry too much stuff. I held a lot of doors. After our hour was up we moved the cars to the parking garage and went back to the room to take inventory and see what he needed. At this time we met Patrick’s roommate and family. They were all really nice as well. While we were all there the boys took advantage of us and we moved some of the furniture around. Both boys decided they wanted to bed loft, too, which I ordered last week after I got home. Anyway, after Patrick decided what he needed we headed out to run errands – Best Buy was all it took. Then we had lunch. Back to the room to drop things off. Then we headed into the campus to walk around some and check out the cool bookstore in town. And the campus bookstore – Patrick needed to pick up his printer! I think by now it was time for dinner so we did that then did our final errand of going to the grocery store for necessities. Patrick’s roommate got a little fridge (Patrick brought the TV) so he wanted to get some drinks to put in there. So the final trip back to the dorm... It was kind of sad because at this point I was saying goodbye to Patrick and would not see him till Parents’ Weekend on 9/24! He was NOT planning on getting up early to meet his dad and me for breakfast at the Waffle House...

Back at the lovely motel I couldn’t sleep and finished a book I’d been reading. In the morning it was an early rise to hit up the Waffle House then hit the road as I had a 12-ish hour drive ahead of me. The plan was to stop as needed for rest but to stop and visit with Andrew in Mooresville at the halfway point. I only had to stop once just north of Atlanta before meeting up with Andrew. I picked him up at his place then we had lunch at Longhorn. They were slow in getting our appetizer to us so that was on the house. Bonus! Then we headed to the AT&T store so Andrew could get an air card for his laptop and have internet access. Finally, the Target for a few more supplies and groceries for him. I finally got him back to his place and things unloaded before I took off for home. I think I spent about 3 hours in Mooresville.

It as 5PM when I left and was hoping to get home by 11PM. About an hour or so after I left I drove through a tornado warning. Very frightening and the rain was just awful. It cleared up and so did the traffic. The trip was uneventful till I hit Richmond where I got some more rain – once pretty heavy. I debated stopping for the night but I was so close to home! I pushed on and actually arrived home at 11:30PM. Not too bad. I did take my boss upon his offer of taking the next day off...which was smart. I rested a lot.

I had a lazy kind of training week last week, too and I only swam on Thursday, August 18. However, I was good and got in my run and bike workouts in on the weekend. Saturday was a 10 mile run and I managed to run/walk 9.51 miles. It was a little warm and my heart rate was all over the place, so I walked whenever it got too high. It took me about 2 hours. That afternoon I decided to go out and get the premium heart rate strap because I’d heard that the original one would act nutty (with spikes and stuff) and my heart rate had certainly been nutty lately. My run on Saturday said my high rate was 222! Sunday was the 80 mile bike ride and for at least three quarters plus of the ride my heart rate was right where it was supposed to be! (On the ride two weeks before it had been all over the place.) Then towards the last 10-15 miles it started creeping up. All in all I was pretty happy. Those last ten miles were tough! In to the headwinds – argh. But all good training and practice for the windy flats of Arizona! Which is only 88 days away!

This week – so far – I’ve gotten my one schedule workout in. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that all goes well the rest of this week. Saturday I’ve got a 12 mile run on schedule and a 90 mile bike ride on Sunday! The team was schedule for training camp in Rehobeth Beach but I did not want to go away ‘again’ so am planning to do the local training. Maybe this is a good thing since we are supposed to be visited by Hurrican Irene this weekend!

Oh, and I survived my first earthquake – yesterday afternoon. Quite freaky!!

And as of today there are just 45 days until the Waterman’s Half – hopefully this will not get cancelled due to the low number of entries.

And as mentioned above, just 88 days till Ironman Arizona!

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Gone to the dogs...

This past weekend was full of fun and training. I started the weekend with a 70 mile bike ride from Easton Park. I rode with Kathy to the start then we rode together - out and back 26.83 miles (from Easton Park to Tilghman Island and back); then we rode out and back another 8 miles to just past the first bridge and back. My watch showed 69.77 miles, but her watch and bike computer showed like 69.9 and 70.2 - or something like that! We are going with 70!

Then after I was starving for the rest of the day...

Sunday morning started with what was supposed to be a 10 mile run. It was like soup out! I ran (and walked) 3.5 from Wakefield Park to Ravensworth and back. Then met up with a couple of the Sunday runners to run to the Lake Accotink marina and back. I ended up with 8.44 miles. the second portion of my run was on the trail so I'm pretty happy with that. Plus, as Imentioned, it was like running in soup it was so humid out! Blech! I followed the run with a nice swim outdoors at Annandale Swim and Tennis.

Now onto the fun!

Sunday afternoon I had Riley's first birthday party!

Yes, I had a party for my dog!

Riley's mom Izzy came all the way down from Acme, Pennsylvania for the party, too! That is, my cousin Lynn (Izzy's owner) drove with her two kids and a friend to keep her company - leaving at 6:30 in the morning to have time to visit before hand.

Riley and Izzy played for about 3 hours before the other dogs and humans showed up. It was so cute!

The party was to start at 2 PM and the dogs were all on time!
I had their owners to thank for that.
Including Riley, there were six dogs:
Izzy, Ally, Zack, Ziggy, and Chessie!

Ziggy and Ally LOVED the pool!
Riley got in just once - no pictures of that!

I had 'bobbing for tennis balls' but the dogs weren't too interested in that.

There was mostly a lot of running and chasing around. But it was so much fun!

The most dogs we got in one picture was 5:

Zack's human brought Frosty Paws treats for all the dogs - that was hilariuos! Both Ally and Riley snuck off with theirs. The others just dug in!

Then the happy puppy girl gave out puppy gift bags to her dog friends, courtesy of my good friend, Maria!

Gearing up...

I am gearing up for this weekend’s workouts. And for November 20. Hoping not to jinx myself by posting this today – but so far this week I did every workout on the schedule, with the exception of strength on Monday. Shocker, I know. Monday I had a short run – ok this was somewhat modified from the schedule but I did get out there. Tuesday after work I did my spin then went to swim practice (where I did an extra long warmupand therefore swam a lot of yards). Wednesday was a run in the morning with some strength at night. Thursday morning I went to a zone 4 swim practice (yikes) then after work I did a bike ride with a time trial thrown in followed by a 10 minute run. Today, Friday, is a much needed rest day! I even managed to get close to 8 hours of sleep last night. Another shocker!

So what’s in store for the weekend? First there is a 70-mile bike ride on Saturday. The funny part is we are driving about 75 miles to get to the start location so that we can have flat and windy conditions – duplicating what we’ll have on race day. It will be worth it! And I think we head back there in a couple of weeks to do that again. Sunday is a 10-mile run. This will be my longest run in a while. I don’t count my walk/shuffle/jog at Musselman in there!

Fun stuff: Sunday afternoon I am having a puppy birthday party! Riley is almost one year old and we are having a few dog friends over to have a little fun. I am going to have fun treats for the dogs (courtesy of my friend, Tink) and of course some treats for the human as well. I will also get a doggie cake. I wanted to bake one, but I just don't think there's time! I’m trying to think about how I can make a couple obstacles for the dogs to play on. I have a cat tunnel, but I think all the dogs are too large for this! I plan to get a kiddie pool for them to play in! And maybe I can have a 'bobbing for tennis balls' game!

Next week will be a week of HUGE changes. On Thursday I’m heading out in a caravan with my kids to get them off to school. Sad face here...but I am truly excited for them both! And seeing as I’m training for Ironman x2 (11/20/11 and 7/22/12) I have plenty to keep me occupied! At least I still have my puppy to entertain me as well as the cats.

Happy and Healthy Training!

Countdown to Placid... I mean Arizona!

Last week marked the true kick off to Ironman Arizona training. I kind of slacked off during the week as (1) I'd had a crazy weekend in Lake Placid (coming after a crazy weekend in Geneva, NY, coming after my week in London) and was tired. Once back home on Tuesday I had an emergency Moms on the Run (MOTR) meeting as we had a MOTR down and that important! Then on Wednesday there was an impromptu birthday dinner I wanted to attend. Thursday night was book club, but I actually bagged that so I could stay home and just -- catch up.

Then it was the weekend and I was 2 for 3 on my training. Saturday morning I did an open water swim with Coach Melissa at Lake Montclair where I swam from West Beach to Dolphin Beach and back. The water was murky as I remembered from the Montclair Tri two years ago but this time there was some gross stuff floating all over in it. I think it was goose poop, but I'm not sure. I think I'd rather not know what it was. lol After the swim Melissa gave us some stroke pointers. I'm now learning to start my rotation a bit earlier. Seems I can do it better when doing the catch up drill than when just swimming, so I will continue to work on it. I'll admit it feels better -- when I'm doing the catch up drill.

I was supposed to go for an 8 mile run on Saturday but I was hosting a little potluck at my place: the Ironman Arizona rogue group was coming over for a kind of meet and greet. I did not have time to run but I did manage to take the dog for a 20 minute walk. Riley sure was a happy pup! The potluck was fun and one person brought their seeing eye dog, so Riley had an inpromptu play date!

Sunday. What can I say? I had a 60 mile ride on the schedule. And itw as going to be very hot. But we were starting the ride at 6:00 AM. It was difficult to get up early enough for it but it was nice to get started so early and get done and be back on the way home by 11:00 AM. Since I do not plan to be Savage this year I did not need to do hill repeats. And honestly, the ride wasn't exactly flat! Anyway, I carpooled and rode with fellow IM AZ'er Kathy and it was really nice to have the company. We did two loops of 38 and 23 miles and Kathy led the first loop and did a great job. I was to lead the second loop but really had a tough time with a couple of the hills. She ended up 'taking us home' so to speak. We sure had great SAG support out there -- Team Z rocks! I did do OK on my nutrition. I missed on Gu - oddly enough of the 23 mile loop which may be why the hills were kind of a pain. But maybe not. In addition to the Gus every 30 I took the saltstick caps every hour and switched between water and EFS drink. Regardless, I did the ride and survived.

Today I actually got up early and went for a 20 minute run. It was half the time my plan called for but after my run I did take Riley for a 16 minute walk. I'll take it. It will be easier the next time. Looking forward(!) to tomorrow!

Happy and Healthy Training!