Gobble, Gobble, Waddle, Waddle

An optimist is a person who starts a new diet on Thanksgiving Day. -- Irv Kupcinet

After a few days of eating pretty clean, Thanksgiving comes along.  Now - don't get me wrong, I was always planning on eating what we had planned...turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes, gravy, green beans, and pumpkin pie.  But my plan was to eat it in moderation, enjoy it immensely, and get back into the groove.  In fact, I've joined up with a group of ladies for a "challenge" in December to eat clean - which should be really hard but will be a great thing for me.

We started Thanksgiving with a Turkey Trot 10K.  I was a little disappointed in my time, but it was on a hilly course and really cold, so in retrospect, I should be pretty happy with how I did.  Then we came home and had a paleo breakfast casserole that I had cooking while we were at the race (and a ton of mimosas - yipe!).  Thanksgiving dinner was awesome and I didn't pig out.  Yeah me.

I was ready to get back to basics the next day - they don't call it Black Friday for no reason - but we had a substantial amount of leftovers and then we went out to an Irish pub for dinner and I had fish & chips, plus an Irish cream ale, for dinner.  I kind of viewed that it was one last shot before the December challenge.  :)

But now looking at the situation in retrospect, how I handled Thanksgiving was just right for me, but how I handled yesterday was not.  My real challenge for December (and forever...) is not to eat clean, but rather to reframe how I look at food.  On Thanksgiving, I ate food because it was part of a family tradition.  I only ate good tasting food, real food, that I made myself -- and I enjoyed it.  On Friday, though, I ate something with the mindset of a death-row prisoner eating his last supper.  That's just plain ridiculous and I shouldn't think that way.  It may not have been the healthiest of choices, but it was very well cooked and tasty, and I did enjoy my time with my family eating it.  It is not something I would eat every day; in fact, I rarely eat fish & chips, but I figured an Irish pub was the place to do it.  Food is part of life, for fueling my training, for spending time with family and friends, and for nutrition.  Food shouldn't be a reward, or a punishment, or a comfort.

While I will do my best to eat clean for the December challenge, it is most important for me to remember what food is supposed to be about.

Rainbows

If your life had lyrics, would they be any good? -- Douglas Coupland

One of the sweet things in my life is my Monday night drive with my younger daughter.  I have Masters at the same place where she has the swim practice for her triathlon training - and its a haul from our house, so we go down together and wait while the other is in the pool.  After we chitchat about her day, we often turn on the radio and sing, which is pretty fun.  Last night I was paying closer attention than normal -- we were stuck in a horrendous traffic jam and I was trying to keep myself calm.  (I'm not good at being late...it makes me absolutely panicked.  Yeah, I know - I'm a walking ball of anxiety.)

Anyway, Miley Cyrus's "Wrecking Ball" came on.  The first line of the chorus is "I came in like a wrecking ball...".  My sweet daughter, however, was singing it as "I came in like a rainbow...".  It was so cute and so much her - she does come in like a rainbow, in so many ways.  In the most obvious, she is HORRIBLE at picking out clothes.  Orange shirts with pink pants and red shoes.  Yikes!  We've had to have her change clothes before because we would be embarrassed to be seen at a restaurant with her.  But the main way that she comes in like a rainbow is that she will often appear after I've had a bad day or a rough patch, snuggle up to me, and make everything a little bit happier.

I'm not going to correct her - I think her lyrics suit her life.  And I need a few more rainbows now and then.

(PS - because I was a total stress ball when I got to Masters last night, I did not have the gumption to try block starts, AGAIN.  I am not good at leaving my comfort zone when my head isn't in the right place...)

Thanksgiving Post

When you rise in the morning, give thanks for the light, for your life, for your strength.  Give thanks for your food and for the joy of living.  If you see no reason to give thanks, the fault lies in yourself -- Tecumseh

In honor of Thanksgiving week, I am going to share a list of just a few of the many things I am thankful for.

1.  My husband - my biggest fan, an excellent sherpa, and an overall great guy

2.  My girls - my two biggest little fans and daily sources of inspiration for me to be healthy and happy

3.  A job that is flexible enough to let me indulge in my training while it is still light, still warm, and not 3:30am

4.  A bunch of great friends that support what I do or at least don't laugh out loud when I announce my next crazy idea - you know who you are

5.  Online and real-life communities that offer support, advice, and inspiration (Beginner Triathlete, Richmond Tri Club, Swim Bike Mom, My Fitness Pal, and many others)

6.  An extended family that is still not sure why I do what I do, but is suitably impressed nonetheless

7.  My tri-bike, Freyja (and NO, the seat is not that high - this is before my fitting, where they cut off many, many inches of seatpost)

8.  My health

9.  A local food co-op that makes it easier to eat well - Fall Line Farms - in addition to living in a town with multiple farmers markets

10.  Really, really good coffee - I get it from a local roaster through the co-op

For these things, and so many other things, I give thanks.  Have a great Thanksgiving week!

Comfort Zones

I've learned in my life that it's important to be able to step outside your comfort zone and be challenged with something you're not familiar or accustomed to.  That challenge will allow you to see what you can do.  -- J.R. Martinez

So on Monday at Masters, when they were doing the starts off the blocks (in preparation for a Masters swim meet coming up), I didn't do it.  I've never actually learned how to jump in the water, and I figured at my age, why bother.  (I know, I know, I'm not that old...and I was a little embarrassed having that thought when some of my fellow swimmers, well into their 60s, got up there like champs.)  I came home and I told my husband that I didn't jump in and that it was fine because between that and learning flip turns the previous week, I was just a little too outside my comfort zone.  Heck, I don't didn't even like to swim...I'm already outside my comfort zone - and now you want me to flip and jump and act like I even dreamed of being on a swim team when I was a kid?  Seriously?  Give my comfort zone a little break here already...

But now, with a few days of perspective behind me, I actually feel kind of stupid for not even trying.  I know that I have spent most of this year (and am planning to spend a lot of next year) pushing my comfort zone, and maybe right after finishing my last real race of 2013 wasn't the right time...but isn't that what life is all about?  I'll never know what I can do unless I try, right?  As long as I don't even try, it is 100% certain that I will never be able to dive into the pool.  In fact, until a couple weeks ago, it was 100% certain that I could never do a flip turn.

I need to remember that being less comfortable for a while will get me a lot further in the long run.

Good Morning, Sunshine!

Morning comes whether you set the alarm or not. -- Ursula K. LeGuin

I am trying to get myself up in the morning for training.  I seem to be able to get up for swimming on Wednesdays (and sometimes Fridays) just fine - up at 5a for Masters at 6a.  In fact, this morning I was up watching my alarm clock from 4:45a until just before the alarm was set to go off.  But on non-swimming mornings, I'm having a real struggle making myself want to get up and out of bed.  I need to get over this, because as training ramps up (and it is...started my marathon training plan already this week!), I'm going to need to squeeze some workouts in the morning or I'll never fit everything in.

One thing I hope will help - my new rockin' pink headlamp.  Isn't it the cutest?  I got it from Roadrunner Sports.

Maybe the opportunity to wear that more will get me out of bed in the morning?

2014. The year of full-on bat-wing crazy. Bring it.

I know when I'm getting ready to mess up, I'm going to do it full-on.  -- Sandra Bullock

You might well remember that nothing can bring you success but yourself. -- Napolean Hill

Here's how the 2014 season is shaping up.  I'm excited, although occasionally I just kind of freak out a bit thinking about it.  Like OMG freak out.

I'm already registered for:
March 16 - Shamrock Marathon
June 1 - Raleigh 70.3
July 12 - Muncie 70.3

And then, the crown jewel of the 2014 season is shaping up to be IRONMAN Louisville, August 24.  We haven't registered me yet for this, but we did reserve a hotel room, told the extended fam, etc.  The race doesn't sell out, although I want to register before then just to get the idea settled in my mind.  But no real rush to hand over the beaucoup bucks right now.

So what does the rest of 2013 look like?  A couple of fun runs - a Turkey Trot 10K and a Toys for Tots 5K, probably with the little one.  But basically the training starts now.  I have my marathon training plan already in the works, the HIM plan kicks in 1/12/14, and then I found a 12-week bridge from HIM-IM program that fits perfectly between Raleigh & Louisville.  (I'll squeeze Muncie in as a long training day.)

So there it is.  I'm biting off a lot for 2014, but I don't think it's more than I can chew - it's just going to take work on my part to make it successful.  But after this past season, I'm feeling rather pleased and confident that I can do it, if I set my mind to it now.  Bring it on.

Getting Faster Slowly

Hasten slowly. -- Augustus

The 2013 race season is nearly at an end - just a couple of fun runs left...a Turkey Trot 10K on Thanksgiving morning and a Toys for Tots 5K with the little one.  Today I ran my 4th half mary of the year (5th if you count the one in the HIM) - and I set my 2013 half-mary PR.  It's still slow...I'm still over 10 minutes off my actual half mary PR, but I'm over 30 minutes faster than I was last year at this same race.  In fact, today I even ran somewhere around 5 minutes faster than I did in October (which was on a flatter course).   It's happening slowly, but I'm getting faster.  Again.  FINALLY.  Ugh.

Bottom line - I'm really happy with this season.  I've accomplished (and generally exceeded) all of the goals I had for this year.  I have a long ways to go before I'm as fast as I was, and want to be again, but I can see it from here at least.  Time to rest and then get on to next year's goals.  More on that shortly!

Flipping Out!

I wear a necklace, cause I wanna know when I'm upside down. -- Mitch Hedberg

For the first time in my adult life, I have managed to do a forward roll.  In the water.  Near the wall of the pool.  And it kinda sorta almost looked like a flip turn.  Yeah me!

When I was little, I did gymnastics.  My mom had me take classes and my dad built me a low wooden balance beam that I played with in the back yard.  I had gymnastics books and watched gymnastics on TV.  I was never very good - I managed to get to a one-handed cartwheel.  I tried an aerial cartwheel a couple times, but mostly landed on my head.  I never managed a walkover or flip.  And definitely, I was better at tumbling than at any of the apparatus events.  I wasn't fast enough for the vault, strong enough for the bars, or coordinated enough for the beam.  But I did love to tumble.

Sometime after 8th grade, however, I lost the ability to flip my legs move over my head.  I did a couple cartwheels as an adult to prove to my daughters I could, but it made my wrists hurt.  But you weren't going to find me doing forward rolls, or backward rolls, or straddle rolls, or anything of the sort.  It made me a little dizzy.  Or a lot of dizzy.

So when the Master's program Facebook page announced that last night was going to be flip turn night, I almost considered not going.  I wanted to learn how to do flip turns, but everytime I tried to do them, I just managed to spin around in the water and swallow half the pool.  There was no flip, just turn.

I went to masters.  The first many times we tried flipping, I turned.  No legs over.  Ended up facing the wrong way.  Nothing attractive or useful about it.  But then we tried a couple times with toys -- noodles first, the pull buoys, and all of a sudden, I was able to do it!  I can flip!  Then the big test, flipping without toys.  Umm.  Not so much the first kajillion tries.  But eventually I figured it out and by the end of Masters, I had actually done a couple of flip turns.  And even close enough to the wall to push off, although I generally managed to push off too high, meaning I was pushing myself WAY underwater (like 7 feet under) and had a really hard time getting back to the surface...but I did it.  Between that and learning (and I should add air quotes to "learning") to do butterfly, I almost (ALMOST) feel like a real swimmer.  Now I just need to learn breast stroke.  And practice.  Practice.  Practice.

This Little Piggy Went to Market

Well, I like to be kept on my toes.  I look for a challenge.  I don't like to create steps that I've already walked.  I like to see if I can create something new. -- Jeffrey Wright

I was just going to blog about my new socks...but there are other exciting things to share, so maybe I'll just be a little disjointed.  But we'll start with the socks, because I'm pretty jazzed about them.  About 2 long runs ago, I got an ugly blister on/between my toes.  So I ordered a few pairs of Injinji socks to try - they are toe socks.  Here is a pair on my feet:

OK - they may look dorky, but they are remarkably comfortable.  I forgot I had them when I did my long run this past weekend, so I have worn them the last 2 days for my shorter runs.  In addition to preventing toe rubbing, after the race, I can put my flipflops on without having to freeze my tootsies.  Yeah!

The socks were a splurge buy.  My other tri purchase this week was NOT optional.  Here are the goggles I've been wearing for the last 5 years.  I (heart) them very much.  I have another pair that I have kept in my bag, but I didn't wear them because this pair has been so perfect.  Well, perfect does not include a broken strap -- and unlike all modern goggles that have separate straps that can be replaced, etc., my favorites had a unitary strap.  Broken is broken.

So I went to the local swimming store (Disco Sports), favorite goggles in hand, and asked them to find me the same pair.  Of course, 5 years later, they didn't carry the exact same model, but they had a pair that was essentially the same shape.  And, as the salesman said - they're the entry-level goggles so they're very reasonably priced.  So I bought two - one clear and one tinted.  I've been swimming with tinted goggles forever, it will be interesting to see how different everything looks.

Finally, as a bonus (and having nothing to do with shopping or toes), I got some health screening done today as part of open enrollment at my employer.  My blood pressure is great - always is thankfully, but so is my cholesterol and glucose...awesome sauce.  Go me!

The Long Talk

In the long run , we shape our lives, and we shape ourselves.  The process never ends until we die.  And the choices we make are ultimately our own responsibility. -- Eleanor Roosevelt

Yesterday was my last real long run before the Richmond Half Marathon.  I'm not sure how I'm feeling about the race.  My pace on my long runs has been good, but recently life has gotten in the way of some of my training sessions, so I don't feel as confident as I did going into the half mary I did in October.  I know I'll be fine to finish, obvs, but I was hoping to beat my October time...and I'm not sure that's in the cards.  (Plus the Richmond course is hillier than the other, but that's not what is holding me back from a purely positive mental attitude.)  I hate missing training sessions - I realize that is a little OCD, but what can you do.

The other interesting thing that is going on is that Husband and I have been having the "long talk" - the one about doing a full IM.  Apparently my IM-crazy flag has been showing.  We had always talked about 2015 and maybe doing our first IMs together - but he's faster than me, so it wouldn't really be together anyway.  For my first one, I'd really like to have a full-time cheerleader out there for me, rather than just to see me finish.  And it turns out his dream IM (Mt Tremblant) is not the one I had been dreaming of (Louisville).  So what if I did IM Louisville in 2014?

Hmmm.  Interesting thought.  So we're thinking about it - just thinking, mind you.  Way too much to think about, but we're checking out logistics, training schedules, etc. to see if it is even in the realm of the possible.  Entirely conceivable at this point that it is not going to work out at all - especially given that there are small people involved.  But how cool would it be?  And yikes!

Super Fan

I'm also a fan of ridiculously coloured and patterned socks. -- Daniel Radcliffe

OK, so today is a super fan day.  I'm a big fan of craft beer and good wine...in fact, heading out to a happy hour with work friends once I get this post up.  See what a diligent blogger I am?

I'm also a big fan of flip flops, yoga pants, and baseball hats - but that could just be because I'm a slob.

I'm a Fanilow.  Yes, I will admit it, and since it's November 1, here's a little relevant Barry for you.

You can't mock the Manilow.  No.  No, you can't.  Don't even try it.

And one more super-fan shoutout...an old friend of mine is doing her first IM this weekend - Go Samurai Cynthia!!!  I'm so proud of you (even if you are too busy being a lawyer to be a diligent blogger...).  I can't wait to follow in your IM footsteps!