Rock Racing

While watching the Tour De California I fell in love with the Rock Racing kits. There are very butt- kicking looking. Some on-line searching told me that we couldn't buy anything yet. Yesterday watching the Tour, reminded me of how much I want to ride with a skull on!!! I went to the website and was happy to find out that the kits are available for purchse on 5.20.08!!! Since they're designed by Rock and Republic (Team Owners) I would imagine it's going to be a bit pricey!

Check out the video Dana put up on her site from the Athens Crit, the winner was from Rock Racing and you'll see what I mean!

Tour De Georgia

Went downtown today to watch the final stage of the Tour De Georgia. Tat and I befriended the guy that was handing out the water bottles for the BMC/Clif Bar team. No one seemed to be thirsty at all and we scored all 30 water bottles!! Of course we shared some with our friends! The guy went a little creppy on us at the end at gave us a hug and a kiss on the cheek, who does that to a stranger!?! We also got bottles from Powerbar, Slipstream, and Jelly Belly. The "feed zone" is the best place to watch these races!

If you can't take the heat.....

This is what I call working up a sweat!

In an effort to become acclimated to the heat I will be racing/suffering in two weeks from yesterday, I am not using any air conditioning. I consulted with an Environmental Exercise Physiologist who suggested that I just not let my body get accustomed to the cooler air inside my house and car. So far so good because the weather has been pretty mild. Friday the house started to get pretty hot, especially when I had the dryer on because it spews out moist heat. Thermostat read 80 degrees when I got on the trainer for a two-hour ride. In the end I was SOAKING wet, like wringing sweat out of my socks and everything! It was disgusting! Then I went to shower and noticed that I still had sweat all over my shoulders. But it turned out to be little sweat blisters, probably caused by getting too much sun last weekend on my shoulders then the massive build-up of sweat from the trainer. How odd! They went away by Saturday morning.

Wishing you all speedy races.....

There are many comrades that are racing this weekend and I wanted to make sure I told you all good luck!

Bob, Sue, and Nat: May the Country Music Marathon be 26.2 of your fastest miles ever!!!

Pee Wee, and my Team Luna Chix: Bust it out at John Tanner tomorrow!

Kellye, Sophia, andGary: Great races are in store for you guys in St. Anthony's!!

Jack and Tony: First triathlons are awesome and the most incredible feeling ever! Enjoy it!

New Shoes

I knew that something was shady about my Asics the first time that I ran in them. They just didn't feel that great, and no where near as comfortable as my previous Asics were. My left ankle is substantially smaller than my right and my heel is constantly slipping out of the shoe. It drives me crazy to wear two socks on one foot! Today I had a 7-mile run sketched out for myself. Too bad that my left arch, achilles, and knee decided to make me upset. My general rule is to run two miles and if it still hurts then it is probably best to stop. My knee hurts like the rain is coming soon and also like I ran yesterday (I did a tough brick workout). I was pretty mad about having to abandon a run when I have been on such an amazing kick lately! I we nt directly to Big Peach to see what the heck they could suggest for my aching arch. I tried on a couple of inserts that just didn't work. They look at my shoe and said that it was all sorts of wrong. I knew it was a dud!

I ended up getting some Brooks Adrenalines. I have never worn this brand before but they were the only shoe that kept my heel from slipping out. So we will see.

I am accumulating a lot of shoes!!!

$#@%&**!!!!!

My left foot is killing me! Specifically my arch. It is a sharp pain that feels worse when I am standing or walking in my runners. It was bothering me a lot today while I was at the gym (yes it was my off day but this wasn't triathlon related). I am rolling it on a soup can right now. I left my strassburg sock at home and I am staying at my mom's house tonight so the can will have to work.

Marc I saw you in the pretty yellow Tri-Atlanta shirt tonight! You dissapeared before I could make fun, er, ask you about it!

The perfect fit!

I have been having some issues with my back and shoulders for the last six weeks. Part of the problem was my bed-it was old and soft. I replaced it and found that my shoulders felt great, but my back was still having some issues, particularly when I rode. After about 10 or so miles my back would go totally numb and by the end of the ride I would be in a lot of pain. It was getting to the point where I would have a heating pad on my back the rest of the day and the pain would still be there the following day. I knew that something was wrong with my bike fit because I just didn't feel right on it anymore.

I had a phone consultation with Matt from The Sport Factory and knew that he was the man for the job! I liked him instantly because he didn't just assure me that it was the bike and tell me he would make everything perfect. He told me that it could be something else, leg length discrepancy, muscle imbalance, bulging disc, SI issues, etc. I went in to see him on Friday for a fit. He tested my flexibility (A+) and had me do some single-legged exercises that focused on some muscles that we use in cycling and running but don't engage much while we workout. These muscles tend to stay dormant and get weak, and can cause back problems. Basically I have a pretty bad imbalance of strength from my left to right leg. My gluteus minimus is not is the best of shape, and my core needs tons of work too. Matt showed me six or seven exercises that I can do in a circuit to help.

For my actual fit Matt raised my seat (it had fallen, a problem that is common in Cervelo's) and raised my fork also. I was currently in the most aggressive set-up possible and he made me less aggressive. It is going to relieve some of the pressure off my back and open up my hips. He videotaped me and did an analysis on my pedaling stroke and made some suggestions. Matt and I talked about all things Exercise Science and I found him to be extremely knowledgeable and fun to talk with. Everything on my bike is marked with TAPE and if the tape gets crinkled then I know something has moved!

Friday Keith and I went to the gym and did the exercises. We set them up in a circuit like plyos. They didn't get our HR up, but had us drenched in sweat. I loved it! Afterwards I ran almost 7 miles. Saturday I had a long run (12.5 miles) and my legs were LEAD! My calves felt very heavy, probably had something to do with the 50 single-legged calf raises that I did! But I managed to make it through my run albeit pretty slow.

The true test was my long ride on Sunday. I hit up the Serrano course with Hunter. The first 30 miles were amazing, I was feeling AWESOME despite having done some serious training on my legs the past three days. Then massive winds kicked in and literally took us from 22 mph on the flats to barely 15 mph. The gusts of winds were so bad that we couldn't ride next to each other for fear that we would get blown together! We kept thinking that we would make a turn and get a tailwind, but it never happened! Just cross-winds and head-winds. But I still felt really good and my back felt fine up until 50 miles, when I started to get a little bit sore. After 62 or so miles we were finished and I could dismount my bike without being curled over and hurting! That's a great sign!

I am planning on doing the exercises as often as possible, but maybe not running afterwards! I need to also focus more on my core, and this doesn't mean abs only! If anyone out there is suffering from pain on the bike that seems excessive, I would highly recommend looking at your current bike fit. Things will move and settle with a bike and as your body changes, you may need another fit. Matt at The Sport Factory did an excellent job and I would recommend his services!!

I put in close to 17 hours of training this week, I am very much looking forward to tomorrow's off day.

Not that bad this time around!

Me, circa 1981, my first swim lesson. I didn't learn much!

Considering the fact that it's been 26 years since my last swim lesson, my first day as Master's swimming at Emory really wasn't that bad. The day started with me getting up at 5 a.m. after going to bed at 2:30 a.m. My initial response to the alarm clock was to turn it off and not get up. Then a voice of reason tells me that I can either get up and swim today, or drown in the Ohio River in August. I choose swimming today. Practice started at 5:45. I wandered around the Clairmont Emory campus and found the pool. I walked around and it appeared to be closed. It's a HUGE pool, 25 yards wide and 50 yards long, and it was covered in bubble. I was seriously upset that I was awake and wandering around in the freezing cold for nothing. Then I saw some steam coming from the pool and two little bodies swimming. It looked so weird to see this entire pool closed except for two lanes with two people swimming really fast in this steamy water. I made me way to them and saw a lifeguard asleep in her chair. Not good if she falls! I found the coach and introduced myself. She told me to jump in and promised that although it was 45 degrees outside the pool was very warm.

Going into this I was anxious/intimidated/excited all at once. I was glad that the Tu/Th morning practice doesn't have a big turnout. The other two swimmers just pulled back the bubble and made me a lane. Coach gave me an option of 3000 yards, 4000 yards, or 5000 yards. I choose 3000, but it really ended up being closer to 2850. She was very kind and gave me some critiquing that I knew was coming my way and some stuff that I didn't realize I was doing. I never got more than 10 seconds rest which made the set go by really quickly. It was cool watching the sun come up while swimming. I made a mad-dash to the locker room because it was still really cold outside. Refer to my last post if you don't know how I feel about the cold! I am looking forward to tomorrow morning, where there is supposed to be a bigger crowd.

The day ended up being really nice and despite being REALLY tired from getting up so early and not sleeping well last night, I still made it out to Stone Mountain for a two-hour ride with Olga. I love Spring!

Reflections from a not so great day....

Don't let the smiles fool ya it was a tough day!

Race day started at 4:15 am like usual. I ate my oatmeal and my dad was rushing me out the door even though we were early. On the way to the race he decided to start arguing politics with me. I was like, um, hello, race morning good energy please?!? WE got there 10 minutes before the race started and there was no one else out there. It was FREEZING cold. Like 40 degrees and I was wearing shorts. Have I ever mentioned how much I dislike cold weather? Well, I really do. Here is the breakdown of the race:

Swim: The water was 60 degrees. It was insanely cold and one chick with no wetsuit go in and got back out. My swim was very slow, about 1 minute, 40 seconds slower than I anticipated. I was having a hard time getting a good rhythm going because the cold water on my face was killing me. Transition area was up a big hill and down almost a block. The smart racers had their friends and family carry their shoes which they threw on after the swim so they could run. Peeps like me just crawled up the hill and walked. Swim took 15:40 seconds for 750 meters. SLOW! My goal was 14:10!

Bike: Normally this is my thing but today it was brutal. It was a really hilly course and the wind was harsh. I was regretting riding a disc because I didn't feel like I was in great control of my ride. At mile two I felt like I needed to burp (nasty lake water) and instead I threw up all down my arm. It was a gross acidic throw up that wasn't chunky but left an awful taste in my mouth. I didn't have anything but water to try and rinse the taste out. The course was set-up really weird and I only saw three riders the entire time. I threw up again at mile 8 and was getting very frustrated with the entire race, the hills, the wind, the cold weather, the potholes, and the glass that I ran over. None of the volunteers were shouting anything encouraging and I was just wanting this thing to be over. Finally we came back into NC State's campus! Thank goodness! I ended up averaging 20 mph on the bike, but seriously don't know how. My bike split was the third fastest females which made me feel better.

Run: The run was just as hilly as the bike and I am in serious need of some hill repeats! I passed a girl on Duke's tri team around 1/2 mile into the run and she said "I can't even feel my feet!" I said " I know, mine are numb from the ankle down!" It felt really difficult running like that. MY first mile split came in at 7:18 and I actually felt pretty decent until half a mile later when I burped again and threw up again! Awesome! I slowed my pace down and just tried to finish the race at that point. I got passed by the girl that ended up winning my age group at mile 2. I hate it when that happens! My average pace was 8:41, again SO SLOW!

This is what we call not having fun!!!

I ended up placed 3rd in my age group and 11th overall female. I was very disappointed because I felt like this race was not a reflection of my training or my true fitness level. But I think that dealing with things that we aren't accustomed too (puke, cold weather) are what makes us stronger athletes. Thanks to Hunter for pointing out that if I had the race I wanted to and won my age group then I might have slacked off these last few weeks leading into Gulf Coast. According to him because I am so disappointed in my results I will train even harder so that I can feel better going into that race.

He's totally right. I felt great today (I should have, my HR avg was barely higher than my half-marathon HR avg!) and hit up the gym for a tempo run and leg workout. I have buried this race and am totally fired up about the next four weeks of training

Ready, Steady, Go!

I am totally packed and ready to head up to North Carolina tomorrow after school. My race is on Sunday and it's at NC State's campus which is only five miles from my dad's house. How convenient is that? He's already geeked out for me and printed up the course maps so we can drive it on Saturday and gotten directions to packet pick-up and the race start. Gotta love his enthusiasm! Sadly the bike portion of the race was shortened from 14 miles to 10.5. This is bad for me as biking is my strength. Ugh. Plus the race director just sent out an e-mail telling us that the water temp is only 60 degrees, about 10 degrees less than anticipated, so make sure to bring long-sleeve wetsuits. I am wondering if I will need a neoprene cap? Inside Out sports is where packet pick-up is so I suppose that I can always buy one there if I need to.

Despite having two dreams about the number 37, I am racer number 51. Pretty good number (I may have fudged a swim time, who knows?!?)

Shout outs are in order for my peeps Keith and Tat who are flying to Miami tomorrow to race in Nautica's South Beach Triathlon. It will be Tat's first tri and they're going in style to South Beach! Have fun guys!

Also Bob and Sue have made plans to seek and destroy anyone in their path in the vicinity of Irondale, AL Sunday for Powerman Alabama. Go get 'um guys!

Dana will be making girls whimper in Chinese this weekend in Chattanooga. Have fun and be careful!

For everyone holding down the fort in the ATL....train safely and hard this weekend and my Girl's Gone Wild DVD's came in the mail today in case it's rainy weather!

Noel Marie Ford

She's a perfect little angel!

Congrats to my dear friend Laurie, and her husband Russ on the birth of their second daughter, Noel! She was born Tuesday via a scheduled c-section. I went by yesterday to visit her and Laurie and they were both doing great! Laurie's been on bedrest since day one and is anxious to get back into the swing of things. She even went and bought new running shoes this weekend! I held little Noel and couldn't get over how pretty she was. Even her burps were cute! Congrats again guys!

Sketchy Bastards!

I went on-line to balance my checkbook and found 4 charges that I didn't make with my checkcard! I called Bank of America immediately and found out that there were more charges that someone was attempting to make and they declined it because it was suspicious. I am seriously irritated about this. The last on-line purchase that I made was with hydrapak. It was on 3.31 and then someone started making on-line charges and setting up accounts on 4.2. Sounds a little sketchy doesn't it?One of the places was Girls Gone Wild, and I am pretty confident that I didn't order it. I called them and they said it was being shipped to my house! Why would someone be stupid enough to order something with my card and then have it shipped to MY house! Other charges were for on-line phone services, Pony book club, and My funding consultants. The Pony Book Club order was in route to my house too. They said that people will make small charges (that one was only $9.90) and if they go through then they will continue to make bigger charges to your account. Idiots. So far the companies themselves have offered to refund my money so that BOA doesn't have to go after them for fraud.

Pollenated

Keith's helmet pollen marks!

My sinuses are wishing that I lived in the desert right now. Or maybe the beach. Anywhere where there aren't five-million blooming flowers and trees. I have never in my life had allergies as bad as they are right now. My nose is on a constant drip and I don't stop sneezing until I take meds. My eyes get swollen and I have the most horrible headaches and pains behind my left eye. It really sucks. I can't take most allergy meds because they make me really dehydrated. The ones that work best have 325 mg of acetametaphin in each pill. I am currently taking around 1950 mg of acetametaphin a day and wondering how much longer my liver will hold out. At least I gave up booze right?

Training for this week has looked like this:

Monday: 1:20 on indoor bike

Tuesday: Off day! :)

Wednesday: BF had emergency surgery so I was at the hospital for 6-hours with her, no workout!

Thursday: 2500 yard swim, 2-hour trainer ride

Friday: Attempted a run, only got 4 miles before my pounding head forced me to stop, 2500 yard swim

Saturday: Supposed to run for 1:50.....only got seven miles. I thought I stopped the treadmill to tie a shoelace and when I hopped back on I realized it was still going! I caught myself but jammed up my wrist and it hurt pretty badly. I got off the treadmill and got on the bike instead.

Sunday: 2900 yard swim, 60 mile bike ride with Hunter and Keith. Almost had a heart attack on account of a RAT that ran out in front of me. The ride wasn't that great because I don't feel comfortable on my bike. I am pretty convinced my set-up has changed in the last year. My back goes numb and it gets really painful immediately. Normally my back only hurts if I have been aero for a long-time. If anyone knows the PERFECT bike fitter let me know! The last 20 miles I felt like I was going to throw up thanks to Clif Blocks. They blew their second chance, I think their too thick for me. Strong riding by my comrades.

Congrats to Dylan for his awesome Lavaman race! I can't wait to read your race report!

# of days until my first race: 6

# of pounds I am over race-weight: 3.5

Poncey poo-poo

Dog ownership challenges my patience almost every single day. I cannot imagine what child-ownership would do to me. I would probably lose all my hair and develop a nervous tick.

Yesterday while walking Poncey and Bella, the wonderful and amazing Poncey decided that he was going to ROLL around in a big pile of poop! I was TOTALLY disgusted with this act and horrified because he was covered in crap...it was literally caked into his collar and all over his head, neck and chest. I used some choice language that I haven't used in a LONG time and walked almost half a mile home trying to keep him from getting Bella filthy too. I tied him up outside while I went in to get gloves, towels, and rags. I wiped him down the best that I could and threw away his collar and name tag. Then I dragged him big butt inside and upstairs. I locked him in the closet while I ran a bath and he got in without me even asking-he knew he was nasty. I washed him three times and conditioned him once but was still convinced that he smelled. After I dried him I doused him in perfume (probably not a great idea but better than smelling crap).

This was all before 8:30 a.m. and my second cup of coffee so needless to say I was ticked.

I forgave the little turd-lover and ended up letting him sleep in the be with me, only after I smelled him about 10 times to make sure everything was cool.

Guess my Uncle Jimmy was right when he wouldn't let Poncey sleep inside at his house because "Dogs ain't right. You don't let them lay in bed with you. They waller in each other's mess." So true!

Don't hate me 'cuz you ain't me!!

In the interest of privacy, I will refer to main character of this post as "hater".

At lunch with my mom yesterday she tells me that she told "hater" about my run on Sunday. I asked her what she said and mom tells me that her exact words were "1:58?!? Wow that's slow, I know that she must be really disappointed with herself. I'm not sure that she's going to be able to finish her Ironman."

I didn't even believe it! Mom swears that she is telling me the truth and didn't accidentally tell her 2:58 or something like that. I spent the rest of lunch PISSED that this little winch would say something like that! Plus of all the people to talk trash to, you do it to my momma? Like she isn't going to turn around and tell me?

To me running a 1:58 half-marathon on your second attempt ever at that distance, 10 months after returning to running from a broken leg isn't disappointing at all. I know that some people would scoff at the notion of ever running that slow, and would be very upset if they placed 288th out of the 1457 girls in their age group. But when you ran a BLAZING 39-minute 5k last year you do not earn the right to call me slow. Compared to you I am like Kenyan fast. In her prime the hater ran a 4:11 NYC marathon (in 1991) but has never run faster than me on any other distance. So if I am slow what does that make her?

The part of the whole conversation that really got feathers ruffled was the "not finishing Ironman" part. What is up with someone who has NEVER done a triathlon saying something like that? Very presumptuous don't 'ya think? It's almost like saying my first-born child will have two heads! It's just not something that you say out loud, even if you are thinking it!

I shouldn't let "haters" comments get to me but I am really fired up. It was just an effed up thing to say. Mom said she's just jealous, which is probably the case because she's old and slow. Hater.