Winter 2011

Winter has been a mixed bag. In one sense the true northerner in me misses the white stuff. It's just plain weird to have rain all day in mid december and to hear that golf courses are open. Lest you think its warm its not. It's this eery windchill with wet conditions, that seems to be what I think the Pac. NW is like. Having never been there i am not sure! Here is our yard today:

Golf Anyone?

 Here is our yard last year, this was even after the snow had melted a bit. I guess technically its our driveway but i just couldnt find the snow rake for the roof pics ( i must have burned them)

 What has me going strong?
Not Swimming. I am not sure why but i have been hating swimming. That isnt true. I dont hate it but its just plain drudgery to get me there, and if i dont go at dark o thirty i dont want to go. Part of it is the pool issues with the poop, that wasnt so fun, then there is the chlorinated " I smell " issue. And of course the pool temp. I cant say i have been swimming slow, I mean i went to the cold pool monday and i swam FAST. We had a faster wrkout ( T pace) and i swear i wonder if i was on another planet when i swam that test, bc I think " I cant swim that pace unless its 10x100!" SO i try. And monday i blew a gasket. My delts and my pecs and my Lats screamed and actually I didnt swim again till today.
What gets me swimming:

Latte Art at Nina's coffee cafe!

 What else is going on? I am actually liking this view. Granted i havent had any really long trainer rides but as the weather has been so nice I should be out on my Cross bike, but that will come, timing is everything and right now Rich isnt able to ride outside with me so its nice to be home and sweating, and watching the Tennis Channel. I mix it up actually, i usually listen to great music and have the TV on mute or low. I have tried some reality shows like Housewives of __________, but usually that just starts to annoy me. Tennis seems to always be it. Or any sporting event that i sorta "Get" and can follow. The Aussie Open is coming up and in January I expect the rides to get a bit longer so I am excited to have some TV to go with that.

what do you watch when you ride indoors?

While I am on a winding no purpose post, what did you all think of the NBC IM coverage? I havent seen it all, but each year, of the past 2-3 years when i have known more of you that have gone, and you are people like me, AG'ers not pros, not 17 hour racers, i am struck with the question of WHY they dont showcase or at least mention the bulk of the racers that are working/family people/AG qualifiers that are the PACK. They arent winning, nor are they falling into Road signs and looking like they have absolutely NO CORE support left, nada, scary, nothing, blinded or about to have a stroke. Ok that was my view of those last guys. Seriously? Not healthy, but of course "Its not the falling down its the getting back up that matters." Um yeah but maybe i just am jaded by my work in health care, but what is healthy about that? Nothing, maybe that is the point. It gets viewers.

But what about the pack, the normal people? I didnt see any of you! Boo!

So the weekend is here, tonight is martini night where i have orders to drink martinis. The first is fun, the 2nd is a mistake. Lets see if i make a mistake tonight:) And Yes i have a driver! happy weekend!

The BAG

I wish i had some riveting news to post. But in a way I am glad i dont. I have been wanting to blog the last week but really, there is not much going on in MN in December. We are finally in winter, and must i say I am feeling about 10% of the winter blues, and though that may sound sad, it's really not nearly as bad as it was last year at this time. I still have some patches of sidewalk and road that are visible, I have had few delays from weather related traffic snafus, and today was the first day i really had to cover my face for parts of my run. Not so bad.

I must add that when i went out to run last week after a swim and had not dried my hair, enough...I knew it was time to add another BAG to the bag lady routine when i leave the house at dark o'thirty. The bag this morning contained:

Boure winter wool socks
Shoes ( gotta check twice on this one)
Heavy Winter Gear West windproof Sugoi jacket
Under Armour stretchy winter top
Sleeveless base layer ( Craft)
Lobster gloves
two hats one tight that covers my ears and another looser one on top
neck gaiter that can be pulled up and down prn ( as needed)
Road ID ( eeks i forgot this today, sorta freaked me out) but i had my Y membership card
Compression shorts/capris ( today i wore capris), I like CWX the others dont squish me enough.
Addidas running tights with reflective stripes, even tho today it was sunny, with all the icey roads and cars parked our drivers dont see runners OR bikers, even in broad daylight.
**These tights are not super tight nor are they alladin pants, and they are OLD. VERY Old. Like so old i am fearful they may not make it thru the winter. If you have ideas, let me know. I dont need lulu tights, got those, these need to be functional and kinda thick. I have some CRAFT winter riding pants, but those are for SUB zero.

So today's temp was 8 and windchill of about 0. Running into the wind my HR shot up, mouth into gaiter for sure for the into the wind part, then when i turned around i was good! Pace came up, and i could breathe. I was SO GLAD i went outside. IT takes days like today to realize what your limits are. and i havent found it yet. usually its lack of sun and windchill below 0, and when in doubt i run loops close to home or to my starting point.

So. That means i am running! This is fun, this is good. I am so thrilled to be feeling healthy, feeling good, and at the same time telling myself that nobody needs a champion in January. ( But i do hope to run a half marathon in Naples in January, so that is something to look forward to)
The Drudgery of going to the pool is made easier by my swimming pal Steve ( not in a speedo) another Steve, and without him i think i would pull my eyes out and roll over in bed. I do that anyways as Steve usually wants to swim at like 5 am and i somehow coax him into the LATEST possible swim time before we are overtaken with classes and turds. By the way, the turd caper is solved? or is it?
There have been no incidents in a week, but i am suspcicious. Many of you asked how they knew it was an adult? Well i guess they know bc no kids are in the pool from 8-10 am...and it wasnt there before that. Rumor has it someone was taking some diet supplement and it makes one...well...loose. Ok then, that is about all i need to tell you. But the chemical count is high and you can smell me from the next room, or so my husband says.

Speaking of Rich, he is doing great. We head into another chemo round next week but thankfully we have the week before Xmas off so he can enjoy that time and not be bogged down too much. He still never complains and lives his life to the fullest each day. Lots to be thankful for!

Ok that is it from Sunny and cold MN! Have a great weekend!

Recess Is over

Or is it?

Thanks to you all for your support and thoughts. It means alot to me to know i am not alone in some of the feelings I have been having. And despite feeling sad that i missed some fun "events" this past weekend I Really did the right thing. The only thing i did for 5 days was swim. Once, with no workout, no clock, no nothing. It was pretty darn nice. And when i woke up on monday morning i knew it was time to Test the Leg and I sorta had this "Hmm, how do i want this week to go?" thought.

What i mean by that is that I was ready to get back on the horse, but mentally I was not ready to get back on it and GO 100 MPH. So this week has been all about doing some easy stuff, and remembering that I am the one in charge here, I am the one who wants to do this and really really not stressing about workouts AT. ALL. And you know what? It's working.

Today i woke up and it was -5 and -16 windchill. Seriously? IT's March.

I do dumb things when the sun is out. I Wanted to go outside SO BADLY to run.

So I emailed coach just to say " You know I want to go outside but i think i should be smart and stay in, do you agree?" I got a one word reply: TREADMILL.

I laugh that i need to have someone keep me from hurting myself. But sometimes drastic weather causes me to go insane, see previous posts:) The other thing i have been doing is eating a substantially larger breakfast and lunch. I dont need to go into details on that unless you really care, but in looking at what was not helping me, we found that my diet was lower in heme protein than i think i need to add the strength into my SBR. So my old diet of lots of grazing all day long then a bigger meal at night has been altered to include a bigger lunch with more meat and more eggs, and also some supplemental drinks. I Am also drinking milk with dinner wheras in the past i was just drinking water or Kombucha. So far so good. I feel like a Taurus Bull :) Which i am, by the way.

So just wanted to say thanks and that it's nice to be honest on my blog and not have people say HTFU. I say that to myself way too much and in the future i am working on keeping this wonderful sport in perspective and enjoying it. Because I do. Alot. Just want to get this show outside. Sometime before June!