Salt , Hooding and Wildflower

Salt
Salt intake sometimes confuses me. OK, it's not the actual intake of salt or the why of salt it is more related to how my body deals with its need for salt.

This weekend wasn't a huge training weekend. I actually had plans of a run on saturday that got taken over dealing with some last bits of grad school insanity that I'll go into later. So...grad school...STILL won that one. Soon, very soon, that will NEVER happen again. I'm not even in grad school anymore! But in my haste to get out of grad school I left some unfinished business behind. Major part of it is taken care of with a small minor part to go.

On sunday I got a bike ride in. Nothing major. Only 20 miles. Nothing fast as it was windy and HOT...but whatever. Between the ride and getting to the car I drank two 24 oz bottles of liquid. One water, one with powerbar endurance. I have a moderate sweat rate most of the time and I didn't feel particularly hot or thirsty after the ride and continued to drink fluids the rest of the day.

But today...I was in a meeting where they were serving chips. Under normal circumstances I don't care much for chips to be honest...but I saw them and i KNEW I wanted the chips...solely for the salt. (fortunately they were baked chips). I probably should have grabbed the pretzels, but in all honestly I just wanted the salt on them. I've been like this all afternoon! Dinner...give me some SALT.

I've had weird salty cravings after longer training weekends and the like, but 20 miles on the bike? AND I had some sports drink...this is just weird the level of salt cravings I am having.

Hooding
Well...still two more days to deal with fiascoville with tying up loose ends for the final bits of the degree. My fiasco the other week with FedEx was with documents not getting to committee members in other countries. But...i think all is well...and all is back in the states. The dissertation has been uploaded. Final signatures are being hunted down on my behalf in MA. I might just have this all done and since I am one who needs closure on the situation I may just make them hood me in May.

Wildflower
I am currently making final arrangements with the other part of my relay. What I need for camping...all of that. Wildflower is this weekend. I had an anti-nightmare last week where I had a dream where what I had been imagining for the hills wasn't as bad as the actual hills. Although I was just told if I had done such-and-such hill here in SD, I would have a good idea what Lynch hill is all about. Not very helpful now. My plan is to keep it consistent as much as possible for the first half and go as hard as I can on the second half. I don't have to run...so my plan is to just hand off to my relay team and head for the lake to soak my poor legs. I am pretty sure it may be the hardest 25 miles I've ridden to date. But I'm up for it. It may be slow...but I have been doing (slow) hills all around here. Practicing my waltzing...which sometimes goes from one- two- three into one (hufff) two (huff) threeeeeeeeeeeeee(huff)...I guess I'm a bad waltzer :-)

Fatal Shark Attack

It has been all over the news since Friday when it happened. The man, David Martin, was out on a training swim with my tri club here in town when it happened. It really is an incredibly tragic event that is quite sobering . I haven't done a lot with the triclub since I moved here 6 months ago and I didn't know the him. By all accounts everyone who was with him acted like true heroes after the attack in getting him to shore and getting help. While these incidents are very uncommon and it is more likely that harm can come to a person on the drive to the ocean, it still reminds me how vulnerable we are as we train in any of the disciplines.

And the deadlift sorted me out...

Today my heart goes out to the deadlift. I heart the deadlift. Why you ask? Well...that weird nagging/painful back issue (that actually came on after a day of biking that had been proceeded by a day of yoga...so not necessarily related to the oblique injury of last week...but everything was too conveniently linked to the oblique so, I blamed that...not sure it was the right thing to blame.) gone...gone today after a notsofun/but remarkably satisfying crossfit workout.

3 rounds of Christine:
500m row
12 DL your body weight (too bad I don't weigh 98lbs)
21 Box jumps 24"

If you are curious about your strength to weigh ratio?...I suggest deadlifting your bodyweight...over and over. Focused me on continuing to decrease my % bodyfat, that is for sure. But here was an awesome benefit to today's workout, the weird lower back pain...pretty much gone. My muscles are a little sore on my back, but that's muscles not the weird place I was not feeling good before. I think that the deadlifting sorted out a spasming muscle. Very weird. Since this back pain started I have been trying to roll out trigger points my hips with a tennis ball as I was tending to blame them, but the deadlifting seems to have dramatically improved my wacky back.

The other awesome part of this morning I DID BOX JUMPS ON A 24" BOX!! Very exciting for the girl totally mortified of box jumping. Last time I did box jumps I was on a 12" box. This was so VERY exciting.

Speedy's brought up an interesting point about my level of injury prone-ness and why do crossfit when it hurts a lot even when it doesn't injure you. I've actually thought about this a lot and have been meaning to post about it for awhile. First of all...I quite possibly am a little injury prone. I easily get overuse injuries (have been to a PT two times prior for those...both IT band related), I have bizarre muscle imbalances, and most people are more flexible than I am....even when I'm doing yoga on a consistent basis. I can touch my toes now though, and that wasn't the case a few years ago. Granted I also fall more frequently than the average person too. My psoas injury being just one example of me falling, but due to pre-existing hip tightness PLUS glute weakness was a recipe for an injury that is just stupid in my book.

Crossfit appealed to me in the beginning for a number of reasons, but some of them were around addressing my weird overuse injuries that have been brought on by muscle imbalances and flexibility issues. Crossfit website talked about building strength, flexibility and power (of which I have little)...so I thought I would give it a try.

Aside from the oblique issue last week, (which I actually blame on my previous psoas injury as that has created a muscle imbalance as it tries to recover), crossfit has delivered its share of DOMs, but I've also seen amazing increases in strength and one thing I have seen is that my knees have stopped complaining about related IT band issues which is where I end up with overuse injuries. While I have yet to see if my strength gets translated into any kind of power on the bike(which so far...NOT seeing) or run, I have seen increases in lean body mass, and muscle definition.

So...why do I continue to do crossfit if it hurts so much even when it doesn't injure me? And I say this in full jest...but is this where I get to say "have ya run much lately"?;-) Why do any of us do these things? The human body and spirit is capable of amazing things. While at times my body protests to what I throw it through...I learn from it while it learns to adapt. Recently I've learned too much, too soon, too fast isn't good.

I also embarked on crossfit because I have sport ADD...I don't like to focus on one thing. Maybe that's why I'm a triathlete, because I get to mix it up...but in truth swim-bike-run...yawn. I still get bored and while I enjoy triathlons and the endurance I've gained from them, I also like learning new sports. Last weekend when I was biking on the ROAD near some kite surfers (Paul...:-) ), I thought that would be cool to learn to do. Or last week when I was talking to a co-worker he mentioned that he was part of a waterskiing club in the area. I have to say how COOL is that? I grew up waterskiing so I think that would be super fun to get back into. And while I'm actually not terribly athletic, it doesn't really matter much to me. I don't pick up a sport and discover that I'm actually outstanding at it, but it's fun. For me Crossfit addressed the ability to just pick up and do whatever new sport I want to try out by giving me the cross-functional strength when I need it.

Sure, Crossfit will even level the most seasoned crossfitters at my gym. On many a morning I've heard "UH...that hurts". But there is a level of camaraderie in suffering all together. And if a particular workout has me struggling, people are incredibly encouraging.

And to address my 'offseason'...I actually don't know how much of an "on season" I will have this year, but that being said...even if I thrown down an Oly later in the season, I doubt crossfit will be pushed to the wayside either. I'm still trying to sort out my balance of tri training and crossfitting. In truth, it doesn't really matter to me that much call it offseason or onseason....whatever whatever. I've got some bigger fish to fry in other sections of my life and I am finding that I can't really give training much mental focus. So I'm more focused on consistent training and increasing strength in order to help prevent injuries. It doesn't matter that much to me what that may look like as far as training. My main season goal is just to get back to enjoying the training which is more important to my life right now.

Updates

Swimming
Hmmmm...not doing much of that these days, maybe I should do a little more...soon.

Biking
I honestly think I'm getting slower. I don't really get it. I went for a 16 mile bike ride today in an area I ride and compared to a few weeks ago, slower. Blame the tires? Fit? Not sure. But i'm almost convinced I've gotten slower over the past few months I honestly don't understand it.

Running
Not as much as I'd like in this category either, but such it is with injuries and the like. I tend to keep the mileage lower, but last week I didn't run at all. Need to change that this week.

Crossfit
Trying my hardest not to let it kill me, but it typically does. Gone two weeks now without nasty DOMS so that is good. But haven't been there a whole lot either.

Injury updates
I've actually just tried to 'deal' and ignore whatever. Maybe not a good plan, I know, but that's how I roll sometimes. Strained oblique is better...sorta rested, iced, stretched and heated the area (probably why I haven't been doing much of any kind of training lately)but I think when it freaked out it caused a chain reaction last week and now my lower back hurts when I slightly backbend.(just reaching up and stretching backwards a little)...and no amount of heat or stretching is helping, which sorta wiggs me out because if it isn't muscular than that is NO good. But it doesn't hurt that bad either, nagging pain basically. Doesn't hurt when I train, only hurts at random times, like when I'm trying to do a kipping pull-up due to the swinging. No idea what caused it either. Psoas, it's ok...dealing, nagging at times. I may try to get some ART this week before Wildflower. I'm trying not to KILL myself in my training, and just get out there and do some stuff, but I'm also not pushing really, really hard as I just need things to heal and move past this frustration.

Wildflower
Well...since it seems I am getting slower these days, I have no idea what to expect for a 25 mile course that has 2500 feet of elevation gain and loss. Just over a week. Mentally just gearing up for a hard, hard bike ride.

Life update
I FREAKING HATE FED-EX. They suck. Tried to have a package delivered over to Europe...got there and now they are claiming they can't deliver it, but the recipient claims they haven't tried to contact him. The fiasco has been going on for a WEEK. Total FREAKING MESS. Makes me super cranky at the moment.

Jumping rope

I never did "Jump rope for heart" as a kid where you raise money for the american heart association...maybe I should have. It would pay off with Crossfit now a days, that's fo' sure.

Today looked like this

5-5-5 back squat at 85% max (115lbs for me)

Then 4 rounds for time of:
50 squats (unweighted)
50 double unders with a jump rope(where you try to spin the rope twice under you)...or 150 singles.

Me and jump roping. We never became good friends in grade school. We were mere acquaintances really. I could sorta jump rope with the long jump ropes, but jumping rope on my own? Na. And then doing double unders...that is more just hilarious really. But that being said for each round I would give double unders a good 'college try' for the first 10 and then move on to singles. And then randomly, I was only my last round and had counted out 120 singles and thought "let's try it double unders again"...no good reason, but out of the next 30 tries I think I actually managed about 10 of them. But when you aren't used to actually doing a double under then when it happens you don't know what to do on the next time to jump rope and you lose your rhythm. But I was pretty excited for the few I managed.

I did get a bike ride in this weekend in an area where I could work and focus on being aero more. I've gradually been trying to build a relationship with my aero bars. They are a little skittish of embarking on such a relationship, but I discovered more that my saddle isn't so thrilled with this new relationship nor are my shoulders (but they complain about biking in general so I tend to ignore them...they have their own set of pre-existing issues...it's not how my bike fits). But I'm doing better in areo. But I do have a tip from the weekend...if people are kite surfing where you are riding your bike, maybe not the best place to ride...dontchathink?? At least that was my thought by the end of it.

Awwww...

Thanks everyone for your comments. I appreciate it. None of us likes to be injured and injuries just seem to be crazy frustrating. Mindy is having some of that PT love that all of us athlete's don't like so much. My PT is a triathlete and I when he finally released me a few weeks ago, told him that I'd rather see him at tri's and say 'hi' and have a bagel or something than continue to be his patient. I mean he's a great PT, don't get me wrong, but I feel that way about just about any PT. They inflict pain for a living. It is never any fun.

Today I opened my USA Triathlon Life magazine and was reading an inspiring article on triathletes who have come back from MASSIVE injuries. I'm not equating my injury by any means on this level...AT.ALL. I mean one of the guys had been crushed by a bus and is lucky he wasn't paralyzed and is now fighting his way back to be a triathlete. Truly amazing. The article had a great, applicable quote that hit home for me and made me realize how worked up I can get over injuries:

When healing, less is often better, a notion counter to everything multisport athletes believe. Recovery abides by its own pace. It can't be rushed regardless of how distasteful a sedentary lifestyle becomes.

So true. Less is often better and so hard to remember.

To address Speedy's puzzling question of "how does one strain their oblique?" My answer...I'm super talented. While it seems that I may have not shown up on the day they were giving away the 'super duper speedy/graceful athletic talents' I sure showed up when they were handing out the gift of cluzy, stupid, injury talents. I mean this psoas stupidity that started back in November was due to me falling while trail running, granted you could blame the whole "it was at night thing"...but falling on a knee and then ending up in PT for 3 months. Nice one. Or how about falling down the stairs a year and a half ago? I'm just fortunate I didn't break my arm or crack my head open. Or when I was 15, I even crashed the first (and last) time I ever went mountain biking in which I got a concussion ended up on a spine board for 4 hours and then to hospital for CAT scans to which the doctor said: Wow you have all four of your wisdom teeth...and I replied: Did I break my neck and can I go home now? Grace is not my middle name.

In all fairness, I think the strained oblique is related to the fact my right side has been weaker with trying to rehab my psoas, so when I ventured to Crossfit last week and had the evil workout on the G-H-B I mildly induced some strain in that side since with the situps you do 'kick' yourself up on the G-H-B with the hips/core. So, I think the root cause of the strain is because I'm recovering from the psoas injury. They do seem linked considering where the strain is, where my PT tended to inflict a lot of pain, and the general muscle group responsible. Also remember, I'm super talented like that. :-)

More and more and more I am realizing that this season will be a huge focus on injury recovery/prevention and just getting a super solid base under me. I only have two actual races on my calendar...the bike leg of Wildflower's Oly and a Mud Run in June. I'm started to think about maybe an Aug/Sept Oly and a possible sprint. I may put enough S-B-R training in so I can thrown down a sprint when I want and possibly an Oly later. We shall see.

things

So...Tuesday I did not wake up 'Happy Skippy' as I hoped...but I also was able to sit up in bed and sneezing didn't scare me anymore. The icing and heating helped. But me, being a moron (as I can be) thought "since this is kinda related to my psoas, i'm guessing my hips need some more stretching out". I mean it is sorta part of the psoas issue. More illiacus, than psoas...but when I was seeing my PT he had found a tender areas in the region of concern at the moment. And the other major concern is...its the soreness is only on one side, the side I injured.

So me in my stubborness and stupidity decided that oh NO, I wouldn't do a swim-bike or run workout...i'd be 'nicer' to myself. I'll go do yoga. Yea, Yoga will sort this out. Stretching is good right?

Ok recently I haven't been to my local yoga studio place. I have a gym that has about a thousand yoga classes, so i'm trying to be resourceful and use my gym and not the yoga studio, even though I think one of the instructors is so awesome, but still I'm paying money to go to a gym, I should use it. A word about yoga in most 'gym' environments...it is not the same as a yoga studio. AT.ALL. I know this. Occasionally I've found a yoga instructor at a gym who rocks, but typically gym yoga is a little of the 'watered' down variety.

I heart Ashtanga yoga. I've gone through the whole primary series through a month long seminar. And I used to practice regularly with an instructor who wasn't necessarily a hard core primary-secondary series type of Ashtanga but gave a killer power class with a billion sun salutations. I think I like Ashtanga partly because it is a workout and partly because you don't have to hold a pose for a million years because you are 'flowing' from one to another.

BUT I think yesterday I did not remember that Ashtanga = core. Or better said, I chose to forget it. I chose to think I didn't *really* have anything strained in my core. No. I'm stubborn. I think I 'rationalized' that since I wasn't doing a S-B-R workout and I wasn't doing crossfit I was 'golden'. I'm a little slow at times. Getting things through my thick skull takes awhile to sink in...especially trying to convince myself to 'back off'.

I go to yoga at my local studio on Tuesday, with my favorite instructor. It is an Ashtanga for beginners class. (right) Only a level 2 class...so I figure not too bad right? The instructor asks about injuries, one guy (who had been a regular) was recovering from broken ribs and a hamstring injury and the instructor says 'you came to Ashtanga for your first class back?' I mention my strained oblique. I get much of the same. And it hits me...he's right. What AM I doing there?? Holy Crap. Ashtanga uses tons of core.

So, i give myself a 'pass' if I hurt too much i'll just hang out in Child's pose most of the time. So we start. I discover, oh, jump backs and jump ups...inflict pain. None of those. No big deal. Upward dog to downward dog...um, we have a minor problem. Plank? Nope. And of course he wants to work on jump through and jump backs from seated positions. So I'm basically screwed most of the time trying not to inflict more pain on myself.

If you don't speak yoga I'm sure you are lost. Imagine sitting cross legged on the ground, put your hands on the ground next to your hips. Lift your butt off the ground. Now tip your nose toward the ground with the whole body rotating too... while 'shooting' your legs behind you into a high push-up position. Lots-o-core.

I sorta just flopped about on my mat during all of that. On a good day i'm crap at that stuff. I got home, iced, iced, and applied more ice. Added some heat. Today I am sore to the touch in the area of question, but not too worse for wear.

Then today, I was SO inclined to go to the bike workout this evening, I even had my bike and everything with me at work...I finally just said NO. I took the day off. Tomorrow I will see what i will do. I may do an easy peasy bike ride. Crossfit temps me, but I refuse to do core work if I go. Hmmm...maybe just an easy peasy bike ride. Sigh. I hate this.

So, I'm not going to do the 50 mile bike ride this weekend. While it wouldn't be a training ride pace, I think i'm asking for more trouble. I'll probably keep it to 30 or so. Maybe if I keep things low key I'll get over this stupidity quickly.

I just want to DO what I want to DO!!!!!!!!

First off, recap of my weekend fun. Saturday I woke up and had plans to ride with the tri club but realized it just wasn't going to happen. I was low on sleep and lately i'm a little trigger shy with my training if I feel even a little 'off' after getting sick two times in two weeks. So I decided to sleep longer, go for a 5.5 mile run later in the day when it stopped feeling like July (I swear it is April?? 95 degrees in April, I have no idea where I moved to.) Pretty good run. Hip happy for the most part all was well.

Sunday I decided I was going to do a hilly 30 miles...at first. Awhile ago a friend of mine asked me if I wanted to do the Rosarito-Ensenada bike ride, a 50 mile bike ride down in Mexico. Travel in and out of Mexico has been rumored that you now need your passport and since mine had just expired, I was waiting for it to come in the mail. Saturday when I went to pick up my mail at my PO box, there was a note saying I had an expedited letter waiting for me that I needed to pick up when they were open. Only thing it could be is my passport! Wooohoo!

So...I realized I'd been riding 30 miles fairly consistently over the past few week, so inching to 40 this week and then doing 50 next week (which would be more of a 'ride' and less of a training ride anyway...no hammer fest with the people I'd be going with) would actually work out pretty well. I live in a pretty urban area of SD, and not the most biker friendly area as it is so much stop and go traffic...but there are some nasty hills near me. Short ones, and longer ones. I managed to crank out the first 20 miles in my neighborhood and then I got bored and went to find more open area to finish the 20 miles. Actually that was a good decision because the first 20 were some great hills and the second 20, while hilly, I was able not to totally kill my legs, but still keep it in the 'hilly' category. Nice.

Tonight...crossfit. I've been hating to admit it, but as of today my core was still somewhat sore from last week's evil GHB episode. But oddly while I was sore all week, it wasn't as sore as I've been with other ventures like when I tried out the pilates/gravity thingy at the gym last year and it felt like I got kicked in the chest by a horse and my abs hurt when I laughed. No, it was more random things...like when I would clip out on a bike ride or sitting up in bed in the morning. And then it would go away. So I just didn't think about it. And it wasn't as acute as after a first venture to pilates where you can't move for a few days and then it the soreness goes away. This has just been 'subtlely' sore for a WEEK!

Today, I walked into the gym only to find the workout that had leveled me back in Feb. Five rounds of the following:

15 Deadlifts (95lbs)
400m run
15 situps GHB...(last time it was 30 situps on the floor, but my gym just got new GHB thingys and they are inflicting all kinds of pain with them now)

I didn't know how I would do with my sore abs. Over the weekend I even tried to figure out if I had strained something last week, but after poking and prodding it didn't seem like anything was abnormally hurting. I made a comment to the owner of the gym...she said give it a go on the GHB and see how I do. I did one round on the GHB and said no more. I was starting to worry if I continued on the GHB for all 5 rounds I would do some serious damage. So...I listened to my body and opted for 30 situps on the floor instead. But I may still be in 'trouble'.

It's not the typical area of where my psoas likes to freak out. My hip is fine, but there is another area that can get tender and feel like all kinds of stupidity when pressed on, and this the area flaring up and if I inhale REALLY deep I can feel it a little bit. (i'm scared of sneezing at the moment too). I'm icing as I type this. I'll apply some heat later as that helps if a muscle spasm is taking place.

Warning: Total ranting

I'm just going to say it...if I've done something to myself again...I'm going to be PISSED OFF. Crossfit has actually been helping my stupid psoas issues. While longer distance training had been aggravating it a bit (which was one factor into my decision on not doing Vineman, get healthy deal with stupid psoas) but interestingly all the squats at crossfit seemed to be helping. I hadn't had a crossfit workout over the past 3.5 months where I left and I was even marginally bothered by my psoas, but I've had a MULTITUDE of tri related workouts that have only aggravated it. And I've been doing crossfit since my psoas was at its worst. So while they workouts have been hard, I've modified where need be. I even freaking modified tonight's workout when I realized the GHB was going to do some damage. I FREAKING listened when my body said 'let's not do that'.

Let's just say...i'm a little unhappy with how my stomach is feeling at the moment and i REALLY, REALLY, hope this is just a false alarm and I haven't done anything utterly stupid. 'm going to stop ranting right now, as some of this rant is due to other things too..but I just want to scream. This frustrates me beyond words at the moment.

So...i hope I can wake up all happy skippy tomorrow and laugh at how i totally freaked out over nothing tonight. I'm going to consider going to yoga tomorrow morning....that is assuming I can sit up in the morning.

Three times a charm...kinda

As I said in my last post, Cycling has so many little things to keep track of...fortunately the biking itself makes it worth all the crazy choas that trying to figure out all 

evil culprit shoe

the various little cycling parts causes. ANYWAY... I took my bike shoes in with my bike to see if the LBS could get me sorted out. This guy at least had more of an idea of how to access the soles of the shoes (Like Speedy and Bill suggested) more so than the other two bikeshop guys...from two different bike shops mind you...Anyway, he got the plate out (there is a section that pops out, I'm not sure why the other guys didn't notice this). Turned it around and around and around and said: "hmmmm...the plate doesn't quite line up with the spots for the Look cleats." There were the appropriate 3 holes, but the plate wasn't quite the right size. Boo...stupid shoes.  

Knowing that I might have to throw down some cash for new shoes, I came prepared with my socks. I lucked out and they had some carbon soled shoes on sale, 50% off, in my size. AND they were more comfy than my other shoes. Bonus. 

So here are the new shoes.  Yes, just shoes to look at. Fortunately for my wallet the pretty tri shoes I'd been eyeing were not in my size. These were correctly drilled, I got my cleats put on and had them put my Look peddles on my bike. 

I'm going for my hilly longer bike ride tomorrow. I'm looking forward to trying out the new shoes, and peddles. YEA!

Tires and tubes and cycling accessories

Who knew?? So...Anyway....sooooo many things I have learned about cycling, running, swimming since becoming a triathlete but with cycling it seems that there are so many little minor things that I never have any idea what they are until I look at them...stare at them wonder....hmmm...I wonder what that means and then have to figure it out. I mean a few weeks ago I figured out what TPI was...threads per inch...on a tire and why people cared (higher the number is considered to be a higher performance tire). Then there are various types of cleats, SPD, Look, wacky egg beater thingys, speed play. Then you have types of gearing on your 9 or 10 speed bike, STI shifters, ect. Length of crank. Aerobars, straight or rounded and do you re-gear your bike so you have your gearing through the aerobars. Then there are bike racks and how does one buy a Tule or a Yakamia rack without taking a course on the various ways to build the sucker. I mean really. 

So is it really any wonder that this evening when I went to change my tube (yet again...i'll get to the cause later) tonight that I FREAKED out when I opened up my tube put it next to the other tubes and noticed that it was anorexic? All I could think was "can that skinny little tube do the job?" It was a 18/23 sized tube and my big ol' fatty tubes had been 20/28....whatever that meant. I just knew I had a tube that had been on a diet and I am supposed to go for a ride tomorrow morning and all I have are skinny tubes. I look at my watch...it's 6pm. Bike shop closes at 7pm...I jump in my car and away I go. 

A very nice woman working at the shop helped me out. I told her I needed tubes and tires (I still hadn't bought new tires like I wanted a few weeks ago)...so we chat tires first because that is more fun than boring tubes. As we chat I pull the 'Uh...I think this is a stupid question, but can I put a 18/23 tube in for a 20/28? Does it matter?' She makes me feel better that it isn't a dumb question and that most people wouldn't have noticed the tube had been on a diet and would have put it in anyway. The numbers have to do with the width of the tires. So, now as we look at tires...sizes 23, 25 and 28...it is starting to make sense all this weird numberage. I buy a pair of Specialized Armadillos and then purchase a few more tubes for good measure, even though my skinny tubes should 'work'. 

We then chat about shoes. I have this DUMB issue in that I bought some Specialized shoes a few years ago...nice carbon fiber bottoms...got a wicked good deal on them...150 dollar shoes for 80 bucks, but when I went to upgrade my peddles to Look peddles a few weeks ago (from my 'training wheel SPD's' as I liked to call them...to me they were my 'easy' to get used to clipless that I got 3 years ago when I first went to clipless) my shoes have the holes FOR the cleat for the Look peddle, but it doesn't have the threads to accept the screws for the cleat. Very weird. And no one could figure it out. So, I'm going to bring them in and see if they can do anything about it. I doubt it. But if they can, that would save having to purchase new shoes. (Although there were some pretty women's tri shoes that caught my eye). 

I get home all kinds of excited for new tires...and well...hmmm...after having put on a tire bead some 4+ times by this point, my fingers are having none of it for the new tires. Sigh. Tomorrow I'll try again. 

Oh, and the only reason my tire was flat again is that I blame it on the fact that I used to be a poor grad student and had merely patched my previous flat and put it back in my flat kit. The patch didn't hold. That was also why I had a flat on the other tire on Wed. While having a flat kit during a ride is handy to help get one home...just chuck the tire once home. It'll just give a headache in the end otherwise. 

The HILLS are alive...

I'd post a Sound of Music clip or something, but that musical drives me nuts...ESPECIALLY when she's twirling around singing "The Hills are alive...with the sound of music"...so I'll spare you. I'll spare me. Anyway...

Today was hill repeats with the tri club. I got to the determined location...and didn't get lost...had a HEART attack as I drove up the hill (as it was a 15% grade according to one sign) AND the traffic was a little scary too. So I had no idea what I was in for.

As I was getting my bike out of my car, I discovered that I had a flat rear tire. Bummer. I got the wheel off the bike, changed the tire LIKE A CHAMP (ok...it wasn't like I changed it in less than a minute BUT it was record time for me and even got the tire ON without too much struggle). By the time I had it all pumped up, Paul had shown up for the workout also and gave me a few pointers on how to get the rear tire back on a little easier and helped me with the last bits of getting the wheel back on in a 'smoother' fashion. (Thanks again).

Fortunately the person who was coaching the session had picked out a hill that was on a side street and had no outlet so the worry over traffic and the 15% grade was all for not. We did the hill repeats between 5-7 or however many times you could do in the allotted time. Me...it was either 4 or 5, i lost count, I think it was 4. As I predicted, pretty pathetic on the climbing, but that's why we do these things. To get better at them. (Later I was told I was using the wrong gearing...but again...that's why we practice these things) On the way after the hill repeats headed back to the car, the person coaching the session showed me how to 'waltz' up the hills. THAT was cool...basically push hard on one peddle, and then lighter for the next two...and then push hard again...light on the next two strokes (Left-right-left; RIGHT-left-right...ect). Like a waltz...ONE-two-three...ONE-two-three. You get actually more power/speed and you don't tax your legs as quickly. I will try it out as I am bound and determined to LOVE hills as much as I can over the next few weeks before Wildflower.

i DO listen...on occasion

OK...OK...OK, I'm stubborn. I don't listen all that well. I admit that. So...i'm pretty proud to admit for ONCE I did listen. After yesterday's foray with the GHB and I knew that I was going to be due for a very sore core and a sore back I decided to change up my training depending on how I was feeling. 

This was the deal. Depending on my level of soreness I would chose the following. If I wasn't terribly sore I would go to crossfit in the morning and plan for a nasty bike ride full of hills. 

(Side note: I'm kinda freaking out about the bike leg for wildflower...and I don't even have to do the whole tri...just the bike leg...of the OLY. Total freak out this weekend that resulted in me saying...ok...Hills are our friends. I think it was when I looked at the profile and realized that one of the hills is 3 miles long. 1 or 2...OK...but 3? And 2500 total elevation gain...yikes. At least I have a triple. That is the ONLY thing on my side. I'm not a strong cyclist nor a steller climber, but whatever. Just keep spinning...that is my general motto for hills anyway. I may only go 6mph up the hill...but just keep spinning up it as best as I can. )

Anyway I woke up this morning to discover that my hips were rather sore from the GHB and my run...as well as my core. Not so sore it makes me hurt when I laugh kind of sore, but sore when I move around kind of sore. But since the hip flexors were sore, but they hadn't YET taken my psoas hostage at that point, I decided to try to convince them not to go to war on my psoas and instead of crossfitting and nasty hills...I was nice to them. I went to yoga this morning and then did a nice 1500y swim this evening. Maybe I'm learning. I am looking forward to when my injuries and my fitness are more aligned in with what I'd like to put down for my training and not end up sick. 

I will get some nasty hill work in tomorrow. It'll probably be so pathetic it'll be hilarious...but if you can't laugh at yourself, well who can you?? (Well....and not be called mean?) And hey, being bad at something just means that any improvement is much more dramatic...right? I tell myself that all the time. 

G-H-B

G-H-B = Glute-Hamstring-Back-extension.
G-H-B = E.V.I.L

3 rounds on the GHB:
30 situps
25 back exentsions

I will probably have DOMS tomorrow...i'm starting to feel the soreness settle in. Beauty.

After the 3 rounds of FUN...we then had to run 400m 4 times with 2 minutes rest inbetween. My best: 1:46...but its not *truly* like 400m on a track...so I'm not sure what to make of that number.

Ran a hilly 5ish miles...was going to make it 7.5 tonight and I remembered that Last time I was getting over being sick I hit my training really hard and well...got sick again. Don't want that again, so i'm trying to modulate or something like that.