Sunday Funday!

Today has been quite the day already!

I did a reverse triathlon: 6.35 mile run, 1.5 hr ride, 1.2 mile swim. Felt good, the best that I have felt all week. I may actually be returning to normal here shortly! Yay! My confidence to no longer slacking for Gulf Coast. I went through some old Garmin files and realized that I have put in the training, I just need to relax and let whatever happens happen this week!

After my triathlon I ran errands, gave both the dogs a bath and an extra long run, did laundry and now I am TIRED. Going to pick up some yummy Mai Tai takeout and do some stretching then call it a day!

Hope your Sunday was a funday too!

Party like a rockstar!

Things were moving along quite nicely in triathlon training land for me until last week. I have been partying like a rockstar, drinking too much beer, staying up WAY too late and still getting my training in! Oddly my times are improving despite doing all the things that are supposed to be horrible for tri training. I ran the fastest 12 miles ever, on 4.5 hours of sleep, and 6 beers (and maybe a half bottle of wine too!). That was a huge confidence booster! My biking and swimming were getting much stronger too.....until the friggin' swine flu hit me and I have been down ever since!

Last Sunday was to be the last big hoorah before my half taper and full taper weeks. The plan was to do a little Reger-like triathlon. I woke up Sunday feeling a little quesy. I ate a light breakfast because my tummy didn't seem to want to eat a lot. I headed out to the SC and decided to ride 56 miles in the following segments: 20 miles easy, next 20 moderate: last 16 hard. I ended up with an avg speed of 19.3 after the first 20, 19.8 after mile 40 and finished up at 20.1. I was pleased with that but noticed that my tummy was still hurting and I didn't take in enough calories. I figured that I was dehydrated from previous nights beer drinking and the fact that I didn't get much sleep. I started off on my hour run and ran into Matt (Kelly's husband) I saw Kelly out riding, she took an unfortunate spill on the bike but still managed to get her 70 miles in. Go Kelly! When Matt saw me running he decided to turn around and run back in with me. Oh. My. God. Seriously? Matt is way too fast to even think about running with me. He was jogging and I was running. Acutally it was really good for me because he was pushing me to run faster than I felt like running. At that point my stomach was not happy and I was pretty sure I was just hungry. I finished up my run and was pleased with my time and distance.

Sunday night all hell broke loose. I started puking and didn't stop until 5am Monday morning. My back was hurting so badly that I was crying. I was in more pain then when I broke my leg! I called my mom that morning because I honestly thought that I had spinal meningitus, the swine flu, or some type of parasite that was going to kill me. I was throwing up water, had taken three scalding hot baths, and was using every form of heat that I could find and was still miserable. Mom came over and took me to the doctor a couple hours later and they sent me to the hospital. Suckity suck. I hate hospitals. A CT scan, ultrasound, bloodwork, and several bags of IV fluids later, they told me that I wasn't going to die. That would come next week at mile 9 or so of the run at Gulf Coast.

So today is Friday and I have only done one swim so far. I attempted a run and got two miles before I almost puked on Wednesday. Today I went to the hooch for a 10-miler. I made it 3.5 miles before I got dizzy and threw up. I think my body is trying to tell me something! I know in my head that I am still not 100% but my body wants to train so desperately! I have not gotten caught up on my sleep either this week, and I feel fat and lazy.

Thanks to everyone who checked in with me in my ill state! I appreciate it! I am going to attempt some training this weekend, more for confidence than any actual gains in my fitness. I REALLY hope that I can kick this before next weekend!

Water logged.....

Now that I am a seasoned masters swimmer (I have been swimming it for a month!) I will admit that I absolutly cannot swim on my own. It's like the worse feeling in the world to go into a pool and have no peer pressure.

This week was SUPPOSED to be a recovery week. Week #12 out of 20 in my half-Ironman training plan. What's that mean? 8 weeks left until Gulf Coast! Coach Pete doesn't believe in "recovery" when it comes to swimming. So that means that my swimming yardage for the week is currently 7500 yards with one more swim left! Yesterday's main set was 15x100 at hard effort. I didn't swim that hard though because after that we still had to do 4x300's at our best pace. I was so afraid of burning my arms out that I took it relatively easy. The wonderful (and surprising) thing was that my "easier" pace now is what I would have considered my all-out pace last season! Can I just tell you how much I heart master's? Even the times where we have to swim backstroke and breaststroke? Anyways......

Tomorrow I am PR hunting at the Silver Comet 10k. This will be the 4th 10k that I have ever run outside of triathlon. It's probably my favorite distance in running. A little bit easier than a 5k but no where near as time consuming as a half-marathon. It's right in the middle, you know you worked really hard, but not too hard to need to climb down that stairs backwards. Since it's flat I am thinking my odds of setting a personal record should be pretty good. I got a massage this week and my quads are WAY more tender than I would like them to be the day before a race. Hope to see you guys out there!

Funny (and random) story. I am at the Concourse getting ready to swim and a woman asks me "Excuse me, but what type of cellulite creme do you use on your legs? They look great!" Me: "Oh this isn't from a creme. It's from working hard." Ha...ha...some people want the easy way out of everything!

Seven for Seven in '09!

This is me trying to run on my Aunt's treadmill in her basement. The closest gym is 30 minutes away. Since it was 73 degrees it would have made the most sense to just run outside, but there are TONS of wild dogs and unleashed dogs and people generally drive crazy, running on the inside made more sense. I was trying to run to keep from gaining a million pounds. It worked because the holiday season only had me two pounds heavier than I was before. Yay! That's only 7000 calories which isn't bad considering I probably ate at least an extra 15,000 (Kentucky cooking is hard to resist!!)

I was fortunate enough to contract a very minor stomach bug that took care of holiday weight gain. That combined with my strength training has left me back in the negative. Woot!

I am extra happy that last week I went 7/7 and worked out every single day! Very little of that was spent triathlon training, in fact I only swam 1500 yards, spent 4 hours biking, and ran 13 miles. Things are getting kicked up a notch this week in preperation for Gulf Coast. It's 19 weeks away and I only have two pounds to lose to get to my "perfect" race weight. Since I started a new job at the Concourse I don't doubt that I will get there. I am spending a lot less time sitting at my computer screen and hours on my feet and demonstrating how to do things. I am going to start Master's this week too, if I can suck it up and get outside to swim. Pool....really warm. Outside air temp? Not so much.

Other than house remodeling (don't EVEN get me started on that topic!) things are pretty quiet with me. Totally pissed about the Falcons losing AND the Tech game.

Are you following me?

At the gym on Tuesday I was in the locker room talking with Dana about Olga. Then in walked Olga. Then we were talking about the Suobs and in walked Sue! Yesterday I was at Performance talking to Keith about bike computers. I asked him a question and he said he wasn't sure, to ask the Suobs. So I left and there was Sue again! I was e-mailing Bob yesterday telling him Sue should see my friends at 1st Choice, and she was already on the way there! Strange coincidence? Probably not since we live about a mile from each other!

But do you want to know what is strange? Me getting faster without really trying all that hard. Of course I mean faster in shorter distances, but still, it is somewhat weird. First I ran around Stone Mountain last weekend. I was making my way around it when I realized that my time was much faster than normal, without nearly as much effort. When I finished and compared numbers, I ran it 4:30 minutes faster than I did a few weeks earlier! Things have been like that in the pool too. I was swimming 300's Tuesday and thought that I was counting incorrectly because they were so fast. I stopped and did the calculation, yes 6 x 50 IS 300 right? Then I swam two more and counted very intentionally and they were the fastest 300's I have ever swam, but with very little effort!

I guess this goes to show you that on 7 hours of training a week you can see increases in speed. Of course I don't imagine that I will be able to keep my speed up when my volume increases, but I will try. Interesting to see the relationship though. I think that my body is just so fresh right now, no fatigue from long workouts. Loving it!

Running the Virginia Highland 5k on Saturday. Join me if you love to suffer. 5k's hurt like a motha. Wishing for a PR!

You had me at footstrike #1

I cannot even begin to tell you how much I love my new running aide. No, it's not an oxygen tank, as great as that sounds, it is actually a quite simple piece of equipment. It's this. Oh how I love this little knee strap! I have only used it twice, but so far with good results. Previously my left knee had major pain every time that I ran. Now it only hurts when I run really fast, and I think this little contraption is helping.

In other news, I am totally jonesing for any type of competition. I am dying over here! It's so bad that I am racing people at the grocery store down the aisles! Kidding, but you get the picture. Things are pretty boring in the workout department with nothing to train for. But I am also way too busy for anything too significant right now. I have started planning my 2009 race calendar and it looks pretty sweet. I will probably be running a half marathon trail run in February, and that looks like my next "race".

Totally random odd thing that happened to me: In class last week one of my professors asked me if I had a sister. I told him "no" and he said that he only asked because his neighbor and I look so much alike. I told him that "everyone has a twin" and he asked me if I was part Japanese because his neighbor was. What?!? Me Japanese? Um no. The professor is Chinese, which was so funny to me because he should know that I am not Asian! Funny thing is that this is about the 10th time someone has mistaken me for a ethnicity other than my own: Hispanic, Brazilian, Asian, I have heard it ALL!

I am watching the live Ironman Arizona coverage of the finish line. I miss the feeling of crossing that finish line and falling into someones arms already....

Suck it up buttercup!

Poncey contemplates what to do when tri season is over!

First of all, did ya'll know Bond went Gangsta? Don't want to ruin the new movie for you but it was a surprise for me. Actually anything would have been a surprise since I don't really follow Bond movies that much. Anyways....

I was really ill last week. A sinus infection, ear infection and what I think was a touch of the flu all combined together left me feeling horrible. I didn't workout for what felt like FOREVER but it was actually only 4 days. That's the longest I have gone without swimming biking or running since I broke my leg! But I had no choice, I felt really crappy. Thanks to Scoots and Tat for helping me along in my healing process with yummy soup, thera flu, and cough drops. It was appreciated!

Getting back into the swing of things I realized that I am seriously out of shape. Not just out of swim/bike/run, but out of all of it shape. A couple weeks ago I was happy that I wasn't doing any structured training/racing, but now I am bored. I am trying new things:cardio salsa :(, holding plank as long as I can (2:30 minutes) jumping rope (10 minutes, also hard) the evil stair climber on level 14, running up and down Stone Mountain twice (1000 feet elevation gain in one mile, that is a keeper!!) but sadly, these things just leave me feeling sweaty, not really satisfied. So today I am sucking it up and going on a good ole' fashioned run around Stone Mountain followed by a swim. This is going to be tough because I has reintroduced weights the past several weeks and I can't lift my arms. Not so sure how far I will get with the swimming, but it's worth a tri...ha..ha...try.

In other news, school done (as in I am finished!) This means I need a job to save up some money for medical school! (kidding mom! PA school really!) Let me know if you know of anything health related!

LT, VO2 Max, and other things that hurt!

So I had my VO2 Max retested on the bike. Ouch. I was hoping for huge improvements (ya know in time for the Tour 2009) But apparently there was only my VO2 Max only increased .2 ml/kg/min. Hardly anything worth writing home about. I was whining about this dismal increase when my professor pulled up the information about my lactic threshold. That's where things really started to get exciting because my LT heartrate has increased to 170! MAJOR improvement! My last test was in September 2007 so I knew that I had made some really major ground, but an LT heartrate of 170 is seriously high and I am so happy about it! If I wasn't being tested on a $50,000 piece of equipment by someone with a PhD in Exercise Science, I would think it was a mistake. What does this mean? Mostly that I am a total goon for not having my LT redone a million times in the midst of Ironman training. Because I was working with the wrong LT all season I made minimal gains in speed on the bike and basically sold myself short. Although this is the "off" season and we are supposed to be doing "base" stuff I feel like my entire season was spent doing long slow stuff and now I am itching for some speed!

Speaking of speed (or lack thereof) I ran in the Chandler Park 5k on Saturday with Sarah Heaton. Since we are both coming off Ironman (me Louisville, her Wisconsin) we were pretty sure that we wouldn't be speed demons. Add that in with lot's of hills we didn't know about and it made for a tough little 5k!! We refueled with breakfast at the Flying Biscuit, OMG, so yummy! I need to incoporate one long run with refueling there every week!

Other things that hurt? My ankle. Like really badly. Ugh. But I think that my sinus infection has started to clear up and I am able to breathe again!

Next up on my agenda: transferring bike speed to running speed. Let me know what your favorite speed workouts are, I'm in the market for some pain!

Motivation

I am highly motivated to run fast thanks to Golden Shoes. Michael Johnson? That's who I am talking about. Except not this MJ:

I mean he is great and all but I am talking about another Michael Johnson. This one is a lot skinner and kind-of goofy looking but he runs really fast. Not only does Golden Shoes run fast but he can run fast at a really high incline.

We are learning how to administer VO2 Max tests in one of my classes. Fun stuff. Everyone has to learn it, so that means everyone is taking both bike and run tests, multiple times since there are only 14 of us in the class. Golden Shoes went on Tuesday and set the standard for all the non-running guys. They aren't happy. After a little warm-up we let him set the treadmill at a "comfortable" pace. For him it was 7.0 mph. Then his partner ramped that sucker up every three minutes until he almost passed out, or fell off the treadmill actually. I was trying to yell at him as much as possible to encourage him to blow it out, but since I was on the bike getting a sub-max test it was difficult. Turns out my partner was having a hard time taking my blood pressure with me hollering across the room. Honestly I wasn't too concerned with my blood pressure as I was getting a lot of entertainment out of Golden Shoes.

Why? Because at my gym the treadmills only go up to 15% incline. But Michael? He was running at 15% incline and 7.0 MPH like it was NOTHING. HR wasn't even cracking 150. Keep in mind that since this is a graded test, you have to stay at the incline for 3 minutes before you can increase it. His RER (respiratory exchange ratio) was increasing at a snail's pace. It is the indication of what percentage fat you are burning for fuel and what percentage carbohydrates you are burning (at rest 100% fat, at anything above 70% VO2 Max you are 100% carbs)

By the time Golden Shoes was done he was at an 18% grade. His test was the longest I have ever seen at 32 minutes. VO2 Max was 72 ml/kg/min, 75 is considered the benchmark for world-class athletes.

Nothing makes me more fired up then watching someone exercise to the point of nearly passing out. Call me a masochist, but this was fantastic.

VO2 Max essentially means very little to endurance athletes. My professor calls it a "worthless number". He's right. It's all about the lactic threshold for us.

Humans? We really aren't all as great as we thought we were. Siberian huskies that run in dog sled competitions? VO2 Max of 240 ml/kg/min. I'd like to know how they got them to run on a treadmill with a huge mask on their face!

Triple Tuesday

Today was just a total workout extravaganza. Three to be exact. Started off with a hilly run in Kennesaw. Why is it so hilly up there? It wasn't humid but it was hot for almost October. I ran up this wicked hill that was 3/4 mile long. I almost puked at the top. Always the sign of a good run!

Second workout was a swim. Total dud. I am apparently made of lead these days. This was my third swim since Ironman and it is my PROMISE to myself this winter to not let myself give up on swimming! It's just way too hard for someone who is a "non swimmer" to be competitive if they don't swim all winter. Got in 1000 yards. Not too terrible.

Workout number three was supposed to be a bike at Stone Mountain until I saw that there was construction work and part of the road was blocked off. Not wanting to ride in semi-circles instead of full loops I was in a tizzy about what to do. Okay, maybe that is an exaggeration. I easily could have figured something out but since Keith was there and about to run and I had on (clean) running clothes I decided that I would run again. Wha wha what? Two runs in one day? Yes I realize that this is odd behavior. I also baked muffins this week too. I think my body has been invaded by an alien.

Then after leaving Stone Mountain my gas light came on. I knew that peeps have had to wait in line for upwards of two hours for gas-this is something I am just not willing to do! My plan was to get up in the middle of the night and go to avoid a wait. But then poof!?! I found a gas station that 1) had gas and 2) had no line! Lucky lucky joy joy!

T-R-A-I-L!

T to the R to the A to the I to the L...what's that spell? Trail! I have found my ultimate run spot: on the trails. How much do I love it? I went running four days in a row? Wha-what? Yes it is true. Anti-running Dani is having a serious change of heart.

Saturday Keith and I took the dogs to the trail off Mason Mill. I would run some with Poncey, then with Bella, while he walked (he is nursing an ankle injury) it was pretty exhausting for the dogs (they passed out and slept for 8 straight hours when we got home!) Sunday I hit the trail up again, then on Monday too.

I decided on Monday that I needed some trail shoes before I slipped on a root and broke something. I hit up Big Peach where Kate recommended some La Sportiva mountain running shoes. Painfully ugly, but they will keep me from rolling my ankles.

Tuesday I changed things up and went to Kennesaw Mountain. Wow. Far less technical. Only one tree down and no creeks to cross. Did a longer run and loved it. Calves were burning from the almost one mile total uphill. As much as I detest hills, you would think trail running would be out of the picture for me.

I think it rocks so much because you are forced to pay attention to your surroundings. If you don't you are probably going to fall. This means no staring at your watch anticipating when things are going to end.

This might sound crazy but I think next year I am training for this. A guy at Big Peach was telling me about how beautiful it is up there. I will try and decide in the next couple of months if it's even possible.

Rubbed raw!

Yesterday was my first ever three hour run. I went as terrifically splendid as a run can possibly be when you are on the verge of a stomach explosion at the end and just plain uncomfortable. I think that I was drinking a bit too much water and that was the reason my tummy was upset, because I only ate three gels and had 24 ounces of gatorade. Water? That's another story. LOTS of water. I was super hot and was sweating like I have NEVER sweat before! In fact at mile 13 I took of my socks because they were soaking wet (I can't stand having my feet wet!) and ran the last 5 miles with no socks and wet shoes. But I didn't get blisters so it looks like my 8 remaining toenails are safe! But I was having a ton of discomfort where my sports bra was rubbing me. I knew that it was rubbing me raw (this sometimes happens when I sweat a lot) but what I wasn't expecting was this:

It's kind-of hard to tell from the pic, but it's actually quite painful. Today it looks even worse. It looks like a blister and hurts worse than road rash. There's a lot more but it's not in places that I can show 'ya! During the night it got all oozy and was stuck to my shirt when I woke up this morning. Nice. I was concerned that the water in the pool would burn really badly so I pulled over on the way to my swim and squirted myself with my water bottle to test it out. Bearable so I went to the pool. Probably not the best for the sanitation of the pool, but the chlorine needs to kill something right?

The good news is that I have learned that I need to 1) use body glide and 2) not wear that sports bra for IM. I already turn my bra inside out on a suggestion, so if you ladies have any other tricks let me know 'cuz this burns!

I am late posting the pics from the huge storm we had on Sunday. Lightening stuck a tree in the courtyard and it went down over cars, a gate, and literally stopped at someones front door. If the tree had fallen the other direction it would been right on top of a house and destroyed it. The people who live 8 feet from the tree were truly blessed!

The beginning of the end....

With August 31st approaching pretty quickly, I am finally in the beginning of the end. End to what? Missing toenails, eating gel packs instead of lunch, laundry three times a day, getting up early everyday, I could go on and on forever. Can you tell that I am ready for this Ironman to be over with?

This weekend's training put me over the edge of loving Ironman. Saturday was a 100-miler with Keith at the Silver Comet. I didn't know that it was so beautiful once the trail ends! It opened up to these fields and farms and we saw skydivers (we learned that one died later that day, very sad). Things were going quite nicely on the ride until we went around a sharp corner and there was a break in the trail followed by some railroad tracks. These tracks were curved with the road, and I didn't realize it until it was too late, and I was on the ground. My right hip and left hand took most of the fall. I was in a less than enthusiastic mood at that point. Keith wouldn't accept any sniveling although I thought that my thumb was broken. The tracks won the battle but not to war because I was smart enough to dismount and walk over the rest of the tracks. Finishing the ride (55 miles) in pain wasn't my idea of fun and set the mood for the rest of the weekend.

Sunday I woke up and my hip was killing me. It has a huge knot and bruise on it. I hobbled around and finally made it out to the Hooch around 10:30 am for my 2:30 run. Brilliant!!! It was humid and VERY hot! I saw Pee Wee out there. The 100 miles and fall were still fresh in my legs and the run was pretty slow, but I finished all 2 hours and 30 minutes of it. Knowing I had a cold YooHoo in the car made me want to get it done. At QT I picked up some ice for my ice-bath and the guy asks "Were you just working out?" I told him yes, and he said "In this heat? Are you crazy?" I am starting to think that I am!

Although this weekend was really difficult in terms of training, it taught me that I can suffer a lot. And something tells me that come August 31st, being trained in the art of suffering will come in pretty handy.

You can jump a high fence when a bull is chasing you!

There have been two times in my life when I have run faster than I ever thought was possible. The first was when I was being chased by a rottweiler, and the second was when I was trying to beat my mom who was riding next to me on her bike. Both times I looked down at Garmin and thought "Why can't I run these intervals on the treadmill?" Well, it's because of a little thing called motivation. I was pretty motivated to not get eaten by that dog and I was also motivated to try and chase my mom down too. I gathered up all the motivation that I could for my 1-minute VO2- Max intervals this week. I went to the gym and realized that it's been a good month since I have had to workout there. I am not sure how I will ever manage to swim in the murky La Fitness waters again after training all summer outdoors! Back to my motivation: the plan was to put the treadmill so high that I thought I would fall off if I didn't run. It worked! I was so scared of falling off the treadmill that I lost sight of the fact that it was so friggin' hard! I am not sure if I can apply this motivation to my swim training!!

In other not-so-related news the Luna Chix Beginner Triathlon Clinic was a success! I recognized Dogwood Girl, and it was great to meet you! It was so much fun to put it on and I hope that it was helpful information!

Let me know who all is going to be in Cartersville this Saturday for the ride....I am doing 100-fantastic miles, my first ever century! Never mind the fact that my longest ride this season has been 80 miles in January.....that's not relevant right?

Momma rides!

Imagine my surprise when my mom said that she wanted to buy a bike! I went with her to Performance partially for the support and mostly because I wanted the purchase to go on my Team Performance card. Mom's request for a single-gear bike with brakes on the feet was denied because that will limit her too much on where she can ride. Instead she has seven gears and hand brakes.

Today we went to the track so I could run and she could ride without any interference from other cyclist. Momma did much better than I thought she would! She didn't fall and had no problem figuring out how to stop.

My run was less than stellar. Turns out that circles are pretty boring. I eventually ending up doing some sprints. Ouch. With mom chasing me I got down to a 5:57/mile pace. My knee was hurting. Stadium stairs aren't as hard as I remember them being either.

Congrats to momma for riding five or maybe six miles. She is super-stoked that she doesn't have to wear underwear under bike shorts. She is now ready to conquer some "hills" and wants to ride at Stone Mountain. Watch out!

Stopping to smell the roses....

It feels so good to be home and have Gulf Coast behind me! I feel quite relaxed and calm now that it's all over and done with. My recovery has been totally amazing. I was no where near as sore as I thought I would be. After a mini-bike ride Monday I was totally good to go-no more soreness. My left knee is tender like it always is, and I have been icing it a lot.

I rode yesterday at Stone Mountain for 1:40. Bob and I rode a couple of loops, then Dana joined in for one, then Dave, Tat and Steven came. Tat was sporting her new P2C from All3. It's very nice! Dave was representing Cobb County and it was great to have him in our neck of the woods! Although there were no roses to stop and smell, the ride was still fragrant with the sweet smell of honeysuckles. It was a fantastic ride and my HR avg was so low, 128, I thought that maybe there was a problem with my monitor.

Today I wanted to get a run in but had one problem: blisters on my feet. I had this one blister in particular that was really big and on top of my pinkie toe. It made it look like a little cone-head toe. So I had to take matters into my own hands:


Nothing a little time with a syringe couldn't fix!

My plan was to run the big loop at Stone Mountain, but it started to rain so I bailed and went to the gym instead. I did 7 miles on an incline. Knee was bothering me, but if I raced a half-Ironman 4 days ago, my quads, calves, and hammies have no recollection of it.

This evening it was on to Master's swimming for more amazing workouts. I was very sad to learn that the heat has been turned off. No more steamy morning swims for me! Because of this really weird cool weather we are having, the pool was very cold. When I say very cold, I mean like maybe 74 degrees cold. But it may have been colder. I froze the entire time. Coach "I don't care if you're a triathlete when you're here you're a swimmer" Bill tricked me into swimming 800 yards more than I was supposed to. That is what happens when someone is telling you what to do and you can't do quick math in your head. Whatever because I need all the swimming I can get. I couldn't get over how awesome today's swim felt! I was way faster than I thought I would be and when Coach assigned me some IM's then learned I can't do IM's (yet) he made me do something even harder. He told me that I needed to do it because I seemed like I liked a challenge. Oh really?!? Me?!? When he said I could use the pull buoy I declined telling him "that was for emergencies only"

Hope that everyone else is stopping to smell the roses and having a great training week too!

Something isn't right.....

It's a really weird thing to try and run in the "heat of the day" at the end of April, in Georgia, and it's not even hot! I went out to the hooch yesterday and got in 9.5 miles. I have forgotten how hard the hooch is on my anterior tibilias muscle on my left leg. I did feel good though, and I didn't hit the wall, which is awesome because I have been doing that a lot lately on my runs. Oddly when I finished running there wasn't a drop of sweat on my shirt. Not one wet spot. It was in the 70's but felt kind of cool to me (thank you heat training) and no Joe, I didn't have on a jacket! But no sweat?!? I always sweat even when it's cold! Weird.

My allergies are still out of control and after running I was on the phone with Tat and could hardly breathe! My throat felt like it was closing up on me and I was hacking up some serious grossness. My stomach started hurting which I think had something to do with all the mucus. I am over flowers and trees and everything else that has pollen on it! Meds aren't even touching the allergies and I am even choking while swimming outside! I am hoping that PCB will be allergy free for me because I don't like this crap at all.

For Freddy: The Brooks? Friggin' awesome! Very stiff and supportive. I could see where some people might think that they are too stiff. I am trying to move away from the heavily cushioned shoes and try to get as close to natural as possible. My arch feels much better and it was nice meeting you the other day!

Anyone wanting some open water swim practice!?! Head out to Red Top Mountain Saturday and meet us as 8 a.m. on the beach. Something tells me that the water will be cold, so bring a wetsuit if you have one.

Oh and who was the person that complained about Emory's pool being too hot?!? You aren't smart at all because they turned that sucker WAY down! This morning it was 50 degrees at 5:30 a.m. and the last thing I wanted was to see that the pool wasn't steamy and hot! Heat training people?!? Ever heard of it? Hot is the new cool!

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!!!

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.

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!