Who works out for 6 hours???

I do :)

Time: 8:20am
Location: Kiker Elementary
Weather: Cold at first, but incredibly nice for the rest of the ride
People: T3 & my honey
Workout: Long version of the Dam Loop & 30 minutes of running
Comments: I was pretty nervous about this mornings ride. The Dam Loop... eek. It's always been so intimidating. In my mind, only the elite, fast, "real" cyclists did this. Not me.

Adrian went for my support and we got down to the start at 8am since my group was leaving at 8:20am. I found Jane and the "Turtles" and we took off. The Turtles took off and it was just Jane and I for the first part. Ride was good. Jane was up ahead for most of the beginning part and I just kept her in my sight. We toggled back and forth. The ride down 71 was pretty scary. A stupid 18 wheeler honked at me, and I wasn't even in the lane! Asshole! On 620 Adrian caught me, and it was nice :) He was hanging with the A group, he slowed down for a few minutes to check on me, tell me he was proud, and he was on his way.

We met up at Walgreens on 620/2222, and Adrian was still there. For some reason the A group was all there. All of T3 was there. It was neat to see all the blue. I didn't wait too long, and got back on the road and everyone else seemed to follow suit. Everyone passed us, but it was nice. My honey gave me a high five and was off. Jane, Amber, and I finished the rest of the ride. The hills seemed to be long, but I couldn't quit thinking about how far I've come on the bike. I remember doing hills in the past and wanting to die. Today, I just took it one stroke at a time, and made all the hills. My legs never blew up and my nutrition was perfect. What an awesome day!

Got back to the car, and went straight for me 30 minute run. OMG, my legs felt awesome!!! Long story short, I got lost. (go figure!) Who gets lost on a 30 minute, out and back run?? Me :) BUT, my legs felt wonderful. I never remember this feeling from the past triathlons I've done. I glanced down at the beep of my Garmin, 9:45. Wow. After getting lost, I ended up with 40 minutes of running. 4.27 miles, 9:32 average. Whoopie!!!! I could have kept running. What a great feeling to the end of a good day.

I got back to the car, Adrian wasn't there, but we talked on the phone, and he rode home. We both had such great workout days. I did my first Dam Loop, and he got in 100 miles. Yes, he's a freak.

Good day! I can't wait for tomorrow's run. I hope to see my Rogue peeps.

I need more time!!

It's Thursday night and I'm EXHAUSTED! It's 10:30pm and I know I need to be in bed, but I need some ME time, damn it!!! I've kept to my training schedule like clockwork. I have kept to my nutrition like clockwork, except for tonight. I got freaked out. This Saturday's long ride is the 50 mile version of the Dam loop. I've heard from more than one T3 friend that it's gonna be a hilly son of a female dog! Ugh! I talked to Adrian and he said he'd be VERY proud of me if I could get it done, no matter how long it took.

I'm excited, yet extremely nervous. This could take me FOREVER. Once my bike hits an incline, it immediately goes to single digits and I'd rather throw it into the road to get run over and just run up the damn hill!! But I need to learn to love hills since CdA is hilly. I got freaked out that my nutrition needed some tweaking tonight. I used my once a week splurge meal for tonight and loaded up on chinese, my form of carbs. I have a full feeling that I haven't had since I've been on my strict Meredith diet, excuse me, healthy way of living in the past two weeks. I'm hoping tonight's larger dinner will help me to not die on Saturday.

Time: 5:30pm - 7:15pm
Location: T3
People: Dionn, Carrie, Vegas, Michelle, and Noah. These are the names I could remember and got to chat with.
Comments: Core was ok. There was one new exercise I haven't done before that was difficult. I'm proud to announce that I did the plank for one whole minute, 3 different times :) When I started, just 3 weeks ago, I couldn't do it for 30 seconds, so my core is getting stronger!!!

Spin class was TOUGH! I had to stop 3-4 times, only for a few seconds, but my legs were burning and I couldn't keep the cadence up to what Mo was telling us. I hate that wierd, uncomfortable feeling I get on the bike. It was the, "I'm not comfortable in my drops, I'm not comfortable upright, I'm not comfortable anywhere" position. It's like a get antsy and can't find the right spot... ugh! I know it will come with time in the saddle. I survived and did the whole workout and proud that I didn't detour home.

I do notice that I DO NOT have enough time to get everything done. I'm too tired from these evening workouts to wake up early to get to work early. I can't work late, because I have workouts to do. I can't do anything at home, because I'm only getting home with enough time to shove down dinner, shower, and get to bed. I only wake up with enough time to pack for the day's workout, dress for work and eat breakfast. It's a never ending cycle of never feeling fully rested. I wish I had 3 hours extra in each day... I miss watching tv. I miss feeling caught up at work. I even feel rushed on the phone with friends, because I only have enough time for myself to survive to the next day. It's 10:36, an hour and a half past when I've been passed out, and I'm EXHAUSTED.

Taking tomorrow OFF, going to bed early.. and looking forward to tackling the ride on Saturday. Please, please, please let me survive the full 50 miles. I can do this... I can do this... This might be my cycling Soulbuster that gets me through the Ironman. "I remember that first time I did the Dam loop, it was hard, but I made it." Here's to positive and wishful thinking :)

Good night :)

Tuesday, Wednesday, Happy Day!

Tuesday
Time: 5:30pm
Workout: 30 minutes of "Chrissie must be pissed" core
Location: T3
People: Too many that I still don't know
Comments: Core started a little late, but I was thinking it would be a short class.. but NOOooo. Chrissie made sure we went late to make the full 30 minutes. We did our usual split the class up and half do medicine ball and the others do the big ball exercises. I'm proud to say that I can now do the hamstring exercises with the big ball, that I couldn't do ONE of when I did the first class, so I can see I'm making progress, yay me! I'm still really slow, but I try really hard to keep the repetitions going and not to stop. In the middle, Chrissie went on this core, crazy, madman exercise where she didn't give us time to rest. We would do mountain climber thingamabobs, then straight into pushups, then straight into something else. It was great and all but I couldn't resist yelling out and asking her if she was mad or upset. She grinned, the class laughed and for the first time I felt included and part of the group :) I think part of my problem with the first three weeks was that I was afraid to be me. The me that moans and groans and is a wisecrack. It was a good workout :)

Time: 6:15pm
Location: T3
People: a ton that braved the weather!
Workout: an hour of spin.
Comments: Holy shit. Nuff said.

Good day :)

Wednesday
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Town Lake Trail
People: Me, then Blondie!
Weather: Chilly, but awesome to run in!
Workout: 6 miles total, with 3 at MGP
Comments: I started my run, did a warm up mile, then went straight into MGP for 3 miles. MGP mile splits

1) 8:56
2) 9:02
3) 8:59

Cooled down for a mile, then ran into Blondie and we ran the rest easy. Ended up with 6.57 miles and went to swim class.

Time: 7:10pm
People: In my lane, Don and I
Location: Lost Creek
Weather: F-ing cold outside
Comments: I can see improvement in my swimming :) I started off doing the windmill, and now I've learned the proper stroke. It was nice that I haven't seen Mo in awhile, because he noticed!! My stroke is incredibly SLOW, but I'm really working on form, and I can tell it's making me more efficient!! Yay!! Finished the entire workout with my new friend, Don :) My favorite quote of the day, "Go ahead, you're faster!" Only lasted for part of the workout, but I didn't think I'd ever hear those words in the pool being spoken to me. Don finished off the last portion of our workout up front, because I was beat, but it was flattering that for a moment, he thought I was "faster", hahahahaa! I can't wait for the day when I can jump up to T2, if that ever happens...

What a good day :)

I'm not going to lie. I've been pretty emotional, complainy, and down right irritating these past few days. My poor Adrian had to go through not one, but two of my breakdowns over the weekend and had to hear numerous, "I'm not sure I can do this." He was perfect. Ok, maybe not perfect. The first time I started crying, he disappeared. Kinda funny now, but at the time I was like, "Where the hell did he go??" Second time, he just giggled and held me.

Shortly after, we went to Performance and got some cheap winter clothes for the bike. I ventured out on Saturday, alone to attempt the 60 mile ride and only made it 5 miles out and 5 back in tears because I was frozen. So we got a wind breaker, toe covers, real gloves, ear warmers, and some other things. He said the jacket alone would make a world of difference. Then before I left, he helped me organize my car. I now I have 4 totes in my trunk. One for misc. car stuff, one for running, biking, and swimming. It's made a world of difference in just today's training.

Time: 4:30pm
Location: Town Lake Trail
Weather: cool, but kind of humid
People: Me, but I saw Shawnda, and then Dionn in the restroom, ha!
Workout: 30 min recovery
Comments: I ran 40 minutes. I finally listened to what everyone has been telling me. It was hard, but I did it. I left the Garmin in the car. I only ran with my stopwatch. I vented to the friends I love most and got the truth handed to me. I'm not a runner anymore, I'm a triathlete for the next 6 months. It was hard, I had the Garmin on my wrist, turned on, and took it off, then looked at it again, then left it. I need to start running based on feel and not constantly looking at my Garmin to see my pace. Good run.

Went directly to swim practice, got there early and played on Facebook on my iPhone. Pretty large class, but it was nice. I got to see Vegas and chat with her for a few minutes and also Valerie, I think?? I'm awful with names, I think that's it. Also saw Jane.

Time: 7:10pm
Location: Lost Creek
People: too many, and I don't know their names :)
Workout: 2750 of all kinds of stuff :)
Comments: Tonight was a good swim workout. It's the ah ha moment that Oprah would say where everthing comes together. Chrissie and Maurice have both been helping me with my stroke. I started with the windmill, and now I'm finally understanding the real way. About half way through class it just clicked. My hands were where they were supposed to be, my butt was floating, I was gliding across the water :) Never mind, I was the last person in the slowest lane, I finally felt like I was moving :) Good day, to what started out to be another emotional one. Yay, for me!! Just need to stay positive and remember my friends are backing me up in their hearts.

I can do this!! (My new mantra... over and over)

Thanks Josh!

Clearly, you can tell, I'm taking it easy here... And I wonder why I have calf problems :) You can tell I'm pushing off.. oopsie!

The last mile, after I realized I could still break 2:00. I shouldn't have given up so early on.

Better form :)

Thanks Josh, you're an amazing photographer. You always seem to get my "Oh my god, I think I'm going to die" faces :)

You're awesome!!

Thanks!!

To view his whole set, check out www.flickr.com/azulox

3M

Race was great. It was nice to just run, on fairly fresh legs :) My running has been on the down low since tri training, and I'm starting to lose my speed :( No biggie. I didn't have a plan going into this race, other than I wanted to attempt to PR from my previous time (2:00:11). I kinda thought that since my ride didn't go as planned yesterday, that I would have great legs for today, but the reality is that my legs aren't as conditioned as they were just a month ago. Goal A: 1:50, which would have been my Half Marathon pace for my original CIM goal. Goal B: 1:55 Goal C: just to PR.

Here are my splits :)
1. 8:56
2. 9:43 - heard Clemmie, slowed it down and chatted with her for about a minute, it was awesome seeing her!!
3. 8:25
4. 8:42
5. 8:09
6. 9:10
7. 9:09
8. 9:16
9. 9:11
10. 10:13 - got super tired and realized I hadn't Gu'ed since mile 4, walked through stop
11. 9:42 I was starting to give up at this point when Steph and Matt caught me and pulled me in.
12: 9:05
13.1 9:20 - Thank you Stephanie :) She talked me in, helped speed my butt up to get in under 2 hours.

Highlights of my race: Dodging all the runners to go stick my tongue out at Matt and Amy :) Seeing (even though I might not have yelled out) Ken & Kate, John Z with pup, Glenda multiple times, my girl BFDee, Mae from the Northies, Nedra and Mr. Nedra, Carolyn, and several others. After the race getting to hang with (and hug) Kamran, Sisson, Ruth, Mandy & Victoria and Melodye.

Thanks again Steph, for getting me in :)

Final time: 1:59:02 - new PR, I've learned to never underestimate a PR, no matter how small!! 1:09, I'll take it.

I miss you, Rogue Forum...

Oh, the days of living on the forum. I miss you, Rogue Forum :(

That's all I'm going to say about that...

Spin and Core

Time: 5:30 - 6:00
Workout: Core
Location: T3
People: T3 people and Steve :)
Comments: Core was hard, but it's always hard cause I have NO core. Good workout.

Time: 6:15pm
Workout: Spin
Location: T3
People: T3 People and Steve :)
Comments: Spin was hard, but mainly because I have SOO much work to do on the bike. There was a TON of standing, and the only time I can spin and stand is when I keep my upper body still and spin, but I can only do this for a few seconds because my legs just burn, burn, burn. When I try differently, I feel like my legs aren't keeping up with the bike, like I'm over the gear. I asked Chrissie after class, and sure enough, the way I do it when I can only do it for a few seconds, is unfortunately the right way.. hmpf. I have a ton of work to do. Good class!!

Thanks to Steve for making the class fun. :)

Time to get serious...

It's halfway through Week 3 and I need to quit lolly gagging. Maurice called me out tonight and asked if I went to Tuesday night spin.. no... then Tuesday morning... no... then Monday?? Nope.. he just shook his head. He's right, it's time to get busy. I'm not going to back out of this Ironman (as much as my heart says I'd rather just run) so I need to quit half assing this. It would really suck if I half assed this training, complained the entire time, then DNF'ed after all this trouble!!! So I'm in the game, I'm going to be a triathlete for the next 6 months whether I like it or not!

CdA, here I come!!

Tonight's workout
Time: 5:00pm
Location: Town Lake Trail
Distance: 6 miles
Workout: EASY

Time: 7:10pm
Location: Lost Creek Pool
Distance: 2600 meters
Workout: Tons of drills, but mainly worked on my stroke.

Comments: My run was awful. I had to stop after the first mile, almost quitted, but gutted out a VERY slow 6 miles. Headed directly to swim class. Got to chit chat with Steve for a bit, then did the swim workout. I need to start speeding up, or not taking breaks, because I was the last one in the pool and I missed completing the workout by 50 meters because of time, and Maurice (probably unknowingly) started pulling the tarp. Hard workout. My arms are sore. It's going to take some getting used to the new stroke. Maurice assures me that even though I feel like I'm swimming slower, I'm not...

Sunday Hugs

I almost forgot...

I got to hug... (these were gynormous, 10 second hugs, they count for 5 people a piece)

1. Ruth
2. Sisson

High Five (while running)

1. Bruce

"What up, FOOLS?"

1. Kamran
2. Mike (even got a FOOL back)
3. Bruce
4. Jason

"Hi Priscilla!!"

1. Sisson

Top that, BaFaDuh :)

Katie's Game

4th album, 4th picture :) It's from 2005, the Holiday Brew Runner party at Karen's. Glenda and Suellen...

Now who's it??

Weekend Recap, short version

Saturday
Uverse was finally installed after 3.5 hours on Saturday morning.

Missed T3 ride, due to Uverse guy, rode with Amber a whopping 14 miles.

Sunday
Redeemed myself and ran 20 with Rogue. I ran by myself but it was awesome. I miss just running, TERRIBLY. I got to see the Fasties. Got to yell out FOOL a few times, saw Kamran, Mike, Bruce, Sisson, JoDee, Ruth, and Laura. I was only supposed to run 16, but I was feeling good and guilty for missing so many workouts previously.

Monday
I learned to flip turn in the pool. Adrian and I probably only swam 1200 meters, then we walked the dogs on the trails for a good hour, hour and a half :)

AT&T Uverse service SUCKS!

What a freaking week. Between work and trying to get into a routine with week 2 of Ironman training and AT&T repeatedly screwing me over, I'm ready for the three day weekend!!! After sleeping through working out on Wednesday, Thursday didn't prove any better. I had a happy hour to attend for work on Thursday and despite my many, many declarations of "I have to leave at 4:45pm!!" it didn't work. I'm glad I stayed for my work, made good connections and it was great for my work, BUT it was day 2 of NOT working out.

AT&T when they originally installed my Uverse a few months ago, they couldn't install my living room. This was my one and only reason for switching from Time Warner to Uverse. When I had Time Warner, I used Tivo and only had one box. When I got my Tivo, I had a roommate, so I installed it in my room. Uverse would allow me to watch my recorded shows in the living room, without being bound to my bedroom.... that was 3-4 months ago.

They couldn't install my living room because they needed access to the cable box outside my condos, so I had to reschedule. I had already taken a day off work for the original installation and couldn't afford to take another day off work, because I just had too much work to do. Fast forward to last month. I called to schedule and the soonest they could get me in was over a month!! Dec 16th - today. The boyfriend was kind enough to come to my place for the install, so I didn't have to leave work, well... I had a blonde moment and thought the install was on Monday! He sat here at my place with my girls (he's allergic to cats!) ALL day until I called and realized I had the wrong date on my calendar. Totally 100% my fault.

Today, they were supposed to be here from noon to 2pm. Long story short, they didn't come! Adrian wasted ANOTHER day sitting here bored at my place while he had work to do. He called and complained (he's much better at that than I am, I'm such a pushover with customer service reps) and got me 25% off my bill, and rescheduled for tomorrow from 8am to 10am. Sucky part about that is, I have to miss my T3 ride. 3 days of NOT working out one bit, AT&T is about to drive me crazy, the boyfriend isn't very happy that he wasted two days AND his workout to accomodate stupid Uverse.

Not a good start for the weekend, but I'm hoping by 10am tomorrow, I'll be the proud owner of TWO boxes, since I've been paying for this for the last 4 months!! Oh, and I tried to save some money, since I don't watch tv anymore cause I'm either training, working, eating or sleeping.. and they can't downgrade me to the U100 without having a technician come out and switch out my boxes, what a freaking rippoff!!! I tried to downgrade from U300 to U200, and after holding for 30 minutes, there was no price difference. How could she not just tell me that in the beginning????? I pay $65 - $20 credit each month for U300, when she downgraded me to the U200 (since I can't have U100 without going through the hassel of a stupid technician/whole day off work visit) the price was $60 -$15 credit.. HELLO???? I didn't feel like waiting for her to change it back... so now after two days of having an upset boyfriend (not at me, but at the situation), 4 months of not being able to watch tv in my living room, literally HOURS on the phone with them, missed workouts, and missing the group ride tomorrow.. I have less channels, more frustration, and I'm paying the same price.

I hope tomorrow is a better day.

13 Hours...

No, that's not my projected time to do an Ironman, it's the amount of time I slept last night! I went home straight after work, because I had forgotten my swimsuit. I was supposed to run 6 miles, then go to swim class. By the time I fought traffic to get home, I was STARVING. I ate a bowl of soup and a PB&J and decided I didn't have enough time to run AND swim, so I opted to go to swim class. Since class started at 7pm, and it was only 6, I decided to take a cat nap.

I laid down, fully clothed and decided a 30 minute nap would help tremendously, this new training and not having days off is killing me energy-wise. I laid down at 6pm and didn't wake up till 7am this morning. Wow... 13 hours. I feel like a new me right now :) With Team Rogue I had 2 days off, Friday's and Monday's. With Ironman training, I only have Friday (I'm making myself have a day) It's just wierd to go from Saturday's long ride, to Sunday's long run, to jumping right back on the bus Monday's with swim/spin, Tuesday spin, Wednesday.. blah blah blah... and working a full time job is really hindering my training. I'm tired. I'm glad I got my rest in :)

Run, Core, and Spin... Whew!!

Run: 1 mile
Core: 30 minutes
Spin: 1 hour

I got my running schedule from Ruth yesterday, and woooo doggie! It's not hard, but having to fit in the runs with the spins and swims and cores is gonna be tough coordinating. Yesterday, I was supposed to run for 30 minutes, then do core, then do the spin class. I got to T3 right after work (I get off at 4:30pm) changed in my car, and took off running. I only got 5 minutes away and noticed there were a ton of cars driving by with the T3 stickers so I freaked out and turned around. I set my bike up, then only had 10 minutes till core started so I only got a mile in. 9:30 for the mile. It's a good thing I turned around because the spin class had over 40 people in it! There were a few that had to set up on the other side of the room, just to get a spot. Craziness. Class was hard, but I survived. I did have to stop spinning for a minute or two towards the end because my legs were on fire, but I didn't give up. :)

Swim, Pandora, & Netflix

Workout: T1 swim
Location: Lost Creek
Time: 7:10
People: T3er's
Distance: 2900 meters

Last night was the first night I completed the total distance in swim class. I don't have paddles (need to buy some) so I did those drills without. Chrissie is awesome and kept correcting my form. Who knew I was such a bad swimmer. Yay me! I am still only in the T1 workouts, but super excited I could finish the workout. I was one of the LAST ones in the pool, but I finished and that's all that matters!!!

I'm hooked on the Pandora app on my iPhone, it's all I listen to now here at work, it's awesome!!

I also registered for Netflix, and what a saver!! Adrian and I rent movies ALL the time and we were wasting a ton of money at Blockbuster!! Looking forward to our new set of movies for the weekend :)

Tonight - short run, followed by core, followed by spin class... whew, what a night!

Week 1 Totals

Monday - 4 miles - 40 minutes
Tuesday - core/spin - 1.5 hours
Wednesday - swim - 1 hour
Thursday - core/spin - 1.5 hours
Friday - OFF
Saturday - 40 miles, with wind - 3.5 hours
Sunday - 10 miles - rounding up to 2 hours

Total hours: 10.16 hours - not too shabby for the first week :)

Sunday Run

Adrian got to a late start. We slept in and started watching tv. It was nice though. I think my body needed the extra sleep after my first week of caos. We didn't get down to the trail till 1pm and I was planning to do 15, but only got in 10.

I averaged 9:43's and felt great, legs felt great and but I don't think I ate enough over the weekend to fuel for this run. I did the 10 mile loop, then gave up when I knew the car was there. Next weekend, I'm going to run with the Sunday group to prevent stopping early.

Adrian got his 20 in and super proud of him.

Good end to a tough weekend :)

My first long group ride...

I got a call last night from Sabrina saying she was going to ride with us, yeah!! I called Amber to invite her so we could all ride together and do a little catching up. Long story short, Sabrina couldn't go, so I met Amber and we got to the school in time to ride. We missed the Memorial ride for Erin :( The ride started out, and almost immediately Amber and I were dropped from the "17 mph and under".

I'm not going to lie, I'm a little disappointed in the T3 rides. I thought there would be a little more "group" to it, but unfortunately, if you're slow, you ride alone. I'm grateful that I invited Amber so I had someone to ride with. I heard from a few fellow T3'ers that the "slow" people are really fast. Oh well, I guess I just need to chalk it up and get better and stronger. I thought I would learn some gearing techniques or learn what my cadence should be during the wind, up hills, downhills, etc... but nope.

The ride was good on the way out, obviously, got to catch up with Amber and I thought we kept a decent speed, but the minute we turned around, we were going downhill, pedaling, and my Garmin showed 7.5mph. Wow. Hard stuff.

I'm glad that I didn't turn around in Buda, I'm proud to say I rode the whole 40. It took me 3:37, and my legs were trashed, but I did it :)

I can't wait till tomorrow... I get to run and run far :) Yay, running!!!

I now know why they call her Coach Pain

Wow... last night's workout was brutal. I'm not sure if it's because it was 4th day in a row to be working out, or if my legs were tired (they felt fine till the workout started), or it's just that Chrissie aka Coach Pain was giving us a big ole dose of WTF??

I got stuck at work a little later than normal which meant I was scrambling to get to T3. I got there, changed, had to scramble to find a T3 trainer. I just realized last night that most of the trainers there have names on them. I hope I wasn't using someone elses trainer by accident the last two times I've been, my bad!! Of course the only T3 trainer left was one that was on the front row. Blah. I set my bike up and I heard Chrissie start the core workout, doh! I was a couple minutes late, but only missed a couple sets. Good class. We worked with resistance bands on our upper body (I have none) and did the plank ten million times with varying positions, pushups (girl-style), and a bunch of crunches and leg work. I was sweaty when it was done. Good stuff.

Now the bike workout was tough. It was the first time that I felt my legs burning, which has always been my pet peeve as to why I hate cycling. Never in a million years have my legs ever burned while running. Towards the middle, I was wondering if I'd make it, but kept going. Then Chrissie tells us to get off the bike.. I look around for confirmation before I get off, and sure enough, everyone is OFF their bikes. She had us do squats!! So we would ride on our trainers then jump off and do squats, and every time we got off she added a set!! The last set, which there were 4 total, she had us go down and just sit there for 30 seconds, OMG! Finally, it was the first class where I wasn't the only one grunting and moaning ;) I thought we were done after the next spin set, but it was just for a break. We had one last 10 minute section left, and I just couldn't do it. My legs were on fire, and it was hard to just spin in my easy gear, I was toast. I stopped and started probably 4-5 times trying not to give up, but then I looked around and most of the girls were off. I tried again so I wouldn't be all girly, but quickly chalked it up as done. I had sweated through my little towel, sweat was pouring off my face, and my legs were gone. Whew... what a good workout. I hobbled out, went home, cooked my healthy dinner, did some laundry, watched Grey's, and was out.

This morning I feel it, but it's a good feel it. Shoulders, arms, and buttocks are sore, but it's a good sore. It's a "I think I'm getting stronger" sore. Adrian made fun of me last night cause I told him, I've done 3 core classes and it's working!!! He knows I'm a quick satisfaction type personality and he knows I expect everything now. I already think my arms are bulging :) I can't wait to see my improvement after a month of this.

I think I'm supposed to take today off, but I've only run once this week on Monday, so I think I'm going to get in 5-6 miles tonight just to make sure my legs remember how to run :)

Tomorrow will be my first group ride. I'm just praying that I'm not the slowest, please please please don't let me be the caboose. It's supposed to be cold and windy so it should make for an adventureous first ride for me...

Shout Out to my FOOL!

OMG, just wanted to give a shout out to my BaFaDuh aka FOOL!!! She did her first Team Rogue workout this morning at 5:30 in the am :) Fo shizzle her nizzle, she's hot! She's gonna tear up the next marathon. Wooo hoooo!! Could it be possible that we both gain from our separation of the next 6 months and when we reunite, we will be 3:?? fast?? OMG, the possibilities are endless... Woo hooo!!!

FOOL, I'm so proud you.

(Picture me doing the happy dance at my desk yelling, "FOOL is in the hizzouse!")

Labels

How in the world do other bloggers know what to label their posts?? I think I'm labeling it right, but later when I want to look something up, I have no idea what to look under. For instance, last year, how many 20+ milers did I run?? I should have labeled each long run with the number of miles I ran. Or what about that run where Dee and I got lost, I should have labeled all our runs we got lost in as lost. I don't seem to think of the labels until I need to find something. Hmpf... I guess only time will make it better :)

Tired, but Better :)

Well.. I didn't think before I posted this morning, which I teensy weeny bit regret, but not really :) I was stressed and I know I wanted to remember that moment cause I was REALLY irritated and upset when I sat down at my desk at work. Of course, I sat down and start blogging, instead of working, don't all bloggers do that??

I got a ton of responses, and I felt all warm and fuzzy that I actually have people that care, people that understand, and people that believe I can do this crazy thing called an Ironman. Before this training started, I sat my boyfriend down (who also competes in the tri's, marathons, and mountain biking events) and told him I needed for him to believe that I could do this. Well, this might be TMI, but I'm on my period and the emotional roller coaster was in full effect this morning. All I had to was complain to him at 6:45am, while he was dead asleep and all I got was a, "It's the first week and I'm already tired of hearing you complain about this!!" and I was in tears and stormed off mad to work, hence the venting blog. We had MANY talks leading up to this and he knows how much I LOVE my Rogue, my friends I've made in Rogue, and the pure joy I got out of the last Rogue experience. We went back and forth and he was actually leaning towards me continuing with Rogue and putting the Ironman on the back burner. Dee aka FOOL told me to make a pros and cons list and it came out that I need to try. If I register and waste $554.26 and not even try, I'd regret it. Sisson told me this same thing when I thought I was being all big and mighty at one of his office hours. Hilarious. I remember as if it were yesterday.

Sisson: You can't do both. It's too much, blah blah blah
Me: Are you telling me to choose? Then I choose Rogue, so there.

Didn't work. He was right. So now I'm in the beginning phases and it's just going to take a little more dedication at things I'm NOT good at, and I'm not talking about the swimming and biking. It's more of the organization, cleanliness, and preparedness. I got my meal plan from Meredith today, whoopie!! I went grocery shopping after work. I now have all my breakfast, snack, lunch, snack, and dinner foods for the next two weeks. Huge relief. I'm planning out the rest of my work clothes for the week, and the rest of my exercise clothes. I do need to clean out my car, but I'm going to procrastinate on that one :)

I'm blabbing too much here. In closing, Adrian said he'd take me to a pool and show me ALL the drills. Definite plus. He does support me, but it's really my fault (and my uterus) that I need to change my attitude (thank you, Amy!). This isn't going to be fun if I'm constantly complaining, I need to get over it, suck it up, and get it done.

So... pluses for the day - legs not sore at all from spin class, got a ton of work done after blogging this morning, and ready for the rest of the week.

Thank you friends for being so awesome. Next on the agenda, run a few miles while waiting for T3 to open for spin class, then core, then spin, then home to eat my healthy dinner and sleep :)

Overwhelmed and Tired...

I made it to the core/spin class last night and was the 3rd one there :) It doesn't look like I'll ever have to worry about not getting a spot since I get off at 4:30 and have plenty of time to get there and get my spot. It was nice getting there so early. I had enough time to set my bike up without having to worry about rushing or having people stare at the new kid. Core was hard, but it's because I don't have any. The spin class seems harder than the one with Chrissie (minus the one legged stuff), but I managed to finish the class doing all the workouts, not stop and not give up on any of the parts. There was a stand up portion that even when my bike was in the hardest gear possible, I needed it to be harder because I was spinning out, so I couldn't keep spinning smoothly. All in all a good class.

Ran some errands, went to the grocery store, gassed up the car, and got home with only enough time to shower, eat, and go straight to bed. I was pooped.

Woke up at 4:30am, packed my breakfast, packed my lunch, packed my work clothes, and was off to swim class. Got lost going there, took a right on Courtyard instead of a left. Got lost AT Courtyard. You can't just walk into the pool, you have to go around the back, through doors, down hallways, up stairs and so on. So by the time I got to swim, I was pretty frustrated already. I made sure to go to one swim class before the start of the program, which I did at Lost Creek. Well, there are different layouts to the pools as I found out. I went to the farthest right lane, assuming it was the slowest. Did my warmup, then looked at the sheet to see T2. Maurice said he thought I was in the wrong lane and had me proceed under the buoys to the second to the last left lane. Long story short, I thought I was a good swimmer and was quickly slapped in the face with humble pie that I suck. I don't know ANY of the drills besides "swim" and at first I was asking Maurice, but even then all the damn drills seem the same, so my frustration just grew. Fist, DPS, ladder, kick, don't kick, paddle, side to side, 3x3x3, WTF??? I don't get them. I gave up and decided to just swim and work on my stroke that Chrissie showed me last week. I don't have all the toys you need, which was another part of my frustration, so I'm just going to have to wing it, until I can afford to go buy all the paddles, buoys and crap. It's getting too hard having to share with Adrian.

I cut the swim short by a few hundred meters, got lost trying to make it back inside and had a meltdown once I got to Adrian's to shower and change for work. I'm tired, and it's week 1. I have 23 more weeks, and actually I'm not even DONE with week 1.

My solution: I'm going to get through this week. Spend the weekend at my place and not go to Adrian's. It's such a royal pain in the ass to have a boyfriend that's allergic to your cats, hence can't come over to your place. Every weekend, I have to pack my shit and go over there. Reminder: I'm in a bad mood right now. Every weekend, I need to stop by my place to check on the cats, refill food, clean out shit box, get work clothes for Monday, etc... With this new training I'm going to have to make some changes. So this weekend, I'm staying at my place. (or so I say, I'm sure I'll miss him and go back on my word) I'm going to get ALL of my work clothes ready for the week. I'm going to lay out all my workout clothes for the week. I'm going to go to the grocery store and plan out ALL my meals for the week, make sure I have gas in my car for the week and get organized. You should see my car, it's a mess!! I know most of this frustration is not being organized, so I need to get organized if this is going to work for the next 24 weeks. I need to make a budget. I need to call AT&T and cut down some cable, since I won't be able to watch it anymore!!!!! I need to cut some bills so I can afford to do this Ironman.

So that's that. Week 1, going well from a standpoint of getting the workouts in. Not going well mentally. I've already broke down and cried and I'm so not that wuss. I need to chalk it up and realize that I'm not with Team Rogue anymore, I won't be till this is over, and I need to quit comparing my fun I had there with what I'm going through now. I need to make new friends and learn to have fun with this, because if week 1 is anything of what weeks 2-24 are going to be, I'm not going to make it.

Thanks for letting me vent.

Meredith Mtg and 4 miles in the freezing cold!!

I decided after one of Sisson's office hours, that he was right. If I wanted to get faster, I'd have to lose weight. I did pretty good on my own with Weight Watchers. I went up and down with my weight, but towards the middle of Team Rogue/CIM training I hit my Lifetime Goal. I only stayed there for two weeks and slowly started creeping up. I could tell I was chubby after the Team Rogue uniforms came in and the size I normally wear was WAY snug.

After CIM, I fell completely off. It ended at the right month with time off from work for the holidays, with the holidays, and my job couldn't be worse with temptations of chocolate, cookies, cakes, pies, and all the other bad stuff.

So I'm putting it out there. I'm not OVERweight by normal standards, but I'm definitely overweight in the endurance athlete world. Meeting with Meredith was eye opening, and I stood on a scale and found to be a good 8 pounds over my "goal" weight. Yuck. I wonder if I could have run faster in CIM if I had not gained half of that?? I'm sure I would of. So my mission and Meredith agreed, would be 15 pounds. She even got me excited saying that if I followed it as I'm supposed to, the first 10 will fall off.

I'm thankful for my friends too :) I won't name names, but I had an Ah Ha moment tonight and realized that we really do love each other. We're doing this together, and this couldn't be any more fun. We'll have a tiny bit of competitiveness, but it's the good kind. I wonder who will look the hottest once we're all thin and fast :) I love you, FOOLS, thanks for being my friends.

After the meeting, we went on a 4 mile run, averaged 9:24's :)

Tomorrow - core/spin class :)

Week 1 workouts

Monday - PM run
Tuesday - PM bike, PM core
Wednesday - AM swim, PM run
Thursday - PM bike, PM core
Friday - AM swim
Saturday - Long ride
Sunday - Long run

Supposed to be 9 hours of training, but I think I have more if you count the Sat/Sun workouts...

Registered :)

I registered for 3M and the Austin Marathon... expensive. I was up in the air about my race plan for Austin. Originally I thought I'd attempt to break 4:00 as originally planned in California, but then I realized it would fall 2 months into Ironman training. I found out today that it was recommended to ride the scheduled 60 miles on Saturday before the marathon. Yikes... so I guess that's what I'm doing.. I hope I can run a decent time.

Ironman, Holy Crap

So today was the KickOff meeting to Ironman training and all I have to say is Holy Shit!! I still have so much shit to either register, buy, or sign up for it's a little overwhelming.

1. Need to register for Galveston Half Iron - $190
2. Need to buy wetsuit - $150
3. Optional Computrainer sessions - $200
4. Bike transport - $275 (What the f&*%???)
5. New bike - $2,000 - $4,000 - Boyfriend is totally helping with this and anyone that's seen my bike will understand why I need a new one. I'm still not 100% about spending this kind of money on something I hate. I'd rather buy a $100 pair of running shoes. We'll see :)
6. Airline ticket - $500
7. House rental - $400

What the freak, this is expensive. This doesn't include the other smaller races that I'll need to do in the following 6 months, or the Gu's, recovery drinks, other nutrition race specific crap I'll need for all the long rides, long runs, or the running shoes, tubes, tires, bike crap OR the monthly fees to be in T3/Rogue for this. Yikes...

Have I said how happy I'll be when this is all over with??

Weekend Update

Saturday

My last formal run with Rogue/Cookies. I got there right at 7am and found parking to be FULL!! Seemed like everyone and their mom was at freaking Rogue... pretty neat. The run was fun, and it didn't strike me till the end of it all that it was over. At least for 6 months. Mike has given me a new nickname, but I like Foho better. 16 miles, with no Garmin :) Pace was faster than normal in the beginning, but it felt good. I don't miss running hills. I will miss running with Rogue though :(

Adrian report

He got back from his Excruciation Exam II in Warda. He was to ride the trails in Warda, then ride on jeep trails to Rocky Hill, ride two laps then go back and ride one more at Warda. Total of 77 miles on a mountain bike. I'm so proud of him. He cut off 1:05 off his last years time!! Last year he finished 16th in his age group last year. This year he finished 16th overall, 4th in his age group. I can't wait to see what he does when tri season rolls around :)

Sunday

I took the day off since tomorrow is the first official day of CdA Ironman training. I met Steve at the T3 center for the 2pm kickoff meeting. It was nice to see a couple familiar faces. I saw a couple of Rogues and that was nice. I still can't believe the training starts tomorrow, ugh. My first official workout will be swimming at 5:30am. I napped most of the afternoon after a big breakfast till the meeting and now Adrian and I are just watching tv. Good weekend :)

I need to learn to swim like this...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc

No sweets or sodas until June 21, 2009

This is my way to be accountable. No more sweets or sodas until AFTER I complete the Ironman in Couer d'Alene. This excludes gum, I have to have my gum :)

2009 - A Year of Firsts!

Well, it started out on the right foot, literally :) I met Lori and Dee for a 7.5 mile run. I'm a little nervous about me losing all my speed I gained from CIM training, but I'm hoping it will just take a couple of weeks to get used to all the new muscles being worked. The run was nice, but my legs were EXTREMELY sore from the spin class. Lots of laughs, lots of girl talk, and a great way to start the new year off.

I'm planning to run on Saturday with the girls as my last hoo-rah run before I switch to tri-mode. No more running on Saturday mornings :( Instead it will be trying to latch on to the caboose of T3'ers. I just pray that I can keep the last person in sight.

After running with the girls, I went home, cooked Adrian and I some pancakes with fresh fruit and apple juice, then took almost a 4 hour nap. Yes, 4 hours!! Adrian painted what will soon be my office, vaccumed and did a ton of chores around the house and I slept. The backs of my legs up to my butt are still sore, but we went to Thumper and walked the trail for about 30 minutes, then went to Bull Creek to let the boys play. Good Day 1 of 2009.

What I want/will accomplish in 2009

1. Dedicate myself to Ironman training, with the same dedication I had for CIM. This will be hard, but I have to in order to meet my finishing time which is just to finish before 17:00.
2. Complete an Ironman :)
3. PR in Galveston from my previous Half Iron in Vineman 3 years ago.
4. Keep my speed with the running I've built so when Ironman is over I'll be a super fast machine for the next marathon.
5. Learn to love my bike. (This will be hard)
6. Eat better!!!!!!!
7. Work on my core and upper body. (This will not only be hard, but will take a ton of time since I'm starting negative!!)
8. Work on my relationships with my family.
9. Keep Adrian, the boys, and my girls happy :)
10. Attempt to save some money.

So that's it. I'm sure I'm missing something, but that's all that's coming to me right now. 2009 is my year, as well as Adrian's. He had a tough 2008 with the passing of his father, and losing me (haha) but things are better than ever with us and this is his year to shine. I predict that he WILL do great things with the races he has planned. He'll PR the Austin marathon from last year (his first). He'll place in more top 3's in tri's and will probably win one ;) I can't wait to support him, he's going to do awesome!!