Hiatus

It is freaking hot here in Ohio and I am swamped at work and don't feel like listening to my home computer fan overwork itself while I sweat buckets over the keyboard so I am going to be MIA until things calm down a bit.

Had a great weekend and managed to do as little manual labor as possible :)

Hope everyone also had a great weekend and that you all have some awesome workouts planned for this week. I will hopefully be catching up with you all soon.

Home

Well my childhood home that is. In Michigan for the day to celebrate my baby sis's graduation from college. Mouse I should've called you we could of went out last night.

Instead I am helping get the yard in order, vacuum etc. I am hoping to find some time to get up in the attic and hopefully recover some lost photos and cross country score books. Seriously peeved that I cannot find any of my Belize photos, oh and my passport!

Bad tri training week, heck it's even been a bad week by solo run training standards despite the awesome track workout.

But I have a post about all that, you will just have to wait for it!

Good Luck to Bold in his 10K this weekend (I hope you beat my prediction!), Major good luck to B2 on his first HIM, I think I am bailing on Blossom Run tomorrow, we'll see.

Yay!

David and I are an Uncle and Aunt! My BIL and SIL just had a baby girl! WooHoo! Little AMH!

So excited!

He's Back

Looking for Flatman?

http://flatman.blogspot.com/

Some jerk stole his blog name but then gave it back! So make sure to update your links to Flatman's old address!

Track This!

Had a freaking great track workout tonight! Huge thanks to TriAl and DaisyDuc for coming out. TriAl was just a wee bit faster than me on most of the intervals and that really helped me to step it up a notch tonight.

Workout: 1200/1000/800/600/400/200 long rest, all out 800, 400 recovery up till 600, then 200 recovery, each one faster as distance drops

About 1.5 mile warm up.

1200- 4:48.54 (6:26 pace)
1000- 3:53.75 (6:15 pace)
800- 2:59.50 (6:00 pace)
600- 2:12.21 (5:54 pace)
400- 1:21.20 (5:26 pace)
200- 38.83 (5:12 pace)
800- 2:52.61 (5:46 pace)

mile cool down

Not too shabby. I haven't checked but that's got to be one of the fastest 800s I have done in awhile.

Missed the neighborhood beach party but that's cool. David brought me back some desserts :)

Trying to figure out how to get in a bike workout, a swim workout, and how to go shopping for a grad party and wedding shower tomorrow.

Hope everyone else is having a great night! I am so far behind on blogging this week and it doesn't look like I am going to catch up anytime soon. Hopefully I will get back on top of it next week!
The workout before the workout. Pumping tires before Saturday's 33 mile bike and 30 minute run with TriSara, DaisyDuc and Iron John

Cleveland Marathon

What a day!

I took tons of pics of everyone but feel a little odd posting them so you only get one! (Because Buckeye said it was cool to post hers here)

Buckeye Runner around mile 21


Spending the day with my hubby today so I am trying not to spend too much time blogging. A thorough post of the weekend should follow later in the week.

Congrats to all that raced yesterday in the Cleveland races and in the Florida Half Ironman!

Haha


Forgot to post this pic. Thanks DaisyDuc!

Yeah that's right I got an award from our tri clubs virtual tri camp :)

In my defense I did get in a lot of training and I wasn't crushed too badly by our queen Trisaratops!

All in good fun :)

Can I just say

that I love the mail lady?

Seriously she just made my day, and nope it's not because she brought me something special in the mail.

Since we had some theft occur in our building we had to install a doorbell and in order for someone to be let in we have to unlock this door which is a total pain in the butt. It's one of those ones with the turn lock on the bottom of the door, so you have to bend down and unturn it.

Anyways since my coworker left I am the only one who answers the freaking door. I guess it is because I am the youngest? Who knows. So my day gets interrupted several times and I have to bend over and unlock this stupid door, take the package, then bend over and lock again.

Annoying, it wouldn't be so bad if I didn't have to do it every time the bell rang, or if I didn't have to get up for all the false alarms when someone is ringing the bell for the office two floors above us. Yep the building gave us the same type of doorbell so ours rings whenever they have a visitor too. It is really frustrating.

Anyways so the mail lady today looked in to make sure we didn't have any mail for her and before I could bend down to unlock the door she slid our envelope through the slot by the wall to me :)

Yay for thoughtful mail ladies!

Boo for crazy traffic cops blocking off west 6th and 9th and making me find an alternate route to work this morning! Does anyone know what the heck was up with that? Marathon, cavs game? Who knows.

Awkward Day

Well I got in some of my workouts. 1200 yards into my swim workout the lifeguard informs me it is time for his break. Well it would have been nice to know he was taking a break before I got in the pool. meh.

So I decide to hit the treadmill. Get in 3 miles before I feel like I am just going to lose it. The last 2.9 miles of it were miserable. AKA I can't stand running on a treadmill. Huge kudos to anyone who can last more than a minute without feeling like they need to crawl out of their skin.

I head back downstairs with intentions of finishing my pool workout but realize the time lost by changing and running on the dread has not left me enough time so I shower and head to work. The whole day I felt off. Completely opposite of yesterday. Why do I always run so hot and cold?

Anyways GNO went fairly well we had a pretty good time. GHF's grandbaby is absolutely darling. Tried some raspberry martinis and ate tons of seafood!

Tomorrow is a rest day! Maybe I should start tracking my training starting on Saturdays rather than Mondays that way I could end my week on a rest day. 6 days straight of workouts, 3 double days, albeit today's were short. Not too shabby!

Cool Article about some Ultra runners in my neck of the woods

Wednesday, May 17, 2006
Joe Maxse
Plain Dealer Reporter

Gearing up to run 26.2 miles is usually not a spur-of-the-moment decision. But for Medina's Connie Gardner, it's a no-brainer.

When running more than the classic marathon distance is the norm rather than the exception, you could look at Sunday's CVS Marathon as just another stroll in the park. Which it is -- to Gardner.

As one of the nation's elite ultra runners, she is used to pounding out races of 100 kilometers or 100 miles, whichever is available first.

"The only reason I do it is because I'm good at it," said Gardner, who helps coach track and cross country at Walsh Jesuit High School. "If I was good at 5K, I'd run 5K." Gardner, 42, finished sixth last year at the CVS. She should have an easier time of it this time around. A year ago, she ran with a stress fracture in her right femur.

She finished second overall at the Toronto 100K on May 6 as she went the 62-mile distance in 8 hours and 17 minutes.

That time qualified her for the USA's six-runner contingent to the World Cup 100K this fall in Seoul, South Korea. She was named the nation's ultra runner of the year in 2003.

Not bad for someone who was more dedicated to rowing while at the University of Massachusetts.

"I would run to the boat house is about it," said Gardner, a single mother with two daughters (Abby, 14; Gwen, 11). "I just did it to stay in shape in the off-season."

She does that by working at the Medina Community Center, where she teaches swimming. While Gardner remembers her first marathon in Columbus in 1981, she can't put a number on her total.

The ultra-distance bug got her five years ago.

"I don't think I'm that much of a freak," said Gardner, who is 5-6 and 135 pounds. "I'm competitive because of my personality. As long as I eat and drink, take in the calories, my body uses them throughout the race. I stay steady."

Mark Godale, 35, of Aurora was the 1999 ultra runner of the year and has run with Gardner over the years.

He said going long is about brawn and brains.

"She doesn't look like a Kenyan," said Godale, who works a desk job in Cleveland. "We're muscular, not skinny. She is mentally and physically strong. Most people say they don't drive as far as we run.

"What's crazier? Running for eight to 10 hours or sitting in front of a computer for eight hours a day? Which is what I do?"

So, what is the real reason Gardner and Godale are running in the CVS?

They are planning to run 50-plus miles "rim-to-rim" in the Grand Canyon next weekend."

Actually they are running rim-to-rim-to-rim. Crazy stuff. A bunch of our club goes and runs the Grand Canyon every spring starting at the South Rim I think, running across to the north rim and then back to the south. All in a days work I guess :)

Don't think I will be doing that anytime soon...Maybe when I turn 30? (I should clarify, I do plan on running 50 miles this year in November but I am a firm believer that the Grand Canyon run is a whole different ball game with the heat and elevation changes)

Cleveland Marathon is this weekend hence the article. It should be fun. I will be out on the sidelines again cheering like a maniac in my pink Wild Bill Tee and backpack and taking pictures. Should be a blast!

Last Nights Festivities

So I didn't manage to make a repeat of the 5:30 AM wake up today but I think I got up early enough to fit in my double workout and GNO tonight, we shall see.

I am super glad I got out with my TJ Maxx bag yesterday morning because it was sunny for my ride home (Sans backpack)! Only a few issues on the ride back. Had to stop and get off the bike when I hit the bike trail because of oncoming traffic and a huge pothole. I decided to get a drink while I was stopped anyways and the top came completely off the drink spilling juice all over my handlebars. I couldn't fix the top so that water bottle is done!

The only other thing was Marginal Road which as my husband says is a marginal road. It is freaking bumpy and painful! I am amazed I didn't get a flat last night. I am sure that there is no flat roads for me to commute the whole way on though so I will just suffer through those 4 or so miles.

Once I was beyond that I had a good ride. I was able to ride slightly faster on the way back and made it home in about 50 minutes. Only 20 more minutes than if I were to drive!

Helped David cook dinner and then we went out for a quick walk/jog before the storms hit again. The mayflies are out in full force. David was getting the worst of it, I think he ate a few in addition to taking a few to the face. I just kept getting nailed by those little helicopter seeds. Man those thing hurt when they come at you full force. So it was an odd walk. We didn't talk much for fear of the mayflies. They were all over our door when we got back so now in addition to a little ant problem we will be dealing with mayflies too. Wonderful.

Have I mentioned I am not a fan of bugs? But the good news is that there are spiders all over the outside of the house too, and they will eat the mayflies. Uggh I hate spiders too!

Yikes.

Crazy

Woke up this morning at 5:30. This is extremely unusual for me. I like my sleep!

Tried to go back to bed, no go, cats purring so loud I just can't do it.

Go downstairs and start the coffee and toast. Out of PB so Apple Butter it is.

Put away dishes from last night as the coffee brews.

Grab a cup of OJ from the fridge.

Haul my breakfast up to the computer and start catching up on blogs.

8:00 AM rolls around, still not caught up. Chat with Brent for a bit on AIM. Finally catch up.

Look outside, no rain. Check the forecast, chance of showers all day, t-storms in the evening.

Finish another cup of coffee and decide to risk the commute on my bike. Get dressed in my gear. Pack my bag. Realize I should probably waterproof everything. So I put everything in grocery bags then put it back in the bag. Then I realize I don't want mud and water streaked across my nice new backpack. I know! I'll put a bag on that too.

Yeah thats right I wrapped my backpack in a TJ Maxx bag.

I look at the bag. Just put it on and get going. Uggh maybe this is a bad idea.

I put it on.

I walk upstairs. "Honey I'm leaving." Oh god it's the look. He thinks I'm crazy, well he knows I'm crazy, but now he thinks I am really crazy.

I walk downstairs.

This is stupid.

I take off the backpack.

I can just ride 50 minutes and then go to work.

Yeah but then you have to waste gas and pay parking.

Good lord just stop wavering.

I put the backpack back on.

I go outside and get my helmet and shoes.

I move the car.

I clip in and I am off.

Wow I look like a nut.

They all think I am crazy.

Yeah well they don't know about Steelhead, they have no clue that you're a triathlete.

They still think I am crazy.

There is no rain in sight. It is actually really nice out, and I am loaded up to the nines ready for the sky to open up and come crashing down on me. I pass through the rich neighborhoods and everything is lush and green and it smells just like the rainforest in Belize. I soak it all up.

Wow I am riding slow. And it is freaking hot in all this gear.

I wave at the cop car passing by.

He thinks I'm crazy.

I know I'm crazy.

This backpack covered with a TJ Max bag is Not aerodynamic.

12.9 mph? Seriously? Can this get any more miserable?

13.7 mph! Am I really excited about 13.7mph?


Oh God look at all the kids in those school busses. Look at me I'm a triathlete with a TJ Maxx bag on my back. Don't you want to grow up and be cool like me?

I arrive at work 55 minutes later. Average speed ridiculously slow because of all the gear.

I carry my bike up to my office and make the quick bathroom "shower" and change stop and start my day at work.

Man that was a crazy morning. Yeah well call me crazy...


Suspect Plant From Sundays Run...I may or may not have brushed up against this. So far no break out. I am fairly confident I am immune to poison Ivy as I have never got it and I grew up in the woods so I am bound to have come in contact with it. But I am also pretty confident that by saying so I will have doomed myself to a bad breakout in a few days.

Running Blind

Okay so maybe "running extremely near sighted" would be a more appropriate title :)

My contacts were bothering me on the bike rides this weekend so I didn't want to risk irritating my eyes and opted for no contacts during my swim yesterday, none for my walk/jog with David last night, and none for the run tonight. I attempted to run in my glasses but they are not designed for running and kept sliding down my nose. So I was hitting the track with less than perfect vision tonight.

Only 4 of us showed tonight and all of us either raced this weekend, rode long, or were planning on racing this weekend. So we opted for mile repeats. The warm up felt forced to me so I thought for sure I was going to be pretty slow. I figured I would aim for 10k pace or around 7:15s. I was pleasantly surprised when the first mile came in at 6:52 comfortably. Not too shabby! Perhaps we can hold this tonight. Second mile 6:50. Nice and steady almost every 400 was right on. Feeling really geeked now since this was my 5k pace this weekend and this did not feel forced at all tonight. Third mile 6:52. Awesome. Fourth mile picked it up just a notch for a 6:39. I will take it! With the 2 mile warm up and mile cool down I got in 7.75 miles tonight.

I am getting tired of being the only one at my pace on the track. Tonight I was the only girl to boot. I am hoping to find someone right around my pace and get them to the track so we can feed off of each other. Right now I just have to push myself and try not to fall too far behind the speedsters.

The rain held off until our mile cool down and then it misted lightly on us. Enough to make the ride home chilly. I have the space heater going right now. The sun peaked out for a few minutes on the drive home so maybe I will be able to catch an hour of sunlight tomorrow for a bike ride. We'll see!

Looking Back

At the past week or two :)

The trip to Cincinnati was really nice. We got to check out J and C's new place and the construction crew was even nice enough to have a wall up so we would have somewhere to sleep :) They had to have their whole living room wall replaced because of flooding!

Friday morning I rode my bike into work so that David could just pick me up and we would be on our way. Somehow I managed to get out of driving duty both there and back. We made pretty good time and only had one traffic jam due to a truck that ran out of steam in the middle lane of the highway. Yikes!

We decided to head to dinner and went to a restaurant in Loveland that I believe is an old Firehouse and has brick oven pizzas. C called ahead and made reservations but once we were there we were informed that they don't take reservations and we were not on the list. Oh really. Well we tried our best to get seated ASAP but had to wait regardless. A bunch of people ahead of us ended up not being there so the wait wasn't too bad. Just a bit irritating and of course you aren't tipping the snotty hostess so you really can't do to much about your frustration.

We ordered a couple of pizzas and some artichoke dip. I think they made their chips there, they were excellent. I had a margarita that went straight to my head. Good times. We were pretty exhausted when we got back. I took a shower and then played a game with C and David before heading to bed. I can't remember the name of the game but it involved placing board pieces and little characters on roads, cities, or farms to get points. Despite a bit of confusion on my part I still won :)

We slept in a little bit on Saturday and C made us a fantastic breakfast. J introduced me to "We Love Katamari" which I proceeded to play well into the afternoon. Holy addictive game Batman! Really it is a good thing we don't have a PS2 (I tried to convince David we needed one when we got back but he wasn't buying it).

Around 4 C and J's friends came over and I rode for 75 minutes with S. We had a good time chit chatting and riding on the gorgeous trail. We stopped for ice cream and shaved ice on the way back. In the 10 minutes it took to eat our ice cream it got COLD. Thank goodness we were only a few miles away from the apartment. We were both shivering and had goosebumps.

After the ride we headed out to an Indian restaurant with G/S, C/J, and David's sisters boyfriend who was running the relay on Sunday. We ate so much! I got a spinach/cheese dish and it was delightful. The bread was very good. I was absolutely stuffed but we made room for the dessert they had. Kind of like Gellato with a very interesting sauce, a bit egg noggy, hard to explain.

After dinner I gave Rae and Brent a call to let them know where I would be on the course and what I was going to wear. Then we watched Spirited Away. I was not sure I was going to enjoy the movie but it was pretty good. A little odd in places but definitely worth staying up late for. Somehow between dinner and the movie I managed to drink 3 or 4 glasses of wine. I like to test the boundaries a bit the night before spectating you know?

So I woke up around 5 AM on Sunday and tried to wake David up but he hadn't slept well so I headed to the race on my own. I got there about 6 AM and jogged over to mile 5. It was still dark as the leaders ran by.

I was watching for B and D to be with the 3:40 pace group and sure enough B was right next to the pace bunny so I started running alongside on the sidewalk calling her name and cheering. Just slight uphills at this point and I am wondering why B thought she needed me here. B didn't realize I was there until about mile 6. At that point the hill starts to get a bit steeper. I take B's hat because it is pretty cloudy and take some photos as she starts attacking the hills. I believe I heard the pace bunny say that that mile was a bit fast at 8:10. I ran alongside B to the crest of this huge hill around 7 where you could look out and see the whole city. In all the commotion I totally forgot to take a picture.

At 7 I urged B on and turned back to find D. It didn't take long she spotted my Wild B Tee and I ran with here from about 6.5 through 7.5. She looked good but was in pain. Her tendon was bothering her so it was going to be a tough race. I turned back and almost immediately hear Rae shout out my name. I wave and jump in and run with Rae and Brent for 2 or 3 miles along the half course. We are chit chatting and taking pics. It was really cool to meet them and I was glad I got to run with them. I wasn't sure what route the half took so around 9 or 10 I headed backwards along the course hoping to catch David's sisters boyfriend finishing up the first leg of the relay, but he was too quick and I missed him.

So I just ran down the hills to mile 5 cheering all the way. I got some really strange looks from everyone. But I just kept cheering and encouraging the runners up the hills. Once I reached 5 I realized that I could have just followed the half course and I would have ended up in the same place. Oh well, I had a blast cheering everyone on and a lot of people are going to wonder who the crazy girl in the Wild Bill Tee and pink backpack was :)

I gave Rae a call and asked where they were. Went over and chatted with them while watching the marathon on the JumboTron. GHF found us so after some pics and good byes we headed out towards mile 25 of the marathon to cheer on our SERC peeps. GHF turned back and I got to around 24.5 before D showed up. She looked great but was in a lot of pain. I ran with her up through 25.5ish . The race was giving awards for the fastest mile from 25.2 to the finish. If D didn't get it I would be amazed. Her overall time was 3:36 and she ran her last mile in 7:15.

I went back to around 24.5 and waited for B, she wasn't far behind. I ran with her through the same point and urged her on. She ended with a 3:45ish and 1st in her age group. She is absolutely incredible!

Now it was time to look for GH. He came by looking good and I ran with him through the same mile stretch. Then I went back looking for GK. Before I saw her I managed to get to just past 24 and picked up C from CTC. This was her first marathon and she ended up running about 30 minutes faster than she expected! I ran with her through 25.5ish and went back for GK. I picked her up and ran with her almost to the finish. She had planned on running the half and changed her mind the day before!

These girls I run with are absolutely freaking amazing I am telling you! Looking forward to GNO this Thursday to catch up on all the marathon gossip.

After the marathon I walked with GK and we found D and her boyfriend who very kindly drove me to my car. I ended up running about 2 and a half hours and probably walking another 2-4 miles.

Got back to C and Js and we went out to lunch at Chipotle. I ate my whole burrito. It was incredibly tasty. I love their rice it has this lemony flavor and is just to die for.

We went back to the apartment and G/S and I got in another hour on the bike before heading to their place and playing some four square. I have never played this game. It involved 4 squares and 4 active players. Those not playing would jump in when someone was out. You bounced the ball from square to square and if it bounced twice in your square or you hit it out you were out. I SUCK at eye hand coordination games and did not do very well. But we had fun.

The drive home I slept pretty much the entire way, waking to eat a frosty and fries at Wendy's.

And that was pretty much the whole Cinci weekend. Can't wait for C/J's wedding in June it is going to be a blast!

Last week began a slew of what should have been double workout days. I didn't do so well but I did manage to get in one good workout in each sport (in addition to a few others)

Highlights:

Tuesday's track workout went well all 3 miles of intervals under 6:20 pace
Thursday swim included a 1,000 yard time trial in 15:54 (For some reason I got it into my head that I couldn't do this in less than 19 minutes and according to Bold this meant I should just be doing drills, so I was relieved to see that I am indeed still a fishy)
Saturday 31 mile bike ride with B2. It is weird for this to be a shorter ride this year considering for Olympic training this would have been a longer ride for me.

Today I managed to get in my 2,500 yard swim. And I think David and I will go for a walk/jog in the rain tonight.

I am super pleased with today's workout. I included some shorter stuff because I was just tired of counting laps so my main set was 10*100 on a 1:45 send off

1:31,1:32,1:31,1:30,1:29,1:29,1:29,1:29,1:29,1:27!

Fun! I have no clue how this compares to last years 100 yard times but it was a good feeling to actually get faster after a couple rather than slowing.

It has been raining pretty much non stop since Thursday but most of my workouts were during the lows so I did not have to fight with any of the torrential downpours Trisaratops fought on her bike this weekend. I am hoping this weather clears up by Wednesday for my bike ride so I can commute into work. This week is back to mostly single workout days so it will be easier to ease into this new routine I am going to try and keep. So far so good.

Not a PR

But I'll take it :)

Woke up as late as humanly possible this morning and headed over to the Mom's Day 5k in Independence. Got in about an 11 minute warm up then changed and did some strides and lined up to start. I wanted to run either even or negative split but it is apparent that even after all these years I still have not learned how to run an efficient 5k. First mile felt strong and not too hard, 6:26. Ooops prob too fast but let's see if we can hold it. I am running with the 4th girl and with WV up through about 1.5 when they start to pull away and I realize I am slowing. 2nd mile 6:44. Just gutting it out now, my legs are tapped. Could have been the bike ride, could have been the white russians, but most likely the 6:26 is the cause.

In the last half mile or so I get passed by one lady who I should have just ran the whole race with and then I get blown away by this 12 year old girl. She must have been running under 6 minute miles the last half. She ended up in 4th overall for women, just over 20 minutes, taking home 3rd because #3 was masters winner. I held on to come in 7th female (1st and only 20-24 year old, lame) 21:21. 3rd mile was probably around 7:15.

So 6:53 pace and 24 seconds faster than last years Mom's 5k. It is always amazing how freaking hard a 5k can be. I mean when you get to mile 23 of the marathon you're thinking only 3 more miles, anyone can run 3 miles. But in that 5k it seems like each mile is an ETERNITY, despite the fact that you are running a minute or more per mile faster than in the marathon. If I could just learn how to hold back in that first mile I think it wouldn't feel so bad.

Went out for a bike ride after the race, just shy of 13 miles in about 45 minutes. BORING ride. The towpath was closed after like 1 mile so I just rode a bunch of short out and backs in this little Industrial Park Area. Not an ideal ride.

Got off the bike and ran 2.25 miles at about 8:15 pace. I think I may have gotten into some poison ivy. Not positive, I will post a picture of the suspect plant later. I showered in cold water as soon as I got home so I will keep my fingers crossed.

I have to do like 4 hours of work at some point today and I would like to get the car cleaned, dishes done, and house in order. I want everything set up so that I can start fresh this week, I need to be more organized and I just need to make sure that everything I have planned for a day gets done that day. No more make ups and having to catch up on all the house stuff on Friday evening. If all these peeps can train for Ironman and still take care of their families, work etc. than I can certainly get in the training for a half and do everything else I need to.

Falling Behind

On Everything!

I have been swamped at work, with training, and with the house, and even with blogging! Uggh. I still need to write up a good recap of our weekend in Cinci...it really was an awesome weekend and unfortunately I didn't get many pics because I was just too busy enjoying myself.

This week has been tough, work has been crazy and it is only going to get crazier, the double workouts are already hitting and I am not currently organized enough to handle it so I missed out on quite a few workouts and that just made me upset so I missed even more workouts.

One of my coworkers last day was Friday and that is really going to make my job a whole lot harder and much less fun. It just won't be the same without him around. I have lost two really good friends at work now in the past year and it really sucks...

Went to the CTC picnic today and had a really good time. B2 saved my weekend workouts by calling and arranging to meet and ride bikes at the end of the picnic. So I got in 31 miles on the bike today.

Tomorrow I think I am doing a 5k then riding my bike some more. Hopefully both will go well.

Had a fun night tonight with Eostre and Miss Funk. We kicked their butts in Trivia Pursuit and had fun chit chatting and drinking a few White Russians (and Bloody Mary for Monte). Pretty tired and I have to wake up early for the race but a few pics from the weekend so far will follow.
Mixing White Russians
Mixing Monte's Drink
Monte likes his Bloody Mary light on the celery.
Bike Porn. Forgot to wear my red gear so that the tires go better with the whole image :)
This may be my new most favorite pic! HUGE thanks to B2 for asking me to ride with him today. I really was just not in the mood to work out alone.
Trivia Pursuit Game Faces. Aren't we intimidating?

More Track

A bit more even this week. The sun drained me tonight and I had this aura of negativity. No clue what's up with that so I am just happy I was able to squeeze out negative splits and that everything was under 6:20 pace. I am debating racing 5k on Sunday. Perhaps it's time to see if I can break my PR? I would have to run about 6:25 pace. I am guessing 6:55 pace is a bit more practical at this point.

Splits:

mile warm up 9:08

800:
3:09.68
600:
2:23.27
400:
1:28.58
800:
3:06.86
600:
2:21.96
400:
1:27.17
400:
1:26.41
800:
3:05.52

mile cool down 9:19.85
Bear Run
Bike Trail Guide Warren County
Bear Run. Part of the Little Miami River Watershed. This is one of the watersheds I am helping do a TMDL report for. Cool Huh? It was neat to get "on the ground" and actually see the watershed up close and personal. I totally forgot to take pictures which sucks. They have help our watershed signs up all over so that is great. The county is doing an awesome job and taking initiative to do the TMDL/Clean Water Act requirements for the watershed themselves rather than waiting for the state to work on it once the deadline for this watershed comes up.
Mmmm Indian food in a Duck Basket!
Rae, Me, and Brent after the half finish
Hubby wearing my new $15 gas station racing glasses
$5.00 glasses at Krogers! Score! I lost my ugly glasses :(

Whirlwind Weekend

Man what a weekend! I am exhausted! My poor husband, I slept almost the entire drive home last night. I had so much fun this weekend!

I learned that my addictive personality also applies to games where you roll up "stuff". Thank goodness we don't have a playstation 2 at home or I would never train. I would play We love Katamari all day and night!

I got to ride my bike Friday, Saturday, and Sunday!

I got to run with a bunch of friends at the marathon and cheer to my hearts content!

I got to track my friends as they raced the Wildflower triathlon! Great job to all of them, looks like that run course was pretty brutal!

I got to play 4-square for the first time in my life. (I know I know what hole did I grow up in?)

We had much fun hanging out with C and J and ate at some fabulous restaurants. I am super stuffed still.

Training damage this weekend. 3 bike rides totaling around 43 miles
One long run up and down the hills of Cinci 2.5 hours. So maybe 15-16 miles?

I think I am taking a rest day today!

Fun pictures of my RBF meetup and the weekend to come soon!

Congrats to Rae and Brent on an awesome half, to my SERC and CTC peeps on an awesome full, and to my tri peeps who raced in Wildflower or at the local Du this weekend. Good job to all!

Out

The bike commute went well this morning! Only 12.5 miles though. But still a decent length workout.

Heading out the door to Cinci.

Have a great weekend everyone and good luck to all those racing!

2500

yards swam in the pool. Oh yeah.

Went and swam before work this morning. I am still behind a 50 minute bike for the week and need to run 3-5 miles tonight but not doing too shabby.

The swim went great this morning. Decided to add some kick and pull to the warm up to switch things up a little bit. Had an 8 minute or so rest at 1,000 chatting with my lane partner. Seemed like a nice guy. Not a swimmer for sure. Not even up to Flotsam and Jetsam standards! But he was friendly and offered some weight lifting advice, apparently I look like I could use a bit more muscle :)

Also got told by the lifeguard that I have the best stroke he's ever seen from anyone at the pool. I was certainly flattered. Although I think I might take an uglier stroke if it made me faster ;) A few other "real" swimmers were there today. Only one that looked pretty fast so I still feel like the Alpha swimmer at the Y. ;) I love watching other peoples strokes and trying to figure out what causes them to be fast or slow. The other speedster today breathed every stroke, so while he was speedy he just looked lopsided breathing always on the right. I know for a lot of people that is more comfortable but I can't imagine not bilateral breathing. I usually breathe every 5th arm. I guess a lot of people breathe every 3rd. I have no clue how this impacts my swimming. Yesterday I attempted every 7th, but it didn't seem to make me any faster and it was definitely pushing it on running out of oxygen. I do think that bilateral is helpful though because it forces you to roll on both sides.

Anywho here's the breakdown

warm up

500 free
250 drills (catchup, slow arm recovery, fist, fingertip, triple back)
100 kick
150 pull

Main Set: Ladder

100/10 second rest (1:34)
150/15 second rest (2:24)
200/20 second rest (3:13)
250/25 second rest (3:58)
250/25 second rest (4:00)
200/20 second rest (3:06)
150/15 second rest (2:21)
100/10 second rest (1:33)

Cool down

100 backstroke

Very happy with the workout. Nothing felt forced and I was happy to see I went faster most of the way at the end. I struggle with endurance in the water and holding pace for longer yardage. So I have been trying to do some longer intervals rather than the ones I prefer to do (50s-100s).

Looks like a great night for a run!

I have to pack for cinci and clean and get things around. Tomorrow I am hoping the weather will be good and I can ride my bike into work and David will pick me up tomorrow night and we will head straight to Cinci. Oh have I mentioned we are going down to cheer at the marathon and visit with some friends? I am looking forward to a long bike ride in Loveland on Saturday and then some hard core spectating on Sunday. I am pretty sure I will be running B in the last 6 or so miles of the marathon. We'll see if she still wants the support.

Veyr much looking forward to meeting Rae and Brent! Should be fun, I think they may be the only bloggers more camera happy than me!

Wildflower is this weekend. Many of my TNT friends are going to be racing Saturday and Sunday. It is pretty bizarre not to be going with on the trip. They flew out this morning. I am so proud of all the training they have gone through and I hope all their races go well.

I have realized recently that I use excessive exclamation points. So I have been trying to cutback, but you know what? They are all appropriate. I really am that darn excited pretty much all the time. Hopefully Rae and Brent will be able to vouch for me after this weekend! I know Tammy, Elle, and Kurt already can as well as my CTC peeps and David's buds. But I wanted to apologize to all that have been victims of my comments and posts filled with exclamation points. Hopefully you won't hold it against me.

And with all that randomness done I'm out.

More OCD Splits

But these are of the swim variety!

2000 yards tonight in 39:34

Warm up

200 warm up
200 drills (50 catch up, 50 slow arm, 50 fingertip, 50 fist)

Main Set 200s with 20 second rests

200 free 3:08.39
200 breast stroke 5:04.71
200 free 3:10.44
200 back stroke 3:56.27
3*200 free 3:12.64, 3:14.17, 3:13.37

Cool down

200 cool down 3:32.50

Had a dentist appointment this morning. My gums are really sore. I swear my gums are tartar magnets! No cavities this time at least, just something "abnormal" to be watched next visit. Sounds good to me. The less needles the better I say!

Secrets Revealed


Haha I didn't realize how tiny the profile pic was and how unclear it was that I was in wetsuit, swim cap, and blue goggles. :)

Unveiling the high resolution to end all debate ;)

This was taken right before my first Olympic Distance tri in Chicago 2004. The blue goggles leaked but they ended up being a great thing because my family was able to easily spot me in the water and my mom jogged along the side as I swam :)

I know not my normal smiley pose, but I had quite a bit on my mind ;) CK has a knack for taking pics of me with these weird expressions on my face.

Track

What I wish my track workout would have looked like tonight:

1.75 mile warm up

1600 build up: 6:15

8*400
1:30
1:27
1:24
1:21
1:29
1:26
1:23
1:19

1.25 mile cool down

What it actually looked like:

1.75 mile warm up

1600: 6:12.91

8*400 build up
1:30.99
1:25.98
1:21.53
1:33.35 (didn't realize I was doing this one right away, Wildflower crew was only doing 6 *400 and I was going to add my extra 2 at the end but speedster LD wanted to sneak in the 4th while they were cooling down for their next set of 3)

1:29.10
1:28.23
1:28.36
1:23.39

1.25 mile cool down

sorry did I mention I'm OCD sometimes? I just wish I would have run a bit more consistently. Knocking 1-2 seconds off each 400 rather than knocking 5 off, then only 1 etc.

Smiles are the best

http://www.dooce.com/

I highly recommend (command seemed a little harsh) you all go over and visit Dooce today to watch the precious video of Leta reading. And if you haven't yet watched the video of her singing go back a few posts to see that too.

This kid almost makes me want one of me own. She is too cute!

No swim workout for me this morning as I was lazy once again but I am now heading to the track to redeem myself!

Slacker

So I way overslept this morning. My natural go to sleep and wake up when my body tells me to plan totally backfired.

So no formal workout. I will have to swim and run tomorrow to make up for it.

David and I went for a short walk and tried to get some landscaping ideas. We have a pretty strange yard setup so I am really not sure what we want to do. On our way back in noticed almost all the flowers we planted are dying and a squirrel had dug one completely up. I guess I didn't inherit my grandmothers green thumb. I just doused the beds with water, hopefully everything will perk up.

No motivation to do anything but it's only 8pm. Hmmmm. If only it was light enough out for a bike ride!