Back in the pool

This morning I woke up right on the cusp of it being too late for me to bother going to swim practice. But I knew if I didn't go in the morning, I would regret it later. So, I showed up about 10 minutes late, partway through the first set. Since I'm easing back into it, I demoted myself down a lane, which turned out to be a good choice since my old lane is currently full of VERY fast swimmers. 2000+ yards later, I was extremely glad I swam in the morning - I always feel better for the rest of the day, even if it's a struggle to get up at first. And even though I'm slow as molasses at the moment, I'm just glad to be back on a regular training schedule again.

In other news, this summer Mark and I bought a pasta maker. It. Is. Awesome. We haven't had boxed pasta in months - the fresh stuff is so easy to make and SO GOOD. We had some last night and again tonight with fresh pesto that Mark made and sauteed vegetables. Good, fresh food like that make it easy to eat healthy because it tastes so good. Speaking of good food, I've been reading the book "In Defense of Food." If you're looking for a good read, I highly recommend it. It will make you think twice about opening up that bag of processed "food." It will also make you question what is "real food" and "fake food." I started reading it over the weekend and tried to eat a number of apples to offset the amount of sweets I consumed in celebration of Reagan's birthday.

And now, to bed, so I can get up early and get on the bike. That is, if our house isn't blown away by a tornado tonight, thanks to the strong storms that are supposed to wallop us overnight.

Day 1

Today, after 23 days of my Training Peaks schedule saying "You Have No Upcoming Workouts," I HAD A WORKOUT! It was a short Z1 run. I. Am. Slow. It took me 40 minutes to cover less than 4 miles while desperately trying to stay in Zone 1. I suppose that means that my 5 mile run yesterday sans watch and sans HR monitor (but my running buddy Tim had his on and we finished with an average pace of 8:14) was probably done in Zone 25. Oh well, eventually the speed and fitness will come back. This isn't the end of the world.

In other news that both more interesting and more uplifting than my slow run, I spent last weekend down in Tennessee celebrating my goddaughter Reagan's first birthday! Erin (Reagan's mom) is my best friend. Four years of living together during college and dining on Easy Mac and boxed wine will bond you for life. Reagan was ridiculously cute in her tutu and pink/orange polkadot headband. Erin did an amazing job with the decorations and the food. She should quit nursing school and become a full-time party planner :).

BTW, kids as young as 3 know what manipulation is. I was watching a 3 year old try to break into the bag of hot dog buns. She told me she was hungry and just wanted the bread, no hot dog. So I stuck a bun on a plate for her and she asked me, very smoothly, for a fork and knife so she could cut it into pieces. I handed her plastic utensils and she went to town. When I asked her if she always cuts her own food, because she was doing a very good job, she says, "oh no, my mommy and daddy NEVER let me use a knife." I made sure I got the knife back before she meandered back to her parents.

I always have a good time down in Tennessee - it was fun to spend time with Erin, Reagan is super cute and I think pretty soon she's going to start remembering me. She's super smart, walking and getting into stuff, and doing baby sign language. I also got to spend the weekend with Erin and Ashley's families, which was great. It was a full house, which is the best kind of house to have.

Now it's back to reality and, thankfully, back to some regularly scheduled training!

The Offseason...

... Has been going on for the past two weeks. And I'm ready for it to be over. Well, not all of it - I'm ready for the frosting-from-a-can snacks, cupcakes, stay-up-late, sleep-in to be over. But I am not ready to spend 5+ hours on my bike on a Saturday or do 2-a-days quite yet. This week starts the compromise, which I've really enjoyed - nothing structured, but still a reason to wake up early and get moving in the morning. But the unhealthy eating - it has GOT to stop! Sweets are my downfall and I keep thinking of excuses to eat them - "oh, you're having a bbq with homemade brownies, of course I'll have some." Or, "there's a bake-off to raise money for the homeless, count me in!" Or, Mark's dad is in town and we're going out for an early birthday celebration for Mark - yes, I will eat that gigantic apple pie for dessert all by myself... Oh, it's the off-season, that means eat WHATEVER you've been denying yourself all season. But at some point, there's got a be a limit. It's not even Halloween yet, but I'm going to enact my New Year's resolution ASAP - fewer sweets, more fruits and veggies. Oh, and write those IM France and IM Wisconsin race reports before 2011...

It's been awhile...

... Hasn't it? Far too long. I have a backlog of race reports to publish (IM France, IM Wisconsin, and Halfmax Nationals), and I wasn't letting myself write in my blog until I got those things uploaded. And I'll do that. Eventually. Maybe this weekend. But I missed writing in my blog. So here's a quick post. Two Ironmans in one season was hard, but not terribly hard. I actually enjoyed the training and the racing most of the time. I suppose it was helpful that they were only 11 weeks apart, so I relied mainly on my fitness base from the first one to carry me through the second one, with just a few weeks of intense training and long hours. I would do it again. The only thing I did miss was doing more races - if Ironman makes up two of your A races, it's difficult to fit other races in there on top of quality training. Next year is likely going to be a one Ironman year (Lake Placid) so hopefully I'll be doing more races.

This season was a success, even though I didn't get the types of finish and times that I wanted at both Ironmans. I even ended the season on a high note at Halfmax, even though I was so far out of contention for Worlds, I might as well have been on another continent from the other racers. I was happy with my time, and thrilled that I finally pulled out a decent run.

And now begins the off-season. I spent much of the 6.5 hour drive home from Myrtle Beach contemplating where I would have my celebratory brunch the next day, it being the official Day 1 of the off-season (I went with Boulevard Woodgrill), what I would have (Breaded and fried French Toast), and what I would bake for dessert on Sunday (Apple pie). I'm allowing myself to go a little wild over the next few days - eat things I wouldn't normally eat (frosting - for dinner?!), stay up late writing in my blog, and sleeping in guilt-free. All necessary evils to get the mind and body ready for 2011!

France - Rick Steves Style

Paris - if only the Metro had escalators...

After a relatively painless flight, Mark and I arrived in Paris and met up with his parents at the airport. I was so thrilled to be back in Paris - the sights and smells were just like I remembered them to be. Perfection. And my French wasn't as rusty as I thought it might be. And the Paris metro system lacked escalators of any kind, a fact I sort of forgot. I also forgot how man

y stairs the Paris Metro system has. They don't have stairs just for getting into and out of a station. They also have stairs just for getting around inside of all of the stations - it's like a

labyrinth. In short, NOT the best place to be lugging around a giant bike box. The entrance and exit turnstiles added an extra element of fun to an already joyless process. By the time we made it to the hotel, I looked and felt like I had already done an Ironman. Sweaty, tired, and cranky. And just like Ironman, turns out all I needed was some good food to put me in a better mood. Fortunately, good food in Paris is just as abundant as stairs in the metro system. First meal - a savory crepe with lots of cheese. My in-laws

both got crepes too and from the looks on their faces, it was love at first sight.

Crepes in front of Notre Dame

Eiffel Tower 11pm

L'Arc de Triomphe

We all wanted to adjust to the time change as quickly as possible, so there was lots of coffee, sightseeing and NO napping on that first day. We did Notre Dame, Place de la Concorde, Champs-Elysee, the Arc de Triomphe, and wandered around the Latin Quarter. Thanks to the summer equinox (or is it solstice?), it was light out until about 10:30pm, so we really didn't have any trouble at all staying up late. 10pm really felt more like 5pm. It was rather strange - and even though I love extended daylight hours, this might be a bit too extreme for me. But it's better than the mere 8 hours of sunlight Paris gets in the winter. Sun up after 8am, and back down around 4pm. Anyway, we finished off our night with a quick jaunt over to the Eiffel Tower to see it all lit up.

Mark and I are pretty laid-back tourists. We'll sleep in, decide on whim what sites we want to visit, if any, and we do most of it at a leisurely pace. Neither of us are big museum people (case-in-point: we've lived in DC for 6 years and only visited 3 museums total) and what we were most looking forward to was slurping down coffee and tea in a sidewalk cafe and people watching. My mother-in-law, on the other hand (and keep in mind, I love her and think she is great), does tourism a little differently. She reads up on things beforehand, plans out a schedule of what to see, when to see it, and in what order, and she will get up as early as necessary to get it done. For this trip, she bought some Rick Steves guidebooks on France and Italy. And right from Day 1, it was obvious that my mom-in-law was a loyal Rick Steve's disciple. Rick Steves, apparently, has a nugget of wisdom for practically everything. It was borderline comical and I tried not to giggle every time I heard his name. By Day 3, Mark wanted to throw Rick Steves into the Seine. My father-in-law admitted pangs of jealously for all the attention my mom-in-law was lavishing on Rick Steves. And my sisters-in-law are tagging Rick Steves in all Facebook photos of my mother-in-law. But I'll admit it, Rick Steves did know his stuff, especially when it came to restaurants. So in the end we compromised; because I didn't want to overdo it before Ironman, I didn't do all of the sightseeing, I slept in, and I went to bed early while everyone else stayed out.

I was really tired on our second day in Paris - the jet lag had finally caught up to me. I still got up and did my run, I just got up a little later than planned. And it was COLD in Paris those first few days. I was really regretting not packing my jacket - but it was so hot in Virginia when we left, it was hard to imagine it being cold anywhere. I wore the heck out of my only two pairs of long pants and my lone sweatshirt - felt like a scruffy American tourist the whole time. I couldn't wait to get to Nice where it would (hopefully) be warmer and I could wear some sundresses without feeling like a popsicle. The second day in Paris was museum day - we did the Musee d'Orsay and the Louvre. While at the Louvre, I realized that the statue I had always thought was the Venus de Milo, actually wasn't. Shows how much I know about art.

NOT the Venus de Milo

The actual Venus de Milo

Personally, I found the non-Venus de Milo to be more impressive than the actual one, but that's just me. Next on our list of stops was Sainte Chapelle. The stained glass windows were amazing. They were in the middle of a glass restoration project where they were essentially cleaning the stained glass with Q-tips. Obviously not the fastest method, but arguably the most effective. The difference between the restored glass and the non-restored glass was incredible.

Sainte Chapelle

After warming up in a sidewalk cafe with tea and coffee, with a side dose of people-watching, we finished off the day with what turned out to be our favorite meal in Paris. We planned on going to a falafel place in the Marais for dinner, but a very nice Parisien recommended this organic restaurant in the same area. Of course right now the restaurant name eludes me, but the food was INCREDIBLE. It was all relatively local and fresh. I got the roasted vegetable dish, thinking that it was a safe dish (it was) but it would probably be boring (totally wasn't). I savored every bite of it, and proceeded to think about that dinner for the rest of the trip (until our next great meal in Nice, and then my tomato discovery in Italy...). The walk back to the hotel after dinner gave us a chance to see the city all lit up.

The weather was feeling generous (or maybe just pity for us) on our third day in Paris - we actually saw the sun, there was no rain, and I wasn't freezing cold. We had another amazing meal in the Marais - this time at a really popular falafel place. And, like always, the messiest food is often the best food. Fortunately, I managed not to spill any sauce on myself as I devoured it. Since Mark and I were already in the Marais, we decided to visit the Jewish History museum. It's this little museum hidden away among the side streets and it wasn't crowded at all - I can't say how nice it was to visit a museum where you're not competing with fifty other camera-wielding tourists to look at an exhibit. And this is the first museum I've visited where the focus of Jewish history was not sharply zoomed in on the Holocaust - it talked about it, yes, but it also had exhibits on many of the customs, traditions, and Jewish history worldwide.

Rather than go out to dinner that night, we decided to get a few fresh baguettes, some salami and cheese, and have a picnic in the courtyard of our hotel. Right around this time the Fete de la Music was getting started and a band had set up just across the street from the hotel, so we had a little music to go along with dinner (granted, all the band seemed to know how to play was "Back in the USSR" - and play it badly - but hey, it was something). We made a sunset trip to the Eiffel Tower - the Metro was packed with people going out to celebrate the Fete de la Musique and the streets were filled with partygoers and an excited energy. There were bands on the streetcorners, live music drifting out of sidewalk cafes, people playing music on their balconies - it was everywhere! There are only two occasions I've seen the French let themselves get a little out of control - the release of the Beaujolais Nouveau in November, and the Fete de la Musique in June. And when we arrived at the Eiffel Tower, there was a live broadcast of the Spain vs. whoever on the Jumbotron. Of all the nights that we had in Paris, this was the one where I was really wishing I didn't have a race coming up in a few days. I would've loved to stay out late, watch the World Cup games, and soak up the music in the streets. But I had to go to bed, especially because we were getting up early to go to Normandy the next morning. So I took some photos of the Eiffel Tower and headed back to the hotel.

Eiffel Tower and World Cup

My father-in-law is tall, but the Eiffel Tower is taller

6 visits to Paris, first jumping photo in front of the Eiffel Tower

The trip to Paris was a success! We packed alot into three days, ate our way through the city, and really enjoyed ourselves. Next was a day trip to Normandy to visit the D-Day beaches.

Getting Excited...!

... For France! And Italy! And Food Galore! And the Lauver clan reunion! And beaches! And Food! And biking part of the Tour de France route! And swimming in the Mediterranean! And eating a huge ice cream sundae at Haagen-Dazs!

One week from tonight, we'll be on a plane to Paris! Last time Mark and I were in Paris, it was back in February 2006. We had, in a slightly inebriated state, bought non-refundable tickets for a long weekend in Paris. The next day, we wondered why we did such an irresponsible thing, especially with wedding expenses coming up. But, the tickets were non-refundable, so what else were we going to do? Best. Weekend. Ever. I think everyone should, at least once in their lives, imbibe a little too much and make arrangements to go on a spontaneous trip somewhere. We stayed in the most ridiculous hotel in the Latin Quarter - I mistakenly thought that the door to our room was the door to the broom closet, and when you opened said door and looked inside... the whole room was slanted. It was also slightly worrisome that there was a sign above the toilet that forbade you from flushing toilet paper down the toilet.

We packed in an amazing amount of sightseeing into 3.5 days. And we're going to do it again next week! My in-laws have never been to Paris, so I'm going to dust off my French skills and put to work that college education my parents paid for (though they claim to have never heard me speak a word of French. I know this is a lie - I remember Rachel and I leaving a message in muddled French on my mother's voicemail years ago. My mother still talks about that message to this day). We'll hit all of the major sites, spend a day at the D-Day beaches in Normandy, AND I just found out that the Fete de la Musique will be that Monday that we're in Paris. And the World Cup will be going on! A perfect time to go to Europe!

Weekend Workouts

This was a weekend full of big workouts, some of the last big ones before IM France. And, to top it off, it was a SUPER HOT weekend down here - great for IM France preparation! Saturday was a swim/20 mile run brick. Since I didn't have the car in the morning, I ran the 4 miles to the pool, got my 2200 yd swim in, and then went back out and did the remaining 16 miles on the run. Mentally (and literally, I suppose, since Arlington is hilly), this run was full of ups and downs. During the first 9 miles, I felt great, the middle 7 miles were a bit of a struggle, and the last 4 felt pretty good. Around mile 17, I was running low on water - I could make it home without more water, but I did want to refill. I was near the Air Force Memorial, so I asked one of the security guards if there was a water fountain nearby. But instead of directions, he took pity on me and gave me a freezing cold water right out of his cooler - THAT was the pick-me-up I needed. I felt so much better after drinking the water, the last few miles home weren't too much of a struggle. I finished the run in just under 3 hours - 2:59, to be exact. Then I took a 10 minute ice bath, and I only got out of the tub ONCE. I even sat in the tub, not the big tupperware container I made Mark buy for me, because sitting in a bathtub gives me the creepy-crawlies (bathtubs gross me out).

Sunday's bike ride was a beautiful 100 miles on Skyline Drive in the Shenendoah Valley. I have been wanting to do this ride for awhile, and I thought it would be perfect practice for France. It had some climbs, for sure, but nothing ridiculous like last week's 120 miler Ascension ride. I got there late (big surprise) so I started about 10 minutes after everyone else. I wasn't sure what my chances were of catching up to people - I was hoping not to do the ride completely alone. The first 23 miles were basically a steady climb to 3000+ feet in elevation:

The ride went really, really well. After feeling sluggish on the first few miles (could also be because they were the steepest miles), I found a good pace, and started catching up to everyone. My bike felt fast, sometimes it almost felt like I was holding it back. It felt great on the climbs, and throughout the ride, I became more and more excited about France! I was cautious on the descents, but feeling more and more comfortable on my bike and how to handle it. After Skyline, I continued onward to complete the 82 mile Sky/Mass route - it winds through Luray, has a brutally long (and pretty steep) 2.8 mile climb to the top of Mount Massa-something, which, after the steep, technical descent, I was rewarded with rollers and flats for the rest of the ride. To tell you the truth, I was a little apprehensive about how long this ride was going to take me. I was planning on 7+ hours to do the 82 miles... BUT, it only took me 5 hours and 23 minutes. I then looped out for another 18 miles to complete my 100 mile ride. Overall, the 100.5 miles took me 6:29. 15.5 mph average. MUCH better than I had anticipated, hence my boosted excitement and confidence for France. Speaking of France, below is the elevation profile for the IM France bike course. The highest point of the course, Col de l'Ecre, is 3674 ft of elevation, about 300 feet higher than the highest point on the Skyline ride. France should be approximately that steep, points may be a bit steeper because it increases 3000 feet in 30ish miles. All in all, it will be an interesting race.

And with that, time for bed! Swim practice in the AM!