oh i'm tired.

so thursday started with a 2hr ride on the trainer in the morning before work. there was lots of mad men being watched folliowed by the tudors. i can watch the tudors all day while on the trainer. its slow, and not much goes on, but its good. i like it. but that was the end of my happiness. work was really hard. lots happens at work all the time, but when it all happens all in one day, yeah, sometimes i don't do so well. i wound up crying to my boss! ooooh nooo!! wow, that was embarrassing. but i was pretty upset. usually i am a low key, easy going kind of gal, but yeah, not that day. i was all riled up and wow. anyway, my boss was awesome about it, made me not feel like a dumb ass for getting so upset and helped me figure some stuff out. it was good. embarrassing, but good. so i went home after work and drank some cosmopolitans, which weren't nearly as good as the lemon drops but there were no lemon drops, only cosmos. they did the job.
up early and off to swimming on friday. WTH??? when did friday become butterfly friday? ugh. but swimming has been going so well so that was good. saturday was a fun 3hr ride with the girls. at one point i was doing a standing drill and my hr monitor started beeping. one of the girls riding near me asked me what the beeping was telling me. my initial though was to say that it was telling me how awesome i am, but instead i told her the truth. the weather was semi-crappy but really not too bad, so it was way fun but sheesh, i was pooped after! i passed out on the couch!!! PASSED OUT.
in the morning i took seamus to her circus class. its way fun. she really likes it although some of it is "scary fun", like sitting on the top of the trapeze. she is not a fan of that. today she did some crazy things on the rope and the hoop. they also did more acrobalancing. i think we need to so some of that at home, but its so cute because the kids all balance in funny positions on top of each other.
after we went for a run in our new compression tights. i wore my new orthotics for the first half and they were awesome. but i took them off 1/2 way just to be sure. i am very concerned and dont' want to push it. every time my hr got too high and the hr monitor beeped, eric would look over to me and tell me that i need to back off of my awesomeness. january is not the time to be awesome.
but right now, i am exhausted. i am patiently waiting for the kids to go to bed so i can chow down on some peanutbutter captain crunch, and then i suspect i will go to bed. but i am chilling in my new compressions socks recovering, right?

big week

i am in the middle of a high volume week! or at least high volume for me!! i am happy though because i just finished up the last of the running until sunday (which on my tracking plan is considered next week!).
so far just a little over 22.5 miles running, i've already swam 3.5miles and have one more swim to do on friday which will put me at around the 4.85 or more miles for the week and then i've got 5hrs of biking to do between tomorrow and saturday. so its a big week. for the month, its on track to be the biggest month i've had in my training, which is pretty exciting and pretty cool at the same time.
i was looking at my training log from last year and noticed a pattern - on my rest weeks i am starving non-stop! eric always tells me when i complain about being so hungry all the time - hey yer on a rest day, or its a rest week and i'm like whateva, but apparently its true. except my notes are more along the lines of "omg i totally chowed down and now i feel sick" during those rest weeks but never during the high volume weeks.
i can't remember if i mentioned before the sweet gear a friend of ours gave me as payment for some work eric did on her house. we're talking super high tech awesome winter riding gear. anyway, today she gave us compressions socks and tights and hats! i wore the tights on my run and they felt good! and the socks are awesome, i want to wear them forever. is it bad to sleep in them? can i wear them to work?
what i learned on tuesday is that wearing jeans that are too tight do not have the same affect as compressions tights. i had to take my pants off, yes - at work, towards the end of the day because i was getting a head ache. i was sitting in a meeting talking to my boss when it hit me. luckily (i guess??) i had swam in the morning so i had all my pajamas and stuff with me, so i took those too tight jeans off and put on some nice cozy sweats and my slippers (because i was also wearing some fancy tall boots - but A+ for me since they are flat with no heel!!!). i think the pants were fine except i ran for an hour on the treadmill in the middle of the day and then put them back on and that is when the trouble started. not sure if my huge, massive muscles were just bulging out all over the place after that run, or what the deal was but there was soemthing definitly going on after the run that was not working with the jeans. can i wear my new compression socks with the boots to work? i told eric i would wear the compression socks with my running skirt and i'll tie a shirt all up all britney spears all baby one more time like and that is how i will do all my runs from now on. because as he and i discussed about me and swimming - its not really about the swimming, its about making a spectacle of myself which he will be doing soon, too since we got him this for his upcoming birthday:

is this normal?

i haven't ever swam so much as to wear out a swim suit. but now i have. is this wear pattern normal?

testing - 1,2,3, testing

this week was a rough week. wait, i meant to say it was a rest week! PT has been going well although seems like everything else is falling apart! my lower right back, or maybe its my hip apparently doesn't move. the joints are all squished or something. but all i can say is no more massage therapists, now i will always go to a PT. they do magic.
work is good. its always good. december was super crazy stressful and now january has been pretty mellow although today was stressful and busy. but i got through it.
today also i was doing a functional threshold test on my bike. i did a similar thing for running at the end of 2008 and it made me want to cry. so, as one might imagine, i was worried about this test. it was similar in that it was a pretty much all out effort for 30-ish minutes. the running one was 30 minutes no matter how you sliced it. the biking one was 10 miles, so the faster you are, the shorter the test.
since it wasn't until 6pm, i was worried all day about what i was eating and drinking and blah blah blah. i treated it like a race and had a pb&j 3hrs before, and thankfully right after the last stressful meeting of the day. then it was just a count down.
i got there early and hung out in the parking lot playing bejeweled blitz on my iphone then i decided it was time.
i got my bike set up on the computrainer and ben took all my info. since i hadn't done any rides there before he wasn't sure what to expect for my wattage but gave me a range that he thought i might wind up in.
there was one other person there to take the test, so that was good. taking the test by myself wouldn't have been nearly as much fun.
i normally don't like having fans on me while on the trainer, but they were all set up and i just went with it. i did notice that it was drying my mouth out quite a bit but whatever. next time i might ask for the fans to be diverted.
then it was 3 - 2 - 1 - BEEEEP!! and we were off. i think those first two miles went pretty well. i didn't feel like i was going too hard and i wasn't going too easy either. they did seem to take a long time. miles 3-4 flew by, mile 5 took a really long time. at some point in mile 6-7, i got dizzy and was pretty sure i was going to pass out. i was breathing well, but i was dizzy as hell. i figured i was too far in to quit, plus if i really did pass out, well, that would have been embarrassing but i kept going anyway. i started to feel better. with 2.5 miles to go i was feeling it but feeling pretty good, too. 2 miles to go, i took another gear and was really working. 1 mile to go i think i took another gear, i'm not sure, but it was almost done. and then it was done, for real.
around that 6-7 mile period i noticed that my average wattage dropped by 1. i totally panicked!! but then i managed to get the average up by 5 before the test was up. and i fell pretty much right in the middle of the range he predicted for me.
i also collected my average HR data which was interesting. when i did the similar test running it was 181, this time it was 177. does that mean i should have been working harder? could i have worked harder? i don't know. but in 6-8 weeks, he suggested i test again so i guess i might find out then. yikes!
now off to bed soon to get some good rest before 2:30 of biking tomorrow, and 1:15 of running and :30 of swimming on sunday.

oh my goodness

so training is stepping it up these days. swimming 4 times a week, biking 2, running 2, on the stairmaster for 1 and core 3 times. its adding up and i can see myself getting faster by the second. ok, so the stairmaster is to build leg strength but also to get my butt to look goooood. the swimming has actually been pretty fun. i have been waking up every weekday morning in the 5-530 range which i think has helped but also i think the PT stuff has really helped. unbeleiveable. or maybe it was the 600 yards of bilateral breathing we did today? i don't know but i feel good and i am pretty darn psyched.
so on MONDAY night i got a phone call from a good friend and former coworker. i don't normally get phone calls from him, especially not in the evening, so i was a bit concerned until he said his wife was going to go to Emerald City Trapeze the following night and wanted to know if I would like to go along. to this i said HELLS YEAH.
the next day at work i was a mess. i was so freaked out. Annie sent me a link to a write up about the place that had some videos. while i read and watched, i didn't get the nervous feeling in my stomach like before races but instead my hands were just dripping in sweat. it was crazy and really gross.
finally the day was over so i headed out and made it to the SODO with plenty of time to spare. i was out of gas so i drove around and found a gas station and can i just say i am SUCH a suburbanite now. first off you can't pay at the pump. so i had to go in and the lady had to tell me how they don't take credit cards. so i had to go back to the car to get my debit card. while fidling in the car a police car drove up and grabbed a guy who was hanging around outfront, i think just loittering, but i don't know what the real deal was. back in i went and the lady had to explain how to do the whole pay in advance thing to me. ???? i was totally embarassed, but she was super nice.
when i finally parked at the trapeze place i sat in the car and played bejeweled blitz on my phone for a while then finally went it. i was so nervous that i totally tripped on the cement stairs and almost ended my circus career right there.
the building is amazing! totally breathtaking!!! super high ceilings, i can;t begin to guess how high. the floors are stained plywood, the building is narrow but long and the trapeze area is the main focus - lots of net!!
annie got there and helped to ease some of my fears. then another girl and one guy who was quite advanced joined us as well. i was the only first timer so they demonstrated hanging from your knees from a static trapeze that was like 8 or 9 feet off the group - i had to jump to reach it. ok, so just getting up and hooking my knees and then aaaak!!! letting go was hard. it was crazy. then the guy helped me down and said, ok, you are ready. i was like what??? he fitted me in a safety belt which cut off about 20% of the oxygen to my brain, and one of the other girls went first so i could watch her go. then it really was my turn. now there were lots of super freaky things about this whole thing but one was how they just throw you into it. i figured i'd get to go up there, swing around, drop and then try it again. but oooooh no! i was going to attempt the knee hang on my first try. i was pretty sure they were all crazy but whatever.
i went over to the ladder, the guy attached me to the a line next to the ladder. he explained how the line lets you go up but not down. he joked that no one had ever fallen off the ladder and of course i got totally worried and how embarrassing if i were to be the first! but where! i totally made it to the top although it took prolly 20 minutes to get there. once at the top you hold onto the support while the girl up there unhooks you and then you manuver to the middle of the platform, the whole time holding on for dear life with both hands. once in the middle, she hooks you up to the safety lines. clip, clip and there, all safe. you keep holding on with your left hand. she then put her hand into the back of the belt so she could have a good hold and then she pulled the bar in and i grabbed it. it was heavy and i totally let out a akkk! she laughed and said yet it was heavy. the whole time i DID NOT LOOK DOWN. i looked straight ahead. I didn't even look at the bar for fear i might accidentally look down! then, she told me to let go with my left hand and grab the bar, which was totally freaky!!! i definitly let out an akk then! but she was holding on tight, and she explained to lean forward with my hips pushed out and shoulders back. then she said ready, i bent my knees, and then "HEP!" and I jumped!!!! down i went!! flying flying flying! the guy on the ground started shouting out orders - hook your knees and ah, i missed it! he said i'd get it on the next swing through and then i swang out and again came the command. i pulled my knees up and had them hooked. next the guy yelled out to let go of my hands! are you INSANE!!! so i did it! and i swung back and forth, next he told me to gran the bar again and pull my legs down. i swang back and forth and then it was time for the dismount!! you kick forward, backward, then forward again and let go!! and somehow magically you totally do a flip! it was crazy!! i landed on the net and just laid there. it was a total - what just happened moment. !! i crawled to the edge of the net, and he gave me instructions on how to flip off the net. and then i had to go sit down because the was totally insane!!

so, i did that a few times. it was fun and each time i gained a little bit more confidence. until the girl at the top told me we were 35 feet in the air! Yikes!! while i practiced my knee hang, annie learned a new trick where she kind of hung upside down from her arms and then flung herself out, and the other girl was doing an upside down split. the guy was way advanced and didn't use the safety lines and was learning all kinds of stuff.
i did start to get tired. i sat out a rotation and then it was time to do a catch!! the freakiest part about the catch was that all the people changed places! the girl came to the ground to call out the orders, the guy who would attach us to the ladder went to the platform to hook us in and send us off and the guy who had been on the ground calling the order and holding the safety lines was now going to be swinging on the other trapeze and he was going to catch us!
what i learned is that as long as you do the knee hang correctly, the catch is super easy. your arms are already out there, and you aren't really grabbing at anything - its the catcher's job to find your hands and arms and grab on. so i climbed back up. the guy at the top had a totally different way of holding on, it seemed looser but it was fine. you really just have to trust them. he then called out what i was doing, and the guy on the other trapeze started swinging, he got all upside down, and yelled ready, HEP! so I jumped. the girl on the ground yelled out the commands, i did them, i arched my back, had my hands out, saw the guy, he yelled grab my hands, straighten you legs (ok apparently he had to tell me that twice - you can even see in the video how we kind of stop right when the catch is happening) and next thing you know i was hanging from that other guys hands just swinging along! then he told me to push down and let go, and i did and bop! right on my butt into the net. the video is of my very first try at the catch.

OMG. i was so pumped afterwards. I hurried home to tell eric all about it!! i wanted to tell everyone i knew and i practically did. it was so insane. annie sent me the videos and i have watched them a hundred times. i can barely believe that that is me doing that!
eric has since been signed up to try it! and we have signed seamus up for the children's circus performance series. she will go for 8 weeks and learn aerial (static trapeze, rope, silks, hoop), acrobatics, acrobalance, juggling, and trampoline and then she will perform in a show! she starts on sunday. she thinks she would like to try the trapeze but she isn't quite sure, so we figured we'd start her with this first and see how she likes it! now we just need to get sirus up to speed and then we can go on tour!!!

sabotage

= what eric is trying to do to my racing career. how do i know? because he made me change my own flat yesterday and was making apple crisp when i came home from work.

now i am eating it with ice cream.

more from the PT that i forgot - my legs are the same length but my right hip is higher and my left shoulder is totally higher. i am pretty sure i am perfect though.

dude, swimming has been hard this week but fun! this is what I wore:

PTing

i went to the PT yesterday. i need new orthotics and i decided to go to someone new. i've had the same ones for a few years and i realized my feet kind of always hurt.
the guy watched me walk. and run. and squat and all kinds of other things. he asked me if anyone ever told me that i walk loudly to which i replied, no and went on to tell him that if they did, i would hit them. he laughed. i was serious.
but he helped me understand why when i do track workouts my right leg feels like its on wrong, and my the top of my left foot hurts and the bottom of both feet hurt. it was good. he said the orthotics would make me a more efficient runner. i said, oh, you mean faster? he said more efficient. i then made him say they would make me faster so he did, and he laughed again.
i went to the PT today. a different one, but in the same clinic. at 630am. i showed up and at 640, the guy i saw the day before came out to tell me that the people who do the scheduling didnt tell the therapist i was meeting with that she had an appointment. she would be an hour late, but could see me at 730. i said ok.
my neck hurts. it always has but it gets really bad sometimes. i see a massage therapist and have been for a few years. maybe you remember the horrible jaw pain from october 08? but really it has been a few years. its terrible. i went to a chiropractor once who told me my neck bends the wrong way. but they were far away and expensive so i wasn't ready to commit to that plan. so i came to this pt. apparently my back doesn't have a curve in it where it is supposed to and then at the very top, it bends to the left. she said not scoliosis, just a bend, which could be due to the muscles pulling it over there. the muscles could be tight because i have a giant head, because i sit at a desk and have bad posture, because i am right handed or because when i swim i only breathe out the right side. she suggested when i swim to try and do a few laps breathing out the left and i told her i will do that but if i drown, i will stop. she then gave me lots of hugs and showed me some exercises to do. then i will go back twice a week for the next two weeks and then maybe be pain free! that would be awesome!!

who knew?

very important

and this one, too:


and here is a link to a good video. the good stuff starts about 1/2 way in.

funny people

i have some sweet new winter riding gear. it is SWEET. its all the crazy new technical fabric stuff that is crazy. i was wearing ALL of it the other day when it was raining. head to toe one label. kind of funny but ya know what I was totally dry and warm despite it being cold and pouring down rain. but we stopped at the bathrooms and i was standing there some racer dude pulled up and asked me if i rode for the team of all the gear i was wearing. i said yes, to which he replied "oh! i thought those legs looked fast!" eric and the friend who gave me the gear said the dude was totally hitting on me, i thought he was just making fun of me. regardless i was dry.
today i went for a trail run and then stopped at the gym to do a core workout. on new years eve, janet and i went to the VO2 performance center for a core circuit class. i had a suspicion that the core work i was already doing might not be sufficient so i wanted to take a class and see how it went. the class was fun, there were 5 stations with 2 exercises at each. i broke a sweat which i was surprised by but never felt totally spent. ok, except the one where you hold onto the 4 pound ball and twist side to side. i thought my arms were going to fall off. but the following morning, i sure felt the workout. i was totally sore all over the place. i was surprised and but happy at the same time since it meant that it worked! onto the point, after the trail run i went to the gym to try to repeat the circuit as best i could. i had worn my I Beat John Curley shirt out running because i love the shirt and i think its funny, and gosh darn it, i beat him, so why not let the world know. i walked into the gym and the girl at the front desk called out to me all excited about my shirt. she asked if i really did beat him, to which i could proudly say YES and then we had a quick conversation about which race, etc. i then went to the locker room and changed the shirt.