Will train for wine and chocolate

2010 in Review

2011-01-02T10:35:00.000-08:00

Wow, it has been quite a while since I have posted anything, I blame life...and pregnancy! 2010 was a great year for me though, and I am going to briefly list the highlights here.

Janurary: Began my triathlon training with the lovely Jennifer Harrison, remembered what it was like to be truly sore.

April: Completed my first triathlon

May: Another triathlon and sinus surgery (recovery was horrid but I am so glad I did it, no more sinus infections since!)

June: To Colorado for my Grandfather's 90th birthday and got to drive over the beautiful Rocky Mountains. David finished another school year and began to train with me. Triathlons are contagious!

July: Started working more shifts at the hospital, this made finding time for training a bit more challening, but I got it done. Continued to run distances I never thought I would be able to reach. Climbed Mt. Hamilton (6000 ft of total climbing) on the bike and didn't die!

August: Final big build toward my half IM....lost my training partner as school began anew.

September: Completed my first Half Ironman distance in hot, dry weather. It must have been good for me as I got pregnant the following week!

October: Celebrated our 9 year wedding anniversary, learned that "morning sickness" is a poor way to describe pregnancy induced nausea.

November: Completed my first half marathon in Santa Clarita while pregnant. Unfortunately I haven't worked out much since.....went on hiatus with my coach. Traveled to Arizona with David and Molly to spectate/volunteer at my first IM. Reconnected with some good ASU friends.

December: Had a wonderful holiday season filled with dinners, parties, and wonderful friends and family. Made it to my second trimester and found the nausea begin to fade..

Goals for 2011? The birth of a healthy baby (who thinks sleeping is a great passtime) with a heatlhy mommy in June, and then start training for a marathon, and continue to learn from job.

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!!

December: Brought me

Race Report - TBF Hit 70.3

2010-09-13T19:09:00.001-07:00

I did it. I completed my first 70.3. It wasn't pretty, but it got done. Here's my race report...

David (my husband) and I did our short brick on Friday morning and were on the road by 11am. The hotel we were staying at was about 2 hours from our house. About an hour into our trip I realized I had forgotten my brand new racing one-piece. I had washed it the night before (because it was new) and I neglected to put it into my suitcase. Big OOPS. Luckily, with a little help from David's Iphone and Google Maps, we found an REI in Stockton, which was on the way to our destination.

REI had a race outfit I had tried on previously, in my size, and on sale. It wasn't what I would normally choose, but the top was pink and I figured at least my coach would approve of the color scheme! In short, I lucked out. I silently hoped this was the only snafu that I would face during the trip.

The hotel we stayed at was very nicely situated. It was quite new, and behind a shopping center that had a grocery store, coffee shop, Baskin Robbins, and 3 different resturants. All were within walking distance from where we were staying.

We checked in, dropped off our stuff, had lunch, and got back into the truck to drive out to the race site and drive the bike course. The site was a decomissioned nuclear power plant called Rancho Seco. We were unable to see the swim site and run site (which was probably just as well, in retrospect), but we did see the entire bike course. It consisted of some flats and lots of rollers. Nothing to techinical or scary, I figured I could power the downhills as they did not contain any turns.

After our drive we had a dinner of pizza (cheese, ham and mushrooms without sauce) which was prefect. I made all of our water bottles and David checked the bikes. Then it was off to bed. I slept better than I have before any race, but 4:30 am still came really early.

We drove out to the site and were probably the third racers there. It was dark. You couldn't even see transition. Crazy. The lake looked glassy and calm. The nuclear chimneys had a number of red lights on them, which made the landscape even more alien. I wondered how many 3 eyed fish I was going to see on the swim.

Got a great spot in transition, then it was off the legs until go time. The women were to all swim together in the last group. I was kinda annoyed about going last, but it turned out okay.

Here we are waiting in transition...

The Swim: 36:42

I wore a sleeveless wetsuit, lined myself up at the front for the in water start. It was nice and warm, really. I went out a little fast and then dialed it back a bit. Breathing every stroke. Ever seen Harry Potter 4 where the little devils come out of the lake weeds and get him (they're called grindylows)? Well there were so many weeds, I kept thinking expecting something to come and grab me. Anyway I passed some men in the group ahead of me, and some super fast girls passed me. In all I felt good.

Bike: 3:51.21

So this is the official time. My Garmin has it a bit differently I don't know why. But Garmin says I averaged 15.1 mph over 56.46 mi in 3:44.58. I was a little hungry getting out of the water so took a gel at the beginning. Then had my carbopro/electrolyte 15 min in. I felt strong on the bike. The first 20 miles or so went quickly and were relatively flat. Then we got into the rollers. Lots and lots of rollers. The terrain is very similar to what I have ridden on for training rides so I was comfortable. I did my best to power on the down hills, they were all nice and straight. Even got up to 30mph at one point. A couple of down hills I stretched. Had to click out a couple of times on the flats as my feet were a little numb, but it didn’t take long to get feeling back. My hamstrings hurt, but not like they did before the bike fit and they hurt symmetrically.

This is the first mile out on the bike. It was downhill, I was thinking about how unpleasant it was going to be to bike back uphill at the end of the ride...

For the first time in a race this year, I actually passed some people on the bike! I was excited. I stayed in my planned heart rate zones, but I just didn’t want to blow out my legs and tried to spin as much as I could. My mph suffered on those rollers, but I didn’t want to redline it just so I could keep my mph high. Nutrition wise I felt like I did a good job. At the mile 35 aid station I grabbed a water bottle with water and drank about half, just to get the sweet taste of my water bottles out of my mouth. I did that again at mile 45. So I had 3.5 water bottles on the ride with the carbopro/electrolyte drink as well as 1 bottle of just water. I never felt hungry or bonky on the bike.

Run: 2:49.32

Otherwise known as the 7th circle of hell. I really had no idea the run course was this hilly. I knew it would be some single track, and some fire roads but I had no idea on the hills. Even reading the old race reports, I just didn’t get it, apparently. So off the bike I immediately took a gel. It was about 90 degrees at this point. I grabbed my water bottle with my electrolyte drink, my race belt with gels and salt tabs and hit the road. It was fine at first, my legs felt okay – just heavy – but I was trucking along.

Here I am leaving transition for the first loop. Sorry...spandex is so unforgiving...

I came to the first hill, I jogged up it, giving myself permission to walk it on the second loop if I needed to. As I crested the hill I saw a series of other hills and my heart just sank. It was so hot. I didn’t think I could run up all of them and actually make it all the way to the end. So I started to walk the uphills, actually I walked a lot more than that on that first loop. I wasn’t happy about it, but I was being conservative and safe I guess. I was, by far, not the only one walking.

I hit the first aid station and got two cups of water and poured them on my head and back. Bliss. I would jog the downhills, walk the up hills and sometimes a little more. Took my gels every 40 min. I was done with my electrolyte drink in about 50 min. At the second aid station one of the wonderful volunteers filled up my water with ice water. This was awesome. I decided to do this at every station. Then I’d drink about ¼ of the bottle and the rest went on some part of my body. Wonderful. I was so glad I had that water bottle.

Once I ran out of electrolyte drink I would have approx 8 oz of Gatorade at the aid stations, stick ice down my shirt, and refill my water bottle. GI-wise I was okay. I took salt tabs every half hour. I kept sweating. I was dirty and dusty. The loop was an out and back that you did twice. Going out was hilly, coming back was flatter and single track. I told myself on the second lap I would only walk half way up the hills, and that I would run all the single track. Which I did. I am pretty sure I came back faster on the second loop than I did the first.

I passed people (crazy), I stayed hydrated and kept my own pace. I ran non-stop on the single track, and my knees were a bit unhappy, but I did it. I was just so excited that I was going to be done, it kept me going. I knew I was going to finish one way or the other, even if it wasn’t quite as fast as I was hoping. It was 92 degrees when I finished. I could see the finish, and I could see a guy hobbling along, so I kicked and passed him. He tried to stay with me (feebly) and I still beat him. You can see him behind me in this picture:

Poor guy, I think he just bonked. Across the line, I attempted not to puke on the volunteers who had my finisher medal.

Total: 7:17.35

David was waiting for me with a big hug at the finish. I saw him out on the run course twice. He looked toasted. I suggested we go for a post race dip in the lake. It was great. We got most of the dust off, but ended up not hearing them call his name for awards. He came in 3rd in the Clydesdale division. It was his first 70.3 as well, and I was so proud of him. Here he is at the finish:

As we were packing up, I heard my own named called. I got a 5th place finish too. There were 5 girls in my AG....there were more on the list when I checked in, but perhaps the heat scared them away. At anyrate, I was happy, and I had some hardware to go with my first half IM.

We drove back to the hotel, with a stop at the grocery store for a couple of bags of ice. My ice bath was lovely. I now love ice baths. Maybe in February I won't be so pleased, but it sure felt good on Saturday. We went to dinner and had mediocre Mexican food. For desert we went to Baskin Robbins, which was wonderful.

Sunburned, sore, and chafed, we hobbled back to the hotel. I had a hard time falling asleep (I blame the coke I had with dinner), but I didn't feel too bad, and my stomach was content. Sunday morning was a different story. Wow, my legs were angry. My whole body was angry.

Today is much better. I credit the ice bath and the minimal amounts of strectching I have done. Oh and great coaching to get me ready for this little adventure.

My next challenge is going to be a half marathon the first weekend in November. I am excited to have a better run! But for now, I am going to enjoy rest week!

I want to thank everyone who helped me get to this point, my awesome coach, my husband, my family, Molly, and all the people who were cheering for me online. You guys rock!

Where did summer go?

2010-08-30T15:23:00.000-07:00

Actually, some people might ask if summer ever got here at all! We've had one of the coolest summers I can ever remember having here in the Bay Area this year. Not that I have really complained much, I don't have air conditioning!

We've had a couple of hot spells, which have been great to simulate some warm weather training, but other than that it's been pretty mild!

The past two weeks have marked my build up for my first HIM in September. September 11th, to be exact, which is now less than two weeks away! Wow...how did that happen?

Two weekends ago, my instructions were to do a long ride with long and steady climbs. My husband told me that Mt. Hamilton fit that bill very well. It's 19 miles of climbing with an average grade of 4-6%. You ride all the way up to the observatory. It's a mountain that I look at every day. David has ridden it before, but I have always gotten out of it. This time I figured, why not? The weather was forecast to be nice, and I knew it would be a great training ride.

Here's a good picture I found of the mountain:

You see those tiny white specks at the top? That's the observatory I made it up to! We set out about 11am from a near by park, as we didn't want to start climbing right away. About 45 min later, we got to here:

The climbing wasn't bad. I was very happy to have a triple! You gain about 1500 ft, and then you drop down into a valley, losing all that altitude which you then get to gain again. I hung in there okay until the last mile or so. The last part of the climb is full of switch backs, with the occasional teasing glimpse of the observatories. Here's what they look like as you get "closer":

I was pretty much cursing anything that moved by the time we made it to the very top of the switch backs. I.just.wanted.to.be.done.climbing.already!

Finally, we got to the top where we took this picture:

We filled up our water bottles and then got to the part I was really dreading - downhill. I am terrified of going downhill. I tend to imagine how it will feel when all the skin and muscle has come off from sliding down the side of the road. Not great for your confidence, really. David was nice enough to hang out behind me and give me some really good tips about descending. It helped immensely, I felt like I had much more control around the turns and I wasn't nearly as scared.

About 5 miles from the bottom, my back started to scream obscenities at me. David had gone ahead of me as we were over the more technical part of the descent, and I was on my own. My back and hands just hurt like you would not believe. I was so happy to get down and to a stop light where I could unclick and stretch out my back.

All in all, it was a great day. 5:30 min in total. The summit is 4200 feet, so between that and then coming back down, garmin says we did a total of 6879 total feet of climbing. Crazy. Here's what it looked like after I downloaded the ride:

This past weekend we did another longer ride, but I will post pictures of that soon. It was a great day as well and I am looking forward to that magic word "taper".

Tale of two rides

2010-07-26T21:46:00.000-07:00

Training has been going well. The new work schedule (32 hours of night shift/week) is making it interesting to get all my workouts in, but I am doing my best. I really like sleep, and sometimes I choose sleep over a workout. I figure my patients would prefer me awake!

Last Sunday David and I had a great ride up to Canada road. We got a later start than we were planning on, but such is life. Luckily the weather got cooler the further we rode north, so that was a pleasant surprise. We also started our ride in a head wind, which meant we had a bit of a tailwind on the way back, which was fabulous.

The reason this ride is so great on a Sunday has to do with something named "Bicycle Sunday". About 4.5 mi before our turn around, the road is closed to all motor traffic. Everyone I saw on that stretch of road had the biggest smile you'd ever seen. We were all just so happy to ride on a road without any cars. It is a bit windy and downhills on parts too, so I got to practice my descents and only had to worry about falling, instead of falling and/or being hit by a car!

I had done part of this ride back in April with my brother. I felt much better on this ride, actually staying in the correct heart rate zones, whereas before, I was all over the place. The only other time I had done this ride was a year in a half ago, in February, with Molly. It was raining. So this was much better in lots of ways!

Today David and I drove over to Santa Cruz. He's doing a triathlon there in a few weeks and wanted to swim in the ocean one more time prior. I figured this would time to ride on some new and different roads, as well as have a lovely run along the sea cliffs.

I found what I thought would be a nice, flatish bike ride that fit the training plan for the day. After we did one loop of David's bike course, we were off. It didn't go well. We were unfamiliar with the area. I had found a course but didn't realize how many lights there would be along the way. There was also a bunch of traffic, for a Monday, but perhaps this is how it is in any beach town during the summer.

At any rate, I couldn't WAIT to get off my bike and go for a run. If you know anything about me, you'd know how crazy that statement is. But really, it was a beautiful run along the sea cliffs, and really it was the best part of the day. That and the fact that I got to be out riding and exercising with my husband. It was helpful that he stayed in the car watch the bikes while I went for my run.

So that's about it from around here. The weather people keep saying our recent weather has been "unseasonably cool" and I am so okay with that. If it could stay that way until we get past my tri in September, I wouldn't complain!

New Beginnings

2010-06-30T12:16:00.000-07:00

It's been far too long since my last post! Hopefully I can get back to being a bit more prolific. Truth be told, it's been an interesting couple of weeks. Poor sleep due to night shift, sporadic training (my own bad there), a sinus infection and bronchitis, a trip to Colorado, and summer finally showed up!

I decided last week that perhaps July 31st was a little too soon for my first half ironman, after the recovery from surgery, getting sick again, traveling to Colorado to celebrate my grandfather's 90th birthday, and deciding to increase my hours at work beginning in July, it just kind of all backed up on me. I found a great half that will be held on September 11th south of Sacramento. Coach agreed with me so this is the new goal.

Things have been going well, thus far. David is out of school and I have a ready made, and willing training partner. He even signed up for an Olympic length triathlon in August that requires swimming in the ocean, which would also be why I didn't sign up for the same one. Well, that, and the fact I work on said weekend. So we're having fun together, and I feel safer on the bike and running having someone with me at all times.

He's been going to masters with me too. I was faster than him in the pool for approximately 2 practices. Humpf! Oh well, it is what it is, and I am glad he's getting the exercise, also - he's quite adept at changing flat tires =).

Today was a big day. David wanted to get in some ocean swimming before his triathlon. Molly let us know that she was planning on swimming at Cowell's beach in Santa Cruz around 7am. Woo! That is early for this night shift worker. I had told David I would go with him and watch while he swam with Molly and her aunt due to the fact I am truly terrified of swimming in the ocean. A few messages were exchanged and Molly's husband, Jeff (who was more than a few beers in at this point), said he'd swim in the water, sans wetsuit, if I got in too (I was allowed to wear the wetsuit).

Well I couldn't quite pass up such an offer, and I knew, deep down, that I should really get over this fear and get in the damn water. David and I were at Sports Basement and rented wetsuits. To this point, I had only ever worn the 2XU sleeveless suit. This time, I tried on a long-sleeved orca. It had pink writing on it, and it fit really well. Between the deal with Jeff and the pink writing on the wetsuit, I figured I had to rent the wetsuit and deal with the ocean.

Fast forward to this morning. We got up, I had some oatmeal, made some french-press coffee, put on my big girl pants, and we were out the door. Traffic was really light, which was great. The parking at the beach is free before 10am and we were there well before that. Jeff was there too, ready to hold up his end of the bet. I am watching him enter thinking how great it is to have a wetsuit on right about now...see exhibit A:

What a guy. I think I owe him a six pack.

The plan was to swim out to the buoy. My plan was to swim out, see how I felt and possibly swim back to shore and be done. The water was COLD. 53 degrees actually. But my wetsuit kept me quite warm and loved the buoyancy of the salt water and the suit. I hardly kicked!

It was really tough to put my face in. I have gotten over the claustrophobia of the dark water for the most part, but it was the coldness that was keeping me doing heads up freestyle. David and I made it to the first buoy and Molly had her camera so we'd have proof:

It wasn't so bad out there, so we swam to the next buoy, which was probably 150m to 200m away. I kept watch for the occasional sea lion. There were two of them out this morning, playing around in the water and popping up when you'd least expect them. David swears one went past him. We went between the buoys 3 times and then decided to head in. It was nice swimming with the current back to the shore.

Then we were out and happy to be finished:

So I really need to thank Molly and Jeff for pushing me to do this. It was a big hurdle and I am glad that I did it. Even if I whine and moan about sharks and jellyfish and other creatures that might want to eat me =)

I go back to work tomorrow. I have increased my hours; going from 24 hours (3 shifts a week) to 32 hours (4 shifts) still on night shift. The new shift begins on Monday so the next week and a half is going to be pretty busy with work and training as I transition to the new schedule.

On a completely random note, I have started drinking GT's Kombucha. Yes this is what Lindsey Lohan says set off her ankle alcohol sensor, which then turned into Whole Foods pulling them from their shelves. Luckily another local grocery store is currently carrying it. For the record, I feel no buzz whatsoever, but it really does help with the soda cravings and appetite control.

Apparently you can make kombucha at home, but seeing as how I will spend just as much money for a venti latte, I figure I am justified in buying these instead.

So that's where things are now. Summer is here in full swing. We had a couple of 90+ degree heat days, but today looks to be in the low 80s, which is just about perfect in this un-airconditioned house.

Recovery....

2010-05-23T13:58:00.000-07:00

I wrote this blog post about a week ago regarding my lovely sinus surgery, but I never put it up. I have edited it a bit and figured now would be a good time to post something!

I have to give a shout out to Marit for answering a ton of my questions once I got back home from my surgery. She was extremely informative and helpful, and I really appreciated it! She even let me whine a bit =).

Basically I had splints in my nose to keep my repaired deviated septum in place, an unknown amount of gauze in my sinuses from the endoscopic surgery to make my sinuses drain better, and a ton of pain. I had instructions not to blow my nose, and if I were to sneeze, to do so through my mouth (not a problem as I don't do much with my nose to begin with).

I have had one trip to the ER for a pain control issue. I had my husband take me to the ER where I work, which was fabulous. They were great and sent me home after a pain shot, and with a new prescription for percocet (which I asked for initially but my surgeon didn't want to give me). I was lucky it was not busy when I went in.

After I started the percocet, my day was been split into 4 hour intervals. I didn't really like being this dependent on a drug, but I am a wuss when it comes to this type of pain and hoped against hope I could stop the narcotic once the dreaded splints were out (a week after the initial surgery).

My friends and family have been great. David stayed with me on Wednesday after our midnight trip to the ER. My friend Jen came over on Thursday armed with Jamba Juice and we watched a movie (okay fine, we watched New Moon =>). Friday I was on my own but my dad made a trip to get me enough pain meds and gauze to last me through the weekend. I feel like I should buy stock in Odawalla and Jamba Juice. I have had numerous offers from others to go and run errands for me, etc., and I appreciate them all.

My splints came out the Tuesday after my surgery. I was very scared that their removal was going to hurt, a lot. We got to the doctor early, and he actually saw me early (?!). I asked him to numb my nose, but he responded that it is a pretty hard thing to do. He cut the suture that was holding them in and pulled them out, one at a time, with some medical tweezers. It was painful, but not horrible. I felt immediate relief. It was wonderful. Here is a picture of what the splints look like before they're inserted this is almost to scale, I couldn't believe how ginormous they were when I got a good look at them:

Things have been much better since the splints have come out. I continued to sleep in fits though, last night was the first night I actually slept an entire night without waking up, so it took about 2 weeks in total to get back to a normal sleep schedule. I lost my taste for a little over a week, but it's back now so that made me happy. It's so weird when you can't taste.

Advil has been good enough for the pain. I haven't had any more narcotics since the day my splints were removed, that's good enough for me. I don't know how all of these people get hooked on narcotics. All I have to say about that is they must eat a TON of fiber in their diets.

May marked an exciting anniversary for me as well. It has been exactly one year since I graduated from Nursing School. That is just, well, crazy! I cannot believe it has been a year. I am looking forward to a summer of not studying and worrying about taking my boards, and whether or not I am going to find a job. The time since graduation seems to have just flown by. I have been in my current job in the ER for 6 months now. I still LOVE my job. I work with incredible people and I still have much, much, much to learn.

Here's a picture of David and me at graduation:

I have started training again, albeit slowly. Which is fine with me. I could feel the pressure in my nose yesterday with some of the TRX moves, but it wasn't too bad. Running and biking don't seem to bother it at all. I am going to try swimming tonight. I have chosen to attend the late night practice, because I am not really sure what I might be adding to the pool. I know, gross, but hopefully no one will see it, and I will be in my own lane!

In the meantime, I need to convince my husband/mechanic to put my new road pedals on my bike so I can figure out how to clip in and out with my new road shoes. I have ridden with mountain bike pedals and shoes for ten years, so it should be interesting. It was definitely time for new shoes!

The weather is supposed to be beautiful for a few more days, and then it will be summer. This seems to be the year of the "one week of Spring". Oh well. At least it's not raining!

Uvas Tri Race Report

2010-05-16T13:04:00.000-07:00

Pre-pre race:

Decided the best way to rest on Saturday would be a pedicure with my mom. My reasoning was three fold: 1) I needed new teal toes to cheer on my Sharks, 2) I knew the tech would massage my feet, and since my feet had been bothering me, I figured this woudl be a good thing and 3) Mom had had a tough week and needed to be pampered!

Pre-race:

I woke up at 4:30am. I slept like crap. Have I mentioned I work night shift? 4:30 am in the morning is really early for someone who works nights, unless you're already awake! Anyway I got up, made my coffee, grabbed the oatmeal I had made the night before and was out the door.

Once I got my truck parked, I decided to have my oatmeal. Oh wow, that did not taste good. I was not hungry by any measure of the term, but I choked it down because I knew I would appreciate it later. Which I did. But ugh, that was gross. I drank about half of my coffee, which was just enough.

Swim: .75 mi = 20:29.8 min

Swim was a water start, which I liked. I warmed up my wetsuit (=>), swam around a bit to get used to having my face immersed in darkness with every stroke, then lined up right at the front. At the horn, we were off. There was a little contact, but nothing horrible. I was certainly not in front, but I could sight well and just got going. I turned the corner around this peninsula thing, I could NOT see the buoy. Seriously! Where was it?? Luckily, I knew the general location where we'd turn again, but maybe an extra buoy would be nice for next time! After the race, another racer agreed with me, he turned and couldn't see the buoy either. I tried to save my legs for the most part, took a breath every stroke and would sight every 4th or 5th stroke.

Thanks to David, Molly, Jeff, Melissa and Nigel who cheered for me.

Transition 1: 3:39 min

Was slow...I am so befuddled as I get out of the water. I wasn't as dizzy as my ocean swim, but definitely not all brain cells were firing. I fought to get my wetsuit off, got my shoes on, decided against the arm warmers and cycling gloves, put my helmet on and stumbled out of transition. David said I didn't look to happy coming out of transition. He took this picture, he'd gotten a great spectator spot!

Bike: Total time (via Garmin): 1:05.6, 15.96 mi, avg 14.7 mph/hr

My legs did not feel great for the first 5 mi or so. LOTS of lactic acid and my hamstrings were kinda tight. So I tried to spin as much as possible. My goal was to finish the bike in less than an hour, but there were lots of little hills here and there, I tried to push the downhills as much as I could safely (30mph max - HA!). The big hill hurt like a mother, I was out of the saddle a bit, but just tried to spin my way up. I felt much better on the bike than I did at Showdown, and I am happy to report that I didn't get passed by any mountain bikes =). I didn't do any passing of my own, but that's okay we can be sure I didn't draft, LOL. People were pretty courteous about signaling when they were going to pass me, so I appreciated that.

The weather was gorgeous, overcast and almost no wind. Ahh...makes it worth getting up so early. I loved hearing the disc wheels come up behind me, they sounded really cool.

Miles 13 - 15 were a bit up hill. I was hoping for down hill toward the finish, and even though I have ridden the course before, I had conveniently forgotten the uphill. Since I knew I had a run coming up, I just spun up the hills and tried not to redline. My goal was to finish the bike in under and hour. It didn't happen, but I am okay with that, I didn't blow out my legs so it worked out just fine.

Coming into transition, again David's tallness pays off!

Molly was doing the race as a relay. They began 20 minutes behind me. I fully expected her husband to pass me on the bike, but I never heard him. I saw Molly when I came into transition and realized I would probably be seeing her on the run.

Transition 2: Not sure, but certainly faster than T1!

Run: 52:37.8, 5 mi, avg 10:31 mi.

By far, I am most proud of this leg of my race.

Let's see, I felt like the tin man running starting out. My legs were just so stiff. It was incredible! Oh and my feet were numb. Nice. They finally showed up around mile 2. Happily, my heel didn't hurt one bit, and my breathing was labored, but not over the top. It was nice and even. I just picked my own pace and went with it. I really didn't look at Garmin other to see what the mileage was. I did see the total time so I had an idea of what was going on. I really wanted to complete the run in under an hour, so I am quite happy I did that, and ran FASTER than at Showdown even though it was a longer distance by almost 2 miles. Good things happen when you don't have to run a 1/2 mi in and out of transition =).

My legs didn't feel fabulous (and I guess that's normal), but I didn't have any side cramps, all though I could tell I would get them quickly if I picked up the pace, which is why I stayed where I was. I got passed, a lot, but it was nice to get passed by people in my age group in the fact it had taken them that long to catch me.

Molly made an appearance right after I turned around. She caught up to me around mile 4 I think. I wasn't surprised that she caught me. I knew it meant she was having a good run, and again was glad I didn't get caught on the bike!

Total Time = 2:23.12

Thanks to David, Molly, Jeff, Melissa and Nigel who cheered for me. I liked the cheering section, and the cookies that came along with it (he he Melissa, those were yummy!).

Now I am home, watching hockey.

Next up is the dreaded sinus surgery on Tuesday. I know having the surgery is the right decision, however I am more than a little bummed that I am really starting to get in shape only to have to take a week or two off from training. Ugh. In the pool, I finally started making intervals I haven't seen since I was in my early 20s. Oh well, everything will be okay, and I will be able to breathe better!

Take That!

2010-05-09T02:39:00.000-07:00

Well, they did it. My San Jose Sharks beat the hated Detroit Red Wings and are headed to the conference finals for only the second time in the club's history. To say I am excited is putting it mildly. Look how excited the players were:

The game was exciting to watch from home, even if I can only watch the parts when my team might score. If the other team has a scoring chance, I tend to do other things like: read a book, hide under a blanket, or play on facebook. It's just too hard for me to watch.

Finally the handshake we'd all been waiting for:

I am hoping to go to a game, as I have never seen a third round match up before. We'll see. Tickets get a lot more expensive the futher the team progresses in the playoffs. One thing is for sure, I will get to watch my team play while recovering from my sinus surgery. Yay!

I made it through my long run and my long ride this week. My long run was great - 7.5+ miles, the longest I have ever gone. I brought my dad along with me (he rode his hybrid bike), for some security. It was a beautiful day. I think my left heel is trying to develop plantar fascititis so I just keep stretching as much as I can. My calves are pretty tight, and I am not great about stretching regularly, so have to keep on top of that. I have my next tri on Sunday, then figure I can let my heel heal while recovery from my surgery.

My ride on Thursday was supposed to be 2:30 min. I moved it to Thursday so that my brother could ride with me again. It's good bonding time. Not more than five minutes into the ride, I heard a loud pop behind me and a curse from my brother. He had ridden over a huge screw and his back tube popped. Luckily, I had brought an extra tube and tools. My brother changed his tire quickly (another reason I brought him along), and we were on our way.

We had a great tail wind the first hour of the ride, but I knew we'd have a hideous headwind on the way back. As such, I decided to turn around after an hour. We took a cliff bar/water break and then headed back into the wind. Not five minutes later, my brother hit something else and I heard the tell tale pop yet again. I didn't have a patch kit with me, or any other tubes. He told me to keep going, luckily we were on a bus route, so he bused it back to our town and had Dad pick him up. He has since bought extra tubes and a new back tire!

So I was on my own for the rest of the ride. It was still quite nice, even with the headwind. I figured the rolling hills and wind would be a good training experience as my 70.2 in July has similar terrain. I made it over the one big hill a mi/hr faster than this time last year, so that made me happy.

I am on my third night at work. I am having a really tough time wanting to do any sort of work out on my work days. Nights are tough, and I am just not sleeping well. It's annoying. I wake up and I don't feel like I have really slept at all. I also really don't feel like swimming no those days, so need to talk to coach about that. I don't know what it is, would just rather run or play on my trainer the days I work. So will have to see about that. I really hope I start sleeping better! Ugh.

This week is a light week due to my tri on Sunday. My wetsuit is here, and the weather looks to stay nice so it should be a blast.

So far, so good....

2010-05-05T12:12:00.000-07:00

Things are going well here in Northern California. The sun has been out for almost 5 days straight, and I am pretty sure it was around 80 degrees for my hill run on Monday.

I am almost half-way through my longest training week to date. Still have a long run left for today, and a bike ride with my brother tomorrow. Then it's back to work. I haven't actually been to work on the floor for 2 weeks, so hopefully I remember how to be a nurse still. I work 4 days in a row, then two off, then work Wednesday and Thursday. Then I am off for a while owing to my impending sinus surgery (shudder).

My next triathlon is next Sunday the 16th. I am really looking forward to it. 3/4 mile swim in a reservoir, 16 mi bike, followed by a 5 mi run. It should be fun. I know it's gonna be cold (for us NorCal people anyway) in the morning before we swim, so thank goodness for my wetsuit. I plan on lining up in the front this time though, I am not trying to win the swim or anything, but I am pretty sure I can hold my own up there, and it's better than trying to pass people. Transitions are flat - WOO HOO!

"So far, so good" also applies to my beloved San Jose Sharks, who are currenlty up 3-0 on the Detroit Red Wings. I know, shocking. But pretty awesome. I am in a constant state of happiness right now. I had the distinct pleasure of attending game two in San Jose last Sunday with some good friends as a birthday celebration.

Our seats were way up there, and the 30+ rows of stairs were not well liked by my legs (who had just completed a 30 mi bike ride) but it was worth it. We could see all the plays develop, and as we were on the goal line, we knew exactly when the puck hit the back of the net.

Last night, the Sharks came from behind and beat the Wings in OT - here is a little gem of a picture I got from one of the blogs, you will notice it is in stark contrast to the picture I posted a few blogs ago =):

Yes, that is Patrick Marleau and Joe Thornton hugging back there, the big boys scored the winning goal in OT...

Tomorrow night is game 4. I am dusting off my broom for a possible sweep, but would still be pretty happy if the guys split the games in Detroit. We shall see. The game is early, which means I get to see the ENTRIE thing before I have to go into work.

Weekend Review

2010-05-02T22:20:00.000-07:00

This was a busy weekend, in my terms anyway. Having been a competitive swimmer for 9 years, and doing double practices for the last 3 of them, I am very happy whenever I get to sleep in. Yes it has been 16 years since I had to attend 11 swim practices a week, yes I have had other jobs which necessitated waking up at some horrible hour (Enterprise Rent-A-Car, I am talking about you!), and no I do not have any children yet, so yes I am still allowed to sleep in.

What's been great with my new job and my triathlon training is that I don't have to get things done early in the morning. I can wait until 2pm in the afternoon to do my run/ride/swim if I want to. It's glorious. The reason I like my current Masters program is because they offer a practice at 9am (and most days that still seems too early for me....).

But this weekend, I had lots of fun things to do, and I sacrificed my extra sleep. Saturday's workout was to be a nice run, with no heart rate limitations. No heart rate zones? Woo Hoo! Of course I also had a baby shower to attend at noon, and dinner with the moms from the party who were very thrilled to be attending dinner at a restaurant sans their children =). So I woke up early on Saturday and got my run done. It was my longest to date (6.6 mi) and I felt pretty good. Except for one heel, which proceeded to remind me I have been neglecting my stretching....

The shower was great, dinner was great (especially when I noticed the head coach of the Detroit Red Wings/2010 Canadian Hockey Gold Medal team sitting at the bar). I must admit, I did stare at him, but couldn't come up with anything to say that would have been appropriate other than - congratulations on your gold medal. Being that they're the arch enemies right now, I kept my mouth shut.

Today there was a long ride on the schedule, and we were also scheduled to go to see the Sharks play at 5pm. This is a relatively early game and kind of threw everything off. My husband was lovely enough to get up early on his day off and go ride with me. The ride was nice, if not a bit on the windy side, but luckily my husband suggested we ride into the wind first. Brilliant, really. I am happy to say I think I may be finally used to my new saddle. Great timing as I have another triathlon in less than 16 days...ack!

Everything went as planned and we got to see a great, awesome, incredible hockey game. Joe Pavelski is on fire, I think I need his jersey. The tickets were a birthday present from my wonderful parents.

So all in all, a good weekend. Great workouts, beautiful weather, fun activities and my Sharks up 2-0 on Detroit. It doesn't get much better than that.

Just want to go on the record

2010-04-27T21:11:00.000-07:00

Okay, maybe you know this, or maybe you don't but I am going to make it clear right now. I love hockey. Specifically, I love my San Jose Sharks. Dearly, passionately, like I will leave my starving husband at home to fend for himself if anyone (Molly) offers to take me to a game.

I used to have this same sort of love for the Oakland A's when I was in middle school and high school. I was a huge fan. I made headstones of offensive World Series opponent players in my yard as decorations for Halloween. I could tell you the starting batting order and the batting averages for each player. Then they went on strike, and I left baseball fandom for good. When I moved back to San Jose 8 years ago, my fanaticism found hockey.

There have been many roller coaster playoff series these past few years. I have spent shifts in the ICU watching the game on the slingbox of a kind nurse, only to run down the battery and have to listen to the game with my head underneath the desk because the CPU speaker was down there and it was the only way I could hear clearly.

I have driven home, sobbing, because my team lost in 4 overtimes to Dallas.

I was also there for this gem - this is a picture of Detroit beating San Jose in game 6 in 2007 (I think, I could be wrong). Either way, I was there for this game, I watched as the Sharks pulled their goalie in the last minute to try and tie the game, and Detroit scored an empty net goal, effectively ending the Sharks season and sending me home on the tragic trolley in despair.

This year....new year....Olympic medals won, second line scoring, and grit showing. We meet them again. I am going on the record now to say I am DONE. The Sharks are going to win this series. I am going to do everything in my power to think positively (Detroit is old and slow, Detroit is old and slow, Detroit is old and slow etc.) and be at a game or 2 to support my team.

Why am I bringing up these horrible memories now? Because I'm done. I don't care if it takes 7 games. The Sharks are winning. What's in the past is in the past and it only matters if it makes you stronger, otherwise forget it. Or in the words of my favorite Disney Movie "Hakuna Matata".

The Sharks are gonna win this one. I can feel it. I have to believe it. My heart, voice, and liver cannot take anything less.

Just thought I would let everyone know =)

Mountain Lion

2010-04-26T15:43:00.000-07:00

Today was supposed to be a hilly trail run. I am fortunate to live in an area with many open spaces dotted with numerous trails. I chose my favorite and headed out. About 1/4 of the way up the first major hill, I noticed an older man and a younger girl coming the other direction. The man had three dogs with him (Golden Retriever, Black Lab, and a Beagle), being a sucker for dogs, I planned on giving them a pat on the head.

The man flagged me down (it didn't take much I wasn't going that fast up hill, but I did have my ipod on). He told me that there had been a mountain lion sighting on this trail eariler during his hike, directly on the trail I had planned on going today. He let me know he thought the other ones were safe, but honestly, that was enough for me. I scratched the Golden's head, and high tailed it down the hill.

Now I was in a bit of a quandary, once I reached the bottom of the hill, I was only 15 minutes into my run. I didn't really want to get into my truck and drive somewhere else, so I decided to run around the neighborhood. This particular neighborhood has many different hills. It's not as good as the trail I was planning on going, but I figured it would be a close second, and much better than getting eaten.

But seriously, what was a mountain lion doing out in the hot (and it was warm today for an animal with a thick fur coat) middle of the day?? It was 2pm!!! I avoid jogging at dawn or dusk for this exact reason! I don't bring my lab because she's only 50 lbs and would be merely and appetizer. I have contemplated carrying a small taser, but who's to say I could even get the thing turned on to zap the animal if I was attacked?

Ugh ugh ugh. Either I am going to have to find someone crazy enough to run with me on those trails, or I am going to have to find some new hilly ones in the time being. Blah. I was so looking forward to my nice hilly trail run too.

I get to swim tomorrow, in a pool. No sharks or mountain lions to worry about there. Whew.

Riding bikes with my brother...

2010-04-26T08:49:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was especially fun. My brother is back in town, and I convinced him to go on my scheduled 2:15 hr ride with me. He's got my old bike, which used to be my husband's bike. But he loves that bike (we did upgrade it quite a bit) and can ride the heck out of it.

My brother has quite a unique look. Three years of going to school in Chico turned him into a bit of a hippie. This past year he wanted to see how long he could grow his beard if he let it grow for an entire 12 months. The answer is - pretty long. So my riding partner had on a short sleeved plaid shirt, his mountain biking shorts, and his beard. It was fun, we got a lot of looks as we passed people (well he did most of the passing).

We took the same course as I had done the day before, only I planned on taking us further out before we turned around. The last time I had been this far it was pouring rain, so I much preferred yesterday. Everything is blooming, so it smells wonderful. All of the hills are green, and everyone was really polite out there on roads yesterday.

My instructions were to keep my heart rate in a certain zone, unfortunately I had forgotten about a rather large hill that comes before the turn around. So Garmin was beeping at me steadily for about 5 minutes. I felt good though. We stopped at a gas station after the hill, got some gatorade, and turned around to come home.

It was nice riding with my brother because he was pushing me to go harder than I normally would if I were out on the bike by myself. He wasn't pushing me out of my zone, just to the top of it. It was also great, because I haven't seen him in a while and we had a really good time out there, talking and being silly in general. He's in great shape after a summer of working in Alaska and a winter working in Jackson Hole. If he stays around this summer, I plan on dragging him a long more often. Yesterday ended up being my longest ride so far of training this year - 31 miles.

The weather person is saying it is supposed to rain again this week. I can honestly tell you I am really DONE with all this rain. It is almost May!! C'mon! Enough with the rain! I know we need it and all, but still. I want to enjoy my Springtime. I don't want to lose the tan lines I have already started!

This week brings some more long rides - if I am not feeling in shape riding-wise by the time my next Tri comes around (in three weeks), then there is something seriously wrong with me! I am still getting used to my new Adamo saddle. I was complaining about my painful ischial tuberosity (sit bones) yesterday. This is actually a good thing because A) I remembered the correct anatomical term 5 years after taking anatomy and B) this is what the seat is designed to do. After my rides this week, I should be pretty well broken in.

ON YOUR LEFT!!!!!!!!!!

2010-04-24T16:29:00.000-07:00

So today I got back on the bike. It has been a week since the Vineman Showdown Tri and it was time. I had some sprints that coach assigned me so I choose a nice flat expressway that was a short drive from my house. Foothill Expressway is clean, has a nice wide bike lane, relatively free of debris and quite well paved. In short, prefect for a sprint work out, apart from the occasional lights if you catch them wrong.

I knew there were going to be a lot of cyclists out today because it was a Saturday and it was gorgeous out. What I didn't realize is how incredibly rude they were all going to be. As I was warming up I heard the tell tale sign of a bicycle clicking behind me, I waited to hear the obligatory "on your left" so I would have a better idea of when they were going to pass, but instead, I heard nothing as the cyclist rode by me, seemingly mute.

Well, I thought, that's just one person. No big deal. Or so I thought. After a while, I had been passed by 4 different people, at different intervals, and not one of them said anything to warn me they were about to pass. At this point I decided I was going to count. I was annoyed, and I couldn't think of any good retorts to say when the person went passed, so counting seemed like as good an idea as any.

At one point, one girl passed me and I almost hit her because I was trying to avoid some debris in the road. Are you kidding me? Is it so impossible to let someone know you're going to pass them? Is there something wrong with me? Do I not get the obligatory saying due to the fact I am a little chunkier than most cyclists? The brand of my bike? The fact I am wearing black? Mountain bike shoes on a road bike? My rather slow speed? Did I miss the memo that it is extremely passe to tell someone you are passing them? WHAT I HAVE I DONE TO DESERVE SUCH RUDENESS???

I mean it is just so silly, and unsafe. Yes, I was not riding on the white line, leaving plenty of room to pass on the left. However, should there be some sort of obstacle in my way, and I DON'T know you're there, I am going to swing out to miss it. I can't be looking over my shoulder to look for a mute cyclist before I avoid a branch/roadkill/screw in the road! Unsafe because if I do swing out and hit you, I am going to knock you into oncoming traffic, and yes I will call 911 for you and try to stop the bleeding but cyclist VS. car does not usually end well.

It occurs to me that the people who are not saying anything prior to passing are also the ones whose turn signals appear to be broken on their car whenever they wish to make a lane change or turn. Curious.

Finally, cyclist #14 who passed me uttered the magic words as she passed. I don't know who you were, girl in the blue and white kit, who passed me very nicely today, but I appreciated it.

I managed to get a little *ahem* lost on the way back. I tried to go back to my truck a different way in order to avoid a particularly nasty left hand turn. But I went a bit too far east, at one point I thought I had found the school I had parked at, after all - wasn't that my red truck in the parking lot? Of course I had about 10 min left to ride so I proceeded to do little laps around the neighborhood, as the end came near, I got closer and realized that no, that was not my truck, and this was not the school, and yes I was still lost. Crap. Crap. Crap.

So I ended up doubling back, turning down a road I had debated turning down earlier (which I should have done) and finally made it back about 10 min over the prescribed work out time. Oh well, my saddle needs to get in riding shape anyway!

In other news, my Grandmother passed away peacefully on Wednesday morning. She was at home and happy when it happened, which is all I can ask for. I feel extremely blessed she was not in a hospital, nursing home or similar when her time arrived. I will miss her dearly, and hope my 89 year old Grandfather is able to manage okay. Loneliness is tough.

Vineman Showdown Race Report

2010-04-18T19:12:00.000-07:00

It's been a while since my last post, nothing to incredibly exciting has been going on, and I have been healing from an injury I had no control over. But yesterday something exciting did happen - I competed in my first triathlon ever!

I went to this race with Molly last year, so I was familiar with the course. I had even ridden the course last year for something fun to do, so I had a good idea of what I was going to face.

Here I am setting up my transition area for the first time:

The swim was in the bay, which they told us was 68 degrees. I had rented a sleeveless wetsuit, and even 68 degrees wasn't warm enough for me to keep it off, all though I did see quite a few people who opted for Speedo only. I prefer the buoyancy of the wetsuit, so I kept mine on.

I thought a lot about what I was going to wear under the wetsuit. I just couldn't fathom riding and running in my one piece polyester suit. I finally decided to wear my biking shorts and sports bra. I figured it would make my transition a little faster, and more importantly, much more comfortable on the swim and run.

We're ready to go!

Our swim wave went last, at 4:30pm. Molly and I were in the 34 and under group. There were some young girls there, who I had no doubt would be faster than me in the swim, so I lined up in the second row. Looking back, I should have just gone in the front, it would have been okay.

Having never done a shore start before, I was a little apprehensive. When the gun went off I did a lot of heads up swimming to see who I could pass. I swung out and was able to pass a bunch of people before the first buoy. I sighted well and felt like I did a good job staying in a straight line from buoy to buoy. I continued to pass people and the buoys kept coming faster. Before I knew it, the swim was over and I was dizzily running up the hill to transition. I ended up placing 2nd in my age group for the swim.

Here's a picture of our wave entering the water:

Here I am at the swim finish, trying not to fall down...

I got into transition and did my best to get everything on. I have mountain bike shoes, but today that was a blessing, as we had to walk our bikes, uphill a 1/2 mi., to the place where we were allowed to mount our bikes. This was tough, my heart was racing, I was nauseous, and my legs were screaming at me.

The bike was a beautiful course, but not my best showing. I had to constantly remind myself I had not been able to be on my bike for 3 weeks due to my injury. Of course, when the girls on mountain bikes and running shoes passed me, I did curse to myself a bit. There was nothing I could do about it at the time, I stayed in my zone and thought about not blowing my legs out for the run. I was hoping to take a gel as soon as I got on my bike, but my stomach was not having it. I managed to get in a full water bottle and gel by on the second half of the 9 mi ride, but it wasn't pretty.

At the dismount point, we had to walk our bikes back down the hill we'd come up which was pretty exciting. Luckily I didn't fall, and no one fell on me so I felt successful.

Here I am almost at the dismount point, I was hurting....

I racked my bike and got my running gear on. Now we had to go up set of stairs and another hill (for another 1/2 mi) before truly getting to the run course. Again, my heart rate spiked, and I just walked up the hill. Once out on the course my legs actually felt okay, but I was breathing hard and had double side cramps which stayed with me the entire time.

I have just made it up the hill and am on my way out...

At one point I heard a conversation going on behind me. Two girls, seemingly in no distress at all, were having a full on conversation and passing me at the same time. I swore silently (breathing too hard to swear out loud) and kept going. I was really just jealous that they could talk and pass me at the same time! Oh well, this was my own race. My knees, ankles, and feet were all feeling good so I was happy. In fact, I had really been looking forward to the run - no body to kick you like in the swim, and no one to hit you on your bike!

I saw a girl about 50 meters ahead of me at the turn around. I really wanted to catch her and attempted to pick up the pace. Running back into the park, we had to go uphill again before we came to the flat finish. I wanted to walk, but I noticed the girl I wanted to catch was slowing down, so I kept plugging along.

As we came down the hill, I continued to catch up to her. On the flat, Molly spotted me and started yelling and cheering, which was awesome.

I really picked up the pace and flat out sprinted the remaining 25 meters or so and passed the girl I had been trying to catch right at the finish line.

At the end I was the closest I had come all day to tossing my cookies. But I kept it together and Molly and I took this picture:

A big thanks to Molly, for keeping me calm when I was freaking out, and her husband, Jeff, for all the great pictures he took and cheering! It made my first tri a lot more enjoyable.

My next tri is the third week in May. I am looking forward to having a better bike and run, hopefully sans side cramps!! I have to say I probably won't do this particular race again, unless they figure out a way to change the 1/2 mi uphills out of transition...

Happy Spring, everyone!!

Proceed with caution....

2010-03-24T10:50:00.001-07:00

This is how I am handling my foray back into training. Very cautiously. After doing pretty much nothing for the past week, I got back in the pool yesterday. Ahh....how quickly one loses any semblance of swimming shape. So sad. I felt slow, and as if my arms were slipping the entire time. In other words, I felt like I had no feel or catch in the water. But it was a gorgeous day, I was outside, the sun was shining, and I didn't need narcotics for pain, so in all a good work out.

The only thing that was a little bothersome was the lovely, mouth-watering BBQ scent wafting over the pool. It was lunchtime when I swam and the pool is right behind Armadillo Willy's, a burger/ribs/BBQ type place. Oh that smelled nice. Such a tease while you're swimming. I held strong though and drove home for my recovery cliff bar and glass of milk!

Molly has bought a TRX and offered to let me borrow it from time to time. So last night was my first training session. It went pretty well. I like it. It didn't hurt my healing bits, which was a big bonus. I only did one set of everything. Just to get the hang of things. I am happy to report I did not fall flat on my face or hang myself up in the straps. This, I am to understand, is quite an accomplishment! Of course, there is always next time...

I am quite sore today. I like being sore in places you forgot you had muscles. It's nice. I am not so sore that I can't function or am reaching for the advil, but just some tenderness. And yes, those atomic crunches are evil. Wow.

I am certainly not 100% on the healing front. This week is swimming and running, I cannot get back on my bike for another week at least. This gives me a chance to get my bike serviced, the new Adamo saddle installed, and what ever else I choose to have done to it. So that's good. Spa day for the bike.

I had to skip the 10K last Sunday, which was fine, I was bummed, but I really don't think it would have been a good idea to race. Then I heard it was really quite hilly, and I was secretly glad I didn't race =). My next race is the Vineman Showdown on April 17th, I am excited for this race, I went last year as a spectator, and I rode the bike course. So I am looking forward to actually racing. Gotta rent a wetsuit though...

I wanted to thank everyone for the kind words regarding my Grandmother. She is currently in rehab and apparently doing better everyday. The plan is to have her come home the first week of April. Her speech and language are both intact, and she continues to gain more strength on her left side. They will have a hoyer lift in the house to help her get in and out of bed, which is fabulous for my 89year old Grandfather's back. So far my brother and parents have both visited (my grandparents live in Colorado) and my brother will go out to help again after she gets home. It sounds like she's getting pretty decent care in rehab, so that is always a bonus.

Well, that's all from around here. The sun continues to shine, and it truly feels like Spring has sprung. Sure hope it stays that way!

Happy Training!!

Bed Rest

2010-03-18T13:07:00.000-07:00

No, I am not pregnant. That would make this bed rest thing a little bit easier to swallow. That's right, I am out of commission for a little while. Without going into TMI territory, let's just say I am suffering from a condition which prevents me from sitting on a bike (or sitting on much of anything for that matter), running, swimming, or (according to my doctor) working for a few days.

The bed rest just began yesterday, and should be over tomorrow. I hope anyway. The resting though has to go on a bit longer. So training peaks and I won't be sharing any information for a few more days at least. I am pretty bummed as I was looking forward to nailing my second 10K this weekend. But alas, that is not going to happen.

Training has been going well. I was having a bit of a blah period, but I got through it and just did the workouts. That's the great part about having a coach, they do the thinking for you when it comes to creating workouts, and all I have to do is work hard and follow the plan. I like that.

Of course, now that I can't workout, I miss it immensely. It doesn't help that Spring has decided to visit the Bay Area. The sun is smiling, the wind seems quiet, and it is a nice 70ish outside. Hopefully, when I can get back into things, the weather will still be nice!

In other news, I met with an ENT (Ear, Nose and Throat) doctor and we decided that Sinus Surgery would be a good idea. So May 18th is the fateful day for my recalcitrant nasal passageways. Hopefully this will mean no more Augmentin for a long, long time.

Well that's all I got. Luckily there are many shows for me to watch through the miracle that is Comcast OnDemand. So I guess that's where I will be for a while longer.....

Happy Spring and Happy Training!

"Laundry day tomorrow, nothing clean right?"

2010-03-03T15:47:00.000-08:00

This is a quote from one of my favorite moves, Terminator. That about sums up my day for today...I am home today, cleaning and doing laundry. Between working at the hospital and triathlon training, I have noticed my laundry needs have shot up quite a bit. It's worth it though, as I like having all my clothes to chose from before work/work out.

Last week wasn't especially the best, from a personal stand point. My grandmother turned 90 on 2/22 and then had a stroke that night. The initial information I received had me looking into arrangements to fly out for a very sad event. It turned out, after speaking to her nurse, that things weren't quite as bleak as they had made things out to be. She's still able to talk, but suffers from weakness on her left side and some swallowing issues. She had had a wonderful birthday up to the stroke, lots of dinners with friends and general things to make her feel loved. So I guess, whatever happens, she knows how much she means to people. After a week in the hospital, she was moved to a Skilled Nursing Facility, where they will work on her rehab. Hopefully she will regain some use again of her left side, but she wasn't extremely healthy to begin with, so it's very hard to tell. She continues to have her sense of humor and is joking with the nurses, so as long as she's happy, there's not much more I can ask for.

Last week was a rest week as well, and I took full advantage of it. Having a rest week the same week I work 4 days in a row is fabulous. I made it to yoga, twice. This meant I cried, twice, due to some very angry hip adductors. Oh well, I guess I really needed it!

I got back into the pool for the first time in 2 weeks and it wasn't too horrible. I swam in a faster lane and made some decent intervals. Now if I can stave off the sinus infections for a while, I should be golden.

Speaking of golden, I woke up after 4 hours of sleep on Sunday so I could watch the US v. Canada hockey game live. There was no way I was going to watch it on our DVR and potentially get spoiled. It was a wonderful, exciting game. I wasn't too sad that the United States lost, I felt they played exceptionally and had nothing to hang their heads for. I thought it was pretty special that the Canadian fans gave goalie Ryan Miller his due when he received his medal. The only thing I wished could have been different (besides US winning) would have been for somebody else, anybody else (like someone with the last name of Thornton, Marleau, Boyle or Heatley) scoring the final goal for Canada instead of Sydney Crosby.

Thanks to Molly, I was priveldged enough to go to the first home game post Olympic break for the Sharks last night. Lo and behold, they had their medals on display for the fans:

Please ignore the cell phone in the way of Boyle's jersey. There were lots of people pushing and I wanted to get my picture as quickly as possible.

Anyway, after the game, I still had a tough bike trainer work out to do as well as eat, get a nap in, and go back to work! I got it all done, even with a two hour nap. I was fine at work, but boy, did I pay for that on Monday. I woke up to swim at noon and my body told me in no uncertain terms, that we would be staying in bed. I didn't argue. Just meant I got to swim and run some fun Z4 intervals yesterday =).

Finally, I just have to say, I am really enjoying running right now. Hard to believe really. But I just like the simplicity of it. What I mean is this: very simple to get dressed, put your running shoes on and go. I am sure I will start enjoying swimming and biking more when the sun returns, but for right now, I look forward to my runs no matter what the weather is like outside. Weird...

This week I have two big bricks. I decided to do one of them tomorrow because the forecast is calling for sun instead of today's torrential rains and thunder (no sniggering from anyone west of Nevada =>). It is safer to ride in the sun instead of the rain. May I remind you that California drivers = crazy.

At any rate I am looking forward to both of them! Whee!

Happy Training!

Um, where did February go?

2010-02-22T21:36:00.001-08:00

Well, another week is in the bank. As weeks go, it was okay. I still missed some swimming due to questionable sinus issues. Tomorrow I go back for the first time in two weeks. It is a good thing that swimming is probably my strongest of the three disciplines. It will not be fun to make up the losses from missing two weeks, but it won't be too terrible.

I had a wonderful run in the hills near my house on Wednesday before I went back to work. It was a beautiful, sunny day. It is a nice open space, but I always worry about the potential mountain lion that could be lurking around. As such, I looked up in the trees a lot as I made my way down the trail. In all I ran about 5 miles that day. I had been on this course multiple times, but I never knew the actual distance. This would explain why I was always sore after walking it. It was also the first time I attempted to run the course. In all it was a good training run, and I can now saw my running shoes are past the stark-white stage.

The biggest workout on my list last week was a bike/run brick. I kept switching around the day I was going to do it due to work schedule and then the weather. But I finally did it today. I was glad I waited. Yesterday was raining, today was glorious. I was pretty angry with myself for not bringing my camera along because it was so clear today, you could see forever. The hills are all a wonderful green and everything smells good - the jasmine is beginning to blossom (my favorite) and the plum trees seem to think it is time to be in full bloom. So I can't complain.

I also can't complain because I watched probably one of the best hockey games I have ever seen last night: USA v. Canada. Yes it was on MSNBC, and yes, it was not in HD (grumble grumble). We will not delve into the fact that I think the bigwigs at NBC are a bunch of morons. It was an exciting, nail-biter of a game, and I loved every minute of it! I was a little conflicted though as many of my favorite San Jose Sharks (save Swede Douglas Murray and American Joe Pavelski) play for Canada. I did laugh at Brodeur so I guess that's something. I do hope Canada beats Germany tomorrow, otherwise the entire country might go into mourning.

March is quickly approaching (what? when? how?) and I find the time is running out for me to make a ski trip up to Tahoe. I have been itching to go now that I know my legs are in MUCH better shape and (probably) won't give out on the slopes. Last time I went skiing, my mind was willing but my legs just quit working and I had a huge classic Bode Miller moment where I almost fell (there would have been broken bones for sure). This caused me to go out and buy a helmet. There's a lot of snow up there though, my trip may have to wait until April...but then I get to ski in short sleeves. So we'll see.

In the meantime, now that my big brick is over, I am looking forward to "rest week". Especially since the "talking heads" (as my 89 year old Grandfather refers to them) are predicting more rain this week.

A week(ish) in review

2010-02-16T12:29:00.000-08:00

First of all, thank you to everyone who posted all the nice comments regarding my 10K. I really appreciated it!

Last week was fairly low key. I felt surprisingly good after the 10k, and I credit the dip in my cold pool for that one. I would much rather blame the Superbowl party fare I consumed post-race, but I don't think that counts!

Sinus-wise, I was a mess. My doctor started me on Augmentin and I have an appointment with an ENT on March 1st. So we'll see where that goes. The Augmentin helped me pretty quickly, but I still had to miss work Monday night. A little switching in my work schedule ended up giving me 8 days off in a row, which was great to help me recover.

So I ended up skipping the swims last week, but I was able to get all my other workouts in, including a "hilly" brick. Wow, my legs felt like concrete on the run after riding in the hills. The weather only sprinkled on me a bit, which was a nice change. I took a little dip in the ice bath/pool afterward and that made things better. Of course, I convinced myself the best way to stand in the pool would be by sipping a hot chocolate from Peet's, which I did. As soon as I was done drinking, I was out of the pool!

Sunday was a nice flat run on the Los Alamitos trail near where I live. There were a ton of people out on the trail; families and couples enjoying their Valentine's Day. I celebrating by running almost 5 miles. I was angry with myself for not looking down at my mileage when I turned around - because I could have gone just a bit farther to make it an even 5! I felt pretty good though and can't believe I can run that far for that long without my knees or ankles hurting. It's nice.

This week is more of the same. Some hilly running (that should be interesting). A brick on Saturday which I will be dragging David along for so we can go somewhere a bit further out (I don't really relish riding alone). Some swimming as well.

Oh yeah, and a few days of work thrown in there for good measure!

First 10K..ever

2010-02-07T22:16:00.000-08:00

Well, I am not sure what made me sick. It could have been the ride I did in the rain on Thursday (likely) or one of my patients at work (also likely). Either way, I woke up Friday morning with a familiar feeling in my nose - congestion. I have all the prophylactics available (sinus rinse, nasal spray, decongestant), but they never seem to work. If I get a sniffle, it turns into a sinus infection, even if the sniffle was merely from the common cold.

I saw an ENT for this once, and after looking at my CT scan, he said he wasn't sure if surgery would help me. Then I read Marit's post yesterday and decided to email my PCP and get a referral to see a different ENT. I am so tired of getting sinus infections, it is not even funny. I got a sniffle at the beginning of December and decided to try and fight it off. I failed, miserably. By the middle of the month I had resorted to taking my first Vicodin ever for my sinus pressure and ended up on 2 weeks worse of Augmentin (which did other bad things to me - but at least I could breathe!).

I probably should have skipped my swim yesterday, as this tends to anger the nasal passages, but I hate missing work outs. So I swam anyway. The rest of the day was spent sneezing and just hating my nose in general, even though the rest of me felt fine.

I knew today's run wouldn't be an issue as running releases so many endorphins, it is a natural way to clear your sinuses, until the run is over, in which case all the pain and stuffiness comes back.

Anyway, suffice to say, I was quite stuffy today for my run. But I didn't care, I was going to run.
David was coming along for today's trip, so we both got up at 6am and after making some coffee and eating some oatmeal, we were on the road by 6:40am.

It was a gorgeous day in Santa Cruz. The sun was shining (?), there was a slight breeze, and it was just beautiful. Parking wasn't an issue and we were checked in at least an hour before our race. We saw Molly and her family right away and I picked her brain about what was going to go on in this race, being that it was my first running race. Swim meets I understand, running - not so much.

For one thing, I ended up dressing too warm. I had on my new warm leggings, my under armor long sleeved top, and a light rain/windbreaker. After my warm up, I took off the under armor and just ran in my sports bra and windbreaker. Honestly though, I could have worn shorts. I would have been fine through the run, but cold at the end. Maybe next time.

David and me - pre-race.

After watching the 3K run go off, I decided we should start near the back. There was no way I was going to fight with all those people, and I wanted to find my own pace, not having to worry about anyone else.

At 8:30 we were all in the street, and they sent us off! David and I did stay near the rear, and still there were many people who passed me through out the race. I did have my Garmin on, but I only set it for distance and I didn't glance down at it once. They had volunteers at every mile marker telling you the running time anyway, so I was able to figure out my pace from them. My goal was to do 10 min miles, and finish as close to an hour as possible. This was a goal I made for myself, I just was really curious to see if I could actually hold this pace, and wondered what it would feel like. Oh and as Coach said - GO HARD.

The course was beautiful, winding out to the ocean and running along the cliffs. It was a little more "hilly" than I had thought it would be. I decided I would try and hold a steady pace to the turn around and see if I could pick it up a bit on the way back. I don't believe I was able to negative split, but I did hold a really steady pace and heart rate, so I was happy. I was also able to run the entire time, no walking whatsoever, so that was a huge accomplishment for me as well.

The finish line looked SOOOOOO far away on the final stretch home. I did try my best to sprint the last 50 Meters or so, which hurt and brought me very close to puking. But throughout the run, my legs felt good, my knees and ankle didn't bother me (they are unhappy now...), and I felt like this was something I could do again.

Here is a picture of us, after the race:

At the finish, we met up with friends, took pictures, and watched the award ceremony (Molly won our AG =>).

Here is one of me and Molly, aka "the Champion of our age-group" It was pretty funny when I asked her how she did and she responded "I won our age group?" Very proud, must be all that hot chocolate =):

Once we got home, I convinced David it would be a good idea to get into our pool at least up to our thighs. Our pool is currently 40 degrees. This is as close to an ice bath as you will see me get.

I got in slowly, just dipping my ankles in first:

David just walked straight in, which caused this face:

I then moved over to the steps, getting my legs in slowly, and all the way past my knees. I took the pictures as proof that I did indeed get in my unheated pool, in February.

After 10 minutes or so, I got out and put my happy pink compression socks on. I didn't want to take a shower right away and mess up all that icing! So I just got off my legs.

Later on, we went to a family friend's house for the Superbowl. We used to go their house as kids for great Superbowl parties, and they wanted to restart the tradition this year. It had been at least 20 years since I spent a Superbowl with this family and I think we all enjoyed ourselves. I am sure I did not eat the appropriate "post-race" food. But oh well, it was yummy. We had a great time, even if David spent the majority of the time on the couch with ice on his knee.

So now this week's goals have to do with getting some antibiotics as soon as possible, rolling out my legs and maybe another dip in the cold pool. All in all, I was pretty happy with my race today - and it was fun to be competitive again, even if I was just racing the clock. I was happy to keep my pace somewhat consistent, so that I can begin to learn what that feels like.

My next 10k is in a little over a month, and I am looking forward to racing it even faster, and sinus infection-free.

Here's to a great week!!!

Soggy

2010-02-04T18:31:00.001-08:00

Soggy. Wet. Drenched. That was me after my 1:40 hr bike ride yesterday.

It wasn't raining when I started, but it was windy. A check of the good old Doppler Radar made it look as if rain was imminent, so I decided it would be a good day to try out my new rain jacket.

Within the first 5 minutes of my ride, it started raining. A light drizzle at first, turning into full on downpours. I was also riding into a head wind which made life interesting as well. Luckily, the roads were all pretty clear of debris due to the fact it hadn't rained in a few days.

Of course, I didn't wear my shoe protectors for this ride. Not a smart move. About 40 minutes into the ride I think I had added an extra five pounds to my bike from my shoes. It felt as if I had put both of my feet into a puddle up to my ankles. Very interesting feeling to pedal through slushy socks. I won't forget those next time.

During my ride I thought about many things. First, I contemplated what I was going to buy the next time I went to Sports Basement: cold weather cycling gloves and a back fender for my tire to prevent the dirt spray up my back. Second I wondered, many times, if I should just head for home and continue my ride on my trainer. But each time, I would remind myself what an incredible mess that would make in my office with all the mud and dirt from my bike, so I kept riding. Oh, and that I was tired of my trainer. I also wondered if there are waterproof legwarmers or cycling leggings, because my legs were drenched.

My legs pretty much felt like crap the first 40 minutes into my ride. The 45 minute track work out from the previous day probably had something to do with it. By the end, the lactic acid had been worked out and they felt okay. Even riding into the headwind which I faced for the last 10 minutes or so.

I also learned something interesting about tail winds. Tail winds are great. It's very nice to be going 20 mph and be in Zone 1. It's fabulous. Too bad I needed to not be in Zone 1. Which meant I had to pedal harder. Bummer. Actually I normally wouldn't have mind, but it was so wet out, that I was hesitant to push on that surface. So I just let Garmin beep at me, and figured it would all even out when I faced the headwind again!

Once I got home I realized my core stayed very dry. So the new jacket = good. My legs were another story. They were cold. I might as well have jumped into my pool with my bike shorts and leggings on. So this may be a work in progress to keep my legs dry and warm. I fear it may be a losing battle, however.

Rest Day today. I really wanted to get out of the house and do some yoga and shopping. However my landlord has contractors here replacing the cabinets and counter top in my 35+ year old never been updated bathroom due to termite damage. So I guess I will be here for the day. No complaints though. Rest day = good.

Tomorrow is a swim (let's hope those fin people behave) and then the run on Sunday. The weather people are saying it should be rain free, and I am looking forward to suffering next to the beautiful ocean.

Fin Rant

2010-02-01T11:03:00.000-08:00

Let me begin this post by stating I have nothing against people who wear fins. I understand their worth for people who are new to swimming as it helps their body position and kick immensely. I also understand their importance in helping people who have some sort of upper body injury (shoulder, elbow whatever).

As a competitive swimmer there was only really two times I ever wore fins. First, when I developed tennis elbow in my right arm (caused by throwing around the medicine ball during dryland - oops). I wore cut off fins during practice to take the strain off my elbow and let the worn off cartilage regrow. The second time I would wear fins was if it was a set where the ENTIRE GROUP was wearing fins. That's it. No other times. After all, you cannot wear fins in a swim meet! We might use them for speed work during a taper, but that was it, and the entire group wore fins - not just a select few. You swam, you pulled, you kicked, you did NOT wear fins.

I first noticed the fin phenomena in Masters when I was 20 years old and swimming at Arizona State University with their program. Here were these in shape looking guys, who were good swimmers, wearing fins during the hard sets (which I regularly would beat them on - sans fins). It bothered me to no end. Either do the set and work hard to make the interval, or change intervals. Putting on fins to make an interval on the main set is a cop out to me.

Today was my first day at a new Masters program. I got in the safe, middle lanes, figuring I could make the interval. There was one lady in my lane and two in the lane next to me. From their locker room chatter, I gathered they swam at least 4x a week. They looked in shape. They did flip turns. They were swimmers - pure and simple - just like me. As the coach explained the main set (an inverted pyramid of sorts) he told us our base interval would be 1:40/100yards. Immediately I heard the ladies exclaim that they couldn't make that without fins. The coach told them that fins were optional. Well you know what? I don't have fins. So I just figured I would swim and see if I could make the interval.

I was the last one to get the wall after the first 350. Out of the four women that were doing this interval, I was the only one without fins. When I got to the wall I was quite happy that I would be getting over 20 seconds rest, but I was a little miffed that my lane mates had gotten well over a minute. Really? You can't make this interval without fins? Really? Exactly HOW much rest do y'all need?

On the second 350, my lane mate almost lapped me. This was getting to be ridiculous and I fumed as I swam. I had to turn things around because I was getting angry at their sandbagging. If I could make this interval, get adequate rest, and not wear fins - then so could they. Otherwise they should be on a faster interval.

I knew all these negative thoughts were bad. I am not their coach. I knew that their wearing fins during the set only hurt their training, not mine. They're not on my relay, we're not competing together to earn points, so I should really just deal. I knew that if push came to shove, and we were in a race, I would win - because I was certainly getting more out of the work out then they were. I knew that if I met them at the beginning of a swim in a triathlon, I would stare them down, knowing I could beat them in this fin-free environment.

Still it bothered me, obviously. It was just the principle of the thing. I was quite happy to be making the interval the whole time. I began to think my goal would be to be able to beat these ladies, with their fins on, and move right past them to the fastest lane, fin free.

Perhaps I am being petty. Perhaps there is something I do not understand about wearing fins for an entire swim practice when you're a good swimmer, only so you can make the interval.

I hope I haven't offended anyone. These are just my opinions. I also have to remember that swimming is only 1/3rd of the race that I am training for, so getting to the fast lane is a good goal, but not really what I am working toward these days. Still...I am quite ready to ask Coach Jen if I can start swimming 3 times a week...

Okay..rant over.

Bike test was Friday. It went well. Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade did a good job of getting me through. I don't believe I have ever, EVER sweated that much on my bike trainer. It was crazy. But good. I really need to get the speed sensor working on my bike so that I can figure out how far I am going on the trainer, mile-wise. The cadence monitor works, so that was the important part. I am beginning to covet a powertap though, but there are so many other toys I need to buy first - so it will be a while before that purchase gets made.

So the test week is over. I have new heart rate zones to work with (YAY!!!) so I am pretty excited about that.

I am off work tonight. Then I work Tuesday and Wednesday night, then I am off until the following Monday night. Good stuff. The weather today is absolutely beautiful. My swim tan lines are coming in nicely.

Okay time to sleep now...at least a little nap...

Running Hard

2010-01-28T11:25:00.001-08:00

Yesterday was my run test. Basically, I had to run fast and hard. This is all fine in theory, however I was really unsure how exactly to do that without 1) going too hard and passing out or 2) not going hard enough and finishing the test thinking I still had more in the tanks (I hate that feeling).

I had a hard time finding a place to run. I wanted to run on a track for sure. The local H.S. had H.S. kids out on the track and stuff set up on the field, so there was no way I was going to run in front of them. Plus, technically, I am not supposed to be on school grounds during the school day. So I drove over to the community center, but I noticed they don't have a track so much as an oddly shaped path. Finally I drove to another community center (Campbell) where I knew they had a public track (and bathrooms, this was quite fortunate).

So I warmed up, and then I went for it. It was SO nice to not have to worry about my HR, or what zone I was in. I could just go. The training wheels were off, whether or not they should be! I did wear my Ipod for this test and it really helped me pick up the pace at times. I should thank Metallica, Iron Maiden, Pearl Jam, Ozzy Osbourne, Eric Clapton, and Green Day for my performance yesterday.

At one point, I looked down at my HR monitor to see how much time I had left and thought I was only a 1/4 through. Then I looked closer and realized I only had 1/4 of the test left. This made me happy. There were definitely some interesting characters out on the track: an guy with Downs Syndrome was trying to stop everyone to say "hi" (he was a little too touchy feely for me so I just would sprint past him), some gang bangers running in their baggy jeans and cross trainers, and some nice older ladies with oodles of perfume on (to the point it almost made me sick).

My knee bothered me a bit during the run, but not to the extent it hurt before. I iced it and my ankle last night, and that felt wonderful. I have a pool that is 40 degrees, and it was suggested I dip my legs in for 5 minutes after my run, but I just couldn't bring myself to do it!

Tomorrow is the last of the tests - on the bike! Woo Hoo! Then my first race, and my first running race EVER, is next Sunday - Superbowl Sunday to be exact. I am looking forward to it!

Wardrobe Malfunction - Averted!

2010-01-25T13:59:00.000-08:00

Today was my swim test. Basically, I had to swim fast. As such, I decided I would wear a different suit. I always wear polyester suits, because they last FOREVER, but the one I normally train in really cuts my shoulders and I wanted to have a full range of motion for this test. So I put on my TYR suit. I haven't worn this suit in a while and I was pleased with the way it fit at home.

Once I got into the pool, it was a different story. As I pushed off the wall, I had the distinct feeling of the suit adjusting in ways that was not appropriate for a community pool. I had forgotten how these suits can cut in on someone who is, shall we say, a little more well endowed than she used to be. We're talking about a Janet Jackson Superbowl moment with out the help of Justin Timberlake....I'd stop at the wall, re-arrange, and then push off. I kept looking down as I swam to make sure I wasn't exposing myself.

Now there are bikinis that show much more than my suit, however one does not normally sprint in a bikini, therefore you don't really have to worry about it coming off. My entire warm up was spent determining what I should do. First option: get out, go home, and put on my other suit. I really didn't want to do this. I was already at the pool, I was already wet, and I wanted to get this test done. Second option: go and put on my bra and wear it under my suit. I used to do this with a sports bra and my old life guarding suit. However, I didn't bring a sports bra, just a regular bra. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to try.

So I got out, and put my black bra on. It looked awesome, let me tell you. WRONG! I got in, pushed off and realized after about 15 yards that this wasn't going to work either. I got back out of the pool, into the locker room and ripped it off. The two male life guards must have wondered what the hell the crazy girl was doing.

I just figured I was going have to spend my rest time readjusting. Oh well.

I am happy to say that, during the test, the suit behaved and did its job. I didn't have time to worry about it anyway, I was too busy trying not to puke. I was successful at not puking too. But I must admit, I sounded a bit like Monica Seles with all the breathing and grunting in between sets. There were a few swear words in there too =)

So that's how the first test went. More tests to come. Should be fun. Hopefully all my equipment will behave!

Cougars, Shopping, and Training

2010-01-25T09:57:00.000-08:00

Last week was an interesting one. After my Wednesday of waiting out the inclement weather (I really didn't want to get hit by lightening, okay?) to go do skipping drills, things went really well.

Thursday was a wonderful rest day/shopping day where I bought my first items from Lululemon. I received my items on Saturday and I have to say their "not so deep V bra" is awesome for running. I usually have to double up on sports bras (sorry if this is TMI) but with these, one was plenty! I have a feeling I should be buying stock in their company or something, as I will be spending lots of money there.

I worked Thursday night, came home Friday morning, took a quick nap and then went out to the pool by 1200. I felt like complete crap in the pool, but I actually finished the prescribed yardage ahead of time, which surprised me. I am going to switch to a Masters team starting in February. Which I am looking forward too because my current pool is behind a strip mall whose various restaurants (BBQ joint, Sushi, and Bread shop) all bombard me with their luscious odors while I am swimming.

Friday afternoon, Molly and I went down the the hockey arena where we waited in line to see our favorite player, Douglas Murray. Who we completely adore for his uh...brain...yes...absolutely. I certainly did not let out a giggle when I saw his biceps through the window of the store where he was signing, because 1) he's my brother's age (29), and 2) that would make me a Cougar...Anyway they weren't allowing any pictures which was really all we wanted. So we settled for an autograph. He was looking pretty bored and tired once we got our turn, and who can blame him? He'd probably signed like 300 things by that point and there were some pretty "interesting" fans in line ahead of us.

Douglas is Swedish. I have babysat for a Swedish family for upwards of 4 years, so I do have a very, very limited grasp on the Swedish language (okay I know like 15 words: no, yes, thanks, you're welcome, horse, snow, stand up, hand, foot, fish, school, chair, cracker, sorry - important stuff!). After he signed my favorite pink jersey, I told him "thank you" in Swedish. He looked up at me for a second, startled, and responded "you're welcome" back to me in Swedish. So I felt pretty good about myself since I actually got a response. I guess now Molly and I have to go stalk him at practice (they will let you take pictures with them there, all though they are pretty smelly at that point). I will also be learning how to say "can we have a picture with you?" in Swedish =)

Saturday I went on a shopping foray to Sports Basement. This is another place I need to buy stock from...I did pretty well though. I finally found a waterproof cycling jacket, found a nice warm cycling jersey, and a water resistant running jacket. So I feel like I am pretty set up for winter training now.

The weather cleared up allowing David and I to get out on the road for a bike/run brick. The roads were surprisingly clear and we had a great ride together. It sprinkled a bit on the run, but I was wearing my new running jacket, so I didn't mind. My legs felt like jello, but I tested out my nutrition plan and it worked well.

Yesterday the rain was back, but I only had to do a run so it wasn't a big deal. This was my longest run of training - 50min. I have to say, it felt pretty good. Probably the best I have felt out on the trails. My knees weren't bothering me at all. I did have to do some walking, as my HR got up to high, but I felt great when I did get to run. It sprinkled on me for the first half of the run, and then it was beautiful. I love the smell of winter; the wet grass and trees, wood burning fireplaces, and rain, it's just wonderful.

I then made the mistake of going grocery shopping after said run. Not intelligent. I am astounded Trader Joe's has any food left after I went there.

This week is rest week/test week. I am scared and excited at the same time. I am scared because I am pretty sure I am going to have to puke on a few of them (oh who am I kidding? all of them..). Excited as I will probably get some new HR zones, and it will be nice to have a baseline to work from.

That said, today is the swim test. I haven't done a swim test in at least 15 years, so this should be interesting. Hopefully no one is sharing a lane with me when I puke in the gutter.

Week 3 totals:

Swim = 6900 yards
Bike = 20 miles outside plus 1:30 on the trainer
Run = 8.1 miles
Strength: 1hr

Peserverance

2010-01-20T17:43:00.000-08:00

The following things happened today in the Bay Area:

a) Sustained winds of 40+ mph
b) Thunder and Lightening strikes
c) Tornado warnings
d) Torrential downpours
e) All of the above

If you chose "e", then you would be correct. Today was crazy. We never have thunder and lightening in Northern California in the winter, much less a tornado warning!

I woke up this morning to pouring rain, thunder and lightening. I kept an eye on Doppler radar all day to see when there would be a potential break in the weather. This took awhile. I finally got out on the track around 3:45pm. There was a break in the weather.

As I got out on the track I noticed some high school girls leaving, they must have been "real" runners as they were clad only in running shorts and t-shirts. I, on the other hand, had put on thermal leggings under my sweat pants, Under Armor Cold Gear turtleneck, running hoodie, and rain slicker. Did I mention I don't like being cold? Well, I don't like being cold.

Today's agenda called for some skipping, and I will admit I had to take off the rain slicker for that part at least. During my 15 min warm up, I looked around the track; taking note of the only person there (a petite Asian lady doing some really "interesting" work out moves), hoping she would know how to call 911 if I got struck down by a bolt of lightening. Then I found myself wondering what does it actually feel like to have the hair stand up on the back of one's head?

Luckily, the inclement weather held off. I did not hear one clap of thunder or see one flash of lightening, so I was feeling pretty pleased with myself. The skipping was fun, and I realized this high school has a ton of options for running, not just on the track, so it was a good adventure no matter what.

Now it's off to work for the next two nights. Stay dry, people!

Swimming in the Rain...

2010-01-20T06:45:00.000-08:00

Monday's swim was quite interesting. I had worked the previous four nights, and it was a holiday, so finding somewhere to swim was a bit of a challenge. Luckily, Molly has done this before and knew one of the high schools was open for lap swimming. Instead of going to bed after work, I stayed up until 11am to go to the pool, figuring I could take a nap later (which I did).

It had been raining steadily ever since I got home from work. California hasn't seen this kind of rain since 2002 at least. I kept checking the Doppler radar in hopes it would let up a bit for me to get out to the pool. It did in fact do just that. The weather for our swim couldn't make up it's mind. It would be raining, then the sun would be out and yet still raining, then windy so that all your gear would fly around, and then some other permutation would be created. It was sunny enough that I began to wish I had put on some sunscreen. Crazy.

After such an experience, hot chocolate was needed. Since I know where every Peet's Coffee and Tea is withing a 5 mile radius of any location in San Jose, getting our hot chocolate fix was easy.

Yesterday I had a 1:30 min bike on the schedule. I checked the good ole Doppler again, and it looked as if things were going to clear up. As the sun began to peek through the scattered clouds, I contemplating just going outside on my bike. It was cold and windy, and the roads were scattered with debris and crazy drivers, so I opted to stay inside. It turned out to be a good choice. About 45 minutes into my ride, I heard a huge clap of thunder. Not too long after that I saw a flash of lightening followed almost instantly by another clap of thunder. I gave up riding in monsoons when I moved away from Arizona, so I was quite happy that I chose to stay indoors.

Today is suppose to be run skips on the track. So far we are getting pummeled by what the weather "experts" say will be the worst of 5 storms this week. We are trying valiantly to not let our pool overflow. It looks like the rain/wind might clear up a bit in the afternoon, so I am shooting for going out then. Wish me luck, and stay safe out there!

This trainer work out brought to you by Green Day

2010-01-17T19:52:00.000-08:00

It has been an interesting week 2 of training. The swimming was great (minus the crazy synchronized swimming coach who yelled during half of my workout on Friday, I hate underwater microphones....but that's another story).

The running was good, minus a little twinge in my right patellar tendon that was unhappy no matter how I changed my steps. I have since iced said tendon and tried to stretch it as much as possible. It didn't bother me during this morning's 30min run in Zone 1 so that's good. I am still struggling to stay withing my heart rate zones while running, but have been instructed to wear my "patience hat" because it will all come eventually.

Biking outside was nice because I managed to miss any torrential down pours, and only got mildly sprinkled on. This week's forecast is calling for oodles of rain and wind and I have two days outside on the bike, so we'll see if I can find a time in between storms. Luckily I only work a few days this week, so I have lots of time to watch the weather.

Today's final workout was cadence/interval work on the trainer. Ouch. I was supposed to be recovering at 100rpm and working hard at 60rpm. After a few false starts (cadence monitor wasn't working - note to self: check functionality of new toys the day BEFORE you want to use it), I was chugging away. Since I had to do fast recovery, I put a little Green Day on the Ipod and it definitely helped me spin faster.

So tonight is my 4th night of 4 in a row at work. It's also a holiday, so hopefully things will go quickly and I can get back home to get some sleep! Sleep has been a bit wonky this week too. Waking up at 3am and not being able to back to sleep is no fun. Then I am not getting the best rest during the day, for whatever reason. I think my body is just getting used to working night shift and to working out again, so I am really confusing it royally! Oh well. Such is life.

Okay, time to refuel and get ready for another week!

Swim: 5800 yards
Bike: 13 miles
Run: 7.44 miles
Strength: 1 hour
Total: 6.5 hr

Swimming...

2010-01-11T08:58:00.000-08:00

For some reason, the sandman and I are no longer friends. I woke up this morning at 3:30am, hungry and wide awake. So I got up, surfed the internet, and finally decided to just go and swim. Not much else to do that early anyway, and the pool is close to one of my happy places, Peet's Coffee (if you're curious, watching the San Jose Sharks play hockey at HP Pavilion is my other happy place, but I digress).

I know I talk a lot about swimming. It is what defined me for many of my formative years. I do hope that soon the entire sport of triathlon will take it's place, but for now, I like to write about swimming.

Keep in mind that today was my 3rd workout in the pool. Today was a combination of long swimming and IM. That's right, all four strokes got their due today, not just the dreaded backstroke. Coincidentally, I was pretty happy for backstroke after doing four consecutive laps of butterfly, without breaking stroke. I am not saying it was pretty, Misty Hyman I am not, but I got my arms out of the water and did it (perhaps with more than 2 kicks per stroke, but that, my friends, is legal according to US Swimming. I was an official, I know these things!).

One of the added benefits of doing butterfly while lap swimming, is that your lane mate tends to end his work out early. This left the entire lane to me. Since I had to do more IM, no one else seemed eager to share the lane with the crazy girl doing full butterfly either. So, bonus!

That 400IM hurt though. As I pushed off the wall for the 3rd 25 of fly, I felt the familiar nausea in the pit of my stomach. I had almost forgot what IM will do to you. Almost. If you do IM right, you always feel like barfing. That is just the way it is. I used to tell my swimmers that. Swimmer "Coach Jenn, I feel like barfing after that 200IM", me "Good, that means you did it right! Great job!", swimmer "Oh really? You mean it is always going to feel like that?", me "Yep, pretty much."

I was also thinking about my husband, David, also a former swimmer. This boy used to do a set that went something like this: 10 x 400IMs followed by 5 x 1000s. Yeah, he was a distance swimmer. All the way. After doing my one measly 400Im, I remembered just how hard he used to work in the pool.

But now I say goodbye to the pool until Friday. In between there will be much running and biking to fill the time and further trash my legs (which they deserve).

Next week is a big week, apparenlty. Which will then be followed by test week. I am so glad I have gotten a few weeks to get into some semblance of shape before testing. I really appreciate that. Then my first 10K on Superbowl Sunday. After the Patriots dismal performance yesterday, I don't know I will be watching it anyway! Which is good, because it means I won't have to pace myself with all the Superbowl party food.

A week in review....

2010-01-10T19:58:00.000-08:00

The last workout to round out this week was a 65minute ride on my bike in the big chain. I also call this the Jan Ullrich gear. All though I didn't look quite as bad as he used to look mashing up Mont Vontoux, chasing furtively after Lance, my quads still were not pleased. But that's okay, they need to learn to deal with it!

David was kind enough to come with me, and I got to try out my new leg warmers (they were great). We had a nice ride, the weather held, and no one honked at us.

This next week begins with a swim. There is at least one 400IM involved. Whoa. I am allowed to use fins for it, but I don't own any, so....thank goodness I am swimming yards and not meters! Then I have one more week (even bigger apparently) before test week. I am honestly looking forward to all of it.

I am still figuring out how to balance work with training, more because of the fact that I work night shift, sleep during the day, and there is not an abundance of daylight currently. Luckily, the days are getting longer, and by the time I really need the extra sunlight - it will be here.

In the meantime, I am on the hunt for the following: new road pedals and shoes, and a waterproof cycling jacket that keeps me dry and warm. A little birdie told me REI has a huge sale starting tomorrow, so I think that's where I'll be!

Swim: 2:25 hr/6350 yards
Bike: 1:50/14.33 mi + trainer
Run: 1:00hr/ 3.20 mi
Strength Training: 1:07 hr
Total training time: 6:17.00

One more to go...

2010-01-09T18:29:00.000-08:00

I have one more workout to go this week. A nice bike ride outside tomorrow. It will be time to try out the new legwarmers. I have no idea what lies in store for me next week, but I am sure it will be fun. Not to mention the fact I have a few days off from work, so easier to schedule my work outs.

Yesterday was my first brick. It was a short affair, 45 min. on the trainer followed by a 15 min run off the bike. My legs felt interesting when I got off to run. I don't have another word to describe that feeling yet. I still had to do a combination of running and walking to stay in my HR zones, but I did it. There were some glitches as I am not quite used to programming my Garmin yet in terms of work outs, repeats, etc. But I am getting better. I do love that watch. I received my cadence monitor for my bike, so need to get my mechanic *ahem* husband, to help me out on that one. Maybe if I hand him the monitor and a beer at the same time...

Today was a swim. The only time the pool was open was at 9am. I worked last night (extra shift) so I just decided to stay awake and get the swim done. Sitting in my truck, waiting for them to open, it was all I could do not to stand at the windows chanting "open, open, open" like the lady in that old Mervyn's commercial. A little girl got into the lane next to me and I realized I had been her swim teacher 3+ years ago. It always feels good to see a former student, who is now doing year-round, club swimming. Warms the heart. She didn't remember me =).

There was a lot of backstroke in today's swim. Did I mention I was never a backstroker? My mom used to have to shut her eyes when I would compete in anything that had backstroke in it. I was so happy when I got fast in breaststroke because I found I didn't have to train much backstroke any more. My age-group coach once stood at the end of my lane and told me I had the ugliest backstroke he'd ever seen. He didn't see fit to fix it at that point, since my specialty was breaststroke. I know it's good for me, especially since my alternative of recovery breaststroke is not the best for someone who is trying to learn to run without killing her knees. I know how to swim it correctly now too (after I realized what it meant to "over-reach"). But just because it's good for me doesn't mean I have to like it =). Recovery butterfly anyone?

Okay that's all for now. It's time to sit back, watch some hockey, and have a well deserved glass of wine!!

Which is whiter: my shoes or my legs?

2010-01-06T15:33:00.000-08:00

It's a toss up, really. My shoes are so new that they just seem to scream out "inexperienced runner! Watch out!" as I trudge along the trails. That, coupled with my very white legs, probably blinded a few people while I was out on my run today. Another great thing about triathlon, between the swimming, biking, and running, my legs will eventually become another color than stark white! I will wear sunscreen, of course, but I will still get some color. Albeit I will have 3 different tan lines on my legs, but who cares? I will have tan lines!

I should make a confession: I have tan envy. One of my best friends, who I grew up swimming with, is Portuguese. She tans the most beautiful shade of brown you've ever seen. After several bad sunburns growing up, trying to match her, I finally came to the realization it wasn't going to happen (yes I get my skin checked by my dermatologist every year, things have already been burned off). Then I went and married my husband, who is also Portuguese and tans the same shade as my friend. My husband merely thinks about the sun and he tans.

So yes, I know I will not have the bronze legs of my husband or my friend. But, there will be color there. Even if I am the ONLY one who knows it. Oh, well I guess everyone will know once I'm in a bathing suit. And for that and many other reasons, I am glad I am training for a triathlon.

Today's run went well. I was supposed to keep in between Zones 1 and 3, and managed to do that by a combination of jogging and running. So that was nice. I don't think my calves will hurt as much after this run today. My quads are another story. After yesterday's functional strength training routine, I literally cursed at whose ever idea it had been to place the pots and pans in the cupboard on the floor as I got them to make dinner.

I also had the pleasure of being introduced to the loveliness that is local retailer "Sports Basement", I can tell already that I will be spending a lot of money there. That place is great, though, and I bought my new friend, the foam roller, there as well.

Tomorrow is a trainer ride and then a run off the bike. Interesting.

In the meantime, I need to get ready for a hockey game (thanks Molly!) and work. We're going to see if I can go to the hockey game AND make it to work on time (I may need to leave early).

Trashed...

2010-01-04T19:25:00.000-08:00

No, I am not referring the amount of Cabernet I have imbibed recently. I am instead referring to my arms, and my calves!

First the calves, their pain is the happy product of my attempt at "high knees" during my run on Friday. I think the problem was the fact I was running primarily on the balls of my feet, resulting in a feeling similar to doing many sets of stairs. Ouch. Stretching is good, and stretching is my friend. Soon I will have a foam roller, which I am sure I will have a tumultuous, love-hate relationship with, but that's okay. It's good for me.

Had a great ride with Molly and David on Sunday. We had a nice out and back in Almaden Valley. Kinda went over my allotted time, but that's a work in process. Also working out the logistics of using Mr. Garmin. I can't explain how helpful Molly is in these situations, it is no coincidence that I got the same Garmin model she used to have...I also enjoy David accompanying us with our rides, except for the fact that it leaves me without legwarmers. I guess it's time for me to buy some of my own!

In case you were wondering, Garmin was much quieter on the ride. He only chirped a bit here and there. David said he always knew where we were from all the beeping (I thought he was referring to the inevitable chatting that goes on when Molly and I ride together=>). But really, because I was able to keep up a constant conversation during our workout, I knew I stayed in Zone 2. Woo Hoo!

Sunday was a rest day, and thank goodness, because I needed the sleep. I was especially thankful for my rest day when I got to work last night and realized it was going to be the busiest of the 4. Thankfully, the night went quickly, I felt rested, and the ER is still standing!

I slept for about 2.5 hours, woke up, put on my swim suit and headed out the door to find a beautiful, sunny day awaiting me. I couldn't ask for better outdoor swimming weather in January! I didn't even need my parka. Molly was already in the water when I got to the pool. I was greeted with a half empty lane and a warm pool. Things just kept getting better. So I got in the pool and started swimming.

I think October was the last time I was in the water, but I am not sure. At any rate, I felt flat in the water, but I was still able to get up and down the lane without a problem. After a w/u, 10x100s, 10x50s, and 10x25s (with some easy 200s thrown in), I was so excited to put on my buoy and paddles. I love to pull! As I started down the lane, I realized something: I like to pull at the beginning of practice, not the end! My arms were thrashed. Still I was ecstatic to be in the water, and I knew that I wouldn't always feel this out of shape (all though the hurting part was going to be a constant friend), so I wasn't discouraged.

Molly finished before me, so she worked on flip turns as I gave her some tips in between 25s. To her nose-clip free x1year credit, she did a couple of really good ones. It was nice to watch.

After that, I did my warm down (and included backstroke - ugh), then attempted to climb out of the pool without falling back in (accomplished, but barely), and called it a day.

Tomorrow is functional strength training, which I am sure will bring a whole new round of aches and pains. But I am looking forward to it!

I am off work until Wednesday night. I can hear my laundry calling me...

Where is Zone 1 anyway?

2010-01-01T21:11:00.000-08:00

First of all, if you're here after reading Molly's post today...Hi!!

For my first day of triathlon training in 2010, I had a 40 min. run on my schedule. My instructions from Coach Jen were to stay in Zone 1 and occasionally checking my cadence (21 right foot strikes in 15 seconds). So I woke up at 4pm (I had gotten home at 7:45 am after work and went to sleep around 8:30 am) and got ready to get outside before I lost daylight.

We drove down to the Almaden Lake Park, since it is close and has a multitude of surfaces to run on for my inexperienced legs. David, my husband, was more than willing to accompany me and that was great. I started out and began to think about keeping my knees high. As a former swimmer, and breaststroker no-less, I tend to run duck footed with a bit of a shuffle. Not the most efficient way to run. Oh and by the way, I am really out of shape. Anyway, I thought that now was as good of a time as any to start working on getting a higher knee lift in my running. As such, as soon as I started my Garmin beeped at me. WTH? I was already out of Zone 1! I had gone maybe 30 feet. Maybe. I began to slow down, and my husband turned around to look at me as I explained I was just going for heart rate and time today. But the guy is 6'4" so his walking is close to the speed I was going at this point. I let him go ahead. He needs a good work out too!

Well, fine, if I was already out of the elusive Zone 1, I figured I should go ahead and try this little cadence thingy. That was hard. I kept getting to like 16 and 17 and that was it. Meanwhile, my Garmin continued its plaintive beeping on my wrist. I didn't run with an Ipod today (a BIG step for me) but who needs an Ipod when their Garmin is playing its own little tune?

As Garmin beeped at me again, I decided to start walking so I could look down at my heart rate. It was fast, something like 160. I thought that perhaps it wasn't reading correctly. After all, this is a new piece of equipment for me, so perhaps I had set up wrong. So I decided to manually palpate my pulse (sorry, nursing vernacular), I checked my pulse with my fingers. Sure enough, that baby was going fast! It was what I like to call in my nursing charting "bounding". Okay, so Garmin wasn't lying. I was so far away from Zone 1, it wasn't even funny.

A caveat, these Zones are preset from Garmin based on my age and weight. Since I am so out of shape, Coach Jen and I decided it would be better to just get going and gave me some easy ways to remember the different zones:

zone 1 = recovery (SUPEReasy)

zone 2 = Aerobic (you can talk!)

zone 3 = TEMPO

zone 4 = HARD!!!

zone 5== well, you won't see this zone yet.

But I can tell you, either way, I was not in Zone 1. Okay, I was in Zone 1 when as we drove home. Heck. I am probably in Zone 2 now just typing this, but I don't have my HR monitor on, so I can't be sure. I do know that I can talk as I type, so Zone 2 it is. I do believe I saw Zones 2-4, but not on purpose and only heart rate wise. There was certainly no tempo or going hard going on today, but that is what it was supposed to be.

At the turn around point, I decided to try and give my knees a bit of a boost again, but not with the same sort of vigor I employed at the beginning of my run. With Garmin now screaming at me, I set forth. I found that if I did the "swimmer shuffle" ie, my normal way of running, my right knee was a little angry. However, if I picked up my knees a bit, and used a better foot strike, my knee shut up. Either way, Garmin beeped. There is no way David could have lost me on the trail, he would have just had to go toward the beeping.

I did walk the last 5 minutes of the workout, so I could at least show that I was in Zone 1 at least some point during the 40 minutes I was out there. All in all, it wasn't a bad day. I was trying to go slow, and think about my feet and knees. I didn't miss my Ipod (too much to think about). I was never close to feeling like I was over doing anything in anyway. Most importantly, I got out there and did it. So that makes me happy.

I got home and was so excited to upload my data into Training Peaks. That took me a while, and also had me deleting today's run off of TP all together...hmm...will get better at this. I finally downloaded Device Manager and that seemed to work, all though I have heard it's a bit buggy.

So now, it's off to work in an hour. Time to make some coffee and try to make myself look presentable for my patients. Try not to go above zone 3 at work. Tomorrow's agenda has a nice bike ride with Molly and David. Molly's agenda on the bike tomorrow is a bit different than mine, but we'll make it work!

Bye bye 2009

2009-12-31T20:49:00.000-08:00

Here's what I will remember most about 2009, in no specific order

1. Getting to watch my friend have her first baby.
2. Re-connecting with old friends.
3. Graduating from SJSU School of Nursing
4. Passing the NCLEX (nursing boards)
5. Being lucky enough to find a job as a nurse, in a unit I enjoy.
6. Moving back to the street I grew up on, we're only renting, but it's great.
7. Hanging out next the pool all summer, with an endless supply of fruity drinks provided by my husband.
8. Being a training partner for a friend doing her first Ironman...
9. Which inevitably led to the decision of hiring a coach in order to begin training for a Half Ironman myself in 2010.
10. Learning that my dog is not so great at jumping into the pool.
11. Having the opportunity to watch a couple Sharks games from some incredible seats.
12. Spending Christmas with my family, all day long, for the first time in 3 years.

Yep. It's been fun. I can only imagine that 2010 will be that much better. Happy New Year everyone!

Back to work...

2009-12-31T11:41:00.000-08:00

Happy NYE! What am I doing to celebrate? Working in the ER, yay! Actually I am so thankful to have this job, that I don't mind. Especially since I like my job and I didn't have to work on Christmas. So no complaining around here! I enjoyed my 6 days off immensely, and now it's time to go back. I will work the next four nights in a row. Fun times.

In the meantime, triathlon training 2010 will begin on Friday with a 40 min run. Coach Jen uploaded all my goodies to Training Peaks yesterday, and I have been going over every work out to get them straight in my head. I must have sent her 12 emails yesterday just to clarify. Good thing she doesn't mind!

I am looking forward to getting out running, back into the pool, and biking. Okay, I am still afraid of running, but will work on driving my with my knees and keeping them high (just as soon as I figure out what that will actually mean for me). I reconfigured my office yesterday to make it more training friendly.

So it's a big week - first week of dedicated training since I swam competitively, and my first time being officially "on my own" at work. Should be interesting...

Hello

2009-12-27T22:48:00.000-08:00

Welcome to my blog page, and coincidentally, my first blog post!

There is a phrase that many children (and some adults) hear on a regular basis when they're in school: "what do you want to be when you grow up?"

Well it has taken me many, many years to figure out the answer to that question. The answer ended up being: a registered nurse. I've worked for many places along this journey, the United Way, Enterprise Rent-A-Car, a couple of swim schools, and now Kaiser Permanente: first as a unit assistant, and now as a nurse.

I know that I am very lucky to have a job in the current economy, let alone a job I enjoy, and I think about that every time I drive to work.

So now that I am out of school, and finally in a career that fits me perfectly, I am trying to get used to having actually answered that question and achieved my goal of becoming a nurse.

In order to fill the time that used to be filled up with school related things like class, clinical, homework, kvetching, and sleep, I have decided to start training for a triathlon. This should be quite interesting since I grew up as a swimmer who loathed her running shoes (well they were cross trainers, which might have been part of the problem). I love to swim and bike, and I will figure out the run thing. These three things: swim-bike-run, are what I plan to do to keep me active on my days off, otherwise I am pretty confident I would just putz around eating and playing on facebook. As I would rather not ever develop Type II Diabetes, I made a goal, hired a coach, and will begin training the beginning of January. My big race will be July 31st. A half Ironman in Sonoma.

This content of this blog will probably be devoted to my training for the most part. I will add little tidbits of work when I can do so and feel like I am not entering into a HIPPA violation! I am sure there will be some hockey stuff and dog stuff and who knows what else.

Hmm...that's all I got! Welcome!