Holy COLD batman!!

Last night a group of women in T3 decided to get together. Most that attended consider themselves the "turtles" of the group. I most definitely fit into that category. We may take our time, but we'll finish! Anyway, we met at this cool little wine bar downtown and introduced ourselves, told everyone what our goals were, what we needed as far as support and gave our average speeds in each discipline. I left feeling a lot more connected to the group. Nothing like a little vino to bring people together!

Well, there was a cold weather option ride for today since yesterday it was in the 20s in the am. You could either sit on a trainer for 2-3 hours or come out on Sunday to do a nice ride on Parmer, my favorite road. My love for the road comes from it being a mile from my house. I don't have to drive anywhere, I don't have to get up too much earlier...you see where I'm going. One of the girls that I met last night said that she was going to the ride and I said, "Cool! I'll see you at 9am!" I know that I live in Texas, and that it can get a little chilly...but when I woke this morning it was 29 degrees. At 8am I checked again and it was 30. I checked the T3 board to see if anyone was bailing (I was praying really really hard) and there was no such post.

SO...I sucked it up, got my weather gear together, pumped up the tires, filled up my water bottles and left the house at 8:50am, 31 degrees. HOLY EFFING COLD people, like seriously.

Here is what I was wearing:

Socks and cycling shoes with a cold weather toe cover

Tri-short and full length leggings, they meet at the short and tuck under (ultra flattering...not)

Base layer sleeveless dri-fit, short sleeved cycling jersey, sleeveless cycling vest

Full arm warmers (again, they tuck up under your sleeves)

Winter gloves

Beanie cap

Helmet

Orange lenses on my cycling sunglasses

Here is what I should have been wearing:

My pajamas, in bed, with my big dog Fido and husband.

I started out from my house and by the time I got to the meeting place my thighs were squeezing out between the leg warmers and my tri-shorts. Apparently I should have paid attention and worn the longer pair of shorts. (note to self) I yanked the warmers up as we were waiting to take off and yanked the shorts down as much as I could. We left the meeting place and on to Parmer we rode. I was going to do 30-35 miles. That morning I had decided on 20. Once I got going in the below freezing temps I decided on 15. Truth be told, I really wanted to turn around 3 miles in....but I sucked it up and rode longer.

I couldn't feel my fingers, oh they hurt so bad (and still do mind you!), so I had issues changing gears. Nothing could stop the wind from finding the finger tips and toes. My core was nice and snugly warm, the rest of me...well, I was numb. The freakiest part was that when I came to a stop light (as I hit every fricken light both ways!!) I was afraid of not being able to dismount, or afraid that I wouldn't be able to feel my legs and that I would just fall over! I did make it home, I did 15 miles. I was even a good teammate and rode with the girl who said she'd be there on the way out. She had more miles and I wanted to book home so we parted early.

When I got home I just wanted to crash into the yard and hope that Trainer would look out the window and rescue me. After realizing how insane and silly that idea was I made it to the door, pieces of my thigh hanging out for the world to see, struggled to get my key out of my jersey pocket and stumbled through the door. My hands hurt so bad, especially once the blood started to return. Ouch, ouch, ouch...I kept repeating that over and over. Trainer had to help me get my gloves off. The pups were looking at me to figure out what was wrong. Finally I stripped down of my gear, my entire body (sans my core) was bright red. I took a hot bath, but nothing is warming me up today.

Lesson for the day: I will NOT go on any rides under 45 degrees unless I'm training for an Ironman...which is not in the cards, like ever. I can't decide if I kick ass...or if I'm just a dumbass today. :)

The best laid plans....

....always fail. Or are interpreted by the universe a little differently!!!

So, my plan took off on Monday, did my spin in the morning (now this spin class isn't with a spin bike, you actually use your road bike on a "trainer" so you get used to gearing up and down) and ran a couple of mile that night with YZB. We did a 2:30 run/:30 walk for 25 minutes, and then walked for a lot more because I was venting at that point. I know, you're shocked right? Tuesday could NOT get up for swim at 5:45am. If we haven't discussed, I am not a morning person. The thought of getting up at 4:45 to leave the house at 5:10 to get into a pool (albeit heated) while it's 36 degrees outside...not appealing. But, I had intended on doing it, and didn't make it.

Well, after that I had a couple of options. I did my noon time strength work out with Trainer and then I could either do the Tues night spin class or do three workouts on Wed. I choose to do the night time spin class. Which was a great class (except for the horrendous drive downtown!) I didn't get home until 8:30p, and by the time we ate it was time for sleep. Wednesday I didn't have to get up for spin since I'd done it the night before, next workout was swimming at 11:45am. I only had time for a 45 min swim, but I figured it was better than nothing. I was in a lane with three other people, one of who is about my speed and the two other people were MUCH faster. THIS does NOT motivate me to be better. I am not engineered that way. (Now if we were talking about a Karaoke competition I'd be all over besting the person next to me!) For me to get blown away by my teammates is a little demoralizing. It doesn't stoke a fire but really throws a bucket of water over the fire. I have anxiety and waste my energy flailing around the pool, just hoping that I'm not holding anyone up. NOT a good practice for me. Then Wednesday night I went to track practice.

I love track practice. I love being given tasks and then completing them. Yes, I was one of those kids who LOVED school. Anyway, I started out on my warm up and knew that this was going to be a difficult practice. The muscles around my peroneal tendon were tightening up and sending shooting pain up through the knee. No matter what I did, run faster/slower/walk...didn't make a difference. Just pain. Of course I ran through the pain, but I knew it wasn't wise. The good news is that I just need to roll and massage it out. Get it used to running again. The bad news is that rolling it out and massage HURT like a mother, and I'm really not into pain. Frustrated, very, very frustrated at this point with my running. I wore the effing boot for 2 1/2 months. I did my physical therapy. I followed the stupid run/walk program and it SAYS on week 5 that I should be able to run straight for 25 minutes!! IT LIED! Sorry, venting.

On to Thursday. Did not make it out of bed in the morning for swim, which with the state of my calf was probably a good thing. I did do my strength session that afternoon as planned and took Friday completely off...as planned. The only thing I missed so far was my second swim.

Tonight I'm meeting with a group of ladies who are like me...they want to get better, but need a support group of similar people to growth WITH, not just the chase faster people and hope to get faster. Plus we're meeting at a wine bar *bonus*!!

Today I'm going to try a short run, maybe 20 min see how my leg is feeling. Tomorrow is a 30 mile ride at 9am along my favorite road Parmer. Then we start over next week and try-try again. Oh, and did I mention that I gained 2 pounds when I upped my training? How effed up is that?? My good old friend Sprinter is going to do a diet analysis on me for free! (WOOHOO! Love that word.) And then I may meet with the team nutritionist (not free) to figure out a plan that will keep me fed and hopefully shed some pounds along the way.

Alright, more coffee and I need to figure out breakfast as we're out of oatmeal. *gasp* I know, I can't believe it either. Have a great weekend!

Forever and a day

That's how long it's been since I've blogged, well...that's what it feels like anyway. Things in ATX are good. Going along, work is work and now we've begun the "real" tri-training for the year. My body aches. All over it aches. I haven't started the daily doubles yet, but they will make their way into the schedule soon.

This is what I'd like my tri-schedule to look like this year:

May 9th (I think) - Rookie Triathlon Mini-Sprint

May 31st - Cap Tex Tri Olympic

July 11th - Couples Tri Sprint (this was my first ever race...which was last year)

Aug 1st - Jack's Generic Sprint

Sept 6th - Austin Tri Olympic

Oct 17th - Longhorn 70.3 Half Ironman (HOLY SH*T!)

This is what my weeks will look like from here until...well...Oct 18th:

Monday - Spin am/Run or Core pm

Tuesday - Swim am/Strength Training with Trainer pm

Wednesday - Spin am/Swim at noon alternating weeks/Track workout pm

Thursday - Swim am/Strength Training pm

Friday - Swim at noon alternating weeks

Saturday - Long ride

Sunday - Long run

Friday is my "rest" day since I won't be putting stress on the legs. So this is the plan...if I can get my ass out of bed by 4:45-5am. Have I mentioned that I am NOT a morning person? At all? Yeah...mornings.bite. But, I paid for the full year of training. Up front. Might as well get as much out of the program as possible. As it gets warmer or really just lighter in the evening we'll see how much spin I do, I'd really rather ride outside.

That's all for now. Oh, last thing. Since I started my training two weeks ago...I gained effing 4 pounds!!! WTF!?! Classic.