sick

There's a joke in my household.  I don't do anything half-assed.  Its either no ass or full ass.

For the past three years, I have managed to be sick on my birthday, which is pretty crappy.  It wasn't so bad, I only felt a tiny bit awful, and my Saturday I was feeling much better.  Even well enough for a day of skiing.  Then I somehow rebounded - or caught whatever Will had.  And this next round has taken a hold on me.  Sinus pain so bad I had trouble seeing, a coughing fit (coupled with a ride to Palmer Lake in the snow) that should have probably sent me to the hospital.  And the fatigue.  Holy crap am I tired.

I finally went to an Urgent Care clinic on Tuesday.  Diagnosis was a sinus infection.  I got a lecture about not coming in earlier and a prescription for augmentin, 875 mg twice a  day for 10 days.  I've had 3 full days of antibiotics and feel slightly better.  Only slightly.

Crapola.

I'm 6 weeks away from the hardest 70.3 I've attempted and I have barely done any workouts.  Just 2:20 easy on the bike trainer.  Mainly because of the fatigue.

Hopefully I will really start to feel better this weekend and by next week I'm ready to roll.  It has been a long time since I've been this sick and I'm wondering what sort of bad karmic mojo I put out into the universe to deserve this.

A good end to 2012

I had high hopes for most of 2012, but most of those hopes really weren’t realized. I had a really hard 2011 and a really hard early 2012, and then a broken heel, which made for a summer of disappointments. My heel finally was declared healed in September and things started to look up. I suppose that the time leading up to September made me evaluate things and appreciate the little things. Like walking without pain. And taking time to enjoy things. Oh and beer, drinking lots (and probably too much) beer. Also, I’ve been spending quite a bit more time with Will, which I think has been a good thing. Since my free time wasn’t dedicated to training, we ended up doing new things, drinking new beer, and generally having a good time. Finally. A good time.


This past holiday season has been a ridiculous amount of fun. I am healthy and not limited in what I can do. We have time and (fortunately) some money and opportunities for some fun stuff. I am specifically taking time to enjoy things now because pretty soon I will be sucked into the Ironman CDA training monster. Sure, I’m working with a coach right now and getting workouts in. But I have free time and some flexibility. Best to enjoy that because in late February, I won’t have free time until June 24.


Merry Christmas from the Timberline Lift
at Copper



Our holiday was a bit on the selfish side. We just focused on us and having a good time. I got a ridiculously good deal for a place in Breck over Christmas, so we were up there from Dec 21-25. We were originally supposed to head home on Dec 24th, but we got an extra night’s lodging (for free!) and decided to stay and have fun. As a bonus, it snowed big poofy flakes on Christmas Eve, which made for a powder day on Christamas. Ooooh, twist my arm. Life was truly rough. We skied (ok, I skied, Will boarded) 3 times in 4 days. The first day was very frustrating, mainly because Will is still learning and he is s.l.o.w. Wow, so slow. And standing on a hill in my ski gear is about the least comfortable thing and I get cranky. I kept telling myself that patience would be rewarded and I would have a husband who could keep up with me in a short while. The second day on the hill was a bit better – we found some runs that had some fluffy snow and Will discovered that he liked small bumps. Ok, these things are progress, and so much more fun than groomer greens. I actually had to twist his arm for the Christmas Day powder, mainly because he was tired and he had no idea how fun powder really is. I told him “two runs and if you’re not feeling it, we’ll go home. Besides, this gives the plows time to clear the highway.” I’m so glad I pushed, because it was the first day he had fun. Really, this day was pretty magical. On the drive to Copper there was a HUGE Christmas morning sun dog (where the clouds are frozen and create fragmented rainbows around the sun). The mountain was fogged in and the air sparkled with frozen ice crystals. Add some holiday music at the Timberline lift, powder, and zero lines and we were both incredibly happy. It was magical, and I’m not one to ever use that word.

Beautiful at the 'Boat

New Years weekend was spent in Steamboat. We had been there in the fall, a few years back and loved it. Technically, I have skied Steamboat before (I think I was 8?) but my main recollections were watching the winter Olympics, swimming outside with steam rising from the pool, and my dad being an a-ss and abandoning me on the slope. So, for all practical intents and purposes, this was my first time skiing at the ‘Boat. Same with Will. We went with his cousin and my friend, rented a cheap (but clean) hotel room and crossed our crossables for powder. We were lucky, as Steamboat had something like ~6 feet of snow in 3 weeks, and 1 foot of freshies two days before we got out there. Everything was spectacular. The gondola was a bit confusing (and fast!) at first but really fun. On our first run, we immediately noticed the snow at Steamboat is indeed special, even on groomers. We did a few runs as a foursome then split up as our friends wanted to do a bowl and I knew that Will was not yet up to bowls. We found a nice long blue groomer which had plenty of trees that opened into meadows of bumps. Will did trees and bumps and had a great time. We re-grouped at lunch and closed down the lifts. Amazing. The second day was equally amazing. Will was tired by lunch and hung out at the lodge. Chase and I found ourselves some tree runs.

Trying to document the sparkly snowflakes

Skiing in aspen groves with powder and bumps, as the air sparkled with perfect shiny snowflakes was again, magical. NYE was fun (but mellow). Happy hour and snacks at a brewery. Watching the torchlight parade and fireworks. Eating Chinese food in a place that was heated by one space heater. And watching Star Wars. Early to bed for more skiing New Years Day. Too bad the temperature was ~5 degrees, making the snow sticky and not a whole lot of fun. Not to mention freezing toes. Still, it was a fun start to 2013

Happy Erin with powder tree bumps. 
Unofficial "1:30" run at Steamboat

Will run for beer

This is my easy week.  Being that its an easy week, I can take few more liberties with training and life and stuff.  Yesterday called for a 20-30 min easy run.

Also happening yesterday, my husband texted me, saying that he and a friend of ours were at the neighborhood brewery.  At 4:30 in the afternoon.  Will is usually at this place on a Tuesday at 4:30, but I haven't seen this friend in a very long time.  It sounded like fun.  But I had to get a run in... what to do?

While sitting at my desk at work, I came up with one of my crazier ideas.  I would simply run from the house to the brewery!  I figured it was no more than 3 miles to the brewery, and that way, we wouldn't have the issue of having 2 cars at the brewery and trying to go to dinner after.  I got home, changed, grabbed my Camelback bag (without the bladder) and crammed some clothes to go over my running clothes and hit the road.

A super fun 2.25 miles later I was at the brewery!  And strangely enough, this was the lightest and fastest (even with some hills) run I've done this month.  I think the beer in my near future had something to do with it.  (and this adds to the very long list of things I do now that I'm a triathlete, which seem insane to normal people)

Beers were fun, hanging out with our friend was fun.  I gave him a hard time about his "kind of" girlfriend.  She's 43 and a grandmother.  With a tramp stamp.  The age is fine.  I'm more worried about what in her life's path has enabled her to be a grandmother at the age of 43.

And pretty soon, it was after 9 PM and we had not eaten dinner.  Will and I went to Chipotle and I had a massive burrito bowl at 9:30 PM.  And then I had all sorts of crazy dreams - go figure.

only good things from here on out

I am tired of my life resembling a sine curve.

what's a sine curve, you ask?

Two weeks ago, we had a Superbowl Weekend Ski Extravaganza.  Will, myself, Will's sister Amy, Will's cousin Chase, and our friend Deanna had planned a weekend get-away.  We rented a house with a hot tub, pool table, and 42-inch tv for the weekend and I had procured cheap lift tickets to Copper Mountain and Winter Park.  FUN.

Mother nature tried to foil our plans with SNOWPOCALYPSE.  Chase's original flight was cancelled due to snow.  Then his late flight was delayed because Micron's CEO crashed is airplane at the airport he was leaving from.  Deanna had a stressful drive down from Boulder with snowy roads and I-25 closing down due to a wreck.  But once we got people in our house, life was good.  Saturday morning, Chase, Deanna and I took off for Copper Mountain.  Will stayed behind to pick Amy up from the airport and then head up to the rental house.

Skiing was EPIC.  The snow wasn't that great, but we had great fun.  We closed the lifts down and headed to Tabernash and the rental house.  Good dinner, fun conversation, a soak in the hot tub, and a roll in the snow.  Although, I managed to cut my big toe open on something in the snow.  Thank goodness I have thick calluses, as it didn't cut too deep. 

Sunday was Winter Park with the whole gang.  Amy hasn't skied in 13 years, Will is still pretty new on his snowboard, and Deanna brought her skis along (this is her first year skiing).  We went as a group, hanging pretty much on a green run.  I got a bit bored and taught myself how to ski backwards.  I got pretty good and was actually skiing backwards faster than some were skiing forwards.  It was a beautiful sunny day and everyone had a blast.  We came home to an amazing beef roast (crock pot) from Chase's family ranch and ate yummy food and watched the Superbowl. Tried to soak in the hot tub, but the breaker tripped overnight (and Will couldn't get it to reset until morning), so it was a bit chilly.  And then the breaker tripped again and wouldn't reset.  So, we decided that was a sign and went inside.  Chase and Deanna started some sort of flirty thing, which was cute and really sweet (and I'd be lying if I didn't say that it wasn't REALLY entertaining, but in a good way). 

Monday, Chase, Deanna, and I went over to Mary Jane to ski some hard stuff for a while.  Will and Amy hung back and we had arranged to meet them for lunch in Idaho Springs.  Again, skiing was EPIC.  Trees and bumps.  And tired legs from 3 days of skiing.  Then it was down to Idaho Springs for a late lunch at Tommyknocker, and then a lot of trying to stretch out the rest of the day.  We all had so much fun, and with Chase leaving that night, I wanted to give Chase and Deanna as much time together as possible.  So we windowshopped and hung out at a dive bar.  Finally, around 4, we split ways.  But before leaving, Amy dared Chase to kiss Deanna.    No hesitation at all.  In fact, he almost slipped on the ice in his excitement.  And now they've been outed.  Fun.  Then back to Denver, hanging out at the Breckenridge tap room to wait out traffic, and then dropping off Chase at the airport.  Really, this weekend was the most fun since I can't even remember.

Then Tuesday, Amy was still at the house, planning on flying up to Idaho to see their dad that night.  (We placed Carl in hospice care a month ago).  Then Will got a phone call from hospice.  Carl's heath was declining and he likely had days to live.  We went from EPIC fun weekend to sadness and heartache.

Carl died on Wednesday afternoon (Feb 8th).  Amy and their aunt (Carl's sister) were with him.  We flew out on Saturday. Funeral was last Monday.  This is our 5th loss in 12 months.  Today marks the anniversary of Grandpa's heart attack, which was the first of the losses.

I think we've paid our dues for sad things.  I want only good things for now on.

Wednesday Ramblings

On a cheerier note, here's some rambling about other things that are going on...

Paleo eating is going pretty well.  Lunch and dinner are super easy.  Lunch typically consists of a salad with some sort of meat.  I either bring my own or I can very easily do a paleo salad from the office cafe's salad bar.  Dinner is also super easy.  We have a faux-Whole Foods grocery store here called Sprouts.  Its like WF but soooo much cheaper and easier to navigate.  They have all sorts of chicken sausage varieties (brats, southwest, apple, basil) for $2.99/lb and they don't contain any funky filler ingredients.  WIN.  I've also found that their yams (the skin on these guys is almost red) when sliced, coated with olive oil, seasoned with red hawaiian salt, and roasted are to die for.  Really, we could eat those things nearly every night.  So a basic dinner would be some sort of meat and some sort of veggie.  Pretty simple and easy.  Breakfast is a bit more of a challenge, mainly because I'm so dang picky about breakfast.  I was eating hard boiled eggs for a while, but they got tiresome really fast.  Then I made up some paleo pancakes and they were just ok.  This week I did omlette muffins and they're also just ok.  Dang gag reflex in the morning just makes things tricky.  Last week was a complete disaster in terms of paleo.  Something about driving across 4 states and me not really planning ahead for food made it a disaster.  And working my ass off in the house and not having time to actually cook.  I didn't really eat anything awful (lots of subway, although we got Wendy's on the way to Idaho and both of us felt sick after.  I think that says a lot about how healthy we've been eating and how shitty fast food really is).  But really, it was a bunch of bread and some stress dessert eating of really yummy homemade chocolate chip cookies.  But this week is a new week and I'm back on track.  I still don't know if paleo is life changing but I'll give it another month and see how things are.

My plan to ski every weekend really hasn't happened yet.  Mainly because the snow here has been shit.  The ski areas opened up around Halloween which is really early.  Things looked promising with a 20 inch base in October.  Then at Thanksgiving, the base was a whopping 21 inches.  And Christmas.... 25 inches.  The past week the mountains have been consistently getting 4-7 inches every few days, so I'm hoping that the rest of the season can be salvaged.  Still, we're doing better than Idaho.  Bogus Basin in Boise still hasn't opened.  Nothing but dead grass on the slopes.  Its sad.

Training (in a very vague sense of the term) is going ok.  The cycling I've been doing is going ok (when I do it - I seem to only get in 2 of the 3 workouts each week).  Lifting is very much the same story as cycling. Swimming is getting a bit better.  Still, I'm behind on fitness and getting ready for Boise in April will be interesting.  I've got a duathalon this weekend, so it will be an interesting test of my fitness level.  Its a weird one, though.  1.5 mile run, 3.6 mile bike, 2.5 mile run, 7.2 mile bike then a 100 yard dash to the finish.

Our kitties are really turning into great cats.  Zipper is hilarious and exactly what we needed.  She loves to attack drops of water on the shower glass doors as we shower.  She's also a very enthusiastic fetcher.  Ernie was a good fetcher, but it was on his terms and he wasn't very good about returning it to you.  Zip will fetch any time of the day (or night - she's brought her toys to bed) and she's really good about returning the toy within arm's reach.  She loves it so much that we'll often tire of the game before she does.  She's also a daredevil and lately, has taken to jumping on the railing at the top of our stairs, which forms a bit of a balcony with a ~20+ ft drop.  I saw her jump up there one night and it was not graceful.  I know she's managed to pivot 180 while on that thing.  Hopefully she won't fall, but if she does, there's not much I can do about it.  Gunny is slowly coming out of his shell.  He's very responsive to me and loves to be on my lap, kneeding and purring (although we call it dancing).  Lately, he's been jumping on Will's lap during the day, which is huge progress.  He's still really skittish and jumpy.  Hopefully he'll chill out in time.

Clearing hurdles

Last week was a rough week.  Will's dad's (Carl) heath has been pretty bad for the past 3-4 years and has rapidly been declining over the past two months.  To the point where he needed to be placed into Hospice Care.  Complicating this need is the fact that Will's dad is flat broke.  No money for retirement at all.  No money saved up at all.  None. 

(related PSA - PLEASE do retirement planning for yourself and get long-term health care.  And make sure your loved ones do the same)

So last week, we drove 11 hours up to Idaho to get stuff done.  It sucked and I'm more than a little angry at Carl.  His place was disgusting (cat pee and a complete absense of house cleaning.  I actually painted over human poo on the wall in the bathroom.  not awesome).  But Carl is now in a nice assisted living facility and his home is cleaned out and on the market.  Hopefully it will sell soon, or else things get really complicated.

Not the best way to kill a week's vacation, but honestly, there was no other way.  My efforts last week weren't for Carl - they were for Will.  Poor guy is really taking this hard, so I did what I could to stay organized and make sure we got everything done that needed doing.  I feel good knowing that when we left on Sunday, it was mission accomplished.  Carl is getting good care now and his house is listed to sell.  There were a lot of hurdles to clear last week to get to that point, but somehow we got it done.

Now all we can do is sit and wait.  For the house to sell and (unfortunately) for Carl to die.  Yep, 2012 is well on its way to not being a great year.  I wish I could fast forward and get to 2013.

2011 Distance Wrap Up

As suggested in my last post, 2012 most likely won't be a good year. This feeling was more or less confirmed by my truck being diagnosed with a cracked head gasket yesterday, while getting a routine oil change. Who knows how long its been cracked - my suspicion is at least a year, maybe more. We were lucky that it didn't totally blow up while driving around in the middle of nowhere or while we were moving. Timing for this is perfect too, because we're driving to Idaho on Saturday and need my truck (with a new hitch installed) to haul back some things. Good times.


Moving on, I want to compare my 2010 and 2010 totals. For grinsies.

2010

Bike: 106h 20m 16s - 1438.6 Mi
Run: 125h 24m 37s - 652.94 Mi
Swim: 101h 05m 38s - 254039.3 Yd
Pilates: 15h 50m
Yoga: 36h 05m

2011
Bike: 156h 20m 12s - 2124 Mi
Run: 89h 49m 24s - 497.56 Mi
Swim: 77h 59m 24s - 209457.5 Yd
Strength: 4h 30m
Core Training: 1h 50m
Elliptical Training: 48m 08s
Hiking: 13h 30m
Skiing: 4h 00m
Snow Shoveling: 20m
Snowboarding: 5h 00m
Spinning Class: 3h 00m
Yoga: 2h 00m

Bike - it is important to note that the majority of these miles were before May 21, 2011. Only 335 of those miles were post-IM. I'm a bit disappointed I let my bike fitness crash and burn like that. We'll see how it rebounds as I train for Boise.

Run - my IM focus was the bike, and my running was mostly 60-90 minute runs with the occasional 2-3 hour run. In other words: I really didn't train for a marathon. In 2010, my initial summer and fall goal WAS a marathon, thus the higher training mileage. And in 2010, I wasn't injured from March - Oct (where I quit running all together)

Swim - I'm down by nearly 20%. I'm guessing this is because I took 2.5 months off. hmm.

Notice the complete absence of pilates and pitiful amount of yoga. I loved this stuff.... I just didn't have time in 2011. Maybe I will look into doing more of this sort of thing in 2012.

But look, I have logged some diverse activities. Hiking up a 14'er. Skiing. Snowbarding. Sweet. Diversity is a good thing.

2011 Retrospective

On my way into work this morning, I realized that it was a year to the day since we left Houston and started our life here in Colorado.  Wow.

I would like to say that 2011 was everything I wanted it to be and more.  Say that it was an awesome year.  But I can't.  While we had some big highlights to the year, 2011 was one mostly marked by loss and drama.  I've never really had anyone or anything die on me before.  Nothing could have prepared me for losing 4 close souls this year.  I still can't really think about it much - it still hurts too much.

I would like to say that I have high hopes for 2012, but we have some more family health hurdles to get past.  Big, uncomfortable ones that will be drawn out and painful.  Lets just say that I'm hoping for a good 2013.

Some highlights have been:

• 30 min PR at Texas 70.3, while taking it easy (thank you IMTX training)
• IMTX (really, this is THE highlight of the year)
• Exploring Colorado on my bike for IM training, even if I whined about it a lot.
• Beer.  Lots of beer.  Probably too much beer.
• Buying a great house in a town that we really love
• Camping
• Being able to spend time outdoors, pretty much anytime I want

Looking forward, some vague goals are:

• Surviving the next few months getting Will's dad into assisted care (or nursing care).  This means dealing with Medicare/Medicaid, selling his house, blah blah blah blah.  More stuff then one should deal with when your dad is 68.
• MOAR skiing.  This is of course dependent upon the ski areas getting some snow.  Its pathetic right now.
• Getting stronger on the bike.  I got tired of getting my ass kicked on the hills here.
• Enjoy training with a group.  My club is doing IM Kansas 70.3 as the club race.  Boise is the day before.  This means I have instant training buddies.
• I would put a time goal down for Boise, but with the crazy weather, I know better.  Lets just say I want a stronger performance on the bike.

And really, I can't think past June at this point. 

What a week (and its only Wednesday)

I started eating Paleo Sunday night.  I went to a tri seminar a few months back, and they had a dietician talk about metabolic periodization, where you restrict grains during the build phase of your training schedule.  I've been feeling like crap for months now and have had a little voice telling me to think about Paleo.  After doing some reading the past few weeks, I'm giving it a shot.

My first full day eating Paleo - my coworkers dropped off a bag of chocolates.  Ugh.  Bad week to start a diet which restricts sugar.  Fortunately, my boss was asking around for chocolate, so I gave her the whole bag.

So far its not awful.  I think my stamina is a bit reduced (which is common).  Yesterday was sprint day for swimming, and I was more gassed than normal.  And I was sweating more than usual during my lunch time weight workout.  Supposedly after the 2nd week, your energy goes through the roof and you access your fat stores.  We shall see.  If anything, it will be an interesting month.

Last night, I got conned into going to this sort of self help seminar by a coworker.  She's a friendly acquaintance and did this seminar and it changed her life.  I really didn't want to go but she wouldn't let it drop.  I went, and its basically a cult.  Or cult-like pyramid scheme.  Do some googling of  L a n d m a r k F o r u m.  I'm glad my radar went off in the first 30 seconds I was in the building (everyone was SO HAPPY) and it kind of went downhill from there.  They even had a portion of the evening dedicated to registering for the 3 day course ($500).  I didn't want to give them any trackable information, so I didn't even get a name tag at the event entrance.  I saw that you had to fill out a contact card when you got your name tag, so I just kept walking.  Even though several worker people said "I see you don't have a nametag, have you been offered one?"  The whole thing was weird.  People were having epiphanies (but they call them Breakthroughs!) but while people were talking about their problems (Breakdowns!), the moderator was guiding their words to match the program's bizzaro language.  Sometimes it was subtle (and the people mirrored his wording with barely any promting), sometimes he flat out made them repeat his statement.  And while the words were english, they were assembled oddly.  They said specific sentence structure led to empowerment and words were powerful.  And magically, by using the modified language, they reached their Breakthrough! I thought it was creepy.  And when said person reached their Breakthrough! the whole room sighed in amazement and applauded.  Even my coworker was saying "you just witnessed 2 breakthroughs tonight, wasn't it amazing!" (the issues were not life changing, and in one case, the class led some guy to apologize to his ABUSIVE FATHER.  The son apolgized to his father because the son had allowed their relationship to lapse.  Call me crazy, but I'm thinking if you don't want a relationship with a guy who beat the shit out of you and your family, that's probably a good thing!)  In fact, you couldn't simply talk to someone.  You were "sharing" and "having a conversation".  Everyone was talking and using identical phrasing.  Sooo weird! I'm sure it helps some people, but I really do not need an organization telling me how to think, right down to how I express my thoughts.  Ick.  Seriously, I get the heebie jeebies when I think about last night.  I'm so glad I didn't get sucked in!  I'm sure my checking account thanks me as well!

And now I have a coworker who was/is friendly to me, but she is in what I believe is to be a pseudo-cult.  Awkward!  I really am destined to not have any friends at work.

I just want to get through tomrorrow and then I'm off for a 4 day weekend.  Will and I are going to learn how to snowboard on Friday.  The snow is shitty, but you really don't need good snow when you learn.  Hopefully I won't die.

Post Thanksgiving Ramblings

Things are still kind of blah.  Here's a recap of the past week and other random thoughts...

I love to cook for Thanksgiving.  For the first time this year, I got to cook for my mom (pretty much all of my "family").  Normally we'd fly to Denver for Thanksgiving for the week, but now we live here.  Yay!  Also, last year was a bit depressing as we were selling our house and moving, and cooking a big meal would mean making a mess.  And we needed to keep our house clean.  So no turkey at our house last year.  So, this year, I went with tradition and made: apple cider brined turkey (really, the BEST turkey recipe ever), homemade rolls, traditional stuffing (which for the first time, turned out near perfect - I have a hard time seasoning it properly), roasted and mashed squash (I used the Chirimen squash I got from the farm... it was just ok), and homemade cherry pie, including the crust.  Mmmm

My mom came over (her second visit since we bought the house).  She arrived 15 min before food was served and stayed a whopping 1.5 hours.  And she asked for her pie to-go.  No idea.  And also, kind-of weird.

I love making Thanksgiving because that means I get all the leftovers!  Sadly, a 15 lb turkey didn't last very long.  We had leftovers for dinner on Friday and that was it.  I think that Will had a bit more than he should have for lunch, though.  I was really hoping on 3 meals total from the spread.  *sigh*

Friday I went skiing with my friend D.  My first day of the year.  My first ever trip on a season pass.  We went to Winter Park because the weather said we'd get 2-4 inches of snow during the day.  Copper had more runs open, but we wanted SNOW.  Sadly, the weather report lied.  It was a good test though - we had pretty much every kind of weather: sun, clouds, wind, snow, sideways snow.  It was a good test of my gear and helped me figure out what I was lacking.  I then bought a new ski bag (which holds my boots and gear), baclava (protects your face from the wind/cold), some light weight fleeces, and some before and after winter boots.  Wooo.  Skiing was fun but with the limited runs, it was fairly crowded.  I think we hit the slopes at 10, had a short lunch break at 2, took 2 more runs and was done by 3.

Sadly (or maybe this is a good thing?), my winter running gear = ski gear.  I used my heavy running tights (which are fleecy on the inside) as long undies.  And I used various run shirts as layering for my top.

And speaking of winter running, I ran for the first time since the Denver RnR Half Marathon (Oct 9th).  I was supposed to start back up 2 weeks earlier but I got this annoying cold that just wouldn't go away.  I did the local Turkey Trot 5k.  It cost $15 and I got a fleecy hat.  The race was at the local rec center (a whopping 4 miles from my house) and we ran on the hike and bike trail.  The race wasn't timed, so it truly was just a fun run.  Suprisingly, there were 750 people at the 5k.  That's a ton of people for a hike and bike trail.  I met up with some of my tri club buddies and fortunately, we all run at about the same pace.  We stuck together for the first 2 miles and then I just had to walk.  So did one other person, so I didn't feel so bad.  And we were both sick.  Still - I can't even make it 3 miles?  Full disclosure: I actually had to walk 3 times in that last mile.  At 2 miles, 2.5 miles, and somewhere way too close to the finish.  The last 0.2 miles is uphill (very mean) and I was trying to push, but that made me feel pukey to the point where my stomach was starting to roll.  And some chick right in front of me lost her breakfast (over a 5k - REALLY?) so I stopped to regain my composure.  My time wasn't awful - 33:03, a 10:36 pace.  Not bad considering I walked 3 times.  Ugh.

I have a lot of squash, spinach, and apples from my CSA.  Its crazy.  So yesterday was "processing day", where I basically get things prepped (or processed) to sleep in the freezer.  I roasted 3 different pumpkins - a pie pumpkin, a cinderella pumpkin, and a long island cheesecake pumpkin.  The pie one only yielded 2 cups.  The long island one yielded probably ~6-8 cups and then became pumpkin-lime-coconut soup (with turkey added in).  The cinderella pumpkin was so huge I had to cook it up in 2 batches.  It yielded 17 cups (!!!) of pureed pumpkin.  Crazy.  Four large bunches of spinach shrank down to fill a large bowl.  And I had 3 medium and 1 large bag of apples.  I bought one of those apple peeler-slicer-corer devices a month ago.  I always thought those were kind of a worthless kitchen item.  That is, until I had a mountain of apples to peel.  This device is the shizzle.  I went to work prepping apples, intending to just chuck them in the freezer.  But then I decided to make a batch of crockpot applesauce.  Holy crap, was it the best applesauce ever.  And it smelled amazing.  And really very heathy for you.  I just took apples (enough to fill the crockpot up 3/4 of the way), 1/2 cup of apple cider, 1/2 cup of agave nectar (although you could use sugar), and a few dashes of cinnamon.  Then put it on high for 8 hours.  Amazingness.

This is the week I will get on the ball and start working out.  I finally registered for the new swim team.  If I pay for it, I will actually show up.  The problem this past month is that I didn't pay for it... which meant I had no motivation to go.  Its going to hurt.  I haven't swam in 2.5 months.  I will also ride my bike on the trainer at least once this week.  And resume lifting weights.  Being sick really put a kink in my "back on the wagon" attempt from 2 weeks ago.

I'm doing a duathlon series - Chilly Cheeks.  First one is this Sunday and go figure, I haven't trained.  The first one is a 4 mile trail run and a 10 mile bike.  Hopefully I can fake my way through.  The second race (in January) consists of a 1.5 mile run,  3.6-mile bike, a 2.5 mile run, 7.2 mile run, and a 50 meter run to the finish line.  Mkay!  The final race (February) is a 10 mile bike and a 4 mile run.  The distances are so very random and conditions could be snowy (they don't cancel due to snow - you just ride your mountain bike) that I really can't justify taking this series very seriously.  So I'm doing it for fun and to ensure that I touch my bike once a month this winter.

I had a really bad dream experience on Sunday morning.  I dreamt that I was on the couch and Ernie was next to me, lounging, purring loudly, letting me love on him and rub his belly.  Then Swift popped up and was on my lap, loving on me.  I was so happy to have both of them - acting just as they used to.  (Ok, maybe Ernie wasn't quite so friendly - but he could be when he wanted to).  Then I rolled over and *poof* the dream was gone.  I was still half asleep and found myself sobbing - ragged painful sobbing.  It was awful.  They were so real and then they were gone.  It was like I lost them all over again. :(

New kitties are adjusting (although, awkward - they were snuggled next to me when I woke up sobbing over my other kitties).  Zipper has run off with Will's heart.  He liked Ernie and Swift, but they were always mine (I had them before we got married).  Zipper has claimed Will and they really love eachother.  She'll jump up on his lap while he works, just to say hi, stays out a few minutes and zooms off to do something else.  They'll play fetch in the mornings for 30 minutes.  She'll sit with him at night while we watch tv. She's very playful but in an innocent and nice sort of way.  She just likes to be where ever the humans are and wants to play all the time.  Gunny is doing better.  He's over his bladder issues that was making him want to pee on anything.  My hope is that the issue was stress related.  He's still really shy but will spend most of his time snoozing on the couch.  He will jump out of his hidey hole (under the coffee table) when I'm around and want me to pet him.  And he'll cuddle on my lap at night.  He's still a scaredy cat, though.  Any new visitors, no matter how friendly, and *poof* he's off hiding under the laundry rack in the laundry room.  Poor guy - hopefully in time he'll mellow out and let our visitors get to know him.

Crazy Week

At this point, I just hope I survive through September.

• Monday - recovery day, nothing special otherwise (honestly, I just don't remember Monday)
• Tuesday - awesome 6 mile run, blah work
• Wednesday - mom had surgery to remove a 20mm pre-cancerous polyp from her right colon.  I took a vacation day so I could be the "responsible child".  Got up at 5 AM had an "eh" swim practice (I think I'm going to switch teams AGAIN - this one just isn't doing it for me). Then I got home and figured while I was taking a vacation day and didn't have to be anywhere until noon, I should get in a bike ride.  Normally I just ride on the trails by my house, but since it was after 8 AM I thought it was safe to ride on the roads.  I managed to pick a ridiculously hilly route, which had wind from all sides.  Went a whopping14.8 mph for 16 miles.  Left a bit too late to run any errands, so I went straight out to pick my mom up.  Got there 5 minutes late (she was waiting on the front porch).  Got the hospital right at noon, got her checked in, and waited and waited.  Her surgery was at 3. They didn't call her back until 1:30, which meant lots of anxious waiting.  Poor thing couldn't eat or drink anything after midnight.  I was thirsty and starving, but felt really rude eating/drinking in front of her, so I suffered as well.  They took her back at 1:30 to prep her (hospital gown and an IV).  I went back ~20 min later, where they told us her surgery was pushed back by 30 min to 3:30.  She was a bit of a wreck so I distratcted her with random facebook photos of people she may know.  They wheeled her off at 3:30 and I was free to eat and drink.  Headed across the street for a bite and beer.  I felt sorta guilty about the beer, but I also thought I earned it.  The surgery people said I'd get a call ~30 min before the close of surgery, sort of a notification to get my butt up to the waiting room so the surgeon could talk to me.  I didn't like the waiting room so I hung out somewhere else.  At 5:15, I decided I needed to head up there, sat down, and 2 min later the surgeon showed up fully dressed.  What about my warning call?  Surgery went well, except instead of removing 2 inches, they took out the whole right colon, which is about 5 inches and included her appendix.  At 7 PM they wheeled her into her room, where she was awake but loopy.  She asked me the same series of questions about 3 times.  And I'm a bad daughter and didn't ask the right questions of the surgeon and therefore didn't have good (detailed) answers for her.  I helped her eat her "dinner" (clear liquids) and left at 8:30.  LONG DAY.
• Thursday - decided to sleep in and ditch my run.  Got to work and realized my laptop power cord was making a popping noise and wasn't working.  I called IT at 9 AM to tell them I needed a new charger.  At 11, my laptop battery died.  Meaning there was no work to be done.  I called again, and was told to wait.  I called again at 2 PM - same response.  Considering I was now using my vacation time to sit in my cubicle waiting for a power cord, I decided to just head home.  So I did.  And played with the critters (Swift, my cat; and Molasses, my mom's tortoise who we are pet-stting for the next month or so).  At 5 PM, Will and I head over to the hospital to visit mom.  Not a bad visit, she's doing better but was still on IV pain killers and a liquid diet.  Left at 8 PM.  Ate pizza at this place by the hospital that we went to ALL THE TIME as a kid.  That was trippy.  It hasn't changed at all.  And was YUM.  Then home to feed/medicate Swift.  And at 10 PM bedtime.
• Friday - skipped swim practice.  Not getting much out of it, plus I have a race Saturday, and I'm really tired. Alarm went off at 6:30, Swift came upstairs to greet us, only instead of meows and purrs, she's breathing so hard it sounds like she's gagging.  SCARY.  Will took her downstairs and she was doing better (slightly).  Breathing hard but at least her mouth was closed.  Gave Swift her 2x/week cancer pill, and went to work.  I hate waking up and then trying to figure out right away if  I'm going to have to put another cat down.  Ugh.  Patching things together for work to full my day (there's not much going on right now) but at least I have my laptop charger.  Then after work its off to the hospital, dinner, and home for race prep.

Yeah, I have an olympic distance triathlon tomorrow.  Not sure why I thought this was a good idea.  Part of it is because I'm sponsored now and I have to get in 5 races between now and January, and there aren't that many tris to do between now and then. Its also my tri club's race, and I will have friends and support there. Also, I thought I needed the distraction.  Well, I'm distracted (and pulled in 4 different directions).  Hopefully the race will go well. :/

Too many options

I am easily talked out of training without a plan in front of me.

Saturday I was supposed to wake up at 5:30 AM do a 10 mile run with my (very informal) running club.  Instead, I woke up at 5:20 AM, drove up to Idaho Springs to SAG (aka be a support vehicle) for my tri club's annual Mt Evans bike ride.  I figured there was NO WAY I could ride my bike up that thing (28 miles, all uphill with a 6-8 % grade, ending elevation of 14,130 ft) but I could assist those who could and make friends along the way.  We had 14 riders.  Everyone made it to Summit Lake, 11 made it to the top.

There was a half marathon (Georgetown to Idaho Springs) that morning, so we "had" to park at the Cemetery. 

Echo Lake

QUALITY pavement up above Summit Lake

The group.  Fastest rider made it up in 3 hrs 15 min.  Descent took 1 hr.

After the ride, we had lunch at Tommyknocker Brewery in Idaho Springs.  For my SAG duties, one rider bought me a beer.  I got the Rye Porter.  OMG TASTY!  For lunch, even though I did in no way earn this, I got the waffles n chicken sammich.  With another rye porter.

with maple bourbon glaze.  I ate this at 3 PM and did not eat dinner.  Too stuffed!

Sunday I NEEDED to ride my bike.  In my last post, I made it pretty clear that my time on the bike has been non-existant.  And I have an Olympic distance tri next Saturday.  So, I organized an unoffical club ride on the Rattlesnake bike course.  25 miles of HILLS.  With no trees or shade.  Going out, I was actually holding 12 mph going uphill and my HR was only 163.  I thought to myself, wow, maybe I did hold onto some of my IM bike fitness afterall.

We turned around and WHAM, headwind.  Yeah, fitness?  What's that?

Actually, the ride wasn't so bad.  The last 2 miles of steady climbing will suck.  Running a 10k after a hilly ride in virtually no shade will really suck.

Sporting my new TEAM SONY race kit after my ride on Sunday.  I'm a sponsored athlete, yo!

Then there's my whole half marathon.... I won't be doing a long run next weekend.  I haven't done anything over 8 miles since IMTX.  I won't be able to run next weekend because I have the Oly race Saturday and I'm volunteering for the sprint on Sunday.  The following weekend is a bust, as I'm hiking up Mt Elbert (a 14,000+ peak) with my tri club (organizer's notes: 9 miles round trip with 4700ft of elevation gain...your legs and lungs will be tested, but this is very doable climb.  We shall see).  My last "distance" run (8 miles) was July 16th.  And my half marathon is Oct 9th.  Sooo, this give me 5 weekends of running opportunity before my race. And that's if I don't do any more tri's.  There's 2 more I'd like to do before season closes in October.  I may just have to do long runs and then the sprint tris may (or may not) suffer.  And then there's beer fest at the end of Sept.  TOO MANY FUN THINGS ARE GOING ON.  Ugh.

I NEED to get in 2x 6 mile runs during the week and I NEED to start working on my Saturday long runs.  And then really buckle down in September if I don't want to die on Oct 9.

Two really great runs

Trying to keep things upbeat here.  Will do a memoriam entry about Ernie when I can think about him and not cry. :( 

Onto rainbows and bunnies (happy thoughts).

We went to Idaho for vacation last week.  Not exactly a happy vacation, as the primary objective was to spend time with Will's grandmother.  Grandpa passed away in February, and since then grandma has been declining.  She had a "cardiac event" in early July, went into assisted living 4 weeks ago, and asked to go off of all her medications 2 weeks ago.  I can't say I blame her, she's lived her life and she's ready to go.  Still, it sucks.

Even through we were on vacation, I needed to get some training in.  Swimming is hard to do in the desert (yes, Southern Idaho is a desert).  I could have brought my bike with me, but I didn't see myself trying to figure out which roads were paved in the area of the grandparent's ranch.  So, I made it simple and brought ONLY my running gear.  My goal was to run 20 miles for the week.  I had 9 weeks until the Denver RnR half marathon and I've barely been running*.



What happened to running and biking??

 I still don't have a real run plan.  I'm going to try to run 3x per week.  Tues should be track night, Thurs should be 6 miles, Sat should be my long run (10-14 miles).

Goal for the week was to run 4 times.  Twice @ 6 miles, a 4 mile "recovery" jog, and another 6 mile run.  We drove to ID (10.5 hrs) on Saturday and stayed with Will's mom.  Her neck of the woods is still pretty "country" with farms, dairys, and pig farms (OMG, the SMELL) nearby. The roads are really simple - all based on 1 mile squares.  VERY hard to get lost out here.  Last time I ran here, I broke my foot. So, the running joke this time was that I should NOT break my foot, that it wasn't 15 degrees out, and my MIL's husband shouldn't have to drive around looking to rescue me.  I got up at 6:30 (early, but still sleeping in since I normally get up to run at 5:20) and hit the road.  (full disclosure: I wanted to stay in bed, but the MIL's husband promised to take us out to breakfast that morning.  Pancakes = I need to EARN them by running) I ran on dirt roads the whole time with some decent uphills.  I took the first 3 miles as a warm-up then did some fartleks every 5 minutes to build speed coming back on the last 3 miles.  The first three were decent.  Took a while to get warmed up, but I was happy running with new scenery and smells, as it had just rained and the fields were full (except the pig farm smell - ick!).  Plus, its kinda fun to run with cows and horses as your audience.  Coming back I ran fartleks at my 5k pace (which is actually faster than my 2010 5k pace now), starting at 20 seconds and building to 40 seconds every 5 minutes.  Fartleks are great because you get burst of speed which don't tire you out, and it gets your feel moving faster, which keeps your non-fartlek pace faster than if you were straight-pace running the entire 5 minutes.  For the last half mile, I pushed the overall pace to my 10k pace, to negative split the run.  Really great energy on the back half of the run.  Legs and spirit felt great.  Speed was great.  10:47 overall pace. (My last run of a similar distance was at a 10:59 pace).  Then we went out and had fantastic blueberry pancakes (soooo good) and then I took a 3 hr nap.  Hello vacation!

Monday we migrated to the grandparent's ranch, so Tuesday morning I ran out there.  Again, 6:30 AM.  Sun was out and it was a bit warm (not Houston warm, but warmer than Denver).  Same deal as Monday.  Dirt roads, warm-up the first 3 miles, fartlek back the last 3 miles.  The first two miles really didn't feel great.  My right foot is developing minor plantars fascitis and was pretty stiff.  Actually, my legs in general were pretty stiff, probably from Monday's run.  But knowing my body, I stuck with it, because it usually takes me 2-3 miles to warm-up.  My watch rang at 3 miles, I turned around and started pushing.  Fartleks starting at 30 seconds every 5 minutes.  At mile 5, I was flying and feeling great. I rarely get runner's highs, but I was feeling it that morning.  I felt FANTASTIC.  Running in the country next to a mountain with beautiful skies and happy legs.  I decided to push the last mile, descending from a 5k pace to a faster than 5k pace at the 1/2 mile mark.  I was flying and it was wonderful.  6 miles at a 10:32 pace.  Sweet!  (probably would have been even faster, but its impossible to run across cattle guards, and I had 4 to cross).

Tuesday I pushed myself to run again.  This workout was a recovery run intended to loosen the legs but to also build strength.  I knew it would suck.  But that was the point.  I got up at 7:30 this time (slacker!) and hit the road.  Goal was 4 miles.  Immediately, it was not a fun run.  Legs were very stiff, nothing felt awesome.  When things don't feel great (which is often the case), I stick to my "give it 20 minutes" rule.  If things don't feel better by 20 minutes (usually almost 2 miles), then its time to bag it and head back.  Usually things feel better after 20 min (as demonstrated the previous day).  Today was no such day.  I got to 1.5 miles and simply wasn't feeling it and headed back.  Total run - 3.2 miles @ 12:10 pace. FAIL.

Wednesday was a planned (and needed!) rest day.  Thursday I probably should have gone running, but I didn't.  And then a dry storm moved through on Thursday, causing 30 (!!) range fires in the area.  The air quality was horrible, which meant no more running for the week.

This fire was ~5 miles away from the ranch and 20,000 acres big.  Will helped with fighting it (with his cousin) and they ended up saving a neighbor's house.

fire at twilight

Total mileage: 15.2 
Maybe next week I'll hit 20 miles.  Actually, I've got an Oly on the 20th, so it may be more like 3 weeks before I hit 20 miles for the week.  Training plan???  Good thing I don't have one, or else I'd be blowing it big time!

* Holy hell.  I just charted my weekly distance from late January until now.  Can you say slacker???  Damn.  I knew there would be a dropoff after IMTX, but seeing it graphically is harsh.

Camping Trip

Rather than write a bunch, I thought I'd just post some pretty with commentary:

View as we're driving into Crested Butte.  How is it that I've never been here before?  Its GORGEOUS!

no idea what this was about, but it was pretty cool - Crested Butte

Campsite for 2 nights.  Drove up Gothic Rd (dirt, but not bad), took the turn to Rustler Gulch.  There were some "formal" campsites along the way (with pit toilets) and some "unofficial" campsites where you pull off the road.  Nothing was suiting our fancy, so we decided to keep driving past the gate for RG (after I hiked up a bit to make sure it wasn't too scary).  We saw one camp spot and almost took it, but it was out in the open and not "perfect".  We decided to head up the road to see what's up there.  Another 1/2 mile and we reached the end of the road.  And this campsite, which was PERFECT.  Some trees, but not so many that they block the view.  Pretty view, and no people.

mountain creeks make a good beer cooler

Saturday's activity - hiking along Rustler Gulch

Gothic Peak

The trail called for 2 stream crossings (each way).  I'm so happy I researched the hike and knew to bring along sandals.  We saw the crossing at the trail and thought "surely there's an easier way".  I'm pretty sure our "easier way" was much worse, as we had to cross 2x in the place and it was quite a bit wider than where the trail was.  Snowmelt creeks are COLD and painful.  I think I lasted maybe 20 seconds before the needles hit my feet and I was in pain.  Will was ok, except for the burden of carrying his OWN hiking boots (which he's trying to hand to me in this picture, as I'm safely on the other side)

glacier lily - I love these

columbine - the state flower

humongous flower with Will for reference.  Right about where his head is on the mountain is our destination.

so cheerful - there were fields of these

waist-deep sunflowers, all facing south.  With the sun, it looked like the hill was glowing yellow.

Avery beer with Avery Peak

Gothic Peak with a huge field of sunflowers

Mirror Lake - camp spot for Sunday night.  We had a couple options, stay around Crested Butte (just up a different valley) or go somewhere different.  We did drop $70 on fishing licences, so we decided to camp at a lake.  This place was in a guidebook "50 Best Tent Campsites in CO" and was close to Tincup Pass, which looked like fun.  We were hoping that since it was Sunday, the campground would be empty (which is was - there was only 1 other group out of 10 sites).  What we didn't think of was the mosquitos.  Der.  Lake = mosquitos, even if we were at 11,000 feet.

I think we maybe fished 1 hour?  Fish were jumping all around but not biting.  I ended up losing my spinner after 45 min.  Will lasted a bit longer.  I took this photo when I was sitting on the hill, eating chips and reading a book.  Will also lost his lure.  No fish were caught.  I think we'd better learn how to use our fly rods - we'd have better luck. 



Mirror Lake Campground.  Nice campground but 2 negative things which would make me NOT stay here again.  #1 - mosquitos.  They were bad.  Like swarming me as I was cooking bad.  #2 - Tincup seems to be an ATV paradise, so we got to listen to dirt bikes and 4 wheeler engines all day long.



Driving up Tincup Pass.  Some sections were steep/rocky.  We had to get out and walk a few spots before driving them.  I got out a few times to guide.  We only scraped the bottom of the truck twice.  Success!  Something tells me this would have been more fun in an ATV.  We had to go 4L and took it slow.  ATVs were kicking our ass.

Near the top.  This is going uphill, pretty steeply.

We made it!  ‎12,154 ft.  Ironically, the woman who took this photo was from Clear Lake (Houston).  Funny!

view from the top

Mid-July Ramblings

Finally starting to feel like I should have a training plan.  After living and breathing by a plan since October, it was kinda nice to just play things by ear.  But now I'm 2.5 months away from a half marathon.  Not to mention I may do 3-4 other tri's before the end of Sept.  I can do a bunch of coasting on my IMTX fitness, but not complete coasting.   A plan keeps me accountable.  If only these silly monsoon season afternoon thunderstorms would stop interfering with my plans.  Grrr.

M - rest day or maybe yoga (assuming I can find a yoga class I like)
Tu - track workout
W - AM masters, PM bike (which hasn't been happening with the rain)
Th - AM run
F - AM masters
Sa - long run
Su - bike ride if I feel like it.  2x a month @ 40 miles is probably fine as long as I actually ride my bike mid-week.

Still undecided about the new gym I joined, specifically for Masters.  My last team was crazy fast.  This one is just not very serious.  And what bothers me the most is the workout schedule.  Mondays are distance, Wed is IM, Fri is sprint.  This is stupid because the people who NEED the distance workouts typically take Monday off to recover from the weekend's running and biking.  When I asked why the schedule was that way, I got an "I dunno, its always been that way" answer.  Not the answer I wanted to hear.  I went to a yoga class on Monday and it was the second worst yoga/pilates class I've attended.  The worst was in 2006, in Windsor, MA (I was there for work) were the instructor was more interested in singing along (out loud) to Prince's greatest hits than actually cueing us.  This class at the new club was like yoga/pilates set to up-beat music and it seemed choreographed to the music.  Which meant that you never held a pose longer than 3 seconds.  That is not yoga.  Also, there was a club employee (I think he taught TRX) who spent the whole class loudly whining about how hard it was.  I don't know if he was trying to be funny - like maybe empathisizing with the less fit people in the room - or what.  But I thought it was disrespectful and annoying.  Half way through the class I actually called him out on his antics and told him to suck it up and be quiet.  Everyone laughed thinking I was joking.  And he didn't shut up.  All the "serious" yoga classes are during the work day - clearly this club, while located in a HUGE office park, is geared to women who do not work.  Awesome.  I did go to a spin class, and that was actually good.  Not sure if this justifies the $101/month fee, though.  Even if I do get freshly washed towels.

I could join the rec center.  I swam with the masters team there, and it was about the same sort of thing.  And they have yoga/spin class where I could buy a punch card.  The net price would be much cheaper.  Just not sure if I'd like it any better. And it doesn't come with freshly washed towels.

Swift-kitty isn't doing awesome.  I spent $2,000 on her in May, between her IBS and high thyroid.  She's not been doing very well (diarreah for 3 weeks) and now her back end is cleared up but she's really lethargic.  We're going away for the weekend and I'm going to kennel her at the vet.  Hopefully they will figure out the issue.  Poor kitty :(

And to end on a high note, we're going camping this weekend.  YAY!  We're headed to Crested Butte, up a 4x4 road past Gothic (an old ghost town) and will do the "pull off the side of a forest service road and camp where we want to".  Apparently the wildflowers are ah-may-zing right now.  I'm excited for 4 days of exploring somewhere new and being outside in the mountains.  I've even purchased gourmet smores supplies with DARK CHOCOLATE.  mmmmm.  They just opened the road this week up to Emerald Lake (due to snow) which is one of our camping options, so we'll see.  Fortuately, there are plenty of options. I'm also hoping it doesn't rain a ton.  We haven't used our tent in 3 years and I'm not sure how waterproof it is.  Also: I hope we don't get eaten by a bear.  I've never had a bear encounter in CO. I more associate bears with MT camping.  But apparently, the bear problems are worse now than when I was a kid, so we need to be careful.  Especially since we're camping in BFE.  I also have to convince Will that 5 miles of hiking every day is FUN.  He's not very excited.  Hopefully he will change his mind once we get there.

I hope to post pics of our adventures next week. :)

Life after Ironman Texas

Its been nearly 7 weeks since IMTX - what the hell have I been up to?  Its been a weird (but nice) 7 weeks.  Weird (but nice) because I no longer Live and Die by my Schedule.  If I don't feel like working out, I just don't!  I also have free time.  (I know!  What a concept!).  I actually have been able to enjoy typical weekend-type things, which most normal people experience on a regular basis!

Here's a quick run-down of what I've been up to.

Memorial Day - went to South Fork, CO to hang out with some friends in college.  It was crazy-windy, and there was a bit too much snow on the ground for any amount of hiking.  But I got to sleep in and read books!  And enjoy pretty mountain scenery!

somewhere in the mountains by South Fork, CO

Moved to our New House - We closed on our house May 5th, but there was no way I was going to move AND get ready for IMTX at the same time.  So, we slowly started moving things from our rental house to the new house, a carload or two at a time.  Then we installed hardwood floors on the whole second floor of our house (and had the first floor refinished).  Finally, on June 10th, the movers came and took our furniture from the rental to our permanent home.  The whole weekend was spent moving and unpacking boxes.  I swear, my feet hurt more on Sunday (after standing long hours for 3 days straight) than after IMTX.  Or maybe it was some residual IMTX issues that made them hurt.  I dunno.  Several subsequent weekends have been spent unpacking boxes.  I finally have our bedroom, master bathroom, and kitchen unpacked.  We are still missing some things from our move to Houston (4 glass shelves for a display cabinet) and I still don't have a clue where I'd like to hang our artwork.  But things are functional and feeling more and more like home every day.

Got a Pedicure - my first one in I don't know.... a year and a half?  at least?  Of course, now its been 3 weeks and my pedicure is all chipped and looks terrible now.  But it was fun while it lasted.

Joined a new swim team - With the move, swimming at the old team wasn't practical (5:15 AM start with a 30 min drive - no thanks!).  Soooo, I've joined the swanky private health club by work, purely for their swim team.  I'm still very undecided.  The HR swim team was HARD and I was lonely, but I learned a lot and I was challenged.  This team.... well, they seem to like their toys.  We did a set where it was 100 pull, 100 swim, 200 pull, etc etc.  And even for the 100 pull, they busted out their paddles.  And we did some 50 kick/50 swim sets, and the guy in my lane kept taking his fins on and off for the kick sets.  Just pick one (fins or nekkid feet) and stick with it.  UGH.  I really don't like how they have practice set up.  Monday is distance, Wed is IM, Fri is sprint.  I asked them why they have distance on Monday, because the people who actually need distance workouts usually trash themselves on the weekends and take Monday off as recovery.  The answer: I dunno - its just always been that way.  *smacks forehead*  Also, since practice is only 70 minutes long, the workouts aren't that long.  The Friday sprint coach claims that swimming 4,000 m (with this group of people) would only be junk yardage.  However, if he's doing his job right, 2,500 m should feel like 4,500 m.  I'm not convinced that this is the case - I'm pretty sure that those two distances feel pretty different.  Soooooo, we shall see.  I'm a bit limited on the swim team options over on this end of town, so we'll just try this out for a few months and I'll see if I can deal with it.  (I miss my old MAC team very, very much).

outdoor 25 meter pool

Riding my bike with people - what a strange concept!  I rode from Boulder to Jamestown a few weeks back.  My friend got done with Ride the Rockies (a 5 day, multi-mountain pass, 50-70 miles/day ride) and didn't want to do anything serious.  I wanted to do a "traditional" CO ride, so we did this one.  Only we stopped at the top and had breakfast at the cafe.  There was 8 miles of steady climbing to breakfast.  I am not used to having a upper zone 4 to zone 5 heart rate for 45 minutes.  I was DYING.  If I wasn't bribed with pancakes at the top, I might have turned around early.

pancakes in Jamestown

Buzz in his new native mountain habitat

I'm also starting to do some group rides with my new tri club.  I rode with them on Monday morning, not knowing their pacing or anything.  I'm so used to being a back of the pack rider, that I prefaced my ride with "I'm not good on hills - I will just try to keep up".  Well, I don't know who the hell I've been riding with lately, but apparently I ride with smoking fast people.  With this group, I was consistenly 3rd or 4th and I was the fastest girl.  The hills weren't substantial (mostly rollers, but some STEEP rollers), but still - I was surprised that I was faster than most of the group.  Weirdness!

Running with people - sense a theme here!  My IMTX training was mostly solo, so I'm really enjoying being out with other people.  It really helps that I'm not seriously training for anything, which means I don't have specific targets.  This gives me a LOT of flexibility.  Tuesday nights I've beend going to track workout with my tri club.  There's usually ~8 of us, I'm the slowest (usually).  Track is a bit hard right now as I'm still recovering from IMTX, but its so nice to be out with people and to (at least try) to build some speed.  Also, 6 PM track night in CO is no where near as hot and horrible as track night in Houston.  AND I have a great view of Pikes Peak from the track.  Its awesome!

Back in March, I joined a running club through a local running store.  It was $60 for the year (deal!) and included Saturday supported long runs from the store, 15% store discount, and a 25% discount on Brooks shoes.  I really just joined for the shoe discount (I run in Brooks Adrenaline 11s) and didn't intend to run with them until after IMTX (again, my training schedule didn't mesh with other people).  So last Saturday, I got up for the 7 AM group run.  I planned on just doing 6-7 miles, the most I've run since IMTX.  But I was running WITH people, and those people wanted to do 8 miles.  So I did 8 with them.  Their pacing wasn't great (they went out too fast, I've been trained to negative split).  And the group was small (I'm used to running with 300 people), which didn't give me many options for slower paces.  They were really nice though - training for their first tri, and they asked some questions about training and racing, which helped to pass the time.  At the end of the run, everyone was really hot and some were even dripping with sweat.  I was dry and happy.  It didn't seem very hot at all to me, however, I'm sure next year (once I lose my Houston heat-memories), I will be dying.  Still, I'm loving the fact that I can run in daylight and not be dripping sweat from my pinky fingers.

BREAKFAST - yes, I can actually have breakfast on the weekends with my husband.  Holy schmoley.  The first Saturday after IMTX we went to this place called Snooze, where I got the panckae sampler - coconut snowball, lemon blueberry, and pineapple-upside-down cake.  YUM.



pancakes at Snooze.  YUM

BEER - I can have beer too!  We have yet to really explore our massive list of breweries in the area.  (Lefthand and Oskar Blues, specifically).  However, we have found quite a few places for good beer by the new house, have visited a few breweries (Dry Dock, Elk Mountain, Falcon, Great Divide). 

mostly empty beer sampler at Dry Dock

Baseball games - last Sunday, we went to the 1 PM game at Coors Field.  I LOVE Coors Field.  There's nothing better than a pretty day and a good beer.  (a win would help, but who are we kidding here?)

Coors Field's in-house brewed amber on a pretty Sunday afternoon