monday musings

                                              

today is Memorial Day. a day in which we celebrate those who have served in our armed forces. did you know that Memorial Day became an official national holiday in 1971. although Memorial Day has been celebrated for over 100 years, it wasn’t until 1971 that it was declared a national holiday. so to all those serving in the armed forces and those who have served, THANK YOU!

my mind just isn't feeling like typing out paragraphs today and since i haven't posted since thursday, i'm afraid i might be sitting here a long time busting out way too many words, words that frankly, i don't have the focus factor for today. so today's post will be done in bullet style, it will be very random in topic and in no particular order because that's how my mind is rolling today. i also only have 20 minutes before i have to go wash this gray right outta my hair so time is of the essence here.

• i tried the mint chocolate flavored Gu for the first time this weekend on my long ride. it was really YUMMY! thanks to Scott at Outside|PR for sending me the Gu Performance Energy Sampler.

i have been testing out bits and pieces of it here and there. i had the j-man be my tester for the Gu brew and he loved it. so far, my favorite flavor of Gu is the espresso love and you already know how i feel about the Gu chomps...they pretty much rock the house.

• i'm really hoping the color i just put in my hair doesn't go brassy on me. i hate when that happens and it happens a lot. fingers crossed that it turns out okay.
• we rode 84 miles in the hills on saturday. it was me, the J-man and Le-Roi(aka: the squirrel whisperer). we all agreed that it was one of the best rides of the year so far. interestingly, we started off with about 90% humidity but by the time the ride was done it was about 50%. that drop in humidity made the heat not feel so bad.
• i bought the triathlete's training bible last night at barnes and nobles. a good read so far. i'll keep you posted.
• i find that the more free time i have, the less i get accomplished. why is that?
• i went to swim on friday and right as i was getting done with my first set of 500 meters, the lifeguard started blowing his whistle to let us know we needed to get out of the pool asap. good thing too, because the storm of the century came barreling thru within 15 minutes and the lightning was frightening. needless to say, i did not get all of my planned swimming done. thank you mother nature!
• yesterday we did a strong 50 mile ride at out favorite park. like clockwork, the weasel found us. the weasel is this annoying guy on a mountain bike who likes to wheelsuck but never take his turn on the front. he never says anything, he never asks if it's okay for him to ride along with us, he's just a rude weasel.

• today's ride was great too. same ride venue, same distance, but no weasel this time.
• why is it that every apple ipod that i have, from the shuffle to the mac daddy of them all, crap out so quickly? i just think apple has such a great product but the durability is crap. i have to now make an appointment online to go to the nearest apple store so they can give me a new shuffle. mine won't hold a full charge for more than 10 minutes. i've done all of the R's that they tell you to do and none of them fixed the problem. do i have time to go to the apple store? NO. it doesn't help that both apple stores are at malls and i hate malls, all of them. i avoid them like the plague. i'll pay someone to take it for me. any takers?
• my hair turned out just fine. no more gray and no brassiness, just a lot of sassiness.
• congrats to Annie on a great 5k run (the Astros Race for the Pennant 5K) in the Texas heat and humidity this weekend. she is Jeff's other half from team dangle the carrot. he was kind enough to be her pace bunny even though he says he's a competative a-hole...i know, hard to believe. great job to both of you!
• big daddy diesel and his lovely bike, Mercy, killed the aquabike this past weekend in Ohio. he placed 1st overall!! the swim portion was in a wave pool and it looked like pure craziness from the diagram he posted. thanks for explaining to me what a wave pool is BDD.
• congrats to Cynthia O'h who rocked the Toronto woman's only 5K. she busted a move and placed 10th overall and 3rd in her age group with an awesome time of 22:24. i'm glad you don't live here Cynthia...you'd give me a run for my money on race days. actually, i bet you'd make a great training partner. also, congrats to Melanie who also did the same event but did the 1/2 marathon and got a really cool finisher's necklace. i think all half and full marathons should give all women finishers necklaces and not some gaudy medal.
• Tri-James did a very interesting "race" on friday. he did the pump and run challenge at his gym. this is where you bench press 70% of you body weight as many reps as you can and then run a 5K as fast as you can...and he WON!! he won the whole thing! 45 reps and a sub-20 5K = FIRST PLACE.
• Tonya at racing with babes ran the Autism 5K and got herself a nice PR, 11th overall and 2nd in her AG. way to go!
• i want to say welcome to a few new "followers." that word followers sounds like some kind of cult thing. hi to Heather O, the other half of team staying strong and positive! there are a few of you that i can't figure out if you have a blog or not, so if you do, leave me a comment with your blog addy so i can follow you too.
• just had some wonderful sushi for lunch. my favorite roll...the phili roll. scrumptuous salmon, melt in your mouth cream cheese and a piece of avocado. to die for!
• the rays are pissing me off. bj upton and carlos peña please, please, please get out of the slump you are in.
• does anyone else have crazy dreams after eating spicy food? i had some garden salsa, sun chips over the weekend and man did i have some wild dreams. i mean insane kind of dreams.
• on my ride today, i heard a big pop and felt my front tire go bu-bump...i ran over a frog. it was nasty. next time around i got to see the carnage i left behind. so gross!
• i bought the garmin 310xt with all the goodies...heartrate monitor, cadence thing-a-ma-jig, pretty much all the extras you can get. i should have it sometime this week and then the hard part; figuring out how to actually program it and use it.

ok, i think that's enough randomness for today. i'm planning on getting back on the focus factor train tomorrow morning for a nice, semi-long run before work. 

much love and peace out! 

you want random? i'll give you random...right here buddy!

i'm feeling quite feisty today. can you tell by the title of this blog? i was tagged indirectly by a fabulous athlete, misszippy and tagged directly by one very awesome barefoot runner, angie bee. the cool award that i was tagged with...

i would like to think of myself as a versatile blogger. although my blog is triathlon related, it isn't the only thing that defines me. per this award, i'm to list 7 random things about myself, which i think i have done before with the honest crap scrap award a while back, but i love doing these so much that i think i can come up with 7 more random things you don't already know. i was supposed to do this yesterday but things have been soooo busy, especially the last 2 weeks, that it has been a challenge to stay up on everything 100%. i feel like i've been half assed with writing my blog, reading other blogs and commenting, which i love, love, love to do. next week is looking much better already, plus, monday is a holiday, so lots of time for playing and catching up. suhweet!

ok, here we go:

1) i went to catholic school from 2nd grade until i graduated high school. hated every minute of it. however i did love one thing and that was wearing a uniform everyday. made my life so easy every morning. who doesn't love a green plaid skirt, freshly ironed white button up shirt and penny loafers with a dime in the middle instead of a penny? oh, and i haven't been to church since i graduated.

2) i really love baseball, especially the rays. i can thank my honey for teaching me the in's and out's of this beautiful game. there is more to this game than meets the eye. i also think the ray's coach, joe madden is a genius.

3) the real reason i don't have a dog (and i do love dogs) is because the hood i live in requires you to pick up after your pet and i can't bring myself to pick up dog shit. just thinking about it as i type makes me gag. just can't do it!

4) i really hate twitter. is it just me that thinks it's stupid?

5) i love gu chomps! i love them so much that i want to dump the entire bag in my mouth in one shot.

6) if i never did another triathlon ever again, i would still continue to swim. i enjoy it that much. who'd a thunk?

7) i love salsa music and have the local fm spanish station pre-set on my car radio...viva la musica locos!!

one more for fun...

8) i worked at taco bell for 1 day (actually for 4 hours) when i was 15 and it was my first job.  let's just say, food service is not my thing. neither was cleaning up a parking lot.

much love and peace out!

semi wordless wednesday

seriously, don't they have anyone who loves them enough to tell them the truth? you look like a dumbass!

be careful what you wish for

the picture says it all, no need for words on this one

i expected a better bike on this car. just kidding! this definitely goes against what i usually see and that's most cyclist's have bikes that are worth more than their car...PRIORITIES!

i'm still in a not so bloggy kind of mood, so some funny pictures will have to do for today. i was indirectly tagged by misszippy to list 7 random things about myself, so i will get on that later this evening. despite not feeling particularly wordy lately, i have been getting in some good training. looking forward to swimming after work today. nothing feels better than a good swim on a 90+ degree day in florida!

hope everyone's week is going well. we are getting close to a nice, long, holiday weekend. it will be real sweet to have monday off.

much love and peace out!

wrapping up another fine week!

a little sad to see the another fun filled weekend come to an end. after having to taper down a bit for last weekend, it was nice to get back to my normal training volume without worrying about burning out. we had a strong 84 mile ride in the hills on saturday and then another strong ride of 50 miles in the flats this morning and the legs felt really good for both rides. i seriously live for these awesome weekend rides! i may not be saying that come late july/early august when i have to start dragging the TT bike up there for the long rides and then running after. that's gonna hurt but it's what i have to do to get ready for the iron distance race in october. on that note,

i officially registered for the great floridian ultra, which is an iron distance race. for my friends who are new to this, the distances for this race are as follows: 2.4 mile swim, 112 mile bike, and 26.2 mile run. and yes, that's all in one day! i will have 17.5 hours to finish it, which i think is plenty of time. here is a brief description of the race from the race website:

Florida's original iron-distance triathlon, the Great Floridian Triathlon XX. The GFT celebrates its 20th Anniversary in 2010 and this will be one race you do not want to miss. Weekend events also include an intermediate Distance Triathlon with a 2K swim, 60K Bike and a 15K Run along with a Super Sprint Triathlon with a 200 yard swim, 8 mile bike and a 2 mile run.

Clermont, Florida is located 20 miles from Orlando and is often called The World Triathlon Destination. Major Central Florida tourist attractions are minutes away making this race an ideal family destination. Awards are presented 10 deep in most age divisions and each participant receives a participant t-shirt, race packet, commemorative water bottle and poster, free post-race massage, Pasta Dinner, Breakfast of Champions, Awards Brunch, swim cap, post-race refreshments, complete race results and other goodies. Official individual finishers will receive a special 20th Anniversary Great Floridian finisher's medal and T-shirt.



i also plan on doing the half iron distance race in september that is put on by the same race director but i have not officially signed up for it yet.

over the last few years, september has personally been a bad month for races because of hurricane threats, tropical storms, tropical depressions, etc...so i'm going to wait this one out until the race date gets closer, but it is written in pen on my calendar. thanks to everyone for your comments/advice on my last post. i am definitely going to do this race. i think it will be a great confidence builder and will help me fine tune my nutrition and hydration. here is a brief description of this race from their website:

a great tune-up for other late season long course races including the Great Floridian.

i'm sure there will be one or two olympic distance tri's in there as well.

did you miss my numbers for the week last sunday? i didn't even bother posting them since it was pretty insignificant because of having to taper down. here is this week by the numbers:

ran:
total time: 3:00:00
total distance: 22.5 mi.

biked:
total time: 13:02:00
total distance: 260.1 mi.

swam:
total time: 1:50:00
total distance: 5100 m.

weights and abs x 2 

i hope everyone had a great weekend and i hope the work week flies by because i am so ready for the long, holiday weekend!! lots and lots of riding to do.

now what?

i've been a little quiet on the blog front this week. first, with a busy week so far running errands, getting home late and second, trying to figure out what the hell i want to do next...triathlon wise. i know a lot of you know what i speak of when i say that after coming off an awesome weekend and fun race, you are ready for another but can't find one (one that is convenient and nearby)? in two words, IT SUCKS! i can't imagine NOT doing any races between now and the iron distance, great floridian. there are plenty of sprint distances to pick from but i'm more interested in oly distance or HIM distance races at this point.

the next available race is an oly distance in orlando. HOWEVER, guess what just happened this past weekend in the lake that the swim for this triathlon is in??

should i be afraid? what are the odds, right? i really, really, really want to do this triathlon and will just hope that the old sayings, safety in numbers and survival of the fittest, holds true. maybe i will swim faster because of this. i have some time to make my final decision. the moss park triathlon is on sunday, july 17th. if that goes well, i may go back and do the fall tri festival, at the same alligator infested lake, on august 22nd.

QUESTION #1 - for all of my blog friends who have never steered me wrong. do you think that doing a HIM distance race approximately 6 weeks before an iron distance race is too much? if i did do the HIM distance event, i would only do it as a "training" day not a "race." the cool thing about it is that it's in the same venue as the full iron distance race that i will be doing in october, so it can be a recon mission so to speak.

QUESTION #2 - i'm thinking about buying a garmin forerunner 310xt. anyone have this model? do you LOVE it? is it super reliable? easy to use? does it come with everything included such as heartrate monitor, bike mount, or are those things purchased separately? is there anything you don't like about it?

thanks everyone for the kind words on my race video and race report. the videographer thanks you too.
today, i have some serious catching up to do on all of my favorite blogs. thankfully, this afternoon and evening i'm free as a bird and will use that time to read up on all that i've missed, especially a few race reports i haven't been able to get to yet.

much love and peace out!

race video and a few after thoughts

thanks to my lovely husband for running around like a madman to capture some of the fun on this video. the title of the video reads may 5th but should read may 15th. my bad! but i wasn't about to go back and fix it because it is like a 5 hour process. youtube is sloooooow and let's just leave it at that.

overall, i loved this race. i will be back next year to take that 1st place spot...believe it! after a 12 year hiatus from triathlons, i am thrilled with the outcome of saturday's race. i mentioned in an earlier post that i had done st. anthony's in 1997 and 1998 and found one of the times from the one in 1997. unfortunately, i was unable to find a breakdown of the times to compare but the overall time was (are you ready?)...3:14:20. not a bad improvement.

now that i've had a chance to digest bits and pieces of the race, here are a few things i will start working on:

~ do more running in the hotter part of the day. 95% of my running is done before the sun comes up.

~ practice, practice, and practice faster transitioning.

~ keep improving on the swim and work on getting faster/more efficient.

hope everyone had a great weekend too. a big thanks to everyone who sent me good race mojo, gave me a shout out on their blogs and left such awesome comments on mine. it meant a lot to me and i was really feeling the love!

much love and peace out!

race report

my race report:

name of race: florida international triathlon (0.9 mile swim/26 mile bike/6.2 mile run)
where: siesta key beach in sarasota, florida
start time: 7am, my wave went off at about 7:09
weather at start: mid 70's and a little breezy
weather at the end: HOT! probably high 80's
participants: approximately 650 (about 250 more than what they predicted)

breakfast: on the way there, i had coffee, lots of water and a bagel with peanut butter. perfect! ended up that i never felt like i needed to take in anything else except water throughout the entire race.

pre race set up: we got to the race venue at about 6am which i thought would give me plenty of time to check-in at the usat table, get my number, chip, body markings and race swag. knowing what i know now, i would maybe get there about 5:45am next time. my assigned bike rack was jammed but i got mandy in there just fine and set up my stuff. i'm a minimalist when it comes to carrying gear so i left only the basics, so my transition area was small and tidy.

Amy and I before swim start (i'm the one in a 2 piece)

swim: finished swim in 36:26 and i was the most proud of this part. i may not have been the first purple cap out of the water but i wasn't the last either. if you have followed my blog for a while, you know how i have felt about swimming for many, many years. it was something i thought i couldn't do. i pretty much had written off doing triathlons ever again after the swim disasters at St. anthonys back in the day. but, i degress. the swim was awesome. for the first time ever, i felt like i belonged in that water. i was comfortable, never panicked (miracle!), and just swam as if i was swimming in a pool. stroke, stroke, stroke, breathe and repeat. my sighting was great. never got off course and frankly, i could have gone for another swim loop but this wasn't ironman so i aimed for the shore.

my running buddy Amy first and me behind her

me, running in the thick beach sand (poor calves)

transition swim to bike: was about 1/4 mile of running in thick beach sand and rough asphalt. finally got to my bike. washed off my feet, dried them off, put socks on, shoes, helmet, sunglasses, and off i went. i did not really rush thru this part but next time i will make it a point to transition faster.

bike: what can i say, this was my favorite part. i caught so many people on the ride. only got passed up one time and that was by a very fit man on a cervelo who i suspect was in the swim wave behind mine. not bad! the course was a 13 mile loop that we did twice. no near crashes, no flats, just a pure, hard effort. ended up with an average speed of 21.8 mph and came in first on the bike in my age group. mandy q. roo was the superstar of the day. there were a few people drooling over her...true story, no joke!

transition bike to run: short run from the dismount to transition for the run. i was satisfied with the time i spent on this transition. carefully took my helmet off as to not rip the ears off. other than that, slipped my shoes on, visor, shades and off i went.

run: freakin HOT! i came in 1st in my age group for the run as well. just kept a steady pace of 7:45 the entire way. they ran out of water on the last 2 water stations which sucked. i needed water so bad but instead was given some nasty watermelon tasting liquid. i suspect it was a hammer nutrition product but was not 100% sure. it looked like water but tasted like crap. could not, would not drink it. aid stations were spaced out too far and there weren't enough of them, personally speaking. hopefully next year the race will have water at every mile, which i think should be made into a law, especially in florida, from may thru october, at least.

i think the results that i post of the top 3 in my age group speak for themselves. yes, i know, had i been faster in my transitions, i could have placed first, but coulda, woulda, shoulda is just that. it s what it is and now i know. overall, i was very happy and i feel comfortable saying that i'm a triathlete now and not just a runner or cyclist.

FEMALE AGE GROUP: 40 - 44


Place No. Name             Age     City            St Time    Rank Swim Tran 1 Rank Bike Tran 2   Rank Run


1 - 224 Tina Tanselle        40 Crawfordsville IN 2:41:04   2 28:03   2:40   2  1:15:59    1:22      3 53:03


2 - 194 Michele Rose       41 Sarasota FL          2:41:33   3 28:04   2:37   3  1:18:47    1:29      2 50:38


3 - 52 Kristie Concepcion 40 Tampa FL            2:41:44   8 36:26   3:32   1  1:11:29     2:04     1 48:15

if you'd like to see the results a little better than they are formatting on my page here, click on
this link: triathlon results.

those who also raced this weekend (Jeff, Teresa, Sherry), can't wait to hear how you all did this weekend.
race video to come shortly if stupid youtube would hurry up with the "processing" of my video. at the rate it's going, video might not be up until tomorrow...uuugh!

much love and peace out!

Triathlon Conversion Calculators

Triathlon Conversion Calculators

wanted to share this nice link with everyone.  it sure made my life a lot easier today when i was trying to breakdown times to figure out average speed.  i'm no dummy with math but conversions always throw me for a loop.

race report, pictures and video coming soon....maybe later but more than likely it will be tomorrow.

sensible me

a conversation between me and my sensible twin this morning...

me: (alarm clock beeping)-yay! time to get up and do an EASY, short run.
sensible twin: why are you getting up so early? aren't you racing tomorrow morning?

me: duh! of course, i know i'm racing in the morning, so what? I said i'm doing an easy, short run, not my usual morning run. get over it!
sensible twin: well, if i were you, i'd take the whole day off and chalk it up as a rest day.

me: well, you aren't me! huh? listen to me, an easy, short run is a rest day. plus, i feel fine since i just did an easy run and ride yesterday. don't forget how i get in the morning without my daily dose of workout. you have to live with me you know.
sensible twin: be smart and save it up for the triathlon, that's all i ask of you.

me: (as i'm putting on my running stuff) whatever silly!
sensible twin: one of these days you'll learn until then, go knock yourself out...you nut(said in a mumbling voice).

conclusion of the story: so i did an easy, short run this morning afterall...but wait, it gets better. the sensible me prevailed and i literally ran .48 miles (that's once around the hood) and decided that i'm taking today as a rest day. see? i do listen sometimes.

i hope you enjoyed that glimpse into the battle that the mind was waging with me this morning. i'm really not that schizo. with all of that said, i am ready to race. i'm excited as all hell to get out there and have me some fun.the j-man is excited too and said that he is looking forward to watching me race. that makes me happy. i sorta felt bad because he'll be missing out on the usual saturday, long ride. j, i know you read my blog, so thank you for your support and encouragement and for being my chauffeur tomorrow so i can get some extra sleep on the way down there in the morning. you da best!
*****************

update on the 110+ sunscreen: i'm disappointed. i did what the instructions said and put it on 30 minutes prior to heading out. picture this for a moment if you will...i'm putting this on my face at my desk, at work because timing is of the essence. i evenly apply the plaster of paris and continue to do a little more work. a few minutes later, i look up to talk to Deb and she starts cracking up and grabs her mirror to show me why she's laughing. here's what i looked like:

yes, it kinda turns a bit white after a few minutes. i swear it didn't look like that when i put it on. i have a mirror too you know. so then another co-worker, Kim starts cracking up. that's when i decided to wipe some of it off and wait until i got to the Y to put more on. the conclusion to this is that i still had the same weird/funky tan marks (i can't call them tan lines because they aren't lines). the best way to describe these tan marks is areas on my forehead and cheeks that look like i have dirt marks on my face. thankfully, it does blend in within a few days. i expected better results using the more expensive, higher spf, sunscreen and this was not the case. save your money folks. i won't bore you with this subject anymore because it is what it is and i don't see a solution except to expect that i will look 60 years old by the time i turn 40 in august. from my research online, i have concluded that chlorine breaks down sunscreen and that most sunscreens are a scam. for your research pleasure, i found these 2 very interesting websites that will blow your mind:
skin care for athletes and sunscreen cosmetic database. 
*****************

guess what time it is??? it's shout out time!! sending tons and tons of positive race vibes and race mojo to everyone racing this weekend:
~ jeff at dangle the carrot who is doing his first half ironman distance in dallas on sunday.
~ mandy in maine at caratunk girl who is doing the sugarloaf marathon. go earn that 26.2 sugarloaf sticker girl!
~ sherry at a woman in motion  and teresa at tri-a-lici-ous, both fellow tampa girls who are doing Ironman FL 70.3 this weekend.
~ cynthia o'h at balls in the air who is racing a 5k saturday.

ok, i think that covers everyone. please forgive me if i forgot anyone. not easy to keep everyone's schedules in my head but i sure "tri." if you aren't racing this weekend, have a good one, get plenty of good training in and enjoy.

much love and peace out!

bike names

i finally came up with a name for my bike and it only took 8 months. i wanted it to come to me like a flash of lightning and it happened yesterday at the start of our ride. humor me by trying to understand the sequence of events that made me have that aaa-haa i've got it moment. i saw a 2010 black camaro, which is one of the cars at the top of my list come time to purchase a new car. anyway, i pointed it out to my domestique and said to him that i love the way the front looks...it looks like it has aggressive looking eyes and face.

see what i mean? then, somehow my mind immediately thought of a cartoon character that the love of my life (aka: my domestique) says reminds him of me. do you know Mandy from the cartoon network? you know you do! perhaps this picture will help jar your memory:

mandy is a little badass chic! maybe that's why i remind the J-man of her, right? she kicks the grim reapers butt all the time and i'm sure if she rode a bike, she'd be a little killer on it. so i'd like to introduce you to Mandy Q. Roo:

she's had a few nips and tucks here and there, the stem flipped and spacers removed to create a lower aero position. my hamstrings are happy with it too.

does your bike have a name? if so, please share. curious minds want to know.
*****************
now for a few miscellaneous things:

~ this is my 100th post! i can't believe it. this blog thing has been so much fun. a big thanks to those who read it and follow along, leave comments, and sometimes leaving very sage wisdom.

~ the next time fat cyclist does the 100 miles to nowhere, someone let me know. i'm so in! and i plan on vlogging (yes, that's a word for a video blog) about it while i'm pedaling.

~ a word of warning. if you are an owner of a giro advantage 2 aero helmet, handle with caution. a friend of mine ripped the sides of his trying to take it off quickly during a triathlon. upon inspecting my own giro aero helmet, i can see how easily this could happen. the sides that cover your ears are VERY flimsy. i'll take an extra few seconds, to first, not rip my ears off this weekend when i pull it off and second, not to rip the sides off.

~ guess how many panic attacks i've had leading up to this weekend's race? none! thank you very much. this was not the case 12 years ago prior to St. Anthony's. i had multiple panic attacks on a daily basis for about 2 weeks leading up to that race. i suppose that's normal when you aren't a natural swimmer, you are scared to death of open water and haven't put much effort into the swimming portion. not the case this time! bring it sucka's!

~ had a real good workout this morning. did a medium-hard effort brick this morning. trying to focus on keeping the distance down a bit while upping the intensity. isn't that what tapering is all about?

much love and peace out!

taper, schmaper

post #99 will be a quickie on my lunch break...
as long as i've been racing, i've always dreaded tapering down. i always second guess myself but thankfully, it usually ends up being the right amount of rest to workout ratio. come race days, i've always been good to go. my philosophy is much like no 2 snowflakes are alike...no 2 athletes are alike in their training or their taper.

i'm from the school of thought (and yes, i have been properly schooled/college educated in this area) that exercise and training IS NOT an exact science. i've been reading a lot of articles lately on training philosophies and proper rest, nutrition, etc...i don't think any particular one is better than another. you have to find the bits and pieces in each one, try them out, and see what works for you. it's like a combination lock; you have to find the right combination.

with all of that said, i got to thinking about my personality type, since i've been having all of these tapering second thoughts. i wouldn't consider myself type A at all and not completely type B.

after looking at this chart, i'm about a 70% type A/30% type B split. i wouldn't agree that i have the stress a type A person might be prone to have though...thank goodness.

so far, i feel like a slug and it's only tuesday. bike and swim tonight. i already told my domestique that i can't lead too much on any of our rides the rest of the week. i'll get in a swim tomorrow and thursday. i'll also be testing out the 110+ spf tomorrow as well and will report back on that.

thanks to everyone who left links and recommendations for the transition packs. i'm really impressed with all of them but my favorite was the rocket science sports real jane bag in pink...so pritty( i did spell this wrong on purpose)! type A coming out of me?

until later...much love and peace out!

bring on the sun

back on thursday, i posted my review of the neutrogena, 55 spf, age shield face, sunblock lotion (now that's a mouth full). i tested it out in what i would say is the sunniest part of the day, which was around 2:30-3pm. after about 70-75 minutes of swimming in the pool, i went into the locker room to inspect my face and it was bad. dark, thick, blotchy looking tan lines on my forehead just above my eyebrows and a few larger areas on my cheeks. compared to the week before when i wore no sunscreen, i was unable to tell a difference. so back to the drawing board. i researched the other products that neutrogena makes and to my surprise, they had even higher spf products. i ended up buying the same product as before but with 110 spf!!! it says on the box that it "shields" 6 layers deep from skin aging uva rays and combats free radicals that accelerate signs of aging and most importantly, it is waterproof, oil-free and doesn't feel greasy. i will give it a test ride sometime this week and let you know what the verdict is.

you may be wondering why i'm slighly concerned about this and i will tell you. as long as i have been watching triathlons in person or on tv, like the hawaii ironman, i have always thought that the athletes look more weathered (old) compared to other outdoor sports i have seen....maybe with the exception of beach volleyball and surfers, but those aren't as mainstream as tri's are.  in the back of my mind, i've always said that i don't want to have "that look." not to mention, in the 5 months that i have been swimming, the chlorine has really done a number on my skin. i can seriously see it and i don't like it. i'm constantly having to put tons of lotion on several times a day to not look so alligatorish. of course, let it be known, it takes more than ugly tan marks on my face and dry skin to scare me off. i'll just continue to combat these minor inconveniences with the best skin care products i can find. if anyone else has products they use to keep their skin young and healthy looking, please let me know.

this week i will be tapering a bit as i have the olympic distance tri to do on saturday. i feel strong, no aches or pains anywhere, and full of energy...as usual!

here are my totals for the week ending yesterday:

ran:

total time: 3:20:00

total distance: 25.5 mi.

biked:
total time: 11:39:50
total distance: 234.35 mi.

swam:
total time: 2:58:00
total distance: 8000 m.

weights x 2 - and hundred pushup challenge completed!

~ i'm getting very excited and super focused for the triathlon on saturday. i think it will be fun to compare it to the last oly tri that i did back in the late 90's. i found my finishing time via google but could not find a breakdown of the times for each discipline. bummer! however, i think i can probably guesstimate the splits.

~ i've been looking, but not seriously researching, transition bags. for those that have/use them, which one do you have and do you recommend it? i don't need anything super pricey, just something that keeps things organized and easy to carry.

~ in other news, this is my 97th post! gotta come up with something real good for the "century" post.

i hope everyone had a wonderful weekend, a nice Mother's Day, and for all those that raced this weekend, that you were happy with your performance.

much love and peace out!

yell it from the roof tops

friday is upon us!

i hope everyone has a great weekend. there are quite a few who are racing this weekend, so i'm sending positive race mojo your way. here you go...

don't let anyone steal your mojo!

i would list each of you on here but i only have about 5 minutes before i need to bolt. if i have time later, i will do a shout out to all who are racing this weekend. so off i go. on tap for this morning, run, swim, bike, work...in that order and lots of biking over the weekend in 90+ degree weather. what's on tap for your weekend?

much love and peace out!

don't look at me......

don't look at me...

i'm hideous!

those were my exact words yesterday to the hub's when he walked in the house. why you ask? because neutrogena age shield 55 spf is hooey...did! not! work! yep, i went to swim yesterday at a time where the sun is in a position to do some damage but this time i felt all smart because i had my weapon, the 55 spf with me this time and wasn't going to let that bright ball in the sky do a number on me like it did last week. after my swim, which by the way, was my longest swim ever, i went into the locker room and looked in the mirror...yikes! not sunburn, but sun splotches, blotches, whatever. it's just ugly. thank goodness for loreal face bronzer this morning. didn't want to go to work looking like a freak. a few people commented how tan i was, so thank you loreal for evening out the mess. so i guess i need to upgrade to neutrogena's 100 spf...wtf? 100 spf, are you kidding me? who knew it went that high? i had no idea but apparently it does, so i will buy some and see if it works any better. i'll say this, i saw no difference from last week in the pool when i wore NO sunscreen to yesterday when i had the 55 spf on. none at all!

i feel like i haven't blogged in ages but it's only been a few days. i have a good excuse though. i was physically unable to blog. my arms and hands would not stop shaking.  here's why:

yep, i finally finished the 100 pushup challenge and it nearly killed me. i actually had 2 days left on week 6 to finish up but i got impatient and had it in my mind all day that i wanted to finally GIT ER' DONE! i psyched myself up all day on tuesday, got home and threw it down. once i got to 70, the agony began. i used my marathon wisdom to get me thru the last 30. i broke it up into 5 mile rep segments and that's how i got to 100. let me tell you, my arms and hands were shaking for a good while...and then i went swimming! you can imagine the first 500 meters was not fun but then my shoulders loosened up and i think the fluid movement thru the water helped me not get so sore. i'm finding that the swimming is helping me recover faster too. i don't think it's my imagination, plus, i believe water exercise, be it swimming or water aerobics, is theraputic. anyone else think that swimming helps them recover faster and not have as much muscle soreness or tiredness?

so far, the week has been good. lots of quality miles on the running, the biking and the swimming is coming along very nicely. can't wait to put all of this to the test next saturday. today was not a rest day but i would classify it as a rest day for me. did an easy 4.25 mile run this morning and weights.

this evening, i met up with  my swim buddy at starbucks for a pep rally...and some last minute tips. she is doing her first ever triathlon this weekend at disney. it's the Danskin Triathlon Series - Orlando, Fl. May 9th 2010. funny how things work out. we met on a triathlon forum back in december. for me, it was finding someone who also went to the same YMCA, who i could count on, to hold me accountable to show up at the pool. somehow, knowing that someone was waiting for me to show up was exactly what i needed. and even though we are at different fitness levels, it has worked out beautifully. the water is an equalizer in our case. we've watched each other go from barely being able to swim one lap without having to stop and catch our breath, to swimming for an hour straight!  i have a feeling this won't be her last triathon.

that's all i got for now. boy, have i got some catching up to do on google reader this weekend. much love and peace out friends!

sandbagging and secret training

are you a sandbagger? do you do secret training? a friend of mine recently sent this to me and i think many of you will find it interesting and funny:

Cyclists are the biggest sandbaggers and secret trainers around. They'll say anything to soften you up for the kill. Don't let this happen to you. Study this handy list of rider's phrases to find out what they really mean when they say:

"I'm out of shape"
Translation: I ride 400 miles a week and haven't missed a day since the Ford administration. I replace my 11-tooth cog more often than you wash your shorts. My body fat percentage is lower than your mortgage rate.

"I'm not into competition, I'm just riding to stay in shape"
Translation: I will attack until you collapse in the gutter, babbling and whimpering. I will win the line sprint if I have to force you into oncoming traffic. I will crest this hill first if I have to grab your seat post, and spray energy drink in your eyes.

“I'm on my beater bike"
Translation: I had this baby custom-made in Tuscany using Carbon Fiber blessed by the Pope. I took it to a wind tunnel and it disappeared. It weighs less than a fart and costs more than a divorce.

"It's not that hilly"
Translation: This climb lasts longer than a presidential campaign. Be careful on the steep sections or you'll fall over........backward. You only have a 39x23 low gear? Here's the name of my knee surgeon.

"This is a no-drop ride" (at first when i read this one i thought it said this is a no DOPE ride : )
Translation: I'll need an article of your clothing for the search-and-rescue dogs.

"It's not that far"
Translation: Bring your passport.

hi! my name is kristie and i do secret training (but i'm no sandbagger!).
much love and peace out!

this weekend was hot, hot, hot

if you read my last post, it's clear that the trip to tennessee was scraped. after much back and forth discussion about the high chance of the ride getting rained out, we decided that we would enjoy a staycation and enjoy we did. we rode out butts off. since we didn't get to do the 3 state-3 mountain challenge we agreed we still needed to do 100 miles no matter what and seeing as our weather here was in full cooperation, we set out saturday for a century in the hills. for those who read my blog and may not be familiar with biking jargon, a century is a 100 mile ride. remember way back when (about 2 months ago) when i was whining and complaining about our unusually cold weather here in florida this year? and remember i said i had a new appreciation for hot weather and would never complain about the heat ever again? i meant it! but i do want to say that this weekend, we hit record highs here in florida. on our century ride saturday, we were riding in the 90's. the computer on my bike registers the temperature and at one point registered 110 degrees, i kid you not. however, i think that was because we had just stopped at a convenience store to grab our last bit of fuel and the heat off the pavement was super hot. once we got rolling again, it dropped into the mid 90's, which is more realistic. i felt every bit of that heat but kept remembering how irritated i was with the cold weather we had, so i embraced the heat this weekend. today's 51 miler was no different but i was just glad to have finally put all of my cold weather gear away for a long while and work on my lovely tan lines. by the way, the Neutrogena age shield sunblock is wonderful...no raccoon eyes from this weekend's activities in the sun and i'm undoing the weird sun blotches on my face, as a result of  last week's swim at 2:30pm, which i will never do again. i'll stick to early morning or later evening for my swimming sessions.

anyway, back to the century ride. it ended up being 6 of us heading out at 7am. the last 25-30 miles were really hard. thankfully when we made our last fuel stop, i stuck my head under a water spigot and that really helped cool my hot head off. all in all, we had a really good ride and i'm glad we decided to stay in town instead of making a 10 hour trip up to tennessee. i don't travel well at all, especially in cars. i need room to stretch out and things hurt when you are all cramped up in a car for so long. we found out later that it did not rain afterall for the 3S3M ride but no love lost here. again, i was glad to not be stuck in a car for yet another 10 hours coming back. i think it's safe to say, and my j-man agreed, that it's just a big pain in the butt to sign up for events that are so far away...there is just too much unpredictability involved. therefore, we will not be signing up for any more out of state bikiing events, period! we ended up getting in way more miles staying at home anyway, so good all the way around in my book.

the casualties of training are catching up with me lately. after all 305 miles i put in this week on the bike, let's just say, i'm not real comfortable on a bike seat right now. today's 51 mile ride was painful but i did it, but big OUCH! and i even lathered up with bag balm too but it didn't help at all. i think 250-275 miles on the bike per week is my limit.

overall, this week was another good training week. here are the numbers:
ran:
total time: 3:15:00
total distance: 25.0 mi.

biked:
total time: 14:56:15
total distance: 305.20 mi.

swam:
total time: 2:08:00
total distance: 5600 m.

i'm looking forward to the florida international olympic distance triathlon coming up on may 15th. i am ready! a big congrats and shout out to fellow blogger Bob at One hour Ironman who finished strong at the Ironman in St. George, Utah yesterday. hope everyone had a lovely weekend...back to the grind tomorrow.

much love and peace out!