Try-athlete librarian

Overheard

2011-03-17T10:18:00.000-07:00

"The only place you'll ever see one boss wearing a hat and a fake beard and the other boss doing the hokey pokey is the library."

Shocking the patrons

2011-02-23T13:51:00.001-08:00

It's always fun to see the odd looks you get when you tell a patron that you're having a really good day. I've been getting a lot of double takes today

Sucess!!

2011-02-04T17:59:00.000-08:00

As of late I've been missing my job in North Orange County. The people here are great, but I didn't have the same feeling of changing people's lives as I did there. Today helped to change that.
An amazing volunteer of mine, Steve Iman, hosts a job search seminar at my library. We've done four of them so far, and the last one had really good attendance. One of the seekers had gotten really down. He was on his last legs financially and was literally looking at being homeless if he didn't find something soon. It was heartbreaking to see this vibrant man brought so low. Well, today he came into the library and told me that he'd gotten two job offers! One was full time with benefits. Woo hoo!! What was the most touching was that he raced to the library once he knew so that he could tell me first.

It was an amazing day after all.

amazing day

2010-09-01T14:21:00.001-07:00

Wow, Today has been amaaazing. We've gotten three compliments from patrons today (including.. gee, I love my local library. You guys go the extra mile.) and I haven't had any crabby people. The only reason I can think that my day has been so good is that I went for a swim this morning before work. I know what I'm doing from now on!! Might not make a real difference, but like a batter with lucky socks, I'm going to work this streak!

The Best day EVER!!

2010-07-31T10:17:00.001-07:00

Today is going to be an amazing day. Tonight Ben, Chris, and I are going out to a "casual elegant" place where we're going to watch one of my favorite comedians. That alone lets me know that the day will end well. What makes it better is the phrase I got to wake Ben up to.

"Honey! Man Job! Squirrel in the catbox!"

I woke up to the dogs trotting out of the room in as if on alert. Needless to say, I followed. When I got to the catbox/composter barricade, they were both going insane trying to get in. I cracked the door to see what was inside, and found.. you guest it... a very scared squirrel cornered in the cat box. Classic! (Especially the look on Ben's face as he tried to actually understand what I said)

The squirrel escaped before we could get a picture.

Great things heard in the library

2010-07-26T13:30:00.001-07:00

You have to love it when you hear, " OK.. no more quacking!"

Usain "Johnny" Bolt?

2010-07-17T09:19:00.001-07:00

So I was talking to my sweetie this morning about how after the walk I needed to do more triathalons. (BTW If you would like to donate, I'm still accepting!) I told him that all the walking was helping me strengthen my legs for the running and that the biking I do on cross training days would help the biking, but that I needed to swim more. His response? " I need to practice cheering you on! It's hard going from station to station! Especially when I had to follow Mr Rodosta! He's fast! It's like trying to keep up with Usain Bolt!" Alright Johnny!!

Barring people from my office

2010-05-27T11:19:00.001-07:00

I really wonder if there's a way to keep people out of my office. One staff member comes in whenever she works and kvetches. Today she came in five times to complain about five different things. (We shouldn't keep so many new books when they're past a certain date...we shouldn't recover rentals..why don't we have DN on the labels it made it easier to shelf read.) I forget the rest She doesn't like my answers. (Recover them this time, I'll look into before the next round, which is four months away/I've gotten to many complaints about the lack of quantitiy none about the age of books/HQ sets the label standards, if they don't want it, we don't get it.) I am SO tired of being nagged at everytime she's in!! The worst part is that my office doesn't have a door.

Interesting reference question of the day

2010-05-24T12:49:00.001-07:00

I had a very cranky lady call up and ask how much it cost to educate a student from K-12. It took me a while to figure it out because everyone has the cost per year but not the full cost. I finally gave her the following information:
Capistrano School District: $7,614/pupil/year
Orange County: $8,267/pupil/year
California: $8,736/pupil/year
US: $9,769/pupil/year

Wierd huh? The facts stated above are from the California Dept of Education website and the US Dept of Education website.

Feeling proud

2010-05-24T12:46:00.001-07:00

Just to toot my own horn for a sec, my boss just gave me an extra hour off award. Woo hoo!! Makes me feel wonderful! Sorry, back to my normal humble self now.

Ben's winning

2010-05-02T20:12:00.001-07:00

It's been almost a month since Ben last upgraded the security around the composter and litter box. I'm thrilled to say that my composter is churning along happily and hasn't been eaten.
Meggie the wonder stomache, however, did take a taste of Ben's wasabi. We came home tonight to find the bottle in the living room opened, but barely touched. When we looked at the dogs, we noticed that Meggie had tear streaks down her cheeks and very droopy ears. I guess we finally found something she won't eat!

Librarian rant

2010-04-25T11:00:00.001-07:00

Ok. So, I'm having a bit of an issue with something. I keep getting complaints about our new book section and how we should emulate a different branch. I ran the report, and it turns out that we have MORE new books than they do!! Ours are just mostly checked out. Grrr! It especially bugs me because I spend a lot of time reading reviews and choosing books that our patrons will like. I also try to make sure we have any and all best sellers. So, if you go into your library and aren't pleased with the selection, give the librarian a flippin break! She might be doing a great job and choosing just what the patrons want and you've just got bad timing.

A librarian moment: Flat Stanley

2010-04-14T14:38:00.001-07:00

How cute!! We just had a dad come in with his son to take a "Flat Stanley" picture! If you don't know what Flat Stanley is.. here's a link http://www.flatstanley.com/ One of the cool things about this one is that the Flat Stanley was over 3 feet tall and came from Wisconsin. Too Coo!

Too Cute!!

2010-04-14T07:23:00.001-07:00

First, the picture...If you look above Nanner's ear you'll see that she has a flower behind her ear. Too Cute!!!

So anyway, I think you've probably noticed that I haven't posted a lot about working out in quite a while. Basically, I haven't done much (other than an awesome bike ride on my speedy new bike.) I've been on a great diet that had pounds melting away for most of Jan. Unfortunately, I also had dizzy spells so I didn't feel comfortable working out. Feb and Mar were full of stress, moving, weddings, birthdays, anniversaries, and tons of junk food at work. To be blunt, I got lazy and ate a ton.

I have to face the weight loss doctor next Friday (the 23rd). I've only gained a couple of pounds since I last saw him, so I hope to lose the pounds before I have to face the music. It'll be OK if I'm stable, I'd hate to have gained. Too embarrassing.

So anyway, I re-started the couch to 5k program this morning. It went well. Nanner was ADORABLE! When we started running, she ran sideways looking at me, as if to say "Are we really going to run?!?!?" She then started to run backwards for a while. After the run, Nanner walked through a flowering bush and decorated herself with the purple flower above.

Ben vs Meggie - Meggie wins this round

2010-04-12T20:33:00.001-07:00

So, we finally left Meggie alone with the chained closet door and the pizza. When we came home, one of the doors looked slightly off track, but nothing major. The general thought was that we'd won that round.

That is, until I decided to check the piece of pizza on top of the composter. No pizza.

Apparently, Meggie was able to get her skinny little head in far enough through the door that she could grab the pizza.

Ben is currently installing a wooden bar held by brackets in front of the closet. You can see the bar in the bottom of the picture...

I'd love to see the look on the burglar's face when they break through the chains and bars to find the most protected thing in the house..... the cat box... oh and the composter.

Meggie vs. Ben

2010-04-08T09:41:00.001-07:00

So, the Meggie vs Ben saga continues.

A couple of weeks ago, Meggie ate my new composter. (Grrrr) The company was wonderful and send me a refurbished upgrade. (Woo hoo!) So, we're trying to make sure that the new place for the composter is Meggie proof. Our first try (twine and keeping the door from sliding with a piece of wood) was tested by a box of chicken strips. Meggie got them by pawing out the wood and breaking the twine.

Now we're trying a new method (chains on both sides) and baiting it with pizza. We'll see how this works. Ben is thinking of putting an iron rod in front of the closet to keep Meggie from pulling the door out. The cat box should keep her from pushing the door in.

Library behavior

2010-01-25T13:45:00.001-08:00

Ok. This isn't a triathlon post but it is a library etiquette one. If you are in the library, it is not considered kosher to lean over the desk, stroke the librarian's cheek, and tell her that she's cute. Just an FYI because apparently, not everyone knows this.

Great Expectations

2009-12-01T13:48:00.001-08:00

The past few days have been a true lesson in expectations.

1.) Realistic. - I don't know if I'll ever be able to swim after work. I tend to be exhausted and drained. This is especially true if I run in the morning. I think I might try to be more realistic in what I expect of myself.
2.) Exceeding - OMG! This morning's bike ride was great! (read insane) I'd emailed my tri club news group for other slow riders to ride with. I'd specified that I ride 11-14 mph. Well, I recieved a number of responses and went out today with a really nice woman. The only problem was that she rides at a 15-16 mph pace. OMG!!! I actually kept up with her until she started talking about how we needed to "push" ourselves. After a brief ( very very very) brief stint at 17 mph (YIKES!) I had to slow down. When I ended, I was so tired I barely made it up the stairs and I feel like I have crushed glass in my thigh muscles. But hey... I did it!!! Woo hooooo!

Tomorrow, run and no swim.

Biking

2009-11-29T11:33:00.001-08:00

Well, today proved that visualization works.

Last night, before I drifted off to sleep, I visualized me getting up energized, eating breakfast, going to the bike path and going for a ride. When my alarm went off, up I hopped. I ran straight to the kitchen and made my breakfast. When I got to the bike path, I waited around for the two people who were going to meet me there. I got stood up. :-(

Of course, it was raining. I headed out at 9 am sharp (like I pictured me doing) and had a great ride. Of course, I got a little discouraged when I had to ride through a flooded part of the bike path, but aside from a wet rump, no harm was done. I rode (slowly) and finished 15 miles. Now I can sit around the house and do nothing and not feel guilty! :-)

Tomorrow, running and swimming. I should start visualizing them now....

Motivatio shmotivation

2009-11-28T12:57:00.001-08:00

Wow! I just realized that it's been almost a month since I posted. Dang! Training has been kinda crappy. (Almost non-existant.. two to three workouts a week) But I've been listening to a couple of podcasts that have helped re-motivate me. I've also learned that red wine (even formerly safe ones) can still give me migraines. Oh well. Beer and white wine from now on. :-) I've also learned that a glass of wine or a beer every so often isn't all that bad.
So, I won't drone on about the last couple of weeks of not training. I did do the "Real Beginner's Bike Ride" last Sunday. I'm actually pretty proud of that. It's just a workout, and I didn't do the whole thing, but I went, and when I had to turn around and head back three miles early, I didn't chastise myself for being slow and out of shape, I was happy that I realized I wasn't ready for it yet. So, I've put a call out to other slow bikers and am biking the shorter course again tomorrow. I had a number of people respond with interest for a slow biking (11-14 mph) bike ride. So, I'm going to set them up for us. If nothing else, I am more likely to go somewhere if I'm meeting someone.

So. My schedule for this week:
Sunday: Bike 12 mile on highway 56 bike path
Monday: Run - freeway to 8 k week one (I had been on week 3, but I need to restart)
Swim: JCC evening swim
Tuesday: Bike: Fiesta Island 3 laps
Wednesday: Run (week 1)
Swim: JCC evening swim
Thursday: Rest
Friday:Run (week 1)
Bike Sea World Bike Path
Saturday: Swim De Anza Cove
Run (trail)

I'm also adding a widget to my blog from the daily mile that will show what workouts I've done that day.

Back on the trail

2009-11-03T07:35:00.000-08:00

After the tri, I actually went back out on the road for a run the next day. Boy was I slow! I found out why a couple of days later when I ended up being sick. I rested for a few days, and then ran again, and apparently became sicker.

Well, that's pretty much over. Hopefully I won't get sick again any time soon. A faint hope, as I work in the public equivalent of a plague ward. I swear, there are so many people who have yet to master the art of covering their mouth as they spew out a nasty, croupy, mucous filled cough. Ewwww... purel is my new friend.

This morning's run was amazing!! I'm using a new podcast, Podrunner. I had to give up Ullrey, as I'm running longer than his podcasts. Podrunner is a house music interval mix. What makes it great is that I actually lost track of a couple of blocks while running this morning. I was cruising along, cursing the fact that I ran in the fog with glasses on, when all of the sudden I realized I was about three blocks further along that I thought. It was kind of creepy, but cool. I actaully ran the whole loop! At first I was totally impressed with myslef because I thought I was running 7 minute intervals (7 min run, 1 min walk), which would have put me at close to a 10 minute mile. I was less impressed when I saw that I was running 8 minute intervals. But it was still cool to run the whole loop. Whoo hoo!!!

Asphalt vs Cement...

Another thing that I noticed today is how much running on cement sucks... On my route, I try to run on the street because it's easier on the knees. I hadn't realized how much easier is it until today. My goodness! Running on cement made me feel awful. Asphalt = long, smooth, strides cement = short choppy strides and shin pain. Ick!! I just wish there was a nice dirt path near my house. I'm going to have to hunt one down for a couple days of the week.

One other cute thing that happens from running in the fog is that you get WET. Not only did my glasses become so wet that they dripped water onto my face, but at the end of the run when I looked at the dogs, Nanner looked like she'd just hopped out of the pool! Poor wet, cold puppy! Since Ben's gone this week, I worry about the girls getting too bored. Nanner has also started looking a little scrawny from all the running. (Only one in the family who seems to be losing any dang weight... maybe I should switch to kibble...) So, I've been feeding the girls a higher calorie kibble. I also have been putting the "good" kibble in a treat ball. Of course, Meggie seems to end up with both of the treat balls, so I might have to re-think it.

..and tri again....

2009-10-20T16:05:00.001-07:00

Once I got on my bike, things were great. I cruised along a little faster than my pace speed and thought I was doing pretty well. That is.......
I thought I was doing well until the ten year old on a pink bike with streamers flew past me. Nothing is as disheartening as eating the dust of a little kid who is just tooling along chatting to her 9 year old friend. (They had matching helmets too… ) So I come up to the bike dismount, stop my bike, and **flash!** Ben takes a picture of me in this inglorious position instead of a speedy action shot. Oh well. He cheers me on as I run my bike in, drop it off, and change my helmet for my running cap. (My tips sheet actually reminds you that you don’t need your helmet for the run!) On the run I start out doing pretty well, but at about half a mile in, my lungs remind me that I am soooo not in shape. My legs are cheering “Go! Go!” So most of my race involves wars between the two areas. I’ll feel like I’m dying so I slow to a walk, but within seconds my legs start slowly jogging again without asking by brain for permission.. Torture!

The best point in the run was when I saw the aid station. As I ran up and took a Gatorade, I told the guy “OOOh! Just what I need! An excuse to walk!!” Once I finished the drink, (it had to have been a serving size.. It was that tiny) I started my trudge again. Soon, I was coming up to the finish line and I heard someone behind me yelling.. "Come on!!! Pore it on baby!” So I did. I found a last little bit of reserve and sprinted to the end, giving high – 5s along the way. It’s only later that I realized it was two ladies finishing together behind me who were encouraging each other. Any way, I finished. The fam (excluding John who had to go prep a turkey) and I went out to breakfast, and I had a great hot chocolate and a big old fattening waffle. The rest of my day was full of sleeping and eating. MMM was it good.

Tri ..

2009-10-20T15:54:00.001-07:00

Wow! What a crazy, crazy day. I finished my first triathlon today, and it went pretty well. I did about how I thought I would. My bike was spot on, my swim was.. interesting… and my run was horrid.
There were 16 waves of women who were racing. The first one was the “elites.” There was an Olympic silver medalist in that one. The next was the “survivors,” which included women who had survived or were diagnosed with cancer; third came the family wave. There were a large number of women who were racing with their little girls. Other than that we were grouped by age. I was in the wave just preceding the “old broads,” wave number 15.
The day started at 4 am for me, after a night of rotten sleep. I just lay in bed all night visualizing how it would go and how I would handle the transitions. I got there at 5 and went straight to the transition area. Much to my surprised, it opened at 5:30. Apparently, the website said two different things. They opened up at 5:10, probably due to the growing number of grumpy, uncaffineated triathletes lining up. I went to my transition, chatted with people at my bike rack, and basically just stood around for quite a while. At about 7, I struggled into my wetsuit (thank goodness Ben wasn’t there with his camera for THAT bit of theatre). I then went to check out the swim course, which was smooth as glass. It was really beautiful. About then, I felt a tap on my shoulder and who should be there but John Rodosta!! He and Ben had just shown up and were really excited. John was sporting a snazzy fedora. A little while later Dad and Ginny showed up. We all sat around for a while watching the other waves go, when I heard “wave 15 to the staging area.”
I scampered over to the area and ended up chatting with a really nice lady. (She's the tiny one in front of me) Everyone there was amazingly friendly. It came up in conversation that mixed gender races weren’t nearly as chatty or polite. Hmm…. Anyway, I got ready to go and swam out to the orange buoy that marked the starting point. A few seconds later the air horn sounded and we were off. As I cruised along, I was suddenly pushed to the side! Yikes! The lady next to me was sitting the buoy and did a couple of breast stroke kicks right into my… chest. This was to occur a number of times on the swim. After I zig zaged my way through the buoys, over correcting often, I finally made it to the swim finish. Up I stood, and away I ran. In the gauntlet I saw the fam again.
Transition one went well. Or at least as well as pulling a sticky wetsuit off and putting socks, pants, and shoes on a wet, pudgy body can go. Three and a half minutes later, and I was jogging my bike to the bike start. It must of looked pretty funny as I got dressed. The first thing I did was put my helmet on. So I was standing there, struggling to get dressed with a big old bike helmet perched atop my head like a mushroom cap. (more in part two..)

Race Results are in!!

2009-10-19T12:32:00.000-07:00

I'm working on the narrative about how yesterday went and will get it up as soon as I get the pictures off of Ben's camera. Until then.. the results!

My division (age group of 30-39 year olds) was 87 people. I came in 56th.
Over all 356 women did the super sprint, I came in 201st over all.
The average time for the course was 1:04:54. I was a little slower than average at 1:05:43.

Splits:
Swim 11:39
Transition 1 3:34 (takes a while to peel off that wetsuit)
Bike 30:35 (Right on schedule)
Transition 2 1:35
Run 18:22

My view is that I didn't do all that badly! Go me! More to come later!

Tomorrow looms....

2009-10-17T18:03:00.000-07:00

Well, 11 hours and counting until I'm setting up on site for my first tri. Yikes!! This week has been full of excitement.

The first thrill of the week was battling the wetsuit monster. So, back in July, I got a really good deal on a wetsuit. Unfortunately, I underestimated my appetite, and got one that I could "shrink" into. Needless to say, between the stress eating and the exercised induced munchies, I've only lost 5 pounds, not the 20 I had planned. Oops! I was looking at having to swim without a wetsuit tomorrow. At first I hadn't thought it would be that big of a deal, but ocean swimming looks a lot warmer in July than in October. As the Tri club practices changed from "no wetsuit" to "wetsuit optional" and now to "wetsuit recommended," I realized that if I wanted to have any fun (not induced by hypothermia) I'd better find me a wetsuit that fit, fast. I googled "wetsuit rental San Diego" and found a great site that was founded by a former triclub president. I ordered my suit and waited anxiously for it to arrive. When I tried it on Wed. night, horror ensued. I forgot to have a nice cool drink with me and the fan on. I'd barely gotten it past my knees when I had a MAJOR hot flash. Plus, do you have any idea how hard it is to get one of these dang things on?? It was like putting on the pantyhose from h**l. I ended up freaking out, taking off the suit and needing a medicinal beer.

Thursday I tried again, this time having the medicinal beer before I tried to put it on. I got it on, but then we couldn't get the zipper to work. Needless to say, I had visions of me looking like an over microwaved hot dog, and I gave up. Ben worked on the zipper as I hugged the dogs, and finally got it unstuck. (He reassured me that it was the zipper, NOT my physique that made it stick.)

Then the most wonderful man in the world called me right before his lunch break and asked if we wanted to give it a try again. He drove home, we suited up, and then we trudged to the bay. It was great! Those things are REALLY buoyant. My biggest problem was that my butt was so buoyant my head kept going underwater. Oh well. No worries about drowning as long as I float on my back. :)

I also had an interesting revelation about Meggie. I was re-reading my posts, and I noticed that back in July Meggie was barely able to run/walk (60 sec / 90 sec) 20 minutes without being totally exhausted. Wow has she come a long way!!! She's totally super dog now. Monday Ben and I took the dogs to the Fiesta Island dog park for a run. The dog park is huge but ugly as sin. It looks like blasted moon rock and only has 2 trees. So, Ben and I brought the mountain bikes and road around the perimeter for a while at 8-11 mph. The girls ran right along side us! Meggie and Nanner kept up a run for over half an hour. And they weren't even whooped when we were done! They rested for a bit, but had tons of energy again within an hour. Talk about Iron dogs!

Well, I need to go rest up and lay out my stuff for tomorrow. (An advance thanks to Ben, John, Dad, and Ginny for coming out at the crack of dawn to see me race!) Wish me luck.

A new personal trainer

2009-10-12T16:44:00.001-07:00

It's been an interesting week so far. I saw parts of my first triathlon. I volunteered at the Tri Club of SD half iron man event / practice. The folks who were participating were great! I was at both a bike and a run station and everyone who stopped by was super nice. They were also obscenely fit. That part was a little discouraging. Of course, all the people competing were ready to swim a mile, bike 56 miles, and THEN run 13 miles. If I'm ever up for a half iron man, I'd better be obscenely fit too! In order to eventually achieve this level of fitness, I've engaged a new personal trainer.
Yep, it's MEGGIE the wonder dog. After every run, I've been giving the dogs some nice, yummy, high calorie kibble. It turns out that Meggie took the good kibble to heart. Yesterday I was feeling lazy and didn't want to get out of bed. I'd set my alarm so that I could be up and running by 5 am. (Yeah I know... ewwwwww) Well, at 4:45 I changed my alarm to go off at 6. At 5:11 I had a stuffed monkey thrown in my face by a hyper, grunt-whining dog. Yes, Meggie decided that it was Sunday, which meant it was time for a run so she could get her yummy kibble. So I was going to get up darn it. If I didn't get up, there'd be no run, and thus no kibble. Needless to say, I got up. As I stumbled along on my run, in the dark, I ended up tripping and banging my elbow, thigh, and hand. I was less than 10 minutes into my run, and I totally had the urge to hobble home to lick my wounds. I ended up continuing my run for a total of 25 minutes and going further than I had before. I actually went past my first distance goal. (woo hoo!) Now the hard part for me lately has been swimming. I don't know why I've had no motivation to swim. It's my favorite form of exercise and the leg I'm best at in tri. (Hmm.. it might have something to do with wearing a swim suit in front of other people.... It might get better when I get my wetsuit.) Anyway, I've decided to force myself to get into the pool. I signed up for classes. There's an intermediate class that deals specifically with triathlon swimming (swimming in a pack, drafting, swimming in a wetsuit) that I signed up for. So, I'm going to be in the pool today at 7 pm. I figure if I can do it for 3 weeks, I'll be able to continue it with the tri-club's weekly practice. Wish me luck!

Woo hooo!!!

2009-09-30T06:32:00.000-07:00

I've just finished my first 20 minute run (trudge). Yippeeeee! I know, I was supposed to have done that last week, but it actually happened today. :-) Better late than never. Of course, I made the mistake of changing the ap I'd been using on my iPod. I had been using a podcast (Robert Ullrey's couch to 5 k) and then I thought to myself, if it's 20 minutes straight, I can just use the ap and listen to my own music. Well..... not my best idea. Apparently the app I downloaded plays a siren when it's time to switch pace! So there I was, be-bopping and walking along to the Black Eyed Peas doing my warm-up when this blaring siren comes out of my iPod along with this awful terminator like mechanical voice saying -BE-GIN RUN NOW -.... So, I start trudging, and a slow song comes on. I, of course, can't run decently to a slower song, so I flip to my play list and skip through to a good song. Well, it happens a couple of times and I realise two things. 1) It's a whole lot harder to run without Robert's voice cheering me on... ("you're halfway there!!") and 2.) I somehow paused the dang timer!! I have no clue how long I've trudged! I fumble around, find Robert again and set it so that I'm about 9 minutes along. (I'd already trudged past the 8 minute spot.)But I got through it. :-)

Still going.. and going... and going...

2009-09-20T10:16:00.001-07:00

So the big day is coming up soon. 4 weeks from now, I'll be an official triathlete. Needless to say, I'm more than a little nervous and hope that my family will be able to come out on October 18th to cheer me on. I expect the whole thing will take around an hour. The bike ride alone will be 30 minutes at my pace. I don't think the swim will take more than 10 minutes, and I'm hoping it will only take 8. The unknown quantity is the run. I don't know if it'll take me 20 or 30 minutes to struggle through. I know if I were fresh I'd be able to do it more quickly, but I have no idea how long it'll take tired. (Let me see... a little mental math.... 15 min mile if walking... 1.5 miles... it would be ... 22.5 minutes...) So, after that little exercise in math, it looks like 20-30 minutes. I'm planning on "running" (or shuffle jogging) the whole thing, but I won't try and kill myself for it. If you want to know more about the triathlon I'll be in, you can check it out here.

(One quick housekeeping note... Ben noticed that I put the wrong route map up on my last post. If you really care about my bike route, it's now been corrected. I mistakenly put up my running route.)

As far as training is going, I'm trudging along. I've missed more than a few workouts. One morning it turned out I had the flu. I hadn't realized it and thought it was just the "why the heck am I getting up at 5 am again?" blues. I realized there was an issue when I still hadn't been able to open the lock to the garage door after 5 minutes. I gave up and went back to bed. I also had an iPod crisis. (How pitiful is THAT?!?!) Apparently, I'm having too much fun wasting time with various aps on my iPod (or crackPod as Ben likes to call it.) I used up the battery and, thus, couldn't go running. This, of course, made NO sense to my sweetie. It normally wouldn't matter too much except that I'm still working on the couch to 5k program, and I depend on the podcast to help me get through the tough runs.

I'm on week 5 now, which means today I did three intervals of running 5 min and then walking 3. Tomorrow, I do two intervals of 8/5 and then Friday it's a straight 20 minutes. Now I know that doesn't sound like a lot, especially to those of you who were in the military, but I look at the progress I've made. Back on July 28th when this all started, it was really, really hard for me to run for a minute! Today I actually kept up a pretty good pace for 5. (And yes, I know that July 28th was more than 5 weeks ago. I had to repeat a couple of weeks...)

On a non triathlon focus, I had a great time with my niece the other day. (She'll be called Baby Bright Eyes to protect her non existent 10 month old privacy.) At my dad's house there's a piano that my folks got while we were in Japan. (Many, many, many moons ago.) I grew up playing it, and when I was watching Bright Eyes the other day, I decided to play. Needless to say it was a little out of tune since no one has played it regularly in years. But I brought up some old sheet music of tunes from the 30s, and I started playing with Bright Eyes in my lap. She had a ball!! She giggled and cooed and wanted to try to play for herself. We ended up playing a horribly mangled rendition of chopsticks. She decided that playing with her feet was much more effective than with her hands as she could hit two keys at once! (And to those horrified at the thought of feet on pianos, please remember that she's not really walking. Her knees and hands are actually where the germs and dirt are.) Anyway, it was a lot of fun and darn cute to boot. (Oh.. the photo above is a stock shot, not my niece.) I don't know when we'll get to do it again, as I don't really think it's fair to inflict that kind of noise... er music... on others. We'll have to see. Until the next post, take care and stay positive!!

Live, Learn, and Ride

2009-09-01T13:29:00.000-07:00

So far the past two days have gone really well when it comes to training. Tuesday I got up at 5, realized that the sun didn't come out for another hour and a half, and putzed around the house for a while. I thought about going back to bed, but I know me. I'd never get up again. I then went for a really nice ride to Fiesta Island and back. It's a little less than 15 miles. (Here's the route if you're interested.) Wednesday was even better because I got Ben to go with me.

I also learned a few things about biking:

1.) Don't breath through your mouth, and if you have to, be prepared to swallow small flying bugs. I was merrily biking along when all of the sudden I felt something hit my tongue!! Ewwwwwww. I guess there was an unlucky gnat hanging around.

2.) Don't get so wrapped up in your workout that you don't notice the scenery. When Ben and I were biking, we saw a blue heron just hanging out on the side of the road. We also saw three people riding their horses chest deep in the bay. At one point, the poor horse deepest in had to swim.

3.) Say hi to those around you. I have to admit that I got a huge "warm fuzzy" feeling when a flock of lady triathletes rode by and a couple said "hi." Since I'm not in great shape, I tend to be slow and having these ladies notice me (and not as an obstacle to go around as quickly as possible) was really nice. (See number four to learn how I instantly knew they were triathletes.)

4.) Knowing a little bit about a sport makes you feel like an insider. I learned at my one and only tri meeting that some triathletes use "aero bars" and regular cyclists don't. (Aero bars are the handlebars that stick out straight ahead of the bike.) It was great, it made me feel like I was a part of a secret society that you could only enter if you knew the handshake.

5.) Biking burns a ton of calories! I looked it up to see how many calories I burnt while cycling an hour (at about 13-14 mph) and it was 660!! The best part was that it didn't have the drudgery of a workout. It was just fun. (Oh and I have a speedometer on my bike which is how I know how fast I was going.)

6.) Don't knock it until you try it (and recover). As I mentioned earlier, Ben went biking with me yesterday. When we first got home from the ride he didn't think it was all that great, but by the time he got off of work, he realized he had actually enjoyed it. (Of course, that could be because he was rewarded with homemade pizza....)

Well, today is my rest day. I'm considering going to a tri club meeting for newbies. We'll have to see. I'm still a little leary of all the "beautiful people."

Even triathletes get the blues

2009-08-31T18:33:00.000-07:00

Wow, it's been a rough couple of weeks since I last posted. I bet everyone who is reading this thought I'd given up. Nope. I've only been getting in two or three workouts each week because of injury and being not as happy as normal, but I'm still hanging in there. Tonight Ben and I went for a roller blade. We rolled (bladed?) for about a mile and then he roller bladed back and I ran/walked beside him. It was nice. We think it might be the perfect answer to my wanting a running partner. Tomorrow I'm going to do a "brick" workout, where I bike and then I run afterwards. From what I've read, your legs feel wierd when you transition so you have to practice it.

One more thing about running. My sister used to always joke about me getting a "black eye" while running. No more!! If you're a big gal you NEED the Enell bra. It's amazing. It really reminds me of the corsets I used to wear when I was in the SCA. The straps are different, but the rest is pretty darn close. I even found two in the same color! I'm telling you, it's expensive but it is worth it.

A workout hangover

2009-08-09T11:52:00.001-07:00

Everything that I've read about training warns that when you work out you'll be more tired and sleep longer. After all of that working out yesterday, I slept hard. I didn't hear my alarm going off, and if Ben hadn't woken up and told me to shut it off, I'd probably be late for work. It was rough. It took a ton of will power to get up and put on my running duds. What helped was realizing that if I chickened out today, I'd end up chickening out every day. I also told myself that I'd only do part of the work out if it "really was that bad." It wasn't. I extended my Couch to 5k podcast by two more intervals of 90 sec running and 2 min walking, for a total of 8 intervals and 37 minutes. The 90 seconds wasn't all that hideous because I kept looking forward to the 2 minutes of "brisk walking." Hopefully, it'll be even easier tomorrow to get up and get going. I'll be swimming. (Yeah!! My favorite workout!!) Sometime this week, I need to fit in an ocean swim, but I'll need a buddy for that. Maybe Ben will kayak next to me. We'll have to see.

Still going.....

2009-08-08T15:13:00.001-07:00

This week has been a series of ups and downs. Tuesday, during my run, something really nice happened. As I was sweating and huffing along, nodding and smiling at the people walking by, one of the joggers and I simultaneously recognized each other. It turns out that one of my close friends from high school was out jogging in the park! It was really odd. We've only seen each other twice since we graduated, including on Tuesday, so it was great to see her again. We jogged a bit together catching up, but anchor dog Meggie was too worn out to keep up, so I just got her number and will call her soon. It was great to see her again.

On the "not so good" side, I ended up sick with a migraine for a couple of days and missed a work out. I'm not too worried as I'm doing it for fun, so if it won't be fun, I'm not going to do it. And trust me, running with a migraine isn't fun.

Friday Ben and I got out our old, decrepit, rusty, mountain bikes and started to go for a ride. Unfortunately, I'm not the smartest person mechanically, and I didn't get my bike seat on correctly. It was UNCOMFORTABLE. Ben described it as a torture device. After less than 20 minutes, I was home again.

Today, Saturday, has been excellent. It started out with Ben and I going to the pool for a nice swim, which put me in such a good mood that I've been smiling, laughing and blaring music for the rest of the day. We also went to REI to pick up some cycling shorts. I read on the Slow Fat Triathlete blog about how very few stores actually carry workout clothes for larger people. REI was mentioned as being one of the few that does. The odd thing is, as the author pointed out, what are big people supposed to wear when they're getting in shape?? I mean come on. So here's someone who doesn't like to exercise, sweats more than most, and is uncomfortable to begin with, and we're not going to give them something comfortable to wear? I've had to run in sweats and a cotton T-shirt, and now I'm running in amazing moisture wicking fabric. I can tell you, I'm much more likely to keep running now that I'm wearing something that isn't obscenely uncomfortable and heavy when wet. Anyway, I got an incredibly cute pair of capri's at REI that have bike padding in them. (I don't know if you can see it, but there is really cute teal embroidery on the bottom.)

We also went to a bike shop, Pacific Coast Bicycles in PB, where we had some of the best customer service I've had. (And trust me, I'm a customer service snob.) The guy who helped us, Joe, was willing to adjust my bike seat, which was on backwards... oops!, install the bike odometer that I bought, and fit my bike for free! They are really amazing. If I end up really getting into triathlons, I'm going to get my bike there. If nothing else, I got a new bike pump, new lights, and a great little set of bike mounted iPod speakers. (When they play, I'm brought back to Burning Man. I wonder if they'll let me use them during a race sometime?) When I rode my bike home from the shop, it felt marvelous! Ben and I are going back out for another ride tonight so I can get my 45 min in. Oh, and if you go to their website, don't be put off like I was by the "West Coast Choppers" look of it. Luckily, Ben had been there before and knew what great service they provide.

So, the workout today is.... swim - 1200 meters, bike 45 min. Tomorrow I'm going to run/walk for 35 min.

So far so good

2009-08-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

Well, I seem to be doing OK so far. I know it's only been 3 workouts, but I've actually done them all.
Friday morning I went out and ran/walked 2.3 miles. It took quite a while (40 min), but I did it. I figure just doing it is more important than speed right now. Once I can actually run 5 K, I'll worry about running it quickly.
To become a runner I'm using the Couch to 5K program from Cool Running. In truth, I'm actually using Robert Ullrey's Couch to 5K podcast. It's great. As I mentioned earlier, I have never thought of myself as a runner. I swam competitively in high school and went through a year long phase of riding 20 miles a day about a decade ago, but other than a brief stint in middle school I have avoided running whenever possible. Thanks to Mr. Ullrey's podcast, I'm no longer afraid of it. He set the music up and cheers you on through the whole thing. It's still not easy, but I can do it now. If it weren't for finding his podcast, I'd never have dreamed of becoming a triathlete. Anyway, Friday's workout was 5 min warm up, 8 x (60 sec running/ 90 sec walking), and a 5 minute cool down. I'm sure you're doing the math and realized that that only encompasses 30 minutes. I ended up running further away from my car than I meant to and got a bonus 10 minutes of walking in.

Saturday was originally supposed to be a biking day; but as my day included going to the beach and kayaking, I skipped the additional morning workout. I guesstimate that I kayaked for about 1.5 - 2 hours. It was really fun because we were able to get my dogs into the kayaks for the first time. They even went for an hour long paddle with my sister and I. I definitely got a workout.
Today was a true triumph of mind over matter. When my alarm went off at 5, I turned it off and started to roll back over. I was WAY too sore to go the gym and bike. I then thought about what I'd really gain if I didn't go (one more hour of intermittent sleep where I was constantly checking the clock) vs. if I did go (working the soreness out of my legs and knowing that I had actually done what I said I would.) Knowing I'd have to admit to everyone that I skipped the bike again was the deciding factor. I got up, drove to the gym, and biked for 30 minutes. It was in no way as nice as actually riding my bike, but I'll be able to go on the road my next bike workout. The seat arrived! It's not a good tri seat, as it's built for comfort, but it'll get me on the bike for the first month. I can look at a "racing" seat after that. First thing is first, get out on that road!!
Tomorrow looks like it's another swimming day. (Yay!! My favorite!!) I'm going to work on swimming the whole mile and streamlining my form. It should be right around 30 minutes. I'm also going to put in some yoga time tomorrow. I definitely need to limber up and stretch out.

Day One (Point five)

2009-07-30T15:58:00.000-07:00

Well, the bike thing didn't work out yesterday. I guess I need to focus more on time management or just make sure I force myself to exercise in the morning.

This morning was great. I got up early and went for a swim before work. Of course, I now know that I need to wear my contacts in the pool. I mistook a guy sitting at the other end of my lane for a towel rack. Oops! It was from across the pool, but it meant that he had to ask to share a lane instead of me doing it, as I should have. The pool also has the neatest swimsuit drier. I saw one at a woman's only gym before, but now they have it at my gym! It's great. It spins dry your suit for you. No more soggy suits in the bottom of the gym bag all day. To the left is a picture of the machine. (I just realized it looks a little like a garbage disposal or an astronaut's toilet. Hmmm)

I didn't realize how far I am from where I used to be. I guess that happens to all of as we age, but I was tired after on 25 minutes of swimming!! I'm going to have to workout before I start going to workouts! I want to train with the Master's swim program, but I definitely have to be in better shape before I go to one. I'd hate to embarrass myself. I like the club linked above because they are really all inclusive and (I'll admit it) they have a great little welcome video! It's the most dynamic web page I've seen yet. Tomorrow I'm headed out to try a little run/walk. Wish me luck!

PS I've been pushing the blog posts up until now to let you know it existed. I'm going to stop that, but it still exists at this website if you want to check it out. :-)

How it all came to be...

2009-07-28T23:36:00.001-07:00

OK. So anyone who knows me is probably wondering where I got this crazy idea to compete in a triathlon. I blame comic strips and books! I figure that they're great things to blame for most of societies ills, and my odd desire to torture myself can rightfully be traced to the web comic strip Unshelved. It's a hilarious look at what goes on in a public library. If you work in a library and you don't already read it, subscribe. Well, they did a couple of strips starting Sept 17, 2007 on a book called Short, Fat, Triathlete by Jayne Williams. Needless to say, it's a book about a woman who is out of shape and runs a sprint triathlon while still overweight and not in that great of shape.

I ordered the book through ILL (inter library loan) and liked it so much that I bought it. A year later after reading it three times and buying a couple of more books on triathlons, I've decided to start training and sign up for the US Women's Triathlon Series San Diego triathlon Oct 18, 2009. Everything I've read says to sign up to force yourself to train. I chose this triathlon because it has something shorter and less scary than the sprint!! Triathlons generally come in the following sizes:

Ironman: 2.4 mile swim, a 112 mile bike ride, and a 26.2 mile run
Olympic (standard length): .93 mile swim, 24.8mile bike ride, and a 6.2 mile run.
Sprint (normal beginning or short length) : .47 mile swim, 12.4 mile bike ride, and a 3.1 mile run.

So I thought I had to start with a sprint, which is still pretty intimidating if you hate running like I do. But when I was looking at the San Diego triathlon, I found a new size!!

SuperSprint (baby bear size): .25 mile swim, 6.2 mile bike ride, and a 1.5 mile run.

I saw that and the fear went away. I can do that now! OK, I'd have to walk part of the run and nothing would be fast, but I could finish. So, I'm going to start training. This blog will hopefully keep me honest, we'll have to see.

Tomorrow I'm going to hit the Exercycle. The goal is 30 minutes. Normally I'd like to be on my regular bike, but the seat sat in the sun and the comfy gel filling is oozing out like some sort of gangrenous wound. No way am I sitting on that!! I've ordered a new seat, so I'll start road biking as soon as I get it. Wish me luck!