Warning: This blog has been rated "R" for language.

Today's crappy workout:
Swim-30 miserable minutes
Ride-307 horrible minutes, 85 unbearable miles
Run-3 pathetic miles

What a crap ass day I had today. It started when I woke up at 5:30 instead of 6:30. Couldn't get back to sleep. I went to swim and got bored and hungry on the swim. Then went to HEB for milk and mini bagels and ice. Then got home and realized that I had forgotten to pick up the regular big bagels for breakfast. So I went out again for the bagels. My legs were already tired from walking up and down the back steps again.

Then I started to make my smoothie and bagel. I realized we were out of vanilla yogurt so I used blueberry. Then Chris reminded me that the vanilla is in the big container. Ugh. Then I started to cut my bagel. I decided that my bagel would be too easy to cut, so I decided to cut my finger instead. Lovely. It was a pretty good cut too. It bleed for at least 30 minutes. What a morning. And I still had an 80 miler in front of me. And then a 6 mile run. (At least that was what was planned!) The cut on my finger wanted to make a video at one of our stops today. Here it is.

After breakfast we headed out for the ride. Here's the route.




I just noticed that our stops are identified by a splash of red along the line that shows our route. That's cool! The route turned out to be 85 miles instead of 80.

Not as windy as last week, but I was more miserable than last week. Everything hurt. And still does. In fact, I was having such a crappy day that I wanted to shorten the run. Bonnie and Kristi decided to have pity on me and walk/ran with me. Thank goodness these young'ens don't mind waiting up for old Grannie Pants here. In addition to Grannie Pants, Negative Nancy decided to join us on the run. Along with her close friends, Big Butt, Jiggly Thighs, Sore Hoochie, and Hurtful Bones.

Not that I'm going to, but if I ever ever wanted to even think about doing another crazy race like this, but I'm not, but if I ever did, I'll just have to read today's blog to realize how downright miserable this training can be.  (Don't worry Peanut, pigs would have to fly before I'll ever be training for one of these again!)

Here's a list of everything that hurts on me from head to toe. Warning-scroll quickly through this part if you are easily offended.

Head-A slight heat headache.
Eyes-Dry and itchy from allergies
Throat-Sore from allergies
Nose-Sneezed a million times this morning and had a snot rocket for the record book today. Kristi offered the play-by-play of the snot trailing out of my nose all over me and the road.
Shoulders-I don't know where to start with how painful my shoulders are. Between the breaststroke and the aerobars....non-stop action for my shoulders today. Four aleve today couldn't even put a dent in the pain in my shoulders.
Back-My upper back, the part that tried to take up some slack for my shoulders....oh so painful.
Lower back-surprisingly ok
Butt-I had an itch on my left butt cheek for most of the ride today. Not painful, but slightly annoying. And not pretty for those behind me.
Privates-Between a swimsuit, a heavily padded pair of bike shorts, and spandex running shorts, my  unmentionable parts are suffering. Big time. One thing they don't mention a whole lot in the training books is the suffering of the privates. Five to eight hours on a bike seat sure does take it's toll. Between saddle sores and smooshed other parts, it's all very unpleasant.
Thighs-Besides being riddled with cottage cheese, my thighs are sore. Not too many hills today, but they are still sore. All part of having a crap ass day.
Knees-My right knee still pangs with pain occasionally. Like when I go to sit down or stand up. Ever since dance practice a couple weeks ago.
Calves/Ankles-My bones are sore. I don't think it's anything to worry about, but they sure hurt today.
Toes-My toes are getting beaten up by this training. They went numb on the ride today. Probably a good thing since they hurt most of the time. I slothered them up with vaseline before the run which seemed to help. But then I barely ran, so not a good test.

So that's my crap ass day.

Now, in the spirit of Mary, let's see what I did enjoy today.

The company
The route
The weather
Kristi's squeaky sneakers
Chris offering to cut all my food for me for the next three weeks
Chris taking care of me now that this horrible day is all done
My puppies
The landscaping that we got done around the house
The fact that in three weeks and one day this craziness will be over

And....the best for last.....I just got invited out on a boat to Lake Austin tomorrow!!!!!  What a perfect ending to a crappy workout day. Looks like a chance of showers tomorrow, but I don't even care! Just to be out on a boat....hopefully it will be relaxing and fun.

Ok, time to ice bath, eat some dinner and hit the sack. Early morning run tomorrow so I can make the boat ride!

Asta,

Poopy Pants.
AKA-Mary :)

It's Friday! It's Friday!

Today's workout:
Off

Not much to report today, just a nice walk with the pups. Looking forward to some yummy pasta for supper.

Shortest blog ever.

M :)

So nice....

Today's workout:
Run-8.3 miles

Even though this has been a tough week and I haven't had a break from work at all, I feel like it's a back week. It's completely psychological though because I just keep telling myself that there's only two more weeks of training before the week that we go to the Woodlands. So as of tonight we only have two Thursday night runs left!

Tonight's run was three sets of running for either 15 minutes or two miles. The first one we ran 1.83 miles in 13:45. We stopped because we made it to the water coolers. The second one we ran 1.83 miles in 15 minutes. Big hill on Riverside during that one. The third one we ran two miles in 14:15. Not too shabby! It wasn't easy, but I felt fine after getting my breath back. Then we did the drills.

It was strange not to do the weights after the run tonight, but oh so nice! I think that's another reason why I feel like it's a back week.

I just took an ice bath. Those always help me feel better, I'm looking forward to tomorrow, just a nice walk with the pups after work with my friend Mary.

That's about it for now! Watching the final episode of The Office with Michael Scott. Well, I'm watching it with Chris, but it's the one with Michael Scott in it! Heehee!

M :)

Two more Wednesday night rides!

Today's workout:
Swim-87 minutes-2.4 miles
Bike-14 miles

I had a good swim today. Relatively. I felt good physically, and I even finished three minutes earlier than normal. But ugh, I just don't like swimming at all. I didn't enjoy it at all. I kept trying to think of something that I liked about swimming. The only thing I came up with was injury prevention. I was telling Wayne how much I hate swimming and he said he feels the same way about running. I'm glad I love running-it's what I think about and look forward to while I'm swimming!

On my last few laps every time I would come up for a breath, it sounded as if there was an argument going on in the pool area. I looked around and didn't see any disturbances, so I kept swimming. When I finished, I saw that there were two people talking in the hot tub. The guy was sooooo loud, his voice was ricocheting off the really bad acoustic walls in the pool area and hurting my ears! The girl he was talking to was speaking in a normal voice, but for some reason he was yelling his conversation. It must have been how I was talking on Saturday's bike ride when it was really windy. Kristi said I was yelling my conversation to her and Bonnie because I couldn't hear anything. Hahahahaha!

The ride was nice and chill tonight. I took it extra slow tonight just to spin out my legs. It was a beautiful night out tonight. In the low 90s and sunny. Kind of windy, but nothing like last Saturday! While we were riding I realized we only have two more Wednesday night rides! I can't believe how fast time is flying by.

I'm excited today because the Athlete's Guide came out! I'm going to print it up and memorize it. Heehee!

Let's see, I think it's time for another motivational quote. Let me see what I can find.....

The vision of a champion is someone

who is bent over, drenched in sweat,

at the point of exhaustion when no one else is watching.

-Anson Dorrance

I like that one. 

G'night!

M :)

Sweat Fest 2011

Today's workout:
Bike: 80 minutes on the trainer
Run-34 minutes

94 degrees at 5:30, 87 degrees at 7:45. I really like this weather. Bonnie brought a fan for the trainer workout. There was a nice breeze tonight, so it wasn't too bad, even though the fan didn't oscillate over to me at all. Wayne said his left leg got some cooling action from the fan. Kristi and Bonnie said that it helped a lot. I'm going to have to bring an extra fan down next week if it's this hot again!

The trainer workout was good tonight-HR 2-HR3 high, three sets-15 minutes, then 12 minutes, then 10 minutes. With four minutes recovery in between each. Then just some easy quick spinning.

The run was fine too. I'm definitely getting used to having really tight calves for the first mile after biking. I'm going to have to be prepared for that on race day. I know that I'll have to stop and stretch them within the first mile or two. Then they feel better almost immediately after stretching. It takes me a good two miles to get into a run nowadays. My bones need longer to warm up to a good pace then it used to. But once I get into the pace I feel good.

After the run there was a really cool show, courtesy of Mother Nature. We are in a tornado watch until 10 pm, and the clouds didn't disappoint. Here's a pic from our deck.

We could see the big puffy cloud growing right before our eyes. It was really something. When Chris came back from picking up Spicy Pickle sandwiches he said that people were all over the sidewalks taking pictures of the sky. There are some pretty amazing pictures posted on facebook already.

I was just picking up my phone to text Kristi to see what her view of the clouds was like from the 41st floor when I got a text from her asking if I could see the clouds from our back deck! Jinx!

Wayne took some pics, they were walking Bella so the photos are from the ground level and not from up in the air from their home. Here are their pics.

The entire sky was a spooky orangey-red color. It was really amazing. Luckily it blew over pretty quickly. There are some reports of crazy weather north of us, closer to Waco. Hopefully the tornado watch will end soon. We have a designated safety spot in our house just in case.

That's all for now!

M :)

Black and Silver

Today's workout:
Nothing!

I swam yesterday so I wouldn't have to swim today. I'm so glad I did that. I was pretty beat after a full day of dance rehearsals and then a performance! We performed "Black and Silver" by Wiz Cerveza at the TAKS pep rally at school today. It was pretty funny! Wiz had two fans show up-Chris and Kristi got front row seats and laughed their way through the performance. It's a good thing I was able to keep my day job because I certainly couldn't make a living dancing around like a fool!

Since Chris switched his shift today he was off this evening, so we were able to take a nice walk with the puppies. My legs weren't sore at all today- I think the ice bath and the foam roller really helped out. The only thing that was sore were my shoulders and neck. But that's a usual occurrence on Mondays for me. I used one of those one-time use shoulder heating pads and took two aleve and it felt all better by mid-morning. I think it just gets so tight from swimming breaststroke and then being in the aerobars for hours on end.

I keep checking the Texas Ironman website for the "Athlete Guide" or whatever it's called. The official packet that has all the specific information we need for the weekend. I'm excited to take a look at it and read it over and over and over. I think I've read the training book like a million times. I'm trying to get my hands on any last minute tips and ideas for the big event. I found a website that offers mental tips and that's been really helpful during the long weekend workouts. I'm trying to come up with a solid mental plan for the entire day. With a back-up plan of course. Hope the best but prepare for the worst.

Say, that gives me an idea...with less than a month to go now, maybe I should start finding inspirational quotes to get pumped up. Let me see what I can find...

I think today's quote is by George Bernard Shaw.

"I want to be all used up when I die."

I like that one.


I'll have to dig around for some other quotes for the next twenty-six days. Suggestions welcome.

M :)

So long Club Macca!

Today's workout:
Run-13.3 miles (134 minutes)
Weights-2 x 12
Swim-60 minutes

I was talking to William this afternoon and he said I was crazy for doing all of this endurance stuff. I told him it was slightly addictive. He said, "Yea, with all the adrenaline and dolphins." I said, "Did you just say dolphins?" He said, "Yea, dolphins make people smile, and make people happy...just like how you're explaining your exercising."  I said, "You mean endorphins?" Hahahahahaha!

Today's run was pretty good. Obviously it was on tired legs, given yesterday's twelve hour workout. I started out really slowly, trying to ease into it. Then I found a pace-a slow pace, but still a pace that I felt good with. I just kept telling myself, "Race day is going to be so much harder than this...this is nothing today...." and that helped a little bit. It was warm, but overcast so it wasn't too bad. Still a sweat fest though.

My legs felt ok during the run. Which is good, given my proclivity to injury. The most painful things for me were my toenails. I can't touch the top of most of them. The most little bit of pressure on the top of the nail is excruciating. But other than that I'm just normal sore.

Today was our last visit to Club Macca for the duration of the training! Wow, it's really getting close. 27 more days.

I decided to swim tomorrow's swim today, since I have to stay later than usual at work tomorrow and I'll be too tired to swim before work. I just swam an hour. I did some of the drills, mostly the ones that focus on the arms and not the legs so much. I had about ten minutes left at the end of my swim, and this girl, in her 20s or so, stopped me. She said she was teaching herself how to swim and asked if I had any pointers. I was cracking up laughing on the inside, but outside I said, "Oh, I taught myself too, and I don't really know what I'm doing either." She said, "Oh no, you're really good!" So I tried to remember some things from my lifeguarding/swim instructor days and taught her how to swim breaststroke.

When I got out of the pool she was making her way down the lane with a kickboard trying to figure out the froggie kick.

And now I'm on the couch relaxing. Whew. Only a few more weekends to go!!!

M :)

Saturday's workout

Yesterday's workout:
Swim-45 minutes (1.2 miles)
Bike-377 minutes (6 hours and 17 minutes)-98 miles
Run-4 miles

My phone wasn't able to send our photos from yesterday, so I had to wait until today to blog about yesterday. So here goes....

The swim went really well. I felt good the whole time. I swam 1.2 miles. Then I came home and had a bagel and a smoothie. At 9:30 we headed out for our 112 mile ride. It turned into a 98 mile ride because I miscalculated the route. Map My Ride isn't really well equipped to handle routes over 40 miles or so. Each time you add more distance, the system starts at the beginning of the route and adds on. So by the time I got into the 90s, it was taking three or more minutes to add a half mile section. So I stopped that route and started another one to pick up where the other one was slowing down. But then I miscalculated. We didn't actually have to ride 112, I just thought it would be fun to do. We still rode for the recommended time of six to seven hours.

The winds were crazy. It was by far our windiest ride to date. Steady winds of 22 mph with gusts up to 32 miles per hour. At times, each of us was almost blown off our bikes. The wind would just gust up and try to knock the tires right out from under you. I would get out of the aero bars when there was traffic around so I had a little more control with the wind. We headed south first, and then east-over to Bastrop. The route was really great-the wind was the worst part. Here's the route that we did.




We had plenty of water stops, since it was in the 90s. The best stop was at Smokey Springs. Actually, I think it's called Lytton Springs, but the store was so smokey with cigarette smoke that I renamed the town.

I forgot to take a photo of the store, so I found one online. Take away the red ribbons and add Easter decorations and that's the store. The people are very friendly in Lytton Springs. We had barely leaned our bikes up against the railing when we heard, in a perfect Texas drawl, "Y'all here for the Easter Egg Hunt?" I said, "We're actually here for the ice and water hunt." The owner chuckled and invited us in. Then another owner came around the corner from the other direction and said, again with the drawl, "Y'all are a little early for the Easter Egg Hunt!" Clearly they were all very excited and proud to be offering the local Easter Egg Hunt. I can't find statistics on the actual number of people living in Lytton Springs, but I did discover that Lytton Springs in on the list of "Ghost Towns in Texas" so I'm guessing the number of dead people may outnumber the living.

Wayne offered to help out during the Easter Egg Hunt, but unfortunately it wasn't starting for a while. The Easter Bunny made an early appearance for us though....or did he? Could this be the Easter Bunny's Ghost??????

So after Lytton Springs we continued our journey to Bastrop. I found a really good route posted on line that took us on a nice country road that ran parallel to the more major street. We did have to ride on the major street for a few miles, but there was a really huge shoulder which made it a little less harrowing when the cars and trucks zoomed by at 60 mph.

At least until one of the big trucks popped a tire right in front of me! A big truck and then a car passed by me going about 60. Within seconds, I heard a huge explosion! I looked up and saw that the truck, which was about 50 yards in front of me, burst a tire. The tire fell off the truck and rolled towards the shoulder. Of course I slammed on my brakes, but the tire was a good tire, it just unfolded onto itself and didn't really go into the shoulder at all. Phew!

Finally we made it to Bastrop. Bastrop is not on the list of Ghost Towns. And for good reason. They have an actual main street, albeit really old fashioned, but at least there's a place to get some fudge, trinkets, and a sandwich if one wanted to.

A cute little American town. Complete with a store called "Cripple Creek" which described exactly how we were feeling after 60 miles into the wind.

Ok gang, only forty more miles to go! Still smiling!

On the way out of town I saw a cute sign for a water company. Of course I had to stop for a picture.

Ah, so nice to sit down on something other than a bike seat. If only for a few seconds....

And then the return trip began. We found a store to take a break and replenish. Wayne and Bonnie opted for the healthy options. A Rice Krispie Treat and Cheetos. I stuck to my bagel and goldfish.

I feel like I have figured out my nutrition for the race. Wheat bagels with dark chocolate almond spread, some goldfish, and an accel gel every two hours or so. Plus mandarin oranges. Then once that ran out I turned to the fake food-honey stingers, sharkies, and powerbars. And lots and lots of water and some with nuun.

We reversed the route home from other times we've done the same route. It was our first time doing it in reverse. I knew we had a big hill after a left turn. When I got to the left turn I got off my bike to wait for the others so they'd know where to turn. While I was waiting, a big fluffy dog came barking across a lawn. It stopped about 25 yards away from me and kept barking, but it's tail was wagging. When I said hello, he wagged some more. Plus he had stopped, so I figured he had an electric fence. I thought to myself, "We haven't had any problems with dogs on this ride...it's been really nice." Sometimes on these rides out in the boonies there are some crazy dogs that chase you down the street. 

So when I saw the others coming along, I started to make my way up the hill. It was a good long steep hill. Then I heard a scream-I turned to see the big fluffy dog charging into Bonnie's bike! Kristi screamed  and they all tried to avoid the dog, the traffic, and still make the turn. The dog really wanted to play with them, but was going to knock them off their bikes in the process! Luckily I didn't see any cars, or at least if there were any cars they had slowed down enough after seeing what was going on. I kept riding up the hill so the dog wouldn't chase after me! 

Then, almost at the top of the hill, going really slowly, breathing pretty heavily, I saw two dogs charging at me from another house. Then I heard myself scream. Usually Kristi is our designated screamer for all things wild...snakes, spiders, dogs...but today I let one go that made even Kristi proud. My scream had pitch, volume, and duration. This dog was truly insane, and wanted nothing more than to make a nice dinner out of my calf. If I had had the time to get out my camera and take a picture, this is what it would have looked like.

Yup, imagine that coming at your leg, while you're struggling to make it up a steep hill, into the wind, at mile 70 of a 100 mile bike ride. Holy adrenaline. Kristi said she saw me start to spin really fast and then heard my scream-all before she saw the dogs. Apparently the dogs just smiled at Kristi and Bonnie and went back to their yard. 

Until Wayne rode past them. They got their second wind and tried to take out his calf now. I don't think Wayne screamed like I did. At least if he did it didn't have the volume and strength that mine did. 

I was literally shaking at the end of that street. I think my heart about popped out of my chest! 

Then we had a nice down hill stretch before heading back into town. We made another stop just before south Austin. Bonnie and Wane again both showed off their Iron Stomachs. 

Cheetos, Rice Krispie Treats, and now pickles. Yuck. My stomach would have been turning. Bonnie says that pickles are the best thing for cramps, and Wayne was having some cramps in his legs so he tried to eat the whole pickle. Kristi had a bite and almost spit it out. They tried to convince me to have a bite. I didn't give into peer pressure. I stuck to a powerbar.

It was so nice once we turned onto Oltorf. You can see downtown Austin from the top of the hill. Ah, home sweet home. Buses and traffic instead of rabid dogs and ghosts. This is when I realized we weren't going to hit 112 miles. So we decided just to head home.

I think we got back home around six or so. Then we had to run four miles. The run felt surprisingly good. I stopped once to eat some sharkies and once to stretch my calves. 

Then the day was over. Phew. A nice pasta dinner and an ice bath to complete the day. 

Ok, time to blog about today now. 

M :)

WARNING-Another gross toenail photo

Today's workout:
Off

Walk with the pups.

I woke up laughing this morning. Annabelle texted me a photo from a Runner's World article that I hadn't seen yet.

This is exactly what it looks like I when I haul ass on a run. Hahahahaha!!!!

I am happy to say that Mr. Sandman delivered last night. I was asleep by 9:30 and slept straight through. One bathroom break and right back to sleep until 7 am. I really needed a good night's sleep. It's probably hoping for too much, but I hope to have a repeat performance tonight! It's a long day tomorrow. I think it's our longest day yet. 1.2 mile swim, 112 mile bike, 5 mile run. I got tired just typing that.


It was a nice Friday today. No school-Good Friday. I got a lot done. Grocery shopping, laundry, cleaned the bathroom and kitchen, took the pups for a nice long walk, watched a lot of The Office, ironed my clothes....

....and did a pedicure. The big toe nail is getting so gross. I am going to have to see a podiatrist after the race. I don't want to go now in case they want to remove it or something drastic since I still have to swim, bike, and run. The last time I had a toe nail looked at by a podiatrist I was in one of those booties for a while. So I'll schedule an appointment in 29 days. Here's a photo of what's underneath the nail polish. I'm warning you, it's not pretty. If you'd rather not see it, just scroll down really quickly to pass by it.

You can't really tell from the quality of this photo, but there are three different layers of the nail, each peeling off the one underneath it. And the right side is no longer connected to the actual toe. I can now stick the nail file under the top of the nail, and it goes all the way to the bottom of the nail. It's also really discolored. Nasty.

But now it's painted a cute pink color. No one would ever know.

I ate really well today-I had a yogurt and granola bar for breakfast, four cinnamon rolls for elevenses, a small thundercloud veggie sandwich for lunch, and then mushroom stroganoff for supper. And I'll probably have a couple of cookies before bed. I wasn't all that hungry, but I know that I need to stock up for the weekend.

Ok, time to snuggle with the Bug.

M :)

Turbo Boost Toot Fest

Today's workout:
Run-7 mile fartlek
Weights-2 x 12

Hot, humid, windy, sunny. I am tired tonight. I think I have Ironman Induced Insomnia. I haven't had a good nights sleep in a couple of weeks now. A good nights sleep is when I'm asleep by ten, wake up once to use the restroom, and fall right back to sleep within a minute or two. It's ideal when I can sleep in until about 7 or 7:30. Then I feel fully rested. The past couple of weeks, I've been unable to fall asleep, then once I'm asleep I can't stay asleep, and then after my bathroom trip it takes me up to two hours to fall back to sleep. And then I'm up at 5:15. I can't figure out any pattern to it. Oh well.

At least I found something great today! I was in the check-out line at Walgreens and I saw that they had a box full of those wooden back scratchers I was talking about the other night! They were only 99 cents! So I got one for the office, one for home, and one for my car!  Now I can age without having to worry about pulling my shoulder while trying to scratch my itchy back!

The run was fine tonight. Nothing special. I felt sluggish and tired. We did eight-three minute fartleks with two minutes easy in between. I even took a couple walk breaks just to rest. It's hard to close my eyes and nap while I'm running so the next best thing is just to take a little walk.

Kristi had Mexican for lunch. I had the lunch special from Mr. Natural. I was running late for the run tonight so I didn't get to empty out the internal plumbing before we headed out. Between the two of us, it was a very "musical" run. We had the turbo boost going full blast today. Kristi took advantage of the loud traffic on 35 to toot, while I preferred to backfire during my walk breaks.

And if it wasn't coming out one end it was coming out the other. I don't think I've ever heard us burp so much during a workout. It was really pretty gross, all the excess gas.....it's a good thing Wayne opted to run a different route!

Ok, now I'm even more tired. I really hope I can fall asleep soon. Come on Mr. Sandman, work your magic!!!!

G'night!

M :)

Dance practice

Today's workout:
Swim-90 minutes

Walk with the pups
Dance practice

Early morning today. Nice enough swim. Boring as always. I just kept telling myself that I only had four more early morning swims! I can't believe the race is only 31 days away. Unbelievable.

Tonight I got the greatest text from Kristi. It said, "Do you really want to bike tonight?" And I didn't really want to bike, since I was up so early and since I had trouble sleeping last night and since I only slept about five hours, and since I had dance practice at work today, and since I didn't get to leave work early today, and since I have a crazy ridiculously busy week next week, and since we have a lot of biking to do this weekend, and since......well, there are a million more "sinces"! So we decided not to ride! I walked the pups instead, did some laundry, ironed for tomorrow, packed my running bag for tomorrow, cleaned the bathroom, and paid some bills. Now I'm all settled on the couch waiting for a nice relaxing night of tv with my family. Survivor, Criminal Minds, and Law and Order. I'll be really surprised if I can make it until Law and Order. I'm going to order an early edition of "Mr. Sandman" from On-Demand.

Dance practice was at school today. All the people that are dancing to my hip hop video were practicing today. I think I pulled my knee. I'm definitely getting older! I think it's going to be a pretty cool routine!

I know I'm getting older too because I can no longer reach the middle of my back to scratch it. I didn't realize how often my back itched, until I couldn't reach it anymore. I've been asking people to scratch it for me now, and that's always a little awkward! So last night I asked Chris if he could find me one of the those wooden or plastic back scratchers-that have the little hand on them. He laughed and said his grandpa used to use one of those! I asked him for two. One for work and one for school. I'm not sure where to get them.




So I'm thinking about dying my hair. I found a really cool program where you put your face in and then you can change out hair styles and colors. Here are some pics...

A nice summer blond....maybe.....

Here's a red with some highlights. 

You can also add jewelry and hair clips to make yourself look like a clown.

You can also make yourself look like a Grannie!!!! Hahahahahaha!

Too much fun!!!  I could do this all night long!!! But I'm getting tired. Time to try and forage for some food. 

G'night!

M :)

95 degrees tonight!

Today's workout:
Bike-70 minutes on the trainer
Run-30 minutes or so

Run with the pups-10 minutes

I can always tell a difference on a Tuesday night after a back week. I feel stronger on the bike and I feel good on the run. Tonight was the same. The pups couldn't come with for the three mile brick run because it was still in the 90s. When we got back, I took them out for a quick mile or so run. They loved it, and they are now crashed. Bug loves the vent when we get back from a run. And Caribia always loves her treat when we get back!

I was going to have a yogurt for dinner because I'm not that hungry and I didn't feel like thinking about what to eat. But my wonderful husband stepped in and said that I had to eat, so he's busy in the kitchen making some pasta for us! Yummy! And he's actually putting the dishes in the dishwasher as he uses them! And he did the floors tonight with his new carpet/floor steam cleaner! I am being treated like a princess tonight! What a treat!

Ok, dinner's ready! Yummy!

M :)

Swim Bonk

Today's workout:
Swim-less than an hour

I was not hungry all day long, but I made myself eat. I had a breakfast taco and half of the fruit salad/yogurt thing that I had last Monday. Then I had a cup o' noodles. Obviously not enough. I was not hungry at all when I started to swim, but within half an hour I was starving!!!! I held out for another 15 minutes or so, and then checked my little bag for some stingers or a bar. No luck. I went to the locker room and checked that bag, still dripping wet from the pool, still wearing my cap and goggles. I felt so dizzy I could barely open the lock. Found some stingers.

Got back in the pool, hoping that the stingers would hold me over. No such luck. Within another 5-10 minutes, bonk number two. I felt so weak, I could barely get any power in my kick! Ugh. I tried to hold out to finish the hour, but couldn't do it. Pathetic.

I think I know where I messed up. This high volume of training means I need to eat a lot, all the time. Even if it's not a high volume day. Like yesterday, we didn't do much, comparatively. I only had a bowl of cereal of dinner. I should have had a regular full supper, even though I wasn't hungry. That would have definitely helped for today, I'm sure. I feel like I'm burning a super lot of calories, even on slower back days. I really don't want to keep eating muffins, but they seem to be the main thing that keeps me full. I'll go pick some more up tonight. Maybe.

I wish I had a personal chef. I would love to have someone plan all my meals, vegetarian of course, with all the right proportions of all the nutrients, calories, healthy fats, etc. That would make my life so much easier. Instead, I went to the nearest and fastest place I could think of to get food. McDonalds.

No, just kidding. I went to Julio's so I could get Chris something to eat too. Now I just feel gross. Queso, tortillas, salad, and guacamole. Ugh. It sure was yummy going down the hatch though.

I'm in a lunch rut too. I don't know what to take to work for lunch anymore. I've been eating at Mr. Natural on Thursdays, getting their lunch special. Sometimes I'll get the tortilla soup, but it's getting too hot outside for soup now. I'm off Jimmy Johns. Thundercloud is ok about once every week or two. I'm not really liking Which Wich sandwiches anymore, but I still like their Oreo shakes! Yum!

I don't even know what sounds good to take for lunches. If I had the time in the evenings I could get a little more creative with my lunches-I used to prepare a delicious Summer Tomato Basil Pasta Salad, but I can't find the time to cook that right now! If anyone has any ideas, please let me know.

Ok, time to walk off some of this grossness and exercise the pups at the same time.

Later gators!

M :)

Another perfect weather day!

Today's workout:
Bike-14 miles
Run-7 miles (1:07)
Weights-2 x 12

In the 50s this morning and the 80s this afternoon! I love this weekend! We were actually a little bit cold on the ride this morning. We all wore arm warmers and Kristi even had leggings on! We did our regular 14 mile route.



We took a different route than normal for the run. We went over to the Mueller neighborhood. They have really nice trails and parks there. Both the dogs came with since it was only seven miles and since it was only 68 degrees when we left. Along the way we found a playground and an outdoor gym. We all tried to do something on the bar. Bonnie and Kristi both did a pull up. But since I can't do those, I did a kick-over. I haven't done one of those since my gymnastics days! I was surprised that I could still get up and over the bar! But once I was up I couldn't get down, so I had to flip over again to get back to the ground! Hahahaha! Crazy Grannie Gymnast!

By the time we got home, it was already up to 82 degrees! Poor Buggy really had a tough last mile and a half! As soon as we hit seven miles I carried her home! They have both been sleeping since then!

I dropped my bike off at ATC to get serviced-new tires, chain, cleaned, tuned, etc. They said they'd have it ready on Tuesday afternoon since I had made an appointment a few weeks ago, but I hope it's ready by then. The guy didn't seem to optimistic that it would be ready by then. I'll be upset if I can't do the Tuesday night trainer workout!!!!

And now it's Sunday evening again. Grocery shopping, ironing, getting ready for the week.

34 more days. Gulp.

M :)

Carzy tpyos

Today's workout:
Swim-30 minutes
Bike-131 minutes (31 miles)
Run-1.8 miles

Today is a gift from Mother Nature. I couldn't order a more perfect day. Not a cloud in the sky. Temps in the 50s and 60s this morning, 80s this afternoon. Light wind. Short workout. Absolutely perfect.

The swim was one of my favorite swims ever. I was thinking about so many random fun things, that I completely forgot that I was swimming and before I knew it, 25 minutes was up! The last five minutes, to get to 30 minutes, was easy peasy.

The ride was pleasant enough. Arm warmers for the first five miles or so, then it warmed up. Here's the route we did.



It was so nice to finish the ride at 12:15! Then we ran up to Central Market and around. When the pups and I finished the loop, everyone was waiting by the start of the loop and Wayne asked if we had to go around again. I said it was only a 15-20 minutes run. He said he thought it was a 30-40 minute run. Since no one knew for sure, we just made it a 15-20 minute run! That's true Jiggly Middle Mentality for you!

When we got home I double checked and Wayne was right, it said 30-40 minutes. But then after my shower I saw that I had 15-20 minutes written on my hand-written workout calendar. So I checked the front and the back schedules in the training book, and sure enough, yet another typo!!! The front schedule says 30-40, but the back schedule says 15-20! What a joke! At least I didn't feel bad for cutting everyone's run short!

I really like the training and the book hasn't led us wrong yet, but it's ridiculous how many typos there are! Last week one schedule said it was the longest run of the training and the run was 60-80 minutes. Well we knew that didn't make any sense, and sure enough again, the back schedule said 160-180! Big difference!

In any case, we were completely done with the day by 1pm. Glorious. It was so nice to have a Saturday afternoon off. A little taste of what's to come after May 21st! The training book promises that the next few weeks are going to be really tough.

This week Kristi sent everyone a link to some Cycling Rules. There are about 80 or so. And they're pretty funny-the people who wrote them are pretty hard core and exclusive. But there are a couple that we liked. Kristi likes Rule Number 10 that says, "Training is like fighting with a gorilla. You don't stop when you're tired, you stop when the gorilla is tired." Wayne likes Rule Number 42 that says, "A bike ride/race shall never be preceeded by a swim and/or or followed by a run."  (I don't know for sure if he likes that one, but I'm assuming that would be his favorite!!!!) Kristi gave Bonnie a hard time for breaking rule number 7 today when she rolled up her shorts to diminish the tan line. Rule Number 7 clearly states, "Tan lines should be cultivated and kept razor sharp." Actually all the girls broke Rule Number 7 today which also states, "Sleeveless jerseys are under no circumstances to be employed." I really think we need to write our very own Jiggly Middles Triathlon Rules of the Road. That could be funny!

But I do like Rule Number 6 that says, "Free your mind, and your legs will follow." I'll use that one during the Ironman. Too many times my legs say, "Excuse me, Mary, but we're done down here now. We're ready to pull over and stop for the day." And my mind says, "Ok, legs, no problem. Let's get you both home and into a bath of ice." But I really need to free my mind more so that it's not as connected to all the jibberish that my legs are trying to tell it. Then if I can get my mind to ignore my legs, they'll have no choice but to follow my mind that says, "Come on legs, we're going to do this!"


And what could make a perfect day even more perfect? How about flowers from my wonderful husband!

A beautiful flower for a beautiful day! Thanks peanut!!!


And now, it's time for a muffin and some Office. I love this day!!!!

M :)

Back to normal

Today's workout:
Off

Walk with the pups

I am finally feeling back to normal with energy and muscle soreness. This back week has been great. Next weekend is going to be a tough one, so I'm going to enjoy tomorrow and Sunday as much as possible!

I had a wonderful walk with the puppies tonight. It's the perfect temperature. Maybe about 83 or so and sunny.

We finished the TAKS rap this morning. I won't be able to put it in the blog though because I can't put mp3 clips in here. Oh well. It came out really good!

Not much to report today. Just another beautiful day in Austin.

M :)

Jeez Louise!

Today's workout:
Run-7 miles
Weights-2 x 12

I can't believe I forgot to blog again tonight! And I even had a reminder! It was such a short workout that I forgot we were even training for the Ironman! Hahahaha!

I got distracted after my shower-Chris and I have been working on my TAKS rap recording. So I was just about to fall asleep and I remembered that I didn't blog! Agh! (I bet you're asleep by now Kristi!)

Tonight's workout was short and sweet. It was just the regular warm up and accelerations and then 20-30 minutes of fartlek running at whatever pace you wanted. It was hot, but not too humid. After about 25 minutes or so of fartleks we ran a 15 minute cool down and then did the drills.

Today I pulled up some Sub-Four Hour marathon trainings. I know, I'm crazy. We're not even done with one event and I'm already onto the next one! Kristi's enthusiasm is wearing off on me! I think we found one that will work for our goals. Our main goal is to have as much fun during the training as possible, and if we happen to pull off a sub-four...hurray!

We saw Ryan Nail from CoreFit on the cool down part of the run tonight. We yelled over to him that we may see him in June for a class and he said, "Awesome! Hard work...." and then we said back, "...Pays off!" Totally dorky, but that's what he makes you say during his workouts. If everyone doesn't say "pays off" after he says, "Hard work", then everyone has to do some extra torture form of drill. He's pretty hard core, but challenging and fun!

Club Macca was hopping tonight. And I forgot my towel so I was grossed out. Everyone was really sweaty in there and I'm such a germ-a-phobe. I used paper towel to sit on and to lie on. It stuck to me. Nasty. We stretched back upstairs since it was so crowded down there. (By crowded I mean there were five other people in the gym, but that's a lot for Club Macca!)

After that I went to Whole Foods. It's the best season for fruit! Yummy dinner of fruit and sushi.

Ok, now I'm really tired. If I can figure out how to get the rap on the blog once it's finished I'll be sure to do that!

Word to your mother, Rapper MB signing off.

Peace.

Nice and easy day

Today's workout:
Swim-90 minutes
Bike-14 miles

The swim was fine this morning, nothing special. Boring, just like always. The ride this afternoon was nice. It doesn't seem windy at all when you're standing still, but there was definitely a south headwind on the way home. Here's the route map.



It was hot in the shed today when I got the bikes out.

104.9 in the shed! And it's only April! It'll be interesting to see how high the thermometer goes in July and August!

Not much else to report today. It's so nice being in a back week. Back to normal.

M :)

Ooops!

Yesterday's workout:

Bike-70 minutes on the trainer

Run-1.8 miles

I woke up this morning to a text that said, "When are you going to blog?" Oooops, I totally forgot! After the workout I went to get some Changos for supper, and then while I was eating Chris started his band practice, so I moved to the bedroom to watch tv, and never made it back out to where my computer was. And then I fell asleep!

Oh well, it happens. 

The workout was pretty easy, since this is now technically a "back week". The workout itself was easier than trying to figure out what the workout was! Apparently in cycling parlance, "Decrease" means to "Increase". So once we figured out exactly what we were supposed to do it wasn't too bad.

The run was nice, the pups came along since it was only 1.8 miles. But it was still in the 90s at 6:45pm! 

Not too much else to report about the workouts yesterday. I'm glad that we're getting to train in this weather though-it won't be a shock to our systems if race day happens to be really hot and/or humid. And/or windy for that matter! We've definitely put in our share of time in some pretty serious winds!

Ok, time to eat breakfast and go swim.

M :)

Mary's Awesome Food Day

Today's workout:
Swim-75 minutes

Yesterday we ate lunch at Java and I pigged out. But I didn't go grocery shopping this weekend so we didn't have any food in the house for dinner. So I had a bowl of cereal and went to bed hungry. I had what was left of the cereal for breakfast. I knew I had to eat something substantial or I wouldn't make it through the day-so I went to Mr. Natural.

I've never had breakfast from there before. It was amazing! The breakfast taco was soy chorizo with potatoes, tomatoes, and sprouts. The other thing is strawberries, bananas, apples, yogurt, honey, and granola! And I had two of the tacos! Probably close to 1500 calories I bet! I was pleasantly full for the rest of the day. I had a vegan cupcake (also from Mr. Natural) for lunch. It was delicious. But then I think my stomach started getting mad at me for putting so much in it at once. I started having really bad heartburn/gas pain. I tried to use the bathroom with no luck.

I was reluctant to swim, given my current state of stomach affairs, but once I started swimming things seemed to calm down a bit. At least for the first hour. Then at about sixty minutes, the gas pains started again. I could hardly justify using my turbo boost in the pool. Unlike running, swimming turbo boost leaves a trail of bubbles......and I wasn't sure that it would only leave a trail of bubbles, if you know what I mean! Heeheehee!

So I hopped out at 75 minutes and made my way to the locker room just in time. I'll spare you the rest of the details.

I had a spinach salad from Mother's for dinner with a protein smoothie. Delicious! I still have some of the  heartburn, but I took some pepto so hopefully it'll go away soon. If it doesn't, I may have to go and get a coca cola. Wayne told me to do that once when I had similar pain and it really helped.

I could eat every meal of every day between Mr. Natural and Mother's. My favorite two restaurants in Austin. Yummy day!

Other than the stomach yuck, the swim was fine. I was pleasantly surprised to not have any leg pain or soreness today! I could definitely tell that I had done a lot over the weekend, but it was nothing like last weekend, or the weekend after the hill workout. I know that the ice bath and the foam roller helped out this old bag o' bones.

And I'm not as tired this week. It's funny to say that this past weekend was a "back week" when it really wasn't, but it was still so much shorter than the previous weekend! And this coming weekend is an actual official "back week"! Yea!

That'll give me and Chris plenty of time to work on my TAKS rap, sung to the tune of Black and Yellow.

I'm trying to come up with a good 100 mile route for our ride in two weekends. I really liked this past weekend's ride, but I think I'll take a vote to see which direction everyone wants to go.

Ok, time to cut my nails before some tv time.

M :)

If you could....

Today's workout:
Run-18 miles (189 minutes)
Weights-2 x 12

Windy again today! I can't believe we biked in this crazy wind yesterday! I had to hang onto my hat when we ran over the bridges. Didn't want my hat flying off into the water! Overall I'd say it was a great run today. It was nice to run on fresh legs-without a bike ride beforehand. "Fresh" is actually a joke because of everything we did yesterday! But without the ride today it felt much better. We ran the ten mile loop and then eight more-all around the lake. The sun was shining and it was in the 90s when we finished I think. But because I was sweating so much, when we'd cross the bridges with the wind I'd get a little chilly!

I felt a few geriatric aches and pains but nothing that made me walk. We took plenty of walk breaks, but not because any of us were physically hurting, so that's a good thing! We stopped so I could play the piano again this week. There were all kinds of musicians on the trail today-Woody the guitar player is always out there, there was a group of classical musicians playing some wind and string instruments, lots of peeps playing all the pianos, and a random guitarist standing on a little hill playing music near the rowing center. I love Austin!

After the weights we ate at Java and boy oh boy did I eat! Usually I get a kid's size chocolate chip pancake with strawberries. Today I got the regular size pancake, with a side of hash browns! And I ate everything!!!  And I'm getting hungry again already!

For entertainment this week I wrote down a bunch of "If you could..." questions and we spent a lot of the run answering those. That was fun. It definitely helps time fly by more quickly.

Way too hot for Cheyenne to run with us anymore. :(  But she did go to the park with Chris and play catch. She's pretty exhausted! And Caribia went to the park too, so she's pretty beat.

It's so nice to be done this early. (It's 3:45.) Think I'm going to watch some Office, then start my Sunday chores. Packing gym bag for tomorrow, ironing, planning tomorrow's outfit, packing lunch, making the bed with fresh sheets, etc.....

Ok, time to start relaxing before I have to get up and start doing things again.

M :)

Big Island Wind

Today's workout:
Swim-30 minutes
Bike-311 minutes (5:11:41)
Run-1.8 miles

Crazy, crazy winds today. They were 20-25 miles out of the south. So we headed south first. Here's part of the route.



The map shows the first 56 miles of the route. Unfortunately Wayne's chain broke today. Not sure how it happened. But he couldn't ride it anymore so Chris drove down to Creedmoor to pick him up. Thank goodness he was able to get him because we were another 24 miles from home!

The ride was good today-I really liked the route. Besides the wind. Bonnie said that it reminded her of the wind that is famous on the Kona Ironman course! I can't remember ever having such strong winds on a ride. It wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, except for when we were heading directly into it. When we were going east or west, we were still able to ride at a good pace.

It was a beautiful day other than the wind. It was in the 90s and sunny. My favorite temperature for bike riding. I had two favorite parts of the ride. Both were downhill for about a mile each, with the wind at my back. 26 mph without any effort at all! Finally the wind was working in my favor! Here's my favorite photo from today.

The swim was fine this morning-uneventful. I had the entire pool to myself for the entire swim except for the very last lap. It was nice and peaceful.

The run was nice and short. Only 1.8 miles today. That's because tomorrow is our longest run during the training. We're going for 18 miles. Hopefully my bones and toes will hold up. My toes always hurt so much from running once we get over 14 or so miles. My big toenail is still hanging on, barely.

I haven't been really hungry today, but I tried to keep eating. I just had some pasta for dinner and now I feel uncomfortably full. Ugh.

It's almost 9. Time for Law and Order and bed.

G'night!

M :)

It's summer time!

Today's workout:
Off

Walk with the pups. Short walk with the pups. 91 degrees-96 in the sun. And humid and the air is full of pollen. Ah, Spring time in Austin!

I'm finally feeling back to normal. My muscles aren't sore, I feel rested, and the bags under my eyes are almost gone.

Just in time for another crazy workout weekend.


I had a delicious lunch today. The school catered in some yummy barbeque. I had two types of meat, some cole slaw and lots of pickles. I had a Dr. Pepper to wash it all down and then a banana pudding with extra whipped cream to satisfy my sweet tooth. A great training lunch! Completely filled me up.

Oh no, wait, that was Wayne's lunch. I had a slice of pizza and a yogurt. Wayne sent us this photo around lunch time today. I'd have to be on the game of Survivor before I'd touch anything in his meal! Hahahaha!

I had a request for tomorrow's ride. The Jiggly Middles decided that it was time for a ride that went into the wind for the first half and with the wind the second half. The past two weekends have been headwind on the way home. Tomorrow is a good day to reverse the plan because it's predicted to be winds of 18-20 mph. But at least it'll be in the 90s with lots of sun. Oh boy, could be a doozie tomorrow.

Oh yum, Chris just finished making dinner. Steak and potato! Yummy!

Oh no, wait. I'm a vegetarian. I meant, Pasta with mushrooms, tomato and mozzarella! Now that's what I call yummy!

M :)

TGIT

Today's workout:
Run-7 mile loop
Weights-2 x 12 chisel

I guess technically it's a "recovery" week because it's the third week now. And every other third week has been a back week. It's just the long 90 mile ride this weekend that puts a damper on the "recovery" part of the week. Tonight was a relatively easy workout, compared to some. We warmed up, did accelerations, then ran 35 minutes in HR2-3. Then a cool down. It felt fine, but I'm just so tired. My muscles are tired, my brain is tired, my eyes are tired. I saw myself in the mirror and felt like I looked eighty years old. I'm so tired that I have bags under my eyes and I look a sickly color.

The weights were totally fine though. It is great to be doing less weights, for fewer reps. Wayne spent the workout jamming to 90s rock on his air instruments.

After weights Chris and I ate at Jason's Deli. Yum. Complete with chocolate soft serve, unlike Texas Dairy Queens. Then we went to HEB to get bagels and almond butter for the weekend ride and some milk to hold us over until Sunday. Once home, I took out the garbage, moved the recycling to the front, took the recycling from the side of the house to the front, unpacked the groceries, picked out my outfit for tomorrow, took a shower, and am just now sitting down to blog. Thursdays are pretty late nights.

I ate really well today. Cereal, muffin, cookies, tangerines, the lunch special from Mr. Natural, mini-muffins from Mr. N, a powerbar, half a spinach wrap, some chips, a fruit cup and an ice cream cone. Lots and lots of veggies today! The lunch special is all veggies and tofu. Really yummy stuff.

Tomorrow will probably be a shorter walk with the dogs-it's supposed to be in the 90s and sunny. That'll give me a little more rest time tomorrow night before the long Saturday workout.
Ok, it's definitely time for bed. Here I come Mr. Sandman!

M :)

Still beat.

Today's workout:
Swim-90 minutes

Walk with the pups

Another pretty tired day. The swim went well. I think I did it three minutes faster than usual, but maybe not, because I couldn't remember if I started at 6:53 or 6:56. In either case, it was a normal boring swim. Afterwards I felt more tired and weak than usual. I haven't been focusing on eating a huge amount this week like I did last week, so I need to step it up. Today I had a bowl of cereal and some chia, then a smoothie and two mini-bagels with almond butter, then a muffin, then a yogurt with some goldfish, then three mint milanos. That's all so far. Nothing too substantial. Tonight will either be Mexican or Hyde Park. I'm going to have pick it up tonight because Chris is unable to walk. He's limping everywhere. He really did a number on his calf last night. Nurse Bug is tending to him.

We got a new bird today. Kona Bird had an unfortunate incident, but I won't go into the details here. She is now chirping happily in Birdy Heaven. The new bird is beautiful and already hand tamed! He/She seems like he/she might be more vocal than Kona Bird. We still haven't named it yet. He/She is vibrant green and blue, with purple accents around his/her face. She was hanging out on my hand and arm already! Fun little bird!

We're accepting ideas for names if anyone is feeling creative! We really like place names.


That's about all for tonight. I'm looking forward to more rest tonight with my favorite shows Criminal Minds and Law and Order.

M :)

Beat.

Today's workout:
Bike-80 minutes on the trainer
Run-35 minutes (3.5 miles)

One word to define me today would be "beat". I took a sick day. I slept in until about 7:30 then headed to the couch. I had a couple waffles for breakfast and then watched some Office. I got up for about an hour and a half to run a couple errands, then went right back to the couch for the rest of the afternoon. I even drifted in and out of sleep! And I never nap!

The workout was pretty good tonight and relatively "quick"! Which is funny because it was two hours long! But compared to the weekends, two hours is nothing. I could definitely tell that my muscles were beat tonight. I was a mile per hour slower than usual on our Tuesday night workouts. I just couldn't seem to get my legs to move any faster. But it was still a good workout. The run was really tough at first. Almost painful. The first mile and a half were really slow for me. Just like Sunday. It took that long for my running legs to kick in again.

Cheyenne came along and Caribia went for a walk/run with Chris. Unfortunately Chris's calf is injured so he's off running for a while. He'll be RICEing it up for a while.

It's supposed to be a "recovery" week, but we have a 90 mile ride on Saturday. But because it's a recovery week we decided not to do the short ride tomorrow night. I know my body will be happy about that.

Ok, time for bed.

M :)

Ah Mondays...

Today's workout:
Swim-30 minutes
Recover-23 hours and 30 minutes

I'm usually a little more tired on Mondays then any other day of the week. But this Monday and last Monday have seriously kicked my butt big time. It's hard to be back at work at 8 am and spend the day sitting in a chair most of the time. I feel like if I could either move around a little more, or lie completely straight, like on a couch, it would be better than this in-between world of sitting for a while and then standing.

Today my shoulders and neck were so painful. It has to be from the waves yesterday. I had to compensate for the big waves by picking my head up farther out of the water, and then bending it down at a different angle than usual to avoid drinking water every breath. I borrowed the nurse's heating pad this afternoon and that helped to loosen up my shoulders a little bit. And I'm super tired.

In the training book it says, every now and then, "If you feel too tired, best to ride the couch today instead of this optional workout." Up until last week I haven't felt too tired to complete the optional workouts. But these past two weeks-oh boy. I can really tell the intensity has picked up. I had no problems today when Kristi said that we should just swim for 30 minutes!

The swim actually felt pretty good. The water was soooooo nice and warm! Nothing like swimming in the arctic yesterday. And it felt good to really stretch out on each stroke. But now I'm on the couch and getting sore again and tired. Tomorrow will be another sick day for me so I can catch my breath before heading into another crazy week of working out.

I forgot to post this picture over the weekend. I was so tired on Saturday evening after our eleven hour day that I didn't even care that I went to bed with dirty dishes in the sink! And that's something that would normally never happen!

So instead of getting frustrated and staying up even later to clean them up, I simply took a photo of the sink and went to bed. Hahaha!

Tonight Chris and I are going to have dinner with Michael Scott. I've been laughing about the last episode all day today.

G'night!
M :)

Swimming with the Stars

Today's workout:
Swim-2.4 miles (1:39:32)
Run-15 miles (152 minutes)
Weights-2 x 12 (Chisel)

Whew! What a weekend! So I was getting bored with the regular hum drum of our workouts, so I decided to spice things up a little today and invite Lance Armstrong to join us for a swim out at the lake. At first he couldn't believe that The Jiggly Middles would actually invite him to swim with us, but after the initial shock wore off, he was psyched! He even let us take a picture of him.

This looks like a total stalker photo!!!  Hahahaha! But he really was at the swim today.  He's training for the Kona Ironman.

There was an Open Water Swim (or an OSW as it's known on the circuit...haha...) at Lake Travis this morning and we decided that we should do it to see how well prepared we are for the actual event. The swim started at 8 am.  I thought it was important that we arrive early to make sure we could get parking, that we could get our swim caps, and that I could use the restroom a bunch more times. We arrived waaaayyyy early. Wayne was pretty upset and said that I was trying to killing him. I told him that the early bird gets not only the worm, but the toilet paper! He had a little nap in the car and once the sun came up so did his happy cheerful self!

The water temperature was a chilly 65 degrees. We all had wetsuits which helped a little. A very little bit. The wetsuit made the difference between me passing out from hypothermia and actually being able to survive frostbite. At the start of the race I was only about 15 feet away from Lance. I was going to ask him for a Good Luck High Five but decided to keep my cool and not distract him from his swim start. I didn't want him to be intimidated by my obvious swim prowess.

So we all set off on the swim. My goal was just to finish in under two hours. We have two hours and twenty minutes to finish the swim portion in the actual event or you get pulled from the course. I've done the distance in the pool, but wanted to convince myself that I could do the full distance in a lake.

The first 100 yards of the swim were pure torture, As the water made its way into my wetsuit, my heart pounded to jump start my internal heater system. No such luck. I think my IHS was missing a part today. I can't remember a time in my life that I have been that cold for that long of a time. I thought I might warm up as I kept going.

After the turn-around point we entered a cove. I didn't think it was possible, but the water in the cove was even colder than the water in the lake. I thought I was going to loose my fingers and toes. I tried to think about other things to distract myself from being so cold. I was thinking about all the hikes we've done in the dessert, all the runs here in Austin in the July heat...nothing worked.

So I started to come up with alternate endings. I thought I could go into the "HELP" position. That's the Heat Escape Lessening Position that I learned about during a Lifeguarding class years ago, but then I thought that wouldn't get me to shore any quicker.

On the second lap I started to get hungry-then starving-then famished. I was so miserably cold and starving that I thought I could go up to one of the lifeguards on the course and lean on their Stand-Up Paddle board. I could tell them that I was starving and freezing. Then they could hoist me onto the board and drag me to shore where I'd be met by medics with heating blankets and a hot IV drip to warm my core. And lots and lots of food.

But then I said to myself that I was almost done. I wasn't really almost done, but that seemed to work a little bit. Then I told myself that I'd never ever have to swim in water this cold ever again. And that seemed to work a lot.

But other than the hypothermia, frostbite, and starvation, (oh, and the unfortunate chaffing in the nether regions from wearing a swimsuit instead of a tri suit....) the swim itself felt pretty good. I felt comfortable with the distance, and even the waves that would splash up in my face ever time I came up for air didn't bother me that much. I finished in 1:39:32. About twenty minutes behind the rest of The Jiggly Middles. And about forever after everyone else in the race! I was the third to last person out of the water! Hahahaha! I really really hate swimming, but I'm super proud of myself today. It was definitely one of the most difficult things I've ever done. And I'm extra super happy about finishing with forty minutes left for the swim portion of the event! Yeehawww! I feel more and more confident about this race each weekend.

Here are some awesome photos from the swim.

I couldn't eat fast enough after the swim. I ate over 800 calories in about ten minutes!!!! My teeth didn't stop chattering until I changed into warm clothes and got in the toasty car.

After the swim we went downtown to run 15 miles. It took me a couple miles to get my running legs. I needed to walk/run at first. 5 minutes running, 2 minutes walking. Then 7 minutes running, 2 minutes walking, then 10 minutes running, 2 minutes walking. Then straight running. I was happy that my legs were able to kick into running mode. We did 15 miles in 152 minutes. And I felt pretty good at the end. "Pretty good" considering the crazy weekend we had!

The highlight of the run today were all the pianos around the lake. There's an art exhibit in town called, "Play Me, I'm Yours". Some artist put 16 pianos all around the trail for people to play! People can decorate the pianos, and play the pianos whenever they feel like it. They are going to be there for the month of April. At the end of the month they're going to donate the pianos to non-profit organizations. At night they cover them with tarps. It's very cool! I love this town!

Here's the website for the project.

http://www.streetpianos.com/austin2011/

Today I played the pianos at the Lou Neff Point and the Shoal Creek Peninsula. If you click on the names of the locations you can see photos of the views while I played. I played a couple songs that I remember from Middle School piano lessons, but I couldn't remember Furry Elise. I wanted to play it because it's one of Caribia and Cheyenne's favorite song. They really like the name of the song. But I have the whole month of April to practice.

Ok, time for an ice bath. It'll probably be warmer than the swim today. God knows it can't be any colder!

M :)

Longest workout ever!!!!

Today's workout:
Bike-105 miles (409 minutes-6 hours and 49 minutes!!!!!)
Run-50 minutes

Whew!!! What a day! We were on the move for 10 hours today! This is going to be a short blog because it's already late and we have another long day tomorrow! Here are some photo highlights from today.

At mile 56, we were all out of water and we were riding along a charity ride course but we felt guilty about taking any water since we hadn't paid to enter the race. But then I saw someone I recognized! The lady in the middle of us all is Suzanne, and I worked with her at Brackenridge Emergency Room ten years ago! I still see her every now and then because we both supervise UT interns and we have trainings together. She said they had tons of extra food and water and that all the riders had already passed through so we could help ourselves! They "made" me eat a brownie and a cookie! It was a good thing we were able to fill our water bottles because it was another ten miles until the next stop. And it was hot today. In the 90s and sunny. My favorite weather to ride in. It was pretty windy on the return trip, but it was good physical and mental practice.

I like this photo because Kristi looks so tall!!!

Ten miles after the Road Kill Cafe (that was the name of the rest stop because my friend's bike team is called Team Roadkill!) we got to the Liberty Hill stop. Here's Bonnie enjoying a soda and some donuts!

(Here's me and Suzanne again.)

Speaking of snacks, my nutrition plan worked out great today. The bagels with chocolate almond butter were perfect. 200 calories at a pop. Kristi figures I burned over 5500 calories today. Here's what I ate.

Smoothie
Bagel with cream cheese and tomatoes
All the food I put in the blog yesterday
Pasta for dinner

It was about 1700 calories on the ride alone. Not too shabby! I was going to force a muffin down for dessert, but I just don't know if I can do it, I'm pretty full after the pasta.

Ok, time to pack for tomorrow's madness.

M :)