Nothing in particular

My friend Tricia called me out - I've totally been slacking in updating my blog. Who knew a puppy could be so much work :) It has been a busy few weeks and I'll post pictures soon, I'm just too lazy to try and find my camera cord at the moment. I should also write a race report for the Shamrock 1/2 marathon - first race of 2010 - and maybe I'll eventually get to it. So, here is just a compilation of random observations I've made over the past few weeks:

- The wonders of the guest bedroom. Not only convenient for when you have guests, but serves as a great alternative sleeping spot when your puppy is loud and cranky at 2am and you have a race in two days. (also a great excuse to get a bed ALLLLL to yourself... but shhhh, don't tell Mark I said that). I've slept in the guest room three times in the last 2 weeks and it has been ahhhh-mazing.

- There are NO SHOPS in NoVa that sell Carbo Pro 1200. My coach was slightly horrified when I listed off to her one day the food I typically eat during an IM bike (fritos, PowerBars, sweet potatoes, PB&J sandwiches, pita chips, granola bars, etc) and gently suggested that perhaps I should look into some "lighter on the gut" options. I've heard about Carbo Pro 1200 - a 16oz drink that has 1200 calories - and I've been curious about trying it. I bet it's like super thick cough syrup, but the less amount of liquid I need to drink, the better, I don't like all of it sloshing around in my stomach. I discovered tonight that my only option for buying the stupid bottles is online. And shipping costs are almost as much as one bottle. I bought one of each flavor (fingers crossed that they come in before this weekend, seeing as I went with the cheapest shipping option) and I can try them out on my ride. If things work out well, this drink may be replacing my bike buffet.

- It's cherry blossom season in DC - my most favorite time of the year! I went for a run down by the Potomac and all of the blossoms last weekend - it was great. And this weekend's weather is going to be perfect for enjoying the blooms.

- Puppies are time consuming. But they are cute, so that makes up for it.

- I realized that IM France is less than three months away. I have alot of work to do between now and then! And IM Wisconsin is a little more than five months away! IM season is going to go by so fast and it hasn't even started yet!

- I used to have sympathy for Bissell when the dog would hump him and nip at him. Now I've realized that Bissell is constantly egging the dog on and is totally asking for it. No more sympathy. He even tries to steal the dog's food while the dog is in the middle of eating. I'd bite the cat too if he did that to me.

There, Tricia! No more blogger-slacking!

Training makes you tired sometimes

I'm tired. Maybe it's because I've stayed up past my bedtime lately. Maybe it's because my dog snores, grunts, and groans in his sleep, waking me up. Or maybe.... it's the triathlon training. I think it's the triathlon training because I'm tired in a good way. Not in a "I'm-so-exhausted-from-no-sleep-my-eyes-hurt" kind of way, like how I was during the whole 2+ years of grad school. No, this is a "I-an-still-feel-my-workout, I'm-starving, and I'm-asleep-the-moment-my-head-hits-the-pillow" kind of tired. I like this kind of tired. I feel like I'm accomplishing something. And I think I actually am. I've had a few easy runs over the past week, easy as in Zone 1. I've always hated Zone 1 because I could never stay in Z1 while running. That has started to change, and I can run at a decent, easy clip in Z1 now. My pace in Zone 2 has also gotten faster. The training is working - I am running faster than I was two months ago at basically the same cardiovascular effort. I have my first race of 2010 in a week and a half - the Shamrock 1/2 marathon in Virginia Beach. The plan is to PR - and if I run the way Jen has told me to run, then I think I just might. Though she recommended me to run until I'm on the verge of losing my cookies, and that's a line I have yet to cross. Maybe that's the line I need to cross to have a breakthrough race. We shall see, I don't know if I'm brave enough to do that. We all know how much I hate the whole concept of losing cookies.

In other (belated) news - this month's Triathlete magazine (yeah, it came out like 3 weeks ago, I'm a little behind the curve) voted the Savageman Triathlon the Hardest Triathlon on Earth. They had a whole article on it and everything. And I would have to agree - it is the hardest race course I have ever raced on - as well as the coolest. But I've done it - and here's the photographic proof!

Gunshots on the evening commute

So, we'll start with the most interesting news first, well, the two pieces of the most interesting news. Yesterday I was notified that I my application for a Presidential Management Fellow slot was rejected. FAIL. I was disappointed, I figured I had a decent shot and I've always wanted to work for the government. But I suppose a security clearance, 6+ years of work experience, international work, and a 3.9 GPA is insufficient. Oh well. And I'm actually quite happy in my current job and in the upcoming months I should have some really interesting projects coming up.

I was kind of mopey yesterday, but it's not the end of the world and there are worse things out there than a PMF rejection. I got into work late this morning because I did both my swim and my run this morning. My father-in-law arrived in town on a red eye flight for work, and I had a chance to see him before I headed into the office. Because I arrived late, I stayed later than usual, leaving the office around 6:25. Caught the metro like usual, took it one stop to the Pentagon where I catch my bus to get home. I strategically get on the metro so I get off close to the escalator and can get up to the bus station as quick as possible, so I don't miss a bus. When you're waiting for the bus, people informally stand in a line. Today I was first, quite happy about that since I have a favorite seat I like to sit in on the bus and I was guaranteed to get that seat today. And it was a short wait, the bus pulled up about three minutes later and I was first in line. Got on the bus and as I was walking back to my seat, I suddenly hear the bus drive yell "Get down, Get down" and he starts shutting the door and people outside start running and ducking. My first thought was that ice must be falling from the bus station roof - no idea why I thought that, there's no ice anywhere in DC except on the bike path. Then I noticed everyone on the inside of the bus was getting down. And then I heard the gunshots. So strange - everyone was so calm on the bus - we just quietly threw ourselves down on the floor and the driver took off. Everyone outside was running and within moments police were swarming everywhere.

Well, now the PMF rejection doesn't seem like such a big deal. It's all about perspective. And I think I'll bike commuting to work in the near future.

Speaking of biking (and swimming and running) - this week has been quite good workout-wise. Going hard when I have to go hard, and taking it easy during the easy workouts and sets within workouts. The swim kicked my butt today, but my easy run was actually a run in Z1 - I never manage to keep my heart rate in Z1 when I'm running, so I think this is progress we are seeing. Need to check what my workout is for tomorrow morning. And speaking of that, I should probably get to bed.

Goals and the Business of Setting Them

Whenever I'm out running, or riding the bus to work, I always think up topics I'd like to talk about on the blog. I then promptly forget about said topics when it comes to writing my blog in the evening. But I have been thinking about something lately and, luckily, I happen to remember it right now.

This year, I want it to be a great year in terms of my racing. I've hired a coach, I am being smart in terms of the number of races I'm doing this year, I have the opportunity to do two Ironmans, and I'm not in school any longer (haven't officially graduated thanks to one of my professors NOT submitting my grades for a 50 page paper I slaved over, a situation I hope is resolved ASAP) and thus have more time to devote to training and sleeping. I'm starting to make (small) changes to my eating habits - less meats, more fruits and veggies, the whole "eating clean" concept, but I'll never swear off chocolate as long as I live. I have set some moderately ambitious goals for myself that I think are reasonably achievable.

And that brings me to the business of confidence, a crucial part of setting - and meeting - goals. I've become a more confident person overall since I picked up triathlon, both in the sport and outside of it. But I'm still sometimes afraid to go there - to set really ambitious goals because, if I don't meet them, what does that mean, what will it do to my confidence, and will it undermine me as an athlete? If I'm shooting for a certain race time and I've built it up in the weeks leading up to the race and felt fully confident that I CAN meet that particular time... and then, partway through the race I look at my watch and realize it's totally not feasible. Will I give up? Will I feel like the race is a waste and just stop trying my hardest? Will I be angry at myself that I didn't get a certain time, even if I did really well in the grand scheme of things?

Psychologically, it's always easier to set easier goals for oneself, ones that you know you can easily reach, because then you don't feel like a failure, yet you didn't really have to push yourself to the limits. In a sense, you are settling. Those who are truly great, who are going faster and harder than anyone else - they aren't setting easily attainable goals. They are setting ambitious goals, doing the grueling training, and then racing their hardest on race day - both physically and mentally - to reach that certain time or certain AG placing.

So, here's to training the mind to create ambitious goals and forcing the body to follow through with the training and racing. Here's to not fearing failure and realizing that if you don't push your limits and flirt with the possibility of failure, you're just shortchanging yourself and limiting your potential. Full speed or nothing at all!

It's Baaacccckkk!

Ironman and its accoutrements have crept back into my life. It's been a slow progression over the past month and a half, but this weekend leaves little room for denial. It's back and it's here to stay until at least September.

It all started yesterday morning, a Saturday, when I WILLINGLY got up at 5:15am to do a 3 hour training ride followed by a short run. I haven't gotten up at 5:15am on a weekend since, oh, probably Ironman Florida back in November. I was done with an almost-4 hour workout before 10am on a Saturday. Talk about accomplishment.

Another sign - I broke into my bag-o-fuel that I haven't looked at since Ironman Florida - in fact, some of my leftover food from the race (unopened, of course) was still in the bag. I grabbed a few powerbars and gels to fuel me on my trainer ride. I also noticed that I really need to replenish my supply, pickings were rather thin and a chocolate powerbar REALLY isn't appetizing at 5:45am.

I sleep like a rock, not really something new, but I dozed for 2 of the 4 hours we were in the car last night returning from visiting our puppy. I'm not usually one for napping, but the early-morning workout wore me out.

But the biggest indicator that Ironman training is back in my life... my appetite. It won't quit. I will eat and then be hungry again a short time later. I went to the pool today, not long after having pizza, and 3/4 of the way through my workout, I was ravenous again. We had to go straight to PETCO after the pool and I ran into Trader Joe's while Mark parked the car so I could grab some munchies. I must've looked as hungry as I felt because the guy at the check-out asked me if I had just finished a workout as he scanned my Clif MoJo bars. It took all of my self-control to wait until I had exited the store to rip into one of those bars. It was 7/8 gone by the time I walked two stores down to PETCO. Fortunately I had three more bars and a bag of pretzels, successfully helping me avoid a post-workout/pre-dinner meltdown.

So here's to Ironman training and everything that goes along with it! Welcome back, I've missed you!

Ready for normal again...

The double-whammy of snowstorms have really screwed with my daily routine. It has been nice that the office was closed two days this week and I was able to work from home for a third day, and Mark and I have been able to spend time together and get our house more in order. But I AM LACKING IN STRUCTURE AND IT'S DRIVING ME CRAZY. The pools have been closed, the sidewalks are not conducive to running, I've barely left the house, and I'm eating junk food like it's going out of style. I'm not mentally plugged into my training lately and things just feel kind of... "off." My mother has said that I was always a happy kid as long as I was kept on a routine - as soon as I deviated from that daily routine, I had a meltdown. Twenty-eight years later, the same continues to hold true. Thank goodness metro and metrobus is up and running tomorrow, the office is open, and no snow is in the forecast for the weekend so we can get stuff done.

Oh, and in other exciting news... We're going to become parents to a NEW PUPPY (hehe, you probably thought I was going to say parents to a BABY - nope, not for a very, VERY long time).

Meet Miles - he's an English Setter and SUPER cute. He will be tri-colored, white with brown and black speckles. Mark has always wanted to get an English Setter, he had one growing up, and we are both excited about our new addition. He comes home with us on the weekend of Feb 20/21.

Snoverkill

Seriously... I've been in DC for almost six years and I've always wanted to experience a "DC Snowstorm." I'd heard rumors that the city shuts down if there's alot of snow, that people freak out, that it's a modern-day version of the blizzards Laura Ingalls Wilder wrote about in her Little House on the Prairie books. While being snowbound has had its advantages - bonding with neighbors over the shared misery of shoveling multiple feet of snow, an excuse to bake (and eat) chocolate chip cookies and other junk (need to build the fat stores just in case we lose power and heat), sledding (though that's more fun if you have the proper equipment), and your office shutting down for multiple days in one week. Being snowbound also has disadvantages, especially in DC. Sidewalks are buried under snowdrifts as tall as me, we've taken the car out ONCE - no twice - in the past six days because we're afraid we won't make it back up the steep road to our house, metro stops running its busses and above-ground trains making it near impossible to get to work, and some streets are still unplowed, oh and I haven't touched pool water since Thursday of last week because all of the INDOOR pools have been closed. Running is a bit treacherous, even with my snow chains, the bike path has been missing for almost a week, and I just plain don't want to be outside working out - it isn't fun. In fact, I literally have not stepped across the threshold of my door since coming home from work last night.

Fortunately, it appears that this may be the last significant snow for the foreseeable future. I'm going to get my running in somehow during the next few days and my fingers are crossed that the pool will be open by Sunday because I MISS SWIMMING! On the upside, me and my bike haven't missed ANY quality time together.

We've misplaced our USB cord for our camera - once we find it I will upload the pictures from Snowpacolypse, Son of Snowmaggeddon, Snoverkill, whatever you want to call the weather we've been having for the past week.

Next week is a HUGE training week for me - fingers crossed that the weather helps make it a pleasant week too.

I'd say I need to go to bed now so I can get up for swimming in the morning, but all of the pools are closed.