Fit To Be TRI'd

M-dots and cacti...

2012-01-18T10:12:00.001-08:00

After Ironman Lake Placid in 2009 I got an M-dot tattoo. But it doesn’t really show. After I signed up for Ironman Arizona I started planning another M-dot tattoo. And because there was a cactus in the logo I thought I wanted to incorporate a cactus on my new M-dot. Well, since I successfully completed IMAZ on November 20 I figured I could do something about that! I was hoping I could get the new ink to cover some old ink on the outside above of my right ankle. But as it turns out that would not work out. So...I opted to get the new ink on the outside above of my left ankle. I went in there with my M-dot and a bunch of different cactuses. I showed everything to the tattoo artist, Johnny, and he actually came up with the same idea I had in my head: the cactus on top of the M-dot. So, I have a red M-dot and a green cactus! And it’s kind of like Christmas on my leg! But I love it!

I took a little break from swimming after getting the ink – and boy it was hard to get back in the water after. As always. But I went twice last week and managed to get up early yesterday morning to go and plan to do the same tomorrow morning. I also took a run break after the Fairfax Four Miler and Resolution 10K over New Year’s weekend. But I started running again last week. I have speed work is on the schedule tonight!

Next up: The 40th Anniversary Shamrock Marathon is in exactly 2 months. Yikes! (But I’m really excited!)

Happy and Healthy Training!

It was...IMAZing!

2011-12-15T17:08:00.000-08:00

Finally picking up where I left off, the IMAZing party was nice and relaxing – just what I needed after my somewhat stressful morning! Pretty much all Z participants and cheer squad were either there or stopped by. Again, Bob’s daughter rocked for having all of us!

So, race day! My nutrition went well, I think. Race morning I had my usual bagel with Peanut Butter. Though it was difficult to get down! I also sipped some Gatorade and water. All-in-all, I must have been very well hydrated as I peed in my wetsuit - a lot. (I think this was a sign of things to come…)

Swim: 1:14:53 Goal: 1:20 Division Position 16

I was in the front of the pack to jump in the water wich was good - as it gave me more time to acclimate. I did go with full sleeves as I had some annoying rubbing/chaffing with the sleeveless. Must have had the shoulders up good as I had no fatigue! I loved that we had to swim a bit to the
start as it was a good warm up. I went ahead and just put myself in more or less the same position as Lake Placid from two years ago. The swim was rough but I was fine. And I took a kick to the face early on and my goggles filled with water. Yikes! It took a few adjustments to get them to stop leaking. I also got some elbows to the head and other various knocking around. No bruising in the long run though. :) I never had real clear water but had no problem sighting at all. The water temp was awesome and I felt great the entire time. Yay! The swim pullers were awesome and the wetsuit pullers too.

T1: 8:29 Goal: 10:00

My transition time was so much faster than it was in Lake Placid in 2009 – of course the run was not quite as long to get there and I did not do a complete change. I had minor heart failure when I pulled my Garmin out of the bag and saw the cracked face…not Garmin drama!! However, it turned on and worked great the rest of the day! The volunteer helping me rocked and got my arm warmers on in one try!

Bike: 7:17:54 Goal: 8:00 Division Position 51

Saw the Team Z coaches who had made a surprise visit shortly after leaving transition! That was awesome and unexpected! I saw them on all three bike loops! One crazy sight? A female athlete pedaling along in a ways in front of me literally ran over one of the traffic cones setup in the street. She almost went down, but made a good recovery. Yikes! I felt great on the bike - though I forgot to get my additional salt stick out of special needs. I started taking the bananas they offered for the potassium. I drank the Ironman Perform and used the Gus and Honey Stinger Waffles that had been working for me. I'd heard rumors about the nutty winds in Arizona. They were not rumors!! On the return of the first loop (with the decline) there was headwind headed out and once I hit the turnaround there was an amazing tailwind! On loop two there was tailwind heading out and headwind on the return! Seriously! hahaha Finally, the third loop was kind of a mix coming and going. In addition to the coaches being out there there was good Z cheer support at the turnaround back towards transition – loved it! Also, an old high school classmate of mine who lives not far from Tempe said he’d be out there with his camera and darned if he wasn’t! Very cool! Towards the end I had a little bit of tingling between my shoulder blades but all in all felt pretty comfortable the entire time. I LOVE Trixie! Also, I tried staying in zone 2 but felt really good the entire time. I think I spent more time in zone 3...

T2: 6:40 Goal: 10:00

Robin was assisting in transition when I came through and it was great having here there. What a great surprise! I did not do much – just switch shoes and headgear. I almost forgot to take the arm warmers and gloves off… Thank goodness I remembered. It is one thing running in bike gloves during an Oly, but a whole marathon? I don’t thinks so.

Run: 6:48:30 Goal: 6:30 Division Position 68

On the run I had no major stomach issues! Yay!! I could eat whatever I wanted from the aid stations. I did have a little issue around mile 4 but thankfully got over that. :) I carried water for use with
salt tabs as needed but at the aid stations I used the Ironman Perform, water, cola, grapes (they rocked), and added potato chips in the second half. This time I did not take much of the chicken broth. My watch was set to 6/1 so I could run walk. But I think 6/1 is too much and will try 5/1 next time. :) Anyway, this worked pretty well for about the first 13 miles. The only thing on the run is I 'allowed' myself to walk with two different people on two occasions - once on the second loop; once on the third loop. I wished I had not done that. The second time it happened I finally just decided I had to get going because I knew I could do this! My feet were sore (lots of concrete on the IMAZ course!) and decided to walk 100 steps then run100 steps till I got it done. I think I had about 3 miles to go at this point. It worked for me! I even switched it to 100 running and 50 walking. This counting also kept my brain occupied and from thinking about how sore my feet were. :) Wished I'd started that sooner. But glad I started it, period! I saw the Z coaches on the first two loops and other Z cheer support in various other places. Towards the end of the last loop Janet and Priscilla ran with me and gave me pre-victory hugs! At the finish Robin was there as promised to meet me and got me sorted out for my picture!

And all in all I apparently was incredibly hydrated on race day. In fact, I stopped 5 times(!!) on the bike to pee and lost count of how many times (maybe 10?) on the run. Good grief! I seriously lost a lot of time in the port-a-potties!

Good stuff to note: I had zero chafing. Zero! Amazing! And I had no blisters on my feet. My feet were sore, but that was different. This tells me I could have (should have) run more!

Other fun stuff: All the cool Z signs on the bike and run courses! Some I was not sure about because they weren’t green, but the photos of them after showed me I was not wrong. And there was a Riley one on the bike AND run. I *loved* seeing my puppy out there! Thanks Z Cheer Squad!!

Anyway, I was thrilled with my results!

Total: 15:36:26 Goal: 16:10 Division Position 68(93)

The day after race day I visited the Finisher’s tent, picked up my bike special needs bag, and ordered my official race photos. I really cannot believe it is all over! Then...I got an awesome massage from the best massage therapist ever, Robin!

Since returning from IMAZ I completed a 5 mile turkey trot on Thanksgiving! Oh, and that Hot Chocolate 15K debacle...

Next Up:

Fairfax Four-Miler on New Year's Eve followed by the REHAU Rotary 10K on New Year's Day!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Titanium Trixie

2011-11-28T11:49:00.000-08:00

My Ironman Arizona experience was...IMAZing! Thanks, Es, for coming up with that! I did not mean to take so long to post about Ironman Arizona, but since I returned things have been busy! Following is not my race report but just everything thing up to that point...race report comes out next!

My bike left for Arizona nearly a week before I did! I dropped Titanium Trixie (her upgraded name and an explanation to follow later) with her newly applied stickers off at Bonzai on Friday, November 11. Trixie was getting transported with some other Z-mates bikes! Then I was heading out to get Carol and go to Richmond. The next day I was doing the 8K and Carol was doing the full marathon – her 25th! The 8K was pretty flat so I just ran somewhat easy and after the nice downhill finish tried to get back up to the marathon start to see Carol off. I missed her but ran into a Masters swim friend, Ron and his wife, who were there as spectators for their daughter as she ran her very first marathon. I got to see Carol around mile 19 then made it back to the finish so I could see her finish her 25th – with a cold Diet Coke waiting! After she had a bit of recovery we walked to the car and made good time back home. After dropping her off I headed home to clean up and head to see some family for a dinner.

The next week I managed to get all my last workouts in before flying out to Phoenix/Tempe on Thursday, November 17. It was AUsome because Carol dropped us at the airport – yay! We flew on Frontier and at National they are situated at one gate in the old terminal. I have not been there in AGES! Brought back memories of my first airplane trip up to Boston with my mom when I was little, and even before that meeting my mom at the gate when she returned from a trip visiting her family up there.

Anyway, we arrived timely and had lots of time to spare for getting a latte and for potty visits. We left on time and our connection was in Denver where we had a long layover but I was glad for the time and did not feel stressed. There was plenty of time for lunch and relaxing. At that point wished we would be arriving earlier in Phoenix so I could get my bike, but it was all good.

Fun Note: Frontier Airlines uses a different animal on the tail and wing tips of each plane – and they name them, too. Animal Tales! Flying to Denver we were on Thunder the American Buffalo. From Denver to Phoenix we were on Lobo the Gray Wolfe. On the return we had Flip the Dolphin from Phoenix to Denver and back on Thunder the American Buffalo from Denver to DC. Cool!

Once in Denver I claimed my one checked back (we had carried on two – one each) and got the rental car quickly – there was no line at Thrifty! I’d arranged for a small SUV so I could load the bike in it as needed. The hotel was very close by and we were there in no time and got checked in on the top floor (6) and had a nice view out the front that over looked a portion of the run course. I joked that Jeff could come hang out on the balcony till he’d seen me go by the third time then just head over to the finish...

I received a call from Tina who was staying at the same hotel regarding meeting up for dinner that night. We did and it was a lot of fun. We met her guide, Caroline, and Tekla the guide dog went with us, too. We shuttled it over to PF Chang’s and got seated right away. Dinner was delicious! We shuttled back to the hotel, too.

Friday - there was a LOT to do! I had to do a short run – just 20 minutes. Then after breakfast in the lobby and getting a latte at the Starbucks coffee bar it was off to athlete check in! I was SO excited! I remembered that two years ago at Lake Placid I just kind of went through everything blindly and did not really pause to take it all in. I did not want that to be the case this time! We were off to the Athlete Village! When we arrived there was little to no line at check in – yay! I saw IronSally and Priscilla the HalfFanatic while in line – we took some pictures! Jeff could not go in the check in tent but there was a place for him to wait. I don’t think I was in there for too long and took a few pictures as I went along.

After check in we visited the merchandise tent. I wanted to see what cool IMAZ stuff I could find ahead of time: water bottle, technical tee with all athletes names printed on the back, men’s tee with all athlete’s names printed on the back (for Patrick), AUsome TYR backpack, 16 ounce beer glass (yeah, for all the beer I drink), IMAZ sticker for my bike rack.

Afterwards I was planning to head to pick up my bike but we stopped by the A.R.T. tents so I could say hello to IronRobin (IM Switzerland, 2009) who also happens to be part of Team Z and my favorite massage therapist! I got a quick ART treatment on my feet and calves. Yay! Robin then walked us over to the bike area – not before stopping for a bag of kettle corn. OMG – delicious! Finally! I was reunited with Trixie! I was so happy to see her! I was happy to get my transition bag, too!

Next it was back into the athlete village so I could find something for my bike chain as I forgot my chain cleaner/lube. I bought a similar bottle at the bike services tent. Then, as we were wandering around the athlete village we saw a “Specialized” tent. I thought – Hey, maybe they can quickly lube my chain for me. Well, this was the Specialized Racing tent but they said they’d look at the chain if I could leave the bike for a few. We did and wandered around a little bit more and maybe ran into more IMAZing Team Z people. (To be honest, parts of Friday and Saturday in the athlete village run together.) I think I spent some time looking for anything related to the Ironman Foundation with no success.

Anyway, I got Trixie back from Specialized. They asked if my name was Trixie...um, no. Then we proceeded to walk back to the hotel – it was a mile and a half! We had planned to meet up with Tina and Caroline to drive one loop of the bike course that afternoon. I also wanted to put my feet up for a bit as I also had to start the process of prepping my gear and special needs bags! And putting race numbers on my bike, helmet, and said bags. FUN! FUN! FUN! This time I took pictures of the process, too!

We met Tine & Caroline a little after 2PM to go for the drive. We had to work around the finish line area since that was closed off but we picked up with course pretty easily after that. One loop was about 37.3 miles with one section of that over 10 miles long – on the Beeline Highway, which is the scene of the ‘climb’ on the course. It’s kind of the scene of the wind, too. It was nice to get a first hand view of what was to come on race day! We then dog-sat Tekla so Tine and Caroline could go for a spin on Tina’s bike and test the fit for Caroline.

Dinner that night was at a little pasty place (had never had that before) and I had a yummy chicken pot pie one. Then a group of us headed over to the ‘mandatory athlete briefing’. That was good but I probably could have managed without – especially since I read the athlete’s guide. But it was fund to be there. We also got a ride back to the hotel – yay! Thanks, Dana! It was nice that the athlete meeting was on a Friday night – two nights before the race, as opposed to the night before like in Lake Placid. I hope that is the case there in 2012!

Saturday - another busy day! The athlete swim practice was starting at 9AM. We headed over there with a good 30 minutes to spare, but by the time I got my wetsuit on it was a tad after 9. I was testing out my sleeveless to see how it fared with the cold water. I got in the cue and when it was my turn I jumped right in and started swimming! I decided to swim all the way to the turn buoy and head back. I think I was in the water for about 25 minutes. One thing I noticed that with the sleeveless suit my left arm kept rubbing on my body and was getting irritated and chaffed. That had happened to me in a race earlier in the year – either Kinetic or Musselman. I decided that I would go with the full sleeved suit on race day and hope I got the shoulders in place well so I would not fatigue!

With the practice swim done it was time to go on a little bike ride! I met up with Es, Timra, and Jodie for this. It was nice to have a little company! We actually did not ride the course but the opposite of it – and it took us right by the hotel! I noticed in a few gears my chain was rubbing on my front derailleur. Boo. What to do? What to DO? How much would I be in those gears and could I stand it for 112 miles? If so, what would it to do the chain and derailleur?

Jeff and I talked about it and thought about the bike services tent. Then we decided to take Trixie back to the Specialized tent and ask them for advice. To make a long story short, Joe, the Specialized tech to the pros, ended up changing out the cable and the front derailleur, and adjusting the bracket it is mounted on. This was not only a change out, but an upgrade to a SRAM Red (from a SRAM Force). I was getting super stressed as I waited as a couple of time he had to take my bike off the rack to do something to someone else’s. All I could think about was that my bike and transition bags had to be racked and in place by 3PM! ACK! We were supposed to pick up Maggie and drive her to the team pasta lunch but it was already noon and we were going to be late. I managed to find her number via the yahoo group and called her with an update.

FINALLY, Trixie was ready! I took her for a quick test ride to check the shifting. No rubbing. Yay! Major waves of relief washed over me. You have NO idea... Even Specialized Joe could see it. I must note that they replaced the cable and derailleur for me at absolutely no cost. It was all free. That was also IMAZing! Oh, and the SRAM Red front derailleur is made of titanium – so now I ride Titanium Trixie!

Finally, bike and bag drop was done. Whew. I let a little air out of the tires and headed on my way. We drove back to the hotel and got cleaned up as quickly as possible so we could head over to the IMAZing Z party that Bob’s daughter had generously offered to host for us!

To be continued...

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Next Up: Hot Chocolate 15K!

One brick closer...

2011-11-07T12:31:00.000-08:00

Last week was a recovery week, starting out my taper. Yay for both! I even got all my recovery workouts in – double yay! Saturday was another brick – 30/8 – that I decided to do out of Wakefield Park in Annandale. I arrived at about 7:20 and it was just getting light out. Met up with Carol who was going in to swim then run 4 miles first before meeting me for my 8 miles. Pam could not join us this time. I think I got moving on the bike at about 7:34. Not too bad. I did manage to gouge some skin out of my right hand while trying to remove my bike bump thingy off the valve of my tire. That’s what I get for not putting the air in at home! Was this a sign?

The bike ride went fairly well. I started off pretty chilly – especially my hands and feet – but I pretty much warmed up except for my feet. I saw a few runners and the only other crazy biker was someone who was riding their bike to get from point A to point B. I did the usual loop in North Springfield/Ravensworth with extra looping here and there. All in all I got in 29.1 miles. On the last mile or so of the ride I was going down a hill and nearly had heart failure when Sammy Squirrel ran across in front of me. Thankfully he kept going and did not do one of those crazy change directions moves...

Back at the car Carol was waiting having finished her swim and the first four miles of her run. I had a pretty fast transition (probably faster than race day – ha!) and we were off! We just did a straight out and back to Lake Accotink and back. We actually ran towards the dam where we turned left and went up the park access road. At some point along the way my feet were completely warmed up! We were planning to pick up the path at the end of the access road, but there was a couple getting married on it! So we excited the park on to some ‘other’ road till we hit our four miles. Then turned and did the reverse. All was going well till about a half mile left when I tripped (over my own feet I think) and fell. On the same knee as two weeks ago. This knee was still healing. Can I just say – ouch! I tore the scab off it and re-bruised it. It’s very pretty now. So happy I kept my bike tights on over my tri shorts!

After we finished it was FIVE GUYS! I love their pickles!

I picked up an additional burger to take home to Patrick (War Eagle) who was visiting for the weekend. We later had dinner plans to meet some friends for Japanese style steak house food – yummm. After dinner we went back to their house to watch the ‘game of the century’: LSU v. Alabama. We stayed for about an hour of the game as then I dropped Patrick at the mall to meet up with a friend for movies and visiting. I watched the rest of the game at home...

Sunday was a training day OFF! I did a few things around the house and drove Patrick back to the airport and basically just chilled with the dog and watched movies. It was a lovely day!
Now, I’m trying not to count days to Ironman Arizona...but it is hard not to! YIKES! I’m nervous but super-excited! Fortunately this weekend I have the Richmond 8K – which is really an zone 2 training run – to look forward to. That will sort of keep my mind off things. (Other than the fact that before I leave for Richmond on Friday I have to drop my bike off so it can get transported to Arizona! Yeah, my mind will be pretty preoccupied!) After I'm done running I will then cheer on Carol in the marathon. It turns out I’ll know a few others running the full and look forward to cheering them on as well!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up:

November 20 – Ironman Arizona – Holy Cactus!

Mind numbing...

2011-10-31T12:39:00.000-07:00

This past weekend not as EPIC as the weekend prior. However, for me at least, it was a little tough at times. We had a crazy weather day on Saturday complete with rain, freezing rain, wintry mix, and snow. The ride had been scheduled for Saturday in Easton but the coaches moved it to Sunday. However, I wanted to cheer at the Marine Corps Marathon on Sunday...which was supposed to be a fantastic day! With that, I opted to spin indoors on Saturday. All in all I completed the following training, some of which was mind-numbing:

Saturday – I started off at the pool where I swam a very easy 55 minutes, which amounted to 2800 yards. On my way home I hit up Starbucks for a tall soy latte and a roasted tomato and mozzarella sandwich for a snack/recovery meal. After I got home I decided on the "Back to the Future Trilogy" of movies to watch and ate then I set my bike up back in the living room and while I did a 4-hour spin session. There were a few breaks involved and I went 50 miles. It was...mind numbing. At this point I paused the third movie. Then I changed into my running shoes and hit the treadmill! After 45 minutes (4 miles) I was done! I managed to do a tri!

By this time I was starving! I changed into dry clothes so I could run out for nourishment. Just a little hamburger at Five Guys. And a large Diet Coke. I came home to eat and watch the remainder of the movie. I cannot remember what I did after that. Sleep perhaps?

Sunday: I had more running to do. It was nice out but I wanted to get an early start. And use my treadmill some more. I knocked out 8 miles in a hair under 90 minutes. Now, when I am on the treadmill I don’t just turn it on and leave it at 0%. I always start at 1% and then play around with the incline. And my new treadmill has a decline!

After my run was complete it was time to clean up so I could go cheer on the Marine Corps Marathon runners with Carol in Crystal City! I’m not exactly sure what time we got there – 11-something? We stayed till close to 2PM. We cheered on lots of folks – even some that we knew! We had cowbells and some AUsome Auburn shakers. And Carol brought us Diet Cokes! I even yelled out a couple of “Roll Tides” to some runners in ‘Bama gear! We cheered for everyone we could – yelling out individual names of those we could read. It was fun!

I could not stay too long as I was planning to go to the ‘Trunk or Treat’ that was being held at my neighborhood pool. I got home and loaded up the candy and Riley – complete with her “Boo bandana” and headed over to the pool. It was a pretty good turn out, I thought. I am already looking forward to next year as I have some fun ideas for decorating my ‘trunk’!

Once I was back at home where I was nearly ready to crash. I was tired. So. Tired. So was Riley! I did kick back and watch a fun movie and do my one load of laundry though.

So, this past training weekend was a success, also! I think my bike nutrition could have been better though. I completely forgot to get a couple of bottles of Ironman Perform but I did have my Gu, Honey Stinger Waffles, and Chex Mix. And salt tab capsules! I also had a sample "Fizz" tablet that I dropped in a bottle of water. The best part of my Saturday training was not having to leave little Miss Riley home alone for 13 hours!

This coming weekend I have a 30/8 brick. I’m going to try to start riding around 7AM, or so. I will back into being done and ready to run at 9:30, when I’ll meet up with Carol. And maybe Pam? Additional excitement for the coming weekend: Patrick will be home for a visit! War Eagle!!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up:

November 12 – The Richmond 8K, where I’ll do an easy 5 miles. The day after I have another brick of 20/6...

T-H-E-N...

November 20 – Ironman Arizona. Holy Cactus!

And it was EPIC...

2011-10-24T10:14:00.000-07:00

This past weekend was our EPIC TRAINING WEEKEND of Ironman training! I completed the following EPIC training:

Saturday - a 15.5 mostly trail mile run. This run was mostly a success. I ran with two Iron friends – Carol and Pam – and we did a 6/1 run/walk. I did great till mile 14.5, when I tripped on a rock and went down on my right knee and hands. Fortunately I was wearing gloves and capris, so nothing too horrible happened. I did scrape my knee through the capris, but no dirt or debris got on the wound. Success! (And yay for capris!) Had no nutrition issues, either.

Sunday – a 126.57 mile bike ride. It was supposed to be a 120 mile bike ride (I made no wrong turns but we had cue sheets for the additional mileage. I’m not sure why they added extra mileage though...) followed by a 5 mile run. But...after 126.57 miles I decided I was DONE! (Not to mention I had to get back to the dog!) But, I have to say I felt great! I did a 50.96 mile loop then went back out for another 75.61 mile loop. The first 5-10 miles of the second loop were a bit hard, but then I started feeling better. I rode with great company of Kathy and Greg, and later joined by Euge and Sara.

So, all in all my weekend training was a complete success! And more success was that my nutrition – especially on the bike – was spot on (for a change) and today I feel fantastic! And I left little miss Riley uncrated the entire time I was gone for the ride – she was out and about for 13 hours with minimal damage. Minimal = she pulled up the carpet for some carpet padding fun, but that was it! Whew!

I am now officially in taper mode, with actually less than 27 full days till race day! (omg) This weekend we have an 80 mile bike ride with subsequent distances of 50 and 30 miles. This should be a piece of cake, right? Haha – two years ago after this point before Ironman Lake Placid I thought the 40 mile bike ride would be a piece of cake. It felt like the hardest ride. Ever!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up:

November 12 – Richmond 8K (This will be an easy training day as I’ll be in taper mode. I really wanted to do the Richmond Half – which is sponsored by McDonald’s – but I see from the race literature I do get a complimentary McDonald’s coffee...so it looks like I won’t be missing out on any fries!)

November 20 – Ironman Arizona (This is it!)

A silver lining...

2011-10-21T09:48:00.000-07:00

Well, since I returned from Auburn and got my lovely sinus infection – that it still hanging on – I’ve slowly gotten back onto the training wagon. And I’ve had a great week of training – I’ve not missed one recovery week workout! Good news – I took my last antibiotic! If there’s a trace of this next week I’m going to get back with my doctor...

Last weekend was my last tune-up / training race for Ironman Arizona, the Watermans’ Half in Marbury, Maryland – at General Smallwood Park. It was not a great day for me for the most part. I woke up with a headache that not only did not go away but proceeded to get worse. A bit of a stressor! There were not even 200 people entered in this race and only three waves! I was in the second one – all women. They said the water temperature was 65 degrees. I had on my sleeveless wetsuit and was quite comfortable. I’m hoping this means I can go sleeveless in Tempe next month! (But will have both just in case not.)

The swim: The water was fairly calm but sadly there was more seaweed-y stuff. Blech. The course was two rectangular loops on a well-marked course that favored right-sided breathers, like me. Bonus! There were helpers yanking us out at the swim finish, too. I ran/walked to transition because my bare feet do not like hard surfaces...I ran when there was grass though!

T1: I took my time in T1 – I’m never fast anyway, so...why try something new? J The nice thing about transition – aside from the fact that my feet don’t like to be bare foot on pavement – was the lack of grass and mud when getting my bike shoes on. Another bonus!

The bike: Despite everything, I actually really liked this course. I thought it was a good mix overall and would do this again. I knew there were some bad spots on the road and know ahead of time helped. For the most part. My headache was still there and just seemed to get worse. My sinuses were killing me (not literally of course) and every bump seemed to shake my brain. I knew this wasn’t really happening but it sure felt like it! I was telling myself that this race was not important in the big picture and I did not need to get sicker to finish it. And around the halfway point gave myself permission to not finish. (My first DNF!)

Well, maybe that decision played a part in what happened next, becasue in another six miles and I think I hit a little pot hole (or something) and then realized I’d gotten a flat. On the back wheel. Awesome! (It was like Ironman Lake Placid nightmares again – but real. Oh wait – that was real, too!) There just happened to be a church on my right, so I pulled over and tried to figure out where to start. By removing all the bottles off my bike so I could stand it upside down, of course. Many Z’ers and other nice racers slowed to see if I needed help and one actually stopped. I said I was good (I had a CO2 cartridge and a tube) but THEN realized I was without my tire levers! She (Becca – a Z’er!) had some to lend me – and they were pink! So I got her race number and promised to return them later. I got that rear wheel off and actually was able to get the tire off (but somehow flipped inside out?) with just my hands. (This is huge for me because on my old bike the original tires were so hard I could barely get the tire off with levers! And extra hands!) Turns out I did need the levers to get it flipped back then off the rim, but then I did it all by hand, replaced the tube and got the tire back on – with JUST MY HANDS. My CO2 cartridge contraption worked just liked I remembered and eventually I got the back wheel back on, the bottles loaded up, and just as I was about to mount the bike a really cute guy in a truck stopped to ask if I needed help. Unfortunately, I was all good at that point.

I had about 22 miles to go to get back to transition. And I think the flat did nothing for my aching head and here’s where my nutrition feel apart. Because up until the flat that was going well. I rolled back into transition eventually and figured out where to go to turn in my chip. I headed to my car to try to rest while I waited for Jeff to finish up – and he was rocking it!

The rest did not help my head but later Jeff realized he had some ibuprofen so I took a few and would you believe that headache stayed for about another four days! Ultimately the race organizers had me DNF after the swim as there were not separate T1 and T2 times due to a timing mat malfunction. So, I’m not sure at this point how long my ride was. I had a swim split on my watch, then a total split, but my Garmin paused during the tire change, so...who knows!

My hope is that I got all the race day demons out before the big day: November 20, 2011! Back on July 26, 2009 (at Ironman Lake Placid) I not only got a flat on the rear wheel (my biggest fear, outside of missing the bike cut-off) during the first of two loops on the bike (and fortunately had (1) switched to different, easier-to-mount tires and (2) had a spare tube AND tire because there was a staple in my rear tire) I also got stung by a bee on the second downhill into Keene. I had a huge bee sting mark for nearly a month!

So, my fingers are crossed and I think the sinus infection is mostly gone. This is a build week and my workouts have gone well. This week we started the first of eight 90-minutes swims on Thursday and that was a success. This weekend is the EPIC TRAINING WEEKEND! I have a 15 mile run tomorrow followed by a nearly 120 mile bike ride on Sunday; after which I’m supposed to run another 5 miles. I will take things one part at a time.

Happy and Healthy Training!

Next Up:

November 12 – Richmond 8K (an easy training day – I’ll be in taper though I really wanted to do the Richmond Half – sponsored by McDonald’s)

November 20 – Ironman Arizona with Team IM-AZ-ing! (And it is going to be!)

AUsome! Or not...

2011-10-07T06:22:00.000-07:00

My last posted talked about going down to see my younger son Patrick for Parents’ Weekend and a football game at Auburn University. It was AUsome! (That’s my way of spelling awesome!) I flew down on Friday night then met up with my ex on Saturday to drive down to see Patrick, go to the game, etc.

So, not quite a month and a half away and he is still the same old Patrick. It was great to see him! Finding him was a bit tricky and he was not at his dorm but ‘somewhere’ that we couldn’t find. We ended up parking at the McDonald’s in town and having him find us. Then it was off to lunch and to grab some snack foods before dropping him so he could meet up with his friends for the game while we went and experience the true Auburn game day festivities! We wandered around and just took in all the goings on while we wandered our way over to the Tiger Walk. This is where the fans line this one street that leads up to the stadium, which the team and associated folks walk through on their way 2 hours prior to game time. After that and a little bit of excitement from the cheerleaders and the band we went into the stadium to find our seats...

I kept saying, “I hope they aren’t in the top row!” all I knew is that we were in the upper deck on the home side on the far right...not knowing how many rows were there I had no idea. Yeah, we were in the third row from the top! It was AUsome! But they were pretty cool regardless and each trip up the steps got easier. Patrick had gotten into the student section pretty much diagonal across from us but in the lower section. He texted me to say he could see us. It was pretty funny – we were the *only* ones there at the moment.

I was really looking forward to the pregame stuff: The flight of the War Eagle (Nova – how appropriate!) and seeing the marching band. Neither one disappointed! Finally the team came on and the game got underway. The game was exciting, but not as exciting as it would have been if we’d been watching them play against another SEC team. Note to self for next season...
Of course we all assumed they’d win and it would be a big win, but not so much! I got a little stressed at the end! We caught up with Patrick pretty quickly afterwards and walked to the car so we could go find some dinner. Driving through town right up to Toomer’s Corner. The Toomer’s Oaks were already covered with toilet paper. AUsome Victory!

We tried to go into a barbeque place but could not hear what the bouncer said. The music was crazy-loud! We went into the pizza place next door and had to nearly fight for a table but succeeded and had some pretty tasty pizza!

Sunday morning we got Patrick for breakfast and had to try two different Waffle Houses before we got to sit down (at the counter no less) to eat! It was nuts! So many people in town (FACT: On game day Auburn becomes the fifth largest cisty in Alabama) had the same idea! Then it was off to get me back to the airport.

After arriving home things became not so AUsome... Tuesday (September 27) I woke up with a sore throat. Things went downhill from there and I ended up with a pretty good sinus infection that I am still fighting off! I have done barely a lick of training since before I went to Auburn. Oh well, I figure with all my rest I’ll be very rested for the half iron distance triathlon I’m going to tri to do tomorrow. Yikes!

But for some good news: Patrick is coming home for a weekend on November 4th!

And even better news: Andrew is coming home tomorrow for the weekend! Bonus: He got a great job down in Mooresville and needs to pick up his tool chest!

Happy and HEALTHY Training!

Next Up: Waterman's Half.

Yikes = 44 days till Ironman Arizona!!

Going long...

2011-09-23T08:41:00.000-07:00

Well, first it has been a long time since I posted. I started the post – below – over a week ago. Goodness...

Since returning from getting rid of my kids – temporarily at least – I’ve really not had a lot of time to miss them! There’s been a bunch of training going on... long training. And by going long, I mean on the bike!

Since returning from emptying my nest I’ve gone on an 80 mile ride and two 90+ mile rides. There was a near 10 mile run, along with a failed 10 mile run (only managed 8.69 and over 2 of those miles were walking), and finally a pretty decent 13.61 mile run. All this means is that Ironman Arizona is getting closer! Now about 58 days away actually. Yikes!

For the past few weeks I’ve made very good effort on the strength training, too. Last week I started back at yoga and have not been twice. I am so excited about that – it has been way too long. I am keeping my fingers crossed that nothing gets in my yoga-way. I look forward to sleeping better too as I remember when I was going to yoga regularly my sleeping quality really improved. I’m still working on getting more sleep quantity but that will likely continued to be a work in progress for some time. Darnit.

So, even though my nest has been emptied, I saw my older son Andrew last weekend for his big 21st birthday! Woo hoo!! We went to the NHRA drag races at the ZMAX dragway in Concord, NC, about 20 miles from his apartment. It was so much fun! And wow – I forgot how loud those top fuel dragsters and funny cars were! HOLY COW!

Thank goodness for ear plugs! And I got to see my favorite driver, John Force! I used to follow this stuff pretty regularly a number of years ago, before other interests came along. Makes me want to start following again! So, even though Andrew had a few beers while we were on vacation in London he got his first official beers in the United States! Good times!

This weekend I’m headed down to see my younger son Patrick for Parents Weekend and a football game at Auburn University. WAR EAGLE! I wonder if that will be as loud as the drag races? My son has season tickets (lucky kid) to all the home games this year and he says this is pretty much THE coolest thing he has ever experienced. I’m pretty excited to check it all out myself. And of course, to see him!

After all this excitement I won’t see either kid till their respective Christmas breaks. Four weeks for Patrick and just two for Andrew. But I’m already looking forward to it! But seeing as November 20 is looming ahead I probably will be too busy training and such to really miss them. Bonus!

So...Happy and Healthy Training!

WAR EAGLE!

Catching up...

2011-08-24T07:56:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-08-09T06:27:00.000-07:00

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...

2011-08-05T05:58:00.000-07:00

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!

2011-08-01T11:59:00.000-07:00

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!

Volunteering at Ironman

2011-07-28T06:15:00.000-07:00

Cheering & Volunteering Report: Ironman Lake Placid

2011-07-28T06:03:00.000-07:00

I had a great time cheering and volunteering at Ironman Lake Placid last weekend. I was going to write out a report, but thought I'd let my xtranormal video do the talking for me!

Click here to view! (Or maybe see the one I supposedly just posted above directly through youtube...?)

What I did not 'say' in my video was that all the folks from Team Z/Strike Out MS totally rocked! It was so inspiring to see them throughout the day. And seriously, our volunteer stint at run special needs was truly THE BEST place to be!

And I'm happy (scared) to report that as of this morning I am NOW officially signed up for Ironman Lake Placid 2012! It will be 8 months and 2 days after Ironman Arizona 2011...

omg!

But before I freak out too much about IMLP2012 I need to focus on IMAZ2011.

Happy and Healthy Training!!

I found my Mussel...

2011-07-21T09:52:00.000-07:00

I found my Mussel, sort of, but it did take a while! Whew! That is one word to describe my efforts at the Musselman Triathlon last Sunday. Actually a few other words come to mind, too...but I will not write them here.

Photo credit: Priscilla! (Thanks!!)

I tried to hydrate well going into the weekend and even make sure I drank Gatorade on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday. We left Friday afternoon and drove about 2/3 of the way before stopping for the night. Getting a hotel room was a bit of a fiasco and prompted me to reserve one ahead of time for THIS Friday and the trip up to Placid... Anyway, we did not set an alarm for Saturday morning to ensure lots of sleep so we got a later start and were apparently directionally challenged but eventually made it to the lovely town of Geneva. And it IS a lovely town but for some reason I was hyper stressed out and wondered if I should be racing at all! Made it to packet pick up and the first of the mandatory pre-race briefings in the old Opera House (what a fantastic building) followed by a yummy lunch at the place next door. Sadly, I cannot remember the name of the place but I loved the sports memorabilia, with the exception of all the damn Yankees stuff!

From here we went to check into our room a little bit West of Geneva after a stop at RiteAid for a few items. Relaxed for a bit then headed to the park to check out transition and have a yummy dinner at the Team Z tent city. The fajitas were awesome! (As were the Coronas which really helped take the edge off my stress...) After dinner we racked our bikes then headed out to do final race preps for the next morning. It was a 12 mile drive back to our hotel – not too bad and knew that race morning we would cruise right along.

Race morning as always came too early. Transition opened at 5:00 AM and I was hoping to get there as soon after as possible. That did not happen. But we finally made it and unfortunately I forgot my towel and had to trudge back to the car for it. Ack. But finally had my area set up and went to find my breakfast and finish yet another Gatorade! Got the wetsuit on without incident (i.e., no rips or tears) and before I knew it the race was starting and I was heading over to the corral!

Swim 38:54 13/47

Well, I was prepared for the walk through the water in the swim – nutty – but boy was the sea grass awfully annoying! I got tangled up more times then I cared to count! I got bobbed around by the waves and did not mind them too much, except for on the second leg – got a bit off course here. No major contact from other racers, either, so all was well. The third leg of the lake and of course the fourth leg in the canal was much better. The canal was pretty sweet actually! I could see spectators out along here – at least I think I could. Loved the helping hand getting out of the water at the boat ramp, too. And since my foot will never be the same again (thank you plantar fasciitis) I opted to walk to transition...

T1: 4:21 43/47

What’s the rush? It was going to be a long day! I did not forget anything and just took my time.

Bike: 3:43:07 41/47

Well, my bike position was better than T1 (and T2 for that matter) – amazing! I had wanted to push as hard as I could on the bike, within reason. But of course that was not to happen. The first 15-20 miles were rather tough for me. I think I should have eaten a Gu before the swim – maybe that was the problem? It really took a while to get into a groove. However, I eventually did get into a groove and loved from mile 20-ish to 50. Maybe it was the wind! :-) We were told about the spectacular views coming downhill at about mile 26 – WOW!!! What a reward! That was truly the best and I told the marshal that he had the best spot ever directing bike traffic! The views along here were pretty darned nice too, after making the turn. The views up the ‘hill’, hmm, not so nice. Haha! I eventually got over that hill and continued on. I did not really mind the rough road section for that matter – it was actually kind of interesting. I liked seeing the airplane! Also interesting, but rather annoying was the blatant littering that took place right in front of me! She actually held her arm out and purposely dropped an empty gel package on the ground. Maybe she missed the race director’s plea about keeping all trash with you in the mandatory pre-race briefing? Anyway, I did pretty well until around mile 50. I think the heat was getting to me and maybe should have had a salt cap...or something. It was great getting back into the park though and seeing the sea of Z green! I got to the dismount line and unclipped on the left – as usual. The ground was slanted a bit on that side and was having a hard time getting my right leg over. I finally managed to swing it over, then ‘zing’! MAJOR quad cramp!!! (ouchie) Note to self: practice dismounting on the other side in case of uneven ground in the future. Nutrition-wise I used a Gu every half hour plus alternated water and Heed in my aero bottle (I probably went through 3 full bottles of Heed).

T2: 4:54 44/47

I did take a potty break here so my T2 might have been faster! But on a positive note, I remembered to take my gloves off, unlike Kinetic, so no need to go back and drop them!

Run: 3:05:51 43/47

Remember that quad cramp I got when I got off the bike? Um, yeah....it came back. I started jogging out of transition and kept it up, going past Z City and as I went along the quad cramping started up again. I took a salt cap and walked and nothing happened. Took another and the cramp left. Jogged then the cramp came back, so I repeated. Got to the first aid station and downed some Heed and took some Endurolytes. From here on out I basically walked with purpose and jogged when I could. At each aid station I took Heed and Endurolytes with an occasional cup of water. At about the halfway point I ate some Chex Mix and did manage to jog down most downhill sections. I needed to take one potty break as I was extremely hydrated, then walked with Z peeps when I could. As I started in the last swim wave I was concerned about the finish line being open when I finally got back! The gravel hill should be called gravel hell. I was especially careful here because of my foot! It was a relief to get out of that section but I did like the drum / bongo group! Of course, I like everyone else, was quite happy to have all the local people out with their hoses – and the one person who rigged their hose on a step ladder! I’m sure I would have had a hard time continuing on without all that. In fact, my quad – which eventually stopped cramping after enough salt/Endurolytes (maybe the halfway point; maybe it was the Chex Mix) had me thinking I should turn back! The farther away I got the more concerned I was. But I am stubborn also but certainly did not try to do more than I could. When I finally got back into the park I ran into Jill and Nelson! That was just the boost I needed. I walked/jogged with them pretty much till the finish when we kind of split up. Jill’s idea was to jog 3/walk 1 really helped. Kate came by to check on Nelson and she was very encouraging, too! There had been other Z people out there with words of encouragement, too – including those racing! I saw all the boats in the water cheering us on and all I wanted to do was jump in the water and swim to the finish! Finally, finally I made it. Whew. The finish area was of course full of Z green and always a great sight for sore eyes! Got my funky finisher’s medal and sat in the little pool. That was pretty cool!

Final: 7:36:07 42/47

I was thrilled that the finish line was still open as it was slightly past 3:00PM (6 minutes and 7 seconds past to be exact) when I came through. What a relief! And I had a Diet Coke. Two of them, actually...then another diet soda later with pizza (but did not take advantage of the free refill). So far this week I am diet soda free...

Lessons learned:

-Take a Gu before the swim
-Use the salt caps during the bike – I took a Gu every half hour and alternated water and Heed on the bike but with all the heat that was not enough
-Don’t be afraid to try the Gu on the run next time – maybe it will help

Next up: Ironman Lake Placid – Cheering & Volunteering! I am so excited to be volunteering and also cheering on some Team Z peeps that will be racing there!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Where’s my Mussel...

2011-07-12T07:58:00.000-07:00

This weekend is Musselman – a half distance triathlon in Geneva, New York. And thankfully I have an ok base because due to life and vacation, ok, life, my workouts have really not been a priority. At all. But I’m not really worried. I had previously wanted this race to be an “A” race but when I realized that would not be the case I just want to go and have FUN! It is a Team Z event where apparently 1 in 7 half racers will be Z, so how could it not be fun? I’m excited!

Anyway, a LOT has gone on since my last post on June 6!
1. My younger son graduated – yay!
2. My younger son had college orientation – yay! I went too, and had a grand time!
3. My sons and I took a vacation to London(!) and Paris(!!)!!! Paris was a sort of afterthought – it was a day trip planned on our last day in London. We also took a day trip earlier in the week to Windsor, Stonehenge, and Oxford!

On our first full day in London I ran my first international race: Regents Park 10K Summer Series. Originally I thought I placed 382 out of 537. But those were just preliminary results. Out of actually 564 finishers I was 402 based on gun time and 407 based on net time. Regardless, I was happy as I came in under 1 hour: 59:57! (My last stand alone 10K was just over an hour.)
This was a three loop course in Regents Park and my splits were: 19:27, 20:17, 20:12. I was very happy my laps were somewhat consistent because it was unseasonably warm that day! My son said he heard people complaining about the heat as they crossed the finish line!

Here is a link to the official results!
And here is the official map of the course!
Below is a picture of the Happy Finisher - me that is:

As you can see by my picture I cracked(!) and had my first Diet Coke since May 1st! I did make it just over 2 months. I did have a few more while on the trip, but did not get excessive about it. I had one final diet soda (ad Diet Pepsi) when we returned Saturday night, but I’m back to being DC/ds free. I will possibly reward myself with an occasional ONE after something say as finishing a race! (Like this Sunday’s Musselman – but nothing excessive!)

Our hotel was situated in I think the best place! We were close to an underground station - and speaking of which, I find London's public transportation incredibly easy to navigate - and we were able to visit some fun places all on our own!

We did some very touristy things like cross the Abbey Road intersection that the Beatles did for their album of the same name, stand on the Prime Meridian Line (0* longitude), take pictures of the guard (but not the changing of the) at Buckingham Palace. And since I'm a big Harry Potter fan it was great fun to see the snake cage in the Reptile House of the London Zoo where a scene from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (aka Philosopher's Stone) was filmed! And even more Harry Potter - we visited Christ Church College at Oxford and walked through the dining hall which was home to the Hogwart's Great Hall. They did not actually film there but took pictures of it and used it in the films. So cool! And of course, we went through Trafalgar Square on Monday (3 times at least on our open top bus tour) where on Thursday the Harry Potter cast was going to be for the London Premiere of The Deathly Hallows Part 2! Great fun!

Anyway, our trip was so much fun! I’ve wanted to do this with my kids for so long and was really happy to be able to do so. They are both heading off for college (War Eagle!) and technical school (Gentlemen, start your engines!) out of state in one month. From today. I will be sad when they leave but I am super excited for both of them! I cannot believe they are both so grown up!

Excited for Musselman on Sunday and the following Sunday - July 24 - where I'll be volunteering and cheering for some Team Z folks while they tackle Ironman Lake Placid!!

Happy and Healthy Training!

The story of the H’s...

2011-06-06T08:06:00.000-07:00

Hills and Hangovers and fortunately not Heat! Otherwise known as the Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon Race Report!

Saturday afternoon we went to the Kenny Chesney concert at FedExField! We had a great afternoon of tailgating planned: Corona and CornHole – what’s not to like? We also had fried chicken, pasta salad, chips, etc. A great afternoon in the sun, and I did some good carboloading! We played four fun rounds of cornhole. We also had a canopy to keep out of the sun when not playing. Fun fun fun! We headed into the stadium and got seated just after the first act – Uncle Kraker – started playing. We were pretty lucky – we had seats in the lower deck just under the upper deck overhang – out of the sun and possible rain. But – no rain! Next up was Billy Currington, followed by the Zac Brown Band. At some point my friend Teri and her husband came by for a visit. We got a great picture for our mutual friend Traci (who’d had a hand in getting Teri her tickets). Finally Kenny was up. He really puts on a great show! Loved the entire concert. We did skip out during the encore, when it semed he had all the different acts up there jamming and performing with him. But on a good note, we got out of the parking lot and home super fast. Even still, I only got about 4 hours of sleep before I had to get up for my race...

So, 4AM came awfully early on race day. Plus I’d woken up at 2AM when my son got home from being out. Anyway, got up I did. I was carpooling with Priscilla and she was going to be there for 5AM! I had organized everything the morning before, thank goodness! I was pretty much ready to go when she got there. Except I almost forgot my race number! Yikes!

Traffic to the race venue (Navy Marine Corps Memorial Stadium) was non-existent at 5AM on a Sunday. Also, the traffic into the stadium like last year was non-existent, too. Then when we were being directed to park we were wondering where they were sending us. But it was awesome – prime parking on an end spot right by the exit, right by the port-a-potties, and right by the finisher’s area. Perfect! P’s friend Cassie (who was doing the 10K) arrived and found us and we all hung out till the start. Sally got a bit of a late start so we weren’t sure we’d see her till after we’d finished.

I’d signed up for this race because Priscilla had decided to do it to qualify for Half Fanatic status. I thought – hey, that’d be cool, I’ll do it too. Then I'd need one more. This was before I’d realized that (1) Kinetic Half tri would work, and (2) that that race alone would be enough to qualify me for Half Fanatic status. But I was happy to be doing the race.

So, I was not sure how I’d feel running this race after my, um, LONG day the day before. I’d been trying to hydrate and was trying to eat but that did not taste good. I’d had a bit of coffee in the morning when I got up, then was alternating between Gatorade and water. Surprisingly when I started running I felt pretty good. And right after we crossed the start line then who ran by? Sally! Yay – she’d made it! I started off very slow, even though I was supposed to race at Z3/LZ4. I wanted to see how I felt. I think by mile 3 I was pretty warmed up and was able to pick up the pace a bit. The sun stayed away and there was a cool breeze, but it was a bit humid. Could have been worse though! Then at mile 4 came the lovely bridge! (The Naval Academy Bridge.) It would be the first of two times over it because the Half Marathon is an out and back at this point. The course has a lot of rolling hills and then at about mile 6 you break off the road and go onto the B&A (Baltimore & Annapolis) Park Trail. This was very nice! Here they handed out Gu. I was carrying two flavors (Chocolate and Espresso) of Gu but did not want to take one. They were handing out Vanilla Bean flavored...and that actually sounded OK. I took one and ate the entire thing. I felt pretty good after. Anyway, you followed this trail to the turnaround then retraced your steps back over “the bridge”. While one the park trail I got to slap hands with Sally and Priscilla. They were both running strong! Yay!! Back to the bridge... However, once you get across the bridge you don’t head straight toward the finish line. The course actually turns off back the way you came before crossing the bridge the first time for a total of a mile or so. We all agreed that this was the worst part of the course. Oh well. Finally got to that last turn around and was then headed back. Saw Sally cruising along here, still looking good. (I was feeling pretty cruddy at this point myself.) I was going between power walking and running because I was just feeling hot. I was hoping to finish at the same time as I’d finished the Pig. If I had I been feeling ‘better’ that could have happened. However...I finished just past 1:32, so all in all I was very happy with that. I waited at the finish line because I knew Sally was right behind me so I was able to cheer her in. Sally opened her finisher’s necklace pouch first – it was a Z for Zooma! (But also perfect for Team Z!) And I thought much cooler than last years’ sailboat finisher’s necklace. We decided to get a blanket and sit to eat our finishers’ food while we waited for Priscilla to finish. She showed up – early than she expected, too! Yay for Priscilla conquering her 3rd Half in 90 days for Half Fanatic status!! Woo hoo! After we’d all eaten we walked around the finishers area then took a picture overlooking the stadium. Time to head home! Where I made up for a LOT of lost sleep! In fact, I was so tired I skipped the opportunity for pizza and fun with the Zooma Finishers and Marlene. Maybe next time...

Next up – the Regent’s Park Summer 10K Series, #4! (OMG!!!)

Happy and Healthy Training!

Race Reports: Kinetic and Jim McDonnell Lake Swims...

2011-06-03T08:44:00.001-07:00

Kinetic: Saturday, May 14 was my second triathlon of the season: The Kinetic Half! This was my second entry into this race but the first time I’d be doing it. And AGAIN in Team Z fashion, serious rain was predicted for Saturday. And Sunday for that matter for the Sprint folks. Awesome!! Again, there was nothing I could do, but just hope the weather gods would be somewhat kind...and deal with it! Of course this was to be the first race on my new bike, too. Boo – I did not want rain for that!

Friday night I again had a yummy dinner of a Chipotle chicken burrito, and again skipped the corn salsa. Saturday morning I got up super early – 3AM! We were supposed to have camped but with the weather I did not want to chance dealing with the rain overnight. Ugh... Plus I’d had a super busy week (can’t remember exactly why now...) but by Friday I was nowhere near ready to leave at 3PM. It was probably a blessing because we had heard about all the awful traffic reports headed down that way.

I had my somewhat usual breakfast along with my usual coffee. We were on the road at about 4AM, right on schedule! It was dark when we arrived at the race site, but fortunately things got light quickly. We were also fortunate that the rain never was too bad and mostly non-existent. There was some misty stuff, but really not too bad. On to packet pick up...which went smoothly! Love my new Kinetic socks!

So, now that it has been almost three weeks (where did the time go?) since the race, I’m going to have to try to figure out what is worth writing!

Swim: 39:36 8/19

I wore my new sleeveless Xterra Vector Pro for the swim. I just really do not like full sleeves. The water was not too cold so it was not a problem – even at the beginning. I made the decision to hold back on the swim and not go like I normally do. I had an OK swim, I guess. The swim was sort of a triangle-ish pattern. I remember the first two legs being pretty calm – but when I turned the buoy for the third leg – yikes! There were some big rolling waves out there! Anyway, outside of the rollers the swim was uneventful. Almost got kicked (breaststroker) right in the face – totally felt the water moving. That was scary so very glad there was no contact!

T1: 6:39 16/19 – yeah, no hurry here! Wished I had taken a little longer to use the port-a-potty though...

Bike: 3:25:58 15/19

I was riding my new Specialized Transition, Trixie, for the second time at Kinetic. I just wanted to go out and have fun! I had just gotten to the mount line and a guy trying to get clipped in going uphill wiped out. Ouch. Luckily I had no problem there, because in addition to the new bike I’m using a different kind of pedals: I switched from SPDs to Speedplays. Of course, from the get-go I had to use the restroom. I thought I would find a port-a-potty on the course... but I did not. The course was a lollipop style with two loops around the circle part. I still do not have a cadence meter on my bike so I was going by feel and somewhat paying attention to my heart rate. I had fun on the bike! There was just a little rain – mostly misty stuff. I was not too cold nor too hot. I think the rainy stuff helped, actually. There were some really nice spots of road, I remember that. And after about 1/3 of the way on the second loop I really started to ride a bit harder. I had no real time goal in mind, but again went off how I felt. I was feeling good, so why not! I actually ended up passing some folks here. Then during a water bottle hand off I dropped my chain! Melissa has told me how I can try to get the chain on while moving, so I will try it next time! I had to stop and get off and could not get the chain on. The water-bottle-hander-outer did it for me! Back on and moving. I still picked up my pace though and felt really good on the last part – coming down the stick of the lollipop. Felt good going into transition after a clean and uneventful dismount.

T2: 5:30 18/19 – again no rushing here! Finally took that bathroom break and realized that I’d again forgotten to remove my gloves! :-) (I once ran the entire 10K of the Reston Triathlon with my bike gloves on. Duh...)

Run: 2:40:00 (17/19)

Ah, the run. My legs only took a little while to feel ok. I did have a numbness problem in my left foot/Achilles which started pretty early on the bike, which I forgot to mention. May need a bit of tweaking there... Took nearly 12 of the 13.1 miles for that to feel better – and this was after loosening my shoe laces twice as well as the chip strap on my ankle. Oh and *this* was when my right heel started to act up. I was very pleased that my heel lasted that long though! My plan for the run was to run as much as I could and walk the water stops and whenever I needed to. I carried some Honeystingers I was trying out of transition as well as a fuel belt with water and Gu for if/when I needed them. My plan was that I was going to try to ‘eat off the course’. Practice for the big day! Speaking of the course, it was basically a three-loop with rollers. And the start of each loop had this longish uphill. Awesome! Back to eating off the course... Well, there were oranges and Chex Mix! I was pretty happy with that as both were quite agreeable to me! After about the first half I decided to take some electrolyte capsules. They really helped and wished I had taken some sooner. I was pretty warm at this point and also had a bit of stomach ickiness. I made a pit stop which helped then all was well and I ran/walked my way to the finish. I must say, to make up for the longish hill at the start of each loop there was an equally longish downhill at the end of each loop, which finally led me right to the finish!

Final:6:57:41 (16/19) (1 person had a DNF though)

I was THRILLED because I broke 7 hours! This was only my fourth half distance and only the second time I’d gone under 7 hours. My first half was my PR, but I was very, very happy at the end of this race! After I got my free pizza and grabbed my stuff out of transition I got a nice massage from Robin the Ed was kind enough to fire up the grill for me so I could get my hot dog. Then it was time to head out. What a great day!

And from Sunday, May 29:

Jim McDonnell Lake Swims – yes, swims, in Lake Audobon in Reston!

I did both the one and two mile! I have done this event a few times before (2000, 2001, 2004) but outside of a few pool practices I have never swum 3 miles before in open water. For fun I looked up my history (all non-wetsuit) in the 2-mile event:

1:02:34 – 2000
0:57:09 – 2001 – wow, what an improvement!
1:04:59 – 2004

2011 results:
1 Mile, non-wetsuit: 0:33:18, 11/16
2 Mile, non-wetsuit: 1:06:35, 12/14

How’s that for consistent?! There were a lot of Team Z’ers at this event – we even had a tent, which I could see while I was breathing as I came around the drain in the near end of the lake. There were also people from my ‘other’ Masters team there, JCCNV, as well as at least one old Z’er and an old Z’er who’d returned. It was nice to catch up with everyone! I have to say my 2-mile swim felt ‘faster’ than my 1-mile. I think it was because I swam a better line. The course has changed from 2000 and 2001 in which it was a straight cable swim – two loops around a half mile cable. I think then I was pretty much hugging the cable and really did not need to do any sighting. Anyway, after the 1-mile I had a snack and a Gu. After the 2-mile I. Was. STARVING! I had to go to the bathroom but first I had to find food! There were subs and stuff for the swimmers. Turkey sub – mmmm.

Special Note: I had my very last diet soda on May 1. As tempting as it was after both Kinetic and the double swim where there were diet sodas a plenty, I did NOT cave! I am still diet soda free. I have also reduced the amount of Equal I use. (I still use Equal in my 1-2 cups of coffee a day but switched to granular sugar for the 1-2 cups of tea.)

Next Up: Zooma Annapolis Half Marathon! My Z-mates Priscilla and Sally will also be running this race! P is going to Half Fanatic status!! (Go Priscilla!) P’s friend Cassie is doing the 10K. Should be a fun and hot day. Especially after hanging out at the Kenny Chesney concert all day the day before!

And other exciting news: My son’s track team from Annandale High School has several members participating today and tomorrow in the Virginia AAA Outdoor Track & Field Championship Meet. Two of the boys are current All-Americans (XC & 1000/60M hurdles) and one has already won States in both Cross Country and the 1000 in Indoor Track. His team won the Patriot District Meet in early May and followed that with a 3-point win over their region rival South Lakes (who beat them at the Indoor Regional meet – this is Alan Webb’s old school) in the Northern Region Championship. Right now, the AAA Team Rankings calculates Annandale as winning! OMG! I believe that would be a first for Annandale! I’m keeping my fingers crossed for all the athletes. They certainly have great weather both today and tomorrow. Go Atoms!

Happy and Healthy Training!

I'm on a roll...

2011-05-20T08:29:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I 'applied' for status as a Half Fanatic.

Today I found out I was 'accepted'!

I can now enter the Fanatic AsyLum! How exciting!!

Thank you Holly and Priscilla for the inspiration!

TGIF...

Happy and Healthy Training!!

This just in...

2011-05-19T12:29:00.001-07:00

This came in last Friday's mail!
I waited forEVER for it!
(Only 5 weeks actually for the results)
I am now a Certified Personal Trainer!

Happy and Healthy Training!!

A long way...

2011-05-13T10:42:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I will be going a l-o-n-g way. It is my first 70.3 distance of the season. And only my fourth ever! I have one more coming in July and more than likely a second in October. All in preparation for the BIG day: 11/20/11...aka Ironman Arizona! And that is in 190 days. *gulp*

Anyway, back to tomorrow. It will be a long day, but a long training day. It will be my first time to practice some things going into the season. Specifically nutrition! And of course my heart rate zone. It will also be my second ride on what I've decided to call, Trixie:

So tomorrow, in the rain most likely - what else is new where the team is concerned, I'll join several hundred other crazies for the Kinetic Half! This will be a first time for me at this event. I was entered two years ago but had to skip due to a family emergency. The bike course has changed since then. Of course it doesn't matter to me since I won't know any different!

Now I have done the Kinetic Sprint twice. Once as an individual in 2008 - my first Z race (and in the rain I might add) and last year (2010) as the bike leg of a relay. I do remember having to run up a hill to get to transition. And biking up a hill to get out of transition. Other than that...I have not ridden 56 miles in quite a while. But since it is 'just' a training day, I'm not going to worry about that - or the weather - and just try to have fun! Besdies, afterwards I'm signed up for a great massage from Robin or one of her colleagues at FitProMassage AND I get my own personal pizza from Papa John's. And there will be other food. And drink...

Today happens to be Day 5 of my Diet Coke (DC) ban. I have tried off and on to quit the diet soda habit. I generally feel better when I do. I also need to make a few other nutritional tweaks and thought it best if I conquer DC first. So far, so good. And I am going to ignore the soda cooler tomorrow...

Happy and Healthy Training!

Gina Tris for St. Jude!

2011-05-10T11:33:00.000-07:00

Here is a short "Gina Tris for St. Jude" update. I had a Pampered Chef party two weeks ago and used it as a fundraiser. I was able to raise $246.47 – a percentage of my sales – for St. Jude’s Children’s Research Hospital. Thank you very much to all my friends and teammates who either came out to the show or placed orders online or through me. It is very much appreciated! I'm sending in the check today and my fundraising progress should be updated in 2-3 weeks.

Thanks again for helping me reach my goal! If you have not yet donated and would like to help I'm still several months away from the big event. You can click here to donate!

Yikes - only 4 days till the Kinetic Half...

Happy and Healthy Training!

The finish swine....

2011-05-02T09:19:00.000-07:00

(I apologize in advance. This is really, really long... )

Saturday morning I headed out to Cincinnati for the L-O-N-G awaited Flying Pig Marathon weekend. I was doing the half! I got to the airport easily and had no trouble parking. I could not see the garage exit in the part of the garage I was in though – and took a long walk to the opposite end to get into the terminal. Then once inside took another long walk back in the direction I’d basically come from to get to security and the gate. Oh well – good for keeping my legs loose and I was not in any kind of hurry. I got through security quickly and then found coffee and a chocolate croissant! Yumm – had not had one in years.

The flight was not full and while we left a bit late we arrived a bit early. I had not checked any bags, so I found baggage claim quickly which was where I was to check in for the airport shuttle – Executive Transportation – which also happened to be one of the official sponsors. Since I was a flying pig participant I also got $5 off my round trip transportation. Cool! We had a full van leaving the airport but one of the passengers was a native of Cincinnati and he had lots of good advice! It was a good sign – I was the first drop off!

Once dropped off I made the two block trek to the Expo. It was huge and I got though the check in pretty quickly which then left me free to pig shop. I did not go too crazy with pig stuff: a cute T-shirt (non-technical to wear for fun) that is white with a pig symbol on it, a pig with wings, a Flying Pig Marathon patch, and a pig rain poncho since they were calling for rain. After paying for the pig wares I made my way through the vendors. I did not need anything but got some free hair ties from Girls on the Run (cool) and a Flying Pig thermometer magnet with the WLWT.com/5 logo on it. Who knew that this was connected to my Z-mate and fellow Pig participant, Sally? (I found this out later!)

I looked at hats but did not find any I liked except for the one that said something about Piglet on it. It was white with pink embroidery...after Mark’s comment on my status after finishing the Half “Although I can believe they don't call the half The Piglet,” I sure wish I’d bought it!! The last items picked up were the technical T-shirt, awesomely fun backpack, and 2011 race poster.

On my way out of the expo I was spotted by / ran into some Z-mates: Tracey, Emily, Meghan, AJ, and Mike. It was not yet 1PM, and even though we were having dinner at 4PM, we decided to go to lunch together at Potbelly. It was my first visit there. Mmm, good bread. I was good and had water with lunch. After lunch I went to see if I could check in to my room at the Westin early. Success! I was on the 14th floor and my room overlooked Fountain Square where we’d just been standing after lunch as Potbelly was located there. After reviewing my outfit choices for Sunday I put my feet up for a bit and looked at my race stuff. Of course NCIS was on...and it made me think of pistachios...

A little before 4PM I headed down to find the restaurant we were all meeting for dinner. There were to be 9 Z’s (me, Jennifer (former Z), Meghan, Sally, Emily, Tracey, AJ, Mike, and Priscilla) there, down from the original 11 (2 non-Z’s)! The restaurant was right across the street in Fountain Square! Emily and Meghan were already there. They told me there had been a ‘mix-up’ in the reservations and they did not have our group down! The ‘nice’ hostess said she would ‘do her best’ to accommodate us. Yeah. They put some tables together for us. Oddly enough as our dinner went on a table right behind us set for a party of 11 went strangely unoccupied... It turned out THAT was our table. That’s all I’m going to say about that.

After dinner we went on to have ice cream at Graeter’s! It was delicious – as promised! This was one of the places the passenger in the van recommended. I was good and only had one scoop of coffee in a sugar cone. What I really wanted was a banana split...

After the ice cream we took pictures with one of the official Pigs. Then we watched the Piggest Raffle. We took a few more fun pictures then headed our separate ways. On my way up to the room I stopped off at the hotel gift shop for some necessities: Advil, toothpaste, 2 Diet Cokes, 2 waters, a package of Strawberry Frosted Pop-Tarts, a small bag of Famous Amos Chocolate Chip Cookies. The gal working there was very nice!

Finally back up in the room I started to get settled for the night. A few phone calls, a snack of cookies, more NCIS, alarm clock set, and TV off timer set. It was finally time for bed. I slept pretty well, but I think I woke up twice. But fell back to sleep quickly. Then the alarm went off...

Once up, I made a cup of in-room coffee. It was not bad. I tried to eat a Pop-Tart but it just was not that good. Bummer. I finished the cookies for breakfast along with a Diet Coke I had started the night before. Got myself together and finally headed out, with my cute new pink camera in tow.

As soon as I got on the street I realized it had started to rain – as promised. I went back upstairs and swapped the camera for the rain poncho and back downstairs I went. I followed the crowd to the start of the Pig. It was pretty easy to find. Once I finally made down to the street level in front of the Paul Brown Stadium – home of the Cincinnati Bengals – I had a hard time finding my way into the Pig Pens. Once the race officially started and the crowds cleared out I made my way in and started the walk to the line. Right before I got there I ditched my poncho into a pile of other discarded rain gear. Oh – it had done some pouring then! At one point I thought to myself, “boy not bringing a second pair of shoes was really dumb in case these get soaked.” Fortunately, my shoes did not get crazy wet!

I knew that the course would be hilly and had seen the course profile and noted the 3 mile climb between miles 5-8. I was very pleased to basically run the entire race with the exception of walking only the water stops. I took in water and Gatorade as needed. It got a bit warm at times – heck it was already 65 degrees at start time – 6:30AM! But there were a few good breezes as well. Once I hit the 8 mile point there were several really nice downhills. I’m also happy to say that I really used the gravity to my advantage and was passing people left and right on my way down these last hills. (This is very unusual for me!)

Right at about Mile 5 I ran into Tracey and Emily cheering! It was awesome to see them and get hugs. I think it was the GREEN AFRO that helped me spot them! :) But all along the course there was entertainment. At the 11 mile mark there was a group of I think 3 rappers singing about the Pig and it being all down here from here. They were hilarious. I passed them on the way up the same hill. I give all the entertainers and volunteers props for being out there for us in the rain. I think my favorite volunteers were a football team - all wearing their jerseys. Sadly, another group of volunteers - cheerleaders - were not even cheering! :( In addition to all the volunteers out there in the rain there were tons of crowd support out there as well cheering us all on. They of course get props as well!

Nearing the finish I saw a woman in a pink T with “GOOSE” written on the back. I’d seen her before earlier on the course. I ran up to her and asked her if she’d lost “MAVERICK”. Funny enough her running partner – who she said is a faster runner - was up ahead and also wearing a pink shirt with “MAVERICK” on it. That came about when they first started running together and they joked about not leaving their wingman. Don’t you just love “Top Gun?”

I FINALLY hit the finish swine! I made my way through the finish area for my mylar blanket, finisher’s medal, and of course goodies! I skipped the bagels and bananas but got some potato chips, orange slices, and then the BEST ever: chocolate milk. Now, I don’t really do much dairy anymore, but I had to have some. It. Was. Delicious!! After, I had to figure out had to get back to my room! After some guidance from a nice police officer I was on my way. It was perfect because I got to hang out along the finish and I got to see Priscilla finish. She looked GREAT! (It was Priscilla’s inspiration that got me to go to the Pig! I’d read about the race a few years before and wanted to go some day. When she said a group was going, well...I jumped in the pig trough! Thanks, P!)

I ended up with a time of 2:25:48. Based on my training I did not really have a time goal anymore but was hoping for 2:30. So, I was happy with the time! Not a PR, but not a PW (personal worst to quote Steve in a Speedo!) I was 241 of 711 in my age group and 2897 out of 6860 in my gender and 5741 out of 10871 overall. I'll take it. Best part of all: my foot did NOT hurt! Not during the race. I did ache a bit after but it went away and today feels just great! My legs actually hurt a bit since they are (1) not quite used to running and (2) not used to longer distances. I'm very happy and pleased about that. Whew!

I walked with a small group back up to 5th street. It was amazing – all three had done the half marathon and all three were former smokers. They totally rocked for making that change in their lives. One’s – the woman – mother and father had both died from lung cancer. What a great inspiration they all are for people trying to quit and kick that habit. I am so glad I’ve never been a smoker...

Once back in the Westin, I visited the café where they made me a sandwich – way ahead of the lunch rush. I also got a much deserved soy latte! Back up in my room I totally pigged (haha) out. I rested a bit then finally cleaned up. I was – no lie – hungry again. Really. I went out for more food and to take a few pictures in the city. Namely the Paul Brown Stadium and the Great American Ballpark. I really wanted a slice of pizza but could not find any so I hit up Chipotle, which I knew would be good. After inhaling that it was time to check out. I went down to the lobby to wait for my shuttle and watched some of HP7.1, which I had on my iPod.

My shuttle arrived right on time and this time there was only one other person going for the ride. She was a full marathon finisher and wore her medal proudly! She had just finished her 30th marathon in a year!! She started on 5/2/10 and yesterday being 5/1/11...that is truly amazing! And she had just come off of running Boston! We had a fun conversation on the drive to the airport.

Now, I again had a fast trip through security at the airport. I bought a couple of books and a Kentucky magnet since I did actually run two miles through that state! I finally got my slice of pizza a S’barro – eh, it was ok, but not quite what I wanted. I may need to visit Flippin’ Pizza in the near-ish future... anyway, I made it to my gate area and continued to watch HP7.1. I heard the announcements that my flight was overbooked. Yikes! I finally managed to find out right before boarding that I was confirmed. I was one of the first in in my boarding group so I got my bigger backpack up in the overhead bin and store my new Pig-pack below the seat in front of me. then I started one of my books. Oh my gosh – it is SO GOOD so far! I cannot wait to finish it. And I’d better read fast because I have book club in one week and need to start and finish that one too!

All in all my trip to the Flying Pig Marathon was fabulous! I did not get to see the mother of a friend of mine, but hopefully, when I return to conquer the full in a couple of years I’ll plan the timing better and be able to get in a visit with her.

Next up: Kinetic Half on 5/14. Since my foot was super happy during the race and for the most part after and right now as I type, I will attempt the entire race and not switch to the Aqua-Bike. It will be a good, long training day!

Happy and Healthy Training!

It's all about the Pig!

2011-04-29T06:02:00.000-07:00

Two days till the Pig! The Flying Pig Half Marathon that is. I am so excited! My training has not been the best but my foot is feeling pretty good and I'm not trying to PR or anything. I just want to have a fun race and enjoy the Pig Party. What's not to like about a race with a Finish Swine and Pig Pens instead of starting corrals? I've got friends doing the full marathon and some doing the half, like me. At least one of my friends is doing the 5K tomorrow AND the half on Sunday. But we all know she kicks @$$!

Sadly, my cute pink shorts will not be flying with me but I've got other options to be in pink on Sunday - outside of my pink M-dot hat and pink pig ears. I've got a couple different choices - for instance a maroon and white singlet I recently received from St. Judes for my fundraising efforts for St. Jude's Children's Research Hospital. Remember: Gina Trias for St. Jude! But I also plan to do a little pink pig shopping at the expo tomorrow. :) My shorts WILL be ready for the Race for the Cure in October that I hopefully will not be laid up with bronchitis for this year. I realize this race is not on my calendar but I think it is the weekend before the Waterman's Half. I will see what I can do...

Today I am wearing for the first time in MONTHS work appropriate dress shoes. My feet are feeling OK so far. Of course it has only been about 1.5 hours since they've been on my feet. I need to make finding better work appropriate dress shoes a priority in the near future. Or else I'm going to be hurting wearing Spring/Summer work clothes. I'm so sick of my casual pants and jeans. I mean I appreciate the fact I can actually wear jeans to work, but... I miss my fun skirts and dresses! Today I am wearing one of them!

Happy Friday and Happy and Healthy Training!

I am tired...

2011-04-21T06:49:00.001-07:00

I am so tired and don’t really know why. I have tried hard this week to get more sleep. I’ve blown off my workouts every day. I. Am. Tired. Maybe it is allergy related? But, It is Thursday – and of course I am as always So Happy It’s Thursday. I *will* make it to swim tonight. Maybe a second workout will be in the works, too. Maybe I’m just worried about my puppy?

Riley was scheduled to be spayed about a month ago but she went into heat, so I had to postpone things. That was actually a blessing in disguise. I dropped Riley off Friday morning – she was not to have any food after 9PM. Heck, she did not eat dinner and I felt so bad! It was so very hard letting her go – I was teary eyed! It was almost worse then when my sons were little boys and I took them in for a shot or something. Anyway, the vet called at a little after 1 PM Friday to say everything went well. What a relief!

So, Saturday was to be the first triathlon of the season: Rumpus in Bumpass International! And in true Team Z fashion, serious rain was predicted for Saturday. That was the day I was racing! Awesome!! Of course, there was nothing I could do, other than sit it out, but as it was to be a training day for me, I figured good practice, right?

Friday night I had a yummy dinner of a Chipotle chicken burrito, but skipped the usual corn. Saturday morning seemed to get here early (ha) and I was up and at ‘em before 5AM. I went up to get dressed for the race (tri stuff and HR strap) but could NOT find my HR strap! I knew I had laid it out the night before...I lost 5 minutes finding it stuck in my Z hoodie...

Off to load the car and get Jeff, who was doing his first tri ever!! I had made a mini bagel with Nutella to eat in the car along with my coffee. We were on the road at 6AM! Right on schedule. We did make a stop halfway to use the restrooms but we pulled into the race site at 7:40. Not too bad. Right as we started to unload the car...the rain started. lol On to packet pick up...

We got through packet pick up easily enough – I was so glad we arrived early! We dropped our stuff in transition then headed back to the car to drop what we did not need till post race. Then it was back to the Team Z tent city to get ready to wetsuit up. I also had a second breakfast of half of a regular bagel with Nutella with some Gatorade. Following is the write-up I sent my coach, Melissa:

Things that worked:
- Got my full-sleeved wetsuit on OK and did not experience shoulder fatigue – and despite having my arm warmers on underneath (did NOT want to struggle getting those up with damp arms!).
- Dressed perfect for the bike – tri top and shorts plus arm warmers.
- Had changed my shades to have clear lenses – perfect!
- Ditched the arm warmers for the run – smart as the sun came out for a bit and I get warm easily.
- Managed the run with little foot pain, made myself slow when I was too fast early on; walked the water stations and a couple other very short times (cone to cone) and of course walked the mudslide areas (two ditches and the path in the trees).
- Took in water and Heed on the run course; slow but felt good!

Things that did not work:
- Despite finding a landmark for transition beforehand, could NOT locate my bike after the swim; dropped my goggles; ended up looking for 673 as opposed to 763. Um, I was a mess!
- Getting my wetsuit off; had to sit – kind of hilarious actually (T1 never rocks for me even without wetsuit).
- Took one Gu on the bike – probably should have had a second. Felt tired during second loop – especially on the uphills.
- HR monitor was not working on the bike – not sure why; used cadence as a guide and kept RPMs at 90+ for the most part.
- In T2 – got my hair caught in someone else’s aeorbars when bent over when trying to stand up, more hilariousness.

Things I could not control:
- The weather (hahahaha)
- The swim course – buoys were all over the place, not one of my better swims but I felt good at least.
- Got kicked in the eye during the swim!

Overall:
6/13 in age group (but 5th due to the DQ of the actual person who was 5th ) – only 10 women in age group finished though – one quit after swim; two after bike.
3/13 in swim
10/13 in bike
8/13 in run

All in all I felt good at the finish!

Monday after work it was time to go get my Riley puppy! I had spoken to the vet and we agreed she might do well with a sedative as she was true to her name and pretty riled up! I picked her up at 4:30 and though they had given her the sedative at 2:30 you would not have known it. Then. We got home easily and she was happy to be home and settled. A couple hours later - yeah, the sedative hit! She did not eat dinner nor drink any water. I figured she'd be better in the morning. Not so. Fortunately this week my son has been home on Spring Break so she was not alone. Good timing! Tuesday I spoke to my son and she still had not eaten or drank anything. Darn! I phoned the vet to see what they thought and they suggested I bring her in for a quick check. After work I went to get her and she was so excited when I walked in the door you wouldn't have know anything was wrong! Well, we got here there by about 5PM - she was so excited to go there, too! Turns out, she was just slighly spoiled - they had given her some canned food mixed with her dry to get her to eat over the weekend. My vet put down some canned in a bowl and she totally inhaled it. They sent me home with three cans of food...

So, my foot - which felt good at the end of the Rumpus in Bumpass still feels good. Now it is only 10 days until the Flying Pig Half Marathon! I am really looking forward to my quick trip to Cincinnati! I have a cute pair of pink shorts to wear - if they fit. If not, oh well...I won't dwell on that. I do have pig ears and a pig headband to wear!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Sugarland Radio

2011-04-13T09:06:00.000-07:00

Sugarland Radio I love Sugarland! They got their own iheartradio station this week! Enjoy! And Happy and Healthy Training...of course!

Focus time...

2011-04-11T10:29:00.001-07:00

The past few weeks (ok, the past couple months) have been busy, fun, and stressful. I’d been taking a class – for fun – on becoming a certified personal trainer. Needless to say, between life in general, all the doctor’s appointments (4-5 a week but as of this week will be down to 2 a week), my class, my kids, my training...I was a bit stressed. I took the second part of last week to ‘chill’. One thing I did not do was get as much sleep as I should have. But...that is a new goal of mine. It also falls under focus. Saturday I spent a few hours out in the chilly weather sitting on bleachers at my son’s track meet. It was fun – I got to watch a few exciting races, then after my son ran and then cooled down it was time to leave. I went home and took a much needed nap!

On Sunday morning I was scheduled to run the GW Parkway Classic, 10 miler. I probably should have just downgraded to the 5K. But I did not. Now, I’d only run two times since the Shamrock 8K and little to no elliptical since before then. I opted to not start. I really, really want the Flying Pig Half on 5/1 to be my focus (there’s that word again) for my spring run, as best as it can be. I thought trying to plod through 10 miles now would not be smart. So, I just ran from home less than half that distance (4.35 miles) instead. I did the first 2.88 with Riley the puppy. Then I dropped her off and ran another 1.47. All pain free! What a beautiful thing!

Sunday later morning it was time for another swim test. I was supposed to do this last weekend but kind of flaked on that. Oops. I headed over to Audrey Moore RECenter to do my now familiar test: 300 warm up, 2x:20 treading water, 3x100 build w/:20 rest, 3x300 TEST with :30 rest, followed by a cool down. This was the hardest one yet. I may have over done it on my 3x100s because I had some fast splits! Then on the 3x300 my first was too fast. The second two were not quite so. Compared to my second swim test from a month-ish ago I was about (by my calculations) a half second slower on average. Oh well. We’ll see what the coach says... Maybe I should have done the swim test first? Before the run that is...? Hopefully the next time a swim test is scheduled I will not flake!

Sunday afternoon was awesome! The sun had come out by then for starters! Then my sons and the dog and I all headed out to Herndon to visit a dear friend, her son (my sons' oldest friend), and her two dogs. It was a good social visit for Riley as she’s met dogs before but not really had a good social visit with any one in particular. And it was nice to visit my friend! We’d not seen each other since she came to visit Riley when she was just a little thing! Riley did very well meeting her pups! It was so cute! Sadly...no pictures! This time... After Riley is spayed and healed we’ll be headed back so we can go to the 'place’ (i.e., dog park) and play!

Anyway, all in all, my foot is doing SO MUCH better. The countless visits to the chiropractor for ART and the added visits to the acupuncturist and the deep tissue massage therapist also there has really made a difference. And on Friday the massage therapist showed me a couple of painful home treatments I can do to also help. I now get up in the morning and take nearly normal steps! I’m much more flexible than I had been too in my back. Tonight I am going back to my regular Monday night Yoga class and am so excited to see how it goes! Then hopefully in the next few weeks I can work in the Bikram Yoga as well.

So, now that I’ve said that it is ‘focus time’, which it is, this coming Saturday is the very first tri of the season! That’s right! It is time to get my Rumpus on! Saturday at 10AM is the Rumpus in Bumpass Oly: 1500 swim, 24 mile bike, 10K run. I’m especially looking forward to the beginning and end of the run and the little jaunt on the path through the woods. (hahahaha) This is a Team Z event, too, so lots of fun will be had both Saturday for the Oly and Sunday for the Sprint. I’ve done each event one time. The first year (2009) I did the Oly (back when it was called the Rumpass in Bumpass) and last year I did the Sprint. This will be Jeff’s first official triathlon as well. Woo hoo! If I am up for it maybe I’ll go down on Sunday with Riley to cheer on other teammates. We’ll see how it goes.

And along with focus is getting more sleep, which I mentioned before. The other item is to get back on track with my nutrition. November 20 is really not that far off in the big picture so I want to get a good handle on this, this time around. I think all of my stress lately has let this ease to the back burner. I am going to make a good solid effort to kick the Diet Coke habit, too. I’ve made progress in the past, but always fell off that wagon. My friend Carol has gone over two weeks without it – and she has really inspired me! The final item will be to really try to get all my workouts in. I was doing really well till I started crumbling under the extra pressure with my class. Now that my class is finished, I know I can get back to it. Being able to run pain free though should make the most difference of all!

Five days to Rumpus!

Happy and Healthy Training!!

ABCs...of me!

2011-04-07T07:49:00.000-07:00

I've seen this on other blogs lately. So I decided to be a copy-cat and do my ABCs....

A. Age: 46.

B. Bed size: Double.

C. Chore you dislike: Dusting.

D. Dogs: German Chocolate named Riley (she is an all black Chocolate Lab/German Shepherd mix).

E. Essential start to your day: I love a soy latte.

F. Favorite color: Green and Pink - I can't decide between the two.

G. Gold or silver: Silver.

H. Height: 5'2"-ish.

I. Instruments you play(ed): Clarinet, Flute, Saxophone, Piano, Trumpet, Cello.

J. Job title: Accountant.

K. Kids: Two-boys (that are practially men!).

L. Live: Springfield.

M. Mom's name: Mary.

N. Nicknames: Goober, Giner (want a Bananer?).

O. Overnight hospital stays: Childbirth x2, tonsillectomy, cervical spinal fusion.

P. Pet peeves: Dirty dishes in sink when dishwasher hasn't been run.

Q. Quote from a movie: "What? You're letting him stay home? If I was bleeding out my eyes, you guys would make me go to school!"

R. Righty or Lefty: Lefty.

S. Siblings: Ask me in person.

T. Time you wake up: Between 4:30-5:30.

U. Underwear: None of your business.

V. Vegetables you don't like: Squash/Zucchini.

W. What makes you run late: Getting distracted at home.

X. X-rays you've had: Neck, knee, teeth, foot, and hip.

Y. Yummy food you make: Lasagna.

Z. Zoo animal favorites: Big cats.

Happy and Healthy Training!

I ran...

2011-04-01T09:15:00.000-07:00

Wednesday night I had a dreaded elliptical workout on the schedule. But as usual for the past 6 or so weeks I've had class. I was not up to elliptical-ing after. So I went home and chilled.

Yesterday I *only* had a swim workout on the schedule and was planning to swim in the evening with the JCC Masters. So last night when I got home from work I had lots of time so I decided to try out my foot. I suited up (so to speak) and put the leash on my pup and we both went out for a 1.5 mile run.

My plan was to do the loop around my half of the neighborhood. I took it nice and slow because (1) I'm trying to be nice to my foot; and (2) my dogs never gone for a run before. Well, she runs around the yard, and we walk her on the leash, but this was different.

Early on she got excited to see some neighbors and promptly peed. Good doggie - right in the street! After saying hello and such we were on our way. About 1 mile in she had to do #2. Thank goodness I remembered bags! After she was done and I cleaned up we were once again on our way.

Towards the end we came upon a man walking a slightly smaller dog. She was very interested in them! That was the only time she was kind of veering away from me. So I moved to the other side of the street. We really got into a nice groove overall. She occasionally wanted to stop and smell a tree or utility pole but a gentle tug and a "No" and she continued on. We did not get tangled or anything.

All in all I thought she did very well. And so did my foot/heel. I did warm it up before the run - I'm hoping that helped. This morning I spent a lot of time before work using the foot wheel, as well. Right now it feels, well, normal. Or what normal has been. I feel it, but it doesn't hurt. Today marks exactly ONE MONTH till the Flying Pig Marathon weekend where I plan to run and/or walk the half marathon!

TGIF!

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Pig fun!

Trying something new...

2011-03-25T05:35:00.000-07:00

Last night I went swimming with the JCC Masters. It was first time and first real exercise in about 10 days not counting the Shamrock 8K. It was an awesome swim! It did not feel like I'd been out of the water that long. Whew. I'm glad because I'd been making great strides - so to speak - in the water lately. Next week I plan to get back on track with everthing else, too. Except for maybe running. At least that is the plan...

After practice I stopped by a friend's house who is also part of the Masters swim group. He was going to loan me this...thing to try to stretch out my calves and feet. It looks like this:

And as advertised in Road Runner Sports: "PRISM STEP STRETCH :: Get 3X better results stretching your calves, hamstrings arches, plantar and ankles than stretching against a wall. The Prism Step Stretch allows you to relax muscles so you get the most of your stretching, ultimately helping to prevent shin splints and other running-related injuries of the leg and lower back."

The plan is to borrow it for two weeks and to see if it makes any additional difference. That is in addition to everything else I've been doing on my own and with the help of others. Anyway, I tried it out last night even before I left his house. It definitely seems to stretch things better than any other type of stretch I've done. One thing I noticed while using it - it seems to be able to perfectly recreate the feeling I get in my heel when I run. It is a kind of pain, but more of a pulling. It makes me wonder if because my calves are so crazy-tight that that is somehow what I'm feeling. And I know my calves are crazy tight because two massage therapsits and the chiropractor told me. And the podiatrist... Anyway, hopefully I can fit this stretching thing in 2x a day, along with everything else I try. Plus all the other stretching I need to fit in. And if it works, I guess I'll be ordering my own.

The next two weeks are really busy for me. I don't think I've blogged much about the class I've been taking since the beginning on February: Personal Trainer Certification through the Aerobics and Fitness Association of America. I've decided to 'plan for my retirement' so to speak. I have two more weeks of classes, which meet on Monday and Wednesday nights from 6:30-8:30. We've gotten through the entire text book. Next week is review and the week after (gulp) is testing: Practical Exam on Monday and Written Exam on Wednesday. Then I'll get my results in 2-4 weeks. If all goes well, I'll have a new certification! Then I can really start planning for my retirement. Well, I'm kind of kidding, but it would be nice to have something to do on my schedule that is related to fitness. This is something I'm going to try a little on the side at first, and go from there. Who knows...

So, TGIF! Can you believe there is SNOW in the forecast for this weekend? I say "Say NO to the Snow!"

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Shamrock 8K...

2011-03-21T07:16:00.001-07:00

What a fun weekend! I went out on Saturday morning and ShamROCK'd the best I could, despite a foot that was still uncooperative. I ignored my heart rate and just ran! I was secretly hoping for sub-50 since I'd not run since the GW Birthday Marathon Relay (7.3 miles) and had only been spinning, swimming, and elliptical-ing. My left quad ached along with my right heel. So it is back to the drawing board for me. I think I may end up taking time off from the elliptical, too. I will figure this out in the next couple of days. Not sure what this means for the Flying Pig Half, but...I will just do the best I can and have fun with that. Nothing should keep me from swimming and riding though! So on a positive note, that should continue to help my biking base.

Time: 47:15 (Yay!)
Division 65/459
Gender: 792/4867
Overall: 1967/7675

I'm already signed up for the 2012 marathon since I'd previously deferred this year's marathon entry. Boy, I sure hope my foot (and the rest of me) feels better by then! Preferably by mid-July in time for the Musselman Half!

All in all, it was fun socializing with and cheering on Z mates and meeting up with old (very old!) friends! Looking forward to March 18, 2012!

Happy and Healthy Training!

I did miss my happy puppy...and she was very happy to see me last night! As I was her!!!

ShamROCK on...

2011-03-18T06:46:00.000-07:00

It's time to get my ShamROCK on! In just two hours I am off for the weekend and it will be fun! Tomorrow I will do the Shamrock 8K! However the pesky Shamrock Marathon (but probably not the Whale Challenge) will have to wait till 2012. I plan to have fun cheering on Jeff and my Z'mates and even riding my bike outdoors on Sunday! I even remembered my cowbell this time!

So, regarding the heel hell I've been in... I have not run since the 7.3 miles of the relay I did at the GW Birthday Marathon. The biking/spinning I've done has been good as has the swimming. The time on the elliptical has been a little like hell. For the past couple of months I've beeing getting some ART and seeing very little progress. But I think there is hope. Yesterday was a doozy of a day: my first acupuncture treatment, followed by some chiro and ART, followed by a much needed deep tissue massage, followed by a spur of the moment Kinesio taping of my plantar fascia by Steve at FastTrack for Saturday. (Thanks, Steve!) At the moment, my heel feels pretty good. Really. But I'm not totally holding my breath, just in case. :) Twenty-four hours from now I'll have completed my 8K...and it will be interesting to see just how my heel fares.

Update on Monday...maybe! (Translate = if there's time!)

Happy and Healthy Training!

On a sad note...I'm going to miss Riley, my happy puppy!

Oh heel...

2011-03-04T08:25:00.000-08:00

Happy Friday! It is time for a heel update. I’ve been getting regular ART treatments on my foot. Heck, on my entire lower body, actually. It is apparently a mess. I had *no idea* how tight my muscles were. I’m trying to be extra nice to them... And I will need to continue to be nice to them. Otherwise, my race calendar will have to drastically change! I also ordered a new / different type of orthotic. Those should be in next week and hopefully will make a difference after I break them in. Anyway, after all that - my heel/foot is still sore at times. It definitely hurts in the morning when I walk up. Then sometimes it is just kind of random! I do ice and massage it 2-3 times a day. And I almost always wear shoes with my 'other' orthotics in them.

No running aside, the rest of my training has been going pretty well. I’ve gotten some solid bike rides done on the trainer at home. Three weekends in a row I got in 3, 3 and 2.5 hour rides. Plus I’ve had some good mid week spins. I had an odd thing happen on Wednesday night though – for the first time ever I got a crazy calf cramp 56 minutes into my ride at a hard z4 section. I was transitioning to recovery in 4 minutes so I just switched to recovery then. Strange. This weekend is a Team Z Time Trial at Prince William Forest Park. That is if it is not cancelled due to crazy rainy weather! I am signed up to do it, so it will be fun to see how I compared to the one I did back in I think December. I’m sure I will at least be able to make three full loops!

Recently I’ve had a lot of great swims, too, and I think I’ve been averaging three swims a week. Or at least 2.5! Last weekend I had a workout where I did 10 x 100Y at Threshold pace. My threshold pace from my swim test last month was 1:36/100Y. I actually average 1:33 – the #1 was 1:31, #2-8 were 1:33 and #9-10 were 1:34. I was pretty excited! This weekend I have another swim test – it is supposed to be on Saturday. I hope I can fit it in as I have a CPR class from 9:00-3:00. I’m not sure what time the pool closes that day. If not there is always Sunday afternoon.

So...since I have not been running at all I have been using the dreaded elliptical. I say dreaded because I just can’t seem to get into a good groove on it. Plus I tend to feel my foot on it, too. The JCC has two types of machines – newer Precor and older Life Fitness. I started out on the newer type but have decided recently that the older type works better for me. Oh well, I’ve been averaging about 2 sessions a week on that.

Finally – I’ve done strength training three times in the past two weeks. Woo hoo! I actually saw a little progress on the third session. I am doing the same 7 exercises each time and really trying hard to follow the instructions. It will be fun to see how I progress. One thing I have not really done is work on my cross training exercises: hip openers. I really run out of time on Monday and Wednesday nights, when I’m supposed to do these due to my evening class. But class is over at now the beginning of April. After this my schedule should lighten up a bit. This is a good thing because mid-April brings the beginning of triathlon season!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Foul Heedless Crew...

2011-02-22T07:42:00.000-08:00

Sunday was the GW Birthday Marathon – Relay! It was a perfect day for a relay run, too. But back up to Saturday, first...

Saturday morning I got up early, as usual, because I had a 3 hour spin to get done! The spin was broken up in to about 10 sections though, so that made it (the time that is) go by as I was constantly having to pay attention to my cadence and heart rate. I find if I let my mind wander so will my cadence or heart rate! Once I finished I had a quick snack and cleaned up so I could get over to my son’s Regional Indoor Track Meet. His team (who won the Patriot District two weeks before) was in contention to win the Northern Region! We dropped Patrick off at Noon then had some lunch at Noodles and Company. Mmmmm.

Back to the track meet venue – George Mason University Field House. There were probably kids from about 30-ish schools represented (4 districts with 7-8 schools each). We arrived in time to watch the hurdle finals. And sadly a young woman hurdler caught her foot and hit the ground hard and had to be taken away by ambulance. That sort of put a damper on things. Bummer. Hopefully she is ok. We finally got a place to sit down near the finish line – which is always an exciting place to be! My son’s event finally came up and he had a great race and a PR by taking 2.5 seconds off his time in the 1000. His team ended up in second place after leading most of the meet. It was very exciting stuff! On to Spring Track season! (Though tonight is the team dinner and some kids are headed to States this weekend!)

OK, now on to Sunday morning and the ‘debut’ of team Foul Heedless Crew! The team name was derived as an anagram of the last names of the relay team members: Shuford Welc Leese. Now, I am not smart enough to come up with this on my own and used a free anagram generator I found online!

The race has a leisurely start time of 10:30 AM so we picked up Carol at about 8:00 and headed up to Greenbelt. We arrived in time to stop at Safeway for some snacks. The race director was a little nutty – and going in about 20 directions at once it seemed. But we got checked in and picked up our nice race shirts, bibs, and relay sash. I think as a relay participant we only paid about $16 each to enter and got a really nice shirt out of it! We hung out in the car for a bit before walking Carol over to the start area. After the low key start, Jeff and I headed back to the car so we could drive to the relay exchange point on the course...and the course, which was a lollipop style, had about a 2 mile out before making three loops then heading back. It was a pretty nice set up for relay folks!

Once we arrived at the exchange site (after a little challenge getting there) I only had about an hour to wait before Carol came through. We got to cheer on Caroline and Fabrice from Team Z, too! My goal for the 7.3 miles of my leg was 1:15...and I am happy to say I nailed it in 1:14:56! LOL I was pretty happy with that after not really running since 1/2/11. (I have been doing training on the elliptical though, to keep my foot happy, in addition to the spinning.) I handed off to Jeff then waited for Carol the studette who after handing off to me after 9.7 miles did the 7.3 mile loop for extra mileage in preparation for the Shamrock Marathon next month! Alas, I will have to wait till 2012 to tackle that full course. Carol was pretty much right behind me then she and I drove back to the start area for some refreshments then walked down to the finish area to wait for Jeff. We did not have to wait long! We walked back so Jeff could have his refreshments then chatted with our Z mates. Overall we were 39th out of 55 relays. It was a LOT of fun and I’d definitely do this relay again. Maybe even the entire marathon! It is so easy to get to and well run. And this was the 50th anniversary of the event – the 5th longest running marathon in the nation!

Today as well as yesterday I am pretty sore. Last night I managed to do my elliptical workout and finally got my first weight training session in. Yay!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Wailing over the Whale...

2011-02-09T07:42:00.001-08:00

In case you have not notice the changes to my 2011 Race Calendar, I've withdrawn from the Shamrock Marathon. This means that the Shamrock Whale Challenge is out for me. Boo. My foot is just being super stubborn and I'm basically not running. I've started doing a bit of elliptical work to keep the fitness up though. I've got the biking and swimming down, and will be adding strength training to the mix and a little cross training, too. We will see... So I will go down to the Shamrock weekend and do the 8K. But I have deferred the Marathon till 2012. I was hoping to use Shamrock Whale as a way to gauge racing two days in a row - especially the marathon part. :) This was to give me an idea for the Goofy Challenge for 2012. Oh well, I will still look to signing up for Goofy in 2012 once I know my foot is happy again and will of course take precautions to keep it that way!!

For something different I did sign up for the Jim McDonnell Lake Swims. Yes, swims. I'm going to be brave and race both the 1 mile and the 2 mile. Without a wetsuit! Every time I've done the swim (the 2 mile) I've done it without the wetsuit and survived. I know at least one other person doing both distances. In fact, she is who inspired me to try both - as she always does both. I have not done this event in 7 years. Might as well come back full speed ahead. Or something like that...

Don't forget to check out my donation page for St. Jude Heroes! I'll be racing to raise much needed funds for the St. Jude Children's Research Hospital! St. Jude is pretty amazing. But not nearly as much as they kids they support.

Happy and Healthy Training.

Gina Tris...

2011-02-07T13:39:00.000-08:00

Gina Tris for St. Jude!

I have decided to participate in my next endurance event - Ironman Arizona on November 20, 2011 - as a St. Jude Hero. I have been a St. Jude Partner in Hope for a few years now after I signed up through a radio telethon, but I wanted to do more. My fundraising efforts will directly support the work of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital to find cures and save the lives of children fighting cancer and other deadly diseases, and I am asking for your help!

Please consider donating for a wonderful cause. Please click here for more information or to make a donation.

Thank you!

Shamrock, Week I forget...!

2011-01-28T14:38:00.000-08:00

I really cannot remember which week of training this is. Maybe because I have not really been running. Not much any way. I just checked the calendar and it is Week 5. In case you wondered.

I really probably did try to do too much too soon after being off running since MCM. But my foot felt so great by December 27 that I practically started up like I had never had any time off. And I am paying for it now it seems. My heel hurts a little most of the time. Then I run and while it does not seem to get worse while running, afterwards and the next day I really feel it. Oh well. Tomorrow I am going to try Active Release Technique (ART) on it to see if that helps. I really do not want to get another getting cortisone shot. Oh well, I will just hope for the best. I know the Shamrock Marathon weekend is only 49 days away. Maybe ART will do the trick! Worst case scenario – maybe they will let me down grade to the half. But I’m still hoping for the full!

So, since my last post on January 11 what has happened. Well first, I was supposed to run in a fun location where I’d run before: Key West! Sadly, my foot really, really hurt so that did not happen. I was pretty bummed. I did however do a lot of walking and was not a complete slug! The trip was awesome, the weather perfect, and the wedding I attended just lovely. All worth not running. Returning home though – to slush and wintry mix when we got off the plane - was no fun! The ride home from the airport was trecherous!! And I did not swim for nearly two weeks! But it was good as always to finally get back in the water on Tuesday night. And last Sunday was really cool! I finally got to attend the 3-hour bike spin at the YMCA National Capital! I went with Carol and Pam. I was surprised how fast the time passed, especially since I have not had much time on the bike.

And on a fun note, I’m trying something new¸ training-wise. I’d been talking to a Z-mate, Sally, and she had asked me if I was interested in going in on some group/individual trianing. This will take our Team Z training to another level and add for some personalization for individual strengths and weaknesses. I had actually be thinking about doing something like that but not sure where to get started. After a couple of e-mails and phone calls I am now doing just that!

Last Saturday I went and had a bike VO2 Max test done. Considering my lack of bike time lately (noted above) it was not as horrible as it could have been. And on a positive note, my watts were slightly higher than they were nearly two years ago. Yay! Yesterday I did a swim test to determine my Threshold pace. Then last night I did my first bike work out on the program! Next up – maybe on February 5 – will be my run VO2 Max test. Anyway, between now and then I’ll be following my tailored program and hopefully getting my foot healed all at the same time. (Fingers crossed on the foot…)

This weekend, starting Sunday, great fun is in store! My son Patrick recently found out he was accepted at Auburn University for the Fall 2011 semester. We are going down to Auburn on Sunday afternoon for a couple of days. There is a tour on Monday, hopefully some sightseeing, and a little visit with an old friend. We will return Tuesday afternoon. He is a just little excited…but first he has to run in a couple of events at the Virginia Tech Invitation (Indoor) Track Meet today and tomorrow!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Shamrock , Week Two...

2011-01-11T08:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it was an OK training week, all things considered. I did not run as much, but that’s ok. I realize my heel is not completely healed so I need to be careful. And not run as much/overdo it.

Monday night was Yoga, as usual. It was the first night of the new session! Tuesday morning I accidentally slept in and missed swim practice. Bummer. But then had a very long overdue dinner with a friend that night! But I did get about 4 miles in on Wednesday. Then, on Thursday I not only swam in the morning but got in my very first Team Z spin class at night! And it did NOT snow. Friday I rested, per my schedule. :-) Saturday called for 14 miles. I met up with Carol and Pam to tackle the Mt. Vernon trail. My first time ever running there. And guess what? It snowed! Funny though, it was just starting as we got started. I think we ran in the snow – up to an inch at times – for about an hour. By the time we finished the trail was actually starting to clear. Anyway, I did not do the workout as written (different paces at different times) but just managed to average my long run pace for the entire 14. I’ll take it. Sunday I had signed up for the team time trial down at Prince William Forest Park. But...due to the crazy weather it was called off. I decided to go to morning swim practice then followed that with a 1 hour spin. It was a good training weekend!

So far this week I’ve gone to Yoga and done a 3 mile treadmill run. I hope to swim tonight, but we’ll see what happens with the weather and whether or not swim is cancelled. Personally, I am keeping my fingers crossed because I was really looking forward to swimming tonight! Plus my son has a late class and he and I both don’t want it to get cancelled as the semester just started this week. Tonight is his first night in a new class!

Anyway, this weekend I get to do my long run in a different location. I have run there once before...and am very much looking forward to running there again!

Happy and Healthy Training!

*And I see that it is snowing NOW!!!*

Cool Giveaway!

2011-01-07T07:39:00.000-08:00

Heather from "Run Faster Mommy" is giving away a very cool water bottle!

Check this out!!

Back later with my Friday update...I hope!

Happy & Healthy Training!!

Shamrock, Week One...

2011-01-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Happy New Running Year! It feels so good to be running again! Well, what can I say – without jinxing myself – week one went pretty well. I can’t believe I hadn’t really run (outside the Doggie Dash and the Santa Shuffle) for 2 months! Of course, I did modify the week’s workouts some. My two runs during the week were both shortened slightly. And on Friday I completely forgot the core work! I did however spend an hour and 15 minutes in the pool. It was not constant swimming but easy stuff and working with Jeff on stroke development. So I actually swam 4 times last week – JCC 1x and Z 2x. But I did not get on the bike. At all.

On Saturday morning Carol picked me up for a race in Leesburg. The REHAU Resolution 10K. We did a 2 mile warm-up, then a 10k, and then I did a 2 mile cool down while Carol the stud did the 4 mile workout. Sunday morning I ran another 5k – the BRATS Frozen 5K. Fortunately it was not frozen! After week one I do feel my heel a bit, but it is nothing bad. I’m continuing to ice and stretch it, just to be on the safe side. I feel my legs after all this running though. And it is a wonderful feeling!!!

Speaking of biking, I see there is a time trial coming up on Sunday. My last ride (!) was at the team time trial on December. So bad, I can't remember when it was! I made it two of three loops. Gee... I must do better! I am on the waiting ist for the 3-hour spin at the YMCA for Sunday. If I do not get into the spin I guess I will plan for the TT. It will do me good! I think I will plan for the Thursday night spin at Bonzai... I wonder if they are calling for snow, like the last time.

Anyway, today starts week two of Shamrock training, and I’m ready for it!!!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Let the training begin!

2010-12-29T06:26:00.000-08:00

Marathon training, that is. Monday, December 27 marked day 1 of 12 weeks of marathon training! And - funny enough - my schedule did NOT call for running! I did Yoga on Monday! :) My heel got another couple days of rest because Tuesday was a rest day – and I was told to ‘enjoy every minute of it’ – which I mostly did because I swam in the morning. Today I *finally* get to run! My schedule calls for 8 miles (gulp-it’s been a while):

4 miles @ 10:35 / Long Run Pace, last 4 miles at 8:50 / Half Marathon Pace

Well, I’m certain the first 4 miles will be no problem, based on the fact that I did manage a 5K on 12/4. At least I hope they are not! I will then take the next 4 miles one mile at a time. I plan to do this run on the treadmill so I can control the speed. That is, keep myself on target! Thursday calls for an interval run of 8 x 1/2 mile with 2 minutes rest at 8:33 pace... Then thankfully Friday is a day off with some core thrown in. I can certainly use some core work!

Then...THIS weekend I am actually doing back to back races. Not saying I will actually ‘race’ them though! Saturday I have 12 miles (yikes) scheduled. I am entered in a 10K with Carol. We are doing 2 miles for a warm-up at long run pace, then the 10K at marathon pace, then 4 miles broken up by 2 at threshold pace and 2 at marathon pace. I will take it one section at a time... Sunday calls for a 35 minute skill run (this will be my easy 5K) plus 8 x 20 second strides. Hopefully I can do the strides after my run right at the race site. Should be a FUN weekend!

Speaking of FUN... My friend Carol is loaning me P90X. I am going to try to do a P90X challenge starting on 1/3. I have no idea how this will all fit in with my marathon training, but I will do the best I can. Maybe I will do the P90X-ish Challenge!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Of course it snowed...

2010-12-17T09:16:00.000-08:00

Yesterday, there was snow in the forecast. They were calling from anywhere from a dusting to 3 inches...

Yesterday I was getting up early to swim. Yay! And I got up extra early so I could actually pack my bike, trainer, and bike stuff in the car. All this so I could go to the Team Z spin at Bonzai after work! I was prepared to stay late and read a book that I've been reading for about 2 months now. I had not yet been to a spin, even though I've wanted to go. Honestly, I always found it too stressful to have all that stuff ready each time. But I really wanted to try to get there this season. Really! After all, Ironman Arizona is only 337 days and some odd hours away!

So...OF COURSE IT SNOWED!!

Schools got out 2 hours early.

Coach Ed said they'd decide by 2PM.

And wouldn't you know it...spin was cancelled.

The snow was my fault.

Haha - not really, I know, but...really!?!

So last night I went home and out of retalitation I did NOT spin. Just kidding. Well, kidding about retaliating! I did shovel the snow AND unload all of my bike stuff. Besides, I am still on 'training vacation' until Monday, December 27. Then there are no excuses! That is the first day of my 12 week marathon training program. Shamrock Whale Challenge, here I come! I am really very excited to start running again! So much so that I've been a race registering fool! This week alone I've signed up for a 10K on 1/1, a 5K on 1/2 (back to back, I know - I'm crazy, but it is New Year's weekend and I have no time goals), a maraton relay for 2/20, and just today I registered for the Team Z summer "A" race weekend. I will be doing the Musselman half on July 17, 2011! Jeff is doing it too and we are both very excited. It will be our first tri together!

My foot/heel is still feeling amazingly well. Like nothing was ever wrong, in fact. I'm still icing a bit and stretching a bit, and not walking barefoot. Aside from two short times in dress shoes and boots I have only been wearing my running shoes with the custom orthotics. Both of my feet should be happy!

Only ten more days of no running - yay!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Shuffle Success!

2010-12-10T08:59:00.000-08:00

Last Saturday was the Santa Shuffle, a Team Z race! I decided a couple of weeks before that this would be...fun. And a good way to test my foot.

I'm happy - thrilled is more like it - that the Santa Shuffle, and the test of my foot, was a success! My foot did not hurt at all! Outside of the fact that both feet were freezing due to the cool temps. OK, it was below freezing I think, who are we kidding! We got to the race site quite early – but we got in and out of packet pickup without having to wait in the line outside in the cold! Back to the car for some heat. I stepped out to use the port o potty - no lines and it was actually warmer in the john than outside! Then I got a cup of coffee from the Z tent and headed back to the car for a bit. It was finally time to get outside and sort of get ready to race. By then more Z'ers were showing up.

The race started at 8:30 and at around 8:15, as promised, they walked us over to the start. I had worn a couple of jingle bells with my 'costume' picture above. Someone in the race was handing out more - so I took two to add to my collection. You would be able to hear me coming, that's for sure! I was hanging out with Jeff, Marlene, Harriet, and Jason before the start. The race started in a kind of quiet manner. Oh well, it was a small event. The course was out-and-back in a neighborhood and at times it was a bit narrow - especially with the piles of leaves and the parked cars. Fortunately I did not trip!

I started out slow and comfortable and decided I would try to pick it up at the turn around. During the out part there is a nice hill that you go down and I hit the 1 mile point along here. Needless to say my mile 2 split was much better than the first! I was feeling good as well and as I approached the turn around saw lots of teammates. Around the turn around and saw more z'mates! I did my best to push up that hill and while I think I slowed some I did pass some people. As I got close to the turn to the finish I got a shout out for my jingle bells, too! At the finish I stopped my watch and discovered I'd managed to break 30 minutes. Just barely, but I was pretty happy since I'd not run in 34 days!

After a quick post race snack Jeff and I met Marlene, Harriet, and Jason (is there a pattern here?) at the Starbucks. I had a delicious and somewhat earned Peppermint Mocha Soy Latte! It was delicious!
Later on at home I checked the results and my official time was 29:51.3 and I was 6 of 18 women in my age group. I was really happy with that! Out of women I was 97 of 327. And strange enough, there were more female finishers than male, which I think is unusual.

Anyway, I saw the foot doc this week and while he made a face over my race he was very pleased with my progress. And my foot still feels good! I'm going to take it easy till just after Christmas. On Monday, December 27 I am good to go to start marathon training. Shamrock weekend here I come!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Shuffle time...

2010-11-30T12:00:00.000-08:00

It’s almost time to shuffle...but before the shuffle I have a heel update. I got the awesome cortisone shot on Tuesday after work – one week ago. It was pretty painful. After the shot they surprised me with a wonderful little foot whirlpool bath followed by ultra sound. It was pretty tender for a few days but on Sunday morning I woke up with NO pain. I got out of bed and stepped and nothing. It was amazing!! Tonight I go back for more therapy on my heel. Yay! Hopefully in another week or so my orthotics should be ready, too!

This coming weekend – Saturday that is – I am going to try to run, most likely easy, at the Santa Shuffle! This is a 5K that Team Z has on the calendar and there is a team brunch after. It should all be fun. Worst case scenario – if the running hurts, I will walk. Besides, I have some fun, new head-boppers to wear! Priscilla, a Z'er, is my inspiration! And if we were not doing the brunch after I would bring Riley. She needs to go to another Z event! I swear she is twice as big as she was at the Doggie Run.

Speaking of Riley, we have had her for 1 month and 20 days now. She has grown a LOT, but...her baby teeth are still there. I know they will soon be leaving us... But regardless of the really annoying teeth, she is really a cutie and we still love having her. One of the cats is somewhat playing with her, too. >^..^< So funny. The other cat – meh. So not going to happen!

I cannot believe that tomorrow is December 1! I have not put up a tree – and will likely save that till the weekend before the actual day, just for Riley’s sake. Or is that for mine? I did put a few general decorations up though. I might do some things this weekend, if there is time...but it will probably have to wait to the weekend after because this weekend is slammed with stuff.

Anyway, the Monday after Christmas marks my official start of marathon training! I’m so excited to be doing the Shamrock down in Virginia Beach. I did the half there last year and so I at least know half the course! One thing I do know about the entire course...is that it is flat! Except for that one little spot... Since I'm signed up for the 'Whale Challenge' I'm pretty sure the marathon training will get me ready for the 8K the day before! And I hopefully will be doing some training with Carol, who inspired me by doing hte Dolphin Challenge (8K and Half) last year, and it will be fun to have company on some of the long runs! And Jeff is venturing into the scene and will be doing the half. Great fun!

Now it is almost time for my heel therapy!

Happy and Healthy Training!

On November 20, 2011...

2010-11-23T05:32:00.000-08:00

...I'll be toeing the line at Ironman Arizona along with a bunch of my friends from Team Z! Who needs Cozumel anyway? (Read Es's Thursday 13 and you'll know what I mean...)

So, I must get this heel fixed, pronto! And speaking of my heel, today I go back to the podiatrist for the highly anticipated (ha-ha) cortisone shot! Yesterday, in addition to signing up for IM AZ I signed up for the Santa Shuffle, a 5K race the team is doing on December 4. Jeff is doing it as well. I'm thinking positively here! And I'm also getting those custom orthotics, hopefully they'll be ready in another couple weeks! *fingers crossed*

Since, according to my newest countdown timer, the aforementioned IM AZ is only 361 days away, I'd better get back on my bike/trainer and get back into the water. I will ease back into run training next month...

Here's to Happy and Very Healthy Training!!

Oh heel...

2010-11-19T09:30:00.000-08:00

Well, yesterday was two weeks since I saw the podiatrist. And yesterday after work I went back to see him again. I've been icing and stretching pretty consistently since my first visit. And to my surprise, I have made a small amount of progress. That is, the inside/side of my right heel does not seem to hurt any longer. But the bottom of it - ouch. It still really hurts. I had mentioned to him that when it had been taped it felt pretty good. So last night they made impressions of both of my feet for custom orthotics! I guess I'm excited - it seems every one I know that runs has them. And some people seem surprised that I don't have them. Lucky me - I never needed them before. Before now that is.

Before I left their office last night the assistant taped my foot again. And of course, my foot feels better. Again. The doctor made one other suggestion - a cortisone shot. Right in my heel. Yikes! I did not want to do it last night though as I had a very important date at 12:01AM this morning. Yes, I met two of my friends (Marlene and Chris) at the theater at about 10:00PM last night for the 12:01AM premiere of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Part 1! I loved it and can't wait for Part 2. But apparently I have to wait till July. Hmm... Anyway, I did not want or need anything distracting me from the show!

But back to my foot... I am happy that part of it is feeling better. I'm hoping that the cortisone shot next week will speed things up and that I'll be able to run a 5K on December 4 with Team Z - the Santa Shuffle! Now, I've definitely decided against the Blue & Gray Half Marathon on December 12. But I just might consider the 5K - like last year. I will see how the shuffle goes first...

This weekend I'm off to Philadelphia with my younger son to visit Temple University, my son's second choice. We may visit his first choice in January... First though we are possibly visiting Elite Cycles in town, then meeting and staying with my cousin who lives close by and having Philly Cheesesteaks! My older son gets a weekend with Riley!

Speaking of Riley...she is now three months old. And while we thought she was all Lab, the more we look at her the more it seems her ears want to stand up! There was a possibility that the 'father' was a German Shepard...and since her mom is a Chocolate Lab that could make her a German Chocolate Retriever! I'll have to get a good picture of her and her ears soon!

A new venture...?

2010-11-12T12:23:00.000-08:00

Now you can find me here!

This is new and as I really get started - likely next week - I'll probably start blogging more about it.

So...yesterday was one week after having seen the runner podiatrist. I must say, I left the tape on for just over 3 days. My foot felt so much better with the tape on. However, aside from one day, I've done a really good job of icing the bad spots 3x a day and stretching it 2x a day. My fot was a bit sore yesterday - but I did spend a lot of time on my feet, at home, going through various boxes and cleaning. Thursday next week (November 18) I go back for a follow-up. I am keeping my fingers crossed! I have decided I probably will not do the turkey trot - unless by a couple days before it is feeling really good. But...there is a 5K that my team is doing on December 4 - followed by a team brunch/holiday party. I think I would be better off waiting another week and a half after Thanksgiving to do the 5k. Then I can hopefully have been training a bit qand do it for time so I can get my baseline for my upcoming marathon training.

Happy and Healthy Training!

“Race” Report: The Dash Doggie Run

2010-11-08T09:47:00.000-08:00

NOTE: The Dash 5K and 1 Mile Doggie Run Benefitted the Washington Animal Rescue League!

Team Z recently added a 5K and fun doggie run to the 2010 fall/winter team calendar. The doggie run was to be a whole mile long, and even though Riley and I don’t go for walks more than quarter mile I signed us up!

Fast Forward to race morning! Luckily it was even time for the clocks to “fall back” on Saturday night. However, Riley was still up and at em quite early! I think she was excited about her first race!! I fed her on schedule, hoping she would take care of any ‘pre-race’ business in our yard, before we left the house. We were in the car by 6:35 for an 8:00 start! Of course, packet pick-up/check-in started at 7:30. And I wanted to stop by Starbucks for a much needed soy latte. Then we were really off!

Riley sat/lay in Jeff’s lap for the ride. She does pretty well in a lap, as opposed to the cat crate.

>^..^<

We made really good time and only made one wrong turn – and THAT was at a traffic circle. Fortunately the Garmin got us back on course. Oh, then I missed the turn to the park, too, but I fixed that on my own. We saw signs for the The Dash 5K and knew we were in the right place. We parked and quickly found Ed, Zoe, and the rest of Team Z that was there. Ed was awesome – he even provided coffee and bagels! Oh, and there was DIET COKE (Carol and Priscilla)!

I thought Riley might have to do some ‘business’ once we got out of the car on to the grass, but she was too busy checking out all the people and dogs! She met Zoe, and cool spaniel named Booker, and a lot of other dogs – like George and Nala! And a lot of people, too! I got us checked in and picked up a poo bag, just in case. Riley also got a really cute bandana. I picked out one that had cats on it.

The race was starting at 8:00 as mentioned and they played the Star Spangled Banner before the start. Riley tried to sing along. (She needs to work on this.) I seeded us at the back of the pack because (1) she was not the best at walking on the leash – hey, she’s not even 3 months old and still learning; and (2) we’d never walked more than about a quarter mile (if that) at a time. I figured worst case scenario I’d carry her. She only weighs 23.3 pounds (as of the day before at the vet) and I could handle that.

The gun fired and we were off! Riley walked and whimpered, but kept on going in a mostly forward motion at my urging. At times we even mixed in a little bit of running! It was awesome! It was also awesome that the first half of the out and back course was a downhill! But you know what that means – the return would be UPHILL! Riley ‘met’ a lot of dogs along the way – my favorite was a male Westie named Jackson (and his canine friend Harper the Carin) – and made it to the turn around. She did stop for a pee part way through the first half and lost some time. (I wish it was that easy for us humans!)

Time to go around the turn around sign and back up that hill! Things were going real well and she really was getting the hang of things. Then... she stopped to do more ‘business’. The kind that required cleaning up after! No problem – I had that poo bag and was able to clean up after her. Then we were back on our way! Turns out Riley wasn’t the only one to stop to doo-doo the same thing! I think on our way back up we managed to pass a few pups that passed us on the way down! As we approached the finish line the announced noted that I was there with “Young Riley”! She got all excited!!

We made it back to the Z area and Riley promptly plopped down for a short snooze while watched the 5K get started. It was time for my Diet Coke – then Riley got a homemade dog treat made by “The Dog Chef”! Team Z really cleaned up at this race! And they had the same fun hill to run up at the end, too! Thanks, Ed, for adding it to the calendar! Finally, it was time to head out...

Riley was one tired pup when we got home!

Race Report: MCM...

2010-11-02T09:45:00.000-07:00

The 35th Marine Corps Marathon was on Sunday, October 31st. Halloween! So before the race there was packet pickup and Halloween fesitivites!

Packet Pick-Up opened at 9:00AM and my plan was to get there when it opened. Despite the throngs of people heading downtown for the crazy rally, travel by Metro was not too bad. For us. We were waiting in line to get in by 8:45AM. Packet Pick-Up was pretty cool. I'm a goober and I loved the M*A*S*H themed Brooks Running Athlete Support Hospital, or B*R*A*S*H. There wasn't a line so we both did a gait analysis and ended up with a B*R*A*S*H t-shirt and Brooks bandana.

I got the t-shirt and Jeff gave the bandana to Riley. Maybe she can wear it on Sunday to the doggie run! :) At the expo I did buy an awesome MCM 2010 fleece and some Brooks shoes and a cool aluminum water bottle. Then visited a few other booths - Flying Pig and Chica Bands in particular. I got two cute Flying Pig stickers and a pig Chica Band. I'm set for the Flying Pig now!
So after the expo we headed back home to get ready for the 'carbo loading Halloween themed party' at Carol and Tim's. Carol rocked her Abba outfit and Tim’s pimp outfit was just awesome. Marlene had some cool black wings with black lips and nails. Priscilla’s candy ransom t-shirt was pretty cute. Jeff and I had fun with our costumes. He was a CSI-ish officer while I was NCIS's Abby-twin. At least that is what we were going for!

Now on to the the 35th Marine Corps Marathon! First off, so far this week my left quad is sore. Very sore, actually, compared to my right one, which is not sore at all. It was overcompensating for my right heel, I think! Funny, my heel feels back to normal today. Well what is normal for it. Of course.

On race morning, I got to the Metro around 5:30 where I ate my English muffin with peanut butter. Got on a train and to the Pentagon without any mishaps. The walk to the Runners Village was longer than I'd have liked but...I just took it slow. I ate my banana here and started on my bottle of Gatorade. It was still pretty dark but they did have Jumbo Trons out there to help guide us where we needed to go! And even though I'd managed to get a Brooks VIP Pass I made a quick stop at a clean portapotty (very well stocked with TP by the way) before heading over to take off my warm clothes and do the bag drop. At this point it was 6:55 and I slowly started walking towards the starting area, dropping the empty Gatorade bottle along the way.

On the way to the start I did go to the Brooks VIP Bathrooms. The heat felt nice, the cramped quarters, not so much. But the Brooks imprinted toilet paper was pretty funny! "Run Happy" I slowly continued on my way to the start area and now ate my Lemon Sublime Gu and started in on the water. Still walking I came upon more portapotties with no line. I opted to stop as at least now it was light out. Again, very clean and well stocked! So...I got into my corral and continued to sip on the water. And of course, I needed to take yet another potty break. I walked back towards the potties and found some with no lines. Again - clean and well stocked. I think some of the triathlon races could learn something from this (Eagleman)...

Back to my corral where I waited and the festitivites were starting. I missed the F-18 flyover. I'm not sure WHY I did not look up. I did hear them though! However I did see the Helicopters. CH-somethings. Maybe 53? (I had to Google it.) Very cool.

I really love the Patriotic nature of this event - just like the Army 10 Miler. It makes me proud and happy to be here, in America. Often makes me wish I never left the Air Force Reserves. Better yet, that I was career Air Force. Oh well...

Anyway, I finally got to start! I had a pace plan around my arm. Had I not had bronchitis and missed a key long run and other training runs (two weeks worth!), nor had a sore heel, I think this would have been totally doable, as my training had gone fantastically. Until I got sick. There is always the next one! Anyway, pretty much the first half went almost exactly how my pace plan was written. The article Carol sent me on pacing that particular race really helped! Of course, not long after my foot started hurting. I stopped at the halfway point to use another well stocked and clean portapotty. I continued on my way and dropped the pace a bit. I decided I did not want to worry about a finish time anyway because I was happy to be out there. I think I managed to run till mile 15 or 16 without really walking. I did start taking walk breaks, but funny, things (except my heel) felt better when I was running.

Well it was finally time to cross over that darned bridge! I saw Seb there!! On into Crystal City I saw Holly and Janet and Rich. A little further along was Marlene and Carol on the other side of the street - I hit them on the way back. In the final stretch I saw Priscilla and Tracey then a little further along Es and some others (sorry everyone else, but Es and her IM Switzerland shirt stood out!!). Finally I went up the hill to the finish and there I saw Jeff, Lisa and her son Tyler. I got my lovely space blanket then my medal. Now...this part was brutal. After getting the medal we were herded towards the Finisher's Festival. This in itself is just great. But we were moving so slowly I was feeling sick. I really needed to move! I was going from hot to cold and back. On and off went the space blanket. Finally things opened up and I headed towards the "W" section to 'link up' with Jeff, Lisa, and Tyler. I stopped at another clean and well stocked portapotty once finally in the link up area. Then I sat on a curb and waited for them. I waited about 5-10 mintues when Lisa and Tyler appeared. Turns out they had been waiting for me at the UPS trucks thinking I would stop there for my bag. Um, I had arranged with JEFF to meet at the "W" so...I was in the right spot.

So I did see a few other Z peeps both on the course and cheering. I was only wearing a Z cap - no other Z stuff. And cat ears of course for my costume. Seeing ALL the Z peeps out there was awesome, as always!

Here I am in the last mile. Thanks, Tracey!

So my finish time was 5:15:15! Isn't that a pretty cool time? I think it is kind of fun!! Not sure why I didn't take a picture of the medal...

On a positive note, I'm seeing my primary care doctor today and I have an appointment with a runner podiatrist on Thursday afternoon. Hopefully my foot will be truly happy again very soon. And like Brooks says, I can Run Happy. Maybe in time so that I can still run the Virginia Run Turkey Trot and Blue & Gray Half Marathon this year! But more importantly, to get in shape for all the fun stuff getting lined up for 2011!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 15 – MCM Training...

2010-10-27T05:47:00.000-07:00

This is the 16th and FINAL week of Marine Corps Marathon training. And today is T-4 days to the big event! Yikes! So far I have not run this week but plan to do yesterday's run today after work. I skipped yesterday's because (1) I worked later than normal; and (2) I had a very important Girls' Night Out with some Team Z Ironman ladies! It was fun and worth it. Besides, my heel needs all the 'rest' it can get before Sunday. So, tonight should be a very easy 3 mile run.

So, back to week 15... Well, I skipped one run last week - the tempo run - as I just did not want to chance hurting my heel any more than necessary. But I did add some sprinting during a run though the neighborhood. Saturday during the run it felt good, especially after the first 10 minutes of running. Saturday afternoon, however, my heel hurt. Sunday my heel hurt and both feet were tired. But I also spent a lot of the day walking around. Walking around Kings Dominion! The park was not crowded at all then starting at 6PM they have their “Halloween Haunt” attractions open. I am such a wimp! I don’t like scary movies and I really don’t like haunted houses. But it was fun and I would do it again – and likely will. Next year! As we bought season passes for 2011, so that will be included.

So here is last week's training:

10/19/10 Run - easy spiral loop in the hood, 4.08 miles
10/21/10 Swim - JCC Masters, PM, 1.62 miles
10/22/10 Run - neighborhood loop with some sprints, 3.43 miles
10/23/10 Run - easy out and back-ish, 7.82 miles
10/24/10 Swim - JCC Masters, 1.55 miles

So far this week my heel feels fine. I'm trying to be nice to it. And since this week's training calls for a tempo run, I probably will not do it so I can continue to be 'nice' to my heel. Hopefully an easy run tonight, easy run Friday, Expo and Halloween party on Saturday afternoon - with time off my feet as much as possible, then Sunday = race day! Yikes!!

Speaking of the Halloween party...Fellow Z'er Christy gave me a great idea for a costume - an Ironman finisher! (Thanks, Christy!!) She said he did that at work last year. And since I have all the gear...

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 14 – MCM Training...

2010-10-21T10:35:00.000-07:00

Well, today is T-10 days till the BIG day – the Marine Corps Marathon. Yikes! I’ve been ‘trying’ to following my training plan this week and so far, ‘eh’. Let’s go back to Saturday.

So, the ‘plan’ called for a 12 mile run at 10:38. I did 12 miles at 11:07. Given my 2 week unscheduled break AND my sore heel this is what I ended up with – and I’ll take it. However, Sunday I managed to go out and run another 3.5 miles at 10:48 with NO heel pain then I swam 3000 meters in a little over an hour. I skipped the Monday run as my heel was again sore (I think it was my work shoes) and went on Tuesday instead and all things felt ‘ok’. I had also worn different shoes to work that day. I skipped my tempo run last night – 5 miles total with 3 at tempo of 9:06 in favor of resting. I was tired and my heel hurt again which was weird because yesterday I stayed home from work – because the plumber was there doing important stuff! Anyway, today the heel feels OK, but I may hold off till tomorrow morning, when I will be home till about 10:15AM at which time I will take my son to a follow-up doctor appointment.

OK --> I was bummed the other week because I had bronchitis. Well...my high school senior son has pneumonia. Bummer. Major bummer. Next week is the last week of the grading period, plus this week - tonight in fact - is the last 'tune-up' race for cross country. Next week is the District Tournement and he is supposed to go as an alternate...

Anyway, regarding my heel: my running shoes now feel great – new shoes, new inserts! I’m really having problems with my work shoes. I’m not wearing heels (Carol!), just regular-type shoes I wear with pants. I’m not sure WHAT about them is bugging it. Oh well, I will get this figured out!

All in all I’ve felt ok with my workouts since Saturday. I can’t believe that as of tomorrow I’ll be in single digit days left till race day! I’m actually excited! I mean I’m nervous about my heel, but still excited about the race. And I’m looking forward to the expo! I’m just trying to stay very positive in general. If my heel is bad after the race, and even if it is not, I will most likely see about getting it looked out. I have so much I want to do and it will certainly be ‘easier’ (which is relative) if the heel feels better! I’m trying to figure out my 2011 race calendar! So far this is what I’ve got:

03/19/2011 – Shamrock ‘Whale Challenge' – 8K on Saturday
03/20/2011 – Shamrock ‘Whale Challenge' –Marathon on Sunday
05/01/2011 – Flying Pig HALF Marathon

Hopefully some Team Z races!

Then, if I get in:

11/20/2011 – Ironman Arizona

I also plan to take a road trip to Lake Placid in July with Carol and who knows who else. I want to volunteer (and cheer) and sign up for Ironman Lake Placid for 2012. And looking further at 2012, I want to become Goofy in 2012! But...I just found out it is still open for 2011...

Happy and Healthy Training!

MCM Training – or lack there of...

2010-10-13T08:53:00.000-07:00

I have not blogged in weeks! Lately, things have not been going all that well...

After a successful Wilson Bridge Half Marathon on September 19 I rested a couple of days, then did an easy run, then did my regularly scheduled weekend long run, on September 25. My plan called for 16 miles. My plan was to do three loops x 5.5 miles from Wakefield Park around Lake Accotink and back, for a total of 16.5 miles. Well, I felt pretty good going into it. The first loop was fantastic and the second not too bad. I met up with Jeff at the start of the second – he was mountain biking around and would catch up with me here and there. The third loop was just miserable however! My legs were a little sore but my right heel was killing me. Seriously KILLING me. I had stupidly(!) worn an older pair of shoes that day. What was I thinking? Oh, wait...apparently I wasn’t! Anyway, I took a few stop/walk breaks during the third and final loop, once to talk to Leanne and another to talk to Jill both Team Z-mates who were out there training, plus I just walked up a couple of hills. I really struggled to finish that last loop. But finish I did.

That night I went to a concert and everything seemed just fine. I can’t remember if I swam on Tuesday morning, but on Wednesday I volunteered at back to school night (my final one!) selling spirit wear then I visited each of my son’s classes. The next day I was feeling pretty bad. I skipped swim and went home from work early. I did stay the entire day on Friday, but Friday we close early. Anyway, I was supposed to do the Maryland Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday (10/3) but was just plain miserable. So I skipped it. Bummer.

Then I went back to work Monday and again left early. Tuesday I called in sick and made a doctor’s appointment. I’d been running a fever of 101* but my lungs were clear. I continued with the fever which was now 102* and aches and pains and by Thursday I’d developed bronchitis, as I went back to the doctor that afternoon. At this point I got an antibiotic and continued to rest. A lot.

The following week, last week, I went back to work but worked shortened days each day. This past Saturday (10/9) I finally went out for a test run. I did about 7.5 miles (not the 20 that I was supposed to). It had been 2 full weeks since I’d run. My right heel was still hurting. I did wear my ‘normal’ running shoes, this time. At that point the Marine Corps Marathon was 22 days away!! OMG. Saturday afternoon I went out and got some new/different shoe inserts and purchased ‘The Strassburg Sock’ to see if wearing it at night helped my heel pain. (The guy at =PR= also recommended new shoes, but I already had a brand spanking new pair at home that I'd planned to start using after the MCM.) Then Saturday late afternoon we (me, Jeff, the boys) drove to Pennsylvania for our NEW PUPPY, Riley!

Riley the Puppy, from Acme, PA!

Up in Pennsylvania the guys all went out ‘spotting’ (they saw about 107 deer and other various critters) while the girls stayed in with the puppies. Sunday was a good day – we went to a bingo tournament to benefit the Kerri Welc Memorial Scholarship Fund. Kerri was my cousin who in 1994 was sadly killed by a drunk driver about 2 weeks before her 19th birthday. She was a college freshman attending on a basketball scholarship. So very sad. But it is wonderful that my aunt and uncle started this scholarship fund. They award the scholarship to two local female students each year to help with college. One of the girls who had received this year’s award was there playing bingo, too. I played about 30 rounds of bingo, 25 of the rounds were 12 cards each!! I did not win a single game! I did win a door prize though – I got a pretty orange mum! Hopefully I can get it in the ground before I kill it. Then maybe it will come back next year! After bingo we brought Riley home. She did wonderfully in the car for nearly 4 hours!

So this week I FINALLY feel ‘normal’. My energy level is much better, though I’m pretty tired at night. And wearing the sock has helped my heel a bit. However...Sunday morning (10/10), I had woken up with a funny knee pain, kind of under the knee cap. Like it needed to pop. I don’t recall doing anything to it...other than I tripped going down the stairs Saturday morning. Then I ran *only* 7.5 miles. Then drove about 4 hours in the car. Who knows? It really bugged me! By Monday after work it was really hurting! But, yesterday and last night it was better and I did manage a 3 mile run, using the brand spanking new shoes and inserts. Today my schedule calls for 8 miles including speed work of 4x1600 with 800 jogs along with a warm-up and cool down. So...I will again strap on my brand new running shoes with the new inserts, hop on the treadmill, and do the best I can.

So now, the MCM is just 17 days and X hours away now. I feel like my fitness level has really dropped. But I know I have a good base (thanks for the reminder, Carol). So I will go out there and just do the best I can. At this point I don’t know if I will plan for the Richmond Half or not, which I had been thinking about, as opposed to the local Veteran’s Day 10K. I will see how I feel the week after MCM. I do however still want to do the Blue & Gray Half with Carol. Only this year it won’t be on her birthday. I did the 5K last year while Carol did the half. In the rain. My runner son may do the 5K this year!

Of course, just a little over a month away is the Virginia Run Turkey Trot. Hard to believe Thanksgiving is that close! And this year I hope to do a New Year’s Eve or Day race. Have to see what is on the calendar. I’m keeping positive about my heel and my knee.

Happy and Healthy Training!!

Week 10 + Race Report: Wilson Bridge Half Marathon...

2010-09-22T05:38:00.000-07:00

First week 9 ended with me opting to not do the Reston Oly. Race morning I awoke to rain. I’d already raced (Columbia Oly) in the rain this season. And now I was a lot closer to my true “A” race, the Marine Corps Marathon. I really did not want to chance anything bad happening out there. So since my bike was not racked ahead of time, I talked myself out of going. Looking at the results later in the week it looked like others did the same as there were not the usual amount of finishers. Stupid rain.

So, last week was a ‘new’ week – meaning I was trying to get ‘back on track’ with marathon training! All in all I had a pretty good week. I did not do things exactly as scheduled, but it was a fairly solid training week, ending with a half marathon race – the inaugural Wilson Bridge Half! This was actually my third inaugural race of the year. Funny! You can read about my first and second inaugural races in case you are curious... Anyway, back to week 10.

Monday – 5.02 mile run
Tuesday – 1.34 mile swim, 4.02 mile run
Wednesday – 5.12 mile run, with some speed work
Thursday – 3 mile run
Friday – rest
Saturday – rest/packet pick-up
Sunday – Wilson Bridge Half Marathon 13.1 miles; 3.5 mile run (3)/walk (.5)

Total Run Miles – 33.76

Now on to the half marathon... I decided to run this race because (1) it sounded kind of cool, running over the bridge AND being an inaugural event; (2) because the company* I work for has had folks assigned to the bridge renovation project since it started way back in 1997, which is also pretty cool; and finally (3) as an employee of this company I was able to attend both of the opening ceremonies in 2006 and 2008 of each span. So I'd actually walked upon each span before they were opened to general traffic.

My friend Marlene from Team Z also signed up and another old childhood friend did as well. On race morning we ran into a few other Z-mates, too! Race morning was cool-ish out and a perfect morning for a run! Now, I've never run the GW Parkway Classic (or whatever it is) but I'd heard the course was friendly and this course was a net downhill. My goal for the race was 2:15, slightly faster than my Shamrock Half time from March.

The course immediately started on a little down hill and I think the bulk of the first 8 miles was mostly in the shade. There were small groups of people cheering along the parkway, too, which was nice and while I did not need to stop at the water stops (I carried my own), they all seemed pretty friendly as well. The biggest 'hill' on the course was of course the bridge itself. And actually, that was not too bad. After crossing and coming back down you did have to go up and over the pedestrian walkway but again, not too bad. Finally you got on to the property at National Harbor and again a little 'uphill' but not too bad. The last mile-ish of the course switched from pavement to gravel and dirt! Kind of unexpected but not too awful. Glad I've continued to do my ankle strengthening exercises! Finally the last 1/10-ish switched back to the waterfront walkway at the harbor to the finish line. And it was a pretty cool finish! There were lots of folks lining the finish area.

So I took advantage of the net downhill and managed to run my second fastest (2:07:23) half marathon time ever. I was pretty psyched! And the very best thing was that I ran the entire 13.1 miles. Yes, I did not walk one step until after I'd crossed the finish line. I was very stoked about that! After I got through the finisher's area I found my childhood friend and found a place to get a latte. Then I hung out to see Marlene come through the finish. Despite her serious lack of training(!) she pulled off a great race! Yay Marlene!!

This week is so far so good. I did take Monday off as my legs were feeling the effects of a hard effort at the half marathon. Tuesday morning I swam 1.34 miles and rested in the evening. I started today (Wednesday) with a 5.02 mile treadmill run. Yay!

Week 11 training is supposed to look like this:

Monday – 8 easy miles (I took off)
Tuesday – rest! (I swam)
Wednesday – 7 miles, tempo of 5 (I did 5 easy miles)
---------------------
Thursday – 7 easy miles (I expect to swim as well)
Friday – rest!
Saturday – 16 miles – long run
Sunday – rest (I hope to get in a very easy run <5>

Week 12 training looks like this:

Monday - 8 easy miles
Tuesday - rest
Wednesday - 8 easy miles
Thursday - 7 easy miles
Friday - rest
Saturday - 7 easy miles
Sunday - rest (This is the Race for the Cure day!)

Yay for a recovery week!

So, I'm very excited about the upcoming Maryland Komen Race for the Cure. Two old friends of mine have signed up for it as well, and one is bringing two of her daughters! We are planing to have a slumber party the night before at the one's house and hopefully race morning I will be able to meet up with my family doing the walk portion (which starts at 8:30) afterwards as the run starts at 8:00 and I am of course planning to push and see what kind of 5K time I can get. If I remember correctly from last year it is not a particularly hilly course! Of course, I don't want to go and jinx myself, but...there's nothing wrong with hoping!

If you would like to support Komen and this amazing cause, please consider signing up to run or walk or just make a donation. No amount is too small. Click here to go to my personal donation page.

Happy and Healthy Training!

*Note: My company's website is currently moving from one host to another and sort of 'down'...it should be back up soon-ish. I hope!

Racing for...

2010-09-14T11:06:00.000-07:00

...the Cure. I signed up to do the Maryland Komen Race for the Cure on Sunday, October 3. I walked this last year (the 8:30 AM start) with various family, including my Aunt Shirley, who is a survivor! I plan to run it this year. My aunt and cousins will be out there walking. Hopefully there won't be snowy/slushy stuff the night before, like last year!

Please consider joining me that day! Or if you cannot run or walk, please consider making a donation. I know these are tough times - no donation is too small. You will find my personal donation page here.

Thank you!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 8 & 9 MCM Training...

2010-09-10T09:20:00.000-07:00

The long overdue summary of the past couple of MCM training weeks...

And so now this is the second of two weeks (in a row) that have not been 'good' training weeks! Argh... On a positive note, I do have another tri this weekend - the Reston Oly - so at least I'm not 'overtrained' for that.

First things first: Last Sunday I completed the 2010 South Riding Triathlon! This was a sprint distance with a 400 meter pool swim, a 12 mile bike ride, and a 5K run. I was 6 out of 16 in my age group with fairly consistent results across the board (4th in swim, 5th in T1, 6th in the bike, 7th in T2 and the run). And the very best part? My run split of 26:39 was probably my 5th fastest 5K. Ever! It was also my second fast Sprint Tri 5K split ever. I am so very excited about that! And I pulled that off after swimming and biking. I'm pretty excited about my average pace on the bike, too - 18.1! My splits are below:

Swim - 4 - 7:17
T1 - 5 - 1:42
Bike - 6 - 39:46(18.1)
T2 - 7 - 1:08
Run - 7 - 26:39(8:41)
Total - 6 - 1:16:30.8

So, to back up a bit, last week was my recovery week, and I was recovering all right. I ran 7 Monday night instead of 4 (?-not sure how I mis-read that!), and 5 on Wednesday morning instead of 7. I did another 5-ish on Thursday. The rest of what I planned flew out the window. Oh well - on Friday I moved! The movers (Two Guys and a Truck [4 guys actually]) arrived on schedule at 8:00 AM and were working by 8:15. They were done unloading at the house by 1:15! The cable guy was there too, working around them. He was there all day - he totally rocked! Last Saturday morning I had packet pick-up and did that first thing so I could do more unpacking and such. On Sunday - after the race - I had a cookout! My first stab at entertaining! Some old high school friends who were recently married were in town for various reasons so I hosted them and a few others. It was just really nice! Here's a picture of the group:

Now wer are into the current week... And week 9 is unfolding like this:

Monday – long run, 20 miles – FAIL 1.54 miles on tired race legs!
Tuesday – rest/xt
Wednesday – easy run, 3 miles at 31:40
Thursday – rest/xt
Friday – remains to be seen...
Saturday – remains to be seen...but I will attend the following: packet pick-up for the Reston Oly; my son Patrick's first Cross Country meet (don't know which will happen first); and the Toby Keith/Trace Adkins concert. I also WILL take a real good nap on Saturday
Sunday – Reston Oly (1 mile swim/22.3 mile bike/6.2 mile run)

I have not swam since Sunday, and that was all of 400 meters! Not the best swim shape I'd like going into the race, but oh well. I am staying positive in that I will be able to get into my sleeveless wetsuit since I've lost a few pounds. Looking at the things though it does not appear possible!!! But there is just too much going on! I just want to keep unpacking stuff. Next week I really need to get back on track though, because as of THIS Sunday there are only have 7 weeks till race day! Race being the Marine Corps Marathon!

So...Happy and Healthy Training!!

Week 7 – MCM Training...

2010-09-01T12:18:00.000-07:00

OK, this was not the ‘best’ training week, and it became somewhat of a ‘recovery’ week – but I had good intentions! And it is only one week out of my 16 week plan.

Week 7 – Scheduled:

Monday – 4 miles easy
Tuesday – rest/xt
Wednesday – 6 miles tempo run with 4 at 9:35
Thursday – 4 miles easy
Friday – rest/xt
Saturday – 20 miles
Sunday – rest/xt

Week 7 – Actual:

Thursday – swim 2.02 miles; run – modified tempo 5.33 miles
Friday - easy run 5.01
Saturday - easy run 5.99; 6.08 mile very easy bike ride with some of my girl friends

Here was the bike ride route:

(And at the moment, I cannot remember why I missed workouts earlier in the week...I think because my sinus infection? But I thought that was the week before...?)

Needless to say, it was not the week of workouts originally scheduled! Going into the weekend I had already modified it because I knew I did not want to do 20 on the treadmill. I’ve already got plans to do my 20 miles at Prince William Forest Park on Labor Day – how appropriate! (And Carol said it was a nice place to run, too!) I was heading out of town for the weekend, starting at 2PM on Friday and I ended up running Thursday night, Friday morning, and Saturday morning. Was supposed to run Sunday morning, but as you can see, that did NOT happen. But the missed run was totally worth it...

And as just mentioned, I was out of town. It was another girls’ weekend away – the MOTRs Rock St. Michaels. And we did!! We stayed in the cutest little cottage! This was a ‘planning’ weekend to plan our 2011 trip to Boston ("The MOTRs are Coming... Boston or Bust"), which had been previously decided upon. In between visits to the spa, and delicious meals, and the above mentioned bike ride, we agreed to the third weekend in May and discovered we need to think more about lodging as our connection became ‘unconnected’. I have family up that way, so who knows; maybe I can figure something out. Or not! Another MOTR also has connections in New England...

So, this week IS my recovery week, and I’m recovering all right. I ran 7 Monday night instead of 4(?-not sure how I mis-read that!), and 5 this morning instead of 7. I have 7 again tomorrow and maybe 3 on Friday morning and a super short pre-race brick (bike 15 minutes/run 10 minutes) on Saturday morning as I have the South Riding Sprint Tri on Sunday morning! Team Z is a sponsor of this race, too, which will be a big boost to the fairly new “Team Z West” group, which is sort of based out in the area that the race is in.

Looking ahead, Week 9 looks like this:

Monday – long run, 20 miles
Tuesday – rest/xt
Wednesday – tempo run, 7 miles including 5 at 9:28
Thursday – easy run, 6 miles (may switch Wednesday for Thursday though for more rest after the long run)
Friday – rest/xt
Saturday – easy run 4-6 (or maybe another short brick); because
Sunday – Reston Oly (1 mile swim/22.3 mile bike/6.2 mile run)

Oh, and I'm moving this weekend! Friday actually, from the townhouse I'm in now to my childhood home! My kids and I are quite excited!! And still to come there will be more fun and exciting news related to the move...

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 6 – MCM Training…

2010-08-22T09:49:00.000-07:00

Whew, what a week. My workouts did not quite go as scheduled…

I was coming off a weekend away and was sick, or something on top of it. Turned out I was having allergy issues and a little sinus infection. I decided to take Monday off then shift everything by a day. Here are my actual workouts:

Monday – rest

Tuesday – swim 1.94 in the morning; run 4 in the evening

Wednesday – swim .4 in the evening. I had a 400 meter time trial for the upcoming South Riding Tri on 9/5, I did a 200 meter warm-up the waited to get in line for the timing. I was 5th to go based on times we supplied at registration (mine was 7 minutes). Surprise! We were started 20 seconds apart and I ended catching up and passing the guy in front of me. If he’d worn jammers instead of baggy trunks that might not have happened! I saw a few other Z peeps there, too. My final time was 6:57.50 – not too bad!

Thursday – swim 2.06 in the morning; run 7.01 in the evening – this was speed work with 3x1 mile at 8:10s

Friday – rest

Saturday – long run 14.09 miles on hills, followed by a 1.01 open water swim (map of swim below), followed by lunch and rest, then a 4 mile treadmill run

Sunday – bike 23.46 on the Reston Oly course followed by 1.75 miles on the trails the Reston Oly is on.

All in all a pretty good week of training. I got almost all of the run miles in, too. Just 1.15 short.

Week 7 training looks like this:

Monday – 4 miles easy
Tuesday – rest/xt
Wednesday – 6 miles tempo run with 4 at 9:35
Thursday – 4 miles easy
Friday – rest/xt
Saturday – 20 miles
Sunday – rest/xt

Now, I am going out of town with my Moms on the Run (MOTRs) Friday afternoon through Sunday afternoon/evening. It will be next to impossible to get 20 miles in while away. I’m again thinking of hitting the treadmill for my 20. Eek. We’ll see… And if I do, I will make sure my 4 miles easy happens on Saturday. Again, we’ll see…

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 5 - MCM Training...

2010-08-16T05:53:00.000-07:00

This past weekend I was up visiting family in Derry, NH. It was FUN, as always! My cousin and her husband are just hilarious! Saturday we went down to Salisbury Beach, MA so I could get a couple of slices of my most favorite pizza at Tripoli and we did a little walking on the beach. And per my mom's wishes spread some of her ashes there. We also did this in Ocean City, MD last year. It was nice to be able to do that. Afterwards we headed to Portsmouth, NH to walk around that town and do a little shopping. Portsmouth reminds me of Old Town Alexandria. We had a delicious late dinner that night then watched an old 80's movie. On Sunday their daughter was doing a sprint-ish tri (the run was 4.4 miles long) and I got to go cheer her on! She had a pretty good race...except for a minor detour she ended up taking on the bike course (course marshall sent her and another rider the wrong way actually) and the extra bit of running she did (out the wrong way) out of T2. All in all she said she felt good and had FUN! It was a great race and a very nice venue. The race results are not yet up. After the race we headed into Boston for lunch. We found food at Quincy Market at Fanueil Hall. I had a very yummy prime rib cheesesteak from The Prime Shoppe!

So since week 5 was going to be a weird week, because I was going to be out of town over the weekend when I would normally do the long run, I opted to move that up a couple days and do it after work/dinner on Thursday. On the treadmill no less. OMG...

Week 5 actual workouts:

Day 29 – 5 miles at 10:39
Day 30 – swim 1.92 with Team Z in the morning; bike – spin 10.25 miles after work
Day 31 – tempo run, 6 miles, with 4 at 9:16; mile 1 was at 10:02, mile 6 was at 10:22
Day 32 – long run (done early) 16.02 miles at 10:54 (treadmill)
Day 33 – rest/xt – travel (walked around airports)
Day 34 – rest/xt – walked a lot - Salisbury Beach, MA and Portsmouth, NH
Day 35 – rest/xt – walked a lot - Sharon's Back Tri, Sharon, MA and Boston, MA (walked around airports some more)

Actual run miles: 27.02 (4 short)

Week 6 preview:

So, tonight and/or tomorrow night I may add a couple of miles to make up for the 4 I missed last week. But we'll see. I did get the long run in and that is more important. Tonight I have a meeting at the school at 7PM plus an errand - two actually - to do after. So I may not worry about those 4 miles. I will have a similar problem in week 7 as I am supposed to be out of town again that weekend...I have my first of three 20-milers scheduled for that Saturday!

Day 36 – easy 4 at 11:05
Day 37 – rest/xt
Day 38 – speedwork 7 including 3x1600 at 8:57 with 800 jogs in between
Day 39 – easy 3 at 11:05
Day 40 – rest/xt
Day 41 – long 18 at 11:05
Day 42 – rest/xt

Happy and Healthy Training!

Weeks 3 & 4 – MCM Training…

2010-08-09T05:30:00.000-07:00

Well, despite being on vacation last week and trying to get ready for vacation leading up to it, I had two fairly successful weeks of training!

Week 3 actual workouts:

Day 15 – 6 miles at 10:35
Day 16 – swim 2350 yards
Day 17 – Tempo, 5 miles – average pace 9:46
Day 18 – 4 miles at 10:07 (Elvis!)
Day 19 – rested
Day 20 – Long Run – 14 miles at 10:28
Day 21 – rested

Actual run miles: 29.02

I was very happy that I rocked my long run while on vacation. I was kind of nervous about it. I did 8 miles (4 out and back) alone, then 6 miles (3 out and back) with Jeff.

Week 4 – recovery week – actual workouts:

Day 22 – 6.08 miles at 10:31
Day 23 – 3.06 miles at 10:15
Day 24 – rested AND got a massage!
Day 25 – 6.04 miles at 10:06
Day 26 – rested
Day 27 – rested
Day 28 – 9.2 miles at 10:12, swim 1400 meters

Actual run miles: 24.38

So…my recovery week was not exactly what it was scheduled at. But I did get the miles in. I also got the rest in! I will say that it was really hard to swim after a 9 mile run; my feet were cramping like crazy. If I do that again I must remember to bring a banana for after the run!

Week 5 preview: This week will be challenging in that I’m going out of town Friday night and will not be able to do the long run on Saturday. I’m thinking of running long on Thursday night and either doing 4 Friday morning or trying to go 4 on Saturday morning while away. We will see… Another thing about week 5 is that I am moving into the second 4-week block (of four) and my paces are going down. Based on my first 4-week block I should be able to do this - as long as the heat does not get to me. If it does, I can always move inside for speed/tempo work!

Day 29 – 5 miles at 11:05
Day 30 – rest/xt
Day 31 – Tempo, 6 miles, 4 at 9:35
Day 32 – 4 miles at 11:05
Day 33 – rest/xt
Day 34 – long run, 16 at 11:05
Day 35 – rest/xt

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 2 - MCM Training...

2010-07-26T04:57:00.000-07:00

I've successfully completed week 2 of Marine Corps Marathon training! I talked about week 2 tentative after my week 1 summary, here. Below is my actual week 2 training:

Day 8 – 6 miles at 11:18 – check (PM – should have gone in AM; it was hot as blazes out and I had a sore left calf)
Day 9 – Rest/XT – rested my calf
Day 10 – Speed work, 5 miles with 2x1mile in 9:08 w/.5 mile jogs – check (PM)
Day 11 – 45 minute spin - check (AM), 5 miles at 11:18 - check (PM), then a massage - check, check (PM)
Day 12 – Rest/XT – I rested! – check, check
Day 13 – Biked at Prince William Forest Park with Carol and Jeff, 4 loops; plus 1.04 mile run post-ride
Day 14 – Long run, 12 miles at 11:18 – did 5.7 miles solo, then 5.46 with group (.84 short for day but did do 1.04 yesterday); outdoor swim practice with JCC Masters – 2250 meters

Run miles for the week = 28.2

This weekend I also packed and moved boxes in the heat. I guess that does not count for anything though…but I’m sure I burned some calories at least!

Also, my shoulder seems to be fairly well back to normal. I completed a swim practice yesterday after my run and had no pain during or after. Well, I had a little bit of pain after, but truly very little. It was nothing like before, and it is still doing OK this morning. My plan is to try a Team Z swim tomorrow/Tuesday morning - a distance/zone 2 day and take Thursday/speed day off. I will not be swimming at all next week, then I'll come back after that probably ready to go back at it full force! (At least I hope!)

Week 3 Preview:

Day 15 – 5 miles at 11:18
Day 16 – rest/xt
Day 17 – Tempo, 5 miles with 3 at 9:41
Day 18 – 5 miles – Special Screening of Elvis in the evening!! Going with my friends
Day 19 – rest/xt
Day 20 – Long Run – 14 miles at 11:18
Day 21 – rest/xt

Total scheduled miles: 29

Week 4 Preview – recovery week:

Day 22 – 6 miles at 11:18
Day 23 – rest/xt
Day 24 – 6 miles at 11:18
Day 25 – 6 miles at 11:18
Day 26 – rest/xt
Day 27 – 6 miles at 11:18
Day 28 – rest/xt

Total scheduled miles: 24

Happy and Healthy Training!

The countdown is on...

2010-07-22T10:09:00.001-07:00

My cool, new countdown timer came from here!

Happy and Healthy Training!

Week 1 – MCM Training...

2010-07-19T06:38:00.000-07:00

Well, week one of Marine Corps Marathon training is in the books! I think it went pretty well, all things considered. That is, my sore shoulder which fortunately is not bothering me too much. I saw my regular doctor on Wednesday and if I'm not doing better in 2 weeks (from the date it happened) I will get an x-ray. Not to jinx myself, but I will say though that it is doing better as it is not waking me up at night. And that is a good thing. Yay! Summary of my workouts:

Day 1 – 6 miles at 11:18 – check (PM)
Day 2 – rest/XT – did a 45 minute / 11.4 mile spin at zone 2 – check (PM)
Day 3 – Tempo, 5 miles with 3 miles at 9:41 – check (AM)
Day 4 – 5 miles at 11:18 – check (PM)
Day 5 – REST/XT – I rested – check
Day 6 – 10.2 miles at 11:18 – check (AM)
Day 7 – rest/XT – 2 hour / 29.5 mile spin at mostly zone 2 – check (AM)

Total run miles = 26.2 (Oh cool - I ran a marathon in distance this week because my long run was 10.2 miles!)

So, one more week of no swimming and IF my shoulder is feeling better I will try to swim part if not all of the JCC Masters practice on Sunday, July 25. I’m keeping my fingers crossed! And luckily, this week on Thursday, I have a massage scheduled with Robin! It is for 60 minutes but I’m going to see if I can get 90 minutes. I am her last appointment for the day, so maybe it will work out. I will e-mail her today and find out.

Week 2’s training is below:

Monday – 6 miles at 11:18
Tuesday – Rest/XT – 45-60 minute spin
Wednesday – Speedwork, 5 miles with 2x1600 in 9:08 w/800 jogs (If I do this at home on the treadmill I may swap bike zone 4 spins in place of the 800 jogs, which will be good practice for my upcoming races in September...)
Thursday – 5 miles at 11:18
Friday – Rest /XT – I will REST!
Saturday – 12 miles at 11:18 – May do a ride at Prince William Forest Park if Carol and Pam are going there
Sunday – Rest /XT – May switch run to this day and start at 5:45 AM and do 6.5 miles then meet up with Master swimmers that run at 7:00 for the remaining 5.5; then I hope to swim.

Total scheduled run miles: 28

Happy and Healthy Training!

And I almost forgot...

2010-07-13T04:50:00.000-07:00

Yesterday/last night was the first day of MCM training. I had an easy 6 mile run at 11:18 pace scheduled. I programmed the workout (thanks Carol) into my Garmin and took some plain water and one Gu (Lemon Sublime flavor) from my cool sample pack out with me. It was the first item I tried from it, too! Then I headed out for my run. A night of firsts!

I decided I'd run the same lollipop loop of 5.25 from Sunday's run but add three laps around the track, which I pass on the stick part on my way out and back - to make 6 miles. I had a hard time going slow enough to maintain 11:18, actually. Based on my success with my half marathon at Shamrock this past March, to prepare for the marathon I am following a plan from RunnersWorld.com based on my 5K time from the Independence 5000. It 'says' if I follow the plan my time goal is 4:20. However, my actual goal is 4:40, which happens to my goal from my first two marathons. That I am still striving for. Anyway...I guess the watch got tired of beeping at my and my average pace for the run ended up being 10:40. I ate the Gu at mile 4 as I'm practicing for race day with any run that lasts an hour or more. The verdict on Lemon Sublime Gu - very good and I will likely buy this flavor! So, an interim goal is to try harder to go slower on my next easy run which is on Thursday. Tomorrow is a 5 mile tempo run with three miles at 9:41. I will not run the hilly course, but more of a flat-ish one so I can hopefully hold the 9:41 pace. I'll see how many times Garmin beeps at me for going too slow.

The shoulder is still sore and burning (as is the arm {burning} and hand {tingling}) but I took 4 Advil and I'm hoping that takes the edge off for now. Tomorrow when I see the doctor I do not want to take anything so I can be in pain when he evaluates me.

Happy and Healthy Training!

It's time to run...

2010-07-13T02:14:00.000-07:00

Last weekend had more fun training involved! It started on Friday morning actually when I went for a nice run…again I’ll say it, in the morning! I miss running early and may have to figure a way to do it at least once a week. However, my training for the Marine Corps Marathon (MCM) officially began yesterday! Looking at my schedule it looks like the only day I can fit a morning run in would maybe be the Monday easy runs.

We had a bike ride planned for Saturday…however it was raining. So on the trainer my bike went and I put in a movie and set up a zone 2 workout for 1 hour and 39 minutes – the length of the movie. I should have added a 5 minute warm-up because it took me at least that long to get into zone. And of course I still need to work on staying in zone. I took two stretching breaks but all in all the ride went fairly well. The movie was one I’d seen before so it did not matter if I was not ‘watching’ the whole time. It had great music in it, too, which was nice.

Saturday afternoon I headed to ‘my’ house to do some more unpacking and such. I have had stuff packed from a year plus (between my mom’s apartment and junk of my dad’s and mine) that I never had any idea what I’d be looking at when I unwrapped things. It was fun to see some of the things and I still have more boxes to go. Then I can determine what if anything I am ready to get rid of – either via charity or the trash. Oh! I also headed to =PR= to get some new running shoes and a new Fuel Belt! This one fits so much better and has a couple of nicer features than my old one. And I got an extra pouch for it. NOW I’m ready for MCM training!

Sunday was a day of double, actually triple, fun. Shortly before 7AM I headed out for a 5.25 mile run. I went on a hilly-ish route that was pretty much a lollipop loop – 1-ish mile out, start the loop, 1-ish mile back. Until I move to ‘my’ house I will be doing this run at least once a week when the minimum distance is 5 miles. The hills will be good for building strong legs!

Once I returned from the run it was time to suit up! In my Splish! swim suit that is! The JCC Masters was holding an open water swim at Lake Barcroft. A teammate’s father lives on the lake and he had a pontoon boat that we went out a very short distance on when we jumped in the water and took off to one of the (I think they said there were five) beaches. There we regrouped and headed to another of the beaches. We regrouped again and went back to the first beach, then back to the second beach, then back to where we started when we jumped off the boat. We had the pontoon boat leading the way for the first swimmer and a canoe trailing the last swimmer. It was FUN! The only little problem…when I jumped off the boat I put my arms out. Well, I don’t think my left shoulder like that too much. I felt a tiny pull at that moment but my swim went just fine. Monday morning was another matter…more on that later.

After returning from the swim I uploaded my run then tracked my swim using MapMyRun. It did not seem to mind that I plotted the points in water on the map. It turned out I swim about 1.36 miles, though I’m not sure exactly how accurate that is. On the second leg of the swim I was wishing I’d put my Garmin in my cap like this guy does! Next time… So after a snack I changed for a visit to the pool. I am reading a new book and wanted to get a little color on my stomach. Through the SPF30 that is. I brought my fins, a cap, and goggles with me and after I got too warm did 500 meters swimming including some catch-up drills with the fins. My shoulder felt fine. Hmm…

I was only going to stay at the pool for an hour but between my book and my swim time passed quite quickly and I was there nearly two hours! I headed home to clean up and head out to the grocery store. We were going to ‘my’ house to cook and eat dinner that night. I had hoped to unpack some more boxes but kind of ran out of time. I will head over there later this week and spend more time there this weekend.

Now, back to my shoulder. Monday morning (yesterday) I woke up in pain. Ouch. My left shoulder was on fire – more my shoulder blade area. This was reminiscent of about early-April 2002. This is when it turns out (after a month or so of looking at different things) I had a herniated disk in my neck – C5, 6, or 7 – I can’t remember which. In April of 2003 I had cervical spinal fusion and all was well. However, the pain that I had in April and May of 2002 was very much like what I am going though right now. It woke me up twice last night. And it is burning. All down my left arm. And my left hand is tingling. And my shoulder is burning. Wait - I already said that. Now, it could just be I just irritated things in my shoulder area when I jumped out of the boat (I mentioned feeling ‘it’ when I jumped in) and I could have some swelling in there somewhere, which could be pinching a nerve. Or…by some fluke…I could have another herniated disk! Yikes!! So I am going to take a break from swimming today, even though I was up way early enough to get ready for it. I even packed my bag for it last night! I will reevaluate on Wednesday night for Thursday's practice. Luckily, I conveniently have a doctor's appointment tomorrow for a routine follow-up for my asthma and will discuss with him – especially if the pain is no better tomorrow, or (gulp) worse. I may beg for a referral to the doctor that did my neck surgery in 2003, just in case.

So, on a positive note, while I do have two triathlons left this season (a Sprint on 9/5 and an Oly on 9/12 – the Sprint on 10/3 is to be determined now…but I had not signed up yet anyway) my focus yesterday switched to the run as I prepare for the 35th MCM, which happens to be on Halloween this year! I ran it last time on Halloween, too, but did not do any kind of costume as many other runners did. This time I may do cat ears on my hat and put whiskers on my face. I think that would be all I could handle. We’ll see!

Happy and Healthy Training!!

kickASTtri...

2010-07-08T12:29:00.000-07:00

Here is a photo of me and Marlene before we got started! It was a fun day...

Double trouble...

2010-07-05T05:56:00.000-07:00

My weekend training called for 6 miles running and 40 miles biking. Swimming was as always, optional. And there was no trouble, really…

Friday night, July 2 at 7:30 PM Pacer’s hosted the Independence 5000! It was an inaugural event – my second inaugural event in less than two weeks! This twilight race was at George Mason University. I learned of the event from Holly, fellow Team Z’er and knew that Z’er Priscilla would be attending, too. I headed over around 6:00 PM for packet pick-up the looked around for my teammates. Based on the total finishers (654), I think that close to 700 entries for a Friday night inaugural event sounded like a pretty decent number of registered runners! Priscilla found me in the ladies room line – actually real restrooms indoors! She had on *the* coolest holiday themed head boppers! (She had really fun ones for the Shamrock Half, too!) I can’t wait to see what she does next. We found Holly shortly after then took a few per-race photos before we headed to the start with another friend of Holly’s from Cancer to 5K, Amy and her husband Ben. At the start Keri showed up to cheer and handed out cute American flag rings! Right before the start we met a new Team Z-West person, John.

The start was very low key – I almost did not realize we had started! The course took a little lap around the parking lot then pretty much went in a big loop around the campus. There were some rolling hills and flats and all in all a pretty nice course! I had no time goal, other than ‘beat my last 5K time’ from May – 29:43 – at the ASFS 5K, but I tried not to look at my watch too much. I have been doing speed work and just kept telling myself ‘it’s only a 5K’ so I would not let up. There was one water stop on the course, so I did slow down enough for that! Shortly after the water stop I did look at the watch and saw about 15 minutes and was not sure I’d get to where I wanted to! Anyway, that was the last time I looked at it. Anyway, I kept pushing and soon it was the last rush to the finish. Which of course had a downhill. But that was followed by an uphill! I saw Keri and Ben at the finish – thanks guys – and hit the line then my watch. It said 27:36!! I knew I had started the watch a teeny bit late so I figured it was not too much off that time. Yay! I had done it! They also POPSICLES at the finish line. I had orange – my favorite. Awesome! We took a couple of post-race pictures and headed out. My official time was 27:38.17! They did not split out the age groups but overall I was 298 out of 654 finishers.

Saturday was just a bike ride – I rode about 15.5 miles through Annandale, North Springfield, and Ravensworth. At the end of the ride I wanted to do my double-hills, Killebrew and Regina. Ha! That was hard! In fact, my legs were feeling the 5K when the ride started. I rode with Jeff, who is just getting back into the exercise thing. He seemed to fly right up the hill. Brat!! All in all it was a nice ride. Later in the afternoon we went to see Eclipse! I really enjoyed it and thought it better than New Moon, too. I’m looking forward to the final of the series…and Harry Potter, which I saw the trailer for that yesterday!

Anyway, Sunday, July 4th I met up with my old Masters friends for the annual kickASTtri – a Sprint distance-ish event: 800 meter pool swim, 12.4 mile bike ride, 2.71 mile run (according to my Garmin on the bike and run). Mike opened the pool (Annandale Swim & Tennis) at 7:00 and we started showing up then and prepping our ‘transition’ areas up under the party tent. My friend Marlene from Team Z met me and it was nice to see her before she starts her next chapter. The water in the pool was 84 degrees, but as it was outdoors it was quite nice! After the swim we all prepped for the bike ride and left together. The ride deviated slightly from past years as there was construction going on along one of the roads. I barely made it through the last light to get back to the pool. All in all we got 12.4 miles in. The run had three options, basically, a nearly 3 mile loop with or without a hill at the end, or a shorter about 2 mile loop. I took the 3 mile hill option! After we all finished back at the pool the Masters swimmers were done with their workout and we all enjoyed a post workout breakfast of bagels, fruit, pastries, and orange juice. It was a great start to the Independence Day holiday! Oh, and as in past years, there were no entry fees, no registrations, no tee shirts, no times, and no places. But we did have race numbers! And for the first time I forgot my camera so have no pictures! But Tammi brought her camera, so there are going to be pictures. Later…

Later on in the day we had a nice quiet cookout with the boys and Jeff’s parents and sister.

Happy Independence Day and Happy Training!!

Cool giveaway...

2010-07-01T06:48:00.000-07:00

DC Rainmaker has a cool contest going! Get in on it quick!! The contest closes Wednesday July 7th, 2010 at 11:59PM Eastern Time!

Last minute entry...

2010-07-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Well, not quite last minute. That would have been if I walked up to packet pick-up tomorrow night at say 6:45PM and signed up... I just registered online though for the Independence 5000, a twilight run tomorrow night at 7:30PM. I've never done a 'night race' before, so this will be fun! A few Z peeps are doing, which is how I learned of it - thanks, Holly! So that will make it even more fun.

There is another twilight run later in July that I'm already thinking of doing, in Crystal City. I also heard of this one through Holly. If I'm in town that weekend I will likely sign up. Both of these races are put on by Pacers...and if I go to packet pick-up tomorrow at lunch time I could maybe buy my new running shoes...just in time for MCM training, which starts on July 12! But I might not have time for that. Oh well, we'll see

Bike ride tonight - what great weather we are getting in the second half of this week!

Happy Training!

Weekend of workouts...

2010-06-28T13:30:00.000-07:00

Last week I had already mixed my workouts up a little, so Friday morning I got up and did a short 30-minute ride on the trainer: 5' warm-up; 5' minutes single leg drill (alternating every 30 seconds); 4x (1' high, 1' low, 1' recovery); 3' high/hard w/10" sprints each minute; 5' recovery. It was nice to start the day that way.

Saturday morning I got up and ready to head down to Prince William Forest Park again. I have not been there in well over a month! I actually got Jeff to go along and we were meeting Carol and Pam. They were doing five loops, but we were only going to do three. When we arrived in the park we saw a fox! Before we started the ride we saw a couple of deer and during the ride we saw two more deer (unless they were the same ones!) and a snake! I love it when I get to see critters! Anyway, it was a nice ride – and nice to be in the shade a good portion of the time, too. I had programmed in Carol’s workout (modified somewhat) into my Garmin watch the night before because she had had such success with that. So, we started out from the parking lot...and of course I forgot to start the workout! I was able to get it going at about .76 miles in. Oh well. That mean that the 'actual' workout was cut a bit. It was fun though – it beeped at me if my heart rate was too low or too high during the particular portion, and buzzed when it was ‘just right’. I will definitely use this workout feature again, biking and running! Jeff, who has hardly ridden at all these days, had ‘no problem’ with any of the ride! Brat... We went almost 25.93 in 1:45. That is pretty consistent for me on that ride. After the ride we changed shoes and put our bikes away for a short run. We ran 1.01 in 11:12 – not a bad morning!

Sunday morning was to be a run/swim day. I showed up at Wakefield Park in the hopes that people that I used to run with regularly would be there for the usual Sunday morning run around Lake Accotink. Success! Four people showed up and we headed out promptly. This is a nice trail run that is mostly flat, with two nice, short climbs – one up what we call the ‘dam hill’ because, well, it goes up hill by the dam. (Sadly, they are doing dam repairs now and the lake is very, very low. So sad...I feel bad for the ducks, geese, and other critters that call this place home.) Anyway, back to the run. There is another hill not long after that, and then there is a longer section that has a climb, rewarded by a nice section that is a longer descent. After that you are almost done! And just after I came out from the tunnel under Braddock Road I ran by Jill from Team Z! It was nice to see her out there. I have not done this run in several months. I’d have to look at my data online to see what it actually was, but it was probably back in February. It sure was nice to do that run again! Now off two swim...

I got to swim with my old Master’s team in a 25 meter outdoor pool, Annandale Swim & Tennis. It was nice to be outside! It was a fun workout with some strokes thrown in and some fast 50’s. Our lane messed up on the counting a bit but but I ended up doing about 2700 meters with the final 25 underwater. I even managed to go the entire way underwater... One of the guys actually did two lengths underwater...o.m.g. I will plan to go to a few more of these this summer!

Next up: 7/4 - The kickASTtri – 800 meter pool swim, 12-14 mile bike, 3 mile run

Happy Training!

Sprint Edition - Update 2...

2010-06-23T08:38:00.000-07:00

OK, the results of my age group F45-49 for the DC Tri were adjusted again. I've moved down to 7/30 in the age group. The person who is now listed as 3rd has no splits listed at this time, so I have no idea where I stand in each area. Oh well, time to quit worrying about this one!

The pictures from the race have been posted and there are really only two of me - one coming out of the swim - but I'm kind of in the background, and one on the run course - this one is actually kind of cool because the Washington Monument is behind me. But...I probably won't order one. I do have this one of Marlene and I after the finish while we were cheering on the Oly folks.

Fellow Team Z'er Meghan took this:

Thanks, Meghan!

FUN: I got in on order for t-shirts that say HTFU! The shirts are now in and I'm supposed to get mine tomorrow. Yay!

Happy Training!

Sprint edition - update...

2010-06-22T08:49:00.001-07:00

I went to the DC Tri website to see if the additional features post-race were active yet - one of them was - and I noticed the results have changed from yesterday. Boo - I am now 6/29 in my age group as opposed to the 5/28 I was yesterday. Oh well, I did get to 'watch' my virtual race, which was cool. Official race pictures have not been posted yet.

This morning swim was cancelled at my regular pool (Providence RECenter) so I went for a morning run instead. It was nice to get out there early for a change! I cannot do any training later today / tonight because I have appointments with the ENT and the nutritionist, and then I have book club - I enjoyed the book!

Tomorrow morning I plan to run / bike so I can go for a swim tomorrow night in the outdoor pool. That will be nice!

Happy Training!

DC Tri – Sprint edition...

2010-06-21T17:24:00.000-07:00

Saturday morning I was up and out the door by 6:40 with my son Patrick to go take a ride on the Metro from Van Dorn (blue line) to the College Park – UMD station (green line)t o walk to the University of Maryland campus track to see where he needed to go for his upcoming track and field camp. It was about an hour train ride and for us a 30 minute walk. When Patrick goes to camp he will likely walk faster. We got home at 11:45AM where I proceeded to change to get my gear needed to (1) attend packet pickup for the inaugural running of the DC Triathlon downtown and (2) get my bike to transition. Other Z people were meeting around Noon and I was hoping to catch up with them. And I did! First I had to ride my bike to the hotel from the Old Convention Center parking lot and leave my bike with the bike valet(!). Cool! About 5 of us were there together and the process went quickly. We even had our photo taken at the end, which is now online with individual racer results. Priscilla and I then walked back to get her bike to then ride to transition. I thought I knew where I was going. It was a good thing Marlene caught up to us, because I would have led us to Haines Point! We got our bikes racked and let some air out of the tires to avoid popping! At this point I caught the shuttle back to the lot to head back home while the other ladies went for a practice swim.

Yesterday I got up early – after not quite four hours of sleep – at 2:30AM...to get ready to head out to the triathlon, which included Sprint and Olympic distance events. I had signed up for the Sprint race, which was actually a long Sprint in that the run was a 6.7K as opposed to the usual 5K. I was out the door by 3:05AM to drive downtown to again park in the Old Convention Center parking lot where I would take a shuttle to the race start and transition area. I was the 2nd person on my bus, third if you count the bus driver. Soon folks starting filling it up and I was just updating my Facebook status about being ready to race and looking forward to seeing Z peeps...when Sally got on board! We sat together for the ride over. We got there in short order where we got body marked and our chips picked up. After setting up transition we made a port o potty stop then we started running into other Zs: Marlene, Tracey, Priscilla, Maria, Alaina... We saw Holly ready to cheer, too! We also saw Lindsay doing her officiating duties.

The Sprint race was to begin at 5:30 and after all the Sprint waves the Olympic distance would start. At about 5:30 I was walking over to the corrals thinking it strange that the National Anthem had not been sung/played. I guess I figured out things were starting later – they were out securing the bike course. Or something like that. I figured I had plenty of time, so I did something I never thought I’d do...use a port a potty in *gulp* bare feet. Luckily it was very clean inside! I got out into time to hear the National Anthem, too. I made my way back to the corrals where I ran into Kim, a fairly new Z, then talked to Alaina when it was time to get moving! The race officially started at about 6:00 and the moved up the time between waves from 5 minutes to 3 minutes. They were herding swimmers down to the staging area. There was a very exuberant volunteer pumping us up and I was able to get the correct colored swim camp. (Saturday I had noticed I got Royal Blue instead of Navy Blue...). Then it was time to get in the water and get lined up for the start! I think I started at about 6:30 instead of my original 6:15 time.

Swim: 15:40 ([tied]3/28) – The water was kind of bouncy at the start – we were all just bobbing in the water. The water that morning had measured 81.1 degrees so wet suits were not allowed. I thought the water felt great and it was nice to not have to deal with the hassle of the wetsuit. Soon the horn sounded and we were off! I did a pretty good job of swimming straight and sighting. The buoys were huge and marked and the Sprint turn was very clearly marked. I think there was a bit of current because I got a little pushed to the left here, but once I made the turn I was fine. The trip back the other way was again, fairly straight. And before I knew it, it was time to make the turn to the dock and get out and head to transition. Cool!

T1: 3:28 (9/28) – My bike was racked in the last row on the left. I had a long jog down there, once I started not walking. My feet did not like going barefoot! But on the plus side, I was in the row closest to the ‘bike out’!

Bike: 40:39 (5/28) (What?? 5th in age group here?) – We had to cross a street, then a median to get to our road to get to the mount line. I got going easily after that. I really enjoyed the bike. We even went through a tunnel – fun! I think my bike computer showed a max of 27 which for a course without a lot of downhill for me is pretty good. I think I could have pushed a little harder! There were a lot of hairpin turns and one had a little ramp to go up and over the median in the road. It was very nice to be on a course that was completely closed to traffic! I saw a few Z’s on the course, including Marlene looking strong, as well as Z cheer folks! The finish came up so quickly! I love Sprints! Anyway, I am really shocked at my bike ranking – for me that is amazing! I usually do a hair better on the run than the bike.

T2: 1:53 – The trade off for the short distance to bike out was the long distance from bike in to the race! But I did a good job of swapping out shoes and headgear and was off. And I was close to the run out!

Run: 42:46 (12/28) – Well, the run was hot. What can I say? I don’t do well in the heat. But...I was pretty happy with my run time, as I averaged 10:17! The first two miles went pretty well, actually, and I had no trouble coming out of transition. I only walked for the water stops and jogged up (albeit very slowly) Capitol Hill! This course had many U-turns on it, too, so you always got to see people coming and going. Again, more Z sightings and a few shouts of encouragement. I did get to see some Z cheer on the run course, too – love the high 5’s! The killer was running by the finish area when you were just over the half way point. Hmm, that’s a little cruel – haha! But it was good to hear the music and know what was waiting for me. The best part was running back down Capitol Hill and this time in the shade. Ahh, if the entire course had had shade it would have been so nice!

Final: 1:44:25 5/28 in age group(!) – What a nice surprise!

Cheering and Cowbell – After I finished my Sprint race I got a bean and cheese burrito and some water and then ran into Marlene. We decided to walk the course back and see if we could find the Z cheer folks. We found them rather quickly and stopped to hang out to cheer for all the Z folks running in the Olympic distance race as they passed that point. It was fun cheering them on and I got to for the first time ring a cowbell. Thanks, Holly! I cannot wait to get my own! After we cheered we made our way back to transition.

This was a fun race despite the heat of the day and the hassles of the bike drop and the location of the finish line to transition. I was really glad I had signed up for the Sprint and not the Oly. Huge congrats to all the Oly finishers out there in all that heat starting later and longer.

The finisher's medals were pretty cool, too!

I was quite thankful yesterday to get a ride afterwards to my car from Marlene. She made my day! I had planned to bike with my pump in my swim backpack after the race, but the zipper was not staying closed. Argh! Poor planning on my part! Needless to say, I was going to have to walk it. Marlene happened to see what was going on and offered me a ride. We did have to walk to her car first, but it was close in comparison! Thanks again, Marlene! I already have a plan for the next time I need to bike with a backpack and pump...

Next up: The always fun and laid back July 4th kickASTtri:

- 800 meter pool swim

- 13-ish mile bike through Annandale/North Springfield

- 3 mile run

Happy Training!

1754 point 9...

2010-06-16T16:47:00.000-07:00

What is 1754.9? It’s a LOT of miles for one weekend, that’s what! Thursday afternoon (June 10) I met my Z-mates Carol and Pam for a crazy road trip to Madison, Wisconsin to preview the Ironman Wisconsin aka IM Moo bike and run courses. We got loaded up and off in no time. Traffic out of the DC area was not too bad actually, considering it was rush hour! We drove to Breezewood, Pennsylvania for a pit stop and dinner at the infamous Gateway Restaurant where I had a grilled chicken sandwich.

Then we drove to just East of Pittsburgh to New Stanton to find a place to stay for the night. We dragged part of our luggage then our bikes into the room to stay for the night with us.

In the morning after a very short continental breakfast we stopped at the gas station for Diet Coke....and forgot to fill up. So, we stopped a short time later for gas where we saw Tracey and Mike on their way to Madison, too! Turns out they stayed in New Stanton as well, but at a different hotel. Anyway, I forget how many pit stops we made during the rest of the trip up to Madison... But I remember I had a taco salad for lunch... I also remember the traffic around Chicago! Holy. Cow. When I was a kid my dad always used to say “Chicken in the car, car can’t go, that’s how you spell ‘Chicago’.” I never quite got it back then... But for real, the car would not go...That back up was worse than getting out of the DC area, that’s for sure. Shortly after getting out of the worst of it we saw a caravan of Iwan (minus Melody) and Jason (with Melody). We kept up with them for a bit but decided we did not want to go quite that fast. Not too far from our final exit we saw another carload of possible Z-ers, too...at the time we did not know who was in the car but figured it was others because (1) it had 3 bikes on the back, and (2) it had Virginia license plates.

Once we got off the exit to our hotel we promptly drove right by it! We had to turn around before we finally pulled into the Sheraton, where most of the team was staying. As we pulled up we saw the same car that had just passed us and now we knew who was inside: Sue, Rohini, and...I forget. Carol ran in to registration and once she came back out we went straight to downtown Madison to meet the others for dinner. OK, I was really hating driving in downtown Madison with the one way streets (usually not a problem) but there were dead ends and such, too. After about three loops (sounds like a race) around the SAME block we finally parked and hurried to dinner. The group was upstairs and it was pretty full, so we started another section. Before too long another 10-ish (or more) peeps showed up. Dinner was fun but we left early so we could get some goodies at the store. You know, Diet Coke (most important), water, bagels, and peanut butter. Finally back at the hotel we had to again unload all luggage and the bikes. Once up in the room we realized we did NOT have a refrigerator. Really? Even the Comfort Inn in New Stanton had a fridge! We decided $10 x 2 nights was worth it for cold Diet Coke. Oh, and cold water. I prepped my two bottles of Heed for the next morning and Carol prepped her Infinit and it was pretty much bedtime.

Saturday morning: Up at 6:00AM to meet in the parking lot before 7:00AM for a quick brief before heading to the ride start, at the start of the loop on the bike course. Carol had a flat! Oh no! Rich to the rescue! We were still putting the bikes on the car when Coach and the others left...and we really did not know where to go. Luckily, one other car was lagging so we were able to catch up with them and follow along to the meeting site. Time to get ready to ride! But would you believe...I had forgotten my bottles of Heed and Carol was missing a shoe! It was not her day it would seem. But again, Rich to the rescue! He had an extra pair of shoes, with the correct cleat, and even though it was too big, Carol was able to ride. I was only doing one loop and Carol and Pam were doing two. The loop was a lot of fun and this was to be my longest ride in months! We did finally see our first Wisconsin cows, too. There were a couple of hills that we were ‘warned’ about. One was a half mile climb and the other was short and steep. Nothing we have not tackled before. There were some fun rollers, too. I spent most of the ride with Carol and Maggie. Total bike miles: 40.6 After my loop I loaned my shoe to Carol so she did not have to wear a boat. Off she went for the second loop. At this time I was starving and went into the restaurant (The Draft House) to change and have lunch with the other one-loopers and then the fast two-loopers. We kind of took over one section of the place. The Draft House had chocolate milk – thanks for sharing, Tracey! And I had a(nother) yummy taco salad and some fries...

After all riders made it in, it was decided that we would meet at the transition area at Monona Terrace at 6:15PM for another briefing before splitting up for dinner. Back to the hotel to clean up first. I took Pam, Carol, Linda, and Donna along and we snagged a decent parking space. I must say, I am not signed up for IM Moo...but after riding the bike course and checking out the venue in the heart of Madison...I kind of wish I was. It is so cool! I am excited to hear about everyone’s experience after the race in September and if the team ever does this event again would likely consider it, or do it on my own.

Dinner was pizza by the slice at Ian’s! I just had one cheese and one with chicken and pineapple. Carol got macaroni and cheese and I can’t remember what Pam and Linda got. Donna must have had other dinner plans. After pizza we found ice cream at the Chocolate Shoppe! It was heavenly – Linda and I had vanilla cherry but we tried Pam’s and Carol’s. Carol had cake batter and I think Pam’s – which was some kind of vanilla with fudge – was the best. Next time... And after a short walk back to the car it was time to head back to the hotel. I needed sleep!

Sunday morning: Up again at 6:00AM to meet at Monona Terrace for a 7:00AM run. Coach Ed handed out cue sheets. I was glad I took one, even though I was only going to run for an hour, maybe less. I headed out with the ladies and we ended up getting lost with Mike and Rich. Rich’s wife, Janet, called him on the cell to lead them to the right place but at this time I decided was a good place to just make my way back to the car. I felt a little confused with the landmarks so was glad I had the stupid cue sheet to get me back where I needed to be. Total run miles: 3.99 After my run I grabbed my Starbucks card so I could get a hot latte. It was delicious! I talked to some nice people outside about the race and about our team. I then met up with Tracey for a few minutes before heading back to the car to wait / catch up with Pam and Carol. We had no time to hang around as we had to get on the road – I had to work the next day and it was a 850-ish mile ride home!

Back at the hotel we cleaned up ASAP and got things loaded up and we were off! This time we managed to find our way to the highway with no problem. After driving for a short time I realized we should get gas and we stopped at the first place that came along. While at the gas station I bough a Mega Millions ticket! It was a smart choice to stop as we were right next to a wine and cheese shop and we could finally get some cheese to take home to our loved ones!

Once on the road back home I do not know exactly how many pit stops we made for gas, bathrooms, and food, but all in all it was not bad. I remember updating Facebook at some of the stops, so we had Indiana, Ohio, and Breezewood along the way. There were others... Going around the Chicago area was again s-l-o-w, but nothing like Friday! I finally rolled into my parking space at home at 2:30AM and got to bed at 3:00AM.

On Monday, the 6:00AM alarm came too way too early, but it was a fun trip and I would do it again in a heartbeat!

Next up: DC Tri - Sprint - June 20th!

PS - I did NOT win the lottery...

Happy Training!!

Race Report: Zooma 10K – Annapolis

2010-06-07T10:07:00.000-07:00

I was really looking forward to this race for a few reasons: it was only a 10K; it was staged at the Naval Stadium in Annapolis, which is fairly close; and after the race I was having lunch with good friends in Annapolis!

Saturday I finally went on a run (as I did not quite manage Friday after work). I ran 3.5 easy miles at about 8AM. I think I actually slept in till 7AM. Anyway, it felt pretty good to use my legs after being ‘off’ them running wise for a week and a half. After the run I cleaned up and prepared to go do a bit of furniture moving from the townhouse to the house. It feels nice to slowly get stuff settled there. Saturday afternoon I lounged around reading and catching up on a bit of TV on the DVR. We had a nice easy orange chicken with rice dinner that was prepared out of a mix in a box. It was quite good and I will definitely make it again!

Sunday morning I got up at 4:30 planning to leave for 5:15. I am not sure what happened but it was 5:00 before I knew it and I ended up leaving at 5:25.Oh well. It was early Sunday morning and there was very little traffic. The race start was 7:00 – good think I double checked because I had thought it was 7:30! I had an uneventful drive to Annapolis with thg only back up being at the exit for the Naval Stadium. I was parked by about 6:30 and basically ready to go. I wanted to use the port-o-potties but the lines were way too long. I figured I could last 6.2 miles.

This race had a half marathon and a 10K option. I had originally thought about doing the half, but figured the 10K would be good coming off of the Columbia triathlon. I’m glad I took the shorter option. It was 75 degrees at 5:00AM! Yikes!! The start had both groups combined and we went off right at 7AM just outside the stadium in the parking lot. We took a tour of the parking lot before heading out onto the street where things for me at least quickly heated up. Not a big surprise, given the above mentioned temperature! I really liked this run though. It was hot and sunny at times but there were a few spots of breeze. We went down a cool street that reminded me of Old Town Alexandria with little shops on either side. We did go over a couple of bridges. One was quite flat and one was hard. The breeze above the water was quite nice! After the final bridge, the 10K folks split from the half marathon folks. At this point I a little more than a mile to go!

It had been so long since I’d run a standalone 10k (I ran two in 2000 and I think that is it) that I had no idea of a time goal, especially since this year I’m coming back after some time off last fall. I though 1:02 would be good and give me 10 minute miles, 1:00 would be great, and anything under would have been fantastic. Well, according to Mr. Garmin, I ran 6.3 miles in 1:02:38 at a 9:57 pace. According to the timing chip (which was a funky little thing) I ran 6.2 in 1:02:30 at 10:04. Given the heat and humidity of the day I’ll take it! Overall I was 31 out of 129 women in my age group and 357 out of 1443 of all women. Funny, this was the “Zooma Women’s Annapolis” but there were actually a few men entered! But...the first overall finishers in both the 10K and the half marathon were women...and not men! So out of all participants I was 394 out of 1536.

But it was truly hot out. I saw several women on the side of the road with emergency personnel. I was so happy to only be doing a 10K! I am quite happy to report that I ran the entire race and did not stop until the finish line! I carried two flasks of heed in my fuel belt and drank about 2 ounces at every mile marker, including mile 6. And at the finish I quickly downed a bottle of water after finally getting to the port-o-potty. Then I had a banana and an orange. I also got more water and a snack box and had an apple, and some carrot sticks.

After this I checked out the vendors and found the cutest green (of course) girly t-shirt at the Zooma booth. I walked back to my car for some $$ and headed back for the shirt. Then I went back to the party area (where the snack boxes were being handed out) where I had more water while chilling on the grass inside the stadium under the scoreboard listening to a local band. They were quite good playing a nice mix of 70’s music, current music, and music of their own. Around 10:00 I got up to start preparing for the next part of my day.

After yet another potty stop (this time in the 'real' bathrooms there) I headed to my car where I had a cold Diet Coke waiting. I checked in with Jeff then headed out. My iPhone really is the best – especially when using the GPS feature. I needed to get to the Ledo’s pizza but also wanted to treat myself to a latte and looked for a Starbucks. I must have driven right past it but before I could turn around I spotted a Dunkin’ Donuts...their lattes are not as good but they do have lemon filled donuts. Once I arrived I went to the rest room to first change so I wouldn’t look so grungy arriving at my friend’s house. Then I actually ordered an ice coffee instead of a hot latte. The lemon donut was the best I’d had from a DD in a very long time.

Next stop: Ledo’s! I got there about 10 minutes before they opened so I checked in with my son who had camped out the night before prior to heading to the WMZQ-fest. He said they’d had a great night and were looking forward to a great day. After I got the pizza I was at my friends by about 11:40. We were waiting for her daughter and her kids and I think we finally sat down for lunch at 12:30. I was starved! I got to visit till about 4:00, and wait out a wicked thunderstorm in the process. It was a nice afternoon! I was home by 5:00 and ready to eat again. After dinner I caught up on yet more stuff on the DVR.

Next up: DC Tri – Sprint on June 20! That weekend, the team is traveling to Bath County, 3.5 hours away. But I, along with some other Zs, opted to stay local, even though we have to (1) drop my bike off the day before, and (2) I will likely have to get up at 3:00 AM for a 5:30 AM race start! The first wave of the Sprint is actually scheduled to go off at 5:30 AM. Yikes!! The first wave of the Olympic distance starts after the last wave of the Sprint.

Happy Training!

Zoom...a

2010-06-04T04:54:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 6 is the Zooma Annapolis 10k! I'm pretty excited for this race, even though I have not ran in a a week a 2 days now. Hopefully I will run tonight after work. :) The race is a little hilly but hopefully on very fresh legs(!) this should not be anything I an't handle. Especially after the run leg of the Columbia Triathlon from May 23!

Here is the course map and run profile for Zooma:

And here is the course map and run profile from Columbia:

After the race I'm meeting good friends I have not seen in a while for a yummy lunch of Ledo's Pizza! That is where we used to be able to meet at quite frequently, before our lives got busier and busier. We are eating at home though (I'm getting carry-out) so it should be a nice relaxing afternoon.

TGIF and Happy Training!