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November 28, 2008

Thanksgiving Rocks

Oh man do I love holidays!

O and I pulled into my sister and brother-in-law's house in North Carolina around 2 pm yesterday and the fun has not ended since! We were treated to a gourmet meal - the traditional turkey, potatoes, stuffing, vegetables, salad, rolls, pie...but all SOOO tasty and yummy and couldn't-get-enough! Lots of great time just talking and enjoying each other's company and playing with my sister's dog Luna. She's a ham. Much like Roxy only a little better behaved. ;)

This morning O and I got up and went to swim with Bri and Marty's masters team. It was awesome! Their swimming facility is amazing. Just a small step up from my home YMCA (HA!). I was proud of O for coming with me and hanging in there with the workout. LCM and all! :) Had a great workout and...it gets even better - next we went out to get some breakfast! Then we met Tassie (and Cider)! And then we went to visit the Inside Out Sports triathlon store in Cary. The shop is huge (for a triathlon store that is) with lots of great gear (and sales...which is trouble...). Anyway, great morning - thanks again Marty and Bri!

And now - more relaxing. And more turkey! When we got back to my sister's house from our morning activities we went on a long walk with my mom and Luna (the dog). And when we got back I was STARVING! Good thing for leftovers... :)

And now I believe it's times for games... Must not miss the games! Hope everyone had a great holiday!

Posted by beth at 2:20 PM | Comments (4)

November 25, 2008

A Mile a Minute

When I get excited about something I start talking really fast. Today at work about 3 different people told me to "slow it down a little". What can I say - there is a lot to be excited about today!

1) Um...THANKSGIVING?! Holy cow, this is one of my favorite holidays! (although, truth be told, I like just about any holiday) Very excited. VERY excited! O and I are going south to my sister's house in Durham, NC and my parents are meeting us there. FUNNNNNN!!!!! I don't see my family often, so it's an extra special treat when I do. Plus, sister = very good cook. Brother in law too. Plus mom = very good cook and she's bringing the pies. O and I? We were put in charge of bringing the pop...that only we drink. :) Oh well. I can't cook and that's all there is to it. ANYWAY - the point is, I'm really excited to see my family and eat lots of good food and just hang out and relax and watch movies and beat Becky and Doug and O in Settlers of Catan. Because, quite frankly, I am the Settlers of Catan Queen. Yep, you heard it here first.

2) ALSO - O and I are going to swim with Bri and Marty (and their masters team) on Friday when we are down in NC! How fun is that?!?! Seriously! I am very excited about this. Bri was nice enough to invite us - thanks Bri! (actually, come to think of it, I might have invited myself... :) Anyway, although I've actually met Bri and Marty in real life, I mostly know them via their blogs, so it will be nice to get to know them for "real". :) And I already have my swimsuit/goggles/towel packed. That stuff got packed first. Of course nothing else is packed...

3) 2009 racing schedule is coming together quite nicely! I had a basic idea of what I wanted to do but was waiting on the where/when of some races. Now I have that information and after a great, long talk with my coach on the phone last night, am about 99.9% sure of my plans and goals. THIS MAKES ME SO EXCITED! VERY excited! Just thinking of next year gets me all fired up. Of course I know it's a longgggg way away and there is MUCH work to be done in the mean time. But it's fun to think about. I also know a lot can happen in the mean time that really affects how things play out. You only need to get hit by one truck when you are out on a ride to understand this. :) Still though...it's easier to dream when you have an idea of what to dream about. Easier to get through tough workouts when you can visualize the end goal. You all know what I mean. Did I mention that I was EXCITED? (oh...and I'm not sure HOW we are going to get there...BUT...the season involves not just one but TWO trips to California if all goes well...which makes me really EXCITED because O and I have never been to California before...)

It seems to me that there are a lot of other exciting things going on, but right now my mind is racing a mile a minute and I have a lot to do before we leave for NC tomorrow. So, with that, I wish you all a VERY Happy Thanksgiving! We all have soooooo much to be thankful for don't we? I know O and I do. The list just goes on and on and on... Safe travels to all and enjoy your turkey!

Posted by beth at 6:17 PM | Comments (6)

November 24, 2008

He is Smirking

Well, I'm not sure how, but O won the NCAA fantasy XC draft YET AGAIN. This is getting to be embarrassing.

For details, you can check out his blog where he gloats endlessly about the fact that he has won 4 of the past 6 years.

I just don't get it. I follow collegiate XC pretty darn closely every year and him? He was all surprised when he looked up the results of Pac10s this year and saw that Washington had swept (as in scored a perfect 15) the women's race. Um...like DUH! That was like the talk of the town when it happened and if you knew anything about women's cross country you would have known about their amazing performance at conference. Then he totally butchered Susan Kujiken's name. How rude. When we were drafting our runners he kept whining about how if I knew of any injuries I HAD to tell him because that was only fair.

And then, the bum goes and beats me again! What is this? I knew I should have picked Tasmin Fanning!

Either way, I am pleased with my team. They ran hard and well. Just not enough to beat his 2-3-4 trio. Ouch. That hurt. ;)

Oh well - life does go on. And life will get even better once O stops smirking! (actually, he's a pretty good winner but I might just be a poor loser... :)

Anyway, today I went to masters swim! We did 5 sets of 4x125 on a descending interval that didn't sound too bad but got really hard really fast. I guess that's what happens when you aren't in good shape and you REALLY start to poop out at the end. :) It was a great workout though and I had fun!

Went to work and then to lift at the YMCA and then home where I put on about 5 sweatshirts. It's cold and raining here. I'm definitely looking forward to going south for Thanksgiving (although word is, it's cold down there too!)

Good night everyone!

Posted by beth at 10:09 PM | Comments (1)

November 22, 2008

D2 NCAA XC Nationals

Holy COLD! That pretty much sums it up!

First, it should be noted that, although gas is closer to $2.10/gallon near our house, farther away from the city it has broken the $2 barrier! YIPPEEE!!

When O and I arrived we instantly noticed a convoy of Chico State fans and boy were they rowdy! They get the best fan award. Not only did they drive FOUR full vans all the way across the country but they were also running around on the course nearly naked (windchills in the teens) with their bodies painted. Crazy!

It sure was cold! As you can see from our many layers. O looked like a linebacker. I think he had like 6 sweatshirts on. VERY tough conditions to race in. Not only was the course covered with snow, muddy, slippery and icy but the wind was brutal. Makes for a great championship race!

A view of the course's first hill. You can see from the flag how that wind was really whipping!

A picture of Neely Spence, who I was hoping would win the women's race! She ended up in 2nd place behind a very impressive Jessica Pixler from Seattle Pacific University. Funny enough, a man next to me asked me where the leader (Jessica) was from. I was trying my darndest to say "Seattle Pacific" but my cold mouth could not form the "P" in Pacific and I had to repeat it about 5 times before he understood. Actually, I'm not sure he ever understood, but just felt bad for me and quit asking. :)

And finally, the NCAA Snowman. He was mounted on the podium so he eventually met his demise. :) But if you look closely, he does have plastic spoons for arms! :)

What a great afternoon! It was definitely painful (the hardest part was getting back OUT of the warm car for the women's race after we had defrosted from watching the men's race) but sooooo worth it. The winners were impressive. EVERY runner was impressive. And I will never grow weary of watching endurance athletes put it all on the line. My favorite part of a cross country race is that moment right before the gun goes off when it's eerily quiet and the runners are still as statues on the line. And then the chaos of the start! Very exciting and inspiring!

AND on the way home O and I stopped at Eat'n Park and I got THE BEST grilled cheese sandwich and chicken noodle soup (I don't like tomato soup) EVER. I felt like pouring the soup on my head but I eventually did warm up (let's just say we blasted the heater in the car). Fun times!

And now, time to get back to watching Penn State school MSU! :)

Posted by beth at 4:44 PM | Comments (8)

November 21, 2008

I Can't Think of a Title

As the title of this blog suggests, I am having a little trouble with creativity today. I tried to write the entry without a title but it looked weird and in 4+ years of having a blog (yes, I've had this blog for a longggggg time), I've never NOT had a title. So instead, a dumb title will have to suffice.

ANYWAY - today it's snowy and cold! We just have a few inches but it was snowing hard enough this morning (and the roads were covered) that I rode on the trainer. There is a difference between sucking it up and riding in the cold and then being down right stupid and riding in unsafe conditions. Now if I could convince O that I really do need that mountain bike... :) Regardless, it was just a short ride so I watched Grey's Anatomy while riding and then I headed to the YMCA to lift. Then I took my car to the dealership to have it's 35,000 mile check up and fell asleep in the waiting area while they worked on the car. When I told O of this little slip-up he said he did the very same thing this past summer when he had taken the car in! I tell you - those are some seriously comfortable chairs at the Saturn dealer! :)

In other news, I'm excited about tomorrow because O and I are going to watch the NCAA DII National XC Championships! They just happen to be hosted by Slippery Rock University and just about an hour (actually less) from our house. We figured we couldn't pass up the opportunity to watch a national championship. And actually there are quite a few DII cross country powerhouse schools in PA - Shippensburg and Edinboro being 2 of them but many others as well. I'm quite excited to see Neely Spence run (and likely win) the women's race. She has a bit of an interesting story - a national champion coming out of high school and could have gone to ANY DI school of her liking but instead decided to stay at home and run for Shippensburg where her father (who was a World Championship bronze medalist in the marathon) coaches. Anyway, tomorrow will prove to be a GREAT day for cross country I'm sure - with very cold temps and likely some nasty winds AND some snow on the course. Now THAT is a national championship type of day! Nobody ever said cross country was an easy sport!

So that's my story for the day. Hope everyone has a great weekend!

Posted by beth at 4:14 PM | Comments (1)

November 20, 2008

Good Things

Today we have much to celebrate.

1) Snow! Now of course soon enough I will be cursing the snow and wishing it would all go away but the first big(ger) snow of the year is always a little fun. We've actually had quite a bit already for this time of year but today the talk was all about a storm that is coming our way which might dump several inches. Kind of fun.

2) Steelers! They are playing tonight against the Bungles (er...I mean the Bengals) and that's always fun! It will be FREEZING tonight for those people at the game (game is here in Pittsburgh). One of my co-workers was going and seriously had on about 10 layers of clothing as she prepared to stand outside in the wicked wind all night!

3) Swimming! Great workout at masters this morning! It was hard - especially hard since I was sucking wind so early being out of shape and all, but I surprised myself with the 100s where we did best average. Although I am certainly not in as good of shape as I was when I was racing this season, I am definitely starting in a better place than I was last year at this time. I think that's how improvement is supposed to go... :)

4) (I was going to try to stick with the "S" theme I had going on there but I can't think of any other "S" words so it's over...) Pushups! Actually, I'm not that excited about the pushups. They are getting so hard! I suppose that has something to do with the fact that when I started the pushup plan I was doing no training and now I'm back to lifting and swimming, etc... Anyway, on Tuesday my prescription was 36/40/30/24 and then max out but get in at least 40 (all with a rest of 60 seconds). Holy cats! I did okay until the last set when my "max" was only 30! And my arms just could not move anymore! Still, that was 160 pushups with very little rest...so I see how they are getting us to the 100 mark. It shall be interesting...

And now it's time to do a few more items and then GO BE LAZY! Friday is almost upon us! Have a great night everyone!

Posted by beth at 7:00 PM | Comments (2)

November 19, 2008

Your Thing

Today I sent a new personal record. A 1:44 ride outside in 28 degree weather with a windchill of 22. It was windy, NO SUN at all but dry. And, despite my best efforts to stay warm, I was cold. Really cold. I rode into the wind for the first 45-60 minutes and at times wanted to cry. But on the way home, with the wind at my back, I was much warmer. Still, it was tough but I did it. I did it.

Now I know some of you are thinking "really Shutt, get over yourself." Because I know some of you ride in MUCH colder temps on a regular basis. And it's not a big deal.

But here's the thing - it is a big deal for me. Because everyone has "their thing". The thing that they know they should do but just can't bring themselves to do. Even though they know it will benefit them - their performance, perhaps their health, maybe a relationship - they still just can't seem to get it done. Maybe it's because they are afraid? Maybe it's because they just make too many excuses. Whatever the reason - "their thing" holds them back. Maybe it's riding in the rain. Or running in the cold. Or swimming a 4K set by themselves. See none of those things are an issue for me. I would do any of those things without thinking twice.

But my "thing" is clearly riding outside in the cold. I don't know why it's such an issue for me but it's become this big deal and I knew this winter I needed to put it to rest. I just need to get outside, get over the fact that it's cold and RIDE! Because the fact is I live in Pittsburgh and I'm a triathlete. A triathlete who will be doing many miles on the bike this winter. So stop making excuses. Stop running to the trainer every time it's below 40 degrees. Stop letting the weather, something I CAN'T control, become an obstacle to my training and my forward progress.

Today I took the first step in doing that. On a day when I definitely would have ridden inside any other season or year, I got my gear on and I went. And you know what? It was fine! Yes, I was cold at times. But I didn't die. My feet didn't fall off. My hands are still intact and I actually felt quite good! I loved climbing because I got nice and toasty. I didn't like descending because WOW did I get cold. Yes, I wish I had a mountain or cross bike so that I could ride on some trails (slower!) and be shielded from the wind, but that's just not the case for me so DEAL WITH IT.

You know the past two days I've been doing some nutrition counseling in a rural area 30 minutes north of where I live. It's been quite interesting. I usually spend my day trying out how to feed really sick people that are missing their guts. But the past 2 days (as part of one of the many new jobs I have) I was mostly helping people figure out how to overcome "their thing". Most everyone wanted help with weight loss. And each and every one of them had something that they let become a huge obstacle for them. And I do believe I've now heard each and every excuse in the book why someone can't exercise! :) So really I spent most of my time the past 2 days convincing people that they CAN overcome the obstacles that are in their lives to achieve their goals. How? Well, when you make a committment to be the best person you can and to ALLOW yourself to succeed, you'll find a way. You'll find a way to overcome "your thing", the obstacle that stands in your way and that must be conquered.

So what's "your thing"? Start working on resolution now! Make a committment to overcome.

Posted by beth at 8:08 PM | Comments (10)

November 17, 2008

LCM

Geez. As expected masters practice kicked my butt this morning! It was great though. Oddly enough, I've always felt that after getting OUT of shape, getting in shape again is pretty fun. Yes you are sore but you just keep improving! Things get easier and you get faster each time out. That's good stuff.

Let it be known - I surely did get out of shape!

Nevertheless, my lane made me lead at masters this morning! That's just not fair. I pleaded and told them of my lack of swimming for the past 3 weeks but they didn't seem to care. I was so ready to hide in the back of the lane and just hang on for the ride. Not happening this morning though. I had to work hard AND do math! It all turned out okay though and in the end we hit all the intervals (although someone had to take over the lead on the last 4x100 because I was dying fast... :)

I was excited to see the pool set up this morning for LCM! And I was just excited to be back at masters. I can't get enough of this stuff. I often wonder what it would be like to have someone to train with ALL the time, like those pro triathletes that train together in camps. But I'm guessing there is also some benefit to toughing it out on your own sometimes too. Just you and you and nobody to hide behind. Regardless, I still do like training with people on occassion!

And now it's time for bed. The alarm will be going off early tomorrow!

Posted by beth at 9:20 PM | Comments (3)

November 16, 2008

I Live!

Wow, that cold just knocked me on my butt! Not only do I not get sick often, but usually when I do get sick it's not that bad. This cold seemed worse than usual though. Either that or I'm a big baby. Actually, come to think of it, it's highly likely that I AM a big baby. :)

Regardless, I was mostly useless all day Friday and Saturday. Friday was ugly. I only got out of bed for very short periods of time. Saturday I got up all gung ho and feeling like I was ready to conquer the day! I knew I wouldn't be doing any training because I still felt not great but I was hoping to at least get a few items crossed off the to-do list. No such luck. I took a shower around 7 am and that tired me out so badly I needed to rest until around noon. Ugh. You don't appreciate health until you don't have it!

By Saturday evening I was feeling much better though and even ventured outside for the first time since Thursday night. And then this morning, I could breathe! My head wasn't pounding! My ears weren't popping! So I actually went for a little 40 minute run. I've always been of the opinion that running actually helps these situations by breaking up the congestion some (once you get to the point where you actually CAN run). Sure enough, the run didn't feel great but my cough was much more productive afterwards instead of feeling like I was swallowing fire every time I coughed. Progress!

I did need a 2 hour nap after church today because I was really, really tired (despite getting MUCHO sleep the past couple days) but since waking up from that nap I've felt pretty darn good. On the mend. I like it. I'll take it!

So tomorrow I plan on returning to masters to get my butt whomped. I've swam 2 times in the past 3 weeks. :) Oh well, gotta start somewhere. And I miss masters. I will pick an appropriate lane though, that's for sure!

In other news, I am such a master cook. Actually, quite the contrary. I'm not sure what happened to me because my mom is a really good cook and my sister is too. Me, not so much. Despite the fact that I actually choose nutrition as a profession. (you'd be surprised at how many dietitians really aren't good cooks - two different things really) But anyway, tonight I was so the good cook. I made lasagna!

Lasagna is usually way out of my league. Takes way too long to make and has way too many ingredients. My diet is very good but trust me, it's also very simple.

Anyway, this is my mom's receipe that is literally written word for word as to what to do. Pretty good for you too - whole wheat noodles, leanest ground meat available, low fat mozarella and low fat cottage cheese (not fat free because that just messes stuff up). YUM! And the best part is, there is lots left for later in the week (or lunches).

And in still other news, the pushup challenge continues. Tonight O and I did our 2nd "test", after week 4 where you just do as many pushups as you can to track progress. I did 22 more pushups than I did during the initial test (funny enough, so did O!) so that's awesome! But still, hard to believe that in 2 weeks I'll be able to do 100 pushups total. I guess we shall see!

Now, off to bed! Hope everyone has a great week!

Posted by beth at 8:54 PM | Comments (6)

November 14, 2008

Vise-Grip

Well, it doesn't happen very often but when it does, it's not good.

I'm sick.

I guess it's a cold. I don't know for sure. What I do know is my head feels like it's in a vise-grip and someone is squeezing very hard! I just want my ears to pop now! Release the pressure! Make it all go away!

I kind of knew earlier in the week that I was heading in this direction. Athletes know their bodies. They can feel when something is off. I tried to do my best not to get sick but it was inevitable. Like I said, I don't often get sick (maybe once a year?) but it's a good bet that I will get sick after a season is over. This is almost always the case. I remember once in college after the last race of the cross counry season I was just wrecked. I was convinced I had meningitis. :) Our team doctor was not so convinced. In fact, I'm pretty sure she laughed at me! O went around to all my classes (yes, we've been together for a longggggg time) and got my assignments from my professors while I laid in bed for a week. My roommate tried to stay away from me for fear of also contracting meningitis. :) It was ugly. But then I wasn't sick again for about 2 years. :)

The one exception to all this was when I took my first job as a clinical dietitian and I was in the hospital (working) all the time. I was seriously sick for about 6 months straight. I think I got every infection and bug that every single patient had. But since then my immune system has been even stronger! Now I get sick even less. And germs just do not phase me. Of course I wash my hands all the time at work and take all the gown/mask precautions that we are supposed to, but I feel like I've had it all/seen it all. Been there, done that. (I have to admit though, I still don't like going in the rooms of those patients that have TB...TB just scares me!)

So when the alarm went off this morning and my head was just pounding I groaned. Yep, this was my time of the year to be sick. Haven't been sick for about a year so I guess I should count myself lucky! Let's get this over with so I can get on with my life for the next year! :)

And with that, I think I'm going to go lay down again. I've been sitting up for far too long (~30 minutes) and it's making the pounding worse. :)

By the way - thanks to everyone who had great suggestions about riding in the cold and what to do with my frozen feet. You have strengthened my resolve to keep riding outside all winter long!

Posted by beth at 12:57 PM | Comments (6)

November 12, 2008

A New Challenge

So when I signed up for the California 70.3 I laid down a new challenge for myself. Simple enough in nature, but hard enough to accomplish.

Ride outside as long as possible without resorting to the trainer.

Now living in Pittsburgh, I do realize that eventually I'm going to be riding the trainer this winter. California 70.3 is April 4th. That means the biggest/hardest weeks of training will be in late January through February. February is possibly the worst month known to man here. There is NEVER a nice day. It's always REALLY cold and it snows/ices/sleets nasty stuff much of the month. The windchills are brutal. Without a doubt, much of my riding with be done on the trainer in February. And really the trainer is a great tool. My coach is always saying how great it is for focused riding and for creating that muscle memory that is required to master the perfect pedal stroke. I understand that and when the time comes, will use the trainer for some great rides.

But let's face it, after about 20 minutes on the trainer I usually want to poke my eyes out. And I start looking at my watch every 30 seconds when I thought 15 minutes had passed by. Not good when you have a 4+ hour ride.

So with that in mind I told O that my goal this year would be to toughen up on the outdoor riding in the cold. Hold off for as long as I can. Get strong by riding outside in the wind (which is bad around here this time of year) and cold. Suffer a little. Because that's what our sport is all about right? :)

My first opportunity came today. I had to ride. It was about 35 degrees. This was a good way to ease myself in. 35 isn't too bad but definitely colder than I've ridden in for a while.

So I get my bike ready and then deliberate over what to wear for the next half hour. Hmm...if I'm going to keep this up I'm going to need to make clothing decisions a little faster. I went for the leg warmers over the tights. And the heavy jacket over the lighter one. Gloves for sure. And a long sleeve. And the little cap thing that fits underneath your helmet to keep your ears warm. BINGO!!

So far so good!

I think I got the clothing just right. I got a little warm and had to unzip my jacket for a while but overall wasn't too cold or too hot at any given moment. Figuring out the clothing will make this challenge a lot easier for me.

Only problem was, my feet. What. The. Heck. They were like frozen blocks for the next 2 hours! About half way through my ride I realized that I do have little feet warmer things that fit over my cycling shoes that I had forgotten about. And then when the really cold weather comes, I have booties. And I've heard about the plastic bag thing so I'll have to try that too. But I can see how the feet are going to be the issue. Just wait until the bricks start to show up on my schedule again and I'll have to run on those frozen blocks! :)

So, I guess we'll see how it goes. Obviously daylight will sometimes be an issue for me and I will refuse to ride when the roads are icy or really wet from snow/slush. But in general I'm going to try to tough it out for a while.

Having said that, I'm sure come Saturday, when I ride next, it's going to be 20 degrees and sleeting. :)

Posted by beth at 3:22 PM | Comments (11)

November 11, 2008

This and That!

Well, since I've last written I'm happy to report that I've (1) run 4.5 miles, (2) swam 2000 yards and (3) lifted for the first time in about 6 weeks. This of course means I'm more sore than I've been for...oh...I don't know...since birth? :) But it feels soooooooo good to get moving again! I decided to run instead of swim on Monday before work. And boy was I like a kid on Christmas morning getting ready to go! I was so happy to be running again. Back in the pool this morning was so great too. Not that I moved particularly fast, but hey, I have a good 5 months before my next race to work on that. :)

Now the lifting. I'm guessing that's the culprit for making me sore. Tomorrow could be ugly. But I sure did enjoy being in the weight room again. Of course because I like to lift but also because I missed my weight room buddies! They aren't really my buddies but I think we've reached a mutual respect. I lift at the YMCA where it's really ghetto and the machines are falling apart and most people would cringe but I sort of like it like that. I use mostly free weights anyway. But all the guys (I've only seen a woman in that weight room about 2 times in 3 years, no joke) that lift are really big and sort of have that "meathead" appearance. I mostly keep to myself but occassionally I'll get in on one of their conversations. They are so funny. And I just know I missed a lot of good arguments surrounding the election. They were still talking (fighting?) about the election this morning. It was the blue collar union boys vs the gun-toting (BIG hunting area around here), military boys and boy was it fun to listen to! Now I don't mean to stereotype and please don't take this the wrong way, but really all the stereotypes that follow democrats and republicans really do fit the people that live around here. :) Myself included!

In other non-training news, Happy Veterans' Day! I am truly amazed and humbled by the people that willingly serve our country in the military. To me, it's one of the ultimate sacrifices! We all serve our country in some way or another but the military...that's taking it to a whole new level. So thank you veterans!

Anyway, today I went to another training session for a course I'm going to be teaching about osteoporsis and bone health in general. I'm pretty excited for it! I've always been interested in bone health and how nutrition/exercise relate. I worked closely with a professor in undergrad that focused solely on just these issues in all her research. I was also in a research study myself when I was in my early 20s that was run out of Stanford. It was for female runners and was pretty extensive. I was in the study for 3+ years and had to go to a hospital in New York once a year for a DEXA, among other things. Regardless, the reason I'm mentioning all this is because although I am a healthy, young female with good calcium intake and loads of weight bearing exercise, my bone density isn't that great. It's not horrible, but it should be better. MEANING - it's something we all have to think about. Especially woman but even men too! Don't think you are immune because you run and drink milk! Make sure you get enough calcium and vit D for your age/gender and if I were you, supplement just in case. That's my PSA for the day!

Now it's back to work. Hope everyone has a great night!

Posted by beth at 6:05 PM | Comments (2)

November 9, 2008

Ahh...

Without a doubt, this is the best off-season I think I've ever had. And I've had quite a few through the years. I think it's because I decided to embrace the off-season this year. And in doing so, enjoyed every last bit of it.

Like the majority of athletes, I have usually been an off-season hater. I would take time off, but not without much kicking and screaming. And there might have been some weeping and gnashing of teeth too. I don't know why we are like this, but we just are. Training is such a part of my life - I have been doing it since I was 13 years old for goodness sakes! - that life just doesn't seem right without it!

But I think it really clicked this year for me, that if I wanted to achieve the rather high goals I've set for myself in 2009, what I'm doing right here, right now, will very much play into how I perform a year from now. And that resting and recovery takes just as much discipline and dedication as training hard and doing swim/bike/run workouts!

So this year I've taken 2 full weeks off. Doing absolutely nothing. And for the most part I've not had one problem with it! We did have some very nice weather last week and a couple times I really wanted to go for a ride, but I didn't. Now I know 2 weeks off isn't very much at all in the grand scheme of things and that some people take much more, but I honestly cannot remember EVER taking 2 fulls weeks off before. Maybe when I was a freshman in high school? :) I really don't think I have. So that's an improvement! And although I'm going to start this week with some very light, easy workouts, they are so short and easy I'm not sure it counts as training (yes, I know it does). And even when December 1 rolls around and I do start up some more serious training with a more normal load, it will all be base training and aerobic work. I guess my point is, I'm feeling really good about this off season and how it will set me up for next year. I've not always done this part of training right so I'm happy to (I think) have finally learned my lesson.

It really helps that O's "off-season" has coincided with mine this year! After the high school cross country season is over (state meet was 11/1) the kids don't have practice again until December 1. So O comes home every day right after school! Amazing! We've had lots of time to work on projects that we've been putting off or start new projects that we've really been wanting to get going on. We've had even more time to sleep (and oh boy have we been doing a lot of that!). And then this weekend - it's just been awesome! Yesterday we took a long walk with Roxy at Hartwood Acres. We watched Clearwater on the internet (which was simply awesome!). We relaxed. We played a game of Scrabble. Who has time for that?! Then this morning we did something I've been wanting to do FOREVER! We went to Eat'n Park for breakfast before church. I love Eat'n Park but with weekends being the time for lots of training, it never works out to go out to breakfast. The resturaunt is right near our house so I run past it on almost all my runs and it smells sooooo good in the morning. I can't tell you how many time I've wanted to take a few dollars with me on a long run and stop in for a bite to eat! But with no long run this morning, O and I had made a plan for the breakfast buffet! (I ended up with an omelet instead but boy was it good...) Ahh...this is the life! :)

So tomorrow I head back to the pool. I hope I remember where it is! But I encourage everyone to embrace their off-season. Soak it all in and soak it all up! Enjoy. And then you'll be even more ready to attack 2009. Have fun! And congrats to all those who raced this weekend and just crushed it. I am so inspired! :)

Posted by beth at 2:47 PM | Comments (2)

November 7, 2008

Oh My

This is why I should never allow O to go to Target by himself.

He comes home with Halloween costumes for the dog. Roxy looks so thrilled. He justified this purchase by telling me it was a deal he couldn't pass up - 75% off! I gotta say though, I nearly peed my pants I was laughing so hard. :)

Have a great weekend everyone!

Posted by beth at 5:24 PM | Comments (7)

November 5, 2008

Of Pushups and Pro Cards

First, the pushups. Oh my. You know, it was kind of funny. Cathy and I were discussing the pushup thing and she mentioned that doing the routine made her abdominal muscles sore. I thought that was sort of odd. Abs sore? I mean it's your arms doing the work right? And at first, only my arms were sore. But then we (we being both O and I) started into the real routine on Monday where you have to do a lot of pushups. I don't think my abs have ever, in my whole entire life, been as sore as they were on Tuesday! Holy cats! Clearly your arms are NOT the only muscles working hard during pushups! :) But it's all good and I have to say, doing this with O is fun. We take turns and time each others rest interval and keep Roxy away from the one doing the pushups (as soon as you lie on the ground, Roxy thinks it's play time). We tried doing our pushups together but we invariably made each other laugh and we quickly learned pushups and laughing do not mix. Ever. :)

Second, the issue of the pro card. Now I know that some of you will consider it laughable that I'm even bringing this topic up. While I do consider myself a competitive short course amateur and really tried to seek out the best possible competition this past season that I could, I am realistic about the fact that the best short course pros are a good 10-15 minutes faster than me (about 3/4 of which is due to my ugly swim :). They routinely go 2:00-2:05 in an Olympic distance event whereas I'm more in the 2:10-2:15 range. And it's not as if I don't have plenty of competition in the amateur ranks! In fact, I didn't win one Olympic distance race this year! But I do get asked about it often enough that I wanted to mention it. I think any time something is at least possible (as in I could if I wanted to), you at least have to give it a little thought.

So think about it I did. In fact I thought a lot about it. And I did some research. I asked just about everyone I could think of about the topic - first year pros, elite amateurs that have decided not to go pro, seasoned pros, my coaches, my family. You name it, I asked. And here's what I learned:

1) Racing pro is very, very, very different than racing age group/amateur. Yes, it's still swim/bike/run but other than that, pretty much no similarities exist. As most everyone knows, pros have different rules - water temperature for wetsuits (seems like they never get to wear wetsuits) and drafting rules on the bike. But beyond the obvious just about everyone told me that the pro race in and of itself is essentially a whole different ballgame. Different dynamics. Small fields. You get lonely out there. Etc, etc, etc... In other words, if you, as an amateur, are racing in the same race as a pro you can't necessarly compare times and be like "wow, I would have beaten the 6th pro!" because really you weren't in the same race. Not a fair comparison at all.

and...

2) People turn pro for different reasons and the decision to do so is very personal. This is why, when I hear people making critical remarks about other athletes' decisions (whether they went pro or not), I cringe a little. Like when you hear people say "I can't believe SHE went pro - she will never be competitive!" Because really, you have no idea what that person's goals are or WHY they are competing as a pro. Maybe their goal isn't to win. Maybe they know that they probably won't ever win a race as a pro, or even come close. But their dream was to turn pro so when they could, they did. And that's it. Nothing more do it.

I think for a long time I was thinking that there had to be some set of arbitrary rules for when I could/would turn pro. Like...if I win THIS race or place in the top 5 of that race or run this fast or swim under 21 minutes for a 1500... But now, I think I understand, that it's not going to be like that for me. I think when I get to the point where I do try my hand at pro racing, I'll just know when the right time is. And for now, I still have many things I would like to try to do in the amateur ranks first.

Eventually though I will want to see what pro racing is like. I liken the pro decision very much to my decision to run at a division I school in college. I wasn't a hugely decorated high school runner. I didn't have multiple state championships under my belt. I wasn't a Footlocker qualifier. I didn't run 10:30 in the 2 mile or under 5 minutes in the mile. And I probably would have made for a very solid division II or III runner. But for some reason, I never even considered that. I just knew, despite the fact that I would probably never be an All-American or heck, even be on the varsity team, that running DI was what I wanted to do. I only applied to DI schools. And you know what? I never regretted that decision once. Not through all the struggle and disappointment and self-doubt that I had through college, did I regret going to Penn State to run. And in fact, it was probably one of the best decisions I ever made. Because I ran against the very best. I trained with the best. I learned from one of the best coaches in the nation. I saw, first hand, what big time athletics and big time athletes are like. And I learned that just because you aren't in first place, or even close to the front, that doesn't mean you still don't have a race to run. I learned that by challenging yourself to perform at a higher level than you thought possible, you will achieve more.

So one of these days I will apply for an elite license. And I will enjoy every second of the opportunity and challenge that it presents. Even if I am last out of the water...again... :)

Posted by beth at 6:27 PM | Comments (12)

November 4, 2008

No Fair!

Mother Nature (MN) is just not playing fair right now. Here I am, being a good little triathlete, and taking my down time for the season. No training. Just relaxing and resting and healing. And what does MN do? She throws an amazingly beautiful fall day at me complete with 60 degrees, sun and absolutely stunning fall colors. In other words, the best cycling conditions known to man.

If you ask me, that's just down right dirty.

Plus, I have the day off work. Does it get worse than this? :)

But I am holding strong. I kept Scotty out of sight today because I knew he would be calling my name and just looking at him would make me want to ride even more than I already do! I've also been reminding myself of my coach's words regarding this off season - "let's make sure you do this off season right and chill now so that you can be strong throughout the whole 2009 season." He told me this after we discussed my 2009 season ideas/plans/goals and he noticed how long of a season I had made it. :)

So it's with thoughts of next year that I hold myself back now. The first week was easy but now my body is feeling better and better. All the little aches and pains of months of hard training are starting to fade. I now run up the steps instead of slowly dragging my tired body up. I can feel surges of energy that I just don't have when I'm training. All signs to me that my body is getting the rest it needs and is repairing itself! I'm still going to take the rest of this week off and then start a little plan the following week. That plan includes 8 workouts/week. Only 8!! I usually have 14 so when I logged onto the computer to see what coach had in store and saw my measley little 8 workouts (all very short too) I had to smile. Yes coach, we are going to do this right aren't we?

Good night everyone and happy voting! I voted today but didn't get a sticker. Or free Starbucks. But then again, I don't drink coffee. Does Starbucks have Diet Pepsi? :)

Posted by beth at 4:11 PM | Comments (3)

November 2, 2008

Still Alive!

Well it seems as if the off season for me not only includes no training, but also no blogging! As I'm usually an every-day-blogger, my recent 3 day abscence is quite out of the ordinary! So I thought I would write an entry so my parents didn't start to worry that I had been abducted. :)

Trouble is, I don't have much to write about! I know it's not that exciting to read about my training but trust me when I say, it's even LESS exciting to read about my life without training. :) But boring has always worked for me. I like boring.

I thought about writing a "season review" from these past 10 months. But truthfully I don't have too much to say about the season that would be interesting for you to read. It was wonderful. I improved greatly from last year. I learned A LOT. I raced against far superior competition than I ever have. I didn't meet all of my goals but I met about 85% of them. And I met the biggest one of all - to stay healthy the whole entire season. Given my history, this was by far my biggest victory of all.

I spent a lot of this first off week thinking about this past season and then thinking of what I wanted to do next year. It was a very, very hard decision for me. Triathlon has so many awesome opportunities that I think it's very difficult to choose which to pursue! But after talking with my coach (multiple times) and with O (he has to be REALLY sick of going through the different racing scenarios but he's my husband so he has to put up with me :), I think I finally have it figured out. But next season is a post for another day. For now I'm living in the moment of the off season.

So what have I been doing? Sleeping a lot (11 hours last night!). Working. Catching up on all those things that I said I would do "after the season was over". (might never get caught up there). Not training (at all). Visiting friends and family. Playing with Roxy. And enjoying the wonderful life that O and I have been blessed with.

Life is good.

Posted by beth at 11:50 AM | Comments (7)