Tuesday at the track

Ding.

That is the sound of my training peaks email that arrives every morning promptly at 12:01 am from Jen detailing my workout for the next day.

The ding this morning was a track workout. 800 repeats. Descending. 6 of 'em. Last 2 max effort. Ooof. Painful, especially since I know I have to wait until after dinner to go to the track. (I like to get my workouts, especially hard ones, done early in the day.) I was not looking forward to this by myself. Good thing I didn't have to....

I can't thank Michelle (and Eddie) enough for meeting me there.

Seriously, she's awesome. Couldn't ask for a more "up for anything" training partner.

800 track repeats? "Sure...what time?"

Swim 3100 meters at 5:10am? "See you there!"

She's training for IM Wisconsin in September, in love with zone 2 (can go ALL DAY in zone 2), but is happy to get nauseous, see stars and leave zone 2 far behind in the pool, on the bike and track with me. Thanks, Michelle!

Eddie (aka "Drago", the commenter always giving me sh^% on here), photographer extraordinare, Michelle's husband, and all around smartass came to marvel at our blazing speed (and run, too).


Michelle and I were modeling for Eddie. He was really impressed. He didn't say anything, but I could tell in his eyes. He knows good models since he's a real photographer. ;)


Off to bed now. I am exhausted from a day of Monkey Joe's with E's school buddies (and mine, too -- the other mom's from E's school are awesome and so much fun to hang out with. I feel like I hit the jackpot with her class moms.) and Alice's new skill. Constant talking. Or more accurately. Constant yelling. All day long....NANANANANANANANANA. Full volume. In my ear. Very cute, but loud.

John Tanner Sprint Race Report

32 year old me kicked the 30 year old booty of...myself.

Yes, my main goal (of beating my time from this same race in 2007) was accomplished! Barely. By 41 seconds.
So, maybe not quite an a$$ whooping, but good enough for me.

Race morning, I woke up excited and ready to race....which is SO rare for me, especially at 4:30 am. I usually dread it, wish I was sleeping in, wonder why I signed up, etc. Not today! Fed Alice. Fed myself. Drove the hour and a half to Carrollton, GA enjoying the fact that I can blast the music since there are no little ears in the car this morning (Girls stayed home with Dad. Foo Fighters came with Mom). Get there. Get transition set up. Pump (not my tires.) Working on deflating with this pump. And try something new for me before a race.

Something called a "Warm up"? ;)

Per, Jen's suggestion, I ran for about 20 minutes before the start. It definitely seemed to help on the swim, I had no "OMG, I am breathing like I am in labor" moments out there. Swim was crowded. The whole way. (I think this race is great and really like all the tri the parks races, but WHY is there only one women's wave??? 100+ women in a sprint was crowded, aggressive and annoying. Why can't we get age group waves?? Okay. I am done with getting all "Title IX on you" as Mike calls it.:) Anyway, I would stroke, stroke, stroke...bang into feet or get hit, swim around, then repeat. I have been working hard on my swim and felt like I didn't get to use any of my swim fitness since it was so stop and go. Out of the water at 11:00 and then had a long run up to the timing mat. (Swim Time: 11:50 /600 yards)

Hauled through transition. (I picked up a TON of time from my 30 year old slack self here.)

Onto the bike -- bike was pretty uneventful. My plan for the entire race was to get up to the "red line" (the point at which I feel like I am going to hurl) then back off a bit, then revisit there, then back off....nice, plan, huh? :) I definitely lost some time on descents and cornering. Meow. Scardey cat here. Something to work on, however, I don't think that is changing anytime soon. Hop off the bike and onto the run. (Bike 33:16/11.2 miles)

Run was painful. Should be though, right? Kept my mind occupied by counting the girls ahead of me (9), watching how fast the leaders were, how hard they were working, telling myself to work that hard, too, wishing I was up with them (they were almost done), checking my watch, and looking for the mile markers. (Run 21:07/3.1 miles)

See the finish. Up that little (steep) hill. Cross. Find a bush. Puke. The "red line" somewhere behind me at this point, apparently.

Yes, I was the weirdo pumping before the race, then puking after.

1st in my age group...yahoo! (First time ever for me in a tri.) Which means I qualified to race in the USAT National Championship in Tuscaloosa in August. Double yahoo. Those were two of my goals for this season. So happy with that.

Ready for the next one in two weeks. Another Tri the Parks race. The all female event at Indian Springs.

My good luck note from the girls. Those are the girls, I think...if the girls looked like witches.


Post race at home. I didn't get any race shots. I like this one though. Alice looks like she's yelling at E. Which she probably is.

John and Bruce.

My Saturday will be spent dealing with John.

And Sunday? Dancing with Bruce.

John Tanner (Sprint Tri).

And a Bruce Springsteen concert. (My first ever..a sacrilege for this Jersey girl.)

I am excited for both. Actually, more excited for the race. I am so pumped to get out there and go hard, hard, hard and (fingers crossed) just do better than I did in 2007. I don't care if I get beat by everyone else out there, just as long as Kate circa 2007 gets her a$$ kicked.

Water shouldn't be too cold, temps are supposed to be in the 80's (air not water!)....ready for some fun, er, pain.

9 months

9 months ago tonight I couldn't sleep.

Those damn contractions that weren't doing anything to make this baby come were keeping me up once again. Ugh, and I still have 3 more weeks to go. A bath didn't seem to help. And oh, yeah, my pants were kind of wet earlier. Hmmm...could that be? Nah. And, now, I am um, starting to dry heave (always a sign that something is working hard with me.) I think I might wake Mike up...even if it is 3:30am. Yeah, I am definitely getting him up. OW. OW. OW. Get E up..."Mommy, I have sand in my eyes" as she rubs the sleep from her face. Okay, I can't stand up through these contractions. These really hurt now. In the car...running red lights. Calling for backup ("Hey Mom! Meet us at Northside? We have a 3 year old with sandy eyes that wants you.) Yahoo! My water has broken (a relief to know I had not peed my pants earlier that night.) Here's some fun pitocin. OMG, that works fast. Breathe. Breathe. Breathe. Try to focus. On what? Pain is all I can deal with now. Now. Yes, I am ready. NOW!!! Epidural! Ahhh....relief. But, I hate this. Can't move my legs. Argh. I want to move my legs...but they're asleep. Try not to freak out. Try to get some rest. Ow. These hurt again. Time for a check? Um, Mrs. Parker DON'T MOVE OR LAUGH....she's RIGHT THERE. What? Push once. Push again...and here she is. Alice Elizabeth.

Our big Al is 9 months old (tomorrow, actually). Had her checkup today. Doing great. 19lbs. 12 oz./26 inches long...growing and doing well. Well in every area except for some bad ears....poor kid has gone through 3 different antibiotics that have yet to clear up the ear infection that has been bugging her since March. Time to call in the big guns...the antibiotic shots. 2 today. 2 tomorrow. And 2 Thursday. And then the ENT on Thursday.

Honestly, I think we've, at the very least, earned naming rights of a new wing for the pediatrician.

Can you tell that Mike went up to Boston for the Red Sox game this weekend? Yeah, me neither.

Favorite Number?

Mine is 36.

I don't consider it a "lucky" number, or remember any particular reason why I like it. I just do...I was all excited when Mike turned 36. I have a vivid memory of putting on a parade (a parade of 2) for my mom when she turned 36 and singing a song about her being 36 for her birthday with my sister....

...who turned 36 yesterday.

Hope 36 is a great year for you, Meg. We love you. (even if the birthday card I got for you called you a "whore"....it cracked me up. you're totally not one.) :)

The family celebrating today.

My mom, sister, brother in law, Jamie, Uncle Bri, Aunt Pat and Ella



And Alice, who always ends up naked after my mom and sister offer to change her diaper. They can't resist this little chubber's rolls.

Can't beat it.

The view from my ride this morning.

Perception vs. Reality

I've noticed a strange disconnect between these two things this week.

Strange as in really big. Yes, that is an alternate meaning. Sure it is. Well, at least here it is.

I perceived that I was working hard when I was riding, running and swimming. I really thought I was. I was sweating, wasn't I? Then I started to do Jen's workouts. Let's put this simply.

I was not working hard before. (Reality) I don't know what the hell I was doing.....farting around, apparently.

I love my workouts now. They are hard, for sure. But a good kind of hard.

And the end result of the "good kind of hard" + breastfeeding is a never ending, insatiable hunger. I finish a meal...where's my snack?....finish a snack....I AM GOING TO EAT MY HAND I AM SO HUNGRY. GROWL.
It is amazing.


#2 --I perceived Ella's hacking cough to be just that. A cough. It didn't sound pretty, but she seemed fine...no fever, 100% of her (unyielding) energy.
Reality check for this mom of the year (Beth S. -- you might have a contender for the title!) at the pediatrician (and the ONLY reason that Ella was there was because we were there for Alice's perma-ear infection.) was that Ella's cough is bronchitis. Nice. And she's wheezing. Yay mom.

Last one...this morning at 5:05am when "strum" starting strumming on my iphone alarm and I shook my head, jutted my lip out and swallowed some glass...or so it felt. My throat was killing me. I totally have Ella's bronchitis. Shoot. I have to bail on Michelle for our swim this morning. I am so sick. Sick. Sick. Sick.

Reality --- an hour or so more of sleep seems to have cured me of my awful illness. Throat is fine. I am decidedly not sick. Just a big baby with a scratchy throat. Sorry, Michelle. You are free to bail on my anytime you want.

Speaking of big babies, my little Alice is really racking up the ear infections. 6 or 7, already.

This last one seems to be a real nasty one, too...resistant to 2 kinds of antibiotics --we are now trying our third and have an appointment with the pediatric ENT soon. Tubes, here we come. (Although, I'd like to try chiropractic before tubes...I have heard that adjustments can help with ear infections.) She's such a toughie about it all though. Rarely cranky, eating well, sleeping um, okay, not great...but what else is new?, clapping her hands, waving hello and goodbye, and generally being awesome.

My mom and dad came by for a visit today...some pictures below.

Bad start/Good end

My day in a nutshell.

Rough start but finished up strong.

Started off by trying to find out how hard I can run before I vomit (I start dry heaving at around 182 bpm in case you were wondering).

Always fun at 7:30 on a Saturday morning.

I decided to run the Spikes 5k instead of doing Jen's run test solo. The solo bike test left me shaking, shelled and contemplating texting Mike to send Ella downstairs to cheer me on the last 5 minutes. I could have used some of her patented "GO MOMMY GO" cheers.

Yes, I haven't really run since the half marathon 2 weeks ago and it's been 3 weeks since I did any type of speedwork, and oh yeah, this is a pretty hilly course, but, being me, I was, of course, planning for/hoping for a PR. (under 20:26).

Not so fast.

Literally.

21:10. 4th female.

Come home down in the dumps to breakfast with Mike and the girls. Better already.

Go shopping with my best friend, Amanda, with, get this...NO KIDS. Definitely improving.

Dinner with Mike at Pure. My mom is babysitting the girls. Strawberry margarita in my hand.

5k? What 5k?

Me and the girls today....I made Mike take the picture (that E obviously was totally psyched to be in) because (1) I take 99% of the pictures and have a fear that the girls will think I was never around while they were little since I am not in any of the pictures and (2) I had blown my hair dry. Something that happens maybe once every 2 months. Yes, I am a very fancy lady.

My crazy girl

She insisted on wearing the cap all the way to swim lessons.

8 more minutes...

...until the poundcake that I made is done. Let's hope this turns out. I didn't have butter or sour cream, both called for in the recipe. I improvised. Crisco and raspberry yogurt will have to do.

This could be gross.

I can promise you I am going to find out as soon as the thing is cool enough not to burn my mouth. (I am hungry and usually a poor judge of temperature. Baked goods are worth the pain, I think.)

I am obviously too tired to come up with anything interesting to write about (do I ever?) :)

So, here are some recent pictures.

(Can you tell it is my "testing" week and I just finished an all out bike followed up with the painful setting of the alarm for 4:55am for a swim tomorrow?)

Mike after "crushing play" on his P90x workout DVD. Yes, the cheeseball instructor actually encourages you to "crush play" on the DVD. Don't just push it. You'd better effing crush it. :)


One of E's favorite things to do, besides wrestling Mike, is getting tossed on the bed. Over and over and over and over...


My little morning companion. She likes to get up before I do...so I sit her cute little butt in bed and give her some toys to entertain her while I close my eyes and wait for E to come in and demand to watch "Martha Speaks" again.


Thumbs up on the poundcake that I am "crushing" right now. Mmm...

Springbreakwoohoo

Yes, I fully realize that my "springbreakwoohoo" days are long past.

They were fun, if fleeting.

If you consider it fun to "sleep" on the floor of a bar bathroom your first day in Key West. (Not me, Mom. I think it was Amanda, or Beth or Meredith. NOT me.) ;).

However, that is what I keep saying to Ella, who is experiencing her first spring break in her life this week.

She doesn't really get it. She loves school.

And the "woo hoo" for me, these days, is just for show.

Um, yeah, I kind of like it when E is at school, getting tired, playing with her friends and giving me a few, precious almost 4 year old free hours a week. Sue me.

Spring Break 2009 is a week filled with possible snow flurries, a recheck on Alice's ear infection, daily swim lessons for Ella (she could not love these more....she asked the teacher today when she could come back.), Mike P90x-ing his muscles into submission, and fitness testing for me. OW. OW. VOMIT. OW. (This is what I imagine the all out bike and all out run are going to feel like.)

Spring Break. Woo Hoo.

Bad race....

...okay, it wasn't bad, bad. Not epically bad, not Paula Radcliffe poop my pants on the street bad (close enough), just not a great race.

So, anyway. Enough with the poop talk.

Out with the old (bad) races and in with the new....as in new coaches.

I am SO excited (and scared and then excited again) to have a real-deal-no-jokes-make-me-work-my-butt-off triathlon coach, Jen Harrison (formerly Parker -- no wonder I had to have her as my coach, right?)

I had been a fan of Jen's blog, saw that two of my blog buddies (Angela Kidd and Mama Simmons -- both mommies themselves and sickeningly fast to boot) were coached by Jen (who is also a mom to twins in addition to being Miss uber-triathlete herself) and thought....Why not this year?

Why wait? (I thought I would want to wait until next season for a coach)

I want to get fast this year.

LET'S DO THIS.

BRING ON THE PAIN TRAIN.

Well, maybe not so much of a pain train. Er, let's not get crazy, Jen. I may have spoken too soon. I tend to do that..

How about an "hurts only a little bit tricycle" instead?