Yum!

Hey guess what? I'm hungry! Apparently training for a half-iron makes you hungry. Who would've thought? I'm trying my best to eat lots and I thought I'd share my two newest snack food discoveries - White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Clif Bars, and Kashi TLC Dark Chocolate Coconut Fruit & Grain bars. Yes, they are both really as good as they sound and more than take care of any cravings for sweets. The first time I had the Clif Bar, I ate it so fast I was surprised when I went to take another bite and it was all gone. The Kashi bars really are as good as they look on the box. If only my grocery store would stop running out of them.

On a separate but related note - my grocery store stocks all the diet meal replacements, things like Slimfast, directly across from the chocolate and the candy. I just think that's really wrong! Not that I was getting Slimfast - they put the Clif bars with the diet stuff.

I love this woman!

I know it's been awhile since I've posted - I actually have 3 unfinished posts and 1 or 2 more floating in my head. Apparently I'm having some serious attention deficit with regards to my writing. Anyway, I just thought I'd take a moment to share this picture of Michelle Obama. She is preparing the ground for a vegetable garden on the White House lawn. The children are 5th-graders from a local elementary school, who have a garden at their school and will help to plant, care for, and harvest the White House garden. How cool is that? The garden will provide food for White House dinners and will be located in a spot that is visible to people walking on the street. Part of it's purpose is to help educate people on the benefits of eating healthy, natural foods. The NY Times wrote a nice article about the garden. Here's the link: Obamas Prepare to Plant White House Garden

So why do I love Michelle? It's a growing list starting with she's smart, educated, independent, fit, healthy, attractive, but right now it's this picture. Lots of First Ladys and Presidents have visited schools and taken part in the classroom, but when was the last time you saw a First Lady outside digging in the dirt with a bunch of kids? Those of you that know me well, know how important I consider outdoor education, so this picture is great to me. Sure it's a nice photo op and I'm well aware that she might never work in the garden again, but even if it is just a nice photo op, it still says alot about her that she chose digging a garden as her school children photo op instead of something more traditional, and regardless of wether or not she ever works in the garden again, those kids will get to and that's very cool.

Training Update

As most of you know, I'm not big on writing about the details of my training. There are a few reasons for this, one is that I know most of my readers aren't triathletes and so the details don't necessarily mean all that much to you, and the other, bigger reason is that I don't like to obsess about my training. I do this for fun and I choose to not let it consume me and be the be-all end-all of my existence. Also, I don't like to make a big deal about my training because while I do think that doing triathlons, especially the longer ones, does take a lot of work and commitment, I also think that most people are capable of doing a triathlon if they put their mind to it. That being said, I fully appreciate everyone's praise and of course I love the compliments - who wouldn't?

So while I rarely post just about my training, I do occasionally feel obligated to share. I've had quite a few questions from non-triathlete friends and family about my training schedule. What, when, how long, how often? Well, I'm not really one to track numbers all that much. I have a coach, Brandon Marsh - check out his blog for good triathlon training tips and amusing insights - and he puts together my daily workouts and long term plans so tracking numbers hasn't really been a huge concern for me. I log all my workouts and I could dig up everything from recent years and put together totals, but it's not really my thing. Anyway, Brandon has been using a spreadsheet for the past few months to track my workouts so the totals are right there. I actually haven't even been looking at the grand totals for the week, I just log my workouts for the day and move on, but it's time to start ramping up my training in preparation for the Gulf Coast Half-iron in May so I was curious about this week's totals.

My basic weekly training schedule is this - 3 set runs- Tuesday - quality, Thursday - tempo, Saturday - long, there are other runs that get scheduled, but those 3 are always there; 2 swim workouts Tues and Thursday, straight swim on Sunday, other swims get scheduled depending on volume for the week; bike - Wed - interval workout on the trainer, Fri - ride, Sun - long ride, other rides as scheduled or as I feel like. Sometimes I ride the trainer in the evening if I have time to kill before dinner or I feel like it. Sometimes I go for a ride if the weather is nice and I want to. I like riding. I have other workouts on my schedule - these are for core strengthening, so pilates, yoga, the stadium workout. Brandon started putting them on my schedule to help keep me motivated to do my strength work. So here are my totals for this week, which was an easy week. Swim: 1:50 hr, 4100 yd Bike: 6:45 hrs Run: 3:25 hrs, 20 miles Other: 5:45 hrs Total 17:45 hrs of training. 17:25 hrs was scheduled. This doesn't include the yoga classes I teach or any other yoga I do that is in addition to the specific core workouts.

I can't really put these numbers into much of a meaningful context since I don't have much to compare them to, but I do know that quantity and duration of several of the workouts will go up considerably as training ramps up. This is probably the last time I'll go into this much detail about my training so I hope you got your fill.

Happy Square Root Day!

I know this post is late in the day, but I totally spaced that today is March 3, 2009 - that's 3/3/09. It's Square Root Day! For the math challenged, that's a day when both the day and the month are the square root of the last two digits of the year. In today's case the square root of 9 = 3. The next Square Root Day is 4/4/16 so you better celebrate while you've got the chance. Embrace your inner math geek.

Square Root Day was first celebrated by a high school teacher in California on September 9, 1981 - 9/9/81, and he still publicizes the holiday to this day. I'm sure everyone remembers a high school teacher that would come up with some sort of crazy, loopy thing just to get students interested. If not then you definitely missed out. So celebrate Square Root Day and drink a toast to wacky high school teachers for giving us silly things to liven up an otherwise ordinary day.

On again, off again

So once again I've let too much time pass between my blog posts. You know what that means? I will probably have a post a day for the next week. I don't know why I can't seem to post more regularly - oh wait, yes I do. I know you are all sitting on the edge of your seats to hear this illuminating fact about me. Well, here goes. It's actually not anything that special. It just takes me a long time to write something that is publicly presentable. Heck, it even takes me a long time to write an email, and I don't edit those nearly as much - as a few of you are quite familiar. I'm not a slow writer, quite the contrary. I write way too much, and then I have to edit. I've always written this way, and when I was in school and writing scientific papers, the editing was easy. The important stuff just kind of jumped off the page after a read through. I find that editing personal essays written for a specific audience is a bit more difficult. I want to share the details I think everyone wants to hear without making the post so long no one has time to read it. Is this what it's like to write for People magazine?

Anyway, things have been status quo here in Gainesville. Training is good, Brian is good. The weather has been all over the place, but I'm not going to complain about it now. I was feeling a bit under the weather this weekend after yet another cold snap on Friday, and decided to skip running the Gainesville Half-marathon on Sunday. I'm a little bummed, but not too much, since I was basically using it as a faster training run. I slept 9 hours Saturday night after sleeping all afternoon on Saturday so I'm ok with missing the race. Hmmm...I don't think I've got anything else to report right now. Oh, if you are interested in my training check my Twitter updates - I'm going to make an effort to tweet more about it. More later.

Racing fun

A few weeks ago I was in Austin to visit some of my favorite people and run the 3M half-marathon. Last year I set a PR at 3M, and several months ago I had been hoping to beat that time. Joey ran with me last year, and I had been hoping that would happen again this year, but he was recovering from a surgical procedure and wasn't quite ready to start running. My run has been so inconsistent that I re-evaluated that goal, and decided that I would just go for a steady pace, and see what happens. 3M is always a fun race and Joey and Maggie were planning on coming out to cheer me on so I was looking forward to it no matter what my time.

It was really cold on race morning, 37 degrees, and I found myself happy that I had brought my heavy fleece ear warmers, and bummed that I hadn't brought my heavier tights. I do not like the cold and I never really warm up when it's that cold. Most long distance runners think temps like that are perfect for a race. I don't and I never will. It was 55 and party cloudy when I ran the NYC marathon - I think that's pretty darn close to perfect.

Joey got up at 5am with me and accompanied me to the race start. If you are thinking "What a great friend!" you are right. It was dark and cold, and he was tired and not feeling great, and I was really glad he was there with me. We met Maggie at the start - she and Joey were going to travel the course and cheer. Again, another great friend - especially since Maggie hates the cold as much as I do, and standing out in the cold to cheer is much worse than running in the cold. Thanks guys! You are the best! Joey had his sombrero ready to go. I knew I would be able to spot him wearing that hat, and I did. Brandon and Amy - my coach and his wife for new readers - were also out to cheer, but I totally missed them. Bummer! Thanks for being out there in the yucky cold! It wasn't my best half marathon but the race was still fun. Here's a couple of pics. By the way, finding a good hamburger in Austin at 10am on a Sunday is not an easy thing.

This should be on a T-shirt

If you are looking at this picture and don't get it, that means you didn't read my previous blog entry so scroll down and then this will make sense. This painting was done by an artist, Cisco Manzo. Liz Hatch thought it was hilarious, and so do I.

Wear your helmet - just do it!

A few weeks ago, pro cyclist Liz Hatch had a nasty crash. Here is how she described it:

I was participating in the “Ride the Route” fundraiser for the Women’s Tour Of California Criterium. It left from Santa Rosa and went to Calistoga and then doubled back to Santa Rosa. I arrived a bit late due to traffic and was attempting to catch the main group with few friends. On the last descent into Calistoga I was a bit off the front and enjoying a great time down the hill when I came up on a corner full of pine needles a bit too quickly (understatement) and my only choice was to try to lay the bike out or hit the guardrail… Apparently the second choice was better (???) and I went head first into it at 45k. Specialized helmets, THANK YOU! Also, ROOLY glasses!!! I am so glad I was wearing those things, they kept my eyes protected and all of the dirt and pine needles that ended up in my mouth, nose and ears, yes ears, didn’t touch my eyes! Not only that but they look like new post crash, cannot believe it.

Liz is not shy and had no problems with sharing photos of the crash. I'm not going to post them, my husband occasionally reads my blog and he is already unhappy that I go on long rides alone. The thing is I can't promise that I won't be going downhill at 25-30 mph - that's not all the fast for a downhill. I can promise that I won't go that fast on a curving downhill, and I always wear my helmet and bikeglasses. Here is a photo of Liz's helmet just in case you wanted to know what it looks like when helmet meets guardrail at 45kph.

Liz was fortunate not to have any broken bones and seems to be rehabbing well. I am quite sure she is thankful for all the research and development that has gone into bike helmets over the years. While I hope to never experience it first hand, it is a comfort to know that my helmet really is capable of saving my life. Ride well and ride safe!

Flashback

Liz, one of my roommates in college, posted this picture of me and Brian from when we all lived together at the Berwyn House - so dubbed because it was on Berwyn RD in Berwyn Heights. There were lots of good times living in that house. It's where I was living when I met Brian, and it's the first place Brian and I lived together.

I thought this picture was funny because on any given evening, you could walk into our house and find a similar scene. I guess some things don't change even after 15 years. Brian sometimes complains that I am smothering him so when I showed him the photo, he laughed. I told him he had his chance to nip this behavior in the bud years ago and now he was stuck with it. He laughed some more.

By the way, I'm wearing long underwear in this picture. I am very happy that I live in a place where long underwear is not necessary.

Update

So apparently I let another whole week go by without a post. I didn't mean to do that. I actually had a couple of thoughts for some posts this week, but never got around to writing them. Of course now I can't remember what they were so I figured I'd just dash off something quick to let everyone know that I'm still writing.

This week has been pretty low key. The weather was a bit less than perfect. Cloudy and rainy a couple of days and then downright cold towards the end of the week. It's warming up, though. That's the great thing about winter in Florida - even if there is a cold spell, it's always very short. My training has been consistent, but a little on the lackluster side. It's ok, though. Every week can't be awesome - the body just doesn't work that way.

I'm heading to Austin soon for my first race of the season, the 3m Half-marathon. This is always a fun event. Last year I set a PR, and a few months ago I was planning on beating that time, but my running has not recovered from my Ironman training the way I would have liked so I don't think that's likely. It's okay, though. The race will still be fun, and really, it's the trip to Austin that matters - not the race. I plan on running the Gainesville Half next month, and I feel confident that I can get the time I want.

I still haven't decided on my first tri of the season. I am registered for two tris already, but neither of them will be my first. I am waiting to see how my March calender develops before I make any decisions. This is Florida and tri season started last weekend. There are tris going on all over the state every weekend until the end of November so it's not like I have to decide right away. I am thinking a long weekend trip to the Miami area for a race and visiting some family and friends might be in order at some point, but we'll see. I definitely want to race more this year if I can get it all scheduled.

That's all for now. I'm sure as soon as I hit post, I will remember the things I really wanted to write about and so will end up with several back-to-back posts. Oh well!

Resolution fun

Here's a funny take on New Year's resolutions from one of my favorite comic strips of all time. Enjoy!

Welcome 2009

I just realized I haven't done a blog post in a week - that's craziness! Usually I do my writing in the evening after Brian goes to bed, but I've been trying to stay off the computer at night so I can get to bed earlier, and get up earlier. I'm not a morning person, but my day seems to go much better when I get up early. Somehow I manage to get more done. Besides there might be a chance for a nap later - you just never know.

In case you've been meditating in a buddhist monastery or have a calender phobia, the new year started last week. It's 2009! Wow - seriously, where does the time go? So what are my plans for 2009? Well, 2009 is going to be a repeat of 2008 in a lot of ways, although hopefully with better results. I'm not sure I'm off to a great start, though. I'm running the 3M half-marathon in Austin in a few weeks just like I did last year, but I don't think I'm going to make my time goal. I'm not even sure I'll hit my time from last year. I'll do my best, though, and I'm ok if I don't make my goal. I've been consistent with my training, and I feel really comfortable with my routine, and that's very important. The ultimate goal is Ironman Florida so if I miss my goal at 3M, it's not tragic. I will be running the half-marathon here in Gainesville a month after 3M and I feel confident that I can make my time goal for that race.

So I've already mentioned 2 races on the schedule, there's also St. Anthony's Tri at the end of April, and Gulf Coast tri in May. I haven't decided yet on my first tri of the season - I'm still waiting to see how the month of March shapes up. You'll just have to tune in and find out.

On another note, I'm adding a 2nd yoga class at the Veteran's Hospital. I am looking forward to continuing to work with my current students, who are progressing quite nicely, and will hopefully add some new students.

I'm a generally optimistic person and rarely look back on a year and am grateful that it is over, but 2008 had a few big disappointments, and I must say that I'm glad to move on.

One big goal I have for this year is to be so well trained for Ironman Florida that I could ride on a completely flat tire and still make the bike cut-off. Of course, I am going to have a nice set of race wheels so tires should not be an issue.

Happy New Year!

Last year's New Year post had an Irish blessing and a toast. They are two of my favorites so I was thinking that I would do something different this year, but then decided against it. The Irish comes from my father and December 23 is his birthday so it seems appropriate to honor my Irish heritage at this time of year. Also I realized last month that's been 10 years since my father passed away so I think I'll stick with the Irish blessing. Incidentally, December 23 is also Festivus Day. I think my father would have approved of that.

In case you are wondering why a blessing and a toast, why not one or the other? Well, I feel that sharing both reflects something interesting about the Irish. They are very caring, thoughtful, and emotional, and yet mischievous and full of fun. I hope you all have a wonderful New Year surrounded by the people you love.

May your glass be ever full.
May the roof over your head be always strong.
And may you be in heaven half an hour before the devil knows you're dead.
-Irish toast

May the sun shine, all day long,
everything go right, and nothing wrong.
May those you love bring love back to you,
and may all the wishes you wish come true!
-Irish blessing

Happy Holidays!

Driving, driving, driving

Saturday afternoon, Brian and I headed out on our annual Christmas trip to Maryland. This year we decided to drive from Florida to Maryland, since we are making it a longer visit. I figured the drive would take us about 12 - 13 hours, which is totally doable in one day. It ended up taking us 14 hours but that had to do with the freezing rain we encountered when we got to D.C. There's not much you can do about the weather. Fortunately the salt trucks were out doing their thing and the roads were pretty good.

Overall, the drive was fine. There were the typical issues with Virginia drivers. I don't understand it, but VA drivers don't seem to understand the concept of the left lane as the passing lane. I don't usually make blanket statements about a group like that, but in this case I've had nearly 7 years of experience driving through VA, and it is a consistent thing. There could be three lanes and the right two lanes will be empty and there will be a VA driver in the left lane driving below the speed limit. Seriously! and they won't change lanes when you come up behind them. This occurrence is so common that even Brian has noticed it. Considering he doesn't drive, that's kind of a big deal. I can only assume that the Driver's Ed courses in VA are somehow deficient. At least it was late at night when we were in VA so the amount of drivers on the road was minimal. That really is my only driving rant. For the most part, everyone was driving reasonably well. Considering it's holiday time, I was surprised.

Pros - Brian getting silly/punchy due to sleep deprivation - always good for a laugh - and getting to use my new music player. It was awesome! I think I'll write a separate blog entry/review, since I just realized I can't write about my shopping adventure today without revealing my Secret Santa. That story will have to wait until after Christmas.

Cons - freezing rain, VA drivers, closed interstate due to an accident, and road salt all over my bike. I'm so glad I brought the bike, even though I will likely be confined to the trainer all week - the high temp today was 22 - but I was very unhappy about the thick coating of ice that was on it by the end of the trip AND the crud that was caked on it after the ice melted. I was especially annoyed because I had the drive train cleaned and a new chain put on it and a full tune up done last May and then I only rode it for 2 more months while the tribike was MIA. Before the trip, the bike was as spotless as it's been in a long time. The components were so clean they looked new. Now - not so much. I spent at least an hour cleaning and lubing. Oh well!

I will say that driving is definitely the way to go if we are staying for a week. I don't know if this will become a regular thing for Christmas, but it's not off the table. Whenever I get around to doing Eagleman 70.3 - maybe 2010 - I will definitely drive.

Grossology

Last Saturday, Brian and I went to the Florida Museum of Natural History to visit the Grossology exhibit. The official exhibit title is "Grossology: The Impolite Science of the Human Body". The exhibit is based on the book "Grossology" by Sylvia Branzei. We had gotten this book for my niece Emily a few years ago. As I'm sure you've guessed, the book and exhibit are all about bodily functions - explanations about burps and farts, boogers and poo - and are directed at children.

The exhibit was a blast! All the slang terms that children are used to hearing were used as well as excellent scientific explanations on everything from burps to zits. There were lots of games to play and giant models of the nose and stomach, and a small climbing wall that depicted the skin. Just in case you were wondering, we played all the games and did all the activities that we weren't too large for. We couldn't go down the esophagus slide or climb through the rectum tunnel - that was only for the small children. Dang! I did beat Brian at Grossology trivia - yes, I know more about disgusting bodily functions than my hubby. That really shouldn't surprise anyone.

Here are a few pictures.

Laugh, Think, Cry

My next post was going to be on something completely different, but last night, as Brian and I sat down to watch the Texas-Villanova game, ESPN aired the Jimmy Valvano speech from the 1993 Espy Awards. The game was part of the Jimmy V Basketball Classic played annually at Madison Square Garden to help raise money for the V Foundation, which is dedicated to funding cancer research. In between games, ESPN was doing segments about the Foundation and cancer. I walked into the living room just in time to see "1993 Espy Awards" flash on the screen. I told Brian "They are going to show the Jimmy V speech. Is ESPN trying to make me cry?" Sure enough they showed the speech. Sure enough, I cried. ESPN followed the speech with personal commentary by people who knew Jimmy V, and I cried some more. Dammit! Then the game started and everything was good. Texas won - yay!

Now maybe you are wondering, "Who the heck is Jimmy V and why would he make you cry?" Jimmy Valvano was the men's basketball coach at NC State from 1980-1990, which included 1 national championship in 1983, won by a basket at the buzzer. In July 1992, he was diagnosed with metastatic bone cancer. In March of 1993, he was awarded the Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award at the inaugural Espy Awards. He died the next month. He was 47.

I've included the speech in this post. It's about 10 minutes long, but if you've never seen it, it's worth watching. If you have seen it, it's worth watching again. Laugh, think, cry - thank you, Jimmy. I did all three just watching your speech.

Twitter and things

Again I've been light on the posting. It's been a bit on the slow side here in Gainesville. Brian and I had a wonderful Thanksgiving Holiday in Rockport with our Texas family. There was the usual delicious food, lots of pie, and lots of love. It seems like everyone is doing well there, and we enjoyed the visit.

Since we've been home, we've been enjoying our regular routine. I find it's nice to have a few weeks of same-old same-old before the Christmas craziness begins. Brian especially enjoys the routine. He doesn't particularly travel well, and by that, I mean he doesn't really enjoy it. He loves visiting new places, and he always enjoys visiting family and friends, he just doesn't enjoy the process of getting there and back. I keep telling him he needs to build a transporter. Then we can visit whenever we want and still sleep in our own bed - wouldn't that be great! We have decided to drive to Maryland this year for Christmas, since we are going to stay for longer. I'm hoping that driving will make travelling during the Holiday more tolerable for Brian - and me. It will certainly make packing easier, and I am considering bringing my bike. How bad can biking in 30 degree weather be? After all, I have a ninja mask from my days in NC. Actually, I think all the hills in MD will kill me before the cold does. Maybe there'll be a warm spell.

In case you haven't noticed, I've made a couple of additions to my sidebar. The new countdown clock is for the 3M half-marathon in Austin. This will be my next big race, and I really need to focus more on my run. Right now I've just been going through the workouts, but haven't really been giving it my all. It really is time to put it into high gear.

The other addition is a Twitter Update box. What is Twitter, you ask? It's a microblog service that allows you to post 140 letter updates. I call it FaceBook Lite, but I actually think it could have a broader appeal than FaceBook. Anyway, it's a nice way to provide short updates to the blog on events that don't necessarily warrent a full post, and it's supereasy to do updates from my mobile phone. That way if I haven't posted in awhile, you can always check the Twitter Update.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I know I've been a bit light on the posts lately. Truthfully, I haven't been much in a writing mood. Nothing bad, just a slight post-ironman hangover. This Thursday is Thanksgiving! I thought I would announce it for those of you that haven't been paying been attention. I love Thanksgiving! Aside from the traveling, which doesn't really bother me, I view Thanksgiving as a low stress holiday. Of course I might feel differently if I were hosting Thanksgiving, but I doubt it. I love company and I love cooking - just as long as someone else washes the dishes. Some childhood scars never heal. At any rate, Brian and I will be heading off to Texas for a lovely visit with our adopted family in Rockport, and I just wanted to take a moment to wish everyone a safe and happy holiday. Love you all!

I thought I'd share a little classic Saturday Night Live with you to celebrate the occasion. Enjoy!

Adam Sandler - New Music - More Music Videos

Follow-up

I just wanted to let everyone know that Serena is doing much better. She has most of her tubes out, is starting to eat solid food, and is even out of bed and moving around. She has had several visitors besides family and has enjoyed them all. As soon as a bed becomes available, she will be moved out of the PICU - it may have already happened. Becky has Guard duty this weekend - she is an Airforce reservist - so there won't be any updates until Monday, but it looks like Serena is well on her way to being fully recovered. That is great news!