Underdone

Training this week has been humming along. I've been starting to remember the constant smell of chlorine on my skin, the endless stream of water bottles that always need to be cleaned and re-filled, and the packing and unpacking of dirty sweaty clothes / clean clothes / dirty sweaty / clean. Training involved some monotony, that is a given. It means getting to bed early, trying not have that second glass of wine, and seeing the sun rise many a morning. I do love it though.

There were two mornings this week where I actually got into the shower in full workout attire because I was at the gym and I was THAT sweaty. I was soaked. Completely and utterly soaked. I decided it would be better to just get in, rinse my clothes and wash my hair (letting the suds that ran down do some of the cleaning) and then spin dry the shorts/top before putting them in my plastic bag all day letting them wallow in their own stinkiness. It was a good call. Waaayyy better than the rotting. Has anyone else ever done that? Yes, I know I am gross.. got past that a lllooonnngg time ago :)

Anyway, I started thinking back to the things I remember about Ironman Training..

There was one instance in particular where I was out on the bike for close to 7 hours. I had started at 7:00am with a friend and I did a swim after so it was now about 3:30pm. I still had not eaten a real meal. I walked into my house (that we were trying to sell at the time so my Mother-In-Law was there working on a few fix up items with us) and I took one look at her, didn't say a word, and BURST into tears. I was just sooo hungry. I couldn't even come up with one good reason why I was crying, but I ate an ENTIRE box of mac-n-cheese - myself... and finally, I was fine. She made it of course, I was crying to hard! Thanks Deb!

Anyway, there will be ups, there will be downs, but most of all, there will be some really fun times out on the bike at mile 90 where I see just how far I can go...and I live for those times ;)

In other news, I've decided to JUMP into a triathlon this weekend. I call it jumping because I just signed up at the end of last week and that is pretty spontaneous for me! So, I'm going to be doing the Pittsburgh Olympic Triathlon this coming Sunday.

I'm coming off of three weeks of not too much and one week of heavy training (um.. and I get a 1 day taper.. nice), but I'm not afraid of coming in underdone. I'm excited actually! Who knows what will happen!!

Lots of friends and people will be there to race, along with our beginner Sprint triathlon group who I am SOOO looking forward to seeing them compete. I know they will have a blast and they are READY!

So here's some previous Pittsburgh Pics to keep you busy..

My first Olympic Distance Triathlon in August of 2007. Running it in probably thinking "geezz.. that hurt!"

The last time I did Pittsburgh I couldn't help but wonder why all these girls were passing me in the second loop of the bike (the bike is two loop 5 mile uphill climbs out of town). Little did I know, I was riding with a flat! Oopps!

So I got Second that year.. that's ok! LOVE racing!! In the words of Ricky Bobby "I wanna go FAST DADDY!!"

And Thus it begins... again... IRONMAN COZUMEL!

Some people think starting over isn't a good thing. That going back to the beginning is something they never want to do again...whether its the starting a new relationship, going back to school, or just learning something new. We tend to dread the process of not knowing the answers and having to look to outside resources to overcome challenges. That's why we have friends, coaches and other people in our lives with more experience to help us along the way.

During my three weeks or so off from regularly scheduled training I always find myself reexamining why I do this sport. Why I spend tons of time, energy, money, vacation and portions of my mental sanity churning out the daily grind of swimming, biking and running and then racing all over the country (and even out of the country!).

I've spoken about this many times, but I guess its a combination of things. The number one reason is always that I love the process of seeing all of the training coming together to race. Without racing, there would be no training. It's so much more than than though...I'm sure most of you triathletes out there can attest to that!

The time off allows for examination, and time to refresh our body and mind to embark on another journey when the time is right. Starting over in the middle of the season after some time off can be daunting. So far, it's not much of a surprise - baby I'm out of shape!! My swim times are crappy, my run times are even crappier, and my bike times well, those don't change a whole lot -but my heart rate is like really, really high and I have to back it down on all the hills!!

It's hard to start over, but it also provides an opportunity to look at things a different way. They say the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. I'm determined that I don't want to have even remote insanity for the remainder of the season. I have a list of things that I want to think about every day while I'm training to help me be a better athlete and get the most from each session.

1. Thankfulness to be alive, healthy & able to train

2. The chance to practice my focus, be in the moment and learn about my limits

3. The camaraderie that it brings with some very special people in my life

4. Getting fitter, becoming a better athlete

5. Using my gifts to help boys like Ryan and being part of a team doing really cool things like Ballou Skies

6. Eventually the chance to race, but to not have that be the main focus of the every day, or basically, it just eats you alive!

My best training and racing has been just because, because I loved it, because I wanted to see what happened, because there wasn't any pressure (real or perceived). That's when I can pour my heart out on the course and not look back. I think back to Kona of 2008, and it was such an amazing day because I expected NOTHING.. I had NO earthly idea of a result that I wanted. I just wanted to race and follow the plan (and hopefully finish)..that was it! Things are a little different now, I've done a few more races, and had a few more experiences, and all of them have helped me become the athlete I am today. I'll never regret that for as long as I live.

It's the sessions that build into days, the days into weeks, the weeks into months of solid and consistent workouts that allow athletes to reach their full potential. I'm convinced that a consistent athlete will beat a talented sporadic athlete MOST of the time. That's why I'm in triathlon! I like things that reward discipline. I try to explain that to people sometimes, and they just look at me all sideways like I'm crazy!!

So, here I sit, starting over. I've wanted to do an Ironman all year. I'll admit, I was hoping that might be in Hawaii, but you can't say one thing and then do another (ie say you believe in a plan and then sulk that you didn't get what YOU want), so regardless of where it is, I know in my heart that it is time to attempt this distance again. It taught me so much about myself, and I loved that.

That's why I'll be drinking tequila, salsa dancing and wearing my sombrero for 140.6 miles on November 28th at Ironman Cozumel. Ok.. well, I guess I"ll be swimming, biking and running, but whatever, close!

I have a the support of my friends, family and training partners to help me get there. Without them, I would be even more scared than I am now to take on this distance again. I do believe that when I can't walk, my faith will carry me.

One day, I hope I'll be back in Hawaii to do an Ironman again. Until that day, I'm excited to start all over again... 17 weeks and 5 days....

Here we go...

Life has no smooth road for any of us; and in the bracing atmosphere of a high aim the very roughness stimulates the climber to steadier steps, till the legend, over steep ways to the stars, fulfills itself.
W. C. Doane

No great man ever complains of want of opportunities.
Ralph Waldo Emerson

Men do less than they ought,
unless they do all they can.
Thomas Carlyle

Men's best successes come after their disappointments.
Henry Ward Beecher.

Let thy words be few.
Ecclesiastes 5:2 from Words of Wisdom

Happy are those who dream dreams and are ready to pay the price to make them come true.
Leon J. Suenes

The power of imagination makes us infinite.
John Muir

First say to yourself what you would be;
and then do what you have to do.
Epictetus

PS> To the Lake Placid competitors - amazing job out there! I was so proud of all of you.. but best of all, my very close friend Jocelyn and my fellow coach Chad put together one of those days where preparation meets opportunity and I couldn't be more excited for either of them. Off to Kona they go.. My heart is full...and it couldn't have happened to two better people..

Have Newtons, Will Run

Racing, Racing, Racing!! That's all you ever think about.. you get all the attention!

Ha!

I wanted to start that post this way because it is a throwback to the Brady Bunch (ie Marsha, Marsha, Marsha!!) and you're darn right that is all I think about right now! There is TONS of racing going on all around me!! Lake Placid is a biggie. There are so many darn people that I know doing this race that Sunday is going to have to be wake up, run, check the status, church, check the stats, eat, check the stats (and so on until at least 14 hours has passed!). I've never been to that race, but I hear it's amazing and I'm especially rooting for my Ballou Skies Teammates Jeremy & Jocelyn.

Jocelyn, Jeremy & I at Ryan Ballou's Birthday Party!

They are two of the most amazing people and really talented athletes. Jos and I have had some heart to hearts over the last days, and I know she's ready...I've never wanted anyone to do well so badly in my LIFE so I hope this is "the one!" for her!!

I was ready to do a long run after our final beginner clinic on Sunday night. We had a great time going over the courses for the sprint triathlons they will be doing next month, and now the little chickens must leave the nest.. or whatever they say about that stuff!

When I started running I felt pretty good, so I decided I might go 10 or so.. then the knees started hurting, and the ankles weren't far behind. I KNEW I needed new shoes for awhile but I was having a really really hard time feeling like I could fork over the cash for a new pair of Newtons. Luckily, on the Mark Allen Team those were covered, but this is a new year, new team for charity and buying my own shoes time! Shoes should be replaced at about 350 miles at the latest and you don't even want to KNOW how many were on this pair! Trust me!

Do I want to stay healthy - YES! So, I went up to my new favorite running store - Second Sole and RD hooked me up with an AWESOME bright brand spanking new pair of Newtons (well, that I paid for of course!). Then, I made him take some pictures.. which is.. well, what I do to torture all my friends and even acquaintances..

NEW orange Newtons and my leg looks HUGE in this picture.. Must be the angle right??! :)

This is the picture where RD is asking if he should take his shirt off since this is going public.. I think the other customers in the store might have thought that was a little strange. I told him maybe next time..

Then I asked him if he would wear a Ballou Skies bracelet to represent and he said YES! So I gave him one. He even said he would sell them at the store for a dollar (just realized my finger is in the corner of this picture pointing.. too funny!).

Please, please, please join the cause if you are on Facebook. I promised a very special friend named Ryan Ballou that I would get at least a 1000 people to join this year because I have the BEST people ever that read my ranting on the blog. We are slowly making our way there, but I need your help! If you're on Facebook - JUST DO IT!

Thanks!! Hope everyone's week is going well! I'm back to training a little and loving it.. To all my lake placid friends - GOOD LUCK! I BELIEVE IN YOU!!

Now.. if I could only learn how to Salsa?? Do they actually do that in Mexico??

Can I go home now.. please ;) Pretty Please!

I'm sitting in the Milwaukee airport, as I have been for the last 2.5 hours. I had no idea how to spell Milwaukee, as evidenced by the fact that I had to look it up on Google!

It's been a long week, but a good week, if you like traveling, eating extravagant meals, drinking wine, dancing, not getting enough sleep, falling down and losing your cell phone. That of course is the much abbreviated version!

Last week was crazy in the office trying to get ready for the School Nutrition Association show that we do every year in July. This year, it was in Dallas and I had to wear a pink cowboy hat. Not the end of the world or anything. We start off with a big company dinner on Sunday night where we talked about strategy for showing our products over the next three days and celebrated the fact that we've been in business for 20 years. Pretty crazy.

I spend most of my days yelling out of my office to this girl, my officemate Tamie!

Even crazier, we ran into this man (on the left, the other guy is my boss!)..

I knew that I knew this man from somewhere, but I just couldn't place where at first! The funny part was that HE came in to see MY BOSS (who I often forget is a little bit famous still), so he asked to get a picture with him etc. Pretty funny! We all took some time to converse with him (oh, it's Jon Voight by the way, Angelina Jolie's Father). I know he's been in some big movies, but he really was very approachable and nice.

We had a wonderful dinner at the Rtiz and we were excited for a great week.

I went running for a quick 30 minute jog outside in the wicked heat before the party that evening and I had EXACTLY 45 minutes to get ready once I returned from my run. Of course, in the last 2 minutes I must have been hot and tired and I just didn't see a ledge coming my way. If you don't lift your foot up enough, it catches, you go down. That's what I did. I went flying forward onto this little pebble concrete and scraped myself all up. I was bleeding from my hand and knee and pretty shaken up (ie. I started crying! I guess from shock!). I narrowly missed a flower pot with my face, so that was good! A stranger helped me up and called the hotel security where I got to file an accident report - WHILE still crying. I was stressed out so that wasn't helping me stop I guess! I was like "I don't have time to fill this out! I have to be wearing a dress in 20 minutes!!" I don't think they understood! It all worked out and I'm still bandaged, but fine!

Monday night after the food show, we had a party for our customers which usually brings in about 2000 people. It's a great evening of fun, food and dancing! We all dress up (which is kind of fun once in awhile) and I even broke out the heels, which I never do!

Some party pictures! It's hard to tell how large the room is, but trust me! It's huge! At the beginning of the night it is always freezing, then by the end you can't stop sweating with all those bodies dancing!

The band was AWESOME!

Black and white must have been a theme!!

These are my Florida friends! Once again, more ladies, more black & white! Too funny!

I also had a great friend that lives in Dallas and I haven't seen him in like 6 years. We grew up together and rode the same bus. It has been many years since then, but we've manged to keep in touch via email etc. Since he's had a son and lives in Dallas, we just haven't see n each other! It's been so nice to catch up and spend time with him that evening. Great to see you Ron!

All in all, it was a good week.

On the training front, I need to talk ONE minute and talk about recovery. I really think this is the biggest area triathletes have trouble with both during the season and the off season. I am a true believer that not only do our bodies need a rest, but even more importantly, so do our minds. When I train, I'm 100% in (in case you couldn't tell :). I eat, sleep and breath while trying to get around 90-98% of my workouts done, week in, week out. That takes a lot of mental energy. By my calculations, I've been hard at it since the week of Christmas 2009. That would be about 6 months. I didn't want to ride, run or swim anymore for an entire week after BSLT 70.3, so I didn't. I don't make excuses, I don't try to do it when I don't feel like it, I just don't do it. Some triathletes would have a real issues with this, not me. To each his own, but that is what I NEED, and I know that. The next week I did what I wanted, more running than anything but still two complete days off and no heart rate monitor, no set agenda. The past week was a bit of here and there, but once again, nothing of note. I've only swam ONCE in the past three week (obviously that's the one that take more effort for me!).

I really believe that is a key to pushing through to the end of the year strong. I've started to really get antsy to swim, bike and run so I know it's time to start having about 10-13 hours on the schedule and to just do it without much thought. I would never start when I wasn't ready though, that can only lead to a big burnout 2.5 months into a tough second half of the year - exactly what we don't want here people!

So what's on the schedule you ask? A little Irongirl Sprint in August (girl power!), an Olympic in September, maybe a half.. who knows.. I'm ready to dive in and see where things take me.

But for some reason, I've been craving Mexican food in November???!!! Anyone else??

Gimme a BREAK! Gimme a BREAK!

Don't worry, I'm not dead.. I just needed a break, from everything... triathlon, blogging, training, being on a schedule, everything.

Sometimes I wonder how my brain doesn't actually explode I'm trying to do so many dang things at once sometimes. I'm not saying I'm the busiest person in the world, no, I do not have children, but I do have just a few things going on right now and sometimes the "grind" of just trying to work, eat well, sleep enough, cook, do dishes, start this dang business, and still take out my garbage every once awhile (which I have missed the last two weeks due to BSLT 70.3 and now 4th Holiday.. dang.. my basement is STINKY!) is just a lot.

I didn't do a thing training wise - FOR A WEEK... yes, I know some of you are having a small heart attack right now.. a FULL well, yepper my friends. NADA, nothing.. didn't look at my bike and even say nice things to it, I took a break from that too. Poor Blue probably thinks he's done something terribly wrong! I didn't put on my running shoes, I didn't break out the cap and goggles, I did NO extra workout clothes laundry, I cleaned no water bottles. IT WAS AMAZING! I really did need it. I slept in, called people, finished my USAT exam, watched movies, drank wine.. it was grand I tell you!!

We all need a mental break more than anything else sometimes. I do really well when I pick some early season A races, and then have a break and go all out to the end the year. That's when I excel.. so now it HAS to be break time or trust me kids, I would NEVER made it into the fall.

With that said, I've been tossing around a few race ideas, and some seem to be emerging.. But like a little egg, they need time to hibernate and grow before they might hatch into a full on race plan. We'll just have to wait and see!

So, what have I possibly been doing with all that time.. and yes folks, it is a LOT of time when you take the swim, bike, run, lift out of it!! Crazy how much time I had!!

I started with a modeling job outside of Pittsburgh as a "Mom" teaching her son how to ride a bike. I had a cute little kid working with me name Oscar and he was a doll!

The set was a long dirt road and the ad will be for a hospital in the fall. It was 85-90 degrees that afternoon, so a perfect time to put in a long sleeved shirt, fleece vest, jeans and rubber boots! Ha! I was so sweaty by the end!!

We were going for a J-Jill look or something like that. After this, I knew there was SOME kind of bribe involved for Oscar to be on that bike for three hours with me holding him up. I asked what he was doing afterward - BINGO, they were going to get a trampoline! Darn it! I want a trampoline!

On Saturday, it was time to head to Clarion to see my Mom for one last time before she moves to Florida and more importantly, to clean out my childhood room. Oh man..talk about a weird mix of emotions, saying goodbye to my Mom, seeing all those memories, packing them up, throwing some out.. it was TOUGH! I did enjoy some of it though. I will say it took FOREVER!

My friend Holly and I were cheerleaders back in High school.. yep, I was a cheerleader.. She's still a good friend going through some really tough stuff. It's amazing how we never realize how easy things are back then until we have some major life issues.. I guess that's being an adult.. YUCK!

Then I had to decide what to do with all these. I collected them from 16 years old to 29 years old, and now it was time for some of them to just move on. I don't need a monument of plastic to myself to put anywhere I will be living now, so I just saved a few and the rest are being recycled! It was fun to look at all the high school, 5k and 10k, marathon and triathlon ones though! I've been racing for a long time!

The rest of the weekend was spent like this..magazine, raft flotilla!! YES! It was 90 degrees and perfect weather for floating and boating!

They called me "Kyle's Foreign Wife" Whatever - I'm Italian folks.. this is what I get like in the summer. I can't help he's an albino!

Morgan and I had the best rafts of all! Mine was called the "King Cool Lounge!" Or, well, QUEEN cool lounge I guess!

Finally, the long weekend came to an end. There was only one accident with fireworks and I was thankful we live in a country with all of these wonderful opportunities. Thanks to our troops for protecting us and allowing us to enjoy this wonderful country!

Finally, on Tuesday night Ty and I met at my favorite little restaurant and did a little Ballou Skies Planning for the year! Much is yet to come and I CAN"T WAIT!

Hope you all had a wonderful weekend! God Bless!!