Nemo and Becky, way to tough out the heat this weekend! Nemo, glad to hear you are ok after your stint in the med tent.
Kris, how was the wedding?
LP Rally peeps, it sounds like a great time was had by all.
Sheryl, glad you and your daughter are ok after the car vs. deer incident.
Beth, your weekend sounds like fun! Glad you took a mental break. We all need those!
Just checking in to say hi, as nothing much is going on here. I'm waiting for this pop-up rainstorm to go away so I can go swim, and then get on with cleaning the house in anticipation of my parents' visit this weekend. Have a great day, everyone!
Helloooooo, Ladies! Hope all is well... I'm recovering, slowly. Quads are feeling sort of post-marathonish (particularly heading down stairs or after sitting for a while)... but other than that, I'm okay. Looking forward to a pedi and some massage therapy tonight (well, that will hurt, but it's a good hurt, right?)!
For some reason I'm not getting email updates... bummer..
But I definitely want to thank everyone for the support, well wishes, and congrats after EM this past weekend. What a crazy day... no wet suit, long swim, winds, crazy heat... I've never done an IM, but I think I can just having suffered through that.
@Kristen, good luck with the house cleaning and the parent visit!
I'm skipping town tomorrow early for a long weekend in Cabo with Dan!!! Yay vaca, yay wedding... so glad the timing is perfect as can be! Odds are I won't be checking in... no offense. So be safe, have fun... and I'll touch base next week! Thanks again, you guys are really amazing!
Becky and Nemo- again congrats on getting it done on tough day. Hope those quads feel better soon.
Becky- Have a great vaca in cabo! I really want to go there. Once saw Giada ( ? sp) do a travel food show and have been wanting to go since.
Nemo- sorry to hear about medical tent, agh- wish I was there so I could have put the iV in for you. Take it easy, feel better soon
Kristen- have fun house cleaning and visiting with parents.
Sheryl- sorry to hear about deer accident- glad no one was hurt. congrats to Shelby on her race
Kathy- nice job on your race in tough conditions- brrrrrr
Linda H- Great job in hawaii!!!!!!!
Linda P- Did you and keith have a nice anniversary? Did you do anything special?
Beth- happy Taper- stay safe and health rest of week, and enjoy your reunion!
Kris- congrats on your daughters wedding- Hope it was a beautiful special day
M- glad you were safe from flooding. Hope your booboo is ok after your fall with new cleats- way to get it done. sound busy as ever
Ok-it was great to be away from work for a whole week! LP rally was really fun!!!! best part for those not on FB- I ran ( although very slowly) 10 Miles!!! Longest since getting back. I wish I could say the bike was as successful, but knee was hurting after 1 loop so called it after 1 loop. I also bonked- plan to get speefil for LP. you are going up or down, should have been better about nutrition, I know better. That is why we have rehersals though. It was tough riding those last hills back to placid, I was a bit light headed. Sunday- did those hills again, did better. Kitima was watching me ride, and pointed out that my foot was toes in. Got new bike shoes after fitting with todd- so something is up with cleats. Thanks again Kitima. The ride up and back with suzanne and keith was great! Suzanne kicked computrainer silvermans butt this weekend. I am so impressed. I am just soo happy my training is finally starting to go in right direction. Even yesterday, one of my mile repeats was 8:53. Slower than the past, but better than even a month ago.
Going up to NYC thursday- sat. My neice is graduating from 8th grade on sat. I still remember the day she was born! How time flies
I met Tirrenzo Bozzone in the EM med tent in 2008---He has the most luscious hair!
Yes, as we discovered at the Rally, both Kitima and Eric V were in the medical tent at the same time. Although Eric was mum on the condition of Tirrenzo's hair, hmm...
Where are my e-mail updates??? I'm getting nothing!
The rally was freakin' awesome, despite the rainy weather and biking indoors. I drove up with Keith Buell and Tracy Wood - great traveling partners - and we headed out for a Thursday p.m. run when we got into town. The skies opened up while we were out there and the puddles - OH THE PUDDLES! - they were like three feet deep. We joked we were in the steeplechase.
Friday a.m. I headed down to High Peaks Cyclery to see the group off on the RR. After we took a huge group picture the crew rode out and I hiked it back to the hotel. I don't want to paint a melodramatic picture where I was left all by my lonesome in the parking lot but um...that's kind of how it was. I would by lying if I said there wasn't a moment of feeling sorry for myself as I walked back to my dreary hotel room - but once I got there I put on my big girl bike shorts and got to work. Thanks to Kitima and Tracy I had a bike and a Computrainer and so I was able to ride the LP course.
My original goal was to ride for a loop, or about 3 hours. Of course Computrainer had my average pace really slow so one loop took 4 hours. It really wasn't that bad! I had my iPod earbuds in and the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and I busted out into song many, many times to keep my spirits up. After 2 hours went by I thought, "Can I make it to 6? Because that would mean I'm only 1/3 done." I just focused on the course and the wattage and that helped me stay in the present.
At hour 4 Tracy called to say that she had finished a loop and was hurting. I offered her some Celebrex that she tried to refuse, but I was desperate for the diversion and practically threatened her life if she didn't come interrupt me for a second. With Tracy come and gone, I was all set to make it to 5 hours and then reassess. I decided that every ten minutes I would treat myself to one Sport Bean. At 4:30 (three beans in), my stomach decided that was a really, really poor idea.
5 hours came and went quickly and then it was all about making it for the full 6. I was so freaking high on endorphins at this point that I think I could have cheerily performed brain surgery or something. With 30 minutes to go I started calling out the time left - loudly - to no one. "20 MINUTES TO GO!!" Oh lordy. So, I did it! 6 hours. I wouldn't recommend it but I'm glad I was able to do it in that situation. As I said to Tracy afterward, I think that workout is going to stick with me, meaning that when I'm in a tough place in the race I'll think back to what it was like to stare at the timer when I was only halfway in and kept going.
Nemo, so sorry to hear about the med tent! But glad that all the EN crew survived a very tough race. We were monitoring everything via smart phones!
Good job, Eagleman girls...I'm headed over shortly to read the race reports.
LP camp was great! So great to meet the EN peeps...of course over workouts and great food. I came home and went to bed at 9 on Sunday night and Monday night! (in fact, I'm headed there shortly!)
Yay vaca, yay wedding wait wait, Becky are you getting married in Cabo or are you celebrating Kris's daughter's wedding??!! I guess we have to wait to next week to find out
glad you in LP had a good but wet weekend!! I am sure a great time! tomorrow I am gonna run and then SAG on my bike for my running mentor and her crew, they will be out there from 6 - 10 and at ten today it was 92... so will see THREE of my fav GFs tomorrow.! packing up for it now. then seeing a diff GF on thurs for bike, and then on Sat diff peeps for that one hour swim, 4 hour ride/1hr run! and husband needed just part of the ride, so finally like a puzzle got it all figured out so that all peeps get the tng they need/want! with the help of my tri friends coming up with routes and times.. just great to have! as you know my fall/winter/spring training was solo so this will be a treat! finally I am off the injured list! took a rest day today. m
Suzanne: you are hard core, baby! The thing about having a "treat" of one sport bean per 10 minutes is great! I did a couple of 5 hour trainer rides in preparation for IMLou several years ago, and I remember how you look forward to anything different: " What?! Another hour gone by?! Time to change into a dry jersey?! Spectacular!!!"
You get the award for making the best of a bad situation!
OMW!!! Suzanne!!! You rock girl! I did nearly three on the trainer on Saturday and was so stinking sick of it I quit a little early. You are my inspiration!!!!! I'm gonna do that one day.....Good for you!
Can't wait to see wedding pics!
So....rode with a friend tonight we did 50. It was great until we were coming around a curve and a truck hauling a pontoon boat wasn't paying attention and was going to pull through to a dirt road full speed which would have meant doing to me what I did to the deer on Sunday.....little poetic justice here? Anyway, DIane screamed. LOUD. I yelled an explicative several times and good thing his window was down because he swerved and missed us. Kathy and I came close to being creamed on the IMMoo route once but this was just too close for comfort. Might be on the trainer for the next few rides.
Hope all ya'll in the south are staying cool and dry.
Looking forward to Horribly HIlly Hundreds on Saturday with Kathy. Did I just say that? I must have imagined it. Fearing might be a better word.
Suzanne - 6 hours on the computrainer??!!! Alone?? Wow, you are super tough!
The computrainer courses are much harder than the real thing, in my opinion, since you can't coast on the downhill sections. And the really steep climbs are also harder than real life. I trained on the CDA real-video computrainer course several times last year, and was pleasantly surprised that it was not as bad in real life. Were you using the real-course video, or just the 3-D or multi-rider version? At least with the video you can imagine that you're out there on the course.
I am really going to savor drinking coffee, in the kitchen, in a real cup this week. I know what will start happening next week -- the Beth gets in from her workout fifteen minutes before she needs to get on the train screwball comedy scene of multi-tasking. I can't believe I haven't fallen over in the shower while stretching my quads and conditioning, but hey, this is how I practice T1s.
Sheryl -- Deer! Frightening. I'm glad you are okay. Driving through Minnesota and Wisconsin the last few weeks I noticed there were so many deer out. Be careful, chica!
And, I am so jealous of HHH riding. And you get to do it with snacks! The first big hill is a bear and a half, but remember that its job is to make all the IMWI hills look like teeny-tiny baby hills.
Kitima -- Tirrenzo was a worthy google. The hair. It is beautiful. He looks like JFK jr, only cuter.
Becky -- Have fun on vacation! And I have the same question as Marianne.
Suzanne - Hard. Core. Serious mental toughness there. I've also employed the Sport Bean treat trick. Why do the blue ones taste so good?
I have a houseguest starting tonight. Currently, there is no place for her to sleep, except the yoga mat in the pain cave. Hm. I should fix that.
@Beth - I don't know! I'm a huge fan of the lemon lime ones but the LBS only has red ones in stock right now. They all taste the same after awhile. I do like that they've changed the packaging so that you can rezip the top to save them for later.
Becky is probably mid-transit, but she's not getting married nor is she celebrating Kris's daughter's wedding (I don't think, anyway). She's going to attend her BF's friend's wedding.
@Michele - Yeah, I missed the coasting but then I also felt like it was easier on the hills to slow way down and grind away because I wasn't worried about falling over. I didn't have the real course video but I didnt' miss it. It was fun watching my little bike graphic climb the elevation.
@Sheryl - I winced just reading that! Glad you are safe.
I'm planning to drop some money on some serious bike lights and wear them while training, even in broad daylight. Maybe a blinking white headlight would have made me more visible? I was hit four years ago and it was months before I felt comfortable riding alone on the road. This time feels much less traumatic but I think I may have a touch of PTSD. During Friday's RR when I was running on the road in Placid I was spooked by the cars and bikes whizzing by. Argh!
Suzanne - Maybe you need a jersey like this? Safety rules.
It is very nice to be awake on a Thursday morning, knowing I can skip the commute! I stopped at a newish LBS last night to buy triathlon supplies in serious dressed up because the Board is in town lady clothes. Usually when I go to a shop dressed like this, I get comments like, "do you really want a your own pedal wrench? They are expensive. (ha)" Yesterday, much cluelessness. I fear the nearest shop to me is full of people who actually know very little about bikes beyond favorite flavors of Clif bars.
We actually returned Wednesday night. I have been swamped with work and trying to get settled after vacation and immediately returning to work.
This is my first time on the forum since getting back. I am trying to read but 2 hours later, I need to just "Mark all read" and move on.
Basically, it was good to have time off from work. But the vacation was a bust. We were scuba diving at some islands off the coast of Costa Rica. I know I can get seasick. I was prepared. The sea was so rough that others on the trip who usually did not have problems with seasickness, were also sick. So I was VERY sick despite 2 medications. The boat had cockroaches and the sleeping quarters smelled like unflushed toilets (to put it nicely). The diving was poor, El Nino made the water too warm and there were few sharks. I lived on Ginger Ale and Ritz crackers for the better part of 12 days. Back on land, my gut has remained in revolt of food until last night. I do not recommend this as a way to drop weight for a race
I had signed up for a HIM tomorrow 6/19, before we planned the trip. I figured the 2 week forced rest would have me chomping at the bit for the race. After being sick for so long and unable to eat, I feel weak and tired. I know that I could just skip the race, but I have been doing it every year since it started. It has always had cool, rainy weather. This year we are having a heat wave. I plan to go and just treat it as a long, slow day to get back into training.
It's good to be back and Monday is my official return to training for the last 12 weeks. What have I gotten myself into?!?!
Oh Michele, I'm so sorry to hear about the busted vacay!! That sucks!! "Mark All Read" and move on is pretty much the only way I can handle coming back into the forum after a long time away- don't worry- if it's important, you'll find it!
It's too late now (your already on the course) but PLEASE take it easy. I can't imagine doing a HIM after 2 weeks of being seasick!! Your energy has to be super zapped. Sending you lots of mojo to get through the day and enjoy the experience! I know there's lots of ENers up there today.
I hope all of you racing Eagleman survived today. It was hot outside today in NE. I am sorry that I missed the opportunity to meet some more EN chicas!
I know from FB that Linda and Leigh had great races so congrats to you ladies!
I have survived the move to Boston. LOVE the area, the apt, well lets just say that if I had seen it before I rented I would not be renting here. My point of view is just more motivation to save enough money to buy a place in a year! I said to Michelle, how is it that we are always living like college kids?!?! This is after owning a very nice townhouse for 5 years. Crazy. Glad to be in a walking city, still trying to get my bearings.
IMLP is so close now, kinda flipping out a bit about training here now away from all the spots I know to swim/ride/run. I know my EN chicas will lend a hand when able.
New apt, new job Monday, on my own for the next 4 weeks in a city without a car. I love the situations I get myself in.
I totally forgot you were at Patriot until Keith told me he saw you!!!! Given all that came before, I can't believe you did that race. Wow, I totally would have bailed. I am SO sorry I missed you. I looked for you forever after the race, but never did see you. Let's catch up soon.
Michele, so sorry to hear that your vacation stunk. How frustrating! Glad you are starting to get back in the groove.
Horribly HIlly Hundreds....wow...what can I say except that you people that think it's fun...are sick. I dropped after 40 miles. The last couple of vertical hills before that I was walking at the end. Makes me very scared for Madison but VERY motivated to go all out on training this last 12 weeks. Kathy, on the other hand, in spite of hating me , rocked. She did the entire thing!!! She was incredible and she even had a rear cassette that fell into pieces at one point on the ride. That ride is epic and I'm going to go back and beat it but I really need different gearing. Mine is totally inappropriate for that type of riding.
Game on.
Everyone have a wonderful father's day! Youngest daughter made a great breakfast for us this morning. She isn't much of a cook so this was pretty significant. Take care out there today! Congrats on all the racing!
Sheryl - the IMWI course is so much easier than HHH (not easy, but definitely easiER). And yes, gearing makes all the difference! Kudos to you for getting out there and riding the 40 miles that you did...
Hi Ladies! I've been off of the forums for a few days, so trying to catch up on the major info. I rode 4 hours yesterday, then 3 hrs. today, for my IMLOU training. Got a good chuckle out of something today during my ride, that hasn't happened before. I'm riding kind of in the country, around some traffic, but no subdivisions. An ice cream truck comes around the corner at a stop, and sees me riding up, and starts playing his 'ice cream man ' music!!! When I didn't flag him down or whateve he expected, he turned it off and kept driving! I chuckled out loud! Now, if I hadn't have just eaten that Cliff Bar.... My training is going great, despite a pinched nerve! Getting an epidural on July 8th, hopefully. Glad to hear so many of you are just rockin' it and kickin' ass! Go girls!
Hello!!! Checking in post vaca... still with crazy tan lines from Eagleman, but a few more. With new jewelry (happy story there), but not a ring... ha ha... Suzanne cleared it up for me, not my wedding - a friend from running club got married and the timing was perfect, so Dan and I went. I took today off... got home later than expected (which was already gonna be late) - by the time I got home, unpacked a bit, settled down, etc it was midnight... and I knew I had no food in the fridge, etc... so I called and took one more day - so I could knock out some admin. I slept in, have started laundry, paid bills... still need to hit the grocery and swim, but it's not even noon!
Before I forget:
@Suzanne - wow... 6 hours on the trainer... all mental. you rock! seriously, that is some serious mental toughness! hope the elbow is healing up so you can get outside soon!
@Carly - congrats on the move and the new job! good luck on your first day!
@Michele - oh no! I'm so sorry to hear about your awful Costa Rica experience... sea sickness, cockroaches... ugh! that's terrible! hope you've recovered!
@Tracy - how's the knee holding up post LP camp? hope you're okay... hope we can get a ride in at Columbia before the big day... since I need to get back in the saddle... and Timberman is hilly!
Okay, my brief vaca overview - Cabo is beautiful! The beach is gorgeous, the arch is really cool! I'm not really a sit around lounging by the pool type, but for a few days (post OS. post Eagleman, pre-general prep/IM prep I was actually okay with it - but I don't think another day would have worked, I would have started going a bit nutty). It was darn warm there... and all the natives are trying to sell you something - we walked into town a few times and essentially ran a gauntlet around folks trying to schlep something... just look forward and say "no, gracias..." I'll add more pics on FB soon (maybe after my trip to the grocery so I can have my cup of coffee!)
Oh, and the important part... on the plane ride over Dan surprised me (again)... he handed me a bag and said happy Eagleman/happy vacation... it was a silver bracelet (to match the v-day necklace and the easter earrings). yay!!! I joked with him that we need to take more vacations since vacations have vacation presents associated with them! Here's a pic with the bracelet:
I started reading the Primal Blueprint during the trip - am about 3/4 of the way through it... and I also got the Paleo for Athletes book but haven't gotten to that one yet. I'm gonna give it a try (cutting carbs will be tough)... how are you all doing with it (I think Kris and Kit were giving it a go)? Still feeling good? More energy?
Okay, time to change the laundry and hit the store... swim later (I actually think I'm ready to get back into it... not gonna get on the scale for a few days, though... I didn't go totally crazy during vaca... but we had a lot of free drink coupons and frozen strawberry margaritas are awfully yummy on a HOT afternoon sitting around the pool).
Barb, I totally would have gone for the ice cream! You're so strong to resist...
Becky, glad to have you back from vacation! Those are some crazy tan lines, girl! Your trip sounds wonderful, and you got a lovely jewelry present, as well! Go, Dan!
As far as the Paleo diet goes, I feel really good when I stay on it, and I do lose weight, but it could be just water. It's not too hard a diet to stay on despite the carb restrictions because you can eat lots of fruit, drink smoothies, etc. However, the prep work that goes into it is MASSIVE. Chopping fruits, cooking veggies and extra lean protein, packaging everything up to get ready to go the next day...yikes! I took a break from it this weekend but am going to hit it hard starting tomorrow. I have got to shed these few extra pounds!
We had a wonderful weekend. My parents came in town on Saturday and stayed until this morning. Saturday night we all had a fabulous dinner at Reef, which specializes in local gulf seafood. For Father's Day we took Dad to brunch and then I took him to the gun range and we had a father/daughter shooting competition. He won, but he gave me some good pointers and I wasn't too bad, myself. Then we met my Mom, sister, and T back at our house and we ladies cooked Dad a mini Hawaiian luau with Passionfruit Martinis (he'll drink girly drinks with us), Kalua pork, coconut rice, and salad, with a haupia/purple sweet potato/macadamia nut shortbread cake for dessert. We finished up with looking at all 700 of Mom and Dad's vacation pics from Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. Amazing pictures of the pyramids, the Sphynx, etc, with Ron and Ginger in the mix!
I was so tired after all of that, I failed to get up this morning to start day 1, week 1 of the 20 week IM program. I can catch up tomorrow!
Keeping up reading, and loving the vibe going on here! SO looking forward to Moo camp.
Becky, so far I think it's me, Kristin, and Kit doing the Paleo thing. Here's my latest installment...I like timing the more traditional carbs before, during, and right after the workout. Other than that, the carbs should come from fruits and veggies. Last week before the Patriot AB, I was a bit nervous since I haven't raced in a while, so from Wed thru Sat I went back to eating more normally--adding back in some whole wheat breads, cereals, and yes some sweets. I needed carbs, right? By last night--felt AWFUL. Today, I am right back on the plan. At the moment, feeling crappy from eating is so bad that I'd rather "give up" the stuff and feel better overall. Paleo gives you a window to eat 5% if the calories from whatever you want. Some people save it for a weekly treat, or meal. I'd rather treat myself a little bit everyday of a bite of this and that. I am finding I stick to the plan more faithfully, and I am happpy to have my little treats. So overall I still like it. It's hard to break the habit of how we eat--esp redefininng breakfast. But after you give it a go, let us know what you think. I know that Primal does not recomment more than 1 hour a day of exercise, to combining the Paleo athlete recommendations of how to time things, with a Primal approach is also another way to go. In the end, it's about feeling one's best, right?
Edited tp second what Kristen said. It's a lot of buying and a lot of chopping. BUT for years, I have told myself I want to eat this way, so now I'm putting my chopping skills where my mouth is. Then again, all that stuff is no good for you--and you likely never have to worry about going to the bathroom again.
Love how everyone is getting their race on, the getting ready for the A event. So much fun around here in summer. Love to all of you!
Kristen, you are hysterical! Don't worry, you have 19.85 weeks to make it up.
Becky, you and I now have the same crescent shaped tan line on our lower back.
Barb, clearly he mistook you for a roadie (ooh, snap!).
I'm trying really hard to stay positive and find the humor in the broken elbow situation but some days are harder than others. Case in point: last Friday morning I attempted swimming for the first time and the workout was hard-harder-impossible. Allow me to complain for a minute.
Hard: getting the swim cap on. I'm now able to do so much pain-free, but then little things - like stuffing my ponytail into my cap - are ouch! ouch! ouch!
Harder: actually swimming. I jumped in, did a 50, and immediately stopped and thought, "No way can I do this yet." But it's such a rigamarole to wake up early, drive to the pool, park, pay, etc. Plus the damn swim cap was already on. So I kept on, and it got easier for awhile. I can move the right arm, painfully, but I canNOT put much pressure in the pull so speedwork is going to be a long time coming. My good arm complained for awhile about having to pick up so much slack but then it shut up and I was able to swim at a decent slow pace for about a mile. By then the pain was too intense to continue - but a mile at a time is good enough to maintain my feel for the water for a few more weeks.
Impossible: I finish my workout, rip off my cap and goggles, and only THEN realize that I'm stuck in the pool. I have no way to reach up and lift myself out of the deep end. The one ladder was about 12 lanes away and separated from me by a huge bulkhead. After I stopped laughing I somehow managed to use one arm to leverage enough lift so that I could flop onto the gutter and then kick a knee up onto the deck. And just so you know, when you're trying to do something one-armed that has always required two arms, your injured arm will jump in out of habit and try to help out. Ouch!
In other news, the bike shop just called and said that my frame replacement is finished. I had plans to attempt swimming again tonight but now I'm all too glad to scrap that in favor for getting back my bike. Pics to follow (hopefully)!
Suznne-I can just picture the FLOP one-armed on the deck! OMG, funny! We've all done that--without the excuse of a broken elbow. It will heal, but the waiting part is no fun. You're doing great, and just keep on keepin' on!
Suzanne!!! You rock...keep going, girlfriend! I laughed out loud!
Vacays, races, etc...trying to catch up from a busy lweek last week and an even busier weekend. We went to a wedding last night and it was very nice. It was nice to be out with the DH for awhile and get all dressed up. But, we are all feeling a little quesy today. don't know if it's something we ate or a touch of dehydration or just being tired. Resting now with Abs, watching "Spot the Dog" for the 2nd time!
Carly...got a little update from Michelle today! Miss you already!
Tracy- how's the knee?
Sorry if I missed anyone, read fast and just checking in!
Grace told me today that I needed to change swimsuits as I am getting tan lines from swimming!! I also have some bike short tan lines too!! congrats on jewelry, very nice! I gotta scoot and pick up Grace from gymnastics, I got my tng week figured out with the help of Rich. y'all should check out "micro thread, what to do this week" if you ever have any questions about changing up your tng, in the general forum. rich or patrick are good to post their answer without saying "are you crazy? you wanna do what when??".. they are tactful to me!! lol. anyways I amgonna do myfirst 40kTT this Sunday, my first "roadie" race! and will have to wear a jersey. smile. I know the RD and officials so it will be fun. flat course and I just hope I can recover from lingering century fatigue!! ha. oh and I did 5 hours of work , manual labor at themt bike trail yesterday. I am talking pick axeing, shoveling, raking and sweating big time that whole time with a lunch break while we made dirt berms for the race this weekend!! I was the only girl with 6 other guys and my daughter Grace came with me. I was disgustingly dirty. stunk and soaking wet with sweat. digging, moving dirt from X to Y location, great fun and the hours slipped on by, it was 98 outside!! in the shade but still. anyways. I got a cool insulated water bottle! smile. m
Comments
Nemo and Becky, way to tough out the heat this weekend! Nemo, glad to hear you are ok after your stint in the med tent.
Kris, how was the wedding?
LP Rally peeps, it sounds like a great time was had by all.
Sheryl, glad you and your daughter are ok after the car vs. deer incident.
Beth, your weekend sounds like fun! Glad you took a mental break. We all need those!
Just checking in to say hi, as nothing much is going on here. I'm waiting for this pop-up rainstorm to go away so I can go swim, and then get on with cleaning the house in anticipation of my parents' visit this weekend.
Have a great day, everyone!
Helloooooo, Ladies! Hope all is well... I'm recovering, slowly. Quads are feeling sort of post-marathonish (particularly heading down stairs or after sitting for a while)... but other than that, I'm okay. Looking forward to a pedi and some massage therapy tonight (well, that will hurt, but it's a good hurt, right?)!
For some reason I'm not getting email updates... bummer..
But I definitely want to thank everyone for the support, well wishes, and congrats after EM this past weekend. What a crazy day... no wet suit, long swim, winds, crazy heat... I've never done an IM, but I think I can just having suffered through that.
@Kristen, good luck with the house cleaning and the parent visit!
I'm skipping town tomorrow early for a long weekend in Cabo with Dan!!! Yay vaca, yay wedding... so glad the timing is perfect as can be! Odds are I won't be checking in... no offense.
So be safe, have fun... and I'll touch base next week! Thanks again, you guys are really amazing!
Becky and Nemo- again congrats on getting it done on tough day. Hope those quads feel better soon.
Becky- Have a great vaca in cabo! I really want to go there. Once saw Giada ( ? sp) do a travel food show and have been wanting to go since.
Nemo- sorry to hear about medical tent, agh- wish I was there so I could have put the iV in for you. Take it easy, feel better soon
Kristen- have fun house cleaning and visiting with parents.
Sheryl- sorry to hear about deer accident- glad no one was hurt. congrats to Shelby on her race
Kathy- nice job on your race in tough conditions- brrrrrr
Linda H- Great job in hawaii!!!!!!!
Linda P- Did you and keith have a nice anniversary? Did you do anything special?
Beth- happy Taper- stay safe and health rest of week, and enjoy your reunion!
Kris- congrats on your daughters wedding- Hope it was a beautiful special day
M- glad you were safe from flooding. Hope your booboo is ok after your fall with new cleats- way to get it done. sound busy as ever
Ok-it was great to be away from work for a whole week! LP rally was really fun!!!! best part for those not on FB- I ran ( although very slowly) 10 Miles!!! Longest since getting back. I wish I could say the bike was as successful, but knee was hurting after 1 loop so called it after 1 loop. I also bonked- plan to get speefil for LP. you are going up or down, should have been better about nutrition, I know better. That is why we have rehersals though. It was tough riding those last hills back to placid, I was a bit light headed. Sunday- did those hills again, did better. Kitima was watching me ride, and pointed out that my foot was toes in. Got new bike shoes after fitting with todd- so something is up with cleats. Thanks again Kitima. The ride up and back with suzanne and keith was great! Suzanne kicked computrainer silvermans butt this weekend. I am so impressed. I am just soo happy my training is finally starting to go in right direction. Even yesterday, one of my mile repeats was 8:53. Slower than the past, but better than even a month ago.
Going up to NYC thursday- sat. My neice is graduating from 8th grade on sat. I still remember the day she was born! How time flies
Hope all is well with everyone
Have to get back to work
Where are my e-mail updates??? I'm getting nothing!
The rally was freakin' awesome, despite the rainy weather and biking indoors. I drove up with Keith Buell and Tracy Wood - great traveling partners - and we headed out for a Thursday p.m. run when we got into town. The skies opened up while we were out there and the puddles - OH THE PUDDLES! - they were like three feet deep. We joked we were in the steeplechase.
Friday a.m. I headed down to High Peaks Cyclery to see the group off on the RR. After we took a huge group picture the crew rode out and I hiked it back to the hotel. I don't want to paint a melodramatic picture where I was left all by my lonesome in the parking lot but um...that's kind of how it was. I would by lying if I said there wasn't a moment of feeling sorry for myself as I walked back to my dreary hotel room - but once I got there I put on my big girl bike shorts and got to work. Thanks to Kitima and Tracy I had a bike and a Computrainer and so I was able to ride the LP course.
My original goal was to ride for a loop, or about 3 hours. Of course Computrainer had my average pace really slow so one loop took 4 hours. It really wasn't that bad! I had my iPod earbuds in and the Do Not Disturb sign on the door and I busted out into song many, many times to keep my spirits up. After 2 hours went by I thought, "Can I make it to 6? Because that would mean I'm only 1/3 done." I just focused on the course and the wattage and that helped me stay in the present.
At hour 4 Tracy called to say that she had finished a loop and was hurting. I offered her some Celebrex that she tried to refuse, but I was desperate for the diversion and practically threatened her life if she didn't come interrupt me for a second. With Tracy come and gone, I was all set to make it to 5 hours and then reassess. I decided that every ten minutes I would treat myself to one Sport Bean. At 4:30 (three beans in), my stomach decided that was a really, really poor idea.
5 hours came and went quickly and then it was all about making it for the full 6. I was so freaking high on endorphins at this point that I think I could have cheerily performed brain surgery or something. With 30 minutes to go I started calling out the time left - loudly - to no one. "20 MINUTES TO GO!!" Oh lordy. So, I did it! 6 hours. I wouldn't recommend it but I'm glad I was able to do it in that situation. As I said to Tracy afterward, I think that workout is going to stick with me, meaning that when I'm in a tough place in the race I'll think back to what it was like to stare at the timer when I was only halfway in and kept going.
Nemo, so sorry to hear about the med tent! But glad that all the EN crew survived a very tough race. We were monitoring everything via smart phones!
LP camp was great! So great to meet the EN peeps...of course over workouts and great food. I came home and went to bed at 9 on Sunday night and Monday night! (in fact, I'm headed there shortly!)
Take care, be safe this week and happy training!
wait wait, Becky are you getting married in Cabo or are you celebrating Kris's daughter's wedding??!! I guess we have to wait to next week to find out
glad you in LP had a good but wet weekend!! I am sure a great time!
tomorrow I am gonna run and then SAG on my bike for my running mentor and her crew, they will be out there from 6 - 10 and at ten today it was 92... so will see THREE of my fav GFs tomorrow.! packing up for it now. then seeing a diff GF on thurs for bike, and then on Sat diff peeps for that one hour swim, 4 hour ride/1hr run! and husband needed just part of the ride, so finally like a puzzle got it all figured out so that all peeps get the tng they need/want! with the help of my tri friends coming up with routes and times.. just great to have! as you know my fall/winter/spring training was solo so this will be a treat! finally I am off the injured list! took a rest day today. m
You get the award for making the best of a bad situation!
OMW!!! Suzanne!!! You rock girl! I did nearly three on the trainer on Saturday and was so stinking sick of it I quit a little early. You are my inspiration!!!!! I'm gonna do that one day.....Good for you!
Can't wait to see wedding pics!
So....rode with a friend tonight we did 50. It was great until we were coming around a curve and a truck hauling a pontoon boat wasn't paying attention and was going to pull through to a dirt road full speed which would have meant doing to me what I did to the deer on Sunday.....little poetic justice here? Anyway, DIane screamed. LOUD. I yelled an explicative several times and good thing his window was down because he swerved and missed us. Kathy and I came close to being creamed on the IMMoo route once but this was just too close for comfort. Might be on the trainer for the next few rides.
Hope all ya'll in the south are staying cool and dry.
Looking forward to Horribly HIlly Hundreds on Saturday with Kathy. Did I just say that? I must have imagined it. Fearing might be a better word.
Ya'll all stay safe!
The computrainer courses are much harder than the real thing, in my opinion, since you can't coast on the downhill sections. And the really steep climbs are also harder than real life. I trained on the CDA real-video computrainer course several times last year, and was pleasantly surprised that it was not as bad in real life. Were you using the real-course video, or just the 3-D or multi-rider version? At least with the video you can imagine that you're out there on the course.
I am really going to savor drinking coffee, in the kitchen, in a real cup this week. I know what will start happening next week -- the Beth gets in from her workout fifteen minutes before she needs to get on the train screwball comedy scene of multi-tasking. I can't believe I haven't fallen over in the shower while stretching my quads and conditioning, but hey, this is how I practice T1s.
Sheryl -- Deer! Frightening. I'm glad you are okay. Driving through Minnesota and Wisconsin the last few weeks I noticed there were so many deer out. Be careful, chica!
And, I am so jealous of HHH riding. And you get to do it with snacks! The first big hill is a bear and a half, but remember that its job is to make all the IMWI hills look like teeny-tiny baby hills.
Kitima -- Tirrenzo was a worthy google. The hair. It is beautiful. He looks like JFK jr, only cuter.
Becky -- Have fun on vacation! And I have the same question as Marianne.
Suzanne - Hard. Core. Serious mental toughness there. I've also employed the Sport Bean treat trick. Why do the blue ones taste so good?
I have a houseguest starting tonight. Currently, there is no place for her to sleep, except the yoga mat in the pain cave. Hm. I should fix that.
Becky is probably mid-transit, but she's not getting married nor is she celebrating Kris's daughter's wedding (I don't think, anyway). She's going to attend her BF's friend's wedding.
@Michele - Yeah, I missed the coasting but then I also felt like it was easier on the hills to slow way down and grind away because I wasn't worried about falling over. I didn't have the real course video but I didnt' miss it. It was fun watching my little bike graphic climb the elevation.
@Sheryl - I winced just reading that! Glad you are safe.
I'm planning to drop some money on some serious bike lights and wear them while training, even in broad daylight. Maybe a blinking white headlight would have made me more visible? I was hit four years ago and it was months before I felt comfortable riding alone on the road. This time feels much less traumatic but I think I may have a touch of PTSD. During Friday's RR when I was running on the road in Placid I was spooked by the cars and bikes whizzing by. Argh!
Suzanne - Maybe you need a jersey like this? Safety rules.
It is very nice to be awake on a Thursday morning, knowing I can skip the commute! I stopped at a newish LBS last night to buy triathlon supplies in serious dressed up because the Board is in town lady clothes. Usually when I go to a shop dressed like this, I get comments like, "do you really want a your own pedal wrench? They are expensive. (ha)" Yesterday, much cluelessness. I fear the nearest shop to me is full of people who actually know very little about bikes beyond favorite flavors of Clif bars.
HELLO LADIES!!!!!
I am back from vacation!
We actually returned Wednesday night. I have been swamped with work and trying to get settled after vacation and immediately returning to work.
This is my first time on the forum since getting back. I am trying to read but 2 hours later, I need to just "Mark all read" and move on.
Basically, it was good to have time off from work. But the vacation was a bust. We were scuba diving at some islands off the coast of Costa Rica. I know I can get seasick. I was prepared. The sea was so rough that others on the trip who usually did not have problems with seasickness, were also sick. So I was VERY
sick despite 2 medications. The boat had cockroaches and the sleeping quarters smelled like unflushed toilets (to put it nicely). The diving was poor, El Nino made the water too warm and there were few sharks. I lived on Ginger Ale and Ritz crackers for the better part of 12 days. Back on land, my gut has remained in revolt of food until last night. I do not recommend this as a way to drop weight for a race 
I had signed up for a HIM tomorrow 6/19, before we planned the trip. I figured the 2 week forced rest would have me chomping at the bit for the race. After being sick for so long and unable to eat, I feel weak and tired. I know that I could just skip the race, but I have been doing it every year since it started. It has always had cool, rainy weather. This year we are having a heat wave. I plan to go and just treat it as a long, slow day to get back into training.
It's good to be back and Monday is my official return to training for the last 12 weeks.
What have I gotten myself into?!?!
It's too late now (your already on the course) but PLEASE take it easy. I can't imagine doing a HIM after 2 weeks of being seasick!! Your energy has to be super zapped. Sending you lots of mojo to get through the day and enjoy the experience! I know there's lots of ENers up there today.
I hope all of you racing Eagleman survived today. It was hot outside today in NE. I am sorry that I missed the opportunity to meet some more EN chicas!
I know from FB that Linda and Leigh had great races so congrats to you ladies!
I have survived the move to Boston. LOVE the area, the apt, well lets just say that if I had seen it before I rented I would not be renting here. My point of view is just more motivation to save enough money to buy a place in a year! I said to Michelle, how is it that we are always living like college kids?!?! This is after owning a very nice townhouse for 5 years. Crazy. Glad to be in a walking city, still trying to get my bearings.
IMLP is so close now, kinda flipping out a bit about training here now away from all the spots I know to swim/ride/run. I know my EN chicas will lend a hand when able.
New apt, new job Monday, on my own for the next 4 weeks in a city without a car. I love the situations I get myself in.
Michele!
I totally forgot you were at Patriot until Keith told me he saw you!!!! Given all that came before, I can't believe you did that race. Wow, I totally would have bailed. I am SO sorry I missed you. I looked for you forever after the race, but never did see you. Let's catch up soon.
Tough news on the vaycay. That's really too bad.
Michele, so sorry to hear that your vacation stunk. How frustrating! Glad you are starting to get back in the groove.
Horribly HIlly Hundreds....wow...what can I say except that you people that think it's fun...are sick.
I dropped after 40 miles. The last couple of vertical hills before that I was walking at the end. Makes me very scared for Madison but VERY motivated to go all out on training this last 12 weeks. Kathy, on the other hand, in spite of hating me 
, rocked. She did the entire thing!!! She was incredible and she even had a rear cassette that fell into pieces at one point on the ride. That ride is epic and I'm going to go back and beat it but I really need different gearing. Mine is totally inappropriate for that type of riding.
Game on.
Everyone have a wonderful father's day! Youngest daughter made a great breakfast for us this morning. She isn't much of a cook so this was pretty significant. Take care out there today! Congrats on all the racing!
My training is going great, despite a pinched nerve! Getting an epidural on July 8th, hopefully. Glad to hear so many of you are just rockin' it and kickin' ass! Go girls!
Before I forget:
@Suzanne - wow... 6 hours on the trainer... all mental. you rock! seriously, that is some serious mental toughness! hope the elbow is healing up so you can get outside soon!
@Carly - congrats on the move and the new job! good luck on your first day!
@Michele - oh no! I'm so sorry to hear about your awful Costa Rica experience... sea sickness, cockroaches... ugh! that's terrible! hope you've recovered!
@Tracy - how's the knee holding up post LP camp? hope you're okay... hope we can get a ride in at Columbia before the big day... since I need to get back in the saddle... and Timberman is hilly!
Okay, my brief vaca overview - Cabo is beautiful! The beach is gorgeous, the arch is really cool! I'm not really a sit around lounging by the pool type, but for a few days (post OS. post Eagleman, pre-general prep/IM prep I was actually okay with it - but I don't think another day would have worked, I would have started going a bit nutty). It was darn warm there... and all the natives are trying to sell you something - we walked into town a few times and essentially ran a gauntlet around folks trying to schlep something... just look forward and say "no, gracias..." I'll add more pics on FB soon (maybe after my trip to the grocery so I can have my cup of coffee!)
Oh, and the important part... on the plane ride over Dan surprised me (again)... he handed me a bag and said happy Eagleman/happy vacation... it was a silver bracelet (to match the v-day necklace and the easter earrings). yay!!! I joked with him that we need to take more vacations since vacations have vacation presents associated with them! Here's a pic with the bracelet:
I started reading the Primal Blueprint during the trip - am about 3/4 of the way through it... and I also got the Paleo for Athletes book but haven't gotten to that one yet. I'm gonna give it a try (cutting carbs will be tough)... how are you all doing with it (I think Kris and Kit were giving it a go)? Still feeling good? More energy?
Okay, time to change the laundry and hit the store... swim later (I actually think I'm ready to get back into it... not gonna get on the scale for a few days, though... I didn't go totally crazy during vaca... but we had a lot of free drink coupons and frozen strawberry margaritas are awfully yummy on a HOT afternoon sitting around the pool).
Barb, I totally would have gone for the ice cream! You're so strong to resist...
Becky, glad to have you back from vacation! Those are some crazy tan lines, girl! Your trip sounds wonderful, and you got a lovely jewelry present, as well! Go, Dan!
As far as the Paleo diet goes, I feel really good when I stay on it, and I do lose weight, but it could be just water. It's not too hard a diet to stay on despite the carb restrictions because you can eat lots of fruit, drink smoothies, etc. However, the prep work that goes into it is MASSIVE. Chopping fruits, cooking veggies and extra lean protein, packaging everything up to get ready to go the next day...yikes! I took a break from it this weekend but am going to hit it hard starting tomorrow. I have got to shed these few extra pounds!
We had a wonderful weekend. My parents came in town on Saturday and stayed until this morning. Saturday night we all had a fabulous dinner at Reef, which specializes in local gulf seafood. For Father's Day we took Dad to brunch and then I took him to the gun range and we had a father/daughter shooting competition. He won, but he gave me some good pointers and I wasn't too bad, myself.
Then we met my Mom, sister, and T back at our house and we ladies cooked Dad a mini Hawaiian luau with Passionfruit Martinis (he'll drink girly drinks with us), Kalua pork, coconut rice, and salad, with a haupia/purple sweet potato/macadamia nut shortbread cake for dessert. 
We finished up with looking at all 700 
of Mom and Dad's vacation pics from Egypt, Turkey, and Greece. Amazing pictures of the pyramids, the Sphynx, etc, with Ron and Ginger in the mix!
I was so tired after all of that, I failed to get up this morning to start day 1, week 1 of the 20 week IM program. I can catch up tomorrow!
Keeping up reading, and loving the vibe going on here! SO looking forward to Moo camp.
Becky, so far I think it's me, Kristin, and Kit doing the Paleo thing. Here's my latest installment...I like timing the more traditional carbs before, during, and right after the workout. Other than that, the carbs should come from fruits and veggies. Last week before the Patriot AB, I was a bit nervous since I haven't raced in a while, so from Wed thru Sat I went back to eating more normally--adding back in some whole wheat breads, cereals, and yes some sweets.
I needed carbs, right? By last night--felt AWFUL. Today, I am right back on the plan. At the moment, feeling crappy from eating is so bad that I'd rather "give up" the stuff and feel better overall. Paleo gives you a window to eat 5% if the calories from whatever you want. Some people save it for a weekly treat, or meal. I'd rather treat myself a little bit everyday of a bite of this and that. I am finding I stick to the plan more faithfully, and I am happpy to have my little treats. So overall I still like it. It's hard to break the habit of how we eat--esp redefininng breakfast. But after you give it a go, let us know what you think. I know that Primal does not recomment more than 1 hour a day of exercise, to combining the Paleo athlete recommendations of how to time things, with a Primal approach is also another way to go. In the end, it's about feeling one's best, right?
Edited tp second what Kristen said. It's a lot of buying and a lot of chopping. BUT for years, I have told myself I want to eat this way, so now I'm putting my chopping skills where my mouth is.
Then again, all that stuff is no good for you--and you likely never have to worry about going to the bathroom again. 
Love how everyone is getting their race on, the getting ready for the A event. So much fun around here in summer. Love to all of you!
Becky, you and I now have the same crescent shaped tan line on our lower back.
Barb, clearly he mistook you for a roadie (ooh, snap!).
I'm trying really hard to stay positive and find the humor in the broken elbow situation but some days are harder than others. Case in point: last Friday morning I attempted swimming for the first time and the workout was hard-harder-impossible. Allow me to complain for a minute.
Hard: getting the swim cap on. I'm now able to do so much pain-free, but then little things - like stuffing my ponytail into my cap - are ouch! ouch! ouch!
Harder: actually swimming. I jumped in, did a 50, and immediately stopped and thought, "No way can I do this yet." But it's such a rigamarole to wake up early, drive to the pool, park, pay, etc. Plus the damn swim cap was already on. So I kept on, and it got easier for awhile. I can move the right arm, painfully, but I canNOT put much pressure in the pull so speedwork is going to be a long time coming. My good arm complained for awhile about having to pick up so much slack but then it shut up and I was able to swim at a decent slow pace for about a mile. By then the pain was too intense to continue - but a mile at a time is good enough to maintain my feel for the water for a few more weeks.
Impossible: I finish my workout, rip off my cap and goggles, and only THEN realize that I'm stuck in the pool. I have no way to reach up and lift myself out of the deep end. The one ladder was about 12 lanes away and separated from me by a huge bulkhead. After I stopped laughing I somehow managed to use one arm to leverage enough lift so that I could flop onto the gutter and then kick a knee up onto the deck. And just so you know, when you're trying to do something one-armed that has always required two arms, your injured arm will jump in out of habit and try to help out. Ouch!
In other news, the bike shop just called and said that my frame replacement is finished. I had plans to attempt swimming again tonight but now I'm all too glad to scrap that in favor for getting back my bike. Pics to follow (hopefully)!
Suznne-I can just picture the FLOP one-armed on the deck! OMG, funny! We've all done that--without the excuse of a broken elbow. It will heal, but the waiting part is no fun. You're doing great, and just keep on keepin' on!
Vacays, races, etc...trying to catch up from a busy lweek last week and an even busier weekend. We went to a wedding last night and it was very nice. It was nice to be out with the DH for awhile and get all dressed up. But, we are all feeling a little quesy today. don't know if it's something we ate or a touch of dehydration or just being tired. Resting now with Abs, watching "Spot the Dog" for the 2nd time!
Carly...got a little update from Michelle today! Miss you already!
Tracy- how's the knee?
Sorry if I missed anyone, read fast and just checking in!
Lovin all the tan lines here