Triathlete-In-Training

Year Three Blues...

2012-02-08T08:05:00.001-08:00

Here I am, facing my third full season and I feel... demotivated...Last year was the excitement of facing my first half ironman, which was AWESOME. But the truth is, it was hard, REALLY hard, harder than I expected. So I find my confidence is missing and with it the question of speed. No matter what I do, I will never be one of the top athletes. It really stinks to think that my friend Trevor, (Who's training currently consists of running 12 miles a week) could face me in a race in June and STILL kick my butt! No matter how much or how hard I train, he's younger, faster, and built to be a better athlete. He will beat me.

The truth is, I am destined for mediocrity and most of the time, I'm ok with that.. But sometimes, sometimes I want to throw a fit and think "WHY AM I DOING THIS?!"

What I realized though, is that's a great question. Why AM I doing this? To win? hahahahaha ahahahaha, *eh hem* sorry, yeah, uh NO, that's never going to happen. So why? What is keeping me motivated? Why am I still doing this? What do I want to accomplish?

Right there, I think answering that question is what breaks one through the mid-journey blues. Because as hard as it is, I realized, I truly love this crazy sport.

I love the companionship of running, biking, and swimming with friends. I love challenging myself to be the best I can be. I love being faster than I thought was possible for me! I love swimming now and realizing "Hey, I don't look like I'm going to drown any more!" I love trying something difficult and realizing just how strong I really am! Then there's the health benefits. I feel so great when I'm being active. I feel strong, healthy, and happy.

So, don't compare yourself with the person next to you. I try not to ask Trevor about his training plan, because it will just make me want to smack him and give up myself. Instead, I think about how I couldn't swim a single lap down a pool when I started. Or how I used to fall over on my bike at a traffic light and I think "Girl, you've come a long way...."

The road to a Half Ironman - Completion brought to me by the kindness of strangers...

2011-07-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

So those who have known me for a while know, 2010 was the first year I wanted to attempt a half ironman. Unfortunately, a broken arm and broken foot sidelined those plans. But after some finagling I managed to sign up for the 2011 race that had evaded in me in 2010. For months now it’s been the focus of my calendar and weekly training plans.

Sometimes I watched the day approached with excitement and sometimes with dread, but always with apprehension. The irrational fear of breaking my foot again and not being able to compete, or attempting the 1.2 mile swim and completely panicking has sat in the back of my mind for months. What if I couldn’t compete? What if I couldn’t finish? What if I just hated my times and felt like a failure?
The week leading up to this past weekend was the worst. My anxiety was at an all-time high and I turned into more of a neurotic mess than usual. The only thing I could do for those around me was not subject them to my company. When one of my best friends called to see if I was psychotic yet, he was assured within the first five minutes I had indeed lost my mind. He then went on to encourage me to not subject other people to my presence if it was at all avoidable. He was right though, I was barely sleeping, and obsessing over every little detail I possibly could like the neurotic fool I am... Eh hem, I mean, calmly and rationally analyzing my race day plan. Like this: “Oh my GOD! What if I can’t make the swim?!!! WHAT WILL I DO?! What if I crash on Bill’s Mavic carbon racing wheels he’s lent me?! What if my leg falls completely off during the run? (Ok, I made that last one up).” But you get the picture…

Friday finally arrived and to Geneva, NY I headed. I was able to stay with some awesomely supportive fellow triathlete friends in a townhouse so that was great. Friday night I had signed myself up for the MicroMussel Triathlon, which deserves it’s own post at some point. (Oddly enough, I was more of a nervous wreck over the tricycle race than I ended up being the morning of the half ironman, go figure). It was a 100 yards or so swim, .6 tricycle ride, and .2 dash. The positive part of that was when I jumped into the water it was obvious Sunday was going to be a nice warm swim. Spoiler alert – I won my age group on the tricycle.

Fast forward to Sunday – All the prep, and the nerves and anxiety somehow magically disappeared at 5:30 am. I arrived at the race site to a quiet lake Seneca, a beautiful cool morning (which I knew wouldn’t last long) and I felt oddly calm. I walked in to transition area to see the smiling face of Ron who had volunteered at the transition tent and that was awesome. I found my number and racked my bike with the mega-cool borrowed wheelset on it. When you sign up for the race you’re asked to write your personal mantra on the website application and day of it is printed on your rack number. (Mine was “Just keep swimming!”) The competitor next to me was racking her bike, saw her number and exclaimed “Oh my god! That’s my saying on my NUMBER! It’s a SIGN this is going to be a good day!” I didn’t have the heart to tell her it wasn’t a sign, she had written it months earlier and forgotten. I just smiled and nodded and thought, “Wow, she’s either an idiot or the race nerves have completely taken over her brain functions.” But hey, who am I to take away a “positive sign” from another person nervous about what was ahead? With my bike racked and my transition set I headed out to put on my wetsuit.

The race atmosphere was already electric; people were laughing and shouting greetings to each other. Jeff the race director could be seen wandering around pulling a wagon full of cowbells, encouraging young children to take as many as they wanted and further encouraging them to, “Ring them on the car ride home for your parents! They’ll LOVE it!” The air felt like a big party was about to take place, and trust me, I KNOW parties!

Wetsuit on, I headed to the water. In the mass of people I spotted my dear friend Rachel looking nervous. She and I latched on to each other for comfort. But, as I looked out at the water I suddenly realized, I wasn’t nervous about the swim for once in my life. I was actually excited to get the day started.

I was scheduled to go off at 7:25 and Rachel was scheduled for 7:20. So we were able to watch the first wave of swimmers start. One poor guy had not realized he needed to be counted in the swim corral and he attempted to join his wave from the beach. The start sounded and they started swimming, poor dude was forced to come BACK to shore and go through the swim corral and attempt to catch them. What a way to start the day, ugh, I felt horrible for him… That said, Rachel and I made sure we both headed to the swim corral to be counted in!

Rachel’s wave took off, and I immediately followed her. My wave was mixed in with guys in their 50’s, and I begged those around me not to beat the crap out of me in the water. Somehow, the my strange calmness about the swim had me giving everyone around me a pep talk about how lucky we were to be there and how easy the swim would be. I then started expounding about how our swim would finish in the channel and they should look for me to swim into a boat and get knocked unconscious… (Trust me, this is me, my amazing right veering technique with boats involved? Get knocked out while swimming is definitely something that would happen to me). Oddly, the girls around found me comforting and amusing and told me I had gotten them over their jitters, so I’m glad my ridiculous-self helped them out! I know what it’s like to be petrified before a swim.

The swim started and I was still calm, majorly odd situation. We swam out, hit the buoy where we took a left, and definitely there were waves, but even so I still felt ok. After completing the swim in the Lake George chop two years ago, these waves felt manageable, especially since they were hitting me from the RIGHT side and not head on. The fact they were hitting from the right was awesome, my right veering was being offset by the waves pushing me left so I was actually swimming mostly straight! When a big one would hit, I would just go with it and wait to breathe an extra few seconds. I hit the buoy where we took a left, and headed towards the channel, happy that it would be calm waters from there on in. There WAS one point where I started going slightly right, to the extent a paddle board person headed me off, pointed left and yelling “THAT WAY!” Course corrected, into the channel I swam… Calm waters and a current pulled us down the channel to the boat launch which we climbed out of. On to the bike…

Crawling out of the water, all I could think was, “I lived through the swim!” The smile on my face must have been amusing to spectators. I was so happy. Bike transition went smoothly and I headed out on the course.

The plan for the bike split was decided early on, any flat tires and I would be stopping at the closest winery and commence drinking. I mean, I’d wave to my friends as they continued on, but I would personally be drinking. Sadly, I did not get any flat tires. Sigh…

After having been so busted last year, I was so incredibly thankful to just have reached the race and the bike that I was obnoxiously cheerful on the bike split. I also had Nancy Kelly and Laura Casselini in my head often through the bike. I thought about what a fighter Laura is, and how if Laura can fight what she’s fighting I could certainly do 56 miles on the bike. To anyone who passed me I was yelling “Have a great day!” Anyone I passed I found myself telling, “Good JOB!” At one point a girl Janet and I kept going back and forth (her name was on her number). I passed her and yelled, “ Come ON Janet, don’t slow down NOW!” She picked her pace back up and we flew down the bike paths. Janet spotted me after the race near the massage tent and shouted, “You’re the CHEERFUL one from the course!” Yup, that was me.

Fifty-six miles later, the bike was over and it was time to hit the run. I knew it would be hot, but I was mentally prepared. I hit the transition area, racked my bike, decided taking time to reapply sunscreen was worth the time delay, threw on my sneakers and headed out on the run. Then I got to mile 1 and I realized, no, I was NOT mentally prepared for the heat and this day was going to be much harder than I had anticipated.

As I ran out of transition and out of the cover of the trees near the lake, it was like I was a tollhouse cookie that was just thrown in the oven. Temperatures had started to climb over 90 degrees by this point, and there was no shade and all thoughts of “10 minute miles, negative splits, blah blah” disappeared. Suddenly my brain switched to, “Figure out how to keep moving for this mile. Then, figure out how to move for one more, and dear GOD don’t think about all 13.1 ahead of you or I would have sat down, cried, and not gotten back up again.” Also, that point I realized I had forgotten to put sunscreen on my very white legs and they are burning, badly. Awww crap this was NOT going to be good... Now I’m obsessing over the miles ahead of me and the burning sensation on my quads.

Just then I spotted a women and her two children sitting on the side of the course near the lake and I thought, “Mother with small children near lake…Mothers have SUNSCREEN!.” So yup, I yelled, “EXCUSE ME! Do you have SUNSCREEN?” Sure enough, mother to the rescue! “Yes! Here!” To my saving grace unknown-sunscreen-mom ran up to me and she started spraying me down with sunscreen, assuring me that “This kind works on wet skin!” I don’t know her name, but lady, you saved me much pain, thank you!!! My legs ended up burned to a crisp as it was. I can’t imagine how bad they’d have been had she not been there to do that for me.

So one mile at a time, I continued in a slow forward fashion. Every aid station I was grabbing ice and throwing it down my sports bra, and squeezing the sponges over my head. By mile 5 the temperature had reached 92 and all I could think about was after I reached mile 9 it would be all downhill, literally. So if I could make it to mile 9, I could make it back. A BIG shout out to the wonderful people of Geneva who stood outside their houses with hoses and spray nozzles offering to spray us down as we ran by, you all made our lives bearable. Over and over again we got hosed down by people in the neighborhood and it made a huge difference. By this point I was reduced to a run/walk strategy, my brain was fuzzy and I was getting dizzy, my legs had cramped and my asthma had kicked in, but I knew I wasn’t bad enough that I had to stop. I figured what made the most sense was run through the hot sun to get out of it as quickly as possible, and walk in the shade of any trees. There was a group of about 5 of us girls that were keeping each other going, and I kept telling myself and them, that we just had, “to reach mile 9, then it’s downhill and flat and we’ll be ok!” At some point I passed my friend Catharine, and she was still walking strong, and I knew she’d make it back, and onward I went. We reached mile 9, and then it was just four miles left. Somehow the last two were the worst, the sun was so bloody HOT and as I was hobbling down the path just praying for the finish line when a car went by and I heard shouting from the window, “GO COLLEEN!” Just when I really needed it Holly was passing by with her kids and I got a shout out, it really helped me get through those last few miles.

One mile left to go and I came upon a guy in front of me walking who looked really weak, another guy came by and said to me “Pass him! You can pass him.” REALLY? REALLY? I mean, I’m competitive by nature, but WHAT satisfaction is there in being almost dead yourself, and passing some poor guy who looks like he wants to collapse?! That’s just twisted. Finally, we rounded the corner, and the very beautiful “Finish Line” could be seen. We hobbled over it, and yes, we completed 70.3.
A big hug from Kristen, some watermelon, a 15 minute massage, and life was good again.

Post race I got the updates: Sadly, Rachel reached a few miles of her run, was very dizzy and was no longer able to put a sentence together properly and made the right decision and pulled from the race. My friends Pete and Catharine did finish later, but they were then ushered to the med tent and put on IV fluids. Musselman chewed us up, and spit us out, but we live to fight another day  And we’ll be back to face it again next year!!!!!! Bring it!

The itch of it

2011-07-01T06:49:00.000-07:00

Let's face it, no matter what people say, being a triathlete is not sexy. I don't care what the t.v. coverage makes it looks like. Getting bashed during a swim, peeing on a bike (and the ensuing "Vagina Massacre" - as pro triathlete Tyler Stewart refers to the bike portion) http://teamlunachix.com/proteam/athletes/#/TylerStewart

and then sweating on a run is NOT sexy! The missing toenails, chafing, exhaustion, none of that is a "Oooh mama, sexy!" look. But how many articles do we see about these things?

What about when women have their period during an ironman? I have YET to see an article on how to deal with that.

So here's my issue. Heat rash, heat rash in my cleavage from my sports bra. It red, ugly, and it itches like a mo'fo! I can't be seen at work attempting to scratch my boobs, it's not considered socially acceptable. But this is what you get from running in the heat and humidity with sweat dripping down your chest and pooling in my (minimal) cleavage. I can't even imagine the poor women that are dealing with a D+ cup size!

After researching heat rash all I can come up with is to go purchase some hydro cortisone cream and pray it helps. Because either I'm going to get fired from my job for scratching my boobs, or some creepy guy will find it attractive, neither sounds like a pleasant option...

2200m swim!

2011-05-19T07:19:00.000-07:00

A huge milestone, last night I successfully swam 2200m. Not only that, but I followed the swimming plan laid out for me without adding in any extra rest. (Seriously I have to fight myself on that one ok? Do you know how tempting it is to add on an extra :10, :20, or even :30 seconds of rest?)

So I'm not delusional. I'm a crappy swimmer. But if I can succeed in at least completing my swim workouts I'm scheduled for, I feel like a winner. I'm WINNING! That is, until I text Coach Phelps, who promptly deflates my ego.

Me, "I completed my first 2200m swim workout. Yay!"
Coach Phelps "Sweet." "Was it actually meters or yards?"

(Continue on with several text messages back and forth of confusion from me, which I won't bore you with)

Coach Phelps, "25 yards is standard. We swim in yards. Not meters most often. Get it right!"
Me, "Would you expect anything less from me than to be confused about swimming?"
Coach Phelps, "Well, now you will sound like you know what you are doing."

Fine! I don't know WHY I've assumed it's meters, but I have ok? All this time, I thought pools were standard 25 meters. Two years now, and I thought this was all in meters. Proving once again, I'm really just an idiot about all of this faking my way through it as much as possible. So in the end, I swam 2200 YARDS, and yes, I do have tiger blood in me.

The Mental of it all

2011-03-14T12:40:00.001-07:00

"Running is 90% mental, the rest is physical." blah blah blah. I have heard and read quotes like this for years. (Although depending on where I read that quote the percentages change

from 80% to 90%)

Or how about this one - "Most people run to see who is the fastest. I run a race to see who has the most guts." - Steve Prefontaine.

Once again, I say, blah blah blah. What does that even mean?

Your legs go fast, or they don't. You have trained to where you can breathe running a 7 minute mile, or you haven't. Why all this focus on "mental toughness?" I have never understood it.

But here I am, hopefully heading into (bubble wrap to ward off broken bones) Season 2 of my impressively mediocre triathlon career and I may finally be starting to understand it slightly. If that's true. If I'm finally starting to get a hazy grasp of this elusive "mental toughness" I have Shelly and one hell of a virus to thank for it.

The journey to my understanding the mental of it all started last summer training with Shelly.

It was then that I met the 5:3 adorable blond, who is as sweet as American Pie. That is until you put another female between her and winning a race. Suddenly, Sweet-Smiling-Adorable-Blond-Mother-Of-Four turns into Legs-Of-Fury.

Training with Shelly all summer (Ok, well minus the part of the summer where my foot broke), not only did Shelly work on the physical pieces of my running, but she started to slowly introduce me to the mental aspects of racing.

Shelly, "Col, what do you think about when you race?" Me, "Uh, not dying?" (Who knew that wasn't a good enough answer.) Shelly, "Col, what are your goals? Not just races, I mean TIME goals?" On and on it went, a whole new world was opening up, and beating down its door was Shelly.

Because according to her, I knew how to run, but I had NO clue how to race. Which seemed absurd, how did I not know how to race? How is that any different than running? Don't you just do more of what you do training? Run? But she was right, I was clueless. Fast forward to the fall:

Oct, 2010 - Pumpkin Challenge 5k - First big race after breaking my foot and getting back to running - Racing with Shelly pacing me -

Before the race Shelly requested I sent her my goal time as well as me, "Really Awesome Time." That number that would be amazing to me if I was able to meet it.

Then, race morning Shelly made me promise one thing. I was forbidden from looking at my watch to see our pace. I would have to trust her to pace me. So trust Shelly I did, even when it got miserable around mile 2.

No matter how much I was hurting I would hear her next to me saying, "You got this! Just push, you're strong, GO, hold this pace. Who are we taking down next? Pick a girl in front of you and lets run her down." So we did, we pushed, and I would pick a girl, and we'd move until we passed her. Then, Shelly made me pick another, and another. Until finally I'm about ready to fall over, but we've crossed the finish line - In the end? 15 seconds per mile faster than my "awesome" goal time.

So why didn't Shelly want me to know how fast we were going? Because had I known how fast we were going, my mind would have started in "This is too fast. I can't maintain this. Too fast, must. slow. down. I am not capable of this speed." And the muscles that hurt, and the labored breathing, would have won and I would have slowed down. But I didn't have to think, all I had to do was let Shelly do the thinking and be mentally tough for me.

Suddenly, there it was - The mental of it all.

Which got me thinking. Just how much DID I limit myself? How fast COULD I go? What type of pain was I actually able to suck up and deal with and keep moving? What thoughts made me able to keep going? What slowed me down? What helped when things hurt and I need to keep moving? Any time Shelly would say "You're strong, you got this." I would find myself digging deeper and pushing harder. Therefore, a test race became a test winter.

I spent this winter training running some tough workouts with Shelly and figuring out the answer to some of those questions. What I learned was that tough workouts truly help build this elusive mental toughness. You push, keep going, remind yourself when it's hurting that last 5 minutes that you can handle that pain for 5 more minutes, and suddenly, you have. If I had one more mile to go and I was really hurting? I would think, "Ok, break it into running a 400m." Then, when I completed a 400m I would think "Just two more." Then after completing a hard workout, the following week I'd think, "Well, I did it last week..."

Skip to March 13th - I ended up sick with strep throat and a nasty virus. I wasn't sleeping, was hacking and generally felt realllly awful for a week. But I had signed up for the Celebrate Life Half Marathon on Sunday and had promised some friends I'd run it to support them. So, I took some AlkaSeltzer colds plus, filled my pockets with tissues and Halls cough drops, and prayed that I wouldn't pass out somewhere on the course.

Standing in the race starting line I kept thinking how stupid I was for attempting it, and thoughts of hot tea and my couch kept occurring. But, because I had promised the girls there was no way I was backing out. I assured myself and others I'd go slow, and off we went. Mile 1-5 I kept thinking "Can't I just lay down and cry now?" As I ran up hills, spit lugies on the side of the road, blew my nose, and stopped at every water station to quel the burning in my throat.

Yet, as I reached mile 6 something changed. My body hurt less, my nose ran less, and my legs ran more. I looked at my watch, thought "I feel good and 10 minute miles is my cruise pace. Darn it, I should at least be able to maintain that!" Maintain it I did. Mile 6-10 I thought to myself "You're cruising, you're just relaxing, you feel ok." Surprisingly, I did too. I felt awesome, by mile 10 I felt really good and was chatting with everyone around me. At that point I decided I felt a little too good and it was time to run a bit faster that last 5k. I dropped it down to 9:36, 9:39, 9:00 and decided what the heck? I finished the last .3 at a 7:23 pace. In the end, not only was it one of the most enjoyable races I've ever run, but it also proved there's something to the mental of it all... Sometimes you just have to convince yourself you can do it and keep pushing.

Now if I could just do that 13.1 at a 7:20 pace the ENTIRE time!

December Blues

2010-12-01T13:37:00.000-08:00

It's 12/1/10 - And, it's pouring outside. When I say "pouring" what I really mean is it sucks outside. It was raining and blowing so heavily, today it started raining through the windows at work. The poor fed-ex man's umbrella turned inside-out and he tossed it in the middle of the parking lot to attempt to run inside. I went to go purchase a bagel, stood staring at the monsoon that was occurring for 10 minutes, turned around and walked back to my desk. I apologize for that now to all my co-workers, since they then had to deal with a hungry-Col. Hungry-Col becomes Hungry-Cranky-Col becomes Hungry-Angry-DeathGlaring-Col.... It's not a pretty sight.

Back to December - This is not the time of the year I feel like training. No, I look outside and I think, "You know what would be a great right now? A gallon of ice cream, hot chocolate, wine, my couch and a good movie." There is no part of me that thinks, "Oooh! I'm an awesome triathlete, I am in the mood for a run." No, I look at my training schedule, see a 45 minute swim listed and immediately start cursing Mark's name (Sorry Mark, I don't actually think you're a moron, or any of the other things I may have called you today. Although WTF with kickboards? Every F'ING week the KICKBOARD! I HATE the kickboard and YOU! Um, I'm sorry, I don't mean that... Ok, well, some of it I do actually)

You know what makes sense today? Thinking, "Screw swimming, if I eat more I'd float better anyway!" Which, I'm pretty sure if this is true and if I continue eating the way I have been lately I'm going to be an olympic swimmer by next summer.

But no, I'm a triathlete! I don't do things that make sense by nature! So, I curse, and I get coffee, and I sit in my car for ten minutes not wanting to get out, and I call my friends and talk about how I don't want to swim, they then ask where I am... I tell them in the parking lot, they tell me I'm an idiot. I hang up, call another friend... But, in the end, yes. I get out of the car and go swim.

I then cursed Mark out some more during the kickboard portion of the workout. I think of why I hate him, ways in which he's stupid and names I'd like to call him. Interspersed with my swearing I also attempt to race the little old ladies in the lane next to me. It's pathetic and cheap, and yes, I do it because it makes me feel like a winner. They have no idea there is a competition going on, but that's ok because then I can beat them. God help me if they ever attempted to race back. After that, the kickboard is finished and I move on.

Then comes pull-buoys and multiple 100's, we won't talk about those. Finally I reach my cool-down, which is fun because I then attempt my flip turns. They're awful and I look ridiculous. Basically like I do in all the rest of my life. But so far I haven't given myself a concussion or broken a foot, so I think they're going QUITE well.

And there you go. I forced myself to workout because "blah blah, half ironman next year, blah blah, gotta stay training, blah." But mostly because I think, "If I do this now, I get to curl up on my couch later, watch a movie and get fat..."

Crystal Lake Triathlon 2010 - Swim, Bike, Hurl, Run

2010-08-23T09:00:00.000-07:00

2010 has been an interesting triathlon season. In April, I broke my arm (Let’s not go into HOW that happened shall we?) That finally healed, I got the cast off, and a week later my foot fractured while racing. At that point I was looking at being out all of June, and possibly the entire season. This made for a very pleasant and loveable Colleen for several weeks. Me, “What is your FREAKING PROBLEM?” Friend, “Um, Col I just asked if you wanted me to go get you some coffee.” Me, “Well stop being a JERK! What, you think I’m an invalid who can’t get coffee for herself. That’s what you MEAN isn’t it, why don’t you just SAY SO!” Friend, “uhhhhh….”

Thankfully, the foot healed fairly quickly and by mid July I was cleared to go back to running… With most of the season behind me I was looking at Crystal Lake sprint triathlon as my first triathlon of the season, le sigh. So with fingers and toes crossed I headed into taper week…

Checking the weather as the week went on I was getting really excited. Weather was forecast to be perfect, low 70’s and sun. You couldn’t ask for better conditions especially after last year’s race being in a torrential downpour… Things were looking good! Foot was feeling fine, arm was attached, weather was supposed to be perfect, and I was into taper week…

Thursday - I came down with a stomach bug (Listen, you shouldn’t read this if you don’t want over share.) Thursday I had to leave work because I was hurling a plenty and all I could think was, “There’s no WAY I’m missing Crystal Lake!” Friday, things were slightly better, but it really didn’t matter. I was competing Saturday no matter what. You know, unless a leg detached from my body, and then only if I couldn’t get it to go back on via duck tape and crazy glue.

By Friday evening I was feeling better and so I packed the car, hung out with a friend for a while, and just mentally prepare for whatever the next day might bring.

Saturday - Five am the alarm went off and I was off to Crystal Lake! I got down a banana, prayed that it would be enough and head out. The weatherman was right, the weather could not have been better. I arrived at Crystal Lake, got my body marking done, and headed to set up my bike in transition. After checking, double checking, triple checking, walking away, returning, checking, and then doing it again I realized things were set-up the way I liked them. I then was able to let that go and start mentally rehearsing the swim.

Now, came the big question, my beloved Garmin 310XT? Did I dare wear it on the swim and risk it flying off and losing it? If I didn’t, I’d have to remember to throw it on after the swim and that would cost me time and I might forget. I decided to chance it and put it on my wrist… This would prove to be a bad decision.

With my transition set-up I started wandering around, trying to keep myself calm and mentally go through my race in my head. At this point Jenny sauntered over to me and demanded, “Colleen, say something funny.” “Umm, excuse me?” Jenny, “You’re funny, say something funny.” “Jenny, I can’t just be funny on command, I’ve got nothing for you right now…” All I could think of was, “Oh great, now I’m going to be called the ‘Funny Man’ I should start calling her Yakavetta…” I had nothing to offer in the way of humor at that moment, so I just ran away. Really people?

By 7:45 with our wave set to go off at 8:04, came the fun part, trying to shimmy our way into our wetsuits, an amusing and completely un-cute process.

Into our fat suits we shoved ourselves, and to the water we went. Somehow I ended up at the front of the wave which I wasn’t too happy about, but there was nothing I could do about it. The horn sounded and I hit “start” on my Garmin, and away we went.

It was a pretty uneventful swim, most of the time I was simply focused on not landing on shore via my amazing right-veering-swim technique. I finished up the swim, hit the landing dock and as I started climbing out of the water I attempted to hit “mode” to shift my Garmin to the bike. Suddenly my Garmin flashed, “Keyboard Locked.” I’m sorry, what?

I try hitting it again, nothing, now I couldn’t push anything. I pushed the power button, held that down. Nope, it wouldn’t let me do that either. I pushed every button and combination of buttons I could think of. Nothing. Now, a normal person could let that go, but oh no, not OCD Col, nope. I was still attempting to un-lock the keyboard while trying to run my bike out of transition. Finally I told myself, “Seriously Col, give it up, let it GO!” And, I did, I had to let go of my timing for the race and just go by feel.

Now, I got out of that swim feeling pretty good, but by mile six on the bike that was gone. I tried taking a shot blok and a swig of water, BAD idea… A mile down the road my body decided it was not a fan of either. So, I looked behind me to make sure no one would be hit, and promptly puked off the side of my bike… mmmm…. I felt better! I grabbed my water bottle to attempt to wash my mouth out, got a swig and… promptly lost my water bottle. Well this is an interesting situation.

A million thoughts started running through my head. What is one supposed to do in such a situation? Stop? Try to find it? Keep going? With no idea on what to do, I thought, “Screw it,” and I kept going. Luckily, I had emptied my stomach of everything it had and was feeling a LOT better. Granted, I also no longer had any fluids and that’s not an ideal situation but there was nothing I could do about it.

So I just kept getting low, low, low on the hills, climbing the best I could, and praying I didn’t get passed by too many people. Kristen aka Sporty Spice came flying by me at one point and hollered, “Did DEEP COL!” I slowly climbed after her, knowing I’d never see her again on the course.

Now, I will say most of my experiences on the bike were positive. I was dancing with a few guys most of the way, they’d pass me, slow down, a mile later, I passed them. Rinse, repeat, rinse, repeat. However, I’d like to give a shout-out to the JACKASS who decided it was a good idea to pass me as we were going into the turn-around. You know, the one where we had five cars stopped on our left, and you have to make a sharp left turn? Definitely a great idea, moron in the yellow shirt, how about you pass me as we’re in the middle of traffic, trying to make our turn. THAT was the moment to make your move? Not the entire 9 miles leading up to it, or the 9 miles left after we made our 20 second turn? I was pretty proud of myself that I kept my cool, many thoughts un-christian thoughts were running through my head.

I hit the turn-around and started heading back. I still was without water but I was feeling solid and having hit that course before I knew we were going to climb most of the way back. The legs were feeling great, and it was still me and the same guys, pass, pass, pass, they pass, I pass, etc.

A mile from transition and I started making the mental shift to my run. I started thinking through transitioning and prepping myself. Of course I then attempted one more time, while cycling to push some combination of buttons in an attempt to get my Garmin to unlock. But again, I was unsuccessful and extremely aggravated.

Hit transition, had a solid transition, got my socks and sneakers on and headed out. At this point I see him… Brian is coming into transition as I’m heading out. OH CRAP, if there was one thing that was NOT going to be ok that would be for Brian to pass me on the course. I figured he was at least a minute behind me at the point and (sorry Brian) I know he’s not the fastest runner. However, what I was not yet aware of was what a toll the lack of fluids was starting to have on my body. I got out of transition to start my run and WHAM, I had no legs. Well, I guess they were still attached but all I could feel from them was cramps unlike anything I’ve ever dealt with. O….K….. Now what?

With nothing to be done, I went in my head and told myself life would get better after the first mile, just run through that first mile and things would be easier. Pain, pain, ouch, keep going, ignore it, keep moving, think about other things… lalalalala, I made it to the school turn around and THANK GOD, there was a water station. I only got a swig but it still mentally helped. I make the switch back and there he is, I see Brian behind me. I still had a least a minute lead on him but I was NOT happy. Ok, pain or no pain I had to open that stride up. Now I really wish I had my Garmin because I’m pretty sure it would read something like Run: Mile 1 – 9:30 pace, Mile 2: 8:45, Mile 3: 7:45… Because I started hauling when I knew Brian was so close and I know I had been crawling that first mile. I rounded the last corner, physically I was spent and so I just focused on the shirt in front of me and kept thinking, “Just don’t let that shirt go.” It was all I could do to stare at it and just keep my legs turning over. I ended up catching up with Trouble, and I warned him if he didn’t pick it up I’d take him down. Trouble thought I was full of BS, I was not. So I passed him the final 30 yards and dove into the water table 

In the end? I shaved 7:05 off my overall time from last year, even with last year’s run being faster by 1:05. I’ll take it, and yes, Brian beat my overall time by a bit over a minute and a half. Although that wasn’t as painful as Mike beating my time… by 15 seconds @#$@ @#$@ %@#%@# Next time? They are both going to be schooled…. And I WILL win the Hammer Award.

What it's all about

2010-05-06T08:25:00.001-07:00

Current Status - Busted - I have a broken bone in my hand, and my radius. It makes blogging difficult, it also makes training difficult! However, I was able to get a water-proof cast this week and will be attempting to swim tomorrow. I have no idea how this will go, but I can promise you don't want to get too close to me in the water. If you thought I was danger before, try getting slammed in the head with my cast! However, keeping everything in perspective is this story from ironman.com

Ironmanlife: What It's Really All About
Kevin Mackinnon catches up with three men who truly embody the spirit of Ironman
Published Tuesday, May 4, 2010

After 15 tries, Jeff Rhodes thought this was going to be his day - the day he would qualify for the Ford Ironman World Championship. He was racing with all the top men in his 40-44 age group in St. George, Utah last Saturday, feeling on top of the world. Two miles to go on the bike, though, things went horribly awry when he rolled a tire going around a corner.

Rhodes hit a brick wall and flew over his handlebars. No sooner had he hit the ground than he tried to get back on his bike. He saw the tire was off. Ever tried to get a tubular back on a rim? Ever tried to do that with one hand, because your other arm won’t work? Rhodes deflated the tire, put it back on the rim, re-inflated it with a quick-fill, then realized that his shoulder was up by his ear. He popped his shoulder back in place and tried to get back on his bike again. This time he realized his chain was off, too.

When he finally was able to get back on his bike, Rhodes managed the last two miles of the ride by holding his shoulder – it wasn’t just dislocated, he’d broken his collarbone, too.

When he managed to get some medical attention in T2, he was assured that he had broken his collarbone and should get into an ambulance for some medical attention.

“I told them I could still qualify for Kona,” Rhodes said in an interview today. “I got them to help me change my shoes.”

It only took three steps before Rhodes realized that there was no Kona qualifying for him last Saturday. Rather than quit, though, he was determined that he would finish the race, and started walking.

“It never even crossed my mind – I was going to get through it,” he said. “This was my 16th Ironman and I’ve never DNF’d. Last year in Japan I had an asthma attack during the swim. I had to pull myself along from buoy to buoy. It was the closest I’ve ever come to death. I knew I could get through the run with some shoulder pain.”

So he started walking. Meanwhile, just behind him, Quinton Berry, one of the five men from Orange County who had been training together for Ford Ironman St. George, started the marathon. Like Rhodes, Berry was having an incredible day – he was also in the hunt for a Kona spot. Berry ran up to his friend and stopped to walk with him.

“You’re having a great race,” Rhodes said. “You keep running. I’ll be fine.”

Berry made it a few feet up the road and turned around.

“At some point you’re going to need some help,” he told his friend. “If you’re going to walk it, I’m going to walk it with you.”

A short while later, another of the group, Scott Callendar, came across his two training buddies. He started walking, too. He and Berry took turns finding ice packs for their friend. They got his food at aid stations. They tracked down ibuprofen from the medical crew. The re-strapped his shoulder.

The three came across the line together. It was their slowest Ironman. It was also the best.

“This was the best Ironman I’ve ever done,” Berry wrote in an e-mail to Rhodes.

“It’s what you do for a friend,” he told me. “It was pretty impressive to see the support he had out there. There were some pros out there who said they were inspired by him.”

Pros? These three inspired an entire community. You want friendship? You want perseverance? You want grit and determination?

They showed it at Ford Ironman St. George last Saturday. It might not have been the fastest Ironman, but it will go down in history as one of the most inspiring and impressive of Ironman achievements.

Rhodes is registered to race at Subaru Ironman Canada later this summer.

“I know that I’m going to qualify there,” he said. “Those bumps in the road, you learn a lot from them.”

I think we can all learn a lot from Jeff Rhodes, Quinton Berry and Scott Callendar.

You can reach Kevin Mackinnon at kevin@ironman.com

http://ironman.com/columns/ironmanlife/kevin-mackinnon-catches-up-with-three-men-who-truly-embody-the-spirit-of-ironman

East Coast Mediocre Athlete - THAT'S ME!

2010-04-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

I was just honored to realize that my dearest friend in the whole world, Rebecca (Ok, so we've never met, but I'm a triathlete. Let's face it, I don't have a whole lot of time for developing "real" friends here, don't judge me. http://www.mediocreathlete.com)

Ok, moving on from my lack of social life, back to Rebecca. I was very honored to find out I made her "Resources" page. http://www.mediocreathlete.com/triathlon-resources That's right, me, Colleen Cahilll made it on to another triathlete's resources page. Furthermore, I'm even listed on the "Triathlete" subheading! So I'd like to take this moment to thank all the little people who helped make me into the amazing "East Coast Mediocre Athlete" I am today. *Eh Hem* *clears throat*

To Coach Phelps -Dearest Coach Phelps - Without you I probably never would have made it through my first swim in Memphis to become the mediocre athlete I am today. Those months of 6 am morning I knew, swimming was bullshit. But damn it, if I rolled out of bed and made it to the pool, I had a hot swim coach to look at. Plus, your motivational pep-talks which helped propel me to greatness.

Talks such as: "Really Col, you SUCK!" I knew secretly, you meant, "Col, you REALLY need to try to stop every trying to swim here..." So, to Coach Phelps for helping make me into the wannabe-triathlete I am today!

To Shelly - Dear Shelly, thank you for being a psychotic Hand-Maiden-of-Death who takes pleasure out of watching us do such deceptively pleasant sounding workouts such as "Ladders" "Fartleks" and "Hill Repeats." Without you and your pathological need to watch others suffer, I might still be able to walk down stairs without screaming "Dear GOD what did that evil wench DO to me last night?" So thank you, for whipping me along the path to being the mediocre athlete I am today.

To My Adopted Dad Dick - To my favorite cyclist who I've forced into adopting me by following you around incessantly. Thank you for putting up with my millions of questions and allowing me to draft off you when the "Big Boys" are cruising at 20mph and I feel like I may die. Without you, I would have been left on George Thompson hill, only to be found days later, rocking back and forth, cradling my bike, sucking my thumb, and whimpering "They left me, they left me...." As I look up at the hill I could never hope to climb.

I know this is such a sampling, but to all of you, who have made this day and my mediocrity possible. Thank YOU!

Hand-Maiden-Of-Death

2010-03-24T07:36:00.000-07:00

I have met the Hand-Maiden-Of-Death, and she's a cute blond. She confuses you with her bubbly personality and cute blond hair. But don't let her fool you, she's out for blood... YOURS

She's a tricky little devil, she likes to pose in the form of a "Running Coach." She reels you in with, "Here's a shiny APPLE little girl, just take a BITE, you'll be a faster runner for it...." So you do, you fall for her deception and you sign yourself up for running nights with the Angel-Of-Death thinking things like "Ooh, it will be nice to add structure to my running! I've never HAD a running coach before!"

Next thing you know, you are running your mile pace test thinking "This is FUN! I haven't done speed work all winter and I landed a 7:27 min mile!" Then, you realize you've now been paired with a male running partner who is a quadzilla, and has been running for years. No problem, I think "I've got this." Angel-Of-Death then mentions Thur will be fartlek night. What a nice word, "fartlek" aka "Speed Play" we get to play! That will be fun! ahahahaha hahahaha, foolish, foolish little girl...

Thur arrives, Owen and I are paired up and we prepare to lead the pack. First 100 m's, at 6:30 pace, piece of cake, 50m's to recover at a 10 min mile pace. Repeat. Yeah, idiots that we are, around mile 1.5, that starts getting REALLY hard. Mile 2.5? I realized the truth, Shelly is pure evil.

Week 2? Hill repeats. Seriously people? Seriously, WTF is THAT?! Here's a good idea, let's find a hill, then run as fast as physically possible UP it. Who comes up with these ideas? And what is wrong with them? I thought I was pushing hard, until once again, the Angel-Of-Death shows up next to me and yells, "PUSH, HARDER, YOU CAN DO THIS." At which point I'm cursing her under my breath, well, I would have been, had I been able to breathe. Since cursing was out of the question, I dug deep and suddenly found something I never knew existed and we're pounding out at a 4:30 min mile pace up this hell-hill with her sprinting next to me yelling "HOLD IT, HOLD IT, DON'T LET IT GO." We hit our turn around point, my heart rate had jacked up to 185, I'm gasping for air, and I thought "Wow, I just did that?" I also thought, "Man, I guess I've never pushed myself, ever, before."

It's going to be an interesting season, that's for sure!

Just.Keep.Swimming.

2010-03-16T13:13:00.000-07:00

Day 4815162342 completed in the pool.

Six a.m. the alarm went off, I cursed and stared at my dark room thinking, "Really? SIX? This is like getting up at 5 am two days ago..."

I then rolled out of bed, threw on my swim suit and continued to internally grumble on my way to the pool to meet Bonnie for my swim lesson.

Usually I'd be swimming where Bonnie teaches, but that pool is temporarily shut for repairs. However, she agreed to come to campus and give me a lesson as a favor. I groggily pulled into the campus parking lot, fumbled for the door, and piled out of my car. Bonnie was of course there early, because she's Bonnie. Enough said. As Bonnie spotted me she began to walk over while saying,"What a great morning! I already biked on my fluid trainer and went out for a run!"

Of course she did, of course. I'm internally grumbling about getting up early, and not only did Bonnie get up early to give me a lesson, but she even got her workout in ahead of time. So, I told myself to suck it up, stop being a jerk, and started my lesson feeling like a complete loser with nothing to complain about. Lesson - drills, drills, drills. Working on staying tighter through my core, digging deeper in the water, and always swimming with a catch-up.

But somehow today I had an interesting break-through. Every time, breathing to the left, I'm fabulous, ask me to do a catch-up and breath to the right? It is NOT a pretty sight.

Not only is it ugly, but I get completely winded and exhausted. After flailing down the pool breathing to the right twice, Bonnie looked at me today and said "Colleen, it's all in your head. You're borderline panic breathing to the right, and it's in your head." I stopped, looked at her and thought for a minute. Was that POSSIBLE? Am I actually simply psyching myself out now? Somehow, because it's harder to the right I then emotionally flipout without even realizing it.

Swimming is so amazing to me, especially because of what it reveals to me about myself. Because, she was right. I stopped and told myself "It's all in your head, pull yourself together!" Next time down the line, it was much easier. Did I still have a difficult time to that side? Absolutely, I'm not as balanced and it's more difficult. But, I can at least tell myself to calm down and remember the entire world above me, is filled with air. Onward, onward, onward with my swimming I go...

Tonight - Track Workout!

Searching for the perfect Big Wheel...

2010-03-11T12:08:00.001-08:00

It's time to admit the truth. I'm kind of a big deal...

Sure, I've told everyone I've signed up for the half-iron, and that's true. However, it's time this came out. The REAL title I'm going for this season???

The Undisputed Undeniable MicroMussel Super-Sprint Champion of the Universe.

Oh, that's right, you'd heard me., Champion of THE UNIVERSE! Who cares about the Musselman half-iron on July 11th? The truth is, I just really want to win the MicroMussel!
So, Friday night July 9th, I'll be kicking it in the µMussel (named this because it's so tiny).

Swim (100 yards) (or so) - According to the website this includes "Take a flying leap off the dock and start churning. A few seconds later, if all goes well, you'll come ashore at the boat launch."

Bike (0.6 miles) (roughly) -This must take place on an unmodified children's tricycle, or Big Wheel. Obviously, I'm going Big Wheel, go BIG WHEEL OR GO HOME, that's my motto!

Run (0.2 miles) (give or take) - My plan on this portion is to trip as many competitors out of my way as I can, while not getting caught.

I admit to being a bit concerned about the whole tricycle triathletes that will be competing, it seems like that might be faster? But GO BIG WHEEL OR GO HOME!

Training Junky - Overtraining

2010-03-08T08:24:00.000-08:00

Long time - no post! But I'm still here, still flailing in the water, running, biking... In fact, I took leave of my senses and have even signed up for a half ironman? So, back to the blogging board I go... Leading to my thoughts today, overtraining...

Honestly, last season I mostly viewed it as bunk. I mean, you SHOULD push yourself until you can barely walk, your legs feel like they're going to fall off, and you hit the bed in exhaustion every night right? How else is one supposed to improve? However, I'm learning about this whole other way of training where you only work hard enough to cause your body to make the adaptions it needs to? Who knew you'd actually see better results by NOT killing yourself all the time?

I mean, it's a run day so what does one do? You go out, and you run, as hard as you can the entire time! Right? But then came my VO2 testing where I heard "Um, so it looks like you've been mostly training on sheer heart rate and guts and have no aerobic base." ummm? Right! Isn't that what you're supposed to do? Who the heck runs at a 144 heart rate pace, I could read an entire book running that slow...

But then I started to research base building, and overtraining, why it's bad, what it does, how to spot it...

Decreased performance - Ok, I've definitely experienced this at times, but I thought it was just me being a wuss and the thing to do would be to push through it?

Heavy Leg Syndrome - Seriously, I'm not making it up. It's actually CALLED that!

Experiencing that today. I ran by 148 heart beats per minute pace for 10 miles Saturday, then went on the first 20 mile bike ride of the season with the Big Boys. Today I feel like someone has replaced my legs with two lead pipes, and told me to go walk around. Then don't really HURT, they just feel like slugs that I can barely move...

"Heavy leg syndrome. This condition is characterized by slugging, heavy legs and muscle soreness. It is not unusual for your legs to feel fatigued the day after a hard run or to be stiff when you first start running. If the sluggishness does not go away after 24 hours of rest you may be in the early stages of heavy leg syndrome. If muscle soreness or heaviness persists during your entire run or for more than 48 hours it is a sign that you need additional rest to ward off OTS." (http://www.runningplanet.com/training/signs-of-overtraining.html)

Increased Heart Rate - Do I really have to explain that? Your heart rate is elevated by several beats per minute.

Increased Susceptibility to Illness - Overtraining can compromise your immune system.

Loss of Appetite - While most of my girlfriends would beg for this to happen to them, it's a serious negative when you're trying to build muscle. I force feed myself, but what it really means is I need to take a few days off.

Change in Sleep Patterns - Although what your body needs most is sleep, overtraining puts it into a stress pattern making sleep difficult.

Irritability - I've come to realize, when I feel like screaming obscenities at any and every driver that I get behind, there's a FAIRLY good chance I'm slightly over-tired and need a day off. Even I stopped myself, and thought "What is WRONG with you right now?" the other day!

So, last season I would have said "Screw a day off!" But, as much as it's driving me nuts. I'm taking today off, going for a whopping mile walk and forcing myself to take tomorrow off too. Then, Wed maybe a swim an EASY fluid trainer session for 30 minutes or so.

Lake George Triathlon 2009

2009-09-21T07:37:00.000-07:00

9/19/09 - Lake George Triathlon

Please excuse today's race report, current status: brain-cloud with chance of narcolepsy.

Lake George Tri - I went, I raced, I lived. Details, details, all the demands for details.... Ok! Here's what I've got.

Race morning - First, my alarm was set for 4:15 a.m. however, at 3 a.m. there I was, wide awake in bed thinking, "Is it time to get up yet?" However, I dosed off again and didn't actually get up until the appointed time. My car was already packed, and so I threw on my clothes and stumbled for the door.

As I'm driving to Lake George at 4:30 a.m. it hits me, there is NOTHING natural or healthy about waking up before coffee shops are open. Not even Starbucks is open at that time. So, I continued to down the crap coffee I had made at home, lamenting my lack of latte, and being generally grumpy. The fact it was still dark and 40 degrees was not helping my mood any, but I kept reminding myself we do this because "it's fun...?"

I arrived at Lake George around 5:45 a.m. as one of the first people to arrive. Packet pick-up, body-markings, and off to grab a great transition location! Or, they were numbered and I could have gotten there last minute and it wouldn't have mattered. #62 was going into the slot...for #62... fabu. Now I'm there wicked-early, for no good reason other than more time for me to freeze my fingers and toes off. (I'd say butt, but I had on a few pairs of pants so my booty was actually pretty warm).

What to do, what to do. After checking, and re-checking my bike set-up fifty times, I wandered around, chatted with people, paced, wandered, checked the water temp (not too bad) chatted, and paced.

On about my 5th lap to my car to check SOMETHING (no idea what) Jenny noticed and finally said, "Are you trying to make money or are you just pacing?" Now, making money isn't a bad thought. However, no, just nervous pacing...

Finally, the wait was over. Wetsuit on, transition area closed, time to head to the water.

Coach Kristen hopped in to see what it felt like, and since I was standing out of the water freezing, I hopped in after her. Thank goodness I did! Because at that point I realized swimming in Lake George is nothing like swimming at Crystal Lake, or the "lake" in Memphis. This is a serious body of water, with waves to contend with.

It also finally hits me, we're swimming out a half mile, into really deep water... um? But, Coach Kristen was right there and offered some great last minute advice, "Col, feel those waves? Don't fight them! Go with them, crest them, THEN pull. If you try to cut through them you'll just exhaust yourself." So I swam around and practiced getting in some sort of a groove with the waves, and started to get the hang of it (a bit).

At that point we're asked to clear on out, and so back out of the water we go to stand shivering...

Now, shout-out to all the moms out there! I'm standing there in my sleeveless wetsuit, shaking, and some random mother sees me, and goes, "HERE! Put this on! You need it!" And she kindly offers me a blanket to wrap around myself, until our swim wave started. awwwww! After warming up in the blanket a while, I offered a "Thank you!" and I ran off to join the herd of swimmers entering the corral.

Once there I saw my dearest Alyssa, her boyfriend, and Trev standing on the sidelines supporting so in my ADD fashion I ran over there to say hi too! That was all well and good, except in the midst of being social Kelly and I almost missed our wave start. All of a sudden we were getting yelled at "Pink wave is starting now!" Listen, they hadn't announced earlier when we were starting, and we couldn't' actually see the swim start from the side of the crowd we were standing on... (Side note: I had to buy a new pair of goggles last minute, and the only color they had were pink-mirrored goggles. So I was pretty happy when I realized we were the pink wave and my goggles would not clash with my swim cap, yes, I realize I have issues.)

So, there we are. Lake George, pink hats, Col with matching pink goggles, and water. Oh, not to mention the fact that the wind was blowing hard enough that it blew four of the buoys off course. So, what do they do? Pull them in, say "See those two buoys out there? Go out, round them, and come on back..." Oh, ok, NO prob! Please, buoys, who needs them? A half-mile away in Lake George, use those to sight... mmm hmmm...

Into the water we went (No, I did not try the porpoise Kristen had suggest for the start, I can just see me trying that. Col, trying something new in the water, on race day? That's just asking for trouble. I'm just lucky I can live through the swims at this points). So it began,

Wave, crest, pull,

Go with the waves Col, don't fight them.

Breath Col, try to sight

Now choke out the water you got hit with sighting. Oh wait, I'm 30 feet to the right off course, course correct.

On and on it went, until I finally rounded the first buoy, rounded the second, and thought, "Now it should be easier!" Except, it wasn't.

Sighting on the way back for me was even more difficult, I could see the large ship to my right, and the land to my left, but I couldn't seem to get my head up over the waves without drinking Lake George to see where I was swimming. I even tried to stop for a minute to look, that was even worse, I just got hit more with the waves. I finally decided to just keep swimming and course correct as I could, because I'd rather zig-zag then not move at all. As long as I could look behind me and see that the buoys were further away than they had been earlier, I figured I was making some sort of progress. Not sure what progress, but something?

Finally I could see the swim finish ahead of me... The fact that I hadn't drown, had not done a single stroke of backstroke, or panicked was enough to bring me joy.

Crawling out of the water I could hear Alyssa, "You DID it Col! You did it!" While I'm pretty sure I swam closer to a mile and a half, I did do it. I knew my swim time was awful, and I was really depressed about that, but nothing to be done. Just start moving towards the bike leg.

Swim time: 47:56 (Sigh, I'm going to have to tell Bonnie and I'm afraid she'll be crying in a corner somewhere. I had soo hoped to be in the low 30s! But, then again, back in May I never would have made that swim in one piece, so I try to remind myself of that. I did feel better when strong swimmers said it was like doing an ocean swim. Next year I guess)

T1: 2:41 - I was a mess. I was very dizzy from that swim, and I couldn't get my wetsuit off. I finally just plunked myself down on the grass and pulled. haha. Because it was still chilly, I threw on my Craft cycling jacket, and on to the bike I went.

Bike

Having biked the course one time before I felt pretty prepared for what was ahead. There are hills, but nothing too killer. I have learned how to have Sharkies in the back pocket of my cycling jacket, reach around, grab them, and shove a bunch in my mouth. This is interesting mostly because they're gummy and between trying to chew them, and them getting stuck in my braces, it's quite a mess. Also, weather was chillier and so my nose was a snotting mess. I was wishing I had Coach Kristen's new running gloves, which have the built in snot wiper on the pointer finger. Instead, the sleeve of my jacket had to do. Disgusting? I know, but it was that or have snot drip down my face. Neither is a pleasant option, let me tell you. Jacket will be washed separately from my other clothes....

That said, PROPS to the Lake George Tri! It was the most well marked bike course I've been on, with awesome volunteers. EVERY mile was marked, and there were a ton of volunteers out on the course, getting us through lights, making sure we knew where we were going, offering Gatorade and Water, and just being all around fabulous. Big applause LG Tri!

Bike: 1:38:54 - Pace: 15.2 mph (which is about what I expected sadly, ugh, I just want to be faster!)

T2: 1:01 (for once I did something right, that was at least a decent T2 time. Anything to keep myself from getting depressed here)

Run

The run was pretty uneventful. You come out of transition, go up a hill, around, come back down, level out. Then you loop it again. One thing I just don't understand about my running. Some days I feel like I'm dogging it, and I'm actually flying, other days, I feel like I'm moving at an ok pace, only to find out my pace sucked? What IS this about? How come I have no idea how fast I'm traveling?

Run time : 0:56:44 - Pace: 9:09

Overall - 3:27:16 - Depressed over this time? Yes, but I will just have to keep training.

Waiting for me at the finish line? My friend and her son EJ, my favorite Red-Headed-Ed = all was well in the world...

New Swim Training

2009-09-10T11:14:00.000-07:00

So, who better to turn to, than the professionals? I've seen a new way to prepare for the swim phase of a triathlon, and after talking to my brothers and a few other friends, I'm going to start it tomorrow...

Crystal Lake Triathlon and such things...

2009-09-03T08:06:00.000-07:00

I know, I know, long-time-no-post! Life has gotten even busier than it used to be, and I have found myself dull and lacking wit lately. I blame it on a lack of sleep, my brain is functioning at 1/5 of its normal level.

That said, I DID complete the Crystal Lake *sprint* Triathlon this past weekend! I use the term loosely, because a 18 mile bike ride of serious hills seems to be odd mileage for a sprint distance.

So, let's go back in time... I've been training on Tuesday nights with the triathlete group. It's really been great, .75 lake swim (I did both with/without a wetsuit), then the 18 miles of hills on the bike, on to the 5k run.
The Tuesday before the Crystal Lake Tri I had my best simulator to date. I felt great on the swim, and each week the bike was getting easier. So, I was feeling pumped and ready for that Saturday! Forecast - sun, and I was feeling strong! This was going to be a great tri!

Fast forward to Friday night - Oh that's right, it's pouring rain not expected to stop until Saturday afternoon - lovely. Saturday morning I got up at 5 am, and sure enough, it was a torrential downpour. Well, isn't this just fun!

Still trying to remain positive I got up, finished packing my car, and headed out to the lake. I am thinking, ok, well, maybe the rain will lighten up and it's better than running in high heat?

Or, when I got to Crystal Lake I faced my worst nightmare. FOG alllll over the lake. I mean, soup! The fog was so thick I couldn't even make out any of the swim buoys! Yeah, that picture above? That is an actual picture from Crystal Lake on Saturday.

At that point, my nerves started to really kick in, but what can you do? You have to suck it up! So, at that moment I was thanking god for all my morning swimming with Bonnie, and for the open water swims I've gotten to practice all summer. Three months earlier, that would have been it for me.

One look at that fog and I would have said, FORGET THIS there's no WAY! Instead I had enough practice to pull from, and I could decide to just view it as an adventure, and well, if I hit the shore on the other side I'd known I needed to turn...

So, I went to prepare my transition area. With that all set, I had the highlight of the morning. Who do I see standing with an umbrella on the sidelines? Oh, that would be Coach Phelps!

On a half hour of a power-nap, he had come to support the team, in the pouring rain, which was super sweet. Then I saw my "man" and that was awesome too. The night before I had offered him an out, assuring it would be raining and he didn't have to come and watch, but he assured me he would be there. :)

At that point though, it was literally 2 minutes until my wave went off. I was able to shout, "Coach Phelps - Man - Man - Coach Phelps" with the most random introduction ever I figured they would hit it off, or not, either way if they wanted to they could chat. At which point I hurried myself off to the water (Ok, I used their actual names, but it's much more amusing to write Coach Phelps and "Man").

Into the lake I ran, and well, I stood there with all the other women. We looked at each other and I couldn't stop myself, I announced, "Wow, I can't see a DAMN thing!" We all started giggling and just prepared for the hell ahead. Buoys? Who needs to be able to see buoys? They are completely overrated.

Next thing you know, off our swim wave of white caps went. To my surprise, I was able to keep up with some of the swimmers and as we went, visibility improved. There was a moment as I rounded the first buoy where I swam up to a poor girl backstroking. Had I been able to talk and swim I would have encouraged her, because man do I know what THAT feels like! She definitely looked like she was hurting, I felt so bad for her...

Unlike Memphis, I didn't get beat-up during the swim this time! The entire tri was only 260 people, so the amount alone was considerably less, and the guys didn't catch up with me.

As I completed the swim I was still thrilled to see the hand waiting to help yank me out of the lake. That was pretty awesome, climbing up the concrete step can get a little tricky when you've been swimming.

Swim Time - 21:06

T1 - As I climbed out of the water, I started peeling off my wetsuit. For some reason my wetsuit slipped off a little TOO easily, perhaps it was all the Body Glide I had lathered myself in? So as I was running to my bike I got it down too far, and had a really awesome waddle the last 10 feet. Note to self: never pull it down that far again.

My gear was semi-covered in plastic, and so my socks and bike shoes weren't too soaked yet and I was able to get them on successfully.

T1 Time - 1:39 (I got stuck behind a guy WALKING his bike up my lane, I wanted to smack him, or yell HURRY UP! Let me get to my bike!) - Also during the time I could pick out the very distinctive Coach Phelps voice screaming GO COL! And while I couldn't acknowledge it at the time, I did really appreciate it. I heard "Go number 26, and GO COL!" God bless Trev for having a loud yell.

Bike - The transition to the bike starts on an incline, which is gravel = very interesting when wet. I hopped on my bike, clipped in my one foot and just started to pedal. I finally got my second foot clipped in. Off I went to the all-too familiar hills.

The rain was coming down, but it really wasn't too bad. However, it was my first experience riding in rain, so I was definitely being cautious when descending. Suddenly, I came down a hill and out of nowhere heard, "GO COL!!!" accompanied by a very loud cowbell. hahaha!

It ends up my friends Bill and Laura had made it after all and were standing at an intersection, umbrellas shielding them from the rain, waiting to cheer me on. It was the greatest surprise! With a smile, and a little extra energy I passed them and started to climb, you know, and climb, and climb, and then descend, then climb, oh and then the DOWNPOUR started, which was my favorite...

About 3/4 of the way through the bike I thought, "No, seriously? This SUCKS, and how is it not over yet?" My feet were soaked through, I could feel the sloshing in my socks. My sunglasses were very little help, they were shielding me from the rain a bit, but also getting fogged/blurry. But what do you do? You just keep going... and so... I did....

Bike Time - 1:12:26 (18 miles)

T2 - Originally I had been concerned about T2, because coming off the bike you're coming in downhill, on gravel. Luckily, that ended up going well, and I didn't crash (always a bonus). Ran in with my bike, grabbed my sneakers, only to realize everything was soaked through. Forget having anything dry left. So what choice did I have. I ripped off my cycling shoes, ripped off my soaked socks, and attempted to shove my wet feet into my wet sneakers. Um yeah, left foot went in fine, my right? I started doing the one legged-hop around, cursing the whole time, "GO IN DARN IT! GO IN!" Somehow I finally rammed it in, and off I headed for the run...

T2 Time - 1:09

As always, my legs felt like lead as I started to run back out and up the hill. Of course who can I pick out yelling at me, but Coach Phelps. "Now is the time to kick it in, what are you doing?" Had my asthma not been acting up and I could have spared the breathe I probably would have had a few choice words to say, but sadly, I couldn't spare the lungs. It is at times like that I both love and despise Trev all at once. I'm surprised he didn't just yell, "Pull it together COL!"

But it was true, my legs felt like lead and I could barely breath and I felt like I was crawling on the run... around mile 2 I thought, "Ok Col, come ON! PICK IT UP!" So I did. On to the last stretch, only to realize the finish line was down a bit of a hill, on grass, which of course, was now a wet muddle puddle, slick mess. Oh GREAT! I had images of me flying in and in true Col fashion, completely nose-diving into the finish line. Somehow I managed to stay upright and as I crossed the finish line I realized my parents had indeed shown up to watch me finish :)

Run Time - 5k - 25:16 - pace 8:10

Hugs all around, and my parents saw me complete my second Tri :) Now, Lake George in 2 weeks! ack!

Overall finish time - 2:01:34

Blisters - check - awesome Tri in the rain? CHECK CHECK!!!!!!!

Ok, Ok, let me take this moment to put a special shout-out to Pete, my personal fishmonger. He very graciously volunteered for Crystal Lake and yes, yelled encouragement to me during the bike ride as well. I believe it was something along the lines of "get to climbing these hills Col!" As I rolled through the intersection he was helping to direct. Granted, by that point it was near the end on the way back, and I was pretty miserable. However, good fishmongers are hard to come by, and I don't want to upset said friend... THANKS PETE!

Jumping in a lake and playing in traffic...

2009-08-06T08:33:00.001-07:00

First, I'm having a sad morning. I miss the good 'ol days of half-asleep Neil and I jumping in the pool Thursday at 6 am only to have Coach Phelps shake his head at us in disdain and tell to "Pull it together." Those were the days...

However, those days are gone and I must move on... on to things like simulators out of Crystal Lake with "real" triathletes on Tuesday nights. Which, I did this week. With boot camp on hiatus this Tuesday was the perfect time to finally go and attempt hanging with the big boys and girls.

Crystal Lake Training - 6 pm Tuesday nights -

.6/.7 mile swim (they're not sure exactly) 17 mile bike - 3 mile run

So, Tuesday night I went home, changed, and prepared to reach the lake by 5:30. The swim starts at 6pm and if you're not in the water then SOL. Since it was my first time joining the group and no one I knew was planning on being there I wanted to make sure I got there with plenty of time to get set-up, sign in, and prepare for flailing wildly in the lake.

First thing I found out Tuesday is that half the world is driving on the back roads at 5 pm. How can I be in the middle of nowhere, stopped because there is one light in town and traffic has backed up a mile? But, here I am, stopped in traffic starting to get nervous because 5:30 has now come and gone and I still have not reached the lake and all I can think of is that they're going to start the swim and I'll be screwed.

Luckily, I reached Crystal Lake at 5:47, but by this point I was a mess. I pull up, park, jump out of my car thinking, “Where do I go? What do I do? Will I have enough time to get ready and get in the water by 6?!”

Across from me I see a guy bent over his bike and I decided to just ask him, “Excuse me sir…” He looks up, and… It was JOE one of my old teammates! What were the chances? I had parked right near him, and the one person there I would know…. He told me where to go, and I had just enough time to pull my bike out of the car, pump my tires and get down to set-up/pay before 6.

Swim – Since the weather has finally warmed up and it is August I did not bring my wetsuit. My thoughts being it’s WARM! I will probably be spotted at the horrible swimmer I am if I am the only one who brings a wetsuit to use as a security blanket, no one else will have one! ORRR everyone except me did (Ok, maybe four of us didn’t). Even the ironwoman I swim with was there and she had on a wetsuit!

Luckily, though, I ran up to the lake and tested the water, it was super warm. Into the lake I climbed with everyone else, and I waited until the fast swimmers took off to even start swimming. Now, they say the lake swim is .6 or .7 ? I definitely did at LEAST .7, maybe .8. That right lean I got going on definitely needs to get fixed, oh look the SHORE! Excuse me while I try not to run into that docked boat...

However, I finished the entire swim doing freestyle, without a wetsuit, and I did not feel like I was going to die! This being me, it's a huge accomplishment. I am not sure what my time was, I did not time myself.

Bike - Out of the water I climbed and I ran over to my bike. As I headed out onto the course I was a bit surprised by how many hills there were, but it was perfect practice for Lake George in September. I admit to having a bit of road rage as a group of females would pass-me, then stop at a GREEN light, causing me to have to slam on my breaks because they were blocking me and I guess decided they wanted to just rest for a minute. grrrr

Also, I freely admit this is semi-pathetic, but it took me until this month to figure out how to stand up on my bike with my feet clipped in, and, as Le Tour commentators calls it "dance on the pedals." I finally learned to dance! It may look more like a Dutch Clog dance than ballet, but darn it, I can dance now OK?! It is a completely different position than when you stand on pedals as a kid and climb with just your sneakers on, at least, that is what I'm telling myself so I feel like less of a loser.

Run - Since I’m still watching my knee I decided to just do the swim/bike, and run on Wed.

So, with my bike ride finished I went back to my car to pack up and leave. Lala, I was proud of my living through the water, and was feeling pretty good about myself.

Now, having arrived later than most, I had parked in one of the crappier spots on the grass hill. Looking to my right and left I realize those cars are parked very close to me, so as I backed-out I was careful to watch my left and right so I didn't hit them. Suddenly, I hear *BUMP.*

Umm? " OOOOHHHH NO."

OH YES, I’VE HIT THE CAR BEHIND ME! They were parked under a tree, on an incline and I couldn’t see them. Fabulous. I climbed out of my car, and sure enough there is a two inch scratch on their bumper. Lovely, and…. It’s a 2010 model, EVEN BETTER!

I left my name/number on a note on the windshield. The owner called that night, very nice guy, but of course it’s a new car and he wants it fixed. My insurance deductible is 500, so it ended up being an expensive night. He’s getting an estimate, but I know with those bumpers they’re one big piece, which means replacing the whole darn thing, and then they have to paint, so it’s usually like 400 bucks at least. Alllll for a 2 inch scratch. Shoot me now.

Good simulator, but it ended up being an expensive night...

Training Recap

2009-07-31T07:34:00.000-07:00

7/30/09 - Ran 3.5 miles last night, we won't talk about how slow THAT was. Having a month off was FABULOUS for my running...

Swim lesson this morning :) - Factoring in the pain in the neck - literal - we ran through drills and then did a short workout, descending:

200m - 4:15
100m - :56, 1:57
50m - :43

Somehow, even with my neck problem it was a better lesson than two weeks ago. I was really worried that having a week and a half off from swimming was going to be a problem, but somehow it actually helped me. Good lesson, sometimes we just need to take a break and we can actually come back and have improved!

Happy Thought of the Day - When Bonnie says "Great job today Col!"

She then continued on, "Now, when you are passing people in the water...." I just busted out laughing at her, "Umm, Bonnie, you said "passing people." She assured me she meant it, and she launched back into her training tip. That will be the most amazing day, if I actually swim faster than someone?

2009-07-29T08:34:00.000-07:00

So, because I'm an idiot, I managed to hurt myself again this week. Result - I have not been able to turn my head, stop the massive headaches, swim, or sleep, also typing has been extremely difficult. This is because Saturday I managed to sprain my neck? Exactly.

Now, my brother's first remark when seeing me icing my neck was, "Ok, what horse did you get thrown off?" "Umm, nope, not horse related..." And frankly, I was so embarrassed about how I actually hurt it, that I refused to tell him. Trust me, I'd never live it down, you have no idea how brutal my family can be. He got a few digs in anyway, but since he didn't know how I did it he didn't have any real ammunition, thank god.

How DID it happen you ask???

It was a fairly normal Saturday, boot camp is on hiatus for a few weeks, so I just hit up spin. After spin was over Tina decided we needed to do 15 minutes of ab work. Ok, PLEASE, I SOOO have abs of steel, NO prob! Let me just show these people how it's REALLY done. wusses...

On to our mats we climb, and we're doing leg raises, planks, mountain climbers, and then about five minutes of crunches. Oh yeah, I'm keeping up with Tina while the other wusses are complaining and moaning. MAN UP PEOPLE! We get done, and a new guy in class approached me afterwards, "Umm, so how do I get a six pack like you?" (He was actually sincere and NOT a papi chulo, a little geeky and he really is just trying to focus on his trainng, it was cute). Flattered and a bit stuck on myself I said "Oh, it's just good genetics and from riding a lot of horses." But PLEASE, I do have killer abs, OBVIOUSLY I must work hard for them. cute geek.

So, I leave the gym, satisfied with the workout, off to do my usual laundry and get a run in. I went home, grabbed my clothes and headed to the laundry mat. Into the machine I threw my clothes, threw on my ipod and went out to do a three mile loop while I waited for the cycle to finish.

Suddenly, as I'm running, I'm thinking, "Man, my neck is REALLY hurting, that's weird. huh." But I continued on. Got back to the laundry, threw it in the dryer and headed down the block to grab ice at the local sports bar. I mean, it IS a sports bar! ok, fine, (My girlfriend is the manager and it had just opened. I knew #1 it'd be next to empty #2 she'd have mercy on my sweaty self and give me ice for my waterbottle. )

As usual at 12:30 on a Saturday, there were all of 2 guys in there and my girlfriend was just preparing for a slow day. So, I dripped sweat every where while chatting with her, and got some fabulous ice for my water!

Back to laundry. By this time, WOW my neck is seriously hurting, that is SOO odd?! Oh yeah, by the time I get home, I'm in SERIOUS pain. I can't move my neck, I've got an awful headache, and nothing is helping. I finally realize, umm, yeah, I don't usually do crunches with my hands behind my head? But that was what Tina was doing, so my bright self decided to do it too. Obviously I did something completely wrong and managed to really hurt myself. This is what I get for getting cocky about my ability to keep up with The Machine herself!

Four days later? I can move my head a little, I don't want to cry quite as much from pain, and the headache is slowly abating. I even slept a little last night! Pool? Oh yeah, I can't swim because I can't turn my head.

Once again, the minute I get cocky.... I realize the truth, I'm still Col, living one big episode of Curb Your Enthusiasm....

You should see her in spandex....

2009-07-24T06:55:00.000-07:00

Today's post is for all the kick-ass athletic females out there. Here's to you!

Girls, train like rockstars, destroy the competition, but then pull out the stilettos, pencil skirts, and rock your sweet/sexy selves.

Why can't we want to run a sub-7 min mile, cycle over 20mp, and grab a good pair of pumps, a short skirt, and be a sexy female in the evenings? It's just two sides of the same girl.

My friend Laura and I talk about this, because technically she's "too good-looking" to be a rock star athlete. Really? Because we're girls we have to choose? Either be butch OR be a sexy girl, but being both is not allowed? Being both means you're either not to be taken seriously as an athlete, or you're too hardcore to be an attractive female?

This point was illustrated perfectly the other night...

I went to grab coffee and go shopping with a girlfriend. It was chilly so while I was wearing a sleeveless shirt I had put on my under armour zip-up. (It's so terribly comfortable!) After having our coffee/talk time Jocey and I headed to do a little retail therapy.

Browsing through the store I found a cute shirt and as I headed into the dressing room I made a smart-alec comment to Jocey, "Well, I'll try it, but you know me and my terminator arms..." The older sales-lady heard me and turned to me in the sweetest voice and said, "Honey, you don't have TERMINATOR arms."

As I opened to my mouth to answer, Jocey whirled around and answered before I could, "Oh no, she really does." The sales lady is now just looking at me in confusion. At which point I gave Jocey a death glare and then an exasperated eye roll, but yes, I peeled off my sweater.

The poor sales woman. As soon as she saw me she just burst out with, "oh MY you DO!" She just couldn't stop herself, I think she was in shock.

"Yeah, yup, I do. I wasn't lying." Trying to regroup the sales woman now comes out with an encouraging, "Well, you must work hard for those..." Once again interjecting Jocey happily announces, "Nope, she doesn't, it's genetic." Thanks, thanks Jocey for helping this situation yet again.

But that's the thing right? If I'm wearing a long sleeved shirt I look like every other girl out there. You can't tell I have terminator arms, that I can crack a coconut with my knees, or that Tina-The-Machine asks me to not wear my shirt while working out because my abs inspire her. (No, seriously, she does, she's a wack). Or, as my friend Jamie said the other night when we were all out and someone said something about me. "Dude, and you should see her in SPANDEX!" Thanks Jamie, thanks...

Looking at Tina-The-Machine in a dress and heels, you can't tell she runs 10 miles at a sub 7 min pace BEFORE getting on an teaching us an hour of hardcore spin.

So, in the end, we're all just girls... We just happen to swim, bike, run, oh and we enjoy eating nails for breakfast....

Running Form Critique

2009-07-22T06:01:00.000-07:00

When it comes to running, I am the first to admit that while I enjoy it, I am not a "good" runner.

I never ran track and field, and I have never worked with a running coach. While my times are improving, I'm also not super fast. So, if people who know what they are doing have feedback I am always excited to get some advice.

For this reason, when my co-worker walked over to my computer the other day announcing she wanted to talk to me about my running form, I sat up and took notice.

In particular because this co-worker made it to the Olympic qualifiers in track, she most definitely knows what she's talking about. (It is also for this reason that I drop to one knee, throw my arms out to the sides and yells, "SUPER STAR" when I walk by her office on a regular basis. Luckily, she has not hit me for it yet, because it makes her laugh)

But back to the story at hand... Winsome is standing in front of me and she whips out a picture of me, "See here Col, how your wrists are lax? You need to fix that."

As I look over the picture Winsome is demonstrating her point on, I finally just started laughing. "Ummm, Winsome? I was just crawling out of the WATER from a swim, I am not even running in this photo!"

At which point she stops, looks down at it again and replies, "Umm, oh! Ok! Ummm..."

Because yes, it's the photo pictured above. In which I freely admit my wrists are doing something extremely funky. Pretty sure I was delirious at that point and I'm probably still trying to swim, not realizing my body is actually out of the lake at this point. "How much further do I have to GO? THIS IS TAKING FOREVER!"

So let me take this moment to assure everyone that no, I do not hold my wrists in that position while running. I may not know much, but I at least know that... .

She's BACCCCCCCKKKKKKKK

2009-07-20T11:10:00.000-07:00

Back running that is! Doctor gave the ok and by Friday I was feeling less sick. So I got out of work, threw on my ipod and sneakers and........ it started pouring rain. HA! I LAUGH AT RAIN! HAHA!

Ok, so maybe I don't laugh at it, but I sure as heck was not going to let it stop me my first day back in running sneakers. Therefore, I kept with my plan, and headed out for a short run. Granted, it was supposed to be an "easy" run, and well, I did not hold to that, but I did only run three miles. Good thing too, because when I get into my zone I don't pay attention and managed to almost launch myself into a car that was turning. oops!

A little strange blip on the radar screen, my H.R. monitor read a spike to 217 in my H.R. at one point. Now, I'm chalking it up to equipment malfunction, because if not, umm, something is seriously wrong. Yes, holding around 170s that was right, and I knew sprinting it was not shocking I maxed out into the 180s. But 217? If it ever happens again, then I'll go get checked out, for now, ignoring it.

Ok, and swam today :) I'm getting there... holding 30 sec rest. Ran through my drills, then swam 1000m.

2 x 100m

200m

2 x 150m

3 x 100m

Yes, and I get done and think "How did I actually live through the swim in Memphis?"

I am not sure how I pulled that one off. When I got BACK from somehow not dying in Memphis and Bonnie had me do a 100m and then a 150m I had to flip on my side into "The Col Death Roll." Aka, filliping over frantically to hopefully catch a breath before dying.

Bonnie kept telling me I'd have to flip on my side less and less, but honestly, I didn't really believe her. But here we are in July, somehow I'm pulling 1000m out of well, not sure where, after completing 400m of drills, and...not flipping on my side or dying, miracles DO happen! Now if I could just improve my catch in the water... sigh...

All in the family

2009-07-16T06:28:00.000-07:00

First, I've been sick this week, and I don't "do sick" well. It's annoying, aggravating, and I hate feeling like I need to sleep all the time. Do you know what's on tv during the day? NOTHING! Even Le Tour is in the boring stages right now, and nothing happens until the last 10k or so. Oh look, there is the peloton oh wait, yup, still the peloton. Oh WAIT, HOLD UP, someone is going to the back TO GRAB WATER! WHOA, getting crazy now!

Umm yeah, being sick doesn't make me grump or anything...Also, I don't care what happens, unless I pass-out I AM going to my swim lesson tomorrow!

One thing that does cheer me up is spending time with my brother Kev! He moved back to the area a few weeks ago and it's so great to have him around again. I think we're about as opposite as two people get, but we adore each other.

Kevin on exercise: Hey, you want to go for a bike ride with me Kev?" "Sure, I'll drive my BMW next to you."

Kevin on sweat:"Sweating is disgusting, I don't believe in it."

Kevin on his sister Col: "Yeah, you're pretty much out of your mind." Six kids and somehow I'm the only athletic one in the bunch. I told him he needed to come support me at my next tri, his reply, "Why the heck would I do that?" "Because that's what good brothers do!" "Listen, you going to trade me in? Your other prospects don't look much better." - End result, he'll probably never come see me in a tri. However, he does enjoy watching a good polo game with me though, so he's forgiven.

Kevin on Pilates? - I am STILL sitting here trying to figure out if he was joking or serious when he informed me yesterday he wants to try a pilates class? He is so good at being dead pan that sometimes even I can't tell if he's serious or joking...Oddly enough, I think he was serious? Granted, I laughed for ten minutes and was still crying from laughter when I finally tried to figure out if he was joking or serious.

I'm sorry, but at 6 foot my brother is the most chicken-legged-non-athletic guy and I was trying to picture him in a pilates class? Perhaps he was thinking he could pick up chicks there? That I could give him....

You can't spell athlete without T & A

2009-07-14T05:58:00.000-07:00

We will start today with a lovely little saying thoughtfully written for me....

See Col Swim – Don’t Drown Col Don’t’!
See Col Bike – Don’t Crash Col Don’t!
See Col Run – Don’t puke Col Don’t!
Triathlons – It’s what she does….

I would say, don't quit your day job to go work for Hallmark.

All that and I haven't even competed in a tri since May! I admit to being a bit nervous about the one coming up in August, but I know my swimming is going to be much better. Also, I am supposed to be pulled of my no running restriction this week. Doc appt tomorrow, so I'll be "set free" as my P.T. refers to it, and we'll see how the knee holds up!

Ok, now I have a short-vent session that needs to happen....

Boot Camp - I'm going to say it. YOU PEOPLE ARE DOGGIN IT! Don't do it, don't make me compare you to make-up girls at the gym! I WILL start throwing water bottles at you people, just to see if it motivates you.

But it's true, most people are being pathetic and completely doggin it. Why bother getting up early (5:45 am workouts SUCK!), paying money, and going, if you're going to completely wuss out? Ladies, some of you have been doing this since last year, you should not be this pathetic.

Now, there are a few exceptions. Coach Trev rarely dogs it, nor does John, but the ladies?

PULL IT TOGETHER! ;)

For my benefit :)

2009-07-13T12:43:00.000-07:00

Workout re-cap for my benefit - (Helps me keep track of progress)

P.T. is still happening 3 days a week (gag).
Sat - Hour BC, then 45 min spin. I was DRAGGING Sat, totally exhausted. I actually went home and slept for 2 hours which never happens. I guess my body needed it.

Sun - Rode my horses :) Still really tired, just needing sleep lately.

Mon - P.T. tonight, but had a realllly good swim! I'm getting there! Still hoping for a 30 min swim this year....

Ran through all my drills -
Y 25m -
Head lead, rotate in water 25m -
One arm lead 25m, both sides
Paddle drill - 25m, both sides
1 - switch - 50m
2 switch - 50m
Triple Switch - 250m
Then workout I put in a pyramid - 100m x 2 - 30 sec rest - 150m 45 sec rest - 200m 1 min rest - 150m 45 sec rest - 100m x 2 30 sec rest = 900m

I felt stronger than last week, just need to work on my stamina. It still rips through my back muscles though. I have a lesson with Bonnie Friday, so I'm excited about that. I really want to get her feedback, see what I need to work on.

Bored with my swimming updates yet?

2009-07-09T05:46:00.000-07:00

I know, everyone but me must be bored with my fixation on swimming. But, I am, fixated....

Quick week recap....

Sat - 1 hour boot camp - then off to a 17 mile bike ride

Sun - Open Water Swim! - I finally got out in the open water again! Granted, when my alarm went off on Sunday morning I thought, "You have GOT to be kidding me, 8am lake swim?" It was all I could do to drag my butt out of bed, grab my wetsuit, and head out the door. Obviously other people felt the same way, because it was only the two coaches, and one other person that showed up. Plus, Julie (one of the coaches this summer) didn't even swim, she just kayaked around and made fun of us. Sadly, there was an awesome picture of me wrapped around the kayak, but her camera freaked out and deleted all the pics from that morning :( My swimming is MUCH improved since Memphis. Besides the fact I am more comfortable in the water and I am not worrying about dying every other minute, my stroke is really improving.

Mon - Rode my horses :) I wish I could do that every day, it was such an awesome day at the barn. Hardly anyone was there, my baby Tai was perfect and gave me a really good ride.

Then I was talking to friends and my true love Calypso saw me from the fields and she came all the way into the ring, walked up to me, dropped her head into my chest and just stood there. She can still melt my heart in half. As my friend Lisa yelled across the ring "You know Calypso always has been, and always will be only yours!" (I never actually owned her, I broke her as a 3 year old and she and I cleaned up on the circuit for years. It got to the point I could think something in the ring and she'd respond. People came up to me all the time asking if she was for sale. I got offered $60,000 for her once! But nope, she wasn't mine on paper. I broke her, trained her, competed on her, and loved her. Now she's an old lady, but she still knows who her true mom is. hehe I refuse to ride her these days though, she dumps everyone off except me, and I don't want to get her going and then have idiots that don't know how to ride get on her.
Tue - rest

Wed - Awesome swim day! I did my drills which are about 400m worth. Then I hit my 8 x 100m with 30 sec rest. I felt soooo good! No prob, the rest was plenty, and I felt like I could keep going when I finished. I'm playing with my breathing/strokes. I've definitely been making sure I'm bi-lateral breathing, hitting 3 strokes, breath, then left a few times, back to three, then right a few times, back to three. I'm finally figuring out how to keep enough oxygen in my system and to give my arms enough recovery time.

Now to get to those 200m with 30 sec rest! I think my game plan for Friday is drills - then do a pyramid adding length, so I'm thinking: 100 x 3, 150, 200, 150, 100 x 3 w/30 sec rest? We'll see how that goes, but my breathing is definitely coming together now and my stroke is holding. When I did the 8 x 100m/ 30 sec rest with Bonnie a few weeks ago I was definitely pushing/hurting, yesterday it was not bad at all. Now it's about conditioning and hopefully getting faster! I'm actually starting to semi look forward to swimming, now that my heart isn't beating out of my chest and I can breath!

Thur - Boot camp this morning, love you Tina?

In honor of David T. Ryan

2009-06-30T06:31:00.000-07:00

Last night was the annual bike ride in honor of David T. Ryan. David was killed June 29, 2004 when he was hit by a car traveling at 80mph while out cycling one day. Not only was David an avid cyclist, but he was also brilliant, having graduated top of his class at Oxford. You can learn more about David here http://www.davidtryan.com/intro.htm I never knew him, but it is obvious the world lost a great person, and a brilliant mind who might have saved countless lives with his research... RIP David...

A group of 50 of us road a 30 mile loop past where David was hit, and we all spent a moment in silence in his honor.

I feel bad being my normal flippant self with this post, when the ride was for such a sad reason.

It was a gorgeous night and a great ride, and many thanks to the Hudson Mohawk Cycling Group for putting it together. I've never experienced riding with 50 cyclists in a pack before, that took some getting used to! I kept thinking, "don't you DARE hit anyone here Col...." Luckily it was a "casual" night out for the "big boys." Of course, casual to them is 20mph. Oh sure, 20mph is MY casual pace too!

Although, the fact that I somehow hung with the big boys for 3/4 of the way made me uber proud of myself. Now, when I say "big boys" you should SEE the legs on these monsters! HOLY CRAP! They are FIENDS! So yeah, I was proud of myself for keeping up, even if they were only going on a leisurely jaunt and I was dying.

That is, until we hit one of the final hills and yeah, it was "see ya!" They kept motoring and my pace slowed down to probably 5mph or something. I literally had the Little Engine that could going on in my head, "I think I can, I think I can, I think I can..." All I could think was how embarrassed I would be if I had to get off my bike and walk, there was no WAY I was going to let that happen. So I somehow made it up the hill, but at this point I was in the dead middle of everyone.

The big boys were gone, and the slow people hadn't caught up and I really had no clue where I was going. So yeah, maybe I got a little lost, but luckily it was only a few more miles and I figured out how to get there.

Then, 5:45 am boot camp this morning, and yes, I'm pretty dead right now...

Progress in the pool

2009-06-26T09:10:00.000-07:00

That's right, I said it! I'm finally making progress in the dreaded/hated water. This morning was my bi-weekly lesson with Bonnie, which I was super excited about. First, I love getting lessons with her because she really knows what she's talking about, and I always leave feeling like I've learned something valuable. Second, because I've been working really hard the last few weeks on the swimming "homework" she assigned me, and I was really anxious to see if I had made progress.

Swimming workouts are bad enough, but here I've spent the last few weeks swimming in bathwater temp pools, while being emotionally scarred by Europeans in speedos. Darn right I was placing a lot of pressure on myself to have improved. The counseling to get the horrific image out of my mind alone is going to cost me a fortune. See, I can barely type, I'm still shuddering when I think about it.... ah ah AH MY EYES, MY EYES, THEY'RE BURNING!!!!

Uh, gross. Ok, happy thoughts, happy thoughts, I'm riding my horse on a nice trail ride.... pretty flowers.....

Ok! Back to the pool! First, the boys would be proud. I've cut my water entry down to only about a minute process now.

Months of swimming with me while I performed my pool-entry-ritual used to drive them batty.
1. Ease my way SLOWLY into the freezing water.
2. Try to keep half my body out while I chattered and complained about how cold it was.
3. Twenty minutes later, drop myself fully into the pool. Continue to complain about the water temperature.
4. Half-hour later, after delaying actually swimming for as long as humanely possible, I would finally declare, "OK FINE!" and submerge my head under the water. Once again, I would then declare the water temp sucks and make sure the entire pool knew I was not happy
5. Commence with flailing wildly in the water

Now that summer has hit, I've finally got it down to slipping in as quickly as possible, taking a deep breath, and then submerging. I still haven't braved the Neil-Pool-Entry, run to the deep-end and just jump in, although I'm told that is actually easier? One thing at a time here people.

After a 100m warm-up Bonnie and I started in on our drills.

Y - Drill - flip half way and do head lead, no hands. 25m
Head-Lead, flip sides every breath, no hands - 25m
Move to one arm lead, 25m each side.

After the arm lead drill Bonnie actually just looked at me in a confused manner, and announced, "Um, Col? That's incredible, you've actually improved a LOT since two weeks ago. Your position and core strength is amazing."

SCORE! I could have done a flip in the water for joy! Umm, if I knew how to do that, which I don't. Also, if I was not sure that if I tried I would just hit a wall and knock myself unconscious.

So we moved on to:
25m one arm paddle drill - both sides
25m one switch - both sides
25m double switch - both sides
25 x 10 - triple switch, focusing on staying under 10 strokes to get down the pool, and Bonnie watching the clock. By some random act of nature I managed to maintained the exact stroke count/pace the entire 10 25ms? Yeah, I don't know either.

At this point, Bonnie is just looking at me with still a slightly confused/amazed look and said, "Ok, well, since your stroke is like amazingly better than two weeks ago, let's hit a mile doing 100s with 30 second rest between."

Ummm, I'm sorry, WHAT? Yeah, um, about that? I didn't sleep last night, and we just did drills that kicked my butt, and um, that sounds like it will suck? I REALLY don't think I've improved that much.

Hi, the previous lesson we had done a 50, 100, 150, 200, 150, 100, 50 pyramid and that made me feel like someone had beaten me with a mallet? I also had to flip on my side and catch my breathe multiple times doing that, like A LOT. Now you want me to do 1600m doing 100s with only 30 second rest, I'm sorry, did you forget your crazy pills today?

But since you actually can't SAY any of that to Bonnie, you just have to suck it up and try, so I did. Thinking, "This woman may kill me."

First 100m I completed, second, third, I'm getting winded and there was no fudging 30 seconds with Bonnie, she was watching that clock and it was "FIVE, FOUR, THREE, TWO, GO!" Thoughts going on in my head "OMG, I have to do how many more of these? There is no way I will ever make it."

Into my 4th 100m it suddenly occurred to me, um, I hadn't flipped on my side once? Seriously? I was somehow managing this? How was THAT happening?

Stop at the wall for my massively long 30 rest, Bonnie and I talk about my breathing, and that now that I'm lengthening my stroke those three strokes will take more time between breathes. Therefore, I needed to breath more often.

She told me to switch it up, so I did. 5th 100m it definitely threw me at first, but then I started to get into a rhythm. Three strokes, breath, two strokes, breath left, two strokes, breath left, three strokes, breath, two strokes, breath right, two strokes, breath right. This way I was still bi-lateral breathing, but I was also getting more oxygen in.

Now, while I'm tired, I'm getting into a rhythm and it's suddenly actually easier than my first 3 100ms? However, Bonnie did decide to take pity on my pathetic self and she let me get away with only swimming a half-mile, 8 x 100ms. Time? 16 minutes! Which, no, I'm no amazing swimmer, but with my mile swim in Memphis being 43 minutes, 16 mins for my half-mile is definitely an improvement.

Final talk - My stroke is holding, I've figured out how to enter wide and I'm grabbing the water well. I'm also holding my core really well, so now it's about conditioning. Bonnie said she thinks being low 30 min mile by the end of the summer is completely reasonable for me. I don't need sub 30, but low 30s would be an entire 10 minutes off my Memphis time, I'll take it and be REALLY happy about it.

Swimming homework until my next lesson - run through my drills - Swim 100ms, 30 seconds rest, adding 100ms each swim building up to the full mile. Next lesson, three weeks from now, so now to see what I can do with the next three weeks of swimming?! I also need to get my butt out to the open water swims taking place, that will be key for me.

I WILL keep working on this, and one of these days, I will even be not-horrible at swimming!

Running Depression

2009-06-25T05:26:00.000-07:00

I am currently in the middle of my "no running depression." Um, and no one warned me about the strange side effect this might have....

I drive past people running on the street and I look at them longingly. I check out their leg muscles, try to figure out their pace, and then I stop and think, "WHAT ARE YOU DOING FREAK?" I look at guys, and I'm checking to see if I think I could out pace them. This is what I've been brought to...pathetic.

While I'm thankful I have my boot camp workouts right now, they are also highly frustrating to me. Half the time sprints are involved to keep your HR up, oh, and there I am, doing lunges, or high knee lifts. Fun, super fun, oh, and yeah, you all have fun running by me. Thanks! Nope, doesn't bother me at all! I'm happy to be in my little corner, doing ten million lunges....

I know, this could be much worse. Rather than 4 weeks off I could have really ripped something, or be facing surgery. Goodness knows there are people 10xs worse off than me, and I should get over my complaining. I need to suck it up and be happy with my Jane Fonda leg lifts, and focusing on my swimming. In the end, it will make me a better competitor.... right? sigh...

So, things in my control right now. Following through with my rehab, focusing on swimming and biking, and pushing myself as much as I'm allowed at boot camp. Also, oh, yeah, nutrition....

Nutrition, um, yeah, that. My sports med doc recently ramped my calories up even higher, and so now I face trying to eat healthy and eat enough calories. Listen, do you know how hard it is to eat an extra 500 more calories a day that are healthy? Sure, if we're talking a cheese burger, fries and a shake this would be no problem.

But with boot camp comes food journals, with food journals comes Tina-The-Machine reading what you eat. Trust me, angry/disappointed Tina is not something anyone wants to witness. Five minutes of a "I'm disappointed in you all" speech from Tina makes me feel like a 5 year old that stole from the cookie jar. Umm, so wait, you mean beer ISN'T on the list of things we're supposed to be having? Ok fine, so for the next five weeks, I will be a super good girl and really really really try here. Maybe I shouldn't mention as I write that I am chomping on a Newman's-O Organic Cookie? (Listen, they are SUPER GOOD)

Ouch!

2009-06-23T07:56:00.000-07:00

Really got nothing today, other than, OUCH! Boot camp is kicking my butt, as it always does. I haven't touched weights in 6 months, so Tina-The-Machine shredded my biceps/triceps Saturday. Now, when I say "shredded" I mean I still can't fully extend my arms. But hey, don't worry Tina, didn't really need those anyway! Being able to open doors is totally overrated.

An hour of boot camp and then an hour of spin Sat and I was pretty done. Since I'm not allowed to run for a month I'm trying to hit my cardio in other ways as hard as I can. But, when my H.R. was abnormally in spin and I know how hard I was pushing myself I knew I was over doing it. Usually that level of intensity will spike me to the 160s-170s, so my body was done. oops! I took Sunday off and just spent a great Father's Day with the family. :)

Still working on my swimming, that will be ongoing for a while. sigh....

Valuable Lesson - Michelle Obama Arms

2009-06-21T08:16:00.000-07:00

It’s funny in life, how you can be going along assuming you know who you are, and how you think and suddenly you will realize a truth about yourself that is ugly. What is even more interesting is what/who brings you to that point of looking at yourself honestly. I had one of those moments last night, and when I looked in the mirror I really didn’t like what I saw, and it all started with my choice to wear a sleeveless shirt…

True confession, I have jacked arms. Second confession - I get insecure about my jacked arms. Now, if you were to ask me in general I would say there is very little I get insecure about. Generally I don’t give a crap what people think, I’m a “what you see is what you get” type of girl. I am who I am, like me or not, that is up to you. I love who I love, I would defend my friends to the death, and I really don’t care what people think of me.

But, recently I have found myself getting worried about how I look. I have no desire to walk around looking like Linda Hamilton and it gets to me. To the point I find myself searching out shirts with capped sleeves on them to try to hide my shoulders when possible. But, it's summer and so sometimes I look at my wardrobe and think, “just get over it.”

Last night was one of those nights, I was getting ready to go out with friends and it was humid. So I after contemplating what to wear, and in the end I threw on a sleeveless shirt and headed out.

I got to my destination and met up with my friends. I started chatting with everyone having a nice time. In fact, I even got an ego boost when my friend’s girlfriend was sweet enough to comment to me that she mentioned to her boyfriend she, “Wants Col’s arms, because Col has Michelle Obama arms.” Considering how insecure I get over them I definitely appreciated the comment. She told me if she had arms like me she would never hide them, in fact, she’d walk around in a tube top at all times, which was super sweet of her to say. So overall I was feeling better about how I looked.

Enter – Catty Mirror – Now, I realize in life there are people that are insecure and sometimes it comes out in different ways. Usually I can take it and it doesn’t get to me. But, you combine insecurity with jealousy in a female and the result is always the same – catty. And honestly, I really thought I was at a point in a point in my life where stuff like that doesn’t even touch me anymore. I never choose to hang out with girls like that. A catty female get to me?! Never! Or wait, yeah, hit me where I’m weak and yup, still hurts and shows me something pretty important about myself….

First – age – catty female decides there is an opening to try to go after Col there. Ok, really, that is fine. Yes, I was born the year I was born, your point would be? Maybe if you are an idiot 23 year old, I seem old? That’s just more amusing to me than anything. Maturity truly does not come with age, you can be an idiot at 40, or mature at 21, age really doesn’t matter to me and calling me old amuses me. Last guy I dated was 26, I’ve also dated 38, all the same to me I don’t care.

But catty female moved on to hit me where it hurt, and ironically, I knew she was doing it to be spiteful but it STILL got to me. “Hey Col, do you hang out with so many gay guys because you’re a lesbian? ARE you a lesbian?” My first reaction should have simply been the truth, “Wow, you’re an idiot.” But instead I found myself actually getting insecure about the comment and thinking, “My god, do I LOOK like a lesbian?” The worst was she then proceeded to make a comment about one of the sweetest people I know,, ‘Well, such and such has a ‘roommate’ and we all know what that means.” What kills me is instead of doing the right thing, which would have been to point out that fact that that person is a total sweetheart and her sexual orientation is NONE of your business and keep your snippy remark about her to yourself. Instead, I froze. Why? Why did I freeze?

On some level, I realized, I was embarrassed to be thought of as a lesbian. NOT simply because I’m not, but because I must equate a level of shame with it. Really? Me, who is blessed with some of the most amazing gay friends who would do anything for me. I was embarrassed to be called a lesbian. I didn’t shut her up when she made a snippy comment about my lesbian friend, instead, I froze. And now, I wish I could take that moment back. You want to call me a lesbian? Sure, thanks SOOO much for letting me come out of the closet, but sorry, you’re not my type. I am not attracted to idiots.

But I can’t, I can’t go back in time and change my reaction. However, I am thankful for what she said, because maybe I never would have realized the truth about myself and faced it. So go ahead, call me a lesbian, I know some awesome lesbians and gay men. No more hiding my triathlon arms for fear of looking too butch. What you see is what you get. It is the body god gave me and I workout. Some guys find ripped abs and arms sexy, some don’t. No, I don’t have big boobs, but I’ve got a great ass. lol. Obviously anyone I date will be attracted to me for who I am and what I look like, can’t hide it. Anyone who knows me knows my heart, and who I am, and who I’m not. Assume what you will, think what you will, I don’t give a crap.

Also, that is the last time anyone makes a snippy comment about a gay friend of mine in front of me with me freezing, I’m sorry I allowed it to slide last night. It won’t happen again.

Next time you see me, I will be wearing a tube top… Ok, no, only because I think they are hideous, but sleeveless definitely! And God bless Michelle Obama, she is to arms what J-Lo was to the booty.

Swimming Trauma

2009-06-19T11:37:00.000-07:00

Dear European at the SUNY Pool,

While I applaud your desire to swim in the bath-water-that-passes-for-a-pool at SUNY, this is where it end. No one cares where you are from, it does not give you the right to blind the rest of us by the sight of you in a wayyy-too-tight-speedo. Swimming is challenging enough for me, without the mental trauma you decided to inflict on me today. I will now spend the rest of the afternoon going to a "happy place" in my thoughts in an attempt to thoroughly cleanse the disturbing image from my mind.

Please note: Unless you are actually Michael Phelps and are preparing for Olympic competition, a speedo-brief is not a good look on any guy. Even if you were sporting 12 pack abs and a ripped back (which you aren't, btw) it is still nauseating.

Regards,

Still-Traumatized-In-Albany

P.S. This means the REAL Michael Phelps, "Coach Phelps" please do not decide to attempt the look yourself.

Running Withdrawal :(

2009-06-17T11:47:00.000-07:00

Current Mood - Depressed - Sigh....

After a month of ignoring it, I finally decided I better stop pretending it wasn't hurting and go get my knee checked out. I am ok running through pain, but even I know if I'm doing something that is tearing things up it is better to get it fixed now before I've done some real damage and I hurt myself for good.

So, I sucked it up and made the phone call. I was pretty luck and was able to get in with a Sports Med Dr. who is also an Ironman. I figure, if anyone was going to understand me wanting to get this fixed and back in full performance shape as quickly as possible it would be someone like that.

After managing to get myself lost, going basically across the street from work, I finally arrived yesterday for my consult at the Bone & Joint Center. I got brought in for X-Rays, and then was ushered in to the doctor's office to wait.

Luckily I had had a brief moment of intelligence, and had thought to bring a pair of running shorts to change into from my work suit. So while waiting I stripped out of my suit and settled in with Sports Illustrated. No, not the swim suit issue. Only a few minute later, Dr. Shatynski came bustling in with a P.T. in training at his side. Sadly, I did not finish the article on the MLB '05 draft stars. sigh.

He was pretty much what you'd expect from an Ironman, in super shape, tan, and pretty darn nice too. Was I checking him out? Absolutely, won't pretend I wasn't, we allll know Col has a thing for bald guys, but he's married so that was all it was.

We went over my history, when the pain started, etc. and the exam started. Suddenly I realized I was on the WB's version of "America's Next Top Triathlete" First, I'm laying flat out on a table with a nice work-shirt on, matched with running shorts. HOT look, let me tell you. I was definitely feeling awkward and uncomfortable to begin with, and here I am laid out on a table staring up at two people who start to nitpick my poor muscles apart.

Dr. Shatinsky turns to the P.T. and starts with, "Hmm, well, see her quad here (as he points at part of my leg) does not have as much definition as I'd like to see. She's got a pretty typical female runners body, fairly scrawny legs."

Ok, wait, WHAT? Dude, I'M RIGHT HERE, I can hear you! I'd like it to have more definition TOO! I know my quads are small, I'm WORKING ON IT! But no, don't worry about that you two, just pick me apart me front of me, NO prob, TOTALLY secure enough to take it.

Next question, "How long have you been cycling?" "Um, only a few months." He then turns to P.T. in training and says, "Well that's good, that will help. " Thanks doc, sorry my quads are so offensive, I'll make sure I wear long pants to hide them from now on....

The Exam continued he checked my glute strength etc. and then he moved into checking my adductor strength, "Ok, I want you to squeeze my hand as hard as you can." "Um, ok, if you say so..."I had warned him I rode horses, but they just never listen.

So I did, I squeezed as hard as I could, causing him to yelp, "Holy crap you almost broke my HAND!" Well duh, I ride horses, I could crack a coconut with my legs. "Oh yeah, I know you said you ride, I just wasn't expecting a little female like you to generate that much power." "Little female," now he was starting to push it, and I am glad I almost broke his hand, thank you! He's lucky I didn't deck him for that statement.

Onward to balancing tests, squat tests, and watching me walk. I am happy to report both he and the P.T. commented on me having awesome balance and a "Really great squat," that's right, take THAT you "don't have enough muscle definition in your quads," people!

End Result - He informs me I'm "not a classic case," instead my adductors are abnormally strong--mostly from riding--and my abductors are not strong enough to balance them out.

Additionally, I have tight hip flexors and IT band on the left is super tight (shocker, I try to stretch them as much as I can, but it's so hard to really get at them).

A few other things are contributing, but basically from the X-Ray they could see that my patella is out of alignment and is pulled to the left. My adductors are pulling my femur too strongly to the right, and the IT band is pulling the patella the other direction, so, when I'm running everything is out of wack and it's all rubbing together = pain. I guess the good news is I haven't kept running on it and started doing cartilage damage...

The Fix -
1. Five days a week of exercises he outlined - Fine - That I can do

2. NO RUNNING FOR 4 WEEKS? Seriously? I almost punched him after he told me that one. I informed him I might shoot myself not being allowed to run. He made me swear, assuring me that since I know his bio I know he wants me back out and moving as badly as I do. He PROMISES that if I don't run, he'll have me back better than ever in four weeks. So fine, Mr. Ironman, you'd better be right or I will break your hand next time. Also, he is slightly cute which worked in his favor, so I agreed, even if he did insult my quads.

Competitions - Luckily the Lake George Tri isn't until Sept, so I am hoping I will be ok for that. I will try to focus on swimming and biking for the next month.

Mentally/emotionally not having my running is going to be tough, I love being able to go out and getting rid of stress by running. Also, it's freaking me out giving up a full month of running training in peak 5k season. I was JUST starting to get my speed back :( I was finally hitting 7:30 min miles again, but now I lose all that momentum, argh.

Yesterday was a bad day, but I'm trying to pull my head out the funk and get over it. At least it's not something serious, it's not like I need surgery, and I'll do what it takes to rehab it and fix the problem.

Boot Camp Hell - Shredding

2009-06-15T09:33:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow it begins, six weeks of hell-workouts.

Three days a week of boot camp workouts (5:30 am Tue and Thurs, 7 am Sat, oh joy), and THEN trying to still run/bike/swim/ride my horses? Even I know this is going to be interesting. Of course Tina is like "You'll still come do spin after boot camp right?" "Ahh, sure! No prob!"

Granted, I am not where I was last year. Last year an hour spin class was tough, now it's my recovery day. It really is amazing how our bodies adapt to what we throw at them. Even so, I know how boot camp works me out and I know how sore I'm going to be the first week. I will be wandering around, taking elevators to avoid the embarrassment of limping up and down the work stairwell.

Besides, I get a kick out of angering the beast. I keep harassing Tina with, "I hope you'll be able to work us out enough...." I do realize that is a dumb thing to do, and I will pay for it dearly when she decides she will push me until I puke.... Lord help me and my big mouth....

If I'm able to type tomorrow, I'll put an update here.

Shredding

So Tina and I had a conversation about nutrition/body fat/shredding out the other day which was interesting. First, let me point out Tina-The-Machine is rock solid muscle, seriously. If you were to look at her in regular clothes, people wouldn't realize she can kick serious booty, but she can. However, even she complains sometimes about spots she would prefer to be smaller.

That said, she and I were discussing what it takes to "shred out" at this point. Frankly, I wouldn't mind maintaining my muscle mass and dropping my body fat down to serious athletic zone. However, the problem becomes when moving your body fat down 3% points means a fat loss of only 4 pounds, your body does NOT want to give that up. It sits there and goes "Um, nope, we're healthy here and if a famine were to come we need some storage."

Which is why if you create too large a calorie deficit when you have little to lose, your body releases stress hormones and your body won't let you drop a single pound. AINT HAPPENING... So, the question becomes, is it even WORTH what it would take for me to shred out from here?

I could do it, but to maintain/build muscle while shredding, I would need to become seriously psychotic about calories/food for a few weeks and I just don't know if it's worth it. Sure, it would be nice to look killer in a bikini at the Jersey Shore this summer, but HOW worth it is that? haha

Yeah, not sure... Since my BMR is 1700 calories, that is what I need to eat each day to simply maintain, THEN you need to figure in calories expended during exercise. So, say I burn 700 that day, ok, then I would need to eat another 400 - creating a 300 calorie daily deficit.

Because if I create much more of a deficit than that at this point, my body will shut it down. But, it doesn't end there.

Nope, because you have to think about calorie partitioning and the fact you need to eat UBER clean and balance carbs/fat/protein to make sure you don't take muscle off just fat, and that you stay as far away from sugar/processed carbs as you can. Also, you have to make sure you're eating around your workouts so the calories go to building your muscle back up as quickly as possible.

Frankly, it gives me a headache thinking about it. Can it be done? Sure. Is it fun? Not so much. The amount of meal planning/ thinking that goes into that is overwhelming.

Last year I dropped 2.5% body fat in six weeks when I focused on it, but I wasn't exercising as much, which makes it MORE complicated believe it or not. Also, the lower you get the harder it becomes to make the number budge. Besides, I have no idea how much I burn when swimming? I could guess, but I am not really sure. Sometimes you have to sit there and go "Hmmm, look good in a bikini - mental sanity and ice cream once in a while."

Yup, I'll take a Double Death By Chocolate Cone thank you!

Obsessed with swimming

2009-06-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

Somehow in the midst of my love/hate relationship with the pool I've realized the truth...I've become obsessed with swimming....

Maybe it's like waving a red flag in front of a bull, or hanging a carrot just out of reach of an ass--oh please, it's their real name where do you think the term "ass" came from?

Mix an Irish temper with a German's stubbornness and you get = Col. Give the Irish/German something she can't do? Darn it, I will kill myself trying to figure it out. The thing is, most of the time I don't have to work this hard at things. Cocky statement, I realize that, now forgive me.

But here's the thing, if things are too easy I get bored and stop trying. College - I was a Communications Major, but I took a statistics class with 400 people.

One day in the last five minutes of class the professor put a problem on the board and proudly announced if any of us could come up with the correct answer by the next class, he'd give us a day off.

So, being super motivated to not have to be in that class on Friday I looked at the problem for 10 seconds and raised my hand, "Yes? Question?" "No, actually here's the answer," and I rattled it off.

After a moment of stunned silence the professor stammered, "Um, wow, ok, I've never had anyone ever answer it that fast before."

"Yeah, ok, great, so do we get the next class off?" Professor, "Um, yeah you all do." Let me tell you, I was immediately super popular with those 400 students. haha. But Math = Easy. Plus, I never found it terribly interesting. Randomly, my brother is the engineer. While I may be 10 times better at math and science then he is, I think I would shoot myself if I had to have a career in it.

Swimming on the other hand, wow, it has kicked my butt mentally/emotionally/and physically for months! And today I realized, my frustration has now turned into a complete obsessive fixation on figuring it out.

Somewhere I had a mental turn. It went from "I HATE this," with me going to the pool completely frustrated, wanting to ram my head into the side of it over, and over, until I was finally out of my misery, to, "Damn it I WILL get this down."

Granted, Bonnie is playing a big part in that, she's an awesome coach and she's been able to give me things to work on that have been making a huge difference. I can go out each time knowing I'm improving which does quite a bit for my mental health. Happily, the urge to ram my head into the side of the pool is finally abating. Random thought...Perhaps my throwing myself into my bedroom wall during my sleep was actually me dreaming about swimming??? Discuss, talk amongst yourselves....

Swim Lesson Fridays:

The last few times I've met with her we've been focusing on my entering the water with my arms wider, and so I've been really drilling myself with that.

This morning, I did the usual early morning wander into the pool. It was pretty filled, so I had to share a lane with a little old lady, poor thing. (I was so nervous I would ram into her like I've done with Neil, that I tended to swim almost into the side wall to prevent that from happening all morning. However, I'm happy to report she did exit the pool in one piece, without any outward signs of trauma from having swam with me.)

But I digress, So I did my usual 100m warm-up before the lesson started. When I got back to the wall I was pleasantly surprised to hear Bonnie say,"You've been practicing haven't you?" "Why yes, yes I HAVE!" Feeling all proud of myself, that Bonnie noticed I've been working hard I waited to hear what she would say next...
Nervously Bonnie started in with, "Um, Col, I don't know how to tell you this... But now you're actually entering the water with your arms TOO wide." Then she stopped and just looked at me. I don't know if she thought it was going to hurt my feelings or frustrate me, but I she seemed relieved when I busted out laughing.

Darn it, Bonnie had told me to work on keeping my arms wide when I enter the water and they WERE WIDE! Ok, so maybe I tend to over-do things a little....

After the laughter subsided Bonnie continued on, "I didn't know how to tell you! It is flattening you out in the water and you look like a little skeeter bug." Ok, forget it, that got me rolling laughing again, especially since she insisted on imitating her version of Col-The-Skeeter-Bug from the deck.

So FINE THEN, I've got the wide-arm entry down now. Now I'm working on not looking like a skeeter bug. Although watching Bonnie's imitation may have made it all worth it. :)

From Skeeter-Bug we moved to a 1/2 hour of drills and then 1/2 hour workout.

Interesting note to self: While Bonnie tells me I have a super tight core and really great side balance, she pointed out when I balance on my right side I over-arch my lower back. (something I do alll the time, even when I ride I am working on NOT doing that) I need to think about fixing. Yet,I don't do it on my left side, so strange. Perhaps more annoying is that it causes me to ram into the side wall if I don't straighten myself. It's like watching a drunken sailor swimming, not a pretty picture.

Bonnie encouraged me by assuring me I have excellent kinesthetics because I can always feel what she points out, even if I can't always fix it right away. In the long run she tells me if I can feel it, I'll be able to figure out fixing it.

Drill Run-Down:

50m Y Position Drill
50m Side Rotation w/o hands
50m One Armed Lead - both sides
50m Switch
50m Double Switch
250m Triple Switch - Using only 9 strokes to get down the lane - Focusing on not "horse back riding" with my arms. Years of muscle memory has me pulling my elbows in towards my body like I'm riding one of the jumpers. I need to work on keeping my elbows stationary, and "riding" my side as long as possible. Also key with me is keeping my chin tucked and my head tilted a bit further downward, I keep losing that one.

Then we went to a pyramid workout - 50m, 100m, 150m,200m,150m,100m,50m -

So that's it. That is my swimming homework for the next two weeks until my next lesson with her. Work through my drills, do 250m of the triple switch, then do a pyramid workout. I can pretty much get that all done in an hour, so that works. Although, it's been a few weeks since I've done a swim "workout" and MAN am I feeling it! Drills just aren't the same! The hope/plan is to swim three days a week, we'll see how that goes!

Still healing...

2009-06-10T12:17:00.000-07:00

So, the stupid knee is still acting up. I only ran 4 miles Monday because of it. I even threw a brace on to run, didn't help. I hit the gym after my run to do some leg extensions/other leg muscle building exercises, then home to ice and rest. Pool Tuesday morning, just working on my drills. I'm looking forward to my lesson with Bonnie on Friday! I think it's starting to come together, so I'm interested to get her feedback.

Tonight, taking the Pink-Lady out for a spin, the rain seems like it's going to hold off...

That, is about it right now! I'm trying to get back on track with my diet, and it's leaving me in the middle of sugar withdrawl. I'd suggest not calling me for a few days. I mean, I'M SO SUPER HAPPY RIGHT NOW! I walked into the kitchen here at work, and of course, there are cookies sitting out, bastards. I wanted to grab one sooo badly, but I resisted.

More amusing than my training right now is probably dating stories I could share. Let's face it, I meet some INTERESTING guys. Between me and my girlfriends we could have an entire blog!

Preview: Col sitting at a bar visiting my girlfriend who is working, minding my own business, not talking to anyone. Guy sits down next to Col and has a few, suddenly, "Hey, do you want to make out?" Ummm, NO?" Seriously? WHO ASKS THAT? The best was he KEPT asking until my girlfriend threw him out? Still not sure how I resisted his charms, it was hard, I assure you.

Or wait, guy wants to hang out. Col text messages, "Hey, out with some friends if you want to meet us." Text back, "Cool, do they have TVs there? I don't go anywhere there aren't TVs." Col's reply, "Wow! Ok, yes, they do. But seriously, DON'T you DARE show up." Guy's reply, "Wait, why not?" "Just don't, seriously, for your own good, don't try to come."

Oh, I almost forgot my favorite! ahahahahahaha, Meet lawyer, nice, smart, cute, going well. Ok, give my number, cool. Phone rings the next day, over and over, number I don't recognize. I finally text, "Who is this?" I get back, "This is Seth's friend, he was busy at work but he wanted me to call to see if you wanted to go to dinner tonight." Wait, WHAT 27 year old guy has his friend call to ask a girl on a date?! "So, do you want to go?" "Um, nope, I'll pass." Yet another difficult decision, I say WOW. Really, wow....

When there are times it has gotten to the point one of my girlfriends had to try to convince a guy I liked girls just so he'd leave me alone, you know it's bad out there.

Nakia, "I'm sorry, Colleen is a lesbian." Guy, "No she's not, I know she's not." Nakia, "I think I know her better than you do, and yes, she is." I get informed a few minutes later, "Col, just so you know, you're a lesbian for the night." "Oh, ok, thanks!" For once it worked, and he didn't bother me again. hahahaha sad state of affairs :)

Hot Yoga

2009-06-08T10:46:00.000-07:00

Ok, all I have to say about hot yoga, is, wow. My hamstrings are still hurting from it three days later.

After deciding we're both way too tight, Tina-The-Machine and I agreed we need to do more stretching. So off to hot yoga we trotted, which I knew was going to be trouble before we started.

First, it was a sub-instructor. This little brunette who was bouncing around all super flexible, go away uber perky flexible girl!

Second, Tina and I set-up right next to each other. Bad idea #2.

As it started we were doing pretty well, random rap music and all. Oh, I'm not joking, sub-instructor had RANDOM music for a yoga class!

Into Downward Dog, Cobra, and so on we go. Tina and I were doing pretty well too, hanging with everyone... Then Perky-Flexible-Instructor decided to put us into Downward Dog but then proceeded to, "Ok, good! Now lift your left foot! Good! Now lift your right arm." At this point I'm thinking, "You've GOT to be kidding!"

http://www.ehow.com/video_2365970_one-legged-one-armed-downward.html

I'm was desperately trying to maintain my balance on one wobbling arm and leg, while maintaining my "even breathing" and not fall over. I was doing pretty well too, until I see Tina shaking in front of me.

I am still not sure what she said to the instructor, but suddenly Perky-Girl got a little feisty with Tina and announced, "Well it's not like I'm asking you all to put your leg behind your head!" At which point Tina retorted back under her breath, "You might as well be!"

That was it, Tina might have been shaking, but I was past that point now. It was all over, I started laughing and hit the floor with a thud. I'm sorry, but how does the girl in this video make this look so easy? I look like a shaking mess when I try it!

However, not to be detered, Tina and I are tackling hot yoga again this week. Lord help us....

Wired up and sent to bed....

2009-06-05T08:09:00.001-07:00

Having effectively traumatized my poor sister by my nighttime gymnastics, not to mention smashing my face, I finally decided it was time to see a sleep specialist.

Now, one needs to understand sleep walking/talking/random behaviors have been a part of my life for so long I really stopped thinking twice about them a long time ago. I've been known to talk in Spanish in my sleep, scream, wake myself up in an absolutely panic standing in the middle of my bedroom, and many other interesting night time activities...However, throwing myself into a wall? That was new, even for me, and it scared me enough to decide it was time something be done.

So yesterday, I dutifully trotted over to the sleep specialist to see if they had any thoughts about how I could keep from causing myself physical harm. Since I am not too keen on the idea of getting strapped to my bed every night when it's time to go to sleep. Not to say there is never a place for handcuffs, I'm just saying, in general....

As I walked in to the office, I was pretty stoked to see they had a cycling magazine on the table, so I started reading and prepared for whatever was to come next... Finally, they called my name and the doctor escorted me to his chamber, um, office. Sitting down the questions began....

"Are you married?" - nope - "How much do you weigh..." - Right, like I'm writing that in my blog!.. "Are you under a lot of stress?" "Nope, no more than usual," many questions later, "Do you remember having a dream when these things happen?" "Nope, nothing, I woke up flying into the wall...."

Fast forward - Doctor's best guest right now is I have "Non-REM parasomnia." Basically from what he explained to me your body is not designed to be woken up out of its deepest stage of sleep. Instead, you have your sleep cycle and once you hit stages 3-4 of sleep (non-rapid-eye-movement) you are at your deepest level and you are supposed to cycle out of that until you're into REM.

Stages of the Sleep Cycle

"People normally cycle through distinct stages of sleep 4 or 5 times during the night. Relatively little time is spent in stage 1 (shallow) sleep. The greatest time is spent in stage 2 sleep. Deep sleep (stages 3 and 4) occurs mostly during the first half of the night, whereas more time is spent in rapid eye movement (REM) sleep as the night progresses. Brief awakenings occur throughout the night, most of which the sleeper is typically unaware of. "

My body, however, likes to mix it up and jettison me straight from deep sleep - to awake within an hour of falling asleep. From what he explained to me since our bodies are not designed to do that, it automatically puts you into a physical state of distress - hence "classic night terrors" (his words, not mine). It really is pretty interesting.

Frankly, I've been so used to waking up screaming that I've kind of gotten to the point of just going "oh well" and going back to sleep. Complications occur when your body takes that response and then does something physical with it, such as throwing yourself into a wall.... oops!

The bad news is I guess it means I'm never getting any real deep sleep at night, hence why I'm tired all the time? End result - Sleep study needed to figure out if I stop breathing at night, or if there is any other physical explanation of why it's happening.

Strangely enough, they had an opening last night so I thought "What the heck, might as well get this over with." Three hours later, I was back at the clinic with my pajamas and pillow, prepared to enter the creepy situation of being hooked to electrodes and getting filmed sleeping.

I admit driving there I felt like some horror movie was about to take place and I'd probably wake up to someone trying to murder me with a chainsaw.

However, once they start hooking you up, while you look like a cyborg "RESISTANCE IS FUTILE," it is also extremely interesting. 32 Electrodes and one uncomfortable bed later they are able to measure:

EEG (Electroencephalogram) -What stage of sleep you are in during any given period
EOG (Electroocculogram) - One electrode near your left eye, one near your right - Lets them record your eye movements while sleeping and helps them determine sleep stage.
EMG (Electromyogram) - Three leads on your chin, and two on each calf muscle - Shows them muscle movement during sleep, helps them document if you're awake or if it's just a spastic movement.
EKG/ECG (Electrokardiogram - Electrocardiogram) - Most people know an EKG - Records heart rate and rhythm, also they can tell if my 02 levels are desaturating if I have a corresponding arrhythmia.
Airflow - Good ol' fashioned airflow sensor - Senses amount of airflow moving in and out of the airways so they know if you stop breathing.
Respitory Effort (oh yeah, not done yet!) - To bands, one around your chest, one around your abdomen to sense movements during breathing. If you do stop breathing, they can tell if it's just about the airflow or if you stop completely.
Oxygen saturation - On your finger, self-explanatory - determines your blood oxygen saturation.

And finally, my favorite - the camera they use to watch you sleep all night. CREEPY!

(BTW, the above picture fails to capture what your hair looks like with the gunk throughout which is needed to keep the electodes in place. It's like sticking a tube of toothpaste throughout your hair. Took me forever to get out this morning. When I left I pulled the hood up on my sweatshirt and slunk out the door)

10:30 after reading for a while it was time to go to sleep. Which, was REALLY interesting when they want you to sleep on your back with a million wires sticking out of you, and all sorts of crap taped to your body/face.

Did I sleep? Somewhat, hopefully enough that they recorded whatever they needed to to diagnose what's going on. I felt like I woke up all night long, but who knows how many times I actually woke up. Certainly was not a typical nights sleep by any means, but I assume they factor that in. Who in the world would sleep normally/well under those conditions? Every time you wake up you feel like waving at the camera. "HI GUYS! HOW ARE MY BRAIN WAVES LOOKING?"

What were the results you ask? No idea, I find out in a few weeks...Until then the doctor suggested I take all glass objects out of my room, and sleep in a sleeping bag to restrain myself somewhat (I kid you not, this is what he told me). Ok, because I want to sleep in a sleeping bag in the middle of JUNE? Well, ok yeah, if I'm camping, but not in my BEDROOM!

Cross Training Madness

2009-06-03T06:34:00.001-07:00

So, coming off the triathlon I haddd promised myself to take some time off. Kick back, relax a bit, and eat whatever I wanted. Which I did...for about three days.

Not really my fault, any more time off and I think my sister might have killed me. I start bouncing off the walls in the apartment looking for things to do. Replace George with Col in the following video and you get an idea of how bad things get...

I mean, it's so bad I threw myself into my wall while sleeping the other night for some added excitement in my life!

Ok, no, I really did. There are actually two teeth marks in my wall from where I hit. No, I don't know what I was dreaming. I just know I woke up slamming into the wall in the middle of the night.

In fact, I hit so hard I managed to rip braces off my teeth and I slammed my nose to the point I thought it was broken. My poor sister, I woke her yelling from my room. My favorite was her question through the door, "Col, why are you yelling in there?" REALLY? REALLY? Umm, because it's fun to yell at 12 o'clock at night? I believe my actual response was, "BECAUSE I JUST HURT MYSELF." Upon entering my sister found me laying on the floor in the fetal position, desperately holding my face.

Still in massive pain and slightly out of it, I attempted to stand up, and promptly passed out. At that point my poor sister was REALLY starting to get freaked out.

When I came to she was yelling, "DO WE NEED TO CALL 911?" After contemplating for a minute I thought, "Nah, I don't think I have a concussion, I think it's just my nose. Could you get me some ice?" Which, she promptly delivered to my prone self. After icing my face for a while, I finally attempted to get up again and I crawled into bed. My sister was still nervously staring at me queering, "are you SURE we don't need to take you to a hospital?" "NAH, nothing urgent, I'll go tomorrow to make sure my nose isn't broken."

While I woke up the next morning with a swollen nose, I did wake up (always a good thing). I then got up, and started putting on my swim suit for my lesson with Bonnie. My sister was up at this point and looked at me like I had finally completely lost my mind. "You can't be serious, do you really think a swim lesson is a good idea this morning?" "Sure, the cold water should be good for my nose, as long as I can breath. I promise, if I can't do it, I'll come home." Besides, I knew I didn't have Bonnie's phone number and I didn't want to just not show up, that is uncool.

End result, I walked in to the pool and Bonnie made some comment about how I looked bad that morning. Yeah, ya think? But, while the goggle hurt a bit, it was doable. A bit of mocking about my swollen nose, and we got down to business. Hey, I even got an "that was AWESOME Col," one time. I need all the encouragement I can get in the pool. So, the lesson went well, then I went home, called my friend who was a paramedic to ask his advice. He informed me I should go to the ER, so I did.

End result: ER to get checked out, braces put back on a few days later, and I'm as good as new (well, mostly). My sister now goes, "Umm, night Col? Good LUCK!" As I head off to bed. Oh yeah, appointment with a sleep specialist tomorrow too.

As far as my training, during the race my left patella started acting up and it is still refusing to calm the heck down. My educated guess is it's a bit of "runner's knee" and my left quad is not as strong as my left hamstring. I've been running through it, but I realize that's probably not the smartest idea.

Monday - I tried throwing a brace on and running but my knee still started hurting like a mother and I gave up trying to run the 6 miles I originally wanted to hit. Very frustrating, but I am trying to keep a good attitude about it. I went home, iced it, and started looking up exercises for it. There are some things I can do to strengthen around the knee joint, so I've been trying to do those daily. It does make for an interesting work day for my co-workers. When one of them walks in to use the photocopier and they find me doing standing leg raises while I am waiting for whatever I'm working on to copy.

Although, at this point it doesn't even phase my co-workers anymore, they've become so accustomed to my bizarre behavior. The most I get is a brief glance, "Oh, hey Col." I answer back, "Hey." Then I continue on doing my leg raise.

Tuesday - Hit the pool to practice my drills, they're going well. I just need to keep working on things.

However, my knee issues does drive home the need for more cross-training for me. You'd think running, biking and swimming would be enough, but I guess not. So I'm letting myself have a bit of fun with my workouts for a couple of weeks to change things up on my muscles while things repair.

Riding - Obviously I'm riding my horses, that goes without saying. That's killer for my abs, arms, and inner thighs. I was having a conversation with a girlfriend that also rides, and we were laughing over how strong our adductor muscles are. The fact that I can do 200 pounds on the hip adductor machine in the gym but can't even do a full leg press with that amount is highly amusing. I could probably crack a coconut with my knees for goodness sake. Which is why to balance it out a little bit, I do classy "Jane Fonda" leg lifts every day to strengthen my hip abductors.

Zoomba - Added to the cross-training fun this week, I'm doing a Zoomba (sp?) class with some girlfriends tomorrow. I can already tell you we will be doubled over laughing half the class. When my friend called last night to ask me to go I knew this is going to be trouble. As she pointed out "your inner ho comes out in these classes." There is no way I'll keep a straight face, NO WAY! Watch the instructor kick me out for disrupting the class.

Hot Yoga - Friday Tina-The-Machine (Tina - Also my bootcamp instructor, spin instructor, and all around buddy) and I are hitting a happy hour hot yoga class. She and I agreed on Saturday we're both too tight and need to do something to stretch out. Once again, should be interesting...

And that, is my cross-training right now. Bootcamp starts back up in a few weeks, and I'm going to start hitting the open water swims on Tuesday nights. Even I admit I don't know if I can do all this, but we'll see. Bootcamp 3 days a week is bad enough, hitting that at 5:45 am, THEN doing a simulator in the evening? Yeah, NOT sure how this is going to work out either...I'll keep you posted, or if I don't, you know I'm laid up somewhere unable to move.

What could possibly go wrong? Tour de France - Prison Break

2009-06-01T06:12:00.001-07:00

Ok, this does not count as a blog post, but it's all you're getting today... It had me laughing so hard I was almost crying... What could possibly go wrong?

Tour de France Prison Break? 196 French Prisoners Get Bike Race

Will it be a prison break or a break from prison? A planned Tour de France for 196 French prisoners scheduled for June 2009 is causing a stir as people living on the bike race route fear an onslaught of escapees.

196 prisoners and 124 guards, a ratio of 1.6 prisoners per guard, will participate in the mock Tour De France. Both prisoners and guards will be on bicycle and the group will be expected to stay in a pack. Any breakaway by a prisoner will be taken as a prison break attempt and guards will act accordingly. (Now THIS could make awesome tv. Where else could you see a break away attempt followed by the cyclist getting shot?)

The prison sanctioned mock Tour de France is designed to help prisoners reintegrate into society upon release by fostering a sense of community and teamwork among them. A sense of community alienation is a key issue in prisoner reintegration and is one of the top reasons that released inmates re-offend. (I hate how I feel separated by society when I'm behind bars too)

The prisoner Tour de France is an attempt to teach inmates to act as part of a group and to think of themselves as members of a community. Team building efforts like this are part of rehabilitative focused forensic psychology, which centers around identifying and working through the core socialization issues which lead some people to commit crimes in the first place.

"It's a kind of escape for us, (an escape, you don't say?) a chance to break away from the daily reality of prison," said Daniel, a 48-year-old prisoner in the western city of Nantes, at the official launch of the event. His surname was not given.

"If we behave well, we might be able to get released earlier, on probation," he told reporters.
The prisoners' Tour de France will take them 1,400 miles around the country, starting in the northern city of Lille on June 4 and stopping in 17 towns, each of which has a prison. However, participants will sleep in hotels.

The finish line will be in Paris, following Tour de France tradition.

Sweet! I think we should go watch!

The more your are willing to risk, the greater things you will try...

2009-05-27T09:58:00.001-07:00

I know I promised a nutrition clinic in today's post, so forgive me for being boring!

First, I know I've said it a million times. However, NO, I'm not worried about being "fat" or losing weight etc. I watch my foods (generally speaking) because I feel better, have more energy, and I perform at a higher level. That said, I love my ice cream, wine, dark chocolate, cheese fries and buffalo wing pizza (Which I still haven't had since the tri, and I promised myself I would after it was over.... I need to call Beff's tonight and order one.)

HOWEVER, while I love those foods, I don't have them that often. The difference in how I feel when I eat right compared to eating crap is so dramatic with my body, it helps reinforce my healthy eating habits. One day of cheese fries and pizza and I will feel like someone has stuck me in a food coma and the next day I'm still dragging!

So what do I eat and how much? First, I eat as much as I want. If I'm hungry, I'll chow down with no thought to portion control. That said, I give no thought to portion control because I know what I'm putting into my body is healthy and I assume my body knows what it needs for fuel that day.

But peple keep asking what I eat, so here's a short rundown of what a day might look like at work....

Say it's a pool morning - my FAVORITE type of morning -

5: 00 am Get up - I'll grab a Luna bar and/or some brown rice toast with almond butter -

6: 00 am - Head to pool - enjoy the wonderful water, swimming, all my favorites - choke -

7:30 Get home, make an omelet with organic eggs and probably some goat cheese (food co-op is my friend), some toast, a glass of rice milk and head out to work -

9:00 - I'm at my desk and hungry - Big bowl of steel cut oats, blueberries, with some flaxseed and cinnamon

11:00 - usually hungry again - Fruit & Plain non-fat yogurt, and I'll probably throw in some nuts.

12:30 - Lunch - I'm a fan of soup because it's easy for me to make/bring - Let's say I made chicken soup - I have half the kitchen of veggies in it, all natural chicken and some brown rice pasta in it to add more carbs.

2:00 - hungry again - (listen, I eat all day, literally) - I may have a sweet potato or something packed to snack on. If I'm working out after work I won't eat too much, because I can't run with a full stomach.

5:30 - home for dinner - I'm a fan of a big salad with olive oil, goat cheese, tons of veggies, and Salmon on top.

If I get hungry after that, I'll usually grab some Kashi cereal and rice milk for a snack.

The end - It's simple, I go organic, lots of fruits and veggies, all natural chicken and I love fish. I stay away from wheat only because I do better off it. 100 % whole grains, drink a lot of water, blah blah. Not much to it.

If I'm running I don't eat much before. I love Hammer Heed while working out, I like that it doesn't contain any artificial colors/flavors but it gives me some calories which I need. The most I can usually do is say a luna bar or a banana an hour before a run, otherwise I'll get sick.

I make sure I eat within a 1/2 hour of completing a workout, because "they" say that's the time your muscles are trying to uptake as much as possible--I wish I had know THIS years ago! I used to finish a workout and not eat until hours later! oops!

That's what works for me, it's not rocket science, just old fashion common sense. Stay away from artificial, go organic, eat lots of veggies, fruit, 100% whole grains, watch out for sugar. I never go BELOW my BMR calories which is 1680 for me, that's what I need to maintain my body mass. Sometimes I do calorie count, only to make sure I'm eating enough.

I wear a h.r. monitor when I run or bike, and that counts calories burned. So I have a ballpark idea of how many extra calories I need to be getting in me on the days I have a tough workout.

For example a Saturday bike/run, I can burn close to 1800 extra calories. So, I try to pound food after my workout is done.

That's it, simple. I've been happy I've only lost a few pounds doing the tri training, because my goal is to maintain/increase muscle mass. I will say my body has changed, and I am leaner than I was but I definitely am NOT a stick thin girl and I aim to keep it that way.

I made a comment when running Saturday about how my butt never seems to want to go anywhere, and my coach's reply was, "That's your powerhouse, it's never going to go anywhere." She's right, it won't.

Alyssa was kind enough to assert it's sheer muscle, which, let's be honest here... It's not all muscle, and it's definitely NOT ever leaving. But I'm ok with being a bit bootylicious with some hill climbing power!

Chicken or Hamburger? BOTH!

2009-05-26T07:17:00.000-07:00

So, for my loyal followers.... Oh right, there are none. Ok, so I can keep track of my training and amuse myself, I'll keep going on this blog for a little while.

Sadly, it's been over a week now since Memphis. I understand what Alyssa was saying about getting depressed after hers was done last year, train, train, train, hang out with great people, focus, focus, prepare, hang with great people.... and then...done. Where do you go from there?

I mean, I swam this morning, cool. But there was no Coach Phelps yelling at me to "pull it together," or Neil, going "Ahh, it'll be fine Col." Nope, just me, and the pool, and random people I didn't know.

Originally I told myself I'd take a full week off, and I sort of did. You know, until my swim lesson Friday, my 26 mile bike and 3 mile run, Saturday, and then my 6 mile run Monday. I don't know, I feel good so I might as well keep going! However, I DID get time riding my horses, which was great! But I am missing everyone, it's SAD!

Therefore, the plan.... Lake George Tri in September which most of our team plans on doing. Bonnie and I are doing weekly swim lessons, and I'm still dragging myself to the pool in the mornings. Oh joy. Now that it's finally nice, I can get out on the bike and run outside as much as I want, which is great. I'll be adding back in some more full-body strength training, just to keep me from getting injured. Plus, I'll be riding my horses all summer, so it's going to be one active summer!

Next blog post: What Col eats/aka nutrition. Since I find I get asked this question a lot, and I do usually eat fairly healthy. Although I'm not STUPID! It was a holiday weekend and I gave up on that this past weekend.

BBQ yesterday, Henda, "Who wants Chicken?! I raise my hand. "Who wants a burger?" I raise both hands. Henda, "WE KNEW Col wouldn't disappoint!" This was after I had pre-gamed dinner chowing on everything in sight, until the girl sitting next to me looked at me and asked, "Is there anything you're NOT going to eat?" "Um, nope, pretty hungry today!" Even the guys were looking at me like I was a freakish garbage disposal in their midst.

Memphis In May - Now a full body contact sport, with more wind!

2009-05-19T08:57:00.000-07:00

MEMPHIS IN MAY TRIATHLON! COMPLETED! I am now officially a triathlete! Never expected I'd be saying that a few years ago!

Friday - Friday we headed out to Memphis, I um, maybe SLIGHTLY over packed? But I didn't KNOW how to prepare! So, I basically brought everything I owned, and then some. oops... Arrived safely and I was pretty stoked that due to an odd number of teammates, I got a hotel room to myself. SCORE!

Saturday - Packet pick-up and practice swim... da da da dum... We arrived at the location and I faced my biggest fear.... Casper Lake. The air temp was comfortable in the morning, although slightly windy, and water temp was about 72 degrees. Then I looked out at the course and how far those buoys were and I thought, "OMG what am I doing?" On went our wetsuits, swim cap, goggles, and I prepared to make a complete fool out of myself doing the practice "Run in and dive start."

As usual, I let my teammates go first. I finally pulled myself together enough to go, and prepared to deal with it. I ran into the water, started to swim and saw nothing but hazy green everywhere.

I could not see ANYTHING, and I suddenly my heart starting to pound out of my chest. I was full blown freaking out. All thoughts of breathing, swimming, relaxing, all gone. Thoughts of, "You'll NEVER make this swim tomorrow, you can't even BREATH right now," kept hitting me over and over.

Finally I thought, "PULL YOURSELF TOGETHER WOMAN! THIS IS RIDICULOUS!" My brain pulled itself out of panic and I thought, "ok, you can float." Therefore, that is what I did. I flipped myself over, took a few deep breaths until I calmed down and just enjoyed looking up at the sky. I focused on the clouds, breathing, and how the wetsuit felt. With my hyperventilating over, and my H.R. calming down I thought, ok, now flip back over and figure this out.... At which point, I flipped over and thought, "Ok, stroke, and breath, and relax, and...." This time it started to come together and I actually thought, "Hey, this is even a little fun! Better than the pool at least!" After swimming around for a while, I headed back to shore feeling slightly better about the whole situation. - Then, back to the hotel to relax and prepare for the big day....

By that point, pre-race adrenaline/nerves were in full effect. Hence, Heather and I getting in a singlet snapping contest in the hallway of the hotel like 5 year olds. Aka, what you know, you do with towels with your brother. Twist it, hold on, and snap it out. oops, kind of hit her too hard. Good job Col, leaving a welt on your teammate....

Sleep - Yeah, not much, I kept thinking I was going to forget something in the morning.

3:30 am - alarm went off, and I got up so I could get dressed and grab a coffee before we left at 4:15 am. Bus ride to the event was fun, my teammate Heather and I sat together chatting, and we both agreed in someways we're wayyyy too similar. I kept feeling like I was going to a horse show, but without the comfort of having my horse partner to compete with :( Luckily talking to Heather helped calm me down.

Bikes - I think we were all pretty worried about getting our bikes off the truck and making sure they were ok and set-up. However, thankfully all our bikes arrived safely. Put on the pedals, grabbed a decent transition spot. Threw the towel I bought especially for the event under it (Big dots all over it, it was fabulous, super easy to spot!).

Once that was done and I excited the transition area - Swim starts began. Watching that I started getting REALLY nervous. I was standing near the water watching everyone going, anticipating having to go in myself and Heather saw my face. So, she grabbed me and pulled me into a big hug and we both just held each other (love you girl). Thank goodness you were there.

Now, here's the thing. The day before there was some wind, but we were all excited because we had swam in it and everything was supposed to calm down over night... OR, the wind could pick UP and be whipping like a fiend the morning of the event. You know, just 40 mph wind gusts kicking the lake up.... oh GOOD! Next thought, "This is going to make that bike REALLY interesting..."

Finally they are calling 1000s to line up and I realize in the midst of my being nervous, I had put down my earplugs and I have no idea why. Oh great, because they are what keep me from getting super dizzy! Now I'm panicked, but I knew it was too late to fix the situation and I had to try to not think about it.

So the wave in front of us finishes- it was a 3 second time start - thank GOD because I don't know how I would have done with a wave start for my first tri! Now it's getting closer, standing in line #1003 I tried to block all thoughts from my head. The wind was freezing, but luckily the wetsuits helped that. Next thing you know I hear GO and into the water I ran....

So here it is, the swim. First leg of the triangle, good to go. I gave up all thoughts of "three strokes and breath." I breath best to the left, so I just did that. About 200 m in I actually got a really great rhythm going and felt REALLY good! Reached the first corner and rounded it and headed down the second side of the triangle. 1/3 down that side it started....

Hell Swim - The middle aged male wave caught me, and the next thing I knew I was fighting for my life. I was staying really close to the rope marker, because I was afraid if I went out too far I wouldn't know where I was going. I am still not sure if that was the right decision, because I took a beating for it. It started with guys literally swimming over the top of me, grabbing my leg, elbowing me in the side, then I got kicked in the mouth. Oh this is FUN! Breath Col, you can DO this! Focus, focus, focus, just keep going. I would try to lift my head up to figure out how to go around people since you could not see feet in the water, and forget it. There were people everywhere and I could not get out of the fray. Bam, bam, bam, I was getting pummeled and it started to FREAK me out. Swimming is one thing, I was not prepared for water-rugby against 200 pound guys.

I finally completed that long side and I thought, "Ok! Finish is straight ahead! You can do this!" Right, OR that could be where the wind was coming off the shore the strongest and kicking the water up even more. Factor in me being tired at this point, and things were NOT going well. By the time I got kicked in the head again and my goggles got kicked off I was primed for a meltdown. I believe I shouted some choice words, and then tried to tread water while fixing my goggles.

Right, because THAT was going to work, nope. I was getting hit over and over, and I could feel the panic setting in. Finally a spotter saw me and yelled," MAM! ARE YOU OK?" Ok, good add embarrassment to the list now.

"YUP! I'm fine!" "Mam! Rest for a minute!" Well, that was all good in theory, but I couldn't flip over and rest because I'd just get the crap beat out of me even more! And then it happened, for 2 seconds the thought crossed my mind, "I can't, I can't do this, I CAN'T!"

Then I thought, "Forget THAT! I will NOT stop in the swim, I WILL finish! There is NO way I'll let this swim beat me." It was also at this point someone else hit me, and my brain clicked and went, "SCREW THIS!" Next thing you know, I'm tossing elbows back left and right, anyone dared get near my legs? Oh, I started kicking right at their head. Get anywhere near me, and you were going to get hit. Do I feel bad about that? Nope, not at all.

Finally, hallelujah, the ramp to exit was in front of me and I was crawling my way out of the water, and there is Coach Kristen, cheering. What a welcome sight. - Swim Time 42:59

Swim/Bike Transition - "Now to GO!" Half way out of the water I started moving as fast as I could to my bike, which, well, I think was a rapid shuffle. Luckily, my obnoxious large polka dot towel served its purpose, and I spotted my bike easily. Wetsuit was already getting stripped off. I was super dizzy so staying upright while putting on my shoes, and not falling over was interesting. I threw on my helmet, went to fasten my chin strap and realized, "um, you're not wearing a shirt Col." -How come I do this often? - There was that split second where I wondered if the shirt was big enough to go over the helmet, but then I thought I'd better not chance it. Off goes the helmet, on goes the shirt, helmet goes BACK on and I'm running my bike out of the transition area. Transition time with shirt issue: 2:48

Bike - I don't think I stopped smiling the entire bike ride. The fact I lived through the water was amazing enough to me. Headwind? Sure, brutal, I was crawling. But, no one was kicking me in the face! lalala! Ok, I take that back. Any time I went by a guy I thought, "You! YOU might be the one who kicked me in the mouth!" And well, I had a lot of pent up anger at the male species in general by that point.

Granted, there was also one super annoying middle-aged guy. I caught up to him on the bike and yelled, "Left!" and I pass him. Two seconds later, "LEFT!" and he passes me, but then SLOWS down? Really, REALLY? Ok, pass him again, and he does it AGAIN! This went on SEVEN TIMES. If you want to pass, PASS, but then keep MOVING! I finally passed him again and never saw him after that.

Next thing you know, the finish for the bike is up ahead and I'm thinking, "Really? This is IT! One 6 mile run and I'm done?!" Bike time 1:29:12 15.8 mph (I know, super duper slow. Granted the swim beat me up pretty badly. haha, ok, no excuse. Swim/wind and I was slow on the bike, here's to a MUCH better time next time!)

Bike/Run Transition - Pretty boring, running sneakers and hat on, race belt, and off I went. Transition Time - 2:00

Run - Well, I'm riding pretty high by now and I was just super happy. I think that dumb grin was still plastered to my face, but I was feeling pretty good. I'm yelling GO TEAM, to every purple shirt I see. People are high-fiving me. So, you know, when I ran up behind some 26 year old guy from Vanderbilt we started chatting. Finally I started to pull away and I felt good enough to start smack talking. "Hey Vanderbilt, you're SUCKING on this run. You KNOW you've got more!" But sadly, Vanderbilt was satisfied crawling on the run.

It was a run out and back, so when I looped back around and I saw Neil 30 feet behind me I thought, "Oh, well, he'll pass me shortly." Mile 4, mile 5, closing in on mile 6 and I kept thinking WHERE is Neil? Finally, Neil shows up with a 1/2 mile left to go. At which point I also shout at him, "Your run sucks today Neil." (I know, I'm an encouraging teammate). However, I also thought no WAY is he getting away from me with a 1/2 mile to go! HECK NO! So, I opened up my stride a bit and just pulled up behind him. Neil passed someone, I passed them, and I stayed 3 feet behind him. Hit the levy right before the finish, I contemplated sprinting past him (if possible) but then I thought, nah, just finish behind him so Neil and I crossed 3 feet from each other. It was a good thing, kept me motivated that final 1/2 mile! Run time - 57:44 pace 9:18

Overall time - 3:14:41 - slower than I wanted? Yup! So, here's to shaving at LEAST 15 minutes off that next time! But, what a blast!

While, the swim in many ways, was worse than I could have imagined. I figure it can only ever get better from here! Swim lesson this Friday with Bonnie - I'm very much looking forward to it :) Here's to 30 min swims, sub 8 minute mile runs, and 20 mph bike times! Also, remembering if I'm going to put on a shirt, to do so before putting on my helmet....

As for the arm wrestling on a piano, dancing, karaoke, and all other post-race celebrations that occurred... That is for another blog...

Good Bye Bike....

2009-05-13T08:26:00.000-07:00

This morning we had our, "Farewell, be safe, don't forget to play nice with the other bikes." Aka, we packed our bikes onto a semi-truck for Memphis. But, let's go back to yesterday....

Brought my little specialized up to Blue Sky to get it re-fit since I've been getting IT Band problems after a ride. I talked to Jeff from Blue Sky earlier in the week, and he told me to just bring her up. I really cannot say enough good things about everyone there. They are low-key, but Jeff also has his Advanced Fit Certification from Serotta Competition Bicycles, so I like to think he knows what he's doing.

So, in I trot with my pink bike (sans reflectors, I finally removed them so I would stop getting mocked. Pink is one thing, reflectors AND pink, I hang my head in shame.) Jeff threw me on the trainer and pulled out all the cool lasers, blah blah blah.

Ten minutes later, "Huh, you're a bit odd. You ride with a lot of heel extension, your heels are almost down. It's not necessarily a bad thing. It's much better than riding with your toes down, but still ODD. It also means you are getting more extension, so we should lower the seat."

Not really odd when you consider it's me. You ride horses for as many years as I have, I'm surprised I don't run on my heels. Yeah, that's me on crazy Annie (She and I had one spectacular crash and burn, surprisingly I only broke my collar bone! hehe).

End result of bike refit - Seat lowered, moved back, and I got new cleats! He warned I might not feel the difference between my old 4.5 degree float cleats and the new red ones which have 9 degrees. Are you kidding? I put those puppies on and wow, what a difference! So, I packed up my pink lady and headed home to ride one last time before she got shipped to Memphis this morning.

My IT band was already irritated so it was still acting up a bit cycling, BUT it was definitely not aggravated by the ride! woo hoo! Hopefully everything is all set now :) Also, now I'm riding thinking "Ok, how fast do I need to ride in Memphis to meet the Bill and Laura Challenge?"

AH YES! The BILL AND LAURA MEMPHIS CHALLENGE!

So I get this email:

So Col, I was curious to know what your goal time is for Memphis...what do you think your realistic goal time is and what would time would you be super-excited to be able to do?lemme know, -Bill

Well isn't that sweet of Bill to ask?

I calculated a few things and made an "educated guess" which I send him. I also send him the time that would make me happy. What I didn't realize, was that I should have tacked on an hour and a half to the time I sent him...

Because here we go, the Memphis Challenge! Bill writes back - Ok Col, Challenge Time!

Bill and Laura made a very generous pledge, BUT If I finish 10 minutes under the time I sent Bill, that very generous pledge.......doubles....

Great, my whole plan to spend some quality time with the buoys? Gone. Here BUOY BUOY BUOY

Getting rescued by the cutest lifeguard I can find? Not happening.

Ordering a latte in the transition area? Denied.

Updating facebook from the bike? Out the window.

Oh no, now it's all pushing on the bike and run (I'd say the swim too, but let's be reasonable here people, seriously). Pete was kind enough to point out I've only done the distance up until now, and no, I've not pushed myself yet. At the same time, I've never done an open water swim until now either.

Luckily, by nature I am not in the least competitive. Cough, choke, eh hem. Ok, so maybe a little bit. Ok, OK MOM!

Mom looking at me in disbelief when I mention some of my teammates are "competitive.," (In my defense, I meant you know, GOOD competitive, in that they are athletic).

Mom looking at me in disbelief , "Um, honey, because you're not? Let's not bring up the time when you were playing that game with Chandler...."

Me, "Well, WHATEVER Mom, I was not going to LET him win. Everyone needs to learn that you have to EARN a win!"

Mom, " Col, he was FIVE and you were playing Hungry Hippos against a FIVE YEAR OLD."

"Yeah, well, he'll be a better person for it in the long run! He'll respect his Aunt Col for not letting him think life is just handed to you... I'm not letting him to grow up to be some whining kid! Plus, my hippos were hungry!"

So, to help me rise to the Memphis Challenge, calling all hecklers! We all know that I respond REALLY well to people smack talking.

Feel free to line the streets of Memphis with "Col, I HATE YOU!" Or maybe I can fly my bootcamp instructor Tina down, simply to have her yell at me "Please Col, I've seen you! I KNOW you've got more to give me here, now DO IT!"

Then, as Laura S. knows, the animal instinct in Col takes over and suddenly it's like I've turned into some other person. Sweet, nice, funny, all gone, all I'm out for is blood.... It's alll http://www.freeringtonesfyi.com/ringtones/kill-bill/kill-bill-ironside-excerpt-quincy-jones.mp3

BRING IT!

The Mighty Taper... and other random things...

2009-05-12T06:19:00.000-07:00

Well, the mighty taper is in full effect. Frankly, all I really want to do is find a pillow (or my desk) and throw my head down on it and sleep.... For about four days...

I was hanging out with friends last night, and all I did was curl up on their couch while we watched The Big Bang (season finale). Not used to seeing me like that, they finally yelled, "What is WRONG with you!" All I could mumble was, "I'm just really tired...." I was so pathetic I didn't even want to drive the 5 minutes home, I was ready to just sleep on their couch.

From what I'm reading fatigue is a normal phase of the taper, your body goes into "hyper recovery mode?" It's interesting, "they" say that your body doesn't see the full physiological effects of your workout until 7-10 days after it is completed. So let's say I did a speed workout last Wed, yup, your body is trying to pull everything together all the way until this Wed!

Mark Allen has an interesting article on The Perfect Taper,

"When athletes start to give themselves rest, the system in the body that responds to stress (which is the system that allows you to get up for big workouts) starts to shut down. This is like working on the engine of your car. You cannot give the engine an overhaul while it is running. You have to shut it off.
The same is true for our bodies. You have to shut the "engine" off for it to recover and charge up for the big races. And when you do this, you might feel like you are out of energy, sluggish, and getting out of shape. THIS IS NORMAL.

This requires a readjustment of mindset. Allow yourself to feel less-than-stellar. It is just a signal that your body is repairing itself and getting ready for a big effort in a few weeks. Resist the temptation to go out and test your fitness just to make sure you are not losing it. As best as you can stick to the plan I will outline for you. This is the toughest part of a taper - the rest. " -http://www.trifuel.com/triathlon/triathlon-training/the-perfect-taper-000287.php

So yup, as soon as I got the text last night "not going to be at the pool tomorrow." I knew there was no way I was dragging my butt out of bed at 5am to swim alone, I just didnt' have the motivation. Therefore, with the "taper" excuse, I slept in this morning, and I loved every minute of it....

Plan for today -

I am going to try to get a swim in today, and practice what Bonny worked with me on. I realize it is not enough time to really change things before Memphis, but hey, now I have something to work on for the next Triathlon!

Tomorrow - do some running since it appears there is widespread agreement among coaches that the intensity should be kept up, just shorten the duration/frequency during the taper period.

Also, since my bike has been causing my IT Band irritation I'm getting it refit this afternoon. After Sunday's bike my IT band was really aggravated, to the point I laid off any workout yesterday and just iced my knee. However, it's feeling a lot better today. Two thumbs UP! - I'm thinking the seat may just be a little too high, putting too much stress on my hamstrings/the back of my knee. I'll let the professionals deal with it though!

Tomorrow - We lose our bikes tomorrow morning. They are getting shipped to Memphis. It is making me a bit nervous, but hopefully nothing will happen to them during transport. Speaking of which, I need to go buy an 8 mm allen key so I can take my pedals off!

Tomorrow's blog post - I will cover the Bill and Laura CHALLENGE.... Should make things interesting in Memphis! I'm both blessing and cursing them at the same time for it.

Polar Bear Plunge - That's not my NAME!

2009-05-11T10:08:00.000-07:00

Ok, yes, I did survive Saturday's swim. Ok, OK, no, it really was not that cold. Alright, everyone happy now? Yes, I was being a wuss, I admit it! Nothing to see here, nothing to see....

Saturday's Polar Bear Plunge -

After my lesson with Bonnie on Friday when she informed me my heart was going to stop and I was going to DIE jumping in the cold water, I felt much encouraged heading to the lake Saturday morning.

In true Col fashion, I arrived at the bar early to take a few shots before everyone arrived and we headed to the lake together. Ok, NO people, I didn't actually do any shots, but I did feel the need to use the sketchy bathroom. Saturday morning, getting ready to jump in a lake, you can bet I had stopped at Starbucks.

You might be thinking a bar would NOT be open at 9 am? au contraire, true hardcores were there drinking and rocking out to Ting Ting's "That's Not My Name." I was not quite sure if they were leftover from the night before, or were early starters? Either way, they said it was ok if I used the bathroom and I hurried in and out as quickly as possible.

Of course Coach Beth shows up, and out of her car pops a student of hers, Jordan. Who, after getting introduced to her I realize is out of her FLIPPING MIND! I mean, she looks all adorable and like a normal 14 year old, but oh no, she's not. She's there to jump in the lake with us "for fun."

Really? REALLY? Don't you want to rethink that honey? You do realize we're being forced to do this, and um, the water is 60 degrees with fish and many sketchy things floating around in it? But nope, she was all ready to be thrown in with us. God bless her.

Everyone arrives and to the lake we go...Insert comedic attempts by everyone to get their wetsuits on, you know, except Jordan. Who promptly throws hers on, and sits there watching us all hop around like idiots while she's done in two seconds.

Finally, wetsuits are um, mostly, on and people start heading to the lake. Oh wait, because Coach Beth wants to have a "Love Fest" before we go in. I can't make this stuff up, she uses terminology like that, it's Beth, what can you say.

Prepared for a pep talk, we all get in a circle and Beth starts to speak. Well, she has a letter from a former Team In Training triathlon member that she begins to read. It ends up this TNT'er was diagnosed with breast cancer this year, and so her endurance "sport" for 2009 will be 16 weeks of chemo, the same amount of time we have been training. Oh good, because now I'm starting to snot. I keep telling myself, "pull it together," and I mostly do. THEN don't you know Beth pulls adorable Jordan up to tell her story. Oh please, REALLY? Because Jordan lost her mom to cancer.

Great, forget alll possibility of me holding it together. Now I'm just thinking, "Turn around, turn around!" I'm snotting, sobbing, trying to pull myself together, thinking about how no one Jordan's age should go through that. Thinking about how nothing is going to save my aunt, and we're going to lose her soon and I am snotting some more. Thanks Beth, THANKS. You just had to put miss adorable Jordan in front of us, so I would be a sobbing mess right before you throw me in a cold lake.

Jordan finished talking and Beth announces, "Ok, let's do a photo!" Ok, now you've GOT to be kidding. I am not having a photo of me in a wetsuit, with my eyes all filled with tears and snot coming out of my nose! No, NOT happening! Beth realizes this is maybe not the best time, and moves on. Gee, thanks!

The rest was not bad, yes I moaned and complained when I was getting in the water. Informed them my friend Lisa got Tai if I died, and I was holding Beth responsible. (P.S. my bro gets my high def tv). While yes, I do lose feeling in my feet, I was surprised it wasn't worse. My hands and arms were ok. Seeing rocks and seaweed right below you was strange. But all in all, it was ok! Swam a bit, played around a bit, and then finally got out. Sure, my feet were cut up, but that was the only negative.

Off we went in our own directions, and yes, I promptly cried the entire ride home. Thanks Beth ;) And Jordan, here for you any time girl, I totally adore you, seriously. - Col

Here is my favorite girl's post http://livstr0ng.blogspot.com/2009/05/wow.html

Swim - I Might Actually NOT suck?

2009-05-08T08:02:00.000-07:00

So, I had my first swimming lesson with Bonnie today, and a ray of hope shown through the clouds.

Is it possible my parents won't be getting a phone call that goes, "We're sorry to have to tell you this, but after your daughter hung on the buoy for a half hour, she attempted to swim again, and well, sank to the bottom of the lake. Obviously she was already delirious at that point, because she kept shouting something about how she knew Michael Phelps? and he was going to be really mad at her for not 'pulling it together?'"

First, NO, Coach Phelps is not replaced. He has done an awesome job helping me and I'm really really thankful for all 6 am mornings he has been there helping our sorry butts! Without him, I'd be REALLY in trouble right now! Also, it's been months of him getting up for no other reason than to help us out. So yes, while I busted on him for being in the dog house for sleeping in this week, sorry Neil, ;) Coach Phelps is still secretly my favorite.

Oh, and since I ALSO got a chastisement phone call yesterday - Let me take this opportunity to thank the world's BEST mentor, Alyssa. Who not only came out to support me Saturday night, but stayed until everyone had left, um, including me. And of COURSE you're going to see me when this is all over. To the point you may start to wish you'd be able to get rid of me. But that's a whole different story, and it's what restraining orders were made for.

But I digress - back to swimming -

SUCH a great lesson this morning! First, Bonnie is just a totally awesome person and a former triathlete herself. But, she also knows her stuff. She's great at breaking things into what you're doing wrong, what will fix it, and the technical aspects of why. Which is great for me, I'm very analytical and so that process works well for me.

So the lesson commenced and two minutes into watching me swim Bonnie sat down and with, "Of COURSE you're getting winded!"

She then sat went on to explain several things to me, which were so great.

1. Upper Body - Since I am Xena and am stupidly strong through my upper body, I'm using it too much and Bonnie informed me that means I'm moving into anaerobic activity immediately. So, I'm building up lactic acid much too quickly and that would kill anyone. Which is true, I think "Wow, this is difficult, I must need to work HARDER." I therefore start powering through the water more and I screw myself over more. Hi, might also be why my arms keep getting bigger from swimming, if that can stop that would make me very happy.

2. Stroke - (Rebecca, this will make you laugh) I need to enter the water with my arms wider. I'm having them enter too close to my body and they should be out in more of a V so I can utilize my core more.

3. Ending Stroke - As Bonnie put it "I noticed you're finishing your stroke and throwing water over your butt and it's pushing you down." After I stopped laughing, she showed me how she how to end my stroke correctly. I'm actually ending my stroke too late and need to end it more quickly.

4. Head Position - I guess my head is too far underwater and I've been plowing my way through. Bonnie showed me how to pull it back up a bit and wow! It was a whole different feeling. As she pointed out, every foot you go under water, you're adding 14 pounds of pressure pushing you down. So even if I'm six inches under, that's 7 pounds I've added across my head/back I've got to try to push against. Yet another way I can exhaust myself immediately, oh yay. Also, she assured me it is good posture practice in general, so I will try to work on that... sigh...

5. Kick - Ok, finally something everyone agrees I'm good at. Bonnie said I've got a great kick and core, and I need to work with those more, because they are golden. Yay! Also, I guess if I use those more and my arms are just around for the ride, I'll drop my heart rate and stay in my aerobic zone. Wouldn't THAT be a nice day.... Further, she pointed out even though I'll feel like I'm kicking fast, if my feet are up higher it's an easy kick and won't be tiring.

6. Waltz in the water - One, two, three, breath... Once again, it's about Col SLOWING down my arms. On my way out, I'm rapid fire, and then on the way back I get a bit tired, and pull myself together enough to slow down. As Bonnie pointed out that will do two things: one, just be more relaxing. lol. Two, it will also give me longer to breath in. Right now she said I'm swimming like a sprinter, and I need to swim like a long distance swimmer.

7. Breathing - She mentioned some breathing tips triathletes use - three strokes, breath, then breath every two to the left twice- go back to three strokes, then every two to the right, and on and on. This way you get a bit more oxygen, but you're also using both sides of your body in a balanced manner.

She also pointed out I need to make sure if I need oxygen, to not hurry my third stroke to get it. Instead, just breath on the second and not worry about it. Better to maintain pace and breath, then to speed up to be doing the "correct" three strokes.

Haha, perfectionist much Col? I get in my head "this must be done THIS way," and it gets hard for me to realize OR just whatever way gets the job done.... :)

God bless Bonnie, great morning, great lesson and every day I'm feeling less freaked out about the lake swim :) I'll make it, it might be slow, it might be ugly, but I'll make it.

And you know what? I might actually be able to be a decent swimmer one day!

Banging Bod

2009-05-07T12:11:00.000-07:00

I know I keep saying this, but that Memphis is so close! A bit over a week, and we'll be flying down! Ready or not, to the lake I go... Hopefully, I'm more ready than not?

Still massively looking forward to Saturday's swim. Rumor on the water is that there is also a State Regatta Championship happening there in the morning. Sadly, NOW they tell us we'll be in a different part of the lake. Here I was planning to have perfect practice for Memphis, trying not to drown, freezing, and dodging oncoming traffic. If we could survive the regattas, other swimmers in Memphis would be a cake walk.

Random info of the week: Pulled my left shoulder pretty badly yesterday, stupid thing. Been icing it (which I'm doing as I type), and praying that it will be fine. When taking off my shirt hurt last night, I knew I was in trouble. I swam a bit this morning, but it was painful and the last thing I want to do right now is push it and end up in trouble in Memphis. Plus, I have swim lesson tomorrow (yay!). I'm actually really looking forward to it. So, saving my arm for that...

As for the title of this post, thank my friend Mary and then Coach Beth. Who both announced separately, "Girl you've just got a BANGIN body!" And I realized, they're right. I do have a bangin body, I've got a multiple bruises on my shins, one on my arm, a few more on my legs, although the one I got on my butt from falling over on the bike is finally healed....

So, to answer the question I get of: "Girl, how do I get your body?"

First, please be specific. Which part would you like? The short legs? The man arms? How about my barely there calf muscles? The ghetto booty?

1. Stump Legs - If it's the short legs, sorry, genetics. If you're one of those poor tall, gorgeous long-legged girls like my friend Laura Sadowski. Yeah, nope, sorry Laura, you're screwed. You can never hope to be lucky like me, not much I can help you with here. Quit your whining of "But Col, why CAN'T I be short and stumpy like you?"

2. Man-Arms - Now, if it's the arms you're interested in obtaining. First, I'd suggest buying a horse that you can't afford. If you walk into any barn, you will find it filled with jacked-arm'd girls working their butts off. This is because after years of cleaning stalls, tossing hay bales, and riding other people's out of control insane horses for cash, you too will look like the female terminator wandering around.

Now, if you're interested in taking your arms to the next level, you know to the point where you search out cap'd sleeved shirts. Which help partially hide them, so you avoid screams the screams of MY LORD WHAT STEROIDS ARE YOU ON? Add in some swimming and you too can have your very own gun show.

3. Calf Muscles - Yeah, once again, genetics. Sorry, if you're one of those girls with great leg muscles, I suggest you stop working out. For me, bike, run, swim, ride horses, doesn't matter, I still have no lower leg muscles. Maybe if I run stairs all summer?

4. Abs - Ok, my abs I will keep. On a good day, I've got ripping abs. Once again, buy a horse, and then ride really out of control insane animals, that you use your abs or die. Fear is a great motivator.

5. Ghetto Booty - Now this is a tricky one, we've got genetics and working out factoring in here. Baby's Got Back - natural. Not sure how that happens with German/Irish decent, but here I am, the whitest latina out there. Or, as my friend Monica aka "Mama" likes to say when we hang out, "Girl, you only be white on the OUTSIDE!"

That said, running, does NOT help. The other day I mentioned to a friend that I think my butt is actually bigger than it used to be, if that is even humanely possible. But, whatever, Nakia likes to refer to it as the 8th wonder of the world. Then again, she also likes grabbing my shirt in public and ripping it up and yelling, "CHECK OUT HER ABS!" Once again, thanks for that....

Perhaps the shirt Bill found for his wife Laura and I sums it up best.... "With a butt like this, who needs boobs..." Thanks Bill, thanks....

5. Bruises - This one may take some practice for the amateur. Basically, you have to figure out how to walk into things, fall down, trip, and just get generally banged up constantly. Ah, but here's the catch! You also have to be so good at it, that you don't remember where the massive bruise comes from. They need to just appear in some random location, and your only thought is, "Huh, when did I do that?" Now yes, occasionally you will take a spectacular spill and so will be able to trace the source of your bruise back to its source. For example, when you fall UP stairs. Or when you forget to clip out of your bike and tip over like a 5 year old.

So there you go, you are now fully equipped to go and your own "Bangin Bod!" Good luck!

But if you want to actually be HOT like Jessica Biel? Yeah, no idea how to do that one, sorry.

Because swimming isn't bad enough...

2009-05-06T07:12:00.000-07:00

Because throwing me in a pool and watching me try not to drown is not bad enough.... NOW the coaches have decided that they will take our little Upstate NY butts, and throw them in Saratoga Lake Saturday morning for a practice swim?

Luckily, Coach Beth looked up the current temp of the lake, and assured us it is 73 degrees. I was, surprised, but relieved since the air temp is only in the 60s right now. Of course, we did have a few days in the upper 80s! Here I was worried the lake would be too cold! So, after getting her email I looked up Saratoga Lake's temp myself and I realized she's right, it IS 73 degrees!...

You know, Saratoga Lake IN FLORIDA!

Saratoga Lake in NY, oh THAT would be 61 the other weekend and we've had rain since then.... By Saturday the air temp at 9 am should be a balmy low-mid 50s (if we're lucky) and the lake a pleasant 59-60 degrees. Good good, because we all have sleeveless wetsuits in anticipation of the warm water temps in Memphis. Yup, and Col and Cold? BEST FRIENDS. You should see how happily I hop into the 78 degree pool! I mean, people should just start calling me Col-Polar-Bear-Cahill. If there is one thing I love, it's freezing :)

Forget 9 am, why don't we just do a midnight swim? Perhaps I could suggest this, besides taking away all feeling in my extremities they might as well also take away my ability to see when I drown.

So plan for Saturday morning:

1. Wake up - pull covers over my head and start crying - decide I'm not getting up - have alarm go off again - remind myself of the people with cancer I am doing this for - feel guilty, get up.

2. Drive to Lake - Put on sleeveless wetsuit, find belt to tie the flask whiskey I've brought to my body.

3. Look at lake, be motivated and brave, think I CAN DO THIS!

4. Watch teammates jump in....

5. Turn around, run like a bat-out-of-hell- for my car - This is where my warning to the boys that they may have to throw me in will come into play.

Scenario #1 - The guys have enough sprint speed to catch me - They grab me kicking, screaming, cursing, attempting to bite, and throw me in. (Suggestion, at least three of you grab me, I'm stronger than I look and I will be highly motivated to stop you). See # 1 A

Scenario # 2 - My speed workouts pay off, the guys are unable to catch me. I reach my car, throw the door open, lock it and speed away laughing at the poor fools that tried to catch me. Then I will realize I'm an idiot and that all of my other teammates are sucking it up and jumping in. I'll feel somewhat guilty and like a wuss, but not enough to turn the car around and actually go back.... See # 2 A

#1 A - I will scream, curse, flail wildly for 15 minutes and then if we're lucky, make it out of the lake alive. Alyssa believes it is an impossibility for anyone to ever not like me, I beg to differ.

I will feel guilty for punching Coach Phelps in the face and giving him a black eye, I will apologize and blame it on temporary insanity. - I will not be forgiven and he will let all the airs out of my tire in Memphis, so when I get to my bike transition, I'm screwed. That and there will be glass in my sneakers for the run.

#2 A - I will lose all self respect, but will happily sip a latte at Starbucks while I explain what kind of a wuss I really am to the closest stranger. Any nickname of Col-The-Rock-Cahill will be replaced with Col-The-Wuss-Cahill, and I will have to live with a lifetime of regret. I'm still thinking I might take Scenario #2 here... I can do a few years of therapy to get over it...

Isn't that what they're there for?

And for all of you "Oh, it's not that cold." "Oh, if you move quickly it will be fine." "Hey, I did the polar bear plunge." Honestly, besides the very mature act of sticking my tongue out at you, I say "BITE ME!" I dont' care what you have to say, it won't help, trust me. It will just make me glare at you in anger.

Training Recap & CFS

2009-05-05T07:01:00.000-07:00

Training recap:

Run - Yesterday speed work - 1 mile warm-up, ran a few 400m's, sprinted my H.R. up to 182, then jogged out my warm-down.

Swim - Hmm, odd, none of the guys were to be found at the pool this morning. SLACKERS!

Instead, I chatted with my new pool friend. Sadly, I've talked to her for so long now I'm too embarrassed to admit I don't know her name. I'm trying to figure out how to find out, without actually asking... I know, I should just admit the truth, that I don't know it, but that would be too easy. Anyway, she's very nice and always asks how things are going.

Right now my focus with Memphis less than two weeks away, is to simply keep GOING! Whatever I need to do, flip and do backstroke, stay on my side for a minute to catch my breath during freestyle, I just keep moving. I'm going to have a crappy swim in Memphis, but I'll survive it. I'll be mad it's so slow, but that's ok, this is not about me.

My other goals is above, stay away from any competitive swimmer in the lake that might try to swim over the top of me. Hopefully my flailing will be enough to keep others at bay... I was going to try to go far around the buoys, but my mentor feels I need to stay as close to them as possible, knowing me...

This week's realization:

That the real sacrifice for me is not the time/energy I put into training and fundraising. Instead it is dealing with simply completing something, knowing it won't be fast. For the "A" type personality, trust me, that is a brutal thing to deal with.

Something I'm thankful for:

It is would be hard for anyone to understand how thankful I am for how well my body is dealing with everything. A few years ago I wasn't sure I'd ever be able to run even a mile ever again, let alone have my body put up with this much exercise.

Currently, not only is my back holding up to all the pounding from running, but, for the first time I'm wondering if my CFS is also truly beat. Frankly, it makes me so happy I could cry.

Backstory - What started my senior year of college as walking pneumonia and mono, turned much worse about six months later and I couldn't even walk up a flight of stairs without literally having to sleep for 2 hours. For someone who was always go go go and active, it was the most depressing and awful thing.

What followed was years of test after test, with the doctors trying to figure out what was wrong, and me not being able to even walk through a mall without passing out....

(Lovely side effect of CFS. My abnormally low blood pressure triggers the fainting reflex. Favorite memory, the time I fainted in Stewarts in the frozen food aisle, and slammed into the poor man standing behind me. When I woke back up, he looked so confused. But hey, thanks to his legs for keeping my head from hitting the floor harder!) Note: This is also the reason why you may see me pouring half a shaker of salt on whatever I'm eating, lol, helps raise my BP.

But seriously, I really started to lose hope that I'd ever be able to be active again. Horse shows we kept a cot for me in a stall. I'd compete in a class, come out, and go lay down. Friends would go hiking and I couldn't go, it was horrible.

I laugh about it now, but there was one time when my mom walked in to ask if I had gotten the directions to the doctor's office, where we were going for more blood test and I just snapped. I looked at her and fell apart SOBBING uncontrollably. I pulled the covers over my head, and I heard my mom and sister just leave the room. I don't think they knew what to do. I then cried non-stop for what seemed like forever. I was so tired of being, well, sick and tired! That was the lowest point and I will never forget it, I just pictured the rest of my life being like that and it was so overwhelming.

Anyway, long story short, this is why I'm so careful in general about my diet, sleep, etc. There is always this fear in the back of my head about what has happened in the past when I pushed myself too hard and my body can't recover from it. But, with a lot of monitoring my body, and watching how I'm feeling, right now it's responding really well! Before this year I never dared to hope that I might fully recover, so many people don't. Maybe I am one of lucky ones, and I'm so overwhelmingly grateful. I haven't had an "episode," as Sarah and I jokingly refer to it, in months now.

I do get dizzy in the pool all the time, but florescent lights in general can do that to me. I'm hoping maybe that will be better in Memphis under the real sun. Exercising under them has caused me to get dizzy in the past, even when I'm not swimming. I also bought a new pair of blue tint goggles, but I can't use them, they make the dizziness worse. Somehow my mirrored pair must cut enough of the light spectrum off that it's not as bad swimming in them.

So, for the first time the last couple of weeks I'm finally starting to test my body's limits, and it's dealing. Sure I'm a normal tired and sore after a workout, but that I don't care about. I'm not laid out on the couch unable to function for days on end. Hi,, if you know me, being home on the couch doing nothing, not my idea of a good time. It drives me bonkers.

And in that case, WATCH OUT! The Rock will be back in the game this summer and this will be a heck of a fun time! Everything up until now will just be pre-training.

If there is one thing God has granted me, it's the ability to push and just keep going. My mom claims it's because I have an abnormally high pain tolerance level, maybe it's that or maybe it's because I have a few screws loose. I'm not sure, but it's exciting to me to think I might be able to start really training hard! So fingers crossed, and thank you body for holding up here!

Less than two weeks until Memphis!

Thank you!

2009-05-04T08:05:00.000-07:00

So much went on this weekend, that I cannot do it justice in a single post... But let me thank everyone who came out to my event Saturday night! I'm so blessed to have such supportive friends.

Saturday Morning - 26 mile bike - It was a little windy and slightly chilly, but not too bad. I ended up chatting for part of the ride with a guy who has done a few ironman competitions. While it slowed us up a bit on the bike, it kept things interesting. Then off to our run....

Never in my life has 3 miles felt so LONG! I had not slept the last few nights, and was uber stressed about my event that night, and so I thought, "wow, that is really catching up to me! This is SLOW and seems soo long!" I was happy to hear when I got back that it was actually 4 1/2 miles. So, while Saturday's workout was a bit rougher than usual, my body did the best it could with the sleep it had.

The rest of Sat was a whirlwind. 1st birthday party to attend for my favorite Red-Head-Ed-pictured in all his cuteness here... Finished there, then ran around getting things ready for my fundraiser and man I was a nervous wreck before it started.

A special thank you to Laura and Sarah for coming early and helping me set-up! I don't know what I would have done without you. You helped calm me down and kept me sane. You girls always make life bearable when I'm in a pinch, and not just at this event! Finally set-up was done, people started to arrive, and things went pretty well!

From the bottom of my heart, THANK YOU to everyone who came out to support Sat night, it really meant so much to me, you have no idea. You all made the event a success.

Also, a special thank you to my teammates who came to support, Trevor (aka Coach Phelps) and Neil. They showed up even though they were competing in a sprint triathlon Sunday morning! You guys are THE BEST!

Let me just brag on them for a minute, because Sunday morning I got up to go watch them compete and Coach Phelps pulled 5th overall for the sprint tri! Neil totally kicked butt too! Our whole team did an awesome job, great way to end the weekend!

Sunday afternoon, went with a friend and bowled-badly- at the guys' fundraiser. Hopefully they raised a lot of $$$! Then I finally got home, laid down to take a nap at 5pm, and well, woke up this morning. I knew a few days of 4 or 5 hours sleep and a lot of stress was finally going to catch up on me, and my body crashed hard...

We have compiled a short list of things learned from Sunday's sprint Tri... Listed below:

Things I learned:

1. Wear your bike helmet facing the correct direction – thank you Joe for that helpful demonstration of what not to do! Totally took one for the team, acting like it was an accident and all…

2. Check your spoke tape if you have an older bike… who knew!

3. Bring a colorful plastic bag to Memphis , to tie near your bike so you find it.

4. Stand where you’ll exit the water, to see where your bike will be in relation to that before the competition begins.

5. Putting two shirts on the same time can backfire/thank you to my teammate for that demonstration.

6. No ipods - They will get you yelled at

7. Remember to actually listen to what the people in the transition area are telling you, even if you’re stressed/focused.

8. The whole “shoes already on the bike thing” while helpful if you’re a super pro, may also mean you curse while running with cold feet across paved surfaces. Note: Col will not attempt this any time soon.

9. You can still compete in Triathlons up through your sixties, like the ROCK STAR who was there! Loved him for running BACK through the 5k course, because “Once is just never enough!” Yup, pretty much love him and I want him to be my grandpa. BTW, he's also nationally ranked in his age group for Ironman competitions...

10. They will play interesting music, and little kids get really excited when the theme song to Star Wars starts to play. Also, it stinks if you run in to a stupid song.

Things Teammates Learned - I hope they don't mind me posting these! If they do, well, umm, they can simply beat me in the swim in Memphis:

1.Make sure your shoes are empty before you shove your feet into them (i.e. Make sure your chip strap didn't mistakenly get left in your left running shoe). (I guess you don't have to worry about your right shoe. Thank you Coach Phelps)

2. Show up with water bottles filled.

3. Double check everything the night before preferably when a business might still be open to help you get what you need. (If you were not there Sunday I had a bit of a scare with a front tire that really enjoyed making life difficult)

4. If you don't dry your legs well, the water is going to run down your legs into your cycle shoes.
Rolling your socks so you can get them on your feet easily - seems cool timesaver until you put them on your wet feet upside down - I definitely need to dry off better, or practice donning socks with wet feet.

5. If you tape an open gel pack to your bike, take care not to squeeze said gel all over your frame.

6. You don't need to drink all of your water/accelerade/cytomax just because it's there.

7. When some people ride past barking dogs, they bark back.

8. When you get passed it shouldn't be taken personally, and doesn't mean you need to mess with your pace and chase them.

9.Transitions in general - some more practice might go a long way. A few hours of practicing transitions can probably knock off a minute or two more easily than I could by practicing any of the legs of the race itself. (i.e. - running with your bike, dressing while wet, switching shoes)

TWO MORE WEEKS!

Why we are doing what we're doing... Broken into little pieces

2009-04-29T12:04:00.000-07:00

As much as I enjoy updating everyone on my training and keeping things light and humorous, I also value being real and transparent. The good, bad, ugly, funny, beautiful, and touching, all comes from being honest and real.

So, in the spirit of being real, training for the triathlon got much more personal this past week....

On Monday my aunt went to Dana-Farber in Boston for a consult. After talking things over with the specialists, she has made the decision not to pursue any treatment for her cancer.

While things were hard after receiving the original diagnosis a few weeks ago, there was also that window of time where we could almost pretend it wasn't happening, and hope that when she saw the specialist that there would be some good news. However, she is already at stage IV and she has decided that since the treatments offer little hope, she would rather enjoy the time she has.

The doctors tell us her cancer is "aggressive," and frankly no one can ever accurately guess how much time someone has left. What we do know, is that cancer is going to take her far sooner than any of us are prepared for. I talked to my little brothers, and they will be flying in as soon as they can to see her.

So yeah, it's personal. Cancer is touching our family again and it is in our face, and no, no one is ever ready for that.

The next question is usually, "Col, how are you doing?" Frankly, I don't have an answer to that, it depends when you ask me. I might be home doing dishes and break down crying. Then, an hour later I am pulled together and ready to train and be "brave," for her.

However, I think that being brave is a bunch of crap. When dealing with losing someone you love, there is no being "strong" or "brave' or "dealing well.' You just, simply, deal, minute by minute and you keep going. It's like running, sometimes you can do speedwork, other times you tell yourself, "just keep putting one foot in front of the other, don't stop."

We are all a total mess and have it pulled together. We are crying wrecks and brave. It is like some is taking a part of your heart from you. My aunt will be taken and there is no way around that. So, I will show her all the love I can every minute we have left.

And, I will keep swimming, biking, and running, to complete Memphis for her, and I pray God does not take her before that.

Run Forrest Run

2009-04-28T08:17:00.000-07:00

Monday - Pulled a 7 mile run in the heat yesterday, I figured it would be good practice for Memphis. My boss let me take a few vacation hours, and so I waited until I figured it was the warmest part of the day and I headed out.

They say the high was 88 degrees, and my body was definitely not used to it.

Mile 0 -4 - I was all proud of myself for running in the heat and thinking, "Hey, I'm not even sore from yesterday's simulator! Let's work on a bit of speed here! Man, my body is holding up REALLY well! Go body go!"

Mile 4 - That sun was hitting me, my heart rate was up by then and I started feeling really warm.

Mile 5 - Somehow between mile 4 & mile 5 all my happiness was drained and my speed thoughts turned to, "Just don't stop running, if you walk, you'll never get your legs moving again." One foot, in front of the other, JUST KEEP GOING!

This is when the game I play with myself kicked in, "Just run to that tree up ahead, then you can walk." Once I reached the tree, I'd tell myself, "Ok, you're still ok, so just go to that bush up there..." over and over, until miles start going by.

Mile 6 - Never has mile 5 seemed sooo long. But, after mile 5 it got a little easier, and the last couple of miles, while hard, weren't as brutal. The wind picked up a bit, and it was helping cool me off. So I told myself, "Ok, now pick up your PACE bit! You're almost to the end!" It was certainly not a fast 7 miles, nor especially pleasant, but I completed it.

The thing about runs days like that is you can figure out what works to keep you going, when you reallly don't want to keep going. Race day, I may feel like crap, feel like falling apart, and want to stop. So you take that training practice of pushing through hurting and you just keep moving. Now if I could only figure out how to do that while swimming...

Simulator Sunday

2009-04-27T07:39:00.000-07:00

What a weekend, and what amazing weather! I could talk about a million things, but probably Simulator Sunday is the best to focus on.

Saturday - I didn't do any real workout. I did finally get bike adjusted, because when I was shifting my gears were catching and I was getting "Tha THUNK." (Yes, that is the technical term). The guys that work the shop at Blue Sky are pretty hysterical. So I had a good time trash talking with them while they adjusted my bike. (Thank you to Alyssa, I made sure I took my handlebar reflector OFF before heading to get my bike adjusted. At least that was one less thing to get mocked about).

The guys were HIGHLY excited to replace my missing Specialized handlebar end cap, with another pink one. The guy working on my bike suddenly noticed my cap was missing, and announced,"GUYS LOOK AT THIS!" as he went and whipped out a new pink one, holding it up to show all the guys. Thanks guys, thanks, listen, I'm STILL a girl!

They did have mercy for a minute when I mentioned I get mocked for the pinkness of my bike. They were kind enough to assure me that "pink is the new black, and has been for the last two years." Although they were also quick to point out that if a guy is riding a pink bike, he'd better be REALLY fast.

Jump to 6 a.m. the following day - Simulator Sunday - 1 Mile Swim - 22 Bike - 6 Run

Swim - How slow I am in the pool is PAINFUL. That said I did manage to finish the mile swim without drowning. Yes, I am a ghetto swimmer and I had to flip and do backstroke half the time, as did another teammate, but we completed it. (He actually only finished a minute in front of me). Watching teammate after teammate get out of the pool and go to hit the bikes while I had to keep swimming, was rough. I had to tell myself to ignore it, and just keep swimming.

14 hours after I started the mile swim, it was now dark and I finally climbed out of the pool...a minute or so behind Joe...and headed to the locker room.

Coach Beth was there, changing and chatting. (I have my tri shorts, but I still need a top so I didn't swim in them. I swam in a regular suit). Insert me wasting yet more time stripping and get dressed again. - Note - it is HARD to stick on a sports bra when you are soaking wet.

Since Coach Beth and I have a unique relationship and she feels like I'm her daughter, I jokingly call her "mom" now. So a quick "Hey MA! Can you pull my bra down in the back?" and we were ready to go, or, not...

We got outside, and the chain had fallen off my bike, lovely. At this point, all my teammates are out on the bike and we're standing around fiddling with my chain, getting covered in grease. A few swears later we finally got it back on. But wait, still not ready to go. Then we took turns watching the bikes while "running" back into the locker room in our cycling shoes, to get some of the grease off so we can actually hold on to our handlebars without our hands slipping off. Great, now we are running wayyyy behind everyone.

Bike - Finally headed out on the bike. Oddly enough, the first 11 miles were the hardest, the second 11 mile loop was much easier. - I am wondering if that was because I was tired out from the swim?

Cycling I'm still working on bike balance while grabbing my water bottle. Beth and I ended up doing some amusing "drills," she'd yell WATER at random times, and whatever was going on I had to just reach down, grab it, take a drink, and put it back. Forcing me to practice over and over did help. Listen, when you have already blown that much time, might as well make the most of the ride.

Run - Finished the last bike loop, and headed in for the run. Of course, everyone else was already running, and was headed out alone. All I can say is, thank GOD the run is the last leg. I threw on my sneakers and headed out happy to be in my running shoes. This time though, I got some benefits from being the last one headed out.

I ended up with my own neutral support/SAG wagon! Coach Beth rode shot-gun and Virginia drove support next to me. It was hilarious and awesome. I felt so very elite and professional. "Col, you need anything? Water?" "Yeah, water sounds good!" And the next thing you know a bottle was being handed out of the car window to me. Complete with "You look SOLID COL! Keep going!"

Want to take my shirt off? Ha, I didn't have to carry it! A quick strip down, hand it to them, and I could keep going. I even got street by street directions, "Take a right up ahead Col!"

I am now thinking I may hire them to be my own personal team. This way, if my chain falls off my bike or I get a flat tire, no big deal! It's all about MORE PEOPLE! "Hey you guys, fix that for me while I sit down, thanks. Please be quick about it. "ALthough, I will say, they COULD improve by playing music over the car sound system. Virginia singing to me was just not the same, although I appreciated the thought...

In the end, I have no idea what my splits were. I forgot to keep track, I was so distracted by everything else. I just know the swim was slow, the bike wasn't too bad, and I was happy as anything to head out on the run.

Monday - I'm actually feeling really good/strong today. I'm going to head out of work early to get a solid 6 mile run in the heat, to help prep my body for conditions in Memphis. Luckily, I love the heat.

Tuesday - Tomorrow is as always, Tough Love Tuesday at 6 am with Coach Phelps. Three weeks left to keep working on my swimming. I'm told open water swimming is actually better than swimming in the pool, so let's hope so. Also, the fact I have to "touch and go" doing pool laps won't matter in the lake, it will be a straight shot. Hopefully I can cut back on backstroke time, and build up my freestyle over the next three weeks.

HAPPY MONDAY ALL!

Go home, eat a pound of fudge, drink a pint of Guinness, and call me in the morning...

2009-04-24T08:15:00.001-07:00

This is what I got last night when hanging out at a friend's house, "Um, Col, you are going to disappear on us. Go eat a pound of fudge and drink a pint of Guinness."

First, if I tried that, I'd probably throw up. Second, I don't think people realize how much this annoys me. The next person to comment about my weight is going to get a serious beat down. I'm sorry if it is meant innocently, but the switch is about to be flipped and I may throw them into a headlock and start screaming. In which case, I will blame it on over training psychosis.

Do I sit there and go, "Hey, go eat a carrot, maybe it will get rid of your GUT?" If it's not ok to mention people have gained a few pounds, why is it ok to constantly comment on my weight? How about, "Col, you look really fast?" Now that, that I could take.

Allow me to rant for a minute, and get a little personal. The ONLY weight I've lost in the last three months is....wait for it.... 3 pounds... Ok, so everyone chill. I am not anorexic, I HOUSE food. Granted, I house healthy food, but that is because I feel 100 times better eating right then when I don't, not because I'm worried about getting fat.

I'm not about to compromise my muscles by not eating enough and having my body cannibalize its muscles for fuel after all this training?! Uh, no, not happening.

Also, hello, have you seen the way I'm built?

There's a reason I'd make a good hill climber, and it's not just because I'm short. Mama is rocking a serious ghetto booty. Where that comes from when I'm Irish/German, yeah, I have no idea.

Not that I'm complaining, having some serious gluteus maximus to kick in on hills when running/biking, or when sprinting, does come in handy. When I'm doing a hill climb on the bike I remind myself, "Col, what is your biggest muscle? Pull UP on those pedals!" Works every time...

So please, respect that while you might think it's a compliment, people do get tired of hearing about their weight. Be it, "Wow, you are going to disappear," OR, 'Wow, you look FAT!," neither is appropriate! A simple, "Hey, you look really good!," is acceptable to say. Or, "Hey Col, your legs look like you could house a 5:30 minute mile!" (I can't right now, but let's pretend, goals people, goals)

Training Recap -

Wed night - Was a light rain, but I decided to chance it and I was glad I did. I got a 10 mile bike, then transitioned directly to a run. I did a 2 mile run, and threw some speed work in. One day I will laugh at how bad my balance still is on the bike, but yeah, I'm actually having to practice grabbing my water bottle, and putting it back in. - Thoughts - I'm thinking the best time to hydrate in Memphis will be on the bike, so I'd better figure out how to do this! Just for kicks I fooled around at the end of the bike with the whole, "Take foot out, cross it OVER the bike, prepare for the transition." Will I actually do that at the Tri? haha, NO. However, it's still fun to play around.

Thur - 6 a.m. Swim with "Da Boyz"

Warm up - Some drills - fist drill - finger-tip drill - side drill -

6 - 50 m - 15 seconds rest - kickboard - Ok, so I lost count and did 7 - 50s oops. I'm sorry Neil, but I will say, it makes me so happy that there is one thing in the pool I can do. Kickboard, dude, I could do that all day. Poor Neil is on his 5th lap, and I'm finishing up my 7th.

200 m - Pull-buoy - Works the arms, but ok doing that.

8 - 50s - 20 seconds rest? - decending - Ok, I dont' remember the rest time, and I admit I cheat on that occasionally, I mean NEVER ever cheat on rest time.

My back started to cramp up on me mid way through doing the 50s. I've been doing a lot of swimming this week, and speed work and it's been getting a heck of a load. So, the last few laps I put in some backstroke just to move the muscles differently so they stopped hurting. Overall though good pool day!

I don't have to think about "gasp for air" now, nearly as much. My head position in the water is getting more comfortable, and I'm really thinking about finishing my stroke near my thigh. The most positive aspect is that I don't have to think overall nearly as much. My thoughts for the last few months while swimming have often been, "You will NEVER make the mile swim by Memphis, you should just GIVE UP!" And then I try to toss that thought out of my head and just keep pushing.

I say this all the time, but THANK YOU COACH PHELPS! Seriously, without his help, umm, yeah right now would be super super scary! I can't imagine how bad I'd be, but it would be really, really, really bad.

Friday - Speedwork- 400m - Did a mile warm up, hit a solid 400 m speed work - 400m jog to bring H.R. back down into the 150s, repeated 3 times. Then did a .5 mile cool down. I'm trying to practice running and hydrating these days, which I've never done before. Hopefully my body will learn to keep down the fluids and it will help prepare me more for Memphis. I mostly have a quick drink when my H.R. is back in the mid 150s. Obviously I'm not chugging when I'm sprinting and my H.R. is 180. haha.

Plan for the rest of today- carbs, carbs, more carbs, and more food. We're doing a simulator Sunday so I'm carb loading today for that, hopefully the speedwork was enough to help my legs top-off their glycogen stores for Sunday.

Sat - Maybe swim? May nothing but ride my horse/ walk in prep for Sunday.

Sunday - 6 am - Group .9 mile swim in the pool (good luck Col), 20 mile bike, 6 mile run. Good practice for hydration, food, transitions, etc. Plan the rest of the day? Collapse?

True Music Confessions

2009-04-22T12:43:00.000-07:00

Where would running be without workout mixes.

My workout mixes, are, well, interesting. I refer to admitting things like this as "True Confession Time." Doesn't have to be serious, it can just be embarrassing, and that counts as a true confession.

Give me a good beat that I can run to, and it's on there... Come on, admit what you have on your workout mix, maybe it will give me something new and fun to run to... Leave it as a comment...

Warm Up - (I owe a few new warm-up songs to Coach Phelps, I curse him and his addictive music)

Giving Up -Ingrid Michaelson

The Way I am -Ingrid Michaelson

Be Ok -Ingrid Michaelson

Why Don't You and I (Alt version) - Santana

Running:

Just Fine (Treat 'Em Right Remix) (Feat Lil Wayne)

Promiscuous - The Josh Desi Remix

Poker Face

Don't Cha - Pussycat Dolls

I believe in a Thing Called Love - The Darkness

Rump Shaker (I know, I know)

Pump It - Black Eyed Peas

Crash - Gwen Stefani

Bust a Move - Young M.C.

Check On It -

Hip Hop Hurray -Naughty By Nature

And now you know one of Col's workout playlists...

Plan for tonight? NO IDEA! It's raining, so there goes my 15 mile bike, and few mile run... :( Treadmill, AGAIN? Maybe, if so, I'll just do a short speed work session - pool tomorrow morning.

Dumb Treadmill

2009-04-21T12:39:00.000-07:00

Quick training recap: Ran on the dumb treadmill yesterday. I could have been all hardcore and ran in the rain, but I was not THAT motivated.

So, I did 7.5 miles on the treadmill, did a few miles of speed work, and then forced myself to recover at a solid pace. Favorite quote of the night, woman next to me was walking and she suddenly announces, "How can my heart rate be at 173 when I'm just walking?!" I cracked up, because I realized her treadmill was picking up the reading from my heart rate monitor. So I assured her, she didn't need to go see a cardiologist, that was what my H.R. was reading at that moment.

Yesterday afternoon - swam on lunch break, then swam with the guys this morning. Although I only have a month left, and yes, we allll know my panic about that. I will say, my swimming compared to where I was in February, wow, so much better. I'm not sure I'll be ready for Memphis, but Pete keeps assuring me I will make the mile swim. Things I'm counting on: my survival instincts helping prevent me from drowning/my wetsuit/the towline I'm attaching to Coach Phelps to pull me along.

Those things aside, I find it necessary to remind myself of how far I've come in two months with a month left to go...

February 2009 Swimming

Breathing - I remember the first day in the pool with everyone. Alyssa said, "Um, is there a reason you keep your head up the whole time you swim." "Umm, yeah, because I don't know how to do anything else?!" Day one of Col starting the ever humbling road of learning to swim. Here Col, here is a kick board. I actually had to practice that WITH a kick board. Stick head in water, turn, breath.

Also, that first day, if I remember correctly, I couldn't even swim to the end of the pool and back. I also vividly remember being scared of trying to swim ALL the way to the end of the pool on campus. Yeah, I was THAT good.

So, after a couple of months of Coach Phelps rolling his eyes and saying, "Just turn your HEAD! Don't crank your neck UP!" LenGTHEn your STROKE, you know, with a few, "PULL IT TOGETHER," thrown in, I'm actually much improved in that area. The last week especially I find that I'm not as nervous about the water and I can keep myself more relaxed and keep my head closer to the water when turning to breath in.

Plus, Although breathing to my left is still my better side, I am bilateral breathing. I figured learning to breath while swimming is like learning drive a car. I made my mom teach me using our standard, because I figured if learning to drive was new, might as well learn everything at time. So, I decided early on to always breath every third stroke because if it was all new, then I might as well add one more thing. I can definitely feel though how much stronger I am breathing to my left. When I go to breath to the right I lose my balance a bit and have to work harder, but I'm going to keep working through that. Besides, there is the added benefit of it working both sides of my muscles equally, and distributing the load.

Pull buoy - Oh man, I remember the first time Coach Phelps handed me one of those! Hello, lack of body control. And by "I couldn't do it," I think we actually gave up the first time because my body kept going in 20 different directions. When he finally had mercy and said, "ahh, forget it." I was so bloody thankful! Today I got 20 strokes while using the pull buoy, and that's not too horrible.

6 - 25 - 1s - Feb 17th to be exact - Neil wasn't there that day for some reason, and the infamous "6 - 25 - 1s" comment was made. Which, of course, would be like me saying, "Ok, I want you to hit the two stride, to the oxer, rollback turn, lengthen, and hit a one stride to the triple." EXACTLY. You have NO idea what I'm talking about do ya? So yes, that would be the day I learned that meant six repeats of 25 meters, using a minute. Start, swim 25 meters, rest until it hit the minute mark, and do it again. I can remember almost dying on that one! I was so breathless and I felt like I was falling apart. Now, please, that would be easy.

Drills - Ahh drills, there is my favorite, put your hands to your side, and practice rotating side to side without using your hands. The first few times Neil and I were like, uMMM, WHAT?! I tried it again yesterday, and I couldn't' get over how easy that has become. Also, I can hold my breath so much longer than I used to be able to!

Strokes - I can now swim and COUNT my strokes at the same time. I don't think Coach has had a proper appreciation for the 10 MILLION things going on in my head, like, "ok, and BREATH" which use to prevent me from being able to accurately count my strokes. Leading to the inevitable, "Col, I want you to LENGTHEN your stroke this time." "Ok!" I'd get done and it'd be, "How many strokes did you get?" "ummmm." "COUNT next time!" Today I can confidently say I got a solid 17 strokes swimming 25m, and I was pretty happy with that. It felt fairly natural, although I was using my legs a bit more than I probably should have been. With the pull buoy I got 20, which was ok.

Lesson learned - I'm no longer AWFUL, but I'm still far from good. I'm going to keep getting in the pool 4-5 days a week, and hammering away at this. Every time I get in now I play with my stroke, feel if things seems easier/harder/faster/slower, and then just go with that. I'm sure I'll continue to have really crappy days in the pool, and then a good day. My hope is the good days will come more often.

Flying around back country roads...

2009-04-20T07:38:00.000-07:00

First I'd like to take a moment to mention the Lovell Family, as they lost their four year old daughter Alivia to cancer this past week. We completed Saturday's bike ride in honor of her, and she was Trevor's honored patient aka, Coach Phelps. Also I know Jill went to the wake yesterday.

No one should lose their baby. As Jill said, she went home and just held her kids tightly. The Lovell Family is in our thoughts and prayers. And so, we train harder with renewed purpose, to honor those still fighting, and in remembrance of those who lost their fight.

Training-wise, I'm starting to hit my high intensity training now, and then I'll taper the last week before the event. I talked to my coach about it, she never tapers because it doesn't work for her as an endurance runner. But according to her, "Col, you are weird, you are somehow an endurance runner, with sprint speed. WEIRD." So basically, tapering might work for me, or, it might not. My thoughts are I'll keep intensity up, and just log less miles the last two weeks. Here's hoping that works.

Weekend workout - 28 mile bike on Saturday, then I did a 3 mile run. I love the weekend long bike rides! I felt stronger this week than last, and every time I get out there I'm getting more comfortable on the bike. The run transition is getting easier too. The first mile or two, are still rough, but then I actually felt really strong and I was able to open my stride up a bit on the way back and house the last 1 1/2. The good news about Memphis is that there will be a full 6 miles, so once I get back my stride I can just settle into it. Also, for me, hydrating definitely makes a huge difference in how I feel. So, I'm keeping my liquids up while on the bike, and here's hoping I don't cramp up in Memphis!

Sunday - swim workout with the group, then successfully changed my first tire. I was pretty proud of myself after that, granted, I did a front tire and I need to practice with the back. However, at least I have a clue as to how to do it now! Then the group headed out for a 11 mile bike/3 mile run. But, since I did the 28/3 on Saturday AND I was headed out to watch the pro cyclists with friends, I skipped out on the last part.

Tour of the Battenkill -AWESOME! First, there was time spent with Bill & Laura. Then, there was FLYING up, down, and around back country roads with Laura driving, as we would race from one point, to the next, to try to catch them coming through again. 30 MPH speed limit? Please, you can SO go 60+ miles an hour and not die. Also, you can do it without puking, thank you Laura.

The pros completed their 125 miles, on gravel roads, hills and all, and made it look easy. Although, if you see their legs you'd understand why. It's rather disturbing really, the amount of muscle they've got on them kind of creeped me out. Laura and I were pretty fond of the 105 pound men that were flying by up the hills, like they were NOTHING. Yeah, YOU GO TINY MEN who make us feel fat!

Also, I was happy to learn, if this whole triathlon thing doesn't work out, Bill feels I'd make a heck of a hill climber. Certain assets I have would be conducive for it I'm told. So, I'll keep it in mind as a second sport choice.

I think it was when they were on the final 25k and I casually mentioned I could SO make up the 2 minute difference between the leader and the closest chaser. Bill went to mock, but then he stopped himself and said, "Actually, all we'd have to do is have someone yell I HATE YOU COL, on the sidelines, and then suddenly it would be like EEEEEEEEEEKKKKKKKK! And yeah, you'd probably take them all." So, we've decided I need to compete in Memphis with a yellow jump suit, and we'll have someone shouting, "Jack A$$!" like the guy from Happy Gilmore, stationed different places along the way. In which case, que music from Kill Bill, YOU SAID WHAT? WHAM! And I could probably even take the pros at that point.

Winners of this year's Tour of the Battenkill: Left to right: Karl Menzies of Team OUCH aka STEROID LEGS - in 2nd place at 5:18:49. Yes, that IS chocolate milk they're holding as their trophies. Shortly after this photo, Karl gave in to the yelling of the crowd and well, chugged it. Frankly I was watching to see if he puked afterwards, but amazingly enough, he held it down.

Scott Nydam of Team BMC in 1st place at 5:16:32, (Scott's first big win GO SCOTT! Umm yeah, we ran around with our cowbells screaming GO SCOTT at numerous places on the course. That is how we roll. The man was a monster, pulled the lead in shortly into the race and held it the entire time! Somehow the peliton never pulled it together enough to catch him.)

On far right: Francois Parisien of Team Planet Energy in 3rd place at 5.18.53.

So, solid weekend training. Swimming, yup, still bites. I mean, umm, still not my strongest split. Headed out to swim on lunch break today, then hoping to get in a solid 7-10 mile run tonight. If the weather holds off, it will be outside, if not, :( I'll do the dumb treadmill.

Four Weeks!

2009-04-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

Four weeks to go! Wow! In four weeks we'll be on a plane headed down to hot and humid Memphis. The last few months have flown by.

Training-wise, it's hard because we are really just now getting outside and I'm just starting to be able to really pick up my training. Oh well, it will be an adventure! Wherever I'm at in four weeks, will have to be enough. So, training plan for the next four weeks...

Swimming - I'm getting in the pool as much as humanely possible, without completely compromising my running and biking. I talked to my coach and she said she's not worried about me on dry land. lol, So she said to get as much swimming in as I like, and be confident my legs will carry me through the bike/run. Even if it's just a few extra half-hour sessions on lunch break here at work, at least it is something. If I had two or three more months I wouldn't be nervous, but I don't.

Somehow Pete is convinced I'm a better swimmer than he was, and he made it through the swim so it gives me comfort. Thank you Pete for your encouragement! I always feel better about the swim after talking to you. Also, my coach tells me it will be fairly shallow. Worst case scenario, Col decides to run the swim portion...

Running - Picking up my running for the next two weeks, then I'll start to taper down the last two weeks. Keep intensity up, and just log less miles. I went for a 7 mile slow run last night, that was fun, but my legs are definitely thrashed from the transition clinic Wed night, then the run last night. It's a good thrashed though, I'm loving the burn, makes me feel like this year I might stay healthy and injury free and REALLY be able to start running again! I've got some personal 5k records I'd like to beat.... I won't tell you my goals, because well, they might be a little too lofty. ;)

Bike - Just working on being relaxed on it, and enjoying it frankly. I was originally thinking aero bars, but I won't have the money for them. So, first tri I'll use my regular bars. I doubt it will matter much, I am not going to be anywhere near a competitive time. I think it's going to be a surprise day of, just what kind of bike time I get.

Nutrition - That I'm currently playing with. Regular every day nutrition I mostly know what I'm doing. That said, I am currently craving ice cream and may go get some today. haha.

Race Day Nutrition - I had Hammer Heed for the first time the other day, and I'm a pretty big fan of it right now. While it does have maltodextrin, it doesn't have sucralose or any other artificial sweeteners in it. Plus, it tastes fairly light. Talking to "my mentor" she mentioned she hammered a 20 mph on the bike for her tri, got off, and was really hurting on the run, to the point of almost passing out when she crossed the finish line.

However, she was also in D.C. where it was brutally hot, and she hadn't been drinking anything but water, silly girl. Right now I'm just going to play around with different electrolyte/fuel drinks, and see what seems to work for me. I am not someone who can eat/drink much the day of an event, or I cramp up pretty badly. - Talked to our Coach and she ok'd my plan to carb load 48 hrs in advance, eat somewhat light day before, hydrate the whole time, and just do a banana, whey drink, and maybe a luna bar morning of.

Other than that, I'll just count on energy drinks and maybe a gel pack or two to keep me moving. What else, oh yeah, they say wait until 15 minutes on the bike after your swim before trying to hydrate too, because otherwise you run the risk of puking?

Training this weekend - With how much I've done to my legs this week, tomorrow will be interesting. We'll see if they have anything to give me for our 25 bike/few mile run. They're pretty beat. But I'm feeling really good other than that! yay! And I'm really looking forward to tomorrow's workout. Shout out to my body for working with me here.

Injury Prevention - Working on keeping up with stretching, yoga, taking a day off a week, not pushing too hard, eating right, and now adding in the chiro just to watch my back issues.

Went to the chiro this morning, he told me I'm a mess (shocker). I love it when they're like, "and have you ever had any physical traumas, car accidents, etc.

" Umm, do you REALLY want to know? "Yeah." "Well, three car accidents, then there are the horse related accidents; getting thrown off, one broken collar bone, broke my arm, multiple concussions, dragged, kicked, stepped on, and being tackled off my feet. " (Now THAT is a funny story. I was out in the field getting my horse, one of the others bit her, she turned to run away from them and RAMS right into me. It was like a scene out of the three stooges. I got hit in the chest and literally got thrown off my feet into the air, landing flat back, painful, but pretty amusing too. It was like getting hit by a 700 pound linebacker.)

Next question: " "How many times have you been thrown off?" "Um, are you sure you want to know?" "Yes!" "Ok, so at this point upwards of 50 or 60 times?" At which point the doctor just looked horrified and announced, "You bloody HORSEBACK RIDERS! I get these teenagers in here who have already come off 20+ times!" Hey, listen, if you are training horses and compete in the jumpers you are going to get thrown into a few fences, it happens. If you can't handle it you shouldn't be riding. :)

So, he fixed me up best he could and sent me on my way. I do feel better, so hopefully it keeps me moving and injury free.

Here's to a great bike/run tomorrow, and swim on Sunday!

Why Col Shouldn't Hate Swimming

2009-04-16T07:30:00.000-07:00

So, since I keep my promises....I fulfilled my "stupid act" of the week, a few times over. I would like to take a moment to point out I've been a bit distracted, and so what has ensued has been even higher levels of smart moves on my part the last few days. But, other than that, I can't really defend myself.

First was the killing of my cell phone this week via drowning. Shaving my legs I put my cell on the side of the tub? Because, yeah, that is a super smart move. Halfway through shaving my right leg I looked and realized my phone had an unmet need to imitate me. In true Col fashion, it was flailing wildly in the water. I fished it out as quickly as I could, opened it up, yanked out the battery and attempted to dry it....

However, now when I turn it channels America's Next Top Model and refuses to stop taking photos. So if you've received any random shots of me, not my fault. My phone is currently possessed. Further, I am back to not taking my cell with me on a run.

Also, last night we had a transition clinic at our Coach's house. So, I got there, grabbed my stuff out of my car, made sure I unlocked it, and headed up. Or, you know, maybe I made sure I had LOCKED it with the keys in it.

Good news, my windows were cracked open, bad news, not enough for me to get my ridiculous man-arms through them. Looking around, Pete offered his child up, poor kid. So, what ensued was me harassing young children to enlist their help to see if any of them had arms that could fit through window. My teammates were all listening to the transition clinic, and I'm running around grabbing kids and lifting them up to my car. Nothing to SEE here, NOTHING TO SEE...

After lifting up the third child, even the kids looked at me like I was a moron and announced, "Our arms don't fit," as they dismissed me and went back to playing on their bikes. Great, thanks for pointing that fact out.

Move on to wire hanger, move on to second wire hanger, because I dropped the first one IN the car. Finally my team is ready to go, and I'm still fiddling with my car. However, note to self, Coach Kristen has abnormally thin arms, freakish really. Somehow even though the 8 year old children couldn't get their arms in, she was able to? Team had left for their first bike/ run transition by this point. So, I got brief directions from Kristen on which way I was going, and headed out on my bike.

Let me just say, I impressed myself, somehow I made all the correct turns and didn't get lost! With the way my week was going, I was convinced I'd get lost, end up ten miles from the house, with Kristen's husband having to come look for me in the car.

Nope, I made the three mile loop, and although was running behind the group, I reached the transition to the run, threw on my sneakers and started moving. It was actually a super fun night. I just kept my pace, watched my heart beat, and kept moving. We did the bike/run transition three times, and I managed to make up some time, so that was cool I'm definitely getting more comfortable on the bike, which is a great feeling.

On a technical note, I definitely try to pace myself running. If I hold it in the mid 160s I find I can keep that up for a while. If I hit much over 171 I get more winded and over the long run it will make me slower, because I'll have to slow up to recover and that won't help. So last night's final loop I was mid-range running, not super fast, not slow, just moving comfortably.

Trev and Neil were in front of me, and I could hear someone really sucking wind coming up behind me. I wasn't sure who it was, but whoever it was sounded like they were hurting bad. Shortly thereafter, they pulled up next to me, and they were definitely huffing. So, we're running next to each other.

Now, for certain people, I'll let them pass if they want it that bad, and frankly, I would have. However, if I open up my stride to keep up with you a bit because we're almost done, and you turn to me and announce, "I hate you." Just because you're tired and suddenly have an ego need to beat me. Well, then I'm going to smoke you, because, you asked for it. haha.

So, I did, and maybe that was slightly mean, but someone mentioned they were secretly glad I did it. Besides, sprinting is fun. I opened my stride up and let my short legs start rapid firing. BTW, Coach Phelps yelling "She's right behind you Col, she's gonna catch you." Yeah, LIAR, I knew he was lying, once I could no longer hear her gasping for breath near me I knew I was clear.

That said, the girl is 10 times the swimmer I am and in the actual Tri I'll never see her. She'll probably be finished and relaxing while I'll still be swimming.

Which leads me to today's title. - I decided since I am trying to work on my attitude (sometimes I'm successful, sometimes I'm not. I'm human here people) I would write an Ode to all the things I find positive about swimming:

Why Col Shouldn't Hate To Swim -

1. Next to yoga, it is probably one of the best things I'm doing for my back issues. The first few weeks I started swimming it sent it into bad spasms, but I think now it's just stretching it out and strengthening it which is great. Better back = more ability to push running = happy Col.

2. It is forcing me to tackle some thing that is difficult for me. Hence, humbling me and making me develop my perseverance.

3. I would not have gotten to know Coach Phelps and Neil half as much as I have if it weren’t for my lack of swimming ability, and I’m so happy to have them in my life! Love you guys! Thank you for all your help, encouragement, and friendship!

4. I am improving, even if it is not as fast as I would like, or as much as I would like. My swimming is getting better, and I may possibly, not drown in Memphis.

5. If I ever crash on an airplane, and end up on an island with polar bears and blue smoke monsters, and there is a need to jump out of helicopter in a heroic fashion to prevent it from losing too much fuel and I need to swim to shore, to save the lives of my friends, I will be able to do so.

And those are a few of the reasons, I should not hate swimming.

TriAthlete... “Out of suffering have emerged the strongest souls; the most massive characters are seared with scars.”

2009-04-15T06:50:00.000-07:00

I am so lacking in the witty department lately, it's rather embarrassing! I promise to try to pull myself together and get some good blog posts next week. Right now I'm all serious and introspective, I don't meant to depress everyone and throw everything off!

It was a rough week, but have you ever noticed the bigger the tragedy, the better humor is? I like the way my Oma handled things, a serious German stubborn streak, selfless, and a whole lot of humor kept her strong.

The truth is, I got the phone call this week that the biopsy results have come back, and my aunt was diagnosed with an aggressive form of cancer and right now they're not sure there is anything they can do. So yeah, I had my meltdown, did the crying thing, and trust me, Col crying is a sight no one likes to see. Besides the fact it's out of character, there is the whole red eyes, swollen face, looking like Egor factor to it.

I admit I had the selfish momentary, "God, please, I'm so very tired of people I love dying, I don't know if I can do this again." But, that only lasted a minute. Now we spend as much time as we can with her, love each other, and whatever happens, happens. A lot of things went through my head, should I even be training this much right now, what happens if something happens while I'm gone? There was a brief few hour period where I thought, "I just can't do this right now, I can't, I want to be home with her." Then I thought, she'd never forgive me for that... So, I'll just have to train harder for her and say a prayer. If you pray, say a prayer for her please.

That said, forgive much, love more, ever since my best friend died I have always been thankful she and I hugged and told each other we loved each other the last time I saw her. So don't leave anything off the table, make sure the people you love know that. Carpe Diem and all that... And I promise to have done something exceptionally stupid/amusing which will get posted next :)

Last night, I went to the barn and rode my horse, and man did that feel good. Tonight, transition clinic, bike three miles, hop off, run a mile, and then do it a few more times. Oh, and then we're going out for SUSHI, mmmm, I'm alll about the sushi.

2009-04-14T06:41:00.001-07:00

There are a few things I'd really like to go on a tangent about today, so please indulge me for two seconds.... Let me just throw this out there - Twilight

I'm sorry ladies, really with the Twilight obsession? Even my very intelligent, well educated boss loves the books, which shocks me. What is romantic about a bloodsucker coming into your bedroom every night uninvited/unannounced staring at you sleeping? It's called creepy STALKER. Also, any girl who whines that much deserves to be sissy slapped. So I guess in the end, those two really deserve each other.

Somehow I'm missing the attraction of a bloodless-controlling-stalker, but that's just me. Any guy was around that much I'd flip out, "Dude, give me my SPACE you are suffocating me, get a HOBBY!" Ok, thanks for letting me get that off my chest.... Granted, this is from the girl who has a reoccurring dream I'm getting married. Which, I guess probably other girls have that dream. However, in mine, I always climb out the bathroom window and take off...But that is a whole different topic....

Back to the purpose of this blog! Which is not a forum for Twilight ranting.

Ran last night, it was ok. My legs didn't have a lot in them for some reason, then this morning I woke up at 5 to go to the pool, and well, my asthma decided that wasn't happening. Bummer! However, the campus pool is open today, so I'm going to go for a swim on lunch break.
Nothing much else to report, I've decided to can biking tonight in favor of going to ride my baby at the barn. I start to get a bit antsy if I haven't had riding time in a while, and I'm definitely at that point now.

A super fast heart-in-my-throat jumper round and life would be alllll good. Until you've done jumpers, you haven't lived. (Photo - Vinny, crazy boy, but a sweetheart. He's just a bit sensitive, and if you don't stay relaxed, watch out. haha, he'll take you on a ride to remember).

"Excellence can be attained if you care more than others think is wise, risk more than others think safe, dream more than others think is practical, and expect more than others think is possible. " - Author Unknown

Every breath I take, every move I make, every time I pray, I'll be missing you...

2009-04-13T10:07:00.001-07:00

I hope everyone had a wonderful Easter! Family dinner at the Cahill Household, while many things, is never boring. If you have ever seen the family dinner scene from While You Were Sleeping, you have a pretty good picture of the inane conversations that take place, complete with comments on the mashed potatoes. (4:40 min in)

Multiple conversations are happening at the same time, and trying to keep up is next to impossible. I like to just throw out random statements every once in a while, to simply keep everyone on their toes. Oh, and thanks dad for offering my roofing services to family members. My aunt mentions the shingles are coming off her roof, dad starts telling her what kinds of materials she needs, and then announces, "Oh, Col could help! She's done roofing before!" What can I say, I've got skilz.

Other than that it was a solid workout weekend. Saturday the weather cooperated and we got a 27 mile bike, three mile run in. Side Note - I think my Dolce already needs a tune-up, it kept catching while I was shifting. It's a new bike, so not unexpected.

Those bike/run bricks are so interesting. My legs feel like lead the first mile into the run, they just don't want to work. Question, does that transition ever get easier, or will it always feel like that?

Sunday was my recovery day, I mentioned that to a friend of mine and I got back, "Wait, recovery, did you go out last night?" Yeah, NO, that would be recovery from my workout. Because it was snowing up at my parents, I just did four miles of really slow hills to give my legs a break.

We've got five weeks left, wow! The weather is looking great for most of this week so that is awesome. We need to get OUTSIDE to bike and run! I was hoping to get in the pool today, but it's closed because campus is on spring break :( Oh well, tomorrow is Tough Love Tuesday so I'll be in the pool with the boys in the morning anyway. Tonight, run I think :) Perhaps I'll hit a solid tempo run, my legs have had a break since Sat.

I will admit, for the first time this weekend chatting with my family I was wishing one of my close friends was going down with me to Memphis. I'm used to competing, but the horse competitions I was always traveling with people I had a close relationship with, and in the end, no matter what you always have your horse who is your partner.

The closest thing I can imagine comparing that relationship to is a police officer and his working dog, there is a bond that you can't explain and a reliance on each other you develop. You would do anything for them, and they would do anything for you. There are only three horses I have had that sort of deep bond with over the years, and you can't explain that. One of which was Annie, she was out of her mind nuts horse, but very talented.

I got the nickname "Xena," riding her because she was a sensitive soul, that responded to my voice. Also, she had no brakes, I mean, literally. So watching us do a jumper round consisted of hearing me YELL, "GETTTTTTTTTT" when I need a bit more power to hit our spot, and "SLOOOOOOOOOOOW" to slow down, and then when we were done literally heading her to the nearest wall because she'd stop before we actually hit it, but that was the only way she WAS stopping. I always had a fear we'd finish a competition round, I'd head her to the wall to stop, and she'd decide it was another fence and jump OUT of the ring.

A tri is so individualistic, and I already know I'm transitioning out of the water way behind all my teammates. There is no way I'm making up that time on the bike/run, it's just not possible. That is such a frustrating thought to me, and there is nothing I can do with my frustration other than just suck it up and deal.
Anyway, today's post is for my Bets... One of the greatest people I've ever been blessed to have in my life. She was way too good for this world, and so God decided He would take her from us. I miss her. If you've ever lost someone you've loved like a best friend, you know. Some days are easier, some days are harder, it really never matters how much time passes.

Once in a while it feels like yesterday she and I were hugging, telling each other we loved each other and we'd see each other the next day, and sometimes it feels like a lifetime ago.

She was always everyone's biggest cheerleader, and supporter. If we were competing against each other and I was first, and she was second, she was truly just as happy as if it had been her winning. It was impossible not to love her, and I don't think I ever heard anyone ever say a negative thing about her.

Knowing Betsy, right now she'd tell me I'm nuts training for a triathlon, and be worried, probably make fun of me, but as always, be my biggest cheerleader and encourager. I wish you were here girl.

So Bets, I will hold you in my heart during the Tri...

We miss you, love you.... always.... To Infinity, and Beyond....

Robin Hood

2009-04-10T07:17:00.000-07:00

I take back what I said about gyms...Last night's run made me realize it's not that crazy people go to gyms, they actually go all sorts of places... New theory, living in Upstate it is probably that they are just contained indoors during the winter, warmer weather hits, and you can't escape them.... I'm telling you, I couldn't make this stuff up if I tried.

Last night, beautiful running weather, so I headed to my favorite run location to do 7-8 miles.

Now, I for the same reason I refuse to have Internet at home, I also refuse to take my cell phone with me while running. There are times I just don't want anyone to be able to contact me, I value my alone time. An hour of no texts, phone calls, or work emails, you can't take that away from me. I throw my phone in the car and leave it there. (Yes, the girls yell at me for this, and no, I would never tell my dad that I don't take it with me. I have always figured I can always drop an elbow and run like a bat-out-of-hell should that be necessary.)

Ok, so two mile warm-up, actually ran past a fellow teammate, fun! Shout out, Sarah was dripping sweat, so not sure how far she had run, but she gets kudos. Obviously the girl was giving it her all.

Lala, I hit the loop that goes into the woods, and by this point my warm up is over and I'm moving a bit. I round the corner and... run into Robin Hood out with one of his Merry Men. Oh, you all think I'm exaggerating, hallucinating or lying don't ya? For once I thought, "Aww CRAP! I don't have my cell! I can't take a picture and no one is ever going to believe this one."

So there they are, two guys, perhaps high school age, dressed in full tunic, tights, with brown hoods. Trust me, I could not make this up if I tried. Now, they are ahead of me and I'm rapidly approaching them. At this point I'm looking around realizing,"Oh CRAP! There is no one else out here. Just me, the trees, this path, and these guys. Great, I hope they're not actually crazy and are going to start trying to shoot me with a bow and arrow when I run by...."

At that point I was still behind them and so I started quickly scanning them to see if I saw any sort of bow and arrow, or any other possible weapon? Sure enough, the one guy had a bow and arrow on him. OH LOVELY!

Mind is kicking into overdrive now, option, slow down, address the situation as I pass with an, "Umm, guys, why are you dressed like that?" Other option,double time it, pretend to not notice them, and get past them as quickly as my legs could turn-over. I went with the latter, and got a lovely sprint workout through the woods.

And no, I do not know why Robin Hood was out with his Merry Man. It was not Halloween, there was no medieval festival happening that I know of, and I have not heard of any local schools doing a play... However, yes, on days I don't have a running partner, I may consider carrying my cell phone with me from now on. I know my girlfriends would be happier with that anyway...

Final note, there was this middle aged guy running laps last night, that all I can say is WOW. Dude was HAULING, watching him run was pretty awesome. I'd see him round the laps, and I'm not sure how fast he was going, but it must have been sub 6 min miles. It was a thing of beauty. I was pretty much in awe.

Oh, and if anyone wants to see the swim course!

Parents

2009-04-09T08:14:00.000-07:00

So, I chatted with my mom today... My poor mom, she has put up with years of me being getting trampled, bit, kicked, dragged, thrown off horses, concussions, broken collar bones, broken arms... I guess I take it for granted that she doesn't worry anymore, she always acts so tolerant of it all.

"Hey mom, umm, so I'm headed to the hospital, my radius is sticking out of my arm. But don't worry, I'm fine!" For years my mom has put on a smile, acted calm, and dealt with whatever the latest mishap was, "Ok honey, we'll meet you there." Frankly, it's usually my dad who flips out. I still remember right before they wheeled me to put the plate in my arm, dad decided to take my socks off... I was already starting to loop-out, but I still had enough in me to protest,"DAD, MY FEET ARE COLD!" My dad, "I don't care! If your toes turn blue, I want them to be able to see..." Umm, thanks dad, that's comforting...

So I admit, it came as a bit of a surprise to me when this morning my mom actually acted nervous about this Tri? I never saw that coming. Really, chances of anything happening that would actually injure you are so small. No, I am not going to drown. Yes, there are lifeguards. I think maybe part of it is I will be in Memphis and she feels like neither she nor my dad will be close enough to do anything, should anything happen. Plus, they don't know the people I am going down with. Valid concern, much as I love the boys, I'm not delusional

Col drowning - them finishing with a good time- GOOD LUCK COL! WE'LL MISS YOU! IT WAS GOOD GETTING TO KNOW YOU! I might get lucky, they might yell, "Hey someone, that girl over there looks like she might need help..." As they hop on the bike and pedal away....

Also, there is always the chance something could come over Neil. Making him suddenly decide he doesn't want me kicking his butt on the bike, and so he might attempt to take me down during the swim. But this is me, "Almost Indestructible Col" I didn't get that nickname without earning it ;) You can try, but I'm like one of those scary movie characters, I always seem to get back up.

Lesson I took away from this morning's phone call, no matter how funny you find things, never tell your mom you've crashed in a pool, or tipped your bike, or in anyway have come close to physical harm. No matter how calm they act, it still makes them nervous.

Training plan for today, beautiful weather... RUNNING! YEAH BABY!

It's already been one of those "not my days," my co-worker told me I need to go back home to bed, get up again and try a redo.

Car wouldn't start, co-worker came to get me, it ended up needing gas (yeah, I KNOW, I KNOW, I'm a moron. I was going to fill it up this morning, didn't make it.) Then I ended up with gas alll over my newly dry cleaned pants, some uber sketchy guy offered to help me, I declined, went home to change, got to work, somehow ripped the new pants I have on now. I'm pretty much one big train wreck....

So, I'm thinking 7-8 miles fairly easy. Sun, my ipod, and a run, will be enough to turn today around. Saturday we're hitting a solid bike ride, then running, I'm really looking forward to getting outside on the bike. And yes, I WILL be sporting my new jacket, thanks for asking ;) Sunday is Easter, I'll be at my parents, and so I should be able to get some massive hill running in.

Running Like a Girl

2009-04-07T08:01:00.000-07:00

Quick weekend training recap. I was planning on a solid 30 mile bike ride this weekend, unfortunately due to the weather it was cancelled. Sadly, I did not even get a spin class in. I went to the gym and it was cancelled, so I ran instead. I really need to get out on my bike, and it's frustrating, but there's nothing to be done about it. The weather is not cooperating, it is even snowing today!

I did get some running in, which everyone knows is what I would do all the time if I could!

Warm-up, moved to 7:50 mile, jogged it out for two minutes, another 7:50 mile, then just held it at at 8:30 for a few miles. Whatever funk my body was in, it seems to be over. Fingers crossed it stays that way.

I am also finally adding tempo runs back into my schedule. All the focus on swimming and I've had to let my running completely slack . So last night, ten minute warm-up, 20 minutes at my 5k pace, then 10 minute jog cool down. My goal over the next week/week and a half is to move to three mile easy warm-up, two repeats of 2 miles at 10k pace, one mile recovery run between, with a two mile cool-down. Getting in some solid weeks with 10 mile runs in them would be nice.

Pool today, I am still playing around with things, trying to relax and figure stuff out. Shout out to Neil for completing his first mile swim today! He is still ahead of me in the swimming game, but I can't resent him for it, because, well, it's Neil! And he helps keep me sane.

I did play around with my stroke a bit. I got the feel for fully finishing it it for a few laps, and it felt better. But I will probably lose it tomorrow. Oh well, it's like anything else. You get the feel for it, lose it, but then hopefully you can figure it out/remember what it felt like more quickly next time. Eventually, it just comes together and stays.

I believe I even got a "That was fast." Comment from Coach Phelps, but upon further reflection I'm pretty sure I must have been hallucinating compliments. I was under the impression Tuesdays are Tough Love Tuesdays replete with encouraging, "you all suck" types of love. Speaking of which, I've informed Coach Phelps when Memphis is over I'm throwing him on a horse, and I am fully looking forward to that day... Try riding a bike that decides it just doesn't want to do it that day... 'nuff said.

Ok, side note, for all my razzing you all know how much I appreciate all the help from Coach Phelps, and the "you suck" comments, while true, are all in good fun. Don't take me too seriously here people.

Finally, I have to say, God bless good friends. I could not do any of this without the support and encouragement I have gotten, and I REALLY mean that. It is what keeps me going. Honestly, I can't thank my friends enough for supporting me, it truly, truly, has made a world of difference when I get tired/overwhelmed. I'm unbelievably humbled and thankful.

On that note, I had a great talk with the fabulous Sadowski over the weekend- P.S. I need a nickname for you, I'm going to work on that...

Who else can I have a conversation about: planning our next tri, improving our 5k times this summer WHILE training for another tri, doing the track nights on Tuesdays, how to best hydrate, bonking, watching the Tour of Flanders, oh and what MAC makeup products we like? Yeah, exactly, you don't find many girlfriends like that and so thank-you, I'll keep her around for a while ;)

So, stop stereotyping athletic girls. Girls can be athletic, and kick some serious butt, while also being "girly girls." We love our heart rate monitor, sneakers, and new Craft cycling jackets (see photo, I am pretty in love with my new jacket), but we also love our three inch heels, cute dresses, and having our car door opened for us.

Craft Thermal Bike Jacket - I am really digging it! Thermal cycling jacket with a drop tail, four rear pockets, made from Gore windstopper fabric which is also water resistant. As for how much I paid for it, still a bargain shopper. Lets just say I got it for more than 75% off. And THAT is how I roll ;)

I love my heart rate monitor...

2009-04-03T07:43:00.000-07:00

So thank goodness for a good tempo run last night! I really don't know what was going on with my body this past week, but I just felt rather crappy! I'm trying to figure some of those variables out, is it food? Sleep? Just your body just deciding it's had enough one week? How does this work? Why can't it just perform the way you'd like all the time? Yes, I realize that is unreasonable and a slightly ridiculous desire, but let a girl have a wish for minute though ok? Some days I can hit a swim, then do a 20 bike and 5 mile run no prob. Other times, a ten mile bike alone can feels like death? I don't get it.

Oh, the picture is what I would look like if I ran hurdles... Just FYI...

Tina suggested I'm not getting enough carbs/calories, so I'm going to have to go back to old school calorie counting for a few days and make sure I'm getting enough fuel. The fact my butt is now into a size zero jean at White House Black Market is slightly concerning to me. One of my gays announced I needed to be force fed a hamburger the other day...

Thankfully, last night was gorgeous out and I was able to hit a solid seven mile run and yup, killed it, if I do say so myself. Which... I do...

It had been a bad day at work, and I just needed to relax and take it out on my sneakers :) So, since these days it is: "Have bike, running shoes, gym bag, swim suit, water bottle and will travel..." I am able to pick what I want to do, and chances are I have the gear in the car. As for the changing in my car, once in a while a girl just needs to get creative about that. All I will say was it worked out in the end, and I don't believe anyone saw anything they shouldn't have.

So what random things can I tell you about?

Shoelaces, thank you Laura, after once again being brought to four year old status I re-learned how to tie my sneakers using the "Ian Knot." http://www.runnersworld.com/article/0,7120,s6-240-319--13002-0,00.html That's right, not only can I not swim, I tip my bike over like a kid that needs training wheels AND bruise my butt, now I can't even tie my shoelaces...

One day I'm going to do a whole post, "Learn humility, attempt a triathlon..." However, while Ian claims his knot is fast, secure and elegant, ha! My synthetic laces outsmarted the Ian Knot. They still came undone. However, I found using the Ian Knot, and THEN double knotting them seemed to work. I guess I still need new laces... Gonna work on that this week.

So yup, swam yesterday morning, then did a seven mile tempo run last night in the beautiful, beautiful weather. I had some fun playing around with my heartbeat. Maybe I'm one of the only fruits that finds that fun, but I do. It just gives me something amusing to focus on, see if I can guess what I'm at before I look. See how I feel holding at the different levels, and what pace is at what H.R. level for me.

Warm up, mid 150s for five minutes, bring it up to the low 160s, hold for a while, see how fast I can go and smoothly bring it up into the 170s. Hit the 170s for a bit, slow it down to a jog until I hit 154 (yes, I actually made 154 my target number, no real reason, just silly fun. I could bring it back down to that within 2-3 minutes). Then once I hit 154 smoothly bring it back up into the 160s. Sprint it out for a quarter of a mile or so until I hit 180, then bring it back down to the 160s.

Lots of runners were out, which was also very enjoyable. Lots of REAL runners were out I should say, some joggers, but some guys cruising at a good pace which was fun. We all kept looping around and passing each other. It gets amusing by the third pass.

Then there were the dogs, aww, cute cute dogs, which I desired to grab the leash of one, start sprinting, and never bring it back... Even better, grab a dog from a cute guy and let him chase me down? Joking, well...um... yeah... TOTALLY joking...The thought never ever crossed my mind... Although Kim did suggest if I'm going to drown in Memphis, I need to at least make sure it's a good looking lifeguard that I let rescue me... Imagine, some grandma jumps in to save me, I'm like "Umm, yeah, thanks but no thanks. Now that cute guy THERE, could you let him come get me?"

Listen people, this is what happens when you are living the "Hey baby, can I buy you a water bottle?" lifestyle. Short dress and stilettos? Ha, only one that sees me like that these days are my gays, and while they do encourage me to wear shorter skirts and compliment my legs, it's not like it's doing anything for them! Speaking of which, Boo, you and I need to get dressed up and go out to dinner so I can feel halfway like a girl for an evening.

Pre-Tri Psychosis

2009-04-02T06:19:00.000-07:00

So I've decided I've reached a state of pre-tri panic. HI, IT'S ONLY SIX WEEKS AWAY? I wish there was some way I could push this out another month, but it is what it is, and it's coming up fast. And by "fast" I mean in a out-of-control-careening-semi-truck type of way.

And by panic, the truth is, while I have improved, I can literally get myself so worked up the night before a pool morning, I honestly don't sleep the night before. It weighs on my mind, right before I go to bed, then all night I'm thinking, "oh boy, pool morning tomorrow," and then when I get up.

I dread the workout, the water, the early morning, sucking in general... Plus, I'm someone who always runs cold. I've got stupid Raynaud's with my extremities so my hands and feet always get brutally cold, and even though the water is a decent temperature, I always dread getting in. I can wear gloves doing most things, in the water, it is what it is.

So the last few days I've just been really stuck in my head. Between the reality of how quickly this is coming up, fund raising, and having an off physical week, I've just been in a bit of a Col funk.

This morning, once again, thank god for Neil. I swear, I'm so thankful he's around and that I get to swim with him. He has perfect timing. Every time I feel like I'm just about to give up and ram myself into the wall on purpose, to put myself out of my misery, he always comes up with some encouragement.

Today especially I just really needed it, and in good 'ol Neil fashion he checks in to see how I'm doing every once in a while. This is how these conversations go:

6:10 - We're going to do 200's - Neil "ahh, we can do this."
6:20 - How you doing Col? - Good
6:30 - You doing ok? - Yup

6:35 - How you doing? - At which point I give up the pretense and tell the truth.

"Crappy, I'm having a craptastic day." And, as only Neil can, "Oh, that's ok, at least you showed up on your crappy day! I didn't even bother coming Tuesday! Too many beers Monday night" So he made me laugh, and suddenly I had enough mental energy to finish up. I think I'm going to have to get a gift certificate for him and his girlfriend to dinner or something, when this is all over. It will be a "Thank you for helping keep me from having a mental breakdown" gift cert.

So, for all of you who think I'm a super star, I've got news for you. I ain't, nope, not at all. Therefore, this morning I started thinking about those people I know who really ARE super stars, in the hopes of pulling myself out of my panic.

Like my Oma - who her last two years we spent mostly in the hospital. Me curled up in a chair, or an empty bed next to her, talking, or laughing, or just being silent. Weeks of getting the phone calls that she was headed to the ER again, and could I go meet her. And every time she'd be brought in from the ambulance into the ER it was "Oh sweety, how nice of you to come!" Because in her mind I was "putting myself out so much," when she was the one in extreme pain from complications from the cancer, but you'd never know. The most she'd ever say was, "well, it's hurts a bit," or "I'm a bit tired." And the one day, when the blood flow to her leg was completely cut off, and she grabbed my hand, looked at me and for the first time ever said, "I'm in agony." I think I was borderline ready to get violent to get someone in to see her. I finally understood how a person could lose it, when you watch someone you love in pain and there is nothing you can do to stop it, or help, except let them hold your hand and try to stay calm for htem.

Because everyday I spent with her, she always kept her sense of humor and selflessness.
It was always, "Honey, you look tired, you should go home and get some sleep. I'm worried about you." While she was the one laying in the hospital bed.

Or, her sense of humor, the doctor doing the usual ER intake questions which she's heard and answered a million times -

Do you Smoke? - Oma, "no."
Do you drink? - Oma suddenly decides to be a smart alec and throws out, "Why? Are you offering?"
The poor doctor had no idea how to take that, and I just busted out laughing. Because of course, she hardly ever drank and was simply messing with the poor man.

That, that is a super star, and I miss her, and I love her, and I'm doing this for her. And maybe one day I'll be half the person she was.

Or TEAM HOYT. Man, Team Hoyt... So any stupid thing we face getting ready for this tri-is just that, stupid. Probably a good lesson in humility and perseverance for me. "History will be kind to me, for I intend to write it." - Winston Churchill