Waiting for something big....

So I am not going to start this post saying "I'm back!", (Wait did I just do it?) because I don't know if I am, but I am trying. So let's catch up a bit. The last time I checked in I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of our baby.  Well I waited and waited and on November 20th at 5:51am, my water broke and it was game on! Little did we know this little peanut would take its sweet old time getting here. Apparently my belly is quite comfy and no matter how many contractions I have a baby will stay put until evicted!

After about 24 hours of laboring, 12 naturally and 12 with an epidural, the doctors decided a c-section was the only way to get this baby out. The baby was in position, but would not engage, so they were going in to get it out! Now, this was not part of my original natural birth plan, but I just had to keep reminding myself that the doctors know best so into the operating room we went. Fifteen minutes later at 2:59pm on November 21st, we welcomed Penelope Rose into our family and our world changed in an instant. Life took on a totally new meaning the moment I laid my eyes on her and we have been relishing in this new world for the past 3 months. 

Penny came into this world with gusto. My doctors kept their guesses on her weight at about 8 1/2 pounds max, Penny was 9 pounds 5 ounces. My doctors said she was in position and ready to go, Penny was so big she was stuck. Her butt was stuck under my ribs and her head was sideways, so her nose was stuck on something inside and when she came out it was smooshed to one side. Penny spent the first hour of her life outside of her little belly apartment eating nonstop. When it was time to move to our room we had to pull Penny off of her buffet and her little face was covered in colostrum. I think Penny got here and decided she was going to go big from the start.

Onto fitness news, I had gained a total of 38 pounds in the almost 42 weeks I was pregnant and within the first two days I was down 23. The last time I weighed myself before my training started I had 10 pounds to go. And that is when I decided to let up on the scale, because really, no good could come of it. I am still breast feeding Penny so really it is impossible for me to get an accurate reading on my weight anyway.

So onto training. I had to wait 6 weeks after giving birth to start exercising, but really I don't know where I would have found the time during that 6 weeks to exercise, so the time restraint didn't make much of a difference. Once cleared I decided that I needed a good month to get back into training mode, so I pushed Coach P off one more month for a February start of coached training. I got back into all three disciplines slowly and allowed my body some time to figure out how to train with all of these new changes.

I am now 1 month back into training and feeling great. It is definitely interesting to try balancing my roles of mom and triathlete. And I have to say, I haven't quite mastered it yet. What I have mastered is a new mentality. I now give myself a break when I need it. I know that I can be all things, but that some days you just need to say, "it's ok" if you can't get everything done. There will always be tomorrow to try again.

So back to the title of this blog post. I have been wanting to get back to blogging for quite a bit. I figured when I started back at work and Penny went to daycare I would start blogging again since I would have more time to write. But I wanted to make sure, like with my training, that I was ready and that I wanted to come back. So I figured I would wait until I raced to get back on here and that is what I did last weekend. I was just waitng for something big to report on.

Saturday was my first 5k of the season and my first race in almost a year. Last year around this time I ran my best 5k, not knowing I was pregnant at the time. I ran a 23:20 in February of 2013. This past weekend I came back to the distance and ran a 24:22. Not too shabby if I do say so myself. I ended up 19th out of 140 runners and placed in my division and took home a nice gift card to Dicks.

So it is official, I am back in the game. Now I will spend the next year trying to balance my love of my family and my love for this sport, all while attempting to document the entire process. Wish me luck!

Patience is a ......What? What is it already? Tell me!!!

It is a virtue that I apparently no longer have! I am currently 4 days past my due date and I would like to meet this little bugger now! I am doing everything I can to get this party started but I am the only one ready to party it seems.

In work our world, I am happy to say that after pulling a muscle while walking up a hill, I am at least able to add some walking back into my regimen, which is honestly a godsend. I spend about an hour each day on the treadmill just walking and reading which I think is keeping me sane.

I have also been spending some time thinking about the 2014 racing season and how I am going to approach it. I know that I would like to complete at least 1 marathon like I do every year and I am thinking with this bambino nursing a for the first part of he year, a later marathon might be the answer. Which has me focusing on possibly Chicago. That location also allows for me to visit with a ton of college friends so it is a win, win.

Other than the marathon, I am not sure what I will do. I am in a totally new racing circuit, but also a totally new racing scenario, of training with someone else to think about and take care of. I figured I will just play this all by ear and see what I am capable of.

But first thing is first, I gotta have this baby!!!

Where have I been you ask? Or did you?

Ok, so you probably didn't ask, maybe didn't even notice, but lately I have been feeling bad about just dropping off the face of the earth, so here goes! Where have I been? Well.....let's go back to my last post in March (yes it was that long ago, sigh), right around that time, I was feeling a bit tired and cranky. Ok, that is an understatement, super tired and just really mean, but only to my husband (sorry Nick!). Well it was about 4 or 5 days before that post that we found out, we were pregnant! Yup, we had thought that 2013 was the year to try and boy it didn't take very long, about 1.5 months later that "trying" paid off! So that explains being so damn tired!

So now I am 9 months pregnant, about 2 weeks out from my due date and the heir to the throne is baked and ready to enter our world! We do not know what we are having, we decided to make keep that a surprise, but we are excited to meet this little one! Here is some photographic evidence of what I have been up to. A nice round triathlete reporting for duty!

So since this is a triathlon blog, let's talk about that. My original plan was to continue to race and train up until the end of month 6. Well right towards the end of my first trimester I got in a  nice half marathon in Central Park. I ended up with a PR for the Central Park course, which was nice and I felt great doing it.

My next race was to be an Olympic Triathlon in the beginning of June. I ran into a little snag on that one. I was trained and ready to go, but I had no one to go to the race with. It was down at the beach and I was down there hanging out, but I since I didn't have any support crew, I just wasn't feeling comfortable doing it on my own, in the event that I didn't feel my best. So instead I spent the weekend at the beach and did some nice long runs instead.

Now, if I said that was all I was doing, you might think, well then what is your excuse for not blogging? You were training and racing....were you just lazy? NO! There is more!

In 2012, Nick has started to interview with companies to look for a possible new opportunity. Well one of the companies was located in Charlotte, NC. As it turned out, his company was not ready to give him up, so they made it worth his while to stick around in NYC a bit a longer. Well in February 2013 we get a call from the company in Charlotte and they tell Nick they are going to create a position for him and they want him to reconsider. So we talked it through and thought, there was no harm in considering.

Enter the pregnancy, and we started thinking that now with a child on the way, we may need to start thinking about the future and where we plan on "settling down" when we have a family since we were in the process of making one. Well in May, on mother's day, we let our parents know that they were going to be grandparents and then let them know, that we were going down to Charlotte to consider moving. At the end of May we headed down to Charlotte and fell in love. The job was good, the city was beautiful and we were sold!

At the end of June, we packed up our newly renovated apartment, and moved down to Charlotte and here we are! It was a bit of an adjustment, moving from the high paced New York City life, to a bit of a slower more relaxed culture, but we have welcomed it with open arms. We are living right near one of the big lakes down here and have spent our time taking advantage of the sunny weather and lake activities and as of right now, we believe we have found the place to start our family and create our home.

So there you have it! I have been busy! A lot has changed but all for the best. On the training front, with the big climate change that came with the move, I decided to take a hiatus from my team in July and have been getting in about an hour of cardio a day. I was able to run up until month 6 and now I have replaced running with the elliptical. The baby bouncing on your bladder can make anyone not want to run more than 3 steps without peeing in your pants! But I have remained active for sure.

I plan on entering back into training in January (as long as I am cleared by my doc) and heading into the 2014 completely renewed and refreshed. It has honestly been quite nice to retire the HR monitor for a few months and have less of a stringent plan. I think the break was needed and I am excited to come back fresh and try out this new racing circuit that I moved into!

I also plan on keeping up with this little site as much as I can in the next few months, but want back on full time in January.

So I hope you can forgive me for taking a bit of a break. Life in our family got a bit hectic but we have been enjoying it. Now we wait for Baby G to get here and then figure out what our new normal is. Then it is back to being a slave to the sport!

So now you are all caught up! Have a great week!

Energy Rollercoaster...You Must be This Tall to Ride

Welcome to my energy rollercoaster. Want a ride? It is a totally unexplainable and unpredictable approach to training! What fun!

I woke up yesterday, on the wrong side of the bed, wait make that the wrong side of the world. I pity anyone who entered into my path yesterday, since I was a force to be reckoned with. I had my grumpy pants on, high and tight.  I got up, started work and was absolutely beat. I was not in the mood to do really anything. So I did nothing. By the end of the work day a friend stopped by to try to change my mood. It took a while, but it finally worked and we headed out to dinner and I started to get out of my funk.

After a nice dinner, of steamed artichoke, eggplant rollantini and portobello mushrooms in balsamic and goat cheese, we headed back home to call it a day. It was when I got home that it hit. Energy, from nowhere! I had intended on just going to bed, and instead I sat up and watched tv for a few hours and finally my body gave up the fight and let me fall asleep.

I woke up this morning and jumped right out of bed. I got productive as soon as I got up, did some laundry, had some egg whites and hopped on the bike for an hour. Then it was lunch and an hour run and I am still going strong. I mean hey, I even got on here and am posting. What is going on!?

This weekend, as I mentioned I supposed to have a 5k, but since I will be at a bridal shower for most of my weekend and I can't seem to find a race, I will be doing 4 x 1 mile repeats instead on Sunday, barring I have energy, I guess? I seem to be in an every other day pattern, so if I stick to the pattern, I should be good to go on Sunday.

Then finally next week I go back to a normal work schedule with no late nights or anything crazy, so let's hope my energy levels go back to normal then!

I hope everyone has some fun plans for this weekend! Now I am off to watch Indiana in the NCAA tournament. HOO HOO HOO HOOSIERS!!

Zapped

Where did my energy go this week? Last week I was all over the place after working nights for the entire weekend, I came out of the gate and 100 mph and this week I could just curl up and sleep my way through it.

This past weekend I got in a good two days of rest, movie watching and workouts. I trashed my legs a bit, but no more than any other normal training weekend and felt great. Well I got up on Monday for spin and I was beat! I never "cheat" when I teach because I feel guilty, but man did I cheat on Monday. Then I came home and went right back to bed. I got up a second time for work and then managed to get in 2 more solid workouts.

Then yesterday, I crashed again! I slept until I absolutely had to get up and start working, skipping my original plan of an early morning workout, and then worked until after lunch. Then I attempted a pretty easy ride and about half way through I felt shaky and wanted to pass out. So I gave up and hit the couch. By my 7pm spin I was ready to go and I ended up teaching a pretty hard class with no cheating this time and came home wired. But now again, I am exhausted! What gives???

This week is a somewhat rest week because I am supposed to race another 5k this weekend, which I guess is good considering how I am feeling. But I mean seriously! I am hoping to snap out of this today, but I doubt it since I have been up since 4am working on an event. As for the 5k, I haven't found one yet, so it might just be race simulation for this girl!

Ok so now I need to focus on getting some food and coffee into my belly so I can fuel through today's workouts. Wish me luck!

Time Flies....

Well this past month just seemed to have flown by. With training and working no stop, my writing has been at an all time low! So let's get caught up here....

My training has picked up and I am spending a lot more time on my bike and treadmill. Coach P's rule is that if I ride on the trainer, I can divide the ride time by 1.2 since I will be at constant resistance for the entire ride. So far this year I have decided to just stick to the actual times and skip the dividing, so I am have been logging some long hours on the bike for sure.

My run fitness seems to be improving the last few months, which is also encouraging. As always it is nice to see improvement. I ran my first 5k a few weeks ago and I really kicked some ass! To be honest, going into it, I was not sure how I would do. I haven't just run a race in a long time. My runs usually come right after a nice swim and bike, so it was hard to gauge how my run would be. So I decided since it was just 3.1 miles, that I would run as hard as possible and see how far I could push my limits. And push my limits, I did. The race went like so:

Mile 1 7:19
Mile 2: 7:46
Mile 3: 7:47

I crossed the finish line and was like "WHAT?!?!" This was my fastest 5k yet and I maintained three, under 8 minute miles. I am not sure who I thought I was that day, but I would like that girl to show up to all races from here on out!

As for swimming, I have successfully forced myself to get back into it. I have  been in the pool at least twice a week for the past few weeks and I need to get that number up to three times a week, but come on, baby steps here!

My next race is going to be the More Half Marathon in April. I have run this one before and the hills are the thing that I find a bit daunting, but hey, been there, done that. I have also completed my race schedule for this year, but I think I am going to end up having to do some tweaking as I go. I would like to get in a few more running races and I am considering doing a few tri relays with a some people from my gym.

As for life in general, we are heading in out hibernation period in our household. It is usually around this time of year that we decide to stay in the house on the weekend and just lounge and keep warm. All of our renovations from the storm are complete and the last thing we need to do is buy a kitchen table and we are all set. Which would have meant the project was done, but then we decided, since everything but the tile in our guest bath got upgraded after the storm, that we are just going to take the plunge and get that done as well, then we will have an absolutely brand new home.

Today I decided to take a rest day because I am feeling a little under the weather, but tomorrow I will be on the trainer for a good 2.5 hours. Then is off to the tile store for what I hope to be the last time!

Have a great weekend everyone!

Finally Back to "Normal"

OK, so where have I been? Well, I thought just moving back into our I could hit the ground running, but it turns out that unpacking and reorganizing an entire apartment can take some time! But I can thankfully say that I am now back on track and we are starting to feel a bit normal. We are in and all construction is complete, and the house is back to just me and the dog during the day!

On the training front, I have been back at it since Jan 21st and I am starting to feel the effects. I have some races picked out and I am currently working towards a half marathon in April. Originally I wanted to go for the Ocean Drive Marathon in March, but much like the rest of the US, I got attacked by the flu and it has taken a good 4 weeks to get my body back to normal. So I am going to just keep it to one marathon this year, The NYC Marathon. After my half, I will be gearing up for May and June triathlons. But first I will focus on the half.

So there you have it, two months in two paragraphs! Now I have to head out for a quick run before I get ready for a fun girls night in NYC with three amazing ladies!

Ok So It's Been a While, But I'm Back!

So...hrmmm.........um......HI! Yup, I have resurfaced! I have been big time off the grid for the past two months and with good reason.

Ok, so let me give you a quick recap. So I mentioned that back on the weekend of October 15th, we had a little hot water heater issue, and we had to move into a hotel. Well on October 28th we were set to move out of the hotel into temporary housing, but first we had something to deal with at our house, Hurricane Sandy prep.

We slept at my friends house in our complex on Sunday night because her fiance was stuck in Atlanta and we didn't want her to be alone for the storm since the ground floors had been evacuated and on Monday we hunkered down for Sandy. Well Sandy was a sneaky little bitch. By 7pm it was hardly raining and we went outside to check on the streets. And that was when the surge showed up from the Hudson. Within about 15 minutes the courtyard was full and we gave up and headed for higher ground. We then lived in a friends 1 bedroom apartment, 5 people, 2 dogs and a cat, for the next 4 days.  While cramped, we did manage to walk away with some fun stories and two more great friends.

This is what we woke up to on Tuesday morning. This is an aerial view of my backyard (yes there is a pool under that water):

 

This is the corner of my street(photo credit to hoboken411.com):

 

 

 My condo after the water was gone:

 

 

Look who survived!!!

 

Well needless to say, Sandy extended our stay in temporary housing and changed my fitness schedule quite a bit. First off, as everyone knows by now the NY Marathon was cancelled, which I have to say was the best decision ever. I must say I was a bit turned off by reading other bloggers, whom I had previously enjoyed reading about, complain that the race had been cancelled. I mean come on, some people lost everything in this storm, you lost a race. Can you even compare? If anything you gained 4 months of great training, use it for something else, not for being a negative selfish person. (climbs off her soapbox)

Now we are still living in the city next to ours while our entire apartment gets rebuilt. We are hoping to be back in at the end of January, if things go as planned.

And I must say through all of this, it wasn't all Sandy destruction. Nick and I also spent the first two weeks of December in Costa Rica, following by a week of working and then another week in upstate NY with Nick's family. And I must say it was a much needed break.

During all of this fun, I have been trying to get in as much "training" as possible. I have been running when I can, and I salvaged by bike and trainer from the flood, and after a nice scrubbing we were back in business, so I have been getting in about an hour on the bike daily. There has really been no swimming, outside of paddling while surfing, but I have been enjoying some barre classes and hot yoga.

But now that the 2013 season is upon us, it is time to get serious. I need to create a 2013 plan and get started on losing some lbs and getting in the pool. I don't really do resolutions, so this year I am going to try to modify my behaviors a bit and slow down. Nothing in particular but just take more time to breathe it all in.

And with that, I am off to barre class. I promise, barring no other natural disasters, I will be sticking around for a while!

Planning and Visualizing

While my little choatic world is going on around me, I realize it is to start focusing on the task at hand. Today during my over/unders I found myself in a familiar place. In my mind I was on the course of the NY Marathon. I am familiar with the course, having run it a few times already and I know where my challenges lie and where the crowd will push you beyond what you thought you could do.

It is such a crazy race for so many reason. One, how can there be so many hills? You wouldn't think in a city you could encounter so many but with the amount of bridges you run, by the time you hit mile 18, you would actually pay someone to flatten the course for you. Then there are the crowds. Each borough has it's own personality and you can see it in your cheerleaders. Brooklyn, where you start and spend about ten miles of your race has so many different aspects, it is crazy. From the partying twenty-somethings, to the yuppie families, it is always an adventure. Then there are the quiet parts. Some spots in the Bronx, make you wish for Brooklyn again, even though that would set you miles back. Towards the end as you head into the park for the first time, you can feel the excitement grow, as you head out at the Plaza and head up to Columbus circle, you know that there are only a few miles between you and a finish line. It is an amazing feeling, even to visualize and write about it, I have goosebumps already.

That is where I was this morning. An hour and fifteen minutes on the NY Marathon course in my brain. Who knows what this city will present me with next Sunday, but I am already there and now getting ready for whatever is coming at me.

Only one more long run to go and then I am there. As for goals, I am going with who knows right now!

Things Hurt

Life at the hotel has been pretty uneventful. Although Nick and I did have some fun on Saturday night and pretended like we were on vacation, which meant some good food and lots of drinks! But other than that, it has been lots of running, including a few days of over/unders and a 1:45 Z1/Z2 run on Saturday and phone calls to figure out where we will be living next.

It turns out we will be getting an apartment 2 miles from our place. Which means we can host Thanksgiving regardless if our apartment is ready or not! This makes me quite happy, but more on that later in the month! Another good thing, will be settling into a "normal" life and leaving all of the work to the contractors at our condo. Between, running, being on on site project manager and still working my normal job, the last week was a bit much.

But what I noticed, is that it has taken my focus off of one thing I would usually be nervous about right now, The NYC Marathon. Yup, I just looked my calendar and realized that baby is just over a week away. WHAT?!?!? Where did the time go? Seriously, I thought maybe I was reading the calendar wrong when I saw that November 4th is a lot closer than anticipated!

So now, I get to move into my new apartment, start my taper and get down to business! And I mean really get down to business. I am not sure how I actually feel about the race since I haven't thought about it at all. All I know is that I am tired and it is showing up in my recovery from these runs. I think I have been running with some bad posture lately. After each long run, I end up with some lower back pain, so I think I just need to focus on pulling in my abs a bit more.

But now it is time to get my eye on the prize. This is the last race of my season and then we launch full force into some good vacations, that we held off on so we could really enjoy them. So I have to try to make it a good one! We shall see what NYC has in store for me.

Today I got my new shoes, so I can get one last long run with them to break them in and I bought some new running capri's which I will also be test driving. After Saturdays long run it will be all about focus. And after some nice tapering I should be ready to go! 

Any end of season races for you guys?

Life Got Interesting...to Say the Least

Well the past week again was filled with lots of running amongst other things! I got in a 2 hours Z1/Z2 run at a 9:17 pace and although I was a little sore the next day, I generally felt great. Then on Friday afternoon, Nick and I headed off to Martha's Vineyard to spend the weekend with Nick's parents. We had never been there, although we had both been to the Cape so it was a fun adventure for us.

We spent the weekend sightseeing and stuffing ourselves with lobster, chowder and all things seafood. Seriously, I made sure to incorporate fish into every meal. I even opted for a bagel and lox for breakfast when we ate it. On Saturday I woke up a bit sore and decided if I was going to spend the day walking around, it might be a good idea to give my legs a break, so I opted out of my Zone R run and figured I would just get it in on Sunday.

Sunday we were up and at em' nice and early to catch the early ferry back. Once back in Woods Hole we got our last seafood meal in and hit the road. I have to says Martha's Vineyard was absolutely beautiful. Although it was kind of cold, we got to see everything and had a great time with the in-laws. It was on the way back that things got interesting.

While on the road back home, Nick got a phone call from our neighbor saying that there was water in our shared hallway and her apartment, but she wasn't sure where it was coming from. She let us know she had called the fire department and I told her to feel free to go into our place to see if it was us. Well, it was. Yup, our hot water heater had gone in the middle of the night and our apartment was flooded. She let us know it had gotten into all rooms but the living room and that the fire department had shut off the heater and our power and a plumber was going to come to drain the remaining water in the heater since it was still flowing. I mean 50 gallons of water had to go somewhere!

By the time we got home, I had already filed a claim with our insurance and had a crew there on site to start pumping the water out. When we walked into our place, we were a bit shocked. Our floors were all buckled and our bedroom carpet was like a bog. But to be honest it just didn't seem as bad as I thought it would be. Which was nice, I think. After the crew left we got an update and were informed that we would now need all new wood floors, new carpet, new vanities in both bathrooms and a new ceiling in one bathroom. Oh and that we should probably move out!

So as of Monday, Nick Hailey and I have been living in a hotel about 1.5 miles from our place and I have been on site managing the clean up for the every day since. Hailey is loving that she has her own bed and getting used to taking the elevator every day. But man hotel living can be boring! I am just trying to think of it as our old one bedroom apartment.

But there are some silver linings.

• We didn't lose any personal items. Score!
• We did just renovate the kitchen and nothing got ruined there. Point for us!
• We had wanted to do the floors all along, so in the end we will end up with the floors we always wanted. Another point!
• They are working to find us a temporary apartment so we don't have to order out every night for the next two months.
• There is a gym in the hotel, so I can go workout when I want to? Am I grasping? Ok maybe.

So there you have it! For the next few months we are a family of vagabonds! But at least we get to be together right? It will be fun adventure for us for the next few months and then we get a brand new condo. And now I will leave you with some pics of Hailey enjoying her new life:

Here is some of our stuff drying outside when we got home:

Hailey hanging outside while I manage the dry out. It was cold so I had to bundle her up a bit:

Hailey enjoying the spoiled life. I think we may end up having to buy her a real bed when we move back in. I am not sure she will be willing to go back to the dog bed:

And there you have it! Now I am going to finish my sandwich and hit the gym! Nothing else to do, right?

Running and Celebrating

Yup the title pretty much sums up how I spent last week. I ran at least 8 miles a day and did some good celebrating. The first item up for celebration was Nick's birthday. On the 3rd, Nicholas finally joined the ranks for the thirty-somethings and for that we ate and drank to our heart's content. We went out to our favorite "special occasion" restaurant in town and had a delicious dinner and some prosecco. Once we were so full we thought we would burst we headed home to curl up in bed and digest in a nice coma.

The rest of the week was filled again with tons of running. Whether it was speed drills, Zone 1 runs or long runs, I was running at some point every day. Then came the weekend. We had a friend's engagement party down in Columbia, Maryland to celebrate and our 1 year wedding anniversary.

We headed down to Baltimore on Saturday, after a nice morning run and decided to stop and get some lunch. After lunch we headed to Columbia to our hotel to meet up with our friends. The celebration was actually a haunted hay ride following by a bonfire and a buffet of delicious food. Knowing that we had more the celebrate the following day, we went light on the booze, heavy on the food. By midnight we were beat. So we said our goodbyes at the hotel and headed to bed, while the rest of the party headed out to a local bar.

The next morning we packed up and moved onto our final destination, Annapolis, Maryland. We figured since we were already down there we should spend a night by ourselves to celebrate our anniversary. And as luck would have it, Annapolis was not only hosting us, but they were also hosting a boat show in the Inner Harbor. We spent the day, having cocktails and touring these amazing yachts while pretending that we were of course in the market to buy one. Well obviously, why would be at a boat show otherwise?

After the boat show we found a local bar and watched some of our football game and then headed over to a restaurant called Buddys to eat some crabs. And boy did we eat some crabs! We asked what the "normal" order would be and then we ordered double.(of course we did) We spent the next two hours cracking and laughing and then headed back to our hotel for a night cap.

Once morning hit, we headed home to grab the dog and eat some wedding cake. Yes, like tradition says, we saved the top of our wedding cake to eat 1 year later. Our top layer of cake was a carrot cake and to be honest I wasn't quite sure of how it was going to end up. We had moved it from the freezer to fridge on Saturday to start the defrost and by Monday night it was ready to go. And I have to say, it tasted pretty damn good! The only bad part is now we have a huge carrot cake to eat. ( I know my struggles are just too unfair!)

And now it is back to reality. This week again will be filled with a ton of running. But I must say with this more relaxed/clean lifestyle I am now trying to lead, I don't really mind it! Well, I hope everyone had as fun of a week as I did. Now it is back to the grindstone!

A Weekend on My Feet

What a weekend is all I have to say! Over here in New Jersey we have been making an effort to keep our weekends as low key as possible. On Friday we made pasta, with pesto, artichokes and squash and settled in for our normal movie night. We watched Wunderlust, which I have to say was really funny. I wasn't sure what to expect but there is some good dirty humor in that movie! After passing out on the couch at 9pm we finally woke up around 2am to make it to bed. And that was our fun family Friday!

I got up nice and early on Saturday to head out for a 1:10 Zone 1 run. I had to do it at the gym because it was still dark and I get a little creeped out running around the city alone in the dark. So I hit the treadmill for some easy 9:13 min/miles. After my run I had to run home for my new green breakfast shake (recipe from a friend) and a shower so I could head to a good friends bridal shower. I also convinced Nick to indulge in my shake,  (1 pear, 1 banana, handful of spinach, handful of Kale) and while he didn't hate it he just couldn't figure out how to rate it. Mind you I made him have it for breakfast all weekend, so now he has to love it, obviously! I mean it is beautiful, you have to love it just based on the appearance.

After bridal showering for a few hours, I headed back home and I was beat. I made a spaghetti squash casserole, had a glass of wine and was in bed again by 11pm. Total party animal, I know!

On Sunday it was back on my feet nice and early. I had two 1:15 Zone 1 runs to get in. Now here is where it gets interesting. I think there is something seriously wrong with my garmin, I am guessing I may need  a new battery in my chest strap, so maybe not seriously wrong,  but my HR monitor was going crazy for the first run. I was everywhere on the map. So I decided to just stick to a 9:21 pace, since I had no idea where I really was.

After my run we threw some meatballs and sauce in the crock pot and headed out for some apple picking. We ended up with a nice 25 pounds of booty and headed back to the house for meatballs, football and another run. Another 1:15 Z1 with the same HR monitor problems. So this time since I was a bit tired, I stuck to 9:23min/miles. I guess I will have to change that battery soon.

This week I am back to running every day with no biking and a tiny bit of swimming. I am interested to see how this will effect my pacing for the marathon and also to see how my legs fare. Tonight I am going to invest some time in a nice salt bath and try to get to bed nice and early.

How was your weekend? Spend a lot of time on your feet too?

Human Pincushion

Recently I decided it was time to face some of my issues head on and address some problems with my body. Now I know that sounds dramatic, but it really isn't. Most of those who know me know that I have a tendency to have some stomach issues. Issues that I am capable of making worse by simply focusing on them and in turn stressing out about them. Well I have been talking about trying to figure it out forever and today I took my first step. I had my first acupuncture session.

In my 1.5 hour consultation I actually learned quite a bit. One interesting fact is that I may be slightly anemic. While I have been enjoying some of the symptoms (think female stuff), I never actually put two and two together. Well today my therapist, managed to put it all together and now would like me to consider going to get that tested. The most interesting thing she pointed out was, as an athlete, I should have a very low resting heart rate, and I am sure we all know that. Well not only should it be low, but your pulse should apparently be strong. While mine is low, it is actually quite weak, as in you have to search for it weak. So I guess it is time to start packing in the iron!

Onto the fun part, the needles. I think she inserted about 20 needles in me in different areas, but first starting with my 3rd eye (middle of my forehead).  I had needles in my hands, forearms, stomach, feet, calves, ankles and head. Sticking the needles in actually was not as bad as I would have thought. The most interesting part is I could sometimes feel it more in one side of my body than the other. She informed me that this is because sometimes we are imbalanced.

After all the needles were in, she turned some infrared lamps on and pointed them at me and left me for about 20 minutes to relax and I have to say it was actually quite relaxing. The one odd/interesting thing is that some of the needles actually began to feel heavy. Which they obviously were not, because they are so small, but they started to feel that way.

When my 20 minutes were up, she came back removed the needles and gave me a scalp and foot massage. I left her office feeling completely relaxed and renewed. I have 2 more sessions scheduled with her which may include some cupping and herbs in addition to the traditional acupuncture. I am pretty interested to see how it goes. And I would say my first foray into acupuncture was a success.

It's a Wrap...The Great Six Flags Olympic Triathlon Race Report

As of this weekend the 2012 tri season ended for me with The Great Six Flags Olympic Tri and what a day it was! I went into this race with a race plan from Coach P of "No Pressure, Just Have Fun". We were working to make sure this race would not be a total season ender for me. Although I hadn't had any issues with my IT band last week, I wasn't going to try to bring the pain back just for a race.

Friday night finally got here and Nick and I headed down to the usually hole-in-the-wall, scary stink-bomb type hotel you get when you pay $89 for the night and were in bed by 9pm. We both had had a very long week, so there was nothing keeping us awake that night. The alarm went off at 5am and we packed up and headed to Six Flags to set up my transition area. I downed the usual pre-race breakfast of a scoop of protein, a banana and 1.25 cups of applesauce and sipped on some Gatorade on the quick ride there. But I have to admit, even though the pre-race prep had begun, I was still not totally into it. I even began to consider if I could just switch to the sprint. But Nick wouldn't have it and nor would I.

So I headed over and set up my transition area. Once set up we started our trek into the park to the lake where we would swim. Although the start was supposed to be at 7am at 6:40 they were driving around saying last call for our start. Well this is where the first obstacle presented itself. I still had not had a chance to hit a bathroom. And the only bathroom open to us was about 3/10 of a mile away from the swim start. So I had to pass on the potty break. And this was a new strategy for me!

We kept on walking to the swim start and that is when it clicked that I would have to run the 4/10 of a mile to transition after my swim, either in my flip flops (recipe for disaster) or barefoot. I hadn't know we were going that far in the beginning or I would have brought my sneakers with me. Well knowing that my flip flops would get too slippery I decided to go barefoot. Good decision? We'll get back to that one later.

We go to the lake, learned the course and got ready to begin. When we hopped in I realized it was a bit colder than expected but I just used my own personal wet suit warming methods and I was good to go. Off went the horn and off we went. And did we ever. A lot of these women were brutal and not very consistent swimmers. So we kept spreading out only to have people swim directly into you. I was feeling a bit out of it and I don't think I really settled into a good stroke until half way through. But once I did, I was out of there. Next thing I knew I was passing people left and right and the last buoy was getting closer and closer. The next thing I knew I was climbing out and getting ready to high tail it back to the transition area.

Swim: 23:58- my fastest Olympic swim yet

So now to the 4/10 of a mile run back barefoot. Well the first half was fine, the second half, on the other hand, was hell. It was all loose gravel. By the time I got to the transition entrance I had started walking and was worried my feet were bleeding. They were burning so bad that I was beginning to think crawling to my bike would be faster. By the time I got to my bike, I was hurting, but I threw on my cleats and helmet and headed out for my ride.

T1: 6:07- actually pretty average for my AG

The bike was set after set of rolling hills that seemed to be never ending. The only great thing, was a) I knew I was supposed to "take it easy" and b) the scenery was amazing! I mean it was so beautiful. All farmland, horse farms and mansions in the middle of no where. So while your legs were on fire, climbing all of the damn hills, you at least had something nice to look at. Other than the scenery and never ending hills, the ride was pretty uneventful. I gave a sigh of relief as I headed back into the parking lot and began thinking about my run.

Bike: 1:27- faster than my usually hilly course average, so I was ok with it
T2: 1:17 - now that is more my style

So now it was time to run. I gave Nick a wave and headed into the park for my two loop course. We ran through different sections of the park and then out to the Haunted Hayride trail. And yes, it was a trail. Again, as I always say, I wish they would mention trail runs in the race description so you would be prepared, but no such luck. The trail was actually pretty nice although a bit rocky. Somewhere during mile two I gave my ankle a good twist and decided it was time to pay attention to what I was doing. I hit my first mile at 8:20 and realized I may have come out too fast. After all, I was supposed to be taking it easy, but apparently I wasn't. (Surprise, surprise.) There were a few very small climbs and I made sure to ease up on those to give my IT band a break. After the first three miles, I was feeling worn but not too bad.

As I passed the finish line and entered into my second loop I saw Nick and he jumped in with me. We figured as long as he made it past the security guard into the park, he could finish up the race with me. He made it past and then the next three miles were just good fun. I had someone to talk to, and that helped me to not push myself too hard and we still kept up a decent pace. But I must say I was happy when I was done.

Run: 55:59- not too slow, but definitely not taking it easy pace

And the icing on the cake, I ended up 3rd in my age group, so I got a fancy little award plaque to bring home!

We spent the rest of the day in Great Adventure walking around, playing games and going on rides. I would definitely recommend this race to anyone in the area. It was set up great and if anything it is worth it just for the scenery on the ride.

So now, I ended my 2012 tri season by placing and now I am moving on to see what kind of damage I can do to my upcoming marathon. On to some run training!!

Now I Get It!

So apparently I finally get it. If you listen to your body and what your coach is telling you to do, when it comes to injury and rest, it pays off! Who woulda thunk it?

As I have mentioned before and as you have probably gathered from my race reports, I have a tendency to hear the things my coach tells me, but I sometimes I choose to not listen to them or practice them. Well it seems I have turned a corner on that one. I have been following his recommendations along with listening to my body and it seems to be creating a positive outcome.

On Tuesday, I had ZR ride on the trainer and then I headed out for a Zone R and Zone 1 run. Well after an hour and half on the bike I was a little wary as to how my knee and IT band would feel. But I came out of it feeling good. There was still a dull ache when I was done, but I iced and it was ready to go by spin class. After class I got in a nice Epsom salt bath and then went to bed.

Wednesday, I woke up feeling it a bit, and rested in the morning. In the afternoon, I hit the pool for my swim (who is this girl, I know!) and by evening I was feeling a bit better so I hit an early evening barre class. After class I felt even better. I really think the amount of stretching you do in that class HAS to help. After class it was home for dinner and another bath.

I got up today feeling good and got in a 1:30 Z1 ride followed by a 45 min Z1/Z2 run. And again, I felt great. I am thinking I might head to the pool this afternoon to get tomorrow's 1 hour paddle swim out of the way since I have a clear afternoon and then depending on how I feel, I may hit a barre class again.

Well I guess the moral of the story is, that maybe, just maybe, the professionals know what they are talking about, and that sometimes, I should stop being such a stubborn person and listen to them. Only sometimes though! I mean I can't stop being me.

Anyone racing this weekend? I have a weekend off before my final tri of the season.

A Very Introspective Monday

Well with no race to get ready for this past weekend and a knee to take care of, I spent some time on the couch and also some time going out and having some fun. It was all the craziness and fun that lead me to today's post. Sometimes I think it is good to take a step back and look at your life and the way you are living it. In doing this every once in a while, you can take a good look at the decisions you are making and why you are making them. And to be honest, just sitting a few hours and thinking really opened my eyes to a few things.

So, since I already had to drop one of my September goals, of a Half PR, I will add a new one in instead. My last goal is now to try to be a little more true to myself with the decisions I make. I feel some times we make decisions for the wrong reasons. Whether it is to fit in or to make yourself feel better, and the results of those decisions are very short lived. So instead of just making a decision without thinking about it, I will think first and be true to who I am.

I know, you are probably thinking jeez this a little deep for a Monday or man, what did she do that was so bad this weekend!?!? But to be honest, nothing bad was done, I just think doing personal inventory every once in a while can have positive effects on your outlook on life and help you to make good decisions as opposed to decisions "just because". So mental inventory for this month is complete!

Now onto the physical inventory. Well, as I said, I spent a decent amount of time on the couch resting and icing my leg, and sadly I went for a quick 30 min walk on Sunday and the pain is still there. It is a little disconcerting considering all I was doing was walking. I had a repeat performance today, when I walked 10 blocks to pick up my bike. I made it back home and the pain was back again. Although I was able to ride the bike home with zero discomfort. So at least I have that!

So the plan for today is yet another ZR ride and then maybe I will take the dog out for a walk and test it out again. Fingers crossed that the nagging IT band pain goes away!

Decisions & Disappointment Go Hand in Hand this Week

So tomorrow would have been my only half iron distance of the year. There is hope yet, that it still may be, but I am waiting to see what Coach P has to say.

So here is how is started. Last Saturday, I had a long brick to lead up to the race, I did a nice 50 mile Zone1/Zone2 bike and quick 30 min run and I felt great. Then on Sunday I had a 1 hour Zone 1 run then later in they day 1 hour on the bike and then another 1 hour Zone 1 T run. Well the first run my HR was totally jacked up because it was so hot in the gym. I managed 9:29 min/miles and although sweaty I felt ok. I came home, rested, ate and got on the bike. My hour on the bike felt great, then it was off for my 2nd hour of running. It had cooled off at the gym which was nice, and 58 minutes of that run felt fantastic (9:22 pace), but then my right leg started to feel funny. So I stopped 2 minutes short and went to stretch and roll out my leg.

I walked home the 6 blocks and when I got home it was a whole different story. I couldn't bend my right leg or really stand on it. It was IT band pain but also felt like I had pinched something. I sat on the couch and iced my leg all night. When I got up in the middle of the night to pee, the same thing happened and I had to hop to the bathroom. I went back to bed and hoped it would be different in the morning. Low and behold it was not. When Nick got up he got me some ice and I spent a few hours in bed icing my knee before I got up.

I decided I would skip my runs for the rest of the week and do a little biking if I could in order to keep limber so I could foam roll my legs and ice. Last night I went to my massage therapist for a full hour of lower back and leg work. The F-bomb was dropped quite a few times along with some major sweating but I thought by the time I left I had turned a corner. Well, not so much. I woke up this morning, not in the usual after a hell-massage pain, but specifically with IT band pain. DAMN IT!!

So now I am faced with the decision of do I race or not. The only thing I know is that if I attempt to take this on, I know me, and there is no way in hell I would take a DNF, so if I set out to race it, I will race it regardless of how much pain I am in. Stubborn is ingrained in me, what can I say? So my options now are:

1. Race the full race and get over it
2. Switch to the Aqua bike division (that means no half for me this year)
3. Don't race at all

I am waiting to see what Coach P has to say but I would like to stay as far away from option 3 as possible. And honestly even option 2 would still make me a little down, but I would at least still get to race. I am prepared to race and I want to. But we will see, he knows best right?

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And I think the racing gods are trying to tell me something, I just got a call from my bike shop letting me know that both my gear cables where shredded and the housings were cracked. Maybe I should just stay home this weekend?

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The IT Band has won, I will not be racing this weekend. Instead I will be buying new sneakers and spending the weekend biking and running in Zone R. While I am disappointed because I was ready, I know this is the best decision for me. I need to get this IT band thing under control so I can finish out the 2012 season healthy. Now I am going to go cry into my cheerios.

Goodbye Summer...Hello September, my Tri Month

Well sadly the summer is over. We toasted to the end of this summer with a fun Labor Day bbq and luckily we picked the only nice day that we had! On Saturday we had our friends over for a full day of bbqing, cocktails and sun. It was a great way to end the summer and begin what should be quite a challenging few months.

My month of local barre also came to an end and since I have a few races coming up, I am going to hold off on starting my next month. But one thing I can say is all this lifting and core work has made a big difference in the way I feel and my workouts. I am noticing it the most in my swims. And yes, I can use the plural of the word because I have been in the pool more than once this month and not to float on a raft and read a book! 

So now onto this months goals. Here goes nothing:

• I want a PR in my Half  coming up this weekend. In the past I have chosen races where the bike and run are so challenging that I never had a chance to PR. This time I think I picked the right race and I am ready to finally get this PR.
• PR in my swim for my Olympic Tri this month. During the NJ State Tri, I started out strong but crapped out at one point, I want to attack this one with everything I've got.
• Continue with local barre at least 4-5 times a week, once I start up again.
• Use up the remainder of my boot camp classes to test my strength a bit.

So this is what I am up against this month and then it is the end of my tri season. I then move on to marathon training for the NYC Marathon in November. And that will bring on a whole different set of goals, but let's deal with September first!

Now I just need to get my head ready for this weekend's race. I am feeling a little bit antsy, I think only because every other season by now most of my hard races are behind me. But not this year! I have two right ahead of me! I have the half this weekend, a weekend off and then an Olympic on the 22nd. The best part is that the Olympic is at Great Adventure, so we get free park entry. Which means Nick and I will celebrate the end of tri season by eating bad food and trying to not throw it up on the rides! Good fun.

Well that is all for now, the goals are right here in writing so I guess that means I have to try my hardest to complete them!

Happy September! Bring on the apple picking and football!

Yesterday Was My Saturday....

So I am not sure what today is? Yesterday I got up nice and early to get in my Saturday brick, since I had some plans for today. I got in a 3 hour Z1/Z2 ride, followed by a T run of 35 min in Z1. Once I was done I settled in for a nice long day of work. Around lunch time I realized I still had some energy left, so I decided for lunch I would head to the pool and get in my swim set that I was going to move to Saturday. I know what you are thinking, "She is voluntarily going to the pool?", the thought crossed my mind as well.

The swim went well and before I knew it, the day was over and I was waiting for Nick to get home to start our usual Saturday night ritual of food and passing out on the couch. Well since I had time I figured, why not hit up a barre class before he gets home. So off I went and on the way home is when I realized that I might be a bit crazy. I mean 4 work outs in a day? But hey! I was bored! And as a result, now I am sore and bored.

So now I am up, thinking what do I do before I set off for a day of fun? I covered all of my workouts already, so now what? I think I might just hit another barre class then head out. I mean I want to get the most out of this unlimited month right? They will regret offering that special when I am done with it!

Then tomorrow it will be back to the normal Sunday training, unless I have too much fun today then maybe Monday will be my Sunday and Sunday will be my Monday, training wise. You never know!