Meet my new best friend..

As I have been discussing, the pollen count in the Southwest is out of control this year. Probably something to do with El Nino or the planet alignment or global warming...whatever..it has been a pain in the eyes, nose and head for me this year..

THEN, my friend Steve reminded me about this:















It is called a "Neti Pot" , I am not sure why. Basically it is a nasal irrigation thing..to use it is hard to explain. As Steve says, it is one of those "private moments" when you actually use it to blow snot out of your sinuses. I have a Neti Pot, but had forgotten about it..So I am going to try it in place of the allergy pill, nasal spray, decongestant, eye drops and Tylenol I have been using..Today is my first day. I will report if it works..you have to use it twice a day, I think the directions said..

Today is my first official BSLT training day. I ran 50 min on the "dreadmill", swam 3000 yards. The swim seemed to take forever...oh my gosh..swimming is BORING! But I did not cheat or cut my workout short, although I REALLY wanted to..pushing myself to think positive thoughts during that one.

Speaking of positive thoughts, yesterday I had a mini meltdown during our group ride with the triathlon club..Not only was I LAST much of the ride, I said f*&(*k it halfway through and sat at the bottom of the hill while everyone else busted their ass riding up about a 3 mile climb. H has become such a good cyclist, I can no longer keep up with him or anyone else for that matter. I was this close to crying as I waited for the group..Cranky does not even come close to how I felt yesterday. H thinks Satan's spin classes are killing me so I have nothing left on the weekends..I do not feel like they are zapping me that much! I averaged over 15 MPH yesterday and was still left in the dust for the most part... second weekend in a row now..

Bummer...I need to think new thoughts on those rides.I do not accept it is my age since my 8-year older husband seems to be keeping up with guys almost half his age..no excuses..

Time to get the ball rolling here...

OK...it is time..

Time to get ready to start the REAL training for Buffalo Springs Lake Half Ironman Triathlon..

This year we have no coach, no plan. So I am determined (with a little help from Beginner Triathlete.com and Coach Eric) to come up with our own little training program. I got one from BT online, showed it to H yesterday. The first thing we see is the 4700 yd swim on Monday. Is this a misprint? Already we are editing the plan. The most I have swam since IMAZ is 2000 yards. It has been a nice break from chlorine, bad hair days and general feeling soaked all the time..Funny thing is I looked at last year at this time and all our training was the same (bike and run) except swimming. AND I was 10 lbs lighter then.. So either Mark Allen's low HR training really does burn more fat or swimming really does burn alot of calories. SOOoooo, Monday we are back on the horse, so to speak. I am feeling a bit of lack of motivation..hope that turns around soon.

I am taking a 10 week "Time Trial Spin Class" from who I lovingly refer to as the "Spin Nazi". This fellow has had these classes annually at least for the last 10 years and I have taken it many times, although not in years. It is a 2 hour spin class that gets progressively harder until it all culminates into an hour time trial at the last class...The teacher (SN) has a "special" way of teaching-I sort of liken it to what I think a boot camp Sergeant or really tough basketball coach would be. Alot of yelling, mostly motivating, although he has no problem coming up and changing your resistance to a harder one if he thinks you are not working (dying) enough (and yes, I paid money for this and knew what I was gettig into)...The good news is that Dread Pirate and I are in this one together at 5:30 AM every Wednesday. I just wanted to break up my routine a bit and actually I like having my workout done at 7:30 in the AM It is just so hard to do if you don't have to!

We continue to do weekend rides with our triathlon club. Tomorrow I guess the newspaper will be there to do a story on us or something? That should be interesting and who knows if they are interested in all of us or just the new folks or what..

We continue dreaming more about Australia. H's mom seems to be in a good place physically for now, which may continue indefinitely so our travels are a real possibility..

On a last note-allergy season here in the Southwest this year is OUTRAGEOUS!! My eyes have ever burned so bad in one year. The sneezing, headaches..the pollen is awful..and after spending a few days in Long Beach where allergies are nothing except if you have lung issues from the pollution, this is torture. It is suppose to be better after the first week in March..That is today so it better get better soon. I know alot of folks who are suffering these days...

About America's Favorite Pastime..

Observations about baseball from a girl:

1. Is it just me or does it seem strange that 9 men stand in a field, just waiting for something to happen? When it does, it lasts about 10 seconds, then they stand around again..

2. It is probably wrong that I think there are no ugly major league baseball players...I am old enough to be their mother.

3. Speaking of being their mother, who dresses these guys? One guy had his back pocket hanging completely out...Isn't it like the army where they all have to look good?

4. Nine innings is WAY TOO LONG! I could get the point and enjoyment with 7 innings. I think they do this at the Little League level, don't they?

5. Why do people who drink beer get more obnoxious the more they drink and yell LOUDER at the umpire?

6. Who pays $6.00 for a beer? I have been out of the loop way too long!

7. Why did the lady next to me think it was really cute to spray water on her husband with one of those fan thingies just as I was on my Blackberry that got water on it too, then chuckled when I gave her a dirty look?






8. I love my husband's reaction to a professional baseball game. It is worth it! He looks like a little boy who is the happiest kid on the planet when he is at these things..













9. I love sports, I love a good, fast basketball or football game. But there is something so sleepy about baseball.

10. Why can't we have just ONE male child to go with H to these things? I know girls can love this stuff too but our girls are very girly. I think until we get a small male child who can have that shit-eating grin on his face with H, I will be going to the games with him..

11. To the people behind us, who talked THE WHOLE GAME, please do not sit near us at the game tomorrow. We do not care if you go to Hooters, or got up at 2:00 AM this AM or drank too much yesterday..or have a whiny teenager who wants to go home after the 2nd inning!

12. Tommy Lasorda is eating and drinking WAY too much these days!














I am trying to love baseball!! I really am!

February totals and trip to LB..

February training totals:

Swim: 4188 yards

Bike: 215 miles:

Run: 75 miles

This includes trainer rides in the Spin Nazi's class, which should count as double miles in my book but it is in my heart anyway.

We are enjoying a few days in Long Beach visiting Lane:





This child has boundless amounts of energy and a strong personality...very hard to say "no" to her but I actually do sometimes!






She looks very much like her mom at her age. This is her mom now.
She caught the running bug from mom and Hartley and here she is training for her first half marathon (in which she will be kicking my ass):

We are staying at a house we found on VRBO.
We have found many places on this site. This house is several decades old and is called "Poet's Corner." I think a famous poet lived here but who knows? It is on a quiet old street in Long Beach with little difficulty in parking (a big plus). We were a little worried when the owner met us and showed us around. When we mentioned grand daughter and daughter staying here with us, it was met with talk of "charging us extra" & "not really a place for children" Uh-oh..With all the old nic-nacks around, I can understand that..We have really not had any trouble with Lane messing with anything. If all goes well this weekend, we will talk to said owner to see if our week long stay in May for the marathon will be any trouble. In my opinion, in this housing market in CA, I would not put up much of a fuss if I were her. We can always find somewhere else for the price I would bet. There are signs everywhere in the house on what we can use, what we cannot; which is a little offputting at first. I think at this point the positives outweigh the negatives..but will make final judgement tomorrow...

Did I mention the owner lives across the street?

We ran on the beach 10 miles yesterday. It was so beautiful-the sun, the ocean, the perfect temperature, no allergens, sea level. If only the pollution and traffic were not such an issue, I would live here in a heartbeat...oh and the cost of living..

Just the highlights...

Its been such a long time since I have blogged, I do not know where to start...

So I just will touch on the highlights:

1. Training-I have my long term goals:

Buffalo Springs Lake triathlon half IM in June in Lubbock.

Beach2Battleship half IM in November.

And my short term goals: OC Marathon, which may get to be a half IM by the time May rolls around. I am thinking of doing a sprint tri in May, going to Phoenix in April for a bike ride, Lake Tahoe Century in June, some fill in races..

As far as my training for all of this, I am primarily running, though not enough really. The quality of my workouts are much more intense than last year...I am going the "speed workout" route. This has included track workouts, hill repeats..etc. I am riding once a week on my bike "long" with my tri buddies..For some reason, I decided I needed a change in pace and signed up for "Roy's time trial Spin class" Some call it Satan's spin class (DP)..I sometimes refer to this 2 hours of torture on a spin bike as lead by the "Spin Nazi". At any rate, it is at 5:30 AM, that is in the morning..And to think when I worked as a nurse for 17 years, this was my waking hour everyday..I swam Masters for years and got up that early-no problem...Now it is tough getting up..I know it is time limited but my body clock just doesn't run that early anymore..I am really hoping that this sufferfest is worth it..I am TIRED of being the last one up the hill, the one everyone is waiting for. It is getting really old! Then my loving hubby, who could not ride a bike 5 years ago has surpassed me. Yep-he is riding with the big boys in the front now..Uh, honey can you PLEASE not leave me behind by myself so much? That is me now! Nagging, bitch cyclist wife I am sometimes..new role for me..

H & I are seriously batting around the idea of doing IMWA..in Western Australia in December. Afterwards traveling across Western Australia, which is basically the size of the US, then hopping over to New Zealand and hiking the Milford Trail. That should all take a couple of months...at least..Of course all depends on the health of one elderly mother in law and one elderly dog..we are dreaming for now..we hope it will become a reality..H is armed with travel books, we are hunkering down for some serious travel planning. This would mean another Ironman. Didn't I just say no more this year? Well, I forgot the pain, obviously and the course is FLAT, SEA LEVEL, WELL RUN, so far NO WOMEN in my AG. All of this makes me weak..I am just weak and addicted to these things, I swear..

2. Hormones- I am lathering on the creams daily for 3 weeks now, adjusting doses to get the least amount of side effects. It will take awhile for the verdict on this. Oh and by the way, these are bioidentical hormones, which from the research I have done, are safer and have less side effects than the synthetic, made from horse urine ones..The folks who disagree may be in cahoots with the drug companies, but don't get me started..

3. Grandparenting-my role as Grandma just keeps getting bigger. H & I are having fun seeing at least one granddaughter a month for many months now. We are now in Long Beach, spending time with Lane, our 4 year old, going on 30 one..She keeps us entertained with endless amounts of preschool energy...

There are so many things I want to do. Sometimes I feel like life is passing me by-there just isn't enough time or hours in the day..So far we are surviving the economic crisis pretty unscathed, for which I am grateful..

My online world continues to grow. Who would have thought I would meet a community of so many wonderful friends on the WWW?