Visitor

My mom was here last week during her spring break. Side note -I really should look into getting a job with the school system because summers, spring breaks, and Christmas breaks are way more important now than they were back then. Anyway, her coming to visit meant lots of good meals out and lots of walking around. And since I didn't see a break in my training for Mom's visit, I was up extra early on the weekends to get everything done before she was awake. We went to our favorite restaurant one night and had tuna tostadas and sent this picture to my brother and sister in law so they would get jealous. Now I'm jealous looking at it. The food is that good. And yes, that is a margarita next to me. I fell off the wagon a bit. My mom loves wine and margaritas and I couldn't let her drink alone. I decided to change my rule and allow myself drinks on weekends when visitors were here. At least I am doing better than last year!



This weekend is another trip to Houston where I will get in about 8 hours of solid riding with some running and swimming mixed in. I am going to have a long time to pretend to love my bike, but I do have some new cool outfits at home that I can wear to make it a little less painful. I can't believe it is less than 2 months away until the IM! Chris will finally have a normal life again. Or at least until I sign up for the next one.

PR!

I had another hard training weekend on the books, which I actually am starting to love. When I dont have to travel and can get out of bed and onto the trainer, I am one happy person. I prefer biking outside, but I dont prefer having to pack, fly (hate flying remember?), and leaving Chris and the pups. So Saturday was a hard trainer ride that involved three movies and a lot of calories.
By 6AM I was all prepped and ready to go. I got through the warmup and my power was looking lower than normal and no matter what I couldnt get it higher. I really felt like I was using all my effort to just get in my warm up levels. For the first set I thought I was going to puke. I knew i was bonking when I remembered I forgot breakfast and decided to get off, eat a little bit and get back on a few minutes later. Holy cow that helped and I was back on for the remainder of the ride feeling back to normal. I was also able to get in about 300 calories an hour thanks to my PB&J.

I had some company while riding too. Here is my little guy giving me stink eye because he isnt getting any of the sandwich.

After the ride, legs were toast and I had seen three more movies than I had at 6AM.
Sunday I had a 15 mile run on the schedule and also realized that there was a 10 mile race starting 2 blocks from my house. Score! I could sandwich the race with a nice long warm up and cool down. Since the race really was just a way for me to get in 10 miles on carless roads, I had zero nerves and ended up getting to the start line after it actually started. I was having fun and for the first time in a running race, I didnt want to turn back at the turn around for the shorter race. I stayed relaxed and the race took us through some of the only hills in Mexico City, so I was able to get in some hill training. I stopped a few times to make sure I was getting in all of my nutrition and to say hi to some friends and Chris because I really didnt care about the time. Even still, as I crossed the finish line I realized that I had a PR. I guess the trick is to not give a crap and come to the race 10 minutes late. That or give up wine for Lent. Although I really hope it isnt the wine because I plan to go back on the booze Easter Sunday.

I feel like Tom Cruise

The doctor called and gave me the news I have been waiting for. Apparently one leg is significantly longer than the other. I always knew this but every doctor and chiro I went to said it was because my hips were tight and then stretched me or pulled me until I was closer to even. Apparently that wont ever help because the xrays came back saying that one bone is actually longer than the other. By a lot. I knew that this might be what was going on, but I was really hoping that the other doctors/chiros were right and that stretching and strength exercises were all that I needed. I need those, but I also need some really expensive orthotics that will raise my short leg up. I wonder if these lifts will make me taller and I will actually be the 5’5” that I claim I am. The good news is that this will help my hip and probably (hopefully) my speed. I was also told that I need to get my bike refit because they need to take into account my leg difference. Apparently a new fit will give me more power too. Score.
My sweet mom went and picked them up for me at the doc's and is bringing them with her next weekend when she comes to visit us. The weird thing I that I have had zero hip pain since before the marathon. Maybe just going to the doctor cured me and I dont need these ridiculously expensive orthotics. But they are already purchased and heading to Mexico. These things better help fix me. Or at least make me taller.

How not to ride a bike

This past weekend was another Houston training weekend, and on schedule was a long ride on Saturday. The plan was to get up and head over to a 65 mile scheduled ride with a group training for the MS150. I got up at 5, packed the car and started my hour drive. My mom had been nice enough to print off the directions and walk me through them so i wouldnt get lost. When I got there, I drove around this tiny town for an hour and couldnt find ANYONE! There are normally a few thousand that do these rides, so it should have been easy to spot, especially since I saw the school where we were supposed to meet. I didnt even see anyone with a bike on their car. After an hour I decided to cut my losses and head back home to do a ride on my normal route. I got in about 20 miles when I started to hear a really loud clicking noise. I kept stopping and getting off to check my back wheel but couldnt find anything. Then another guy stopped me and tried to find what was wrong and he thought it was the beamer, and was worried my back wheel would lock up on me mid ride. I decided to get first in line to the store and see if they could quickly look at it. On my way over to the store I heard a pop and hiss. Yes, I had gotten my first flat on my new bike. At least I was on my way into the shop and they could fix that as well. After about 30 minutes and taking apart my bike, the tech said that he needed more time but that it would be safe to ride for the day. They know me well there and know that I only come in town to train on the bike and losing a day on the bike is sort of an issue for me.
So I went back out into temps that dropped quite a bit since the morning, and got in another 22 miles. All of a sudden the sky opened up and it started to pour. I wanted to wait it out a bit, but after about 20 minutes and no sign of letting up I carefully rode home. When I walked in the door I immediately had a breakdown. i was so frustrated that I couldnt ride, and that I came in town specifically to get time on the bike, and it just wasnt working out for me. I had been trying to ride for the past 8 hours and only got in 42 miles. Sensing that things could get ugly quickly, my mom decided to take me to the gym so i could finish the bike there. After a few emails from coach I felt better and realized that these things happen and I have to move on from them. Also, better on a training day than in the race.
Sunday fared way way better. I had 13 miles to do. I went out and basically tried to push the pace until I blew up or puked. Neither happend (although I almost puked a few times) and I hit a 13 mile run with 8:41 pace. Way faster than any race I have ever done that distance. So a much needed confidence boost from the day before.

Running for recovery

After the marathon I had severe soreness, and tried everything to get better. I took ice baths, rolled, stretched, went swimming and did some easy spinning on the trainer, but nothing worked. I even resorted to living in my compression pants, or as Chris so eloquently refers to them as the cockblock pants, and as of yesterday I still had the pain in my quads. The rest of the legs were back to normal, but I was walking up and down stairs like I had just had a baby. I had an easy 45 minute run on the schedule today and I didnt think I would be able to do it. But then I read that coach had written you cant go too slow, so I figured that included walking and headed out with the dogs. I ran. Slow. And then I woke up today and am almost back to normal. Who knew that running would help? Gotta remember that next time!

Austin Marathon RR

This race was all about the Hs - Hot, humid and hilly - very good for IMTX training, which was my purpose for running this marathon. Not a good race for a PR unless you are like me and your only other marathon was so slow that you could walk the second half and still PR (which i did - walk and PR). At the finish line one of the people I was running with said that if that was his first marathon, he would never do another one. I actually felt great - probably because I stuck to my plan of going sloooowww. Austin is my favorite city by far, and I loved getting to run through parts of it, and definitely recommend this race for anyone who wants a challenge.

The expo - traffic in Austin is awful and was made even worse by the line of the people trying to get into the expo. It took us almost an hour to go a mile until I finally decided to jump out of the car and run in to get my packet. By the time I came back out, my mom had driven about 2 blocks. The race was sponsored by Livestrong (Lance made an appearance and ran the half), and the swag was pretty great. They gave away a messenger bag instead of a Tshirt which I loved becuase, really, I dont need another Tshirt. My maid is running around town with all of my old race tshirts posing as a triathlete/runner. If you saw her you would know what a funny site this actually is.

The start - no bueno. The start was really narrow and the half marathoners and marathoners were all bunched together. They used to start in another part of town that was much wider and I heard it was a better experience. I also think that if you have over 20,000 people trying to get across a little line at once, you should have a wave start. It took me about 15 minutes to get across the starting line. For the first time before a race I had zero nerves. It was purely a training run so there was no pressure. Plus I knew I had to walk up all the uphills because of my hip, and through all of the aid stations to practice nutrition. I knew it would be a slow marathon, and I was just out to have fun and feel really good at the finish.

The race - I was told the first 3 miles were uphill so I knew there would be a lot of walking involved. Whoever told me that lied - the first 16 miles were up hill. There was one downhill break from mile 4-6 where I pushed the pace a lot, but the rest of the time I was just walking up the hills. Around mile 20 I ran into a friend of mine who decided she would run slow enough to run in with me. Miles 20-26 were almost all downhill, but by that time it was hot and I was tired so my run was slow. We both ran across the finish line, and I felt great. No hip pain, no nausea and I had energy. I guess taking in calories really does work in a marathon - go figure. I also PRed (again, not saying much) after a pretty rough bike ride on saturday. So all in all it was a confidence booster I need going into May. I also think that I am going to actually train for a early 2012 marathon and see what I can do.
Here is a really fuzzy picture of us at the finish line taken by my mom's BB. I realize I forgot to post potential outfits, but a trip to cancun followed by food poisoning meant that I didnt have time to pack and resorted to wear what I had left at my mom's house from my last trip home. Of course it was some lulu.

Um, yes my friend has a baby and is one of those impressive mom runner types.

And good news - I finally got into a Dr to look at my hip. I find out exray results soon, but the good news is that he is a triathlete. So he knows that telling me to stop running and find something else to do with my time is not an option, instead he said he would fix it. YAY!

Again I go back on the big scary flying bus

It is that time again, time to get back on the plane. I live out of a suitcase now even when I back home because it just takes too much energy to unpack and repack a couple of days later. The good news is that Chris is coming home with me this weekend, the bad news is that it is for wedding stuff. I am not one of those girls who has been planning her wedding since she was little, and it is not something I want to start now. I have the world's best mom and she has been doing about 99% of the wedding planning, and since I am not picky and she is creative and has good taste, I am hoping I can just show up. I hate going to stores to shop, I hate trying on clothes (even wedding dresses), and I hate driving around in traffic to get to the next store. But my mom mentioned that she would not do 100% of the registering for me. Yes, she is helping me by explaining what we will need and what certain pots are for (no, I dont know the difference in a pot used for cakes and a pot used for casseroles, or even if you use pots for them), but she is not going to actually register. And I have to bring Chris because since my tools in the kitchen stop with a can opener, fork, and spoon, I will need someone who actually will use the stuff to select it. I was secretly hoping we could register for this.! Would it be wrong to put this on the website? If you really want to make the bride happy, she would love a kinect and the new Michael Phelps game so she doesnt have to get up in the cold to go to the pool.
We are leaving tonight which means two days on the bike instead of 1 and you all know I need it! Next week I am going to be working on marathon outfits for Austin. I got an idea from Chloe to post some pictures of the final few next week.