Workout Week in Review

I'm only posting this to embarrass myself into doing a better job next week. After taking 11 days completely off, this is all I managed to pull together this week:

Saturday: Nothing. Talked about running all day long as I lounged and napped in my pj's.

Sunday: Nothing. Didn't even talk about it.

Monday: Weights class. We did some one-legged-squat exercise in a lunge position with our back feet up on a step and the toes of our front feet turned in. My butt was sore for four days. Tuesday, I winced every time I had to sit down.

Tuesday: Ran five miles with the Bean at a dismal 11:03 min/mi pace. Hey, we had a lot to talk about since we hadn't seen each other for an entire week.

Wednesday: Yoga. Personal space girl didn't crowd me for a rare treat but she did set her mat up right between me and the mirror, once again forcing me to move. Do you think I can get a restraining order requiring her to stay at least 10 feet away from me in class?

Thursday: Ran five miles with Beanie and Alison at a 10:03 min/mi pace. Planned our training run schedule for the Shamrock Half.

Friday: I have my gym bag packed but will probably not get there today. Today is my pseudo last day at my consulting job and my boss is taking me to lunch. (I say pseudo because in actuality I will be here a little bit next week to finish a project.)

Well I am embarrassed which hopefully will lead to just a smidgen of motivation!

Welcome

We have some new bloggers and a new blog site among the TriGirls... welcome! I look forward to feeling like I know you better than I really do by stalking your sites! (Just ask poor TriGirl40 about conversations I try to pick up in the middle with her after reading something on her blog. She must think I'm nuts.)

Bethany: tri-ing races not cases (how cute is that?!?)
Kate: it's kate's turn
Susie Q: boston/brazil bound (new blog for new goals after nailing IMFL)

These are all listed to the right for future reference. There's also a not-so-secret TriGirl blog hidden over there somewhere... I think she's been fully outed by someone other than me already. And it's a good one...

Crazy

My husband emailed me this picture today, with a note that said "When did you have time to pose for this?"

I love that man, even though he's a big fat liar.

The Parks

I've been planning a trip to Disney World since the kids were little, wanting to go when Taz was 7 and Rainbow 6. It turned out to be the perfect time - they are young enough to be into the characters and the magic but big enough to have the endurance for each day's activities and the height to ride most of the rides. Although I suspect that Disney has enough to offer for all ages that any time can be the perfect time.

I decided upon a seven day park hopper pass because I wanted our vacation to be leisurely. Frankly, I was envisioning a morning at one of the four Disney theme parks followed by some lounging at the pool. I pictured myself reclining with a People magazine while the kids frolicked, or perhaps even napping.

Didn't happen. But I will say, we made the most of our park passes and did pretty much everything we wanted to.

We arrived in Orlando around 1:30 p.m. on Friday. By the time we got to the hotel, checked in, and found some much needed food (it was early in the trip, after all, when we still had appetites), it was almost 5:00 so we decided to forgo a park that day and to explore our neighborhood instead. We were on a lake with other hotels, restaurants and shopping. Scouter and Taz became quickly enamoured with the ESPN restaurant/gift shop so that's where we spent much of our time. Friday was quite chilly and we wondered what arctic climates bred the people who were in the pool.

Saturday dawned sunny and beautiful. We walked to Epcot, which was about five minutes from our hotel. I had purchased and studied the Unofficial Guide to Walt Disney World, so we entered the park with a plan of action. It worked quite well, and we were able to do the three major rides very quickly: Test Track (twice), Mission to Mars, and Soaring (twice). While we were in line for Soaring, a Disney Dream Team popped up and awarded us FastPasses for six of the major attractions at Epcot, good for that day. Score! This is Disney's year of a million dreams, and the special FastPasses are one of the dream gifts. One of the Dream Team members chatted with Taz for awhile and reminded us of Scouter's brother Mark.

Taz and Rainbow were anxious to see some characters, and our longest line of the day was to do just that. We were rewarded by a host of characters, one after the other, including Mickey, Minnie, Chip & Dale, Donald Duck, Pluto, and Goofy. We got autographs and plenty of pictures.

In the middle of the afternoon, Taz said he was tired and ready to go. I could have coaxed him through it, but Scouter jumped on the opening and scurried off with Taz in tow to hit the ESPN zone to watch the Va. Tech/Miami football game (which we won by the way). Rainbow and I opted to use our Dream Team passes to hit Test Track, Mission to Mars, and Soaring yet again. Soaring was her favorite ride of the whole trip - it was a really cool simulation of gliding over many locations in California, including Napa, San Fransisco, the desert, LA, San Diego, and of course, Disney Land.

We swung by to pick up the boys on the way to our next adventure which was dinner and an Aloha Luau at the Polynesian Hotel. Dinner was much improved by the inclusion of wine and beer. The show included Hawaiian and other South Pacific native dances including a flame thrower. Taz and Rainbow even went on stage to learn the hula after much encouragement (aka bribery) from Daddy. Rainbow put her sweet little head down on the table and fell sound asleep before the show was over, so I carried her back to our hotel. That was my one and only workout of the week.

Damn at the rate I'm going, this trip post is going to be longer than one of my race reports even! I'll try to summarize...

Sunday, we went to MGM which is setup like a real Hollywood studio and actually functions as one although of course we didn't see any of the real stuff. We saw Donald and Daisy Duck while there and got the requisite autographs and pictures. Also Stitch. Taz and Scouter hit the Rock and Roll roller coaster and the Tower of Terror (Taz's two favorite attractions of the week) while Rainbow and I took in a condensed Beauty and the Beast show. We all enjoyed the High School Musical pep rally, several stunt shows, and the abundant Christmas lights after dark.

Monday, the kids were wiped and we all slept in a bit. We then went to the character breakfast at our hotel which featured Minnie, Goofy, and Chip & Dale. Rainbow decided that Minnie was her favorite while Taz preferred Goofy. Then Taz realized that he and Dale are both missing their two front teeth. Much excitement! I have a cute picture of Dale pointing to his mouth and Taz's.

We headed off to Animal Kingdom which was very crowded. Due to our late arrival, lines for the major attractions were too long for our children's tolerance. We ended up walking through several animal displays and seeing two shows, Lion King and Finding Nemo, which were excellent. Lion King featured interpretive dance to pretty much all the songs in the movie, while Nemo summarized the story with large puppets. That description totally doesn't do it justice! We saw Rafiki from Lion King and Pocahontas characters while we were there.

My book had warned us to save the Magic Kingdom for last since the other parks would pale in comparison. Tuesday, it was finally time to go. We got there right when the park opened and followed the book's itinerary almost exactly. It worked really well. We were able to ride Space Mountain and tons of other rides plus see shows like the 3D Mickey's Phiharmagic, Rainbow's favorite. She was also a big fan of Space Mountain and said she "cut her teeth" on that roller coaster. We saw Captain Hook, Mr. Smee, Peter Pan and Wendy for autographs and photos. We even snuck in some day two activities such as Pirates of the Caribbean and Big Thunder Mountain for the boys. We had a character dinner with Minnie, Goofy, Chip & Dale. I was a little disappointed to see the same characters again but the kids were thrilled so all was good. Our restaurant was right on the parade route so we popped out a few times to get a glimpse. Then we enjoyed a fantastic fireworks show.

Wednesday, we returned to the Magic Kingdom and we all rode Big Thunder Mountain. Twice. The kids begged to ride Splash Mountain, much to my dismay, so we finally did it. Rainbow's butt got soaked! We did a few other things then we actually returned to the hotel for some pool time! At last! Somehow though instead of relaxing in a lounge chair, I ended up going down this huge cool water slide into the pool with the kids. Repeatedly. Then we returned to the Magic Kingdom, rode Space Mountain again and did a few other things, then saw the parade in full and watched the fireworks again. Scouter is a fireworks connoisseur and deemed these among the best he's seen.

Thursday, we were on a mission to return to Animal Kingdom for the activities we were shut out of on Monday. Both were excellent. The Kilimanjaro Safari was so realistic, and we saw tons of animals - lions, giraffe, elephants, hippos, rhinos, monkeys, and more. And the Everest Expedition roller coaster was my favorite ride of all. It was good and long with several big drops and a backwards segment. Fun! We saw Pooh, Tigger, and yes Kermit, Eyore! We also caught some more shows including Flights of Wonder with live birds and a funny 3D bug film. Animal Kingdom was Scouter's favorite park. It definitely had the best shows. Taz and I agreed that our favorite park was whichever one we were in at the moment!

Thursday night, we headed back to MGM to see Fantasmic which was quite an experience. The staff at Disney is unbelievably creative. This show featured Mickey in a dream sequence with many of the characters in his imagination. The bad guys from many of his shows stage a coup but Mickey prevails. Many of the graphics were displayed on huge vertical shooting sheets of water. Rainbow found it to be frightening, but it was Taz's favorite show.

As we were heading back to our hotel, Rainbow - in very dramatic manner - started asking WHEN WHEN WHEN she was going to be able to get some sleep around here. She cracks me up. Taz and I strolled hand in hand as he regaled me with his vision for our family Christmas card, which by his plan will be a collage of all his character pictures and rides.

Friday morning, we hit Epcot one last time. The highlight of this visit was lunch in Italy at a restaurant called Tutto Italia which was by far the best meal we had. We would have liked to spend more time in the World Showcase area of Epcot which featured a number of countries from Japan to Mexico, but alas, we had to leave for the airport.

It was a great trip. The kids are already asking when we're going back.

Food Plan, Baby

In preparation for our trip to Disney, I pre-purchased their food plan which consisted of one table service meal (sit down/waiter), one counter service meal (walk up), and one snack for each of us per day. I was actually concerned that this wouldn't be enough food, but my goal was for Scouter to open his wallet as little as possible. Better for everyone if Daddy stays happy. And thinking about what this trip cost does not equal a happy Daddy.

One the first day, we discovered - after ordering lunch for each kid - that a counter service kid's meal is along the lines of 9 chicken nuggets, large fries, a huge drink, and a large ice cream sundae. In fact, every meal included dessert. We soon realized that we could order one meal for them to split and let them eat reasonable amounts more frequently as opposed to throwing away a lot of food and listening to whines about starvation a few short hours later.

Our meals were equally absurd. A counter service might be a personal pizza, side salad, large drink, and dessert. A table service meal was even bigger - appetizer, entree, drink, and dessert.

Early in the week, I was fairly well behaved and ordered desserts like fruit or Mickey rice crispy treats that I saved for the kids. By the end of the week, I was snarfing down carrot cake and cannoli like nobody's business, and shaking violently if I didn't have a sugar fix every four hours.

I'm pretty certain that all the visitors to our great nation shook their heads knowingly when they saw me walking by, laden down with trays of food that could feed a starving nation but really only destined for our family of four. Add in a breakfast buffet and two family style dinners and we really had more food than anyone should eat in a month.

To top it off, I cooked a massive make-up Thanksgiving dinner yesterday: turkey, ham, dressing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green bean casserole, sweet potato casserole, rolls, and pumpkin crisp with vanilla ice cream.

I now look like I'm about three months pregnant with my big pouch.

I call it my food plan baby.

Disney Pics

Here are some photos from our vacation last week. Enjoy! (BTW, still no run. I have, however, unpacked, done a million loads of laundry, and cooked a belated T'giving dinner...)

Cinderella's Castle at Magic Kingdom

The tree of life at Animal Kingdom. It has cool animal carvings all over it.

Up close and personal at Animal Kingdom

Me, my extra chin, and Minnie

All the characters in Fantasmic at MGM

The tree at Animal Kingdom

Two cool dudes

Pooh is such a gentleman! This is right before he kissed my hand.

Animal Kingdom Safari

Me at the end of the trip

I'm Baaaaack!

We got home late last night from a week long trip to Disney World. A fantastic week of eating, rides, shows, and family togetherness.

Must.Go.Run.

More later!

2007 and some preliminary thoughts on 2008

I started reflecting on this year and geez... no wonder I'm tired! I did an event every month from April through November!

April: Monument 10k - a PR for me.
May: Capital to Capital cycling event, half century (actually ~ 56 miles) - my longest distance at that point in time; Race for the Cure
June: Power Sprint triathlon - PR
July: Run leg of sprint tri relay with Annnn and Thomas - fun!
August: Luray Olympic - my first
September: Heart of Virginia cycling event (metric century Sat followed by 40 miles Sunday) - the first time I'd ridden that far or two consecutive days
October: Giant Acorn sprint triathlon
November: Luter Family YMCA Duathlon - my first and possibly only

My training volume increased significantly this year, especially on the bike. And I learned to love my bike. Which is great because 2007 was my year of the bike!

Even though I didn't swim nearly as much as I should have this year, swim volume was up significantly too. Run volume was down but I expected that. Something has to give, right? Plus, I was running four days a week for awhile last year and that's just too much for my old body and for my general interest in the sport.

Weight workouts and yoga suffered this year, in part because I couldn't do them for awhile when I broke my finger and in part because I just couldn't fit everything in this summer.

So what to do next? I'm starting to think about next year. For big overarching goals, I'd like to continue to focus on cycling while also paying more attention to the run. Consistency and a bit more speed would be great.

As for races, there are quite a few variables at play and I definitely won't do this many events, but the potential options include:

March: Shamrock half marathon - already committed and registered. The only definite on this list!
April: Monument Ave 10k - what the hell, I do it every year and I'll already be trained from Shamrock
May: Cap to Cap half or full century; White Lake half IronMan - extremely tentative.
June: MS150 cycling event - this is a very personal cause for me and I really want to make it work this year; Power Sprint
August: Luray Olympic with Jennifer - I have something to prove after last year. Okay, this may have to be another definite.
September: Heart of Virginia cycling; Naylor's Olympic - if something goes really wrong with Luray plans
October: Giant Acorn - because I think Jennifer will make me do it again. Maybe she'll let me get away with volunteering. That water was cold!!! But then again, the bike route was really nice...

Lots of fun events to think about and training to anticipate. I will be able to commit once I get the rest of my life figured out.

Now about that break...

See ya on the flip side!

Workout Week In Review

I know, I know... it's only Thursday. But I have decided that I deserve a little break. I am officially off through Thanksgiving.

Mkay, I may not deserve a little break, but I definitely need it. I am burned out!

Anyway... back to the subject at hand...

Monday: Weights class. Not good. See previous rant. BTW, I have complained about this instructor to the Y but the response was that all of their instructors are appropriately trained. I suggested that someone monitor her class to validate proper application of said training, to no avail.

Tuesday: Ran five miles with the Bean, 10:41 min/mi average. We were slow, but we had fun! It was sprinkling, so we didn't want to slip on wet leaves and hurt ourselves or anything. That's my story.

Wednesday: Yoga. Unaware-of-personal-space-violations-girl was on the other side of the studio. Thank God. I had a good practice and my abdominals are sore today.

Thursday: Ran 4.5 miles. It was raining. Apparently all that needs to be done to end the drought is for me to run more. (But I'm taking the next week off anyway... sorry, Virginia.)

I registered for the Shamrock half marathon yesterday after talking myself into it through my own blog post on the subject, and I figured out my paces for the FIRST training. So today, I ran a one mile warm up followed by a three mile tempo run and a half mile cool down. My tempo pace is 9 min/mile based on my most recent 5k time. I ran the first mile in 8:55, the second in 9:06, and the third in 8:36. I need to work on getting a feel for the right pace, especially when I start feeling a bit tired. Then I got home, looked at my training plan and realized that my tempo pace is actually 9:15 min/mile. That's a relief - gives me hope that I can sustain pace on longer tempo runs. Or perhaps I'm just sandbagging?

The FIRST plan is a ten week plan, so I don't officially start it until the beginning of February. But it was fun to have a goal for an individual run and I will keep playing around with speed work and tempo runs for the next two months anyway.

Now for a little break...

Watcha doin' for St. Patrick's Day?

Alison put the idea into my head and Beanie and Annnn helped it grow... I'm thinking about running the Shamrock Half Marathon in March. It's sponsored by Yuengling, so it's got to be good right? I'm pretty sure that was the hook for Annn!

Alison even told Scouter about it for me and it is already an approved event. I didn't even have to open a bottle of wine (although I probably will).

I ran the Army 10 miler last October and swore that I'd never run any further. Kind of like doing a sprint triathlon and saying that was a good distance, then doing an Olympic. And still contemplating a half IM.

I'm thinking I'll follow the FIRST half marathon training plan which is a three day a week running plan with cross training mixed in two days a week. The kicker is that all runs are timed with speed work, tempo and long runs once each per week. The Bean is doing it with me, so we will have to work out our goal time together.

There's an 8k on Saturday with the full and half marathons on Sunday of Saint Patrick's Day weekend. All events are in Virginia Beach, starting and ending on the boardwalk. Beer and food at the end.

Doesn't that sound fun?!? Who else is in?

Rant Alert

So I was incorrect about my exercise class instructors last week, as I was rudely reminded because I had the instructor whose class I don't like for today's weight class. She is a very nice person; I just dislike her classes. Especially her weights classes.

Today, we started with biceps then moved onto inner thigh followed by triceps. The absolute last muscle groups we did were hamstrings and quadriceps. I have an issue with working smaller muscle groups first because it becomes virtually impossible to adequately exhaust larger muscle groups when the small ones are pre-fatigued.

And I know from experience that this is a good way to get hurt. I pulled my rotator cuff in this instructor's very class several years ago because my shoulder muscles were exhausted before we did upper back. Now I am careful to use light weights on the early sets of small muscle groups so I don't get hurt. What I should do is check the schedule and skip class in favor of the weight room when she teaches.

My other issue is that this teacher provides very little, if any, instruction on proper form. Today, I saw several participants doing lunges with a narrow stance and knees jutting way over their front feet. I also saw people hyper extending their knees and elbows in various exercises and pulling too hard on their necks during sit ups. Incorrect form is another recipe for injury.

I learned what I know about weight lifting at Mike's Olympic Gym in Mechanicsville in the early 90s. Scouter's brother Mark was living here at the time and he thoroughly researched gyms before joining Mike's. He recommended that I try it, and I went there for about a year until I changed jobs and the commute was too much. Although I was intimidated by the overabundance of testosterone there, I stuck with it as long as I did because of Mike. He took the time to show each member the correct way to perform every exercise, and he and his staff were vigilant about proper form always. My program changed every three months; it was like having a personal trainer for every workout.

Now I don't expect Mike's level of customization and attention from the Y, but I do expect to take a class that doesn't set me up for injury. Am I wrong?

Workout Week In Review

Dang, I haven't blogged about workouts in a long time. Since that is the purported reason for this blog, let's wrap up last week, shall we?

(Notice the "dang." A girls gotta keep her PG rating, you know.)

Last week, I essentially returned to my pre-triathlon addiction workout schedule. And I felt like a big fat slacker.

Sunday: Nothing to see here. Ate a lot of Halloween candy. I did clean my closet, swap my summer and winter clothes, and took three bags of circa 80s clothing to Goodwill. Clearly, a long overdue task.

Monday: Weight class. The teacher I don't like taught but she didn't start with the small muscle groups like she usually does (calves before quads, biceps before pecs...) My butt and upper hammies were sore for days afterwards. Not weight training all summer really hurt my hamstring and upper body strength in particular. I have a lot of work to do this winter.

Tuesday: Ran 4.5 miles with Beanie at a fast clip (for us) of 9:54 min/mi. Solved the world's problems. Or at least b*tched about our own. And planned our fun evening in Charlottesville for the Police concert which caused us to run 1/2 mile further than planned. Good stuff.

Wednesday: Yoga. I had issues with personal space but otherwise enjoyed the class. I'm getting a little better since I've started going more regularly again.

Thursday: Ran 5 miles with the Bean. My Garmin battery wasn't charged so I don't have statistics. We planned our upcoming roadtrip and tailgate party for the Redskins game on Sunday.

Friday: I missed my weight class as I had a work function during lunch but I got to go biking with Richard later in the day. Yeah!!! We road a 20 mile RABA route to Ashland at 16.5 mph average. We hit a little rain and it started getting dark earlier than we anticipated, but it was still great to get out on my bike and to see Richard. Afterwards, I met Liz and Sharon for drinks in my lovely cycling clothes. No way would I go out in public in bike shorts if I didn't love those guys so much. Thank goodness I didn't see anyone else I know. I think I scared people.

Saturday: Squeaked in a 4 mile run by taking Rainbow with me. She biked beside me. We had lots of stops including one where she played on the playground while I ran around the parking lot three times. I did some speed work when she flew down hills then walked with her uphill. It wasn't much of a workout, but we had fun. Then we showered, ran some errands, and got pedicures at her suggestion. We now sport matching hot pink toes.

Sunday: Zero zip nada on the exercise front. Cocktails at the Skins game. Lots of sleep in the car on the way home.

I want to figure out a way to get more biking into my week. And I've actually even thought about maybe just possibly getting back into the pool. We'll see what happens...

Skins

Being a Skins fan is a lot like being a Tech fan. You can never be certain of victory until the game is totally completely over.

Take today's game for example. Scouter and I went with Beanie and Bryan. We had a blast! But the Skins gave up a touchdown, a two point conversion and a field goal with less than four minutes in the game. Hey, they were winning when we left!

The best part of the game was hanging with our friends at our tailgate. We arrived at the game early to find a big crowd with the same idea. We had music, football, and some guy riding around on a mobile cooler (seriously). We also had chillies and a nice tailgate buffet. Here's Bryan, Beanie, Scouter, and me:

Our seats were great for both game and people watching. Here's Scouter trying to scrunch in so we'd all fit in the camera frame. Think he tailgated too much perhaps?

And here's the beautiful threesome that were blocked in the previous photo: Beanie, me, and my extra chin:

One of Beanie's friends wanted to know if we thought we were still in college, what with the concert on Tuesday and the game today. It was a good week!

Just wastin' time

Margo posted a link to a fun time waster last week, and I've been dying to check it out. God knows I've got tons of time on my hands. Plus, I really wanted to know what my blog rating is. So what did I find out?

• I don't know as much about Disney as I thought I did, scoring only 57% on the Disney Trifecta.
• My blog is rated PG because I wrote "ass" twice and "dangerous" once. Guess the tool didn't check comments.
• Ray Charles, Louis L'Amour, Spencer Tracy and Alexander the Great died on my birthday. Not the same year though. ; )
• I am 64% addicted to blogging. That's a relief. I expected much higher.
• I'm only 38% geek. That's not good considering my profession is IT.
• My current level of ability in 8th grade science is only a D+ at 69%. Thank goodness it was better when I was actually in 8th grade.

Pre-Concert Pics

We had a fun dinner at Baja Bean Company in Charlottesville before the Police concert last night...

Here are the girls:

Sue, Jennifer, Beth, me, Cate, Corinne

I'm only posting this photo because Bryan was being an ass about getting his picture taken. Here's my revenge! That's a lesson he won't soon... um... even know about...

Wood, Bryan, and Scouter

A good time was had by all!

Don't tell Scouter...

... that I'm completely in love with Sting. Again.

I saw the Police in concert the summer between my sophomore and junior year in high school. It shocks me now that my parents permitted me to spend the day at Virginia Beach with my boyfriend, then go to the concert at Norfolk Scope. They were on the Synchronicity tour. A then-little known band called REM opened for them. It was amazing. Given the band member's animosity towards each other, I never thought I'd have the chance to see them in concert again.

But, it happened! And we went to the Police concert last night with a big group of friends. (I'll upload pictures tonight). Andy Summers looked like an old curmudgeon (and sounded like one in the pre-concert interview in the RTD's Weekender section last Thursday) but played flawlessly. Stewart Copeland was particularly amazing during "Wrapped Around Your Finger" when he not only played the drums but some cool chime kinda things as well. Total aside, but I didn't know he was from Virginia - he ran to the mike at the end of the concert and said so as a seeming afterthought. It was the most enthusiasm either of them exhibited all night.

But Sting... ahh Sting... he made the show. His amazing voice, weather beaten good looks, yoga sculpted body, and cute little dance bob were mesmerizing.

I'm pretty sure when he sang "Every Little Thing You Do Is Magic," he was looking right at me.

Another kind of training...

Yesterday morning as I was upstairs getting ready for work, I heard Scouter in the kitchen, chatting away. The kids had already gone to school, so I knew he was talking to our new-to-us dog.

As I came downstairs, I teased him that he never chats with me that much in the morning.

His reply?

"I still have hope for training the dog. I gave up on you a long time ago."

Shoulda stalled a little longer...

Here's Margo's fabulous race/ER report.

Duathlon Race Report (aka I am in awe of Annnn)

Jennifer, I'm doing this for you. My inclination was to wait for Margo to report then add my own race details. But I know you can't wait any longer so here goes! (ha ha)

Annn and I arrived in the cute little town of Smithfield, Virginia, at about 4:00 on Friday afternoon... after I got us lost twice just trying to leave Richmond. I really don't know my way around at all once I get south of the James River. Sad, I know, given that I've spent my whole life here.

Anyway... packet pickup didn't start until 5:00 so we took the opportunity to ride the course. And by ride, of course I mean drive. There were a few scary notations on the route maps. First, we took a look at the blind hairpin turn followed by a steep uphill on the bike course. We hit the turn following a fairly blind s-shaped downhill section, and it was very sharp. Brake hard and ride slow kind of sharp. But then there was a little flat before a mild uphill. We rode the downhill leading to the turn again as Annn plotted her strategy, then we scoffed at the "steep" uphill. We were happy to be prepared for that turn on race day and hoped there wouldn't be much traffic on the narrow roads.

We rode the rest of the bike route to become more familiar with it and noted false-flats, some sandy and muddy areas. We got a kick out of "Easy Street" around mile 9 and commented that we would look for it on race day for a quick giggle.

Next we decided to check out the run route. We ended up behind a car carrying a gorgous Felt tri bike with Zipp wheels and paid more attention to that than the actual route. They turned off before we did, so we caught the cobblestone section, a store called Cloud 9 (to go along with Easy Street), and the "steep downhill" followed by a "steep uphill" that was supposed to give us a "sense of accomplishment" at the end of the race. The hill was steep but short. We scoffed again.

As we headed to the B&B, Annn noted that our day had gone remarkably well and that something better go wrong soon or she would be very worried about the race - thereby initiating a series of little mishaps. The B&B confused our reservation, and when we finally got a room, it was still dirty from a previous occupant. Our next room was clean but bore the room number 2213. Lucky 13. Whew, at least we got all that out of the way...

We hooked up with Margo and Rcat for packet pickup, which went smoothly, and dinner at the hotel. The B&B had a beautiful view of the Pagan River and dinner was quite delicious. Annn selected the best meal with sweet potato crusted rockfish, and my seafood medley covered in cheese and bacon was a tasty indulgance. Pretty much everything on the menu contained ham or bacon - we were in Smithfield, Virginia after all. I had my usual pre-race wine but fortunately not in vast quantities this time.

The wind had picked up by then and the weather had turned very chilly. We watched the weather channel and saw that Hurrican Noel was still tracking off the east coast with a forecast for a cool windy morning and the liklihood of overnight rainfall. Annn and I flipped on the gas fireplace and snuggled into our king size bed for the night.

Good grief Charlie Brown, I haven't even gotten to race day yet! Moving on...

The race started at a civilized 9:30 a.m. so we had plenty of time the next morning. A quick check outside revealed cool temperatures but no rainfall. Local weather showed temperatures in the mid-40s with a high in the 60s expected later in the day once the hurricane cleared the area. I layered on most of the clothes I brought to give myself options during the race, we took a few pictures, and headed to the race site.

Annn and I had excellent rack positions in this small race, right by the bike exit/entrance. We set up our transition areas then headed inside the Y for timing chips and warmth. I decided to start the first run in my tri shorts and a light long sleeved running shirt. I froze my butt off beforehand but it was perfect once the horn sounded.

With less than 100 participants, we all started together. The pack broke up pretty quickly. About 10 yards in, I looked at the guy beside me and said that I was already tired. He laughed, we started chatting and ended up running together for the whole first 5k. My new friend Ken pushed me to a 26:59 minute first leg. (8:42 min/mi, 4/5 age group, 16/27 overall women)

My transition was slow as usual. I changed shoes, threw on my cool new TriGirl cycling jacket, gloves and helmet, and had a conversation with the girl beside me about my Newton running shoes. Saw Ken leaving T1, telling me to hurry up so we could stick together. Finally took off. Realized that I still had my running visor on, dumped my bike, ran back to transition and peeled it off. Tried again. (2:10, 4/5 AG, 23/27 women)

There were a lot of cyclists leaving transition at the same time so I put the hammer down to get around them. I passed most of them including Ken by the 1 mile marker. For whatever reason, I was entertained that there was a one mile marker. I saw one or two more bikers on the course leading up to the hairpin turn, but the run had really seperated the field more than I expected. It was very very windy - a swirly wind that was a headwind one second and a cross wind the next. Funny, I never noticed a tail wind. The turn was at about 3.5 miles and it wasn't bad since I was prepared. There was a truck coming the other way which could have been ugly if I had been a few seconds later, but the course was well populated with friendly volunteers so I'm sure I would have been fine.

The next stretch was kind of boring. I was feeling all alone when a woman blasted past me. She looked like she could have been in my age group so that motivated me to pick up the pace a bit, but pretty soon I was by myself again. There was some jack weed-whacking his yard and blowing crap all over the road around mile 7. I muttered an Annn-patented "martha focker" at him as I rode by. I made a turn and saw a biker on the side of the road. "You okay?" I called. "Cramping," he replied. After I passed him, it occured to me that I should have offered a Gu. Sorry, dude.

My own nutrition/hydration plan was going well. I had most of a Cliff bar and a bottle of water when I woke up, followed by a Gu before the start and Accelerade on the bike. I stopped drinking around mile 10 on the bike so my stomach wouldn't be sloshy for the second run. It worked well for me.

Around mile 9, I saw a guy on the side of the road with a flat. Been there, so I commisserated and told the next group of volunteers that he was back there. I saw Easy Street and smiled thinking of Annn and hoping she was having a good ride. As it turns out, our ride times were only 12 seconds apart! Sweet, partner!

Somewhere around mile 13, I flipped my bike computer to check my pace so far - 16.8. That's not acceptable, I thought to myself as I got a little more serious. I hit the long final stretch and gave it all I had to raise the average to 17.3 mph by the end. As I dismounted the bike, a friendly volunteer said, "You made up a lot of time on the bike!" "I tried!" I told her although I thought it odd and wondered if she mistook me for someone else. (56:53, 3/5 AG, 11/27 women)

I was more efficient in T1, dumping my jacket and gloves, changing shoes, grabbing Garmin and visor, jogging out. No chatting. I wondered how far behind me Ken was and if he'd catch me on the second run. (1:18, 3/5 AG, 16/27 women)

The run route had a lot of turns and therefore a lot of volunteers. I tried to thank each volunter I saw on the course all day. On the second 5k run, I kept saying, "It's harder this time!" The volunteers laughed and offered encouragement. I could see a few people in front of me but like the bike, I felt alone.

This wasn't a USAT event and the web site hadn't said that iPods were forbidden. I wore mine to the race start but Margo told me they had announced that they weren't allowed so I tucked it in my shirt for most of the race. After the first mile of the second run, however, I decided I needed the distraction and pulled it out. For the next mile, I listened to Scissor Sisters and Hootie. Then I needed me some Nickleback and started flipping through my tunes to find Rock Star. As I approached the steep downhill/uphill section, I settled on Nelly's Hot in Herre. Then I decided to flip one more time then I'd flip back to Nelly if necessary. I accidentally skipped two songs, went back one, and found Rock Star. Yes!!!! The hill was definitely feeling more significant at this point. I hit it happy, turned the corner to the home stretch, and jogged it in with all I had left. (28:05, 9:04 min/mi, 3/5 AG, 14/27 women).

I walked around a bit, actually stretched which is rare for me in a race, grabbed a bottle of water and saw Margo. She told me about her tough day (poor thing). We headed back to transition to grab cameras. I checked results and saw that I was third in my age group (14/27 overall women), which I thought was also last. I didn't realize until I checked results this morning to give you all these lovely statistics that there were actually five of us, so I feel a little better about my podium win. (HA!)

The race director started announcing awards near the finish line and we saw Rcat finish. We were chatting and waiting for the women's results when Annn approached the finish line. We cheered like crazy, and she called, "I'm going to need medical attention" to the volunteers. That's when we noticed the dried blood all over her right leg and the huge gash on her knee. Volunteers swarmed her with a first aid kit. She fell at the 1.5 mile mark on the second run, rolled around a bit, and kept going. I am in awe.

As Annn gimped to the curb, I heard the race director call my name and I zipped through the small crowd to pick up my Luter Family YMCA Duathlon pint glass. I quickly returned to Annn who was getting iced and wrapped. That's when I heard the race director call her name as second place Athena. I ran to get her pint glass, and Margo photographed her with injuries and award.

The volunteers recommended that we take Annn to the closest emergency room. Despite her protests that all she needed was a little peroxide, we quickly gathered all our stuff from transition and bundled her off to the nearest hospital. Four hours, two x-rays and eight stitches later, she hobbled out of the ER on crutches and whacked on pain killer. I never saw her cry or heard her complain.

I am in awe.

New Pup

Last May, we lost our sweet dog. She was our almost-18 year old black lab, and we were so fortunate to have her as long as we did.

We weren't really ready to think about another dog yet, although Taz and Rainbow have been asking for awhile.

Then a friend at work told me he was looking for a new home for their six year old cockapoo. A one year old baby, a cranky mother in law, and the dog were too much, and the dog was not getting the attention and exercise she needed. After some discussion, Scouter and I agreed to take her.

Meet Duchess!

(And yes I am still stalling on the race report, but here's a tease...)

Pre-Du Pics

Smithfield is a really pretty town. We stayed at a nice B&B on a river inlet.

Annn, me, Margo and RCAT

Notice Annn's face as she pinches our ass

We're all happy now

And, yes, now that you mention it, I am stalling... it will be much easier to link to Margo's post once she blogs. tee hee

Happy Belated Halloween

Congrats to the Iron TriGirls who are in the process of kicking butt at IMFL right now.

This is just to tide you over until I can muster the energy to write a race report. It will be worth the wait, I promise. Especially once Margo posts pictures.

My office gets a little crazy on Halloween. Here's the costume I pulled together, using Rainbow's Hannah Montana wig and sunglasses as a base to dress as Paris Hilton during her jail stint:

I'm exhausted... going to bed now...

Du Prep

Annnn, Margo, RCAT, and I are doin' the du tomorrow. It is a 5k run, 25k bike, 5k run series.

I'm ending the season just as I started it: racing in a hurricane. The remnaints of Hurricane Noel are passing through today causing very windy conditions for the next two days with the possibility of some rain. We'll be two hours closer to the Atlantic so I'm guessing it will be even windier. Great.

Seriously - great. That can be my excuse for sucking as opposed to the truth which is that after two months of almost constant tapering and recovering, I'm not in very good shape. Almost all of my runs in the last few weeks have been 10+ min/mile and I've only biked once a week at best. Methinks this race is going to be uggggg-ly.

The race director distributed updated course maps yesterday with helpful information like "dangerous turn followed by steep uphill" for the bike and "big uphill" for the run. Annnn and I are planning to drive the courses today just so we know exactly how scared we need to be.

Fortunately, there are only three women in my age group so as long as I finish, I'm bringing home hardware. I won't feel like I deserve it though.

.

Annn and I are driving to Smithfield this afternoon for the aforementioned course preview and packet pickup, then we're meeting Margo and Rcat for dinner. After the award ceremony where we will likely all pick up hardware (me as a gimme; Annn, Margo and Rcat battling much larger and more competitive fields), Annnn and I are driving home where massage appointments await us.

Oh yeah, that's why I'm doing this race.