Endless Poop in "Cavalcade of Laffs 2" - The Meth Minute 39

Racing, kids and dog poop

So this weekend I am racing the HITS Hunter Mountain 1/2 ironman on Sunday. HITs is a new series brought to the triathlon world by Dave Scott. HITS is trying to attract the whole family and the whole tri community by doing a spring, olympic, half and a full ironman all on the same weekend. Seeing as I needed to find a 1/2 ironman on the 10th of June, this was the only one that was reasonable. I am excited about racing, I feel that I've done the work ( didn't lose enough weight though), and just feel like getting into the mix with the other people. The only thing that sort of distracts me for the weekend is that 3 of my kids made it to the Super Bowl for flag football and my 6yr old is playing in the semi-finals with the possibility of making it to the Super Bowl on sunday and I am missing it. I see about 99.9% of my kids practices and games and I just hate to miss any of them, but unfortunately I will be away for them this sunday and I'm a bit sad about that. Here's hoping that they have great success without me there and that my husband doesn't pull his hair out before I get home.

On another note my poor 6 month old berner is having severe diarrhea, not only is he sitting in pools of crap in his crate he shit in my car with a bunch of kids in it the other day. UGGGGGGG.  I was so desperate to get it cleaned that I dropped all the kids off at the birthday party and drove directly to a car wash and used the vacuum cleaner to suck it up. I used one of my kids t-shirts initially to scoop up the liquid that was starting to settle in the carpet but needed to suck the rest out of my kids shoes and whatever else was on the floor, back of the seats, etc..... You get my drift, it was bad.  Anyhoo, nobody saw me use the vacuum, hopefully I want get in trouble and Karma won't come after me, I've had enough of driving with my head out the window and smelling my new car smelling tree deodorizer, they are so gross.  Anyway, its getting detailed tomorrow and hopefully they can get the smell out.

Well as you can see my life as you know it continues to be a Seinfeld episode, 1 story after another, what will it be tomorrow?

A. Leopard Gecko found in toilet
B. Guinea pig hung by the wiring that keeps her water bottle hung in the cage
C. Crickets roaming free in the house because 6yr old felt they needed to be set free from the lizard cage
D. More diarrhea in crate
E. falling in the toilet because kids/husband didn't put seat down
F. Cat found in refrigerator ( don't ask)

I could go on but I may need to start writing some screenplays and sending them to Jerry Seinfeld.

Have a good one.

JCC Race Report and random pictures

So, my goodness its been awhile since I last blogged, life can get so crazy and sometimes I'm not so sure people want to here my daily humdrumming. Anyhoo, I recently raced a sprint triathlon in Marblehead, Mass called the JCC sprint Tri, I haven't raced this course for over 4 years because its been getting increasingly hard to get into. Over the last few years I've raced Sudbury instead but this year this race fit my schedule better then Sudbury and I got off the wait list. My training goal is Ironman in August so there hasn't been any speed work or track work or any real zone 2 or 3 efforts so it was going to be what it was going to be on Sunday. I felt good, I felt confident, I really wasn't nervous I was just excited to finally race after 6 weeks and that the weather was going to be nice. I found out I was ranked #13 in the pool swim, it was crazy that I was ranked that high, I'm normally up there but not that high and I knew that I was the only female in the top 13 that wasn't a high school or middle school swimmer so my chances of leading on the bike and run were high, so a little pressure was there. The trouble with a pool swim triathlon is that someone who starts 5 minutes or 30 minutes behind you can still win the race, you could even finish first coming across the finish line and not be the winner so its a bit frustrating. Anyhoo, the swim went fine, I did end up passing #7 who clearly didn't put the correct time in, I definitely didn't all out sprint my swim, I felt really great coming out of the water, I probably averaged 1:24's and should of averaged 1:20's but the fact that I wasn't breathing that hard was a good thing and I knew I was going into the bike in a better position than I have had in the past. To get to the timing mat you have to get out of the pool climb two sets of stairs go through the entry hallway, out the door and outside, in total it could take anywhere from 20-45 seconds depending, I got to my bike with the bike shoes clipped in, my T time was quick because I decided to mount my bike this way. The place to mount the bike was ridiculous, you had to run down the hill out onto the street and then go about 30 yards on the street before you could mount, again, the time it takes to do this is crazy, so when you look at times you need to understand that all of our transtion times are in our individual splits so they are not accurate. The bike went by well, I was the leading woman, only 2 men passed me and I past most of the people in front of me except for about 5 people on the course. I believe I averaged somewhere around 21.4mph for the hilly ride and I was happy with that. Again, I feel looking back that I could of pushed harder but for some reason I was riding conservatively. I was able to come into the crazy long transtion with my feet out of my shoes and ready to dismount, no issues here so my transition was fairely quick. I felt good coming off the bike and ran the best I could on the day, it probably was around 7:30's but in hindsight if I had another women there or someone pushing me to go faster I think I could of. At mile 3 I was finally passed by the eventual winner, Kristin Lamb, man it would of been nice to cross the finish line as the first woman ( I've never done that before) knowing full well I wasn't going to win but crossing first would of been cool. But we had .5 miles to go. She looked great and strong and I knew she was having a great race. I finished well and I actually got 4th overall and 2nd in my age group. I actually placed 16th out of 200 male/female.

 My overall time of 1:02 was 5 minutes + faster than the last time I raced this course so I was happy with that but I do have to say I would like to go back next year and try to get close to 1 hour or even break 1hr if that is possible. Congratulations to all my friends who raced and who did well. Congrats to Kevin Reen the male overall winner, Vinny and Marty Miserendino who just crushed it ( after feasting at Maggiano's on friday night) and to my friends Christine, keri, meaghan and my new friend Kristin.

 I am currently training for my next 1/2 ironman in Hunter mountain, NY on June 10th, so long rides and runs are in the plan along with some hard pacing swims, so gooood on a lot of levels. After that I have an olympic in July and then IMMT in August. Today was a great day, my 2nd oldest turned 9 today, my little blondie I like to call him. My little Bill Murray everyone else likes to call him. He got his Leopard Gecko, his metal detector and a blue jay painting, he is a happy boy. He also got his pizza for dinner, what more can a boy want. I can't believe he's 9 but he is just the best and I love every minute of his existence.

 Anyhoo, I hope you like the random pictures, some are of the view of my house, Alex's birthday present and coachie stuck in the dog cage.

Vacation is over, tra la la la la

Its great to spend time with my kids but its also nice to be able to have time to yourself to do the things you need to do around the house, or other errands or workouts or whatever. Vacation time is always a challenge because my kids need to do lots of stuff, they can entertain themselves for short periods of time but otherwise are alway asking me for things to do for them or with them, they will constantly chat with me every 2 minutes until I drop what I'm doing and focus on them. I know its a great problem to have, healthy children who love you and want to spend time with you but I honestly feel that our kids today spend way too much time out of school, but thats a whole other blog post.

Anyway, I'm glad life will return back to "normal" tomorrow with all 4 kids back to school, I have lots of meetings this week, workouts, and house stuff to get done, I have a meet and greet and my house and lots of kids sports, it will be crazy busy but fun at the same time. Wish me luck.

Duel in the Pool Update: On Deck

Duel in the Pool Update: On Deck

Finishing my race schedule

Ok, so I finally was able to finish my race schedule to my coaches specific dates up until IM Mont Tremblant. The hardest was finding a 1/2 ironman that had a similar profile as mont tremblant on the specific date that coachie wanted me to find. Well, on June 10th in the Catskills on a very hard and hilly bike and run I found the, HITS series Hunter Mountain 1/2 ironman. Whats also cool is that they have multiple races throughout the weekend including a sprint, olympic, aqua bike, 1/2 ironman and a full ironman. I hadn't heard of the HITs series and have done some research and right now it doesn't look like there is a ton of participation yet in this new series and some people on slow twitch say this series might not last long but we'll see, Dave Scott is one of the race organizers so hopefully it will all work out. Anyway, its tough to find specific race distances on specific dates and add to that trying to coordinate with my husband and kids whats good for the family and not racing too much, etc... I also know that I need to find races a bit closer then Texas and the other races that were available that weekend were Kansas 70.3 and some other race far away. Well, financially I don't want to do that so Hunter Mountain here I come. It would of been cool to try to do Mooseman or Rev3 Quassy but they were the weekend before and that didn't fit. Good lord.

Anyhoo, 1 sprint, 1 half and 1 olympic distance race before Ironman. It seems a bit surreal about doing ironman again this year its been 2 years this July since Lake Placid, I am hoping for much better results, realistic results but better results. I think my mental framework is much better so my confidence in myself is better but at the end of the day its all about how to pace the bike and run the run, I just want to be able to run the run and feel good at the end ( well, as good as you can after completing 140.6 miles) I'm not looking for a Kona spot, I'm not expecting to place top 5 in my age group, what my goals are:

1. Execute my race plan, paces,watts, nutrition, mental
2. Run my own race, don't be intimidated by others and don't race someone else's race
3. Be proud of yourself for being able to do this
4. If able, get that HR up the last 6 miles and kick some ass.

Those are my goals right now, I may have some slight changes before the actual race but I think that sounds about right. We are 4 months out from Ironman and starting tomorrow after this recovery week starts my build to August. So, I would love to have friends join me on some rides and runs during the week, I definitely need some hilly rides and runs so bring it.

Texas 70.3 RR, motivation and some changes

Its the first time I've done an early 70.3 before so I was a bit nervous since most of my rides have been indoors, I didn't question whether I would finish my training has been solid a/w my numbers it was just I haven't raced since September and I felt a bit rusty. I flew out on Friday to Houston and got in at 11:30am and arrived in Galveston around 1pm, very non eventful. It was great to meet up with my friends later that evening and my roommate Nancy Thompson ( aka Nanamil). It was actually weird having a day and half before I raced, it actually felt too long, I usually arrive the day before, race the next and leave that same day. Anyhoo, the expo was neat, registration was simple because I was early, the only thing I took note of was the humidity and heat.

Saturday morning was great, big breakfast with all the Qt2 peeps at Denny's, I've never eaten that much and seeing what PW can put down in one sitting just astonished me, holy crap. It was so nice to be part of a team and to meet up with these guys before I raced, the nerves were just not there as they would be because I felt so comfortable and happy that I had friends with me the entire time. The day went by without a hitch except at bike check in I realized my power tap wasn't reading my watts, I was able to get it to work for everything else but not watts. I am getting extremely frustrated with all the battery changes I have to do in my hubs and with the unit head, I am seriously considering switching to either an SRM or something else, whatever is less cumbersome and more reliable and doesn't cost me loads of money. Anyhoo, I knew I had to race with HR guidelines anyway so I just shrugged it off, oh well.

I slept pretty well that night, much better than normal, Nan and I got up around 5am got ourselves ready and headed to the race site. Unfortunately we had to park a gazillion miles away but whatever it was dark out and not too hot yet. I felt so bad for Charlie he was already sweating with beads of it dropping from his nose, I was hoping he wasn't going to have a long day.
We got there and went to transition, man it was pack, 2900 people, it was crazy, I've 10 of these and never this big. Transition was huge and were I was locate really sucked for bike in and out but swim in and run out were fine. It was an easy set up, making friends with the girls around me, I didn't fret too much, I've done the work, it was going to what it was this day. I had 1 hr and 20 minutes from the pro start to hang out ( which really sucked) I was in wave 18 out of 20, really? This is getting out of control. Anyway, I waited for awhile at the swim finish so I could see the first pro's coming out of the water ( especially Lance- which was so cool, he was right there in the first pack) and then I headed over to the swim start.

SWIM: jump off pier into water, in water start, temp around 71- felt warmer, against current for about 1/2 mile and some choppiness in the middle, a bit long I feel. I usually plop myself right in the front, making sure I gauge where the buoys are and the other girls, it was a fine swim, nothing spectacular, starting in wave 18 made for a ton of traffic throughout the entire swim, people just dead weight in the water basically stopped, it was crazy, I think I went through at least 3 waves of caps, I felt in control, could of pushed harder I don't know why, it was the most relaxed 1.2mile swim I've done, no issues with breathing, legs felt good, I was coasting. I got out and saw 32:20 on my watch- SUCK, SUCK, SUCK, but oh well, wave 18, first swim of the season, no legs or bodies to help me draft, it was fine.

T1- fine a bit long to get out so time was long, no issues, just needed to get my HR down which took over 40 minutes on the bike.

BIKE: In just a few words: flat, windy, hot, boring. It took over 40 minutes for me to get my HR down to where I needed to be to ride the bike, in other words one of the reasons for my slow first loop, it didn't help that we had a nasty headwind but I was concerned about the HR so I didn't push and just made sure I got in all my nutrition. Coming back the tailwind was so nice, seeing, 22, 23, 24mph was great however every time I tried to push a harder gear my right groin and sitz bone really hurt. I must of changed position on my bike over 50 times during the race and was tremendously uncomfortable. I'm not sure if it was the seat, the fact I don't ride aero for 2 1/2 hours at a time, a combination of both but I'm certain that it absolutely affected my performance on the bike on my over ally performance. I will need to discuss with my bike guys to get it fixed, I do not want to be that uncomfortable again when I ride. I was also concerned how I was going to feel on the run so it messed with me for awhile before coming into T2. Nutrition spot on, however I did not have to pee until I got off my bike, weird.

T2- uneventful, legs felt good, my back needed a few minutes to straighten out but besides feeling the heat right away I felt fine. MY HR was already 160, 12 beat above where I was supposed to be so I was concerned.

RUN: flat, windy at times, boring, 3 loops, what can I say. My first loop I did pretty well, averaged around an 8:35, my HR was really high and all I wanted to do was stay consistent, what could I do to not collapse and walk, I slowed down a bit to bring my HR below 160 which landed me around 9:15's which i was able to hold for the rest of race. I was even able to get my HR back up to 163 by the last two miles which I was happy about. I took in everything at every water stop, tons of ice, powerade, I did my 2 GU's on the run, sponges, it was fine. My feet were wet and sloshy but were fine, tons of people were walking, I mean tons' it was crazy.

Anyhoo, 32.30 swim, 2:56 bike, 2:01 run, 5:36 overall time. 27th in AG in a very competitive field, it was nuts.

WHAT I LEARNED FROM THIS RACE AND WHERE DO I GO FROM HERE:

1. I need to lose weight, between 5-10lbs. With the heat and the flat course being 140lbs was definitely at my disadvantage, I felt if I was a bit leaner I definitely could of tolerated the weather better and had a much better performance. I will make changes over the next few months to accomplish this ( I know I've said it before) but it was really clear to me over the weekend the changes I need make.

2. Nailing your nutrition is key. I had a similar race with same conditions in florida a few years back and it was a disaster and it took me several days to recover. My nutrition was spot on, I didn't cramp, I was feeling really good that night and even better on Monday morning. My run was consistent and it didn't crumble because of my nutrition and watching the HR.

3. This is my 3rd 1/2 with QT2 since starting with them and each one is getting faster by 10 minutes, 5:56, 5:46 and now 5:36. I keep learning from each race what I need to do to get better and the changes I need to make to make it happen and I will get there, its a process that will not take overnight and I'm fine with that.

4. Racing with a team is very important to me and being part of a group. It made a world of difference for me psychologically being supported the whole weekend and having my teammates with me during the race cheering for me on the course and just being out there. It was so awesome to see my coach several times on the course encouraging me and pushing for me, it really made a world of difference. So thank you.


Thank you to coach Pat, Jesse, Nan, Charlie, John, Keith, Mary, Molly, Cait, Tim, Mat, Andy, Jessie, Dave, Jennie, Rick, Guido, Jacqui and all the other QT2ers that were there this weekend. Thanks for the support, my new friendships and just a great overall learning experience for me. Lets have a great 2012 season.