Nope, we're not ready to go Vegan :-)

The family wanted sliders tonight so I caved and BBQ'd, I guess we all have days like that.  Everybody enjoyed them :-)

Today's workout didn't happen, a stomach bug has decided to hit our house, it is nothing that will lay you out for hours, or make you spend the night on the bathroom floor but it is bad enough that when it hits you better not hesitate when you run to the bathroom!  It was because of this that I chose not to go out side for my run and thankfully so since I only ran for about 10 minutes total on the treadmill before I was done in.  Tomorrow is another day, hopefully I will get my run in then.

I planted carrots, radishes and peas in the garden today!  I am beside myself with excitement, I just love to garden, I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE it!  It is probably too cold but I don't care, the cost of three packets of seeds is totally worth it!

My co-worker among may others will be running the Boston Marathon tomorrow, I have been thinking about her a lot this weekend-what an accomplishment just to qualify!  Tina, I'm thinking about you and I hope that this time you have the best race of your life!!

Have a happy day!

Excellent ride!!

Picked my bike up after a tune up today and it rode GREAT!!! It actually shifted into my large chain ring on the first try, woo hoo! Now I get to have a glass of wine…

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/20/2009
• Time: 19:48:39
• Total Time: 1:00:06.00
• Calories: 947
• Distance: 19.74 miles
• Average Speed: 19.71 mph
• Max Speed: 23.6 mph

Cycle - 1.2 hours - 05/17/2009

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/17/2009
• Time: 20:52:38
• Total Time: 1:10:09.00
• Calories: 1105
• Distance: 20 miles
• Average Speed: 17.11 mph

Cycle - 2 hours - 05/16/2009

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/16/2009
• Time: 09:21:10
• Total Time: 1:59:00.00
• Calories: 1562
• Distance: 30 miles
• Average Speed: 15.13 mph
• Max Speed: 31.4 mph

Cycle - 0.5 hours - 05/13/2009

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 05/13/2009
• Time: 19:19:05
• Total Time: 00:30:34.00
• Calories: 481
• Distance: 9.1 miles
• Average Speed: 17.86 mph
• Max Speed: 25 mph

Fantastic Mother's Day weekend!!

I know that I am one of the luckiest mom's on the planet!! First I woke up to the command that I could not get out of bed! There was too much going on in the kitchen so I hollered down to see if I could have a cup of coffee delivered, sure enough the cutest waitstaff showed up with a new travel mug full of piping hot coffee with just the perfect amount of half and half added. A few minutes later I am served breakfast in bed; scrambled eggs, turkey bacon, OJ and chocolate chip pancakes, awesome!

I was then treated to the most amazing help while I weeded the garden, was told to go out on my run, it was Mother's Day, take all the time I wanted. After 11 miles I was ready for a little more to eat and a little more coffee so the crew met me at Starbucks for a venti iced coffee and a pumpkin scone and most importantly a ride home!

After a short rest we headed to the pool for some swimming and playing, on the pool deck was a present, my friend got me some serious "bling" for Mother's Day, TYR "bling" goggles, they are pink and blingy and I love them!!! After swimming we were off to Baskin Robiins for some Peanut Butter and Chocolate ice cream, a perfect day of family and good food!

I sat out on the back patio smiling while I thought back on the day, it was good from end to end. It's funny, my grandfather passed away exactly one year ago today and while I expected to be sad I am pretty sure he helped to contribute to my fantastic day, in fact, I don't think that it was a coincidence that today was the nicest weather day we have had all year, he probably just wanted to be sure that we all had beautiful days, that is just the kind of guy he was; man I miss him...

I may very well be one of the luckiest people on the planet!

37 days til race time!!

I knew that the race was coming up but 37 days seems really close! I went in to quick care today and was diagnosed with seasonal allergies and sinusitis; my ear drums are bulging but not infected so that was really good news! I started taking Claritin tonight, hopefully that will shoo all of these aggravating symptoms away; I want to feel like myself again. I have never really experienced allergies and I have to say that I do not like them!!

More than my allergy symptoms, I am frustrated with my nutrition. I am dragging a lot of the time lately and as my workouts get longer and more intense I am finding myself zapped of energy. I had hoped to lose 1 pound a week for 5 week prior to the race but I have put that on hold, I just need to find the right mix of protein, fat and carbs. I think I am eating too much fat because I LOVE avocado (and cheetos, did I say that out loud?), but that is the good kind of fat, right?

Anyway, I hope that this post doesn't sound too negative, I am not feeling negative at all, maybe just a bit overwhelmed, I want to be my best on race day!!!

PS - even thought it kind of freaked me out that the race is only 37 days away, I am also really excited!

PSS - I signed up to volunteer at Ironman, hopefully I will get to be a "catcher" at the finish line!!!

Sick week

This is the end of a tough week of training! I ended up getting sick on Wednesday and I cannot seem to shake whatever it is, I feel the same today (if not worse) than I did when I first started coming down with it. I ended up 4.75 miles short on my running distance and so far about 1200 yards short of my swimming distance...I am going to hit the quick care office this afternoon and see if they can help me. Training is getting way too intense to be laid up!!

I hope you all have a great week ahead!!

Brutal headwind and a bike crash...

I couldn't get anybody to ride with me today, shortly after heading out I figured out why. the temperature was up to 42 by the time I left, but unbeknown to me a 21 mph headwind was kicking up. It was pretty brutal, I can honestly say I felt like I was going to cry a couple of different times throughout the ride. to put a cherry on top of the worst ride I have had in a long time I crashed, then I REALLY wanted to cry! I removed a little skin from my left flank and my left elbow is skinned and KILLING me. I almost called JP to come pick me up but decided to suck it up and power on, the ride was 35 mile and the crash was at mile 30 only 5 miles to home IN TO THE WIND! I am glad I did, but man oh man, it took some serious positive self talk to get through that one, if it is blowing like that tomorrow I am on the trainer!!

We'll see how the run goes...Have a great weekend!

Ran home from work

It was good and tough at the same time. I forgot to pack my light running fleece, it was mid 60's and blowing, I thought I would be cold so I borrowed a fleece from a co-worker and headed out; I regretted the fleece decision about 2/10th into the run and really regretted it at about 1.5 miles. If it had been my own I would have ditched it on the side of the trail and went back for it later but since it wasn't mine I spent the next 7.5 miles with it wrapped around my waist. I had wind at my back some of the time so that was a bonus, at times it was blowing so hard I felt like I was expending extra energy to fight against it! I think it is hard to do that long of a run late in the day... I should have eaten more than I did, so I was very happy that JP packed me a little pack of jelly beans in my fuel belt, it was a lovely treat at 4 miles--thanks JP! :-)

Biking tomorrow and probably some swimming drills, if I am going to stay true to this new commitment to swimming I just gotta do it, oy!

Pushed my Big Chain Ring!!

I tried to do the entire ride in my largest chain ring in an effort to get adjusted to pushing a bigger gear. I am the granny gear queen and I don’t want to be any longer! So I spent a beautiful morning ride really thinking about technique and form–pulling and pushing with my hamstrings, or as Jen likes to call it, scraping gum off the bottom of my shoe. It is working! I could tell when I was climbing hills that I was more efficient and climbed faster–yippee!

Moved quickly into 2 miles easy off the bike, no calf cramping, I was grateful for this. The run felt great we purposely took and semi-hilly route so the flat race route will feel easy (or at least that’s what we are telling ourselves :-).

Another brick on the books!

Swiming drills, swimming srills, swimming drills

Did I mention that I did swimming drills today? It was my first time in the water in about 10 or 11 days, I am not sure that my ears have healed completely but I really needed to swim so I took the chance, so far so good; they are a little bit plugged but not too bad. That is not what this post is about, it is about swimming drills and I did my fair share today. Jen is a very good swimmer and gives me fantastic advice, today she gave me new drills to do and do and do, but guess what? I think they are working, slowly but surely, and it is awesome, Lucky Fin might actually be gone by the 70.3!

This was a taper week and I really needed it, I traveled for work and had to do all of my workouts inside, it has been a struggle everyday...my body needed the rest. Tomorrow is 22 miles on the bike and 2 miles off the bike for an easy brick, I am actually looking forward to it!!

7 miles of running in what quite possibly could have been one of Dante's rings...

That was one seriously hard run! I kept trying to quicken my pace and just could not sustain it, it was a drag because I just wanted it to be over, after 7 miles no endorphins kicked in, bummer! Contributing factors to the pain and suffering include: 30 miles on the bike 6 hours prior, Monsters vs. Aliens (ate too much salty popcorn and refused to pay $3.50 for a 16oz water), waited until 5:30pm to head out AND I knew that JP was at home making chocolate chip pancakes, I don't care how old you are, chocolate chips pancakes are just too good!

I survived and am surprisingly not sore today :-) The Easter Bunny brought wii fit to our house last night, what a wonderful surprise! I have learned that I have really terrible balance and that JP can kick my booty in just about every one of the balance games, I've got to work on that!

The wheels completely came off...

so I am sitting here at the computer trying to stay away from the kitchen because I have eaten 4 or 5 brownies (at this point I have lost count) all while watching The Biggest Loser. Are you kidding me? I really want to drop 8-10 pounds by my race in June but the more I think about eating less the more I eat, I feel pathetic! This is why I never go on diets, the less I want to eat the more I actually eat. I think I am just going to try to burn more calories and forget about eating less, something’s gotta give, right? I am now back in control and am drinking peppermint tea, no more brownies!!!

April 4 -- Running with Jamie and Jennifer

Great fun! I suggested we run a long hill, not a great idea, I will chalk that one up to experience and not do that again after a bike ride!! It was great to run with Jamie, never have done it before, it was really fun

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/04/2009
• Time: 12:25:45
• Total Time: 1:10:00.00
• Calories: 823
• Distance: 6.5 miles
• Average Pace: 10:46.32/mile
• Max Pace: 6:31.3/mile
• Ascent: 1,835 ft
• Descent: 1,874 ft

April 3 -- JP inspired me to get in a run

I was lazy all week, I was just not feeling well so I am playing catch up to a point, I did an easy-ish L6 run while he did the boflex, didn’t want to go too hard I have a 28 mile ride and 6.5 mile run tomorrow, I sure hope the weather cooperates!!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 04/03/2009
• Time: 16:39:25
• Total Time: 00:29:23.00
• Calories: 384
• Distance: 3 miles
• Average Pace: 9:47.28/mile

March 28-- Part 2

My legs felt good about .2 into it, I was relieved since I hadn’t been on the bike for about 2.5 weeks I thought for sure my legs were going to crap out on the run, I have to admit I was really glad that it was only 2 miles however

Off to buy seeds for the garden before all the good ones are gone!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/28/2009
• Time: 11:56:56
• Total Time: 00:20:14.00
• Calories: 238
• Distance: 2 miles
• Average Pace: 10:07.08/mile

March 28 -- Brick workout Part 1

All I can say is thank goodness for the “Fellowship of the Ring”! 42 degrees is WAY too cold for a wimp like me to ride outside so I was on the trainer today and in front of a DVD, an action movie is a MUST!

Workout:

• Type: Cycle
• Date: 03/28/2009
• Time: 11:53:29
• Total Time: 1:20:07.00
• Calories: 1255
• Distance: 25.15 miles
• Average Speed: 18.83 mph

March 22 -- Great run!!

I’ve been challenging myself to run faster and it is starting to pay off! today I ran 2 of my 6 miles in 8:56 and 9:00 I was very excited!!

Aloha!

Workout:

• Type: Run
• Date: 03/22/2009
• Time: 19:18:19
• Total Time: 00:59:39.00
• Calories: 777
• Distance: 6.25 miles
• Average Pace: 9:32.34/mile

March 20 -- Swimming in the bay and a Jellyfish sting

Swimming with my sister on the Kona ironman course, it was fun until I my right arm started to burn, it looks like a jelly fish or some other type of marine life stung me in a few different places - quite painful! The swim however, was fun and inspiring!

Workout:

• Type: Swim
• Date: 03/20/2009
• Time: 23:10:35
• Total Time: 00:20:00.00
• Calories: 156
• Distance: 600 yd
• Average Pace: 3:20.53/100yd