Working it out...

File it under "never say never"...

2012-02-04T13:43:00.010-05:00

I was doing a little blog housekeeping and came across this little jewel from August 2010.

It was a list of bucket races. You know, races you would love to do someday if money, logistics or super quick sell outs weren't an issue. I created two lists, one local (and realistic) and one that is made up of dream races.

I couldn't help but smile when I re-read what I wrote back then about the number one race on my local bucket list. I am 100% certain I meant it at the time but my how things change...

1. 70.3 Augusta. I would be completely satisfied with a 70.3. An ironman? Not going to happen for me. Really.

Hope you all are having a great weekend!

TOUGH CHIK Question of the Week

2012-02-03T06:00:00.004-05:00

What was your best (or worst) ever race?

I have a lot of great race memories that stand out for different reasons. I don’t know if I could pick a best (or even a worst race) out of all of them. For me, a sign of a good race was whether or not I hyperventilated as I approached the finish line because I was choking back tears of joy. Seriously. I seem to do it in all the milestone races. My first marathon. The Goofy Challenge. Augusta 70.3. Finishing the bike leg going into T2 at my first triathlon.

My first triathlon ranks up there as one of my best race memories because it was something that was a stretch for me at that point. I had been swimming with a masters group for several years and always admired the triathlon contingent on the team. I thought they were a little nuts because they would dry off and then head out for a run after the morning practice. There were even people in the group that would run to the pool from home, do the swim workout and then run home. Things that now seem perfectly normal or a good use of time seemed entirely too hard core for me to process back then. These ladies looked like triathletes too. The kind of people you might see in an advertisement. All that added up to things that I believed to be way out of reach for me. At the time, I wasn’t running at all. I was swimming for exercise and that was it. After running entered my world in 2008, I began to think that maybe a triathlon was possible.

Fast forward to June 2008. I was a little nervous but not too out of control. There were two waves to the swim, those who were comfortable swimming and those who were not. I went with the first group. My first open water swim and my first experience with a mass start all rolled into one. All I remember from that swim was in the very beginning some guy pushed me down and swam right over the top of me. A little unnerving. In no time, the swim was over and I was making my way to the bike.

I don’t remember much of anything about the bike leg other than the finish. I do know I had hardly ridden the bike at all before the race and by ‘hardly’ I mean maybe 5 miles TOTAL. I knew how to change the gears for the most part but that was it. To say I was nervous about this ride would not even begin to describe it. I remember hyperventiliating BIG TIME coming into the bike finish. I was so excited that I had done it. I didn’t even care what happened on the run at that point. To finish the bike leg was the big win of the day.

At the finish of the run I remember seeing CR at the top of the last hill shouting at me to run faster. (He apparently had not gotten the memo that I was simply trying to finish and did not have any designs on winning this thing). A short distance later, I was crossing the line of my first triathlon. I ended up coming in 2nd in my age group which was why CR was trying to get me to run faster I suppose. At the time, I had no idea where I stood nor did I really care all that much. I truly just wanted to finish.

Even with that feeling of accomplishment, I didn’t really feel bitten by the tri bug back then because the bike intimidated me (perhaps if I had ridden it once in a while that wouldn't have been an issue...). I did one more tri a few weeks later in 2008 and then took a break of several years before diving head first into the sport in 2011. Once I got over the nervousness on the bike, it was game on!

I am still nowhere near the league of those ladies from my masters group who are nothing short of bad a@@ but I have had my own form of success I suppose. I caught up with one of them in a half marathon a few months ago and she congratulated me on the ironman. I thanked her and told her it was still surreal for me and I was surprised I finished it. She said, “I’m not surprised at all”. I can’t even tell you how much that meant to me.

Your turn... What was your best (or worst) race experience?

What went down in January….

2012-02-01T15:26:00.005-05:00

Just in case you were wondering, here is how my January shaped up:

Running Miles: 96. I had no idea I was that close to 100 or I would have found a way to run another 4 miles before the end of the month.

Cycling Miles: 84.

Swimming Yardage: 17,826. (it is an odd number because I swim in a 25m pool and the program I use to log my workouts coverts the meters to yards)

Races: Museum of Aviation Marathon, Callaway Gardens Marathon

What I did to bust out of my comfort zone: Did a New Year’s Day meetup with some runners I had never met before.

What I am watching: Revenge, Alcatraz, Top Chef Texas

What I am reading: Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World that Can’t Stop Talking.

Current excitement: Looking forward to the Shamrock Marathon in VA Beach

What I am loving this month: Team Tough Chik and that Tilapia recipe I told you about (no joke, I have had it for lunch every day this week)

My favorite product this month: CEP Compression Sleeves. I know I am late to the party on this one. Truly amazing. My legs were throbbing post-marathon and I slid these on. Instant pain relief. I given thought to wearing them during the race but the whole “nothing new on race day” thing scared me off. I will have to try them on a training run.

What is going on in February:

- Making an attempt at a 10k PR (or at least have a decent qualifying run for the Peachtree Road Race).

- Sherry Arnold Virtual Run 02/11/12. If you have not heard of this run, please visit SUAR’s blog for more information on this run in honor of her cousin.

We have a winner & a Callaway Gardens re-cap...

2012-01-31T10:44:00.015-05:00

First things first... My random winner for the Publix Gift Card was Gina Maddox! CONGRATULATIONS! Look for an email from me shortly :)

*****
Sunday morning as I was making the 90 mile drive to my marathon, I had to fight hard to resist the urge to turn around and go home. If I had toothpicks handy I would have used them to prop my eyes open. I rested up on Saturday but was still dragging. This race had always been optional in my head, after all I only signed up two weeks ago. At that time, I had a small handful of friends who had committed to the race as well. Since then the handful of friends dwindled to no friends due to injuries and changes in life plans. Suddenly the appeal of the race was lost on me. As every exit approached, I tried to decide if I should just turn around, go home and crawl back into bed.

The thing about announcing all your race intentions to the world via twitter, blog, facebook and 80 other social media outlets is that a DNS, DNF or anything else is magnified ten-fold. The flip side of that is that there is the instant desire to follow through because you have announced your intentions to the world. What would everyone think if I turned around and went home not because I was injured or had some legitimate excuse but just because I didn’t want to race this particular day?

At mile 87, THREE miles before the race start, I turned my car around in the tiny town of Pine Mountain and headed back home. Instead of feeling a sense that I was doing the right thing, I felt like I was cheating myself. Would CR, my biggest cheerleader, be disappointed in me for giving up? Would I be disappointed in myself? I drove a little further down the road and reasoned that maybe I was just tired. I was arriving at the race at least 90 minutes before the start. Maybe I just needed a nap. I turned around at the next intersection and headed back towards the race and a quick nap in the parking lot.

The race itself was uneventful until around mile 20ish when I started feeling the first pains and realized that this might be a tough finish. My legs were aching and I had long since given up any hope of a particular finish time. The math calculations for this race were more along the lines of “if I start walking now, I can still be done under 5 hours” as opposed to the calculations two weeks ago that were adding up to a PR.

Six more miles to go. I was breaking down the various checkpoints in my head. Make it to the water stop at 22, take a GU and run it home. I roll up to the water stop and there is no water. I start to choke back the tears. I am not even sure where those tears came from. My legs were hurting but… I guess not having the water just put me over the edge for a minute. I ate my GU and walked for a couple of minutes to get it together.

If you have ever done a small marathon, it can be a mental battle. Once the half marathoners split off, runners are few and far between. You may see runners here and there but there are mostly long stretches where you are on your own. The race become more like a long solo training run. The sight of another person can be like an instant ray of sunshine to help pick you up. At this point, almost every runner is giving the friendly wave and "good job" as they pass.

Around mile 24 I hear footsteps behind me. I had not seen anyone in two miles so was glad to hear someone coming as a reassurance that I had not missed a turn. A girl passes me. As is habit, I immediately tried to assess whether or not she might be in my age group. I decided she was much younger than me. (...as if it mattered).

It turned out she was doing run/walk intervals so shortly after passing me she stopped to walk. I passed her back and we kept that back and forth going until the finish. She crossed the finish about 200 yards ahead of me.

After it was over as I was in a daze of throbbing legs and dehydration, I could hear her husband congratulate her on a great time for a tough course. She looked back at me and thanked me for pacing her. I was shocked. What? I paced you? She looked so fresh when she first passed me and I was feeling so dead, I did not think was possible. She said every time I passed her she just told herself to stay with me. LOVE THAT. I unknowingly helped someone else to the finish. It made all the pain worthwhile :)

Don'ts for Women Riders...

2012-01-28T12:51:00.004-05:00

Came across the blog Lists of Note earlier today. Love this list of riding tips for ladies from 1895.

A few tips are laugh out loud funny, while others still somewhat ring true today. Here are a few of my faves. PLEASE visit their blog to check out the rest for a good laugh (or if you need to brush up on your 'rules of the road').

Don't be a fright.

Don't ask, "What do you think of my bloomers?"

Don't scream if you meet a cow. If she sees you first, she will run.

Don't wear white kid gloves. Silk is the thing.

Don't try to have every article of your attire "match."

Don't cultivate a "bicycle face."

Don't attempt a "century."

Don't scratch a match on the seat of your bloomers.

Don't appear in public until you have learned to ride well.

Enjoy ... Hope you are having a great weekend!

*** Don't forget to enter to win a $25 Publix Gift Card. You have until Monday! ***

Best Meals Happen at Home Publix Giveaway!

2012-01-26T06:00:00.002-05:00

I have been trying to live the frugal lifestyle lately (for the most part...). I gave up my blond hair for something a little closer to my "roots" that did not require as much maintenance. I opted to get up at 3 AM to drive to a marathon two hours away in order to save money on a hotel. I have brought my breakfast, lunch and snacks to work every day this year except one (I forgot my breakfast one morning). I know, we aren't that far into 2012 just yet but trust me, it is a huge accomplishment that my car wheels have only been in a drive through one time in the past 3+ weeks.

I have also subscribed to a menu planning service that has helped me cut my grocery bill, keeps me from visiting the grocery store more than once a week and, as a bonus, not only keeps us from eating the same things days after day but also helps us to watch what we are eating. (I'll tell you more about that in another post).

We certainly aren't perfect eaters BUT by preparing things at home versus grabbing something on the fly, we can get a better handle on what we eat. We are even branching out past meat and potatoes into meats and vegetables that CR never would have touched in the past. (We have a rule, unless he asks what he is eating, don't tell him and it is all good...).

If you are lucky enough to have a Publix in your area, not only do they have fantastic buy one, get one free deals all the time but right now they have a Better Meals Happen at Home Campaign. You can visit them online or on facebook to find recipes you can make at home in 30 minutes or less as well as register for savings throughout the year!

AND...

They have given me a $25 Publix gift certificate to give away to one of you! All you need to do is leave me a comment telling me your favorite go to weekday meal in a hurry. I will pick a winner at random on 01/30/12. Good Luck!

Disclosure: The Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark.

Adrift...

2012-01-24T18:59:00.014-05:00

I think I am having a mid-January crisis. I feel like a plastic bag in the middle of the ocean. I am kind of in between training plans right now just trying to keep up a certain level of fitness in swim/bike/run.

WHOA HOLD THE PHONE. I realized as I typed that out how ridiculous it sounded since I have a marathon on Sunday and all. When did training for a marathon become "keeping up a certain level of fitness"? Clearly I have lost my mind. Perhaps I am not so much adrift as just plain crazy.

Seriously though, these past couple of weeks I kind of feel like I am just going through the motions. I am surrounded by people smack dab in the middle of half iron (or even iron) training plans and here I sit feeling like I am doing nothing in comparison. Remind me of this feeling six months from now when I am whining about being too busy. I think I just need to get back on a solid training schedule. Somebody throw me a rope and pull me back into reality!

In other news ...

You MUST try this recipe! (insert picture of said recipe). Sorry, I failed at photographing it because I really didn't think it would be THAT good just looking at the ingredients. I got the recipe from this recipe service I have been using and will tell you about some other time.

CR doesn't like cooked tomatoes or onions AT ALL and said it tasted like something you would get in a restaurant. At the time, I assumed he meant something other than Captain D's but you can judge for yourself. Seriously good. That is all.

Roasted Tilapia, Tomatoes and Onions (serves 2 -3)

4 roma tomatoes, halved and sliced
1 onion, quartered and sliced
2 t orange zest
1 bag of frozen tilapia (thawed, about 4 small pieces)
2 t olive oil
salt to taste (maybe 1/2 t)
1 t thyme

Preheat oven to 400. Combine tomatoes, onions, orange zest, oil, thyme and salt in baking dish. Roast stirring occasionally until the onions are golden ~ 30 minutes. Remove from oven and increase temp to 450. Push the vegetables aside and add fish (season w/ salt and pepper). Spoon the vegetables over the fish and bake 10-12 minutes or until fish is done.

I served mine with brown rice and steamed broccoli. Enjoy!

11 Bits of Randomness...

2012-01-23T10:12:00.009-05:00

I was tagged by Summer for this post. I have never met her in person but have seen her cross the finish line at Augusta. It was completely random. I probably stood at the finish line for all of 5 minutes that day looking for some of my friends. In that 5 minutes out of the thousands of racers, here comes Summer! I tried to find her after she crossed but it was way too crowded. Next time Summer!

The rules of this post: (disclaimer I did not make them so don’t yell at me for them being difficult)

1.Post these rules.
2.You must post 11 random things about yourself.
3.Answer the questions set for you in their post.
4.Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer.
5.Go to their blog (FB page or other Social site) and tell them you’ve tagged them.
6.No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag people!

So here goes...

11 random things about me

1. I sort M&Ms (or skittles or jellybeans) by color before eating them. I would also tell you that there have to be even numbers of each as I eat them but then you would just think I am weird.

2. I was into soccer, cheerleading, and swim team in my early years. I wouldn’t really say I was athletic though. I was a cheerleader back in the day when all you had to do was yell, clap and occasionally jump. I definitely have AOA (adult onset athleticism). I have no idea where the recent surge of athleticism has come from.

3. I put myself through college. It took me over 11 years to get my undergrad and Masters degree.

4. I have never changed a diaper. Really.

5. I don't like to feel like I am the center of attention. In tennis, I hate to be on the court closest to the spectators. Put me in the corner!

6. I don't really like chocolate. Of course, that doesn’t stop me from eating it but it would not be my first choice for sweets.

7. I love to learn things - cooking classes, tennis lessons, crafts, skeet shooting, whatever… I get bored easily so love a challenge. I still haven’t hit on that thing that I am just great at… I excel at being that person somewhere in the middle. Maybe there is something to that birth order thing… I am the middle of 3 girls.

8. I have had 7 motorcycles since 1997 when I started riding. A Kawasaki 100 dirt bike, Honda ACE 750 Shadow, Honda ACE 1100 Tourer, Valkyrie Tourer, Honda VTX 1800, Boss Hoss 502 trike, Yamaha 1600 Midnight Star. Currently the only two wheeled vehicle I have is my bicycle.

9. I have a freakish memory for random things. I still remember the birthdays of kids I went to elementary school with and have not seen or talked to them since then.

10. We are reaching way back for this one... I traded my Bay City Rollers single (Saturday Night) to Dodd Morris in 3rd grade for a gi-normous Mexican sombrero. He told me I got the short end of that deal. What could possibly be better than a gi-normous sombrero?

11. My favorite trip of all time was a 10 day motorcycle trip Rick and I took to Missouri. We rode backroads most of the way and stopped in all sorts of small towns. We went to Graceland, Laura Ingalls home and so many cool small stops along the way. It was a blast!

My answers to Summer's questions:

1.Favorite time of the day? For working out, hands down morning. In general I would say around 10 AM. I finally am waking up and ready to be social at that point :)

2.What is your favorite meal to make? (If its good I need instructions – I told you I am trying to do better) That is a tough one these days as I have been all about easy which isn’t necessarily an “awesome” meal. I made some lasagna for my birthday that was pretty yummy. Get a box of the bertolli no boil noodles and there is your recipe.

3.Glass 1/2 full or glass 1/2 empty? Definitely half full.

4.Last picture taken on your phone? I am counting the days until my contract runs out and I can get a new phone. Hardly take any pics with this phone at all. It looks like it was a pic of a birthday card. (don’t ask.)

5.If money was no issue how many races would you try to do in a year? There are so many I would love to do. Obviously money would help but training for them is really more of an issue. I don’t know maybe 1 really great race a month.

6.Car, Truck, Van, or SUV? I have a car and love it. An SUV would be awesome for toting things around though.

7.Do you take part in any water sports? We used to do a lot of things on our wave runners. We had some friends who were into doing trips on them and trying to make a business of it so we went on a couple of those trips. We started in Moncks Corner SC and traveled down the Cooper river (I think that was the name), past Charleston and back. So fun!

8.If you’re walking down the street and find a $100.00 bill what do you do with it? Pick it up, ask around if anyone lost it and hope no one claims it!

9.Favorite non sports related thing to do? I LOVE to bake.

10.Have Pets? Nope.

11.Last movie you went to a theater to see? Wow. Can’t even remember. It wasn’t all that long ago just can’t remember what it would have been. We usually don’t go out to the movies unless it is something that we are just dying to see and don’t want to wait for it to come on video.

I am tagging....

Carolina John @ Training Smoker

Julie @ You just have to Tri

Lindsay @ Chasing the Kenyans

Mike @ Mike’s Triathlon Journey

Meggan @ How To Eat and Elephant

Barbara @ My Running Shortz

Kenley @ Essence of Running

Jill @ Run with Jill

Jess @ Run with Jess

My questions to those of you who were tagged:

1.What was your favorite vacation of all time?

2.Snacks: Sweet or Salty?

3.What were you doing around this time ten years ago?

4.Hit play on your Ipod (iphone, cassette, 8-track, whatever). What is the first song to come up?

5.What was your favorite memory of 2011?

6.Google “(Your first name) needs”. What comes up? (Mine is ‘Karen needs facebook’ followed by ‘Karen needs a lobotomy fund’. LOL)

7.What is your favorite running or triathlon related product?

8.If you could only do one race, which one would it be?

9.Do you prefer to train alone or in groups?

10.What is the one race you wouldn’t mind doing over and over again?

11.What accomplishment makes you the most proud?

Museum of Aviation Marathon Recap...

2012-01-19T06:02:00.003-05:00

Going into the marathon this weekend, I honestly felt unprepared. I am not the overly dramatic type who always questions her preparedness so this was for real. No crying wolf. No blowing smoke. I was a little worried. My long runs were lackluster. Pair that with inconsistent mid-week runs and you can see where I might be concerned. However, I had been swimming and biking as per usual so it wasn’t like I was giving up mid-week runs and doing nothing else.

With that build up to the race, I give you what will quite possibly be the shortest race report I have ever posted on this blog:

Saturday, 3:15 AM. Get up, get dressed.

4:00 AM. Get in the car for a 2 hour drive to the race. (bonus points for being frugal and not staying at a hotel).

6:00 AM. Arrive at race after pit stop at a gas station for some much needed caffeine and what I thought might be my last chance to use a real restroom as opposed to a port-o-potty.

6:30 AM. Registration opens. Pick up bib, enjoy warmth of the museum / airplane hangar as it was 25 degrees outside.

7:30 AM. I ask a nearby runner if there is a bag drop. To which they laugh and reply “just leave your bag in your chair, it will be fine”. Did I mention this race was small?

7:55 AM. Head outside for race start. My face is freezing off. It is still 25 degrees.

8:00 AM. Race start. After only waiting 5 minutes in the cold we are off. No corrals, just get in line and go. I love small races. Face still freezing off. Scan ground for discarded ski mask I could put on. Around mile 7, I finally let go of the gloves and started to warm up. Thankfully, it was sunny out.

10:10 AM. Glance at my Garmin and realize I am on track to PR by a few minutes if I can keep up my current pace. The math games in my head began. (If a runner headed north at approximately 6 mph stops 5 seconds for a cup of water and slows to take in more than one GU gel with a wind blowing at 10-15 mph, at what time will she arrive at the finish line?) I knew it was going to be close.

12:09 PM. Finish line. PR by a little over 2 minutes and 3rd place AG. Crazy. Did I mention my marathon PR was from 2009? I haven’t come within 30 minutes of it since then.

1:00 PM. Fold myself up into the car and head home still in a state of shock over the new PR. Stopping as needed to update facebook status.

The end.

KDUB's 70.3 Birthday Challenge The Results...

2012-01-17T16:46:00.018-05:00

The inaugural KDUB 70.3 Birthday Challenge was my way to get everyone (me) back into the groove of swim/bike/run training after the holidays (and maybe a way to burn off some birthday cake).

Swim 1.2 miles! Bike 56 miles! Run 13.1 miles! Brag for the rest of the month!

Twenty athletes answered the call and BROUGHT IT between January 1st and January 11th for a chance at fame, fortune and yet-to-be-purchased prizes. They came from all walks of life and experience levels to burn out their quads in pursuit of the goal. Some said it was too easy (“ain’t nothing but a thang, I eat iron for breakfast, I got this. BIG TIME.”), others weren’t sure there were enough hours in the day (“you know I have 8 kids, three jobs and I haven’t swam since 3rd grade, right?”), but everyone gave it their best. The horn sounded at 12:01 on the 1st, and the race was on!

Beth was 1st out of the water followed by KDub and KC close behind. They passed through the time portal of the non-existent transition and were off on the bikes! KC made her way to the front in a bid for total domination followed by Laura in 2nd and Christine flying in for 3rd place. Bikes were racked in no time and they were off on the run. After battling through the cold, wind and freak rain storm on the race course, KC held on to her lead and did a double back handspring through the finishing tape. Laura didn't have time for fancy tricks as she was simply sprinting to the end in an effort to catch KC. Jason gained some ground on the run by carrying his own fuel and took home 3rd and oddly enough changed hats three times during the finish line interview.

I would like to thank everyone for their participation in this race, I was overwhelmed by the support and hope it got you off to a great start for 2012! A list of all participants and their finish times are at the bottom of the post.

As for the prizes…. I ended up with a random assortment of cool treats for my two winners that I drew at random out of all participants.

Drumroll please …… Our two prize winners are:

Tilt your head to the side...

Congratulations, Christine and Beth! Send me your mailing address and I will get your treats shipped to you!

Overall Results:

KC
Swim 0:37:00 Bike 2:33:00 Run 1:42:00 TOTAL 4:52:00

Laura
Swim 0:49:00 Bike 2:34:00 Run 1:54:00 TOTAL 5:17:00

Jason
Swim 0:45:00 Bike 3:06:00 Run 1:54:00 TOTAL 5:45:00

KDUB
Swim 0:36:00 Bike 3:05:00 Run 2:05:00 TOTAL 5:46:00

Christine
Swim 0:54:00 Bike 2:36:00 Run 2:18:00 TOTAL 5:48:00

Tonia
Swim 0:42:00 Bike 3:07:00 Run 2:01:00 TOTAL 5:50:00

Michelle
Swim 0:44:00 Bike 3:24:00 Run 1:57:00 TOTAL 6:05:00

Jess
Swim 1:35:00 Bike 2:12:00 Run 2:19:00 TOTAL 6:06:00

Beth
Swim 0:34:00 Bike 3:40:00 Run 2:06:00 TOTAL 6:20:00

Jamie
Swim 0:44:00 Bike 3:32:00 Run 2:08:00 TOTAL 6:24:00

Judith
Swim 1:20:00 Bike 3:40:00 Run 2:21:00 TOTAL 7:21:00

Deihdra
Swim 0:58:00 Bike 3:50:00 Run 2:46:00 TOTAL 7:34:00

Mike
Swim 0:42:00 Bike 4:48:00 Run 2:10:00 TOTAL 7:40:00

Super Kate
Swim 0:57:00 Bike 4:34:00 Run 3:21:00 TOTAL 8:52:00

Kim M
Swim 0:00:00 Bike 0:00:00 Run 0:00:00 TOTAL 0:00:00

Carolina John
Swim 0:00:00 Bike 0:00:00 Run 0:00:00 TOTAL 0:00:00

Kim R
Bike 3:10:00 Run 2:09:00 TOTAL 5:19:00 Duathlon

Theresa
Swim 1:10:00 Bike 3:40:00 Run 0:57:00 TOTAL 5:47:00 (other)

Jan
Swim 0:54:00 Bike 3:12:00 Run 2:07:00 TOTAL 6:13:00 (other)

Debbie
Swim 1:06:00 Bike 4:09:00 Run 2:14:00 TOTAL 7:29:00 (other)

I had to rely on my math skills for some of the times if you provided more than 70.3 miles worth of information. (in case you were wondering…) Not to worry as math is my specialty :)

I didn’t have times for a couple of people although they did send in sheets with their mileage which is why they show 0 for times. If you have any questions about their speediness, let me tell you they are fast! Speaking of F.A.S.T., John just broke through the 4 hour marathon wall this past weekend! Not to worry, all were included in the prize drawing, times or no times.

Five Things Friday...

2012-01-13T11:21:00.011-05:00

I started to call it 'Three Things Friday' since I wasn't sure I had five things but that made the title seem less catchy, don't you agree?

1. Speaking of fives, BIG HIGH FIVEs to everyone who participated in KDUB's 70.3 Birthday Challenge. I will get together a post with winners either Monday or Tuesday (if not sooner). Thank you all for playing my little reindeer game :)

2. There is a new addition to the family. As of noon yesterday, I have a sweet new nephew. I was campaigning for us to share a birthday but it didn't work out that way. Once again, my psychic ability is just slightly off.

3. I applied to be on a tri team this season and got the "thanks but we had a lot of talented applicants" rejection e-mail a few days ago. It was such an awesome opportunity I had to go for it. Even though I knew it was quite the long shot it still was pretty disappointing not to be selected. On the bright side, it freed me up for a couple of cool volunteer opportunities so am looking forward to the new things on the calendar.

4. I joined Team Tough Chik a week or so ago. Within a few hours of joining I knew it was going to be a great fit. Such a supportive group of women!

5. I am headed a couple hours south very, very early in the morning to run the Museum of Aviation marathon. This will be marathon number 7 (if you count B2B). I wouldn't have guessed there had been that many but I just confirmed it on athlinks. WOW. I had a modified training schedule that started post-B2B so I think the unusual training plan makes me question my preparedness. Fingers crossed that it is all mental! :) The race is on an air force base and supposedly there are flyovers throughout the race so that should make it interesting!

Happy Friday the 13th...

Boston Charity Runners Needed ASAP

2012-01-11T16:23:00.004-05:00

If you have any interest in running Boston this April and don't have that pesky qualifying time, CYCLE Kids is a great organization and is looking for runners to be part of the team.

They are in the process of expanding to the Atlanta market which is how I found out about the opportunity (you DO NOT have to live in the area to be on the team). There is a fundraising commitment but it is well worth it to run Boston, especially if you haven't qualified.

If you think you might be interested, you will need to act fast as they are in the final days of registration and need to submit names by Friday. I will not be running but am simply putting the word out there. If you are interested, please email me at kwhitlock (at) bellsouth (dot) net for more information and I can put you in touch with the team.

Let's be friends...

2012-01-09T07:00:00.000-05:00

Sometime in early 2011 Buckeye Outdoors, the website I had been using to log my workouts, crashed. When I say crashed, it crashed big. All of my workouts were gone forever. The website was down for a while, they offered some hope that the workouts might be recovered but it never happened. Kind of a downer because I like to look back and see what I have done and how I have improved. I picked up the shattered pieces of my training log and moved on to what turned out to be a better place. A place with friends, interaction and doughnut tracking. Really.

After the great Buckeye Outdoors crash of 2011, I turned to a couple of places to log my entries. (I am creating redundancy in fear of another website crash.) I currently use Beginner Triathlete and Daily Mile. I like to see my workouts in a calendar format so one point for Beginner Triathlete there. They also have some pretty great forums full of helpful people.

Daily Mile, on the other hand, is like facebook for athlete types. The comments and virtual high fives on your workouts, never gets old. I also like the stats on DM.

After I started logging in March of last year, I managed to log 3173 miles of swimming, biking and running which, according to DM, equals 231.65 televisions powered, 1271 doughnuts or 67 pounds burned. Crazy.

If you aren’t on Daily Mile, look me up. We can be friends. I promise to support you with unlimited virtual high fives. :)

A Friday Quickie...

2012-01-06T09:05:00.003-05:00

I saw a link to an article on SUAR this AM and had to share. The 27 Rules of Conquering the Gym. Truly hilarious. Some of my favorites:

- You can take 10 Minute Abs, 20 Minute Abs, and 30 Minute Abs. There is also Stop Eating Pizza and Eating Sheet Cake Abs—but that's super tough! (this explains so much… hmm no Riverside Pizza tonight I guess)

- If you're motivated to buy an expensive home exercise machine, consider a "wooden coat rack." It costs $40, uses no electricity and does the exact same thing. (CR *just* asked me the other day to get my clothes off the weight machine so he could use it…)

- If you see an indoor rock climbing wall, you're either in a really cool gym or a romantic comedy starring Kate Hudson. (Ahhh, Lifetime Fitness. I must be in a really cool gym because I don’t see Kate Hudson anywhere.)

- There is no secret. Exercise and lay off the fries. The end. (Whoa. You mean there is actual work involved? That’s crazy talk.)

Oh and to the newbie who used my locker this AM, I really like #321. We have grown close over the 4 years I have been at the gym. It throws me off when you use it as I tend to be a bit OCD about these things. I'll let you off with a warning this time. :)

A tale of two shoes…

2012-01-05T06:00:00.001-05:00

About a month ago, I was able to get my hands on the new Saucony Guide 5s. If you are a Saucony fan, or even if you are not, you may have heard of the re-vamped design. They are lighter and changed from a 12mm heel-to-forefoot drop to an 8mm heel-to-forefoot drop which is supposed to discourage heelstriking. I wore the shoes for a couple of races (a 10k and a half marathon) and then a few training runs, with the last training run being an 18 miler. After some of the longer runs, I noticed unusual foot pain across the middle portion of my foot. Around mile 12 of that last long run, my feet were in a lot of pain and I also had pain in my hips. All very unusual. I ran my next long run of 20 miles this past weekend in my older Guide 4s and had no issues so I chalked it up to the shoe.

As luck would have it, CR had given me a gift certificate to a local running store, Runners Fit, for Christmas. There are benefits to the fact that he works right next door to a running store. I headed over there at lunch with my Guide 4s, Guide 5s and the certificate in hand. My thought was I would just start from scratch and let them fit me for some shoes. I brought my older pairs of shoes along so they could look at the wear patterns if that would help in the fitting process.

I ended up walking out of the store with not one but TWO pairs of new shoes. I decided to use my gift certificate to buy a pair of Brooks Adrenaline. (Apparently, they are the worlds #1 shoe for women, who knew?). Not only did I get the Brooks Adrenaline BUT they took back my old shoes and gave me a new pair of Sauconys in a different size! I had my other Sauconys for about 6 weeks, they had probably 60 miles or more on them and definite signs of wear on the soles. I had no intention of trying to return them but they insisted on either swapping them for the Brooks or trying another pair in a new size. I ended up going with a new pair in another size so I could rotate pairs when I train. So unexpected and greatly appreciated!

The story on the size is this… I am kind of in between a wide and a normal width shoe. Half the running shoes I have purchased were wide width, half have been normal width. All have worked fine. The theory on these particular shoes is that due to foot swelling when you run, I am probably good up to 10 miles in a normal width. As I continue to run past that 10 mile mark my foot continues to swell slightly causing the normal width to become uncomfortable. It seems logical so I am going to go with that theory and see what happens in my new wider shoes.

While I was there, I also got an impromptu lesson on form. Remember how I said the new 8mm shoe was supposed to discourage heel striking? Well, guess where all the wear was in my shoe? Yep, the heels were starting to grind right off. Hmm… So much for the shoe geometry helping my form.

The store owner told me that I was most likely leaning back too far when I run so I need to work on being a little more upright (being careful not to lean too far forward) with my hips under me. I have been trying to be more conscious of my form when I run just based on things I have read on proper form so it was nice to get some advice from someone who could kind of tell what was happening and offer specific tips to correct it.

Putting races on the calendar…

2012-01-02T06:00:00.002-05:00

Time to firm up those plans for the year I suppose... I had 2012 all planned out little over a month ago. Shortly thereafter, I started receiving notices about this race or that race. Some of them were running races, others were triathlons. My major issue seems to be that I am afraid I am missing out on something which makes it hard to draw that line. I suppose that is where a coach would come in handy. Someone to sort of drop the hammer on these thoughts.

You all gave me great tidbits of advice as I made an effort to reformulate my plan. Most of the advice was to focus on the ‘A’ goal and build the other races around it. In my mind I knew that was the way to go.

With that in mind, my 2012 is kind of split into two phases. January through March is all about road races. I will still be training in swim/bike/run mode and working the road races into that plan since it is early in the season. April through October will be all about triathlon leading up to my second iron distance. Which leaves November and December which will be all about resting. :)

I really only have three triathlon/running goals for this year and they are all time related:

1. Get a new PR in the 10k distance. Goodbye 52:07, hello 50:59 or better. The only reason I even care about this time relates to placement in a wave for the Peachtree Road Race. Last year I was in Corral C. This year (assuming the time standards don’t change), I want to be in corral B. Not that C is that much different than B but it is just a personal goal and I want to mingle with the faster kids in hopes that some of that speed might rub off on me.

2. Race a sub-6 hour at Augusta. Last year I was pleasantly surprised with a 6:07 for my first 70.3. Six hours seems very doable. (A new bike to replace my $300 ebay one would certainly help if anyone is in the mood to donate… *ahem*)

3. Improve my time at Beach 2 Battleship. Under the right conditions, I feel like I can pull something in the 12 hour range. The wind was so brutal last year it really killed my bike time. I should have more biking experience going into the race which would help me to ride faster wind or no wind.

Key races in 2012:

January 14 – Museum of Aviation Marathon
February 26 – Charles Harris 10k
March 18 – Shamrock Marathon
May 6 – REV3 Knoxville (Oly)
May 20 – Iron Girl Sprint Tri
June 25 – Cartersville Century
July 4 – Peachtree Road Race
July 8 – Chattanooga Olympic Tri
September 2 – Savannah Century
September 30 – Augusta 70.3
October 20 – Beach 2 Battleship 140.6

For those of you in the midwest or those interested in an awesome training weekend, EVOTRI is hosting a pretty cool training event on the IM Wisconsin course in June called WIBA (Wisconsin Brick Adventure). Basically, you get to swim, ride and run the course in advance of the race which would be fantastic if you have IM WI on your schedule. Even if you don't have IM WI on your schedule, it sounds like a great weekend!

Happy New Year...

2012-01-01T09:00:00.000-05:00

Here is to a happy and healthy 2012! If you are superstitious and believe in getting in your greens and black eyed peas, I highly recommend this soup recipe from the Neely's. It has an unexpected spicy flavor and is so good! I omitted the bacon, subbed out the fresh swiss chard for a drained can of collard greens (because I like to make things easy like that...) and used black eyed peas.

The picture isn't the best so trust me on this one. It is also a great way to use up any leftover ham from Christmas. Bonus!

Buh Bye 2011 you were a good one...

2011-12-31T09:45:00.020-05:00

Mine started big and ended even bigger. Not a goal in sight going into the year and what unfolded was more unbelievable than I could have imagined.

January started off with The Goofy Challenge. Immediately after the marathon, I folded myself into my car to drive 8 hours home to avoid an ice storm. Our only snow of the year.

Later in the month, I dipped my toes back in the triathlon waters, indoor style.

February was the half marathon at Run the Reagan. My sister and friend were there running a 10k in prep for the Disney princess later in the month. It would seem that I was practicing the "run a race and not stop to take a bunch of photos" policy that month.

(Insert cute picture of my sister and her friend sampling their first GU as that is my main memory from that race.)

In March, I completed my 5th marathon! (I had to look up what number it was on Athlinks. Does anyone use that site? I LOVE it. It gives you results for just about every race you have ever done. So handy.)

Later that day, my friend Wendy and I signed up for Augusta 70.3!

In April, we hit the road on our bikes. We clipped, unclipped and did slow motion fallovers like most new riders but we got it done.

I joined a masters group at Lifetime Fitness. I also started coaching swimming for my tri group. Not an actual photo of masters practice or my coaching... :)

In May, after cracking my head open exiting the swim on my first outdoor triathlon of the year, I managed to get 2nd place in my age group. Have I showed you the video? Check it out. It turned out my head was bleeding but didn't know that until the end when CR insisted the paramedics check me out. I also had a minor concussion but didn't know that until days later. I think I just wanted to keep racing to avoid people asking me if I was OK. Seriously. The sound you hear is my pumpkin sized head hitting the pavement.

June was a whole lot of training and apparently no pictures to show for it. I was knee deep in long rides, runs and early morning swims.

July brought the Peachtree Road Race and the Chattanooga Olympic Triathlon - my first oly! Oddly enough, now that I look back I was reading the book American Wife back then and am still trying to finish it up. I guess I just lost interest towards the end...

In August I experienced my first earthquake while in DC for work, rode the Augusta 70.3 course a couple of times, did the Acworth Women's Sprint Tri and signed up for the full iron at Beach 2 Battleship taking place 2 months later. In all honesty, that swim at Acworth was worse than the mass start of Beach 2 Battleship. True story.

Oh September! My first century and my first 70.3 distance. I did better than I had hoped and had a great experience racing with friends.

October was all about Beach 2 Battleship. Long weekend training sessions followed by tapering that arrived just when you thought you couldn't log one more mile. In the end, it was worth every minute. CR rung that cowbell for 13 hours straight!

I laid low in November. Sort of. An awesome 10k with friends followed by a new PR in the half marathon.

Which leads us to December... Jingle Jog!

Thanks for coming along for the ride! I hope everyone has a great New Year. Good luck to everyone racing this weekend or heading down to Disney for next weekend's races. Happy 2012!

Vlogging my way into the new year...

2011-12-30T07:00:00.001-05:00

Look out - I jumped on the VLOG band wagon! It turned out a bit long so bear with me ... if I do it again, I will work on brevity (and my videography skills) :) If you hang with the video to the end, the website I mention is amandabeard.net or swimlikeamom.com.

Hope you all have a GREAT new year!

Here they come, 2012 Fitness Trends...

2011-12-28T10:26:00.009-05:00

Well guys, 2012 is inching ever closer. Time for goals, year-in-reviews and predictions for the coming year. I came across an article today listing the Top Fitness Trends for 2012. (You can read the whole thing HERE). I was expecting a bunch of quick fix scenarios to be listed (along the lines of the easy tone shoes from a year or so ago). Surprisingly, these are all actually legitimate.

- Lower cost health clubs. We have a few varieties of them here. Not a whole lot of frills but you get the basic equipment for an extremely low monthly cost (usually $10 to $20). I had heard that Lifetime Fitness was branching out into this area to reach more people who might not want to pay for a higher end gym membership.

- Extreme Challenge DVDs. Think along the lines of P90x and Insanity. These DVDs are for people who are already in good shape looking for a more advanced workout.

- Streaming workouts. You don’t have to watch the same DVD over and over again until you have memorized every.single.word. Now you can stream workouts and keep it fresh!

- Unique training tools. I have heard of quite a few interesting ones lately. The article specifically mentions TRX but I know I have seen everything from trampolines to silks mentioned on various blogs. Whatever it takes to keep things interesting, right?

- Healthy ready made meals. While I love the idea of this, I am not sure my budget would stand for the prices. If you can afford it, what a great way to make sure you are eating right not to mention a huge timesaver as you don’t have to do anything other than heat it up. We have a couple of these services here in Atlanta. You basically pick up your meals a couple of times a week or have them delivered to you. The meals are all fresh as if you made them yourself….but you didn’t. :)

- Fitness for older adults. Reaching out to the 65+ crowd and going beyond water aerobics and aqua jogging.

- On the other end of the spectrum, fitness for children. Yoga and even Crossfit can be done by kids. They are looking to find things to keep kids from getting bored, give them something they enjoy and pry their hands off the i-touch.

- Employee incentive programs. Let’s face it, this is a win-win for the employee and the company. The healthier you are, the less sick time you use AND the lower your health care costs. Why not incent your employees to get active?

- Wellness and Lifestyle Coaching. You hear it all the time. It is a lifestyle change, not a diet. These services help you make that transformation in your lifestyle.

- Greater use of technology. I can think of at least 5 applications or online programs that help you track your food, workouts or both. You can map your ride, track your calorie burn and have an app that speaks to you while you ride to let you know your pace at regular intervals. We all love gadgets. Apparently we can expect more of them in 2012.

- Small group training. As an introverted extrovert, I am a wallflower in large groups but thrive in small groups. Small groups are said to give you more of a sense of teamwork and you obviously get more individual attention from the coach or trainer.

- Self Myofascial Release. I am not even sure I spelled that right but I think most of us know what it is…. Rolling, rolling, rolling. The benefits are well proven and are becoming a regular part of more workout plans.

- New approaches to goal setting. Back in the day, it was all about the number on the scale. The new outlook is to focus more on strength and performance and less on your weight with the assumption being that as long as you are balancing good nutrition with exercise you will get the same results without obsessing about reaching a specific number.

I think you have probably seen or heard of most of these but it is nice to see that things like this are on the forefront as opposed to the thighmaster and other crazy contraptions. It really is a matter of hard work and determination to make a change. Are you ready to make it happen in 2012?

Crawling back on the wagon...

2011-12-26T16:47:00.007-05:00

After over indulging yesterday, I hopped back on the wagon today. Well, hopped might not be the appropriate word. It was more of a slow crawl into the wagon. I had a 20 mile run on the calendar today; my last long run before my marathon next month. Last week's long run was rather painful so I wasn't particularly looking forward to my run. It was one of those things that could either go great and wash away any concerns from last week or not go great and further plant the seed of doubt.

After watching Live with Kelly (it really doesn't have the same ring to the title now that Regis is gone...), washing a couple of loads of laundry and having an internal debate in my head about my route, I was ready to hit the road.

The thing about running near my house is this... you can either stick close to home knowing you are going to run a bunch of hills or you can drive 45 minutes across town and go for a flat route. I decided to save myself a whole lot of driving and just suck it up on the hills. In the end, I was glad I did as it was a great confidence boost for the marathon. I didn't have any of the issues I had last week with foot and hip pain. (Which makes me think now that the new Saucony's were to blame for last week's issues... and makes me sad as I REALLY wanted to like them. On the short runs, they are fine but anything longer than 10 or 12 miles they are not good. Bummer.)

I sent out emails earlier today to the participants in KDUB's 70.3 Birthday Challenge. If you wanted to participate and did not get an e-mail, please send me a note to kwhitlock at bellsouth dot net.

Merry Christmas!

2011-12-25T06:00:00.001-05:00

I have been making up for lost time this week with the oven. The baking has all been done, cupcakes frosted, and sprinkles sprinkled. Time to sit back and enjoy the holiday :)

I hope you all have a Merry Christmas!

Christmas Eve Ride Pics

2011-12-24T12:59:00.005-05:00

Scenes from my Christmas Eve ride this morning... My favorite is picture number two. I was taking picture number one when my friend rolled ride through for the photo bomb. So hilarious!

Looking forward...

2011-12-23T10:55:00.007-05:00

I received a group email from my boss', boss', boss today (follow that? ... three levels above me). He is not one for sentiment or group emails. I hear from him or speak to him maybe once every few months. The conversations are always all business. I guess when he has something to share along the lines of motivation, he wants it to be a good nugget of wisdom. I present you with Exhibit A, today's email which was a simple quote:

“Consult not your fears, but your hopes and dreams. Think not about your frustrations, but about your unfulfilled potential. Concern yourself not with what you tried and failed in, but with what is still possible for you to do.”
--Pope John XXIII

What a great thing to keep in mind as we are all setting those goals and resolutions for 2012. Let go of those things in the past that might not have gone your way. Focus on your potential and don't let the fear of the unknown hold you back. Get out there and make it happen.

I'll show you mine if...

2011-12-22T06:00:00.003-05:00

I had this great idea that I would highlight some of the triathlon blogs that are currently some of my favorites. It turns out that the idea would have been great if I didn't have 1000 of them that I read... Well, maybe not 1000 but there were more than I realized so I’ll just throw a handful out there and save some for another post.

I never cease to be amazed at the number of blogs out there. Just when you think you have read or heard of every one of them, you discover another great blog to subscribe to in Google reader. I am not sure how many blogs I subscribe to but there are enough to keep my reader overflowing on any given day. I do not even know how some of you manage to write 2 and 3 posts a day! I do good to come up with something a few times a week.

Below are just a small sampling of my favorites that always have good content. They either make me laugh, have good pictures or good information. I also love blogs that I can relate to on some level. Right now, most of the new blogs I have been adding to my reader are people who are just getting started in the 70.3 or 140.6 race distances.

Lots of Great Inspiration
Irondiva
Ocular Triathlete
Fast at Forty
It's You vs Can't, You vs Excuses, You vs. the Odds...
The Adventures of TriSara Tops

I want to be fast like her someday
"the original" 140 point 6 miles of awesome

This guy knows how to follow a plan, as Dolvett would say “hard work, dedication”
Cook Train Eat Race

Always hilarious, painfully honest or both.
Swim Bike Mom

In the trenches making it happen and I love reading about it…
Slowly Tri-ing (on her way to Disney next month for her 1st marathon)
Smoke Training aka Carolina John (newly branded Ironman)
Tri n Tri Again
Becoming an Ironman
Swim Bike Run DC
Run this Amazing Day

Dipping their toes in the triathlon pool
Racing with Babes (racing her first 70.3 in May)
Age Groups Rock (conquering the swim!)

I've showed you mine, now it's your turn to share yours... Any interesting or new blogs that you have discovered recently?

Highlighting 2011 in Miss Zippy style...

2011-12-21T11:04:00.017-05:00

**
If you haven't signed up for KDUB'S 70.3 Birthday Challenge, shoot me an email at kwhitlock at bellsouth dot net to join the fun. I am starting to accumulate a few fun prizes so maybe all that swimming, biking and running will pay off (well, it won't payoff in an Oprah sort of way but still...)
**

In exchange for a year in review post, here are a few highlights in a format borrowed from Miss Zippy. Enjoy!

Best race experience?
Well, I have a couple but the edge is going to have to go to Beach 2 Battleship simply because it was something I really thought was not possible a year ago or even earlier this year. (Just when I vowed to stop referring to it in almost every post… after this post, I promise, no more B2B talk!) :)

Best run?
None of them really stick out in my mind from earlier in the year. I do good to remember people’s names these days. Ha ha. Last week, I had a fun run with a couple of friends at Stone Mountain. It was their first time running there and we had gone in hopes of seeing some Christmas lights. Sadly, Stone Mountain has gone more commercial this year so you had to buy tickets to see most of them. We did get to run down Snowflake Lane which is a short stretch of road with all sorts of lights dangling from the trees above which was cool. I really just enjoyed running with friends that night.

Best new piece of gear?
My tri bars. Oddly enough, I almost never use them in training. Come race day, I used them just about 100% of the time which makes me think I should be using them in training more. Hmmm.

Best piece of running advice you received?
I don’t know if I can call it advice so much as a jewel that I picked up from Jeff Galloway when I heard him speak at Disney earlier this year. Basically, it was a Q & A session which revolved around his run/walk method. I used a variation of his method for B2B (run a mile, walk a minute) and really think it helped me make it to the finish in an upright position which was my #1 goal for that race.

Most inspirational runner?
There are so many, I feel like I couldn’t name them all. I think the ones I admire most are the ones who get out there and give it a try without any excuses. In their minds, they may not even be sure if they can do it or not but they set their mind on the goal whether it is a 5k or a marathon and they make it happen.

If you could sum up your year in a couple of words, what would they be?
Life changing.

of modems, psychics and soggy banana bread...

2011-12-16T10:54:00.002-05:00

I should not have spoken badly about internet explorer yesterday. Hours after posting about it, my modem died under mysterious circumstances. Oh, the far reaching power of IE.

My ability as an *almost* psychic continues to hold true. You may remember that I had a dream about my ironman finish time which ended up being about 2 minutes off my actual time. Well, yesterday, they were drawing names for gift cards at work. I was trying to employ “the secret” to have my name drawn (you know that whole Oprah focus on what you want and it will happen thing). Well, they drew a Karen it just wasn’t me. I feel like my psychic tuner needs a retune. I wonder if I can pick one up at the store along with my new modem?

What does everyone have going on this weekend? I need to get in an 18 mile run in preparation for my January marathon and then am doing a 5k in North GA on Sunday. The 5k has only one hill but the hill is three miles long. Supposedly at the top of the mountain, there is vegetable soup and banana bread served up as post race treats. My main question is this… if we are running 3 miles UP the mountain, am I going to have to run 3 miles DOWN to get back to my car (or is that lazy thinking)? I just don’t want my soup sloshing around and getting my banana bread all soggy on the way back :)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend!

Don't forget to join in on KDUB's 70.3 Birthday Challenge if you haven't already!

Three Things Thursday...

2011-12-15T09:30:00.007-05:00

1. I need to upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 but it conflicts with another program I have on my PC (long story). Without it, I have turned into a lurker. You know, the kind that reads but never says anything. Not that there is anything wrong with that except that I have things to say. I read your blogspot blogs but can't comment unless you have a pop up box for comments. Mostly frustrating because I REALLY want to comment and then realize I can't. If you start getting random emails from me with comments related to your blog, you will know why :)

2. I went to a ladies do it "her"self event at Home Depot last night. The point of the event is to make the do it yourself projects seem less intimidating. We started with crafts which is always a good way to ease into things. We made these tile coasters which were so easy and would be a fun little gift. Here is a how to I found online.

The main topic was closet organization. It made me lust after other people's closets. Our house is older which means we have tiny closets (think about 6 feet wide and 2 feet deep). They were showing off these awesome systems in which you could add baskets, shelving and other cool organizational tools to your closet, garage or pantry. It was so easy to do but I am seriously lacking in space. The class finished up with a demo on how to install a faucet. Funny how these things that seem like they would be so difficult really aren't all that difficult. Kind of like changing a flat on a bike. Once somehow shows you how to do it and you try it yourself, it really is no big deal. Not that I will be installing a faucet anytime soon but.... I could if I wanted to ;)

3. I did the Jingle Jog 5k last Saturday and came away with a new PR. My last PR was from the very first race I trained for in February of 2008. I wasn't really trying for a PR and didn't think I was running all that fast but I think it was a subconscious desire to get done. The race has a prize walk sponsored by Trader Joe's at the end. Basically about 10 people stand in front of 10 numbers in a circle. The choir singes Christmas Carols and then randomly stops in the middle. If they draw your number, you win. I was fixated on getting done with the race so I could get in line. It all paid off. A PR of 26:20 *and* I won the goody bag from Trader Joe's in the prize walk! Hooray!

KDUB's 70.3 Birthday Challenge

2011-12-11T12:01:00.010-05:00

My birthday is on January 11th which has always felt like a continuation of the holiday season to me since it is so close to Christmas. In my mind the birthday season starts at Thanksgiving and rolls right on through MLK day. It will catch on eventually... I am sure of it. I have a nephew that is due to be born any day now so he will have to help me carry the torch for the cause of our birthday season. :)

(not my cake by the way)

This year, I thought it would be fun to celebrate by doing something a little different and host KDUB’s 70.3 Birthday Challenge. Who couldn't use a little challenge to kick off the new year?

The challenge is to complete 70.3 miles sometime between January 1 and January 11. To break it down, that would be:

SWIM 1.2 Miles (2100 yards)
BIKE 56 Miles
RUN 13.1 Miles

You can break up the mileage for each leg over the course of several days or complete it all at once. You can also complete the legs in any order you want just as long as it all adds up when January 11th rolls around.

Are there any rules?
The KDUB Birthday 70.3 Challenge starts when the clock strikes midnight on New Years Eve and continues through midnight on January 11th. All results need to be in to me by midnight on January 11th. Distances can be completed on a trainer, on a treadmill, inside or outside. You can swim in an ocean, swimming pool or bathtub, it makes no difference to me as long as you have some way to keep up with the mileage and time. The point is to get out there and get it done.

If you have no access to a pool in the winter, join us anyhow and make it a duathlon. (*one tiny exception to the mileage tracking rule… if you are taking a spin class and have no way to track mileage in that class, we will assume a 60 minute spin class is 16 miles.)

What do I win, what do I win?
Two finishers will be randomly selected to receive a goody pack of assorted tri/running treats that have yet to be purchased by me. This race isn't about being speedy, it is about getting to the finish line no matter how long it takes you!

How do I join the KDUB Birthday 70.3 challenge?
You must be a follower and leave me a comment on this post. Secondly, drop me an email at kwhitlock (at) bellsouth (dot) net to let me know which distance you are doing and I will send you a spreadsheet to log your information. Bonus points for sharing the link to the challenge via facebook, twitter and/or your blog.

All participants must join the challenge by 12/31/11.

A boatload of indecisiveness…

2011-12-07T14:48:00.004-05:00

I am awash in indecisiveness. Somebody save me!

A month ago I started trying to map out the races I wanted to do in 2012. A month ago I thought it was decided. I even updated the race list on sidebar of my blog which pretty much makes it official, right? In the past few weeks more and more races keep popping up that I want to add to the calendar. Sadly there are only so many races one can participate in and train for at the same time. I really just can’t decide.

My initial plan was to make 2012 the year of the “local” race. With the exception of one or two events, my races were going to be within a 2-3 hour drive from home. Then a friend suggested I sign up for NOLA 70.3. Two other friends tempted me with the cool schwag and atmosphere of the shamrock marathon in Virginia Beach. It was hard enough narrowing down my race choices when I was looking at running races. Add triathlon to the mix and the decisions become even more difficult.

I know I definitely want to repeat Beach 2 Battleship in October. Beyond that I am torn. I really can’t afford to do too many races that require more than a quick overnight trip but it is so tempting. Besides the expense there is the training factor.

I would assume you would want to strategically pick races based on your A goal and maybe just settle for being the world’s best cowbell ringer at the races that don’t fit the plan. Any tips for how you narrow down your list and pick races for the upcoming year or should I just write them all down on little pieces of paper and draw them at random? :) How do you all pick and choose your races?

Out with the old in with the new...

2011-12-06T20:26:00.008-05:00

Our oven died around this time last year. I had just purchased all the makings to start a holiday baking frenzy when I went to preheat the oven and the knob would not budge. It had been giving signs that it was not long for this world for some time so it wasn't a huge surprise but the timing was bad.

We didn't get a new one immediately due to finances at that time. Later on when we could afford one, neither one of us wanted to deal with having to wait around for an installer so we put it off. Honestly, the time went by so fast, I can't believe it has been an entire year. Thank goodness for microwaves.

As we were eating Thanksgiving dinner (at a restaurant because microwaves can only do so much...), CR asked me if I wanted to go ahead and get an oven. Yes, please. He said he had not really missed it except when it came to making frozen pizzas. Which made me laugh because he cooks two things, spaghetti and frozen pizza. He is a master mechanic when it come to repairing, building, etc. but cooking is just not his thing.

Me on the other hand, I had really missed the oven. I have read cookbooks and baked for as long as I can remember. I can recall perusing the Better Homes and Gardens cookbook as an 8-9-10 year old looking for things to bake when I was bored. I have to say, I missed the oven for more than frozen pizzas.

Today, our new oven arrived.

As you can see our oven was probably older than some of you. (and embarassingly dirty...probably burnt cheese from frozen pizzas *ahem*)

It kind of fascinated me that it was just sitting in this cabinet. It doesn't seem sturdy enough on the bottom there to support it, does it?

...and in with the new.

It had been so long since I baked anything, I couldn't decide what I wanted to bake first to break it in. I went with chocolate chip cookies. It had been a year since I had a fresh out of the oven cookie. It was so worth it.

Guess what CR is having for dinner tonight? Yep, frozen pizza.

Paying it forward...

2011-12-06T13:48:00.004-05:00

Everyone has their ways of giving back. My favorite thing to do is volunteering for sporting events and charity events. It really does make you feel good and helps out others at the same time.

Jen Harrison is giving back in a big way in 2012. She is going to give one year of personalized coaching at no cost to a lucky triathlete. Check out the details HERE on her Paying it Forward article if you might be interested. She is preferably looking to help a beginner who otherwise would not have the financial means to afford a coach. LOVE THIS idea!

Cold Weather Running & Great White Sharks...

2011-12-01T09:48:00.001-05:00

First things first... Did you hear about the Great White shark spotted off the coast of Wrightsville Beach? So glad I did not hear about this before my race last month. I guess it is good that the current was strong for B2B, it minimized my chances of getting eaten alive!

and on to cold weather running tips...

If you live north of Georgia, feel free to laugh at my suggestions... Admittedly, it doesn't get all that cold here :)

Even though I live in the Georgia, it is inevitable that at some point we will get a blast of winter weather. I don’t know about you but the first blast of sub 40 degree temperatures always throws me for a loop each year. From one year to the next, I forget how to dress for running outdoors. Running in the heat is easy. I throw on shorts, a tank top, some sunscreen and hope I don’t melt into a puddle by the time I am done. Running in cold weather is a whole different story. Do I layer up and how many layers do I need?

Here are a few tips I have for dressing for the weather:

1. Check out Runner's World "what to wear". You plug in the temperature, the general weather conditions (i.e. sunny/rainy/cloudy) and whether you generally like to be cooler or warmer when you run. Based on your input, the site tells you what to wear. Last week, it was mostly sunny and 50 degrees for my race at Chateau Elan. I prefer to be cooler when I run so the site suggested I wear shorts and a short sleeved shirt. I was a little chilly waiting around at the start but once I started running, I was comfortable. Perfect!

2. Chemical Hand Warmers. The ones I use are called Hot Hands and I have seen them everywhere from Sporting Goods stores to places like Walgreens and Wal Mart. On those days where I know I might be waiting around in the cold for a race start I hold them in my hands or, if I am wearing gloves, I pop them inside my gloves for a little extra warmth. You can toss the hand warmers at the first water stop once you have warmed up a bit.

3. Save your mylar blankets that you receive at the end of your races. You can use them for warmth before your next race.

4. Wear some “throwaway clothes” at the start of the race. The larger races usually collect the clothing and donate the items to a local charity. It will help you stay warm and goes to a good cause. Right before the race starts, ditch the clothes along the side of the road. Volunteers pick up the clothes after all the runners have gone through the start line.

If you know how to dress, running in the winter doesn't mean you have to stay indoors on the treadmill. Now I just need to figure out how to dress for biking :)

zoom, zoom, zoom-a, zoom...

2011-11-29T18:02:00.012-05:00

We're going to zooma zooma zooma zoom. Anyone old enough to remember Zoom from the 70s? It was kind of like Electric Company but for slightly older kids.

I don't remember the bare feet but I do remember trying to emulate Bernadette's little arm trick there. Oh to be cool like those kids.

Speaking of random shows from the 70s, anyone remember the cartoon that was full on cartoon but the characters had real lips? Now THAT one was a classic. Go Clutch Cargo!

So Clutch Cargo has zero to do with this post but who can really get enough of cartoon characters with real lips?

This weekend, I ran in the Zooma Atlanta Half Marathon. I was back at Chateau Elan for more hilly fun with friends. I thikn this was Zooma's 4th race in Atlanta and I think they are still trying to find their niche. The first two races were in downtown Atlanta and the last two were about an hour north of Atlanta. Next year they are going to try out April at Lake Lanier. I think the timing of the race may be bad as Atlanta has a pretty popular half marathon on Thanksgiving Day. I am guessing that race pulls away some of their potential participants. Hopefully holding the race in April will help them get a bigger crowd!

I don't know what has been going on lately but I seem to have picked up some speed. I read somewhere recently that the leg strength you gain from biking helps with running speed so maybe that is what is going on. I always thought biking worked opposing muscles but maybe it still helps somehow? I know I haven't really been doing any speedwork which is why it is puzzling.

I managed to pull off a PR by a little less than a minute on Saturday (1:54:49) and got 3rd in my age group (something which NEVER happens at larger races). I actually didnt think I would even come close to placing so my friends and I weren't paying any attention whatsoever to the awards ceremony. We walked in the event hall where everything was taking place and as we were walking up they announced my name. I was completely shocked. I am kind of proud of that award since it was in a larger group, as opposed to my usual 3rd place out of a total of 4 people.

I also ran the full 13 miles which is something I have only done a couple of times this year. I had gotten into the habit of run/walking earier in the year when I did the Goofy Challenge and continued it in my longer races right on through B2B. It was kind of nice to prove to myself that I could run the entire distance and not feel beaten down at the end.

At the end of the race, they had champagne and necklaces for a finishers award. For the food, they gave out pre-filled snack bags which I think is a good idea so you can kind of ration things out and make sure there is something left for the runners at the end. The interesting thing was the contents of the bag. There was a bagel, apple, small thing of peanut butter, a boiled egg and a piece of american cheese. I can't say that I have ever been given an egg or american cheese post race. Points for trying to cover all the bases with protein and carbs!

Have you ever received anything odd as a post race food item? I don't know why but I love interesting post-race snacks. To me, that can make or break my race experience. The jingle jog I am doing in a couple of weeks has insane post race festivities and I cannot wait!

Give Thanks ...

2011-11-21T10:39:00.004-05:00

"Be thankful for what you have, you'll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don't have, you will never have enough." Oprah

Lots to be thankful for this year! I hope you all have a great week.

Of hills, runners and red velvet bingles...

2011-11-19T14:08:00.014-05:00

This morning was the Vineyard Run for Hope 10k. The last 10k I ran was the Peachtree Road Race in July. Over the past couple of months, I have been focusing more on finishing longer distances and less on the speed in which I finished those distances which makes you question if you can still pick up the speed in races of a shorter distance. One of my goals for 2012 involves getting a decent qualifying time for the Peachtree Road Race so I was kind of using this race as a benchmark to see how far I would have to go to get that qualifying time.

The race was held at Chateau Elan which is about an hour northeast of Atlanta. It was a small race so I wasn't too worried about traffic and parking which is one of my favorite features of small races. There is nothing much better than not having to worry about catching shuttles or walking a mile from your car to the start.

There was an awesome event room to hang out in while we waited for the start. It was about 42 degrees this morning so having a warm area to wait in was a huge bonus!

We finally got the call to head out to the start and with a brief announcement and not much fanfare, we were off! There weren't all that many people at the race so didn't have to do a lot of bobbing and weaving to find some room to run. Somehow I found myself oddly close to the front of the field. I am not sure I even know how to act in that position! Not to worry, it did not last long. :)

No exaggeration, the route was nothing but hills. If you weren't going up a hill, you were going down one. In retrospect, it was kind of nice because I normally wouldn't push myself to that extent on hills. While we were were hiking up and down the hills, I also tried to focus on running the tangents. That summer I spent racing cars must have helped with my tangent tracking because I ended up with 6.18 on the garmin (It also makes me wonder if the course was short. Is it possible to run the tangents too good? Don't know).

My final time was 54:24 which was great for me! My goal for the qualifying race is 52:00 and it is on a course known for being "fast" so after this morning's race, I feel really good about being able to get to that 52:00 by February.

We were joking prior to the race that we had a good chance at awards due to the low number of participants. I definitely thrive in these type of races :) I came away with 2nd in my age group (and was the 4th overall female). WOO HOO!

For a small race, they really had quite a lot to offer foodwise at the end. In addition to fruit and water, they had a huge assortment of granola bars, large bags of granola and blue bird snack cakes. I have never heard of a "blue bird" snack cake but they seemed to be like hostess or little debbies. I picked up a bag of granola and a Red Velvet "bingle" (think twinkie in red velvet form). I can't resist much of anything that is red velvet even if it is in the world's most processed form...

I really enjoyed this race. It was well organized, they had some nice post race goodies and it went to a good cause (The Gwinnett Children's Shelter). I would definitely do this next year. Post race we had an awesome brunch at Wendy's house. Mimosas, spinach quiche and other goodies for everyone!

There is a little more to it than a gift with purchase...

2011-11-15T16:17:00.013-05:00

One iron distance and a grand total of 7 triathlons does not an expert make and I am certainly no expert. You all know I did not ease into the iron distance but rather took the cannonball approach and just went for it, sprint to iron in six months. I am definitely an impulsive person. You know, “oh that sounds fun AND I get a free shirt too?”. I never stand a chance against a gift with purchase. I always make it seem rational in my head. Kind of like I did with Beach 2 Battleship. “Well, I am already training for the 70.3 plus a marathon a few weeks later, how hard can it be to add on a few more miles of biking?” Yeah. I can justify anything.

If you prefer to mull things over before you act, here are some things I came to realize over the past few months of training and some things that might give you food for thought if you are considering tossing your name into the hat for an iron distance race. (Honestly, you could use most of these same thoughts if you are considering a triathlon of any distance).

1. You have to BELIEVE somewhere deep down inside that YOU CAN DO IT. You may not be able to do it tomorrow but you have the confidence that with the right training it is possible. Confidence is key. If you have any inkling in your head that you might be able to finish an ironman, then you absolutely can. Do not allow fear (or even – God forbid – rational thinking) hold you back. If you can dream it, you can do it (for the most part…. See bullet 2).

2. BE REALISTIC. Even if you believe with all your heart that you have iron running through your veins, you still have to make the time cutoffs. They vary from race to race, if that is a concern for you check before you sign up. You don’t have to be an olympic superstar but you don’t want to get picked up by the sag wagon or pulled off the course after putting in 9 months of training. I can’t think of anything much more heartbreaking. Generally speaking, if you have a decent base of overall fitness and after training can make the swim in 2 hours, the bike in 8 hours (~ 14 mph) and the run in 5.5 hours ( ~ 13 min / mile), you theoretically should be able to do it. Keep in mind this leaves very little cushion for a flat tire or other unplanned emergencies. Obviously, the more time cushion the better. (Disclaimer, these times are just MY line in the sand, see sentence #1 – I am not a trained expert).

If you have done a half-iron distance, the general rule of thumb is to multiple your finish time by two and add an hour. In my case, that theory was just about spot on. My half time was 6:07, my full was 13:25.

3. If you are worried about cutting it close to the finish, there are courses that lend themselves better to PRs and thus might help you make cutoffs. If you can shave some time with a current assisted swim or a flat ride and run, why not seek out those situations? B2B is known for its fast swims. The bike ride is advertised as pancake flat. My pancake had some lumps in the batter and a whole lot of wind. The run is anything but flat. Do some race recon and FIND A RACE THAT FEELS LIKE A GOOD FIT FOR YOU. I am a strong swimmer and train on hills when I run so my concern was finding a race with a bike leg that appealed to me. If the swim and run were fast too, well that was a bonus.

Keep in mind that the weather on any given day can change the “speed” of a course dramatically. Set yourself up for success as much as you can with the ideal course but realize that weather always plays a factor.

Outside of the course itself, if having cheering family and friends will help you on race day, you might want to consider a race closer to home that would be easy to get to for family and friends. Giving up a flat bike course for a little moral support on the course might be worth it.

4. Find a training plan and STICK TO IT. You can’t phone this training in. I am obsessive about sticking to my training schedules. Probably 90% of my training for past races has been done on my own. If you are someone who needs another person to keep you motivated, talk a friend into racing with you, hire a coach to give you that accountability factor or try to find a tri group in your area. Even if you have to make a bit of a drive to get to the group training sessions, it might help you stick with the plan.

You can move training days around on your training plan. Mondays were the best day for me to be off so I rearranged my training plan to make that happen. Rearranging is OK. Skipping workouts, generally not.. Your best chance for completing the race and experiencing an easy post race recovery has everything to do with how you trained. Make it happen.

5. It is a HUGE time commitment. Training plans can begin as many as 9 months out from race day. Very early on in the plan, you will be doing either 2+ hour workouts or two a day workouts. I work a Monday through Friday, 9 to 5 type job. My training schedule was generally 12 to 15 hours a week (which is on the low end as far as these things go). My typical training week was something like this: Tuesday – swim/bike, Wednesday – Bike/run, Thursday – Swim/bike, Friday – Swim, Saturday – Bike/run/swim, Sunday – Run/Bike.

Up until the last few months, the weekend sessions are essentially half day or even morning sessions. The last couple of months, training tends to take up most of your days. You leave the house at 6 AM and get home at 4 PM. The last six weeks will test your mental willpower. You will desperately wish for a morning to sleep in. Fig newtons, GU gels, gatorade or your race nutrition of choice will become like another food group for you. By the time taper rolls around the thought of logging one more mile may make you want to cry.

6. It can be quite the FINANCIAL COMMITMENT. The registration fee for Ironman is around $600. If you go with an off brand race (Rev 3, Set Up Events, HITS, Great Floridian), expect to pay about half that amount. The cost does not end there. If you are planning to fly to the race, you will have travel expenses not only for yourself but also your bike. You should also factor in coaching (if you go that route), gym or pool membership, tires, bike tune up, wetsuit, and other random expenses right down to GU Gels or other nutrition. It all adds up.

7. Find some MENTAL TOUGHNESS. Things may not go your way on race day. You may have a flat tire, you may bonk on the run, you may want to give up. You need to be able to self motivate enough to keep moving forward. Do you have that little voice inside of you that helps you to regroup and keep going? I have said it before and I will say it again. I am no triathlon or running superstar. I only podium finish in races with low participation (if that). I have the ability to push myself and the ability to endure which goes a long way in a sport in which you are primarily racing yourself. How bad do you want it?

8. Have FAITH. When you get to the end of your training, you may question how this will all come together. If you are a runner, you generally run 20 or 22 miles before a marathon. Mentally, you have basically done the race at that point. With this race, you won’t get that close to replicating the full 140.6 miles prior to the big day. If you put in the time in training, it all comes together in the most amazing way on race day. Race day, I focused on one leg at a time. While I was swimming, I just focused on swimming. Once I clipped in to the bike pedals, it was all about the bike for 112 miles. As I stepped off the bike and laced up my running shoes, I just counted down to the finish.

Yes, it is hard. Yes, you will wonder at one point or another if you are actually going to finish this thing. Once it is all over, you will have a runner’s high that lasts for a couple of weeks. It still seems surreal to me and it has been over two weeks.

If all that sounds good to you, I say shake off the fear and hesitation and go click that REGISTER button! I am pretty sure they will give you a shirt and a medal with purchase :)

One Can Ride...

2011-11-12T16:14:00.014-05:00

Today was my first real ride post-Beach2Battleship. The ride was a charity ride for a local food co-op and was hosted by one of the bike shops I frequent in the area. Apalachee Cycle is pretty convenient to where I work and they have treated me so well when I was trying to get a bike fit, aerobars and the like I wanted to support them in any way I could. There were 2 rides on the agenda, a 30 miler and a metric century. Although I feel basically "recovered" from B2B, mentally I wasn't interested in sitting on a bike for 62 miles. I guess there is some mental recovery to be done... :)

I was a little nervous about the ride only because I didn't know anyone else that was participating. I didn't want to be the slow one in the group. (I guess that feeling never goes away). I got over that feeling real quick when I thought about how far I have come in the last six months. If I can do a century ride and an ironman by myself, I am pretty sure I should be able to do a 30 mile ride by myself, right? I even manage to annoy myself with the lack of confidence sometimes.

I unloaded my bike and rode over to the starting area in front of the store where everyone was gathered. One woman on a hybrid bike said something about her friend not being there to ride with her. The woman looked familiar to me and I realized it was a woman who had talked to me one day in the parking lot at Stone Mountain. She was just getting back on the bike and couldn't remember the hand signals for turns and had asked me to show her. I asked her if she was doing the 30 miler or the 62 miler. She said she was doing the 30 miler and then quickly added that she was capable of doing the 62 miler but had just run a half marathon last week. Another man said he was only riding 30 miles because he had to run 11 miles later that day. I thought it was interesting that they both felt the need to explain why they didn't go for the longer route. As if someone was judging them for not going for the metric century. I told them I was doing the 30 miler because I just didn't want to ride 62 miles, plain and simple. :)

I knew the ride was probably going to be hilly. It had been a couple of months since I had ridden many hills which is quite the trick living in Atlanta. If you want to ride flats you have to go out of your way to find them. In my case, I had been going to the Silver Comet Trail for the 4 weeks leading up to B2B. It is about a 45 minute drive from my house. If you want to just step out of your house and ride, you should expect to navigate quite a few hills.

I rode off and on with the man who had the 11 mile run later today. I asked him what he was training for (because most people don't do a 30 mile ride and follow it up with an 11 mile run for fun) and he said IM Florida. He said he was registered for 2012. I was kind of puzzled by the training that was already in progress; I guess he just wants to be REALLY prepared since the race is November 3, 2012.

The rest of the ride was kind of uneventful. Except for the hills. There were plenty of them. I even had to pull it into the granny gear on one particularly steep hill towards the end. Judge me if you want... HA HA.

Post ride, I headed to the gym to get some weight training in. I am trying to do that three times a week now. It can be initimidating with all the boys up there doing their thing but I just throw down my ironman water bottle and they know what's what. Ironman water bottle = instant credibility :)

In other news... I joined the sticker club today. Finally!

A beautiful day for a run...

2011-11-11T17:32:00.005-05:00

What a great day for a run! I headed off to Stone Mountain to do the five mile loop and loved every moment of it. The weather was about 65 degrees, sunny and just beautiful!

Lately, I have become a fan of the silent run. You know, no ipod. This is something new for me as I was formerly in the ipod club. I couldn't imagine running without one. I still like them on 15-20 mile runs but really have come to enjoy just running in silence lately on the shorter runs. Listening to my feet hit the pavement and my lungs gasping for air on the hills... Seriously, give it a try one time. You might like it :)

Before I went out running, I put the makings for chicken noodle soup in the crock pot. CR loves this soup. If you are looking for a good recipe to try, give this one a whirl as it is so easy.

Easy Crock Pot Chicken Noodle Soup

In a crock pot, layer in the following:

one onion, chopped
2 celery stalks, chopped
1/4 t thyme
1 t salt
1/2 t pepper
12 oz bag of frozen peas and carrots

On top of this add:
3 uncooked chicken breasts
6 cups of water

Cook on low for 8 hours (or high for 4). Pull the chicken breasts out, shred the meat and add back to the pot. Add 3 cups of noodles (uncooked - I use elbow noodles but you can use whatever you have on hand - I won't judge). I also add another 2-3 cups of water at this point. Cook for another 30-45 minutes on low or until noodles are tender. Enjoy :)

Hope everyone has a nice weekend. I am getting back on the bike tomorrow. There is a charity ride / cookout at a bike shop in Dacula. Hope they have a nice turnout!

So what is next...

2011-11-04T15:11:00.014-04:00

The big question from everyone this week has been "how are you feeling?". It seems so strange to me but I feel just about 100%. I fully expected to be walking like frankenstein for the better part of the week but it just never happened. My muscles were pretty tight on Sunday and I didn't look forward to shoving my toes into work shoes on Monday but other than that nothing. I mean NOTHING. I know... I can't believe it either.

I am told the quick recovery is a good indication that I must have done a decent job of following the training plan. Had someone not brought it up, I probably would not have put two and two together on that one but it does make sense. I follow training plans like nobody's business. I have a fear of not following the training plan so am extremely OCD where it is concerned. The only workouts I skimped on were the 2 or 3 in the final week before the race. You know, the ones that are usually run 20 minutes or swim 10 minutes just to keep loose. I skipped those. *gasp*

Wednesday, I went to the pool and then this morning I played tennis for about three hours but that has been the extent of my activity this week. My plan is to catch up on sleep this weekend and then get back to some sort of regular workout schedule on Monday. I had initially planned on doing the Savannah Rock n Roll Half Marathon tomorrow but ended up not being able to make the trip. It probably was for the best. I could definitely use some chillin' at home time.

The other question was "did you put the sticker on your car?". Can you believe I did not even think to buy a sticker? Never even crossed my mind. I guess I had too many things rolling through my head at the expo to think about it. I did get a sweet deal on a swimsuit and some BBQ sauce though... I'll have to hit up the next expo for a sticker so I can join the sticker club. :)

I went into B2B thinking this would in all likelihood be the “one and only” iron distance I would ever participate in. As I got closer to race day, I had a thought in the back of my head that if things went well I might be interested in trying out IM Florida but who knew what last Saturday would hold for me. It could have been a DNF, I could have crawled across the line at the last second vowing to never do this again or could have wound up in the medical tent afraid to give it another go. Amazingly enough, I had a great experience at B2B which made me want to do it again – and by again, I mean not just any iron distance but B2B. After last weekend, that race has a special place in my heart.

What is even funnier to me is that for weeks leading up to this race, CR kept making remarks about this being my only time to race this distance. Not in an “I don’t want you to do this again” sort of way but more because he worries about me crashing on the bike and getting hurt. Realistically the distance does seem more like something you cross off your bucket list and you are done with it. It would be interesting to see what percentage of people do this distance more than one time. Once I crossed that finish line, all the talk from CR changed to “next time” this and “next time” that. He said things like *we* need to figure out how to get you faster on the bike. Funny how things change. I think we both had a good time in our own way that day.

Right now, I am putting together my plan for 2012. I have my eye on a small local marathon in January and then another in March. After that, I will likely focus on triathlons beginning with a sprint in May continuing with Augusta 70.3 in September and ending with Beach 2 Battleship again in November. It would seem as if I just got bitten by the triathlon bug.

Side note - I do want to sign up for an IM branded race at some point just to have that experience but it is not in the cards this year, possibly 2013. The whole branded versus nonbranded race is a whole other post, wouldn't you agree? While the distance is the same 140.6 no matter what company puts on the race, there is definitely a marketing machine behind IM.

Beach 2 Battleship - the run...

2011-11-02T18:40:00.001-04:00

When we last saw CR, he was standing at the bike finish with his neck craned to the right anxiously awaiting my arrival. Since he had not seen me coming in, I snuck up on him as I was leaving for the run. We chatted for a quick second and took a picture or two. I told him I would be back in a couple of hours and headed off.

The run course was two 13.1 mile loops. I LOVE looped courses. Mentally, it makes it easier to break up the length of the race into smaller portions. You know what to expect. We all know my love for the 5 mile loop around Stone Mountain.

You might think that since the bike course is flat that the run would be as well. You would be wrong. There were plenty of flat sections but there were also quite a few hills here and there. Two of the hills are drawbridges. I am not talking tiny little drawbridges either. These bridges were no joke especially with that 20+ mph wind.

After seeing CR, I headed off on the run. Within the first mile, you hit the largest bridge. The wind was howling; I had to hold on to my hat to keep it from blowing off. I made the executive decision to walk up the bridge. Once I reached the top of the bridge, I went flying down the other side then shortly thereafter started the ascent up the next bridge. After the bridges, I made the turn into the riverfront area of Wilmington. There were crowds of spectators and volunteers cheering and yelling out my name as I passed. Around mile 5, there was a train headed towards the crossing, the gates came down and the volunteers were trying to stop the runners. The train was far enough away that a few of us shot across the tracks to avoid stopping.

At mile 6.5 I crossed the first timing mat and headed back to the bridge. This time I was not so lucky with the train. It was making its way across the track and I stood there and watched it go along with 20 or 30 other runners. I couldn’t help but wonder if this was a second train coming through or the same train I narrowly missed on the way out. I stood there for about 5 minutes waiting on the train. I have heard reports that it was 10 minutes if you were unlucky enough to get stopped by it at the beginning.

After the train I continued on. My method was to run a mile, walk 60 seconds, and take a GU gel every 4 miles. After the issues at Augusta I was scared to try anything new; however, I did go for some chicken broth and Pepsi a few times. The sun was setting and it was getting colder. I couldn’t wait to get to the battleship and to special needs so I could put on a long sleeved shirt. I tend to get hotter than most when I run so had opted for knee pants and a tank in the beginning. Not a bad choice but was looking forward to some extra coverage towards the end of the first loop. I grabbed a tub of Pringles out of my bag, stopped to give CR the rest of my chips and headed out for the final lap.

I was still feeling surprisingly good at this point. Honestly, I was shocked. We have all read the blogs and heard the stories. This distance can be brutal. I could not believe I was feeling so good. I just kept doing what I was doing and counted down the miles. At one of the aid stations, I was given a glow necklace so I could be seen in the dark. I also had a little clip light on my hat to light up the road in places where it was dark. It was hard to see other runners coming towards you even with the glow lights. I was glad I had my extra light.

I crossed the train tracks (no train this time) and headed to the turn around at mile 6.5. My legs were getting tired but I was still maintaining a good pace. Several of the spectators even commented on how my pace looked good as I went by (of course, they probably say that to every one…) :) I made the turn at 6.5 and thought “this is it, I am headed to the finish line”. Along the way, I would chat with runners on their final loop and shout words of encouragement to those that passed in the opposite direction. I met a lot of first timers, a couple who were doing their 9th IM race together and a few people hobbling in along the way.

In the last half mile, one of the guys I had talked to at mile 21 or so ran up behind me and said “come on, let’s finish this strong”. I told him to go on so he could have his moment on his own and watched him round the corner into the finisher’s chute. I took a right turn by special needs and there was about a 50 yard chute to run before you turn into the finish line area. I had the chute all to myself and the volunteers and spectators were cheering me on. The announcer at the corner starting calling out “40 yards to go” and “one more turn”. As I turned into the final chute to the finish the crowd went insane as they announced my name and I ran with my arms waving in the air from the start of that stretch to the finish.

I looked over to the left and caught a glimpse of CR ringing the cowbell with all his heart. I didn’t see the time as I crossed so didn’t find out my time until later. As I crossed I was given a medal and wrapped in a heat sheet. It was as if I had a personal concierge there at the finish. They asked me what size shirt I wanted and showed me where the warming tents and food were and then gave me a bottle of water. I kept looking around to where I had seen CR last and a volunteer asked me if I was OK. I said I was just looking for my husband. I turned around and there he was smiling from ear to ear!

I cannot express to you how much I loved this race! The organization was top notch. All my changing bags were magically grouped together at the end when I went to pick them up. The volunteers were ABSOLUTELY INCREDIBLE. These were no ordinary volunteers. Every single volunteer I passed along the way was cheering for me as if they were my own personal cheerleader. These volunteers were like nothing I have ever seen before. Truly outstanding. They were scattered throughout the course which helped because it gave you very few stretches where you could get bored. You were either making turns on the course or coming up on an aid station. There was enough distraction to keep you motivated.

It was all very surreal (and still is to some extent). For me, it was one of those things that I really thought I would never be capable of doing. I am middle of the pack Jane, iron distances are for hard core people, right? If I can do it ANYONE can. I wasn’t an athlete in school. I just started to run 5ks a few years ago. You all know my struggles with biking. Yeah, training is hard and time consuming. The last month of training will test your mental toughness. You get to the point where you can’t imagine logging one more mile but somehow you persevere and you get it done. In the end you are glad you did because you accomplished something you never thought possible.

Run time: 4:55:58

Finish: 13:25:05

I would highly recommend Beach2Battleship if you are thinking of dipping your toe into the iron water. The race set up was well organized, the course was great. The volunteers were beyond enthusiastic and helpful. Every single volunteer I passed along the way was cheering for the racers. You will not be disappointed!

Beach 2 Battleship - the bike...

2011-11-02T18:39:00.000-04:00

As I reached the mount line to start my journey on the bike, I hear CR call my name. I gave him a quick wave and a smile and I was off. It was cold, windy and overcast. I was glad I opted for my jacket instead of just arm warmers. I later saw people wearing trash bags and heard of others who were given clothes by spectators along the course to wear. I kept reasonably warm in the jacket, Had I gone with my sleeveless jersey and arm warmers, it would have been a different story.

Within the first mile was the "dreaded bridge grating". We were warned at the pre-race meeting about the grating on one of the drawbridges. If it was raining we were going to be asked to get off the bike and walk it across. Luckily, it was not raining so we rode across. In the online forums I had been following prior to the race, there was a lot of concern about the grating on the various online forums so it made me a little nervous. Thankfully, it turned out to be no big deal. We made a few turns and finally made it out to a main road leading to the highway. Something told me to check and make sure the GPS tracking was on. I looked down and realized it had fallen out of its holster somewhere between the changing tent and now. UGH. I was hoping it would not throw CR off in his ability to know when to be at the various checkpoints. I felt so bad...

Shortly afterwards, I looked ahead to see a white Honda stopped in a line of traffic at a red light. It looked a lot like my car. I got closer and realized the passenger window was rolled down. All I could hear was a cowbell and CR cheering for me. Loved that! Nothing strange about starting to cry at mile three, is there?

About 400 yards later and we were rolling onto the highway. The winds were brutal. I am told the official observation from the weather service in Wilmington was that the winds were 12-18 mph with gusts to at least 23 mph for the morning and peaked at 25 mph sustained, with 33 mph gusts. I would say my observations were about the same as those winds were either in my face or coming at me from the side for all of the first 76 miles. It was overcast and cold. It drizzled for maybe 2 hours early on in the ride. When I looked back at my Garmin stats, you can see where we made the turn and got out of the headwind. I was hovering around the 15 mph gridline for the first 76 miles then there is a 5 mph jump to around the 20 mph gridline for the remaining miles.

Since this day was all about finishing and completing in a particular time wasn't a huge concern for me, I opted to treat this leg like a century ride meaning that I would stop at aid stations as needed even if to do nothing other than stand up for a second. I didn’t plan to take a leisurely stroll while I was there but spend maybe 60 seconds at each one. I stopped at the first aid station at mile 21 to use the port o john. Plenty of other people had the same plan and I ended up waiting in line for quite a while. Since I spent so much time at the first stop, I decided to bypass the stop at mile 36. I ended up regretting that decision. The split second to stop and stand up was a huge help in getting through the 112 miles.

Special needs was at mile 51. I wasn’t sure what to expect here. Mostly I had pictured people grabbing their bag pulling out whatever their stash was and moving on quickly. There probably was some of that but there were people just sitting in the grass eating sandwiches and snacks almost like they were at a picnic. I think we were all glad to be out of the constant wind at that point. I ate an uncrustable sandwich, a few pringles and followed it with a couple of ibuprofen for good measure. This was the only solids I had taken in thus far on the bike. I will say I *sort of* broke the cardinal rule of racing as I switched from my fig newton plan to GU gels and chomps. My issues at Augusta scared me in terms of nutrition so I tested out the gels on my last training ride and decided to go that route. I had one of just about every flavor of GU they make and it seemed to work. I HIGHLY recommend the 2012 holiday flavor of peppermint stick. It is a sweet mint flavor. LOVE IT.

I left special needs and headed out into the wind. Somewhere around mile 60 my right knee decided it was not enjoying the race as much as I was and started to revolt. It hurt to pedal. I looked at my watch and I had slowed quite a bit. I was already slower than I should be due to the wind. Not a good feeling. It wasn’t like I could stop right there and give up so I kept going. I knew I had just taken some ibuprofen so was hoping that would kick in and help. In the meantime, I did the heavy lifting with my left leg, let the right one spin along and said a prayer. I was getting discouraged about my time due to the wind and now my leg but then I remembered that we all started this race at the same time. There are people 12 feet in front of me that are in the same boat. I just kept pedaling and by the time I reached the aid station around mile 76, my knee had started cooperating again.

At that particular aid station, there was a flag blowing. I thought to myself “goodbye headwind/crosswind, hello tailwind”! As we made that right turn, you could instantly feel the change. My speed went up to 22 and 24 mph which is not something that is my bag of skills. It was all wind assisted. That wind was instant energy. I started counting down the miles. I initially started thinking “only 2 more hours to go” but that didn’t seem to help mentally. It was much better to count off miles. At the aid station around mile 90, I stopped, ate some peanut butter pretzels for about a minute and moved on. I ended up bypassing the final aid station because I was making such good time.

As we approached Wilmington, the traffic was bumper to bumper headed over the bridge towards the battleship. We were riding in the bike lane for maybe a half mile before heading up and over the bridge. Let me say this bridge at mile 111 was no joke. Clearly that was the only way to get us to the battleship but – oh my – who wants to climb like that after 111 miles of riding. The excitement of reaching the battleship made it totally worth it.

We made the turn into the battleship area and there were wall to wall spectators and cheering. I looked for CR but wasn’t sure I would be able to spot him. Right before the dismount line, I saw him in the corner looking to right searching the incoming bikers for me. I yelled his name a couple of times but was so fixated on the bikes, he didn’t hear me or see me. As I was getting off the bike and a volunteer took it away to be racked, they shouted my number out so a volunteer could grab my changing bag. By the time I got to that area, the volunteer was waiting on me and I headed into the changing tent.

The changing tent this time was much less congested. There were probably 6 other ladies in there with me along with a handful of volunteers. Inside the tent there were chairs around the perimeter and a table with a wide variety of snacks and drinks. After I changed, I drank some coke, made a pit stop at the port o john and headed out on the run.

Bike time: 7:17:10

T2: 9:22

Beach 2 Battleship - the swim...

2011-11-02T07:00:00.001-04:00

As I walked across the sand towards the start line, I could hear them playing the national anthem. As I made it to the archway of the start they announced that everyone who was racing needed to get into the corral. I can't remember the song they were playing at that point. I adjusted my goggles and tried to keep my cool. I positioned myself along the left side of the crowd about halfway back. Although in certain circles I might be considered a fast swimmer, I felt like in this crowd I was probably about the same speed as most everyone else. No need to rush to the front as my plan was to swim this leg fairly easy.

The next song played was Eminem’s “Lose Yourself”.

The horn went off in the middle of the song and all 800 of us started walking forward and under the starting arch. Although this was my first ocean swim and only the second time for a start that was not in the water, I honestly had not given much thought to getting from the beach to the water. Would I run until it got too deep, dolphin dive, or what? It had not even occurred to me to think about it. I just did what came naturally. I stayed to the left waded in until it was a little over knee deep, took a dive and I was off. The first few strokes felt so easy, at some point I think I was barely even kicking just kind of saving my legs and pulling along. I almost had to remind myself to kick once in a while.

This was my first experience with a mass start so I was a little nervous about it beforehand. I must have gotten extremely lucky because I had hardly any kicking, pulling, or people swimming over the top of me. I got caught up in a group of people 2 or 3 times but I was in and out of the group quickly. The women’s sprint triathlon I did in August was 100 times worse in terms of congestion than this mass swim start.

The course takes you out a short distance and then you turn right around a buoy and into the channel. Your only other turn is a left hand turn in front of a hotel then it is a straight shot to the ladders to get out. Race day was overcast, our swim caps were a dark gray and my goggles were fogged up which made it hard to sight. Every time I looked, all I could see was gray. Once or twice I stopped and cleared my goggles just so I could see where I was going. When I looked around as far as I could see were swimmers. It was a pretty cool sight. I just kept plugging away headed in the same basic direction as the other swimmers.

There was some chop, nothing too horrible. Every once in a while I would get a mouth full of salt water and I would try my best not to swallow it. I could occasionally feel a small wave as it moved forward and me with it. The race is known for its fast swim because of the current. Some years the current is stronger than others. This year was supposed to be one of the strongest yet. To give you an idea, the fastest swim time this year was 36:07. I am not complaining.

Right about the time I was wondering how far along I was, I came on the turn buoy at the hotel. I knew this was about 1.2 miles as this was where the half-iron swimmers start their race. On facebook prior the race, someone had posted a picture of the building that was behind the ladders so we would know what we were swimming towards. In the distance, not long after I made the turn I could see the building and knew I was close to the end. As I approached the ladders, I really began to feel the current. I knew I needed to aim for the first ladder so as not to overshoot the finish and have to fight the current back. I could feel the current pushing me to the left. I made it to the ladder and stepped up on the dock.

I made my way over to the wetsuit strippers. A quick yank and I had my wetsuit in hand. At some point, I remember passing a clock that read 51 minutes. I thought “no way…” even with the current that was faster than I had hoped. I made a pass through the freshwater showers and took off on the run to T1.

T1 was across the street from the dock and that was where all the cheering spectators were gathered. I ran across the timing mat and headed to get my changing bag. My bag was not where it was supposed to be so a volunteer helped me locate it and I dashed into the tent to change. I had ordered a special GPS tracking for the day because I wanted CR and other family to be able to track me along the way. I turned the GPS and my Garmin on and changed into my biking clothes. My original plan was a sleeveless jersey with arm warmers. I had stashed a jacket in the bag just in case. I decided to leave the arm warmers and take the jacket since it was overcast. This turned out to be a winning decision. All dressed I put everything in the changing bag and headed to my bike.

Swim Time: 51:34

T1: 11:03

Beach 2 Battleship - the pre-race run down...

2011-11-01T15:55:00.010-04:00

You all know how this goes. This will be waaaaaaaaaay longer than most of you probably want to read but I wanted to capture most everything. Read on if you think you have the mental fortitude :)

I essentially spent most of Thursday making the seven hour drive to Wilmington. I was anxious to get my bib number and check out the swag so I stopped at the expo before heading to my hotel.

After picking up my number, I checked in at the hotel and unloaded the car. The amount of things you need for this race is ridiculous. Had CR come with me, he probably would have had bags in his lap the whole time. I am sure he was thankful to miss that experience! I took my chances and parked next to honey badgers. I have heard they can be fierce so I kept alert, especially since these weren't average honey badgers. These were the Bad A@@ kind.

After the 18,001 bags were carted up to the room, I headed to Wrightsville Beach. I wanted to get a look at the beach before race morning. As I was driving along the 2+ miles I would be swimming on Saturday, it felt like the longest distance ever. When you are swimming those laps in the pool, you don’t get a real sense of the distance. When you see it all laid out like that it starts to seem a little daunting.

I found a parking spot and headed onto the beach to check it out. Nothing was set up yet so it was kind of hard to tell where the start was. I followed a couple of other racers around and we eventually saw the first turn buoy and kind of put things together from there. There were quite a few swimmers testing out the water. On my way back to the car, I grabbed a couple of shells as a momento of the weekend.

Thursday night was the pre-race dinner. There were not a lot of people there but was glad I went. It was the typical buffet of pasta, chicken and salad and gave us the chance to talk to other racers. There were quite a few first timers there; B2B seems to be a magnet for them. Fast swim, mostly flat bike course, lower entry fee – can’t go wrong with any of those things. It certainly appealed to me for those very same reasons. Everyone I talked to was so friendly which was par for the course for this race from the racers to the volunteers. They gave a few speeches and played a video about the PPD heroes, cancer survivors who were running the race. Pretty inspiring stuff.

After dinner, I went back to the hotel and put together my transition bags. I had the foresight to assemble everything in groups before I left the house so it was pretty much just a matter of making a few last minutes changes based on the weather and transferring the items from one bag to another. I HIGHLY recommend packing your transition bags at home if you ever do an ironman, it saves so much time when you get to the hotel. At that point, wouldn’t you rather be relaxing than worrying about your bags?

The transition bags were white Hefty bags. No expense was spared.

I joke only because for the IM branded races you get these fancy color coded bags for each transition. In all seriousness, these bags had much more room than the bags at Augusta and who needs fancy logo printed bags that you just throw away anyhow? I will say the drawstring made it easier to carry especially at the end when you have 5 bags plus a bike to get back to the car.

Friday’s plan was to sleep in, go the athlete meeting and then drop off my bike. On paper that seemed to add up to a whole lot of free time at the hotel but it didn’t seem to work out that way somehow. I was wide awake at 6:00 AM. Sigh…. I ended up watching TV and looking at facebook before deciding to head out and eat breakfast. I somehow overlooked the event merchandise area the prior day so wanted to go back there and at least get a shirt. Can I say these event merch people were thinking. There wasn't a lot to choose from but there were two ladies shirts. One was a bright pink and one was a gray with pink trim. Very few ladies can resist the call of pink. Smart marketing right there.

By the time I did all that it was time for the athlete meeting. I did not attend the meeting in Augusta and my friends who did came away with some good information so I thought that it probably would be to my benefit to attend this one. I could use all the help I could get… The main thing I remember from the meeting was that you could float a Dorito bag from the start to the finish in less than 2 hours so we all should be guaranteed a good swim time. Good to know.

As I was heading over to drop my bike, I got a text from CR. He was on his way! He was able to get someone to cover the shop for the weekend and would be in Wilmington by 9:00 PM. Hooray! It sounded as though he had tossed some clothes together and didn’t think to ask him if he brought anything warm so I made a pit stop at Wal Mart to get him a sweatshirt and gloves just in case. I knew it would be in the 30s and wasn't quite sure he realized how much standing around he would be doing on Saturday.

Finally, around 4:00 I made it to bike drop off to rack my bike and deposit my various transition bags. I ate an early dinner with the senior citizens at Olive Garden and then stopped at Panera for a sandwich to take back to the hotel for later. Before I went to sleep, I wrote out notes and addresses for CR to use the next day. Since he was arriving so late, I would have to go over the spectating particulars in the car.

CR got the hotel right around 9:00 and got settled in. I remember waking up a lot that night. Not from noises or anything, just excitement and nerves I suppose. I finally got up around 3:30 and started getting ready. It was a little earlier than planned, it felt a little like a Disney race with the crazy wake up times. I ate an uncrustable sandwich and a banana and drank some powerade. At 5:00 we headed out to T1.

We got parked and I gave CR the run down on where the various transitions were, how to get to the battleship (finish line) and information on how to pick up my bike if needed. Being a spectator at this thing really is an event all on its own. T1 is in Wrightsville Beach so once you leave there on the bike, spectators have some time to kill before they need to head to downtown Wilmington. There is no parking at the finish so you have to take a water taxi, trolley or bus over to the battleship to get there. Once there, you can either stay there and watch your family and friends when they come through there or you can be super ambitious and watch them come through T2 then hop on the water taxi and back across to spot them again around mile 4, 10, 16 and 23. It was definitely more information than I could impart on CR in a 5 minute conversation in the car at 5 in the morning. I had the addresses programmed into the GPS in the car so he took it from there.

I put some air in my tires, dropped off my swim to bike bag and gave CR one last hug goodbye. He was happily chugging hot chocolate as we walked to the trolley that would take me to the start line.

The trolley dropped us off just in front of the beach which at that point was pitch black. Everyone was sitting on the curbs along the street waiting for the sun to start coming up before they put on their wetsuits. It was pretty chilly and I wished I had socks on my feet instead of flip flops. I chatted with other racers and waited. Finally the sun started coming up so we put on our wetsuits. I waved goodbye to them and headed to drop off my bag and make my way to the beach.

Done and done ...

2011-10-30T19:04:00.011-04:00

13:25:05

A great experience and a lot of fun! 5th in my age group. More to come...

(oh and I am still claiming SOME psychic ability... if you remember, in my dream I finished in 13:23 so if you need me to predict race times for you just don't expect them to be exact) :)

And we're off...

2011-10-29T07:00:00.001-04:00

I am pretty sure none of these people would kick me in the face. Right?

Toes in the sand and ready to go. Fighting back the nerves and focusing on finishing this thing with a smile on my face. Thank you all for your support and inspiration. I appreciate every kind word of encouragement. It means so much :)

Here we go...

2011-10-28T07:19:00.007-04:00

After what seemed like a short drive from home yesterday, I arrived at the expo to pick up my race packet. I was one of a small handful of people browsing the expo. Packet pick up was a breeze, no waiting since I was the only one there. I suspect most people are checking in later today. The opposite of what I experienced in Augusta with an hour long wait for packet pick up and hundreds of people packing the merchandise area. As I stepped up and they asked my name to find my race packet, a wave of nerves hit me. Those waves have been coming off and on over the past couple of days. This morning, the nerves are less of a wave and more of a constant presence.

I drove over to the beach start yesterday. Nothing was set up quite yet so it was a little hard to picture the day but they did have the turn buoy out. A few people were testing the waters. The water temperature right now is 68 degrees. The forecast tomorrow calls for rain until noon and 19 mph winds. I can deal with the rain but I could use a little less wind. From what I am told the NNW winds will mean a headwind for the first 40 miles and chop on the swim. I am guessing that would also mean a tailwind coming back but could be wrong on that one. One can hope.

My various bags are packed and ready to drop off later today with my bike. Big plans today are to attend the race meeting and relax. I somehow missed seeing the event merchandise area when checked in (I am blaming nerves) so I'll make a run through that when I go to the meeting and check out the battleship. They have a haunted house in the battleship on Friday and Saturday night. How cool!

CR ended up not being able to make the trip so I am doing this solo. Praying I make it through this in once piece so I can drive myself back to the hotel Saturday night! Well, also praying for no flat tires and less wind too but trying not to get greedy with the prayers :)

What I did on my final taper weekend...

2011-10-25T13:51:00.009-04:00

Alternately titled, 'and then there were four (days)...' You know how I love a good countdown :)

My scheduled workouts over the final taper weekend amounted to about 5 hours between Saturday and Sunday. I had a ridiculous amount of free time, I didn't quite know what to do with myself. I loved every moment of it and actually got to the point Sunday night where I was bored.

Over the weekend, I read the book "You are an Ironman" cover to cover. I slaved over a hot crock pot making BBQ chicken while watching an untold number of episodes of "Snapped" on Oxygen and all kinds of TV shows I had recorded on my DVR. What seemed like every scrap of laundry in my house was washed, dried and put away and I started to pack for the trip to Wilmington. Floors were mopped, blogs were read and toes were painted. All in all a great weekend of some much need st home time!

If you are interested, Beach 2 Battleship has online tracking for the first time this year - Hooray! Go HERE and enter bib number 587 to follow my progress on Saturday.

Four days out and I have settled into a calm about the race. Not particularly nervous about the race itself. The things that are making me nervous now are more the logistical things like getting to the transition on race morning and whether or not I have everything I need in my bags. The plan is to pack the various transition and special needs bags tonight so I don't have to worry about it when I get to Wilmington. I can just drop them off and be done with it.

At this point, I am not 100% sure CR can go with me to the race which is a big bummer. It is still undecided but am trying to mentally prepare myself either way. The store owner at his shop had some emergency surgery Sunday night and is in the hospital. The owner was going to cover for CR while we were on vacation so now CR needs to decide if he should stay and work or go on vacation. The owner is telling him to go but not sure if that is the right thing to do. CR hasn't decided yet so I guess we still need to figure that one out. I certainly understand either way. Worst case, he can track me online and I can call him when I get done assuming I have the energy to lift the cell phone to my ear. LOL.

Also... Congratulations to Suz of Cowboys and Lasers and Everything in Between! She won the 4All by JoFit polo shirt. Hop on over and check out her blog. She is running her first half marathon on November 12th!

All about the numbers…

2011-10-20T14:21:00.008-04:00

9 more days!

My race number for Beach 2 Battleship was posted this week. I was a ball of nerves just looking up the number and honestly for the past few days have been that same ball of nerves 24/7 when it comes to thinking about the race. Oddly enough today, I feel calm and confident about the whole thing. There must something to taper madness.

So, my number? 587. I don’t know about you but I have a thing about numbers. Race numbers with a 7 in them make me happy. Race numbers with a 3 and a 7 in them, nothing but good things can happen that day. While this number technically does not have a 3 in it, that is nothing a little basic math can’t fix. 8 minus 5 and there we have our 3. Looks like it is going to be a good race :) Did I mention that this was my 7th triathlon? It just keeps looking better and better!

Speaking of numbers. I have been checking the weather off and on for the past day or so. Yes, it is too early to know what is really going to happen but as of right now, it is looking like 61 for the high and 37 for the low. Yesterday the wind was listed as 24 MPH! Dear Lord. Today it is down to 12 MPH. If it can keep ticking down between now and next Saturday that would be great. Unless of course said wind can push me like a tumbleweed through 112 miles of biking and then stick around to push me for 26.2 more.

In an effort to assure myself that I have done enough to train for this race (here we go with the taper madness again…), I was looking over my numbers from training. Since I started training for this race in May, I have logged 145,227 yards swimming, 1872 miles biking and 447 miles running. Crazy. It really doesn’t seem like I have done that much. The bike miles really get me because I still think of myself as a total newb on the bike. It may not be a lot of miles compared to other "iron" people but for me those are some EPIC numbers considering the biking was such a source of intimidation for me just six months ago.

In other news…

If you like GU gels, the GU website has a special going on right now, that seems like a pretty decent deal. $19.99 for a mixed box of 24 gels – 19 regular gels of various flavors and 5 roctane gels. Click HERE if you want to order. I believe shipping is $3.99. Use coupon code GUMIXED2011

*Don’t forget to enter my giveaway for a 4all by Jofit polo. Your odds are pretty good… just sayin’*

Go Pink for the Cure...

2011-10-18T21:00:00.000-04:00

My friends over at 4All by Jofit have come out with a pink blush polo in honor of breast cancer awareness month and are giving one away to one of you!

Joanne Cloak, founder and CEO of 4all has a personal connection to the cause as a result of watching her sister bravely battle and survive breast cancer twice. Once Joanne created 4all in 2007, she knew that she would do something to help women like her sister. 10% of each sale of each pink blush Jo-Polo goes to support Susan G Komen for the Cure.

I know these clothes are really for golf, tennis and fitness but I like wearing them to work on casual day! They are wrinkle free and the hem is long enough so you don't feel like you need to constantly pull it down which I adore.

My company's home office is in Texas and they love casual days there. We tend to get them for all sorts of reasons. Usually if someone mentions the words Texas Tech in the hallway, we will get an email announcing casual day. For several weeks during the summer, we had casual days because it was so hot. We currently have casual days until the end of the world series (you know, Texas Rangers and all...). Any excuse is a good one for me. In the meantime, I will be sporting my jeans and thankful that I don't have to iron anything!

This is my chillin' at home in taper mode look... 11 more days! Don't you love my wall decoration of an empty phone jack. Lovely.

So... back to the point.... 4all is giving away either a polo or sleeveless polo to one of you! All you have to do is "like" 4all on Facebook or follow them on Twitter. Leave a comment for each. I will draw a winner on Tuesday, October 25th. Good Luck :)

Shall we continue with the countdown?

2011-10-13T11:00:00.001-04:00

It is starting to get real up in here! I kind of want to do a post counting down EVERY SINGLE DAY between now and October 29th but I will save you the agony. Last week when there were 3 weeks to go it still seemed far enough in the distance to be “that thing I am doing at the end of the month”, you know, weeeeeeeks from now. Now, we are two weeks away from packing up the car with my gear and hitting the road. Even typing that sentence made my heart rate go up a few beats.

My peak training was last weekend so ready or not, I am headed to Wilmington in two weeks. I am officially into the taper at this point. Hooray!

I have been soaking up information in race reports like a sponge and making lists of things I need to bring or do or just think about doing. I have all sorts of lists. My lists even have lists. At this point, the list for the various transition and special needs bags looks like I am packing enough for a three day weekend as opposed to a 5 minute change of clothes or brief stop along the course to refuel. I am pretty sure I need to apply some tough love to the list and trim it back a bit.

When it started getting chilly last week, it occurred to me that I need to decide what I am going to wear. This sort of makes me laugh - it sounds like such a girly thing to say – ‘whatever shall I wear’. With sprint, Olympic and even half-irons, the decision is pretty easy; you wear the same thing from beginning to end. In iron distance races, typically there is a changing tent and people can change clothes at each transition. I have to say, it might be nice to start out a 112 mile bike ride in dry clothes. I still haven’t fully decided what I am going to do there; I am leaning towards changing just to be more comfortable. I am not trying to win any awards so am not all that concerned about the extra time. Well, except for that dream I had…. I dreamt I crossed the finish line in 13:23:23. I can’t remember any other details of the dream, only the time. Weird. I feel as though I need to put it out there. That way if that *is* the actual time I finish, I can start my business as a psychic. I can set up a booth at race expos and predict finish times. You would pay for that, right? ;)

In other news, CR didn’t seem too interested in the cowbell I bought for him. He will warm up to the idea of it. I told him everyone on the race course loves to hear a good cowbell. He seemed unconvinced. In all fairness, he does enjoy watching the shorter races so am sure he will get into it and be ringing that cowbell like a madman before it is over. I mean, he really only needs to ring it for 13 hours 23 minutes and 23 seconds, that is not too much to ask...

TWO WEEKS!

In real life...

2011-10-12T11:06:00.011-04:00

I got to meet a blogger in real life today! It is always kind of interesting to meet a blogger, you know so much about them going into it yet you have never actually spoken to that person.

Meredith at Swim Bike Mom is racing the Ironman 70.3 in Miami on October 30th with her husband. They are dedicating their efforts to Caden Stanley through yRun. I encourage you to visit her post about Caden and help out if you can. Even $5 would be appreciated.

I had the good fortune of winning a SWEET Mix1 package Meredith gave away on her site a week or so ago. It turns out that Meredith and I go to the same gym and have the same deep appreciation (*cough*) for a certain early morning spin class. Truth be told, it is the strangest spin class ever. I may have to set up hidden video some time just so you can see.

Even though we go to the same gym, we actually had never met so we agreed to meet up for the beloved spin class. In true second rate blogger style, I did not take a picture of us. It was 5:30 AM and who wants their picture taken at 5:30 AM? Exactly...

Big thanks to Meredith for the Mix1 drinks and gear! If you have a chance, hop over to her blog at Swim Bike Mom and give her some ironman love and encouragement. As if doing a half-iron is not impressive enough, she is also a lawyer and mother of two little ones. I think that trumps me in the "I'm tired because I have too much to do" category. :)

Taking advantage of the three day weekend...

2011-10-08T20:29:00.009-04:00

Sometimes working in banking has its perks. Hello Columbus Day weekend! This could not have come at a better time. Those clothes are still in that chair waiting to be folded, I still need to catch up on my sleep and am thinking I will take care of both of those things on Monday. I may not even leave the house all day :)

I did get a little treat in the mail today from Amazon. B.o.B. recommended this book and who couldn't use a little IM motivation right about now? I am glued to IRONMAN LIVE tonight! While you are at it, check out B.O.B.'s post about endurance. So very true. I may not have any fast twitch muscles but I can endure so that has to count for something.

Oh... so my treat?

Maybe those clothes in the chair can wait.

Before I get to Monday, I am working through my last EPIC training weekend. I am climbing the mountain this week so I can work my way back down next week. This is the weekend I looked at the schedule and realized what I had committed to on October 29th. Yikes.

Today was a 100 mile ride followed by a three mile run. Those last few miles on the bike were a little rough, I was definitely ready to stop riding. I had also not run immediately following a ride that long. It is interesting how different your legs feel after 100 as opposed to even 60 or 70 miles.

Tomorrow is a 20 mile run and then I am done for the weekend! If you need me, I will be propped up on the couch...

Priorities...

2011-10-04T09:25:00.007-04:00

I have a laptop for work which I am required to bring home every night. Last night, I had more than a few things to unload from the car and gave half a thought to just leaving the laptop in the car. Then I realized I couldn't... Why? Well, because I keep my training plan in my laptop bag and I couldn't risk it being stolen. True story. Yeah, not that I really would want anything to happen to the laptop but my real priority clearly was not losing my training plan. LOL.

As I was leaving the gym this morning I saw a car in the parking lot with 2 stickers on the windshield. The first sticker was this:

Directly below it was this one:

Whether it be a marathon or an ironman, I think we all can relate to that one, no?

25 more days...

Time to perservere...

2011-10-03T10:20:00.003-04:00

“Perserverance is the hard work you do after you get tired of all the hard work you have already done.”

This quote was posted on Facebook today by the race directors of Beach 2 Battleship. I really needed to hear that right now. I am getting close to the three week mark. My last epic training cycle is this weekend and am already fighting off the dread of this weekend.

I don’t think the issue is whether or not I can do the training, the issue is more of just feeling tired. I am sure it is perfectly normal; I am so close to seeing this thing through and am feeling the need for a break. A morning to sleep in or an afternoon to lie on the couch and watch TV would be oh so welcome right about now. I look around the house and see the pile of laundry in a chair that has been there for over a week. It is clean I just haven’t had the time to do anything other then pull it out of the dryer and toss it into a chair. I guess the taper weeks are for folding laundry and cleaning house, right? :)

Most days it feels like a never ending cycle of waking up, working out, going to work, working out again, go to bed and start all over. I guess this is where the perseverance comes in. You focus on the end result, build your mental toughness and count the days until your toes are in the sand at the start line of the race. Perseverance. I may have to tattoo that on my arm (or at least write it in sharpie...)

The big 3-0...

2011-09-29T06:00:00.000-04:00

Oh My. Three more weekends of regular training before I go into taper mode. Thirty more days until I cross the line and someone announces that I am an Ironman (err, Iron Distance Finisher without the trademark…). Seriously, I wonder what they say when you cross at a non-branded iron race. I guess they just give some sort of congratulations and announce your name?

The Augusta race definitely has shielded me from too much worry about Beach2Battleship. I am thankful that it gave me a distraction from the big race looming in the not too distant future. Now that Augusta is in the books, B2B is becoming more real. I can feel some nervousness forming. I can feel that doubt about whether or not I have done enough training to make it to the end. I think that is normal though. Who hasn’t questioned whether a maximum distance training run of 20 miles was really good enough to get them to 26.2 before that first marathon? The same seems to hold true here. Triathlon is the first sport I have been involved in where you don’t really execute the whole thing (or the majority of it in practice). You swim on Tues/Thurs/Fri/Sat, bike on Tues/Wed/Sat/Sun, run on Wed/Thurs/Sat/Sun but you never string the whole thing together until race day. You just trust that the science and methodology behind the training plans will work for you.

This weekend’s training appears to be some kind of step back which is fine with me. Suprisingly enough, I am not really sore or tight from the race on Sunday which I will take as a good sign of my preparedness. I am clinging to any sign that will give me a confidence boost at this point! I have a smallish Swim/Bike/Run brick on Saturday and on Sunday I am running the 13.1 Atlanta Half Marathon, riding for an hour and then playing a tennis match. Thirteen miles was the scheduled mileage this week so I thought the half marathon would be a good way to get it done. As for the tennis, well, I missed playing so… (It should be noted that after I wrote out my weekend’s plan in the previous sentences, I realized how crazy it is that I now think of this kind of mileage as a step back week… the things an ironman will do to your thought process).

Four more weeks and I will be headed to Wilmington, NC for the race of my lifetime. Here's to four weeks of positive experiences and great training sessions!

4All by Jofit Skort Winner...

2011-09-28T16:22:00.007-04:00

You didn't think I would forget about picking a skort winner in all my post-Augusta delirium, did you? Fear not, we have a winner of the 4All by Jofit Side Pocket Skort!

I picked a number the old fashioned way. It went something like this...

Me: Pick a number between 1 and 25
Co-worker: Why, will I win something?
Me: No
Co-worker: OK, 6. What do I win?
Me: Still nothing.

Congratulations to Teamarcia! Look for an email from me shortly :)

Pre-Race Augusta 70.3...

2011-09-27T16:33:00.009-04:00

As I mentioned in my last post, I can see why people generally split their race reports into sections. I feel like I could write a short novel on the race last weekend. Be thankful I am breaking it up for you...

Augusta is a short 2 hour drive from Atlanta. My initial plan was to be at the expo when it opened at 11:00 AM which would mean leaving my house at 9:00 AM. Clearer minds prevailed and I decided to sleep in a bit instead. I ended up arriving at the expo around 12:30 which worked out great. The line for registration was out of control. It went down a couple of hallways and around a corner or two. The first stop in the registration process was signing the waivers. You know, in case things didn’t go as planned … It took a minute or two for the volunteers to go through their speech about the waivers which is what contributed to the line.

After the waiver was signed, I basically breezed through the other registration tables. Picked up my packet with numbers in it got my t-shirt and SWAG bag and I was done. The process at the end reminded me so much of Disney in that you have to walk through the merchandise tent to exit and get to the rest of the expo. I ended up going with a t-shirt that had everyone’s name in the logo and a couple of water bottles. I also was planning ahead and purchased a cowbell for CR when we go to Beach2Battleship next month. It will give him something to do while he is waiting, waiting and waiting for all those hours. (Spectators definitely deserve their own medal, BTW…). I took a chance and opted not to attend the pre-race briefing. I will probably attend the one at B2B but I was pressed for time and the friends I was meeting had attended so I figured I could get any pearls of wisdom over dinner. The expo was surprisingly small, there were maybe 4- 5 small vendor tables and not a whole lot of interest so I headed out and went to bike drop off.

As I was pulling up to the transition area to drop my bike, I ran into my friend Jan which really was a miracle given all the people who were there. We unloaded our bikes and made the short walk to transition to drop off our bikes. The temperature reminded me a lot of my Chattanooga race at that point and I was hoping it would not be quite that hot the following day. As we were walking back to our cars, Jan and I ran into another friend of ours who was dropping off her bike.

Jan and I said our goodbyes and I headed to the hotel to check in. I had stayed at this hotel once before when my tennis team went to the state championships. One of my friends on the team had made the reservation and we gave her such crap about the hotel all weekend. The hotel wasn’t horrible, it was just an older hotel. When my friend, Wendy, and I were making reservations we decided to go with this hotel because it was cheap and it was within 1.5 miles of the finish line. I got into my room and opened the door to a wave of smoke. UGH. I know I had reserved a non-smoking room so wasn’t thrilled but knew there were no other rooms and not a lot that could be done. Smoke can give me a headache big time so I bought a can of febreze and hoped for the best. We were meeting friends for dinner at their home at 4:00 so I febreze bombed the room, shut the door and left.

A few of our friends were staying in a home in Augusta. It was built in the 1920s and had been refurbished. It was absolutely beautiful. The home owner along with Jan’s husband, Scott, pulled together a fantastic pre-race dinner for us. We had delicious pasta, salads, bread and red velvet cake. It was so much better than trying to find a place in town.

As we pulled back into the hotel, Wendy mentioned that she and her husband, Todd, were thinking that it might be a good idea to go drop the cars by the finish line that night and take a taxi back to the hotel. That would keep us from having to worry about parking and we could take the hotel shuttle to transition in the morning. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. Going into the race, I can honestly say I was not nervous about the race itself. The things that I was nervous were the logistics such as finding a place to park to drop off the bike, where to park in the morning, getting to transition and those sorts of things. This plan solved a lot of that worry. Cars tucked away in primo spots, our cocktail drinking/texting while driving taxi driver dropped us off at our hotel and we were done for the night.

I spent the next hour or so getting my gear organized while this show “Lockup” was playing in the background. The show was taped at a county jail in Tampa. One of the inmates was talking about her interests. “Some people like baseball or football. I like serial killers. They have this air of confidence that I like.” ….and we can all be thankful that she is in jail. With that, I called it a night.

The Race - Augusta 70.3...

2011-09-27T12:00:00.000-04:00

Take a seat, this is going to be a long one...

As with most races, it was a super early start. Wendy, Todd and I decided to meet out front for the shuttle at 5:45 AM. When I got there a group was leaving so I staked my claim as first in line and waited for the shuttle to come back. Wendy and Todd came around the corner a few minutes later. At that point there were 5 people (including us waiting). As the shuttle pulls up, 3 more people get in line. Todd being the courteous person that he is helped the female driver load the gear in the back. As he was doing this everyone piles in the car not leaving a spot for Todd. The driver shouts out that Todd needed a seat and he had been helping load the car. Wendy and I said we had been first in line, that sort of thing. You could have heard crickets chirping. Not one person even acknowledged that the driver said anything or made any motion to maybe scoot over and make room. It was the strangest thing, as if they suddenly became deaf and could not hear. They all stared straight ahead silently hoping the driver would stop asking them to give up their seat for Todd. Weird. Todd ended up having to fold into the cargo area of the mini van. He is 6’4” so you can imagine…

The shuttle dropped us of at transition, we unfolded Todd and headed to set up our transition area. There were super expensive bikes everywhere. Nothing like a big race to make you feel bad about your ride. My little $300 bike I bought on ebay was feeling a little inferior this particular day. it is like having an El Camino in a group of BMWs. We got our tires pumped up, gear laid out and we hopped on the bus to the swim start. As we are waiting for the start, it starts drizzling a bit. At that point, we thought if it would just stay slightly cloudy, that would be perfect. Augusta can be brutally hot and humid and I didn’t want any part of that action. We stopped at a bench to pull on our wetsuits and headed to the starting area. We can hear the announcer sending off the first few waves. We parted ways with Todd so he could get in with his wave and we headed to drop off our morning clothes bag. As Wendy reaches in her bag, she realizes that somewhere along the way she has dropped her goggles. We retrace our steps with no luck. Wendy asks someone if they happened to see a pair of goggles on the ground. They say no but offer her their spare pair for which she was forever grateful. Crisis averted!

At that point, we needed to start finding our wave. Jan was going off first in our group followed by Wendy and then Christy and I were in the 3rd wave of our group. I felt completely calm at that point. We marched down the walkway to the dock and eased in the water. It felt good at that point since we had heated up a bit in the wetsuits. I positioned myself on the far left and somewhat to the front. We treaded water for about 60 seconds and we were off.

The churn was minimal, I never really felt like I was boxed in by other people. There were the occasional swimmers who would come shooting across diagonally and I would pause for half a beat to let them keep moving on their way. The water was murky and a little on the nasty side. When we first took off, we were swimming over the tops of trees or bushes. Very strange. Every once in a while you would grab a handful of branches or some random grass would get stuck on your goggles and face. I couldn’t help but wonder what that might look like in the race photos if I came up out of the swim with river grass all over my face.

We passed under a couple of bridges and I remember thinking that I should have studied the map a little bit better so I would know where I was on the course in relation to the finish. Shortly thereafter, I looked up and thought I saw the finish buoys. It didn’t seem like that was possible. My goggles were fogged up so I thought maybe I was not seeing that correctly. At that point I was sighting every couple of breaths until I was sure. It turns out it was the finish! I could not believe how quickly that leg went by. I kept swimming until my hands almost touched the ramp with each stroke, I stood up and made the run uphill to the wetsuit strippers and into transition.

Swim: 28:30

My plan all along was to not try to rush through transition. I wanted to make sure I had everything I needed so I wouldn’t be miserable on the ride. I could have gone faster but the time wasn’t all that important to me on this day. I was more about a positive race experience. Maneuvered my way out of T1 onto the bike course. (What is it with people clogging up the bike mount area trying to get on their bikes? Walk it over to the side and get on. You don’t need to stop dead in the middle. Just saying…)

T1: 6:09

…And we’re off. My plan for the bike was so get back to T2 with enough energy to run a half marathon. Don’t go all out, leave something in the tank. I had ridden the course twice before race day which helped. Even though I had ridden the course, I really did not have a good sense of how long it would take me to ride the course when I wasn’t with my training group. I fully expected to be passed by people in droves which is what I had experienced during my race in Chattanooga. I was pleasantly surprised to find that even though I was getting passed a lot, I was also passing other people which gave me a lot of confidence. I found myself using the aerobars for 95% of the race which is not the norm for me. I also seemed to figure out a gear that worked. It just clicked. I kept checking my MPH on my garmin and was surprised. I knew it would be quick early on but expected the number to go down as the race wore on.

Having never ridden in a race with water stops, I was a little nervous about how that might work. I had read all about how to do it but executing the hand off sort of unnerved me. I rode past the first water stop because I didn’t need anything at that point. By stop number two, one of my bottles was empty so I wanted to get some water. Worst case, I figured I would pull off the road at the stop and get a bottle. I slowed down and the volunteer kind of pushed the bottle in my hand so that it would have been hard to drop it. I put it in the bottle cage and that was that. Surprisingly easy.

The course was congested almost the entire way. There were very few stretches where you weren’t aware of getting too close to someone, needing to pass or getting passed. The only odd thing on the ride was a man standing in his driveway with a sign. At first I thought he was a friendly spectator. As I got closer I would read his sign and heard him. The sign said “go home – get off the road”. He kept saying “you are not welcome here, you are a nuisance to the locals”. All I could say was WOW. Guess he didn’t read the article about this being the worlds largest half iron and the all the business it was bringing to the local economy. He was more concerned with being unable to get to the Stop and Shop on a Sunday morning I suppose. I think for one day out of the year you could get over it. Odd.

Just like the swim, before I knew it I was approaching the end of the bike ride. I turned the corner to see Jan’s husband Scott cheering on the racers and ringing a cowbell. A few more feet and I was unclipping and making my way to my bike rack. Unbelievably happy with my ride!

Bike: 3:12:29

I don’t know if most people feel this way but once I get off the bike, for shorter distance races anyhow, you feel like you are home free. No mechanical worries, from here on out you could walk it in if you had to do so. I was riding a wave of biker’s/runner’s high at this point. I honestly thought this would be the slower of my transition times because I stopped to use the port-o-potty so was surprised when I saw that my T2 time was faster than T1.

T2: 4:57

I headed across the mat and back out onto the course. Right before you get to the main road, there were a group of volunteers pouring jugs of water on people. I opted for the impromptu shower. More due to the high and enjoying the moment than any real need to cool off at that point but it did help once I got on the road. The course is essentially two loops as you enter the loops the people on the second half of the course feed into the loop with you. Due to the double loop, you are seeing signs for mile 9 when you are on mile 2 and that kind of thing. We were told that you could not use audible beeps on your watch for pacing (i.e. setting an alarm to go off every 5 minutes so you know to walk for the next 60 seconds if you were doing a Galloway thing). This threw me a bit because that was the plan I was going to execute for B2B and what I had planned on doing for this race. I ended up walking 60 seconds at every mile marker. I didn’t get as much walking in that way but it worked out fine in the end. I never felt like I needed to walk more at any point. Even though it was a loop course, I didn’t see anyone I knew until around mile 11. I came up on my friend Wendy who I guess would have been on her mile 4 at that point. We walked together to the next water stop and chatted about our race. It felt good to see her. I had passed her early on in the bike and had been wondering how her race was going. At the water stop I started running again knowing I only had a couple of miles to the finish. Shortly after I left that water stop I started having some GI issues. There were no port a potties in sight so I gutted it out and hoped for the best.

During that last mile, I saw Joanna who was going to race with us but had to pull out due to an injury and then Dave from Tri Your Best. So exciting to finally see some people I knew in the crowd. The legs felt good and I could not believe I was around the corner from completing this race. As I turned the final corner, the first loop people split off from the final lap people and I was running down the chute to the finish! I have a history of hyperventilating from excitement when I reach milestones like this so I was trying to keep that from happening. It ends up looking like some weird ugly cry. I choked it back as best I could. As I am running, I hear my name and then I swear he said she likes McDonald’s which was weird (I might have been hallucinating). I crossed the finish line and I was done! Oh. WOW.

Run: 2:15:52

Overall Finish: 6:07:57

The finish line area was PACKED with people. It was at that point I realized that we really did not come up with a meeting place for after the race. I knew Wendy was maybe an hour or so behind me so worst case, I would watch for her. In between visits to the port-o-pottie (UGH! GI issues…), I milled about the finish area hoping to see someone I knew. I watched the finish line for about 5 minutes and happened to see Summer cross the line – so exciting! I decided I would go sit on the sidelines around mile 12 on the back side of the finish area and wait to see Wendy go by. I saw Jan and Christy shortly after their finishes and then finally saw Todd come through with his and Wendy’s bike and gear. As I was talking to him, I felt like I was going to pass out so I rambled over the medical tent to get checked out. They had me lie down with my feet up for a few minutes. My blood pressure was super low – 80/30. It is normally pretty low to begin with but that was a little excessive. A few minutes of that and I no longer felt like I was going to pass out. They had me sit up and drink some Perform.

From my vantage point on the cot I could see and hear the finish line. I knew Wendy had not crossed yet. I also saw a flash of lightening followed by an immediate announcement that the race was being shut down due to weather and the racers were being pulled off the course. I quickly told the doctor I was feeling better and rushed out to try and find Todd if not Wendy. Within 60 seconds, the tents were being pulled down and timing equipment pulled up. I rounded the corner from the finish to find Todd. I told him the course was being shut down. He had already heard and had gone to find Wendy on the course. She ran up right behind him, crossed the finish line and was given a medal and finisher’s hat. On the offical record her run time was not recorded but we saw her finish and there is even an official finish photo. I am so thankful that she was that close to the finish when all that went down or she would not have gotten anything. I can’t even imagine… There were people out there on the course that were pulled off. Just heartbreaking. I am pretty sure that was the only flash of lightening I saw too. It rained for a bit and then the sun came back out.

Todd and Wendy drove me over to transition to pick up my bike. I was so thankful because there was no way I was feeling like riding even a mile to my car. My stomach was messed up for a couple of hours after the race. Nutrition wise, I followed my plan on the bike. I followed my plan on the run as well but had some GI issues around mile 11.5 or 12 that make me think I need to really look at that over the next week and figure it out before B2B. I took GU gels at mile 4 and 8. The plan was to take another at mile 12 but my stomach could not have taken it at that point. Drink wise, I was taking in water at every other stop if not more. I took in Ironman Perform at almost every other stop (maybe not quite that often). In all honesty, I felt GREAT until that mile 11.5 or so. I still felt good enough to run it in at the end but knew I needed to find a restroom as soon as possible. (I know, TMI…).

This is the only thing that concerns me now about B2B. I am wondering if it could have been the Perform I took in on the course. I also took in 2 orange slices and 2 cups of coke along the way. In my training runs, I typically take in oranges and occasionally coke so I don’t think that was a problem. I have never had Perform before (and have never had GI issues like that before either). I am wondering if that is a coincidence or if I should come up with a better plan for B2B? Maybe I could get my electrolytes in some other manner and just rely on water. Does this sound familiar to any of you? If so, what do you suggest? I am a little over 4 weeks away from Beach 2 Battleship so really want to get this figured out.

Overall, I am OVER THE MOON about my finish time. I honestly expected a best case scenario of 6:30 if everything lined up perfectly. To come in 23 minutes ahead of that just blows my mind. Now it makes me wonder what I could have done to shave 7 minutes of the time in order to come in under 6:00 that day. There is always that next big goal, isn't there? HA HA.

I am a little over 4 weeks out from my full iron at Beach 2 Battleship. The nerves are already starting to hit me. This should be an interesting month!

The top three things I learned at Ironman Augusta...

2011-09-26T08:48:00.007-04:00

I can see now why bloggers who post race reports often do it in segments. There were so many parts to this weekend, I don't even know where to being to tell the story. Don't you worry, I will get it done. It just won't be today. I don't want to leave you hanging so here are the top three things I learned this weekend.

1. Booty shorts for a man racing a triathlon is not a good look. Especially on the bike when I am stuck leap frogging said booty shorts for the last part of the course.

2. No amount of febreze spray in the world can transform a smoking room in a hotel into a non-smoking room.

3. Anything is possible. I am no super athlete. If I did it, you can too. Never sell yourself short. Finish time: 6:07!

Triathletes Outnumber Golfers in Augusta....

2011-09-22T10:29:00.003-04:00

Three days. Tick. Tock. I saw this article today on the race. I had no idea Augusta was the world's largest half ironman with 3200 participants. Wow. I hope those 3,199 people don't get in between me and the food table at the finish. I think I might want something to eat right about then... I had heard there was a Mellow Mushroom Pizza at mile 12.4. Must resist temptation to stop and eat pizza :)

I have been obsessively checking the weather. At this point, I could probably get a job at The Weather Channel. Thankfully, the weather appears to be nice albeit a little hotter than what I would like but that is Augusta for you - hot and humid!

Good luck to everyone racing this weekend - hope to see you there!

4All by Jofit Skort Giveaway...

2011-09-21T06:00:00.001-04:00

Fall is here! In Atlanta, that means the kickoff of Fall ALTA. In reality, the Atlanta tennis season lasts year round. Our weather is mild enough to where we play outdoors from January through December. I have to say though Fall is the most enjoyable time to play. Summer is brutal because of the heat and Winter can be equally torturous. Yet we still play because we love it :)

To kick off the Fall tennis season 4All by Jofit has given me a Side Pocket Skort to giveaway! Don't think that this skort is just for tennis ... It is great as a running skirt as well. In fact, most of my "tennis" skirts double as running skirts. This one has cool side pockets on the outside which are great for tennis balls, GU gels or even an ipod. Check out their sweet new Cabo collection which has some great prints and colors!

To enter, just leave me a comment letting me know what you are most looking forward to this Fall. Bonus entries for liking 4All by Jofit on Facebook or following on twitter (@4allbyjofit). Contest ends Wednesday, September 28th. Good luck!

Long Bike Rides for Beginners...

2011-09-20T06:00:00.000-04:00

If you have been reading my blog for a while (or longer than a few months) you know that biking is not my strong suit. Back in May, I struggled to clip out before coming to a stop. I was concerned about how I would take in water during my 70.3 race. In my mind, I would roll into T2 fully dehydrated and a death grip on my handlebars. So what changed?

I started riding more. While I wouldn't consider myself an expert rider by any means, continuing to pile on the miles definitely made things easier. My number one tip for getting comfortable on the bike? You gotta put in some miles. Yeah, it might be scary but it gets easier. Trust me. I learned to ride as a kid but I wasn't one of those "ride my bike all over town kids". In fact, I don't remember riding all that much which is probably why it seemed so hard to take it up again as an adult.

Once you start putting in miles, your death grip on the bars begins to release. This is great because now you can drink and eat on the bike. I invested in a little $5 bento box to attach to my handlebars. It holds enough fig newtons for a ride and is easy access for a map as well.

Speaking of maps, how in the world do you go on long rides with many turns if you are unable to read a map while riding? Well, you follow someone who knows where they are going... Seriously though, in the beginning when I was in the death grip phase I wrote directions on the inside of my arm with a sharpie. If the ride was super long, sometimes the directions continued onto my legs. My riding partner used to laugh at me but we never got lost. ...and it should be noted, she always followed me because I knew where we were going. :) Some people clip or tape cue sheets to their handlebars. Once your death grip relaxes, you can store the cue sheets/map in your bento or in your jersey pocket and pull them out to see the next turn.

If you are new to biking, I know it seems like it might never become easier but it truly does. The more you ride, the easier it gets. There really is no magic formula. As for getting faster, well... I am still trying to figure that one out. Let me know if you have the magic trick for that one!

Counting down to Augusta...

2011-09-19T06:00:00.000-04:00

Next Sunday is the big day! Ironman Augusta. Yes, it has become my "B" race but still plenty of excitment and nerves surround it. I definitely have an odd feeling of calm going into this week. I am hoping that is an indication of solid training. Talk to me on Octber 28th the night before Bech 2 Battleship ... am guessing I might not have the same sense of calm. In CR's way of trying to inspire me, he said "no person in their right mind would sign up for that kind of torture but you did - and you are woman enough to get it done". LOL Thanks, I think ...

As for Augusta, if you want to track my progress next Sunday, you can do so HERE. I am number 2568.

I don't really have any huge time goals for this race, primarily, just want to finish strong so that it gives me confidence for Beach 2 Battleship. This is my first experience at this distance and there are so many unknowns. I am not even sure how to estimate a finish time.

Swim: 35 minutes
The current is supposed to be insane so I may end up pleasantly suprised with this number.

Bike: 3 hours, 30 minutes
I have ridden the course twice but both times it was with a lot of stops so don't have a good handle on the time. Hopefully, it will hover somewhere around 3:30.

Run: 2 hours, 30 minutes
A conservative estimate. I am planning to do a run/walk like I will at Beach 2 Battleship so that will add some time. Excitement of the day or dead legs could bring this number up or down.

Transitions: Zero idea. The last race, I was super fast with transitions but I probably will take a little more time in this race just to avoid forgetting something important.

If I had to guess, I would say probably somewhere in the 6:30 to 7:00 range (hopefully closer to 6:30ish if things are going well). Again, just want to finish and not feel like I am going to die crossing the finish line. Too much to ask? :)

Scenes from a Saturday Ride...

2011-09-17T19:28:00.011-04:00

Today was my last long ride before Augusta 70.3 next weekend. It is still hard to believe how quickly time went by. It seems like just yesterday I was perched on a stool in my friend's kitchen filling out the online registration. One week to go!

I rode 85 miles today on my favorite route of all time. The route is nothing but hills without a flat road in sight but I still love it. There is almost no traffic at all and the scenery can't be beat. If you like an out in the country relaxing ride, this route is for you. The crazy part is that it is just 30 minutes or so outside of metro Atlanta. Good to know there are still pockets of undeveloped land out there that haven't been taken over by shopping centers and fast food restaurants.

We see all kinds of animals out there - rabbits, llamas, deer, cows, horses, mules, goats, chickens, assorted road kill & vultures... ick. I have also had a celebrity sighting - not once but TWICE I have seen Santa Claus running in the neighborhood (he was wearing an Atlanta Track Club singlet no less). The second time I saw him he said "ho, ho, ho" as I shouted out his name. I would not lie about these things - there is that whole naughty/nice list.

Hope you enjoy... :)

Savannah Century...

2011-09-05T09:32:00.015-04:00

Saturday afternoon I loaded up my bike and made the four hour drive from here to Savannah for the Savannah Century. I had never done a century before and really wasn't sure what to expect. There were the usual concerns of everyone being faster than me. I worried that if I was too slow, they might close down the rest stops before I get there and maybe they could at least wrap my "post ride meal" in a little tin foil and leave it by the finish line in case they had all gone home by the time I got there. All that worry was unnecessary.

I pulled into the parking deck on Sunday morning and it was packed with cyclists getting on their gear and pumping air in their tires. An older man comes over and asks me if I will help him put two bananas and some sunscreen in the back pocket of his shirt. I had never seen anyone carry frozen bananas on a ride. I thought it was odd but maybe I am just not up to date on bike riding nutrition.

Tires pumped and helmet on, I make my way out of the parking deck and over to the starting area. The ride has about 1000 participants doing various routes of 25, 37, 56, 69 or 103 miles. I was given a map in my ride packet and had it with me just in case. The start was kind of uneventful. Bikes just started moving into position and slowly inching forward. Next thing you know we are off.

The Savannah Century is a weekend event. There are two rides on Saturday along with "the bridge" ride on Sunday. They call it the bridge ride because the very first part of the ride takes you over the Talmadge Bridge. Let me just say this is no small bridge. It is closed to cyclists typically so it is a big deal to be able to ride your bike over it.

After everyone got their legs warmed up on the bridge, the ride thinned out as pace lines were formed and everyone settled into their riding speed. As we started making turns, I asked how you could tell which road markings were for which route. I knew that my route stayed with the others for a few rest stops but didn't want to have to rely on the map. All the road markings were color coded. If you had a yellow map, you followed the yellow markings. This was the most well marked course I have ever seen. At certain intersections where you might be tempted to turn, there would be a confirmation marker letting you know to continue straight. Markings to let you know of an upcoming turn were well in advance and then once you made the turn there was another marking to let you know you were on the right path.

On the ride, there were rest stops every 10 to 15 miles. Since I was using this as a training ride for Beach 2 Battleship, my initial plan was to hit up every other rest stop and to do so as quickly as possible. My first stop was at the second rest stop which was hosted by a local boy scout troop. They had even made a makeshift bike rack out of wood for us. It was a little chaotic as none of the distances had split apart yet but I managed to fill my water bottle and move on.

Shortly after that rest stop, the shorter distances split off. I had that brief realization of "no turning back now" and kept going. Shortly after the split off, two cyclists asked me if this was the century route as they whizzed past me. I said yes. They asked again, the 103 mile route? Still yes. I tried not to take that as a sign that I looked out of place :)

The next rest stop was at a feed and seed. My original plan was not to stop there but for some reason that sounded interesting to me. Any excuse, I suppose. One of my two water bottles was completely empty so it was probably best to fill it back up. I was trying something new this route. I had been using accelerade in one of my two bottles but decided to go with nuun tablets. I would fill up a water bottle, drop in a nuun tablet and then put it in the back bottle holder to give it time to dissolve while I drank from the front bottle until the next rest stop. It seemed to work great.

For most of the time riding, I amused myself taking pictures or keeping up with the mileage to the next turn or rest stop. It really made the miles fly by. Having rest stops every 10 to 15 miles almost seemed like too much in the beginning but by the end, when you would ride up on one it was almost like an oasis. Towards the end, people would be stretched out on the grass resting and taking a break. Oh and the food at these things is a carb lovers dream. Tiny cups of pretzels, trail mix, cheez its, 6 or 8 kinds of cookies, pickles, oranges, grapes, bananas, shall I go on? I became addicted to the orange slices and would pick up a couple as I filled my water bottle.

The weather during the ride was in the low 90s with no wind that I could tell in the beginning. Once we made the turn for the final 50 miles, we had some occasional sprinkles which felt cooling. At one point, there was a deluge of rain for 6 or 8 miles which was not quite as delightful as the sprinkles. I could see sunny spots in the distance so just kept riding despite the downpour. As soon as it stopped, the heat dried everything off and we spent the last 40 miles or so in a pretty intense headwind. For most of this portion of the race, I felt like I was riding alone. I could occasionally see riders in the distance or have a small group pass me but there were plenty of times where I wondered if maybe I had missed a turn. A few miles from the last rest stop, there was a random family out there clapping and cheering which made me smile.

I had planned on skipping the last rest stop but when I came up on it there was no one there other than the volunteers. I decided to stop to thank them for helping. As they filled my water bottle with ice, I realized that was the best decision I made all day. I enjoyed that icy water bottle for the last 12 miles back to the finish.

As I made the final turn off the highway I could feel the wind gusting and pushing my bike over to the left. I was thankful to get off the highway at that point and on to side roads for the last four miles. As I made the final half mile, there was a group coming out of a restaurant that saw me and started cheering for me as I was coming up a hill. At that point, I actually thought I had 2 miles to go. Little did I know I was so close. Rolled through the finish and I was done!

Everyone was so nice, I guess as a lone rider and a girl at that I kind of stood out. At one point a group of guys passed me and told me I was "rad" for doing this by myself. As I was packing up the car, a couple of guys loaded the bike for me. I didn't ask them, they just did it. What a lovely group of people. So well organized and such a great time, I would definitely do it again!

Bits of Randomness...

2011-08-31T10:32:00.003-04:00

The weather here has dropped about 5 degrees this week. Yes, a whole 5 degrees. I'll take it. Swimming in the morning has lamost been, dare I say, CHILLY. Even though it is now 90 instead of 95 it makes much better lunchtime napping weather. Yes, I nap in my car at lunch, is that weird? If so, don’t tell me. Funny, the main thing that has stuck with me thus far from reading The Triathlete’s Training Bible was something about napping. Go figure.

I had an EPIC training weekend this past weekend. It was the first weekend where the reality of 140.6 hit me in the face. I looked at the scheduled workout and wondered if it was even possible. Turns out it was possible, much to my delight (and surprise).

Saturday was a bike sandwich. A 10 mile run, 60 minute bike and 5 mile run. It was super hot because I got a late start. CR’s birthday was Saturday and he asked if I would make him pancakes (I am such a giver…) ;) So pancakes made, stop at Walgreens for a few things, pick up my CSA bag from my farmer and before you know it you are starting your run at 10:00.

Sunday was day two of EPIC weekend. An 80 mile bike ride followed up with a 4 mile run. The last 15 miles or so of the bike were a little rough. I am wondering if you ever get used to your neck sort of being in an awkward position for that long. When I got to the car to deposit the bike and start the run, I had my doubts about how well it would go. Oddly enough, in looking at my time, I negative split the run which almost never happens. I started off slower than usual but by the time I got to miles 3 and 4 I was at my normal pace. It didn’t seem faster as I was running (and really wasn’t paying attention to the time) so the pace surprised me when I downloaded it later from my garmin.

Lastly, my 16 year old niece started a one year journey as an exchange student this week. She normally lives in Alaska but will be spending the next year with a family in Turkey. Her original flight was to leave from JFK last Saturday but after Irene changed those plans she ended up leaving from Seattle and arrived in Turkey sometime yesterday. Should be an incredible experience for her!

Taking it Off Road...

2011-08-29T15:18:00.005-04:00

Alternately titled "Do I need Trail Running Shoes?". The North Face Endurance Challenge series is making a stop in the Atlanta area next month and I am taking on the challenge of the 10k! Baby stepping my way in to the world of trail running (that and hoping I don't hurt anything 2 weeks before Beach 2 Battleship...)

The race distances include everything from a 5k on up to a 50 miler with varying race goodies depending on your distance. I really was coveting the arm warmers that come with the half marathon distance but logic prevailed and I decided to stick with the more sensible 10k option.

Check out their cool promo video. Makes you want to get out there and give it a try, doesn't it?

If you are in the Atlanta area or are looking for a Fall trail race, check it out HERE online. The race is being held at F D Roosevelt State Park in Pine Mountain which is about an hour south of Atlanta on October 15-16.

5k • 10k • Half Marathon • 50k
Gore-Tex 50 Mile • Kid's Run
Marathon • Marathon Relay

Race
Saturday & Sunday, October 15-16, 2011
F. D. Roosevelt State Park, Liberty Pool Area
www.endurance-challenge.com

Start/Finish Location
F. D. Roosevelt State Park
Liberty Pool Area
Highway 354
Pine Mountain, GA 31822

Changing perspectives...

2011-08-26T18:00:00.000-04:00

This past weekend, I rode the course at Augusta AGAIN. Obviously, I felt the need to reallllly get to know every nook and cranny of the course (or not). The real story is that the first time I rode the course, I went with a group of people from a local bike shop (shout out to Decatur Bikes). The second time I went, I rode with a few friends from my running group who couldn't make it the previous week.

It is funny how my perspective of the course changed the second time. I have a couple of theories as to why it changed. The first being that prior to seeing the course, I had been told it was essentially flat so any hills at all were one too many on that day. My other theory is that I rode an extra 5 miles that first time because I missed a turn and got lost. Those last 5 miles were Chattanooga hilly and it may have skewed my memories of the course which is funny in a way because everyone I ride with tells me I have "hill amnesia". I tend to forget the major hills on some of our routes when describing the ride to potential new riders.

So, for the benefit of any readers who are doing the Augusta 70.3... from this day forward, let it be known that my new "official" review of the Augusta course is this:

The first 16 miles are flat. After mile 16ish, the route goes to rolling hills with some flats mixed in, there are some fairly long, slow uphills somewhere around miles 30 to 40. You are not climbing Mount Everest on a bicycle. They are the type of hills that make you wonder when they might end because it feels like you climb for a while. After that the course goes back to rolling hills with a short steep hill and one more long slow hill before you hit the flats for the last 4-5 miles. There you have it. Go forth and prosper.

So you want to be a triathlete...

2011-08-26T06:00:00.000-04:00

Saw this on Carolina John's facebook page this week. So very relatable, don't you think?

The article is from Clark Endurance and posted on Trifuel HERE.

Fact: you will not become efficient at swimming, biking or running over night. Sorry to burst your bubble. This is NOT an easy sport.

Check your ego at the door because chances are someone fifty pounds heavier than you will lap you in the pool. Not to mention she will be ten or fifteen years older than you.

You will be passed on the bike many times and you will never be the fastest runner in your town.
You will have early morning workouts. Really early.
You will plan your weekends around your swim, bike and run.
You are up while others are sleeping.
You are training while others are sitting.
You will discover others who also follow this blood, sweat and tears cult.
You will eventually get a flat tire... and have to change it all by yourself.
No matter what you hear, triathlon is NOT an inexpensive sport.
Warning, it is extremely addictive, hence the impulse spending on wetsuits, bikes, running shoes, aero bars, aero helmets, speed suits, power meters, GPS heart-rate monitors and many other ‘gotta have items.’
You will hate swimming more times than you like it for the first year.
You will suffer through road trips with whiny fellow triathletes.
You will suffer set backs.
You may experience an injury.
You will develop a love/hate relationship with a foam roller and ice baths.
You will at some point realize you need a coach.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will wear tight clothing.
You will not like how this tight clothing fits or looks.
Your age will take on a whole new meaning.
You will discover a whole new meaning for tan lines.
Food will become an extremely important part of your life.
You will learn new words such as GU, cadence and brick.
You will hate swimming for the first year.
You will spend more time on your bike than on your couch.
You may lose a friend or two because you spend too much time swimming, biking and running, and they could careless about your heart rate training, foam rolling pain or 20 mile bike ride.
You will learn patience.
You will be humbled.
You will start to realize you are paying money to put yourself through pain and suffering, but for some odd reason, you LOVE it.

This sport called Triathlon, becomes a part of you. You start to plan your entire year around sprint, international, half-iron or full-iron distance races. Your vacations become racing, and you start to realize that this sport called triathlon could become a life-long adventure.
Many people settle for things in life. They settle for a crappy job, marriage, friends, food, place to live and overall fitness and health.

Those who desire more or those who want more out of life than a drive-thru window and boring sitcom, will choose triathlon or an activity that makes them happy. An activity that will change their life. Triathlon will change your outlook on life, your career, your marriage, your goals, your friends and many other things you thought you had figured out. It’s not just crossing a finish line or a boring finisher medal. It’s the countless hours that got you to that point. A moment in time that you will NEVER forget. A moment that you will discuss with your family and friends for hours if not days after the event. These discussions will most likely be about how you could have done better. At what point could you have swam faster, biked harder or ran more efficient? This is what will go through your head everyday until you get the opportunity to suffer again.

So you wanna be a Triathlete? Enjoy the ride and train hard!

Back from DC ...

2011-08-25T18:18:00.006-04:00

What's shaking kids? I can say that because I was in DC on Tuesday when the earthquake went down. It was my first earthquake and all so it was pretty exciting. Based on my experience, I am gonna go out on a limb and say that the news coverage was very over the top. Yes, there was some damage here and there but....

I was in DC for a training class. There were about 12 of us in a room on the 2nd floor of a 12 story hotel when we felt a little rumble. Almost like a truck went by the window (except that we were on the 2nd floor...), I thought it was the guy bringing in our afternoon cookies or maybe the air conditioner kicking on. We all just sort of looked at each other when the rumbling got a little bit stronger (and no cookies appeared). At that point, we grabbed our belongings and went outside just in case. Later we found out that you are not supposed to go outside but this being our first earthquake and all, who knew? At that point, we didn't even know it was a earthquake we just knew things felt a little unstable. It lasted all of 10 seconds. The most amazing thing to me was by the time we got outside (about 60 seconds later), it was already on the news. Crazy how fast they can get the information out to the public.

I made it home last night around 10 PM and got up and back on my training schedule this morning. I hit the pool at Lifetime and then headed out to the tennis courts (not officially part of the training plan). I am currently trying to decide between riding my bike tonight or tomorrow...

and finally..... We have a winner! I did a little random.org action and my winner is #1: Mari Fridenmaker - CONGRATS! Mari's go to breakfast is a smoothie: Ice, Banana, Frozen Fruit (ie Strawberries), Powdered Milk, 1 T of Peanut Butter, 1 T of Plain Yogurt and Water! Looks like she will be able to stock up on some smoothie supplies at Publix.

Who wants a Publix gift card?

2011-08-18T07:00:00.002-04:00

I do! I do! Well you are in luck because I have been given a $25 Publix gift card to give away to one lucky reader. Hooray!

From August 18th through the 25th, Publix is holding their Great Deals on Great Meals event. The event, held exclusively at Publix, allows you to take advantage of great savings on some of your favorite brands, including great prices on everything you need to fuel up for that morning run or treats to take to your next tennis match.

During the event, look in-store or visit GreatDealsOnGreatMeals.com to download $12.00 in coupons for great breakfast, lunch and dinner products. The coupons are valid from August 15th through September 4th so don't let them go to waste!

I know I will be stocking up on CR's favorite breakfast of Honey Nut Cheerios. Now that we are watching his cholesterol again, this is his daily ritual.

While I am there I might also grab some more Quaker chewy granola bars. Love these for pre-workout snacks. So easy to grab and go at 5 AM when I am heading out the door. Have you tried the new Smash Bars? They are a fun combination of graham, chocolate and pretzels in a granola bar.

So how do you get the gift card, you ask? Well, we all know CR's go to breakfast is Honey Nut Cheerios. Just leave me a comment telling me what your go to breakfast would be if you had to eat the same thing every day.

Just as a little FYI disclosure, the Publix gift card, information, and giveaway have been provided by General Mills through MyBlogSpark. The winner will be drawn at random on August 25th. Good Luck!

**** If you have a single second to spare, please go to Refuel with Chocolate Milk to help me win a chocolate milk refuel grant to help fund my trip to Beach 2 Battleship 140.6. It literally takes ONE second. No forms to fill out and you can vote once a day between now and September 15th. THANK YOU! ****

Loving what you do...

2011-08-17T06:00:00.003-04:00

This post is going to go off the beaten path of fitness for a moment. There are so many out there seeking for a job, I felt the need to share a positive story.

A few years ago, we were tucked in our happy cocoon. CR and I had jobs. Mine had its moments like most do, I have often said that my office is a mirror image of the television show The Office. Lots of strange situations that probably seem funny from the outside looking in. CR on the other hand was working for himself. He was a one man show working in auto transportation. He didn't love the work as such but he enjoyed the flexibility and the pay. Then things changed. About 3 or 4 years ago, people stopped buying cars as much. Meaning, there wasn't a lot to transport in the world of auto transportation. Decisions were made, we sold our trucks and trailers.

At the time, CR was asked to be involved in a business start up. We had a friend who had made a small fortune in higeher end restaurants in the area. We trusted that he knew how to make a business successful even though this one had nothing to do with the restaurant industry. CR poured himself into the work. We weren't crazy with the type of business that was being developed; it just didn't feel like a good fit. At this point, everything forged ahead. CR gained invaluable experience from the process. He dealt with county licensing and permits, negotiated with real estate developers and a myriad of other things that he had never done before. Then the investor got cold feet and the project ended.

CR had never really been in a situation where the next opportunity wasn't just waiting there for him. He had spent his life doing so many things but how do you take that and sell yourself to a company. Even if you only want to get your foot in the door, some see you as overqualified because you spent so much time working on your own while others see you as not qualified enough because the things you were doing don't fit neatly in their view of experience needed for the job. Let's not even talk about how it feels to be 40 or 50 and in that situation. There is a lot of stress, some hopelessness and a lot of uncertainty.

We sat down and figured out his strengths. We thought about about what he might like to do in a perfect world. What would make you smile every day going to work?One of his hobbies was motorcycles. He can repair anything and often has people come to him wanting him to work on their bikes. He really wasn't interested in being a bike mechanic. (I guess from experience he knew that it would be hard on his body). For a while, he spent some time writing a technical manual for a bike manufacturer. It was part time but helped. He was also well known in his circle of motorcycle friends for being sort of salesman of the brand. He loved the product so much that his enthusiasm helped sell the product.

We started focusing on sales. He took a couple of sales jobs in the home improvement industry. Neither of which lasted very long only because it quickly became apparent that CR was spending more in gas than he was making. They weren't a total waste, he gained quite a bit of sales experience from those jobs. The constant negotiation with customers and learning the psychology behind making a sale is something he still uses today.

A little over a year ago, one of CR's friends decided he was going to open a gun range. This friend had extensive experience in business start ups much like the previously mentioned friend. We admired the plans over Christmas but really didn't give it much thought. One day last August CR stopped by to see the store on his way home from an interview. They got to talking and his friend offered him a job. The pay wasn't ideal and I am certain his friend didn't think he would even be interested. They mutually agreed that CR would work there "until something better came along".

CR personally has a small collection of guns and enjoys shooting at gun ranges or skeet but had no real experience behind the counter. He jumped in and applied himself like no other in the new experience. The job may have been "until something better came along" but he treated it as if he were going to retire from the place. He used his sales skills to sell guns and with his friendly personality he is great with the customers. He even had some natural leadership skills in there that he just never had a chance to use working on his own all those years.

Fast forward a year, and "something better" never came along. Only because CR loved his job so much he stopped looking. He was promoted last week to store manager. He is also teaching classes on gun safety once a week and gives private lessons. He knew very little about guns when he started but he immersed himself in the opportunity. The moral of the story? If you are out there looking, don't give up hope. Seek out opportunities in industries or tasks that make you happy. I have found that things have a way of popping in but you have to be open to the possibilities. Had CR dismissed taking the job at the gun store because of the lesser pay, he would have missed out on an opportunity for a job he really loves. We should all be so lucky. He smiles every day on his way to work.

Did I mention he has a company car? Good thing he doesn't mind being the center of attention. :)

In case you missed it (or maybe just want to vote again...). I'm a Chocolate Milk Refuel grant finalist! PLEASE follow this link to vote for me to join team refuel to help me earn some gas money for the road to the Beach 2 Battleship. Scroll down to find Karen Whitlock and click to vote. No registration or forms to fill out. You can vote once a day from now until September 15th :) THANK YOU SO MUCH!

It was Twenty Years Ago Today...

2011-08-16T06:00:00.000-04:00

Sgt. Pepper taught the band to play... Actually, TWENTY years ago today, CR and I were wed in one of the smallest ceremonies known to man. Yes, my Dad can thank me for saving him oodles of cash on a big church wedding. I have never been one to follow the crowd, I tend to do my own thing. The wedding was no exception. A small backyard BBQ some cake and we were Mr. & Mrs.

We went spent the next week hang gliding in Chattanooga, TN and winding our way on a motorcycle through Asheville, NC and parts of Virginia via the Blueridge Parkway. For the record, the motorcycle trip was supposed to be an afternoon trip. Five days later we made it back to our car on Chattanooga. Ah, youth.

Happy Anniversary CR!

In other news... I'm a Chocolate Milk Refuel grant finalist! PLEASE follow this link to vote for me to join team refuel to help me earn some gas money for the road to the Beach 2 Battleship. Scroll down to find Karen Whitlock and click to vote. No registration or forms to fill out. You can vote once a day from now until September 15th :) THANK YOU SO MUCH!

Previewing the Course... Augusta 70.3

2011-08-14T20:01:00.003-04:00

I am a HUGE fan of riding a race course in advance of race day. Whether in a car or on a bike, there is nothing like seeing the road in person. This morning, I headed out with one of my friends to join local tri group to ride the Augusta 70.3 course. Augusta is about a 2 hour drive from here so the day started with a 4:30 AM wake up call. A little early for a Sunday but in the end it was worth it!

We parked in the most nondescript area possible. There was a boat dock, a small shack for a rowing club, a covered picnic area and a small field. As we were rolling out, the ride leader mentions that the boat dock is the swim exit and the field is the transition area. Could not believe it. It will be interesting to see how the area is transformed when Ironman invades on September 25th. If I go back next week, I'll have to remember to take a picture, it really is hard to believe. (BTW apologizing in advance for the lack of pics, we were all bizness today) ;)

Once the bikes were unloaded, our ride started from the transition area and headed out of the riverfront area along the ride route. On the ride over, my friend and I had "new ride group" worries. You know, "are they going to hate us because we aren't super fast", "hope they don't take off and leave us", that kind of thing. We aren't crazy slow but we aren't 20mph riders either. For the first couple of miles, it was the tightest ride line you have ever seen. What were we worried about? No sooner had I said that then it was like the front part of the group had taken on rocket fuel and were gone. L.O.L. Luckily, the back half of the group was still with us and my friend was smart enough to have brought a map with her.

The first 15 to 18 miles were essentially flat. At the point the hills were about to begin the ride leader pulls up and gave us pointers on how to race the course and asked us about our nutrition plan. I told him mine involved fig newtons and accelerade every 15 mnutes. I had the alarm set on my garmin (which really helped BTW). Every time my alarm went off from there forward he announced "time to take a fig newton". HA HA.

In terms of race strategy, he said not to let the adrenaline of the race take over because you need to save something for the last 40 miles of hills. Pretty much everywhere we ride has hills, there are really no flats where we normally train so hills are not such a huge deal. The weird thing though was that several people who live around me had said the course was more or less flat with some rolling hills. Just goes to show you that one person's mountains are another one's molehills. I won't say the hills were like climbing Mount Everest or anything but I was a little suprised given the course description I had heard from those people. My garmin had it at about 3200 feet of climbing. I did a little extra as you will see.

The nice thing about the course is that the roads were marked. Every turn had an arrow and a pink Mdot in the road. At about halfway, we regrouped at a convenience store to top off with water. Back on the road, I was following the rocket fuel group with the rest of the group behind me. The rockets were pulling away from me but I was able to see them in the distance. At some point I heard some talking behind me so while I knew the group wasn't right behind me I felt like they were close. I continued to follow the turns in the road. I no longer was able to see the rockets in the distance, I no longer heard the talking behind me. I continue to ride. I slow down a bit hoping they will catch up. I wasn't all that much faster than the group. I am a decent climber on the bike but still something wasn't right. It had been a while.

Just when I think about stopping to wait, I see another pink Mdot which confirmed I was in the right spot. I decide to keep going. 24 miles to go, 18 miles to go, 11 miles, I make a turn off the country road onto more of a highway. I ride. I keep riding. More hills. 2 miles to go. Where ARE they? Did I miss a turn? WHY did I not take that map when Debbie offered it to me? No pink Mdots to be found. There is no way this is right. Googled my current location on my phone and got directions to the transition area. The first instruction was "W on Hwy 278". Hmmm.... which direction is west? I decide to go back the way I came. Nothing on the directions is coinciding with the roads I see. I pull over again. I call the ride leader who is out looking for me (and 2 other lost people - glad they weren't too lost but there was some relief that I was not the only one). He was just around the corner. I keep riding and we eventually run into each other. At this point I was at mile 60 of a 56 mile bike ride. There was no argument from me when we decided to load up my bike in the car and ride back. At that point, I was just thankful to be found!

In retrospect, I should have stopped at one of the early turns with the pink mdots and waited for everyone to catch up. So dumb. The rocket group was long gone and the other group would not have been all that far behind me. They would have had to come through there eventually. I should have also definitely had a map. In my mind I was riding with the group. I never dreamed I would get separated but it happened and honestly it was a little scary when I was 3 hours away from home with almost NO IDEA how to get back to my car. That portion of the ride was a perfect example of what not to do.

Despite the navigation issues, I was so thankful to have had a chance to ride this course. It was not at all the type of course I had in my head so it was good to see it first hand. I know in Chattanooga, I drove the course in my car and it really helped. I highly recommend it!

Casual Fridays...

2011-08-12T13:30:00.000-04:00

As I have mentioned before, by the time Friday rolls around I am DRAGGING! Even with packing my gym bag along with my work clothes the night before, my packing process is usually a mad rush. Thankfully, I work in an office that has casual days more often than not. I am in the Atlanta area but our home office is in Dallas and they are good about having casual days frequently and for the most random reasons. Lately, they have had a heat wave in Dallas so we have had casual days for the past two weeks. Over the fall and winter, whenever Texas Tech wins or someone even mentions Texas Tech we have casual days. I am not complaining one bit!

The great thing about casual day is I usually don't have to iron anything. Hooray! Yesterday, I received a pair of the Windsor Knit Athletic Pants from 4AllbyJofit in the mail. LOVE these pants! I literally unfolded them out of the package and put them in my gym bag. Not only did I not have to iron them but I got a compliment on them withn 5 minutes of walking in the door to work.

They are extremely comfortable and you can kind of dress them up to get away with wearing them work or be super casual and play tennis or golf in them. I wore them to work today in case I got a last minute invite to the PGA Championship which is being played down the street this week. Anyone, anyone?

The pair I was given is from the Windsor collection and is in the new raisin color but the pants come in a variety of colors including your basic black. If you decide you want to try a pair of your own, my personal experience is that the sizes run a little bit large. In most clothes that are sized small, medium, large I always wear a small. I don't ever try anything on and a small fits. With this line, I wear an extra small so you might want to check out the size chart and decide accordingly. My helpful hint for the day...

At least if I have to work on Fridays I can be comfortable, right? Have a great weekend!

....and, in the interest of disclosure, I was given these pants for review although the opinions expressed are very much my own :)

Friday AM Swim...

2011-08-12T08:50:00.003-04:00

This morning started a little earlier than usual. I had 4000 meters on my training schedule and wasn't sure how long it would take to cover that distance in the pool. Interestingly enough on Tuesday at masters practice, it was mentioned that the noon practice group swims 4000 meters in an hour. In a typical practice, there are short set breaks and occasionally waiting to hear what the next set is so it seemed hard to believe that 4000 could be knocked out in an hour in that setting. We came to the conclusion that they swam longer than an hour. Mostly that was because the competitive people in the group did not want to believe they could be faster than us. I see a duel in the pool coming soon...

Anyhow, I got up about 30 minutes early so I could be at the pool by 5:30. I don't know about you but on Fridays I am draggggggggggging. I hit the snooze button a couple of times before I finally rolled out of bed. By the time I got into the pool it was 5:45. Not too bad but made me wonder if I would be able to get my full workout in before 7:00 in order to get dressed and get to work.

Since I do masters during the week, I think I am going to use Fridays for working on distance. When race day comes I want to have that confidence tucked away in my brain that I know I can cover the distance. The workout looked like this:

1 x 2000 swim
1 x 500 kick
1 x 1000 pull
1 x 400 kick
1 x 100 cool down

I was suprised that I got it done in 1:15 including a few set breaks and an unplanned stop to pull a freakishly long hair out of my face (is there anything more gross than swimming through someone else's hair in the pool - well, I guess a bandaid might be grosser). Racewise, I know I can swim a 100 in about 1:30 and a 1500 in 26:30 but wasn't sure how long I could hold that pace. It kind of feels good to have a closer estimate for the IM distance.

As I was swimming my cool down, I noticed the man in the lane next to me was using a kick board as a pool buoy. Very odd. I can't imagine that was very comfortable. I assume he wasn't doing flip turns with that thing although I should have watched for them, that would have been talent!

Acworth Women's Tri...

2011-08-10T08:33:00.006-04:00

The day started out with a 3:30 AM wake up call so I could get in the car and head out to the Acworth Women's Sprint Triathlon. CR was initially going to go with me and then we realized what time we would have to get up to go and, well, the desire to sleep in was greater than his desire to see me for brief seconds here and there. I have to say I can't blame him! Given the choice, I would rather he come cheer for me at Beach 2 Battleship or Augusta since those are possibly once in a lifetime things.

Back to the story... Quite a few people from my training group were in the race. Two of the people I had been working on their swim so it was a morning full of nerves and excitement for them. I was suprisingly relaxed about the whole thing. I honestly don't have that many tris to my name at this point so I guess it is just the confidence of having some actual training going into the race (as opposed to a few previous times where I would ride the bike for about half mile just to remember how to change the gears).

We all corraled up by the swim start. The waves were done by age with the oldest age group going first and the youngest going last. They allowed about 6 or 8 minutes after the first wave then started sending every other wave off 3 minutes apart. I didn't have a particularly great swim time. The swim was a rectangle with 2 right turns. I can't really put my finger on why the swim was so crowded but I swam in churn for the entire 400 yards. If sardines swam inside their can, that was what it was like for me. I have never been in a swim that crowded all the way to the end, it was odd. Not sure if it was because we were over taking the previous waves so quickly or that the kayaks were too close in not allowing a lot of space or just my inability to get to the left and out of the churn. Most likely, the latter I would assume. I was estimating about 7:00 for the swim and ended up with 9:02. Oh well.

Swim: 9:02

I was happy with my transitions as they were fast compared to my previous races. It always varies from where you run in and where your bike is but I felt like I was very organized, got what I needed and was out of there.

T1: 1:14

Off on the bike! The ride felt great. It was a nice mix of flats and hills so not a super easy course. As per usual, I got passed by some but this time I passed plenty of people as well which is always a confidence booster! I swapped spots about 10 times with one girl who chose to wear a sports bikini as her tri outfit. I really only wanted to get past her because I was tired of looking at her booty - ha ha! Every time she passed me back I was cursing her... I finally got her in the last half mile. It is the little things :)

Bike: 44:27 (17.6 mph)

T2 felt super fast as well. Throw off the bike shoes. Throw on the running shoes. Grab hat and number and I am off.

T2: 1:09

The run was a point to point run which resulted in a 5k that was uphill from start to finish. Luckily, the weather was overcast and almost cool so it wasn't as torturous as it could have been. It was a pretty run that winded through some neighborhoods leading to downtown Acworth and the finish line party.

Run: 29:10

Overall: 1:24:59

I always feel good about my races until I see everyone else's time and then I start comparing. I must learn to stop doing that... The race felt good. Honestly, the only thing I could improve on was the swim which cracks me up because that is my strong leg. Next time, I just need to do a better job of locating some space so I am not banging elbows, legs and heads with each and every stroke.

The finish area was super nice. Lots of massage tables, free Yankz shoelaces, Mix1, Muscle Milk and clothing vendors. The food was like a catered event. All sorts of salads, chicken salad sandwiches, cookies and a chocolate fountain. My goodness, they know what we ladies like!

If you are in the area, I highly recommend the Acworth Women's Tri. Very low key race and lots of fun!

Something iron on the horizon...

2011-08-08T14:00:00.001-04:00

Something strange has happened over the past few months. I have gone from someone who could barely figure out what gear she needed to be in to someone who is leading group rides. When I registered for the 70.3 in Augusta, it seemed like such an incredible stretch now it seems like something very realistic. For the past few weekends, we have been riding 50 to 60 miles on a regular basis in addition to our regularly scheduled swim/bike/run training throughout the week. Yes, I am tired and cranky sometimes and the pile of sweaty laundry never seems to go down but my confidence in my ability to finish this race is sky high.

A few weeks ago, it occurred to me that since I am already training for a 70.3 and a fall marathon simultaneously, maybe this is the year to try the iron distance. Since hiring at coach at this point is not economically possible, I started looking at training plans. I laid the iron training plan over the one I was already following. It pretty much matched the plan I was already on right up until last week when the iron plan start creeping up mileage and time spent in the pool. Decision time.

I started looking at races. The WTC races were out of the question. Those sell out so quickly they would require much more thought and planning than I was giving myself. I narrowed it down to two races, The Great Floridian and Beach 2 Battleship. Both are smaller races which I love and both are in the same general time frame. After that, there were pros and cons to each. The Great Floridian has a notoriously hilly bike ride with a flat run course. While the Beach 2 Battleship has a super flat bike ride with a somewhat hilly run. Temperatures in Florida are hot whereas every race report I have read on Beach 2 Battleship talks about the finger and toe numbing cold. The Beach 2 Battleship is the same weekend as my planned Atlanta Marathon. Until last week I was sure which race I was going to do and then had a change of heart.

Granted, most people register for their ironman a year in advance. Registering three months before the race is not the norm, I know this. I truly feel like I have the training base I need to build up my endurance over the next three months. As they say, I respect the distance. By no means do I think it will be easy but I am up for the challenge. Today, I thought my heart might pound out of my chest as I hit the register button. I think I might need some arm warmers :)

A Million Spokes...

2011-08-06T16:42:00.005-04:00

I watched the documentary A Million Spokes today. It is about RAGBRAI (Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa). The ride takes place the last week in July each year. Basically, 10,000 riders go from the western border of Iowa on the Missouri river across the state to the eastern border (the Mississippi River). I wonder who I can talk into riding this with me as I have just added it to my "must do" list. too bad I do not care for camping. Sometimes you just need to get over yourself unless you want to miss out on great experiences. Maybe we can get CR a bike. I think he would enjoy it (and he likes to camp...).

Weekend Wrap Up...

2011-07-31T16:09:00.006-04:00

I hate that the weekend is almost over. Bummer!

Lots of training happening over here this weekend. Well, that and clothes washing. Neither one seem to ever end! I slept in late yesterday and opted to do my run at high noon. Not the best idea I ever had but I really did enjoy sleeping in... Not gonna lie, those 15 miles were tough. I didn't even get the usual runner's high from the mileage. All I could do was come home and take a nap.

Today's scheduled training was a big ole brick workout (56 mile ride, 30 minute run and 1600 meter swim). I met up with a couple of friends for the bike ride. I have decided that I must mentally block out any and all hills as I frequently describe the course as "light rolling hills" and then we'll have a new person show up and I will be reminded it is anything but "light and rolling". Oops! I guess the hills are good for you, right?

Today's mileage was the longest we have ridden to date. I am not sure if it was the heat or the increase in mileage but had to talk one of my friends out of bailing at mile 50. (the downside of riding by your car - it can be too tempting to pack it in). Luckily we were able to persuade her to stick with it. I would have hated to see her bail with only 6 miles to go. I mean, 56 miles is the race distance for our half iron so mentally it is huge to know you can cover that distance.

On last week's ride, I had a Santa sighting. He was out getting his run on in an Atlanta Track Club singlet. This week, I saw him again in the same area. He gave me a little wave and a "ho ho ho". It was the highlight of the ride!

After we knocked out the miles on the bike we were scheduled for a 30 minute run. Sadly, there was no shade to be found so that and a strong desire to get into an air conditioned vehicle made us cut the run short after about 2 miles. Totally fine by me!

We packed it all up and parted ways and I headed to Lifetime to get in a 1600 meter swim. The water was nice and cool and had never felt better! It was quite the long workout day but great to get it all in. It was quite the confidence booster.

Yesterday in my farmer's bag, I got purple peppers! You know, the kind that Peter Piper picks... I had never seen them before. Kind of cool.

In other farmer news, I found a use for okra that I actually like. I am not all that into frying up a batch which is the southern way and I wasn't a big fan of eating it raw. This recipe turned out really nice. Basically, it is just turkey sausage, okra, green beans, tomatoes, onion, green pepper and corn sauteed up for about 10 minutes. I ate it hot last night but I think you are supposed to eat it cold. Pretty darn good!

What is in your desk drawer?

2011-07-29T12:16:00.005-04:00

I think I have mentioned before that CR works in a retail environment. There are maybe 6 or 8 employees. In his shop there is a little office area that is shared by 3 people. A few days ago one of the 3 people (the store owner’s wife), opened one of the desk drawers to find a pair of these...

Seriously. (and no they are not CR’s.)

I store some things in my desk drawer at work but it is mostly limited to snacks and maybe some ibuprofen. One time many years ago, I had to go into another person’s desk while hey were out and they had a giant preserved fly and a cup of tobacco spit in their desk. I think this find trumps the fly and spit cup.

I have so many questions for his person. Who stores underwear in their desk? Let’s assume there is some random need to have a fresh pair handy. If you shared a desk, wouldn’t you find somewhere else to store it? CR offered the theory that the person in question works out before work or at lunch and maybe he was sweaty. If that were the case, wouldn’t you be changing all of your clothes and not just your base layer? Just thinking out loud. So. Very. Strange.

A little of this and that...

2011-07-25T19:15:00.007-04:00

So I did it! I sat down this weekend, took the rear wheel off my bike,let the air out and changed a flat. It really was pretty easy. I am so glad I finally did it. One less thing to worry about!

My day started out Saturday with what I thought was a one hour "novice" bike ride. While I tend to lump myself in that novice category, I suppose it all relative. It turns out this one hour session was a ride of sorts but entirely within a parking lot. The two other people who showed up for the class were just learning to ride a bike (as in they never learned as kids). I see that a lot in swimming but I think that is the first time I have heard of an adult who never rode a bike as a child. I admire anyone who takes on something like that it cannot be easy!

I ended up politely excusing myself from the ride and doing a quick 10 miles on my own before I headed out to the Farmer's Market to pick up my haul. I kind of had an overscheduled day anyhow so I wasn't too disappointed that the class didn't work out. I also needed to squeeze a 13 mile run into the mix.

Okra made its first appearance in my CSA bag this week. I wish I knew what to do with it besides fry it and make it into a gumbo of sorts. One of my tennis friends said she eats them raw. I tried one last night although admittedly it was dipped into a lot of tomato sauce. Not sure about that one... While they aren't slimy raw, they are a little hairy. I might try chopping them into a salad.

Check out this zucchini! Too bad CR doesn't love them the way he loves cucumbers. I will have to sneak it into his vegetable soup. We could eat off this for days... or hollow it out and wear the halves as shoes. or not. Hmmmm....

In other news... If you are looking for a free update to your blog (header, design, etc.), Check out Miss Felicity. She is giving away blog makeovers through July. Sounds like a win/win to me!

Learning to change a flat...

2011-07-22T10:34:00.005-04:00

As you know my bike (I really need a name for her…) and I have just started to get to know each other. As with most new relationships, there was a getting to know you phase. Occasionally, my bike would get her chains rattled and she would fall over at a stop. I think most of you have experience that at least once, the slow motion fall to one side or the other as you realize your feet are still clipped in. We are past the getting to know you phase right now but I feel there is so much more I need to learn to keep our relationship going strong.

While I have done a few triathlons prior to this year,. My biking primarily consisted of riding the bike around the neighborhood maybe once, if that, before race day. That training strategy really didn’t seem to be working well so I decided things needed to change. While my biking is coming along by leaps and bounds (still hoping speed will magically come one of these days…), I still have the fear of some sort of mechanical failure on the ride. Yes, it is always safer to ride with a buddy but it isn’t always practical. Occasionally, I see the need to hit the road on my own. If I am hitting the road on my own, I really need to learn how to deal with minor mechanical issues.

A few weeks ago, I signed up for a Bike Maintenance class at REI. The class was held last night. I was a little sad about the timing because it was held at the same time as my regular Thursday night ride but decided it was a priority. My main goal for the class was to learn how to fix a flat. As I headed into the store, I was a little nervous. I didn’t want to be the only one but also didn’t want to stand out as a complete newbie either. Then I realized that everyone in the class was probably a newbie or they wouldn’t be there. Duh.

The class was packed. The instructor had three types of bikes set up and went over each of them (road, hybrid and mountain bikes). He showed us how to take off the wheels. I was expert at the front wheel removal having taken mine off countless times to get it in and out of the car. I had no idea about the back wheel. I thought it might be a little complicated but it really was not much more complicated than the front wheel. After the wheel came off, we got to changing flats. This was not a hands on class but the instructor was very thorough. Once he went through the whole process, including re-inflating the tire with a CO2 cartridge, I felt confident I could do this on my own. The class finished up with tips on cleaning the bike, lubing the chain and various other parts and we were done. A very worthwhile hour spent at REI. I stocked up on a few gels and bars @ 20% off and headed home with a lot more confidence in my bike maintenance abilities!

This weekend, my plan is to take some time practicing changing a flat on my bike. While I have seen someone do it, I think I will feel that much more confident after I have changed one on my own a few times. Wish me luck!

Learning to eat healthy (the remedial edition)...

2011-07-20T07:30:00.002-04:00

CR has decided he wants to clean up his diet in an effort to stay off cholesterol medicine and the like. Try explaining a healthy diet to someone who spent most of his life eating whatever they wanted and never gave a calorie or fat gram a second thought. The conversation between me (who was raised on Diet Shasta and Weight Watchers) and CR (who was raised on Coca-Cola and ice cream) starts something like this:

Me: (talking about things he might want eat for a typical meal) You are going to need to eat mostly fruits, vegetables and meats

CR: That’s good. I like Bubba Burgers and corn.

Me: sigh….

LOL! Luckily, he does like vegetables in the form of vegetable soup so I am seeing A LOT of that in his future. Baby steps... :)

Do one thing that scares you...

2011-07-17T07:00:00.001-04:00

So Heather has this challenge going on. Being as I am always up for a challenge... my motto is sign up first and then figure out whether or not I can actually do it later. Not always practical or smart but it seems to get me motivated to do a lot of things I might not have done had I thought them through first.

The challenge is basically to do one thing that scares you no matter what that thing might be. It could be going on your first group run. Maybe yours is to go swim in the deep end to get over your fear of not being able to put your feet down. One of my friends signed up for an open water clinic this weekend. Only two weeks ago, she had a fear of swimming in anything other than the shallow end of the pool. Talk about taking on your fear head on! She had a great time and learned a lot. Sometimes you just have to stop listening to those voices that like to tell you what you CAN'T do and tell yourself that YOU CAN!

My fear as you might guess involves biking. Trust me, I have come a long way in a short period of time but I have a long way to go. My challenge was to take a solo ride of more than a few miles. I initially wanted to conquer 60 miles on my own but to be perfectly honest, after the race over the weekend my legs were having no part of that action. I loaded up the bike and set out Wednesday AM for my ride. Thirty-six miles later, I was back at my car ready for some air conditioning! It wasn't my favorite trail, I am pretty much addicted to my country ride that has become a Sunday tradition but I did it...on my own! SUCCESS!

What are you going to do this week to challenge yourself?

Chattanooga Riverfront Triathlon Part Two...

2011-07-15T12:39:00.013-04:00

Little did I know it would take me a full week to get around to part two... I have been off work this week which you would think would lend a lot of time to blogging. Apparently not. So here we go... Part two!

Since Wendy and I stayed at a hotel literally across the street from the bike transition, we didn't have to get up all that early which was nice. We basically got up, packed our bags and tried to figure out how to get our bikes and bags down to the 1st floor along with every other triathlete in the hotel. We ended up carrying our bikes and bags down four flights of stairs since the elevators were packed. Oddly enough, my right arm was the only muscle that was sore post-race and that was from carrying the bike down those stairs. (I really must find someone to donate a carbon fiber bike and maybe a sherpa to my cause...)

We get to transition and set up our area. My previous experience in triathlons has been a grand total of four races. They were all sprints and mostly were geared towards beginners or people who might do the race as a way of checking off something on their bucket list. This was not that kind of race. I *thought* I had seen fit people before. This race was like a fitness convention. It became a game for me and Wendy to try and spot "normal" people like us. Luckily I was racing against myself this day and tried to block out the superstars :)

Transition area set up is complete and we head to the buses that will drive us the mile up river to the swim start. The interesting thing about this race (and something that I loved) was that the swim start was seeded. When you register, you give your estimated swim time for 1500m along with your estimated race completion time. Race numbers are assigned based on your estimated swim time and then either race time or age group (we couldn't really figure out the complete break down). We were all congregated in this field for an hour or so then they started getting everyone in order by race number. I was seeded somewhat near the start so did not have to wait long. I wish I had a picture of me in line as I am sure it was quite the sight. The 6 or 8 people in front of me and also behind me in line were super fit somewhat tall guys. It was sort of a "is she in the right place" moment. Once we got in line, we inched toward the dock for the start. As you reach the dock, you sit down, ease into the water and then inch along the dock until they call your number to go. Everyone starts about 3 seconds apart so you don't have that churn and fighting for position that you do with a mass start. The best way to start the swim EVER.

I didn't feel much of a current taking me downstream but did seem to have one pushing me towards shore which I fought for about half of that leg. The second half, I found a guy who seemed to be sighting well, tucked in behind his feet and followed him in. Before I knew it, I reached the stairs to exit and was being helped up to the stairs by volunteers. I probably could have gone a bit faster on the swim but with this being my first Oly, I didn't want to burn out at the end. The swim time was actually about what I thought it should be. I had put 27 minutes as my estimate so felt like I did what was expected here.

Swim: 26:35

The run from the swim was up some concrete stadium type stairs. It was a really cool area for spectators as they could sit there and watch for their people to come in from the swim. I am not overly thrilled with my transition time but wasn't really rushing either so expected it to be a bit high. Obviously, there is room for improvement.

T1: 3:38

...and we are biking... This is where starting up front on the swim can be a mental challenge when you aren't the best biker. I got passed A LOT. I passed a very small handful of people but mostly got passed in droves by speedier riders. It is a little deflating to get passed that much. I have only really been riding about 3 months and from what I have read there is no magic bullet to increase speed other than seat time. Based on that, eventually the speed will come, right? The course was an out and back on a 4-lane highway. Pretty hilly but nothing that I would call overly steep, just a lot of long slow uphills. Towards the end I was ready to get off the bike. Obviously I need to build some more butt endurance before Augusta or it will be a long painful 56 miles. :)

Bike: 1:39:04

I was taking my sweet time in the 2nd transition and I knew it. I messed around with my Garmin for a minute (in retrospect that could have been done while I was running). I wasn't overly concerned with the transition times, mostly just wanted to finish and not be miserable. I didn't want to come off this race with a horrible experience knowing it was only half of the distance I will be doing in Augusta this September. If this race had been more of a challenge than I expected, I didn't want to risk derailing my frame of mind about the upcoming 70.3.

T2: 3:46

The run course could not have been better. The beginning was uphill for maybe a half mile. You climb some stairs and then it flat or downhill the rest of the way. The run was on a greenway along the river. I liked that it was up and back because I looked forward to different checkpoints as a way of determining where I was and how much farther I had to go. We were given icy towels at mile 1 and mile 5 (LOVED this). There were regular waterstops that also had people spraying hoses and cups of ices. At one point there were misters to run through. It was extremely HOT in Chattanooga that day with a high of 98 so it was all appreciated. My time isn't a PR by any means but the run felt good. I passed quite a few people and didn't get passed much at all so I didn't feel as "out of my league" as I did on the bike. I felt comfortable most of the way. I know I am capable of slightly faster but was satisfied with my time for this leg.

Run: 1:04:23

Overall: 3:17:24

At the finish we were greeted with another icy towel and an assortment of BBQ, Pizza and beer. At that point, I really just wanted a bagel or something simple although they do get high marks for the great food even if I wasn't feeling it at that time. I was hoping for an overall time closer to three hours so the time is a little disappointing. I am not crushed by it as I really had nothing to estimate a time off of to get a good estimate. I know the bike is my weak spot so I just need to continue to put the time in on it and maybe just pedal faster next time :)

Overall, it was a great race. It was extremely well organized from beginning to end. I never thought about it as I was racing but the race never felt crowded to me. There were 1300+ racers but never felt like I was fighting for a spot. I would definitely do it again!