WORST.BLOGGER.EVER!!

Worst.Blogger.EVER!!!

I said I was going to be consistent last month and whatnot and I wrote one freakin' time?  Can I do better in July? 

Here's what's coming up.

• I got hurt
• I ran a race
• I got more hurt
• I had a whole bunch of MRIs and X-rays done
• I did another race
• I'm still hurt

Chew on that.  I'll be back tomorrow.
 

Do What You Need to Do

Day 1

It's 5-1/2 months until aquathlon nationals and I'm ready to commit.  I started the day off strong with a run test.  It's been since December since I had a run test and then I was coming off a terrible cold and was just beginning my marathon training.  This time I am coming off of the marathon and starting to feel like myself again.

The test is 3000m on the track as hard as you can go.  I started out fast, probably too fast, but I was doing what I could to hang out.  Several time I had to sort it out in my head.  My brain struggles on the track.  I would do much better if the run test was a race.  I clocked in my first "mile" (the garmin never matches up to the track) at a 6:14.  Holy pajamas!  I haven't run that fast in years!  I pushed and pushed and came away with a 12:41, which is like a 6:49 pace (although my watch read 1.99 miles for 6:22 pace).  This was a 45 second improvement over the last run test I did.  Hopefully this translates into some speedy races this spring/summer.

So now I have a baseline for a little while, which includes new heart rate zones and paces.  Most of my workouts have one or the other so lots of updates to come soon as to if I can hit these new zones/paces.

2017 Plans

Yeah, yeah.  It's the 10th of January and I'm just now blogging about my 2017 plans.  I've got some goals, some big goals, but I'm going to keep those private for now.  I'll let you know if I achieve them.

So, here are my plans athletically.

• A couple of half marathons.  I was thinking one next month, but I'm frozen to the bone.  Winter running is stupid.  I'll keep thinking.
• Early spring marathon.  I would really like to qualify for Boston again.  In 2018 it falls on my 40th birthday and I thought it would be a fun way to celebrate such a big milestone (who the hell would say that running a marathon for their birthday is fun?!?!)  I have yet to sign up for the marathon, but I'm planning on the Shamrock Marathon in Virginia Beach on March 19th.  I haven't done a race yet in Virginia so this also checks that off.
• Aquathlons, aquathlons, aquathlons!  Surprisingly there are three or four aquathlons in Ohio that are eligible towards USAT ranking points.  I'm going to do as many as I can to help my ranking and to give me experience towards....Aquathlon Nationals.  I've got some BIG BIG goals for this race.  Nationals will be October 1st in Austin.
• Also some fun stuff like run 2000 miles (that'll never happen but I'll at least try for it), swim 200K yards, do pilates once a week, stop skipping strength workouts, continue to eat healthy foods, etc.

Let's talk about personal stuff.  I love the new year.  I love new goals and resolutions and all that jazz.  Here are some thoughts I have personally.

• Read more than 12 books.  I know this is the same goal every year, but my Kindle is awesome and I read much faster with it.  Now if I could just get the ebooks faster from the library.
• Take more pictures.  I swear this is a goal I set every year for myself.  I was making a Shutterfly calendar this week and struggled to find enough pictures from last year to put it together.  Unfortunately, the memory is full on my phone right now and my laptop is on it's last breath and I really can't afford a new one so I'm not sure how I'm going to accomplish this.
• Be more present.  Honestly, I am still really struggling with having put my kid in daycare to go back to work.  It's been 6 weeks now and he still cried and throws a fit every time we go (although he does the same at the end of the day because he doesn't want to leave).  When we come home I want to pay attention to him.  I don't want to be on the treadmill leaving him to play by himself.  I don't want to be on my phone reading Facebook.  I want it to be family time.  Truly, this has been hard.  Aren't we all addicted to our phones and Facebook and Instagram (and for me, the TV)?  As the weather gets warmer and the days get longer I think family time is going to become even more special.

I thought 2016 was a great year.  2017 is going to be even better.  I'm back to work.  I've got money again.  I can make improvements to the house.  I can camp with the family now.  The kiddo is a fantastic age - he's so fun.  I'm really looking forward to what lies ahead.

What are your thoughts on 2017?

Athlete of the Month

I totally forgot to write about this earlier this month.  My coach named me "Athlete of the Month" for her Multisport Mastery program.  She gave me this honor not because of some achievement I had received, but because I have been embracing the whole picture and working towards bigger dreams.  She sent me a series of questions to answer and ask me for some pictures and VOILA! 

Check it out here!  Thanks Liz for thinking of me, pushing me, and being the best coach I could hope for.

Official Pictures from the World Championships

I spent about a million dollars to get four pictures from the world championships.  This might be a once in a lifetime opportunity so I HAD to get the pictures.  Right?  RIGHT?!?!

Coming into T1.  I like that you can see hair stuck to me as this proves how freakin' humid it was even with only a 1.55 run.

Coming out of the swim.  I don't know if I am starting to look like I've got swimmer's body or I just need to slim down my arms/chest.  Either way, doesn't everyone look stupid in a swim cap?

 Heading out on the second run.  Look at the focus.  Or, I'm saying, "where the heck is everybody?"

And the finally, quite possibly the coolest finisher picture of all time.  The time is irrelevant as it was from the start of the first age group wave and I was in one of the last waves.  But how cool to have the finish line all to myself, waving my flag, with my hands up in victory?!

Week in Review

I got back to business this week and totally kicked ass!  With the little one in preschool several days a week I have been able to do ALL my runs outside.  I also did some core work and got back in the pool.

Swimming - 4950 yards
I missed one swim this week.  I had intended to do it on Saturday but forgot there was a swim meet that closed down the pool.  Maybe I'll try to fit it in next week.

Running - 29.02 miles
Woah!  You read that right.  I had a great week of running - 4 runs, all outside.  I did a fantastic track workout of several 800s, the fastest one being 3:12.  I haven't hit that pace in a long, long time.  I also did a long run with hill repeats.  I found the steepest and longest hill I could find and made it my bitch!  Half/full marathon training has begun.  It's my happy place.

Strength - 0.5 hours
I did two small core workouts this week that left me crazy sore.  The first one was done with our middle school swim team.  I totally schooled them, but was sore for days.  The second workout was done at home, late at night, waiting on the bug-a-boo to fall asleep.

Next week - more running, more swimming, more core.  I see PRs in my future!!!

September Totals

Can you believe September is over already?  Man!  That went fast. 

September was all about the WORLD FREAKIN' CHAMPIONSHIPS!!! And, oh, there was still good training.  Check it out.

Swimming - 13,036 yards ~ 7.4 miles
Yes, this is a weird number.  That's because I did two 1000 meters swims in the ocean and I converted them to yards in my spreadsheet.  I also passed 200,000 yards (114 miles!!!) for the year this month.

Running - 67.1 miles
Not many miles, but when you're training for a fast 5K there really doesn't need to be a whole lot of miles.  Don't worry!  There will be a lot of miles coming up in the next couple of months.

YMCA Visits - 11
Cost Per Visit $3.42

After Anderson started preschool and we returned from Mexico, I just got tired of taking Anderson to the Y.  And frankly, I got tired of going to the Y.  All of this will be changing soon.  Another blog post on this soon.

October is here which means pumpkin everything (yuck), Halloween (my least favorite holiday), and miles, miles and more miles. 

Aquathlon World Championship 2016

Err.  Umm.  Errrrrrrrr. 

How do I even write this post?

Ten months of training.  Forty-five minutes of racing.  And now the biggest race of my life is behind me.

Mexico is hot.  Maybe I should say, Mexico is humid A.F.!!!!  I had trained for it (sauna, overdressed, general summer training), but seriously it was humid.  Between checking in to transition and the start of my race was about three hours.  By the time I started I was sweating like I was running a marathon.  I had sweat rolling down my back and the front of my uniform was completely soaked.  Thank goodness there was going to be a dip in the ocean in the middle of the race.

Let's get started.  My wave started at 9:50am and had two other age groups in it, 40-44 and 45-50.  In total there were somewhere between 50-100 ladies starting together.  I lined up somewhere in the middle and tried to not get nervous about what was about to happen.  The gun went off and it was time to move.  The race was all inside a park inside of a marina and there were lots of turns.  The first turn was within the first 100 meters and then the first water stop was 100 meters from that turn.  I lined up to take the turn on the tangent and then skip the first water stop.  I mean, who needs a water stop 200 meters into a 2.5k race?  Well, the chick in front of me, that's who.  She came flying from the right side, cutting in front of me to grab the bag of water (yep, BAG of water) and I pushed her out of the way.  Sorry chick.  You don't need water that close to the start of the race.

I stayed in the pack for most of the first run, probably running into transition in the top 10 of my age group.  Transition was quick, shoes and socks off, grab cap and goggles and I was off.  It was long run down to the dock and I took it a little easy to get my heart rate down.  And then I did the most graceful thing ever - I jumped like an 8 year old boy into the water.  The previous day at the swim practice I dove into the water and my goggles came off and filled with water.  I wasn't going to risk that during the race, so I just jumped and immediately started swimming.  I doubt I even lost a second and my goggles stayed put. 

I thought I had a great swim.  For me it was a great swim.  I swam confidently and strong.  My line probably sucked, but with the water being so clear I just looked for other competitors and swam toward them.  The whole backside of the swim I had a girl tapping my feet.  The whole damn way!!!  At one point I told her not so politely to GET OFF!!!  Then in the last couple hundred yards I was able to get on feet myself and swim in the draft.  That NEVER happens to me.  It was the fastest swim I have ever done in open water and yet, it was a solid two minutes slower than most of the competitive girls.  I've come leaps and bounds this year with my swimming but I still have a long way to go.

The water was so beautiful and clear.  There were fish and corral and I really tried to concentrate on my race.  I saw those things the day prior in the practice swim and while I was snorkeling earlier in the week.  But the coolest thing was that there were scuba divers at each turn pointing you in the correct direction.  I couldn't help but smile and wave to the first one.  So neat.

Anyway, I was out of the water and running up the dock into the second transition.  Cap and goggles off, shoes and race number on.  I had decided to do the second run with no socks, which I had never practiced.  I didn't want to waste time putting on socks and it was only for a mile and a half.  Who cares if my feet got ripped up.  But, I struggled with the stupid tongue on my right shoe in transition and in my head I'm screaming, WHO CARES!  GET MOVING!!!  And so I did.  But I was in no-man's land.  As much as I could run with those chicks, I fell behind them in the swim and there was no longer anyone to catch.  Well, I did catch about 5 girls during the run but only one was in my age group and all the others were from the previous wave.  I thought I was running well, but I was a solid minute and a half slower than the first run.  I kept running, though, and as I made the last turn onto the finishing chute, my team manager handed me an American flag and I got to have my own personal victorious moment at the finish line. 

In the end I finished 17th in my age group.  Top 20 at the World Championships?  I'll take it.  And I went from the 10th American to qualify in my age group to finishing as the fourth American in my age group.  I race confidently and without fear.  To me that's a victory.  But I have to admit, I'd like another crack at the race.  I believe I can do better.  Unfortunately, I can't go to the 2017 world championships as I already have vacation plans paid for during the championship.  But coach and I have already devised a plan to get to the 2018 race.  I'm ready for revenge!!!

August Totals

How can it be September already?!?!

Although this blog has been nothing but crickets this summer, I have been training.  I haven't been as consistent as I would have liked, but I'm getting it done.  Less than two weeks until the big dance and I'm feeling ready.

Swimming - 26,300 yards ~ 15 miles
I swear my hair and skin are just going to fall apart with all this swimming.  To be honest, I'm ready for a break from the pool, but considering it's my job to be in and around the pool every day, I don't see a break happening.

Running - 68.59 miles
Sure, I'd love to be running big miles, but the long runs stopped weeks ago in favor of short fast runs with lots and lots of intervals.  Nowadays, long runs are about 7 miles.  That will change after the world championships as I have a half marathon on the schedule.

YMCA Visits - 20
Cost Per Visit - $1.88
Some day soon I'd like to break up with the Y too.

Let's do this September!!!

New Swimming Record

I said I would write more and then .... crickets.  Good job Mere!

So let's start with a short and sweet post.  Last week I set a new weekly yardage record in the pool.  I swam until I thought my arms were going to fall off.  My everything hurt after spending that much time in the pool.  And my hair was so gross I thought I would never get a comb through it (time to cut it all off again).

Anyway, last week I saw 12,250 yards.  That's just around 8 miles.  On top of that, I had four hours of in-saw inservice where I had to practice all my lifeguarding skills.  Personally, I'm a little tired of the pool and ready for a break from all the swimming and chlorine.  But, I don't think that's going to happen any time soon.

It's Here!!!!

Look what came in the mail today?  Isn't she beautiful?????  Isn't she fierce??????  I may finish dead effing last at the world champs, but dang it, I'm gonna look like a badass doing it.

May Totals

May was a pretty good month.  I buckled down and got the work done.  I only missed a handful of workouts.

Swim - 24,850 yards ~ 14.1 miles
I wish I could swim more, honestly.  Our daily lives don't always allow us to get to the pool as often as I should/want to.  And I'm no longer able to go to masters in the morning since Dave started a new job in April.  He goes to work WAY earlier now.

Run - 100.51 miles
Yay!  I finally ran 100 miles in a month this year!!!

Strength - 0.5 hours
Well, something's got to give to fit in all the swimming and running and unfortunately, it was strength this month.  MUST.TRY.HARDER.

YMCA Visits - 19
Cost Per Visit - $1.98
(And I'm currently interviewing for a new position/promotion that would make my Y membership FREE!!!!)

Overall, I'm really pleased with how May went.  Things are starting to fall into place.  It's exciting.  I can't wait to move onto June!

April Totals

Every month I hope for a hundred miles of running and so far I've fallen short.  I either get sick or have a total meltdown and lose momentum.  April was no different.  I had one week where I just said fuck it and tried to survive life.  So here's the numbers, in all their glory.

Swimming - 16,800 yards ~ 9.5 miles
During vacation I did not swim at all.  Then I had a week where I just didn't want to do anything.  This number should have been higher.  I still had a great swim test, though.  Swimming is coming along.  I'm getting faster and learning new things.  There might even be a swim meet in my future.

Running - 78.38 miles
The week I was on vacation I totally rocked my runs.  Of course, I had baby sitting and didn't have to figure out when to go to the Y and run on the treadmill or when the track would be available.  The week after I hardly ran at all.  One of these days I'll put it all together.  I did have a great 5K while on vacation.  That's fun.

Strength - 1.75 hours
I'm trying harder to do basic strength training, mostly core work.  I know this is important for being able to race fast and to keep from getting injured.  These workouts only take 15 minutes.  I hope to keep this up.  My abs are starting to look pretty good.  :)

YMCA Visits - 12
Cost per Visit - $3.14

Week in Review

I had a pretty good week last week.  I'm trying to not get caught up in all the details of life that are dragging me down and just be.  Here's how it all went down.

Swimming - 4950 yards
I bailed on one swim that was not going well.  And then I had a meltdown.  Then I was able to put together two good swims including one that included lots of fun stuff.  Hopefully more on that in a few days.

Running - 16.93 miles
I didn't get to do my long run this morning as I had the world's longest in-service at work and spent over 4-1/2 hours in the pool without a break.  I plan on doing this run tomorrow.  The week did include an amazing speed workout that was 4 x 6 minutes at descending paces.  I hit my last one at a 6:35 pace.  That was after 50 minutes of running!  Now why can't I put that together in a race??

Strength - 0.25 hours
I only got in one strength workout but it was a doozy.  The whole thing was done with a kettlebell and was basically all squats and lunges.  I was sore for days.

Next week is a fall back week.  I couldn't be happier about it. 

Best Swim Test EVER!!!

I did a swim test yesterday.  It was a CSS test, which stands for Critical Swim Speed.  After 1200 yards of warmup I had 400 yards all out.  I had a goal in my head, and I went for it.  I pressed hard, needing to breathe every stroke in the last several laps.  My legs were going numb; I wasn't seeing straight.  I was swimming as hard as I ever had.  When I hit that wall I was all...

5:54!!!!  That's a 1:28 per 100 yards!!!  I have never been able to average under 1:30s!!!

Then I did another 400 yards easy and then it was time for another test.  This time it was 200 yards all out.  Again I went for it breathing hard, kicking and reaching, and swimming for all it was worth.  Eight laps later and this...

2:53!!!  Eff yeah!!!! 

Of course, now I have a threshold pace that scares the crap out of me and I have no idea how you even do threshold repeats with your head underwater.  For now, I totally won the gold medal.

March Totals

*sigh*

This wasn't the best month.  After my race in Myrtle Beach I got sick.  Really sick.  I got the flu, even after having my shot months ago, and spent five days in bed before I felt GOOD enough to go see the doctor.  Unfortunately, you just have to wait out the flu so I spent several more days in misery coughing and snotting and sleeping.  So, I missed a whole week of training.  Then when I did come back, the cough lingered which made it hard to run and I lost a lot of motivation too.  So, the numbers were low.  As Nature Cat says, Onward and Yonward!!!

Swimming - 21,400 yards ~ 12.2 miles

Running - 36.1 miles

Strength - 1.25 hours

YMCA Visits - 12
Cost Per Visit - $3.14 (pi!!!!)

I am DETERMINED to get it done in April.  April, you're my bitch!

Scariest thing EVER!

It was a typical Friday night at the pool.  Lots of kids, lots of splashing, short staffed.  We had just rotated lifeguards and I was on my 20 minute break.  I was cleaning up around the pool when I noticed a kid in a life jacket venture into the deep end - a big fat NO at our pool.  So, I walked around the deck to go talk to him and get him out of the deep end.  As I'm crouching down talking to him, the lifeguard in the chair screamed my name.  I looked up and the mom of this child had ventured into the deep end to get him.  She couldn't swim and she was actively drowning.

Shit!

I immediately left the kid (he was fine; he was in a life jacket) and jumped in the pool.  I swam to her quickly, grabbed her, and began kicking towards the shallow end.  Because I was not the lifeguard on duty, I did not have a rescue tube which means my only flotation was my swimming skills.  The woman freaked out and grabbed me around the neck, taking me down with her.  In my head I was totally panicking and doing what I could do to keep the both of us safe.  I kept hold of her, but I was trying to push her off to keep the both of us from drowning (we are taught escapes for this exact reason).  Finally I was able to catch a breath and ask her to kick with me.  She said she couldn't.  Yikes!  What seemed like an eternity later I was able to kick her the few feet to the shallow end where she grabbed hold of the rope and stood up. 

My husband and kid were swimming at the time and saw the whole thing happen.  Dave helped me get out of the pool, saying it was the scariest and coolest thing he's ever seen.  I talked to the woman about what happened and grabbed my manager-on-duty to help fill out an incident report.  There were several things we could have done better on this rescue - should have hit our emergency button, the other guard should have cleared the pool and thrown me a rescue tube, etc. - but the important thing was we helped the woman, no one drowned, and everything turned out just fine.

The rest of the night I was a wreck.  I literally shook and cried sitting in the guard chair for the rest of my shift.  I had a lot of adrenaline running through my body and thinking back to what I did was just scary.  That night I had a nightmare about it.  Looking back I'm so thankful we are so well trained, that I was in the right place at the right time, and that I'm in amazing shape and could perform the rescue without the use of a tube.  It was so scary; I don't want to do it again any time soon.

Week in Review

Oh hi, blog.  I'm here, I swear.  Every day I think of you and have an idea I'd like to write about and every day gets away from me.  I'll try harder.  I promise. 

I went to Ohio State when it was on the quarter system.  It was 10 weeks of roller coaster!  I somehow started the first day off classes already behind; spent the remainder of time trying to catch up and doing as many assignments as I could; and finally then end of the quarter would come, only half of my assignments turned in, and somehow I'd still walk away with an A-/B+.

This is how I'm feeling about my training right now.  Between momming, adulting, and general winter malaise I'm barely keeping my head above water.  I do as many workouts as I can during the week, miss a few, make up a few, figure out how to combine some, and then the week ends.  Here's what I ACTUALLY did last week.

Swimming - 5700 yards 
I have been to masters once, maybe twice, in the last three weeks.  I used to be a great morning person and now the morning gets my middle finger and a few choice words.  Luckily, I have a lanemate who posts all her workouts to Facebook.  So, I "borrow" them and do them on my own.  I'll try again this week to make it back to masters.  Seriously.  I will.

Running - 24.9 miles
I started the week on the treadmill for a long run.  I was NOT going to run outside in stupid degrees!  My run was just to run steady, so I took a long warmup and then ran steady around a 9:00 pace.  I did two more workouts on the treadmill this week including another easy 5 miler and a short run with some pickups in it.  On Saturday I ran outside in the glorious weather, shorts and a t-shirt, for a great run.  I was strolling in the low 8:00s in zone 2.  I am getting in some serious shape!!!

This week I also turned over 350 miles on my shoes.  Generally they still feel pretty good, but my back and legs are disagreeing with this general-ness.  I'll be moving onto my next pair of Hoka Cliftons next week.

Strength - 0.25 hours
Yep, 15 freakin' minutes.  This was a core workout sweat-a-thon.  I really should do more of this.

This week was a rest week and I really took advantage of it.  Next week, back to the grind.

Swimsuits, swimsuits everywhere!!!

I got about one jillion swimsuits for Christmas. 

Okay, not a jillion but I did get 6 new swimsuits.  And I've worn them all.  A bunch.  There is so much swimming going on along with working at the pool.  I give these about 6 months before they are worn out and needing replaced.

January Totals

Sometimes (okay, a lot of times) I get overwhelmed at life.  There's so much to do, so much I want to do, but I'm not a superhero.  I can't get it all done.  Most times I just blame myself for being a horrible mother (seriously, moms don't we all think this?)

Anyway, I am accomplishing a lot.  I work part time, I stay at home with the boy, I make sure the house isn't a complete mess (please do not show up unannounced!), and I am getting in lots of training.

Seriously, I'm exhausted.  I'm doing as much swimming, if not more, than when I was training for Ironman.  I'm doing nearly as much running as I would if I were training for a marathon.  It's hard for me to wrap my head around when I'm training for a race that's going to take me less than an hour, but then I remind myself - it's the WORLD FREAKIN' CHAMPIONSHIPS!!!!

January, see ya later!

Swimming - 29,800 yards ~ 16.9 miles
I am soooo chlorinated!!!  My skin is cracked and flaky.  My head itches like crazy.  All I smell is chlorine.  And yet, I'm still loving swimming.

Running - 86.83 miles
I missed a few runs which probably would have gotten me over 100 miles this month.  I got the running bug back and I'm enjoying running again.  I had a good race this month along with a kick-ass run test.

Strength Training - 2.25 hours
Coach has a challenge for the month of February - do three strength workouts a week, every week.  I love challenges.  I'm hoping this number is a lot bigger in February.

YMCA Visits - 11
Cost Per Visit - $3.42