No Such Thing As A Good Excuse

Ok, well maybe a severe injury or a life threatening disease could be a good excuse for missing a workout, but most of the time you really just have a plain old excuse. And there’s really nothing good about it, it just is what it is. So here’s my story, my excuse, my whatever, for missing last night’s long run.

It snowed for most of the day, but nothing heavy and it wasn’t sticking to the roads. I am NOT going to run an hour on the rat wheel, I can run outside. Coach Mike says not to unless I have some kind of traction device on my shoes. Which I don’t have. I call the local running store, “we only have YakTrax in a size medium.” Too big. What to do. Looking out my window at the street below, the roads just look wet, it’s not icy. If I bust my butt home and get ready fast, I can get my run in before the temp drops and it does get slick.

Ok, leaving work as planned…on time…cruising home through minimal traffic, yep the roads are only wet not icy. At home, I go in the house, let out the dog, and begin the process of getting dressed in my cold weather gear. Tights, wind resistant pants, base layer top, wicking layer, illuminite jacket, vest, stocking cap and gloves. And socks and shoes of course. All dressed ready to go. Darn it, I forgot to put on the chest strap for my heart rate monitor. Back upstairs, grab the strap, go to the sink, turn on the warm water, wet the sensors, put on the strap, pull down and tuck in my shirts, zip up my jacket, zip up my vest, put on my watch. Hit the start button…waiting, waiting, waiting for it to register my HR…. ‘00’! UGH! Ok the sensors didn’t get damp enough. Repeat process. Waiting, waiting, waiting…’00’. ARGH! This thing drives me nuts. Third time’s a charm, right? This time I literally run the sensors under the faucet to wet them. Snap it on and BEFORE putting myself back together, tested the connection again. ‘00’. FORGET IT. I’m wasting time. I’m running without the data, I don’t care.

In the garage, stretching…getting ready to go. Step out into the driveway, feel the wind draft around my neck…hmmm, I need my balaclava. Back inside, up the stairs…searching, searching…where did I leave that darn thing? Finally! (under a pile of clothes on the floor in the closet that I have yet to put away. From a week ago. But whatever.) Balaclava on, out into the garage, stretch a little more, hit start on my watch …waiting…waiting…waiting…79! Score, ready to roll. Shut the garage door with the keypad, start my watch and I’m off! Step, step, step, SLIP, step, SLIP, SLIP, step, SLIP. This is not going to work, it’s too icy. *SIGH* Fine, I’ll just go run on the darn rat wheel.

Back in the garage, I see the bag of ice melt leaning against the wall. I should probably put some of that on the driveway. But I can’t put it down with my running gloves on, I have to change them. Inside the house, swap gloves, close the door to the house, back in the garage, spread the ice melt. Done. Ok, time to go change and get to the Y. Up the steps, turn the knob and PUSH…what the?? Turn the knob…not turning! How can that be? Is it stuck? Wait…what? Locked? How could THAT be? I didn’t lock it. Darn it! (Ok, so this isn’t exactly the same words I chose last night, but I’m keeping this G rated. Remember my 1 month old nephew reads this!) No key either. Now what? Maybe, just maybe, I didn’t lock the back door when I let Sunny out earlier. Run around the house, through the snow drifts, up the steps to the back door. Turn the handle and push….no dice. Locked too. Ok, last option, door #3. Back through the snow, around the house, up the steps to the front door. Grab the knob… it turns!! YESSSS! Push…yeah, nice try. The dead bolt is locked. *commence loud and obnoxious swearing*

So now I'm locked out of the house, sitting in the garage on the steps fuming mad. Laura isn’t planning to be home for at least another hour and a half. The garage isn’t heated, and I’m getting cold very quickly. Luckily I have my cell (always a safety precaution when I go on long runs). Dialed the office….”Um, yeah…I locked myself out of the house.” “So what are you doing now?” “Sitting in the garage.” *loud laugh* *grumble from me* “I’ll leave now and come home.” “Thanks.”

Now I'm sitting in my car waiting for Laura to arrive. Since I had just gotten home it was still warm from having my heat on. Good thing I have an emergency blanket in my car...I need it to stop the shivers. So, I’m mad, embarrassed and suddenly starving. Literally, as soon as Laura opens the door, I grab my car keys and do what any mad, starving athlete would do in this situation. I head to Taco John’s . Nothing like calming yourself with a meat and potato burrito and some potato oles. So I drown my irritation in wonderful greasy fast food, and look at the clock. Almost 9pm. UGH, I have to teach kickboxing at 6am and I still need to figure out what I’m going to do. *grumble* I give up, this run just ain’t happening.

And there it is folks…my excuse for last night’s missed workout. Sounds a lot like my dog ate my homework, huh???

It's Only Been 22 Days This Time!

Funny how you go three months without blogging then all of a sudden you have so much stuff you don’t know which to write about! So, here’s just a list of things mulling around in my head right now about The Race, my training, and other random things.

1. The swim start of the Galveston race looks to be a deep water start. *panic* Thank god for wetsuits. I hope it’s true you really can’t drown in a wetsuit. It is true, isn’t it???
2. Salt water. Is it going to get into my goggles and burn my eyes? What if I get my goggles kicked off or they break? What if I take in too much water on the swim and I end up having other issues during the race as a result???
3. My swimming…*sigh*…Coach Mike took some video last night of my technique. Underwater and above water. I’ve got A LOT of work to do. No wonder I have problems with my right shoulder. And just when I thought I was doing well….
4. I need to get my bike in next week for a tune up. And probably a new back tire…it looks pretty worn from the trainer this winter.
5. Is it EVER GOING TO STOP SNOWING???? I just want it to stop, warm up enough to melt the ice and snow so I can take my bike out and get some real road time in. I do not want my first outdoor ride to be in Texas on race weekend.
6. I really don’t like oatmeal. I thought I’d give it another shot, see if I could stomach it. I’ve had a hard time finding something I can eat pre-race. So far, I’ve only been able to do a banana and a Quaker Oats granola bar (chocolate chip). That’s been enough fuel for my sprint races, but this is a wee bit longer than that. Maybe if I put nuts in the oatmeal, gave it some crunch. Hmmm.
7. Race Report: Red Flannel run (5 mi) went pretty well. It was cold, but I put on enough gear that it wasn’t too bad (don’t worry I still complained to anyone within earshot that it was COLD). I was stoked to see my TRI running pal, Vick, at the start. We run well together, so I knew she’d help keep me on a good pace. I finished under my goal time by 30 seconds and clocked a sub-8:00 min/mile pace. Not blazing, by any means, but a PR none the less. I’ll take it.
8. I think I’m obsessed with swim caps. I see a cool one at the sports store, I have to buy it. Pink with skulls, white with retro blue flower print…I just can’t stop myself. I’m weak.
9. Did I mention that I want it to stop snowing? It’s coming down AGAIN. I’m so over it.
10. I haven’t seen my nephew in a couple of weeks and my trip to Chi-town this week got nixed. He’ll be one month old tomorrow. It sucks being 5 ½ hours away from him. But at least they will be here for Easter. Hi, Gabe! Auntie misses you!! (yes, my one month old nephew reads my blog. He's a genius baby, it runs in the family)
11. This blog entry is getting long…I’ve probably lost my two readers already. Maybe I should learn how to insert pictures to keep it interesting. Hmmm, that would entail actually taking some pictures to post….
    
    Ok, I’m done for the day. Thanks for reading!!! Till next time!

Bad, Bad Blogger...and Other Fun Stuff

"How can I spy on you if you don't write in your blog?"
"You haven't written in your blog since November 15."
".....no updates for quite a while. :) Nudge, nudge."
"I've seen no blog updates.......I know you are still alive and pedaling, and even kicking and running....."

Ok, ok, I'm here! Sheesh! I had no idea I had such a captive audience! Lots has happened since I wrote in my blog LAST YEAR, but I'll give you a quick summary then get to the most recent stuff.

November/December - Thanksgiving, my sister's baby shower, snow storms, Christmas, New Years Eve. Notice not a lot of training in that list? Yeah that's cuz I slacked off.

Early January - Pain. Soreness. Exhaustion. Notice now I started my training again. It is unbelievable how quickly you lose your endurance when you slack off. I told Coach Mike I wanted no more rest days in my schedule. I have a race in three months! Yeah, well, I didn't expect him to listen to me. But he did. Workout after workout after workout. More and more mileage...harder and longer intervals. Yikes! It's all good though...exactly what I needed to get back on track.

Mid January to late January - Extreme pain. I was in the middle of the first "long" run of the month - I think it was a 6 miler - and I felt a cramp in my right calf. I stopped the rat wheel (aka treadmill) and stretched as best I could. But apparently my cramps are as stubborn as I am and it wouldn't go away. I had to abandon my run after 4 miles. Then for the next two days, I could barely walk let alone think about running on it. I was still able to do bike workouts, but running was out of the question.

Two days after incurring this injury, I packed up my car and headed east to the southern suburbs of Chicago to stay with my sister while we anxiously awaited the arrival of the first baby in the family. The little bugger was due on January 22, so I thought heading out the weekend before was good...she'd have the baby, I'd be home in a week, right? WRONG. The little monster decided to stay in hiding an extra week, so I was there for two entire weeks. Luckily I was able to work out a nice deal at the local Lifetime Fitness facility to be able to keep up my training. I took advantage of the hot tub at the gym to do some therapy on my sore calf muscle. Combined with a nightly regimen of stretching, using The Stick, and applying a generous amount of IcyHot, I was able to get my calf rehabbed and back on the rat wheel, I mean treadmill. I was also able to take some great spin classes while I was there and use the lap pool to get my swimming done. I was on FIRE with my workouts, getting every single one in.

January 29, 2008 - This was, by far, the absolute best day of my life. This was the day my nephew Gabriel Wesley was born. My sister and her husband gave me the most amazing opportunity to be part of the delivery and bringing Gabe into this world. I can't even begin to explain to them, or to anyone else, how honored I was to be part of that. It was truly an incredible experience. He's so cute I had to show everyone...

February - Back to the training grindstone. I took a few days off to spend with Gabe after he came home from the hospital, but I headed home on Saturday. It was time to come back and get focused on my training again. So here I am. No current injuries to report. Nothing to complain about (ok well maybe that 8 mile run Coach Mike has in my plan for this weekend). So, I think my work here is done. I promise I will be back soon...and not two months later!

To half or quarter, that is the question

So it's official. I suck at blogging. It's been almost a month since my last entry, not that anyone has missed me or anything! Things have been busy with work, training, personal stuff. But whose life isn't busy crazy hectic out-of-control?? Get over yourself already, tribeaner, and write in your damn blog!

I had a heart to heart with my coach about this Half Ironman thing in Galveston. While the competitive spirit in me is strong and kicking, the rest of my body hasn't quite been as cooperative the past month or so and has set my training back a bit. We are proceeding somewhat cautiously through my training plan, slowly ramping up the distance and intensity of all the workouts. The problem is, we have to go so slowly to avoid re-injury that it now looks like I won't be adequately prepared to do the HIM in March. Wait, let me clarify that a bit. I COULD do it. I COULD enter and finish the HIM. But, it would hurt. A lot. And maybe even end up getting re-injured and affecting my entire 2008 season. I'm working way too hard to risk that for one race. So, instead of doing the half, I'm going to sign up and do the Quarter IM race in Galveston. And I'm ok with that. Not to mention this means I get to compete and cheer on Greyt too!

OK so a quick training update for my avid readers (yes, Mom, that's you). My running is coming along pretty well and Coach is pushing me to be more consistent with my pace - especially during races. I have a tendency to go a little too fast out of the gate, then struggle at the end. So we're working on that. Biking...well that's coming along just fine, except I get pretty bored on my trainer. It's going to be a long winter. And, finally, swimming. Normally this is where I'd start throwing my pity party. I can't swim, I'm too slow, blah blah blah. Not today, my friends. For the first time, I actually had a swim workout that I got excited about. Now for any of you real swimmers out there, this probably isn't going to seem like much. But if you know where I came from, you'd realize this is a big deal. This week, I actually swam 1800 yards without stopping. Not even once to catch my breath or to lament about how bad I suck. I just kept swimming. And it felt great. And for the first time I thought maybe, just maybe, I might be turning into a swimmer. Imagine that.

Full Steam Ahead

I'm finally back to being healthy again, and my training is going well. My runs have felt pretty good, staying pretty consistently at about 4 miles each workout right now. I'm going to talk to my coach to see about bumping that up soon. I know he's been careful to not overload me since I haven't been 100%, but hopefully now we can start to kick things up again. I'm doing a 5K this weekend and I'm really excited to see what kind of pace I put up. I'm trying not to have too many expectations, just want to go run and see what happens.

Biking is going very well. I seem to be picking up speed with each endurance ride I do. I'm still having saddle issues, but I think that is just the way it's going to be for me. I'm enjoying the long rides, but really need to find some different routes to ride. The same trail is getting pretty boring.

Swimming. *sigh*. My Greyt friend keeps telling me to focus on how much improvement I've made since last February and not get disappointed in myself. But it's really really hard. As she announced last night in the locker room after tri training class, I am a perfectionist. I admit it. I know I have issues with that. But it just drives me insane to be one of the slowest swimmers in class. Now that I'm not having the same pain in my shoulder, maybe my coach will start incorporating some speed drills into my workouts. I'm ready to start seeing an improvement in my speed...now that I know I won't drown.

Alright, I suppose I should get back to work. I'll try to be better about posting more often. Just been a lot going on the last couple of weeks. Have a great day!

Back in the saddle

Not everything is 100% back to normal after my little episode the past 11 days, but I'm slowly regaining strength and energy. I'm afraid of taking too much time to recover, I don't want it to affect my training for Galveston. So, I'm back at it, plugging away at my workouts again.

Monday was tri training class at the Y, so I got in a good swim workout. Still having a little trouble with my nagging right shoulder soreness, but I'm definitely getting further in my swims than I have been. Tuesday night was a HR controlled run. I felt pretty good during the run, but not really great yet. Then last night was an interval bike workout. I had high hopes for this bike workout. See, before I managed to get sick, my coach and I worked for what seemed like HOURS on my saddle position in hopes that it would alleviate some, uh, issues I was having when I would ride. Yeah, well, it really didn't. This saddle thing is driving me crazy. I just cannot seem to get it into a "comfortable" position. Maybe I'm just a big baby. That could be true. Perhaps every cycle chick has these same issues, they just don't complain about them as much as I do. It's going to be a long 56 miles come March if I don't find a solution or develop some kind of tolerance. If anyone is out there actually reading this and has any advice, shoot it my way!

Boy do I sound like a big ole pile of whiney poo or what???

Pass the Pepto

One week down. Twenty five weeks to go. And it was not a pretty week. Training this week consisted primarily of interval sets: 15 x 7 (60 min). Make sense? Well, let me explain. Fifteen yards equals the precise distance from my bed to the porcelain throne. The number of repeats varied by day, but 7 was pretty much the average for the first part of the week. And the 60 minutes represents the maximum amount of rest I managed between each of these intervals. Not exactly the prescribed workout my coach had in mind for this week, but you know what they say about the best laid plans…

I was able to get in a little real training this week – some physical some mental. A very slow four mile group run on Thursday highlighted my inability to stay hydrated during the intervals of the previous three days. Then a 5K race today - one I had hoped to use to gauge my run improvement over the past month, but ended up being more of an exercise in mind over body thinking than anything. This was the first race I ever had to will myself through. The first mile went pretty well then I hit a wall. I bonked. Lack of hydration and proper nutrition during the week led to a serious energy deficit. But I didn’t quit. I finished, in no record time, but I finished.

Hopefully next week goes a little better. I know the race is still a long time from now, but I can feel that familiar fluttering of panic in my gut, reminding me that I’m not a strong swimmer and the Gulf of Mexico is NOT the same as the YMCA pool. Or maybe that fluttering is a reminder that another interval session is about to take place. I better run....till next time.