Post Race Update

Since my last blog I have not done a whole hell-ova-lot. Coach G gave me the rest of the month on November off and although I ran a hand full of times swam twice and took one spin class, i really enjoyed the time off. I planned to start training again over the weekend of Thanksgiving and it started with an easy bike ride that ended up in a crash-not my fault. One of a stupid lady driving while talking on her cell phone, who did not notice six of us riding in a straight line when she decided to turn in to us. I am ok other than a swollen and scarped up knee and nobody else was hurt thank god. I am sure after a friend and teammate told her off bad enough to bring her to tears she will learn to pay attention while driving. Last night I did a three mile run that was a hrt rate test, in the test I had to stay within 2 beats of 151. If I went over i had to walk and if I was under I had to speed up. Work out went well it was an easy run for me, but today my knee is throbbing and I am thinking more rest may be good for it. Tomorrow the hubs and I are celebrating our anniversary. Cant wait!
I am looking forward to getting back to the training, I have a half marathon coming up in January and a half IM in April.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Iron Star 70.3 Race Report

All I can say is wow what an experience. I woke up Sunday morning and it was colder than a witches tit, when I headed out to transition. I found a few of my teammates and we discussed what we would do to stay warm on the bike. I decided to swim in my tri shorts and tri bra under the wetsuit and after I got out of the water I would add the tri top and long sleeve tech shirt. When transition closed several of us headed to swim start and waited for pre race instructions and the national anthem. Our swim was delayed by about 10 mins to allow the fog to lift off of the water. Finally at 7:18 I was on my way into the water, it was difficult to see since the fog was still low but I got in a good groove and started swimming, I bumped into a few girls a couple of times but it really did not bother me. Each time I sighted I looked for the colorful swim caps and stayed on coarse since we could not see a buoy until you were right on top of it. Before I knew I was at swim out and making my way to transition. 1.2 mile Swim 45:30.

I skipped the wetsuit strippers and took on that task myself. I dried off and put my warmer clothing strapped on the shoes and helmet and made my way out of T1 5:34.

I headed out of the bike with high hopes of no wind, but hope was not good enough because it was windy. I had ridden this coarse or part of this coarse more than once and I must say this time was the most difficult. It was nice to know where I was at all times, but I got to the point that I was wishing the miles away. At least I saw all of my teammates at some point on the coarse so a familiar voice from time to time was excellent. Around mile 29ish Jenny's family was on the side of the road and as I went by the cheered for me too. Thanks to Hanna and Keith and all the rest of Jenny's family for being out on the coarse. As I headed back through the resort to transition, I saw Scott, Tarrah and Logan. Logan followed me to transition and told me how great I was doing and that he was proud of me. Bike time 3:35:05 avg pace 15.6 mpg not what I wanted but I am not terribly disappointed.

I changed shoes and out of the long sleeve top because it was now a nice 70 degrees and I hit the pavement for my 13.1 mile run. The run was 3 loops part of each loop was on dirt trails and grass but most of it was through the resort neighborhood that lots of shade. I had so much support out there during the run that the miles just ticked away. I tried to run as much as possible but took a brief walk break at each mile and sometime at each half mile. 1/2 marathon 2:31:55.

Coming into the shoot and all I could do was smile, When I crossed the finish line my mom gave me a high five and then the tears came but I kept them brief and enjoyed the moment. I stayed at the finish line until all my friends were finished. The hugs and smiles will last forever. I am so blessed to have completed my first half IM distance with such a great group of friends.

A huge thank you to my friends Russell, Robin and Kathleen for coming out and supporting me it was great to hear your voice and your cheers. Also thanks to my teammates that made it out to volunteer and cheer us on. Thanks you to my teammates families that were there cheering for us and taking pictures. Thank you to all the volunteers. And to my family that came out to cheer me on. If I forgot somebody I am sorry but please know you are appreciated as well. I have the best husband in the world who has been so patient with me through all of my training. We have missed many dinners together and have not been on a lot of dates lately. Coach G your are the best thank you for believing in me and making me believe in myself. And to all my teammate, who have been there blood sweat and tears and many hours of training. I could not have done this without any of you.

Total half IM 7:01:59. Now to enjoy recovery!

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

2 days

In 2 days I will embark on my journey to 70.3. 1.2 mile swim, 56 miles on the bike and 13.1 on foot. 4 months ago if you had said to me "Misty you will be doing 70.3 by the end of the year" I would have laughed in your face. But here I am 2 days away from something I swore I would never do. NEVER say NEVER! Through the past few months of training I have had some highs and some lows, I have missed some training and I have trained hard. Sunday will be here soon and I am excited to finally be here. Tomorrow I am guessing the Oh shit will kick in, but I know I have trained for this and I know I am ready. On Sunday my expectations are to finish, no time, just to finish. I am sure there will be tears when I am finished, but I cannot wait to complete my first 70.3.

Good luck to Team sTRIve in IM Florida and in Conore this weekend.

Low

Yesterday I was feeling very low, about as low as I have felt in the last three years since I started training for half marathon, marathons and now triathlons. Yes I love training and yes I love the sport, there are just so many small scarifies. I have missed out on family dinners and outings, Logan's golf tournaments, various birthdays, going away parties only to name a few. I have not cleaned my own house in months, I have not been to the grocery store in at least a month. So by yesterday it all hit me, I was feeling like the worst wife, daughter, granddaughter and friend. Feeling this way I called up a friend because I know from conversations with her that she too has felt like this at times. She assured me that this was normal to feel like this and that this was only temporary. Thank you my friend for making me feel better.


Hope to see you on the roads soon!

A weekend of workouts amd a little bit of fun

As the days tick by and Iron Star gets closer and closer I feel crazy about missing a workout. This weekend was a very productive weekend for me, after feeling ill last week coach decided to reduce my 14 mile run to 10 miles on Friday night, although a little warm and muggy I was able to finish with a 10:50 avg pace. After our group run we headed to Nit Noi for yummy Thai food and a cold beer. Saturday morning several of us headed out for an open water swim at Lake Windcrest, this was the first time I swam across the lake and back. Saturday the wind was blowing hard and made the swim over pretty rough, I started doubting myself and thinking I was stupid for thinking I could do the swim in my upcoming race. Once I got to the other side I took a few deep breaths and reminded myself I can do this and started swimming back, by the time I got back I had worked on the head case I created and now know I will make the Iron Star 1.2 mile swim. Sunday morning about 15 of us headed out to Montgomery to ride most of the Iron Star coarse the weather was warm and muggy and we had alot of wind but I felt good coming off the 50 mile bike ride and was able to maintain a 16.8 mph avg. This bike coarse is quit hilly for south Texas and I found myself fighting the wind and the hills. But again I feel confident going into my upcoming race.

As far as the fun Saturday night Big John had a hog roast to celebrate his accomplishments in Kona earlier this month and also to celebrate friends, family and teammates on all upcoming and past races. Thanks to Big John for a great time and fellowship. Sunday afternoon we watched the seniors golf tournament that was in our back yard, great time with friends and neighbors. Congrats to Fred Couples who ended up shooting 29 on the back 9 and coming away with a huge win.

Weight watchers update finally (last Friday) in week 20 I met my goal weight down a total of 18.2 pounds, now its time to maintain it.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Stomach bug not appreciated

This week I was attacked by the stomach bug and it was very unappreciated. 2 days of well you know, along with major cramping and not being able to enjoy food majorly cramped my training. I missed my track workout on Tuesday plus a run and a swim on Wednesday.. Boo. Don't you know I have 70.3 in just over a month! I have high hopes of an hour on the bike tonight and hopefully a swim and a bike ride tomorrow.

Saturday will kick off a weekend of great races for myself and many of my friends and teammates. Saturday for myself and many others will be 10 for Texas, which is a great 10 mile run in The Woodlands, the weather is to die for right and I cannot wait to do this race again. Also on Saturday my friend and teammate will be doing Ironman Kona, Big John you will do great my thoughts will be with you all day long. On Sunday many of my friends from the Woodlands Running Club will be in Chicago running the marathon. Good luck to all racing in these races and any others where ever they may be!

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

5 week count down

In five shorts weeks I will be participating in Ironstar 70.3, this will be my first half iron distance and as it gets closer the training becomes a little more intense. I started my triathlon journey one year ago, when "running" just wasn't enough. After completing several half marathon a few full marathons and 2 ultra marathons I wondered what next. I had been training at the track with Kim Hager and many triathletes (team sTRIve) and many times would hear, so when are you going to do a triathlon? My answer was NEVER, see I was completely terrified of getting in the water with a bunch of crazy women all trying to drown me, as so I thought. After many months of hearing stories of how these people traveled together and trained together constantly I thought I would give it a try. I signed up Try Andy's Tri and did my first Sprint triathlon on October 18, 2009. Since then I have done 3 sprints and 1 Oly, after doing my first Oly in Austin over Labor Day weekend I came home and after talking to my Coach (Gena) I signed up for Ironstar. Since Labor day my bike rides have increased from 25-30 miles for long rides to 50-60+ miles usually ridden on Sunday mornings with my awesome teammates. Some rides rock some rides suck, but I know in the end it will get me to the finish. If I didn't have training partners I would never get the finish on my own. Yesterday's ride was a tough one, it was windy, I felt lost for what seemed to be an eternity on a bumpy road, my ciatic (sp?) nerve hurt for about 30 miles and I really felt I would not be able to run off the bike. When I got in I told Gena what was going on so she pushed on the nerve and told me to run for 20 mins. When I started running the pain seemed to go away and I looked down to see I was running a sub 10 min pace. When we returned from the run we had run 2 miles at a 9.48 pace. And I felt like I could have run 2 more miles. Lesson learned, even the crappy rides aren't so bad. I also remember how much the words Team sTRIve mean to me. Thank you to my teammates that always seem to help me push through the good and the bad.

Friday 10 mile run
Saturday 5K breast cancer walk
Sunday 62 mile bike ride + 2.1 mile run.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

Come back legs

Coming off the Lions club supported ride Sunday my legs are still a little fatigued. I had a decent swim Monday night, a little slower than normal but although I was tired I was able to get in 2000yds without to much trouble. Last night at the track was when I really felt the fatigue in my legs. I still pounded out 6 x 800 after a mile w/u 4:30, 4:31, 4:27, 4:29, 4:29 and 4:27 followed my a walking .5 mile c/d. Needles to say my Zoot Compression sock and the stick have been my best friend this week.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

A very HILLY/LONG ride

Sunday was my longest ride ever. I chose to ride in the (62 mile) supported ride for the Lions club in Montgomery with several teammates some riding the 62 mile route and some the 100 in the beautiful hills through Dacus, Anderson, Richards and Montgomery. I decided to do this ride when Coach G sent us the link and suggested it would be part of the Iron Star 70.3 coarse I will be tackling on November 7th. I knew it would be a great idea to get a feel for the coarse and the hills since I normally ride on very flat terrain. Prior to this ride I had completed many rides ranging from 20-34 miles and one a week prior that was 42 miles. This being a big jump in mileage for me there was no time goal, just to enjoy the ride, study the hills and rest at the rest stops when needed. I stopped at 4 out of 6 rest stops topped off with water, got off the bike and sometimes ate an orange, the first 20 miles were a breeze as the mileage got higher so did the hills and the ride got harder. The first half of the ride I was able to maintain 17.3 mph but after about mile 30 the mph started to drop, the temp got warmer and hills got hillier. When I finished I finished I felt a little off but after a few minutes I felt like a human again. My Garmin and cateye were a little off from the others I rode with so we will go with the cateye results of 3hrs 41 min & 15.8mph avg speed. I realize that I need more hill training on the bike and that I probably need to try somethings out nutritionally before race day.


On another note WW started agreeing with me last week, after 4 weeks of up and down I had a good weight loss for a total of 17 lbs in 15 weeks.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Avia Austin Triathlon- Oly

I participated in my first Olympic distance triathlon on Monday in Austin and this was by far the most fun I have had in a race. It was challenging in many ways but I felt the best I have felt in a triathlon thus far. Logan and I got into Austin later Saturday afternoon and checked in to the hotel unpacked and headed out for a beer. We found a great Brewery called Uncle Billy's Brew and Cue http://www.unclebillysaustin.com/ great place to sit on a patio and enjoy a cold beer and the low humidity. My favorite beer was Agave Wit a Belgian style wheat beer with orange peel. Sunday morning I got up and started getting my transition bag packed and met up with Micah and Brandi to head over to bike check in and packet pick up. At the expo we picked up a few things t-shirt, cycling jersey, monkey grease wipes and out race stuff. I was given the bib number of 444 and a blue swim cap- finally something other than pink. After bike we were situated in transition we headed to Aussie's for a light lunch. Sunday night we ate at Taverna http://www.tavernabylombardi.com/ this place I highly recommend it was fabulous. I chose the Risotto all' Acento Balsamic con Pollo and for dessert Budino di Ciccolato. After dinner I tried to get to sleep but as usual I had the pre-race jitters and it seemed like I tossed and turned for hours. 5 am wake up call as soon as my feet hit the floor I felt ready for my race. After I got everything set up in transition I met up with Bill, Jon, John, Brandi and Greg and Gena. We chit chatted about the race and butterflies started to fill my stomach. It was not long before Gena helped me zip up my wetsuit and I was jumping off the dock. When I hit the water it was cold, it kind of surprised me how cold in actually was. The gun went off and I started swimming, I got in a bit of a rhythm with a few gals in my wave and it really seemed to click as I was swimming. Yes I stopped a couople times to clear my fogged goggels but I did not have to turtle head, flip over on my back, dog paddle it was all freestyle baby. After a while I was being pulled out of the water by a volunteer and they had my wetsuit at my waist and I was running to T1 40.29 swim. Wet suit off, glasses on, helmet on, wipe feet and bike shoes on and I was running. The run to bike mount was about 1/4 of a mile if not more making T1 a long transition just over 4 mins. Bike coarse did I mention while I was swimming there came a down pour, as I am taking Gena yells for me to take it easy on my turns that the roads are very wet. 3 loops up and down Congress out Cheaser Chaves, hills were challenging, by the 3rd loop the streets were near dry. 1:31:XX 16.3 avg mph. Again I had to run forever to rack my bike and head out for the run, 3:31 T2. run coarse was fun, loots of people on the coarse lots of team and friend support, it was a hot run but the first loop I felt wonderful did not stop for walk break at all, the second loop the heat was starting to get to me a bit I walked at the aid stations but still had a great run. race pace was 10:42. Total time 3:25:41.

Today I signed up for Ironstar 70.3 November 7th. I think I am a nut case.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Weather Report for Houston today.

HOUSTON—Mother Nature is in a kind mood, because she is giving the gift of beautiful weather Thursday.
"It is a beautiful morning out there, it is just fabulous," 11 News Meteorologist David Paul said. "Although it is warm, it is much less humid."
Paul said highs should top out around 96 Thursday, but with the lower humidity, it won't feel nearly as hot as those heat advisory days we've been having.

Its pretty sad when we get excited about "cooler" temps and it is still supposed to be 96 today. Houston your weather sucks, can we please turn the ac back on.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Another loss

So it is week 11 of weight watchers and I am down 1.6 for the week. So far my total loss is 13.2 (avg 1.2 loss per week). I originallty set a goal to be at 127 lbs and now that I am 4.4 lbs away I think I may try and go further. I am a shorty at 5'2 and I think I would be ok at a lower weight maybe closer to 123ish. We'll see what week 17 brings.

Hope to see you on the raods soon.

River Cities Race Report

Saturday morning began at 5am for me, I threw last min items in my bag, got dressed, loaded the bike and headed to Starbuck's for 7am tires on the road. In the caravan we head Coach G (Gena) and Greg in car 1 Micha in car 2 and Lynn and myself in car 3. Lynn and I had a bit of an ordeal keeping up with this bunch as we cruised at a nice speed of 80. We did however make it to Shreveport in record time (a normal 4.5 hour trip), in less than four hours that included 2 pit stops and a traffic stop. And we had to drive across Shreveport to get to packet pick up. Following Greg and Gena can be quit interesting, from stalkers to cops and many laughs in between the weekend in Louisiana with Team sTRIve turned out to be fantabulous. So since I spilled the beans already yes we got pulled over for doing 75 in a 55 I guess we slowed down just enough to not be clocked at 80. I am sure that this cop in Nachadouches thought he had scored big that he was able to pull over three cars in one stop, when he got to the car we explained that we were headed to Shreveport and did not know how to get there so we were speeding so we did not loose the cars in front of us. So this story could take forever but thanks to having friends that work in law enforcement not one car received a ticket. Car one received a warning and we carried on our happy way. I mentioned a stalker- well we lost the stalker when we were pulled over, later to find he was not a stalker but an invited guest to our caravan in car we did not recognize and he happened to pull in to Starbuck's as we pulled out.

This is the truck that was stalking us.

Packet pick up was fun, we ran into several teammates and shopped a bit and headed to check in to the hotel. This was not so such fun, we got there early thinking we will be able to get into our rooms early as check in was at 3:00. We arrived at 1:30 to find our rooms were not available, finally at 4:45 we got into our rooms with enough time to relax for an hour and head out for pasta dinner. I normally do not try to carb load the night before a race simply because it is too late. So I ate pasta two nights in a row for shits and grins- no because it was a team effort (15) and I am a team player. After dinner headed back to the hotel for a good nights rest and to get our stuff ready for the morning.

Sunday morning up at 4am, breakfast, dressed car loaded and on the road at 5:30am. We arrived in transition at about 6:30 at this race the racks were set up by range of number and as long as you race number was on that rack you could put your bike anywhere. I set up on the end to make it easier to get in and out of transition. After we got set up a few of us went to get wet and do an easy practice swim. I was in wave 8 that went off at 8:30am, in my wave included 30-34 and Anthea, this wave had 110 ladies in it and all I wanted was not to be the last one out. This was to be my longest swim in a race yet and I was very nervous. I accepted the fact that this swim would be slow and I would get through it. When the gun went off it was like mad, I was getting pushed, pulled, hit and swam over no matter were I tried to position myself. After the first turn I took a break and tried to get away from the hustle and bustle. At the final turn and with 300 I was ready to be done. Swim 800 25:06 51/56 in age group (not the last out of the water). When I finished my swim I chose to walk out of the water and take a few deep breaths, once I got close to transition I started to run. Sunglasses, helmet and bike shoes on and I was running out of transition with my bike. T1 3:05 (thanks to my leisure walk) Bike coarse had some nice rollers, I found myself at 8mph a few times. I raced as hard as I could and everytime I had the chance to pass somebody- I did. 18.6 mile bike 1:01:50 (17.7 av pace) 29/56 age group. Running off the bike is usually not very easy thus why we should practice this as much as possible, my running legs took a while to run but I made it to transition rack bike, helmet off, visor on (oops to early) remove bike shoes put on socks for run, shoes for run, race belt- umm race belt wont go on- click finally) oops should have taken care of this out on the run with the visor. T2 2:46 I learned take care of everything you can while on the move not in T. The run coarse was shaded but it was still very hot, but lots of support and aid stations with ice cold water and cold towels about each 1/2 mile. Run was good I ran most of the coarse and felt good. Run 3.1 33:42 (10:52 pace) 42/56. All in all this was a great & fun race. After all of Team sTRIve finished racing we headed our separate ways to our hotels for our journeys back to Houston. My total time for this long sprint was 2:06:32 my goal was to finish healthy, I had a secret goal of 2:00 which I almost accomplished- but I know how to do it next time.

After race Refreshments..

Team sTRIve!

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

The Goodie Bag

River Cities Triathlon is said to have one of the greatest swag bags of all races. This year proved to be true, although a little disappointed in what came in the bag, the bag speaks for itself. It is the perfect triathlon travel bag unfortunately it is too big for a transition bag but if you need to travel this bag will hold everything. It had several compartments for gels, nutrition, race belt, 2 separate shoe compartments for running shoes and bike shoes, a place for your helmet and anything else you will need to pack for your next race no matter what the distance. With the bar we received a 30th anniversary participation tech shirt, a pair of socks, a hat and some funky ass sunglasses. All in all I was quit please with the bag. A little disappointed that there was not a medal this year.

I will try to have a race report by the end of the week. Hope to see you on the roads soon!

A few of my favorite things

What are yours?

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Mexican food and margaritta's will be the death of me

Mexican food and Margarita's will be the death of me in the battle of weight loss. In my last post I bragged that I was down 8.8, well after weighing in last week it the scale jumped up 1.2 lbs. Yes I am still excited that I am down 7.6 lbs but it is frustrating that I let food get the best of me. Logan and I took a long weekend and went to Galveston so we ate out ever meal for 3 days and then I kept doing it. I have a feeling that tomorrow's weigh in will be bad too, cause I have not stopped eating like crap. Time to jump back on this crazy roller coaster called weigh loss.

I will be traveling to Benton La on Saturday for a sprint triathlon with teammates. This race promises to have the best race packet with over $250 worth of merchandise. All that aside although it is a sprint race it will be my longest triathlon thus far. .5 mile swim 18 mile bike and 5k run. I am hoping to hit the 2 hr mark and feel great when I finish.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

Weight Watchers and Training

I am in week 6 of being on Weight Watchers and I am loving it. Yes I am retraining myself on what to eat and I often wonder what can I try new that will fit into the new eating habits. But day by day it is getting easier to find things to put in my body that are good for me. I weighed in yesterday and I am down 8.8 lbs. yeah for me. I am 10.2lbs from goal weight.

Monday night at the pool was not so good, 24 hr had the chemicals off in a bad way. So I swam 500 and quickly exited to go home take a shower and get the itch off of my body.

Tuesday night TT at the track. 1.75 warm up at 10:37 pace 2 mile TT at 8:56 pace. (96 degrees out side at 7:00pm) Training in Texas sux.

Wednesday pool work out 2050 meters.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Crazy week

Last week was crazy week filled with a car that is parked in the driveway, a great track workout, a hard swim, lots of rain, a horrible run Friday day night and an eventful ride on Sunday.
The car is being worked on by our crazy neighbor and mechanical friend Scott. The transmission is in the drive way while he replaces the throw out bearings. Ok whatever that means. It means to me $500. My car has gotten me through alot, lots of road trips and many hours of getting me to and from training. She is getting old but I am not quite ready to let her go.
Monday swim was a 1000 TT. It was not pretty but I got it done 25:49.
Tuesday I had a great track workout 4 X 800 after 1.5 mile warm up. I held my intervals very steady 4:25 4:21 4:23 and 4:18. After track Team Strive headed up to Chipotle for dinner and great laughs.
Wednesday swim was a rough swim but swimming is always rough for me. Warm up 300 broken 1000 400 (40") 300 (30") 200 (20") 100 (10"). then 4 x50's 25 easy 25 fast, 25 fast 25 easy, 25 fast 25 fast and 25 easy 25 easy (x2). 1700 and cool down 100. I hope this gets better fast.
Thursday it was raining cats and dogs so for my training I turned to the gym 65 mins on a spin bike and 20 mins on the dreadmill.
Friday night some of my teammates meet up at a sports bar and headed out for our long run. I got it 11.76 hot and humid miles, in which I walked at least the whole last mile. Thank god for Nessa picking us up from the trails and getting us back to the sports bars for a cold arse beer and juicy hamburger.
Last but not least my 30 mile bike ride on Sunday. First of all this was my longest ride ever Whoot Whoot. It was fun, it was dirty and there will be bruises for a while. That is probably all I need to say about that.
Happy training with great teammate trumps it all.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

Catch Up

I find I hardly have time to sit and blog it seems life gets so busy between work, workouts, being a wife, a daughter and a friend. Sometimes I feel life gets past me and in no time a year has passed. I get caught up in the hussell and bussell, I try to make mental notes or leaves my self messages on the way home from work at work to remember to pay this bill or make this phone call when I get to work in the morning. I lye in bed at night and my mind races with what I left undone only to forget it it again in the morning. So I decided to take a breather this morning to write a few lines.

Yesterday I met up with Team Strive for a bike ride, most did 57 miles since they are all training for IM Florida. I did 23! It was a nice ride with a few hills, the weather was nice (if I can say that about Houston in June). Brandy and I avg'd 16.1 (which is good for me) Logan and I had a wonderful brunch together before we headed to my father in-laws for an afternoon of the US open and disgusta-burgers(burgers).

Friday night after work I met up with some running friends for what was supposed to be an 8 miler, until it was cut short since the sky opened up and it was just plain dumb to be out running. So I got in 5.25. The bad in this run is now my blackberry nor my Garmin made it out alive. So I will be calling Garmin this morning to see about getting a new watch asap.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Happy Father's Day to all dads.

Oh and I am down 2.2lbs.

A new journey that starts with the next 17 weeks

Today I began my 17 week journey to weight loss. Yes I run, yes I swim and yes I bike and the pounds are slowly but surely creeping back. It is time I watch what I stuff in mouth. Today I joined Weight Watchers and have already consumed almost all of my points. Not the best start, but a start to my journey.

My Newest Purchase

My most recent purchase was the speedfill hydration system and so far so good. It holds 40oz of fluids, which is more than I need for a 20 mile bike ride. Since I am training for sprint distances I have not used it for a ride longer than 20 miles but I had plenty of fluids left when I finished. I love not having to grab for a water bottle every time I need a drink, the drink tube runs up the frame of my bike and comes out between my areo bars. Right now it is a little manufactured since my bike is smaller than most (all) and it barely fits on my frame. A great purchase for $99.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Something Rather

I took several days off after completing my first sprint tri of the season to recoup and relax. I had been training hard for months and enjoyed multiple days of Misty time without alot of training. Last Tuesday I took it to the track and for 30 mins recovery run (2.8 miles) and Wednesday at the pool I completed 1500.

Saturday morning was the CB&I triathlon in The Woodlands and I volunteered in transition mainly with body marking and then helping the athletes in and out of transition. Lots of Team Strive was there, some racing and the rest volunteering. Congrats to Kristen on her 1st place AG win and Lauren, Stu and Scott on 1st place mixed relay.

Sunday morning I felt like I had been run over by a bus, I guess my legs are not used to doing squats, note to self something to add to my training plan.

Monday still felt sore and relaxed at home with a tube of Biofreeze. Also yesterday I signed up for Tejas sprint on June 6th. This will be my longest sprint race thus far.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Lone Star Sprint Race Report

It feels strange to write a report on a short distance when I am known to Coach G as a endurance junkie, but triathlon is new to me so maybe one day I will look back on this post and see what I have learned. I arrived in Galveston around 1:30 on Friday afternoon, after checking into the hotel I headed to athlete check in. After I picked up my race packet I met up with Coach G and Greg and we walked over to transition to see where I would be set up on Saturday morning. After being in awh of how many bikes/people would be in there in 16 hrs and being relieved that the rows were lettered and numbered we headed to the swim start. The water was calm and I started to anticipate how long it would take me in this open water swim. I was nervous yet excited. Later in the evening I met up with several teammates for dinner and got to bed about 9pm.
Saturday morning wake up call came in at 4:15. I ate some oatmeal, got dressed, aired up the tires and headed to transition at 5:15. With in 15 mins I was set up and ready to go, I chatted with some of the ladies in my wave- lots of them new to triathlon as well and then made one last bathroom stop. As I headed to the swim start it started to drizzle, then the nerves started to sink in. Coach G and Greg came down to help me get in my wet suit and to calm my nerves, About 10 mins before the first wave was set to start, the skies got dark, the wind picked up and the water started to dance. Race officials delayed the race for 30 mins and then decided to call off the swim. I heard later that the buoys when not stay secure, but I know I was getting very scared of the waves I was about to have to swim in. Thank god I did not have to swim in that- I think I would have drown. We were told to go back to transition and wait for direction, but that we would have a duathlon.
They sent us out on the 12.5 bike ride one row at a time starting with row A… I was row G, once the row was out of transition they sent the next row out 3 secs later. The bike coarse was pretty congested not to mention the cross wind was a biatch; at times it was difficult to make a pass. I fought the wind and rode as hard as I could and made it back in in 44:20 and in 31st for my age group ( I am actually happy with this 31/89 cause I am not great on the bike). Transition was 2:02.
I headed out on my run feeling a little tight in the legs, the run was hot and I had to start walking more than I would like to admit, I had carried a water bottle with me so I had fluid for the run and I used the aid stations to pour the cold ice water on my head to keep my temp down. The ladies in my age group seem to be faster runners than I, I ended up with a 5k time of 31:36 with total finish time of 1:18:01 and 43/89 in my age group. So I finished in the top half, which I am happy with. I have lots of room for improvement, but most importantly I had fun and I did a great job.
I had lots of friends and family out to support me and to cheer me on! Thank god for them!
Sunday I returned the favor to my teammates for 70.3. Truly inspirational! Oh and I got to meet Chris Lieto!

Lonestar Sprint

A week from Saturday I will be competing in my second sprint triathlon. I would like to think I have come a long way since October, but I am still scared shitless. I have a .33 mile swim which I have more than done in the pool and in one open water training swim, but for some reason as I blog about all the time swimming still scares me horribly. I have since bought a tri bike that I am still learning to ride but have managed to get to avg 16+ mph on each ride. My goal in this race is to have fun, be healthy and (tri) like hell to beat 1:30.

I learned on Monday night that I do have 3 speeds- in swimming sets of 200's 50/50/100 flip flopped easy/mod/fast. Swam 2 50's in under 1 min, which I have never done. Last Thursday I avg 17.3 mph on the bike. So I am improving, I am just worried about putting it all together.

Saturday I will have another open water swim, that I am already nervous about. But I keep hearing it all goes away with time.

Hope to see you on the roads and in the water soon!

Open Water

Saturday was an eventful day for me that started out with a 4.2 mile run and coffee from Starbuck's. My coach was putting on a transition clinic for new triathletes and since I am new to the sport it was most helpful, even though my bike is in the shop I was able to see what to do and what not to do. After the transition clinic we headed out to Lake Windcrest for an open water swim. Putting on my wet suit I started to freak out as I knew I was about to get in cold brown water and was going to swim. I picked my spot (a buoy) to turn around and got in the water, off coarse I had to pee as soon as I got in. As I started to swim my breathing was way off and I started to panic half way to the buoy, I started to tred water and then started to side stroke when coach G said to stop swimming and calm down. After I calmed down Gena and I swam to the buoy and took a break before returning to shore. Once we got to shore I tried to exit the water but was informed I would be doing the swim again. This time I took a deep breath and started to swim, I was able to keep my face in the water without feeling completely causterphobic and made it to the buoy and back for total swim of .82 miles. I hope that the fear of open water goes away sooner than later.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

A Good Deed

On Monday I headed to the pool for 2100 I was swimming in the middle lane between an older gentleman and a guy about my age. About half way through my workout I over heard the older gentlemen say that his eyes were burning when I realized he was not wearing any goggles. The younger guy said that he was almost done with his set and he could use his. Knowing I always have about 3 or 4 pair of goggles in my bag I offered him a pair. He laughed and said "thank you I guess I will go to Walmart when I leave". As I swam back down the lane to my swim bag I thought to myself why make him go to Walmart. I handed him two pair and told him to try them both on and he could have the one that fit best. I think I have a new friend for life. I hope the goggles do him justice.

Tuesday- track w/o 6 x 400 and dinner with friends.

Today is registration for Marine Corp Marathon, will I sign up? I let you know later in the week.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Something to Pass on

A few weeks ago I was reading my coach's blog and came across her talking about these products she received at Timex Camp. You all know if you swim you always have the lingering pool smell. I am not sure if anybody else could smell me but I know I did. I ordered this product on a Wednesday and on Saturday when I checked my mail it was there. So far I have used the body wash, shampoo and conditioner (3x) and the chlorine smell is gone. This is so affordable and to top it off my skin and hair are so soft. Check this out at http://www.tri-swim.com/

Can I be any less Motivated?

This week it has been really hard for me to make it to my workouts. Work has been tiring and has left me wanting to go home and climb in the recliner with a cold beer. I managed to make it for a swim Monday which left me feeling like I took 12 steps backwards. I just don't understand what is so hard about swimming but it seems to be my down fall. Tuesday I had a track work out that was fantastic, it was a short workout a 1 mile warm up 11:00 avg pace and then 4 X 400 plus 1 x 800. Average pace for the workout was 7:53, I was dead ass tired but it felt great. After track several of us had dinner at Freebirds. Then it all got bad again on Wednesday I could not make myself go to coached swim, not sure if it was my mind playing tricks on me since Monday was sooooo bad. Was I tired from kicking my but at track the night before? Last night I had a TT on the bike did I get that done,? No. Got home from work finally and sat in the recliner again. Friday is normally my day off but I am hoping not to be in the same funk tonight that I have been in the past 2 nights. Yall wish me luck!

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

A little bit of Fun

Earlier this month I ran TIR again with some great friends. It was a long sleepless weekend spent in a crowded van with many different personalities, but with endless memories. Starting with a tour at the Shiner brewery on Friday afternoon, drinks at Howard's (store/bar) and a pasta dinner and dancing with "The Mullets". We started our journey at 6:38 am on Saturday in Gonzales and finished Sunday evening at 4:30ish at the San Jacinto Monument. Thank you to my team for a fabulous weekend!

A Valentine Weekend

We choose to beat the crowds and celebrate Valentines on Friday night. Dinner was at 7:00 at Taser's in the Woodlands. This restaurant has been open for about a year and Logan and I have stopped in for a drink and appetizer's before a movie a time or two. We have never had dinner there because it is one of those places that normal people only can afford to eat there on special occasions. As usual I had my special occasion only rack of lamb for dinner and a wedge salad as my appetizer. Logan started out with a dozen oyster's and for an entry he had the side by side sirloin which were 10 ozs a piece. The food was to die for, the rack of lamb melted in my mouth like sweet love. It beat (in my opinion) rack of lamb at Kirby's, Perry's and Vick and Anthony's (not that these places aren't great, but not as great as Taser's). Logan's steak was obviously very good because he ate all 20ozs and then some.

Saturday morning I had an 8 mile run on the schedule, so I headed out of the house and meet up with Team Striver's for a cold run. Lynn and I ran together and had great conversation. After the run we had a coffee and more conversation. Saturday afternoon was special time for me and the recliner in which I stayed in all day until I went to bed.

Sunday my honey got up early and was clanking around in the kitchen so I decided to see what all the commotion was, when I did I caught him making my breakfast. After breakfast I got dressed to meet up with Team Strive for a group bike ride. I had 1:15 and a 15 min run off the bike. The bike ride was great, weather was beautiful and I am getting used to the tri-bike more and more each time I ride it. Hopefully one day soon I will be able to ride in aero. When I got home from the ride Logan was MIA so I called him and he told me he was almost home. When he arrived this is what he brought in..

The picture is poor quality because my blackberry takes horrible photos, but it is my new couch I have been asking him to go buy for months. Yeah for my great Valentines weekend.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Valentine's Day

Did You Know?

Looking for Love
188 million Valentine's Day cards are exchanged annually, making Valentine's Day the second-most popular greeting-card-giving occasion. (This total excludes packaged kids valentines for classroom exchanges.)

Over 50 percent of all Valentine's Day cards are purchased in the six days prior to the observance, making Valentine's Day a procrastinator's delight. (Source: Hallmark research)
Research reveals that more than half of the U.S. population celebrates Valentine's Day by purchasing a greeting card.

There are 119 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) who are in their 20s for every 100 single women of the same ages.

There are 34 single men (i.e., never married, widowed or divorced) age 65 or older for every 100 single women of the same ages.

904: The number of dating service establishments nationwide as of 2002. These establishments, which include Internet dating services, employed nearly 4,300 people and pulled in $489 million in revenues.

Be Mine
2.2 million marriages take place in the United States annually. That breaks down to more than 6,000 a day.

The estimated U.S. median ages at first marriage for women and men are 25.3 and 27.1 respectively, in 2005. The age for women rose 4.2 years in the last three decades. The age for men at first marriage is up 3.6 years.

Candy is Dandy!
1,241: The number of locations producing chocolate and cocoa products in 2004. These establishments employed 43,322 people. California led the nation in the number of such establishments with 136, followed by Pennsylvania with 122.

515 locations produced nonchocolate confectionary products in 2004. These establishments employed 22,234 people.

3,467 Number of confectionery and nut stores in the United States in 2004. Often referred to as candy stores, they are among the best sources of sweets for Valentine's Day.
The per capita consumption of candy by Americans in 2005 was 25.7 pounds. Candy consumption has actually declined over the last few years; in 1997, each American gobbled or savored more than 27 pounds of candy a year.

Flowers
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut flowers in 2005 for all flower-producing operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $397 million. Among states, California was the leading producer, alone accounting for nearly three-quarters of this amount ($289 million).
The combined wholesale value of domestically produced cut roses in 2005 for all operations with $100,000 or more in sales was $39 million. Among all types of cut flowers, roses were third in receipts ($39 million)to lilies ($76.9 million) and tulips ($39.1 million).
There were 21,667 florists nationwide in 2004. These businesses employed 109,915 people.

Jewelry
There were 28,772 jewelry stores in the United States in 2004. Jewelry stores offer engagement, wedding and other rings to lovers of all ages. In February 2006, these stores sold $2.6 billion worth of merchandise. (This figure has not been adjusted for seasonal variation, holiday or trading day differences or price changes). The merchandise at these locations could well have been produced at one of the nation's 1,864 jewelry manufacturing establishments. The manufacture of jewelry was an $9 billion industry .

Spinning at the gym

Last night I took a spin class at the new gym and it left me feeling a bit cheated in a workout. Not that I did not get anything out of it but I have not been to a spin class in months so I should have had my ass handed to me. I did manage to break a sweat but my legs were not burning when I left. I do not feel the normal soreness today that I am used to felling after a class with Viv or Kelli. I am missing my Pure fitness girls that yell at you for not working hard. This instructor gave the class "a break" in the middle of the class, what the *@#!? So I figure that something maybe was off last night and I will try a class again sometime in the future but I hope that is not the best they can do.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

A week in training

My first week of tri-training ended and the second week started yesterday. It seems weird to me that I have only run about 10 miles since my marathon on the 17th of January. I know that sooner than later the mileage will pick back up and I will be having some 2-a day workouts.

Last Tuesday night I met up with some of my teammates for a 3.25 mile run at the waterway and then dinner at Barryhill. Wednesday 1 hour coached swim a 400 w/u, 3 broken 400's then a we were free to put on our fins and swim easy 25 hard 25. 50/50 and 75/75. After the 25/25 I had a horrible crap that forced me out of the water. So sadly I was only in the water for about 45 mins with an unfinished workout. Thursday night a 40 Min bike ride in doors on the trainer.
Friday a day off and loved it.

Saturday I ran Bill Crew Remission Run 5k where all proceeds are donated to MD Anderson Cancer Research. Placed 3rd in my age group(and there were 28 in that age group) a first for me. I ran this race in memory of my friend Pamela who lost her battle with cancer in August of this year. It was a very cold damp morning as I lined up with the almost 300 other runner and tried to stay warm. We were sent off by an 8 yr girl who is a lymphoma survivor, she said "GO". Most of the race was on pavement because we had a butt load of rain on Thursday and Friday but a short bit was on the grass in which I triped and fell down. I was hoping for a PR in this race and knew it could probably happen since I am a little bit faster than the last time I ran a 5k. I thought a lot of my friend during the race as she loved to run but could not from other conditions she had since childhood. After she got sick from cancer she loved to hear about my races, she thought it was amazing that I could run so far. I have been keeping her with me in all events since August 18th 2008. I know she was pushing me through the race, I finished with about a 5 min 5k PR of 27:35 so my hardware will go to her children.

Sunday was my first group training ride, it was still very cold. I rode for an hour, got in 15.9 miles.

Hope to see you on the roads soon.

Tri Season has began

My first day of tri-season started yesterday with a swim. I met up with Jenny at the pool for a non-coached swim. We had for warm up 100 swim, 100 kick, 100 pool, 100 swim. W/o was 3 x 100 10" rest 1 min. 3 X 100 10" rest 1 min and 3 X 100 (we added one more by mistake) cool down was 300. 1600 done in about 40 mins which is really good for me. It was a good swim very relaxed and with a great swim partner. Tonight I have a 3 mile easy run then dinner at Barryhill with Team Strive.

Chevron Houston Marathon 2010

When I started my journey I began with training for the Chevron Houston Half Marathon 2008, it would be my first race in a very long time. I join Woodlands Fit in July of 2007 because I was a couch potato, out of shape, a smoker, no hobbies (other than drinking beer), married but alone on weekends because my husband had a life. I remember the first Saturday morning run, when I could not finish a mile without walking and being in pain. After meeting great coaches and friends that summer I accomplished 13.1 in January 2007. After my the first half marathon there was a little bit of harassment about when would I double that, of coarse my answer was NEVER. But I was hooked . Without boring you through two years of racing I will say, NEVER say NEVER.

Sunday I ran my 5th marathon, I won't say it was my favorite marathon I have run but it rates high with Sunmart. I meet up with my Kathleen to drive down to Houston at 5:15 we were parked and in the GRB by about 6am. Got our stuff together, used the bathroom, checked our drop bags, visited with teammates, then headed to the start line. I was in the slower wave (2) and it started at 7:10. Kathleen and I ran together until about mile six where we got separated, it was very crowded until we got to the turn around for the half marathon. At mile 7ish I saw some of my teammates that came out to support us. At this point I put on my pace band that I had picked up from the expo. I did not want anyone to know exactly what my expectations were for the race in case I did not accomplish it. I saw a few co-works out on the coarse ( mile 19 i think) that came out to support after completing the half marathon. Ron ran with me for a bit and gave me some encouragement. At this point some of the pain was setting in and I was tired. For about the 17 miles I was on pace for a 4:30 finish I was able to walk very minimally, but after mile 20 I found my self needing to walk about every 1/2 mile. So my pace started to fall. At mile 24 I saw coach Kim who ran by me and told me I could do this- I started to tear up and said ok. At mile 25 fighting back tears I can see a man running by me on the sidewalk I look over and it is my husband. I smile and he tells me how strong I look and to keep running. I run towards the finish but I hurt to much to sprint so I ran as hard as I could, I crossed the finish in 4:37:58. Knocked 31:18 off my previous PR. What a day. I picked the 4:30 pace band because I know if I could come close to this it would be a dream come true. I did it.

I am recovering well, I had a great post massage on Monday, each day my quads are getting loser. I have an easy swim scheduled for tonight. First run will be Saturday.

I am so blessed to have such wonderful friends and family that support me in my efforts. Thank you.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!

Marathon Count Down

Chevron Houston Marathon is 9 sleeps away. I am hoping to finally break 5 hours. Something at about mile 20 always kills me, my mind starts to doubt, my legs start to cramp, and my feet start aching from blisters. I am hoping that January 17th is my day to finally preserver and jump this hurdle. Tomorrow is my last long run before the marathon and then it will be an easy week- Yeah! I don't think I have enough clothes to wear tomorrow morning being that it will be about 18 degrees when we head out, this is Houston people we don't get this kind of weather very often- I think it was 1996 the last time we had weather this cold.

Thanks Jason from DryMax for my package! These will be on my feet for the marathon.

Hope to see you on the roads! Good luck to everyone racing Disney and any other races this weekend!

Alll I Want For Chistmas Is............

A really fast bike..... I have the greatest hubby ever, he bought me my beautiful red shiny bike. Much to my surprise, because 2 days before Christmas I was upset that I would have no surprises- he got me good.

My holidays were great, I was luckily off from 12/22/09- today (my first day back @ work and all kinds of issues) but hey that's what you get for a great vacation. I cannot possible remember all that happened these past two weeks but they were great.

My brother and sister in law were in town for a month so I spent lots of time with them. Christmas as you can see by my photos were great. New Years was spent with great friends. Yesterday I took my first bike ride on 2010 with clip less pedals(my first) it went ok once I got the take off under control. Although my right leg is very bruised and the knee is skinned from the 4 spills I took. Put my first scratch on the new shinny bike. Thanks to my girl Gena for taking me on my first bike ride and teaching how to ride a tri bike.

Hope to see you on the roads soon!!! happy New Year everybody!