pain in the butt, silly triathlon dreams & eggs

ok, ok!!  i know from my last post you are just dying to know why i eat 12 eggs a day, right? it’s because i have a disease called BIGOREXIA. just kidding…but you really should click on it to see what it is. actually, the reason is simple but a two parter. first, eggs are just really easy to handle, readily available and easy to cook (i make mine into omelets and only use one egg yolk). secondly, i believe in preserving all the muscle i can. i worked hard for it and with so many hours spent on endurance training, the body will  try to use lean muscle mass as a fuel. my goal is to head this off by consuming a high amount of lean protein.  i prefer a more muscular look than a “skinny” looking body. so there you go.

on to silly dreams. the other night i had a dream that i was doing a sprint triathlon and had to pee really bad before the start. i went looking for a port-a-potty and then i couldn’t pee. i kept trying and trying, even though my bladder felt like it was going to explode. i then realized that my swim wave was about to take off and i knew i’d be uncomfortable if i didn’t just hurry up and go already. long story short, i missed my swim wave so they made me wait and start with the last swim wave, which was for little kids. i was so mad, that i slammed my goggles up against a wall and they broke. i decided at that point to just call it a day, so i went to retrieve my bike and the seat fell off of it. i was having a really bad day …glad it was only a dream.
i have a pain in my left glute that is really making me super cranky. actually, i have had chronic piriformis syndrome in my left glute for about 10 years and over that time, it has flared up about 3-4 times, this time being one of them. i cannot run and it hurts mostly when i’m sitting which is all day at work and at least an hour to an hour and a half in the car commuting to and from work. it pretty much feels like someone is stabbing me constantly. so since last friday, i have been icing like crazy and ….
doing the old tennis ball trick, which is absolutely the best pain ever. you can feel the tightness in the piriformis releasing. i even sit on it at work.
i also do this stretch ….
i can also do that stretch above from a seated position, so i do that at work a lot too. there are several other modes of treatment but these are the main things i’m doing right now and hope to be running by next week. i have a slight suspicion what caused this to happen but i’m not 100% sure yet so i’m going to wait before i put the blame on this wonderful tool i’ve been training with.
thank goodness i can still bike without pain. to my PT friends out there, please feel free to make any other suggestions. i’m always open to new stretches and ideas.
much love and peace out.

special delivery from a ninja

last week, shortly after getting home from work, there was a knock at the door. being the anti-social (just kidding ...sort of) that i am, i stealthily made my way to the door to see who it was, knowing full well I wasn't going to open it for anyone anyway. my parent's taught me well, stranger-danger! the only thing i could see was a ninja like creature and he left a box at the doorstep and took off running. he sure looked like a marathoner or a triathlete. i had no idea ninjas could run that well.

i could tell that this ninja was a little different ...instead of long black pants on, he had shorts like the one's pictured below. in fact, those were the exact shorts. who knew they wore tri shorts?

once i brought the box inside, i opened it up and this was what was in it ...homemade fig-bars. rumor has it that the ninja even used his sword to chop up the figs he used.



the last piece : (

 i did share these with the J-man and he loved them as much as i did. see, we love fig newtons around here and this is how the idea of fig bars came about. after blogging about how awesome fig newtons were working out for me while i was training for my first 140.6, a fellow blogger's light bulb went off and he came up with an even healthier creation based on using figs. genius! i'm sure many of you already know the special ninja who made these and i'm pretty sure he'd be more than happy to share the recipe. interestingly, he used garbanzo flour and soy flour to make these! who knew garbanzo beans could be made into flour and taste so good?



enjoying the last fig bar. excuse my red face. i just finished a hard swim and bike.



here he is, Jason the ninja chef/triathlete/marathoner/motivator and the list of compliments goes on ...

rumor has it (i'm full of rumors today) that you may one day be able to buy these killer fig bars to compliment your IM or marathon training. do yourself a huge favor and go visit Jason's blog at Cook Train Eat Race  or you can just click on his race picture above. his blog rocks just as much as he does.

Jason, thanks again for your generosity and friendship. i'm sure our paths will cross on a race course soon enough.

much love and peace out ...Thor awaits me!

me? a stylish blogger? get out!

Shelby over at Post Script blog nominated me for this lovely STYLISH Blogger Award. I have to list 7 odd/weird things about myself. oh boy, where to begin? so thank you Shelby. sorry it took me so long to pull it all together.

1. hello, my name is Kristie and i am a coffeeholic. actually, i'm not addicted, i just really, really LOVE coffee. like a connoisseur of fine wine, i dig the brew. i always buy whole beans and grind them right before brewing. i'm also a coffee snob and usually won't drink anything other than Starbucks or Dunkin Donuts and i like it STRONG!!

2. i love hockey and baseball. Rays and Lightning baby!

3. i eat no less than 12 eggs whites a day. now you bloggers with chickens know why i wish i had my own chickens.

4. i watch about 1 -2 hours of tv a week except when the rays and lightning are on.

5. can't tell you the last movie i saw at the theater or at home for that matter. i have a problem sitting for more than 5 minutes.

6. if i could safely ride my bike to work, i would but i don't have a death wish (50 miles round trip).

7. i graduated from college with a degree in exercise physiology, was in the field for 15 years up until 2004. sometimes i feel it calling me back ...sigh.
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forgive me in advance for not linking any blog names below but you can find their links in my blog roll to the left. i have very limited time this morning but really wanted to get this blog post out asap.

big shout out to everyone doing the Boston Marathon today especially Vanessa from Medievalist Running in Circles. i'm with you in spirit. woulda been there in person but, well ...it filled up in 8 hours and i got caught off guard. oh well.

another big shout out to BDD of Tri Diesel blog, Matty O from Staying Strong and Positive blog, his lovely wife H, Kevin at Ironman By Thirty and Colleen at IronDiva who all did the Glass City half mary yesterday. it was BDD's first ever half marthon.

Congrats to Allison at Just Tri and Finish blog and Heidi at TriAngel blog who did the NOLA Ironman Duathlon 70.3 yesterday. rough water on the lake called for a duathlon. bummer!

and last but not least, huge congrats to JC from Slow and Fat Triathlete. he did his first ever triathlon on Saturday.
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on the training side of things, all good. 3 weeks without socks and no blisters, yay! got in lots and lots of biking miles this weekend. the wind was not so nice but hey, gotta take what the day gives you. did a nice mini duathlon this morning to get things rolling (2.5/10/2.5) and swimming after work. good times!

have a great day everyone. much love and peace out!

i don't need no stickin' socks!

as i was mentioning in my last post, last year was a casual year in terms of how i approached the races i did. a lot of that was due to inexperience but also i wanted to make it a good experience so that i would want to continue doing tri's. i didn't stress myself over how i set up my transition area or how fast i transitioned after the swim and bike. this year, not so casual. i feel like i've made huge leaps and bounds all the way around and now i'm ready to nit pick!!

 

one of the things i've been experimenting with is going sockless and wearing matching underwear. really? who wears underwear when they are training or racing? the last time i tried going sockless, it was totally unplanned and i paid for it with bloody blisters after only 3 measly miles. however, this time around, i prepared by putting a nice coat of vaseline all over the back of my running shoes and tri shoes. i ran 28 miles without socks this past week and not one blister or even a little rub at all and i biked 235 miles sockless and again, no problem. i figure going sockless will at least buy me a free 30 seconds in T1 and i am taking it. speaking of transition times, my buddy Chloe did a great blog post today about transitions tips and you can find it HERE. 

for me, this year is about refining every part of the tri. from not forgetting my transition bag at home (LOL!) to faster T times, and really focusing on the weakest link, the swim, which i have been doing and will update on that some other time. in the end, as in November 5th, 2011, the hard work should be very evident. i've always been a super focused person when it comes to training for a specific event but this year it is 10 fold and i can't wait to see how things pan out. my next race is may 14th and i am chomping at the bit to race. 

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Congrats to Jeff, Jon, Shannon, and Misty who all did IM 70.3 in Texas today as well as Annie (Jeff's other half) who did her first sprint tri yesterday. you all represented! way to go! 

i'm off to swim now, have a great week ya'll - much love and peace out for now!

my other love

i haven't told anyone about this guy but i think it's time to introduce you all to him. we've been together for 2 years and "we tight." truth be told, it took me two years to finally figure out his name.

please meet my roadbike, Thor:

this bike can freakin' hammer and that's how i finally came up with the name.

Thor was the mightiest of the Norse gods. He was also known as the Norse god of strength, thunder and war. Thor was the possessor of three priceless objects: his hammer, his strength-increasing belt which doubled his strength, and his iron gloves used to grip the hammer. His principal role was to protect the cities of Asgard and Midgard from attacks by giants.

the name is fitting, don't you think? so now Mandy Q. Roo (click HERE to see how Mandy got her name) has a brother with a real name and not just "the C-dale."
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on the training side of things ...not much to report that is Earth shattering. in a nutshell, i'm doing what i need to do to get to where i want and need to be. period!

next race coming up is an oly distance tri in mid may called the florida international olympic distance triathlon. this is the one i did last year after having been away from tri's for a long, long, time. i have a hard time saying that i did do triathlons before. on paper i did do 3 tri's in the mid to late 90's and then one sprint in early 00' but nothing that i could say was anything that i really trained for wholeheartedly. so in my mind my first 'real" tri was the olympic distance that i did last year in may. i have some business to take care of this time. i'm swimming way better, running faster, and have been working on faster transition times. last year the mindset was to just get out there, enjoy the comeback, and have fun. this year, i plan on still having fun, but at the very least, i want to shave about 10-11 minutes off of my time last year, which was 2:41:44. i came in 3rd and missed 2nd place by 11 seconds and 1st place by 40 seconds. i didn't let this bother me too much last year, but this year, it WILL NOT be that close. i guarantee it! i think i can probably steal about 4 minutes total off of transitions alone. it should be an interesting race and i can hardly wait.

if i don't get to post anything else until the weekend, i want to send a bunch of positive race vibes to 3 really cool bloggy friends who are doing the Memorial Hermann IM 70.3 Texas this weekend. Jeff from Dangle the Carrot and Shannon from Iron Texas Mommy are doing it as prep for IMTX coming up in May. Jon from Swicyclorun is doing it as prep for IMLP. i WILL be stalking you lovely peeps. be safe and have a great race.

much love and peace out!