JOURNAL

9/17/08

I managed my first run in over 8 months.  It wasn't that bad.  I only ran for 20 minutes.  I couldn't believe that my hamstring was jacked up the next day.  I have had the same hamstring issue in the past.  However; it generally occurs after some serious training.  If I am consistent with rolling on it, the hamstring problem goes away.  Rolling on it is so painful. 

Yesterday, I got in the water for the first time in a little over a month.  I could not believe how terrible I felt.  I thought I would feel awsome since I didn't have the extra weight or the big barge of a belly getting in the way of being streamline.  I did about a 1200 and thought that was a good start to working out.

9/09/08

Wow, I just had another birthday.  I didn’t think it was possible to forget about your own birthday.  I got a phone call from my friend, Diane, who wished me a happy birthday and that is when I remembered.  Just goes to show that I must be getting old. 

Growing up birthdays were a big thing in my family.  It was your day to be the queen of the household.  Your diner chair was decorated and you got to pick your favorite meal.  It was such a special day.

Yesterday I got projectile vomit from my three week old and a birthday cake from my husband along with DVR service; which is what I asked for as a gift.  I also worked my morning guppies out.  Skirt boy complained that the practice was too much like masters practice (which is not true).  Workouts must get harder and change when everyone keeps improving.  That evening I conducted track practice.  Everyone did a great job.  I almost had one person vomit.  I told them they get a dollar if they get sick.  Not too great of an incentive to have someone actually do it.  In reality I don’t want them getting sick doing my track practice.  It would kind of defeat the purpose. 

9/05/08

Did I tell you that we finally had to put our cat down.  It was aweful.  No medication helped her.  She peed everywhere, would get sick at her food bowl and do deep meowls that sounded as though she were hurt.  It was such a heart renching decision. I miss her.  I know all you cat haters don't understand.  Anyway, no animals for me for quite awhile. 

Next Thursday I have to go to the Immigration office in Norfolk.  I have to renew my "green card", which is another way of saying "permanent residency" card.  I have an interview, they call it Biometrics.  It seems that a perminent residency card is only good for up to 10 years, then you must re-new.  It isn't cheap either.  So, hopefully I will pass and be able to stay.....I say that sarcastically as I am married, have a child, and contribute to society.  Or at least I like to think so:)

I have started making my training plan up.  Running will commense September 15th. I am a little scared.  I did light weights today.  Wonder if I will be sore tomorrow.  And I am still not sure when I should and can get back into the water.  Although the Y pool is going to be crazy busy and there won't be a lot of times for open swimming.  I already know Y members are going to be complaining about the lack of open swim times.  I am glad I am not the Aquatics director.

9/01/08

Remember when I said I was so tired from only taking care of a baby for a day, just as tired as when I would finish a seven hour training day?  Well, I had forgotten that I had taken a Benedryl.  That Benedryl is what kicked my butt that day.  I am starting to get into the groove of being a mother.  The sleep issue isn't as bad as I thought it would be.  Although, I am sure I will feel differently when I start getting back into training.  I have a friend who said that she started doing Pilates in her hospital room the day after giving birth.  It has been 16 days since I gave birth and I still don't feel totally right.  Until I do, I think I am going to be on the "not doing much of anything category".  That seems work the best for my body.

I haven't been keeping up much with the Ironman races.  It is still hard to read about them, or even watch them on TV.  It shouldn't be, but it is.  Chris is the one that stays in the know and gives me updates on who is winning and who is doing what.  For right now, that is good enough for me.  I am researching and studying a little more the different training philosophies.  It is very interesting.  There are training philophies that contradict one another, yet they have all had success.  It goes to show that as an athlete the best thing you can do is really be a researcher on yourself and find out what works and what doesn't. I am happy to know that I can't handle a large training load and that I need lots of recovery.  I call it the lazy athletes training plan:)

8/28/08

I am not sure where the days are going.  I haven't left this house but for a max. of an hour, perhaps an hour and a half a couple of times.  Can't do much when you are feeding a new born.  Who knew they needed to eat every two hours from the start of one feeding to the start of the next.  That makes feedings very time consuming.  There are so many things that I don't know about infants, it makes doing training plans seem so simple.

I have been enjoying having people come over to visit me and Skylar.  The social interaction is nice.  It cracks me up that at the end of the day I am just as exhausted as when I finished doing my longest ironman training day.  What is up with that? 

We have been needing rain and are finally getting it.  The only problem with it is that is either feast or famin.  When it rains all day it really interupts my walks that I love to take.  Who would have thought that a simple walk could be so cathartic.  Before I really only enjoyed the running; although I am looking forward to the day I go for my first run.  That will be something to talk about, I am sure. 

8/26/08

Skylar McRae Holloway was born August 16th 2008.  She weighed 8 lbs 10.5 oz.  and was 21 and 1/4 inches long.  Labor and Delivery was the hardest thing I have ever done.  Mild labor pains start Friday morning at 1:45 am.  I was excitted because I thought my daughter would be born on the same day as my dad.  After receiving an epidural (sp?), constant local anesthesia because the epi only took to one side, two different antibiotics (one because I carry the strep virus, half of mothers do and half don't, another because I was getting sick and spiking a fevor) and lastly I recieved potoson (sp?), I delivered the baby on Saturday at 7:18 am.  PHEW!!!

Silly me thought that once I gave birth everything would be back to normal, body wise. Not so! My insides felt as though they were up in my rib cage. I was told that I couldn't lift anything over 10lbs. I am still not sure how Paula Ratcliff got back into such great running shape so soon after giving birth. I still don't feel right and it has been 10 days. I am going for walks, but they are slow. My bike is calling my name, but that won't be happening for a while.

I was at a party for an Ironman finisher several weeks ago.  It was funny to hear his brother talk about how Pro's have it easy compared to the average athlete because all they have to do is train.  I was thinking....I WISH that were the case.  I guess what most people don't realize is that the average pro has to still work in order to pay bills, and pay for their training and racing as well.  Now that I have a daughter to look after, I am wondering how I am going to fit everything in between training, working and having a family.  URGH!!!! 

7/17/08

I can't believe it is already time for Ironman USA.  I have four athletes competing in that race.  Each of them is ready to have a great race.  It is a matter of going out there and keeping their heads on their shoulders.  Staying in the moment and not letting those bad moments bring them down.  It is hard being a coach.  No matter what happens I always feel some responsiblity for the outcome.  In the end I know that the training has been good and that they have done the work.  I always have a feeling of accomplishement when I get my athletes to the starting line injury free.  Anyway, I hope they go out there and have a great experience (two of them will be doing their first ironman).

I am enjoying the water more and more.  The only problem is that when I am on the pool deck for hours at a time giving lessons, the last thing I feel like doing is staying and getting into the water.  I just want to leave.  Once I leave I want to kick myself for not staying and swimming.  I have started to wear a two piece suit.  I apologize if I offend anyone, but trying to put a one piece suit on is a workout in itself. I am sweating and tired once I get that thing up and over my shoulders.  So the big bare tummy is available for everyone to see.  Although I do try and cover up until I have to get into the pool.  My swimming has gotten sooooo slow it is ridiculous.  I can't stand to do timed repeats because the intervals have to painfully slow in order for me to make them.  Now I just go back and using as many different pieces of equipement to make it interesting.

In the newsletter section I posted an article on Darra Torres that you all might find interesting.

7/07/08

Just when I thought I heard it all someone comes up with a new pregnancy question that blows my mind.  It wasn't really the question, it was more what she had to say after she asked the question.  I am standing in  line with a friend at the grocery store.  This lady comes up and asks when I am due.  I tell her the month.  She then asks what is the date.  I tell her, then she proceeds to tell me she wanted to know because her daughter is due a week or so later than me and she thinks her daughter is too large.  I felt really sorry for her daughter.  I told the lady she needed to be kind to her daughter and walked away.

Anyway, I am proud to say that I am still able to do flip turns when I am swimming.  Using a pull buoy and doing flip turns is getting a little tricky.  Watching the Olympic trials has motivated me to get into the water a little more often.  Dara Torres is so unbelieveable.  Her stroke is beautiful.  She is such an inspiration for people who feel as though they are getting old when they hit there fourty's.  Truely I aspire to be like her.  Having the kind of financial backing that she has would help out tremendously:)  Somehow I don't think that I will be fortunate enough to have that kind of backing, but it is nice to dream about it.  I had hoped that the TV camera's would have shown a little more under water swimming.  Hopefully they will do that when the Olympics are on.

I am excited for my athetes racing Lake Placid this year.  It is less than two weeks away.  They all seem ready to go out there and race.   Everyone is healthy and injury free.  I am loving their excitement.  And I really wish that I could be there to watch them race.  Unfortunately I will be 36 weeks pregnant and flying is out of the question.  And as much as I would love to be there I am not sitting in a care for 14 hours.  YUK!

6/30/08

Well...HELLO!  Guess it has been a while. I don't really have much of an excuse other than the fact that I haven't really felt like myself.  I am now 33 weeks pregnant and feel as big as a whale.  I am no longer sick as a dog, just a little restricted, as far as moving about goes.  It is getting hard to bend over.  I have been swimming, water jogging and walking.  That has been it.  I am jealous of the cyclists and runners right now.  Unlike a friend of mine who can't run at the moment, I have not had the urge to run any of them over. 

Guess I am not quite as angry as I was earlier in my pregnancy.

I am getting hungry to start training once again.  Wendy Ingrahm is due to have her baby a week before me.  She is planning on going to watch The Hawaii Ironman and asked if I was going to go.  It would be great to go out there and watch everyone race, but I don't think it will be financially possible.  How much fun would that be?  Although it could be hell, not knowing what it would be like to have to tote along an infant. 

I am very excited about watching the Swimming Olympic trials.  I got goose bumps watching the 400 IM world records being broken.  I just love watching great swimming.  It surprises me at how close they have to qualify for the Olympics before they have to leave for the games and peak once again.  I will be glued to the TV for the next week.

4/22/08

I meant to write sooner, but my page was down for a couple of days and then I couldn't figure how to connect to the page.  Obviously I figured it out.

I am not quite as grumpy these days.  I have come to the conclusion that my running days are over until I have this baby.  A little upsetting but best for my bladder.  The biking is down to a minimum as, once again, the bladder is not appreciating the pressure.  Too much info?  I apologize.  At first I was beating myself up about not biking and running.  People are always saying that they did these activities up until they were 8 months pregnant. So, I was thinking why not me?  I must be a slack.  Then I just started to remember what I learned by doing triathlons, and that is everyone is different.  The best triathletes listen to their bodies and do what their bodies are telling them.  I figure I should take this advice and apply it to my pregnancy. I am now accepting the fact that swimming, walking, ellyptical, and stairs will be my cardio workouts for the next three months.

I haven't gotten quite as many idiotic comments lately about me being pregnant.  However this lady, who I have never asked for her opinion, keeps insisting that I have been so ill during my pregnancy because I am old.  I really want to knock her out.  It is the most absurd thing I have heard. 

You would think that I would be dreaming about triathlons because I miss the training and the building up for the races.  But No!  I have been dreaming about Brad Pitt and I being buddies and him telling me about this lady who gives really good facials.  FIrst of all I am not particularily a Brad Pitt fan, and secondly I have never had a facial.  Is that wierd or what? 

I had lots more to talk about but my memory has been very good, but short and I can't remember what else I had to say.  I am sure it will all come back, so stay tuned:)

4/09/08

I don't think peole realize how sensitive pregnant women can be.  I guess I shouldn't talk for the masses, I will only talk on my behalf.  Telling me that it is good that I having BIG thighs because that means I will have an intelligent child is NOT a compliment.  I like to think of my thighs as strong.  They have certainly done well for me during Ironman racing.  Saying that the reason I am so sick during pregnancy is due to the fact that I am OLD does not make me feel happy either.  Asking other people, who later tell me, what has happened to Karen?  She is getting out of shape; really perplexes me.  I am five and a half months pregnant can't you tell?  And of course my belly is going to start popping out.

URG!!!

On to other matters.  When you have lessons or appointements scheduled show up on time.  Remember your time is no more important than someone else's.  Being late once or twice is understandable, but EVERY time is RIDICULOUS!  Especially when you are fifteen minutes late and the lesson is only thrity minutes.

Can you tell that I am an Angry woman?  Keep this in mind when you have a lesson with me.  I WILL be taking it out on you.  But don't worry it will only make you better:)  Now if you really anger me WATCH OUT:)

On to a happy subject.  I went and watched the Monument 10K last weekend.  It was perfect running weather.  I am sure the runners would have prefered it if it had not rained, but nonetheless not too hot or cold.  It was amazing to watch the masses of people running.  As usual there were some awesome costumes.  The great thing was that everyone that I knew made a personal best time or pretty close to it.  It is amazing because of how many people were running in that race.  Sharon Wake did PR and placed fourth in her age group....Great job!

4/03/08

Here I am five months pregnant.  I can still tell that people are looking at me thinking "why has she got a beer gut?"  They look me up and down and then ask me....."So what races are you planning on doing this year?"  That is when I give them the news that I am halfway through my pregnancy and can't think of racing until I pop the baby out.  Then they generally look relieved.  I guess I am looking more fat then pregnant these days. 

I am exercising a little bit each day.  Not what I would like to do.  A matter of fact sometimes I feel a little bit of shame in the lack of working out that I am doing.  Especially after reading what Paula Ratcliff did while she was pregnant.  There is no earthly way I can even come close to what she did running wise.  The minute I go out the door to start my jog I feel as though I need a potty break....I am officially one of those people who I used to wonder "how can they possibly run that slow?"  I have a new found appreciation for going at a double didget miles per hour pace.  And quite frankly proud that I am out there pounding the pavement, even if it is only four thirty minutes.  Hats off to those of you who could run hours while pregnant.  These days more than wishing to get back to a normal training program, I am just hoping that my heartburn and indigestion will soon pass. 

2/28/08

I have been reluctant to write in my journal.  I had been feeling great last week and then on Saturday had a turn of events stopped feeling well.  I had been swimming, running, and walking on a regular basis.  I had to take Sunday, Monday and Tuesday off this week, and I hate doing that. 
Heartburn has been killing me.  I was taking prilosec.  I told my friend that I needed to call my doctor to make sure "prilosec" was okay to take.  She was confused and asked why I would ask if a "pile of sex's" was bad?  Obviously a little mixed up of words took place and I had to correct what she had heard.  It turns out that Prilosec is not one of those drugs I can take.  URG!!!  It was working so well.

My master swim classes have been crazy large.  I think last night might have been the largest class thus far.  I had thirty three people show up.  I took over all six lanes at the Y pool.  If possible I am to leave at least one lane, if not two lanes open for lap swimmers.  Unfortunately it was not possible last night.  The swimmers ability levels range from beginner swimmers to ex-collegiate swimmers making the need for different lanes a necessity.  Plus I have to teach some lanes about pool etiquette.  I think most everyone is starting to catch on.

2/05/08

I have started to somewhat training.  It feels great.  Not to mention the weather has been terrific.  I ran yesterday for a little over a half hour.  I am embarrassed to say that it was a tough run.  Not so long ago I used to be able to do that run in 25 minutes and it felt good...not too fast and not too slow.  Now it takes me 34 minutes and it doesn't matter which direction I am running.  I am plain slow.  My goal for the next month is going to be to get that time down.  I have added walking to my exercise program as it is something that I can do for a long period of time without feeling like I am going to die.  I am sure my running endurance will get better as my "all day sickness" eases up and I am able to become more consistent:)  As I said last week, I have even been getting in the water.  It feels great, the problem now is that my right shoulder is bothering me.  How can that be?  I took a month and a half, maybe two off and I get back in the water to have my shoulder bothering me?  That makes no sense.  I am not going to complain too much since I am actually moving around.  I need to be moving around as my favorite food item right now seems to be cheeseburgers.  I am ashamed to say it, but yes, cheeseburgers.  At this stage of the game I am willing to eat anything that makes me feel okay. 

1/27/08

I got in the water today with my new thick strapped swim suit from Splish.  It is pink with cherries all over it.  Very cute.  It did it's job.  I got lots of compliments and my friend said she couldn't tell that my tata's were that much larger (they really are).  I am now going to be very confident swimming in the pool once again.  I had one of my swimmers show up and tell me I looked like strawberry short cake.  I'll go for that.  I have been called much worse:)

I don't know why people hire me to work with them and then don't follow what I tell them to do.  I have this one swimmer who I have been trying to convince to do catch-up for his main stroke.  I just want him to swim catch-up all the time for a couple of weeks.  It is faster than his normal stroke.  It never fails, whenever I see him practicing he is doing his same old stroke.  I finally video taped him doing his same old stroke and him doing the catch-up and he couldn't believe how much better he looked doing catch-up.  If he had listened to me to begin with we would be so much further in his stroke improvement than he is at this time. He will learn just like all the other swimmers to trust what I say, that or I will be sure he suffers during every swim lesson he has with me:)

1/23/08

I can't say anything too exciting has been happening around here.  I got an ultra sound the other day.  I am officially ten weeks and 3 days pregnant.  The fetus (such an ugly name)  has a head, body and tiny arms and legs.  It was really cool to see.

I have not been doing as much running as I had hoped, as I am still a little nauseous.  When will it go away???  I did get my new Splish bathing suits today which I am hoping will give me motivation to get into the water.  I think I am going to be doing a lot of swimming. 

Track practice on Tuesday was a little scarce once again.  I made the group do steep short hill repeats with a small pacing set on the track afterwards.  Everyone did really well.  Pacing is still tough for some of the runners.  I think it is really important, and like everything, it get's easier the more you practice.

There is a group training for Ironman Brazil and one guy I know training for Ironman New Zealand from this area.  I remember having those early season races and am glad I am not doing one.  It is tough to get the mileage on the bike at this time of the year.  Not only because it is chilly, but the days are still too short.  My hats off to them.  But New Zealand (and I am sure Brazil) are cool places to visit.  As long as you don't mind sitting on a plane for a long period of time.

1/21/08

I have found that the athletes that I am working with are getting all soft.  Last week we had track practice and half the people didn't show because it was "too cold".  That is such a lame excuse.  Everyone that was there warmed up quickly and even my run walker was sweating at the end.  We have been spoiled by the warm weather we have been getting recently.  Personally I would much rather be outside running in the cold weather than on a treadmill.  15 minutes on a treadmill is like 2 hours running outside.  On the other hand, I do understand not getting on the bike in this weather.  I tried it and my feet and hands NEVER warmed up.  It was miserable.  I better see more people at track practice this coming up Tuesday.

I ran for a half hour the other day.  I finally felt well enough to get up and move around.  It felt great to run.  The only problem was that I was running with Katie and she was going a little fast for me.  By the end of the run I was falling back and not feeling so good to the stomach.  That was a little frustrating, but I can move and do things again without wanting to die...YEAH! 

1/17/08

I feel very silly when I tell you this, but I have been feeling so bad that I haven't been able to write.  I haven't even made phone calls or answered calls.  It sounds ridiculous, but that is the truth.  Today is a very good day.

I wrote in my journal on Monday and waited for my husband to come home and proof it because he said I was making way too many spelling and grammar errors.  I figure if I get my point across it really doesn't matter since this is never going to be going to be published and it is all about "stuff".  Anyway, somehow I lost the draft that I wrote and my husband wasn't able to read it and it was too late to re-write.  All that to say, Monday's journal entry never made it, and the mistakes will continue to be made.

On Monday moring I was conducting my guppies swim class.  Everyone had finished up the set that I had given them and I was starting to explain the next drill they were going to do; when the lifeguard yelled "put your shorts on!"  We all turned and looked at this man who had walked out the locker room door and was naked.  We all got the full frontal shot.  The man turned around and went back into the locker room.  All the guppies and myself couldn't believe what had just happened.  No more than two minutes later the man re-appeared with his shorts on and made his way to the pool to swim.  I think that put us in more shock.  I think we all agreed that if that had been us we would have high tailed it out of the Y and not returned for several weeks.  Some people have no shame.

1/09/08

Now that everyone knows my big secret I think I will vent a little bit or a lot, just because.  I had to call up Splish and order new swimsuits because my new suits don't quite fit over the new bodacious tata's that I have recently acquired.  Some people may like having bodacious tata's, but I am one that would be quite happy without them.  That is one reason why I have not been in the water swimming.  In the suits I have right now my tata's would be falling out everywhere.  Most people would not appreciate it.  I will be in the water soon, swimming on my own...very slowly only because if I do anything too strenuous my gag reflex starts to take over....urg!!!!

I was thinking that perhaps I might be able to do some racing in November of 2008.  Not sure if I would be ready for Ironman Arizona, but that would be interesting to see if that would be at all possible.  HMMMM!  I know I shouldn't probably think that far in advance.  I will have to live vicariously through my friends racing this year.  That is going to be a whole new experience.  I think I can be a pretty good cheerleader.  In the mean time I am going to study up on exercise physiology and sports psychology, there is no better time to do it than now.  I got to say, it is hard thinking that I don't have a big race to train for this year.  I do love the whole experience of training and racing, guess that is what keeps me coming back every year.

1/07/08

The other day I went to a Sports Medicine Doctor's office to watch my swimmer (I work with her in the gym) get her knee shot up with Cortisone.  It was pretty amazing to watch a long needle just glide into the knee so easily.  Of all things, my swimmer has been having knee issues while swimming.  The fly seems to irritate it the most.  It is the most bizzare thing that I have ever seen or heard.  Her knees swell up and become stiff.  It doesn't just happen in the water.  If she has been walking a lot the swelling and stiffness happens as well.  I am so perplexed.  I am hoping the cortisone will relieve her pain.  My fingers are crossed.

I talked to Amanda Lavato the other day.  She and Michael are off to Austin for some winter training.  I would love to be there with them.  Although the weather here has been wonderful.  Too bad I haven't been doing much training.  I have done a couple of runs and for some reason I haven't been  into swimming.  As my friend would say....I guess I have lost my Mojo. Okay maybe it is time that I come clean........I am two months pregnant.  The past couple of weeks has been so difficult because I have been so sick.  They say this nausea and sickness stuff is suppose to pass after your first trimester.  I am praying.  This is harder than any ironman that I have ever done.  So for all you people who have carried a child and think you can't do an Ironman......believe me when I say YOU CAN!

1/04/08

I did not feel good at all yesterday.  I did workout on the elliptical and do some weights.  My legs are sore this morning from all the lungs that I did.  I hate to stop doing weights.  Even if it is just for a week.  I always get so sore once I get back into the gym. 

I had master's on Wednesday night.  There were a fare number of people who showed up.  My workout consisted of quite a bit of kicking.  It amazes me how many people cannot kick well.  I used to avoid putting kicking sets into practice because I knew people hated it, but then I decided that they needed to get over it and learn.  Kicking is important in swimming.  It helps to get the body in proper body position in the water, and it really help with propulsion.  It cracks me up to see everyone always working on what they can already to fairly well.  Most people like to avoid doing what is difficult.  If they only knew how much it would improve their swimming.  I find many people like to be mindless when they are training.  That is fine.  You can do that.  However; if you want to get better, mindless training is not going to cut it.  You have to be aware of what you are doing all the time.  Thinking about the things you need to improve on and consistently thinking about it during training.  It isn't easy. But being successful means not just doing the work, but doing the work well....and that is true for anything that you want to accomplish in life..

By the way, check out Deanna Boehm's article in my Newsletter on Believing:)

1/02/08

It is the new year!  I have not been able to write for so long for a very good reason.  I have been flat on my back feeling awful.  Lots of nausea.  That let's you know how much training I have been doing.....close to non.  I have managed to go for a couple of runs.  The weather here has been just beautiful.  It is going to become really cold soon.  That seems to be the trend we have been having for the past couple of years.  Warmish weather, then plain freezing for what feels like forever.

I had a 5:00 am lesson this morning.  It was the first early morning lesson I have had in a long time.  Lately I have been sleeping in until 10:30 am.  That is ridiculous.  Do you realize that sleeping in until 8:30 am used to be a chore?!!?!  I am not sure what is happening to me.  Anyway, 5:00 am about killed me.  I was fine until 8:00 am.  Then my eyes started to feel really heavy.  My next lesson wasn't till 9:15 am.  I decided to curl up on a chair in the aquatics office and close my eyes till the next lesson.  Can you believe I actually fell asleep?  I was all contorted.  The best part is that everyone can see perfectly into the office because it is all glass.  I am sure I looked ridiculous with my mouth half open, snoring and all. However, I did feel much better:)

12/18/2007

Less than ten days left till Christmas.  Where does the time go.  I kept meaning to write in my journal, but by the time I would get to it, I was too tired.  More about that later. My pink splish bathing suit has been found.  It was in the shower at the Y yesterday.  I saw it on the hook and said (out loud) "Hey, there's my swim suit".  I touched it and realized that it was wet.  That meant someone had worn it and that person was still in the shower.  I ran out to see the lifeguard and ask him if he had seen the person wearing my suit.  He said that he had.  It was some water aerobics participant.  At that point I knew that I never wanted the pink suit back.  I think the pink bathing suit thief heard me identifying my swim suit therefor decided to leave it there, so she wouldn't be seen leaving with it.  Unfortunately for her, I know who she is...heehee! 

Amanda Lavato had an interview with  slowtwitch.  She happened to mention my name:) and say some nice things about me.  If you are interested in reading the interview here is the link: http://www.slowtwitch.com/Interview/Get_to_know_Amanda_Lovato_153.html In the interview Amanda talks about Dara Torres, who is a 40 year old female swimmer who has qualified for the Olympics.  If you are interested in reading about Dara go to my Newsletter page.

Nothing too interesting about my training.  My longest run has been 57 minutes, my longest swim 3300 meters and my longest bike has been an hour on the stationary bike.  Not much eh!!!  I do love relaxing in the winter.  It is hard to get motivated when your house temperature is set on 64 degree's.  Getting out of bed is tough, and when you get home all you want to do is run and get into the bed and under the covers.  Lots of sleepy time for me.

12/10/07

I have my Christmas decorations up.  One old fake Christmas tree which will probably need to go into retirement next year.  It drops needles like you wouldn't believe and can barely keep the decorations on it's branches.  I also have a lot of Christmas shopping to do.  Every year I say I will start gift shopping for Christmas as soon as the new year starts.  It never happens.  Too bad, cause at some point before December 25th.  I am going to have to get out the door and get into some stores with, I am sure, a million other people who procrastinate.  . 

I still haven't received my bike back from Kevin.  It kills me not to have my bike on days like today.  I think it said that we had a high of 66 degrees.  How awesome is that?  I did go out in shorts and a short sleeve shirt and do an hour run.  I was actually sweating by the end of the run. 

Talking about going out running... Chris and I went for a run the other day.  A sweet dog started to follow us.  Chris thought he had hear the owner calling for the dog.  I picked the dog up and started to carry it back to where we thought we saw the owner.  It ends up there was no owner.  There we were stuck with this really cute dog.  We had to get back home because I was picking up my friends son from school.  Fortunately we found another dog lover (sucker) to take the dog and try to find the owner.  It appeared the dog had run through an invisible fence.  He had a shock caller on but no phone number to call or address.  Moral of the story put some identification on your dog whether he/she has a shock caller or not.

I did get on the internet today to see what races I wanted to do in 2008.  Unfortunately I still can't decide.  I tend to do the same old races over and over again.  I like familiarity.  However, I do know that it is good to try new races.  Guess I will put my decisions off for another day or two, or maybe three:)

12/06/07

The other day I thought I would go ahead and see what it was like to get my eyebrows waxed.  Seemed like a good idea at the time, as the place I was getting my haircut did waxing too.  I went in and the lady said that my skin around my eyes looked thin (what does that mean??).  I told her to wax away regardless of my thin skin.  Bad mistake.  Off came the hair and the skin with it.  It actually looked worse than it felt. 

The following morning I was excited to not have to get up at any particular time because all my morning lessons had canceled.  For some reason, I must have set my alarm, and had an early morning alarm going off in my ear.  I turned it off to only be woken up to my watch alarm going off, and then the phone ringing.  I figured that was a sign to get out of bed.  URG!!!!

On Tuesday morning I went to morning swim practice.  I am pulling wide with my left arm.  It doesn't feel like it, but apparently I am doing it.  I have to beg the coaches to watch my stroke.  I finally got Bill Ripol to help me out for a bit.  Changing that arm pull is really hard.  The following day I got back in the water to practice.  The problem was that I had no idea if I was doing it correctly or not.  I just do not have a feel for the proper way of pulling with that darned left arm.  It really helps me empathize with the swimmers I coach.  Not enough to stop yelling at them:)

12/03/07

I have this swim suit that I got from Splish. Splish has names for all their suits.  This particular suit is called "hypnotic pink".   It is very unique and I have gotten plenty of compliments on it.  The other day I left it in the shower stall.  Tilly, my swimmer buddy, happened to see the suit and knew it was mine.  She took it out of the shower stall and put it up on a hook for me to retrieve.  Sure enough it was gone by the next day when I went to get it.  It is no where to be found.  How disgusting is that?  Granted I should expect my stuff to disappear if I forget it, but a swim suit that has been obvioulsy worn a lot?  The weirdest part is if I see the person wearing the suit there will be no doubt that it is mine.  The suit is past the new stage almost to the throw away stage.

I went on a longish run today with fast paced runners today.  I was a little nervous about running with them.  I didn't think I would be able to keep up.  I surprised myself and did quite well.  The biggest issue I had on the run was my asthma.  I have got to remember to bring my inhaler with me when the weather gets cool  I have been running with a friend of mine, Darrin.  He has been great about running around my schedule.  He likes to run early (I mean crack of dawn early).  On the weekends, if I don't have to run at crack of dawn it isn't going to happen.  I think 8:30 am is early enough.  Darrin would disagree, but puts up with my selfishness.  I keep telling him that everyone appreciates him letting me get my extra beauty sleep.  I can be scary in the later part of the day if I haven't gotten enough sleep.  Talking about that, I need to get to bed as I am planning on making masters tomorrow morning.

12/01/07

Guess it is time for me to start getting the Christmas stuff out.  I am usually excited about decorating, but I don't have that same thrill to decorate this year.  However; today I am going to take the first step in decorating and bring the boxes out of the attic.

I did my longest run today.  It was quite by accident.  I ran 59 minutes.  The run felt great.  I was a little over dressed, but I would rather that then freeze.  The last fifteen minutes were difficult.  My legs were getting a little sore.  I am really trying to concentrate on my running form, but it is tough to tell if I am running the way I should once I start getting tired.  "The foot" (which is what I am now calling the stress fractured foot) feels great.  I am having absolutely no problems with it.  Every once in a while I will start to panic because I think I am starting to feel something...then I realize that it is the wrong foot that I am freaking out about. 

I am now swimming twice a week.  I haven't started biking yet as I don't have a bike.  I sent my bike off to get tuned up, and my bike guy is not having any inspiration to tune it up.  The people who know him like to think of him as somewhat of a biking Picasso.  He takes his sweet time, but you know you will be getting your bike back better than when it was brand new.  I just hope he gets inspired soon:)

11/28/07

There is nothing like getting up at 4:30 am to work with someone, only to get a text message, while you are walking out the door saying they need to cancel.  That is what happened to me.  I didn't go back to bed since I had another lesson at 6:00 am.  I figured I would be worse off going back to bed than staying up and making a good cup of coffee before my next lesson.  That caused me to take an hour and half nap later in the day.

I did my first long run today.  I ran fifty minutes.  That is long considering it has been close to three months since I have come close to running that distance.  It felt great!  The only issue I had was that my entire body was sore.  I have been working out a lot of people in the gym.  In the process I have been doing some of their exercises with them.  Needless to say in the process not only are they getting sore, but I am as well.  I am doing a core body shape class on Thursday mornings.  Two weeks ago when I did the class I was sore for close to four days.  I called everyone up who did the class to make sure that they were sore as well.  They all gave me the correct answer by saying that they were:)

The other night there was drama in the pool during masters swim practice.  It seems one guy felt as though another guy was swimming in the wrong lane.  We will call the guy with the problem guy "A".  The other guy who was swimming in the lane that was too slow for him, guy "B".  I am not sure if Guy B was tapping on guy A's feet, but as the story was told to me guy A got really mad.  He wanted to take guy B down.  No punches were thrown and guy A got kicked out of practice.  How exciting!!!

11/27/07

Yesterday while I was working out at the Y this man started to work out on the recumbent bicycle.  All of a sudden he started having problems.  The Y staff was on him right away.  The rescue squad was in the gym within minutes.  It ends up the gentleman was having a heart attack.  From what I understand he is fine.  Thank goodness.  It is always a little strange to be witness to those sorts of life events. 

Yesterday as Mark (my swimmer) got into the water and told me, before I started working with him, "I am not going to swim anything longer than 50's during this swim practice".  I told him that it was fine, as long as he warmed up with a 100 free style.  We argued and he finally took off and did the 100 free like I had asked him to do.  The rest of the practice I only made him swim repeated 50's doing different drills.  He got out of the water and proceeded to tell me that since he technically was employing me, I had to let him do what he wanted to do.  I explained to him that he employed me because he believed (like he should) that I knew what was best for him; therefore that made me the boss of him for the half hour swim session.  All that said, everyone who I work with, remember that I AM THE BOSS OF YOU.  SO, do as you are told:)

11/26/07

Wow, it has been quite a bit of time since I have been on my blog.  Thanksgiving already come and gone and sooner than later Christmas will be here.  My friend went to sign up for Ironman AZ.  Seems entry fees for the Ironman have gone up once again.  Now it is a low, low price of $500.00.  Makes you think twice about entering if you haven't totally committed to doing the race.

I have been back running.  The longest run thus far has been forty five minutes.  I am only running three times a week.  I don't want to do anything stupid and re-injure the foot.  I must still be limping.  People ask me why I am limping and I don't know why.  I am not in pain.  I guess I have become so acustome to limping.  Weird!

I have made no decisions as of yet on what races I will be doing next year.  I am actually thinking about doing a marathon at the beginning of March.  It would only be my second true marathon ever.  Chris (my husband) said he might do it.  I thought it would be something for us to do together.  Chris hasn't done a triathlon yet.  He always jokes and says that if he ever does a triathlon his first one will be the Ironman.  It is nerve racking enough for me to watch him run a marathon, I couldn't imagine watching him race an Ironman.

11/07/07

I had a track work out last night.  Not many people showed up.  It was a lovely night.  Most everyone is still recovering from Ironman Florida.  They have a good excuse for not showing.  The others were just slackers.  Lots of promises to show up, but in the end they were a bunch of no-shows.  Pay backs are hell!

I did do a walk and a small amount of running yesterday.  I think I ran a total of one mile.  Since I am seven weeks out from having this stress fracture, I thought I would give running a shot.  It went well, but I think I am going to give it one more full week off.  My legs are sore from the walk.  What is that saying for the kind of shape I am in?  It is so easy to get out of shape.  It is not fair that it is so hard to get back into shape. 

11/05/07

I went to Panama City last week work the Newton Running shoe booth at the Ironman Florida Expo.  I flew out of Richmond mid afternoon on Wednesday and flew into Atlanta.  While waiting for the connecting flight an announcement came over the loud speaker saying that they had over booked the flight and needed someone to give up their seat.  I knew that no one going to Panama city was about to give up their seats.  It was obvious that most everyone getting onto that plane was going for the race.  I am not sure what Delta ended up doing because we all boarded the plane and left on time.   I go into Panama City at 7:15 pm and got a taxi to take me to the hotel.  I met up with the rest of the Newton running shoe company and went out and eat.  The rest is a blur. 

The days went by quickly and we had so many people trying on the shoes leaving.  Coming back and trying them on again and generally buying a pair.  The Expo would open at ten and it would close at four, however our booth generally never finished up till a bit past five.  By the end of the four days I had sore thumbs from opening and closing several hundred shoe boxes.  The athletes were excitted and ready to race.  There was a lot of nervous energy.  I was a little jealous that I wasn't there to race.  Although I didn't have much time to dwell on it as I was kept busy the entire day explaining and putting people into shoes. 

I left on Saturday.  It was a great day for an Ironman race.  There was no wind and comfortable temperatures.  I believe the top seven woman broke the course record.  I flew back home ready to get into my own bed and have a good night sleep.

10/30/07

First I thought I would go to Ironman Florida and watch my friends/athletes race.  Then I decided that I would be better off staying at home and doing swim lessons.  As of last night I am going to Ironman Florida.  This seems to be the way things have been going for me for the entire year.  Yes, no, yes, maybe,yes...URGH!!!  I am going to be working at the Newton running booth.  It will be a lot of fun and, I am sure LOTS of work.  I hope the weather will be warm and I can do a little bronzing.  I haven't checked the weather planner yet.

I think I am starting to come down with a cold.  I have got this annoying little cough.  I am taking that Ziacam stuff and seeing if it really works.  I just find it hard to believe that I have caught something since I haven't been training much and I have been getting plenty of sleep.  Plus I got my flu shot and I am constantly washing my hands. 

I am getting the front steps fixed.  What started off as a small job has blossomed into a total mess.  Whoever decided to fix the steps before we owned the house caused an even bigger problem.  Now we are going to have very expensive brick steps that no one will notice.  At least they won't collapse on us which is what would have happened if we decided to do nothing.  That would have been a great injury to explain to everyone:)

Check out my newsletter page.  Once again Jay Mclaughlin wrote another great article!. 

10/28/07

I have taken a full two weeks off of training.  It always gets me excited to get back into the swing of things once again.  I still am not able to run or bike, but I think in another week I won't feel the stress fracture at all when I walk.  Good stuff!

The weather is starting to get chilly.  I am sure those who are training for Ironman Florida are glad that the race is in a week.  In my opinion, biking in the cold weather is just miserable.

Ulrike Schwalbe from  East Germany was here doing Long course worlds and  staying with a friend of mine.  Ulrike wants to get into racing more triathlons.  She told Meagan (My friend) that she needed help with her swimming.  Meagan thought that it would be great if I could help her out.  I met up with her at the YMCA and worked on her stroke.  She was a pretty good swimmer before I started to explain some of the fundamentals of swimming to her.  A matter of fact, she was fourth female pro at the Lanzarote Ironman.  That is impressive.  Lanzarote is suppose to be one of the toughest Ironman's to do.  As the lesson went on, I told her that I didn't think it was in my best interest to help her out (of course I was joking...sort of).  She is a very talented athlete.  I did enjoy working with her and hope that I helped her out.

Today is the X-terra world championship race in Maui.  I have been following the race.  The coverage isn't quite as good as the coverage that is given for the Ironman races.  Conrad Stoltz won the men's pro race and Julie Diben's won the woman's race.

10/18/07

Every day my foot seems to get better and better.  I can't wait to run and bike once again.  Although I have been finding that I am enjoying my swimming.  This week I have been really lazy and haven't gone to any morning swim practices.  I have just swum on my own.  That way I get to swim as slow as I like. 

I did some land work with a my swimmer yesterday.  Lots of land kicking, single bicycles, double bicycles, and scissor kicking.  I am feeling it today.  I am tempted to call her and make sure she is feeling it as much as me.  I will be disappointed if she isn't.

My dad came into town today.  He is down visiting a friend in Matthews County.  He likes to drive from Ottawa  to Richmond more than he likes to fly.  That way he can go anywhere he likes when he wants.  Makes sense, but it is a long drive.  He is always on the go, and I love that about him.

I am going to the airport to pick Fiona Dougherty up.  Gabriella (my homestay) is driving into town tonight.  Long Course Duathlon Championships is this Sunday.  The girl who won the Roth Ironman will be competing in this race as well.  From what I understand she is a fantastic biker and runner.  She passed both Belinda Granger and Joanna Lawn on the bike in Roth.  I am not sure who the favorites are going into this race, but I am hoping it will be an interesting race to watch.  Or at least as interesting as the Hawaii Ironman was this year.

10/11/07

I really don't have much to report today.  My foot is getting better daily.  I am going to retire the sandal I have had to wear on my "broken foot" and start wearing normal shoes.    I can't wait until I am able to do a little jog.  When I swam today I was able to lightly push off the wall with my foot.  These are the things that are exciting to me these days.  I was sitting at Starbucks with CR and saw a guy walking around with the same kind of sandal that I have on my foot.  I asked him what happened.  He said he broke his big toe while running.  I could only commiserate with him. 

To inspire myself to get in the water more often I bought some suits from Splish.  They are so much fun.  I suggest people go check out there web-site at www.splish.com.  I guarantee some of the suits will crack you up, plus you cancustomizee suits too. 

A little update on my cat.  Cali has been a very bad girl lately.  She has decided that pooping in the house is lots of fun.  I finally had to take her to the vet because I thought Chris might blow a gasket (plus she needed her shots).  The vet couldn't find anything wrong with her.  We decided to put her on Kitty prozac and wouldn't you know the pooping has stopped.  Who would have thought!!! 

10/09/07

I got my deep water running shoes yesterday and tried them out today.  I like them.  It gives a little more resistance versus water jogging without them.  They are comfortable as well.  I give them a big thumbs up:)

Today when I was at the Y I ran into this lady who is such the pessimist.  It drives me crazy.  She tried to tell me my stress fracture was due to the fact that I am getting old.  I told her age is not an excuse, that I see plenty of kids with broken arms, stress fractures, etc....  besides injuries and sports go hand in hand.  She just wouldn't let up.  Then she went on to tell me every single one of her ailments.  URG!!!  I couldn't get away from her fast enough.

You will need to click on my newsletter page and read Jay McLaughlin's article on being a triathlete.  Jay is a pretty amazing guy.  He is very kind and generous with his time and friendships.  Years ago he was biking and was hit by a car.  He almost died and was in a comma for quite a while.  He fully recovered with only having to wear a brace on his lower leg.  He keeps a picture of himself all hooked up to machines laying in the hospital to remind him of how fortunate he was to survive.  The amazing thing is that his favorite part of triathlons is still the bike.

10/08/07

The Hawaii Ironman is only five days away.  Most everyone racing is already there getting ready for the BIG race day.  The best athletes from all over the world competing at this historical race.  I hope everyone there is racing clean.  I hate to bring that up, but it is tough not to when so many people are now admitting to using drugs to help with their performances.  It is so disheartening to see Marion Jones come forward and admit to using drugs.  After all these years of denying it.  I can only hope everyone has a moral conscience racing in Hawaii and the "playing field" is even.

I know of two people from Richmond who are racing in Kona.  I hope they acclimating to the temperature and getting excited.  It will be interesting to see how the winds are this year.  The past two years have been great racing years since the winds were so calm.  I talked to Amanda yesterday.  She was giving me a little update on what was happening in Kona. 

Carol Sharpless was out on her bike training with Joanna Zieger and a friend when she over corrected and slammed on her breaks.  She flew over her handle bars and broke her back and both writs.  I can't imagine the pain that she is in, and how devastated she must be.  I pray she has a full and quick recovery.  It is so important to ALWAYS pay attention when riding out on the road cycling.  Thank goodness she was wearing a bike helmet.  Makes me thankful for my little stress fracture. 

On another note Michael Lavato who is in Kona has forgotten something very important at home.  He has done it again!  When he raced in CDA he forgot his nutrition.  This time he forgot his wheels.  It's great that he got to Hawaii in plenty of time to have his race wheels shipped to him.  Goes to show how important it is to make that travel list and check it twice.  Best of luck Michael! 

10/03/07

I am back to talk about strange things that people say on the pool deck.  There is this lady who hobbles out onto the pool deck to do her water aerobics class.  For some strange reason she feels the need to stop where I am standing to complain about people splashing water up on the pool deck.  She says it is slippery and dangerous.  I am not sure what she wants me to do about it, but I can tell you one thing.  That pool deck is NEVER going to be dry.

Since I am no longer able to bike (Newby said "think where your cleat is and where the ‘stress’ and force goes through – need to lay off for a couple of weeks at least to let the actual fracture line heal, and then just spin.  I can only imagine you biking even harder and with more power with limited running – that is most likely what turned inflammation/ stress reaction into an actual fracture.  But you would only feel it on the run on impact, but the biking was most likely doing most of the damage.)  That being said I have ordered some AQX deep water running shoes.  They are suppose to help to simulate running on land a little better than just running in the water with a jogging belt around your waste.  I will be interested to see how well they work or if I will even like them.  They are what Michellie Jones used when she was injured before her Hawaii race in 2006.

I will be having a couple of people stay at my house for the Long Course Duathlon worlds which is being held here in Richmond.  There are a couple of pro's who I race against who are doing the duathlon.  Fiona Dougherty, and Gabriella Loskotova are the two who I am setting up for home-stays.  They both are strong runners.  I have heard that the course is difficult.  It will be fun to go out and watch.

9/27/07

People watching can be a lot of fun, especially at the YMCA.  The other day I was waiting for a swim lesson to show up.  I couldn't help notice this guy swimming in one of the lanes.  He would swim a couple of laps, then stop and start reading a book.  I thought it was the strangest thing I had ever seen.  I was curious to know what book was so good that he couldn't put it down long enough to swim more than two lengths.  I walked by slowly and checked out the name of the book.  It ends up he was reading a "how to swim" book.   Now that is impressive. There are a couple of other odd behaviors around the Y pool deck (at least I find them odd).  Some people like to come out on the pool deck, sit in a chair and proceed to close their eyes and go to sleep.  I personally would prefer a couch or bed to take my nap.  The other thing that I find interesting are the people who swim with head phones.  Do they really work? 

On to my pet peeve.  Last night I was coaching Masters.  I love coaching Masters.  Now the one thing that bugs me more than anything is when people show  up late for practice.  Everything gets disrupted.  The person getting in late doesn't know where everyone is in the set; they have to stop someone to ask.  Generally that starts a ripple affect of making others stop.  Sometimes it causes the lane to suddenly have too many people,  and so on and so forth.  I do understand that sometimes things come up and people can't help being late, but nine times out of ten it is always the same people committing this faux pas.  I drives me up the wall.

9/26/07

I kind of feel lost right now.  I don't have my eye on any race.  I believe my season has ended.  I don't think I will be healed in time for Ironman Florida.  It sometimes makes me mad that I worked so hard after Lake Placid and was feeling so good to have my plans all come crashing down.  I know there are definitely worse things that can happen.  And where one door closes another door opens, but I am not seeing that open door right now. 

This morning while driving to the Y to do swim lesson the moon caught my attention.  It was absolutely beautiful.  I don't recall ever seeing such a perfectly round moon such a brilliant orange color.  I didn't want to take my eyes off of it.  I should  have taken a picture, but at that time in the morning I don't think too clearly.

9/25/07

What a hectic day.  I got up this morning and drove to register for my bone scan.  Then I had to wait around for the radio active shot.  Three hours later I returned to get the scan.  That took about forty five minutes.  Then I drove to Dr. Stadlers office with the results.  All the scan said was that there was definitely a hot spot on my foot.  The CT scan was approved and I drove to the hospital to get that done.  Again, sit around and wait, then get the scan.  Sit around and wait for the results and take them back to Dr. Stadlers office.  Surprise, surprise...I have a stress fracture  URG!!!  There goes Hawaii.  I am in a little blue shoe for three to four weeks. 

9/24/07

I am still limping while I am walking.  I am going to get a bone scan tomorrow.  We wanted to get a CAT scan, but the insurance wouldn't let me.  Once something shows up on the bone scan, then I am allowed a CAT scan.  Insurance is crazy!  They make things so much harder then they need to be.

Just finished talking to Amanda and Micheal Lavato.  Sounds like everyone is training hard in Boulder for Hawaii or they are already in Hawaii training.  Can't imagine being in Hawaii Months ahead of race day.  It would be nice to be able to do it.  I guess if I had the opportunity I would be in Hawaii training right now. 

I did a long bike ride on Saturday.  I biked along route 5.  Made it all the way to Williamsburg.   It is a straight shot and the traffic wasn't that bad.  It is a boring ride.  I was pretty much in the aerobars the entire time.  There were lots of dead snakes on the road, and  I passed a lot of plantations.  That was about all the excitement.

Yesterday I did a long run pool jogging.  The water temperature was 73 degrees.  I was actually cold when I finished my run.  Jogging around in circles isn't too exciting either.  Makes me really jealous of people who are able to go out and do their jogs.  My legs are going to be so fresh when I can finally run:)  I have to try and look at the bright side of things.

9/21/07

What a day.  I had a lesson early this morning.  The poor girl got hit driving through the Y parking lot.  She ran in worried about missing her lesson.  I told her to take care of the car and "Who cares about a stupid lesson."  A lady plowed into her and I am hoping that the lady's car insurance will cover the cost of her cars damages.  That has got to be the worst way to start the day.

I managed to do 50 minutes worth of water jogging.  The Y deck temperature is hot and I find myself sweating while pool jogging.  It isn't great fun running around in circles, but it has got to be better than doing absolutely nothing.  I have started to ultra-sound my foot and the foot seems to be responding well.  However, I am still limping while I walk.  My fingers are crossed that by Monday I will be able to jog. 

I did a few chores and came back to the Y and did some swimming.  I can now swim freestyle, and breaststroke without foot pain.  I can feel the foot a little on back and fly.  I am still not able to push off the wall with both legs.  My left leg should be getting good and strong.

Chris has been out of town for a week.  He went on holiday with his father's side of the family.  They went to Hilton Head.  Sounds as though they played a lot of ping-pong.  I didn't go because of training and a bad foot.  Chris has actually been running while down there (kind of makes me jealous).  He says he has to in order to keep the tire off from around his belly, since they aren't eating that great.  It will be good to see him tomorrow.  Plus I think he is ready to come home.  Too much partying for him.

9/18/07

Not everyone from my morning swim group got the memo about bringing sneakers and a t-shirt to swim practice.  I was so looking forward to seeing them struggle through the water wearing shoes and shirts.  It will just have to wait till next week.

My foot is still bothering me.  I still can't walk without limping.  I thought it would be healed by now.  It feels like I have had the injury for a month.  In fact it has only been a week and two days.  Each day it get's a little better.  I have been Resting, Icing, Compressing, and Elevating my foot as much as possible.  It takes up so much time.  I can't stop worrying that it might not be better by the time Hawaii roles around.  Guess I really can't go there until the time comes. 

I was giving a lesson the other day.  On one of the end lanes there is equipment for people who are disabled.  It takes up a bit of the lane.  This lady and the girl who I was doing a lesson with were sharing that lane.  To my dismay this old man jumps into the lane and starts swimming around.  I am thinking "has he lost his mind?"  There is not room for three people.  I was hoping the lifeguard would say something to the man, but he didn't.  Honestly I don't even know if the lifeguard even noticed.  Anyway, I thought it was a little creepy and got my swimmer out and moved. 

9/16/07

I don't know where the time goes.  I feel like I just got up out of bed.  Chris' alarm accidentally was set to go off early this morning and of course it woke me up.  URG!!!  I couldn't get back to sleep, so I got up made some coffee and watched the weather channel.  I couldn't believe it when it said it was only 48 degree's out this morning. 

I eat breakfast and got ready to get back on my bike for a nice five hour bike ride.  I didn't feel like riding.  I was a little disappointed because I thought I was going to get out of bed and my foot was going to be back to normal....wishful thinking.  I am still not able to walk normally.  I got on my bike and the foot was bothering me.  I thought I was going to have to cut the ride short.  About twenty minutes into the ride I was feeling no pain.  That was a relief.  The weather was so cool that I actually had to put on arm warmers and never took them off for the entire bike ride.

I am going to have fun coaching my group of swimmers tomorrow morning.  I am having them bring shirts and shoes.  They are going to swim with all that stuff on.  I can't wait.  I am a little worried about my non-kickers.  They barely move kicking normally.  I will still enjoy watching them struggle.  Cruel, I know!

I had a friend who ran the Rock n' Roll half marathon.  She ran in pain from about mile three on.  She was determined to finish, but managed to hurt her knee in the process.  She went to the Doctor's to find out she had bricitis in the knee.  We were psyched that it wasn't anything major then I found out today that she fell on her deck and broke her leg.  Now that bites!!! 

9/15/07

Okay, I haven't written in a long time because I have been somewhat depressed.  My friend told me that my blog was boring.  Which I told her that my life isn't all that exciting.  I am not complaining, I like my boring hum-drum life.  So, for those of you who I have been putting to sleep, I will try and spice up my entries a little:) 

Also, I have managed injure my right foot.  My Doctor was 80% sure that I had a stress fracture.  I couldn't put any weight on the foot.  I immediately had an MRI taken of my foot, and got some good news.  I had strained the muscles on the top of my foot.  Not great news, but it is definitely better than having a stress fracture.  The radiologist had never seen such an injury and had a couple of other radiologist come and read my MRI.  As my husband would say "this injury is only something that Karen can manage to do before a big race."  I am not able to run yet.  I am still limping when I walk.  However, I can swim and bike. 

I have been hating swimming because I have had to swim with a buoy.  I hate the swim buoys.  They make me slow. I have been able to swim a little more without the buoy which is so much more fun for me. 

Today was the first day I could bike without pain.  Towards the end of the bike my foot got a little cranky, but nothing too excruciating.  Nothing like going into Hawaii with a little drama.

I have been having to do most of my training on my own lately.  My training partner has gotten a little burned out.  Plus he doesn't really have any races in the near future.  At first I was really bummed at the fact that I didn't' have anyone to train with, but I am kind of liking it.  Especially my long bike rides.  I don't have to wait around for someone when I want to start my ride, I can stop when I want, and go slow when I want, and there is no one to worry about.

Please forgive me in my delinquent "holiday" blogs.

9/05/07

Here I am getting ready to go into a big training mod, and I feel like I have been put through the wringer.  My legs feel dead on the bike and the runs, although they start coming around about the middle of the workout.  I have been trying to be good and get everything ready for Kona so that my coach (Danahy) can't yell at me.  He usually starts getting on me about this time to make sure everything is ordered, that I know what I will be wearing, and stuff like that.  I now have a plane ticket, a rental car and possibly a place to stay in Kona.  All is looking up.  Now if I can stay healthy and injury free that would be a bonus. I managed to do something to my foot the night I did the Museum run.  We ran the North trail which isn't that bad, as far as trails go.  However I did managed to roll  my foot a couple of times.  Now the top of my right foot has been bothering me.  I am hoping I just twisted my foot funny and eventually the pain will go away.  I am being pro active and icing.  The YMCA is full of interesting characters.  There is this older group that likes to hang out in the mornings.  They are gossiping and bringing in goodies for one another to eat.  Most of them are really nice.  A couple are grouchy.  One lady actually complained about the pool deck being wet.  I thought she had to be kidding, but she was dead serious.  I chose to ignore her, I didn't figure her complaint needed any type of acknowledgment. So yesterday I had a track workout and ran around the University of Richmond Campus.  It was busheling with students walking (some running) to classes.  I was running to the track weaving in and out of people when I managed to trip on the curb and fall.  I don't know why I keep falling.  It hurt, but was more embarrassed than anything.  I don't think I have fallen on cement while running quite as much as I have this past year.  It has got to stop.  My dad would say it is because I have two left feet.  I am starting to think it is true.

8/27/07

Today went by so quickly and all I had on my training schedule was a swim.  I got into the water and felt great. My back is starting to ease up a bit and doing flip turns doesn't bother it as much as it did at the end of last week.  I don't know where this back issue came from.  It is just a new nuisance to have to deal with whenever it decided to rear it's ugly head.  I have been good about getting on the foam roller.  As much as I hate it and it hurts, it seems to help with everything from the back issue to the hamstring issues. 

It would have been a great morning to do some running.  I walked out the door and actually needed to wear a long sleeve shirt.  However, it didn't take long for it to warm up.  I know I still have sometime before the cool weather comes, but I am already dreading it. 

Yesterday was a big Ironman race day with Ironman Canada, Korea, and Louisville taking place.  Looks as though there were some great results too.  It was great to see that a Canadian won Ironman Canada, and Gollnick had a fantastic performance in Louisville, and Christine Wellington from GB did awesome in Korea placing seventh in the overall standings.  It really motivates me for Hawaii.

I just found out that all the oneoone tri races have been canceled.  Glad I decided to take my slot to Hawaii.  My original plan for my race season was to not take my Hawaii slot, if I got it, and race the oneoone in Texas. After qualifying for Hawaii in Lake Placid my coach and I talked it over and decided that I should indeed take my slot.  It was one of the best decisions I have made in a long time.

09/26/07

It's been a while since my last entry.  Training is ramping up and I am getting lazy.  Isn't that always the case:)

On Friday I did a long ride with my friend, John Wake.  The plan was to bike at an up-temp pace, which I did.  I did a bike route that I hadn't done in a long time, probably since last year, which was nice.  The temperature started off very comfortable and it just got hotter as the day went on.  We got caught at a couple of paving sites.  Fortunately we didn't have to site for long.  The heat coming from them paving was unbelieveable.  When I got home I did the usual transition run.  When I finished my legs were shot.  I couldn't believe that they were a little sore. 

The next day I had a swim and a thirty minute run.  The swim went well.  I managed to talk Tom Curran into doing my run with me.  He had to borrow Danahy's running shoes that had no inserts in them.  That's a true friend:)  My legs felt like led, and all I could think about was "how on earth am I going to do my long run Tomorrow  when my legs feel this bad for a short run?"  I checked the weather channel to see what the temperature was when we ran.  It said 96, but feels like 106.  And that was about right!

This morning I got up pretty early to do my long run.  I figured I would beat the heat.  It really didn't feel all that bad outside, but the humidity was in full force.  Katie and my Chris ran the last fifty minutes with me.  It is always nice having company on runs.  Once we finished we all jumped into the Danahy's pool.  Life doesn't get better than that!

08/21/07

Yesterday was a big swim day for me.  I have started adding a little extra distance to my swim workouts.  A little extra distance makes me a little extra tired.  I even did an hour spin on my bike that day.  That felt good, but every time I hit an up hill my legs felt tired.  I don't feel as though I have done that much to deserve having tired legs.

All that traveling has made my lower back ache.  I went and got a massage.  I am going to try and get them more often now that I am getting back into training.  I try and save money by not going for as long as possible.  Lance (my massage therapist) dug into muscles that I didn't even realize were sore.  I could feel some of the effects of the massage today.  Sometimes it brings issues up to the surface.  I don't have anything major, just aches here and there.  Hopefully after a few massages and some good stretching those "issues" will disappear.

I signed up for Hawaii today.  Once you qualify for Hawaii, you have a month before you can actually sign up for the race.  Now I am "officially" entered in the world championship race.  Sounds very prestigious when you say "world Championships".  I still have to get my flights and accommodations arranged.  Nothing like waiting till the last minute.  But everything always seems to work out in the

end.

8/20/07

I am not even sure what day it is today.  I was in Alabama for a wedding this past weekend.  It was a lot of fun.  However, I can tell you that Montgomery is not a place I would probably want to live.  Chris and I drove to Norfolk on Thursday evening through wicked thunderstorms.  We actually saw lightening hit something where sparks went flying everywhere.  I was scared.  The wind was blowing hard.  And the people on the radio were warning people to not drive.  I felt sorry for the poor motor cyclists who were stuck under the bridges waiting the storm out. 

The next morning we got up early and flew to Montgomery with no problems.  We got to the Hotel and went for our long run.  It was brutally hot.  Chris made the first 50 minutes with me and decided that he had had enough.  I finished out the remainder of my run with people driving by me obviously thinking that I had lost my mind.  I got back to the hotel and got ready for the rehersal, rehersal diner, and after party.  Lots of events for one evening.

The following day I found a YMCA so that I could swim.   It was only about four miles from the hotel.  I went to the brunch which was magnificent and got back to the hotel and drove a friends car directly to the Y to swim 4000 yards.  The pool was empty which is a change, since the Tuckahoe Y is usually always packed with someone getting upset because all the lanes are full.  I got back to the hotel took a shower, and got ready for the wedding.  The wedding was quick and we were off to the reception.  They even had an after party after the reception which ended at 11:30 PM.  I didn't make that after party.

On Sunday I had a forty five minute run.  It wasn't quite as hot as the first day we had gotten there, but hot enough.  Being the wise person that I am; I decided that I would run right after breakfast.  I was noxious the entire run.  It did take my mind off the heat.

We flew back home Sunday afternoon.  We flew back into Norfolk and had to make the drive back home at 9:30 in the evening.  Once again we ended up driving through a thunderstorm.  Not fun, but it was made even worse when since both Chris and I were exhausted.  I was so happy when I saw my house. 

Now I am barely able to keep my eyes open.  It is off to bed for me. 

8/14/07

The day was absolutely lovely.  It was a wonderful day for a bike ride which I did at 8:00 am.  Katie and I biked to Starbucks and drank some coffee before the ride.  A little caffeine before a workout never hurts.  We met up with Anthony and off we went on a humidity free ride.  That is rare.  We biked a little over an hour with Anthony taking us on all his secret routes that are traffic free. Anthony and I did a short transition run. 

Strangely enough my legs didn't feel all that bad running.  I say strangely enough because yesterday my legs were swollen.  I think it was from doing the Olympic triathlon race in the morning and traveling by air the rest of the day on Sunday.  It is the worst feeling having swollen legs.  They just feel so tight and heavy and they look grows.  My legs didn't swell like that after Lake Placid.  So I thought it strange that they would swell after a short triathlon. 

I did wear my descente bike clothing for the first time.  I loved the bike shorts.  They don't have that elasticy plastic stuff around the legs.  My legs sometimes break out wear the elasticy stuff touches them.  The bike jersey was really comfortable and soft.  For you ladies out there, the elastic in the bra part of the shirt didn't dig into me, which was nice. 

8/13/07

I am back from my trip to Iowa.  I did the "BIG CREEK" Olympic triathlon.  My plane going to Chicago left Richmond late due to mechanical issues causing me to miss my connecting flight to Iowa.  There were three flight flying out of Chicago to Iowa and all of them were over booked, but I decided to take my chances and see if I could get on one of the flights standby.  Fortunately for me I was in luck and got on the first flight out of Chicago and made it to Iowa only three hours late.  Iowa was really hot and humid.  I stayed with the Vanderweides, who took great care of me last year and did a fantastic job again this year.  They treat me like I am royalty.  It's great! 

The Big Creek race grew in numbers from last year, however TJ Tolsten and I were the only pro's to show up.  It was the 27th anniversary of the race as well as TJ's 27th birthday which was kind of cool.  The two people who won Big Creek in it's inaugural year, showed up and raced this year.  I never did find out who they were or how they did this year.

The swim was a non-wetsuit swim.  All the Elites and the relays took off in the first wave.  We raced into the water from the shore line.  We swam a big square.  TJ got out in front and I was leading the rest of the pack in second place.  The water was very warm.  The transition was long, but not as long as the transitions at Lake Placid.  The bike course is pretty flat with a couple of small inclines.  Speed was good going out on the bike as we had wind to our backs.  Coming back was another story.  It was slowing the pace down quite a bit.  My lower back tightened up on the bike.  Which made me glad it was only a 24 mile bike course.  Then it was off the bike onto the run.  The run ran us through the Big Creek park.  We ran up a good incline at mile three.  I was glad to get that over with.  After that we ran on a paved trail to the finish line.  It started to get really hot during the run.  I slowed down a lot the last two miles from the heat.  Once I finished I couldn't stand up for a couple of minutes from being dizzy.  I just kept getting ice water pored over my head.  It felt great. Once we finished there was plenty of food and refreshments, plus ice bucked baths and massages.  Who can ask for anything more? 

I had to hurry back to the house after the awards ceremony was finished.  I had to pack up my bike and clothes to make it on the plane back home that day.  The flight back home went without incidents.  I just had a long lay over in Chicago.  I made it home and in bed by mid-night.  Then I got up at 5:30 am to teach swim lessons.  The life of a pro is so glamorous:)

8/09/07

It has been hot here.  Yesterday it was 110 degree's.  Makes training a little bit slow, but I figure it is good training for Hawaii.  Yesterday I ran for 40 min and actually didn't feel to badly.  I put my fuel belt on and managed to drink all the water in just 40 minutes.  Generally I don't bring anything with me. 

I have actually been looking forward to getting in the water and swimming these days.  I have been swimming on my own, but hope to start swimming with master's soon.

I coached master's last night.  We had a big group.  As always I wish we could have the entire pool, but the Y just won't let it happen.  I have noticed that slowly but surely everyone is learning swim etiquette.  It is good to see, especially when we are doing longer sets. 

I got a headache last night.  I took an Exedrin and went to bed.  I fell asleep and woke  up with my head just pounding.  It was aweful.  I took an Emitrex spray and fell back to sleep.  When I woke up the head pounding was almost gone.  I took another exedrin which managed to take care of it.  I am not sure why I got it, other than perhaps the heat.  I didn't think I was dehydrated, but it is quite possible that I was.

I leave tomorrow for Iowa.  I am now told that the Deboom's will not be at the race.  I think I may even be the only female pro showing up.  I need to beat my own course record.  My goal will be to beat some of the male pro's.  I don't really have to pack much as I fly out tomorrow and return on Sunday.  Now my hope will be that my flights will go well.  Their track record hasn't been great recently. 

8/05/07

It is thundering like you wouldn't believe tonight.  Our electricity has flickered on and off a couple of times.  I love it when it get's like this at night.  It makes for a cozy evening.

This morning I got out the door early to do my first track workout in a long time.  I was worried about how I was going to feel.  I put my fuel belt on and ran to the U of R track.  Once I got to the track I took the belt off and felt so light.  There was only one other person shuffling around the track.  I did three one mile repeats descending each mile.  The first mile didn't feel good at all.  The second one felt awesome and so did the third one.  I was glad had brought water with me because it was so humid.  To my surprise the workout was over quickly.  Just to let you know, I don't care for speed workouts of any kind.  I like the long slow stuff:)

I got home and still had a small swim left on the workout agenda.  I jumped in Danahy's pool.  The water was warm.  Not refreshing at all. I turned the endless pool on.  I had the endless pool on a pretty low level and swam for 25 min.  It's great to be able to swim outside.  That is the only problem with the YMCA, all they have are indoor pools around here. 

The rest of the day was just laying around the house not doing much of anything.  I tried getting in touch with Amanda.  She just returned from England.  I have thought of going out to Denver once again and doing training before Hawaii.  All it is, is thoughts.  I can't decide.  I have become such a last minute decision maker these days

I am going to sign off for now, as I am not sure if we will loose electricity or not.  I am not taking any chances.  AUREVOIR!

8/04/07

This morning I got up bright and early, for a Saturday, to meet one of my swimmers in the gym.  It is great fun putting someone through a weight routine.  The only problem was that I was sore from doing weights yesterday.  I couldn't believe how sore I was, I did really lights weights too.  I only worked my upper body because I decided I don't like the way my arms look.  Vain, I know.  I am paying for it today.  It is amazing how quickly you loose strength if you don't keep your weight routine going.

I then sat on my computrainer and did a speed workout.  Doing in door cycling is tough.  Even though I felt good, I still was ready to be off the bike. 

Chris did a two hour run today.  The weather report said that today would be the hottest day of the week with poor air quality.  Chris did his long run anyway.  He was tired when he was done.  The heat just took it right out of him.  Plus he got home late last night from doing some carb loading:)

I went to the pool and worked with a girl on her swimming.  She is just learning how to do the breathing thing.  People don't realize that if you have never swam before, no matter how good a shape your in, swimming will kick your butt.  The whole breath control thing and having the water pressure against your chest is difficult to get used to.  Learning to swim young is so much easier.  I am always in awe of people who learn as adults.  In my opinion, it is astounding how quickly these adults learn.  And the poor people who I teach get a crash course in swimming.  I go from one thing to the next, they have no choice but to drink lots of water, which I always say is normal when you are learning.....at least for my students:)

8/03/07

I had to get up REALLY early this morning so that I could take "yummy" (that is her nickname) to the airport.  She picked me up in her BIG yellow hummer.  I had to drive that thing back home.  It is a good thing that it was really early and there weren't too many cars on the road.  I am not used to driving something so big, I have a little tiny car I drive around.  Yummy called to see how I liked driving her car.  I said fine, but it will be parked in my driveway until you get back.  I can't imagine how much it costs to fill it's tank up.  I think filling my car up is outrageous.

I went to starbucks and got a cup of coffee before I had to go teach swim lessons.  That caffeine kicked in and did it's job.  I was wired and ready to teach lessons.  Twila one of my swimmers is still having a hard time with not rushing her pull.  I decided to put fins on her to see if that would help her at all, well she never wanted to take them off.  The funny thing is that she doesn't really kick.

I later got in the water after an hour spin and did a set of fast 50's.  20 to be exact.  It actually went by quickly.  I did them in sets of four on 40 sec.  The first set was the hardest.  That always boggles my mind.  I have that happen a lot.  My first set whether it be on the track, in the pool, or on the bike is always the toughest.

Right now I am working on training plans.  Not all my athletes are triathlete's.  It requires some research, which is good since it keeps me updated and constantly learning new things.  It's challenging writing out the plans and individualizing each one of them.  Working with my out-of -towners is probably the hardest for obvious reasons.  Thank goodness for cell phones and the internet. How did we ever live without them???!!!

8/02/07

Yesterday I worked with a couple of people at the Y.  As soon as I got home I hopped on my bike and went for a two hour ride.  It was really nice, I pretty much stayed in my small gear the entire ride.  I couldn't believe how good I felt, although I was going pretty slow.  It is hard not to feel good when you are just plodding along. 

Later I took my long nap again.  I couldn't help myself.  I was reading my book and my eye lids got so heavy and lala land was calling my name.  An hour later I got up.  I strongly recommend it.  Perhaps not for an hour.  But I think you will enjoy it as much as I do:) Today I decided it was time that I cleaned my house.  Cleaning my friends house gave me the motivation I needed to clean mine.  Dusting, vacuuming, moping, cleaning floor boards, is not what I call fun.  I have got to say that it is nice having a clean house.  I always tell myself that I should clean one room each day and then it won't be such a hassle, I haven't done that yet.  I just get so lazy and put it off till I can't stand it anymore.

I went for another run today.  It felt much better than the run I did on Monday.  My knees didn't ache at all.  I think I must have bruised my knee's when I fell on them during my race.  I was scared for a while because they were bothering me.  Luckily the pain has gone.  PHEW!!!!

I was talking to Hugh Walton about how I was dehydrated at the end of my race in Placid.  I said I couldn't understand why because I drank plenty and had plenty of electrolytes.  He mentioned that perhaps I am not starting to hydrate soon enough in the race.  That, perhaps, I should start drinking as soon as I get on the bike and not wait a half hour.  That made a lot of sense to me.  I am going to try that for Hawaii.  It is amazing how simple that idea is, and yet I couldn't think of it myself....Always learning!!!

7/31/07

I went to the pool early to do some swimming and ended up doing more talking than swimming.  That is the good thing and bad thing about the Tuckahoe YMCA.  No matter when you decide to go there you are almost guaranteed to run into someone you know and I can't pass up an opportunity to do a little chatting.  I hope I am not one of those people that people try to avoid because they know that I will talk their ear off.  I am thinking I may be. 

I really enjoy reading.  I am into a book right now, and am enjoying it.  I am not sure if other people have this problem, but if I read during the day, I generally end up falling asleep.  It happened to me today.  I was sitting down and enjoying some quite time, reading my book, when all of a sudden I am snoozing.  Why that doesn't happen at night, I have no clue.

I conducted track practice tonight.  Everyone showed except Skirt boy.  Skirt boy thought that if he called me to say he couldn't make it due to work that he wouldn't get harrassed.  He has lost his mind.  The group doesn't need much ammunition to enjoy giving someone a hard time.  I have a new girl in the group, her name is Deanna.  Now I have two Deanna's.  What is the likely hood two people would have that name?  I don't mean that in a bad way, just that it isn't that common of a name.  We had a little rain, Thunder and maybe a little bit of lightening while doing track.  It scared poor Anthony off.  The rest of us stayed and enjoyed the rain.

7/30/07

Last night I could not sleep.  This time it was not because of drinking coffee.  Of course when Chris comes to bed, he is asleep as soon as his head hits the pillow.  It just isn't fair.  Especially since I had to get up early this morning to coach.

I was pleasantly surprised to have all the "guppies" show up, minus Anthony.  However, I did give him a pass sinice he is still recovering from his first Ironman.  And he played golf all day yesterday.  I remember I took about two months off from working out after my first Ironman.  I just laid around and ate lots.  Unfortunately it showed after the two months was done.

I started thinking about Ironman USA and the awards banquet.  When I was there I ran into Poalina.  She placed right behind me in Ironman Canada.  Since she has stopped racing Ironman due to a foot injury.  She now works for Timex and has started bike racing.  From what I understand she is doing very well racing bikes.  Poalina mentioned that my run turn over had improved.  I was so psyched that she had noticed, especially since I have been really working on that part of my run.  It is nice to have someone notice your hard work:)

Today we had a short thunderstorm.  The rain came down hard for about a half hour.  Once it stopped I got my running stuff on and went for my first run since my race.  The sun came out in full force and steam started coming off the ground.  It was nice to get and do a slow jog.  My knee's were a little creaky, other than that it felt really good.  I miss all those trails out in Boulder.

7/29/07

Yesterday I was really tired.  The night before I went out to diner with Mark.  I later made the mistake of having a small coffee at Starbucks.  It kept me up all night.  It was awful. 
It felt really good getting back in the water.  Feels as though I haven't done any kind of working hour in months.  It is crazy as I just finished an Ironman, exactly one week ago.  Today I got on my bike and biked a little over two hours.  That felt really good as well.  I was going super slow, but it was good to get out.  It is fun to go slow. Last night Chris and I went to the movies.  We say "Chuck and Larry".  It was funny, but I would wait till it comes out on DVD.  "Knocked up" was better.  I now want to go and see the "Bourne Ultimatum".  Chris ordered popcorn at the theater and asked for lots of butter.  The girl did what he asked.  She gave him so much butter that it seeped through the bag and got all over his shorts.  It was pretty funny.  Hopefully it won't ruin his shorts.

7/27/07

I think that tomorrow I might get back in the water.  Just a little splashing around.  My scabs from falling are starting to heal up, so it might be time.  I can't believe I actually want to get back into the water.  Very strange!  Guess seeing everyone swim while I am giving a swim lesson is motivating me.  I just got my plane ticket to do the Big Creek triathlon.  I am actually amazed at how many races I am doing this year.  I generally don't do this many.  I am actually thinking about doing the 101 in Texas after I complete the Hawaii Ironman.  I quite possibly have lost my mind, but I am really enjoying racing this year.  It is just all the traveling that I hate, even though my flying Karma has changed. Once I get back from the Iowa race I have to fly to Montgomery Alabama.  A friend of Mine and Chris' is getting married.  Jonathan Beevers played soccer at ODU.  It will be fun as I am sure there will be plenty of ODU alumni at his wedding.  It amazes me that we have kept up with so many people from College.  I think Beevers is one of the last of us ODU friends to get married.  The problem about this wedding is that I am going to have to do a little training while I am there and not do too much liver damage:)  I say that, but to tell you the truth I really don't enjoy drinking in excess.  Tonight I am meeting up with my world traveling friend, Ya-ya.  I don't see him much anymore between my travels and his.  I taught him how to swim years ago.  It is going to be Sushi night tonight at OSAKA'S.  I love sushi!

7/26/07

I wasn't as sore after doing this Ironman as I usually am which is kind of strange.  However, I am tired.  After an Ironman I tend to sleep a lot.  Today I slept in and had a two hour nap.  I am not sure if two hours is technically considered a nap, but it sure felt good.  I could actually go to bed right now. 

I ended up taking my slot to Hawaii.  I know I said that I was going to pass it up this year, but I went with my gut instinct.  My instincts screamed "take your slot".  And I can't ignore anything that is screaming at me.  I will be back into training before I can blink an eye.  I am definitely going to enjoy my couple of days off and do more sleeping:)  Although tomorrow morning I have to get up early and do some swim lessons.  Getting up early is going to be tough.  It's hard getting back in the habit of getting up early.  Once you start sleeping in, you are in BIG trouble. 

7/25/07

I returned from Lake placid late last night.  Chris and I flew out of Burlington, Vt.  We took the Ferrie from New York to Burlington and it was a beautiful ferrie ride, plus very relaxing.  We even managed to arrive home early.  My flying experiences are getting better:) I placed fourth at Ironman USA.  It was my fourth race in a row where I placed fourth.  I guess I am just consistent like that:)  I would have liked to have placed higher, but I won't complain.  I had some wonderful friends and family come to the race to support and cheer for me.  I feel so fortunate to have such wonderful people in my life.  My dad came from Ottawa, My friends Kurt and Shelley came from Austin, Chris (my number one fan) was there, Katie and Danahy were there.  It was awesome to be surrounded by so much possitive energy and knowing that they believe in me.  Race morning was chilly.  Everyone had to wear warm clothing.  That's the way it generally is race day morning in Lake Placid, NY.  The water temperature wasn't too bad, but it was cool enough to wear a long sleeve wetsuit.  The woman pro's (all twenty four of us) took off at 6:25 am.  Teresa Marcel and another girl took the lead right from the start.  I ended up pulling two girls the entire way.  One of them tapped my toes from the start of the swim until we finished.  I got to say that was a little annoying.  The swim was two loops and went by quickly.  Once I finished I had my wetsuit pulled off and ran towards the transition area.  I didn't see a small ledge that was covered by green carpet and tripped and fell on my face.  It was embarrassing falling infront of everyone.  I still had a very fast transition and got out onto the bike.  Not far into the bike Belinda came flying by me.  I kept her in my sights for most of the first loop of the bike, but I couldn't quite get myself to bike the way I usually bike.  I didn't have that next gear I generally have.  By the second loop Belinda kept putting time into me and Tyler had passed me.  I was not happy.  Biking is my strong event and when that is not going the way I like it to go, you can only imagine the frustration.  I kept calm and did  the best that I could.  I got off the bike and started running to the transition tent with my run bag when I managed to trip and fall once again.  I couldn't believe it.  I got up  changed and went out onto the run.  My legs felt pretty good.  I decided to try and run with a fuel belt bottle in my hand for the run.  It worked out well.  Charlotte passed me on the first loop, but I didn't panic, I managed to pass her back.  Then Erica came flying by me.  She is a strong runner.  At that point I was in fourth place.  I managed to hold on to that place until the end.  I finished and DIDN'T end up in the Med tent.  That was exciting for me.  There were 900 first timers at Ironaman USA and Anthony Strange was one of them.  He had a fantastic race.  I couldn't believe how well he looked at the end of the race.  The next day he was in pretty good shape as well.  He handled the race much better than I did after my first Ironman.  That's just incredible. The next day there was an unbelievable line for registration for the following year.  At 1 PM 800 slots were available on-line and at 1:13 PM the race was closed for 2008. 

7/14/07

I leave Monday for Lake Placid.  I can't believe it is time for my BIG race.  Where did the time go?  Just did an easy bike ride and a more intense swim today.  I did the swim in Danahy's endless pool.  The last bit of the swim the machine was at full speed and I managed to swim my intervals without stopping.  I couldn't do that a month ago.  It's good to see the benefits of all the hard work I have done.  I am feeling good and going into this race with confidence.  Now I am just getting my stuff laid out that I will need for the race.  I have a list to make sure I don't forget anything.  It's amazing the stuff that you will forget if you don't make your list and go over it.  The worst thing is going to a race and forgotting something you need.  That won't be happening to me:) 

7/09/07

I got home from Colorado on Friday.  My plane got into Richmond early.  Chris couldn't believe I was waiting for him with all my luggage.  I guess my flying Karma is changing...knock on wood.  It is good to be home, as much as I enjoyed Colorado, I missed Chris, Cali (the cat), and my friends.  I got back home and it struck me that I will be leaving for Lake Placid on Monday.  For some reason I was thinking that I didn't leave for Placid for another two weeks.  Like I have said before, these Ironman races sneak right up on you.  I am looking forward to it.  My body feels great.  I don't feel as though I have done much training.  Running on all those trails in Boulder keeps the body from being beaten up.  While out in Boulder I stopped by Active Imprints where they sell the Newton running shoes.  I picked up a couple of pairs of them.  I have a new pair of running flats that I am going to wear for the Placid race.  I have really been enjoying running in them.  It took a little while to get used to them, but I do feel the difference now. I even started using this fluid replacement tabs that I am loving.  They are called Motor tabs.  I drink way more fluid by popping these tablets into my water because it gives the water a little bit of flavor, plus it has sodium and potassium.  I have jumped right back into doing swim lessons.  I really missed doing them.  Danahy has told me that I am only allowed to do one a day.  He doesn't want me standing on concrete all day.  Which makes a lot of sense.  Especially since I have worked to hard for this race.  It is just so hard to say no to giving a lesson. I met up with some of my guppies for a little Einsteins today.  Unfortunately I managed to spill a load of coffee on Kimberly's work pants.  Only something I could do.  I'm sorry Kimberly!  I am now off to watch Chris run the Cul-de-sac 5K.  As usual the race is going to be VERY hot and humid.  It never fails.  It amazes me how many people show up for the race.

6/27/07

Here I am ready to train and I can't.  I still have this nasty virus which has been plaguing Boulder.  I am now on the recovering side of it.  Although I never quite felt sick, sick, I am sure it has taken a toll on me.  I am now resigned to the fact that I must sit on my butt for the next couple of days.  I have plenty of stuff that needs to be done, that I probably won't do.  I have been reading quite a bit and have done barely any T.V. watching.  Tom, Amanda and I did watch "Pirates of the Caribbean" the other night.  Funny movie!  Tom and I did our long run at the Reservoir the other day.  Tom did different loops than me.  At one point a dog started to chase a baby calf.  The Mama cow got angry and started to "MOO" loudly and chase after the dog which proceeded to run towards it's owners who Tom was beside.  Tom was a little rattled by the situation.  Fortunately for everyone concerned the Mama cow gave up chase.  This past weekend I was glued to the computer watching Ironman Coeur d'Alene.  I was really proud of everyone who got in the water and did the swim.  The race actually allowed participants the option to do a duathlon versus the full Ironman because the water was so rough.  Michael Lavato said the only swim that was worse than that one was the time he raced in Utah (they don't have that race anymore because of the rough water).  Michael placed third.   He said he had a really tough time on the swim and had his slowest swim.  He said his bike was okay and he had a great run.  He negative split the run, which I think is phenomenal. 
Two of my friends whom I train did the race.  Kurt and Shelley Egli.  I am really proud of them.  Primarily I am so pleased that Shelley did the swim.  I know that she was intimidated, but she conquered her fear.  Kurt had a solid day which is what we were both hoping for.  There were no real hiccups everything went smooth.  He stuck to the plan and made the day happen.  Half the battle is attitude and how you choose to use it. Then I have a few Ironman athletes that I worked with on their swimming technique.  Blake Brown, Brittany Hott, and Tyler Van Rensselaer.  They all completed the swim.  Brittany "you are an Ironman".  It was Brittany's first ironman race.    It gives me goose bumps thinking about them all racing and knowing how hard they worked to get to that day.  Congratulations!  I can't wait to hear the stories.  Of course as I have learned Slow twitch is where all the triathlon gossip is found.

6/21/07

Yesterday I did a track workout with Dave Scott's group.  Although it ended up being hill repeats.  I have never done such a practice in my life.  It was difficult.  My gluts are paying for it today.  I then went to swim at the Flat Irons.  Jane Scott was coaching and got on me about being late.  It was weird having the tables turned.  I am usually yelling at everyone for being late.  I jumped into practice and could tell that I had had a good run workout.  I didn't feel great in the water.  I didn't sleep well last night because I felt as though I had something in my throat all night.  I did an easy bike and run with Tom and called my Doctor up about my symptoms.  I think Amanda shared her sickness with me.  It ends up a lots of people in Boulder have been plagued with this throat/cough thing.  Why Me?  I have been so healthy all year.  I think I have caught it in enough time that it won't affect me much.  I do get to take the day off tomorrow.  I also am not allowed to get my scheduled massage appointment because I am told it will make my "Sickness" worse.  That really is disappointing. I guess tomorrow will be all about doing "nothing". 

6/19/07

6/16/07

6/14/07

Got up and road for an easy two hours and fifteen minutes.  It was a gorgeous day.  I believe the high was in the nineties today.  After the ride we went and got coffee and a cookie at a neat little coffee place.  Of course I can't remember the name of it.  We then did a swim practice that Monica Caplan put together.  It was a good practice and the best part was that it was only Amanda and myself in the lane.  It worked out perfect.  We were starving after practice and got something to eat.  We sat outside and soaked up the sun.  Amanda later took off to get acupuncture.  She says that she loves it and that it seems to help her with recovery.  I laid down and relaxed with her two dogs: Luna and Blue.  Tonight we went over to the reservoir and did an open swim.  They have a race they put on each week with a swim and a run.  Pretty cool for first timers.  It is also a great way to practice open water swimming.  One of the guys there who did the race had just recovered from breaking several bones.  I believe it happened when he was racing in Arizona.  I will get the full details on that a little later.  It was impressive that he is already racing. Tom Curran got in today from Richmond.  His flight went smooth, except he had to wait an hour at the airport to find his bike box.  We will be catching up sometime tomorrow for a run and a bike.  It will be interesting to see how the altitude effects him.

6/13/07

Today I went to the track with Amanda and Michael Lavato.  Dave Scott was coaching the practice and had everyone, but the Coeur d'Alene folks running hard.  I just ran a warm-up and a cool down  with Amanda as I am still recovering from the California race.  While they worked their hinnies off, I stretched and watched.  Believe it or not, I would have rather been running on the track with everyone. Amanda and I decided to go for our bike ride right after the track, just in case it decided to rain later in the day.  We met up with Spencer Smith and the guys he rides with.  We only sat in on the beginning of the ride as I just wanted to spin and that ride was going to get faster and faster.  It ended up being a beautiful ride, as well as a beautiful day.  I think I am still getting used to the altitude as I am tired, however, the massage that I got (thanks Twila and Blake) was wonderful.  Kim worked on my back and legs and they are feeling so much better now. 

6/12/07

Yesterday was a travel day.  I got up out of bed and finished packing for my trip to Boulder.  Then I realized that I didn't have my keys to my rental car.  I had left them in Heather Wurtels car and she had already left for San Francisco.  I freaked out.  I managed to find a locksmith pretty close to town who made me a key.  Thank goodness my plane didn't leave tell 5:30 PM.  I drove back to the Sacramento airport through twisty windy roads.  There was one delay due to road work.  I made it to the aiport in plenty of time.  I saw Kim, her husband and her twin sister sitting at my gate.  It ends up that they got to the airport at 9:00 am and their plane was being delayed until 9:00 PM that evening due to mechanical issues.  They told me that they had bad flying karma, sounds familiar doesn't it.....
I made it to Boulder within fifteen minutes of the scheduled time.  Not bad.  Amanda came and picked me u p, which was awesome because I know it was out of her way.  I could have taken the Boulder Shuttle Bus to her house, but that really saved me a lot of time.  Today I got up fairly early and put my bike together.  We were planning on getting a ride in today, but it has been rainy and cold.  We have been big wimps.  Michael, on the other hand, went out biking for a couple of hours without complaint.  I did get a swim in at the Flat Irons with Dave Scott coaching.  It wasn't what I would have called much of a recovery practice for me.  It was tough considering it was my first day at altitude.  Swimming fast and doing flip turns were killing me.  However, I did manage to complete the entire practice.  I am giving myself koodos for that. Looks like it is going to be a lazy evening.  That is never a problem for me.

6/10/07

Today was race day.  I woke up bright and early.  Heather Wurtel and I drove down together.  We didn't bother getting to the race until 6:00 am  since it is such a small race and it didn't start till 7:00 am.  It was a wetsuit swim.  I got my bike ready and took off for a little warmup in the lake.  The buoys were big and easy to see.  They sent us off at seven am on the dot.  I was getting hit from the right and left side of me.  Hillary Biscay was on the right and another girl was on the left and a pro guys feet was right in front of me.  There was no place for me to go.  At one of the turns I managed to get out of the predicament.  I was the second girl out of the water.  I got on my bike and felt good.  It was a three loop course.  I think I went out a little fast and I paid for that on the third loop.  I didn't feel good at all.  I took off on the run and my legs felt like led.  The run course was very hilly and probably the hardest run course that I have ever run.  Heather Wurtel passed me and I kept her in sight.  I could tell that she wasn't feeling well.  I eventually passed her back.  Then Kim Loeffler and Alexis Waddel passed me.  I knew there were a couple of other really good runners behind me, but just kept pressing forward.  I felt better on the second loop.  And finished in fourth place.  That seems to be the number this year.  I am going to pack for my trip tomorrow.  Of to Colorado I go!

6/9/07

Today seems like it has lasted forever.  I think everyone in this house is ready to get the race started.  I went down early this morning to get my swim in.  It doesn't look as though the pro's will be wearing wetsuits for the swim tomorrow.  I believe the water temperature is 73-74 degrees.  I saw Kim Loeffler yesterday.  It seems that both her and her twin sister are racing.  Her sister Kelly is a very strong runner.  This morning Hillary Biscay was out on her run.  She just finished doing Brazil.  That girl races a lot.  I don't know how she can handle all the traveling, but she seems to do it, and do it well. I am about ready to go down to the race and set up my bike for tomorrow morning.  Then I have the race meeting followed by coming home, eating, then going to bed.  The race will start at 7 am.  Wish me luck!

6/08/07

Things are going pretty good.  I woke up early and ate my breakfast.  The family that I am staying with is very large.  There are seven children.  Only two still live at home.  There are two other athletes staying here other than myself.  Heather, and Gabriella.  Both are very nice.  I went down to the swim start this morning and got into the water and swam.  The water was refreshing.  I was wearing my new Ironman wetsuit which felt very comfortable.  I found that there was a nice current swimming in, that will be nice when we are finishing with the swim.  We won't have to work hard.  The water is pretty calm.  I checked out the bike and run course yesterday.  The bike couse has some hills, but nothing intimidating.  Some of the roads are cracked up, giving a little bit of a bumpy ride.  My Parlee should absorb a lot of that.  The run is VERY hilly.  It will be good training for LP.  My neuton running shoes will come in handy going up those hills.  They are so light wait and also absorb a lot of shock.  So equipment wise I am all set.  I am going to a massage therapist today because my back is killing me.  I think it is from having to sit for so long on Wednesday.  My fingers are crossed that on race day I will be feeling a 100%.  If not I am sure the adrenaline will kick in and I will be thinking that I feel 100%.

6/07/07

Yesterday I left Richmond to start my traveling adventure.  I took off Sacramento California at 12:30 pm.  It was nice to be able to sleep in and not have to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport.  My travels were going smooth until I got on the airplane in Chicago.  We sat on the tarmack for two hours.  They were having mechanical issues with the plane.  They finally decided that we needed to pull back into the gate to see if things could be fixed there.  Fortunately they were.   I got into the Sacramento airport two hours later than what was scheduled, but my luggage all arrived.  So I won't complain too much.  The drive to Lakeport didn't have much traffic which was nice.  The I-5 had a lot of trucks, then I turned onto I-20 and that was one windy road.  I didn't like driving in the dark.  I finally made it to my point of destination 2 am eastern time, and 11PM western time.  To day my lower back is aching from all that sitting that I did yesterday.  Hopefully it will loosen up by race day.

5/24/07

My legs are still a little tired from my race on Sunday.  I did a very easy two hour bike ride.  At 5:30 pm I met a group of runners and ran with them.  It was my first "Museum Run".  It is a lot different than what I am used to doing.  There were quite a few people there and we made several water stops.  We checked out "Godspeed" a reproduction of one of the three english boats that landed in Jamestown four hundred years ago.  I am glad I never had to make that trip.  There really wasn't much to the boat.

5/23/07

Yesterday I got up coached some swim lessons, went for a two hour bike ride with a thirty minute transition run and did another couple of lessons.  I thought I was going to fall over on the pool deck during my last swim lessons.  I felt so tired.  I got home around 4 PM and just laid down on the couch.  I was probably there for two hours.  Chris kept telling me I should probably get up because he didn't think I would be able to get to sleep that night.  Instead I went up stairs and got into bed.  I didn't get up until 6:00 am this morning.  I guess everything caught up to me.  I had lots of lessons again today along with a three hour bike ride and a longish swim.  I am surprised that I am really tired tonight, since I got all that rest yesterday.  But here I am at 9:15 ready to close my eyes and go to bed. 

I went over to the Tavern tonight for diner with Chris and Tom.  I knew if I just came home I wouldn't eat well.  I am feeling to lazy to make anything.  On top of the fact I am generally not motivated to cook.  So, I thought it would be a good idea to get a good meal from the restaurant.  And it was good.  As you might guess, I am now off to bed.

5/21/07

I got back from the Florida 70.3 race last night.  As predicted I had no problems with my no-stop flight.  The race was a one loop swim.  No wetsuits were aloud.  A one loop bike course and a three loop run course.  We had great weather compared to other years.  That is what I was told.  The morning was acutally a little chilly. 

The gun went off and the male pro's took off first, followed by the female pro's three minutes later and then the different heats of age groupers.  The swim was easy, I only had a hard time seeing the bouys.  I like to blame that on my bad eye sight.  When I got out of the water I couldn't pull my zipper down on my Skin suit.  I just forced the suit off.  I got onto my bike and took the lead for a little while.  Then Karen Smyers and Katya Schumacker passed me.  I stayed my legal distance behind them for the entire bike ride.  My legs didn't feel half as good as they did when I raced the 101 two weeks ago.  But I wouldn't say I had a horrible ride.  I got off the bike and into transition.  I had a good transition and watched Katya and Karen take off.  They were flying.  I felt fine, but there was no way I was keeping up with them.  There was a grassy knoll that we had to run on for what to me seamed like two miles.  We had to do that three times.  I hated it.  I don't like uneven surfaces.  But then, what can you do?  Another pro girl passed me at about mile nine.  I just kept on chugging along like I always do.  I got my fourth place finish.  That seems to be the number for me this year. 

I stood near the finish line and watched many people finish.  There were people finishing limping and some were walking.  There was definite determination to finish the race.  It was awesome to watch. 

I went back to the hotel to pack my bike up and get to the airport.  I had to miss the awards banquet in order to catch my plane.  I caught my plane and even made it home early.

Today was about a little rest with a small swim.  It felt great!

5/17/07

I have had a couple of very strange days.  My Wednesday morning started off disasterously.  I was leaving for the Y at 5:30 am to teach a swim lesson.  I backed my car up and SMASHED right into my neighbours car.  And I did a good......no great job on her side door.  I left a note and waited for the dreaded phone call.  She called and was very nice about the situation.  Which leads me to the following couple of days.  For all the mean spirited people in this world, I believe the good hearted and most sincere people out number them.  I have had countless people do so many wonderful things for me.  It's the nice things that they say to me that mean so much.  I am just reminded tonight, for some reason, that smiling at someone or just saying a kind word can make a big difference in someone's day. 

Enough of that....I am off to Florida tomorrow.  I have a non-stop flight, so not too much can go wrong.  I will be getting to the airport nice and early since, Anthony Strange and his friend Jarred are leaving an hour before me and are picking me up in the morning, so that my husband can have the couple of extra hours beauty rest that he requires.

Good night and I will tell you all about the race when I get back into town.

5/14/07

Happy Belated Mother's day to everyone!  Usually I race at the Gulf Coast half Ironman and miss Mother's day.  This year my season kick off was a week early and my mother-in-law cooked an awsome diner that I, and the rest of the family, enjoyed.  Is there something wrong with that picture?  Believe me everyone would much rather have her cook the meal, than me.  I am definetly no Martha Stuart.  Some how I missed out on the genes.  My mother was a very good cook, even my dad is a good cook. 

Today I caught up with a lot of people who I haven't talk to in a long time.  I have been trying to get Wendy Ingrahm to do some training with me, but she has been busy a new business venture.  It sounds as though she will be spending plenty of time in Europe.  That girl does not slow down.  I talked with my adopted family, the Vanderwitties, in Iowa (they were a homestay I had when I went to race there).  Doug Vanderwhittie will be racing in Lake Placid and bringing his entire family, plus brothers, sisters, and I am not sure who else.  I hung out with them all when he did Hawaii.  It is a fun family. I am not sure why it is so hard to keep in touch with friends.  I need to get better at doing it. 

5/11/07

Talk about craziness.  I just bought my ticket to go back to Florida.  I am going to race in the 70.3 race in Orlando.  I am sure it will be another hot day.  At least this one won't last quite as long.  I am acutally looking forward to it.  I think I used to put way too much pressure on myself to do well.  I have come to find out that, in the end, it really doesn't matter how I place.  All that I can do is what the day brings me.  I already know that I am going to give it my best.  Sometimes I come up a little short with my own expectations, and I have learned to not be so hard on myself.  Could have's, should have's don't cut it.  And beating myself up is certainly not productive.  Everyone has a bad day.  I always find things that I want to try to do differently the next time I race.  Sometimes they work and sometimes they don't.  I guess finding that perfect formula of: training, racing, nutrition, and emotional wellbeing is what I am trying to attain.  I know that perfection is subjective, making it almost impossible to achieve, but it really brings about introspection.

5/10/07

I just got my brand new wetsuit in the mail today.  It is the new Ironman wetsuit.  It is sweet!  I will probably be needing it since I am thinking of racing at the Clear Lake, California One O One triathlon.  Talk about racing my way into shape.  This is something new for me.  I generally do very few races, especially long races before my big Ironman race.  Like I said before, I really liked the distance, so I am not freaking out about the thought of doing it.  The only problem is that I have to change an already existing plane ticket.  That can be a pain in the butt.

Today I went for a short run and a swim.  I am finally feeling normal again.  Yesterday when I biked I felt as though my legs were loading every time I tried to speed up.  To me, that is one of the worst feeling when training. 

5/08/07

I got back from the One O One race yesterday.  It was a busy day of getting the bike un-packed, doing laundry, working a couple of training sessions, and e-mailing and calling everyone back.  

The race itself was very small.  It had one of the largest pro fields that I have ever raced against, not including Hawaii.  The weather in Bradenton was very hot.  I believe race day it was around 94 degree's.  There was no wetsuits.  The water temperature was 85 degree's.  I wore a skin suit over top of my racing outfit.  The swim was a three loop swim.  There was no getting out of the water.  Everyone took off at the same time since the racing field was so small. I could feel my skin suit rubbing at my neck, which was a little distracting.  The water wasn't clear, so you couldn't see much in front of you.  I could, every once in a while, feel jelly fish.  I never got stung.  I think I heard of one person who was stung by a jelly fish.  I started to catch some of the age grouper's by the third loop, but no one was really in the way.  I got out of the water and ran into the changing tent.  I got on my bike to do the six loop bike course.  I felt really good on my bike.  I didn't feel like I was pushing it too hard.  There was one water stop at the end of each loop, which worked out well for me.  Since the field was so small there was absolutely no issues with drafting.  NONE!!!  I think it is pretty safe to say that everyone raced a clean race.  Which sometimes is hard to do.  I passed Hillary Biscay on the bike, as well as some other pro girl (I didn't see her name) and Nina Kraft.  I was in second place getting off the bike.  I got out onto the run and there was not much shade to be hadl.  The sun was beating down on us and I think the heat was starting to affect some of us.  I was working on my running form and felt pretty good.  Nina passed me pretty quickly, but was very encouraging.  I was trying to hold off Hillary, but it was of no use she was running really strong;  And then there was the girl who won the race.  She had a phenominal day.  She took the lead from the beginning and just kept on putting time on us.  Heather Gollnick was out there cheering us on and so was my husband's cousin, Andrew Kube.  He lives in Florida and drove a half hour with his daughter to cheer me on.  It was really nice to hear my name being called out. 

Tom Curran did the race as well.  He placed second in his age group.  He was too kind and gave his skin suit to one of the male pro's to borrow.  Tom thought it was going to be a wetsuit swim.  Which it wasn't.  OOPS!  He was also plagued with knowing that he had a piece of glass stuck in his racing tire.  Fortunately it did not go flat on him during the race.  He had a solid race with no cramping issues.  That is a big accomplishement for him. 

Once we were done racing we socialized for a while and then got our stuff packed up for our trip back home.  We had to get up early to catch our flight. I got to say the travel all went VERY smoothly:)  My traveling Karma is changing (Knock on wood).  To sum things up, I REALLY liked the distance of that race.  I am definitely going to do more of that distance.

5/03/07

I have everything packed up for my race in Florida.  I get up at the crack of dawn to catch the plane.  We have to pick Tom up first.  Keep your fingers crossed that I have good flying karma.  All flights WILL be on time, and all luggage WILL make it to it's destination.  I am having possitive thoughts.

Today I got my new Newton running shoes.  I tried them out and they feel great.  I have been training in the training stability shoe, but I got the racing flat for the race.  The shoe is so light.  The great thing about them is that you can put your orthodics in the racing flat.  There are some racing flats where that is not possible.

I got my racing/biking jersey all ordered today, with the logo's of all my sponsors.  I can't wait to see what the jersey will look like.  I think the art work will be ready in a couple of days.  If all goes well, they should be ready by the time I get ready to race in Lake Placid.

All in all things are going pretty good.  Since I will be leaving tomorrow and I am not taking my computer I will not be writting in my journal until Monday.  Just don't want you to think that I am getting lazy.  If you are interested in following the oneoone race you should be able to go to slowtwitch.com on Sunday and get updates on the race.

5/02/07

I am slowly but surely getting my stuff ready for the race on Sunday.  I always have to start getting prepared a week in advance to make sure I have everything.  Things such as getting a time set up to get the bike check out before I leave, making sure I have extra race tires, and making sure I have my nutrition, plus many other things.  It is amazing how much stuff you can forget if you don't organize ahead of time. 

I didn't think we were going to have master's swimming tonight because it was thunderstorming.  I am not sure if it is like this everywhere, but in Richmond, we close down the indoor pools when it is thundering.  It stopped thundering in time for us to be able to have practice.  Unfortunately for everyone there I change my original practice to having longer distances.  I don't generally do longer distances because the pool is so packed.  With not so many people there I figured it would be a good time for a distance set.  Good stuff! 

One of my really good friends has a sister who lives in Richmond.  Her sister just found out that she has stage three breast Cancer.  She has three children, one who is only seven.  Her sister is not taking the news well at all.  It amazes me how many people that I personally know who have had cancer, or who has died from cancer.  It's really scary.  I wish I knew what to do to help her sister's spirits, they are so low right now. 

Everytime I hear of a story such as that one, It makes me thankful that I have my health and can do these triathlon races.  It also helps me keep perspective on my races.  I am going to do this race this weekend with my friends sister in mind. 

4/30/07

It's official.  I have bought my tickets to go out and train in Colorado for a month.  I leave June 6th.  Amanda and Michael Lavato are letting me stay with them, their two dogs and one fat cat.  I should feel right at home.  As much fun as I am going to have training out there, I am still going to miss being home.  Hopefully I can talk my training partner, Tom, into coming and training with me for a week or so.

This past weekend both Tom and I felt sluggish on our bike ride and transition run.  My long run the following day felt great.  Sometimes there is just no rhyme or reason for why you have a good or bad training day.  Hopefully this coming up weekend when I race in Florida I will be having a great day. 

Today I am working with a group at the track.  It will be a tough day, as it is one of the hottest days we have had thus far.  A couple of my runner's are not good in the heat.  This is going to kick their butts.  I might be nice and give them an easier workout than usual, since I worked them out pretty hard in the pool this morning.  It is all dependent on whether Travis decides to give me a hard time or not.

4/26/07

I forgot to talk about my Tuesday night bike ride.  This past tuesday we decided that we would go a little earlier and go with a smaller group.  When there are twenty plus people riding in a line it can get scary with cars passing.  Plus the people driving get mad.  There ended up being only four of us.  Three of us took turns pulling.  The ride went much smoother and our pace wasn't all that much slower than when we rode with the larger group.  We stayed at a more even pace.  And the testosterone level was manageable:)

I think we have to do that more often. 

Today was a run day with pick-ups.  We past by a church that was having service for the Virginia Tech students.  It looked like there were a lot of people showing up for it.  The run went well.  My calfs feel like they are going to explode.  I must be doing something a lot different with my running because my calves are really sore.  Hopefully it is something good.  What I need is someone to video tape my running.  It's always fun to watch yourself on video tape...

4/25/07

I am sure you are wondering why I needed my blood taken to find out my blood pressure.  I don't know what I was thinking.  It wasn't my blood pressure that was high it was both my LDL and HDL that were high.  Now, why is my cholesterol high?  I don't know what the numbers were because I didn't ask the doctor.  I will find out on Friday when I go in and see what is suggested to get my cholesterol lower.  HMMM, and I thought I was being healthy.

Today is Our (chris and me) ninth anniversary.  I can honestly say that the years have flown by quickly.  We started dating when I was eighteen, so we have actually been together for sixteen years.  WOW, that even shocks me!  Tonight Chris is taking me out to a nice diner.  A place called "Book Binders".  We have never been there before.  We are generally creatures of habit and go to the same joints: The Tavern, and Mexico.  Anyway, tonights dinner is a treat on my dad.  Thanks Dad!

Today I swam and ran.  Swimming felt pretty good.  I feel as though I am stuck at the same speed.  I managed to descend a bunch of 500's.  The hardest part of that was keeping track of the laps I had done.  Sometimes keeping your mind from wondering is difficult. The run was great, however, I am not used to the heat, so I was definitely feeling it.  No complaints about it.  It is about time:)

4/21/07

I woke up last night with the worst stomach ache.  I was having shooting pain.  It felt like it lasted for hours.  I got up and went to go teach a swim lesson that didn't show. 

Yesterday I got some blood work done.  I was curious to know if my iron levels, cholestrol and all that good stuff was okay.  I was shocked to find out that everything was great except that I had high blood pressure.  I can having high blood pressure must be hereditary.  It certainly isn't from a lack of exercise and although my diet isn't perfect, I don't eat horribly.  My dad has high blood pressure as well and has to take medication for it.  I hope I won't have to take medication for it.

It interests me how some people have such a hard time working out in the heat.  I held a track workout last night and one of my runner's has such a difficult time in the heat.  I know she needs to acclimate to the heat since she hasn't had that many days workout in higher temperatures.  I am glad that I don't have such a big problem working out in the heat.  It would certainly make Hawaii out of the question if that were the case.

4/20/07

I had a wonderful weekend.  I ran a 15K with Katie and her friend Kelly.  We got up early, and drank a coffee at Starbucks.  Then we drove to the race and signed up.  It was a beautiful morning and the race went through some nice neighbourhoods and a park full of blooming flowers.  I had to run a little after the race to get the run as long as I needed it to be.

Then we came home and Chris and I started to work on our yard. It needs a lot of work.  Lots of dead plants and weeds.  One of the pine trees is dead on one side and all I have to do is pull on a branches and they come falling down.  I am not much of a gardener and am not sure what I am doing, so all of what I am doing is trial and error.  The weeds are everywhere. 

On Sunday I was able to lay out at the pool.  It seems like forever since I have been able to do that.  Chris' pool was freezing.  I managed to get half way in the pool.  Kelly jumped in and lost her breath because it was so cold.  I was so happy to be able to be outside without having to bundle up.  Later that night we had a BBQ.  No one could move because we ate so much food. 

Doesn't sound like I am doing much training eh!? 

4/19/07

I was afraid that I was going to be biking in the rain today.  It was overcast all day.  Tom and I managed to bike and run without a down pour.  While waiting for Tom to come over and bike I some how fell fast asleep.  I never did quite recover from that quick nap.  I am not sure if I agree with the people who say that you shouldn't nap for more than thirty minutes.  I felt groggy the rest of the day. 

Today I was working with one of my swimmers.  He is just getting into swimming.  He has been more of a runner in the past.  The intersting thing that I have found with some former runner's who are getting into swimming is that they have a hard time keeping a streamline.  They tend to want to stick their butts out.  When I told this guy to tuck his pelvis under he couldn't believe how much more bouyant he became.  I am guessing it is because runner's tend to have tight hip flexors.  It was great to see the delight in his eyes that he was acutally on top of the water.  Stuff like that always makes my day.

4/18/07

I am definitely doing the 101 race in Bradenton Florida.  I signed up, bought my plane ticket and have a hotel to stay in.  I am a little concerned about doing the race as I don't feel like I am in the best shape yet.  I am hoping it will jump start my training for the Lake Placid Ironman.  All in all I think it will be a fun race with no pressure. 

I went out and did a longish, hardish run today.  I was really focused on not hitting on my toes.  I really think that has been the cause of my shin pain.  I was not in that much pain today.  I can still press on the area and it is tender, but I am hoping with the change in my foot strike the tenderness will lessen as time goes on.  It is the only thing I can do since the Doctor's aren't really able to help me out on this problem. 

I had one of those sleepless nights last night.  Maybe it was from being around all that testosterone.  I tossed and turned and could not get comfortable.  My cat was laid out accross the top part of the bed and my husband was taking over the rest of the bed.  I was so awake.  I knew since I had to get up early, I would find sleep an hour or two before I was to get up.  Sure enough that's what happened.  I didn't feel all that badly.  My eyes were definitely heavy mid-day.  Tonight should be a great night for sleep.

4/17/07

We have been getting some strong winds lately.  It feels so refreshing outside.  Today was the Tuesday night bike ride.  There was a VERY large group with LOTS of testosterone.  My job was to sit in the back and get a strong longish ride.  That was fine with me.  We did lots of surging then slowing down.  That drives me crazy; however, since I was sitting in the back enjoying the draft who am I to complain.  It's kind of fun to watch the group interact and compete without looking like they are competing with one another.  towards the end there were some angry words exchanged between two of the riders.  It's typical for someone to make an unnecessary comment to someone.  Anyway, it didn't get any more excitting than a few angry words between to cyclist.

I got home and did my usual transition run.  My shin has been bothering me forever.  I got a bone scan done and there was no signs of a stress fracture, but the pain doesn't seem to go away.  I have decided to change the way I land on my foot when I run.  It seems to have made a difference.  Hopefully I am not messing up something else by changing my foot strike.  I am sure I will soon find out.

4/16/07

What a scary world we live in.  33 people were killed by a guy with a gun at Virginia Tech.  Lots of people have friends and children that go to that University from this area.  It just blows my mind that someone could do such a horrible thing.  And unfortunately the big question of "why?" will never be able to be answered. 

Today was a relatively relaxing day.  It was the house work day.  Do lots of laundy, clean-up around the house and do lots of lessons.  I had a recovery bike ride that I chose to do inside on the computrainer.  I didn't feel like fighting against the wind.  I am getting lazy in my old age.

I did get a phone call from a friend in College.  She lives in Atlanta.  I think it is great that we still keep in touch.  We swam together at ODU.  Most of the swimmers with whom Chris and I swam with have kept up with one another.  I must say, Chris is better about it than I am.  I am a little lazy when it comes to picking up the phone and catching up.  I need to do it though.  I have some great friendships from college that I would never want to lose.

4/15/07

For some reason the weekends here have been miserable.  This past weekend has been rainy.  I was going to ride on Saturday morning, but it was raining outside.  Instead I sat on my trainer for what seemed like an eternity.  Of course the weather cleared up later that afternoon.  It was good that I biked on the trainer that morning cause Chris and I were able to go over to his grandmother's and spend some time with her.  She isn't feeling well and Chris' aunt is staying with his grandmother, whom we call Gaga.  Margeurite, his aunt, has a new puppy that she found in a ditch.  He is part Chow and part Golden Retriever.  It is the sweetest, most laid back puppy.  He is named Ditch.  I am sure you can guess why.

Today I got up and had to do a long run.  And it was raining again.  I was hoping that it would clear up.  Jane, Kate and I decided to leave around 10:30 am.  We thought that the rain wouldn't be too bad.  During our run it came down extremely hard and not so hard.  We finished drentched.  I was chilled to the bone once my body temperature cooled down.  Chris made a fire and I sat infront of that for quite a while.  Funny to be having fire in April.  Looks as though the rest of the week will be rainy as well.  Not very good for biking.

4/12/07

I have made an inquiry to see about racing in the oneoone race.  The race consists of a 2 mile swim, and 80 mile bike ride and an 18 mile run.  There are a lot of these races throughout the year.  There is a nice cash purse for the pro's.  I was looking through the race registration and noticed a lot of pro's have already signed up.  I think there might be more pro's doing this kind of race versus the Ironman distance race.  It will be interesting to see how it goes.  This first one this year is being held in Bradenton Florida. 

The weather is going to start getting a little chilly this weekend.  Of course I will be doing my longish bike ride.  What is up with the weekends being chilly?  Fortunately I have a handful of people to bike with which will keep me motivated.  I hear that the weather is going to be, possibly, awful for the Boston Marathon.

I got, what I thought was, plenty of sleep last night and yet I was tired today.  I feel asleep on the couch.  I curled up to my depressed cat.  She was a little moody.  I am hoping the prozac that she is taking will make her a little less moody.  I am tired of her growling and hissing at me.

4/11/07

Finally we got a beautiful day.  And again I went out on my bike and cruised around the U of R neighbourhood checking out the old, and very expensive houses.  It is a really pretty area.  Later I managed to get a massage.  A massage that I really needed.  Lance was able to find spots that I didn't even realize were bothering me.  The hour always goes way too fast. 

I had to take my cat into the vet the other day.  She was having accidents around our house.  The doctor said her glands were full and emptied them and said that would take care of one of the problems.  The other problem he thinks is psychological.  So now I have a cat that is on prozac.  They first tried something else on her and she was freeking out.  I called the vet about it.  They told me she was probably seeing pink elephants and to, obviously, not continue giving her the medication.  My poor cat.

4/10/07

Today was a nice relaxing day.  It was strange not to have gone to the YMCA.  Instead I took a leasurely bike ride.  I waited till 1 PM to start the ride in order to have the warmer weather.  It was nice to bike slow, it is amazing how much stuff I  generally miss seeing when I go on my usual training rides.

I called my friend Amanda in Colorado to see if I could go out there and train with her.  She thought it was a great idea.  Her and her husband, Michael, are on their way to Arizona to do the Arizona Ironman.  So, we weren't able to talk to long about details because she was getting ready to leave for the airport. 

Although this has nothing to do with triathlons, I am going to give some advice.  Don't be late to see someone on a continuous basis.  It's not polite and even if your time is not valueable, don't assume the person who is waiting for you has nothing better to do.  This is a pet peeve of mine.   Just wanted to get that off my chest today.  Have a great day!

4/09/07

I am prett surprised at how sore I am from the race this past weekend.  Lucky for me I am having a really easy week.  A "spring Break" of sorts from training.  I had a wonderful slow swim this morning.  Getting in the water is always so hard.  I don't particularly like getting wet any more.  Generally, once I am in the water, I am happy to swim.

The rest of the day was slow going.  I was pretty tired even though I had gotten some good sleep last night.  I got up early to teach swim lessons.  It is amazing how much my swimmers have improved.  I should really keep the video tapes of them when they started swimming and show them what they look like now.  Although I know I am not organized enough to keep track of everyone's video tape from beginning to end.  I was working with one guy today trying to get him to not cross his arm over his hip when he finishes his pull.  I showed him on video, explain what I wanted, showed him on deck what I wanted, then finally I gave him a cue and it worked.  It's very gratifying to see someone finally "get" what you have been trying to explain.  The great part was that he could really feel a difference and actually felt it when he did it wrong.  Big win for both of us:)

4/08/07

Happy Easter!!  Yesterday I raced in a Duathlon.  I awoke to snow on the ground, and very cold weather.  It was crazy considering we had a high in the 80's two days prior to the race.  Needless to say it looked as though most everyone who signed up for the race still showed up.  I am not all that confident in a duathlon as running is not my strongest suit.  But I figured the race was pretty much being run in my backyard and it is good to step outside your comfort zone.  The race was a 5.7 mile run, followed by a 36 mile bike ride and another 5.7 mile run.  I was excitted about the bike course as it was one big loop.  Due to the weather conditions the race officials decided that it could be dangerous, and switched the bike course to eight loops around West Creek.  You wouldn't think that it would be that difficult to keep track of eight loops, but believe me, it can mess with you. 

The gun went off promptly at eight am.  The two other Elite girls took off.  I was feeling pretty good, but was thinking that my running shoes should be tighter, and towards the end of the run I was getting some side stitches.  I was so happy to get on my bike.  I caught the two girls before I had completed my first loop around West Creek.  I was feeling really good either than my hands and feet being a little cold.  My husband was at the end of each loop keeping count.  That was a big help.  With only three loops to go I got a flat tire.  I couldn't believe it.  I got off the bike and worked hard at getting the tire off.  My fingers were so cold.  I finally got the tire off and put the spare one on.  Got the wheel on my bike and was off.  I think it took a total of ten minutes.  Believe me I had thoughts of just stopping, but like I have said before, you never know what can happen.  I caught back up with one of the girls,  before it was time to get off the bike.  I had decided not to put my gloves back on after my flat.  Bad idea.  My hands hurt so badly.  On top of the fact I didn't feel my two finger nails pull back when I was taking the tire off untill I was back on my bike and I saw the blood.  Shows you what adrenelin can do for you.  I got into transition and started off on the run.  I felt good and just kept what I felt was a steady pace.  To my surprise I was gaining on the first place girl.  She beat me by 10 or 15 seconds, but I couldn't believe that I was gaining on the first place girl during the run.  That really made the race for me. 

I was cold and my ride had to take off to get ready for a Wide Spread Panic show, so we left the race pretty quickly.  Hard to believe, but my fingers throbbed the rest of the day.  It sounds lame I know.  I am hoping that, that was my last flat tire for my 2007 racing year.  Two good things came out of that race.  I am not as weak of a runner as I thought I was, and I can change a flat tubular tire, even if I have to struggle to get the darned thing off.

Have a great Day!

2/26/07

Danahy, Katie, Kate, Tom, My Chris and myself all ran in the Williamsburg half marathon yesterday.  It was a rainy cold day.  I thought that we might get lucky and miss the rain.  However, once the race started so did the rain.  Williamsburg is a nice rolling hill course.  Not the easiest course, but there were some really fast times.  The winning men's time was a 1:06.22.  That is holding 5:03 's per mile.  The winning woman's time was a 1:20.29.  That is holding 6:07's per mile.  Not too shabby.  It would be nice if I could run that fast.  Instead I ran a 1:32.49.  I felt great during the race, but got a little cold towards the end.  Tom finished right behind me, then came My Chris and Danahy, followed by Katie, then Kate.  I think everyone was pIeased with their run.  It was Kate's first half marathon.  She was really nervous about doing the race and almost didn't post for it, but I am pretty sure she is glad that she did it.  Everyone brought an extra change of clothing and we were all back in a warm car not too long after finishing the race.  For some reason I had a hard time getting warm that night.  I got cozy in my bed and stayed there for the rest of the cold rainy day.  The rest of my friends all made an evening of it. 

Today was an early morning lesson, followed by several other lessons, and a fabulous massage.  I also have confirmed my plans to race at the Quelle Challenge in Roth, Germany once again this year.  I am glad to have that monkey off my back..  Plus I will be bringing Tom to race with me. It will be so great!

2/24/07

Today was a simple easy swim, easy run day.  I am doing a half marathon tomorrow.  We have had wonderful weather and of course tomorrow is suppose to be cold and rainy.  I am going to wear my heart rate monitor.  It will be interesting to see how low I can keep my heart rate.  I am going to get my AT by running my last three miles hard.  In my tri races I don't use a heart rate monitor.  I know a lot of people think that they are key.  Mike Pig thought I was crazy not to use one.

I have a swimmer who I have been working with for quite a while now.  She has had lots of problems this year from being tired all the time, to injuring herself.  She had some fantastic goals that she wanted to achieve swimming in the short course season.  Unfortunately she will fall short of achieveing those goals because of the time she has had to take off from swimming.  I truely believe things happen for a reason.  Because of these "set backs", she has become stronger physically from working in the gym and she looks healthy and rested.  She was forced to pull a lot during swim practice because she couldn't use her legs.  She used to be weak pulling, she can't say that she is weak anymore.  And honestly I have never seen her more confident or happy.  I think she will surprise herself on how well she will do in her next swim meet.  I can't wait. 

2/19/07

I had a great training weekend.  I got out on my bike for a couple of hours and did a transition run.  My legs felt awesome running off the bike.  That evening I was quite tired.  I think the training in cold weather takes it out of you.  So I laid around watching the VCU vs. Bradley basketball game.  I had never heard of Bradley before, but they have some good three point shooters.  VCU lost (sorry Carol).   The following morning I did a long run and the last part of it we did farely fast.  I managed to keep my heart rate around 145 beats, which I thought was good.  It was good to have some speed at the end of a long run.  Later that day I did a long swim.  The last ten minutes of my swim I was starving.  My body is not used to training yet.  I mean REAL training.  My body is going to be in shock in a couple of weeks.  It is good because I am ready to shed the winter fat.

I had a talk with one of the athletes that I am working with.  He feels as though he isn't making the kind of progress that he should be making.  He is comparing himself with other people.  I tried to explain to him that he can't compare himself to anyone.  Everyone is different and has a different genetic make-up. In my opinion, I find that all too often we try and compare ourselves to other people, weather it be athletics, appearance, wealth, etc..and it is just ridiculous.  I don't think it is bad to try and strive for the things that we want and perhaps what other people have, but you just don't know what the price the other person is paying for whatever they may have.  In the end doing the best that you can by using the knowledge and the resouces is all that one can do.  Comparing yourself to someone else is just a waste of time and energy. 

2/14/07

Happy Valentine's Day!  My husband surprised me today, by getting me flowers, chocolate and a card.  That is not usual for him to do that on this day.  He even came home for lunch.  Unfortunately I fell asleep while he was cooking grilled cheese sandwiches.  OOPS!!  He was so sweet that he let me sleep:)

Today I fell down my stair when I was leaving the house.  There was a sheet of ice covering the stairs.  I need to pay more attention in the mornings when I walk out the door.  The streets were fine.  I couldn't believe they closed down Hanover schools.

Anyway, I did a swim practice and I am trying to get my 100 interval down to 1:20's.  I can now do 100's on 1:25's quite comfortably and figure it is time to push myself to the next level.  It's hard getting out of my comfort zone.  Plus I am trying to make a few corrections to my stroke like entering a little wider with my right arm.  It actually helps with the pain in my right shoulder. 

I also did a longish run today.  I ran lots of hills and my legs were definately tired when I was done.  Later in the day I finally did a yoga video.  Like I have said before, it is not my favorite thing to do.  However, I have to admit that I feel better once I have done it.  It makes me realize how tight I am, especially in my hip rotator muscles.  There are three people in the video, one is advance, one intermediate and one beginner level.  I can barely do what the beginner level guy is doing.  How sad is that!

I coached master's tonight.  I didn't think I would have too many people show up to practice due to Valentines day.  I had a descent sized crowd.  It was small enough to be able to do some distance sets.  Hello 400's:) 

2/13/07

I had to get up at 5:00 am this morning to work with someone.  I swore once I finished with my swimming carreer it was all about sleeping in for me.  I went to bed around 9:30 pm.  Once I got home from the gym, I took a one hour nap.  I can't believe how much sleeping I am doing. 

When I walked out the door this morning I thought the weather man had made a mistake.  It was pretty nice outside.  Two hours later the cold weather started to creep up, and now it is rainy and cold.  Not so great for a track workout tonight.  I have cancelled track, because I didn't want it to be raining on us.  Plus, I didn't think that most of the "skirts" (as Travis would call my medley of runner's) would show up.

I ran this morning with CR.  My hamstrings are starting to bother me again.  It is something chronic.  I thought for a while that I had gotten rid of the issue.  No such luck.  I am used to it now, although it would be nice if the problem would disappear. 

Tomorrow is Valentine's day, just in case some of you have forgotten.  It is hard to forget as it is advertised everywhere.  Chris say's that it is Valentine's day every day.  That suits me just fine.  At this point I don't really need any chocolate.  I would like it, but don't need it.

I am off to get my chocolate in a cup at starbucks.  I don't feel like it chocolate counts if it comes in a cup:)

2/11/07

I got up out of bed yesterday morning and had a horrible headache.  I had to go and teach a couple of swim lessons at the YMCA.  I thought the headache might go away on it's own.  I got to the Y and people were circling the parking lot to find a parking spot.  That frustration coupled with a headache is bad news.  Instead of getting all worked up I just parked across the street.  I walked to the Y watching the same people circling around and around.  My lessons went well, except for the fact that the headache never left.  I drove home and took two Excedrin and closed my eyes for an hour and a half.  That did the trick, thank goodness.  I did not want to have to take an Imitrex spray.  Imitrex is used for migraines.

Tom and I got our warm biking close on and biked for two and a half hours.  It was really nice to get back on the bike.  And I have got to say, it wasn't that bad biking in cold weather.  It was actually refreshing.  My toes were getting a little chilly at the end of the ride, but I am so glad I got out and did it.  Then we went on our first transition run of the year.  Incredibly it was not too bad.  Chris ran with us, seeing how his sprained ankle felt.  He said it didn't hurt too badly.  Good news since we had a long run the next day.

Today was our long run.  A very chilly morning.  The thing about running is that it doesn't take too long to warm up.  Chris and I managed to run a full three hours.  I was impressed that Chrs' ankle didn't bother him during the run.  That, or he was being a typical athlete and not saying anything about the pain.

Somehow the day has escaped me once again, and I am trying to keep my eyes open in order to write this..but before I go to bed, I must leave you with one piece of advice.  In my opinion you should NOT go and see the movie "Smokin' Aces ".  One review had this to say...Bang, Band, ha, ha!   And I have go to say, that is pretty right on for a review.

2/07/07

Yesterday when I had the opportunity to sleep in, I was wide awake at 5:00 am.  I figured I may as well get up and go to swim practice.  I got in and swam.  I always forget how much I enjoy organized swim practices.  I work so much harder and the time goes by so much more quickly.  We managed to get in a 3200 in an hour.  I thought that was pretty good.  I came home and was ready for my bed.  I took a good long nap.  It feels great to snooze when it is freezing outside.  Although, I know we don't really have it all that bad compared to other places.  My friend was in Toronto and said that Richmond was like the tropics in comparison.  He has no plans on going back there anytime soon.

I had to bribe everyone to come to Track practice by saying we would do stair repeats indoors.  Otherwise my athletes would never have shown up.  Everyone showed and we didn't end up going inside.  We did our track workout outside and warmed up quickly.  There is a light that shines on a small portion of the track and for some reason we always start our track repeats on the dark portion of the track.   I think it is time that we used common sense and started in the light so that we can see our splits when we finish.  It only took me six weeks to figure that out.  OOPS!

I came home from coaching masters.  And there is my husband hoping around.  It seems he sprained his ankle when he was running this evening.  It is kind of ironic as he is always fussing at me to be careful.  Hopefully it isn't too serious.  His training has been going so well up to this point.

2/05/07

It is getting really cold here in Richmond.  This time last year I was out on my bike doing 4-5 hour bike rides.  You won't catch me out on my bike in this weather.  BRRR!  Hopefully it will start getting warmer.  I need to get on my bike.  It doesn't feel like global warming to me. 

This past weekend I went up to Wintergreen for the night.  It was a good time.  I went with Katie and we stayed with, her Brother-in-law, John.  It was a nice relaxing evening.  We sat infront of the fireplace drinking wine and looking at old pictures.  Later we sat in John's new hot tub and drank some good wine.  The moon was out in full force.  It was almost evil looking with the way the clouds were surounding it.  For fun we went to "THE"  local bar called the Edge and watch a cover band called "Rain Market".  They were pretty good.  It was late when we got back to John's place, but we managed to stay up and watch a disturbing (in my opinion) show on TV called "Dirt". 

The following day Danahy (Katie's husband) and Tom (a friend) came up to go snow boarding.  I was heading back home.  I decided that I was not going to snow board because I had never done it before and I didn't want to hurt myself.  Plus I didn't see the point since it would be the only time I snowboarded this year.

I came back home to hang out with Chris.  The next morning we went out for our longest run yet.  It was a two and a half hour run.  We felt great up until the last half hour.  Our legs started to get tight.  So we rolled and stretched out our legs. 

That evening we went over to Danahy's to watch the Super Bowl game.  I am glad I wasn't at the game.  I don't know how much tickets went for, but to sit in the rain and watch the game would not have been worth it to me.  Watching the game from the comfort of home and eating Pizza that Katie made from scratch with friends was just as fun, much dryer, and a lot cheaper.

2/02/07

My shoulder pain was radiating down my arm last night while I slept.  I don't think that is a very good sign.  In the past it has never radiated down my arm and just ached.  It kind of scares me.  It is the shoulder that I had surgery on when I swam in college.  I find if I try and hold my scapula down when I swim and do any kind of over the shoulder weights I can manage to stop the pain, which could mean that I have a weak subscapularis.  I am just guessing.  I really don't want to go to the doctor's, but I am sure it will be unavoidable. 

I have been swimming regualarly three days a week for the past month.  My running has been fairly consistent for the past month as well.  My cycling is almost non-existant since my trip to California.  I am a wimp when it comes to cycling in the cold by myself.  It just doesn't happen.  Soon I am going to have to suck it up and get out on the road.  I actually miss going for long rides. 

Today I was talking to this girl who I have known for the past couple of years.  We know and hang around a lot of the same people, but we have never really hung out.  We have just said a couple of words to one another in passing.  I was never sure if she disliked me or not.  Today she happened to mention that she had felt the same way about me, and wanted to clear the air.  I thought that it was awesome that she brought it up and really quite ironic that she was getting the same vibes from me that I was getting from her.  Goes to show that sometimes it is good to clear the air with someone with whom you have been getting mixed signals.  Anyway, that made my day.

2/01/07

About a month ago I was lifting up a load of laundry and twisting.  It through my back muscle into a spasm that I still have.  That is when you know you are getting older.  Notice, I didn't say OLD.  I have gone to a massage therapist, Chiropractor, heated the back every night and taken muscle relaxers.  You would think that my back would be fine by now.  I can at least bend down and put my shoes on without hurting too badly.  It's hard to comprehend how debilitating things can be until it happens to yourself.  I can now empathize with people who have chronic pain. 

I had another track workout on Tuesday night.  Most everyone showed.  I had one person who has a hard time waiting to do her workout in the evening.  She says it stresses her out.  The other person who didn't show claimed she was sick, although she wouldn't answer her phone when I called.  The third person was a show, but almost didn't come.  I had to threaten him.  Anyway, we did our hill repeats once again.  It is not an easy hill, it is quite long and has a pretty steap section on it.  I am glad to say that this time I had no walkers.  Last time I had two, so there is improvement happening whether they realize it or not.

1/31/07

I was reminded last night about how long it has been since I have updated my journal.  Shame on me!  I have found out that I cannot wait until the evening to write because it just won't happen.  So much has happened since I have writen.  I went out to California and did a three day biking trip with Wendy Ingrahm.  We had a blast.  I flew into Aokland California where Wendy and her friend Chris (I know, not another one) picked me up.  It was really chilly.  We spent the night at Chris' house and biked from his house the the Golden Gate bridge where we met the rest of the group.  There were 35 other people riding.  We rode from the Golden Gate Bridge to Sea Side. There was lots of climbing.  In the middle of the ride my asthma kicked in.  Nobody had an inhaler including myself.  I suffered through the rest of the ride trying to get breaths of air.  It was horrible.  Once we got to Sea Side someone found out about my problem and had an inhaler to lend me.  That was a BIG bonus:)  Life was good again.

The second day we got up early and biked to Morro Bay.  That ride was even hillier than the last.  But the scenery was unbelieveable.  We saw sealions everywhere along the shore line, lots of whales, and even some giraffe's.  This time my asthma was under control, but my right knee was bothering me on the medial side.  Usually a knee will bother you on the lateral side and you can blame it on the IT band.  I had no clue why my knee was hurting.  It hurt badly.  Everytime I pushed down on the pedal I was in a lot of pain.  Of course this happened in the middle of the ride.  I sucked it up and finished the ride to the days in. 

The last day we biked into Santa Barbara.  I got on my bike and biked the first 20+ miles to the breakfast stop.  Then I decided to pack it in and get in the sag wagon the rest of the way.  My knee was still bothering me and I figured it was too early in the season to end up with some chronic injury. I met Wendy at the hotel where she had a car and we drove the to her house in LA.  We drove by all the movie stars houses.  It was pretty cool. 

The following morning I had to get up at the crack of dawn to catch my 6:30 am flight.  Wendy dropped me off at the airport around 5:00 am.  I get to the ticket counter and they charge me $90.00 for the bike box.  It seems the price of bringing your bike on the plane has gone up.  URG!!!  Then my plane got cancelled as I was flying into Houston and they were getting a snow storm.  The first one in thrity years.  They reroute me to the Newark airport.  That plane was suppose to take off at 7:00, it got delayed till 7:30.  We board the plane only to have to get off it because there is something broken.  They eventually find another plane for us to board and take us to Newark.  Needless to say by this time I have missed my connecting flight to Richmond.  I finally get to Newark and see that there is a plane leaving for Richmond at 7:30 pm.  I ask if I can get on it.  The flight attendent says that it is overbooked and there is no way I will be getting on that plane.  I look up at my flight that I am suppose to be getting on and see that it has been delayed till 10:00 pm.  You can say that my flying Karma has not changed from last year.  Fortunately for me planes were delayed and the plane leaving at 7:30 pm did not fill up and they let me get on that plane at the last minute.  I was so tired and glad to be home.

1/08/07

Where does the time go?  I finally got my Christmas presents sent off to Canada.  My niece and nephew will probably get it just in time for Valentines day.  Hopefully they will get it before.  Packages take forever to go through the boarder these days.  I got to say the the Post Office line wasn't long at all.

It has been a really long time since Chris and I went out to the movies.  We finally went on Friday night right after my swim lessons.  We went to see the new Rocky movie.  Total cost $28.00, that is with a drink and popcorn.  It's amazing how much it cost to go to the movies.  It was great because the movie theater was empty and we had our pick of seats.  The movie was entertaining, but definitely on the cheesy side.  I would wait for it to come out on DVD. 

I went and got a massage today.  I haven't gone to see Lance in a long time.  I forgot he was such a good massage therapist.  I managed to mangle my back up when I was picking up the laundry the other day.  I can't believe simple stuff like that can hurt.  And yes, I guess I am getting old.  Anyway, my back feels so much better now that he has worked on it. 

I have been getting back in the water.  So now I am looking particularly awesome with a dried up face, pale scally skin and rings around my eyes.  Just got to love swimming for all those reasons.  I keep telling myself I will be consistent with the swimming.  At least my shoulder is feeling better. 

1/04/07

It is day four and thus far I have kept my new year's resolution of drinking more water.  I am not sure if it is the water but I have been feeling so much better.  Maybe it is because I have been taking my multi-vitamins as well.  HMMMMM!

I just got my plane ticket to go out to California.  I am meeting up with Wendy Ingram and her crew to do a three day coast ride.  It starts at the Golden Gate bridge.  I will end up in L.A.  It is going to be a blast.  The plane tickets are cheap as well.  I got my round trip ticket today and I leave in 8 days for under $300.00.  Isn't that awesome! 

I  went over to Katie Danahy's house tonight.  She cooked up an awesome diner.  Even though it is fifty five outside we put on a fire in the fire place.  Ambiance is everything.  Then we were getting ready to watch Grey Anatomy to find out it is ANOTHER repeat.  Instead we watched Scrubs.  That show is hysterical.  Nothing very excitting, I know.  I call myself the "old" young person.  I am quite content to sit at home in the evenings. 

1/02/07

Happy New Year!  It's nice to think that you get to start fresh every year.  That the slate get's wiped clean and you can correct all the wrongs in your past by simply having a new year.  AHHH so refreshing.  Things didn't start off that great on January first.  I had a mega head ache and an upset stomach that lasted all day.  I laid most of the day, which felt like a big waste.  At least it rained heavily most of the day.

Today I woke up feeling all refreshed.  I have an idea of what my racing schedule is going to look like.  That gives me direction and makes me excitted about having a training schedule.  I kind of felt lost not knowing what I was going to do.  I really would like to improve on my running, once again it will be my main focus this year.  I have a feeling that we aren't going to have much of a winter, which for me will be great as it will allow me to get out on the bike. 

I had a great track workout tonight.  Everyone managed to show up tonight minus my husband.  He had his mother's birthday to attend.  We did some hill repeats, which are never much fun.  My goal is to have everyone run up the hills without walking.  In their defense it was was a tough hill and I thought about walking, but only for a second. We then ran to the track and did a couple of pacing sets.  I felt great, but my asthma was acting up.  I always forget to bring my inhaler.  I didn't have asthma until my Junior year in college. 

Now I am going to make a call to see if I can convince one of my lessons to come a half hour later in the morning.  That extra half hour sleep is priceless. 

12/30/06

Good news!  I DO NOT have a stress fracture.  So what is causing the pain?  I don't have a clue.  But, I can run...YEAH!!!!  I will be taking it easy until the pain eases up.  And my hip pain is slowly easing as well.   Things are looking up for the new year. 

Yesterday was all about running around to Doctor's offices.  That takes time.  They told me to drink lots of fluids after they injected me with radio active fluid.  So I did.  I had to go to the bathroom every twenty minutes.  The bone scan took about an hour.  It was pretty cool to see the slides of my legs.  It was painful staying still while the machine was getting the pictures as I had to go to the bathroom badly.

I had a pretty quiet evening as I had evening lessons at the Y.  Yaya got back into the water for the first time in a long time.  He asked how much time we had left after only being in the water for eight minutes.  He refused to kick and decided that he was making the swim lesson rules.  I decided that I would be nice to him for his first lesson back and let him make the rules. 

That evening I watched a movie with the Danahy's.  Chris was out watching the Benedictine basketball game.  Benedictine won. 

12/28/06

I have been sleeping late these days.  Getting up early is not working.  Today I woke up at close to nine am.  I had a swim lesson at nine thirty, which was the only reason I got out of bed.  Not good!  Hopefully I will get myself on an early morning schedule soon.  I guess it is better to ease into it:)

I am trying to teach my swimmer how to do the butterfly.  It is not an easy stroke to teach.  People think that they look stupid, when they really don't.  The good news is that she ended up doing a length of butterfly.  All the other strokes are looking really good.  I even have her doing all the turns properly for all the strokes.  Yes, I AM proud of myself...I mean of her (hee!hee!)

Tomorrow will be an early morning as I am getting the bone scan.  Keep those fingers crossed.  I hope I don't have a stress fracture.  If I do, I guess I will be doing a lot of biking.  The good news is that Wendy has invited me to do a coast ride with her in January in California.  It is four long days of biking.  So if worse comes to worse I will be doing that.  She wants me to go to Arizona with her and do some training, but unfortunately I can't take the time off of work. 

12/27/06

I went to bed early last night thinking that I would start my early to bed early to rise schedule.  All went well until my eyes sprung open wide at four this morning.  I couldn't believe it.  I could not get back to sleep.  I told myself that I would lie in bed until six and then get up.  Low and behold I fell fast asleep and almost missed my breakfast date.  I woke up and realized it was ten past eight.  I was suppose to meet Yaya at eight.  I called his cell phone to let him know I was going to be a little late.  Of course his wife answers and says that he forgot his cell phone.  I jumped in my car and decided I would take a chance and see if he would still be at Penera.  Thank goodness he has on star.  He called me to see what had happened.  Fortunately he was able to stay a little later and we were able to talk and catch up.  Drama, drama!

I am getting an Bone Scan done on Friday.  There is speculationg that I may have a stress fracture in my right shin.  I don't think that it is the case.  The problem is that my shin has been bothering me for several weeks.  Also,  my hip is bothering me.  The pain used to be worse, so I am thinking that I strained a muscle.  Athletes are always their own best doctor's..NOT!  Oh ya, and my right shoulder has been killing me.  The weird thing is that I haven't been swimming since the Hawaii Ironman.  I have no clue why it is hurting.  This year isn't starting off on the best note.

12/26/06

I can't believe that I actually went out shopping today.  I don't think I have EVER gone shopping the day after Christmas.  I had to return a couple of things that I got for Chris.  The pillow that I got him was too high.  Chris is like the Princess and the pea.  I can't seem to get a pillow that he likes.  The one he likes belongs to me and he is NOT getting it.  I have been in persuit of the perfect pillow for him for a couple of years.  Needless to say that we have a house full of pillows that he doesn't like.  They are either too full, too hard, too soft, etc..  Who said men aren't high maintenance???

Thank goodness we didn't get any more rain today.  Yesterday was aweful.  I am conducting a track workout tonight.  We shall see how many people show up.  I might have a good showing considering people are probably feeling growse from all the eating that was done yesterday.  I was planning on getting into the gymnasium and doing a stair workout, but I think it will be closed as school is not in session. 

I already took down all my Christmas decorations.  It kind of feels good to have it all down and out of the way.  Chris said that it shouldn't come down until after the New Year.  I told him he could decide on the dates of stuff going up and down when he started helping out with the decorating.  He took the lamps out of the windows to do his part in helping out:)  Then he was off to the gym.

12/25/06

Just wanted to wish everyone a Merry Christmas!  As usual we have had a wonderful rainy day in Richmond.  I think that the last time there was snow in Richmond on Christmas day was twenty years ago.  So sorry for all of you who were hoping for snow.  We still managed to have a fire in the fire place.  Some how the day has flown by and I haven't done much of anything, but I have very heavy eye lids.  Strange how that works.  Happy holidays once again.

12/21/06

Everyone is exhausted today because we celebrated Danahy's birthday last night.  Danahy was suppose to go to Winter Green, but ended up having to work on his birthday.  Since he had to work, we decided to bring the party to him.  I think he had a fairly good time.  Katie made an awesome birthday cake and managed to put all fourty something candles on it.  I came home early from the festivities.  Chris woke me up when he got home, since I am such a light sleeper.  Then the cat managed to wake me up because she was scratching at Kevin's bedroom door.  She wanted to be let in.  Surprisingly enough Kevin never heard her scatching at the door.  Needless to say I am tired today even though I was the one who came home at a resonable hour.

The Y pool is looking awefully empty.  I am guessing everyone is going out of town for Christmas.  Glad to say that I am staying at home with no big plans at all.  I will miss seeing my dad, and my sister's family.  I am still just so tired of traveling and having put this house together.  I know in not so long a time I will be back to full time training and things will get really crazy once again.

Katie and I went out to Stoney Point Mall.  We had to get some Christmas shopping done.  They have a small ice rink in the middle of the mall.  It cracks me up as it isn't real ice.  It almost looks like it is some type of cardboard.  There were a lot of kids skating on it.  It took me back to when I lived in Ottawa and would skate on the Rideau Canal.  That was a lot of fun.  I believe the Rideau Canal is the longest skating rink in, at least, North America. 

Kevin seems to getting home later and later from Anthony Strange's house.  He is starting to look tired from all the work he has been doing.  Tom Rhode from Parlee bicycle was in town and I got to meet him.  I'm sure every time he leaves my house to go back to Ohio, he is cursing the day he will need to come back.  And he will be coming back.

12/19/06

Kevin is working hard on bikes over at Anthony Strange's garage.  One bike took him all day to fix mechanically.  As ADD as Kevin seems to be he sure is able to work long and hard on those bikes.  Guess that is what passion for something will do.  Kevin told me he wanted to work, so I have made his demands come true:)

I on the other hand have been taking middle of the day naps and sleeping in (for me) in the mornings.  It is really quite nice.  I had a pilates session this morning.  My right shoulder has been bothering me, which really makes no sense as I haven't swum since the Hawaii Ironman.  I am going to IBprofen it up and see if that helps the old shoulder out.  It is the usual rotator cuff issue.  I have been pretty diligent about rehab, but even that doesn't seem to be helping.  I am figuring that there is inflammation in the shoulder and that is why it isn't getting better.  It is always good to be your own doctor...NOT!

Tonight was track workout.  I only had four people show.  Carol has been having hip flexor issues which has really concerned me.  I decided that we would really focus on her running form and not do speed work.  The amazing thing is that her hip flexor problem seems to be getting better.  Carol's running form looks awesome.  It is always excitting to see such great improvements.

12/17/06

Kevin (the bike guy) got into town on Friday night.  He traveled from Ohio.  A short 9 hour drive.  He is set up in
Anthony Strange's garage.  He is properly setting people up on their bikes.  One big job!

Last night we had the first inaugral "Beer Mile".  It was held at an undesclosed track.  We started at 5:30 PM.  We forgot that a High School basketball game was going on playing at the gym.  It made it tough to find parking.  There were only seven participants: Danahy, My Chris, Cabel Hatchet, Tim Morse, Katie Danahy, Tom Curran (dressed as Kareem Abdul Jabar) and myself.  There is an official website with the rules of the Beer Mile and all the records.  If you go to www.Beermile.com it will explain the race.  The quick way to explain it is that you start the race drinking a beer then run a quarter mile.  That is done four times.  It sounds easier than it actually is.  I was the last one to finish my first beer.  Tim lead from beginning to end of the race.  Katie made the girls proud and was second overall.  Then it was me who snuck into third place, just out running Tom.  Fifth was my Chris, Sixth was Danahy and then Cabel completed the race.  Michelle Hatchet, Kate Lucas, Kendra Morse, and two other un-named male wooses (SP?) spectated.  Good times!  It will be interesting to see how many people will participate next year.

12/14/06

"The Biggest Looser" was pretty cool to watch.  It was amazing to see how much weight those people lost, some over half their body weight.  They didn't even look the same.  I think it is great what those people accomplished.  It was their personal Ironman.

I got up this morning and did a pilates classe.  I enjoy it, and what I really like about it, is that I can see that I am making progress.  I don't see the same kind of progression in running and biking while training.  That can be frustrating. The only time I see improvement on the run and bike is when I race.  This winter I am working on improving my running once again.  Hopefully it will pay off during the racing season.

I decorated my Christmas tree today and got some decorations up around the house.  The house looks nice all decorated.  I still have to do the Christmas gift thing.  I have never waited this long to get gifts.  I am a little stressed out about it.  Chris and I bought a used sleigh bed as our Christmas gift to one anther.  Honestly, Chris and I have never given one another gifts for Christmas.  As he likes to say "It is Christmas every day"!:)

12/13/06

I watched the Hawaii Ironman World Championships on TV on Sunday night.  I thought it was pretty good.  I felt bad for the guy who had ALS.  He had deteriorated quite a bit since last years ironman.  What an aweful disease.  It is great that he is doing everything he can to raise awareness for his disease.  It's stories like that that make this sport what it is....passionate.

I finally got some Christmas decorations up.  The weather is wonderful that it's almost unimagineable that Christmas is only two weeks away.  Now the next thing to do is the Christmas shopping.  I am not much of a shopper.  And recently, every time I have gone shopping I have gotten myself something.  Not quite the Christmas spirit.

My bike guy is FINALLY coming to visit me.  I can't wait.  My bike needs a real tune-up.  The other great thing is that we are working on a deal with Parlee bicycles to get another bike built for me.  I love their bikes.  And Kevin (my bike guy) helps me with getting the right geometry for me.  He also comes and works on bikes of people whom I know.  He does a really good job.  I am not sure if he is going to be able to be gone by Christmas time.  He tends to take a long time working on each and every bike.  It doesn't help that he has the gift of gab.

Tomorrow I am able to sleep in tell the cows come home.  Watch, I will be up at the crack of dawn ready to go.  I am now off to watch the season finalle of "the biggest looser."  I think the transformations are phenominal. 

12/06/06

Today I got up early to coach a swim lesson.  Unfortunately for me the person never showed up.  The great thing is that I am good friends with “the person”, so I guilted him into taking me out to lunch…Thanks Tom!

Later in the morning I was to give a talk to a bunch of Long and Foster employees.  I almost forgot.  If it wasn’t for my husband calling to remind me, I would have totally missed it.  That would not have been good since it was my father-in-law who asked me to talk at their meeting.  Nothing like going prepared; However, I did feel as though it went really well.  

They are demolishing the lap pool at the YMCA.  There is dust everywhere from the men working on the taking off the surface of the pool.  I can’t imagine it being a fun job.  Because of all the dust it’s a  good thing that doors separate the lap pool from the family pool.  I have to now do lessons out of the family pool which is about 86 degrees.  That is hot when you are doing laps.  But I still have no mercy.

12/05/06

The Angle Tree lunch was very nice.  It is very interesting to find out how things get started.  Angle Tree all started with this lady (of course I can't remember her name) who was incarcerated for 9 years on grand theft charges.  Her and her husband robbed banks and were quite good at it until they got caught.  She was sentenced to eleven years in prison.  During the holiday season she noticed that the inmates would start putting toileteries into piles.  Some people had one, others two, others five, etc.  Curious, she decided to find out what the toileteries were for....they were the gifts that they were going to give their children when their children came to visit them for Christmas.  It was all that they had to offer their children.  She noticed when these inmates gave their children these "gifts", the children were thankful, not necessarily for the gift but because they knew that their mother's loved them and thought about them enough to give them the only things they had to offer.  Once this lady got out of prison she decided to put up a Christmas tree in a mall.  On the Christmas tree were Angles with the names of the inmates in her prison and the gifts that their children would like.  This one lady's fore thought and idea has been made into a Christmas tradition for people across the country.  Angle Tree is one way to truly feel the spirit of giving and Christmas.

12/04/06

Yesterday I went to watch the Washington Redskins vs. Atlanta Falcons football game.  There was 13 of us that drove to the game. We came up in three seperate car loads.  JT met us there as he already lives in Washington.  We had such a good time even though the Redskins lost.  I don't think that their lost came as a surprise.  I think most of us who went were rooting for them.

On our way home we stopped off at Wendy's to get some food.  To my surprise Wendy's is now serving Vanilla Frosty's.  CR decided to take a walk on the wild side and test the new flavor.  In case you are curious, CR says it tasted fine.  After that we got stuck in stand still traffic for an hour.  There were quite a few ambulances, fire trucks and police cars that went by us.  I believe four cars were involved in a accident. Once we got back home I decided that I had had enough of a good time and went to bed, the others all hung out at the Tavern.

This morning I got up and was still tired from the festivities of the day before.  I had painters come and finish painting up my bedroom and hallway.  Yes, I took off my big girl pants and decided that it was time for professionals to come in and finish up my mess.  I just got them to do the hard stuff.  I plan on doing more painting.  I am starting to enjoy it. 

Christmas will be here before I know it and I haven't done a single thing to get ready for the season.  I haven't decorated, cooked (like that would EVER happen), or gotten gifts.  Although tomorrow I will be going to a lunch for Angel Tree.  Will tell you all about that tomorrow. 

11/28/06

My dad came into town yesterday to visit me.  It was a very short visit as he left very early this morning to catch his plane.  Haven't heard anything from him, so I guess he has better luck flying than me:)

It was such a beautiful day yesterday that Chris came home for lunch and we went on a run around campus.  It is amazing how much longer Chris likes to run compared to before.  He used to only go for thrity to fourty minute run.  Now when I ask him how long he wants to run, he says fifty minutes to an hour.  Now I just need to get him on a bike.  He always teases that he is going to do one triathlon and it's going to be an Ironman.  I think he is half way joking and half way serious.

Last night was the big finale of "The Bachelor".  Danahy and Katie got me hooked on the show.  They came over to watch the show at our house and we made my poor dad watch it as well.  We had some good laughs watching it.  We also were flipping the channel to watch the Green Bay vs. Seattle football game.  I really thought Green Bay was going to win.  Surprise! Surprise!  Go Seahawks!

11/26/06

I hope everyone had a good Thanksgiving.  Our day started out the way we usually spend Thanksgiving, running the University of Richmond 10K Turkey Trott.  It was a chilly day, but perfect for a 10K race, plus the race didn't start till 9am.  I think there was close to a thousand people who did the race.  I ran a fairly good race, but some how I didn't get put in the results.  My husband did a PR for the race and was pretty happy about it.

We later hung out at the Tavern having some drinks before the festivities started.  Chris got a phone call saying that his grandmother may have congestive heart failure.  That was devastating!  The good news is that the doctors were wrong.  She ended up having pneumonia.  Although that is not great for an 89 year old lady to have, it was much better than the alternative.  Chris and I went to the Tobaco Company where we met his family and celebrated Thanksgiving dinner.  We later went by the hospital to visit his grandmother who was acting (as Chris' cousin put it) "spicy".  The evening ended with us hanging out with great friends.  It was a very good day!

11/21/06

I am feeling much better today and got through a fifty minute run in the rain.  The wind was strong as well. 

My brother and sister-in-law just had their first baby today.  We haven't been told if it is a boy or a girl.  So that is the most exciting news today. 

Other than that, I put my big girl pants on today and painted a room in my house all by myself.  That is a big deal for me.  I have never done that before.  I am always afraid of messing things up.  I guess that is the type A personality in me.  It's not so bad making a mistake.  It can always be corrected. 

So I am accomplishing the goals I set out for myself yesterday.  There is still the yoga class that I have to attend tomorrow.  UGH!!!  I actually enjoy the classe, it is just getting there that is the hard part. 

Tomorrow my friend is having a "Tickle The Turkey" Party.  He has one every year.  Just incase you haven't guessed, there is a time during the party that he has everyone tickle a turkey.  It is very unique.  The amazing part about all of it is that they just moved into their house about a month ago, have four children, two dogs and are putting on the party. 

11/20/06

Seems to me people make Thanksgiving more of a hassel than it needs to be.  Those who like to cook and entertain probably love this holiday.  My family likes to eat and be entertained.  This year we have decided to go out for our Thanksgiving dinner.  This should be interesting.  Personally I would rather just sit at home and watch the football games.  Canadian Thanksgiving was October 9th, technically I have already had my Thanksgiving.

Today I had a lot of swim lessons.  I am really enjoying them.  I have some really interesting people.  One guy is legally blind, another is an ultimate fighter instructor, another is a fertility doctor and the list just goes on.  The reason why I brought up my lessons is because I had a break in between lessons so I decided to workout on the stair machine.  That thing was pretty difficult.  I was glad when I was done.  Doing those stationary machines definitely requires headphones with some really good music, otherwise I think I could go crazy.  I have been meaning to do yoga, but have managed to find plenty of reasons not to do it.  I promised myself I WILL do it on Wednesday. 

Right now I am at home with an upset stomach and my husband is at the U of R basketball game.  I am hoping I will feel better tomorrow as I plan on painting, what I call, "The Bike Room".  I had my friend (Krissy) who lives in Chesapeake drive all the to Richmond (about a two hour drive) to help me paint some rooms inside my house this past weekend.  We managed to paint the dinning room, living room and one bathroom.  How many friends would drive all that way to help you work on your house??  Krissy is what I call a true friend:)

11/15/06

You can tell it is the end of the season.  I don't have half as many people showing up for master's practices.  Although it works out better because I am able to write practices that have more distance in them.  It is a great group that show up for Master's and the ability level's are very extreme.  There are real beginner's and then some really fast people.

This morning I woke up early to do a swim lesson.  I was a little perplexed at the fact that my legs were extremely sore.  I couldn't believe that doing a track workout would make me that sore.  Then I recalled I had done pilates yesterday morning.  That girl kicked my butt.  My hamstrings and inner thigh's are very sore.  I actually think they have gotten worse as the day has progressed. 

I have a lot of new clients this winter.  It is nice to see older people learning how to swim properly.  Now don't take older people to meaning old.  I am just used to working with kids.  I have this one guy in his sixty's who is legally blind learing to swim.  He picks up on the technique fairly quickly.  Although he is exhausted by the time he finishes doing one length of the pool.  He is not able to run any more because his knee's are shot.  I think he is really going to enjoy the swimming once he get's some endurance.  I also hope that he is able to practice, because he is legally blind he is dependent on other people bringing him to the gym.  When you meet people such as himself, it makes you remember how fortunate you should be for the little things in life, such as sight.

11/14/06

It's another beautiful day in Richmond.   Not much really to talk about.  I was talking to a year round swimmer today about a swim meet that he raced in this past weekend.  He got one best time, and was a little disappointed.  His coach told him that he was a mental case cause he seems to swim just as fast in practice as he does in meets.  That really bothered him because he didn't know what to do about it.  Personally, I don't think he is a mental case.  I think he is a person who races well shaved and tapered and he hasn't done that yet this year.  His big meet is in three weeks.  I think that he will shine at that meet.  I hope I am right. 

I am having some shin problems once again.  It can only mean one thing...time to get some knew running shoes.  Wish running shoes would last a little longer than two months.  I may have gotten three months out of this pair. 

I had a track workout tonight.  We did ab work at the end of the workout.  It is so easy to cheat doing abdominal work.  Once I broke down the steps of what I wanted everyone to do and made them do everything slow, there wasn't a single person who could do a full set.  I was amazed!  It made for some good laughs as well. 

11/13/06

The Richmond Marathon was warm like predicted.  Chris and I got up early and went and watched the 8K run.  We stood at thet the two mile marker.  The winner was running by us at about a 4 min mile pace.  There was another guy who was jumping rope for the entire 8K.  And he wasn't slow.  We took our time and walked over to the 19 mile marker and waited for the marathoners to run by us.  Number 11 ran by us and he had no one near him.  Chris and I were waiting for Danahy to come running by, but he never appeared.  Katie came running up and said that Danahy had dropped out because of his calf injury.  Chris and I jumped in and started running with Katie.  She was our Lance Armstrong.  We were running ahead and getting her water and whatever she needed. The goal was qualifying for the Boston Marathon.  I couldn't believe how strong she was running.  The one thing great about the Richmond marathon is that you finish running down a long descent.  Katie was hauling going down the hill to the finish line.  She qualified for Boston with plenty of time to spare.  She PR'ed by, I believe, 11 minutes.  That is huge!

That night was a celebration night.  Everyone was finished with their big races for the year.  No more major training to be done for a while.  It is now time to sit down and try and figure out what to do for the up coming year.  It's hard trying to plan out the year.  The other major thing is trying to pick up sponsorship.  Sponsorship is very difficult.  Good thing I do this sport because I like it:) 

11/10/06

What has happened to my day?  It is gone already.  I got up early to do pilates.  Well, it wasn't all that early.  I got up at 6:30 am.  Once I got homeI was miderably tired.  Can't say why as I slept so well last night.  I laid down and tried to sleep.  I couldn't fall asleep, but it was nice just laying down on the couch.  Finally I thought it was time I did something.  I got up and went for a short walk to the store.  It was another gorgeous day here.  It is amazing that getting up and doing something can totally change the way you feel.  The rest of the day went well.

I had a lot of swim lessons.  I just love doing them.  It is amazing how much some people are able to transform their strokes in one session.  I talked with one of my young swimmers trying to get her to understand that she is totally over-trained.  This poor girl thinks that is normal and good to be dog tired all the time.  She think hard, faster, longer and the more tired you are the better you are going to perform.  She has such classic signs of being over trained.  She has an elevated heart rate when she wakes up in the morning, she is slightly depressed (will cry for no good reason), she has a loss of appetite and she doesn't sleep well.  I think I talked to her for an hour and a half to explain that cutting back her yardage in swimming would actually help her performance.  By the end of the conversation I think she some what understood the rationality behind cutting back.  I keep my fingers crossed that she will start feeling better soon.

11/09/06

It was a gorgeous day today.  The trees are beautiful with the changing colours (spelled the canadian way) of the leaves.  It just makes me sad that it will have to get cold again.  Yes, I am from Canada, but it doesn't mean that I have to like the winter.  Especially here in Richmond.  If we do get snow everything has to close down.  Plus I am not able to drive my car because I have front wheel drive and the car tends to fish tail very easily.  It has done it on rainy days as well.  Fortunately for me I had to go to driving school when I was in college so that I could teach driver's Ed.  In that classe we had to make our cars fish tail and then get out of the fish tail.  It was actually a lot of fun. 

Anyway, I am feeling a little bad for the people who are running the Richmond marathon.  It looks as though it is going to be a warm marathon.  If it were me, I would love it.  I have a lot of friends who don't feel as though they can perform as well in the warmer weather.  I am sure they will do fine this weekend.  I almost wish I were running in it....I said almost:)

11/08/06

It's interesting that people can do an ironman, have the best performance of their life and not  be pleased with their performance.  I always think it is great to look back on any race and find the things that went well and learn to not make the same mistakes with the things that didn't go so well.  But to be mad about a race, no matter what kind of race, is a waste of time.  And to be honest nobody really wants to hear about it. 

I had a conversation with a friend and she said "the races that I am most proud of are the races that I had to stuggle through."  I couldn't agree with her more.  Those are the races that you learn the most about yourself.  Success is easy, not meeting your expectations (or others) is a hard.  Even after all the hours that have been put into training and the money put into the race, a race, is always worth doing.  I think sometimes we lose perspective of why we are doing these races.  It should be because we enjoy (believe it or not) the excittement racing, as well as the journey that get's us to each and every race.  Be sure to enjoy your journey.  Life is too short not to.

11/07/06

It is raining right now.  I am doing a track session tonight and everyone thinks that it should be cancelled because of a little rain.  That is just crazy talk.  The only time that I don't mind working out in the rain is when I have to run.  It's peaceful because everyone is hiding inside.  It will be interesting to see how many people show up for track.

I have this young girl I am working with.  She is a year round swimmer.  She has a lot of potential and aspires to make Olympic trials.  She is tired all the time.  Her Doctor did all these tests on her and couldn't find any BIG red flags that could account for her fatigue.  The Doctor thinks the problem is that she is over-training.  This happens so often.  It is drilled into our heads all the time, that more is better.  Longer, faster, harder workouts is what is going to bring us to the top of our game.  It is just not the case!  It is easier for someone this girls age to recover from workouts, it makes you wonder how many of us triathletes are over training.  The older we get, the more recovery time we need (in most cases).  This girls doctor has recommended that she cut back her workout load to 50% for this up coming week and increase to 75% the following week.  It will be interesting to see how she starts to feel.  I only wonder what it will do to her psychologically. 

I hope some of you who read this will see yourself in this young girl.  Remember everyone is different and cannot train the same way or at the same level.  Two very different people who train the complete opposite of each other can compete at exactly the same level of competition.  Just something to think about during the off season:)

11/06/06

I am taking a small break from training.  I am still doing pilates and have added weight training.  I haven't done weights in such a long time that I am actually sore.  It is nice not to HAVE to do a certain type of workout.  Everyone should take a break from training in my opinion.  I make sure all the athletes that I work with take a small break.  I have to fight with some of them about it, but they usually do what I tell them, or at least they tell  me that they are following what I tell them.

This coming up weekend is the Richmond marathon.  I know quite a few people running in it.  I enjoy going out and cheering for the participants.  I am debating on running the first six miles.   There is a part of the run course that isn't too far from where I live.  Decisions, decisions.............I have a couple of friends who are trying to qualify for Boston and I want to be out there cheering them on.  It amazes me at how easy the woman't qualifying times are and how fast the men have to run to qualify for Boston.  Those of you who are going out there to cheer at the Richmond marathon, don't forget to cheer for the walkers as well.  A friend of mine who walks races says that nobody cheers for them.  . 

.11/05/06

It has been quite a while since I have written in my journal.  Guess it is about time to start back at it again.  My life got really hectic and I couldn't keep up with everything.  I was moving, my cat was sick, I was training for Hawaii, etc...  Always lots of excuses. 

Let me tell you a little about my Hawaii Ironman trip.  As usual I had drama on for my travel.  I got to the airport nice and early on Sunday, October 15th.  Got in line to check in and found out I had forgotten my paper tickets.  Literally I had forgotten that I had paper tickets and only brought my computer print out.  They will not let you on the plane or check in without your paper tickets, even if you have a confirmation of your flights.  So we drove back to our house, got our tickets and went back to the airport only to miss our fllight.  Big surprise!  As you may or may not know there was an earthquake in Kona that day.  So, as it turns out I probably would not have made it to Kona on Sunday.  My flight was re-scheduled for Monday, which didn't happen cause all the flights that didn't make it to Kona on Sunday were re-scheduled for Monday.  I finally got to Kona Tuesday evening.

Once I was there I had a great time catching up with everyone that I knew.  You couldn't tell that there had been an earthquake in Kona, everything was up and running like always.  The condo had some structural damage, but not enough to keep us from staying there.

Race morning started off a little rocky as I could not get air in my back tire.  The mechanics switch the valve on my tire and it finally worked (sort of).  I was nervous about it.  I sat around with Heather Fuhr, Michellie Jones, Laurie Bowden and Belinda Granger before the start of the race.  Everyone was doing their own psych-up exercises.  Then we took off for the start. 

The gun finally went off and I took off.  I was keeping pace with Michellie which was my goal.  I started to get a headache that sometimes you get when your goggles are too tight.  I would stop and lift them to relieve the pain.  I thought it might go away after awhile.  Instead I started to feel notious and had to slow down.  I could see the top group pulling away.  Not too long after that I was caught by the second group.  I couldn't take the headache and the notiousness any longer.  I decided to put the goggles on my forhead and swim without them.  As soon as I did that I felt a hundred percent better.   The bike felt fine.  I was keeping up with my nutrition and my hydration and catching girls.  Once I was off the bike and onto the run I knew I was in for a long day.  My legs felt heavy.  The goal at that point was to finish.  I saw my husband, kissed him and told him it was going to be a long day.  I walked through all the aid stations and plodded along.  I was so happy to see the finish line, disappointed that I didn't have the race that I had planned on having. 

Looking back I am not sure exactly why I didn't have a great race.  I feel as though my training was right on.  Either it was just not meant to be or I can come up with a million of excuses.  I know no one is interested in hearing them. 

I am back home relaxing with no realy training regime, and it is quite nice. 

9/23/06

It is getting to that time where I am suppose to cut back on teaching swim lessons.  It is a hard thing to do when the bills keep rolling in, especially now when we are buying a house.  I never like doing things the easy way.  I have to move into a house a week before I leave for Hawaii.  Keeps life interesting.

I ran 2:30 today.  I started off the run for a split second a little chilly.  Then the humidity kicked in.  My knee's were a little achey and I have a little chin split going on.  I know if I roll my foot on a ball it help to take care of the chin splint.  I made sure to take my gu's on my run and felt good, energy wise, throughout the run.  Once finished I soaked my legs in
Danahy's pool.

Chris went to the U of R football game.  U of R won against Bucknell.  They are now 0-3 which is really good for them.  Anyway, once Chris came home from that football game and our nephew's football game we ran another thirty minutes together.  Chris is doing really well recovering from his knee surgery (torn meniscus).  He almost has full range back in his knee.  It is still not a 100% but it takes time.  I think it took a full year for my foot to feel normal after having a neuroma removed from my foot.

9/22/06

My quads are STILL sore afer the six hour bike ride on Wednesday.  I have no idea why, since I have had longer days on the bike, and I wasn't biking particularly fast.  Yesterday was a swim, bike, run day.  It was all easy, but it sure eats up the day.  Today was only a run and swim day.  The swim was nice and relaxing.  I didn't swim hard and it felt good to just float. 

I was able to catch up with friends for lunch.  As usual I was on time and they were late.  I don't know what it is with me, but I always seem to have friends who show up late to everything.  It drives me crazy as I am usually early to everything.  It must be from growing up in a military family.

I finally went grocery shopping.  There was nothing in my fridge.  I am not exagerating (sp?) either.  Grocery shopping is not my favorite thing and I sometimes put it off for WAY too long.  So, I have finally got food in the house.  Tonight is a nice relaxing night as tomorrow is a long run day. 

9/20/06

I had a lot on my mind last night and it felt as though I was up all night.   I am sure that is not the case, but I was not ready to get out of bed when the alarm clock went off.  Contributing to the bad night sleep was my cat that decided she needed to stretch out across the bed.  I didn't want to move her as she had a tramatic experience that day.  She had to go to the vet.  She hates the vet and foams at the mouth like Kujo. 

The days are starting to get a little cooler here.  I was actually chilly starting off my six hour ride.  The ride went surprisingly well.  Tom Curran rode with me.  He had the constant dripping nose that was driving him crazy.  I believe we road more than 120 miles.  The good thing was I didn't have to do a transition run. 

I got home and laid on the couch before I had to go coach masters.  I was actually tired enough that I was coaching from a chair.  Not my usual method, but it worked for tonight.  There will be no problems sleeping tonight. 

9/19/06

I left Thursday to work at the Multisport Camp in Panama City Florida.  As you can imagine, the trip there didn't go smoothly at all.  We were delayed in Richmond and missed our connection in Atlanta.  Then our plane from Atlanta to Panama kept on being delayed.  Not fair.  I am getting accustomed to sitting in airports.  I am not getting used to it.

Once we got to Florida Ricatello picked us up at the airport and we went straight to the Bone Fish restaurant where we met Rock, Paula, Paul, and Ben.  The food there was excellent.

I went to bed and didn't sleep well.  It was the one day I could sleep in.  I went for an hour run and the weather was hot and humid just like it had been in Richmond.  We later met the campers and biked to the beautiful new 50 meter pool.  We did a 4300 meter workout.  The campers did really well.   The following day we did the bike course.  I had the faster group.  We biked about 101.5 miles of most of the Ironman Florida course.  It was just like it usually is on race day.  There is generally a constant head wind.  Then there is the part of the roads that is bumpy and is just not fun to ride because of the holes in the road.  My group did really well.  We had no flat tires, which was a miracle.  The transition run we ran along the beach.  It was nice.  That night we had the most spectacular sunset.

Sunday morning we did approximately a two hour run.  We ran the campers around the first loop of the ironman florida run course.  Again, it got hot and humid.  It looked as though everyone had jumped into the water when they were done.  We had a great time.  Then it was raffle time.  The campers got some great gifts. 

If you can believe it, I actually had no troubles with the flights on the way home.  I did have to wait fourty five minutes before I was able to get my luggage.  The Richmond airport keeps changing every time I go there with all the construction that is going on.  I will be happy when they will be done.  IT will look really nice.

Today is my husband birthday.  Unfortunately we aren't going to be doing anything too excitting. 

9/12/06

Today was one of those days where I just felt great.  Nothing could go wrong, or so I thought.  I had a great Pilates sessions. I am starting to see and feel progress.  Then I went and swam and it felt great.  I later went for a bike ride which was feeling terrific.  Right at the end of the ride I decided to stop at a stop sign and wait for cars to go by. My friend was thinking that I would roll through the stop sign, so he was looking to see where the cars were.  Then he plowed into the back of me.  We went down hard.  My rear wheel was totally mangled, and the tire was slashed.  I had to call my husband to pick me up.  My friends bike was fine.  Go figure!  I got home and went for my transition run.  I even felt great during the transition run.  I then drove my bike to Conte's. They are letting me borrow a wheel, since I will be leaving on Thursday for Florida to help work at the Mutlisports camp.  I needed a new helmet as well.  My helmet cracked when I hit my head on the pavement.  It did it's job well.  Now I have finished diner and my head is hurting a bit and I am starting to feel a little stiff.  Hopefully tomorrow I won't be too sore.  My other friend who saw the whole thing happen can't believe that I didn't break anything.  So I am feeling very lucky today. 

9/11/06

I actually had a day off!  I did nothing as far as training is concerned.  I still had to get up early for swim lessons.  Now that school has started the pool has gotten considereably more crowded.  I was hoping to relax at home, but the inspection man came and took up most of the day.  Then the soon to be owner came by as well. 

I talked to John Wake and Tim McCreary who raced Ironman Wisconsin.  They said that the weather was unbelieveably cold and rainy.  Tim said he couldn't feel his feet during the bike.  John said he was frozen during the run.  Sounds like it was quite a grueling race.  I personally don't like racing in the rain.

Unfortunately I have a migrane headache and think I will be going to bed early tonight. 

9/09/06

Today was a pretty easy day.  I had a three hour spin on the bike.  You know you are riding slow on the bike when a person on a mountain bike passes you like you are standing still.  However; it was an enjoyable ride.  The weather was gorgeous, not too hot, not too cold. 

Once I got home I went to pilates.  I had to beg Eleanor to do a pilates session with me today since I will miss seeing her on Friday.  She didn't make me beg too long.  She doesn't like working on Sunday's.  Who can blame her.  So we met at the studio where I was reminded how weak I really am. 

Carol and HL had Chris and I over for dinner.  I trained them for the Rock n' Roll half marathon in Va. Beach.  They both PRed at the race.  I am very proud of them. Anyway, they cooked me a birthday dinner.  Carol is an excellent cook AND enjoy's cooking.  THAT, I just don't understand.  But thankgoodness there are people who enjoy cooking.  So we ate and watched football.  Good times!

Most importantly Chris and I went and picked up his lazyboy from our friends house.  Mike was storing his lazyboy while we were showing the house we sold.  With the chair gone, it made the house look more spacious.  Chris LOVES his lazyboy.  His body is imprinted in it.  The arms of the chair no longer have any cushioning in them because he has sat in it so much.  Tonight Chris is VERY happy.

9/08/06

It's my birthday, raise the roof up!  I got to say, it has been a pretty good day.  Not much training and lots of eating.  Got to love it!  I got up this morning and did Pilates.  That class always kicks my A _ _!  Just when I think I am doing well, Eleanor finds something that I can't do.  Guess it keeps me coming back:)  I shared my session with Tom Curran.  In doing so I was subjected to listening to Wide Spread Panic. 

I ran a nice easy 40 minute run around Deep Run park.  I like to run through the trails.  I am not a good trail runner.  I trip almost every time I run through the trails and actually fall some of the time.  Although I do enjoy trail running.  I think the runs go by more quickly.  There isn't too much trail running in Richmond, Va. unless you go to Brown's Island or Pocahantas State Park.

For my birthday my cat decided to wanted to get me a birthday present.  She brought a mole in the house.  Those things are fast.   We managed to catch it.  Needless to say it put Chris in a foul mood. 

9/07/06

I have been very lazy as far as keeping up with my journal.  I will making a better effort.  There just always seems to be so many things going on.  We managed to sell our house this week.  Hopefully inspection will go well.  I don't see why it won't.  That means I will be moving.  Not out of state, but down the road.  Packing will be a blast...NOT!

Training has been going well.  My biggest training days thus far has been a 6.5 hour bike ride with a 50 minute transition run and today a morning master's workout followed by a 5.5 hour bike ride with a 45 minute transition run.  Needless to say I am very grumpy and tired and don't feel like doing much of anything.  Poor Chris has to cook and clean tonight.

My birthday is tomorrow.  Can't believe it is already here.  Can't believe I will be turning 34.  I certainly don't feel as though I am in my thirties.  However my body is falling apart so it must be true:)

I will be following Ironman Wisconsin this weekend as two of my friends:  John Wake, and Tim McCreary will be racing in it.  I am keeping my fingers crossed they have good weather.  I will be interested to hear what they thing of the race.  I have been told it is a tough bike course.  I am thinking it will be a race I will have to do in the future.

My back is feeling better.  I have been seeing a Chiropractor: Tom Tauer.  It seems to be doing the trick.  I can actually move without being in pain. 

8/24/06

Today has been one of those days.  Nothing to terribly wrong has happened.  I didn't feel as though I slept a bit last night.  I got up tired and just have felt tired all day.  Plus my big toe really hurts, and now my entire lower back is aching.  I don't know what is wrong with me.  I skipped part of my workout and have decided that doing Naylor's Beach Triathlon would probably not be the wisest thing for me to do. 

I went to the Doctor's about my big toe.  It all sounds ridiculous I know.  I mean how much could a big toe really hurt??  Mine hurts A LOT, especially when  I am biking, which I think is really strange.  They think it is arthritis in my toe, so we gave it a shot of cortizone.  The problem is that the toe still hurts.  I have the strangest injuries.  I thought it was pretty funny getting X-ray's of my big toe.  The X-ray's didn't show anything.

I might be taking tomorrow totally off of training.  Which is not what my schedule has for me to do.  Sometimes you have got to switch things up when they aren't going quite right.  One of the questions asked at Timberman was "Do we (pro triathletes) follow a training plan that a coach gives us to the T.  My response was "the training schedule is a guideline and is meant to be changed around depending on how one feels or what is going on in one's life". 

8/23/06

The night before I was to go to New Hampshire for the Timberman triathlon I went to the emergency room to see if I needed stitches for a laseration.  After spending many hours in the emergency room and getting to see a Doctor, I found out that I wouldn't need stitches after all.  I got home around 1:00 am and had to get up at 4:40 am to catch my 6:30 am flight.  I got to the airport no without any problems, went through secruity with no problems, then I sat and waited.  Next thing I knew I opened my eyes and my plane had left.  I slept through my flight boarding.  No one thought to wake me up.  So I got into New Hampshire at 5:30 pm.  It was a long day because once I got into Manchester, N.H. I still had over an hours drive and it was during rush hour.  Not the best scenario.

My home stay, the Shannon's, were very nice.  Gary, who is a cook during the summer at a gulf club, fixed me dinner.  Gary's main job is being a school teacher, I believe he teaches computer classes.  Rosemarry is a social worker and instructs some yoga classes.  Both of them, Gary and Rosemarry, worked the water stop during the race.  It was great having a water stop cheer for me once again. 

I drove to Gunstock, which is where the expo was being held.  Final Kick had their tent all set up.  I talked to them for a while and decided that I would go for my bike ride while I waited for the pro forum to start.  Wouldn't you know while I am biking down a hill I hit a rock and get a flat.  Thank goodness I brought an extra tube with me.  The only problem was that I forgot to get a CO2 cartirdge.  I ended up getting a ride with these guys on their way to the expo.  They said I was lucky I wasn't a 30-34 year old guy, cause they wouldn't have picked me up.  I thought that was pretty amusing.  I got back to the expo and Buzz from Final Kick put my new tire on my wheel....Thanks buzz! 

Race morning came quickly.  I woke up to the sound of rain.  Not exactly what I was hoping for, but I figured not much else could go wrong.  I had my important cup of coffee and was ready for the race to start.  We were able to wear our wetsuits.  The race started late.  The swim went well.  Once I made my first turn the water became a little choppy.  I was second out of the water and felt great.  The bike ride was nice and hilly.  There were no traffic problems at all.  Karen Smyers passed me, and I was able to stay behind her the entire way to transition.  And I was the legal distance behind her.  Karen got out onto the run a little ahead of me.  I couldn't keep up.  At about the 6 mile mark Kate Major passed me.  I knew that I had to get moving because Kim is an awesome runner.  With three miles to go Kim passed me.  I felt all the energy rush out of me when she passed.  I managed to pull my head back into the game and keep going.  I was pleased to finish the race.  Overall I felt great.  Karen, Kate, and Kim are really good runners, and it gives me something to keep working on. 

The following day my plane was leaving late.  I called to see if there were any seats available on an earlier flight.  Fortunately there were.  I got to the airport early to get on the standby list.  I got to the check in guy to see if he could get me on the earlier flight.  Only to find out that a plane had been cancel and they put everyone on the flight I wanted to get on.  I had a seven and a half hour wait at the Manchester airport.  Not fun!  Once I got on my original flight everything went smooth.  I was so glad to be home.

I really hate traveling.  I think I spent more time in the airport than I did in New Hampshire. 

8/16/06

I will be taking my bike apart once again tomorrow.  I think I am going to start timing myself to see how long it takes to pack my bike.  I am becoming quite an expert at it.  I don't know how people travel all the time.  I will be glad when this trip to New Hampshire is done.  I am looking forward to the race, but I HATE the travel part of racing. 

Today I swam three thousand meters long and slow.  The beginning felt really good, but then I got hungry half way through the swim.  Thank goodness I had an energy bar stuffed in my backpack.  I gobbled that up and met Danahy and Katie for my fourty five minute run.  Cara, Katie's younger sister biked beside us.  My legs are starting to come around and felt fairly good.  Then I jumped in the pool and hung out with Cara for awhile. 

I made an appointement with a physical therapist tomorrow because my pyriformis is still killing me.  I am assuming it is my pyriformis.  The PT should be able to tell me what is really going on with me.  Just as I start bragging about being injury free something had to start bothering me.  Like I said before, it is just the life of an aging athlete:)

8/15/06

Today was a pilates, bike and run day.  Nothing major.  My hamstrings and back are really tight.  I decided I needed to get a massage today.  The massage helped out, but my muscles always seems to tighten up in the morning after a night of sleeping.   The typical problems of an aging athlete..I say that because I ran into a lady who I knew at the airport in Richmond while on my way to Iowa.  She guessed that I was seven years older than what I was.  Then she proceeded on to say it was probably because of the sun that I looked older and that my dry skin didn't help things.  Needless to say I was glad when I left her and got on my flight. 

Tonight I went to eat dinner at the Tavern with Chris (my husband).  He started talking to a man that was sitting beside him.  I started looking at the man thinking he looked familiar.  I asked him if he traveled a lot.  It turned out he did.  I remembered him from our flight from Atlanta to Richmond returning from the Quelle Challenge.  He was sitting in the seat directly in front of my husband.  Small world eh!!!

It's my dad's birthday today.  As usual I am playing phone tag with him.  So, just in case I don't get intouch with him tonight, I am going to wish him a Happy Birthday!!!!

8/14/06

I am back from Iowa and completed the Big Creek Triathlon.  Got home very late and got up really early this morning.  I am glad to say that traveling actually went well for me this time.  I had a slight delay in Iowa when I was flying into Chicago, but I had plenty of time to catch my connecting flight.  The airports handled the new security fairly well. 

I had a wonderful homestay with the Vander Weide family.  They took great care of me and made sure I had everything that I needed.  I truely felt like I was apart of their family.  Doug and his 6 year old son Jack picked me up at the aiport.  Then we went to his house was met by Doug's wife, Dawn, and their two daughters, Emma, and Grace.  They are a very athletic family, full of energy and are a lot of fun.  The kids all did a triathlon the day before my race.  Grace and Jack placed second and Emma placed seventh. 

Race day morning came early.  Doug was doing the race as well.  We picked up his friend Steve and got the most important race morning cup of coffee.  We made it to the race with plenty of time to spare.  The water was warm; therefore it was a no wetsuit swim.  Most of the pro's wore their skin suits.  The swim was  well marked with big orange and yellow buoys.  They played the national athem and then we were off on the swim.  I thought the swim was pretty nice.

I decided to try the "shoe on my bike pedals" for my transition from swim to bike.  Needless to say it didn't quite go as planned.  I got on my bike and my shoe came off my bike pedal.  I had to get off the bike and put my bike shoe on then get on my bike and put my foot in the other shoe while biking.  I don't think I will try that again.  It didn't work well.  The bike course was well marked and traffic free.  I thought it was going to be totally flat, but it wasn't there were some nice inclines.  It is not hilly by any means, but you got to change your gears a little.  There was a little head wind throughout the entire bike course.  We never seemed to get that beloved tail wind. 

I got off the bike and went onto the run in the lead.  I took my time in transition to put my socks on.  I can't run without socks or I get these unbelieveably debilitating blisters.  So the socks are a must.  There were aid stations every mile.  The volunteers were awesome.  My favorite aid station was at mile two.  The Vander Weide's were manning it and cheering very loudly for yours truely:)  The run was an out and back, but on the back part of the run you were running through the park trail.  There was a lot of tree coverage, which wasn't necessary as it was a wonderful overcast day..

I finished the race and won.  I got the course record which was my goal.  Doug (my home stay) placed fifth overall.  That was really awesome.  David Thompson was the male pro that won.  He got the male course record as well.  The race had garbage cans filled with ice so the athletes could take ice baths.  Most of us got into the buckets and froze.  It is worth the temporary pain as it helps with recovery. 

Now I am home and needing some much needed sleep.  By the way, Iowa has more than corn fields, they have John Deer as well:)

8/10/06

I am scheduled to take off for Iowa for an Olympic triathlon tomorrow.  I am wondering how smooth the travel will be going now that the airlines are on high alert.  I can't believe how much these terrorists can disrupt our lives.  It makes me sad to think the way we are going to have to always look over our shoulders.  Anyway, I looked up the new rules for flying and they are strongly suggesting that people arrive three hours early for their flights.  Not too convenient if you have a really early flight.  But what can you do???  I would much rather the inconvenience when it comes right down to it.

Training has been really easy as off late.  Yesterday my right lower back was bothering me.  I must of slept on it funny.  I think it started to pull on my hamstring because today the upper part of my hamstring was bothering me.  Nice snow ball effect.  I decided to try and get a massage at the last minute.  Fortunately I was able to get in for an appointement.  I can't tell you how much better my back and hamstring feel after the massage.  I can still feel it a bit, but what a difference having my muscles worked on made.  Hopefully tomorrow I won't feel my back or hamstring at all.

Just to give you a heads up, I am not going to take my computer with me on this trip.  I don't think it would be worth the hassel to bring it.  So, I won't be updating the journal for a couple of days.  I will let you know all about Iowa when I get back.  I am told it is just a bunch of corn fields. 

8/08/06

It was a bright and early morning for me once again.  I am trying to convince a swimmer to do what I call "cheating Catch-up" as his full stroke.  I know he doesn't like to do it because it "feels" slow.  It is hard to convince non-swimmers (pardon the term) that gliding in swimming is faster than moving the arms around like a windmill.  It is so counter-intuitive.  But it is great to see someone's stroke develop.  I had to come home and take a nap after the morning lessons.  I didn't want get up form the nap.

I went to the pool to do my swim.  I always try to get there by 10:30 am as I know that water aerobics will be finishing up.  Those classes can get very large and they end up taking up most of the pool.  It is unbelieveable how popular water aerobics has become.  Although I would have to say the average age is around 60.  I had to stay at the "Y" once I had done swimming because I had more lessons.  For those of you who go to the Tuckahoe YMCA don't lap swim at 12:00 PM.  It is crazy busy at that time, or at least it was today. 

I got home from lessons and Danahy biked to my house for a change.  I usually have to bike to his house.  It was a quick bike ride.  We had an easy bike ride to West Creek.  Once I hit West Creek I got into my aerobars and did the six mile loop just a little slower than race pace.  I didn't want to totally load my legs.  Then we biked back home nice and easy.  It is strange doing short training sessions. 

Good news for one of my triathletes.  He was wake boarding during the weekend and crashed really hard.  He came to my swim practice limping with a swollen knee.  All I could tell him was to go to the doctors.  Either than that do the old R.I.C.E. (Rest, Ice, Conpression, and Elevation).  He went to the Doctor and they had to drain his knee because there was so much fluid in it.  They thought he had torn his ACL.  The great news is that he DID not end up tearing his ACL, he just badly bruised the bone and torqued the tendons around his knee.  The bad news for him is that I get to still torture him:) 

8/07/06

I am getting ready to do marathon of races.  Well, for me it is a lot of racing.  I am doing three races in a row.  Two of them are travel trips.  I don't parcticularily enjoy traveling because of the bike.  It get's expensive traveling with my bike box, as I am sure you all know.  This weekend I am off to Iowa for an Olympic triathlon. 

Took my bike into Conte's today for them to tune it up before the race.  They seemed to be pretty busy.  For those of you who are interested Conte's is having a sale on everything.  Nothing is tagged yet, but if you go in and ask them they will let you know what the sale prices are on everthing. 

On Saturday I went to a friends wedding.  Lindsey is a blind triathete.  She has some sort of degenerate eye disease.  She is amazing though.  I have worked with her on her swimming when she was preparing for her triathlon.  I can't imagine relying on someone to tell me where to go.  Have you tried swimming in a pool with your eyes closed???  On top of it being hard and giving you a sense of what someone blind feels like, it is a good training drill to practice open water swimming..

8/03/06

We had a high of 106 degree's here in Richmond.  I had a bunch of people digging holes in my back yard for some Verizon optic cable stuff.  The guys worked all day in the heat.  I am not sure how the could stand it.  The men made plenty of noise which didn't make for a restful nap.  Yes, I nap!  I get up so early and for some reason I could not sleep last night.  Sleepless nights happen every once in a while to me.  That makes the napping essential.

I had a late track workout this evening.  We ran around Danahy's neighbourhood once again.  My hamstring was acting up just a little bit.  But once again, I was glad that we waited till the evening to do the workout. 

8/02/06

Okay, so I am doing more quality than quantity right now.  This is something new for me.  To be truthful I would rather do longer stuff than shorter fast stuff.  I swam at the Tuckahoe YMCA this morning.  Just for those of you who live around here, don't go swim at the Y between 9:30 and 10:30 am on Wednesday's.  There were about 22 people doing deep water aerobics.  They were in four lanes.  Thank goodness I arrived just as they were finishing up.  The main set today was 8x200 descend 1-4 and 5-8.  It wasn't fun.  But I did descend them.

The heat wave is suppose to break Friday evening.  My poor sister and her family, who lives up in Canada, were camping in Peterbourgh, Ontario.  They lasted two nights in a 100 degree weather.  Last night she gave up on camping and drove back to Ottawa to an air conditioned house.  I think that trying to camp in this weather is more insane than any workout that I do.

8/01/06

Last night I swam master's.  I have been doing most of my swim practices on my own.  I had forgotten how much swimming master's pushes you.  Plus there is this really fast guy who swims in my lane.  I believe his name is Leo.  He swam for the Mexican Olympic team.  The main set was a fun 5x500 .

I did the usual Tuesday night bike ride.  I didn't think that too many people would show since it was 102 degrees.  To my surprise we had about 20 people starting off in the first group.  We got to Vontay and I had to stop and get water.  Two bottles to be exact.  I went through those quickly.  I believe we maintained a pretty good pace considering how hot it was.  I am never quite sure how fast I go on the bike as I don't have a bike computer.  I lost it about three years ago and have been too cheap to get a new one.  Anyway, we were finishing up the ride when Danahy said that I didn't have to do the usual transition run.  I couldn't believe my ears.  For some reason I felt like doing the run.  I was at my car doing the old towel change when I realized I didn't bring running shorts.  Oops!!!  Tim wasn't running, so he lent me his shorts.  Good old McCreary to the rescue!!!

7/30/06

Yesterday we (CR, Danahy, Curran) did a "social" 2 hour ride through Ashland.  Yes, we talked the entire ride.  It needs to be done every once in a while.  The humidity was high.  I got off my bike and did the usual thirty minute transition run.  My husband, Chris, biked beside me.  He had knee surgery about two weeks ago.  He had a torn meniscus.  Dr. Nordt from West End Orthopedics went in and cut the torn part of the Meniscus and did a lateral release.  He has recovered quickly and is doing PT with Jane Cash at Viginia Sports Medicine and Physical Therapy.  Anyway, he is not quite able to run yet.  Hence why he was riding beside me.  My hamstrings were still store for Pilates on Friday. 

Today I got up and went for an hour and fifteen minute run.  We had quite a running group with us (Danahy, Wake, Curran, Wagner and CR).  It was another humid day.  And it doesn't look as though it is going to get cooler any time soon.  We were drenched when the run was done.  I was feeling pretty good at the end of the run and was sorry it was already done.  That doesn't happen too often.

The rest of the day was spent laying out at the pool, working on my tan.  Yancano kept me entertained.  I met Yacano when he was afraid of the water and couldn't swim.  He came to me for swim lessons.  Both his children had started competitive swimming and he wanted to learn to swim.  He always tells the story that when I first saw him in the water I told him that he "swam like a barge".  I am happy to say that Yacano is now able to swim and has a few triathlons under his belt.  I consider him a success story:)

7/28/06

Today was pretty much a recovery day.  I went and did some Pilates with Elenore.  I am really bad, and I always feel so crooked.  My right hip always wants to lead instead of being square with my left hip.  UGH!!!  The worst part is that when Elenore demonstrates, she makes it look so easy. 

I managed to have lunch with Mark Yacano at the Tavern.  I always get the Greek Salad with Chicken when I am there.  Love it!!  Mark is going to be one of my regular writers for my newsletter.  For those of you who have signed up for it, it should be sent to you soon. 

I managed to have gotten all my plane tickets purshased for the rest of my race season.  I figured that the tickets prices to Hawaii weren't going to get much lower than what they are right now.  If anything I thought they might go up with the way fuel prices keep rising.  Knowing my luck ticket prices will now go down.  By now you should know my luck with the airlines, if not, I have NONE!!

I did a track workout last night.  I ran four twelve hundreds.  It was around Danahy's neighbourhood.  So I figure it was a rough estimate of a twelve hundred meter track.  Doing it around a neighbourhood wasn't that bad.  It actually went by quickly.  It was so humid I looked as though I had jumped into a pool when I had finished.  My hamstring was a little tweeked, but it has been since I have gotten back from Germany.  Hopefully I will be able to fix it before I get into heavy training. 

7/27/06

I have been having problems being able to write in my journal which really was irritating.  I finally got the problem solved today.  So much has happened since I last wrote.  I made it to Germany and had a great race.  I placed third with a best time of 9:18.00.  I had my fastest bike and run.  The race was amazing and it was very well run.  The German's love the race and are out cheering everyone on the entire day.  It is probably has the most spectators that I have ever seen at a race.  Just incredible!!!  Once we were done with the race we did some traveling, and drank lots of beer.

Once I got back from Germany it took some time to get back on the time zone here.  I think it took about a week before I was sleeping soundly through the night.

A couple of weeks ago I participated in the Muddy Buddy.  Katie Danahy was my team mate.  It was a very hot day.  For those of you who have never done it, it is a blast.  People dress up in costumes which is pretty funny.  Danahy and Cabel were in dresses. 

Anyway, Katie and I won the female division.  The prize for first place was a pair of Fila running shoes.  I switched prized with Cabel who got second place for the Clydesdale division.  Second place got sunglasses. 

I am back training again.  I am feeling a few aches and pains.  Hopefully they will work themselves out with a bit a massage and strength training. 

6/27/06

Let's just say my flight experience has been less than stellar.  I got to the airport yesterday and was scheduled to leave Richmond at 5:50 PM.  The check in line was unbelieveable.  They had so many people with problems that the line wasn't moving.  An hour later we got to the front of the line and checked in.  As I am sure you have guessed, our plan did not leave on time.  Delayed due to thunderstorms.  Our plane got delayed more times than I can remember.  So, we stood in a long line trying to get information on our connecting flight.  We stood in line for over an hour and finally got to the front when they decided to board our flight.  Only they wouldn't let us on the flight because we had an international connection in :Philidelphia and were going to miss it.  They had no other flights leaving out of Richmond that could get us to a hub that would have a plane going to Munich.  The airline pulled our luggage off the plane and told us to re-book a flight for the following day.  Back into another line we went.  We got set up with Delta that had a flight leaving today to Atlanta.  Guess what, it got cancelled.  Now we are going standby on the following flight out of Richmond.   As we were going through the security line, we got chosen to get the extra security check.  Our luck has not been good thus far.  I just pray that I can get to Munich by tomorrow.  Say a little prayer please!

6/25/06

It is the day before I leave for Germany.  The morning started with a two and a half hur bike ride.  We had a mix of humidity and rain.   Did a 4000 meter swim after the bike.  It went by pretty quickly.  Once I got home I packed up my bike.  I have become quite an expert at packing my bike.  There is definitely a right way and a wrong way to pack a bike.  I have got it down to a science.

Then I went over to Chris' cousins house, Nikki, to get her to download songs onto my MP3 player.  You know I will be needing that on my long a _ _ trip.

Other than that I have been glued to the computer watching the Coeur d'Alene Ironman.  I have a couple of athletes racing in it.  It looks like it is a hot day.  They should do well.  Can't wait to see their results. 

6/24/06

I almost missed my three hour bike ride.  I was sleeping and Danahy called to make sure I was showing up.  Oops!  I met up with Danahy, Edward, Brian, Julian, and Katie.  The morning was overcast, but very humid.  Katie had to turn around early as she had to get back in time to work at The Tavern Restaurant.  Our ride was a nice spin with lots of different conversations going on.  Danahy did his good deed of the day and moved a turtle, that was in the middle of the road, to the side of the road.  I did my usual thirty minute transition run.  And as usual it felt great.  I am pretty psyched for the ironman as I have never felt this good before a race.  To be honest it kind of scares me as well. 

Getting a rental vehicle was the big issue of the day.  In Europe they don't have SUV's.  Danahy and I both having bike boxes which makes it imposible not to have a big vehicle.  We ended up renting a Van like VW called a Caravelle.  It supposedly seats nine people.  I am sure it is an interesting looking vehicle.  I can't imagine the four of us, our luggage and our bike boxes not fitting.  We shall see!

6/23/06

We had thunderstorms early this morning that woke me up.  It was around five in the morning.  I managed to stay in bed quite a while longer.  I had a swim that I had to do.  I am loving this taper.  I went over to my friend Carol's place and swam in her outdoor pool.  It is a 25 yard pool.  It's nice to swim outside.  Then it was running around doing errands and picking up stuff that I will need for my trip. 

I wanted to exchange some money into EURO's before I left town.  I couldn't believe that Suntrust couldn't do that for me.  They said it would take them a couple of days.  I think that is weird! 

I picked up my bike from Conte's that I had dropped off earlier in the day.  Mark Yacano dropped by the house and finally got his bike wheels.  And I am not sure where the rest of the day went, but it is gone.  I spent a bit of time trying to get a rental car for Germany.  Accident insurance is expensive, but it is needed as american car insurance doesn't cover you in Europe.  Better being safe than sorry.

6/22/06

Things have been going really well.  I ran down Grove Avenue feeling great.  I am not used to feeling so good on my runs.   This must be a good sign.  I have taken care of everything for my trip to Germany.  A few minor things still need to be done.  I will hopefully get them done by tomorrow. I have to get Marty from Conte's to do a "once over" on my bike and pick up a couple of nutrition supplements from them. 

The weather has been nice and warm here, looks as though we are going to be in for some thunderstorms the next couple of days.  I did my last Tuesday night bike ride before the big race.   Every year we seem to make the ride a wee bit longer.  I believe it is now a 42 mile bike ride.  I was really thirsty after the ride as it was another hot day.  Danahy seems to be ready to have a great race in Roth as well. 

Theresa Stadler from West End Orthopedics diagnosed my Chris (husband) with a torn meniscus. Chris had an MRI and the tear was confirmed.  So, Dr. Nodt will be doing surgery on him July 13th, once we get back from Germany.  There is always some sort of drama going on in the Holloway household. 

6/18/06

It has been hard getting back into the swing of things.  I have been sleeping a lot.  I am sure it is from a combination of being a little jetlagged, the difference in Altitude and all the training that I have done.  My workouts this week have gone well.  I had a massage and was terribly disappointed with it after having RL work on me.  This weekend I went to the X-terra with Chris (my husband), Katie, and Danahy.  We watched Jenny Tobin race.  She is a pro that has been staying with Danahy and Katie.  Jenny did well considering she had mechanical issues with her bike.  She place sixth in the woman's pro division.  Conrad Stoltz looked as though he was way ahead of all the men.  I did an hour run today and a quick swim.  Yesterday was a four hour bike ride followed by a thirty minute run.  The rest of the day was spent with family since it is father's day.  HAPPY FATHER'S DAY!!!

6/13/06

I have missed a couple of days.  On Sunday Chris and I met up with Trish Heistoffer for another bike ride to Carter Lake.  Trish had never been to Carter Lake.  Trish was a little tired as she had raced the day before and placed third.   I tried to talk her into doing the fourty five minute transition run with us, but she declined.  Chris and I ran out further than we had ever before on the run.  It is an out and back run.  We figure it MUST be because we are getting fit.  RL gave us our last massages.  This one went even better than the previous one.  Wish he lived in Richmond.  We finially went Putt-putting and GO-Carting with Dylan, Cody, Jennifer and Danny Abshire. My Go-Cart was really slow, and I think I had the highest putt-putt score.  By the end of the evening Chris and I were exhausted.  We had already packed up our bikes as we were leaving the next day. 

Yesterday, our travel day,  we slept in.  We debated about going to swim practice, but decided that sleep was more important.  It was our last day to drink coffee until race day.  We made sure we drank good coffee.  We drove over to South Boulder Community Center and swam a 3000 before packing up the car and heading to the airport.  The flight home was pretty uneventful.  Our plane landed in Richmond at 11:55 pm.  I finally arrived home a little before one.  As tired as I was, I couldn't sleep. 

I got up early this morning to get back on my usual time schedule.  The big workout was the tuesday night bike ride out of innsbrook and a half hour transition run.  The only thing I hate about that workout is that I don't finish up until 8:30 PM.  For me, that is late.

6/10/06

Another beautiful day in Boulder.  Chris decided to give me a break on the bike ride today.  We rode four hours and fourty five minutes versus five hours.  Thought that was awfully kind of him.  We rode to Carter Lake, but went up the other side of the mountain.  And came down the side we usually climb.  The climb was short and steep.  The thirty minute transition run went well.  Taking a nap has become part of our daily routine.  When we got up we got ourselves ready to go over to the Abshires.  Danny and Jennifer invited us over for a cookout.  We played croquet with Cody, the Abshire's son.  It is the first time that I have ever played that game.  Anyway, I lost once and came in second to last the other time.  Needless to say I am not a good croquet player.  Another day of training is done and only a few more days left before taper starts.   

6/09/06

Today was pretty uneventful.  Chris, Danny and I started the two hour run early.  We picked Danny up and drove to the Boulder Reservoir.  During the run we passed Laura Reebak and her husband.  Just to make things clear Reebak and her husband were running in the opposite direction.  We finished up the run and dropped Danny off at his house.  We rushed back to Homewood Suites to get breakfast.  We made it just in time.  The rest of the day consisted of: lounging at the pool, doing laundry and taking naps.  We attempted to swim masters at Scott Carpenter again.  Notice I said attempted.  As luck would have it, the weather didn't co-operate and it was cancelled.  The Flatiron Athletic Club pool stays open no matter what the weather does.  It is a "swim at your own risk" pool. So we swam laps at the Flatiron pool.  Not what we had planned, but it is better than nothing. 

6/08/06

The original plan was to get up, go for a two hour bike ride and then swim Master's at Scott Carpenter.  Instead, we slept in a little longer than we had planned.  Seems like the longer I am here the more sleep I require.  We had a leisurely morning with coffee, newspaper and T.V.  Driving up to the Scott Carpenter pool there was a big sign announcing Masters Swim practice was cancelled.  Our luck hasn't been that great when it comes to attending Masters swim practice in Boulder.  Either the schedule that we have is wrong or practices get cancelled at the last minute.  It was lap swimming at the South Boulder Rec pool for us, then Big Daddy Bagels for lunch.  It is just so convenient to go to the Bagel store because it is within walking distance from Homewood Suites.  Bella Comerford and her boyfriend Stephen Bayliss were having lunch there as well.  They both had finished doing Ironman Brazil and had placed fourth.  Bella said she was recovering from a sore throat due to all the traveling.  After chatting with them for awhile they took off on their bikes.  Finally we got on our bikes for a quick ride.  The sky was dark and there were periods of rain.  Our two hour bike ride became an hour and forty five minute ride.  Perfectly fine with me.  Once done, I hit my bed and took a nap.  For dinner we caught up with Trish Heisdoffer.   She used to live in Richmond, Va. and raced triathlons.  Now she lives in Colorado and is bike racing.  We went to Tokyo Joe's for dinner.  It is a fast food Japanese restaurant.  Boulder is a lot like Richmond, Va.  You run into everyone.  It just so happened that Joanna Lawn and her husband Armando were eating dinner at Tokyo Joe's with Matt and Kelly Reed.  Jo is getting ready to race the Quelle Challenge as well.  She and Armando leave for Roth, Germany on the 17th of June.  Hard to believe that another day of training is done. 

6/07/06

It was another bike ride up to Ward AKA Left Hand Canyon.  This time Chris and I made it up the Canyon a little faster.  The Ward climb takes you to 9500 Ft.  The ride down the hill is always fun.  Chris decided to time us to see how long it took to get down the hill.  It was an hour and twenty minute climb and a thirty minute descent.  This time we didn't get cold on the descent since Boulder had a record high of 98 degrees.  The sun was beating down on us.  The forty-five minute transition run went well.  It is an out and back run and we always seem to run back faster.  I went out to lunch with Kirven.  Kirven is a rep from "Rotor System".  He wants me to try out the rotor rings on my bike.  Right now I am not going to change anything until after my race in Roth, Germany.  This evening Chris and I had massages set up with RL.  This time it wasn't quite as bad as the first time.  However; I still had to grit my teeth and hold my breath a couple of times. 

6/06/06

What was supposed to be a one hour run with pick-ups ended up being an hour and twenty minutes.  This sort of thing is typical when training with Chris.  It always throws me off because when I am told one hour, I am ready to be done in one hour.  We ran on South Boulder trail.  Running on the soft surface has really saved my legs.  We got back to Homewood Suites ready to eat breakfast, but they had already closed the breakfast buffet.  With no other choice we ate at "Big Daddy Bagels", which is right beside the suites.  Then it was time for Chris to put the phone to his ear.  In all fairness to Chris, a lot of the calls are work related.  We drove to Scott Carpenter to do lap swimming.  I couldn't believe how many people were swimming laps.  Everyone was doing their own thing sharing lanes.  That is quite a concept.  In Richmond only two people get into a lane at a time during lap swimming.  People were swimming around one another, and no fights broke out.  Kelly and Matt Reed were swimming up a storm.  Matt just finished winning Escape from Alcatraz triathlon. Chris and I finished our training day with a half hour run in the evening.  Starting off my knees were sore, but by the end everything was feeling fine.  For dinner, Sarah Legh invited us over for a cookout.  She and Chris have a beautiful house in Lyons.  It is about a twenty minute drive from where we are staying.  The view from their living room is magnificient.  It was a really nice evening, and now it is off to bed. 

6/05/06

It was a sleep in day.  Of course I couldn't sleep in.  Guess it is Murphy's Law.  It is a recovery day today.  Only had to bike for an hour.  We biked out to Eldorado Springs.  Eldorado Springs is where they bottle spring water.  People used to go and bath in the hot springs, but the hot springs no longer exist.  It is all cool water.  My legs felt heavy biking.  I was glad it was a short bike ride.  We had another beautiful, sunny day.  Master's Practice started at 6:00 pm and this time we went and didn't get kicked out due to thunderstorms.  Only ten people showed up.  We swam 3900 meters.  Another day is done.  There are only seven more training days left in Boulder. 

6/04/06

I think all our training is starting to catch up with us.  We actually ended up falling asleep after working out and eating lunch.  The eating part is very important.  Tressa Breindel met us this morning for the bike ride to Carter Lake.  She got to the Homewood

Suites in time for breakfast.  She got her bike out of the car, but managed to forget the front wheel of her bike.  Something you just can't go without.  Off she went to get the wheel which was laying in the front yard.  OOPS!!!  Luckily breakfast was not on time due to the fact someone called in sick.  So by the time Tressa got back to the Homewood suites for the second time, breakfast was just about ready.  The ride to Carter Lake went farely quickly.  The bike ride is somewhat flat and then it is a switch back climb up to the lake.  At the top of the climb you overlook a body of water with people sailing, boating and water skiing.  There is a campsite and a small beach.  We stopped and refilled water bottles and had a small snack.  We returned home the same way we came.  You can actually go down the other side of Carter Lake, but we didn't want to add extra time to the ride.  I believe the ride was about four hours long.  Tressa did great keeping up with us considering she hadn't been on her bike in a year.  Believe me, it looked as though her bike hadn't been touched for at least a year.  Tressa decided not to do the fourty five minute transition run with us.  The day had gotten warm.  Both Chris and I felt good on the run.  We got back to the suites, ate, napped and bought food to take over to Danny Abshire's for dinner.  Danny's wife Jennifer ran the San Diego Rock n' Roll Marathon today.  It was her first Marathon.  She is returning home tonight, so we had dinner early in order for Danny to pick her up at the airport.  I am excited because Danny had orthodics made for me.  I have gotten some really bad blisters on my feet.  These orthodics should solve my blister problem.  Now Chris and I are looking forward to propping our feet up and watching the season finally of " The Sopranos". 

6/03/06

Both Chris and I are exhausted from our day of training.  Of course that doesn't stop him from having the old phone to his ear.  We started the day early again riding north past Carter Lake and up Big Thompson Canyon to Estes Park.  Estes Park is at about eight thousand feet.  It was around a 25 mile climb.  It took a total of six hours and twenty minutes including stops for food and water.  It made for a scenic ride.  There was a huge female Elk standing right at the side of the road.  I almost thought she was fake she was so close.  The cruel part of the entire bike ride, once we had finished climbing and had a wonderful descent, was the head wind that we had the last miles into town.  Head winds are never good, but they are especially dreaded at the end of an exhausting bike ride.  We got off our bikes and did our thirty minute transition run.  Surprisingly enough I didn't feel all that bad.  At the beginning of our training day we thought it would be fun to go putt-putting later in the day.  However; once we sat down we didn't budge.  I think that is the way things will stay for the remainder of the night.

6/02/06

We got up early this morning to beat the heat.  We did our two and a half hour run around the Boulder Reservoir again.  Both Chris and I felt better on this run than the first run we did around the reservoir.   Granted it was a half hour shorter.  I laid out at the pool again.  The landscapers were out blowing the leaves which didn't make for a peaceful lounge.  I am sure you all feel sorry for me, having such a rough life.  Chris having the phone to his ear all day is a familiar sight.  Several hours after our run and him finally getting off the phone we went to the East Boulder Rec.  They have an awesome slide.  After each four hundered yard swim we got out of the pool and went down the slide.  I challenged Chris to a rematch in the 25 fly, but he declined.  He was scared.  Then I challenged him to a 50 meter no breather.  I won!!!!  Tonight was Chris' turn to have a massage from RL.  I think he pretty much had the same experience as me....Very Painful.  Tomorrow will be a ride in the mountains....I think.  Chris tends to change his mind depending on how he feels.  HAPPY BIRTHDAY NEWBY!!  Paula is 44 today!!

6/01/06

Today was a recovery day.  Katie had to leave to go back to Richmond.  She got home without any delays...Amazing!  Meanwhile Chris and I went on a two hour bike ride to see what route we will take to start on one of our long rides we will be doing.  My legs didn't feel great.  Chris seems as though he feels great. 

We decided it would be a good day to go soak our legs in the stream.  The stream was freezing.  It took a good five minutes before my ankles stopped aching.  Chris stood in the stream chatting up a storm with Huddle.  Nascar talk, I think.  I was too busy watching the dogs being taken down stream while catching sticks. They would eventually get to shore and start the whole process over again.

Once we got back to Homewood Suites, Chris got on his phone again.  The weather here was 87 and not a cloud in the sky.  I thought it would be a good time to lay out at the pool and catch some rays.  I am trying to get rid of some of the biking tan lines. I returned to the room, and you guessed it, Chris was still on the phone. 

I drove to RL's house and got my first massage since I have been in Colorado.  I about jumped off the table he went so deep.  He mentioned that one of his clients actually bit him.  I told him if he wasn't a little nicer I might do the same thing.  I must say, I did feel better after the massage.  We will see how I feel tomorrow.  Hopefully the next one won't be as painful.  Some how I doubt it.

For dinner Chris and I went to Mountain Sun Pub and Brewery.  It was a fourty five minute wait.  In order to skip the wait we sat down at the bar to order.  As we were skimming through the menu the waitress yelled "free food".  She had two plates with extra large bean burrito's.  I said "we'll take them".  It was our lucky night.  Chris thought we should eat half of the Burritos and share an order of the chicken quesadillas.  That suited me fine.  The waiter who brought the quesadillas couldn't believe that the Bean Burritos weren't enough for us. He was amazed at the amount of food we consumed.  We might be returning home a little heavier.

5/31/06

Got a great night's sleep last night.  Up we got and started on our supposed two hour bike ride to Ward.  The climb up to Ward is approximately sixteen miles long.  It took us two hours to get to the Ward store from Homewood Suites.  I was in my granny gear the last part of the climb, which lasted two miles. Chris and I were both sweating buckets.  We turned around, put our arm-warmers and gloves on and went down the mountain.  It was FREEZING!  My feet were icicles once we finished the descent.  It took us an hour and twenty minutes to get home.  So the two hour ride ended up being three hours and twenty minutes...good one Chris!  We got off the bike and got Katie to go for our fourty five minute transition run.  It was Katie's first run since her fall on the Mesa trail.  She was feeling good and I've got to say her knees and hand look pretty good. 

I laid down until we had to go to the Scott Carpenter Pool for Master's practice.  The sky was looking awfully grey and we weren't sure if it was going to storm, but we thought we would take a chance.  Not many people were there.  Sure enough 2000 meters into the swim set and the thunder rolled in.  Out of the pool we got. 

For dinner we went to an Indian restaurant called "Sherpa's" and met Chris and Sarah Legh as well as Tressa Breindel.  Tressa used to live in Richmond.  She is going to Colorado University to finish up her Political Science and pre-med majors. 

Now we are getting ready for bed.  Katie is bumbing out as she has to leave tomorrow.  We are hoping that her trip home is far less stressful than our trip here. 

5/30/06

I had a little trouble getting my website up and working yesterday.  It is finally working.  Yesterday we went to Chautauqua Park and ran the Mesa trail.  It was about an hour and fifteen minute run.  When you got up high enough you could see the entire city of Boulder.  It is awesome!  As we were making our way back, Katie made a flying leap and crashed hard.  Bloody knee's and hands.  She tripped on a rock.  That didn't stop us from having a good breakfast at the Chautauqua Dining Hall.  It was a beautiful day and we sat outside on the porch.  Chris had run to the Drug Store and gotten antiseptic and band aids for Katie.  We got back and went for a 2500 swim at the Flat Iron Pool.  The usual people showed up: Joanna Zieger and the Reed family.  We finished off the training day with a thirty minute run.  That evening we walked down Pearl Street and had dinner at the Boulderado.  Surprisingly enough Pearl Street was very quiet.  We thought it might be busy since they had 45000 people running the Bolder Boulder 10K. 

Today was a pretty relaxing day.  We got up early to do a masters swim at the Scott Carpenter Pool which is a slow 50 meter pool..  The city website said Master's started at 7:00 am.  Just our luck...it was wrong, and started at 6:00 am.  We got into the water and finished off the Master's practice that had already started.  Jane Scott, Dave Scott's sister was coaching Master's and was nice enough to give us a practice to do.  Chris Legh hopped in the water with us, since he got the same wrong information as us. 

We got home and went for a quick two hour bike ride and just missed the rain.  Katie will be staying with us for two more days since there will be horrible thunderstorms in Chicago again today.  She didn't want to get stuck at the Chicago Airport like we did on our way here.  Off to the movies we go!

5/28/06

Chris and I got an early start on our bike ride.  It was an easy two hour spin.  As we were biking we ran into Carol Sharpless running

down the road.  We chatted for a while and let her continue her run to the resevoir.  Once we returned to the Homewood suites we got Katie and went to Vic's.  Vic's is a cool little coffee shop.  We ordered some latte's and sat outside and enjoyed the morning.  The Pearl Street Festival is taking place this weekend.  For those of you from Richmond, it is a lot like "Art's in the Park".  Chris, Katie and I went and tasted all the free samples, and Katie got a Colorado Cowboy hat. 

Swimming a 2500 was next on the agenda.  No one really felt like swimming, but we picked ourselves off the couch and went.  Once in the water I was glad we were swimming.  Kelly Reed and her husband Matt Reed were swimming.  Matt and Kelly had just gotten back from the Columbia triathlon.  Matt broke the course record.  Joanna Zieger was swimming up a storm as well. 

Now we are back from grilling out at Danny and Jennifer Abshires.  The winds have really picked up.  The tree's are blowing all over the place, and the temperature has dropped.  It will be a great night to get a good night's sleep. 

5/27/06

Katie, Chris and I got up bright and early to start our long three hour run.  It is about 5 weeks out from my Ironman.  We decided to do our long run on our recovery week, in order to have fresh legs.  We went over to Danny Abshires place and picked him up.  Then it was off to the Boulder Reservoir.  We had the car stocked with water, gatorade, gels, and coke.  We ran the Eagle trail first.  It is great trail to do a long run.  The Prairie Dogs were everywhere as well as bunnies.  Then we ran the Reservoir.  During our run we saw Arturo Barrios who had the world record 10K.  He ran it in 27:08.  Unbelieveable!  Then Benji Durden was out running in pants and long sleeves.  We were sweating in jog bras and shorts.  He was 3rd in the Boston Marathon in 2:09 way back in the 1983. We also saw Mark Plaatjes.  He won the marathon at the 1993 Track and Field World Championship.   Lots of talent out there on the trails.  We did the Eagle trail a second time.  Each time we finished the loops we would stop at the car and re-fuel.  After the third loop we still had thirty minutes to go, and we had pretty much depleted all our fuel.  For the last thirty minutes we ran back towards Danny's house as Katie drove sag wagon for us. 

We got back to the suites layed out at the pool and soaked our legs.  Then it was a shower and off to Walnut Street Brewery for some good food.  You can't imagine the amount of  food we consumed.  Two appetizers and a meal.  Great food!  Of course if you were as hungry as us anything would have tasted great.  Now it is all about relaxing for the next day. 

5/26/06

Katie and Chris Danahy are my traveling mates and workout buddies.  The next couple of weeks will be all about my training and adventures in Boulder Colorado.  Our trip to Colorado took us approximately 23 hours from the time we left Chris' house in Richmond.  It should only have taken 9 hours for the entire trip.  Things didn't go well right from the beginning of our travels.. We spent 3 hours in the Richmond airport waiting for the storms in Chicago to calm down.  We finally got onto the plane and worried a little about not making our connection in Chicago.  Well, little did we know....We circled over Michigan for two hours waiting for the storms in Chicago to die down once again.  The plane started getting low on fuel so we landed in Rockford Illinois where we were to refuel and do a ten minute trip to Chicago.  That stop lasted three hours.  You can't imagine how happy we were to finally take off and get into the Chicago airport. A 1 hour 40 minute trip took us 7 hours.  Off the plane we got only to be stranded in the Chicago airport for 6 hours.  If you have never slept in an airport before it is an experience you don't want to experience.  It was so uncomfortable.  We tried going standby on the first plane out of Chicago, but it was packed.  Fortunately we got on the second flight.  However, we almost missed that flight.  I finally fell asleep on the airport chairs, Chris was wandering around the airport, and Katie had fallen asleep as well.  The only saving grace was that Katie woke up because she was cold and heard our names being announced.  She ran up to the counter and got our tickets.  Way to go Katie!!!!  Getting into Denver was like a dream that didn't seem like it would ever come true. 

Our goal was to stay awake as long as we could.  Our eyes were so heavy, and our brains weren't functioning as sharply as usual..  We stopped off at a mexican restaurant called Alexanders.  It has great Burritos.  Then we got to Homewood suites, which is where we are staying.  We got settled in and went for an easy 2000 meter swim.  It felt great to get into the water and swim outside.  The weather here is gorgeous.  Then we did a 40 minute easy run.  The legs felt aweful which is no surprise after traveling for that amount of time.  After eating dinner our eyes didn't stay open long.  We slept for a good ten hours.  A well deserved sleep since we kept our cool during our stressful trip. 

This morning we got up feeling great.  The sun was shining and if you look out our window you can see the mountains.  Some of the peaks still have snow on the top of them.  It is just beautiful.  The air is dry and we aren't having any allergy problems.  We did a three hour bike ride and a 30 minute transition run.  During the bike ride Chris' glutes started locking up on him.  We think it was from sitting around the airport for such a long time.  He was able to bike through the cramps.  I got stung by a bee or something that stings and leaves welts.  All I know is that it hurt when it stung me.  Hopefully all the weird and bad stuff has happened and it is all happy training from here on out.  After working out we stopped off at "Active Imprints" which is a running store that Danny and Jennifer Abshire own.  I got new running shoes for my long run tomorrow, Chris got new orthodics and Katie got some cool running attire.  Now it is all about relaxing and getting ready for our big training day tomorrow. 

5/23/06

I just got back from the Memphis in May triathlon.   It is the first true Olympic distance triathlon that I have done.  It was a blast! Once I landed in Memphis I got my rental car.  I was going to drive to the Galvin's house.  Tommy Glavin went to The University of Richmond with Chris Danahy.  Chris asked the Galvine's if I could stay with them and they were more than happy to accomodate me.  They didn't know what they were getting into..  On my way to their house I got really lost.  I have the worst sense of direction.  I finally got to their house where Meg was waiting outside for me.  Meg is Tommy's wife.  They have three son's Danny, Chris, and Owen and a Boxer named Ben.  They were so hospitable and I loved getting to know them.  Staying with a family is so relaxing and fun, plus it helps out economically.

The race took place in Millington Tennessee.  The drive to the race from the Galvine's was about 40 minutes.  There really isn't any place to stay that is close to the race site, except for a military base.  The race started at 7:30 am.  The swim was done in a small lake where everyone stood in a line behind one another according to their race number.  We started in a time trial format.  The pro's started the race off going in 10 second increments and the age grouper's took off in 3 second increments.  The bike course was great. There was some wind, but absolutely no traffic issues or cars to speak of..  It seems to be windy every day in Richmond, so the wind didn't really bother me.  The run had some good hills.  And there were plenty of aid stations with water and gatorade.  It is a must do race!  

I got back to the Galvin's house where Danny and Chris had won their basketball tournment and Owen had come in second at his Baseball tournament.  I had placed third at the triathlon.  We felt as though the day had been successful for everyone and celebrated with an awesome steak dinner.  Owen was too tired to enjoy it and was carried to his bed.  Wish someone would carry me to mine.  Now I am getting ready to take off to Colorado and do some training in the mountains.  Can't wait!