NJ Training

Training Trip

2011-12-26T06:40:00.000-05:00

The holidays have come and gone (already?!) and now it's time to trudge along until better things come i.e.. spring and warmer weather. These past few weeks have been a complete blur filled to the brim at every possible moment. Mostly with work and swimming, but some fun thrown in between to keep me sane. The holidays are always a rush and I hardly felt the holiday spirit, especially since it's been unseasonably warm. We got a bizarre snow storm in October and this month has been high 40s low 50s everyday. I've been so busy that I finally understand when people say they just 'can't fit a workout in'. I suppose I could wake up in the early morning to do work before school, but I just don't want to, so I haven't been. It's my time off dammit and I'm going to squeeze it for all it's worth. I literally haven't done a single workout since Saturday the 17th, and I've only run 2 times since the marathon (on November 20th). I feel fat and out of shape. Especially fat now after Christmas. Ugh. A few pictures from the last couple weeks:

Central Park, NYC

Rockefeller Christmas Tree

Sisters in Philadelphia

Baking brownies with my niece on a mid-week visit with the best news of the year: remission

Chocolate dipped pretzels with another little helper

Christmas stockings!

Family tree

I often read blog posts about some of my favorite athletes going on 'training trips' to hone their skills, acclimate to heat, or just swimbikeruneatrepeat for a few days straight. I've always been envious of them (although I guess you could say my month in California this summer was like a long training trip), but now it's my turn! Well more like 24 high school swimmers' turns, I just get to coach them along and pretend like I'm training too.

To be honest, I don't start my training up again until January 2nd (eep), but I'm going to use this opportunity of warmer weather and long course practices to ease my way back into training. The workout clothes I've packed are my suit, 3 pairs of bottoms to run in, and 4 tops for workouts. Plus my Garmin. That poor thing has had hardly any action since November! I'm also going to use the time to get tan. And possibly get a jump start on my grading. Or just finish the first two books of Hunger Games, and of course coach the kids.

Minus the 3:10am wake up call this morning to meet at the school and get the bus to the airport, this is going to be a really fun trip. We've got such a great group of kids and I can't wait to be away for a few days.

I wrote this post on Sunday night so I'm already on the ride over to get to sunny AZ. As soon as we land, it's luggage, vans, hotel to drop belongings, and pool time!

Hope everyone is having a nice holiday season.

Increasing Strength

2011-12-05T06:18:00.000-05:00

While taking my hiatus from the normal "Type-A-can't-skip-a-workout" training schedule I'm finding that I'm gravitating more towards strength training. Lifting was something that I grew fond of during my college spring hockey seasons. We had a regimented lifting schedule we had to follow and I remember really liking it, although I didn't enjoy the plyometrics we did along with it that much. That all ended once college was over. I couldn't see the point in spending money on a gym membership, especially when I hardly had two pennies to rub together.

Once I started nannying, I joined a gym and started lifting on my own along with other cardio to stay in shape. Once triathlon came in my life I still lifted as much as I could when I could fit it in with the SBR.

Once I 'hired' Chris to be my coach, all strength training as I knew it went out the window. Not only was there no time for it, Chris recommended I stop all together. It's true that I saw a lot more muscle definition in my legs and parts of my back than I ever did before, but my arms left MUCH to be desired. I felt like the swim would take care of that, but so far no good.

I've been wanting sculpted/chiseled/toned arms for quite some time now, and though I'm not sure I'll be able to get what I'm looking for in the next four weeks, I'm going to try to keep it in my schedule even when I kick it into high gear. I did gymnastics as a youngster and remember having some pretty great arms and would love to get back to that. I'm also concentrating mucho on my abs/core.

So far I've been lifting at my gym (solo and with a good friend who is deceptively jacked but still quite slim and petite <- jealous!), and also at our 'weight room' at school. The only annoying thing about being at school is being the only female in the room. So far I haven't had a problem with a lot of people being in there, but sometimes it's just awkward.

Old school weight room, which is actually pretty new. Funny how that works.

Saturday I got in my first swim since probably sometime in early October. It felt really good to be in the water and not worry about my base time or pace. I just swam hard when I wanted to and with fins when I felt like it. I also strapped on paddles for the first time ever which worked my arms really well.

Yesterday marked 2 weeks since Philadelphia so I'm primed and ready to run. I'm only to do Z-2 activities for this month off, and I haven't really had any huge desire to run so I'll just do it when I want. Or when my pants and shirts necessitate the need. We're almost there!

The other good thing about my lack of a training schedule is the fact that I can dedicate my time to all the other important things in my life, like sleeping, and work (coaching & school). This week especially is going to be really demanding on the swim front. Early practice on Tuesday, tri-meet in PA on Tuesday which we have to leave school early for, then a parent meeting for our swim team trip, and an evening meet at a local college on Thursday night. 7pm meet start = too late bed time.

ALWAYS could use more time to grade.

Seriously, Friday can not come soon enough.

Philadelphia Marathon RR

2011-11-30T20:00:00.000-05:00

There's so much, and yet so little that I could say about this race on the 20th.

After I busted my butt all summer long and failed to show up on race day in September, I vowed to come back with a vengeance in Philadelphia and kick its butt. Then, something happened. My body was tired, my legs hurt constantly, I had no motivation for anything and just kept going through the motions of the workouts. I was mentally and physically in a bad place and before the end of October even came I had already given up on myself and any shot for even getting close to my NYC time last year (4:02:02). When I signed up for Philadelphia I eagerly put in a 3:58 prediction time. I didn't think I'd get under 4 if my life depended on it. I knew I had reached a low place when I gave up hope, but I knew I had to do it. I'd finish, and then I'd have a break before IM training began. Sometimes the anxiety of IM training would kick in, but I'd quell it by thinking about all the school work I had to do (ugh).

It never really got better, but my runs started getting faster with less effort so I knew that I was somehow 'recovering'. I did all I could to 'get better' and get back to where I was last year. So much that I started eating meat again in the beginning of October because I was eating it last year while I was marathon training. I'm lazy by nature and I knew I just wasn't getting enough protein on my diet of yogurt, fruit, veggies, nuts, and salads (plus the occasional cookiebrownieHalloweencandy spaz attack when I got INTENSE cravings and couldn't shut them up). I had thought that since I was getting faster, with less pain I would feel better, but I still was feeling a bit empty. It made me feel pathetic.

It wasn't until I finally decided to email Chris to tell him about my feelings that I started to feel better. I was scared to email him sooner for fear that he would scale back on my training and I'd be even that much more unprepared to run a marathon. I know, I'm so backwards. When he got back to me he told me to take the rest of November and all of December for unstructured training. I can do what I want, when I want, and for however long I want to do it. I was excited, but also extremely nervous at the same time. I haven't been on my own like this in a while! What would I do?!

Anyway, back to the race. That little bit of background just sets up how sweet this marathon was for me, and how I'm still a bit bewildered about the whole experience.

It was my boyfriends first marathon, and since my sister lives in Philadelphia we went up on Saturday morning after a nice jog. Nothing too crazy or out of the ordinary. Train -> Expo -> Lunch -> sister's digs. For dinner we stuck with what we know -- Whole Foods! Since, again, I had thrown my race out the window, I went to town on some carbs. Had a nice salad, and split a large hunk of cornbread and a piece of apple cake (heaven) plus granola for dessert. I also painted my nails while we were watching 'The Big Lebowski' (awesomely weird movie).

Thinking about NYC the year before and how cold it was on race morning prompted me to force my bf to take us to get some throwaway clothes. Little did I know it was going to be 48 degrees race morning. Oh well, we were both toasty warm when the day began.

Wore the black shirt.

He really misses his house coat.

Though my man is [much] faster than I am, he ran with me for the race and came down from his corral to join me. I saw a close friend of my step Dad's at the race start which was nice. I love seeing people I know! We started, and though my legs felt great, I was scared that we were going way to fast. I always psych myself out of going fast, but I knew this wasn't a 9 mile run through the park, I needed to keep myself under control so I could keep it together when the going got tough.

Mile 1: 8:48
Mile 2: 8:46
Mile 3: 8:46

I remember telling my man that we were going too fast, but my legs still felt great and neither one of us was really slowing down so I just kept at it.

Mile 4: 9:05
Mile 5: 8:55
Mile 6: 8:43

Uhh, I don't know what happened at 6, but I did take a Gu then! I was happy with mile 4, but at the same time started getting competitive with myself wondering why I was up in the 9:00s. Crazy, I know.

Mile 7: 8:38
Mile 8: 9:03
Mile 9: 8:47

These three miles were like the Goldilocks miles : too fast, too slow, and juuuuust right.

Mile 10: 8:51
Mile 11: 8:38
Mile 12: 8:44

Nothing too exciting here. Lots of people, lots of running. Gu #2 at mile 12.

Mile 13: 8:52
Mile 14: 8:44
Mile 15: 8:59

It was around here that I wondered if my wheels would fall off. I wanted to keep my miles under 9 (my how the mind turns around!) and was hardly making it, or so that's what I was telling myself.

Mile 16: 8:50
Mile 17: 8:53
Mile 18: 9:05

Again, feeling like I was losing my steam. We were also at a part in the course where we saw a lot of the runners on the back end and around mile 22+. We also saw the lead runners. It was nice cheering for them, but tough knowing there was a lot of race left for us. Gu #3 at mile 18.

Mile 19: 8:58
Mile 20: 9:02
Mile 21: 8:46

I kept wondering where the turn around would be to get back towards the Art Museum where all the other people were going. When's it going to be my turn! Manayunk was fun, but I absolutely refused beer from the beer table. My race was going well and I didn't want anything to foil it. Manayunk also had some 'hills' but I just kept push-push-pushin.

Mile 22: 8:40
Mile 23: 8:46
Mile 24: 8:50

Took my last gu at mile 24 and was happy to be on the path where I was so envious of people before. I recognized all of it (no, not from just being on there before) from previous triathlons I'd done in the area which made it a bit easier knowing how much I had left. I was trying at this point to coach my bf in (and accidentally yelled at him) which helped take the focus off of my achy knees.

Mile 25: 8:55
Mile 26: 8:36
Mile 26.2: 3:41 (erm..my Garmin has me at 26.49 miles, I believe it)

Just about to cross the finish....and yes, sometimes I bring back the good 'ol heel strike

I really do not believe that I could have given any more than I did in those last few miles, actually in the entire race. I crossed the finish line in 3:53:25 and was in major disbelief. Did I really do it? How in the world was it possible? I'm not a 8:xx runner ever! But I had seen it all unfold on my Garmin and I knew it had to be true. I still honestly don't know how I did it, and I don't know at which point in the race I realized I'd crush my goal (maybe not until mile 25) but I did it and I am so happy. Now, I'm scared that I'll never be able to do it again!

After the race, we hobbled the 1.5 miles back to my sisters place. What took us 20 minutes to walk in the morning took us an hour to walk after. It was pretty pathetic. I was also majorly bonked as I was loopy and crazy all the way back. We went to Whole Foods after we took worlds most MISERABLE ice bath and got lots of food. I ordered a sandwich and was just so hungry that I had to also raid the hot bar. I came out with two complete lunches, started on my food in the hot bar and was stuffed after I finished that. I saved my sandwich and not 20 minutes later was famished again. The train station came in at a perfect time!

Not only is this wildly uncomfortable, there's also about 21 pounds of ice.

Feed me!

Wait....I'm still hungry!

One thing I'm amazed about with this race is the fact that I never hit a wall. I distinctly remember hitting it last year in NY and just wanted to be done. This year it wasn't that way, sure my legs were achy, but I was feeling good mentally all the way through.

Recovery x2

Monday was a bit achy at school for me, but by Tuesday I was feeling good. Due to my completely open schedule of training, I actually took off 3 WHOLE DAYS. I didn't want to make time to workout, so I didn't. I focused on sleeping, eating, working, and swim practice. It was, and has been, really nice. Thursday (Thanksgiving) I finally got up and went lifting. I've missed strength training SO much since getting into triathlons and it felt so good to feel the burn of DOMS on Friday (and Saturday....and Sunday, man am I weak!). I plan on doing a lot more strength training and not as much cardio during my month of choice. NJ was having some spring like weather this weekend too so after a solo ride on Friday, I met Heather for a nice ride through town on Sunday. After a whole lot of drama with my bike and bike rack, we were off, and it was great!

Anyway, now we're all caught up with the life of me. Tomorrow is morning swim practice followed by a far-away meet. It's going to be one of those days where I'm on my feet from 5:30am to about 7:30pm. THANK GOODNESS it's almost Friday.

Running Scared

2011-11-14T20:52:00.001-05:00

As the year is moving along (holy crap, swimming season starts tomorrow!) I'm incorporating more and more early morning runs back into the routine. For anyone who's been reading for a while it's no secret that I often wake up at 4:30am to hit the streets (or snap into the pedals) to get my workouts in while the motivation is still there.

At any rate, I've never been fearful of anything more than a car cutting it a little close on the shoulder or a deer stampeding me in the dark of the morning, but ever since Halloween I've been running to a different tune. I am naturally a scared person. I scare easily, I don't like scary movies, and I think of the worst scenarios in my head when I'm alone. I know this about myself though and won't watch scary movies for that reason (which is why I've been able to run like a naive 8 year old through the dark streets in the early morning). Unfortunately for me, I caught a few too many scenes of the movie Halloween while at my boyfriend's abode. Although that movie is about a crazy psychopath who evidently 'never runs' after his victims, I still can't help but be scared now EVERY TIME I go out for a run in the morning. It's now been at least 3 weeks of running and I can't stop it. Things I think of when I run and am scared:
"OMG, that car sitting in that parking lot has it's lights on and they're totally following me, I'm turning my headlamp off (nerd alert) so they can't follow me and kill me and leave me dead in a ditch." - This internal dialogue actually happened.
"That's totally not a scarecrow, it's Mike Myers himself and once I run past he's going to come get me, and leave me dead in a ditch." - Again, another truism
"I think I hear feet behind me."
"That man is walking his dog, but it's a ploy because he's probably been stalking my workout schedule to see when/where I run in the morning." - Truth. I very much feel like there could be the possibility of someone stalking me and figuring out my schedule before they come in for the kill.
"There is someone waiting for me in that car and is going to open the door as I run by to render me useless and then will drag me away to leave me in a ditch." - Seriously, there was a creepy car pulled over on the road at 5am. I ran to the other side of the road on my loop back.
"Someone is going to pop out of that field hockey goal/dark scary shed at the back of the track and kill me." - Truth. I now spend every track workout darting my gaze from place to place around the back of the school because I'm so paranoid about what's 'lurking' in the shadows. Could be why my track workouts have seemed to go by so fast.

To answer a couple questions: No there aren't many ditches in my town. And I have no idea why I have a sick fascination with them.

I realize I have serious problems, but I'm just hoping that soon enough I'll be back to my regular old self with running in the morning, because it's only getting darker longer now and I can't change my schedule because I'm scared of the dark!

I'm still gearing up for the Philadelphia marathon (5 days) and am getting really excited, but also really excited for it to be done and over. It's a weird feeling, but I suppose that's the nature of the beast of losing motivation. I've talked with my coach about it and we've devised a plan for a good part of winter which I'm excited/anxious for, but it's all for the best. More details later.

Next item on the agenda is a question of what to wear for marathon Sunday. I've got two choices of shirts (I bought the same personalized shirt in two different colors) and will probably pair with Lulu run shorts, compression socks, and arm warmers. Typical go-to November running gear. I need help on the shirt front of the outfit. The back says "Mo" with the number 64 (I'll let ya'll in on my numbers obsession later). The grey is a bit darker than I thought so it might be hard to read, but at the same time both of them say "Yasi" a bit smaller than I had hoped.

A few pictures to round out the post.

Can you guess what the ladies and 1 gentleman from the Social Studies department decided to dress up as for Halloween? Hint: It's from the '80s.

I took my boyfriend up to West Dover, Vermont this past weekend for his birthday and we had a grand old time. I couldn't help but think of all the awesome biking that could be done out there too. It really made me think of and miss California and the GWL I did this summer. We also ran on some tough mountain biking trails one day and it felt great as we were grazed with some snow along the way. All in all, a great weekend.

Holy fun downhill!

9am is not a good look for me.

On that note, it's time for bed. I've got an early morning run in which I'll probably replay ALL of the above scenarios out in my head since I thought about every possible one now. Swim season starts tomorrow, along with my field hockey end-of-season banquet at night. A busy week leading into marathon Sunday that's for sure, but after the M, it's only a 2.5 day workweek and then it's time to show thanks.

Blustery Day

2011-10-20T21:25:00.001-04:00

Is it just me, or has this happened to other people when they run on super windy days?

Obviously I did my track workout this morning (at an ungodly hour, however it's always nice to see there are other crazies out there! ahem wwpjavajoggers) and I certainly didn't start in the woods behind the track. Although, if I wasn't able to break into the school (I was able to, and did) I had contemplated running back into those woods to go to the bathroom. Maybe my Garmin was just reading my mind.

Anyway, I'm going to make this quick and speedy, the opposite of how my running ability is compared to last year. This morning I spent the entire track workout just trying to get it done/over with/out of the way. I had internal conversation with myself about how incredibly burned out I am and how I just want a break from triathlon and running. How did this happen? I'm not going to get crazy into it now, but I'll come back to it later. Let's just say that my internal dialogue was not pretty.

The past two weeks have just been running and more running with some swim + easy spin thrown in. My legs feel awful. I finally gave them a little whirlpool love at school after my second run today and they felt instantly better. At least for now. My mind? Obviously not so fresh.

Oh, I raced the other weekend. I did this race last year and had a grand time and couldn't wait to come back and do it this year. It was a perfect beach day and I had a wonderful time running with a coworker (who is doing her first IM in Arizona) and her two friends. I didn't go faster than I did last year, but I wasn't bummed because I was keeping my HR totally in check and having fun conversing with the ladies. My official time and distance is off because I ran back a couple times to keep running with Colleen and Lisa which tacked on another 1/4 mile to the 18. 2:57:45 for a pace of 9:43. All in all it was a great day. I got to see my Grandparents after the race and chat with them before 'recovering' in the perfect ocean water and heading home. For any locals, the LBI 18 miler is a GREAT fall race and perfect for marathon training.

Lisa, Carmen, me, and Colleen

Pre-race

Love the beach

Totally soaked..and totally need to work on my arms..yuck

I might not be able to win a race or PR, but I sure can hold my tan

School has been crazy as usual. It's now rare for me to be home for the night before 7pm. It's a lot to be there for so long and doing so much work, but I'm enjoying it and happy to be doing it. It's homecoming this week at school which makes it all the better because I don't even have to put any thought into what I'll be wearing. Monday = prep day, Tuesday = 'superfan' day, Wednesday = pajama day, Thursday = neon day, and Friday = class colors day (I teach mostly freshmen, so jeans and a white tee it is!). It's been a nice break from the normal routine and I enjoy showing my school spirit, especially since this is the school I attended when I was a young buck.

I looked at a calendar the other day and realized that it's now less than a month until swim season starts (November 14th). I don't know what I'm going to do. I'm already stressing about the sleep, early practices, late meets, and cold, bitter weather. BUT, there is a silver lining! I get to go to Arizona with the team in December for a training trip! Warm weather, here I come!

On that note, it's time to do more work. That's right, I left school so I could come home and work more. The piles and piles of papers and tests to grade never ends!

Toughman Race Report

2011-10-04T21:00:00.000-04:00

At last the long awaited (maybe) race report. Truth be told I got my pictures a bit over a week ago, but work is always more important than blogging so this had to take the back seat. Anyway, better late than never is the motto I'm rolling with.

Week leading up to the race was the first week of school and my birthday. Throw in new start to the school year, taper, and birthday and my hormones were flying! Not a very good combination for me. I didn't get as much sleep as I try to get in the week leading up to the race, but there's not much else you can do! Pre-race weekend was uneventful really. I picked up a friend I had met via FB (hey Ray!) to take to the race as he was doing his first HIM. It was nice chatting about racing and life all the way to NY. Saturday night was just easy dinner and getting to bed at a good time.

I almost forgot how much I had fallen in love with this race when I first did it in 2010. It is so completely organized with things thought out in such careful detail. They even put a happy birthday sticker on my packet! Everyone's bike rack was labeled with a sticker and their name, #, and a good luck message. I mean, c'mon. What's not to love?

Like a celebrity

Happy Birthday to me!

Pre-race set up..representing high school & college hockey

Such a pouty brat

SWIM: 37:29
I decided to wear my wetsuit, because g-damnit I'm going to get my moneys' worth out of that thing! Plus it had been raining FOREVER so the water was not as warm as it would have been. I had hoped that I would break 36 minutes because Chris had me swimming as though there was a drought and soon there wouldn't be enough water in the world to swim in. I really thought I had it in me to get it, but I didn't make the cut. I was IMMEDIATELY disappointed when I looked at my watch and saw 36:xx upon exiting the water.

First red nugget on the left..at least I beat some suckers

T-1: 2:56
I totally dilly-dallied in here and took my sweet ol' time wiping off the hay on my feet and putting more water in my water bottle. Where's the sense of urgency? Oh, you know, just deflated with my dreams of breaking 36.

BIKE: 3:16:56

Oh, well here comes disappointment #2 of the race! I hate to sound so Debbie Downer about all of this, but if I'm not going to be hard on myself, then who will? Another goal I had had was to break my bike split last year (3:13:17). Chris also had me biking like a madwoman (10+ hours/week) and I stupidly thought I was at a good place. Last year I biked this course like it was nothing with a super low HR and a smile on my face. This year my HR was VERY high and I was struggling up the hills. WTH legs & heart? I thought you were conditioned! Again, disappointment took over and I just wanted to kill it on the run but was unsure of what I'd be able to do. I knew I had a lot of running behind me in training, but I also thought I had secured that in the swim + bike.

T-2: 1:42
Better.

RUN: 2:04:10
Ugh. This run was pretty tough. The thing with doing a tough race more than once is that you know what to expect and how hard it is. Last year I went into it blind and ignorant now knowing what to expect, this year I knew what was coming and how much it would hurt. And hurt it did! The run was tough, and I had a hard time running alone. There was no one around me who was going the same pace so I had to grin and bear it and miss my running buddy Kevin from last year. However, as luck would have it just as I was surely looking like I was on my death bed a nice man came up behind me and picked me up as his running buddy (do I have 'Damsel in Distress' tattooed on my back?). I ended up running the last 3 miles WAY faster than the middle ones. The last two were under 9. It was hard, but I was proud of myself for pounding it out and sticking to it. I'm also again very grateful for the nice man who pulled me along. (sorry for breathing so loudly)

I'll run as fast as I can if it means I'm done!

In the end I finished at 6:03:11 and 4th in my AG. I realize that I sound really angry and disappointed about this race and there's no tip-toeing around it. Simply put, I am. I talked with Chris about it and he made me feel better, but I still don't understand. I put in so much effort and time this year to kick this HIM in the butt, and it ended up kicking mine, hard. Part of me felt like all the hill training I did in San Diego this summer was for nothing. Not to mention the 3 18+ hour weeks I put in in August. I mean, I went on vacation for a major build week during training last August (2010) for this race and did so much better! Who knows, maybe it's overtraining. Or maybe the stress of the week just got to me and I couldn't perform, but I do know that I will be tackling this distance over and over again to avenge. It pains me though that I won't be there next year since I'll have just finished my first IM only a month prior. But, that's neither here nor there.

Post-race bloated preg stomach

Since the race I did some major recovery time then build to start marathon training. I'm doing the Philadelphia marathon in November and I'm excited for it, but I can't help but be scared that all of this training will be for naught like it was for this race. I was in PEAK shape and fitness last year after this race, and now I'm just not feeling it. I have/had a goal time for Philadelphia, but part of me just wants to throw it out the window and say 'screw it, it won't happen', but the competitor in me won't let me forget. We'll see how it all plays out. This last picture was just taken this evening and is my constant reminder of the race and how I felt after. It means I need to stay focused, be smart, and kick butt to avoid the post-race unhappiness.

Wait, really?

2011-09-22T20:24:00.001-04:00

I've just received my pictures from the race from my dear boyfriend today, so hopefully I'll get that race recap up soon, but in the meantime I thought I'd show you my Venn diagram on how the New England area is seemingly more and more like just plain England.

Don't be jealous of my mad PowerPoint and diagraming skills.

Uhh, what the heck.

I have two bike rides + one run this weekend and I'll be damned if I spend anymore precious time on that damn trainer. However, I did get in a nice sunny & humid ride this afternoon. I drove home, then rode my bike like a mad woman, came back to school for a swim meeting, field hockey practice, and lesson planning, then rode back home like a mad woman because I was hungry. Worked like a charm.

I was supposed to go trail horseback riding with my sister on Saturday as her birthday present (ahem, from April, whoops!), but I'd rather not slosh around Hunterdon County on the back of a horse in rain. Yes, I'll ride in the rain, but not on a horse.

Oh well, tomorrow will be a happy [wet] Friday.

26

2011-09-15T18:08:00.001-04:00

School has started and life has been running pretty smoothly. I've got a whole new batch of kids and a brand spakin' new [to me] class I'm teaching this year. It's loads of fun and is so far keeping me on my toes. Who knew that the difference between freshmen and sophomores is so vast?

The first week of school also marked my 26th birthday. I find that my birthday seems to just come and go (I guess that's just aging) especially with the first day of school always so close to it. It doesn't help too that I had my biggest race since my disaster in May to look forward to that weekend. Race day was Sunday the 11th and my birthday was on Thursday the 8th. What else says "Happy 26th" other than waking up early to hit the bike and going to sleep without any cake (who am I kidding? Of course I went to get some froyo)?

I don't have much to report on the birthday and school front besides what I've already said, but I do have a ton to report on my race. Too many words to write out right now, and I also have no pictures yet from my support crew (of one). If you think I'm making up a bunch of excuses to not write my race report yet, you're right. I've got some reading to do on world history, and a video to watch on the settlement of Jamestown and Plymouth (for the second time in two nights). Hopefully I'll get around to it this weekend between froyo, a bike ride, a little 1st birthday party, then a race for the bf in Philadelphia for the RnR 13.1. Maybe since I have a rest day on Sunday I'll spend the time I would have spent sweating and instead write? We shall see.

Enjoy Friday! And the last few days of summer....how depressing

Squeezing it all in

2011-08-31T20:14:00.001-04:00

Since I last left off (ahem..almost a month ago), I've been doing my best at cramming in everything I can before school starts again. WHAT!?!?!?! Tomorrow is September? How in the heck did that even happen.

I came home from Sunny Delight (aka San Diego) and told myself I'd fit in everything I wanted out of my summer in the 4 weeks I had left. I'm here to say that I got almost everything in that I wanted! And I still sort-of have some weekends left to at least go canoeing in Princeton. My time has been spent with family, loved ones, field hockey kiddos, training, training, and more training. No seriously, I think Chris started my Ironman training just a little too early. Oh yea, I forgot to mention. I'm doing an Ironman next August. Trying not to think about that for a while so I don't freak myself out for the next 11 months. The first 3 weeks of August were build at 18+ hours of training. I really have no idea yet how I'm going to fit Ironman training into the schedule during the winter/spring with work & coaching. I'm just going to ignore that until later.

As I was living it up the first couple weeks of summer, mother nature decided to come in and literally rain on my parade. I spent a lot more time on my trainer than I'd ever like to when the weather is nice and the sun is shining, but once I cried about it (no seriously, I cried because I felt like my summer was being robbed from me), I sort of got over it. Field hockey has been going swimmingly and I've enjoyed being around those girls again, and the coaching staff.

Along with all the swimbikerunning, I've gone on a few dates (omg I wore makeup and dresses!), did a race, did some indoor rock climbing, spent precious time with my cutie-pie niece, froyo-ed (yes, it's a verb), saw the doctor, celebrated my Dad's 50th birthday, ate corn on the cob at a Crab Feast, painted some pottery, made a cement stepping stone with my niece and sister (pictures will come when I steal them from my Dad), finished an ENTIRE jar of almond butter in ONE sitting with help from my manly man (seriously, problems with that), revamped and redecorated my bedroom, went on my first ferris wheel ride at a fair, partially painted a shirt, played with some babies, played some hockey, enjoyed lots of sunshine, survived an 'earthquake' and Hurricane Irene (thanks for the major loss of power) and went back to school. School started for me on Tuesday (thank you Irene for canceling it on Monday). I missed new teacher orientation last year since I was hired so late in the year so I had to do it this year. A little bit of a snore since I know it all already, but what can you do? Of COURSE the weather has been perfect and beautiful all week and looks like it's going to be miserable on my last weekend of freedom, but what can you do? Grin and bear it I suppose and soak up summer some more in 2012.

Date night..swoon

Brigantine Triathlon

Youngin's partyin hard

Crab Feast time

I went to throw my nectarine pit in the woods behind me and fell backwards. So stupid.

Miss little Artist

Painting pigs

Froyooooo!! Micheila loved it

Just look at that guilt

Just a wee bit anxious for the ferris wheel

Cleaning out my room and finding that I enjoyed running at a young age, equipped with a very unique running style

Date night!

Back yard birthday partying

In preparing for hurricane Irene I switched around my entire training schedule so I wouldn't have to sit on the trainer or run outside in terrible unpredictable weather. In typical Yasi fashion, I messed up fixing a flat on Saturday morning so I ended up sitting on my trainer anyway for 3 hours. Fun. Then I killed it on my run, and met the hockey girls at school for the last 30 minutes of a surprise yoga class. I needed it. Then I ruined whatever good I had going for me and did my swim that was supposed to be on Friday, then I moved to Sunday, then I did on Saturday because I didn't want to venture outside during the storm. Are you still with me? I ended up cramming in 9 hours/3 days of training in 2 days. Welcome to the introduction of Ironman training Yasi!

All in all we didn't get hit too badly with Irene, but the aftermath was a mess. I decided I'd rather stay at my boyfriend's instead of with my own family for several reasons and stayed from Saturday afternoon until Monday morning. There was a bunch of down trees in his neighborhood including a picture of a tree that took off part of a house and landed on a car. It was sad. I came home and our neighborhood was just a bit messy. Lots of branches and leaves everywhere. We had a fallen tree in our front yard too, but it was only a baby (tear) so it didn't do any damage. The only damage it did was to my heart. We gave our mom that tree in the spring for her birthday. It was a dogwood, her (any my) favorite! So sad. We were without power for a good bit which was unfortunate, but it was nice to just lounge by the light of the day and read leisurely. Then it was annoying when I wanted yogurt and it was lukewarm. But, if that's the only thing I have to deal with, then I'll take it.

Preparing for the hurricane

No power? Just paint cool shirts!

Taking baby for a walk to check out hurricane damage

That's the top of a tree..in the front yard

Terrible hurricane damage

Out for a walk

Hurricane = no power = romantic dinner for 7

This is entirely too long, even with all of these pictures. Plus, I need to go to bed because tomorrow is another day of 'school'. First day with kids is next Tuesday. Ready or not, here they come!

Photo overload

2011-08-04T07:25:00.002-04:00

Ahhh, life back on the east coast. I've been home now since Friday and have been meaning to update since....a while..

Since I can't get my damn act together I'm just going to recap the rest of my time in California while I simultaneously keep up to date with what's going on now. I'm a great multi-tasker like that.

Last I left off I was writing about the riding, running, froyo, good food, and sharks. The rest of that week was pretty much the same except that I flitted to the airport on Thursday afternoon to visit an old friend up on Northern CA. Ray is a good friend I met while studying abroad in Italy during college and I haven't seen him since May '07. It was so wonderful to see him and catch up, and see a different side of California.

UCSC Campus.

Redwoods 'hike'.

Me & Raype.

Upon returning to SD on Saturday, I met my boyfriend in the airport so he could experience CA in all its glory as well. I'm going to get a bit gushy for .02 seconds when I say it was SO nice to see him. Anyway, we spent Saturday going to get my packet, getting groceries, going for a quick run, and heading out to dinner with Whitney & Michele. Oh, we also got froyo. I mean, that kind of goes without saying now.

Sunday was race day in Solana Beach (recap later), which was really fun. I was happy bf was there so that he could take over my Dad's position of race day photographer, even if there were many empty shots, or shoulders of friends. No big.

Mmmm, fruit juice.

Itty bitty avocado.

Monday through Thursday were spend exploring, eating, froyoing, and enjoying life. We went on an awesome hike with Whitney, Michele, and her boyfriend Jim which left us with breathtaking views and a nice foot soak in a little stream/waterfall. We did some kayaking in La Jolla, standup paddleboarding in Carlsbad, sunset watching in Solana Beach, and walking. Thanks to Adam letting us use his car we were able to see a lot more than we thought we would.

Hiking group.

Whitney & Michele.

SILF.

Drinks with Sydney & bf.

Overall, I had an amazing time in San Diego and can't thank my friends enough for taking care of me while I was out there. Whitney took me into her humble abode and I just had so much fun with her. It was great to see Sydney and her family so much and reconnect with her. Adam was awesome in making sure I was getting out and helping me get around, not to mention again letting me use his car my last week there. Being a part of Breakaway in person was also fantastic. I did a bunch of workouts on my own (like Thursday track, and only made it to one Sunday group workout), but I was there for every Tuesday spin class and felt such a sense of community when I raced on Sunday.

Since being home I've been trying to catch up with everything. Soaking in the hot east coast sun, driving with my windows down and music up, spending time with family, and getting out. It's been really great actually. I had froyo the night we got in (Friday) and have had it the past 3 days in a row. I think I'll try to resist today. I've also been having a TON of smoothies since I got home, and not of the green variety that I typically have, but fruit smoothies. They are the bomb diggity and most quenching thing I can think of in this heat & humidity.

Smoothies all around.

Gettin' it.

Last but not least, I cannot go without posting this picture. If I EVER have any kind of shop I will get chairs and I will put this sticker on them. Maybe I should start with my classrooms this year. We did in fact see this in a froyo place in El Cajon. No lie.

Today will be my first track session since being home so I got up early to hit it. Every run I've been on since I've been home has been in my sports bra and shorts since it's so hot, so here's hoping I'm up early enough to miss any high schoolers who might be out on the fields. Then I've also got a bike ride, but I've got no bike to ride outdoors on yet. It was supposed to be ready from being built on Tuesday, latest Wednesday (although on the phone they told me Monday) and now I'm grumbling since it's Thursday and I still have no bike with a race on Saturday. Crap. Ah, well, there's always the bike in my trainer which has two flats! Riding my trainer these past 3 days has been super fun.

Shenanigans

2011-07-17T20:30:00.008-04:00

My summer so far has really been a hell of a go. I've had such a blast exploring new places, meeting new friends, and pushing outside of my comfort zones. It also helps that I've had froyo almost consistently.

In my mind I always pictured San Diego and hills as separate entities, where SD would be beachy, colorful, young, and full of palm trees and the hills would lay on the outskirts of the city. Instead, the hills are EVERYWHERE. There is no escaping them. Getting used to riding, walking, and running hills constantly has been tough, but it's what I need in order to be a better athlete.

At first I hated the hills, Elfin Forest and Los Penasquitos trail kicked my trash the first weekend I was here. I could hardly stand on Sunday night of that first weekend (never mind the 2 cups of wine), but now I'm doing everything in my power to eat up those hills.

Saturday I had a 60 minute run in which I ran through the streets surrounding Whitney's and found every.damn.hill in a 2 mile radius. Kicked I was. Then on Sunday I did a popular hilly route here called Great Western Loop, which was great, but I'm not so sure it was very western? It was in fact a loop. The first 20 miles are up, up, up with what seems like constant climbing, and totals at just under 4,000 feet of elevation gain. It is major tough, especially for this chic who comes from pancake flat NJ. Fortunately, the views are amazing, so while I'm grunting out in pain I can look to the hills and beautiful scenery on my left and right to try to take my mind off of the pain. It only works for about 2 seconds though.

Whit & I as jersey twins

MmmHmm

On Friday I had my last swim at the cove. Part of me was happy because I'm not a huge fan of swimming in open water like that and coming out with pruney, salty lips, but on the other hand it was sad knowing that my trip is nearing a close.

For the first time (in the other 2 times I swam the cove) the water was SO clear and so blue the visibility was ridiculous, again coming from someone who swims in the Atlantic. The water was also teeming with TONS and tons of fish. At one point I started to get really anxious feeling and wasn't too keen on the high visibility, I started thinking a lot about sharks and couldn't shake the thoughts. As the group was nearing the 1/2 mile buoy we noticed a lifeguard moving about with us on his jetski. I thought it was odd that he stayed so close, but didn't really think anything of it until Saturday when Whitney sent me this picture AFTER she went swimming in the cove for the second time (Friday & Saturday).

In case you can't read that it says: "Attention Swimmers & Divers - A possible white shark spotting occurred approx. 300 meters from the cove...." To say that I've been creeped out since seeing that picture is an understatement. I try not to think about what could have happened, and the fact that I might have been swimming with a Great White, but it's still scary! And to think that I had been thinking about sharks while I was swimming on Friday. How erie.

Besides training though I am doing other stuff too. I'm trying to explore CA cuisine and activities as much as I can. Last Wednesday Whitney, Sydney, and I went stand-up paddleboarding which was SO fun, and actually very easy. You can bet your bottom dollar that I'll be going one more time before I leave. Yesterday I traipsed around the Solana Beach farmer's market (after the GWL) and had a great time smelling, looking, tasting, and buying hummus (OMG so delicious) and farm fresh eggs. I also went to a great restaurant right on the water called Naked Cafe which was delicious with one of Whitney's friends Elaine who rode with me yesterday. VERY very yummy. Will be going there again too!

I love how everywhere in SD (or the area & surrounding I'm in) has food available for all palates. Meat lovers, vegetarians, pescatarians, vegans, organicans (people who love organic food), localites (people who love local food), and juciers. There's seriously something for everyone and as a picky eater, it's incredibly refreshing. It seems like you can't go somewhere that sells non-local, non-healthy food. And it is SO SO SO SO good.

Carrot, apple, beet juice? Don't mind if I do!

For today I have a swim and pretty easy ride on schedule. I'm tapering now for a race here on Sunday (Solana Beach sprint tri) which I'm excited for. But before the race (Thursday) I'll be heading up to Northern California to visit an old friend for a couple days then coming back to SD on Saturday and meeting my boyfriend in the airport. He'll be spending my last week here with me before I go back east side on Friday the 29th. I can not believe how fast time flies!

But now, the sun is shining and I need to stop being lazy and go swim!

Fat Camp

2011-07-14T15:14:00.000-04:00

Before I left for CA I sort of made a pact with my bf that I would come back to the east coast as a different person. Likely in state of mind, but more importantly in my physical self. I've talked about my weight TONS on this blog, especially recently as I've been having a really difficult time getting off those extra layers of winter warmth. Being +7 pounds (on a good day) in June is not my idea of being close to 'race weight' or even close to my happy weight.

San Diego has been the perfect opportunity for me to lose the weight. The day I flew in, I told Chris and Adam that this trip for me is better known as "Fat Camp", and such it has been since then!

It's been so easy to eat right here (and splurge every now and then on froyo) due to the farmers markets ALL OVER San Diego. It's also easier because I'm not tempted by the junk in my house at home. Nor am I tempted by the copious amounts of M&Ms and pretzels at my boyfriends. I can easily avoid not buying junk food and my 'danger' foods, but once it's in my possession and I have just 2, then game over.

This past Sunday I made my way over to the Wolf Studio here in Solana Beach to get a weigh in and other measurements taken. I wanted to know what my progress was so far (I was just at the doctor a week or so before I came out here). I found out about it through Beth's comment on facebook. Goodness, I'm such a stalker. I'm so happy I did though because the place was great and I got a good benchmark on where I am right now and where I want to be. Fortunately, I was happy with the progress, but never happy with where I am so I'm still working.

Although I've been enjoying my [very] fair share of froyo, I've also been eating a ton of fresh salads, veggies with hummus, oatmeal, greekyo, hard boiled eggs (protein!), acai bowls, fresh fruit, and nuts. The fruit here is quite possibly the best I've ever tasted. In fact, I got local & organic strawberries from the Pacific Beach farmer's market the other day and they were hands down the best strawberries I've ever had in my 25 years. Quite a bold statement, but true none the less.

Salad with a side of carrots.

Acai 'bowl' from Olive Cafe in Mission Beach.

Plum!

Best Berries.

Yikes! Too excited about the strawbs.

All of that being said, I've still got a fair amount of work to do, but I"m making strides and happy with how it's going. I've got 1 week to put the pedal to the medal before my bf gets here, then another week to keep it going strong before I go back to the Wolf Studio to see my progress! Fat Camp all the way.

West Coast training

2011-07-04T12:35:00.004-04:00

Life on the west coast has been a lot different than I imagined it would be when I was in Jersey. For one, San Diego is hilly as F. I imagined SD to be flat and sandy with palm trees everywhere with hills on the outskirts of the city. Instead, it's a combination of the both with hills everywhere.

Friday evening I swam at the cove in La Jolla which is a mecca for triathletes. It was insane how crowded it was, and I'm sure I haven't even seen it at its worst! I swam with Adam and another member of Breakaway, finishing with a mile total. I was a little wary of sharks, but instead was attacked over and over again by the plant life. I could hear the seals right next to me, but once I was among the kelp and sea grass I wasn't worried about any fish, seals, or sharks. The plants had me freaking out over and over again. I do NOT like things touching me while I'm in the water. Especially open water. Once the swim was done I enjoyed it, but during? Not so much.

After the swim I sat on a park bench and sprawled my stuff out to dry while I read and watched the sunset. It was perfect.

Saturday morning I went on a long ride with another girl on Breakaway. Jenna was super nice and took me around a the popular Elfin Loop which absolutely killed me. Apparently this ride is 'not that bad'. Ugh. I've got some MAJOR work to do on hills! We finished up the ride with me doing one time up Torrey Pines. Killer. I pedaled my broke self back, was bonked beyond belief and tried doing my 20 minute run. It was a disaster. Never have I had to stop and walk in training, but I had to on Saturday (and Sunday). God, it was terrible. Once I came in I quickly made oatmeal (no more recovery smoothies until I'm home) and ate it straight out of the pot I cooked it in. Classy. I was almost too tired to go to the beach, but after laying around and showering I finally got my butt up and walked down to the beach. I shouldn't have even bothered! There was so much kelp on the shore and SO MANY damn flies, we're talking MILLIONS, that I couldn't even lay down without twitching like crazy to get them off of me. I moved 3 times and finally gave up after about 30 minutes to walk back. Pathetic! Then I went grocery shopping and was happy.

Before coming out to SD I had a doctors appointment + blood work because I just haven't been feeling 'right' for a while now, probably since I went vegetarian in December. I have weeks where I'm beyond belief tired and feel weak in training etc. I got a phone call from my doctors office the day I was flying here saying that I'm anemic and need to take iron supplements so I finally got those on Saturday. Hopefully I'll notice a change soon! Though, I have been contemplating going back on the meat since I don't like fish.

By the time Saturday night came around I was too tired to stay awake so I put on my recovery tights and went to bed at 9:30. Sunday morning was a group workout at Los Penasquitos trail. I knew I'd have a tough time, but damn! Tough doesn't even explain it. It was up and down for the first 2.5 miles then it flattened out a bit, but I was calorie depleted, thirsty, and my legs were dead from Saturday. Chris only had me do 90 minutes so I turned around at 45 minutes and faced the treacherous hills on the way back again. Walking + stopping ensued in the second half of that 'run' like crazy. Adam picked me up in the morning with my bike and I did a recovery ride with 4 of the guys after the run. I think I said a little prayer begging to not be dropped by Adam, Charlie, Felipe, and Marco in the recover ride. I hardly ever pray. I only fell a little behind though once, but Adam came back and rescued me, and even gave me a nice push back. Thanks! Basically I stared at this for an hour while I was listening to my music and watching the guys chit and chat as though the morning run was just a stroll through the park:

Last night was a great team BBQ at Charlie's house and was good fun. I stayed for a few hours until Whit was done work then came back with her. I was tired, and hungry for a yummy burrito. We ended up chatting for a few hours before going to bed real late and now I'm still lazying in bed before I get up to go to a fly-less beach and get some color. Chris gave all his athletes the day off to rest and recover, which I'm in MAJOR need of. Tonight will be some fireworks watching somewhere! And if I feel good enough I may even walk over to treat myself to some froyo. Can't resist too long!

Enjoy Independence Day!

San Diego

2011-06-30T16:50:00.005-04:00

After cramming in a whole lot of stuff, I've finally made it to the golden coast (thank you Katy Perry). Leading up to the trip was all sorts of things: packing, eating, Twist-ing, relaxing, beaching, stressing, sweating, etc. But, I did get it all in and even managed to get my pits waxed before getting on my flight (I'll spare you the picture, but I can assure the after is much better!). I was able to see the 2011 field hockey team & coaches on Monday night which was a nice treat. AA reminded me of the practice and told me I had better come, especially since I might not be coming back. Don't worry A, I'm coming back home.

Anyway, my flight was rather uneventful. I slept on and off the whole time with my head shoved inside my Stride Jacket hood. Coach Chris picked me, my big ass bike box, and my 60 pound suitcase up from the airport when I landed which was nice. He then proceeded to assemble my bike, and even tweak & clean it for me. I took it on a little spin around his street and told him that I don't think it has EVER sounded or felt that good. Adam also swung by and we went for a walk on the streets of La Jolla where he showed me the cove (swimming with the seals on Friday!) and took me to Lululemon. My boyfriend joked that me going into Lululemon was like I never left home. Touche.

By the time we made it back to Chris's, Whitney was there to pick me up and take me to her humble abode. I tried soaking it all in on the drive, but it was like sensory overload! Though it is just absolutely beautiful here. I think I already love it.

Whit and I went out to eat last night, and tonight we're going to kill some Mexican cuisine after I do the Thursday Track workout with the rest of the Breakaway crew. Um, I'm probably going to get my ass handed to me. But, at least it's not going to be humid! I miss the heat of NJ (yes, I realize it's only been one day), but I can't say that I miss the humidity!

Once I get more pictures and more exciting stories, I'll update this here blog. I'm sure something great will happen after my long ride + run on Saturday or after my trail run on Sunday. I hope that 'something great' isn't me getting lost!

Summer Plans

2011-06-20T19:06:00.008-04:00

One of the perks of working in the education world (okay, the biggest perk) is having 8 weeks off from work during the best season of the year. School let out on Friday, but truth be told my brain had turned to mush long before that. Summer was way overdue.

I spent the weekend partying with a lot of teachers (coach/teacher party on Friday evening, bachelorette party with college ladies on Saturday) and regretted every glass of wine during my early morning run on Sunday. I woke at 6am to get a run in before my beau's 5k. Wouldn't you know I was the one who bonked after his race? I told him I felt like snot, and am still sticking to that complaint. It was pretty awful. It's true what they say - after you leave college you can no longer hang.

Field Hockey teammates

Father's Day 5k..feeling like crap..in LOVE with the summer mohawk

The most common question you'll hear after Memorial Day weekend in the teacher's work area is "So, what are your summer plans?!". Though hearing that question many times over got a little annoying after a while, I still couldn't help but gush over my plans for the summer, and now I'm [finally] going to let them loose. I should have spilled the beans a while ago as I've had these in the works for months and had my plane ticket for weeks, but in true 'Yasi Blogger Fashion' and letting this pathetic little site go to crap, I let my plans be pushed aside for other weekly updates.

Anyway, back to me. I've talked a little about it before, and won't go into much depth again, but ever since 2006 I've longed for California and always imagined CA as being my 'end game'. Teaching this first year has given me a little perspective on my life and maybe a little bit about what I want out of it, but I still need to scratch that itch and go to California to see if it's what I want/need. I talked to my hometown pals out in San Diego and they offered couches, air mattresses, beds, floors (I'll take anything!) for an extended stay for me to live and train on the West Coast. I can't even put into words how excited/nervous/anxious/scared/D.all of the above I am about this trip. It's going to be a growing experience and hopefully will help me answer some questions.

I'll be training with Breakaway Training while I'm there, and have even signed up for a short sprint triathlon, which I am super stoked about. It'll be nice to train with triathletes and like-minded people since I mostly train with me, myself, and I (though my bf does join in on bunches of runs and rides) and it can get a little lonely sometimes. I feel like I'll learn A LOT being out there with everyone and grow immensely as an athlete.

My coach Chris lives out there, and I'm close with his little sister Sydney (whom I'm so excited to hang with), as does Adam and Whitney (also SUPER psyched to hang/live with). I also can't wait to meet Beth and pick her brain on everything I can think of. I hope to check out UCSD and look at their MA nutrition program and hopefully will be able to meet/connect with a few people in the field to get an idea if maybe nutrition is something I want to get into in the future.

This plan is not permanent and I have definitely signed my contract to teach next year (and coach!) so I will be back. I only haven't bought my return flight yet because I'm flying back with my boy (I think he secretly thinks I won't come back, so he has to come get me), but I will be flying out on Wednesday June 29th and probably staying just until the end of July, around the 29th. YES! That's NEXT Wednesday! It seemed like so far away, but AS SOON AS school ended I was all "HOLY CRAP I'M LEAVING SO SOON I HAVE SO MUCH TO DO!". Oops.

Now I'm going to turn into super Type A and make lists over and over again of what to pack, what I need to do (buy a ticket home?!), and where I want to go before I leave (BEACH! TWIST! MARHABA! SPRIG & VINE!). I have many plans to hit up my local favorites here before I leave, though, I know I'll still have a month to indulge when I get back.

I feel incredibly fortunate that I have the ability and opportunity to do this and 'wet my toes' before I dive into anything. I wouldn't be able to do this if I wasn't teaching, living at home, or if I didn't have such great friends out in SD who are willing to take me in. I realize this and I am going to soak it all in while I'm out there and have as much fun as I can and just L-I-V-E. I'll still be blogging, and hopefully I'll get on a more 3x/week regular schedule like I was pre-real life.

More to come before I go..until then, Happy Summer!

Go confidently in the direction of your dreams. Live the life you've imagined. - Henry David Thoreau

Prom + Racing

2011-06-13T17:12:00.009-04:00

You wouldn't think that those two things mesh, but for me this weekend, they did. It's not always easy juggling real-life with race-life. But, for the sake of growing up and paying bills, you've just got to do it.

Friday was a whirlwind of a day. I left school almost immediately (but not before taking a picture with this girl, she loves my blog, and I love her for it) -->

to pick up my sisters graduation cake then get home, eat lunch, pack my bag for the race, get dressed for my sisters 8th grade graduation and senior prom, and get over to Lululemon in Princeton to try on clothes and get on to the graduation right down the road [with a few goodies in tow]. Unfortunately, since the prom was not quite near Princeton and was at a time where we'd hit insane traffic we had to cut out at around 5:05. It took over 90 minutes to get to a prom 2 towns away. Princeton and Route 1 at 5o'clock, I hate you.

We finally made it and it was a relief being able to unwind for a little knowing that we'd be there for a few hours. It was so nice seeing students, athletes, and other kids I know coming in all dolled up. I got a couple good pictures with field hockey/lacrosse girls and a few swimmers. Prom was over at 11pm, but the advisors decided to do a valet service which meant that there was about a 45 minute back-up of kids waiting for their cars. All I wanted to do was go home and get to bed! It wasn't until 12:30 that I was home, and close to 1:00 that I was finally in bed. That meant 3 precious hours of sleep before a race. Oops! I even contemplated bagging it for a chance to just sleep. I was TIRED. I was also worried about how my feet would hold up since I had been in heels for 10.5 hours. Totally not thinking.

Swimmers.

Field hockey/lax.

Pre-race Prom indulgence

The race was in Port Republic, NJ. I figured it'd be a relatively small race, but it was bigger than I thought! It was perfect weather for racing which I was so happy about. The water was rather warm so I didn't get to wear my new wetsuit, but it cut down on T1 time so no big. I'll have plenty of time to get some good wear out of that suit this summer. Anyway, I saw some guys who I had met at the Jerseyman 1/2 a couple weeks ago and chatted with them a little. They'd done the race plenty of times before and told me the bike + run were pancake flat. Score! I didn't think my mind could handle hills.

SWIM 1/2 mi: The swim was pretty warm, and I just did the damn thing. I don't really have any strategy when I swim and sort of just do it, which I don't think is very good for me because I know I'm capable of swimming much faster. I think I just get lost in all of the people and trying to sight and such. Came out of the water in 14:45.

Making out with my goggles

Makin' moves

T1: 2:07 (what in the world was I doing in there?!)

BIKE 16 mi: The bike was SERIOUSLY so flat! I think it was flatter than any ride I do around here hands down. I was just hammering and pushing as hard as I could keeping in mind my legs so I wouldn't trash them too bad for the run. I was playing leap frog with a few men for a bit then I lost them, then played leap frog with another 3 women, lost them too and vowed to myself that I would catch them on the run. I finished the ride in 46:33 which I'm stoked about since that's a 20.6 mph average. Yes I'm slow, and it was a flat course, but I'll take it.

T2: 1:16 (better)

RUN 4 mi: The run too was also very flat. It was a lot nicer to be running with people (although I did have a run in with an older woman who said she 'hated' when people wanted to run with her in races and she ran away from me, only for me to get pissed and leave her in the dust) unlike at the Jerseyman when I was suffering solo. The run was pretty much a loop around the lake we had run in. There was about 2 miles left when I caught up with one of the women I had told myself I would catch. I called her pinky and made my decisive move around her and never looked back. I saw the other 2 women, one of which was in my AG, passed them with about a mile left and ran scared the rest of the race. Good thing it was only 1 more mile! I kicked it in high gear and pushed it the rest of the way. Thank goodness for Thursday track workouts that allow me to get that final kick I need at the end when I'm super tired! I finished the run in 32:44 (8:11 pace) which I'm also really happy about.

I'm glad I kept my pace up during the bike and run and until I had finished the run I hadn't realized how lucky I was to not bonk. I only had two 'cups' of water on the run and nothing else the rest of the race. I really need to not be so dumb with my nutrition. I did fill up with watermelon, an apple, and a handful of trail mix when I finished. I then decided to check out the results and was pleased to find that I had finished 2/7 in my AG with a total time of 1:37:24. We decided to stay for awards, which was painfully long and annoying, but I was happy to get a little medal.

Typical post-race bloody ankle

All in all, I was glad to have done this race. A good confidence builder and still helped my mental toughness (though I don't think anything will compare to the mental toughness that was the Jerseyman). It was a nice and easy course (now I'm wishing I had signed up for the half that's here in September!) and we were really lucky to have some stellar racing weather.

My driving partner fell asleep on the ride home for a few minutes, but we still made it back safe (even though I was quickly fading) and made it on a train south to Philadelphia to indulge in some amazing Indian food. Indulge we did! We couldn't even eat my favorite vegan cookie we had gotten at the Whole Foods because we were so full (no worries, it was eaten as part of breakfast on the train ride home). This vegan cookie is seriously the BEST cookie and so worth every single calorie. My only regret is that I shared it. Unfortunately (more like fortunately) they don't make them at the WF in Princeton. Drats!

Seriously huge. But not big enough to cover up the zit on my forehead.

Sunday I dragged my bf out on my 60 min recovery ride which felt really good. It was nice being on such a flat course because now my legs don't feel as trashed as they do after hilly races. Today was a nice swim in school and an easy run at the end of the day. It was also the last full day of school! ! ! ! I can't believe the year is just about wrapped up. I'm giving 1 final tomorrow morning, 2 on Wednesday morning, then my last one on Thursday morning and I'm finito. Friday we all go in to get papers signed, tie up loose ends, and then escape for the summer. It will be a nice summer indeed, more on that in the next post!

Halt

2011-06-07T21:16:00.000-04:00

Sleeping tonight is not going to be very easy as I just found out about THIS

A full IM in my own stomping grounds?! I had figured that I'd do an Ironman in 2012 and this is the universe's way of telling me it's going to be so. A week from tomorrow I'll be glued to a computer screen with my bank card in hand ready to sell my soul for IM training. Woo!

Bring on the heat

2011-06-07T19:42:00.003-04:00

Unfortunately Memorial Day weekend had to end, but it didn't take the heat with it. We've had some pretty scorching temperatures around here lately, but it doesn't end there! We're looking at 96 tomorrow (Wednesday) and 99 on Thursday! Yipe! I love it.

I'm wishing & hoping for no storms on Saturday!

I never used to mind riding in the heat last year, but this year it seems like a different story. Maybe I'm just not used to it yet, but the 'wind' coming up from the asphalt on the ridiculously hot days last week was just suffocating. I felt like I was riding in Hawaii. And though I've never been, I could imagine that's what it would be like (x100).

I've learned a few things about the heat though. Whenever it comes around I start having some majorly craptastic sleeping habits, my schedule gets even more busy than I thought possible, and all I want to eat is watermelon and smoothies.

Last weekend I had a brutal solo brick workout. I kicked my own butt pretty well and was sluggish all day long. It probably also didn't help that I only ate a Larabar during the ride and only had a smoothie after I finished (400 cal) then took a nap. Sunday morning my boyfriend joined me for part of my 30 minute run to warm him up for a 5 mile race he did (which worked because he PRd by over 2 minutes!). I'm proud to say that I actually stayed in my Z-2 HR for my run and didn't feel too beat up about it. Usually I get pissed at myself for being so 'slow' in Z-2 so I speed up and end up running Z-3 like an idiot. Sunday it was nice to go slow and really let my body recover.

After his race we were supposed to go to Manayuk for the Philly Bike Race, but we wimped out because we were tired and wanted to just relax. Enter nap #2 of the weekend.

The rest of the week is going to be busy because life never seems to slow down. Tomorrow is going to be hot, but I'm heading out on my bike and enjoying every minute of the heat. I may be begging my bf again if I can come over to swim in his pool. I'll bribe him with dinner. Thursday is a rest day because I'm racing again on Saturday. A small simple race, but it'll be fun to see if I've got any speed in me yet. Thursday night I'll be heading into Lambertville to my new favorite Middle Eastern restaurant (Marhaba) with a co-worker because she's moving to Cambridge, England at the end of the month. Friday is a half-day schedule because of senior prom which is good because I've got a quickie workout to do, then I'm heading into Princeton for some new Lululemon gear, then down the road to my sisters 8th grade graduation. I'll likely have to leave there a little early to chaperone the senior prom. I'm hoping I get enough sleep on Thursday night for the race Saturday because I'll be in LATE on Friday evening!

Saturday is a sprint tri in Port Republic, NJ then maybe some berry picking before heading to Philadelphia for some Indian cuisine and a night on the town. Or just a night in eating a vegan cookie from Whole Foods for dessert. What can I say? The bf and I live on the edge. Sunday is an easy recovery spin on the bike then I'm having another dinner out and the craziness begins again for the last week of school.

I still CANNOT believe I've only got 8 more days of school left in my first year. I made it! Now I hope I make it through the next two days of heat without having to scrape my body off of the asphalt.

MDW '11

2011-05-31T06:04:00.000-04:00

Memorial Day weekend is always such a fun time, and this year certainly didn't disappoint. After a week of rain, doom + gloom the weather is FINALLY coming around. It was into the 90s almost everyday this weekend and lots of sunshine and humidity. I've learned to not ever complain about the heat in the summer because the death of winter is so unbearable that all I ever want in February is a day of 100 degrees and 98% humidity. No joke, I'd take that over winter anytime.

Anyway, last week after the race I was just getting my training done while enjoying the ease of it all and being able to train right after school. As much as I love coaching, I really enjoy having my afternoons to myself. Though, there comes a point where I don't know what to do with myself and all my free time!

Friday was a rest day and I spent my time being incredibly lazy and under productive. Typical. Saturday I went out on a ride in the morning with one of my lacrosse players and it was fun! I hope she enjoyed it too. I laid back a bit on the pace and actually stayed in my prescribed Z-2 HR (something I rarely do for the bike, and HARDLY ever for the run, oops!). She kept apologizing for 'slowing me down', but the truth is I'm obviously no Lance Armstrong (read last race report for evidence of above statement). It was nice to have the company and chat with her about her experiences doing these bike tours over the summer and giving her little tidbits of advice.

The rest of the day I went shopping and waited for my bf to finish up at his track meet so we could relish in the hot weather and enjoy the long weekend. On Sunday we had a sweat-tastic run in the morning followed by some golf and a night on the town.

Seriously, I can sweat with the best of them

It was about 90+ degrees on Monday and since my town pool opens on MDW I decided that I'd beg my old boss to let me swim there. The water was seriously PERFECT and minus some minor annoyances with swimmers who don't know how to share lap lanes, it was a wonderful swim. I love swimming outside. Also got my second burn for the season, why don't I ever learn? After that my beau and I headed to Princeton so we could run some trails for an easy recovery run (which wasn't that easy on the HR, oops!), and then get some Twist. Sunday was the sweatiest run of 2011, until we ran on Monday. Whoa. I had to walk around the borough of Princeton sans-shirt for a while because I was dripping so much sweat.

Today should be another hot one and I've got intervals on the bike. I'll likely be holing myself up in Mercer County Park while I get it done then battling traffic on my way home. It is what it is, at least I'll get outside! It's a four-day school week, followed by a full week (with a half day on June 10th for senior prom) then I'll be doing another impromptu sprint race on Sunday the 12th, then it's finals week. Holy crap, I've got a lot of work to do.

PS. Don't forget that National Run day is on Wednesday June 1. To any local readers, I'll be leading a trail run with the Lululemon crew on Wednesday at 6:30pm. We'll be meeting at Mountain Lakes for a 30-ish minute run. Ginny, come on out!!

JerseyMan 1/2 Iron RR

2011-05-27T18:14:00.001-04:00

It took me so long to get this darn race report finished partly because work is eating my soul, but mostly because I'd rather sleep and I needed to steal the pictures off of my Dad's camera.

Anyway, let's start with Friday. I got TONS of sleep leading up to the race. Now that my lacrosse season is over I can get my workouts done right after school and be able to sleep in until 6am. Very nice. Friday night I went to bed around 9, then went to a local race to cheer on my bf and catch up with a TON of old high school friends. Again, very nice.

Saturday evening I went to my best friend's boyfriend's house for a pig roast. Kinda gross, but it was nice to see her as I hadn't seen her since the race that morning. But before that morning, it had been a while. Then we skipped on over to one of my co-workers houses for his birthday and ended up leaving 50 minutes later because I'm old and needed to get to bed.

I awoke at 4 on Sunday morning to get ready and be out the door by 5 with my Dad and youngest sister. No one else could come, and my bf had his own killer 25k trail race in Philadelphia. It's okay though, my Dad's the best race sherpa out! I got my stuff together, did my business, then as we were leaving discovered I had a flat front wheel. I opted to play the innocent damsel in distress and find someone to fix it at the race. I'm such a girl.

Here, hold this.

When I got to Lebanon, I found a tent and figured that was where I could get it fixed. Of course I didn't pay attention to what the tent said because it was for a team. D'oh! The nice man (Ray, thank you!) fixed it anyway and asked me if I wanted to be on his tri team. Still working on that! Enough of the small talk, onto the race!

SWIM:

The swim was wetsuit mandatory and that water was cold! I prefer cooler temperatures though because I feel like I swim faster. I went out in the front of the [small] pack, but didn't hold my position. I'm definitely not a swimmer. I got tired, called myself a few names and tried to pick it up. I'm also a horrible sighter because at one point I started swimming parallel to shore. Who knows how long that lasted! Started feeling major chafing and immediately thought of what my neck would look like in school on Monday. Got a few sideways glances and one outright question of whether or not it was a hickey on my neck. I knew it was coming, and I knew it would come from that student. Came out of the water in 36:38 and instantly pissed. I really thought I'd go faster than what I swam in September since my swims have been so regimented and actually on a base time now, plus I had a wetsuit! I was practically Shamoo in that water! Whales swim fast, don't they?

Shamoo is finally back on shore.

T-1:

We'll call this my nap time. I was in there for 5:24! What the heck was I doing?! Oh yea, walking, fudling with my wetsuit, drying myself off, putting on socks & shoes, and putting on arm warmers. I also got caught up laughing because my younger sister was off in the distance shaking her newest purchase of Icebreakers Sours and asking me if I wanted one. Ugh, definitely not a good time for one of those.

No sour candies for me, thanks.

BIKE:

Oh God. Actually, when compared to the run this wasn't all that bad. The only thing I didn't like was how alone I was. I could hardly see anyone and it was some me, myself, and I time out there for 3:26:59. That's a pretty far cry from September, but I was hoping for 16-17mph and I got 16.1 so I should be happy, but of course am not. Here's where my non-winter training really bit me in the buns. The hills were tough and the course was just plain hard. At some points I wanted to run over the volunteers because we'd do all of this work to get up a hill and enjoy the decent, then we'd immediately have to slow down to turn, and go right back up another hill. What the fhdfkdjhgskjdh (remember, I've got kids reading this now, I'll try to keep my language in check)! I did entertain myself a lot out on the course, lots of laughing at my stupidity (then checking over my shoulder to see if anyone was there to hear), and playing with my Gu chomps. I was SO bored out there I starting timing myself to see how long I could hold a chomp in my mouth without biting it. Kind of like "How many licks does it take to get to the center of a tootsie pop?" Well, it took 30 minutes until one of my chomps whittled down to nothing. Skills!

I could not stop focusing on the fat rippling out of my arm warmers (not to mention my gut). Now you can't either.

T-2:

2:11. Much better. Change the shoes, shove down a mini Clif bar, chug water, and go.

RUN:

Oh God. As a social studies teacher I very much compared this to a death march. Before the first mile I saw my Dad and muttered to him that it was dreadful. His response : "You just gotta keep going!". Oh, I love him, but ugh, kind of unmotivational. Every time I see someone I know on any race course I always smile and wave, my Dad was lucky to get even a semblance of a curve of my mouth when I saw him. My bike was more 'fun' mentally, while my run was all serious. I hated myself, my life, and my legs. I talked OUT LOUD (what a weirdo) for at least 30 minutes. I was questioning major life decisions (like this race) and being completely ridiculous. I talked to police on the course and told them over and over again "You're awesome". Totally bonking. I begged and pleaded my legs to keep going up the hills and brought back old faithful like a bad habit. Heel striking made a vengeance but I was just so damn tired. I kept trying to catch up to this one man in yellow, but I just couldn't do it. He was even walking at some points and I was SO jealous, but I didn't give in. In typical Yasi fashion I creeped behind two men near the finish, heard a lady surging behind me and I gave it one more heave-ho and blasted (probably not) past them all to the finish. Came off the run in 2:04:04.

My snot was shot all over that course.

Literally the point in which I was telling him it was horrible.

I love when she runs with me.

The men are off in the distance (chicked!) and I am struggling to keep this lady at bay.

Total time: 6:15:16

AG: 3/5

I added almost 20 minutes to my time from September, but I need to realize that this was a big test for me. I knew I could finish, but I wasn't totally prepared. As you can see from the pictures, I still WAY WAY off of my goal weight and I haven't put in nearly enough miles on my bike outside, nor have I done enough bricks. I was instantly hurting when I finished, but held it together because I thought I'd get an award. However, apparently 2 is the new 3 since they stopped AG awards at 2nd. Poops.

I didn't mind this race so much, but I don't know that I'd do it again. It worked well in a pinch, because all of the other 1/2's I wanted to do later this season were sold out. I guess that's what happens when you procrastinate! Kids, there's your valuable lesson. I just didn't like how small this race was. There were VERY few women (only 26 who finished) and I felt so alone on the bike course. I literally felt like I was DFL the entire bike. Fortunately I knew I wasn't when I got to the run, but even that was incredibley lonely. I missed my friend Kevin SO much while I was running (he was the man I ran with at Toughman in September), and I let him know of FB how much I could have used him on Sunday. This race was probably the most mentally tough race I've ever done. Does it make me a wimp then if I don't do it again? Yes, it most certainly does. Do I really care? Eh. No.

My wonderful bf came to my rescue when I got home and worked on all my kinks in my legs after dinner. It was SO painful, but immensely helped since I was able to walk on Monday.

As negative Nancy as I am and as hard on myself as I am, I'm happy that I finished and glad that I didn't do any worse. I could have given up and stopped and called my Dad to find me in the middle of nowhere and bring me home, but I set out to accomplish something and I did it. Now I know what I need to do and I just have to buckle down and focus. Since January I've been complaining about my weight, and though I'm not fat by any means, I'm certainly not where I was this time last year and it is just downright frustrating. I think when school is done and the stress is less I'll be able to get everything under control. Not to mention the brownies in our teacher's work area won't be calling my name anymore. But really, I need to get my act together.

Tomorrow I'm taking one of my lacrosse players on my training ride with me. She was one of my freshman last year and I just adore her to pieces. My bf and I often joke that we want to adopt her (I told her parents that last night at our end of the season banquet). This summer she'll be heading to Europe for a cycling tour. Once I got wind of this I told her that she was more than welcome to join me on bike rides on the weekends. I saw her parents last night and invited her again and talked with them and I'm so exited she'll be coming along. I don't know what kind of a bike she has or what kind of a rider she is, but she's a very athletic girl, and she's super determined so I know it'll be good no matter what.

Riding partner is in there somewhere, but I won't tell you where. Some of you may be creeps.

Now, I've got a nice relaxing 3 day weekend then really only one more full week of school before finals and the end of the year on the 17th. My how time flies! I'm thinking of throwing in a quickie race on the 12 of June, then my next definite race is July 24th. A sprint as well.

The end of June has got me all sorts of excited, but that's another post for another time.

Happy Memorial Day!

race prep

2011-05-20T06:42:00.003-04:00

As evidenced from the comments on my last post, I seem to have forgotten to shout out to my field hockey girls. Actually, I should just shout out to AA because I think she's the only one who reads this. She loves me. She takes creep pictures of me from her phone and then proceeds to text them to me. I still love her though.

The caption that followed "That's you in the distance"

I'm majorly focused now on my race on Sunday (JerseyMan). So focused in fact that last night I finally got around to foam rolling and sticking, something I've been telling myself I needed to do since after my first brick on Saturday. I'm still not completely confident in my run after bike ability since I had an epic blow out 50 minutes into my ride on Saturday and I had to be rescued by my Mother and finish on the trainer. I didn't have any spare tubes on me nor anything to change a flat with in the first place. Lame.

Waiting for my sag vehicle while dodging offers from a policeman to drive me home

I always seem to run really well off of the trainer and the other brick I had this week was also after a ride on the trainer so we'll really see how Sunday goes! I'm most assuredly not in the same bike shape I was in September when I raced my last half ironman (um, hello hilly ride from hell a couple weeks ago), but I think my swimming & running will be good, especially since I rented a wetsuit. We've gotten so much rain here this week that I'm sure the water will be freezing. Plus, it's still May.

Speaking of cold water, I've got a theory with swimming and cold water. It may sound very much like another one of my 'duh!' statements, but I think colder water lends itself to faster swimming. I've started swimming a lot at the high school for this reason. The water there is kept at a nice cool temperature and I always get my fastest times there, even if my body is feeling like crap. The gym on the other hand has warm water and it makes me feel lethargic and snail-like. Maybe it's the same as running in warm weather vs. cooler temperatures?

Enough of that. I'm excited for opening up my triathlon season finally, with a bang. I've been getting a lot of sleep this week, eating well, focusing on workouts, and will be taking an ice bath in the body sized whirlpool in the trainers room this afternoon. It'll be a nice weekend. Off to school!

Gig is Up

2011-05-09T20:44:00.000-04:00

I love weekends where not a lot is on my plate, the weather is nice, and training can get accomplished at a leisurely pace. That was this past weekend. Spring is here and I feel revived in a way that only spring can do.

Saturday morning I met the lacrosse team in Princeton for our fun run/walk. It was such a great morning and I was so happy with the amount of girls that showed up, I'll just have to work on getting more freshmen out next year.

PGL

This weekend I had a 150 minute ride on tap for Saturday and since my boyfriend just bought a new bike (!!) he opted to come along. I'm slowly bringing him to the dark side (if only I could get him to put his face in the water when he swims!). I warned him that it might not be such a good idea to have his first ride be so long, but he doesn't really like listening to my suggestions. I invited swimmer/biker friend Phil from the ride from hell to join, but I was also on a mission to prove to him that I wasn't such a sucktastic rider after all. Sorry bf for putting you through that. Although, to my defense sometimes you just have those bike rides where the speed and endurance is on your side and Saturday was one of those days. I was loving it. Although the ride was flat, and some of it was with a tailwind (and a fair amount of cross and headwind), it was one of those confidence building rides that you need after being chopped down from a soul-taking hilly ride. The beau was riding into major bonk town with about 30ish minutes left of the ride, I was really feeling for him so we slowed it down and cruised home.

Sunday morning bf also joined me on my run and he said it was a bit tough, even at my snail pace. I told him I was glad to hear him say that because now he can conceptualize how much work I do and the effort that goes into my training. It was also a bit painful because we both got some wicked sunburn.

Now this brings us to Monday. My new training got sent to me yesterday and I'm back into full swing triathlon training again. Feels nice! Back in the pool this morning where I totally have fallen off the swimming wagon. I guess that's what 2 swims in 2 weeks will do to you. Times were terrible. And I started coughing under water. How does that even work?! I also had a run today which was glorious. Thank you spring.

I just got back home from a team dinner. I had thought all this time during the school year that I was being so coy with my blog and that no one knew about it. Well, the gig is up. Kids these days are so sneaky. One of my freshmen mentioned it, I was majorly surprised, then even more surprised to find that they had learned about it from some swimmers! Wait, you mean to tell me that this has been going on since the winter?! Thank you Google. I may need to re-trace my steps and re-read what I've written. So, to any of my stalker lacrosse girls or swimmers reading this, I hope you're enjoying it.

Tomorrow I've got another 150 minute ride on tap, which will come after a lacrosse game. It's going to be a late night, but at least I get to sleep in until 6am tomorrow! And I'm dragging the bf on the ride again. Hopefully I won't drive him away from riding ever again. We just need to tweak his nutrition and make sure he doesn't only take 1 gu for a long ride. Sillyness (total pot calling the kettle black right here).

Cinco de....

2011-05-05T06:02:00.001-04:00

In years past Cinco de Mayo typically just meant Cinco de Drinko.

Now though I'm singing another tune. My drink of choice tonight will be this:

With the star being an avocado, just to keep up with the Mexican theme going on. You thought avocados were delicious in guac? Just try it in a smoothie. Throw in some spinach, a frozen banana, protein powder, cocoa powder, and smidge of nut butter and you've got yourself a fiesta. Trust me on this one.

I woke this morning and had a nice 30 minute run on tap, first time back on the feet since Sunday. It was nice to take a break from the running legs for a few days and spin it out on the bike, but now it's back to work.

I'll be residing in Yardley, PA from today until Sunday dog-sitting my favorite pooch. Saturday I'm heading into Princeton to do a 1 mile walk as per this race. My friend Alicia is the race organizer and my bf is running the 5k, but since I have a 150 minute ride on tap I didn't want to over do it. I was a little apprehensive to just do the 1 mile walk for fear of what people would think of me, but then I realized that it's not about that. It's about helping out children in the area who are less fortunate than I am and could use the help. Alicia is a fellow lacrosse coach at another school in our division so all of us lax coaches will be there and encouraged our girls to come out too. It's for a great cause so if you're in the area you should swing by to join in the fun and what should be wonderful spring weather! You might just see me walking around with a newborn in a stroller. Our head coach's wife just had a baby in April and I may be lucky enough to push her along.

Time for school. Feliz Cinco everyone.

Quick & Easy

2011-05-03T17:50:00.003-04:00

After two weeks of non-blogging I think it's time I made a come-back. I've been getting reminders left and right that I've neglected my duties (Whitney) so, here goes.

A lot has happened since I last 'blogged' on the 17th. Ugh, I shouldn't even consider that a post! It was really just a cop out.

First I'll start with my Rutgers Unite HM RR. I'll keep it snappy. The course was shortened due to flooding so it was 9.55 miles. I was pissed because I came ready to throw down, but I was happy with my finishing time of 1:21:02 (8:28 pace). The end. Afterwards when I saw pictures all good feelings were gone as I realized how much more work I need to do on my body. SO far off from where I was this time last year. Let's look at a little comparision. The one on the left is from Rutgers 13.1 last year and the one on the right is from this year. Major differences.

Ugh.

After Rutgers I went on with my spring break (OH so nice) and relaxed and maxxed as much as I could. I had lacrosse for 3 days and spent the rest of my time doing other sorts of things. Shopping, sleeping, beaching, familying, etc. I needed it.

Saturday the 23rd I went out with a friend I met at my gym pool for a 3 hour ride in the hills of Hunterdon County NJ. Oh my goodness am I out of bike shape! I felt so bad that he had to cart me around and wait for me because I was slow as molasses. Add to that torrential rains for 3 hours and 20 minutes and you've got yourself one of the most miserable rides I've ever been on. There are no hills where I live and being in an area like that really made me wake up and smell the coffee (dislike that phrase). Aimlessly spending hours on a trainer in the winter will do you no good. I'm a joke.

I got a nasty cut on my upper leg/ass from my shorts on that ride and my chamois. It still hurts.

Last week was a taper week since I was leading up to run the Broad Street 10 miler, and although I always have a rest day 2 days out from a race I just had to break the rules a little bit to run around and play field hockey at my alma-mater with some old teammates. It was our annual alumni game and for the past 2 years I haven't been available to go because of lacrosse commitments. I was so happy I made it up there on Friday even though I played midfield and ran much more than I should have. I knew Sunday wasn't an A race so I sort of threw caution to the wind and said "F it". I saw one of my best friends from college there who was also a roommate for a time and played some catch-up. She also told me that her fiance and her read my blog and love it (another indicator that I needed to update). Hi Laura & Joe!!

Youngins

Me and Laur

This past Sunday was the Broad Street Run. I was amped to run it and was heading into the city on Saturday with my beau to stay with my sister. I was heading into it as a training run since I've got a big race in 18 days so I had no real big expectations. For sanity sake I wanted to come in under 1:30 since I had positioned myself in that corral. Turns out my boyfriend and I got stuck in the potty area and missed the start of the race (by 20 minutes) and literally spent the rest of the race dodging and weaving runners. I'm secretly happy it happened though because we got to run a race together, I know so cheesy, and so not a secret anymore since he reads this. I asked him to push me in the last mile and just when the going got tough, I tuned him out and put in my iPod. It worked though since I scored that last mile at 8:04. Finish time for me was 1:29:35. I was SO tired and sore immediately after finishing and soon realized that I sealed my fate when I decided to go all out on Friday night. I don't regret it though.

Finishers

After the race we walked all over the place, which probably helped with my muscles, went to Whole Foods for the 3rd time that weekend and then trekked over to CHOP to see my little niece. She's doing well and fortunately for all of us is in good spirits despite it all.

So I guess now that brings us to the present. I'm recovering from Sunday while gearing up for my next big race. I guess I forgot to mention on the blog in all of my non-blogging that I'll be doing a half ironman on May 22nd. It's called the Jerseyman and is in Hunterdon County, NJ. Also the reason why I'm so mad about my performance from that Saturday ride. I'm totally going to suck it up all over that course, but as I told Chris, it'll be a good bench mark for me and a great way to kick my own ass back into gear. I need to not whine and complain about going outside when it's windy and 45 degrees and just do it. No more babying. I also need to drop this weight. I've put myself on a strict diet plan and have so far been pretty good at sticking to it (minus that vegan cookie on one of my trips to Whole Foods). That'll be a whole other post for another day. Maybe in 2 weeks when I get back to this little blog that's become so pathetic.

Rutgers 1/2 M

2011-04-17T06:44:00.004-04:00

I'm so excited to be finally starting the racing season. However, I'm desperately hoping for some RDM. It's been a rough road getting here, but I finally think my body is back to normal, stress levels are still whack, but c'est la vie.

I've got goals in mind, but at the end of the day I'm putting it all out on the line for my little nugget:

She only makes that face with her favorite Aunt.

She was home the other night and is getting admitted to CHOP today because they've found a donor (thank our lucky stars) and her prep work is going to begin. This is for her.

Maxin' and relaxin'

2011-04-07T18:10:00.005-04:00

Last I left off my training was really starting to suffer. I was slow, feeling fat, tired as heck, and achy all over the place. The day after I posted I e-mailed my coach to tell him what was up. I was desperate and started to feel really frustrated and angry. Chris told me that I was breaking down and is something that all athletes face and that everything would be okay. He told me to finish out the week as the plan had said then change around a little bit of this week to get some more rest. Just upon reading his e-mail I felt a weight lifted off my shoulders. So far, so good. My body has surely been feeling a LOT more recovered and I'm getting the extra sleep I need.

I hate admitting to moments of weakness, but once it came down to it, I'd rather admit to faltering a little bit than have my whole season suffer because I was trying to be tough and ride it out.

Training this week has been a lot lighter and I'm going to be getting a lot more rest and recovery in the next 4 week block. I've got my first race of the season coming up in a little more than a week and I'm just hoping I bounce back for it. Like I said, I'm not so sure I'm in for a PR, but if I'm rested enough I think I'll have a good day. This Saturday I have a rest day and no lacrosse. I honestly don't know what I'm going to do with myself! I think I'll start with taking a melatonin supplement and sleeping my brains out on Friday night. I'm so wild and crazy in my 20s, I know.

This past Sunday my beau had his first 1/2 marathon and I had a 90 minute run on the schedule. Since his race was set for 8am, and I really didn't feel like waking at 5am on a Sunday to run, I decided to run the course while he was racing and be done just in time to see him finish. My plan worked perfectly and I LOVED doing a training run while a race was happening. Admittedly I probably ran a little faster than I should have, but it also boosted my self esteem when I was feeling so low for crappy paces. I started a little after the gun went off and finished with a few minutes to spare while searching out the boy. Running amongst the racers was really fun too. Just a different dynamic and a fun twist on a regular training run. This will happen again.

Pre

Post-run/race

As far as life outside of training goes, it's well! Spring break is in a week which is wonderful. At first I had hoped I'd have a boat load of training during break, but now I'm happy I don't so I can really relax and replenish my mind + body. Lacrosse season is in full swing and I'm super proud to say that my girls are 3-0 so far. They're a great group and every year I'm happily surprised with the new craziness that I'm handed. Two days ago one of my girls said to me:

"Coach Mo, do you like have clothes that you wear to work and clothes that you wear out on the weekends and stuff?"

I laughed for almost 2 minutes straight, until I realized she actually wanted an answer. That was right before a game too. They certainly don't do 'getting your game face ready', but it works for them I guess!

My girls have also picked up on [most of] my OCD tendencies as well as my obsession for trail mix and asked me during the same game mentioned above if we could have a trail mix party on Friday. I tried to keep my cool and tell them we had to get through our games for the week, but in my head I was screaming "YES YES YES YES!!". I was happy when they won tonight so the real focus of practice tomorrow could be ground balls, core work, and then major trail mix destruction. Why haven't I ever thought of having a trail mix party before?!

To add to the nut butter obsession, I've now fallen in love with Nuttzo. I polished (and I do mean polished) this container in 6 days. I'm not such a huge fan of the peanut free Nuttzo, but that's probably a good thing because this stuff is not cheap, and I can only order it online! Nuts. Once the lacrosse girls get wind of my obsessive nature with nut butters maybe they'll throw me a party for that too? Wishful thinking.

I still amaze myself at how clean the insides of these jars get when I'm done.

That's it for me. I need to get some rest and gear up for a crazy trail mix party and early night of sleep tomorrow. TGIF.

Shoeicide

2011-03-28T04:44:00.000-04:00

I KNOW I'm horrible at blogging this year. I get it. Totally failed on my New Year's resolutions.

Anyway, the past two weeks (besides drama at my job) haven't been much different than any other time I blog so I'll just recap the interesting things.

To piggy-back on my last post, the GF thing has been going well! Whether or not my feeling good is psychological or actually has something to do with cutting out gluten I don't care, I'm loving it. I haven't really noticed any weight change (dang), but I have noticed less bloaty feelings going on. Baby steps. I've had this recipe for almost a year from Beth on these flax snacks she made for her husband and I finally got around to making them. They're good, but my lacrosse girls have likened me to a bird because the little 'patties' look like bird seed.

I've really been able to handle and manage my new training block really well after my shi**y reaction two weeks ago. Sometimes I feel like I'm doing cartwheels fitting everything in in 24 hours, but it is what it is. One day I had a 90 minutes of running, split in two, plus a full swim set, and work and practice. Fortunately for me it was a Friday so I woke at an unspeakable hour, ran for 50 minutes, swam for a bit over an hour, went to school, ran before practice, practiced and was in bed by 8:50 that night.

I'm pooped just rehashing it in my head! But, what makes it worth it is this quote I often think about:

"Somewhere in the world someone is training when you are not,

and when you meet them, they will win"

Pretty powerful for a competitive punk like myself.

Aside from the training, I've been delicately trying to run on my newest injury as of late. I haven't told Chris about this one because I think I'm pretty much over it. All it took was some new shoes, a date with the whirlpool, and lots of wincing. Back in September I was starting to feel some pain in my left achilles. Chris said it was probably just cranky as I was getting ready for my first half-ironman, plus I was in dire need of new shoes. Fast forward now to January and I had bought myself a pair of these bad boys:

Well, I've been slowly trying to change my foot strike to less of a heel and more of a 'natural' more toe-ish strike. It was going well until I started feeling achilles pain on my right side a few weeks ago. I ignored it for a while, because that's what I like to do. Ignore in the hopes of it just going away. Smart. Then I realized that the shoes I was running in were the same ones I bought in September....and trained and ran a marathon in. It was high time for some new shoes. So I bought a pair last Sunday, then ran in my old ones + Vibrams on the track on Thursday and could only do half of the set (still disappointed in myself). I bit the bullet and wore the new ones (I have problems breaking out new shoes) on Friday for both of my runs, and for my long run on Sunday and have had virtually no pain or discomfort since. They're more of a neutral shoe instead of stability and I've been running more on my toes in them and they feel great. I'm a convert. Suffice to say that I was totally letting my shoes kill me for some unknown reason.

Brooks Raveena 2

"Her feet are killing her, I call it shoe-icide"

I only just now realized those shoes had about 570 miles on them. WHOOPS!

The only thing I'm worried about now is that I took too long trying to acclimate myself to a new foot strike and I won't be able to really 'race' for my half marathon in 20 days (oh damn that's close). I was hoping to PR since it's the same course that I PRd on last year.

Aside from the whole foot strike thing going on, I'm still not where I want to be weight wise yet. Since January I've really gotten down on myself for being a lot slower than I was back in the fall running wise. I've also been really hard on myself in regards to my weight, and it wasn't until Sunday morning that I realized the two were COMPLETELY and utterly correlated. It seems like such a 'Duh' statement, especially after I said it, but it took me a while to realize. I couldn't figure out why my 30 minute Z-2 runs were at a slower pace than my 23 mile Z-2 training run for NY until I realized that I was a good 5-7 pounds lighter in the fall. I really need to get my act together here. I also think a lot of it has to do with the stress and lifestyle I have now compared to last year. Last year as a nanny I was stressed about the nap time of the kids I was watching and hoping I'd get my 3 hour nap. Now I'm stressed about being a first year teacher while making lesson plans, PowerPoint presentations, grading all kinds of stuff, meetings, student/parent problems, and a whole list of other stuff job-related. It's been tough. Not to mention: no more nap time.

Fortunately, I was running errands with my boyfriend and we went into a Border's book store in PA (which is going out of business) and I snagged this book for 50% off. It might become my new bible. New? Who am I kidding, it might just be my bible.

Yep. Bedside table. Perfect bible position.

Anyway, this is getting long enough as it is. I need to start blogging more again for the pure fact that it's annoying to spew paragraph after paragraph of mindless junk and re-cappage. Duly noted.

On the Wagon

2011-03-13T20:11:00.005-04:00

I've climbed aboard the band wagon and have decided to go gluten free for at least 3 weeks. I'm already 1 week in and so far don't feel much different but I think it'll take some time to really assess the new eating plan and see how it affects my training and tum.

The teacher in me is going to copy + laminate this to have at home and at school.

Such a dork.

As I write this I'm also checking out my next 4 week training block and with the added volume of running and swimming it looks like I'm really going to need to find some GF oatmeal, and stat!

You know the familiar phrase "oh sh**" that people say when they read/hear something unbelievable? Well, I read my new training plan and literally had to go to the bathroom right away. It's a tough one and is going to take a lot of planning and guts, but it's about time I get my ass in gear. My first race is but a mere 34 days away! (Rutgers Unite 1/2 Marathon) The swim sets might be what's scaring me the most. More yardage (I already squeeze it in when I swim at the gym before school, I may be forced to swim at school again), and a lot more stroke. I'm fine with breast and back, but I look like a dying moth in the water when I try to do fly. I guess I'll have to strap on some fins and hone in my skills, that is if I have any.

Tuesday's training will mark 1 year that I've been training under Chris and Breakaway Training (also 1 year of no missed/shortened training, I'm too type A sometimes). I can honestly say I've grown leaps and bounds under the guidance of Chris. It's incredible, and I can't thank him enough!

Immediately when I went GF (last Monday the 7th), I realized how much I've started reaching for convenience foods. Not usually anything terribly unhealthy, but I would eat them in unhealthy amounts (yes, I'll have a 4 pound bag of Craisins in a week). I never used to snack on things like Triscuits, pretzels, chocolate, cereal (half truth), and other carby goods, but I noticed that I really started to dig into this stuff once the winter months hit. All this really means is that I need to get more creative in making myself good snacks to rely on that will fill me up without filling out my jeans (1 pound of nuts or trail mix is NOT a good idea).

I always have the best of intentions to clean up my eats, but for some reason it takes a while for me to totally kick it. Going GF I hope will help me clean up, get back to the way I was eating around this time last year, and also help me feel better in general. My tum and I have been on separate wavelengths for a little while, especially recently, and it's time to put it in its place!

I'm happy that tomorrow is a rest day with a recovery week because my body and mind really need it. I also am glad since daylight savings sucks in the Spring and now I won't have to wake up at what seems like 3:30am. Win. Lacrosse season started and I've been SO tired recently that my whole body has been aching and my mind has been playing games with me. Some days I hate the training and want to be done, others I just try and mull through it, but the weather is getting nicer (except for all the damn wind, why is it ALWAYS windy when I'm outside for a ride?!) and I'm hoping that'll help things along a bit. I'm also glad this week is recovery because it's going to be a little bit of a tougher week at work. I work with an in-class support teacher since I have a lot of special ed students in my classes. Unfortunately, he's going on our junior class trip to Washington D.C. from Wednesday to Friday and it's going to be the 'Yasi show' for a few days. I don't have any major issues with my students, but sometimes it can get a bit difficult when I don't have someone else in the room with me. Ah well, C'est la vie! Life is full of challenges.

The Long Haul

2011-02-28T18:26:00.003-05:00

I'll be honest here and say that I haven't put in a full week at work since the second week of December. I know, it sounds a bit ridiculous to me too. Between going to St.Louis, winter break, trips to CT, snow days, President's day weekend, and mentor days I've not had a full week of work in a WHILE. All of that is about to change.

I've deemed this time period 'the long haul'. We've got 7 full weeks of school until spring break. Spring break has typically been in March in years past, but since Easter is so late this year, so is spring break. I'm telling myself it's a good thing that it's so late this year because that'll hopefully mean warmer temperatures during time off, but 7 weeks?! How will I make it?! Since I'm a first year teacher I do get mentor days once a month where I get to take the day 'off' and get myself caught up and chat with my mentor teacher. It's a nice day to get stuff done, unwind, and not have to be in the classroom (but I'm still in school). I'll take two of those between now and spring break, and definitely one personal day. You better believe I'll be taking a personal day when the weather is nice and I have a long ride planned. It will be bliss.

I realize I sound like a big complainer, and I realize that there are others that work M-F with very few days off, but teaching is tough and very draining. I now completely understand why teachers have summers off. It is completely and utterly necessary.

Lacrosse season starts up this Friday, but I've so enjoyed having afternoons to myself that I kinda-sorta want to run for it and not coach. Of course I will, but I can fantasize can't I?

The spring also means the start of Lululemon Run Club! I'm pumped to be leading the runs again, but it's going to be a lot of time between school, lacrosse, and Lulu, but wearing myself thin is what I do best, I guess? I was in Lulu a few weeks ago and saw my picture up on the wall. It was surreal, but very cool.

To kick off Run Club (every Monday night at 6:30 starting in March for all of you locals!), I'll be doing a run seminar next Monday the 7th. I've got a few ideas for topics I want to discuss/cover, but I want to get some ideas from everyone because I'm never sure of my decisions. So, I'm opening it up to you. What would you want to hear about and discuss if you were at a running seminar?! Please help!

Fresh Outdoors

2011-02-24T19:26:00.004-05:00

Not much to post about this week except that I got in TWO outdoor bike rides since Friday and a Thursday Track session outside today! Woohoo! I'm on a roll.

After a long winter, which I realize is still occuring, of too many hours inside on the trainer I just didn't care that it was in the mid-40s when I set out for a ride yesterday. I didn't have swimming after school (our girls sadly lost in the last relay on Tuesday, however, we're still State sectional champs!) so I had 2+ extra hours to my leisure of sunny skies and mild temperatures. Riding outside is addictive.

I cannot even put into words how hard I was cheesin' last Thursday on the track even though it was 4am. I had woken naturally at 3:29 and so I was full of energy. I was smiling ear to ear to be doing a track workout when it was 40 degrees and not chained to a treadmill.

After my swim I actually had time to dry and straighten my hair AND put makeup on. That was the first time that week when I looked semi-nice and I wasn't even teaching. I am world's worst example of looking good at work. On my drive to the high school for our staff in-service I saw a man riding his bike and I did a little jig in my seat. No lie. I was that happy and excited about the ride on Friday.

Friday's ride didn't disappoint and the temperature was just blissful. I was riding as the sun was coming out and was (and still am) so happy. Yesterday's ride was a bit more challenging and more intense, but I again was happy to be outside, and done all working out by 5:30pm.

Sometimes I wonder why I coach because it sucks up so much of my valued free time, but then I am reminded when I talk to my athlete's and see their excitement in talking with me about sports, or when I get little "I love you"s from my girls. Actually, that's just creepy, but still cute. The pay check I get at the end of the season helps a lot too!

After I got home from running, where I talked to some of my girls getting ready for lacrosse to start, I had some cuddle time with the Koda-cat in the kitchen. Usually this cat is schizophrenicly-crazy but today she was loving the loving from my scratching so I just rolled with it. She cuddled up on my lap which was perfect because it prohibited me from raiding my pantry. By the time she bounded away my urge to eat all the raisins and pour myself a bowl of Crispix had subsided. Now if only I could have her come to school with me to help me avoid the teacher's work room.

Sometimes she's a cute, cuddly kitty. Or she'll bite your face off if you're not careful.

Tomorrow I'm running and doing an easy swim (THANK THE LORD!) in the morning then herding some 30ish seniors to NYC to go to a museum to see an exhibit on the human brain. I know nothing, nor do I teach anything on the brain, I'm just going to be a chaperone. Should be fun though, I hear the exhibit is a good one. Then I'll be coming home to some ridiculous winds, rain, and high 50s weather. The question is: do I do battle with mother nature and fight out my second run in the elements or do I buckle and run at the gym for the second time tomorrow? I guess I'll figure it out when tomorrow comes.

SO happy it's almost Friday.

Change of Plans

2011-02-17T03:40:00.000-05:00

The 'warm' weather was calling my name this morning so I'm hopping out of bed, running on the track, then swimming at the gym with enough time to get home and make my breakfast, lunch, and snack before getting over to the high school.

So what if I look like a sess pool today? At least my endorphins will be surging.

Sprinter

2011-02-16T19:16:00.004-05:00

Sprinter (Spring+Winter) is in full force and I am fully in love. I just finished a ride on my trainer and I am so happy when I say that my next ride will be done outside. I just let out a sigh of relief typing that!

I was expressing my glee at swim practice today about the ride when another swim coach told me that it was possibly going to rain. I told him that I didn't care, I'd ride in it anyway if it meant that I got to be outside in 60+ degree weather. It makes me want to sing! (I also just watched Glee while on my bike.)

Our district has off school Thursday-Monday for President's Day weekend, but luckily for the teachers we get to go in ALL day tomorrow for staff development! JOY. I'm pissed I'm going to be missing the gorgeous weather and can't get in a quality track workout OUTSIDE. I've been doing all of them on the treadmill for a few weeks now since the track seems to be perpetually covered in snow. Also because it's too damn cold and I'm a princess.

Tomorrow is going to be a hell of a day since our girls also have the next round of states in the afternoon. Fortunately our professional development day doesn't start until 8am, but since I don't get any breaks during the day like I normally do at school and because I won't have any time after with states I have to do my swim + track in the morning. Holy bananas. This is going to be a major undertaking. I've been revising my plan in my head all day long

"No kids, I can't explain America's shift to a market economy in the 1800s, I need to re-write my to-do list for tomorrow for the 64th time". (Don't worry, I wasn't actually that negligent)

My only saving grace is that this is a recovery week so I only have to do 1/2 of the track workout which for tomorrow will equal 4.25 miles (2 miles of it is warm up and cool down). My two options are as follows:

Wake @ 4:30. Get to the gym and hit the treadmill at 5 with my bathing suit on. Finish track workout, run down to pool and swim my 3500 yds. Shower, dash home to pick up breakfast, lunch, snack and dinner then rush out the door to the high school.
Wake @ 4:30, go to the track and run outside (apparently it's going to be 36 at 4am) then use my swipe key to get in the school and swim then shower and get dressed and get over to the all day meeting.

I'm more inclined to do the outdoor track and school pool, but I do get creeped out being in a big school all by myself. Plus in the end I think it'd take more time to go from car to track to pool whereas at the gym it's all in an itty bitty location.

I've never had time in the morning on a regular school day to do two workouts in a row (unless I run outside before the gym opens), but I don't have to be at the high school until 8 and I don't have to get there super early like I do for a regular school day. I usually get to the school around 7:15/7:20ish for the 7:40 start time. I could afford to leave the gym at 7:30 and get to the high school in time. I typically leave the gym at 6:30 when I do just swim workouts (I head home first to get my food and sister, then to school). The only unknown here is how long it's going to take me to do my track workout. Average swim time is an hour 6 minutes. I am so number obsessed, why wasn't I a math teacher?

Once the morning workouts are done I get to be bored out of my mind while we do who knows what. We get a 45 minute break for lunch but aren't allowed to leave like we have in years past (I did this when I was student teaching). I feel like a kid again. I'm going to be leaving the school though at 2 so I can grab a salad from the grocery store and head back to my high school (there's two separate high schools in our district) for a little practice before we get on the bus and head up to North Brunswick high school. The girls meet starts at 6pm. So late! Then I'm hitting up a bar in PA with the swim coaches. A long night indeed I tell ya.

My Friday ride will be my reward for making it through Thursday, so I guess I have to make it through! The ride is scheduled for Saturday, but how can I pass up a 63 degree opportunity?! For now, it's early to bed. I've been getting no sleep recently, and I need every chance I can get to take take take. I'm selfish when I'm sleepy.

Things I Love

2011-02-07T18:36:00.008-05:00

This is going to be a simple picture list of things that I've been loving recently. Mainly because I don't have anything else to talk about. On with it!

Oatmeal Peanut Butter Waffles - Holy amazing. Whenever I have the time to make this, I do it. It's fantastic drizzled with agave, peanut/almond butter, sliced or smooshed bananas, and cinnamon. This poopy picture does not do it justice.

Carrots - I've been a long time fan (I eat 2-3 servings of carrots alone per day), and I cannot tell you how psyched I was to see these in the fridge. 5 pounds just for me?! Thanks Mom! I'm betting these will be finished by the 16th. Of February.

Peanut Flour - To me, it's the more awesome and affordable sister of PB2. I use this stuff to make my waffles mentioned above, some awesome cookies that are really healthy, in all of my smoothies, sometimes in oatmeal or greek yogurt, and countless other things. I nearly died when I read somewhere that it's being discontinued. Next time I'm at TJ's, I'm buying them out.

My Bed - I've been needing it more and more lately, but sleeping in it less and less. Case in point, I was up at 3:56 this morning to get a run in before a swim and before a faculty meeting at school. Ugh. It may seem small, but I make it work, and at the end of a long day there's no where else I'd rather be. (Yes, I'm 25 and still sleep with my bear. His name is Charlie)

Uggs - Save your breath, I already know what you're saying "How materialistic and snobby of her!". Well, to be honest, they've made my life so much easier. They're now the only shoes I wear to work and I'm comfortable and my feet are cozy warm all day long. Win win.

Dry Brush - Okay, so I haven't used it yet (just got it today), but I'm excited to experience the benefits, or psuedo benefits, of dry brushing. Anything that only costs $8.99 and rattles off a long list of benefits like this is worth a try. If all else fails, at least it will make my skin soft, and who doesn't love soft skin?

My Arms - Okay, I don't really love my arms (where's the muscle definition at?!), however, I love the extended yardage I'm putting in the pool because my arm hair is burning off from chlorine exposure (is that even safe? I really don't care). This was brought to my attention when I heard 2 of my senior girls talking about it. I thought they were bananas, until I looked at my arms. Hark! Less arm hair! This also is possibly the reason why I lay in bed at night uncomfortable with itchy, burning skin. Beauty is pain, right? (My apologies, this picture is more goose-bumpy than it is less arm hair)

Pumpkin Oatmeal - This combo is especially wonderful in an old almond butter jar. Perfect for transporting to work and having other teachers wonder what in the hell you're scarfing down out of a jar at 7:30am. I've rekindled my relationship with this duo, at least until my can of pumpkin is gone. My go to: 1/3 C oats, pumpkin (if avail), 1 T chia seeds, 1-2 T flax seed meal, water/almond milk, 1 T agave, 1 serving fruit (banana, apple, frozen raspberries, strawberries), and sometimes a nut butter if I'm feeling especially frisky.

Lentil Soup - If you are near a TJ's and you like lentils and middle eastern-ish cuisine, drop everything and go buy this soup. It is AMAZING. I just love it. So much so that I bought two at a time and have already gone through 4 total. What can I say? When I get food addictions, I GET FOOD ADDICTIONS. I think my addiction to nut butters and trail mix speaks for itself.

Sprinter - I just made that up. I love when there's random bursts of spring in the death of winter. Yea, I meant to say death. Winter practically eats my soul and I can't wait until it's over. These past two days we've had mid-40s temperatures and I was so happy. I forced my beau to go on a walk and I even heard birds chirping. However, the intermission is over and we're preparing for more frigid temperatures and some snow. Ugh. Death I tell you!

That's all for now. Swim practice was over a little early since they're tapering for states so I had some extra time on my hands. Huge congratulations to the kids on the swim team, girls got 1st in the county and boys came away with 3rd. They're awesome.Now, it's time to get ready for my bed!

groggy mornings

2011-02-04T05:32:00.002-05:00

My 13 hours of sleep from Tuesday night has quickly become a distant memory. The past two mornings have had me waking at 4:30 and 4 to get my workouts in but I've been going to bed late again. I blame my late-night on Thursday to the girls swim team (tonight it will be the boys fault).

Thursday-Saturday is counties for our area : prelims on Thursday (girls) and Friday (boys) and Saturday is finals. After last night I'd already had enough. The timing pads were being temperamental which meant more breaks than necessary were taken and we didn't get out of there until 9:3o. Fortunately the meet is at Lawrence highschool which is close to our HS, but I still didn't get home until 10. 5.5 hours at a swim meet and I am exhausted.

On the way home I reworked my training because I couldn't imagine being awake enough to focus on a 30 minute run in the early am, followed by a 3,500 yd swim workout then another 30 minute run sometime in the afternoon. Plus weather.com said it'd be around 14 this morning and 30 tomorrow. Sold!

It's going to be a bit warmer today, around 37 (I cringe at the thought that 37 is warm) which means tomorrow morning it will be nice enough outside to run, swim, & run, then head over to the HS to practice before finals.

I'm currently finishing up on my bike as I type this, and for now my plan seems like a great one, but we'll see what I say when I get home again at 10pm and my alarm blazes at 5am tomorrow (with the chance that it's being a 'wintry mix' outside).

Ugh. I can't wait for spring.

Productivity 101

2011-02-02T20:12:00.004-05:00

We got another day off from school due to snow/ice today and I've surprisingly gotten a lot done. I used to just laze the days away when I got off, but now I'm turning a new leaf and trying to be productive.

After our snow day last Thursday we had a 90 minute delay on Friday. The roads were fine and I decided to still go to the gym at 5 and do my swim and track workout as a brick instead of splitting it up. It was tough, but it was awesome to be done that early AND have only 45 minute periods on top of it. What a way to end the week. Plus, all I had to do on Saturday morning was swim before practice then get on the road to CT since I had done my long ride during the snow day. Double score.

Icy conditions on the east coast

CT was good, I showed my niece my hair and she smiled big. Made my heart melt a little bit. I got up and ran on Sunday and BOY is it hilly around those parts! Remind me to NOT bring my bike up there once the spring comes. That run totally kicked my A. But, sometimes I need it.

Right now I'm slow as molasses, I mean, 10:00 pace occasionally feels tough for me. Sometimes I get mad at myself for being 'slow' (for me), but then others I'm thankful that this is me now and tell myself that I'll get faster when the season really starts. I hope!

I'd been so tired these past couple days that I decided last night (before I knew we'd have off today) I should go to bed early. No lie, my head hit the pillow at 7:40 pm. It was such a wonderful night of sleep, especially when my phone binged and I got the message that we didn't have school today. I continued to sleep and didn't wake until about 8:40am. Hello 13 hours of sleep! I love when I catch up on sleep.

I made a good breakfast (one that I am loving right now when I have the time to make it) and chatted with another teacher about meeting in school to input my grades for the 2nd marking period. I also decided early in the morning that I would do my Saturday long ride today instead of later since the swim team has counties Thursday & Friday night and Saturday afternoon. It's going to be a LONG three days around the pool. So now instead I have a 2 hour ride on Saturday morning. An hour and a half saved is that much more time in bed!

After inputing most of my grades, I did recommendations for next year, rode my bike, read Runners World, did one more class of grades (I had to use the internet at home to see if kids had cheated), and decided to make some energy bars for the girls swim team for counties tomorrow. The girls will swim on Thursday, boys on Friday and finals are on Saturday. I found a recipe online that looked pretty good, especially since it didn't have any sugar, besides the natural sugar in the raisins. Unfortunately, when I tasted them out of the oven I realized that 14-17 year old girls love the sugar and probably wouldn't like my bars. Oh well, they're getting them anyway!

After bars, I prepped my breakfast, lunch, and snack for tomorrow then packed my swim stuff for the morning, my run stuff for the afternoon, and even flossed! When I get this much done in one day I realize how great it is to get the sleep I need.

And now, I'm wearing my retainer and desperately searching for my glasses. Productivity sometimes has its fallbacks. Goodnight.

Dire situation

2011-01-27T12:04:00.005-05:00

It's a dire situation here on the east coast:

I am so over all of this snow. In the past 15 days we've had two days off for snow and two 90 minute delays. I don't mind the delays so much as I do the snow days. Now what used to be a 5-day weekend for Memorial Day has turned into only Monday off. If we have any more snow days they'll come out of our Spring Break. Don't get me wrong, an unexpected day off during the week is really nice, but I'd much rather enjoy the spring weather with a day off than be stuck in the snow shoveling all morning.

I had thought I would still get myself over to the gym to do my swim and track workout (on the dreadmill), however after shoveling and snow blowing inches upon inches of snow and ice I don't think my arms could handle the swimming. I'm going to play a little game of switch-a-roo with my training and swap my days around. I think it will end up working out well since I'm going to CT this weekend from Saturday to Sunday. Here's what the rest of the week will look like:

Thursday: 3.5 hour Z-2 trainer ride (instead of track+swim)

Friday: track+swim (instead of just swim)

Saturday: swim (instead of long ride)

Sunday: 60 minute Z-2 run

It'll probably be better for me to get my ride in today so we can get on the road right at 12 on Saturday and I won't have to wake up at 4am to ride before and after swim practice. Now if we can negotiate NO snow showers on Friday or Saturday then all will be right in the world. Actually, if we can negotiate no more snow until I'm out of NJ that would be even better.

Now I'm strapping myself to my bike for the rest of the afternoon and finishing grading 2 classes quizzes. I got done the other two classes last night on the bike too and I felt so accomplished! It's the little things.

Guess what?

2011-01-24T04:40:00.003-05:00

So, these babies finally were ready to be picked up on Thursday:

Which meant that I actually got around to getting this done:

And now I look like this:

A little before action:

I love the hair cut, but it's going to prove to be difficult to stuff in my swim cap and get it up for a run. Small little nubby pig tails may be the way to go for now. I already miss my braids.

Heading up to Connecticut this weekend and I can't wait to present it to my niece. Thank you for all of you who passed along kind words and thoughts, my heart was deeply touched.

Locks

2011-01-18T05:40:00.000-05:00

I've been saving up these locks for someone that needs a lot of love. The last time I drastically cut my hair was November of '06. Since then I've only been trimming it every 6-8 weeks in hopes of donating it again to Locks of Love. At first I was going to cut it as soon as the wedding was over (end of November) because I was seriously getting sick of it. Then I started to like it again and would sometimes curl it, because I finally learned how. Then I got tired of it again. Over winter break I went and got myself a new pair of glasses. I decided then when the glasses were ready I'd get my hair cut and come into school as a whole new me. Then our family got some devastating news.

On Tuesday January 3rd I found out that my baby niece (who turned 7 that Friday the 7th) has Leukemia. It hit me like a ton of bricks as I obviously never would have thought that my vivacious niece was gravely ill. We had just spent time with her over Christmas and she was still the same old kid. She had been really upset about awful leg pains (which we later realized was the Leukemia), but that was really it. Since then it's been a lot of stress, little sleep, long drives to Connecticut, major juggling of work, training, coaching and visits and lots of tears. I've started to finally get a grip on things, but was really unsteady for a while. Being at school was just downright awful, running and biking never gave me any solace because I was left alone with my thoughts, and the constant questions of why I was so down at school left me in a puddle of tears.

Since we heard the news I've been up to see my babe twice with plans of getting up there again as soon as someone can come with. It's an awful 3.5 hour drive, but of course, it's worth it.

She is a goof. And also apparently a nice elbow rest.

When my sister initially told me about the cancer I was all to quick to tell her M could have my hair. We weren't sure what course of action we would have to take and how severe the situation was so there was no dire need to chop right away. Thursday morning while we were heading up (and my bf and I were sneaking in training at the gym) my niece was getting her first bone marrow tap. We found out only a hour before we were leaving that night that the cancer was a lot further along than they had previously anticipated. This means chemo (which has already been started), a definite bone marrow transplant, and will result in M losing her hair in the next 2-3 weeks.

My sisters and I are trying to find a local place that will take on our 'case' and make a wig for us using my hair non-profit. We'd also like to take a piece of all the aunts hair to put in the wig so she knows we're always with her. I think my niece wants to use my hair, but she keeps wavering back and forth. I know she wants long hair, and in the beginning I only wanted to cut off 10 inches (when I was going to give it to Locks of Love), but in all honesty I think I'd really consider shaving my head if I knew she wanted it all.

For now my sister is going to let her dye her hair green and yellow and let it do its thing. It's what M wants, and who are we to deny her those simple little pleasures?

As hectic and crazy as life has been since the 3rd, it's just going to stay the same or get worse. We were hoping that M and my sister and her bf could be moved down to CHOP (Children's Hospital of Philadelphia), but it looks like they're only going to take her case once she is ready for the bone marrow transplant. The hospital M is at doesn't do bone marrow transplants so they would have to be transfered eventually anyway. Originally it was to Boston, but we're all down here. CHOP sent the hospital where M is currently the plan of action they want them to follow for chemo so that's what's being done. I wanted so badly for them to come down here so they could have the support they needed and I could steal away and see my niece whenever I wanted to. It's selfish, but for all the right reasons.

For now there's not much else I can do besides be sure to keep myself healthy and available so I can visit whenever time permits. I've put in to be a bone marrow donor even though the chances are miniscule that I'll be a match for my niece (she is of Puerto Rican descent as well as the Persian that I am). I'm at the point now where any little thing I can do that I think will help, I'll do. I never thought we'd be in a situation like this.

With that said, I'm doing all I can to get the training in and keep myself on an even level. As time has passed I've gotten a lot better with the news but there's still times where the reality of it all hits. For a while the only solace I could find in training was during my swims where I could only keep my mind focused on laps, splits, and yards, but with time I've been able to find solace in my running and biking as well. On the one hand it's a great relief to workout and work it out in my head, but on the other hand I almost feel guilty, like instead of being on a bike for 3 hours I should be in the car driving to see her.

For now we're all just taking it one day at a time and figuring it all out as it goes. All I can do is make skeleton plans and not be irritated if I have to drop everything or if plans change and I can't make it up to CT (like what happened this weekend).

I only divulge all this information because of the frequency of which I'll be traveling to CT, and because of the possibility of a picture appearing of me with a shaved head. The probability of that happening is low, but you never know!

Resolutions and Goals

2011-01-13T19:40:00.001-05:00

Though I'm 8 (ahem, 13) days late, I figure I should still review last years goals and hold myself accountable for goals in 2011.

I'm actually really happy with meeting all of my goals for the 2010 year. Last year my resolutions were as follows:

In the pool at least 2x/week: 1/2 check. I was in 3x/week for the most part until major marathon training took place.

Bike trainer 2x/week: Check. Now I just need to actually do work on it.

More speed work for running: Being on the track every Thursday has knocked this one way out of the park.

Work hard rest hard: Eh. Work hard, yes. Rest hard? Next!

Get stronger: My body just doesn't want to gain muscle. Still needs work.

More yoga: I fell off after a little while, got back on, then stopped working at Lululemon and fell off again.

Run a marathon: CHECK!

Run 1,000 miles: So happy I got this. Finished the year at 1,114.78 (So tempted to run that extra .22)

PR for a half-mary: Check!

Cook more: 1/2 check. Definitely more, but not as much as I'd like.

Have a teaching job for the fall: This came as a major surprise, but it happened.

Eat more protein: I started using protein powder, but now I don't eat any meat, so I think it's a fail.

Be more social: Eh.

Be happy: Working on it.

I've seen a lot of what my body and mind can and can't do and I want to push the envelope a bit more this year. I surprised myself by PRing in a half-marathon, completing a half-ironman and completing a marathon. I don't think I'll be doing any new distances this year, but I'm ready to add more longer races to the schedule and really push myself. I want to get faster on the bike, improve my run and get more efficient in the water. None of this is measurable just yet because I don't have specific goals, but I'll get there.

2011

More sleep: All too often I sit idly by the computer late into the night when I should just turn it off and go to bed. I've got a little obsessive compulsiveness when it comes to my google reader.

More social: Again, I need to see my friends more.

Run 1,200 miles: After hitting 1,114 this year I think I can make 1,200

Work on my swim: I want to get my 100s (yards) down to 1:28-1:30

Pay more attention to the blog: I used to post just about every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. Now this blog gets about as much attention as my legs do in the winter. Yea, gross.

Cook: Eating more diverse protein will also fall under this category. I love cooking and need to do it more. Especially since the past few weeks all I've been bringing to school for lunch is a banana and some carrots. That makes for a really grumpy coach come swim practice time.

Less peanut M&Ms: The boy is really sad at seeing this, but it's got to be done. He's the enabler of the peanut M&M relationship, but I've been good so far. I've only had 8 this year and refused another 4 when 'the enabler' had them right under my nose.

5-7 pounds off by Feb: This may be a little lofty (especially since it's already mid-Jan), but last April I was down to 119. I held that off until about June when I got up to 120ish (thanks to way too many peanut M&Ms) and it wavered between 120-121 until I started marathon training where I stayed at 122. Now it's post-holidays and I'm somewhere around 123-127? (depends on the day I suppose). So maybe 5-7 is a lofty number, but I need to lose some weight.

Look more professional @ work: I took this one from Beth, but I've really let myself go since I've gotten comfortable in my position at work. Makeup hasn't graced my face in weeks (for other reasons too) but I just don't care anymore about how I look, especially when I'm juggling multiple workouts in a day. On second thought, maybe I'll ditch this resolution.

PR a half marathon

Under 4 hours in a marathon

Pursue my future: I won't get into it much now, but I've realized that the teaching thing is not for me. I'm figuring out how to spend part of my summer finding out what it is exactly I want in my future and what kind of career I can see myself in.

Yoga: Always need more yoga in my life.

I've certainly got goals I want to execute for racing this season, but they're pretty abstract, or are particular times to a certain race. We don't need to get that nitty-gritty here.

Now it's time to go work on that sleep goal.

Toilet Troubles

2011-01-04T12:14:00.000-05:00

I need to sneak in this quick post before my 'goals/resolutions' post because it's too funny not to share.

I was up all night because I was all hopped up on the energy of getting to wake up super early and use some new gifts I received over the holiday. It's the small things I get excited about (ie a headlamp). Anyway, I had to be out super early because swim practice was at 5:50am and I wanted to get to the school early so I could run some photocopies for my classes. Finished my run, got to school, forgot the folder to make copies. D'oh! My productive morning was already taking a step back. Fortunately my 15 year old sister goes to the school I teach at (weird right?!) so I just texted her asking to bring it when she came in. I also decided to get my swim training in after the team was out of the pool so I didn't have to do it during lunch and my prep periods. I knew I would be a little late to class since I had to run copies, but I'm spoiled and have another teacher that I team teach with so I knew he could handle the class for a bit.

Anyway, this is getting long so I'll get to it. During my swim the PE classes came in (they all take a swim course during high school) and ended up back in the locker room the same time I did. I thought it would be highly inappropriate if I changed in front of them (still under a towel) so I squeezed myself into the smallest stall alive. I threw my pants and shirt over the stall door and placed my 'unmentionables' on top of the toilet paper dispenser. I know it's gross, but it's better than the floor! As I turned around to grab said unmentionables, the towel that was entwined in my hair somehow knocked my stuff off the toilet paper dispenser and RIGHT INTO THE TOILET. I immediately grabbed my stuff out of the toilet but knew I was screwed. Since I had worn my bathing suit to practice I had nothing to change into, and there was no way I could go around without a bra on, I mean, I teach in a high school! Fortunately (it's all relative), my underwear got the most wet so I wrapped my bra in my towel for a few seconds and just nixed the underwear all together. I had already planned on going home for lunch, but I still had to teach for two hours with a damp, soggy, bacteria infected bra and no underoos. I felt disgusting.

As soon as lunch was over (I stayed to chat with people), I got home, peeled off my clothes and threw them all in the wash. I then showered and exfoliated and put on different clothes.

I'm trying to tell myself that anyone else in my situation would do the same thing (only because I don't want to feel gross and dirty for doing it myself), but, would you?

Holiday Recap

2011-01-02T20:04:00.010-05:00

Our crew of girls is pretty BA(badass).

Yes, these are all my sisters, with sunglasses. Don't ask.

Before I get into the resolutions for 2011 I want to back-track to what happened over my break. The holidays were wonderful and it was splendid to see family and friends, and also to get sleep and not have to wake up before 5:30am ever. I received some wonderful gifts which will help with training tremendously, but for right now my most used gift is these pretty puppies:

Actually, they're reindeer. I hate when my feet are cold and these are just perfect. I could go on and on about how much I love them, but I'll end it there. The other gift I think I'll get crazy use out of is this baby:

And I'm totally going to wear it like that. Beefy arms and everything, only I got it in blue.

I already have an iPod, but it's a bit cumbersome and bulky and this little gadget clips right to my clothes. I actually haven't used it yet (*note, as of 1/4 it's been used, love it) because I've been spoiled and have only had to do 3 solo workouts since Christmas day. Former classmate Adam who now lives in San Diego was home for a bit and joined me for 3 of my 4 swim workouts and my track workout. My boyfriend joined me for the track, 2 runs, and an impromptu swim session that wasn't on my schedule. I was pretty spoiled.

I never realized it before because I always swim solo, but swimming with someone else really has major benefits. The first time Adam and I swam together I had 10x100 for one of my main sets and I busted out 1:34 for 8 of them (the last two were 1:36). I didn't even know I had it in me! Swimming with Adam was great as it gave me some accountability and was a great way to catch up.

NYE was spent with a couple hometown friends (Adam being one of them), a co-worker and her husband, and my sig-o. I will attribute having a blast due to the fact that we played X-Box Kinect. It was AMAZING. I couldn't believe how accurate it was, and how big of a loser I looked in the videos and pictures! I did the track events and was seriously special running in place and jumping over hurdles. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that my HR got significantly higher.

NYE crew.

My boyfriend and I had plans to do the Hamilton Hangover race on 1.1.11 (like I did last year), but we found out the night before that it was changed to a 5k due to the snow so we said F it and did our own run. Saturday was supposed to be a rest day, and a 75 minute run on Sunday so we did the run Saturday and I rested on Sunday. My knee is still bummed from spending 3 hours on the spin bike a couple weeks ago and was really hurting during the run, oh well. After the run we went to the high school to swim so I could give some technique tips to my bf. It was the 5th time in 6 days I was in the pool. My skin was/is screaming for some moisture! A nice and easy 1,000 yards later and we resolved to trying to get it in at least once/week.

Representing Breakaway Training

Break was nice and going back to work was a rude awakening. I'm now counting down until spring break. April 15th get here soon!

Bloody Track

2010-12-23T20:58:00.000-05:00

This is Part II of the two part series on bloody noses while training. It is yet to be decided whether or not the series will continue, but for now I'm pretty happy with it ending on the second.

My second awful bloody nose happened the Thursday before break while doing my track workout. I did the warm-up, then waited for the guy to come out of the bathroom before doing the intervals. While he was gone, my nose started bleeding and wouldn't stop. It was just flowing. So we got the trainer, and he gave me some 'tampons' to shove up my nose so I could continue the set. Some of the intervals were Z-2, others Z-3, and when I was pushing it hard my nose would bleed more. Instead of taking the :15 seconds rest between each interval I had to take about a minute to re-adjust the blood absorber and often times change it. I went through 4-5 of the nose tampons in about 40 minutes. It was a mess, but I'm happy to say that I got it done and rocked my first track workout since October. I looked like a goof, but whatever works, right?

I'm really behind on getting my sh*t together on the blog. I thought I'd be on top of it all during break, but I've just been living this past week and getting stuff done that I've put off for a while, like getting glasses with a prescription that works and seeing old friends. Also dealing with our wicked 1.5 feet of snow that arrived on Sunday.

That's all for now, I've got to get a lot of lesson planning done tonight and still try to get to bed early so I can let a friend in the pool tomorrow morning for a swim session. New Years 'resolutions' and training from this past week will come soon!

Bloody Trails

2010-12-21T20:20:00.000-05:00

I'm not even going to try to re-cap what happened last week while I was MIA. I came back from St.Louis (great trip!) and was stressed to the max to hammer out a stellar lesson for an important observation. I had been stressed about this observation since before Thanksgiving break and it was SO NICE to have it finished last Thursday. I was immediately relieved, then as the day wore on I was just more and more exhausted and physically run-down. I felt better on Friday and spent the night cooking and baking. I made a slamming (if I do say so myself) butternut squash soup and some cookies to be gifted to my boyfriends sisters. I made more edible treats Tuesday night because I just love the holidays.

Think a peanut butter blossom but with a chocolate base and a candy cane peppermint kiss! Delicious.

Saturday I had practice plus a 3 hour ride and a 30 minute run (carried over from last weekend). I didn't want to put myself through the torture of riding outside, so I went to the gym where I thought I'd be able to get in a more quality ride. 3 hours on a spin bike takes dedication. Good thing I brought quizzes to grade, 2 Runner's World magazines, and my iPod. I actually got a bunch of quizzes graded, but not without some really crappy handwriting. I've already told the kids though that I grade stuff on my bike now so I suppose it's to be expected from here on out. I just haven't told them that I occasionally sweat on them. It's fine though, it's not smelly.

I had some pain in my right knee once I was finished but I brushed it aside and pounded out 30 minutes on the treadmill (next to one of my lacrosse players) before heading home. As soon as I got off the T-mill I knew something was up. My knee was pretty painful and especially hurt going up/down stairs. I tried limiting it as much as possible and by the time Sunday rolled around I was okay. Not great, but not too uncomfortable.

I had a 45 minute run and I decided to mix some trails in (much like this run) to put a little spice in my life. The temperatures around here have dropped, and so has the dryness in the air. Prior to Sunday, I had gotten 2 bloody noses since I came back from St.Louis (that's 2 in a 6 day span). First one was while I was on my trainer at home. What a pain! The blood clot that came out was at least 2 inches long. Too much information? Sunday I decided to wear a white fleece running hoodie and went on my merry way. I was already on the trails when my nose started to drip. I used my gloves to wipe, and though they are black, I noticed the blood right away. I looked down and saw that the front of my hoodie was all blood splattered. F. I just kept sniffing and wiping with my gloves. I stopped at the turn around to tie my laces and as soon as I bent down the blood just started dripping. It looked like a murder scene! I grabbed a leaf and heard someone ask me if I was okay. I turned around and they were quite startled by my appearance. I assured them I was fine, "Oh, this happens all the time!" I said. I dashed home with blood all over my nose and on my hoodie. I must have looked crazed and insane.

My fun weekend of festivities didn't end there! I built a 'gingerbread' house on Sunday night out of graham crackers. Oh, I love the holidays.

Today (Tuesday) was 'Pig Out Day' at school and everyone either brought in a dish or brought money for food to be catered. There was SO MUCH FOOD. I avoided it like the plague (except for a few chocolate dipped pretzels and a piece of pie). I ate my veggies and snuck out to the gym to get in another run. I don't know that I've ever felt so much pain before while running. It was almost excruciating. Chris had said the pain was probably just due to being on a spin bike for so long that's not catered to the specifics of my body, so from here on out it's the trainer. I just don't know why I was in so much pain today as opposed to Sunday when I ran. That being said, after practice I saw the school trainer, brought a bag of ice home and iced my knee after making some holiday pretzel treats. I iced for 1 hour 20 minutes while watching Despicable Me (maybe my new favorite movie).

Tomorrow is a swim and a bike ride then Thursday is my debut back to the track in what feels like years. I could have cried when I saw in on the schedule again. Thankfully Thursday is a half day and next week we have off, but after that it's going to be hard to find the time to get on the actual track when it's not 5am and 8 degrees outside.

I already wish it was Spring.

A chill in the air

2010-12-08T18:44:00.002-05:00

The bone chilling winter temperatures have hit and I've declared to anyone who listens that I will be cold from here until June. I wasn't always this way, but in the recent years I have become a VERY cold person. I love love the summer and hot heat for this reason, but in the late-fall, winter, and early-spring I am just miserable. Why I choose to coach during the cold months and subject myself to the cool air is beyond me.

Although I am not training for anything in particular, I still have long rides on the weekend to keep my aerobic base up. Last weekend I had all intentions of biking outside, but once I walked out of the bubble (our pool) it was so windy and chilly that I wussed out and chained myself to the trainer for the 2.5 hours. I was so bored and sweaty that I told myself I'd ride in anything over 40 degrees to save myself from the living room adventures (especially since my rides after that are all 3 hours).

I kept to my word this past weekend and ventured out on the bike straight from swim practice in what was supposed to be a 3 hour ride. The sun was shining when I left the school, and I wasn't immediately cold so I thought I'd have a nice ride on my hands. I could not have been more incorrect. It was the suckiest, most miserable, worst ride to date. Little did I know that the temperature was actually lingering around 36F. Not soon after I started riding did I realize how windy it was (or maybe it's just that in the summer the wind is welcomed) and the clouds started rolling in. I was dressed in layers, but my toes were on riot.

About 56 minutes into my ride the tears started coming. I'm not talking "Oh it's so windy my eyes are watering tears", I'm talking hysterical cries uncontrollably escaping my chest. After just one hour my toes were so cold and achy I was in flat out pain. Any time the slightest wind blew I started crying and had to talk myself down from getting hysterical. I tried tricking myself over and over again to stay out for the full 3 hours, but once I hit 2 hours and was closer to home I knew I needed to get there. The cries were becoming more frequent and were longer in duration (it kind of sounds like I'm talking about going into labor here!). Seriously, it was just plain misery.

I got home and my watch read 2:15:00. Well, the calendar said a 3 hour ride, so that just wouldn't do! I was a blubbering mess by the time I got myself up to the front door, but I pushed past my mother (who so graciously helped me get myself in the house) and demanded that I needed to get on my trainer for another 45 minutes. My mom yelled at me, in a motherly way, but I'm stubborn so spinning I went! It was a little painful at first on my feet still, but after a few minutes I warmed up, and calmed down. My mom also filled my water bottle with warm water, perfect!

After that debacle I doubt anyone will see me on the road in temperatures anywhere below 60 degrees. You don't have to tell me I'm a baby, I know, I just hate the cold.

This week has proven to throw another set of challenges my way with juggling work, coaching, training, and travel. I'm heading to St.Louis this Friday-Monday to visit my family and will have no access to a pool or bike while I'm out there. Obviously I can just dash out the front door for my run. I'm not one to skip a workout, in fact my streak of not missing one nor finishing one is still going strong since I started with Chris in March, so I'm trying to fit in my weekend workouts ahead of schedule. Especially that three hour bike ride + 30 minute run this Saturday. What it's coming out to being though is me fitting my Saturday ride in with my Thursday training. For tomorrow my plan is as follows: wake up and run at the gym for 45 minutes. Go straight to the high school to warm up and swim my workout while the high schoolers warm down, school some kids during the day, kick ass at our swim meet, then come home and glue my ass on the trainer for 3 hours. Fortunately I've saved up a bunch of TV shows to watch while pedaling away (2 episodes each of Community, The Office, and Glee). I've started grading papers and quizzes on my early morning ride sessions, but unfortunately/fortunately I don't have any to do tomorrow. I'm not planning on doing the 30 minute run after because it's just been too damn cold outside at night (and I'm running in the morning). But, you never know with me. If I don't do it, I'll tack it on to next weeks ride.

I'll worry about my 60 minute run that's scheduled for Sunday when I get out to St.Louis. Apparently it's going to be 19 degrees on Sunday with flurries and raining on Saturday. Maybe I'll beg my Aunt to take me to the gym. That could work? I should be back on Monday in a decent time to either swim at school after our practice, or go to the gym to swim there. I know this plan sounds crazy/insane/stupid, it sounds like all the above to me too, but that's just how I am. If I've got a schedule, I've got to stick to it. I'm stubborn like that. Here's hoping the blogs, online TV and regular TV can keep me sane on the trainer for 3 hours. I'm looking forward to good food and lots of rest this weekend. Sleeping in and multiple naps are JUST what I need right now. That and winter break!

Swimming>Life

2010-12-01T19:40:00.004-05:00

I never thought I'd say this, but, swimming is taking over my life! I knew committing to coaching swimming would be huge, but you never really realize how much of your time it takes up until it happens.

Not only do we have practice Monday through Saturday, but we also have practice on Tuesday and Thursday mornings at 5:50 and meets on Tuesday and Thursday afternoons. Fortunately there's another assistant coach so we'll each take one of the morning practices so I only have to do one a week. I'm also swimming 3x a week for my training. The smell of chlorine is burned into my nostrils.

I used to think I was relatively good at my time management before, but this is bringing it to a whole new level! I depend on my early mornings to get my workouts in since I don't have time after school, but yesterdays practice tested my limits. I had a 90 minute ride on tap plus a 30 minute run right after. I didn't want to be running at 8pm nor did I want to get up at 3am in order to get in my training plus a shower before practice started. Fortunately I had a 2 hour chunk of time off of school so I went home and did the damn thing. I made it to practice just in time.

Today we had our first meet (Wednesday meets not typical, meets are allowed to start December 1st, so we had at it), but I had a ride and swim to get done. That's easily a 2.5 hour workout. I woke up in the morning and got on my bike, then I went to school, taught for an hour, then snuck away to the pool and swam alone for about an hour. Then one of the PE teachers hopped in and joined me. It was nice going solo in the pool because I got to test out my butterfly to see how bad I was. Trust me, it was horrendous. Once I get comfortable with setting it up on my own, I'll put in our underwater speakers in the pool during my workouts. That's right, doing laps to some tunes!

The work at school has ramped up a bit too so I'm really feeling the pressure on all ends. But in the end, it's [almost] all been worth it. I've been stressed and tired to the max (to the point where I almost burst in tears when I saw that a fellow teacher took and ate a banana off my desk), but I'm learning so much. I'm growing as a person in my work place and also learning a TON about swimming. It's great being able to see what the kid's do wrong in practice and hear the other two coaches explain how it's done and putting it into practice myself. I'm already trying to figure out when I can actually hop in the pool with them. I told the coaches that I'd toe the line in lane 6 since I'm a slug in the water compared to those tadpoles. I don't mind getting schooled by some high schoolers, they know I'm only a triathlete!

The next few days are relatively mellow. Early morning run tomorrow with a swim meet after school, early morning swim on Friday + practice, 9-11am practice Saturday followed by 3 freezing hours on my bike (I did 2.5 inside on the trainer last week, I'm trying to postpone doing that again for as long as possible), and an easy breezy Sunday with just an hour run. Tell you what though, as easy as the end of the week sounds, the beginning of the week put me on my ass. I'm ready for the weekend!

swim, run, & froyo fun

2010-11-23T08:45:00.004-05:00

I'm thankful for:
The fact that tomorrow is a half-day and I don't have work again until Monday.
After the shenanigans of this weekend I am so tired I can hardly keep my eyes open (said as I type this up in the teachers work room). The wedding this weekend was SO MUCH FUN, I didn't want it to end! It was a beautiful ceremony and great reception and I am so happy for the newlyweds. I also kinda sorta didn't even mind that I took a rest day on Saturday because I danced my heart out all night long. Seriously, major workout.

Maids

Typical J and Yas racing photo..had to do it

Beautiful bride

Sunday the sun was shining so when I got home I took my bike outside for a nice paced ride. I find that I'm much more thankful and excited for any rides I can get outside since the impending weather change is right around the corner.

Chris sent me my new training block which I started yesterday. Up bright and early to hit the pool! I hadn't done an actual swim workout since September, and I was excited. I started feeling a cold coming on when I woke up on Sunday morning, and by Monday morning I was really feeling it. My body was tired and a bit sore from getting groovy on Saturday and my throat was achy. Into the pool I went! I don't know if swimming made me feel any better, but I didn't feel worse. I did feel a little slow, but that will get better as I just keep swimming (3x a week baby!). I also had a 30 min run on tap, which was my first run since the marathon, and decided to hit the pavement with some Lulu's in Princeton. We had some nice evening weather and I was really happy to be running again. It felt great and effortless.

To be honest, I didn't even miss running while I wasn't doing it for the 2 weeks. I never got jealous or envious of people I saw running which really showed me that I needed that break, but once I started last night I almost didn't want to stop. It was bliss. Then I went to Twist after for some froyo and my day was complete.

This morning I set my alarm for 4:30 to get in a ride before school, but I just couldn't do it. I had no energy to get myself out of bed so I'll ride tonight after swim practice. Sometimes, you just have to let sleep win, especially when you know you'll be waking up at the crack of dawn for the next two days to get training in.

Riding for Recovery

2010-11-17T19:46:00.000-05:00

I'm still on the road to recovery, and I'm loving [almost] every minute of it. It's so nice to have free time on the weekends without having to dictate my schedule depending on my long runs. I've been doing as I please and it's been pretty grand, although I will say that I do miss my my old routines.

I love having the structure and responsibility that comes with a full training calendar, but when Chris gave me the two weeks following NYC, I was a little overwhelmed. Not because there was too much, but because there was too little. Since last Monday, my schedule was a rotation of 90 minutes high cadence on the bike or rest. Of course in my infinite wisdom I shuddered at the very idea of taking that many rest days and I've been on my bike or a bike in some capacity everyday but last Monday.

I've gotten a ton of advice from Whitney about taking it easy and giving my body a rest (better now than during season!), but I've been telling myself that 90 minutes high cadence on the bike every other day followed by 30 minutes on the spin bike and 30 minutes of core/ab work won't do any damage. Right? I mean, I'm in a wedding this weekend! And then it's Thanksgiving! And I can't very well pack on the weight before the holidays. And then....well then I'm sure I'll find another excuse. But in all honesty, as much as I don't want to add any weight, I also don't want to lose any fitness. I feel like I've worked so hard this year getting to where I'm at and I don't want to reverse it all by being negligent. However, because of the wedding and time on Saturday (and the fact that I still won't be able to lace up my sneakers) I'll be forced to take the rest day on Saturday. Who knows, maybe I'll get spunky and throw in a mini-workout before I get my hair did.

This past weekend I couldn't keep myself from getting on my bike and riding outside even if I wanted to. It was in the 60s from Friday-Sunday! There was a work sponsored happy hour on Friday, but I skipped home as fast as I could to get on my bike before it got too dark. I went to happy hour later and munched on the leftover wilted celery sticks. I totally didn't mind. I'll take fresh air and the wind in my face over a stiff drink any day. Saturday was a 90 minute high cadence ride and I went up with the track/cross country coach/boyfriend to Holmdel, NJ for the State Group 4 championships. I wanted to get my ride in, but I also wanted to support the school (and some of my students). However, again, my bike ride took precedence. There was no where to ride in the actual park because it was swarming with kids so I took to the [unknown] open roads and found my own way. It was HILLY as heck, but I survived and tried not to exert too much energy. I actually did 12 laps through Holmdel high school parking lot because I was scared to venture onto the roads and subject myself to steep hills and people who were unfamiliar with the roads. Then I grew some balls and got out there. By the time I finished my ride the boys and girls were all done and it was time to go back to the car. I was thinking about them though!

Sunday I decided to soak up the weather again because it was still lingering in the 60s. It was gorgeous and I was just happy.

Although my blood blister hasn't bothered me at all (not even during the marathon), I decided it was high time to pop the sucker. I'm getting a pedicure on Friday for the wedding and figured I wouldn't scare the lady off with my funky looking toe so I took matters into my own hands. It was kind of yuck, but it's all cleaned out and still feeling fine! Of course I took some pictures to document:

Thumbs up toes up!

Swimming started on Monday so my afternoons are now occupied again until at least February. It's been good so far, but I still haven't made it into the pool. What was I saying again about swimming during recovery? Oops. I've been doing my trainer rides typically after practice and going to the gym in the early am. I got off my bike tonight at 7pm and realized that I'd be back on a spin bike in 10 hours. Awesome. On that note, I'm off to get ready for bed.

One more thing

2010-11-12T06:08:00.002-05:00

I forgot to mention my time in my race report. Oops.

Like I said I hit 13.1 at 1:57:41. I obviously couldn't do the math in my head at that point, but I knew my splits were a little under 9:00 min/miles and I was pretty psyched. I had told myself and others that my range was 3:58- 4:02:30. This would have given me a 9:05-9:15 pace, what I had been pacing for all of my long runs. I knew I could do it since I'd done it before, so it was just a matter of execution.

Of course I slowed down a little bit after the 13.1, but I still ended within my range at 4:02:02. Typically I'm not happy with my times, but I can honestly say I'm happy with this one. Not only did I hit within my range, but the numbers are (to me) just about perfect. I'm a bit OCD when it comes to numbers and counting, so getting all even numbers for my finishing time was pretty much wonderful. I'm odd, I know.