Au revoir

I'm leaving on a jet plane .... I fly to France tomorrow. It's 10:00pm, and I'm just about all packed. I am very excited as this is my first trip to Europe and my first real vacation in a looong time. I wish the dollar was stronger, but other than that, things are looking good. We'll be spending a few days in Paris, then we'll take a train to Nice and spend 5 days in the town of Jausiers. I will try to get a bike ride in while I'm there. Then, it's back to Paris to run the marathon on April 6th. They have me listed as Ray Trish and my bib number is 45053 if you want to look me up. My goal for this race is to have FUN!! I'll be sure to let you know how it goes.

Update(s)

It's been a long time! I will try to get you caught up.

1) Health -- I'm no longer coughing up a lung, but Lord, I've got so much snot! At first I thought it was swimming that was producing it, but now I think I just may be allergic to Ironman training! After every swim, I'm so stuffed up and have trouble sleeping. The bike seems to loosen everything up -- I've perfected the farmer blow on the bike, and can even shoot left now. Maybe I should ride right after swimming every time. Honestly, it's shocking how much snot has been coming out of my body. Overall though, I've been feeling good.

2) Work -- I've been super busy at work, often working ten hours a day. This weekend was Wildflower Training Weekend, but I wasn't able to go with the Team. I HAD to work on Friday. I'm a big fan of using sick days for things like this, but I had meetings with our Open Court consultant all day. It's a 5 hour drive up to Wildflower, and it didn't seem worth it to drive up late on Friday. Plus, I have a ton to do before my trip to Paris. I got my taxes done this weekend!

3) Training -- being sick last month set me back some, but I think I'll be okay. I did a 56 mile hilly ride yesterday and felt pretty good. Today I ran 20 miles. And I found two things to add to the list of things I love -- running in the soft sound and headwinds. Because of the strong winds, about a half mile of the path was completely covered in sand. It was like there was no path, only beach. On the way out I got to run through the sand with a headwind. Yippee!!

4) Racing -- I signed up for Wildflower Long course today. I've had it on my schedule for a while now, but it's for real now. And I'll be raising money for the Challenged Athletes Foundation and supporting my Team in Training teammates at the same time -- it's the best of both worlds :) I leave for Paris in 9 days! I'm super excited. In addition to running, I've been trying to learn some French.

I'm sure I've left out something, but it's a start, and I'll try not to let so much time lapse before I post again.

sick

It's been a week since I worked out. Last weekend I was not feeling great .... I was congested and coughing, but I did not feel horrible and the weather was beautiful ... in the 70s and sunny. So I went ahead and did my 4 hour bike ride on Saturday. Breathing was a little difficult, but I still felt okay. Sunday, I only ran 8 miles instead of my planned 12. I didn't have school on Monday so I did hill repeats on the bike and an hour with Lisa, my personal trainer. And then I was done. I was planning to do my swim drills after the strength training, but I couldn't. It was straight home and to the couch. I should have rested the entire weekend.

I went to work on Tuesday even though I had no business being there. Even before my coworkers heard me cough they knew I was sick. I looked that bad. I was winded walking up a flight of stairs! I missed my last "swim better" session. I was really bummed about that. I stayed home Wednesday and went to the doctor. He said my cough was "impressive" ... I don't mess around. He gave me all sorts of drugs, including an inhaler and cough suppressant with codeine so I could sleep :)

So, I've been sleeping a lot and watching bad TV. The evenings are so long when you don't spend an hour or two at the gym. Saturday I did my good deed for the Team, and provided SAG as they rode up Latigo (a 10 mile monster of a hill) for the first time. Everybody made it up and down just fine, and nobody needed me. But it is nice to know someone is nearby if you do get into trouble. Sunday I left my apartment only once, and that was to take out the trash. I'm not sure what today will bring. I might do laundry! I do know that I want to make sure I'm completely healthy before I work out again. I definitely don't want this to linger.

Another Wet Sunday

So it rained again today. But it was dry and clear yesterday so I was able to get in my 2 hour bike ride and 1 hour run. I can deal with a wet run, but I hate riding in the rain. It can be dangerous and scary. The rain was coming down pretty hard when my alarm went off at 6:30 this morning. I had coffee, read the paper, ate my oatmeal, and then got some work done. It stopped raining around 9:30. I headed out for my 3 hour run shortly after 10:00, and of course it started to rain again just as I stepped out the door. But it wasn't too bad and only lasted about 30 minutes. The on-shore winds did not let up though, and it felt like I had a head wind the entire time. And never a tail wind. I hate it when that happens. I got it done and was greatly relieved that I didn't have to resort to the treadmill.

2 minutes

Two minutes is about all I have this morning before I head out for my run and then off to work. And two minutes just happens to be the amount of time I took off of my four mile run!! This is a rest and test week ... we cut down on the volume of training and do a couple of hard efforts to test ourselves. Tuesday I had a 40 minute time trial (TT) on the schedule so I ran my normal 4 mile route. On an easy day I run that in about 42 minutes. The last time I did as a TT, my time was 38:10, and it was hard to hold on to that effort. This week I ran it in 36:13! And it wasn't so hard to hold on to that pace. I have not been doing any speed work so I think it's the strength training paying off here.

Sunday I am supposed to do a 2k swim TT (assigned by my tri coach), but my swim coach says we're not ready to swim yet. Last night was week 2 of the swim better clinic. It wasn't raining this week, but it was COLD (about 45 and windy), and we swim outside. During the first length of side balance, my arm that was resting on my leg was freezing! I had moments of breakthrough last night where I could really feel the difference and the power. So I will stick with the drills this week .... 4 times before next Wednesday.

this and that

Well, I've been back to work for three weeks now, and trying to fit it all in. It's not easy. I've had many blog worthy thoughts come and go before I found the time to sit down at the computer and bring them to life. Last weekend I ran the Carlsbad Half Marathon. My good friend Liz came out to support me. It was also the year anniversary of my Mom's passing. It was great to see her, as always, but I discovered that I am not very comfortable with praise or compliments. Liz is so enthusiastic about my accomplishments, and I tend to focus too much on my flaws and shortcomings. It's a never ending battle, but I'm not giving up!

This week I began a four week, swim better clinic. I was proud of myself just for making it to the first session, Wednesday evening at 7pm. It was raining and cold and the pool is outdoors. Mapquest said it should take 17 minutes to get there or up to an hour with traffic. It took me one hour and forty-five minutes! They video taped each of us, and then we did lots of drills. Our homework is to get in the pool 3-4 times but NOT swim, just do the drills. It's hard to skip my scheduled swims, but I know I have some bad habits. Taking a couple of weeks now to improve my form should pay huge dividends for the rest of the season.

I got in two good workouts this weekend despite the bad weather. We had rain most of the week, but Saturday was clear and gorgeous. I rode for 3 and a half hours in Palos Verdes. My longest ride so far this season, and I felt good. Rain, wind and thunder were predicted for Sunday so I didn't set my alarm. I woke up at about 8, and it wasn't raining. For reasons I can't explain, I didn't get out for my run until about 9:30. I planned to run for 3 hours, but cut it short. I ran 12 miles in 2:15. I ran about half of it in the rain and strong winds, and decided I had had enough. I do like running in the rain though. The waves were awesome, and the Strand was mostly empty and I feel so hard core. I am glad I don't have to deal with bad weather for too long though :)

ABANDON HOPE!

Day 6 of the New Year, and already she's giving up? Not quite. I have been giving quite a bit of thought to what my New Year's resolutions should be. More so than usual. And number one on my list is to love and accept myself. As I am. Right. Now. No excuses. No what ifs. I must abandon hope* of becoming "perfect" for I am already perfect. Losing ten pounds will not make me a better person, nor will it make me happy. There will always be someone thinner, fitter, faster than me. To be truly happy, I need to be myself, and I need to love myself.


Having said all that, there are a few things I'm working on. And the new year is as good a time as any to work on changing some habits.

Living in the Moment -- I worry a lot and tend to over think things. Part of what made the Ironman such a great experience for me was that I was in the moment as soon as the gun went off. I stopped worrying and just swam and biked and ran for 16 hours and forty minutes. I was proud of myself for getting there. I soaked in the beautiful views and enjoyed the support and kindness of strangers. And the day just flew by! I want every day to be like that. People shouting my name and cheering for me eveywhere I go would be pretty cool too.

Stretching

As you can see, I need to work on my flexibility. This is me seriously stretching, and that's as far as I can go even with my knees bent. Right now. Lisa, my private trainer, says that my tight calf muscles are hindering my movement and has me using the foam roller every day. It's painful, but I am noticing an improvement. I went to yoga twice this week, and it felt sooo good. Once I go back to work (tomorrow!) I'll be lucky to fit in one yoga class a week, but I can stretch for 10-15 minutes at home everyday.

Nutrition -- I need to be more mindful of what I'm putting in my body. This mostly means planning, grocery shopping, and cooking so that I have good, healthy choices readily available. And it's not all that hard. The other night I threw a turkey breast tenderloin (preseasoned) in the oven and roasted some veggies along with it. It was very easy and tasty. The only drawback was that it took over an hour to cook. That's where the planning comes in.

So, I think this is enough to work on for now. Happy New Year!!

*I first heard the phrase "Abandon Hope" from my good friend and IronFan, Liz, on June 23, 2007, in Coeur d'Alene, ID.