Scheduling Issues

Sunday 4/15/07 Forecast -

Rain to SnowHi 42ºF, 6ºC Lo 34ºF, 1ºC

Sounds lovely for the first du of the season, doesn't it???

OK, forgive me but I am set to continue my rant about my distaste for our current weather....

Awhile ago I signed up for the Hinckley duathlon but now the weather is going to be so crappy that I am not looking forward to it only on account of the weather. Regardless, I committed to the event and it is one of the events my team is supporting, so I will do it! BUT, why must the weather forecast be so crappy. I can handle running in this but I hate biking in this!!!!

On the other front,I have been going forward back and forth all week on where to fit in my 20 miler on the schedule. I can't do it Sunday because of the du. I want to do it Saturday as I could probably have company. However, clearly if I do a 20 miler Saturday, I will be less than fresh for the du. Does it matter??? I donno how strongly I feel about it.

The trouble is that A: I really don't want to do 20 alone. B: With my work schedule and daylight hours it is pretty much impossible to fit in 20 on a week day.

So I guess my options are Saturday and be tired for the du or split it up on a weekday and do it alone :-( Not feeling like there is a great option here. Any thoughts???

PS I have decided for long runs sake, Saturday races are ideal for me right now.

PSS I have been stretching the booty and it is feeling better!!

PSSS I want warm sunny weather already! FOR CRYING OUT LOUD, WHY DO I SEE SNOW IN THE FORECAST FOR TODAY, TOMORROW, SATURDAY & SUNDAY??? ENOUGH ALREADY!!!!!!!!!

Some races feel harder than they should...

Several weeks ago I signed up for the spring classic, known in the area as a flat, fast half. I thought I had a chance to really see what I could do on the half marathon distance and it would give me the opportunity to gauge where I was in terms of my marathon preparation.

Until I saw the weather forecast for that week...so much for a "spring" classic. Snow, wind advisory, just lovely! I am fine with sucking it up for the winter but it is April and now I am in full complain mode as this weather is just WRONG!

I awoke that morning to lots of snow and a sketchy drive over to the race. I met up with two others half way to ride the rest of the way together. I was so mad five minutes down the road from the meeting place as I realized I left my running glasses in my car. "Oh well, I don't really need them," I mistakenly thought.

We arrived a little later than planned as the drive took awhile and we did not want to be one of the many cars that were in the ditch /median/ etc. that littered the roads that morning.

We parked about a half mile away and I was cold fast. My fingers were painfully numb by the time I went to the bathroom and and grabbed my race packet. I jogged back up to the car and started my short warm up with Elizabeth who had been jogging around since I had arrived.

We lined up at the start together and took off with the whistle. The first mile we joked around a bit and came across mile one at 7:00. Whoops, probably a little fast! My goal in my own little head had been to break 1:36 (7:19 pace). I knew it was ambitious, but I always had my B goal of 1:45 to fall back on. I figure the whole rule of doubling the half and adding 10 minutes would make my B goal the 3:40 marathon I am looking for.

Hit mile 2 with a split of 7:10. I am still ahead of the pace!

Mile 3, 7:45. Crap, there goes all the time I thought I had in the bank. I look to Liz and comment that I hope it was a long mile because the effort felt the same.

Mile 4, 7:24---better

Mile 5, 7:24 ---staying consistent

Mile 6, 7:51---somewhere between 5 and 6, I turned on my Ipod. I had started to feel like I was struggling with the pace, my feet were soaking wet, cold & numb and feeling heavier by the step. I knew I really could not talk anymore and I hoped this would give me the boost I needed to continue. I knew already that I had started too fast. I fell into my own little world of suffering a bit.

We looped around a field on an icy path by the finish and I got a momentary surge of energy with race announcer, Mickey shouting my name and some encouragement!

And then it was back out on the road for another loop.

Ughhh, not feeling this at all. And then it started. My eyes were fogging up as if I had glasses on and my vision was blurring.

What is this? Is this some terrible time of fatigue that I should worry about? Are my eyeballs freezing because I am really cold? Do I blink less than the average person and should I try blkinking more? WHY? What is this???

I guess at this point I will back up. When I was a kid I had 3 surgeries on my eyes for extropia, basically lazy eye as most people know it. I had one in 3rd grade, 5 grade, and one in 7th grade. Normally one surgery corrects it, but I was not so lucky. Basically they go in and cut the muscles along the side of your eyes and re-attach them. You can still see the scarring on the sides of my eyes. After the surgery, my eyes bled for a day, then I could see another day later and then for about a month or so after each morning I would go though the process of releasing my eyes lashes as the eye gunk over night would hold them shut in the morning. Too much info? All that is to say I have crazy sensitive eyes now. They pour water when it is bright and I don't have good glasses on. I remember leaving several functions early as I child because my eyes were a teary mess in some smoke filled reception. At any rate, although it was unpleasant, I am so thankful my parents spent the money to take care of this so I do not have trouble with this anymore.

So with this in mind, I think between the cold and the wind, my sensitive eyes are just responding in their own way.

So everything is foggy and my feet are so cold. I am so much colder today than normal because my feet usually are dry and today they are soaking wet. I am seriously hurting and the worst is I cannot see. Where is the next stupid mile marker???

I look down and see my watch over 10. I must have missed it. Now I am happy that at least I must be past 7, but it is bad mentally as I wanted to see the marker which is always a boost and also to see my pace.

Keep putting one foot in front of the next. Where is mile 8? I missed it too. I am so frustrated. I can't see well and I am missing mile markers. I am too stubburn to consciously slow down.

Finally at mile 9, I see the marker. 23:15 for the last 3. I already know A goal is out the window and I don't even care. I am feeling miserable. Why can't I just see normal???

Mile 10, 7:41. We are on the way back now, just a 5K. That annoying wind keeps randomly hitting me!!! My legs hurt a bit, are they freezing? I kept thinking, "Some "SPRING" classic this is!!! It was 80 Tuesday, come on, this is ridiculous! I HATE OHIO!"

Mile 11, 8:04. I feel like crap. Cold, can't see...I want to stop. Why am I doing this? I refuse to let myself stop, it is just a pride thing.

Mile 12, 7:51..."please just one more mile"

I am so friggin happy to come into the final icy loop around the field. I am hoping I can see good enough to watch my footing and had one short slip which scared me for a split second.

Mile 13, 8:04

.1 Mile, 0:49 --mananged a small kick, nothing impressive. I started breathing heavier and heavier. I managed to say my age as they were giving awards out there but I needed to walk. As I stopped for a second my breaths became deeper. I can't stop for award now, I needed to walk. The nice volunteer found it as quickly as he could and I try to recompose myself. I saw my dad's friend and forced some conversation while walking and all systems came back shortly.

My breathing that spiked after my kick (and stop which I just can't do at the end, sometimes I really need to keep walking) returned to normal and within a minute my vision came back.

I finished in 1:40:21. 4th overall female, 1st in my age group. I had suffered a lot.

I was excited to see that my running ladies, Elizabeth and Melissa took 5 and 6th! Sweet! Between the 3 of us, we claimed the 1st place age group awards for 20-35!!!

Things learned.

#1 Don't start out too fast.
#2 Cold and windy requires glasses.
#3 Even when I feel very miserable, I can keep going for a long time.

Met the B goal with plenty of room to spare which puts me in great shape for my marathon goal. I PR'd the half marathon by over 7 minutes! So feeling OK on the day.

One Dirty Dog!

Mr. Matches spent the Monday and Tuesday outside playing in the gorgeous weather at the mother-in-law's kennel. I think he had way too much fun!

P.S.: For those wondering about the puppy pics before, my mother in law breeds and shows goldens.

P.S.S. There is little doubt in my mind why my house gets so dirty all the time!

The Old Gym

Everything feels a little messed up this week.

For starters, the weather.

We had beautiful 80 and sun Tuesday and now it is so blustery out that we were awoke in the middle of the night because my husband had to go salt and plow. Yes, got to love Ohio. The worst part is it will be hanging around and now I see a high wind advisory for Friday and Saturday. Perfect half marathon weather!

The gym-

Tuesday I headed my normal gym for a workout only to realize the super nice Jewish Community Center I go to was closed for Passover on April 3, 4, 9, &10. Ooops, not being Jewish I still forget when the holidays pop up. I suppose I should pay better attention to the signs as I rush by on my way out to the office. What am I going to do since I typically hit the place at least once a day during the week?

So I took the opportunity to go back to my old gym Wednesday morning.

Yes, I am pathetic and have 2 gym memberships. My old one was a small, yet nice community gym out 7 miles southeast of where I live which is the opposite direction of work. Work is 27 miles from my house west and the Jewish Community Center is a little over a mile from there, so super convenient. So when I started my new job 7 months ago I joined the gym by the office and though I pay my old gym under my contract, I haven't went in months as the convenience thing always wins out (plus the bigger pool, spin classses, more equipment, ...). It was weird to be back this week. The equipment is moved around and they now have tanning and massage there. There was a new face working...strange I say! But as I took in all the changes I hopped on the treadmill between two familiar faces...some regulars from months ago. At least those have not changed! It just felt so wierd to be back after going there almost daily to this long hiatus and now to be back again, with several wondering what had happened to me.

I suppose I will be hitting the old gym tomorrow since I am off work and not driving to Beachwood and probably Monday and Tuesday due to the holiday closure. The old gym folk will really wonder what is up!

Cleveland Marathon come already!

Ever feel like you are ready for an event and you just want it to get here as you are afraid something is going to pop up and make things more difficult down the road?

I feel confident about my goal for the Cleveland Marathon.

My training has been going well. Lots of long runs in the bag with no problems. The dread of the 18 and 20 milers has disappeared.

Yet....

I have been having issues for the last week with a wierd pain in my butt. It does not hurt bad, and I don't really notice it when I run, but it is always there when I sit or stand, just a tight, gripping soreness in my behind.

Whazzup with dat???

I am thinking a tight left hamstring is the root of the evil. Must focus on streching.

I just want marathon time to come now to ensure nothing else more serious crops up!

But I guess it can wait a little while as I am disappointed by this weekend's half marathon forecast--snow and high of 31. What is going on with my half marathon weather this year? This will make 0/2 in good weather! Grrrr!

A First for me!

To start, hats off to JT on her first half ironman. What a fantastic performance!!! It was totally not a surprise given all of your dedication that you really rocked out there in Cali!

The 5K this weekend was called Jog into Spring, and the night before the race I sat making up my Itunes playlist for the race. I burned a copy of it out for my car and one for my cousin who will be running Chicago marathon. I called it Sprint into Spring as it was packed with fast, up-tempo tunes which were sure to get your feet moving!

Saturday, I left bright and early to head out for the race after a restless nights sleep. I think I have started to overthink races these days and get excited yet very nervous the night before and then I have trouble sleeping. This makes sense to me as it is really the only time I have ANY trouble sleeping!

I arrived early to pick up my stuff. It was a cloudy cool morning that should be great for a race. After seeing some familiar faces, my ladies, Mel & B and I headed off for a 10 minute warmup before the start. With the gun, I was off to run my own race. Sometimes I think I get caught up in trying to pace with others and I had decided the night before I was not going to get caught up in that. We headed out down the road, hung a right by the the track which had a slight incline and I could already feel my chest and lungs tightening up as I went up. I kept moving my feet to the beat and kept making turns and approached Mile One-6:22. Another turn, another incline and I felt like I was working hard. To my surprise, I was thinking that I had not seen any females in front of me so I kept thinking that I was going to have to keep pushing to stay in front. Mile two 6:38. "Gosh, I am really sucking air it seems. Is it cold, am I sick, or is it just think pace that is hurting me?" A guy passes me, but unfortunately he does not seem to be going any faster than me. I was bothered as he seemed to always run where I wanted to run. Every corner he would cut in where I wanted to go and for some reason it felt like it was messing up my rhythm. I could not get around him so I just fell in behind him because I did not want to burn out before the end. I did not get the Mile 3 time as I had enough of the guy in front and decided it was time to sprint it in. Final time 20:29 (6:35 pace). Another PR!! The best thing about it was this course had 4 small inclines and lots of turns, so it was not even one of the courses that I would call fast....not that it was really hilly or slow, but just not super fast.

I was not sure if I was correct but I was thinking, "Holy cow, was I actually the first female?" The awards confirmed it and I took home my FIRST first place overall female plaque ever. Woohoo, that doesn't happen everyday so I will enjoy it! I finished 1/127 females and 25/287 overall.

On to Sunday...another long run with the running pals. 18 miles came and went. I thought we were in for a really rainy morning but it ended up being a pretty nice morning for running. It was actually fairly warm and at some points the rain even felt refreshing as I had worked up a decent sweat. We were pretty consistently hitting the mile markers at 8:30 - 8:45 pace and I felt good the whole way. Between being in better shape and the tremendous company I have had this year, I have come to really enjoy and look forward to my long runs in a way that I did not know was possible before.

Saturday night, my sweetie of a cousin was in town from Chicago and we had a family get together. My cousin has recently started running on a regular basis and is looking forward to her first marathon in October-Chicago. Guess what cousin can't wait to go out there and run Chicago too??? Needless to say, the icing on the cake of a good running weekend, is getting to talk running to an excited running family member!!!

Ittzzz Friiiiday!!!

Happy Friday to all! Today is supposed to be sunny and 60's so it is a good way to start the weekend!

5K race on tap for Saturday morning and a 18 mile long run Sunday morning! Should be a good weekend on tap!!!

Also I will be cheering from Ohio for Jodi, who will be rocking the Cali half this weekend!!! Go #1705!

This week stopped by my husband's parents to see the cutie pies!

Another pair of new shoes!!

New shoes came my way on Saturday at the best price ever!

They were a lightweight neutral trainer, a well-known brand that I had not realized even made running shoes.

Even though I am an Asics junkie, I was still psyched to try this new product out.

I think I can be called an overpronator who needs some support in my shoes to keep all issues in check.

I was smart enough not to attempt trying them on my 20 mile long run Sunday.

I had a speed workout planned for Tuesday, but it was so gorgeous out that morning that I just needed to try the new shoes out for a run outside!! So I was off on down the road in my new shoes. Pretty cushy, but not feeling so great. A little bit later, "Something kind of hurts" and then " Feet are going numb" and then "Please no blisters now." And then the 5.5 mile jaunt was over. All & all, not really feeling these shoes. I knew going in that these were going to be a short distance pair but they were not even feeling lightweight like I thought they would. A couple years ago I had a lightweight pair of the Nike Air Milers which were so light I just felt faster when I wore them...not supportive enough for long stuff, but I kind of miss them for runs less than an hour.

So, perhaps I should give this pair another chance...they were just getting broke in!

So this morning, laced them back up for my make up speed workout on the treadmill. Ouch, it is not even a mile into my warm and I am hurting. I had a 7 mile workout planned but cut it to 5, my feet hurt. My arches up to my big toes areas hurt and still are a little tender 8 hours later, but thankfully no evident blisters which should nag me. I figure I really did not need the last 2 miles as much as I needed to keep my feet happy!

Guess the shoes are going into my running shoe graveyard. Don't worry, I think I will dig them out for something like aerobics or weight training or just for kicks. I would feel bad had they not been the perfect price.

Note to others...if shoes hurt on day one, a second chance is probably OK, just not the next day!

I have a new pair of Asics waiting for me in the closet so perhaps I will try them out next week!!! No worries here though!

Busy busy!

First off, thanks for the comments on my FIRST training question. Really the ultimate goal is a BQ and I just want to train smart so I will have to take your comments into consideration!



What a difference a year makes!!

Saturday was Hinckley Du training day. First ride outside for 2007!!! I headed out to Hinckley through the fog and was pleasantly surprised how warm it was. It actually was a pleasant morning for a ride and we only had a few sprinkles which were not even enough to get the roads wet and the sunshine was trying to peak out!



A new CTC member was out there for his first ride on his new bike. There was also another CTC member that was out there to run the course. It was good I was there so I could explain the course to them since I actually knew it from last year. With that, the 2 of us on bikes took off for a casual 15 mile ride. The other rider was having lots of issues with his derailer and finally dropped a chain. I was able to help him to get it back on and we finished up our loops problem free. What a switch from last year when I was a total train wreck...Last year I had no idea what I was doing and it was my first road bike ride ever, popped a valve off trying to pump up my tire, lost a chain, and relied on the help of others the entire time, to this year when I was actually comfortable, confident and able to help others.



After the ride the three of us all headed out for the 3 mile hilly run around the lake. All and all, a good training session and enjoyed company.



Team ER

After the session I killed a bit of time and changed out of my stinky clothes and headed to my first meeting with Team ER. This Team is sponsored by Eddy's Bike Shop and Ritchie's Sporting Goods and the meeting was held at Ritchies. It was my first time visiting Ritchie's as its location is not quite as convenient for me. However if you have not been there it was worth the trip. They recently remodeled and it is very nice with a huge selection. Needless to say, I will be doing some shopping there now! Anyways, I enjoyed meeting the other team mates and hearing about their goals for the season. After trying on some very small uniform pieces I have decided it is really time to recommit to losing some of thir excess body fat I have as it was not pretty. Nothing like trying to squeeze my body into a 10 year old girl's pair of spandex, not pretty!! Thankfully I was able to change my sizes as the sizing chart we ordered from had to be way, way off.



Exhausting Sunday

Sunday, I met down at the towpath for a run with some friends. I ate a banana on the way out there and was surprised how cold it was at the start (about 35 degrees) With my running buddies, Bob and Melissa, I headed out for 20 mile run on the towpath. As usual, with some conversation, the miles flew by and all was well. From what I could tell we were averaging pretty close to a 8:45 pace for the majority of the way. It was warming up fast and by the half way point, I was running in shorts and a tank top. Oh it is just so exciting to feel the sunshine after a long winter!!!



I left as soon as we were done, I rushed to the car without changing and chowed down another banana and a special k bar. I was in a hurry as we had plans to meet up with a group of people for a 240 mile motorcyle ride. Within 10 minutes of getting home inluding a super fast shower I hopped on my new bike for the ride and met up with the group. (It is so hard to rush like that after just running that far!!!) But I made it just in time! What a beautiful day for a ride! Finally about 120 miles in we stopped for food. Let me tell ya I was so hungry that I could eat a horse and chase the rider by this point in time. After food, we were back off for the long country ride through fantastic twisty roads. I arrived home after 6 from the long day and was just plain exhausted. Sport bikes are just not the most comfortable for a long day, especailly when you hop on them fresh from a 20 mile run.



Needless to say, I hit the hay early last night and slept like a rock!

The good, the bad, the ugly and the rundown!

We will start with THE BAD-

I am not sure if it is day light savings time or if it is the new mattresses we got, but I have had trouble get my butt out of bed this week. I try to get up during the week at 5:15 (enough time to brush my teeth, dress, grab my bag, and drive 30 miles to the gym to arrive at 6 AM)

This week I totally skipped 2 morning sessions and was late to a few others.

The UGLY-

Spin class, followed by missed Key Workout One on FIRST marathon training plan...anyone need a recipe for one sweaty chick???
I did a quick mile w/u (as I was plenty warm already) and started into 2 x (6x 400m) (1:30 RI) (2:30 RI between sets)...surprisingly these felt pretty easy, even after spin class. 400's were always my favorite back in the day! Had to cut the cool down short on account of time, but felt good about the session.

The Good-
Friday arrived late to the gym to make up Thursday's Key Run number 2. It called for 2 miles easy, 3 miles at Short Tempo Pace, 1 miles easy. I hopped on the treadmill, increased the incline slightly, the speed, and my tunes and was off. It felt easy to the point that I held a conversation for 5 minutes during the tempo and when the 3 miles was done, I went longer until I needed to start my cooldown on account that it was time I get ready for work.

Current Question-
When I did my FIRST calculations back in December on my 5K time, it was based on a 22 minute 5K. Now my PR is a 20:45, should I revise my FIRST times down so I am pushing a little harder?? I think I will. If it is too much, I can always go back. Many of my long runs have been over what my PMP plus 30-45 seconds calls for and I have felt good for the most part for all of them.

The Rundown since 3/9

3/10 St Malachi Run - 5 Mile Race 33:32 (6:43 pace)
3/11 20 miler with SERC (2:44 running , 2:59 total)
3/12 rest day
3/13 7 mile FIRST Key Run 1 session- main set 6x800's
3/14 Upper Body Workout
3/15 7 m FIRST Key Run 2 session - tempo run, Lower Body Workout
3/16 1 hour spin class, 1000 yards swam, Upper Body Workout
3/17 16 mile run
3/18 rest day
3/19 45 min bike
3/20 Upper Body Workout
3/21 1 hr spin class, 5.5 miles ran (missed Key run 1 mentioned above)
3/22 Lower Body Workout
3/23 6 miles ran (missed Key run 2 mentioned above), Upper Body Workout

Pretty open weekend on tap, hoping for some sunshine and good training!!!

St. Pats / Surprise 30th party

So sis surprised me with a 30th birthday party on Saturday with an awesome showing of friends and family!!! I am so thankful for having so many wonderful people in my life.

Decked in my Irish attire, we celebrated into the night and I managed to reign supreme on the ping pong table...this ole girl is not about to lose any tricks!

Brand New Triumph Daytona 675

I purposely had planned to do the paperwork and pick up my new baby on the 19th to ensure a happy birthday. Here she finally is!!! Still have not decided on what I will call my new sweetie...any good ideas???

I must be getting old....

Today I dragged my tired butt out of bed after hitting snooze way too many times.

I grabbed my backpack that I had packed yesterday with clothes for work today. I was excited because my sis had bought me this totally cute top I was so excited to wear with my favorite pants today.

I was running late for the gym so my workout was shorter than normal so I decided to really push as hard as I could. About the time I was to leave, my ole man Stan who always chats it up with me, pulled up to the stationary bike next to mine ...so I overstayed my bike time a bit more than I should have.

Rushed through the shower, skipped the lotion, grabbed my bag to get dressed...

Crap...you have got to be kidding me!

I see my socks, bra, underwear, belt, jewerly, but no shirt and pants! NO!!! They must still be nicely laid out on my stand at home.

IT IS MY BIRTHDAY BUT I HAVE NO INTENTION OF WEARING MY BIRTHDAY SUIT TO WORK!!!!

What to do, already running late; going home is not an option as it is 28 miles away and I have no extra time as it is.

So I grab the extra tshirt and shorts in my bag and proceed as planned, thinking I probably have extra clothes in my trunk for just this sort of emergency.

So I get outside and find my extra clothes that have probably been there for nearly a year. I think at some point they have got wet and smell and are horribly wrinkled. EWWW, but I need clothes! So I put them on in the back seat of my car and proceed to work where I can put a suit coat on to cover up my wrinkled shirt. If only it would cover up this not so fresh smell!!!

Thankfully I am seeing the hubby at lunch for something awesome so he will bring me my clothes!!!!

So this is how 30 starts......I may be in trouble!

This and that

What a crazy week! Yesterday evening was a beautiful 65 degree sunny night and today as I braved my way to the gym before work I cautiously treaded on the ice, slush, and freezing rain. Dang, why can it just not stay warm for good yet???

But I did get to go out and play on this super sick little bike Tuesday night!!! My sweet hubby just got my that new helmet for my birthday which I love to death. I am set to pick up my new motorcyle on Monday so fornately for me, he has two bikes so I got to roll his supermoto as pictured above this week! That little monster is crazy fun! It was a totally rad group of motorcylists we had together for our evening ride; me on the Suzuki DRZ supermoto, hubby on Ducati S2R, Uncle on his Harley, cousin on his Yamaha cruiser, and other cousin on BMW cruiser...rolling with my family motorcyle posse is so sweet!!! Bring on more riding weather!!

The trouble is that there is so much I like to do outside and right now we get so little nice weather that it is always hard to pick what to do-- ride motorcyles, bicycle, run, and on and on!!!

In other news, my hubby parents are on vacation so in addition to some kennel responsibilities at their place, we have a little house guest as well. She is so good and cute that she is welcome to stay as long as she wants.

Monday was rest day, so let's talk about my latest CD purchase!

So the week of the new release for the new Korn Unplugged CD, I made a stop at Best Buy to purchase the new CD.

I have been a hardcore Korn fan since their first album release. I LOVE to play Korn so friggin loud it is going to bust the windows out! Their music makes me feel so bad ass and ready for anything! Yeah this may have been slightly out of character for the typical Miami University gal, but this was Korn and I didn't care!!

Now...to the unplugged....I knew they were great before but this just blew me away and gave me goosebumps at times. Jonathan's voice is just so powerful and it was really cool to hear the lyrics in this setting. Korn showed that they are without a doubt truly talented musicians! I can say that this unplugged version was a pleasant surprise and that Korn is still the best, perhaps even better for this gutzy descent from their typical heavy production.

One review I read from a non-Korn fan stated....
"I'm a Korn fan, not a big Korn fan. Admittedly, I can't sit through a whole album without a headache. Too redundant. (YEAH WHATEVER, BUT I WILL LET HIM CONTINUE) I tuned in to Korn unplugged mainly to see the Robert Smith and Amy Lee. I never expected what I saw or heard coming from Korn in an acoustic session: raw musical talent. 1. they utilized instruments not commonly heard, 2. Johnathon can sing--I mean he can really sing on tune and in harmony and with the likes of Robert Smith and Amy Lee. 3. The blend of orchestra and the arrangements of the songs chosen for performance was outstanding. 4. I was hesitant to allow myself to hear "Creep" covered one more time--it is such an important and powerful song for so many--especially by Korn they pulled it off well--I've added it to one of my favorite covers. The emotion conveyed through the subtleties of this acoustic session from Korn lend more to the lyrics then anything I've heard from them before. Their studio albums tend to bash the lyrics into submission (I DISAGREE, but go on) while this "unplugged" session, lets the lyrics out to be felt and interpreted by the audience--in fact, I never realized just how potent the Korn's lyrics are. (YEAH, WHERE HAVE YOU BEEN!!)


Bottom line, this is a F-ING AWESOME CD and even acoustically, they rock like no others!!

Kick Ass Weekend in Review!

Friday night I hit the tri club meeting and enjoyed listening to a interesting speaker on running and got to try out some new exercises at Velocity Sports, where the meeting was held. Of course afterwards, we headed to bar for some food and beer. (Carb loading for Saturday's run!)

Saturday I awoke early to head out to the race and had some extra time so I made a new play list for my Ipod. I left a little early so I would have plenty of time to get a decent parking spot and a good warm-up. About 6 miles down the road I realized I could not find my Ipod. After pulling over to search my bag I decided I would turn around to get it. In my head, I just felt I would not run as fast without it. So I get home and still can't find. Then I head back out and grab my bag and dump it out to find I had it the whole time. Guess now I am running late for no reason as this has now taken about 1/2 hour. A little frustrated, I get back on the road.

This morning was as warm as it had felt in some time. My car said it was 46 on the way up there and it was pretty cloudy. As I drove it started to get darker and finally just let loose with rain. Fortunately as I neared the race it quit raining but I saw no where to park. I ended up parking in the total ghetto. I was nervous even being at my car by myself. I rushed to grab my stuff, get back to my car to drop off the bag while looking over my shoulder a little uneasy. This really was not a good neighborhood. After a short warm-up I caught up with a friend who was droppin stuff back at his car so i went with him as there was still about 15 minutes. He parked in a good spot and I spied an open spot in his lot so I ran to grab my car to move it. Thank goodness as I had been feeling so uneasy about things before. Knowing I had my nice camera, my purse, my sirius unit, and a bunch of other stuff in that car in that neighborhood just was not sitting well with me. With the car moved, I was ready to race!

I started near the front of the big crowd. There had been a 2 mile that started 45 minutes earlier and between that group and the 5 mile group there was over 2700 runners. As the start was signaled I was off. The first mile had a lot of downhill and everyone's times were fast. I was feeling good but when I looked at mile watch at mile 1 and it read 5:49, it scared me a bit. Crap, I thought...this is a 5 mile race. Slow down!! So I eased off a bit and came through mile 2 at 6:44. I was in a good rhythm and was just trying to run a nice steady pace. I started to wonder where the heck mile 3 was. I looked down to see my watch read 12 something and knew I had missed it. That was not great for my mental game but at least I knew I had less than 2 to go. At mile 4 the watch read 14:03 for 3&4. as I came back into town I knew I still had a decent hill to climb so I dug in and tried to finish strong. After the steep grade at the bottom I managed to increase speed to the finish line. I was stoked to see the clock read 33:37 as I crossed the finish line. Going into the race, my goal in my head was to break 35:00 or 7 min mile pace. So this finish was fantastic at a 6:43 pace! Even bettter! I ended up 2nd in my age group and 9th female overall. The beers tasted good after that!

This was year 4 of the St. Malachi run for me. It is amazing to see how far things have come!!

2004 50:08
2005 41:20
2006 37:35
2007 33:37 !!!

So after Saturday I woke up feeling a little less than fresh for my 20 miler. Perhaps it was the beer to a degree, but my calfs were also pretty tight. Thankfully I was running with the terrific people from SERC who are an inspiration. After some good conversation, everything sort of fell into place and we were moving along a a decent pace. We did a 12 mile loop and then an 8 mile loop. The pace was even and the weather was beautiful. Total time was 2:57, actual running time was 2:44 ish (I think). Holy crap, I can't believe we were averaging and 8:12 ish pace if that is right. So we finished our 20 strong and I felt good. I only ran one 20 before my fall marathon and I felt AWFUL. This time, all is good and not even ridiculously sore or tired. Woohoo!!

Alright I better go as I need to get my butt in the shower....no time to proof read as I must get into the shower!!!

TGIF!

This week as I walked into the gym I actually heard bird's chirping. The temperature feels as warm as it has been. Daylight savings time is pretty much here. It is actually sunny in northeast Ohio today. Oh and it's Friday!!! This will require a beer or 2 tonight!

Anyways to sum up the week it has been pretty good. I can not seem to get the crap out of my throat, but it does not seem to be slowing my pace down so I can live with that!

I am currently in week 11 of my FIRST to the Finish Marathon training plan and I am proud to say that I am sticking to it pretty well and actually feeling pretty good about things! I like the challenge of the various workouts and have really learned to enjoy my long runs this time around.

For the last 3 months our tri club has been participating in the National Club Challenge where participants have been tracking there mileage. For the first time ever, I started to track my mileage and my goal now is to continue to do so.

So since the end of the challenge on 2/28, here is what the things have looked like...

R 3/1 - 6.1 mile run -2 miles easy, 2.5 at 7:25 pace (should have been 3, stupid cold killing me), 2.6 easy pace

F 3/2 - 1 hour spin class, 30 min stationary bike, 5 mile run (ladder increasing from 6.5-8.5 by .5 every minute until dropping back down)

S 3/3 - 3 hour easy trainer ride and 40 minute run with JT & her dad--it really amazes how fast time flies on these!!!

S 3/4 - Youngstown 1/2 - 1:47:26 official 8:12 pace

M 3/5- 1 hour spin, 5 mile run at easy pace ....run not scheduled but felt really good!! Upper Body Weight Training

T 3/6 - 7 miles Ran - 2 mile w/u. 2X1200 (6:40 pace) , 4X800 (6:35 pace), cooldown

W 3/7 - 1.5 hour stationary bike at high intensity probably grossing other gym people out by the amount of sweat dripping, Abs, Lower Body Weight Training.

R 3/8 - 7 miles ran, 5 at moderate tempo (7:40 pace)

F 3/9 - 1 hour spin class, abs, 30 minute stationary bike, Upper Body Workout

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This week wraps up 3 weeks since the tattoo which now seems to be healed (YAH!!) ...guess next week it is time to go back to splashing in the pool!!!
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So another busy weekend is on tap which I am excited about!!!! Tonight is our Tri Club meeting, tomorrow one of my favorite races, the St. Malachi 5 mile run (complete with afterparty & beer!!), and Sunday will be a 20 miler morning! Oh and Monday will probably be a rest day!

Mill Creek 1/2 Marathon Update

The Mill Creek 1/2 Marathon is known as one of the hilliest half marathons around. This year mother nature decided to make this half even more interesting with a nice layer of snow.

Pre-Race

I awoke Sunday morning to about 3 inches at my house. About the minute I was ready to hit the door, I got a call from Espeed saying roads were bad and to take my time as she was running late on her way out there too. So instead of grabbing a banana, I took the time to have some toast with with my hubby and hit the door. Being that it was a Sunday, the roads had not been touched, so it took a little longer than I expected to get there so instead of the planned long warm-up, it became 5 minute jog around the parking lot.

The decisions

After debating a bit about what I wanted to wear I opted for my heavy under armor tights and shirt with a wicking coat, my head phones, light under armor gloves, oakley glasses with yellow lenses, normal running shoes. All and all the clothing seemed about right for me as it was mid 20's and still snowing and blowing. Although the glasses fogged up here and there, I was happy to have them as I hate getting snow in my eyes and it was coming down the entire time!!! Even though I kept my hands tucked in my coat, they were still a bit cold, but not too bad. Though my traction could have been better, my shoes did OK and I don't know how much my trail shoes would have made a difference. I was glad I had my headphones for the last 4 miles of the course, so all was well with my choices!

The course

Not only was it just as hilly as I knew it would be, it was covered in snow which made traction on the uphills more difficult and slightly treacherous on the downhills.....

Other runner's comments posted on the web regarding Sunday's conditions include-

'Toughest conditions yet for my 3rd Distance Classic. Opted for the trail shoes for more traction on the snow-covered road course.'

'It was the toughest footing ever for race day.'

Given these conditions, I knew it was not destined to be a super fast half but I still had my goal in my head that I just wanted to break 1:50. See I figure that is the pace I am hoping to hold for Cleveland Marathon and I thought if I could hold it on this tough course it would be a nice confidence builder for that race. (I know they say to double your half time and add 10 minutes for marathon estimate, but I will work on that one on a more normal course....maybe spring classic coming up on 4/7)

And we're off

So I headed out with Espeed hoping I could try to keep up. We decided given the course conditions we would run a conservative pace for awhile. Miles kept passing by as we would climb and descend the hills. I must admit though, I think I had made these hills mountains in my head as they were not as bad as I thought they were last year.

I was nervous about how I was going to feel for the race as I had had a cold all week and a flu bug the week before. I had been struggling to hit my paces for my FIRST training plan, but had managed to get all of the workouts in...little accomplishment even if they were not perfect. But, as we got into the miles I remained feeling pretty good. It was nice as we got 8 or so in we could see the leaders heading back and I started to get excited about the finish.

About mile 9, I decided there was only 4 to go and I would just pick it up till the end. With that, I tuned on the tunes, cranked up the volume, and picked up the pace.

As I climbed the final hill at the end I was in sprinting mode and wanted to catch the chick in front of me but ran out of course. The last kick had spent me anyway and I was happy to see 1:47 and change on the clock!! Yeah!!! Goal of 1:50 nailed and then some.

Splits

1 8:32

2 7:20

3& 4 16:57

5 8:23

6 8:42

7 8:31

8 8:17

9 8:29

10 8:08

11 7:46

12 7:20

13 ?? (I get way to excited about the end to ever remember to hit the button on the last one!)

Finish Time 1:47:21 -I think...seconds may be slightly off. So an 8:11 pace or so!

A PR!

So for those keep track, my halfs always involve a fair amount of talking, so I have always figured I was capable of a better time but currently my fastest half was a 1:53, so I guess I have a new one! Woohoo a PR in these conditions! Oh and another small victory was my time last year was a 1:59 +....and this year, a 12 minute improvement!

The icing on the cake

Somehow that time was good enough for 11th female overall and a 2nd in my age group award. Even sweeter, Espeed, took third in our age group. This will not be 'OUR" age group much longer as someone has a birthday coming up which will put me in a new age bracket for most races! So as usual the best part of the race was hanging out afterwards over some coffee to warm up and catching up with all the other crazy peeps who had journeyed out to run on these fine conditions!

Big Baby!

One upon a drunken spring break day in Mexico with more than a few beers in me, I drew a sunshine and explained the colors, rojo and anarillo that I wanted my sunshine tattoo done in. Maybe not the wisest choice, but heck, I was young and carefree!

So I have talked about perhaps getting some different there for about 6 of the last seven years....and....

Lots of sweating....

Heart is racing...

Kind of want to vomit....

Trying to breathe....

Need some orange juice...

Trying to relax but my tense body won't listen...

"Are we done yet?"

...and two hours and fifteen minutes of sheer pain later.....

Yup, got myself a new tattoo and yet another excuse to slack on my swim sessions. (No swimming 2-4 weeks while it heals!! I figured I better get it now as I could not take 2-4 weeks off closer to the season! Now I just need to get my body is to kick ass shape to show it off when I wear my bikini!!

Chili Bowl Update & A PR!

Well after carb loading with some Dos Equis at the Mexican restaurant Friday night I went home and put together my speed-inducing playlist for the day. I awoke early to head out to the far side of town for the Chili Bowl run. Met up half way with some friends and got to the race with plenty of time to spare. I quickly spied Liz and after a bit we were off on our warm up run.

The warm-up sort of stunk as the snow started to fall with a vengeance and it kept getting in my eyes. I was starting to think that the conditions were just not ideal given it was only about 15 degrees, snow and there was a light wind that would hit our face for a bit of the course.

The game plan was to hang with Liz who was using it as her tempo run and shoot for a PR. In my last 5K I had broke my old PR and thought that if I could just get close to my last one that it would be an accomplishment.

Upon the ring I was off. There were about 500 people racing and this race was chipped so it was a tight start. I was looking around a bit for Liz with all the people and before long, decided I was just going to go and not worry about it.

Mile 1 I was rocking out to I Like The Way You Move by the BodyRockers and was just moving along into the wind. I felt good and the crowd started to spread out a bit which was nice. I turned the corner and hit the split at 6:35 for Mile 1. A little nervous thought popped into my head hoping that I would not blow up with a fast first mile, so I backed off a bit. I made another turn and started picking off a few other runners. I got passed by this one female in this stretch that was clipping along at a good pace (incidentally later I watched her pick up the first overall female award--must have ran a nice negative split race) Still cranking the tunes and not feeling too bad I hit mile 2 with a 6:58 split. I started the one out and back section and had to slow a bit for a u turn and started heading back. I was happy I had run this part of the course in the warm up as I knew exactly what was left and I started to pick up the pace as we headed back. A few hundred yards I started pushing and was hoping to pass the only other female in my sights. I was beginning to feel a little uncomfortable with this pace but I knew the end was near. Hit mile 3 with a 6:38 split. I picked up my final kick and the lady heard me coming and sped up as well. The end was slick and I just decided it would be too close so ended up sailing in behind her as I watched the clock read 20:51. Official chip time, 20:45, a 6:42 pace and a new PR!

Sweeeeeeet!! I was stoked as this was way above my expectations. On top of that, even as I manuevered a with the wintry conditions, I felt generally pretty good especially compared to many of my other 5Ks. So all & all, happy for the day! I ended up with a 1st age group award and 8/211 females and 58/484 overall.

The best thing in my opinion is the improvement. Last year at the Chili Bowl I was so excited as it was the first time I had ever broke 23 with my 06 time of 22:56. Then I danced around in the 22-23 minute range for most of the year and breaking 22 was this goal for the 2006 that I had for myself. Finally at my last race of the year I broke my 22:07 PR with a 21:37. Goal accomplished! I had thought about my goal for this year but still was not sure how things would go and then I came out first race of 2007 with a 20:45. All I can figure is my speedwork is helping! So we will just keep putting in the work and see what happens!

After the race, I cheered a few friends in. Liz, who had ran a nice even race according to plan, went for a cooldown but I was already starting to freeze so I declined to head in and change out of my wet clothes. The best part of these races is the aftermath and getting a chance to chat it up with fellow running buds. We goofed around snapping some pictures and BS-ing with others before I headed off for breakfast with a few pals and my long day of taking down wallpaper!

Quick Sunday Long-run Update

Well the schedule called for a 17 miler. I totally had not organized the plan so I was on my own as pretty much most of my normal running pals had something going. The weather conditions continued to deteriorate and I was not looking forward to a long cold run by myself. The towpath where I normally have been doing the long runs is currently buried and not really an option. So I decided I would meet the Sunday SERC group and hope I could keep up. I was even more nervous when I showed up the lone woman with about 20 guys. Oh well, I brought my headphones in case I ended up alone....just so I could find my way, I would be OK with that.

Always a good choice to run with others when it is crappy out. About two thirds of the run was slick but had some easier wet surfaces for a little while. I ended up running with 2 guys for the first 10 or so and then one split off as he had already ran 8 and was going to wrap up the 12 loop for 20 total and call it a day. The other guy and I continued on with two others to do the 15 mile loop. Some of the hills were slippery and I was kind of tired as my long run pace on this slick surface felt a little faster than normal, yet I was too headstrong to let up. We ended up back at the parking lot as snow men 15 miles later in about 2 hours, 10 minutes, so I guess we ran approximately 8:40 min pace. So not the 17 the schedule called for, but had got in the unscheduled 5K the day before and had ran 17 last week, so I am OK with that for the day. My warm shower when I got home felt so good!!

Happy Valentines Day!!!

This morning I woke up early to look outside and see that the snow was still falling. My sweet Valentine, Joey, had been out plowing for most of the night. I had went out plowing what his freebie route last night which included a few friends and family who live close and after almost getting the truck stuck in one 3.5 foot deep driveway (partially caused by drifting winds) I knew he was most likely having one long night.

I walked downstairs to check the internet to see if my Jewish Community Center where I workout was listed as closed. I noted the Summit County one was closed and was nervous that I may drive all the way there at this crazy hour through horribly deep snow only to have it closed. So I went back upstairs to bed flipped on the tv and called Joey. I decided to take his advice to wait awhile before heading out as the roads where pretty deep...so I went back to sleep. I am such a slacker as I have all the equipment I could want right there at home...but this weather seemed to call for staying in bed, so I listened. An hour and a half later my alarm woke me up and I got ready for work. I was leaving a bit early in the hopes that I may get to work on time and as I grab my purse I see that at whatever crazy hour my husband left last night, he took the time to place a really sweet card in my purse. It is just these little things that mean so very much! So hope everyone else out there can find a smile on their face this Valentines Day even if you are looking at a lot of snow!!

Training Update ...it has been awhile

All & all things have been progressing well, except swimming, of course!

Mon 1/29 60 min spin, lower body weights

Tues 1/30 7 miles treadmill, 1 % incline

20 min w/u, 3-1600 at 6:49, 1 min recoveries, 15 min c/d

Wed 1/31 60 min spin class, abs, upper body weights, 1000 yds swam

Thu 2/1 7 miles treadmill, 1% incline

2 miles easy, 2 miles @ 7:24 pace, 3 miles easy

Fri 2/2 60 min spin, 40 min stat bike, lower body weights, abs

Sat 2/3 Dirty Dog Trail Run - 6.2 Snowy Miles 57:36

Sun 2/4 9 miserable miles at very cold temp

Mon 2/5 60 min spin, 1000 yds swam, upper body weights

Tues 2/6 7 miles treadmill, 1% incline

1 mile w/u, 4-800's @ 3:20, 2 min recovery, 8:13 pace for cooldown miles

lower body weights, abs

Wed 2/7 60 min spin, upper body weights

Thu 2/8 abs, 6.3 miles treadmill, 1% incline

1 mile easy, 5 miles at 8:24, 1 mile easy

Fri 2/9 60 min spin, 3.2 miles treadmill, 1% incline, interval training

Sat 2/10 1 hr, 45 minute trainer ride incl 1 hr spinerval dvd

Sun 2/11 17 mile run with Liz - watch messed up but were hitting around the desired 8:45 mile splits for the most part (although slowing down at the end) despite less than optimal conditions

Mon 2/12 Rest

Tues 2/13 7 miles treadmill, 1% incline

20 min w/u, 1200 (5:12), 1000 (4:14), 800 (3:17), 600 (2:41), 400 (1:34) , 200 m

RI, cool down; 3 miles stat bike, abs

10K's are not supposed to be this tough!!!

Well for some reason I found myself really looking forward to this race. Perhaps because I enjoyed it so much last year, mabe because I was planning to run for fun and not a fast pace, but I think because I was looking forward to hanging out with my friends!!!! I cannot say enough about my pals the journeyed out with me, most of them had to drive aways, it was crazy cold & I am thankful for every one of them!!

I woke up early Saturday as I wanted to make sure I was ready as everyone was supposed to meet at my place. Well needless to say I woke up way earlier than nescessary but it gave me plenty of time to prep my cold weather stuff. My trail shoes were in my car and I wanted to get them in the house early to warm them up before the race.

My pals started arriving and soon we were off to the race. We got there early to see that Mosquito Lake had ice fisherman tents all over the place on it. (you can see them in the backgound of the pic) It was cold as heck and the wind was not helping the temperature AT ALL!

For this race there was no awards and prizes were selected at random. I was psyched because I won a Vertical Runner technical shirt and both TriSaraTops and my friend, Beth won prizes too! There was no warm up and we ended up sitting in the car until 5 minutes before the race started. I was dressed warm as could be, complete with these huge insulated mittens, but I am a freeze baby that doesn't mind sweating, but hates to be cold....and it was really freiking cold. I hate to mention it as I am not sure how cold, but I am guessing it was around 8 when we started but with the windchill, it had to be below zero. We lined up and hung out long enough for me to start getting rather cold with numb toes before we were off.

We started off in a group and BS'd for awhile before my running partner Bob and I moved ahead. The terrain was tough to say the least. We crossed many a trees, 3 streams which I got one foot a little wet, and a ton of drifted snow. I would say at least every 15 steps or so I would loose my footing in my trail shoes and was all over the place. Bob and I manuevered around the path running with some dogs for awhile and trying to not twist an ankle. The course was gorgeous, covered in snow and everyone in good spirits. We ran throught the woods out by the frozen lake for awhile and then went through this path by the water which was a little deeper snow before heading out to this field by the main road. This was a tough section, the snow was deep and Bob seemed to pick up the pace and it was majorly tough to pass everyone in snow that was not as packed down. Half way in I could tell I was rather fatigued from the deep snow. There were very sparse, short, random sections we would hit where it was not snowy and it was unbelieveable how easy they felt.

As we went back through the trails there was one corner where many of us were confused if we should turn or go straight. We ended up standing there for a minute trying to figure it out and then making the turn which was the right call! Thank goodness as we were getting tired.

Of the most importance.....on the way back one of the volunteer appeared to be having medical trouble. As we ran past, we were all concerned and although I am totally in the blue what happened and the outcome I wish him the very best. As if it is not hard enough to run outside in this weather...I cannot imagine how cold the volunteers must be just standing there. THANKS TO ALL THE WONDERFUL SOULS WHO VOLUNTEER, ESPECIALLY IN THIS COLD ASS WEATHER!!!

So anyway finally we made it to the finish. I finished in 57:36, a 9:16 pace. I supppose I am not proud of this time, yet I was not running for time. I ended up 32 of 101 overall, 2 of 22 for women. Yet, I can say that it was not a 9:16 pace by any road race standard. I really felt like the conditions were so tough that I worked hard just due to these conditions.

I ran back to the car afterwards to grab my camera and grab some shots of my pals as they finished. I started to get really cold as I waited and by the time my last friend crossed the line I was running to the car to get warm.

I had so much fun hanging out with the girls afterwards at breakfast telling racing stories and tightly gripping my coffee cup trying to warm up. I drank more coffee at breakfast than I have in a really long time.

Highlight of the day---all my pals coming out despite this weather!!! Friends make it alll worth it!!!!!!

Tri Tag Time

Tri Tag Time

Just staying warm after our cold morning Dirty Dog run, report to come later after I have a chance to upload some sweet pics!! OK, so as not to let TriSaraTops down, I guess I am it...so here goes!

1. Describe a memory from your first triathlon ever.

A short and sweet small local tri out at Monroe falls, the SummiTri. I had went to the park and practiced with friends and we were not 100% sure of the course but had a pretty good idea of what it would be. On race day I was just moved my way through the course we practiced and did not pay much attention to the sign and had ended up totally missing the run turnaround and tacked on an extra quarter mile or so. Smooth! Somehow it really did not bother me much as I was happy to have completed my first tri with friends!!!

2. Describe a memory from your most recent triathlon.

At the Great Lakes tri which turned into a Duathlon due to the lake small craft advisory, I remember being totally relieved not to have to swim in that water. Even though the event did not turn out as planned and in the face of some strong winds, I learned that you have to be flexible out on the course....that and friends and support really can make the race!!

3. What's the most embarrassing thing that has ever happened to you in a tri?

While I have a rather embarssing marathon story, knocked a bike rack over in a duathlon, probably still the only real embarassing thing about a tri has been my sweet backstroke last summer in the Cleveland Tri. Forever a weak swimmer I just tried to make my way through a long swim (for me) even if it was going to have to be swam on my back! I zigzagged around the lake like crazy as spotting was even more difficult, but I made it and I was not last! Let's hope we never have to see that broke out at another race.

4. What's the most thrilling thing that's happened to you in a tri?

My most thrilling memory about a tri was at the Cleveland Tri downtown Cleveland. I had joined the Cleveland Tri Club early in 2006 and just several months later at the tri I was overwhelmed by the sense of support and camaderie among the fans and other members during the race. This course had many loops back and forth and the amount of positive comments duing and after the event really just made the day.

5. What is something you discovered about yourself by doing triathlons?

It is all about perspective. What I once thought was this huge accomplishment can become a reality with some work and then I am always dreaming of something bigger.

6. What is The Big Goal that you're working towards?

Hmmm, improvement overall. 2007 A races for now will be half ironman completion and a marathon PR with that BQ goal always in the back of my mind.

Clue about new toy.....

Triumph Daytona 675 Named 'International Bike Of The Year'
Dec 20, 2006

From a press release issued by Triumph:

DECEMBER 20, 2006 - It’s official: The Triumph Daytona 675 is the International Bike of the Year with praise from the professionals heaped on its incredible performance, unique character, stunning looks and superb handling.

Topping the prestigious 2006 International Bike of the Year (IBOTY) poll with a comfortable majority of the votes, the Triumph Daytona 675 has well and truly confirmed its status as the premier high performance motorcycle on the market.

This stylish machine crushed its closest competition, amassing more than twice the number of votes as any of its rivals and was awarded maximum votes by an astounding 6 of the 15 leading motorcycle magazines that participated.

This prestigious honor rounds off a superb year for Triumph’s newcomer, which has scooped a wealth of accolades from the world’s media. It was also victorious in the Supersport class at the world’s biggest sportsbike shootout, Masterbike, and has been named as bike of the year by various publications across the globe, from the USA to Australia.

Triumph’s Commercial Director, Tue Mantoni, commented: “Winning the International Bike of the Year Award with the Daytona 675 is a superb achievement for Triumph and we continue to be extremely proud of the bike that we have created. The Daytona 675 has now won nearly every motorcycle comparison test going, and we are confident that it will continue to achieve great things, as will the rest of our range for 2007.”

The Daytona 675 has redefined the standard for high performance sports bikes. It offers the perfect combination of handling, performance and looks. New to the already eye catching array of colors is a sleek black option and with its unique triple engine, which provides a rich and glorious growl, this exceptional motorcycle is undoubtedly the coolest model on the market.

ABOUT TRIUMPH MOTORCYCLES

Triumph Motorcycles, the iconic British motorcycle marque, is solely owned by Bloor Holdings Ltd. First established in 1902 and now located in Hinckley, Leicestershire, Triumph has always set the pace for category winning machines. From the iconic Bonneville to the mould-breaking Daytona 675 Triple, Triumph offers a blend of design, character, sex appeal and performance that combines to create truly distinctive motorcycles.

www.triumphmotorcycles.com

Week recap

Another decent week in the bag, despite my fall. Can't keep this girl down!

Mon 1/22 60 minute spin class, Upper Body Workout

Tuesday 1/23 -Rest & recover from fall :-)

Wednesday 1/24 60 min spin class, 5 miles ran on treadmill, lower body workout, 1000 yards swam

Thursday 1/25 7 miles ran treadmill, abs

Friday 1/26 60 min spin class, 4 miles ran on treadmill, Upper Body Workout

Saturday 1/27 New Vision Cycling 2.5 hour butt kicking-speed drills kill me. Now that I have this nice new computer with cadence counter I really am working on keeping cadence in specified zones, my sweat puddle is so wrong at these!

Sunday 1/28 16 mile snowy run - Ran with normal friends and some extras. A couple of the extra guys were running just enough fast for us to try to keep up, yet faster than we probably would have normally went in the conditions, so had to work a bit on this one!

This was week one of lifting at the gym with my cousin on my lunch breaks. She is getting reacclimated to the gym and I really enjoy the company...hopefully the soreness will not scare her away!

Put money down on a new toy which I am totally so excited about!!!!! Details later!

Not my week...

Warning to others...don't run downstairs on a commerical break of 24...just a bad idea! For cying out loud I even have a DVR that if I missed 10 seconds I could still watch it.

Anyway Monday night decided to switch the laudry on a commercial break and proceed to run downstairs in these tractionless slipper socks. You see I have one of those 200 year old houses in which the basement stairs are the little wooden scary ones with no handrails and about the second step from the top, I slip right off and went down on my back side to the bottom. I sat there for a minute trying to collect myself as I was already in a good bit of pain before walking back up the stairs (forget about changing the laundry). Both of my elbows were bleeding, bruised and were swollen with golf balls on them and had hit so many areas on my back side on the way down. So I sat on the couch and the hubby brought my ice packs for my elbows and I did not move the rest of the night.

I always make fun of my mom as she is somewhat of a clutz (although she will never admit it) and recently my dad took a fall. This of course turned into me making fun of him for hanging out with her too much. Apparently I was hanging out with her too much too! Originally I was concerned that I had seriously did something to my left elbow but after moving around on Tuesday I knew I was just bruised and all body parts were still functional. Tailbone is just killing me though this week doing situps!

So then Wednesday I head to the pool on my lunch break in which every minute is critical as I am always rushed to fit everything in. Upon walking into the pool area the lanes are pretty busy with people splitting every lane except the fast lane. Now at this point there is a 2 slow, 2 medium, and 1 fast lane and even though I consider myself as slow, lunch hour crowd there is typically older folk that who go really slow. As a courtesy before entering the lane you are supposed to notify the person that you are splitting with. So I wait AHWHILE thinking I have no reason to feel bad swimming in the fast lane as this lady I am waiting to notify is barely moving. Finally I let her know and hop in and start my swim. Not more than 5 minutes later I see a middle age man standing at the end wanting to get in and circle swim. I knew this was not going to work with slow old lady but what can you say. So I say fine and start. It was horrible. Slow me would catch up to both of them within a few strokes and then have swim 3/4 of the pool at snails pace. I was getting agitated as I lost count of my laps and could not get in any rhythm. I felt bad because the slow lady would stop at the ends at let me pass but she said she felt bad she was holding me up. I did not want her to feel bad but she had to know she really should not swim that lane. I guess I was the most annoyed with the guy as he was not much faster (at all) than the old lady and I really felt he had no business going to the fast lanes and asking the people to circle swim. I don't know...much of the pool ettiquette is new to me and I never would say something to make one feel bad but this just had me absolutely frazzeled. Never thought slow me would have so much trouble with slow people in the fast lane.

Week Recap-

Wow has our weather changed this week! As much as I believe I was meant to live in the tropics, at least I married someone who plows snow so that I actually don't mind so much when it snows so he can make some $$. So this weekend it was time to suck it up, bundle up and head out into the snow.

I must say that every time I get out there and run it is really not too bad!

This week has been full of training and I have been feeling pretty good. Here is a quick rundown...

Monday 1/15 16.5 stationary bike, 2 miles treadmill (This was probably about the hardest I have pushed myself on a stationary bike doing an interval workout but doing alternating 30 seconds normal cadence and 30 high cadence at each level.)

Tuesday 1/16 7 miles treadmill, Lower Body Workout (Squats and lunges had me aching the following two days pretty bad)

Wednesday 1/17 Slept in instead of hitting the gym at 6AM, 1 hour trainer evening

Thursday 1/18 6 miles on treadmill -arrived to gym late so had no time for the originally planned 7th mile, but felt strong the whole run

Friday 1/19 1 hr spin, abs, 1000 yards swam

Saturday - Brick with Jodi which was 3 hours on trainer, 40 minute run. When she emailed what she had planned for the day I thought that sounded like an incredibly long time to be training. However it is amazing how fast time flies with friends and before I knew it, we were done.

Spent the rest of the Saturday cleaning house which was so overdue and was so tired I fell asleep on the couch at 8:30!! Wild & crazy Saturday night I had!!

Sunday, awoke nice and early for my 16 mile run with some friends out on the towpath. I decided to get splits on the run to try to gauge what pace we are doing most of our long runs. Despite the snowy trail we were very consistently hitting them at 9 flat. I figure given the conditions that it was fine by me. On my last long run 2 weeks ago which was 14 miles I was really waiting for the end to come as I felt a bit fatigued. Strangely this week on the snow I felt extremely good and could have kept going with no problems. What an awesome way to feel after a long run!! This was an extemely good thing because then we spent the day moving my hubby's sister! Is it bedtime yet??

Yeah, I know...I will put in a rest day next week, but at least I slept in one morning!!

Training update!

Well sneaking in a couple minutes to at least log my training for the week as I am ready to hit the hay already after my fun-filled day mostly filled with baptism activities....!

Mon 1/8 - 1 hr spin class, 2 miles treadmill, Lower Body workout...very sore from the lunges for the following 2 days

Tues 1/9 - 7 miles treadmill (req'd more effort than usual to get in before 60 minute cutoff); Lifted Bi, Tri, Shoulders

Wed 1/10 - 1 hr spin, 15 min stationary bike; swam 1000 yards; lifted chest back; abs

Thurs 1/11 - 7 miles treadmill (increasing speed intervals 6.5-8.5 with .5 increase per minute, finished comfortably in 58 min)

Fri 1/12 - 1 hr spin, upper body workout, abs

Sat 1/13 - 15 minute warm-up followed by 2 hour New Vision Cylcing class

Sun 1/14 - 9 mile outside run (long run cut short this week on account of full day's schedule)

All & all felt pretty good this week. Went 5/5 with my 6 AM hour gym arrivals so that was an accomplishment in itself! Good night folks!

PS- Jack Baurer is da man!

First an aunt, soon a godparent!!

As my aunt responsibility it is again time to talk about my two favorite little cutie pies!!!

So in other non-tri news Sunday my husband & I, as well as my cousin and his wife will be standing up for Erin & Alyssa's baptism. So all this stuff is pretty new to me and if anyone has any traditions, great gift ideas, or things I should know, feel free to let me know.

Guess I will be missing my group Sunday run...may have to have a lonely one!

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!

Well where to start...it has been awhile.

I am working on wrapping up all my side consulting work here in the next week or so which will relieve a huge weight off of my shoulders as this final push has been a tad much to say the least. Then I can focus not only on my full time job, but also all the training and other things that have been significantly impacted.

The training has been going pretty well despite some minor aches and pains. I have had the opportunity to enjoy some long runs the last few weekends with some great company. Christmas Eve and New Years Eve, ran a hilly 13.1 mile run with Southeast Running Club. Then New Years Eve I followed that up with a 5K New Years Eve race. After my morning run I was not overly optimistic about what my performance would be on this hilly course, but ended up with a 22:46 and 2nd in my age group. Not too bad especially considering the decent turnout for the event.

This morning headed out to the towpath for a 14 mile run with some friends which was a nice consistent effort which went pretty well. As a side note these last three longs runs have been the best in a very long time as I have not had to make a bathroom stop on account of stomach issues on any of them. Whatever the reason, this is progress!!!

On the biking front, a lot of credit goes to my hubby. For Christmas he bought me a bad arse new Butterfly seat as he must have got worried with me complaining about my female area so often. My old seat was the original one and let me just say it was definitely not all that comfortable. He also got me a new computer which has the cadence counter, so that has been very helpful with the Spinerval DVDs (thanks again Lou) and the New Vision Cycling workouts(which are totally the coolest, yet tough workouts). Other than that I have been getting in some variety here with some great spinning classes, spinerval workouts, New Vision workouts, and just time in on the trainer cleaning out the ironmans saved on the DVR.

Swimming is still not my strong suit and my focus here is probably not helping. I try to swim 3 days a week on my lunch break at work, 1000 yards a time. I am strongly considering hitting the Orange Masters swm, but somewhat concerned that I may not be able to keep up with the easy folk. I guess there is only one way to get better and that is to take things out of the comfort zone...so we'll see!

So many other things to mention which I will save for some other posts which I am hoping to get back in the habit of making on a more regular basis.

If nothing else, I want to try to at least keep a running tally of my workouts a bit better which I will try to keep up to date.

1/1 90 minute trainer ride
1/2 30 minute bike, 2 miles treadmill---50 mile motorcycle ride (since when does this happen in January??!!)
1/3 1 hr spin class, 4 miles treadmill, 1000 yards swam
1/4 Upper Body Workout
1/5 1 hour spin class, 3.2 miles treadmill
1/6 2 hour New Vision Cycling
1/7 14 miles, towpath

Finally I have finally decided to send in the money today for Cleveland Marathon!

07 Tenative Season
2/3 Dirty Dog 10 K Trail Run
2/17 Chili Bowl 5 K
3/4 Youngstown 1/2 marathon
3/10 St Malachi 5 mile
4/5 Hinckly Buzzzard Du
5/6 Silver Spings Du
5/20 Cleveland Marathon
Sunday in June
6/24 Summi Tri (Spint)
July --Sweet Corn Century Ride
8/5 Cleveland tri (sprint)
8/12 Greater Cleveland Tri (1st half!!)
9/16 Portage Lakes
Fall Marathon to be decided

Short and Sweet!

The magic 22 mark finally went down this weekend at the Reindeer Run 5K!

21:37 for a 7:00 min/mile pace!!

Yeah!!!

So I know many others can handle this without too much difficulty....but it has taken me a bit to get here...so definitely a good way to head into the end of the year!!

Details later when I have more time......

Tidbits

So I am having trouble finding time to post, clean the house and all those other general things that are being pushed to the wayside momentarily....but one more week and hopefully things should get better.

Taking the Series 7 test next Wednesday 12/6 and would much prefer to put in some extra studying and pass than the alternative!!

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Okay so now I must mention how totally excited and thankful I am for my early Christmas present from my parents. A new trainer!!!!! It came Monday. It is a Kurt Kinetic trainer that I found thanks to Jodi! Last night I put it together and hoppped on my bike to try it out for one minute before we had to head out the door. I can't wait to actually try it out. For some reason though the bike seems crooked. I am not sure if it is my old floor or something is not adjusted just right. I will have to figure this out I suppose. The only thing I don't like about biking is figuring out all the gadgets and what is wrong.

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Training has been going pretty well. Today hit 1 hr 6 AM spin class followed by 4.2 mile treadmill run and then cam eback to the gym on the lunch hour for 1000 yard swim....hence why I am just not feeling overly energetic for a trainer ride tonight.
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I totally fell off the eating wagon over the holiday with a million family gatherings...but the good thing is I have gotten back on it!

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Did the Pigskin run the day of the OSU / Michigan game. Go Buckeyes!!! Total time 22:40 at a 7:22 pace. Holy fan support downtown Cleveland!!
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Lastly, turkey trot run on Thursday was pretty awesome. First and foremost the last two years I barely made it downtown Cleveland for the event on account of horrible driving conditions. This year it was sunny and around 50!!! I was enjoying the morning and seeing many friends at this race of nearly 2000 people.

I had made myself a new playlist on my Ipod which I swear makes a huge difference when I run. I decided to just see what I could do on the race. It has been so long that I don't have my splits anymore but I ended up with a time of 36:13 for the 5 miler at a 7:16 pace. They were giving away pies to the first 50 females and the first 50 males. I guess the far-fetched goal in my head was to win one, not because I really wanted a pie, but I just wanted to win it. No such luck with that though as the 50 for females was somewhere in the 35s...there are so many fast women in this darn town!!

So since I missed that far-fetched goal I will just have to focus on another one for this weekend's Reindeer Run 5K of somehow breaking that 22 minute mark that I have yet to accomplish...last shot for 2006. If nothing else, I will go out trying!!

Quick weekend recap....

I had spent the evening Friday hitting a few stores in the hopes of finding a windbreaker which would help keep me warm during Saturday morning's du. On the 4th store (thankfully the hubby was also in pursuit of a garment he could not find either) I finally found an insulated windbreaker at Target in the boys section for $14.99 that I thought would do the trick...major score as it was way better than the $50+ ones I was scoping out at Dicks.

Saturday woke up to a crisp morning and hoped I would watch my temperature rise as I left the house at a cool 28 degrees. It warmed a bit until I started dropping into the valley where the event was held. My car, G-unit (as it is a Pontiac G-6) said 27 degrees. Brrr....oh well, I shound warm up on the run anyways.

There was 8 of us doing the event. I was pretty sore from weight training & Friday's spin class but with the countdown I was off. I tried to hold back for a little while on the run and just tried to stay close with the only other female, melanie who was running strong. 3rd one in of 8, 2 mile run one, 14:11. At T1, I had planned to put on my new windbreaker but I was so hot from the run, I did not bother.

Lesson of the day- Test the bike befoe every event. So I started off only to hear my front brake dragging. I kept trying to fix it while I rode for the first 4 or 5 miles and then I just decided to deal with it. It was not too bad once I just quit worrying about it. I managed to catch Melanie (who totally kicked butt as she was on a mountain bike) and then just tried to keep a steady pace. My body was plenty warm but I could not wait to get off the bike on account of very numb toes. 13 mile-ish bike time 44:39.

As I entered t2 now in second (behind this guy who just destroyed the rest of us), I complained a bit about my toes and was off. Ouch, ouch..poor numb toes. 2 miles later (17:15) I came in to the finish still in second with a total time of 1 :15:35. I will take that 2 plus minute improvement over two weeks ago, even with a dragging brake. (2 weeks ago it was 14:39, 45:10, 18:08 for a total time of 1:17:57).

Totally a great morning despite the cold. I tell ya that the best part about these events is doing them with a great group of competitors and volunteers. I cannot say enough about the volunteers who cheered everyone on in the cold!

Sunday morning, woke up early again to head to the 5K on the other side of town with TriSaraTops, Buckeye Runner, and many other familiar faces. This race is one that counts for points in the Hermes Road Race series, so I was not sure what to expect on legs that were far from fresh. However before long I was off. The first mile heads down a small hill and up a medium one. I was attempting to hold back a bit the first mile which was 7:19. I had felt pretty comfortable at that point and started to pick it up a bit. There was some wind in the face for mile 2 and was trying to pick up the pace a bit mile 2- 7:04. On the last mile as I tried to con myself in to dealing with some pain for just a little while longer, my quads started to tighten as I rounded the final stretch. When I saw the timer I was disappointed to see the clock ticking over 23. Final time 23:04. As it turned out, the race director said the race was a bit long at 3.2 miles. So slight redemption.

The time was good enough to get 1st in my AG. Trisaratops was right behind me for the unofficial 2nd in our age group. (Her chip did not work, so she got screwed out of a cute tuffed animal).

At any rate, today I took off on acount of some sore legs after my busy weekend!

Weekends are not for resting...

My body will adjust here at some point.....

At the moment I need to give myself an assist sitting down and I am willing to take the stairs up but not down...ouch!

All this variety in my workouts with weight-training and spinning has really woken up some new muscles which is a good thing, right??? I tend to think so and I can say I have really enjoyed the challenge of new things.

However....

This weekend I had planned to do the Cleveland Tri Club duathlon on Saturday and then my Hermes Road Race Series 5k on Sunday. So even though a bit sore, I will just go ahead and attempt both, even if it means a PR is not in the cards. So here is to the start of another fun weekend!!!!!!!!!

22.5

22.5% body fat. 133 lbs

Somewhat embarassed to put it out for all, but that was the number the trainer this morning came up to. He did the 9 spot caliper pinch measurement following another solid workout.

It was an interesting conversation as we talked about where the different numbers in different areas could be improved and which areas will be more difficult on account of my high cardio training (stomach...grrr, I am going to find a way to show it can be done).

My takeway is to not worry about calories so much, but focus on intaking quality food (not high fat content, etc.) and probably add more lean protein.

Recent nutrition (minus the Halloween party-too many beers!) has been improved and I find myself really enjoying all of my additional weight lifting in addition to my normal runs, swims, and bikes. The weight training has led to a lot of muscle soreness over the last couple weeks, which hurts on one hand but sort of feel good on the other.

So for now, I have a reference point in writing to work with. These numbers will be coming down..............!