Okay Peeps, time to step up to the plate. We triathletes are a generous bunch and my friends doubly so, or you wouldn't be my friends.
Therefore, I'm hoping everyone who hasn't yet made a donation for Hurricane Katrina Relief will get online today and do so. It's quick, it's easy, and it hurts us a hell of a lot less than they're hurting right now. The fine people of the Gulf Coast will do the same for you some day.
So no matter how little you can spare, please give something!
This concludes our public service announcement.
Tuesday, August 30, 2005
Sunday, August 28, 2005
Hurricanes and Gas Prices
This is a heads up to anyone I missed with my recent email.
Approximately 1/4 of US domestic oil production comes from platforms off the Louisiana coast.
Approximately 1/6 of foreign oil to the US comes in through Port Fourchon, near New Orleans.
There are important refineries in the Port Fourchon-New Orleans area, and I don't need to remind you that oil has to be refined before we can use it.
I also don't need to remind anyone that our economy is based on supply vs demand.
So if you think gas prices have been high lately, just wait and see what Katrina has in store for us. Unless something changes fast, the supply side of the oil equation is about to take a hit.
If you want to save a few bucks, go top off your gas tank today, no matter where you live, no matter what today's price. If you can take care of a few errands today so you'll drive less tomorrow, don't wait. Also consider that most of our goods get to us by truck, so this would be a good time to stock up on commonly used non-perishables. Some experts are predicting as much as a month of oil supply disruption if Katrina stays on course, so beat the possibly higher prices to come and buy now.
And most important, please don't forget to say a prayer for the good people of New Orleans!
Approximately 1/4 of US domestic oil production comes from platforms off the Louisiana coast.
Approximately 1/6 of foreign oil to the US comes in through Port Fourchon, near New Orleans.
There are important refineries in the Port Fourchon-New Orleans area, and I don't need to remind you that oil has to be refined before we can use it.
I also don't need to remind anyone that our economy is based on supply vs demand.
So if you think gas prices have been high lately, just wait and see what Katrina has in store for us. Unless something changes fast, the supply side of the oil equation is about to take a hit.
If you want to save a few bucks, go top off your gas tank today, no matter where you live, no matter what today's price. If you can take care of a few errands today so you'll drive less tomorrow, don't wait. Also consider that most of our goods get to us by truck, so this would be a good time to stock up on commonly used non-perishables. Some experts are predicting as much as a month of oil supply disruption if Katrina stays on course, so beat the possibly higher prices to come and buy now.
And most important, please don't forget to say a prayer for the good people of New Orleans!
Saturday, August 27, 2005
Swim Breakthrough and a Long Run
I think this is my most encouraging week of swimming since I figured out how to peg my swim to my breathing and find my "swim forever" pace three years ago. Only this time, it's even better! Two remarkable (to me) things happened:
1. I actually kept pace with the Swim Goddess! Okay, it was only for one lap at a time, then I had to do some slow recovery swimming until I could match her speed again, but still... this was huge. Bigger than huge, in fact. Swim Goddess used to be a state champion, after all! Okay, it was at least 25 years ago, judging from what I estimate her age to be, and if she had been swimming all out, I doubt I could've even grabbed onto a few of her bubbles. But this is progress for me and it's the kind of progress that I think might snowball rapidly into even bigger improvements.
2. Not only has my bilateral swimming improved immensely, but I noticed this week that it's carrying forward into my recovery laps, when I breathe only on my right. Before, breathing on only one side made it hard for me to get a complete roll on the non-breathing side. Now I'm getting the full side-to-side roll, regardless of whether I'm breathing every other stroke or every third stroke. Neato! No wonder I'm faster all of a sudden!
So it's definitely been a good week for swimming. And since some of my other tri cyberpals have posted good swims recently, I can only wonder if the moon is in Pisces or something.
Today I finally managed to finish that stupid long run I've been trying to do for three weeks now. Two weekends ago I got hot, tired and lazy. Last weekend my knee locked up from ITB issues, or something very similar. So I really worked at loosening things up this week, stretching, working on those trigger points and generally doing everything short of seeing Mary to get ready for this weekend. I would've liked very much to have made an appointment with Mary, but I just had too many commitments.
So this morning I was ready give my sixteen-mile route another try, even though the weather report was predicting a 100 degree heat index by 10 am. I wasn't buying that. I don't know why, but I just didn't believe the temp plus humidity would be that awful, that early. But just to play things safe, I decided to do both of my bayou loops first, then do the River Oaks section last, to take advantage of all the shade and the possibility of sprinklers.
The bayou loops were a little hard on my IT bands, with all the hills and the occasional wild slant of the asphalt trail. I ran in the grass when I could, though. And I saw a rabbit and a lot more of those Alligator Habitat signs. One was even in the dog park, making me curious as to how that would affect the future of that popular section of the trail where people like to gather, take their dogs off the leash and watch them romp around.
I drank Amino Vital spiked with Endurolytes on the bayou trails, finished it off as I completed my second loop, then downed another Enduroltye and an espresso Hammer Gel before heading into River Oaks. I was totally drenched by this point due to the humidity, but around here in late summer I've come to see it as a sign I'm getting a good workout if I'm leaving a trail. Humidity also makes it easy to spot the other long-course runners out there. They're dripping. Anyone who is dry is either just getting started or only doing a few miles.
It was nice to get into River Oaks and enjoy the shade and fancy houses. I saw a dead snake, which disturbed me for some reason. I'm really not sure why. And I saw an entire family riding a four-person tandem (that can't be the right word for it) with one of those baby carriers on the back. This disturbed me almost as much as the snake, but for a different reason. I couldn't help thinking that a bike that long must be very hard to handle in an emergency situation, and one wrong move in front of a bus or one of the many work trucks traveling to or from a construction site in the area....
Okay, I guess that's a little twisted of me. Here was this happy family riding along on an outing, talking to each other, laughing, enjoying the day, and all I could think was that a single error in judgement could get all of them badly hurt in a single moment. I guess the stresses of closing the fiscal year at work have me feeling a little pessimistic these days. I'll go see if my husband will share his St John's Wort with me, okay?
I finished my run feeling pretty good, even though my legs were tightening up at the end and I was hungry. After sixteen miles? You don't say? I think the Amino Vital really works for me though, because this makes two Saturdays I've used it and I haven't been hit by any of that full-body depletion or mental exhaustion that usually characterizes the last few miles of my weekend long runs at this time of year.
And in other news, my writing is going well. I would like to have more time for it, but until they find a way to sustain human life on a planet with longer days, I'm stuck with 24 hours and I do what I can with them.
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 90 minute bike: Spinervals 5.0 Mental Toughness
Monday: 45 minute core and upper body work; 4 mile run
Tuesday: 1000 meter swim; lats and core; 30 minute bike: Cyclerobx
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body work; 45 minute elliptical
Thursday: 1250 meter swim; 35 minute bike: Spinervals 1.0 No Slackers Allowed
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 16 mile run
1. I actually kept pace with the Swim Goddess! Okay, it was only for one lap at a time, then I had to do some slow recovery swimming until I could match her speed again, but still... this was huge. Bigger than huge, in fact. Swim Goddess used to be a state champion, after all! Okay, it was at least 25 years ago, judging from what I estimate her age to be, and if she had been swimming all out, I doubt I could've even grabbed onto a few of her bubbles. But this is progress for me and it's the kind of progress that I think might snowball rapidly into even bigger improvements.
2. Not only has my bilateral swimming improved immensely, but I noticed this week that it's carrying forward into my recovery laps, when I breathe only on my right. Before, breathing on only one side made it hard for me to get a complete roll on the non-breathing side. Now I'm getting the full side-to-side roll, regardless of whether I'm breathing every other stroke or every third stroke. Neato! No wonder I'm faster all of a sudden!
So it's definitely been a good week for swimming. And since some of my other tri cyberpals have posted good swims recently, I can only wonder if the moon is in Pisces or something.
Today I finally managed to finish that stupid long run I've been trying to do for three weeks now. Two weekends ago I got hot, tired and lazy. Last weekend my knee locked up from ITB issues, or something very similar. So I really worked at loosening things up this week, stretching, working on those trigger points and generally doing everything short of seeing Mary to get ready for this weekend. I would've liked very much to have made an appointment with Mary, but I just had too many commitments.
So this morning I was ready give my sixteen-mile route another try, even though the weather report was predicting a 100 degree heat index by 10 am. I wasn't buying that. I don't know why, but I just didn't believe the temp plus humidity would be that awful, that early. But just to play things safe, I decided to do both of my bayou loops first, then do the River Oaks section last, to take advantage of all the shade and the possibility of sprinklers.
The bayou loops were a little hard on my IT bands, with all the hills and the occasional wild slant of the asphalt trail. I ran in the grass when I could, though. And I saw a rabbit and a lot more of those Alligator Habitat signs. One was even in the dog park, making me curious as to how that would affect the future of that popular section of the trail where people like to gather, take their dogs off the leash and watch them romp around.
I drank Amino Vital spiked with Endurolytes on the bayou trails, finished it off as I completed my second loop, then downed another Enduroltye and an espresso Hammer Gel before heading into River Oaks. I was totally drenched by this point due to the humidity, but around here in late summer I've come to see it as a sign I'm getting a good workout if I'm leaving a trail. Humidity also makes it easy to spot the other long-course runners out there. They're dripping. Anyone who is dry is either just getting started or only doing a few miles.
It was nice to get into River Oaks and enjoy the shade and fancy houses. I saw a dead snake, which disturbed me for some reason. I'm really not sure why. And I saw an entire family riding a four-person tandem (that can't be the right word for it) with one of those baby carriers on the back. This disturbed me almost as much as the snake, but for a different reason. I couldn't help thinking that a bike that long must be very hard to handle in an emergency situation, and one wrong move in front of a bus or one of the many work trucks traveling to or from a construction site in the area....
Okay, I guess that's a little twisted of me. Here was this happy family riding along on an outing, talking to each other, laughing, enjoying the day, and all I could think was that a single error in judgement could get all of them badly hurt in a single moment. I guess the stresses of closing the fiscal year at work have me feeling a little pessimistic these days. I'll go see if my husband will share his St John's Wort with me, okay?
I finished my run feeling pretty good, even though my legs were tightening up at the end and I was hungry. After sixteen miles? You don't say? I think the Amino Vital really works for me though, because this makes two Saturdays I've used it and I haven't been hit by any of that full-body depletion or mental exhaustion that usually characterizes the last few miles of my weekend long runs at this time of year.
And in other news, my writing is going well. I would like to have more time for it, but until they find a way to sustain human life on a planet with longer days, I'm stuck with 24 hours and I do what I can with them.
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 90 minute bike: Spinervals 5.0 Mental Toughness
Monday: 45 minute core and upper body work; 4 mile run
Tuesday: 1000 meter swim; lats and core; 30 minute bike: Cyclerobx
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body work; 45 minute elliptical
Thursday: 1250 meter swim; 35 minute bike: Spinervals 1.0 No Slackers Allowed
Friday: Rest Day
Saturday: 16 mile run
Monday, August 22, 2005
Saturday, August 20, 2005
Late Summer News
I want to start by noting that I seem to have some new readers. Cool! Welcome! I'm sorry my updates aren't more consistent, but I try to post at least once a week and more often when I have something to say above and beyond, "Went to the gym, went to the office, took a nap," etc. I figure no one really cares about what I had for breakfast, although I would be happy to email any fanatical readers with daily updates on that. (Hint: It usually involves yogurt, cereal and raisins.)
Tidbit also wants to say hello to all her new fans! She's been lazy lately, it being the dog days around here, but she has promised to pose for some new pictures this weekend. She sends a big hello to the friend who got in touch privately to inquire about her, although she's a little hesitant on the suggestion that she pose in a large soup kettle. I told her she could just think about it for now.
Work is hectic these days, since I'm trying to close the fiscal year. This week's big frustration was that I was given a quote for a huge furniture order on the last day to turn in such orders. I've wrangled us an extension, but I have reason to be concerned that the people who are supposed to sign off on this will have a lot of questions and issues that we won't resolve before I lose my window of opportunity. I can only hope my boss can secure the funds in the next fiscal year if that happens.
Even more frustrating, I had been asked to work on getting these quotes back in May. I had secured drawings and was on my way to getting quotes when the scope of the project was expanded and put under the direction of a guy who is becoming sort of a multi-department go-to guy for furniture and building projects. This suited me just fine because I have a lot of other things to do and it's always nice to put big projects into the hands of someone whose entire job is to handle such matters. But in spite of my repeated inquiries and entreaties, he managed to take all summer about getting us the information we needed to place the order. While I recognize that it wasn't entirely his fault, it is now entirely my problem and I'm not too happy about it.
Okay, sorry for the boring work stuff. On to the tri-related content!
It was a slow week, for the most part. I was tired, so I skipped a few morning workouts and an evening spin session. And I had to miss a morning swim workout because I didn't have an early person to open up the office. I got in a good interval session on the treadmill on Monday though, and I had a good spin session on Thursday. I have to remind myself sometimes that it's really okay to have a light training week. It really, really is!
In other tri-related news, I have new shoes! Okay, they're just a new pair of the same shoes I always wear-- Brooks Adrenaline size 8.5, but it was time for some new ones and it was fun to see all my friends at the running goods store. The last time I went in I saw no one I knew, but this time all my friends were there and I hung out for a good long while getting caught up.
On my way to pay for the shoes I noticed a display for Amino Vital and picked up a bottle just for the heck of it. I tried it on my run this morning (with a bit of added electrolytes) and I don't know if it was the new shoes, the new drink or a combination of the two, but I had a really good run, in spite of it feeling more hot and humid than recent mornings.
Well, at least it was a good run until my knee started giving me trouble.
But to back up a little...
I started my run on the bayou trail, which is my usual habit. My cottontail has been MIA for a few weeks but I saw a darker friend of his in the general vicinity. That was all I saw of wildlife, but as I neared the part where the trail passes under Memorial Drive, I noticed a sign near the foliage along the bayou. It announced that the area was an alligator habitat.
Uh... okay. Should I be concerned? I've never heard of any alligator problems in the area, although a couple years ago there was an incident where an alligator decided to hang out on a bike path closer to Memrial Park. I doubt the alligators around here are very big, but still... they are gators and they're probably radioactive mutant ones at that, given that they live in our nasty bayou.
So it would appear that I have some new wildlife to be on the lookout for!
I finished my little bayou loop without much incident. Then I decided to do a loop through River Oaks for the shade afforded by all the rich people's trees. I did six miles in River Oaks, which was where my right hip started cramping on me a bit. I didn't think much of it until I got back to the bayou trail and stopped for water. I tried to get moving again and found that the cramp in the hip had led to tightness in the IT band and nearby muscles. This was pulling on my knee in a very painful way. I hobbled to a nearby bench and tried to stretch it out, determined to finish this run because I was feeling so ridiculously good in every other way. I was able to trot along to Waugh Drive without too much pain, but as soon as I stopped to cross the street, the pain returned even worse than before. I tried again to stretch it out, but this time my body wasn't going for it.
Damn.
I don't remember ever having to walk home injured from a long run, so I guess today was a first. Even walking was a struggle, so running was out of the question. Once I realized that the IT band and tendons around the knee weren't going to release just because I was now walking, I decided some creativity was in order. I always take a bandana with me on long runs because they're so useful. I can wipe sweat out of my eyes, wipe my nose, bandage a scraped and bloody knee-- all kinds of useful things! So now I fashioned it into a cho-pat strap by folding it into a narrow strip, tying it tightly at the level of my patellar tendon and inserting a small rock under the bandana, right on top of the tendon. This released the tension and allowed me to walk normally and almost without pain, otherwise I'd probably still be out there, dragging my stiff and painful leg the 1/4 mile home.
And of course you hard-core triathletes know what happened as soon as I had elminated the immediate pain with my little improvised strap.
Tri-Geek: Hey, this is great! Let's go finish that run!
Sensible Brain: Uh, no. We're walking home now.
Tri-Geek: Are you crazy? It's just three more miles!
Sensible Brain: And our body is being held together by a damp bandana and a rock. Forget it.
Tri-Geek: Wimp. When we get home we'll find our cho-pat strap, come back out and finish the run. Right?
Sensible Brain: (Looks at watch.) I don't think so. We might get injured and it'll probably take an hour to find the stupid cho-pat strap anyway, since the bedroom is organized by Packrat.
Tri-Geek: Well, how about tonight? We'll fix the hip and knee with some ice and massage, then go finish the run on the treadmill this evening. I can live with that.
Sensible Brain: Uh... how about we discuss that at home? Okay?
So I got home, iced, massaged, worked on some of the tight areas with my foam roller and a tennis ball and tonight I feel just fine except for the continuing nagging from my lower back and hips.
I was wondering what could be causing this when something from Shelley's blog made me slap my forehead in amazement at my own stupidity. You see, I have two pairs of bike shoes. I only use one regularly, the other pair I recently started using when I'm on the trainer. It was the "regular" shoes that I wore for my bike fitting. The cleats and clips were all positioned exactly for my needs. The newer shoes (duh) were never adjusted because I didn't think I liked them and I wasn't planning to use them. Then I changed my mind and started wearing them on the trainer, right around the time I had to start using the trainer for all my rides since I didn't have a ride partner. Hmm... using unadjsted shoes for a lot of intense sprint sessions on the bike. Gee, no potential for problems there, huh? It's kinda scary what dumb, obvious things we overlook sometimes while we're busy being so clever about everything else.
So tomorrow I'm going back to my other shoes on the bike until I can get in to see the bike fitter with my un-fitted shoes. Hopefully this will help with the hip and lower back problems. It sure won't hurt anything.
And that's about all for my workouts this week.
To the reader who inquired about my core workout, I have a lot of things I like, including:
* Basic crunches and reverse crunches
* Crunches on a stability ball
* Plank position-- one minute or longer at a time
* Cobra position (good for lower back)
* Pushups (surprisingly good for abs)
* Boxing moves with hand weights (upper cuts are especially good for abs)
* Various things with weights to work lats and back
I recommend Mark Verstegen's Core Performance, which includes a lot of the same things I do, plus others that I probably should be doing, but there are only so many hours in a day, you know.
Which leads me to the only other news around here. I've recently resumed working on a novel that I abandoned about a year ago. I've continued working on it in my head since then, but it seemed so hard to make the time to actually write anything down. Then on Monday I found out that there's at least one online novel that uses the same background setting I'm using. That can only mean that some print books will follow in a year or two and I need to quit dilly-dallying. It's so rare for me to have a fiction idea that has market potential that I'd really be screwing myself out of an opportunity if I didn't run with this. So I've committed to writing a page or two a day, no matter what. I found this to be good policy on my other two, wholly unmarketable, novels and I'm sure it will work this time, too.
And that's the news from around here.
Tid pix coming soon!
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 2.5 hour bike-- 30 min Cyclerobx video, 1 hour CTS Climbing video, 1 hour Spinervals 2.0 Time Trial Special
Monday: 45 minute core and upper body, 5 mile run-- ladder drills on treadmill
Tuesday: 1200 meter swim, 1 mile run (brick), lats and abs
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body, 45 minute elliptical
Thursday: 45 minute bike- Spinervals 4.0 Muscle Breakdown
Friday: Rest Day and way too much food
Saturday: 13 mile run, cut short from planned 16
Tidbit also wants to say hello to all her new fans! She's been lazy lately, it being the dog days around here, but she has promised to pose for some new pictures this weekend. She sends a big hello to the friend who got in touch privately to inquire about her, although she's a little hesitant on the suggestion that she pose in a large soup kettle. I told her she could just think about it for now.
Work is hectic these days, since I'm trying to close the fiscal year. This week's big frustration was that I was given a quote for a huge furniture order on the last day to turn in such orders. I've wrangled us an extension, but I have reason to be concerned that the people who are supposed to sign off on this will have a lot of questions and issues that we won't resolve before I lose my window of opportunity. I can only hope my boss can secure the funds in the next fiscal year if that happens.
Even more frustrating, I had been asked to work on getting these quotes back in May. I had secured drawings and was on my way to getting quotes when the scope of the project was expanded and put under the direction of a guy who is becoming sort of a multi-department go-to guy for furniture and building projects. This suited me just fine because I have a lot of other things to do and it's always nice to put big projects into the hands of someone whose entire job is to handle such matters. But in spite of my repeated inquiries and entreaties, he managed to take all summer about getting us the information we needed to place the order. While I recognize that it wasn't entirely his fault, it is now entirely my problem and I'm not too happy about it.
Okay, sorry for the boring work stuff. On to the tri-related content!
It was a slow week, for the most part. I was tired, so I skipped a few morning workouts and an evening spin session. And I had to miss a morning swim workout because I didn't have an early person to open up the office. I got in a good interval session on the treadmill on Monday though, and I had a good spin session on Thursday. I have to remind myself sometimes that it's really okay to have a light training week. It really, really is!
In other tri-related news, I have new shoes! Okay, they're just a new pair of the same shoes I always wear-- Brooks Adrenaline size 8.5, but it was time for some new ones and it was fun to see all my friends at the running goods store. The last time I went in I saw no one I knew, but this time all my friends were there and I hung out for a good long while getting caught up.
On my way to pay for the shoes I noticed a display for Amino Vital and picked up a bottle just for the heck of it. I tried it on my run this morning (with a bit of added electrolytes) and I don't know if it was the new shoes, the new drink or a combination of the two, but I had a really good run, in spite of it feeling more hot and humid than recent mornings.
Well, at least it was a good run until my knee started giving me trouble.
But to back up a little...
I started my run on the bayou trail, which is my usual habit. My cottontail has been MIA for a few weeks but I saw a darker friend of his in the general vicinity. That was all I saw of wildlife, but as I neared the part where the trail passes under Memorial Drive, I noticed a sign near the foliage along the bayou. It announced that the area was an alligator habitat.
Uh... okay. Should I be concerned? I've never heard of any alligator problems in the area, although a couple years ago there was an incident where an alligator decided to hang out on a bike path closer to Memrial Park. I doubt the alligators around here are very big, but still... they are gators and they're probably radioactive mutant ones at that, given that they live in our nasty bayou.
So it would appear that I have some new wildlife to be on the lookout for!
I finished my little bayou loop without much incident. Then I decided to do a loop through River Oaks for the shade afforded by all the rich people's trees. I did six miles in River Oaks, which was where my right hip started cramping on me a bit. I didn't think much of it until I got back to the bayou trail and stopped for water. I tried to get moving again and found that the cramp in the hip had led to tightness in the IT band and nearby muscles. This was pulling on my knee in a very painful way. I hobbled to a nearby bench and tried to stretch it out, determined to finish this run because I was feeling so ridiculously good in every other way. I was able to trot along to Waugh Drive without too much pain, but as soon as I stopped to cross the street, the pain returned even worse than before. I tried again to stretch it out, but this time my body wasn't going for it.
Damn.
I don't remember ever having to walk home injured from a long run, so I guess today was a first. Even walking was a struggle, so running was out of the question. Once I realized that the IT band and tendons around the knee weren't going to release just because I was now walking, I decided some creativity was in order. I always take a bandana with me on long runs because they're so useful. I can wipe sweat out of my eyes, wipe my nose, bandage a scraped and bloody knee-- all kinds of useful things! So now I fashioned it into a cho-pat strap by folding it into a narrow strip, tying it tightly at the level of my patellar tendon and inserting a small rock under the bandana, right on top of the tendon. This released the tension and allowed me to walk normally and almost without pain, otherwise I'd probably still be out there, dragging my stiff and painful leg the 1/4 mile home.
And of course you hard-core triathletes know what happened as soon as I had elminated the immediate pain with my little improvised strap.
Tri-Geek: Hey, this is great! Let's go finish that run!
Sensible Brain: Uh, no. We're walking home now.
Tri-Geek: Are you crazy? It's just three more miles!
Sensible Brain: And our body is being held together by a damp bandana and a rock. Forget it.
Tri-Geek: Wimp. When we get home we'll find our cho-pat strap, come back out and finish the run. Right?
Sensible Brain: (Looks at watch.) I don't think so. We might get injured and it'll probably take an hour to find the stupid cho-pat strap anyway, since the bedroom is organized by Packrat.
Tri-Geek: Well, how about tonight? We'll fix the hip and knee with some ice and massage, then go finish the run on the treadmill this evening. I can live with that.
Sensible Brain: Uh... how about we discuss that at home? Okay?
So I got home, iced, massaged, worked on some of the tight areas with my foam roller and a tennis ball and tonight I feel just fine except for the continuing nagging from my lower back and hips.
I was wondering what could be causing this when something from Shelley's blog made me slap my forehead in amazement at my own stupidity. You see, I have two pairs of bike shoes. I only use one regularly, the other pair I recently started using when I'm on the trainer. It was the "regular" shoes that I wore for my bike fitting. The cleats and clips were all positioned exactly for my needs. The newer shoes (duh) were never adjusted because I didn't think I liked them and I wasn't planning to use them. Then I changed my mind and started wearing them on the trainer, right around the time I had to start using the trainer for all my rides since I didn't have a ride partner. Hmm... using unadjsted shoes for a lot of intense sprint sessions on the bike. Gee, no potential for problems there, huh? It's kinda scary what dumb, obvious things we overlook sometimes while we're busy being so clever about everything else.
So tomorrow I'm going back to my other shoes on the bike until I can get in to see the bike fitter with my un-fitted shoes. Hopefully this will help with the hip and lower back problems. It sure won't hurt anything.
And that's about all for my workouts this week.
To the reader who inquired about my core workout, I have a lot of things I like, including:
* Basic crunches and reverse crunches
* Crunches on a stability ball
* Plank position-- one minute or longer at a time
* Cobra position (good for lower back)
* Pushups (surprisingly good for abs)
* Boxing moves with hand weights (upper cuts are especially good for abs)
* Various things with weights to work lats and back
I recommend Mark Verstegen's Core Performance, which includes a lot of the same things I do, plus others that I probably should be doing, but there are only so many hours in a day, you know.
Which leads me to the only other news around here. I've recently resumed working on a novel that I abandoned about a year ago. I've continued working on it in my head since then, but it seemed so hard to make the time to actually write anything down. Then on Monday I found out that there's at least one online novel that uses the same background setting I'm using. That can only mean that some print books will follow in a year or two and I need to quit dilly-dallying. It's so rare for me to have a fiction idea that has market potential that I'd really be screwing myself out of an opportunity if I didn't run with this. So I've committed to writing a page or two a day, no matter what. I found this to be good policy on my other two, wholly unmarketable, novels and I'm sure it will work this time, too.
And that's the news from around here.
Tid pix coming soon!
Recent Workouts
Last Sunday: 2.5 hour bike-- 30 min Cyclerobx video, 1 hour CTS Climbing video, 1 hour Spinervals 2.0 Time Trial Special
Monday: 45 minute core and upper body, 5 mile run-- ladder drills on treadmill
Tuesday: 1200 meter swim, 1 mile run (brick), lats and abs
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body, 45 minute elliptical
Thursday: 45 minute bike- Spinervals 4.0 Muscle Breakdown
Friday: Rest Day and way too much food
Saturday: 13 mile run, cut short from planned 16
Saturday, August 13, 2005
Inspiration
Okay, so Wil tagged me to talk about my triathlon inspiration. Hm... That's honestly something I don't think much about, and maybe I should.
I got into this whole business by accident. I was left spinning my wheels after grad school, unable and unwilling to focus on anything remotely intellectual and in need of something to do. I started running with my husband in the evenings and when his cousin encouraged us to join his marathon training group, we figured why not?
Triathlon came later, after Dan participated in a sprint relay. I went to watch and thought, I can do that! No matter that I didn't have a bike, hadn't been on a bike in years and had never learned to swim. After doing a marathon in spite of an injury that cost me my last two months of training, anything seemed possible.
That was a few years ago and now here I am wondering which Ironman or Iron-distance race to sign up for!
So what inspires me to do all this? Being able to eat as much Indian food as I want, for starters. Oh, wait-- that's motivation, inspiration's close cousin. Sorry 'bout that...
So what inspires me?
The ordinary people.
The people like you and me-- flawed, fallible, not particulary gifted, not likely to ever win a major award, much less be able to earn a living at all this running, biking and swimming. It's the people who will never be great but do it anyway. And if you want to see my eyes really mist up, tell me a story about someone who has struggled with major obstacles and who still finds a way to make their dreams happen.
How about Louie Bonpua, who finished Ironman Canada, even though he was dying of leukemia? Wow. That kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it? Here I wonder if I should skip a run because my legs are a little tight or the bed just feels sooooo comfy, and this guy trained through a terminal illness!
Or how about Christian Sadowski, who got hit by a motorcycle on the Kona course last year and walked, carrying his bike the last 7 miles of the course before changing into running shoes, doing the marathon and finishing before the 17 hour cutoff? That's a demonstration of will that makes any other excuses pale by comparison.
Of course, it doesn't take such spectacular stories to get me inspired. Just about any of the accounts in Karen Douglass Thom's Becoming an Ironman can get me going. Whenever I read this book I don't know whether to cry or lace up my running shoes. (Hint: I usually go with the latter. I hate to be caught crying.)
In all honesty though, it doesn't even require an Ironman effort to inspire me. Just reading about an ordinary person's ordinary struggles to learn to run a mile or overcome a fear of swimming is inspirational to me. It's the struggle against one's own fears and doubts that I love to hear about.
Gifted people amaze me. But it's the fat guy down the block who has the courage to get out there on his bike and make change happen in his life who is really my hero. He inspires me, he gives me the courage to go try things I didn't think I could do. And sometimes, when all goes well, I end up inspiring myself.
Recent Workouts
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body workout, 4 mile run
Thursday: 1000 meter swim, lats and ab workout, 30 minute bike - Cyclerobx video
Friday: 45 minute core and upper body workout
Saturday: 15 mile run
I got into this whole business by accident. I was left spinning my wheels after grad school, unable and unwilling to focus on anything remotely intellectual and in need of something to do. I started running with my husband in the evenings and when his cousin encouraged us to join his marathon training group, we figured why not?
Triathlon came later, after Dan participated in a sprint relay. I went to watch and thought, I can do that! No matter that I didn't have a bike, hadn't been on a bike in years and had never learned to swim. After doing a marathon in spite of an injury that cost me my last two months of training, anything seemed possible.
That was a few years ago and now here I am wondering which Ironman or Iron-distance race to sign up for!
So what inspires me to do all this? Being able to eat as much Indian food as I want, for starters. Oh, wait-- that's motivation, inspiration's close cousin. Sorry 'bout that...
So what inspires me?
The ordinary people.
The people like you and me-- flawed, fallible, not particulary gifted, not likely to ever win a major award, much less be able to earn a living at all this running, biking and swimming. It's the people who will never be great but do it anyway. And if you want to see my eyes really mist up, tell me a story about someone who has struggled with major obstacles and who still finds a way to make their dreams happen.
How about Louie Bonpua, who finished Ironman Canada, even though he was dying of leukemia? Wow. That kinda puts things in perspective, doesn't it? Here I wonder if I should skip a run because my legs are a little tight or the bed just feels sooooo comfy, and this guy trained through a terminal illness!
Or how about Christian Sadowski, who got hit by a motorcycle on the Kona course last year and walked, carrying his bike the last 7 miles of the course before changing into running shoes, doing the marathon and finishing before the 17 hour cutoff? That's a demonstration of will that makes any other excuses pale by comparison.
Of course, it doesn't take such spectacular stories to get me inspired. Just about any of the accounts in Karen Douglass Thom's Becoming an Ironman can get me going. Whenever I read this book I don't know whether to cry or lace up my running shoes. (Hint: I usually go with the latter. I hate to be caught crying.)
In all honesty though, it doesn't even require an Ironman effort to inspire me. Just reading about an ordinary person's ordinary struggles to learn to run a mile or overcome a fear of swimming is inspirational to me. It's the struggle against one's own fears and doubts that I love to hear about.
Gifted people amaze me. But it's the fat guy down the block who has the courage to get out there on his bike and make change happen in his life who is really my hero. He inspires me, he gives me the courage to go try things I didn't think I could do. And sometimes, when all goes well, I end up inspiring myself.
Recent Workouts
Wednesday: 45 minute core and upper body workout, 4 mile run
Thursday: 1000 meter swim, lats and ab workout, 30 minute bike - Cyclerobx video
Friday: 45 minute core and upper body workout
Saturday: 15 mile run
Wednesday, August 10, 2005
Adventures in Aviation
Funny how one can fly on a regular basis for years with no major hassles and then have a single trip make up for it all.
For starters, a bomb threat at Hobby Airport delayed my outbound flight to Chicago Midway on Friday. I didn’t know at the time why we were delayed, though. I was just perplexed and had to read about it in the paper after the fact.
On the way to Chicago I was pretty anxious about making my connecting flight to Hartford, but the flight attendant reassured me that the other flight was delayed as well. Okay, so no need to worry about missing my flight, but, “The other flight is delayed by an hour, too,” just isn’t reassuring, somehow.
We landed with no problems and my cousin Charles met me at my gate. We had plenty of time to get him a sandwich and visit a bit before boarding. The flight was uneventful, Charles kept me entertained with some really crazy stories about his mother’s childhood in Argentina, and we made up a bit of time on the way to Bradley Field, which was nice. My uncle met us at the airport and a weekend of family stuff ensued. More on that in another post, if I can think of a way to make it sound at all interesting.
It was the return home on Monday where things got really weird and where I was especially grateful for having gotten everything I needed into a couple of carry-ons.
I spent the morning making copies of old photos and hanging out at my aunt’s library in Simsbury. By 11:00 I was famished, having completely forgotten to eat any breakfast. My aunt and I had some very nice salads at a little deli and I picked up a couple of granola-fruit-brownie type of things from their bakery on the way out. I was only going to get one as a dessert, but my aunt suggested I get two, “Just in case your flight is delayed.”
Thanks for jinxing me, Aunt Susan!
She got me to the airport a bit after noon, with plenty of time to get checked in for my 1:45 to Philadelphia. The line for security stretched for what seemed half a mile, but I coped with the boredom by trying to place the other people in line in their appropriate geographical areas based on dress. This was the result of a discussion Susan and I had over lunch about how Southern women were much more dressy than Northeastern women. I figured the madeup and manicured blonde with the matching metallic gold sandals, belt and purse was either Southern or from Los Angeles, while the girls with no makeup and hoodie tops were almost certainly New Englanders. I didn’t get a chance to actually query any of these people, so I’m not sure of my accuracy, but I did correctly guess that the short, dark and obviously foreign Latinos ahead of me in line would be taken off for additional searching and questioning.
Racial profiling? No, you don’t say!
My flight to Philly was delayed by about an hour due to bad weather along the eastern seaboard. So I spent my time chatting with a fellow Houstonian—a football coach from inner-city Milby High School. He was very nice and could talk about just about any topic. Then he went off to go do something, leaving me in charge of his bags. I wouldn’t have accepted this assignment from just any stranger in an airport, but every instinct I had was coming up good on this guy so I moved his bags closer to mine and settled in to read my New York Times. I’d had a bit of a time getting my NYT, which was odd. I would’ve thought they would be ubiquitous in Connecticut. Maybe it was the front-page story about airport delays that made them scarce that day.
Coach returned for his bags as they started boarding the plane and it seemed like a pretty normal flight until we got close to Philly and found out there were storms in the area. Although the frequently warned-of turbulence never developed, we circled the city for over an hour before finally getting clearance to land.
By now it was exactly time for my connecting flight to Houston to leave, but it was pretty clear that no one was going anywhere because everywhere you looked were planes just sitting on the runways. It was one big parking lot out there.
No one could tell us when the Houston flight was leaving, but flight congestion was so bad that our gate wasn’t even available—all the seats were taken up with people going to Orlando, which was the flight ahead of us out of that gate. So I wandered off in search of food. After pushing through crowds of stranded travelers and waiting in a long line, I finally acquired a Greek salad. Okay, it was sort of Greek. It had feta cheese, but it had only ordinary black olives instead of calamata, so I had a small issue with it. It was good though, and trying to find a place to eat it in that over-crowded terminal made for an interesting and distracting challenge.
I finished my wait by visiting with Coach some more. He had found another Houston coach to talk to and was sharing his 1970s Southwest Airlines reminisces. Wow. I knew they were edgier back then, but these were some really crazy stories! I had the impression Coach was no slouch himself back in the day, either. Funny to hear of such wild times from such a sedate-looking older gentleman. Anyway, after what seemed like at least fifty pre-boards, we ordinary folks were finally allowed to board the plane. Then they queued us up on the runway and let us sit on the tarmac with all the other sheep. For two hours.
Two HOURS.
I was already low on magazines and quickly ran through everything I had left in my bag, the in-flight magazine and a ten-page article on soybeans that my father gave me last week. I played a few hands of solitaire, ate the Connecticut blueberries I had planned to take home and was generally grateful I had brought food and water with me because they can’t serve anything until the plane is at cruising altitude.
At one point the captain announced we were second in line to take off, but then we were mysteriously shunted off to the side and the pilot killed an engine. Our flight path toward the south was blocked by new storms, apparently. I began to wonder if I would ever get home. I’m not generally prone to claustrophobia but it was getting hard to just sit there, not going anywhere, while a pre-school’s worth of children shrieked all around me and Snorey sawed away behind me, fast asleep and oblivious to it all.
What a shame I’ve never been able to fall asleep on a plane.
Finally we were allowed to take off and once again, the lack of turbulence made me wonder what all the fuss had been about. Well, I’d rather they be too cautious than the alternative.
It was well after 11:00 pm before we finally got to Houston. I had called Dan a few times from Philadelphia to let him know he should check with the airline before coming to get me, so he hadn’t been waiting all this time. We threw my bags in the car and headed home. On the way he told me the cat had missed me terribly but the bunny seemed unmoved by my absence, the little ingrate.
So I’m glad to be back, glad that my summer travels appear to be over and I can settle back into a schedule. I went to the gym Tuesday, ran a few errands and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I’m rested and ready for the August madness of fiscal year end, followed by the fall bike ride series and a few races, illness and injury gods permitting.
It’s good to be home!
Recent Workouts
Friday: 5.25 mile run on bayou trails
Saturday: Rest day with a bit of walking in Lexington, Massachusetts
Sunday: 2 hour run on rail trail; went from Cheshire to Hamden and back
Monday: Unscheduled rest day-- got home too late to run
Tuesday: 1000 meter swim, 1 mile run (brick), ab and lat work, 45 minute bike - Spinervals 3.0 Suffer-O-Rama
For starters, a bomb threat at Hobby Airport delayed my outbound flight to Chicago Midway on Friday. I didn’t know at the time why we were delayed, though. I was just perplexed and had to read about it in the paper after the fact.
On the way to Chicago I was pretty anxious about making my connecting flight to Hartford, but the flight attendant reassured me that the other flight was delayed as well. Okay, so no need to worry about missing my flight, but, “The other flight is delayed by an hour, too,” just isn’t reassuring, somehow.
We landed with no problems and my cousin Charles met me at my gate. We had plenty of time to get him a sandwich and visit a bit before boarding. The flight was uneventful, Charles kept me entertained with some really crazy stories about his mother’s childhood in Argentina, and we made up a bit of time on the way to Bradley Field, which was nice. My uncle met us at the airport and a weekend of family stuff ensued. More on that in another post, if I can think of a way to make it sound at all interesting.
It was the return home on Monday where things got really weird and where I was especially grateful for having gotten everything I needed into a couple of carry-ons.
I spent the morning making copies of old photos and hanging out at my aunt’s library in Simsbury. By 11:00 I was famished, having completely forgotten to eat any breakfast. My aunt and I had some very nice salads at a little deli and I picked up a couple of granola-fruit-brownie type of things from their bakery on the way out. I was only going to get one as a dessert, but my aunt suggested I get two, “Just in case your flight is delayed.”
Thanks for jinxing me, Aunt Susan!
She got me to the airport a bit after noon, with plenty of time to get checked in for my 1:45 to Philadelphia. The line for security stretched for what seemed half a mile, but I coped with the boredom by trying to place the other people in line in their appropriate geographical areas based on dress. This was the result of a discussion Susan and I had over lunch about how Southern women were much more dressy than Northeastern women. I figured the madeup and manicured blonde with the matching metallic gold sandals, belt and purse was either Southern or from Los Angeles, while the girls with no makeup and hoodie tops were almost certainly New Englanders. I didn’t get a chance to actually query any of these people, so I’m not sure of my accuracy, but I did correctly guess that the short, dark and obviously foreign Latinos ahead of me in line would be taken off for additional searching and questioning.
Racial profiling? No, you don’t say!
My flight to Philly was delayed by about an hour due to bad weather along the eastern seaboard. So I spent my time chatting with a fellow Houstonian—a football coach from inner-city Milby High School. He was very nice and could talk about just about any topic. Then he went off to go do something, leaving me in charge of his bags. I wouldn’t have accepted this assignment from just any stranger in an airport, but every instinct I had was coming up good on this guy so I moved his bags closer to mine and settled in to read my New York Times. I’d had a bit of a time getting my NYT, which was odd. I would’ve thought they would be ubiquitous in Connecticut. Maybe it was the front-page story about airport delays that made them scarce that day.
Coach returned for his bags as they started boarding the plane and it seemed like a pretty normal flight until we got close to Philly and found out there were storms in the area. Although the frequently warned-of turbulence never developed, we circled the city for over an hour before finally getting clearance to land.
By now it was exactly time for my connecting flight to Houston to leave, but it was pretty clear that no one was going anywhere because everywhere you looked were planes just sitting on the runways. It was one big parking lot out there.
No one could tell us when the Houston flight was leaving, but flight congestion was so bad that our gate wasn’t even available—all the seats were taken up with people going to Orlando, which was the flight ahead of us out of that gate. So I wandered off in search of food. After pushing through crowds of stranded travelers and waiting in a long line, I finally acquired a Greek salad. Okay, it was sort of Greek. It had feta cheese, but it had only ordinary black olives instead of calamata, so I had a small issue with it. It was good though, and trying to find a place to eat it in that over-crowded terminal made for an interesting and distracting challenge.
I finished my wait by visiting with Coach some more. He had found another Houston coach to talk to and was sharing his 1970s Southwest Airlines reminisces. Wow. I knew they were edgier back then, but these were some really crazy stories! I had the impression Coach was no slouch himself back in the day, either. Funny to hear of such wild times from such a sedate-looking older gentleman. Anyway, after what seemed like at least fifty pre-boards, we ordinary folks were finally allowed to board the plane. Then they queued us up on the runway and let us sit on the tarmac with all the other sheep. For two hours.
Two HOURS.
I was already low on magazines and quickly ran through everything I had left in my bag, the in-flight magazine and a ten-page article on soybeans that my father gave me last week. I played a few hands of solitaire, ate the Connecticut blueberries I had planned to take home and was generally grateful I had brought food and water with me because they can’t serve anything until the plane is at cruising altitude.
At one point the captain announced we were second in line to take off, but then we were mysteriously shunted off to the side and the pilot killed an engine. Our flight path toward the south was blocked by new storms, apparently. I began to wonder if I would ever get home. I’m not generally prone to claustrophobia but it was getting hard to just sit there, not going anywhere, while a pre-school’s worth of children shrieked all around me and Snorey sawed away behind me, fast asleep and oblivious to it all.
What a shame I’ve never been able to fall asleep on a plane.
Finally we were allowed to take off and once again, the lack of turbulence made me wonder what all the fuss had been about. Well, I’d rather they be too cautious than the alternative.
It was well after 11:00 pm before we finally got to Houston. I had called Dan a few times from Philadelphia to let him know he should check with the airline before coming to get me, so he hadn’t been waiting all this time. We threw my bags in the car and headed home. On the way he told me the cat had missed me terribly but the bunny seemed unmoved by my absence, the little ingrate.
So I’m glad to be back, glad that my summer travels appear to be over and I can settle back into a schedule. I went to the gym Tuesday, ran a few errands and spent a lot of time sleeping, so I’m rested and ready for the August madness of fiscal year end, followed by the fall bike ride series and a few races, illness and injury gods permitting.
It’s good to be home!
Recent Workouts
Friday: 5.25 mile run on bayou trails
Saturday: Rest day with a bit of walking in Lexington, Massachusetts
Sunday: 2 hour run on rail trail; went from Cheshire to Hamden and back
Monday: Unscheduled rest day-- got home too late to run
Tuesday: 1000 meter swim, 1 mile run (brick), ab and lat work, 45 minute bike - Spinervals 3.0 Suffer-O-Rama
Wednesday, August 03, 2005
The Labyrinth
This post is for anyone who has ever had doubts, but especially for my friend Wil on the occasion of her first half ironman triathlon this weekend.
It was a warm spring afternoon and Dan and I were wandering the streets of Old Town Santa Fe. We had browsed a few shops, checked out the Indians' wares in front of the historic governor's palace and were contemplating our next adventure in that lazy way one does while vacationing, as ready to bumble into something as to make it happen.
We stopped at St. Michael's so Dan could sit down and rest for a moment and to my delight I saw they had something new out front-- a labyrinth! I handed off my purse to Dan, found the starting point and jumped in. The path was just a narrow tracing of granite, lighter than the stone around it, and it wandered back and forth, sometimes tracing quarter-circles, sometimes describing almost the entire outer perimeter before meandering back in toward the center then suddenly leaping backwards and sideways, shunting me off in a different direction. The turns were tight little switchbacks, often reversing themselves and doubling back the way I had come. It had all seemed fairly straightforward from the outside, but of course once I was on the path, it took all my concentration merely to remain on course and not blunder onto the path right next to it where I would surely wander around endlessly with no hope of reaching my goal.
After awhile the meandering paths began to all look the same. It seemed impossible that I hadn't yet reached the center. From the outside, only a few quick strides would've taken me to the middle if I had been willing to cheat the process. Doing it the right way took longer.
The path turned yet again and suddenly all was confusion. My steps faltered. I paused and looked around. How could this be? A moment ago it seemed I was almost there and now I was farther away than ever! My mind raced. Had I made a mistake on one of those switchbacks? Was I on the right path? Did the path even lead to the center at all?
For a moment, I doubted.
But no, I had to be on the right track. I had been paying close attention, hadn't I?
So with a little frown, I continued. And only a few steps later, there I was, goal attained, stepping into the center. I turned to Dan with a big smile and raised my arms in victory.
They say the labyrinth is a metaphor for many of life's journeys. How many times have we doubted the path we're on, questioned our ability to stay the course, wondered if we're on the right road at all? And yet it is just when it seems we've made a mistake and all our effort has been in vain, that we can't let our doubts overcome our resolve. The path is the right one, our effort is good and the goal is closer than we could possibly imagine.
Never doubt your ability. Never give up.
Get well and stay the course at Steelhead, Wil!
Good luck, Shelley and Vertical Man!
And good luck to all of you, Friends, as you journey down life's confusing paths.
It was a warm spring afternoon and Dan and I were wandering the streets of Old Town Santa Fe. We had browsed a few shops, checked out the Indians' wares in front of the historic governor's palace and were contemplating our next adventure in that lazy way one does while vacationing, as ready to bumble into something as to make it happen.
We stopped at St. Michael's so Dan could sit down and rest for a moment and to my delight I saw they had something new out front-- a labyrinth! I handed off my purse to Dan, found the starting point and jumped in. The path was just a narrow tracing of granite, lighter than the stone around it, and it wandered back and forth, sometimes tracing quarter-circles, sometimes describing almost the entire outer perimeter before meandering back in toward the center then suddenly leaping backwards and sideways, shunting me off in a different direction. The turns were tight little switchbacks, often reversing themselves and doubling back the way I had come. It had all seemed fairly straightforward from the outside, but of course once I was on the path, it took all my concentration merely to remain on course and not blunder onto the path right next to it where I would surely wander around endlessly with no hope of reaching my goal.
After awhile the meandering paths began to all look the same. It seemed impossible that I hadn't yet reached the center. From the outside, only a few quick strides would've taken me to the middle if I had been willing to cheat the process. Doing it the right way took longer.
The path turned yet again and suddenly all was confusion. My steps faltered. I paused and looked around. How could this be? A moment ago it seemed I was almost there and now I was farther away than ever! My mind raced. Had I made a mistake on one of those switchbacks? Was I on the right path? Did the path even lead to the center at all?
For a moment, I doubted.
But no, I had to be on the right track. I had been paying close attention, hadn't I?
So with a little frown, I continued. And only a few steps later, there I was, goal attained, stepping into the center. I turned to Dan with a big smile and raised my arms in victory.
They say the labyrinth is a metaphor for many of life's journeys. How many times have we doubted the path we're on, questioned our ability to stay the course, wondered if we're on the right road at all? And yet it is just when it seems we've made a mistake and all our effort has been in vain, that we can't let our doubts overcome our resolve. The path is the right one, our effort is good and the goal is closer than we could possibly imagine.
Never doubt your ability. Never give up.
Get well and stay the course at Steelhead, Wil!
Good luck, Shelley and Vertical Man!
And good luck to all of you, Friends, as you journey down life's confusing paths.
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