Life goes on...............

It's been hectic, tiring, and fun! As training gets longer, I have more chances to look within myself and dig deeper. Last century was not nearly as painful as the first. Yay, I am finally getting somewhere. Today, i decided to train 5 days per week, instead of 6. I think the results will be way beeter, then a half-a.. work out. Will see what happens.

Peachtree Roadrace 2009

Once again, woke up at 3:30 to race. Am I ever going to sleep in? I think that would be a definite negative! We actually drove the car to the finish and took a train to the start, I highly recommend it. And they have fresh, never been used porter-pots at the midtown station! Score!
This year I wanted to start at the front of my time group and I did so. Of course, my nerves were going crazy for over an hour of standing and sitting around. I really did not have a specific goal in mind, I just wanted a solid run. I concentrated, did not pose for any pics :) and just did my thing. Couldn't keep up with Keith, and Katie and I got separated, so I ran by myself. 45:09/6.3miles-garmin. I PR'd!!!!! Who does that at Peachtree? I am happy with my time and ready to tackle Chattanooga this weekend!
Special shout out to Steven, who also PR'd, Keith, Henry, Katie, my mom, Steve Brown and the girls, and whoever else raced that day!

Irongirl

Woke up at 3am and headed out to Lake Lanier for Irongirl sprint tri. Hot and muggy already. Welcome to Georgia heat! On the way, I really had to go..............but decided to wait until the exit. Well, I guess in those parts, the gas stations are not open 24 hours. Dang! Should listen to my mom and always go before leaving the house :) Arrived to the transition area, saw my parents. They were eager to body mark me, and all I was able to mutter was-bathroom, and sprinted for the porter-potties, which were NOT in the same place as Emerald Pointe. Doubledang!!!! Finally, got body marked by my father and went to set up my transition spot. Met up with some peeps, shot the crap and eased my nerves. Headed down to the swim around 6:30 and tested out the water. Warm. Yeah!!!!
The swim: two of my lunachix teammates and I had this grand plan to start on the side and cut in at the yellow turn boui. As soon as I started cutting in, I got right in the middle of the washing machine on heavy cycle of angry women, who were kicking, pushing and shoving. I decided to get angry as well, and I think that helped, because I got through and was able to swim most of the way. I stopped once to help a lady, who was treading water, looked around and saw the boat Steven and Dave were on (they were working the swim) and knew if they saw me stopped, I would never hear the end of it, so I went on my way. Swim time-14:00 (my watch) 1:50 min less from last year.
The bike: I had a hard time picking it up on the bike, partly because I drank most of Lanier and partly because I had a 3 hr bike ride on thursday. No taper for me until November :( I had the worst burping problem. It was sooo loud, that some women that I was passing looked disturbed. They were probably newbies, because in the world of triathlon, anything goes! Bike time-1:02, 1 min less from last year.
The run: nothing eventful on the run. I did not feel like I was going hard, but I wound up averaging 7:22min mile-7:30 last year. So I beat my time by 4 minutes from last year's race! All in all, I am happy with my results. 12/155 AG, 60th overall.

Congratulations to all ATCers and Lunachux and most of all, if you did not race, thank you for coming out and cheering me on!

Finally, here I am again! It's been quiet here lately. Training, working, eating and sleeping. In that order exactly. Last week Dave made me do a field test that hurt like a mutha. I stopped once, a minute into it and was ready to quit, but my bf talked me out of it and i decided to get going again. I have never gone all out, and I do not think I did this time either, because after the test, I was able to run again. I was not foaming at the mouth and did not puke. I guess I need to push myself a little harder next time.
This past weekend I rode a century on sore legs, thanx to someone I know :) It actually did not feel so bad, and since I rode most of it by myself, I got a little taste of what florida is going to be like. Talking to yourself is definately an option! Havin a little IT band issue and Dr Sadri told me to take a couple of days off. Doesn't he realize that I am training for ironman? Oh, the first 50 miles were way harder then the second. Thanks to Ron Teed for talking me into the century. Nothing like peer pressure!

GCT

My quest for iron has begun on may 9th, 2009.

We got to PCB on thursday, checked in and went straight to the water. Red Flag up. WTF? Immediately, my freaking out started. Got in the water without my wetsuit and did pretty well. After packet pick up and the expo shopping trip, back in the water we go, no problemo. So i am feeling pretty good at this point. On friday morning, go for another swim, in my wetsuit, and all hell breaks loose. I get extremely nauseated and lightheaded, pretty miserable in the middle of the ocean, in deep, deep waters. I am praying for calm seas on the race morning. No such luck!

On the morning of the race, I was pretty nervous. Everyone I talked to, told me if the race was wetsuit legal, to wear it, so I did. Somewhere between 3rd and 4th boui, I started getting extremely ill. I treaded water and tried to throw up to no avail. I was miserable. I just wanted to get out of the water. Thank God that noone asked me if I needed help, because I am not sure that I would have kept going. I took me a lifetime and then some to get out of water.

Got on the bike and felt better. It was pretty windy on the course, so my avg was 18.6 mph, I wsa hoping for better, but since the sea-sickness was still following me around, it was cool with me.

The run was amazing, I was able to go sub 2hrs, despite the heat. At some point I started retaining all of my fluids, so by the time I reached the finish line, I looked 9mo pregnant. Oh, well.

The experience was amazing. I have learned a lot, so the quest for iron has begun. It was awesome to see amazing ATC peeps racing and cheering. You guys rock. And a special shout out to my boys: Steven and Dave, who have e4mbarked on my quest for irom with me in 2009.

A few early birthday wishes.

As am headed to Florida to compete in my first half-ironman, I have a few birthday wishes:
To be the best that I can be, always.
For calm seas at Gulfcoast.
Health to all of my family and friends.
And a few more, but I can't think of them right now. I have a lot of nervous energy, but I think once I get in the water today, it'll calm me.
Best wishes to all who is racing and a huge thank you for all who is coming to cheer me on!

Last weekend rocked and this week sucked! Last weekend was JT sprint triathlon, Steven's first. He blew it out of the water! I, on another hand SUCKED! Now I know that I should have not raced it. The swim and the bike went well, but the run, my best part-sucked!!!!!! I hit a brick wall, and could not get through it. We had a lot of support out there, thank you guys!
This whole week I've spent in bed with the flu. UGH UGH UGH. I am pretty worried with GC being next saturday..............hoping for it not to suck :(

It seems to me that lately, every entry on my blog starts with "it's been a long time since i have written :)". It is true! It has been pretty busy around here with work, TRAINING, and friends recovering from surgery :). Training has seriously picked up and I do not think I've ever trained this hard or have been so diligent about it. I just do not want to suck @#$ in 5 weeks. My God, 5 weeks and I will complete my first half-ironman, and 6 months after, my first full. It's a huge year for me full of trial and error and I am a little freaked! I am blessed to have people around me that have wisdom and experience that I can go to and rely on. Thank you, my peeps!!!

I do have two sandbaggers in the family: my mom and Steven. My mom is totally ready to do her first triathlon, she has been training like forever, and Steven, who on account of me had to incoroprate a lot of half training, eventhough he is only doing a sprint! There is a group on facebook, dedicated just to him, it is called Spencer should do Gulfcoast!

A couple of weeks ago, my team Lunachix and I went to Cali and did some training and bonding. Let me just say, the training made the gaps look like rollers!

Random pics

Snow in Atl
Suck it up buttercup ride
Offender #1 BOO Offender #2 OSCAR

Snickers half marathon

What a trip! We arrived to Albany after 5pm due to moronic drivers and too many cops on the road. Picked up the race packets and of course a new t-shirt for me that says "toenails are for sissies" and headed to a on a dumpy side Holiday Inn. Ate dinner and hit the sack, since we had to get up at 4:45. My idea, of course.
4:45am and I am up with out an alarm clock. Super nervous. Why? It's just a running race. Well, I really wanted to PR and get as close to 1:40 as I could. I had 5 dookouts. What the hell is wrong with me? Does this mean before Ironman it will be 10?!!!
So, we are waiting at the start line, and I am into my music, when this blast goes off and I am ready for dookout number 6.....it was the cannon.
It was really foggy, so I could only see a couple of runners up. The weather was really good, not too hot and not too cold. No issues and no drama during the race. My goal was to hold a constant pace and I did it, give or take a few seconds. The course was a bit long, 13.3. The support was awesome, except for a chick smoking at a water stop. Of course, I gave her an evil look!
When I crossed the finish line, the clock read 1:42. Super excited!
So, Steven (2:05) and Bob (2:03) and I were having a few beers at the finish line, when we decided to look up the results, and OMG, there was a number 1 next to my name! I won my age group. That was cool!
I still think that all the fast peeps stayed home!
Props to Sue, who qualified for Boston once again! Which is my goal for next year.

Thrill in the hill

Seriously? What kind of a name is it?
So, it's 5 am and I start checking my cell for messages like the race is cancelled, it's raining, change of plans, Tat, stay in bed, this is a bad idea, etc. Nothing. I start to worry, like am I really going out there in this crappy weather to run a half marathon? What a stupid idea. None the less, an hour later I find myself sitting in a back seat of a Honda Element with Bob driving and Sue and Steven in the car. I think to my self, what a bunch of morons! I whine, bitch, moan and complain the whole way out there. Oh, did I mention it was cold and rainy?
We get to Ft Yargo, pick up our numbers, stay in line at the porter-pottie and go back to the car to warm up. Meanwhile, I am still crying for my momma! Around 8:15 we line up to start, on the bottom of this huge hill. Covered with finest Georgia clay and mud. Yeah, I wore my favorite pink shirt just for this!!!
I have to admit, I never had as much fun in a race as I did this one, I have I never ran a harder race that this one. It was hilly, muddy, full of deep puddles. No, deep ones! There was one, where the water went up to my waist! I hooked up with a guy who was running at a pretty good pace, and we took turns leading. Since a lot of the course was a single track, passing people was tricky. I never knew I could be so graceful! Did not fall one time! Hard to believe for those of you who know me, huh?
Well, my goal was first, to finish of course and to get a medal that was given out to the first 300 peeps. And I did both, yeah! 2:07/4Th AG. I strongly recommend this race to everyone, may be under different conditions. Even though, getting muddy was a lot of fun! If I knew how to ride a mountain bike? Hmmm. Exterra racing?

Suck it up, buttercup.

This weekend I decided to suck it up and ride. At 6:30am on Sunday, phone calls started pouring in and peeps asking me if I still was planning to ride. Yeah, I told 'em. We headed out to SCT and wheels were down at 11. For the most part, the ride was very pleasant, other than 25 mph windgusts. My 6 layers held up and I was not cold at all.
Props to Laurie, Phil and Bob- the rest of the gang who went out in the cold! 50 miles.

BLAH

Today I am feeling kind of tired. Don't feel like training. Woke up and saw how behind on housework I am. Not a good feeling. So, I will knock it out, and make up today's workout tomorrow.
If you don't got it, you just don't got it. :-)

You know that you are a triathlete, if you ask what a record on a treadmill is in a cardiac stress test lab is. And beat it!
(It's a true story and a person shall remain nameless). Yeah, you know who you are!!!!!

Training, training and more training.

This week was a major training extravaganza. with nice weather, I really enjoyed spending as much time outside as possible. Except hill aka hell repeats on the bike on Tuesday. Myself, Bob, Steven, Dani and Keith attacked a nasty hill 11 times. UGH!!! After the second one, I was sure that I was loosing my breakfast, lunch and snacks, but after that, it went pretty smooth. I guess it takes a while for my body to adapt. Today, I swam, biked and ran, and felt pretty good. Of course going to Ryan's as my motivation helped.

Congratulations to Danielle for rocking the Tundra TT and placing 5Th overall. I swear, that girl is getting stronger by seconds!!!!!

One step forward, and two backwards...

It's been forever since i have blogged, but it's been pretty boring around here. This past week i was sick with the flu, so no training for me. I am kind of freaking, since Gulf Coast is coming up soon. I feel like as soon as I get a hang of training and get in the groove, something sets me back. Is someone upstairs trying to tell me something? I hope not. I wish I was outside right now doing something fun, but I realize that in order for me to get better, I have to ride it out. I was soooo extremely bored this morning, that I decided to shave the dogs. Boo came out awesome, but Oscar was a different story, had to call his groomer and tell her it was an emergency...hope she can fix him. I hope everyone enjoyed this great weather and did a lot of fun things outside. i am totally jealous. Next weekend, here I come!!!

Well, it has been a few weeks since I have written anything. Life has been kind of hectic. Trying to get back into swing of things like training twice a day. I have gotten quite lazy after the marathon. Looks like I may be run/walking the Calloway Gardens half if my ankle feels better, I have a micro tear in one of the tendons, ugh! I have been swimming and riding almost every day, and having to wear da boot has not been fun. Dani, how did you do it for such a long time? At the end of the day it feels like it weighs at least a hundred pounds. I will try to get in to a splint by tuesday. Will see what happens.

Weekend stuff.

Well, yesterday was my first brick of the season. 1hr in the trainer and 1.5hr run....was supposed to be 30 min, but I got lost. Only me. The subdivision was old with a whole bunch of ways, drives and roads. I forget, which one goes in a circle?!!! it was a nice run, even though I ran 10 miles the day before with guys from ATC, who completely whooped my butt.

Oh, yeah, on Saturday we went to cirque DE so lei and saw some wild things. The contortionists freaked me out the most. They must be quadruple jointed.

Today, no training, day off and I am chilling on the couch with the boys.

So true!

Taurus (4/20-5/20)
You don't have to prove yourself to anyone, so if someone is putting pressure on you to hurry up right now, tell them to mind their own business. You know what is best for you right now, and you just have to keep doing it -- at your own pace! Some people are always in a hurry and they have a distorted sense of deadlines. So just take your time and appreciate the smaller things in life. Those mountains that you want to climb aren't going anywhere anytime soon!

This is my horoscope for today! There are so many pressures going on right now, just need to have a clear head!!!!

Happy New Year!!!!!

Happy New Year to all my peeps! I wish you all health, PR's and happiness! I know, 2009 will be awesome for all of us. 2008 was a pretty bad year for a lot of people and I am glad it's gone....good riddance!
I started the new year with a bang-a 5K in Kennesaw. It hurt like H-E-L-L! Ran with Phil the first mile, he said we did a 6:25, then, my chest exploded. All that cold air. Slowed down some after that first mile and finished in 22:15, 1st AG. Not my best performance, but I will take it since I have not been training much.
Congratulations to Steven, Phil, Bob, Sue and others, great race! Spanx, as always, thank you for the support.