A Good Tired....

Good week coming off Mermaid Tri~feeling so empowered after ocean swim and the whole event overall was just righteous.

• Monday & Tuesday, lazy rest days.  
• Wednesday, hot & sweaty 15 mile or so hill climbing ride.  
• Today ran about 8-9~went out for 2 hours, more running than walking but walked a fair amount (all over body tired).  Was shooting for 10-11 miles but that wasn't gonna happen.  

All in all feel great but sore and tired...heading into possible Tri Girl Tri if I can get my butt out of bed for a winding and dark drive to Berryessa on Saturday.  If not, no worries.  Harvest run on Sunday, 5k if Tri and 10k if no Tri.  Loving Autumn, love.

Mermaid

Go!

Going for it!

Morning of Tri glory

Swag

Awesome

Well, I did it...the Triathlon not the Duathlon.  I did the swim I was so terrified of.  I didn't love it, it didn't get any easier, I loathed almost every minute of it actually but...I did it.

THANK YOU BEEZUS, whew!

I know now that if I had switched to the Duathlon I would have regretted it.  I do want to train for and compete in a Duathlon someday but in this case I would be switching to the Dua out of fear and that is never a good idea. I did try to change to the Dua and if it had been easy, I would have done it & been Ok I'm sure.  The Mermaids at registration pushed me just the tiniest bit to reconsider and I jumped on it, in my heart (even my terrified heart) I think I wanted to do the swim.  I may never reg for another Tri that has an ocean swim in it but at least I wrapped up my last ocean swim in a good way, getting it done & not bugging out!

The rest of the Tri was awesome as usual, transition to bike was a long walk uphill but I loved it, allowed me time to absorb the fact that I actually completed the swim! Bike portion was easy (except the one time I nearly smashed into a parked car when not paying attention, humbling!) The run was easy, slightly uphill but so do-able.  Only problem was I blew past the restrooms for some reason and I should have taken the opportunity...I spent 2.5 miles needing to pee!  All in all the Mermaid triathlon was nothing short of truly AWESOME.  The organizers are top rate and the women, so motivating, inspiring and supportive.  I can not say enough about them, just plain RAD.  I hope to do every Mermaid event I can and be involved with them for years to come.

TriGirlTri is this weekend, signed up when I was positive I would flake on the ocean swim.  Excited to do the Tri but bummed I have to drive 1.5 hrs at 6am....ick.  Oh well, time to pull on the big girl panties and TRI and like it!

To swim with sharks or not!?

Hmmmmmm ponder ponder

To Tri or....Dua something else instead?

This has been a sucky week of a cold, cough and sinus infection.  Finally got meds yesterday and feel so much better, I now longer want to keep my eyes closed all day due to sinus pressure & headache.  I still am not my energizer bunny self but I feel human again & husband has commented "you don't look so sad & miserable anymore."

Still not sure if I will do the Tri or the Dua.  The Duathlon has never appealed to me, did one in college and it was hot & difficult.  There is NO way I am bugging out on the Mermaid tho', I love the philosophy, I'm fit & I am so excited for the weekend but....the swim in the ocean is bringing me down.  Had no idea how much I loathed ocean swimming till I did it (I guess snuba'ing in Hawaii far out from shore near an old ship 15 yrs ago and being so afraid I puked my guts out should have been a clue).  So...we'll see.  I am having a very difficult time not feeling like a loser by switching events BUT if I had friends doing the Duathlon by choice from the start I would think they were rock stars, people do Duathlons as a career & fitness choice...why am I so hard on myself?

Just trying to decide if I should go brawn & just hate every minute of the swim but power through or go with honesty & admit I am terrified of something & do something else instead that I will enjoy most every minute?  I hate spiders and am not signing up to handle tarantulas for fun, I'm afraid of sheer cliffs and I don't feel the need to do the ropes at Half Dome...just trying to decide if this is when I decide I won't be doing any ocean triathlons & focus on lakes (despite the zombies).

I am putting my money where my mouth is though and signed up for Tri Girl Tri next weekend, sprint tri with a lake swim.  I keep saying I would be so excited for this event if it were a LAKE swim.  So now I will need to prove that!

Ok, so I'm off for a fantastic Mermaid filled weekend...report back soon!

Getting ready...

This week I have been dealing with a lingering cold that turned into an ugly & painful chest cough.  Just enough to drain my energy & confidence.  I took 4-5 mile runs on Sun, Mon, Tues and also spent time doing laps but was still not feeling the mojo.  Took a ride today with my Triple A ladies followed by a great lunch and the mojo is BACK.  Feeling excited and nervous for Mermaid this weekend!  Super bummed that my two other A's are unable to adventure with me but I need to focus on having a super blast & remind myself I do these things for fun & to get my blood moving moving moving.  Now I just need to drink water water water and eat eat eat, the two things I slack on big time and it comes around to bite me...cheers to a fabulous weekend and event and so many more to come!

Fishgirl

I love this wood carving (above) in the locker room at Ives Pool.

Ran 7.5 Monday at Spring Lake, looooove that place, I always forget how great that place is. So many people walking, dogs, babies...so motivating. Still wanna kayak in the lake, gonna do it next week or following. Started run way too late, 11am...warm & hungry. Pushed thru it with Nuun & powerbar gel. Hit my stride 3-4 as usual and would have continued but didn't feel the need to push it. Strong legs & core, nagging right achilles & teeny tiny feeling on outside behind right knee~felt tight. Stretched. Swam an hour afterwards felt slooooooow but good.

Ran today with E in Presidio, awesome. Was nervous about tired legs & bod but all felt good. Great pace & a few tiny side aches but all over fine! Yahooo. On way home snuck in 20 minute swim...felt like butter. So smooth, not work at all, adore those types of swims. Could have swam an hour more with the bod but didn't have the time, drats. Left foot near big toe is sore, swimming tomorrow but no running. Feeling groovy :-)

YumYum

Great bike ride last Thursday with new buddy J.
Took Fri-Sun OFF working out~gasp!

Excited to run BIG tomorrow
Swim 3 times this week
Ride with a buddy or solo
Hit SF to see a friend
See a movie (been forever, like 2010 forever)
Get my hair cut & colored~it needs some sass & snazz
Lunch with buds
Plant veggie pots
Celebrate FALL & welcome her in!

Wicked homegrown sushi

Gotta blog it before I forget what I did!

Brown rice with vegan broth base, pickled garlic, shredded carrot, natural oysters, sesame dressing, rising tide nori. SO insanely great!

Cha Cha Slide

Hit the road for a run today and it was ....blah.  Gorgeous morning but warm & sunny by 9:30, yikers!  I also ran 6 Monday and a 1.5 mile swim yesterday and I think I was just tired.  Was aiming for 10-12 but was sucking wind and so stopped at 7.5 which was really good considering I was about to call it at mile 1.  Was going for a no frills, no hills run but ended up going up Healdsburg incline 3 times, no idea why I always do stuff like that.

Shot powerbar gel tangerine and it brought me back to orange triaminic and my youth :-)  Needed some major inspiration & motivation to get my run in gear so I cranked up Cha Cha Slide and thought about Caz Slab dancing for a good 30 minutes, tearing up a few times thinking of my childhood summers spent there.

Shuffle keeps saying 'battery low' after it has charged for 24hrs plus...it is only a year old...so tired of throw away electronics :-(  been thinking of Portland 10-10 a lot and so incredibly thrilled I am not injured this fall like last fall (achilles, hips, hamstring) but really missing that milestone marker of my first marathon.  Will be eager to see if it is sunny and glorious for their run vs last year pissing rain for 5 hrs!  It was the most amazing adventure with so many friends, Giants games, Portland wandering & just feelings of confidence, accomplishment, love & fun.