Third Place!!!

I got a medal! I got a medal! I got a medal hey, hey, hey, HEY!

And well, of course the Sig Pose with J-Ninja's Hubster with his GOLD bling....

Notice in the top picture I have a medal on a white ribbon, in the above picture it is red....I realized on the walk to the car that my medal said Age Group Male, not Female. This was noticed when a dude walking beside us complained that his medal said Female, Iooked at mine, Male... so Duh, we traded...problem solved.

A full race report to come!! But for now I am going to chilax on my couch and watch a movie!

It's Friday!

Now that I work full time Friday has an entirely NEW meaning. I mean, don't get me wrong, I have worked full time before and this is not a new concept, just a concept I haven't had to face in a LONG TIME! So TGIF everyone!!

I am packed and ready to head to WASHINGTON! Washington, North Carolina that is.

I'm pretty pumped about tomorrow's sprint tri! I have been slacking in the swimming, biking and well actually running departments lately. Dang. How do I expect to win when I am pretty much an all-around slacker? Shoot.....But hey, I'm gonna look pretty high speed (hopefully) in my new 2XU tri outfit!! It came today. Was sitting on my front porch when I got home! I of course ripped it open and tried it on immediately. The shorts are tight. Really tight. I know they are supposed to be and actually I'm not sure if I am supposed to wear them by themselves or not. I'm confused. They are compression shorts with no padding in the seat. I think they go UNDER something else....So i may go with my trusty iZume shorts tomorrow. To Be Decided.

Well, gotta run! I'll check in again soon!!!

Something You Never Want to Find Out....

Well, wouldn't you think that if it was 100% humidity outside it would be raining? Or something?

Well this AM, after receiving my Wake-Up-And-Go-Run text from CQL, I headed out for my run. I knew it was gross and hot and muggy. I was immediately sweating and melting and suffocating. But I kept on and finished with 3.33 miles (just for YOU Mel!). I came home and decided I would check the Weather Channel app on my phone. To my horror THIS is what I found:

GROSS.

But I survived to tell the tale and now you know, 100% does not mean rain. It means if you go for a run wear an oxygen mask and bring a butter knife to cut a path.

Hoping you have a more pleasant run than me. Perhaps you'll have a glorious run like my husband apparently did last night in Santa Cruz. Who me? Bitter? What ever gave you that idea?

Here's the Deal Pickle....

I'm tired and I want to watch a movie then go to bed then wake up (thanks to my Wake-Up-and-Go-Run-Texting-Buddy, CQL- at Livin' A Little Life). We have begun our Tue/Wed/Thur 5:15 AM texting routine to hold each other accountable for our morning runs....Um, however, I cannot tell a lie: This AM I texted her at 5:20 AM but I didn't actually get up. FAIL. But in my defense....NO! There is no defense! FAIL. No really, I was so sore....SO WHAT! FAIL. Oh no, now the voices are typing on my blog...

Tonight I did do a short Kettle Bell workout on the porch. I hope I am not too sore for my run that WILL take place in the morning. I really do plan on getting up for my run. Today I was still so sore from 50 Kettle Bell swings I did on Sunday I could hardly sit down, or stand up for that matter. I figured I should play it safe with a race coming up this weekend. I don't want to be too sore come Saturday AM. Speaking of my tri, I got the shipment confirmation for my new tri suit. It os scheduled to be here by the end of the day on Friday. What does that mean? by 5? 5:30? I am heading out with J-Ninja and our Tri Crew Friday evening after everyone gets off work. The tri is a 2.5 hour drive so we are spending the night. So I am hoping so bad that my new fit gets here so I can sport it on Saturday! Didn't catch my post about my new ri suit? Check it out HERE.

My plan for swimming this week has not come to fruition. Last night and tonight we had pretty crazy, lightening and thunderstorms. Tomorrow I am interviewing a nanny at 6 but hopefully I can get her in and out in time to hit the pool....but really, I doubt that will happen. The pool closes at 8 so if I got there by 7 o'clock that's just barely an hour. A teaser.

I have some reading to do in the RLRF book so I am off to read then watch a movie! Any suggestions?

The Lonely Post...

Going on 48 hours now that my boys have been on the West coast. It sure is quite! And lonely...and boring....and easy. But I prefer having my boys here, as chaotic and hectic as it can be. I just don't feel right being here, in NC, without them. The Hubs sent me a few pictures of their fun thus far:

Looks like someone got himself a skate board. Oh boy...well maybe if he gets good he can skate next to me while I run:

And I'm guessing he likes wearing the helmet...

Today, I drove home in a torrential downpour. A deluge of water coming at me. I could hardly see. Then as soon as I hit my street it was dry. Not a drop of water fell on my neighborhood, until about 20 minutes ago. It was weird. But as I pulled into my drive I saw something sticking out of my mail box! Thank goodness it didn't rain here since it was the Run Less, Run Faster book sent to me by Michelle!! THANK YOU!!! I am pretty stoked to look it over. I'm thinking the philosophy behind it is pretty close to what my plan from The 4-Hour Body. Running less and running faster...theres only one way to do it, fast and short.

Sunday after I swam 2,500 meters with Sarah I stopped at the PX (in other words the tax free store on the Army post) and found a Kettle Bell. My plan is to use it. Duh...ok, use it for working out and not as a door holder, paper weight or book end. Last night I did 50 Kettle Bell swings and all I can say is YEEEEOWE!!!!

Anything knew with you? Have you ever had extended periods of time when you were home alone sans kids and sans spouse? I've been without The Hubs many times, but without LB is just plain weird. I guess I could get used to it though...maybe.

Mechanics of Running....

Yep, I must have some time on my hands if I am about to give you some tips on running mechanics.

To date I have run 3 marathons. I think it is funny that I ran my best time in my first (OKC Memorial), and I am certain I could have done better. I held back because I didn't know, the unknown made me err on the side of caution. I thought it was too good to be true, that I would certainly die...but mile 13.1 came and I hit a sub 2hour half (only my second sub two out of about 10 previous halves), I felt great. Mile 16 came and I was smiling and still holding back. Mile 20 more the same...Mile 21, 22 I was getting worried about how great I felt. Mile 23 was the roughest but still, I did not die. I climbed a wall but didn't die.

I say all this because I was looking at plans for my fall marathon. I found plans with crazy running, tempos, pace, speed. I did all that, sure. But what stands out most was the simplicity of the plan I used for my first marathon: Hal Higond's Novice 1 plan. I know, I said I wanted to try something new And I still do BUT tick tock, time is passing and I am 15 weeks out from OBX. I need a plan and I need it fast. So I have printed off Hal's Novice 2 plan. It's still simple and has 4 runs a week with a Wed mid-distance run topping out at 8 miles, and it has pace runs thrown in. I think I can handle getting up early three days a week and heading out for a Saturday long run. Wait, let me rephrase that: I will have no problemo with three early AM runs a week.

There are two rest days and one cross train day thrown in. I am still going to be trying something a little new from the 4-Hour Body book, Ultra-Endurance I: Going from 5k to 50k in 12 weeks- Phase II. In his book, Mr. Ferris lays out a plan that employs a lot of crossfit and 400m repeats. I am thinking I can do some of the shorter runs in the 400m format. And well, who wouldn't benefit from some crossfit? I would, that's for sure. Plus the workouts are done in about 20 minutes and The Hubs has promised to create a home-gym on our awesome back porch. So I can do this in the evenings. The benefits are two fold: lean, toned muscle and strength. This will help me when it comes to Tri season next summer. Strength means power on the bike, stronger run, and stronger swim. As the Sigma boys in college would shout out as a pretty girl crossed the Student Center, I'll take it....!

Ok, so get to the Mechanics of Running right? This is nothing new or Earth Shaking. It's just a little something I read from the 4-Hour Body book which is written by a dude who is independently wealthy and goes to top researchers and scientists and puts his body to the test. Every thing in his book is backed by research and science and people who are WAY smarter than me, WAY faster than me, WAY better than me (think Scott Jurek,7 time winner of Western States Champ). Most of them are elite athlete coaches and athletes themselves. So they speak, I listen. And hopefully I improve.

1. Use gravity for forward motion instead of push-off and muscular effort.
2. Land on the balls of the feet and aim to have the feet land under your center of gravity instead of in front of you.
3. Never fully straighten your legs. Keep a slight bend in your legs at all times to prevent push-off.
4. Pull each foot off the ground and towards your buttocks (rather than pushing off) using the hamstrings as soon as it passes under your center of gravity.
5. Maintain at least a 180 step/min rate, which means at least 90 steps per minute with each leg. This will use muscle elasticity to your advantage. Michael Johnson, who held the 200 m world record for 12 years, and also won 4 olympic gold medals at different distances, was known for eschewing (not my word!!) a high knee lift in favor of short steps. His per-minute step rate was 300! -Taken from Timothy Ferris, The 4-Hour Body

So how do you measure up? I actually have no idea how I measure. Pretty sure if I did #1 I would fall on my face. #2 I think I'm good. #3, I have no idea?? #4, I know I have a lousy back-kick. #5, I have no idea but maybe I should fill my iPod with tons of songs with 90 beats/min. Is that possible? What does that even sound like???? If you know of a 90 beat/min song send it my way so I can hear what that is....

Well, remember how I said I was afraid to push harder in my first marathon? Yeah, I kind of do that for all my races. I have talked about that before. I know I could do better, run faster, swim faster, ride harder. Why don't I? I guess I just don't have to. Do I really want to? I don't know, I guess it would be cool. But this quote struck me:

"Beyond the very extreme of fatigue and distress, we may find amounts of ease and power we never dreamed ourselves to own; sources of strength never taxed at all because we never push through to obstruction" -William James

I told you I would be back and be bored. So maybe there will even be another post today, like after my swim I am about to go to...

Greetings Earthlings....

From the stinking Sun.

Oh wait, the sun probably doesn't have 157% humidity like we have here. Heat indexes have been well over 100 every day this week. I'm talking like 111, 112. That is like melt-your-face hot. But the stupid thing is that it is actually like 98, 99 degrees but with the humidity it officially feels hotter. Around here it's referred to as Wet Bulb. It's super dangerous because you dehydrate and turn into a raisin or something. Maybe you just keel over and melt into the ground before anyone even knows what happened to you. As a matter of fact I saw this yesterday: Awful isn't it?

Well I am officially flying solo for 16 days. The Hubs and LB are off on a grand adventure....

What the heck am I supposed to do for 16 days? I have a nice idea but if it really turns out I'll be surpassed. As of now I plan to wake up in the AM and be out the door running by 5:50 or 6. So much less time is required when I don't have to get LB ready and out the door too. Then to work as usual, head home for a quick minute to let Lazy Dog out (lucky Lazy gets to chill in the AC these days), then head to the pool! I am pumped to get in at least three swims this week! I need to in a serious way since I have my next tri coming up on Saturday! I also have the option of swimming in the morning before work! That would be double-decker-awesome! But lets be honest here, I like my sleep BUT on the flip side I can be in bed by 8:30 PM! Now that is triple-double-decker-aweosme!

I mentioned my next sprint tri is on Saturday. I decided to bite the bullet and finally get me a real, live, big-girl tri racing suit! I ordered it from my *AHEM*sponsor...onetri.com (check them out HERE). They have a lot of great gear and some of it is on sale! Score! So if you are in the market, considering coming to the Dark Side (not naming any names here Marlene or TMB) go ahead and check it out! I had hard time picking out what I wanted and before I knew it my Shopping Cart was up to like $600. Uh, nope. Unless that suit will swim for me, bike for me, and has an AC installed I don't think so....(then there is always the awesome possibility of some co. sending me a totally amazing suit to try and review here on my blog).

I finally settled on these pieces: think those are sewn in abs? I sure hope so...

But I may try these, because well, you know I think they are totally fast looking! And all red/black and some grey to match Nelly C.I.R.N. What do you think???

Pretty sweet, huh? Yeah. I'm kinda getting big time. Not bragging or anything....Ok in my dreams guys, come on. Don't boo me off stage.

I asked The Hubs yesterday if he would give me ONE YEAR, just one year with a real coach, to try to do amazing things and become a pro. Tri as my J.O.B. He didn't shoot it down immediately. "So you're telling me there's a chance!" He did say there was a few things that would need to be in place first, and I can respect that...so we will see.

Anyways, back to my awesome new race gear, we'll see how the gear measures up to the ole polyester speedo. I haven't tried them on, of course. So hopefully they get here before Friday and I can try them on and hopefully they fit. I'm not worried about the Never Race in Something New rule. A sprint tri is pretty short and I'll just take a bath in Chamois Butter or whatever it is called. I think I'll live...Now if they don't arrive by Friday then I may not live. I may throw a fit (ok not really. I'll just have to find another tri to do the next weekend so I can wear new outfit...you know, like wearing new clothes to school or a date, you gotta do it!).

Well off to figure out something to do with my evening. I wish I was't too lazy to take myself out for a movie. But I'm sure I'll end up Netflixing something and falling asleep. I'm a rock star like that!!

Happy Saturday! I hope those of you who raced had a great showing!! I can't wait to catch up on all your blogs! I'll certainly be doing that tonight.

True Story...

I'm too lazy to do a blog post.

So I'm not gonna....

And you can't make me....

Don't even try.

I will rebel and stand strong.

But tomorrow The Hubs and LB are headed to CA for a week, then The Hubs is headed to summit Mt. Rainier while LB stays in CA with the "City Grandparents". Do the math...TWO WEEKS alone. Two weeks with only me and Lazy Dog. This means I'm headed to pool and gym every night after work! Oh shoooooot! Is this turning into a blog post? NO!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I'll be back tomorrow evening when I am all lonely and bored. I promise you will hear from me...