My Elite 8

To go along with the theme of the NCAA basketball tourney, I came to think of my training over the past 8 days as stellar...or elite.

Last Saturday I went out to run about 16 miles (while knowing that I'm a few miles shy of where I should be) and ended up only pulling off 13.1 miles.  I don't know, there were a ton of emotions going on with this particular day and I just couldn't settle into the groove.  It was a beautiful day, I'll give it that.  I ran along the San Diego harbor, caught some amazing views of sailboats in the harbor with San Diego downtown and the Coronado bridge in the background.  I ran through the Cancer Survivors Park over by the airport and took a moment to snap a few pics and bring myself back to ground zero.  I was feeling sorry for myself, wondering why I couldn't just bang out a solid 16 miles with little to no walking.  And then I came upon the park, and it grounded me.  How can I not be inspired by those that have fought an immense uphill battle against cancer, and who am I to whine about this run not being as awesome as I'd hoped, when here I am in beautiful, sunny San Diego, in good health, with so many blessings that I can't even count.  Shame on me!

I won't lie, after the run on our drive back home, I did tear up a little when talking with Bryce about my frustrations as a runner at this point.  About a year ago I was about 1 and a half minutes per mile faster and I just can't stand this setback. Over winter, I got sick with whooping cough and in the past six months I've gained about 10 pounds as a result of that downtime. I can't figure out if I should cut myself some slack and go easy to build back up, or do I just need to step it up and push it hard, beyond comfortable.  Am I capable of that?  I resolved that in just a week I'll be back to doing weekly track workouts, and that, my friends, is when I'll learn to push myself again (with someone standing on the sidelines, holding a stopwatch, and holding me accountable.)  I'll get there.

With only three weeks until my half Ironman, I took Monday off work to get a solid training day in...not to mention, I needed to pull my bike down, dust it off, pump up the tires, and make sure everything was working correctly...seeing as I hadn't been on the thing for more than 15 months!  Ha!  And I have a flippin' half Ironman coming up?  Geez.

In the past 15 months I've definitely put a lot of concentration on running, so I had to wonder if that might translate and pay off on the bike.  I first went to Masters Swim and put in a solid hour of swimming (about 2600 yards).  I threw back two lattes at home and then went out for a planned 30 mile bike ride, and 20 miles in, I felt so solid that I decided to add another 10!  Sweet!  I was feeling so good that I decided to move to the big ring and really see if I could push it.  Shift, click!  And boom, it moved to the small ring.  What???  I was on the big ring to begin with and I didn't even know it! Even sweeter.  The five mile run following the bike was not anything amazing.  It was a bunch of slow jogging with many walk breaks.  But you know what?  I'll take it!  Almost four and a half hours of my own little mini-tri and I felt good.  I'm back.  Not fast, but back.

I spent the rest of the week in chilly, rainy Seattle.  One evening was spent in the hotel gym on the elliptical trainer, but the next day I braved the cold and ran along the water.  It was awesome, I felt a good pace and was very happy.

Today, on the first day of Spring, it was windy and there was a forecast for rain.  So, as a true-blue fair-weather San Diego girl, I did an indoor brick.  Two hour stationary bike followed by an hour run on the treadmill.  Felt awesome.  Could have kept going.  But I had my Cats to watch (who by the way just made it into the Sweet Sixteen by the hair of their chinny-chin-chins!)

So eight days ago, I was feeling blue and sorry for myself...not sure if I was going to suffer in a serious way on the Cal 70.3 course.  And now, here I sit, with glass of wine next to MacBook Pro, feeling as though I learned a ton about myself and got my confidence back.  That was my elite 8.

The Neopolitan Returns!

It all began when I started training for my first triathlon.  No, it wasn't a craving for Neopolitan ice cream (though it sounds pretty darned good to me right now!)....it was what my husband began calling me based on my crazy tan/burn lines.

Imagine it...a fair, blonde with blue eyes and a bodacious set of tan lines on my back from several months of Masters swim workouts at lunch-time in San Diego.  Then...a long bike ride on the weekend where my top didn't quite reach all the way down my lower back to meet with my low-rise tri-shorts....leaving me with a pink-strawberry stripe across my lower back, dark chocolatey sections along my upper back, criss-crossed with pale vanilla-like X's spanning my upper back.  Hello neopolitan!

After this Monday's inaugural-Brenda-Olympic'ish-triathlon with two hours on the bike, and no tan-lines to show (given we've just finished up winter), I'm not so much neopolitan as I am a freaking candy-cane! Who knew that 10am morning sun could do that to a pale girl! Sheesh!

Sure, every triathlete/runner complains of the farmer tan; but I've got'em beat with my neopolitan shades.

I digress.  Lesson learned (again!)  Bring on the sunscreen, this girl's gotta take care of this skin she's in.

Disorganized organization?

Do you know what I'm talking about?  I think most everyone has a junk drawer or two that they rely on when trying to quickly clean up the kitchen or bathroom....am I right...or am I right...or am I right?

Yep, I have one in the kitchen and it's filled to the gills.  I can rarely close it without having to smash a few things down before slamming it shut.  I would be mortified if a friend were to open this drawer, it's a complete chaotic mess of totally random things.  But I'd also like to point out that I can proudly list off 95% of the items in there.  My point is this...if I know what's in the drawer, and I routinely need to access these things, would you consider it organized?  Even though it's a mess?

Sure, I'd love to show off pristine drawers with everything in its perfect little place! But back to the theme of my last post 86 400 Seconds in a Day I think I've listed the reasons that I can't seem to find that time to get my drawers, cabinets, and closets all perfected. It at least makes me feel better that it's on my to-do list. See? I'm organized! ...to a degree...

I've read several articles in the past talking about ways to better manage your time and get organized. I read it and I am am energized! Ready to take on that drawer, that pantry...anything! And here I am...still thinking about it. One of the best methods that seems to be something I could handle is the Pomodoro Technique. Have you heard of this? You basically break down periods of work into 25 minute intervals. So I'm thinking maybe I go a bit more realistic and set aside 15 minutes a day to organize things.  In theory, it sounds awesome...just need to put it into practice.

Image credit to DaGoaty