Carlos Has New Toys!!!

I just spent 2 and a half hours at Conte's bike shop. Not for me, entirely, but for Carlos. He was feeling neglected and wanted new toys. I am not one to let my bike down, so I obliged.


The first hour was a complete bike fitting. I got new inserts for my biking shoes, another new stem, and the seat and handlebars were repositioned. The bike fitter said my components would take me through September (YAY) and hopefully with this fitting, I won't need a new bike - even though I know it's a bit to small for me. So, instead of buying a new bike and/or components, I bought my self a new bike computer. Carlos is now wireless!! I am pretty excited to have a new toy. Don't be jealous Gadget Girl!

And of course with all this good news, there has to be some bad too. My knee, especially the right one, has been hurting a lot lately. I kept telling myself it was just a twinge. A twinge that won't go away. I finally told Coach and we just got off the phone. He is putting me on rest for awhile - only swimming with a few runs here and there. Lots of ice and ibuprofen. I know rest now so I am not hurting later - but I am already so close to the 17 hour cut off, I need all the training I can get. Logically, I know that if I don't take care of these things now, there will be no race to go to.. blah blah blah... I am going to call that doctor I saw last week at the tri club clinic and hopefully I can get in for some physical therapy.

BAH!! Stupid right knee hurting when I bike and stupid left knee hurting when I run!

I am going to go play with my new bike computer to make my self feel better.

Getting Old!

I remember being little and wondering why my parents would never sleep in. I don't remember exactly what the answer was, but I think I am starting to understand. This weekend I did not have to get up to workout. I took yesterday off and today I only have to bike 45 minutes. I was super excited to sleep in, especially with losing an hour due to day light savings time.

However, it was my unpleasant surprise when i woke up at 8:15 (really 7:15 for my body clock). WHY CAN'T I SLEEP IN!?!?! I really wanted, and could use, the extra sleep. But nooooo.... Because for the past few months I get up at the same time, for work or my workouts, I can no longer sleep in. I do remember this being a reason why my parents said they don't sleep in much.

Today is a day of cleaning. And I mean deep cleaning - shredding paper, organizing bills, cleaning out the crumb tray of my toaster oven. I do have to get in a 45 minute ride on the trainer, but I shouldn't have any problems in between alphabetizing my DVD's and rearranging my refrigerator.

Wow, I hope I am not as sad as that sounds...

A Nice Saturday Off

I arranged my schedule to have today off. It was nice and I have no idea when the last time I didn't work out on a Saturday.

Yesterday Jess and I took a long lunch and a nice long jog around the World War II memorial. It was right before the rain started, so that means the humidity was pretty high. I went a bit further than I needed to, but I figured Jess always adjust to my workout schedule, the least I could do was do the same for her.

Oh, and I saw this article and found it a bit interesting/funny. I blog about biking/running laps around this area pretty often. I will be sure to not leave anything lying around.

6 months.. Oh Geeze... 6 MONTHS!!!

Today is March 7, 2008. In 6 months, exactly 6 months it will be September 7. That has been the day, Sept 7, 2008. People ask me when the race is and it just flows out of my mouth "September 7, 2008". Wow, that is now only 6 months away.

6 months. That's it, only 6 months. 6 MONTHS!!

So, what do you do when you have the biggest race of your life 6 months away??? Sign up for something you know you will enjoy. I have been wanting to do the Reston 1 or 2 mile open water swim for awhile. But, it always falls on Memorial Day weekend, and that is always reserved for my girls back in G-Dale. Well, this year due to a wedding, trip to Europe, a baby, grad school and training for an Ironman, Memorial day didn't work out for the 5 of us and I will be here. Talked it over with Coach and thought it would be a nice break from the pool and I can always get my long bike in Monday, as I will have the day off. On Saturday there is an open water swim clinic and Sunday I signed up for the 2 mile, wetsuit division. It is 1 week after my first triathlon of the year and 2 weeks before the 4.4 mile bay swim. I am sure I will learn at least 1 thing from the clinic and and open water practice is always a good idea.

Should be fun!

Oh, did I mention that Ironman Moo is 6 months away...

Ho-Hum Day

Not too much going on today.

I always feel like I am a bit more tired on off weeks. I think it's because I feel like I have more time to do the stuff I put off: cook, clean, relax, read, sleep, etc. But instead of doing that stuff, I go out with friends or sit. Now most would think that the sitting is relaxing, however I think about the stuff I should be doing and that is tiring!!

I know, I know, my life is so hard! HA!

Tonight was an easy 30 minutes on the bike. This was followed up by some really good stretching that I learned from the clinic yesterday.

I really have no appropriate image to post with this Ho-Hum day. So, I will do a shout out to my friend Jersey Sarah (who is from Albany and lives in Phili) who is moving to Seattle in a few weeks. I am a bit sad she is going so far away - Phili was the perfect distance to drive and get away from DC. And she is a great friend to hang out with. But, it's just another city to go visit. I will miss you being so close but can't wait to come out west (after Ironman ;-) !!!

Good News is So Great to Hear!!

Today is one of those good days. Heard some good news that just made me happy. Made some good progress on a project at work. Had a decent 30 minute run. Swam a mile and was pretty consistent on my 100's. AND I went to a tri club event on preventing triathlon injuries. This doctor was pretty straight about problems and how to prevent some common injuries. The evening ended with dinner and season finale Project Runway with Lauren. My pick didn't win, but that's okay.

Anyway, today was just one of those good days.

A Good Sandwich Makes a Sad Day Better

Today started with me missing my swim for extra sleep. Surprise, surprise.

I get to the metro, there was a train on the platform with the doors closing. The problem, one door wouldn't close so they off loaded the train. Everyone rushes onto the next train, a door won't close, so we off load again. I finally get crammed on a third train and make it to work about 45 minutes later than I expected.

Then my brother calls with the WORST NEWS EVER!! He got the e-mail from our dad first. It put me in a funk for awhile, I never got to see him play in person. Some friends were great and understood my sadness...

So... there is nothing to make me feel better than a good sandwich. Merissa and Jess were there for me again. We headed to the "best tuna melt in the city" according to Mer and I have to say, they had a pretty good peach margarita. I am not a fan of tuna so I had a Rachel and it made everything better.

That was until I got home and Carlos was there looking at me. I only had to do a 30 minute ride, starting with a set of isolated leg drills, but dang... A full stomach, while trying to bike, it's not a great feeling. But I still managed the 30 minutes and I am still really full and I am truly sad that I will never get to see Brett play again.

Another Light Week... YAY!

I am learning to enjoy these down weeks. I get to do things like catch up with friends, go Costco shopping and pick up my apartment. Okay, I didn't do the last one, but I did do the first 2.

Today I only had a 30 minute run. Merissa and Jess went with me which is always fun. We took a little loop around the mall and Capital. I think I push them a bit and they keep me from going out too hard - which I always do. AND, it was a BEAUTIFUL day. 50-ish degrees, sunny, no wind. You just can't ask for better days than ones like today. It looked something like this.Now, I am going to try and get up in the morning for a swim so I can go to dinner...

40 Degrees is Warm, But Not That Warm

The sun is a bit deceiving. I knew it was supposed to warm up today, so I wanted to try and get outside for my 90 minute bike ride. Well, around 11 I started getting everything together and headed to Beach Drive. Marcus said the temperature was 40. My minimum bike temperature is 45 (okay, it's actually 50). I was already dressed, and it was sunny, so I didn't think it would be that bad. HA! My hands are STILL thawing out as I type!!

But, the ride was pretty good. It was the first time I went 90 minutes straight, no stopping, not even after biking up the big hill.

Here is the thing I don't like biking with a colder temperature - how much my nose runs. It's kind of gross. Now Rose (I hope she doesn't mind me saying this) but totally kicks butt on the 'snot rocket'. She has been working with me over the past few weeks and I just can't get it. I was trying today with very little success. In fact, I believe I had a little string off my right shoulder for the majority of my ride. Yup, gross. And my gloves were soaked through. Still gross. My nose feels a bit raw and when I saw my self in a mirror when I was done - DANG! White and crusty is all I need to say and I think you will get the picture. Yes, I am one H-O-T LADY!

Made Up For Missing Workouts Yesterday, Today

Today was a pretty good workout day.
After some discussion with people I 'run' with, we decided to start later and have a finish meet time instead of a group start time. Anything that gives us more time to sleep works for me! So we went back to Great Falls and everyone did there own thing. It was nice because I started on my own, but saw Rose right after I turned around, Sherry and Erik passed me towards the end, and Jess and Kate were waiting at the end to go to brunch (the ran too, I just didn't see them on the trail).

So after our run, we all went to my new favorite bagel shop. It's one of the main reasons I like to go running at Great Falls because this is where we go for brunch.

After some great brunch conversation, I realized I was avoiding my swim. I had to drive past my apartment to get to the pool, but I went and am glad I did. I had a 3000M straight swim to do, and added an extra 200M to get to 2 miles. It felt pretty good and strong. I can definitely swim 2 miles easier than run 2 miles.
But, as Jess would say "That's how I roll".