Sucky Day, bitching and moaning..

Some days just suck..this is one of those. I woke up at 5:00 AM with a toothache. Could not go back to sleep! So I decided to just do my run before the bike today and get it over with. The 6 mile run outside went OK, (despite having to go to the BR twice) slow but OK. Then I got home and had to rush to get to the Westside to meet the Wed guys for a ride. I felt rushed, tooth hurting, crappy attitude and in general, a real grump. H got the brunt of that I am afraid. Love does mean having to say you are sorry, despite what "Love Story" and Ryan O'Neal say (gosh Ryan was cute in those days-I digress). About a dozen of us headed south on the bike trail then up a big ass hill, which I had to leave my ego at the bottom of. Keeping my HR below 130 into a 20 MPH headwind was not my idea of fun. I was the last one up. There they were, all waiting for slow poke here. They must have been wondering and SHE is an Ironman? That is what I was wondering anyways. To make matters worse, the dust started blowing at the top and it was freezing by now. Who said winter was gone here in the Southwest? Well, we made it back, my tooth still hurting despite the 7 Advil I had taken. Of course we are leaving town on Sunday so I can't risk a tooth infection out of town again. Having a strange dentist in Mexico is enough to cure me of chancing that thank you. So I will be visiting my friendly dentist tomorrow where he will take my money and hopefully tell me what the hell is going on!

Oh and I found out that the temperature in Lake Mead today is 58 degrees! This is the lake I am suppose to do a half Ironman in next Saturday. OMG, that just sounds like it is way too cold for me! I am trying to have a suck-it-up attitude but damn! The website says the water is suppose to be 62-65 degrees. They are obviously lying..

H just called up the stairs to tell me it is now snowing. Yes folks, here in the sunny Southwest it is snow/raining in April.

OK enough bitching for one day...

Hill, hills, hills..

Here is my new favorite Monday ride:

It has hills, hills, hills. How fun to discover new routes in the hood!

My weekend looked like this: train, eat, sleep, train, eat sleep, then eat some more.. I cannot seem to get enough to eat!

Sat: 65 miles on the bike. Ave more than 15 MPH! Forgot my HR monitor-that's why! Oh, and about those totally ridiculously expensive Assos bike shorts: big two thumbs up! No sore assos here-Worth every penny!

Sunday: Swam 3500 yards. Ran 12 miles in 2.5 hours. HR not behaving on the run! I could not keep my HR down without practically walking.. Imagine a grown woman yelling Shut the f&#^*k up! to her Garmin every 10 min. or so. Like it was the Garmin's fault..I swear if I hear that Gramin beep one more time I will be screaming..

It is never too late people..

My husband rocked the 2.4 mile swim today! Now to put this is perspective, H didn't start out wanting to be an endurance athlete. I got into the sport in 2001 and as time passed, I wanted to do longer and longer races-then came Ironman training (obsession) in 2004. Out of pure frustration and wanting to see me on the weekends, he enlisted my then Coach Mark to help him learn how to ride a bike. Now how, you might say, does anyone not know how to ride a bike at the age of 58? Well, if you grow up in Brooklyn, New York, there are not many opportunities to learn the sport there. So fast forward a few decades and H is learning from the beginning, how to ride a bike. The coach was holding the seat on the back of his bike and everything in the beginning until he got his balance-just like I learned when I was 4 years old! Slowly, he has gotten better and better. He is now faster than me on the bike! Then Coach Mark told H he was going to learn how to swim and do a triathlon-just like that. So he taught him to swim. Now H was not breaking any records there in the beginning. I remember the days after 100 yds in the pool and he was breathless and nauseated. Even last year he complained he was tired after 1500 yds. I have always had the feeling he was born for endurance. This was confirmed after running a marathon with me in April 2005 and at the end, I felt like crap, was sore, tired, complaining. H says: I feel so good I could run another 10 miles! This is just not normal! He has doubted himself in the athletics department for the last 4 years. Now today, he clocked a 2.4 mile swim in 1:24! This is only 5 min slower than my Ironman time in 2004 when I was in salt water and I grew up swimming! He beat the 2 seasoned Outlaws that were there doing the swim also. He was getting their reassurance as he nervously got in the water this AM for his first Ironman swim. Then he proceeded to beat their time! This is my 61 year old, new to the sport, endurance athlete husband..Just goes to show it is never, never too late to start doing triathlons....

Good news, bad news for the week.....

It is Friday. I am staying home all day-I mean committed to not getting out of the house at all. I am tired of running around like a maniac, pretending I am retired..The house is quiet, H has gone to play with his buddies in Phoenix for the weekend and to do this:

I opted not to go. I have done a 2.4 mile swim before and decided I need more work on my bike and run. I am going to ride with Pirate and hopefully Mo, who has kicked my ass the last 2 weeks (of course she is 20 years my junior, but who is counting).

This week:

Bad news: The butt issue on the new bike became overwhelming.

Good news: I switched to my 5 year old, Terry Butterfly Gel seat and my butt is happy!

Bad news: Ever since the seat switch and during my ride on Wed., I have had this incredible neck pain, which is easing right now. I have heat and Flector patch on it. I have an email into Coach Luis to see whether to raise? lower? seat. Maybe it is just getting use to aeroposition again.

Good news: I biked over an average of 15 MPH on Wed 35 mile ride. Best so far.

Bad news: 90 min. run after was slow but I felt pretty good (before neck pain set in for real).

Good news: My new very-expensive-but suppose to be fabulous bike shorts came in yesterday (Assos). Gosh they are awfully comfortable but a little snug. I will call the company today to see if this is the way they are suppose to fit. If so I am wearing them tomorrow on my long ass ride..

Bad news: I fell on my new bike! I was turning around really slowly, couldn't get my clip out and boom! I actually have a little ding on the brakes. And scraped my knee, bruised my hip..



Yesterday, I was really tired, my neck hurt. I took this as a sign to take a break. So I did my weight workout and bagged the swim.

Bad news: I weigh myself every Wed and this week gained 3 lbs! How is this possible? Then I read this and think why me? Aren't I suppose to be trying to keep weight on too? The only reason I really care about this is because I want the extra weight to be gone so I can be faster. Also who the hell wants to watch their diet during Ironman training? H says it is probably water-yea that's what they all say but you gotta love him..

Misc good news: I had my second class about Buddhism this week. Very interesting. I am trying to incorporate meditation as part of my routine. So far without much success. I think however, when I swim I meditate. I concentrate on my breathing and don't think much.

We took daughter Heather out for her 29th birthday this week. So hard to believe this once little girl is 29! Seems like yesterday when I met her almost 20 years ago! She is very special and we had a great time.

So tomorrow a 4 and 1/2 hr. bike ride, Sunday 2 and 1/2 hr. run with a 3000 yd swim. I am resting up today for the big weekend..

This is one of those days..

There are some days I just feel like I could win any race, anywhere-send me to Hawaii-I can do it! This was one of those days. I plotted out a route on Google Maps that took me out of my usual "up and down Tramway" doldrums and I actually rode into neighborhoods! It was fun until the end of the ride when my little Ipod fell into my wheels and the earphones were trashed-woops..the Ipod is fine (whew)...

Today I feel like an Ironman-what can I say? I did my 3500 yard swim after the bike and felt great. The only problem is when you are swimming and have 1500 yds to go and have to pee, it is just too much trouble to get out and do so, try and get your bathing suit back on, etc. Don't worry-I did NOT pee in the pool! I have trouble doing that even in a lake in my wetsuit (come on-you all have done it). I just swam faster so I could get to the BR ASAP..did the whole workout-yep.

Here are my March totals. Now understand that this is probably more than I have ever trained in my life and Ironman Couer d' Alene is still 12 weeks away..I have decided it is my part time job since it takes up about 3-4 hours a day by the time I dress, travel to and from wherever to train..the only thing is I don't get paid-who cares? Money is over-rated!

March totals:
Swim: 29560.00 Yds-that's 16.8 miles
Bike: 358.20 Miles (all outdoor miles-yea!)
Run: 87.34 Miles
Weight training-8 hrs.