Monday, March 31, 2008

3/31/2008

Quick recap of workouts: HARD. I "negotiated" with MarcoDiablo Saturday to ride 4 1/2 hours and then only do a 4 mile run, to avoid doing the 6 half-mile repeats. I am still not sure if it was a good deal....but I hate repeats so I think I did fine. Brazil group got a better deal than I, guess it was the collective bargaining; they rode 1/2 hour more and then did a 4 mile negative split instead of the half repeats. Oh well, I felt pretty good after the run so it all worked out.

MarcoDiablo had an aerobar contest, and 4 hours later there were still 4 Brazillians in it: TriShelley, MyKaren, Jeff and BeB. The boys were hurting, both had to pee, but they would be darned if they were going to lose to girls. It was funny to watch them squirm. BeB didn't really drink so he cramped up afterwards. Silly boy.

Friday was a spa day with MyKaren. We went to breakfast, got some shots for Brazil, had massages (yumminess), shopped at Nordstroms (yes, I do like nice clothes, just not to work out in!), saw a movie (Mrs. Pettrigrew Lives for a Day-pretty good), etc. It was nice, even the shot I got wasn't as bad as when I was a kid, maybe the needles have gotten smaller or something. Good stuff!

Monday, March 24, 2008

3/24/2008

Shoot, nothing exciting or new this week. Cycling sucks the life out my legs, lifting does the same, no end in sight. Waahh. No swimming on Sunday due to Easter, but this morning ProKaren made me do too many 50 m sprints without enough rest. At one point, I seriously thought I was going to pass out in the water. Why the heck I didn't just slow down, I have no idea. Just stupid I guess.

The 16 miler this weekend was actually not bad! Now, I don't want to do it every week or anything, but it was suprizingly ok. I must have done something right, because for the first time this year in a long run, I didn't have stomach cramps for the last few miles. I can't seem to get the nutrition part fine-tuned. I don't know if its too much Endurox, not enough water, or too much water, or too much goo or not enough goo, or not enough solid food or....well you get the picture. I am just plain confused. BUT, any run done is a good run, no matter how it feels.

Monday, March 17, 2008

3/17/2008

Luck o the Irish to ye all! Speaking of green, that's how I felt yesterday towards the end of my 1.5 mile timed swim (which was timewise, pretty darn good for me, nevermind that some people swam 2 miles in the same time, but progress is progress!). There I was, swimming along, trying to keep track of the laps, doing fine with the drudgery of lap swimming and near the end, when I started feeling kind of sick to my stomach along with a goggle-headache. Maybe the two were directly related, I don't know. I did know that the last 6 laps were hard and I really thought I was going to be sick. But I didn't and I finished my longest swim EVER. Yeah! After I stumbled out of the pool and was lounging (meaning slumped) on the pool deck, MyKaren tells me that happens to her as well, its kind of like seasickness. But, she also says that it gets better with time and more long swims. Well, that makes me sooo happy. Not even.

Congradulations to all the TriGirls who kicked it at Shamrock! Looks like a bunch of PRs were set! Good for all of you!

I was plugging away at my 14 miles on Saturday, thankfully I picked up TriTwi about half-way into the run and she kept me entertained for the remainder of the run. Can't say I did a negative split, but I did do it. More yumminess to come I am sure. MarcoDiablo Lucifer and Mean Mr. Ed are surely going to ease up now, right?

Thursday, March 13, 2008

3/13/2008

I've been perusing other TriGirl blogs and notice several future FL IronWomen have a countdown to IMFL on their blogs. I am not so brave. It still makes me kind of sick to my stomach when I really think about what I've signed up and paid money to do in November. So for now, when I need a countdown, I'll just check out TriKO's clock.

Monday, March 10, 2008

3/10/2008

Yikes, nothing as exciting as last week's post to report, although the party Saturday night had some shining moments as various Trigirls, husbands, significant others and coaches got lubed with plenty of wine, beer and other cocktails, as far as I know, nothing shocking happened. At least not while I was there. Great party, TriLynn!

I am having difficulty running on Tuesday's even though I really, really mean to each Tuesday. I haven't done it yet, so I've been missing one run a week. I am not crying about missing a run, but I do need to do them all.

February was a tough power month, but March Madness is much more. The cycling so far has been brutal, MarcoDiablo has been redubbed MarcoDiablo Lucifer. Ed has been meaner, but in his usual quiet way. Although on Monday, I did manage to meet Ed's challenge on one of his power sets. I really, really, really almost puked. I am sure that everyone in the room was thankful that I didn't. And don't get me started on the weights for March...Its sort of becoming a month of pain...waahhhh.

So at Master's swim last week, I actually liked it! Except for the fact that the water was super cloudy and I seemed intent on swallowing as much as possible of it. It was weird to be swimming along and then realize that I wasn't hating it. Nice, though. Hopefully it will stay this way. Yeah!

Saturday's 2 hour ride was followed by 4 miles and then 6 half-mile repeats. The 4 mile run felt much farther than I thought it should be, and it was raining/drizzling and kind of humid. I am not looking forward to the summer training. I was slow on the repeats, but did get them done. It did seem like further than a half-mile, especially the 5th one. As my new mantra is "Any run I do is a good run" the repeats were good.

After partying on Saturday night, Karen, TriAimee and I went to test a short adventure race course at Pocohontas for some friends on Sunday morning, much earlier than I wanted to be up and about. It was fun, even though my teammates were trying to kill me with their darn speed on both the bike and the running. Naturally, they paddled the canoe while I lounged in the middle, navigating with the map, so I was happy about that. I felt like the Queen of the Nile, except for getting whacked on the head every now and again by the paddle (Karen said she didn't mean to, but I have my doubts).

I was talking to a friend at lunch today, who doesn't take much time for themselves, and I came up with the perfect book title: "Say no to them and YES to you" I'll close with that.

Monday, March 3, 2008

3/3/2008

Whew. Weekend was crazy! But first, I need to catch up on last week's workouts. Finally made it to Master's on Wednesday...actually it wasn't too bad, in fact, once as I was swimming along, I actually thought it was kind of good. Crazy, I know, but I think I enjoyed at least a part of it. Will wonders never cease?

Ed may be mean, but Mark is the devil, and henceforth, he shall be named MarcoDiablo. Thursday's cycle was pure hell and I didn't even lift beforehand. Oh My God. I wasn't sure whether my legs or heart would explode first and then whether I'd puke or cry first. I have not yet experienced that level of agony this year (last year, I think it would be fair to call the Florida 70.3 race an agony, but that was last year). MarcoDiablo may as well have just had us at level 10 the whole freakin time, "sprinting" yeah right. More like trying to keep the legs going at all. I have to say that it was the quietest cycle I've ever been to. No one could talk.

So Saturday, I was wondering just what the the 1 1/2 hour ride would be like (which was to be followed by a slow 12 mile run). MarcoDiablo was at it again. I have to admit, I did not work as hard as I did on Thursday, but the workout was just as bad. Curse you MarcoDiablo. Oh, and then everyone was doing the same general out and back run, because of the Krispy Kreme donuts to be provided afterwards (more on that soon), so MarcoDiablo lobbied for Riverside Drive to be on the route. Hills on top of devilishly hard biking makes for some tiiiired legs. OK, finishing the run without walking the hills made me feel good afterwards, so it was, in fact OK. It just hurt.

Saturday's workout has been renamed Diablo Donut Day in honor of MarcoDiablo and Krispy Kreme donuts. After the run was completed, he came in with 13 dozen glazed donuts, and then the fun began. TriLiz had said that she could eat one dozen, but later said that she would eat one donut more than anyone else. The challenge went unaswered until TriPatty came in and agreed to the challenge before she really even knew what the challenge was. (Note to self, ALWAYS check on the details of a challenge). TriPatty was behind by 5 or so donuts when she came in the door from her run, so she smashed a bunch of donuts together, and started eating the donut stack like a big mac or something. It was not a pretty sight, TriPatty smashing donuts on top of her stack and TriLiz serenly eating one donut after another as the TriPatty smashstack got smaller. It was like a car wreck, you wanted to look away, but couldn't. People were standing with their bags in hand to leave, but somehow never left, watching the clash of the Trigirls as they ate their way through boxes of donuts. Donut glaze littered the floor, and their eyes became glazed as well, as the sugar overload began to take its toll. The horror, the humanity! Donut after donut was consumed until each had eaten a dozen. TruPatty's smashstack got ever so slightly smaller. TriLiz began to show signs of donut fatigue, while TriPatty's eyes took on a crazed-glazed look as the number of consumed donuts rose. Finally (thank god), at 16 donuts each, the two donut downing divas agreed to a truce and the Great Diablo Donut Day concluded. No word on any after effects.