Tri-Dogmom

Well, I survived... Momo didn't kill me. 3:09 later.... about 18miles, and a 1000ft climb, and I'm here. No dramatic stories, no SIGNIFICANT pain. No drama. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. The air was clear, and it wasn't TOO hot. We ran about 4.5miles to meet Stacey, that was about 300ft climb. Then we headed straight up Happy Valley Road. Stacey is pretty familiar with this hill. She "dominated" up it during the Ragnar Relay. I had to walk quite a bit to keep my HR aerobic, but no big deal - we made up quite a bit of that time on the way down. The views were spectacular , the company was great. I hit my "runner's high" at about 1:45, as we were coming back down the hills. Unfortunately, I did get a little woozy, because I ran out of water. Stacey shared some of hers, then I refilled back at her car. So, I've made my peak run! I have one more 3hour run in this training, and I can only hope that it goes just as well. Well, I cou...

I'm going to take a minute away from my usual training update, to discuss something rather peculiar to me. You know how some people have something that they just HATE doing? Some people hate doing: laundry dishes cleaning house grocery shopping cooking Well, I can actually handle all of the above. I don't love them, but I don't HATE them. But, there are two things I hate doing. 1. filling my gas tank 2. going to the post office Now, I can't exactly procrastinate #1, but I can procrastinate going to the post office like it is no body's business. The worst part is I order stuff on line ALL the time, because I don't enjoy shopping. I order 99% of the triathlon & running apparel . Even my shoes, and nutrition shopping is done mostly online. So, usually, I will take forever to make a decision on my purchases. It's not really shoppers or buyers remorse. It's the dreaded POST OFFICE trip if the purchase does not work out. Well, I have had this box of the s...

For those of you that know me, or for those who have been reading my blog for a little while - you know that injury has been a big nuisance in my life over the past few years. It has nearly "Will I ever run again?" "Why me?" "This is NOT fair" "Maybe I was just not meant to do this!" Well, until now I have always taken those thoughts and used them to power me through pain, and finish.. Whatever the day was. A race, a workout, brick... whatever. Yesterday, at the Rage in the Sage Triathlon, I finally got a little smart. And, the best part. I feel fantastic about my decision and have no regrets. So, here you are folks, my Race Report... Saturday afternoon, once we picked up our Race Packets, we headed down to the lake to do our practice swim. I was all prepared to enter the ice cold water with She- Rah's super insulating, super buoyant Zoot Wetsuit.... Only, when I got in the water it was NOTHING like last year. It was actually, quite pleasa...

Tomorrow we ( momo , S, Heather & Sara) leave for Las Vegas to do the Rage in the Sage Triathlon. I have actually raced on this course 3 times before. My very first triathlon was at this course. It wasn't the Rage race, it was put on by Mountain Man Events. I did the sprint triathlon. I had NO idea what I was doing. I wore a 2 piece swimsuit, threw some running shorts on top of them for the bike & run. I was riding this: Are you laughing yet? It gets better.... I had only used my clip less pedals/shoes about twice... I didn't use body glide I barely new how to shift.... WHAT THE HELL WAS I THINKING? Well, I'm pretty sure I wasn't. Unfortunately, I can't find the race results in old archives to tell you about it. But I remember the bike leg being something like 56mins.... the swim (600m) was like 17mins.. I guess, I've come a LOOOONNNG way :-) The next time I raced on this course was in September of 05. This was my first triathlon since my IT ban...

I went to my good old buddy Matt, at Metro Physical Therapy today. After my "speed" run on Monday I decided it was time to go in and have him work on my hip flexor. I was convinced it was the reason my IT band started bugging me. That, and well... the blisters & funny walking from the Ragnar Relay. Sure enough the hip flexor was a mess! I can't remember what all he was rambling, but TFL was in there as well.. Something about them rubbing or pinching on the femur. Anyway - he worked on me for a good 40mins. Poking, prodding at my hip. Moving around my entire leg while he did it. The killer was when he had me on my stomach and he was moving my leg all around, then trying to stretch it. I started jumping off the table! I screamed, "I TOLD you I can't stretch it!!" (I had mentioned how it was so tight I couldn't even do a stretch on it because it would spasm) Of course, he didn't listen to me & just kept playing around. Then, back o...

There is something to be said about being a spectator. You get to take in so much of the race, and learn at the same time. This year, as I watched the athletes at Ironman AZ, I had several emotions. The first one was 'terrified' - there was just something about watching the bike leg that totally freaked me out. I'm not really sure what it was, especially considering I had a REALLY good ride the day before. The wind was just picking up when momo, her kids & I got down to Tempe. We headed down Rio Salado, just west of Mill where we could see cyclists first heading in to prepare for the 2nd, or 3rd loop, and then we could catch them a second time just a few minutes later on their way back out. Oh, I can't forget, when we got there we also saw Tim Deboom come flying down mill on his bike. "Flying" might be an understatement. It's SO cool to see these amazing fast men. We picked a really good spot to watch, although if you ask momo's kids they would dis...

So, I'm actually going to make 2 posts today to catch up a little.... One to recap & share some pics from my mini break to Mexico. The other to talk about Ironman AZ! My parents were down at our Rental House and they wanted me to join them. So, I decided a little R&R would be good for me! I packed a little bag, grabbed Baxter and off we went... Well, a couple things first of course. I did my 5 hour bike ride on Tuesday, and my 2:10min run on Wed. Stacey was nice enough to meet me for part of the run, including getting her to go a little extra with me so I didn't have so far to go at the end. That helped a lot. My legs were pretty 'tight' from the bike ride the day before, so the company was much appreciated... Driving to the border wasn't too bad. I'm a horrible road trip companion. I get bored. I am the epitome of "are we there yet" One time, Shane & I drove at night. I made him pull over once we were across the border to pick up a 6 pack...

Just wanted to let you all know that our website is UP!!!! Please go check it out & sign up to win some great prizes as well as fun info. Be part of our informational community!! The site is still under construction, but we've got the initial part done. www.allthingstriathlon.com P.S. I'll update on my fun mini-break to Mexico shortly :-)

Week 10, can you believe it? That means, after this week I will officially be HALF WAY thru my training. Crazy..... So, how is everything going? Honestly, I think it's going pretty darned well. No big complaints from me. I've had a few "issues," but nothing that has really put a damper on my training. I feel good. I feel confident. I'm ready to keep pushing through. Now, on the other hand, my husband has not been so lucky. He's had issue, after issue. We have also got a lot going on business wise (not just his day job) so life in general has just been pretty hectic. You can check out his blog to read about this weekends mishaps... I'm sure once he gets back up to par, he'll bust out a couple of good training weeks and will start feeling better again. So, the reason I mention that is that I was with him on his little "fall" off the bike this weekend. After stopping for a long break while we made sure he was ok, changed his tire, etc my mood c...

I've learned quite a bit about this Ironman training over the last week or so. The following is a list of a few things I've learned are essential, and without them I'm not sure I could pull this training off: Sleep - I explained that in my last post Food - I hit a WALL if I don't have something in my stomach every couple of hours - it happens so fast, I just suddenly can't focus, get dizzy and nauseous & feel very sleepy. A couple hundred calories does the trick Massage - I was not blessed with a natural talent or gift to be an athlete. I've got back issues, and hip issues, and I choose to be DEFIANT , like momo and fight through it all to say I CAN. The massage helps me get through some of the pain and muscle issues I have. They aren't soft, nice foo foo massages either. They hurt! Wine - Do I really need to say any more? Now, last, but certainly not least, I need SALT. I've been eating it like it's going out of style. I eat eggs every day ...

This week has been interesting, to say the least... All I have wanted to do is SLEEP! So, I've listened to my body, and sleep is what it got. I'd say, I've averaged about 9 hours a night. And, I think I could have even added an hour or so on to that each day. I used to be a 6-7 hour a night sleeper. Guess that was before I was on my way to becoming an Ironman . I've lacked some motivation this week. I'm thinking it is from the Relay still. I've been good, and still logged all my workouts, so I'm pretty proud of that. I'm usually so fired up & ready for the next day, but this week was just a mental struggle. I don't have any excuses like, I don't have time, or didn't feel good. I was just plain tired & not into it. Today went a little better. I did my 90min tempo ride. I have weights on my schedule, but I have a BIG weekend, so I'm just going to do some stretching and core work. Tomorrow is my longest run since the 2003 NY Marathon...

Here's our full team, including Tonsa ... All I can say about this group, is they ALL ROCK! What an amazing adventure we had... You can read momo's recap & see some more pictures here . It really was as amazing as M describes. And, she TOTALLY started the whole FAST FAST FAST thing. I don't blame her though. There was the "core" group all showing off in their itty sports bras, and the girl took off like a bat out of hell. Momo HAD to step it up, and thus set the tone for the next 30 hours. When it came to my first leg my HR monitor read 142 before I even started. I don't know if it was a fluke, or just all the excitement! I haven't run fast in years. I haven't done a 10K in years... It was HOT, like maybe 80 degs out? 2:30pm ish . I do NOT run in the heat well. Ughh ...but my team was so fired up, and my HR monitor was reading 00 bpms , so I just RAN. Next thing I new, I looked down & it said 179, a couple minutes later 184. Oh, screw it I ...

.. at the finish line with Tonsa! Here are a few excerpts from our weekend adventure, and in no specific order: Anaerobic Dominate Pass Corn Fed Beef PR Thin Mints Imodium Blood Blisters ET No Sleep for 36 Hours Team Core did I say DOMINATE? Carls Jr Cheeseburger Jelly Bellys Salt more Salt did I say ANAEROBIC? Inspired by Tonsa TEAM ANAEROBIC, Ragnar Relay Del Sol Ultra, 2008 Stay tuned. Pictures & a full report coming tomorrow