Hike

I suck at blogging lately. My apologies. I've been meaning to post some commentary and these pictures from a hike Scouter, the kids, the dog and I took last weekend for days... but I've been ridiculously busy so here are the pictures at least. See if you can find the deer in the last one!

Workout Week in Review

There weren't many days including workout activity last week, but those that did were intense. Here goes:

Sunday: Nothing.

Monday: Nothing. The kids had a school holiday, and I tried to pretend that snow tubing would provide some exercise but had to concede defeat when I realized that we rode back to the top.

Tuesday: Ran 12 miles with the Bean. We weren't fast (11:28 min/mi average) but we got it done. This is the furthest either of us has ever run before so we were quite thrilled. I just have to say, 12 miles is a long damn way to run. It wasn't that long ago that 12 miles felt like a long way to bike!

Wednesday: Zumba day! Yippee!!! In an effort to save some funds, I went to the Y for spin instead of meeting the girls at Maramarc for indoor cycling. Sadly that meant I missed Starbucks too but I hooked up with this week's crew of Jennifer, Caroline, Patty, and Courtney afterwards for Zumba. My friend Masha joined us as well. The teacher was one we didn't know and she was fantastic. I'm finally getting some of the moves and having more and more fun! A highlight of Zumba (for me anyway) was when Caroline took Patty down somehow. Thereafter, the instructor cautioned us to watch out for our friends. Tee hee! Yoga was relaxing but very cold, then we headed to Three Monkeys for lunch. Yum! Great food! And monkey drinks... ahhhh, monkey drinks.... I selected a Ruby Red Monkey which was was a tasty ruby red grapefruit martini that kicked my ass. I had a headache for the rest of the day, napped while my kids played outside and went to bed at 8 p.m.

Thursday: Ran six miles, the first four with Beanie and the last two with my iPod. I managed a negative split but still only averaged 10:29 min/mi.

Friday: Nothing. I really was planning to go to weights class but a two hour school delay due to bad weather prevented it.

Saturday: Surprise! I actually got to bike outside with my posse: Richard, Kermit and TriGirl40. It was great! In the beginning, I kept thinking, "I am... the weakest link!" but I actually did okay. I miss my Saturday cycling buddies. TG40 had a mantra working for her plans after the ride - "shower, nap, wine" - that she offered up to help us all finish strong. We agreed that it was a much nicer threesome than swim, bike, run. I was jealous but then I actually did it! After our ride, I took a nice long hot shower, then slept in the car while we headed back out of town, then had way too much red wine with the Bean. What a lovely day!

And that my friends was the workout week. Hopefully this next one will maintain the intensity on certain days but add a few more.

2008

At long last I am figuring out and posting about 2008. There is a lot that is still up in the air but here's what I'm thinking...

The big thing I'm excited about is that I'm going back to school! Yippee!!! I've been talking about it for years and finally got the balls to do it. I start a graduate program at VCU next weekend. It is an executive fast track master of science program, which means that classes are held every other weekend for fourteen months. It will be intense! If all goes well, I will graduate in May, 2009.

We had orientation last Saturday and already have a book to read and a paper to write... and I find that oddly stimulating. My kids just find it odd that mommy wants to go back to school. I think Scouter shares their viewpoint although he is supportive.

Sadly, class will cut into my triathlon habit. I don't think it's fair for me to be away from home every other weekend for school and then be away other weekend days for races. Soooo I am planning to do just enough racing to keep me fit and sane without annoying the crap out of my family and heaping too much guilt upon my own head. Hopefully I can find that happy balance!

The big unknown in all of this speculation is where I may be working. My training schedule will be seriously impacted by the location and demands of said job. I've been searching for a new position and have made it to the final few candidates several times but haven't gotten anything yet. Several jobs that I was interested in, and which espoused interest in me, have dried up with the economic downturn. Perhaps they will become active again. I need to get back to work but I am quite enjoying myself in the meantime!

.

I registered for the Shamrock Half Marathon before I committed to school which is good or bad depending upon my perspective on a given day. I have school that weekend but the race is on a Sunday so I can still run. Originally when I signed up, I was planning to use the half as a training race for the White (Pink) Lake Half Ironman in May but with school I'm not doing a HIM, so I'll run Shamrock just for fun. My goal was to finish in 2 - 2:05; now I will run with the Bean and finish around 2:30. Having this event on my calendar has definitely motivated me to increase my run distance. On Tuesday, Beanie and I ran 12 miles which is the farthest either of us has ever run. We're scheduled to run 14 next week. I can certainly say that I wouldn't have done that on my own, nor would I have run at all on some of the days we have if Shamrock wasn't looming.

Alas without a tri on my schedule I haven't been swimming at all and my cycling has been pathetic. In the last month, I've only done indoor cycling once a week for an hour. I learned to love my bike last year and I miss it. I'm thinking I will race I Love the Tavern sprint triathlon in late June and then perhaps bike Heart of Virginia in September. Dates for 2008 haven't been published but I should at least be able to ride Sunday. I wanted to race Giant Acorn again because I love that event, but sadly I will be in class while it is happening. If you have other suggestions for a fall event, let me know!

I'm looking forward to a fun and intersting 2008, whatever it may bring.

Please Vote Again

Jonah made it to round 2 of the Team Evotri challenge! Please vote for her to advance to the final four by emailing vote@evotri.com with "Jonah Holland - Round Two" in the subject line.

Thanks!

And go Jonah!!!!

Public Service Announcements

For the guys...

1. The way to have more sex is to be nice to your significant other. Being nice doesn't necessarily lead directly to sex, but being mean pretty much guarantees you won't get any.
2. You may think you are an expert on PMS after living with a woman for many years - and hell, you may be - but until you actually experience it first hand, you are far better off to refrain from audibly blaming any said behavior on it or in fact even mentioning it at all.
3. Kidney stones are not worse than childbirth. Pushing a grain of sand, albeit a spiky one, out of your penis does not compare to pushing a watermelon out of our uterus.

Happy to help.

Vote for Jonah!

TriGirl extraordinaire Jonah Holland has a phenominal opportunity to be accepted on Team Evotri. Please vote for her by emailing vote@evotri.com with "Jonah Holland" as the subject line. They are not opening emails; just sorting by subject name. You can watch her awesome video application too.

Jonah is one of ten finalists who, if (when!) she wins, will be supported and equipped like a pro for the year. If anyone deserves and will appreciate such an honor, it is Jonah. I think I can speak for all TriGirls when I say she is a true inspiration, role model, and all around great person.

Good luck, Jonah!

Workout Week in Review

Kermit kindly reminded me that I owe a WWIR, so here goes! It was actually a pretty good week.

Sunday: Ran four miles in monsterous headwinds. Very rarely, I experienced a tail wind and then I knew what running must feel like for Susie Q and Grandison. Fabulous!

Monday: Weights class, very crowded but good. Beanie and I shared a bench and laughed through the whole thing.

Tuesday: Ran 10 miles with the Bean. Felt pretty good.

Wednesday: Zumbalete day - Ed's cycling was hard - even harder than usual. Followed by Starbucks, Zumba, yoga, and Mexican. What a great habit!

Thursday: Ran four miles by myself but not quickly. Enjoyed my iPod but missed the Bean.

Friday: Weights class - not crowded and good. Miki taught, and she is my favorite. I was quite sore afterwards.

Saturday: Very busy but no exercise.

Not too shabby, eh?

Zumbaletes Rejoice!

Wednesday held another fun filled day of activities with the Zumbaletes. Beanie calls it my Jennifer Day and this week, she decided to join us!!! We're sucking more and more people in with our excitement!

Tuesday night, I reminded Scouter about my exercise trifecta the next morning. His reply? "Don't you mean quad? You can't forget the drinking."

The man knows us well.

I have to admit when the alarm went off at 6:15 on Wednesday morning, excitement was not exactly my emotion. I grumpily contemplated going back to sleep and meeting the girls for coffee after they went cycling, but I remembered that I had talked Annnn into cycling and I thought just maybe she might break character and give me a teeny tiny bit of shit. Or possibly a lot. So I dragged my butt out of bed and went. And by the time I got there, I was mostly happy.

Cycling class was one tough mofo. We did high intensity and hill intervals throughout class. My quads were burning, deep below their layer of fat. Ed is a masocist I'm pretty sure. And if Blogger's effing spell check worked, that would be spelled properly....

Jennifer, Patty, Caroline, Annnn and I headed to Starbucks after the cycling punishment where we met Courney, her cute son, and Lesley all geared up for Zumba! (Well except for Courney's son although he could have rocked the house). After coffee, Annnn made some lame excuse to skip out on Zumba but Debbie joined us so there were seven of us in class. We shimmied and marangaed with the best of them (at least in our own minds). Annnnn reappeared with a camera and tried to take some photos but apparently the women in between her and us were not happy with that idea. I have never laughed so much in a class as I do in Zumba. Gotta love it!

After Zumba, Patty, Debbie and Courtney headed to the pool for some laps while Jennifer, Caroline and I met Annnn and Beanie for yoga. Ahhhh... nothing like a nice relaxing yoga class to cool down from Zumba.

We all hooked back up again and headed out for our well deserved lunch and drinks. Annnn was allowed to take pictures at the restaurant. There are several with her but she refused to share. She's a bitch like that. Here's what she'd let me have:

The other side of the story...

In Scouter's defense, here's what I actually got for Valentine's Day, along with a sweet card:

(Notice that the wine bottle is already empty...)

Happy V-Day

Here's the story of my life. I showed it to Scouter and all he could do was laugh.

Runnin runnin runnin

It's only Tuesday and I've actually run twice this week! Shocking, isn't it?

Sunday's run was pretty funny in hindsight. We were having gale force winds but somehow I still thought it was a good idea to run outside. I must have really needed some exercise. Or perhaps some "me" time. Anyway, the route I ran was very hilly - mountainous even. At one point I was running uphill with a stiff wind in my face. I use the term "running" very loosely... in actuality, I may have been standing still or even going backwards. The wind shifted direction and I was leaning so far into it that I almost fell on my face. I had to laugh!

I didn't really know where I was so I was scared to deviate from my four mile route. Which is the only reason I ran four miles! My average pace was 10:24 minutes/mile which I'll definitely take given the conditions and the fact that I walked a couple times because I couldn't take the wind and the hills any longer.

When I got home, Scouter was just taking the kids on a walk so I joined them. They had been cooped up in the house all day and needed some fresh air and exercise. It was cold but nice to stroll around the neighborhood as a family. Even Duchess joined us.

Today, Beanie and I got inspired - or more accurately, terrified of our upcoming half marathon - and ran 10 miles. We ran the same route I ran last week but today only averaged 11:14 minutes/mile. But it is totally worth it to have a friend along. Since I'm not doing any major races this year, I'm running the half marathon as a social event and we are planning to stay together.

Speaking of major races, I realize that I haven't posted my 2008 goals yet. They are really not worth waiting for but I will get to that blog post eventually.

For now, I'm going to rest my weary bones in front of the fireplace with a nice chilled glass of...

wait for it....

water.

All that running makes me thirsty!

Workout Week in Review

Man I get later and later posting the previous week's results... or usually the lack thereof. Last week, I got off to a slow start but picked up steam throughout the middle of week to end up not too shabby. Then I ended like I started. Here it is!

Sunday: Zero zip nada. On the bright side, I did dance a bit at the Hannah Montana 3-D movie with Rainbow. We rocked out the show with Kermit's fun wife and cute daughter along with two other mother-daughter pairs. I think he was a little jealous that he didn't get to go...

Monday: Weights class. Chris taught and she is a goddess.

Tuesday: I felt guilty since I hadn't run in an entire week so I ran 10 miles. Yikes! I surprised even myself.

Wednesday: Zumba day! Or as Beanie calls it, Jennifer day. We had a blast at cycling, Zumba, and yoga.

Thursday: Ran four miles with the Bean. We didn't blow it out of the water but we got it done.

Friday: Weights class. It was a little dull but did the trick.

Saturday: Back downhill with nothing. I actually had a nice relaxing day and it felt decadant.

And that my friends was last week's workouts...

Just for You, Kermit...

The Zumbaletes united again on Wednesday, this time with new recruits.

The morning started with a packed house at Maramarc for cycling. I personally believe that Ed's goal was to make us shut up every once in a while because for the entire hour, we did sets of hard/level 10 max intensity and speed broken up with oh-too-brief rest intervals. Even Patty couldn't talk during the max intensity times!

After cycling, we headed to Starbucks for a little liquid refreshment. I'm a big fan of the new skinny lattes. We were briefly joined by Zumbalete-wanna-bes Lesley and Courtney.

The four muskateers (Jennifer, Caroline, Patty and me) headed off to Zumba with Jackie in tow. Jennifer made our day sound so enticing that Jackie actually burned a vacation day to join us! (And bonus - she brought her camera along. Thanks, Jackie!) And Debbie met us at the Y. Zumba was all that we promised, uncoordinated moves and all. Yoga afterwards was a nice restful stretch.

Then we flew to Mexico for lots of chips and salsa and cocktails. Since I had book club that night and no time for a nap, I wisely opted to skip a margarita and have (gasp!) a beer instead. Which is all Annnn's fault because thanks to her I've discovered a taste for dark beer.

Same time next week!

Long Run

I am so proud of myself today! I actually completed a long run - 10 miles at a 9:34 minute/mile average pace.

Frankly, the run didn't look promising. I was supposed to do my usual five miles with the Bean this morning, but she had a conflict and couldn't join me. I considered doing a long run on my own instead, then I proceeded to goof off for an inordinately long time. Finally, I propelled myself out the door and started running. The temperature was a balmy 57 degrees when I started so I really had no viable excuse.

Since I hadn't run in an entire week, my self-talk was to take it easy, go for the distance and not worry about the time. Another trick that I play on myself is to plan a route that doesn't go anywhere near my house so I can't weinie out and cut a run short.

One highlight of the run was my new Fuel Belt with four small water bottles. This is the first time I've used it, and it was great. Thank goodness the guy at 3Sports helped me with the fit because it was perfect. I filled three bottles with water and one with Accelerade. Next time, I will use more Accelerade. It also has a perfectly sized pouch that held my house key, a Gu, and my iPod shuffle.

The first five miles went pretty well and I started entertaining thoughts of a negative split. It didn't happen but I was pretty even on the second five as compared to the first five. I don't know that I could have gone another three but this run definitely built my confidence that I can be ready for the half marathon in March. If I work between now and then, that is!

Yea me!!!!

Workout Week in Review

Oh my friends it was dismal last week... I keep saying that yet never improving. What I really mean by "dismal" is not enough time on the bike since that's what I really miss, but I was equally pathetic in other areas. Here goes. Read and laugh as you pass me the next time we race together.

Sunday: Nothing. I don't even remember what my lame excuse was so it must have been really bad. I seem to vaguely remember running errands in running clothes but never actually fitting in a run.

Monday: Weights class. Theoretically a good day to make up Sunday's run except the kids were out of school for the second Monday in a row. They were horrified that they had to actually go to school today. What?!?!?! School on a Monday? That's unheard of!

Tuesday: Ran with the Bean because she made me but only four miles and only at a 10:50 min/mi average pace.

Wednesday: Thank goodness for Jennifer dragging me out to exercise under the guise of social functions. We did Ed's cycling class and Zumba. And Kermit there will be no pictures! Much less video.

Thursday: Nothing. Sat on my fat ass most of the day in a car.

Friday: Nothing. Again wore running clothes all day but never ran due to the freezing cold constant rain. The idea of a treadmill at the gym flitted through my brain but never managed to stick long enough for me to actual transport myself there. On the bright side, I worked myself into an exausted stupor doing things around my house like carrying furniture up and down stairs. I felt like I worked out, especially my lower back.

Saturday: No actual workout but another full day of manual labor. Once again I fell exhausted into my bed at night. And oh yeah I snuck a little nap in the middle of the day.

And just to jump ahead to the disaster that the current week is shaping up to be, I didn't run yesterday (Sunday) either. This little Shamrock half marathon thing I have coming up will be a breeze; no need to train. Really.