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December 30, 2009

Fall/Winter Snaps!!!

Bodie is the cutest dog in the world. She loves toys!

I like pumpkins!! This shirt is from Target, isn't it cute?!

Stay tuned for race pictures if I can ever remember!!

Posted by barb at 7:59 AM | Comments (1)

Forgetful

I am really forgetful sometimes. For example right now I am trying to memorize a process flow from hell and I just cannot make myself remember these stupid little boxes with words underneath them. Also, I keep saying to myself, 'Self, you really need to post some photos on your blog now that you know how!!' And yet I keep forgetting (they are on a different computer, otherwise yes it would be really easy). Maybe I will remember tonight. In fact I am going to check my phone for pictures that might be fun to post, although I really want to post race pictures and I know I don't have any of those.

I am in a funk right now with my tempo runs. They are horrendous these days and I don't know why but I always have a really bad stomach upset when I attempt them. Last night I finished my tempo run but it was awful. I ran slow, I felt like I was going to hurl about 60% of the time, and when I was done I felt so horrendous that I had to go home as soon as I had the energy and take to my bed. How annoying!! Obviously the solution is to do these in the morning, so next week I am luckily going to be forced to run in the morning, and I am sure that I will have a way better run and be convinced of the wisdom of this strategy.

I am getting stressed out about my training this week because I only did one workout yesterday, and this morning I slept in so I could get into work early and because I felt so cruddy last night. I know I can get everything done but it does just stress me out. I think I'll feel better after today and tomorrow, I know I'll knock out several more workouts and feel caught up. I keep telling myself hey, I have Friday off, so I know I can do a lot on Friday, and I should stop freaking out. Oh, the joys of a Type A personality. I know it makes me awesome in many ways but it also makes me a stress case!

Posted by barb at 7:41 AM | Comments (2)

December 29, 2009

Looking Forward, Looking Back...

I was just looking for an old entry for a friend and started reading back through a few old blog entries. Which is funny in an ironic sense as yesterday I said I never read my old entries!! He told me I should write a top ten must read novels list and I said 'oh absolutely, I should', and then I remembered that I already had, so I tried the search function which works really well, and so I read that and I am still mostly on board with it, although it has been five years so I may write an updated list one of these days. Anyway, the entry right before that was a race report from my first Olympic distance triathlon. Oh boy, it was funny!! I was such a rookie! But it was cool to read because I was so new and glowy about the sport, and I had so much to learn, and so much to improve. Now I am an old wizened veteran, but I still have so much excitement about the sport, and I still have so much to learn!! Looking back on that, it's amazing how much I've improved in triathlon in two years, and also how much I know I can still improve - especially if I ever learn to swim :)

In news of the looking forward sort, I have signed up for almost all my 2010 races. I haven't signed up for Age Group Nationals yet, but I don't know if I've really qualified yet, so that can wait. I also still kind of think I want to add another late season race. As much of a pain as it was to train into October last year, I don't like having too much free time. I am kind of thinking about going back to Austin for Longhorn, that was a fun and affordable race. Then again there is Clearwater too, which I think could be fun, but my coach basically said he wouldn't recommend it until they figure out the drafting situation. So I guess I'll just give it some thought, run a few things by my coach, and figure it out!

I am still so obsessed with the book I am reading that I stayed up late last night reading, and didn't get up this morning to train. Oops!! Hopefully I can finish tonight after I run and possibly swim so I can be productive in training again. Luckily even though my training has not gone how I'd hoped so far this week, I should still get everything done. Somehow I always figure it out!!

Posted by barb at 1:03 PM | Comments (1)

December 28, 2009

Keeping the streak alive?!?!

I have decided to give myself a break on the Christmas blogging situation. Christmas is a weird day, nothing is open, it is confusing. Especially for Jewish people, I just do not get why everything shuts down for one religion's holiday. Not that I am against Christmas, because I am not, but it is just a weird day for me and it makes me feel discombobulated. Anyway, now that I'm back to my normal routine, I have decided to keep the blogging streak alive when it is possible. Next week there is basically no way as I will be in a demanding (10.5 hour days, I haven't worked that much in a while) training class, but this week I really should be able to be a good little blogger.

I am still high on life from my awesome long run yesterday. It was fabulous!! I just love running. I must say I do not understand people who hate working out. I think they must not have given it a chance. I have not really done anything training wise since then - I slept horrendously last night so I changed my alarm clock and didn't get up to do anything this morning. I think I can make it all up later this week so I am not concerned. Because of the crazy hours of my training class next week I may do an extra bike and swim this week so I can skip two of those next week, that will make me way less tense. I don't really skip workouts if I can help it so I'd rather get things done ahead of time and have an artificially light week. It's all periodization anyway, right?

Okay, now I need to get back to work so I have time to prep for this crazy training class as well as getting all my work done and getting a lunchtime swim in!

Posted by barb at 9:58 AM | Comments (1)

December 27, 2009

Perfect Running Day

I had the nicest run this morning. 14 miles, 2:07 or so, went from East Boulder to downtown Boulder and back. It was chilly (around 20 degrees) but the sun was shining and I was so happy to be out there running!! When it's cold and I spend lots of time on my trainer and even on the treadmill, it makes me so happy to get outside and experience the world on my feet. The ground was a bit slippery in spots but I stuck to the plowed bike path so it wasn't so bad. I know lots of people like to go to church on Sunday mornings, and I totally get and respect that, but I am more of the spiritual rather than religious type so for me Sunday morning is the time to go outside and be at one with the world around me. It is more fitting for me than being inside listening to a sermon. What a great way to start the day!! Now I am back home, showered, and warm, just writing in my blog about the day. I do love having a blog and I think my exercise of writing almost every day this week has been a great way to sit down and reflect on the events of the day. Hopefully I will continue once I get back into my routine tomorrow, but I'm not making any promises :)

I have been giving some thought about what I want to get out of 2010, since I cannot believe it but it's almost New Year's. I think the thing that's most important to me is to have fun with my training and racing. I don't make a living being a triathlete, and I think for me it's best that way - it's just my fun escape time. I want to do some new races, meet some new people, go to some different places, and hopefully go fast too! I do think that one of these days I can go under 5 hours for a half, and I know that would be a huge accomplishment. In the Olympic distance if I can go under 2:20 again I will be ecstatic. I don't think my goals are really crazy or anything but I do think they'll provide a good framework for me to work hard, race competitively, and remember why I love training and racing. Oh and if I can PR in the half marathon at some point, that would be a bonus!!

Now I am off to get some laundry done - this habit of training to be awesome and have fun creates a lot of dirty laundry!! I hope everyone is having a great day as well, finding some fun and joy in this crazy training we all do :)

Posted by barb at 2:14 PM | Comments (1)

December 26, 2009

Oops!!

I woke up at 4:08 this morning (no joke) and thought OMG I forgot to blog yesterday!! I was so irritated with myself. I thought about getting up then and blogging but really, what good thoughts are there at 4:00 am. Now it is 9:50 and I have completed my tempo ride for the week while watching Season 9 of America's Next Top Model (one thing I am always thankful for is DVR, that machine is just amazing). I am going swimming at some point today, although I am not super excited because it is FREEZING outside!! This has been a really cold winter so far. I am also possibly running today but I just don't know if I feel like it. Right now I am engaged in a battle of wills between myself and my friend Cara's rescue dog. I let him outside (oops) and now he refuses to come back in. I have chased him around the yard with a leash twice and thrown treats on the floor and hid behind the door to no avail. This poor dog is crazy. So hopefully I can get him inside because I am dying for a coffee! Now I have just left the door open and hidden in the bathroom which also didn't work and now I feel guilty about the polar bears because that is a huge waste of heat. Luckily he has a fur coat!!

So I have taken my week off and it was awesome. I must say I'm not excited to go back to work even though I like my job. I just like having a life of leisure more! Hopefully my trust fund will appear tomorrow!

Posted by barb at 9:49 AM | Comments (1)

December 24, 2009

Early Christmas Eve Entry...

I am so obsessed with my streak now, I was worried I would trot off to my dad's, forget my computer, and skip a day and LOSE THE COMPETITION!! That would be dreadful. Oh I just love a challenge, I really do. So here I am, blogging earlier in the day than I have all week, but that is kind of nice. I'm done with all my training for the day anyway. I am also giving some thought to 2010, so perhaps in a few days I will write about my thoughts and goals for the upcoming year. Matt called my blog 'tactical' today (is that a nice way of saying it's boring? I don't really know!) so I think I am going to make a strategic entry. It's good to think about the future and to write things down for accountability anyway. Such as, I am going to blog every day for one week. That is a good way to make oneself accountable!

Today has been fun so far. It is really cold out, I hate it! This morning when I got up it was 5. Everyone always says it's so mild here, I call B.S. Now that I have a fancy iPhone, I can look at the weather here, in Boulder, New York, Boston, and Minnesota (just to make myself feel better about the winters in other places), and 9 times out of 10 it's colder here than it is in Boston. I understand about dry versus wet cold (which is another story, maybe in another city I would not feel parched every morning), but 31 degree wet cold is not colder than 5 degree dry cold (this morning it was 31 in Boston when it was 5 here). That being said, I love swimming outside when it's really cold!! I wish I could figure out a way to take a picture of the outdoor pool on a cold day, but I don't want to leave my camera there, and I think I could get in trouble. It's so pretty with steam rising off the surface. I swam so well today, I was very proud of myself. I was surrounded by swim team coaches so I totally sucked compared to them but I didn't care, I was so much closer than normal!! It was awesome. I also ran 30 minutes easy and lifted. I am not sure what was going on but I was so hungry while I was running, I was worried I would fall off the treadmill. We went to brunch after I worked out (and luckily I had a Clif Bar in between running/lifting and swimming or I really don't think I could have swam), and I had an awesome brunch of eggs (which I do now think are a meat product, WEIRD!!!) scrambled with veggies and cheese, fruit (this place has the good fruit salad with apples, pineapples, berries, and most importantly no melon which is gross), and PIG. I actually do not really love bacon but one slice is nice. It was so good. I think I inhaled the fruit salad without chewing it at first. Oh how I love breakfast!!

Now we're getting ready to head down to my dad's house. I was wrapping the gifts and realized that I didn't get exactly what I ordered, so that is disappointing. Oh well!! Hopefully the family won't mind! Okay, it is time to put my coat on, I am freezing!! Freaking cold Denver.

Posted by barb at 2:13 PM | Comments (0)

December 23, 2009

I have been blogging for so many days I've lost track!!

Ha, just kidding. I think this is day four. Right? Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday? I think it's Wednesday. People who don't work must lose track all the time. In fact I know they do because it's rare that my mother knows what day it is. Today I did start to wonder but I just thought about what training I had done, and that brought me back to reality. I am having such a fun week off. I actually really enjoy blogging daily, it makes it kind of like a diary. When I want to look back on this week someday, I will be able to see everything I did for one week - that will be fun! Although now that I think about it (I am feeling very stream of consciousness today), I never go back and read old blog entries. I think it's kind of like reading your own diary which is horrible and you always wonder why you never learn and are always so dumb and crazy. Or maybe that's just me, that's how it always went down when I used to read stuff I wrote. I know better now though!!

Wow, that was a whole lot of nothing. Any hoo, let's see what my life of leisure entailed today - it was another busy day!! I woke up at 6:08 and stayed in bed until 6:30. It is so dark in the mornings now, it's hard to get out of bed! Then I went for a run. I felt good about it, my average heart rate was nice and low (143). It snowed maybe an inch overnight so the footing wasn't horrible but it wasn't great either. I had a nice time, the park was practically deserted so I felt totally hard core and awesome for running outside. After my run I dropped Bodie off at her BFF's house for the day and went to the gym for my long swim. As predicted yesterday I did not have an awesome swim today, but it wasn't bad. I was glad to get it out of the way, it was my long swim which I always build up in my mind and dread and save for last so I am glad I didn't procrastinate today. Then I drove really quickly to meet my family for breakfast because as per usual I was running late. Usually I say oh well work blah blah (which is usually true) but today I had no excuse!! We had a delicious breakfast wherein I posed a question I am currently obsessed with - do you think eggs are meat or dairy? It is a weird question!! If they are meat, then when you eat a muffin or something that has eggs in it, you're eating meat! That is a mind blower right there. My whole family said meat so then I sat there and contemplated my blown mind for a little while. But seriously, it is weird, right?!

Anyway after breakfast I ran some errands including returning a dress I didn't like for this New Year's Eve thing and taking my sweet new pants to get altered, ooh and getting an awesome cupcake which was SO GOOD. It was snowy and cold so by the time I got home I was chilly and ready to ride the trainer for an hour to warm up. It was my easy ride and I took it really easy, as in heart rate in the 120s for a lot of the time. Then I showered and went over to Michelle's so we could take our dogs for a walk. They had the best time, dogs just love the snow. It is so cute. Bodie is really tired now, I'm not sure if it's because of the walk or because she is in a food coma from my leftover ham from breakfast, but either way she is a happy dog right now. I am very happy myself actually, I am sitting on the couch under a blanket with a hat on so I am nice and toasty warm. I love being warm inside when the weather is horrendous outside! If only I had a big mug of hot chocolate it would be perfect. Michelle is coming over in 15 minutes and we are going to get dinner (Tokyo Joe's, healthy and delicious, yummo!!) and then we're going to wrap presents and watch a Christmas movie. How much do I love having this week off?! I really love it!! Stay-cation is where it's AT!!!

Posted by barb at 5:45 PM | Comments (1)

December 22, 2009

Day Three, and I think I actually like swimming!!

I had a fun breakthrough in the pool today. I have always tolerated swimming and I enjoy it sometimes but I don't ever feel like I really look forward to it... until today!! I think my skill level is finally getting to the point that I don't feel super crappy and awkward in the water too often. Of course I say that and I'm sure I've jinxed myself and my next swim will be awful - but hopefully not!

Today was busy but very productive. I woke up early - like 6:00 or so - so I hung out in bed for a little while. Then I went to a new coffee shop, this place called the Buffalo Doughboy. Weird name but decent coffee and really good baked goods. OMG, really good. Then I went to the gym and the swim team was still in the pool so I walked on the treadmill for a little while and read a magazine. Then I stretched and headed to the pool for a 3000. It was surprisingly nice!! I just loved it. After the pool I went to Whole Foods for supplies for this Friday's breakfast (I am in charge of cooking Christmas breakfast) and stuff to make for dinner tonight (chicken chili, yum! It's almost done, I am excited). Wow, it was a busy day, I am getting tired writing about all the stuff I did and it's only 11:00 am at this point! Okay, so next I putzed around the house for a while, read blogs, facebooked, etc. I was planning to ride outside with Jason today but it was cold so we decided to ride our trainers. I motivated to get on the trainer around 12:30, and rode for 90 minutes. It was fun-ish. I don't know, I don't really mind the trainer right now. After the ride I showered and headed to Jason's for a run in his neighborhood. It was fun, he is very fit right now!! It is hilly in his area so that was a fun challenge. Now I am sitting on the couch while the chili is cooking, yummo! It's getting pretty cold tonight and it might snow so I thought a comforting dinner was in order.

Oh how I love being on vacation, I don't think I would ever get bored if I didn't have to work!! Tomorrow I'm running, swimming, and having brunch with the family so it should be a nice day. I will blog about it tomorrow night!!

Posted by barb at 6:10 PM | Comments (1)

December 21, 2009

Day Two - Blogging Streak ON!!

Well this is an odd feeling, writing twice in my blog in two days!! I have definitely always wished that I blogged a bit more often, but I just never seem to find the time. Maybe I just need to establish the habit though!! I am going to give this a try and see if I feel like writing after my week-long streak.

So far my vacation has been so busy!! I got up this morning around 6:30 and went to a coffee shop I had never hung out at before, the Pajama Baking Company. It was fun, it is a cute place with good coffee and breakfast snacks. I give it a thumbs up. I headed to the gym and lifted, then I was going to swim but I realized I didn't have time to swim and ride in Boulder. Since this was the best weather day of the week I really wanted to ride up there. This may have been a mistake but we'll get to that in a minute. I also had to pick up a gift at Boulder Running Company, so I headed to Boulder after lifting and picked up a sweet Sugoi running jacket for Matt who is training for his first marathon.

I headed to East Boulder Park for my ride and started out North for a long time. There was a really strong wind out of the west so I almost turned around after 30 and 45 minutes but I kept going and it got better... I ended up doing this ride called The Box so I probably rode out for 1:20. Then I turned around and for a while it was great and then I hit a vicious headwind going west for a bit. I knew I was in trouble because I had to turn and ride south for a long time to get back to my car. It was so scary!!! The cross wind was insane. I literally kept seeing my bicycle move with the wind gusts, and my whole brain and body was screaming just stop!! Hitchhike back to the car!! Luckily in the same breath I was telling my legs to keep pedaling because that was the fastest way to get back to my car. It wasn't really physically exhausting because I didn't ride very fast but it was mentally tiring!! I was so relieved when I got to my car. I was going to run after the ride but I ran out of time and that was just fine with me, I was done fighting the wind for the day.

After the ride I headed back to Denver and went to my mom's for her Christmas celebration, which was fun. Now I am home watching Bodie and her BFF Blizzard playing like insane dogs. I didn't really get all the training in today that I wanted - I really wanted to swim - but oh well, I'll have plenty of time later this week. Tomorrow I am swimming in the morning, then riding and running with Jason (he's taking the afternoon off). It should be the last reasonably warm day of the week so I am excited to avoid my trainer for one more day! Tomorrow I think I will be checking out another new coffee shop as well, perhaps a place called the Crushery which supposedly has real New York style bagels... um, we'll see!!

Posted by barb at 7:01 PM | Comments (2)

December 20, 2009

Day One - Blogging Challenge 2009!!

As Steve reminded me, some people consider Sunday to be the first day of the week. For some reason I have always thought that Monday was the first day of the week, but hey - I don't have to go to work tomorrow, so there is no reason for me not to blog tonight!! Well, except that Bodie keeps whacking my elbow with her snout to make me pet her, so the typing may not be perfect.

Anyway this has been a fun weekend, and I am super excited for this week!! I have so much going on but hopefully I will be able to train a lot and also read and go to coffee shops. I cannot imagine many people being excited about a week like this but I cannot wait!! This morning I was not feeling great, I am not sure if I had bronchitis or what a few weeks ago and it is kind of hanging on. I went home early from a party last night and absolutely CRASHED. I did run around 14 miles this morning and felt fine outside of a hacking cough. Yesterday was a busy but fun day, I swam in the morning, rode around lunchtime, and then had a small Kona viewing party. It is funny because my long swim this week (which I did yesterday) was 3500 meters which used to seem SO LONG, but now it is no big deal! I also really freaked myself out about riding in the cold but it was really nice out.

To follow up on my Friday post about how I have no self-control, I am actually really proud of myself!! This weekend I have been surrounded by tasty treats, and although I have had dessert every day, I have not had an obscene amount of dessert. So I consider that to be a great success. I made these brownies yesterday and I have only had three in almost two full days!! It is nice not feeling ill after all the holiday festivities.

So tomorrow should be a busy day - I may or may not run, but I am definitely going to lift, swim, and ride. The weather's supposed to be good so I'm swimming at 9:00 and then heading to Boulder for my long ride of the week. I've really been enjoying riding my tri bike so I think I will take it. Also I am planning on drinking some coffee, doing some reading, and of course relaxing!! Hopefully I will blog all about it tomorrow!

Posted by barb at 8:03 PM | Comments (2)

December 18, 2009

5.5 hours to go...

Not that I'm counting or anything, but my week-long staycation starts in 5.5 hours!!! I am SO EXCITED!!! It is filling up so quickly, I hate that. But hopefully I will still have some time to relax, have fun, read, and check out coffee shops. And of course BLOG!!! I have been having some random thoughts about different running and triathlon related topics so hopefully I will come up with some nice coherent entries, and of course some pictures!!

I did one of my favorite swim workouts yesterday morning. I have a freakishly good memory, so I remember swim workouts if I have done them before, and I think I've done this one at least two or three times. This workout includes a main set of 8 x 150, with 100 hard on :10 rest then 50 easy on 1:00 rest. Steve, you should try it!! Anyway it was so fun but hard yesterday. I was excited because all my 100s were between 1:39 and 1:42 which is really good for me. After the main set my arms were dead and I really thought they might fall off, which was also a good feeling because I never feel like I push swimming hard enough. Anyway it was so fun!!! I have one swim left for this week, and normally I like to swim at lunchtime on Fridays. Today I have a work potluck party so I will not be swimming at lunch, but I have time to do it tomorrow or Sunday morning so I'm not too worried.

Also, here is something I struggle with that maybe my readers can help me with. I basically have no self-control. We have tons and tons of cookies and candy and cake at the office this time of year and although I probably resist 50% of it, when I don't resist I have a hard time eating one or two cookies instead of five or six. Any ideas on how to enjoy just a few tasty holiday treats?

And now I am off to the pot luck, hopefully I can figure out some good strategies for resisting eating 20 desserts!! Have a wonderful Friday!!

Posted by barb at 10:28 AM | Comments (3)

December 14, 2009

T Minus One Week!!

I am not sure if I have written about this but I am taking next week off, and I am so excited!! I love having a week off. And I am not going anywhere so I am going to read, and go to coffee shops, and train, and cook, and finish getting ready for Christmas, and all kinds of awesome fun stuff!! I cannot wait. Did I mention train? Oh boy I love training, and next week I'll get to train whensoever I want! By the way is 'whensoever' a cool word or what? I had a typo and accidentally chose it from the list of suggestions but now I love it.

One of my goals for next week is to start playing with my new camera, and to post some more pictures on my blog, which will be so fun!! Stay tuned for fun blog pictures! I am in an unhealthily obsession with my super cute dog phase, so I think there will be lots of Bodie pictures. If I weren't an obsessive triathlete, who has no free time, I would get Bodie a little sister (a little dog for her to play with). I want to get one and name it Bodette. Sadly this fun idea has been VETOED.

Until next week, and my blogging every day and posting lots of pictures, I am going to do a little more work and get into my bed, it is almost 9:00 which is when I turn into a pumpkin.

Posted by barb at 8:47 PM | Comments (1)

December 11, 2009

I am still alive, really!!

Here is what happens with blogging. When I am busy at work I never do it. That is basically the deal! I keep thinking 'oh I should blog at night, at home, and write nice long tied together, coherent entries like some awesome bloggers whose blogs I read'... And then I get on facebook and all of a sudden it is my bed time!! Dang facebook!!

Anyway I am busy at work, for some reason I am swimming really well right now, and that is about all that's happening. I have completed five days of my peak plan for St. Anthony's which is very exciting!! I was wondering how training for real during the winter would go and so far I like it. It gives me a sense of purpose. Also, it makes me watch my diet just a little bit which is not a bad thing. For example yesterday my boss brought Christmas cookies in and I only ate 6 (they are small!!). That is really good for me. Yes I am a sugar addict. They were really good too, I enjoyed them!! She always puts the leftovers right outside of my cube so I was proud of myself for resisting the remaining cookies. I am just not good with restraint when it comes to sugary treats. So little victories are what I have!

I was fighting a cold/bronchitis/something last weekend and earlier this week and I am finally feeling better. That meant that last weekend I spent lots of time on my couch! Luckily the weather was horrendous so I didn't feel like I was missing anything. Realistically the weather has been awful for over a week and it is just now getting better. Due to my sickness combined with the weather, I spent lots of quality time on the treadmill at the gym this week. I really do not care for running on the treadmill, but sometimes it's the right thing to do - I'd rather run on the treadmill than not run at all or risk getting sicker by running outside - or God forbid not running at all! However, let me just say that there is NOTHING on television at 6:00 am. I do not care for the local news, and there are infomercials on the food network, and on TLC they have this horrifying show about people coming home from the hospital with their babies. Um, if you have doubts as to whether or not you want to have kids, never watch that show!! Everyone looks so tired and miserable, and none of them do any training at all!! I will be so thankful when I am running outside all the time again, without any crappy TV shows!

This weekend appears to be looking up so tomorrow I am planning on an outdoor ride, after Michelle picks up her sweet new tri bike!! I am so excited!! Sunday I will be running in Boulder which is always super fun. Tonight we are having dinner with my friend Jason and his wife, I am super excited about that too!! Jason and I think it is hilarious that we are good friends, since we are both introverted and shy. We do not really know how it happened, but we are glad that it did :)

Posted by barb at 2:49 PM | Comments (0)

December 7, 2009

T Minus 20 Weeks!!!

I am excited to report that I have officially started training for 2010. I created my 20 week program for St. Anthony's yesterday and I started training this morning. I had not even looked at my heart rate monitor since Longhorn which I must say was pretty awesome. I was ready for a rude awakening this morning on my run but actually things are not looking nearly as depressing as they did this February when I started 2009 training! I actually ran 5 miles in 50 minutes which is pretty great for me at the beginning of a training cycle. I did run on the treadmill as we are in a horrendous cold snap right now - currently it is 9 degrees out, and tomorrow the high is 10. Ick!! Since I recently had a cold or possibly bronchitis I am being conservative with my outdoor activities. Thus I imagine I will be on the treadmill several times over the next week! I am of course still swimming outside which is fabulous, but tomorrow morning I am considering swimming inside when it is going to be about zero out.

I also had a fun new experience with indoor training yesterday - a computrainer class! We went to this studio in west Denver and eight of us rode this course in Mallorca. It was fun watching the screen of this cool warm-looking ride, and looking outside at the cold snowy weather. I definitely enjoyed it and since I am all for mixing things up with indoor training to prevent myself from going insane, I think I will definitely do it again. It was HARD too, oh my goodness. My legs were tired all day and I think I only rode for 2:30 but as I was not wearing my heart rate monitor I may have ridden somewhat hard! Oops. Thank goodness my monitor will save me from myself going forward.

Well since I am training a lot again I am heading out for a 1:45 ride in a few minutes, so I guess that is all for today! Don't worry, I'm definitely riding my trainer today :)

Posted by barb at 3:59 PM | Comments (1)

December 3, 2009

Swimming PR!!!!

Oh I am so excited right now. This is like the huge reason why I have a blog. Generally the people who read my blog are insanely sporty like me and they can get excited for me when something awesome that 99% of the population doesn't care about happens... such as a new PR in the pool!!! Also, sometimes I just have to get all my excitement out and no one in my 'real' life wants to listen to me, haha. Anyhoodle, here is the big news!! I swam a 1750 today randomly. Just because it's still off season for four more days and I like making up swim workouts. Here was my workout:
500 warmup (I really like long warmups)
8 x 25
6 x 50
500 pull with paddles (I really, really, really like paddles)
100 kick
50 cool down (I like very short cool downs)

So the big news is my last two 50s were each.... 45 seconds!!!!!!!!!! OMG!!!!!!!!!!!! I am so happy and excited!!!! This also means that my lifelong dream of swimming a 100 in under 1:30 is getting closer!!!

The funny thing about this is that I think it was probably about 17 degrees outside when I was having my awesome swimming breakthrough. Crazy conditions but apparently I swim well when it's freezing out! I love swimming outside when it's cold. It is not awesome when you have to get out of the pool and sprint inside but otherwise it is phenomenal. Today it was so cold that steam was rising from the pool and it was really pretty actually! It also made it kind of mysterious, like ooh where is the wall? What an awesome swim!!

In other news I think I may have bronchitis so I am not running outside when it's under 10 degrees, which is actually rather often this week. Ick!! I busted out a sweet treadmill run this morning. Okay, actually it was not sweet at all. There is NOTHING on the TVs at the gym at 6:00 am. I was flipping between CNN (but I do not care for watching the news), NBC (I care even less for local news which is about as much fun as watching my fingernails grow), and TLC (some show about people bringing newborns home from the hospital. As if I needed more reasons not to have children). Boring!! I think tomorrow I will be running at lunch when I can watch the Food Network.

That is about all - except that training for St. Anthony's starts next Monday!! Oh I am so excited, I cannot wait for STRUCTURE!!! And Plans!! Oh and Michelle and I are obsessing about our 2011 races already. What can I say, we love to plan. Here is a teaser - we are hoping IM Canada has online registration...

Posted by barb at 12:36 PM | Comments (1)

December 1, 2009

2010!!!!

I am in full planning, race signup, and travel booking mode for 2010. It has been fun and exciting and sometimes confusing so far but I think my plans are really coming together!! I did make a late change to the plan which I think will make a few of my MAO teammates sad, but will make my wallet happier, so ultimately it will work out well. Also I have signed up for my Dramatic Sign Up The Minute It Opens race without issues so I am excited!!! Here is the still-tentative but quickly firming up 2010 Plan:
Rock & Roll Arizona Half Marathon (1/17/2010)
St. Anthony's Olympic (4/25/2010)
Kansas 70.3 (6/06/2010)
5430 Sprint Tri (6/20/2010)
Boulder Peak Tri (7/11/2010)
Lake Stevens 70.3 (8/15/2010)
Wild on Windsor Olympic (August 2010)
Crescent Moon Sprint (September 2010)

Other (maybe): Clearwater, Age Group Nationals

It should be a fun and challenging year, with some old favorites and some new races. I think the amount of travel should be manageable, and luckily Southwest flies to almost all my destinations (probably not Alabama should I decide to go to Age Group Nationals), which is awesome news!! I love Southwest. I should talk to them about sponsorship :)

Of course this is all subject to change if my plan to move to the Northeast succeeds but that is a whole other topic! I was sad to remove Eagleman from my 2010 plans but I am super excited about Kansas. I know I want to race at Eagleman in 2011 so I am going to plan way in advance for that. It is funny but 2011 is already really coming together, just because I may tackle an Ironman and for those one needs to plan at least a year out. Anyway it is exciting starting to think about next year!! I will be starting training for St. Anthony's next Monday, which is great. I like structure, I do not care for this fluffy maintenance training! However, right now I am taking Maintenance seriously and skipping workouts whenever I want because I know that when I start a Peak plan for a specific A race there will be no workout skipping :)

Also in random news I went for a swim yesterday and it was AWESOME!! It was a short swim but I love those. I swam a 4 x 100 descend set in 1:50, 1:45, 1:41, 1:38!!! Oh I was so happy and excited!! Any time I swim a 100 in under 1:40 I am ecstatic. Hopefully this means I will actually get faster in the pool in 2010 which would be so exciting!! I know it takes a while to build a swimming base and work on technique, hopefully my hard work is coming to fruition now!

AND because I rarely update my blog and have to cover all exciting things at once, I am going with my friend Michelle to get a tri bike on Saturday!! I am so excited for her and I cannot wait to help her with that big decision! New bikes are so exciting!!

I think that is all my excitement for now, stay tuned for more soon though...

Posted by barb at 8:08 AM | Comments (1)