Repeats

Aggg... today I did repeats. That was enough to get me to the TriGirl workout. No way would I do those on my own.

I was supposed to do six half-mile repeats. On the fourth one, I made a deal with myself that if I ran 3:30 or better, I could skip the last two. I failed.

Here are my times: 3:33, 3:31, 3:35, 3:32, 3:39, and 3:38.

Maybe I should have stopped after four!

Who?

Yesterday, a woman claiming to be my mother took my daughter birthday shopping. This is a new tradition that she's decided to establish.

They went to Nordstrom for lunch, then this woman - we'll call her "Grandma" for purposes of today's story - bought my child a ridiculously expensive bathrobe which I had refused to buy for her last week because (a) she'll wear it three times, max, and (b) it was ridiculously expensive. Then "Grandma" asked what else she wanted. When Rainbow said Webkinz, they went to another store where "Grandma" bought her seven - SEVEN - stuffed animals plus three for Taz. And ice cream for both of them.

Okay, "Grandma" if that's what you're calling yourself - WHO ARE YOU AND WHAT HAVE YOU DONE WITH MY MOTHER?!?!?!?!

Recovery Week

( Here's a different view of my favorite race picture ever.)

I've been resting on my laurels after my prolific Luray race report... guess I need to post again! And um maybe even work out again too...
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I have to say I really love recovery week. It's much better than taper week because it doesn't include any worry or preparation. And perhaps I'm just lazy and last week gave me the opportunity to indulge.

Grandison's advice was to return to workouts in the same order as triathlon. I swam 1600 meters on Tuesday, biked 12 miles on Wednesday, and ran 4 miles on Thursday. Every other day was a rest/recovery day. Love it!

Friday, Jackie and Patti dragged me kicking and screaming to the RTC open water swim on the James River. There was a big crowd including lots of other awesome TriGirls. We simulated a group start then swam 16 minutes out, turned around and swam back. I didn't have a watch and started looking for people turning around probably five minutes in. I didn't panic this time and was able to swim freestyle pretty much the entire way, except when I was sighting. I tended to veer toward the middle of the river regardless of which direction I was swimming. Guess I need to work on swimming straight without the benefit of lane lines.

My next event is Heart of Virginia, so Saturday I had to step it up and do some cycling. Richard and I planned to meet at West Creek to do Cyndi's 30 mile loop. Kermit, Patti, and TriGirl40 joined us (yea!!!).

I should have realized Cyndi can't be trusted when she said the Luray cycling course was "nice." Not the description I would have chosen... (Just kidding, girlfriend!) Anyway, Cyndi's course out of West Creek was pretty hilly, but also a lot of fun mainly because I was with a great group. We ended up deviating from the course and riding east on Broad Street to get back. At one point, we saw a sign that said "Richmond 23 miles." I thought that was pretty cool, to be that far out on a bike and still feel like I could get home. Of course, we weren't really that far away but still.

Saturday afternoon, we went to the river with Beanie and Cate and families; Sunday, Scouter and I hosted a baby shower for his sister Amy and Monday Cate and I hosted a back-to-school breakfast for teachers and staff at my kids' elementary school, so those events kept me pretty busy. Monday afternoon, I went back to the weights class at the Y that I love. Sadly, it doesn't love me anymore after a summer of neglect and I am sore today. In a good way though and I totally deserve the abuse. Maybe it will remind me to be more consistent. Today, Beanie and I ran four miles at a slow jog around our neighborhood. I didn't clock our speed because my Garmin wasn't charged. We did a fairly hilly route.

'K, I'm all caught up. Next time, I'll try to come up with something more interesting - promise!

P.S. Does anyone else spend FAR too much time futzing around with blogger posts to make the paragraphs space properly?!? Sooo annoying...

Blog evolution

(Cartoon ~ Rhymes with Orange)

So I've been meaning to tell you guys about the fabulous dinner we had for Scouter's birthday - double thick NY strip steaks cooked to perfection on the grill by the birthday boy himself, grilled asparagus, corn on the cob, with Estancia Meritage followed by cookies and cream cake. Yum...

Luray - finally to the actual race

Boy I sure can drag out a race report, can't I? Here's a picture of where I left off. We were all gathered on the beach before the start when my awesome brother-in-law Brent rolled in on his Harley to photograph the event for me. What a great guy, eh? In order of appearance left to right: Megan, Cyndi, me, Aimee, Amanda, Teresa, Molly, and Jill:

All the women were in the fourth and final wave. Each wave was separated by three minutes, so I had the benefit of watching several before I had to do it myself. Fortunately, the water was a pleasant 82 degrees because I totally forgot to bring my wetsuit. I had brand new goggles that I hadn't even tried since I left my old ones in the Hamptons. When I swam last week, I used Taz's goggles which weren't the best fit!

After the third wave went off, Megan grabbed my hand and dragged me in the water . We started about chest deep as you can see from this lovely shot. I'm probably saying something like, "I have to swim there? You must be effing kidding me!"

The horn blew and I watched women all around me start to swim. Finally, I started myself. What the f&^%? There was absolutely no visibility and all that blog talk I've read about a washing machine effect on an open water swim start? True. I saw bubbles and started drafting off the feet in front of me. I think they were Megan's. That lasted about two seconds before I started hyperventilating. I started breast-stroking and trying to breathe normally, but every time I put my head in the water, I freaked out. About that time, I got popped in the head and my goggles started leaking. I would swim a bit, hyperventilate, then dump the water out of one or both sides of the goggles. I seriously considered whether I could turn around and swim back through the masses to the shore.

The course was a triangle with three big yellow floats where we turned and big orange floats at the half way point between the yellow ones. I swear it felt like it took me an hour to get to the first yellow float. I finally got my goggles adjusted properly in the back and stopped the leaking. I talked myself through it by telling myself I could stop after the first lap of the two lap course. Sighting was difficult and I couldn't catch my breath. I breast-stroked a good 90% of the first lap. Som, my swim coach, would be so disappointed in me.

About half way to the third and final yellow float on the first lap, I started doing a little free style. I pretended I was swimming in my friend's pool in Deltaville which was pretty murky. I started noticing a few green caps around me, which were the 35 and up age group men from the previous wave. Boy they must really suck, I thought, because I must be at the back of the pink pack.

As I rounded the turn, I spotted my brother-in-law Brent sitting on a rock watching the swim. Can I really get out of the water and admit to him that I can't do this? Can I tell my husband and kids, who came all this way on Scouter's birthday weekend, that I DNF'd? I couldn't. Somehow, I kept swimming.

The second lap was easier since I knew what to expect. I had a little more room to maneuver although I certainly could have swum a more direct line. My goggles were fine. It took forever to get from buoy to buoy but by then I was committed. I even swam free style for a good bit of the time, mainly because my flabby inner thighs were hurting by then from all the breast stroke. There were more and more green caps around me. Here I am coming out of the water saying to Brent, "That sucked. It was the worst athletic experience of my entire life." "Megan's right in front of you! You did great!" he called back.

I ran up to transition hoping to spot Megan but she had already taken off. I sat for a minute and caught my breathe and hoped the worst was over. I still had the big hill to face but it couldn't possibly be worse than that swim. I sprayed on some sunblock, put on my socks, shoes, sunglasses, and helmet and finally trotted out of transition with my bike.

As I left transition, I saw Scouter and my kids which was a wonderful surprise! I thought they might catch the bike leg from the end of our street but I wasn't actually sure that they would watch at all. Scouter told me later that he woke Rainbow up and tried to get there in time to see me coming out of the water. My kids went crazy when they saw me and I was thrilled to see them. I really needed that boost! I heard someone behind me call out to my husband, and a few minutes later his college friend Brad rode by me. "That swim sucked!" I said. "Yeah," he agreed.

Cyndi described the bike course as a lollipop - out on the stem, two loops around the lollipop, then back on the stem. I hit 40 mph on the big hill on the way out which struck terror in my heart for the return. The loop was interesting - two long stretches of false flats where I was actually working really hard to get up a small incline, then one big ass downhill that was fabulous! Especially since I knew I wouldn't have to go back up it. I hit 41 mph on that baby. Whee!!!

Brent was drafted race morning to ride the course officials around on his Harley, and at about mile 8 he came roaring up beside me laughing and encouraging me. The official on the back of his bike held up his camera and snapped away. It cracked me up.

I was having a great ride, passing more people than were passing me. One cute lady in a skort and I leapfrogged quite a bit. About the third time I passed her, I called, "Let's see how many more times we can do this!" She laughed and sped up. I did a reasonable job with nutrition on the bike. I forgot to bring my favorite easy to eat Uncrustables but I did manage to have a few bites of a Luna bar plus 20 ounces of Accelerade, a Gu and some water.

I had some negative thoughts at various points during the ride about the big steep half mile hill facing me around mile 24, but I finally told myself to get over it. I could torture myself on the ride which would do absolutely no good, or I could enjoy it and face the hill when I reached it. If I had to walk, I had to walk but I for damn sure was planning to ride it. I tried to enjoy the ride and take in the scenery a little bit at least. Luray is a beautiful area.

I finished the second loop and headed back towards the stem. As I approached a right hand turn leading back to Lake Arrowhead, I felt something funny on my bike. After I turned, I realized that my front tire was not right. I stopped and saw that it was going flat. F%$#! F&^%, f&^%, f*&^! I pulled my bike off into the grass, took the tire off, pulled out my repair kit, and sat there pretending like I knew what to do. I even played with the tire pull thingies for a few minutes. A cyclist rode by and asked if I needed help. I said yes, if you don't mind. I think he seriously regretted offering right away. He had fallen and said his day was over anyway since he wouldn't place. About then, Brent rode by on his bike with an official on the back who wouldn't let him stop. "But that's my sister-in-law!" he protested as they rode off. Soon after, my helper got the tire off and replaced the tube but couldn't get the tire back on. Finally, he told me to put the wheel back on and ride with it like it was. Okay, I said. He rode off and I cursed some more.

I was trying to get the tire back on my bike, thinking I was probably going to have to walk it in, when another guy in a truck asked if I still needed help. I showed him the half-ass tire change job. He said I couldn't ride it like that. Turns out he owns the local bike shop and was doing race support. Good thing because the bad tire change had punctured a hole in my only spare tube, and this wonderful guy had another spare. He changed the tire for me and got the wheel lined up properly on the bike. I really need to learn to change my own tube.

Brent came back sans nasty official just in time to photograph the event. I seriously considered flipping him off in this picture.

The volunteer at the turn rode by me just as I was getting back on my bike. As I rode past her, I asked if I was the last person on the course. "I think so," she replied. F&^%!!! I thought again. I was stiff and pissed.

Brent rode past me and stopped to take some more pictures. As I hit the mother hill, he roared by and said he'd see me on the run. That hill was a beast. I was in my easiest chain rings back and front, standing pretty much the entire way. I passed one woman who was walking her bike and one or two guys who were riding. My breathing sounded like a freight train but I was determined to get back to transition.

I rode back into the Lake Arrowhead area to see my family again. "We heard about your tire!" they called. "Poor Mommy!" That made me smile. Or maybe grimace. I felt like such a loser.

When I got to my rack, all the other bikes were already back and there wasn't room for mine. I tried to jam it in there and knocked over the bike beside me. F&^%! "I've never said that word so much in my whole life," I said to a guy beside me who was finished already. And I've said that word a lot.

I took some time to calm down again in transition, changed my shoes, grabbed my visor, Garmin, and a Gu, and set out on the run. I got to see my kids again which was beautiful.

The run was also a double loop. These Luray people love themselves a double loop. The first leg was not bad and in fact I was surprised when my Garmin beeped at me at the one mile point. That's going to suck on the way back, I thought - ever the optimist. I ran past a woman who was walking and said, "What made me think this was a good idea?!?" She replied, "We're already beating all those people still sitting on their couches."

What a great attitude. I was ashamed of my negativity and resolved to say only positive things to people - and myself - from that point on. One advantage of the double loop was that I saw most of the TriGirls on the course except Cyndi who was probably already finished. I saw Megan on her last stretch and she looked strong. I chatted with a few people and thanked the volunteers at the turn-around. "You're almost done!" they shouted. "Oh, no, I'll be back," I replied. I grabbed whatever course beverage they were offering and the volunteer said, "This is a woman who likes her pink!" Brent was at the turn around, snapping pictures and offering still more encouragement. He rode by me a few times on the run and it helped enormously to see him.

On the first return run loop, I walked a little on a steep hill but tried to keep moving. I chatted with a man who had a 61 on his leg. He told me he was actually only 60; wouldn't be 61 until October. I met Amanda and made the turn with her. We saw my family again and high-fived Taz and Rainbow. "Can I run with you Mom?" Taz asked. "Not this time honey. I still have a ways to go," I told him.

The second loop was better only because my attitude was better. I knew I was going to finish. It wasn't going to be pretty, my time wasn't going to be what I had hoped for, but I was going to make it. I saw Aimee and Teresa on the course and chatted with them for a few minutes. Their dedication impressed me. When I got to the water stop, I teased the volunteers that they had moved further away since the first time I was there. Brent was there again to offer support.

I walked the hills more on the final leg. As I ran toward the finish line, I pictured myself crossing with Taz and Rainbow. Taz was jumping up and down as I approached and I grabbed him. Rainbow was playing on the other side. I should have stopped and waited for her but I didn't have the mental wherewithal to think to do it. Here I am crossing the finish line with Taz. He was so cute and excited running in with me. He asked me if he pulled me through and I told him honestly that he did.

It felt great to finish that race. We hung out for awhile afterwards to chat with all the TriGirls and some other friends and to enjoy the venue. It was a beautiful day and in retrospect, while I didn't perform as I had hoped, I am so fortunate to be able to do this crazy thing and to have the support of the people I love.

Luray race report - the prequel

Okay, this entire race report may take me awhile so I'm going to write it in stages. I have a lot of random thoughts about the race. Many times, I wonder why I blog. Then there are times like this when I'm really glad I have a forum where I can write some of the things I'm thinking and help make sense of them.

BTW, total aside - as others have answered the recent tag, I realized that I inadvertently left off some great vacation destinations: St. Simon's Island, GA, New Orleans, Cancun, Palm Springs, CA, and Tampa, FL. I've updated my list for.... um, yeah, no reason.

So anyway... onto race weekend!

Friday, I rushed out of work earlier than planned to hit the grocery store. Because I'm pretty sure remote Luray, VA, doesn't have those things. Scouter was going to do it, but after the heinous storms Thursday night, he was really busy with trouble calls at work. As you know, I was a bundle of nerves so it was actually really smart of him to give me something to do.

After grocery shopping, I raced home (excuse the pun) mainly because I had to pee badly from all that hydration I'd been doing, and zipped around the house packing for myself, the kids, the cooler, the car... anything and everything in a frenzy of activity. Then I waited. And waited. And waited some more. Scouter is the absolute worst person to get started on a trip. The kids and I call him "pokey" and several other equally unflattering names leading up to every car adventure. We are used to waiting in the car for at least 15 minutes as he runs back in the house for "one more thing" - repeatedly. This trip was no exception. We even got the bonus round of having to return home for the bike pump.

I settled down a bit once we were finally on the road. There was nothing I could do, after all, besides navigate, read a book, and referee between my children. And nap a little.

I didn't do a great job on the navigation front and we took a slight detour through Luray to get to our cabin in Stanley, VA. It actually worked out well though as I got a "lay of the land." Our cabin was right off the bike route, about five miles from Lake Arrowhead.

We unpacked the unbelievable amount of crap we'd brought along and got settled in our cabin. I knew the place was small from pictures on the website, but it was much cuter and brighter than I expected it to be. It was relatively new - entries in the guest log started sometime in 2006 - and well equipped. Taz first flipped out over the fact that the house had a computer game player (I'm not sure which one), then the even bigger excitement was that it had the Disney channel. High School Musical II debuted Friday night, don'tcha know, and both kids were way jacked to see it.

TriGirl Megan arrived shortly thereafter. She was on her own for the race and we were fortunate to have her join us. It helped me tremendously to have someone experiencing the same anxiety to obsess with.

Megan and I headed out to Lake Arrowhead to check out the site. We were amazed to see so many people pre-swimming, riding, and/or running the event. They seemed pretty hard-core. We talked with one woman who participated in the test ride the weekend before, and she warned us about the steep hill at the end of the bike leg. She said she hit 40 mph going down it on the way out, then climbed it in granny gear, standing, on the return. Uh oh. I had been worried about the swim. Now I started worrying about the bike too - especially once we drove the hill. We also saw one of Scouter's fraternity brothers, Brad, who was doing the race. He warned us that the run course was hilly. Great.

Next we went to packet pickup which was in downtown Luray. We briefly checked out the concert that was going on in conjunction with race weekend. The venue was very cute - a secluded spot by the river with a jazz band and box meals. We picked up our packets and were delighted to discover that our numbers were close, so we would be near each other in transition.

It didn't work out to meet TriGirls for dinner, so we headed back to the cabin. Scouter's brother Brent had arrived by then and they were chilling with some beers when we returned. Scouter fired up the grill and made a delicious pork tenderloin, accompanied by potato salad and tossed salad, plus spaghetti noodles for some extra carbo loading and a little wine to settle our nerves. The kids were completely absorbed with High School Musical so we had a nice relaxed dinner with actual adult conversation.

I couldn't go to sleep until I put the kids to bed after the big show ended at 10:00, which was a bit later than I had hoped. I slept fairly well until about 4 a.m. when I awoke and started worrying in earnest. I tossed and turned for the rest of the night, finally arising at 6 a.m. to begin race day preparations. My normal pre-race or long training breakfast did not work out. I was so nervous that I could only eat about three bites. Our cute little cabin was a sound magnifier, but the kids managed to sleep through it.

Once we arrived at the race site, things started moving quickly. We pumped tires, went to body marking, picked up timing chips, and set up our transition areas with little time to spare. Before I knew it, and way before I was ready, Megan and I found ourselves clustered with our TriGirl buddies Cyndi, Amanda, Teresa, Aimee, and Jill on the little beach by the lake...

Luray - results

A race report for the Luray Oly is forthcoming, but in the interim I'll cut to the chase and give you the results:

Swim: 32:57 34/84 women
T1: 3:57 73/84
Bike: 2:05:31 81/84
T2: 2:21 74/84
Run: 58:54 60/74

I finished 15th/16 age group, 73rd of 84 women, 179th/204 overall.

Now onto the excuses and analysis.

I'm actually happy with my swim time which averaged 2:11 per 100. That's a tiny bit slower than my timed pool swims but given that I had a complete panic attack in the water and breast-stroked most of the first 750m, I'm shocked that I was anywhere close. And very shocked that this was my highest placement in the women's group.

The bike was the leg I was most looking forward to but which turned out to contain the biggest debacle. I had a flat tire 2 - 3 miles before the finish which wiped me out for a good 30 minutes. Thank goodness there was course support. The man who owns the local bike shop came to help me re-change the tire that I had tried to do already (with help) but which had popped my spare tube. After the tube-changing, my bike computer wasn't working but up to that point (mile 23ish), I was averaging 16.9 mph. If I assume the same pace, my bike time would have been 1:28:45 instead of the 2:05:31 that it was.

My transitions sucked. And at the time, I didn't care at all. I felt I needed to take a few minutes to calm down at each transition point.

I'm happy with my run results. My target was to finish the run in under an hour. A 9:30 minute/mile pace is good for me for a 10k, particularly after the other two events.

So, being the nut that I am, I figured out what my standing would have been without the flat: 9/16 age group, 50/84 women, and 137/204 overall. Mid-back of the pack.

At the end of the race, I said I would never do an Olympic distance again, and certainly a half IM was out of the question. Now I'm not so sure... I'd at least like another shot at this course to see what I could do with better open water preparation and (hopefully) no equipment failures.

More to come, including pictures courtesy of my awesome brother-in-law.

Happy Birthday, Baby

To be read in a breathy voice:

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Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday to You

Happy Birthday, Dear Scouter

Happy Birthday to You

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I love you baby. You're the best.

Nerves...

I am a bundle of nerves for my first Oly which is ~ gulp ~ tomorrow. A jittery feeling has been building up in my stomach all week and today I have so much nervous energy I can't sit still. I can't imagine what a wreck I will be by tomorrow. Race Day. Yikes!!!

Thanks DB and everyone else for your encouraging words. I think I am far less likely to rock the course than I am to be pulled sputtering from the lake.

I can't believe I contemplated a Half IM earlier this year... what the hell was I thinking? I'm not sure I can get through an Oly for goodness sake.

The one saving grace is that I will have lots of TriGirl company on the course. Some, like Cyndi, I will never see because she will be so far ahead of me from the very beginning. Others will dust me on the swim but - assuming I survive that part - I may see again on the bike.

Oh and my bike... she's bee-you-tee-ful right now. I got her back from Performance yesterday and she looks new again. All the dirt, sand, rain... gone. I had hoped to take her for a little ride yesterday but it was too brutally hot early, then we got hit with torrential downpours and thunderstorms later.

Speaking of which - that was the longest thunderstorm I think I've ever experienced. Lightening and thunder rolled in by 7:30 p.m. and were still going strong at 2 a.m. The kids and I were at the mall - did I mention that my goggles decided to stay another week in the Hamptons? So I had to replace them with (are you ready for this?) pink ones! Anyway, lights starting flickering at the mall so we made a dash for the car. Our power was out when we got home. We put candles everywhere and played games like "I'm thinking of an animal..." The kids thought the storm was cool but didn't want to be alone, so we let them fall asleep on the couches downstairs and we all had a sleepover for awhile.

We're heading to Luray this afternoon. Packet pickup, hopefully meet some TriGirls for dinner, hopefully get some sleep. The best part is that Megan is staying with us tonight so I will have someone with whom to commisserate.

Wish me luck!!!

The Beauty of the Taper

Jodi, I've got tapering down now. Thanks for your advice!

This week, for probably the first time ever, I have followed my training schedule nearly exactly. I even think there's magic in the day of the week Grandison assigns, or at least the order of activities.

Monday was a rest day. Although I packed my gym bag with thoughts of weight training, I completely blew it off. Grandison said to rest by golly!!! Tuesday, I met Richard and Megan for a 12 mile ride. Here's my one major deviation. I couldn't remember whether the training schedule said race pace or easy, so I went totally balls to the wall for an 18.4 mph average. We were supposed to ride easy. Oops. Afterwards, I dropped my bike at Performance for a thorough cleaning which it desperately needed. They did a nice job and turned it around quickly for me.

Yesterday held in store a one mile timed swim. I could have gotten my butt out of bed to swim with Megan in the morning, which in retrospect would have been the wise decision. Instead, I opted to swim in the lap lane at our club's new pool. Typically, that area is not crowded but of course yesterday, I was fighting through kids and adults hanging out in the lap lane. Because they don't have the whole rest of the pool to stand in. Or the other pool for that matter. The lifeguard was absolutely no help, so I had to keep stopping to say "excuse me, could you stand on that side of the lane line?" Two of my girlfriends watched my kids while I swam, but they interrupted me a few times as well. At first, they wanted to swim with me. Then they wanted me to watch them do back flips. Then they wanted to know when I was going to be finished. I felt bad that I had promised them an afternoon at the pool but I was abandoning them. Finally, Beanie bought them ice cream so they were happy and occupied while I finished. Then she bought me a pina colada so all of us were happy!

Today was a three mile easy run. Now nothing about running is ever easy, in my opinion, but I did lope around the neighborhood at a 9:35 minute/mile pace. I actually ran without my iPod just for practice. It is annoying to hear myself pant, but I've gotten a little more used to it since my last event and can tune it out better now. I was singing the lyrics to Nickleback's "Rock Star" to myself. Or several times a Hannah Montana song popped into my head unbidden.

The rest of the week offers rest, hydration and nutrition until race day...

Vacation Photos

Here are a few pictures from our trip to the Hamptons.

The beach, on the ocean side:

Jill and I, ready to go out to dinner:


A poorly focused photo of me on the beach, sound side:

Scouter hamming it up for the camera:

The sound/inlet side of the beach. I'm not sure what they call it up there:

Quick Kid Humor

So Taz turned to me last night at the ripe old age of seven and said with a straight face, "They didn't make fudge ripple ice cream like this when I was a kid!"

Tagged!

I've been tagged by Siren, TriGirl40, and maybe even Renae (not sure if she means me or another Di) so I've got to get it together and answer this! It took me a long time since I had to sober up from vacation first. Here goes...

Jobs I’ve Held
Concession stand/front desk attendant at the pool
McDonald's counter clerk
Lifeguard
Swim lesson instructor
Va. Tech student center desk clerk
Electromagnetic interference specialist
Waitress
Associate Engineer
Telecommunications Engineer
Telecommunications Manager
CTO
IT Consultant

Movies I Can Watch Over & Over
I'm not a big TV or movie person so this one is hard...
Old School
Good Will Hunting (I stole that one from TriGirl40)
Apparently, High School Musical and several other of my children's obsessions that I watch. Every.Single.Time.

My Guilty Pleasures
Wine - I really only feel guilty about it when I drink alone
Lemon martinis - only feel guilty when I drink too many
Spa pedicures
French fries
Cheeseburgers
Celebrity gossip magazines
70s and 80s music
Sleeping in
Shoe shopping
Coffee ice cream
Alone time
Cheetos
I would say dark chocolate but I've convinced myself that it's actually good for me since it's loaded with antioxidants and all... perhaps I should include self-delusion instead...

Places I've Lived
Richmond, VA
Blacksburg, VA
Seriously. That's it.

Shows I Enjoy
Grey's Anatomy
Project Runway
Desperate Housewives occasionally

Places I Have Been on Vacation
Here's where I make up for the "Places You've Lived" patheticness
Orlando, FL
Daytona Beach
Key West
Tampa
Marco Island, FL
Northern Neck area, VA
Deltaville, VA
Toronto
Waterloo, Ontario
Collingwood, Ontario on the Georgian Bay (thanks, Jodi!)
Montreal
Killington, VT
Wisp in MD
Snow Shoe in WV
Wintergreen, VA
Various areas in the Outer Banks, NC
Charlotte, NC
Wheeling, WV
Williamsport, PA
Stillwater, OK
Dewey Beach, DE
Charleston
Hilton Head
St. Simon's Island, GA
New Orleans
Bahamas
St. Thomas
San Juan
Bermuda
Cayman Islands
Cancun
London
Manhattan
Bridgehamton, NY
San Diego
LA
Palm Springs, CA
San Francisco
Napa Valley
Big Sur, CA
Carmel, CA

Favorite Foods
Dark chocolate
Dark chocolate with dried cherries
Dark chocolate with nuts
Ahhh...
Also grilled salmon
Pretty much any shellfish
Strawberries
Coffee ice cream

Websites I Visit Daily
TrigirlTraining.com/forum
A plethora of triathlon and other blogs
Weather.com
Webkins
Google

Body Parts I Have Injured
Rotator cuff - both shoulders
Sprained ankles
Sprained wrists
Plantar fasciitis in both feet
Broken pinkie
Back
Neck

Awards You’ve Won
Gold medal in club championships in 100m breastroke when I was about 14 (if only I could breastroke an IronMan...)
Lots of awards when I was a senior in high school - the assembly got pretty embarrassing - including Calculas, English, and scholarship announcements like Va Tech Alumni, Va Scholars' Program, and an assortment of others.
That was pretty much it for my glory. I guess I peaked in high school.

Nicknames You’ve Been Called
Dee Dee
D squared
Sugar (it's my Dad, what can I say?)
Piney
Taz
Imelda

Pick 5 Other Bloggers
Susie Q
Richard
Jon
Cathy
Carmen

Okay folks! Enjoy!

Workout Update

Okay while I still have some small chance of remembering what I did this week... here's my workout log:

Monday: Ran 60 minutes (hopefully around 6 miles)

Tuesday: Biked 18 miles, 17.1 mph average speed - brutal ride with lots of traffic where I almost got hit by a truck

Wednesday: Ran 4 miles, 8:54 minutes/mile average in humid hot conditions

Thursday: Swam maybe close to a mile in my friend's tiny pool - I assumed that it was 12 meters and called 128 freakin lengths a mile

Friday: Biked 12 miles 17.3 mph in a downpour, ran 3 miles 8:57 minutes/mile average

I'm done until I get back to Richmond!!!!

Gettin' Jiggy

Word on the street is that Will and Jada Pinkett Smith, Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes were renting the house across the street last weekend. There was a lot more security than usual going on.

I am not a big Tom Cruise fan but I love love love Will Smith. I didn't see him, sadly, but I did jam to some of his songs on my iPod as I ran past the house.

This particular house was under construction last year, and we totally checked it out. It is very nice.

My tunes are playing and a lemon martini is awaiting me... ciao...

Context

So my last post may not have made a lot of sense - I'll admit to having a happy buzz going when I wrote it. Breaking my own rule of don't drink and blog. But anyway...

We are vacationing with my college roommate and her family. They live in NYC and have a beautiful second home in the Hamptons. It is gorgeous here.

They have four kids, including twins that are right in between Taz and Rainbow in age, boy/girl. They get along really well even with close quarters and infrequent visits. They also have 2 1/2 year old twins who are absolutely hilarious this year. Fortunately, their nanny is along for the trip.

Speaking of which, their nanny (who admittedly has a language barrier) told me I don't look as chubby this year as I did last year. Which is funny because I actually weigh a little more. Scouter says I'm leaner this year though after one year of training with TriGirls.

Anyway, we have been relaxing by the pool, going to the beach, and yesterday, Jill and I fit in a spa day unexpectedly. I had a deep tissue massage which was fabulous.

We intended to go to the local Y. I was on a mission to find a lap pool to get my swimming in (See, I am really scared!) and this was the closest one. Jill agreed to go with me to hit the machines while I swam. We arrived to find an old, not-very-well maintained facility. I followed signs stating NY State law requires a shower before entering the pool, then I went out on the pool deck... only to find that the pool was actually closed. Apparently a young swimmer had an accident in the pool and it was in the process of getting cleaned and shocked. Instead of swimming, I read a magazine for a bit while Jill finished the elliptical.

Our next scheduled stop was to meet the husbands and kids for pizza. En route, we got a call saying that the restaurant was closed. We were stuck in heavy traffic and would not arrive at their alternate destination until they were finished, so we detoured to another town in search of pizza. This pizza restaurant was closed too, as was the sushi place nearby. We laughed and kept going until we found a little pizza stand - yippee! - where we got excellent chicken parm pizza which we ate by the water. As we were eating, we had the bright idea of getting massages... and miraculously, the spa was not only open but had two concurrent appointments within an hour. We were golden!

I had half-thoughts about swimming after the spa but after a great massage I had rubber bones. We headed home for happy hour - last night's libation of choice was lemon martinis. Yum!

Lest you think I'm a total slacker, I did run yesterday. My Garmin reflected "no signal" at least 90% of the time, so I ran for 60 minutes and assumed that covered the six miles I had to make up from Sunday.

Rainbow is beside me asking when we're going to the beach, so I am off to get ready... more exciting updates to come!!! HA!

The Opposite of Me

dark
mysterious
quiet confidence
big boobs and no butt
reserved
cool

That would be my college roommate. Superficially, we have the following in common:

lemon martinis
pomegranate margaritas
wine
Jon Bon Jovi

Oddly we have been close for over 20 years. We vacation together each year at their beautiful beach home and it is fabulous. You can probably tell how we spend much of our time.

Oh my aching quads...

I'm hobbling around like an old woman tonight.

"Well you are an old woman," you may be thinking.

Bitch.

So anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, I'm abnormally aware of my quads right about now. In large part because of the insane workouts I've done over the last two days. Not insane by say Ironman training standards but pretty insane for me.

Yesterday, I had six 1/2 mile repeats on the schedule. Now knowing that I would never in a million years do 1/2 mile repeats on my own, I headed down to the weekly TriGirl run at the ungodly hour of 6 a.m. That's two days in a row of pre-dawn wake up, in case you're counting. Which I am.

Thank goodness Megan was there and she was doing the repeats too. We commiserated for a bit - long enough for some other TriGirls to join us in our pain. Liz, Megan and I ended up doing them together. Which translated into them taking off like a shot and me trailing behind.

I've only done repeats once before which is pretty pathetic considering how many times they've been on my schedule. I thought they were for speed work, but yesterday I was told (possibly seriously) that they are designed to get you used to feeling like you're going to throw up. I totally believe it.

So yesterday my times were 3:34, 3:45, 3:33, 3:34, 3:33, 3:45. My interval goal based on a timed mile is 3:35 so I'm meeting it at least some. I had a little consistency problem on the 2nd and last ones though.

This weekend is the last long workout weekend before I start tapering somewhat for Luray, but I had to get it in today. Fortunately, Annnn agreed to join me. Otherwise, I suspect I may have come up with excuses to skip. My goal today was to bike 40 and run 6 miles.

We planned to start at West Creek and cut through Cap One to do Cyndi's loop, but Annn wisely pointed out that we may not be able to loop Cap One given that it is a work day. We opted to meet at my house instead and decided to wing it a bit.

We started heading west on Broad Street, which I later learned struck terror in Annn's heart. She was a trooper though. We next made the truly scary mistake of turning onto 623. It was a nightmare, full of huge semis and construction trucks with an interstate exchange thrown in for good measure. I was seriously worried. We finally made it to a turn option and grabbed the road less travelled. Whew!!! From there, we rode part of Cyndi's route then headed back to my house for a total of 23 miles together.

Thank you, Annn! It was great to ride with you, even though you were hurling profanity and wishing for my immanent demise the entire time. Ha!

Have I mentioned lately how cool Annn is?

After Annn left, I had a hard time motivating myself to get back out there. Temperatures were in the mid-90s with lots of humidity thrown in for good measure. My kids gave me little choice though - they told me I stunk and that I had to either finish my workout or get in the shower, pronto. Reluctantly, I crawled back on my bike.

The rest of the ride was relatively unremarkable. I didn't almost die and I had no fun company. I finished slightly over 40 miles at an average pace of 16.2 mph.

After another lengthy stretch of procrastination, I changed into fresh clothes and started running. Initially I planned to run 6 miles. About a mile in, I was seriously questioning why I do this. It was so not fun anymore. I started bargaining with myself... I could trade today's six for one of the four milers coming up next week. Yeah, that's it - I'll run four. By 1 1/2 miles, I started thinking I was majorly deranged. What kind of lunatic runs in the middle of the day in August in Virginia? Final results: three miles, 9:36/mi average speed.

Upon returning home, I ate everything in the house then took the longest cold shower ever. I contemplated a nap at that point but sadly didn't have time after almost four hours of working out.

I am so looking forward to a rest day tomorrow. And other than the aching quads, I feel pretty darn good.

Virginia's Wonders

Think Virginia is wonderous? Click here to cast your vote for the top seven natural and man-made wonders in our beautiful state, based on nominations made previously.

I haven't been to all of the sites noted, but it sounds like a great list of future destinations.

A little me time

Ahhh... somehow, today I ended up with an extra half hour just for me. I actually got to color my hair, which I've needed to do for a looooong time. I had a good two inches of dark roots threaded with a shocking amount of grey.

While the color was setting on my hair, I gave myself a much-needed pedicure. My toes were not in as bad of shape as my hair, but pretty darn close.

I feel all girly now.

Oh, hey there...

Yikes, I have a blog? Huh? What? I'm supposed to write in it regularly? Whoops. My bad.

So what up, peeps? Talk amongst yourselves, cuz I got nothin. Guess I could give you some same ole, same ole.

Monday, I swam in the morning. ...So much for same ole, ey? Me - in a pool? Can you see planets aligning? Yes, I actually got up early on Monday just to swim. To swim. Me.

I belted out 2200 meters before work then returned to the Y for a weights class.

Wha....? Swimming and weights class? Wait a minute now. When was the last time I did either of those activities, much less on the same day?

Things are looking a little weird around here...

Tuesday was blessedly normal with a five mile run with Yo Beanie at a relaxed 10:05 minute/mile pace. We hadn't seen each other in about a week and a half, and I was thrilled to have a chance to catch up. She just returned from a week at a ranch in Wyoming and was full of interesting stories. Including a picture of her husband on a horse which absolutely cracks me up.

Today, I almost slept through the ridiculously early bike ride that I've dragged others into, but fortunately (?) Scouter woke me. Megan, Richard and Kathryn joined me for a little early morning jaunt. We rode 20 miles, 17.7 mph average. Somehow, what I normally call slight inclines turned into real hills on the second loop and my legs hurt. I reminded myself that it gets better, and predictably, it did. When we stopped.

I spent far too much time chatting in the parking lot with Richard, followed up by far too long chatting pool side with lifeguard Tom, then I finally got into the pool ~ What? The pool again? ~ for 1000m which is all I had time left to do.

I've got to tell you, I cannot swim fast. I literally do not know how to do it - I can't reconcile Som's advice to glide with my interpretation of swimming faster. Which must mean flail about like a crazy person and waste a lot of energy when I try. Case in point, I swam three timed 100s today at 2:09, 2:10, and 2:11 respectively. Yeah, that's the same or slower than my recent 1000 straight pace per 50. Just for fun, I stopped trying to swim fast for the fourth 100 (since clearly it wasn't doing anything but increasing my perceived exertion and tiring me out). Guess what? I clocked 2:05. Does that make any sense? I need some professional advice here. And maybe one day, I will show up at the scheduled TriGirl swim again to get it.

So anyway, that brings us up to the moment in my fun-filled, fascinating training life. I hope you can stand the wait until my next post...