Goals and goal setting

Okay.. I'm going to start this post out on a tangent before I forget. I've escaped to the coffee shop (having non-caffeinated beverage as per my decrease in caffeine) to let my ears stop ringing from the constant motion and noise of two 4 yo. (DAMN THEY NEVER SHUT UP! ha) before I head to swim. Ah, my night off.

Anyway. I was checking out and saw some Justin's Natural Peanut Butter w/ Honey at the check out. I've seen this stuff on GoSonja's blog (she's getting ready for KONA people) and thought I'd give it a shot. So I bought one NON-HYDROGONATED packet opened it and ate it. YUMM YUMM YUMM. Anyway that's not the point. My reason for mentioning this is that I was reading the back of it and it says, "EVERY BATCH TESTED FOR AFLATOXIN-FREE!!!"I nearly jumped out of my seat to cheer. If you've read the China Study you are aware of this horrible little toxin that is found in most peanut butter. And as a mom that loves the convenience of peanut butter finding some guaranteed aflatoxin free is very cool. So anyway... I had to share this discovery w/ the bloggy world. Maybe some day I'll have Justin's give away.... stay tuned! It's THAT good.

Back to the task at hand.

I've mentioned AMs blog Goals for the Week before and love what she's doing over there. I've been meaning to implement her ideas into my own life and have started the process in my brain, but haven't been able to get it all done and truly implemented. First off I have a REALLY hard time thinking forward TEN years. I know that I won't be cementing anything by thinking about it now. I think part of my mental block is considering in my mind how old my kids will be and how old I will be at that time. UGH! How can I even begin to GUESS what my life will be like, but I guess that's what this process is all about... not just rolling through life to ARRIVE at the 10 year mark with just whatever life has thrown at you. If you have a goal and a dream you can reach it .. and if you don't, well you get whatever you get! Not that that is a bad thing... I guess.

I have been setting weekly goals based on my goals for the next two years. (which I said I would divulge. We'll see if we get to it today - because I know you are checking in every day to see if I have spilled the beans yet. I guess I kind of have already.)

So far I've managed to get my mind around the next 2 years. Everyone knows that that I (we) have the midterm goal of getting back to the PNW... say 3 years from now. And then Tom (therefore I) has a BIG long term goal, but that is not mine to share!

So I thought this would be a great thing for me to hash out here on the ol' bloggy blog. This is a work in progress so you will probably see this topic again in the next three months as we come to the close of 2010.

AM first breaks down the 10 year, 5 year, 1 year, 6 months 'what will my life look like' question. She then extrapolates her day to day goals from there. Making sure she's on track for the big kahuna (you can read about it on her blog in much better detail HERE.) She breaks everything down into categories. (I've chosen mine to be: Mom, Wife, Athlete, Personal Growth, Financial, Home, Environment.) It appears that you don't have to have goals in EACH CATEGORY every week.

Your goals should be SMART (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic and Time Related). Again check out her post for more detail and examples on that item.

So we'll start off talking about the next two years. Ten is just too much for tonight's mommy brain. Plus I have to go to swim tonight. :D

Athlete: In the next two years I want to hear the words, "Laura Mount YOU ARE AN IRONMAN!" I plan to tackle the HIM (again) next year then IM in 2012. I have sign off from my better half for this much and have buy in from the Grents to give extra support when the training blocks get HUGE!

Mom: Be more connected to my kids more. Really hear them. Sit down and ignore all the BS going on around in the house (read computer, laundry, dishes) and connect with them. It's not enough to just "be there" with them every day. I will come up with some SMART goals around this soon.

Personal Growth: I need SOMETHING! A job.. sure... volunteer gig.. sure. SOMETHING! I'm drowning in the mundane tasks of momdome.. and I'm not lovin' it. Can I get an AMEN!? There are some ideas rolling around in my head: trainer/coach Need to dial this down to what I REALLY WANT and then come up with my GOALS. I am working on some things that need to wait until some other people are more available, but hopefully I'll have something to report on this in the not too distant future. There are some opportunities out there.

Financial: We're pretty dialed here. Of course the purse strings could always be tightened, but that doesn't really hash out w/ my athletic goals now does it?

Home: SMALLER SMALLER SMALLER, Less cluttered and in the PNW. Oh wait. That's probably not going to happen in the next 2 years. I would say that goal is back burnered right now. I'll go for neater/less cluttered for now.

Environment: Once again consumption. Consume less. Less in general, but also less packaging. So I see LOT'S of weekly SMART goals I can tackle on this one!

And I'm not sure where this last one fits. Partly in athletic and partly in personal growth? BLOG REVAMP! I messed with the colors and what not a bit, but I mean more than that. I'm looking to turn this into more than just my 'family journal'.. there are so many great bloggers out there sharing their journeys in various different things, but this blog is about to become all about my athletic endeavors. Perhaps I will start a new one for that and keep this address for my family stuff. I feel bad that I rarely if ever update the grents and others about the fam damily anymore.

So I'm toying w/ some new names as I try to figure this out. Here are the two I've come up w/ so far. What do you think?

Wife Mother Athlete

Endurance Junky

Still working through it.

So the goals for the week that I extrapolated from all this stuff that's been not rolling, but FLYING at WARP speed through my mind.

Athlete: Hit my ab workout 2x a week. (a strong core is key)

MOM: spend at LEAST ONE hour EVERY day on the floor playing w/ the kids whatever they want. God an hour seems minuscule doesn't it?

WIFE: Quality time w/ the hubby at least once this week.

FINANCIAL: MAKE Tom call about getting rollover paperwork for his OLD 401k from FIVE years ago

PERSONAL GROWTH/HEALTH: only TWO cups of coffee a day.

And you ... what are your goals for this week? How do you go about figuring out your goals for the coming year? Do you have a process?

Oh.. and I've talked about the vision board before. I did a vision board when we were trying to get pregnant. Check IT out. I kid you not we got two babies... THOSE babies. My kids looked just like them when they were babies!!!! I am going to make one of those for 2011 once I get it all hashed out!!!!

LISTEN!!!

Listen to your body. I keep reading that over and over and over, but why oh why is it so hard to listen. To both the advice AND my body!?

So it's September - almost October - and while I didn't race a lot this season I did work hard... not to mentioned I opened the year w/ a huge marathon PR. My body (and mind) is starting to bark at me a bit right now. I wasn't really feeling like I needed an off season, but I'm starting to rethink that. I'm thinking that from now on when October rolls around it's time to cool my jets a bit. I mean I'll still work out - obviously, but it won't be so focused, so intense, so purposeful. Well it will still be purposeful, but the purpose will shift from 'go out there, kick ass and see what that body of yours can do' to 'go out there and have a BLAST!!!'. No worry about speed and intensity.

I've been toying with doing a half marathon (local, small, fun, cheap) in a few weeks, but have been hesitant to register and couldn't figure out why. On my run today (a tempo workout that I was totally NOT nailing) I figured it out. I feel like I need to put up a good number... ie. race the race and go all out, but right now I really miss just going out for a nice long run and enjoying the scenery. The leaves are changing after all and I don't really SEE that stuff when I'm out there pushing myself into the puke, er, red zone.

So I'm thinking it's time for me to scale it back a bit and run because I love it. Push myself, but not to the brink. I'm getting ready to ask a lot of my body (and mind - okay, mostly mind) come January I think they are both entitled to a little fun over the next couple of months.

I think my body is also requesting more sleep and LESS caffeine.. silly silly body of mine, but it's time to listen. So I'll be moving the 'get coffee/caffeine consumption under control' from a December goal to an October goal. (Come on I can't go cold turkey people.)

Focus!

My dad has always described me as an inch deep and a mile wide as opposed to an inch wide and a mile deep. Hmmm I really do take it as a compliment (though I think it was his way of calling me a scatter brain) bc I like doing and knowing a variety of things, but it makes it hard for me to concentrate on any one thing for a very long time.

I have made some decisions about what the next two years of my athletic life are going to look like, but still find my mind wandering and me spending time unwisely looking into and at things that are not in line w/ my two year goals. I then have to remind myself to stop wasting time (it really is nice to have some things figured out and not feel like I'm spinning my wheels and wasting time looking at things over and over again) and remember that I've already made this choice ... I don't need to be looking into marathons in the next two years, I don't need to find training plans and looking into different strength routines. I need to remember my choices, remember my goals and only do things that push me forward to the completion of said goals. (I'll talk about those later)

I'm working hard to stay focused. It seems I'm able to find the focus for each workout or for a training schedule, but things are always flitting around in my mind and steering me off course for bigger picture stuff. Maybe that's why I like the training schedule so much. It keeps at least one part of my life somewhat organized and focused. Now to figure out how to bring that into my everyday life.

Here are some things I am doing to stay focused on the goal:
1. CLEAN OUT MY HOUSE! Get rid of all the extraneous stuff that just clutters up my space and wastes time. I want to have this done before I start the main set of work on the next two years. I figure this will help me maintain focus and not get distracted by the 'stuff'.

2. CHOOSE A TRAINING APPROACH AND STICK TO IT! I've stumbled upon Endurance Nation somewhere along the way and have decided to go with them for my training for the next two years. As they say, "I'm drinking the Kool Aid" over there! This saves me from researching training plans and changing things up mid season ... and wasting MORE time. Dumbs things down for me!

3. BE A TRIATHLETE! at least for the next two years. I want to qualify for Boston. I tried this year and missed by 10 minutes. I know I could do it and am convinced that my race strategy Fd me up this time..... BUT I want to do Ironman.. I want to focus on triathlon. This does not jive w/ thrashing my legs by RACING a marathon. (again 'drinking the Endurance Nation Kool Aid' on this decision.

4. SET MY BIG PICTURE GOALS and follow through w/ shorter term measurable goals! Thanks to AM at Goals for the Week for providing guidance and motivation in this department. This should help keep me focused on the 'big picture' while doing what I do best.. focusing on the little chunks one day at a time.

What are your tips and hints for staying focused .... especially when life throws you curve balls or your motivation just isn't there and the wheels are starting to fall off???

Caffiene!

I am a die hard coffee drinker. Okay not die hard.. I'm really quite the snob. I blame it on the fact that I started my love affair with coffee in THE coffee city - SEATTLE! Man I love that town. Anyway.. focus.

I drink coffee every single day. I've quit here and there only to come back and I've decided that I love coffee not for it's caffeine jolt (though that's a nice bonus), but for the experience and process of it. It's a nice comfort food and I WILL NOT give it up.

Well my consumption ramped up as my frequency of early morning workouts ramped up. I would have a cup when I first got up... then my normal two cups. Well yesterday I had that PLUS a HUGE chocolate bar... well beyond my 'one serving' allotment. And to add insult to injury it was espresso laced chocolate. DAMN that stuff packs a punch. Uh, maybe not so much if you stick to ONE serving, but yesterday I was flying so high I could barely concentrate and had the jitters. It was bad. I had said chocolate bar in the late afternoon... and all the while I was eating it I was thinking, "I'm going to regret this later".. this did not stop me from eating it. UGH!

By the time dinner time rolled around I could barely stand to be in my own skin. I got out of the house for some quiet time before swim and my head was just spinning. Getting in the water helped to calm things down a bit and I'm glad I did it, but I was still a mess and didn't get to bed until midnight. Obviously there was going to be NO early a.m. workout today. Not a great start to my day.

I felt like I got hit by a truck this morning when I woke up. Had some 'hair of the dog' so to speak w/ my a.m. cup of coffee... and then another. SHIT! Here we go.

Well, my speed workout SUCKED today! I still couldn't focus very well and my heart was pounding out of my chest and my attitude was in the shitter... damn damn damn. Why does caffeine make me feel a bit psycho? Oh well. Lesson learned, right? At least until the next time I get a hankering for a chocolate bar and go and eat most of it! I was feeling a bit more calm half way through my weight set, but am still definitely feeling the aftermath of a caffeine overdose!

So, note to self ALL THINGS IN MODERATION!

Masters swim

I'm back in the pool.... I joined a Masters program at the local Y. I'm an aspiring swimmer. I fake it in the races and beat myself up about it all along the way. I was thinking about taking the entire winter off of swimming.. though I don't feel like I ever REALLY got into it this summer w/ my one night a week in the sound adventure. I decided that I need to spend more time in the pool.

I've decided to go Monday at 5:30am (OUCH) and Tuesday at 8pm. Now I've been getting up a couple mornings a week at 5am to do a 6am workout. I really like to start my day slowly w/ some coffee and a little email and facebook so I get up early. Well, I figured 5:30 isn't that much earlier than 6am... well I'll tell you 4:30am is VERY different than 5am. Why? Who knows. That 4 at the beginning just kills me. It takes me longer to get to the Y than it does my gym ... so if I want my 'quiet time' it's 4:30am. I don't like to hit the ground running.. anyway. I digress. So I set my alarm for p.m. on the first day so I missed the monday a.m. swim and hit the Tuesday p.m. I rolled up and was instructed to follow the schedule which amounted to 3000 yards/meters of swimming. Holy crap you guys really get to it huh? Well, I doubted I would actually finish the work out and was bummed that there was no coach (isn't that what I'm paying for), but I finished the workout and didn't feel like a total swimming moron. Yeah me!

Well, my alarm was set for the correct time this a.m. I'm astonished at how much that extra 30 mins changes my attitude. I was NOT feeling it this a.m. I got up had my coffee and rushed off... as I'm headed to the pool I'm thinking ... 'why am I doing this?" It's SEPT the END of the tri season this is insane". I didn't have any of these types of thoughts when I was going to the pool at 8pm. Anyway. I showed up talked to the coach.. mostly just to tell her I was new and say hi. Here we go w/ another 3000 meters (Side note: I went to a swim clinic the evening before and did some swimming.. maybe 1200 - 1500 yards.

I think I have unreasonable expectations of Masters programs. I'm always very underwhelmed. I expected that the coach might talk to me a bit about my swimming before I got in the water since I was new. Things like.. what kind of experience do I have (I could have sunk like a rock for all she knew), why I was there so forth and so on. I mean obviously I'm there to swim, but I'm no masters swimmer.. I'm a triathlete.. this may have been good info for her to have. Though I think she figured it out when I balked at the butterfly! Or when I swam w/o kicking... :D

I got no direction on my freestyle.. and that's not bc my stroke is so great. I did get some feedback on the breast stroke and back stroke. Awesome I'm sure that'll come in handy on race day. Anyway....

I have to work REALLY hard to keep my negative self talk at bay when I'm in the water...well I got lapped like crazy this a.m. and tried not to take it personally.. then one of the ladies that was swimming in our lane moved over .. to a more crowded 'fast' lane. I guess the benefit of being slow is that we had only 3 people in our 'slow' lane while the fast lane had like 6 people crammed into it. Whatever.

As I'm trucking along in the slow lane trying really hard to stay positive and focus on all the things I learned about MY stroke yesterday in our swim clinic I started thinking about the evolution of my running. I spent MANY years at the same speed and only recently feel like I've really kicked it up a notch and seen improvements in my speed so I'm trying to go easy on myself in the pool. I'm a neophyte in the pool. Let's get our stroke down and then worry more about the speed!

I'm also thinking I might try to figure out how to do Tuesday night and Sunday afternoon instead ... the early a.m. stuff is ROUGH!!! and no good for my attitude and continuation of the program. And then again maybe I'll just get used to it. I did like having it done!

Planning..

This time of year always starts the gears turning. I'm not sure if it's the closing of the triathlon season (for me) or the season change or what, but I start planning my season for next year at the beginning of fall. Obviously nothing is in stone, but the pencil is flying and the fingers are a searching through the schedules on the internet. I'm comparing school schedules and trip schedules and cashing in my "SPUs" (spousal approval units).

I've been trying to decide whether or not I really need to take some time off after this 'season'.. using that term VERY loosely considering I only did two triathlons.. and sprints at that. I did a few running races early in the year and will do a few this fall/winter... again nothing MAJOR. ie no marathon

I basically decided that I'm going to do a couple of half marathons and maybe a 5k or two through the fall and winter then take December "off"... meaning no races no super long stuff.. I'll keep spinning and lifting, but won't be so focused. Then in January I'm going to check out Endurance Nation's Out Season plan.. basically a huge sufferfest of short HARD intervals to get some speed into the legs. I'll do this plan for 20 weeks then hit a 12 week HIM training plan for Timberman in August. I've got some other stuff (races) thrown in there, but like I said nothing in stone so I won't bother writing about it because it will likely change dependent on our schedule and what I can talk others into doing... racing with friends is more fun!

Now just waiting for the sun to come up so I can safely go for a my long run before my parents head back to Texas until the holidays. Good thing I've gotten used to early morning workouts because that will be the only thing available to me now... since I have other motherly/wifely duties that need to be completed and the school hours are the best times for that.

What's on your plate for the upcoming year?

Fairwell early morning rides.

Farewell early morning rides. I'll see you again in May. It's been real!

Nicole (my 'friend' I keep mentioning) and I headed out for our last 6:15 am (which had to be pushed to 6:30am) ride today. It was a balmy 47 degress and I'm happy that Tom has all the necessary gear to keep a girl warm. Some day maybe I'll get my own.. or at least hide some of his so I can always find it! :) My favorite arm warmers were missing today and I think they migrated to his bag.

It was cold getting started, but we warmed up. The most irritating thing wasn't the cold, but having to put the ride off only 15 minutes caused us to find ourselves in a lot more traffic than usual. Now I consider myself to have fairly good bike handling skills, but riding on these roads in traffic is nutso. People around here do not like to wait for you to get around that blind corner so they either gun it as they go by you (oh, point made...) or squeeze you out till you almost lose it on the gravel or get your wheel stuck in a storm drain. A nice big yellow bus did that to me today. GRR!

I'll still ride ... just not so early.

A big Shout Out to Madison

I was just writing and email to one of my Madison Peeps and started talking about Madison and how I miss it. Damn what a town!

I MISS THE HECK OUT OF MADISON! That really really shocked me. Not that I didn't think I would miss it, but I miss it to my core. THAT shocked me. I have moved a lot in my life and I've never missed a place like I miss Madison. I didn't even miss Seattle this much.. well I did, but in a different way and I think only less bc I know we will - eventually - return. With Madison it's different. We pulled away with no plans to ever return.

Madison is like a slice of heaven... really it is. Except for when the mercury falls below say 20 degrees. :) It's like "Leave it to Beaver", but big enough to not be SUCH A SMALL TOWN that everyone is all up in YOUR BUSINESS! I remember the first day I rolled into town. It was early November. I pulled onto our street and it was lined on either side by the most beautiful trees that were a blazing bright yellow at this time in fall. There were sidewalks.. YES SIDEWALKS.. on both sides of the street. It was a quaint feeling... a street full of modest homes. Just two blocks off a little shopping district w/ little shops both shopping and dining. I had no idea how much I was going to fall in love with that town. And I wouldn't realize how much I loved it until I left. That is a damn shame.

A lot of my feelings about that town are probably intertwined with the fact that I had my kids there and got through all the BABY stuff there. My kids and I rocked the crap out of every park in in town, the zoo, every coffee shop and all the bike/running paths. We were out there almost every damn day... until it got so cold that it just wasn't responsible to have kids out there. :) Then we took advantage of the pluthera of affordable kid activities and the homes of some wonderful midwestern friends.

And midwesterners... Don't even get me started. They are like southerns, but they are sincere! They really want to help you... they live to help you! It's amazing. Another thing that was BRUTALLY obvious when we moved to the east coast. Don't get me wrong. The people out here aren't RUDE, but they aren't midwesterners that's for sure! If you've ever spent time in the midwest you know what I mean. EVERY SINGLE person that came to our house to do a job in the midwest (which happens to be quite a few) treated us like family and acted like they were home. It was AMAZING to say the least... particularly having two very curious kids all up in there faces when they were trying to do said work.

And the recreation... damn I really didn't get how much I should have been appreciating that! The biker friendly roads and all the trails. Going from Seattle (also highly bike friendly) I didn't get that NOT EVERY PLACE makes it so damn convenient to ride and run safely. I have a much greater appreciation for that.

IMOO (Ironman Wisconsin) was just last weekend and I really miss having an IRONMAN in my home town too. It's an amazing spectacle. I took my easy access to spectating.. and thus inspiration for granted!

Anyway.. just wanted to give Madison it's proper due. I love you and I miss you!!! (The town and my peeps) I think of you often and for all five of you reading this... and the few of you that haven't been there. If you get the chance check it out!

Back in the pool

The weather has cooled! (YEAH!) and I'm back in the pool. I signed up for a masters program at my Y. Now as a triathlete I'm a bit nervous about the whole swimming w/ swimmers thing. Triathletes tend to only do freestyle and have our own little way about it. I'm hoping the swimming swimmers can help me w/ my stroke and finally get it nailed. I've already informed them that there is no butterfly in my future. They agreed to that.

I showed up last night to find that the evening sessions have no coach.. WHAT!! Okay. I can roll with this. So the 'captain' guy shows us the workout... 3100 yards. WHAT!? Okay. I can roll with this. So I just jump in the water and get started bc we know this could take me a while. I figure I'll swim until the time cut off (uh, 1.5 hours) or until I can't swim anymore.

Guess what I finished the work out. Holy crap did I just do that! And the more amazing part is that I didn't totally hate it! :) My friend Nicole (she's a swimmer) was telling me that she loves swimming because she can block out all the sounds and miscellany that goes on in life and just be. I have always found that while I enjoy blocking out the 'sound track' of my life I have always found that my mind goes to negative places (all related to my swimming) in the absence of the sound track. I worked really hard last night to shut that girl (miss negativity) up and focus on my stroke and being positive. It really helped. I got in a groove, but discovered that (as w/ most athletic endeavors in my life) I really don't get into my groove until late in the session. Gotta love the endurance stuff!

I'll go to the a.m. session on Monday to see how the coaching portion goes.

Danbury HV Sprint Triathlon

I drug my friend Jill down to the HV Danbury Triathlon. Okay.. drug is not the right word. We met less than a year ago and when we found out we shared an interest in athletics we got to talking and it turns out she aspired to be a triathlete... so then started the pestering and nagging on my part to get her to commit (she is a VERY busy lady) to a race this year. I prodded and prodded until we settled on this race as her first. I almost feel like I should apologize. This was a tough course! The weather was PERFECT! A bit cool just standing around in the a.m., but nice when you were out there.

OA place swim T1 Bike T2 Run overall
45 Laura Mount 7:10 2:00 41:19 1:04 25:02 1:16:33

Swim: 7:10

The swim was short... my favorite... just 1/4 mile. The distance suited me just fine, but the waves were sent up SO fast that 300+ people were dumped into this short swim almost all at once. We clobbered each other the whole way. If I went 10 seconds without being kicked, hit, pushed or pummeled I assumed I went off course and would have to pop my head up to confirm that I was still in the midst of the crowd. After we turned the first buoy the sun was right in our eyes and you couldn't see a thing. I guess at this point it was a good thing we were so crowded bc you didn't really need to look up to know you were still on course. If I'm going to get better at swimming I'm really going to have to swim more. Side note: People were talking about the weeds in the lake and I almost laughed after my LAKE WINGRA swimming in Wisconsin it's hard for me to be bothered by too much in the way of lake swimming.

T1: 2:00

I put arm warmers on bc I thought it was going to be really cold biking soaking wet. BIG WASTE OF TIME. Getting arm warmers on wet arms is a pain

Bike: 41:19

This course was hilly. 9 mph uphills w/ 34mph descents. It was fun, but frustrating. You would get in a groove then, bam, be slapped in the face by little gear hill. Then power down, get in a groove, bam, uphill. There were a lot of newbies out there riding the center line b/c the roads were banked and pretty chewed up. Frustrating, but pretty normal. There were lots of bends and curves along the course that kept it interesting. Downhill at 30+mph into a 90 degree curve. Good times.

When I dismounted my legs were wobbly... uh oh.

T2: 1:04

nothing exciting here. I ran up to the wrong wrack initially and forgot to take my pump (bc I will NEVER race w/o a pump again.. whether or not I have intentions of actually changing a flat) out of my back pocket and threw it back toward my stuff.

Run: 25:02

Holy hell! I felt like I was going to puke right away on the run. Tried to suck down a gel and couldn't choke it down. My legs felt okay, but I felt asthmatic through most of the run. I didn't need to let anyone know I was coming b/c they could hear me panting. There is a pretty killer hill right at the beginning. I focused on cruising to the top as best I could. I ran the whole thing and by the time I got to the top I felt like I had my legs under me again.. now for the breathing/heart rate. Was trying really hard to get in a good cadence while getting my breathing and heart rate under control. Threw the whole run my mind kept trying to tell me to slow down and enjoy the ride... but really I was there to race. After my last sprint I had told myself that I might be able to win my age group in this race bc I knew it would be small. The more I thought about it the more I realized I hadn't been passed by any women since I got out of the water... and the swim was so short that I couldn't have gotten that far behind my wave in 7 whole minutes... right? I started looking for women to pass. Again this was a small race so we didn't have our wave numbers or age on our calves so I had no idea if the women I passed were in my age group or not. I pushed through it all and had to concentrate really hard to not puke when I got done... I left it all out there. (though when I saw the results I wondered if I could have run faster if I had turned my brain off and just run.... I know I HAVE run faster)

At the end of the day I ended up 1st in my age group (yea), 3rd in my wave (I'm not sure what that means as I'm not sure how the waves were broken up... ), 5th woman and 45th overall. I'm psyched to have gotten back out there this year.. even if it was only two races (well, two tris) and now I'm back in planning and scheming mode for next year as I lace up the running shoes and hit the road in anticipation of some half marathons coming up this fall and winter! :)

Gosh we've been busy...

I've been so so busy doing... hmmm.. something I'm sure. We've been living it up this summer making a big mess and lots of noise and now school is back in session (thank god). The kids and I are both really REALLY ready for school to be back in session. Jason and Lily were getting bored and I was getting frustrated. I am not an effective Preschool coordinator. :)

I'm happy to have some quiet time to clear my mind.. oh and to clean.. yea that too.. we'll get to that as soon as my head quits rattling.

Both the kids are loving school and seem to be excelling already. They are psyched for new friends and, er, some structure! :) Again.. structure not my thing.

My head is still rattling so instead of pummeling you with all the things that are rolling around up there I'll stick to... yes, I'm alive, yes, all is well, yes, blogging more is on my list of 'things to do now that school is in session'..... stay tuned. For all 5 of you that are still hanging in there with me! :)

I'll start off w/ the blogging on Sunday with a race report from the sprint tri I'm doing tomorrow. 1/4 mile swim (now that's my kind of swim), 12 mile ride, 3 mile run. I drove the course yesterday.. the ride is CURVY and two loops... I'm not a huge fan of loops, and the run has two murderous "walker" hills. I haven't given this race a lot of mental space (see post above) so I'm not sure exactly what my goals are... you know there is always something in the back of the mind, but I'm kind of 'whatever' about it. I'll let you know how it goes!

could it be... it's raining Gu

Another Gu give away. No way! Yes way! will you win? Will I win? If you win will you share bc I told you about it? There are some cool new flavors.... and I know many of you could use some free fuel!

Check it out HERE!

Bonus she's a mom!

Great GU give away...

Not by me, but by a great triathlete up in Caratunk ME!!!

Check it out HERE!

I crashed my bike and now I'm a whimp!

Last Saturday I met my friend Nicole for an early a.m. ride. It had rained the night before and the roads were still wet. Now the major irony about this is that when I was a flatlander in Madison, Wi I wouldn't ride in the rain/wet, but now that I'm in the Connecticut Alps why the hell not. Windy curvy roads w/ some wet on them... bring it on.


This is when it first happened.

We rode the course that we normally ride, but rode it backwards. There are some climbs and descents on this course. Namely ONE (usual climb) that is short and windy, but STEEP required out of the saddle the whole time. Well going down this descent on wet roads apparently requires a lot more caution. I hit the pavement going about 30 miles an hour. Not good!

The good news is 1. I didn't hit either of the two trees I was headed straight for, 2. I didn't break anything, 3. my bike still works. It sucked, but it really could have been much much worse.

Basically I was going down the hill went around the first curve of an S curve and when I came around and saw the second part I knew I was going to fast to make the turn. I hit the breaks... too hard and locked up my wheel. I realized this was happening as my back end started to become my front end. I was able to let up on the breaks and correct this, but I was headed straight for two trees and knew I was going too fast to make the bend. I tried pumping the breaks, but it was too late. I held on far enough to clear the trees then just laid her down. No choice really. I'm sitting there at the base of the tree in a daze and my friend came up and asked if I was alright. I told her I needed a minute. My head was spinning a bit and I was a bit dazed. I did a mental scan of the body and all seemed okay. Nicole said, "Uh, you are sitting in a big ant hill." Indeed I was... right at the base of that tree I NEARLY hit. I got up and was moving okay. Brushed all the ants off myself and pulled all the dead leaves and dirt out of my rear break. I looked over my arm and looked at my leg, but opted not to lift my shorts up. I knew I had road rash, but didn't think looking at it would help. We rode for a bit then I stopped again feeling the need to check my leg out to make sure it was at least free of dirt. I opened up my shorts... YUCK. Poured some water down my leg (OUCH), assessed the bike one more time, and contemplated calling for a ride. I decided I didn't want to be a total pansy.. I wasn't broken, the bike wasn't broken. It was time to ride. We rode the 12 miles home.

OMG the shower was almost the most painful part of this whole experience! Water on exposed nerve endings HURTS! I showered, slapped some second skin and guaze on it and hopped in the car to head to Lake Placid to volunteer at Ironman. It was sore, but not too bad.

I had to change the second skin daily and had to tape quaze on the outside to catch all the oozy stuff coming out. I ran on it on Sunday and it was okay ... I was definitely aware of it, but more like a big bad bruise.

The time it hurt the most was the night I tried to 'dry it out'.. I took all the bandages off and let the air hit it.. OMG... exposed nerve endings. It hurt SO bad. I was relieved when I was told to put bacitracin and a bandage on it during the day.


This is after 'drying it out'

Well I'm not quite a week out and I'll be damned if it's not almost healed. I barely have a scab. There are scabs on the areas that were obviously deeper than others. I'm amazed! It's still sensitive and very bruised... though it doesn't look bruised. There are two huge knots under the two main scrapes.


This is yesterday and it looks even better today

So to all the nurses and people I got advice from.. thanks it worked!

Yesterday Nicole and I went out for another ride. We were planning to ride 40 miles, but it started to rain and I bailed at 23 miles or so. There I was looking down a hill and curve very similar to the one I had crashed on ... slick and covered in rain. I couldn't do it. I had to go home. I was a total nancy on every hill on the way home. Breaking and tensing up. I had to keep telling myself to relax. I was so disappointed. I DO NOT want to be a pansy ass, but I knew that if I crashed again yesterday I would have a big mental challenge to get back on the bike. When I came home I asked if Tom had had the same problem when he got back on the bike after a crash he, of course, said no. Which made me feel even more like a pansy. I'm guessing he was in his 20s when this happened so I'm going with that "nothing's gonna get me" attitude of youth.

I was fine on the down hills as long as there were no bends... when it was dry. When it was wet all bets were off. I didn't trust myself or the bike to be able to keep from locking up.

DAMN DAMN DAMN!! Hopefully I'll be back to good as new soon, but I suspect I'll be nervous in the rain for a while.

Shocking realization

So we went to dinner last night... Dad wanted to walk at the mall so we went to Uno's Pizzeria. Granted this is not a place I would normally go ... and Tom certainly wouldn't be excited about it, but it was convenient and air conditioned. (A bit OVER air conditioned, but anyway).

As I was looking at the menu I saw that only two entrees had the nutrition info so that got me curious. I got the handy dandy iPhone out and looked up the nutrition info for the rest of the menu.

I was shocked to discover that all the seafood dishes had WAY MORE fat and calories than both the 8 and 10oz sirloin dishes. Fat AND SATURATED fat. I did a bit more digging b/c I know that the fish itself shouldn't be so damn fatty. My discovery is that chain type placed like this put all sorts of CRAPPY (read trans fat) sauces on their fish dishes and the meat is only meat and some salt. (Barring any sauces that could, I guess, be added to meat dishes as well.) Now I know there are even more issues that crop up w/ the whole meat thing.. like where did it come from, what was it fed... so forth and so on, but really!!!! Next time I'm going for the sirloin man! No sketchy fat (bad fat) laden sauces to just outright RUIN the highly nutritious meal I thought I was having.

Anyway... I know I should have known this to be true... and I'm hopeful that at smaller (read not chains) restaurants they are still using good ol' fashioned butter and lemon not some prepackaged manufactured mystery sauce!

Results are in...

So it's official I was 3rd in my age group. Who says you don't lose a triathlon in the swim. I TOTALLY lose a triathlon in the swim. Numero uno and I had similar splits on everything else and I beat numero dos in everything but the swim. I realize the number 1s swim was pretty darn quick.. but I could make up time on T1 and the bike and swim.

#1: 52    175 MRS. #1         F  37   1/22   F3539 Superior        CO 1    14:30    1:02   33:17    0:54   24:12 1:13:53
#2: 115   168 MRS. #2         F  36   2/22   F3539 Middlebury      CT 1    17:31    1:38   35:03    1:01   25:43 1:20:53
#3: 147   166 Laura Mount     F  35   3/22   F3539 Bethel          CT 1    23:09    1:53   33:41    0:56   24:38 1:24:15

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I am trying this post to your blog from email thing. Is this thing on?

Pat Griskus Sprint Triathlon

Aka.. first triathlon since August 2008. Wow... that shit is hard. Worth it, but hard.

It was a HOT day yesterday so I decided to forgo the wetsuit. Okay, many of you know I am not a stellar swimmer. I'm not trying to be self deprecating here... it's just a fact. I did go out and swim around a bit without it to see how it felt and it felt HOT.. okay, but hot. I decided that anything I would gain from the wet suit would be lost because I would be so damn hot. Not sure if that's true in retrospect, but I'm glad I did it. I showed myself that I can do it ... even though it's harder and slower. the swim course is a bit different... let's see if I can explain it. There are two rows of buoys coming off the beach at an angle meeting at the top of a triangle. Waves start from left and right on each line of buoys. When you hit the top of the triangle you turn and come down the middle of the triangle together w/ your friends from the other line of buoys. Well this is all well and good... except when someone strays from their line of buoys (which we all know happens quite a bit in triathlons) and comes straight at you and hits you in the lip w/ their forehead while you are siting. I got my wits about me and kept going assuming I would have a fat lip. Thankfully it's split, but not fat.

Out in 22 minutes. While the official results aren't out I'm pretty certain I was either last or almost last in my wave. UGH. Must learn to use my legs. I basically pull myself through the race. So for you swimmers.. next time you toe the line use your pull buoy and you'll have a decent idea of how I get through .5 miles of swimming... minus your hips sinking every time you site! I think I spent too much time w/ the pull buoy back in the beginning bc I outright FORGET to kick.

Out of the water and to the bike. My transition was slow b/c I was having some trouble w/ my timing chip. It was coming off and I had to take it off and reposition it w/ my shaky "I just pulled myself for .5 miles" arms.

This course had a couple of technical descents, but I wouldn't say it had a lot of climbing.. more rollers w/ one out of the saddle climb. I felt great on the down hills. Felt strong and confident in my bike handling (I did get the tri bike out for the event), but on the flats (well false flats w/ slight uphill) I felt weak. My quads and hip flexors were NOT loving that. Flats were good. I only got passed by a handful of people on the bike and was frankly embarrassed by how many people I passed from my swim wave. SERIOUSLY! I did want for better mile markers in this race as I need to figure out how to change sports quickly on my Garmin (bc I haven't done a tri since I got it) so I opted not to use it. I felt okay about my bike, but know I could do better. I'm going easy on myself since I haven't spent a ton of time on my bike and haven't spent any time really working on speed.

Transition okay... almost ran out w/ my pump and tube in my shirt so I had to back track a bit to ditch them.

Now my favorite... the run. We ran down a big hill, flat for a bit then turned around to run up the big hill. As I ran out of transition I saw one of Tom's co-workers that was running the race w/ a relay team (aka on fresh legs). I don't know this woman at all really and certainly have no idea what kind of runner she is, but I tried to keep up with her. No dice. I kept her in my sites for most of the run, but lost her on that blasted hill. It took me a mile before I felt like I could breathe (first time the whole race) and then fell into a groove. I was looking to catch my friend Nicole. She is a stellar swimmer and I knew she would have a huge lead on me out of the water (turns out is was about 8 mins.. ugh), but I figured I would run her down on the bike...nope. So now I was really trying to find her. I didn't catch her until the last mile. I saw her at the turn around and tried to pick it up. I didn't think I would catch her if I didn't do it before the big hill. She's got more experience w/ the blasted hills and I thought she would tough it out longer than I did. I finally caught her in the middle of the hill and finished only about a minute or two in front of her. :)

My favorite part of the race was the finish shoot. As we turned the corner to head in a guy passed me ... quite easily I might add ... well I wasn't going to have him pass me right there at the end. I picked it up and pushed as hard as I could. It hurt. Just before the line I let out a grunt and he heard me and picked it up. Someone told me I 'won', but I'm pretty sure we came in together. The guy smiled and patted me on the back. Ah a little friendly competition.

All in all a good time. As always a learning experience. I do think I prefer the long stuff where I can actually have time to catch my breath and get in a groove more. Not big and giving it everything for 1.25 hours... I think that was about my time. Not sure yet. Good news is it's 10 mins faster than both the sprint tris I did back in 2007.

Vegan or non-Vegan

As many of you know I spent a few years as a vegan... a raw vegan. And of late have been suffering w/ some 'issues'... fatigue and digestion related. It's kept me from racing for over a year now and I feel better, but I continue to struggle and try to figure it all out. I just stumbled upon Devon Crosby Helms' blog and particularly THIS post. I thought it was a great post and was so happy to hear that someone else had struggled with the mental aspects of changing your diet back from the vegan thing. As I've worked to add protein back into my diet I have stressed about everything that I put in my mouth. I really enjoyed this post and thought some of my other nutritionally minded folks might enjoy her site.

I tend to feel that nutrition is highly individual. While some may really thrive on a vegan diet others may not. I definitely agree w/ Devon's sentiments about the relationship w/ food being destroyed (for me personally) and not really staying in tune w/ your body as a result of stressing so much about what is (or isn't) going into your body. I distinctly remember feeling like I could eat a whole chicken during a vegan diet and ignoring my body's signals. My body was SCREAMING for protein and I ignored it. NOT GOOD!

Anyway.. I certainly don't have the answers... not for you and not entirely for myself, but I'm working on it!

In other news I registered for another sprint triathlon.... in a week and a half!!!! The Pat Griskus Sprint... it's hilly and I am sure the swim will be a challenge (when isn't it for me?) It's in the evening so I couldn't pass it up!

Was just cruising through her blog again and found THIS post that I also enjoyed.

GoSonja!

I have posted links to Sonja's blog before and wanted to share this great post she wrote about Risk and Failure. It has given me much to think about and I thought you guys might enjoy it too! She is a rock star w/ great perspective and a humble attitude!

In the sound again

Survived another open water swim in the Long Island Sound. Thank GOD it wasn't nearly as cold as it was last week. I wasn't really believing Nicole when she told me the water had actually been 'nice' earlier in the week.

As always humbled by the swim, but gained my confidence as the work out went on. After a nice warm up and some aerobic work we did some anaerobic stuff. We all gathered at a buoy then the coach said, "go!" and we were to race to the shore like we were exiting the water in a race... RUN out of the water to the lifeguard bench and do 5 push ups then run back into the water and sprint to the buoy like we were starting a race. We did this 5 times and it was my favorite (near death) part of the swim. (maybe it was bc it wasn't all swimming??). It got my ass in gear and got me fired up to be able to finish out the work out w/ a bit more strength in my stroke. I felt much more confident after that exercise. Maybe I can be a triathlete again. Maybe I can find the fire inside me.

I've been riding more now too and I LOVE the bike!! :) Thank God I met my friend Nicole! It feels good to have a goal and a schedule again. It definitely keeps the crazy in check! I'm the type of person that just has to work out... two work outs a day... even better! :) I'm now doing the P90X and the endurance together and my muscles are feeling it in a good way. Now that mom and dad are here it's going to be easier to be consistent w/ the endurance piece of that puzzle.

It's late and I'm worked over from back, biceps and ab ripper topped off w/ an open water swim. (back weights plus swimming might not be my best approach, but that's how you get stronger right)....

Now to sleep, and let's hope I sleep past 6am tomorrow. Who knew that taking my watch off and not putting it back on would make me get up earlier. I'm not sure what's up, but I can't go back to sleep after my initial wake up anymore. I used to wake up, look at my watch, think I'm not getting up THAT early, and roll over and go back to sleep and wait for the kids to wake me up. Now I wake up, look over, see Jason and Lily laying there, close my eyes, maybe doze a bit, then think, "I have no idea what time it is and if I lay here I might not get just a few moments of quiet w/ my coffee bc it might just be 7:30a and they might must wake up any minute.", then I get up put my contacts in etc and go downstairs to discover that DAMN it it's not quite 6am and I already have my contacts in.. no turning back now. So I just stay up. It IS really nice to have a nice quiet cup of coffee (or two... come on it's EARLY) or get a work out in before it's "GAME ON" time, but sheesh... I used to have to be blasted out of bed!

4 Years OLD!!!

I feel like I should be saying something along the lines of "Oh MY God my babies are 4 years old!!", but I feel like they should be four. Every other years birthday has seemed to sneak up on me w/ thoughts like above, but this year it feels due time for them to turn 4. Was this year longer than others? Not sure why I feel this way. I'm not sure if it was the trials and tribulations of THREE or if it is their level of development, but we are here and it feels about right.





I LOVE this photo of them running w/ the dog.

I really feel like I should have lots of things to say about this milestone, but I just don't. Birthdays have never been huge in my life.. They just are! We had a special breakfast date just the kids and me after some small gifts on their actual birthday, they celebrated at school and we got to do some shopping w/ some cash they received then the day after their birthday Papa and Grandma Mills rolled into town and we went swimming and to a special dinner to celebrate further. All good times. We will have a small party here at the house .. where Tom and I are going to have to pull a princess cake and a tank cake out of the ether. :) So we are definitely celebrating for them, but I'm not feeling deeply moved or emotional about the 4th birthday.

First Open Water Swim ... in a LLLLOOONNNGGG time.

The crew that I swam w/ over the winter is now doing open water swimming down in Fairfield and I've become friends w/ one of the ladies that lives here in Bethel so she and I rolled down to Open Water Swim (OWS) with the Trifitness team. They (er, we) swim in the Long Island sound. A far cry from the weedy fresh water lakes of Wisconsin. Bonus: NO algae... BUT and it's a big BUT.. it's FING cold. At least it was last night.

When I got my wetsuit out I realized I hadn't been in it.. or open water... since August of 2008 when I raced Chicago with Team in Training. UGH!

I was surprised at myself for getting in the water so quickly. It was COLD. I mean freeze your hands/feet/face off cold. I am proud of myself for just swimming in it at all. We were given some things to focus on w/ stroke for our warm up and were told to swim back and forth between two buoys then to come in for more instruction. Most of us would swim a bit and bob a bit. Me bc that's the way I roll the rest bc it was so cold it took your breath away.

We did our warm up then rolled back to the shore for more instruction and were asked who was racing this weekend (trifitness sprint tri this sunday - I can't race bc Tom is out of town and my back up isn't in town till Wednesday). So all of those people were told we were going to do a mock race. I decided to just jump in w/ them. Swimming a half mile in frozen cold water just randomly proved to be a challenge for me, but I got it done and am proud of that. I still need to figure out how to find a groove and just swim w/o breaks. I KNOW I can do it, but I'm mentally challenged for some reason. I stop to get my barrings way to often. I will say that I was a bit dizzy/disoriented through most of it. I'm not sure if it was the open water/tide or the freezing coldness of it all. I haven't ever experienced it at all and was relieved when another woman asked if I was dizzy.

When we got out of the water our feet, hands and faces were bright red and numb. I couldn't even get my wetsuit un-velcroed or my jacket zipped. It took a good 30 mins before I could put my thumb and forefinger together to actually do anything.

All in all I felt like it was a success. I got there, I got in the fing cold water and I did what some people might call swimming! :)

I just registered for a triathlon The Houatonic Valley Tri.. wow been awhile since I did that. I plan to register for more, but haven't pulled the trigger yet. My friend Jill registered for this one and I wanted to be sure that I didn't miss it ... since I may have kind of encouraged her to join me. This will be her first ever and I'm pretty excited for her. The good news, for both of us, is that this race has a really short swim. Only 1/4 mile. I still have work to do and hopefully will be able to swim the whole thing w/o stopping.

This should help on that front:


I just joined the Brookfield YMCA and purchased a summer family pass for the pool. A FIFTY meter outdoor pool. I can swim in the early morning or evening and on the weekends... and there is a playground and picnic area for eating and playing fun for the kids. I think we'll be at the pool a lot considering how much the kids love the water and how hot and humid it gets here.

The kefir is going absolutely gang busters. I'm going to have to freeze some of the grains or just get rid of them b/c I have a gallon of kefir in the fridge right now and another half gallon ready to be strained and stored... it's doing well in the warmth that's for sure.

Here is a jar ready for straining and a jar ready for the fridge...


For those of you that might be curious here is what kefir grains look like.


I'm also made some saurkraut. It's super salty so I'll try a different recipe next time, but other than that it's pretty good. I mix it into stuff so the saltiness is diluted a bit.



And here is where all the magic happens. My fermentation station.


I'm also making kefir water, but don't have any photos of it right now. It's kombucha like for those of you that are familiar with kombucha.

I knew I was forgetting something.... P90X is coming along. Almost done w/ my first 90 days... then it's onto round two.

Fermentation central

So the kefir is kicking ass and taking names. I'm now making it in 1/2 gallon jars and have almost a gallon in the fridge right now. Am working on ways to eat it... goes in salad dressings and popsicles and have made some cheese. Hope Mom and Dad are ready for some kefir! :)

Next up cultured vegetables... aka saurkraut ... the real deal. Here's a good LINK as to how it's done! I'm excited to try this. Word on the street is that it's very beneficial for rebuilding your gut flora and enhancing digestion. Basically just have some w/ every meal.. particularly protein rich meals. I'm going to get this worked out! I'm going to try to get some cabbage tomorrow (if places are open on the holiday)... give me a week and I'll let you know how my home made kraut is! My mom will get a kick out of this since she used to force the stuff - albeit out of a can - on me once a year as a kid. We'll see if mom likes the real deal.

Get ready mom and dad we're fermenting fools up in here... home brew in your place all probiotics in mine! :)

Well that didn't take very long...

I like the weight lifting/plyometrics in P90X and want to continue to weight lift now, but I MISS endurance sports. It's just a different kind of 'burn'.. not the muscle burn the mental and calorie burn. I miss feeling like I used it all up. You endurance junkies know what I mean. I just can't explain it. I love that feeling like I left it all out there and the following empty need to eat feeling.

I went for a random almost 40 mile ride the other day and it felt GREAT! It was hard.. HILLY! I've mentioned that it's hilly here right! This was the first ride w/ a new friend (well and her friend) and this was Nicole's longest ride to date. We rode from Nicole's house over to meet Monica and by the time we were done w/ the main part of the ride (still needed to ride home) Nicole and I were both pretty used up. We had a MASSIVE long hill to ride up to get back to her house or we could add another 5 miles to our ride and still have hills, but not the big MASSIVE long one. We decided when we were initially done w/ the main ride to do the extra five and skip the big climb because frankly we were worried we wouldn't make it all the way up. Well, we got closer to the hill and Nicole said, "you want to add 5 miles or climb for 5 mins?" We had just come off a nice long downhill (you know the kind where you go like 35 miles an hour w/o working at it) and I was feeling pretty good now (uh since I hadn't used my legs for a few minutes) so I said, "Let's climb!" And we did. We got all the way to the top w/o falling over. And were definitely SPENT by the top. It felt AMAZING!

I was really expecting to barely be able to walk the next day. Weekend warrior syndrome. But I felt FINE! FINE!!!! I couldn't believe it. I did take the day off (aside from 2 hours of mowing.. ugh).

There are a lot of sprint races around here so I'm considering just jumping into a few. I'm working myself up to start swimming in the sound once a week w/ the tri group in Fairfield. It's a haul down there, but I'm going to tag along w/ Nicole. It's worth it to have people to swim with.

We've been doing a lot of yard work lately. Our yard is wild and out of control and every time I mow I day dream about truck loads of mulch. I do want to make more beds around the house and around the perimeter of the yard and have started buying plants here and there to fill in these areas. You could plant hundreds of dollars worth of plants in this yard and would barely notice it's so wild and big. Of course we are used to 'urban' yards that are much smaller.

I'm finally getting around to putting a fence around our piddly little veggie garden. I have potatoes and a few plants that Nicole gave me that need to get in the ground NOW! I'll put some seeds in too to see what happens then might get some starts to put in too. All one big experiment.

My kefir water and milk are going gang busters in this warm weather and I'm getting it in the kids in smoothies.. they won't drink it straight up. I'll have plenty to try some cheese recipes soon. Probiotics are GOOD!!!

Hope everyone is having a great start to summer and for all of those racing.. Good luck. It's starting!!! I'll be out there spectating for sure... and maybe jumping in here and there. I'm going up to Lake Placid w/ dad to volunteer for Ironman on July 25th! Can't wait!

Slowly but surely

IF you can see past my silly outfit ... two coats on my waste and inappropriate pants for a trail run I think you'll see that the P90X is starting to work. :) My shoulders have.. GASP.. are those muscles? :D YEAH! Nothing like seeing progress to keep you moving. Only 1.5 weeks left in this month then I'm onto the last month in the first round. Can't wait for round two. THAT'S WHERE THE MONEY IS!

Mothers Day

I will start this post ( or provide a disclaimer ) that I do like being a mom, but damn!

Mother's Day was not the best this year. I started out going to a race that I felt was largely a waste of my time. More on that later. Then came home to kids that didn't really want much to do w/ me and are in a phase where they whine, back talk and fight almost constantly! UGH. Not ideal for me.. on 'my' day. I wasn't really feeling the Mother's Day vibe all week... see above regarding the behavior of my offspring.

Jason is all up in Lily's grill and Lily is wanting some space. BAD BAD BAD combo. I'm thinking they are also still recovering from our trip to Seattle as sleep - or rather going to sleep - has not been going well around these parts.

The race. The Northface Challenge is always well run and the course was great. I got up at ass crack, had some coffee, hoped for the daily you know before race stuff which didn't happen, then made some breakfast and headed out on my 1 hour and 10 minute drive to the race venue. The drive was nice enough. Parked at the designated parking area to be shuttled over. My race started at 9am and the last shuttle left the parking area at 8:15a. I was early... maybe around 7?45a. Then went and stood around in the FREEZING WINDY cold for over an hour. I had originally planned to stash my outer layer w/ the gear check guys, but didn't bring a bag (thought I'd be able to get one??) and didn't want to stand in line w/ everyone else that waited till the last minute to strip off their stuff so I decided to be "that" dork running in a fleece and long (not meant for running trails) boot leg tights over my intended running gear. SAAWWWEEETT! The race photos should be spectacular ... two coats tied around my waste! ha. If there are even any photos of me bc my number was covered on "accident".

I loved loved loved the descents. I figured out how to use my knees and relax my legs and hop down. Great fun. The run overall was well marked. It never did thin out completely (500+ runners), but it opened up enough to run and i was comforted by other people around w/ my tendency to get lost in the woods. My nutrition held up (I know it's just a 10k, but I was worried about my lack of carbs) I think 10k might be my new favorite.. particularly trail.

Moral of the story for this race is I'm only going to do stuff that's 30 mins away for a while.

I got home and the kids basically watched scooby doo mother's day marathon most of the day. I relaxed, made the kids some bracelets, thought about doing laundry and remembered it was Mother's Day and saved it (reminding myself I need to do it today), researched some stuff while watching Scooby (should have napped), Tom cooked a delicious dinner. Then the kids were sassing me and generally just not listening so bad I couldn't take it anymore. Jason was going to get a hair cut, but I took the clippers (which he insisted on opening himself though Tom and I had both asked him not to) and sent him into his bedtime routine. Both kids baulked at this and wouldn't listen and were continuing to back talk so I put them both in their rooms and told them that was it time for bed. Tom and I then stood outside their rooms and kept walking them back to their beds while they screamed and cried in protest! Jason finally gave up and went to bed so I left Tom to finish up w/ Lily.

So HAPPY FING MOTHER'S day mommy. I will get them to submit! I WILL! ha ha

Then there is just crap on TV on Sundays. Must remember to DVR stuff during the week so I have stuff to watch when I really just want to veg and sit in front of the TV.

On a high note.. a friend turned me onto Kefir and it's many benefits. It's also SO easy to make yourself so I have abandoned any thoughts of brewing my own Kombucha and will be making Kefir. I got some starter and made my first batch using coconut water and milk and it's pretty good. I ordered some 'grains' (have no idea why they are called that. they are actually a culture) to be able to make it over and over and over again. I'm pretty excited. I know I'm a dork.

I'm working on doing some more sewing... though I know I should be focused on finishing my priming and painting in the basement. Those of you that know me personally know that I am very easily distracted and prefer to bounce around a couple of projects to avoid boredom.

P90X is still rocking.... about 50 days in now. Can't wait to start my second round as I think that's when people REALLY start to see results.

The Candida Diet thing (basically meat and veg and fermented dairy) is proving slightly difficult to stay on, but I power through. When I crave something 'sweet' I drink herbal tea or have some raw chocolate made w/ cocoa and coconut oil. NO sweetener. The ultimate dark chocolate. Sometimes I'll put some raw almond butter in it to 'sweeten' it a bit.

Here is hoping for a better day today.... though I have a feeling there will be a lot of room time for the kids. Thank God for preschool.

Gotta say.. not LOVING the twin thing at this stage. Four is better, right? RIGHT? Only one more month until their birthday!

Oh, and I'm headed to Madison this weekend for a quick trip! YEAH!!!

The Northface Challenge

This Sunday for Mother's Day I will be running the Northface Challenge 10K!!! I had registered for the half. I was really pained about this now. I ran a half a few weeks ago and it was tough... and it was on the road. I know the NFC is going to be HARD! Off road is hard enough, but the site says it's HILLY and technical. When I registered it sounded all well and good. Aside from the race being challenging for me at this point bc my running has fallen apart I didn't really think much about the time it would take... on MOTHER'S DAY. Over an hour to get there, I'm guessing 2.5 or more hours to run/walk it, then over an hour to get back. So basically all day. As I considered my mother's day this wasn't how I wanted to spend it. I wanted to spend it w/ my family. so w/ those reasons in mind (mostly the time commitment and the potential for suffering) I emailed to see if I could change to the 10k after a prompt from my Sister in Law and I didn't think it would happen, but I got an email today that I'm switched!!! YEAH! This answers all problems. 4 hours away and I'll be back for late lunch / early dinner and some family fun on Mother's day... AFTER getting some quiet me time in the woods. Perfect!

P90X is going great. I'm at it 100% now and not even a week back in and I can feel it already. Things are getting easier. I'm able to lift heavier and can knock out over 10 push ups (real ones) now. (I know not that much, but way better than when I started.) No pull up yet, but I can tell I'm getting stronger. This is yet another reason I didn't want to run the half marathon and thrash my legs. I don't want to have to skip my leg work out or any of the work outs next week b/c I wrecked myself so bad I couldn't do it.

I took some measurements that I will take again in a month.. then each month. I plan to work through the first 90 day series then do it again through the summer and then might see what I can do about a trainer at the gym to spice it up a bit. (Um... maybe a birthday present to me... :D)

And the belly bloating thing... MUCH better. After my trip to Seattle I started thinking that maybe I really do have a problem w/ Candida. I've thought this in the past, but never acted on it bc i didn't feel empowered to do it myself. I did some research and changed my diet DRASTICALLY. Went from all fruits and veggies to NO SUGAR WHATSOEVER... including fruit. And the difference was night and day.. in just a few short days. I do this for a month (I'm 1.5 weeks in) and then I can start adding fruits/carbs back in and see how my body reacts. While I do this I take herbs to kill the yeast overgrowth... then probiotics to rebuild.

The lucky news for me is that this diet goes along w/ Phase 1 of the P90X diet.

Reality Check One, Two, One, Two

So I've been on the endurance train for a while. I took some pit stops here and there and I know I always feel better when I'm on the train, but seriously. Every time I get race photos back I think to myself, (YES THIS IS TOTALLY VEIN) "really I bust my ass and THIS is what I get?" I work out A LOT people. Run run run run and run some more. Now adding swimming and riding (new in the last three years anyway). And while this has certainly helped my pants size (why do people refer to it as dress size.. I mean really, who wears dresses anymore) my 'physique' is still not where I would like it to be.

I mean sure it could be worse, don't get me wrong most days I feel pretty good about the result, but really... it could be better. A lot better.

As most of you know I have been doing some P90X.. now I say some b/c I haven't done the program all out. I've done the weight sessions only and none of the other stuff... b/c well I've been running and riding and swimming. So each session takes under and hour... YES UNDER an hour. I run for at a minimum of 40 mins to an hour... MINIMUM! And my long runs take 1.5 to 2 hours at a minimum.

Anyway... a lot of you have asked... "is it worth it? Does P90X really work?" Well I would definitely say that I am getting stronger... still no pull up unassisted, but it's early. So here's what I'm committing to my dear readers. I will do the program. I'm going to consider myself 30 days in already... even though I didn't do the first 30 days all out. I don't want to start that round all over again b/c I don't want to get bored. I've done that round (half assed) more than once already.

So I'm going to do the program. I'll take photos. I already took my "30 day photos" which, I'm sorry, but I refuse to post until I have something better to look at. Most of you saw the bikini photos on facebook from when I went to Miami. They look about the same. This is where my original "Reality Check, One, Two, One, Two" came from. I took those photos and when I looked at them I immediately wanted to eat a pint of Ben and Jerry's b/c really. I do all this work, I DON'T Eat Ben and Jerry's and I look like THAT! SHIT! SHIT SHIT!!! It's time to do some work! REALLY!

Yes this post is vein. Am I proud of my athletic achievements?? HELLS YES! Am I proud of the way I look in a bikini.. absolutely NOT! So it's time for me to stop whining about it and drowning myself in imaginary ben and jerry's and start building some metabolism boosting muscle.

And just for you my dear readers... starting after my trip to Seattle I will even haul my lazy ass out of bed before the kids get up and get my P90X in so that I still have time during school hours to run ... b/c let's face it... I need it for my mental fortitude really.

PS. Most of you know I have some issues w/ food. (meaning I can't eat like a normal person b/c well my belly rebels!) so I won't be doing their food program, but based on what I've read / heard it's Paleo like.

The Minis

I realize there hasn't been much of an update on the kiddos. :) LOVE LOVE LOVE the iPhone, but it has caused me to basically quit taking photos w/ our 'real' camera. I dusted it off and took a couple of videos and photos... mostly after going through some old blog posts and really enjoying the old videos.

The kids LOVE to ride their bikes. Jason is on his walking bike here b/c we lost a training wheel in the move.. we finally replaced it, but this was taken before that.


They ride up and down the street together.. racing then waiting for each other. it's so cute. They are best buds.

Baseball is another favorite. Jason has great hand eye coordination. He can it a ball.. he can hit a target throwing a ball. It surprises me every time. Here is a typical session w/ Jason and Lily...

What's up at Che Mount?

Lots of things rolling around in the ol' noggin'... Have that caged animal feeling again.. I come and go w/ this. A good work out should help. Hey, wait.. I had two good work outs over the last three days.

I'm feeling like I don't want to register for races for a while. I just want to do ... whatever. I know I need to run, but I don't really feel like it right now. I'd rather ride my bike... and that's all well and good, but I have another half marathon coming up in three weeks. I should run. Really. I also kinda want to focus more on weights, but as I said after the Danbury 1/2 lifting and running and riding 'some' doesn't prepare you well for an endurance event... So that's what I'm thinking today. We'll see how I feel after some time goes by. I will go to spin class tomorrow. I will lift tomorrow. I will ride my bike on Thursday w/ Tom. I will lift on Thursday. I'll run on Friday and Sunday (we'll see if I can cram something in on Saturday before we head out on our trip) and I'll run next week while we're in Seattle...

And I've made a decision about going back to school. I'm not. 1. it's not the right time for me and 2. I'm not even sure that's the direction I want my life to go. I've got nothing but time. :)

I'm starting to feel like some goals are surfacing in my mind. Will work on getting them on paper.

In the mean time I couldn't be more excited about spending some time in the PNW! I miss Seattle SO much.

Danbury Half Marathon

So I kind of forgot this race was coming up. I didn't really look at the map (I guess I don't normally pay too much attention to that.. I like to be surprised) and I had no idea what the elevation would be like. Though I did suspect it would be hilly b/c, well, it's hilly here. Thank God I've been out there running the hills for the last 5 months (OMG have we really been here for 5 months already?).

I was more nervous than expected before the race started. Thankfully I ran into someone I know from swimming and was able to chat w/ her for a bit to take my mind off the race. I usually spend a fair amount of time on visualization ... none for this race. I thought a little bit last night about what I wanted to put into and get out of this race. Did I want to just run it? Did I want to blow myself up and push the pace as hard as I could.. it is a 'race' after all. I never really gave it my usual amount of mental energy so I guess I inadvertently gave it the 'whatever happens happens' mentality.

I seated myself too close to the front. Or at least I've decided that it's better (mentally, for me) to start a bit more toward the middle so that I can pass some people instead of either 1. get passed or 2. try w/ all my might to hang w/ the speedsters only to have my heart feel like it's going to pound out of my chest. I started out fast and knew I was going too fast but decided to just hang in there and see what happened. The first three miles were sub8... needless to say after those first three were over I was OUT for the sub8 run. :) I knew I wouldn't be able to sustain that pace, but hey, it was fun while it lasted. The first half of the race was relatively flat. At one point around mile 6 or so I passed a guy on a hill and he and I chatted a moment then he said to me, "good luck on the hills." I was all, "yeah you too." not really thinking much of it. Thinking it would be more of the same.. uh, nope. The hills weren't brutally steep (okay a couple of them were) they were mostly rollers... long relentless rollers. The good thing about them being relentless is that every time I thought that word I thought of my good friend Mama Marie. (she once called having twins relentless... so now that word ALWAYS makes me think of her. Love you and miss you Mama Marie!) Thinking of Marie helped get me going. We were die hard work out buddies back in the day. SWOON... How I miss that!

As always there were a couple of ladies I kept my eye on to 'hold on for dear life' to my pace. I passed only one of them. I caught up to one and chatted w/ her for a bit, but she went on to finish a bit in front of me.. seconds?? Minutes?? Not sure.

Around mile 8 a guy in FiveFingers passed me like I was standing still. Around mile 6 my knee had started reporting to me that my shoes are coming to the end of their long run usability and I thought for a moment that maybe I should start easing into the FiveFingers to see how that goes. I am going to hit the running store while in Seattle (as we don't have one anywhere around here) to get some new shoes. I'm excited to have someone watch me run and fit me for some shoes. I've been running in the same style of Asics since I first really got into running back in 1998.. Holy crap.. TWELVE YEARS I've been running. Off and on of course until I had kids. My stride has changed immensely over the last training season (aka winter) so I think it's time to reevaluate some things. I'm still having some trouble w my poor sore toes.

The last half of the race was hard... it went by at a relative pace... I didn't want to die or anything... I'm proud to say that though I considered it a couple of times I DID NOT walk ANY of the hills. I put my head down and ran (okay plodded) up EVERY SINGLE one!

I'm happy w/ my time considering the hills, the fact that I've mostly been lifting and riding and my runs have been subpar. Can't say that AT THIS MOMENT I'm real excited about running another race in 3 weeks... ON TRAILS, but I'm sure I'll feel more excited about it, uh, soon. Northface Challenge here I come!

Now I'm wiped out and could really use a nap, but all you moms know that's just not in the cards. Five more hours until I can go to bed! :D

Still thinking about those goals... tried to go there during the run. Runs are usually good for that stuff, but I feel like there is a PHYSICAL block there not letting my mind think about such things!! Weird! So I plod along in life and take it day by day...

What Race and 3 year brainstorming

So TOMORROW is the Danbury Half Marathon. I feel like it's not even on my radar. So unprepared fro this... just going to run it for fun. I haven't really 'trained' for it per se. I know I can complete it. I was going to go run for 4 miles today, but we had such fun as a family and I didn't want to step away from it knowing I would be gone for 3 hours in the middle of the day tomorrow. I did a little Core Synergistics from P90X and got a sweat on so I called it good.

I really want to focus on my core and get stronger in that department. Which means I must start doing the core work outs huh? :) This week was a good week. Did some P90X Ab Ripper, Core Synergistics and some stuff off YouTube just to mix it up. (the name suggested that I would get a 6 pack if I did it regularly... :D ) So this week I hit my goal of three times a week.

I'm VERY excited to find out that a new friend is into weight training and works out in the early morning. AND she just joined my gym!!!! I so could use some motivation and support from someone that's into weight training. I've seen so many women working the weights at this gym... way more than my last gym. And they look GOOD. Strong, lean women. I love it, but I haven't yet met any of them yet. They get in there and do their workouts before I'm even done slugging it out on the treadmill. AND they look way better than me. HMMM. Who knows what they might be doing outside of the time that I see them, but it's starting to look like I could work out WAY LESS in a DIFFERENT way and get BETTER results. Regardless of the fact that I'm a total endurance junky and need my fix... but it's looking like perhaps I wouldn't have to add THAT much time to my work out allotment for the day/week and I would get good results. So the weight training continues via P90X and hopefully will get kicked up a notch w/ my new buddy. I'm lifting as heavy as I can for now to see what kind of results I can get.. okay so maybe not as heavy as I can for I am limited by the weights I have at home, but heavier than I ever have (in my intermittent past weight training programs). Maybe I'll get crazy and take some photos of myself in a bikini to post LATER w/ my AFTER photos!

In my obsessive blog surfing I found Goals for the Week, and particularly THIS post. As most of you know I really love the new year... looking forward at a blank slate that I can mold to my (well mostly my) liking. Dreaming of all the things I want to do. I was excited to see her process and decided to give it a whirl myself. Fancy new sparkle pen (Lily's new obsession) to make it fun and a blank page. Now 3 year goals. SHIT! I couldn't really come up with anything that I felt was all that exciting or inspiring. HUH? What? Same old stuff getting written down. I decided to walk away from it for a bit. I reread her post and then noticed the word brainstorming and decided that might be a better approach for me than the list. Here is how far I got. "Jason and Lily will turn (GASP) seven and will be in first grade." Stumped. That's it. That's all I wrote.... comes to mind.. the same old same old... be organized, STOP being bloated, move back to the PNW, have a six pack, be able to do proper pull ups and more push ups (I'm up to 10 REAL push ups right now.. thank you very much. I suppose the P90X is starting show dividends.)... and there you have it (okay... Ironman may have been on that list)... that's all I could come up with. I feel like a goal setting loser and failure. I know that is not the point.

I won't give up. I will keep coming back to it until I have something more interesting for myself.....

We are now in the ONE WEEK count down to our trip to Seattle!!!! YEAH!

Bloated...

and SO sick of it! I know I know. Where is the positivity I promised. It's coming. I PROMISE! But in the mean time... I look like I'm 20 weeks pregnant on a good day and by the end of the day it's more like 30! SERIOUSLY! This is so NOT cool!!! I work my ASS off and this is what I get. UGH!

And before you start to give me advice (not that I mind it b/c I don't) I eat a shit ton of fiber and drink buckets of water... and nothing wants to come out the other end. WHY!

I'm sorry. I know this is a lot of info to put out into the ether for the world to see, but I'm just so damn sick of it! It doesn't seem to be diet related b/c I have had this problem for a long time. I was trying to remember the first time it was a really bad problem and the first time that comes to mind it was 2002 I think. I had recently gotten off the pill and I remember standing in the dining room complaining to Tom about it. I only mention the BC thing b/c it helps w/ the time frame and because I suspect this is hormone related. Back then I was basically an eat anything girl... still 'healthy' in my eyes at the time, but wheat (processed / packaged stuff), dairy, meat.. scones (MMM scones.. I miss you) and coffee. And now... well it's the opposite. The only thing from that list that is still on the menu is coffee. :) AND YET ... still have a problem. Can you imagine the amount of fiber that goes in my mouth. FRUITS AND VEGGIES>>>> all day!

Anyway. I'm not sure why I'm sharing this. I guess advice is always welcome. Anyone know if it's okay to drink Smooth Move Tea EVERY FREAKIN day!? Probably not a great idea, but oh how much better I would feel.

I've considered calling the doc, but I know he's just going to want to put a camera where I don't really want a camera. I know this isn't normal.. but what can he do???

Okay... got that off my chest........... I guess I shared it bc I feel it's a huge contributor to my stagnate exercise program..

Yea.. what about that.. I run almost every day too.. and STILL NOTHING! GRR!

Baby Girl

My baby girl is on the web. My dad just called to tell me that Lily was on the Schwinn website. I knew this photo was in print, but didn't know they had it online!

She's FAMOUS! HA HA Check it out HERE.

No time to update right now. Just wanted to share. :D

6.7 miles of hills

My run today was another tough one. I'm really pushing the pace for some reason. It's really strange... it's like my natural turn over/cadence is higher than my heart can keep up w/ now. Thanks speed training. I feel myself just suffering and get frustrated with myself for not being able to have a good strong run then I look down at my Garmin and I'm running sub8s. SERIOUSLY!? What's the matter w/ you SLOW down. So I slow down... only to find myself suffering at sub8 again.

I know I shouldn't be complaining. I worked hard to get some speed, but then I try to run up a hill and implode. My heart rate is already sky rocketing (side note: I finally found my heart rate strap - right where it was supposed to be - not sure how I missed it. So I will be wearing that more to keep tabs on what's up) and then I try to run up an MFer of a hill and just... can't... hold... on. FRUSTRATED.

Hmm.. this here blog is like therapy. Looks like I am doing this to myself. I set out today hoping to have a nice easy 8 mile run and ended up w/ an A$$ kicking 6.7 mile run. I never did find my groove... b/c my heart felt like it was going to explode. Well.. no wonder. I was running sub8s. I'm not sure who or what I'm racing against. I would be lying if I didn't say I didn't want to start posting slower runs ... but damn. I'm entitled to some slow ones right? Ha

I do want to start riding my bike more, but I've gone and registered for a bunch of running races. How much will cycling translate to running. Enough I'm sure. Jesus.. what am I doing to myself. I can CAN go out and run for fun.

I have a half marathon this weekend that I don't feel prepared for. I kinda forgot about it and then was writing out my calendar for April and realized.. oh it's April. I have a race. Then next month another half.. a trail run so I'm just going to go enjoy it... walk the hills if I need to. My limited trail running experience tells me my heart rate will really jack up on trails... so no worries. See some scenery enjoy the C02 from the trees. Enjoy the QUIET!

June brings a sprint tri (I think.. I got in late through a friend and am assuming I'm in... ) and a relay.

I'm still toying w/ the idea of doing a 70.3... I think I could pull it off, but better get my butt on my bike. Which I want to do anyway!

Ramble much?

I want to start posting more regularly, but wanted to be in a more positive place. The more I think about it the more I think it's actually just as beneficial to put the negative out there too. (obviously for me) As I've mentioned more than once it's hard to read all the info that makes it seem like everyone has a 'perfect' life (in many different areas). While I might seem to be some sort of rock star in other people's eyes (though this is hard for me to believe or imagine) it's good for everyone to see that I suffer too.. I have slumps (sometimes long ones) and it's okay if/when they do too. You just have to keep getting on the horse until the kinks get worked out!

I've been discovering lots of cool new blogs and it inspires me to keep this one chugging along. I want to change the name of it... or perhaps I need to start another one and get back to some family blogging. I know some of you would really rather see photos of the kids and hear more about what they are doing and less about how my work outs are going.

Mojo: FOUND

Had a good run today and am working on digging my fingernails deep into my mojo and am hanging on for dear life!!!!

Part of my problem w/ the mojo has been that my digestion is just WRECKED lately. Think horribly bloated ALL THE DAMN time.. I look like I'm about 5 months pregnant by the end of the day.. it's just ridiculous! I've suffered w/ this for a LLLLOOONNNGGG time and it comes and goes in severity. I'm - once again - working to try to eliminate (no pun intended) this problem. It's very frustrating and hard to run w/o discomfort.

Today it wasn't as uncomfortable as other days and I was able to take my mind off of it and onto better things... I think the sun shine helped a lot.

Okay... off to do P90X before I go pick up the kids and rock the yard!