Quote of the Day.

Live more than your neighbors.
Unleash yourself upon the world and go places.
Go now. Giggle, no, Laugh. No...stay out past dark
And bark at the moon like the wild dog that you are

Understand that this is not a dress rehearsal.
This is it. Your life.
Face your fears and live your dreams. Take it all in.
Yes, every chance you get. Come close.
And by all means, whatever you do, get it on film.
-- Jon Blais

Quote of the Day.

"What lies behind us and what lies before us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us."
-- Ralph Waldo Emerson

This Week's Schedule.

I'm clawing my way back onto the Wellness Wagon this week. Wish me luck.

Monday: Makeup long run (11 miles).
Tuesday: Run (4 miles), weights.
Wednesday: Run (8 miles).
Thursday: Run (4 miles), weights.
Friday: Rest day!
Saturday: Run (17 miles).
Sunday: Swim (60 minutes) OR bike (however long).

:)

10 Things I'm Grateful For.

1. Mikey.

2. A strong immune system that recovers quickly.

3. My new swimsuit that's being delivered as we speak.

4. My tri/running friends.

5. King Street Cats.

6. Farm Sanctuary and its impact on my life.

7. Widespread Panic.

8. Relative safety in my daily life.

9. My friends' safe return from Iraq and the Middle East.

10. The honor of meeting some of Jon Blais' longtime friends last weekend.

:)

This Week's Schedule.

Monday: Rest day!
Tuesday: Rest day!
Wednesday: Run (4 miles).
Thursday: Run (7 miles).
Friday: Run (4 miles), weights.
Saturday: Run (15 miles).
Sunday: Swim (40 minutes) OR bike (90 minutes).

:)

This Year's Schedule, Updated.

March 24: Red Hills Triathlon (DQ).
April 14: Race to Stop the Silence (finished, 1:17:52).
April 29: Worldgate Super Sprint Triathlon (finished, 1:57:32).
May 20: Capitol Hill Classic (finished, 1:14:55).
June 17: Tri-to-Win Triathlon (finished, 2:16:58).
Aug. 19: RYKA Iron Girl Triathlon (did not compete because of illness).
Sept. 9: YMCA Autumn Tri-2-Sprint (not registered yet).
Oct. 28: Marine Corps Marathon (registered).
Nov. 17: Marine Corps Turkey Trot (registered).
December: Jingle Bell Run ... somewhere (uh, not registered yet). :)

:)

Race Report: Iron Girl Columbia.

This will be a short one.

Did not race.

…

…

…

That doesn’t suffice?

Well. This week, I came to accept the excitement of the Iron Girl with none of the jitters. I came to embrace my A race of the season, and by Friday I was truly looking forward to it, 100%. The expo yesterday was fantastic. The bike check-in, the course talk, the walk around the venue with Denise and her husband Matt, everything was great. The hotel was lots of fun. And there were women triathletes everywhere. What power!

I went to bed after my customary conversations with Mike and Mom in turn, and my mind was teeming with enthusiasm for the next day’s events. This is, after all, THE race of the season. The longest course I’ve ever done. The coolest venue and the best people. And the biggest crowd! And medals! All finishers would get medals!

I went to bed straightaway and woke up an hour later with chills. And a slight headache. And muscle aches in my legs. And a stomachache.

I could handle everything but the stomachache.

After that first wake-up call at 11:45 p.m., I woke up nearly every hour with flu-bug symptoms – hot, then cold, then hot, my pulse racing as it always does when I get a fever. When I woke up “for real” at 4:15 a.m., my body was so bedraggled it took me awhile to even get my bearings enough to stand up for any extended period of time.

But I wanted to compete. I’d been looking forward to this race for so long, and now it was here, and now I was sick. I couldn’t let that stop me.

I continued to feel badly as I drove to the park, and when we arrived Denise suggested I go check with Medical to see what they thought. The medic looked at me and advised me not to race. She said she couldn’t stop me if I decided that I HAD to race, but as a triathlete herself, she wouldn’t do it in my condition and she urged me not to either. With no energy, barely enough to walk back and forth to the transition area, it was a recipe for disaster.

So I turned my chip in, plucked my bike from the transition stall, and headed back to the car.

It has broken me down today, I’ve gotta admit. I feel both sick (though recovering) and sad. I know there was nothing I could do about this, but it’s human nature, I think, to want things to go better than they did today.

So much for the end of my tri season. I can’t let it end this way. So I’ll be racing on Sept. 30. It’s close to the marathon, I know, but it’s a small triathlon and shouldn’t put me under too much strain.

I’d race next weekend if I could find one nearby. I want to finish this season on a good note – not on a sick bed.

:)

10 Things I'm Grateful For.

Thanks to Mary Sunshine for the inspiration!

Anyway, 10 things I'm grateful for:

1. My husband.

2. My family.

3. My kittycat.

4. The physical and mental abilities that allow me to compete in triathlons.

5. A great team to work with here in the oficina.

6. My bike, Ike.

7. New friends who become increasingly important to me as time goes by.

8. Longtime friends, whom I cherish -- and also whom I don't get to see much and miss terribly.

9. Not having appendicitis (yet).

10. Race Day.

:)

Quote of the Day.

"Only those who risk going too far can possibly find out how far one can go." -- T.S. Eliot

:)

A New Outlook.

I have made a decision.

All season long, I've taken each of my triathlons excruciatingly seriously. This has been an error.

It's one thing to take your training seriously. In order to perform at a solid, finish-worthy level, you've got to be serious in training -- not skipping too many workouts, watching your diet, staying hydrated, etc. A series of missteps in training isn't good for the body, plain and simple.

But in a race? Why am I so serious? I have no idea, honestly.

Let's call a spade a spade: I'm not an "elite." I don't have the time, nor perhaps the innate physical ability, to become an "elite." But I can be -- and am! -- a darn fine middle- to back-of-packer. :) And I should celebrate that on race day. I shouldn't try to be what I'm not.

So, back to the decision.

This race, I will do my very very best to whack seriousness soundly about the head and have FUN. We have a time limit of 4:30 for the race. If I take until 4:29:59, and have fun, who cares about the rest??

So if I want to stop at a kayak or two throughout the race to thank the craft support, then I will. If I want to linger at the turnaround on the bike, refill my water bottle, and thank the support crew, then I will. And if I want to WALK instead of RUN when I'm tired on the final portion of the race, then I will! Who am I trying to beat, anyway? Nobody.

I want to do my best, for sure. But I'm beginning to realize that, like in every other aspect of life, doing one's best does not necessitate coming in FIRST. Instead, doing one's best necessitates coming through the fire with a newfound appreciation for everyone and everything it takes to complete a triathlon and recognizing both one's own ability and the abilities of others. I should stop and smell the roses throughout the triathlon. I've paid lots of training time and money for the privilege of racing this race. Why would I ever want to spend the whole time worrying about "running late" or fussing over potential slow times on the swim, or bike, or run? Why should I care? What do I have to prove to anyone?

I'm a triathlete, for crying out loud. I've paid my dues to become a member of this club. Now I need to just sit back and enjoy the ride. And that's what I'll do on Sunday.

:)

Next Week's Schedule.

Monday: Short bike (47 minutes).
Tuesday: Swim (40 minutes), run (4 miles), weights.
Wednesday: Swim (30 minutes), run (7 miles).
Thursday: Optional swim (30 minutes), long bike (78 minutes)-run (4 miles) brick, weights.
Friday: Swim (40 minutes).
Saturday: Rest day!
Sunday: Race day! :) :)

:)

Marathon Training: Weeks Six and Seven.

I'm combining these two training weeks because they're so off-balance. I took almost a full week off of marathon training in Week Six to focus on swim practice for the upcoming Iron Girl, and hence there was nothing to report on the run side of things (except for a short run in the blazing heat in South Georgia on Monday of Week Six). This week, I'm back on the marathon wagon and have completed all of my short runs. I'm preparing for my long run tomorrow morning bright and early, before the heat sets in.

Last week's open-water swim practice went GREAT! I say that now, of course, since I made it through and survived and so forth. :) But I really did fare better than I expected to. Before my wave, I was terrified. I mean, so terrified that I wanted to run back to the car and sit there to wait for Denise to finish. But I hopped into the lake anyway. And you know something? The physical part wasn't hard at all. The mental part was the tough bit.

And I've worked through that bit now.

It's the best feeling in the world to face one's fear and come out the other side stronger and healthier than before. I feel -- dare I say? -- almost relaxed going into next weekend's tri. I know I'll still be nervous, of course. But this time may be the first time I truly enjoy race day without all the anxious accoutrements. What a victory.

Onward!

:)

Next Week's Schedule.

Monday: Run (4 miles).
Tuesday: Rest day!
Wednesday: Run (7 miles), weights.
Thursday: Run (4 miles), swim (30 minutes).
Friday: Swim (40 minutes), weights.
Saturday: Run (14 miles).
Sunday: Bike the Columbia course.

:)

Just Another Swim Practice!

So, tomorrow morning is my Iron Girl swim practice out at Centennial Lake. Currently, I'm vacillating between excitement and fear.

Fear will not win.

I simply will not allow myself to be afraid to finish this week's training. All week I've been swimming 1000 meters straight, and then some other 100s and 50s, in preparation for Iron Girl, which is still a few weeks away. I can do 1000 meters now. I can do it in 25 minutes. I can do it with four backstroke laps. I can do it while hanging onto the side of the pool once, for about 10 seconds, halfway through. I can do this routine without ever touching the bottom of the pool, never needing to "stand up," breathing hard but not suffocating. I can do this. I've proven it.

So it is safe to say that though the location for tomorrow's swim is further away than my usual swim location, and though I will be swimming with more people than the usual 7 a.m. group at the Y, nothing will be fundamentally different about tomorrow's practice. It is, after all, a PRACTICE. It is nothing more than a practice that I have to get up for a little earlier than usual. And we get free food.

There's nothing exciting about swim practice. It is what it is -- a joyous slog through warm water.

Therefore, I will not be afraid. I have nothing to be afraid of. Tomorrow, I will swim 1000 meters straight, and then not even fool around with extra 100s and 50s. This will, in actuality, be a break for me. :) I will not keep track of the minutes ticking by. I will throw in backstrokes or breaststrokes when I get tired of freestyle. I will hang onto a kayak if I need to halfway through. I will do this routine without ever touching the bottom of the lake -- which really is no deeper than the deep end of the Leach Center pool -- never needing to "stand up," breathing hard but not suffocating. I can do this. I've proven it. And I'll prove it again tomorrow.

"But what about last time," my brain calls out softly, not wanting to offend my sensibilities. "Last time, you got a third of the way through and had problems."

Yeah, well.

This isn't last time. This is a whole triathlon season away from last time. Yeah, once I got sick in a car, too. That doesn't mean that every time I get into a car I'm gonna get sick. :) What happened in March just ... happened. If it happens again tomorrow? Then I'll deal with it and thank my lucky stars that it happened in practice. :)

This practice is so far different from what happened in Lake Hall, the only similarity is that both the March event and tomorrow's event take place in water. This is an entirely different body of water in an entirely different place in the country. I'm so much more experienced now and in such better shape. I can swim 1000 meters, for crying out loud. At the time of the Red Hills, I could swim only 400 reliably. And certainly not in freezing-cold water. Without a wetsuit. It was a recipe for disaster.

Tomorrow is a recipe for success.

So when I begin to feel nervy, I will embrace that. I will cling tight to the adrenaline that will course through my veins as I begin my swim. It's simply an exciting practice swim. On the very course I'll be competing on later this month. What's NOT to be excited about? I expect my heart rate to jump up. I expect my breath to quicken. And I expect that once I begin to swim it will settle back down and I will emerge victorious.

And that's that.

:)

Marathon Training: Week Five.

Well, I'm feeling fussy, even though there were plenty of bright spots to last week's training. Let us address the good and the bad from last week in turn.

The good news:
I went to Florida last week and spent a lot of great times with my family. I absolutely cannot express to you the warm feelings that wash over me when I'm HOME again. I love Tallahassee. I love my family. I wish there were a way I could bounce back and forth from here to there more often. Sigh.

While in Florida, I ran twice and had GREAT runs (if hot). I would've run three times, but I woke up one morning with airplane-head (I almost always get these searing headaches after airplane flights) and so I cancelled that day's event.

In other good news throughout the week, I swam twice and lifted weights once. And stayed steady, weight-wise, despite my overindulging while home.

The fuss-inducing news:
I skipped my long run. Again. As well as my hill work on the bike. Again.

It's funny that I went on for three grafs about all the good things that happened last week, but four sentences in the negative category have swung my attitude to self-loathing. OK, that's a bit strong. But I DO feel angry and upset with myself for not getting that run and bike in.

I'm coming to realize that juggling marathon and triathlon training is a tough feat. I'm thankful that soon my last tri of the season will be upon me and then, afterward, I can focus solely on the MCM. For now, I've simply got to focus on the swim and run portions of the Iron Girl, as well as the bike course itself. The marathon training will have to take a backseat. I hate that, but I guess given limited time it's the way it'll have to be.

Now, if I can just see that in full perspective as it's happening ... but I don't. Instead I beat myself up for missing one or two workouts every week. And that's not healthy. The more I beat myself up, the more bruises I'll have come race day! And won't I be suffering enough then? ;)

So, this week I will try to do two things:

1. I will try to fit in as many workouts as I can.

2. I will try to refrain from beating myself up if (and when!) I miss a few.

Onward!

:)