Riding for Fun

Somehow I managed to drag my butt out of bed this morning and meet up with the group in Pflugerville for the ACA "Pfinally Pflugerville" ride. Here is everything that went wrong:

-My front tire was flat before I even loaded it into the car.
-My car keys fell out of my jersey at mile 2.
-I got another flat on my front tire at mile 16. It took us 4 tries to fill the tire up with air.
-Dave & I decided to hammer ahead at mile 28. We missed our turn, got lost, then got bad directions from some dude who was out riding on his own. (We were concerned that he kept saying, "Trust me!" even though he held the map upside down.)
-I lost a bottle at mile 42. My cage is really loose so I had to carry both bottles in my jersey.

But who cares? This was one of my favorite rides all year. I finally made it to a group workout, and it was great to see my friends. Even though I was afraid I'd lost all cycling ability in my short time off, I did just fine on the ride. And we ended the day with a pool party/cookout at Bibiana's house. Oh, and the best part, I could see!!!!!!!

Riding for fun today, versus riding "because it's on my schedule and I have to get my miles in" was a blast.

I Can See.

For the first time since I was 10 years old, I woke up this morning and could read my alarm clock without glasses or contacts.

This is absolutely amazing.

Finished

It's official... My season is over.

January 1st to July 25th Totals:
Running: 472 miles
Biking: 1880 miles
Swimming: 60.5 miles
Gym: 70 times

It's pretty cool to see that I've traveled over 2400 miles by land and water this year!

Here are some season highlights:

• Lil' Longhorn 5K, February 25th(?) - Second place female overall, new 5K PR
• Spenco Olympic Tri, April 1st - Very fun triathlon, followed race plan to a T
• Rosedale Ride, April 22(?) - managed to keep up with Panther, Lulu & Kris for 60+ miles
• Armadillo Hill Country Classic, May (?) - 80 mile very hard ride, kept up with the group
• Metroplex Sprint Tri, June 10th - Great race, placed 4th in age group, 1st on bike
• Urban Assault Race, June 24th - Kept up with Lulu, placed 4th in our division
• Katy Flatlands, July 15th - First century ride, and a pretty easy one at that!
• Improved tremendously on my bike
• Improved on my run
• Gained a ton of strength through my gym workouts - my arms and legs actually have definition
• Improved mentally during races - learned to push myself, and believe that I can do better than "just finish" a race
• Improved on my nutrition. I've finally got a good grip on food (physically and mentally)
• and... for those that have been keeping tracking of my new year's resolution... I have run numerous times wearing just running shorts and a sports bra. Meaning, I have been out in public with my stomach exposed to the world. :)

I have had some really great moments this season. The first was when I sped past some guys on the Veloway during our crit workout early season. Another was at Metroplex when I actually won an award - and when I looked at the results to see I had smoked everyone else in my age group on the bike. Another was during the Nutty Brown ride, when I was able to hammer away at the end of a really hard ride. And lastly was the conversation I had with Panther in which he shared how proud he is of me - he has coached me for 2 years and should feel really responsible for my improvements.

I didn't expect to end my season right now. But it's time. I've been working hard for 8 months, and I need a break. For the next 6 weeks I will do whatever I want, with no pressure. So if you see me taking it easy, you know why.

It's been my favorite training season yet.

New Eyes!

I am sooooo excited.... I have Lasik Surgery scheduled for this Friday at 6:00pm. So, by about 7:00pm - I should be able to see!

I had my consultation this morning, and luckily everything looked good and they decided to schedule the surgery this week. They also made lots of comments about how blind I was. (I can't even see that there is a giant E on the screen without my glasses.)

My mom and dad are trying to figure out why I've waited so long to get this done. I think there is something about spending so much money that makes me uneasy. I always thought that glasses & contacts were fine - I've had them for 16 years, and they've worked so far. But now that I've scheduled the surgery, I can't believe I've waited this long. It's a good thing to do this for myself.

I can't wait!!!!!

U-G-L-Y!

U.G.L.Y. You ain't got an alibi.

You're UGLY, yeah yeah, you're UGLY!

By the way, I HATE wearing glasses. Hate it. And upon hearing about Lulu's (and others) success with Lasik, I have hated wearing them even more.

But, thanks to some incredible generosity from my parents, I am now heavily considering getting Lasik. Which means I can throw these ugly glasses in the trash. I really hope this is an option for me - having to wear my glasses lately has sucked.

I have some type of eye infection, so I'm without contacts. It's been horrible. I was again thinking about racing Marble Falls this weekend, but I can't get in the lake because I won't be able to see. Not only do I feel like an ugly hag in these glasses, but I honestly cannot see worth a damn without them. (For those who relate, my contact strength is -7.0!)

So... Consultation. Monday. 10:00am. I can't wait.

Ow!!!

As many of you know, I am very perceptive... I pick out little nuances and motions that my friends make and can imitate them pretty well. So well, in fact, that I start taking them on as my own.

In the past, I've complained that I don't have any of my own little idiosyncrasies, or at least not many that people can readily tell me... But today I found one. One that is my own, one that I've never seen anyone else do: I kind of slap my hand on my forehead when I get frustrated or I'm thinking something over.

How did I figure this out? Because this morning, I ran into a tree. Yes, that's right - I ran smack into a tree while Michelle & I were running at Town Lake. The combination of darkness and not seeing above my glasses did me in. And now I have a nice little welt on my forehead, made worse by the fact that I keep hitting it with my right hand.

Lovely, huh!

Jealous No More

After reading everyone's blogs this morning, I was feeling sad and jealous. It seems like everyone is having great workouts lately. Just this morning, people were posting about their awesome workouts and how great they felt by 7:00am. I, on the other hand, turned off my alarm at 6:00am and slept in.

So why was I sad and jealous? Well, it just seems like the people I train with are getting so fast and strong lately. I feel like I was making a lot of strides earlier this season, but now I've fizzled out a bit. It's not that I don't enjoy training, I just want to keep up with everyone else.

But what can I do, really. There is only so much time in the day. I'm not an elite athlete. As Tim pointed out, I didn't even become "athletic" until 4 years ago. (I mean, I was on the mock trial team in high school, not the cross country team. I took ballet for my P.E. credits.)

I was annoyed at the way I was feeling, so I went to the gym. I had a great workout - I have a new routine, and it felt great to really push myself. Feeling better, I met up with Kerry & Tim to bike at the Veloway. We tried to avoid the rain, but ended up riding right through the middle of the storm. We were like little kids in the rain, laughing and playing and making fun of each other. Perfect!
So happily, I'm feeling much better this afternoon. All this training is ultimately about having fun, right? Today turned out to be a ton of fun. I don't have anything to be sad or jealous about.

Breakfast in Bed

I'm glad to say that after riding over one hundred miles yesterday, I feel great this morning. My shoulders are a bit stiff, but otherwise I feel great.

I woke up at 4:30 this morning to Kris blowdrying her hair - poor thing had to fly to Chicago this morning and get up really early. I woke up again, naturally this time, at 6:30 and decided to go for a run.

I decided that instead of fighting traffic on I10 to go to the office, I'd work from my hotel room. So for the past hour plus, I've been working on my laptop, eating fresh fruit & coffee from downstairs, and resting my feet. Not bad for a Monday morning... not bad at all!

Week of July 9th - Workouts

Run: 13.5 miles (goal 25 miles)
Ride: 120 miles (goal 80 miles)
Swim: 1 mile, 1 time (goal 2 times)
Gym: 1 time

Well, it was a busy week, what can I say. I am not at all motivated to run. I decided to sleep rather than swim on Thursday, and I was saving up for Sunday.

This week's success: my first 100+ mile ride. Now I need to figure out what (if anything) I'm training for. And I need to start running.

Katy Flatlands Century Highlights

Highlights of my first century:

1) Riding with soaking wet socks.
2) Watching Glenda take a very hard fall at mile ONE, but get back on her bike and troop through the ride.
3) The menacing look the police officer gave me after our group got lost, and finally reconnected with the route.
4) Getting so much water in my eyes that I thought I'd lost my contacts, and I couldn't see.
5) Cheering for Kris once she emerged from the port-o-let after we waited on her for what seemed like forever. (The rest of us peed in the shrubs.)
6) Endless supplies of bananas at every rest stop. The rest stop with watermelon was my favorite!
7) Peeing (twice) in the bushes. Getting foliage in my bike shorts. And even though I peed twice in the shrubs, upon arriving to a real facility - I couldn't go.
8) Passing everyone we came across. No one passed us.
9) The glomer(s). Apparently I won the contest for attracting the most random cyclists.
10) Almost crying at mile 92, when my group decided to drop the hammer and I couldn't really keep up. I wanted to get off my bike and sob. Then I got over it and caught up.
11) Finishing, of course! Michelle & Carri waiting at the "finish line" to cheer us in.
12) Feeling great after 105 miles. Granted, this was a very flat course, but 100 miles was really not bad. The company of Glenda, Kris, Lulu, Tim & Panther made for a wonderful century.

Lulu & I at mile 83- the longest both of us had ridden.

The group at the start. In the rain. Good times!

Friday Horoscope

"You may wish that you didn't have so many things to do, but your life could settle down a bit after tomorrow's New Moon. Don't wait until you've hit the wall, for if you don't pull back soon, you could crash from sheer exhaustion. Start applying the brakes gently by getting some much-needed rest and relaxation."

Question: Does heading back out of town for 4 days and doing my first century (100 mile) bike ride qualify as "applying the brakes gently?"

Road Warrior

Monday: woke up at 4:30am, run, worked, biked, entertained, home around 11:00pm.

Tuesday: woke up at 4:30am, swam, drove to Houston, worked, entertained, back at hotel around 10:00pm

Wednesday: woke up, meetings starting at 7:30am, drove to Austin, luncheon at 11:30pm, worked, about to hit the road for a 2 hour drive to San Antonio, then driving back tonight.

And it starts again tomorrow, when my first board meeting is at 7:45am.

I am exhausted. I want my gym, and I want my bed.

Enough venting, I'm heading back out...

Pine Top Perkins

Just a quick thought before I hit the road to Houston...

Last night I took some people from Georgia & Missouri who I'd met in Phoenix out for a "night in Austin." Dinner at Guerro's followed by a show at Antone's.

I'd talked to one of these guys for about 5 minutes total before yesterday, and I'd never met the other guy. But I met them in the bar at Guerro's at 7:00 and we instantly hit off. After happy hour and dinner, it was about 9:00. Normally I would have gone home, gotten in bed, prepared for swimming in the morning. But I wanted to practice getting out of my comfort zone, so I joined them at Antone's to see Pine Top Perkins play for his 94th birthday.

I had no idea who Pine Top was. I also had no interest in seeing live music, especially blues. But I went anyway and ended up having a blast. The music was great! The scene was pure Austin, and I loved it. Then Marcia Ball took the stage, and she was fabulous. All in all, it's something I never would have done on my own, but I am so glad that I tried it. I should really try this more often.

MONDAY QUALITY RUN

First off, I have no idea why I can't enter a title for my recent posts. Very annoying, Blogger, very annoying!!

Second, I am thrilled to have had a great quality run workout this morning. I met Holly at 5:15am at the Rock and did a mile warmup to & around the Austin High track. I'm not sure why I was nervous (or better yet, dreading) the workout, though I have my theories. The first theory is that my body likes running slow and really doesn't like pain. The second is that I've been doing track workouts in Houston, on a horrible asphalt track, in the blazing humidity. Not exactly fun.

But anyway, this morning, though humid, was relatively cool. And running on the track felt so much better than running on asphalt. The workout was 6 x 800's at 5K pace with 200 meter recoveries. My 800 pace would be 4:07. The results:

#1: 3:57
#2: 3:58
#3: 4:00
#4: 3:57
#5: 3:54
#6: 3:47

I'm quite pleased! I felt great the entire time, and stayed at 5K pace (versus the typical mile pace that "5K" pace usually turns into.) When I told Phil my times, I think he nailed it on the head - looks like it's time for a new time trial. Anyway, Holly & I cooled down together - giving me a total of 5.5 miles. I was home by 6:20 & at work by 7:30. Not a bad way to start the morning.

Run: 17 miles (goal - 15)
Bike: 65 miles (goal 65)
Swim: 4500 meters / 2 times (goal - 2 times)
Gym: 4 times (hell yeah!)

I definitely enjoyed this easy week. Also, I enjoyed getting to work out on a more "one on one" basis with people... since I've been feeling somewhat anti social to big groups. For instance, I had a great brick workout with Dave yesterday at the Veloway, a great run with Rob & Leslie on Wednesday, a great run with Holly on Friday, a nice easy ride with Glenda and Michelle on Thursday and a really nice ride with Glenda & Kris this morning. Phil & I have been going to the gym together too, which has been fun.

As Kris aptly noticed, I've been a bit burned out lately. I've been a bit discouraged at how fast everyone is on their new bikes. (Why is everyone getting new bikes, damnit!!?) I'd been sucking wind on my runs. I've been getting lapped like crazy in the pool. My only saving grace is having good workouts at the gym. (I'm feeling stronger than ever! I love the gym!!)

But luckily I was rewarded with some good workouts this week that reaffirmed that I don't suck on the bike, I am a good runner, and I can swim just fine. I think that burnout is completely normal, especially since I've been going so hard since January 1st, but it was really nice to have an easy week where I remembered that I do enjoy doing all of this.

Next challenge: the Katy Flatlands Century Ride on July 15th. 100 miles of *hopefully* fast & flat riding.

Fun while it lasted...

I was beginning to think I was really doing well on my bike. One of the main reasons I thought this was because I could keep Glenda in sight during our quality bike rides.

Well, not anymore. She got a beautiful new bike and is now flying faster than I thought possible. We took advantage of the break in rain last night to hit the Veloway for 15 miles. After 12 miles, I thought I was going to puke. We did our first lap at a leisurely 16mph pace. The next 3 laps brought our average to 18mph. (Meaning we were riding "easy" at almost 19mph.) The thing that really got me was when I realized that even though I was pushing hard gears in my big chain ring, Glenda was still in her easy gears. ARGH!!

On the one hand, I'm happy for Glenda and her new bike. On the other hand, I feel like I'm back at square one. Perhaps it would be wise not to compare myself to her?! I'm going to keep pushing and trying to stay near her, but it's going to be rough.

On a positive note, this morning I got to run with Holly for the first time in what seems like forever. Rather than wade through the floods on the trail, we opted for the Enfield 4 Loop. I was impressed with our pace - quick but not too hard. It was nice to feel strong while running, since I haven't felt very good about my runs lately. The lightening storms were pretty to look at too.

This about ends my "easy" week as I have a feeling I'm going to be hating tomorrow's bike/run workout. Panther used emoticons when describing the workout, and that can never be a good thing.

Glenda's Advice

Glenda is one smart cookie, I tell you. I somewhat edited this, but you should get the point:

"People move on. When something else works out, I'm sure people miss you but wish you the best. I sometimes can't imagine being somewhere else, but then you get to a new place and it gets familiar too."

*For the record, I'm not going anywhere. But this was too smart to pass up.

Slacker... (not really!)

I was feeling particularly slackerish last night when I arrived at my quality run workout. One might think I'd be excited to be in Austin on a Tuesday and run with the group. Instead, I was tired and didn't want to run in the rain. So... after waiting around for a while, the group decided to go to Aussie's for beers instead of doing our run. (Gotta love the "easy" week!)

This morning, I was supposed to do a 50+ mile ride called "Rabbit's Run" with the group. After exchanging text messages with Kris, and thus determining that she wasn't going and was going to rest, I decided to skip the ride. Of course not 5 minutes later, I was starting to feel really lazy and called Leslie to see what she was doing.

Ironically, she and Rob were meeting in 5 minutes to run. They agreed to wait for me and I quickly dressed and got myself down to the rock. Instead of an easy 5-7 like Leslie advertised, we ended up doing the 9 mile Mt. Bonnell loop. Uh, not so easy afterall!

I LOVED THIS RUN!!! I have really been hating running lately, as I think it's my weakest sport and it just isn't much fun in the summer. But the combination of a days rest, tolerable weather and great company were just what I needed. I felt very strong the entire time we ran. Going up Mt. Bonnell was actually pretty easy - especially considering I used to not be able to get halfway up without walking. The hills actually felt really good, and dare I say it, were fun!

I'm glad I skipped my ride and ran instead. It was an awesome way to spend my morning, and the perfect way to get rid of my slacker complex!

Out of Integrity

Lately, I've been feeling this terrible nagging feeling that I like to call "Being out of Integrity."

It's the feeling that you get when you know you should be doing something, but you aren't. You know, like not sending a mother's day card to your mom when you really should.

So, I've had quite a few of these issues lately, and I've been spending the last week trying to clean them up. Here are a couple that I've taken care of so far:

1) Returning Panther's Twin Peaks tapes that I have borrowed for over a year now.

2) Officially signing up for the Austin Duathletes instead of coasting by our past Running Banana sponsorship.

3) Figuring out what wedding gift to get someone who's wedding was 11 months ago.

4) Taking care of some work H.R. issues that I was avoiding.

5) Writing back some long overdo emails.

Now, I realize these are somewhat small things. But they are the things that drive me crazy whenever I have to face them. Whenever I saw the girl who I owed the wedding gift, I felt nauseous and embarrassed. It was horrible. It feels so much better now that I'm cleaning it up.

So... if I am "out of integrity" with any of you, please let me know! I'm still cleaning up some things, so I can just add them to the list. By the way, I suggest trying this out - it feels so good!

Week 25 workouts

Run: 19 miles (goal - 20 to 25)
Bike: 104 miles (goal 80-100)
Swim: 3250 / 2 times (goal - 2 times)
Gym: 2 times


What a week! Especially Thursday - Sunday, where I went non-stop.

Monday: gym + attempted ride on the Veloway with Glenda. Got a flat which wouldn't keep air, it was raining, and we rode backwards on the Veloway to get to the car quickly. (That was pretty neat, actually - there was no one else out there.)

Tuesday: 5 mile tempo run in Houston. Holy crap, this was really hard.

Wednesday: gym

Thursday: swim in the morning, Rollingwood Romp 20 mile hilly bike ride in the afternoon

Friday: 8 mile run to Mt. Bonnell with Leslie

Saturday: Brick - 3 mile bike, 1 mile run, 25 mile bike (21 at tempo), 5 mile run (3 at tempo)

Sunday: 48 mile Nutty Brown ride - very hilly! very hard! and swim with Amy in the afternoon at Stacy Pool