Continued...2011 intentions

As i said I wanted to continue "my lobster tail lands in Ruby's mouth happy new year" post and write a bit about my intentions for 2011. I sorta felt like I should organize this post so i didnt just fumble and spew, as i often do. But since the only way I continue to blog is to fly by the seat of my pants( hats off to you all that write down all your hard earned mileages, but that isnt me) I think i need to keep that trend going. I hope this doesnt sound like resolutions, and if it does, well then i am all full of it and like the rest of the world. Come february i will be all "why did i say i needed to cut back on caffeine?"

Family/Personal:

I intend to try to not be a royal pain the backside to my husband as I head into a very exciting but scarey summer training for my first Ironman. He is super busy in the summer with work and we barely have enough time to do anything outside our outdoor seeking bike rides ( add on run and swim) or we are tired and dont want to. He is so good at suggesting we go here ( cabin) or go east to visit relatives and i am so often saying " racing that weekend..." or " Gotta ride my bike x hours that weekend, can we go later?" The catch is that our lovely cabin is 4 hours away. We cant just zip up there for a day. Well we can. and Rich will, but that is not worth it to me.

So intention is to Plan ahead for some cabin time and try to not say NO to plans before i even hear what they are! And to Plan for downtime. That doesnt involve a lake a bike or my run shoes or my new Garmin that i havent even figured out how to use.

At the same time...I plan to say NO to somethings I may not want to say NO to.

Social things. Work things. Family things.

**note we do have a family reunion at Luther College in August 2011, and will be missing our favorite FIREHOUSE 50 TT:( I had my undies in a bundle about it. Rich was like "no biggie..." He is a better Man than I am. ( hahaha, of course he is!)

In addition my nephews are so fun to be with and are playing lots of tennis. I want to see them play more now that they can see over the net, and its really fun to see especially Joe, the oldest, so in love with a sport similar to how much i loved it. Yep, Slept with my racket folks.

Friends/Teammates:

I intend to train with people ( not just Rich) 1x week at least. Its hard. I have great roads to get on right from home, and i really dont want to drive to train. But alas my new team and Gear West isnt near my house. So i want to try to get out there for the ladies ride or at least make an effort to meet up with these great ladies ( and others that arent on the team!) to ride run or swim. Or at least have coffee....

Coffee..speaking of coffee...

Nutrition:

and speaking of all things nutritional. Someone in the pool today said to me..."Yep its january. time to lose 10lbs." I knew he didnt mean me. ( I hoped) Then he said as we were kicking " you. not me." Point is i dont think i have a huge GOAL around weight or nutrition, other than to be consistent, be smart, and eat for fuel 90% of the time, pleasure 10% of the time.

Maybe pleasure isnt the right word, but what i mean is that I do intend to eat and drink in a healthy way. But that can get out of hand if you analyze every thing that goes into your mouth.

Rich has requested that i make banana bread and other homemade items WITH GLUTEN:)

I was experimenting with GF things, and tho its fun to have some of that I am lucky i dont think i eat alot of white flour processed stuff anyways so I dont need to obsess on GF. Some of you may disagree.

Booze/Wine/Beer: Well, I have never heard anyone say " I am really worried about Julia. She isnt drinking now." Wheras I have heard ( in my head) " I seem to be having a few more g of wine than i thinki need to, and with increased training you may need to lower that or omit it." Point is I dont think it does me any good. I enjoy it. I am lying if i didnt say I like a glass of Cab Sauvingnon in the winter with a good steak. And i like a cold beer in the summer after a hot day. But It's not a food group... Again I am not judging anyone who does drink daily. I just cant do it and dont want to do it.

And back to Coffee. I am still going strong on half decaf capps. But i am thinking my higher than high morning heart rates may be eased if i just went to decaf. Again. Winter. In the summer i dont crave that hot foam. Yuk, actually. Green tea is marvelous but there is nothing creamy about it. So again, no rules, just caffeine isnt always my friend ( cold hands, sore boobs, sorry TMI) Oh and there is a term for that. Fibrocystic Breasts, and yes, google it. Caffeine is no good for that.

The rest of the diet is great. Lots of kale, beets, turkey, fish, steel cut oats, nut butters,greek yogurts, some meats, salads, and fruit. We are in the dead of fruit season. Blah. I am buying organic frozen berries and living on pinneapple ( which is remarkably good right now, thanks Hawaii) and oranges and grapefruit. The blueberries and strawberries we had lately have been so bad and mushy and conventional that they tasted like nothing.

Oh and who knows this : other than tasting sorta good why is Coconut milk and coconut milk kefir etc...the rage now? It doesnt have as much protein as cow milk or yogurt and i know it has good fat but is it just a good alternative if you are lactose intolerant?

Training/Racing:

Sorta covered this but my intention is to complete "IN ONE PIECE" my first IM on 9/11/11.

I have to say I have had my doubts about this. November was rough on me. I did start back to training ( runs and harder bikes) in December. But i feel behind.

Now If i step back and say "Julia, why do you feel behind? Your goal race is in sept. That is 9 mos away!!!" silly. I would say:" Yes that is true. But the reason i feel behind is that LAST year at this time i was running x pace, x distance and doing hills and speed and..."

Despite being nearly 45 yo, last season was really the only season i raced a full season like i did. And I have nothing to compare it to. Winter 2008 was likely alot like winter 2010...nothing magnificent about it. Just getting the miles in, and staying up right in the snow and cold. So when i DONT COMPARE to where i was last year, all is well with the world. And the good thing is that the trend is I am getting stronger. I am consistent and I am putting in the work. It's hard to trust that being consistent is really that important. I mean, being consistent in your training is ...well. Boring. Sorta like doing the dishes, brushing your teeth, making dinners for the week, its not exciting day in and day out. But then, when you look at the Training Peaks and see all those colored boxes and you see you did all that, well then maybe it starts to make some sense.

So my intention is to not get caught up in the day to day " Oh i swam 10k today." bc really, in January i dont need to be anything more than boring.

As for "What is your goal for Madison?" I have to say "FINISH"

Yesterday a guy i really respect in tri said "oh you will be buying a ticket to Kona." And that made me feel good. He believed in me. But at the same time I cant really think like that. It's my first. It's one day. Break it up and see what happens at the finish line.

I have a few 70.3's on there, and maybe a few local du's in May. But no Texas 70.3 this year which is too bad, but its earlier and its a week after Tucson, too close and too much since I am not where I was last year ( hahaha, slam slamslam, kidding, really) As long as my body allows I am headed in the right direction. Still seeing some people for bodywork on that stubborn Lateral Hamstring. I know I called it my butt, but it was my lateral hammy. And it still is wanting to overwork, so we are just trying to get it to chill. I get to run on the Alter-G treadmill this week, I will post about that. Pretty cool machine, I am quite lucky!

Has anyone done Door County half? or what about Muncie? Muncie is NOT easy for me to get to, but i am thinking about it. Sounds like the Pigman of Indiana, from what i hear. Not much going down there, other than heat and corn eh?

Ok I think i have rambled enough with my intentions. But biggest of all I intend to keep believing in myself. The other day I had a friend tell me to have faith in myself. He said " We have faith in you, you work harder than anyone i know." That hit home. If other people believe in me, why should i not believe in myself?

Good stuff.