Another Great Weekend

Raid The Rock Adventure Race- will post the race report this week after I get some good pictures. Our team came in 3rd Overall in the premier division, and I had a blast.

After the adventure race, I made plans to spend the rest of my weekend watching Dave play soccer. After watching each other play for the past 15 years, we sometimes get a little lazy in our spectator support. The other night, Dave came home and told me he scored 4 goals in a 5-5 game to keep his team alive in the chase for the premier division title. I felt so bad when I realized that I hadn't watched a single game this season. BAD WIFE!!!!

I am happy to say that his team won the division title. I am a good luck charm! That makes 3 division titles and 2 tournament titles for his teams this year. He is a lucky man to be 33-years-old and still winning some big games.

I definitely still miss soccer. I miss playing with a team- winning and losing with a team. Plus, I just miss the game. It is the best game in the world. I am glad Dave is still able to enjoy it.

Halloween was a little boring for us. I had some cute costume ideas for the dogs, but I got lazy and did not make them. So, they just got the "my mom was too lazy to make me a costume so she made me wear a bandanna" costume.
I tried to get cute pictures. Getting two dogs to pose at the same time is tough. Cayenne gives me a kiss...
Attempt #12...Rooney gives me a kiss...
Finally, everyone looking at the camera.

Yes, I know I have a Who Dat shirt on in every picture. It seems to be the only thing I can wear this time of year.

An Adventure

After a week of completely weird fatigue and zero training, I am back in the swing of things.

Hopefully it is not too late, because I am doing my first 12 hour adventure race this weekend.

I think my teammates are very much regretting their decision to ask me to join them. For one, I have only ridden a mountain bike 5 times. As usual, I am borrowing a bike. As usual, it is too big for me...as it belongs to a guy 6 inches taller than I. I can wing it, right?

(Remember I said that when I break a bone this weekend following these guys up some mountain on a bike that is too big for a girl with no experience.)

One of my teammates called me tonight to ask if I have ridden the bike and practiced clipping in/out. I felt his anguish through the phone when I answered- "nope." I told Dave I would practice around the neighborhood tomorrow, and he said, "great idea, because the neighborhood will clearly simulate your race."

My partners are both awesome. Both are super-fast runners and super fast mountain bikers. One of them just did the Trans-Rockies. They have done dozens of adventure races. I have done zero.

I told Dave tonight that I think my partners are truly regretting asking me to be on their team. (I am slow, out of shape, can't ride a mountain bike). Dave disagreed and said he thinks they are going to be "pleasantly surprised." So, my goal is to pleasantly surprise my super teammates, which means I will be at zone 4/5 for 12+ hours. Sounds harder than an Ironman.

A Special Letter

I am in massive cleaning mode. I am almost finished with arranging the guest bedroom to accommodate a small workout space for a winter bike trainer set up. (1000 square feet of house doesn't give us too much free space- but I am not complaining- in New Orleans we lived in 700 square feet).

I have come across a bunch of fun stuff today while cleaning.

1. My passport. Right where I told my family it would be. Still totally my fault. IMWales would not have been complete without the huge passport fiasco.

2. My honeymoon journal. I did end up throwing it away, but I saved the page from the very last day, March 22, 2005, that ended with this: "Mostly, though, I am happy to be married to Dave. One of the best decisions of my life. I love him very much and he has truly been wonderful to me."

3. A letter from a child I used to tutor in New Orleans at George Cox Elementary (public and very underprivileged). I was a Title I tutor, and these kids were a mess. Some came to school with urine and dirt on their clothes. Some were hungry and went without breakfast. Most had poor parental role models. Most were very, very behind in all academics. Many had serious behavior problems and got in big trouble in and out of school, even as a grade-schooler. I was pretty sure I didn't make a bit of difference.

Dear Ms Turpin
Thank you from helping me out with my work ever day.
Thank you from working nice with takeing the tiame to dill with us in hard sishawaytions.
When we are bad you takeing your time out to dill with us we may fus but I now you well be there for us.
ps love Brian

I will always keep this letter, and I hope Brian is doing well.

A non-training post- since I haven't been training...

A friend of mine recently said she figured out my calling in life. I am extremely excited someone figured it out for me, since I can't seem to figure it out on my own. She said I should be the director of the Memphis Animal Shelter. (you know, the "pound" where thousands of animals are put to sleep- where puppies are starved in cages- and where family dogs are picked up by shelter workers and sold to fighting rings? that Animal Shelter).

(By the way, in just a 3 month span in 2011, the Memphis Animal Shelter killed or euthanized 3000 animals. SPAY AND NEUTER YOUR PETS! There is just no excuse.)

I actually absolutely agree with my friend- I would be a great director of an animal shelter. Too bad I can't fix stupid people, though, and that really is the problem.

I am happy to say that on Friday night I am able to take all of the negative energy that stupid people put into my world and environment and turn it into something positive. Tonight, while dogwalking at the Humane Society, I got to spend time with Xena.

Xena is a very unique and special dog. As a puppy, she suffered a massive head injury (the story is unclear as to whether she was run over by a car or another dog attacked her). The right side of her skull is sunken in, and she is blind in that eye. With the injury came brain damage. She walks in circles and has trouble relating to her environment. She soils in her kennel and has trouble locating her food. She is as sweet as she can be,though, and I love her.

Today I had her walking in straight lines in the yard. Boo ya!!!!

Oh, and they have always said she can't walk up and down stairs? You know I loved seeing everyone's faces when I walked her up the stairs. Xena and I don't back down from challenges.

Maybe I need to ask Caesar Milan if I can come do an internship? Then I really could run an animal shelter. It would be pretty awesome....

I always have a place in my heart for the special animals. Check out Xena if you ever think a special needs dog would fit into your home.

And as always, don't forget this kiddo. You know she is my baby- still trying to find her a good home.

Time For Who Dat!!!!

On December 4th, Kari will be wearing this dress at the Superdome while cheering on the Saints. I didn't tell her the conditions of actually coming to New Orleans with me....

Aimless

I did literally have a mid-life crisis this week. I think I am still smack in the middle of it, and maybe it won't end until I do get that Camaro I have always wanted....Seriously. I had a Camaro poster on my wall in high school. Dork!!!! I could probably do a whole post on the posters that have decorated my walls over the years.

Okay, okay. It was not that kind of mid life crisis, but it was the kind where I spent a few days crying and very few days sleeping. I have this great life, and I am generally thrilled with most days. This week was just a little different- loss of control, trying to figure out the future, feeling external and internal pressure, etc... I was pretty much ready to book a flight to a resort in the Canary Islands and just bring my bike and a good novel.

Um. Yes, I need to harden up. Please disregard my whining and pretend I never really did cry earlier this week.

Today I volunteered at the 1st Annual Overton Park 10k Trail Run. Everyone ran off course because someone messed with the trail markings, and it was actually kind of funny. The range of distances for the winners was 4 miles to 7.5. So, basically everyone chose their own distance and time. Everyone was a winner. Gotta love it. Reminds you not to take races so seriously every single time. :)
Barely-showing-pregnant Joy came in to town and won a little gnome. I am not sure how far she ran, but she did report running one way down a trail and realizing the arrow was pointing the other way....

Later in the day, Alyson (in blue) and I made this awful plan to run a little past noon in the blazing sun. It is still hot down here. Bad mistake. I wasn't sweating. My stomach wouldn't take any more water. I had my first awful really awful run of the year.

And that is why it is hard not to take training seriously. If you don't give yourself the opportunity to succeed in workouts, you are wasting your time. (more to the point, I wasted my time today. Or maybe I just had to re-learn a lesson).

I think it would help to get create some goals again- with not just triathlon, but with all parts of life. I am not enjoying wandering aimlessly right now.

One Last Race...

I am not ready to stop racing this year. I think that is a good thing! No burnout- high motivation- long season. I wish I had another ironman in the near future. (Sigh)

I snuck in one last race before winter shuts down the racing opportunities- the Heber Spring Sprint Triathlon. You guys know I love to race in Arkansas. The venues are always gorgeous, and I have a lot of family to visit. I was 4 weeks out from Ironman Wales, and I knew I was recovered, but not feeling fast by any stretch of the imagination. I am a solid zone 2 right now- a solid SLOW zone 2. Tim had me do two (normally) easy and short zone 3 intervals the other day on the bike, and I could hardly do them. Ha! I knew a sprint would really get me out of my comfort zone.

I started in wave 2 with Walt Rider- thus my only goal became to beat Walt out of the swim. Ha! (Walt is a former pro and local friend who used to race with the likes of Mark Allen and Scott Tinley). Seth, his super-swimmer son, was in the first wave, so I had someone else to chase as well. I was swimming along just fine until we turned back into the sun and I couldn't see a thing. I had to stop 5 or 6 times and tread water with my goggles off to find the buoys as there was zero visibility with the sun. I finally started to head to shore and realized I had missed a buoy while I was following some guy. Shoot!!!!! I turned back around and swam back to the missed buoy. I know that other people missed the buoy and I could have kept going, but I just didn't want to be that person. Knowingly cutting the course would feel much, much worse than a slower swim time.

I thought I was really fast in transition, but it seems I was more than a minute slower than the fast guys. ???? I have yet to figure that one out, but it seems I guess I needed to hustle a little more on the beach run.

The bike was fun. I tried to hold off Walt, but he passed me heading out. I stayed within striking distance of him until the turnaround, and then I lost connection when I came around the turn. I think that is just sloppiness from not racing a lot. The invisible string was broken. He came off of the bike a little over a minute faster than I.

And my legs were like..."what is this! no, no...keep the HR down! What is that burn in the quads? That does not belong here!"

The bike course was pretty tough, but fun. It is one of the first sprints in a long time that had me average under 20mph. Walt was right at 20mph- so it was a slow course for sure.
This is a funny picture of me leaving T2. My legs just don't even know what fast feels like anymore. They kept saying, "hey, if you run marathon pace this will be a lot easier...just slow down and enjoy the day!" I kept pushing them, but I didn't not have a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th gear. I didn't wear a garmin, so I don't know my pace since the course is longer than the results. I am definitely slower now than I was earlier in the year, but I am sure a little speedwork will bring it back. I outran Seth by 3 seconds, and Walt kicked both of our butts.

And BTW- I gave the tri-suit one more try. It is just not me. I have to sport the one-piece swim suit to feel like myself.

I love this picture, even though it is blurry. Walt and Seth Rider are in the background watching me finish (which means they finished ahead of me!) :)

In the end, we finished Walt 3rdOA, Seth 4thOA, and me 5thOA. I also grabbed 1stOA female. This year, Walt and I are tied at 1-1 and Seth is beating me at 2-1! Seth was 16 seconds ahead of me, so he knows I am coming for him next time.

The very best part of the day was meeting Susan! I LOVE meeting new friends through triathlon. Susan came up to me and introduced herself- she recognized me from blog land! (sometimes I wonder if anyone still reads blogs...yes, they do!) It was so nice to meet her, and it is absolutely the reason I keep this blog going. It was so cool to meet her. Susan did awesome herself and won the master's division. Susan and I will definitely have to meet up for some local races.
Memphis had a nice little group at Heber Springs. I love to hang out with my friend post-race.

My cousins came and watched me race, which is always very special to me and much appreciated. Joe left the race and went home to ride his mountain bike. I think I have him convinced to do a relay next year! :)

I ended the weekend with some girl time with my beautiful cousin Meg. (There is nothing like hanging out with a very popular high school girl to make you feel a little old-ish.) We went out to eat and then went shopping. The goal was for me to buy some jeans that did not show my butt crack when I bend over. I am sad to say that I did not leave the store with a new pair. Do they even make jeans anymore that don't show your crack AND cost under $100?

Sigh. Again. Tri season is over for 2011. I am already looking forward to the spring races.

Hawaii Watching

I have been asking around about the value of a computrainer this week. I spend a lot of time on the trainer, and I would probably actually spend even more time on it if I knew I was getting the right training stimulus. I don't want to be ruled by power, but I wouldn't mind having it as a chosen tool from time to time. At this point I am pretty sure there is good value to the computrainer product, I am just stymied by the cost.

I think Tim mistakenly thought I was asking about the computrainer and its "entertainment" value. I thought that was pretty funny and assured him I had the entertainment part covered. I love watching and listening to triathlon. For one, I buy an ITU pass, and I watch every race. Seriously. I love this stuff. It is fun and serious all in one for me! No one has ever accused me of NOT being serious about sport.

I have also been compiling a list of the Hawaii Ironman replays you can find on the computer. In the spirit of the upcoming race, I will share them with you so that you too can "entertain" yourself while riding the trainer. :) I am missing a ton- feel free to add if you know where they can be found!

2010 youtube
2009- can only find this in pieces, not the whole video
2008 youtube
2007 youtube
2006 youtube
2005 videogoogle
2004 videogoogle
2003 ?
2002 ?
2001 ?
2000 ?
1995 youtube
1989 youtube
1986 videogoogle

Happy Hawaii watching, especially this weekend's race!

Back To The Morning

Towards the end of my run this morning, I finally succumbed to the fact that if I want to train, I have to wake up early. Almost daily. There is just no other way to do it.

Last night I tried the ol' "I'll just swim after work" trick, which inevitably led to me getting out of the pool early because I was exhausted from work and my swim was flat.

Today I ran early in the morning and got on the trainer in the evening after work. I was able to double my workload and felt 10x better just from getting started in the morning.

As we all well know, I have an intense dislike for waking up early. I used to beg my mom to wake me up quietly in the mornings, but for 18 years she used the loudest and brightest methods to un-gently wake me up. I won't go into detail, but I can recall vividly every sound she would make in the morning en route to getting me out of bed. Going off to college was awesome, and not just because I went to a campus where they served beer in the cafeteria or because I met my husband there, but because I was able to finally be free of my mom's awful morning routine.

But, I hate racing poorly more than I hate waking up in the mornings, so, I am back to waking up early to train. And in all fairness, my dogs make every morning great. Waking up to unconditional love and eternal happiness rocks. It just takes about an hour for me to wake up enough to appreciate the beauty of the early morning.

So, my tentative fall training plan looks a little something like this: work on run speed, work on swim skills, strength train.

My tentative race plan looks like this: let the races come to me. How about that for specificity! I don't have any goal races on the schedule for this fall/winter yet. It will get pretty cold around here, so if I want to race, it will have to be running focused. I do plan on doing several 5ks in the winter to help get my legs turning over, and I think I would like to do a half marathon.

I wish I had another ironman on my schedule, but I don't. Bummer. Eh, but I will work on speed and strength now and then move back to some longer stuff when the time is right. Having a long window of opportunity for improvement is one of the great things about triathlon. So, next year will build upon this year and so forth and so on. Although on most days I want it all NOW, I know that in reality I will progress yearly if I am injury free and stay committed. So, some speed and strength now, more endurance and higher workload later, etc, etc....There is a plan, and I have to stay the course. I just listened to a good podcast with Peter Reid, and he spoke on this very topic about doing his training in appropriate levels early on so he could build to bigger training in later years. I would like to see myself do such a thing.

As for this weekend, I am all in for Andreas Raelert.