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...