Moving On Up... To the Fast Lane!

So if you know me at all, you know that my tri weakness is swimming. I may have a great stroke and I may be able to go forever, but when push comes to shove, I am SLOW. Even after three years during which my bike and run have improved immensely, I am still just an average swimmer. My biggest fear for Beijing is being the last woman out of the water and running into transition to see my bike... and no one else's. Because they all already left.

I joined DAM about four months ago, but just recently started attending practices regularly. I like the coaches and I love being able to swim with other people. But I'm still pretty slow.

However, just two days ago... I GOT MOVED UP A LANE!!!!!

Commence applause.

Ok, ok, so I just got moved up to the slightly-less-slow-lane (I know, the title of my post was deceiving), but still. And I'm staying there! I've been there two days in a row and I'm going back today. Yesterday I even learned the names of my lane-mates. So I am officially a member of the sub-2:00-100's lane. Yeeeees.

Buck and I celebrated last night at El Fenix with margaritas (for me) and tres leches cake. Ok, maybe that was more because it had just been a long day at work and I have the best boyfriend ever, but I'm going to go ahead and count it as celebration as well.

I booked the hotel for River Cities and my plane ticket for the IronKids National Championship post-Beijing. Can't believe I'm looking forward to a time when it will have already happened! Seems like just yesterday I had a year to go. But it's coming!!!!!

Happy training everybody

TWU... Ouch

I did the TWU Pioneer Power Sprint yesterday - It was the first tri I ever completed more than three years ago, and this was my fourth time to go back. This was also possibly my most painful experience there.

With Beijing only 6 weeks away, I thought it would be a good idea to go as fast as I possibly could on the bike, and then see how well I could run after that. The answer? Not so well. For the first time since 2008, I had to WALK during the run. Ouch. I was over-heated, wearing a jersey that probably wasn't a great choice for performance (I was wearing it for a charitable group, however, so no real regrets there), and pushing way harder than normal. I was doing great until about halfway through mile 2, and then I just stopped. I don't even know the last time I felt like that. I had to walk two more times before I reached the finish - not one of my proudest days.

None of this is to mention that my swim barely broke 6:00, and my "super hard" bike definitely wasn't "super fast." Kind of a wake up call. Not to say that I hadn't already realized my training and, even more so, my recovery was taking a hit. Nothing has really been dialed in since the new performance center opened, and, being a coach, I know the toll that takes on performance. But somehow in my head I was thinking I was going to keep improving at the rate I was earlier in the year when life was still sane.

WRONG.

So here I am, the most important race of my life up to this point less than 6 weeks away and I am FREAKING OUT. Now first, let me stop and say - this was a tough race. Even with my horrid performance, I still won my division and was 7th OA woman, so the conditions were difficult for everyone, but the point is that I still wasn't living up to my potential by any means. So I'm freaking out and trying to figure out how to make myself world championship material in the next 6 weeks. Can it be done? We'll find out... I've got a decent base and I think if I am incredibly smart and committed from now until September 10th, I've still got a chance of placing in the top half.

Everyone, please keep your fingers crossed. Thanks.

Happy training everybody!

Visas and Other Things

First - Visas successfully applied for (after a dramatic morning at the Chinese consulate that I blogged about but then had deleted - yes, you did miss out, but it was too long to type a second time). Mom is going to pick them up today, so everyone keep your fingers crossed that there isn't any reason for us not to be able to get into China... (None I can think of, but after our experience last weekend, I'm not taking anything for granted).

I spent the majority of last weekend sleeping down in Galveston - I needed a vacation pretty badly. Aside from massive amounts of sleeping, I got in some solid training, and even a little beach time, as well as lots of healthy food. Mom was working hard to help revive me from the ridiculously long days I've been working lately. You should see my apartment. Oy. It looks like a bunch of freshman college boys live there. Who has time to clean? But anyways, three days in Galveston was just what the doctor ordered, and I was chomping at the bit to get back to work by Sunday.

You might wonder how I've been fitting training befitting a world championship contender fits in with this crazy schedule that doesn't even leave time for basic chores. Ok, well first of all, obviously training takes priority over a clean house. If you don't know this, then you don't know me very well. But that being said, it has still been tough to fit in what I want (and what Coach Aaron wants). Having the Playtri Center open has been literally like a dream come true, but it's timing, right before Beijing, has been less than ideal training-wise. To be frank, I would probably be better prepared for this race had we not opened when we did. But at the end of the day, I'd rather be a great coach than a great athlete, so it's worth the sacrifice.

I've been getting 1, maybe 2 hours of training a day, squeezing swims into my lunch hour and bike rides in the Computrainer studio at the Center at 8:00 PM when I get done at work, hitting the White Rock trails at dawn and twilight for interval runs, and racing almost every weekend in an attempt to up my regional ranking and, more importantly, get in some solid brick workouts!!!

It's been an adventure. I never thought I would be that adult who was so obsessed (there's no other word) with their job that they work 12 hour days on a regular basis and squeeze the rest of life in as much as possible. I'm lucky to have an incredibly understanding and supportive boyfriend and an awesome coach who is willing to work around my wild schedule, as well as bosses who at least understand the importance of training and are willing to let me fit in an hour of training here or there. Also, thank god I'm not married with a family. I just couldn't make it work if that was the case - that's something I do want eventually, but I'm glad I can be focused on developing myself as a coach right now without feeling like the important people in my life are getting neglected.

Funny the things life makes you think about.

China draws ever closer! Less than two months now and mom and I will be on a plane to Beijing, heading to my first ever international competition. Something I always dreamed of, but never imagined would actually be a reality. No matter what happens or how I do, I'm one lucky girl.

Happy training everybody

I'm Back!

...Oh wait. So I never actually left. I've just been ridiculously busy.

In fact, I am typing this at the Starbucks by SMU in between coaching my newest youth athlete and swim practice with DAM.

The exciting news is that the Playtri Performance Center is officially OPEN for business - what this means is that I've basically been living there for the past week and a half. So blogging hasn't exactly been a top priority. Which means it's time to play catch up, so here's the digest.

1. Buck and I are doing awesome - over a month and still having a blast.
2. Oh yeah, and I met his family.
3. I learned how to shoot a semi-automatic pistol (and I hit the target!).
4. I placed 10th overall and 1st in my division at the Independence 5K two weekends ago.
5. I finally got my Team USA gear (yay!) then raced in it and got massive bike seat chafing (boo!!).
6. I placed 3rd overall and 1st in my division at the Iron Brothers Sprint last Sunday.
7. Chuck is feeling wildly neglected - I've sunk to bribing him with chicken and beef bits.
8. I got my itinerary for Beijing!
9. I joined Team CMT to support my athlete Joyce, who has a form of muscular dystrophy known as Charcot-Marie-Tooth (CMT).
10. I paid off a bunch of traffic tickets.
11. I have the Disco sprint tri this weekend, and next weekend I go to Houston get my visa.

So basically, life is crazy, but good. And thanks to its proximity to the new Performance Center I've been eating at Fuzzy's Tacos at least once a day.

And that's pretty much it.

In a nutshell. : )

Happy training everybody

Sometimes, Swimmin Hurts

Like when you slip on the wet tile at the natatorium and land flat on our you-know-what and slam your elbow into the ground. Yeah. And then immediately after that you get in and the coach announces that you'll be doing breath control drills that day. And then you wake up the next day and it feels like someone is digging dull needles into your tricep and shoulder because you banged them on a hard tile floor.

Frustration.

Ok, so it's really not TOO bad, but yesterday's swim was not the best of my life. Before I even got in the water, I managed to slip in a puddle on the tile by the pool and wipe out magnificently, with my left elbow taking a good bit of the force from the fall. Then immediately there are 4-5 middle-aged men in Speedos converging on me to make sure I'm all right, which was really sweet of them, but when your head is at that level and they've got the brief cut on, well, you can see where this is going... yikes. So at first I was just trying to ascertain if I was ok or not, and one of the guys is yelling for ice and the coach is running over and I'm getting embarrassed by all the attention so finally, as Ahmed is coming out of the dressing room, I announce that I'm fine and I just hit my funny bone. No problem.

We get in the water, though, and I can still feel the soreness in my elbow, but I work through it and it keeps feeling a little bit better, so I'm thinking I'm fine. Then the coach announces breath control drills - almost the ENTIRE DAY'S SET is breath control practice. I feel like maybe the swim gods turned their backs on me yesterday. I made it through as much of the set as I could without cheating, but I finally gave up just in time for our set of 100's kicking. Really? REALLY? I was not sad to go when lunch time was up.

I coached later in the evening (just took on a new youth athlete!), then went to see Buck in Mesquite when he got off (he's working a really funky shift right now, it's messing up the Buck and Morgan time, which is no bueno). When I woke up this morning, I could definitely feel the arm. The soreness is stretching all the way through my tricep and up into the shoulder. I can feel it tweaking my back as well. So a massage (like I can afford one of those right now after ordering all my USA gear!) is definitely in order in the near future, if at all possible, but for now I just have to wait it out and hope the soreness goes away quickly. Talked to Aaron and he said no swim today (no reason to push it), and hopefully I'll have a replacement workout later in the evening. Now that I've committed to the size small racing suit for Beijing, there's no missing workouts anymore! A few pounds could mean I don't fit into my suit (those things are tight), and how embarrassing would that be??

So anyways, hopefully my little spill doesn't mess things up too much because I still have a lot of work to do before September, and a wonky arm isn't going to make things easier. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

Happy training everybody

The Heat is On...

No, for real, it is HOT outside.

Ok, so I've started seeing this new guy, Buck, and, well, he's amazing. So amazing that even though running isn't really his favorite thing, he still went running with me last week at 5:00 PM, the hottest hour of the day, and didn't even complain about the fact that he was at a total disadvantage, being a man and having body hair while I'm a girl and I... don't. Once I brought it up, of course, he totally agreed - but still. He's a trooper. And I really like him, so if you meet him, be nice.

But back to the heat - we are getting up into the 100's pretty much every day here in Dallas, and it makes training, well, interesting. The phrase "drenched in sweat" seems to be coming up a lot. See, the human body expends a lot of energy, water, and electrolytes to keep itself cool, so the more of those we lose during exercise due to external heat, the more we have to compensate - go slower, drink more water, take salt tablets, etc. And I have been losing a lot of ALL of those three things during exercise in the past couple of weeks. I have constantly had a glass of water with me as I desperately try to stay hydrated, and I am consuming ridiculous amounts of fluid while training outside (and eating ridiculous amounts of icy watermelon after every workout - yum). I'm also ending up with some ridiculous tan lines.

The scary part is... it's not even July yet! It's only June and the temperature is getting up to 102 - what does this bode for the rest of the summer? Am I going to shrivel up due to heat before I even make it to Beijing? Ok, I know, it's melodramatic but geez - just 4 months ago it was like 14 degrees outside and now it's 102!! Come on north Texas, make up your mind! And while you're at it, let's tone down the wind a little bit as well...

In other news, my Team USA sizing kit has shipped and should be at my door today or tomorrow (please let it be there today! pleeeease!), and my mom is following up on our lodging arrangements for the trip. We thought we were all booked and ready to go, buuut... they never charged our card, which is worrisome. So we're looking into that. Better safe than sorry. Tonight, Buck is taking me to the Rangers-Astros game (it's Nelson Cruz bobble-head night! sweet!), and tomorrow I've got work, swimming, coaching... the usual.

Stroke work tomorrow at DAM - everyone make sure to get a ringside seat to watch me attempt the butterfly : )

Happy training everybody!

Mandy Did Kona!

Ok, this is my tribute post to my bff Mandy who did her first 70.3 at the Ford Ironman 70.3 (formerly known as Honu) in Kona, HI two weekends ago.

For those of you who don't know Mandy... she's awesome.

About 3 and a half years ago, things got kind of crazy in my life, and so I got serious about running, so I could keep myself centered. I became competitive very quickly, and started placing in the top three overall at pretty much every race that I did - I was absolutely in love with the sport, but I still wanted something even more adventurous. I had an aquaintance named Tyler who was on the UNT Triathlon Team, and he gave me Mandy's phone number (she was a fellow team member at that time) so that I could have someone to show me the ropes. I called, and even though she couldn't remember my name for the first couple of weeks that we knew each other (if you know Mandy, you know that this isn't weird, it's just Mandy), we bonded very quickly, and next thing I knew I was going on weekly bike rides (followed by long evenings at the bar - hey, we were in college!), and running and swimming, with a whole new group of friends. Mandy and I sort of simultaneously headed up the team the next year, and the rest is history.

We've shared nights at the bar that we only kind of remember (it's just as well), hotel rooms in more states than I could EVER remember (though we were sober, I swear), t-shirts, trisuits, bikes and helmets, and of course lots of good times. If it weren't for Mandy, my life would probably be completely different today, and I would never even have met most of the people who end up reading this post. She is a total rock star and one of my very best friends, and I am so thankful that she is in my life and that she is now a (half) IRONMAN!

Mandy, I lovers you, for serious. Thanks for giving me my start.

Happy training everybody

Tickets, Uniforms, and Second Overall at the Playtri Festival!

Wow! The last two weeks have been CRAZY - work, life, and everything in between, but I have totally been loving it!

Quick catch-up - Playtri Festival was two weekends ago, and after working 12 hour days ahead of time, I managed to take 2nd overall out of the women in the sprint race on Sunday, with a PR 5K pace of 6:29/minute. 1st place beat me by less than two minutes, so I guess I'm just going to have to work a little bit harder next time! It was a rough weekend for a lot of reasons, but somehow, as I was sitting on the edge of the canal, waiting for the swim to begin, I just felt really calm and like I was in the right place, doing what I was supposed to be doing. It was an awesome feeling, and it left me feeling really centered and focused the rest of the race, despite how tired, sore, and mentally exhausted I had been just moments before. I drafted almost the entire swim and definitely PR-ed my open water 750m time, then went on to catch almost every woman in my wave on the bike... and then found the rest of them (except for one, of course!) on the run, where I just felt like I was flying. My Baker's athlete Tim ran the last quarter of a mile in with me (after doing the Oly - he is such a beast!), and encouraged me all the way to the finish - what an awesome client! It was such a great morning and a great day, and I got to spend it with my mom as well, who had come up for the weekend. Totally perfect.

Then last week was crazy as we prepared for the Swim Across America and Dirty Rock events this pask weekend in Rockwall. Lots of manual labor and working outside in the sun, but totally worth it because the Swim Across America event on Saturday raised $350,000 for the Baylor Charles A. Sammons Cancer Center right here in Dallas!!!! Lots of participants told me it was one of the smoothest, most relaxed events they had ever been to, and truthfully it did go really well, and it was so great to watch all of the swimmers out there doing their thing.

After that, well, the truth comes out - I actually had a date : )

Yep, and it was totally awesome - very possibly the best first date I have ever been on. No kidding. And then we went out again on Sunday. So that part of the weekend was just awesome. But more details on all that at a later date. Don't get nosy on me.

So, last but not least, today I got to do TWO totally awesome things - book my mom and mine's tickets for Beijing, and order my TEAM USA UNIFORM!!!

I woke up at 6:30 AM this morning, ordered my suit, warm up pants and jacket, parade shirt, personalized polos for my mom and I and my Team USA backpack - OMG I WAS SO FREAKING EXCITED! Then I had a bowl of cereal and went back to bed for an hour.

But this just means... it's real! It's actually happening! I am on Team USA and I'm going to Beijing to compete in a WORLD CHAMPIONSHIP!

I'm so grateful and excited and just super happy that I actually get to do this - now I just have to keep getting faster so that I can not only go, but also kick lots of butt : )

Thank you everyone for all of your support up to this point. My friends and family are the best.

Happy training everybody!

Austin Tri-Cation (Part 2)

So Sunday was camp day with Ken and Aaron.

Ken and I drove up to meet Aaron at the Deep Eddy Pool just outside downtown for our swim. Deep Eddy Pool is fed by Barton Springs, and is a great place to swim - a little chilly, but you don't notice it after the first few laps! Aaron, after I got warmed up, basically just spent the hour pushing me as hard as he possibly could up until the end. He worked a lot with Ken on his technique, so all in all it was a good session for both of us. The set I did throughout the workout was 25m hard, 100m at 90%, 25m hard, 50m at 90%. Um... ouch. I almost yakked at least twice.

After the swim we headed back south to my folks' neck of the woods, and after grabbing biking gear and running shoes we headed to the intersection of Bee Creek and Thurman Bend for what I will forever more affectionately refer to as The Brick Workout from Hell. To set the stage, it was about 95 degrees and humid outside, with high winds gusting up to and over 40 mph. Our bike/run course made an L shape comprised of the shorter portion being simply a massive hill (Loop 1), and the longer portion (Loop 2) being smooth with easy rollers until ending in a less massive hill than the other section. Aaron's strategy was essentially to send us cycling and running the parts of this course as much as possible for two hours. So we might do Loop 2 twice on the bike, building power throughout, then walking down Loop 1 and running back up, then running Loop 2 training pace out and race pace back before getting back on the bike. I don't know if I have ever sweated that much in my entire life. The heat kept my heart rate high throughout, and by the end we were both just destroyed. Then we all three went to the house and Gail had chicken salad sandwiches and watermelon for us. I love parents.

After our post-camp snack and quick showers, all three of us headed to the Cap Tex expo downtown so Aaron and I could pick up our packets and check in our bike. After a long search for parking, we finally got in, got our packets (which contained the most ridiculous amount of race stickers ever in the history of triathlon), and got our bikes checked in (after fastening the aforementioned stickers to everything in our possession, including ourselves).

Ken and I shot out of the expo pretty quick, because we were heading to Wimberly to join his buddy Cameron at his family's river house for some barbeque. It was the perfect way to end the day - we sat on the deck in rocking chairs overlooking the river, drinking beer and eating barbeque while the sun set. We left fairly early and headed home so that I could write training schedules for the coming week before we hit the hay.

Monday morning dawned hot and windy (shocker), and we got everything packed up to take to the race. We got there around 7:30, and I got my transition set up, checked out the swim course, went to the bathroom, etc., and then we went to catch the pros coming into T2 before I had to start my swim. Got to see Andy Potts (my tri crush) come in off the bike, and saw lots of other familiar faces as well. Anyways, my swim wave started around 9:00, and we hopped in to start right as Dad and Gail were arriving. The swim went pretty well (especially considering the previous day's workout), and I managed to draft for most of it. Final time was about 15 minutes for 750m - that is very solid for me. I was in and out of T1 quickly, and started the bike by getting nearly knocked off my bike by a giant gust of wind while I was crossing the bridge over Town Lake. The bike course was PACKED, and passing was difficult and dangerous in many situations - the gusting wind that kept blowing through the downtown buildings didn't make anything less complicated. I passed a few girls from my AG during the ride, and one girl from my AG passed me - I stuck onto her like a burr and legal drafted the rest of the way into T2. She and I came out of T2 at the same time even though she was slightly ahead of me at the end of the bike. I thought we were the first in our AG (found out later we weren't, but oh well), so I was ready to push it, since my race strategy for the run was HARD. She started off with a fast kick, hoping to drop me at the start, but she wore herself out and after pacing off of her for a slow half mile I decided to go ahead and take off after any other sprint participants. Ran about a 22-and-change 5K despite the heat, and got to see Aaron starting his second lap of the Oly as I was running into the finishers' shoot. Dad and Gail and Ken were all there cheering for me, and it was a great feeling as I wrapped up yet another awesome race. While they weren't able to give out awards (I ended up getting 3rd in my AG out of 50) due to a snafu in the timing, we still hung around for a while and had some pizza and coconut water, and eventually we all headed out - Dad and Gail to go back to the house, and Ken and I to head back to Dallas.

Ken and I stopped at Whole Foods on the way out of a town for a quick lunch before hitting the road. We got back to Dallas in the early evening.

All in all it was an incredible trip that benefitted me greatly physically (due to the camp and race) and mentally (due to the vacation!!!!), and I can't wait for my next one-on-one camp! Hopefully it is coming soon...

Happy training everybody!

Austin Tri-Cation (Part 1)

This post is a little overdue - my first one-on-one camp with coach Aaron Patel has come and gone and was a resounding success.

Last Thursday night, Ken and I left for Austin for our first "tri-cation" (my word, not his, obviously). We got a late start due to some unexpected complications including an over-flowing toilet and a golden retriever with a GI problem (you don't want to know), but by 8:30 we were at Central Market for a late dinner (brisket tacos, gelato, and an espresso for the road), and by 9:00 we were finally headed south on I-35. We rolled into Austin around 1:00 and went straight to bed in our normal room at my dad and step-mom's house (Gail, as usual, had it all laid out with a candle, water pitcher and glasses, and the usual bottle of wine replaced with two personal bottles of Gatorade - she is a hospitality master).

Friday morning, the fun began! We were up early (thank you work for programming our sleep systems), so we sat and had coffee with Dad and Gail while we planned our first day of vacation. We started with a hilly ride out on Bee Creek Road, during which we stopped often to take pictures (and catch our breath). It reminded me that, oh yeah, I need to do more hill workouts... Also that the hills we have in Dallas aren't actually hills. Afterwards, we inhaled about half of a watermelon, showered, and headed out for a little hill country adventure. Our first stop was Mandola's Italian Market to pick up lunch (fresh Italian bread, peccorino cheese, prosciutto, grilled zucchini, asparagus and red peppers, and of course cannoli), then we headed out into the country towards the Bell Springs Winery. We arrived just in time for tasting hours and after an incredibly cheap (and delicious) tasting, we made our picks and took our glasses of wine and food outside to the patio to enjoy. The food and wine were awesome, the scenery was great, even the music they were playing was perfect. Needless to say, we were both in vacation heaven. After we finished eating and bought a couple of bottles of wine for Dad and Gail, we headed west for Hamilton Pool. If you are a true Austinite you are very familiar with Hamilton Pool - if you are not a true Austinite, you probably aren't, but you should definitely put it on the itinerary for your next visit. It is a collapsed grotto, spring-fed, with a beautiful waterfall and lots of great plant life. It's a quarter mile hike to the pool on mildly technical trail, but more than worth it. The Austin heat started to hit us when we got there, so sliding into the 70 degree water after our mini hike was just about perfect. Hamilton Pool limits the number of people who can enter at any one time, so the place wasn't over crowded, and we had plenty of room to spread out our beach towels and alternate between laying in the sun and cooling off in the water. By the time we headed home, we were so relaxed we could have passed out immediately, but we managed to eat the delicious steak dinner Gail had prepared for us. Well, of course, it would have just been rude not to... After dinner, we went straight to bed.

And slept for about 11 hours.

Saturday morning was another relaxing start, and after the requisite coffee and shower, we headed to the Austin farmers market with Gail for some breakfast. Gail loaded up on local produce while we sat around watching all of the Austin people and animals shop, and then we loaded up on tamales - pork with tomatillo, and guava with cinnamon (yu-um) - and agua fresca from the pre-cooked food stands. Ken suffered through lots of picture-taking, but survived to tell the tale. We split ways with Gail after breakfast, and headed across the street to Mellow Johnny's, just in time to watch a youth ride leaving the shop (I was thrilled, of course). We wandered around the store for a while, and Ken bought a couple of new jerseys before we headed to our other favorite Austin shop, Bicycle Sport Shop. We browsed there for a while, too, and then decided to head up the road to Barton Springs (might as well hit both watering holes while we were in town). There was a line to get into the Springs, but it was worth it as soon as we hit that icy water. We alternated between floating and laying in the sun, and as the afternoon wore on and we got hungrier, we decided to hit Shady Grove since we were in the neighborhood. Sitting on the Shady Grove patio, with margaritas, cheese fries, and peach cobbler was about the perfect end to another perfect day of vacation. Of course, we still had dinner at home, which was equally delicious, and then again hit the hay right after dinner...

...Because Sunday was Camp Day!!!

To be continued!

Stormy Weather

...Good thing I only had to swim today.

Has anyone else noticed how completely bizarre the weather has been this year? These storms just in the last couple of weeks are just like a continuation of the strangeness that began with the week long winter storm in February. North Texas needs to get it together.

I know it's been a while since my last blog. With the Playtri Performance Center opening in less than two months, work has been nuts - and that's not including the Buffalo Springs Camp two weeks ago, or the other weekend "activities" (a.k.a. work) that seem to take up all of my extra time these days. I can't say I mind since the Center is going to be basically a dream come true - there is just a lot of hard reality that is leading up to it!

That being said, I came close to have another dream come true at the Doghouse Sprint in Lubbock post-camp almost two weeks ago. I came second overall out of the women at the race, and actually thought I was first until I saw this amazon come streaking towards me as I started the run. However, even 2nd overall is a first for me, and the race as a whole was strategically and technically one of the best I have ever done. I was able to draft the entire swim, and not only did I manage sub 1:50's (a more-than-decent 500m split for this girl), I didn't even feel like I had done any work by the time I finished. Then, on the bike, I managed by far my fastest Lubbock split today, despite the wind, and legal drafted with one of our athletes from the camp the entire time after she passed me towards the beginning - we managed to pass just about everyone else after us (except for the amazon, of course). The run was not my best, but still solid - 22 and change - and it was almost better that it wasn't a PR, because it let me know that I actually pushed myself on the bike for a change. Ironically, I almost dropped out of the race right before the start due to the unseasonably cold weather (Lubbock has forgotten how to provide good weather for a race day, apparently - I've never had good conditions there). But I sucked it up (always key!!!) and had one of the best races of my life.

Made me feel even better about heading to Beijing.

The travel package has been reserved, and the plane tickets are in the works - and I'm making plans to head down to Houston with my mom in July to get our visas for the trip. It's hard to believe that this is really happening - and to me, an athlete with a little skill and some luck, just a totally normal person. Totally normal aside from the fact that I am going to a world championship race with Team USA... It's mind boggling. Also very exciting, and I am doing everything in my power to make sure I am 100% prepared as possible when I get over there. The extra work has been showing itself, of course, in my race results - with the two year recovery that came along with having mono, I had almost forgotten the amazing things that can result from consistency in training. And proper recovery, of course - no issues with that now that my body refuses to function on less than 8 hours of sleep a day! An unexpected blessing that also came from being sick. I've been noticing a lot of those - makes me think there really is such a thing as fate.

Either way, things are going well. I need to be less lax in my posting - it keeps me honest about where I am and what I need to be doing. Self-reflection and accountability are wonderful things.

Happy training everybody

Cattleguards and Capsized Kayaks

Oh the life of a full-time triathlon coach. It's never dull, that's for sure.

This morning I was up at 6:30 to drive to Joe Pool Lake in Grand Prairie for the Playtri open water swim clinic. I had three pre-inflated swim buoys, cinder blocks, and plenty of rope in my trunk (I had loaded the kayak, paddles, and life vest into the red work truck yesterday for Coach David to drive down this morning). I got to Lynn Creek Park on the lake at about 7:30 and with David and Mike's help, got the kayak, buoys, and other open water supplies to the shore while the athletes were arriving. Mike volunteered to be our kayaker for the morning, so we loaded him up with a buoy to go set, and made sure the others were ready on the shore.

I walked over to the athletes and chatted for a minute - then looked back to the water, and saw that Mike was in much the same place in the water as he had been previously. Now, if you're not a north Texan or if you just didn't leave your house this morning, you might not know that it was viciously windy in the AM today, and that breeze was kicking up some pretty decent swells on the lake. So Mike was paddling head on into the waves, and not getting very far. I look away for a moment, then look back, and the kayak is upside down and Mike is standing in the water. It was just as well, though - he re-grouped, re-loaded the buoy, re-loaded himself, and started out again. Next thing I know, he's in the water again. Now Mike is a strong guy, so if he's having trouble, you know that is some rough water. But after a few more dunks, Mike got the buoys set and I went to go over the beginner swim clinic plan with Coach Jeanne. I had submitted the plan a few days before, and I was planning for us to do it together - but Jeanne had other plans, and I ended up leading the clinic myself (with help from her when needed, of course). I was pretty nerve-wracked at first (it was my first time to lead an open water clinic), but it ended up being a great experience.

At 9:00, I had to speed out of there - no rest for the weary tri coach! - and head up to Sherman, TX, about 70 miles away. I had an appointment with a brother and sister who wanted to start doing triathlons. After a good 20 miles of scenic roads and wildflowers (I love driving in the country) I make it to the home of my newest athletes. It is a sprawling (there's no better adjective for it) stucco ranch house complete with tennis court and two pools, and the requisite cattle guards and gravel drives. The land is absolutely beautiful. We head straight back for the pool, and the kids' first lesson in the breast stroke. I like to start younger kids who have no previous knowledge of freestyle swimming with the breast stroke. It builds their muscles and confidence in the water, and makes for an easier transition to freestyle (in my opinion). We broke up swim practice with an underwater headstand contest, cannonball contest, and water slide time (naturally). Have I mentioned that I love my job? And I get paid for this! By the end of our 45 minutes in the pool, both kids pretty much had the knack of the stroke - all they need now is more practice. Then we headed to transition practice. The kids weren't huge fans - they wanted to get to the biking, darn it! - but they were good sports and humored crazy Coach Morgan as she made them put on their biking gear over and over again, until she finally let them bike for real. That's when the younger sister announced that she couldn't ride her bike over the cattleguards. Um... cattleguards? I brought my TT bike, but that suddenly didn't sound like the best idea. Fortunately, spare bikes were not in short supply at this wonderful home, and I was on a GT hybrid bike before you could say "gravel road," and it was a good thing because we hit at least four cattleguards during the ride that followed. The kids did a great job, and they kept it up all the way through our second hour of practice, which included an awesome game of Simon Says. Again - I love my job. As I was heading out, there was a flurry of fort-building happening inside, and I was hoping I would get to come back again.

On the way back to Dallas, I quickly realized that my indiscriminate bathing suit wear during the 2 hour outdoor practice had led to a pretty thorough upper body sunburn. Sigh. But no time to worry about that. I got into town, hit up Target for a new card table, paper, pens, and aloe vera gel, and it was off to the Richardson Bike Mart on Garland (right by my apartment, thank goodness) for the Playtri Festival Kids Race Ready Program introductory meeting. I set up my table and information in a corner in the back so parents could stop by if they still needed to register - it was short and sweet, we only had one new registrant, and the others already paid online, so I was out of there and on my way home by 3:15 (once I figured out how to re-fold my new folding table).

As soon as I got home I passed out on the couch until about 6:30. After a bacon sandwich and some leftover birthday cake. Hey, I'm a tri coach, I'm not perfect - don't judge.

I woke up groggy and not a little disoriented, but I knew I needed to run, so I threw on my Adidas' and a long-sleeved tech shirt (thank you suburn) and hit the trail to the lake. I realized about one minute in, as I was fantasizing about ice cold watermelon, that I was wildy dehydrated. My hour run quickly turned into 30 minutes, and a grueling 30 minutes to boot. Talk about heat acclimation. I got home and immediately took a cold bath accompanied by a glass of iced Gatorade and some cold V8 (lots of salt and carbs, perfect recovery drink). After about 15 minutes in the tub, I started to feel human again. Chuck just looked at me like I was crazy, but then that's just what cats do.

And now, it's time for more aloe vera.

Happy training everybody

26 For 26

In honor of my 26th birthday (which has been awesome, thank you so much to all of my friends and family for making it special), I have 26 goals for the coming year:

1. Go to a world championship. Ok, this kind of feels like cheating, but it is on the list!
2. Go camping (in my brand new birthday tent).
3. Run my mom's 4th half marathon with her.
4. Break 20:00 for my 5K.
5. Swim 100m in 1:20.
6. Unpack all of the leftover boxes from the move to my Dallas apartment.
7. Visit the Dallas Arboretum.
8. Improve my credit score!
9. Write another article on youth triathlon coaching and/or training.
10. Place in the top three overall at a multisport event.
11. See a play.
12. Go to a concert.
13. Ride my bike to work (did you know that Ride Your Bike to Work Week is coming up?).
14. Grow a tomato (if they would just turn red...).
15. Go to a wine tasting.
16. Treat my mom to something really nice.
17. Go on a bike ride with my dad.
18. NEVER PLAY SCRABBLE AGAIN.
19. Beat Ken at solitaire (or any other game) EVERY DAY.
20. Tour the Texas Hill Country on bike.
21. Lay on a beach for a whole day.
22. Be able to do a shoulder stand again.
23. Get my hair cut and donate what they take off to Locks of Love.
24. Put money INTO my savings account.
25. Visit Enchanted Rock.
26. Be happy with my life and in my life.

Can't Sleep, So I Might as Well Blog

I've had trouble sleeping the past few nights. I'm not sure where that's coming from - possibly the fact that I've actually gotten more than 8 hours a night for the past few days and my body forgot how to function outside of a state of exhaustion. Unfortunately, I'm going to pay for tonight tomorrow morning when I have to ride at 7:00 AM before I go into work! And then I'll be working until at least 8:00 tomorrow night... Oh well, I ought to sleep well tomorrow.

Training is going well - since King Tut, I've had some really solid workouts, despite some pain in my foot since the 5K PR (it's almost gone now, we think I bruised the foot earlier in the week, and the race aggravated it). My running is truly back to what it was in 2008 when I was competitive in the mid-distances, and possibly even better than it was then. It snuck up on me, but I can't say I'm surprised, because Aaron always seems to know what is best for me. That's why I pay him the big bucks. So anyways, my training pace runs now average about 8:00 minutes a mile, which is about 2:00 minutes a mile faster than they were averaging in January after Ken and I got back from Europe. It's silly, but I love going out to run around White Rock, and passing all the boys without even breaking a sweat. What can I say - I'm a competitive person. I like being the fastest. Which brings me to my swim, which has always been a source of problems in the past, but which has finally started to come together in the last year or so. Last Friday at DAM, I actually had someone ask me if I swam competitively in college - of course, I laughed out loud, but I was still really flattered. They also had me move up a lane FINALLY! Even I was amazed at the intervals I was maintaining at that workout. It felt amazing, and left me more excited than I've been about swimming since last fall.

Of course, with summer rapidly approaching, race season is in full-swing at Playtri and we are all racing around (no pun intended) trying to stay on top of the many events we are producing this season. I am constantly amazed at Staci's ability to stay organized with everything going on - and also inspired to be more organized myself, something that I have always struggled with. But even with the best organization, there is a lot to do right now, and some days seem never-ending, which makes training less appealing than usual - days like yesterday, Easter Sunday, when I actually don't have to go into work or drive to a practice or clinic are so exciting for me now. To have all day to sit around, write schedules, get in all of my workouts, eat well, and rest is like the ultimate luxury. Granted I had to get right back in the swing of things today, but I did manage to fit a nap in post-work/pre-training. Always a major accomplishment these days!

The McKinney Kiwanis Sprint Triathlon and Kids Tri are this weekend, which will mean being in McKinney by 5:00 AM Saturday AND Sunday - worth it because it's all part of having the best job in the world, but still a struggle to be up that early on the weekend!! Additionally, my mom and Ken are coming up this weekend for my BIRTHDAY (yep, I'm getting older in a week), so I want to make lots of time to spend with them as well. Ken's birthday is coming up, too, but not as soon as mine. So it will be busy times, but good times. You can sleep when you're dead, right? That's what I hear anyways. Sometimes I think that would be a better title for this blog...

But all is well in my world and in the Playtri world and I am looking forward to another crazy-but-awesome week of training, working, and racing with the best group of triathletes I know.

Happy training everybody!

Hello Heat Acclimation...

For of you who didn't notice, the temps got into the mid-90's in Dallas yesterday. It's April. And it was 95 degrees. That's hot.

I totally prefer the heat to the cold - if it's a choice between 40 degrees and 100 degrees, I will take 100 degrees any time. Don't get me wrong, I love a happy medium, but when push comes to shove, I'm a summer-time person. Tank tops, shorts, flip-flops, sunshine, these are definitely my preferences. However, I've been training in cold weather for the last 6 months or so (minus my brief but amazing week at the Hawaii camp in Kona), and my body is not operating at 100% in the heat just yet.

Conveniently enough, I presented a lecture on heat acclimation at the Iron Texas Camp two weeks ago, so I have a pretty thorough understanding now of what it entails. Which is basically - train in the heat until your body acclimates. Ok, I joke, it is more specific than that, but at its most basic, that pretty much sums it up. So heat acclimation training started with yesterday's post-work run by the lake with Ken. I was already not at 100% because of doing King Tut the day before, and when the 90 degree air hit my face, I suddenly was slightly less excited about running than before we left the apartment. I quickly noticed that even though I was incredibly hot, I was barely sweating at all - not necessarily a good thing, since sweat is our body's cooling mechanism, and a lot of the time if our body isn't sweating in hot weather, it's because its use of that mechanism has become slightly rusty from disuse (to put it in the least scientific way possible).

Even though we were only running for 30 minutes, I felt completely dehydrated by the time we got home. I chugged a Powerade and took a cool bath as soon as I got inside. It's amazing the things that heat can do to your body... I've definitely got some work to do in that area before Beijing. Hopefully, though, the warm temps will stick around now and I'll be a hot weather racing machine by mid-summer.

I hope everyone is enjoying the warmth, despite the negative effects on performance! Stay cool and train safe!

I Raced Like an Egyptian

This morning... King Tut Sprint Triathlon. My second tri of the season, after a disastrous first one at the Tri Cowtown Sprint.

The past week has been manic - race week at Playtri always is - and I've been averaging about 6 hours of sleep a night, and logging nutrition had, unfortunately, taken a back seat to work as well. Then last night we went out with a group of friends for a huge Italian dinner complete with wine and tiramisu, and had my favorite triathlete, Mandy, to stay over. To top off the ideal racing situation, I had to be on site by 5:00 AM this morning to run race day packet pickup before the race. Tired, dehydrated, and oh, by the way, it was cold AGAIN and it took us about 20 minutes to get my wetsuit zipper to work.

My head wasn't exactly in it this morning.

But none the less, I was at the swim start in plenty of time - cold, cranky, and distracted, but at least I was there. And in my wetsuit. Thank god. My wave was the first after the Open wave left, and as Mandy and I hit the water at the start, I thought maybe, just maybe this could be a decent race. No time to dwell on it, though, because the next thing I knew Staci was blowing the megaphone siren and we were off. I immediately swam off in the wrong direction, but got back on track with a decent draft soon enough. I didn't feel strong, but I didn't feel nearly as bad as I did at Tri Cowtown. I warmed up once I was moving, too. I caught a few drafts throughout the swim, none of them great, but it was still good practice. Finally, with about 100m left, I just sighted for the finish - I felt like I had been really slow, and just wanted to get the heck out of there. (Of course, turns out I was averaging 1:59 100's, which for me, in an open water swim, is actually pretty good - you can never tell for sure!).

When I got into T1 I soon realized that my wetsuit wasn't coming off without a fight. I ended up sitting on the ground, yanking on the legs and muttering profanities under my breath (not one of my prouder moments). After a solid three minutes in transition, I finally managed to somehow rip the wetsuit off and get cycling socks on my cold, still-wet feet, and hit the bike course. Even though I bought super awesome new Trivent Women's cycling shoes yesterday, I didn't have them fit to my bike yet, so I was still using my pretty cruddy old road cycling shoes this morning (one of my tri shoes was lost in the move two months ago, and has yet to be recovered... very mysterious), and this came back to haunt me at the end of the bike. The bike itself was fine - I averaged 18.5, not great, but still better than Tri Cowtown. I caught a couple of legal drafts, but only two or three women passed me, and they were a good deal faster than me, so they didn't make the best leads. By the end of the bike, I hadn't seen but two girls from my age group, and since I was convinced they had all beat me in the swim, I wasn't in the best mood.

Then I had my Cinderella moment.

While getting my foot out of my shoe about 1/2 mile from T2, my cycling shoe pops off the pedal. Instead of stopping, I keep trying to pedal with my sock-clad foot, but after 100 meters or so that just isn't working so I hop off and run my bike the last 1/4 mile to transition in one cycling shoe - again, muttering less-than-appropriate phrases beneath my breath and hoping no one can hear me!

By the time my bike was racked in T2, I was downright cranky, and I needed to go to the bathroom. I also couldn't feel my feet. BAD combination. But I high tailed it out of there (I had the fastest T2 for my AG) with my bib bumber and hit the running path. I immediately felt like turning around and heading for the port-o-potty, and walk/running the run - NOT part of my race strategy, but I was so frustrated at that point that I didn't even care. I heard a girl breathing behind me as she gained on me, and I sped up a little at the thought of getting passed AGAIN (or so I thought). Then I thought about World Championships coming up, and what would I do if I had a crappy swim/bike there? You can't exactly walk/run the 5K at a World Championship. So somehow, I sucked it up, and started out the find the rest of my age group. And then, it happened... about 1/2 mile in, I hit my stride. I don't think I've hit my 5K stride since before I had mono in 2009. But all of a sudden it just felt like I was flying, and wasn't even working for it. I started passing people left and right. I caught Mandy at the turnaround, and caught three girls from AG shortly after. I was breathing hard and working at that point, but my determination was completely outweighing any discomfort at that point, and I just kept flying. As I made my way up the last hill, I was tired, but I still felt amazing - I couldn't believe I had overcome my frustration so completely, and I shot the photographer a huge smile right before the finish line.

Turns out, I PR'ed my 5K time this morning with a 6:56 pace. I can barely describe how totally elated I was when I saw the unofficial results and realized that I had run my fastest 5K EVER - including before I was sick two years ago. I also realized that I could have gone even faster, since I messed around a good chunk of the time, thinking that even though I was booking it, there was no way I was going to place. What an incredible feeling. It made me feel like, finally, maybe I deserved my spot on Team USA. It also made me realize that I really am back to full health. I couldn't have run that race otherwise.

Mandy and I stuck around for awards, and she won her age group while I placed 2nd in mine. Lots of Playtri folks were on the podium this morning, and it was exciting to hear all those familiar names being called for awards. I can't wait for the Kiwanis Sprint in two weeks.

Happy training everybody : )

My Work Shoes are Adidas

I just wrapped up my 4th Playtri camp as assistant camp director - the Iron Texas Camp in The Woodlands, TX, on the Ironman Texas course. It was my first time to officially work a brand new camp, and it was definitely an experience. The thing about a new camp is that, no matter how much recon is done ahead of time, you never know how the course is going to treat your group of athletes until you get there. It was a fresh challenge every day, addressing the aspects of the event that weren't under our control. It was exciting, and great working experience. And, most importantly, it was a great training experience for the athletes. I think everyone left feeling good about the event, and excited for the next one (though also ready for a good rest).

As usual, I was in charge of all SAG/support for the event, so I got to know all parts of the course extremely well. It was a true taste of Texas - we passed through Montgomery (Birthplace of the Texas flag) and stopped at Jorge's Roadhouse out on 149 for 1/2 pound cheeseburgers. We also went by the Sunshine Store, advertising soaps, lotions, and goats. We still need to look into that one. I had a barbeque sandwich in Richards, and spent time photographing bluebonnets at one of our last rest stops. The course was absolutely beautiful. I didn't expect that from somewhere so close to Houston, TX that it's practically considered part of the city, but it definitely surprised me. It winds through the Sam Houston National Forest and up towards Conroe and Huntsville, the roads are almost all completely smooth, tree-lined, and of course all the wildflowers are blooming right now.

Uh... can you say "perfect one-on-one camp location?" I can, and did. I'm getting a one-on-one camp for myself out there ASAP.

At one point, I looked down at my Adidas-clad feet, and realized that my work shoes are in fact racing flats. It might sound crazy, but I never, never thought I would be so lucky. I remember daydreaming about being a full-time triathlon coach, working for Playtri and getting to work with athletes from all over the country. There was a time when it seemed like an impossible reality - and now here I am, doing exactly what I want to do. Wearing running shorts, tech shirts, and Adidas to work. It's literally my dream job. And I'm doing it. Not to brag or anything.

Of course, the only bad thing about coming to camp to head up support is that you don't train at all during the camp - just sit a lot and still end up completely exhausted. Fortunately, I did the kayak support as well, so I got a decent workout the two days that we swam, but other than that I lost a couple of days training-wise. The coaching knowledge I gain is invaluable, though. Which of course all feeds into my own training knowledge.

I'm ready to get back on my training horse tomorrow for sure. We'll be spectating at the Ironman Texas 70.3 tomorrow after a quick run, and then I'm headed back to Dallas in the evening. Monday is a HUGE day at work, of course, with King Tut coming up next weekend. It will be a 12+ hour day, so I'll just be lucky to get a 30 minute run in somewhere. Hopefully I'll get more in the rest of the week, however. And then of course I'll be racing the King Tut on Sunday with Mandy Mandy, so that will be a great workout!

I hope everyone has a great weekend, and enjoys this wonderful, warm weather.

Happy training!

Hard Lessons are the Best Ones

What a weekend. Sometimes you just have those days that drain you physically and mentally, and leave you craving nothing more than chocolate, coffee, and mindless television. Well, that was yesterday for me. The weekend got off to a great start. I recently joined a young professionals group in Dallas, and Saturday morning we volunteered at the Marathon Kids Final Mile Celebration in Addison, where we organized over 5,000 elementary-aged children to run the last lap of the marathon distance that they had been working towards all year, and earn their finishers medals. It was an inspiring event to volunteer at, especially as a youth coach, and I was extremely impressed with the organization - I definitely recommend checking them out. They offer FREE health and fitness programs to elementary children with the incentive of running a marathon and earning various prizes and, of course, the finishers medal. Of course, we were all standing around out in the sun for 5 hours, so I think everyone ended up a little dehydrated, but it was definitely worth it. The kids had a blast, and all of them were very proud of their achievement. Ken came down in the afternoon, and after taking Jake to the dog park, we had Steve and Renee over for dinner. Which leads me to a confession - I cannot have company over and not make a big production out of it. I just can't - I learned it from my step-mom, Gail, and it has stuck with me. So we had goat gouda cheese, pate, olives, strawberries, and a bordeaux to start, then garlic pork cutlets, grilled asparagus, and butternut squash risotto with a merlot, and finished with a lemon tart (from Whole Foods - strongly recommend it, it was fabulous!) and tea and coffee. We sat and talked long after dinner, so the upshot of this was that Ken and I didn't even start getting ready for our race the next day until about 9:30 that night, and we had eaten a not-so-healthy meal with plenty of not-remotely-healthy alcohol on the side, and had a massive pile of dishes to tackle (in fact, we still have that massive pile to tackle... tonight, perhaps?). Yeesh. But we made it to bed with everything essentially ready to go, and woke up at 5:00 the next morning with our game faces on, ready for Tri Cowtown, my first triathlon of the year and Ken's first triathlon EVER... until we realized that it was 40 degrees outside. Perfect triathlon weather - NOT! But we sucked it up, packed the car, and hauled over to Benbrook in record time. I ran packet pickup while Ken set up in transition, the whole time thinking about how much I HATE cold weather racing. Specifically, cold weather triathlon racing. I can run, and I can even bike, but doing both after getting soaked through ahead of time... the fact is that I just don't like it. Mentally, it puts me into a tail spin where the only thing I can think about is the point where the race is over and I have a hot shower and a cup of tea. Not where my mind needs to be pre-race!! Things didn't get any better, either. The minute I started my swim, I knew things were off. My legs felt heavy and weak, and Tifany quickly passed me, with Liz staying right on my toes after she caught me from starting 20 second behind. When I finally got out, I didn't have time to be relieved, because it was straight out into the cold, gray morning to start a windy, hilly bike portion. Again, my legs felt like rocks. I averaged 16 mph on the bike, and I felt like I was going to die I was working so hard. I also had the slowest T1 ever since I layered up with fleece and cycling socks, throwing any notions of a quick change to the wind as soon as the literal wind hit my body after the swim. By the time I was winding up the bike, I knew I was far, far behind the time needed to do an exceptional job either overall or in my age group. All I had left was the run, and that was my saving grace. The start of the run was rough, because my feet were like heavy blocks of ice, but as I warmed up, my legs finally, FINALLY kicked into gear, and despite wind and a couple of significant hills, I was able to pull a 23:16 5K. Not great, but acceptable. The only bright spot in an otherwise disappointing race day. (On a happier note, Ken, did a fantastic job for his first race, and even beat me by a little over a minute - I was and am VERY proud of him). I would have so liked to blame this on the conditions, the day, the other racers... anything other than myself. But I can't. The fact is, that despite all my big talk, I continue to be lax in my training, and constantly fighting (or not fighting, depending on the day) a lack of motivation. I'm not training like a member of Team USA should be, and I'm ashamed to admit it. I also hate to admit that I still have to deal with the after effects of being sick back in 2009 (2009!), and that there are days when it's a fight just to be awake and active. It makes me feel weak and like less of an athlete and it is very hard for me. But ultimately, I'm not reaching my full potential because I have been letting the ball drop in the face of stress and lack of time due to work, forgetting that for me, training is an essential part of my work, and one of the things that makes me able to be a great coach. So shame on me. The good news is that this is why I had an "emergency" meeting with my coach this morning to discuss the problem - and come up with a solution. Once thing that motivates me is training with others - so from now on, all of my swim workouts will be with DAM. I paid my membership dues this morning. In addition, I will do Thursday night track every week, and as many group weights sessions with Ahmed as I can squeeze in. Second, I will start logging my nutrition again, even if it is only one day a week, so we can keep an eye on my percentages, and upping my carbs and lowering my fat intake. Third, I will send feedback every day, even if it is just a simple "yes" (if I did the workouts) or "no" (if I didn't). Ever since Europe, I've been trying to get back on track, and failing over and over, though I have been doing more actually workouts since I made my Lent resolution - but, as a coach, I know that workouts are only part of the whole picture, and alone are not enough to ensure a decent finish at a World Championship event. I know this, now I must act on it. And I plan to. As if this lesson wasn't enough, we also had a Playtri coaches meeting yesterday that contained some hard but good lessons as well. Obviously what we discussed there is confidential, but let's just say that it wasn't until after that meeting that I was ready to cram half a chocolate cake in my mouth and sit on the couch for the rest of the day. Not because I was depressed, but just because I was so mentally, emotionally, and physically drained from the entire day. I didn't shove that cake in my face, just in case you were wondering. Ken and I actually had a lovely, quiet night, and we went to The Common Table over in uptown, where we split a bottle of Zinfandel and I had a roast chicken quarter with corn succotash and roasted root vegetables, and Ken's friend Peter from his graduate program joined us for a drink while we were eating. I left the cake for another day. And now it is Monday again - a little chilly and gloomy outside, but a great day for me because I'm feeling a renewed motivation for my job and for my training. I'm looking forward to the rest of the week - and a little more quality time with Ken tonight. Happy training everybody

Tis' The Season for Congestion...

Fa la la la la! La la la LAAA... !

Ok, it's official, I am experiencing the worst allergies I have ever had in my LIFE. I wish I was exaggerating. But it's basically like drowning when you're nowhere near the water, which isn't exactly inspiring me to hit the pool. And it extra stinks because everything is beautiful and warm and blooming outside, but I feel like... yeah. I'm currently working on perfecting the perfect cocktail of drugs to combat this, but I have yet to reach 100% - though the Allegra/Sudafed/Afrin mix does seem to be having a marked effect. My heart's racing a little bit, but that's a small sacrifice at this point. Being able to think and function is totally worth it. And I actually feel like doing my workouts today, as opposed to yesterday when I threw everything out the window to nap for 4 hours and do a 30 minute run. (In my new Adidas Mana's - a bright spot in a dark week).

In case brutal allergies weren't enough, I realized on Sunday that I would have to be at work at 6:00 AM EVERY DAY THIS WEEK! Yippee! Which, actually, I wouldn't mind if the aforementioned allergies weren't already making me a cranky camper. But it means a little less sleep, which means a slightly more compromised immune system, which means... worse allergies!

But I know you don't read this to hear about my pollen woes. And aside from the allergies, it's been a brilliant week so far. I am training to do performance testing for Playtri, and today I finally got to take some of the blood samples, handle the test strips, etc. for our heart rate testing. I had been observing and practicing for weeks, but today I got to do it live and in person, and aside from some nerves, it went really well. It will be great to be able to pick up some of Aaron's early morning tests and save him some 4:30 AM drives from Fort Worth! (4:30 in the morning is just wrong).

After work, I have two speed workouts - a W1 run and a W15 bike (actually, I need to double check the W15 and make sure it isn't hills...). Renee is joining me for the run, which should be fun. She isn't much of a runner at the moment, but it's a fun workout for someone who is somewhat new to the sport. The W15, barring the possibility of hill repeats, will definitely be on the trainer because of this crazy wind we're having today. Oh, and the allergies, of course.

It's a big week... and I'll be wrapping it up with Tri Cowtown this Sunday, so stay tuned for more posts!

Happy training!

Lent - Success So Far!

Ok, so to recap, I gave up being lazy with my workouts for Lent - basically, I just made a resolution to remember that my goal is worth putting in the time that I have committed to it, and not to slack off. And so far, it's going pretty well! Having Mandy and Ken around last week really helped, and then there was no getting around my long run this weekend, because it was my mom's third half marathon! We had a blast running the Seabrook Lucky Trail Half Marathon for the second year in a row - and much better weather this year than last. They hooked us up with lots of fun swag - tech shirts, hats, socks, bags, and awesome medals. It's a great race, and I know we'll go back for years to come. Oh - and I can't forget to mention that my mom PR'ed her half marathon time at the race by over five minutes!! I was so proud of her.

I also enjoyed just having some time to rest and hang out in Galveston this weekend. With race season upon us, things at Playtri have definitely been ramping up, which means more work and more stress - all fun, but it can still wear you out sometimes! So being able to sleep in and do yoga Friday morning, then take a 2 hour nap, was basically like heaven. I also ate about 4 Skinny Cow Ice Cream Sandwiches that day. Like I said, heaven.

Sunday morning after the race, mom and I walked about a mile to the new Galveston bakery for hot tea and scones - and to loosen our legs up a little from the day before. I felt incredibly fresh yesterday, for having just run a half the day before. Aside from a little soreness in my quads, I felt awesome - and I hadn't run more thant 6 miles at one time in the past four months. The Playtri training method works!

Mom and I spent some time talking about Beijing during the trip - USAT is offering a good package deal for the race that covers lodging, bike travel, travel to all events, an interpreter, etc. Lots of good stuff, and it's very reasonably priced. Now we just have to figure out the plane tickets... But it's all worth it because in just 7 MONTHS I will be racing on the 2008 Olympic triathlon course with athletes from all over the world! And hopefully kicking a lot of butt. That's an inspiring thought for the day - it should get me through my swim tonight : )

Happy training everybody!

If the Bike Fits...

Working at Playtri always seems to lead to interesting research opportunities, and today's is advanced bike fit methodology. Of course, we are always trying to improve our services and stay in the front of the pack in available research and methodology, so many days find me doing groundwork that will lead to more in-depth research on Ahmed's part. So today, I am learning the best way to fit a bike.

And I mean WOW. I knew bike fitting was complicated, but I really never appreciated the amount of technology and gadgetry available in the quest to find the "perfect fit." Bike fitting, like coaching, is a combination of science and art - even if you have the right science, you also have to have the right fitter. A good system alone is only part of the puzzle. In the past, most of my bike fits have been what is now considered to be "basic." (Note that the fits I refer to are the ones that did NOT take place with Playtri). This means someone put me on a trainer, watched me pedal, and made some adjustments. After what I've read today, this now seems woefully inadequate.

All this reminds me again of the complexity of the perfect race. As the World Championship is drawing nearer, I am sometimes overwhelmed by the amount of puzzle pieces that will all have to come together perfectly and at the right time for me to have the race I need to end up on or even near the podium - nutrition, swimming, biking, running, bike fit, running shoes, sleep, goggles, heart rate, power, bike, flexibility, balance, Vo2 max, lactate threshold, muscle recovery, mental toughness... the list just goes on! And it is interesting how this list is much less intimidating to me when I am applying it to one of the athletes that I coach. It is so much better when I can be objective (which is why I have my own coach, because I clearly can't be objective with myself!). However, I am always grateful to experience these thoughts and emotions, because they make me better able to understand the athletes I coach.

All this being said, I recall that I have yet to schedule a bike fit with Ahmed for my new bike... I think that's going in the budget for next month!

Until next time...

Lonestar, Where Aaaaare You... Ou-ut Tonight?

Galveston, that's where. Hopefully you all recognized the Norah Jones song there.

This update is overdue - since camp ended about 3 days ago, and I head back to Dallas today. But no matter. It was another terrific Playtri camp, with lots of fun and training and lessons to be learned. Camps always inspire me to be a better coach. Having the opportunity to work with coaches like David and Jeanne really gives me something to aim for, and shows me specific ways that I can improve my coaching.

I still tend to be a little tentative in my instruction with athletes that I don't coach one-on-one. It's not because I doubt my ability, but more that I worry that others might doubt my credibility. Which is just silly. What a waste of knowledge. It's something that I need to continue to work on (or, as Ahmed would say, "sucking it up"), and this weekend was a good reminder of that. Hearing great lectures from the other coaches also reminded me that I need to start preparing some more lecture material myself. I gave my first lecture in Hawaii, and quite honestly, wasn't personally thrilled with it. I let my nerves get the better of me, especially towards the end. I don't want that to happen again... it's the same as with my coaching, I've got the knowledge, but I worry that I won't be taken seriously, and I let it affect my ability to deliver. Just so you know, this is very personal stuff for me, but I share it because it's a huge part of what I deal with as a coach, and it tends to seep into my struggles as an athlete.

Speaking of, those were made glaringly apparent this weekend as well. Camps, whether I am a coach or a participant, always remind me of my own deficiencies as an athlete - in a good way, of course. It is motivating for me to be around other athletes, and hear about their struggles and dilemmas, as well as their successes. This past weekend was no different, and it left me motivated to, once again, pick up the ball and keep on working towards my goal. There was a great article in The Yoga Journal recently about how to change bad habits (like, I don't know, missing workouts unnecessarily), and while it made a lot of great points, the most important one for myself was a reminder that, hey, I'm worth it. My goals and success are worth me sucking it up and getting ALL of my training in. It inspired me and, in keeping with Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras, I decided to go ahead and honor Lent this year as well - I'm a rather fallen away Christian, but it's a time of year that always taught me a lot about self-discipline growing up, and that's something I need right now. So I am giving up slacking off on my workouts. Yep. I'm giving up on not doing something. We'll see how this goes - it starts today with a swim, and goes for the next 39 days. Hopefully by the time Lent is done, I'll be enough in the groove to just keep on the way I have been (though I might ask for one day off on Easter... just to celebrate).

Either way, I am, once again, giving myself a clean slate to work with - another point the article made as an important aspect of getting rid of bad habits. Don't be weighed down by mistakes - focus on what you can still do correctly.

Happy training, everybody


And a brief note: It came to my attention yesterday that via a post I made in October, it was implied that I write the training plans for some of Ahmed's clients. This is NOT correct. I occasionally do research on courses and timelines, and may work on schedules for practice, but all actual schedules and plans are written by Ahmed himself. Please feel free to contact either of us if this is a concern for you. Thank you for your understanding.

Who's Got a Case of the Mondays...

Ok, so it is completely understandable that after a super awesome weekend, I should be dragging a bit coming back to work today. It also could have something to do with the amount of drinking that happened on Saturday night.

But I'm getting ahead of myself - so this weekend, Ken came down to Dallas with Jake (his golden retriever) for some quality time with his favorite lady (me). It was a blast. Friday night, we went to the new burger bar in Uptown, Ketchup, and had fancy burgers with creme brulee shakes, and the french fry trio, which included sweet potato fries, zucchini fries, and parmesan fries with truffle oil. It was delicious, and surprisingly inexpensive - especially for Uptown. Saturday morning we had breakfast at Cafe Brazil (one of my favorite Dallas spots), and then spent about two hours at RBM where Ken got new pedals for his road bike, and I (finally) got my heart rate monitor fixed. We wouldn't have been there quite as long, only I kind of lost him about halfway through when he went outside to play on the new bike. After RBM, we took Jake over to the dog park on Mockingbird, where he terrorized all of the proper Dallas pooches and their owners by leaping up on tables and running through lots of mud and puddles. After Jake calmed down, though, everyone fell in love with him, as they always do, and everyone kept telling us what a beautiful dog he was. He is pretty - that's why he gets away with murder. Speaking of which, Chuck was not a huge fan of that particular house guest, as Jake for whatever reason decided that Chuck was a giant lollipop, and basically spent the entire weekend coating him in his doggie drool. Chuck's a lover, not a fighter, and he took it fairly philosophically - though he did throw a few blows when Jake got too crazy. We took a terrific video of the two of them that is hilarious - hopefully we can put it up on facebook or something soon.

Saturday afternoon, we went out for a spin around White Rock - Ken's first official ride on the new bike! He did such an awesome job - his natural athletic ability continues to amaze me. Which is good, because as I told him, I really don't know if I could date a guy who was slower than me. Anyways, we hit the trail right as some serious weather was blowing in, so we had to battle what were at least 30 mph winds at a few points, but he was a total trooper and didn't even complain that his first ride took place in a wind tunnel. Of course, there were still plenty of folks out there braving the weather to get in the weekend ride and/or run.

When we got back to the apartment, we ran into a lady and her golden retriever who were playing fetch in the backyard behind the building adjacent to the trails, and she noticed our bikes and started to talk tri's with us - turns out that she was a client of Ahmed's almost 10 YEARS AGO! Pretty wild - she said that he coached her through her first Ironman, after another coach told her their was not way that she could meet her goal for the race (and she didn't just meet it, she beat it). That's Ahmed for you. Anyways, it turns out that she lives practically next door to me, along with another triathlete who is across the hall, so I officially have some resident training buddies! And her dog (Kona, of course) was one of the sweetest golden retrievers I've ever met - hopefully a good buddy for Jake the next time he comes to visit.

Saturday night we spent with Steve and Renee - wine, dinner with wine, and then more wine is basically how the evening went. They are the best neighbors - we all had dinner together at Rockfish, where they were having half price wine night (I mean, come on, you really can't pass that up), and had a blast talking about anything and everything. Then they came back over to our place afterwards where we opened yet another bottle of wine, and let Jake into the living room with Chuck so that they could entertain everybody. We all work really hard, and the evening was a much needed break and chance to just be silly for all of us. I hope we will get to do it again relatively soon.

But then came Sunday... and, embarrassingly enough, the hangover to end all hangovers. Ken went and got me Starbucks, and stayed until I was up and moving around, but then he had to leave to go home and get some schoolwork done, and I had to go model some Playtri apparel for our new website. Yes, that's right friends - I am officially a fashion model. Playtri fashion, that is. The picture on the right is one of the snaps they took while they were setting up the lighting. The focus was, obviously, on the apparel, but I'm hoping to get a few really good shots for myself to use for wooing potential sponsors. If you are reading this as a potential sponsor... don't I look pretty in spandex?

We had a lot of fun at the "shoot," with Ali watching Nick Jr. in the background, and Mary and Jim rigging up all kinds of creative tri pods from various objects in the gym. It was great.

But later that evening, after much rest and hydration, I was still feeling the effects of the night before. Had to do my run, though, so I headed over to the 24 hour fitness center in our clubhouse to hit the treadmills, since there is no way I would run by myself in Dallas after dark (only thing I miss about Denton - well, that and my hottie). I get to the gym, enter the key pad code, and... the door won't open. I call maintenance. They can't help. Neither can the on call office person. Talk about frustrating! I almost threw caution to the wind and hit the trail by myself, but I knew it was just too stupid of an idea. One run isn't worth that kind of risk. But the long and short of it was, I didn't get to run.

So, with such a crazy weekend, I'm dragging just a little bit today. Not much time to waste, though, because with race season officially in gear again, there is lots to be done here. This is going to be a HUGE year for Playtri - and we have to get ready!

And, I have to get pumped for the 2nd Annual Playtri Lonestar Triathlon Camp THIS WEEKEND in Galveston, TX! Expect to hear all about it very, very soon...

Happy Monday!

THE Erin Baker

First, sorry for the long gap between posts... The past two weeks have been insanely busy, with the first Playtri race of the year, and the Austin Half Marathon this past weekend. I'm just now getting caught up on sleep, and back to training. For my results at the Austin 5K, check Facebook or www.youraustinmarathon.com. It was a difficult course with lots of hills, but I was reasonably pleased with my results.

A very cool surprise awaited me at work this morning. You never know who you'll run into here. Pro triathletes, USAT officials, famous coaches - and this morning, who should I meet in the kitchen but Erin Baker herself? I eat her granola almost every day, and there she is making coffee with our Keurig. So we get to talking. no surprise, about nutrition, which is something I struggle with a lot. Yep - I'm a coach and I've got all the info, but it's still hard for me to maintain the level of nutrition necessary for the level of competition that I want to be at. I always go for what is easy and fast, and usually for what I'm craving - which is rarely healthy. Most people would see my diet at a glance, and think that it's reasonably healthy, but if they saw the raw numbers that pop up when I log everything, they would be shocked at the high percentage of fat that I take in every day.

Anyways, Erin shared with me her story of two years ago when she decided to revolutionize her diet with a very simple method - requiring herself to eat a minimum amount of fruits and vegetables a day. That's it. She didn't require herself to cut back on anything, or stop eating things she liked - just to eat a certain amount of fruits and veggies every 24 hours. And she said that when she did that, the other stuff cut itself back, because she wasn't as hungry, and she stopped craving it. Could it really be that easy?? I don't know, but I aim to find out! Less fat, more carbs, here I come...

Ladies, you can hear from this nutritional inspiration as well - she'll be speaking at the CK Sports Ladies Night TONIGHT at CK Sports in McKinney at 6:30 PM! RSVP at 214-383-0088 and come find out how to get your nutrition on track.

Happy Wednesday everybody - the week is halfway through!

A Beautiful Day by White Rock Lake

Finally, FINALLY - the warm Texas weather has returned! The temps got up into the 70's yesterday for my run around the lake with my mom. It was such a huge relief to be outside and wanting to lose layers, as opposed to wanting to add them! We had a wonderful run before mom had to head back to Galveston.

This weekend wasn't ideal in terms of training, though. Saturday was spent entirely in Denton, doing last-minute moveout chores. Which of course means I didn't get a workout in - much to my frustration. Sunday was a little better. Getting the hour run in was great, but I didn't swim - though I did get to go and watch Ahmed coach a one-on-one swim at the SMU Nat, which will probably help my stroke just as much as an hour of practicing would have done. He completely changed my notion of rotation while swimming, and I can't wait to work on adjusting my stroke now. And I have some new drills I can try tomorrow!

Of course, today is Valentine's Day. Not Ken's favorite holiday, but I have finagled him into coming down to Dallas for the night, so at least we'll get to spend some time together, and maybe if I'm lucky I'll score some flowers as well. Originally my gift was supposed to be registration for the Austin Half Marathon... until it sold out. I guess he'll have to get creative now. (I'll be doing the 5K in conjunction with the half, now, much to Aaron's apparent relief - I guess all's well that ends well). I have a 30 minute run today, which I'll get in after work once it's a little warmer. My original intention was to hit the trails pre-work, but it was still a little chilly for me. Especially since I knew it would be in the 70's later on!

I hope everyone has a wonderful Valentine's Day, and a great Monday, too. Adios!

Inspired

Who doesn't want to make history? All of us want to leave our mark on society, in one way or another. And recently, the youth and young adult population of Egypt did just that. They forced a president who was, in reality, a dictator out of his office through sheer force of will and perseverance.

Wow.

I mean, that is HUGE. A call to action on Facebook of all places was all it took to ignite the democratic spirit of an entire population into a flame that literally consumed large cities all over the country. Now that's what I call spirit. Watching the protests in Tahrir Square has been an inspiring experience for me. These are people who know what they want, and are willing to give all of their time and resources to get it. When was the last time I wanted something that badly? Have I ever wanted anything that badly?

I always say that I am passionate about triathlon, but my passion seems so feeble in the face of these people. My complaints about not having time for a two hour workout, or being too lazy to log my nutrition, or not bothering to wear my heart rate monitor - these definitely are not signs of passion.

But the good thing about spirit and passion? They are 100% contagious, and the passion of the Egyptian country has inspired me, and reignited my passion for the thing that is first and foremost in my life - the triathlon lifestyle. It might only last a week, but at least I know now that all I need to get a shot of inspiration is to be around people who are passionate themselves. And I am fortunate to know a lot of people like that! So even when work and training and racing and family and volunteer work start to seem like a burden, I know I can turn to my friends and aquaintances for encouragement and inspiration. What an awesome feeling.

Training? What?

So I've been reading some of my old posts on here, and it occurs to me that even though this was originally, in my head, intended to be a training blog, most of my posts are just about life in general. Which got me thinking. One of the things we always talk about in Playtri is the "triathlon lifestyle." It's the idea that multisport, at its best, isn't just a hobby, it's a way of life - and everything in your life feeds back into it.

Am I living the triathlon lifestyle? I think I am, but sometimes it feels like it's harder than it should be, or like I'm missing too many workouts, or forgetting to log my nutrition, or forgetting to send my coach my schedule, or one of a million other things. Sometimes, I feel like a complete failure of a triathlete. Sometimes I worry Team USA will read this blog and kick me right off. How could they possibly want someone like me representing them at an international competition? The thought is ludicrous.

See, I am secretly a perfectionist. (This isn't actually a secret at all because every triathlete is a perfectionist, deep down). The way this plays out for me is that if I mess one thing up during the week, it's like I might as well not bother with anything else because I've already ruined the week. I know this type of thinking is completely illogical, but that doesn't stop it from happening. Last week was a huge victory for me, in a way, because I didn't log any calories for three days, but then I still logged for the last two days of the week. It's funny sometimes the things that make me feel victorious.

So the hardest part of living the triathlon lifestyle for me is letting go of my mistakes and moving forward - the good news is, I do already view my entire life as affecting my sport (which is why this blog is about anything and everything), I just have to remember that when things go wrong, it doesn't necessarily mean that everything is ruined. It might be slightly damaged, but it can still be pretty good.

I'm working on being ok with just "pretty good."

Movin' on Up... To the South Side!

Well, it's official - as of Monday, February 7th, 2011, I am officially a DALLAS-ITE! I never thought I would be so excited to say that. But I am! My new apartment is huge, and backs right up to White Rock Lake, with my own private (well, at least I only share it with other apartment residents) running trail to access the lake and parks. I have a gas-powered fireplace, gigantic bathtub, and a kitchen that makes my last kitchen look more like a closet! Oh, and let us not forget the parking garage, 24 hour fitness center, and beautiful pool. Living in ghetto Denton student apartments for 7 years will make you appreciate all of these things. I feel like a grown-up!

More importantly, I am now only 5 minutes from work, meaning no more I-35 marathon commutes, and more time to work, train, relax, and just live life - instead of listening to talk radio. At the end of 2010 I sat down with Aaron (my coach) and Ahmed (my boss) to go over my coaching goals for 2011. That's right - just like Playtri athletes have to do their athlete goals and commitments every year, Playtri coaches have to do their coaching goals and commitments every year. And at Ahmed's encouragement, my number one commitment was:

1. Move to Dallas.

Cross that off the list baby!! I had a 6:00 AM weights workout with Ahmed this morning, and it was utterly glorious to roll out of bed at 5:30 AM - and still be right on time! And I even had time for breakfast before I left! Breakfast in front of a roaring fire in my beautiful fireplace!

Life is goooood.

Now, ok, obviously moving is work, and 6 straight hours of it (not counting the commuting time) yesterday definitely left me with some aches and pains. At one point during weights I literally thought my left trap was going seize up and refuse to move. But as I said, it was totally worth it - and, of course, I had my sweet boyfriend helping me all day, so that made it much easier. I couldn't have done it without him.

So anyways, I'll be in a world of hurt when I wake up tomorrow, but at least I'll be waking up to sunshine and trees outside my window, knowing that work is only a painless 5 minute drive away. Completely, 100% worth it.

Want to come see the new place? Give me a ring and I'll have the wine/beer/soda ready!

The Lost Week

So, we had this ice storm come through. Maybe you heard about it. It happened to be the same week we were having the Super Bowl here.

And maybe it messed up some people's plans for the week. Mine included.

Over a solid inch of ice on the roads from Tuesday-Friday this week keep myself and about 99% of the DFW community stuck inside for four days straight, leading to missed workouts, missed work, and very poor eating habits involving alcohol and high levels of fat. I don't think any of us are particularly proud of this.

My feedback report that I sent to Aaron today read something like this:

Monday:
1 hour swim, 2000m, felt good after my hard swim the day before, looking forward to tomorrow's workout.

Tuesday:
Fail.

Wednesday:
Fail.

Thursday:
Fail...

Well, you get the idea. On a side note, for those of you who are coached athletes, your coach would still much rather get this than a false record of workouts that you "did." Just a tip. But anyways, it still isn't pretty to read, and after the awesomeness that was the week before, I was pretty cranky by Thursday, and desperately wanting to get out of the FREAKING house. On Friday, I actually walked two miles in the snow just to get breakfast. And it was probably the best walk of my life.

Needless to say, I didn't get to move to Dallas yesterday. The big move has been postponed until tomorrow (Ken declared today a national holiday), so I'll be taking tomorrow off work to get everything moved and get settled into my new digs. Hopefully having White Rock lake less than 300 yards from my door will be inspiration to get even more of my workouts done. Why is it that every time I start to get on a roll I seem to get jacked up?

Freaking weather.

I've been sitting on the edge of sanity all week. Let's hope moving day doesn't push me over, and that I can get back on track on Tuesday.

Back from the Island

I got into Dallas at about 7:00 AM yesterday - my awesome boyfriend picked me up from the airport, and we went to breakfast before he dropped me off so he could go study. My house was a wreck when I got home - I can't believe I left it so messy - and Chuck was overwhelmingly glad to see me. It's nice to feel loved.

My only workout for yesterday was a run with hill repeats in the middle - I got that done, no problem, though it did reveal to me that I need a serious massage after all the riding we did last week. My IT bands and abductors are ti-ight. I had to walk two of the uphills just to keep things loose. But it was great to be out there running - and the one thing I definitely wasn't missing about Kona was the extreme heat and humidity! The classic "Texas winter" weather was feeling spectacular yesterday, and my workout was accompanied by minimal sweat. After the run, I cleaned up the house (well, somewhat - it's hard to keep things clean when you're getting ready to move), went grocery shopping, dropped Tex off at The Bicycle Path for a much-needed tune-up, and made a delicious and healthy chicken-and-white-bean soup with butternut squash and green onions for Ken and myself. I also got some work done on the computer, and coached a weights workout for the UNT athletes - all-in-all an extremely fun and productive day!

Had to be up early this morning to get to work - I can't wait to be done with that commute, only one more week until the big move! After work, I'll be hitting the pool for an hour before I go home to try and get some more packing done, and hopefully see my good-looking boyfriend once he is out of class.

I always miss Hawaii when I leave, but it is good to be home.

Aloha (last one, I promise)

Training... Work... Whatever...

I want to be swimming and running right now. But this pesky "having-a-job" business that comes along with being an age group athlete has me stuck inside at Lava Java dealing with the 101 things that have come up during the past week. And the fact that, between the Europe and Hawaii trips, leasing a new apartment, breaking my old lease, and making car and coaching payments, I am flat out br-roke for at least the next week or two. Ramen tonight, anybody? It's very sad that I am in Hawaii, and right now would almost rather be back in Texas, working. In fact, it's just wrong. But my glorious plans for three days of non-stop training were clearly ill-conceived.

So now I'm taking phone calls and sending emails and creating files and all of the other administrative tasks that come with having a job (regardless of what industry it is in). And the water looks pretty and blue outside, but still, here I am.

I keep saying that someday I am going to start making those big triathlon bucks that I tell people about (jokingly, of course), but I have a feeling that they are still a ways away. It's hard being on the other side of this, realizing that even though I love what I do, it is still a job, and it requires hard work like any other job. If only it were all swimming, biking, and running, and no typing or emailing. That would be perfect. But no job can really be that simple, so I have to balance work and training like every other age grouper. And the truth is, even if work and money weren't an issue right now, I think that I would still be too blasted from camp to even take full advantage of three solid days of training. Lesson learned for next year, though. Camp is work, and work is taxing no matter what it is. Post-camp recovery is key. You know it's bad when you can't even fully appreciate Kona.

Anyways, in 48 hours I'll be on my way home to my three favorite guys - Ken, Chuck, and Jake - and some serious time in the office and on the trainer and in the pool. For now, I guess I'm just stuck in Hawaii... : )

Side Road to Kona

What a week. Coaching the Playtri Hawaii camp this past week was more challenging and more amazing than I could ever have expected. In all seriousness, I never fully "got" the Kona thing until now, but being here, and swimming, biking, and running on the world championship course, right next to famous pro triathletes, was one of the most inspiring experiences of my life. I don't even know how to explain the way it rejuvenated my passion for the sport, even beyond what I returned from the holidays with. It's like I remembered the myth of triathlon, got back in touch with the things that used to inspire me.

In fact, I loved it so much, I decided to stay an extra four days so I could do some training myself. So I rented a condo for $65 a night (the same condo, by the way, that Chrissie Wellington stayed in the first year she won the Hawaii Ironman - true story) right on Ali'i drive across from the ocean, and I intend to spend the next four days running, swimming, doing yoga, and lying on the beach. And eating and sleeping. All by myself, no work, no snow, no crazy cat (even though I love my Chuck to death), and no distractions. The only distraction I wish that I could have here is Ken... but I'll just have to wait until I get home for that distraction.

: )

But right now, I'm sitting on the patio at Lava Java, watching the sun set over the Pacific ocean, drinking Kona Big Wave Ale with some awesome athletes (and people). Learning that one of our middle-aged male athletes is a devoted Lady Gaga fan. Planning my open water swim for tomorrow morning. Hoping to run into Chris Lieto again...

I feel very, very fortunate this week. I know I have to remember to appreciate how lucky I am to have a job that I love that allows me to do what I love. I still have a lot to learn, but I could not be happier about where I am. Well... maybe I'll be even happier once the Playtri Youth/Dev program rolls out : ) But I think that if you had told me three years ago that I would be working in triathlon full time, I would have never dreamed that it would be possible. So I'm counting my blessings and hoping things just keep going as well as they have been - and that will be more than enough for me.

Aloha for now...