New Years Resolutions

Blogging twice in one week! I know, crazy, but that is what a taper will do. I figure I should go ahead and put up my resolutions because pretty soon I am going to have to start thinking about what I will do for Lent, and I can only do one set of resolutions at a time. So here goes:
1) Suck it up through the hard workouts. I am a big wimp when it comes to pain, so 2012 I plan to be better at that and actually make my body work harder. This includes waking up when the alarm goes off and not hitting snooze through a morning workout.
2) Do my PT/strength exercises at least 3x a week
3) Do more group rides. I am a slow biker and don't feel comfortable riding with people a lot because I feel I hold them back. This year I plan on stepping out of my comfort zone because I know it will only make me faster
4) Take a honeymoon - we haven't had one yet so the goal is to have one in 2012. This is actually a resolution I think I will keep!
5) Eat healthier - I eat pretty healthy now and we Chris cooks a healthy meal almost every night, but there is always room for improvement, especially when I live in the land of TexMex.
6) And finally, be thankful every day for what I have starting with my health and my family's health. Over the holidays three pretty scary accidents/illnesses happened to friends and I want to be sure I remember how lucky I am to be able to do what I do every day.

New Year, New Blog Image

Chris was sick of looking at my blog with no header image, so he took it upon himself to make one for me again. I think he is still making some tweaks, but at least I got something up there now. Next weekend in Houston is the Marathon Olympic Trials that run right by our house, so we are going to get up early and watch some really fast runners run by three different times to get me motivated for the Houston Marathon the next day. The marathon is going to be a training run for me to prepare for IMTX. I haven't had the time to ramp up enough to go after a PR, but I did get in a few long runs and hope that I can finish without an embarrassing time. I love the course and will know lots of people along the way, but I still secretly wish that I were going to be running the half instead of the full. I PRed a half about two weeks ago and think I have a faster time in me, but I am going to put on my big girl pants and run/shuffle the whole thing. At least I will get to wear a cute outfit so the peeps can pick me out of the crowd. I did have a minor setback this past week that may cause some problems for the run, but I hope I caught it in time. I tried to copy my brother and go vegetarian right after Thanksgiving. For no other reason except that if he can do it, so can I. Well apparently I can't. After about 3 weeks my recovery time tripled, my times were sucking and I felt like crap all day every day. I had tried this before and had the same problems, but apparently I thought doing it again would be different. Isn't that the definition of insanity? I talked to my coach and doc and they both told me to immediately go eat burgers for three days in a row. My iron levels dropped, and I guess that isn't good. They also both said not to try something that drastic until after IM. I don't want to try it again. All I could think about was how much I wanted whatever meat Chris was eating, and I will just let the vegetarian habits stay with my little bro.
Here are the pups earlier after one of my long runs. They don't run long runs with me, but they both have the recovery side down and take naps with me.


And here is a photo of my niece just because she is cuter than any other photo I have. She just turned 6 months.

Off Season

I have been full on off season mode for the past few weeks and now things are just starting to pick up again. The time off was great. The biggest thing that happened was Chris and my wedding in Sayulita Mexico. It was a totally low key affair with close friends and family. The days were filled with surfing, stand up paddling, beach volleyball, margaritas, beer and fish tacos. I didnt even think about putting on my running shoes or cap/goggles for the entire 10 days we were there. Everything was perfect - thanks in large part to my mom! We got a lot of great pictures, some of which I have below. The best ones I have to post later. Like Chris and me surfing in our lucha libre masks.




The railing behind us had no fence and nothing underneath. Except 175 feet below there was ocean and rocks. This kind of building would not have passed codes in the US.

Cutting the cake - again, the work of my mom who found a baker who could make a dia de los muertos themed cake.

Our gift to the guests - a very fun fireworks show.

And the late night parties begin. I am not happy to be carried by a bunch of sweaty dudes. I now know how Chris feels when I try and hug him after triathlons.


Then came my favorite holiday. This was before the turkey trot. Chris woke up sick, but I told him to suck it up because it was his hangover. He promised he was sick. Then 5 hours later I realized he really was sick and caught the stomach bug just in time for Thanksgiving dinner. I still tried to eat as much as I normally do, but that wasnt the smartest thing.

Now it is time to get back into shape and start training for IMTX! Off season officially over.

Austin 70.3 Race Report

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the race report, I have to say that this was by far the most challenging event I have ever done, both mentally and physically. I wasn’t under any delusions of grandeur of coming out on the other side with a PR because, let´s face it, I wasn’t as prepared as I should have been. With 5 of the past 8 weeks on the road, that really left only 2 weeks for heavier training and 1 taper week. I also didn’t have my head in the game as much as I normally do because the season was officially over at the end of this race, I am getting married in a week, I have a big week this week with work, and life sort of piled up. However, I could never have planned for what I experienced. This course humbled me in so many ways. Most of the mental issues were so minor that they normally wouldn’t have gotten to me, but after the day I was having every little thing was piling up. And that whole saying that you need to expect 5 things to go wrong in an ironman and check them off 1 by 1? I think in the future I will expect 10 things to go wrong for the half ironman distance. Luckily I wasn’t the only one who really suffered out there. I saw more pukers, walkers and people who were “quitting” triathlons for good out there than ever before.
For those (crazy) people who are thinking about this race in the future:
The good – great organization, great volunteers – they were dressed up on a lot of the aid stations, a great course to spectate (3 loop running course), the aid stations – I had aid station parties starting at mile 1 and they were great buffets at every stop; and a great city to visit.
The bad – I will caveat this with the fact that I am from Houston, so overpasses on the freeway are big mountains to me, but this was the hilliest course I have ever been on. I waited all day for a flat, and I don’t think I ever got one except for about 100 yards on the run. The wind sucked. I felt like I was riding in Kona and never had a tailwind. The heat – it was 115 the week before, so we got “lucky” with 90 (in October. Really?). The bike course was not sectioned off for a lot of the race, and was pretty dangerous. There were about 20 miles where you were so close to cars that passing was dangerous. The hills. I’m putting that twice, because they sucked that bad.
Pre – Race – we drove to Austin on Saturday morning early and as soon as I got in the car, I realized that I had forgotten my bike. I should have known then that it wasn’t going to be a good race. We got to Austin fairly quickly, found the expo, checked in and then I went back to the car to pack my transition bags. I got on my bike to do a quick check up and noticed some brake issues. So this meant an hour wait in line for mechanics. A first for me, so I wasn’t too bummed about it, but again, sign #2 that I should have packed it in and gone home. Next time I am following my gut. The rest of the day was spent at Whole Paycheck and shopping for Chris’s wedding present.
Race Day – No problem here. We were running a little bit late, and had to catch the shuttle, but I had about 15 minutes to get my bottles filled in T1, which was plenty of time. Then it was a waiting game for all of the other waves to start before us. 1:35 to be exact.
The swim –We had the biggest wave with 205 people, and it was a washing machine. I did manage to get a good line and follow about 6 other girls out in front. They went on ahead at the turnaround and I flew solo on the way back and came out in 8th. This was the best part of the day.
Sausage time


Getting into the water finally.

I think I am the one with really bad form.

The bike – This is where things got bad. A week ago someone told me not to fall because I didn’t want road rash to get puss and blood all over my wedding dress, and I think this went through my mind the entire time adding to my very fun day. I knew it would be rough when the first mile out of the transition had a huge climb. The first 10 miles I had two problems. The first one was going up a hill and my foot came off the pedal. I almost crashed and then realized that my clip was actually falling off my shoe. So I fixed it and started to walk my bike up the hill. As I was cursing myself for not finishing the season with the sprint the weekend before, I saw a dude haul by me and fly out of his pedal too. So we walked together and agreed that if the support vehicle came by we would drop out of the race together. No such luck. The second time I dropped my chain (apparently my bike is ready for an off season as well). Going uphill. I had to walk it up again and guess what – no sag wagon. I then decided that since I wouldn’t have to swim, bike or run for 2.5 weeks, I should just make this a really good last workout. I came into T2 with a PW bike at 3:33. I wasn’t the last one in even though it felt like I was.

Gotta love those tan lines


God bless the volunteers. Especially the ones who put on sunscreen. But as you might guess I have some nice hand prints all over my back now.


The Run – the best part of the run was watching a guy puke on a sign that said puke and rally. And he did just that. After I left T2 I realized my hair was flying in my face. I had started the race with two rubber bands and now had none. Good thing my visor was able to hold up my hair for the most part. Then I realized I forgot my nutrition. Which normally wouldn’t matter, but today it was enough to make me cry. The run was a fun game of trying to get from one aid station to the next. When I was running, I was running between 9 and 9:15, but then I would stop and chat at the aid stations knowing that when I left I would have to run again. At 1 point I started getting some bad IT pain so I started to shove ice down my shorts. Then the ice would move around and I looked like I had crapped my pants. There were lots of fun people to talk to on the course, which sort of made the last miles fly by. And then the end came and I couldn’t even muster enough strength to pick up the pace at the finish line.

I dont remember this. All I remember is that Chris had a nice huge bag of food waiting for me when I got in the car.


Although I will never do this race again, I am glad I did it because it probably will come in handy when I am doing IMTX. It was good training for what to do when you feel like ass and want to pull out of a race, but you cant because the only way back is to finish the race.
Now it is the off season. There will be another post about what I plan to do during this time. It will include a whole lot of eating, drinking and sleeping. Oh, and getting married!

Lots of things going on.

So apparently something is going on with my header image, and since I have been lame-o and not on here a lot, I don't know how long it has been like that. I will have to get my blog guru Chris to fix it. The past month has flown by. I thought we were still in September and then whoops, it was my birthday, and then an engagement party, and then Chris's birthday. Last time I thought about it our wedding was 3 months away and I could relax. Now it is less than three weeks away and unfortunately am still relaxing. It is too late to get to wedding weight (very similar to racing weight but without the back and shoulder bulk), so all i can hope for is that the swimming I have been doing 3x a week has kept my arms strong enough to paddle out in Sayulita. It will be our fist time on surfboards since moving from Hawaii, and really I think we are more excited about that then about the actual wedding. My mom is thankfully still going strong on the wedding planning or else there wouldn't be much else besides patron and food because let's get real, that is all I really need to have a good time.
Being back in town with friends and family has been amazing, but also busy. Gone are the days when I can just work and train and sleep and eat. Now I have to actually plan my training around other things. Like happy hours and day drinking for the football games. I have kept at the training and racing sporadically and am seeing some improvements on the bike and run, but I have to say I am really looking forward to that 2 week break that comes after next weekend's 70.3 in Austin. I am nowhere near the shape I was in for IMTX, but I think I can fake it through. After the break I start up again with Vegas 1/2 marathon in December and then it is full on IM training again. I have tried to make this trip for the past few years but work got in the way. I am hoping that this year will be the year I get on that plane. Chris has never been, so this can be like a post mini-moon, mini-moon as long as we aren't sick of each other.
Here are some photos of the past weekend since blogs without photos suck, even thought I do that often.

Pre-Race engagement party. We stayed until the margarita machine was out of juice. To make it last longer we mixed it with the beer from the Shiner keg. If it was anything like our wedding will be, my liver is in trouble.



There is no race report from the race because it ended before I really woke up that day, so I cant remember enough to write anything other than I was first out of the swim, got passed by 4 people in transition and on the bike, and never saw another person in my AG on the run, so I stopped paying attention and came in 5th. Here are some photos that I snagged from yoursportingimage.com.
The photog on the bike happened to get me right when my foot snapped out of place. I almost crashed into him. Could have been the alcohol from the party.


On the run - running for my post race beer and pizza. Maybe the often consumed pizza and beer is why I didnt get to wedding weight.



And just for fun - more pictures of my perfect neice. I get some almost every day and I am obsessed with her. Luckily they are heading to Austin this weekend so I will get some quality babysitting time.

I forgot how to blog

It has been ages since my last blog! I just realized that I have been a total blog stalker and have neglected my own blog. Not because there isnt anything going on right now, but because there is too much! August flew by and included the following:
1) Moving to Houston and settling into a house where the dogs can spend the days in the backyard learning to share.

2) The move from Mexico required us to have a car, so we bought a car! The first I have owned in over three years. Plenty of space for the dogs, bikes and my workout clothes for the week! Plus we have a little Hawaii in it with some wet Okole seats!


3) Visiting my new niece - she is the first grandchild of our side of the family and has greatly taken the pressure off of Chris and me for the time being. Im in love!


4) Visiting Columbia for the first time ever. It was an interesting experience. I was there for work so we had about an hour the entire time to sightsee, but the people are incredibly nice and the place is gorgeous. Plus it probably has the best security of any airport I have ever been in.
In front of what I can only assume is the Louvre of Columbia.



5) Reminding my body how to race again. There are races here just about every weekend and I have been jumping into quite a few of them. Because of the horrible drought we are having here, the swim has been cancelled more often than not. sucks for me, but as my coach reminds me, I am able to work on my weaknesses. I would never knowingly sign up for a duathlon that has two runs, but I have been doing a lot of them lately by default. I forgot to do race reports, so I forgot most about the races, but I do know that the last one I did I vowed never to race in Houston in August again. It was 102 when I started the run at 9AM (108 when I finished) and I saw 2 ambulances on the course picking up fallen racers. I would post photos, but I cant find any that dont suck, so next time I promise.

6) Praying for rain. And really praying for rain for the people in Austin.

Moving Day

Chris and I spent the entire weekend (other than a few hours to train and eat) preparing for the movers. We didnt actually have to pack anything, but we did have to do some major purgeing and cleaning. When we moved to Hawaii, I was moved by my company so we pretty much just had everything moved. This time it is on our own dime, so we had to really limit what we took. We gave away about 15 bags of clothes, threw out/recycled about 20 bags of trash/old papers/etc, and still have another half a room full of stuff we are giving to the driver and maid. It took a long time, but I feel much better now that we went through everything we own and decided what stays and what goes.
The movers came in at 9AM today and we were up at 6 getting everything ready, which included bribing the valets to let the van park in front of our building. I feel bad that I am at work today while Chris is dealing with the movers, but not bad enough to take a vacation day and stay home to help. Moving sucks, moving internationally sucks even worse.

The bad -
- Having to bribe the valet at 6AM to let the moving truck park on the street
- Having to bribe our doorman to let the movers into the building and use the elevator
- Not having a bed for several weeks
- Having to pack a month's worth of clothes in 2 suitcases
- Chris losing his passport which contains his newly recieved Visa in it 15 minutes before the movers arrived.
- Not being able to cook at home for a while, and not being able to have any smoothies
- No bike training for a while and no pool until I get to Houston
- The dogs have no idea what is going on and are therefore completely freaked out

The good -
-The spring cleaning that goes along with the move
-I finally took apart my bike for the first time since moving here and it will be getting a major clean when I get it in Houston
- Chris finding his Passport in a book on the bookshelf before the movers packed it
- No food at home = lots more froyo!
- No TV which means more time to train, but it also means I will miss The Bachelorette and the last episode of Friday night lights.

T-4 days before we touch down in Houston!