Got Chipotle on my Mind

Apparently, I live in this SUPER BAD A$$ Fantasy world in which I am a.....uh....SUPER BAD A$$ and can do anything.

Unfortunately, this is a fantasy world. Wanna know how I know?

Mr. Tea told me.

OH THANK GOODNESS FOR HONEST SO's! I'd just HATE for my ego to explode all over the kitchen and get chunks in his cofeee...whichbythewayIbrewedaftergettingupearlyonmydayoffjustsohewouldhavecompanythankyouverymuch.

But let's not hold a grudge, shall we?

This is a joyous, giving time of year.

Tell me: is there anything truly wrong with living in a fantasy world? And what gave it away anyway?

Was it the out loud discussions with my "little friends"? Not as in "Say hello to my little friend" but as in "get your fat a$$ up the hill, bee-yotch. I'm hungry and got Chipotle on my mind."

sigh

Let's move on.

Day 3 of my ULTRA-MARATHON TRAINING! WOO HOOO!!!

Another day of swimming. (See? That's total BA. When most people are FREAKING out about getting their miles in, I'm enjoying a swim).

Mostly cos I'm just getting old and swimming is easy on my joints.

And, ssshhhhhh don't tell anyone but

I'M REALLY DAMN GOOD AT SWIMMING!

I personally think we need to celebrate our strengths more, don't you?

Yes indeedy.

And I can't think of a place where swimming will be most helpful except when I'm climbing that hill at mile 27, crying, probably limping, definitely cussing, and barely making the time cut-off.

Welcome to the Gun Show

Yea.

Dats right! It's a gym kind of day. Just me 'n the meatheads throwing weights around, flexing in front of the mirror, talking protein shakes, and routines, comparing bulging biceps....

Yep.

That's exactly how it went.

But, I started the day by running. A nice little 4 mile recovery run. Then I did 40 minutes on the bike consisting of 25....YES....TWENTY STINKIN FIVE minutes of standing up and sitting down and standing up and sitting down....who comes up with this stuff?

It was after the run and the hell ride that I did my lifting. Of course, it was some ridiculous circuit thing consisting of 30 reps for EVERY exercise. Hey and just for fun, let's do it again....

AND AGAIN...

If I only had a brain.

My legs were jiggly....and for ONCE, NOT in the cellulite type of way.

Tomorrow is a swim. A nice relaxing 3600m swim consisting of speed intervals.

The day AFTER weight training.

No problemo.

And they're OFF!! Part Deux

I awoke this morning READY.TO.GO.

It's my long run day. The first of many to come. But first I must eat breakfast.

I head downstairs and notice the chill in the air and radiating up my feet, thru my legs and up my spine.

Well, now, ain't that just fine? It's a wee cold this morning. Since I am De-wimping myself, I need to follow the 7 step process.
First step, wait until it warms up.
Second step, wait until it warms up.

This weekend, I am going to focus on steps 1 & 2.

If I wait until it warms up, I can drink more coffee.

If I wait until it warms up, I can (stealing a look over at the plate) have one of those drippy, gooey, cinnamony, delicious, homemade, cinnamon rolls for breakfast.

STOP. NO YOU ARE NOT.

But they are looking at my with those big round eyes. Look, they're even crying.

Those aren't tears; it's icing. And no, you are not having a cinnamon roll before running.

WELL, until SOMEONE in this giant world of GU AND SPORTS DRINKS AND BLOCKS COMES UP WITH A CINNAMON ROLL FLAVORED GU, IMAGONNA EAT THE CINNAMON ROLL.

Let's just go upstairs to get dressed. We'll figure out breakfast later.

I sneak upstairs to the darkened room. Mr. Tea is sleeping. I grab a slingshot (bra), socks, but then I'm stuck on what to wear.

Y'see, us Irish people do 3 things really well: drink, fight, and stop traffic with our glowing white legs.

I turn to Mr. Tea, who is sleeping, and ask "Should I go with shorts or tights?"

HRUMPFANA, he replies.

Yes, I agree. Shorts is the way to go. Parents! Divert your children's eyes. This is not something they are ready to see!

Now, top. Do I go with the fleece or do I go with the technical shirt that I got at my last race. Any thought, honey?

Snort, smfizzleharufna.

Yes, true. If I wear my marathon top then when people see me they will think, "Ah look at that dedicated marathon runner out doing her long slow run. What a thing of beauty and joy!" If I stick with the fleece, those same people might call 911 when they see me slogging along."

With the tough decisions out of the way, I'm ready to go run 7 miles.

Yes, 7 miles.

All this for 7? Why 7?

Because it's between 6 and 8.

And now, my follow peeps, with my face covered in aquaphor....it is time to go run!

And they're OFF!!!

Dear Diary,

Today was my FIRST DAY OF ULTRA MARATHON TRAINING!

I am SO Excited!

I got all packed up, and....

and....

I WENT SWIMMING! 3100m.

cuz that's just how I roll.

A few random thoughts I had while swimming:

"I wonder if that guy sitting on the bench is waiting for me to get out of the water to tell me how I awesome I am?"

"Am I moving or am I staying still and the black line is moving?"

"Hey, this is pretty eas.......ack!...cough....took it too much water! Someone help me!"
"Just put your feet down you weanie"

"I can't hold this pace for one more meter!"
"yes, you can."
"No, I can't
"Ok, fine you weanie"

"Hey, you've called yourself a weanie twice today"

"Why do I refer to myself in the 3rd person?"

Tough: "3100m isn't much shorter than Ironman."
Me: "Yea, what's your point?"
Tough:"We should do more. Just for old time's sake"
Legs: "Speak for yourself. I have to carry this fat a$$ on a long run tomorrow. btw--did you ever take off that 5lbs? Cuz it sure don't feel like it"
Me: "You just need to shut up. You wouldn't be complaining had you finished that set of 40 squats."
Legs:"You can't pin this one on me. I was all for until you made me do that stupid Warrior 3 for like 10 minutes. Who pulls that kind of crap?"

"I got CHAMPION in my blood!"

*****
A very important part of going long is being able to maintain your focus. As you can tell, I do this EXCEPTIONALLY well.

Stupid is as Stupid does

Some people have to work really hard at being stupid.

Me? It's as natural as eating.

Several months ago, I was talking to a friend of mine. A friend who regularly runs 100 mile and 50 mile trail races and wins. He was telling me about the Greenland 50k and said that I should put it on my list.

A few weeks later, I told him, "Hey, I'm gonna run the 50k". To which he replied by jumping up and down yelling, "You're gonna love it! This will be a blast!"

Fast forward to today. I'd pretty much decided that I wasn't going to do the 50k. I was going to do other shorter runs instead. I just happen to run into my friend who says, "We're still on for the Greenland race, right?"

errr....uh.....yea...well....

"Come on. You know you can do it. It's all mental"

Me (thinking to myself): Except for that part where the snow and mud and cold and sore muscles come in to play.

Me (saying out loud): Uh yea, sure. I just have to start running...I mean y'know running real distances again. No problem, I have what 6 months to train?

Friend: Well, it's in the Spring, so not really 6 months.

Me: Right right. Yea, I'm in.

******
I've run a marathon with only running 14 miles. Ok, it hurt a bit, but a 50k is only about 7 miles longer than a marathon right?

Up mountains

in mud

and snow

and they have time limits

Give me a week, and I can finish.

No.

I can do this.

I just have to go run.

And put together a training plan.

And buy some new trail shoes.

And start taking "Anti-wimp" pills.

Expect the Unexpected

Many of you blog-followers know that every year for the past 4 years, I've done a local race called the Rattlesnake Tri. This race is in my backyard--as in I can walk to the race. It's one of the best races and most organized in the state. I love it. It consists of an Oly tri on Sat and a Sprint on Sunday. The bling is really cool, but if you do the Crazy back to back (both races), you leave feeling like you were just on Christmas week on Oprah. (I have the rattlesnake belt buckle to prove it).



Why do I bring this up?



Because my favorite RD's have announced TWO longer races. One would be a 100 mile tri (roughly 3/4 the distance of Ironman) and the 2nd would be 150mile tri (just over IM).



For endurance junkies, this is off the charts "cool" because we now have more options. Since 5430 was taken over by Ironman (Check it out), the local community has been split about losing a favored 70.3 to IM and watching registration fees jump from $100 to +$200. Harvest Moon is still around (and another local fave); it's also a 70.3.

However, if you're one of those psycho basterds where 70.3 just isn't long enough, you were out of luck....unless you want to spend your vacation racing instead of relaxing.



TA-DA! Now we have one....er two. Who doesn't love a local race put on by really great people? Best of all, no more spending the money travelling to a 140.6 (branded or not).



Afterall, I would much rather spend my vacation on vacation.

(If you're interested in visiting the website, it's www.150tri.com. It's not up and running yet, but they expect to have it up in Jan 2010.)

Maintenance, Distance, Speed

Doing tri's is bulk work--not in volume (unless you're training for IM or a half)--but in how I have always thought about training.

Training for a tri is swimbikerun.

It's not swim.

bike.

run.

Mentally, I've always grouped the 3 things together. That makes sense, right? Afterall, the key aspect of triathlon is the TRI piece.

My problem has been that I have allowed it to dictate my training. When I was training for Ironman, everything was about going long. When I train for a sprint, everything is about speed.

In 2010, I am taking a completely different approach.

Swimming (my greatest strength), my goal is maintenance. I am not going to try to get faster. Hopefully, I won't get slower. I just want to stay where I am.

For my new love (cycling), I want to build my endurance. I have one century planned this coming year. I'm also considering doing Elephant Rock again. After my great 70.3 bike performance in 2009, I really want to continue to improve in longer distances and in more hilly/mountain areas.

Because the last couple of years have been about going long, in 2010 my running will be short and hard this year. My goal is to improve my running speed. I have many races planned from 5k up to the half marathon in which I'm really going to push my comfort levels. Last year, I pr'd in the 5k. But I haven't PR'd in the half marathon since 2003. I don't think a PR is possible in 2010 (given my most recent half times), but I will get faster this year.

oops....this post will have to be continued later....

The Return

At the end of every season, I like to take off a couple of months. It's downtime from "training" and more like exercising for the sheer fun.

This year, in particular, doing any type of exercise was difficult. After one of those "out of the mouths of babes" type of moments I realized what happened.

My son informed me that I'm a "giver". He says, "you give and give and give. You never take. Today you need to take. We want you to."

Well, looking back over the past 2 months, I realized that I gave too much. After giving too much, all that was left was this empty shell. Finding time to exercise felt impossible; finding the ENERGY to exercise felt impossible.

That's when it hit me. We all have times in our lives where we need to take care of other people or we have emergencies that need our attention. But, we can't live like that and doing so for an extended period of time turns us into self-sacrificing empty shells.

The past is the past. It's time to move forward.

Or in my case, it's time to make me the priority again.

This morning, instead of working and doing things around the house, I dropped the boys at school and did what I used to do: head to the gym. I ran on the treadmill. I lifted weights. Tomorrow, I'm swimming for the first time in almost 2 months. Swim--that is if I don't sink.

I can handle losing a little fitness, but I won't lose myself again.

It's over

Several days after being taken off the ventilator and dialysis, Uncle Joe passed away this morning.

Thanks for all your kind comments and notes. I really appreciate them.