The Blizzard of '09 was NOT a Birthday Wish of Mine

... I just noticed that rhymed, totally unintentional. Yes, after a windy birthday yesterday, I woke up to my 28th year and second day of life to snow, lots of snow. We are sitting at around 13 inches right now and are expected to climb up to 16 or so over night. This is all pretty cool, if it were December! Almost April now, I was stuck on my trainer not once, but twice today. But hey, monotony it may be, but I just think of the monotony of the Queen K during these boring rides and realize that these rides do have a purpose. Because the next time I am riding out on the Queen K for hours on end, I can dig in my memory bank for the lovely trainer rides completed in utter and complete boredom, and then all of a sudden the winds and heat may seem like a lovely distraction. Ha, probably not, but I can try.

I am going to post some pictures of the day as it unfolded. It looked MUCH more impressive in person. Our next storm is forecast to hit on Monday. I knew we wouldn't get off so easy after all those 70 degree days we had in February... The only thing is, I kinda need to get my runs and rides in, preferably outside...

The roads are always in rather rough shape and there is no way I'd ever drive my lil soap box of a car, but I know we so desperately needed this moisture, just not maybe all in one heap? The snow is wet and heavy, and underneath, pure ice. I need to get out for a run tomorrow, and my snow cleats have surcome to the weather and ripped... I hope I can find some good treads in my shoe collection. Maybe I'll run in my boots, they seem to be pretty slip proof.

7.30 a.m. view from balcony


9.30 a.m.- my car slowly disappearing


balcony shortly after a small avalanche rolled off my roof onto it, taking some of the snowwall with it


I sweat alot on the trainer...as visible by these pics



Look at the drips, room temp was at 65 degrees


Car around 12 p.m.- slowly sinking


You can't quite make it out, but those are my feet in my boots stuck in snow up to the top of my boots, yup.


For some reason my bug always gets buried in snow, while other cars are just fine.


I did not make a mountain in the corner of my balcony, this is all snow blown in or dumped in- afraid about balcony collapsing I shoveled some off into my below neighbor's bushes- she didn't notice.


After finally digging out the car, I even gave it a haircut...


No, that's not stars, that's snow, still falling at 9.30 p.m.

The Big Picture

Today in the shower, after getting in my last workout of the week, my thoughts wandered and got me thinking about what we (athletes, endurance athletes, triathletes to be exact) sacrifice every day to get closer to our goal, whatever it may be. (to get fit, place in our A.G., win a race) Sometimes I think I am crazy for putting in the time that I do. I am told to focus on a job, to live a "regular, normal" life style, to get other "hobbies", and to stop exercising so much. (because exercise =wasting time) And sometimes I partly agree with these statements, especially when workouts don't go as planned, and when every single step of a run feels like 10lbs of clay are stuck on your shoe, and when riding into the wind seems to get you absolutely nowhere, frustrations running high.

Those times are a reality check, but luckily my brain quickly erases bad experiences in workouts and lets me only remember the good ones most of the time. And it's the good ones that I believe inspire us to keep pushing on and keep going. When you get that run where you feel weightless and effortless and feel like you can keep going for miles and miles, and when you want to keep riding, even long after your ride has ended, those are the memories that we hang on to. And because I for one don't have days like that alot, live for those nearly perfect executions of a workout or race. They can carry you along on a high for hours and days even, and give you the confidence to believe in yourself and your abilities.

And that is what makes this endurance sport different from other, more main-stream (read baseball, basketball, soccer etc) ones, as I doubt you could ever get the high you get from endurance, and ultra endurance sports. People might look at us like we're crazy, I mean, who in their right mind would actually honestly enjoy 3 hr runs and 6 hr rides, working out more in a single day than most "active" people do all week? But they don't know how it makes us feel and what satisfaction we get from doing what we do.

And then, when that race comes around, when we toe the (invisible) line at an Ironman, it all comes back to us. All those mindless early runs and rides we wanted to get out of, all of that time spent in the pool on cold nights during the week, they all suddenly serve as a backbone for the confidence we desperately need in the long journey to the finish. When hour 7,8,9 rolls around and our bodies are weak with doubts, the money we put in the bank for months, can finally be withdrawn and help us reach our goal.

Anyways, I am not sure where this is all going so I better stop, but I just started thinking earlier and now I am wondering if anyone else feels the same way? It's OK to have doubts along the way, along with some failure, but when we keep the big picture in mind and all the little pieces we fit to put together the puzzle, we realize that the little detours are just that, little. And in the end, we amaze ourselves with what our bodies are capable of doing. Next time the going gets tough, just keep that in mind.

Btw, is it just me or is it impossible to put any pictures on the blog smaller than the largest size possible???

Exhausted but that's OK

I am tired, really tired. Like workout-tired, I want to take a nap (but won't) tired. Between traveling to the race last weekend and racing and then jumping right back into the swing of things I am feeling a bit fatigued. Usually I can fake it and suck it up and keep going, but right now all I want to do is put my legs up (because they are throbbing) and slumber away. But being the good student of my body that I am (no major injuries in over a year which is ALOT for me!) I am going to listen and let it tell me what it wants to do. It is only February after all and there is no need to carry this fatigue with me throughout the spring and/or summer. Because by that time I will be racing my rookie pro heart out and will need to feel as springy as possible at all times!

With the wind blowing a steady 60mph (it doesn't even faze me anymore, although I wish I would have kept track of all the non-windy days we had this winter, which would probably take up less than a third of all the days) I am summoned to my trainer for an easy spin, maybe an hour. I know I have some bigger things on tap this weekend and I want to make sure I don't bonk (like I did 5 min into my run two days ago, when I also almost passed out from standing too long, kind of embarrassing)

Which brings me to a topic that I find highly relevant to feeling tired and fatigued: Dehydration! I have noticed that in the winter I don't drink nearly as much as I should, because a) it's colder outside and I don't sweat as much (or so it seems) and b) because I am a Gatorade snob and barely ever drink JUST water. Bad I know. But when there is no Gatorade around I am suddenly not as thirsty... This can lead to more chronic problems which I'm well aware of. I am going to make a conscious effort to drink more water. I'll see if I notice a difference in my performance.

Today at noon masters I had the pleasure of swimming a lane over from none other than Ms. CW, who was swimming with her coach and his wife, going twice as fast as me. Very humbling, but then again she is the World Champion and I am not. Ha. Sadly I don't think she stuck around long enough to rub her speed off on me as she had disappeared less than halfway through the workout. There is always hope for another time I guess.

With my performance at the race last weekend I got thinking about racing Elite Du Nationals, which are held in Birmingham, AL this year with this format: 8k/53k/8k. That's a good ten miles of running and about 40 (I think) of riding. That should play up my strengths a little better than last weekend which was all fast-twitch! If I can gather up some funds I would love to give it a go, Duathlon hurts, but it hurts so good! :-)