Overwhelmed with Life - What a crappy week...

No one to talk to on the phone, so I figured I'd puke up my vent here :)

Training is going OK. I started with Team Marsh August 1st, but got sick and attempted to half ass workouts, but missed some. Adrian had two weekends of Xterra races, and I preferred to support him rather than get my training in. Started fresh this week, and I've enjoyed it.

I can't ever seem to balance work and training. If I'm doing awesome with training, work suffers. If I'm doing awesome with work, training suffers. I can't find a balance, and I'm starting to think that doing well at both is near impossible.

This week in review:

Monday: Started out OK, overwhelmed with work and procrastinated on some pretty important things and it all caught up to me this week. Got my workout in, got a ton done at work, but still pretty stressed about the week to come.

Tuesday: I thought this was my worst day. Found out my car would 99% be totalled. I won't find out for sure until Thursday. Good, but bad. Good, because I know I need a newer vehicle, bad because I highly doubt my car is worth enough to get another vehicle without a car payment. I made it to the Run Far TT, and really thought I pushed a ton harder than two weeks ago, but was 6 seconds slower. I HATE, DESPISE being slow on the bike. It's what brings me to tears when it comes to training. I never get emotional or think I can't do anything when it comes to swimming or running, but put me on the bike and it's a 50/50 chance. Also, attempted to register for the Austin Tri, and it filled up on Monday. My luck and it put the nail in the coffin to a stressful day at work & disappointing training day.

Wednesday: I woke up, updated the Facebook with "happy, happy day!" and it ended up being worse. Had to meet with my two bosses on separate occasions for a chewing out session. I'm not going to lie that I have an AWFUL habit of procrastinating and putting things off until they become fires, but I'm also not the person to stand up for myself and argue back. I just sit there and take it, and let it eat me up. I hate it that I'm so emotional. Simple meeting of what needs to get done, what I need to do to get things done (asking for help, delegating, two things I'm AWFUL at), shed some tears, and swallowed everything that was said. I got a cheeseburger with fries for lunch, cause I'm a stress eater, and thankfully the meeting with both bosses followed as soon as I took my first bite, and when I got back, I had lost my appetite. I would say I'm 60% at fault, but anyways it just wasn't a good day at work. Completely overwhelmed and the only answer I can come to, is that I need to work more hours to get it done. More hours at work means missed training... go figure.

Thursday: Better be damn better than the first three days.

Done venting, ready to wake up and have a better day.. it's got to get better :) And in all this, I remind myself that it's just a job. Training is training, and I'm healthy, I'm employed, and I have wonderful friends surrounding me... all of whom won't answer their phones so I can vent!!! ROFL!

Here's to tomorrow being a kick ass day :)

To close this blog... Here's my favorite picture of Abare to make me smile. For Adrian's birthday present, I paid Josh Baker to take some REAL photos of the boys. You can see the rest on our Flickr page. www.flickr.com/adrianandpriscilla Something about unconditional love and a pink tongue makes all the worries and stresses go away for a few minutes...

Bonzi

The heat is getting to us all. I took the boys to Bull Creek this weekend and my poor B was hot. The boys get to take a walk onthe trails DAILY :)

Team Marsh :)

I'm excited to announce, I'm now part of Team Marsh :) I had discussed this with Adrian, and before I always thought that I couldn't train by myself. I need people to talk to, socialize with etc. After T3, which I did enjoy, I realized I did 98.5% of my training on my own anyways because I couldn't keep up with anyone. I started taking the bus to work, so trying to make it down south for workouts was near impossible now. The whole purpose of taking the bus was to minimize the driving of my super old car, so driving south after getting home from a bus trip seemed like it was defeating my purpose.

I went ahead and joined Amy's swim class to first try it out. Love, love, love it! I enjoyed the T3 swim class, but Amy's are so much cooler for me, personally. She stands at the end of each lane, calculates your times, watchs how you progress and actually takes the time to notice what you're actually doing. She does this with everyone in her class. I've learned new things, and it's just an added bonus that I get to swim next to Adrian. I've made some friends that push me, and it's consistent with each class. After a couple weeks, I got antsy. I was doing some running here and there, but neglecting the bike during the week. I went ahead and on a leap of faith I emailed Amy to see if she had any available spots to coach me. She did :)

I started August 1st, and I'm having a great time. It's obviously super early and we're still trying to figure out paces and stuff, but I'm now accountable to someone. And not just anyone, a super cool professional triathlete. If I don't get up to get a workout in, then I must not want it bad enough. She's convinced me to do some workouts before I come to work, which means waking up at 5am to run, whereas before I'd frown and say, "I'm not a morning person and I don't do workouts before I go to work." I tried it, and although I was tired later, it was pretty nice running in the dark, with no cars bustling by and just having my thoughts to myself. I've been on my bike 3 times already, and she's incorporated speed and hills into my bike regime :)

I can't wait to see the results. I'm more excited now about training for CdA 2010 than I ever was before. I am on a mission, and that mission is to finish the damn Ironman before the sun goes down. No more glowsticks for this girl!!!

If anyone else is interested, Brandon and Amy still have more available slots open if you'd like to change things up a bit and get some personalized coaching :)

Frankenthon Monster Marathon in Cedar Park

Ah man, I'd totally do this, but I'm out of town... in Hawaii this weekend.

Check it out!

http://www.frankenthon.com/index.asp

69 Reasons You Might Be A Triathlete

Adrian found a funny article with a mini-list, I went ahead and googled it and found this one. Pretty funny stuff :)

1. When asked, how old you are you answer 35-39.
   
2. Your idea of a great b-day is to run your age in miles with a couple of friends.
   
3. Your idea of a great date is to go for a 10 mile run with your date.
   
4. You try to impress girls with your marathon time after swimming 2.4 miles and biking 112 miles.
   
5. When asked how long your training was today you answer: three to four hours.
   
6. Your training is more limited by available time then how far you can run.
   
7. Your first thought when you wake up is how high your rest HR is.
   
8. You go for a run event and there's a thunderstorm and you enjoy being wet and dirty.
   
9. You think an Ironman is easier then a Marathon because you don't have to start by running fast.
   
10. You think it's natural to do your 'business' behind a tree in the woods.
    
11. Nobody believes you when you say 'Never again'.
    
12. You take part in the corporate challenge to improve your base speed.
    
13. You go for a 5 km cooldown run after a 5 km race just so that you can call it a training session.
    
14. You consider work, regeneration time between training sessions.
    
15. Your co-workers don't ask you if you're going to train this weekend, but how long and how far.
    
16. You have a water bottle when you drive your car.
    
17. You spend your 2 weeks annual vacation at a training camp.
    
18. During the vacations, when everybody else is partying, you go to sleep at 10:00 pm because you're going for a long ride the next day.
    
19. You know inside out how much Protein each energy bar has.
    
20. You seriously consider applying for citizenship in Tonga, Jemen or Tschad so that you can participate in the Olympic games.
    
21. When people praising you for being able to run 15 miles you're feeling insulted.
    
22. In the summer your legs are smoother then your girlfriend's.
    
23. Your kids grab water bottles and energy bars when you suggest a family stroll.
    
24. Your wife is not worried if you left for your run 2 hours ago.
    
25. You need a picture for a job application and you only have race pictures.
    
26. You use running T-shirts to clean your bike.
    
27. You are up everyday by 5:00 am, but never in work before 9:30 am!
    
28. That charming "cologne" you wear to work is chlorine
    
29. You take more showers in a locker room than at home
    
30. 6:30 am is sleeping in
    
31. The dog runs and hides when you get the leash!
    
32. You think there are only two seasons during the year, racing and off.
    
33. You can't change the oil in your car but you can completely rebuild your bike in 45 mins
    
34. you spend more $ on training and racing clothes then work clothes
    
35. you spend 7 days going to 8 stores in 4 malls before buying a pair of running shoes but you take 1 afternoon to go to 1 car dealership and walk out with a new car 4 hours later.
    
36. When you see some lady watering her flowers and ask her if you can borrow the hose for a minute so you can fill up your water bottles.
    
37. You clean your bike more often than your car
    
38. Your car smells like a locker room.
    
39. You tell your co-workers that you are going to "do a long brick" on Saturday and just expect that they know what you are talking about.
    
40. When a co-worker asks if you are racing this weekend, you say "yeah, but I'm just running a 10K, so that is not REALLY a race".
    
41. You have more water bottles than glasses in your cupboard
    
42. You consider you bike saddle your "couch"
    
43. You consider Clif Bars as one of the four food groups
    
44. you are sick to your stomach at 2:00 in the morning and check the back of the Pepto Bismol bottle for caloric content and grams of carbohydrates, fat and protein.
    
45. you have plenty of water bottles, safety pins, and t-shirts.
    
46. you have trouble keeping lunch under 2000 calories.
    
47. you usually wake up at 4:00 in the morning but do not get to work until way after 9:00.
    
48. your bed-time reading on your night stand consists of a pile of: DeSoto catalogs; InsideTri; Triathlete, VeloNews, USMA Swim, etc.
    
49. you haven't bought work clothes in two years, yet you own bike shorts made by every manufacturer under the sun and can recite the merits of CoolMax, Supplex, etc. in your sleep!
    
50. your car has at least one Power Bar wrapper and two sets of work out clothes!
    
51. your laundry continually smells like someone locked the cat in overnight...
    
52. you wave at other cyclists, because all triathletes are friendly and if they are not, they are probably purist cyclists trying to get into triathlons and they do not know that triathletes are friendly.
    
53. you can't decide what tee shirt to wear to your next race.
    
54. you no longer take vacations but weekend triathlon junkets.
    
55. you have far more pairs of shoes in your closet than your non-tri wife does in hers
    
56. the one "suit" you own has a QR on the chest.
    
57. you're tempted to do your long rides in a speedo so that you don't have a stupid tan for your next race.
    
58. your bath towel is never dry.
    
59. you bring bottled water to a party so that you're properly hydrated for the next morning's long run, everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don't have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and they all showed up by 7 pm and left by 10 pm.
    
60. your company announces mandatory unpaid shutdown days - every other Friday throughout the summer - in order to cut costs and stay in business, and your response is "Great - now I can do two long workouts on the weekends and still have an easy day."
    
61. somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself from pouring it on your head.
    
62. you forget that talking about daily LSD [Long Slow Distance] and speed weirds some people out.
    
63. you have no FRIGGIN idea what to do with yourself on your off day. Damnit, I mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, washed the car, and there's STILL 4 hours of daylight left! Aarrgghh!
    
64. you return from your *Mini-vacation* more exhausted than before you left!
    
65. you feel like you took the day off because all you did was swim 3000 yards.
    
66. You get done with a hard workout and drink a recovery drink while on the toilet and in the shower.
    
67. At any given moment you know exactly where your heart rate monitor and your swim goggles are, but cannot remember where you left you car keys. (turns 90% of the time they are in your bike bag
    
68. When non-racer friends tell you they ran/rode you automatically calculate their pace to see if you're still in better shape.
    
69. Cars pass you on the road when you're driving and you either drop back to get out of draft zone or speed up to attack!

Ramblings Update

I've been meaning to blog on a more regular basis, but it's just hard to find the time. My favorite blog posts are bullet style, so here we go!!

• I'm genuinely enjoying my "I'm not training for anything" mode that I'm in. It's been more than wonderful being able to sleep in on weekends, exercise when I want, where I want, and what time I want. I do miss exercising though.
• In order to create some motivation, I read a book. "I Remember Running: The Year I Got Everything I Ever Wanted -- and ALS" It did remind me that I'm grateful to have a healthy body and it could all be taken away from me if I didn't enjoy it while I had it. Life is precious.
  
• I joined Rogue's swim class with Amy Marsh. Last night was my first swim class and was extremely surprised. During T3 swim classes, I'd always aim for under 2:00 minutes for 100 meter swims. Last night we had to do 3 x 100 descending. I cranked out a 1:40, 1:37, and a 1:35. HOLY CRAP. That's the fastest I've EVER swam, and that's with no wetsuit. I'm excited to see how much progress I'll make under a different coach.

• Super duper siked about Adrian and I's trip to Hawaii. Here's my favorite pic of where we'll be staying. Gotta love the hammock.

• I spent the night at Adrian's last night and was in a lovey dovey mode. I had a big feeling of, "Wow, I'm a lucky gal." He means the world to me and I am truly appreciative and grateful that we're back in each other's lives again. He's the love of my life that I've been waiting for my entire life. Only took me 30 damn years to find him, but I'm forever grateful for having the opportunity to share my life with him.
• I love my job.
• I bit off all my nails shortly after CdA, not sure why. It's ALWAYS been a bad habit of mine growing up, and the fact that I kept them for a few years was a miracle. I'm trying to grow them again, but it's hard.
• I'm on the back to eating good band wagon and it's going well :) At work we're doing a Healthy Weight Challenge, winner takes $255 worth of lottery scratch off's :) Oh yeah, that's enticing. We're super excited to see if anyone wins some mega bucks!!! Contest ends in September, perfect motivation to look hot for Hawaii in October!!
• I miss running with my girls. We meet every now and then, but I miss when we were all training for the marathon together. We had some FUN times in there. We're all at different levels and are doing our own things, but I genuinely look forward to our meetings :)
• I miss my T3 friends too :( I wish I could afford to be a part of all the training groups I want...
• I lost my first toe nail!!! I remember after CdA, that it was REALLY sore, and the other night I went to clip them, and I clipped the whole darn thing off!!! It was just hanging out. Glad to be part of the "I lost a toe nail" club of runners. If only it came from a super fast marathon or something...
• Lots going on this year.. Adrian's race calendar is full and I wish I got more than 2 weeks of vacation. I'm going to have to miss him going to Xterra Nationals so I can take the time to go to Hawaii.
• I wish I were independently wealthy...
  

My first cell phone

I was digging through my closet and found my first cell phone!! Check it out. It was a Sony through PrimeCo!!









Check out how big it was, and that awesome antennae!! How times have changed...