Typical Night at the Gaal's

Marty created a bad habit for Tassie when she was a puppy - he would give her the last few drops of beer out of his bottle. This is now the only thing she 'begs' for. So here it is, 8:45 on a Tuesday night, Marty is letting Tassie drink from his bottle (it looks MUCH worse than it is), while holding her paw and massaging her toes (she has a foot fetish, what can I say?). He's in his Superman pants and slippers. And yes, that's my bike set up on the trainer in the background because I did a short easy spin after my run workout today.

Marty actually has a matching Superman t-shirt, but unfortunately he wasn't wearing it tonight. Not too long ago he was wearing the complete outfit one morning when it was trash pickup day. He realized we had forgotten to put our recycling out when he saw the truck pull up, so he raced out the door, grabbed our bin and ran it down to the recycling worker. He said he kind of got a funny look and realized walking back up to the house what he had been wearing. I'm sure they think that someone very "special" lives in our house.

Hello, Dum-Dum

Marty, Tassie and I had a great time out at the Hillsborough Sportsplex sprint triathlon this morning. They were great cheerleaders for me as I fumbled my way through an overall win.

The race was a 400 yard pool swim, 11.6 mile rolling bike, and a short 5K run with some hills (I'm thinking 30-40 seconds short). I have done a few pool swims and I just don't like them. I have not mastered the art of warming up followed by sitting around for 20 minutes and then pushing off the wall in all out sprint. Open water is different to me for some reason. And then you have all the logistics of flip turning under lane lines, passing people who put in bad swim times and getting passed by people behind you who are faster. Ugh. I wore my Blue Seventy Point Zero over my race outfit since my outfit is too big and draggy. My friends teased me but I figured I had the thing so why not wear it? This is why: because when you forget you've only taken it halfway off and proceed to run your bike out of transition with it dangling around your waist. Yup, that's what I did. Back up - of course the mat for the swim is a little ways away from the pool deck so my swim time looks nice and slow - 6:05, but it was 3rd and the other two girls who swam faster were definitely swimmers. Then I run out of transition and over that mat before I realize I hadn't fully undressed. I stop and lay my bike down, take my shoes off, remove the speedskin, put my shoes back on - at this point Marty runs over with Tassie and says, "Oh you silly girl." Tassie proceeds to lick my legs. Marty said it probably added 40 seconds to my bike split and is SO MAD he didn't get it all on video.

The bike was rolling the whole way, no chance to really tuck in and hammer. I felt okay, nothing great, nothing terrible and managed the fastest bike split: 33:47. I got off my bike and ran into transition, slipped my racing flats on and then thought, 'hmmm, where is my race belt?' STILL IN MY TRANSITION BAG! Luckily, I had already pinned my number to it. I ran over to my bag, unzipped it and rooted around until I found it. And I'm supposed to be racing Elite?! Marty, unfortunately, saw this too, but fortunately also did not get it on video. I started the run and felt awesome! I felt strong and light and quick. It was a very slight uphill going out then a turn with a steep but short uphill and the rest of the loop was fast, before doing the same loop again. I pushed it and really enjoyed feeling like myself off the bike. When I hit the finish line I knew the run was short, because I felt good, but my split of 18:23 was a bit too good. I may have been good for a sub-19, though and am hoping I can feel like that in my next races. Here's a link to the results.

We hung around for awards and talked to a lot of people and generally had a great time. I'm showered, napped and ready for a fun Saturday night!

Dizzz-ang!

I was at my computer just before 7am this morning, logged onto the setup event website, and was constantly refreshing my screen until I see the waitlist button pop up for the Wilmington Family YMCA triathlon. There! Click! Sweet. A couple of hours later I go back and check their website and the waitlist is closed! DANG! Ooh, here’s the list, and I’m…..10th? What. The. Heck. How did 9 people beat my click? I think it should be good enough to get me into the race, though. I should find out September 1st. Fingers crossed again. And then if I get in, I’ll be asking you all to keep those fingers crossed so it will be wetsuit legal :) Remember, I’m not a real swimmer, just a pretender – like I tell my lanemates at master’s practice when I want to weasel out of anything IM, “Well, I’m doing free! I’m just a pretender here!” I think they’re tired of it.

Soaking Wet

It was the weekly hard/fun Wednesday group ride. I love this ride because it consists of a small group of friends who all like to work hard but are all nice to one another if someone is having a rough go. We had a great steady workout until the last 25 or so minutes when the skies absolutely opened up and a deluge came down. Did that tropical storm take a wrong turn and come up through Durham or something? We all yelled and cursed our weatherman who promised blue, sunny skies. I have never ridden in such hard rain - a total downpour where you could barely see in front of you, and even if you could the rain was pelting you right in your eyes so it wouldn't have mattered. Thousands of needles were stinging our arms and legs and we were riding through newly formed rivers in the road. At one point my right pedal downstroke had my foot completely underwater! The only positive thing I could come up with was at least it wasn't COLD and raining. Been there, done that, never want to do it again.

We all made it safely back to our cars and when I got home I was a good girl and cleaned and lubed my chain. I'm patiently waiting for the pizza to cook before I gorge myself. While I'm waiting I'm drinking a Michelob Ultra Pomegranate Raspberry beer. It is totally girly but I love it, so nyah nyah.

I have a very strict time schedule in the morning because I need to get on the waitlist first thing for the Wilmington triathlon. That thing filled up overnight while we were at Eagleman and I really, really want to do it. Fingers crossed...

Degrees of Separation

I was thinking of ways I know some of the current Olympians, and was hoping I would become faster by proxy:

• Shalane Flanagan (10K): My family ran into her on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill and was introduced to her by a high school friend of mine. She was, I think, in her sophomore year at UNC
• Kara Goucher (10K): Sat next to her at the Junior Olympics cross country awards ceremony in Alabama when I was 13. She won. I was 21st. Hmmm, hard to see which one of us had a wee bit more talent. We also were at Footlocker Nationals at the same time (the one year I made it).
• Amy Yoder-Begely (10K): She lapped me at the indoor SEC track meet my freshman year. Luckily, I didn’t get pulled off the track. They usually pull the lapped runners down to 12. There is a lot of strategy in the back to make sure you’re in the top 12 at a certain point in the race!
• Laura Bennet (triathlon): Her brother, John Reback, was one of Marty’s constant competitors in Florida. John is nice even though some of the guys liked to call him “The Dark Prince of Triathlon” when he would win literally every race back a few years ago.
• Hunter Kemper (triathlon): Actually do know him from way back, when we did triathlons as kids growing up in Florida.

I slept in this morning instead of going to Master’s practice, woopsy. But in my defense, I was only planning on swimming today so moving it to this evening was not a huge deal. I was feeling pretty tired and knew the extra sleep would be better for me. After TWO bike rides this weekend, (one of them being hill repeats), I was feeling a little wupped. I almost hit 11 hours of training, which is really good for me. How some of you manage close to 20 hours with a job and a life is beyond me!

I’m watching the tropical storm/hurricane information in Florida with some interest. Obviously because my parents are in St. Pete (even though, knock on wood, St. Pete gets spared all the time from the storms). I’m also interested because I know how absolutely chaotic everything gets when a storm approaches. First off, they can never predict where it’s going to make landfall – and that’s really the only place where it’s bad. Unless you get a storm like Charley which ripped through the state so fast that everything in its path was up for grabs. 2004 was a bad summer for Florida and I remember it like it was yesterday. Even though we had 3 storms come rolling through, we barely missed any work because they all came through on the weekend! What were the chances? So at least this one is midweek so everyone should get a paid day off :) They would have us wrap our computers in plastic before we left for the weekend in case there was some massive flooding (there never was). Then you try to get gas and all stations are empty or there are huge long lines. You stop into Publix and all essentials have been cleared out. You’d think it was Armageddon, not just some tropical storm! Fun times - enjoy yourselves Florida!

You Know You're Addicted To The Olympics When...

Marty and I don't typically watch a whole lot of tv. We DVR some shows but other than that it's pretty limited. All bets are off during the Olympics, as I'm sure most of you out there are nodding your head in agreement. I realized today that I have been watching WAY too much tv - and I know I'm not alone. Here are some of the things that tipped me off:

• You start saying the local NBC station's slogan out loud (ours is: "NBC 17, Accurate, Balanced, To the Point")
• You openly complain about the commercials you hate the most (mine: Honda's Mr. Opportunity and McDonald's new chicken sandwich)
• You tell your friends that no, you can't go out to dinner on Friday night because it might interfere with the Olympics coverage
• You don't know why that horse is prancing around and it's rider looks like a mannequin, but you can't stop watching
• You feel like you intimately know Michael Phelps
• You file a protest about the Chinese gymnasts being too young
• You get emotional when a long shot wins a medal
• You get annoyed that the guide on tv says this: 10-6, Swimming, Gymnastics, Fencing, Volleyball, Soccer, Rowing, Equestrian, Diving, Trampoline - but it doesn't stop you from watching the entire 8 hours
• You screamed out loud at the final of the Mens's 4x100 meter relay
• You shake your head and frown at the slightest bobble on the balance beam (that'll cost her at least a tenth!)
• You are more sleep deprived than normal

Those are a few I've realized, you guys have any others?

Marty-less

Traveling man Marty is in Orlando today and tomorrow. He’s going to hit the downtown Y track workout tonight – I sure do miss that group. So once again Tassie and I are holding down the fort (I did have a nice dinner with my sis tonight). She is getting way fluffy again and I think it might be time for one last summertime shave. It’s always interesting to see because around this time of fluff we always think, ‘Good Tassie! You’re filling out!” She’s always been a bit scrawny. Then we shave her and we realize she’s still scrawny. We’ll have to see if this is still the case.

Training is going good – my run is really starting to come around I think! It’ll be interesting to see how I feel in my upcoming races – only 3 sprints left and I’d like to hit all of them hard.

And of course the Olympics are on and I do love watching pretty much any sport. Recently, my friend Laurie let me know that an Olympic swimmer was going to be on What Not To Wear (thanks Laurie) so of course I made sure to watch. It was breaststroker Tara Kirk and I’ve been expecting to see her in some of the races but just saw today that she actually finished .01 out of a qualifying spot at the trials in the 100 meters. BUMMER! But it gets worse…the winner was Jessica Hardy who tested positive for a banned substance! There’s a bit of controversy because it seems the committee knew about the positive test before the deadline of entries for the Olympics but failed to do anything about it. So Tara didn’t get bumped up or anything and is not at the Olympics. I just assumed that when the doper was caught they automatically reverted to next in line. Instead, the qualifier for the 200 meter breaststroke will also swim the 100 meter, even though she finished FOURTH at the trials. Jessica Hardy (the doper) also qualified in the 50 meter freestyle and the 3rd place finisher is also being left out of the games. It just seems so incredibly unfair. The episode with her in it was good, though.