Spring Break 2011

Sorry for the hiatus! It was a busy week for this runner mom - the kiddos were on Spring Break and I took a few days off so that we could have some quality time together. Fun times!

Day 1
It was rainy and nasty with a cool front coming through. What else is there to do besides head to Chuck E. Cheese? The Munchkin hasn't been there since he was about 18 months and the Kiddo loves the place, so I figured I could endure a few hours of torture fun. Afterwards, we colored and played with Play Doh - perfect indoor activities for a rainy day!



Day 2:
All of my stay-at-home-Mom friends swore up and down that they'd NEVER take their kids to the zoo on Spring Break because of the crowds. Unfortunately, us work-outside-the-home-Moms, don't have a choice! And you know what? It wasn't that bad. We arrived at the Houston Zoo about 15 minutes after it opened, and I'll admit I was a bit freaked out to see so many cars already there. But, we parked and got through the gate and saw everything we wanted to see with no issues at all. It was fun! My favorite part was watching the kids feed the giraffes at the new exhibit - it was awesome being that close!

Here's the Munchkin getting into the African spirit at the new African Forest exhibit:


Here are the Kiddo and Muchkin waiting to feed the giraffes:


Here's the Munchkin right after feeding the lettuce to this guy. The Muchkin let out squeals of delight when the giraffe took the leaf!


Yes, you really are that close to the giraffes!


After feeding the giraffes the kids decided to practice on each other!


And no, I don't support child labor, but hey, he wanted to pull the wagon. Who am I to object?


We ended the day on the train. Other than standing in line for tickets, then standing in line for the train with two tired, cranky little ones, this was my favorite part of the day. The ride is relaxing, the kids are quiet (for the most part) and the views of Hermann Park are spectacular. See, Houston really is a pretty city...





The Munchkin was totally in awe of the engine on the little train...we sat up near it and when we were leaving he wanted to stop and just stare, lol!


Day 3:
The Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo is a time honored tradition in Houston. In February of every year, traffic is stopped on main thoroughfares for covered wagons and horses that participate in the annual trail ride. It's the one time you can actually call in late to work because of horses blocking traffic, and your boss will actually believe you. :-)

The rodeo is kicked off with a 5k/10k race, followed immediately by a huge parade. Then, the fairgrounds open and each day for 3 weeks there's carnival fun, the livestock show, tons of scholarships for students and concerts - this year it was everything from Kid Rock and Kiss, to Alan Jackson and Jason Aldean.

I'll admit, I don't usually attend. To be honest, it's a whole different sub-culture that I just don't "get" - the boots, the wranglers, the country music, the cows and horses - it's just not me. But, I don't want my preference to influence the kiddos and their judgement, so the hubby and I decided we'd spend a day on the grounds - experiencing the animals at the livestock show and enjoying the rides and games of the carnival. We all had a great time, so yes, we will be back next year!

Here's the Kiddo on a big tractor. Yes, she's even sporting a cowboy hat...she has pink boots too, but they aren't comfortable for all the walking we'd be doing!



Here's the Munchkin on his very first amusement park ride:


Here's the Kiddo on the kiddie roller coaster. Yes, she is hanging on for dear life, lol!



The Kiddo and I enjoyed a ride on the ferris wheel...glad she's like me and knows how to enjoy the spectacular view! You can see by the picture on the right how huge the rodeo carnival is...and this is just one section of it. We also had an amazing view of downtown Houston from up high, but I didn't get the best pic with my cell phone camera...


So that was it. It was so much fun! On Thursday and Friday, the kids went back to daycare and I returned to work. :-( I will update you on my workouts next...not that there were many of them during spring break!

Hot Mess

Ugh, what a difference 15 degrees makes!

Saturday, it was 55 degrees. I ran 8 miles at a 10:20 pace and felt as if I could run for-evah!

This morning, it was 70 degrees. It was also cloudy and foggy with a zillion % humidity. I ran 4 miles at a 10:29 pace and was just happy to be done.

An hour and a half later, as I was driving the kids to daycare, the temp was 62 and there was no humidity! A cool front came through the area while I was busy showering and pushed the clouds out, revealing a gorgeous blue sky and a pink/orange sunrise.

Welcome to Houston. Crazy weather!

I started my 4-miler with the intent of doing some 800 intervals. But, I didn't set my watch right and instead of stopping to fix it, I just decided to run. I really, really need to get re-acclimated to the warmer temps again, because I was being a total pansy this morning. Pretty soon, it'll be 80 degrees at 4:30 am and I will be looking forward to mornings like this with the temps dipping in the 70s. Ugh, like I said, welcome to Houston.

Not.ready.for.summer.

Spin and Swim

Not much to report today...I managed to get to spin class over my lunch break for the first time since I don't know when (January, maybe?). I've been riding the bike trainer at home while watching TV in the wee hours of the morning and just felt like doing something different. Our instructor, Jennifer, handed me my butt on a platter with lots of hills, jumps and intervals...it's a great way to get your blood pumping and ready for the afternoon, that's for sure! I also met a few co-workers who live in my area and invited me out for some local group bike rides...see spin class can be very productive!


I have no idea how fast or how far I rode during class this time, because the rpm/mileage computer thingy wasn't working on my bike. In fact, I tried 2 different bikes and had the same problem on both! Maybe I broke both of them? Who knows? What I do know is that I hate not knowing the rpms, calories and distance during spin class! I am an information junkie!


After work, I headed home and hung out with the family for awhile and then hit the gym to swim. I only had 45 minutes on the schedule, which was perfect - I'd have time to swim and then get home again in time to help tuck the kiddos into bed. Gotta love that! My swim was pretty uneventful...I did 100 warm up, followed by drills - fist swim, dps work, one arm, etc. I managed to do a total of 1,400 yds, which is slower than normal for me. Maybe my rests between drills was longer than it should have been?


Speaking of swimming, I've seen two people in the last week wearing something like this:

It's a waterproof thingy for your ipod! After about 1,200 yds, I'll admit that I get extremely bored in the pool. There's nothing terribly exciting about looking at the black line at the bottom of the pool. Maybe this will help? But, I am not an ipod runner. I prefer to just use that time to think and enjoy the sound of my footsteps and nature. Pretty zen, right? :-) So, I'm not sure I'd want to listen to my ipod while swimming. Besides, I'd like to be able to hear if someone in the lane next to me (or in the lake) is calling for help, lol!

Rest Day

Monday is my rest day. Seeing as how I've had quite a few rest days lately, thanks to being busy with other stuff, I feel like a total slacker. However, I also know the importance of rest for recovery - my legs were feeling tired after the bike ride on Sunday, so I know it's necessary....it's just difficult to do nothing.

So, I did Ab Ripper X. It's only 15 minutes. That's rest, right?

Tomorrow is spin and swim...definitely the opposite of rest!

Anyone else get all antsy and edgey on rest days?

Life Happens

The thing about working, training, having kiddos and a hubby who is on call is that you just never know what's going to happen! As I'm sure you all know, when you have limited time for training, you just have to hope that things go smoothly so that you can fit in everything that needs to get done!

This weekend was one of those weekends where things just didn't go as planned. Saturday was a full day:

• Kiddo's soccer game
• Grocery shopping
• Pick up dry cleaning
• PetSmart for dog food
• Wal-mart/target for contact solution
• Misc errands
• Birthday party with the kids at Pump It Up
• Movie night with the kiddos

The game plan was to start my run at 5:30 am, so that I'd have plenty of time to get showered and dressed, as well as help the Hubby get the kids fed and ready for soccer. The alarm clock went off at 5:00 am and I hear the sound of rain. Lots of rain. I am not opposed to running in the rain, but then came the thunder and lightening. After that came the sound of my Munchkin crying - he hates thunder. Five minutes later, it was the Kiddo crying - she's scared of the ligtening. By 5:15 am, both kids were in bed with us and it was clear that there would be no pre-soccer run.

We tried calling the soccer league's hotline to check on the status of the day's games, but the line was busy. By the time was time to leave for soccer, the rain had stopped and a cool front was moving through - the temps quickly dropped from the low 70's to 56 degrees. We called the soccer league's hotline one last time and find that the games for the day have been canceled. Score! While that means a make-up game in the future, it also means I can get the grocery shopping and errands out of the way and still have time to run before the birthday party!

After getting the grocery shopping done, I headed out for an 8-miler. I was loving the cooler temps, but holy crap is was windy!!!! There were times I'd be running into the wind and wonder if I should just walk...I was running that slow. I decided to take advantage of the times that I had the wind at my back, or the wind was blocked by the trees - that was when I would pick up the pace a bit. The majority of the run was at a 10:25 pace, but I was able to pick it up a little in the final mile for an overall 10:20 pace. I'll take it. The legs felt great and if I had more time, I think I would have added an extra mile or two. But, it was time to get ready for the birthday party...and yes, I went down the "big slide" about 20 times with the Munchkin - fun times!

Sunday we had full day - 2 hour bike ride, Church, kid's haircut at the mall (which also means they get a cookie and have to ride the carosel), run a couple of errands that didn't get done on Saturday, and meet up with some friends at a local festival.

The Hubby was on call until 7 am on Sunday morning. Whem we went to bed on Sunday night, the Hubby made a comment about almost making it through the weekend without getting called into work. Naturally, he got a call from work at 4:50 am.

Scratch that 6 am bike ride.

We decided to improvise - the hubby was done with work and home by 11 am, so he agreed to take the kiddos to get their haircuts and run an errand for me while I rode my bike. Such a sweetie that Hubby of mine!

My bike ride was uneventful, which is good. I decided to drive to the neighborhood where I ride...I usually ride there, but being mid-day there is more traffic than in the early morning hours. Once I arrived, I realized I forgot my bottle of Gatorade. I almost went back, but decided to make due with the bottle of water I had in my car. It was a gorgeous day for a ride - 55 degrees, beautiful blue skies and just a little wind. AWESOME!

I headed out on my ride and decided to be adventureous and check out some new roads. After awhile I realized that this might not be the best idea, because if I needed help I may not have any idea how to direct someone to me. Doh! My first loop is normally around 12 miles, but because of my exploring, it ended up being closer to 18 miles. It felt good to be more than halfway done! I had some of my PowerBar and kept on going. I was happy that my legs felt strong the entire time and I managed to maintain a pace just at 16 mph...considering the occasional wind, I guess I'll take it.

Once I made it back to my car, I packed up my bike and put on my running shoes. I was planning to get in 2 miles by doing an out and back run. But, after about 6 or 7 minutes, mother nature was calling...I really, really needed a bathroom. Gee, and I wondered how I would have felt if I had all my Gatorage to drink! So, I ended up turning around and heading back to the car and home. A 15 minute run would have to do!

Oh, and I started my ride with long sleeves but quickly warmed up. As a result, I pushed up my sleeves to my elbows....you should see my lovely tan lines! From my wrists to my elbows, my arms are nice and red!

All in all 2 great workouts even with the roadblocks!

So tell me, how do you manage to squeeze in your workouts when life throws you a curveball? Even the best planners out there get thrown off track, right?

Latex and Lake Water

I am fortunate that I have the ability to leave work a little early on Fridays...that is, when it's not the middle of busy season. Also, I am fortunate that busy season is finally behind me. (I think) So my friend and fellow tri-girl, Kelly, agreed to pick me up on the way to our favorite swim spot - 288 Lake!

I'll admit, there were a few things that I was nervous about:

1) I haven't had an open water swim in almost a year

2) My swim workouts have been non-existent for almost 2 weeks

3) I was wearing my new wetsuit for the 1st time!

Here is the lake...it's definitely the best spot around for OWS practice:

Once we made it out to the lake, we pulled on our wetsuits....hmmm, that makes it actually sound easy. Pulling on a wetsuit is hard work! So, 15 minutes later we felt like we already had a workout! We donned our swim caps (that's where the latex comes in) and goggles. Then, we eased into the water....the air temp was in the mid 70s and the water temp was mid to high 60's...it wasn't too bad with the wetsuit on! In March of last year, we actually got into the water without wetsuits and it sucked. This was so much better! There was some wind, so that caused a bit of a current in the lake, but overall not too bad.

Here we are in our new wetsuits...just call us aquagirl and elastigirl...

At first, I major issues with the material around my neck. I felt like the wetsuit was choking me...a feeling I recognized from my 1st OWS with a rented wetsuit two years ago. But after a couple of adjustments, everything felt better. We decided today was more about getting re-acclimated to the water and to get used to the wetsuits. We swam a small loop (about 600 meters), then did a few out and back swims. By the end of our swim, we felt pretty confident that we were going to be okay with out wetsuits. I could definitely tell I had been neglecting my swimming, because I was out of breath a couple of times. But, it was great knowing that I could stop swimming for a minutes and my wetsuit would keep me afloat...not that I intend to stop during a race. Now that things at work should be calming down, I have got to be more consistent in all of my workouts!!!

I'm hoping that these OWS practices can be a weekly occurrence between now and my 1st race!

This week so far...

Finally home! This time, I hope I have no more travels until we head to Disney next month! I am obviously not cut out for a life of constant business travels...out of the past 14 days, I've been away from home for 8 of them. Of course, 3 of those days were for the trip to Austin, so I guess that doesn't count. The point of this babbling? I am looking forward to sleeping in my own bed!!!

Here's the view of the beach from our dinner on Wednesday:



And since Mardi Gras is this weekend, the strand was all lit up:



Here is a summary of my workouts so far this week:

Monday, 2/28
Bike trainer - 1 hour
Normally, the bike trainer bores me to death. I tried to make things a little more interesting by doing intervals. I warmed up, then tried to push my pace for a minute, then go slow 1 minute. Then, I upped it to 2 minutes fast/1 minute slow, 3 minutes fast/1 minute slow, etc. up to 5 minutes and then went back down (5/1, 4/1, 3/1, 2/1, 1/1) and followed up with a cool down. I was supposed to brick it and follow the ride with a 15 minute run, but my ankle has been bothering me since my run on Sunday. Actually, it's not my ankle, but the area right below the bone. Not sure what's up with that....

Tuesday, 3/1
Swim unscheduled rest day
No swim...didn't get home in time and then had to pack for an out of town training class....

Wednesday, 3/2
Run, 3.25 miles (9:48 pace)
What an awesome morning for a run! The temp was a perfect 45 degrees with low humidity - AWESOME! What a different a nice, cool temp can make - last week I struggled through 3 miles, this week I wanted to run more! Too bad I didn't have more time. :-) I left the house at 6:15 to drive to Galveston Island for the training class.

Thursday, 3/3
Bike, 25 minutes / Run, 25 minutes (10:04 pace)
After finding no stationary bike at the hotel fitness center in Baton Rouge last week, I made a point of calling the hotel this week. Yes, the did have a stationary bike! It was either that, or lug my bike and trainer to my hotel room...and yes, I would do that. When I arrived at the fitness center, I found that this stationary bike was a recumbent bike. Yuck.

I managed to get in 25 minutes, before being totally annoyed by riding this contraption. I decided to cut my hour-long ride short and run longer instead. I managed to get in 25 minutes on the treadmill...I actually could have run a bit more, because I forgot how much faster I can get ready for work when you don't have to get 2 kids dressed and ready for school. I finished getting dressed and realized I still had 30+ minutes before I had to be in training!

So that's it for now...TGIF!!!

Road Trip

This past weekend I had to travel to Louisiana for work. Yes, I said weekend. This is exactly the kind of thing that makes it difficult to train for that 70.3 coming up in April. Not complaining, just stating the facts...work pays for triathlons and all the stuff that comes with them, so it's definitely higher on the priority list. ;-)

We were at the LSU campus to be exact. I didn't get in a workout on Friday due to working late on Thursday and then packing until 11:30 pm...getting up at 4:30 am the next morning didn't sound appealing. And, we had a reception on the campus to attend that evening. Next was dinner and before I knew it, it was 11:30 pm. Whew, what a day! Saturday was a somewhat busy day of interviews, but I had some free time in the afternoon. I had planned on riding the stationary bike in the hotel fitness center for a couple of hours. Not exciting, but I'd be getting that workout done.

Guess what?

There was no stationary bike at the hotel fitness room!

Scratch that. I did some weights and then headed out to do some shopping instead. (Does that count as a workout?)

On Sunday I didn't have anywhere to be until 11 am, so I headed out for a run around the lakes. A lap around both of the lakes near campus was almost exactly 6 miles. It was hot, humid and windy, but I got'er done. (1:02 and some change, ~10:22 pace) Oh, and I seemed to choose the direction that had the uphill portions with no downhill! Weird.

Here's a view of the pretty lake...it was nice to have something scenic to look for a change. Not that looking at houses in my neighborhood isn't scenic....



I also spotted this tiger on my route...I am still a little bitter about A&M's loss to LSU in the Cotton Bowl last year, so I wasn't sure I wanted to post this.



So that was my weekend. I have to head out of town again this week for 2 days of training. This time I called ahead to make sure there was a stationary bike in the fitness center...otherwise, I'd be bringing my bike and trainer to the hotel. I'm still trying to figure out when I will get back to the pool for some laps...hopefully, I can squeeze in an hour or two this weekend along with a nice, long bike ride!

Austin 1/2 Marathon - Race Report

Austin, TX...also known as ATX....where it's cool to be weird. :-) There's even a slogan, "Keep Austin Weird", that you see on t-shirts and bumper stickers.

We left Houston on Friday right after work and headed to the in-law's house in San Marcos. We dumped off the kids had a chance to visit before heading to ATX around noon on Saturday.

Our first stop was the Expo. I had forgotten that the Austin Marathon and Half Marathon was now sponsored by Livestrong. Kinda easy to remember when you see this plastered all over the place:



I have to admit that the Expo is one of my favorite parts of marathon weekend. I love checking out the vendors and shopping! I loved this shirt...we have little joke in my group of running peeps about being a badass, so naturally I sent this pic to the gang:



I ended up not buying it. Instead, the hubby and I were suckered into buying these:



Yes, you've seen them on TV. They're supposed to do amazing things for your balance, recovery, etc. Yeah, and I have some lakefront property in the Sahara....but the hubby convinced to to give it a try. Suckers. I also bought a couple of these cute headbands (thanks to June for the review on her blog!).




This is the swag from the Expo....love, love, love the computer bag! And, we also received a special SPI belt in honor of the race's 20th anniversary.



After the Expo, we checked into the hotel. Here's the view from our room...we could see the Capitol building, as well as the clock tower at the University of Texas (which we Aggies call t.u.).



Here are a couple of other pics from downtown Austin....





Next, we headed out to meet my awesome cousin and her husband for an early dinner. They moved to ATX a few years ago and scoped out some restuarants in an area of Austin on South Congress, also known as SoCo. Dinner was yummy!



After dinner, we headed for paradise...also known as "Hey Cupcake!", where I bought a cupcake for the post-race celebration the next day.



Here we are in front of the cupcake trailer. Apparently there's a trend in Austin that I didn't know about...they take an empty lot in a trendy area and line up a bunch of trailers and trucks (think ice cream truck type trucks) that sell food. So, what we call a "roach coach" in Houston is trendy and cool in Austin. See what I mean about weird? :-) They sell everything from Sushi to shaved ice to cupcakes. We saw a couple of other lots like this along the race route the next day.



After cupcakes, we headed back to the hotel, set out of our clothing/gear for the race and called it a day.

It was great staying in the hotel that was only a few blocks from the start line, because it meant we could sleep in a little! Here's the hubby before the race...he doesn't look nervous at all.



We headed over to the race start, which was right next to the Capitol...talk about an awesome sight!



It was warm - close to 70 degrees. And humid as heck. Oh, and windy too! You can see the flag on the capitol (on the right-hand side of the pic above) and it's standing straight out. If you've been reading my blog for awhile, you know I hate warm temps and humidity. Perfect race conditions for me are closer to 40 degrees...but, I tried not to complain. Afterall, this was the Hubby's 1st race and I was there for support. Here's a really lousy pic of the two of us (darn camera phone!)



And one of the Hubby warming up...


We lined up with a pace group and waited for the race to start. Finally, we heard the National Anthem and the crowd got quiet. After about 15 minutes, we started to move forward and cross the start line. Little did I know, the race route was going to be pretty crowded the entire race.

We were almost instantly greeted by an incline. I'm not gonna lie, it sucked. The 1st few miles were all hills. By mile 3, we both agreed that we would more than likely not hit our goal pace. We had done no hill training. None. Hills on a cold day would have been bearable. We would have groaned here and there, but we'd suck it up. Hills combined with warming temps, humidity and a bit of wind and we were losing some of our umph with each mile. But, I have to give the Hubby props - he handled the hills like a champ. I wanted to walk up a few of them, but he kept running and that made me keep running, too. He's been reading Chi Running, so he used some of the concepts in the book on the hills and it seemed to help. Around mile 3, I told myself that doing this 3 weeks after Houston was just plain STUPID.

Luckily, miles 4-8 were pretty flat. We seemed to pick up the pace a bit and make up for some of the lost time. Then, we hit some hills again. I started to think about how much I didn't want to do this and wondered how bad I'd feel with a DNF. I decided that I couldn't handle a DNF and kept trucking along. I also questioned whether or not I really wanted to do NYC in November. I'm still pondering that one.

Around mile 9, I started getting grumpy...honestly, I'm surprised it took me that long. :-) I starting walking up one of the hills. I tried to start running again before the Hubby noticed, but I got caught. Busted! I told the Hubby to go on, but he stopped and walked too. Later he admitted that he really wanted to walk, but didn't want to be the first one to stop running. By mile 10 we were happy to only have a 5k left. The worst hill came at the end of mile 11. It was the kind of hill that makes you want to punch the race director in the face and yell, "WHAT IN THE HELL WERE YOU THINKING????"

There was one more hill at the end, but by that point we didn't care. We started seeing the signs stating "800 meters", "400 meters", "200 meters" and sped up. Hallelujah, we were almost there!!! Finally, we could see the freaking finish. The hubby grabbed my hand and threw it in the air. Yes, we were one of those cheesy couples holding hands at the end of a race. It was great. ;-)

We got our medals, grabbed a little food and headed through the crowd to claim our finisher's shirts. We could hear the announcements about Desiree Ficker winning the women's race and Lance Armstrong competing in the half (it's his race afterall...). Exciting stuff! Here's a pic of the Hubby after the race...I am so stinkin' proud of him!



The shirts were cute (although the women's seems a little short) and the medals were great as usual.



After showering, we checked out of the hotel and headed back to the in-law's house where I enjoyed my cupcake. It looked prettier, but got a little banged up during the transport to the hotel and San Marcos...I promise, it was AWESOME!

After visiting with the family for a few hours, it was time to head back to H-town. We had originally planned to stay another night, but the Kiddo's holiday at school ended up being a make-up day for our "snow day" a few weeks ago. Can you tell the kiddo's had a lot of fun with Grandma and Grandpa? They were tired!

All in all, it was a great weekend and a great race. I'll give you some of my post-race thoughts about the race next time.

Peace out!

We Survived!

Austin 1/2 Marathon...

We came, we ran, we conquered!

More details later, but I will say - HILLS SUCK!

Just keep swimmin'.....

I love Nemo...and my kids do, too! Now, if I could only swim like a fish...

Last night, I left work at 5 pm on the dot. I wanted to make it to the Kiddo's gymnastics class (because I rarely ever get to go) and the Hubby wanted to leave gymnastics class so he could get in one final run before the Austin 1/2 marathon this weekend. But, that also meant that my swim was going to be late. No biggie.

I made it to the pool a little after 8 pm and was surprised to see a few folks in the pool...I usually have the place to myself when I get there earlier. I had "splashers" on both sides of me. Splashers is the name I've given to the folks who are there to get in some exercise, but swim like I did 2 years ago - you know, freestyling with the head above water, making all kinds of splashes with both the arms and legs. Yes, that was me just 2 short years ago...I'd like to think I've made some progress. I figured if nothing else, this will get me used to having people splashing around me at a tri. :-) I started with 100 warm-up, then did some ladders - 100, 30 sec rest, 200 30 sec rest, etc. - I didn't swim as long as I did Monday - only 45 minutes and 1,700. As I was finishing my workout, a few high school kids came in.

Definitely swim team.

It's humbling to get lapped over and over by a bunch of 14 year olds. Just when you think you're making progress.... :0)

Boston...

I guess most of you have heard about this....

http://racingnews.runnersworld.com/2011/02/boston-announces-new-qualifying-times-registration-process.html

Yeah, well Boston was never on my list of goals anyway. As you know, I am a um, eh, slow runner. Not that I couldn't work really hard over the next several years to get faster. In fact, I am working on it (with the limited time that I have). But, let's be honest here....I am not interested in working that hard to qualify for one little race. I'm doing really good to keep my head above water as it is and I'd much rather focus on something funner...like Lone Star! :-)


(Yes, I know funner is not a word...)

Snoozing, Cows and Waffles

No, not snoozing cows eating waffles....I'll explain...

First off, I swam last night after work. Here's the deal - with all our activities, my schedule only allows me to swim on Tuesday and Thursday nights. But, the gym I belong to (it's the cheapest and closest) has "Aquafit" from 6 - 7 pm, which means that I can't swim until 7 pm. If I start swimming at 7 pm, I don't get home in time to hang out with the kiddos before bedtime. If I wait until after bedtime, I will be at the gym until almost 10 pm. Sucks either way, right? Last night, I worked a little late, which meant that by the time I could get to the gym it was 7 pm...I went and I swam. 2,350 to be exact. My longest swim to date (*I think*). And it felt good. But, it was BORING! Even with drills, it was just boring.

What does this have to do with snoozing? Well, swimming makes me tired. And, when my alarm clock went off at 4 am, I pushed the snooze button 3 times. 3 TIMES PEOPLE!!! That meant that my scheduled 5-miler had to become a 3.5-miler. Bummer.

But, it was a pretty good 3.5-miler. Why? Because I got to see the infamous neighborhood cows! They are known for leaving their care packages on the sidewalks, on the street and sometimes on your driveway. I have seen them once, but it was on a foggy morning and I almost thought it was some strange mirage or just my imagination. A neighbor who was also jogging that particular morning even mentioned them as our paths crossed, so I knew I had really seen them. But still.

But today, there was no fog and I was pretty darn close...three of them crossed the street in front of me. A car went by right after they passed and then two more crossed the street. They were huge. And cute. I don't know why I get so excited about these cows, but I do. :-)

And finally - the waffles. I know I said I had made the decision to do the HIM in April, but I am seriously waffling. Is that a word? Anyway, I want to do it. It is my all-time triathlon goal (because I have no desire whatsoever to do a full IM)....but then the reality hits:

1) It is expensive...I have already purchased bike shoes and a wetsuit, but there's still the new bike seat, aerobars, aerobottle, bike-fitting, hotel costs, yada yada, etc. We're planning to surprise the kids with a trip to Disney in April (and hopefully catch the shuttle launch). Disney is not cheap, especially when we want to do it right for the kid's 1st time. Then there's the Munchkin's birthday in May - parties are not cheap either. Then there's this trip to NYC in November for some little race ;-). The Hubby and I haven't had a trip together in awhile, so we're making that into a a mini-vacay. NYC is not cheap. Especially on a huge race weekend.

2) It is time-consuming...we're in our busier season at work, but that's about to end. Regardless, I feel as though I only have an hour to 1 1/2 hours with the kids in the evening as it is. Weekends is when we have our quality time. Sunday I was gone 1/2 the day riding my bike...and it only gets worse from here. On the other hand, it's less than two months before the race...after that, it's back to sprints. Sprints = less time training + more time with the family.

3) Training...I have been riding my bike since last tri season, but never more than about 25 miles. The 40-miler was rough, but I survived. And, I definitely have the run nailed down - I did the Houston 1/2 less than three weeks ago and I'm running the Austin 1/2 this weekend. Which is also a bad thing - you should have an easier workout week the week before each race and will probably need a bit of recovery time after...that cuts into critical training time. Also, I have neglected the swim and just started back on a regular basis last week. And - this is the big one - I have 7 weeks left to train.....AND I DON'T EVEN HAVE A TRAINING SCHEDULE YET. I just printed the one from beginnertriathlete.com....yesterday. If I am going to do this, I feel that I need to do it right. I need dedication to a schedule, I need a swim coach, I need UNLIMITED FUNDS. :-) Or maybe that's just my type A coming out.

So here I am. On the fence. Waffling. Debating. Pondering. Contemplating. Deciding.

Decisions, decisions...maybe I'll find an Oly to do instead. But then, the swim in the Oly is only 400m less than the swim in the HIM. Might as well do the HIM, right. See? This is what is going through my head non-stop.

Okay, now I want to eat waffles!

Catching Up (with pics this time!)

So, my last post was a quick summary of what I've been up to. Now, here it is in pictures...

As you might know, it's been freaking cold here. Let me clarify: that is cold as in S. TX cold...I know you guys to the north of us think we're pansies and that's okay. But, it has been FREEZING! We even had a "snow day", which ended up being nothing more than a bunch of ice. But, I did get to work from home...as in on the sofa, in front of this:

This is about the time the Hubby introduced me to this product, which he refers to as "coffee crack" and it's great for these FREEZING temps:

The nice thing about FREEZING temps, is that we have plenty of time and zero excuses to work on school projects. This little doozy is the Kiddo's island...yes, that Amazon stick figure to the right is supposed to be me. :-)

And when the projects are done and it's still FREEZING, we just play...I think we need some more cars and trains, don't you?

And when the kids are bored from all the projects and playing and it's STILL FREEZING, they tend to get creative. Sitting in a plastic box is oh so fun and entertaining for a 6 year old....I told you we needed more cars!

I did run the Houston 1/2...naturally, it was the one weekend that it was not FREEZING. Yes, I am still a little bitter about the warm temps and rain. But good swag can usually make up for it.

Oh and cupcakes! Cupcakes make up for a lot too (even when it's FREEZING) . In fact, I am sure we would have world peace if every meeting of world leaders started and ended with one of these...

When it's FREEZING in TX, you wait until mid-day to take your long bike ride so that it's warmer. But, dressing for cold weather on the bike is soooo different than dressing for cold weather for running. As you can see, I haven't quite figured it out yet...nor do I have bike clothes that match - that's me in the pink with the blue on top. Don't hate, I know it's trendy.

And, last week I was educated on what FREEZING really feels like. I went to Denver where I was greeted with a temp of -7. When I texted my husband with this information, he responded "-7 or just 7?". No babe, that was negative seven - FREEZING. It did warm up to a blustery 12 degrees before I left though.

And, we finally had a weekend that was not FREEZING...in fact, it included highs in the 60s without any rain! This is good, because it also happened to be the weekend of the Kiddo's 1st soccer game! We got our butts handed to us, but the kids had fun anyway.

So now you are completely caught up...have a great day!

Catching Up (AGAIN)

Let the blogging begin….
I haven’t updated in several weeks, so here’s what been going on….

I ran the Aramco Houston ½ Marathon 2 weeks ago. The weather sucked, but it could have been much worse. We were expecting major thunderstorms, but only managed to get drizzle. And, the temps were close to 70 degrees, which I hated. But, the end result was a 3+ minute PR….and a huge blister on the arch of my right foot. I’ll see if I can come up with an actual race report at some point.

I decided to commit…I am doing the Lone Star Half Ironman race in April. Yeah, that’s 8 weeks away and I need to make up for lost time – especially in the pool. I have been so focused on the ½ marathon, that I had been in the pool only one time in January. Bad! I took most of the week after the ½ off, because my quads were killing me (especially the left one). But, I did get in 8.5 on Friday after the race. Also, my friends and I did a 35 mile ride last weekend and my legs felt horrible afterwards…I was sure there was no way I could do 56 miles and then run a ½ marathon. But, I went home and ate and viola…I felt fine. Funny how important nutrition can be….Doh! Lesson learned.

So that brings we to this week…I got back into my tri-training routine. Swam 2x last week, rode on the trainer 2x and ran 2x. And, I did my 1st 40 miler on my road bike on Sunday! It was 42 miles to be exact. This is my longest ride so far on my road bike, so it was a major milestone for me.

I rode with a group that some of my tri friends are training with. The group consisted of a pretty hard core group of cyclists, many who have competed in ironman distance races. I felt a bit out of place without a tri bike and all the fancy gear. And, I’ll admit, they were much, much faster than me and my friends who have never done more than 35 miles and have only done sprint distance triathlons.

I’ve mainly been riding in some of the local neighborhoods near my house, which is flat. Pancake flat. The route on Sunday was freaking hilly! I won’t lie, I wanted to turn around so many times – at the 10 mile point I thought “Screw this, I’m doing the Oly! I’m turning around”. That same thought crossed my mind at mile 12 and 15, too. But, I kept going and by the time I made it to 17 miles, I was committed to getting to the turnaround at mile 21.

But then I had to ride back.

I think the toughest thing was just being alone for a majority of the time. On the way out, I was excited to catch up to a couple of people, including my friend Kelly. It also helped that the coaches were waiting for us at the turnaround and that gave me a burst of energy. But then I was pretty much alone again the entire way back which sucked. On the way back, it was also very windy, so that combined with the hills pretty much kicked my butt! And, an 18-wheeler went flying by one time and the wind from that freaked me the heck out!!! Seeing no one almost entire way back was hard – the negative thoughts were going through my head A LOT. But, I kept telling myself to HTFU and get back. It was quite a humbling experience. I honestly don’t know how people can ride for 60, 80 or 100 miles. I used to want to do a century ride, but now I’m positive that I don’t!

One thing I was careful about on this week's ride – nutrition. I did not want a repeat of last week– I drank my gatorade, I had some Bee Stinger Energy Chews and at the ½ way point I had a small Cliff Bar. I think that really helped me get through the ride better than the week before.

But anyway, I did it!!! And, my legs felt good afterwards...almost like I could go and run a few miles. (But I didn’t)

This morning, I ran an easy peasy 3-miler. My legs were a little tired, but not too bad. I will probably not ride the trainer this week, but will run one more time and spend some time in the pool....the hubby and I are getting ready for the Austin Half-Marathon on Sunday!!!