Spring fever

I officially have spring fever. 68 degrees today in Portland. I took my bike on the road for the first time this spring. It is always the best feeling. Being unhooked from the trainer ... free at last, free at last, thank God almighty we are free at last! All those things we miss being on our trainer...

1. Wind. Sometimes good sometimes bad.
2. Real hills. Not simulated hill climbs, but real hills.
3. Downhills. Oh, you mean I can actually rest for a moment? Something you never get on the trainer!!
4. Other bikers to chase down. Always fun to see bikers ahead of you and try to reel them in.
5. Traffic. This would be the negative. I was reminded today of how stupid drivers can be. Yes I said stupid! I actually have some others words but I will refrain. When you're the one on the bike you can call the people who don't share the road anything you want.
6. Bricks. The ability to do brick workouts, ummm, bricks that I like. I hate winter brick workouts. Trying to get out of your sweaty bike clothes - and being on your trainer they are definitely sweaty - and into winter running clothes just sucks! Not too mention your hair is wet/sweaty so you freeze when you head out.

I'm sure there is more but that's what comes to mind. Being out on the road is just a different feeling and to me it's motivating!

Spring also means less laundry. It is so nice when a run only produces a pair of shorts, maybe a shirt, sports bra, and socks. A run in the winter produces a whole load in itself!!

I think we have snow in the forecast this coming week. I want to say, seriously WTF? I wanted snow all winter and didn't get it and now I want warm temps and sunshine and they say snow. Whatever ... I know spring is just around the corner...

Me and Mt. Washington

Me and Mt. Washington, we have a history. My first experience with Mt Washington was driving to the top with my family. I remember it well. It seemed exciting at first, but then we were above the tree line and it wasn't so fun anymore. I am afraid of heights. I was sure we were going to go off the road and our mini-van was going to roll and roll and roll and take me to my death. No, I'm not exaggerating. I unfortunately had the same experience years earlier driving in Rocky Mountain National Park. We finally made it to the top and was relieved to be out of the vehicle! We walked around and did our thing. But then, I knew I had to get back in the vehicle to drive back down. I can't do this! I ended up laying flat in the back of the van so I couldn't see out the windows. As I'm laying there I'm thinking ... I'm never doing this again.

2007, I decide to put my name in the Mt Washington Road Race lottery. I thought any "true" runner should have this on their resume. 7.6 miles, 6288 feet in elevation, 11.5% average grade. That sounds fun, right?

When the list came out my name was on it. Wow. I really have to run up that mountain now. Gulp. I wasn't sure how to train. I did a lot of hill repeats and continuous uphill runs on the treadmill. I didn't do it right. It did not prepare me for the race. I was told that my finish time for the 7.6 miles should be equal to my half marathon time; or at least close. I thought I would finish around 1:40. Final time was 1:49. not even close. I can't even tell you how hard this race was for me. It was a very warm day and the skies were clear. Every time I looked up all I could see was the road ahead of me winding upward with no end. When I finally reached the top and crossed the line I just lost it. A nice volunteer put a medal around my neck and I walked off by myself in tears. It was that feeling of complete and utter exhaustion. I said to myself ... I will never do this again.

2008, I sign up for the Ski to the Clouds. This is advertised at the "North America's Toughest 10K."

I can't ski. Seriously. This is only my second winter of Nordic skiing and I'm not good. I mean I'm really not good! I'm still not sure why I signed up. I show up the day before the race and pick up my bib. The nice lady asks if I have packed my warm clothes bag. I say no, I'm not sure what to put in it. She says well, you probably need an extra top layer and maybe dry gloves to stay warm while you ski down. Uh..... WHAT???? I say, we have to ski down? She asks if that is a problem and I say no. Remember my fear of heights earlier? Yeah, skiing downhill is kind of like driving down for me. I have no doubt that I will fall to my death. I guess I'll worry about that later.

So, race morning comes and I have no idea what I'm doing. I warm up a little and try not to get nervous. My goal: to finish and not come in dead last. Some goal huh? Well, this was realistic. The race starts and we ski 4K through the trails and then we turn to ski 6K straight up the auto road. I never thought I was going to finish. I was having flashbacks to when I ran up! The faster skiers who had finished were skiing down and yelling nice job ... you're doing great... etc. Wow, I was a back of the packer. I know I'm getting close to the finish and I see this guy with a radio. I could tell he was reporting back to the finish line. I asked him, how far? He answers a half mile. Then I ask, am I last? He says no, there is one guy behind you. OMG, I wasn't last! I reach the finish which is two women with a stopwatch, the snow cat parked on the side of the road with my warm clothes and some water. No people. No other skiers. That was it. I put on my clothes, grabbed some water, and headed down. All I'm going to say is that I think it took me just as long to ski down as it did to ski up. Get the picture? When I arrived at the lodge the award ceremony was over and almost everyone was gone. I did look at the results. There was one sixty something year old man that finished behind me, but I was the last female. I packed up my stuff and headed back to my friends house to shower. When I walked in I said ... I will never do this again!

Are you seeing the pattern here?

Well, I just put my name in the lottery for the 2010 Mt Washington Road Race. Do I ever learn? Stayed tuned to see if I get in ...

Laughing is good for soul ...

So I know I'm way too amused by all these videos on YouTube ... but I thought I would share to give my girls who have been grouchy and down a laugh. Best line ... "Have you seen my hot ass?" Oh the perks of being a runner!

Changing up 2010

A few changes to my 2010 triathlon season have occurred. The first, I am now a member of the Midcoast Triathlon Club. I'm excited about joining the team and being able to train and race with my fellow teammates. I ordered my new tri top yesterday. I'll be anxious to see what they look like.

Second, my race schedule has been changed ...

Polar Bear Tri - May 8th
Pirate Tri - June 13
Black Fly Tri Weekend - July 9-11
Beach to Beacon 10K - August 7
Fireman Tri - August 29 (this is a maybe)
Lobsterman Tri - September 18
Colby Tri - September 25
Maine Marathon - October 3

You will notice that my A race is gone. Yup. I know that is going shock a few of you. This was a decision made for personal reasons and not an easy one. Luckily my family was very supportive and understanding. My IM dreams are going to have to wait for another year and I'm okay with that. At least I am now... it took a bit to digest it. In the meantime, I plan on having a lot of fun this season and kicking some serious short course ass!!!!

Luckily my ankle seems to be healed up. Not 100% but close. My training is going well and I feel stronger than I have in a long time. I have few people joining me in the pool on Mondays & Fridays and a hoping to start running more with Ann.

So .... new teammates and new training partners. Safety in numbers! Counting down to the first tri of the season.

No one said this would be easy ...

Nothing is easy. Well, maybe sometimes, but overall ... not really. Everything you want to succeed at takes work, dedication, determination, motivation, and perseverance. Whether it be in life, at work, in relationships, in athletics, in school ... if the bar is set high and you have goals to reach, it's not going to be easy.

I started thinking about this tonight during my bike workout. I was doing a ladder workout ... every 2 minutes shift up and up and up ... I just shifted up for the last time and my legs were really feeling it and I was breathing hard and I started to think ... yeah, no one said this would be easy. I almost laughed out loud. Yeah, we do this on purpose.

After my shower, I cracked open my books for my MBA class to be sure I had all my homework done for tomorrow.

After that I was looking at my work calendar to see what I had going on and when and trying to be sure I knew where all my workouts would fit in.

Last week I spent 3 days in an insurance class and then took a 20 page, hand written essay exam at 8am on Saturday morning. I am doing this to obtain a professional designation. This was test 3 of 5. As I walked out of the test room I text my best friend the following ... "Fucking brutal. Why do I have to be so career driven? I think I'll become a ditch digger ... "

Well, obviously that's not going to happen but my point is some of this is self-induced. I don't have to try to excel at work. I don't have to get my masters degree. I don't have to be a triathlete. I don't have to do an ironman. I think you get the drift.

Now, let's skip to the part we don't have control over. Or at least little control. All of this started me thinking about the rest of my life. I never planned on being divorced. I never planned on being a single mom. I guess you could say that these were choices. I chose to have my children. I chose to get married and divorced. But these are the choices that you really have no idea what the outcome will be. OR how they might effect the rest of your life.

At any rate, we work hard sometimes out of choice and we work hard sometimes out of necessity. I just do what I need to do and I do what makes me happy. But no one ever said that would be easy ... and let me tell you it's not!!

23 weeks...

Yes, 23 weeks until my first IM. Wow. Every week that goes by makes it more and more real. I look ahead at my training and take a deep breath.

I have a mixed bag of emotions that run from excited to anxious to scared to confident. Some days I get excited and have that feeling I KNOW I can do this. Some days I start thinking about the distance and get a pit in my stomach. I'm sure this will continue for awhile. I'm hoping that by the time I step to the start line it will be a feeling of confidence, but also keeping a very healthy respect for the distance.

I am getting ready to swim bike and run more than I ever have in my life.

This is going to be one hell of journey.

Sickness and Injury

Sickness and injuries are an athlete's worst nightmare. I've had my share of both. I started with shin splints as a beginning runner. This is something that plagued me through my entire basketball career. It took a few years to learn how to deal with that. Then I moved onto some serious hip/IT issues that took me out for the entire 2006 season. I remember when I finally gave in to seek treatment. I was up really early that day and running with the PR Racing team for the Relay For Life. I did my six miles on the track and then a bunch of us headed to Mechanic Falls to run the Pottle Hill 10K. After the race I was trying to get in my car and had to physically pick up my left leg to get it in the car. I learned from that episode not to wait so long before calling my PT! That hip/IT issue has become somewhat chronic but I am learning how to deal with it and can see, or better yet feel, the early warning signs.

Let's not forget the winter I fell on the ice and broke my arm. I remember asking the ER doctor if I could still run. He laughed and said if you can stand the pain, sure. I soon learned why he laughed and didn't run for 2 weeks. I'm sure I looked really awkward running with a cast that held my arm at a 90 deg angle. More recently, my spill over the handlebars at the 2009 Mooseman that left me with a broken finger. A broken finger seems minor but let me tell you, any broken bone hurts. Again, I got some crazy looks swimming in the pool with my cast. Talk about fitting the Nemo nickname! And trying to get my wetsuit back off over the cast took 3 people!

Sickness. Yes, I have trained and race through some tough times. I remember getting sick the week before the MidWinter Classic one year. I hadn't slept well for 3 nights and then decided I would race anyway. I actually had a great race, I'm not sure how, but then got even sicker for a week after. Hell, it's worth it right? Then a few years ago I caught what I would like to call the death plague. I had the flu so bad it landed me in the emergency room and I was put on bed rest for a week! About 10 days later I tried to go to spin class and almost passed out on my bike. Okay, so maybe that was a little too soon. 2 weeks after that I decided to race the New Bedford Half. I made it through and then went into a coughing frenzy at the finish line until I started dry heaving. Lovely sight.

And the whole reason for this post is that I got sick last Thursday. I woke up with a scratchy throat and was sneezing all day. Friday morning I woke up with the full blown cold. Sore throat, coughing, sneezing, runny nose, and absolutely no energy. It continued all day Saturday and into Sunday. I missed an entire weekend of training! This morning I felt better. I thought I might just be able to hit the pool after work to test how I felt. BUT THEN, I fell down my outside stairs. I live on the second floor so I walk down a flight of stairs everyday. I walk out the door carrying my purse, my lunch bag, a bag of returnables to leave by the dumpster for the homeless man, and my coffee. I'm probably five steps from the end and I have no idea what happened. I think I caught the heel of my boot maybe, but start to fall, I try to catch myself, took a step, rolled my ankle, and then fell forward down the other four stairs onto the landing. Of course the first thing you do when you get up is look around to see if anyone saw this! Then I took inventory ... scraped shin, sore ankle, spilled coffee ... I think I'll survive. However, as the day as progressed my ankle has gotten worse. It is very very sore to walk on, in fact I cannot walk without a limp. It isn't too swollen (yet) but is starting to bruise. All I can think about is how long will this set me back? Not a great way to start the week.

So, sickness and injury ... I have no patience for either!