and a runn'n

So curiosity got the better of me today. My training has been 'meeh' this summer with attention diverted elsewhere, and so i haven't been really that clued into my running. I'd been noticing my running was alright. I've been pretty chill about paces this summer, it's not my focus. Recently I've been seeing my long runs (of 6 miles) times drop between the 10-11 mpm pace. So I was curious how my cardio was holding and what I can just 'see' from how the 'engine' (aka...base endurance) is doing compared to the actual speed as speed will increase as endurance gets better (to a point) and then speed work needs to come into play. There is an interplay between endurance base and pushing the speed work.

I digress...anywho...basically the goal: 6 mile run, first mile warm up, next mile 150bpm, next mile 155 bpm, next mile 160bpm, next mile 165 bpm, next mile as fast as can I felt like dealing with...and a cool down.

It broke down like this
mile avg HR time
1 147 11:53
2 154 11:07
3 160 10:28
4 165 10:05
5 176 8:36
6 was more of a walk-run-walk for 13:50


I think this a great place to start from as I prep for a fall 1/2 marathon...and a winter marathon. I'm rather pleased considering everything that's going on.

And...i should add...it was WICKED hot...90 degrees...lots of humidity...shoulda run in the morning.

Got some choices...

So...i'm sorting out my choices for running and all that good stuff.

I do know this: in October I will be running the Long Beach 1/2 marathon

But as far as a marathon...the choices the choices. Thanks for all of you weighing in on the marathon debate...all comments even the cheeky ones are welcome (maybe ;-) )

I think i've tentatively decided on a winter marathon.
Anyway...here are the possibilities. Please feel free to weigh in if you have done any of them, or are familiar with any of them.

OC Marathon 01/06/08

Redding Marathon 1/13/08

PF Chang's Rock n Roll Arizona 1/13/08

Habitat for Humanity Diamond Valley Lake Challenge 1/19/08

Carlsbad Marathon 1/20/08

Surf City Marathon 2/3/08

LA Marathon 3/2/08 But...as No wetsuit girl pointed out in my earlier post this may be not advised by the surgeon general's warning...and it looks like you run right though a concrete jungle...not really my choice.

In the process of putting together a schedule for a race in roughly 24 weeks...

The debate within…

Lately I’ve been reminded that as far as an being an athlete…I am a triathlete. Not a swimmer or a cyclist or a runner…although I do have some tendencies to have a running ‘problem’ at times. But rather, I’d prefer to focus on doing multi-sport stuff with the end goal of a tri than be focused solely all the time on one sport and ‘cross train’ with other sports. I forget this sometimes…let me try to explain. If I’m debating about non tri races during triathlon season I have to stop and think really hard about it. I was contemplating running a marathon next june as there will be one basically in my back yard after I move. But the more I thought about doing that marathon…the more I started to be annoyed that it might screw with my tri season since it is at the beginning of June. The build...the taper...the recovery.

Granted the tri season in S. Cali is longer than up here in Massachusetts, but I didn’t really want my training focus during all those good daylight savings hours focused on an A race that wasn’t a triathlon AND it was during tri season. So I’m starting to contemplate a marathon that is in 6 months from now…the one I’m debating would be 3 months after my ½ marathon in October…

The whole debate makes me laugh because I know people give me funny looks when I say i'm thinking about doing a marathon...much less me saying that the reason I wouldn't do a specific one didn't have to do with it being a marathon...but that it interfered with my tri season next year. I think i'm just looking forward to having an actual tri season next year, THAT's what i'm looking forward to.

On other notes...sadly boredom of the dissertation has set in. I tend to get bored after awhile when I'm writing. I have my main things said...now i don't want to go back and re-write every little thing. It makes me want to SCREAM. Whew...that's out now. We can now move on.

And...another tri

WoooHooo...i got a SECOND tri in for the season. Wow...i may still be a triathlete :-) A rather late in the game decision on my part (as in wedensday), but i decided that since I had finished a sprint two weeks ago and have gotten my running times up to at least an hour these days...I knew i wouldn't be scraped off the pavement at the end of the day, so I was in.

But what is a race without a little drama for me? I am not certain if I am capable of NOT having drama the day before a race. Last tri...it was a double flat tire issue...Hartford in the fall...it was drama in general. I have come to accept that bad pre-race issues can yield good race day karma...at least that is what I tell myself. That's how it rolls sometimes...This time the drama involved climbing through a window and falling in/on the window ledge and BRUISING the crap out of my legs is part of my pre-race drama, oh and being locked out...HEY, that's how it goes, right? At least I have some fun looking injuries on my legs. Yeish.

So fortunately this race was MUCH closer than two weeks ago, there fore it did not necessitate a 4am wake up and amazingly I get into bed so early that I almost get 7 hours of sleep. What is going on with me? Stranger things have happened, but lately things are a bit odd. Although I am greeted this morning with an UNHAPPY stomach that makes me start to question this whole endeavor (as I can barely get 200 calories in without feeling like i'm going to retch) I attempt to convince myself on the way to the race that I can eat more...um...notsomuch. Anyway, by the time I get to the race site, I'm feeling a little better.

Find my way to the race and apparently this one is advertised as a 'diamond in the rough' as it is it's first year. If they had said nothing about it being it's first year, one would never have known. It was tightly organized, the transition area was awesomely set up. Tons of room. It was great.

I get set up and saw JB the smaller and JB the taller who are doing the Oly and D who is also doing the sprint and meet up with them prior to the race chat a bit. We discover in the pre-race meeting that the OLY bike is now the same distance as the sprint. They 'claim' that both are 15 miles...but it didn't seem so much like that. JB the smaller thinks it was 13.5...me...uh...well...i think I finally realized my bike wasn't zeroed out until about mile 1...so i have no idea. But I can tell you one thing...the fact that I have NOT been biking, much less riding hills... showed.

The swim was fine, 0.5 mile, although at one point I realized I was having trouble breathing and reasoned that I could either take bigger breathes or slow down that might help. Got my breathing under control. Time 17:02...about the same as the last sprint two weeks ago.


The bike, it was an out and back course. The out...up, up, up...the back...a lot of down...but still amazingly some uphill too. Sadly due to the lack of time in the saddle and the fact I haven't been climbing much, my avg speed came in around 15.1mph. Meeh...not great, but whatever. I enjoyed it.

The run...came and went. There were no mile markers, just the turn around for the sprint's 3.1 miles...so I clicked my watch at the turn around 14:26, I thought I wanted to negatively split the run, but I think I lost track of my brain on the run too. Second split came in slower, 14:32.

Total time by my watch 1:43:xx...although I forgot to hit stop after I crossed the finish line so that may account also for the non-negative split on the second half.

Overall, enjoyable day spent with friends and meeting a few new faces too. Glad I was talked into the whole fiasco even after I convinced myself that there was a 10% grade on a hill...(notsomuch...but hey, it would have made a great story right?...nah...good stories are over rated)...

So at least I get to sport some insane bruises...too bad they are from my window sill and not from something more 'exciting' like a tri. But i wouldn't be me...if it had happened anyway else.

Angry Rain

I love this word:
whinge

intr.v. whinged, whing·ing, whing·es Chiefly British

To complain or protest, especially in an annoying or persistent manner.

Americans don't use this word very much, (as it is chiefly british...see above)...but those that speak English and not American (as i've been corrected on many a time when I lived abroad...I speak 'American' or as some English speakers used to 'take the micky' and just say that i spoke 'Mer-y-CAN') Anyway, the american term that many use is whine. Yet whining is actually a little different than whinging, but anyway...that's not the point. The point is this morning I WAS WHINGING and I was annoyed with it.

Ever get that way? Where your own whinging is so annoying to you that you can't stand it? Maybe i'm the only one who ever whinges and admits it...but anyway...it was what it was.

The lightening and thunder woke me up along with the water pouring into my window because it was raining so hard and the gutters stopped working properly on the roof. Nice. I thought 'This is good...i can get a lot of work done today and tomorrow is my tri! Great...awesome". I get up, fix some breakfast and then the whinging begins. It was a weird battle this morning as it raged on (and I apologize to anyone who got in the middle of my whinging and ranting) because it became surreal at one point and I finally realized I was angry at the rain. At the rain??

I generally have two conversations with myself going on at any given time...no...those voices in my head are not talking back...no split personality (i don't think :-) ) Just the general back and forth a person goes through between the innerself and the ...hmmm i'll call it the rational/logical self.

But at one point...I had to have it out...all I could think to myself was "You are mad at the rain?? You have no control over that...and you are mad at the rain. Nice one there" And sometimes I have to talk myself through the stupidity of what is going on inside my head. Here's the conversation:

Innerself (IS): rain...bla...bla...
Logical self (LS): What is your problem??
IS: the stupid rain
LS: Stupid rain? What are you going to melt? You've done a duathlon in the pouring rain in April in Massachusetts, freezing your tights off where you thought you were going to be swept away by the flooding water and at one point were more worried that you would see Noah and his Ark floating down the road as you tried to ride your bike up it.
IS: (more whinging about the rain)
LS: And You did your first 1/2 marathon in situations that would have more been like a 1/2 marathon swim than an actual run. You've done triathlons in the rain to the point where you were afraid that your breaks wouldn't work properly and you are going to cry a river over some rain? Gimme a break. Really....what is your problem?


And then...breakthrough I suddenly figured out what in life was bothering me, yet I was taking it out on stupid things...I wasn't angry at the rain...I was frustrated with what was happening with my dissertation and my lack of an adviser who spends all of his time with students who aren't even going to graduate soon...and ignores those of us who are gunning for the door in the next 4 weeks. He just says "Let's meet later" and then...oh...notimeforyou. But my favorite thing is that he refuses to make an appointment to see me. "oh no...I will find you later"....sure...right...liar. I swear, I think i would have to light my thesis on fire and put it on his desk to get his attention. Ah...the joy. Only 19 days til I have to turn it in. "This too shall pass."

Sigh

Well tomorrow...another tri...and this time instead of just feeling mildly under prepared, i feel...REALLY under prepared. The hills look, um...how shall I say...scary (i pushed the 'register' button before I realized how big they were...although i'm still not sure if that would have stopped me.)...and I have been biking on not a single hill...so that just means...more FUN for me. actually...no sarcasm....it really does mean that...it's all about the experience....it's about being there, enjoying the day, seeing friends, and experiencing it. I have no expectations except to experience it all, stroke for stroke, pedal for pedal, stride for stride.

Fingers crossed that there won't be lightening.

See ya on the flip side.

To tri...

((OK I have a disclaimer before you read this post.
1) If you love Shakespear and cannot bear the thought
of someone using one of his soliloquy and modifying it...
well  don't read on (and you should sue all those english
teachers who make students re-do
one in proper iambic pentameter too :-))
2) To dissert in proper definition means:
to speak or write at length...which is sorta what I mean.
Mainly I mean the whole process of crafting of a disseration...
so yes, i did sorta make up the word...but...anyway...)
3) I did actually attempt to try to keep
the iambic pentameter...hence the weird changes to words.
4) Why did I do this? um...i'm finding that in order
feed the 'creative' juices for my other analytical writing, i'm finding
I need to do creative things and other things...and well...i'm a dork. :-))



To tri, or not to tri: that is the question:
Whether 'tis nobler to dissert and endure
The slings and arrows of graduate school,
Or to take arms against a sea of swimmers,
And thus be swum over? To swim: to bike;
To run; and to tri is not to dissert
The heart-ache and the thousand natural shocks
That being passed is heir to, 'tis better
To commit to finish. To swim, to bike;
To tri: perchance to dream: ay, there's the rub;
For in any tri what dreams may be born
When we have shuffled off this mortal fear,
Must give us pause: and a respect to tri.
This makes one see we are so short of time.
To miss the chance to spend with friends and race,
Or to stare at a screen and to dissert,
While fully knowing the pangs of missed chance,
Or endure the mock of conscience instead
That one would endure by choosing to tri,
When she herself knows which the wiser choice,
Being faced with the truth of a lost day,
And rather to push-on and sweat and tri,
But that the dread of lost chance wins against
The bearing of great angst of not dissert’g.
Know’g no one returns unchanged from a race,
Rather it makes us bear those ills we have
With others, as we see life must be lived
And not let conscience make cowards of us;
And thus the native hue of resolution
Is marred by a small pale thought to dissert,
The enterprising company of words
That shall be chapters that few will e’er read,
And lose the name of action. - Soft you tri!
The fair race! Oi, it seems there is one choice
But to dissert like mad until the tri.

So...I am in...i have signed up...and
I am doing another tri this weekend! Yea.

why is blogger being a pain??

And dance...

"Dance like no one is watching"...

Slightly cliche...but here's why you should...you just might make someone's day.

I had a 'ho-hum' sort of day...nothing too exciting. A lot of boring reading...what's new. I went to the grocery store to pick up some dinner and there is this 70+ year old guy, driving his car...ROCKING out to POLKA music...he was singing and dancing (as much as a person can when they are driving a car)...and now...I can't wipe the smile off my face. It made my day, if not my week. Not because of what he 'looked' like while flailing about in his car (although it was humorous), but because he did it with such wild abandon.

It made me think about how little in my life I do with wild abandon. Just to do whatever, and not think about how I look or what others will say, or really care about whatever they think...so rarely will I just do something with everything I have and not care what other people think...I know that many times when I think about doing something with wild abandon, i begin to fear that others might judge me for my crazy behavior, yet many times it actually encourages others to try something new.

but in reality, most of my behavior is a bit erratic and crazy...so WHY do i even care anyway?

so strange

What *was* I thinking?

"What was I thinking?" Coursed through my brain at 4AM Sat morning when the alarm went off. After the discovery of a flat tire as I was loading my bike on the bike rack on Friday night and two tire changes later ( worthy of pit crew status of course...OK...totally lying on that one.) due to one of my spares ALSO having a hole in it, I got to bed rather late on Friday. Sat morning's rudely early start got me doubting this whole triathlon thing in general. Really...'what was i thinking??'

OK i will admit it...this thought generally goes through my head at least once on race day. But generally it is reserved for the time right after I have gotten off my bike and I am attempting to run on Jell-o legs and I just feel the burn of the previous discipline course through my quads. So I figured, hey...let's get that comment out of the way early on...and early it was.

And yet another confession if you are already unaware of ...i am not a morning person. I want to be a morning person. But I am not one. Even if I had more than 4.5 hour of sleep on Friday night...hey even if I got 8 hours of sleep on Friday night, Sat's 4am wake up call would have still left me in a delirious stupor. It has to do with the time of day...not the amount of sleep I get.

It was my friend PH's first tri...and our friend KB wanted to come along and cheer us on. While having a cheering section is ALWAYS great...i couldn't help thinking "you want to get up at WHAT time to come WITH us...and stand around and cheer"? Obviously...an awesome friend. Anyway, PH showed at my house at 4:30...we loaded the gear and got on the road. The weather was PERFECT. High of 80...70 at the start, sunny...lovely...wonderful basically.

I've been so busy these days with trying to get done, that i haven't had time to contemplate the whole racing...training...ect. I knew that my endurance base was pathetic. I knew I wasn't super trained for the race...but I think the enthusiasm that PH had for the race was a lot to encourage me to give it a go and just enjoy. Since my training has been less than steller, i had no expectations...and that was really what I needed right now in my life. Trying to finish up before I move has held enough expectations...and recently I think what I needed was something that I enjoyed and could share with others to help put life in general into into perspective a little.

Anyway...we get to the race, set up...get geared up. No issues really. PH is in the first wave...i'm in the 4th or 5th. A lot of standing around and waiting. I realize i'm hungry at this point. It's been almost 4 hours since I ate. Although...maybe those are butterflies and not hunger pangs...:-)

Finally it's my swim start...and we are off. During the swim I make a conscious decision to just be in the race...fully...what ever I am doing. I tend to always think about "what's next" in a race...and hey let's be honest...how often do we just be in whatever activity we are doing in life. So I decided to be fully aware of the day...and just enjoy. Breathe, stroke, breathe, stroke. And finally...i saw the beach. It was actually a really good swim for me as far as my rhythm and sighting and not dropping my hips when I sighted...total time 17:00 for 1/2 a mile . The swim confirmed my LOVE of my new swim goggles.

T1 I managed not to hang out in too long...less than 2 mins. Nice.

The bike was a very undulating course...never really a time without a hill. It was an alright course...some areas a bit rough...I was please to see a final avg speed on my computer of 16.6mph. That's about where I finished up last season in my avg speeds...so to see that in a race that I haven't been in the saddle all that much for...is great...encourages me for when I have more time to devote to training.

T2...quick again.

The run.."i thought there were more aid stations" went through my head half way through mile 1 since there was one supposed to be at the 0.5 mile mark. Oh well..i'll live. The first half was up hill. My watch said...9:20 for the first mile, 10:30 for the second mile...and then 7:45 for the next mile and 4 something for the final .2 miles...looking at those time...mile markers MUST have been misplaced. Granted the 7:45 was on a down hill...but, honestly...no...my effort was not a sub 8mpm...fun to entertain, but more likely a misplaced mile marker. Over all pace from my final time looks like it was 9:40 something...

Final time 1:40: something.

I was pleased. I had no expectations except to have fun...and I did...sure it was definitely not my potential...but neither has my training these days. I wanted my friend PH to have lots of fun...and he did. His comment afterwards was "that was AWESOME"... that was the best part. My friend KB had a great time cheering.

The best part was just to savor the day...savor each discipline as it passed...I got to share a part of my life with good friends that many in my don't get to...and then to watch them find so much joy in it...filled me with joy.

So...what was i thinking?? I was thinking it was going to be an awesome race shared with friends...and it was.

Happy Dance

Yesterday was another milestone...and this one I cleanly rocked out of the water. No more experiments, only writing left to do. THIRTY-SEVEN days to finish writing and 45 days til Defense Day...and fifty some odd days til the movers show up and haul my sorry butt out to S.Cali...i say "Bring it"

happy dance...happy dance...happy dance.

BUT there is a much more FUN reason for a happy dance

THIS WEEKEND...Tri-fun.

It's my friend's first Tri and its the first of the season for me.

And while my endurance is, um, how shall we say...bad...and i've never been this undertrained for triathlon...i have to say, it'll still be lots of fun. It's gonna hurt. But, yea...ok...it's kewl.

I've been training reasonably for the past few weeks...I got a great brick in on Sat 15 mile bike with a 2 mile run. Mainly workouts have been fairly consistent 4-5 days a week. And i've had a lot of open water practice this season, which is good.

OH, but I bought the BEST thing EVAH...open water/tri goggles

I.HEART.THEM.

I do.

Maybe the seal goggles are old news to you...but they are amazing. You can see lots...and as long as you don't break the seal on them, they don't leak. Yet another reason for a spontaneous Happy Dance.

When I was purchasing the goggles, i'm not quite sure how I made it out of the store with only the goggles and a new race belt (again...I heart the race belt...but as much as i love it...it didn't change my life like the goggles did). The tri clothes kept calling my name...I managed to escape...somehow...i don't know how.

Yea...tri this weekend.

back and forth

Well after a week long traveling bunch of fun, i'm back to MA...with just a few short weeks til I move. What will happen in that time is too soon to tell...but there is a lot of chaos headed toward me. AND...drumroll please... i WILL actually be doing a tri this summer. Here's the really cool part...I talked a friend of mine into doing his first tri. Getting new people into this sport is always so much fun. And I have a new tri training buddy which is great too. Back to open water swimming for the summer. More on that on a later post.

Anyway...the last week was awesome even though it involved a lot of flying and a lot of driving. I flew to Seattle to meet up with a friend of mine, hang out for a day and then hit the road and drive to Montana for a good friend of our's wedding. So the night before my friend JT and I hit the road, we were discussing travel plans for the trip. I was supposed to be there by 5pm as I was going to be in part of the wedding and was suppose to be at the rehearsal at the church.

Um, yea.

The night before me, JT, her husband, and I discuss the trip....how long it'd take...bla, bla, bla. So we set up...decided on a start time between 7 and 730am as we thought that would get us there right darn close to when I needed to be there...and we could help with decorating the church.

Over half way to MT we find a nice place for lunch. I've taken a bite out of my sandwich when JT looks at me and says:
"OH CRAP"
i look puzzled
she says "timechange"
me: "hmmm??" thinking, thinking thinking....ARG! The three of us the night before had neglected the time change and now we were an hour LATE...not *just* on time to the rehearsal. ARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGG!! (but funny that the three of us could not catch it).

In the end we made it to the church...not on time...but found out what I needed to know for the wedding the next day and all was well.

The trip out was beautiful. I'm from idaho originally and have spent a good deal of my life in the Pacific Northwest, so while parts of the trip were new...it was still so familiar to me at the same time. Sigh.

The hills were beautiful...we weren't in quite the right places for the BIG mountains, but it was still The West, and breath taking. (Although Benson said that Montana had covered wagons...in my long, long drive...no covered wagons. Ahem...did I miss something? :-))

The wedding was fun over all. And not surprisingly some of my normal silliness surfaced...

On the way back we needed a stop in Coeur D'Alene and what did we just take a rest break in the middle of....but Ironman CDA. I waved at the Ironman bikers who where zooming by. I quickly cheered, but then we had to get going.

After a rediculous amount of driving and flying...I made it back. I am looking forward to the tri i'm doing mid july...and i knowing that this insane chapter in my life is coming to a close soon enough...soon enough....

less ranting...more training...

My personal ranting in my life in response to monday has subsided a little bit. Which is good...it has allowed me to get what needs to be done, well, done. This event has also encouraged more running...so Wed and Thursday I ran 6 miles each day. I liked that. But i'm now I'm in need of some yoga.

I found some weekly 5K cross country races on Monday and Thursday...3 dollar entry sort of deal that i may start doing . AND I found a place not too far away that does a sprint Tri every other week for a mere 15 dollars on Thursday nights! (although that might be a disaster considering my minimal training) I think i'm going to have to start training so I can check that out...otherwise I may not race at all til after I move to S.Cali at the rate i'm going this summer. But it seems these days that I tend to dream more about what I think *might* be possible with my time, instead of realizing...that I don't really have the time I think that I do. I can pretend...right? I find some enjoyment with just dreaming that I have the time to enjoy them, rather than dealing with reality that i don't really have that luxury...but a girl can pretend. It helps keep me happier.

But over the past few days as I've been out on my wonderful runs, i've been thinking about some of my long term (over the next few years) sorts of Tri goals. I have noticed that my thinking has changed a lot...it's a bit strange...and amazingly liberating too. That's a later post, I'm sure.

So the new perspective i'm attempting to hold is...less ranting...more training...

Lemonade...

"When Life Gives you Lemons...make some...Lemonade".

I went for a run this morning...an amazing 6 miles. Don't know what got into me. But keep your eyes here...i think you will actually see some more of that.

So while i'm out running...i was thinking of that stupid saying about making lemonade...because Life handed me some Lemons on Monday...and you know what I think...i DON'T think you should make Lemonade out of them. To me...that's a passive thing to do when crappy things happen. Instead...take those Lemons and go play baseball with them. Or THROW.THEM.BACK. I like the latter one personally. Once I gather myself in one piece...I say...PLAY BALL.

I have learned (and am learning)an extreme amount from this Lemon experience. I thought about the fact that sometimes when we achieve our goal straight out...it is a learning experience, but not always the richest. I'm not saying don't "go for it"...or give it your all...or press on... Missing the goal isn't really the only point...it's how you go AFTER the goal...and what you do that makes you ache and want the goal. But sometimes the wheels fall off. Sometimes the preparation you thought was sufficient leaves you wanting. It's in the midst of things going poorly in a situation that we have no control of the only thing that can be done is to take stock in what is important and discover a new facet of who we are. It becomes more important to realize the result is what it is and to learn that picking up the pieces has as much value (if not more), than pushing through and achieving the goal the first time. I am absolutely advocating to prepare, to toe the line, to work one's butt off, to dream, to pursue, to PRESS IN and PRESS ON...but sometimes the result is still a little bitter because it is not what we wanted. (sometimes it's more than a little bitter tasting)...but it does have value...and sometimes that lesson has more value than I give missed goals credit for.

When life hands a Lemon...it's ok to be angry for a minute...but ultimately...

PLAY BALL

rough day

i had a rough day yesterday...and if these thunderstorms would STOP...i might be able to get my run on which would help me a lot.

i need to get my run on...PUUULEESSE stop.


by the way...in case you weren't aware...people are insane...and many more than you think should be locked away.

where is the paddy wagon for those that escaped the looney bin? I know a few that really shouldn't be a part of functioning society.

VO2...what?

OK i'm cruising on the internet (read: avoiding all things important) and find a site that has a running 'pace' predictor from one's VO2Max. Hmmmm...being the ever so curious person that I am, I went and dug out the VO2 max test I had when I was a guinea pig in some poor grad student's experiment. And hey, those things are expensive and it was free for me. So sure, being a poor gradstudent myself I knew I wouldn't pay for one of those things anyway. (and being a skeptic into the whole importance of the VO2max...more on that...)

When I got to this website you can 'calculate' how fast or slow based upon your weight and a current time you have gone....bla, bla, bla. I know...not reliable...but this is the weird part about is that when I type in my 2 hour time for my half marathon, it comes up with a

VO2max of 36.5ml/kg/min...

Me...i'm thinking...um...no.

I know, I know...website calculations are phooey, but if I type in my VO2max test from two years ago (and again, i know...VO2max's shouldn't change much...whatever) which was 44.5ml/kg/min I get some OTHER very different numbers.

Apparently I'm 'supposed' to be able to run a mile in 6:28 (that hasn't happened), and my 'marathon' pace should be 8 min/miles (i wish...I wish I could run that for a 10K) and my 'slow' run time is supposed to be 9min/miles. (um...that's when I've trained like heck and have a base and let me tell you sister...i was not 'slow' running that half marathon back in Oct). Right now i'm lucky if I see a sub 10 min/mile. OK I know, i know...i have no base at the moment. But really...what the HECK is the VO2 max all about? I think it's a load of garbage at this moment because what exactly does it tell you except the amount of air you sucked down before you decided you should stop otherwise you might puke and you didn't want to puke in that little mask on your face. And to date I have not found any satisfactory answer to the mystery of the VO2 max. I'm puzzled. It's a perplexing thing...that's for sure.

So...my conclusion...VO2max predictors online...tell you...well...not much of anything. Does the VO2max tell you anything at all really? Any other takers on the subject?

So much for 'fancy' food...

I bought some prosciutto and goat cheese the other day to have a 'fancy' snack on a tortilla or crackers or something. It was my way of 'comforting' my insanity these days. I opened them a few days ago and had a yummy snack. Last night I thought "Oh i want a yummy 'fancy' snack" and pulled out he prosciutto and goat cheese. Yes it was yummy at first and then 30 minutes later I realized "Uh oh...I now had food poisoning" and the rest of the night...not fun.

From an outside observation point I was rather floored at how quickly the body can recognize something as BAD and so rapidly do something about it. It's pretty amazing if you consider it from that perspective. I've never had food poisoning occur so quickly...so I was bizarrely fascinated with the immediacy of the response. OK, a little morbid in that observation.

So...my planned 6 miles of running today was a no-go. Instead I slept, had bizarre dreams and blog-stocked various blogs. What else is there to do?

Feeling better already. Hopefully tomorrow is more productive in many ways.

updates and randomness

YEA...i ran again this morning, 3.5 miles. A runner friend of mine is now running in the mornings which helps me be more accountable about running and such. I'm contemplating a 10K next weekend solely because it would be hysterical to see my lack of training at the moment. And since I know it would be pathetic, it might be funny...at least to me. We shall see if I can be bothered to do it let's wait and see what the weather is that day.

I'm losing the capacity to speak coherent sentences lately...it's become funnier than usual. What is the saying...? "What doesn't kill you makes you stronger". I think there should be a qualifier on that one "unless...you end up in the loony bin..."Fortunately it's just the words I am speaking that are incoherent...i can still sorta write (only on specific topics...blog posts seem to be difficult for me to write also) and hey, that's what i'm doing all sorts of these days....although i still have a few (just a few tiny ones) experiments left. Weird.

Um...and the purge of the winter gear has started since I won't need much of it in Cali. During the purge I had to part with a pair of flannel pants that I loved while I was out here. Now i have no regrets about giving them to a friend of mine because of what they represent (bitterly cold winter), but they were great...and functional...and cute. Don't get me wrong, I do like winter to a degree...it was the 6 months of winter with a lack of spring in this region that killed me. But anyway, i'm digressing. Here is an ode to those pants...

Ode to a pair of pants

You were so soft and nice and warm.

Many thought the red and white flowers were quite the charm.

Your warm embrace on cold winter days,

Made me happy despite the freezing cold haze

But alas our time has come to part.

We each shall have a new start.

I would take you along for my new move.

But you would have nothing left to prove.

Your warming abilities would be a waste

As you would never leave my closet unless it was in a dressing haste

So I say good-bye and adieu

…I will miss you.

(OK, maybe i won't miss them *that* much...but hey...this fits the random category)

Amnesia Trees

New England has these interesting trees that I call “Amnesia Trees”. They are invisible but they reside outside of everyone’s home in New England. They start to bloom right around May and come into full bloom in August. I went for a nice 3.5 mile run (lookie I did run) this morning and realized that the Amnesia Trees have started blooming… Ahhhh.

Now I should explain these trees. They have this amazing ability to somehow make you forget that winter ever existed in these parts. When I walk outside, the thought that this place could be under many feet of snow and bitterly cold in winter seems absolutely inconceivable. Right now it’s only the beginning of the blooming season for the Amnesia Trees. They TRULY are in full bloom when it’s, oh, mid-August and it’s 90 degrees and 95% humidity and my house doesn’t have much in the way of Air-Conditioning and me and my housemates just sit in the coolest part of the house trying not to move. The cats get all weird-o and you find them sprawled out on the linoleum or hiding in the basement. It’s at that point of the year that I think “How in the world can winter even exist in this region?” It just doesn’t seem feasible that it could get as cold as it does.

What’s super funny about these trees is how much they make one forget. My friend JM mentioned to me yesterday that the Amnesia Trees were blooming and I said to her “Ha, ha, ha…Where did get that term?” She looked at me and laughed and said “You made it up”.

Winter is not the only thing I’m forgetting these days….sigh(giggle).

Does it work now?

Puzzled by my last post's inablity to publish comments on. Apparently it was a mystery as to why one couldn't...but i'm curious if it is enabled now. They said it was 'fixed'...guess they were right.

posting? What's that?

Hmmmm...i thought I was going to start posting a little more 'frequently' back there when I made my last post sometime back there. What i've found these days is that the way I respond to the hours of my life being sucked out of me and stress in my life squishing me is that I somehow can't respond well to anything 'other' than my focus in front of me. And really what that means is that if the question/inquiry is not about stupid work stuff...I'm lucky I can string a sentence together about it. (i'm truly serious about this one, I cannot count the number of times this week I've had to say "um, sorry, hang in there with me, i'm having trouble talking today" What is wrong with me??!!)

Anyway... here are a few conclusions I've come to over the past few weeks:

1) Don't store chocolate in your office when attempting to sort out a stressful situation...you'll just eat all of it...pretty much at once.

2) Swearing at instruments (or 'machines' as I tend to call them...) really doesn't get them to be more cooperative. They *really* have a mind of their own. I've mentioned it before...resistentialism. And yes...I really have the worst scientific luck. I've been told by many that is the case. Thank goodness that I think I coaxed all the necessary data out of the instrument before it decided to pitch a fit.

3) How is it that a person can be so excited to move and so sad to leave at the same time?

4)Life is insane...or at least mine is. Or maybe it's that I'm insane and the rest of life is not...thinking...thinking...thinking...on that one.

5) Six degrees of separation...too true.

6) When I get stressed out about moving...I look for luggage. So. weird.

7) I'm having STRANGE dreams. Stop. Fortunately they aren't centered around work...but they are just weird. Get out.

8) Not sure about this tri season. So far...no Oly in June. Sad. But...the tri season goes on longer where i'm moving...so maybe.

9)Don't think I'm going to run a marathon this fall. Instead increase my mileage to 30 miles/week over the next 10 weeks...then work on strength with hills/speed...run a half...maintain 30ish miles for the winter while working on core strength and then train for a marathon after some solid months of running and train for a spring marathon...or early summer one.

10) I'm either going to start blogging about insanely random things from now on...or there will be no word from me til I'm on the flip side, some time in Sept. Random...maybe...

11) Cats are weird. Or maybe it is the cats that occupy the space I call my home that are weird. Or refer back to number 4.

12) Life is not a TV show...reality TV needs to get over itself as well as TV shows.

13) and let's be honest...blogs are weird too. :-)

what day is it?

I can't believe it has been so long since my last post. I'm still keeping tabs on the tri-bloggy world, but I can barely breathe at the moment, so I'm hanging on for dear life in the rest of my life and waiting for this wild ride to come to a halt at the end of Aug. I wish I could post some inspiring workout or spectacular insight into training and tri life, but that is not really where my focus has been lately. Granted my number one tri-goal for this season is to graduate...that does seem to be coming a long. It's going to be a messy show of the next few months, but get-r-done is the focus. Any thing else is just icing.

As far as triathlon, i've come to a weird cross roads in it all. It's a bit weird to explain the process and the fact that even though things have come and gone and even though my training isn't really what I'd have hoped for I'm learning about myself as an athlete. I think that one day soon I will be truly able to see that athlete as an extension of myself instead of it being something I 'do'...and I know I would have lost that if I had really ground down on myself in a manner that was becoming non-productive. It's too hard to explain on a public space like a blog, but I do believe that in the end all will turn right for me and my training.

So in the meantime, I'm discovering the beauty of the bike ride and the country roads, and the slow swim strokes, and the rhythmic side to side breathing, the foot falls on the pavement and the sunshine on my face.

Enjoy every stroke, peddle and step. Each one is more of a gift than we sometimes credit it for.

Breathe in...breathe out...

it is beautiful