Frustration

Pardon me while I take a moment to vent. (aka throw a temper tantrum)

Per the previous blog, I am fairly new to swimming. I have been swimming for a year now (well a year in a week). I have gotten the hang of freestyle and have (gasp!) gotten more efficient. I still have lots to learn on my stroke to make it even better. Hence my obsession with Masters classes. I need the butt kicking workouts.

However, there is lots more to swimming than freestyle.

There are flip turns (hey i am learning these!)

Then there is this madness called an IM.

I have never learned breast stroke or fly.

I have no idea where to even begin to attempt faking it. No worries, I will just do freestyle the whole time.

Last night...not so much.

We had to do the IM, not jsut freestyle. I have absolutely no clue what I am doing and where to even attempt faking like I do. I was plannign ons taying after class to continue swimming (I was in the think mode) but with an ending to class like this I couldn't get out of my swimsuit and home fast enough.

I am really trying to improve my swimming. I am halfway up a lane, from Guppy to Gupfish. They added a new lane, Gupfish, so I moved up to the new lane, but not up to the Goldfish lane. I swam with the Goldfish twice and it kicked my butt, but i liked it.

I know to really move up in my swimming progress I need to learn to get comfortable in other strokes. Cross training in the pool so to speak.

Sigh.

I have a new goal. To learn IM.

(a new thing on my to-do list)

Feeling Groovy

Febuary 2007. Swam my first 25 yard lap.
That bring us today. January 2008.
Almost a year later, and I really felt great after a night in the pool.
I never thougth that would happen!
My intervals are not the blazing speed of Michael Phelps.
But - they are about 4-5 seconds faster than a month ago.
Thanks to TG Snells and TG SQ I am enjoying our little swim play dates!

Monday Monday

What a weekend!

Friday night the officers and board of the Richmond Tri Club were invited to dinner to entertain guest speaker Julie Moss. Julie is known for her nail biting finish at Kona. A first timer, she found herself int he lead only to collapse 30 yards from the finish line and finish in 2nd. Julie has such a great perspective on training, racing, and life. It was ncie getting to know her and chatting with her. Greg really enjoyed geting to talk with her about IMNZ coming up! Greg's first full ironman - Julie's favorite and she did some training there, too.

Saturday was the weekly yumminess at Maramarc. This weekend wasn't too bad. An hour hard ride (on the trainers) filled with speed drills, and then an 8 mile easy run, avg 10:00 pace. Now I may have run a marathon, but it's been a few months. 8 miles is easy because of the girls I run with. They make me laugh and keep me motivated and PUSHing.

After this I had to run Princes to the vet, which was traumatic. But I won't bore you with details. My little baby is growing up - she's almost 8!

Saturday night I did not go to the RTC banquet. Nor did I go to the CZC Volunteer Appreciation Party. Both events I helpd with planning. I had other plans. My friend Claire's wedding! she looked gorgeous and she and her lieutenant were married! She is so happy! Although we will miss her in San Diego. But I guess we will just have to come visit!

So far not too bad

I knew I wanted to have a kick-ass training week.
I returned from volutneering at camp and I am ready.
or so I thought...
the week started ot great.
monday Master's swim - totally kicked my butt and I like it.
Tuesday I had a good run - 6 miles at an even 9:00 pace. (would love to hit 8:50 for the 10k!!)
then Tuesday ngiht came - I felt weak during weight training. During the bike, I felt like I jsut wasn't really there.
Wednesday came and man my arms are sore - guess I did bette than I thought on tuesday ngiht.
Unfortuantely I had to miss Masters class to make the name tags for the RTC Banquet - guest speaker Julie Moss! And oh at about 11:45 (but who was looking at the clock) I fianlly was done and ready for bed.
so needless to say I did not make my 5:15 wake up call for this morning's run.
But tonight is back to weights and cycling.

So not too bad so far.

100 days until White Lake!!!!!

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles

We found out in October that my sister and brother-in-law were going to have a wee one! My very first niece/nephew! I find myself perusing the baby books every time I go in target and have even bookmarked the chic baby websites!

Yesterday they went for the big visit! They saw 10 little fingers, and 10 tiny toes, 2 eyes looking around...and all the boy parts, too! It's a boy! This June I will have my first little nephew. I can't wait to play and laugh with him.

For Christmas I gave them 3 little onsies - 2 for a boy, and 1 for a girl. looks like two of them will come in handy - "Daddy's Little Fishin Buddy" and "Golf Pro in Training".

Can't wait to meet you , little baby!

I'm Ready

Last week wasn't the best training week.
But this is a new week.
A fresh start.

After a few days at camp, I'm ready.
Ready to take on my training.
Knowing that I am lucky enough to be able to do it!

ps - GO PATS!
ok and i guess go giants for Greg, too.

Wintry Weather

This weekend I am volutneering at ComfortZoneCamp.
I pretend I am tough. I mean, I can handle a weekend with hiking to the shower.
However....
after seeing the weather repost on TG40's blog, I got a bit worried.

Hmmm...maybe I should have packed thermals for under my jeans!

Good Days and Bad Days

as we all know, triathlons come wtih good days...and bad days.
you need the bad days, to appreciate the good.

after a few days of great workouts, it seems to be on the downhill.
Last night's Masters class seemed to kick my butt. I just struggled. I kept getting frustrated and thinking about what I needed to do after class.

Then this morning were 6 more 1/2 mile repeats. every single one was slower than my slowest on saturday! on sautrday i averaged 3:57 and this morning i averaged 4:15 - yowsers!

Then this afternoon the yuck came and I am at home and not cycling and lifting as I should be.
Ho hum. I know I need to rest.

But it's frustrating knowing that I am missing my weekend workout. I am volunteering at ComfortZoneCamp - an organization that I am very passionate about. I know I will have a filled weeked - personally filling, that is.

So between Masters, bad reapeats, missing workouts - I am ready for next week! There's only one way to go and that's up! See you at the top!

a. recap b. update c. all of the above

So maybe I have been a little slack on the blogging.
Nothing very excited has happened, so I'll recap since I have my arms back.

Wednesday
Holy TriGirls, batman! We are taking over the world one lap lane at a time.
Masters class kick my butt! In an hour we swam over 2000 meters and didn't have time to finish the intended workout. This is a good thing. Maybe I wont be one of the tail end out of the water!
Thursday
I was feeling very lazy, but TG Snells and I went for a bite-sized hill run. I didn't want to get out of bed, so thankfully my butt was dragged out. It was cold out side, and my bed was snuggly and warm. but it was good to get out there and PUSH!
Back to that weights class. I complain, but I love it and go back for more. I did have to drop some weight on my last set because between increasing weight and a hard swim workout my biceps were just caput! Spin class had the sweat-a-drippin! Needless to say afterwards I felt I deserved half a DiGiorno pizza and damn it was good! It's not delivery. It's DiGiorno.
Friday
I did nothing. Well I did watch Superbad. I expected more from it. It was funny, but not as funny as I thought it would be.
Saturday
2 hour ride. Longest Pink Lake training ride. It was a nice ride with a few hills (trainer hills) with good conversation.
3 mile run - decent pace (9:10+/-)
4 1/2 mile repeats - first one was 3:55 (hmm this might be fastest repeat ever). next one 4:05. oops, better kick it back up. third one was 3:52 (oh yeah baby) and the 4th one was more of a scurry to the bathroom. so maybe i drink too much when running. hmmm.
Sunday
much needed massage. I knew my back, hammies, and IT band were tight. I laid ont eh table, the massage therapist touched my shoulders and said "Oh Lord". so yeah, i need to go more than every 6 months - heehee. I purchased a 5 pack and scheduled my February visit so I can start going once a month. With this training I need to suck it up and go.
The massage was followed up with condo hunting.
I think I need another massage.
Monday
Back to masters. we did an intersting 20x50 sprints. with about a 10 second rest in between each one. Shew. Then we did 4x25 sprints "competing" with the lane next to us. Good times and was able to work more on those flip turns. Still sometimes start to early or late. Boo.
And then this morning I hit up the elliptical for my 5 miles run. slower than ideal, but oh well.
And that's all for now folks.

Are you there arms? It's me Fave.

Maramarc weight training. I love it. I complain at times (like v-ups and planks), but I love it.

I noticed a difference in my muscle toning last year throughout the winter months, but then took the summer off. Boo. Back to "bye-bye arm".

This year I am going to PUSH harder in class. and last night I did (only b/c Coach M made me!)

One exercise named "alternate arm chest press" is one that always makes me sweat. You lay with you head on the ball in a "table" of sorts position and do chest presses one art at a time (hence the name). I started last year at 20lbs and worked up to 25lbs. This year I was back to 20lbs. I told myself in January I was increasing the weight. So last night I hit up the 25 pounders. wow that first set of 10 was harder than I remember. The second set came around and I picked up the 20's. ho hum. oh no. not with Coach M watching. What did he make me do for the 2nd and 3rd sets - 30lbs! I was lacking faith but trusted him and the are far from easy, but yay! I did it!

The arms are sore, but I like it!

Lucky Seven

Seven weird things about me:
1. I prefer to eat only the inside of a pickle
2. I'm a scrapbook-a-holic
3. I crack myself up
4. I love organization, especially in rubbermaid containers. and they are all labeled. and let's not discuss the order in which my clothes are hung in the closet on white plastic hangars, except for jackets and suits which are hung on the clear plastic hangars. (can you believe my nick name as a kid was Messy Missy)
5. When people fall, I laugh. I am concerend, but I laugh.
6. I don't like the smell of coffee and refuse to taste the stuff.
7. I love playing games. All sorts of games. Cards. Board. Crosswords. Geek much?

Seven weird people to tag (hehe):
1. Diane
2. tea
3. Kate
4. Bethany
5. Shawn
6. Jonah
7. Renae

Athlinks

As I procrastinate this whole work thing, I update my athlinks profile and play aournd and there are VERY few of my firnds on there. and I love the site. So check it out ! your results are already there under your name, make yourself a profile!
www.athlinks.com
Do it!

Pink Lake

Wow! What a night! Over the past month, a big group of us TRIgirls (and TRIboyz) have all been working towards our next goal - White Lake Half. We all arranged our schedules knowing that at 7pm set up events was opening up the registration!!

5:50 I get home from work. Log onto the SetUp website.
5:55 head to target to grab a few things knowing i can be home by 6:30, plenty of time to refresh for the opening of registration
6:10 looking for my face lotion when my brother calls the cell phone. registration is open! WHAT! I am at target! AAAAHHH!!! I scurry over to a corner of the store where I can read him my credit card information and breathe a sigh of relief. By 6:15 I am registered.
6:20 Send mass text message to as many people as I could to let them know it opened early.
6:45 Get home and check the registration. Already 150+ registered! Wow! I look to see how many of my team mates are on there and notice a few missing.
6:50 SetUp Website crashes! Holy half ironman, batman!
The next few hours were filled with high blood pressure and lots of adult beverages (not by me but by all my team mates still trying, i encouraged this behavior) We were all trying to get the girls signed up! We kept receivng a multitude of error messages. It was almsot humorous, had we not been stressing! Please refer to Margo's blog post on this one!
Finally. Everyone is in. And by everyone, I mean there are 20+ of us going!
Move over White Lake, here come the TRIgirls bringing the Pink!

Cheers to 2008

I am going to hop on the resolution bandwagon. I read what these great goals, personal and training, that my fellow bloggers are shooting to accomplish in 2008. I haven't even thought about haveing a resolution or goal.

I used to say i was going to quit smoking, but now I am 2 years smoke free, so I guess I can't use that one anymore.

I always say I am going to lose a few pounds, but well with training I try not to think about it too terribly much.

So in 2008...
~ finish a century ride. There are 3 things i want to do prior to really thinking of doing a full Ironman: finish at least 1 half ironman, run a marathon, and ride a century. I have done 2 out of the 3 in 2007, so in 2008 I hope to ride a century.
~ finish my races with my chin held high - no more being down for not trying harder or doing this or that. Taking each race as it is.
~ I would love to buy a condo in 2008!!! The search is underway, so here's hoping. This may not be directly triathlon related, but indirectly it is. I have to tighten the triathlon toy budget to prove to myself that I can do it.
~ increase my strength in all disciplines.
~ When on the bike push it harder and still "stop to smell the roses". Throughout the season my cycling suffered. I slowed down more and then was bummed when my times showed that. To race fast, you have to train fast.
~ cut back on my shopping addiction. Sigh. I love clothes.

The other part to the new year is the annual word. Last year I used the word "badass". Everytime I felt I needed motivation I thought to myself that I wanted to be badass like my training peoples. Everytime I felt good I said "yeah, i'm a badass - booyah!" So what is my word for 2008. My 'A' races are White Lake Half and Timberman 70.3 finsihing off the season with the Richmond Marathon. So what word will emcompass my goals.
Dream.
Dare.
Balance.
Push.
Want.
I think my word needs to be BALANCE. Balance life. I let myself get caught up in life too much.
But my word is PUSH. Push myself to my limits. Push my friends to theirs.

Flippin Around

This weekend we were scheduled to do a time 1.5 mile. So with the movtivation from Greg we hit the pool to take care of business. I did an easy 100 warm-up and then i knocked it out! I was nervous since my last long swim was at Patriot's and I skipped our timed mile a few weeks ago, but i finished!

The fun part came afterwards. Mr. Swimmer, Greg, helped me perfect the art of flip turns! Now I might go a little off to the side or flip a little early, and i defintiely get water up my nose, but with a little practice (like this morning) I am getting more comfortable doing them! yay!

PS - got my new temporary tooth this morning!