"Life is like riding a bicycle. To keep your balance you must keep moving"

seven years ago today i moved into my first west coast address. i was only staying for one year, or so i thought. when i got to the left side i had two 10 milers and a handful of 5k's under my belt. i didn't know what an ironman was and even a marathon was foreign.

today, i moved again. this time it was different.

i checked off "cross training" for this week, each box i packed, unpacked, and repacked had to have counted for something.  i was a mix of emotions and prolonged packing the final box until just this morning.  i remember waking up for the 4:30 am workouts, training for my second marathon, training for my first tri, the 10ks, the half marathons, the ocean swims.  i met my inspirations and became what i learned here in this house.  as i was closing the door one last time at 2456 manhattan ave, i realized that moving really was a lot like training.  its emotional.  its physical.  and the end result most always made it worth the while.

today my runs will have a new starting line, but i'm confident no matter what i'll make it to that finish.

a reason to smile

recently i watched a video on chrissie wellington, a three time ironman champion.   she's inspiring to say the least, but the most interesting thing about chrissie is she's always smiling. she is like the heinz ward of triathletes.

upon completion of the video i not only wanted to hit the gym and run about a million miles.  but i wanted to take my training to the next level.  a level that would remind me why i was doing this all in the first place.  a level that although required baby steps, would eventually get me to that finish line.  and that very evening while in the pool, i found myself smiling because i finally nailed that damn flip turn.  all. by. myself.

so maybe you'll see me smiling up those PV hills in the coming months on my new ride.  because really in the end, being happy with yourself is really what its all about.

finding the finish line

March 2006, Los Angeles, California.

Running 26.2 miles seemed impossible and slightly ridiculous at the time but for some reason that year i decided i was going to do it.  i was going to run a marathon. 

i've been needing some positive thoughts to pull me through some of the easiest of runs lately (yes like 3 milers)  and so i started to rack my brain for a time in my life that i felt proud of myself. i found myself back at the finish line of that first marathon.  i recall crying at the finish line and feeling a little silly since the head of the packers were showered, changed, and out to dinner already when my two little feet made their mark at the finish.

i also remember sitting on the curb at mile 22 ready to quit, throw it all away. months of physical training, early morning runs, and sacrifices and i was ready to give it all up.  my legs hurt, i was tired, and at that moment 5 miles seemed like an ultra marathon.  my mind was playing tricks on me.  "just give up",  "22 miles is still good", "there is always next time, clearly you can't finish this one" and then out of nowhere it seemed, a small boy barely 5 years of age, sat down next to me and handed me a cup of water.  i don't think he spoke any english but his smile said it all.

i didn't think twice, i picked myself up, rid the negative thoughts from my head and crossed that finish line. holding on tight  to my pride.

so as i continue to train for IMSG i will remember that feeling, times it by 100, think only positive thoughts, and just "get r done".

oh and one more thing - a friend shared this with me in an email today and although she thought "a bit cheezy"  i found myself repeating it over and over in my head on today's early morning run (so, thank you michelle)

"God didn't promise days without pain, laughter without sorrow, sun without rain, but He did promise strength for the day, comfort for the tears, and light for the way."

7.13.77

33. not yet 35. yet no longer 30.

33. the number of miles left to run this week.

33. a symbol of truth.

(as in truth be told i do not want to wake up at 4:30 a.m. on my birthday, to hit the gym)

33. the number of times tomorrow i will remind myself to turn off my cell phone.

(because i'm doing this one for myself)

33. Michelangelo's age when he began painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

(so you see there is hope for me yet)

33. the age i'll be when i compete in my first ironman triathlon

33. what a great number to be.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO ME!

donde esta el training?

okay so if we are being honest 5 days at an all inclusive resort in cancun, mexico doesn't exactly scream "TRI TRAINING"  unless we are counting snorkeling as swimming? 

i do however want to be clear (for the record) that an effort was made, one to be exact, for 30 minutes on the treadmill, monday.  never saw the inside of the inside of that gym again.

so i've what they might call "fallen off the wagon"?  i'm slightly dreading the long run i'm forcing myself into tomorrow morning as i recount in my head the number of shots, beers, and pina colada's i consumed over a 5 day period.  i'll admit it wasn't pretty. 

but now its time to visit with some old friends - the pool, the bike, and the running shoes.  i wonder if they missed me like i missed them. 

training commences now.....

happy birthday america

the strand was littered with empty porches and there i was lacing up my brooks preparing for an early morning run.  last year at this time i was swearing i'd never drink again. construction men hard at work in my head and contemplating a bloody mary to ease the pain.  after all  "the hair of the dog".  
but not today,  today i was one of "them"

 i was an early morning runner.

i ran the 10 mile loop i have run a million times prior. but somehow at 5 am on a july 4th weekend it felt different.  a little more liberating, a little less about everyone else and a little more about me. 

a short little lesson on discipline and sweet reward. 

oh and if waking up at 5 on a holiday weekend to go running wasn't bad enough i just gave up my parking spot just now to get in a swim at the gym.

who is this person???????

my little grey spiral calendar notebook

today marks the first day of official IMSG training. 


its today, not because the triathlon books suggest starting a plan 10 months out or what any of these paid training plans dictate.  its today, because one day two months ago while in target i found myself in the school supplies section. (don't ask. i have no idea why, its target, i just walk around aimlessly) but for the first time in the history of target shopping this time it wasn't so aimless. i really WAS supposed to be in the school supplies aisle as a 32 year old business professional who hasn't attended any type of school for 10 years. 

because as i turned the corner and i looked up, there it was......"my little grey spiral calendar notebook"

start date of the calendar?  july 1, 2010. 

tonight was also perhaps the first time in my entire career of happy hour attending that i turned down a happy hour at sharkeez for a go at my new cycling dvd. 

sell those shares of bud light lime now people. trust me.

so in honor of a new notebook and a lost happy hour:

“For everything you have missed, you have gained something else, and for everything you gain, you lose something else.”  ralph waldo emerson

if only i could have focused this well in school.....

anyone that knows me, knows that if it doesn't hold my attention in the first 5 minutes forget about it.  typically i read only half the article and then spit out stats of what i thought i read.  i read a map but usually pick the wrong direction,  my idea of "fully researching something" is using the phone a friend option and clicking "add to cart".  research through osmosis (thank you bob for helping me buy my first bike, turns out its a pretty nice ride).

that was 3 years ago. 

with an ironman registration comes a lot of emotions. (all before training even starts) happy, sad, nervous, scared and perhaps upon completion of payment, questioning your own sanity. however, what no one told me was that it also comes with a strange sense of focus. 

yes, its true, it might be that it carries some interest to me and that yes the lack of focus in the classroom during those school days was more because i didn't really care why sally and ed rode a train traveling east bound at 80 MPH for 600 miles and why ed's second cousin twice removed missed the train and how long it would take him to catch up to sally and ed in amarillo texas at 1 o'clock the following day.  i hated school and i hated math  (yes, i'm aware that i work in finance, i'm not really sure how i got here either)  

anyway, my point is that i am INTERESTED in IMSG, somewhat obsessed actually.  I've done more research on training plans, road bikes, tri bikes, wetsuits, bike helmets, endurance drinks, BRICK workouts, and the entire town of St. George, Utah (the first mormon temple was built in St. George).  its actually kind of a nice change, this focus thing.  a change that brought me upon my first "real" triathlon purchase (with a little help from mkc)  

my very own wetsuit. 

I'll close with an exert from a racing report: (yes, i read the entire report)

"Before the race, everyone is going to talk about the bike. After the race…they’ll be talking about the run. The IMSG is, in my opinion, the most challenging run on the US calendar."

um.... holy shit.

I can't even spell the word... and you want me to enter one?

There was a time when a triathlon was foreign (this time was not so long ago)
how do they change outfits?
do you run in your bathing suit?
what the hell is a "DNF"?

there are special clothes to wear, special bikes to ride, certain drinks to drink, foods to eat and as it turns out they aren't so cheap either.   i thought i'd help out the lay men (and women) out there and dissect some vocabulary i've picked up so far. 

"a few things you never needed to know about triathlons but i'm going to tell you anyway"

• "curly handlebars" are also known as drop bars (not to be confused with aerobars)
• "trainer" (bike) its not the extra body at the gym counting your reps and making you stay the entire hour on the treadmill.  its a way to bring your bike inside and ride. or in my case a way to ride with clipless pedals without actually having to go outside.  work. in. progress. i'll get there, eventually.
• "clipless pedal"  making your feet stick to the pedals and at first attempt making you fall over (usually with an audience)  on the flip side its more efficient.  (or so they tell me)
• "T1" and "T2" tri code for where you "change your clothes" (i was relived to find out i didn't have to run in my bathing suit after all)
• "a tri, is a tri, is a tri"   not really the case in tri land.   it is true that all tri's are definitely noteworthy and take a great deal of self discipline and endurance to complete. Per the official officials (aka International Triathlon Union) there are four standard distances to choose from;

Sprint - 750 m swim, 20 km bike, 5 km run,

Olympic -1.5 km swim, 40 km ride, 10 km run

Half Ironman - 1.9 km swim, 90 km ride, 21.1 km run

Ironman - 3.8 km swim, 180 km ride, and a marathon: 42.2 km run

most people have done all distances, several times at best.  i've done the first and am about to jump into the last.  why do i insist on always being different???? 

ah and DNF?  well that means - DID NOT FINISH.  let's lose that one from the "vocab" starting today, shall we?
 

Ironman - Till I Collapse

Mantras

a baby, a marriage, and an ironman bring it on 2011 (and the tail end of 2010). 

I'll have a nephew he lives in ethopia but he'll be here soon enough, maybe he can be my bike mantra.
I'll have two nieces, a nephew, and a brother in law, maybe they can be my run mantra.
I'll have myself, alone, confident, and proud. maybe I can be my swim mantra.

Training so far...

Its been a little more adhoc then I would like, an occasional swim with "coach mariss", a daily run, and bike thereafter.  I bought a planner to track it all;  the good, the bad, the ugly.  It starts July 1.  I'll try to track as much of the unboring events as possible on the blog  'ran for 40 minutes, finally rode the bike more than a foot without falling over, and swam outside the slow lane' sort of update.

I've got to divorce the ipod at some point.  I'm just not ready yet.

my first (untrained) half

i thought it was on sunday.  it wasn't.  i was waiting for the hill on mile 2, i think its more like mile 2.5 and its a bitch.  a total bitch.  its long and its steep.  but i mustered up it and felt great the whole way down.  at the turnaround it started back up the steady inclined and i killed it.  i felt amazing.  mile 12 hurt a little bit and i was ready for the finish.

1:53 and i was done.  i was alone and it felt good.  let's get this year started......

a mix of emotions

and so the journey begins......

 i was stuck on the "sign the waiver" page for about 20 minutes until finally i made myself $600 poorer and clicked on confirm for the IRONMAN St. George, Utah.   In between updating my facebook status and sametiming with my good friend MKC about what i had just done, a sudden sense of peace came over me and i realized that this was the answer.

so now in exactly 361 days i will be swimming 2.4 miles, biking 112, and running a full marathon of 26.2 miles. 

this is my journey.