I Can Still Have Fun

Even though I am in my last build phase.... SCARY!

Anyway, last night was one of my favorite nights of the summer. It was the evening where my favorite band played at Wolf Trap. An outdoor venue for the performing arts (music, dance, plays, etc.) that has a lot of lawn seating and you can bring your own food and beverages. Yes, that includes wine. :-) So the Personal Cook and I got tickets as soon as they went on sale - when I didn't put 2 and 2 together about timing. But, as I have said before, it's all about choices. And in about the past 8 years, I don't think I have ever missed seeing Guster play at Wolf Trap, and I wasn't about to start now.

It just took some creative scheduling so I can get in all (or at least most) of my workouts done. But I'm not worried. Becuase Coach is not worried. AND, he seemed extremely happy with my weekend. He actually said "I think the weekend went awesomely (is that a word?)".

Yesterday was a run. Which I had to do at lunch. It was hot, but not that hot. This morning I swam and I am splitting my bike between lunch on the stationary bike and after work on trainer before I have another appointment tonight. See, creative scheduling so I can still have fun...

I can sleep in 4 weeks.
But I do need to figure out how to get my laundry done as I am out of sports bras. And bike shorts. And my apartment is really starting to stink...

Triathlon Can Be Funny

Thank you to Ray for posting this. Who thanked Adam for posting it.

It's not in Swim/Bike/Run order, but I think that makes it even better.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3 (my favorite)


Energy Supplements


And Wetsuit Removal


Thanks for the laugh Stan!

Cheese - WIN: Baking - FAIL

Yes, this blog is still primarily about triathlon. Really. It is.

Anyway, cheese class last night was AWESOME (despite the guy in the background of the picture)! There was this super cute cheese monger guy who I totally wanted to be my great uncle. He just had this little accent and I just wanted to pinch his checks and listen to his stories! Yeah, maybe a little weird - that's what my Personal Cook said too. But the process was pretty interesting, but way too time consuming for me to ever repeat. Lots and lots of milk for a small amount of mozzarella. But was a fun way to spend an hour.

Back to triathlon training.
Today's weather was hot and humid. It was gross by 9:30 so it was time for the treadmill. And since it's Thursday, remember when I did speedy Thursday's with Mr. Shorty Shorts? Well he is out of town this week, but I channelled the Shorty Shorts and hit the treadmill for some intervals. And you know what, I'm awesome. My 5K was under 38 minutes. AND that included my 3 minute warm up!!! Fast compared to the rest of the triathlon population? Heck no. Massive improvement for me - HECK YEAH!

And back to non-triathlon training.
Tonight was baking night. I am off to for a training weekend tomorrow, and wanted to bring a surprise treat. On these SWC vacations I am becoming known for my chocolate chip cookies (thanks Mom, everyone LOVES them!!) but I wanted to bring something else too. I figured my second best recipe is my sugar cookie. Okay, it's not mine, but Emily knows what she is talking about, so I can take credit for following her instructions. But I ran out of all purpose flour. I had enough for the dough, but not to use when I rolled out the dough. I did have whole wheat flour, tried that, but it just didn't work. And they don't taste that great either. Oh well... Maybe next time. I NEED to use the M-dot and new swim/bike/run cookie cutters again!! (Thanks Tammy!)

Story Time

It's been awhile since I have had something I found funny happen to me while training. Sadly, I think the last one was me falling over (not funny) and the reenactment of the fall to get a picture (funny).

As most of you are aware, I am a planner. I have a slightly hard time 'living in the moment' because I am thinking of what's next. Sometimes it's good, others not. Well, today was a day I had to plan a lot for. I had to get in a bike, a run, and work my 8 hours all before my How to Make Mozzarella class. So I decided the best thing was to bike in the morning, drive to work, run at lunch. Drive to class.
That meant last night I had to pack my work clothes and my running closes AND had to pack my bike stuff. Oh, and I was finishing up 4 loads of laundry.

So, I figured I had everything packed and was in bed around 11 (way too late, but the couch sucked me in and it was hard to get moving after dinner). Needless to say, when the alarm went off at 5:45 am, it took some MAJOR convincing myself to get moving. But I was packed, didn't have time to make up the bike, so I went.

84 minutes later my ride was done and I was off to work.

Forgotten Item Number 1 - Pants to put over my spandex as I strolled through the halls of the office.
As I went into my building to get stuff to shower, I pretty much ran down the hall so I wouldn't see anyone. Or so anyone wouldn't see me. But, I was not so lucky and saw my Associate Commissioner and a handful of co-workers. Not cool, just not cool. Seeing tri friends in spandex is one thing. Going to get a sandwich after a workout in spandex is one thing. Seeing coworkers dressed nicely while I was walking the halls in spandex - a totally different (and not cool) thing.

Forgotten Item number 2 - Appropriate undergarments.
I finished my shower, started getting dressed, and forgot one thing a woman should not forget. I don't claim to be 'well endowed', however, I do like support. I did have a tank to wear under my top, however it wasn't enough. Plus, I have a few inappropriate co-workers who have staring problems. Luckily, there is a store across the street from my office and when it opened at 10, I was there. And there was a sale!! So, all is well and now supported.
How could I forget such an important piece of clothing you ask? Remember how I said I did 4 loads of laundry? Well, I hang dry such delicates, and at 5:45 in the morning, I am lucky I get out the door with car keys let alone trying to remember such an important detail.

Forgotten Item number 3 - Headphones.
This may shock some of you, but I can be a pretty cranky person. So when 1 cube neighbor continues to bounce his plastic coffee cup on his desk, it's like nails on the chalkboard. And when another cube neighbor's g'friend comes over and giggles a boat load, I want to tear my ears off. Or stuff them with cotton balls. Normally, I would put on the smooth stylings of the best band ever that always make me happy, but no luck today.

So even though I tried to plan to make the most of my 24 hours, it wasn't perfect. But I got in my ride. I got in my lunch run. And now I am off to mozzarella class!

A Day Off Put To Great Use!

And it wasn't used for sleeping! Or drinking! Or catching up with friends. Okay, that would have also been a great use of time.

Anyway, I did do par of that last one. Jess and I need to catch up, but I needed to go to the grocery store. Instead of having a drink, we walked to the store, she helped me shop, and we went our separate ways.

On my way home, I planned the order of my cooking tasks and got to work. After I put in 3 loads of laundry. Now, I have spent the past 3 hours doing laundry (2 loads of workout clothes - don't ask what that smelled like, and a load of towels) and cooking for the rest of the week.

See, that is where my personal cook and I differ. I find something that I can cook, and is eatable and I make it again and again. So that's what I did tonight. I made things I have made before. Look how good that looks! Steak and chicken kebabs with an avocado shrimp slaw. YUM! So I made it again for the week. And cut up some strawberries for a snack. I know, I know - I am so healthy :-)

Now I must go prep my (now clean) bike stuff so I can go to bed, get up at 5:45, and ride in the morning.

Yay.
(Please note the sarcasms on the "Yay". I will never say "Yay" about getting up at 5:45 am)

Wind

(Sunday's post)

That is all I have to say about today's ride.

It was windy. When I woke up, I was glad I didn't ride by any cliffs, as it was that windy. But, there were no cliffs, therefore I didn't blow off. But it was very windy. I think you get my point.

Last night was Taste of the South, or as I like to call it, DC Tri Club prom. A bunch of us went last year, and we were able to go again, thanks to Karen. It's always so fun to see everyone all dressed up, not in spandex. This year was a much earlier night for most, as about half the people in the picture (a great picture taken by my personal cook, thank you sir! That is if you have started to read this blog...) are training for an Ironman this year. Last year we shut the place down, this year was a bit tamer. Don't get me wrong, there was PLENTY of food and drink and caramel cake had by all, but we did call it quits much earlier.

So, when I was woken up by the wind, I was not excited to ride. But I did. I made it up the hill at Old Anglers on MacArthur blvd, twice. AND I didn't have to stop to calm myself down. It was a much slower ride than last week, but I went over the 30 mile mark, was out for over 2 hours, and for the most part, I was pain free. AND, when I got back, I had this nice little note. The support I have from everyone is just remarkable.


The day finished up waiting in line for a very long time to watch the Brewers/Nats double header (I told you there was a lot of rain yesterday!) to eventually give up and find food. My Garmin told me I burned closed to 2500 calories and I was saving it for stadium food, but a beautiful day and double header = long lines and a cranky Amanda. Besides, the bar was also playing the Caps game so it was basically a win-win for everyone.
Except the Brewers who lost... twice...

Jan 31-Feb 4

Okay, now it's time to update you 9 readers why I wasn't blogging last week.

2 words.
Are you ready? Can you guess? I bet you can't.

JURY DUTY!

And you know what, it stinks!!! I thought it might be "fun" to fill my civic duty and learn more about the process. What did I walk away with? A total sense of jaded-ness and some scary truth behind living in our Nation's Capital. Now, because one of you 9 readers is my mother (Hi Mom!!), I will not go into any more details. But I will say thank you Mom and Dad for raising me the way you did, and where you did. I am very VERY luck.

So, that being said, this process didn't leave me much time for working out. I went to work after spending the day in court, followed by a board meeting Monday night, a musical Tuesday night, and drinks on Wednesday night. Oh, AND, I started getting sick on Tuesday. The lawyers, judge and 2 other jurors were sick, so pretty much all of us were sick by Thursday. Talk about 12 angry jurors!

By Thursday, I just wanted to not be sick (but I still am) and not eat out (as I did all week because the jury room didn't have a fridge OR microwave. FAIL!). So instead of going to the DC Tri HH, I went to the store, picked up some veggies and made dinner while I sat on my trainer and spun for a good 45 minutes. And I felt so much better.

I am pretty sure that is why Friday's treadmill run went pretty good too (even though I was on my own - Mr. Shorty Shorts was off to Florida). I did another 9:1 and felt great!

So, that is where I was all last week. The one really great thing outcome of last week was that I ran into Dena in the jury line, as she was also summoned. Dena is also training for IM Moo, so before we were selected for our respective juries, we started our IM Moo 2011 e-mail group. It's a totally awesome group!

Time Goes By So Quickly!

Man, I don’t know where the time went. I even had things to blog about this past week, but was not home a lot so I did not get the chance to post. So, because I forgot my yoga close this morning (sad I know, no yoga Steve today – but I did go vote, so that is something!), I am taking my lunch hour to catch you 8 readers up on my week – the best I can remember…

Wednesday was a meeting. It was triathlon related so it totally counts as a workout! Or something.

Thursday I went to masters swimming. I was pretty sore for a solid week of working out, so I jumped into the slowest lane for the practice. Yes, of the 4 lanes I am either last in the 3rd slowest lane and working my butt off to keep up, or I lead the slowest lane. Masters people are FAST! This was followed up by demanding food at Diane's place before watching Project Runway. And I will no longer be watching Project Runway because the winner SO SHOULD NOT HAVE WON!

Friday was probably my favorite day. I didn't feel like going for a run, but it was beautiful outside, so I went for a walk. I wound up at the National Gallery of Art and wondered why I had not done that before. I saw one of my favorite paintings, and head back to the office. It was a brisk walk on a lovely Friday. It just put me in a really good mood. This was followed up by two birthday parties and a bit of a late night.

That late night lead to a late start on Saturday for the Rally to Restore Sanity and/or Fear. I was happy to be a part of the moment. And even happier to head home and watch on TV. There was a lot of walking, so that basically counts as a run. AND, there was a Halloween party thrown by tri people - so obviously a workout.

Sunday was a marathon. No, I am not talking about this marathon, but the marathon of cleaning. 5 loads of laundry, clearing out parts of my closet, cleaning my bedroom, and scrubbing half of my bathroom. Two of my favorite parents are coming to visit this weekend so cleaning was MUST. And seriously, cleaning my apartment is TOTALLY a workout. I was sad to miss out cheering for Rob, Janie, Charles, and everyone else, but I thought of them as I tossed old running shoes. And, I headed to this musical Sunday evening. SO GOOD! If you like that hippy story line and 70's rock music stuff.

This takes us to yesterday, Monday, November 1st. I did make it swimming with Toby, Jen, Jenny and a few others, but was late so I did my own thing. And that was 2200 meters straight. Because I wanted to see if I could. And I could. I think over all, I racked up a solid 2800 - which made me very happy.

But that isn't the most exciting thing about yesterday; it was Day 1 of our 100 Push Ups Challenge. 100 Push Ups?!?! Yes, that is crazy talk, but true. This was part of the meeting I was at on Wednesday, and Karen came up with this idea. And for some reason, a boat load of us tend to do what Karen tells us. So, there are about 40 women signed up for this 100 Push Up challenge, based on this plan. Oh, and I also signed up for the 200 sit up part as well. Yay off season!

I almost didn't write about this, but figured if I posted it, I have to follow it because someone might ask. And I can't lie. Or I try, but it's so obvious that I am lying no one believes me. So, it's posted and I can't take it back...

Now that I have caught you all up on my week, I am sure you can understand why I haven't had the chance to blog. Hopefully this is a trend that will not continue. I hate missing Yoga Steve!

A Saturday Night Without Spandex

Last night was one of those really great nights. Good food, drinks and great friends. Tri friends. And a night without Spandex! What a concept!!

We were luckily enough to be friends with Karen and get tickets for Taste of the South. She is on the committee so it worked out pretty well for all of us. It was this awesome black tie event full of swag (I scored some really good stuff!!), delicious food (South Carolina caramel cake - to.die.for) and tons of drinks. Also, they were nice enough to turn the Armory into the South by making it sweltering hot. It really added to the ambiance (and I stole that line from Kimberly).

Oh, and of course there was dancing. Lots of dancing. See, the picture on the right is a bunch of triathletes dancing to the "Love Train". And there was a lot of sweating. And a lot of jokes about triathlon. We quickly realized how dorky we were, but didn't care. There were 14 of us, our own little DC Tri Club Prom - without Spandex.

We clean up pretty well!!!

Fries and Cupcakes

A totally acceptable dinner. Right? Oh, and beer too. Trisha said it was fine...

SLEEP!

I got to sleep in today! Woo-Hoo!!

Now I did wake up at 6, really sore - I mean total body pain. But that might have had something to do with the 2 BBQ's I went to last night. See, there was Karen checking the status of our wine supply. I did go back to sleep and it was wonderful.

And of course, today would not have been possible if it wasn't for those have and are serving for our country. To all, thank you.

Participation For All Elves

If you read my blog regularly, or ever for that matter, than you know that I stink at grammar (and I don't know if that should have been then or than...). I don't care. I tried to care in high school, took extra grammar classes, even 'borrowed' the text book to take to college (which I still have). For important stuff, I always have 1-2 people proof read my documents, important e-mails, papers, etc. For my blog - nah, it adds character. You have to read what I mean, not necessarily what I type. This is very important when when I flip words closest/closet; know/now; etc. I often don't pay attention to spell check and let it put in what Microsoft word thinks is best.

Well, this little weakness of mine is kind of funny as I am the DC Tri club Secretary (and volunteer coordinator). Even though I stink at grammar and spelling, I can take some pretty good minutes. This is coming in handy because we have a situation going on in the club where minutes are necessary. Before we send them to the 1,000+ members, I insisted that the other board members CAREFULLY read through my minutes.

In one section of the minutes I wrote about participation for all levels. One board member has a good eye and sent me an e-mail: "item #3 on Priorities says "elves" instead of "levels".
Me. "Thanks. You are the only one who noticed".
Him. "Well I think we should encourage participation from all elves. Heck, even one elf would be cool."

I about died laughing. Never has a word flip fit so well.

It's What We Do!!

A Friday night. 8:00 a.m. ride in the morning. Karen, Tammy and I went to Karen's to make a healthy dinner. A Rachel Ray dinner, which actually tasted pretty good!

But of course, we had to properly carbo load and nothing says carbo loading like cake.And because we couldn't decide on one flavor, we went for the variety pack.
And of course there was wine.
And we were out the door by about 9:30 pm.

Yup, it's what we do on a Friday night.

Oh Dhani... It's about time

One of my new favorite shows is Dhani Tackles the Globe on the Travel channel. He goes around to different countries and plays their national sports. Oh, and he is a currently a linebacker for the Cincinnati Bengals and this is what he does in the off season. Yes - I do plan on meeting him some day, winning him over, and we will live happily ever after.

And you know what we are going to talk about? No, not triathlon - but we could. He is an avid biker. But water polo!! That is what he played on tonight's episode.

When he was called into the scrimmage game, his first ever game, guess what number. 7. That was my number when I played at Minnesota. See, we are so meant to be!

And back to reality - I did swim tonight with Karen. A solid 3200, I just couldn't do the full 3500. It was getting too hard enough to lift my arms.