A little tired tonight

After this:

90 miles today on the bike. Yeah, that's a lot of riding. Parts are sore. Parts are tired. Money in the bank for the big day.

A little travel

I admit it...I doubted it was going to happen. But next weekend Jeff and I are traveling (thanks to H2O audio) down to La Jolla to spend the weekend. On Monday evening we get to meet and have dinner with Natalie Coughlin, Olympic gold medalist swimmer. Funny thing...she's from the bay area, so we could have saved them some money and met up here. Altho, now that they've announced a partnership with Michael Phelps, it might have been nice to meet him too. :)

It'll be nice to get away for a weekend. Yep, I'll be taking along workout gear and squishing some swimming and running in between sight seeing trips.

Oh, and I hope I get set up with an H2O audio system. That would be the icing on the cake. And any tips Natalie can give me on improving my swim stroke, of course. :)

Middle man...er....woman

My brother called on Sunday to catch up. And in 'catch up' I mean he wanted me to hook him up with my supplier. Easy people, we're talking Apple products here. His computer died and they'd been checking out the iMacs at a local store. And he just so happened to know that I have a dealer in my house. Sleeping in my bed, matter of fact. Yeah, hubby works for Apple, so he can get discounts for "friends and family". Which often means complete strangers he tries to convert. You *will* be assimilated.

But back to the story....

Middle woman (me) conveyed said order to husband, who ordered the *gorgeous* iMac on Monday. By this evening it was sitting on Rob's desk and after a few minor glitches we were iChatting. Using iChat. Wotever. So.Much.Fun. We were like two little kids at Christmas...well, four if you count the spouses. But I have to say, they weren't quite as enthralled as my brother and me. What will be even more fun is to see how the girls will take to iChatting with Aunt Kris. Spencer I *think* will get a kick out of it, but I'm fully expecting Parker to blow me off. Yeah, she's a busy 2 year old with places to go and people to sing to.

On tap this weekend...10+ hours of workouts. And lots of eating. Hopefully some sleeping. But that's all I'm planning for. Oh, and BTW, some sunshine and summery weather would be much appreciated. Thanks. Have a great weekend everyone!

Oh, almost forgot......KUDOS to my Aunt who finished her second triathlon ever last weekend! AND averaged more than 16 mph on the bike! NICE!

Run big

What follows a rest week? Anyone? Anyone? Yes...a big build week. So lots of workouts, lots of hours this week. On a rest week, it's "okay" if you drop or miss a workout. It's all about the recovery. Not so much on a build week. A purpose for every workout.

So a speedy run (well, as "speedy" as I get) on Monday, a 2 hour trainer ride on Tuesday (with intervals...of course) and a 3k yard swim yesterday. Today, run big. On tap: 2-1/2 to 2-3/4 hours. Easy effort, but long. A few things I've managed to forget in the weeks since my last long run:

Body Glide: You have to use it for it to work. Yes, I have an *impressive* welt along my back from my amphipod belt. Ouch.

Water stops: When you're running unsupported, you need to plan your water stops. And carry a lot of crap, er, gel and salt.

Ice baths are my friend: 15-ish minutes in the cold/icy water and my legs aren't nearly as sore as they could be.

Anything approaching 3 hours is a long time to be running....even if you've already done a marathon this year.

And evidently something I still need to work on....hydration. I lost more than 2 pounds on this run. Even when I drank more than 60 oz over 2-1/2 hours. And yes, that is a *bad* thing. So now I have to try to push 32 oz/hour when I run. I wonder if I could just hook up an IV and carry it along with me.

6 little words

Turn this:

into this:


"Want to go to the park?!?"

8 days

So far this year, I've trained for 8+ days. No, not trained 'on' 8 days. My total hours of working out so far this year add up to a bit over 8 days.

Somehow, it doesn't seem like much when stated that way. How about.....I've trained for about 200 hours. And a long ways to go yet.

Today I pulled an envelope out of the mailbox (yes, it's Sunday, but I just don't check my mail that often) from "Ironman Headquarters." It was a DVD of the televised coverage NBC did of the 2008 Ironman Championship. And yes, I stayed up late watching it while I folded laundry. I have a whole new perspective watching it now...mostly I'm scared. Or maybe I should say that I have a 'healthy respect' for the task ahead of me. But you know what.....seeing some of the folks that cross that finish line (72 yr old woman; wheelchair bound ex-motocross youngster; amputee), there is *no* reason why I can't be one of them. Plan for success. Even if it takes 16 hours 59 minutes and 59 seconds.

Ramblings

Work has been totally crazy for the last couple weeks.  I thought it would quiet down last week, but no such luck.  Keeping my fingers crossed that a break comes soon.  I *think* the next big deadline will be mid-July, but hard to say.

Next week will be my biggest training week yet.  It's almost turning into a part time job, and with work what it's been, I'm going a bit nuts.

Even with all the training my weight is climbing.  I'm pretty sure it can't all be muscle.  I think I need to clean up my diet, but that's even harder when work is so insane.  I tend to work, work, work, and by the time I eat, I'm so hungry I grab whatever's close at hand.  And that's not always the best fuel for the body.

It may just be my year for lottery luck...or raffle luck...it seems I *may* have won a trip to San Diego to meet Natalie Coughlin.  I entered a contest being put on by H2O audio and got an email on Friday that I won the grand prize.  I wasn't able to contact the person yet though, so we'll see if I meet their contest requirements and get the prize.  Evidently not included in the prize is an H2O audio system though, which is kind of a bummer.  I would love to have music while I swim my umpteen laps.

Not much else to report at this point.  Workout, work, sleep, repeat.  Sometimes it's workout, work, workout, sleep, repeat.   Squeeze in the eating and dog walks as I can.   But you know...basically that's it.....