Well, it's been about a year since I last blogged. Alright, maybe that's a little extreme, but I can't say that I remember the last time I did!! Just thought I would stop in, say a quick hello to all who have not given up on me and see if I can't get this thing back on track for next season.

Christmas was great. Can't even begin to explain how much I love that holiday. I'm extremely sad that it is over, but fortunately I have plently to look forward to in the meantime. On the top of that list will be the Trek Travel trip to Tuscany in May. I am so excited! Figure I'd better get my butt back on that bike though. I'm going with a bunch of couples from Trek including a few that help me "train" so if I'm not in good shape there, I'm going to hear it! It will be fun though!

Otherwise, not too much is new around here. Having a hard time motivating myself to work out lately and have not been eating very well so my goal for after the new year is to get that back on track. We'll see how that goes!! Otherwise, we have no snow, but I got snowshoes for xmas, and am looking at my rather expensive xcountry skiis as they lean again the wall. Hopefully we'll get some white stuff eventually... I could use a break from the running... not that I've been doing that much of it!

Well, with that said, I think I'm out of information. I hope all is well and everyone is enjoying the Holidays. Enjoy and be safe! :)

Well, it's been 10 days. Coaches called for 2 weeks of laziness. What do you think the chances are I followed that? You're right... slim to none! Granted, I think I felt better than the average Ironman because I took such a long time to finish the race and was forced to race either rather than go all out. I really felt fine except for my feet so I've been super antzy to get out and do something.

Blisters are on the mend, but I'm still watching that stupid toenail that I know is going to fall off. How disgusting!! Anyway, if it's going to fall off I wish it would just fall off so it will stop bugging me and I can get back to a normal workout feeling. There's my rant for the day!

So a quick recap cause I have done somethings, but not too much... Last Thursday I went out on an easy ride on a mt bike on a paved road. Nothing too exciting. Took the weekend off except for walking around and decided that Monday I would go back to lifting. Ouch! I had forgotten what it feels like after you lift for the first time in 5 months. Not good. I started to stiffen up that night and had a hard time moving yesterday. Today I am feeling a bit better, but it's still not ideal. I'm hoping to give it again tomorrow and then lift again on Friday (lesser weight until I'm back a little bit). I also went for an hour quick walk on Monday, but that made my feet very unhappy! oops! Tuesday I went for a bike ride which turned out to be tough for me considering I couldn't move due to my need to lift, and allergies are definitely beating me up!

Today I'm aiming for an easy lunch ride and then another night of chilling infront of the TV. I love season premieres! Especially when they are the corny, young ones on the WB! Pathetic, yes, but I'm hooked! Let's not pass that one around though. ;)

Tomorrow there's another lunch ride planned with one of our print vendors so that should be fun and who knows for Friday... maybe just lifting and I'm done. I do need to kind of take it easy right?

Enough about me... I wanted to give a plug to 4 pros that I met who are absolutely awesome! 1. Sergio Marques came to dinner at Ginos on Saturday night (thanks to the MN tri club for the invite! It was a great time!) Sergio was very quiet but very nice. I'm so glad he had a great race... keep an eye out for him. 3rd on his second Ironman ever! Only 23 years old too...
2. Andrea Fisher and hubby Jamie Cleveland. Andrea took 3rd at IMoo even while struggling through some issues on the run. Unfortunately, Jamie has been battling (now recovering) from injuries so has been taking it easy this season. Had been getting advice from them for this season and are both GREAT! Andrea has a great race report on andreafisher.com.
3. Had the pleasure of meeting Nicole Deboom while she was hanging out at Trek on Tuesday following the Ironman. She was a riot and is determined to fix my GI issues for me. She took first at IMoo this year! Again, a great race!

I feel really fortunate to be able to meet all these amazing athletes. Just wanted to give them a plug because they really are great, both physically, and from what I have seen so far, socially as well!

Alright, enough babbling... I should work. Yeah work! One more thing though. I am still believing that Tyler Hamilton is innocent. I'm really hoping that I am not going to have to go back and write about how ignorant I was... my fingers are crossed though!

Have a great off season!

Hi Everyone...

I'm pretty lazy with not a lot of time so I'm just copying my race report from Triathlete.com into here for those that don't head to that site very often. I'm really at a loss right now... I have all these ideas for what I want to do as far as training for next year, but am told I have to take time off. Unfortunately, I feel absolutely fine (except for the remaining 2 brutal blisters!) so I'm having a hard time justifying taking time off. I hope everyone else is doing well and having lots of fun. Next race will be Oct. 10th... Green Bay Duathlon. Not expecting much out of it, but doing it just for fun :) Enjoy the read!

Don't have tons of time so this is going to be little shorter than the reality of my day. Be happy for that!

The day started out great... was a little nervous (ok, very nervous) to get started, but that's to be expected for the first one right? Skipping ahead, Mark and I waited until just before 7 to get into the water. Found my spot in the crowd at 6:57 and just took in the scene. Amazing. Canon went off and I took off. Got strong armed by a lot of people in those purple swim caps, including one solid punch to the cheek bone, but overall, I felt great in the water and made it out in 1:18:05. I was happy with that. All smiles heading up the Helix.

Took my time in transition. Thought it was more important that I have everything than to rush through it and forget something essential. Also, realized it's quite hard to get clothes on when you're wet... towel in the transition bag next year I finally got out of there and into one of those fabulous portapotties getting out of transition in 14:14. Not stellar.
Bike started great. I was having a blast... making sure to keep under my ability so as to not burn out before taking on that second loop. I got to mile 45 all smiles and it all went downhill from there. I've been battling GI issues for a few months now, but had started to feel better in the days before the race so I was hoping it was behind me. Unfortunately, not on Sunday. I was hit full force to the point that my abdomen was cramping so bad that the pain was going into my back, sides and shoulders as I was trying to tough it out. By the time I got to the special needs area I was doubled over off my bike and sitting in the grass. I fought off the volunteers suggestions to call in help claiming I would make it to the end, and after about 20 minutes of lying down trying to figure out what to do, I got back on my bike and pushed for Mt. Horeb. By the time I got there, I was in desperate need to get off the bike again. Thought it might be a good time for a bathroom break since the line was short and while I was in there I heard this huge POP followed by someone saying "who rides a TREK?" Lovely. My rear flatted while lying on the ground. Lucky for me, there was a guy there who was not going to continue due to severe cramping in the hamstrings who helped me change it because I was in no condition to do it on my own. I stayed at that aid station for another 15 minutes lying in the grass as the wonderful voluteers poured bottle after bottle of ice water over my head before heading to Cross Plains. I was so excited to see that my family was still out there waiting for me. Completely fried from nerves of course, but still very motivational and a big lift. From there I started to feel a little better and made it to the top of Timber for an excursion into the cornfield. Jumped back on the bike completely discouraged from how the bike had been going, but confident that I would make the bike cut off. That is, until I heard another huge POP as I turned onto PB. This time I almost went down as I was holding a water bottle in one had when my rim started fishtailing. I chucked my waterbottle into the field as I said my few choice words for the situation and started fixing the flat. Luckily, the stronger winds that had picked up worked in my favor on the way back in to transition which allowed me to make fairly good time. That, and the fact that my legs were fresh from my constant breaking and very slow 60 miles while I was trying to fight out the pain. Anyway, I was only on the bike for 7 hours of my 8:33:51 bike split. Good times.
Again, took my time in transition and took quite a bit of time talking to my family who had waited for me to finally get back into transition. They were great and I was so happy to see them. By this point I knew I really didn't have a chance to run the marathon due to the continued abdomin cramping but not to fear cause I'm one hell of a walker! I took off at like 5:45 for my 26 miles, again all smiles because I was going to overcome this day if it killed me. About 4 miles into the run I did feel a bit better and was able to run... I decided to run walk for a while to make the most of it and ran about 6 miles on the first lap. Pain got really bad again about mile 11.5 and I started wondering if I would be able to finish, but the support for me was amazing and gave me new energy as I trudged back out for another 13 at around 8:00pm. A guy out there on the course pointed out to me that we only had 9 miles left with 3 hours to go and that I would only have to average 20min miles and that I could slow down. Even then I just slightly reduced my speed and continued on. Getting to State Street was a struggle but I had such a great time on that Street that it carried me through to the end! Mark and all my friends where there, I was handed my glow stick (which was truly the only reason I did this event- to get a glow stick) and my gang managed to get the entire street to chant "Becky!" It was amazing! I think I held that smile for the next 3 miles! Anyway, insane blisters had formed on my feet by now and walking was incredibly painful but I just continued on. To stop the babble... I made it back to the square in pretty good form considering - with everyone there cheering me on and walking in with my parents. Jogged down the chute to finish out my marathon in 6:09:41 for a finishing time of 16:30:41 or something close to that.
It was a long, tough day... but I still had a lot of fun and was amazed by the support and emotion out there. I've already signed up for next year to try to do my race the way I know I can.
Thanks for reading... congrats to all those who finished or even made the attempt. A very special thanks to all those who kept me going with the words of advice, motivation and determination. You helped me earn that medal!

10 DAYS!!

I'm not sure I really have much else to say other than that! The nervous excitement is starting to get me. Thankfully, I'm up for a relaxing long weekend at my cottage. I'm just going to take it easy and hope to get some open water swims in and maybe some leisurely paced rides.

I did swim 2.5 miles on Tuesday. Having never swam that far, I was excited to get out of the water and realize how far I had gone. It took me an hour and 12 minutes, but that was without anyone in my way. Although that would be great for the actual event, I know that is a dream because with 2500 people in the water... there is bound to be some hold ups. I just hope I can keep my cool. That's the first step I'm looking at. One event at a time.

Otherwise, life is going well. Hope everyone else is having fun and doing well. Season is almost over :( I think I might actually be sad!

10 DAYS!!

Where has all the time gone?! I'm down to 2 1/2 weeks... might add I'm getting a little nervous. Actually, it might be nervous excitement. I can't even describe what a painful day it's going to be, but I am confident that I can make it through it so I'm going to try to make it as fun as possible!

Still having digestion issues which will hopefully get fixed on the 31st. I think at this point I am most nervous about this situation. Again, I'll just have to see how it goes and hope for the best.

One sprint left. Did one last weekend and did pretty well considering it was about 37 degrees when we entered the water. Gotta love Wisconsin weather! This weekend the swim is in Lake Michigan and again it is not supposed to be extremely warm so that could be interesting. I was hoping to not have to use the wetsuit since it is so hard (and slow) to get off... that lake is pretty cold though! Last year I took 3rd in my age group in this one, missing second by a half a second. I'm pretty sure I can do better than that this year so I think I'm actually going to go after it. Then again, word might have gotten out about this one, drawing a larger crowd. Hopefully not, it could be a good boost for the self esteem. It's actually going to be the first one my parents see as well. Kinda sad considering it's my second season, but oh well. At least they're going to make the effort. They keep complaining that I talk about the Ironman so much and that they will disown me if I do it again next year. I just don't think they have a clue.

Well, I guess that's it for now. Hope everyone is doing well and the season is motivating. Until the next time (although I make no promise as to when that will be) :)

Wow, I haven't been here in ages... I think I might ease myself in slowly so not to overwhelm myself (and because I need to get downtown for the show soon). Work has been pretty busy lately... well, not so much that as inconvenient for my training schedule. There's a huge trade show in which we bring in our top 100 US dealers on Wednesday and then top 100 world dealers on Friday... It's been going since Sunday night and has just been very demanding of your time. It looks cool as hell though!

With that said, last week's workout schedule was pretty shakey, as so far this one seems to be the same. Oops. I suppose that might be a good thing since my knees aren't feeling too hot. I did get a long run in on Sunday and then a 60 miler with some intense wind yesterday. I'm starting to get pretty nervous for this Ironman event but we'll see. I am sure that I can finish it, but wonder exactly how painful it's going to be. Hmmm...

Otherwise, all seems to be good. Weather has gone crazy on us and is in the low 60s and crazy windy. Don't have a problem with the temperature, but would greatly appreciate if the wind were to cease. Aiming for an a.m. swim tomorrow so hopefully it won't be too cold!

I guess that's it for now... nothing too exciting, but as I get closer to the event, I'll try to blog more. There are still two sprint tris in the plan for the end of august... should be fun!

Happy training to all!

Is the week over yet? No such luck. Not a whole lot has been going on here. The sprint tri on Saturday went ok. I am truly starting to believe that my body has changed over and I no longer have any fast twitch muscles. Actually, I'm not really sure that I have any muscles, but incase I do, they're definitely either not in shape or not a fan of going hard for short distances. The swim was fine. Did it without the wetsuit but had a hard time finding an open path to open up my stroke. That's probably a good thing though as I am quickly realizing that I have been slacking way too much on the swimming and get tired easily. I plan to greatly work on that... especially with my knee being not so cooperative.

It was also windy out. I kept a good pace on the bike, but it was burning pretty bad. I know that wasn't the case last year. I did have the opportunity to use my aero bars a lot though. I am feeling much more comfortable on them, however I really need to work on my leg endurance in that position now. Time is going by way too quickly. The run... um yeah... it was largely on grass which was hell on my knee. Or maybe my knee was hell on itself, but either way, the first 3/4 mile was pretty rough. I was kinda dragging the leg. It did loosen up though and felt better which I was happy with... too bad my breathing wasn't there. Oh well, live and learn. It probably didn't help that I had taken virtually the entire week off from exercise. I thought that might help the legs, but I think it actually contributed to them being tired. Anyway, I came in 5th in my age division which I wasn't pleased with, but concidering my knee, I guess it wasn't all bad.

Enough with that... I was tired the rest of that day, which was fine cause it was the Prologue of the Tour de France and raining outside. Sunday morning was much of the same. I am EXTREMELY sick of rain... especially rainy weekends. Looks like another one is on deck for this weekend... Shocker! It did clear up on Sunday and turned into a fun night with a short swim thrown in there. Felt pretty bad in the pool. Again having a hard time breathing. Maybe allergies? Monday was nice. Went out and rode a loop of the IM course. I didn't feel great but think I worked pretty hard because of it. I'm hoping to get that done quite a few more times prior to the event. Hopefully that will help me out.

Tuesday was back to work... nothing too exciting but I did get a swim in afterwards before settling on the couch to watch the tour and ice the knees. Wednesday am I made it to yoga and we did some inverted poses with the assistance of these ropes attached to the walls. It was pretty fun, but killer on the hands. Also got in for a swim at night on the way home from work. I worked much harder and went longer. I can feel it in my triceps and shoulders a little bit. That's a good feeling.

Today I subbed for the am cycling class and then made it out on an afternoon ride with the guys. It was a great ride... wind from every direction, but it was great to be out there and a pretty solid push. I love drafting! As for tomorrow... I'm not sure yet, but I've made plans to open swim at lunch. Hopefully that will workout. Maybe I'll entertain the idea of getting up and doing something in the morning... ha ha ha.

Hope all is well. Happy training! Go USPS! Although, I must add that I like Tyler Hamilton as well. I think he's a good guy and a tough as nails rider. I'd like to see him come in second :)

So it's Friday the 2nd... my boss pretty much told me to go home and it's 11:30 so I thought maybe I'd get a quick blog in before finishing things up for the long weekend. Have I mentioned that my boss rocks!

So... the 5th and final weekend of the insane schedule I tried to hold through June... Unfortunately, I think it started to catch up with me on this one, but I stuck it through and it was a great time. Each year the marketing department at TREK organizes the BIG ride which is a minimum of a 100 miles weaving around beautiful hilly Wisconsin and ending in a camp ground where everyone sets up camp, drinks, hangs out and then heads home. Trek Travel lends us a travel van as a sag and we get the day off on a Friday. This year we left from my boss' house (Eric) and rode for about 60 miles, stopped for lunch in this little bar (who probably just about died when they saw 27 bikers walk in starving and all in spandex...) before finishing out the 40 miles to the campsite. The weather was great, little windy but sunny and a great temp. A great day overall. There was some gravel on the second half that I really wasn't too excited about, and like I said, I think that the big weeks leading up to it were finally catching up with me as my legs just didn't have it. At one point during a steep decent in peagravel, I looked over and started talking to the guys in the sag vehicle when my friend Tony said "Is there anything to eat in here that's not healthy?! (he had also bailed because of the gravel). I thought about the Chips Ahoy cookies that Mark and I had brought. Needless to say, when we hit that next gravel road, the cookies won and I jumped in and munched on cookies while watching everyone else manipulate through the gravel... it was tough I tell ya!

But then yes, you know me, it was killing me that I had bailed on the ride because my mental ego just does not understand when I'm spent... so I got back out and finished the last 15 or so miles. I actually felt great after that. Cookies solve everything! That's my new diet by the way. Sadly enough, that might be true. Having a hard time getting into the healthy eating this season...

There was a lake at the campground which we took a dip in on Friday to rinse off. It was freezing. Camping was great. I work with great people and the two that we split a campsite with both work for Trek Travel so were totally into pampered camping... or at least eating. They had everything for a gourmet meal. I'm going to push to share a site with them again next year!

Didn't bring my wetsuit, but was asked to swim with a coworkers wife so although not looking forward to freezing, said I could use the open water swim. Well, not sure if it was the tremors of the terrifying half Ironman swim, or if the water was too cold or maybe a combo of both, but I was totally struggling... I was having a hard time slowing my breath down to get control of it and found myself having to turn over on my back frequently. It was frustrating and after about 26 minutes swam it back in to shore. Naturally, I started to freak out because I thought I was in better swimming shape than I had just witnessed, but took into consideration that it was freezing and I was tired and without a wetsuit. I did vow that I will spend much more time swimming though.

Sunday I taught a cycling class for the first time in a long time. It was actually pretty fun and comfortable. People seemed happy to see me so that felt good. Afterwards we packed a picnic lunch and went out to this cool park (Devil's Lake) for some open water swimming. Naturally, as we got out there the clouds started to roll in, but it was still pretty warm out. Mark and I swam along the shore for about 50 minutes (not including breaks) and got in about 2400 yards. It was again a little rough on both of us, both edurance and mental wise, but we did much better on the way back in so that was reassuring. Hopefully more of that will prove useful. Unfortunately, when we got out it was raining so the picnic wasn't going to happen at the park, but it was be great for another time. I'm looking forward to it actually!

This week I haven't done much. Nothing since yoga on Wednesday actually. My knee started to hurt after running on Tuesday and it's pretty much the same thing that stopped me from running last season and all through the winter. I'm pretty nervous, but we have a sprint tri tomorrow (Saturday) so hopefully the rest has healed it and it will miraculously be great! If not, my fingers are crossed. 26 miles of walking could make for a pretty long day! No worries. I will be healed by then. Mental healing power right?

Ok, with that, my fingers are going to fall off. Hope everyone is well and the training is stimulating! Oh yeah... I forgot to mention that the Lemond product manager Dean Gore (I love this guy! He's quite fun...) hooked me up with Jamie Cleveland and Andrea Fisher as coaches. They sent me some pretty good ideas so hopefully that will get me on track. :)

Sorry that I didn't get on here to log a race report from my half ironman... I'm really bad about this blogging thing...

Not sure where to even start, but I will say that the swim was every inch as bad as mark described it. 4 foot waves - insane frequency. The first one would pick you up and drop you only for the second one to smash you in the face while the next one worked on going over your head. It was like the sinking of the Titanic. Needless to say, not good for the open water swim confidence level. I did manage to perfect my dog paddle, along with a little work on my side stroke and pulled myself to shore a second or two under 17 minutes. Rough.

The bike wasn't too bad. I felt strong considering the strong head and cross wind that was hitting us from every angle except a helpful one. I passed a lot of people and got a lot of practice in on the aero bars. I did however have some severe issues with the lack of restroom facilities that were placed on the course... like none! I had to go to the bathroom by mile 20 and there was nowhere to stop! Not even for a girl to hide behind tress... it finally became so painful that I could not go into my aero position at all so as much as it was hindering my riding, it might have been pushing me to go faster to get to the finish. I had to stop taking in gu also because I was afraid to drink anything else to wash it down. It was ridiculous. I was quite mad by the time I got off the bike.

So back into transition I go... hurrying as fast as I could, not to have a good transition, but to get to a bathroom but guess what... THERE WEREN'T ANY!! Yeah, I finally lost my patience and sharply asked somone where there was a bathroom to which she answered... up there on the hill pointing in the opposite direction of the run course. Lovely... I ran up the hill, went in the bathroom, exited, ran back to transition and onto the course... good thing I added another half mile to my run! I was mad, but relieved so I put aside the thoughts for the time being. The run actually didn't go too bad. I had gone out there with no expectations as I was doubting I'd be able to run that far after a 56 mile bike but I actually felt pretty good. I walked the aid stations trying to get liquids into me and just kept going. I was noticing a pattern that there was no food at any of the rest stations which started to worry me. Around mile 4 I got a killer cramp in my abdomin/stomach which I tried walking off a bit but didn't go away. I held that through mile 10 when I finally saw Mark near the transition and he snuck me some food. I had brought one gu with me, but after one of the aid stations ran out and shut down making it a 3.5 mile stretch without any liquids, I came across this guy that was dying and I was seriously doubting he had much left. Knowing the pain I was in I split the gu with him and continued on. I knew I'd survive. Anyway, after getting the bananas in me, the pain went away and off I went to face the last 3 miles... probably the longest 3 miles ever... and definitely the most boring. My hipflexor area also started to cause me some serious issues but I was close so I kept going. Finished in 5:55 something so I was happy... I really wasn't tired afterward either. Was walking funny cause I couldn't get my leg to loosen up, but overall felt good. A big milestone for me. Mark did awesome... actually everyone that went did great. A good day after the swim.

I'll have to tell you about the 5th and final weekend of the "massive training month" we went after, but I'd rather leave work now so that will be for next time. Hope everyone is doing well. Happy training!

Well I suppose I can't boycott blogger anymore since my last blog did manage to show up. It had told me that it was lost so I declared a fight with my blog account. Since it pulled through, I suppose I should as well.

Thanks everyone for the comments! That's always fun!

So I'll keep this short since I'd really like to get out of work in the next...hmmm... 2 minutes. Looks like rain. In fact, there's a flood warning out for our county from 7pm tonight until noon tomorrow. Good times. Planning on swimming tomorrow. I'm starting my modified taper for the Half Ironman this weekend as I am still feeling the effects of the Horribly Hilly Hundreds.

The HHH... wow, what a ride. Just couldn't settle with logic and be satisfied with finishing the 100k like I had signed up to do. Mark was sick so when he said he'd ride with me after I declared that I thought I could finish the full 200k, I was motivated to finish it out. That and the fact that a bunch of guys from work (including my boss and the trek product manager that I train with)... had to earn some respect from them. Anyway, it was pretty fun. Worked on the hills and took it easy on the downhills and flats to try to save some energy. It must have worked cause I made it! I felt good the next day and managed to lift on Monday am. I've done some workouts since then but my legs are feeling pretty dead so after tomorrow's swim I'm going to take it off until Sunday. I think we might get in the lake for a quick open water trial on Saturday but that shouldn't be bad. I'm just going for a long training day on Sunday. I'm quite nervous but mostly for the run. We'll see how it goes.

Well now that it is far past my departure time, I'm going to head out and I'll fill in the rest in the near future. Hope all is well out there! Cheers.

Have I mentioned before how much I love the sun? My whole mood gets better with good weather... we actually had 3 beautiful days in a row of sun, 70s and NO WIND! It was truly amazing! Even more ideal, one of those days fell on Saturday for the Trek 100 ride benefiting the MACC fund (Madison Against Childhood Cancer). My boss sponsered me since he was going to be out of town so that was awesome... I rode my first century!! Long story short, it went pretty well... the first 65 miles I felt awesome - the best I have all season so that was great. I finally felt like I could ride again. Then, when I was starting to get tired, I saw a group of 8 infront of me and knew that I either had to go for it and try to catch them to sit in back for a while and meet some people, or ease off to save the legs. Naturally, I decided to go for it and pushed even harder to catch the group. I think I chased them hard for the next 7 or 8 miles, always coming so close to the tail end before coming to a stop sign or having a car cut me off. They were always just out of reach. Pretty much that was the beginning of the end. I completely wore myself out chasing them, never caught them and by then was pretty much starving and had to stop at a rest stop for food. I managed to keep most of my stops very short (just to fill up bottles) and tried to skip at least every other one. After the 65 miles, and wearing myself out, I hit the bad roads and hilly area which pretty much finished off my legs. I had been keeping a pace I was extremely happy with and had managed to pull my average up to 19.2 but then watched it decrease gradually as I tried to keep up my pace. I ended with a average of 18 which was still good, but a little frustrating. The good news: I finished my first century, while riding pretty much the entire way by myself (not drafting) which I was proud of. I had some serious pain in my shoulders and lower back, but otherwise felt good. Even when I couldn't hold the faster pace, my legs still felt reasonably strong and solid. I was happy.

Met up with Mark afterwards and we ran a slow, easy 2 miles just so I could see what I was in for. I didn't feel great, but it wasn't horrible. By that point it was pretty hot out and I was extremely dehydrated so all in all, that too went pretty well. Nice relaxing night followed in preparation of another early morning.

Sunday there was a sprint tri in Lake Mills that we a lot of people we knew were participating in. For the season it is pretty much the first event and this year held a participating number of 712. A huge triathlon for a small town. It looked fun though and I felt the itch come back...

Aero bars made it onto the bianchi yesterday and Mark gave me a little instructional ride on how to use them without dying... greatly appreciated. Today the wind is back, but there were 4 of us that went out and I tried them out. I LOVE AEROBARS!! I was moving with hardly any effort - into the wind!! It was amazing! Super comfortable too so that was cool.

Supposed to get hot and humid with thunderstorms for the next few days so I'll work on the swim :) Huge hilly ride up for this weekend. Luckily I only signed up for the short course of 100k. It's supposed to be 87 degrees out. Yuck. Following weekend is the High CLiff half ironman. I am more than nervous for that event, but hoping for the best.

Need to head home now. Have been typing for much too long now. Hope everyone had a great weekend and training went well. :)

Thought I'd try again today to see if my comments area shows up... I'm not holding my breath. While I'm here I might as well add some value to this blog. Hmmm... didn't do anything last night- I justified that with the hope that relaxing will battle off a cold if it is contemplating becoming a hassle. Today I did manage to get in and do body pump (weight lifting) which really didn't feel bad at all. I can tell I've lost a lot of muscle though. I am supposed to be lifting for my knees anyway so I figure that I will try to add in 2 days of bodypump back into the schedule and then just do the squats and lunges without weights on the 3 (and 4th if I'm really feeling it that week) just to give that extra little push. I think I will feel better about my body and my muscle by adding this back in. I'm not going to attempt to bulk, but I have been feeling weak in comparison to last year and I'm wondering if that has something to do with the lack of lifting. I'm sure a lot of it is also due to the extreme distance and frequency that I have been going after, but you never know...

I plan to get a bike ride in during work (fingers crossed that the rain will not come again today) and then either a quick pilates session after work, or maybe a swim. I'm going to try to get to the freezing cold lake tomorrow to help a co worker prepare in open water for his first sprint this weekend. He is actually training for the Ironman as well, but he is worried about his swim so I said I would help him out. He is a good ali to have in the company as well... a product manager of sorts. Hilarious guy outside of work. I think I will like him more once I can get him in an out of office environment. It was nice because he gained some respect for me once he saw I could swim. It's a start!

I'm babbling again... show me a comment section!!

Alright, I don't get it... let me know if you ever see a "comment" link show up... :) I'm giving up for now!

I am just playing around and wanted to see if this thing added my comments section... I am realizing that I am really not computer literate! How pathetic.

If the weather continues on the way has been, I'm going to be one hurting unit come September 12th. Rain, rain and more rain... with a little wind on the side. Lovely- this weekend was no different. To keep the complaining to a minimum... I took the most beautiful day we've had so far off to get ready for the weekend... woke up to rain on Saturday but was able to deal with that because I knew I'd have a long run on Sunday that I could afford to be fresh for, but did manage to get in for a swim. Did 2500 yds (focusing on longer distances than drills) before I was suddenly starving! It was so bad that I couldn't even continue swimming... that hasn't happened in a long time but the swim was decent...

Saturday some work was done on getting our Janus Charity Challenge promotional material ready which I'm happy about... I think it will help a lot. We made a poster and some cards that can be handed out as reminders to how to reach us and our website to either contribute or learn more about what we are doing. Some final touches need to be done, but overall I think they look very cool. Otherwise, waited for all our runners to show up from out of town before heading down to registration. Managed to walk away from there with $36 worth of socks. I think I'm obsessed... they're just so fun!! They were considerably cheaper than other vendors so I didn't feel toooo bad about buying them. They make me look cool right? :)

Anyway, the run went well... very wet, but fun. There were so many people around that I truly didn't even realize that I ran for almost 2 hours and my longest distance so far. My knees, mainly my IT bands were a little tight, but stuck it out to the end so I was happy. I made sure to drink at least a gulp of water at pretty much each water table too hoping that my stomach wouldn't blow up on me like usual. Luckily, that managed to hold off as well, but I paid for it later, and unfortunately, it is still unhappy with me. I don't know how to fix it and it's incredibly frustrating! Back to the run though... I have a tendency to start off too fast so I was pleased to see that my first mile split was 9 minutes on the dot. Went through the next 2 miles right on time so at least i was being consistant, albeit slow. The weather was nice... cloudy, cooler and not too humid. around mile 4 it started to rain pretty hard, but that felt great. I love to run in the rain. I even wore my hat to keep the forcasted hail out of my eyes... I realized I love my hat. The rain cooled me down and cut any humidity that was there... I think my pace actually sped up a bit. The rain eventually stopped and I could tell it started to get a little more humid as I dried off. Those miles were a little tougher, but not too bad. I was still at a decent pace, although I think around mile 8 my knees were hurting a little bit more and my pace struggled. I think it was around mile 10 that it started raining again and it completely opened up at 11. The wind picked up too and I managed to lose one of my contacts. That was fun since I had just put in a new pair that morning but oh well. Anyway, I sped up at mile 11, pushed even harder at 12 and actually managed a sprint finish to the end. That felt good as I ran down the shoot in the torential downpour, but I was slightly upset that I had that much energy at the end meaning I could obviously have pushed harder throughout the entire course. I guess it wasn't bad though considering I had gone out there with the point of a long training run and not really knowing what to expect. I was happy breaking 2 hours and ending with a chip time of 1:56:44. I could have definitely run further, which in the long run, is what I'm aiming for I guess.

Wow, what a long paragraph... are you bored yet? Otherwise, not much is new. Still don't have a bike, but everyone keeps saying how sweet this custom one is going to be when I get it... I wish there was more action and less talking... I'm getting nervous.

100 mile up this weekend... Hopefully the rainn can hold off for one day. I'm taking a couple easier days (Monday and today) because I think I got sick from waiting around in the pouring rain on Sunday while waiting for the Marathon relay team to come in. Everyone was very cold after the race and I think I used up all the hot water in the state of WI in my shower. Needless to say, I start a coughing fit everytime I take a breath anything deeper than "shallow". Good times. I tried swimming yesterday and made it about 100 yards. It was nice. I'm too impatient for this to pass. We'll see what happens.

Happy training to all... sorry for all the babbling!

Looks like it's been 8 days... hmmm. Well, I survived bike to work week- and LOVED it!! It made for long days, with lots of preparation time to make sure everything was accounted for, but it was a great feeling to get the workouts in and a refreshing way to start of the day. Friday was pretty intense as a group of us were racing a huge storm to work, but we made it with a minute to spare and the ride was awesome. There was a tailwind, but we were pushing hard as well and averaged 21mph over 28 miles. It must have been a big tailwind!! That and the fear of death by lightening! Watching all those 911 episodes in my younger years might not have been the best idea I am finding now.

This week hasn't been quite as strong, but there's been a larger variety... the normal including yoga, bodypump on Monday and the Thursday lunch swim. I was kind of frustrated this week because I had a couple of doctor appointments that required me to leave early from work therefore forcing me to skip my noon workouts. That has a tendency to make me crabby. I did however get some decent workouts in after work - a long, decent pace run on Monday night, a 29 mile ride on Tuesday, a quick 5k followed by a leisurely ride around the lake on Wednesday, a tough hill ride last night and a lunch ride on a cruiser as an off day today. The swim on Thursday wasn't super long, but it felt great for a change... found a rhythm for once. It was motivating.

Thinking (slightly) about doing that hilly race tomorrow, but the big event for the weekend is the half marathon on Sunday. My heel has been acting up again lately so I'm pretty sure it's going to top out as a supported long training run. I think it will be fun, as long as the rain holds off. We have a lot of friends showing up for it so that should be fun too. I'm hoping to do a loop on the Ironman course for a bike ride either Sunday or Monday, but we'll see how the legs hold up. I'm so happy we have Monday off!!!

With that, I should continue working so I can get out of here. Can't believe how nice out it is today... Naturally, on an off day, stuck at work! Happy training all!

Haven't been here for awhile... that's pretty sad. I'll start blogging more as training gets moving a little more... there are a lot of events coming up. I'm not going to bother trying to back blog... no idea what I've done so I'll just start with this week. It's bike to work week! yeah! Actually, it's been pretty fun. As of today, I have racked up 205 miles since last Friday. Last Friday was my last 5:30am class, at least until fall comes around again and class attendence goes back up. Taught Friday, 42 on Sat, 50 on Sunday, 30 to work on Monday, 32 commute and 10 lunch miles on Tuesday and then 26 yesterday. Today there are plans to ride to Oconomowoc from work which should be about 35 miles, but now the weather might hinder that... we'll see. Needless to say, I haven't accomplished much else other than riding. Got a run in on Monday night and a small swim on Tuesday. Did the normal yoga routine yesterday am and today might get a swim squeezed in at lunch, but that's not set in stone yet.

Signed up for the baby Horribly Hilly Hundreds ride which is June 12th. Had to choose the 100K cause quite honestly don't think I could finish out the 200k... those hills are brutal! Mark is much better at describing them though so tune into his blog for more info on that. Also going to sign up for the Madison half marathon which is next Saturday... I'm not super confident in my run, but I'm not going to race it so it'll really just stand as a supported training run with a tshirt... that'll be fun.

Speaking of the run... went to see the sports doc the other day for more of preventative maintenance and he was checking out my knee and said "As of right now, with your knee like this, there is no way you'd be able to finish the marathon" That's reassuring! I'm headed into physical therapy next week. It's an issue of my kneecap tracking is off (which doesn't surprise me since I dislocated my kneecap back in high school). I also have some tight IT bands so much work is to be done. I'm going to overcome that statement.

Finally, Mark and I have finally started up our Janus Charity Challenge fundraising. I know that Mark mentioned this in his blog but thought I would just give it a quick plug as well. We're raising money for the Suicide Prevention Action Network USA in memory of Mark's brother Steve who took his life this past February. We have started a webpage through Active.com which will provide more information about SPANUSA and our efforts. Please check it out, and if you know of anyone else that might be interested in helping, please pass along the word... getting the word out is more help than you know!! website is www.active.com/donate/stopsuicide. Also see Mark's blog for more info... I haven't been able to get to his blog to see what he wrote... thanks :) (always feel free to contact me with any questions or comments as well!! I love email!)

With that, I think I'm out of substantial information and have managed to procrastinate long enough and should get to work. Hope everyone is well and healthy! Happy training!

Well, as I'm sure you've read in Mark's blog, the relay marathon turned out very well. It was a tough run for me because it was very lonely with not too much to look at, but I managed to keep up a decent pace and finished it out without anything on my body breaking down. I was incredibly pleased with that. My teammates were awesome... both for running so well and letting me do the long leg considering I was the slowest of the three. Very cool for not worrying about finishing place as much as fun and getting in good training time. It was a lot of fun.

Last weekend was pretty hectic... Saturday went downtown to check out the Lake Monona 20K race. I love that course... it takes you on all these little roads that border the lake. It is very pretty! I was then dragged out to the land of the "horribly hilly hundreds" good times... Did 40 miles with some intense hill climbing. Not super impressed with my ability, but it is guaranteed that it will make the Ironman hills seem like anthills. I'll have to continue going out there... as far as doing the actually ride on June 12th? TBD.

Turned out to be a nice day weather wise. Good workout as well.

Sunday I actually had my chance to run the 20K Monona route in the SNOW!! Yeah, it was crazy... May 2nd and snowflakes as big as my head were dropping out of the sky. Like running in a snow globe. Very pretty, very strange and very wet. Kept my mind off the running though so that was nice. That was my longest run ever... making a jump of 3+ miles. I was happy. It was slow, but I felt like I could have gone for a lot longer... The biggest deal of this... I know I am capable of running that Madison Half Marathon at the end of May. I was worried about that.

Afterwards we headed over to help at a road bike race... well, kind of. Pretty much just hung around watching em race. Don't think I'll ever be interested in racing.

I guess that's it for now. Can't even begin to tell you hard frustrating it is to try to get a bike that I want! I just want it to end! That's all the detail I will into for now. Happy training all!

Had the fortune of getting up early today to teach my class. I can see now why I haven't been getting up. Or maybe it was that hard because I haven't been getting up... a vicious circle.

Class went well today... only 10 people and all of my outdoor riders were not in attendance so I'm assumming they had bigger and better plans. I don't feel bad though because I know that I otherwise would as well. Speaking of which... today would be a great day to ride. Not sure of the temp but I think it's around 55 and there is NO WIND! Crazy. In attempt to make the run as painless as possible for tomorrow's race, I am instead blogging during lunch. Hopefully it will have been worth it! I'm a little nervous for the run tomorrow as it is. It's a pretty long distance, infact my longest I think and I'm slightly worried about my heels not being up to the performance that I would like out of them. Fingers are crossed. So it comes out that I have an 8.8 mi leg.

Didn't do much yesterday... woke up feeling very poorly and I think I am blaming that on water in my ears which in turn is throwing my equilibrium completely out of whack. Not sure how to fix it, but I'd better figure it out soon! Did get out for an easy 3 or 4 miles afterwork last night to test out the heel one last time. I didn't feel great, very dehydrated and the heel felt strange for the first 1.5 miles, but then I warmed up and I felt good. I did not manage to shake the side ache though. I'm drinking much more water today.

Wednesday I went to yoga and did a short bike ride into the heavy wind at lunch. Only about 11 miles, but it was kind of nice because I was fairly alone and pulling myself. It wasn't much but at least I'm starting to feel more confident in the wind.

I think that's about it. Hope everyone is doing well!

Ha, I'll add to it... I haven't been getting up in the mornings either! Soon enough I'm sure. As soon as the weather starts to get nicer (and consistant) I'll start either riding into work or trying to squeeze in a short run or swim I think. There's just not enough time in the day! It's all good though- at least we're still trying to get up!

Lets see... back blogging... Saturday was awesome! Great weather- sun, probably about 75 degrees and minimal wind until around 3 or so. Slept in a bit and then had a little breakfast and took off for the weekly long ride. I had a great time- we road through town (a little slower than ideal, but no worries) and made it down to the lake and close to the IM start for the chance for me to see some more of the course. I was happy to see that the beginning of it isn't too bad... it gave me hope. Since the weather was great and we were cruisin along pretty well we decided to just do the loop (well, most of it, missing one big hill). Like I said, I had a lot of fun, and felt pretty good, at least until the wind picked up. That cashed me pretty fast which was bad because the 2 hills I struggle with came at the end of the wind. Then of course had to take Old Sauk back into town which is pretty darn hilly and the road has a lot of bumps in it. Not my favorite. Each hill was a challenge considering I blew up my legs on the second of the two big hills off the IM course. What I got from the ride: I have a long way to go, but also a little motivational push now.

Dog sat that night. Note: I hate birds. The dog was great, the birds were almost fed to the dog. I'll leave it at that.

Sunday was windy as hell and I was still nursing the heel/achilles so the day maxed out with a swim. I think I got in 2100 yds but I'm not very good at counting. Nothing too big though. I wasn't feeling it very well... I hope my stroke comes back soon. I think I'm varying too many things. Gotta pull it together!

Monday was a very long day at work and frustrating to say the least. Crazy wind throughout the day which turned into a beautiful, but cooler day in the end. I got in 4.5 miles on the treadmill at the club trying to test out the heel that had been feeling better. The good news is that it didn't hurt the achilles area, but it still feels weird. I think my yoga master was right about the heel being rolled under a bit... it feels like it's in a different position than the left foot. I can't wait until it's back at 100%. I'm itching to get going. As I was driving into Harbor last night I had a vision of me in the actual race and was super motivated to workout... I hope I can hang onto that.

Tonight I have a doctors appt and swim class. Hopefully they won't get in the way of eachother. I also hope the doctor has some answers or at least suggestions for me. We'll see what happens.

Hope all is well. Happy training! :)

Can't say my workout schedule has been all that exciting either. Seems to be a trend these days. I put an end to my consecutive swim workouts today. Being the smart one that I am, I should have lined up a sub for my cycling class this morning, but didn't. I went in there with the idea of just sitting on the bike for fun and calling out instructions, but knew as soon as I got in there that it wasn't going to be easy if that was in deed necessary. Luckily, my achilles didn't really pose too much of a problem. I took it pretty easy and even skipped a few things that I thought could lead to problems. Long story short: I taught, made it through class surprisingly well and my foot doesn't feel any worse than it has for the past few days. My yoga instructor, who is a frequent attendee of my class, stuck around to show me some things I can do to help it. He believes that it was an issue of something I did rotated my heel down further under than it is usually causing all my tendons and muscles to freak out. He did something that seemed to pull it apart and said he heard something... but I don't know. Unfortunately, he was asking how it felt after doing it, but since I had just cycled for an hour, it was fairly loose compared to the past few days so I couldn't tell if it felt better because it was warmed up or because of what he did. I'll try to talk to him about it on Wednesday if it's not better by then. Fun times.

Still hoping to get that bike ride in tomorrow. I think it'll be ok since biking doesn't seem to bother it, but I'll undoubtably skip the run. Hopefully the rain will hold off. It's been really nice out and super hard to watch everyone else be able to enjoy it while i sit inside working my 9 hour days...

The good news in all of this... so far I can log over 6,000 yards in the pool this week. i guarantee that will not happen for a long time to come... at least I'm hoping it won't be necessary.

Otherwise, I think that's about it for the excitement of my life. Good times... Take care everyone!

Well, today starts what will most likely be a quite frustrating day. Probably the most beautiful day so far... 65 degrees, sunny with a 3 mph wind. That is crazy beautiful compared to the wind and cold temps we've been getting lately... unfortunately, the achilles has been acting up on me and I'm afraid of truly hurting it. It didn't feel that bad yesterday and I think is probably just stiff today, but it was killing me on Monday so that was scary. I know there will be more nice days (and hopefully a lot of them!) but it looks like it's back to wind and rain after this for quite a few days. Nice.

Swim lessons last night went ok. I think it's the most yardage we've done in class so far, but dont' think it qualifies as our toughest class. For some reason my stroke seems to be falling apart so that is frustrating. Think I'll get back in there tonight to see if I can work on bringing it back.

Not sure of the last time I blogged so a quick update of Monday... cold and windy. I think all the big tough guys opted out of riding that day- wusses... but Ali and I went out on our own. It was a great ride. We worked hard since we were going into the wind the majority of the time, but it was amazingly relaxing as well. Maybe it was just the fact that we were pushing our pace, but not having to worry about racing after the group the entire time. It was nice. Got back and was having some pretty substantial pain in the achilles area so gave up on the hopes of running that night. Instead went to the night body pump class and participated in only the arm tracks so as to not bother my ankle. Everyone was looking at me funny as I was doing my ab work during the leg tracks, but that worked for me so I was happy. I figure I really don't need to lift legs anymore as they are getting a great deal of workout on a daily basis. Until I really ramp up my swimming lengths and frequency, I think I still need to work on my upper body strength.

Aside from that, same old I think. Hope everyone else is doing well and over coming their injuries... Chris, hang in there... my fingers are crossed for ya!

So nothing too exciting in the training log... I am, however on my second week therefore had the opportunity to turn the page so that was fun! Sad life, I know. So that great ride I was talking about Wednesday (and Thursday)- yes, that is sarcasm... I made the mistake of deciding to ride again on Friday and guess what route we did?? Yup, same one, and again got destroyed. I've since decided that I will not be participating in group rides on Fridays so that I can save some leg for the long weekend workouts. I think I really paid for it last weekend. My run on Saturday was not great. I feel bad that Mark has to go so slowly with me, but I must admit, it's a blessing. He definitely keeps me going. Pushed through a pretty sad 7 miles. The knee was sketchy and for some reason I couldn't breathe very well. I think part of it came from being pretty dehydrated. Something to keep in mind before this weekend. Ride on Sunday was nice. The weather was pretty good, a little cool still and slightly more windy than I had thought it was going to be, but a good time overall. I have a LONG way to go if I'm going to finish this Ironman thing. I'm not truly sure what I was thinking. In fact, and I'm ashamed to say this, but for the first time, on Monday, I honestly thought that I am not going to be able to do this. I hated that thought, and that will probably drive me to the finish line, but it might be true. I might have bite off more than I can chew. Oh well. I don't have the finances to just throw away $400 so I'm going to finish!

Monday was a day off... Tuesday I felt horrible!! Couldn't figure out why I felt sooo bad after a day off but did get out on a ride later in the day which turned out great. The weather was great- a warm 69 degrees with sun and the pace was comfortable and the terrain wasn't killer. A very relaxing hour and 20 minutes for once. It was nice to not race after everyone, and being cashed at the end. Swim class was last night. That was quite the event. It felt like I've never swam a yard in my life. I couldn't find a rhythm, couldn't breathe correctly, couldn't do drills. It was ridiculous! Hopefully it will come back. It'd better come back!

Today is another, and possibly the last nice day for a while. A ride is planned for 1:30 or so. I'm going to try out the 5200 wsd again. Yesterday it was nice, but the gears were pretty loud. I think I have that tuned so that's a start. Still trying to decide whether or not it's the right size for me. Feels tiny compared to my bianchi. Run will come tomorrow when the weather's not as nice. I figured I'd rather spend an hour outside than 35 minutes. Besides, I'm still trying to give my knee some time. Definitely going to discuss it at the doctor later this month. Not fun.

Should probably work. Happy training!

Ok, in hindsight, I think that I should better explain my ride that took place yesterday so no one gets the wrong opinion of my abilities. I'm not good. The first 8.5 miles or so were into the wind, in a pack and we were averaging about 16 mph which was great. I was freezing so I was hiding in the middle - so I really wasn't working that hard, but was still feeling some wind. Overall, great pace. When that hill hit, I was not able to follow them. I hauled the bike up the hill and caught up with Chad on the flat at that point we hit about 28mph with a tailwind trying to catch the pack. Once we did, we rode for awhile at probably around 24mph until they hit the next hill and took off again. I took this hill a little harder and then just continued pushing... when the wind was at my back I was going about 24mph but once the cross wind came back - I was going about 21mph. I was pushing pretty hard. I'm not bragging- trust me. I got dropped. Plain and simple.

Just didn't want anyone to get the wrong idea and expect great things out of me. It was a good hard ride for me. I'm not on their level.

Hope that helps in the understanding! Swim is still planned for today even though it's gorgeous out. I figure my legs aren't up for 4 days of hard riding in a row.

Wow did the Trek boys put the hammer down on me today. I thought we were going out for this nice easy ride... and it started as such, until we hit this long, fairly steep uphill with a hint of tailwind... It was like the gun went off and the gates were open- they all took off sprinting up the hill with the exception of two and myself. I just wasn't expecting it and even so, I was riding a protype Klein today that was not shifting well to say the least. I think I had the use of 3 gears before it was about to self destruct. Good times. So there I was, along with the two other guys chasing the mass of testosterone for 18.75 miles at like 28mph (with a slight push of the wind) still not catching them. At least I got my workout in! Would have been really nice to have my bike though. Then I would have showed them!! - right. Good times though. Very much needed.

Otherwise, not much is new. I'm hoping to get out on a very easy 3 mile run tonight to test out the knee. Hopefully it's feeling better and there are no worries to come. Tomorrow is supposed to be nice again so I'm not sure what's in the game plan. I'm supposed to swim on Thursdays, and I most likely will but we'll see.

Oh yeah... I bought a triathlon training journal last night. Does that mean I actually have to start doing something?

Hope life is exciting for everyone. Happy training!

Slacker's back. Hopefully more frequently, but I'm pretty sure I say that everytime so don't hold your breath! Again, I will try harder. :)

So not too much has been new... this one will have to be fairly short since I don't really remember anything- I'll just give a general overview and try to stay more updated as I get things accomplished...

Still teaching the Friday morning classes. Attendance was way down last week so I'm wondering what will happen as it continues to get nicer out. I wouldn't mind dropping the class all together. It is starting to be more work than it's worth, especially since all the fun people are outdoor riders and no longer want to be held captive indoors (as I agree and understand!) Otherwise, I've been swimming on Tuesday nights for class and Thursdays over lunch. Class hasn't been too bad lately. Not a lot of people have been showing up so it's more one on one and for some reason we're working harder- or rather being worked harder. Last week was actually fun! Imagine that... fun and swimming in the same sentence. It's been a long day!

Haven't been running during the week, but have been getting in fairly long runs on Sundays. Well, long for me anyway. I think about 8 for the past two weeks. Mark is nice enough to run with me so it pushes me to go a decent pace but it must be killing him! He's a great sport and it keeps my mind off the length of the session. I'm not yet one you can call a runner. I still need that drive from someone else to hold pace. I'm going to get a couple of runs in during the week though. I'll start trying to balance things out more rather than just biking over lunch. It's just so much more fun! The knee was giving me troubles after waking up Monday morning, but it's feeling better now. I might try a run tomorrow and see how it feels. Nothing hard... just a trial.

So one thing that is fairly solid is that I can get a ride in everyday over lunch. The weather is supposed to be poor for the remainder of this week so I'm using it as a chance to rest and focus on the other disciplines as well as prep for the long Saturday ride that hopefully weather will permit. Gotta love spring... weird temps and crazy wind. That's not too fun since I float all over the road. One word to define that ride Mark finished and I turned back during: terrifying. I'm learning quickly though!

Otherwise, not much else is new. Still not convinced that I am supposed to work... Haven't decided what bike I want to purchase... Know I have a lot of progress I need to make in my climbing... just know i want to be good come Sept 12.

Hope all is well. I'll try to get better about this blogging thing. Glad you are all still dedicated to it! I'm still reading along... just don't have the time to contribute! Late.

Well, here's my one blog for the month... sorry I'm such a slacker.

Not too much has been going on for me. I've thought about it more since my last blogging experience and realized there's no way I'll be able to give up on the Ironman... if nothing else, for my own determination. It'll be a good time and an amazing accomplishment for me so I'll stick it out. Speaking of which, today is the 6 month mark until DDay. Scary... should probably stop skipping those swim workouts.

Taught a good class this morning. I walked in to find out the room didn't have any heat- naturally on a day it was in the single digits outside. Good times. We warmed up quickly though, it was a pretty tough class with a lot of climbs. They just know it's coming these days. A lot of good sports in that class.

Last night I made it to body pump and a 4 mile treadmill run. Nothing too exciting but it was mandatory after skipping my noon swim for a surprise bday party at the local pub. I did fairly well - made it out of there only eating half an order of fries. I'm not a big hamburger person. Took a lot of heat for it though. I'll get back into swimming Thursdays at noon, until I can get outside for open water swims... that would be better cause I could go at any time.

Wednesday I finally made it back to yoga and then out on a lunch ride. It was insanely windy so it was only about 10 miles. I had never experienced extremely strong crosswind riding before. I haven't been so scared in a long long time. The first gust hit me at the top of a hill and almost blew me over (that's actually an understatement). After I got thrown all over the road again I actually stopped and said I was going to go back but luckily the guys wouldn't let me and I stuck it out. Good because I did get a little more used to it, which I will obviously need to do incase it's windy on a race day, but wow...

Tuesday seems like years ago so I have no idea what I did. I'm pretty sure we went out for an awesome ride that was about 21 miles and then I had swim class which was devoted to kicking. I guess I lied... I do remember Tuesday. Pretty sure I don't remember monday though... Bodypump I think. Something else as well...

As for the weekend... not sure. Heard it's supposed to be fairly nice on Saturday so I think I'll take home the bike and see if I can't get some miles in. I ran 7 miles last Saturday so I could also see if I can at least match that. Sunday I have to teach the two AM cycling classes before working my desk shift so nothing too fun on that day.

Next week: dog sitting. Fun fun. He's a great dog though... hyper boxer. I'm assumming I'll be doing lots of runs with him so I don't have to deal with all his energy while trying to relax, but we'll see. I'll keep you posted.

Happy training to all and TGIF! :)

I think I might be calling it in on the Ironman. The time is coming very close for the harder training to start and I'm losing more and more motivation. Everything that was going well seems to have completely deconstructed and I'm not sure how to fix it.

With that said, I must also admit that my health habits and workout efforts have pretty much gone down the drain. There might be a correlation there as I really haven't been able to eat or sleep much lately, which has cashed me for the workouts I've tried to do. But even so, I'm maxing out at 4 mile runs and teaching cycling has become a complete nuisance. Hopefully I will snap out of this soon, and for that reason, I'm not going to turn in my spot in the imoo yet, but the thought is there.

Worst run of my life on monday... but we did struggle through it to the end so that was good. Fortunate that my heart didn't know how bad my legs were slacking, I think I still got a fairly good cardiovascular workout from it. For that, I beat myself up on the trainer that night which proved to be a better workout, at least starting the night off well. Went get Mark at the airport. Sounds like they had fun so that's good.

Skipped workouts until this morning when I had to teach. I felt absolutely horrible since I didn't have any food in me. I tried to eat a power bar before hand, but i couldn't eat that much of it and what i did didn't seem to help. Not sure if I'll do anymore workouts this weekend or not. We'll see I guess.

Sorry for the downer blog. I hope that everyone else is doing well. Happy training. Nice job on the run Chris!

Everyday I say, wow, I need to update my blog and still I never find the time to do so. There should be more hours in the day. Once again, I find myself pressed for time since I have to spend this beautiful day inside working at the club. Isn't it great when you need the money that bad?!

So for all of you still wondering how that snow shoe race went... it was awesome. i had so much fun!! Having never been on snow shoes for any notable length of time, I was somewhat nervous starting out, but quickly found it really wasn't too hard. I did manage to clip my right ankle far too many times than necessary creating a rather large bruise, but it could have been far worse. Long story short, the run was beautiful, running through the woods with all the fresh snow and I met some pretty cool people along the way. A big hill part way through knocked a lot of people off ahead of me which was convenient since it was pretty much impossible to pass anyone on the single track. I just kept going and actually managed to come in second female overall and first in my age group. Never expected that and I know it was a fluke, but fun nevertheless. I recommend trying it!!

Otherwise, got in 3 runs last week over lunch, a couple body pump classes, and taught cycling twice. Swim class started Tuesday night but luckily it was the intro so we only had to swim for about 25 minutes. The fun part of the week is that the weather was nice enough for the group lunch rides to really take action. I went riding on thursday and Friday. My legs weren't as fresh as I would have liked them to be. I spent Wed. night on the trainer for an hour which cashed my hamstrings for Thursday's ride and then I taught Friday morning which put a damper on Friday's ride, but it was all good. Needless to say, I had nothing left for the two classes I taught on Sat. morning. Good times.

Gotta run, the dog got the idea that I'd take her for a walk before I left for work and is freaking out. Have a good one!

Once again, we've made it to Friday, but wow does it feel like I have a long way to go! Work is dragging and I want a treat! Not a good combination...

Played vball last night. It was ok, but nothing special. Pretty much just went to bed after that in preparation for today's cycling classes. They went well. I think my run cashed my legs yesterday more than I had thought cause I the quads were burning pretty good this morning. I worked hard though, and from the looks of it, the participants did as well. I had to stick around to teach the youngsters after that which actually turned out to be pretty fun. They worked hard and made it through the entire class. The gym teacher told me that had been the most intensity they've seen so far on the program and they held through that well so I was really proud of them.

Other than that, not much has been new. Old roomie is coming into town tonight and they're all going out and want me to come along. Must say I really don't feel like it, but do feel some obligation. Not sure what I should do. Every time I enter a smokey bar I end up leaving sick. Again, leading back to the fact I wish I lived in Cali. Maybe someday they'll actually get the bars smoke free, but I'm not holding my breath.

With that, I'd better get back to work. Hope all is well and training is going well.

Haven't blogged in awhile so I thought I've give you a quick update... mainly cause I have no idea what I've done since I last blogged. All the days are meshing together! Don't worry, pretty sure nothing too interesting has gone on.

Monday I got to the club at 5:15 am to find the morning cycling class full. great start to the day. Luckily, my yoga instructor also didn't make the cut so we did yoga for an hour in the gym before I headed home to get ready for work. I suppose it was a good thing that I stuck around considering my initial intent was to go home and back to bed if I didn't get a bike. I'm pretty sure I went for a run over lunch with a few girls at work, but one of them is just beginning so it was a really slow 4 miles or around there. Actually I was fairly impressed that she only had to walk once and otherwise took on such a distance. I think that was it for the workouts that day.

Tuesday I did get a bike at the 5:30 am slot so that was good. I also swam during lunch and then did a few k on the skis that night. Surprise surprise, I chickened out on the race. Mark did really well though. At first I thought he'd gotten himself in way over his head, but he did well... I'm sure he blogged about it so make sure you check it out. It was fun.

Wednesday- finally made it to yoga with my knew Hawaiian print mat. Lovin' it... then I went to a bodystep class followed by body pump. Then watched a little OC and hung out. A good night.

Thursday... guess that's today huh? Skipped the swim workout in favor of sleep. Feel congested when I wake up lately so it's not ideal for the sport. Did get in an awesome run at lunch though. I think about 4.5 miles at about 8:00 miles. I was pleased. Now I'm off to volleyball (not very excited about that) and then probably to bed. I have to teach the early class tomorrow followed by another one for some middle school youngsters. Hopefully it will be fun.

I guess I'm late so I'd better go. Hope everyone is doing well! Possible snow shoe race this weekend... could be interesting. :)

Not too much to blog about today... I buckled to my soreness and skipped my second workout and volleyball last night. I just wasn't feeling it. I saw this poor deer get hit on the way home -I won't go into detail- but she was freaking out and suffering so badly that it killed me. I, being the wuss that I admittedly am, started crying and it took every rational bone in my body to stop me from getting out of my car and trying to help her. Unfortunatly the vision has really stuck with me and I can't seem to shake it. I had never seen one hit before and I pray that I never do again, or even worse, hit one.

Anyway, had dinner with my mom and just hung out for awhile. This morning I taught my cycling class. I did try out the new mix on them and I think that it must be overall pretty tough. I had a lot of deep breaths out at the end of each challenge and a lot of the looks up at me with the head down, just moving to eyes as if waiting for me to say "ok- take a break." At the end they said they appreciated it though. I must say that my legs were cashed by 6:15 (45 minutes into it) and I was sucking wind pretty hard. That part I will contribute to the possibility of being sick. The legs, I'm not sure if they have an excuse, but I am still sore as hell from Wed. body pump class. Sad.

Other than that, I'm at work and that pretty much sums it up. It was pay day though so that's good. Unfortunately it's my weekend on at the front desk of the club so I don't get much of a weekend. They're reasonably short shifts, but in the middle of the day so it pretty much cashed any time before 5. I would ultimately like to stop working that job and just teach, but I need the money. Come summer I'll look more into that.

With that, I guess that's all I've got. Happy Friday the 13th. Hopefully everything is going well for everyone! I tried to use the excuse that I should just stay in bed all day so that I wasn't given the opportunity to have something bad happen to me, but no one bought it. Too bad.

Good Times...

Wow, I've learned my lesson for not lifting for 2 weeks. Bad decision. Granted, I was trying to baby my heel, but even so, I'm not sure my heel ever hurt as bad as my legs do today :) It's a good hurt though... at least it proves that I'm doing something by continuing to lift! I'll get in at least one more body pump hour this week and hopefully aim for 3 next week.

This morning I dragged myself out of bed to go to the gym on the way to work. I've decided (at least until swim class starts again) that Tues/Thurs am I will swim before work which will enable me to do something later that night as well. So far, so good. I've gone twice now! yeah!! I think my soreness really took a toll on my swim workout this morning. Again I only swam for about half an hour cause I was later than I had hoped and the pool was fairly crowded. I got in about 1400 yards (maybe a few more, but I lost count) but I felt like crap pretty much the entire time. I also have a really hard time breathing in the morning and I think that is largely because it's winter and I'm battling a cold. Can't seem to clear out the respiratory system too well these days. Hopefully that will fix itself soon.

Aside from that, I have volleyball tonight and would like to get in another workout but I'm not sure what exactly that will be. I'm contemplating skipping volleyball as well since I really wasn't supposed to be on the team in the first place. We'll see.

I did get my run in yesterday and the weather was beyond beautiful. I'd probably guess about 32 degrees, sunny and little wind. I loved it. Unfortunately, I don't know my way around Waterloo yet so I had to ask someone for directions and they had to kind of guess the mileage. I'm hoping it was at least 3 but since I felt so good, I kind of wonder. I think it was 3.5 based on time. Could have gone all day. Then, as already mentioned, I made it to body pump after work before heading home.

I guess that's it for the tridreams today... cycling tomorrow, I used a new mix for Tuesday night's cycling class and they said it was good and hard so I think I'll try it out on my class and see what they think. I'll probably just have to tell Jen to work her class harder :)

Happy training to all... Friday is not far away!

Did I say "no more slacking?" I think I meant to say "not as much slacking..."

Yup, didn't make it up for yoga this morning. Well, I was up and then the bed summoned me back and I couldn't resist it's strength. On my behalf, I haven't been feeling great lately so I can probably use all the rest I can get, but I'm still a slacker. I'm sticking strong to my goal to get in a run and body pump today though. If I skip those, I'm going to have to come up with a punishment...

I guess that's it for now... just thought I'd get down something for the day as I don't know if I'll find time later. I'll be too busy running! Ha Ha.

So I was thinking about my blog yesterday and realized that I forgot a major event in the afternoon of skiing on Saturday. So in case I've never mentioned this, I had never been on skis (downhill or xcountry) before we began our little journey otherwise known as skate skiing. This may play a small part in why I am having a harder time picking this up, but the real purpose of this knowledge is to proclaim my fear for hills (going up sucks, but down is much scarier.) Keeping this in mind, I will continue on with my story... so we're skiing, I finally make it up this gigantic hill with my poor little cashed arm to hear Mark say "that should have been the last hill to climb" so I'm all pumped that all the tough stuff is behind me and continue on skating gracefully along the path. I turn the corner and there it is... the mountain of xcountry ski hills. I completely freaked out and apparently tried to turn to avoid flying down it at that moment meanwhile choosing a much better route straight off the trail and into a huge thorn bush. Lemmie tell ya, that felt great! I was tangled and laughing so hard that I didn't move for a good 5 minutes. On top of Mark standing there laughing his head off (it all makes sense why he was still wearing his helmet when he passed me now doesn't it...) the only other skier we say all day passed us at that time and also got his share of laughs in. I'm glad I can at least keep everyone entertained. I did make it down the mountain by the way... not so sure how I'd do at downhill...

Ok, back to the present and now that I've wasted all my time embarrassing myself, I'll keep this short. After taking 2 lazy days off, I pulled myself out of bed early to hit the pool before work. I can't say the swim felt great, but I managed to get in about 1700 yds in a half hour before dragging myself into the locker room. That was an adventure as the power went out leaving me stranded in an unfamiliar club in pitch blackness. Went to work... blah blah blah, left early to get back to the club to sub for cycling class. I think I killed the majority of the cyclers, including myself, but I think that's what I needed. No more slacking.

Tomorrow I plan to go for a run (hopefully during work) and then hit bodypump since I've missed it for the past 2 weeks. Tomorrow is early yoga as well. Skipped that last week too... wow, don't I sound like the dedicated athlete! Lovely.

Aight- good night all! Rest well.

This has to be a short one as I'm already an hour late for work. I woke up feeling pretty crappy this morning and thought that everyone would benefit if I slept for an extra hour rather than going to work and not accomplishing anything because I felt ill. Hopefully this extra hour of sleep will help... I'm not sure yet. Needless to say, I bailed on my early cycling class this morning so unless I summon up the motivation to go tonight... I will have used up both of my free days before the week even got going, as I didn't work out yesterday either. I don't think 20 yards on a pair of snow shoes would count as a workout. I'm definitely a fan of them though! Need to find myself and extra $125...

The weekend was fun. Went skiing on Saturday. A little of 6 miles I think. It was fun and the weather was awesome... not too cold for once. Xcountry skiing really is a pretty, calming sport... until you have to climb the hills that is. There were quite a few of those. Unfortunately, rather than making me stronger, I think they were killing me. Apparently, the way I push with my pole on my right arm is really really screwing up my shoulder. I really need to work on that if I'm ever going to make it past a couple of miles. By the end of the 6 I was skiing without poles or with only my left which is quite a bit slower and clumsy.

Sunday was the quadathlon. It was very cool, but I felt like a slacker for just sitting there and not doing anything... good thing that motivated me to work out later huh?! Anyway, one of the guys in my masters swim class showed up and parked in the next spot so that was kinda cool. It was fun seeing him... haven't seen him very often since the class ended. Also stayed and talked with the winning relay team for quite a while afterward. I think they said they were from Baraboo and all 4 of them looked extremely familiar, and they actually approached me with that thought, but we couldn't pin down where we'd met. Turns out one of them did the ironman last year, and at least 2 of them are signed up for this year so we exchanged email addresses and maybe have some training partners along the way. They were all very cool.

With that, I suppose I should get going to work. I'm still feeling iffy so maybe they'll let me leave early. Wishful thinking... happy training.

Aren't Fridays great? I'm about to head out of work (about an hour early) with nothing but the thoughts of what to do on a work-free weekend. I'm very appreciative of that. I don't know that I have that much planned. Will hopefully ski tomorrow so I can get it down heading into Tuesday. I figure that I should be able to do a wussy lap if all these 13 year olds can. You'll listen to me cry when they all beat me too! Something to stay tuned for!

Got the wonderful swim in last night. I lost count but am pretty sure I swam at minimum 2500 which was my projected goal. It went fairly well... again, it's disorienting because it is so much easier with a pull bouy. My arms can feel it though. Might hit the pool again tomorrow am prior to leaving for the ski thing. We'll see.

Today I actually got to do something other than swim... I taught my Friday cycling class. There was only 7 people in attendence due to the large snow fall we received last night. It was a big change from the super hyper, full class I normally have. I must say it wasn't quite as motivating, but a workout done nevertheless. The foot didn't love it, but didn't hate it completely either. I do think that I either strained or tore a ligament or tendon or whatever is down there though. Annoying to say the least.

Otherwise, life has been fairly uneventful. Hopefully something fun will happen this weekend. I think it is starting to be needed. It was a long week. :)

The joys of having an injured foot...

no skiing, no running, no biking, no volleyball... you name it, the answer is "NO"

e x c e p t . . .

swimming! yeah, I can swim! I can't think of anything else I'd rather do!! There truly is a God. So are you sharing the excitement with me yet? Trust me there really isn't too much to share. I still haven't found the motivation to swim yet, but I'm trying... that should get me credit right? Yeah... my workout consisted of a swim last night. About 2000 boring yds. but it's further than I've put in quite a while and it felt pretty good so I guess that's a highlight. It was probably much easier than normal because I swam the entire thing using a pull bouy to avoid using my stupid foot. Not that I'm complaining... I like swimming with the pull bouy! I figure it's about the same as my beloved QRoo. Also good news... I think that I've finally started to get that whole swimming technique thing down. Last night I was really pulling all the way through and although it was tough, I definitely felt the water more. I am also an accomplished bilateral breather now. Come the start of the Tri swim class Derrick will be so proud of me! He used to make the whole class do bilateral breathing drills just to make me do them- without having to single me out. sneaky fella.

On the agenda for tonight... more swimming! yeah!!! Maybe I'll aim for 2500 yds. Too bad I cheat with my little breaths at each turn around. hee hee.

One more thing to quickly mention... yes I did wuss out on the Tuesday night xcountry ski race, but one of my coworkers attended (who happens to be a great skier) and made me do a quick loop to see if he could help me. He said that I've got it, that I just need to practice so that's good. I thought he could have just been being nice, but I guess he told my boss that I'm better than 90% of the people he's seen just learning how, especially since I'd only been on them 3 times. Not bad I guess. Maybe I'll stick with it a bit ;)

Happy Thursday and better yet, good luck in your training!

So this must be a sign... I've written 3 long blogs while at work, and everytime, just as I'm about to send it, my computer goes dark and tells me that I must restart, losing the entire blog. I can't tell you how annoying that is... so if it does it again tonight, I am removing myself from the blogging community. Just in case, I wish you all a long, fun and healthy training season!

So now I'm not even sure what my other blogs were about, but I'm sure they must have been extremely interesting! Something about cycling, another about skiing (which I can guarantee must have been at least mildly entertaining...) but since I don't remember specifics, I will just start again with this week and vow to do better once again.
Maybe I can actually keep my word this time! Again, please, no one hold your breath!

Quick recap though... last week I did a little better about working out. Monday I did a spin class for an hour and then bodypump, Tuesday I swam 1800 yds after an hour spin class, Wednesday I swam another 2000 yds (or somewhere around that, maybe more) and then did another bodypump class. Thursday I took the day off with the exception of an hour of Volleyball (I was nursing a twisted knee from the previous weekend ski excursion) and then Friday taught my cycling class. Saturday was a big day as I taught the two morning classes for a total of 2 hours cycling and then xcountry skied for about 5 miles. It was a very fun day. Sunday was supposed to warrant another trip to the ski trails, but a late start and an unhappy shoulder changed that plan. Instead I just ate a lot of cookies :) Can't complain about that right? I swear I might have been cookie monster in previous life. If not previous, I'm sure they'll be signing me for the afterlife. I'm damn good at it! Wouldn't mind being blue and fuzzy with sweet googly eyes either.

This week started with a am cycling class (which was a struggle... love those days where you just feel off!) I've found I have some issues with my right side-bottom heel as well. I'm not sure what it is, but it's not very comfortable and quite frustrating. I need to get running! Anyway, I cycled through it and now I think it's trying to lecture me so I'm not sure what's up for tomorrow. Maybe an am swim. Still haven't decided on the xcountry race, but I think I might wait til the following Tuesday and see if I can't get a few more practice runs in this week.

With that, I think I'm cashed for good info. Almost wrecked my new car though... gotta love driving in snow. I'm still wondering how the van all of a sudden wound up sideways in the middle of the road. As far as I know, everyone made it through the event unharmed. I just got out of there with my near death experience as quick as the 25 mph pace would allow me too. I need the brontataurus back at least through the winter! I wouldn't care if that thing got hit. Oh well... I guess I could walk everywhere!

Good night to all and happy training like always!

Just so that no one has to wonder whether or not I'll bite at Mark's challenge to do the xcountry race... don't wait for a race report. I'm not good and I don't need anyone else to prove that to me :) We'll see one I've got more miles under my belt.

I'll just leave it at that for now. Have a good day!

Back again... not very timely, but at least I haven't gone a week without blogging!

Again, not too much to blog about... Friday morning was the am spin class which went well and was incredibly packed. Even turning away people! That was kind of fun, but I'm sure it's the time slot, not my teaching. Nevertheless, it was fun. The big plan for the weekend was an overnight Xcountry ski trip. The initial plan got kinda botched, but we did make it out on Sunday which was so much fun. A great day. The good snow and trails were about 2 hours north of Madison so we got out early and arrived at the park in the late am and skied for about 3+ hours. It was tough. I think we went about 7 miles and my shoulders were cashed. Like I said though, a blast and so pretty! Granted I got lapped by a few people like 3 times, but hey, it was only my second time on skis ever! It made a big difference having poles this time! That leads me to Friday night which revolved around the need for poles. Great investment I must say.

The other big deal of the weekend... I bought a car! I can't afford it, but it's nice to have. A 2003 red, 4dr Alero. It was program car so it only has 25,800 miles on it and looks like new. I got it for $11,000 (or something close) so it was a really good deal. Unfortunately, I might be the worst decision maker EVER (especially with big ticket items) so that whole process screwed up the plans to go skiing in the afternoon on Sat. It was really really cold Sat. though so I didn't feel too bad not going. Hopefully I'll get off work this weekend and an overnight trip can be in the works for this weekend.

Sunday night when we got back we jumped in the pool for about 600 yds. All bilateral breathing. Just wanted to get a few minutes in as the next swim class is starting in a month and I really don't want to get yelled at for losing all my progress that I made. Not saying it was much!

Monday I went to the am cycling class and then went back after work for bodypump. Not yet sure what I'm going to do today but it might be cycling again. I kind of twisted my knee on Sunday and I'm not yet sure of what it's capable of. It feels kind of weak. Tomorrow is yoga and hopefully body pump again. Again, not sure of the cardio plug for tomorrow, but we'll see. Maybe a easy run or a swim.

Back to work! What a horrible phrase! Congrats on the job Danielle!

Wow, two days in a row... is it a new record yet? So all that talk about really picking up the workout effort... I think I succeeded last night. I went straight to the club after work with the plan of going to body pump at 7:10 and squeezing in a run before that. Well, both happened which is good- but for some reason I really payed for it. I ran 4.5 at a somewhat reasonably pace... at some points maybe a little fast for the way I was feeling but by the end it felt good. As time allowed, I pretty much finished up and went straight to body pump. Needless to say, I had nothing left whatsoever. My legs were cashed and then I bumped up the weight on my chest track early on in the hour which pretty much cashed my arms for the rest to follow. As badly as it hurt... it really felt good to know I was working that hard. Maybe that was my turnaround.

Followed it all by chinese and the remainder of the WI/MI basketball game. Then I pretty much fell asleep as usual. I'm not sure what I can do to stay awake, but if anyone has any suggestions, I would greatly accept them! I know the easiest and most blatently obvious one is to get more sleep, but with me that doesn't seem to work. Actually I usually have more energy the less sleep that I get. Lately I've been getting about 7 or 8 hrs a night (well adding in all the premature napping I'm doing while I'm supposed to be doing something else) and I can't seem to keep my eyes open. It must really suck for anyone that tries to do stuff with me after 10pm. I'm assuming that eventually my body will adjust to the changes, but in the meantime, it's somewhat frustrating. Too many things to do, too little time!

Tonight is volleyball night. This is 2 of 2 that I have to work so again, although I don't want to be there, I'm getting paid to play volleyball. Actually, tonight I'm going to sneak in a swim during one of the hours. That way I won't have to rush there right after work. I'm not yet sure what workout I'm going to do, but I'm going to aim for at least 2200 yds. Depending on how I feel after last night, that maybe be reasonable or might be a dream. I guess we'll find out.

I guess that's it for now. Happy Thursday... just 2 days left. I actually have the weekend off for once! I can't even begin to explain how excited I am!

Did I mention that it's -6 degrees out right now with a windchill of -20, or something ridiculous like that. I think it's almost too warm for me, I'm thinking about moving North. Or maybe East. At least they don't have to leave their house! I told the guys I was going to call in frozen today. They laughed, but I could tell they were wishing the same thing. Maybe I could make it an organized event!

Happy training!

Happy Wednesday. I'm half way there right? The days don't drag on too bad, but I have been tired and unmotivated for the past two weeks. Hopefully the weekend will rebuild my energy. Just have to make it there!!

So what's new in the workout world? I've been holding fairly steady at level: slacker. Yesterday was my first opportunity for a double dose, having taught cycling in the morning- but fell a sleep when I should have been swimming. Oops. I have high hopes from now on though. I pulled myself out of bed to attend the early yoga class this morning. That really takes a lot more effort then I had ever imagined. Pretty tough actually (I was talking about the yoga, but the waking up thing applies too). That was my 3rd 5:30 class this week! Hopefully I'll start to get used to it and my energy level will go back up soon. The plan of attack for tonight includes a run and body pump. I'm excited to start getting back into the routine again. Not sure what's planned for tomorrow, but I should swim and then Friday is early cycling again. I would love to ski this weekend, but it looks like it's going to be frigid both days so I'm not sure if the opportunity will arise or not. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

For now, I guess that's about it. Back to work. I hope the day is going well for everyone! Happy blogging!

Another great day in the life of me. I realize that I've gone into a funk. I'm having a hard time finding motivation to do just about anything... including workouts which used to be my saving grace. I really try hard to be positive, but I'm not really any good at that anymore either. This is coming off more harsh than it really is... nothing to worry about for sure. It's just frustrating. One second I'll be having a blast, the next I'll be really down. I think I'm letting what others say get to be more than is wise. I think I'm going to have to start building the shell back up and start focusing on what's ahead, whether it be completely by myself or not. Everyday I still get that mocking tone that I work out too much, and this is less than I was doing before. I can't wait to see what life will be like come spring. Anyway, enough of that... I just had to vent... thanks for the space.

Workouts have been pretty lame lately. I've done my usual spin classes and then a few others that I subbed for. I've gotten in the pool a couple of times, but haven't been greatly impressed with my performance. I really need to do something about that. I signed up for the masters class again this morning. Hopefully it helps me out. At least I know I'll be in the pool for an hour each week until the beginning of May. I've done a couple of runs as well. Yesterday I ran on the treadmill for 5 miles while watching the movie "Forces of Nature." I was lucky that was on because I think I would have otherwise quit much earlier on. It wasn't fast, but I logged the miles so I guess that's at least a start.

Otherwise, I've been working a lot between Trek and the club. The club was an absolute zoo this weekend. A zoo from hell and I'll leave it at that. Some people have issues and they should let them go- that's all I have to say about that.

I teach the 5:30am class tomorrow and then again on Friday. I hope to get in another swim and run for the week, but pushing that hope a little further, I'll try to get in more than that since it is only Monday. I'm setting my goals too low... maybe that's what's bringing me down. I need higher aspirations! I'll keep you informed on how that goes.

With that, I think I have brought enough darkness to the daily blog so I will stop and come back tomorrow with happier thoughts. Hope everyone's training is going well. Chris, sorry to hear your race didn't go as well as you would have liked... still sounds like you did great!