So Long 2009!

Another year. Another 365 days, 12 months, 52 weeks, 26 pay periods, 525,600 minutes (according to Rent) - many ways to measure.

For me, my first year without a major goal. No school. No marathon. No grad school. No Ironman. No European vacations.

But, it was a good year. I learned a lot. And a lot about my self. You can't ask for a better year than that when you learn about yourself.
2010 - I really do hope you are a tad better :-)

Happy New Year Everyone!

PLEASE, PLEASE, FOR THE LOVE, PLEASE STOP

Whoever you are with the voodoo doll - please, please, please stop.

I have learned my lesson. I really can't take much more of this. Please. I am begging you to please stop poking me in the back.

Please.

Nothing to do with Triathlon

Just a quick post for tonight.

Right now, I am really hoping Mother Nature loves me enough to let me take off tomorrow from DCA and arrive safely Milwaukee.
That is all I want for Christmas.

Please please oh please let me make it home for Christmas.

Thank you.

2010 Schedule

What to do what to do for 2010...

You might have noticed I added my 2010 race schedule on the right side of the blog. There is 1 race listed - Eagelman 70.3. What else to do?? I backed out of IM Florida - and every time I get a back spasm, I know I made the right decision.

There is some talk of doing a spring race with my brother.

I am leaning towards Chessie (sp?) man Aqua Velo (Sept 25, 2010) - 2.4 mile swim and 112 mile bike. I also saw they are doing a new event of a 1.2 mile swim, 64 mile bike, and 10 mile run... tempting.

And THEN, Karen posted today that the HalfMax (October 2, 2010) has an Aqua Velo that counts towards the National Club Championship points. I might do okay at that...

Of course there are a few other races that I will want to do with Mary Elizabeth, Brooke and Diane (and hopefully Karen) that are a tri and a du (du for Mary Elizabeth, tri for the rest of us).

Oh, I don't know... How about injury free...

Awesome Cartoon

This was posted on our forum and I thought it was great.
It's funny because it's true.

(NOTE - this is a link. In the first line above, there is a like that takes you to this cartoon. It's a funny cartoon.)

SNOW DAY!!

All caught up! This is today's post.

Yesterday I started getting texts around 5 saying that the Federal Government was closed due to the snow! Woot!! I couldn't believe it! I took a little drive yesterday and the roads really weren't that bad. But, I knew some of the rail lines (not metro, but the trains that go further out) were having issues so I figured that was the main reason. Either way, I didn't mind. I was more exited than when I would get the day off as a kid - I still got paid for today!!

But I did some serious cardio. I met Kristin for some serious shopping. As I did most of my Christmas shopping on-line - it was all stuff for me :-) I just couldn't pass up some of the sales! In fact, I really don't think I paid full price for anything. I am such a good shopper. Yes, it may be true I haven't finished my shopping for my friends here - but maybe I will just do that in Wisconsin and give Happy 2010 presents...

Maybe I will go to the gym tomorrow...

Saturday, December 19th

And even when I was home all day Saturday, December 19th, I still didn't sit down to write the following...

SNOWPOCALYPSE OF 2009!!!

Oh, it had to come. It's been awhile since DC was hit - and DC was hit hard. I really didn't believe it would actually happen. But happen it did.

Friday was spent at Pat's house, and my former running group when back in the day I ran a marathon. We had a great time and around 9:30 or 10 - it started to snow. We left soon after. Silly non-midwesterners...

Saturday was supposed to be our DC Tri Annual meeting and Kona view party, but the snow was just too much - and Mayor Fenty did ask us all to stay off the roads - so the Board decided to listen to our fellow triathlete and postpone the meeting.

I did manage to go for a walk to say hi to Bri (my California girl) who was greatly enjoying sledding in Rock Creek. I passed - the last thing I wanted to do was hurt my back again. But it was beautiful.

And I forgot how hard walking (i.e. a kick butt workout) in the snow could be!

Thursday's Post

Here is what I wanted to say on Thursday, December 17th.

I really haven't been working out much (*cough* at all *cough*) since the swims Monday and Tuesday. But I saw this and remembered fondly of biking in college.


I often think I wasn't very smart from the ages of 18-22.

Tuesday, December 15

Tuesday's Post

Two days in a row of swimming :-)

Monday was just AJ and I.
My back was feeling a lot better and I think I cranked out 2400-2500 meters. For the most part it went okay, that was until 2 d-bag guys jumped in. One guy was really fast. The other, thought he was as fast. Not.So.Much.
At one point we were doing a 300 straight and he pushed off right as I hit the wall. I hit his feet by the time I finished my glide from my turn (and not a flip turn - I miss those). It was supposed to be an 'easy' 300 - but I went a tad harder, just so I could pass him. And pass him I did. HA! At some point on the wall I heard him talking about Nations tri and how awesome he did. Whatever. I just really hope he isn't part of DC Tri. I don't want people like that on our club.

Tuesday was a bit disappointing.
Both AJ and Bri got stuck at work, but I still went and got to the pool about 6:30. Unfortunately, lanes 1-2 were filled with a water jogging/aerobics class. At 7, the masters team got there and took over lanes 5-8. That left lanes 3 and 4 for everyone else. BOO!!!
10 people in a 50 meter lane is still too much. I wasn't fast enough to be with the speedy people but everyone else in my lane was swimming with their head out of the water. And as soon as the pusher got in (a guy who you just really want to pull aside and ask he wants some tips. He doesn't really lift his arms out of the water, just kind of pushes through the water and creates a ton of waves/splashing in the process), I hopped out.
1700, 5 minutes of treading (returning to my water polo roots), 10 minutes in the hydrotherapy - good enough for me.

Sunday, December 13, 2009

Here is Sunday's post.

After a successful second off season triathlon, I decided to sign up for a 3 hours spin class. Yes, I said 3 hours.
Anyway, Karen actually talked me into it earlier in the week and because I didn't want to pay a cancellation fee, I figured I would give it a shot. My back was feeling better and if things didn't work out, I could hop off and walk/stretch/etc.

I know the instructor - I took a few of his classes a few years back when I was training for my first ever triathlon. Karen and I also talked AJ into the class so there were 3 of us in the back, ready for pain.

Overall, what a workout. I realized that I sweat a lot in my head. My hair was SOAKED. Yes, I know that's gross - but true. And I was amazed of how fast 3 hours went. The class was really good and overall, I felt okay. If things started to hurt, I would change position, stretch a bit, pedal slower - whatever I could to make it through the 3 hours.

And to celebrate - lunch. California Pizza Kitchen went out of business (SAD!) so Fuddruckers it was. I wasn't very hungry, but was shaky so knew I needed food. And oh, how delicious it was.

The classes are every Sunday til mid-March-ish and fill up really fast. I am hoping to get into a few more this season. I like punishment :-)

Saturday, Dec 12

Okay, once again, for some reason I just haven't found the time, or something, to post. I have the general idea of what I want to say about the past 2 weeks, just haven't written them.

Sorry.

So, here is Saturday, December 12, post.

Friday was my once a year party. Cookies and Wine. Doesn't get much better! It was the first party in my new apartment - and a new way to decorate. I think Carols felt the love!!

And I hope everyone had a great time too. The hors d'oeuvers (I think that is the right spelling...) were catered by Adam, fresh off of his first professional cooking class. So good.
The cookies where Emily's recipe - the best sugar cookie recipe I have found.
And the drink of the year - we went for 3 rounds (thanks Mary Elizabeth!).

As much fun as we had, unfortunately, my back did not. The spams started up again and were no fun at all. Especially because Saturday was the second off-season triathlon. The first one was a great success, so Karen and Julia planned another outing. This was a swim, brunch, mani/pedi. Good times.

The swim - not so great. I made it about 1000 yds and just couldn't keep going. So, I went to the hydrotherapy pool and that seemed to help a bit.
Brunch - bottomless mimosas for $10.95. Obviously that helped!
Mani/pedi - I just went for a pedicure - I like to have pretty toes. But the best part - the massage chairs. That really REALLY helped.

I spent the rest of the afternoon with the heating pad and some drugs. Overall, not a bad Saturday.

I'm Walking Out the Door...

I had a hard time falling asleep last night. That makes 2 nights in a row. Not sure what's up with that, but all I know is it means a hard time getting out of bed.

I am doing my thing this morning, shower, get dressed, put away yesterday's stuff, grab breakfast/lunch, head out the door. Well, just as I am putting my coat on, I stop at the door and think - something isn't right.

Oh yes, it's the towel wrapped around my head and wet hair. Take the coat off, unwrap the towel, sit at the computer and blog about it.

Need coffee. And be able to fall asleep tonight!

Drafting Works

I met up with AJ tonight for a swim. I only made it once last week with Bri - after the dress incident - but have been going to the gym. Only if it's for 30 minutes on the stationary bike and/or stair master - but something. Better than sitting at my desk.

Anyway, I am still having some motivation getting to the pool on my own. But like I said, I do have some great people to swim with so when I can talk them into swimming - it's a lot of fun. Tonight was no exception but unfortunately there was no Bri.

See, Bri - from California, is really fast. I do my best to keep up with her and didn't realize that since we have started swimming, I have always been behind her. So when I stated swimming tonight, I felt slower. It took about 800 for me to figure out that I didn't have anyone to draft off of... And AJ is getting a lot faster and is hanging onto my feet much longer than this summer.

Competition is good.

Again, Sorry

Okay, once again, sorry. I am sure I am down to maybe 1 reader...

First of all, they did let me back from Canada. Accent and all.

Second - happy belated Thanksgiving!

Third - me. I have found a few amazing people to swim with. A great group to bike with. Plenty to keep me motivated. However last night - I hit a new 'low'. I went to help Rox with a gala - aka, I needed to put on a pretty dress. I have a few in my closet and I was really excited to wear one. To my unpleasant surprise, my dress didn't fit. So I took out my back up dress. That didn't fit either. I had a moment of panic. I know I haven't made the best choices in the past few months, but I didn't realize it was that bad. I did make it into a dress that was okay - just not the way it looked when I bought it.

I can't say "how did this happen". I know how it happened. I am trying to stay positive. Have a plan. Better choices. Continue to swim, go to the gym, work on my back... and have realistic expectations. This will all be tough over the holidays - but it's needed. Really needed.

Wish me luck!