Stick Fork In Me!

The past few days have been awesome! We could not have ordered in better weather and we're leaving right in time as a 'cold' front is coming through - although all of us are going back to yucky weather and temperatures. We've swum in the Gulf, had beautiful bike rides, and today we all did one of the Gasparilla runs. Actually, everyone did the 15K but me (haha, if there is a 5K option, I'm in!). Yesterday I tried to take it a bit easier, kind of because of the race but mostly because that was the 4th intense day of training and my body was revolting. We did a ride in the morning where my legs were feeling off, but then in the pool when my 100's were 10 seconds off of what I usually swim, I knew I was cooked! I cut it to 3K instead of the planned 4.5K. We all went to bed very early from being tired and because we had to get up at 4:30 for the races.

So the race! I've never run Gasparilla, even though I grew up here, so it was a new experience and I made some rookie mistakes - some avoidable and some unavoidable. The 15K started at 7:30 and since a few of our peeps hadn't registered yet, we got there at 6:15. From then until the start of my race I was standing or walking. It was neat to see Ryan Hall win (and by a huge margin). I was a little bit down from the start and thought, "Whoah, some dude already has a huge lead." Then it made sense when I saw who it was.

I saw my friend Katy finish 3rd in the 15K, then watched camper Brian and Marty finish before deciding I better follow the rest of the sheep to the starting corral for the 5K. It was a HUGE race, so I lined up at 9am to try and get somewhat near the front. Having to stand and walk for 3 hrs was kind of unavoidable, but I really wish I had known I had an elite number - because then I wouldn't have had to line up so early! Arghh. Luckily, someone pointed it out to me about 10min before the start, so at least I got closer to the start line.

I can't believe how fast people start! I couldn't go off too fast for many reasons (not much speed right now, tired legs, and little warmup!) but I was amazed at how many people I kept passing after the first mile. My splits according to the Garmin (I'm finally figuring this watch out) were 6:09, 6:06, 5:56, and my net time was just over 19min. I ran my way into 3rd before the girl I had just passed put on a huge kick near the finish and I didn't have any other gears. Plus, my achilles that was slightly annoying had turned into kind of painful so I didn't want to do anything stupid. What is with all these little things that are cropping up? Is it because I'm turning 30 this year? Hopefully, it's nothing.

Now we're all relaxing before dinner and a night on the town. We'll hopefully get one last bike ride in tomorrow morning before everyone heads off home. It's been another great camp.

Florida Training Camp

We're getting in lots of training time in the warm sun down here in St. Pete Beach! I had a good long run this morning followed by a 5K swim - OUCH! Off for an easy spin out at Fort DeSoto then dinner and probably bed. We're having a lot of fun and I'll post some pictures when I have more time. Adios!

Big Training Day

Yesterday morning we ran the Coach Bubba 4 mile run in Durham. I ran this race 2 years ago when I was in fantastic shape, but this year was more like "I can run comfortably again for extended periods of time in a tempo effort." Whatever that means, so I was going into this race as way to get a good effort in.

Alysia went out fast and we said bye to Marty who can hold sub 7 minute pace all day, but not much faster right now. Alysia was still about 5 seconds ahead of me at the first mile and she pulled me through to a 6:10 - whoah! Way faster than I had wanted to start off. But then I got into a good groove and only Joan Nesbit (former Olympian) finished ahead of me. My Garmin said I averaged 6:16 miles which is slightly faster than the official results because of starting a bit behind the start line and the course being a tad long. I'm real happy with this time even though it's over a minute slower than two years ago. This is off of one track workout and a couple of fartleks. I felt pretty strong although I didn't feel like I had a whole lot 'speed' yet.

For my efforts I got an ashtray.

Just kidding, it's a butter dish. I think.

Afterwards, the Gaal's and the Lovgren's hit up Elmo's Diner. YUM. Stuffed french toast and warm coffee hit the spot after the cold temps and hard run.

And THEN later on in the afternoon we met Alysia again for long steady ride, almost 3 hours. That is a pretty huge training day for me, and I'm a bit sore now from it!

It is dreary and cold right now, but tomorrow night I'll be on a jet plane to St. Pete! Can't wait for that!

Looks Can Be Deceiving

It's my tri-annual "I'm not fat, I'm fluffy!" before and after photos of Tassie getting groomed. We let her fur grow longer than normal, and she certainly looks cute with all that fluff, but with our trip to Florida we figured she needed a haircut (she's staying with some friends down there). I knew it was bad when my 4 year old niece said, "Marty! Tassie looks like a sheep!"

Marty also decided that it was time for Tassie to sport a mohawk. I'm not kidding. He wanted it down her entire backside, but the groomer put her foot down. I had no say in this matter! I thought he was joking when he brought it up and could not stop laughing when I got home and saw her.

Fluffy, mid-yawn:

How to lose weight in one day!

Side view of the mohawk:

Breakin' the Law

Andrew said that locks were no excuse, and he works for NASA so I figured he knew what he was talking about. Although, I’m pretty sure we jumped a fence with him in Hawaii to get into an invitation only party at the Kona Brewery (we did not have invitations), but I digress. Yesterday evening I did a track workout! There were no less than 4 No Trespassing signs and another sign saying something about getting special permission from the Principal (oooh, scary). Marty and I went to a local elementary school because Aaron had told me he had never been kicked off, and I figured the chances of track practice for the kiddies were less than at a middle or high school. So we hopped the fence and ran on their cement track (beggars can’t be choosers).

We did 4x400 with a 200 jog in between, 1 mile at tempo pace, and then 4x400 again. My times were horrific compared to my old collegiate self but I was very happy to be running around the oval again. I’ll still do a lot of fartlek runs throughout the season, because I think they better simulate a race, but hitting the track now and then will be good.

Next week we’re headed to Florida for our camp in St. Pete Beach. The weather is looking mighty fine and I’m excited to train in the warm sunshine. We get a lot of sunshine here in NC, but it’s not always very warm. I want to sweat! It will also be nice to take some vacation from work; let’s just hope I have a job when I get back!

Title

Someone's status on facebook yesterday said, "Happy VD! Hope everyone has a great one!" I think it might have been hastily written...but hopefully everyone did have a great Valentine's Day! I bought Marty some tasty brew which turned his stomach into a poison gas machine. To say it smelled bad would be a compliment. He bought me a mountain bike!



Well, actually, he bought me 37.5% of a mountain bike. The rest of it was contributed by Kathy Larkin (nicest lady in the world). And although the mountain bike is really sweet, I would much rather have had her at the camp next week instead.

It's used, but in great condition and since it's a Litespeed, it's going to last forever. We rode yesterday down the greenway into Umstead, then did the Turkey Creek loop and back home and I couldn't believe the difference! This thing may be lighter than my tri bike! But to be fair, I'm comparing it to my old mountain bike which was really just a cruiser bike pretending to look like a mountain bike. It was 15 years old and didn't even have clipless pedals. Marty almost threw his back out trying to put it on our roof rack last time because it's so heavy.

The 'new' mountain bike came with speed play pedals, and I've only ever used Look so these are taking me a bit to get used to. Even with the back brake rubbing the whole second half of the ride, I was able to keep up with Marty which was something that never happened before.

Today we had a nice ride to Chapel Hill and back with Alysia on our tri bikes. It was a bit chilly but the sun was shining and there were tons of cyclists out. 'Tis the season. Marty is feeling better on the bike and was cruising along while the two of us sucked his wheel mightily. It's good when he gets motivated because it forces me to go so much faster.

Random Musings

What is with the new thumbs up on everyone’s facebook status? I have enough trouble coming up something clever without worrying about if anyone is going to give me a thumbs up.

Sometimes I comment on people’s blog that I’ve never met. I know this is not unusual, but I get weirded out if I never hear from them. I assume they don’t like me and consider me a stalker. So then I never comment again.

I’m wearing a skirt my mom bought for me for Christmas in 2001. It fits fine but it sits at my belly button! Did I really wear things this high? It’s seems very awkward and uncomfortable to me.

I hate that no matter what time I go to bed, when the alarm goes off at 5:10am I feel so tired. I swear, I could’ve just gotten 12 hours of sleep but if it goes off that early I still think I need more.

Along those lines, it cracks me up when Tassie sleeps downstairs and just stares at me without lifting her head when we get up that early. She even seems to think it’s crazy.

The guy working the grill at our cafeteria today told me I looked beautiful today. English is his second language and I’m not sure he realizes that this could be deemed inappropriate by HR.

I really, really wish I could find a track I could do some workouts on. Most seem to be under lock and key and make you feel like you are going to get arrested for trespassing. Don’t my taxes fund schools? I haven’t done a track workout in 2 years now!

I like watching House Hunters on HGTV but do they really have to recap each house after every commercial break? I find this very annoying. Luckily, I usually watch the ones you can download on your tv and just skip through the recaps. This only makes the show about 15 minutes long, though.