Qt2 camp Lake Placid 2013

So, I was off to my 5th time of training on this amazing and most humbling course with my Qt2 peeps. I'm not racing this race this year but I needed to get away and have some fun and get some really good/ well needed training in that is sometimes really hard to do at home. My friend Keri and I arrived Wednesday night unpacked and fell asleep.

Thursday morning: Breakfast and a swim TT around the lake, what a way to start camp. When I was putting on my wetsuit I ripped a big hole in my groin. 10 years with this wet suit, not so bad but come on really, this is a timed race and everyone else is in a suit. Oh well, my friend Keri let me borrow her skin suit so at least I wasn't just in my bathing suit. Anyway, 3rd female, 34: 53 for 1.3 miles. Sucky time but without wetsuit considering not awful. Then it was off to a 2 hour recovery ride and then a 1hr run. Lots of fun meeting new friends at camp, Liz, Amy, Bridget, Jim, Paul ( aka as Tweety in his yellow and black cyclonauts tri suit) Barbra, Dan, Mary, Matt, etc.. so much fun.

Because of the weather the schedule had to be changed because of the rain that was expected ( torrential on friday) so our long run was friday f/b a 2hr bike. Running in the rain was great and my pace was solid. The 2hr bike could be done on your trainer or you could go outside, Keri and I decided to go outside, I just couldn't go on my trainer anymore. It was great. Long day, great conversations, and tired legs.

Saturday: Early morning swim 1 loop around f/b our long ride, 6 hours + a little for two loops. It was still raining a bit and it was a bit humid but all in all I felt strong, my HR was stable and I nailed the nutrition. The ride was great, Keri and I eventually formed our own little group, we did some talking but mostly focusing on nailing our nutrition and making sure not to blow up. It was the longest I have been on my bike in over a year and only in April did I do a 4hr ride on the trainer so to finish this ride on a very hard course feeling good made me happy. A quick T-run later feeling good. Our talk that night was going on the course and any race questions, it was so funny with coach Tim and Cait presenting, soooo informative and sooo much fun. Crazy how much experience and knowledge these coaches have to give to the athletes, absolutely priceless. The comedy show was extra. I haven't laughed this hard in awhile.

Sunday: 2 loop swim in mirror lake, nice and easy. So funny, I thought I was with the main group until I realized that I started yet another loop when I was following another pack of people, totally overswam the 2.4miles, Keri couldn't stop laughing. Stupid silver cap swimmers. Then it was off to pack the car and get everything ready for our 2 1/2 hour ride that involved a 4.1 mile TT effort for time on the old out and back. My garmin had died so I had no time or power so I just went as hard as I could given the legs I had left over from yesterdays long ride, it went fine, no gold medals won but it was a good effort. Then we had to climb back up Whiteface to get home ( so unfair) and then off to a 40-60 minute T-run. I could only manage 40 minutes, I was hungry and tired and was ready to be done.


Most memorable moment of camp: On Day 2 I got to meet a man named Jim, he is an older gentleman, very soft spoken and very sweet. He is from Michigan and he told me that it was his second time to Lake Placid. Jim told me he raced LP 2 years ago ( I think) and he crashed on the second loop of the decent into Keene. He doesn't remember the crash as he was med flighted out of Keene to the hospital and he said that he woke up 3 hours later. He doesn't remember much at all but was determined to come back and counquer the descent as well as finish the race he started a few years ago. His son who was not at camp but was at the race 2 years ago ( currently in medical school) was very nervous for his dad being there and was checking in with him multiple times, especially after our ride on Saturday. All day saturday I thought of Jim, how was he doing, was he ok, did he make it down, how was he feeling. I honestly wanted to get back to camp and give him a hug and make sure he was fine, Guess what he was, and happy. He was able to ride with Cait which was awesome. Myself and the rest of the campers were so proud of him and rightfully so he won camper of the weekend. So proud of Jim and I can't wait for him to cross the line at IMLP and have Mike Reilly call out his name and say, your an Ironman Jim.  I'm still in awe that he came back to do this, what courage.  See you in 3 weeks Jim, you will be an ironman.

Thanks Qt2, thanks Jessie, Pat, Mary, Tim, John, Cait, Matt, Courtney, Kai for running an amazing camp as usual. The hospitality, the program, the goodie bags, the friendships, the training was amazing. See you guys soon.

ooooh its been along time

Well, It's been a long time since I wrote last, I feel like I just didn't have anything to say and who wants to read my jibberish anyway. Its been a long few months and my kids lives have been so busy that its just been the status quo of a life with 4 kids.

It's been almost a year since I last raced a triathlon and about 6 months since my marathon in November. I am biting at the bit to race but as you know I need to fit it into my family schedule.

I unfortunately was unable to race IM Texas due to the lack of training since January r/t many things but that decision was at least made by me and my family about 8 weeks out from race day. I guess I could of just gone down and raced with the fitness I had but in hindsight and based on what so many athletes experienced I'm glad I decided not to go. It's one thing to race ironman when your completely prepared but its a lot different to race it when your not and in the conditions that the experienced that day. Congrats to all the athletes that competed that day especially if your from the NorthEast, way to tough it out.

Anyway, I took a small hiatus from 1:1 coaching and just trained on my own, tooled around and kept my fitness up. I also had my annual visit to my cardiologist and my every 3yr calcium CT scan and cardiac stress test. If you guys don't know I have familial hypercholesterolemia and elevated lipoprotein A levels which increases my risk for blood clots and athersclerosis. I have blood work every year and these tests every 3. I am trying my hardest to not go on medication to manage my cholesterol so diet and exercise have to be the way I control it. My last round of blood work last June was ok, but my TC was still a bit too high. With the rough winter I had put on a few pounds ( not a ton) but enough for me to be pissed at myself and I had to take a long look at my cardiac health. My calcium ion CT scan came back perfect and my stress test was great, its so funny to see the nurse who has to monitor my blood pressure when I'm at a 22% incline on the treadmill and at 6.0mph, they always say they never get patients to this point so they never know what to do, its really funny. anyway, no immediate signs of death on my EKG during the stress test so all great news.

What I go out of my meeting with my cardiologist was that if I want to continue with no meds I need to continue what I'm doing but maybe take a look at my diet and try to tweak things and see if we can drop my TC with dietary changes. I also had my weight checked that day which showed a slight increase in poundage and I wasn't happy. I left that day needing to make changes especially with wanting to be around for my kids for as long as I possibly can.

So with that said I decided based on my visit to the doctor, my long history of GI issues and my need to lean out I went completely gluten free the following day and have been following as close to a paleo diet as possible. It has been 4 weeks and 2 days, its the longest I have ever gone without any bread or any products with wheat in it, Im  eating tons of fruits and veggies ( just more than I did in the past) and I've added in aloe juice to soothe my GI tract and probiotics twice a day. Well I feel really great, I am significantly less bloated and I am leaning out, the most important is that I'm less gassy and feel like I can actually mingle with people more ( ha ha)

Anyway, I'm back with my coach again since I've gotten my life back on track, I'm leaning out and have lost those pesky pounds I gained. I am hoping to lean out more and keep on the healthy track. I hope to be racing soon in a sprint but finding a local sprint the weekend I have to race is posing a problem. My goal races this season are Pumpkinman 1/2 in September and the Baystate marathon in October. I hope to race some other small tri's in the area but at this point its about getting really healthy nutrition wise, getting leaner and being happy.

I do want to thank all my friends who have been super supportive over the last 5 months of family craziness and to my coach Pat from QT2 who never ceases to amaze me with his support and kindness. Thanks so much.

Family life and triathlon, how do you make it work?

Hey guys,

Long time no write, its been busy here at the Furse household, lots of stuff going on and most of it not good. Let me recap the last 3 months.

After a fun/hard and decent marathon in November I had a 3 week recovery period and then it was time to get back on my bike after 5 months and start training for Ironman Texas in May. My program was for a good 5 months ( no biggie) easy to do to build to Texas. ( not!!!!)

Starting in December my kids had 17 days off for December break, its really hard to get to the pool or head outside for rides and runs when you have 4 kids that aren't of age for me to leave at home. Let's say I did the best I could and did a lot of treadmill running and trainer rides.

January- 7 yr old with emergency appendectomy- out of school for a week at same time 11yr old diagnosed with strep

10 days later in early feb during major snowstorm we had to drive 7 yr old back to ER for emergency CT scan for r/o abscess to his appendectomy site, fever 5 days, ended up going back to school for 1 day following week and then out of school that next day, double ear infection.

In short, sinus infections, stomach bug, fevers of unknown etiology, ear infections, vacations, parent teacher conferences, you get my drift, its been a long 3 months. My kids haven't been this sick ever and its been really hard to get in consistent training with being exhausted all the time and being up all night as the primary caretaker of the kids. I was able to do stuff on the trainer and on the treadmill but my swimming has suffered, sometimes only 1-2x a week have I gotten in the pool. Normally I wouldn't mind if this lasted a few weeks or even a month but 3 months isn't funny especially when you need to do a 2.4 mile swim, it just sucks.

Last week was a decent week for me with regards to working out, I actually got in 16 1/2 hours, it wasn't perfect and I had to tweak things but I got everything in except a 3rd swim again.  Well along comes this week, Sunday night my youngest started vomiting at 11pm and it didn't stop till 7am, I was exhausted my husband was exhausted, and he had a fever. Unfortunately I had to put my little guy in the car so I could drive all my kids to school and then I had to bring him with me to the car dealership because I had to fix my right front flat tire. He was so sick sitting there, I felt sooooo bad for him. At 9:30 am on Monday I get a call from my kids school saying my 11 year old hit his head twice and probably had a concussion. I had my mother in law grab my little guy ( who then proceeded to vomit in her car) and I brought my son to the ER. He was evaluated and diagnosed with a mild concussion.

The day proceeded as normal but when my 11 year old woke up in the morning yesterday his concussion symptoms remained and then he started vomiting, and vomitng and vomiting. I called the doctors office multiple times, I wasn't too sure if it was the same stomach bug that my 7yr old had or his concussion was now a subdural hematoma. After trying to give him fluids over several hours and his symptoms worsening I decided to bring him back to the ER for evaluation.

Now during this time my daughter was starting to feel bad so I sent her to bed with a bowl and hope for the best. My 7yr old was doing fine and my 9 yr old was at baseball practice. I ran over to our neighbors house to see if her daughter could watch my two kids while I brought my 11 year old to the ER. I was able to get him to the hospital and they evaluated him and drew bloodwork and put in an IV, he was severely dehydrated and needed lots of fluids. I got a call about 30minutes after I arrived at the hospital and my daughter had vomited everywhere in her room and bathroom, I think my new sitter was horrified and had her mom come over to help with cleaning her up. I felt so bad leaving her in that situation I was just hoping my daughter didn't get sick till I got home.

While Kellen was sleeping on the gurney getting fluids I was starting to get sick as well and proceeded to vomit in his emesis basin and trash can in  his room, the poor physician felt so bad she gave me zofran as well to make sure I wasn't going to pass out either.

It was a long night in the furse household, we didn't get back till 12:30am and my son, daughter and myself were still not feeling great this morning. Alas, another day and no workout and not getting to the pool.

Life is life and family always comes first, its been a tough past 3 1/2 months for us and I'm hoping there is a light at the end of the tunnel. It's so hard to try to do everything, manage the kids, the house, being a class parent, training and trying to stay fit and do ironman or anything longer than an olympic, its just becoming a job trying to manage getting in workouts. I'm not burnt out from training, I actually love the training when I can get it in, I was just hoping that Texas would be a good race for me, that I would actually go in healthy and trained correctly. My coach has been amazing and has made lots of adjustments to my schedule and has been very patient but I have to say my situation isn't ideal.

Texas is coming in 5 weeks, I have hopefully 2-3 weeks that I can get in some solid work to make me feel okay but I'm not too sure how this race is going to pan out for me. My swim most likely won't be my normal swim time ( which will bum me out), the bike hopefully will be okay and hopefully I'll be okay on the run if I pace/watch my nutrition and ride smart. I'm just bummed that its played out this way. Such is life, we move on. We;ll see what happens.

How was your day?

6am wake up call by 2 kids, " can I take a shower, can I take a shower". Key the sound of the door locking and the other boy screaming for 15 minutes to get out and saying, " It's my turn, its my turn"

2. Breakfast of champions, cereal, bagels, coffee you get it, all 4 up and atom no later than 6:45
3. all gear ready for the day of sports
4. Hubby leaves to coach game #1 of the day by 8am.
4.a. tech guy comes to fix internet and cable by 8am
5. 8:30a travel basketball game for 10 yr old-manchester
6. 9:30am daughter soccer, danvers
7. 10am, 6yr old basketball manchester
8. 12:30p leave for pool for 9yr old swim team practice, beverly
9. 1:15p bball game for daughter, manchester
10. 2:30pm basketball game for 9yr old that just finished swim practice
11. 3:30p-5:30pm bball skills and drills for 10 year old in Marblehead
12. 6:15p basketball game in manchester for 10 year old
13. 7:30pm basketball game in manchester for 10 year old

I'm just saying, having 4 kids under the age of 4 in diapers was much easier then trying to figure out logistically how to manage 4 very busy sports related kids.

p.s. I did manage to get in a long bike ride while my son played bball for 2hrs at the JCC in marblehead, thank goodness these places have gyms.

Sunday is a much better day.

d

Stay at home mom

In todays world and most importantly my group of friends, we are all very busy and just trying to make it through the day. Gone are the days of sitting in front of a T.V. eating bon bons, its just full all out busy. ( Yet, I don't ever remember having the time to eat bon bons and actually I don't even know what they are).
Anyhoo, I digress, when I was working full time in the hospital there were weeks I worked 40 hours and there were weeks I worked well over 90, sometimes I slept in the on call room and just got up in the morning to go to work. It was exciting when I first started having kids and staying home, being busy was just different.  After being home now for 10 years and raising 4 great kids who are still only 10,9,8 and 6, it gets old when people say to you, " What did you do all day?", " Why couldn't you just do that when it would of only taken a few seconds?". There are a million questions like that but just like it was when I worked in the hospital as a Nurse Practitioner, there were days that were so busy I couldn't take a call, never mind stopping off at the store to buy groceries or make dinner I was just soooo busy. Again, busy is just different as a stay at home mom. But why do I have to justify "busy" as a stay at home mom when I never had to "justify" how hard I worked at the hospital? Hmmmmmm.

Let me get straight to the point, I'm not complaining, yet sometimes I really want to, I love being home most of the time, I do miss work but I wouldn't change seeing my kids do everything and being in the classroom with them ever. The only thing I ask is that I get some respect for what I do, that just because I don't have a defined "job" title perse, I work really hard, just like all of us do everyday, its just different. I shouldn't have to write down on a piece of paper a list of what I did all day to prove that I was busy, I shouldn't have to account for what I did all day to justify not picking up the phone or not calling back, sometimes its just busy. My life is no different then anyone else's we all have busy lives but I just need to know that what I do is important and that it is clearly as important as any other job that someone does, again its just a different job. It's just weird that I never had to do this when I had a paying job in the hospital only as a stay at home mom. Just my 2 cents, rant over. Back to sterilizing the house.

Would love anyone's input.

Frigid 5k race report and post christmas stuff

Ok, we'll start with the cats and dogs fighting, that is what my house was like during christmas break. As you probably know ( or anyone that knows me ) I have 4 kids that are only 4 years apart in total, they love each other and they dislike each other every day, they can play well for about 1hour and then somebody has a bloody nose, scratches, whatever. Have you ever heard this, " mom, so and so did this," " Mom", he hit me, " Mom, get him off me he's trying to kill me". Well that was probably the majority of what I heard during the 17 days off my kids had for christmas. Now, they are back to school this morning, I had a little school dance I did  in front of them and then again at drop off but it wasn't too embarrasing for them. Anyway, christmas break was fun but in my opinion way too long.

What did we do during break, a little skiing, sledding, some movie watching, lots of basketball, soccer and swimming and some friend playdates. We worked on some school projects as well. But did I say they are back to school, yeahhhhhhhhhh me.

Ok, so during the 17 days it was tough to get everything in from a workout perspective. I either had to put my bike on the trainer and pop a movie in for the kids or run on the treadmill while a show was on it was hard. I only got to the pool a few times because that would require getting a sitter and believe me no-one wants to sit my 4 kids so I can go for a swim. During the afternoon and evening my kids have sports so its hard to go to the pool then and realistically I'm exhausted by the time my hubby gets home at 7p and all I really want to do is chat with him and then go to bed at 9p. Anyway, thank goodness we are still in base mode so coachie wasn't too upset at the sporadic nature of my workouts but I was getting frustrated because my only outlet to my angst is working out and I just need my endorphin rush for a little bit everyday, it just makes me a better person. Well, its back and my time is back so I can get in what I need to so hopefully I haven't lost too much fitness.

So during my 17 days of craziness I had a 5k to do, I begged and pleaded with coach not to have me do it, I was feeling gross and fat and lazy after this unintended minimal workout phase for two weeks but he said lets just see how you do. I used a few choice words for him which I won't post  but I went yesterday to Quincy to run the Frigid 5k. Quincy is were i grew up so it was fun to go back to my old stomping ground and drive around and see familar places, it was cold but not too bad. The course was laid out to be fairly flat with about 1 long hill between 1.4-2 miles so a little over .6 miles of climbing, but then it was downhill and then flat to the finish. I believe the course was a little short but whatever. I ran the course in 22:08 they have me at 22:10, whatever, 7:10 average, my best is a 7:06 pace, avg HR was 163. I was pleased with my performance, not ecstatic but pleased given my fitness level at this point. I placed 1st in my age group, 6th overall female so that was good. My good friend Brian Hughes was there, owner of Fast Splits multisport in Newton, Mass and fellow Qt2 teammate, he came in second overall with a blistering pace of 17 minutes total, good lord and after being sick for 3 weeks.  

Anyway, I have a 5 mile road race coming up in 3 weeks and then the Hyannis Half Marathon which I seem to do every year but for some reason it kicks my butt, lets hope for better results this year. 

The 3rd Annual 12 Days of Christmas with the Furse Family

On the Twelth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:

12 windows broken in my house over the year

11 basketballs in every room in my house

10 crickets that escaped from the lizard cage and I can't catch and they are driving me crazy ( die already)

9 Timeouts typically given to my children every day ( I know, I know, obviously not working- but shit man therapy is expensive)

8 ( now multiply that number by 4 which gives you 32 water bottles gone missing over the year)

7 visits to the ER this year- mostly glue no stitches, x-rays but no broken bones, strep throat, you get the drill.

6 toilets plugged in my house over the year ( don't ask me with what, 4 kids you do the math)

5 ( now you sing the tune) awful teeth my puppy has that probably need to be pulled but I'm not dealing with it because its expensive and I want him to look like he lives in the back country of West Virginia ( no offense to anyone whose from there reading this blog and if so, well howdy doooo)

4 shits my dog has taken in my car since he's been with us this year

3 visits to the schools for my kids ( but they are angels you say- ah ha, yup)

2 guinea pigs ( I mean actually 1, the other one recently died and for some reason this one keeps on living, for goodness sake its almost 6 years of age, come on really? Anyone want a senior citizen guinea pig? I'm not joking)

And finally the big finish:

1 gigantic 3 foot rubber snake put in my toilet by my 9 year old to secretly scare the shit out of me but unbeknown to him his 6 year old brother pooped in my toilet ( diarrhea actually) during the night and I didn't recognize or notice the snake, thus with the toilet over flowing I plunged the snake right out into my septic field. 

Merry Christmas everyone and Happy New Year. Now whose bringing down those friggin lights!!!!!!!