This is so fun!

Hello, welcome and Thanks to all my new followers. Love seeing my 'brady bunch' block growing!!!

Time to give up the hard core stregth training?

Shoulder pain mystery solved?

I think I finally put two and two together and figured out what is up w/ my anterior deltoids! I have been swimming for years and never had problems.. okay, to be fair, off and on for years. This past season I swam at most twice a week. Once in open water and once in the pool. Though it was usually just once a week. My first workout at masters swim was GULP 3100 yards or so. I finished it.. I couldn't believe it. The next workout was the same and they have hovered around 2500 yards since. I figured it was the mass amounts of yardage I added, but like I said this pain was new.

Well I'm also coming off almost a year of hitting the weight room pretty hard and I had started lifting pretty heavy and was enjoying seeing some growth and definition in my, um, shoulders. Well since I've been having this pain I've tried a couple of times to hit the weights again.. just lighter and not so intense. And wouldn't you know it... every time I do a weight session my anterior deltoids flair up again.

I'm familiar with both muscle soreness from use/lifting and muscle pain from injury. I wouldn't go so far as to say I'm currently injured, but I would say that my shoulders are putting up the red flags (or maybe white) to let me know they ain't happy and won't tolerate this BS much longer.

So while I do enjoy lifting and lifting heavy I have to go back to my goals for the year. Am I aiming to be all shredded up or am I aiming to be a better triathlete. TRIATHLETE is where I'm at so bye-bye P90X.

I'm now looking for a good program I can do that focuses more on core and hits overall body as well. Thinking pull ups (assisted of course... though I can do TWO by myself.. which will have to suffice for my 2010 goal of doing unassisted pull ups) and push ups.

I was also instructed by the swim coach to do some stretching. Both chest and shoulders. He picked out some things in my stroke that may or may not be contributing to my pain. Things like not reaching enough, not getting enough bend in my elbow for my pull and pulling too early.

And on a side note. I've also been instructed to sit on my feet. When doing kick drills I LITERALLY stop mid lap.. and I would swear I was starting to go backward, but have been promised this is not true. The coach watched my kick and said it wasn't 'too bad', but to try pointing my toes more. I promptly put my foot above water and showed him that this was ALL I GOT. He said, "hmm, you need to sit on your feet your ankles are really tight!" Yes, I have runner's ankles! ;)

So that's that. Hopefully with the stretching, laying off the weights and sleeping on my back (I'm getting there) I'll be good as new soon. In the meantime I just keep swimming.

Is stretching part of your program or do you neglect it like I do because life hits you smack in the face as soon as you walk in the door and it just gets "forgotten"?

more swim tips. And a cry for help!

Thursday night we worked on rotation a lot.. We did the one arm drill and focused on using your core to create the forward momentum and not your arm pull as much. This really helped me to feel and realize how much you can use your core to help you AND use your lats/core vs shoulder to move you forward. (note my cry for help below)

In the video below note the second drill where you drop your arm to your side and work on rotation.



The coach threw some real loops out there too. I won't go into too much detail, but he had us do some swimming without doing the LONG GLIDE. He basically had us swim in the way that EVERY coach has told me to NOT do. The way I used to swim, but w/ more rotation. His point was that what works for one may or may not work for others and you need to find the best thing for you. AND that you would swim and all out sprint differently (similarly, but differently) than you would swim a long endurance (ie 2.4 mile) swim. Um, maybe he would.. pretty sure I would swim it EXACTLY the same way.... but some day I will have enough swim 'finesse' to know the difference. I used to have ONE running speed too, but after much work that is changing!

Cry for help:
My shoulders are HURTING! I'm hoping that I've got the offending move figured out (swimming flat and pulling with my shoulders), but it could be just the huge increase in yardage. I'm generally okay during the day, but I wake to aching shoulders multiple times in the night. I'm not huge on the vitamin I regimen, but did it last night. Helped a bit. Any suggestions? Ice? Rest? (NO!!) I don't want to take time off b/c I finally feel like things are clicking in the pool, but in reality.. it IS the off season!

So WHAT do I do about the Shoulders and Do YOU have different swim speeds?

More swim tips!

Things continue to 'click' in the pool. I watched some videos on the drills that we did last week right before I left for last night's swim session and I think it really helped me keep it present in my mind.

Here is a video again using a 'contraption' which is not my point. I like this video because it helps you to really see the hip rotation and 'snap'. When I first started working on rotation I focused on rotating my hips out of the way - all well and good, but after watching some videos and reading some stuff I started 'snapping' my hips more the use my core to power my arms a bit. I went to a swim clinic recently and the coach used the symbolism of a boat. If you want to get a boat moving with out a motor you rock it back and forth to create the motion. The same is true in swimming. I was really surprised at the ease of the stroke when I focused on SNAPPING my hips and using them to power my stroke. I could tell when I was getting tired and stopped focusing on this. I started to feel like I was DRAGGING myself with my arms again.



And, of course, it wouldn't be a 'youtube swim watching session' without a little Michael Phelps, right? So I found a video of him at multiple angles and the first thing I noticed was the position of his arm during his pull. The last two weeks I've had bad shoulder pain and my right shoulder felt like it was going to separate. I chalked it up to lifting too heavy and tweaking my stroke and figured my body would acclimate, but it wasn't. So I noticed that through is pull his arm actually comes UNDER his body. I think I was trying too hard to maintain the high elbow position and the wide arm and was pulling WAY TOO FAR OUT! You know I'm not expert so if I AM SUPPOSED to continue doing that please let me know in the comments below. I changed my pull to be more like (er, resemble kinda sorta) the one Phelps does here and I'll be damned if my shoulders didn't feel better by the end of the first 25 w/ this modification!

CRAP I can't embed this video.. been turned off on YouTube. So you'll have to click this link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ax77_hHq9Dc

Please share your favorite swim tips or drills in the comments below. What makes things CLICK for you!?



And one quick thing. I ordered some samples of TriSwim the other day... partly in the interest of checking out the sponsor for Team Trakkers and partly because I had heard such good things about it. I gotta tell ya! THAT STUFF WORKS! I can always smell the chlorine on me and feel the itch even the day after the workout. (wears off just in time for the next workout!) The shampoo, conditioner, bodywash and lotion all had a pleasant (not overwhelming) smell and they WORKED! Left my skin smooth and with no itch. I didn't smell the chlorine right after my shower, but knew that my husband "the nose" would be the true test. I stand next to someone eating garlic and I get accused of eating a whole raw bulb of it for lunch. NOT KIDDING! I put my hair in his face when I got home from the pool and he told me he couldn't smell ANY chlorine. Now that's amazing. You can go to their website and order a sample to check it out yourself if you don't believe me! :D

FIRST training

FIRST (Furman Institute of Running) Training is essentially THREE days of training w/ required two days of cross training. You have one day of speed/intervals, one day of tempo and one day of long runs. You are to cross train two days a week.

I've started this program, but I can't remember if I've ever completed it for a race. I think it's what I used to do the Danbury Half back in May, but I was coming off Miami Marathon and I think I really just kind of winged it / coasted to that race. I was feeling a bit 'over it' at the time.

I was feeling like I was getting faster over the years - clearly my marathon got faster (not quite 'faster enough', but faster), but as I looked back at old race results for triathlons my running times really haven't changed a whole lot. I want to change that.

I know that the speed work WORKS! I did see some improvements and I want to see more.

Right now I'm still teetering on the "KEEP PUSHING, KEEP TRAINING, race the half in Philly and then step it up and do the Austin FULL marathon. Gun for a BQ again. You've aged up, you only need 5 more minutes! FIVE MEASLY minutes. You can do that!" and the "Take it easy and rest before you start a big block of work toward your triathlon goals."

I plan to hit some serious speed training starting in January which not real conducive to marathon training. It's hard to hit intervals on the bike and the run when you just came off a 20 mile run!

Fortunately or unfortunately for me I know and am acquainted with some really amazing fast chicks. Dedicated women that I KNOW would step up and race the half then the full and shoot for the BQ all while absolutely NAILING the speed work!? What the? What are you waiting for? What's w/ the hesitation?

This is not uncommon for me. It takes me a while to come to decisions, but generally speaking after I do the 'inventory' and make a decision I stick to it... though I know that at TIMES there is a fair amount of mental struggle and waiver as we get close to race day.

So what's my point?? Who knows! That's the way I roll! I started w/ FIRST training... and now I'm here floundering in neverland. Typical! Let's see if I can pull this together!

So the FIRST plan has speed work incorporated. Similar to my goals to do speed work in the 'off'season, no? And I'm supposed to cross train. I'll have plenty of speed sessions on the bike for that right?

There are some things hanging in the balance with the whole "will I be wearing GREEN?" thing. IF I'm wearing GREEN I plan to hit the REV3 tri series. Um, two of those races are EARLY season... May 15th and June 4/5th. Surely I can hit an Oly in May after all that speed work right? Right? (I have no idea when I'll know if I'm sporting GREEN or not... the waiting is the hardest part!) Oh, side note: they are adding another race to the series... somewhere down south. Should know by the end of the week. This all has potential to keep me busy and provide lots of fun!!! Keep crossing your fingers for me!

What would you do? Would you (WO)Man up and shoot for the BQ again? Or would you do the half races just to keep yourself out there and continue to MOSTLY/ONLY focus on triathlon?

IF YOU ENJOYED THIS RAMBLING PLEASE 'FOLLOW' ME SO YOU DON'T MISS MY NEXT SCINTILLATING POST!

Bike Town Weekend

Tom came home w/ this idea from a friend at work the other day. They called it Bike Town USA! I think it might have actually been Schwinn Town, but I'm pretty sure I can't call it that. ;) Basically the idea is that it's different stores etc that you can ride your bike to. You set up the shops and then draw the chalk lines and ride your bike in town.

Jason and Lily were ALL OVER this idea. They thought it was great. We asked them what they wanted to make and some of their ideas were coffee shop (duh), ice cream shop, pizza place, bike shop, school and grocery store.


Think we have enough bikes? Who do you think has more my son or me?

This weekend Tom and Jason hit the hardware store for some particle board and Pat and Tom constructed some basic store fronts for a Pizza place and an Ice Cream shop. Then we pulled out the pluthera of half full paint cans we have in our garage (bc this awesome town has no real good solution for disposing of it) and we helped them paint their shops. They did a great job.. only got a little paint in their hair and on their clothes, but most of it got on the shops.







Then they drew chalk roads on our driveway and made us pizza and ice cream.



If we can't LIVE it we'll just create it until we can be in a place where this can be our lifestyle. We another board. I'm not sure what store the kids are going to chose next, but we had an absolute blast making these little store fronts, watching the kids paint them and helping them add designs and decorations. They played with it all the rest of the day and that was the first thing they did the next day. We had to put the houses from the rain, but you can bet we will be riding in bike town again soon.

What do you think of this idea? Do you live in an area where this can be your REAL life instead of an imaginary one in your driveway?

Race alone or run with a friend... the verdict

So this weekend was the weekend I was thinking about running a local half marathon and I posted about not 'feelin' it' and deciding to run with my friend instead.

Well, my friend wanted to get an 8 mile run in to test out an injured ankle. I was all tapered for the race I was going to do so I decided to run part of the run by myself and the rest alone.

BEST DECISION EVER. Little did I realize that I NEEDED some girl time. It was so nice to be able to run with my friend and chat all along the way about various things. Certainly wouldn't have gotten that racing ALONE!

I got behind in the a.m. and wasn't able to make my usual oatmeal so I slammed a half a pb&j on the way out the door to start my mad dash (almost entirely uphill) to get to my friend's house on time. I had no idea how this sandwich was going to sit in my stomach OR fuel me on my run. It was PERFECTO! My stomach didn't revolt and it carried me threw the run. I had some shot blox, but that's it.

3.5 mile speed workout up the hills to my friend's house then a nice mellow 8 miles up and down the hills here in the CT Alps then a nice 3.5 miles home. Was a fantastic long run. I wasn't really aiming for a certain distance... more than 10 was all I had in my mind. I felt great and am not totally zapped today. BUENO!

No medal for this run, but sure do have some warm fuzzy to carry around. And BONUS my husband took the kids to the aquarium w/ his parents so I am ALL ALONE in the silence right now. PERFECT DAY!!

What would your perfect day look like?

Don't you think I would look good in GREEN!?

I've been following some amazing Team Trakkers athletes all year.

- GoSonja
- inTraining
- Trimommy

I have so enjoyed watching their progress through the race season and seeing how they work as a team. They support each other and damn do THEY LOOK GOOD in GREEN! I've had conversations over email with all three of these women. They are out there getting it done and still have time and inclination to talk to ME.. Me a woman they have never ever met, but a woman that shares a passion for endurance sports. Gives me a nice warm fuzzy!

Last year when I had just met these women I considered applying to Team Trakkers, but I chickened out. I didn't feel ready. I wanted to get my legs under me again. I needed to do some races and regain my confidence!

Well, I'm back baby. My confidence is back. I'm ready to take it to the next level and I would be ecstatic to be able to do it with a TEAM. THIS team. To race not just for myself, but to represent a great group of people. To be able to encourage and be encouraged.

And BONUS! They support GREAT products and a very cool race series. Saucony, First Endurance, TriSwim, TriGlide, Foggle, and the REV3 Race Series.

So keep your fingers crossed that I get to represent this team with all those great women.

And if you want to be sure to find out if I make it click on that FOLLLOW button up there on the top right to stay tuned.

A little insider info... when that 'followers' number gets to 100 .. yes ONE HUNDRED.. I'll be doing a BIG giveaway. So get to it!

Race alone or run with a friend

I found out about a small local and cheap half marathon right here in Ridgefield CT a few weeks back and was considering doing it. I was already on a training plan to do the Hartford Half marathon on October 9th when our plans changed (our being my training partner and I) so we wouldn't be running that race. I continued to run on the plan just to have a plan. We've now settled on Philly on 11/20 - so long as my training partners long run goes okay this Saturday.

As I've posted lately I've been feeling a bit off lately. Tired and crabby and not hitting workouts like I wanted to. So I've been debating on whether or not to do this race. Well I need to decide today. I get a text form my TP and she asks to run long this Saturday so I'm thinking I'd rather run long (not 13.1) with a friend than I would race a longer distance. So I'm going to go ahead and listen to the ol' body and run w/ a friend. Take it easy, slow down and enjoy the changing leaves and friendship.

I've also decided not to lift this weekend. LOOK at me!! Listening to my body for a change. How cool I have my own barometer! ha Swim was AWESOME last night. I was able to settle in and work on stroke and not blow myself up, but as anyone who swims knows when you make shifts in your stroke it can be hard on the new muscles you are using lap after lap. My shoulders started barking at me. I'm supposed to do Shoulders and Arms today and Chest and back on Friday, but I think my arms could use a break too.. particularly with all the swimming I've been doing.

Despite the shoulder pain I had a GREAT swim workout. I was actually able to focus on my stroke and not worry at all about speed! I got some awesome pointers from some of my fellow swimmers... real swimmers not triathletes. There's a difference. A HUGE difference. We did the catch up drill holding a bar. It keeps you HONEST and you can really feel what you are supposed to feel. The extension and glide.

We did it a little bit differently than this guy. We held the bar parallel to the bottom of the pool, but you get the idea.



After we did this and I could really feel the difference my fellow swimmer reminded me about the whole "get your hip out of the way" thing... accentuating the proper rotation from your hip not just your shoulders and I could, again, feel a difference. Now whenever you switch things up with your stroke you feel a bit slower (though my buddy assured me I wasn't slower) I did feel like it was a bit 'easier' as in I wasn't struggling so much to try to glide as I usually do.

This is an Advertisement for something, but you get the idea.



I'm pretty excited about last nights developments and hope this is the beginning of some good progress in my swimming!

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!