Advice for the Day

Courtesy of Dionn:

"BE CLEAR WHEREVER YOU HAVE CLARITY."

Well said, girl.

Some thoughts for the day....

Some thoughts for the day, before I shut down and head to bed....

• It may appear that I have been really social lately. However, I feel really bad, like I've been ignoring some people. All I can say is that I am sorry. I am actually pretty antisocial lately... I really am just hanging out with the exact same group of people over and over and over again. I have so much going on right now that I can't seem to take on anything else than my close, comfortable circle. Again, I'm sorry.
• Speaking of feeling bad, do I have "susceptible to guilt trips" written on my forehead? Feels like it sometimes!
• On a lighter note, I love the song "4 Minute to Save the World" by Madonna & Justin Timberlake. I listened to it on repeat during the fatigue phase of my cycling study over and over and over. Tonight I was trying desperately to find it in my Ipod Shuffle to get my through my workout. I couldn't find it. Grrr....
• So, as I trudged through my 7 mile run workout, including 6 Wilke repeats, I listened to "Wannabe" by the Spice Girls, "Time Warp" from the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and "50 States" by TMBG. All on repeat. What a combo!
• My favorite part of the day was the Jewish Pun Off over our email thread. Goldfish. ;)

And for my big realization of the day:

• I have been finding myself (and my close friends) in this rut of complaining about ourselves in some form or fashion nonstop. Frankly, I am tired of not appreciating the better aspects of me!! Today this random lady stopped me and said that I had the most beautiful hair she had ever seen. You know what, I do have great hair. I'm lucky to have it, and the next time I get annoyed at my mirror, I'm going to look upward towards my hair. Dionn & I discussed the finer points of ourselves today, and I'm glad to say that there is quite a lot about myself that I like. It's good to remind myself of that.

Memorial Day Weekend

Nothing too exciting to report, but since I use this blog somewhat as I diary, I figured I'd document the weekend.

Friday: Cycling study, lunch with Kerry, Kris & D, happy hour at Chuy's, downtown with Kerry & Tracy
Saturday: 1 mile in Barton Springs, 2 miles on the trail with Panther & Dash, 6 miles total (thanks to awesome company from Sadie), lunch at Hoovers, scout for AD bike route, finish website (thanks to online company from KP)
Sunday: Bodymarking and swim transition volunteering at CapTex, lay around, brief visit to Kegball, pass out by 9:00pm
Monday: Austin Duathletes long ride, hang out at Rogue, and paint paint paint! (thanks to the girls for your paint color help. :))

Yup, exciting stuff there. However, I gotta say that it was a really fantastic weekend. I completed my two main goals... the website (coming soon...) and painting my "office." I got good karma points for volunteering on Sunday. And most importantly, I rested a lot and got to spend quality time with my friends.

Now back to work...

Thoughts on Swimming

It's odd to think that while swimming used to be my favorite discipline of triathlon, it's now my worst sport. (Running certainly gives swimming a run for the money, though!)

I was pretty fast when I swam with Monica in IronChicks. I was even faster when I swam with Meredith at Courtyard. But then I got burned out and basically quit swimming all together. After a long break, I started again at the 24 Hour Fitness pool. Kerry was certainly a good motivator. But then my free membership ran out, and it has been everything I can do to make it into water twice a week.

This morning I decided to try swimming at Stacy Pool. Got there right at 6am, only to find that a pump had malfunctioned, and thus the pool was closed. Only because I really needed to take a shower before work did I convince myself to try again at Barton Springs. Two laps, I thought. I can muster 2 laps.

Well, 2 laps became 4, and then 5. I know, it's not impressive to most of you triathletes out there. But for me, I was amazed that I had the motivation to keep going. My time was super slow (I think about 36 minutes for 1 mile) but I can tell where I have room for improvement. Thanks to some coaching from Dionn, I realized that I have been swimming all wrong. So, with some minor adjustments, I already felt more efficient and stronger. Did you know you are supposed to rotate when you swim?! And, uh, use your triceps to push water away from you? Who knew!? :) I also felt my abs working for the first time EVER during a swim.

I'm actually excited to get back into the water and try this all again. Anyone want to join me?

Cutting Wit, from Woot Shirt

I would never actually wear this shirt, but I still find it (and the accompanying write up) hilarious.

MAN 1: Someone do something! There’s gushing, spurting red gore everywhere, oh god, it’s horrible.
MAN 2: Whoa, looks like he really “lost his head.” Heh, heh.
MAN 1: What’s the matter with you, you sicko? Don’t you see what’s happened here?
MAN 2: Sorry, I know. Tragic. Didn’t mean to make light. Say, what’s that in the road… ahead? Heh, heh.
MAN 1: You’re sick! Sick! How can you be so flippant? It’s… oh, horrors, it’s spraying all over, it’s on my glasses.
MAN 2: Yeah, you’ll be “seeing red” now. Heh, heh.
MAN 1: WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU? Are you a complete sociopath? I can’t believe—oh, thank goodness, the ambulance has arrived.
EMT: Whoa, that’s one way to try “topless dancing.” Heh, heh.
MAN 1: Agggh! You freaks! You horrible freaks!
MAN 2: Aw, where’s your sense of humor? Try to be more like that guy—look, he’s laughing his head off. Heh, heh.
MAN 1: Aiiiie! Oh, mister ambulance guy, I beg you, please, put something over the body or something. I can’t bear to see this.
EMT: Yeah, sure, no problem, I got a sheet right here.
DECAPITATION VICTIM: A sheet? Great, can you cover me, doc? I’m a little short!
DECAPITATION VICTIM, EMT, MAN 2: Heh, heh.

Speaking of Edward Monkton...

Oh, how this describes my friendship with Kerry, and others too. But lately, it is all about Kerry. :) Hola Hola! La ta da ti da... Oh, what ever would I do without her?!

New iGoogle Themes

For the past few weeks, I've been playing around with the different Artist Themes on iGoogle. Recently I've found one that I absolutely love - it's by Edward Monkton, and you can get it here.

The Pig of Happiness? The Madness Hamsters? The Sheep of Destiny? I think they are so adorable! Right now my desktop is adorned with Zen Dog, and he is really making me smile. It's the little things, you know?! :)

ARGH!

Damn it. I just signed up for Longhorn.

For those that don't know, Longhorn is the Half Ironman on October 5th. Half Ironman.

Bugger.

Sunday

I hit my weekly mileage goals, no problem! Biking 55 miles on Friday certainly helped. :)

The damage: 30 run / 111 bike / 2 swims (both in Barton Springs.)

I had one of the most memorable rides ever with Kris yesterday. Our goal was to set off from my house, meet up with the Wurst Ride start, then follow the route down to the Ski Ranch in time to see Dionn pick up whatever award she was going to win. Due to my excellent map reading skills, we got lost three times. We were rewarded with a very strong headwind. And, by the way, that ride is much hillier than I remember from November. We never did make it to the ski ranch, but we did get in 56 miles, meet some really nice people and get to catch up while sitting on a guardrail on FM 2001 waiting for D to pick us up. Kris is a machine - for as much as she "doesn't train," she certainly kicks my butt every ride we do together. I'm glad we didn't brave Armadillo - there is no way my legs would have held up.

Today I went for an easy 6 mile run, followed by a swim in Barton Springs. I loved today. The weather was perfect, the run seemed short, and the water was perfect. Glenda joined me for my swim, which was a nice treat.

Now I'm debating whether or not to race Skeese Greets next weekend. After looking at the Rookie results, I feel pretty sure that I could have kicked butt in my age group. Hmmmm....

UT Cycling Studies, Take Four!

Back in the kinesiology labs for yet another UT cycling study. Kerry & I have been hankering for another study - these things are awesome workouts. Getting paid is really just a bonus.

Anyway, the drill is as follows:

• Fast for 12 hours before the study.
• 7:15am - arrive at UT, get weighed, get heart rate, get strapped in, hop on the bike
• 3+ hours: long warmup, followed by 6 x 8 minute intervals, then 6 x 3 minute intervals, then ride at 80% capacity to fatigue. (at least I think that's how they break up the first 3 hours. I just know the real study doesn't start until 3 hours in.)
• Sound like Darth Vader throughout the ride as they check your VO2 for 4 minute intervals.
• Pass out into big orange chair and eat, eat, eat!

I really like the new setup in the lab - I was able to watch a movie, listen to music, and watch all of my stats on a flat screen monitor in front of me. The best part is that there are now 2 bikes side-by-side, and I got to spend the majority of the study next to Kerry!

This morning was a relatively uneventful trial, but I'm pleased to say that I burned 1200 calories and knocked out 55 miles. I wish I'd gone longer during the fatigue phase, but having no food AND hearing Kerry (who was done with her ride) snack happily on her PB&J(s) behind me was not particularly motivating. :) Maybe next week!

Embracing the Run

I ran 10 miles this morning. I know, big deal, big deal.

Actually, it kind of is a big deal for me. It's been over 2 years since my last marathon, which means I don't run a lot of weekly mileage. Panther has been on my case for a while now to increase my numbers, but I've only recently embraced it.

Last year, starting in March, my weekly run mileage was 12/13/17/21/18/11/20/16/12/20. This year those numbers are 14/13/15/15/24/19/30/30/30/12 and this week is 24 with more to go. That means 162 last year versus 225 this year. Nice.

Last year, when given a choice, I would go to the gym. Last year I was at 25 visits; this year I'm at 9, which includes my past 3 week hiatus. I'm coming to accept that triathlons don't include chest presses or deadlifts. :)

Last year, the idea of running 10 miles on a Wednesday morning, alone none the less, was a joke. This year, I'll suck it up and go run.

Anyway, this morning was a hard run. Last night's quality workout was very hard, especially on sore legs from the trail run. We did 1200m repeats in Zilker Park at 5K pace, then D & I cooled down with a half a mile swim in Barton Springs. My running partner bailed. My Ipod had no juice. I figured I'd leave from the house and just aim for 6 miles. But I hit the rock and decided to continue on the 7 mile loop instead of turning around. Then I got to the Barton Springs turnoff and decided to run to the pool to perhaps retrieve the swimsuit I left there last night. (Success - whew!!) My run turned into a shuffle after 8 miles, with long bouts of something that looked remarkably like walking. But I did it.

Last year, there would have been no way I would finished 10 miles. This year, I am embracing the run, damnit!

A much better runner than me says, "You have to want it!!" when it comes to running faster. Last night during the repeats, I kept thinking "I want it! I want it! And (as it really hurt)... I don't want it anymore."

Scratch that - I do want it!

In case you were wondering...

From today's PostSecret.

My First Trail Race

Some of my closest friends run trails every week and are constantly going on and on about how wonderful trail running is. Frankly, I used to see trail running as an opportunity to twist my ankle, fall flat on my face and/or run into trees. (We've all seen the magic I make while riding my bike - I don't need another venue to hurt myself.)

So, what did I do when the idea of running the Maze 10K race was presented? I signed up of course! Thus, today I ran my first trail race (and I should add, this was only the third attempt at trail running, and my second attempt ended with my walking back to the car after twisting my ankle.)

This was meant to be an easy 6.2 mile run, which would round out my super easy (12 run/40 bike/0 swim) week. So, I wasn't nervous. I just wanted to have fun and see what all the trail running fuss is about. I am SO GLAD I did this - this was the most fun race I've done in a very long time! Perhaps volunteering on Friday produced good race karma.

The run went like this: I started super easy with Dionn, then got stuck behind a pack for a while, then gained confidence and realized I could easily run faster, and then I started passing people. Then, I started conciously picking people off. The fun really started when I started picking off guys who looked like they actually knew what they were doing. I was surprised at how easy it was to catch my breath after climbs and pick it up on the straight-a-ways. I was also surprised at how much FUN I was having. During a race! Fun! What a concept! :)

See those people behind me? Yeah, I overtook them. See the guy in the green shirt? Dusted him! See me? I think I might actually be a runner? Me! A runner? Woah! (I certainly relate to Amy in my "I'm a runner!?!" surprise!)

So, thanks to M & K, for getting me out there today. It was a blast. It was also great to hang out in the park until mid-afternoon, especially since I deserved to kick back this time. Perhaps I'll spend my birthday weekend at "The Loop." Who would have guessed...

By the way, I love this picture of my pointing and screaming at Kerry. It is reverse of how she acted to me at the Women's Adventure Race! ;) And thanks to Glenda & Shorey for the pics!