I'm tired of talking about it.

Ups and Downs.

Well, here we are folks in the year 2012. I'm officially 118 days away from the IMTX. (Scared...straight...) Time to kick it up a notch.

Since I had off today, I decided to do my bike workout outside, instead of inside. 50% chance of rain, but last week when I intended on going outside the chances were 70%. Did it rain? Not even close. So, I took my end of the 50% today and went for a ride.

For those of you who aren't aware, I have new bike. I sold my old roadster to my sole-sista-soon-to-be-road-sista, Alice'. I bought a new Quintana Roo Seduza (I like to call it the sedoozy.) I thought "GREAT! A tri bike! After all these years, I'm finally legit!"

And then it went downhill from there.

When I got my first road bike, it was really scary riding it. It was soooo much lighter than the regular ol' mountain bike I was used to. The riding position was slightly different. I thought at any moment I could crash because it was so light. Any move you made on it seemed very exaggerated and gave me a heart attack.

I got used to it and that bike got me through tons of HUGE races. We'd been though a lot together, but I knew it was time to move on. I bought the tri bike. Full carbon, time trial frame, it's a beautiful bike. However, I felt like I was literally learning how to ride a bike all over again.

First of all, you see all these people (some are questionable might I add) riding around in aero position. Can't be that hard, right? WRONG. Oh my gosh, I think I'm just a big chicken because it took me forever to finally get comfortable getting down on the bars. All I could think of was "How am I ever going to ride 112 miles on this thing?"

On a tri bike, all of your weight is on a very unstable front wheel, instead of on a regular road bike, where you're sitting up and your weight is on the non-shifting rear wheel. The seat is typically higher than the handlebars, so you're leaning down farther. The brakes and gear shifters aren't in the same place. You have to react very fast to sit up and brake because they aren't on the aero bars. It's just a big hot mess.

The guy at the bike shop refused to adjust my aero bars to a wider position, because (and he was right for the record) he felt that I didn't need them there. I simply had to get on the bike more. Kind of like when you get the clip in pedals and you're scared you'll forget to clip out when you stop? (Which you will...) My roomie, Jennifer, was a good friend and went with me to Pelican Park so I could RIDE MY BICYCLE IN THE GRASS. Yes, I may as well have had training wheels put on.

I got comfortable with it and finally took it out on the road. It was hard to adjust at first, so scared I was going to crash, and it seemed like I felt EVERY bump in the road that day, but now I love my bike! (with the exception of the seat. I need to get a new one because it's hurts my danger zone.)

I feel so fast! (Even though I'm not, but I feel like I am and the positive feeling that gives me makes it all good.)

Each day I go through an up and down about this race. "I'm not going to finish." to "You can do this, you're getting better." More of the "I should not have signed up for this" moments than the "this is going to epic." thoughts. It's lonely training for an Ironman. Obviously since it's an individual race. You can't depend on anyone but yourself to get you through it.

Who is going to wake up and run with you? People think 10 miles is long ride, why would anyone want to do 50 or more? And when you finish your workouts and come back, the only person who knows your effort and is satisfied is you. I want to share this with somebody, because if someone does it with you, then they know what it took to get there. It's like your accountability. Someone to say, "Oh you had a bad day? Don't worry about it, I had those, but it's just one day. You're not getting worse! You can do it!"

This whole thing is so mental. May needs to hurry up and get here!

Crimmus!

SEASON'S GREETINGS!!!!

Work is crazy.

and busy.

Mostly crazy.

I'm ready for next week. I have THREE DAYS OFF IN A ROW! I'm bringing my bike home and going for long bike rides! (Weather permitting.) Speaking of weather, is it summer yet?! I am NOT a cold weather girl. I'll take tank tops and flip flops any day. I joined Masters swimming at the globo gym. The pool is outside (but heated) and the cold weather makes it REALLY hard to get out of bed in the mornings. I should invest in a rooster. The only time I can go is at 6am, soooooo yeah.

There is an Ice Man dip and dash on New Years Day I want to do. I don't know what my work hours are for that day, but I hope I get to race it. You run two miles to the river, swim 100 yd in the river and run back to the gym! Sounds like fun right?! No, but it's on my bucket list.

Not much to report in these parts, so until next time!

Race Tunes

I'm running in a 5k tomorrow (my first one in a LOOOOOOOOOOONG time) and I'm updating race jam playlist. For those of you who need a little extra umph during your race or workout, here are some jams that really get me fired up and sometimes even give me a second wind. (And if you don't like them, that's fine.)

Impossible -- by Anberlin

Elastic Love (ft. M.I.A.) --- Christina Aguilera

Hearing Damage --- Thom Yorke

Get Me Bodied --- Beyonce (there are some cool dance moves that go with this one.)

Carby (ft. Ezra Koenig) --- Discovery

Austere (The Naked and Famous Remix) ---- the Joy Formidable

Block After Block --- Matt & Kim

Your Body is a Machine --- The Good Natured

My Body --- Young the Giant

And for the cool down (emphasis on cool, because you've just finished a rockin' workout and feel like a superstar)

19-2000 --- Gorillaz

Do Work!!!

Getting better.

UPDATE.

Not too much of an update, but for those of you who care, here is what is going on in my life (in bullet point form)

--Well I cut all my hair. Yup. Pixie cut for me. I'm not sure if my mom was too thrilled about it, but I think it's growing on her. For my lifestyle, it's super easy and I save a lot on shampoo and condish. Plus I wanted to do something crazy.

--Ironman training is going well. I signed up for swimming lessons (because I'm four years old) In the end I think it will pay off as I am NOT a good swimmer.

--My roommate Jen is the Nutcracker in her former dance teacher's Nutcracker ballet. I love that I room with a local celebrity.

--I'm going to a Halloween party on Saturday. I don't know where it is, or anyone who will be there except my coworker and my hairdresser. I'm going as the Spartan queen, so I'll be prepared to kick butt on anyone who gets fresh.

that is all!

76 Trombones.

Life has been pretty laid back. Here's an outline of what's been going on

1: I attended Kristin's bachelorette party (for some reason google chrome is telling me I spelled that wrong. oh well) this past weekend. Not too much happened, which I guess is what you want for those kinds of deals.

2: I FINALLY went to a Saints game. SO MUCH FUN. I sat with my crazy coworker Roxanne, and we tried desperately to get on the dance cam. FAIL. It's okay. the game went by fast, but I did see my 7th grade home economics teacher in the section next to me. (omg-i-hope-she-didn't-see-me)

3: My workouts lately have been pretty intense. All that to say, my legs look great. (I feel everyone is allowed to be vain every so often.)

4: My workouts lately have been pretty intense. All that to say, I can't stuff food in my mouth fast enough. (porker)

5: I recently started watching the Bold and the Beautiful. I would say this cast is not as beautiful as the cast of Young and the Restless, but there is lots of drama nonetheless, and I looooooooooove daytime drama.

6: I never dress up for Halloween, but every year I do pick out a costume as if I were going to dress up and have all these social events to attend. Last year, I wanted to be Mr. Peanut (from the Planters cans). This year, if I were dressing up I'd definitely be a drum majorette. Here are some examples of costumes I like.

I think the last girl is twirling machetes!!!

Aren't awesome though?! Sometimes I think I was born in the wrong decade. Okay, one more just for kicks.

Look at her lean!

Back to Earth

Okay, I'm not completely off the face of the planet, but I'm close.

Let's see if I can recap what's been up.

1) I was supposed to go to a Saints game with my coworkers, but after sitting in traffic just outside of the Superdome for 2 hours, boss decided we'd go eat instead. I need to find my "game that never was" ticket to put on the fridge. It's almost like honorable mention. I didn't quiiiiite get in. OH and on a side note, while I was getting ready for the game, I decided to re-pierce my ears for the third time in my life. Didn't hurt, but wearing earrings is a weird feeling after not wearing them for 8 years.

2) Jennifer and I went hiking in Tunica Hills last Friday. We woke up early, drove 2 hours away from Mandeville (of course stopping at the sonic for a Breakfast toaster and Croissonic sandwich)

and finally arrived in Pond, MS.
The picture above is our attempt to find the primitive trail. We had already done the regular trail and thought we might try to find the other waterfalls in the area located on the primitive trail. Basically, you had follow white markings on trees, but ten minutes and only two tree markings later, we decided to call it day and not risk making Fox news for the night.

3) I started a class online! Yup, back to school (ish) It's only one class and it's about vascular pathologies (aneurysms, aneuryms oh and more life threatening arterial diseases) The book reads like a med school class, but thank goodness for Online Webster.

4) Wellll, I signed up for an Ironman. That's pretty much all I'm going to say about that.

I feel like I've been busy, but I haven't. Or maybe I have. Who knows. I FORGOT, we have a wii in our condo now, so when I don't feel like doing my workouts for training, I simply put on Just Dance and workout that way. It's as hard as an other workout, but it gives me a chance to tap into my suppressed dancing needs.

If I think of anything else, I promise to better about updating (not that anyone really reads this, but just for my memory.)