Have you ever:

Forgotten an important workout item and didn’t realize until you got to the gym but still worked out anyway?

The worst I’ve forgotten is socks, sports bra, or hair clip I can work around all of those!

Gotten bike  grease all over yourself even though you weren’t in accident or changing a flat?

I have yet to finish a ride without bike grease tattooed on my legs and forget it about it if I change a flat it’s from head to toe!

 I should buy stock in this:

Dismounted from your bike at a transition and had snot fly everywhere?

It is sooooo gross and it happens to me more than I care to admit!

Had someone come up to you after a race to tell you good job as they pat or rub your back and then thrown up?!

I’ll spare you guys a picture of this one….

Only happened once but it was sooo embarrassing, it was someone that had sprinted to the finish next to me, it was such a hot race that it took it out of me!

What’s your “Have you ever?”

Disaster Averted

On my bike ride in to work this morning I was totally out of it just completely zoned the whole way which isn’t a good thing on your  bike.  The f said I crossed the street right in front of him and didn't even notice, luckily he was nice enough not to honk.  I’ve been so tired lately yet keep waking up earlier than I need to.  On the first downhill a skateboarder crouched down low to the ground to bomb down the hill as he yelled “Hello!  Good morning!  How are you?!?!”  I could barely muster enough enthusiasm to mumble a response with my best impression of a person who was awake.  Just as I thought he wasn’t going to make the turn onto the the flat side walk he yelled out  “woohoo”  Why can’t I be that awake and chipper in the mornings?  Later on my ride there were about 10 FBI agents lining the road I went down looking very serious!

Weekend ride

So yesterday my boss came in to my office to ask me if I could take over a training session he had on Oct. 3 that he’d trade me one of mine.  I said I can’t I have a ½ marathon that weekend in Florida.  His eyes got real big and he asked “Was it on the calendar?  Because my wife just booked us a flight to Chicago.”  I said, “Noooo I must have completely spaced putting it on the calendar and I was going to tell you about it but then we had a meeting start.”   Long story short I was going to have to cancel my trip because of my STUPID mistake of not remembering to put it on the calendar and they have a rule that there always has to be 1 person from the team in the office, but we are the only 2 person team.  So he asked for an exception and I get to go on Thurs. as planned but had to change my return flight to Sunday instead of Monday.  I will be a zombie because  the ½ is at 10pm with an after party but at least I still get to go!  I learned my lesson on that one.  I will not confirm or deny that I had to go into my office, close the door, and have a panic attack for about 5 minutes. 

This weekend I got some good training in and I’m so glad I got up a little early to beat the heat.  On Saturday it was already feeling hot at 7 am but I did 7 miles.  On Sunday it was cooler about 70 degrees but the high that day got up to 102.  We saw big groups of people headed out as we were getting back I could not imagine!  It took us 2.5 hours to do 33 miles but it was some great hill training!  We went roughly from 5650 ft to 7600.  What is your favorite kind of bike training?  My favorite is tough hills!  Then when you go back and work on speed on the flats it feels so great!

Pic of Los Alamos on my way to a race there 2 years ago, this is the place that is now evacuated and on FIRE!  Hope it is contained soon!

Inspiration

As I rode my bike to work this morning I knew I was going a little slower than usual and I was thinking to myself "Ugghh I have to do this 2 days in a row if I wanna get my promised 2 in for this week!"  Then I thought about my brother he does a very similar commute to this EVERY DAY of the year.  Through cold, hot, wind etc.  He doesn't own a car and commutes everywhere on his bike.  I truly admire his gumption not only in this area but every part of his life.  He is my younger brother but I have found over the last 10 years or so I'm the one that is looking up to him. 

I remember a year we had record snow storms for our city I was in Colorado and roads and businesses were closed for something like 4 days and he had a work emergency with no cabs willing to drive or buses running he had no choice but to try and bike to his work in several feet of snow and COLD temps.  About half way there he saw a lone car out and offered them $20 to give him a ride the rest of the way.  They said their daughter also had to go to work and they'd be happy to do it for free.  He's built 2 of his own bikes that are single gear and has a folding bike for days he has to take the bus.  He rarely accepts a ride from me or others and is very resourceful.  The more I thought about it the more I told myself to get over it and buck up! 

When I did my IM in 2008 I had raised money for a toxoplasmosis research center in honor of my brother.  See he was born with this parasite and it caused him to have scars in his eyes that are not reversible.  He is legally blind in one eye and has scars in both eyes and can't see or read things clearly unless it is very close to his face.  He has not for a minute let this slow him down.  I do sometimes see the affects it has on his life but all I do is look at him in awe as he has never let it get in his way!  The research place I donated to is:  http://toxoplasmosis.org/  They are very wonderful people and continue to keep me up to date on their progress.  Now they have tests for this when a child is born but at the time when my brother was born they didn't.  I guess I just felt overwhelming pride as I thought about my brother on my way to work this morning and wanted to share it.  I think he would be embarrassed if I shared this with him and he easily turns crimson red when embarrassed.  :-)

I know we all have our own obstacles and some are bigger hurdles than others but it's always nice to have a reminder that it's amazing what the human spirit is capable of when we use determination!  One of my favorite go to inspirational stories is Team Hoyt if you've never seen it it's a must!

Weekend Wrap Up...

Had a great weekend and a productive one to boot!  My dad came up to visit and we got to spend a great Father’s Day weekend with him!  Gave him a new cycling jersey just like the one that was torn up from his accident.  It’s his favorite and might be the only one he ever wears, the New Mexico jersey.  The f made him ribs which apparently turned out pretty good and was kind of a joke considering my dad’s own ribs are still recovering.  I had some vegetarian “meatloaf”. 

On Saturday I had a good run hadn’t ran hills in a while and did about 5.75 miles with 2.5 miles of uphill but what goes up must come down, yay!  Sunday was a nice 25 mile bike ride also with some hills.  With the smoke and allergies it made for a very snotty bike ride but I survived it.  I have to admit it’s kind of gross when you are flying down the hill and you can feel the snot escaping your nostrils and not sure where it’s landing, ewwwww.  Yeah well back in the day when I was still single I remember learning real fast that cycling dates usually wasn’t the best first impression, you’re dressed funny, you have to pretend that the lighting fast speed that seems so easy for them as they chat away is not making you lose your breath, and at the end you have to try and wipe yourself down inconspicuously and make sure there isn’t anything oozing out or some leftover saliva on your chin.  J 

So the f and I had a discussion about heat exhaustion and the two schools of thought on it.  I believe you can acclimate to heat by training in it more and that once you’ve experienced heat exhaustion it doesn’t necessarily mean you are more prone to get it.  He believes and has been told that you are more likely to have a heat “casualty” as he calls it, sounds so deadly, once you have had one.  We looked up articles and it seems that the experts are still on the fence about this one.  What is your opinion?  This came up because on the days I’ve been doing my bike commutes I seem to be overheated the rest of the evening.  Apparently one of the nights after tossing and turning for hours I got up and turned the swamp cooler on in my sleep, which is very unlike me.  And when he asked me if I was ok I mumbled “I don’t feel right”  Then later that morning I woke up freezing wandering why he had turned it on, Ha!

Happy Monday!  A new week a new training schedule!  :-)

Commute to work.

This is my second day this week commuting to work and it went a lot better this time since I knew my way!  I’m also starting to get use to my commuter bike.  It’s slower, bulkier, and a little uncomfortable but I will learn to love it!  I won’t love it as much as I love my tri bike because I think the day I have to retire that bike I might actually cry! 

Commuter Bike

Tri Bike

It’s about 9.5 miles each way for my commute on the way to work it’s mostly downhill which is nice because then I don’t get to sweaty and I have to try and look presentable and business like.  The hardest part is the walk up the stairs to the 3^rd floor, Ha!

 On the way home it’s all uphill, which makes is hard to get a second workout in once I’m home because my legs are shot.  On the way home it was HOT which made me overheat and my lower back hurt from those hills because I’m not use to sitting that upright.  I think with time this will get easier, I will drink more water before and get stronger.

Last time after I got home I attempted to meet my best running buddy Kelly for some track work which I only managed to do the 1.5 mile warmup with her and my legs just weren’t going to respond to sprints.  So I’m going  to move my commute to Mondays and Wednesdays with an easy run after, that should count as a brick right?  I’ll do speed work on Tuesdays, then Thursday will be weights and swimming, with a long run and long bike on Saterday and Sunday.  Now where am I going to fit in a second day of weights and second day of swimming?  Help!  J 

Leftovers love 'em or hate 'em

As I was calmly eating my lunch at my desk I didn't have feelings for this lunch one way or anther just kind of apathetic.  I ate at my desk trying to get through some work.  Then all of a sudden I got EXTREMELY grossed out by what I was eating.  No apparent reason just had to start forcing each bite after that.  I had the first half of that meal yesterday and loved it.  Now all I could think of was how many more bites do I have to stomach to have enough fuel for my anticipated workout this afternoon!  YUCK!  It wasn't anything that it had gone bad it wasn't anything I didn't like to eat it just all of a sudden was the least appetizing thing I could possibly think of eating.  This has happened to me before and not with the same type of leftovers.  Has this every happened to you?

Sometimes I try to spice up leftovers like adding salsa or green chile to a leftover rice casserole and this works just fine for me.  Or maybe topping it with some sauteed tofu or a fried egg.  Or in some cases (don't gag) I put ketchup on stuff.  Yes, I have been known to put ketchup on Ramon noodles, or mashed potatoes.  Truth be told I use to put ketchup on a lot more until I grew an appetite for green chile and now that is my number one food masker or topper.

So other than that on to week two of triathlon training.  I fell a little short last week.  I didn't get a run in on Saturday which I was disappointed in myself about.  On Sunday I picked back up though and got a great 30 mile bike ride in.  I think I will be ok with that one missed run especially if I stay on top of my week day session because I've been trying to get in 2 types of exercises in each day. 

Ok now I'm gonna go eat an orange to get the taste of those leftovers out of my mouth!  Tonight I'm cooking something fresh! :-0

What it means to be a vegetarian girl living with a carnivorous boy (excuse me Man)…

I know there are many vegetarians and meat eaters out there alike and I’m not here to discuss the qualities or lack thereof of either choice.  But how food is such an integral part of our lives and what it means when you decide to cohabitate with someone with opposite choices….

Three key words:  Compromise, Flexibility, and an IRON WILL!

One way we’ve compromised is there is a veggie and meat side to our grill YAY! (we got a big grill) There are meat pots and pans and vegetarian pots and pans.  I cook vegetarian meals and if he so chooses he cooks some meat on the side to accompany it.  But the truth is sometimes I just can’t help the gross out factor when I find this:

on my vegetarian bamboo cutting boards.  Ahhhhhhh

My least favorite conversation:  “I want to go to a steakhouse”   “You can just have a salad”  Ok so let me just say I CAN just have a salad but there are some requirements to that salad.  If it is topped with a protein like garbanzo beans or baked tofu, if it has some healthy fat in it like avocado or sesame seeds, some flaxseed for good measure, and enough veggies to compromise the colors of the rainbow.  In that case YES I would love to “just have a salad” but the truth is that when you go to most steakhouses, the salad consists usually of iceberg lettuce, croutons, cheese, and some tomatoes if you’re lucky so in that case no thank you.  Don’t worry we say this all in good cheer! ;-)  In all honesty though I usually don’t enjoy eating out in general. 



Nice Compromise Veggie & Chicken Skewers



Lastly the iron will part comes in when he still has the metabolism of a 20 year old and can eat whatever he wants and as he is eating a tasty dessert playfully waves it in front of my nose and mouth “come on just try one bite”  The thing is if I give in and have that one bite my cravings come on full force and the next thing I know I’ve finished a huge serving!  The boy vs girl part is that I use to control my cravings by simply not buying junk food to keep around the house.  Now it is there staring at me, calling my name, pleading with me “EAT ME” and I have to say NO or ok just this one time.  Hence the weight gain in the last year and a half we’ve been together.  I don’t believe I should ask him to please stop buying these things because it’s his choice, I have asked for the enticements to stop.  So now it’s up to me to put my mental toughness training to use!  Lugging around an extra 10 pounds sure can make a difference on your triathlon times!

In the end we make it work now doing the dishes is a whole nother story….  How do you and your special someone compromise?  Does your active lifestyle take a part in that?

Coming soon to a blogger near you:  What it means to be a vegetarian, skiing , triathlete who was just told by her doctor to face the facts (that after 30 your metabolism will never be the same and buy a new wardrobe) who refuses to give up! 



Just for fun the token doggy pic:  Sleepy dog!



Blazing Fires...

So while some parts of the country are suffering from flooding we are suffering from extreme fire dangers.  There is a huge fire in Arizona that is now affecting the air quality here in NM as well as one in our own backyard so we have it coming from both directions.  Can we just work out a barter and get some of that water from the flooded states?  The air has been smokey and you can actually smell the fire, it burns your eyes and lungs I can't even imagine if you are right in the heat of it, no pun intended.  The sky is eerily orange in the evenings like in one of those Apocalypse movies.  Makes for beautiful sunsets but who wants to suffer the side effects! They are telling us not to turn on our swamp coolers (for those of you who live in humid climates a swap cooler blows air over filters that has water running over them and is a cheaper way to cool your house) on, because it brings the smoke filled air into your house.  My poor doggy hasn't had a walk in two days and I've been doing all my training on the treadmill or spin bike.

Just out of curiosity is this about the same or worse as some people who have live with smog year round?  I couldn't imagine!  Those of you close to it how have you been working out?  Do you say *@#! it I'm gonna die anyway and run outside or have you been doing some cross training?  For my first week jumping into this Olympic Triathlon training I've been struggling meeting the entire requirements due to the fact that I get so bored on the treadmill.  I'm going to try and get my two long weekend workouts in as early as possible because the smoke doesn't roll in until afternoon or evening when the winds pick up.  Happy trails everyone! 

Now I'm really back...

Wow what a hectic few weeks it has been.  I have not only neglected the blogging world but my normal exercise routine and I am really feeling it.  When ever I don't exercise right stress seems to take a different kind of toll on my body.  Of course when one good habit goes out the window usually others follow so I need to get back on track!  But I am ready and rearing to go.  Watch out world here I come!

First of all an update on my dad.  Thank you everyone for the well wishes!  After one week in the hospital they finally let him out.  We were all so relieved to have him out of there and recovering at home.  He was put on this patch that is supposed to be for pain medication but it was making him a zombie, slurring words, falling asleep, legs swelling.  Once they took him off of that the change was amazing!  They did not have to operate on his partially collapsed lung it was healing on its on.  He is already trying to get back to work which is kind of difficult because being in real estate you have to drive around which they are not letting him do, luckily my mom has volunteered to do that for him.  It is so hard to see someone who has always been the one there for you when you have a scraped knee or banged up head be the one in need.  I'm happy to report he is back to his normal self with just a few more weeks of recovery ahead.  He will have to start with only swimming and slowly work back up to other exercise.  He is ready to get his bike fixed up and back out there!

My bff Season while we were visiting Co.

Between travel for that and travel for a friends wedding to Colorado and late nights at work to get the photos edited just right I haven't seen my home much!  I went for a beautiful run in the mountains in Cloudcroft while visiting my parents (even though the national Forest is closed due to extreme fire danger) and my best friend Season took me for a beautiful 4 mile run around a lake in Colorado (she's trying to convince me to move up there).  Other than that my structured workouts have been non existent.  My poor little doggy was not happy with all the car time in between those places, she's a very anxious traveler.  But my friend introduced us to an all natural puppy Prozac :-)  It has chamomile and melatonin and it completely chilled her out on the last car ride back.  Wish we had discovered that sooner!

The awesome cake top at the wedding two skiers!

Now I am ready to jump in head first for my 2 month olympic distance triathlon training, starting today!!!  I am doing a quick brick 1 hour spin class 20 minute run.  This is an 8 week Level II Program I got out of the book The Woman Triathlete, I love this book it is very practical!  If I bit off more than I can chew I can always fall back to the level I program but I hope not to have to do that!  After that I am super excited for a two month 1/2 marathon training program that I will be doing for a girl's trip to the Disney Wine&Dine 1/2 with my best friend Season, my awesome running buddy Kelly, and we are trying to convince one more to join us.  In between those two (I've decided to make those my A races) I will fit in a few sprint triathlons and a few 10k runs.  Yay for structure and order coming back to my life! 

What about you guys?  Inspire me with some wonderful training stories, what have you had to overcome recently?  I'm going to catch up on my reading and be stopping by to see what you've been up to!  Happy trails!