Anticipation

Halloween is coming up. We've been ghosted and ghosted others in return. This is a Halloween tradition in which someone leaves candy and a ghost-shaped note on your doorstep and runs away. You are then obligated to post the ghost on your door and return this favor to two others who have not yet posted ghosts.

On Thursday, we went to ghost my parents and Grammy. I made sure that the bag contained lots of Heath bars (Grammy's favorite) while the girls made beautiful ghost drawings to put inside. Annika made a rainbow ghost and we aren't sure what Dagny drew. She only ruined two markers during this process, though, so it was a win. Anyway, after we got to mom and dad's house, we placed the bag on the porch (hastily removing Dagny's teddy bear from it on the way down the steps as she howled in protest), rang the doorbell and hid behind the car in the driveway. My dad, who had miraculously been alerted to be on the lookout for ghosting children, opened the door and started his "wow am I ever surprised, someone left me some candy!" routine. Dagny could contain herself no longer. "PAPAAAAA!" she yelled as she broke free of my arms and ran up to the porch. When you are two, some things are more important than a surprise.

I have a teaser photo of the girls in costume, but I think it would be cheating to post it before the big day.

In other news, I haven't yet done my long run. Doug talked me out of going at dark-thirty this morning by swearing that I will have time to go this afternoon. It could be the coffee, but I'm completely jittery about not having done my run yet. What if something comes up? What if lunch doesn't agree with me? So, anyway, here is the weekly rundown in anticipation of the run this afternoon:

Sun: Rest - bagged the bike ride because it got too late to go and I thought I'd get to go on Monday.

Mon: 4.08 mile run at 8:38 min/mile pace. Dagny was sick so I missed my bike with Nat in the morning. I thought I would go in the afternoon (Doug was home) but Dagny wasn't napping well and I didn't want to open the door (it beeps) and wake her. Turns out that she didn't sleep anyway. Rats.

Tues: 5.09 miles in the hood at 8:32 min/mile pace. Last week's runs were all at 9 min pace. Doug remarked that I was going slow so I went faster this week - not sprinting but pushing it more.

Wed: 30.69 mile bike at 14.9 mph. This includes the time on hold with the school and subsequent phone call to Doug to let him know it was OK to drop the girls off after their flu shots. Doug needed his shot too so he had doc duty. Upshot, I actually rode faster than 14.9. I did fall over, though, after swerving to go over the sensors as I stopped at a stoplight. Oops. I'm sure the driver of the car on the other side of the intersection thought it was hilarious. Lotzie, I did bring kleenex on this ride and it wasn't enough - rockets will have to be mastered. I think Colin might be right about the looking up (says the woman with snot on her legs).

Thurs: 2,200 yard swim in 40-ish minutes. I think. I did a 200 w/u and either three or four 500s. Since it took more than 40 minutes, I'm guessing it was 4 500s. This was my first swim at the "real" pool with lights and people swimming next to me. SO much fun. Nat and I will have to do this some day when it is too wet or cold for biking. I raced the guy in the lane next to me on the 3rd (or 2nd) 500. He was wearing baggy shorts and didn't flip-turn, but he was still pretty fast, so I thought I'd try to stay with him. This was on about lap 15 of the 20 after I had adjusted my googles for the millionth time. He sped up, so I thought "game ON!" and turned it up a notch. He sped up more. With a giant grin on my face, I started kicking and hitting the gas in laps 17-19. Whoo hoo - I love to swim!!! Lap 20, I went all out. We were neck and neck. I stretched out my arm to out-touch him (swim team trick), but when I lifted my head, he was out of the pool and heading to the shower room. I was all ready to have the post-swim bonding that Nat says is common at the pool. He must have been intimidated by my googles. I didn't even get to tell him thanks for the race or the great pacing.

Fri: 3.18 miles in the hood at 8:30 pace. Just putting some miles in the bank because of my long run on Sat. Since there have been attacks on joggers in the nearby area recently, I was especially watchful on this run. I passed three walkers and three joggers, not counting Dale - who jogged past my house while I was taking out the dog. I love our neighborhood.

Sat: Hopefully 9 miles at 10:00 pace. You never know how the body will hold up and I'm a little stiff (which is why I should have already run because I wouldn't have been awake enough to notice the stiffness), but maybe I could even go longer than that. Emily is keeping the girls for us on Thanksgiving morning so I get to do the 1/2 with Doug. : )

Totals: 2,200 yards swimming; 30.69 miles biking; est. 21.35 miles running. Cross your fingers for the running.

Kyrie Eleison

Today I took Annika and my Grammy to Mass. Grammy moved in with my folks last weekend and I've been picking her up when we go because her car isn't up here yet. We've never been so early to church in our lives! Annika had PSR today, but she still picked where we sat (right up front) and walked us in before I took her to class. PSR means Parish School of Religion, which is the Catholic version of Sunday School - CCD for those of you in my age group, catechism for those in my parents'. Anyway, the front is good because (1) my Grammy can hear some of Mass, at least - she is pretty darn deaf, and (2) I can see what is going on.

I don't know if you all know this, but because Pope Benedict has said that the Latin Mass is OK to use (broad brush paraphrasing, here - actual letter is here), it is coming back into vogue at some churches. A translation between Latin and English is here. There has always been a Latin Mass church in our area but I've never been to it because I don't understand Latin. Anyway, there are a lot of people (here and here, for example) who would prefer to hear Mass in Latin because it is the original way, before the changes of Vatican II. Our church has even started saying three of the regular prayers in Latin - they provide laminated sheets with the Latin words so that we can follow along.

I don't mean to offend anyone who wants to hear the Latin or to denigrate their opinion on what is the "right way" or the most meaningful way to hear Mass because boy, are there some opinions out there. However, it occurred to me the other day, that for those of us who grew up post-Vatican II, Latin is uncomfortable and foreign. Using the Latin prayers may feel like coming home to those who have attended Latin Mass before, but for me - it is intrusive and breaks my concentration on what is being said. I'm busy trying to figure out what the heck the words mean (which, if I had a better knowledge of the Mass - I would just know, but bear with me - the point is coming) I wonder if anyone ever thought about that part - that the Latin might alienate (even for a few minutes) those with no background in it.

Meanwhile, I'll keep brushing up on my Latin. It's good that Grammy is going with us now, because she asks about the gospel in the car (like Grampy J. used to, but without the cursing) so that helps me remember not to zone out during the Latin and never come back and to pay attention better to what is going on. She is really just making conversation with Annika, but still.

Oh, yeah, and Kyrie Eleison (which means "Lord, have mercy") was also the title of a song that Mr. Mister sang in the '80s. I have the album.

The Girl Who Knows Everything

So, my sister-in-law knows everything about being a mom. She should give seminars or send out a quarterly "you need to be doing this" newsletter. Whenever we have a problem, I call her first. She should be on the emergency list like 911 and Poison Control. She told me when it was time to register my kids for pre-school, how to sign-up for sports, which grocery store has the good employees, how much fever reducer is OK for an infant, how long to let a baby cry and when to call the Dr. for head injury. She has an easy dip for every occasion. Everyone needs a Katie.

Anyway, this morning the girls and I went to the Roswell Youth Day Parade. I had planned to go watch at the point nearest to my house. I made muffins (thank you Trader Joe's delicious pumpkin cake mix), packed those, cereal, milks, waters, stroller and blanket and stuffed the girls into jackets. As I passed Katie's house, I called to see if they were going to the parade. "Yes," she said, "but wow are you early and you need to park by the water tower."

"Huh? I was going to park by the elementary school."

"No," that is near the end and it takes forever for the parade to get there. You need to park by the water tower and sit at the gas station place in the sun."

"Well, (resisting the directions) I have to go to Starbucks to get the h-o-t-c-h-o-c-o-l-a-t-e special surprise, so we'll see where I end up." Then, while in line at Starbucks, I thought, "what the hell - might as well go where she says."

So, I parked at the water tower and proceeded to the designated sunny area. As promised, it was only a short walk from the parking area. Our spot was sunny and perfect. The parade was lovely and fun. The girls ate too much candy and ran around like wild animals. We sat in a group of other moms who were also drawn by the force of Katie's tractor beam and had a blast. My kids are whipped. I'll post the photos from the twist contest when my photos migrate from the phone.

Photo Catch-Up

Here are some representative photos from the last few months. In the first one, the girls are dressed-up to go to my folks' house for a party (4th of July, maybe?). The second is a mug shot of Annika on her first day of school. Next is Dagny on her first day - note the school bag, which you cannot pry out of her hands even though she can barely lift it. The last photo is the reason our markers are now stored high, high, high in the pantry. No writing on your sister!

The delayed photo show is because I finally figured out how to move photos from our camera into the new computer. There is a place to plug the card from the phone in - right on the front of the computer! Convenient! Now I know how everyone else can upload so many photos because it's easy! Sometimes technology is my friend.

Here's the weekly stats:

Sunday: nada, unless you count the many flights of stairs in preparation for Dagny's party

Monday: 27.98 mile bike at 15.5 mph, 3.18 mile run at 9:14 pace

Tuesday: 4.05 mile run in the hood at 9:01 pace

Wednesday: 31.22 mile bike at 16 mph

Thursday: 5.1 miles at 9.04 pace; frustrating meeting with the shysters at LA Fitness to discuss whether Doug, Grammy and I are willing to pay a king's ransom to swim in their pool. The dude I was scheduled to see was not there and the price magically increased and was suddenly per person and not per family. Jerks.

Friday: Too much wine, cheese and steak for my own good. Our friends Bill and Tricia came for dinner and we stayed up until after midnight. Bill is the best dinner guest ever - he eats mass quantities of whatever you make and tells you it is good (even if it isn't). This dinner actually was really good, though, because Doug made it and he knows steak. Next time we'll have to do the steaks with the leeks and vinegar syrup.

Saturday: 8.54 miles at 9.26 pace. As Nat has said before, sometimes the hangover run is a good thing. It was 50 degrees this morning - delightful! It took all I had to get my butt out of the bed on 4 hours of sleep but I did it.

Totals: no swimming, 58.70 miles biking, 20.87 miles running. YES! I got to 20 miles this week at last! I ran out of time but could probably have done another 2 miles to get to 10, but there is always next week.

Rocket Girl

I'm tired and it's late and I should be doing work. But, Nat requested the bike blog so who am I to disappoint? And, here are some lovely photos of my sweet girls.

Monday, I rode solo from the school. Nat had a flat and rather than watching the Vulcan Bike Wizard, she used her powers of persuasion to get the Roswell Bikes guys to fix her tire on the spot. It usually takes them a week for me. "That's because your skirt wasn't short enough," she said. Is that wrong? To use a little leg to get fast bike work? I recall that the bike dudes were mighty helpful when I showed up in my bike clothes. Hmmm. Must remember this theory next time I want assistance.

Anyway, Monday I did the usual tour of Roswell near Nat's folks and had planned to loop back to do the Bike Roswell route and then go through the land of hills to the neighborhood where I get lost and then home to my car. I was aiming for 30 miles. However, there was a flagman on Jones Road. I was not too delayed by the flagman, but drivers freak out when there is a flagman, so I decided to avoid them rather than braving their insanity three times and head backwards through the hills and past my house since I was running low on water anyway. Whee! Those hills were awesome in reverse. My top speed was 34.9 mph but it felt like I was going way faster. However, on the way to my house, another flagman! Drat. I breezed into my driveway, filled up with the hose (no keys on me, because they are in my car) and continued on my way. It was really hot. I drank 3 bottles of water during 1 hr 4X mins of biking and was parched. I had planned to do the 30 miles but I realized after about mile 20 that I was too loopy to do 30 miles. One Cliff shot and a Nuun tablet in one of my bottles was not enough fuel for nearly two hours of riding, even with a good breakfast. Lesson learned. So, I ate a Soyjoy bar (a remnant of some long-ago race that was in our junk drawer) and drove to Target to get the t-shirt for Dagny's school project that I had forgotten to buy the many times I was at Target over the weekend. Refreshed, I had time to try out a new 5K route before it was time to pick-up the girls. Next time, I'll fuel better and run first because the other moms thought my copious sweating was a little gross. I'm not the hit of the preschool crowd because I'm always there in my bike stuff - I think the ladies find it intimidating.

Anyway, on Wednesday the allergies hit. I ate a mini Cliff bar (another schwag remnant from the junk drawer) on the way to school and hit the road after dropping off the girls. I thought I might go down by the river to see how it felt to do my 30 miles in the flats. Once I got there, I went down Wileo to the bike lanes and just kept on going. My head was getting stuffy from snuffling all of the snot so that it didn't run out of my nose. Did I remember a kleenex? No! The phlegm showed no signs of abating - it just got worse. There was more snot than I could wipe on my sleeve. "What the heck," I thought, "all of the real bikers can make snot rockets - why not me?" So, my whole ride, I practiced whenever my nose started to run. I left a trail of boogers. Yes, I still got a bunch on myself (maybe because I didn't try the across-the-body-blow recommended by the article) but no one seemed to notice later. Good thing snot blends into road dirt. Bike gurus (Colin?) - if there are magic secrets to this art, please fill us in.

I passed the river and kept going on Wileo right on past the Nature Center and the water treatment plant. The road turned into Lower Roswell. Pretty soon, I knew I was getting close to Mark and Robin's house. Could I ride all the way there? Why not? It was a little dicey getting there because the cars on Lower Roswell are fast, but I made it and waved as I did a turn around in their cul-de-sac. Hi Mark and Robin! It's way more fun to ride with a destination in mind. : ) I'll ride back there again. Maybe they wouldn't mind if I used their hose. Then, I went back the same way (downhill this way!) and turned down Riverside to enjoy a fast trip on those bike lanes. I am fairly sure that I saw the 64 year old guy from the 2 Bridges Race twice on this part of the ride. He's still kicking my ass. Because I still had the climb back to school to worry about, I didn't venture up the Eves hill. I ate two gels on this trip (at 45 mins and 1.5 hrs) and that was plenty. I hardly got loopy at all. My legs did get tired though and that caused me to fall over when I forgot to downshift when turning onto Shallowford from Pine Grove. Oops. I got one foot unclipped, but couldn't shake the other so down I went. Luckily no one saw. I nearly fell twice more trying to get shifted into an appropriate gear - my legs were jello. Next time, I'll downshift before turning. And if that doesn't work, I'll dismount and shift into a decent gear by hand. I almost passed a guy on Shallowford, though. Whoo Whooo! I followed him all the way up Wileo gaining slowly as we struggled up the hill and would probably have passed him close to the end of Shallowford (unless he decided to race me, which would have left me in the dust) but he pulled over to take a pee and I never saw him again after that.

So, next week, we have lots of new places to ride. If I can ride out to Mark and Robin's house, then we can definitely make it to the Big Peach to return those shirts that I've been carrying around for the past month. I need some new shoes anyway.

Another Ironman post

There is a guy from the Beginner Triathlete board who is in Kona. His name is Josh. He won a lottery spot at the Ironman World Championship and is blogging his adventures in Kona here. Kona sounds so neat - it's just amazing to read about Josh's adventures there.

Josh mentioned a bracelet in the Livestrong tradition, which appears to be based on some Tour de France riders. You can read about them here (4th story down). However, when I googled the motto, I got this guy. Hilarious. Harden the @%$# Up!

In other news, Dagny's birthday is coming up so stay tuned for photos from that and our preparation adventures. Watch out bird poop on the deck, I'm talking to you.

This week's playtime:

Sunday: 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike, 3.1 mile run in 1 hr 25 minutes. As previously mentioned, I think the run was short, but whatever. I'm counting it as 3 miles in my weekly totals.

Monday: 20 (ish) mile bike at 14.1 mph. I forgot to restart Garmin after the gu break so we lost a bit of mileage in the ether. 3.54 mile run at 8:47 min/mile pace

Tuesday: 4.12 mile run in the hood at 9:01 min/mile pace

Wednesday: 20.6 mile bike at 14.1 mph. This includes stopping twice to listen to voicemail and some monster hills.

Thursday: nada - couldn't make myself get out of the nice warm bed to swim

Friday: 3.04 miles in the hood at 8:53 pace. Lured myself out of bed after 6 hours of sleep with the promise of snacks. We know what motivates me. Took this easy and only did three miles in preparation for Saturday's long run.

Saturday: 6.06 miles in the flats at 9:53 pace. I ran in front of the house today because I wanted to be close to the house in case of a potty requirement. The debilitating heartburn (unalleviated by maalox) from yesterday seems to have eased, but I didn't want to be far from home just in case. My "plan" (if you can call it that, because it's still in my head) called for 10 miles today but alas . . . the tummy disagreed. Stupid tummy.

Totals: 400 yards swimming, 53.6 miles biking, 19.76 miles running. Rats! I had planned to run 20 miles this week - as part of upping the mileage for the half-marathon training and consoled myself with reaching the 20 mile/week goal when I stopped my 10 miler at 6 today. Sigh. Next week maybe I can hit both.

Last Dance

My folks agreed to take the girls, Doug and I signed up for the race and were looking forward to a good date night last night before the race this morning. We had a family birthday party in the afternoon and my folks were late leaving from it. So, we didn't hit the road sans kids until after 7pm. Probably I shouldn't have had the margarita and enchiladas for dinner. We skipped dessert because it was race eve. On the way home we stopped at Target to get a new trashcan (because I broke the old one) and some liquid bandage for Doug. He cut his thumb clear through his thumbnail while making lunch yesterday and was worried about getting lake water in it. We got to bed at about 10pm. I got up about an hour later and set my phone to wake me at 4:30. Annie kept scratching, whining and waking us up during the night. Sigh.

We got on the road only a little late (5:40) this morning and arrived at the lake at about 6:30. My tummy was acting up and I got to the ladies' room not a moment too early. Little did I know that my nervous tummy would be the least of my worries.

I ate my immodium and munched some sports beans while setting up my area. I met a nice man who won an award in his age group. I didn't catch his name and I'm sure he thought I was an idiot. When he asked how the race went while we were in the t-shirt line after the finish, I just stared blankly at him. "OK, I guess?" I had no idea. The race was just crazy.

The swim was a triangular course running counter-clockwise from the beach (buoys on the left), east into the sun and then back to the beach. Dee Dee warned me that the lake had a spongy, muddy bottom and dropped off fast as you left the beach. Good to know. We found out later that the swim was around 500 yards (instead of 400) because they had a hard time securing the buoys in the deep water. Anyway, I secured my Garmin in a baggie beneath my hat and practiced turning it on while bonding with the other ladies in my wave. Wave 1 (Doug's wave) went off. Before the first buoy, one guy (a very fit-looking guy) returned to the beach. Hmm, his googles must have broken, we thought. This might have been Wes before he gave it another go. Wave 2 went off. We saw two guys clinging to one of the canoes, but blissfully unaware, we worried about our placement for the start. One woman said to breathe to the left to avoid the waves. This flew right over my head. I can (mostly) do either side, no problem. The waves comment didn't register at all. Then we started. The breeze that was gentle on the beach turned ugly. The women who were near me and I exclaimed at each other in amazement. Holy shit - there are waves in the lake. Big ones. Are there always waves in the lake - I can' remember ever seeing them before. As I motored along with my side-stroke recovery stroke, I heard one woman proclaim that she was going to do breast-stroke. OK, I thought, because I'm trashing my legs with all of this kicking. After what seemed like an eternity of flailing, we got to the first buoy and turned into the sun and the waves. I worried about Doug but comforted myself with the thought that (1) he was wearing his wetsuit, and (2) his stroke may not be pretty, but he can tough it out fine in recovery mode. I worried about Wes because he didn't have his wetsuit. I tried to do freestyle, but couldn't see and kept breathing the waves. Side-stroke was too taxing on my legs, so I settled into the breaststroke. Wes said there were 1-2 foot swells, but I estimated 2-3 feet during the swim. When I was in the troughs, I couldn't see the sun. I am a drama queen, though. Anway, it seemed like that long leg before the last buoy would never end. After the turn and midway through the final leg, I resigned myself to a crappy time. "Just think of it as another workout," Doug always tells me, so I abandoned hopes of kicking ass and just tried to get to the finish. The waves were at my back, so I finally did freestyle. I couldn't see where I was going and the guys in the rescue canoe hailed me and pointed me back towards the flags because I was way off course. They keep the canoes on the outer edge of the swimmers but I must have missed them because I swam way wide of the buoys and the canoes.

I found out later that Doug had to hail two canoes during his swim because the guy in front of him was in bad trouble. The people in the first canoe were idiots and weren't trying to help - just yelling at the guy, but the second canoe was able to pick him up.

I was molasses in transition - always am. I did put a shirt on, though, so that I didn't freeze. I exited the transition area to start the bike straight uphill. I realized about a mile into the bike that I had never turned on Garmin. Oops. Turned it on finally at the 2 mile mark and had my Cliff gel at mile 3. Mental note, make sure that I don't leave the timing chip under my sock ever again. Ouch. The hills out of the park just never ended. I thought there would be more downhill on the second half of the course, but no, it was just as hard. I saw Doug just before the turn. He was in a group that was just after the super-fast leaders. He looked good. I yelled to a woman who I thought was Dee Dee. She looked good too. After my gel, I drank a few more hits of Heed drink and water. Nothing helped. I was sucking. I tried to gain as much speed as possible on the downhills to make it back up the other sides. On the way back into the park, I played cat and mouse with a guy who was 64; he kicked my ass. The last person I passed was a woman in an orange tri-suit who I only chased because she was in my age group. I totally would have given up on her otherwise.

Back into transition, I racked my bike, shucked the shirt and left with my race belt and visor in my hand. I left transition to return back uphill for the run. Chuh, chuh, chuh. It was just as hilly as the bike. I tried to shout encouragement to the other racers because this was a much more positive race than the one in Cordele. It was all "go girl!" and "looking good!" and "you can do it!" I love that about triathlon. I told one dude (blue and aqua tri suit) "we can do it, let's go as we went up a hill." Little did he know that I really was muttering "I think I can, I think I can" as I passed him. A couple of studs in tri-club suits passed me but no women and I made decent time. I passed that darn orange tri-suit woman only to realize that she was a man. Oops. Still, a rabbit is a rabbit, just the same. Garmin says my first two miles were in the 7:30 min/mile range, which is great. After mile 2, I sped up to bring it home. I reeled in the woman with the long red hair (winner of the 25-29 age group) and sprinted in. Doug cheered me in from the bike area. It was nice to be done.

Whoo, this race was exponentially harder than any other I've done (in my limited experience)! Doug agreed so it wasn't just me having a bad day. I finished the swim in approx 12 mins and the total in 1 hr 25 mins and won second in my age group! The official scores were posted onsite and said that my run was 21:XX and a 6:XX per mile pace which would be a PR for a 5K. I'll update with official numbers when they appear. Unfortunately, we think the run was short so I wasn't quite that fast, but still. Hardware. Can you believe it? Just wait until next year!

Edited to add:

Official results: 12:19 swim (4 in AG/15 in women); 2:11 in T1; 47:24 bike (3 in AG/12 women, 16.5 mph); 1:37 in T2; 21:37 run at 6:59 min/mile pace (2 in AG/4 women) for a total of 1:25:05.35 (2 in AG/6th woman). I've also posted a report on Beginner Triathlete in the "Race Logs" section. For those of you who do triathlons, the format of these reports (whether you choose to make them public or not) is really helpful to identify your strong areas and where you could do better.

Last Race Tomorrow

Doug and I are racing in the 2 Bridges Sprint tomorrow. It is our last race of the season because the Emerald Pointe race filled up (and we are ridiculously busy this month).

Because I was up until midnight on Wednesday reading my book and then until 11pm on Thursday paying the bills, I took Friday off instead of swimming. Then today, I slept in until 7am! LAZY! We've gone to the soccer game and are preparing for the birthday party this afternoon. I'm getting my ducks in a row for Dagny's party next week. Whew!

This week's workouts:

Sun: 9.19 mile long run at 9:48 pace. I was ready to be done after 7 miles, despite my good book on the i-pod. Good thing I'm skipping the long run next week.

Mon: 4.06 mile run at 9:19 pace. It was hot, damn hot, on Monday but I finished and thought I would be able to bike after fixing my flat tire. No dice. Tire repair took a LONG time and Doug did a mega-brick so he was late coming home and I ran out of time for biking.

Tues: 1,900 yard swim. 2oo w/u, 3 x 500, 200 c/d. This was not hard but if I'm going to go longer than 2,000 yards pre-breakfast, I'm going to have to fuel because I was LOOPY at the end.

Wed: 31.54 mile bike at 15.1 mph avg pace. Doug suggested that I ride up to the bike store to pick up my race packet, so I rode a scenic tour of Roswell before going up to the Roswell Bikes. This was my longest bike ever. I did have a break while going into the bike store, but I didn't count that time. The backpack was not a problem and I didn't even remember it was there - that weightless, even with a thing of wipes in it. I forgot my gel, so I bought a fresh one while I was at the store and refilled my water. : ) Note to all, they have repaved in Waverly Hall and thus the road markings are erased - I got lost, so I saw many cul-de-sacs in there.

Thurs: 4.14 miles in the hood at 9.12 pace. Same run as on Monday, just reversed. Not exciting but I got some miles done.

Fri and Sat: Taper or lazy, you tell me.

Totals: 1,900 yards swimming, 31.54 miles biking, 18.39 miles running. Not as far as I'd planned for the week, but not so bad either. Next week I'll get to 20 miles running. Cross your fingers.

Merchandising

Here are Annika and cousin Sarah Anne at the soccer pictures last weekend. Dagny and Sarah Anne really were smiling - I just didn't catch it.

Below are photos of the girls playing in the super-cool playground at the Baytowne Wharf section of the Sandestin resort in Florida. This playground rocks so we go to theBaytowne Wharf for dinner every time we go to the beach. There is a video too, but I can't get my computer to read it.

The merchandising is that Annika has just started to notice characters on various items at the store and tell us that she wants them. Sargento has "Shrek" string cheese, for example. I don't mind buying the stuff that I would ordinarily buy if it has a character on it (so long as there is no premium for the character) but I think some stuff is garbage. Dora cereal, for example, is a star that looks suspiciously similar to King Vitamin cereal. It's not horrible cereal, but wow - way to capitalize on Dora. Thank goodness these fall into the "vacation cereal" realm and therefore I don't have the buy them. And, the commercials! Annika wants to buy cereal straws so that she can "sip and then crunch." And just now, she told me that there is a Blues Clues movie about Little Red Riding Hood. It's "exclusively at Target." "You have to get it now." Scary.

In other news, I've learned to change a tire on my bike. As those who are close to me know, I am the master of changing car tires (stupid low-profile tires made sure of that!), but had never done a bike tire. Then, on Monday, I got to learn how instead of doing my fun bike ride. I tried to watch the video on the BT board, but it wouldn't download, so I found this guy on You Tube. He's the vulcan bike wizard. Very cool. After I exploded the first tire (scaring the crap out of the painters next door) and made the "I have a stupid tire question" call to the bike store, I put foot powder on the tube and that helped a lot. Now my tire won't have athlete's foot either.

Conditioning

Yesterday was Annika's first soccer game. She took a SportsTyke class a few years back in which they learned different sports skills (including soccer) and has been to one actual soccer practice, but this was her first concrete playing experience.


She was awesome. She chased the ball all OVER the place and even got to kick it several times. Whew! She was whipped. The league plays four 15-minute quarters and by halftime, Annika was tired. We will have to work on building her endurance so that she can do a warm-up and game without falling out. On some of the internet places I frequent, there have been threads by other parents about how ridiculous it is to have gatorade and snack for a game that lasts only an hour. Um, I think that might be wrong. If Annika is as tired and hot every game, I'll be glad to bring her snacks and beverages. But yes - we will start some easy conditioning today. Maybe one lap around the yard or up the neighbors' street, but only if she feels like it. She's very excited about the idea, though, so that is a good sign.


The best part, though, is that Annika didn't cry during the game AT ALL. This is huge.



For me:


Sun: 3.45 mile run at 8:44 pace. I had 30 mins before Doug left for golf so I ran for 30 mins. It was so easy that I forgot to turn my i-pod on until almost home.


Mon: 200 yard aborted swim. Too much wind = too much current for me.


Tues: 8.47 mile run at 10:30 pace. Listened to my Audible book and forgot about pace. Pace schmace.


Wed: rest day after the long run


Thurs: 4.01 miles at 8:12 pace. Was trying to go faster on this run to get into a tempo run groove.


Fri: 1,400 yard swim in the cold cold water. 200 W/U, 2 x 500, 200 C/D. Not my best swim but not bad either.

Sat: 23.68 mile bike at 15.4 pace. Top speed was over 37 mph as I zipped down Magnolia Street to turn right onto North Coleman. I would have been even faster there, but I accidentally hit a bump and caught air and then a car honked at me so I had to turn quickly into the new subdivision to calm down before continuing. I saw the bump before I hit it, so was able to get out of the tuck and take the shock with my legs, but it was shocking - and really fun at the same time.

Totals: 1,600 yards swimming, 23.68 miles biking, 15.93 miles running. Not bad for a vacation week except I thought that the running total would have been higher. This week, I'll be casting about for a new swim solution and investigating seniors swim clubs for my Grammy who moves in with my parents in two weeks.

Do It Myself

Here are some photos from our trip - Doug's dueling computer and of the beach. Why, you say, are they no pictures of the lovely children? Because we are idiots and kept forgetting our camera. I have some from the phone, but they take 3-4 days to migrate from there to my email where I can upload into the computer. Technology is still beating me.

Dagny learned to "swim" with numerous floatation devices this week. She now loves the floating suit and the arm floats and won't let us help her swim anymore. She says "do it mySELF" and wriggles from our grasp. Annika is a full-fledged swimmer now and refuses to consider any floatation devices. Even in the ocean. Pshew - that can be scary!

Last week's training, as it may be:

Sun: 15.54 mile bike at 15.3 mph, 3.13 mile run in my neighborhood at 8:57 pace.

Mon: 28-ish mike bike with Nat wherein I was almost run over by that Cadillac man. Jerk. Nat is still kicking my bottom.

Tues: nothing - overslept

Wed: 1400 yard swim in lightning fast time because I was late, again.

Thurs: nada - travel day

Fri: 4.9 miles at 8:19 min/mile pace. I meant to do only 4 miles but couldn't find the exit to the park and kept running until I found it.

Sat: 600 yard swim in the ocean as previously posted. Hard.

Totals: 2,000 yards swimming, 43.54 miles biking, 8.03 miles running. The schedule was off this week because of the travel and the moving of the long run to Sunday, which slipped to Monday because of golf and oversleeping again.

New Respect

Since I ran yesterday, I decided to swim today. More on my new tri-colored glasses later.

Today, however, I have new-found respect for Ironmen (male or female). Jason is the only real live Ironman I know, so he will have to bathe in the sparkly, shiny, glory alone. In case you missed my other post about it, here is the link to his race report again.

Anyway, I put Garmin in a baggie and wore it under my swim cap (pink, so Doug could see me from the porch) and sallied forth into the surf in my battered, semi-transparent workout suit. Counting the hat application and wade from the beach chair that held my stuff, I swam 0.6 miles in 20 minutes. In the pool, this would have taken me less than ten minutes at an easy pace - with plenty of energy to keep going.

I waded out from the beach and swam parallel to the surf in about 4-5 feet of water. I went three condos West and then back and two condos East (so I stayed in Doug's range of sight) before I had to quit because I was EXHAUSTED. The waves were not really a problem - so you bob up and down, big deal. The salt was also not an issue - it just tastes bad. It was actually really cool to see the crabs scuttling on the bottom and the silvery fish darting around. But breathing on the ocean side - was terrifying. The vastness of the water just looming out there, waiting to suck me out . . . whew. That part was scary. And the beach guy was not lying about the current. There is a yellow flag today even though the waves are dinky because of the current. On the way back from the journey east, I was taking 3-4 four strokes to go about a foot and my stroke had deteriorated to a flail. Then I saw a jellyfish and decided I was done.

So, it's no big deal to train for and go 2.4 miles in the pool. But in the ocean . . . whole different world. Another woman swam while we played in the water with the girls this morning and she kicked my ass. Go red cap woman. I'll try again after my long run tomorrow, maybe on Monday.

Addicted?

Yesterday we drove to the beach, in the car, for seven hours. Doug drove (bless him) and I read him the triathlon magazines, parts of the Wall Street Journal and sewed buttons onto clothes that have languished in my bag since the last long car trip. We discussed how much mobile WiFi could have added to the car trip.



There was no running, biking or swimming yesterday. And I felt it. Last night when the kids were chasing each other screaming around the condo, I felt it. When we went to the beach bar restaurant and ate delicious french fries in the rain for dinner, I felt it. This morning, when the thunder and lightning were rolling in over the ocean, I felt it. Doug checked the weather and we sat in the dark and watched the clouds; as soon as the thunder cleared, I left. Whew. So much relief I nearly cried.



Jen and Rob arrived last night and we've been to the beach twice already today and anyone with little kids knows that is no small feat. So now Doug and I are dueling laptops on the porch with wine while Dagny sleeps and Annika "rests." For dinner, we will walk to The Back Porch and some hush puppies and margaritas. Vacation is good. Luckily Doug and I both forgot that it is our anniversary today - 11 years. It's nice that we are still on the same page.



Photos whenever my phone feels like sending them along.



Oh, and Miss Christa called to say that Annie has tapeworms.

Hooray, Drivers!

Yesterday, I rode my bike on the Bike Roswell route that goes near our house. It was an afternoon ride and this route is pretty hilly, so I was the only biker that I saw. Regardless, except for some dicey moments on the road with the 40 mph speed limit, drivers were calm and courteous throughout my ride. The speedy problems were because folks didn't want to wait for me to motor up the hill (though I was sprinting) so they crossed the double-yellow and menaced oncoming traffic instead.

In contrast, the drivers during my run were horrible. I ran in my own neighborhood and got buzzed more than three times in 3 miles. So close that I had to jump up on the grass. Assholes.

This week:

Sun: 16.86 mile bike at 14.7 mph and 3.17 mile run at 8:41 pace. The bike included the giant hill on Eves Road and the endless uphill on Lake Charles, so I'm very pleased with this ride.

Mon: 4.11 mile run in the 'hood at 8:58 pace. I set no speed goal here, so this was a good run.

Tues: 1,600 yard swim. I was going to only do two 400 yd sets, but it wasn't light yet so I added another.

Wed: 23 mile bike at (Nat says) 17mph pace. The first 2/3 was uphill and the last 1/3 we sprinted to get back in time for Dagny's pickup. A lovely ride. Good thing Nat suggested stopping for gu. No more long bikes through snack-time without extra gu - I was tapped out. Even with my electrolyte drink.

Thurs: Had planned to do the brick workout with the North Atlanta Multisport Club, but they had a meeting and I missed their run so I had pizza and beer instead.

Fri: 1,450 yard swim in 40 minutes (including changing clothes and drying off). I swam a 200 yard warm-up, 1,000 yards straight (to see if I could do it) and a 250 cool down. The extra 50 was in case I miscounted somewhere. Except for the lightheadedness caused by low fuel (it was pre-breakfast), this was a great swim. I enjoyed the pace and just going and going and going. The shoulder is better. It still aches, but only when I'm on the computer too long.

Sat: 8.3 mile run at 9:27 pace. This was the long run I was supposed to have had last week. It was hot and I forgot my headphones, but I still had a lovely run. I ditched the shirt and ran in my jog-bra and NO CHAFING! Oddly, some women gave me dirty looks instead of saying "hi" when I met them on the trail. And, I LOVE the running skirt Doug gave me for my birthday. I plan my laundry so that it is clean for all long runs. : )

Totals: 3,050 yards swimming, 39.86 miles biking, 15.58 miles running. This was a good week for me. Doug ran the Peachtree City Triathlon and did awesome on his swim. He got another flat tire, though, and will be taking his bike for an inspection today - he changed his own tire the other two times, but the valve step keeps coming apart so we think it might be a mechanical issue. My bike, as adjusted by Doug, is working much better. I've not dropped the chain since Saturday - WOOO!

Fashion Show

Or, why my husband is fabulous. The first three photos are Dagny and Annika trying on the boxful of clothes that Doug bought on e-bay last week. Annika has grown a mile this summer and none of her pants fit any more. So, rather than engage in expensive mall visits, Doug found some good "lots" on e-bay. A "lot" is basically a box full of stuff that you bid on like any other e-bay purchase. Some sellers give you tons of info, some not so much. Some lots are REALLY good (this one was really good) and some, not so much.

Annika was thrilled with the box and tried on every item - it was hard to catch her because she was so fast. She has begun preschool at the new school in the highest style. Dagny could not be left out of the action, so you can see her modeling the dog shirt.

The third photo is Annika and cousin Sarah Anne at the pool on Monday. Sarah Anne won the giant magic wand in the hula hoop contest. Doug was the top male in the limbo contest, I might add.

Can anyone guess what kind of flower is shown in the last photo? Doug planted this in our garden (with the tomatoes) JUST FOR ME. OK, just for me and my Dad. I told you he was awesome.

And, last but not least - when I told him about the speeding ticket that I got today, he wasn't mad. I deserved the ticket, but man I wish the cops would watch for speeders on Wileo Road or Riverside Road where we like to ride bikes instead of near my house.

Yeah, and, Natalie rode bikes with me today on her "off day." She totally kicked my ass and then saved my ass by holding my bike/shoes/car keys/etc. while I ran into the preschool to pick Dagny up from her first day of school.

Good Looking Folks

So, here are some photos that Doug's Dad took of us at the GA Veterans Triathlon in Cordele. The first two are Doug going out on the run and coming up the hill from the swim. I think he's the one who has already removed his cap. Then, there are our girls with Grammy, who is a champ for bringing them to the race - please note Annika's tutu-riffic race attire. The last one is me running up the hill from the swim. Here is where you can view the "official" photos - Doug is bib #12 and I am #163. I couldn't link to the separate searches. Aren't we beautiful? HA!

In better news, Doug found this cool site that lists the results from a million races. It revealed that I was first of ALL WOMEN in the run. : ) The link is for our race results, but the site is called "Athlinks."

I've finally gotten my Garmin software and our accounting stuff to the new computer, so that leaves only the photos to move over. Maybe next week . . .

Last week:

Sun: 11.89 mile ride at 13.9 mph in the giant thunderstorm. Yes, the same storm in which a high school student on his bike was struck by lightning and killed. Next time I'll check the radar.

Mon: 4.33 miles at the park at 8:40 pace. I got to go to the park and listen to the parade of horribles on the local news on the way home, see above.

Tues: Nanny's car broke and I overslept. No swim, no run, no bike.

Wed: 13.19 mile bike at 14.1 pace. This was my first ride with "clipless pedals" and I only fell once. Luckily, the guy in the car behind me did not run me over and was not laughing so I could hear him. The pace includes the fall, dropping my chain, and the big hill on Eves Rd.

Thurs and Fri: See Tuesday.

Sat: 6.24 mie run at 10.01 pace. This was to be a longer run, but I overslept AGAIN and had only this amount of time to complete my work. Which was fine, because my knees were sore. The pace includes a trip to the potty - didn't stop the clock because I had to know where I was on the ETA.

Totals: 0 swimming, 25.08 miles biking, 13.75 miles running.

The Good Mirror

Have you ever found a mirror that made you look really good? Almost like rose-colored glasses, but in mirror form? In the restroom at my office, there is such a mirror. In this mirror, I am tall (willowy, even) and never have a fat day. Sure, I still feel like I'm having fat days and can still look like an idiot with post-it notes stuck to my shirt or shoes that don't match, but I'm always buff in this mirror. I think that mirrors should be rated in this manner when you buy them. Wouldn't everyone be a lot happier with the skinny and buff mirror? Who wants to have a fat mirror or one with lights that shine on your blemishes?

In other news, I'm not going to do the race at Callaway Gardens. Not only is it the same day as the first Georgia game, it's really far away. And, I don't think I want to swim 1,000 yards in open water. Is that really lame?

Here is a summary of my recovery week this week:

Sun: rest - rode back from Cordele, washed dog and various other items in the yard

Mon: 1,600 yard swim, 800 yards in a row, which was not that hard except that my goggles fogged up. My shoulder issue appears to be not a swimming injury, but a computer issue. I lean into my left shoulder when I'm on the computer and it gets sore. How silly is that?

Tues: 3.13 mile run at 9:40 avg pace. This was to be a 5 miler, but my tummy revolted and I had to go home.

Wed: 6.28 mile run at 9:43 avg pace. I ran at 3pm and it was hot. I'm pleased with the pace, though, during the running portions of my workout (I stopped the clock for drinking and potty).

Thurs: 20 mile bike with the North Atlanta Multisport group at unknown speed, 1.5 mile run at conversational pace. I was going to do a 5K run, but the tummy acted up again.

Fri: Rest. I was up until 12am on Thursday paying the bills so getting up early to swim before work was a no go.

Sat: 7.4 mile run at 10:35 avg pace. This was the first run of my winter half-marathon training. I had planned to do an easy 7-8 miles (whichever) while listening to the end of my murder mystery. My legs/knees were stiff in the beginning but started to feel better after about mile 3. When I turned around at mile 3.5, though, my tummy revolted again and I did the old walk/run to the Starbucks and waited for it to open so that I could use their facilities and buy some water. Boy, did the scones look good! More run/walk on the way home so the combined 10:35 pace is not so bad considering all of the walking. It's weird that in distance training my limiting factor is not overall fitness but always something else (knees, back, tummy) Or maybe that's just a component of the overall, I dunno.

Totals: 1,600 yards of swimming, 20 miles of biking, 18.31 miles running. Not too bad. I hope to be able to add one more bike into the weekly mix during the winter, but we will have to see.

Dagny and the bike

Here is a photo of Dagny from our playground visit on Monday. For some reason, it only migrated from my phone through my email today, even though I sent it only seconds after taking the photo. You can see the shiner she got from running into the table in Grammie/Grampa's RV.

Dagny starts preschool next month. Because her birthday is in October, she is in the 18 month class instead of the 2 year old class - even though she will turn two right after school starts. So, I've been worrying that she will kick the asses of the other students. Have you met Dagny? She is delightful but very demanding and you won't ever take advantage of her. This is good but I've been very concerned about her running roughshod over a bunch of younger children who aren't the "second child." Dagny's teacher called last week and I told her my concerns. No worries, she said - all but two kids in the class will be two before the end of October. And, her daughter was similar in temperament at home but was an angel at school. I like this woman already.

Doug kept this girls this evening so I could go on the NAMS group ride. We rode 20 hilly miles after the rain (!) and then some of us ran a bit. I ran with one of the other women, but had to cut my run short because I had to go potty. Stupid GI tract. On the bike, I have no idea how fast we went, because I forgot my Garmin but I only dropped my chain once so it was a good ride. My front deraileur is still messed up (though it worked perfectly when Doug and I were testing it yesterday) so I stayed mainly in the small ring because it wouldn't jump up. Then, when I tried to wrench it up there, it fell right on over the edge - DOH! I learned that it sucks to be the slow one because while everyone waits for you at the turns (it's a no-drop ride), you don't get a chance to rest there. I don't rest on my solo rides, anyway so I don't know why I thought I would get to here.

Good news, I found the missing pad from my bike helmet! It was attached to one of my gloves - no more abraded forehead or kleenex in my hat. Whooo!

We're Trashy

This is the scene from our driveway on Sunday. Annika is dancing on the pack-n-play mattress to get the water out because I had to scrub and disinfect it. Then, we left it outside for many hours to dry in the heat. Dagny removed her diaper sometime during her nap on Saturday afternoon and smeared feces and urine all over herself and Grammie's pack-n-play, which necessitated the giant clean-up. We also washed Grammie's booster chair and our dog since we were out there. Annika also wanted her picture taken - so that is the next photo. The camera phone seems to take decent pictures, but the color is questionable.

The other two photos are of Dagny and Annika at the park on Monday. In the first, they are wearing the sunglasses they insisted on bringing with them. The same ones that spent the remainder of the park visit in my pocket. Dagny pronounces glasses "yakkies." In the second photo, Dagny put her glasses on her head like mine (Annika's were already in my pocket) and they both smiled - at the SAME TIME!

On Saturday, Doug and I raced in the Georgia Veteran's Triathlon in Cordele, Georgia. Doug's folks had taken their RV down to the park earlier in the week and the girls spent the nights with them while Doug and I stayed in the "villa" at the state park. It was really just a hotel room, but it had a coffee maker and a small fridge so we were thrilled.

I finished in 1 hour, 18 minutes, 13 seconds for 4th place in my age group (out of 17). I was 2nd out of the water in the swim, mid-pack in the bike and 1st in the run (!!) so it was a really good race for me. I missed beating my 5K personal record by only 6 seconds. We will do this race again, because it was very fun and the park was great for the kids.


Here is how my recovery/taper week stacked up:

Sun: Hansgrohe Acworth Race, 400 yard swim, 13 mile bike, 5K run in 1 hr 15 minutes. Great race, I had a blast.

Mon: 3.16 miles at 10:22 pace. Easy.

Tues: off

Wed: 12.18 mile bike at 13.7 mph. Hot, damn hot!

Thurs: 3.04 miles at 10:33 pace. Easy run - was starting to go faster after mile 1, but my tummy disagreed.

Fri: off

Sat: Georgia Veteran's Race, 400 yard swim, 13.6 mile bike, 5K run in 1 hr 18 minutes.

Totals: 800 yards swimming, 38.78 miles biking, 12.4 miles running. I actually probably swam an even 1,000 yards, if you count the warm-ups so I wasn't as big a lazy behind as I thought this week (I forgot that the racing counts in the mileage totals). Doug is trying to convince me to try the Olympic distance race at Callaway Gardens in September. I won't be at all competitive and the swim will be HARD, but I'm considering it. Nat, Jason, Wes - what about you?

More Race Photos

Here are the official race photos. You can search by bib number in the little box on the left. This link is for the search on my photos, but Natalie is 288, Dee Dee is 200 and I'm 257. I like the photo of us all on the bike - boy do we look professional, but my favorite is Dee Dee on the run.

Photos and Ironman

Here are photos that Ryan took from our race on Sunday. The first one is the part where we came up the last hill to where Doug and Ryan and the kids were standing before the sprint to the finish line. The second one shows my team Bachman shirt on the sprint.

In lieu of the photo of our race from my camera, which I'm having a hard time getting to my computer, please also enjoy the ones that Wes took here and here. You can see from the first link which clothes to look for in the second one. Nat is pink, Dee Dee is red and I'm blue.

Also, some of you might not know that my friend Jason did an Ironman some time back. I just got around to reading his race report here, and let me just say that Jason is a badassMF. Seriously.

I did it!

I'll edit to add the photos later, but here are the results from Sunday's efforts.

Swim 400 meters: 00:06:54, 17th in age group
T1: 2 mins, 30 secs
Bike 13 miles: 00:41:55, 16th in age group, 18.6 avg mph
T2: 47 secs
Run: 00:23:49, 6th in age group, 7:41 min per mile pace
Total: 1 hr, 15 mins, 53 secs, 9th out of 108 in 35-39 age group, 40/260 overall

I woke up at 4:10am, which was early because I set my phone alarm and forgot the "remind me before the meeting" function starts alerting before the appointed meeting time. Oops. So, that was about 5 hours of sleep because I stayed up until nearly 11 trying to make the Yankz work with my shoes (DOH!) and Dagny woke with a bad dream at 12:41 so I got up and set my alarm at that point. I showered, dressed, ate breakfast (1/2 bowl of cereal with soy milk), had coffee, finished packing, and made water, milk and cheerios packages for the girls. Nat and I were late leaving at 5:30-ish (aren't I always late?) but still made it to the race site in plenty of time. Ryan had loaded our bikes for us so we were golden. We found a place to park and walked our bikes in the dark to the race area.

We got marked, used the potties, obtained our timing chips and went to the transition area. Thank goodness Nat had a flashlight in her car because it was dark. Add that to your gear lists now, because just imagine trying to use a porto-pottie in the dark! I had eaten my 1/2 immodium and drank water in the car so I was feeling fine. I asked some officials about where we would be going in and out of transition and after setting up my area, I practiced where we would come in, what I would do and where I would go in each phase of the race. A bike guy came around and pumped up our tires. He told us "in a sprint, if you are not hurting, you aren't going fast enough" so I used that as my mantra throughout the race. Nat and I got primo rack locations right by the entrance from the swim. We applied caps and goggles and walked down to the beach to warm up in the water. This was my first open water swim ever. The water was warm and the color of milky tea. No visibility at all. I swam about a hundred yards and decided I was done. Nat swam to the first buoy and back. I ate three Shot Bloks and drank some water. We met Wes and his wife, Dee Dee and some of their friends. Wes is even more buff in person, folks. We found some of the bike ride folks from our ride on Thursday and my friend Laurie from college/law school. It really helped me to see all of these people. I kept searching for them in the crowd to help me feel less nervous.

Swim

The first two waves of women started in the water and seemed to run a long way. Well, that is because the water was knee-deep until the first buoy. There was no way to swim so we ran. I seeded myself in the middle of the wave because this was my first tri and I was worried about getting in the way. Given my swim time, this was probably a mistake. Next time, I'll get towards the front (behind the real speedies) and near the outside. I never found a swim rhythm at all. I'm an easy swimmer but the triathlon swim was really a free-for-all. Because of the visibility of the water, I just tried not to hurt anyone and to swim as many strokes as possible before hitting anyone, stopping or breaststroking to determine my location. The buoys were huge and orange so they were easy to spot, but I got disoriented very quickly with my head down. I think I may try to mimic Dee Dee's stoke next time because she looked very comfy in the warm-up. My googles started to leak on the left side as I rounded the last buoy so rather than try to fix them, I just closed my left eye and tried to finish as quickly as possible so that my contact wouldn't float away. Wes was taking photos of the swim finish, so if there of one where my eye is closed, that is why.

T1
There was a baby pool full of water on the way into transition so that we could wade through to rinse our feet. Genius! I dropped my cap and goggles on my towel in transition, put on my shirt, put the gu flask and phone in my pockets, got my hat and sunglasses, ran around to the other side of my bike, dried my feet, applied shoes and socks, applied hat, sunglasses and garmin. Set garmin for bike and left. WHOO! It felt like I did this really fast, but actually no.

Bike
We passed the mount line and were off. There were lots of speed bumps on the way out of the park but I managed not to crash on them. I suck on the bike so my goal was to hammer it as hard as possible, maybe catch Nat and not crash. My gears got messed-up on Thursday's ride so I couldn't shift to the big ring without being in the hardest of the rear gears. I was nervous about this and stayed in the big ring as much as possible to avoid getting stuck in the small ring for the duration. The new saddle was great and more slippery than the old one so I was able to adjust position with no problem. I had forgotten (both times!) to take my bodyglide into the porto-potty so I was lube-free in the bottom zone. This was bad, but I was able to tolerate it. Since I am new to biking, I was very worried about the drafting rules. I tried to stay away from all other bikers and pass speedily. There were only 2-3 big hills where I had to get out of the seat to climb and the rest were rollers. I felt like I was flying, way faster than I've ever ridden before. I saw my shadow as I sped down Hwy 41 and I looked like a real biker in my aerobars! My top speed was 33.5 and I ate Hammer gel at miles 3 and 10 and alternated between my water and Cliff electrolyte drink bottles at regular intervals. Doug and I had discussed the nutrition plan prior to the race and though I thought that I could do the race without anything (or maybe 1 gel and some water), he thought I would do better if I fueled more and had some electrolyte drink. In retrospect, I think Doug was right on. He got the "Doug was right" dance for that! At about mile 4, I saw Doug and the girls. That made me cry. It was so great to see them. The bike was really, really fun. I passed a bajillion people and most of the women who passed me without getting passed back were the ones who were wearing only bathing suits (the real pros) so I felt awesome about the bike.

T2
I had some moments of indecision about whether or not to bring my phone so I could have been faster here. I don't know why I even considered it; it seems dumb now. The race number belt worked great and I applied it and my visor as I ran out of the gate for the run.

Run
We started out over some speed bumps and at some point I saw Dee Dee again. Cheered for her and soldiered on. This run was HARD. Because the lake is a low point (obviously), and our finish was in downtown Acworth, it was basically an uphill race though the course was rolling. Usually the run starts and ends in the transition area so it is a wash, so this was odd. For the first little while, I fiddled with my phone trying to get it affixed to my body, which was dumb. My calves hurt for the first half mile, which has not happened to me before. I think it was the hammering on the bike because I've never ridden that fast before either. After what felt like an eternity, I began to think that they had forgotten to put mile markers on the run, I sneaked a peek at Garmin (who was still in bike mode, because I decided in transition that it would take to long to change the setting for run) and I was at 13.85 miles (13 for the bike plus 0.85). Only 0.85! Ugh! I had seen Nat in transition when she had to run back to return her helmet, so I made it my goal to keep her in sight. Catching up was out of the question. She was 300-400 yards ahead of me, pink skirt swishing, and I checked every few minutes to see if I could still see her (sometimes yes, sometimes no). This run hurt. At the first aid station (maybe the second, I don't remember), I tried to get water but got gatorade. Very unpleasant - I was redlining the heartrate so gatorade was not tolerable. I didn't wear the heartrate monitor because it would have taken too long to put on, but that is my perceived exertion. At the second aid station, I got water and drank a few sips and poured the rest on my head - ahhh, delightful! I kept repeating the mantra "if it doesn't hurt, too slow," and it was working, I hurt! I kept thinking maybe I could speed up in mile three because that is what Doug does. Nope. People started walking in the last mile. I slapped hands with one lady who was doing what appeared to be Tai Chi with her arms as she walked. She looked like she could have used a high five so I gave her one. At times, I ran with my eyes closed - just tried to keep moving as fast as I could go. I didn't bother to look at Garmin again after that first time so I had no idea what the pace was. As we rounded a corner into downtown, the volunteers yelled "only 400 yards." "Liars," I thought, and looked hopefully for the finish line. No finish line, but Doug, Annika and Dagny were at the top of the hill with Ryan, Beau, Carmella and Lola yelling for us. "Only 100 yards," they yelled. So I tried to sprint it out as best I could and finished as the clock said 1 hr, 26 mins. There were showers under a gate at the finish so you could go under the spray. Ahh, wonderful.

Wow, I had such a good time. I'm getting all vaklempt even thinking about it. I'm really looking forward to the race on Saturday. Today, however, I'm resting, because my knee and shoulder hurt. It's clear, though, that I'm not even close to fit enough to do an Olympic distance race (1.5 K swim, 40K bike, 10K run) so I have work to do this winter. : )

Dammit

This is the last photo of Dagny with her intact front tooth. She and Annika were playing this afternoon and suddenly there was crying and the tooth was broken again. Dammit.

I said bad words really loud and I'll be calling the dentist on Monday to see if he thinks we should bother re-fixing it or not.

In other news, while walking Annika into church last week, she asked "Mom, what's a tomboy?" Hm. That is a hard question.

"Well," I stalled while I thought about it, "it's kind of an outdated saying from when girls didn't get to do so much fun stuff as boys." "Yeah, but what is a tomboy?" she asked. So, I expounded at length (just like my Dad would have done) about how a long time ago girls didn't like to play sports or run around outside or yell or wear pants and how people called girls who did that "tomboys." And how now, girls and boys both like to do all of that stuff so it doesn't really mean anything. Annika listened politely while holding my hand and walking as fast as she could (we were late, again).

"Yeah, but what's a TOMBOWYEE?" she said when I was done.

"I just explained."

"No, a TOMMBOWEE."

"A what?"

"TOMBO WEE!! (thinking - Geez mom, you are so stupid)"

Tumbleweed. She was saying tumbleweed.

She didn't want social commentary, she wanted to talk about rolling across the prairie. So we talked about that and why they roll (roundness) and that was the end of that.

But I never really realized that the word tomboy was antiquated until I tried to explain it. How cool is that?

Predictions and a Group Ride

I've been messing around with the triathlon race calculator this morning and I can safely say that there is no way I will do my race in 1 hour and 15 minutes. That was my super secret goal. I thought I was the only person that had the super secret goal, but after reading race reports on the cool running and beginner triathlete boards, I know that everyone does this. So, anyway, given my suckiness on the bike, I've revised my goal to 1 hour 30 minutes. I think this is completely do-able so long as I don't have any equipment or potty problems. My bike is shifting badly (doesn't want to go into the big ring unless on the highest of the back gears) so cross your fingers for that. I'm hoping Doug and I can adjust it this afternoon. If not, I'll limp it through the race and already have an appointment with my REI friends on Thursday.

So, Nat and I will be getting up good and early tomorrow for the trek to Acworth to hang with about 500 other women racers. We are already nervous and have conferred more than 3 times about the plans. I'm packing my gear now and have already put my race number on the cool belt. I have tested and washed my outfit (this top, but with the Rapida low-rise shorts). Low-rise shorts are the bomb and feel much better on my tummy because they aren't actually touching my tummy. Look for me in my Team Bachman bike shirt.

Nat, Doug and I rode in a group ride with the North Atlanta Multisports group on Thursday. It was my first "official" ride and though I struggled through parts of it, I did OK. I didn't crash or cause anyone else to crash so I think it was a win. The group was very nice and welcoming and didn't act like I was big idiot, which was awfully generous of them.

This week:

Sunday: 15.6 mile ride on part of the Mayor's Route at 14.6 mph. It was lovely this morning and I had a great time. Doug and Annika got me Krispy Kreme donuts for a special birthday surprise breakfast. : )

Monday: 1,200 yard swim before work.

Tuesday: 12.09 mile bike at 14.1 mph. I went in the afternoon and it was really freaking hot. My planned 20 mile ride turned into a 12 mile ride (I thought I'd just run a little after) and then the run dropped off because I was toast.

Wednesday: 4.13 mile run with audio book at 9:38 min/mile pace. Easy peasy.

Thursday: 20 mile group ride turned into about 14 miles because of the heat. I forgot to turn on my Garmin so I only got part of the ride. The 9.14 miles I captured were at a 9.1 pace but we stopped a lot to regroup and drink water. I got up to about 21 mph down by the river because I was drafting. Drafting is fun! Then, 3.04 mile run at 9:25 min/mile. Conversational pace, no pushing. Beer/wing repeats at Taco Mac after. Thanks to my folks for having our little friends for dinner and playtime while Doug and I rode.

Friday: I had to get up early to pay bills and missed my swim. De facto rest day.

Saturday: 900 yard easy swim. Was going to do the usual 1,200 yard swim but (1) I'm supposed to be resting today, and (2) my shoulder hurt. The shoulder is not injured, so I must have just slept on it funny but I thought it would be dumb to push through it the day before my race.

Totals: 2,100 yards swimming, 41.69 miles biking and 7.17 miles running. Tapering looks a lot like laziness to me. Anyway, after next week's race in Cordele, I'll start training for the half marathons this winter so look for more running. Good thing Doug has a million books on his Audible account. I have a super secret goal for the running too, but I'm keeping it secret for now.

Technology v. Steph, Part 2

So, when the lightning hit our house a few months back, our computer was compromised (among assorted other things). The internet card stopped working. This computer was ancient so we thought it might be good to just get a new one since the memory was too full to do anything with it. This week was the back-to-school tax free holiday and computer sale at Sam's Club, so we bought a new computer for CHEEEAP that is way better than the old one. I spent all day yesterday putting it together, registering and hooking it up. I thought it would be a good exercise to keep me technology-savvy. Yeah, not so much fun, though.

After the whole day of computer activity, I've managed to back-up our bookkeeping files, install a printer driver and setup our email. I worked hard to install the bookkeeping programs onto new computer, but no. Windows Vista doesn't have a "run" button like XP so you have to take the CD out and reinsert it for each installation try. And, if you don't have a CD, you are screwed. And, some programs are not compatible with Vista. I'll have to confer with the software vendor to see what the fix for that is! I also failed to backup our old computer files to a CD because there is not enough RAM on the old machine to write them to the CD. It keeps telling me to delete stuff and try again. Whoo hoo. Just wait, though, I'll be a computer whiz before this is over.

Sorry

I apologize to any family exercisers that I offended this morning when I yelled at the guy in the mini-SUV to kiss my butt and called him an asshole after he beeped at me during my bike ride. I should not have said those things out loud. It was rude. I'm going to have to look it up to be certain, but I think that I was legally in the right. I did ride in the middle of (and block) his lane for about 300 yds, but it was my lane too and I couldn't be on the right for him to pass because I was about to turn left and I couldn't be on the centerline because of the oncoming cars that kept veering over the line to pass bikers on their side of the road. Asshole.

I have much to post about from this ride but it will have to wait until I have some free time. Instead, here are photos of my bike (the kick-ass new one that Doug bought me last month) and Doug's bike (that he bought online and put together himself) and my sweet girls enjoying the spinning chair in our office. Guess which bike is Doug's.

This week:

Sunday: 8 mile bike to and from the park with Doug and the girls. Doug pulled the trailer so I can't say that I did much work. And, (1) I couldn't catch Doug getting up the hill out of the neighborhood, and (2) he PASSED ME when we were on the flatter part of the ride. Wow, it's clear what I'll be working on all winter.

Monday: 1200 yd swim - 200 w/up; 2 x 400; 200 c/d

Tuesday: Tri-ed it out for the first time in the afternoon heat. 1 mile bike to pool; transition; 400 yard swim; transition; 11.8 mile bike at 14.4 mph (including dropping backpack back at our house); transition; 3.12 mile run in the flats at 8:59 min/mile. I got many weird looks at the pool and some honking during the ride. It was hot and I felt like ass but I finished in about an hour and a half/hour and 40 mins, whipped.

Wednesday: 1200 yd swim same as Monday - I lacked motivation and imagination this week. I did switch-up the drills for each 100 of the 400s to help me count the laps but I still think I did 50 extra.

Thursday: 4.01 mile run at 9:46 pace around the hood. Started slow and would have sped up, but my tummy seriously disagreed.

Friday: 1400 yd swim. Same as Monday but with 500 yard tests to see if I could do it - no problem.

Saturday: 9.86 mile bike at 15.7 mph; 3.17 mile run at 8:01 min/mile. Nana and Papa had the kids overnight so I took my hung-over self to the river for an easy brick today. It was awesome and I felt great but didn't push hard. Thanks to Doug's advice about the immodium and my Dad's advice about how much to take, no potty stops. : ) Nat, I discovered that the bike path in Martin's Landing keeps going around until it comes back out on Riverside Road. The bike lane ends but the road keeps going. That makes a good loop with some killer hills that will mostly eliminate having to re-cross Riverside or brave the guardrail on Wileo to get enough miles.

Total: 3,800 yards swimming, 23.46 miles biking and 10.3 miles running. I felt horrible all week with the neverending head cold and the tummy bug but finally broke through on Saturday. It felt like I was working hard, but my totals don't agree. Oh well - let the laziness, oops, I mean the TAPER, begin!

That's The Way

We were the ones with the screaming child at the pool last night. Dagny got tired from all of the filling and dumping of watering cans and the one jump off of the diving board and lost her marbles. She screamed bloody murder as I carried her across the deck to our table, dried and disrobed her until we got to the car. It's interesting how quickly her mood can go from mellow to disaster.

Annika, on the other hand, jumped off of the diving board over and over with no apparent ill effects. Even with the adjusted (some floating pads removed) swim vest, she doesn't ever want to leave.

In other news, I did a nutrition/clothing/transition test of the triathlon distance yesterday (thank you, Doug). I know, I know, it's a short enough race that I ought not need any nutrition but we've been thinking that a couple of Gus or Hammer Gels never hurt anyone and might help avoid energy burnout at the end. All went well despite some odd looks from the other folks at our pool. I'll post about it over the weekend. I may not be speedy but I can finish.