28 or 82? that is the question.

As I sit at my desk, I am eating my lunch. just like every normal day. i sit here and eat and take my vitamins. today as i look at the pills i am about to take, i realize i look like i am 82! (minus being carded last night).

I take:
naproxen - for the inflammation in my knee
potassium - to keep my calves from cramping
glucosamine - to lube up my cracking joints...knees, shoulders, wrist

so...am i 28...or 82?! you decide.

TGIF!

I have decided that the planets were out of whack this week! Between being completely scatterbrained, overplanned, and plain tired - I am ready for a new week!

sunday was good - back from teh beach and off to som's swim class. 2650 meters - i like it.

monday wasn't bad - body shaping class and swimming with friends

tuesday started off good - snells and i went for a ride to check out the hills we will be up against this weekend. i didn't think the hills were too bad, but that could be a different story when i am awake and have already swum 750 meters in the river. hopefully race day the deer will not scare us! but then came tuesdy afternoon. i was scheduled to run for 60 minutes. it was over 100 degrees outside and i have oodles of errands to run. yes, i skipped :( bad, fave. bad.

then along came wednesday. got up and went to weights class in the morning. after work i had to be at a camp fundraiser (which rasied over 900 bucks! woo hoo). i knew i was only going to 'work' that for an hour then head off to the pool for my swim. *clash* thunder. more thunder. seriosuly?! ok ok i will drink some wine. there goes my swim.

thursday has to be better, right. man i was exhausted! that kate oliver kept me up too late! (haha love you). 4.18 mile run at an easy pace. suposed to be at a tempo pace, but i am tired. 9:40 pace :( oh well. thursday night's ride was cancelled due to the threatening storms i trudged through on the way home. but - i did have a clinic and mexican food with my girls...if i could keep my eyes open!

TGIF!!!! tonight is scheduled for an open water swim practice and i am very much looking foward to it. there is the threat of thunerstorms, but i hope they hold off for a few hours. i would love to get a good open water swim practice in before sunday.

the weekend will be filled with errands, pig picking, and friends. FAVulous!

beer, deer, and hills - oh my!

Tavern is approaching quickly.

I am once again nervous about the race. I have done this before now, but I can't shake the nerves. This is my first open water swim race and over twice as long as the powersprint. The bike is longer than the powersprint, too and I have been hearing stories of nasty hills! But it is sponsored by a bar...i am thinkign there should be some very nice rehydrated refreshments at the finish line. (wishful thinking huh)

I know I have been training for Patriot so i should be able to tackle this one. I have my scheduled swims this week as well as an open water swim practice on friday - my last workout before the race - perfect.

In preperation, I headed off to the bike course to preview the hills. So this morning the alarm clock went off. What time you wonder? 4:30. yes, 4:30. gross. After some texts and calls Margo and I get in our cars and head off to Midlothian. Since the traffic on huguneot is known to be a bit tricky and the hills are mainly on the side streets, we headed off to do just that part of the course. As we passed one farm I saw one of those tacky fake deer right on the side of the road - sriously?! oh no wait - it jsut moved its head. and htere it goes off to the woods. wow. then about 50 yards ahead and two bucks running through the field away from us. i'm thinking this is like going on a nature tour...until we hit the big hill. not only do we hit the hill, bt there is an odor. ah yes - the token road kill. oh wait...it's a kitty cat :( poor thing. but i trudged up the hill showing it who's boss! heck yeah, hill, take that! turn around and back down we go...weeeeeeee!

now all i have to say is - i need a nap.

Uneventful

This week's training has been uneventful. Just a steady week...with minor tweaking. Becuase I will be out of town this weekend (bachelorette party woohoo), my scheduled was compressed to fit in the key parts of training.

Sunday was normal - the pool to lay out then the other pool for Som's swim class. This week sicne it was father's day it was a combined class. Oh it was combined alright! Only 5 of us were there!! We all received pointers to better are stroke technique from coach S.

Monday was also an uneventful normal day. Body shaping class kicked my butt! Okay so really it kicked my shoulders and quads. It was a good class - no exercises that tired us out too bad but gave us a good wrokout. Afterwards I headed to the pool. I did my workout per the schedule, but around 3/4 of the way through the drills - I was feeling class. I was pooped! So i called it a night without the warm down.

Tuesday was where the schedule got tricky. Originally scheduled to do a 30 minute tempo ride followed by a 60 minute tempo run. However, this was when I had to get my speed workout in so I was advised to instead do (8) 1/2 mile repeats with my new gial time of 3:40/each. I dragged my friend Ashley out in the 102 degree heat to attempt this. Although her husband thought we had lost our minds, we headed off to short pump middle to run the flat track. First 1.2 mile - 3:49. not too shabby. 7 more to go and i was hot! so i told myself it was okay to slow it down a bit. 4:14 - ew!!!!! 4:10. ok this is not looking good. I usually can break 4 minutes! But man is it hot out here! we take a couple breaks to walk around the track (1/4 mile) to cool off some before starting the next set. fianlly it's time to go. we spolied ourselves with yummy dinner kindly prepared for us by her husband and galss of nice chilled vino.

Wednesday was an optional swim or rest day. What?! optional rest day - no way! I knew I would be with the girls at Fleming's in the evening so a morning swim was the plan. My body wasn't so interested in in, though. I woke up and my muscles were mush. Between weights class and a hard run, they were plain tired. Disappointed, I had to take the extra rest day. My body needed the day off. So instead I spent my evenign drinking wine and eating PF Chang's! Now that's yummy!

Thursday - back in action. This was the day to do my 50 mile ride I would missing over the weekend. this about a 3 hour ride. So hmmm...I work until 5:30 and can be on my bike at 6:15 so that means riding until about 9:15 - uhhh do what. Riding alone for 3 hours was not very appealing (since the girls were riding on saturday). And the only place I feel comfortable riding alone is west creek. 3 hours of hills in circles alone was really not appealing. Fortunately for this one I could drag my cycling friend Jason out with me! We rode until 8:00 and called it a night. So not the 50 miles scheduled, but a ride none the less. (ps - i am totally sick of riding in west creek)

Today I am taking my rest day and tomorrow will go for a run on the beach. Sunday I will be back in action at swim class. See you all there!

*insert catchy title here*

So I have this cyclo-computer on my aero bars. however...i have no clue how to use it and track my rides. I know how fast I am going at the moment, but that's about it. yes, i need to read the directions. but in the mean time I found a website to find my average speed for me!
http://www.machinehead-software.co.uk/bike/speed_distance_time_calc.html

Not Quite a Master

After talking about it for months (yes, months), Snells, Jro, and I made our way to Masters swim class. I arrive at the Y and start preparing for class. Jro and I are hanging out...with no sign of Snells! Did we just get stood up?! Oh she is totally going to hear it - as we make our way to the pool. We chit chat with other swimmers...I of course was quiet feeling out the scene, finally Snells shows up. however...a coach did not. We make a decision that being slower and not as experienced in the water we should go to the only lap lane in the other pool and do our scheduled workout drills instead. A coach finally does show up, but we stick to our plan and torpedo through the drills. (As I was doing the drills I was telling myself to be a torpedo in the water).

Not bad times - 1:50-2:10 for the 100's, knocked 9 seconds off my 400 time from monday for 8:49. I can never remember what my 200's were - doh!

In regards to the Masters class - we might not be masters yet, but we will go for a sceond try...there was some yummy eye candy afterall :)

TRIgirls Soar Like Eagles

Let me start off with some bragging. I am so proud of my girls! They were the most amazing girls participating in Eagleman yesterday.

After an evening out with some friends saturday night, that 4:00 alarm clock was awfully early. (I am blaming Barrett for coersing me into going for the after dinner drinks). But i packed everything up and made it to Margo's for our 5am departure - Cambridge or bust.

Fave, Margo, and SanDee

Margo, SanDee, and I (we lost annn and derek) agreed it was way too early to talk very much and we jsut needed some good fattening breakfast. mmmm. mcdonald's bagel sandwich. perfect. this helps the wine headache. after a small dc detour we amke our way to the race with prada parking - right on the run course. we post our signs and decorate the street.

we missed the swim exits. stink! so we walk down the street to see most of the girls start their bike!!! what energy in the air! luckily all of our girls made is out of the water unlike one guy we saw walking his bike out of transition with a broken seat post!

everyone starts coming in from the bike and preparing for the run. i was so proud to be a trigirl and cheering for the girls. margo, sandee, jenn, and i took pictures and cheered as team members, coaches and friends pushed through the day.

Margo, Fave, Jenn

although there were about 2000 racers, i think the pink ladies made their mark on eagleman. we even got complimented on our fabulous tops! the dedication you all showed in your training and throughout the day in inspriation for us baby pinks. thank you for showing us the way. you all soar like eagles!

Liz, Deanna B, Anna Mac, Carmen, Amy, Lynn, Mary Jo, Kate, Susie Q, Cyndi

Route 5

The training is goign well. Saturday is scheduled a 50 and 3 brick - 50 mile ride, 3 mile run. I plan with Diane, Mary, and Teresa so we can push each other through the ride. We meet at 7am at shiplock park. (haven't heard of it - yeah no one had!). but it was a good location to hop on over to route 5 and begin our journey. we all make sure we have our nutrician and hydration, cell phones, emergency cash, and oh yeah flat kits, too! we're ready.

the journey beings with a 50 yard straight up hill! mary and teresa look at the hill and decide walking up it to start it the way to go. diane and i...no no no. we can ride it from a dead stop. heave ho. heave ho. get to the top - and we were panting! ummm we do have 50 miles to go...maybe we shoudl start off easy! smart thinking mary and teresa!

we gang to gether and start trekking. the road is rather bumpy - then BAM! on bump big enough and like slow motion the contents of my bento box scatter themselves in the road. cellphone...and the battery seperated, shot blocks, sandwiches, car key! i see a van comins so i jump off my bike (how did i not fall) and i ran in front of mary (thank God she didn't fall) and I scooped up everything before the van crushed the phone permanently! and it still works. minor coronary. everything was saved...well not the shot blocks :(

back off on our way down route 5 and we take the advice of deanna l and veer off to osborne turnpike. this was lovely. diane and i were able to ride side-by-side and chit chat making the ride even more enjoyable. we take this back to route 5 for the last 10 miles before the turn around point. shortly after we continue on we ride right through 2 villages of gnats floating like clouds in the road. luckily i was far enough away that i only get hit by about 3 but unfortunately diane went right through the boogers and they just stuck to her face. i couldn't help but laugh as she has to wipe these dead creatures off - yick! but in trigirl spirit she noted...it's protein right!

we hit the 25 mile mark (15.5 pace) and there is a perfect little gravel area on the side of the road and a trail into the woods (thank you vcu). perfect bathroom! we all hoble in our bike shoes down teh mud and rocky path which comes back to haunt us. we eat some peanut butter sandwiches and head back. we quickly realize that we all have mud in our cleats and have to knock them out on teh road to clip in. we all are ready to start abck when we see an 18 wheeler coming....waaaay too fast and we have to run from the curb to not get run over as this gu was out of control - that was frightening! as we start out - oops! diane and mary have a few rocks in their shoes that requires minor surgery to get out to clip in. mission accomplished.

the trek back was not as pleasant as the first half. i realize right away that i ate too much - ugh. and although diane was doing soem great pacing the first half i ask her i f i can lead and slow us down a bit until i digest my ENTIRE peanut butter sandwich. note to self- next ime - only half! as we continue down route 5 we are passed by a few cars that get uncomfortably close. i think they just liked the view of our bums and wanted a close up :) finally we get to the turn off for osborne (at a 16.4 pace)

back to osborne and social riding like we litk to do. but now...ugh. legs are hurting some. 15 miles left. that's all. 5 miles left. that's all. diane gets ahead of me and my quickly fading quads. we make our way back to main street and the bumpy roads and i practice some drafting to try and keep up. da-da-da-da-da that is the sound of my bike on the road. i thought the silver bullet wa going to just fall apart piece by piece, but she hung in there like the champ she is. and after the alst quarter mile of the ride beign uphill then the hard descent we trekked up in the beginning, we decided it is in our best interst to walk our bikes down the hill considering there is a road at the bottom that we woul dnot be stopping for!

we change into our sneaks and head off for our 3 miles run. without a way to know how far we've run we estimate that we just need to run 15 minutes out and back. up cary street and cut over to canal walk. up and down a few sets of stairs and talking abotu the potential it has. 13 minutes out and a big set of stiars. yeah this mean we will trun around haha. so we turn around and run back down dock street towards the cars. 24 minutes total so we hit a negative split somehow! it's now noon and the sun is blazing. time for the pool. all in a day's work.

It's 7am and my day is complete

What a morning! As I dive into the training schedule for the week I am eager to take on the intensified workouts, knowing they are only going to get more intense in preperations for Patriot.

Today is scheduled for a swim. but not just a swim...a timed 1.25 mile swim. note - i swam a 1000 meters straight once. that is my longest distance to date. i figure out that 1.25 miles is 2000 meters. holy water, batman. that is rediculous. i must be crazy. but...i also really want it. so i get to the pool at 6:00 this morning. On the way there I realize that I believe this is the same time as masters class - doh! i will just swim in the warm family pool. as i walk through the locker room into the pool - there are all of about...1 person swimming! i dip my toe in the water of the stupidly cold lap pool. hmmm. not bad. let me check the family pool. hmm. that's rahter warm. i head back over to the lap and pool and hop on in. hey - why don't they keep the water at this temperature more often. i take a deep breath and head off for an easy 1x100 warm up. i notice that my breathing wasn't very on key. but...it's time. it's now or never. if i want this i have to do it. so i push off and am off. there were time i felt a little speedy, times i felt a little bored, times i needed to rememebr to breath, and times the run last night was telling my legs were still tired. but...finally...40 laps! woo hoo! rock on with my bad self. i had a goal of 45 minutes and finished in 42:58. hey not too shabby. i polish the morning off with a 1x100 warm down (2:16) and think. hmmm. it's 7am. my day is complete. what do i do now?!

The results are in...

swim - 6:59
T1 - 2:31
bike - 41:53 (17.8 pace)
T2 - 1:15
run - 29:16 (9:26 pace)
total - 1:21:52

age group - 9 out of 27
overall - 78 out of 182

thoughts:
swim - did i forget how to swim? this is the slowest i might have ever swam 300 meters. i have done so much better during training. what went wrong? mayeb the pearls created too much drag.
bike - i have ridden the course in the same time...when stopping at red lights! i need to check my tires. maybei did get a pinch wheni hit that pothole.
run - alright. this was the last leg (literally i guess). i have been averaging a 8:40 pace during practice. why sooo much slower?
i am trying to remind myself that this was my first race and there was a tropical storm going on, but i can't help but be disheartened by these times.

"I'm a Triathlete!"

I think we have all enjoyed Steel magnolias - movie quote "I'm a chain" well - as of today...i'm a triathlete!

Preperations...
shoes? check.
socks? check.
hot pink nail polish? check.
pearl earrings? check.
race number? check.
tropical depression? check check.

The days were passing. Time to prepare for my first triathlon - the powersprint. 300 meter swim, 20k bike, 5k run. I can totally do that! but hmm...how do i really prepare. as the days pass i am feuling up on peanut butter, wheat pasta, eggs, pretzels, and wine. yes, wine is part of the process.

The race is sunday. it's now friday night. i load up on pasta, garlic bread, salad, and wine with katharine. then we head to the pile o junk and go through the TG checklist. what do i need and how the heck do i pack it?! as i pack my pink transition bag i receive some advice for rainy racing...a rubbermaid container instead of a bag. awesome. after racing in the snow i learned about these stinky conditions and man what a great idea. so i dump out the bag into a box. i'm ready now, right?

saturday. packet pick up. breathe. i mean i look cute with hot pink nails after all right?! i was working with a team mate who had to work on saturday to pick up her packet without breaking any rules. no luck. although days of communication to properly plan for this we were unable for me to pick up her packet. however...other people were allowed to pick up others' packets. rock on. i see fellow trigirsl and rtc pal erin and let her know that i properly painted my nails pink to match the uniform. she lets me know that oh yeah she will find turquoise nail poilish for the rtc uniform. i meet up with the girls and after a chaotic packet pick up we recieve our proper information. we head off to the race site. how do they have things set up? where do we run from the pool to our bikes? whoa. whoa. whoa. gravel?! umm...not cool. it's ok we are trigirls, we can totally take the gravel. (note to self...no whining...be a badass) then a quick completely pointless prerace meeting and we are of to be girls and totally carbo load - yum! my favorite part...eating!!!

i get home and now i have to go to bed. night before the race. can't. sleep. aaaaahhhh. i had a glass of wine with a very filling emal - why can't i sleep?! this blows! finally after laying in bed for about an hour and a half i am off to dream land. and luckily this time no dreams of swimming in sneakers.

bzzz. bzzz. bzzz. snooze button? okay one time. bzzz. bzzz. bzzz. geez already?! ok ok. it's race days. gulp. i have flashbacks of waking up to a snowy morning of the duathlon so i peeeeeeeak outside. RAIN! what?! no. no. no. i requested 70-75 with a gentle mist. i was allowing a range in temperatures and some rain, too. why must mr. weather not listen to me. sheesh. not like i sound high maintenance or anything. and this was nto jsut rain...this was tropical depression barry. oh well. sigh. get my butt our of bed and go.

i arrive at the race site and i see lots of pinkies around! woo hoo! i never loved pink so much as i do now. i head off to transition and find out that the race dirctor forgot to put numbers on the racks and it's a free for all - nice. this chaos turns out to work for the trigirls - we make a few "trigirl alleys" and cover the racks in pink bikes, pink ribons and even a yellow ducky balloon! we rock. i head on over to body marking - so hot. i mean who wouldn't want to get numbers and their age written on them witht a permanent marker. this is really why i chose to participate in thios sport. on my way over to bodymarking, i see rtc erin and she shows me that she found her turquoise nail poilish and she, too, properly matches her uniform - i love it! i get to body marking and once again...trigirls in effect. love having my pinkies color me. we recieve inspriational messages down our "non marked" leg. heck yeah. then back to just hurry up and wait.

i am standing around and my old college friend todd finds me. i have the best friends. he drove down from fredericksburg to come see me in my frist tri...he has done them before. luckily he has a golf umbrella and a rain jacket. i borrow these to wait for my swim to start. i begin to get real nervous and requst a trash can. no such luck - what friends huh!

my time has come. time to get in the pool. i push off the wall and am off. remembering not to let the excitement get to me and use to much in the first 100 meters. the guy behind me catches up and beings drafting. yeah right buddy you can pass me and use your energy. so i kindly let him pass and what?! he goes NOWHERE!! aaaahhhh. so within 50 meters i pass him again and this time leave him in ym dust. yeah that's right. eat it suckah! i catch up to the nect guy in front of me who is performing a freestyle breast stroke. yes. that's right. he was kicking his legs like a frog. um. ok. i mean i know we refer to kissing guys like kissing frogs, but really, must you swim like one...it's really annoying. tap the foot. tap the foot. tap the foot. with every stroke i was tapping his foot i was on his butt that bad. but nooooo someone doesn't understand the concept of letting people pass!!! aaahhh!! fine. be that way, loser. yeah i said it - loser. that's me being supportive haha. we practically had to share the stairs to get out fo the pool. whatev dude. we're done with this joint. peace. i'm off to the bikes, yo. as i run to the bikes we are so kindly given a 6" wide piece of carpet to run on. sweet. good thing i was a dancer and gymnast. shall i practice some moves on this. it's like a balance beam to stay on. but i guess better than nothing. thanks, rd, for some great gravel coverage. i am soaking. between the monsoon and the swim. what the heck - feet on wet ground. socks. wet. i pass my friends and see joette with a video camera! i wave - i love my friends - they rock my wet socks. i beign to pedal and i'm off. i think to myself "omg i am really going to do this. i am 1/3 of the way done to being a triathlete. i can so do this. wow". i get down in aero and cruise off. this feels so good. i love it. then *bam* pothole. i totally should have been looking down. as soon as i hit the pot hole it immediately became diificult to pedal. *insert expletive* did i just freaking pop my tire. Lord knows with my luck it's not the tube but the tire. i keep going and contemplate. do i take the 10+minutes to get off my bike and look and maybe change it or do i take the additional maybe 5 minutes it willt ake to grind it out extra hard for the next 11 miles. i choose b. - grind it out. i ride while continually looking at my front tire to see if i am deflating. i actually pass some people. i pass some trigirl volunteers and they tell me that up ahead is another trigirl and i better catch up. i pass another person then i see the trigirl...who is it? it's my cheryl! i love riding with her. but hmm we are in a race. what do i do?! i pass her and blow her a kiss as i pass. then about 2 minutes late she passes me with some inspirational words - we better keep passing each other and puch each other out - that's right cheryl - let's go - we can do this. so i pull back. go around a corner then i pass her and the person ahead of her...then i lost her :( but it's the final stretch...almost done with the bike. i come up to the tun and i hear joette and todd cheering...then i see a bright orange sign that reads "fave is our fave" i wanted to jump up and down but - right - i am stuck to my pedals - it's missy and steven with the best sign ever!!
i run my bike into transition. ok. i feel jello legs. poo. i have joette and tood to my right and missy and steven to my left. they are talking me through tranistion. i explain to them that i 'verped' a couple times on the bike - sexy mama. and my feet are squishy wet. i head off out of transition onto the run but whoops wrong way. i thank the volunteer and let her know that i was just making she was paying attention ;) as i begin my run out of the parking lot trigirl volunteer carmen spots me and starts cheering. this just cracks me up as i cheer my way out. announcer jay calls me for having way too much energy during the race. i begin my run and think about all our saturday brick workouts and remind myself that this awful jello feeling in my legs will pass. i just keep a steady flow making sure not to wear myself out. there is a girl with a good pace ahead of me - i catch up to her and pace off her. then...she starts walking - boo on her. i was using her. so i throw some high fives and cat calls to my fellow trigirl racers and finally hit the turnaround. OMG!!! i am SOOO close!!! i can totally do this!!!! man uphill - headwind. this is a stinker. but i have come this far - do you reallt hink i am going to let some baby hills and wind stop me - ha! i laugh int he face of bad weather - try to stop me now bitches! i kick it up a notch and pass a few people (as i get passed by two amazing runners - not cool! haha) i make the turn back to the main stretch and i know this is the end of the race. kick it. kick it. the finsih line. friends cheering. I DID IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! :D

remove the chip strap and hug my friends!!! we head off to the pavilion to protect ourselves fromt eh now freezing pouring rain. pop the bubbly and cheers! yes i strip right there into the sports bra to put on a dry top...it was cold! everything is wet...but warmer than nothing.

i hang out with the trigirls and cheer everyone else throught he finish line as we all snuggle in a blanket as the tent we are under is being blown around in the wind. how amazing. everywhere i turned there wrere trigirls - racers. volunteers. supoprters. i have met a group of amazing women and become one of them - it will only get better from here! and shout out to my fellow trigirls who received awards, i am so proud of you. sorry you were given 2006 award that they were "trying to get rid of" you receive nothing but the best in my book, ladies. i love y'all (carmen i properly hypenated just for you)

after a power nap and a very warm shower we have our surprise baby shower for our amazing head coach grandison and partake in some vino comsumption - something trigirls also do fabulously! (told you we are amazing - we race and we play!) this is what i call a fun filled day! and i know the best is yet to come. so thanks to my friends. and cheers to many more fulfilling race challenges to memories to come.

Those silly serta sheep...

...or are they silly sealy sheep? ha! trying saying that 3x fast!

anyways. the next couple nights should be interesting. the sheep have already begun messing with my beauty sleep. last night's dreams encountered challenges such as: forgetting to take my sneakers off and having to swim in them, getting lost, forgetting to start the race...

i wonder what tonight's dreams have in store for me...