« December 2008 | Main | February 2009 »
January 31, 2009
A Great Day
Today has been a pretty darn good day. Starting with a large amount of sleep last night!
At some point earlier in the week I came to the realization that I only had a 2:30 ride today. That was it! Pretty short ride. No transition run. And no swim, in part due to the fact that my YMCA pool was closed today for a meet which forced me to move today's swim to last night.
Saturdays are usually a pretty big day for me - more in the 4-5 hour range in terms of hours so with only a ride and a 2:30 ride at that I wasn't sure what I was going to do with myself! But then I figured it out pretty quickly.
#1 on the list was sleeping in! At first I actually set an alarm for 7 am but when I heard O getting up and rustling around (he was going to play basketball) I turned my alarm off. No reason to be getting up when I had all morning to complete just one workout!
I woke up around 8 am with one Roxy dog staring me eyeball to eyeball. Apparently she was ready to get up. And after all that sleep I was too! Wow does it feel great to just sleep in and let your body wake up when it wants to wake up. I was feeling majorly lucky to get the chance to do it too. That opportunity does not come around too often!
I took my leisurely time in eating breakfast, surfing the internet, doing my PT exercises and then determining my tv watching schedule for my trainer ride. The windchills are still below zero here and yes, I'm starting to get that feeling that I probably will not get to ride my bike outside before my first race. But that's what I get for signing up for an early season 70.3 and living in Pittsburgh, so I'm not complaining!
My ride went well. I choose one episode of Law and Order and then a Lifetime movie because who doesn't like a Lifetime movie? Truthfully, I didn't watch too much of it. I was concentrating too much on my ride to pay attention but it's still nice to have something on in the background.
With about an hour left O got home and had a nice surprise - my new racing flats!
Of course they still need their Lock Laces. :)
I've had the same pair of racing flats for QUITE a while. It's hard justifying a new pair because I don't wear them all too often and so they don't really wear out! But it was time - first, because at the running race I did a couple weeks ago my prize was a $35 off coupon for a new pair of shoes at the store that sponsored the race and second, because the pair I wore last year were just really tattered and torn. I had done some shoe "surgery" on them because they were rubbing in all the wrong places so they even had a little duct tape on them. Very classy, I know. ;)
I was also in the market for a bit of a heavier flat. I've always worn really flimsy flats since my college days because I was used to racing at max a 10K in them and a 10K on a track at that. Running a 10K on the track is quite different than running a half marathon on pavement AFTER you've ridden for 56 miles - if you know what I mean! So I wanted something with a tad more substance to it.
And I think I've found the perfect shoe! I've not worn Saucony before but they feel awesome. Kind of like little slippers. Let's hope they prove to be FAST slippers. :)
Regardless, after my ride and trying on my new shoes I ate lunch and did my ice bath and showered and stretched and relaxed and watched Bernard Lagat win his 7th Wanamaker Mile at the Millrose Games on tv. Very exciting. Makes me wish I was fast enough for races that only last 4 minutes instead of 4 hours. :)
And now we are headed to church! But first Panera Bread for dinner because we have a gift card!
Definitely a very good day...
Hope everyone is having an equally awesome weekend!
Posted by beth at 3:38 PM | Comments (8)
January 29, 2009
The Return of the Triscuit
I have always been a fan of the Triscuit. Quite a good little snack actually. More fiber than most crackers and it has a little more substance. I like substance. Keeps the very hungry monster that I have living in my belly happy for a little longer than usual.
Add a little cheese to the Triscuit and you have a VERY good snack. You see the key to a good snack is having a little carbohydrate, a little protein and a little fat to add nutrient density. Much better that way. Cheese + Triscuit is a winner - you have fiber, carbs, protein, calcium and vit D. You can't go wrong!
Anyway, I don't know what happened but somewhere along the way I stopped eating Triscuits. I guess I was just into other snacks for a few years. Homemade trail mix (oh man do we have a good batch of that going on right now!), animal crackers with peanut butter, vegetables with hummus, yogurt and fruit. You get the idea. But the other day as I was perusing in the grocery store, I came across the Triscuit aisle and found these. New Triscuit flavors! (okay, they might not be new but they are new to me).
I was instantly intrigued by the cracked pepper and olive oil flavor AND they were on sale (what orginially caught my eye) AND we had a coupon AND I of course put a box in our cart!
Later on in the cheese aisle, I picked up some cheese for my new found Triscuits.
And now I'm addicted.
Those cracked pepper and olive oil Triscuits are the BOMB! Oh man are they good. You must buy some now. NOW! I am so sad because our box is almost gone. Needless to say, there will be many boxes to come. The flavor is just so yummy!
And in fact, as I was finishing up my run today I found myself thinking of...Triscuits! Definitely a good post workout snack before I got my lunch prepared. And actually a good diversion from having to think about the nasty, crappy weather I was running in. Poor road conditions (ice/slush/snow) and COLD and WINDY. UGH. Good thing I had Triscuits waiting for me. :)
I was NOT thinking of Triscuits this morning at masters, mostly because I was trying to get my left renegade arm to pull it's fair share. Coach Jen pointed out how I don't really finish the pull-through too well with my left arm and therefore don't glide forward with my right arm nearly as much as I could. So I was focusing on that and realizing that my left arm is certainly weaker and obviously lazy and trying to get out of work. When I could get it to work properly though boy does swimming faster feel easier! Amazing that swimming... :) So I will work on that.
I was also focusing on trying to swim 100s on the 1:20 at the end of the workout. That takes some serious focus on my part but it was accomplished!
In other news, I'm going to masters tomorrow night! Yes, I am such a party animal - Friday night masters! I am very excited though because I'm addicted to masters. I just love it so much better than swimming by myself. I haven't allowed myself more than 2x/week at masters though because I think swimming hard by yourself is a mental challenge that I need to take on. But my YMCA forced my hand this week because the pool is closed YET AGAIN on Saturday for another swim meet. So that means I can't do my usual Saturday morning swim and instead am going to Friday night masters. What can I say - I had no choice? :)
I wonder what I'm more addicted to - cracked pepper and olive oil Triscuits or masters swimming?
Tough call.
Now, back to work...
Posted by beth at 5:33 PM | Comments (8)
January 27, 2009
Humming Along
Well my business to-do-list is slowly but surely being chipped away at. Trust me, I had a lot on that list, much more than I would have ever thought when I orginially got this crazy idea to start my own business. But with the help of many patient people who are willing to answer my dumb questions, I'm getting there. At times I wish I only had to do the fun stuff - like actually help people with their nutrition. Because, well, that's the stuff that I actually know how to do! Vitamins, minerals, macronutrients, meal planning and timing and supplements and race nutrition...yes, yes, YES! I can handle that. That's what I went to school for! That's what I have been doing for the past 10 years!
But making websites? Hmm...not so much. That poor website guy. He has got to hate me by now. When I went to buy the domain name and hosting for the website for the business I nearly had a meltdown. TOOOOO many choices! And I had NO IDEA what I was buying. So the website guy called me and walked me through it, click by click. Like I said, he probably can't wait to get rid of me. Bless the patient people who deal with computer illiterates such as myself. :)
Tonight was the accountant. I really liked him. And I felt MUCH better after speaking with him because he made O and I feel like we were already ahead of the game. Haven't felt like that since I hatched this business idea. He really helped clarify things. Plus, he's going to the Super Bowl so what's not to like?
Anyway, it's been a steep learning curve but it's been interesting and fun and exciting all at the same time! And I'm so thankful for O who has been by me every step of the way. It's helpful to learn with someone instead of always trying to figure it out yourself.
Now to totally change the topic with no apparent transition.
Training continues to hum along as well! I had some eye popping intervals on the bike this morning. As in I literally thought I was going to pop an eye right out onto our living room floor. Gosh did that workout hurt. I even got a nose bleed mid way through the workout. And another nose bleed on my run later this afternoon. What's with the nose bleeds? Doesn't my nose know I don't like the sight of my own blood!?!?! :)
And now to totally change the topic again with no apparent transition.
Motivation. Been thinking about it a lot lately as different people have been writing about it on their blogs. Luckily I have been blessed with a very healthy dose of motivation and been taught that the only way to achieve anything that we truly want is to work very, very hard for it. So to me, that's motivation enough. Do you want it? Well then get your lazy butt out of bed and work for it.
But usually, each year, I pick out 3-4 quotes that I really like and post them on my wall. It's my one attempt at motivation when I don't feel like running outside in -10 degree weather for the millionth time in a row. Or, if I'm tempted to make bad choices that do not lend themselves to competing well as an athlete! (not getting enough sleep, eating poorly, stressing myself out, taking on too much, etc...)
I've done the quote thing for quite a while now and it's very effective. Everyone has their own thing I guess. Regardless, one of my quotes for this year, from John Treacy, the famous Irish marathon Olympian (silver medal in '84?).
"Believe in yourself, know yourself, deny yourself and be humble."
Simple as that. It's one of my favorites because it truly fits my philosophy. Don't think too much. Don't question. Don't make everything dramatic and a big deal. Don't worry about what everyone else is doing. Just do the work and believe. Like I said, simple as that.
Posted by beth at 10:20 PM | Comments (8)
January 25, 2009
Law and Order
All I have to say is, thank God for Law and Order. I seriously love that show. And with MANY hours in the saddle this week (all done indoors thanks to our lovely weather right now), I was ever so thankful for the fact that not only do I like to watch the show but also for that fact that no matter the day or the time of day, there is always an episode (or two) on. And because there are so many different versions (SVU, the original, criminal intent, etc...) I never seem to have the issue of having to watch ones that I've already seen. AND get this, we discovered with our Netflix that I can watch old reruns online for free (with the Netflix membership of course). The sky is the limit. Who am I kidding, not even the sky is the limit here my friends! I LOVE LAW AND ORDER! :)
So other than riding my bike (a lot) and watching Law and Order (a lot) this weekend, I did some swimming, some running, some work on the business, some cleaning up of the house, some playing with the dog, some time at church, much time spent eating and (of course) made sure I caught up with what everyone else is doing on FB. ;)
Our long run this morning was exponentially better than last weekend's where I wanted to cry and do mean things to Mother Nature all at once. This morning it was cold (4 degrees?) but the roads were dry and clear. Big difference. Cold I can take. Slushy, wet, snow/ice covered roads where you question if you are going to fall with every footstep? Not so much fun. :)
Hmm..what else. I got a new bike computer. Basically the same as my old one but my old one was on the fritz and not working so well and so it was time to say goodbye. New one works wonderfully and even though it took us a long time I'm proud to say that O and I installed it ourselves. Now don't laugh (especially because it's wireless) because it was just a bit tricky. The hardest part was trying to figure out where to put the darn thing (the actual computer part where you see your data) because my stem is short and fat and my aerobars are essentially all pad. We snookered it in there though. And trust me when I say, that thing ain't ever coming loose.
So that about sums up our weekend! Looking forward to the week ahead and the great things that are to come. This upcoming week is a big swim week for me which makes me happy! Especially because I just ordered (and although it has yet to arrive, it should come tomorrow) a package with new suits (badly needed), paddles (smaller so they don't destroy my shoulders) and a new pull buoy! Oh fun swim toys!
Have a great week everyone! :)
Posted by beth at 4:14 PM | Comments (6)
January 22, 2009
8xArgonne
This week saw the return of some hard efforts to my rides and runs. Wow. Haven't done that for a while. Since...um...like last October? But, I have to admit, it's my favorite part of training. As I would expect it is for most. Who likes to do boring base miles anyway? I guess they aren't that bad but a good hard effort that has you begging for mercy? That's where the action is at!
So on Tuesday I had a hard bike workout. Not so bad. Actually I think I'm only saying that because I'm several days removed from it and I already forget how badly it hurt. I do remember getting off the bike and thinking that my stink from all the sweat was absolutely disgusting. I think I even saw Roxy holding her nose...
Also on Tuesday a run later in the evening. I had the treat of O joining me and for the first time in probably about 5 years I didn't time the run correctly. It was to be 65 minutes but somehow we turned up at home at 70 minutes. YIKES! Of course it's no big deal but I absolutely pride myself on timing runs down to the seconds. You need to run 43:38? I can get you back home in exactly that. It's like a gift. Just like if you tell me to run a 82.6 quarter on the track I can do exactly that. Of course this doesn't seem to translate to the pool...
Regardless, Wednesday brought some more moderate training - a 2 hour trainer session (where the stink was present again...I'm starting to worry our house smells like it but we don't notice because we are always here...), a swim and some time in the weight room.
This morning I went to masters and really enjoyed my workout. I think I have found the absolute best training partner. We see to be so evenly matched in the pool so I always try to find a lane next to her and keep up. I have a little more raw speed but her endurance and consistency is amazing. So today we did a set of descending 100s on 1:30 and finished up strong with a 1:10. I was happy with that. Swimming is coming along well. I don't know if I'm faster solely from the fact that I'm getting much better at flip turns (which are obviously faster than my old open turns), or if I really am getting stronger. Hard to tell but I'll take speed any way I can get it.
And then this evening after work - 8xArgonne Hill.
Oh dear Lord.
Let me back up a few steps. The schedule really called for a track workout. But of course that just got a big laugh because our track is covered in about a foot of snow with a couple inches of ice underneath. I might not see that thing again until my 2nd "A" race of the year. :) And as I've blabbed on this blog before, I don't do treadmills. So that left me with two options - run my intervals for "time" on the roads instead of "distance" on the track or...HILLS!!
I jumped at the opportunity to do a good old hill workout (at which point I was later kicking myself for). Hill workouts remind me of high school where we did them ALL the time. And boy did we have some big hills to run up in good old Greensburg, PA. After almost every hill workout in high school we would do what my high school coach called a gutbuster. This essentially was an all out 400 on the track AFTER the hill workout, to replicate that feeling of having a sprint as hard as you could at the end of a cross country race when you were just dead tired. In races coach would actually yell "GUTBUSTER!" and we could recall those memories of running all out on the track... It was a brilliant scheme I tell you.
Anyway, back to today. No gutbusters on the track but I'm pretty sure I left part of my gut out there on Argonne Rd.
When I knew I wasn't going to get to actually do the workout on the track and coach okayed the hill workout instead, I asked O what hill he thought I should tackle. We have plenty to choose from in our area. Short steep ones. Long gradual ones. Long steep ones. Big bad wicked ones. Regardless, O suggested Argonne. Little did I know how sinister this suggestion was...
We actually drove out to the hill so I could scope it out. I've run up it before but never hard and I wanted to measure out about 1/4 of a mile (the hill is probably 2 miles long total so I knew I didn't want to run the whole thing hard - that would kind of defeat the purpose).
Of course I would like to now take the time to point out the fact that a hill is NEVER EVER NOT EVEN CLOSE as bad in the car as it is when you actually have to run up it with your own two legs. It's ever so easy to push the gas pedal in the car a little more and whammo (!) you are at the top! Not so easy when you are running...
So I got home from work kind of late and it was already dark but WARM - 30 degrees and I was so thankful. 30 degrees feels like a heat wave right now so I made sure not to dress too warmly.
I get to the hill, do some strides and jog to the bottom. Dang, this looks a little more steep than when we drove it the other day!
Holy. Cats.
I won't bore you with the details of each repeat but suffice it to say that was one hard workout. Ouch. Ouch. And more ouch. My whole body was in revolt. This is what happens when you aren't in great shape and start asking your body to do things like run 6 minute pace up a huge freaking hill.
But I was absolutely determined to run each repeat faster than the last. On the final and eighth repeat I seriously thought I was going to keel over. I was breathing so hard I was certain the family (who I could see eating dinner in their nice cozy home) in the house across the street was going to call 911 for me. But it was my fastest. Once again I confirm in my head that our bodies always have a little something more to give.
Up and down Argonne in the pitch black winter night when everyone else is relaxing at home. I'll remember this workout for sure.
Especially tomorrow morning when I won't be able to move... :)
Good night everyone!
Posted by beth at 10:02 PM | Comments (6)
January 19, 2009
And Ode to Struggle
First of all - how 'bout dem Stillers?! Oh yeah - going to the Super Bowl! If I haven't mentioned it before, I might just mention it again - football is big around these parts and the Steelers especially are loved by all who live in the 'burgh. And so you can imagine the hysteria last night. Should be a fun two weeks until the big dance! (the Steeler songs on the radio are my personal favorites - I laugh all the way to work sometimes!)
So anyway, back to the topic for the day - struggle.
Yesterday I had a 2 hour run. It came after a relatively big day of training on Saturday so I knew going in that it would be tough although that's the purpose of the long run placed on the day after the long bike. That's kind of how triathlon goes.
But anyway, I was actually feeling pretty good after Saturday so I was looking forward to the long run and REALLY excited when I woke up and saw that it was a piping hot 30 degrees! WAH-HOO! I mean it really doesn't get much better than that after having run in windchills wayyyyyy below zero the past few days. BUT, upon closer inspection I realized that something much worse than cold temperatures was awaiting - about 5 new inches of fresh snow and the roads were a BIG FAT mess.
Snow is fun and dandy and pretty at times but not so great when the roads are totally covered (and I'm not talking packed down, manageable snow either) with snow/slush/ice where every time you take a step you are slipping and sliding all over the place. Tough physically because it takes so much more effort than if you had even a bit of traction and tough mentally because you are working hard but going slow and within about 30 minutes your legs are beat.
Ugh.
UGH!
But I don't have a treadmill and given the amount of snow and the fact that it was still coming down, the roads weren't going to be any clearer in a couple hours, so O and I started on our way.
I had accepted that we would be running slow (going up some of the hills was just brutal - I mean I didn't know I could run THAT slow!) but what I hadn't really prepared for was what a struggle just the whole entire run would be.
I was tired.
My legs hurt.
My feet were absolutely soaked from the slush.
Which means my blisters were utterly painful from wet, rubbing socks.
I was grumpy.
And after about 20 minutes was mentally exhausted from trying to remain positive.
So there. ;)
But we got through it. O chatted at times but was quiet at other times and I was just quiet the WHOLE time because I had to focus all my energy on putting one foot in front of the other. And honestly, I was afraid if I did talk, my mouth would only be capable of spewing negative thoughts.
I struggled for about 95% of that run.
But with about 10 minutes left of running, O presented me with quite a little nugget of wisdom that I wished he had told me about an hour and a half earlier. It was something I knew and have heard many times before, but needed to be reminded of again, on a morning when I was simply miserable.
He told me about what the head cross country coach at his high school always tells the kids - something to the effect of - "You have to learn how to struggle and endure and practice struggling because otherwise you can't just expect to show up at a race and be able to struggle there. And you will never bring the best out of yourself in a race without having to endure hardship and struggling mightily."
How true. No matter how much I didn't want to hear it at that point in time.
And all of a sudden I found myself very thankful for the fact that I live in a place where the weather really challenges me in the winter. Yes, a few runs in the cold or in the snow aren't too bad. But try week after week after week after week of it. And you will learn struggle. And the riding the trainer YET AGAIN will teach you to endure. Of course there are many other ways to practice these things but for me, our weather gives me just what I need.
It might not be pretty, but I can look back on these days and Sunday's long run in particular and know that, I can endure, no matter how much I'm struggling.
Anyway, I also rode my bike yesterday and then this morning got up with very sore legs. That snow is brutal I tell you! But I went to masters and had a great swim (best average 300s = ouch) and then I came home and had another slow run :) and then I went to the weight room and made my legs even more sore. Ahhh...training. Gotta love it!
So here's to celebrating struggle. It's not so bad after all...
Posted by beth at 4:54 PM | Comments (6)
January 17, 2009
Going Postal
So this morning I did the one hour postal swim! In the case that you don't know, it's essentially a mail in competition from US Masters Swimming (USMS) where you swim as far as you can in one hour. You get someone to write down your splits every 50 yds and then you send that in and they compile the results for each age group.
I think I first heard about this about 2 years ago and I always wanted to do it but was never a member of USMS and was way to cheap to become a member JUST so I could do the swim. Well now I'm a member and when I saw the entry form in the USMS magazine I was pretty pumped!
So today was the day. Of course my trusty equipment manager O was my split recorder. So to the pool we went!
I was quite delighted at the fact that there was hardly anyone at the pool! I was worried I was going to have to fight for a lane and in the midst of my continuous swim, was going to have to start circle swimming. I guess the cold outside scared everyone away. I had a lane all to myself the whole time!
O and I had created an elaborate system of kickboard symbols for him to let me know where I was. My goal was to swim 4000 yds so every 15 minutes I had to at least have 1000 yds in. So the yellow kickboard was 1000 yds and the blue kickboard was 15 minutes and the red kickboard was 5 minutes to go and 2 red kickboards was 2 minutes to go. Like I said, it was elaborate. We might have to work on that for next year. It got a little confusing. :) But the one thing I was really glad I did was thanks to Danielle's suggestion - every 1000 yds I did an open turn and O yelled out my time (no clocks at my YMCA) just so I had an idea of where I stood. Trust me when I say by the 3rd and 4th 1000s I was really looking forward to that one open turn! :)
Anyway - it went pretty well! I was actually a little nervous getting started because I really didn't know what to expect. Like how hard should I go? I tried to swim just one 100 in 1:30 to get a sense for pace. So I swam really in control and comfortable and it was a 1:26. Great. I was REALLY worried I was going to go out too hard (a problem I always have anyway) and die a slow, painful death at the end. And my coach did tell me to start off easy and build throughout...
But it was fine! I swam 4250 yds. Actually, I swam 4250 yds in 59:43 and stopped because I thought you were supposed to round off to the nearest 50 and quite obviously I wasn't going to swim another full 50 in 17 seconds! But then later when I was looking at results from last year and saw distances like 4565 I realized I messed up. So I guess I probably could have swam more like 4270 but it doesn't really matter. Not like that's the difference between 1st and 2nd place. More like the difference between 31st and 32nd. :)
Anyway - I felt great! It went something like this:
1st 1000 in 14:15 (my slowest) - this was the longest and worst part! I kept thinking WHEN am I going to see that stupid yellow kickboard (that signified that I had completed 1000 yds)?! I thought for sure O had missed it. Plus I was worried I was swimming too hard even though it certainly didn't feel too hard. Next year I'm definitely going out a little harder
2nd 1000 in 14:01 - much better! This one went by much faster and I was still feeling great.
3rd 1000 in 14:04 - still feeling pretty good and now I'm really excited that I only have about 1000 to go! I did have a slight wardrobe malfunction around 3400 yds when I realized my swim cap was slowly migrating off my head. It was really starting to bug me so I actually stopped to fix it. MUCH better after I pulled it down over my forehead again...
4th 1000 in 14:01 - hee haw! I did start to get a little tired around 3500 yds. I was feeling it in my arms. But I was soooo close to being done!
And then, I just swam as hard as I could for the last few hundred yards telling myself anything extra was icing on the cake.
It was fun. Highly recommended and I'm already thinking about next year where I definitely want to go farther. Dare I suggest 4500? That's a big difference. 1:20 pace vs 1:24 pace. Hmmm...maybe I'll have to think about that one... :)
The good old YMCA pool where I spend MANY an hour swimming my days away... :) As you can see, only some water aerobics ladies sharing with me today!
Finishing up and glad to get those goggles off my face! :)
When we got home I refueled and embarked on a 3 hour brick (2:30 ride/30 min run). It's still pretty cold here with windchills in the negative realms so I definitely rode inside but we don't have a treadmill so I did the run outside. O ran with me. It was kind of funny as my transition time between bike and run was a bit long while I tried in vain to pull my tights up over my sweaty legs... :)
I was kind of worried about being so sweaty and hot and going out to run in such extreme cold but it really wasn't bad because it was actually ~10 degrees when we ran with a windchill around zero or slightly under! Trust me when I say, that felt like a heat wave compared to our run on Friday morning...
Anyway, the brick was great! My arms are definitely the most tired part on me right now... :)
And of course, what's a blog entry without a picture of Roxy? Here she is with her stolen goods - a big hunk of ice from my ice bath. She LOVES stealing ice from me!
And then, a picture of her trying to protect her goods. Slinking away from O as he ordered her to return the ice to it's rightful owner!
Time to eat some chow now. Tomorrow is a 2 hour long run and an hour on the bike, visiting my mom and dad who are in town (!) and of course, watching the Steelers!!! It is total Steeler mania in Pittsburgh. Always is, but even more so now. Our mayor Luke Ravenstahl actually changed his name to Luke Steelerstahl this week. Doesn't get more hardcore than that! :)
Have a great night everyone!
Posted by beth at 4:56 PM | Comments (8)
January 15, 2009
Blog-Worthy
Well, to tell you the truth I really don't have any blog-worthy news, although, as in the past, that usually doesn't keep me from blogging anyway. So there.
Sooo...let's talk about how cold it is! Yeah! Actually, that's kind of a boring topic because really, it's January and I don't live in Hawaii so why wouldn't it be cold? I will say that O's district already cancelled school for tomorrow (as did just about every other district in the area) because of the cold. The HIGH for tomorrow is I think 2 (or something like that). And when it's that cold the districts usually delay so that kids aren't standing outside waiting for the bus in negative windchills. Tomorrow though, school is not just delayed but CANCELLED because I guess the difference between the temperature at 7 in the morning and 10 in the morning is...well...nothing. Still cold.
Now unfortunately hospitals don't seem to follow the same protocol so I will be going to work tomorrow. But first I will run outside. Because why not? I will make sure to count all my fingers and toes when I return though to ensure I didn't lose any along the way... :)
Training otherwise - swim, bike, run yesterday and then a massage....ah...sweet surrender! Actually, the massages aren't all that happy-go-lucky. Elbow in the hamstring does = pain afterall! But I know they do a body good.
This morning I went to masters and had a great workout. And then this evening after work I went to the weight room where I was actually the only one in there. How could this be? That place is always pretty packed especially in these early days of January when the resolutioners are still going strong! I was there rather late (thanks to a longggg commute home due to some inclement weather and dumb...er...I mean especially careful drivers), but still. I guess the cold kept everyone away!
And in other news, I got my bloodwork back from the other day and everything looked good! I was feeling fine but I'm of the opinion that routine bloodwork is never a bad thing and so my doctor ordered iron studies, thyroid, lipid panel and electrolytes, etc... The nurse called me yesterday to tell me everything was okay. But I want to see numbers I pleaded! So she said I could stop by the office and pick up the results. I was mainly interested in my iron status (anemia in the past but things looked great yesterday) and my cholesterol. I've actually had high cholesterol in previous years, despite the fact that I'm a dietitian and eat well and that I obviously exercise enough. It was frustrating. But, that was all before I was a triathlete. And now as a triathlete? Cholesterol numbers were beautiful! LDL (bad cholesterol) was low, HDL (good cholesterol) was high and total cholesterol well below anything resembling worrisome values. So clearly the solution to all high cholesterol is to pick up the sport of triathlon! I think I will start telling all my patients that.
So that's my story. I'm looking forward to the fact that tomorrow is Friday. Not sure why, but I am. And now I think I'm going to hunt down another sweatshirt to wear to bed. You can never have enough sweatshirts on...
Good night!
Posted by beth at 9:27 PM | Comments (5)
January 13, 2009
A Bloody Mess
Not sure if I ever mentioned it before, but I'm not really a fan of seeing my own blood. Other people's blood? No biggie. In fact I see it all the time at work. I'm around ECMO, dialysis, GI bleeds, big/nasty/bloody surgical wounds all the time. Doesn't seem to bother me. I was once doing my own thing in the cardiothoracic ICU at work when a patient coded and they had to open his chest right then and there. Needless to say, there was so much blood people were slipping on it! (okay, I realize that was a little gross...and I'm not TRYING to gross you out but just prove my point)
So yeah, I don't bat an eyelash at blood in general. But the sight of my own blood makes me a little weak in the knees.
Case in point - when I was hit by a truck 2 summers ago the MOST traumatic part of it all for me was when I finally got up to my hospital room and went to the bathroom to clean up. And I saw my face and hair and the big cuts all over my head for the first time. There was just so much blood. And seriously sitting here typing this right now it making me a little queezy. And when I saw my helmet after that accident? Blood all over it? Again, weak in the knees.
SOOOOO anyway, I seem to have this blister that just WILL not go away. Despite 15+ years of running I still get blisters ALL THE TIME. I would have thought that the skin on my feet would be so hardened by now there is no way for it to break. But it does. And around Christmas time I did a run in the pouring down rain and developed some nasties on the back of my heels. The one on the left foot keeps breaking open despite my major efforts to get it to heal.
Well today I went for a run and it was snowing and blowing pretty hard. I didn't think much of the blisters but came home to find one MAJORLY bloody sock and shoe. OH. MY. Yuck. Ick. Gross. I feel sick to my stomach. I peeled off my sock which just got the blister bleeding again. UGHHHHHHHH!!! And this came after having to go get my blood taken this morning for some blood work (cholesterol, iron, etc...). I'm having major Beth Blood Overload today. What. The. Heck? Watch, tonight I'll have a nosebleed and be so traumatized I won't be able to function! :)
So that's enough blood talk for one day. Or one month. Or actually one whole year!
In other news, training is humming right along. I'm as busy as ever with life - training, working and having fun. Sometimes I get overwhelmed but I quickly remind myself that I really am so lucky to enjoy what I'm doing on a daily basis. I'm lucky to train like I do and lucky to be pursing this new business dream. Now if only I would never, ever see my own blood again. I'd be one happy camper. :)
Good night everyone!
Posted by beth at 6:26 PM | Comments (3)
January 11, 2009
Frigid Five Mile
Things Beth did today (in no particular order):
1) Broke the tub while trying to prepare ice bath. Actually, broke the thing in the tub that turns on the water. No need to worry, O fixed the tub AND I still got in the ice bath. Brrr...
2) Did a short, easy ride on the trainer after getting home from...
3) Running the Frigid 5 Mile race this morning! More about the race later but suffice it to say, the race name was very accurate as the race was both frigid and five miles. :) Brrr...
4) Went out to eat at Chili's with O to celebrate our race.
5) Ate cheesecake at Chili's. Yum.
And currently...
6) Watching the Steelers. GOOOOOO Steelers! (at halftime they are winning 14-10)
The race!! The race was at North Park which has a 5 mile loop around the lake within the park. Both O and I assumed that this would be the race course as there are multiple races at North Park throughout the year and just about all of them follow some version of the loop around the lake. I like the loop around the lake. It's rolling, no big ups or downs but not totally flat either.
At some point yesterday I saw in the race directions that the starting line was at the North Park Lodge. Hmmm...not the usually starting spot. O did a little research and we came to the realization that we may need to alter our time goals for the race. :) Instead of the rolling loop around the lake, this race would be using the Lodge Loop which, if you are familiar with the area, requires running up incredibly long, steep hill (at the end of the race no less) to the Lodge on top of the ridge. Ouch.
Still, I wasn't too concerned about time or pace today, it was all about getting in a hard effort and having some fun racing! Getting back into that racing spirit!
And that's what we did. It wasn't a day for PRs, that's for sure! It was in the low 20s, windchills in the teens. The footing was not good (slush/snow/ice mix) and the course was just brutal (not including the 0.7 mile climb right at the end w/a 10% grade there were OTHER hills too). BUT you have to admit that these are the things that make you stronger. I told myself that continually during the race. Pushing myself up that last hill HURT bad. I'm just not in shape to be doing these types of things yet! My lungs were aching. But tomorrow I am a stronger athlete than I was yesterday because I did it.
As for pace and place and all that jazz...here will give you an idea of how things played out. I essentially ran 6:30 pace until the last mile where I ran...wait for it...a 7:48! Yes, that's right, a 7:48! To tell you the truth though, I was actually pleased that I didn't run a 10 minute mile up that hill! I was the 2nd woman. I tried mightily to stay with the winner for as long as I could but I was missing a major piece of fitness called leg turnover! That will all come with time though.
I will say one thing though, boy was it fun to race again! I've never raced this early in the year (outside!) but it was a great idea because it got me pretty fired up. And I'm looking forward to the hard weeks of training ahead now more than ever!
I liked the shirts - there are running snowflakes on them! And our medals - O won his age group! (and kicked my butt in the process)
O and I trying to get a picture of us both with our shirts on. Kind of hard to take a picture of yourselves and get your full body in though... I tried to convince O that we should wear our matching shirts to Chili's but he wouldn't go for it. I wore mine but also wore about 5 sweatshirts over top. I might never be warm again after this morning!
And finally, who doesn't like another picture of Roxy! This is with the toy that she got for Christmas and promptly destroyed. The whole toy used to be braided and was much longer. As you can see, she not only unbraided it, she also started eating it. It got another few inches shorter before we had to throw it away... :)
I hope everyone has a great week! I'm really looking forward to training this week - especially next weekend where I have a BIG training weekend - INCLUDING the postal swim! O is nice enough to be my postal swim tracker. We are currently trying to figure out a system where he can tell me how much longer I have and how far I've gone. I'm thinking it's going to involve different color kickboards... :)
Posted by beth at 6:02 PM | Comments (14)
January 9, 2009
Here Comes the Snow!
Well you'll all be glad to know that since I last wrote, I've had no run-ins with any plumbers of any kind.
I did however, forget to wear a watch to work today. AHHHH!!! Do you know how devastating that is? I apparently look at my watch constantly when I'm at work because today I did an awful lot of looking at my bare wrist. I guess you don't realize how often you use something until it's not there. Anyway, I don't think I've ever forgotten the watch before and will hopefully never do it again. I annoyed more than one of my co-workers by asking for the time (again). :)
Training has been going well! And in fact - I'm running in a road race this weekend! Of course this race is coinciding nicely with a huge snow storm that we are supposed to get between tonight and tomorrow! But the race is actually on Sunday so I'm hoping the roads will be somewhat clear by then and if not, oh well. I really can't expect the weather to cooperate in early January so we will do the best we can with the conditions we have. And I'm excited to race. Not that I'm in much shape to do so but that's part of the fun! Let's go hurt really bad like we haven't done for months! :) Seriously though, hearing Marit talk about her recent road races has me quite excited to get out there. Besides, there is a pancake breakfast afterwards!
Regardless, because of the upcoming return to racing, I got to do a little fartlek (hard) run on Wednesday! I've not done any speed work yet this year (or since last October for that matter) so coach always puts a little workout in there the week before a race just to remind the body some what it feels like to run hard. I also swam on Wednesday. And I swam on Thursday. And I swam this morning. See a trend? :) I am enjoying the swimming though and getting quite excited for the Postal Swim AND the Carnegie Melon swim mile race! The season is definitely getting underway.
So there you have it! I've also been busy with work. And with family - because Wednesday was Christmas after all! (Serbian orthodox Christmas that is - same Christmas but they follow a different calender and that happens to be the calender my mom's side of the family follows!)
And now it's time for dinner. O is almost home and the pizza will soon be done! We are going to run some errands tonight so that tomorrow, as the snow comes down in bucket fulls, we can just hang out in the warm, dry house and watch. ;)
Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!
Posted by beth at 5:34 PM | Comments (5)
January 6, 2009
The Plumber and I
Today the plumber was coming to our house. Something about a main bulb valve do-hickey that didn't work and O couldn't repair it himself because you had to turn the water off to our house to fix it and blah, blah, blah. Okay fine. So I called the plumber and requested his presence at our house. When can he come the nice lady inquired? AFTER 12 pm (this is a key part of the story as you will later see). Okay then, plumber coming to our house to fix valve do-hickey at some point on Tuesday after noon.
So I plan accordingly. I have a bike, a run and some core work to do today so I schedule all training to be complete by noon so that I will be home and ready for plumber.
I get on my bike a little before 8 am, inside. It's freezing rain outside which I deem unsafe riding conditions. On the trainer for a tempo ride we go! And I'm having a GREAT ride. I feel good, my legs are coming back to life, my HR is staying in check and I'm finally feeling like the fitness is coming around.
And then, about midway through the workout, I see the truck pull up - the plumbing truck.
OH NO YOU DID NOT!!!
I said AFTER 12 pm. Not 8:23 am when I am in the middle of a bike workout.
Now I know just about 99.9% of the population of this country would do the rational thing and get off their bike and let the plumber in even though he was 3 hours and 47 minutes early. But the other 0.1% of the population that consists of all triathletes, know what I'm talking about here. Unless it's a life or death situation, YOU DO NOT GET OFF THE BIKE IN THE MIDDLE OF A WORKOUT. Right? Anyone?
Anyway, that's the way I operate. No getting off the bike unless the house is burning down. And besides, it really was the principal behind the whole thing. He said he was coming after 12 pm so that's what I was holding him to.
But I still had a problem because he could totally see me through the window. So he knocked. I kept pedaling. He knocked louder. I still kept pedaling. (I am so rude it's not even funny). He called the house. I pedaled more.
Of course by this point Roxy is going crazy. And the plumber probably thought I was the biggest tool in the world. What can I say. He might be right. But seriously, I was quite focused on having one of the best bike workouts I've had in a long time.
So he knocked louder.
Okay fine. I wasn't going to get rid of him by ignoring him. So I ripped my feet out of my pedals and ran to the door. He smiles. I don't smile back. Roxy tries to attack. I'm holding her back with one leg and trying to talk through the glass porch door. I am dripping so much sweat he is probably totally grossed out. And I tell him in short order that he needs to come back when he was supposed to come because I'm in the middle of something and cannot accomadate him now.
He asked - didn't the office call me? NOPE - now move along! No time for talking here pal, I got pedals to push. And with that I closed the door and hoped he didn't hate me forever. Oh well. I guess not everyone can like me anyway. :)
Time off bike - 1:07. Back on and I finish up the workout well.
I called the office just to check and make sure he was still coming back AFTER noon which they say he is.
So I eat, do my core training and then get ready for my run. Run was good too, although a little slippery given the freezing rain. Little pellets of ice coming out of the sky makes the face hurt.
I get in from my run and now it's 11:47 and plumber calls again. Now he's coming in 25 minutes - will I be there? Yes, and I apologize for our earlier meeting. Sorry dude.
So I eat lunch and ice at the same time and now have about 3 minutes until he is to arrive. At which point it dawns on me that he's going to have to turn off the water to our house and I haven't showered yet and I'm cold, wet and slimey from my training. And if he's only going to have the water off for an hour okay but what if it takes all afternoon? I don't know what's all involved in the fixing of a main valve do-hickey! AHHHH!!!
I make the decision to get a shower in ASAP and pray he doesn't come when I have a headful of shampoo because that would pretty much be it for him and I. He would (rightfully) refuse to ever come to our house again.
But luckily, the quickest shower ever does the trick and just as I'm getting dressed again I hear him knocking at the door. I pen up Roxy, run downstairs and let him in and then explain the problem and show him where our basement is and let him do his thing. I think he was trying to get back at me though because he went in and out of our house about 7 times back and forth, back and forth through our living room and kitchen and not once took off the boots.
Oh the boots.
I was really wishing I had a pair of those little booties that surgeons wear over their shoes in the OR.
Needless to say, after he left I had some cleaning to do including scrubbing the entire front entrance and kitchen floor to rid them of the big dirty footprints! UGH!
I won't be that sad if I never see Mr. Plumber again.
Of course he's likely thinking the very same thing about the crazy bike lady that wouldn't even get off her bike to let him in. I wonder if he's blogging about me right now? ;)
Posted by beth at 4:41 PM | Comments (12)
January 5, 2009
A Pack of Monkeys
First of all, I had to ask O how to spell monkeys. I always get the "ys" stuff confused. Don't tell my mom. She's an English teacher.
Anyway, lately O and I have been consuming bananas at an alarming rate. Lots of bananas. Like LOTS of bananas. I don't think I truly noticed the extent of this banana-eating until O came home from the grocery store tonight. And one ENTIRE grocery bag was filled with bananas. Who eats that many bananas? Apparently us. Can't go wrong with a banana though - potassium, fiber, yellow. What more could you want? Easy on the stomach. Great with peanut butter. The monkeys are definitely on to something.
And anyway, what is a "collection" of monkeys called? A pack? A clan? A barrel? (and yes, I just asked O how to spell barrel - I was thinking double L at the end)
Enough of this madness.
Let's talk swimming.
This morning at masters 5x500. Yowzies! 1-3 descend, 4th one was broken at the 100s and then on the 5th one, 500 straight holding the pace you swam on the 100s. Considering I swam all 1:14s on the 100s, I was in some deep doodoo come the last 500. Monkey doodoo. But I pushed hard and even though I was convinced my arms were no longer attached to my body, I swam a near 500 PR. No, it wasn't a 6:10 (1:14 pace), but still good! Great workout. Fun workout. Perhaps not as fun as a barrel of monkeys, but close! :)
I could bore you with the details of the rest of my day (work, the YMCA to lift where I stumbled across "free" lotion in the locker room?, etc...) but I won't. Instead, I'm going to bed! Good night all, and have a wonderful Tuesday!
Posted by beth at 10:15 PM | Comments (5)
January 3, 2009
Inspiration
Lately I've been thinking a lot about the quote from Muhaammad Ali:
"I hated every minute of training, but I said, "Don't quit. Suffer now and live the rest of your life as a champion."
I like this quote for 2 reasons:
1) I think it's important to remind myself that training, well, it's not very easy. It's not a bunch of roses and smiles and good feelings. Quite the opposite actually. It's hard and tiring and sometimes not fun and even so, I still have to do it. I still have to get up out of my nice warm bed in the cold winter and jump into a cold pool and I still have to get on the trainer YET AGAIN even though my legs feel like they are going to fall off and I still have to go to the weight room even though I've already trained 3 hours that day and I still have to pile on all the gear to get outside and run when the windchill is below zero. And I have to do all that while other people are doing fun stuff like watching tv and eating chips. :)
2) It's okay not to love every second of training. Hating every second of it is a different story of course. Being miserable ALL the time, probably not good. But loving every second? Probably not possible. That's what races and goals are for - to motivate myself to get on the bike in spite of how I really feel about it.
I've been training for my 2009 season for 5 weeks now. The first 3 weeks were like a breeze. I didn't have too many training hours and it just felt great to be back in action. But these past two weeks, I will admit, were rough. As the hours started to increase, so did the fatigue. Which makes the motivation flag a little. And it was the holidays and I really would have much rather been watching The Christmas Story on tv in my jammies than riding on that stupid trainer yet again. And I really think I had just forgotten how "real" training made me feel, and how tiring it is. I didn't miss any workouts, they were all done, but trust me when I say, I was loving every second either.
I was starting to worry just a little. Was this harder than I remembered or am I just really out of shape or is it the weather or WHAT IS GOING ON HERE? How can a 16 hour week make me feel like this when I know I have MANY 20++ weeks coming for the next ELEVEN months?!
But then I started to find little bits of inspiration here and there. A blog someone wrote. Really starting to think and get excited about my first triathlon - Oceanside. A few pictures. A comment here or there. And the Ali quote that really helped me to remember that yeah, this is hard. It hurts and it's tiring and my legs may feel like they are going to fall off for the next 11 months. But that's just how it is. As the famous saying goes, if it were easy, everyone would do it.
And then January 1st came and I had a great run and a good ride too. January 2nd brought a real nice 24x100 set at masters. And today, probably the best brick I've ever had. Not the fastest (got a long way to go on the fitness still) but the most focused and the most positive. I rode inside for a great 2:30 and then off the bike to a great run outside. And then to the weight room. And I was greatly encouraged.
I needed to get my head on straight and in the right frame of mind. And once it was, even though my legs are still tired and I still hate when the alarm blares at 4:45 am, my heart is in the right place to accept it.
Funny what a little inspiration will do.
Posted by beth at 8:38 PM | Comments (9)
January 1, 2009
A Picturesque New Year
Well I have to say - 2009 is starting off well! Today, a bike and a run and even though it was COLDDDDDD this morning while O and I were out running, the sun was shining brightly and there wasn't any wind. A lack of wind makes a BIG difference in my book. A lack of wind makes me one happy camper!
Unfortunately Penn State is NOT winning the Rose Bowl. There is some time left in the 4th quarter but it's currently 14-38. Ouch.
Either way, I am really proud to report that I was able to actually stay up until midnight last night to ring in the New Year! It's been quite a while since I can remember doing that.
It must have been the Pictionary.
Yes, that's right, I said Pictionary.
We started off the night with a great dinner with our friends Jen and Chad. I had the parmesan crusted chicken and then of course desert - an apple strudel. YUM! And then we headed back to our house where we chatted triathlon some before we pulled out the Pictionary. O and I one team, Chad and Jen the other team. Here we go!
Now let it be known, I'm not much of an artist. After taking a look at the next few pictures, I think you'll agree:
Now before you start offering me large sums of money for these masterful works of art, I would like to mention that I can only take credit for the first two. Chad drew the third one.
So folks - any guesses?! ;) Luckily O has an amazing ability to decipher my very poorly drawn images and he actually guessed correctly on both of the above scrawlings. What can I say, we must have a connection. :)
Needless to say, there was a lot of laughing. Laughing AT me? Perhaps. But I can at least say it was a lot of fun and a good way to bring in a New Year. And don't worry, I don't have any plans on quitting my day job for a career in art. :) Just yet...
Posted by beth at 8:01 PM | Comments (7)