windy ride on Galveston

Did the HRTC monthly ride yesterday, which was a "preview" of the Galveston HIM bike course - 56 miles, from Moody Gardens out past San Luis Pass (basically a bridge) and back.  Me being me, I was hoping for windy conditions, so I could mentally prepare for worst case.  And boy did I get my wishes....

At the start of the ride, it was 39 degrees, 20 mph winds, and a windchill of 20 degrees.  At the end of the ride it was 47 degrees with 30 mph winds.  And gusts up to 37 mph.  Good times!  I had a hard time staying in aero the whole time.  I tried to anticipate the gusts, looking at the grass ahead of me, looking for gaps in condos, buildings, wind breaks, etc.  I stayed upright the whole time, but there were several scary moments where I felt I rode sideways as much as I went forward.

My garmin battery was dead (boo!), so I don't have specific stats, but actually that was probably a good thing.  I think knowing my speed would have been depressing.  We take a bathroom break after 16 miles and decide to ride to the San Luis Pass bridge and decide how much farther to go.  Once we got to the bridge, the land opened up and the wind just got windier.  Scary windy.  Then we looked at our watches, saw that it took us 2 hrs to go 21 miles.  We only had SAG support for 4 hrs, so we decided not to risk it and turned around.  That was probably super smart, as I heard reports that the wind just got worse the further out you went.  My friend had only been riding 1.5 weeks (amazing!) and none of us were out to set land distance records.  Plus, I'm doing a 56 mile MS150 ride next weekend, so I've got more time to get in long rides.  So we turned around and it was much better - return trip in 1 hr 10 min.  Still a cross wind, but with a tail wind instead of head wind.  Traffic was getting worse as it got later in the morning, so it was probably best that we turned early, since the closer you get into town, the smaller the shoulder got.  The final suprise of the day was when you turned off the Seawall to head back to Moody, it should have been a nice easy downhill pedal.  Instead we got a wall of wind, which made me shift into my second easiest gear downhill.  Ugh.  Got back to the truck, ran ~35 minutes (approx 3 miles, but hard to tell w/no garmin and high wind).  Then finally breakfast at IHOP to replenish all those lost calories.

Overall, it was suprisingly fun.  Not having the garmin working this time was probably better, since I couldn't get frustrated with my slow progress.  It was more just like a bike ride out to some unknown distance, battling the elements, and hoping you stayed upright.  Now if only my arms and neck weren't so sore... right now Aleve is my best friend.

Running Confidence

One interesting thing coming out of being coached is that I'm becoming more confident as a runner.  I did a brief running stint in 2000 - 2001, mainly running 3 mile 4-5 times a week, until my IT band self destructed.  Then I trained for a half marathon the fall of 2007, which consisted of mostly walking with some easy jogging.  Didn't end up running the race though, because my foot decided to mysteriously fracture itself. Then in May 2008, once my foot healed, I started running 2-3 miles a few times a week, with the goal of doing a sprint triathlon that fall.  I got hooked, signed up for larger and more frequent races in 2009, the Houston Half Marathon in Jan 2010, and now I have 2 HIMs.

I never considered myself a runner.  Running and me have had a very rocky relationship, which has made me very tentatvie (read: slow).  Its almost like I'm afraid of going fast - for fear that I'll get injured again.

My current coach is having me do speed work on Tuesdays.  There was last week's crazy workout. And I shocked myself by going a sub-10 minute/mile pace for the upper Z4 segments - and consistenly maintaining it.  Yesterday was my first track workout.  1 x 1200 Z2 warm up; 4 x 800 Z4; 1 x 1200 cool down.  I had never done a track workout and was very intimidated.  In reality, it was pretty comparable to swimming sets.  Once I realized that, it wasn't so bad.  And track running was kinda nice, because you didn't have to really think about how far to run for the intervals, which gave me time to "feel" pacing and speed.  I know so well what my swim pacing is, but for running, I've really only done "survival mode".  I managed to negative-split (or come even toward the end) of each of my 800's - finishing them in ~4:47 average.  That's a 9:34 average pace.  Craziness.  The concept of me sustaning that pace for a half mile - and repeating it 4 times simply didn't exist in my head.  And then add to it that the pace wasn't super hard.  I was pushing it, but it wasn't "OMG I'm going to puke" pushing it.

This speed work is making me realize what I'm actually capable of.  My legs can move faster.  I'm not injured (knock on wood).  I can sustain faster paces.  I don't feel like dying when I'm done.   And its fun.

Very interesting stuff indeed.....

Accidental Triathlon

So yesterday, I kinda did a triathlon by accident.  I know, accident... how do you do such things?  I blame it on over-committment and feeling like I have to follow my training schedule to a T.

I was pretty fried last week from Tuesday's speed workout.  Recovery day was Friday, so I slept in, got a 1.5 hr massage, took a nap.  Felt MUCH BETTER.  Saturday was a 6 mile Z2 run.  Didn't feel as good as the previous week's Z2 run (5 miles), but didn't feel awful either.  I attribute this to the extra mile, slightly higher temperatures, and a slightly faster pace.  And maybe still being tired from the week.

Sunday was my scheduled brick.  2 hrs cycling and 30 min running.  I went with two coworkers, did 27 miles on the bike in ~1.75 hrs.  Then ran 3 miles in Z2.  And it was TOASTY out.  80 degrees.... I am going to hate life in a month from now.  Finished that up at 1:30 PM, then I had to meet my swim team friend at 2 PM.  She has a new wetsuit and is pretty new to swimming, so she wanted to hit one of the local lakes to test out her suit and get some confidence.  We did 2 leisurely laps around the lake (about 1600 m total... maybe).  Water was 60 degrees, which felt cold at first, but once you got moving it felt nice.  I went moderate - mainly wanted to stay ahead of my friend but didn't want to work too hard, given my earlier efforts.  I thought the swim was pretty nice actually - good recovery and psuedo "ice bath".  Plus, it was only 30 minutes.  To me, that's barely even getting started for swimming.

I post all my workout stats into Training Peaks, and I immediately get an email from my head coach, which consisted of the following back and forth:

HC: Did you do a full tri today?

Me: Nope. I did my brick then met a friend over at 288 Lake. She got a new wetsuit and wanted a small confidence builder swim before Gateway.

HC: That's what i was saying all 3 sports today right? A zone 4 swim after a brick is a lot.

Not quite sure what to make of all that.  I didn't consider my swim a Zone 4.  Maybe based on my estimated distance and time, which were not wholly accurate.  I didn't feel like I worked hard.  And I almost feel like he was admonishing me, when really, I was just doing an easy swim with a friend.  Which happened to be after a bike and a run.  I personally didn't see anything wrong with that.

As a bonus, my legs actually felt good today during swim team.  Normally, Monday's are hard - my legs are lead weights after a hard weekend like this.  That just makes me feel like the swim was a good recovery and no harm was done.  And that I know my body and what its capable of.  Plus, it was a beautiful day and I had fun with friends, which to me, is most important.

Over-Under Speedwork

My coach has me doing weekly strength running, something I've never done before.  Wowzers.

Today's workout:
10 min warmup z2
5 x [5 min upper z4 (10:00 pace) then 5 min lower z4 (10:40 pace).
Cooldown

Considering last Friday was the first time I've ever run 5 miles straight, and that was in z2, I thought this was a bit wackadoodle.  So, as a compromise, I pushed on the upper z4 runs (even hit 9:30 a few times), then ran the lower z4 for 2.5 mins, walked for 1.5 min (drinking water), and ran the last 1 min of the interval.  Then started it all over again.  I did run all of the final lower z4 interval.  I probably could have run more, but give then this was 50 minutes of continuous HARD running, I didn't want to push it.  Still managed to get in 5.63 miles.

Now my challenge is not falling asleep under my desk.  I'm wiped.

Rest definitely makes a difference

Today I did the Continental Classic ride today, which is basically the IronStar course. This was my 4th time on the course, last time being Nov 09 during the IronStar Aquabike.  For that race, I was very fatigued - falling asleep every night by 8:30 PM, crabby, and just probably the most tired I've been since being diagnosed with hypothyoidism.  Today, I'm pretty fresh, rested, and ready to go. 

Comparison of the two rides:
IronStar - avg HR 158, avg speed 15.8 mph, time 3:31 (56 miles), level of effort - huge.  I was wiped out.
CC - avg HR 148, avg speed 15.8 mph, time 2:56 (46 miles), level of effort - zone 2.  Went out and ran 3 miles right after and felt fine.  I haven't even really taken a nap.

Sure, for IronStar, I did swim before the ride and it was 10 miles longer.  Plus, CC went clockwise, saving the harder hills for the back end.  But I just felt so much better today.  I still bottomed out at the end of the ride... I can't get my nutrition right when its not hot out, since I get my calories in from drinking.  I think that once I get that ironed out, I should be able to hit the bike harder and not feel the effects so much.

Overall, pretty interesting comparison of how fatigue affects performance.  I think my average HR and perceived exertion says it all.

Continuous Running

I am not a runner.  Well, historically speaking, anyways.  Something tells me that's changing.

Today I ran my longest continuous distance - 5 miles.  Sure, I've done longer distances (14 miles) but always having to walk part of it.  My KatyFit running group was a big proponent of a 5 min run / 1 min walk interval plan, which is what I used for January's Half Marathon.  Even before then, the longest I've run continuously was 2 miles, always stopping because I got tired or my heart rate was way too high.

Part of my coach's training is for me to do my long runs in Zone 2, which ties into that lactate threshold test I did a few weeks back.  This week's long run was 5 miles in Z2.  So I started running, set my Garmin to keep me in Z2 and just thought I'd run until I felt like walking.  I took a trail I know well and was suprised when I made it to the first bridge, just over a mile away, without needing to walk.  So I took it farther.  And at my turnaround, I still felt really good.  I continued to run until I hit my 5 miles.  Was my pace blazing?  No.  But it was 15 seconds faster than my half marathon time with the run/walk intervals.  Hmmm....  Now we'll see if this type of running is sustainable over longer distances. 

I'm still amazed with how easy today's run felt.  Normally, running is hard and I have to push to keep going.  This was nearly effortless.  I like this kind of running - makes me want to be a runner.  Craziness.

February Totals

February's totals:

 

Bike: 7h 03m 36s - 74.36 Mi  (includes 2.5 hours of spin class)
Run: 4h 10m 17s - 22.93 Mi
Swim: 6h 15m - 15750 Yd
Pilates: 1h 50m
Yoga: 2h 00m
Races: Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon

Not too shabby, given Mon-Thurs last week was a no-go workout-wise, since I was out in the field working 12 hr days.

 

Goals for March:

• 3 long bike rides (~50 miles).  Each long ride will be a brick with at least 3 miles of running.
• Speed/interval training for running
• Swim faster.  My times are crappy due to my off time and swimming indoors.  The only way I can race faster is to train faster.

Race Report - Frost Yer Fanny Duathlon

Tri Season 2010 started today with the Frost Yer Fanny duathlon (3 mile run / 15 mile bike / 3 mile run).  Given how much my brick last Sunday hurt (my first in I can't remember how long), I was just hoping for survival!  Coach Angie told me to go out moderate-fast for the first run, go hard on the bike, and go hard on the last 3 miles.  Mkay, we'll see what happens.

Best thing about this race is that its a whopping 15 minutes from my house AND a start that was 30 minutes later than most races.  Normally I have to get up at 4:XX and drive ~45 minutes.  I forgot that this race was so close and got there ungodly early.  I hung out in my truck (with the heat on) and finished up my traditional pre-race meal of a Coke Zero and protein bar.  I finally decided to get out of my warm truck and get ready.  Started pumping my tires up, and the valve stuck on the rear tire.  So I yanked it off, managed to smash my thumb in my tire spoke and slice it right above the cuticle.  Its not a race unless there's bodily harm (usually at my own doing).  At least this time I know what I did to earn the injury.  After a hunt for napkins to mop up my thumb (yay Starbucks!) and gloves to keep my hands warm (left over from field work last week), both tires were pumped, drinks were on the bike, bag was packed, and I was ready to go.

I walked over to transition (normally I ride... this time I was too lazy to put my helmet on) and since it was so cold (37 degrees!), they were super cool with body marking.  I managed to get my number on ONLY my right hand and my age on my left calf.  Woo!  I'm second in racking for my group and I go and get things set up.  My friend A shows up and we mull around, basically freezing the whole time.  I saw a ton of people I knew, which was fun.  Last year, I maybe recognized 1-2 people.  This race, between HRTC'ers, MAC swim team people, and OUL teammates, I knew a good 10 people.  They finally closed transition at 7:15, and I stripped off my coverups and tried not to freeze in my tri shorts, dri-fit shirt, and cycling sleeves.  Brrr!

My wave starts - the run is an out and back through the park, and you're in trees for most of the time.  I kept my pace at 10:20 - 10:30 min/mile for the whole time and only stopped at each water station for a 0.05 mile walk.  I'm so used to the 5 min run / 1 min walk from half marathon training, and I'm trying to break myself of that habit.  At mile 2, I realize that I didn't hit the bathroom a final time before the start and there's no way I'm going to enjoy the 45 min (ish) bike ride with a full bladder.  So at transition, I hit the bathroom (quick!) then went and grabbed my bike.  Normally, for tri's I'm in the top 10% for the swim, so I'm used to being to the racks early.  Today was pretty sad, as my bike was the 2nd to last one on the rack.  *sniff* 

The bike was a 3-loop 5-mile course, which basically turned into short track speed skating on bikes.  There were newbies going slow, me going average, huge guys zooming around, and course officials on motorcycles.  Add multiple turns, gravel and potholes in a few spots, and it was fairly tricky.  I tried to maintain 18 mph on the bike, but I'm thinking the wind kicked up towards the end, because I could only hold 17 mph for the last lap.  My friend thought it was windy too, so that's what I'm sticking with.  Cycling sleeves were perfect for the run and bike, but it was getting warm so I ditched them at transition.  I love my sleeves - they're perfect for when its a bit cold at the start but you know it will get warm mid-way through the race.

Run #2's goal was to try and hold a 10:00 pace and just do a tiny bit of walking.  I liked the run course because it was in the trees, but it wound around a bit, so you could see things (like water stations) through the trees to keep you motivated.  Again, I walked at the two water stations (just long enough to eat a powergel chew and drink a bit) and then it was back to running.  At the turnaround, Helen (my KatyFit running coach) passed me, so that gave me motivation to push things.  I was actually holding a 9:45 pace for a good bit of the run.  The final half mile, I pushed it even more, to sub 9:30.  It really helped that I could see the finish line well before I got near it, as that kept me motivated.  As I hit the final turn to the finish, this guy corners with me and says "come on, you can't let this old grandpa beat you - get moving!"  And that was awesome motivation.  He still beat me, but I was actually running at at 6:35 sprint at the end - I don't think I've ever finished that fast.  And I very nearly puked - even looked around for a strategic place.  That's always the sign of a successful finish.  Fortunately, after a few minutes, I was fine.

Post race I just grabbed some grapes, said hi to some friends, waited for A's time to post (she was close to placing), and introduced myself to my coach (we've talked on the phone, never met in person).  Then after the results were posted, A and I went to a post-race breakfast of belgian waffles, bacon and eggs. 

Results:
14 of 26 in Age Group, 278 of 418 Overall

11:02 Run Pace, 17.8 Bike, 10:17 Run Pace
1:57 finish time

Lactate Profile Test

I signed up with OnUrLeft last week for triathlon coaching.  Mainly because having 7 weeks between LoneStar (wait... now its the Memorial Hermann 70.3 Galveston or some crap like that.  LoneStar sounds so much better) and Boise was freaking me out.  I can figure out how to train for 1 half ironman... but two that close together? 

Part of what OnUrLeft likes their athletes (ha, I'm an "athlete") to do is get their lactate profiled, and then they'll use that information to build heart rate zones for training.  So last Friday, I went and got that done.  It went about as I suspected... increasing speeds on the treadmill and bloodwork.

Before we start, the Terry (the testing guy) interviews me.  Asks about my training speeds (slow and fast) and he talked me through the process.  Basically, you start running at the slowest speed you can maintain w/out walking for 4.5 minutes.  He'll ask for a percieved exertion number (1-10) and take your heart rate then prick your finger to draw blood for the test.  During exercise, your blood lactate levels are supposed to increase slightly, level off, then rise sharply.  Your lactate threshold (where you should be training for endurance) is right where your level rises sharply.  Typically, a lactate level of 4 is about as high as you should be at during endurance workouts.  You know, if you're typical and thing go as they're supposed to.

So, he took a baseline test (concentration of 2.1) and off I went.  We started at at 12:00 pace and went faster from there.  So, as soon as I start runing, I'm hot and bored.  How can you not have a fan for a stress test???  And I'm used to being distracted when I run (at the park, with headphones), so 4.5 minutes of running while starring out a window wasn't ideal.

So, at the end of the first interval, we take a sample, and its high.  Terry makes a comment that maybe we should have started slower, as my blood lactate is already at 4.7. which is pretty high.  My ego is hurt.... a 12:00 pace is REALLY slow.  And really, my heart rate and exertion was low.  And really? I never ever run that slow.

Treadmill goes up to 11:32, I still feel fine, la la la really boring running.  Another finger prick, lactate still is climbing - its at a 5.3.  Terry threatens to do one more blood draw and then start me out much slower.  Lame.

Up to an 11:07 pace... Terry asks me what I think my heart rate is (I couldn't see the monitor).  I guess 170, HR monitor reads 169.  Pace is ok but not stressful.  Take a blood test, my lactate finally decided to cooperate at a 5.3.  Meaning we can move forward.

10:43 pace, things are bit harder, but not awful.  I can tell I'm working but I don't feel pukey (my indication that my HR is over 185).  Blood lactate moves up to 6.5.

10:21 pace, and I really miss the fan. Slightly pukey, guess my HR was 175, and I'm spot on.  Lactate is now at 7.0.

10:00 pace (which is fast for me - I've only ran a sub-10 min 5k once, when fire ants invaded my shoes in transition and then I had ants in my shoes biting me the whole bike/run.... fun!).  Definitely feeling like I'm working harder, HR is 181.  Lactate is 7.2.  Terry calls the test done.

Apparently, my threshold is at a 10:43 pace.  I feel like a wuss, as I swear that during my half marathon training runs, I could sustain a 10:30 to 10:15 pace no problem.  Maybe that pace doesn't feel so bad because I was running outside with a group.  I dunno.  I just hate seeing scientific confirmation that I'm slow.  But at least I'm good at judging my HR based on feel!

Terry emailed my results to my coach and in a few days, she'll set up my training zones.  Should be interesting to see how those stack up.

linkety link

Anne's website - giveaway

First weekend back

My Olympic tri is in less than 2 months...  and I've got a silly duathlon on Feb 28th  I haven't touched my bike since IronStar in November and I haven't run (other than to catch a flight last weekend) since the Houston Half Marathon on Jan 17th: gulp :  So, with that, I need to get training!

Part of the deal with resting was to let my legs heal.  I have a weird muscle pull (tear?) in my right inner thigh from IronStar, which apparently made me limp a but during running and then caused my IT band on my left leg go wonky.  Three weeks of no running/biking was intended to heal things.....   Plus, I've been training for something pretty much since Jan 2009, so a three week break was welcome.  Sleeping in until 6:20 AM during the week, sleeping in late both Saturdays and Sundays (a true luxury), not having to nap away the weekend because my long workouts wore me out.

But now here I am with an Oly tri and HIM looming.... Looming! 

Saturday was an easy 5 mile run at the park.  Hard part was motivating myself out of the house, since it was 37 degrees.  Brrrr.  But I also had places to be in the afternoon, so I was out on the trail by 11 AM.  Funny how 37 degrees seems cold but I always somehow manage to overheat (in capri tights, a long-sleeve drifit shirt and a fleece vest).  Funny, I'm rarely happy with temperatures... always wanting it colder or warmer than it actually is.  The run was at a decent pace (around 10:15 for my run portions) and felt good for 4 miles.  Then my thigh started to feel a bit wonky, so I slowed things down a bit and walked the itty bitty hills.  IT band felt ok, though (probably because I did preventative KT taping).  So overall, the run was ok, but not spectacular.  But, full discolosure, I'm dissapointed that after 3 weeks of rest, my dang leg still hurt. :/

Sunday I met a coworker at the park for a ~30 mile bike ride.  My first ride since November..... and I was expecting the worst.  Buzz (my bike) is a year old now, but I've got a bunch of new things that make it feel different.  New cassette (with different gearing), new saddle (Adamo ISM Road - funky!), new shoes (Sidi Genius 5s)  I remember the first time last year that I cycled this far.  From my truck its 3.5 miles through twisty heavy pedestrian pavement to George Bush Park, then ~7 miles to the gun range, then 4 miles to the turn around.  I don't know if it was because it was hot or what, but going to the turn-around seemed so very far away.  Not to mention coming back.  And so tiring!  But this quickly became my 30-mile ride of choice (its 100% paved trail with no roads to cross).  And yesterday, I was very surprised to find that this ride (even with a 4 month break from the bike) was no problem at all.  Even road at similar speeds to last year.  And it was FUN.  After weeks of gloom and rain, yesterday morning was sunny and 50 degrees.  Timed the ride just perfect, as the clouds started showing up when we got back to the parking lot.  Legs felt good, saddle felt good (a bit sore, but nothing I wouldn't expect after a 4 month break), energy level good (no afternoon nap needed).  And I have 2 bruises on my upper thighs that I have no idea where they came from!  Bruises are always a good sign of successful tri training :)

I'm also going to hit up 2 supported rides in March, so I can get in some longer distance.  Its boooring to do the same 30 mile route each week, and even more booring to do it twice in the same day.  So, I'm doing these 2 rides:

March 7th: Continental Express (hey look, its basically the IronStar course... good test for my new gears!)
March 28th: Bluebonnet Express

Probably do ~50-60 miles for each of those rides.  That should set me up nicely for my April races.

Log - Week Ending 2/13

Ok, so I was supposed to be in full training mode.... Seems instead I decided to "ease" into training.  Oopsie!

Swim: 1 hrs 15 min / 2600 yds (stuck in the hot pool.... IM workout)

Bike: 45 min spin class
Run: 58 min / 5.2 mile easy run
Pilates: none!
Yoga: 1 hr
Skiing: Another glorious day skiinig at Alpine Meadows, Tahoe on Monday.  Took the Garmin 305 with me... hit 44 mph.  Sweet!

Also registered with OnUrLeft for coaching.  So, a slower week than planned, but I still made progress.

Log - Week Ending 2/6

Week 3 of bummitude - completed with a long skiing weekend!

Swim: 1 hrs 10 min / 3500 yds

Bike: nothing!
Run: nothing again!
Pilates: 55 min
Skiing: hours and hours and hours!  Friday was moguls - definitely a leg workout!

This weekend I need to get back on schedule and find a coach.  The next few weeks are gonna hurt :/

Log - Week Ending 1/30

I'm in week 2 of my three week bum-fest!

Swim: 2 hrs 15 min / 6500 yds
Bike: nothing!
Run: nothing again!
Pilates: 50 min

Saturday I slept in until 11 AM.  I only woke up because Swift-kitty thought I had slept in enough.  I can't even remember the last time I was in bed that late.  : awesome :

Plan for this week is to continue the bummage.  I was supposed to swim this morning, but my alarm went off, it was cold, I had both kitties sleeping on me, and I decided that we were all too warm and comfortable to get out of bed and swim.  So we ditched swimming and slept in - yay!

I should go to pilates tonight, swim on Wednesday.  Thurs I fly to Reno to see Rochelle, Skip, and Wyatt, and go SKIING.  Hopefully I won't yard-sale it on the slopes and hurt myself.  That would suck, since I'm less than 3 months out from my HIM.

1 Hour Postal Swim - 2009

My friend twisted my arm and had me swim the 1-hr postal challenge today.  Which broke my "do nothing hard for 3 weeks" rule... sorta.  The challenge is to swim 1 hr non-stop for distance.  I did this challenge in 2006.  Funny, reading back on my posts, I was really freaked out over the concept of swimming that long without stopping.  Freaked over what my distance, soreness, fatigue during and after would be.  Flash forward 3 years and its almost comical how "eh" I was today.  There's many reasons for the "eh" - pretty much all my training in 2009.  Completing a 2500 open water swim in Chicago, doing a Half Iron distance Aquabike, 2x a week workouts with ~3500 yards per workout.  Doing the 3,000 yard postal challenge in October 2008 and 2009.  Distance swimming for me is much more manageable and routine.  Its hard to pick a workout (when I'm training) where I don't get in at least 3,000 yards.  Back in 2006, I had this whole elaborate plan for the 1-hr postal - 5 x 12 minute "mini-sets".  I even practiced it a few times before the event.  This morning, I intended to do the 5 x 12 minutes and just wing it on the "mini-sets", but my watch timer wasn't working.  I was 200 yards into the start of the swim and just decided that I was going to try 7 x 500 yards with a 50 of easy free or backstroke between each 500 yard interval.  Didn't even get stressed over this, just went "eh, watch isn't working, what do I feel like swimming?"

I ended up swimming 3420 yards in 1 hour.  I was kinda bummed - hoping to swim 3500.  My 3,000 yard last October was done in 47 minutes (1:36 / 100 yard pace).  I was hoping for more progress given the 3 years and all the training.  However, what I need to remember is that I purposely wasn't working hard during the swim.  I was never even out of breath.  My coach even commented on how "easy" I took certain 50's.  Part of me is mad at myself for not pushing more - I know I could have done better.  However, taking things into perspective.... I've been doing off-season swimming since November (low intensity) and I'm in the second week of my three week "do nothing challenging" period.  And I went into this swim without a plan.  I should actually be happy that I essentially hit the easy button on this swim and had 50 more yards than 3 years ago, a swim that was challenging for me at the time.

I guess all things considered, I should be pleased.  I just wish I felt good about this morning.  At least I'm not sore :)  There, that's something to feel good about.

Log: Week ending Jan 23

I was actually a bum - YAY!

Swim: 0 [for the record, I did pack and set my alarm Wednesday but then decided that rest seemed like a better idea]

Bike: 0

Run: 0

Pilates: 2 hrs

It honestly took until Thurs before I could walk normally - my legs were that unhappy from the half marathon.  So sleep and some easy pilates were right on target.

This was also the first weekend in a looooooong time that I didn't have to train.  That meant sleeping in Saturday, spending the day with Will at the zoo, a late lunch at Little Bigs (sliders and a kaluah milkshake - yum!), and a birthday party that night.  Normally I turn into a pumpkin by 10 PM at parties since I have to get up early and do something athletic, not to mention I really can't drink.  But Saturday I was out until 1 AM and had some drinks!  Craziness!  Sunday was more sleeping in and a 90 min massage....

2 more weeks of bumming and I'm going to enjoy every minute of it :)

Race Report: Houston Half Marathon

I'm sitting at my desk with my race number starring at me, yet I don't know how to begin.  So, I guess I'll begin at the beginning!

Got out of work early to pick up my packet on Friday. Nothing too exciting there.  I suppose I was expecting "more" from the expo, but it was just ok.  I picked up some new sunglasses and some arm-warmers, so that was cool. 

Saturday I vegged on the couch for most of the day.  Caught up on my TiVo list and played 2 hrs of Super Mario Bros Wii (why is that game so hard???).  Dinner was at the Bull and Bear.  Not the best choice (in hindsight) but I thought I was ok with a grilled chicken philly cheesesteak sammich.  Home, got my race stuff prepped and was in bed by 10 PM.

Sunday morning I was up at 5 AM, out the door by 5:20.  Breakfast consisted of my traditional Coke Zero and protein bar.  Bad news was that I could still feel last night's dinner in my stomach... which was not a good thing!  Got a free parking space ~3/4 mile behind the convention center.  Ended up walking to the convention center (start of the race) with a guy who flew in from Georgia.  Walked in the convention center and whoa.... that's a lot of people.  Decided to hit the porta-john before the lines got go bad.  Wandered over to find my running club, which thankfully had a sign, otherwise I would have been screwed.  Did a bit of stretching, got my stuff ready for the day, wandered over to the bag check in to check my stuff, wandered back to my running club.  Yup, lots 'o wandering.  Then it was time to walk to the race start.  We were in the second wave, probably about in the middle of the crowd.  Even though it was in the mid-40's I wasn't cold.  Partly because of being sandwiched btwn people, partly because of my awesome new arm sleeves.  We heard a big KABOOM and realized that was the gun for the elites.  More standing around, a bit of forward progress as the first wave went, more standing around.  Then another gun and that was the start of our wave.  I thought it was very cool that they were playing Iron Maiden's Run to the Hills at the start of my race.  I was with my coach (Helen) and two other girls (Heather and Tara) who had been in my running group since July.  The goal was to run together until the 9 mile turn-around point and then see what pace we could do after that point.

Lots of shuffling up to the start, then a slow jog.  I haven't checked my Garmin, but given all the people, I'd estimate my pace was somewhere around a 12:30 mile.  More shuffle running, trying to find space.  Up the hill at the Elysian Viaduct.  Helen instructed us to do a slow jog up the hill.  I got confused and went into greyhound mode (I hate having people in front of me) and went a bit too fast.. which Helen promptly yelled "slow down and take it all in".  Which kinda became a running joke when I fell behind later on.  Up over I-10 then downhill into the Heights.  This was the very cool part, since the Half and Full marathoners all merged here and the street was just a sea of people as far as you could see.  Then it was just running with a lot of people.  Lots of weaving around, trying to avoid the walkers, potholes, road patches, etc.  We do a 5:1 run/walk ratio, and I was amazed with how good running felt.  There are times where the 5 mins just drag on and on and on.  For the majority of the race, when my watch beeped (all 4 of us were beeping in unison, it was pretty funny) it was like, already?  time to walk?  ok. *beep* time to run? no problem!

The first oh, hour or so flew by really quickly.  What I remember is weaving through the crowd, chasing Helen (my coach), running past houses with residents outside cheering (some even were blasting music), random people handing out snacks to runners, the guy wearing a full-on furry cow costume, and just how good running felt.  Nothing hurt, pace was good, I was having fun. 

We hit the 10k part, went up a hill then south on Montrose, the one street that had familiar landmarks.  At about oh, 8.5 miles, my digestive system decided it really did not like my dinner the previous night.  It was uncomfortable, but not awful.  No porta-johns in site, plus, I didn't want to lose my running partners.  The GI thing passed, but I was slowing down by that point.  Maybe not so much slowing down as Helen and this other girl got faster.  Tara (who I ran with consistenly since July) and I stayed together, which turned out to be a good thing.  At the turn-around, we lost Helen but trudged on.  At mile 11, we hit Allen Parkway, which has a gradual hill and is the last stretch before you hit downtown.  My GI was being difficult (very annoying) and Tara had a case of "everything hurt".  Now, I don't even know Tara's last name and I'm pretty sure we'd never be friends IRL, but I was so glad to have her for that last part of the race.  I kept her going (only 4 more run segments... we can do it) and she kept me going.  Really, we were what eachother needed.  I really think that if I didn't have her, I would have just said screw it and walked more than I did.  But I didn't and I kept running.

As we approached the finish line, I was really expecting more "hoopla".  I had visions of the last mile being full of noise and spectators.  Really, it was the last 1/4 mile that was like that.  The mile before that was a bit spooky, running through downtown on relatively empty streets (compared to the crowds of the day).  My GI started really being unhappy, and with the finish line in sight I did say "screw it" and walked for a bit, until Coach Scott found me, put his arm around me, and made me run.  Was it fun? no.  But am I glad he did it? yes.  My "realistic" goal was 2:45, my stretch goal was 2:30.  I finished in 2:31 and am very very pleased.  In fact, my 10k - 9 mile split had me running a whole 1 min/mile pace faster than my overall pace.  Pretty cool.  Did an arm pump as I crossed the finish line (mainly so you could see me in the pictures - which failed since I was behind giants and all you can see is my arm).  Then we found our coach, took some pictures, and got our medals.  And then I had a huge asthma attack (why now after I ran 13.1 miles???) and my poor legs transformed into stiff, sore limbs.  That's ok, though, because they didn't hurt when I was running, and that's what matters.

So, in summary:

• Do not eat at the Bull and Bear before a race.  Your stomach will thank you.
• KT tape is awesome
• Running with my training partners and coach was awesome. 
• I ran just shy of my stretch goal, and exactly at my training pace
• At no point in time did I think "why am I doing this??? I'm a swimmer, not a runner!".  I guess this means I'm a runner now.... eeps!
• Even though my legs still hurt (its Wednesday), I still get nothing but good feelings when I think about my race.
• And I'm looking forward to running this race next year!  Woo!

Day before the Houston Half Marathon

Goals for the day: watch tv, play Super Mario Bros Wii (its hard, seriously), drink a LOT of water (something I've not been good about lately), charge up my garmin, shower and re-tape my knee with KT tape, and pick up my bike from the shop.

I left work early yesterday to get my packet pick-up and to tour the Expo. I was actually well behaved at the expo and didn't buy a whole lot of stuff. Got a new pair of sunglasses (that make me look bad-ass. I figure I'm not fast, so I may as well look good, right?) and some arm warmers. I was really torn on what to wear at the start of the race for my upper body. Race-start temperature is ~40 degrees, which is a bit too chilly for all the standing around I'll be doing before the race starts. I usually wear a light weight long sleeve over my t-shirt (excuse me, tech short sleeve shirt) and then after ~1 or 2 miles I take the long sleeve off and tie it around my waist. I really don't want to have to mess with that (full disclosure: I don't want my race picture to have me with a shirt tied around my waist), and I really don't feel like buying a "disposable" long sleeve shirt, so the arm warmers are perfect. They're sleeves without the shirt, which means they're compact and I should be able to tuck them into my hydration belt. Plus I can use the sleeves on future runs and bike rides.

The goody back sucked, compared to other races I've been in and what I was expecting with all the sponsors this race has. No hats, towels, water bottles.... I don't even get a real bag - its plastic. The one really cool thing, though. My race number has my name on it:

Legs feel eh, still. I pulled something in my right inner thigh from IronStar and its still tweaky. Tweaky to the point that I've started limping when I run, which has made my IT band on my left knee go tweaky. I bought some KT Tape , which hopefully (?) will help. We shall see. I probably should add "ice knee" to my goal for today too.

So that's the pre-race day post. This is the first day in months that I've slept in on a Saturday and it was awesome. Hoping today goes well and that I have fun!

Getting ready for hills

So, IronStar last November kicked my butt. Those teeny little 150 foot high hills hurt. IronStar was a warmup for the Boise 70.3 race - whose hills are 300 feet tall. I ran out of gear going up these tiny 150 footers and was really, really freaking out about having to go up hills twice the size. I actually planned to do weights in the off-season to strengthen my legs for those hills, except then I forgot until a week ago. Oops! And here I am, 3 weeks away from having to start training, and still in the hole for those hills.

I dropped my bike off today at the shop for its very first tune-up. Since I put 1,000 miles on Buzz last year, the tech said I needed a new chain and cassette. We were talking and I was lamenting about my wussy legs and Boise. So the tech busts out a different cassette with more gears. Why didn't I think of that??? I now feel a bit (but not much) better about those hills, knowing that I have engineering on my side.

Blogging? what is that?

Ok, I need to get in the habit of writing things on here. Its hard, though, when life takes over and I get too busy. Or just want to veg. And having a blogging goal is a good way to try to focus.... In the past, I blogged about observations or how crappy my job was. Blogging was theraputic and I needed an outlet. 3 years later and I really don't need that sort of outlet... I'm happy (for the most part), which is a new thing for me. But my life is very fractured, mostly because my job is crazy but also because of my triathlon training schedule. Which makes coherent thought, especially when it comes to blogging.

So, if anything, I will try to blog weekly, if only to post training updates and total distances/times per week. And to post goals for the week/month/whatever. And we'll just see how it goes.

2009 Training in Review

Funny, first post in a loooong time is looking back on training distances from 2009. I hope to do more active blogging on triathlon training for 2010.

2009 totals:
Bike: 92h 21m 04s - 931.87 Mi (includes spinning and cycling)
Run: 59h 23m 10s - 314.55 Mi
Swim: 123h 15m 55s - 305325.1 Yd or 176 miles
Pilates: 31h 15m
Stretching: 14h 25m
Yoga: 16h 05m

Races:

Lone Star
4/5/2009 965m/28 mi/6.5 mi
Places 31/157/619
swim: 20:16.4 2:06/100m
T105:15.7
Bike 1:35:55 17.5 mph
T2 02:39.2
Run 1:20:47 12:26/mile
Total 3:24:53

Silverlake
5/17/2009 400m/10 mi/3 mi
place: 20/35 312/467
Swim 8:17 2:05/100m
T1 2:28
Bike: 32:20:00 18.6 mph
T2 1:20
Run: 30:41:00 10:14/mile
Total 1:15:03

Memorial Hermann SugarLand
6/28/2009 300m/10 mi/3 mi
place: 10/44 236/555
Swim: 5:14 1:44/100 (long course pool)
T1: 02:22.0
Bike: ~30 min
no T2
Run:33:28.4 11:09/mile
Total 1:12:05

Jeff & Brede's
7/12/2009 300m/12 mi/3 mi
place: 11/30 243/404
Swim 5:07 1:43/100m (short course m pool)
T1: 03:00.0
Bike: 40:50:00 17.63 mph
T2 1:49
Run: 29:37.0
Total 1:20:22

TriGirl
8/16/2009 300m/11 mi/3 mi
place: 29/61 99/270
Swim 4:44.3 1:35/100m
T1 1:55.1
Bike 35:19.2 18.7 mph
T2 01:23.3
Run: 33:04.0 11:01/mile
Total 1:16:26

Big Shoulders Open Water Swim
9/12/2009 2500m swim
46:53:00 1:52 OWS Lake Michigan, sleeveless Zoot wetsuit

Firethorne
10/25/2009 500m/15 mi/3 mi
places: 18/33 402/598
swim: 8:57 1:47/100m
T1 2:31.2
Bike 50:54.9 17.7 mph
T2: 1:36.6
Run 31:45.9 10:35/Mile
Total 1:35:45.7

IronStar (swim/bike only) 1.2 mi swim / 56 mi bike
11/8/2009
swim: 41:28 2:08/100m
bike: 3:31:05.7 15.92 mph
no run (relay entry)

ramblings......

Today we had a new kind of swim practice - 1 hr of pilates follwed by a 1 mile swim outside. This was really, really nice, mostly because it was a beautiful sunday afternoon. I love swimming after pilates. You're relaxed and very self aware. Swimming is just so easy feeling after pilates. The sun was wonderful too - even if my face did get a bit pink.

We're a little over a week away from our Rome trip. We're trying to keep our schedule pretty open. We arrive on March 5th in the morning and leave March 9th in the morning. We want to hit the archaeolgical highlights (Collessium, Pantheon, Roman Forum, Palentine Hill). We wanted to see Pompeii, but its a 3 hr trip each way on a train and pretty crowded. So, instead we're going to Ostia Antica for a half day or so. Its only a 30 min train ride and you pretty much get the same experience as with Pompeii, only with fewer people. Plus, we can hop on the train for one more stop and hit the beach on the Mediterranean Sea. And I'd love to rent bikes and spend some time biking down the Via Appia Antica (Appian Way). This is the section with the catacombs, which we may or may not see.

We're also considering the
Borghese Gallery, which apparently if you only hit one museum, this is the one to see.

I think we're going to pass on the Vatican, mostly because we only have 4 days in Rome and I really don't want to spend a whole day waiting in lines and then inside just looking at stuff. Sure, its cool stuff, but I'd rather be outside in a Piazza eating gelato and people watching.

Also on the list: taking a bazillion pictures, eating my weight in gelato, pizza, and wine, and just hanging out.

Let the "I'm unprepared for Italy" dreams begin

I had my first dream about our upcoming trip last night. Clearly, I need to start packing NOW if this dream is any indication.

We're flying Delta (crossing fingers) from Houston to Atlanta to Rome. Houston has 2 airports, both of which fly to Atlanta.

In my dream, we roll into IAH, get onto our plane, only our plane doesn't take off. It leaves IAH, folds its wings up and DRIVES to the other airport. This is to pick up the other people going to Atlanta before we leave town. And during this drive, I'm a total wreck.

So then we get to the other airport and leave. I'm very thankful that the flight schedule we chose had 2.5 hrs of layover (our other IRL option had 50 minutes - and that equals lost luggage at ATL). So we get to ATL, only I realize I didn't bring any shoes, sunglasses, or sunscreen with us. How did I not pack those basics? But fortunately for us - there's a Target set up right in the terminal (or at least shelves with Target logos in the middle of the terminal walkways). So I'm shopping, but now panicking because I cannot find sunscreen. And who know if Italy has sunscreen...... and then I wake up.

Yep, definitely a sign that I should start a list and setting things aside now.

Hurrah! I can wear matching shoes again!

Buh-bye big ugly velcro bootie. I had a follow-up appt today and my foot is healed!!! The doctor showed me the before and after x-rays, and remember how I tried to convince myself that the bone wasn't *that* broken? Yeah, well.... it was actually really truly broken. Good thing I didn't run, huh? :smacks self on forehead:

So now I have 6 weeks in a super-hawt navy ankle brace. But at least most of my shoes will fit over that.

And the best part? No more making fun of me. I swear, if I heard another peg-leg or penguin comment...... and no more having to have this conversation over and over again:

Random Stranger: what did you do to your foot
me: I broke it
RS: no way - how?
me: I don't know
RS: what do you mean you don't know?
me: what I mean is, I have no idea how I broke it

and so on. trust me, it got REALLY old. Especially after the very drunk lady at happy hour who kept bugging me and told me that should I ever give birth, I won't need an epidural b/c my pain tolerance is high. umkay, thanks. Really, the less I can do to attract freaks, the better off everybody is.

motivation to behave

I found new motivation to rest and let my foot heal. Well, rest is relative, meaning no half-marathons. I'm still swimming, though. But I am trying very hard to not do a lot of walking.

Anyways, the motivation....

Will and I are going to ROME (as in Italy) the first week of March. I'm beyond excited. The only bummer is that when I get excited, I tend to jump up and down. Only with my velcro bootie, the effect of jumping up and down excitedly is really just sad and pathetic and causes Will to break out into fits of laughter and call me a penguin.

Anyways, we have our airfare and bed and breakfast booked. We have 4.5 weeks to learn Italian and read a bunch of guidebooks.

A very strange sequence of events

I'm a big believer of "everything happens for a reason". The past week (or so) is definitely proof of that.

I broke my foot, preventing me from running the Disney half marathon.

My friend (C, that I was running with) - her husband's grandfather's health had declined rapidly. C recently moved to FL to be closer to her family, while her husband stayed behind in SC until he could transfer to FL. When I called on Dec 31 to tell C that I broke my foot, she was in the process of moving out of her SC home, to get her husband moved into Granddaddy's house to better watch after him.

A week later, it was decided that C would be moving back up to SC and acting as Grandaddy's home health care provider. She'd be moving the same day I flew back home. I cancelled my trip so she could have more quality time with her own family.

Last Wednesday, C found out that Grandaddy was hospitalized due to complications from dimensia. She decided to move the very next day (which would have been the day I arrived in Orlando).

Last Thurs (the day I was supposed to be in Orlando), I got a call from my best friend from HS. Her husband's grandfather had passed away, and they were in Alabama for his funeral. They were flying back home with a layover in Houston, but were delayed and would most likely miss their connection in Houston. Sure enough, they were 3 hrs late and missed their plane - and couldn't get on another plane for 24 hrs. Since this was weather related, they were on their own for lodging, etc.

So for 24 hrs, I got to hang out with my friend that I don't get to see very often, because of a very bizarre chain of events. It was really so incredible that something good and fun came out of so many bad things. This almost never happens. Maybe I should buy a lottery ticket.

cancelled

After a lot of thought, I've cancelled my flight to Florida. My friend has a lot going on right now and her training hasn't been going well either. We both decided it would be best if I cancelled my flight and tried to visit her during a less chaotic time.

Bummer.

And I have to work now.

However, husband is wanting to take a trip "just the two of us". Which, he never, ever requests. I know he had something more domestic in mind (he mentioned Vegas). I'm thinking 4 days somewhere in Europe would be fun.

I swear, all I do is work, eat, sleep, train, and plan vacations.....

to run or not to run..... logic or doctor's orders need not apply

so, this whole "broken foot" thing and my brain really don't get along too well. Almost immediately after my doctor visit, I began to doubt that my foot was broken "that badly." I started searching the internet for medical discussions about my break "avulsion fracture of the 5th metatarsal". The pictures of this sort of break that were on-line were much worse than mine. These breaks were like lighting bolts through the bone, where as mine was a fuzzy patch on the back end of my bone. So,really, my break can't be all that bad, right?

Then my doctor took x-rays of both feet, but only looked at the right foot. I still want to call him, asking him to email me the xrays, so I can compare both feet to determine if my right *really* does look different than my left. So, is my foot even really broken? Does my doctor have something against me and running and just made this up?

And with 4 days of my foot being immobilized, it doesn't hurt anymore. So, I'm now thinking.... I walked/jogged on it for 9 miles with NO immobilization. Surely after 2 weeks of immobilization, adding on an additional 5 miles (for 13 total) will be ok (or not do that much more damage).

And on Thurs night, I was talking to one of our Subaru friends, who is running the Houston marathon the same weekend as Disney. He's german and a PhD physicist. His thoughts are that based on what I did before diagnosis, if I just wrap my foot really tighly, I should be fine for Disney. Then we started talking, and came up with the brilliant idea that I can start the race and if it hurts, then I can stop at a first aid tent and get a ride back to the meet-up area. Seems reasonable, right?

I think Will is going to have to lock up my right tennis shoe before I leave on Thursday...... Otherwise, odds are, I will be participating in the half-marathon... with a broken foot. And somehow, this seems all perfectly ok and justifiable in my wacky little head.

broken

So, my body really doesn't like the idea of me being athletic.

I broke my foot sometime before Christmas..... It started hurting on Dec 19th. It didn't get diagnosed as broken until Dec 31st. During the time between it hurting and being diagnosed, I went skiing (I swear it didn't hurt then), snowmobiling, and walked/jogged 9 miles.

It was the 9 miles that did it. My foot felt ok during the first hour. I stopped to turn around after 1 hr because I was freezing (we were in Idaho) and *wham* acute pain. When I got home, I had a random bruise on my foot, which is what finally freaked me out enough to make a doctors appointment.

So yeah. I have an avulsion fracture to my 5th metatarsal on my right foot. Basically, the tendon that wraps around the outside of my ankle and attaches to that bump on the outside of my foot pulled away and splintered the bone. Good times. Now I get to wear a uber-hawt velcro boot that goes up to my knee for 4-8 week. At least I can still swim.

But no half marathon for me. Which sucks beyond words.

My arms won't move anymore

I swear, my swim coaches are trying to kill me.....

Tues night swim practice...

• 200 warm-up
• 4 x 50 breastroke (25 drill, 25 swim)
• 4 x 50 butterfly (25 drill, 25 swim)
• "December to remember set" (she makes us swim one of the more er, challenging events) = 200 butterfly swim (no drill or kick). [this is what killed me. but we have a 66 yr old woman on the team who swims this at meets, so if she can do it, then I should to)
• 400 free, 80% pace
• 2 x 200 choice stroke, 80% pace
• 4 x 100 free, decend slow to fast (my lane crashed and burned at the third one - we weren't any where close to making time)
• 4 x 50 free sprint
• 300 pull cool down

And then 10 hrs later, Wed AM workout:

• warm-up (400 swim, 200 kick)
• 200 IM (25 drill, 25 swim)
• "recovery set" (I begged Jason to give me an easy set since my arms were toast. He said this was a recovery set just for me. But really, this was the set everyone did, and it wasn't easy).
• 8 x 250 free - 100 moderate, 50 sprint, 100 moderate (no rest during the 250)
• cool down

My arms are completely worthless right now. Today should be entertaining.

playing tag

Thanks KT....

1. Link to your tagger and post these rules on your blog.
2. Share 5 facts about yourself on your blog, some random, some weird.
3. Tag 5 people at the end of your post by leaving their names as well as links to their blogs.
4. Let them know they are tagged by leaving a comment on their blog.

So, here goes....

Factoid Numero Uno - I was suspended in the 7th grade for a week for drinking whiskey in school. I avoided death at my mom's hand by playing the "I just wanted attention from my divorced parents" card. Really, I just wanted to drink during school. I was a dumbass, though, and stored it in a glass jelly jar that must not have sealed so well, because well, you could smell the whiskey from 100 feet away.

Factoid Numbero Duo - the first guy I ever slept with is now an ob/gyn. That creeps me out. A lot.

Factoid Numero Tres - I took 4 years of latin in high school and was even JCL president my senior year. I don't remember any of it now. Really, I just signed up b/c it looked good on a resume and we spent a week in Estes Park for the Colorado latin convention. Which sounds like a complete geek fest (and for the most part is was) but I always managed to find some of the less geeky guys and ditch the convention events to go hiking.

Factoid Numero Quatro - I love asian food and could probably eat it at least 4x a week. Vietnamese, japanese, sushi, chinese, thai. I love it all.

Factoid Numero Cinco - ummmm...... why am I having problems coming up with 5 random facts? Weird facts.... um.... Oh, I guess this counts as weird. For the past 2.5 years I've been getting electrolysis for my underarms. Its actually working but really isn't the most comfortable thing to do. Still, beats shaving.

So, there it is!

And now tag - to these people:

Jess (who needs to post more)
Jodi (just because she commented to my post last week)
Paula (hi Paula!, um you haven't updated your blog for a while either....)

And sadly, I can't even tag 5 bloggers, because they either don't post very often, they've already been tagged, or their too big to tag. *sigh*

Why training during December is no fun

Because I now have internal debates on when to work out, due to my social schedule getting in the way.

Friday night we went to a pub crawl - stayed out until 12 AM. Woke up at 11 AM Saturday. It was hot again (whyyy? December in shorts and sweating your ass off is NO FUN. Seriously, just try to be festive while sweating and hanging lights. Its not easy.) It was hot and we had a party Sat night, so I decided my day would be best spent on the couch watching all my TiVo'd shows before the DirecTV guys showed up to switch out our receivers.

We got a HD DVR b/c our 2nd TiVo unit is slowly dying. We got a good deal on it, so hey, why not. Guys were supposed to show up btwn noon - 4. We had the party at 7. Guys called at 2:30 asking if they could show up at 5 since we were last on their list. I told them we had to leave at 6 for the party and they said that they could be done by 6 no problem. Which really wasn't helpful, since I still had to shower and get ready for the party - and that simply wasn't going to happen with random repair guys in my house. They did actually show at 4, but left at 6. They did something to mess up our TV. Its a projection TV, but its one the last projection TVs that were made before flat screens became affordable, so really, its still a pretty nice TV. I still don't know what they did, but I encouraged them to leave by nearly growling and throwing my new remote at them.

Went to the party - it wasn't that exciting. Combined office party with the boss's friends and family. it was um, odd at best, especially since we didn't really know anyone. Got home at 1 AM. Woke up at 11:30.

And since I still had my long run to do, that left Sunday afternoon. My hip is still really tweaky - I think some scar tissue from my 2001 bout of ITBS popped on tuesday and the tendon is really angry at me right now. Seeing as how it was hot out and my hip hurt, I headed to the gym for some quality time on the dreadmill. There were no freaky people there (bummer) and the TV shows that were on were horrible. I had to spend an hour watching DinoLab on Discovery Science (It was either this or ice skating). I cannot imagine having to be an "actor" on this program - it was soooo horrible. Its like they were doing a Jurassic Park experiment but combining it with educational properties instead of slash and gore.

In a futuristic stadium-sized state-of-the-art laboratory/gym, scientists study a remarkably realistic cast of digital dinosaurs and put them to the test - from running on a treadmill and pulling weights to navigating an obstacle course. Outfitted with a 50-metre long motorized treadmill, a massive water tank and a wind tunnel; plus pulleys, cranes and levers for hoisting and manoevering the unwieldy creatures, this environment is the perfect testing ground for paleontologists' latest insights into the lives of dinosaurs. How fast could the T-Rex run? Long considered the biggest, meanest, fastest, strongest killing machine, the T-Rex is pushed to its limits on the giant treadmill. But just what happens when the T-Rex falls at more than 40kph? Also, watch a flying Pterosaur - with a wingspan of eight-to-nine metres - hang-glide in a wind tunnel; and in a glass-walled tank, see how the prehistoric king of the sea, the Plesiosaurus, thrashed its three-metre neck to stun its fishy prey. In addition to testing the mettle of these mythic dino monsters, Dinolab also reveals the surprising connections between some prehistoric creatures and modern-day animals. Consider the Triceratops: How could an herbivorous animal with a thick hide, long horns and large, low-slung belly not be the Cretaceous counterpart to the modern rhinoceros? The analogy is obvious to the most casual observer - but it's also wrong. Experts reveal that the real Triceratops is closer to a cross between a crab and a bull, demonstrating that its quick rotations and lunges made it a fierce match for the T-Rex in battle.

So they have real actors with cattle prods who "encorage" an animated T-Rex into this sub-level box with an open top and a treadmill. Then they turn the treadmill and watch him "run". And a "scientist" scans the T-Rex with some sort of thermal scan. And then they crank up the treadmill speed and T-Rex crashes, gets pissed, and eats an electrical transformer. And at no time does the pissed off T-Rex jump out of the research hold (which appeared to have an open top with open access) and get all slashy with the "scientists". Oh, and they were doing something weird with a velociraptor - backing it into a corner and tossing basketballs and raw hamburger. I wasn't listening to the show to figure out what the hell this "research" was for.

So, um yeah. Good entertainment while spending an hour on the dreadmill!

Hoping that my hip is better and the air temps are back to "cool" for next weekend.

Bad kitty mommy, heat, knees, and possums

Took Swift to the vet Friday afternoon for her annual appointment. She checked out fine, except she has worms, which apparently, come from fleas. I was floored. I’ve had the cats 12.5 years and this has never, ever happened. I don’t know which I feel worse about: The fact that I didn’t notice that my cats had this issue – or the fact that this happened in the first place. Will and I were both surprised, as neither cats have shown any signs of fleas. Sigh

So, my Friday night started with bathing both cats. Which is never a good time. Ernie managed to latch on to my wrist with his teeth and drew blood. But they both got wet and sudsed – while Will was at happy hour. Then the spent the rest of the night pouting.

Saturday consisted of disinfecting / laundering nearly every surface in the house. And putting that horrible flea oil stuff on the cats. Oh, and forcing huge pills down their throats. I should have done my long run on Saturday, but I was so squicked out by the cat situation that I decided my time was better spent cleaning.

Sunday Will raced his car, so I decided to get off the couch and do my long “run”. Pretty much, all signs pointed to “do not pass go”. My digital watch is dead. I need to buy a new one, since the wristband is shot as well. All our AA rechargeable batteries were nearly dead. So I grabbed 3 and hoped that 3 nearly dead batteries would last 2 hrs in my MP3 player. Headed to the trail and it started raining as soon as I got out of my truck. Fortunately, the rain didn’t last very long, but it was 80 degrees out, so the rain just made things miserable and sticky.

My knees ended up being very tweaky after my last long run. They’re very tight on the inside – not sure if its just that I need to stretch more or if its connective tissue is rubbing on something. My 3 mile on Tues was more of a walk, and not a fun one either, due to my knees rebelling. So this time, I decided to walk the first mile to warm up then do slow bits of jogging. My knees still were tight, despite the rest and warming up. At mile 4, I could jog a bit longer but they were still very tight, so I just decided to walk the whole 7 miles. At mile 5, my hips then started to get sore, so I hit the dirt trail for the last 2 miles. It went ok – and as a bonus, I saw a possum.

Got home, stretched, showered. Then went grocery shopping. I do not recommend grocery shopping after a distance set. It really wasn’t fun. But neither is going without dinner or lunch for the week, so I just shopped very slowly…..

I did pick up a bottle of Accelerade – I’m curious to try it out. I can’t really have Gatorade b/c of my hypoglycemia. I appreciate the fact that I’ll need a boost at mile 10 of my half marathon, but I really worry about the sugar and if I’ll crash and burn if I have Gatorade. So, I think on my next long workout I’ll try 8 oz of Accelerade and see how I feel.

The other thing I’m curious to try are the new Cliff Shot Blocks. I think they’ve got goo that’s recovery with protein, which I think would be good during my race. They didn’t have any at the store, though, so I’ll have to hunt around for them.

Swimming today wasn’t bad – it was 50 degrees. I warmed up inside (ugh – bath water temperature) then made the bold leap to the outdoor pool. Workout was another “its cold and Jason doesn’t want to go outside” set. Meaning, he just gives us a very long main set so he doesn’t actually have to go out in the cold and talk to us. Workout consisted of warmup (400 + 200 kick), then 10 x 200 (broken) – sprint the first 50, moderate w/good form for the remainder. Odds free, evens choice. I was pretty proud of myself – I did breast-stroke for my choice. I figure if I’m going to try to swim this at nationals, I need to do more than 50 yards at a time. The air temperature wasn’t too cold, and overall, the workout was pretty good.

Hopefully my knees will be feeling better for my 3 miler tomorrow…..

brrrrrrr!

While I'm happy for more seasonal weather (ie lows less than 65) I'm not too happy working out when its cold.

I really like my new swim team. I like the coaches, the workouts, the facility, the locker rooms. The one thing I really don't like is the climate control. We have 2 pools - an indoor and an outdoor, both heated. The indoor pool is a constant 85-86 degrees, for the little old ladies and their water aerobics class. That is really too hot for lap swimmers. The outdoor pool is a constant 80 degrees, which is fine and dandy for lap swimming. However, the air above and around the outdoor pool is subject to "nature".

I'm not sure how I'm going to handle this. On the one hand, I really can't do any sort of speed workouts in the indoor pool, b/c of the heat. On the other hand, the idea of sprinting in and out of the outdoor pool and attempting to keep every last inch of my body submerged so I don't freeze to death isn't very appealing. Morning practices are held either in or outside. Night practices have to be held outside, since they have swimming lessons going on inside.

Yesterday morning it was 41 degrees out - so I swam inside. I have no idea what the air temperature will be tonight, but something tells me I'll be doing quite a bit of cursing and grumbling about the cold.

(and I walked 3 miles this morning - I never did really warm up, despite wearing a sweatshirt....)

from the jogging trail yesterday

Managed to do 8 miles in 1 hr 50 minutes yesterday. Random thoughts from the workout:

I have serious temperature regulation control. It was about 50 degrees yesterday - our coldest day of the season so far. I had on lightweight capris, a long sleeved shirt and a short sleeved shirt. I got seriously hot before mile 2 and had to take off the long sleeved shirt. My hands were freezing for 2.5 miles. I was really wishing I'd brought shorts for miles 2-6. Then I was freezing cold for the last mile.

I need to remember kleenex next time I jog when its cool.

I made myself jog any of the flat parts during my run. I had serious tendonitis knee issues several years back, so I'm very cautious. My knees were a bit tweaky towards the end, but were overall ok. The jogging (while slow) actually felt ok and saved me 10 minutes overall, which was sooo cool!

I only planned on 7 miles, but I ended up doing an even 8. I've been trying to get up early once or twice a week to do a quick 2 mile loop, to help with the hip pain I had a few weeks back. Seems to be doing the trick - feet and hips felt fine!

Random sight on the trail - 6 guys riding mountain tread unicycles. I saw them dismount, but never saw how they got on the uni's. You don't see that every day. Between that and parrot-lady, I think my freak magnet action is back.

The Chloe Fasion Show

sooooo, Pictures and details on Chloe Dao's show.

The show was Friday night at a swanky botique hotel in Houston. The show itself was held poolside - the runway actually went over the pool. The show started at about 9:30 or so, and it was exclusively Chloe's work. My camera was *very* low on batteries, so I only took pics of the looks that I really liked. The models were all local. Some were really good, some looked really busted and awful. But the clothes were really nice. One thing I like about Chloe's work is that she has several pieces that could really work for just about anyone, despite your body size. She did have several pieces that were reminiscent of her PR work. She had a black flowy top that was very similar to the ice skating costume; she had several dresses with "pockets" (although this seems to be trendy in general right now); and she had several with either a T-back or cutouts at the waist-line.

After the show, there was an after party with dancing. Most (but not all) of the models joined in on the fun as well.

And now pictures! The quality is only so-so, mainly b/c it was sooo dark, I had low batteries, and I had to super-zoom while holding the camera as high as I could. But, you can see the detail on several pieces.

My friend and I at the hotel, pre-show


Several looks during the show:

Cool dress - sucky model





My favorite one:


View from the back:


Finale:






My friend and her favorite dress at the after party



Obligatory "we are soooooo cool" after party picture:

On the trail last Saturday

So, I've got 2 months until this half marathon and really, I haven't been doing much to get ready for it. Bought new shoes and some training clothes, but have only spent 3 hour long sessions on the treadmill, and did 3.5 miles at the park. Then I got sick and decided to "recover" for 2 weeks.

So Saturday I decided that I'd hit the trail and get some miles in. I intended to do 4-5 miles. Right after I started, it began to rain. I waited 5 minutes for the rain to die down, walked 2 miles, then "boom" pouring rain. I almost called my husband to come pick me up, but I decided to just accept the fact that I was already wet, and getting a bit more soggy wouldn't be the end of the world. I stowed my MP3 player away in my camelback pack so it wouldn't get wet and plodded on.

The only bad part was that the concrete trail gets a bit slippery when its wet. Otherwise it was kinda fun. I even jogged for the flat bits. Until mile 6 when my very slow jog was even slower than my fast walk.

All in all, I did 7 miles and returned home soaking wet. It took 2 hours, due to me screwing around with various things. Like forgetting that my cell phone was in the mesh pocket of my camelback, exposed to rain, and re-adjusting my shoelaces.

My legs are still sore.

And random sighting of the day. Before it was pouring rain, I saw a woman cyclist with a green parrot on her shoulder. Definitely not something you'd expect to see at the park. And the woman was booking it on her bike.

Athletic persuits

After sitting on my ass for most of the year, I'm finally getting back to being active. I basically sat around so long because of excuses (and foot surgery). The foot surgery put me out for 1 month, but if I'm being totally honest, I should have been back doing something by mid-July.

Part of my excuse was how much I wanted to rejoin my old swim team. I kept hearing rumors that we'd be getting our old pool back, and my fear was that I'd join a new team and then within weeks my old team would be back at the old pool. Which meant that I just didn't do anything except wait. Also, the other team I was considering is at a private health club, and for some silly reason, I thought that it was mega-expensive. I finally called at the end of July to get costs - turns out this place is only $7/month more than the old club. And its only 5 min away from my house instead of 25, so I figure with the gas savings, this place may be even cheaper. So, I told myself that no ifs ands or buts, I'd be joining this new team at the end of August.

So, my first day of practice, one of my former teammates is there - which absolutely made my day. She had great things to say about the coaches, which also helped. We have 2 different coaches. We've got morning practice on M and W, coached by Jason. Jason is pretty much a slacker (he's never at practice on time), but since there's so few people at the AM practice, I get a *lot* of personal attention. He's already fixed several things which I knew my old coach had tried to fix, but I just never understood. Old coach was more esoteric ("try these 3 things and tell me which feels better). Jason is very straight foward ("you're doing this wrong - try moving your arm this way"). So that right there is great. We have night practice on Tues and Thurs, coached by Stacy. Stacy is really trying to grow the team and have high participation at meets. She's also trying to kill all of us. And the facility is really nice - makes me feel really dumb for not signing up earlier.

So, starting up after not swimming for a year, and not doing anything cardio-related since January was rough. My third week back, Stacy had us swim 10x 100 yd free sprints for time. I just wanted to survive. I swam an average of 1:35 and kept my time +/- 1 second, and my stroke count was consistent through out the set.

Flash foward to last night - another 10x 100 free sprints. I averaged 1:23, with a low time of 1:20. Of course, I'm convinced the pool is short - not that I'm actually improving.

I still need to sign up for a meet that's in 2 weekends. I just wish it wasn't a 1.5 hr drive to the meet.

All in all - swimming is going quite well. The only kicker is that the pool is outside, but heated. the water - not the air. It was 47 degrees this morning - that was a wee bit chilly. We'll see how this winter goes. However, with the old team, there were times the pool wasn't working or we didn't have hot water. This new place has hot water and 2 pools, so I think I'm better off where I am now.

----------------------------

My other athletic persuit is that I signed up do WALK a half marathon in January. Which was why I needed the foot surgery. For the past year, I couldn't walk more than 3 miles without a lot of pain and funky blisters.

So now my toes are fine and I'm having to train. I honestly thought that with my swimming and cardio base, I really only had to spend 1 day a week walking. Yeah..... not really. Apparently since swimming is a non weight bearing activity, I need to walk more like 2-3 times a week. Good in theory, hard in practice. So far, I'm lucky to spend an hour walking once a week. I need to figure out a way to balance out the swimming and walking. Which probably means I'll have to sacrifice one swim workout (out of 4).

So, that's what's up with me and trying to whip myself into shape. Hopefully regular workouts means that I'll also be doing regular blog entries. Or one can hope.

struck out

Despite an add'l 3 hrs of trying on 6 computers - no World Series tickets for us.

boo.

World Series Server Explosion

So I spent 2 hrs today looking at this:


And still don't have anything to show for it. Hopefully today's effort was "practice" and they'll actually open up the ticket sales with capable servers soon.

Because really, I just suck

So yeah, I forgot my Blogger ID and genenerally have been very blahhhhh about blogging for oh, the past 6 months.

I suppose blogging was very useful and theraputic when I was having a shit time at work. But now that I've switched jobs and am kicking ass (and no longer have any major travel plans)- I've left my blog behind.

Which is pretty pathetic really.

So, here's a short summary of what I'm up to (or not up to) lately.

• not swimming. at all. not even working out really. and not really feeling guilty about it (or gaining weight as a result of not working out, so see, why should I motivate myself?)
• managed to give myself a $10k pay raise just by switching jobs. color me impressed.
• am a project manager for a large project - tracked to be "program manager" in a few years. assuming everything works according to plan.
• travel plans for 2007 - cozumel in May for a wedding. Colo in August for a wedding (side trip will be camping in the Rockies). Buffalo, NY in Oct (?) for a wedding (sense a theme?).
• potental international adventure for 2008 - Chile with a side trip to Antarctica. just so I can say I've been there, done that.
• ummmm, working. lots. but I'm cool with that.
• buying way too many bath products. Lush and Isle of Eden are leading the expenditures. but my skin is soft and I smell good.

And that, IFFs is pretty much the sum of what's been going on. See, nothing extremely blog-worthy.

I will try to do better now, especially now that I reset my Blogger password and everything.

its 6:50 AM in Aukland

We (and our luggage - woo!) have survived our Pacific flight!

A few notes:

I'm typing on a free computer in the termina. The keyboard has english and asian "letters" on it. Its confusing.

LAX is a hole. I've used nicer bathrooms on Bourbon Street.

We were very fortunate that we visited the United ticket counter a few weeks ago and got e-tickets. With e-tickets, they checked our bags all the way through to Christchurch. Otherwise, we would have had to a) only check our bag to LAX, b) get our bags at LAX c) take the terminal transfer bus with ALL OUR LUGGAGE to a new terminal. And re-check the bags. Having no checked bags was a definite plus. If this was The Amazing Race, we would have rocked this leg.

There was a family (I presume) of Maoris that I swear, were packing their entire house for shipment. Including a 42" plasma TV - still in its box. And 5 48"x24" grey tupperware roughneck containters. With the lids simply snapped on, as if that was sufficient. Yeah, I think they used 3 rolls of tape and stalled the line by 30 minutes getting those containers ready. Who does that? I'm just glad we weren't behind them.

Our flight was nice. Free movies (8" screen w/remote), free video games, free music. And FREE WINE! Yes, just what I needed. And the food was decent. My language lesson for the day: a blanket is known as a rug.

The staff were very helpful, seats were ok. The plane was a 777 and Will and I had a whole window section of seats to ourselves, so he sat by the window, I sat by the aisle, and all our crap went in the middle seat. I watched Devil Wears Prada. Will watched some car racing show. I ended up taking 2 lunesta and think I slept for 4-5 hrs. There was a baby who was screaming for a large portion of the flight (I felt bad for them), so I think I would have slept more if I didn't have to listen to that. I did listen to my mp3 player for most of the night and that helped. I think. We'll see how tired I am in 10 hrs.

I do have a lovely latte that I got for "take away" so that has pretty much made my day. Will is eating McDonalds. Ew.

Anyways, I'm now being jostled by this dude behind me wearing his huge backpack (put it on the floor, geez!), and Will has finished up his emails, so I guess we should find our flight to Christchurch!

We're leavin' on a jet plane

Today!

We depart at 4 PM. Wooo!

We will have to endure a total of 26 hours of travel (flights and layovers). Our longest flight is 13 hrs.

Suprisingly, we don't have an ass-load of luggage. 3 checked bags. Total. And two backpacks.

Granted, we've got 2 large stuff-saks in there that can double as extra carry-on, if we need it. And, the large suitcase is only 2/3 full. Craziness, considering this is for 2.5 weeks.

Anywho, it will be at the very least a few days before I update the blog. Have a good Thanksgiving!

NZ weather reports

Just in case you're curious...

http://www.metservice.co.nz/default/index.php?alias=home

Monopoly Money!

New Zealand dollars....

Look how pretty!

1 week to NZ!

Ok, trip planning updates!!! And how I previously stated that I was going to try to keep this "itinerary free". Well, that's not happening. I now have a calendar with our route and stops blocked out. Its mainly b/c we want to do some really cool excursions and I fear that they'll book up. Which means we need to plan and figure out which day we'd want to do the excursion so we can book it now. So much for trying to be all spontaneous.... Now its only partially spontaneous. lol


We're going to do a half or full day wine tour here:http://www.marlboroughwinetours.co.nz/index.cfm/home This is the main wine making region in the country. We think its smart to take a tour, rather than us try to sample wine and try to drive this standard transmission RV on the wrong side of the road. See, I can be smart if I try!

We've booked a sea kayak trip with these people:http://www.southern-exposure.co.nz/guided.htm

Its a guided 2-day catered tour, where you kayak during the day (and play with fur seals) then camp on the beach. Fun!

We're re-arranged our trip a bit, based on recommendations on someone I've found on the Lush Australia/New Zealand message board. Turns out she's a kiwi that lives on the South Island, who does travel bookings. What luck!

Originally, Will wanted to head here:http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/destinations/moeraki.htmlIts basically a bunch of large round rocks on a beach. We'd be driving a good bit out of our way to see them, and I was wondering if it was worth it. I know we like taking pictures of rocks and everything, but this seems a bit extreme. My NZ person said that they were cool, but more as a "place to stop along the way" rather than "lets make it a destination" place. And its all farmland.
She instead suggested that we stay on the west coast and explore their glaciers - its the only place in the world where glaciers flow directly into rainforest.

We were going to drive over http://www.newzealandnz.co.nz/destinations/arthurs-pass.html Arthurs Pass. However, we'd only be there to spend the night (and have the afternoon/morning to explore a bit) before we drove to those boulders. I'm thinking we'd have a lot more fun scrapping this stop for something really unique that would require a full day to explore (rather than driving half a day, then hiking b/c we feel obligated to do so, before we drive off some more)

I've got inquirys into a few companies:
She recommended these guys: http://www.franzjosefglacier.com/activities.asp

We'd either do a 3/4 day or a full day glacier hike, which gives us about 5-6 hours on the ice. Our guide book recommended Fox Glacier (about 1 hr down the road) - stating that there's fewer people who go there (Fox only has one licensed guide company, Franz has 2 - meaning there's double the people), Fox is cheaper, and that the hike to get on the glacier is 30 min and a medium ascent, vs 1 hr and a zig zag trail up the glacier face.

So, I've also made an inquiry to these people at Fox Glacier http://www.foxguides.co.nz/trips.asp
I've asked about the full day tour (which has actually less ice time than the Franz tour) and the Helicopter tour. I think the helicopter tour could be *amazing*. However, I'm worried that there will be kids and annoying/whiny people who's fitness level isn't up to our standards. I'm almost betting that these types are attracted to the helicopter tour so they don't have to do the ascent or hike for as long.

My NZ contact has also recommended a helicopter tour at Mt Cook, which I think we'll do. I mean, this is the place to do a helicopter tour. And we have our 0% credit card. She also suggested that we visit this http://www.earthandsky.co.nz/ while we're in Mt Cook. Will really, really liked the observatory we visited last April in west Texas, so I think this would be a really neat opportunity. To see stars that we'd only get to see in the Southern Hemisphere.

And finally, we were trying to figure out which boat tour to take at http://www.doc.govt.nz/Explore/001~National-Parks/Fiordland-National-Park/index.asp Fiordland National Park Most people take the https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/MilfordSound/ Milford Sound tour. But, me with my aversion to crowds and idiots, I'm thinking we'll do the https://www.realjourneys.co.nz/Main/Doubtful/ Doubtful Sound tour. My contact recommended that we do both (which we don't have time for), but from the information I've found, the Doubtful Sound is definitely the less popular tour. Plus, you get a lake cruise and a power plant tour - in addition to the boat ride in the sound!

And then I'm still working on trying to get Will to go http://www.canyonz.co.nz/ canyoning..... water slides down rocks in a canyon! Sweet! I can't imagine a better way to break bones!

We'll also do JetBoating in Queenstown and maybe bungee jump....

2 weeks before NZ!

Things are starting to fall into place..... sometimes its a bit like forcing a square peg into a round hole, but hey, why would things go easy for me just b/c I'm going on vacation...

I booked our tickets waaaay back in March, with Travel**** (think gnome). Why them, I really don't know. They had a good price with a very good itinerary. Problem #1 - they issued us paper tickets. Who issues paper tickets anymore? I never got a good reason for this, either. Some mumbo-jumbo about us flying on 2 different airlines or it being international, or arriving and departing from different cities. Whatevs. Being that we booked well, 8 months in advance, OF COURSE our itinerary changed. First, it was that our departing flight from Queenstown was bumped back and didn't allow us enough time to switch planes in Aukland. Fine. We switch our Aukland to LA flight to something later, and now we have a 4 hr layover in Aukland. Fine. Then our outbound LA to Aukland flight got bumped back an hour, meaning we wouldn't have enough time to clear customs and make it to our plane to Christchurch. Another call to the gnome call in center in India, another flight change. So, basically, the only paper tickets which are still good is our initial leg, from Houston to LA. Not really helpful. And since the gnome issued paper tickets, they can't re-issue them over the phone. Meaning we'd have to be there in person to get the correct tickets. They suggested arriving at the airport and EXTRA 2 hrs early to take care of this. Um, no thanks!

So, being me and slightly paranoid and OCD, we went to the airport this past weekend to get our tickets re-issued. This was complicated by the fact that we're flying Air New Zealand from LA to NZ and vice versa, and well, there isn't an ANZ counter in Houston. They were booked as "United, a partner to ANZ" so we strolled up to the United counter, thinking we were doing the right thing. A very confusing 20 minutes later (somehow the gnomes still kept our old flights, which we wouldn't have been able to catch AND booked us on new flights) the United agent managed to not only confirm our booking BUT ISSUED US AN E-TICKET! Yay!

Of course, I'll still be paranoid about "do we have the right itinerary???" but hey, at least now my paranoia isn't compounded by the fear of losing our paper tickets.

One of the "fun" activities we're going to do while we're down there is a 2-day sea kayak trip, catered with camping on the beach. We researched companies and decided on the one we liked best. A week ago, we booked on-line. 3 days later, no confirmation, so I emailed them. I finally got an email from them last night (6 days after booking) - telling us that sorry, they don't offer a trip on our requested day, and sorry, the website is wrong and you can't park your RV at X location for storage, you have to drive it to our facility 1.5 hrs away.

Again, me with the OCD, we have a trip calendar, which outlines where we'll be each night. Its mainly so we are able to see as much as we can without rushing or driving 12 hrs in one day. So, I break out the calendar, and the prospect of re-arranging things so we can take this kayak trip with this company one day later is making me hyperventilate. Badly. So, I email company #2 to see if they have availablity. And wow, they emailed me back 1 HOUR LATER telling me that they have 2 more openings for our requested days. Woo! I don't like their proposed itinerary as much, but hey, they responded quickly AND they confirmed the details posted on their website. Sounds like a winner to me.

And finally, clothing. I was really hoping I'd be a bit skinnier for this trip. But given the set back with my swim team, it hasn't happened. I should be happy to have maintained, really. But, I still wanted some cute casual clothes for the trip, so Will and I went shopping Saturday. It wasn't fun. Hardly anything fit, or if it did, I didn't feel like paying for it. It was depressing. But I did get some cute cargo pants and light weight khakis and even a pair of shorts.

I think we're just about set for the trip. I need to email the RV (excuse me, campervan) people to see if their vehicles have a cassette tape deck (so I can use my XM cassette adaptor for my MP3 player) and to see if they'll give us the phone number for our Vonaphone. We also need to exchange US money into NZ dollars. And book a wine-country tour.

And of course, I have to get my hair cut and highlighted. And do about 5 packing run-throughs.

ok, I admit it, I suck

Sorry blog friends! I suck. I do! I'm a terrible blogger and internet buddy.

In the past month, I've been to NOLA twice, worked my ass off on a report, booked more things for my New Zealand trip, was sick for 4 weeks, tried out a different swim team, quit that swim team. And I haven't once updated you on my life. Again, I suck.

Will's racing Sunday, so I plan on getting my peeps caught up on what's going on in my world. Because I know you all care.

Or don't. I just need to get back in the habit of blogging.

Overheard in the gym locker room

So, no more swim team. (at least until my old team’s application to swim back at the ghetto school is approved). I was trying to swim with another team, but I didn’t like the pool or the coach or the members. So much for that! Then I tried swimming at the pool at my gym. Only the chlorine fumes made me nauseous – so, that’s not working either. My latest solution – spinning!

Anyways, I need to get on with the whole point of this post - a funny quip I overheard in the locker room, post-spinning. So, these two girls (skinny, cute, younger than me. Basically bitches). I guess they were both teachers and were discussing life and all that crap. Like “ohh, how great it is that we help kids!” then they segued on the topic from teaching kids to actually having kids. Here’s my attempt of capturing their conversation, although, keep in mind I’d just done an hour of spinning before the sun was up. And I hadn’t had coffee yet.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Skinny Bitch (SB) #1: So, you ever think of having kids
SB #2: yeah, I want kids. I’m ready for kids. But you know, I’m single. And I don’t have a boyfriend even. So, I don’t have a husband. So, I’m not sure how that would really happen. You want kids?
SB #1: [wrinkles face, looks in horror ] [editorial comment - maybe she’s not such a bitch? Just skinny? Nah, skinny = bitch]
SB #2: well, I suppose that working with kids all day makes you not want to have kids yourself.
SB #1: well, that, and you know, overpopulation. Just think if everyone had kids, what that would be like.
SB #2: wow, I know what you mean. Just think of how crowded all the restaurants would be.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Wow. Just wow. Forget the strain on the government, public resources, the planet, the environment. Remember, overpopulation’s most major threat is unnecessary over-crowding of public eating establishments.

And with logic like her’s (SB #2 teaches 6th graders…. shudder), maybe THAT’s good enough reason to not have kids. So that way your kids won’t end up having a teacher as ridiculously oblivious as she is.