oh boy...climbing out of a big hole

If anyone is still out there possibly reading my blog I am so sorry I haven't written in forever. My life has changed alot in the past few months. I got a new job and moved, so I am trying to adjust to both of those. Because of this my exercise has been really slacking...read...I haven't worked out in a long time. EEEKK! Now I feel horrible about my body...not in a "I'm so fat, I look horrible, gross me" type of way.....but in a "I don't feel strong at all, I feel gross" type of way. I am going to go sign up for a gym membership tomorrow (barring any strange happenings like the ones in past week, more about this another time.) and I am hoping that will help me get motivated and get going on the healthy eating, working out system. The gym I am joining has spin classes almost every night, so I am hoping to continue training throughout the winter. I missed the tri I was supposed to do in September because I hadn't been training and I happened to get a bad cold that weekend, so I just skipped it. I was disappointed in myself but I had so much going on at the time so I let myself off the hook..I need major motivation, and I have been reading training payne's blog (as I do every day) and trying to get motivated by watching him on his journey to Kona. I am so proud to say he is inspiring to me...now if I can only get back on the "tri wagon." Anyway, that's all for now....hopefully tomorrow I will be on here blogging about my first (probably painful!) day back at the gym. Goodnight!

In need of a Boost!!

The good news is I got the job! The bad news is my training has severely been lacking. Ever since my tri I have been slacking on my training. My sister had a baby, then I got the job, and I have just been running around like a chicken with my head cut off trying to finish my summer course and get my classroom ready and help my sister and travel back and forth to and from Boston and see Bryan and I would like to see my friends but that hasn't happened yet. I guess what I am saying is that I haven't had the time (or motivation!) to get back on the bike/feet/in the water....and I know that is a super shitty excuse...I mean if Training Payne can have 2 kids, a wife, a blog that is read by thousands of people, and still find time to party all the time, stay up all night, smoke, drink, train and rag on cowardly commentator, then who the hell am I to be complaining? So here is where all of you help me...I need equal parts sympathy (yes, we understand you are busy, take care of yourself and don't beat yourself up) and ass-kicking (get off your ass and get going!! You have a tri in a month and a half!) So...help me please!!! Thanks :)

Shippin' up to Boston...for an interview!!!

Sorry for all the short posts lately...to those of you who are still actually reading my blog. I have been so super busy, as I keep saying! So this morning I woke up and was feelling all motivated (mostly motivated by nerves!) because I had a phone interview for a job at the Boston Children's Museum. I was trying to stay busy until 11:30 when my interview was because I was nervous...and man, I think I should be nervous more often, because I got so much done! First I added color, font, animation and timings to the power point my group made. It looked pretty cool when I was done, and hopefully the group will be happy because I was able to consolidate it down from 11 slides to 6. The max for the project is supposed to be 5, hopefully the teacher will let 1 slide..well, slide. Haha...That's a bit of computer humor for my computer geek boyfriend who I love so much...hehe love you Bryan! Haha...anyway, I also applied for maybe 6 jobs and then took a break and read some of the book I am reading: Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult...she is an awesome author! Anyway, I was feeling depressed because I counted 48 jobs that I had applied for on SchoolSpring since about May, and probably 20 more that I had applied to through other sites. Thats 68 jobs, and I had one phone interview, which, by the way I don't think will be the job for me because the pay is worse than what I get now and there are no benefits...and for those of you who know how much I make now, you know I could NOT possibly survive on my own on any less. Lol. Anyway, I typed this message into facebook saying how I was feeling down about not getting any interviews from the 68 jobs I applied for. I pushed "post" and as soon as it posted my phone rang. It was the principal of a school in Boston asking me to come in for an interview! She has a 1st grade position available and my friend who used to work there had recommended me to her. I have an interview on Monday at 11, which explains the title of my post, I am going to Boston...probably I will leave early tomorrow morning and go to Bryan's parents house, because that's where he will be. Then on Sunday I will go back to my apt. and get ready for the interview. Eeek! Wish me luck! I'm going to have lunch now and then go out for a long bike ride to clear my mind and practice interview questions in my head while I ride..yes, I'm a dork, I know. Haha. I am hoping to ride to my sisters house and back, which is about 20 miles...20 very very hilly miles...let's hope I make it through the heat and humidity! Anyway, off to have some spicy pad thai for lunch...yum yum!

Ketchup and gummy bears

The past week has been a blur of childcare-induced exhaustion. My sister had a baby last Thursday, as I mentioned in my last post, and since then I have been driving her places and taking care of my other niece, who is 4 and full of energy! I have enjoyed spending so much time with them because I don't get to see them much when I am in Boston, but I am freaking exhausted!!!! I also have had pretty much no time to train...which isn't good since I have a tri coming up at the end of September, I should be training now. I did manage to run yesterday, but only went about a mile...I was hoping for a bike ride tonight but by the time I got home from my sister's house I was too exhausted to do anything. I am hoping to have the day to myself tomorrow so I can train and get some other things done. This pseudo mommy thing is exhausting! Oh...and my purse smells like ketchup and gummy bears. Eh...I guess there are much worse things, right?

pseudo-parent

Well, the past few days have been so busy that I haven't even had time to train! My sister had a baby on Thursday, and since then I have been shuffling back and forth between her house, the hospital and my parents house...taking care of my other niece, cleaning and visiting with my sister, brother in law and the new baby. I am EXHAUSTED! They are home now, and  today I spent part of the day taking my niece swimming so my sister could nap, and now I am home. Tomorrow I have to be up early to take my sister to doctor's appointments and take the baby to a doctor's appointment. I haven't had time to train except to take my new bike out on a 5 mile ride...I am getting up early tomorrow to go to the gym before I have to be at my sister's house at 10. More later when I have more Time!

Two exciting happenings!

I see no one has commented on my last post...come on people...give me your advice!! Haha!

Anyway, two exciting things have happened in the past 2 days....the first, and MOST exciting thing is that my sister gave birth to a beautiful baby girl yesterday! Her name is Shaelyn Michelle Cargill and she is 6lbs. 11oz. and 19 1/4 inches long. She is absolutely beautiful. I couldn't be happier, I have the two most adorable nieces in the world  and I am such a proud auntie, and a proud sister. My sister is such a great mom and I love seeing her so happy with her two little girls. Congratulations Amy, Pete and Maren!

The other exciting thing is that I finally bought a bike! My brother in law Pete has a friend who owns a bike shop...Garden State Bicycle, for those of you who live in NJ, you should check it out! So anyway, Pete's friend Tim called me the other day and said he just got a used Cannondale CAAD 4 from 2001 in the shop in amazing condition. It has Shimano Ultegra components, some really nice wheels that I can't remember the name of, and it is all in great condition. I bought it from him and he helped me pick out shoes and clipless pedals. Now I am all set! Once I learn how to post pics I will be putting up a pic of my new bike and some pics from my first tri...I have just been too busy lately.

More tomorrow or the next day...too tired now to write more!

FUNtastic Nantasket!!

I signed up for my second triathlon today! It is on September 26, and it is a sprint distance in Nantasket, which is a beach somewhat near my house. I am nervous to do ocean swimming, but sooo excited to be able to get in another triathlon this season! I am working on getting a bike and am keeping up my training. Here is my question for those of you who are triathletes and read this...give me some suggestions for speeding my time up and for upping my training for this next race. I know I can finish, now I want to go a little faster. What should I do? Please comment and let me know what you think!

Oh, a big Shout out to Training Payne, who raced IMLP yesterday and finished in 10:20:20!  Awesome job, can't wait to read your race report!!

A post that has (almost) nothing to do with triathlon...

So...it has been just over two years since I moved to Boston, so I think it is a good time to reflect on some of the changes and some of the growth that has happened in the past two years.

When I first graduated college, I moved back home even though I knew it wasn't what I wanted. I had always had this thought in my head that you go to college and then you move out on your own. I guess in my head I had never thought about the fact that it takes a job and money to move out on your own. When I graduated I was looking for a teaching job, and all the professors at my university made it seem like we would all get jobs easily...that was bullshit, in fact I'm still looking for a teaching job two years later. But anyway, I digress. I moved home and kept looking for jobs. I thought I wanted to move to the Boston area, and my reasons were many. For one, I was born here and have always loved the area. I was also dating someone who lived in this area and we had been dating all through college long distance. I wanted to be closer to him. I also wanted to live in a city while I was in my early 20's, I thought it would be really fun. One Saturday in June of that year I was applying for jobs and I haphazardly applied to a job as an art teacher in a summer camp. I really didn't think much of it until they called on Tuesday and asked if I could come for an interview on Thursday. I said yes, hung up the phone, and then started packing to drive to Boston. I called my friend Jess who lived in Boston. She was my best friend as a young child and we had lost touch and then gotten back in touch in college. I asked if I could stay at her apartment the next night, and she said yes. I drove up on Wednesday, slept on what is now my living room floor, and interviewed on Thursday. I drove straight from my interview back to New Jersey...because I was working at a daycare center and had to be back for work on Friday. I got a call on Friday saying I had the job and I needed to be there Monday to start. I packed up all my stuff...called my friend Jess again and asked if I could move in with them. She said one of their roommates was moving out and so on Sunday I drove to Boston and on Monday I started my job. I worked there all summer and then got a job as a teaching assistant in the fall at the same school. That is the job I am still doing now.

But anyway, onto the interesting things. Here is a list (in no particular order) of things I have learned, experienced, ways I have changed, and reasons I am so glad I made this move two years ago.

- I learned how to "really" live on my own. In college I lived on my own, but my parents were kind of paying my way and I always knew it was only the school year. I feel like now I am really on my own. It feels good.

- I learned that sometimes long distance relationships don't get better when you get closer. In fact, sometimes they get worse. For 5 years I thought my ex and I would be blissfully happy when we were living in the same state, but I found out when I moved here that we were actually less happy together. I'm glad I found this out when I did.

- I learned how to ride the T. Haha...I know this sounds crazy, but when you grow up in a rural area, riding the T (subway for those of you who are non-Bostonians) is something you never learn how to do. It's an awesome thing and makes it much easier to go out in the city.

- I have changed my outlook on money. I know now that you don't have to make alot of money to have a fulfilled life. I never was the type of person to really care too much about money, but I am extremely proud that I make a very little amount of money and I have still managed to live for two years completely on my own without having any credit cards.

- I have changed my outlook on love and men. I used to try so hard to make my ex love me. I tried everything I could to try to get him to want to make time for me, to want to be with me, and to want to try as hard as I was. None of this really worked. Now that I am with Bryan I realize that if someone really loves you they will want to spend time with you, they will care about your feelings, they will want to do special things for you, and they will want to introduce you to the important people in their life. My outlook now is that if someone likes me they will call, they will try, they will show me, and if they don't do these things then, to quote the movie "he's just not that into me" and then why bother with him anyway?

- I have discovered a passion for triathlon. (The title of the post said ALMOST nothing to do with it!) I NEVER thought I would be able to do a triathlon, or that I would ever want to. When I went through a break up in March I decided I needed to rediscover myself. My friends and family had been telling me that I had lost my glow, my passion and the spark that used to make me the funny, perky, bubbly girl I always was before. My mom said that for the past few years it was like I had a dark veil over my face,  like I just seemed depressed and sad alot of the time. I wanted to do something for myself, something that would give me satisfaction without feeling like I was depending on someone else. I also wanted it to be something healthy. I mean, it would have been easy to start baking cupcakes in my spare time, but I don't make alot of money and couldn't afford to buy bigger clothes, so that was out of the question, hahaha. I decided I wanted to do some sort of exercise, but I didn't really like running, master's swimming was too expensive and I didn't really want to join a team sport. I wanted this to be an individual journey. That is when I decided on triathlon. I went online and signed up for one that day. I knew if I didn't do it then that I never would. I completely immersed myself in learning everything I could about the sport, I started training, and I started reading blogs about it (slow, fat triathlete and Brybrarobry). I completed my first triathlon on July 11, 2010 in 2:15. I am so proud of that accomplishment and I cannot wait to do another one. As much as the actual acomplishment of finishing the race was wonderful, even better is all the other things that have come from discovering this sport. I joined a triathlon group and met some great people, I came out of my shell and tried things  I was afraid of before, namely swimming in a very deep lake, running on the treadmill at 9 mph and biking 25 miles.

- I have learned what it feels like to be in a truly loving, respectful, no drama relationship. My past relationship was riddled with stupid drama, there were fights literally nearly every day, there was no trust, and it almost seemed like we thrived on the pain we caused each other. Basically it was really messed up and unhealthy. The relationship Bryan and I have is amazing. There is no drama, there is trust without question, our love is true and pure, and we are together for the reason we should be together, because being with each other makes us happy. I never realized how simple a relationship could be. There is nothing for us to fight about because we just want to be together and we are simply happy for the time we get to spend together. It feels great to be loved and to be living in the moment. I am content.

- Family is even more important to me now than ever. It is hard to be away from my parents and my sister, especially now when my sister is pregnant and my niece is so young. I love my family so much though and it is so important for me to keep up with what is going on with them. I talk to my mom almost every day  and my sister and I text all the time. My dad gets the scoop from my mom, he's not much of a phone guy! Haha...love ya dad!

I'm sure there are more lessons I have learned, but I am tired of typing for now, haha. These  are the most important ones I think, if I think of more then I will have a part 2 for this post. And yes, I realize the longest paragraph in this post is about triathlon even though I said this post had almost nothing about it in here...so I lied..what can I say, I love to "tri"!

Time splits

Ok, as soon as I posted that last blog my time splits were posted.....so here it is:

Swim: 17:49- 214th place
T1: 2:27
Bike: 1:15:31- 350th place
T2: 1:30
Run: 38:02- 3:49th place

Final time: 2:15:19
Total # of athletes: 444

I am disappointed in the run time...38 minutes is pretty bad for me, but I guess considering what came before and the fact that it is trail running that is ok. My goal for the next is to cut some time off of that run!

Randolph Lake Tri Race Report

Here I am...officially a triathlete! I really couldn't have asked for a better race...On Saturday night I was so nervous that I couldn't sleep. I know I got a few hours, but I definitely felt like I had just fallen asleep when the alarm went off at 5:15 on Sunday morning. I woke up and my eyes were sore...which is never good, and is a sign of the fact that I did not get much sleep. I forced myself to eat a bagel with peanut butter, but I had to read Bryan Payne's blog while I was doing it to calm myself down. There's something about reading about him drinking copious amounts of beer and completing hours and hours of training that was calming to me after a night of very little sleep and a big race coming up.

I left my house at 5:45 and got to the lake at around 6:20...which was good, I was 10 minutes earlier than anticipated. I was amazed by how well run the race was. I was expecting long lines of people waiting to get their bodies marked and lines to wait for race packets, but it was so well organized that I got my packet, got my body marked and put my number on my bike all in about 5 or 10 minutes. I was impressed. Then I set up my transition area. I wasn't really sure what to do because this was my first tri, but I have practiced transitions, so I kinda went off of that, plus I just put things where I thought they would be easiest to reach. I left some space at the end of my towel so I could step on it and dry my feet off while I was drying myself off and putting on my helmet.

While I was setting up my transition area I met a girl named Heidi. She said this was her second tri and she and I started talking. It was really nice to have someone who had done this before but who wasn't an expert to talk to. It's nice to talk to experts, but sometimes I want to know that I am not the only one who is nervous, and someone who has only done one other tri is more likely to remember the feelings I was having. She was great, she told me that she was nervous too, and we talked about the butterflies in our stomachs.

I was all set up and ready to go by about 7:00, so I called my mom. I knew she would be really nervous, but I knew it would still help me if I talked to her. She said her and my dad and my boyfriend were leaving the house and would be there before the race started. That made me feel good because I was nervous they would miss the start. I really wanted to see their faces before I started and I was worried that I wouldn't.

Around 7:15 I took a short jog to warm up my legs, and at 7:30ish I put on my wetsuit and took a short swim. The water felt warm, and, to my surprise I didn't freak out when I got in. Usually I get all short of breath and nervous even when I just go for a practice swim in open water. I took this as a good sign that it was going to be a good race. It boosted my confidence to know I didn't freak out.

We had our pre-race meeting at 7:45, and that's when the butterflies really kicked in. I couldn't even stand still during the national anthem, my legs were shaking like crazy and I was kinda jumping up and down a little. I have a new respect for kids with ADD because that's how I felt, like it was impossible to keep my body still. Finally the first wave got into the water. I was in the 4th wave, which was good and bad. It was good because I got to watch 3 waves and see how the start looked, but bad because I had to wait about 10 minutes before my wave went. My parents and Bryan showed up around this time, and they were taking pictures and looking at me the whole time. It was nice to see how proud they were.

Finally it was our turn to get into the water, and as we walked over the timing mat to get into the water for the in water start I joked with Heidi that I felt like we were at camp and getting ready to take our swimming test. It was pretty funny and it lightened the mood. As soon as I jumped in the water I had to pee...haha...so I took care of that before we started swimming...and when the horn went off I felt ok. I didn't panic, I didn't get short of breath, I just started off swimming. I did a few strokes of breast stroke first and then I started doing freestyle. The swim went really fast! My results haven't been posted yet, but when they are I will post them on here, but according to my family, it was under 20 minutes...which is amazing for me if that is true.

When I came out of the water I felt great, and I ran up to T1. My transition was pretty quick, although I wanted to give myself enough time to get my heartrate down a little before climbing on the bike. I realized when I got there that my bike had fallen over, and had a brief fear that I would be disqualified because my front tire wasn't standing on the ground...but then I got over that and realized no one cared. Haha...I also saw that I had beat Heidi out of the water, which really surprised me.

Once I got on the bike I took a few deep breaths and a sip of water/gatorade and I felt good. My heartrate went down and I got into a good groove on the bike. Heidi passed me on the bike. She was really trucking along. She said hi to me and we exchanged a few motivating words then she hammered on up the hill past me. I felt happy to see her pass me. She worked hard and had a goal to beat her last time, which she did. Nice job Heidi! The bike course was very hilly. I did most of my training on a bike path in Boston, which was very, very flat. These hills were killer. I knew there was one big hill called "cemetary hill" on the course, but it turns out there were 3 or 4 other huge hills as well. When I was on these hills I just kept saying "right, left, right, left" in my head and told myself one more pedal one more pedal and focused on going one foot at a time until I got to the top. I was proud that I didn't have to walk at all, I really pushed myself and it felt good. I actually smiled all the way up cemetary hill....I just decided that if it was gonna hurt, I may as well smile and try to make the best of it. It really worked. I felt happy the whole time, even when my legs felt like bricks and my muscles were so full of lactic acid that I thought they would explode.

I started eating my GU chomps around 2 or 3 miles into the ride. I was eating them whenever I wasn't climbing a hill, and Everytime I ate one I took a few sips of water. This seemed to work well for me, my stomach felt good the whole time and I ate all of them by about 10 miles, which worked out well because then I had 6.4 miles to get them digesting before I had to start running. I timed my water/gatorade drinking well, because I finished it about a mile before the end of the bike ride and during the run I didn't have any stomach sloshing. I felt good the whole time.

Once I got into T2 I hopped off my bike and started running it back to the rack. The ground was really uneven and I was feeling a little out of control so I slowed down and walked a little over to my rack. This transition was super quick because all I had to do was rack my bike, sip water and then grab my visor. I don't know how long it took me, but I felt like it was under a minute and a half.

The run was kinda crazy. I have never done trail running, and that's what the majority of this run was. We had to run out into the woods through some pretty large pot holes. The good part was that I was so concerned with not falling and hurting myself that I was focusing on skipping over the rocks and sticsk so I didn't think about how dead my legs felt. I did stop and walk about 20 steps because I just felt so dead, but then I decided I knew I would be dissapointed in myself if I walked alot, so I decided to stop "being a pussy" and I ran the rest of the way. I passed Heidi on the run, or I guess I should say she passed me...she was on her way back in and I was on my way out. We tried to give each other a high five but we missed....she said "you go girl!" and it was motivating to know I had a friend out there. After about a mile we came out of the woods and ran a half mile out on the road. The water stops were really cute because there were little kids giving out the water and when you ran by they would say "can we splash you?" and everyone was saying no. On my way out I took some water and gulped some of it down and then threw the rest over my head. That felt amazing. The turn around made me laugh because it was literally a little orange cone in the middle of a house lined street and  there was a guy there watching to be sure you went around the cone. It was pretty hilarious.

On my way back I ran through the water station and said "ok, splash me!" Those kids went nuts! I had probably eight kids dumping cups of water over me, and one kid actually chased me and when he wasn't able to catch me he said "darn, I missed her!" Haha...it was so funny. On the way back, we ran on the same course as we did on the way out, so sometimes you passed people who were on their way out. I smiled at everyone I saw and gave thumbs up to the people who seemed unhappy. I probably pissed someone off because they might have been really not in the mood for my cheeriness, but oh well..I was happy and I wanted everyone to know. So I ran back, and then the trail split and this time we turned right to go around the lake. Apparently this part of the trail is actually a BMX bike trail, so we were running over moguls. It was actually pretty fun. My back is killing me today from the impact, but it was pretty cool at the time. I felt like I was galloping because one foot would hit the top of the mogul, the next would hit the bottom and then back to the top. It was funny. I'm sure I looked really ridiculous galloping along the moguls. After that, the rest of the run was a nice shady run along a trail by the lake. I actually really enjoyed this part. I knew I was near the end, I was full of endorphins, and I was so proud of myself that I felt like I could run forever. Then I passed what I call the "triathlon papparazzi." There was a guy squatting in the bushes with a camera, it was pretty funny. He was there taking pictures of all of us as we were about 1/2 mile from the finish line. I guess this was supposed to be the "pain picture"....so instead I put my arms up like a muscle man and gave a huge shit eating grin. The photographer seemed surprised that I had so much pep, but I was totally running on adrenaline at that point.

Coming out of the woods was weird, it was a tiny little track of dirt up a small hill when we ran out, and then we ran along the outside of a baseball fence and then around and inside the fence. I saw Bryan standing at the final corner, and when he saw me he gave me a huge smile, and that was when I kicked it up and starting sprinting to the finish.

I crossed the finish line strong, and I saw my parents standing right at the fence in front of the finish line. I looked up and my mom was balling her eyes out. She said "I'm so proud of you Lauren" and I almost started crying too. I felt so good that I can't even describe the feeling. I felt like I could do it all again because I was so high on endorphins. After the race we hung around for a while while they did awards because I wanted to wait for them to raffle the bike. Heidi won 2nd place in our age group...nice job girl! Then it got too hot and we decided to leave.

I spent the rest of the day relaxing and eating with my family and some friends. It was a great post race party and I was just on such a high all day. I was exhausted last night. Today I feel pretty good. I am not too sore, my knees kind of hurt and my back is sore, but other than that I feel pretty good! My final time was 2:15:19 I think. I am happy with that. I wanted to finish in 2:15, so I think that is great! When the final times are up I will post my splits. Thanks everyone for the support while I trained...I can't wait to begin the next adventure of training. I haven't signed up for another tri yet because I don't have a bike. I am returning my bike to Caroline this week, so if anyone knows where I can get a bike super cheap, please let me know! For now I will just keep swimming and running and biking at the gym I guess...oh, and blogging of course!

SWIM...BIKE....RUN....PARTY.

Well, tomorrow is the big day...and I am pretty nervous. I have trained hard and I think I am ready, but I can't help freaking out and thinking I am going to drown 200 yards into the swim. I am a strong swimmer, but I tend to freak out and hyperventilate when all those people are around me. I hope that doesn't happen tomorrow. I am going to try to focus on breathing slow and steady, and if I need to I will roll over and look at the sky for a bit. Those are my techniques for relaxing. It's raining today, which is nice because it has been record breakingly hot this past week, and the rain seems to be cooling down the air a bit...although it is still gross and humid. Tomorrow morning is supposed to be cool-ish and cloudy, which sounds perfect to me. I don't want it to be too hot, or too sunny...in fact, a nice gentle rain while I am on the bike or running would be wonderful, as long as it isn't thundering or lightning or pouring so hard I can't see or my brakes don't work. Can you tell I am a little nervous? Haha..I think of everything that can go wrong...but I am also really excited! I can't wait to feel the rush of triathlon, and I can't wait to feel the accomplishment of finishing the race and knowing I did it! I think it will be such a huge rush! I also can't wait to party afterwards with my friends and family. I'm looking forward to kicking back and enjoying a sub and a beer....or two. Haha...anyway, I have alot to do today, I am cleaning the house and drinking water and gatorade. Later I will pack my bag and put everything including my bike into the car so that when 5:15 rolls around I can just hop out of bed and be out the door by 5:45. EEEEK! I will be back tomorrow with a race report...lets hope its a good one!!

SWIM BIKE RUN!

Robotic duck in Walden Pond...

Pretty creative title, right? Haha...this describes me this morning. Lemme first explain where the robotic duck came from. I had personal training on Wednesday and my trainer had me doing some crazy hamstring stuff. At the time it didn't feel too bad, but, to give you a visual of what I looked like walking around work the past two days, just picture a robotic duck...waddling around with straight knees and an amazing inability to walk without shaking my ass in a completely un-sexy way. Haha. So anyway, I opted out of the social training ride last night, as I came home from work and layed down...and couldn't really get up. I ended up rolling over, taking tylenol and sleeping. This morning I was able to get up and go to Walden Pond to do an open water swim. It was warm enough to not need a wetsuit, which was a plus seeing as I don't yet have a wetsuit. The swim was amazing...it felt so nice to be swimming with the early morning sun beating down on me. It was also really cool because the pond was full of triathletes....no one else is crazy enough to get up early on a Saturday to go swim in a pond when they don't have to. Haha. You feel alot of comradery when you swim in a quiet lake with a bunch of other triathletes...even if you don't talk to them, you can just feel the support of everyone, it's really nice. I met this guy who was swimming the same distance of me, so we kind of became swimming buddies..I used his red shorts as my sighting point part of the time haha...it was easier than looking all the way up, and he was sighting alot so I used him as my point of reference....until I passed him. Then I had to start sighting for myself. Damn. Haha...we did a triangle in the pond, so when we got to the first corner we stopped and treaded for a minute and chatted about which cove we were supposed to be swimming to next. We decided on where we were going then we took off. This was where I passed him and got pretty far ahead. I wanted to wait for him, but I also wanted to get a good workout...so the selfish triathlete inside of me came out and I swam to the second point by myself. I turned to check on him and he was fine (which I knew he would be, he was a strong swimmer) and then I planned on treading and waiting for him to get to the second point....but then I felt something hit my leg. I looked down and there was a whole school of fish swimming around my body. They weren't big, but it freaked me out. I'm used to swimming in chlorine, where the biggest thing floating in the pool (hopefully! Eeek) is a band-aid! Haha...so anyway, I freaked out and swam away as fast as I could. There I was again being a jerk and not waiting for my swimming buddy. It turned out fine though, we both made it back and it was ok. Anyway, it was an awesome swim, and it's so cool to say that I train in Thoreau's Walden Pond. People say things like "from that book?" or "Who is Thoreau? (That one really kills me!) or "Whoa! Is his house still there? He was famous...you are so lucky!" Haha...it's pretty funny when people say that because it's open to the public..they could go too...anyway, I'm rambling. Time for some food and homework. Yay.

oh...one more thing...

one more thing I meant to write in that last post...I have been trying out different energy gels/bars/chews/beans....I am wondering what all of you who read this and are triathletes/athletes use? What is your energy "food" of choice, and are there any that you really don't recommend? Thanks!

I can barely walk.

Well, after about 2 weeks without a personal training session, I had another one last night. It was a great session, I ate some Jelly Belly Sport Beans before I went and I felt energized and strong the whole time. Today, however, is another story. My body feels like it has been hit by a bus. It's nice to know that I worked so hard that rolling over in bed or trying to put on underwear is painful, but damn, is it painful! I would ideally like to get out for a short run today to loosen up the old hammies, but I just don't have time today. I have class this afternoon and then I have to go straight from there to the 5th grade graduation for the kids at the school where I work. I guess I will take today as a scheduled rest day and will get out tomorrow for a short run.
I am starting to get really excited for the Randolph Tri on July 11th. It is getting so close, 23 days! I really feel like I am ready for the race. My distances have been significantly farther than I will have to do in the race, and I feel good doing them. I am hopeful that I will be able to finish the race feeling ok, but I am prepared to feel like shit and still keep going. Looking forward to an open water swim this weekend at Walden, and the last 3 days of work for the school year next week! Yay!

BRICKS and GU Chomps

I just got home from spending the weekend with Bryan. It was a great weekend! We spent Friday night just hanging out having fun. He took me out to Legal Seafood to celebrate my passing the MTEL Reading Specialist exam! Yay! I had a yummy meal and we got a great lobster bib picture...classic. Haha. On the way home we saw a carnival on the side of the road and decided to stop. It was hilarious and completely spontaneous. We stopped and walked around a little, and decided we were way too old to be there. All the people who were there were 15 and wearing mini skirts or pants that were 2 sizes too big for the guys and 2 sizes too small for the girls haha! We did play Skeeball though, that was fun! We also took pictures by this ride that we decided would probably have made both of us puke if we had gone on it. It was called the "freak out." Hahah!

Then yesterday was kind of a weird day...it was long, and we kind of did alot, but we were also kind of really lazy. We woke up and went to get breakfast, that was fun, we had a delish breakfast and got some caffiene pumping through our veins. Then we went to REI so I could get a new bike computer. (More on this later.) After that we went back to his house and we called his sister and his parents because we had thought we might hang out with them, but they all ended up not really feeling like doing anything haha...so we watched a weird movie on Netflix. I think it was called "The Management" but I'm not positive if that was even the name. It was the weirdest Jennifer Aniston movie I have ever seen...haha! We also tried out some energy gummies that we bought at REI. They were called "Sharkies" and they sucked. Haha...we both felt tired after we ate them. Note to self: Don't use Sharkies during triathlon. Haha

By the time the movie was over we were both in semi-coma's from a big breakfast and a rainy day. We kinda layed around for a while and then I tried to get Bryan off the couch to do some stretching...he wasn't too happy about that. Haha. Finally we were getting kind of bored, so we were thinking of what to do. Bryan's dad loves pie, and one of the first things he ever asked me was if I made pie. He was amazed that I said I know how to make key lime pie, so yesterday we decided we would make a key lime pie and bring it to his parents' house which is about an hour away from Bryan's apartment. We decided we wanted to make something else too, so we went with coconut macaroons because we thought it went well with the key lime tropical theme hahaahaha! We laughed for a while then we went to the store to get the stuff to make the pie and macaroons. I said we should just get key lime juice, but Bryan saw real key limes and decided he wanted to "squeeze those limes!" So we bought those. He was pretty hilarious standing at the counter squeezing these tiny limes...it took forever just to get 4 oz. of lime juice...but he was a man about it, because after all, there's no crying in lime squeezing. Haha. My challenge for the night was to make homemade whipped cream without an electic mixer. I think I got an arm workout from whisking for so long. Anyway, the pie came out great, his parent's loved it, and we had a great time at their house!

Today we went shopping and out to lunch with his family, and his mom made us pumpkin waffles in the morning. Those were pretty amazing. We played scrabble last night and his mom won...she managed to use all 7 letters to make the word decanter and get a bonus 50 points! I was impressed! Today we also played boggle...that was pretty fun, I love playing board games!

I had a really great weekend, and I'm not looking forward to starting another busy week. I better get to bed soon, but before I do, I have a little training info to share too. On Thursday afternoon my class was canceled, so I decided to take advantage of that and go for a long BRICK. I went for a 25 mile bike ride and then I ran a 5k. It was really great...I felt so good, and I got to test out my race day nutrition. I ate a packed of orange GU chomps while I was on the bike, and I really noticed the difference in my energy level. My energy picked up immediately and lasted throughout the bike and run. I was pretty happy with that. I didn't have any digestive issues with them either, so that's good. I bought some other energy options at REI yesterday, so I plan to try those out in the next two weeks and see which I like best for my race day nutrition. I decided I will use some sort of energy "food" during the race because it made me feel so much more energized the other day, and I don't see how it could hurt me as long as I pick something that doesn't bother my stomach and something I can eat easily on the bike. Anyway, I was pretty damn happy that I was able to do that long of a brick. I hope to do another one this week sometime.  That's all for now! Goodnight everyone..

Things I Learned This Week...

Here is a list of things I have learned in the past week or so:

1) A marathon is no longer a ridiculously crazy thing that only "crazy athletes" can do...I actually can see myself running a marathon sometime in the future.

2) I LIKE running. What the hell is that about!? I have always hated running!

3) When running up a large hill, it is best to do one of three things: 1) blog in my head...this solved two problems...I don't have to think when I blog later, and I get up the hill without thinking about it. 2) Stare at the sidewalk about 5 feet in front of me. This keeps me from staring up the hill and thinking about how much further I have to go. 3) Practice chords on the air guitar...haha...this sounds hilarious, but really, it works! Today I was practicing what Bryan taught me this weekend, and I got up a big hill before I even really thought about it!

4) I can run faster and farther than I ever thought I could. Last week I ran 6.5 miles, and today I ran 5km in 30:30. That is a minute and a half faster than I ran the same course a month ago. I am impressed with my progress. Go me!

5) Cold beer tastes amazingly wonderful after biking 20 miles. It's like an orgasm in your mouth. There is no other way to describe it. Oh, and triathletes will find any reason to "carbo load" with Bertucci's bread...even if it means pretending we need it after riding only 20 miles. Haha!

6) A few months ago a "short run" meant like 2 minutes of running and then walking for 10 minutes. Tonight I only had time for a "short run" and it was 3.2 miles. I find that pretty F*$#@#$ amazing.

and last, but not least....

5) When given the choice between running now or running at 5 AM tomorrow, I will always pick now. 5 AM and I are not friends.

Finally time to blog...

Well I finally have some time to blog...so the other day I ran 6.5 miles...which was amazing for me! The furthest I had ever run before that was 4.5....so this was a huge jump! Last night I went on a training ride with my triathlon group, and that was fun too! My training is going really well, and I love belonging to Triumph Triathlon because it gives me people to talk to about triathlons...I mean, I'm sure my family, friends and boyfriend never get sick of hearing about it (haha) but it's nice to have people who understand when I say things like "my ass was so sore I could hardly walk after that run yesterday" or "I don't think I fueled right before that ride, my stomach was churning and I had no energy." Haha...these are things that people who aren't triathletes just don't quite understand. Lol. Not to mention it's awesome to have people to chat with while drinking Sam's Summer and eating pasta and bread. It was funny last night, we all went to Bertucci's and if you saw us from across the room you probably would have thought we had just undertaken some serious workout...we were crowded around the table, wearing spandex bike shorts and jerseys. We ordered a round of beer and water...haha...and then the bread came and we started gorging ourselves on carbs. Haha...you would have thought we were carbo loading for an Ironman...but in reality we had only ridden 20 miles. Haha....it was pretty hilarious to see triathletes gathered around a table on a Friday night.

On other fronts, I am trying to decide whether I want to carry an energy gel or some energy chews with me on the bike during my tri. I have read some things about people saying they didn't need any nutrition other than water and gatorade during a sprint, and other people say they needed a powerbar or energy gel...so when I do a brick this week I am going to try taking a couple energy chews and see how I feel. I think I will only need a half a packet of GU chomps if I decide to use those, or maybe one energy gel if I decide to use that.

That's pretty much it on the training front....time to go get some cleaning and homework done!!

Holy sh#%.....

....I just ran 6.5 miles!!! More on this later...now I have to get ready for my date...just couldn't wait to post this though!

Goal for today...

Just a quick post....I am going to try running about 5 miles today. This is the furthest I have ever run, and if I do it I will be soooooo happy! I figured if I write it down it might be more attainable and force to actually do it. Go me!! As Bryan Payne said in his latest post "suck it up and stop being a pussy!" This is going to be my mantra today as I run in the 80 degree weather. Hahah! Thanks for these words of wisdom Training Payne!!

Sushi for dinner and being truly happy :)

Well here it is, probably 5 or 6  days since I last blogged...sorry again...life is just getting in the way of blogging! In fact, I have so little time these days that I am multitasking (no Bry, I'm not pumping gas and talking on the phone! Haha) but I am stuffing my mouth full of sushi as I blog. Haha...anyway...the training took a bit of a back burner this weekend because I spent 18 hours driving, and probably far fewer sleeping. Last week I stayed out until almost midnight every night of the week...hey, that's what happens when you are dating a sweet guy :) and I still managed to get most of my training in. This weekend I just couldn't do it. I had other things I had to get done like babysitting and seeing friends and family. As important as training is to me, the people I love will always come first...and thats what happened this weekend. But, today I climbed back in the saddle (or should I say the pool) and swam 1000 yards...or for those of you who don't swim...40 laps. It felt great to be training agian, and I am really looking forward to a 4 or 5 mile run tomorrow. Wow...never thought I would hear those words come out of my mouth...crazy! Haha...I am also excited because I get to see Bryan tomorrow and we are going to get strings for my guitar so I can master ode to joy and be a rocker chick! Hahah....ok...maybe not a rocker chick...but ode to joy is a start...right? Haha. Anyway...I cant believe the triathlon is 39 days away..that's pretty scary for me...but I think I have trained hard so far and plan to continue..and I have alot of people saying they are going to come support me...so I am really getting excited! If this month of working full time, going to class 3 nights a week, training for a triathlon and spending time with my wonderful boyfriend so he doesn't decide to dump me, then I will be in good shape come July! Anyway...the sushi is almost gone, and I don't have much else to write, but I will try to write again  tomorrow.

Oh! One more thing...I saw a guy I know from my triathlon group tonight at the pool. It felt great to see someone I know, it made me feel like an athlete and like part of something bigger. It was awesome.   :)

I can honestly say I haven't felt this happy in a LOOONG time.   :)