JH Tri camp report plus extra footage of the after camp in Green Valley!

Before i get to the disorganized blog entry...

I thought about bringing these socks to camp. I am glad i didnt. When Mary told me she was trying to put GOBIGGREEN together with me in the flesh i was double glad I didnt bring these bc I can be kind of a smart A$$ and dont think people know that about me...unless you know me....but i still love these socks and have some good stories from wearing them...

So be patient as i have alot to blog about but after 10 days in Tucson i may very well end up with bullet points and stuff you have already heard on FB or on other campers blog's.

We just got in last night and with Easter today ( yea!) and Mayo "Stuff" starting up again tommorrow the blog has been neglected, for good reasons. No time.

So I did my best to start jotting things down on my iphone while gone and this is what i came up with...I wont win any English awards for good sentence structure or a well designed story but have fun reading it anyways!

Wednesday: Arrival. Good friends, new friends, nice sunny skies and a busted bike box from Delta but at least the bike was fine. Yummy dinner thanks to Jen's forward thinking that nobody wanted to cook or do dishes! Kate O and I scored the master suite with a giant bed and an extra bath and were happy to have other campers use the poddy as needed, and for Tracey to crash her air mattress in the room the next night. Good times were starting!

Thursday:

Lemmon
Marco thanks!!! Marco is the best, to come up there and give us food and snacks and cheer us on!
1-14 to windy point with kari and kept thinking it got easier after that:) I remember last year being about 100 feet behind Renee and that helped me get to the top. Even if we went to the TOP and to the ski resort last year, oops, this year I knew to not climb more! And after 14 at least you had some times you could shift and pedal and as I told Jerome "get some free miles!" Jen said 1-5 is worst but I think 10-14 was the most unforgiving!
fun to ride with Mary ange and Jerome to the top!

Refuel and head down it was balmy must have been 50!!

A quick T run with Kari post Lemmon, and i mean Quick! I loved running with Kari, she is a speedy runner who runs with little effort ( or so it seems) and i felt honored to have her at my side.

Dinner at Blanco that night was great, those fish tacos are divine and it was fun to see everyone all dressed up:)

Friday dawned and it was swim then run time:

From my DOUBTS post this is what i arrived in Tucson armed to do, tape up my biceps and my pecs with the kinesiotape. Yup i swam with this. It was touch and go friday as it had been a full 9 days since i swam, horrors i know, but really Jen was great about it. She was the one telling me not to swim, to wait, etc.. and i was the one thinking "this is KILLING Jen, that i cant swim." Ha, wrong. Friday i took it easy in the pool ( no not really but i really made sure that if anything hurt i would stop) and it just felt tight. no pain and best of all no pain afterwards.

AFter the swim we hit Le Buzz, yum!

I got a cookie for after the run, had a nice bagel and PB and a banana and the best frothy capp i could ever want. Ooops. About 1 x a year i do that. drink coffee pre run. And learned my lesson again. Thanks Mary who said i was scared and had to turn back mid Telephone pole run but i was doubled over with GI issues. No espresso pre run!!

I was going to turn back down and run the road and then said "dang it, just slow down, walk if you need to and keep going." I met up with Cheryl and Sharon who were doing a nice pace of run and walk "When you think you may trip and die" and so i thought that sounded good.

When Super Kari and Jerome flew by us we knew it was time to turn around and try to make the descent in a safe manner. And I tell you i could not help but think that i loved descending Lemmon more than this. Seriously.

So 2 hour run done and home for? I cant remember, it all is a blur. Basketball? likely! Kari and i chose to stay in friday night and we went to the grocery store where i proceded to nearly run over a little girl whose mom was selling tamales in the parking lot. Serously? do you send your little kid into the traffic to get customers? I think Kari and I were a bit shaken at this sales technique.

Saturday:

The decision was made for the shorter riders ( ie short meaning not 118 miles!) to drive to an Alberstons and ride Gates Pass, MCcain Loop and some other climbs that were great. We had a few issues with the road cracks and Mel went down, but she was a trooper and got back up again and was good to go. It was a lovely course and after Lemmon I think we were all relieved when Jen said "there is the top." Seriously? Nice! AFterwards we had a nice FAST T run in the "hood's around the Albertsons to finish off a good training day.

Some TRX demo in the afternoon and some hanging out by the pool was just what we needed.

Zona 78 for dinner that night was perfect, and we got to hear the war stories of the 118 miles. I have to say, when we were in Green Valley riding i saw HOW Far they had gone. Whoa that was alot of riding teammates. you should be super proud of that training day, and if i am doing an IM in 2011 I am going to have to get my big girl pants on for a hundo. ( would prefer 100 to 118, ahem)

A few random thoughts mixed in here:

Ange has the prettiest hair color and crap she can ride...zoom zoom. Descent of gates pass and I couldn't see her and all the sudden when we hit flats she took off like the the batmobile.

Mel: brave and no pitty party...and then she goes home and rides a 100 miles this past weekend. You Go Girl!

Kate: cupcakes!!! Az stagecoach protected my bike her cc's...the lady driver told the guy helping us with the luggage...LOUD AND CLEAR...

" Jimmy we have cupcakes be careful!!!"

Sharon; Nurse extraoridnaire and hilarious mini van driver. I loved haunting her with the minute by minute weather report!

John ( poor John took a beating from the tough women as he was better than a garmin "when it's convenient... Get in the left lane.." and after I bashed him for working for Wilson not prince. Fed plays Wilson. My bad. Sharon offered him a great gig playing X box with her kids and he just laughed it off.

Mary is so tiny. But tiny in stature still means that woman is putting out some major power! Fun to hear about tri moxie too.

Tracy: let's ride 118 miles on nuns! Haha. While going up Lemmon she had this little boucning noise and Jerome and i were like WTF? And Tracy told us it was her NUNS. So of course my delusional head at about mile 16 was some image of her plastic NUN ( non NUUN) in her water bottle or some statue on her bike handlbars. Ok it was funny then.
And that chick has done 3 IM like "no big deal!"

Jen/rich happy anniversary how cool and riding 118 they won't forget!

Cheryl: who I liked before I even met her and love her dogs! What a kind well spoken I wish I had your shoulders athlete!!!

So sunday the final day of JHC. A nice run on the roads of Sabino after a nice swim that seemed alot harder than the first one. But I got to again share lanes with Kari, Sharon and Rich and we did the wko and my shoulder was good. Tape and all. The Van driver ( sharon) drove us home to our house and we all hustled to get cleaned up and get the place cleared out by noon. Most headed to the airport I was heading to my next camp..

RICH CAMP in Green Valley with my mother in law:)

It was fun for rich to meet Jen and Jerome, kari and others ( he knows KO) and at one point I called Jen, Lucifer. And I did not mean that. really. As others have said, Jen brings out the best in us and if I were to call her that it would be my own devils talking, not her's.

Sunday we went to get Fro yo at the place close to where we stayed last year and then drove south to Green Valley. with a stop at the in and out burger bc Rich was dying to try it. Big Lebowski you know. I was tired but not COOKED. I really worked hard but maybe this year i knew what to expect. I cant say I had ridden outside much but riding that dang cross bike maybe did me more good than i thought as I felt great on the bike, normal on the run and just plain respecting of the swim given my shoulder.

Monday: Time to head to Arivaca!!!

Its about 10 mies till we hit The ROAD TO ARIVACA. open road, sights 360 deg where you see nothing but the open road, moutains, Cacti, and....

Border Patrol!

FUNNY STORY : The funniest is seeing a border patrol wagon go kareening into taco bell and rich and I say " make a run for the border?"

26 miles of gentle climbing to about 5000feet and border patrol screaming back and forth The ridehome is fast and fun with a gentle downhill and a tailwind if lucky! I glad I felt good Monday after camp to work that ride bc it was so worth putting a few More nails in My reserves. No t run:) yeah!
Grilling outside rocks!
Sweet potaotes!! We had them EVERY NIGHT. Oh YEA!

Riding up more mtns is just as hard even
If u keep thinking it's not Lemmon. It's still hard.

Tuesday long brick...with two more mountains to climb. Magee Ranch road and Madera canyon.
88 degrees....
Richs front tire blows and the rear looks like tumorville. I descend Madera faster and get worried!

He usually gives me a head start and flies by making my 30 mph look slow.
Run 4 miles after and almost explode into zone 4. Ice bath sorta helps. I felt good riding and running i just was not ready for the heat. And I love heat....

Wednesday:

75 min run becomes 65 min...swim becomes 1500 recovery!
I am toast... and some eggs and oranges and peanut butter with that toast please? At this point i am really getting sick of instant oatmeal and am sustained by eating an entire jar of Laura Scudders Peanut butter on whatever...bagels, toast, bananas, a spoon...:) and smoothies and just about anything at this point.

Nap time starts becoming a daily event...

Thursday:

We wake to cold wind( 38 degrees) Yea 80 in MN!!! go figure

and Rich and I are a bit miffed thinking:

... but no rain to we head south to Tubac including some paceline pulls of 30-60 seconds to which I was grumpy and tired but did it anyways even if we were going 12 mph into a headwind in the small ring! And then you have a mile stretch in 19 where you ride on the freeway apparently that's legal!
Tubac and Tumacacarori were dead at 9 am but we got a quick coffee and cookie and headed back up the road past the border patrol checkpoint off our hi 19 TT and home. 42 miles no rain! Phew!

Rich did a t run and admitted he stopped for a mcd ice cream half way! Really! Why didn't I think of that?

Grilling!
Sweet potatoes ongoing
Wine at the store! Nice! That is pretty cool you can buy wine....and i start to crave

Take your pick...Yorks won. Or maybe i just miss Kari!'

I make Rich go to the MC D's so i can get an ice cream cone and i come out with a cone AND a McFlurry, so i can share it of course :) hehehe.

Friday: 90 min run needed a gel after 30 minutes! Stopped looking at my pace or hr ( it was solidly z 2) and just ran. Didn't feel awful but didn't have anymore gears instead focused on cadence and thought about feeling like thus on a half.. It could happen and this was good training to keep on trucking despite my less than normal long run pace.

Bailed of idea if one more ride (boo) ate something and headed to the pool. A tame wko awaited and after the wu I asked the pool volunteer the pool temp as it seemed hotter than normal.

Normal is 84-85
Heavenly muck

The night prior it was 37 deg so the pool was now 88. After attempting to do 2x250 then 5x50 on 30" usually just fine.. I said. 'nuf done. The swim ended after 2200. Crap I had to get into the 60 degree air to cool off.

This was a great block of training and I am tired...

In a few weeks I go to Galveston and I am minorly freaking about my bike as i have never travelled with my TT bike, but not about the race strangely....

If you think all we did is train, that isnt quite right. We had a great time spending nights with Rosemary and we laughed and had some fun nights out with her friends. She taught me all the different CSI and NCSI shows she watches. And i decided i liked CSI Miami the best.

We also took some nice walks and did some good reading. Just finished "How Evan Broke his Head" by Garth Stein, the same author of "The art of racing in the rain." Both great reads. ( Mary..not scary!)

We took walks where Rich tried to see how many pokey things he could touch without drawing blood.

We kept an eye on the morning dove protecting her nest in the carport...

Saturday we have to fly home, and Barf i mean it. The pliot had it in for us and i still feel queesy, I dont fly well and i tell ya i was GREEN on that landing.

Sunday Easter! Lovely run... lively easy spin!

Eggs bacon family tennis in the backyard. No we dont have a court, just agile nephews and two rackets, balls, a golden retriever RUBY and some sun and 65!

Monday Mayo! Tuesday surgery!

Prayers welcome!

I will update FB about that!!!

Doubts

First of all thank to all of you, those i know, and those i dont, and those i hope to meet sometime soon...for all your nice comments on Uncle Angus. I did a race report but didnt do a family weekend funeral report:) It's always heartbreaking to gather as a family when it is sorrounding a death. Our wedding was the last family gathering and since i was kinda "out of it" in a good way! It was fun to see cousins and aunts and uncles back in the twin cities. As usual we laughed and cried and then did it all over again. I know Angus would have enjoyed the party and I know he was looking down on us happy to see us all together.

So onward and upward, right? Sorta.

The last few weeks have been rough. I dont usually get doubtful but other than fearing falling on ice, which is thankfully gone, it just seems that training has been kinda BLAH. I know its March. I baited Jen for a pep talk, and I needed it, to remind me I am human. I can take days off that are unscheduled, and as Angela said someplace sometime in blogville " I have Jen to save me from myself."

When i played tennis all the time alot of it was teaching and I could do that everyday all day. I am finding that now at the age of almost 44 I take more time to recover. In my head I dont, but the open road races that are longer than 10k just kill me. My quads have been tight since last weekend's run and ride bonanza, so tight that my massage therapist even was doing what i call the ART-DEEP TISSUE combo deal. On top of that my shoulder has been sore. I will save you the PT jargon, but after swimming wed i had a tweak in the front of my shoulder. No doubt due to my new love, the ATOMIC push up. I have some instability in my left shoulder and a partially torn labrum so i am always treating it with kid gloves while at the same time trying to strengthen it to avoid going under the knife.

So to top it off when i asked her about my sore shoulder, she said : "you have the Full Meal Deal..you've got your fries ( points to my upper trap), your shake ( points to my pecs/bicep tendon), and your burger ( and points to my general rotator cuff area)"

Lovely.

I did laugh tho, bc it was super funny, and of course i love to diagnose myself, even tho that is a dangerous thing to do and leads to mental trauma or the thought that i need to amputate or have surgery. Not really.

So going into Tucson camp I have a few goals:

Laugh

Be outside in temps above 40

Meet some neat people and laugh some more

See Jen and Jerome again, and try not to insert foot in mouth like last year where i said to her..."You are prettier in person." Ok that's not so bad but it sounded kinda funny to me:) and to her i think.

Work hard but respect my aches and pains

Ok my bike is clean, I have grease under my fingernails, and I just put my positive cap on again.

Rich is sick so playing nurse Nancy is no good either. Gotta add my immune cap to that positive cap I guess:)

Irish for a day 10 mile race report

Yes.

Seriously.

I did a race.

And i didnt fall.

Last week this is what i looked like after my sunday run:

Which led to a week of this:

Not necessarily in the snow as it rained all week, but lots of ice. and lots of arnica on my bruised and angry knee's. Just bruises, but still not fun to bruise your knee caps OR your sub patellar tendon area. Since i had already had my share of PTSD from this:

And now add in some ice disquised as mud about 20 minutes into a 1:45 run and

I decided my best option to make it to the start line was to dress like this: ALL WEEK.

Bubble wrap would not cut it. I had to get out the michelin man outfit.

Luckily with proper body armour, ice, and some rest and not alot of running i tested the bruised appendages ( i took off the suit) on Wednesday and felt that it was gonna be ok for saturday. I tested it again friday and I knew i was good to go.

This week has been rough. Per my last post, this week started out sunday night at 10 pm as a nightmare of a week, and with no sun, and sore knees i was pretty down in the dumps. The last thing i wanted to do was to take anything away from what really mattered this week and that was my family and Uncle Angus's legacy. At the same time I was really starting to think that I would REALLY have to wear this suit to run in the desert in Tucson since i didnt want to fall into a cactus. So regardless of the pace i ran today I wanted to toe the line, be smart and just get out there and run a race. ( Last race i signed up for i couldnt do bc of the dreaded spiral stair fall #2)

Anyways, did you really want a race report? I mean this is far more interesting isnt it? What goes thru my head leading up to toeing the line?

Friday we had a wonderful day of laughter, tears, memories, hugs, tears, more smiles, more tears and by 4:30 pm I was ready for bed. I dont know if any of you are like this but once i get a good cry on, I am like a baby. Tuck me in. Night night. But off to dinner we went and more fun was had by all.

So when 6:30 dawned, luckily i was thankful for a 9am start. Got the breakfast down, working on eating MORE before i race, and had ample time for all that goes down before a race.

Got to the start and here is your pictorial of that:

Best word to describe this is RAW....we were running around 2 lakes, and there is a nice NORTHERN breeze those Canadians sent us. Brr....

Hmm, I have to get out of this car to warm up sometime....but first let me do the "gelling"

Funny is that of all the places to park I parked right next to my buddy Steve.

So we chatted it up a bit, i wished him happy birthday, told him i have a cupcake raincheck for him since the only cupcake i could get yesterday was from the funeral and i thought that was bad karma, and we started to get warmed up. I didnt see him at the start but he cheered me into the finish where he said "you looked rough" Yup. I. Felt. Rough.

So here is my race report:

I ran without any watch or anything. We had a clock at mile 1 and mile 5. Coach said to not start out too fast, and given my week prior with emotional and physical stress I was seriously just happy to be there. It was FREEEEEEZING before we started and FREEEEEEEEZING after we finished, but during the run i was just great. If not a bit hot when we were running with the wind.

Mile 1 7:11 Felt easy

Mile 2-5?? I know i ran a 7:00 in there and i started to see something in the near distance. As we crested one of many sneaky little hills It became clear to me what was now in my sights.

THE PAIN LOCKER.....

I wasnt in it yet, but that door had just opened. Upper right hand ? That's mine!

Around mile 5 the curiosity was killing me. I was sorrounded by guys, all of whom looked to be about 25-30 yo. They all had big spaceships on their wrists. The GARMIN patrol. Everywhere.

So as we got closer to mile 6 and I stepped my right foot into the LOCKER I said : "Ok Garmin boys, what pace are we doing here?"

Lead Garmin boy ( whom i was doing a nice job drafting off in the wind, or i should say I was nicely in his slipstream) said "7:06 now, 7:11 overall."

Me : "thanks."

and that was pretty much all she wrote.

When i had gotten "comfortable" in the locker I knew that mile 6-7 was gonna be hanging on to my Garmin boys, and as we crested another hill to come into the final loop of the same lake we looped to begin with we were met with the 5k runners. Ugh. My Michelin armour was ready, I dodged, i tucked, i scampered, and i made it thru the sea of 5k'ers finishing their 1 loop. Now the work began. 3 more miles.

Lead Garmin boy came by and said " Bad. Time. For. A. Side. Stitch" But he seemed determined to catch Garmin boy #2 and off he went. Told me in btwn breathes that we were at 7:15 pace.

And around mile 8, after yet another sneaky hill, I pretty much slammed that Locker door shut and sat in there in the dark wishing for it to be over. No knee pain, my left glute medius started to cramp and i tell ya that was the longest last mile I have run since...( my last race?Hahaha)

We had to re-join the 10 milers headed into their last lap and so again the agility drills took place going downhill into the finish chute. Garmin boy bested me by about 30 seconds, but that is ok. I was pleased finishing under 1:12 and pleased that those last 2 miles i just told myself to "sit in the locker and gut it out." I kept hoping that my TRX was going to give me some great finishing spurt, but maybe it did...i sure think i helped me get over those hills.

Steve met me at the finish, I grabbed some snacks, gave my free beer coupon to a lucky gal, and we jogged back to our cars and talked about how the race had gone. Steve had his Recoverite in the car, me, my chocolate milk and we toasted each other, snapped a picture and headed off.

Happy Birthday to Steve! And while we trash talk each other alot about pool workouts, Steve can run like the wind! So nice job Steve, and as i said, perhaps we need to settle this on the bike sometime:)!

The weather is still grey, damp and cold. Forecast calls for 59 sunday, but i really dont believe it. Long ride outside tommorrow, fenders will be key, and if the bonechilling weather continues I may be doing the 50/50. 2 hours out 2 hours in. Tennis on tv? Roger on tv at Indian Wells? That could very easily be my deciding factor.

Here's to y'all staying upright. I can lend you some bubble wrap if you need it.

You will always be #1

My uncle Angus died this past weekend. It was quite a shock, something we are all still grieving over. I am in disbelief that a vital person can be gone so quickly. He lived alone but was fully independent and was packed for his next trip to Naples, FL. He and my Aunt Marge travelled there often to escape the winter.

Aunt Marge was my 4th grade teacher. She was the head of the lower school that i attended and she was like a mom. Can you imagine having your mom teach you 4th grade. I LOVED 4th grade, not only was my "mom" the teacher but my cousin Sara ( her daughter) was in my class. 4th grade rocked! You have to know she had a special gift to be able to teach her own child, AND her neice. ( and a few years later she taught my younger brother)

Marge left us way too early as well. 6 years ago to be precise.

Uncle Angus was a quiet one. He was the youngest of my dad's siblings, and after Marge passed he made sure to visit and re-visit alot of the places he had travelled with her. I will always remember Aunt Marge for her special and kind words as both an Aunt and a teacher, and her charm bracelet that rattled on the counter as she cut the beef tenderloin at Christmas eve dinner. And for her apricot jello. She made this fantastic jello mold that we still try to make each Xmas eve even though our's isnt nearly as good as she made it. I also remember after church on sunday going to my cousin Sara's house and we would eat Ring O Noodle soup and then get to walk to the Tom thumb ( which, Um, was like a mile or more...! ) to get candy. Sara used to get these big chocolate chunk things. I have no idea what they were! And I would usually get a sugary treat like those straws filled with sugar or the Lic-a-Stick.

Angus was quiet. He gave good hugs though and you knew he was fully present even if he wasnt yapping away like some of the rest of us. I mean we have a BIG family, someone has to keep the crowd mellow:) I remember this fall he called me a few times, and left me messages bc he wanted to help a friend get into a personal training job. It was so Angus, he was so soft spoken, but so thoughtful in trying to help a friend.

And how can i leave out the Christmas tree socks. About 20 + years ago all the men in the family got matching Xmas tree socks, that they wore on Xmas eve. Over the years people moved, socks wore out, people slacked on their dedication to THE SOCK.

Not Angus.

This past winter, Christmas 2009, Angus had his socks on. I am not sure if he was the only one or there may have been one more. But he told my mom..." I just wear them each year, put them back in the drawer, and then find them a year later." We laughed so hard...wondering and knowing that perhaps his socks were so well preserved since they hadnt been washed! But heck, Xmas eve dinner lasts all of 3 hours? Likely the socks had only a good 18 hour day in them. No need to wash!

Uncle Angus is Angus 1. Angus 2 is my cousin Angus ( Uncle George's son) and Angus 3 is Angus 1's son. So have no fear #1, you will always be NUMBER ONE!

Here are some pictures i thought would remind me of #1.

Alaska, where he travelled with Marge.

Encampment River
Lupin in full bloom.

And My Dad and Mom. Whom I cherish every minute I have with you.

The weekend starts early!

Before i start writing my la-dee-dah post on my outdoor Brick ( pat myself on the back...yeah me) I have to give a huge shout out to Powerbar! Ok sure you may dump my butt and tell me you dont want to sponsor me, ( and no i havent heard a word, but am expecting that 1,304,200,400 other women my age would also be good ambassadors for your products...

But anyways...I love these gel blasts. I was not a fan to begin with bc they seemed kinda...just...an odd texture. Yesterday on my ride when my lobster glove was stuck on my hand and i had no way to get to a powergel ( Green Apple, btw), much less rip the the top off, while still travelling at high speeds on the Wagon ( that is a joke) I managed to get to these. As soon as i shoved 3 in my mouth i thought "BRILLIANT!!!!" You are an oral surgeon's ( or dentist if you want to make it simple) dream. And more important you are my dream.

No stickiness in my teeth.

No gummy chewiness

No chewing needed

These were great. I think i could possibly even run and eat these.

Ok end of the PSA.

The day had been mapped out to include 4 loops to begin with, but when i thought about it i knew that meant climbing 4 x Ohio and 4 x Marie and for those of you who know those hills, that isnt a good time on the "wagon" ( with her fenders, she just is dang heavy)

So instead i added onto the loop to make it 2 loops instead. But as you can tell from the roads below, I didnt really account for 1) The Wagon 2) Bad roads 3) ice where i had to get off and put a foot down 4) stop lights since i made the loop more urban. So i got thru 1.5 loops in 4 hours and that was good enough for me!

Note: I did think of this while riding and know some of you ladies are curious about riding outside on snow and ice and during your spring thaw. ( as I write this DC/Mid Atlantic is either getting more snow or you are all drinking lemonade under the blossoming trees, I know it all changes so fast!) But...

DONT hit the brakes if you see ice. I think that is the biggest instinct you have to overcome. I came around a corner yesterday headed down under a freeway and duh if it wasnt totally iced over. MY instinct was to hit the rear brakes ( and then fishtail) but i just cruised on thru, staying very quiet up top and spinning in an easy gear. IF you have speedup and cant stop, keep going. IF you are going slow and have time, put a foot down. But by all means DONT SLAM ON THE BRAKES!!!

Above was what alot of the roads look like. Pot hole heaven. Job security for summer construction crews i guess. And a few large puddles that were ice on top and I did put a foot down bc i knew i would go right thru and potentially get stuck...or go over!

You can see the bike path in there, cant you?

Mid ride Rest Area

I know i am not really telling you about the ride, but what is there to tell? It was 26 when i left and it warmed up nicely. I was toasty, I dont think i really needed the toe warmers bc they were burning my toes by the end, but i never and shy about being a bit warm.

I rode hard, as hard as the wagon would allow, and tried to work on my nutrition. Kinda hard to do in the winter, but i tried. I seem to not need as much in the winter, but i think deceptively you get dehydrated...anyways i wasnt bc I had to stop about 2:40 in and found this nice rest stop.

HOME!

Rich asked how the shammy butter tasted, and thankfully i couldnt tell him. The Powergels and the blasts were my top picks:)and left a bit of trash at this rest stop as well. Pet peeve, dont throw your wrappers folks you are gonna be a sticky mess when you are done anyways, just put them in your pocket and do the wash ( after you take the wrappers out of course)

And back to the roads for loop 2 +

Upon finishing there was that run. I had a fantastic run last time i did the outdoor long ride so i was optimistic about this one ...sometimes its a self fulfilling prophecy to think mid - ride how tired your legs are and how hard you worked all week and that you had this many more hills do go, and how heavy your legs feel and....so I work hard to just NOT go there. I have to admit i was SOO glad to be off the wagon, but kinda was excited to go run! I had orders to run 10 min Z1 then the rest of the run was Z2.

Now some of you know that Jen's Zones seem to be a "bit" more challenging this year. I can run pretty darn hard/fast ( fast for me) and still be in Z2. So When i hit the road on the peg legs It was hard to keep it in Z1, but i tried. After 10 min Z2 was easy to keep and i was moving ALOT faster than i felt. It felt hard but i felt like i could have run all day ( ok not all day but for another 5 miles!)

I kept thinking about how hard those first 1-2 miles are after you just biked 56 miles, and how it is good to not start running too fast or too hard. And then i thought about how running 10 miles has been pretty routine for me, and then i thought about how those last 2-3 miles are just plain HARD. And then i realized I was HOT. I mean HOT like it felt like it was 60 degrees outside. I didnt even have alot of clothing on. I somehow thought " I bet its record highs today, it has to be at least 50 out here." I was sweating like it was summer. ( well not really)

And here is proof, see I am suntanned:) and sweating!

IT was 40 degrees. See, whacked out temperature perspective...gotta love it.

And what a difference the sun makes.

So off i go to the "pool" for some ice time and my recovery snacks. I know the Twizzlers have no place in this but in my world, they do....

Looks like some dirty ice, yup, the snow is melting! Horray!

And while this is random...I wanted to be in the Lake, and i tried, but my ice bath wasnt this cold. But i love this pic, summer at the cabin, and especially my sister in the background getting the heck out of DODGE as fast as the rocks under her toes will let her escape Lake Superior's chill!

Then mom and dad had me over for Salmon at their home! Yippee for Salmon.

So..since I did my saturday ride on friday i got to do my friday swim on saturday AM.

Loved it. 10x 400 a variety of things, it really wasnt bad at all.

Enjoy your weekend everyone...Think SPRING!

PS...Roger is back at it at Indian Wells starting in about a week! If you live in so-cal you get your butt over to indian wells and watch, this is the most fan friendly venue out there. I would pick it over a Slam venue anyday. You can watch the pros practice, warm up, and i even saw Rog a few years back...and Agassi, and Henin and Venus and...but to be honest, the best tennis at any of these events is usually the middle ranked pros. They are SO good, it amazes me how good they are and they are ranked like 30-50.

The Yard

In response to Beth's great post on the CLUB, Rich and I went in search of the greek yogurt. I am not a fan of Sam's, and when i saw the bargain deal they had on this and on lots of other packaged and um...well...less than appetizing things, I knew my plan to keep shopping at the coop for my organic fruits and veggies and local grass fed ( when possible) meats, poultry would stick. I actually dropped Rich off and headed back into town for produce.

Then again we got some organic blueberries and a pinnapple, and our yogurt..oh and toilet paper...so we didnt cave and get this......Are you serious? People buy that? Not to sound all high and healthy, but grossssssssss.....

Monday Monday

Monday morning is in full swing and as much as i dread getting up at dark o' thirty to swim i can see that its getting lighter earlier and when we are mid swim set and its light out i somehow feel like i am running late..I am so used to swimming while its dark outside. Of course indoors so its not like i get to see the sun rise, really. Maybe in a few months!

Weekend was pretty mellow, and despite wanting to get outside to ride again I was happy with the 5 minute prep to go ride the trainer as opposed to the 30 min prep to ride outside. I laughed reading some email i got from Troy Jacobson ( the OTHER coach Troy) saying how long it takes to prep to ride outside...15 minutes..really Troy? you must not have to layer and chemically heat and put on helmet covers and get your lobster gloves so you can actually shift and...ok point taken.

It was a recovery week for me as well and tho i always love those it still is funny since my friends think that should mean NO training. Wheras I am learning it just means less volume but still some punch to the wko's. I am getting it....somehow during recovery weeks i also start to notice little nagging things. And back to monday...monday comes and i am so happy to get that swim done early and now is the impending dread/excitement/fear/excitement of TRX later in the day! As I said last post I have really liked this alot and i do think its slowly making me stronger. ( Tho i know you need 4-6 weeks to actually get stronger) so I am trying to be patient and work thru those aches and pains. I have alot of left gleno-humeral in stability

Shoulder stuff, likely due to hitting too many high backhands and also falling off my bike and landing smack on my shoulder about 4 years ago. So i go between thinking i need to have my labrum repaired ( likely culprit) to not even knowing i have a problem to strengthening the cuff to feeling like i need it repaired to overdoing it on the swim to not feeling it too...you get the trend. So the TRX is good but often i over do it and dont know it until the 24-48 hr DOMS sets in. C'est la vie. Hubby seems to think i should just keep up with the 1:1's and not do the class, but i think i may just have to try to exercise restraint in class and not have to do it all. Even tho that kills me to have to stop when everyone else isnt. But i know i am not everyone else, so it goes.

Other than the monday monday stuff...its getting warmer. 40's perhaps ( late in the day..still cold in the AM) and the Olympics are over. Bachelor finale tonight ( so tune in for the last 12 minutes?) and the Office Baby epsisode is thursday. That is a must see. And even tho the Olympics are over and I will miss that each night I am sick of TV. Horrors. I am ready to be spending more idle time outside, in the garden, riding, pooling etc...And at the risk of offending anyone....as much as i was in awe and inspired by many of the athletes....many of them not even winning medals....Hands down give me the TDF( july) or the US OPEN( late august-sept) and then you will see true despair when it is over.

So happy monday y'all....and whoa..it's March. I had better go look at my road bike bc that baby is taking me up Lemmon in about 3 weeks!!! Cant wait to see all my JH peeps!

Coach Troy and TRX!

No, not THAT coach Troy. Troy is my TRX instructor, drill master, etc...

All the buzz is about TRX so since it is offered at my YWCA I decided to bite the bullet and give it a try. There is a class offered but i knew i wanted to have some 1:1's just to even figure out the "ropes" before I took a class...I am not going to go on and on about how great this is ( it is) and how sore I am ( I could barely roll over in bed for 2 days, much less flip turn after my first session) but I have found it refreshing and fun and scary and hard all at the same time.

So session 1. I keep thinking "yea I have a pretty strong core. I do alot of Core work...I know core" Coach Troy says : "You are pretty strong. Runners have strong legs. Um. Your core...( dot dot dot....) sentence never finishes....Great. Bubble burst.

I am sore for about 4 days. I mean serious sore. Like I was afraid I had Beth's rib issue all from some stupid ropes. ( Coach Troy said " I was corrected by the women not to call them Stirrups." Good idea, Troy.

Session 2, 1 week later. Serious fear. My forearm was sore as well. Great now i have golfers elbow ( medial epicondlyitis) from being in the flexed wrist position supporting my weight. But that is ok if i tape it... all is fine. We focus on glutes and lower body more today. I am relieved that my core is just sorta on fire. My glutes are sore for another 2 days.

Now its a week later ( these are spread by 1 week) and its a Monday. Usually i swim mondays but today i had off so i was bursting to actually have more arm/back/Lat strength. It was perfect since it was the start of the class and I wasnt going to have to whine and feel all wimpy when i couldnt do a push up. At 3:00 i get home and have a message..."Coach Troy is sick..."

WHAT??? Poor guy, but um I am NOT going two weeks btwn TRX sessions bc I can only imagine the hurt locker i would be back in. ADAPTATION IS A KILLER ( or insert your own word to describe it!)

So I get in with Troy for a 1:1 today. And today's comic relief started with me doing some sort of spinal twist where you had to basically hold the handles with one hand and rotate backwards/sidebend rotate etc...while holding on with a straight arm.

Coach Troy: " So you havent spent much time working your "Guns" have you?"

Me : "um, no."

Then we go to a supine "sit up" for lack of better term where my legs are straight I am supine and my heels are in the handles. I have a heavy medicine ball over my head and i have to sit up "vertebrae by vertebrae and reach forward with the med ball and then lie back down in the same manner." This is pilates-esque so i did it last time with no med ball and did fine. Today tho after 45 seconds if i wasnt turning like a top. I would come up slowly and my feet would drift left. I would slowly lie back down and my feet would come center a bit but every time i would come up my feet ( suspended in the straps, but you have to dig your heels) would drift left and by the time i had finished 1 minute i had rotated my entire body about 15 degrees to the left.

Now I am not a TRX know it all, if you are, then speak up but gotta guess that my right core, glute etc...is working a bit more than the left, eh? Troy couldnt stop laughing and the more i tried to dig my left side into the handle and squeeze my glute the more i got frustrated with my counter clockwise demise.

Anyways...I feel really lucky to have tried this and coach Troy is fantastic. I am thinking about getting one for home, but it is really nice to have someone tell me what to do and to also not do this at home. IF you have one at home, do you use it over the door or do you risk pulling the ceiling down? Plus Troy is offering a class outside this summer. That sounds awesome.

Outdoor Brick and a trip down memory lane

So saturday I had a 3.5 hour ride on the plan. With a T run. The longest i have ridden the trainer this winter is 2.5 hours and that was ok with a plan. I am not good at watching movies while i ride and to be honest the ONLY thing i can really watch and pay attention to while riding my bike is tennis. LOL. Yes the tennis channel is on at our house alot. Usually Rich says "Who is playing?" And i say " I dont know, doesnt matter."

So earlier in the week knowing it was going to be sorta warm and the roads were in decent shape ( no ice for the most part) I started putting my head in a winter riding mode. Emailed a few winter riders ( hardcore ones that ride in ALL weather I mean 20 degrees is a heat wave to them) and got my confidence up. I dont have studded tires, but I do have a nice cross bike with fenders ( haha you dont need those unless it is actually ABOVE freezing) but I know how to layer myself, how to use the chemical heaters, and that a 3+ hour ride in the winter means you get to stop to warm up and slam a coffee. OR whatever you want to slam for that matter.

So around 9:15 am Rich and i headed out the door. All the while i had said "Ok IF IF IF i get cold then we are looping close to home...." which in my head is a total cop out. As if I Really want to ride outside for 1 hour then do a wardrobe change and ride inside to some dumb TV or worse to Dick Button and ice dancing. ( Ok side slam, not a fan, of it OR dancing with the stars)

So deep down inside i knew that once we were close to 90 min out...hahaha gotta get home now Sucka! ( Me being the Sucka!) Anyways..the ride...all is bliss for the first 30 minutes if you arent going into the wind and your chemically heated toes are all toasty. I also have Lake Boots so those help and even tho they help they are far from windproof so as you turn into the wind or descend you still get that cold toe thing. Hands were fine, which is a first for me since my hands are usually cold. Heaters in Lobster Gloves. IF you really want to ride outside in the winter, pay the $$ for Good Lobster Gloves. Mine are Pearl Izumi.

So for a 22 degree start and no sun I was starting to wonder as we headed west into the wind into Rosemount. Oddly my Right VMO was cramping, and I know it was bc i wasnt drinking.

Oh yea, the bottle froze. Infinit Slushy. I tried to suck some out and that seemed to help.

Here we are about 90 min in, With Rich mixing his $.99 coffee/hot cocoa/vanilla coffee concoction at SA:

Oops, I think he looks COLD!!! I just look like some sort of pinheaded alien with my balaklava around my neck. The lady at the counter was kinda enough to let us loiter a bit while the coffee was consumed, my toe heaters were replaced with a fresh pair, and Rich tried to warm his toes. He didnt use the toe heaters at the start so i gave him some hand warmers and he wedged those in his shoes. Not sure how he did that but it helped. And FYI the toe warmers are flat and have adhesive so they go on the bottom or your socks, and the hand warmers are rectangular and more puffy so they go in your gloves. Fascinating isnt it. The art of heat.

Finally I was getting clammy, even tho we hadnt been there too long i knew the sun was shining and the best part of the day was ahead. Yippee. Sunshine. And Brr....clammy for the first 20 min of the ride. But toes and fingers intact. So win win. And the bag of day old Apple fritters was starin' me down, but i stuck with the Powergel and Luna bar thank you very much.

We looped back home faster than we got down there ( south of our start point) and so we added on some time near home, all in all feeling pretty happy we got outside. End temps by 12:30 were high 20's and the sun had melted my Infinit Slurpee. Actually it was ALOT better in slurpee form than it is at 80+ degrees. Seriously.

Now it was time to run off the bike.

This is what things look like when you have to do a major wardrobe change. Laundry. ( See the evil laundry basket there. IT no longer gets to go down the spiral stair....sorry bud)

My plan was 45 min of Z1-2 and to run how i felt. Feel good, go! Feel tired, dont go. Well I got going and I WENT! Trusty bottle of Infinit there if i needed it i could loop back to get it.

I covered my normal 45 run course in 40 minutes and had some to spare. So another 5 min at tempo and the day was done! Wow, outdoor bricks are better when its 70-80 but i was pretty happy with my outdoor morning and to share it with Rich was even better.

Who, by the way did his T run ( Triathlete in training!) on the TM and got in 30 minutes!

What a stud!

And here is where i landed after the run:

And busted, to the right ( your left) of my cheek marks is where i cooled off some wine for saturday night's dinner:)

So despite loving this day I will admit that when faced with the chance to ride outside again sunday after my long run ( for which i paid dearly for running hard saturday, ughh, talk about molasses on that run) i chose to leave my lovely vehicle to rest another week in the garage. Maybe next weekend, who knows...then again we could get another foot. Please NO!

I was going thru more pictures as i was moving more things ( junk) from my condo. I found these. OMG I think I was late 20's and this was my first half marathon. And it was hot. That was when we used to have summer up here. I think this is in Mora, MN home of the Mora Korta and Vasoloppet. North of the cities. Great race!

And for the total laugh and for me, the "Oh I miss those courts, and I do miss tennis...outdoors!" here I am serving and walloping and forehand. Look at the all cotton attire ...way before the days of wicking fabrics:) And obviously not wearing a visor till i was 39 yo was not a good idea when melanoma came knocking at my door. Oh well. Cant see the ball on your serve or your OH when you wear a hat or visor. Funny how that was such a big deal when i was in high school and college. Guess you are smarter as you get older.

This concludes our weekend in review. And boo hoo. They tore those courts down for more field space. We won 5 straight MN state high school tournaments using those courts.

Ahh, memories.

Mo Jo

Ok i dont have much to say, in that it's monday, i worked long and hard today and swam and got in a TRX session. Yup, exciting. I just need to update the blog bc everytime i see that Darn SPIRAL stair i get freaked out and i need to up the mojo of the moment to....one of patience and humor.

Patience bc I know its only february, and while I am usually pretty patient I also am a scheduled gal and when my plans get messed up by something, especially something that was my fault, it takes some forgiveness of myself to move on. Granted it's not that big of a deal, just that as the owies on my back scab up ( as i felt them painfully today in supine at TRX) I know that I have to keep being patient. I seem to remember this last winter. Like the more i rest the worse i feel.

My ankle is feeling better, still a tinge yellow, but my other shin hurts now. And my wrist hurts and...I mean really? Whack me with a stick and wake me up when I am in Tucson. ( someone pack my bike ok?)

Me and Ms. Bradbury stylin the pink recovery sox!

Days are getting longer and on sunday Rich and I declared winter over. To which mother nature handed us another 4 inches of snow. Ok. We get it. You win. We laughed at our thought that we could somehow control this.

But i still told Coach Jen to write in outdoor rides for me. This is the longest winter ever and unlike winters past ( well only 2 winters bc I havent been riding that long) I have been out on my cross bike, in snow and ice and whatever there was to offer. Not Sub zero mind you, but above 18, yup, gotta go out. But this winter i got soft. The snow and ice came early. I got cozy with my trainer and my new Ipod docking station and some good tunes. But now I need to get my mo jo back and get outside. Lake Boots ready, Cross bike ready ( always dirty of course) and rear tire not to full PSI, perhaps only to about 70, but ice will tell me what to do on ride day. Loops figured out so i can stay relatively close to home and a phonecall away. I dont do well with flats in 70 degrees, and changing a Cross tire in sub freezing isnt gonna happen.

Last year, look at how clear the road / path is!

Another funny comment i heard today from KJ one of my bandit masters swim-mates ( we say that bc we all go at 6:00 am bc who can wait till 9:30 am for masters, i mean really? it works for some but not for all) she told me her 15 yo said "Mom why do THEY put potholes in the road?" I told her she should have said "Job security for summer construction." But with the snow we have had the roads are in poor shape. Good thing i have thick tires!

I am loving the TRX and signed up for a class. I am kinda scared bc I have gotten so sore plus my accident prone-ness lately, but I am trying to be patient and look long term. Long term says I need some more meat on me, and I need to work at this gradually over time and not sink all my hopes and dreams into EVERY single race i do. It is so tempting and easy to get caught up in the moment, to get obsessed with the NEXT race, whenever that may be. But for me, the real challenge is staying the course, not letting a result get the best of me, bc as I have learned FOR me, it is all about the journey and when you get to race day, if you did this right and you did your homework, its all about letting fear go and doing what you know how to do. Race from your strengths, and respect your weaknesses. Ok wasnt trying to get all Hoosiers on you:)

I want to do an IM and I know i need to be stronger. Have more power. Get some shoulders:)! Ha! ( Mom/Dad, can you do something about the Ectomorphic gene pool here?)

Well my sister in law can help i know...what? This isnt good recovery food:)! Hee.

See Molly, all the food in my pantry isnt healthy. But you are right, these dont stick around too long!

Have a good week. Watch out for laundry and stairs. ( and slippery socks)

Down the Spiral Staircase...

And no this isnt Marla Maples and a guest blog post by Alfred Hitchcock or Nancy Drew.

I wish it were. Instead it is the "Case of the Newleywed...throwing herself down the stairs bc the household chores were too overwelming." Ha NOT. Just me being a klutz.

And to be frank, Lets set the scene a bit more. I had just done TRX the night before. I was feeling it when i woke up, and my Ab's, Ribs ( was thinkin about Beth!) and all Thoracic muscles and intercostals were AWAKE. Even before i woke them up again.

So to set the scene...What do you get when you take this:

Exhibit A: Spiral Stair....plus+

Plus+

Plus+ (that would be slippery socks, I just picked these bc Cancer Does Suck)

Equals=

No that is NOT my ankle. Some of you have asked...um. no.

And...

My backside btwn T 6-L1/2 looks like George Burns put his cigar out on my spinous process'.

Lovely. I actually hit the stairs and then rotated so the "cigar burns" are lateral to the spinous process themselves, and my right paraspinals are so tight today is the first day i felt like i could actually stretch them out a bit. Dont look at the next picture if you get grossed out easily, but you will see that they really do look like Cigar burns...Or what i would imagine those looked like.

And, the best of it ( ok real sarasm now) is that my 10 mile race is NOT happening saturday. I am extremely bummmmmmmmmmmed. Not for what you may think, i had no goals to run sub 70' ( i did that already when there wasnt ice everywhere) and i had no time goals really at all. I mainly wanted to run and see what was in these legs and GET OUTSIDE. It is peak time for SAD in my body and the last few weeks has been REALLY drudgery with the snow and cold and ice underfoot. I am also not getting out to ride like i did last winter. Partly due to common sense and partly due to just poor roads and even poor bike paths and then the common sense thing says just ride indoors, and dont worry about the ice, staying upright ( hahaha, ok i took care of that myself) and I also like to sweat. So indoors it is. Thing is, being clipped into the bike has its issues with calf and lower leg/ankle with all that Dorsiflexion ( pulling up) and sometimes what I really need is a longer ride with the abiltiy to coast ( horrors) and change position ( ie climb out of the saddle) and just move around. Riding the trainer after this voyage down the stairs hurt nearly more than running.

alas, it is mid-February and my prudent and supportive coach reminded me to just chill. But I am a schedule freak and i get it in my head and it is hard to let it go. Alas I am also smart enough, and have learned my lesson in the past, to not try to be a champion in January or February. My swim buddy Steve said " ease over this speed bump Julia, so you can HIT the gas on the other side." I like that advice. I have still had a hard time forgiving myself since, yes, this is the 2nd time i have taken the laundry leap. You just didnt hear about the first time.

But when it comes to my aqua jog saturday I am gonna be jogging with the pool noodle ladies, and I plan to try to just chill out and not have to beat them to the wall. Plus i have to get ready for another "AKW" on monday. That would be an AB KICKING WORKOUT = TRX on monday.

Maybe i shouldnt be so sad about missing this weekends run:)

And this picture makes me want to really try to stop the pity party. I have alot to be thankful for, and Roger in Ethiopia seeing the kids that are benefiting from his foundation makes me realize that a few weeks not running isnt that big a deal. ( And yes Roger seems to be finding his way into all my posts, bc he makes me smile!)Or to clarify, his tennis makes me smile, just want to clear that up. He is married you know.

P.S. We have an icicle garden at our house. At least i didnt fall and impale myself on one of those.

Team Shack

TDF 2010, here they come!

Looks like Tucson, doesnt it? I was waiting for Jerome and Jen to come out of the "trunk!"

Bjorn Selander is from Hudson, WI woot woot!