Aubrey

Effed Up Hand Update

2011-12-04T13:03:00.000-08:00

I've successfully done it again: taken myself out of the game for two months. The thing is, I'm not all that pissed anymore. Sure, I'm bored and with the usual training load I would have, boredom was almost never an issue. But I kinda can't do much about it, anyways.

I had the hand surgically "fixed" on Friday. What does that mean, exactly? Well it means taking out whatever bones (I swear I remember hearing growth plates, but maybe, maybe not) had fallen INTO the thumb joint - the middle one - and repair the "shredded" tendon ligament that, you know, you NEED to have to use your thumb. So in theory it's back in place where it should be where the bones were keeping it from going before surgery. But I can't see it because it's wrapped up in plaster and gauze and ace bandages that make it look like my thumb is bigger than the rest of my hand. It twitches every once in awhile like it keeps hoping it's free, but alas, it is not.

So what does this mean for training, then? Well I can't do much till I have my follow-up appointment to get the sutures out and hopefully a removable thumb support. At that point I'm hoping I can start lifting (light) weights again and hit the pool. That's also when I'll start riding Skippy since I can - and have - ridden that bike one-handed. Otherwise I probably won't ride till two months is up. That sucks. I miss my bike(s).

Positive note: this totally gets me out of the embarrassing excuse of an attempt at snow sports when visiting the bf's family this winter. Because, you know, I can't be falling on my bum hand.

Slide, BOOM........Ouuuuuccchhhh

2011-11-28T11:44:00.001-08:00

So it was an interesting Thanksgiving for me - with one hand! Yeah, I crashed yet again in spectacular fashion. Requiring an ER visit and the whole shebang. I'm definitely not happy about having broken myself yet again on a bike. This time it was on a much harder surface, too - slippery concrete.

This is how it happened: I went to the weekly UCR ride - the night ride around town on mountain, or in my case, my cross bike so that I can keep up without issue. We all met up, and not even five minutes in, we headed into the unnamed parking garage for our warmup. They all started taking off fast, so I joined in, not to be outdone as the only lady on a bike that night. On the second turn, I didn't even have time to react before I felt my head hit the concrete and myself slide for awhile. I came down on my left side, and I must have tried to catch myself with my right hand without realizing it, since that is the one I really messed up. I laid there for a few moments trying to gather what had just happened as I hear Dan start to make fun of me for going down - and my usual snarky responses were out of reach. My mind kept scanning my body to see what was wrong, which was when I realized that there was another body next to me. I was one of three or four that went down! And we weren't even going that fast!

It took a little bit for me to come back from lala land, and at that point I finally realized that my hand didn't feel right. Or look right, and it was still in my glove. I pulled it out very carefully and saw that my thumb was pointing in the wrong direction. The guys instantly said "Oh it's dislocated," so I was about to simply pull it back into place but they stopped me, probably for the better. Even though that's what the doctor ended up doing later that night at the hospital.

It was clear that they didn't believe me at the hospital - they asked quite the list of questions about any drug use and any "abuse at home" before even really giving me a look. They took xrays, gave me a "pain reliever" shot in the bum that did NO good whatsoever, and were about to splint it up and send me out before I protested that it was not in the right position. They finally backtracked and retook the xrays, this time with my good hand as a comparison. Then they claimed that the first set looked ok, but the second didn't. Probably because they hadn't actually looked at the first set.

That's when the doc decided it would be best to numb it with a shot and pull it back into place. That wasn't much fun, either, but at least it looked like it was more *normal* in position than before. Then they gave me the plaster splint that I'm not allowed to take off, and sent me home.

So then I had to cook all the Thanksgiving goodness we'd already went shopping for with a messed up thumb. Notthatmuchfun.

I didn't accidentally chop anything off, so that's a plus.

Four days post-crash and I can use my fingers better, but I don't particularly like to. And if I try to use the thumb it lets me know that's not OK. My hand is swollen to the point where I don't have knuckles anymore, and it's all purple-yellow grossness that you get when you bruise something good. The other bruises I got from the crash aren't all that bad - it seems that my hand absorbed 90% of the impact. Maybe it saved my collar bone, maybe not. I prefer to think it did.

Here's to hoping I don't need surgery. I go Wednesday to find out.

Gonna have to go see my massage therapist this week to get my angry muscles worked out, too.

Now I have to be more creative about getting my workouts in, but I'm mostly just hoping I can get back to swimming soon. I have the road bike on the trainer already, and it's going to be back to riding Skippy around town since I don't have to use my right hand on that bike. And I'm not really going to allow myself to run before I get *cracked* back into position.

Gotta work back into it yet again.

UCR November 16, 2011 by ablapat at Garmin Connect - Details

2011-11-17T07:36:00.000-08:00

Night rides on bikes! Yes we were going everywhere. No, we didn't always have a clue as to where we were. It was a blast though.

Home from France and Spain!

2011-10-31T18:57:00.000-07:00

I spent the last two weeks (as of last Thursday night, I've been home) in Europe. It was awesome. Though the one thing I have to say is that I'm so so tired of cigarette smoke. It seemed like everybody smokes there. Which made my nose hurt.

I got to ride a (very crappy and loose in all sorts of ways) bike in France and a different one (in better shape, slightly) in Spain. Didn't get pick pocketed, and I, at least, avoided food poisoning. My poor mother, notsomuch. I learned that while my favorite shoes are the cutest darn things ever, they are not so great for travel in as much as they started stinking to high heavens. And I can't decide if it's worth trying to wash them/sanitize them or just throw them out.

Maybe just toss them....

This week marks the official beginning of training bonanza 2011/2012. Starts with a whopping 8 hour training week. Haha I like the beginning.

Going a new direction

2011-10-11T19:19:00.001-07:00

So since I've been sooooo so SO injured this year, since, ha oh yeah, February...ok that basically makes my whole season the time of being injured...I'm going to take a different approach. I'm going to start running barefoot. No biking, obviously, but running. Why, you ask? Isn't that dangerous? Hmmmm no. Here's why.

The body has the most amazing ability to adapt to it's environment. When it's not important or useful to be strong in some areas, those areas get weak while the areas that need to be strong get stronger based on the forces and work subjected to that particular part of the body. What this means is that the feet, that which supports your whole body need to be strong. What we've done by wearing shoes is confine them and not allow them to be the awesome adaptive tools that they are. We instead engineer padding and "support" under the arches to keep them from flexing. But the arch flexes because it is designed to do that. So since your foot isn't taking the hits, what is? Your legs....really it makes perfect sense. At least, it really resonates with what I've experienced running in my nice and supportive winter training shoes all last winter. And then ended up with seemingly chronic overuse injuries all year. And by chronic I mean one after another after another after another....very very frustrating.

I'm not quite as eloquent as explaining it as this guy is. What it breaks down to is that I'm giving up on running like I've been running for the last couple years. Hasn't worked. Everything else seems ok, just the running isn't good. So, I've really got nothing to lose on it since I've hit this impenetrable barrier on my running speed. Just can't train enough speed to get faster because I get injured just from building up the base to properly do the speed I need to do. Boooo. So I'm only going to build base via bicicleta and build up my running distances based on what my (barefoot) feet allow. Which means I don't have to spend another $100 on some foamy running shoes that only last me a few months. And I'll of course lift weights and build my core strength to address inherent imbalances and improve power yadda yadda yadda. If it ends up being a bad winter and biking is off the table, I'll have to track down some snowshoes and hit the cornfields or something. And hit the pool since that'll be indoors...and there's a sauna in there too...hehe....

Heading to France on Friday this week...three days till I fly out!! Should be a stellar trip with my mommy :)

Sartwhat??

2011-09-30T20:41:00.000-07:00

So in my searching for healing, we (and by we I mean me and my massage therapist) have found a new culprit!!!

I'm actually pretty excited about this one - the sartorius. And yes, it hurt to get worked on, but I already feel a lot looser, so I'm betting I'm going to be heading out on a run in the next few days...hehe I'm excited.

Yep, it was a good night.

Leg Issues

2011-09-28T12:28:00.000-07:00

So my defunct leg - the left one - hasn't let me run in over a month. Not really, anyways. I tried running a few test runs, but really they ended up being 10 minute walk/runs. Now that finally seems to be changing. I've been going to a chiropractor to get the Active Release Technique done, which I've had before I moved here, but the problem has been that there hasn't been anyone listed in town that I could go to until recently. Well, there was one listed before but he was completely unreachable. So that obviously didn't work out. So the chiropractor I've been going to now has been helping loosen things up, and I haven't really had much progress until this last time - when he worked on my adductors. Now THAT hurt. That means that the adductors are REALLY pissed off. And guess what - today I ran for 15 minutes without having to stop!! So I suppose that means that we found the big culprit! Yay!

So I'm building on that progress by sitting here with my fabulous zapper zapping away at the bad spots. All while I work on those grad school applications. And the training plan for the winter. Yep I've decided that even though I've been completely burnt out from this year that I'm still not done doing this triathlete thing. What it was this year really was dealing with all the injuries that I've gotten. What it boils down to is that I didn't quite take it careful enough in adding more running to the plan and I didn't lift enough weights. I know that if I had been better at strengthening the things that needed to be stronger to prevent overuse injuries I would have been fine. And I wouldn't have pounded my legs into oblivion on frozen hard concrete all winter. Live and learn, right? Oh and I'm adding more aqua jogging to the plan this winter, too.

Better to work the muscles happily, my dear.

Oh and I discovered a hot tub I can use. Can you say SWEET???? I've always been a big fan of them but didn't discover the one in the gym I've been using until yesterday. Definitely gonna make a habit of that!

I'm still hoping to get some cross races in this fall though. The next cyclocross race that I'll be able to get to is maybe on October 9th - the Dan Ryan cyclocross in Chicago...dun dun duuuunnnnn.....so I may be heading up to Chicago for a visit and a hammerfest! I'm interested to see how I'll do against other Cat 4 women. You know, since I beat them by a fair margin at the small cross race I did before. But I don't know if that's representative of the Cat 4 women...probably not gonna worry about moving up till next year, when I'll be willing to pay for a cycling license for a full year instead of what's left of a year (when I'm going to be in Europe for two weeks here soon too - fun!). And hopefully I won't break anything mid season this next time around. Like my elbow. That kinda ruined things. Just a bit.

Things are looking up :)

Cross Race!

2011-09-21T12:42:00.001-07:00

Ok, so yeah this is a bit late - like what isn't that I do? Right? I'm always doing stuff "on my own time"....yep.

Anyways the Patriot Cross race was a bit of a shocker for me. I didn't know what to expect, but I certainly didn't think I'd be off the front before the first half of lap was over haha. Ok ok it was a Cat 4 women's field and I know that I'm still crazy fit from my broken triathlon season. But still, I didn't expect THAT!

The girls started way faster than I expected them to; they just shot off the line! So, I just kinda did what they were doing and went with them thinking I'd just hang with them and see how I felt.

There was a line along the shore of lake this race went around that doubled over on itself not far from the start. That's where I went from 3rd or 4th to 1st.

The Master Plan at that point was to just be ahead of everyone at the logs we had to ride over since I was betting it'd be a bit of a bike-person clog. And I was right - one woman crashed out with a broken leg!!

So I just kinda kept going at it as fast as I could, rode the lines I'd practiced, and tried not to blow myself up until I saw the 1 lap to go sign. I was so glad to see that sign, too!

They had quite the series of down, turn, and up steep little hills. It was hard to make those, catch your breath and keep moving quick.

This little dip was crazy! It musta taken me ten tries to ride it on the practice runs, but I know making that hill made a huge difference on this race. It was fast at the bottom, and steep at the top, so it was super slow just as you got to the flat. Fun stuff!

The barriers were totally the thing that worried me the most, mostly because in practices I've kinda knocked them over with my bike...ooops. Got through them each time fine on the race though, so I guess when the pressure's on I can pick up my bike enough. Found out after the race that the barriers were 2 inches taller than they were supposed to be - makes the cat 4 girls all that much tougher!

Every time I hit the pavement, I took a deep breath before pushing it just a little harder.

I finished with a few minutes to spare ahead of the other women, but boy was I ready to be done.

Done For the Season

2011-09-08T18:42:00.000-07:00

I didn't do my last two races :(

Got out to Burlington, Vermont and did my best to race, but my leg - that's right, leg - would have none of it. Maybe driving 20 hours one way ( 3 hours to Chicago, then 17 to Burlington with a trailer full of bikes ) wasn't such a good idea, after all. Of course, neither was the $550 plane ticket and $175 one way bike fee. Driving at least made the trip affordable for those on the bike shop budget. I was feeling overall fine until the run. Somehow even when I'm telling myself "I'm ok, I'm ok, I'm ok," my legs just refuse to agree. They were actually starting to feel good there for a bit, then the old IT band injury freaked out on me

and I found myself walking. A lot. I didn't even bother to look at my run time after the fact.

So I decided that when I got back I would do my massage and chiro and see if the next two races were even possible. No dice. So I'm done for the season. Just like that.

It's really disappointing. I'd been so looking forward to the races thinking I was in good shape and rested from having had down time from the broken elbow and all. So much for that. To be honest now I'm completely burnt out. I'm so tired of having to come back from injuries. It's been my whole year so far. The IT band was bugging me since February, then I was *thinking* I'd at least get it worked out soon when I broke my elbow. Soooooooo yeah. I'm mentally exhausted from trying to work around bad pain. Not the good pain of training, the bad pain of trying to ignore an injury. Dumb I know. So at this point I'm not running at all.

But I can bike.

So I finally finished my cyclocross bike that I've been building slowly. And I'm doing a race on Sunday. EEeeeeekk!! I'm going to be scrambling all over the place I'm sure! It's going to be a

blast. I'm still needing to practice the whole jump off/pick up/run with/jump back on bike as fast as possible thing. Good thing I'm racing Cat 4. Then maybe it's expected when I trip and fall flat on my face!

So here's my new baby:

Studying FAIL

2011-07-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

I'm doing bad at studying for the GRE today. I'll do a few problems, then get distracted looking at something much more interesting online. Or by training/cleaning/prepping for my favorite person to come home. Or by making jewelry stuff. All of which are much more fun.

Went to the doctor on Wednesday to have the follow up xray done on my broken elbow. This xray confirmed that yes, it's 100% certain that it's broken. Because apparently as it heals you can see the extra bone stuff that grows over it as extra white marks in an xray and if they're there, it means that what you couldn't be 100% sure of before, you can now. In a way I'm glad because that is probably the most pain I've been in. What I've been told is that elbows are one of the worse things you can break because of the bundle of nerves going through the elbow. You know the funny bone, right? Yep, that's the bundle of nerves that react when you do something to your elbow. Like break it.

The elbow being broken totally explains why I wasn't able for awhile to do anything of significant strength with my right arm. If it's broke, it won't let you! So I'm still stuck on the bike trainer for a bit longer, but I've been getting back into doing real swim sets again, and I'm basically back to normal on the running front. And I'm still going to be able to race USAT Age Group Nationals. Which is good because that's kind of an important one. It's going to be interesting to see how the last few races go this year since I had a full week off of training, then a slow reintroduction to training. I got a lot of recovery!

I'm so looking forward to getting back on my bike. I really really miss riding a real bike, and ironically, I really miss riding my mountain bike. Though I have the feeling that I'm going to be quite nervous the first time I head back out on it. Mostly because I'm going to be worried that the bumps are going to hurt the elbow. If I ever get the parts to finish my cyclocross bike with, I'll be on that bike ASAP too!

My grand plan for the off season is cyclocross. I'm excited! Expect more falls. But not of the breaking bones variety.

Done With Slings!

2011-07-17T13:24:00.000-07:00

I'm finally (well, for a few days now) am able to let my arm hang down without it hurting, so I'm finished with the stupid slings. It's good and bad because they're super inconvenient but at the same time it did let people know that I can't use my right arm. So now I have an ACE bandage that I wrap my arm in to help support it and to let people know that I am actually still broken. That way they don't think I'm completely lazy when I won't lift heavy things or get bikes down. It's that I can't yet. I'm at least getting back my functionality at work.

I can ride on the trainer still, but today I actually was able to support myself on my bullhorns (on my TT bike) today for a little bit. It's getting stronger, but my arm was mighty sore after that. I seem to be having strong bike legs though, which is fantastic. I had it with boring trainer long rides in the winter, so I'm not mentally able to do anything super long anymore. I need the quality workouts anyways. So that's what I'm doing. I'm working on my running too. Especially since it hasn't been great thus far this year.

I'm doing my best to study for the GRE today, but since I've been up since 4am, I'm having quite the time focusing! There's not enough caffeine in the world to fix that little sleep. At least for me. I'm pretty sure it's my own dumb fault for having some Gluten Free beer (and maybe a little too much because I was super excited to finally have beer again...). And it always happens that when I have enough, I wake up ridiculously early, starving, and unable to fall back asleep. But I have gotten a good amount of cleaning done today, got my workout in, and have made progress on the studying front. So it's still a successful day. Cleo just sleeps all day no matter what. So I don't think she was affected too much by the early wake up call this morning.

The last thing that I have to do today is make a grocery run. Not because I really need all that much, but because I'm out of coffee. Such a shame.

Arm Update

2011-07-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

So I'm kind of annoyed. I had three races planned for this month, one for next weekend, then each weekend after that. The first Xterra I would've done would have been in that race lineup. Not anymore. I still don't have the grip strength to hold a real bike, let alone a mountain bike. Yes, I know my arm is broken. Ok, not really my arm, my elbow. So I can still use my arm and I can at least function now (which is good...). I didn't want to put doing an Xterra off for another year but it looks like I have no choice. Hopefully I'll get the CX bike set up in time to actually race it this fall. I guess at some point I can just tear down my road bike and build my cross bike and figure it out from there if the parts I've ordered never end up coming.

My arm is doing better than it was yesterday, and better than the day before yesterday. Each day there's a measurable improvement in range of motion and/or strength. Still don't have nearly close to all the range in motion now, but I do have a lot more than before. And I can type with both hands, which is actually a huge improvement. Don't have any strength as far as anything that's useful. Can't swim with it unless I make a fist so that I don't put any force through my arm. So it's a lopsided swim. Still just as fast as all the other people in the outdoor pool. That's sad. I can swim faster than yous people with one arm tied behind my back!......literally. Geeze. Now you understand my swimming dilemma. Maybe I should just get a parachute for when my arm is better. That would be funny to watch someone figure out how to pass me with that thing in their way haha. I'm still hoping that I can start getting some strength back before the end of the week and get back on the bike. We'll see. As for now, running is ok, biking on the trainer is fine, but only in the aerobars, ironically. As soon as I get the grip strength back to truly squeeze I'll be back on the road. Until then, it's just whatever I can manage...

...and it's broken...

2011-07-06T11:05:00.000-07:00

The elbow, that is. It took two doctors (Radiologist and Sports Doctor) to spot/confirm it, but they said it's broken. Guess that explains why it hurt so bad? I actually can't remember any pain from the last time I broke anything. Maybe because that was when I was...ahem....3 years old. Broken clavicle, and totally not my fault. But I really really don't remember anything significant other than being told to pull my shoulders back, the stupid vest thing to hold it in place, and doing pushups off the wall at the doctors office the next day. Apparently it didn't hurt that bad.

The elbow hurts way worse than that. Still working on getting it through its range of motion. Oh yeah, and I'm told no cast, just don't overdo on moving it. I can let it hang there under its own weight now, which wasn't even close to an option before, but even then it's not straight, and I can't let it hang there for long. I'm still using a sling, but mostly to rest my arm because it can't hang loosely all the time and otherwise I'm just holding it up at about 90 degrees, which kinda gets tiring. I can't lift anything of significance with that arm (right) and that's even a huge improvement over the move-it-anywhere-and-I-scream that I had before. Heck, I can even touch my left shoulder now. That's a big change. I'm hoping that by sometime next week I'll be able to have most of the range back and start swimming again. I mean real swimming, not floating around, aqua jogging and doing a bunch of kick.

My whole July racing schedule is ruined. I had three for sure races that luckily I hadn't signed up for that are not options now. So much for doing an Xterra race this year. I'm not going to be able to control a mountain bike properly before the season is over. Guess that means that cyclocross is the next thing. That is, if my parts ever come in. Still waiting....grrrrrr.

Seems like I'll be in working order for USAT Nationals in August and the Chicago Tri the week after that. That's good. Actually, the doctor seemed hesitant that I'd be allowed to race USAT Nationals, but in reality, I don't think he knows what he's talking about. Oh and I'm going to have to find a race for the week before that one to make sure I'm in racing shape after a month of not racing.

Don't tell me not to. Because I won't listen.

I finished one season on a stress fracture in my foot (that means like 2 months of racing/training on it). I can swim/bike/run on something similar once I get my range of motion and grip strength back. I may not be able to mountain bike for awhile (insert pouty face here) but if my 80 year old grandma can increase her bone mass without prescription drugs, then I'm pretty sure a healthy 25 year old athlete will do quite fine.

OUCH!!!

2011-06-30T13:38:00.000-07:00

I don't know what I did to jinx myself but it's finally happened: the inevitable *bad* bike crash. I don't think I've broken anything, but since I'm still waiting to hear anything from the hospital confirming yes or no for sure, it's still not a certain thing. There was nothing "glaring" last night that they thought they would find seeing how I was basically screaming if my arm got moved at all, but they needed the person who could blow up the x-rays to make sure. Almost 4pm and still no news. If it's not broken then I'm a bit worried about what I'm facing for healing because I am still in so much pain that when my arm spasms I yell out and drop a few choice expletives. I have about 25 degrees of motion with painkillers. Less than that when they wear off.

I guess I should explain what happened.

We got a huge group together last night to go mountain biking after work - totally my and Melinda's idea - but the boys at work and the significant others decided it was an awesome idea and two turned into ten people. Which was fun. I was feeling great. We got to the section that they call Heaven and Hell which is one spot that I keep skipping because it scares me. Didn't skip it last night. I was thinking "Ok, I got this," right before my wheel turned 90 degrees and I went over the handlebars. Just picked the wrong line. Landed hard on my right upper arm and the rest of my right side got scratched up. Knocked the wind out of myself, too. Hit my head but you'd never know by looking at my helmet. It's a steep enough switchback that I fell probably 5 feet. Vertically. Couldn't ride back to the car so had to walk, then left right for the hospital even though I kinda thought I didn't need it. That was before the adrenaline wore off. In the car my arm locked up and started spasming, which started the yelling and expletives. Which continues today when the meds wear off. When the meds are good it's just a sharp gasp and deep rapid breathing.

Funny how I can be gunning for a win one second, then hoping to be able to dress myself by the time Casey leaves for Taiwan the next.

Here's to hoping I can get back into it before my August races.

Kansas 70.3 Race Report

2011-06-15T04:30:00.000-07:00

I'm very excited to finally be on to phase 2 of this year's racing: short course training!! Of course, that means that I've finished my 70.3 race a.k.a. half Ironman. And it went well. Basically we went out there as usual two days before, spent the day before loosening up and taking care of pre-race stuff, and raced on Sunday. I've been dealing with the ITBS thing for a long time now, and so since they had a tent there with people giving free ART sessions I jumped on that. I think it helped a TON. I was really tight from the drive up till that point. We camped out at Clinton State Park, which was the race site, so in the morning of the race all I had to do was have breakfast in bed, then walk up to the transition areas (there were two at this one) and set up. The water was warm, but I went with a wetsuit anyways since everyone else was. Not sure if it helped or hurt, my wetsuit doesn't seem to fit as well as it used too....stupid muscles, they made my legs bigger! I haven't used the wetsuit up till that point this year, so maybe it is actually time to get a new one.

The swim did NOT go very well. The water was really choppy, there were people everywhere, and I started getting seasick. I came out with a 33 minute swim, which for me is just horrible. I should have gone at worst around a 30 minute swim, not 33. Oh well. Guess I know what I need to work on in the next little while. I didn't realize this in the race though, so that's good.

I got on the bike just planning to chill, let my legs warm up, and catch up to my girl-to-chase. Took me till mile 40 to do so. Overall the bike was just OK. A little hilly and pretty windy, my legs didn't feel too hot, but I was just around the time that I expected to go, so no problems there. I did, however, do my nutrition 100% correct and for that I'm glad. The syrup flask things work well for large quantities of nutrition. I pushed it on the bike only to the point that I knew I would have plenty left for the run since I was not sure what was going to happen there. Got off the bike with a feeling of "well thank goodness THAT'S done" because my legs were just killing me. Don't know why, since it's not like I haven't ridden that far before...but the run started amazingly well. I got off the bike, and felt loose, fluid, comfortable. I started cruising along at sub-8 minute miles, which I honestly haven't done in a while because of the ITBS. I was so comfortable and happy at that pace that I basically kept going. My girl-to-catch caught back up to me pretty quick into the run (and I later found out why - she put down a 6:55 mile off the bike), but I didn't hussle because we were only a few miles into a 13.1 mile run. Not the time to drop the hammer. The run was a two lap course, so somewhere between mile 6 and 7 I decided I may as well see what else there was in the tank and picked up the pace a bit. Caught my girl-to-catch before mile 8, and kept going. Ended up setting a personal best for a half marathon (of course it's going to be in a tri :-P ). Around mile 10 my legs decided they'd had enough and tightened right up, but since I've started this whole I'm-never-stopping-in-a-race-again trip, I didn't stop, just plowed right on through now matter how bad my legs hurt. Partly because the slower you go, the more time you have till you CAN stop. Overall I beat my last 1/2 IM time, by only a little bit I think, but still. Beat it. The swim took a good chunk of the time that I'd improved on in the last one.

My biggest improvement with this race (and really the other ones so far this year, too) is that mentally I've improved significantly. The crowds don't get to me anymore, bad swims don't bother me anymore - I've stopped racing by watch and started racing by feel - and I've stopped giving up.

Next phase - get my speed up, get my power up, and get that pro card :) I'm excited for the rest of the season!

Late Race Report - Memphis in May

2011-06-07T08:17:00.000-07:00

So a couple weeks ago, I went down to the Memphis in May tri. It was a good race overall. I was disappointed in how the organizers handled some stuff - like their time management wasn't great, so their schedules didn't actually pan out, and their decision to do nothing about the safety of the racers with the major thunderstorms that rolled through. I suppose though that the only portion that I was truly concerned with was the swim, since, you know, lightning + open bodies of water = usually not a good place to be. But didn't sound like anyone got hurt. So they got lucky there. I didn't like the time trial start, either. The water was open enough they could have done a series of mass starts, but instead they started everyone 3 seconds apart, which meant that regardless of when you started, you were swimming over people for the whole 1500 meters. Which for me, ended up making my swim significantly slower than it could have been because I got kicked in the face so many times by people going all different directions. I hate swimming with triathletes!

I'm happy with how I did - 13th overall, 2nd in AG. Swim was overwhelmingly OK. Nothing spectacular. Not horrible, either. The bike leg, however, was definitely a PR for me. 1:09 for 40k is a great start to the year. Still could shave time, but still, considering it's the 2nd race, with not much speed to speak of yet, it's a great start. All that commuting/riding is starting to pay off. The run leg started out REALLY strong. I was cooking right along. I have been fighting that ITBS for awhile now, so my running has been slim to none, with basically pathetic amounts of speedwork in there, so when I ended up tightening up - mostly in the hips, then with the knee tweaking out on me - I wasn't surprised. I basically decided it was a bad idea to stop because I'd be out of the running for any decent placing, and I wasn't sure that I could get started again if I did. So I ran through it, and only ended up with a 49 minute 10k. Which is substantially more awful than I thought it was when I finished. Still, overall time wasn't bad - 2:24.

The good news is that I've found a massage therapist who is amazing, and who helped me find the real culprit in my ITBS. It is in my hip, not my vastus lateralus (that which is commonly blamed for the issues). I've been foam rolling the vastus lateralus for months now with no improvement, but as soon as she found the right spot in my hip, the whole side of my leg loosened up. Go figure. My knee hasn't hurt once - talked, yes, hurt, no - in the time since. I have to keep working on it for sure, but I'm finally feeling positive about my running and the likelihood that I'll be able to pull off a decent off-the-bike 10k this year.

I'm going back to see the magic massage therapist today to get me all loosened up for Kansas 70.3 that is this Sunday. Surprisingly, I'm looking forward to this race. I have no idea how I'm going to do, but I could do the swim and the bike in my sleep, and the run is getting itself sorted out. Yes I do have the endurance to finish a half marathon, even if I've had some bad luck in my running this year so far. I'm even very comfortable at higher speeds now (as shown by my lightning-induced tempo run on Sunday, I was FLYING!!). Probably because if the hips are tight, it takes so much work to move fast because you're basically fighting yourself to move. So my lesson in all this? Get massages regularly. Darn, that's going to be hard :)

Meet Skippie

2011-05-13T11:36:00.001-07:00

I've gone and done it again. I've gotten another bike. Why? Well, with this one I have a REALLY good reason. I would not be able to find this bike at all for the price that I can afford. And in this case, I really just got so lucky. The lady selling it just wanted a good home for it because she didn't ride it and she's just really REALLY nice.

I wanted it because it's a Swedish bike, with the European wheel lock, and a step through frame - which you CAN find here, but for unobscure brands, they are all small frames. Or you can find one from a fairly obscure (obscure in the USA, anyway) brand that's not too small but you'll pay an arm and a leg for what is much less quality than this bike. Which is why I HAD to have it. I couldn't stop thinking about it for the week and a half it was sitting in the shop waiting to see if someone at the used bike sale would want it. Nobody bit. And I was ecstatic. I mean, it came with a Brooks and everything!

Now, I've been skeptical about Brooks saddles for awhile now, and I'd never really planned on getting one simply because they require kind of a lot of care as compared to my pleather foamy saddles that are cheaper and can get wet. I used to think they looked horribly uncomfortable until I sat on one that another woman had. I was surprised to not be in immediate pain with hers, so I was intrigued...still didn't have plans to get one, though. But Skippie came with it, and so far I'm pleasantly surprised. I'm a little sore because according to what I've found online, it can take a few hundred miles to really break them in right. But it's comfy enough since my butt is fairly hardened already from riding all the time anyways.

Now to the coolest part(s): it's got a skirt guard, an internally-geared 5 speed hub, and a dynamo hub that powers the front light. Oh and there's the wheel lock too. That is one of the coolest thing ever. Not a popular...excuse me...an existent feature in the good ol' US of A, so despite it's coolness, good luck finding it here.

The name Skippie is care of Casey. The brand is something that I have no idea if I can pronounce correctly or not: Skeppshult. Pronounce that one five times fast. So calling it Skippie means that I can pronounce something right and I won't get tongue tied.

Now I have a bike I can ride in a skirt! This means that I'll be getting rid of Priscilla once she's finished being painted, cleaned, and reassembled. As well as the fixie Priscilla was going to replace. Priscilla is too small for me anyways. So I'm up one, then I'll be down two. Which is perfect. I still have my awesomely ugly Trek 800 that's covered in stickers for winter commuting, but that's not a bike I'm concerned about beating up. Salt will destroy nice things, so Skippie will not be ridden in the snow.

So Much Going On!!

2011-05-09T12:24:00.001-07:00

So last weekend I went up to Galena. Let me say, it is BEAUTIFUL there. Completely gorgeous. And hilly as all get-out. I have been in serious hill deprivation since moving here, but in Galena, I got my full dosage of hills to make up for it. I was actually wishing for a bigger cassette (as in more teeth on my biggest cog - a 23). In NM it didn't come into play all that much, and I was perfectly happy with it. This area was hilly enough, steep enough, and long enough that I was really wishing for that bigger cassette. The people who had them definitely were doing better than me at the end of the rides. That's ok. It builds power. It was a fabulous weekend. I learned that I'm a bit crazy (according to triathletes who, IMHO don't have the *greatest* bike handling abilities) when it comes to going downhills. But I'm just efficient. More downhill speed = less work to get up the hill on the other side. And it's a lot more fun that way! As of yet *knock on wood* I haven't had an issue with descending anything fast.

Most of this week however, I've felt weird. I did a bit of a gluten experiment up in Galena, so I'm not actually sure if I feel off because of that, or if it's just an I'm tired/over trained/female issues thing. Just don't know. I came around on Saturday for my long ride, but most of the week was junk for training. Felt like I was bonked, but since I'd just eaten, that's obviously not what was going on.

I have decided (yet again...be prepared for this to change) that I'm going to start working on getting ready for graduate school as well as take the Fundamentals of Engineering exam. They always seem to put the FE exam on a day that doesn't work for me, and since it's only 2X per year, it's kind of something you have to do come hell or high water. I plan on doing it at this point, mostly because I'm SO FLIPPIN' BORED OUT OF MY MIND. Working at a bike shop is fun, sure, but mentally stimulating? Uhhh no. I have learned that I'm much more like my mom than I've ever thought. I don't like having nothing truly substantial to be working on. I start obsessing over what bike I want/how I want it/etc. Completely useless things to be thinking about. Especially since, for the most part, the only thing really keeping me from the objects that I want is money. Money is, for the most part, simple. You want something? Save up. It may take longer for one person versus another, but there's almost always a way. Unless it's like a Ferrari or something. That's just crazy.

I'm racing Memphis in May on May 22nd. It's going to be interesting. I'm told that the run is hot. It will be the first Olympic distance of the year. Then on June 12th is Kansas IM 70.3. Again. It will be interesting. At least the water temperatures should be comfortable.

First Race Report!!

2011-04-24T10:24:00.000-07:00

First of all, Happy Easter!

I know this race report is a week late, but I've had kind of a crazy week. I got a whole BUNCH of training in on my three days off of work this week, and I'm pooped!

I went down to the Petersburg, Il Pioneer Sprint race last weekend, just to see what junk I have in my legs from not racing until late this season. This is, by far, the latest I've ever started the season since I started racing. It may be for the better, though, because by the last few races I've felt pretty cooked in years past.

So the race went like this: 300 yard (not meter, yard) snake swim, 13 mile bike (out and back), then 3.1 mile run. It was a stagger start in the pool, kinda on the honor system as to how fast you're going to swim, so I started kinda close to the front. Still passed one guy but didn't get passed by anyone in the water. Which was good because it was a tightly packed pool. We had to do each 50 in one lane then switch, so yeah, it could be bad if people were poorly matched up. I had the 3rd fastest swim of everyone (as far as I can count, since they don't have rankings on the results).

Then the bike was pretty straightforward. I broke out the race wheels for this one: haven't ridden them since last summer, so it was time to "test ride" them. They did well. The bike was so SO surprisingly comfortable! I've been really consistent in my stretching lately trying to loosen up the IT bands and hips and one of the effects has been much more comfort on the TT bike. Go figure. I averaged 21.0 on the bike (I had seen 22 point something earlier, but maybe that was my mistake). Either way, it was decently strong, 2nd fastest of the women, but only by .2mph. And considering I haven't done much speedwork in the TT position, I was quite pleased by it, and my legs felt great, anyways.

Now the run I've been having lots of issues with because of my IT bands, and I haven't been doing a lot of the speedwork that I'd usually be doing. So I kinda expected the run to suck (but was doing a good job of not thinking about it the morning of the race). I just got off the bike, knowing I had the lead, just thinking I'd run the heck outta my legs. And I did. I went a 21:09 for a 5k that's hilly and off the bike, that's not bad at all. I also had a boy chasing me the whole time, and I REALLY didn't want him to catch me haha. That time is fairly decent for me when I've had a little speedwork. Let alone basically none. So I was very pleasantly surprised by that. Guess all the basework on the bike and run this year is starting to pay off. I finished #8 out of the men, #1 out of the women, 5 minutes behind the first male, and 7 minutes ahead of the next woman (the biggest margin I've ever won by before).

FRS was there, awesome as ever, handing out samples. Since I know them - they sponsor the Well Fit Elite team - I ended up talking to them a lot. Good stuff, nice people, always great to see them!! They gave me a goodie bag for my win!

My times (in order of swim, T1, bike, T2, run, overall time):

4:02.3 00:30.1 37:07.3 00:31.4 21:09.1 1:03:20.2

Warmth! OMG WARMTH!!!

2011-04-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

I wore shorts today! Not because I was wishing for some decent warmth, but because it was actually an awesome 80F degrees ( the F is for Fahrenheit, for anyone thinking I mean Celsius and thinking somehow that we're close to the surface of the stove, we're not, just...nevermind....).

It was a wonderfully warm day. Nevermind that it was humid as all get out, and that's no way to have a warm day, I'll take what I can get. Ran in shorts, biked in shorts, worked on my tan....ahem....or lack thereof.

S'posed to be warm tomorrow too :)

My 21 Day Challenge!

2011-04-04T12:36:00.000-07:00

So the thing with being an athlete is that it's almost always a lot easier to go out for a run than it is to admit it's probably a day to take it easy. Having a training plan helps a lot with that, but lately I've been battling the IT band issues that cropped up about a month ago, and while I've been training, my running still is lame because that's the one sport that the IT band really matters in for me. So since this week is finally a recovery week for me, my goal is to start having a consistent yoga practice to help prevent injuries. I don't have any real injuries other than tight muscles, really. Tight muscles with trigger points in them. That then pull and rub on something else and irritate it. It's annoying and fairly elusive to treat. I've basically given up on finding a massage therapist that can help out because 1) it's expensive and 2) a really REALLY helpful and good and amazing massage therapist is about one in a million. Which means it will take awhile to find one anyways, and by then I'd be out of money. Sigh.

So, along with my magic muscle zapper, which I have completely worn the electrode pads down on - I need to get new ones of those - I've decided that it's in my best interest to pick up yoga again. In years past I've signed up for a class at school to add another credit hour to my load, and lo and behold, I've ended up not injured for the time that I'd been taking the class. It was basically a result of being forced to keep a consistent practice. A consistent practice helps keep muscles loose, and amongst other benefits, that's probably the one that I'd notice the most. I even remember someone saying (who told me not to reveal this information to a certain other person, hence the anonymity) that the only thing that ever helped (and cured) his plantar fasciitis was a 6 week long beginner's yoga class.

Which brings me to my 21 Day Challenge, as created by Yoga Journal. I'm totally starting it late, but it's better late than never, right? The idea is to basically have a way to help to cultivate a DAILY home practice in order to truly get the benefits of yoga, which, surprise surprise are only really achieved by regular practice. Which takes me back to the trigger points. Trigger points are most likely to show up in chronically tight muscles such as those that are overworked - like mine. How do you keep muscles from getting tight? Well I would say stretching, but in reality, it doesn't really help me that much. Yoga is different. It's not stretching. Not in the traditional sense, anyways. Isometric stretching, maybe. But more well rounded than that. It's a warmup, workout, and cooldown.

So, in an effort to help prevent my own injuries and hopefully push others to do the same, I am starting my 21 days as of this morning, and through training and working, I will keep a consistent practice.

Meet Priscilla

2011-03-27T10:52:00.000-07:00

And yes, I understand what the name implies. For those not familiar, Priscilla Queen of the Desert is a film/musical/show about drag queens. Which is why I like the name. Priscilla is a very girlie name.

Well, here's the background on Priscilla: I've been looking for years now for a frame/bike that I could refurbish and turn into a fixie/commuter bike. It had to be oldish, but in decent condition, with horizontal dropouts (if you don't know what dropouts are: Go here), and with wide enough fork/brakes to be able to accommodate fenders. Because I like Fenders. They're kinda dorky but cute at the same time. And totally practical. Now the thing with the name is that I generally don't name my inanimate objects that transport me. I don't name bikes, cars, etc. Dogs I name. Things that aren't alive I don't. Descriptors go something like this: "I'm going to drive the insert model name here to the store." or "I'm riding my road/TT/mtb today." Straightforward, right? I have also long had a problem with calling inanimate objects "she." I guess I'm a quirky feminist, but I think all my bikes should be called "he" or "it." Because if guys ride bikes called "she" then shouldn't girls ride bikes called "he"? Which is how it came to Priscilla: still can be a "he" but since Priscilla is a girl's Schwinn Varsity, the name must be girlie. Which is why Priscilla is a perfect name.I stripped the parts off of Priscilla yesterday expecting to find more rust than was worth the $35 to take...ahem....him....home. I was very pleasantly surprised to find that the muck was greasy dried up dirt, and not rust. A good soak in ammonia removed most of it, and what was on the frame just sanded right off. This is going to be a fabulous bike. I had a few stern words and help with whacking the stem out of the fork, which has some rust on it, but not too bad, and got to taking the derailleur housing guides off.
The bike was obviously a cheaply made bike without the finishing touches probably afforded to better models, so there are a few burrs and catches that I am working on filing off before I get to sanding the whole frame down.
I got my work buddy here with me the whole time; she's just there making sure that I'm doing things up to her standards.
Once the frame is all sanded and primed, it's going to get a bright apple red color and a clear lacquer. Then he gets fenders, a rack, one brake, the wheels on the current fixie/commuter - the Fiori - and the bottom bracket adapter for the English bottom bracket I want to use.

Yay for getting to projects I've talked about for ages :P

Happy Friday!

2011-03-25T09:46:00.000-07:00

Yay for Fridays off! Ok, it actually doesn't make much difference to me because I could just as easily be working on a weekend, and it feels more like Saturday today because everybody's home. And I still have to train, of course. On my days off, I'm putting a lot of training in just because it's hard to work a full day and then do a full day's worth of training. Since I'm allowed to work just 3-4 days per week, I can get some sleep and get some more training in on the days off. Though yesterday was a long day: 2 hours of training plus 9 hours of working. One or the other, not bad, but you put them two together and it makes for a long day. Especially since I'm on my feet 99% of the day now. You know you're on your feet a lot when you get on your bike to ride home and you're grateful just to sit on the bike. The coolest thing though: I can ride my bike to work everyday and 1) bring it inside the shop without getting odd looks and 2) ride every day that I've worked so far and not be labeled "hardcore." Because commuting an easy 30 minutes one way (or so, depending on the bike and the wind) isn't hard core. It's just cheaper than driving. And nicer to my car. And just that much more training I can get in. Other than driving to Chicago, I haven't driven more than 1 mile (to the grocery store, because we still don't have a bike that can handle a real grocery trip) in several weeks.

I am so looking forward to real spring to get here. I'm tired of having to wear a bunch of clothes to train. I miss the dry heat of the desert. If I was in NM now, I'd already have a good bike shorts line going. Not here, I'm still pasty white all around. Booo to that.

Learning Learning Learning...

2011-03-22T09:30:00.000-07:00

I don't know how much more my brain can absorb. I'm learning all kinds of new stuff about stuff that I could possibly sell, use, etc....Kinda cool, though somehow my brain doesn't feel much worked like it did in school. I keep going back and fourth on the whole Grad School thing. I guess what I've more or less decided is to see how this year goes in racing and decide towards the end of the season. Which gives me less prep time for the GRE, but I can't see myself doing grad school and racing full time as a pro, either.

...on that note, it's a pretty nice day, I have the day off of work, I'm gonna go bike :P

Day 1, Week 2

2011-03-21T04:29:00.000-07:00

Ok so last week was pretty crazy/cool. Started the new job, survived, then FINALLY made it to Chicago. Though getting to Chicago didn't get me around as many team members as I wanted, it's a start, I suppose. I guess a number of people are still inside because it's too cold, so I didn't meet them on the ride I went on. The cold wasn't that bad, I mean c'mon! I rode all through the winter! I did get beat up good though. It's good for me, a good time for it, but wow boys can be hard to bike with sometimes. They were nice and didn't let me get lost a.k.a. dropped and miss a turn, so that was good. But I was hurting for the entire ride just trying to keep up. AND we got passed by huge groups of REAL cyclists. If you ever want to feel slow on a bike...

AND I'm finally running again. I musta picked, twisted, rubbed, iced, stretched, you name it most of the problems out of my left IT band enough that I could run for an hour yesterday (and 45 on Friday otherwise I probably wouldn't have tried an hour). I'll probably keep stepping it back up slowly and decide soon if I can run the 1/2 marathon at the end of April here. Otherwise I'm back in business. And I have time off of work during the week so that I can train. Double bonus!

Out with the old, in with the new...

2011-03-14T10:49:00.000-07:00

I'm in transition today between jobs. Well, I finished the chem lab job on Friday. Tomorrow I start at the bike shop. So today I'm using my easy day as a cleaning and organizing day to kinda get ready for not knowing my schedule for this week. I am going to push for a couple days off in a row (it's a part-time gig anyways) for this week so that I can try to get up to Chicago finally. I was going to go up before I got sick, then I had to go to ABQ, then I had to put in my two weeks so I kinda needed to stick around and get stuff done. Now I'm hoping that it's going to settle down a bit and I can make it up to Chicago and really meet and make friends with my team. So I feel REALLY behind in what I've been meaning to do.

I did a Tri Time Trial with the FIT team this weekend. It was crazy because I wasn't expecting almost thirty people to come out to do an impromptu triathlon, but they were there. Some people did sprint distance, some did olympic, some did a bit of each, and some did two of three. I did two of the three. I'm still laying off the running for now. I'm betting it's doing better, but to be honest I can't tell until I run. It just doesn't hurt until I run on it. And I haven't run since last Tuesday, accept for in the water. I have to say, I was pleasantly surprised with my swim/bike splits. My swim (for this early in the season) was low 21 minutes, which is pretty up there for me. I also wasn't far behind the real swimmer on the team - a UIUC collegiate swimmer. So that's a good start for me. Then there was the bike. It was SO FRIGGIN WINDY!!! I still did ok, my average wattage was close to my FTP wattage (which is over a 30 minute test, so for almost 1.5 hours at that high of wattage is pretty good!), however it also included stoplights and stopsigns and everything so that dropped both the average wattage and the average speed. Of course, I wasn't saving anything for the run because I wasn't doing it. But I put over ten minutes over the fastest girl on the team, and she's nothing to shake a stick at. To be fair, though I've been biking a pretty good amount all winter and she's just been just swimming, so it's not a truly fair assessment. But it feels like commuting 45 minutes one way on a heavy-as-all-getout mountain bike is doing me good. I have a stronger bike base. I haven't done anything for real power yet, but base is always good.

I'm slowly developing my own philosophy for training in endurance sports. Part of my ideas come from what I did as a swimmer for years. Swim training, from what I've experienced, is a lot - and I really mean a LOT - of intervals. Fast, hard, dying in the water intervals. I remember as a 13 year old swimming my butt off. I would get to a point, though that I would just have to back off. So I would, and would basically just keep moving. At a pace that I now realize was base. Coaches hated it when I did that. I wouldn't listen though because I know my body and I will listen to it before I'd listen to anyone else (and that's still the case). Training that way didn't hurt me at all, though. I still placed among the top swimmers in the state doing much less fast training than my high-placing counterparts. Swimming just wasn't for me, though. Too monotonous. I love it, but not 10X a week. I think that for most people having a lot of base is essential, and having too much speed is detrimental. And that breakdown is pretty similar between most people. In a number of tri-training books (and coaches I've talked to) I'm finding that there's a lack of emphasis on base, with more emphasis on speed/tempo. I don't understand, though, how XC skiers will train 25 hours a week, but triathletes will train only around 16. When the XC races are generally shorter than triathlons. Why the discrepancy? The difference between the two, it seems, is mostly base-pace hours. But I find that I do best when I have a LOT of base hours under my belt. When it comes down to it though, it's hard to train a whole ton and work and sleep and recover from it all. Maybe when I'm a full time pro, right? :P

Lots of changes

2011-03-07T16:00:00.000-08:00

It has been a crazy couple of weeks. Being sick for a week sucked, and then I got news that my grandfather passed away so I had to start planning a trip back home to say goodbye. It made me glad that I made the trip for his 80th birthday in January, but I'm still really going to miss him. When I saw him he was very sick but still full of the attitude I'll always remember him for. It was not a trip I wanted to make, but it was nice, even under the circumstances, to get to see my family again. My baby niece is getting bigger, stronger and is still the cutest baby ever. She was standing (with help) while I was there! She's only 8 weeks old! She's an athlete in the making!

While I was in New Mexico I got a call from the bike shop I applied for - I'm hired! I'm super excited to work there partly because I've wanted to work in a bike shop for awhile (for a number of reasons, one being I can work part time, another because I love bikes) but I'm also excited because I can get out of the sketchy chem lab I'm currently working in. It may be just that I'm paranoid, but I did take chem 101/102 and other lab classes and you know those safety rules they give you? Ummmmmm yeah. Those aren't exactly followed very closely. That's why I wear a lab coat, old worn out running shoes (that will get thrown out when I'm done there) and gloves, gloves, gloves! I've learned that some solvents (Toluene) are MEAN. Do not touch, smell, look sideways at, etc or else...kinda scary. Though I'm appreciative of the days when I work with Cineol a.k.a. Eucalyptol a.k.a. the main component of Eucalyptus essential oil. At least that part of it isn't toxic. Though what we mix it with might be. Again, I'm not a chemist and therefore I don't like working with it and therefore I'm super strict on the safety stuff that doesn't really get followed by anyone but me. Four days and counting. Then I start at the bike shop next Tuesday. Yippee!! I'm not sure exactly what to expect in terms of how busy it is or how busy it can be, so we'll see.

I'm currently not allowed (by my leg, not by my choice) to run. I'm having bad IT band issues probably from sitting for a week while sick. Sitting for me has always aggravated it badly, as does running as many miles as I have this winter in prep for 70.3 Kansas and the Illinois Half Marathon. I feel like I'm running strong when I'm running at all. What compounds the problem is the serious LACK of dirt to run on around here. Even when you get out of town you can't hit the dirt because then you're trespassing on farmers land and that probably won't end well either from the dogs or the shotguns they probably have. So the options are largely concrete or asphalt. Can you say IMPACT???? And I'm not even a heel-striker! So I'm sitting here on my day off and zapping the crud outta my leg, ice rolling it, zapping, rolling, zapping, rolling, etc etc etc. I'm probably going to hit the pool tomorrow for an aquajog instead of a run. Maybe I'll have to make that my recovery run on a routine basis....hmmmm....the problem is the lack of pool space in this town, though. The UIUC pool is crowded with people who don't have any concept of swim etiquette, and once the outdoor pool opens it's only going to get worse. I'll have to come up with something better for the summer, maybe a couple of memberships to different pools depending on the hours...ouch that would get expensive fast though! Here I am totally spoiled from the pools in Albuquerque that I could go to almost whenever I wanted...oh well. I'll have to bike it up all that much more then!

Sick and bored

2011-02-17T12:37:00.000-08:00

I hate being sick. I hate being laid up, not being able to do anything. I like being able to do stuff. I really hate not being able to train. I'm usually against taking drugs, too but I am because I'm miserable. I was doing really good this year, too. I haven't been sick in several months. Last year I was sick about every two months. I think it was because of stress/gluten/trying too hard, and I've had a lot of down time compared to how hard I was working this time last year. I'm actually getting enough sleep for the first time since, well, middle school I think. I'm really not sure it's going to be worth going to Chicago tomorrow if I can hardly move. It's actually getting to the point where I want to go to a doctor and find out what I have and see if I can get something for it. I hate being sick!

I feel awful and it's mostly my own fault!

2011-02-16T12:09:00.000-08:00

I felt something coming on yesterday. You know, the feeling you get when your throat just isn't right and it's scratchy and I totally kept blaming it on something at work. I work in what amounts to a chemistry garage. A huge rented garage that a very small ( I mean like 4 employees, total) research type company works from. Oh, and it's run by a Russian. Not dissing on Russians or anything, just saying. Most days I'm one of three people there and I'm the only American (and, well, girl) to top it off. But I kept blaming my scratchy throat on something that they were working on and kept opening the large garage door a bit to get some fresh air. Which didn't help, but I did it anyways. I'm not much a fan of working with stuff that might screw up my lungs, even if it's "diluted in the large space." Don't care. There's not much of a breeze and I'm basically paranoid.

So I rode to the pool to do my usual swim, figuring that in case I did have something coming on that I would take it easy and get something done, but slow and easy. You know, to help loosen up and not to make myself sicker. That's where I failed. Big time. I walked into the pool and Steve, the swimmer I met a few Tuesdays ago said hi, invited me to come swim with the Master's team there and since I clearly cannot pass up a social workout opportunity, I did. Had a great workout too. I was keeping paces that I don't remember ever keeping. Which is a stellar sign for my swim for this year. However the problem was that a lot of it was sprint sets, and that's like the exact opposite of what I shoulda done. But I was having fun (and swimming circles around a couple guys, which I love doing hehe). After I got out of the pool, I knew I really screwed up. Went home, ate, and went to bed. Woke up with a fever. Can't move today, can hardly breathe my throat hurts so bad, and I can't decide if I'm going to be better enough to go to Chicago on Friday. I barely have a voice. I really wanted to go to Chicago. I'm going to have to wait and see how I feel tomorrow, I guess. Until the fever breaks, all bets are off, right?

I applied for yet another job yesterday. Because although where I'm working isn't bad (and pays pretty well) it's technically only a 6 month gig because he works from US Government research grants. Which means that as soon as something more permanent comes along, I'm outta there. The place I applied to is a bike shop, the only real-looking shop in town, actually. They need someone for their women's section, and while I'm no bike savant, I certainly know what it's like to be a girl and a cyclist/triathlete. And I can fix a flat, tune a bike, etc. It sounded promising yesterday talking to the guy there, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that this one doesn't go haywire like the chiro gig did (the chiro called me in to "test run," then never returned my calls, only giving me answers when I went in and asked, saying I was 'too over qualified'). Could happen again. But I hope not. Ultimately I think I would enjoy a bike shop gig. We shall see.

It's been one of those days

2011-02-14T15:23:00.000-08:00

I hate the days that never seem to go right. Nothing went wrong, per se, but nothing really went right. I guess it started yesterday. I had an awful long ride because I bonked. Again. And then I had to change the oil in my car. Ok, not that hard, right? Well, no, it's not. But it was the first time I'd done it on my own so there was a bit of a learning curve mostly in trying to find the stupid drain bolt from the oil pan. Found it after a few phone calls to dad and a good let's-laugh-at-aubrey session from my sister and brother-in-law. Then this morning I just woke up on the wrong side of the bed, I guess. Went to work and had to deal with a typically very nice turned completely obnoxious boss who felt it necessary to hover over what I was doing, demand different parameters that wouldn't work, distract me from the program that needed to be changed because of a slight interference, and thus accidentally bend a perfectly brand new nozzle. Which really pissed me off. I hate breaking things. I hate being given ambiguous projects, too, which seemed to be the idea of the day. Do you want me to do THIS or THIS??? Pretty simple answer, no? I guess not.

Then, to top it all off I called my grandpa who's in the hospital following a heart attack. He's very sick, he's had cancer for a number of years now and the latest round of chemo is taking its toll (when previous rounds had seemed to have been no problem for him). It's not sounding good.

On a more positive note, the weather is going to be warm tomorrow and I'm going to be able to bike to work without having to worry too much about ice. And there's a bike shop in town looking for a women's dept person that I'm going to go talk to to see if that might work out better than where I'm at now. That would be nice because I have wanted to do bike stuff for a long time now.

And I got some lovely flowers for Valentine's Day. That makes everything better, too :)

Back home, freezing my ass off again!

2011-02-07T15:37:00.000-08:00

Actually when I got home the weather was only a little bit colder than NM and I managed to get a super awesome (and ambitious) ride of approximately 65 miles in a couple of Sundays ago (like not yesterday but the one before that). I say approximately because I don't have a computer on that particular bike and estimated how far I went after the fact. I did, however keep track of the time it took, and it was about 4 hours 45 minutes. Stellar. I mean, slow. Ok whatever. I don't care because it's all base miles and it's flat, which SUCKS. I don't share the opinion of most people that hills suck because I actually like them because I can go harder, then rest on the way down. It's nice. Plus, I'm a pretty good climber. On long climbs I can destroy big men that own me on the flats. Just saying.

I have been accepted onto the Well Fit Elite Team (well, technically the "Development" team because I don't live in Chicago and can't make 2-4 practices a week when I live 2 hours away so I got downgraded just a little bit but for most intents and purposes it's the same). What that means though is that I have people to train with who are just as serious (I was going to say crazy....well you know what I mean) as I am! That's awesome. And theoretically people to travel with and stay with to races/training/camps/whatever.

Yesterday was a great end to a recovery week: 20 minute bike to the gym, 45 minutes weights routine (from which I can barely walk today), 35 minute easy swim to make 2200 yards, bike 20 minutes home, spin on the trainer for 1:30, then run for 15 minutes. All without much of a break. Yay for brick days! Didn't feel all that bad. At all, actually.

Starting to really look forward to racing. This year's gonna be good!

Oh Green Chile How I've Missed You!!!

2011-01-19T06:49:00.000-08:00

If you meet anyone from New Mexico and they have spent any amount of time outside of the state, and ask them what they miss the most, 99.99999% of the time the first thing they will say is the chile(unless you're my brother-in-law, in which case you're just weird). New Mexico chile isn't like getting a regular poblano pepper or jalapeno pepper (though those are spicy and can fill the bill in a pinch) it's got a distinct flavor that makes it unique and addicting. If you can take the heat, that is. My aunt from Florida can't take the slightest heat, and there's something about the tolerance for heat that makes it better; if you can't taste it through the heat, it doesn't taste like anything. But the heat is what makes chile, chile. It's a daily part of the diet in New Mexico. I've had it in jam, apple pie, cheeseburgers, burritos (claro!), coffee, beer...yes, beer...and just about everything else. Pizza, too. It's just what you EAT here. Fast food places offer green chile as a topping. So I'm back here for a week, and I've just about finished a jar of green chile that is more than a liter. Granted, some of that went into enchiladas, but I'm dumping it on whatever by the glob. I had some red chile sauce that I made in Illinois from powder, and it was good, but the green stuff is juicier. It's not dried first like the red. I'm going to have to figure out a way to get some green stuff home...

So happy belated holidays...

2011-01-12T19:07:00.000-08:00

I can't believe it's been a month since I've updated. Sorry. That totally doesn't jive with what my pledge to myself was some time ago, to update almost every day. Oh well. Truth is through December I was working full-time (which is hard when you're trying to train, and function). I need more sleep than is possible when training a lot and working full-time. It's hard. BUUUTTTTT good news is that I got a new job. It's not 100% perfect, but it's a ton better. I have the flexibility to work 6 hours a day (which is just perfect to fit in training and food and sleep and a little down time). But the catch is that it's a chemistry lab and the safety to me seems a bit questionable...gonna keep looking for a different job, but it's a huge step up from what I was doing before. Which was grading standardized kindergartner tests. Painful, painful days when that's done for 8 hours.
The holidays were great. Went to Calgary which was fun. Came home shortly before New Year's Eve to near 60 degree temps. Strange, and ALL the snow melted in a rainstorm. Go figure. Not that I was complaining or anything since I could bike outside for a short period again, but still was strange. I'm used to the snow melting in a day, and usually the same day that it fell. Not all 8 inches in a night a month after it fell.

And then, Monday January 3rd my niece was born. I still haven't met her yet, that's this Saturday. I get to go home to meet the newest addition to my family. Kudos to my sis to making it through a tough labor. I'm so excited to meet her!

And on a side note, I rode to work Monday thru Friday last week! Every day last week! Never mind that I haven't ridden this week. I needed my usual day off this week, and then it snowed. Boo to snow. I probably wouldn't mind if I could actually PLAY in the snow, but this town isn't conducive to anything of that sort of fun. Boo to this town. Can't wait to go home for a visit (and a ride or two).

When three is just too much

2010-12-15T07:27:00.000-08:00

Sometimes I think to myself, gee, life would be easier if I just chose one sport and decided to work at that one and get good at that one, whichever that one may be. I wouldn't have to split my time between three sports and be running around all the time trying to get to the pool on my bike (which hasn't happened more than once since I've started working) and for that matter, I would have a lot less crap to carry. 1/3 the crap, to be exact.

But no, that would make life boring, I guess. It would be easier though if it wasn't scary to me to ride my bike when the roads are icy. Then I could get it all in and use bike commuting as a workout, too. But no. I'm either a chicken or smart and don't think it's a good idea to ride on icy roads with cars that may or may not be in control of themselves. It's not me I'm worried about. So I'll drive and make my own time all that much less and get myself sick by trying to do too much.

So I'm spending the day in bed today because I got myself sick because I wore myself out and people at work come and cough on me. Oh well, at least I can listen to music at home.

Sometimes you're the windshield, sometimes you're the bug

2010-12-10T05:37:00.000-08:00

The last two days have been rougher than normal. I keep trying to figure out ways to ride to work. Only problem is, they don't plow the bike paths on my usual route that I chose because it wasn't as sketchy to ride the bike paths alongside the road rather than on the road with drivers, so I liked it. Doesn't do me much good if the 9 inches that fell last Friday is on it and has done the frozen/melt thing and has become the bumpiest thing and still deep as hell for bike tires to go through. Even mtb tires. Tried riding to work Thursday morning only to get to the point of mostly no return and panic that I probably wouldn't be able to ride that hard of a route home in the dark (I have lights, but still) on worse bike paths going the other way and with noone to call because Casey wouldn't have time in the evening to pick me up. I called him and went in late to work.

I got rear-ended on Wednesday, so now I have car repairs to deal with too. Not hurt though.

And to top it off, my period is trying to kill me. I know, probably TMI but I haven't had cramps that have made me cry in ages, and I'm just exhausted today because of them. IBprofen usually does the trick, but it doesn't seem to kick in as fast as it has in the past. Maybe it's just old IBprofen. Couldn't seem to drag myself outta bed this morning to do anything.

But the good news is it's Friday and the weather should still be clear enough tonight to go for my run after work with my four legged running buddy and make up what I missed this morning. I sleep better after an evening workout, anyways.

learnin new things...

2010-12-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

So since this is my first winter in a "real" cold climate, I'm learning new things every day as it gets cold and I have to train in it.
Lesson #1: 9 inches of snow isn't a big deal here. Woulda been in NM...just sayin'
Lesson#2: Cleo doesn't seem to care how cold it is. She still wants to be outside, and doesn't mind running when it's 4 degrees out.
Lesson #3: Going outside into really really cold weather after being inside all day makes me sneeze. No joke.
Lesson #4: Frozen eyelashes. Weird.
Lesson #5: Frozen sweat...not too cold, still weird.
Lesson #6: 800 fill down jackets actually make sense here. Not in NM (shut-up Casey!) and same goes with scarves (like the 50 that I have...)
Lesson #7: Covering your face whilst running doesn't help much when you humidify the scarf which then freezes.
Lesson #8: Deep snow = slow dog = quite funny when she tries to go as fast as she can.
Lesson #9: Biking without toe warmers is a BADDDDD idea...think running alongside bike to keep them from getting frostbitten and being only slightly successful.
Lesson #10 (because I was just SO close!): It gets worse. They're calling for lows in the single digits now, and possibly negatives next week. EEEEEEEEEEEKKK!!! I'm told I give a heavy sigh every time the weather is on now. Seriously. Can you blame me? I'm running away to NM in January. Maybe I'll come back. Maybe not. We'll see.

mmmmffffff

2010-12-02T16:40:00.000-08:00

Finally hit the lack-of-sleep-plus-training wall. Knew it would hit pretty quick, I really need more sleep when I'm training a lot. So working a lot and training a lot means no sleep. Don't know how people function on less sleep than 7 hours, I simply can't. Sad, I know. But today I got enough training in to allow an early sleep night so I can get it in tomorrow with *hopefully* more energy. Gonna bike to work tomorrow morning since they're threatening 1-3 inches of snow late tomorrow night.

Here goes my first Illinois winter...Did I mention I'm from NM where the snow is usually an inch at a time and hardly sticks around for more than a day????

Mountain biking with a dog!!

2010-11-28T18:49:00.000-08:00

We went mountain biking out in the one spot here within driving distance. I'm not super great at it, but I'm not awful, either. Only fell four times this time. Aided by slippery conditions, of course.
Casey's been testing Cleo out on bike rides, seeing how she does, seeing if she'd follow him. She seemed to be doing pretty well, so we took her out to Kickapoo with us to get her exercise because, after all, she is a high-energy breed. So we just let her follow us off the leash while we biked. At first she was darting as fast as she could back and forth on the trail, so so so hyper and excited to be out and running willy-nilly (we did tell her to pace herself, but she did not listen). Then she settled into running with us, occasionally going off trail but coming back pretty quick. When Casey would get ahead too far and she couldn't see me anymore since she mostly stayed with him, she'd come running full speed back till she saw me, halt, turn and run as fast as she could the other direction. Making sure I was still there and still coming. Eventually she got so tired that the best she could do was trot on either back wheel. There's something she likes about the right side of the back wheel.

She slept the whole way home splayed out on the back seat, and now whenever she gets up to move she looks like she's quite stiff. Poor baby. She reminds me of Aussie, the 16 year old dog I grew up with that we had to put down this summer because of the way she's walking like a 16 year old right now. Gave her a full can of soft dog food after all that energy expenditure and she scarfed it no problem. Hopefully she's not too stiff tomorrow. But I'm sure she'll sleep well tonight.

It's been a busy last two weeks

2010-11-27T08:55:00.000-08:00

I started working a temporary full-time job a couple weeks ago. What that means is I'm going to be really really busy for about two months. I'm basically forced to work full-time hours because jobs around here have been quite hard to come by, especially part-time. I'm not having as hard of a time with it as one of the women I work with, who's taking it entirely too seriously. It's grading a standardized ESL test for kindergartners, so that means we have to decide if their writing is right or wrong. I basically grade on what we're told, and don't worry until I'm told otherwise. She's over analyzing every single thing. Kinda funny, but kinda not...she gets me in trouble by asking me all the questions...

I've got my training plan for the next few months mostly set out. VERY exciting for me! In the immediate future it means three weeks of HELL. Wouldn't be that way if I didn't have to work full time, but it is what it is, and it's do or die for this season. I'm going to have a few weeks of no swimming though. Thanks UIUC rec center. You SUCK. I've never had a gym place close for weeks at a time before. So that means pull-ups/stretch cords fest and lots of running/biking those weeks. I'm still hoping that I can organize myself well enough that I can make the crazy night mtb rides because that was so much fun. And hard, which I need since I'm not great at going hard on the bike.

Since I've only been able to find temporary work, I can't afford my coach. So that means I'm mostly on my own (which is why I've been working on setting my training plan out on my own). Though, on one hand it may be the best, on one hand it may not be. I have lots and lots of books to help me out with it, so I'm confident with what I have down so far. And I have several people who I can ask questions. The way I see it, if this works, then I really should be looking more seriously into coaching certifications. If it doesn't, then I shouldn't haha. I have thought a fair amount about doing coaching stuff; I think it would be fun. Along those lines, though comes more schooling...again, not sure I want to do that...give me a couple years and we'll see.

First day at work

2010-11-16T18:46:00.000-08:00

It was a long day. Grading kindergartners is the most mind-numbingly boring thing you can choose to do for 8 hours. It's not cool like being a teacher where you get to teach them. No, it's marking things wrong for stupid nit-picky reasons that you don't make up. And then doing that for a whole day. At least there was some comic relief. Like the nice pictures that they drew. And my favorite answer of all time(or today, however you look at it): wtf.

Because that's what I was thinking, too.

Back to it tomorrow. Gonna ride the 9.25 miles to work tomorrow morning because I can't stand getting paid $10/hr and throwing it out the window just to get there. Gonna get me some beastie bike legs this winter, that's for sure.

Interesting Weekend!

2010-11-15T07:28:00.000-08:00

So on Thursday, I did some stuff around the house, then just for giggles I checked the jobs online to see if there was anything worth applying for, and surprise! There was! So I got my resume together, cranked out a quick cover letter, and decided I might as well get dressed if I'm going to go over there and hand this thing in. So I did, took their little are-you-a-competent-human-being test, which consisted of putting things in alphabetical and numerical order as well as copying some words, I can only assume for handwriting skills (or maybe for actually reading what you're copying...?), and I passed with 100% on everything. Yay! Like it was that hard...but I guess if they have to give the test then there are people who can't do that. The interview went really well, and it seemed like I got the spot. Then now I'm not so sure because sometime that evening - my phone didn't even ring - they called and wanted me to come in Friday morning and "get my feet wet." Which is totally awesome, but I was heading to Chicago early Friday morning, so I'm hoping that I get an answer here soon about if they want me to come in today (Monday) because I'd had that trip planned for two weeks...arrrgghhhh just call back already!! I hate the waiting game!! :(

Friday morning I went up to Chicago to meet with coach and get some tests done: VO2 and FTP. They, well, went fine I guess. They hurt, as they should, and I hit a new highest heart rate. I'm fascinated by the differences here with more oxygen than Abq had. The highest heart rate I can remember hitting in Abq was a good 10 bpm lower than this one. Though, to be fair, I did hardly any testing at all there. With the test on Friday though I didn't go fully anaerobic like the test wants you to, which means that 1) I have good aerobic base, and 2) I need to train that anaerobic stuff more. Thinking about why I'm like that though only makes sense to me if I consider that doing anaerobic work at 5500 feet elevation is a LOT easier to do than anaerobic work at 600 feet elevation (meaning it's easier to GO anaerobic). Because there's no oxygen there, what would be aerobic at 600 feet is anaerobic at 5500 feet.

But the body knows the pace/effort, not the oxygen saturation of the air.

So I still only go as fast as I did up there. So the workouts that I would do at elevation would easily be counted as anaerobic there, but since there's oxygen here, it's nearly impossible for me to go anaerobic. Basically my body has been forced to become so efficient aerobically because I've been at 5500 feet my whole life. At least my heart rate is finally responding though. For the first three weeks here I was 20 bpm lower than I would have been in Abq, and now I'm just a little higher. Because there's more oxygen. Interesting stuff, though. I really should do something in exercise science instead of engineering, right? I mean, this is the kind of stuff I ponder over most of the day...

Did a test on Saturday to see if I am making up this gluten stuff. Just to see how I felt. I felt pretty awful on Saturday because I had gluten Friday night (it's hard to eat well on travel) and I did the tests Friday/Saturday. So I decided to test and eat gluten again Saturday night to see if it could be for sure the cause of feeling awful on Saturday. We went and got BBQ...mmm so so SO good. Gotta say, I do miss being able to go out if I don't feel like cooking. But sadly, the body aches that plagued be on Saturday stayed with me all Sunday morning, and through the afternoon. That's what I use as a gauge since that's pretty immediate. It feels like I've got a skin-crawling fever, basically. But I don't have a fever. And I'm really tired. I think that that's my answer. I come from a gene pool of autoimmunity, and it seems that I found the trigger. The ache is gone; didn't have gluten all day Sunday, and not too keen on eating gluten again if it makes me ache like that.

Now, if only that one job would just call back!! Still waiting...

Wild Night!!

2010-11-10T19:21:00.000-08:00

So I'm super stoked I've found a group to ride with, especially that they're crazy enough to "mountain bike" around town at night with lights in places I am very sure we weren't supposed to be.

Started out with the only way to get more than a ten second hill in this place: by racing up a parking garage. I was getting dizzy by the time we reached the top. Then a couple of the guys decided to ride the elevator (???) down. So I started the suicidal decent to try to beat them (fail) but I did hold off the guys chasing me down and made it very nearly first down. That was fun.

Then it was a series of parks, alleyways, construction sites (I think, as it was pretty dark...), as well as some type of lumber yard that they kept swearing "the trail's over THERE!!" Which it never was. But it was fun, and we almost ran over a few deer.

Then there was the race around the horse track...yeah fun stuff.

clean house and a job

2010-11-09T12:13:00.000-08:00

...and actually the cookie like things came out pretty good. Guess they just had to be given time to cool enough.

Yesterday was a huge cleaning fest. I came to the conclusion Sunday night that I'm allergic to dust (not really, just really really annoyed by it because it clogs my nose). I vacuumed, detail-vacuumed, dusted, swept, shook, and wiped. It took all morning and part of the afternoon. It was great after that because I couldn't see the mystical dust cloud in the sun rays coming in the front window anymore.

Then I called my grandma. Haven't talked to her since I left Abq. I didn't realize how much I missed her. It was great, we talked for an hour before reluctantly going about the rest of our days. I desperately needed a shower before heading to the running/triathlon store to see if I could sweet talk them into giving me a job. No luck again. Still, it felt like a productive day.

Then this morning I got up and ran before my 8am training for my scoring job. I love daylight savings being over. I for one love having light when I wake up, not when I go to sleep. That just makes more sense. The sun wakes you up, after all. And I hate training early mornings in the dark, but I have no other choice a lot. In some capacity I wish I could move to Arizona. Just for the no-daylight savings perk.

I'm going to be scoring a standardized exam for ESL kindergartners-1st graders and let me tell you, it feels mean. I mean, if I had a child copying a word 'as written' from some typed list, I wouldn't mark it wrong for making the first letter capitalized or not, when it may not be that way in the example. To me, just writing the stupid word legibly is pretty good. But I don't make the scoring rules. Those are apparently political decisions. But sadly, drawing pretty pictures isn't the correct answer either.

...and the turbo oven strikes again....

2010-11-07T17:37:00.000-08:00

I was attempting to bake granola-like gluten free snacks for my rides...they came out a bit burnt. I think they're still edible, but you know, when you're out on the bike for hours, you want something that tastes amazing. Not just edible.

Oh well.

This is the oven that's 20" wide and 75 degrees hotter than it says it is. I was going to post the recipe if it worked, but it didn't. So I'll have to tweak and repost.

I encountered dogs today on my long ride. They were coming up to me with a "Dude, what's THAT!!!" attitude. Don't think they meant any harm, but I still stopped and yelled at them to go home. Which they did eventually. I just didn't think it was a great idea to let myself be surrounded by strange dogs out in effectively the middle of nowhere.

After that it was tailwind all the way home.

I am so so lucky.

2010-11-05T13:55:00.000-07:00

And I really am. I've got Ellen on while I'm waiting for my eggplant to weep (...poor eggplant), and she has on her show a woman who's got student loans that she hasn't been able to pay off for the last year while she's been looking for a job (with no luck, obviously) and has gone through all her savings and just moved back in with her parents.
I still have some (really, not much) money, but no debts besides what is on my credit card (and that I pay off every month, no compromising) I bike nearly everywhere, which is FREE, and I have people who love me and support me. And I have at least some work coming for the next couple months.
I'm broke, but not that broke. I'm so lucky.

CX...ouch!

2010-11-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

So met up with the WildCard Cycling guys tonight at a park. No it's not how it sounds. They put on an unofficial cyclocross race. SHEEESSHH!! And I raced. Ok, more like fell off the back and got lapped, multiple times. But I'm not the one(s) who cut the course, either. I did say it was informal, right? And I was on my old mountain bike. And I'm not super good at the whole jumping over barriers with the bike thing. I gotta say though, I DID get first in my category. First out of all ONE women (including myself) that raced. I didn't quit and I hurt the whole time. All that after I lifted weights earlier, too. They had a tall mound, these are usually called hills, though this doesn't quite qualify as one. It was, however a mound of torture. Just tall enough and steep enough to hurt (like REALLY BAAAAADDD, worse the tenth time than the first few), then the course they set up was down the other side of it halfway and turn back up, and then back down a single track. Lost traction going up on it every time. Didn't fall though. And perfected the slow tight turn that I have troubles with 99% of the time. And the more tired I got, the more I didn't bother to touch my brakes haha. Didn't want to waste the energy. Finished up, rode home with Casey.
Now I'm going to lay on the couch because I can't move.

2010-11-01T08:29:00.000-07:00

Finally, I am not sick anymore. I was sick for a week. Not really sick, mind you, but enough sick to just feel like crap. And interrupt my last week of "not really training training." Which is to say, just getting out and training because I'm bored and feel like it. So instead of training, I bummed around the house, looked for jobs (still) and cooked. Because I didn't want to drive anywhere because it costs money and I didn't have the energy to bike anywhere in the cold. Stupid cold. At least now I'm done with being sick and I can go out and train this week, the first week of real training. This week marks the start of my self-defined training schedule that will lead me to World Domination!!!! BUAHAHAHAHAHAHAAAAAAA!!!

Ok, maybe not.

But I at least have it mostly laid out so I know what races I'm planning on doing and I know how I plan on going about training for those. First off is 70.3 New Orleans. No I'm not signed up for it yet, that will come when I get my first paycheck. But I'm definitely going to do it, and my bff is meeting me there (YAAAYYYYYYYYY Cathie time!!) to sherpa and then hang out with me afterward. I'll be limping around sightseeing in New Orleans.

First off in my training week: recovery day yoga. Mondays are recovery days, so here goes the yoga....

Blustery days are good days to be sick...

2010-10-26T13:14:00.000-07:00

Of course, I'm not smart enough to not try to go out and go run in the weather, furthering my crappiness feeling, and making me spend the rest of the day on the couch. But it's oh-so-cozy to sit curled up under a fuzzy blanket with hot tea while the wind goes crazy outside. I even learned something whilst on the couch: Kit Carson isn't just the name of a park in ABQ. He was a frontiersman and instrumental in "conquering" the wild wild west. He had two wives in his lifetime, one Native American and one Spaniard (not at the same time) and was multilingual without being literate. He was also instrumental in the Navajo Death March to the Bosque Redondo in NM, and was exploited (in my opinion) by the US Army for his knowledge of the language and culture of the Native Americans in order to control and move and to ultimately destroy the livelihoods and homes of the Native Americans, killing thousands. In order to "civilize" the west. The history of the good old USA is a bloody one, that's for sure.
Happy conquering.

Windy!

2010-10-25T13:02:00.001-07:00

Here in Flatlands USA there's wind (surprise, surprise!). My ride yesterday was not terribly long, 3 hours, but the vast majority of it was into the headwind. I think the weather said that we had like 30 mph winds...so needless to say it was super slow one direction, and FAST the other direction. On the way back (I very smartly rode first into the wind, then turned around hehe) I was cruising quite fast, I didn't have a computer on my bike, and as soon as I started coasting I could feel the wind coming from behind, meaning it was still going faster than I was. So cool! Mostly because it was a great way to end a ride :)
My weekend overall was a bit lacking because Casey literally did homework ALL weekend. Boo to that. I'm always impressed that he can just keep working like that, though. I would have had a breakdown long before him. I'm just not that good at doing stuff I don't get, don't like, and don't care to.
Which is why I'm not doing it.
On the other hand, I'm stoked to start my official base work for next season, all in prep for 70.3 New Orleans in April, especially once I get over my cold (that I'm totally blaming Casey for) that hit me last night. Sniff.

FIT Time Trial

2010-10-21T09:44:00.001-07:00

So I know this is a few days late (as in like 5 days) but somehow time just seems to get away from me. Saturday I went and watched the Fighting Illini Triathlon Team do a time trial of sprint/Olympic distance triathlon. The swim was in the pool, transition was out the nearest door, bike was out on the road, and the run was somewhere in the opposite direction of the bike direction (I didn't do it so I barely glanced at the courses). I just went to play with my camera. There was only a small handful of people doing the race, maybe 10? And of those I think 4 started the Olympic distance, while one flatted out of it. The swim start was at promptly 11:10 a.m....

...and continued for either 500 yards (maybe it was 750 or 800, I don't remember) or for 1650 yards, depending on the distance chosen...Then the transition zone was pretty informal. Especially since one of those not racing decided to "help" one of the guys who was by tinkering with his T1 setup:
Pool to T1:T1:
Out to the bike!While everyone was out on course, there was a floor show by the shirtless wonders...
I swear, any chance these guys get they're either A) shirtless B) in a speedo or C) both. And then there were the pictures that were simply taken for entertainment. There are a lot more racing pictures, too. A few are below, and more are on flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/aubrey_b-p/

I'll get out for a run here when Chuck and Kory are done installing our new front window...yippee!!

Happy Thursday!!

I'm Glad the Weekend is Over

2010-10-11T09:12:00.000-07:00

Which is weird, I know. It's not a normal thing. Saturday was fun, we went mountain biking (and then spending the afternoon in the kitchen was cool too), but Sunday was, well, just weird. We woke up late, which is supposed to be nice, but to me it feels like I've wasted all day when I don't wake up till 9. I'm used to being out the door by 5:15 during the week, so my sleep in time used to be anytime past 6, and which usually fell sometime around 7. Which still left the vast majority of the morning to feel like I've gotten something done before the day was half over. Sleeping till 9 just doesn't do that. So Sunday I slept in late, took like two hours to get breakfast, which included another attempt at GF pancakes (and they came out pretty darn good, thank you very much), then laying on the couch for another few hours reading a Nora Roberts novel. It was a LOT of lying around and took most of the day. Thought briefly about going for a run/bike/swim/anything and didn't do it. It is my break time, after all. Then, whilst Casey was being productive in his way with homework and laundry, the dryer broke. Again. It faked us out before, but somehow managed a few more loads then quit again. We proceeded to disassemble the thing, thinking that maybe something was blocking the drum from spinning, only to find a whole bunch of lint. My nose is still plugged up from it, too. After some "diagnostics" which really was just cleaning out the darn thing and seeing if the motor worked with the load removed, we realized that it was in fact the motor that was dying. I began the task of figuring out how to take the dang thing out, and Casey went back to homework. I learned that if the fan and the motor of the dryer are "married" long enough, they will NOT come apart. So Casey came back and destroyed the fan so the motor would come out. Now after some searching, I realized that the most expensive component of the dryer to die happens to be the motor itself. Awesome. We did, however manage to find an awesome site that we could find a motor, fan, drum seal (because the old one has disintegrated completely), and belt for $103. Which is less than Sears wanted for just the motor at ~$110. Take THAT Sears. Now we'll be totally set if I can put it back together.

Got a bunch of strength/speed/etc testing planned for this week. After that, I guess I gotta get down and set up the plan for the 1/2 IM I'm gonna do in the spring. At least it looks I'll be able to go visit NM in January and possibly get some serious mileage in down there, on dry and warmer roads. And maybe some hills too! I'm really missing my old training groups at the moment, and definately the mountains, but that's ok. The weather here has been pretty good so far.

Call them Chimlirellenos!

2010-10-09T17:03:00.000-07:00

So since leaving NM I've craved numerous items featuring the green/red chile that is so common (and OH so good!) in NM. The closest thing I've found here is the poblano chile, which is, to me, not even the same, but I found these yummies at the Urbana Farmer's Market for 5 for $2, and decided a relleno attempt would be good. Which was tonight. Now I can't have gluten so the batter was going to be different than traditional, and in this case it ended up being corn. It was kind of some of this...some of that...little more of this...ended up with 2 cups (??) worth of masa mixed with three eggs and enough milk to make it kinda runny. Filled the peppers with shredded chicken (not a traditional relleno, at that point, more like a chimichanga), jack cheese, then covered them in the batter and fried them.
They were dense, and I mean super dense. One filled me up along with the random Spanish rice I made for the side. And I made one MELL OF A HESS!! Casey was sweet and helped me clean up (OK more like cleaned up for me while I floated and tried to help with the gimpy thumb that I burned the crap out of trying to fry stuff).

But it turned out good. And there's three left :)

2010-10-07T09:26:00.000-07:00

Two cool things(I'm sure having fun with lists lately):

Found a cycling group that rides through the winter here: www.wildcardcycling.org. Casey did an informal cross race with them last night, so I went running where they were riding and chatted with the Manager of the group. Only downside: I'd be the only girl. Sigh. I'll take what I can get though.
Successful gluten-free pancakes!! Up until this time, they've been more like pancake mush...

Yeah...

2010-10-06T09:43:00.000-07:00

I haven't been very good at updating. I want to say it's because I've been busy, but I guess that's not really an excuse lately. Mentally busy then? I have been doing a lot of pondering. I by a lot I mean a LOT. Still thinking some things over too. What I have decided:

I WILL be an elite by the end of next season, if not sooner. This means a rough winter, as I'm starting a 40 hour job here somewhat soon, it however only runs for 8-10 weeks. So I can suck it up for that long. But it's November thru January-ish, so training is going to be in the dark and in the cold...yippee. I'm taking this year off school/career/whatever isn't conducive to training so that I can do this. So I'm gonna do it.
I am not going to stress over whatever anyone else may or may not think about me. This seems obvious, but I do it a lot. Ahem, ok, USED to do it a lot. It tends to really mess with your head when you do that.
I am going to get on the making jewelry thing that I've thought about doing for, um, 8 years now? I've seriously have been making jewelry for a really long time, I just never have done anything with it. This will give me an outlet without the accumulation.

Things I'm not sure about:

Should I take the GRE? The deadline for the paper test is this week, so I gotta decide soon. But the thing is I'm not considering grad school at the moment, and I don't see that taking it would do much more than keep that door open for the next year. But if I'm not even considering grad school then there's no point in taking the test until I am considering it. Right?
Should I pay for yogatoday classes? Ok that one sounds silly now, but I'm on a tight budget and even though it's only $10 a month, it's another $10 out the door. But yoga on my own usually consists of a few sun salutations, stretching my hips and calling it good. And it's not enough and I know that. So classes push me, and that's a good thing. But it's money.

There's more to the list, but sitting here makes me realize that maybe I do have more of a grasp on things than maybe I thought I did.

I'm getting used to riding among the corn and the flat here. The wind doesn't bother me. I am from Albuquerque, after all. That place is more windy than I've seen here. You give me 20 mph winds and I laugh. Give me the 40 mph winds with 60 mph gusts that I'm used to! Bring it! Now the cold is something I'm going to have to get used to I'm sure...

New Home!

2010-08-31T12:36:00.000-07:00

So I made it to Illinois...busy setting up house...it's MUCH more humid here than back in New Mexico. Gotta say, it's not really that bad, I've kinda just gotten used to, um...dripping. Everything I do I'm sweating lol.
I'm taking a break from building my silly dog a fence to keep her in the yard. I'm drenched. Mowed the lawn first, too. That was a lot of work. Double the dripping!
Found the UIUC cross country running course this morning on my run (my first real run here) and had fun on it. And guess what!! There's a HILL!!! Okay, okay, I'm 90% sure it's manmade (because it's a pile of dirt with turf on it...just saying) but still. It's a hill!!
I'm dying to get in the pool and move around though, so that's on tap for later this afternoon. So looking forward to being in the pool after not swimming since last Thursday. And I'm looking forward to hitting the outdoor pool at the ARC center at the UIUC (I'm not the student this time, but that seems the best place to train here...). It seems like quite the nice facility.

That's the plan....now to do another load of dishes dug out of boxes....

It's been what, two weeks??

2010-08-23T15:25:00.001-07:00

So since I decided to stop eating gluten, it's been about two weeks. Not counting the accidental gluten ingestion...like soy sauce...but anyways I've noticed HUGE changes. Not like make up changes that the placebo effect could account for either. Like the swelling of my eyes. Totally thought that was a seasonal allergy thing. GONE. Then there's the asthma. Again, thought that was a seasonal allergy thing...GONE. Don't get me wrong, I totally still sneeze, but my eye isn't pinching itself into oblivion anymore and I'm not trying to do workouts and feeling like I'm sucking through a straw.
Oh and then there's the poo...hehe. That's changed too (though for some reason I totally didn't expect anything with that to change) and for the better! Won't go into details because...ummm....TMI?? My under eye bags are significantly reduced...probably because I'm sleeping like a ROCK. I'm falling asleep and NOT moving. At all. Wake up in the same position I fell asleep in, and not stiff from it at all, which means that my muscles are finally loosening up (which means that I'm not hurting).
Oh and that whole energy thing? That thing that I've not had in, well, years really? It's back!! I went swimming Saturday morning, started my warmup, and just kept going because it just felt good. I don't remember EVER doing that. Just cruising along, not worrying about how much or how long I've gone. I think I musta swam for ten minutes straight without being forced to. Again. Never done that. Anything longer than a 400 has been required....
Oh good days :) So excited to see what happens with the last two races of the year now that I'm feeling good.

New Foods!!

2010-08-17T15:39:00.000-07:00

So after a TON of research (and I'm sure the people who hear me talk all the time are getting tired of this) I am going gluten free. WHY?? Well, remember last year when I had that thyroid issue? Well it cleared up on it's own (thankfully), but I've still had an achy throat a lot, as well as four colds this year that have taken me out of training for weeks at a time. Not helpful in, you know, improving athletically in any way. And it's not like I wasn't stressed with school, granted, but being taken out with the most recent happening in late June doesn't fall into the stress-cold category, I don't think. So back to the gluten free thing. Having a gluten sensitivity can mean colds and the like, but more importantly, there's a HUGE correlation - and I had found a list of like 5-6 studies illustrating a strong connection between autoimmune thyroid diseases and Celiac (Grave's is an autoimmune thyroid condition) that I can't seem to locate...so this one will have to do for now:
http://nephropal.blogspot.com/2009/07/leaky-gut.html (if you scroll down, he lists the problems that Celiac disease causes)

Not to mention that I'm not the only one in my family with an autoimmune condition, I'm just the only one willing to give up bread to try and fix it, apparently.

One of the drawbacks is that, yes, it is going to be a LOT of work. Can't exactly get a burrito on the way to work anymore. But on the upside, I'm being forced to be creative, try different recipes, as well as eat more nutritiously dense foods. Filling in the gaps with veggies instead of bread is much more helpful in healing and inflammation.

Tried a new recipe today... similar to this one:
http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/04/22/breakfast-casserole-with-chard-if-you-want/

But I used sweet potatoes, italian sausage (from Keller's Farm Store), and Kale/Chard.

Came out great! Yay for having breakfast for the next few days :) I might just turn into a serious foodie yet...duh duh duuuhhhhhh

2010-08-02T16:18:00.001-07:00

My computer's finally back!! Sent it off once, got it back, and it was still broken :( Made me super sad. So I got them to pay for shipping back, and this time it came back fixed...and with a new motherboard...glad I didn't have to pay for that! Yay warranties!

There's an old guy at work who likes to ask me what the day's workout is every time he sees me. So for my off day today, I told him it was yoga. "YOGA????" he asked. "Well, yes, it's really good for recovery and..."

to which he launched into how he would fall asleep if he did it.

Bah...old men with driver personalities....

2010-06-25T18:51:00.000-07:00

I love yoga. I really believe that it's something that works. This last semester I made it through all the training and school without really getting hurt. In fact, with not too much of a complaint. Why? Well, I took a yoga class, two days a week, for about an hour. I try to do it on my own, but I'm really not good at "spoiling" myself. As if that really falls into that category. It's more like maintenance, but I don't seem to think like that. Now that I've been done with school for more than a month (that long already??!?!) I seem to be falling apart everywhere. It's the shoulder, it's the IT band, it's the plantar...it's always something. Today, it was the shoulder. I just could not get it loose enough to really do anything in the water, and to make it worse, it started it's little popping routine that it sometimes likes to do. So I had to stop. I got out and went to work, called TRFC to get Carl to work on my shoulders. Carl is awesome. My shoulder stopped it's popping routine, and the foam roller that I picked up on my way home is more awesome than I remember them being. Like really. I'm going to make a habit of that. Between that, my stick, my Aurawave, and my nobby S-shaped thingy, I should be good...oh and my yoga mat. Right. Gotta remember that one.

I had a good run today: 8X400s. The clouds were playing chase with me, and I was wishing that they would come and rain since it was 100+ on a black track...

Cute little prairie dogs on the bike path by Tramway...they like to run right in front of moving wheels...

2010-06-15T18:00:00.000-07:00

Oh man, long driving weekend. I left on Thursday for Salina, Kansas. An almost 10 hour drive. Haven't been through Kansas that I can remember before, and it looked exactly as I thought it would. Think Wizard of Oz. Green and gold fields and rusty old farm equipment. Really pretty. Especially for those used to brown landscapes haha.

Spent the night in a KOA in Salina...in my car. Wasn't the brightest idea I've had, trying to save money like that. I sweat the whole night and didn't get much sleep. Stupid, stupid idea. At least I tried right? Oh well. You live, you learn. From Salina I went to Des Moines on Friday for the Hy Vee on Sunday. Beautiful drive through Kansas, though I got really sick of seeing roadkill. Poor animals :(
I went into the race feeling REALLY good. Though for me that's usually not a good sign, so I didn't know how to take it. The morning of the race I got up at 3:40 - for my 6:04 am start. So early. I was all psyched up for the race...only to have them shorten it to a sprint. I understand why - a bad thunderstorm was on it's way, they needed to, you know, not have anyone in the water when it hit, so an approximate 400 meter swim and time-trial style start was what we got. Kinda fun that way, actually. I got the swim done in an ok time, then there was the bike. There was NOTHING there. Oh well. I think the taper wasn't quite right. I think I've had a rough spring for training with graduating and all, so oh well. Disappointing though. 39 something for a 20k bike isn't stellar, or even what I can do (think 32 for 20k in abq - at 5000 feet...with a few more hills...arrgh). Then the run was ok - still not what I can do, but the legs still weren't quite there for that either. So, next big one will be AG Nationals for another try at the ever elusive elite card.

Back From the Abyss!!

2010-06-09T19:08:00.000-07:00

Ok ok I know. I'm sorry. It's been since January. So that means a quick catcher upper. Been training and racing a lot. Went to Havasu in March, got 3rd, did a good time too. Went to Collegiate Nationals in April, didn't do so well. Just wasn't there. Did a small, new local race called Coyote Carrera, got 1st overall, felt pretty good, but it's hard to gauge some races. Did the Jay Benson, got 1st overall, and was really surprised that I came out with any kind of time that I can deem good because all week before was spent in the UNM machine shop and computer lab stressing over final projects and write ups. There wasn't much for training that week, either. Then it was time for stressing over final exams so that I could, you know, graduate haha. So I did, and I did it Cum Laude in Mechanical Engineering with a Minor in Spanish. Sweet! I'm really glad to be done, but I'm a little scared, too. It's a big step. I'll finally not be stressing over school enough so that I can train as much as I want, and theoretically, do much better than ever before.

So where am I going from here? Well, first off, I'm working part-time through the summer in my Mechanical Engineering internship that pays well. And I'm training and racing all over the place. Then at the end of the summer, I'm running away with Casey, my love, to Illinois. He got into the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, which is totally amazing, and I'm planning on going out there partly to be with him, partly to live somewhere new (as opposed to the place I've been my WHOLE life), and partly because the triathlon scene there is SO much bigger than it is here in NM. So it's one big new adventure for both of us! I'm excited for that.

Next race is the Hy Vee. I've never done this one before, so it will be interesting, as always. I'm looking forward to the new venue, and I'm hoping it goes well. I'm stuck though in terms of getting out there. I just can't justify flying out there, since it costs just as much to fly my bike there as it does me. Seriously. As long as it costs that much to fly, I won't. Not to races anyways. So that leaves driving. Yep. Me and my lil wagon. We are making the 15 hours to Des Moines in two days and crashing in a KOA on the way. Soo much cheaper than flying! And much more scenic. Wish me luck!

Hangin' in There!

2010-01-31T09:32:00.001-08:00

So far so good! I'm surviving school (it's only the 3rd week of the semester) but that's not to say that I won't have at least one melt down before the end comes. Training is going surprisingly well, despite having so much stuff to do. It's all gonna get more complicated and busy from here on out, so the goal is to stay as organized as possible and minimize the freaking out I'm so so good at doing ;) . I have one of the best training partners in the world, she's there no matter what (minus the swimming, but pools don't generally allow her kind). She's always down for a run, no matter how long, and is always up for more play time after! I guess you just can't beat the energy levels of an Australian Shepherd, right? She's still learning the complexities of the bike trainer, like that the pedals go around in circles and it's not a great idea to stick your head in the area where they move...she'll learn.

I decided to finally get my own racing wheels. I have read nothing but good things about the Neuvation C50 carbon tubulars, and I have a set of the M28 Aero 3's for training, which I love. I've actually raced a fair amount on the M28's and even though they're purposed as training wheels for me, I put out my best bike times ever on them, and I haven't had to true them yet. So needless to say I love the wheels, and love that they're not $2000 for a set (try, like, $600 for a set of carbon racing wheels...wow). So between new wheels, training, and tweaking the TT bike position to make it more aero, I should be riding pretty fine this time around! I've been drooling over the amount of carbon in the setup....oooh sexy carbon....haha.

New Training Regime

2010-01-12T16:34:00.000-08:00

Well, it's official. I'm trying a coach. From what I can tell a very qualified coach. I need a coach for several reasons, number one being that lately I haven't been able to push myself because I don't know if I'm training right. I will work my sorry little ars off if I know that I'm going in the right direction. It's really too bad that Nuevo Mexico doesn't have much in terms of coaches. I've only found coaches with a level 1 certification, which, by now is about as much knowledge as I already have. So that wouldn't help much. And I'm looking to go pro, which means ITU style racing: fast swim, draft bike (but still important), and run as fast as you friggin' can off the bike. I'm sure I have the physical capacity to make it, I just need help gettin' there :)

Merry Chrismakuanzaka!!!

2009-12-24T07:52:00.000-08:00

Or whatever everyone celebrates :) It's the holiday of eating too many sweet things and drinking too many sweet and alcoholic things. Not that they taste bad, they're just not that good for you, but hey, as long as you're having a good time and relaxing, who cares? I have my share of them.

Finals are done, finally! Thought I wasn't going to hold it together with all the stress they put me under, freaking out seems to be my forte, whether it helps me finish final projects or not haha. But before the stress of finals hit I was feeling really good. A hard swim and 60 miles on the bike right after didn't seem to beat me up nearly as much as it probably should have. But, stress makes you tired, makes you sick, so that didn't last. The energy levels are just now starting to come around, just in time for Christmas, when training tends to be harder anyways with everything there is to do. Then next week I'm heading to the Great White North (duh duh duuuhhhh) to visit with my amazing boyfriend's family. Luckily it sounds like we'll be playing a lot - rock climbing, skiing (of the xc sort, though if we do downhill, he must expect to pick me up from my fallen heap...let's just say I've been skiing a magical 3 or 4 times...my whole life), then there's snowshoeing, and the indoor pool/track that's pretty close-by. So I'll at least be able to keep moving until I'm back. Then the real prep starts. Collegiate Nationals is April 17th, my last one. Because then I'm done.

It's That Time of Year Again...

2009-11-30T19:17:00.000-08:00

Or, rather, where did the year go? It's December already! That means it's time to start training again...it looks like my thyroid is behaving itself for the time being, so yay! I have to excuses for being a whiner now ;)

That being said, my first race in months is next weekend, the Jingle Bell out in Rio Rancho. It's going to be a COOOLLLDD race! Luckily it's a backwards tri - run, bike, swim. And the swim's indoors. Yippee! Though that didn't save me from nearly freezing to death at the last race on this course. But this time I'll remember to bring a change of clothes (and a towel) for after the race is done, and hopefully it won't be raining cats and dogs.

Off to prep stuff for tomorrow, gonna hit the pool at 5:30, dark and early...

Here in Never Never Land...

2009-11-15T18:02:00.000-08:00

I know, I know, it's been a month and a half. To be fair, I've been sick, busy, sick, busy, tired, trying to train, then sick again. Haha school definitely ruins training plans! But, I've been feeling better than I have in a really long time. And it looks like my thyroid is correcting itself (cross your fingers that it keeps doing that!). The next month is going to be full of homework and exams, meaning that time is going to be shorter than ever. And I'm not very good at not procrastinating, so...yeah...I'm hoping that I survive the end of the semester.

Wish me luck...

Yep, Even Athletes Get Sick

2009-10-01T14:22:00.000-07:00

Throughout the season I've been struggling with training and racing, more-so than usual. Everyone who does train struggles with it in some way, otherwise everyone could be an athlete, right? So I thought maybe it's all just in my head, I'm not actually feeling tired, I'm just being a wuss. Watching my heartrate I knew it was a little higher than normal in resting and in training, but I figured it must just be a cold or I'm just tired or something, no big deal (which I did have a cold over the summer that turned into bronchitis).

Well in June I had a blood test done that included a thyroid scan (because every time I get a blood test the doc decides to just throw it in there). So I've had many a blood test that said the thyroid is normal. The blood test in June came back saying that my thyroid was 'just a little hyper' (doc's words) which of course I didn't believe because I'm always healthy so I didn't worry about it. But I went ahead and got another blood test just to make sure because I didn't want to miss something important. This blood test came back saying that the thyroid was even more hyper than before...by almost twice! Well fine, this finally got my attention that maybe something is wrong here, and the doctor launched me into more tests. Thyroid ultrasound came up with a super small cyst, and the next blood tests were 'consistent with Graves' Disease' (doc's words again). Doing some research I found (on the Mayo Clinic site):

Graves' disease symptoms may include:

Anxiety
Irritability
Difficulty sleeping
Fatigue
A rapid or irregular heartbeat
A fine tremor of your hands or fingers
An increase in perspiration
Sensitivity to heat
Weight loss, despite normal food intake
Brittle hair
Enlargement of your thyroid gland (goiter)
Change in menstrual cycles
Frequent bowel movements

However, sometimes I'm irritable anyways, sometimes I can't sleep, I'm usually tired from training, and I'm always sensitive to heat. My hair is short, and usually isn't too great anyways from being in the pool a lot. The heartbeat rings a bell though. And I found that some people have persistent nasal infections with this, too (and the ears and nose are connected thus a possible explanation for an ear infection that really hasn't gone away when I don't normally get them - ever???). And I'm having problems with bonking while doing things that I shouldn't have a problem with without eating.

The next test for me is a radioactive iodine test, which tells you how the thyroid is functioning.

The info that I've found says that once this is fixed by either partially killing the thyroid or by medications to control it, you are back to normal. And there are many women athletes that have this, so that gives me hope.

So I have some time to try and relax, because stress aggravates everything, especially when something isn't right. And training is going to be all very low-level, non-exhausting long slow distance. Or just days off if I feel like I need it.

It's not always about pushing yourself, sometimes you gotta just step back and fix a few things before you get moving again.

Ear Ache My Eye!

2009-09-09T06:47:00.000-07:00

So I've never had this problem as long as I've been swimming: swimmer's ear. I have NO IDEA how I got it. It hurts, believe me, and I'm very not happy about having to stay on dry land for a few days. I'm getting a doctor to look at it tomorrow morning, but it hurts, itches, can't touch it (don't even THINK about shoving a wax earplug in there - ouch!!), and my ear feels like I've gone down to the bottom of the deep end and didn't equilibrate my ears.

Theories are that maybe it was the water in Tuscaloosa (which was really grody) and somehow it hung around for a week, and I think the kicker was then spending another week in the swimming pool, chlorinated tho it may be, and keeping it wet made for the ideal environment.

Whatever the cause, I've learned:
1. When you swim in grody water, use the ear cleaning stuff (alcohol/vinegar/water)
2. That today's going to be a running day...so much for swimming.

Boo to Homework!!

2009-09-06T12:51:00.000-07:00

So while I sit here and procrastinate on homework...haha yeah I'm just not feeling the homework right now. I had a really good week of getting stuff done, and then that ended.

Swimming with the swim team is taking its toll on my arms/shoulders/back for sure. It's going to do me so much good in the end. Swam for two full hours yesterday...haven't done that in 5 years. I haven't swam more than 1.5 hours in a row for the last 5 years, and that was in a race. Other than that, it's been like 2 times per week for about an hour. Which worked, and I actually improved, probably mostly from increased cardio ability from all the cross training. So now, with the long swim sessions, my poor muscles are just dying, can't go anymore, but my heart's over here saying "That's all you GOT????" so I get out, run (with the swim team, but yesterday they couldn't keep up with me) then get back from the run and hop on my bicicleta. For another 2.5 hours (by the way, I rode my bike the 8 miles to swim practice in anticipation of this). I trained for a total of 5.5 hours yesterday. SWEET. Not to tired from it either, strangely. Ran for a nice easy hour today and then stretched for an hour, trying to loosen up the hips/shoulders that are NOT happy at the moment. They will survive. So now I sit, watching the dog next door whine and bark at his back door and consider doing homework. Guess I should get to it.

School Has BEGUN

2009-09-02T19:26:00.000-07:00

That's right, the dread of school is no longer, as school is upon us...or me. Whatever. Since finishing up my last (not so spectacular) race, I took my week off, deflated, enjoyed training whenever I wanted, and then decided to start training with the UNM Swim Team (Thanks Tracy!). I'm definitely getting a much needed butt-kicking in the pool, with, you know, real swimmers and all. But I seem to be improving, I didn't get lapped today :D. I got lapped yesterday, but that was on IM, which my backstroke/butterfly are horrendous from not swimming them in years. Strangely, not too rusty on breaststroke (my stroke of choice and talent). Had some practice with the freestyle snorkel today, which, believe me, is not something that is much fun, in my opinion. Because your face is under the level of the water while you're breathing, it means that there's more resistance to breathe against. It's not so noticeable the first few 300's but after that it starts to be noticeable. And then there's the flip turns with the snorkel...think whales... I was really glad when we were done with that. It's amusing though that I can get out of the water, my arms are dead, or mostly, and I still feel like I can go for a run. Guess that's what all the triathlon cross training gets me.
Saturday's an epic day, 3 hours at the pool, and I've decided that I'm going to ride my bike to/from...a good 30 minutes to (downhill) but probably closer to an hour on the way home (taking into account being tired from the swim). Yay! I love 4.5 hour training days :) Maybe I'll go for longer...it's all just base.

Finito

2009-08-23T06:48:00.000-07:00

Yesterday's Age Group Nationals was a good race, problem is, I didn't have a good race. The swim was hard. The current in the river was very strong, making the swim times slow; the fastest swim of the day was 23 minutes, a time that is quite routine for me, but not yesterday. My swim was an awful 33 minutes, and I was tired after that (a testament to my poor ability to get in the water this year). The bike was awful followed by an awful run. An hour for a 10k isn't something I do even in my long slow runs, so something was up. Not quite sure what though because I felt great all week. On the run I ended up talking to an older gentleman who was also having a bad day (there seemed to be plenty of those) and his usual 30 minute swim had turned into an hour, OUCH!!
So that's the last one of the season. I've been working on the plan for the new season. First off, swimming...

Hmm....

2009-08-12T12:10:00.001-07:00

I find boredom stressful. Do you? That's where it's hard to strike a balance, too: between having too much to do and not enough. That's not to say that I don't love getting away, having a break from everything. I love that. But in "getting away" there's usually something different, new, and exciting to do. That's why I hate mindless jobs, ones that require little to no thought or that don't give you enough to do. Or only one thing to do.

On a more positive note, I am going to Los Alamos this weekend for the Los Alamos triathlon. A race that I've done well in for the last two years, so hopefully this will follow with that tradition. It's a hard bike, an out and back that's basically up and down. Los Alamos is hilly. It's in the mountains. I love the mountains. It's a higher elevation, ~7,000 feet, and so a lot of people have problems with the *gasp* lack of oxygen. I am still trying to figure out what I'm going to do for sleeping the night before. Either stay home and drive up the morning of (~2 hours), sleep in my car, or bum a floor from someone. The last one is the most desirable but the least likely. Oh well. I may just try the sleeping in my car thing, I've heard it's not too bad :) And plus, who's not up for a bit of adventure??

2009-08-08T13:44:00.000-07:00

Bronchitis is not conducive to training or, well, to be honest, racing. When you end up feeling like junk, it's not too good for the mental status either. My last race was horrible. The Socorro Chile Harvest is always a good race, very well run, and I've enjoyed doing it for the last few years. This time, there was just 1) not much juice in the legs and 2) the mental fight was not there. It happens, I suppose. The first year I did triathlons I did four sprints: MVTC, The Jay Benson, Chile Harvest, and Los Alamos. I took a month off of training to go to Argentina, had an awesome time there, but oh, man, it did not work well for racing. It was worth it, though. I got it together for the next year and started winning things.
Forgive the touch of nostalgia, but I'm tired of having lousy races this year. There's going to be two more for-sure races and after that it will depend. Maybe I'll take the single speed mountain bike out for an offroad race (not to win, obviously).
I'm heading out next for Tuscaloosa, Alabama for Age Group Nationals. This won't be my first time racing on that course. I went two years ago for Collegiate Nationals, presumably the same course as well. For this time I got a hotel with a kitchenette so that means I can cook whatever I want, yay! I like being able to cook my own stuff at races, which is good when I camp at most of them. Camping, if you don't consider car camping "roughing it," is awesome for races usually. As long as the weather is good. The upsides are that you can cook your own stuff, sleep on air mattresses if you have them, which I often find are more comfortable than hotel beds, and you can plop down right next to the race start. Awesome if you ask me. But unless you drove to the race, there's not much of a chance for camping.
I spent a week in Canada a little bit ago. it was awesome! I got to go mountain biking on a *gasp* geared bike! Borrowed, of course, but still. Nevermind that I managed to do a faceplant going up a hill. I'm so talented like that. That's right. I rule sometimes. And I jumped off a bridge into a really cold body of water. Chilly, chilly water.

Here's to a good next two races...

The Giant Watermelon

2009-07-12T19:34:00.000-07:00

Well, last week's race didn't go so well. My legs cramped up on the run, it was swim-run-bike and, well, basically that's that. When everything cramps down like that even moving at a super slow pace is a lot more work than it would be normally. So I almost didn't finish. But Casey made me. So that means that I still haven't DNFed a race. That's not too bad.

Today we went on the Watermelon Loop ride, a ride that is so hard. Especially when the temperature's in the 90's. It's this loop that takes you up a 8 or 9 mile road that's steep and all dirt. With rocks. And dirt. And did I say dirt?? And it goes to about the halfway point of the Crest Road, which goes up to Sandia Peak. And we do this on road bikes. The road is steep enough at points so that when you stand up to pedal, you just end up sliding out. Which means that unless you're really good or have enough gears, there are definitely points,when you are mashing. And mashing. And the road is tricky too because as you get close to the top it opens up and looks like, well, the parking lot that it dumps you out onto MUST be around the corner. But it's not, and there's nothing to do but keep going. The entire loop, depending on where you start/finish ends up being around 70 miles. It's a hard 70 miles. Believe me. I did it right though, I ate a gel and popped a ProBar on the way, and downed a fruit juice drink and a cookie at the gas station at the bottom of the hill after the arduous climb. And I must have ended up drinking more than a gallon of water on the ride it was so hot. Nevermind what I've had since I've been home. All said, it was a good day.

Tomorrow is going to be hot again, so that means that I'd better get used to it. And while I get used to it, my poor deprived dog sleeps under the AC all day. Poor, poor baby.

Off to Another Race!

2009-07-02T17:29:00.001-07:00

Yep, tomorrow I'm off to another race, nearly a month after my last, well, mishap. Not that I had that bad of a race then, but it's not the first race this season with wrong results. The last time I did this upcoming race I won overall, and it was the first time I'd ever won a race. It was a good feeling. The night before the race I hardly slept at all because someone decided to have a party right above our hotel room, which was broken up quite entertainingly. Someone screamed "Out! Get out!!!" loud enough to hear through the ceiling. Awesome. Goes to show you that the night before a race doesn't always matter.

An amazing thing came in the mail today: a certificate notifying me that I "have earned the distinction of Triathlon All-American" for the 2008 season. Yay! That's cool! I didn't know I'd done that, or, really that that even existed. It's cool.

Recently here, rides have been rainy. Rode for 50 miles in the rain, and just as we finished, look! The sun! So it was good I didn't ride my nice bike in the rain. Rain tends to be bad for moving parts. Things get squeaky that way. But the rain makes for some muddy mountain biking too. I've never ever encountered so much mud that the wheels of a bike literally wouldn't spin. I, with my friends Wes and Marcus - single-speeding gurus of mine - had to stop several times. I once had to jump in the Rio to get the mud off my bike. I still have mud on my helmet. That's awesome. The water was warmer than I expected...perhaps I'll swim there someday.

I have to go pack, and use my Aurawave. Nice and relaxing...

Very Belated Blog

2009-06-09T11:38:00.000-07:00

It's been way too long since I've updated. There are several reasons for this: 1) I was mad because I had a bad race and, well, didn't want to talk about it. 2) I started my summer job, which means that time is much shorter than it was a couple of weeks ago. 3) I haven't been home. I've been watching my sister's house - and that means less access to a computer. Basically I was checking my email and leaving it at that.

The Jay Benson race was the 10th of May, which as races around here go, was a big deal. We call it WC of ABQ #1. Everyone who's anyone goes to it. I won it last year. In a time of 1:00:33. Really good, and three minutes faster than my previous year's time. Two minutes faster than the previous year's winner's time. This year, however, my run wasn't where it was last year - 40 seconds slower than last year - and this time I was working a lot harder to keep that pace. I don't think I ran the race right, went out too hard, couldn't hold a good enough pace on the bike after that, either. Not to mention, I was about 20 seconds slower in the water too - again, I was too tired when I got to the water to hold the pace I did last year. I ended up being only about 20 seconds off of the winner, but a minute off of my time from last year. Call it whatever you want - it was just a bad race. I was nervous because I didn't feel up to racing, either. I woke up that morning and thought, "Really? Do I have to do this? I want to go back to sleep." That's never good. Not on a race morning.

After that I trained my silly little tush off, hating having had a bad race, and feeling that maybe it was because I hadn't been training enough. This last weekend I went and raced the Milkman in Dexter, NM. It was a great race. I was really happy with it because I didn't taper for it - only a recovery week because I had killed myself for three weeks before that, and I had a good swim. My only complaint is that, well, something is wrong with the timing system. I have on my watch a 1:06:45. But they have 1:09:24. I should have the same time as them (within a few seconds anyways) but to have more than two minutes off is strange, seeing as how I started it at the start and finished it at the finish. And it's never been off before. And I'm a little bothered by the transition zone being unfair, everyone goes a different distance than everyone else (and somehow I ended up being in the farthest, slowest spot). A bit worrisome that a long standing and reputable race would have these problems. Oh well. Stuff happens. Other than that, I was happy with the race and it was fun.

Another thing I've been wanting to talk about but haven't gotten to is the ProBar. I mean, they make my life so much easier. They have enough calories to take the edge off a hunger and to get me home when I'm feeling close to bonking, and they can function as a replacement lunch. I basically cannot get enough of them. High in all the good stuff, and tasty too! I would have to say that of all the granola/energy bar type foods that I have tried, these are the ONLY ones (and I do mean only) that I like more every time I eat them. I don't get tired of them. They're not painfully sweet - even the Whole Berry Blast (definately my favorite), which would perhaps be considered a sweeter ProBar. I do eat them like they're going out of style.

Well, next up for me is more training (after a recovery week this week) and then the Grady Williams Memorial Tri up in Farmington. Then Socorro, Los Alamos, and Age Group Nationals. Here's to hoping for a good race...

2009-05-06T17:15:00.000-07:00

My next adventure is the Jay Benson a.k.a. ABQ Worlds. Basically anyone who's anyone, in New Mexico, does this race. This will be my fourth time doing it. The first time I raced it was my second triathlon ever. I didn't do too shabby. Second time around I got second. Third time around I got first, though according to some I was "helped" by another's flat tire...so this year I have to make sure that everyone knows I wasn't "helped" by anything. We will see on race day, I suppose.

I am pleased to annouce my newest sponsor, the AuraWave. I have been sneaking off with the Canadian version (well, since I have a boyfriend that's Canadian and who just happens to have one) to use on any sore muscles that I have. It's the same kind of device that chiropractors use to loosen up tight muscles and make everything feel better. This is just smaller and much more convenient. I LOVE MINE! I'm basically always using it. For whatever. Be it a little achyness in my shoulders from riding all day or that pesky knot that keeps coming back in my hip...It's great because you don't have to sit there and massage things out yourself or pay someone else to do it. Just put the zapper pads on and let 'er rip.

I am taking my first final tomorrow...wish me luck. I'm not sure how it will go, I suppose it depends on how difficult he decides to make it. Hopefully not too hard. I'm off to run before more studying...

It's Springtime!!

2009-04-23T13:54:00.000-07:00

Spring has FINALLY sprung! Today is hot, beautiful really, and last night I watched the most amazing sunset while I was ss mountain biking. It was gorgeous! There were a lot of people out on the trails, no doubt because it was just a lovely evening, not too hot, not too cold, just right. And sunny. I love sunny days (so it's good I live here!).

USAT Collegiate Nationals didn't go as well as I'd have hoped. I got a flat tire, right out of transition too, so I basically got on my bike, rode a bit, looked down and thought, "Oh no, really? This can't be." But it was, and I got off my bike at the top of the hill that was right out of transition and stood there, dumbfounded, because I didn't have anything to fix it and, well, it's a tubular anyways. They don't change easy and why would you carry a tubular during an Olympic distance race? If you flat you're out of the race anyways. Luckily I was close enough to the bike station that I waddled down the hill in my goofy bike helmet and had the bike guys change it for me. Then since I was ready to go and they were kind enough to change it for me, I finished. I finished in a spectacular 3:07, but, admittedly I did have a nice little jog in my racing flats. I saw no point in pushing it for a race I clearly wasn't in anymore. So I had a glorified brick workout. It could have been worse, for sure, but it's always frustrating when that happens. Not to mention my poor boyfriend (and excellent sherpa) was running around thinking I was down and out somewhere since he didn't see me go out on my bike. He didn't find me until the run, as I'm jogging and chatting with a nice girl from MIT.

I'm coming up on the finals time of the semester, meaning the next two weeks are crunch time. A bit more stressful, but then it's SUMMER! I'm really excited for the summer, especially since this year is going to be a great racing year. Next race: Jay Benson!

Off to Collegiate Nationals!

2009-04-15T15:26:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow I head out for the USAT Collegiate Nationals with the UNM Triathlon Team. I'm not sure how it will turn out, but I'm excited anyways! I have my bike more or less set up, final details are always the night before, but race wheels are here, it's in tune, and it's looking fast and ready :)

I raced this last weekend at the Spring Fling, a backwards sprint tri, since my usual spring race is MVTC was cancelled this year. I won first place (yay!) but the day was so hard because of the weather. The run wasn't too bad, nice and cool actually, but as we're topping this hill, I saw off in the distance the wall of water that was coming at us. And it was a wall of water. It started sprinkling on us towards the end of the run, which wasn't bad, but by the time I was out of the transition area, it was POURING. Starting the bike there were rivers going across the roads, and though the rain tried to stop at one point, there was still so much wind! The rain started again, and though I was leading, I didn't take it fast because I wasn't going to risk taking a dump the weekend before an important race (Nationals). The water was so nice to get into, my feet, legs, and arms all burned when I jumped into the pool. I finished with an ok time, but my transitions were nice and quick :37 for T1 and :38 for T2. Good practice for the next sprint that I'll do :)

I must get to packing now...

First Race of the Season

2009-03-25T15:20:00.000-07:00

Last week was spring break, perfect time to head off to a race! We went out to Lake Havasu on Wednesday, a nice drive, with a better traveling companion. Casey really is the best sherpa ever. We camped out for the few days before the race, which was nice, but HOT! It's just not that hot here, it was around the 90's most of the time, and since we were camping, our relief from the heat was the lake, a mere 100 yards away. The lake was so cold, we'd swim and then be cool for several hours afterwards.
Since it was spring break week, there were a TON of people there, around London Bridge mostly, but there were plenty of drunk, sunburned collage students in swimsuits hanging around the boats. I saw at least one beer pong table, too. There was a Motor cross competition that weekend too, so there were more RVs than I could count. There popped up a small triathlete village in the camping ground where we were, making a small area where tents almost outpopulated the RVs. Almost. But only in a really small area. There were more RVs in that one little campground than I've seen in an RV sales lot.
The race itself went pretty well, the swim was nice because the water was so clear, if a little cold. The swim took us through part of the channel that the London Bridge crosses, which was shallow enough at some points that people were standing and jumping in the water. I could see the bottom most of the way through the swim. The beach, however was rocky and not well marked. So if you got off course a little bit, you ended up going through worse rocks than a tiny little space they'd shoveled. The transition went better than I'd thought, didn't mess up jumping on my bike/putting my shoes on at all! Probably could'a been faster though. The bike was fun, accept for the portion that went through the neighborhood, where we counted something like 24 corners. On TT bikes...bright idea. Then there was the hilly section. Which was a section of some monster hills that really weren't that bad if you could get some speed going up them. And the last big one was right after a corner, so not much speed, but I got enough to get most of the way up, and just stood up, and passed 3 people! I guess that ss mtb is working! Then there was the other side...I hit a really high speed, at last glance something like 48 mph, it was so steep, and so long, it was so fun! Then the transition to the run went just fine, and they took us over a section of deep deep sand. I didn't know it was supposed to be an offroad...grr I don't like deep sand. But that's ok, everyone had to do it. The run went fine until I was completely overheated. There weren't enough aid stations, they claimed they'd be every mile, but they definately were not. So I ended up third in the collegiate. Even though the results claim 4th. Interestingly enough there's supposedly a girl that was 10 seconds ahead of me...she must have been invisible. There was NObody near me when I finished. Oh well. For the first race of the season I'll take it. So lessons learned: have a way to stay cool. That's about all.
I want to also introduce my latest sponsor: Taylor Ranch Family Chiropractic. They provide chiropractic work (obviously) but they also do this Active Release Technique that's good for overuse injuries and it works so well! Honestly, without that, I probably wouldn't be racing. So, to TRFC, Thanks!

Coming Back From the Flu

2009-03-01T06:33:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks ago I came down with the flu. It's a good idea to avoid that if you can. Of course, I bet you already knew that. It took me out for 9 days, and I'm just now starting to be able to come back and do stuff again. I finally rode to school on Friday, too, it's a decent ride by itself, I wouldn't call it hard, but it was definitely slower than usual. Slow or not, I got hellos from three people! That never happens! The weather was beautiful, I made it home just before it really started to get windy, the typical spring winds that pop up here. Saturday's ride wasn't too long either, but it was perfect for including the intervals in the afternoon with the new team. A new girl showed up, a girl in High School looking to get into tri's (yay! We need new blood.) but she didn't bring a helmet and I couldn't let her ride. Sad, but now she knows. I really hope she comes out again, I think there's promise there. There were A LOT of men out racing and just basically hauling butt everywhere. It seems that everyone really comes out when it first starts to get warm.
I was intending to sleep in a little on Sunday morning, but, of course, my plan was foiled by my dog. She has been getting treats from my dear mother at 5:30 in the morning, and now, right about 5:30 is when she starts to whine and gets restless because she wants treats. It's Pavlov's dog...needless to say she doesn't listen well to "Shut up Cleo" from me.
One of the races that I have done every year since I started Tri's is sadly cancelled, and even though I wasn't completely planning on going, I'm really disappointed. It was my first tri. It was posted on facebook that it's cancelled, so I'm somewhat skeptical, but since I talked to one of the guys at the school that usually puts it on, my hope has dwindled. Seems my baby sprint race will be the Spring Fling.
I'm getting a new bike, too. I'm really really excited! Pictures to come.... :)

Race Plan

2009-02-23T10:42:00.001-08:00

My races for this year go like this:

Feb 14th - Sweetheart Run ( already did this one, obviously), did a decent 20:33 for third place. Not bad for a triathlete in pre-season.
March 21st - Havasu Lake Triathlon, Olympic Distance
Tentative - April 5th - MVTC Triathlon, Sprint Distance
Tentative - April 11th - Spring Fling, Sprint Distance (I'll do either MVTC or the Spring, not sure yet)
April 18th - Collegiate Nationals in Lubbock Texas, Olympic Distance
May 10th - Jay Benson Triathlon, Sprint Distance
May 31st - Deuces Wild Olympic Distance
June 6th - Milkman Triathlon (Qualifier for Best of the US)
July 12th - Boulder Peak Triathlon, Olympic Distance
August 1st - Socorro Chile Harvest Triathlon, Sprint Distance
Tentative - August 15th - Los Alamos Triathlon, Sprint
August 22nd - Age Group Nationals, Olympic Distance
October 11th - Elephant Man Triathlon, Olympic Distance

Also, I'm going to be looking for runs to do this season, and if I can get a mountain bike set up for racing, I may hopefully be able to do some Xterra races.

Another Beautiful Day in the Desert

2009-02-04T17:43:00.000-08:00

My last post was a really long time ago. Why? Well, because my computer was in the shop for 3 weeks (not the 1-1.5 they originally said) getting updated and made much faster. It's much nicer now :)
For my recent (or semi-unrecent) adventures I ran the PF Chang's 1/2 Marathon on January 18th, 2009. The weather was gorgeous! I did a 1:51. The time was definately not what I wanted to do, but that's what happens when the air quality is not great and random things decide to go haywire on my body. Still, I'll take it and learn from it. I keep training as usual: swim, bike, run. And I've decided to join a local triathlon club, which is going to be great to have people to train with.
I got my first shipment of PRObars today, too. I'm so excited! Yeah, so they're about 400 calories per bar, but that's what you need when you're doing so much. Not to mention they're yummy.

2009-01-09T15:48:00.000-08:00

Next weekend I am heading to Pheonix for the Rock and Roll Half Marathon. I'm excited, but I'm not entirely sure what to expect since this will be the first half marathon I've ever done that isn't included in a half-ironman distance race. I'm not sure what kind of time I'll be looking for, at least faster than my last one, 1:56, but that was in a triathlon, so I'm not sure that will be too hard to beat. Not to mention the last one was really really hilly too. I've heard good things about this one, that it's flat, the weather will be nice, the rock bands every mile are nice, and the atmosphere is fun.

I went ss mountain biking again today, not too long, but enough to get moving. The day was beautiful, so there were a lot of people out there, I'm sure most of them were "New Year's Resolutioners." But, for those who aren't usually on the trails, let me explain one VERY simple rule: he who goes uphill has right-of-way. That being said, here I am tearing up a hill, single track trail, trying my best to keep my cadence up to make it up to the top, and a woman with an impressive amount of makeup, designer running outfit, headphones (in the open spaces?? PLEASE!), trots slowly down the hill. I see her in plenty of time, but there's no way I'm going to stop in the middle of going up the hill, so I just keep spinning my way up. And she doesn't move. And she still doesn't move. At the VERY last second, she realizes I'm still coming and jumps out of the way. I doubt she learned anything.

My new year has started with a new sponsor as well: The Probar. I sought out the sponsorship because they are high-quality bars with nuts, berries, and all around goodness. I raced in the Netherlands, at the ITU Long Course World Championships using these, and they did the trick. I am a huge fan of The Probar. Check them out! The link is under my Sponsors.

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!

2008-12-27T19:15:00.000-08:00

The end of the semester has come and gone as usual. Though it is getting tiresome to have to take tests, do homework, etc, etc, etc. Christmas was great, my mom got her bike made over, my dad got some new toys that go well with his baby aka Corvette. I got a brand new camera to play with since my old one bit the dust. And the dust bit back. So I've taken pictures of the snow, and my super cute dog frolicking in it.

In my post-semester boredom I've been training a lot. Which is not much different than usual, however I am able to do more now. And then sleep afterwards. Sleep is awesome. It's amazing what difference it makes getting enough sleep.

I attempted to go single-speed mountain biking in the snow yesterday. That was great because traction was completely gone by 2 in the afternoon, so uphills were a little...impossible. Which means that mountain biking is not really mountain biking...right? More like ice biking? It had also dropped from 40 degrees F in the morning to about 27 degrees in the afternoon...so it was cold! I have a huge pile of clothes next to my computer waiting for the morning run when it's supposed to be 11 degrees at 8 am. So maybe I'll run a bit later.

After that, it's snow frolicking time for me :)

Blog #1

2008-12-10T07:41:00.000-08:00

So since this is my first-ever blog, I guess I should first say a little about myself. I'm a student studying Mechanical Engineering, and I have a minor in Spanish. I'm aspiring to be a professional triathlete. I started doing triathlons because after I'd quit swimming, I lost the title of athlete, and I wanted to do something that would at the very least give me a reason to work out again. So my first season was very hap-hazard. My second season was pretty good; I started winning races. So, since I've been to Long Course Worlds now and am still winning local races, my big goal for this next season is to qualify for my elite triathlete license. My big goal for the next two weeks is to keep my sanity while I study like crazy for final exams and train for PF Chang's Half-Marathon in January.

Wish me luck.