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July 30, 2007

The list of must-reads

Several months ago, I promised to post a list of my top 10 must reads in literature. I am sure if any of my readers are English majors this will sow much dissent among them as this list is highly subjective and biased towards my love of post-colonial literature. Anyway, here it is (and since I forgot Shakespeare - ha, whoops!! - in my first list, it's actually a top 11.

1. What Maisie Knew, Henry James. I really love almost all his books. I would also highly recommend Portrait of a Lady and The Wings of the Dove.
2. Anything by Charles Dickens. I really like Great Expectations, David Copperfield, Oliver Twist, etc., etc. The only one I do not like is A Tale of Two Cities.
3. For Whom the Bell Tolls or The Sun Also Rises, Earnest Hemingway
4. Anything by F. Scott Fitzgerald but especially The Great Gatsby, Tender is the Night, and The Last Tycoon (I like the first two best).
5. Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
6. Disgrace, by J.M. Coetzee. He is a great South African writer. I think he also came out with a new book that's supposed to be great.
7. Wuthering Heights, by Emily Bronte. This should be read just before #8...
8. Windward Heights, by Maryse Conde. I like everything by her. It is a post-colonial re-write of W.H by Bronte. You can also do the same type of reading with Jane Eyre and Wide Sargasso Sea. But Jane Eyre sucks in my opinion!
9. Anything by Jane Austen. I know, this list is SO SPECIFIC :) But my favorites are Pride & Prejudice, Sense & Sensibility, and Mansfield Park (which is a bit darker).
10. The Sound and the Fury, by William Faulkner. You really have to read this twice to make sense of it but it is SO GOOD. And way more understandable to me at least than most Faulkner.
11. Just about any Shakespeare. For comedies I like The Tempest and A Midsummer Night's Dream, and for comedies I am a Hamlet fan.

Believe it or not I have been training. However I have been ramping up my working as well and my blogging has really fallen by the wayside. I will try to be better, I really will!

Posted by barb at 4:12 PM | Comments (0)

July 23, 2007

Boulder Peak Race Report

Well, it is Monday and I have completed two major items on my to-do list over the weekend - completed my first Olympic (or slightly over Olympic distance as they seem to say on the web site, although to be honest I am very confused by all triathlon distances except Ironman and Half Ironman) distance triathlon and I have also completed reading the final Harry Potter novel. Yeah, I feel pretty good about this weekend!

Anyway, here is the report of my race for all those who are interested. I will not be posting a review of the Harry Potter book, however :)

Race Day:
I woke up at 4:10 am. Awesome! Just kidding. Luckily I had gone to bed around 9:20 Saturday night so it didn't feel that bad. I put my contacts in, got dressed, and left.... and once I got on the interstate I realized I had forgotten my two water bottles, one of which was filled with water and the other with icky sports drink. Um, whoops! So I got off on the next exit, headed back home, and ran in to get my bottles. If it wasn't going to be 100 degrees (no, I am not exaggerating) I probably wouldn't have bothered and would have just gotten water and sports drink at the first aid station, but it was, so I went back. This probably did affect my bike's position in the transition area, but who am I kidding - it just doesn't matter that much. Anyway I drove to the Boulder Rez and parked, got my body marked, and set up my transition area. Now that I am a grizzled veteran with this triathlon business I knew to bring smaller towels, which I think was definitely a good call - a bath sized towel just seemed to get in the way. I then trotted off to do a two mile run as a warmup, get-the-ridiculous-amount-of-adrenaline-out, and of course get the digestive systems moving exercise. It was right when the sun was about to rise so it was really beautiful, and I just appreciated being out there in Boulder.

Anyway after the warmup I went to the bathroom (where I seriously almost puked, why are race porta-potties SO disgusting?!), dropped off my running shoes, sprayed my wet suit with PAM (note: really should do this after putting the wet suit on as a slippery wet suit is not good), and headed to the starting area. I sat and relaxed in the grass and stretched, and then put my wet suit on and did a quick warmup. And I mean quick - I probably swam for a minute. I just needed to prove to myself that I can still swim in open water. And here is the race:

The swim - 1500 meters, 33:54
What a marked improvement! What I learned here is that practicing swimming for a long time in open water is really a good thing. I swam like a normal person the whole way and did not panic. Yeah! This was as good a swim as I could hope for. I even passed a few people!! Granted this is still my biggest area for improvement, but this was so much better than in the sprint.

T1 - 1:58
I was so out of breath from actually swimming and from running up a big hill to the transition area. But I just wiped off my feet, put my bike shoes, helmet, and sunglasses on, and ran out. It was really nice having one other tri under my belt so I kind of knew what to do.

Bike - 26 miles, 1:25:02, average 18.4 MPH
So the bike in this race is infamous for one very large hill up Old Stage Road. And there is a good reason for this! I was in my easiest gear, going about 5 MPH, for a large portion of the hill. And I was passing people! I really did not feel that bad, but after this effort all other uphills, both on the bike and on the run, really hurt. Before I do this race again I will be practicing riding up big hills, so they don't wreck me so much. I do think that next year I can get my average MPH up and over 19 if I just practice riding uphill more. The rest of the ride after the really big hill was downhill (so fun!!) and then just rolling.

T2 - 1:24
Well this was not too exciting. Got my bike in, put my socks and running shoes on, and went. I was actually feeling pretty good, surprisingly!

Run - 10k, 51:16
Yeah, that feeling good thing didn't last all that long. My first mile was a 7:55 and I think each one after that was slower. It was really hot and my legs burned at every uphill. Not that there were a ton of these, but there were enough! I drank water or gatorade at every aid station except one, and I was just feeling kind of parched. The course is all loose dirt, which is kind of annoying when one is very tired, and there is no shade. I think it was already over 90 degrees when we were running. I do feel that I should have left a little bit more out on the course, but in my first tri of this distance I think I am going to chalk that up to a good learning experience.

Overall time - 2:53:35. Age group rank - 38/107. So my age group place slid three places (well, really two as I had the exact same time as the girl who is in 37th), but it was a larger feel so as a percentage of my age group I did better than the sprint. I think I can improve a lot next year if I swim more (and practice some drills over the winter), bike up long, steep hills more, and do a few more bricks after hilly rides. But it was really fun! I do feel that this race, which is one of the biggest tris in the country from a competitiveness perspective, was way more serious and you could definitely tell that in the atmosphere. But they do a great job with it as it was really well organized and I had a great time.

My legs felt pretty stiff yesterday but today they feel good. I haven't run or anything, but I'm planning on going to the gym after work and running a few easy miles or just stretching out. And that is about all the news for now!

Posted by barb at 8:59 AM | Comments (3)

July 16, 2007

you mean i have to get up when?

I tell you what, triathlons definitely are not good for my beauty sleep. I just got the email with final details for this Sunday's triathlon, and my wave is starting at 6:45 am. The transition area opens at 5:00 am. Meaning that, with my 45 minute drive to the race, if I wanted to be at the transition area first, I would have to get up around 4:05 am!

Of course there are good things about this too. I was in one of the later waves in my first triathlon and it gave me lots of time to freak out about the swim. I am also starting an hour and fifteen minutes earlier than in the last race, which means that hopefully my bike and run will be in slightly cooler temperatures. Which is great!

Anyway although I am still apprehensive about the swim I am really excited for this weekend's race. This is a great series and this weekend's tri is probably the biggest one, both from a pure size perspective and also from the perspective that the pro race is probably going to be really cool. If I don't fall asleep waiting for them to finish :)

So training is going well. I had a pretty normal week last week including an 1800 meter open water swim in which I did not freak out or think I was going to die. Apparently practice really does help! This weekend my friend C. and I wanted to get our long runs out of the way on Saturday, because she was going out of town and I wanted to do a brick workout Sunday, so we met up at 7:00 am, 30 minutes before practice, to run 3 extra miles and transform our workout into a long run. I know it sounds magical :) So anyway that was fun. Our easy 3 miles were followed by another 3 miles of warmup, strides, and et cetera. Then we got down to business and ran a 6 mile tempo run. I thought I would be hurting and almost started with the slowest group, but Coach would not let me so that was good. I actually ended up running pretty well and feeling good. I deleted my splits but I would say my average pace per mile was about 7:20 or 7:25. After this was over, we cooled down (well, not really as it was really hot by then!) and I was pretty much done for the day. I think it was about 14.5 miles total with 6 miles of quality.

Sunday I took the opportunity of not having a long run to do in order to do a longer brick workout and hopefully build my confidence for this race. I rode 24 miles, in about 1:20, and followed this by a 7 mile run (1:02). I was feeling kind of dead-legged when the run started but it was still one of my faster times for the loop. So I consider myself to be full of confidence now. But not cocky or anything. Just confident that I can finish and hopefully have fun!

This morning I ran 5 easy miles. You know I used to only have one easy day each week, on Fridays. However, with the additional training due to my hair brained (or is it hare-brained? These are both kind of funny sounding expressions. Was I led astray into the world of triathon by my hair or by a hare?) scheme to complete three triathlons this year, I have found that I really benefit from at least one additional very easy day. It is going to be close to 100 degrees every day this week, and in fact right now at home it is around 95, but I am determined to bike today after work, so off I go.

Posted by barb at 4:37 PM | Comments (2)

July 9, 2007

sore legs, again!

I do not know what is up with me the last week or so. Last week I was sore from Tuesday to Thursday from my adventure playing soccer. And this week it looks like I will be sore Sunday to Tuesday or Wednesday from our Saturday workout, which totally kicked my butt! So that is annoying. I have some recovery drink powder that I think is way expired, but this past week leads me to believe I should buy some that is not expired and use it. I think it would make my legs slightly happier at least.

This is what I have done over the last few days to make myself very sore...
- Saturday - This was the big workout. Oh my, it hurt so much! But it was so fun. And it really made me a better runner. Anyway we met at one of the nicest trail heads in Boulder County (in my opinion). It is a very long trail, which is always nice, and it is super hilly. Well, to be honest I never thought it was that bad before I had to do a speed workout there. But we did a pretty long fartlek workout (meaning that we ran a total of 10 miles, including the workout, the warmup, and the cooldown. Ouch!). By the end I felt that I was mostly dead. I made it though! After the workout, which was pretty toasty in spite of our start at 7:30 am (this trail is great but it has no shade), I really felt like a swim. So Matt and I went to the gym and I swam 25 laps. I really like swimming in the pool. I am still freaking out about swimming in the reservoir for another tri though!

- Sunday - 13 mile long run. This was about all I could handle, although I had hoped for 14 miles. But I was so sore! The rest of the day we spent doing fun things like having brunch with friends, cleaning (okay, that part was not fun!!), shopping for food and the like, etc. Nice and mellow.

- Monday (today) - Easy 5 mile run. I was in a good amount of pain (just soreness pain, not injury pain, but still). I really need to do some serious biking tonight so I am shooting for about 2 hours on the bike. Biking actually does not seem to bother my legs when they are sore and in fact a lot of times it makes them feel better.

That is about all the news from today. My next tri is in under two weeks (13 days to be exact)!! I am so scared about the swim. But I am excited about the rest of it!

Posted by barb at 9:29 AM | Comments (2)

July 5, 2007

dog sitting and other fun

We have been very busy with our non-fee based, not-for-profit dog sitting business. We really should start charging people for this service :) Well, not our fabulous family, but maybe friends. Anyway this past weekend we took care of my parents' Doberman, Grace. She is a great dog. And a good running partner. But she definitely cut into my cross training for a few days!

However I have been busy making up lost time. Here are the last several days in running and other random workouts:
- Saturday - 12 mile long run (9.5 miles alone, 2.5 miles dragging Matt along. He was not too pleased!). Grace came over about 15 minutes after I finished my run. Oh, also 90 minutes (a little over 25 miles) biking. This was a really big day of working out. I was really tired when it was over!
- Sunday - 6 miles running with Grace in the morning. She is a great running partner! After we went to breakfast we took Grace and our mountain bikes up to a friend's house in the mountains. We did some easy mountain biking (easy meaning not technical - it was really hilly!) and then had dinner. It was a great time.
- Monday - 5 miles running with Grace. I was really tired from the hectic weekend.
- Tuesday - 7 miles running. Grace was leaving on Tuesday and her fitness seemed maxed out at 6 miles so I did not bring her along.
- Wednesday - 9 miles running, 90 minutes biking. Yes I was so tired that I was very lame and went to bed at 10:00 pm on July 4th. But what can I say, I am lame and I had to work the next day!
- Thursday - 7 miles running, 35 minutes swimming. I even pulled for 5 laps. I am hard core!! Okay, I am really not hard core. But it was fun. I also practiced breathing less often and breathing on the right side. That feels really weird!

That is all for now, I am rushing to get out of the office.

Posted by barb at 4:49 PM | Comments (0)