Category: Exercise

Rambulating

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burp

I have been a lazy piece since I got back from Hawaii.  Largely because I have been (self-)prescribed rest to recover from my injury, I’ve worked out exactly 0 times.

I have, however, started walking everywhere I can…including the 2 miles to work and 2 miles home every day until I get back into some sort of schedule.  Rain or shine.  I figured that in addition to just moving, on the sunny days, if I wear shorts in the afternoon, it might help get rid of my attractive race tan lines that will. not. go. away.

Plus it’s a nice way to start and end the workday.

breaking free

Paul is 2 weeks out from Boards, so I’ve been seeing him just about never.  The chickens are still kickin ass and taking names, though Michelle has started laying her eggs from one of the perches inside the coop.  If the straw isn’t positioned correctly on the ground to catch the egg, it breaks.  So we’re working on a better answer to that problem.

Paul also moved Spike’s old doghouse into their pen and filled it with straw, hoping they’d start laying inside.  So far all they’ve done is go in every day and kick all the straw out.  Every morning, Paul goes out there and puts the straw back inside.  It’s a battle of wills.

Figuring out what’s up next this weekend.  Getting back into the swing of things.

Blowing in the Wind

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photo by liz kreutz, via

So, I didn’t say a lot about the actual race in my last post, but I was looking through some race day photos by sports photographer Liz Kreutz, and this one of Lance Armstrong does a pretty good job of capturing how strong the winds on the Queen K and the road up to Hawi were that day.  I was essentially terrified for 3 hours.  Those trade winds are no joke.

And below, the stupid lava fields.

I’m alive!

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…and back from Hawaii!  I know I really fell off the boat (is that even a phrase?) in terms of keeping this thing updated, but things got a little insane right before I left and I didn’t use the computer once while hanging out on the Big Island.

So what was I doing all this time away from the computer?

Well, a little bit of this…

…a little bit of this…

…and a little bit of this.

Yes, I found the most flattering picture I could, taken by a friend who was thoughtful enough to pull out her camera while I was getting my wound numbed up before they put in stitches.

And if you’re wondering what kind of face that is, it’s a “oh no biggie I’m tough done this a million times this doesn’t hurt but really I feel like I’m going to barf or cry or both but I see someone has their camera out so I’m going to try to smile/give a thumbs up for the picture” face.  Turns out that probably isn’t the look I should have gone for.

Full race report to come soon.

Double Whammy: Racing the Delta

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Good MOOOOORNING Mississippi!

As I mentioned earlier a group of us (including Paul) headed down south this past weekend for some back-to-back races at Memphis in May: a sprint triathlon on Saturday and an olympic on Sunday.  In addition to the Paula Deen buffet, the race had an Amateur Challenge with cash prizes for the top 15 combined times for men and women who did both races.

Again, to spare you from pages of detail that most of you don’t care about anyway, below are haikus highlighting the important parts.

Race #1: Sprint Saturday (400m swim, 14m bike, 5k run)
Out of the water
Freak clown monster face like woah
So terrifying

Race #2: Olympic Sunday (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run)
New triathlon suit
Means zipper chafing on chest
Legs feel like cement

Paul’s 10K leg of the Olympic Race
Paula Deen and heat
Cannot stop this beastly man
From dominating

56 minutes

Paul was super relieved that he didn’t die on the run.  I ended up 7th in the Amateur Challenge which = DOLLA DOLLA BILL!  (almost enough to cover my entry fee…ha)  Still stoked.  Spike missed us and was very happy when Paul came home to study with him again. 

Full race reports posted here and here.

Etc, etc

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Based on FB stalking, it looks like this weekend was full of beautiful weather pretty much everywhere, multiple weddings (including Mark Zuckerberg), and a solar eclipse.

I spent much of it here:

The transition area of Memphis in May…which was actually held in Tunica, MS.  I don’t get it either.

The race location was a hop, skip, and drive through the ghetto away from downtown Memphis.  Not that close.  So, the moral of the story is we didn’t get to partake in the MiM events.  Sad.

We did, however, have this on site:

Oh yes.  Welcome to Mississippi.

Once the pics come back I’ll do an update on the double header race weekend. Until then, I’m going to start figuring out what I need to get done before Hawaii (I fly out in 9 DAYS) and continue to wear my compression socks to work.

Cute, I know.

In other news, I came back to my cube today to find my little cubetree had sprouted a new appendage.

Hmm.  Awkward.

Happy Monday.

Eggcersize

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Last long weekend of training before Hawaii…DONE.

Saturday: 60 mile bike ride followed by a 2 mile run (called a brick, when you go for a run straight off your bike) at 10K pace.  I did 2 hours of the ride with some friends, and about 20 miles on my own.  The last time I headed out on my bike by myself I got hit by a cab and ended up in the ER getting surgery on my hand.  So making it home in one piece was a personal victory.

Sunday: Mother’s Day! (of course)

Happy Mother’s Day, Mom.

…plus a 12 mile run (at 7am in the pouring rain…yay?) followed by a 3K swim that actually looked a lot like the above. And a rainy walk with Spike.  Time to bust out the Squall again.

All fueled by R&M eggs.  Of course.

They’re still coming, 2 every day.  Look how much bigger the ones on the left are.  One of the chickens is seriously outperforming the other.

Also got a nice surprise call from my sister in Afghanistan on Sunday (she’s doing well), and did some studying for this god-forsaken online class I’m taking.

I can’t help it, I hate taking classes online.  And yes, Spike always sits like that.

Next up: MEMPHIS!  This weekend!  A friend of mine gave me the name of a friend of hers who is actually competing in the BBQ World Championships.  Woah.  This could get crazy.

And to top it all off…Paul is going to be running the 10K run leg of the Olympic triathlon on Sunday in Memphis as part of a relay team.  He hasn’t run more than 2.5 miles in a year.  That should also be amazing.

Onward and upward.

Arbor Day and Potentially Poor Life Decisions

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Yeah buddy.  It’s getting hot up in these parts.

Hope you all had a wonderful Arbor Day.  Spike and I walked down to the Arboretum, where they were giving away free indigenous trees. Paul has been talking about these trees for about 4 months, so we picked up a Kentucky Persimmon.  His mother picked up an Eastern Pine and gave it to us…which can grow up to 160 feet.  Not sure where in our little yard that will go.

The Persimmon tree will reach it’s peak fruit-bearing in 8 years…but who knows, maybe we’ll get some little persimmons before that.

So I’ve been trying to shake this flu/cold thing that took over at the end of last week. Getting back into training hasn’t gone smoothly.  My run this morning was…kind of terrible.  I was tired.  Sore.  Not feeling it mentally.  So what did I do to break myself out of this funk?

Signed up for not one, but TWO back-to-back races the weekend of May 19th.  A sprint triathlon Saturday (400 swim, 12 mile bike, 3 mile run) and an olympic triathlon Sunday (1.5K swim, 40K bike, 10K run), both in Memphis.

Why?  The short answer is: Allison made me do it.

Memphis in May is actually an international festival in Memphis with all sorts of music and performances and exhibits…and two triathlons!  Allison encouraged me to sign up largely because I missed the race in Florida last weekend and she wants me to do at least one race before Hawaii.  I told her fine, but only if we can go to Graceland and possibly Dollywood on the way home.

This race is notorious for being brutally hot.

(this is a real picture from a finisher at the race last year)

…which is part of the reason Allison was pushing for me to do it.  Hawaii is going to be brutally hot, and I don’t tend to handle the heat very well.  So it’s kind of like heat training.  Which most likely means I’ll be regretting this decision on the run course.  Twice.

The good news is, after the races, there will be some world class BBQ.

The World Championship BBQ Cooking Contest will be happening when we’re there.  HECK YEAH.

Summer is heeeeere…

Biking Buddy

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SwimbikerunbikeTRXrunyogabikeswimrunTRXbikerunyogaswimrun…these are how my weeks are starting to feel.  Fortunately I have someone that keeps me company when I’m on the trainer at home.  But he’s not happy about it.

St Anthony’s in creeping up in about 6 weeks, and Hawaii is less than three months away…

Onward and upward.

Day of Rest

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At 7:30 on a Sunday morning the streets here are completely empty.  More so than anywhere else I’ve lived (welcome to the Bible Belt).  NO ONE is out.  I see more cars at 5am on a Tuesday.

So every Sunday I drag my butt out of bed kind of early for my long run.  There is something about running down the middle of the road, on your own, as the sun comes up.

It’s gonna be a good day.

Marching on…

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these guys were out in bloom almost 2 weeks ago...everything is confused by the weather

Hope everyone had a great leap day and made the best of those extra 24 hours…

The beginning of March signals…the end of February Fitness.  So how did it go?

Swimming: I was right around 40,000 yards again (about 10K a week), which was whatever.  BUT! The good news is that trying to squeeze in the yards helped me figure out that if I fudge my schedule, I can and swim 3x a week by squeezing in a short swim right after coaching morning practice (instead of the 1x a week I was doing last season).  This a habit I will continue to follow into March and beyond.  So, success.

Sugar:  Aside from Joe’s birthday cake, the Ale 8 and Moon Pie (which, due to cultural sensitivities, I couldn’t decline), a trip to Orange Leaf (which is really chemicals, not sugar), and one day at work where I had a total meltdown and ate like 5 mini chocolate bars, I ROCKED IT (I know that sounds like I didn’t rock it, but for me it was a huge step in the right direction).  Sugar loses.  I win.

No bitching rule:  Errrrrr…2 out of 3 isn’t bad.

SO!  What’s up in March?

Now that I can run again (I ran 6 this morning without pain…heck yeah) training for Hawaii is starting to really happen. The unseasonably warm weather hasn’t hurt either.  Alison, who is in the process of getting her coaching certification, is using me as her first client…or guinea pig.  So she’s the boss from here on out.  Bring it.

Also happening in March, apparently a lot of this:

Despite the uneventful morning weather, the weathermen are predicting Armaggedon this afternoon.  They closed the public schools at noon.  I got sent home from work at 1:30.  Jim Cantore is here in Lexington.  We are currently a 9 on the TOR:CON Index.  Apparently sh*t’s about to go down.  But right now, the sun is shining and things are calm.

So, in the meantime, I’m sitting on the in-laws back porch (they have a basement, we don’t) enjoying the unseasonably warm sunny weather with Spike.  And secretly freaking out on the inside.

Happy Friday.

Update: We are now a TORCON 10.  And I’m following Jim Cantore on Twitter.