Chance Sighting...

By some miracle, Triathlete Girl met me at the pool this morning. It was REALLY nice to see her. I think she called me a few minutes before my alarm went off but I can't quite remember. She was positive, upbeat and raring to go.

There were only two of us in my lane this morning (well, not including Tri Girl) so that was a nice switch from the usual 4 or 5. I actually got to lead and Tri Girl kicked in with a vengeance...it was a crazy hard IM practice with all kinds of turn practice - clean IM turns take some thinking, backstroke touch on your back, breast stroke pullouts, dolphin kicks on everything but the breast, etc. - and I was ON baby. It felt good to push hard and be able to hold my technique for the whole hour. At the end coach helped me some with my fly technique and I THINK I finally have it. Well, I did for one whole length anyway. At least I know I'll survive the 100 IM in the upcoming meet.

And Tri Girl seems to still be sitting on my shoulder as I made it through my morning feeding without one step toward the edge of the wagon. No caffeine, the perfect amount of cereal and a steaming hot cup of tea.

Boy am I glad she's back...even if it's just for today. I'll take it.

Happy Thursday everyone!!

My Newest Game...

I went to my first Weight Watchers MEETING since I was in 7th grade on Monday. I tried the WW online thingy last spring and had some success but as I've mentioned before, self-accountability is something I struggle with (and that, my friends, is the understatement of the year).

Tuesday was day 1 of successful points calculating. The new game is to see how many days I can go without totally falling off the wagon. I'm treating this like quitting smoking. I'm pulling out all the stops and asking for help from all directions. I'm going to make the meetings work for me. I'll admit, some of it was hokey...but I've run out of options...I have to do the work and I need help doing it.

SO please check in and help me count days...day 2 is off to a good start.

Thanks ya'll...

It's like realizing your check book is off by $100 in your favor...

Only BETTER. I was talking with Emily after swimming this morning...and we were talking about the upcoming swim meet...and I was like, "Dude, it's next weekend!" and she was all, "Nuh uh, there's a whole 'nother week in there..." And I was like, "Oh MY GOD, GINA, you're totally RIGHT!!!" (well, except that her name is Emily).

So now I have one weekend to relax and catch up, the next weekend of my work's annual sales meeting, and THEN the meet. I was thinking that the sales meeting was THIS weekend.

I feel like I can BREATHE again. And now that the side effects from doubling my meds have abated, I can tell that they seem to be doing their job. Beauty.

Distance or Time?

A few years ago when I first sat down with my swim coach, who is also a level 1 USAT tri coach, she outlined a plan for me that was based on training by TIME. In other words, figure out how much time your longest race will take you, and then schedule your workouts so that you know you can go hard for that amount of time.

When I sat down this fall with the Triathlete's Training Bible, I had a similar experience...you pick your periodization based on the number of hours in a year you think you'll train (ok, that's drastically simplified) but it was still about TIME, not about the distance covered in that time...

I know when you're training for an Ironman, you might train so that you complete ONE of the THREE distances in one training session but you likely never do the whole ironman distance. But along the same lines, you don't really go out and train for 14 hours...if you think that's how long it's going to take you to finish an ironman.

I know when you train for a marathon or half marathon that you're more likely to focus on milage...distance run during your training sessions. Why would triathlon be any different?

So how do YOU schedule your training? Do you map out your training year by TIME or by DISTANCE? WHY? Anyone feel strongly that there's a right way and a wrong way? Feel free to reference any relevant links too...

Thanks for the imput!

A Good Base Always Wins

I went to the evening Masters swim practice tonight instead of the morning...there was drama last night that kept me up so I didn't make it out the door at 5:30. Anyway, there aren't as many triathletes at the evening group (go figure - we folk have such an affinity for ODark Thirty, don't we?) and in my lane, I was the ONLY triathlete. Well, it was a crazy IM practice (Individual Medley - lotsa fly, back, breast, free and it makes you super tired...) and not really knowing where I fit in the lane, I started out in the fourth position. After the first set I moved up to second position and was working hard to keep up with the lane leader. She was sticking to the rest intervals like nobody's business and they were tough sendoffs to make. But you know what? She started to fade about a half hour in. And I was still plugging right along - feeling the same as I had at the start. And by the end of the hour, she was doggin' it and I was leading the lane...

...and you know...it felt pretty good to know that all my other training has given me a great base and made me a true endurance athlete. Very cool.

Here's the practice if you're curious...

The shrink doubled my meds today. And the sun was shining all day. There's a glimmer of light at the end of the tunnel...

Still Looking...

...for my laugh and smile. This pic brought a momentary return and a bit of a snicker...but things are tough. I'm weepy today.

I messed a bunch with my sidebar this morning so wander on thru and check out the new pic of the week and the new song...and I also posted my race schedule for 2007, including Timberman 70.3. Yes, Triathlete Girl surfaced just long enough to click the submit button on the LinMark screen so I'm IN and I've had momentary bouts of joy and excitement thinking about the fun I'll have racing with TriZ and JC...but today is back to washed out dull colors and low energy. The new meds aren't helping yet...

I'm gonna try and be better about posting more often...it helps so much to feel connected to you all and feed off all the positive energy...might be short and sweet but I'm still here... thanks for stopping by.

Opinions Please....

Thinking about owning my very own bike trainer...I have one that's on loan from my swim coach and it's very much low end and loud and yuck...thinking about asking for one for Christmas.

My bike gurus recommend the Kurt Kinetic Road Machine for overall price point vs. quality, and it seems to get pretty good reviews from the tri community. It's listed at MSRP $330 but I've seen it online at a handful of places for $275. I can leave it set up with my bike for the winter so ease of in and out is not of too much concern...nor is weight as I won't be travelling with it. Basically I'm looking for a smooth and quiet ride so as not to annoy myself or the kind folks that live upstairs (not that I think the trainer would be too loud but the TV might be too loud if I have to turn it up to 11 to hear it over the whirrrrrrrrrr.)



Would LOVE to have all you cold weather IRONpeople weigh in on what you spent last winter training on... OH, and Flatman, you'll be my hero if you can find one for less than $275...

This and That...

So I saw the white coat doc on Friday. After giving an hour of exhaustive personal medical history (during which time I learned that, although I have what to me is a debilitating case of depression, I actually do have an awful lot of things going for me - not the least of which is triathlon) the doc announced that he will be adding Wellbutrin to my existing Zoloft regimen. The initial temptation was to up the Zoloft since I'm still only on half the maximum reccomended dosage...but doing that could cause side effects which, to date, I have not experienced. He felt I was a good candidate for Wellbutrin based on my patterns and moods so we'll give it a shot. My understanding is that the Zoloft acts on the serotonin uptake and the Wellbutrin acts on the norepinephrin uptake...and the two combined do all kinds of happy things for my brain. Once the WB takes it's full effect, we may be able to slowly back off the Z so that I'm only on one medication - which I'm all for. But it may be that I need both. The goal is to get me to my "summer self"...that's my alter ego Triathlete Girl...capable of leaping tall buildings (and eating fruits, vegetables and whole grains rather than donuts) in a single bound. We shall see.

I start it tomorrow morning and it's supposed to take up to 4 weeks to reach it's full effect. I'm hopeful. And the sun is making a difference these past few days too. Beauty.

Extra special congrats to all that raced at Ironman Florida. You guys rock and it was totally exciting to watch all the splits come thru and know that you were becoming ironmen and women! Wish I could've been there in person but I certainly WAS there in spirit...