Coach Liz's Amazing Triathlon Adventure

Oh, We Need a Little Christmas...

2011-12-12T22:12:00.000-06:00

Right this very minute!

These past few weeks have almost been a blur. Sometimes I wish things would slow down, and then at other times, I am glad that the train is rumbling along the tracks. A few things have taken place that may put a different spin on 2012. I am remaining positive that it will all be for good things to come.

I have been training. Not as well as I would like, but I am training. I did my 21 miler last Thursday and I have one month to go until I run the Houston Marathon. This was supposed to be the race where I was going to qualify for Boston, but I have had one thing after the other try to interfere with my training and I just don't feel like my speed is where it needs to be. Of course, I could pull out a "Race Day Miracle" and really surprise myself. Everyone else seems to think that I can do it. My coach thinks I can do it. My personal drill instructor thinks I can do it. My athletes I coach think I can do it. Even my sports docs think I can do it. How come I am still on the fence on this one? I guess that it is because none of these people have been out on a run with me and gotten a good look at how my training is really going. Out in the trenches, it is a lot different than on paper.

The "Big Box Gym" that I work for sold off 171 of its locations to another "Big Box Gym" right around Thanksgiving. Now things are kind of like the Wild West around here. Our corporate offices were in locations where all of the gyms in our Big Box Organization were bought up by the other company. So now, no one really seems to know where the corporate offices are. My "boss" from California is no longer my boss and my Personal Training Manager is letting me call the shots on what days group exercise classes are going to be held at our gym around the holidays. I have heard that our now named Small Box Organization will not be spending any of the $153 Million dollars from the sale in the first quarter of 2012 and they will be looking at which of the 100 or so clubs left can be profitable for the first quarter. I do not know if that means if clubs that are not profitable or ones that just break even are going to be shuttered as a few were in Dallas and one here in town in slated for. I need to put together my resume, for the first time in nearly 19 years, and start shopping myself around to other gyms that are more elite in clientele and in what they offer in programming. I do feel like a rat going down on a sinking ship, but I have to hang in there as long as I can for my very dedicated clients that I work with.

My health has been wacky. I am not sick, but I am not well. I am not contagious, but I need to figure out what is causing my symptoms. I am a puzzle. I am "THAT" patient. You know, "THAT" patient, the one who gets assigned to 3rd or 4th year interns by their supervising doctors and asked to figure out what is wrong with them and everyone is stumped? Yeah, that's me. Since August I have had little health issues building into big health issues. What started as a random itchy spot on my arm for a few hours, every once in a while has grown into a full blown case of hives that cover my arms, shoulders, trunk, back, legs, and scalp lasting for days on end. A blind person could read War & Peace on my arms! My allergist has no clue what to do other than take an Allegra in the morning and a Zertek at night. I have had strange digestive issues that no one really wants to talk about, but my doctors tell me I have to spill the beans. Joint and muscular issues seem to pop up out of no where when I have not even been training hard or even with those muscles. I have had fatigue one day and then loads of energy the next. It looks like my liver may be the culprit and I am under orders to undergo a cleanse or liver purification process to clear out the excessive toxins that the liver accumulates as it filters the blood. For the next 21 days I am only able to eat very lean free-range organic proteins, organic vegetables, organic fruits, healthy fats, and the occasional serving of legumes. I will be taking a few supplements as well, but I have to stay away from dairy, grains, nuts and seeds, caffeine, and all refined foods. I have done this Paleo diet before and I know I can do it. I just have to make sure that my fridge and my pantry are ready for it. Tomorrow's breakfast should be exciting. I will keep the updates coming.

Finally, tomorrow I start my certification to become a Newton Natural Running Coach. I am really looking forward to this. I had to teach myself how to run again after I had knee surgery in 2006 and little did I know that I taught myself Natural Running. Now I get to learn the in's and out's and how to watch other people run and help them modify or change their running style to avoid injury and to pick up some extra speed. Again, I will make updates on what I have learned.

Ok, it is off to bed for me and on to another day.

Later Gators!

Me and the kid at a holiday party. I am in 4" heels to be that tall next to him.

Liz

The Ups and Downs of Life

2011-11-23T06:00:00.001-06:00

Sorry it has taken so long to recount some of my adventures, but basically, life has been like a roller coaster with ups and downs, laughter and screams, a little bit of motion sickness, and time and space rushing past this girl that I have either not had the time to update this blog or I did not have the strength to do it. A lot has happened in the past seven weeks and this might be the longest that I have abandoned my blog. Not that anyone minds, I am sure there are much more exciting and fun things to read/glance at on Facebook and Twitter. Taking time to read one of my blog posts is just not in the cards for most people anymore. I am going to try my best to see if I can keep this post short. HA!

Ryan "Ironman" Barnett and I are enjoying the java from the Coffees of Hawaii Catamaran.

When I left off seven weeks ago, I was preparing for a HUGE adventure. I went to Kailua-Kona, Hawaii to watch and volunteer at the Ironman World Championship. I flew in and was picked up at the airport by Ryan "Ironman" Barnett. The next morning we swam out to the Coffees of Hawaii catamaran and got our morning cup of java along with an interview by John Newsome and Bevin James Eyles for their IM Talk podcast. Ryan and I did a run in the Energy Lab and I finished of the day with a spectacular vegan dinner with Coach Carrie Barrett and Hillary Biscay and Belinda Granger. The next few days were spent hanging out with Coach Carrie and Shawn Barrett as we hit the race expo and participating in the Kona Underwear Run. On Race Day, Carrie and I had a blogger buddy meet up with Shirley Pratt and volunteering on the run course at Pro Aid Station Number 1. It was amazing seeing all of the professionals racing, as well as the final finisher to come across the line before the clock hit 17 hours. I don't think that I could have had a better "first time" trip to Hawaii or a better birthday.

Getting interviewed for IM Talk.

Hanging with Craig in the showers after a swim.

A post Energy Lab Run photo.

A fantastic dinner with two beautiful women of this sport. Thank you Hillary and Belinda for a wonderful evening.

Blogger Buddy meet up with Shirley Pratt and working a run course aid station.

When I got home, it was back to reality and back to being a single mom as El Esposo headed off to Trinidad for three weeks. It was time to get back to workouts with regularity and time to figure out why I was breaking out in hives multiple times during the day. I met with Dr. Krupka who is a specialist in Functional Medicine. He works on finding the root cause of the symptoms rather than finding a way to cover up the symptoms and make them disappear. I had to wait a week to get in to see him once my test results came in from a saliva sample I had sent off to a lab before going to Hawaii. Originally, we were looking to see if I had a gluten sensitivity. The results came back negative. That is good. I can still eat bread! However, we found out that an enzyme that is in everyone's saliva to help break down food as you chew it up before it gets to the stomach was missing. This results in the stomach and intestines getting irritated by certain foods that have naturally occurring histamines in them. The enzyme in the saliva breaks down the histamines in tomatoes, spinach, salmon, chocolate, citrus fruits, red wine, yeast, hard cheeses, and other foods. When you have allergies, it is the body reacting to histamines you encounter in the air or surfaces you come in contact with. My histamine levels were off the charts and the only way the body knew how to "dump" them was to try and excrete them out of my skin, resulting in the hives. Allergies shots, smoke in the Texas air due to wildfires, naturally occurring fall pollen and ragweed, and the inability to break down the histamines in foods before they got to the stomach had done a number on me. Now, I am on a treatment to try and lower the histamine levels in my body. I still have the hives, but now it may be only once a day instead of multiple times a day. I have a long way to go, but it is a start.

Work has been work. Fun at times, and work at other times. I taught a successful Pilates Master Class utilizing the Pilates Chair and the Arc. The participants enjoyed the challenge of the class and requested another. I am going to see if I can get some more equipment brought over from another gym to teach another Master Class next month. One of my personal training clients told me that she really buckled down and cut back on the nightly glass of red wine and bowl of Goldfish to loose 10 lbs. Way to go! Just making small changes can make big differences. Another one of my personal training clients has hit the one year mark of working with me. In that year, she has lost 35 lbs., gone from a Chicos size 4 to a 1.5, and feels amazing with her new energy. Her big test this week is to see if she can keep up with her family on a ski trip and get up on her own when she falls down. I know she can do it. I am so proud of her and she is determined to keep going with her weight loss. She has 20 more pounds to go to hit her goal and we are taking steps to get her orthodics so that she can start running again without her bunion bothering her. On the other end of the spectrum, 171 gym locations of my employer were sold off to a huge competitor. There are about 100 gyms left and Texas was spared. It shall be interesting to see how things play out over the next few weeks and what changes will be made.

In the days leading up to Halloween, I was feeling an impending sense of dread about the holiday. I did not want to pull out my decorations, I did not want to buy candy, I did not want to open my door to Trick-or-treaters. I ended up taping black garbage bags over my windows and sitting in a dark house. Later that week, I had to bail on a long run because I knew that nothing productive would come of it. I was in pain from hormonal shifts and after a brisk 30 minute walk, I realized that it would be too painful to run. That was a bummer. But the funk didn't stop there. I became increasingly down in the dumps even though it was sunny outside. I had issues weighing heavy on me about work and my training (or lack of it), and things I had to get done before time ran out on me. After a good cry, things started to get better and then I ate a donut. That donut about killed me.

For five days I was in severe abdominal pain as the donut loitered in my gut. I despise donuts but I succumbed to it's mesmerizing evil cyclops eye and ate it after a bike ride that left me hungry. I could have waited to get something else, but the donut was there and it was quick calories. It was like throwing a grenade in a hole and throwing cement down with it as a chaser. I wanted the donut to exit my body by any means possible, but it did not want to leave my gut and hung in there as long as it could, making me miserable. Dr. Krupka first laughed at me for eating the donut and then gave me the "I know I'm preaching to the choir, but..." speech. The yeast, sugar, and trans fats had inflamed my stomach and intestines so much that things basically shut down and the donut did not move for a good couple of days and festered inside of me. After the 5th day and some of Dr. Krupka's treatment, I was starting to feel better and wanted to get my long run in. So, last Thursday, I ran 16 miles and ran the last of that donut out of my system. I feel so much better and I will never eat another donut again, no matter what.

And that leads me to the present. I think I may be coming down with some sort of sinus thing. I had to take a decongestant for the first time in a long time and my nose is drippy. I want to keep this above the neck and not get it into my chest. We shall see. The Banana had a good swim meet a few weekends ago and swam the 1650 yd. event in 22:29:34. The kid is fast. He participated in the District Honor Band auditions and made 2nd Chair Trumpet. He had a great band concert last week that my dad and step mom got to come in to town for. The report card came with A's and B's on it! He has one more swim meet and another band concert before the end of the year. Coaching my Team in Training tri team has been good. More people are starting to show up to weekend trainings as we start getting closer to 2012. I am still not in a holiday mood and and a little ticked off at the radio stations that have been playing Christmas music for the past few weeks. I am sure it will pass. Once I struggle with getting a 35+ year old fake tree up and mess with the lights until it pisses me off and I throw some ornaments on it, I am sure that I will feel more jolly. Ok, so next post will contain a pic of the tree.

Until then, later gators!

Liz

48 hours...

2011-10-02T09:33:00.000-05:00

That is all the time left that I have to get a whole lot of things done. And I should be doing some of them right now. Well, it can wait for just a few minutes.

Sometimes there are things that quickly pop up that you make some plans on. Exciting things! You look forward to them with anticipation. It may be one of the things that you have experienced in the past and you LOVED IT. And then events and schedules merge and the thing you wanted to do must be postponed. It is frustrating. Will the opportunity come up again? How long will I have to wait for things to fall in place one more time? Bummer.

These are the times you just have to accept that this was not the right time or the best time to embark on that adventure.

But then there are BIG things you plan on. Months in advance you start working on organizing the major details. With each major piece of the puzzle put into place, it becomes more real. There is preparation to do and gear to be purchased. As the event quickly approaches, all of the details are solidified and it becomes more exciting. There is no turning back now! Of course there will be one or two things missing from the picture. Inevitably, there is something that is forgotten or some favorite lucky charm that had to be left behind.

And suddenly, it is here! The months of waiting, dreaming, and anticipating are over. There is a message in your "In Box" to confirm that you will be there in 48 hours. There is a message waiting to confirm what size you wear. You have to get everything together, but remember not to take too much. If you need it that badly, you can get it when you arrive because EVERYTHING you might ever need or want will be there.

The hardest part is the last 48-hours. The final hours of waiting. The final details to put in place so that mayhem does not ensue when embark on the journey. The last days of another year quickly come to a close.

It is pau hana. Wikiwiki Tuesday! I am ready! Hau`oli la Hanau Mo'o!!!

Stay Tuned!!!

Liz :)

I want to run!

2011-09-28T08:35:00.002-05:00

Well, here it is 22 days later and I was not very good at keeping this blog going. I again have no excuses other than being lazy and letting other things distract me when I know that I needed to spend time to sit down and let Christi know what is up in my end of the country. I am sure other than my Dad and Christi, no one else reads this blog anymore and I am partly to blame for that. I just have not been really interesting lately. I have no contests and give-aways. I don't do any product reviews. I have not been racing. And right now, I'm not even training.

WHAT??!!??

Yes, I am grounded from training. How did that happen??? Well, the quick version is that I am human and I am not a professional at this whole sports thing. Being that I am not a professional that means that even though I have training of my own to get done, I also have a job that requires me to exercise more, I have to be swim team/cross country/band mom, somewhere in there I have to try to do some housework or at least not let my husband think we live in a bear den, and then try to get enough rest and recovery. I have been good at getting a little of everything done but bad at not getting much of anything done.

I was feeling like I had been cheating doing my running indoors on a treadmill but my mileage was over 10 miles and with morning temperatures over 85 degrees, I was just not able to carry enough water with me and I had been having problems maintaining the pace that I needed to be running at. The treadmill let me be close to a bathroom, close to more water, and to stay on pace or be spit off the back of the treadmill. I set the incline to 2% and got the speed up, but I am sure that I was still cheating. However, I have mastered running 14 miles on a treadmill.

I did try to run outside, but with all of the smoke from the Texas wildfires, it was making my lungs hurt and my esophagus feel like it was lined with broken glass, and since I have asthma, it was back to the treadmill. Again, I felt like I was cheating and not really putting in the effort that I needed to. On the second week of the month, I failed to recognize that it was the start of the next four-week cycle and I was on remote control and did the old workouts rather than the new ones. That was a forehead slap there. I was too busy with getting other things done to pay attention to my training. Bad. I had great TRX and Kettlebell workouts, but it is the running workouts that really matter.

My long runs were getting done, but I was secretly dreading them. I dreaded them because there was some chick who always seemed to be on the treadmill that I wanted to run on. I had the Goldilocks Syndrome going on. That one is too close to the weight floor. That one is not balanced and wobbles above 4.7 speed. That one is too close to the mirrors. I was also dreading the long run because somewhere between 9 and 10 miles, the pain set in. The pain was different every time and it moved all around. One time it would be burning in my calves, next it would be pain in the right oblique or in my left lower abdomen. Sometimes it was in the left shoulder and then the next week it was in the right shoulder. This pain would make the last three to four miles really rough. I had to grit my teeth and just get through it. ARGH!!!

Dr. H was great about getting me unwound and unbound but the pain would just return in a different place on the next long run. Dr. H said that my adrenal glands were probably fired up from the car accident and recommended that I try to see Dr. Krupka. I had heard of the amazing Dr. Krupka before from my Sports Stretch therapist, Kimberly. Dr. Krupka was highly recommended so I was willing to wait a full week to get in to see him. I kept going with my workouts and waited.

Last week when I got to see Dr. Krupka, he explained to me that along with chiropractic work, he practices Functional Medicine. Functional Medicine is to look at root of the problem and not to just treat the symptoms. After a little question and answer time and some muscle testing, Dr. Krupka confirmed that my adrenal glands, my ovaries, and my pituitary gland were all in a cage fight with each other and that we needed to figure out what was causing this. Dr. Krupka suspects that I might have a gluten intolerance that I have also suspected in the past. I was told to do a saliva collection and send off to a lab to look for certain markers for adrenal fatigue and gluten intolerance. I was also told to try to avoid gluten for a week and to see what would happen. So my spit sample is in a lab and I am waiting for the results.

I saw Dr. H the next day and he tuned me up and told me that I needed to take one week off from exercise just to be pro-active. WHAT?!? I called Coach Woofie and reported to him what Dr. K and Dr. H had to say and he agreed that I needed to take one week off from workouts and if I could, one week off from work since work involves me exercising. WHAT??!!?? Ok, how about I take the time off in another week when I have a good excuse to goof off (more on that in a bit). The members at the gym would never understand that I had to take a week off. Well, yes they would, but they would not be happy about it. WAIT, is this what they were all talking about? I had stressors in my life that were causing the glandular and hormonal smack-down and I just had to walk away for a while and let everyone else get their knickers in a twist for a week.

The next day I had my long run and I told myself that I was just going to run 7 or 8 miles. During my cycling class that I teach at 5:30 am, I felt a muscle twinge in the inside of my right leg that Dr. H had told me to be aware of that was a signal that the adrenal glands were crying "Uncle". I got on the treadmill after class and within 3 minutes I hit the STOP button and bailed on the workout. I felt like a looser. I took it easy the rest of the day. Friday was a little easier, but I had stuff I had to get done, so skipping the workout actually gave me more time. Saturday was h.a.r.d. I was coaching my TNT tri TEAM and they were doing a run. I did the water stops but it hurt watching everyone else running and it was sad to watch the shirtless runner boys run off into the distance and I could not run after them. I just had to climb in the Element and go home.

On Sunday, I realized that some of the a few of the symptoms from the adrenals were going away such as the crazy irregular heart beat when I would go to bed, and the eyelid twitch. I guess the extra sleep was helping, but I was still waking up after 8 hours feeling like I needed more sleep. Some things were worse. The hives on my arms, shoulders, and chest were out of control and on Saturday night I woke myself up five times scratching my arms. I was scratching my arms in my sleep! Dr. K said that the hives might get worse as my body was trying to clear out the toxins from the gluten and that because I was not working out and sweating, the hives were going to get worse.

On Monday, I was in a funk. I felt tired, ugly, and sad. I felt like a disappointment to others for not getting my sh*t together and getting done what needed to be done. I forgot to get someone signed up for a swim meet, I didn't check back on a confirmation to send the kid to a swim clinic, I accidentally ate a slice of bread. I felt like I just needed to crawl in a hole and disappear. But I could not do that, I had too much that I had to get done! I had to go to work and teach classes, bake bread for lunch, finish laundry so the kid had clean running clothes, pick him up from tutorials, drive him to swim practice, get after him to work on his English project due later this week, and have him practice his trumpet. I wanted to pull my hair out and then Greyhound threw me a bone and put me in contact with a spectacular trumpet instructor who gives private lessons at the high school up the road. THANK YOU GREYHOUND!!!

After some sleep, a chance to sweat while teaching my cycling class, an opportunity to spend a gift card from Lululemon that I had received from a PT client, a nice quiet lunch, a handful of mallow creme pumpkin candy, a spectacular find of a $16 bikini to take with me on my adventure next week, and a thumbs up from Bud's band director to take private lessons from Mr. Kavanaugh, my day was 120% better. I was smiling again! And my hives were under control and not itchy!

I have six more "sleeps" until I get to escape while my family has to fend for themselves and my clients at the gym have to figure out how to get by without me for a while. I will be on a secret mission on Saturday, October 8th. I cannot tell anyone about it until after it happens because it is that Top Secret! It is such an AMAZING Birthday treat that I am almost giddy. I am grinning from ear to ear right now!

So sorry for all the downer stuff earlier but check back in the next few days to see how the transition back to workouts goes and how the Secret Squirrel and Morocco Mole Mission goes down!

Stay tuned and have a great day kids!

Later Gators,

Liz

Well, there went August...

2011-09-04T16:15:00.000-05:00

I have been bad about updating this blog for many reasons. The main reason has just been pure laziness. I know that people do not like to reveal their shortcomings but I will admit that I am lazy, a procrastinator, and perpetually late...for everything. Even if I write down a "To do" list, program in electronic reminders in my iPhone, or set the clocks 13 minutes ahead in my house, I still end up not getting things done, I am down to the wire on getting projects finished, and I am always 5 minutes late showing up somewhere. I hate it. I have tried working on these faults for years and I get a few successes here and there, but then things go back to normal, and I am rushing around to get things completed, I roll up late, and something just never get done.

Oh yeah, the kid and I ran a 5K. More lame excuses...

So here are my lame excuses. The last weekend of July, I was attending a TRX Suspension Training Sports Medicine certification. From time to time I get clients who come to me after being set free from their physical therapist or doctor to resume exercising again. Most times, these clients are weak and are still hesitant to use the previously injured joint or limb. This training was attended mainly by chiropractic doctors, physical therapists, and some personal trainers. I am in no way a personal training superstar but the other 20 people in that training seemed to have very limited experience working with clients and patients, and did not have very good communication skills. I know that this is probably not true, but I guess I have high standards. The training was at a very nice (read very exclusive and pricey) health club in town and it had a beautiful Pilates studio. It made me wonder why I am still working at the gym where I do work. I realized that it was my clients. I have taken pay cuts and other lame excuses from this company and continue to work there because I really like my clients and many of them have been working with me for over five years. Some as long as eleven years. I would feel guilty for leaving.

CAAAAKE, YUMMY CAAAAKE...

Ok, so immediately after that, the next week was busy with the Team in Training Kick-Off and our first TEAM training. I am coaching 34 athletes to compete at the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 in Galveston, TX on April 1st and at the St. Croix Ironman 70.3 on May 5th. For all but two of the group, this will be their first 70.3 distance. So my excuse for not blogging was that I was building training calendars and workouts for the first 9 weeks of training. Lame excuse, I know. You want an even lamer excuse? I had to bake a birthday cake for someone. Not just any old birthday cake. A Red Velvet and White Vanilla checkerboard cake with white butter frosting and decorated up nicely with roses on top. The heat made frosting the cake a B-TCH but I finally got it to set up. Super lame. Come on, everyone bakes cakes from scratch. I have no excuses.

Pretty cool packets for packet pick up.

The same weekend, I was a very proud mommy. My kid did his first sprint triathlon! He rode one of my bikes and I had some Team in Training gear that he could wear. He had a dash to the finish with the boy that would take third place by one one hundredth of a second. He was not too pleased about that. Of course, he had a great swim and averaged over 17 mph on the bike, but the heat we have been experiencing here in Texas made him take a few walking breaks on the run and put him in that mad dash to the finish position. I waited to see him cross the finish after I had finished and I am sure I had a stupid smile on my face. My race was good. I was second in my AG for the swim, 7th on the bike with a 22.3 mph average and way low on the run with a 9:04 average even though I was running the entire time and passing people. I guess it was not as fast as I thought. I ended up 7th overall in my AG out of 50+ women. Meh...

How come I look short in this photo???

During the week, we went to the local movie theater to see the live presentation of Drum Corps International's World Championships. It was pretty awesome and we ended up seeing many of the same performances that we saw live at our school district's football stadium at the end of July. I did not expect that I would be spending 5.5 hours in a movie theater and having to eat movie theater food. Oh well, the kid is super motivated about playing his trumpet so I will take one for the team and eat a rubbery hot dog.

The second weekend of August I had to go to San Antonio for another TRX Suspension Training certification. It was a nice opportunity for me to get over to see my parents in Canyon Lake and to give the kid one last little trip before school had to start. Since the training was not a Level 2 training like the Sports Medicine training, there were more personal trainers in attendance. It is always fun to see big muscle dudes sweating bullets and struggling with the TRX Suspension Trainer. I had the same instructor that I had when I took a training back in March and she knew that I had really been using the TRX Suspension Trainer both for my clients and for my own training. She had me demonstrate some of the advanced exercises while she talked to the group. I guess that cemented my credibility as being not just a skinny old chick. When we were split up into groups later in the training to work on a case study, all of the male trainers in my group were stoked that I was in their group. I guess the other chicks at the training were not so stoked about that.

The third week of August was not so fun. I was on my way home from a Sports Stretch session and when I was at a complete stop in traffic, I was rear ended with enough force that it sent me crashing into the car in front of me. The worst part was that the person who hit me left the scene of the accident and off all of the other people in drive-home traffic, no one stopped to offer any information or to prevent the person from leaving the accident. I had no witnesses. I can only say that the car that hit me was silver and not a truck, mini van, or SUV. That's it. I was able to get uninsured motorist coverage and I only have to pay $250 on all repairs rather than the $1000.00 deductible. My 8 month old car had over $6500 of damage and it is still in the body shop. Thankfully, I have not had any neck or back pain and my Sports Chiropractor, Dr. Hassenbank, has been taking good care of me. The first week after the crash my run workouts were not very good and they have gotten much better as he has been working out some issues.

And we drove all over town looking for this thing...

I spent the next weekend coaching my TNT 70.3 TEAM through their first bike workout and doing Middle School check-in. I had to do a little back-to-school shopping and that put me in a foul mood and I got flack at home for spending too much or not getting cool enough stuff. I give up. I'm just not cool. Deal with it.

We both look a little hot and tired.

School and swim team started back up on the 22nd and it has been a whirlwind of drop offs for swim practice, cross country practice, and band sectionals. I also had to help out with our Team in Training Nations Tri Team as they hosted Dave Scott for the Clear Lake International Triathlon. Dave Scott is our National Coach and he did the race in Team in Training gear. Very cool! On Sunday, we had a tri camp with Dave Scott that had about 27 participants. We had a great venue for the camp out at the Houston Oaks Country Club. We had a swim session in the 25 yd pool and then an open water session in the lake just a few steps away. I was on kayak duty for that. Dave gave some great stretch and flexibility training and then the group went out for a 15 mile ride. While they were gone, the volunteers had to get things ready for the run training and strength training session. We had a big open air pavilion to use for the strength training session and then run drills were done on the outfield of a baseball diamond just a short walk away. A 2 mile run had been planned but the temps soared to 109 and we called that off. Lunch was great and then Dave finished up with a nutrition lecture. Everyone at the camp seemed to have a good experience. The nice thing was that 80% of the camp attendees had no relationship with Team in Training and it was a great way to show people in the triathlon community that Team in Training does not work with only beginners. We have Ironman finishers, Boston Marathon qualifiers, Triathlon National Championship qualifiers, and a Triathlon World Championship qualifier in our Houston TEAM.

This last week has been all about settling into my new school year schedule. My training is coming along well with "Weapon XL". I am running a little faster and I have been hitting all the workouts that Coach Woofie has given me. I still do not know which half marathon I will be running for time this fall. I should find out in the next few weeks. It has been lonely training on my own. But really, who wants to run 12 miles on a treadmill? No one. It has just been too hot outside the past month but we have had a temperature break this past weekend and hopefully I can get back to running outside.

And we took care of this lost pup until the owners were found. They were ecstatic to have Cinnamon back home.

I had two interviews at personal training centers. They are both great places but I think one of them might be a better fit since it is not too far away from where I already work and most of my clients would follow me and I would be able to do Pilates work. I have to be patient. Both locations would have nothing ready for me before mid-October.

So basically, I have had no good excuses to not update my blog. Pure laziness. I have been a bad influence on my kid. I will try to do better job in September.

Later Gators,

Liz

Long Run

2011-07-22T07:46:00.003-05:00

Protocol Four: Run ten miles broken into 3, 4, and 3 mile sections at a 9:00 min/mile pace with 5 minutes of jogging between. Foam Roll after.

Findings: Subject hid at back of cage most of the morning as if sensing there was another test today. Subject was finally coaxed out of cage with the promise of a new setting for the protocol. The subject was given plenty of water and audio stimulation to use on the run and was released out on the path that it usually takes but was diverted under the bridge rather than sent over it. This path provided shade and helped the 85 degree environment seem more manageable. Once off the path, the subject was sent out in the heat and sun to a park to catch another trail that was a single-track that followed a creek bed. The subject had to slow the pace to deal with the technical route that not only twisted and turned, but had climbs and drops. At mile 2.5, the subject emerged from the trees and undergrowth to cross over a roadway and bridge to dodge back into the pines. H2O was administered. The path now widened and provided the challenge of soft sand and piles of horse dung that were along the trail. Around mile 3.5, the subject had to run along a drainage ditch to avoid entering a stable. The drainage ditch provided three "hills" to go over at the bridges. At the third bridge and mile 4.5, the subject was allowed to turn around and return to base. H2O was administered. The sand on the way back slowed the pace for the subject and the subject appeared to tire. Once back on the technical single track, the subject had to take more walking breaks and walk the larger hills. H2O was administered. The heat now registered 90 degrees. The subject emerged from the woods and proceeded across the road to the path to the path back to the first bridge. Again the subject had to walk to deal with heat and exhaustion. The subject had to work hard to make it back to base and run the last mile.

9 miles total were covered in a time of 1:49:38. The subject seemed dejected but relieved to have the protocol come to an end. Subject was set under a stream of cool water to lower body temperature and remove sand, dirt, and sweat. Subject was rewarded with three pieces of cold homemade pizza. Foam rolling took place after the subject was fed and watered. Subject continued to sweat for an additional 30 minutes as the body temperature returned to homeostasis.

Subject will be asked to do another TRX protocol on Friday.

Weapon XL Update

2011-07-20T15:28:00.002-05:00

Protocol Three--Balance on Wobble Board to warm up and then 5 x 1 minute of jumping rope followed by Ankle & Foot Workout 1.1 (Important, do not skip). TRX 1 workout + TRX Row to Rotation 1 X 10 only.

Findings: Subject worked on Wobble Board in the Frontal, Sagital, and Transverse plane for 8 minutes followed by the jump rope sessions. Subject noted that quads were sore from yesterday's run intervals and that the Gastrocnemius and Solieus were fatiguing fast in the first two jump rope intervals but that the burning sensation abated in the last three intervals. Foot and Ankle workout was completed and Subject noticed the dynamic stretching helped to loosen up the lower leg. TRX work was completed in a timely manner and the Subject was still able to maintain core control and form at the end of the workout.

Workout was short to allow for extra recovery before the Subject's lengthy protocol tomorrow.

Day 2: Weapon XL

2011-07-19T13:37:00.004-05:00

Protocol Two-- 2 x 1 mile @ 7:00 min/mile pace or incline of 2 and speed setting of 8.3 on the treadmill with 2:00 minute easy jog recovery. Follow up with foam rolling to the Piriformis, Hamstrings, and IT Band.

Findings: Subject was apprehensive to begin session. With prodding, and keeping the treadmill on a low speed for the first 3 minutes, the subject began easy jogging. Two outcomes were going to be looked at. One, would the subject suffer from fatigue due to cycle ergonometer intervals that had just taken place; and two, would the subject suffer from a GI Track failure. There were only two high intensity efforts, but the subject seemed daunted at the intensity of the session. As the first "test" session began, the subject kept close contact of the left upper appendage on the treadmill. The subject did not seem to be hanging on, but rather the contact seemed to provide mental comfort that the subject would not be thrown off of the back of the treadmill. Audio stimulation was provided and the first selection was chosen to keep the subject relaxed for the first portion of the "test" Breathing stayed even and lower appendage turnover was quick and efficient. The subject even became confident enough to remove contact with the upper appendage to the treadmill. No drift or decrease in pace was noted. Audio stimulation was changed to promote an increase of speed. Subject responded well and breathing remained under control. At the conclusion of the first 7:00 minute test, the subject's heart rate was still in the high aerobic zone without having gone into the "Red Zone". 2 minutes of power walking with an additional 2 minutes of easy jogging was given to recover and prepare for the second interval.

"Test" #2 unfolded in much the same way as "test" #1, but with one difference. The audio stimulation was changed to reverse the stimulus. Rather than leading off with a relaxing sequence and concluding with a selection that would promote increased energy and tempo, the down tempo sequence was administered at the half way point to the end. Even though the stimulus was provided by N.E.R.D., the subject was caught "clock watching" on more than one occasion to assess how much time was left in the "test" and the breathing became ragged in the final 60 seconds of the interval. Despite this, the subject was able to successfully complete the "test" the second time and did not experience a loss of power or a failure of the GI track.

Foam rolling was administered to the Piriformis, Hamstrings, and Illio-Tibial Band on both sides of the subject. Subject seemed to respond well to the deep tissue work and there were no instances of agitation such as growling or snapping. Proper hydration, nutrition and cooling were administered.

Normal activity will resume until the administration of tomorrow's protocol.

Weapon XL

2011-07-18T08:42:00.003-05:00

Project Commence:

Protocol One--20 X :30 seconds @ level 9 on treadmill and incline of 2 or outside with a speed of 7:00 min/mile, with :30 recovery of half speed.

Findings: Subject is restless and seems ready to begin. Responds well to heat, humidity, and lack of air circulation. Initial intervals seem overly easy as there are some slight negative grades. As solar radiation is activated, subject seems to fall into a more labored recovery sequence with excessive sweating and panting. After 10 X the interval, subject is allowed to walk through the recovery. Subject grumbles about mild GI track discomfort. Second half of intervals begin and subject is instructed to run at half speed for recoveries. Subject is allowed to increase the audio stimulus to enhance performance. Intervals become increasingly more difficult for subject to produce a quick cadence and to cover the same distance as the interval before. Subject again grumbles about GI track discomfort. With three intervals remaining, subject must slow the recovery speed to avoid overtaking three other test subjects on bicycles. At the conclusion of the protocol, subject is allowed to walk for 20 seconds and then must run at half speed back to project base.

Proper cooling, hydration, and fueling were administered. Subject avoided any leaks or breaks in the system.

Normal activity is resumed until tomorrow's protocol.

I'm In!

2011-07-05T17:46:00.005-05:00

I was lucky enough to get a lottery slot for the Houston Marathon on January 15th, 2012. And it is just in time! Over the past seven weeks, I have gone from fit to bleh. I have been out running with my longest run in at 9.54 miles. Most of my run outings are around 4 to 5 miles. I have not been in the pool since Ironman Texas. My bike still has the race wheels on it and my bike shoes are still attached to the pedals from race day. I have been using my TRX, but I need to foam roll my muscles.

The worst of it has been all the eating and partaking of adult beverages that I have been doing. Things were great until just about two or three weeks ago and all of a sudden the extra weight leaped on my body by just looking at food or being within three feet of it. Even though I am still able to purchase the smallest size shorts that J.Crew offers, I feel like a bloated tick that got picked off of a dog in late summer.

I know that this is the natural order of things and that I was starting to look like I had a terminal disease, but I feel yucko. I go and run just to get the G.I. track moving so that I won't go days without not carrying around several days worth of meals. But it is so hot outside in this city. If I don't get my run started by 6:30 in the morning, then it will be brutal if I try to run longer than six miles. When the temperature is already 80 degrees before the sun comes up, you have to be careful in the heat.

But there is hope! Coach Woofie gets home from his vacation this week and he said that I should have a new training plan in the next week to ten days. It will be run focused without much bike or swim other than just for cross training or to give the legs a break from all the pounding from running. I have one more triathlon on the schedule. I will be taking part in the Bridgelands Sprint Tri on the first Sunday of August. I will have a training partner over the next few weeks in my kid. I signed him up to do his first Sprint Distance tri. He is a little apprehensive but he will do great. The kid can swim, I have an extra bike for him to ride, and he is a good runner.

And boy, can that kid swim. This past weekend, Bud had the Ponderosa Invitational. He had to qualify just to be able to participate in this meet and he qualified in all five of his individual events. Even better, he swam faster in his events than his seed times and made the finals for his 50 Free, 50 Breaststroke, and 50 IM events. Best yet, he swam faster in the finals than he did in the preliminary races. He swam in the B Finals and came in 1st place in the 50 Free and 50 Breaststroke and was at least a full body length ahead of second place finisher. He ended up being the 9th highest point winner for the Boys Age 12. I am very proud of my Aquaman!

Bud and his teammates and coaches after winning 6th place overall for the Progressive Relay.

Well, it is time to go pick him up at swim practice.

Later Gators!

Liz

I Survived!

2011-06-20T22:03:00.021-05:00

Walt Disney World was a blast. The only bad thing about a vacation like that is that you kind of need a vacation from your vacation when you get back home. Well, the kid was surprised and he had a great time and that was what I wanted. It will not be long before he will not want to go to The Magic Kingdom and he will not want to take a vacation with him mom so I had to seize the opportunity to do it. Here are a few of the highlights...

On the flight to Orlando, we had no seat assignments. I ended up sitting in an emergency exit row with lots of leg room. Yahoo! I got to sit next to a woman who's excess flesh swallowed up the armrest that contained my tray table. I tried to be polite when asking if I could retrieve the tray table to set my $7 mojito down. I don't want to recall how that tray table was extracted from the armrest. Our flight was late getting to Orlando (NO! Really???) and after picking up the rental car, we were so hungry that we made a "run for the boarder" to the first Taco Hell we saw and got some fast grub. The resort was in Celebration, FL and was a suite with a kitchen. Nice.

Day one was spent at Epcot. We did all the major attractions and hit some things we had not done in the past. I was there for the food. The Land pavilion has the best food. For lunch I had a roasted beet salad with goat cheese and candied walnuts. The kid had a seared Ahi tuna noodle salad. Later for dinner we had wonderful green salad and a sampling of grilled Mahi Mahi on a bed of rice pilaf with mango and red bell peppers, beef loin tip on braised kale, and turkey breast on rosemary mashed potatoes. YUM! Dessert was a nectarine and raspberry crisp with vanilla bean whipped cream. I did a little shopping in the Japan pavilion and got me a bunch of cool little things all with koi on them. I have a thing for koi. They are so peaceful to watch gliding through the water. The fireworks were over by 9:30 and it was time to head back to the resort and get some sleep.

Bud on Test Track

My delicious Grilled Beet Salad...

and our fantastic dinner at The Garden Grill.

Crush the Sea Turtle!

One day soon I will not be on the other side of the glass, I will be swimming with one of these.

Day two was spent at the Magic Kingdom. We hit the Fast Pass for Space Mountain and then the kid proceeded to get me nauseated and give me a headache on the spinning teacups in Fantasyland. Yay! We saw the parades and had dinner in the Crystal Palace with Winnie the Pooh, Piglet, Tigger, and Eore. I had some yummy prime rib there. After the sun went down, we saw the fireworks and then hit more rides. The park did not close until 1 am so we had time to rave out at a dance party with Chip and Dale, and Stitch in Tomorrowland, ride Space Mountain again, and hit Thunder Mountain Rail Road five times in a row before the park closed.

Ooo, those teacups made me feel bad.

Party Rockers in the House Tonight....

Day three was at Hollywood Studios and I needed serious coffee. I might have snoozed for a few moments during the Indiana Jones Stunt Spectacular and possibly during the Muppets 3D movie. Not as many rides at this park so it was a bit more low key and after the Fantasmic laser light show and fireworks, we headed home to get some sleep.

Day four was at Animal Kingdom. Lunch was at the tasty Yak & Yeti (hehe, get it?) where I had a plate of tamarind chicken and a slice of mango pie and the kid had some lo mien, and a sorbet trio. We hit a few things we had not done before such as the Dinosaur ride and the Bird show. The Dinosaur ride was fun enough that we went on it two more times before we left around 7pm. The best part was doing the silly poses for the pictures and looking rather calm or goofy while everyone else in the picture was screaming their head off. The kid rode the Everest Expedition six times. I passed because I refuse to pay for cardiac arrest.

Tigger, is that you???

Would you like a snake with those fries?

Gigantic Fruit Bat

Sometimes this is how you have to feed them.

After Animal Kingdom, we went back to Magic Kingdom because it was open until midnight and we could get another 5 hours of WDW goodness in before the end of the trip. I stuck to my guns and bought myself one of those huge caramel apples that I always want but decline from getting. I ate the whole thing. It was delicious. It was good for me. It was an apple. It was justified.

Would you like an apple my pretty?

Yes, I would like the Minnie Mouse caramel apple please.

It began to thunder as rain clouds headed in and the outdoor rides were closed down. After seeing the line was too long at the Haunted Mansion, we got to Pirates of the Caribbean and saw that it was shut down. All the "Cast Members" were standing outside informing people of the tragic news. I looked at the kid and said, "You know what this means don't you?" "IT'S A SMALL WORLD!!!" I was met with groans from the kid and laughter and smiles from the "Cast Members" and we took off as it started to rain.

It's a Small World!

The rain seemed to send a lot of people home early and we were able to get into a bunch of rides that we had never done before because the lines were too long. That was fun. We had a late snack (and a cup of coffee) and saw the fireworks and ran to Space Mountain and were the last riders through the ride. Here is our silly photo.

Photobomb!

Thursday was time to pack and check out and we headed to Downtown Disney to do some last minute shopping for the kid and have some lunch before heading home. On the way to the airport the kid said, "This was a really fun trip." Yes, yes it was and we will have a bunch of memories for just the two of us. The plane was delayed four hours but what can you do. We got home late and it was straight to bed.

And it has been back to work, back to swim team, back to laundry, and back to 100 degree days in H-Town. I am ready to get back to training and I will be contacting Coach Woofie to get me some strength training and interval work to get started on. The gluttony and sloth are over and it is time to get busy again.

Shutting it down past midnight.

Stay tuned to find out what is in the works for the future. Trust me, it is exciting!

Later Gators,

Liz

Feeling Magical!

2011-06-12T21:56:00.004-05:00

I was super sneaky and I managed to fool the kid big time! After his swim meet in the morning, I distracted him by running some errands and then making him take a shower. While he was in the shower, I took the opportunity to take our pre-packed and hidden carry-on bags out to the car. Not more than ten minutes out of the shower, he fell asleep on the floor and I hopped in the shower and got cleaned up and ready to go.

Waking up the kid, he was not wanting to go with me to "get something to eat" and he wanted to go back to sleep. I had to be persistent to get him to put his shoes on and get out to the car. He was a bit cranky, but I knew that would change. I told him that I forgot some kettlebells at a client's house where I do some training and I had to pick them up. That put us going in the direction of the airport without him thinking anything was strange. Then I missed the exit. Oops! I said I would head to the ramp near the airport to get us back on the tollway. Again, he suspected nothing. When we made the U-turn to get on the ramp, I fooled him again and looped around to head to the long term parking. I told him that I had lied and that I did not need to pick up the kettlebells. He gave me a strange look and asked if we were getting a dog and going to pick it up.

No...

Then I told him that we were going to Disney World....NOW....and our flight would be leaving in 90 minutes. The look on his face was priceless. He quickly looked in the back and asked where luggage was. I had hidden it behind seat behind him and he could not see it. When we parked and got out of the car, I got a big hug.

After a great day at Epcot, we are off to The Magic Kingdom tomorrow. A great birthday surprise for the banana and my last hurrah before starting my training again.

Have a magical day!

Later Gators,

Liz

Covert Ops

2011-06-10T22:58:00.006-05:00

For those of you that read to the end of the last post, my Covert Ops Mission is about to commence. There are only three or four people who know about this mission. Of course, immediate family have been informed to the highest degree of accuracy. Co-workers have agreed to employ the cloak and dagger techniques they know so well as to not raise alarm. And then there is one more person who is sworn to secrecy.

This mission has absolutely nothing to do with swimming, biking, or running. Ok, some swimming and some running may take place. My dossiers are ready and my documents are prepared. I may meet with some initial resistance at the beginning of my mission to lure my target into the plan; however, I will not be armed and I do not anticipate extreme force to be used.

Until I receive my signal, it is business as usual. I will just blend in with the locals and try not to stand out, or raise suspicions. This may be my last opportunity to be Mrs. Incredible. Stay tuned to see how the events unfold.

Yes, Elastigirl is now sponsored by UnderArmor.

Later Gators,

Liz

Lazy Liz...That's My New Name!

2011-06-06T06:31:00.004-05:00

I started running again this past week. My back hurt when I was standing around or walking, but it was pretty pain-free when I ran. Go figure. It was only short 30 minute runs, here and there and then I did an hour run yesterday. I hit the wall at mile 6. Not bad considering that I took no Shot Bloks with me, it was already 80 degrees at 7 am, and I only ate a half a piece of toast with Nutella on it before the run. I will probably go run here in a few minutes. It is not that I am training again, I am just trying to burn off some of the cookies and Dr. Pepper I have been indulging in over the past two weeks.

I have become "Swim Team Mom" the past few weeks. Not only am I shuttling Bud to two different workouts, but I have been volunteering at the weekend swim meets. I have done parking duty, computer room runner, and concessions. Last week, the neighborhood team took a loss against a team that just had more older girls than we did. They racked up the points pretty fast. This past weekend, we won by a landslide. It is a lot of hot work, but it is better to be moving around than just sitting around in the heat.
Bud had done VERY WELL and so far has qualified for the elite meet the first weekend of July in all of his individual events. The relays are hit and miss. Some of the other kids on his relay teams are not as fast as he is so it has been close for a first or second place finish. As you can see from the photo below, there is no one around him when he swims. No one. He is usually so far ahead it is silly.
We have another meet again this weekend and hopefully it will not be 105 degrees at the meet like it was here in H-Town yesterday. After that, I have a covert operation in the works that is right up there with a SEAL Team 6 operation. I can't say much more or I would have to start killing people to silence them. So your best bet is to stay tuned and see what happens.

Later Gators!

Liz

IMTX Race Report: Life After the Finish Line

2011-05-29T08:26:00.005-05:00

The Medical Triage and Other Adventures...

Since the race was sponsored by Memorial Hermann Hospital, the Medical Triage was the finest that I have ever seen at a race. The volunteers quickly got me to a bed and they started peeling off my wet gear to keep me from getting chilled. They asked me several times about my stomach and I told them I felt fine except for my feet. An EMT who looked like Mr. Clean tried to carefully take off my shoes as I whimpered in pain and then set about cleaning my feet with Betadine solution and looking for the blisters on the wet and wrinkly bottoms of my feet. He found them. Lancing those blisters and draining them was no picnic either. Dr. Brian, who I know through Team in Training circles, came up to check on my feet and to congratulate me on a great race and sign my release papers. With my feet bandaged up, I grabbed my gear and hobbled out to meet the family who were waiting at the door. We made our way back to all the action so that I could get some food and find my Morning Gear Bag. In the "Athlete Village" I saw Coach Carrie. She gave me a big hug. She had an amazing sub-12 hour race and was 10th in her Age Group. I tried eating a Freebird's burrito but the lack of saliva in my mouth made the tortilla feel like I was trying to eat felt. My stomach was not wanting huge amounts of anything either. Just small bits. The family went to Potbelly to get some sandwiches and I hobbled off to find my gear. A man who was built like a brick wall and over six-foot tall took pity on me and offered to carry me where I needed to go. He gathered me up in his arms and took me over to the truck where the gear bags were, waited for me and then carried me back to where my family was. Ok sir, go wash your hands and arms now.

I saw more of my Team in Training friends who had been out on the course and just did a lot of people watching from my seat on a small ledge. I just didn't want to walk on my feet. They still hurt pretty bad. Finally, I put on dry shoes that I had worn over to the swim start that morning and it made walking a bit easier. El Esposo had to get home to finish packing to leave for a business trip in the morning and he took "The Banana" with him. I had to find "White Hot" (a.k.a. Ryan) and wait for the crew to come in. Ryan found "The Banana" and soon found me and we staked out a spot along the Finisher's chute to wait and watch for the crew. I also found Mike's coach, Coach Steve and some of the Go Mitch Go! Team and all patiently waited. I got to see my girlfriend Lauren again. Today she is in Florinopolis, Brazil and yesterday she saw her significant other, Lannas, race Ironman Brazil. You may recall, if you are a long-time reader of my blog, that I went to Cozumel last November to see Lauren and our friend Laura complete their first Ironman race.

Not long after the timing clock rolled over 14 hours, we got word that Mikey was very close to finishing. Mikey is a four-time cancer survivor and had just had another jaw surgery about a month ago and was still on antibiotics. He and Ryan had gotten pretty tight the past few days and Ryan did not want to leave our spot until he saw Mikey. When he rounded the corner, Ryan went nuts cheering for him and dashed off towards the Finish Line with Coach Steve and members of the Go Mitch Go! team. I held our place on the barricade and waited for Greyhound and Rachelle. When the crew finally came back by, Mikey got a big hug from me and he said that Coach Steve was going to get his bike and gear and that he was going back to his mom's room to lay down because he was not feeling well and he would see us in the morning.

I was starting to feel hungry but I did not want to jam a bunch of food down my face just yet. I gave Ryan $5 and told him to get me a Jamba Juice from across the street as he went on a mission for some Cold Stone ice cream. When he came back, he had a box of four chocolate chip cookie ice cream sandwiches and my Jamba Juice. All I could handle was little sips off my Jamba Juice and sadly had to let the ice cream sandwich start to melt. I had been keeping my eyes peeled for the rest of the Superfriends. Since we were also staked out right by the split to head out for another lap, we saw volunteers and a race official take their places to grab people who did not make it onto their third lap before the 10:00 pm deadline. It was sad watching those few athletes get pulled off the course. I did see one of the guys who used to come to my spin class at the gym make it through the cut-off.

I had not seen Michael for a few years because he started going to another gym and then we ended up sitting at the same table at the Athlete's Dinner a few nights before. He was so excited to see me and introduce me to his wife because she, and all of his friends knew about me. Michael told me that I was referred to as,"MY Elizabeth" to everyone and everyone knew that I was head and shoulders above any of the spin instructors at his new (and quite swanky) gym. He said he remembered when I was training for my first Ironman back in 2005-2006 and that I was such a huge motivation to him and I was the reason he signed up to run the Houston Marathon the next year. He had lost over 90 pounds and now he was fulfilling his dream to do an Ironman. When he told me this, I got a little misty eyed. The lesson here is that you never know that what you do and how your carry yourself can motivate or intimidate people. Always strive to motivate and be down to earth enough to poke fun at yourself and be approachable. Well, Michael did finish his Ironman. He was the second to last person to cross the line before they turned off the clock. Powerful stuff!

Ryan and I did not have to wait long to see Rachelle come around the bend. We had heard that she was not feeling well and she looked like she was ready to be done. I told Ryan that I would keep a lookout for Greyhound as he went down to go get Rachelle. Soon enough, Rachelle and her family were back on "The Hot Corner" and in less than five minutes we saw Greyhound running in. Rachelle bent over to put her bag down and then stood up and got dizzy so we hung out there for a minute to see if she was ok. Soon after that I got a text from Greyhound that he was sitting on the wall in front of the restaurant across the street and I texted back that we were all just across the street from the Starbucks, less than 100 feet from where he was. The Superfriends were now the Ironfriends and we all were back together. Ryan was going to hang out near the finish line some more while the rest of us went to get our gear and bikes.

I was having a hard time keeping up with everyone because of my blisters and Rachelle's family offered to carry some of my bags. Once we got our bikes, Greyhound's family offed to take my bike. I guess I looked pretty pitiful trying to get around. Once back at the cars, we loaded up and then Rachelle and I dug out the "clean-up system" that Ryan had turned us on to of baby wipes saturated in rubbing alcohol and wintergreen witch hazel. It felt good to wipe the sweat, salt, grime, and funk off and get into some clean, dry clothes. On the way home, Rachelle was getting hungry so we stopped at a What-a-burger near my house and got her a burger and large fries. Man, those fries were GOOD. I guess we needed the salt.

The Ironfriends! Back (l to r): Greyound, Rachelle, Ryan a.k.a "White Hot", Brian a.k.a."Tri Boomer"

Front: Coach Carrie, Shawn, me, and Iron Mikey. Not pictured is Christy Lan. She had to leave early.

After a shower, a chance to wash my hair, and the stunning realization that I had three huge blisters on the bottom of my left foot and two huge blisters on the bottom of my right foot all between the ball of my foot and my 5th metatarsal (I have NO idea how I ran almost 20 miles on those!), I collapsed into my own bed and slept without a single dream that I can recall. We were all up the next morning by 6:30 and headed out the door to go back to The Woodlands for Finisher's gear, to get Ryan signed up for his Kona slot, and to head to breakfast at Greyhound's casa. There was some nice Finisher's gear, but the things I wanted had all the small sizes snapped up before I got there so I walked out empty handed. Rachelle and I went on a trip to go find breakfast tacos and kolaches to take to breakfast and then headed to Greyhound's. When everyone arrived, there were 9 hungry Ironmen chowing down on waffles, bacon, breakfast tacos, kolaches, bagels and lox, fruit, and sipping on Mimosas.

Later in the day, we went to a pool party with some of the Austin triathletes that we knew through Coach Carrie and Mikey. It was good to relax and do nothing. By 8:30 pm that evening, I was falling asleep on the sofa and we headed to bed. I had a stretch session the next morning at 7am and then I had to get Rachelle to the airport.

It was quiet in the house after everyone headed home and it was a little sad, but it gave me a chance to really relax and chill out. Because I felt like I had neglected my kid for the better part of six days, when he got home from school I took him to the movie to go see Pirates of the Caribbean. My life got back to normal. Or at least normal for most Americans. I was eating like I don't normally eat and not exercising and I was feeling yucko. I decided that I would start running again on the weekend. Sadly, I hurt my back at work lifting some weights for the first time in a few weeks due to the taper and I am in pain. Even sitting on the sofa is uncomfortable. I went straight to Spine & Sports Therapy to have Dr. Jeff take a look at me since Dr. H was on vacation and Dr. D was booked up. I got a little relief, but I am still in pain and I feel like a lazy slug.

Coach Woofie told me to take a month off without any structured workouts and just play. We do have some plans in the works for what is next for this Swimbikerun girl. If the plan gets a green light after my back gets better, I am going to have a lot of work cut out for me. But for now, there are no races on the horizon and that feels a tad weird. Someone double dog dared me to get another mountain bike to replace mine that El Esposo sold without telling me until he was packing it up to ship. I have no money right now, so that may be on hold. And frankly, I want to get a dog. I need a cold nose and a wagging tail first.

I know that I drove some of you mad with all the daily installments on this race, but I tend to write WAY too much and I hate to leave anything out. In short, Ironman Texas is a great race. It is a hot, humid, and hard race, and some website listed it as the 5th hardest Ironman race out there. I saw the names of some top notch Pro triathletes and some really fast and strong local athletes on the list of those who DNF'ed. Heck, if it was easy, it wouldn't be an Ironman. Some of my crazy friends have already signed up for next year's race but for now, I am on the search for the next race that calls my name and asks for a date. I didn't get asked out in high school, so I may have to take matters into my own hands like I did when I asked out someone for a date to my own prom.

The tools of recovery....

So stay tuned to read all about the geek girl asking the popular star athlete (er, athletic event) for a date.

Later Gators!

Liz

IMTX Race Report: Part Six

2011-05-28T20:32:00.017-05:00

T2 and The Run: a.k.a. The Cool Down

As I always say, there is nothing like getting off your bike and getting to stretch out your legs. It feels GREAT! I was now ready to do 26.2 miles of stretching out my legs. After getting off my bike at the dismount line, I dashed through the arches leading to Transition and was greeted by a volunteer who offered to take my bike and my helmet as well. Awesome! I usually have to run around with my Pterodactyl helmet on until I get to the change tent. The grass in transition is not the famous Texas St. Augustine grass that has a wide blade and can be rough on the foot. It is some kind of soft carpet grass. Being bare foot, it felt great between my toes. Soon, it was on to hot pavers and down rows of bags to find mine and dash into the change tent. All I had to do was get shoes on and get my cycling gloves off.

My change tent volunteer started pulling my shoes out of my bag and I asked her if there was a towel available. She found one quick and started to dry off my feet and in between my toes. I kinda felt like Jesus in some strange way. I got my socks and shoes on and my gloves off and put some hot Butt Butter down my shorts to prevent any chaffing. I grabbed my Fuel Belt that had my hat attached and headed for the exit. I grabbed a quick cup of water and I was out in the sun. After turning my race number around, I wrapped the Fuel Belt around me and got my hat on as I crossed the timing mat. Total time: 5:04. Again, kinda long, but hey, I wanted dry feet.

It was now right around 2:30 and I was an hour ahead of schedule and out on the run course right about the same time I was in Cozumel. Who starts running a marathon at 2:30 in the afternoon??!!?? Well, I did last week. I wanted to settle into a pace that was slightly slower than normal and a pace that I knew that I could maintain. After running 150 yards down the sidewalk on The Woodlands Waterway, we had to scramble up a steep dirt hill to a parking lot. I walked up it with everyone else because we did not want to turn an ankle. Once on level ground we ran through the GE parking lot and towards Aid Station #1. I was really looking forward to Aid Station #1 because all of my Team in Training friends were running the Aid Station and I needed some TNT love.

Cool water on the Arm Coolers and down the hatch.

Boy, did I get some love! Lauren, Tim, Sarah, Jay, Audrey, Kim, Nancy, and Angela were all there to cheer for me, give me water, load my tri top with ice, and give me hugs. I felt like a rock star going through there! They were surprised to see me so early and they really took care of me. I exited the parking lot and got on Lake Woodlands Dr. and started to head over the bridge to North Shore Park where we started the swim. I have run this route so many times that it is not funny. I was on auto pilot. I just concentrated on keeping my pace manageable and my heart rate under control. The ice in my tri top felt great and at the next aid station just over the bridge, I got water to pour on my Arm Coolers. Ahhh! Wow that felt great with the breeze that had picked up. Sadly, we were running on the street rather than the run path that was just on the other side of the trees. Shade would have been nice. The course turned the corner onto Panther Creek Dr. and my normal landmarks, the three foot bridges, were on the run path and not the street. There was an aid station that looked like it was being run by cowboys and I asked the volunteers not to spray me down with the hose to keep my feet dry. Just before we got to The Woodlands Parkway, the course took us through the grass and onto the run path. Shade! I was in my groove at this point and even though some of the fast people who were on their second loop were passing me, there were plenty of people who I was passing. I saw a halogen lamp just off the path and a huge grin spread across my face. I would be off this course before they would have to turn that baby on!!!

It is amazing what a smile can do when you are tired. All of a sudden, I had energy that came out of no where. I kept that smile on my face as long as I could. I even started to get a bit teary eyed. We came out of the trees and were on the South Shore end of the lake. At this aid station, I grabbed a cup of the PowerBar Perform and gulped it down along with some water. After running across the dam bridge and seeing people riding in on the bike course just on the other bridge, it was back into the trees for a bit and then back on the pavement when we exited the trees and turned into the South Shore neighborhood. The next aid station was manned by men in hula skirts and coconut bras and plenty of lovely ladies who had been leid. South Shore has some crazy big houses in it. I wondered how these people felt about having to be prisoner in their homes all day for this race. About this time I saw my friend Wilmer who I had seen along the side of the road on the bike course. He had gotten a wheel from one of the pro women who was going to call it a day. How awesome and selfless its that! Wilmer kept on running and he seemed to have a good pace. As I was finishing running by the lake, a motorcycle with a cameraman on the back pulled up next to me and smiled back as he was filming. Oh yeah, I still have that stupid grin on my face. I waved to the camera. They slowed down to catch some of the people behind me and then drove up again. They probably thought, "Who is this idiot girl who is so frickin' happy to be running a marathon in this heat???"

After going around the corner, there was a timing mat. About this time I saw Wilmer again but now he was walking. I told him that he was doing great. I had cheered for him last fall at Ironman Cozumel and I told him he was still going to beat me to the Finish Line. Running through the next aid station, I saw my friend Theresa and she was thrilled to see me. I got more ice for my tri top and more PowerBar Perform drink. Next, it was down the sidewalk and on to The Woodland Waterway. There were more spectators sitting on the hill, hanging over the bridge and on the balconies of the condos along the Waterway where we finished the swim that morning. The crowd support was great! They seemed to be pretty wild across the way at one of the bars. Time for Shot Bloks.

It was a long stretch to the next aid station because we had to get off the Waterway because there was very little room to have an aid station. I got passed my Michael Lovato on this stretch. I told him good luck and he thanked me. After getting to the end of the Waterway, we ran past the Anadarko office building and aid station #7. Dang it! I got my feet wet trying to pour water on my Arm Coolers. The run route took a detour from what had been on the original run map and rather than going over the foot bridge to the other side, we ran around the building on street level to take Woodlock Forest Drive over The Waterway and then around another office building to get us back on the Waterway and heading down towards Landry's restaurant and towards The Woodlands Mall. I saw Michael Lovato again and he was walking and trying to stretch out his hamstrings. I was now feeling hot spots on the bottoms of my feet around the ball of my foot. Ugh! I saw Cat Morrison being led by a cyclist on the course. She was in first place and I gave her a shout out. Just the day before, Brian Brode (a.k.a. TriBoomer) got a picture of me and Cat. Very cool! At Aid Station #8 at the turn around was run by The Parrot Heads and I saw my friend Andrea that I had done my first Team in Training event with back in 2000. It was awesome to see her since I had not seen her in a few years. I also saw my TNT friend Coach Bill Dwyer and he got some great pics of me. I had that stupid smile on my face again. Heading back on the Waterway, the wind was really whipping around the one of the office buildings. The shade was great, but I felt like I was being pushed backwards. Near the spot where we got back on the Waterway, we had to cross some grass to get on the sidewalk rather than on a trolley path. I did not want to twist my ankle, so I took it slow.

Passing Goose's Acre Bar on my first loop around mile 7.

Once back on pavement, I settled back into my pace and made my way towards the Goose's Acre bar and America's restaurant where everyone was out on the patio. It was wild and fun. Those spectators were already drunk and having a good time. There were also water misters that gave us a cool spray. Hmm, my feet are hurting more. Running toward the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, we had to run up a hill to get on street level. Not real fun. I took some water from my Fuel Belt and made my way to the street to run towards Market Street. I grabbed more water and ran past the Special Needs bags. Now I wish that I had stuck dry socks in a bag, but oh well, lesson learned. I saw my friend Norma and she told me I was looking good.

Heading out for Loop #2.

Running to Market Street was electric! The crowds were off the hook and I could hear Mike Reilly bringing in Michael Lovato in for his finish. It was time to head out for loop two and as I ran down Lake Robbins Dr. I saw my friend Jeff Zavala from Team in Training, Rachelle's family (Rachelle was staying at my house for the event) and the Go Mitch Go! Team that was there with Mikey Thompson (also staying at my house). They all gave me lots of love. Now it was on to see my TNT friends at aid station #1 again. After getting the royal treatment and getting back out on the road, lo and behold Coach Carrie ran up next to me. "There's my girl! Dang, it took me this long to catch ya?" I told her that I was way ahead of schedule and that I had some blisters on my feet so she should stay on her pace since I had to keep things in perspective with the pain. She was looking great and she asked if I was going to breakfast at Greyhound's in the morning and we both said we would see each other there in the morning and I sent her on her way. I was finding that it was more painful to stop and walk and then start running again rather than to keep running, but I had my plan of walk breaks to get ice, and fluids in. Back on Panther Creek I saw more people I knew and got lots of encouragement before hitting the run path and getting some shade. I was going slow, but I was passing a bunch of people who were walking. Somewhere between South Shore and The Waterway, Wilmer passed me and he had found his running legs again. I was now at the half way point and the sun was still high in the sky. Theresa gave me some motivation and sent me through the aid station and on to the Waterway. It was hot, but the ice and the Arm Coolers were great. Little did I know that the temperature got up to 91 degrees that afternoon. I was now trying to keep my eyes peeled for Rachelle, Mikey, and Greyhound. I knew Ryan was done, so I looked for him on the sidelines. I saw Rachelle at aid station # 7 at the Anadarko building and I gave her a shout out. "Abracadabra, Homes!!!" She gave me a wave as I ran by. I saw Coach Bill for more photo opportunities and made my way to the turn around by the Parrot Heads. Just past The Goose's Acre bar, I saw Coach Tim, my Masters Swim Coach, and Lauren who swims with us and works at Lululemon along with Mike Moore who stayed with Rachelle, Greyhound, and me when we did the Galveston 70.3 race. I was loving all of this crowd support! Up that nasty hill again and towards Market Street and out on to loop #3.

Going through Aid Station #1 on my 3rd Loop!!!

I saw Jeff again. The Go Mitch Go Team cheered me on. Just before crossing the street and heading through the parking lot, I saw my TNT friends Judy and Karla who I had coached through their first Olympic distance triathlon. Loved those hugs. I took a longer walking break at Aid Station #1 maned by my TNT friends and walked a bit with my girlfriend Lauren. My blisters were smarting pretty bad. I finally had to get running again and I vowed not to stop until the aid station on Panther Creek. Once there I decided that I needed a bathroom break and wouldn't you know that the port-o-can was out of paper and there was none to be found. Ack! Oh well, it's not like I hadn't peed down my leg all day. My last time down the run path, I was passing more people which is laughable because I was doing the Ironman shuffle at this point. I was also smiling again because I was through this area without the halogen lights being turned on yet. I WAS ALMOST DONE!!! The pain of my feet were getting to me and I lost track of what mile I was at between 21 and 23. Theresa told me to get going and to finish strong as I was leaving her aid station with a new load of ice down my top.

Coming back from Aid Station #8 and the Parrot Heads on the Last Loop.

One more time on The Waterway. I was now having to resort to a mantra to keep going at my pace and to run through the pain of my feet. "Drop it like it's HOT! Drop it like it's HOT! Drop it like it's HOT! Drop it like it's HOT!!!" Rachelle had shown me this Sundrop soda commercial the day before and we all agreed to do the hand pump in the air if we saw each other on the course.

Now I was using this just to get through the pain. I tried to keep my stride as normal as possible. Across the other side for the last time! I saw Coach Bill one more time and he said I was looking great. I looked at my watch and I could hardly believe the time that I was at. This was going to be a HUGE PR!!! One last time to see the Parrot Heads. I saw a couple of other racers I recognize from local races and I was passing them. WHOO HOO!!! I was starting to go faster. One last time past Goose's Acre and seeing Mike Moore who was yelling his head off for me. One last time up that awful hill! Picking up speed now. One last time on the stretch past the Special Needs bags and to see my friend Norma. And my my last turn on to Market Street!!! I was booking it now. Damn the pain, I was almost done. On the last curve to head in to the Finisher's chute I heard, "MOM!!!" I looked around and it was Bud in his banana costume and El Esposo. They had made it! I yelled back that I was done and kept running. Around the curve and over a timing mat. Mike Reilly was calling out my city of origin and recognizing Team in Training. "Elizabeth Garcia, YOU are an IRONMAN for the 3rd time!!! Way to go!!!"

Just a few strides from the Finish Line!!!

I jumped over that Finish Line and gave out a shout...and then I couldn't move. My volunteer catchers grabbed me and helped me out of the way and I told them that I probably should get to to the medical tent because of my blisters. I got my Finisher's medal, I got my timing chip off, I got my Finisher's photo, I got my Finisher's hat and shirt and then I saw Bill Crews. Bill is a TNT tri/marathon coach with me and he is a leukemia survivor and one of my honored Teammates. He gathered me up in his arms and I broke down in tears. I told him thank you and between the sobs he thought that I said I hated him. I quickly had to set him straight that I did not hate him but that it was so good to see him. My TNT friend, Audrey, showed up next and gave me a big hug and I asked her to go find the kid in a banana suit and to let my family know that I was going to the med tent.

Total Run time: 4:48:27 (11 min/mile pace) Finish Time: 12:18:42 18th Place in my Age Group out of 71 finishers, Women 40-44 87th out of 480 Female Finishers 574th out of 1998 Racers who finished.

2686 Racers signed up for this Inaugural event. 2160 got into the water that morning to begin the race. 1998 finished under 17 hours and three more came in just after the clock struck midnight. That means 159 people did not finish. I am surprised that it was not more. It was a hot and humid day and if you're not from around here, it could have messed with you really bad.

But wait! This is not the end of the story. Tomorrow I will give you the post-race happenings and what went on inside the Medical Tent. My buddy Johnny Tri from Vegas always says it wouldn't be a good race without me having to make a visit to the Med Tent. So check back in tomorrow for all the details.

Later Gators!

Liz

P.S. Did I smile too much?

IMTX Race Report: Part Five

2011-05-27T21:55:00.006-05:00

The Bike...Part Deaux

So we left off yesterday with me rolling over the mid way timing mat at 19.12 mph. We had turned into the wind, but it was considerably less wind than what Greyhound and I had been dealing with on our training rides. I was now three hours into my ride and if I played my cards right, it would only take me three hours to get back to T2!

I turned off of FM 2562 and headed east on FM 2819. I had a crosswind and I took advantage of it by getting my speed up to 21 mph. I knew that later on my speed would be in the 14 mph range on some of the hills. I grabbed a bottle of water at an aid station and proceeded to start dealing with "fast" boys who had stopped back at Special Needs and were now frantically trying to get back up in the crowd. Not just one person would pass, but a string of guys. I had to sit up in the saddle on three occasions to drift back and even spoke up to say, " Come on Dudes, pass already or drop back." They did not seem to thrilled that I told them that and tried to drop me. Eh, didn't work. I was soon rolling up on them just sticking to my pace and they were blocking the road, two abreast. "ON YOUR LEFT, MOVE RIGHT DUDES! Geezzz...."I did not see them again.

It was time to head south again on FM1486 and to start pedaling towards Dacus and Dobbin and into the wind. And this is where I started to sing in my head. At Arizona it was "One of These Things Is Not Like the Other" from Sesame Street. At Cozumel it was Katy Perry's "Waking Up in Vegas". Today it would be "Give Me Everything" by Pitbull and Ne-Yo. "Grab somebody sexy, tell 'em "Hey!", give me everything tonight!" Whoo Hoo! I was jamming on the bike. The hills were a little more challenging but I was drinking, eating, and singing. Some dude passed me and gave me a funny look. Crap, was I singing out loud?!? I thought that was in my head. OK, time for a self check here. Ooo, 10 mph up that big hill, 147 bpm heart rate. Focus! "I can't take it, take it, take it no more. Never felt like this, like this before. Come on get me, get me on the floor. DJ what you, what you waiting for???" Now Britney had come to join the party. Ooo, gotta pee again. Pretty soon it was time to leave Grimes Co. and start rolling over smoother pavement in Montgomery Co. YAHOO!!! We are heading home!!!

There was a string of hills that needed me to pay attention to my heart rate between Dacus and Dobbin but I felt like I was rolling along pretty well. I was surprised at the crowds of people gathered at the intersection of FM 1486 and Hwy 105. I heard later that just moments behind me a spectator walked out in front of a cyclist bombing down that hill and got hit pretty seriously. I also heard that traffic cops held up the athletes to let cars pass for at least 3 minutes. There were some unhappy people. Thankfully, I never ran into that. I was running low on water so at the next aid station on Jackson Rd., I grabbed a bottle and started moving down the road. This can be a fast stretch and I wanted to take advantage of it. I passed a kid that had passed me back around mile 20 and commented on my nice bike and I noticed that he was riding a Kuota as well. I noticed that he was 19 and riding the bike that was the next up from mine and darn expensive. I asked him how he could afford a bike like that at 19. He said his dad went in half with him for the bike. Must be nice. Tell your dad "thank you" kid! Ugh! People! Stop Drafting!!! Packs of three to seven riders would come barreling around me. Not safe because there was more car traffic on this road than I had seen all morning long. I had to sit up to drift back again and I was having to drift back due to these packs. I was not happy. I got down in my aero bars again and started to work when an official on a motorcycle rolled up next to me. ACK!!! I was less than four bike lengths away from the guy in front of me. I looked over at the official and worked on slowing my pace without stopping pedaling all together. "Did I startle you?", the official asked. Uh, duh! Yeah! "Yes, Ma'me." "Ok, just making sure you are paying attention and not zoning off. Have a good race.", she said. "Thank you." And then the motorcycle moved forward to look into that pack. HOLY C--P! I almost got nailed with a red card and a 4 minute penalty. Time to get my head back in the game.

We hit smooth pavement when Jackson became 149. Greyhound and I had been wondering when they were going to finish widening and adding a shoulder to this road. It had been in the works for weeks but the last time we rolled over it, the road was no where near finished and that was less than two weeks from the race. Well, it got finished, or at least part of it. The last mile and a half on that road was not finished and worse than the last time we were on it because they had grated the surface and it was rough enough to rattle your teeth out of your head. The car traffic was bad as well and cars were lined up waiting for the light. That forced us to draft and ride single file until we got up to the turn at the intersection. It was on to FM 1488 and to pass Magnolia HS where I do Masters Swim and then onto a stretch we call "The Dog Run" or Dobin-Huffsmith Rd. The sun was starting to peek out here and there and I was doing my best to keep the speed up with the increasing heat and the winds. I gotta go again!

Towards the bottom of Dobin-Huffsmith road, I grabbed another bottle of water at the 90 mile aid station and it was nice and cold. I drank some of it because it was colder than the water in my aero bottle and I sprayed some of it on my De Soto Arm Coolers and on my shorts. Man that felt good. Why had I not been putting water on these Arm Coolers sooner? We turned on FM 2978 and got a tailwind and a huge line of cars stopped on the road for traffic and they were actually being nice and cheering for us rather than cussing us out. I had some guy pass me and tell me "Go TEAM!" Thanks, I needed that. We turned into The Woodland through part of the residential area that I had never been through because we always went up to the Wal-Mart for a bathroom break. There were lots of cheering people and we needed it. The sun was out and it was HOT. I looked down at my watch. HOLY MOLY! I may finish this ride in under six hours!!!

We were back on The Woodlands Parkway. One more chance to get some food in me. Watch out behind, I gotta pee again. I was now passing guys that looked like they had cracked themselves on the bike and would be worthless on the run. The intersections were blocked so we had the right of way. Once on Grogan's Mill, I started thinking about getting my feet out of my shoes and the process of T2. The crowds of spectators were thick and crazy. We were rolling over a bridge that crossed over the run course, so there were lots of cheering people. Getting around the corner on Lake Robbins Dr. I could see the volunteers getting us to slow down as we approached the dismount line. I hopped off right before the line and I may have made it in right around 6 hours! WHOO HOO!!!

Ok, it is time for me to go to a swim meet for my kid, so I am leaving you hanging again until tomorrow. Remember, it is all about patience.

Later Gators!

Liz

IMTX Race Report: Part Four

2011-05-26T15:50:00.008-05:00

The Bike Leg: a.k.a. "The Worst Parade EVER!"

I have been riding parts of this bike course for the past twelve years and the detailed course that would show up on race day since last November. Every weekend I have been on these roads. By now I would think that the locals would know me and my ghetto Kuota bike with the green fork by now. I love my Kuota! No one else in the world has a red and black Kuota Kalibur with a green fork....and blue bar tape. So all I had to do was hop on my bike and ride this route just one more time.

Since I am a lean, mean, triathlon machine (read as skin and bones), I hopped on my bike still wet from the swim with goose bumps on my arms and legs. I hoped that my pedaling would get me to warm up in the first few miles. The crowds along the route from Transition to The Woodlands Parkway were great. Once we turned on the parkway, there were crowds of people gathered at the intersections and business driveways cheering for us with vuvuzelas, cow bells, and whistles. They were awesome and we were just a bunch of weirdos on bikes. I took advantage of the protected lane and non-stop intersections to eat a Clif Mojo Bar and drink lots of water. There were lots of dudes and a few chicks zipping by me to make up time they lost on a crappy swim. I just settled into my pace and stuffed my face. My main goal was to get my heart rate down a bit. I knew it could be easy to speed up but that was not in my plan. My plan gave me 7 hours to finish the bike leg. AND WHAT THE HELL IS IN MY LEFT BIKE SHOE???

On FM 2978 I just stayed to the right while everyone passed me up. I was already past mile 10 by this point and I had no worries. I knew that I would see some of these people who were passing me again on the run course because they cracked themselves wide open on the bike. I figured out what was in my left bike shoe. It was a little packet of Butt Butter that I forgot to pull out of my shoe and put in my pocket in case I was starting to chafe. At least it was in my arch and not too uncomfortable. The bike route did a small detour from the map that we had been riding for months and had us turn right on Egypt Rd. to make it across FM 1488 at an intersection that was not a busy and then diverted us through a residential neighborhood before putting us back out on FM 2978 at a relatively new gas station.

As we continued on FM 2978 through the Woodland Trails subdivision and the Montgomery Trace subdivision I was glad to see race officials on motorcycles slowly making their way down the row of cyclists. There was the potential to draft and I did see it happen, but I saw the official throw out a few red cards to people and everyone started playing by the rules. It was about this time that I thought my bladder was going to rupture. I had slurped in all of the 38 or 40 ounces of water that was in my aero bottle and now I was needing to get rid of what I had not sweat out of my pores. The second dirty little secret in triathlon is that we pee on the bike. It can be used as a strategy to get people who are drafting off of you to quickly exit your back wheel. Well, I checked over my left shoulder to see if anyone was there and if I could open the flood gates. The next rider was at least 6-7 bike lengths back so there was no danger of giving him a shower. Right on target! My goal was to have to pee somewhere along this road and before I got to the 30 mile mark. I saw my friend Wilmer as he passed me on the bike and he gave me a shout out. Little did I know I would see him again soon.

We went over the bridge on FM2978 to get us over the rail road tracks and made a turn to head west on FM 2854. Now I was holding my own. Less people were passing me and I even started passing a few people. The hills were starting to roll and I was passing dudes on the way up and they were zipping past me on the way down. On one down hill section, I hit 29 mph. Whoo Hoo!!! It was time to evacuate the bladder again. I was right on schedule with eating my Shot Blocks and at least the sun was staying behind the clouds to keep the temps down. After bombing across Hwy 105, I pulled over in a driveway entrance and pulled the packet of Butt Butter out of my shoe and got back on the way. We were now passing mile 30. The miles were flying by!

We left Montgomery, TX and started entering the Sam Houston National Forest. The forest is beautiful. I saw my friend Kathleen on the bike. She is an animal and I have lost count of how many Ironman races she has done. It was good to start to see people I knew. I saw another official on the back of a motorcycle keeping tabs on everyone to make sure there was no drafting or littering in the National Forest. I could hear the birds in the trees and it was very quiet and peaceful back on Osborn Road as I flew through the trees. When I turned left on FM 1375 I played cat and mouse with a guy named David who would pass me on the downhills and I would drop him on the uphills. He commented that we needed to stop meeting like this and I granted his wish when I rode through the 40 mile aid station and he slowed down to grab fluids. My heart rate was still nice and low and I was feeling good on the bike. It was nice to see the locals had rode their ATV's up to the gate on their farms and ranches to cheer for us. I thought that the route would be pretty lonely from all the rides that I had done and not seen a single person. The other bit of awesomeness was that there were very few vehicles on the road. The course was not closed and usually there are lots of motorcyclists who ride through the forest on the weekends and plenty of crew cab Dooley pick up trucks hauling trailers that make their way towards Lake Conroe or to a ranch. On race day, there were hardly any cars on the road on the way up to the turn to head back.

Just before hitting the 50 mile mark I saw someone along the side of the road pushing their bike. Since it was on a bit of an uphill I was going slow enough to see that it was Wilmer. I asked if he was ok and he called back that he had popped a spoke. DANG! Approaching the aid station at the 50 mile mark was a great sign that read, "We guarantee that NO dogs will pee on your wheel at Aid Station #5!" No, it is just the athletes that will pee on their own wheel, lol. I was barrelling along at 27 mph when I got back on Hwy. 149 on the way into Richards. Some dude trying to pass me about laid it down when we crossed over from Montgomery Co. to Grimes Co. and the road surfaces changed. Hehehehe, I knew this was going to happen and where to position my wheel to avoid the bumps and cracks in the road. As he hit the brakes hard, I kept going. Once we got into Richards, we had another detour through the town on a road that until race weekend has always been a gravel road. Some oil had been spread on the road and a really bad layer of chip seal had been put down. My speed immediately dropped 3 mph as we made our way across the quarter mile stretch and had our teeth rattled out of our heads. Normally we stay on the main road because there is a gas station we stop at, but I guess they did not want to tie up the only gas station within a 12 mile radius with us riding past it.

The winds were still low and I was still feeling good. At mile 58, it was time to have people slowing and stopping for their Special Needs bags. I had not turned one in so I kept on going. At this point, we had a timing mat to roll over. Little did I know, but for the first 58 miles my average speed was 19.12 mph!!! That is smoking fast for me and fast with those rolling hills.

Ok, I am going to leave you hanging again! It is time for me to head to work so check back tomorrow for the exciting conclusion to the bike leg.

Later Gators,

Liz

IMTX Race Report: Part Three

2011-05-26T10:22:00.009-05:00

T1: or how you go from soaking wet to rolling on wheels as quickly as possible.

Ok, we left off yesterday with me climbing out of the washing machine also known as the Ironman Texas swim venue. I exited the swim in 1:15:18 and that ended up being 12th in my Age Group out of 151 women and 503rd out of 2686 participants. Not too shabby considering the Slug-fest that the swim was. Since it was point to point, we were now back at Transition. After checking my watch and seeing that I was five minutes ahead of schedule, I relaxed and started to go through the simple motions of getting ready to ride. I went to unzip my two day old TYR Torque Pro swim skin and ended up with a stuck zipper. Crap! I knew this would probably happen because I had trouble unzipping it the day before for the practice swim and just unzipping it without my body being in it...

ATTENTION TYR: Please look into fixing the zipper design on your Torque Pro Swim Skin!!! For $350.00, it should unzip easily.

Thanks, that's all.

I heard a few people call out my name as I ran down the rows of blue T1 bags and grabbed mine off the ground and dashed into the women's change tent. Right before I entered, I saw my good friend Norma and waved to her. A volunteer quickly took my bag and finished opening it up as I loudly called out that I needed someone to unzip me. Two other volunteers struggled for at least 30 seconds to get the zipper all the way down so I could get out. My Team in Training tri suit was all ready on, so I only had a few things that I had to do. As I was getting my shoes on, the volunteer was buckling my SPI belt with my race number on it around my waist. We struggled to get my DeSoto Arm Cooler Wings on my wet arms. I had suffered enough crazy sunburns so I thought that I would order me a pair of these and give them a try. I liked them enough on my longest training ride that I knew that they would be part of my race attire. My volunteer opened up a baggie that had my S-Cap electrolyte capsules in them along with a small container of Sport Legs lactic acid buffer capsules and a tube of Carmex lip balm. I stuffed those in my pockets, put my cycling gloves on, and stuck my helmet on my head.

I thanked my volunteer and dashed out the tent to head to the bike racks. Since I had my Arm Cooler Wings on, I did not need extra sunblock. I was trusting that the sun block Greyhound had let me use before the swim start was still on my legs and that if I felt I needed more, I could find some at an aid station. I also ran past the bank of port-o-cans since I had taken care of that issue while I was swimming. Yes, Lake Woodlands was basically one huge toilet that morning. Gross, I know, but that's the dark, secret side of Ironman we don't advertise much. I ran to my bike rack quickly because it was right next to a PowerBar flag that I was using as a landmark. I pulled my sunglasses off the bike and put them on and then grabbed the bike and headed out to the street and the bike mount line. Again I heard a few people call my name. I apologize for not looking up, I just did not want to crash into someone else of do a Mary Catherine Gallagher fall trying to get on my bike. Here is a video of me all the way over near the fence with my white Arm Cooler Wings and my pointy aero helmet, trying to get on my bike...

Total time in T1 was 5:23. That seems like a long time and many people do it faster. I could have gone faster but I did not want to make any mistakes or be totally out of breath by the time I got on the bike.

OHHHH SNAP!!! I am leaving you hanging! I know you were sitting on the edge of your seat waiting for what happened on the bike, but you will have to check back in tomorrow. Right now I think I hear a sandwich and a banana calling my name and I must to see to it.

Tomorrow's episode, "How you know you're hydrated."

Later Gators!

Liz

IMTX Race Report: Part Two

2011-05-24T15:00:00.006-05:00

THE SWIM, a.k.a. "The Smack-fest"

I am one of those purple caps just above the kayaker's paddle.

As soon as the gun went off, things went from vertical to horizontal and I immediately got smacked in the head and kicked in the thigh and stomach. I could not put my head down in the water for fear of getting a swift kick in the face. I knew to expect this but it was much wilder than Cozumel or Arizona. I did some water polo freestyle swimming for at least 50 meters before I could put my face down in the water. I was not in panic mode. In fact, I was more panicked bobbing up and down and trying to keep my head above water before the start. Now I was in survival mode and "Get the F--K Out of MY WAY!!!" mode.

The course was not a straight line like was drawn on the course map. It snaked left, and then right, and back to the left before getting to the turn buoy. Because of that, some people were hugging the yellow buoy line while others were swimming straight out to the furthest yellow buoy they could see and trying to avoid the outcropping of shoreline on the right. That meant that people were swimming all over the place. It was a huge Cluster F--k. I got a little bit of clean water for about ten strokes and then I was made into a Coach Liz sandwich between two dudes in wetsuits. The water clarity was zero, so they may not have known I was even there, but they smacked me in the back of the head and the chin at least five or six times and kicked me in the side before I got pissed and swam over top of the dude on my right and got on his other side and took off again.

Just a lovely swim with 2600+ of your closest triathlon friends....

The weather was in our favor. The cloud cover kept the sun from shining in our eyes and blinding us. The water temp was about 78 so even though I was cold before the start, I was ok once I was moving. I was stunned by the number of people who decided to wear a wetsuit, but I am sure they wanted it more for the security of the flotation rather than warmth.

As soon as I got to the red turn buoy, I started getting smacked by the men in the green caps again. It was about 100 meters to the next red turn buoy and to start following the orange buoys back in. I was getting a little more clean water and then YOWZAA!!! I got some dude's hand up my crotch. "HEY! Get over here and let me grab something and see how you like it!" I took a breath to the right and was surprised how close I was to the shore line and I could see all the people standing on the grass watching us. Ok, time to swim in a bit. I thought I was in line but I forgot that the course snaked around. I felt like it took a long time to get to the canal.

Amazing that I can see these people's legs under the water. I could not see my hand in front of my face the entire way! Yep, the canal is that narrow.

Why was I in such a hurry to get to the canal? Well, it would mean that I was only 800 meters from the stairs to get out. It also would mean that 2600+ racers would be bottle necked down into a four foot deep and thirty foot wide smack-fest. The race director had warned everyone that if they needed to stand in the canal, they could, but not to walk along the bottom of the canal due to stray re bar, glass, and concrete. I did see a few people stand up. I felt like I was not making any progress in the canal. Each time I took a breath, I saw the same people on the shore and the sidewalk. I was groped, smacked around some more, and pulled totally under the water twice before I saw the red buoy at the end of the canal that marked the last turn to the stairs to get out of the water. I swam hard and pushed some dude out of the way to get up the stairs first.

The last red buoy to turn left and get to the stairs and out of the water.

My goal was to be out of the water in one hour and twenty minutes and when I looked down at my watch I saw 1:15 which was five minutes ahead of schedule. Yahoo! After that swim, YAHOO!!! Now it was time to transition.

Stay tuned for more!

Later Gators,

Liz

Ironman Texas Race Report: Part One

2011-05-23T23:09:00.005-05:00

Oh yeah, I am doing it again. I am going to break this race report into parts like I did with the IM Cozumel race report and leave you hanging on the edge of your seat for the next part. By the way, is anyone even reading my blog any more? I know that I have been really bad about reading other people's blogs because of all of the training I have been doing and I have not seen too many people responding to my posts, so for all I know, Christy and Greyhound are about the only two out there who keep up with all of my wacky adventures. I am not smart enough to figure out Google Analytics to see how many hits my blog gets so right now I guess I am just blogging for myself and two other people. I tend to get wordy and type way more than I need to. Let's see if I can keep this race report tight and clean and get right to the point.

I woke up on Saturday after getting a surprisingly good night of sleep. I soon heard Ryan "White Hot" Barnett, and Rachelle downstairs. I saw Ryan just before he headed off to the race venue. Rachelle, Mikey, and I got our stuff and headed out not long after that. Once parked, we walked across The Woodlands waterway and into Transition to get stuff on the bike. Rachelle found out that she had left all of her race nutrition at my house in the fridge. Major SUCK! It was too late to drive back and get it or to have someone bring it. We met Greyhound and started our walk to the swim start and found an empty bank of port-o-cans. Major SCORE!

Crossing over the bridge to the swim start, I got my first look at the layout of the buoys. The course snaked to the right and then back left. This was going to be a strange swim with no straight line to hold. I got body marked and Greyhound and I found a spot to be able to sit down and start getting sun block on and to get into our swim skins. It wasn't long before we heard the National Anthem and heard the gun for the Pro start. We had less than ten minutes to drop off our morning gear bags and get into the water. The water temp was 78 and not wetsuit legal but they were allowing wetsuits if you went through the "Wetsuit Chip In" corral. This meant that you would not be eligible for any prizes or roll-down slots. I knew the water would be cold, I would not qualify to win anything at all, and that I was a pretty decent swimmer so I followed WTC's rules of no wetsuits in water temps over 76.1 and just sucked it up. Yup, the water was chilly when I climbed in.

I wish the photo was bigger, but to enlarge it destroys the image quality.

I quickly tried to make my way over to the huge red buoy that marked the start line and got up near the front line of racers. Yeah, I'm an idiot like that. We were all packed in tight and there was not enough room to tread water without being kicked or hit. I had to bob up and down in place and try not to suck in any of the murky lake water. Mike Reilly was yelling at the mass of people still on the boat ramp and on the shore to get in because there was less than a minute to go. And then, the mood became electric. Iron Man by Black Sabbath started to pump out of the speakers and the crowd went wild. Mike Reilly asked us if we were ready to start our journey to the Finish Line. After the affirmative roar from the athletes, the gun went off and the mayhem began.

I would throw a photo in here, but the one I want to use is not available to copy and paste. I will stick more photos in the other posts.

Stay tuned for Part 2!

Later Gators,

Liz

Get It Done!!!

2011-05-20T21:12:00.009-05:00

I have signed my life away...

I was tagged and bagged....

I did my practice swim (with my girlfriend Robin)....

I racked my bike and turned in my gear bags....

And I attended the Athlete Dinner with my Creepy Internet Friends......

(from l to r, Ryan "Ironman" Barnett, me, Brian "Tri Boomer" Brode, Kendall "TriGreyhound" Gray, and Rachelle "Little Rachett" Little)

It is time to get it done.

Race Plan: Swim--1 hour, 20 minutes; Bike--7 hours; Run--5 Hours.

Estimated Finish Time: 8:30 pm

Thanks to everyone for blowing up my FB profile with all of the well wishes. I know you will be tracking #414 and keeping up with how I am progressing through the course.

See you at the Finish Line!!!

Later Gators,

Liz

Taper Madness!!!

2011-05-13T21:24:00.003-05:00

I do feel a little like the race horse that is nervously waiting for the bell to go off and the gate to swing open. I have enjoyed shortened workouts this past week and strangely, my extra time has been consumed with getting tasks done that have been put off for weeks. At times, the nerves go away and I know that things will be fine. I am ready.

Boy, am I ready. I know this course like the pattern of freckles on my arms. I know where the bumps in the pavement are and I know where the gas stations with flush toilets and a Dr. Pepper made with Imperial Cane Sugar are. I know where the shade will and will not be on the run and where I can dunk my head in a cool fountain if need be. I know where the port-o-can is located on a building site and I know where the drinking fountains are. I have done the hard work in the hard wind and if it is blowing on race day, I've already dealt with it and know that I can get back to T2 without bonking or throwing in the towel. They say it may rain. That just keeps the heat at bay and my grass sure needs it. The only thing that is going to put a twist in my tri shorts is the fact that there is going to be all these freakin' people out on my bike and run route getting in my way and hogging the road!

Not having to pack race gear or get my bike into a bike box makes it seem like I really am not doing a race but just another training day. And because it is "just another training day", I don't have the fantastic build up of support. When I asked my kid if he was going to get El Esposo to get him out to The Woodlands to see me finish the race, he was kind of wishy-washy about it. I have a feeling they won't come out to see the race. My parents won't be able to come because my step-brother, Brian, is coming to visit them for the weekend. My best girlfriend, Cathy, just moved to Colorado last week and cannot come. I have not seen many of my friends in weeks or months because of all of my training. I've lost touch. I'm holding out for the "GO TEAM!!!" yells that I will get and hopefully there will be a few local TNT people I know who will be out there on the run course to give me some cowbell.

One week to go...

Later Gators,

Liz

The Crazy Dreams Have Begun

2011-05-04T06:14:00.002-05:00

I have successfully gotten my last long training week completed! There were two massive swims, three 8 mile runs plus a 21 mile run before work on Friday morning, two interval sessions on the bike plus 106 miles last Saturday, a TRX session, plus all my group fitness and Pilates classes that I teach at work. Now as I begin my taper, the fun business of aches, pains, swelling, and strange dreams begins.

"Strange dreams?", you say...."What kind of strange dreams?" Ironman strange dreams. Dreams that wake me up in a panic that I somehow missed the start of the event. Dreams that I forgot a major piece of equipment, such as my triathlon shorts. Dreams that somehow I cut the course on the point-to-point swim and that's why I finished the event with an awesome time, but I'm now disqualified. Just how in the hell do you cut the course on a point-to-point swim. Well, on this IMTX course, it can be done.

I have 17 days left! I have so much to do, but because this race is in my backyard I feel like I am lolly-gagging along and procrastinating about some things. One of them is getting my house cleaned for three other athletes to stay with us. To be fair, the painters finished painting the last guest room on Monday and the carpet cleaning service comes tomorrow. After that, I will be able to move furniture back into the room and the upstairs should be done. I just have to get the downstairs finished. If worse comes to worse, the boxes of stuff that got moved out of the guest room closets will go in the garage for a week or two and then after the race I will have time to go through them and determine what is kept, what is donated, and what is trashed.

Sorry things won't be too exciting for the next week or so, but stay tuned for what happens for athlete #414.

Later Gators,

Liz

30 mph wind??!!?? Seriously??!!??

2011-04-24T16:18:00.003-05:00

We tend to have a windy spring here in Texas. One of my cycling coaches used to always tell us that the wind and the hills were our friends. If we suffered a little bit up the hill or into the wind, we always got a free ride on the downhill or with a tail wind. This spring has been no exception to the rule only that the wind has been intense....every day....into the night....without ceasing. Last weekend it was cold and windy and then it warmed up and was still windy. This weekend it was warm and windy the entire ride.

When I climbed out of the car at 6:25 am at the ride start, the wind blew the car door out of my hand and yanked it all the way open. I looked up and could see the low clouds racing across the sky out of the south. Ugh! If it was this windy already, what was it going to be like once the sun got up in the sky. I have seen many days of still, breeze less pre-dawn mornings only to have the wind kick up once the sun rose past the horizon. At least there would be a tail wind for part of the ride. As everyone began showing up and getting set up, the wind only kept blowing. Our fearless team this week would include Greyhound, Coach Luke, Christy, and Cassy.

Our first 30 miles to the Wal-Mart were uneventful. Windy, but uneventful. I had over hydrated and was in physical pain until we got to the Wal-Mart. And as usual, the cleaning crew had the women's bathroom closed at the front of the store and I had to clip-clop my way quickly to the bathroom at the rear of the store while Easter goody shopping people looked at me and my flashing blinky lights like I was a huge moron. So far we had not seen any other riders on the road which I thought was strange since it was a day off for many people on Good Friday.

From the Wal-Mart, we headed north to back to Montgomery and had the wind at our back for most of the way. We saw a few riders including one "Fred" who was wearing his aero helmet on a training ride. Whatever. He gave Christy some grief for "cutting" the IMTX course and not riding through The Woodlands. Whatever. We were going to end up doing 100 miles. Just pedal on dude and leave us alone. Close to Montgomery we got a downhill and a tail wind together and I hit 32 mph before having to start to feather the breaks for a highway intersection ahead. Dang, that is what Chris Lieto must feel like on his bike. Dang that was fast and fun. We hit the gas station for a pit stop in Montgomery at mile 50, and then continued north into the Sam Houston National Forest.

I had shared a Coke with Greyhound at the gas station and it had left me with gas. My tummy was not happy with that. Note to self: Avoid Coke at the aid stations on race day. Christy, Cassy, and Luke had gotten a bit ahead and Greyhound was a little bit behind me so I had a solitary ride through the forest where I could hear the birds warbling and hear the animals dodge through the brush at the side of the road. The temps were climbing, but the shade of the trees helped. We all regrouped at a turn and continued on towards Richards, TX. We did have to make a stop to check out Christy's tire that was going flat from a slow leak and about another mile or two down the road we had to stop to change a flat 3 or so miles before Richards. We all welcomed the rest break.

At mile 70 in Richards, we refilled bottles and worked up our courage to start battling the wind. On the loop from Richards on the IMTX course, the wind was so strong that I was not comfortable getting down into my aerobars with the strong cross wind. Once we turned south and took the wind head on, I saw my speed drop down to 7.8 mph at one point. Seriously??? Come On!!! Weather. com had said 18 mph winds but both Luke and Christy said the wind was stronger than it had been in New Orleans for the 70.3 race the weekend before and the winds there had been over 20 mph. I pulled over and waited for Greyhound so we could work together and caught up to the rest of the gang at a turn. We would have a bit of a tail wind and cross wind back to Richards, but then it would be 12 miles into the wind with some hills thrown in as well.

Greyhound and I worked together as we let Christy, Cassy, and Luke pull ahead and then out of sight over a hill. We caught up to them with Christy off her bike and fiddling with her rear tire again. After we had emptied all of our CO2 canisters trying to get her tire inflated, a group of riders we had seen at the ride start pulled over and offered some help. I changed Christy's tire and got it pumped up and we got back on the road. No sooner had we gotten going, but I had to pull over because the wind had blown something in my eye and I could not see. I cleared my eye, emptied a bottle of water into my aero bottle and worked a bit harder than I should have to catch back up to Greyhound. We had just a few more hills into the wind and then 5 miles back to the cars.

On the last stretch, Luke said he was bonking hard and not feeling good, Cassy looked like she was ready to be finished, and for the life of me I could not catch up to Christy. It seems that her rear tire was going flat again and she wanted to get back to the cars as fast as she could. It was now time to transition to running. Cassy and Luke packed up and Christy, Greyhound, and I headed out for a very hot and windy run.

I was supposed to run for an hour, but 30 minutes was all I could manage because the heat was to intense (92 degrees) and I could feel my heart rate going through the roof even at a slow shuffle. When I got back to the car, I found Greyhound sitting up against my car in the shade finishing a beer. I threw my carcass on the ground in the shade and cussed out Ironman. We still had a 19 mile run to do the next day. We found out that the winds had been 30 mph with higher gusts.

Once home and after the ice bath, I decided that I would skip Masters swim on Saturday morning and just run. Greyhound was cool with that. Saturday was windy as well and I was glad I was not out on a bike. We got the 19 miles done and it was hot. Heat training has begun. It is now less than a month to go and even though I know I am ready, I hope that I can do this. Will the wind still be around in a month to kill me on the bike and shatter me on the run with his buddy, the heat?

There is one more week of big training volume. One more week. One more. Just one.

Stay tuned,

Liz

Awful!!! Just Awful!!!

2011-04-19T18:44:00.003-05:00

I'm sure there has been a time where you felt like you were not doing an activity you enjoyed but that you were in HELL. No, not like the violent and miserable punishments described in Dante's Inferno, but your own personal version of HELL. Something akin to cage wrestlers hijacking your good day and beating you to a pulp with a folding chair....for no reason at all. Well, I like to ride my bike. I have had some good times on my bike. I have had some amazing times on my bike with great friends. And then there have been those bike rides from HELL. Today I am going to highlight my most memorable bad times on two wheels.

Coach Liz's Top 5 Worst Bike Rides EVER!!!

1. 2001 Sealy Bike Ride (Metric Century): I did this ride with El Esposo when he still had a bike. Things had started out well. It was a warm day in August or September. I had chosen to do a longer ride but I would probably end up meeting El Esposo at the car around the same time or not long after he finished the 50 mile route. At the last rest stop there was watermelon being served and it looked great, but I passed on it. I should of had it. Not 2 miles from that last aid station, I bonked and I bonked hard. I was pedaling as furiously as I could and could not get over 9-10 mph. The wind had picked up and I was heading all the way back in to Sealy, into the wind. I wanted to die. Some tool on an old ten-speed who was wearing split side running shorts and a purple and teal green old dome helmet was passing me like I was standing still. El Esposo passed me and said he would be waiting at the car. A little kid on a BMX bike passed me up. Again, I wanted to die and I hated my bike for a long time after that ride. I also learned not to pass up watermelon at an aid station.

2. Ironman 70.3 Cancun 2007: As usual, things started out great. About 8 or so miles into the bike, I hit a dried pile of concrete in the shoulder of the road as I was moving over to let faster cyclists pass me by. After getting over the injury to my groin and tasting blood from biting the crap out of my tongue, I felt like I had lost all of my mojo on the bike. I wondered if I was bonking. I was pedaling hard and hardly able to hit the numbers that I was hitting easily before hitting the cement. I was in race mode, and not really thinking about the cement anymore, I was thinking about getting calories and fluids in me. Soon after, the skies opened up and we were pedaling through a torrential downpour. I could not see out through my sun glasses and the fast boys were passing me up like I was standing still as they started their second loop of the lollipop shaped course we were on. At the turn around, the rain eased up and then the rain started to evaporate back up to the heavens. I watch steam rising off the pavement. Good Lord it was hot and humid. I was still pedaling my rear end off and not making much headway. I was getting pissed off at the people that I saw that were drafting. It was making me mad because I was working hard and they were not working much at all. On my second loop, I got passed by this gal who must have weighed over 200 lbs. in a freaking aero helmet. WTF??!!?? How in the hell was she faster than me and how much good was that aero helmet doing her??? On the way back in, I saw some gal in a Team USA skin suit at the side of the road with a flat tire asking for CO2, this was the third time I had seen her at the side of the road with a flat. There was no way in hell that I was going to help her. I had to beat at least one person in to T2. On the last lonely stretch back to T2, the skies opened up again and once more, I was in the middle of a monsoon all the way back in. I finally made it back and I was so glad to be off that bike because I was hating life. When I went to get my bike out of transition at then end of the race, the front wheel would not budge. The front break had been rubbing against my wheel almost the entire race from the time I hit that cement at mile 8. ARGH!!!! God must have had mercy on me because I ended up getting a roll down slot to Clearwater at that race.

3. 2002 Montgomery Lion's Club Bike for Sight Century Ride: I had started my foray into triathlons through the summer months and after my first Olympic distance triathlon in September I had some time in October to get back on the bike and enjoy good bike weather. I decided that I would do the Century Ride and as I recall, there was no one that I knew that was doing this ride. October is still a hot month in Texas, and this day was no exception. We started from the Montgomery ISD football stadium and headed towards Anderson, TX and hills. Big Hills. The temperatures kept climbing and the route had little to no shade. I had taken plenty of water with me, but I don't think that I had more than one bottle of Gatorade on the bike. My bike shoes were a pair of leather Sidi shoes that I had been wearing in my triathlons barefoot. After sticking wet feet in those leather shoes a few times and letting them dry, the shape of the foot got smaller. Now instead of bare feet, I had socks on and my feet were starting to swell from lack of electrolytes. By mile 50 my feet hurt. By mile 60, my feet were burning like they were on fire. By mile 70, my feet were throbbing. I got off my bike at the 73 mile aid station, sat down in a camp chair under a tent and kicked off my shoes. After 10 minutes I knew that I would never be able to get my feet back in those shoes and I called it a day and took the SAG wagon back in. When your feet hurt, your whole body hurts.

4. 90 mile Ironman Texas Training Ride 4-16-2011: This was supposed to be a good ride. I felt great doing 100 miles on the same route just two weeks before and had a great 70.3 race last weekend. The weather was the fly in the ointment here. The night before the ride, I dug out my leg warmers, arm warmers, vest, and thermal top that I had packed away for a season because it has been pretty warm of late. At the ride start, it was in the high 40's and even though I had four layers on my torso and two layers on my arms I was really wanting to snag Greyhound's jacket that he pitched in the back of his car. As soon as we started out, the cold dry wind from the north gave me a chill and caused my eyes to burn and start to water. The left eye was so bad that I could not open the eyelid and tears were running down my face and dripping off my chin. I could only see out of one eye as I watched Greyhound slowly move further and further down the road and leave me behind. Once we made a turn, I had to pull over and wipe out my eyes. Greyhound was gone. I could see again, but I was freaking cold. Why had I not packed my full finger gloves? Why did I not have on a better jacket? Why did I not have a fleece beanie on? I was shivering and wishing the sun was higher in the sky to warm the air. Greyhound was waiting for me a few miles down the road. My eyes were watering again and I had to pull over and wipe them out and get some water. I had been so cold that drinking was not on my mind. I felt like I just kept getting slower and slower and no matter how hard I tried to turn my legs over with some gear on the bike, I was reduced to the easiest gearing where I felt like I was spinning my legs as I watched Greyhound disappear again. This went on for two hours. I was angry at myself. I wanted to throw the bike in the ditch. I wanted to throw my cycling shoe at someone and my helmet as well. I was shivering so hard that I was afraid to get down in the aero bars because I was so unstable. Greyhound waited for me to catch up and then would drop me again as soon as we got going. I just wanted to get to the Wal-Mart where I know I would get a break to get off the bike. At the Wal-Mart I was able to get a big cup of coffee and begin to thaw out a little during my 30 minute break. Greyhound said we would reevaluate my situation when we got to the next stop that was closer to the cars if I needed to call the ride. I was a little snappy and said I had to do the whole ride. I may be fit enough but I had to work the bad brain mojo to know I could do this ride. After that, things began to pick up as the temperature outside rose. By the end of the ride I was feeling better but I was dehydrated and my stomach was not totally right until I was able to eat something that was salty. Oh yeah, I had forgotten to take my electrolytes and take along my inhaler on this ride. Both of them were needed. Ugh!

5. 2002 Tour de Cypress MS-150 Training Ride: I think I was supposed to do 60 miles that day but the SAG wagon drove my @$$ home at the halfway point because I was coughing up huge green globs of goop out of my lungs and I could not breathe. I got into a coughing fit on the bike and had to pull over and could not stop coughing and my ribs began to hurt. I was able to get another mile or so down the road to an aid station and I asked for SAG. I was so humiliated to be SAG-ing in but at the same time glad to be off the bike and going home.

Well, there you have it. The worst of the worst. You may have read something that triggered a bad bike memory for you and if that happened, I apologize. And as bad as these days were, a bad day on the bike is better than a day at work.

Remember that...

Later Gators,

Liz

Memorial Hermann 70.3 Ironman Race Photos

2011-04-17T20:56:00.011-05:00

Howdy,

If you are not on my Facebook list, here are the race photos that I put on FB on Thursday. If you did not get a chance to read the race report, scroll on down and give it a glance.

Getting out of the water and heading into T2. Even though I was in the last wave, you can see I passed up a bunch of people with different colored swim caps who started ahead of me.

Leaving Moody Gardens to head out onto the Seawall and 28 miles down to Surfside, TX for the bike turn around.

Heading back in on the Seawall and almost finished with the bike leg. You can see the waves in the water behind me and tell how windy it was. Also, you will see what is left of my Dad's favorite fishing pier that was destroyed in Hurricane Ike.

This is on the first loop of the run when the sun was still out.

Somewhere between lap 2 and lap 4 on an out-n-back by the Moody Garden's Hotel and the Pyramid that houses the Aquarium. I like this photo because my muscles look like an anatomy book rendering. Strange, I know, but I think that it is kinda cool.

Offat's Bayou in the background behind us. Notice that the gal behind me is reduced to a walk. This is probably near the end of lap 2 or 3 for me since I still have a sponge stuffed down my tri top.

Here I am on the back stretch of the run loop that faces Offat's Bayou where we swam. The run course is very spectator friendly. I must be on the last half mile of the run because it looks like I have gotten rid of the sponge in my tri top. Looking cool, calm, and collected!This photo cracks me up. I have no idea who that guy is behind me and why he is looking at me. Kinda creepy and kinda funny. Maybe he is P.O.ed that I passed him on the run. Since the sponge in my tri top is gone and I see Offat's Bayou in the background this means I am probably only 200 meters from the finish. Maybe he is looking at me in awe when I blew by him as I was running my @$$ off to the finish.

Put your paws up! Whoo Hoo! Subtract 1 hour and 40 minutes from that time clock....or something like that to get 5:41:05.

So after last week's spectacular performance, this weekend was a hard one with many challenges in my training. There were times I wanted to cry, throw my bike in the ditch, and pass out from exhaustion. So, stay tuned to hear all the gory details (Tuesday's post).

Later Gators,

Liz

Memorial Hermann 70.3 Ironman Race Report

2011-04-11T19:29:00.011-05:00

Well, not bad for an extremely windy day. Not bad for a "B" race. Not bad for the first race of the season. Not bad for racing through a little pain that we will get to later. Awesome pacing that if I can repeat in 5 weeks, I will have an INCREDIBLE Ironman race!!!

Quick and Dirty Version:

The bike is racked and ready to go!

Waiting...and waiting for the show to get going.

Once we got kicked out of transition at 6:45, I had almost two hours to wait around for my swim wave (the last one out of 21 waves!). I stood around and nervously waited and chatted with some friends and then took 40 minutes to go inside a building at the race site to hit the bathroom a few times and to get sunblock and my wetsuit on. I got out to the swim start with a few minutes to spare. I jumped off the dock and suddenly my nerves were gone. I was ready to get this done. The gun went off and I headed towards the first buoy.

The swim was wavy and choppy because the wind was blowing and I kept all my form cues from Coach Tim in mind throughout the seven buoy stretch to the first turn. It was crowded, but not a slug fest that I have in other races. Once around the turn buoy, I felt like I was by myself and I worked hard to stay on the buoy line as everyone else got pushed out by the waves and chop. I was passing different colored swim caps from waves ahead of me and I was feeling good. I was well hydrated and got rid of some excess weight (if you catch my drift) before making the last turn to head towards the swim exit. Now it was crowded with lots of people but I worked my way around the slow swimmers. I swam in and up the ramp and then dashed up the long stretch from the water to the parking lot and the wetsuit strippers. I was out of that wetsuit in a flash and back up and running into transition.

Swim Time: 37:00 pace=1:45/100 meters (this included the long run, the wetsuit strip, and washing the salt water off my face in the shower) 18th out of 154 in my AG yesterday, 20th today after updates. I don't get that.

T1 was pretty darn fast. There were over 2000 people doing this race so the transition was huge. I thankfully had a rack that was close to the swim exit. I heard some people cheering for "Coach Liz" on my way in. THANKS!!! I dumped my wetsuit and stuffed my swim cap and goggles down in it, jumped into my SPI belt with my my number on it, put on my helmet and sunglasses and ran my bike to the bike exit.

T1 Time: 2:25

My trusty steed...

And my lucky blue lizard who would be coming along for the ride.

Once on the bike, I worked fast to get my feet into the shoes. I left the Moody Gardens complex and turned onto a mile long road to get onto the Seawall. Not halfway down the road I see motorcycle cops, the timing truck, and Chris Lieto coming back in to finish his bike leg. HOLY F--K!!! Not only was that a little depressing that I was so far back in the game but at the same time it was totally amazing that he was done with 56 miles of biking that fast. I found out later Chris' bike leg was a 2:02:15. A 2:02:15! A 2:02:15!! 25.8 mph on the way out and 29.4 mph on the way back in!!! Ok, enough on that. Heading out to the Seawall was into the wind and it was not real fun. When we woke up that morning, the wind was howling around the windows of the beach house and Weather.com said they were blowing at 24 mph. Things died down to about 19-20 mph. Once up on the Seawall, the course headed west and we got a stiff crosswind with a bit of a headwind. My plan was to ride this race as if it were a training ride. If I passed people, great. If I got passed, ok, but I will see you again on the run sista'. I worked my way through the pack keeping the heart rate low and comfortable and passed quite a number of gals from my age group that were in the swim start ahead of mine (we were split into 2 groups). I had LMFAO's song "Party Anthem" running through my head as I pedaled along and kept the heart rate around 130 bpm. I had a few "fast chicks" from my age group pass me around mile 20 and blow by me hard on the bike. I let them go. Wow, it took them that long to catch up? They must suck at swimming. I knew my nutrition was on target. I knew my hydration was on target. I was able to make the bike lighter around mile 15 and every couple of miles after that, if you get my drift. Once I made the turn around, it was pretty lonely out there. There was lots of pavement between me and the people ahead of me. A few fast girls blew by me around mile 35 but I pulled them back in on the uphill onto the San Luis Pass bridge. I just kept to the plan and started to see more men that I was riding up on around mile 45. There was a slight tail wind so I was a few miles per hour faster on the way back in but again, I kept things light and comfortable. The only thing that was not comfortable was my neck and a hot spot on my left ischium. You know, the bony protrusion on the bottom of the pelvis that you sit on. I was glad to get back up on the Seawall because that meant that I was almost done and I started getting ready to tackle the run.

Bike time: 3:08:35 16.88 mph on the first 28 miles, 18.87 mph on the last 28 miles. 17.82 mph average. 32nd in the age group.

T2 was fast! I ran the bike in past chicks that were slowly walking and getting in my way. Racked my bike, quickly rinsed any sand out from between my toes, pulled on my socks and shoes, grabbed my Fuel Belt and hat and ran for the Run Out arch.

T2: 1:48

On to the run. I kept the pace light while I got my Fuel Belt on and adjusted and got my hat on. I ran past the Team in Training tent and got some love from my friends and then grabbed a few cups of Gatorade to get some fast calories. Now it was time to get down to business! I found my pace and kept it snappy and light. I had 4 loops to run so I had to find a pace that I know that I could maintain. About a half mile in on the course I saw a "Go Liz!" chalked in purple on the course. It was probably not for me, but I owned it. I kept my eyes open for Greyhound and for Little Ratchet. Around mile 2 there was a sidewalk of paver bricks that led up to a short steep hill. I avoided the pavers and hit the long cement stretches on the left that bordered a planting bed that was flatter and less angled. At the top of the hill, someone had used chalk to write "RAWR" on the sidewalk. I yelled out,"RAWR!!!" and everyone around laughed as I zoomed by them on the downhill. I saw more people I knew on the back stretch of the course before the split near the finish. One lap done and time for lap two. I did a repeat performance on keeping the pace snappy. I saw Greyhound on an out and back section. He was almost a mile ahead of me. I was seeing more people I knew and said "Hi" and I was starting to see some of those fast chicks who had passed me on the bike course. At mile 6 it was time for another "RAWR!!!"

As I started loop 3 I saw Coach Carrie and she gave me a shout out. I was keeping the pace snappy and I kept dumping ice down my tri top to keep my core temp a bit lower in the 86% humidity and the heat. My blister from the Austin Half Marathon was back and burning on the bottom of my left foot. "It is just a blister," I kept telling myself and I put it out of my mind. I saw Little Ratchet around mile 8 and gave her an "Abracadabra Homes!" from Ricky Bobby. I saw another fast chick that I will call "TaTa Nelson" for obvious reasons. I easily passed her up and kept going. I caught up to Greyhound around mile 9 and he gave me an "'Atta Girl". Time for "RAWR!!!" number 3. There were a few people walking up that hill that were not too excited about my enthusiasm when I ran by. My cheering squad on the back stretch gave me some love. Time for the LAST LOOP!!! Things were still snappy and I was telling my TNT cheering squads thanks for the support. I had people telling me that I was looking great and looking strong. I was passing people left and right. No one had passed me up in at least a loop or a loop and a half. Fast chick in my age group with the Shama Team who passed me on the bike like I was standing still....passed her as she was stopped at the side of the course trying to stretch out her legs. "See Ya!" With two miles to go I began picking up the pace. I had been using the mantra of 3:47 through most of the run and I had yet to look at my watch to see the time and how long this run was taking me. I ran purely by feel rather than using heart rate or time. Time for mile 12 and the last "RAWR!!!" I started booking it. I saw my friend Robin who is in an age group above mine and I quickly caught up to her and passed her in the last third of a mile. I was running hot now. I was getting love from the strong looking men who had already finished and were lounging along the last stretch before the Finisher's Chute. All I saw on the time clock was 7:17:53 as I was running in. I finished feeling winded from the last kick in the last two miles but feeling good. I was happy with my finish and very happy with my run. I was trying to do math in my head by subtracting 1 hour and 40 minutes off of the time to get my finish time. 5:37???OMG!!! Totally unofficial but WOW!!!

Run time: 1:51:17 Loop 1 pace = 8:36/mi, Loop 2 = 8:28/mi, Loop 3 = 8:31/mi, Loop 4 = 8:22/mi. Average pace = 8:29!!! 18th fastest in my age group!

The arch to the Finish Chute looking back from the Finish Line.

Well, the official finish time is 5:41:05 and 25th in my age group out of 154 participants. That is only 7:32 off my PR I set in October at the Longhorn 70.3 in Austin. Wow! I felt good the entire time. If I can get this feeling again in 5 weeks for IMTX and repeat the hydration and nutrition, and pacing, I may be in for a great race. I have sunburn, another big blister on the bottom of my left foot, and a nasty ugly saddle sore the size of a shooter marble that makes sitting and getting in and out of the car very painful. Other than than that, I am good. Really good.

Alright, that was not quick, but it was dirty. Thanks for the good luck messages!

Later Gators,

Liz

Ooo! First Big Race of the Season!

2011-04-06T16:33:00.002-05:00

Just a short little post to let everyone know that this Sunday is the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 race in Galveston, TX. I do not expect to meet or exceed my Longhorn Ironman 70.3 PR of 5:33:39. That race was my "A" race of last year's race season. This race is not my "A" race and it is the first race rather than the last race of the season.

Here is the race plan for Sunday:

I am in the LAST swim wave out of 21 swim waves. I just need to find a quiet spot to chill out for 2 hours once we get kicked out of transition. I may watch the pros get out of the water and enter T1. For the swim, I want to focus on swimming steady and with the "tricks" that I have been using at Masters swimming to get a little higher in the water and to swim a little faster with less effort. If I can get out of the water in under 40 minutes, I will be good.

On the bike, I just have to play it loose and easy. The wind is going to be the issue and I have to make sure that I remember that I may have a headwind on the way back in for 27 miles. I have to stay on top of hydration and nutrition so that I am able to pee at least 2 times on the bike. No gentle way to say that, sorry. Heart rates need to stay around 120-135. Somewhere in the 3 hour range is what I am going for.

On the run, I should be well hydrated from the bike and I need to take the first mile with a bit of restraint to see how the muscles are and then settle into my pace for the rest of the run. I need to stick to my nutrition schedule that I have been using on all of my run workouts and stay loose in the shoulders. I will be happy with a 2:10 run.

That puts me right at 6 hours or less and if I do better than that, I will take it and be very happy. I also hope that since I will be out on the race course the latest, that there will still be ice and water at the aid stations. My cousin is coming out to watch me race and I am excited about that. I never have family cheering me on.

Unless the swim buoys get blown off course and I fall off my bike like the scenario at Buffalo Springs two years ago, I expect to do ok on this race.

Stay tuned for results or look up race # 1959 on the Athlete Tracker on the Ironman.com web page.

Later Gators!

Liz

No Posting Means I've Been Training....and Sleeping

2011-03-27T20:55:00.011-05:00

Wow, 23 days since my last post. I apologize about that folks, but honestly, I have been really busy. So busy that I have not even had time to read anyone else's blog. Really, I am sorry that I have not been keeping up with what is going on with some of you in blog-land. If I have you on Facebook, I kinda have an idea what is going on with you, but I need to find time to sit down and catch up.

So what have I been busy with? Ironman training, work, and parenting are the top three fillers in my life right now. There are a few other things going on as well. Let me see if I can sum things up in those areas.

Well, if you were able to read the last post, you saw that I had a ton of work to be done on my swim stroke. So on Saturday, March 5th, I headed to Masters swim to see what I could do. Damn! wouldn't you know that by trying to put all of that stuff in place made me speed up? I no longer felt like I was dragging in the pool. I had a powerful swim stroke and somewhere along the way it just got sloppy. Cleaning it up has really helped. After Masters swim, it was time to run. I think that March 4th was our last cold and blustery day of the season. I had my run pants and a long sleeve shirt on and was glad that I had them. It was so windy that that there were waves on Lake Woodlands where the IMTX swim will be. On Sunday, it was a breezy and brisk 80 mile ride on the IMTX course with some fun ride partners. It warmed up well enough to do the run off the bike in my sleeveless tank.

The workouts during the week were good as well. I got my Raindrop Therapy session in and I really needed it. The weekend of the 12-13th, I had to go to San Antonio, which I will talk about later, but I still needed to get my workouts in. I did 5 and a half hours on the stationary trainer to get the long bike workout in and then I drove home to be able to run 16.5 miles on the IMTX course with Coach Carrie, Shawn, and Greyhound. I caught up to Coach Carrie after I had to veer off for a bathroom stop and the last 3 miles were HARD. Carrie was really making me push. I later found out that she was cussing me out and has re-named me MF-ing Liz because she though that I was pushing the pace the last 3 miles. We agreed not to run together at IMTX so we will not kill ourselves.

On my trainer in the corner of a Gold's Gym with gym members looking at me like I'm nuts.

The next week, I got very little done during the week with my training because it was Bud's Spring Break. Enough said. At least, I closed that week up with a powerful training weekend. Coach Tim has made Saturday morning Masters Swim a 90 minute workout so we can get our long yardage in. Last week I did 5000 yards!!! I don't think that I have ever done a workout that long since high school swim team. I put all my good swim form corrections in place and I was the fastest B-TCH in the pool that morning. Well, ok, I was the only gal that showed up and the super fast girly, Lauren, was not there that morning. Anyway, I was faster than all the guys who showed up. My shoulder was a little sore, but I found out that my Bicepital tendon was out of the groove it normally sets in and Dr. H put it back in place when I saw him this week. Yeeouch!!!After the swim, it was time to run. It was a roll back week so only 14.5 miles were on tap for the morning. It was warm and sunny and I got a little tan on my shoulders. On Sunday, a 75 mile ride was on the books but only 60 got done. I had to get home and get cleaned up to go to a basketball game.

This week has been a good training week. I got all my workouts in and they have been quality workouts. Weekday runs are now up around 8 miles a few times a week. I do a bunch of bike work on the trainer. Coach Amy at weekday Masters swim has been pushing me. I am ripping it up on the TRX suspension trainer. Yesterday morning was another 90 minute Masters Swim workout and we had a 45 minute continuous swim set. All in all, I knocked out another 4600 or 4700 meter swim and I felt like I was able to fix things when I could feel like I started to drag. Right after the swim it was time to knock out an 18 mile run. I ran with Greyhound and the goal was to run a pace that I would like to run after 112 miles on the bike. I kept the pace comfortable and with all of our pit stops, we finished in 3 hours and 10 minutes. They have finished up one of the sidewalks on the IMTX run course so now we don't have to slide down a steep and grassy hill to get from the street level down to the Woodlands Waterway. The funniest thing about the run was all the strange stuff I found along the run path. I kid you not, this is true. First was a bowl of spaghetti. Then there was a roll of toilet paper. I also found me a tube of Chapstick. Then Greyhound pointed out a new packet of PowerGel and asked if I needed it. Then I stumbled upon an Indian wedding complete with Bhagra drums. Sadly, no elephant. I found a pair of sunglasses in a bathroom. Too bad I already had my pair. Last of all, I found some dude dressed up in a big red Crawfish costume. Playing scavenger hunt made the miles go by a bit quicker. Today was 100 miles on the bike. This is the longest ride I have done on the bike since Ironman Cozumel. The weather was overcast and cool and the wind was not that bad. I rode the bike comfortably and kept my heart rate at 130 and under. BEST BIKE RIDE IN A LONG TIME!!! I was happy on the bike today. My nutrition and hydration were spot on. I was still snappy at mile 90 and holding 21 mph easily. I have just got to remember today's ride on May 21st. Stay on top of the clock for food and water, smile and sing on the bike, and hold back to save it for the run. I finished today's ride ready to go run and feeling good to run. That is how I want May 21st to play out. Oh well, so much for trying to sum things up.

Ice bath #1...

Ice Bath #2

Work has been work. The week of Spring Break was low since many of my PT clients were out of town. This gave me more time to entertain Bud while he was home. I mentioned earlier that I was in San Antonio. Well, I drove out to Canyon Lake, TX on Friday after work and spent the night with my Dad and Step mom. I had a great time even if the house was gutted out while there were having remodeling done. The next morning I drove into San Antonio to attend a TRX Group Training certification clinic. My Personal Training Director has ordered my more TRX suspension trainers so that I can run a TRX group workout. I think I was the only person at that training that was a PT as well a certified group ex instructor as well. There were a lot of the trainers who had a hard time moving to the beat of the music. At the lunch break, I had one gal come up to me and tell the that I was "BadASS" and asked me if I was training for something. Um, yeah. It's this thing called an Ironman.... Anyway, the training went well and we hope the new TRX class will get rolling as soon as the managerial layers cut all the red tape and can speed up the process of approving the order of said TRX suspension trainers and get them in the club. I have also been working with some of my Pilates colleagues and we have been going over Chair work. We are hoping to get some new Summer mini-sessions with new programing up and running by May.

When I'm not training or working, I am just mom. I have been making sure that Bud gets picked up from band sectionals and tutorials on time and that he makes it to swim team practice on time. Speaking of swim team, Bud has had an amazing short course swim season this past year. So much so that he was able to move up two levels from the Competitive Prep group to the Gold group. This is HUGE! Coach Maryanne was very proud of him and already he has been working hard for Coach Lindsey and Coach John. He has also moved up from wearing jammers to wearing a Speedo cuz all the fast kids in the Gold group wear 'em. Hopefully he will get rid of his goofy tan lines on his legs. He has his first long course swim meet at Texas A&M University in two three weeks.

Bud at his last practice with Coach Maryanne. Coach has made him fast the past three years!

Bud has done really well with his trumpet as well. At Solo and Ensemble contest he received all 1's for his piece that he had to perform and got a cool medal. A few weeks ago he had his Pre-UIL full band concert that we got to see. It was El Esposo's first time to hear the kid play the trumpet....ever. Bud hates to practice when dad is home and El Esposo has always been out of town at concert time. This weekend is the big contest! Hopefully, all the kids are ready and they will have a great performance.

I need a Spring Break from Spring Break. I had to do a ton of entertaining while Bud was off. That was part of the reason I did not get all of my workouts in that week. We hit the Galleria to look around as well as some other shops that Bud likes to check out. We went down to the Kemah Boardwalk where the Gateway to the Bay Kemah Triathlon takes place. There are lots of carnival rides, a roller coaster, restaurants, and shops. It was a mad house. We left there and hit up Monica Pope's restaurant, Tafia, for an early dinner. Yum! I got us great tickets to see Cirque du Soliel's OVO. It was spectacular. And to finish off the week, we went to a Houston Rockets game and saw them beat the Utah Jazz by two points in the last few seconds. I did get more sleep that week than normal and I guess that I needed it. The kid wore me out.

Wearing a banana costume always get you on Fan Cam!

So other than that, I have been cleaning out closets to get ready for the contractor to come and repair some sheet rock and paint the two guest bedrooms so that they are ready for Ryan, Mikey, and Rachelle to come for Ironman Texas! ACK!!! Only 54 more days!!!

I have the Memorial Hermann Ironman 70.3 Galveston in less than two weeks and Rachelle is headed down for that. I can't wait to see her new bike. We have a beach house rented and it should be a great time.

Hopefully that sums it up. I am sure I will have more adventures to blog about. Stay tuned!

Mile 50 of yesterday's 100 mile ride. The Texas Bluebonnets are out!

Later Gators,

Liz

Stoke Analysis....I SUCK!!!

2011-03-04T07:33:00.002-06:00

Well, I only suck a little bit. But how in the hell have I been getting through the water the past 26 years that I have been competitively swimming? How have I not ended up with some shoulder injury? How have I not had anyone up until now ever tell me that it looks like I am floundering rather than swimming? Coach Tim took some video of my swimming and yesterday I got to see it and get some stroke analysis.

Here is what I have to fix:

Get my butt up! I am dragging my lower body through the water because my head and shoulder are too high. I have to get my head down and basically look at my belly button.
Stop crossing over my right arm! It does not feel like I am crossing over my right arm but the video does not lie. I have to start reaching out with my right arm so it feels like I am trying to touch the lane rope.
Stop pulling through with my right arm about 6-7 inches away from my body! I need to pull along the shoulder and hip line so I feel the water pass over my thigh.
Stop aiming my left fingers over to the right side of my body! I have to aim those finger tips down to the bottom of the pool and get my elbow up.
Stop making such damn big scissor kicks with my legs! Keep the kicking tight. I do this when I work with a kick board. Why can't I do it when I swim???
Stop rotating my body so much when I take a breath! I have to rotate in the neck and shoulders and not the hips and legs.

I hope I hit them all. Damn, I have a lot to work on. Back to the pool tomorrow.

Later gators,

Liz

March Madness!

2011-03-01T20:28:00.003-06:00

It took me a week to recover from the Austin half marathon. Seriously, why I did not take an ice bath, I'll never know. Oh yeah, now I remember. I had checked out of my 1-star motel and I did not have a tub to take an ice bath in. Anyway, my calves were shredded. I did a little 3 mile run a few days after the half marathon and it felt like my heart was racing. I did a few Yasso 800's a day later and my blister painfully informed me that it was not happy about that. I could feel my calves wanting to cramp up when I pushed off the wall at Master's Swim.

I took a few days off of running and just worked on the bike. I figured that there was more knee flexion than ankle flexion going on when I was pedaling. Last Thursday, my training schedule had what I thought was a mistake on it. After confirmation with my coach, it was no mistake. The day started out with my Master's Swim workout. We did a tough workout that included a 1650 meter swim set for time. I got it done in 29:05. That is a 1:46 per 100 meters. Not bad, I guess, but I felt sooooo slow with the guy who was swimming in my lane and the people in the lanes next to me. I was so slow that my lane partner (who has raced IM CdA) asked if we could swim on either side of the lane rather than circular swimming so that he would not have to wait to pass me. Um, *sniff* yeah, I guess so. He finished a good 350 to 400 meters ahead of me. Total swim workout that day: 3150 meters.

After getting home and feeding my face, it was time for item #2 on my training plan. 6 x 25 minute Zone 3-4 intervals on the bike trainer. Wait.....HOW MANY??!!?? Yup, 6 of those puppies. I set up the bike in the Hot Box, the table for my lap top, my Hulu shows to watch and I got going. Around the third interval, El Esposo came home to drop off one of the cars with adopted daughter #1 and saw me sweating my ass off as they pulled into the driveway. Now he knows for sure that I am not sitting around on the sofa watching "Real Housewives of Miami" and eating ice cream sandwiches when he is at work. I ran out of past episodes of mindless television to watch and had to do the last interval and a half to the iPod. I killed it and pushed some even bigger watts than the earlier intervals. I was 90 seconds away from finishing when Bud walked up the driveway from school. I sent him in the house to fetch a granola bar for me as I finished up. I don't think that I have ever been so sweaty when I finished that workout. I had worked my way through four bottles of water and never once had to get off the bike to go pee. I had sweat it out all through my pores. My had sweat dripping off my rear through the tri shorts, sweat dripping off of the shirt I was wearing from the bottom hem and from the sleeves. Sweat had been running down my forehead and off my nose. I had sweat that was running down my legs and into my shoes. Sweat dripping off my elbows and hands. Later that evening, El Esposo asked me what was all sticky on the garage floor. Um, sweat...

After a shower and more food I got a chance to take a little rest before Workout #3 for the day which would be a TRX workout. I got that done when Bud was at swim practice. That workout seemed easy compared to the other two of that day. Even though there was a brick of 40 minutes of cycling and 40 minutes of running the next morning, I decided to just sleep in and rest. Friday was a busy day and I knew that if I did not get that brick started by 4:30 am, it was not going to get done and I did not want to put it in the afternoon only 12-13 hours out from the Saturday long day.

On Saturday, I had Master's Swim at 6:30 am. Coach Tim worked us hard. I was dying to try to hit the time splits on the last 50's at the end of the workout. I hit two at :38 seconds but the other two were a miserable :41 seconds. I was tired after 3000 yards of swimming to eek out those last two 50's at :38 seconds. After drying off and changing into bike gear, it was time for me and Greyhound to begin our 72+ mile ride. The Hound stated that he was going to take it easy and not dig himself into a hole. I said that I would let him set the pace and I would follow along. It was humid and a little cool and foggy when we got going. All I can say is that I guess I was drinking enough because I had to make a mad dash to the bathrooms at all of our normal stops. Around the 40 mile mark, Greyhound had some chain issues and told me that he was getting near the edge of the pit. I took over and pulled us into Richards, TX for a stop and then let him sit on my back wheel as we plowed into a headwind 24 miles back to the school. I was feeling good and took a couple of looks over my shoulder just to make sure that I was not getting out of control and not doing my job as a good training partner to keep the effort under control. Gads it was windy. Once we got to a road that was not going straight into the wind, Greyhound told me to pick it up and we would regroup at a gas station that was about 8 miles or so up the road before we had to maneuver an intersection with railroad tracks at the corner of the school. I just let it fly and it felt really good. Once we got back to the school, Greyhound had to take off, but I still had a 20 minute transition run that I had to get done. I also had to find a secluded area behind the football stadium or the tennis courts to take a leak.

I was so glad to get home, have a tasty lunch of leftover Asian Chicken Soup and some fruit, get a shower, and get a nap. Later that evening, we did movie night and we all went out to see True Grit. Great movie. Make sure you also see the original. Bud was doing some good comparison and contrast on the way to get me some Chipotle soft tacos after the movie.

SLEEP IN SUNDAY!!! Wow, that was awesome! Sadly, 6 am is sleeping in for me. I got two hours of quiet time before everyone else woke up. Greyhound and I had decided that we would take advantage of the warm temps in the 70's to get our 10 mile run in. I also think that by starting our run around 2pm is helping mentally because that is around the time we will be getting off the bike on May 21st. It was warm. Ugh, it was warm. And my legs were heavy. I felt like I was running through mud. We ran a 9:20 pace and it felt hard. Now I know why my coach was questioning why I was going against past years of training and doing my long run on Sunday instead of Saturday with my long bike on Sunday. Frankly, I would like to do it that way, but family time is tricky and that does come first. We got the run done and it was time to race home, get some pizza dough started and get cleaned up before watching The Oscars.

I stayed up way too late watching The Oscars and Jimmy Kimmel, but seeing Tom Hank's "Toddlers & Tiaras" spoof was worth being tired the next day. Monday was a day off. Yahoo! Today begins a new month and a new week in the training. It was an interval ride on the trainer early this morning, a Pilates mat class at 9 am, a 6.6 mile run around lunch time, a two hour nap this afternoon, and a TRX workout this evening. I am heading up to take shower #3 of the day and then it is bed time. Yes, it is March Madness!

Stay tuned to see what kind of craziness this week in the training brings.

Later Gators,

Liz

PR!!!

2011-02-20T16:37:00.013-06:00

I am over the moon and in a little bit of pain. The pain was totally worth it! After watching Bud have some awesome times at his swim meet, I headed to Austin yesterday to pick up my race packet and get checked in at the hotel. With that out of the way, I drove to Whole Foods to meet my Creepy Internet Friends: Coach Carrie, Shawn, Tracy from Ohio, and Greyhound. After a fun dinner on the roof top, it was time to head back to the hotel and start laying out my gear. I was tired and I wanted to get to bed.

Look at this cool messenger bag we got!

My hotel was less than awesome. I did a $33 dollar deal on Hotwire.com and when you only pay $33 bucks, you get a $33 buck hotel. The hotel was a recycled Holiday Inn posing as the North Austin Plaza Hotel and Suites. When I stopped by the first time, all I did was check in and head back into town. Now I was here to stay. I was glad that my room was on the complete other side of the complex from the loud Tejano music fueled Quincenera being held in the banquet hall. Upon entering the room, I had flashbacks of family vacations as a kid in the 70's. This hotel had not been notified that we were now living in a new millennium. The light over the sink did not work, the "Scumfortor" was a weird geometric pattern, and there were only two flat pillows on the slab of a mattress that greeted me as I entered the door. The ice maker was not working so I could put my Greek yogurt on ice to chill. Whatever! I laid out my gear and carefully slid between the sheets as not to touch the "Scumfortor" and read a few pages of my book until I realized that my eyes were closed.

I woke up at 3:30 am with a start and was slightly frantic that I missed the alarm and that I had no idea where I was. I was going to roll over for 45 minutes of sleep but somewhere in the building there was a group having what sounded like a drug-fueled alcohol binge and I could hear the hooting, hollering, and shouting through the vent system in the bathroom. UGH!!! I laid in bed quietly for a while and then gave up and got up to foam roll my legs. With breakfast down the hatch and my gear packed up, I headed out around 5:30 am and made my way into downtown to find parking. I was to meet Greyhound at 6:00 am to head over to the start area together.

The Capitol at 6:05 am.

Conditions were warm, but windy. I had a toss away velour jacket from Wal-Mart and I was sweating in it by the time we ran from our meeting spot to the Texas Capitol. Of course, I had to find the bank of port-o-cans. I had come prepared with extra toilet paper and a Germ-X antibacterial wipe. Ok, I get it. It's dark in those things and I understand you don't want to sit on the seat. BUT PLEASE DO NOT URINATE AND DEFECATE ON THE SEAT!!! And if you do, for the love of God, please clean up after yourself! After getting out of there, I wanted to wipe my whole body down with the Germ-X wipe. Blech!

The love/hate relationship with the whole port-o-can experience...

We seeded ourselves in the 3:30 corral. Again, my hope was to hit 1:55 so even though was a faster paced corral, I figured that the closer we were to the front, the less traffic from slower runners we would have to endure. I had high hopes but there were some people standing around in our corral the outweighed me 60 pounds at the same heights and were dressed in full run tights, a long sleeve shirt, and the 12 bottle hydration belt. Um, you are a 3:30 marathon runner??? I'm not trying to be snarky here but I have been to this rodeo a few times and I know what 3:30 marathon runners look like and they sure don't look like you honey and bubba.

Waiting for the race to start.

Not so much. Once the gun went off and things got underway, it took about 2 minutes to walk to the start line. After that, the sea of humanity failed to get the memo that it was time to get moving. I found myself trying not to step on people's heels, dodging in and out of groups of "friends" that were running three and four across the road, trying to slip between runners without touching them, and avoiding uneven spots and holes in the pavement. After a sweet little downhill to start the race, the course takes you around the Capitol and the hills hit hard and fast. Once on the other side of the Capitol, we ran past the finisher's chute and uphill before we could start heading south and downhill to Ladybird Lake. Running those hills made me ditch my jacket not long after we got going.

I had made a crucial decision not to run with a Fuel Belt for this race and hoped that I would not regret that decision. So as soon as the first water station appeared at mile 1.5, I grabbed two cups and got most of the water up my nose, all over my face, and down the front of my race singlet. Ahhhgh! I was regretting my decision to go sans Fuel Belt. At least I had a nice stretch of downhill to make my move and pass some people. Once over the bridge that crossed Ladybird Lake around mile 2.5, it was uphill for 3.5 miles. I just concentrated on not going red-line and keeping the pace going. Mile 3 was Clif Shot time and my second go at grabbing some water from the aid station. I walked 10 paces to get the water in me rather than on me and picked up the running again. I quickly got back to running with the people who had been around me. As we climbed I found myself passing people. Nice. I just kept my pace as Rhianna and Lady GaGa wailed at me from my iPhone. I had my iPhone set on the Nike+GPS and it was pretty damn accurate. The app gal would tell me that I had reached the next mile and I was right with the mile marker or it was within sight. One thing that struck me was that there were two kids from the Texas A&M Corps of Cadets running in my vicinity on the uphill. The kid would get ahead of me for 30 seconds, then I would pass him. He would pass me as I dodged to grab water from an aid station and then I would catch up. His buddy was ahead of us. We kept this crazy dance going for at least 2.5 miles. All I could think was, "Dude, I'm old enough to be your mother and I missed passing the exam to get into OCS by this much and got cut from acceptance to The Naval Academy in the last round of cuts because I had a history of childhood asthma. Hmph, their loss wouldn't you say if I'm keeping up with you on this nasty course?" I kept my mouth shut as not to pulverize his ego. Back to the task at hand, I saw kids running. Kids younger than my kid running! Crazy. Crazy item #2, there was a dead possum in the middle of the road at mile 5.5 and he was relatively fresh. This dead critter had the power of Moses to part the Red Sea of runners.

As mile 6 approached, it was time to take in another Clif Shot and start the long 3 miles of downhill running. I let it fly! I kept the pace controlled, but I was passing a lot of people. Oh, those cadets from my alma mater, Texas A&M? I passed them both and never saw them again. On one section, the downhill was rather steep and I knew I had to keep things from getting out of control. At mile 8, we were about the cross back over Ladybird Lake and I ran past Crazy item #3. On the side line and in the aid station, someone was dressed up in an H.R. Puffinstuffcostume with the big head. Hey, Keep Austin Weird! I was starting to notice a few people walking or running with their hands on their low back indicating that they were in pain. I just focused on zoning into my running and not paying too much attention the throngs of spectators cheering on the runners. After another steep downhill stretch, it was mile 9 and the inspirational Yellow Mile. All the LIVESTRONG banners were out and there were inspirational messages written on the pavement in yellow chalk and lots of people in yellow shirts. I saw TNT buddy Mike Thompson who is a cancer survivor and an all around nice guy. It was so great to see him. I later found out that the day before at one of the local running stores, someone stole his Felt bike off the back of his car that was parked 15 feet from the open doors of the store. BOO!!! HISS!!! Mikey needs a bike. He is training for Ironman Texas and we have less than 90 days to go before the race!

At this point, I started to feel the bottom of my left foot. At first I thought my sock was bunched up and I tried fanning my toes to stretch it out. No luck. It was definitely a hot spot but I thought that even if it turned out the be a blister, it was just a blister. It was not like a pain in the foot that could be muscular or that I had twisted my ankle and there were some ligament or tendon issues. It was just a blister. Soldier on. Things were on the move uphill again from mile 9 through 11.5. Just after passing mile 10 I began to feel the flutterings of cramps trying to take hold in one of my calf muscles. ARGH!!! I thought I had been drinking enough. I had already had 2 S-caps. Was it not enough? I made sure not to have too much ankle flexion and extension and kept it neutral while making sure that my quads and hip flexorswere doing their job and I would not shuffle my feet. First it was on the right calf. It calmed down and then it was on the left calf. Then it would calm down and then it was both legs! At mile 11 I took in 3 more S-caps and a bunch of water. Uphill again. Things seemed ok until there was a steep downhill around mile 11.5 and I thought that I was going to seize up in the legs. I focused on just moving and not stopping. at the bottom of the hill there was a nasty climb back up that many people were walking and I just plugged away with a goofy little stride run to use the uphill slant of the road to stretch out my calves. It worked a little bit.

At mile 12 I passed the last water station and I could see the Capitol that I had to get around. Now my legs were telling me that they were ready to throw in the towel. My calves were hurting worse than the blister on the bottom of my left foot by now. I knew that I could do this and I had seen at mile 12 that I was about and hour and 40 minutes into this craziness and that I had 15 minutes left for the last 1.1 mile to PR. Keep going! ARGH!!! Back uphill!!! Oh my legs. On the hill I saw the 600 meter sign. Trudge, trudge, trudge... 400 meters to go. Plod, plod, plod... Now it was down hill and around the corner in front of the Capitol to the finish line. I quickly noticed that I was the only chick running with a bunch of dudes. Nice! As I rounded the corner, I said a quick prayer that my calves would not lock up and I would do a face plant right in front of all of the spectators just before the Finish Line. I heard the announcer say, "And here comes someone in purple from Team in Training, another fantastic cancer fighting organization..."

Our cool Finisher's Medal...

...with cool colorful inserts in the body of the medal to recognize some highlights of the city of Austin, TX.

I was a hot, sweaty, salty mess crossing that finish line but I had a HUGE PR!!! I was not sure of the exact time, but I knew I took at least 7-8 minutes off. Yeah, I am not a watch button fumbler at the finish line. I paid good money for that D-tag to electronically record my time. No sooner had I gotten my Finisher's Medal and gotten my Finish Photo I looked up and saw my TNT buddy Johnathan walking towards me with his arms open and a huge smile on his face. He had finished in the same minute as I had and we marveled at the fact that we had probably been running right next to each other most of the time and not even known it. It was so good to see him since he now lives in Austin and we only have Facebook communication. I also saw a TNT friend Sandra who I had co-coached a tri season with. She was bragging on me to a friend of hers. Awe, thanks Sandra! After a few minutes of talking, Greyhound walked up after his finish. I had not seen anyone I knew during the race and now I had seen a bunch of friends all at the Finish Line. How cool is that! I found some water, a banana, and some Gatorade and we headed for our cars. We got back and realized we forgot to pick up our Finisher's Shirts. Dho'! So back we walked into the crowd to now stand in lines that were not there before to get our shirts. I was now cooling off with the brisk wind and I was ready to find a jacket and get out of my sopping wet gear and to get off of the blister on the bottom of my foot.

The red, angry bottom of my foot once I took my shoe off.

The lovely blister that I ran 4 miles on.

Official Finish Time: 1:45:47

655 out of 10,523 runners, 149 out of 6, 291 females, 17 out of 710 in the F40-44 Age Group.

So how did I do it? I don't know, I just ran. Ha, that is a cop-out answer. Here is what I think has been happening over the past year in my training:

I have been working out on the TRX two to three times a week on an "Injury Prevention" plan set up by my coach.
I have been foam rolling like crazy.
I have lost nearly 10 pounds.
I have been doing some crazy mad intervals on the treadmill.
I have been racing 5K's.
I had a really good play list on my iPod.

If you want more details let me know and I can go into the list of 6 with a bit more depth. Again, this is just what has been working for me and I have been working with my coach for just shy of 6 years now. I think he knows what I can handle and what I cannot.

Today I am sore in my right quad where I had no pain during the race and my blister is going to have to wait to be drained until I get to REI for some blister plaster. And I am happy!

Have a great day! I know I will be enjoying my day off.

Later Gators,

Liz

Half Marathon Weekend!

2011-02-18T07:05:00.004-06:00

Well, the last two weeks have been freezing and warm. After my Polar Swim in the last post, Houston was hit with an ice storm that shut the city down for a day. It was a great time to stay in my pj's and watch movies. The weekend thawed out but the temps were still chilly for the training weekend on the IMTX course with Coach Carrie, Shawn, and Greyhound. By the time we got 7 miles into our run on Sunday, we were ditching extra clothes in the car.

So things warmed up in the 50's and the sun was shining. It was almost spring-like. And then we had another cold snap. The weather man was hoping there would be only cold temps and not ice this time around. The swim club sent out a message that Wednesday night and Thursday morning practices were cancelled. Bummer! No Polar Swim II. I had to go out for a cold run instead.

Last weekend it was time for another tasty serving of IMTX bike course. Greyhound and I waited until the sun came up enough (and hopefully the temps to warm up) and we hit the road. The first 20 miles were PAINFUL because it was so cold. I had two pairs of gloves on and my fingers were so cold that they hurt. I had 5 layers on top and two layers on the the bottom and I was not sweating. On a few down hills I was shivering from the icy wind blasting my face. I ended up pedaling along with only the use of my right eye for about 10 miles. My left eye was burning from the wind and started to water up. I shut my eye to ease the burning sensation, but when I tried to open my eye back up, the eyelashes were frozen together! WTF!!! I had tears streaming down the other cheek and burning with the cold wind. UGH! And because you don't sweat in conditions like that, it means that your kidneys go into overdrive. By the time we got to the first pit stop at mile 25, my bladder was so huge and painful that I could not stay down in my aerobars. The bathroom scene from the first Austin Powers comes to mind when I hit the gas station.

Here is the funny part, when we finished the 77.6 mile ride we stripped off all the layers for a transition run and it had warmed up enough where I ran comfortably in a pair of shorts and a racer back Nike top. It had warmed up to about 60. That was a temperature change of about 34 degrees! The temperatures did a funny warm up the next morning when we did our run. We started out all bundled up in gloves, skull caps, jackets, and run tights. At the end of the 9.5 miles we were half dressed.

This week, spring has returned to Texas. It has been in the 60's at night and in the 70's during the days with all the moist warm air being blown in from the Gulf. I LOVE IT!!! I have had the windows open during the day and have kept one or two open at night.

So that brings me to this weekend. I have to be Swim Team Mom tonight and in the morning for Bud as he swims the Spring Championship Meet. His times have been fantastic and he is swimming in Lane 1 since the last meet. As soon as I see him do a few events tomorrow, I hit the road to head to Austin for the Livestrong Marathon and Half Marathon. I am on tap to run the Half. My coach is not part of the school that one has to run a full marathon before an IM race. Whew! However, I have to run this half marathon for time. This should be a challenge. Austin is kinda hilly. I will channel all of my Seattle Marathon memories to calm my nerves about this. If I did a full Marathon in Seattle and ran a PR, I think I can run a half in Austin and do ok.

So here are my race goals:

First mile is EASY. (Cuz, it's hilly!)
Mile 3-6 is STEADY. (Cuz it's all up-hill!)
Let loose on miles 6-9 on the downhill.
Mile 9-11.5 is STEADY. (Up-hill again!)
Don't go ape crazy in the last mile and a half. Hills again.
My Half PR is a 1:55 so far. We shall see what happens.

I have to get to the side of the road, turn up the tunes, and become myopic as I shut myself up in my Personal Pain Cave and just go. The hardest part will be to ignore the thousands of other runners all around me and to not get caught up in the race pace of the first few miles. This is not a 5K so I have to resist the urge to go out hard like I have been doing for some races. I have to channel my inner tortoise rather than my inner hare. Slow....not so much. Steady....yes.

Check back on Monday for an update, or if you can find me on Facebook (Elizabeth Garcia-Snoopy avatar) I will post the results.

Later Gators!

Liz

Hell Yeah We Have Winter in Texas!

2011-02-08T14:31:00.004-06:00

I am assuming that you, gentle reader, are part of the majority that spent most of last week buried in snow, frozen under a layer of ice, or dealing with kids who had the day off from school. Oh the insanity of it all! Well, just to make you feel better, I was right there with you. Texas is nice and pleasant 96% of the year. Well, at least most of Texas is. You cannot forget that there are parts of our state that are further north than Santa Fe, New Mexico and parts that are as far south as the Florida Keys. Last week, the crazy Canuks decided to send Texas an arctic blast to put us in our proverbial place. If you are Canadian and want to blame the North Dakotans, go right ahead and do so, but I know what you guys are hiding up in Northern Alberta. You can't fool me!

Last weekend was the Houston Marathon and since I did not get a lottery slot, I ran my own half marathon in the warm muggy conditions on Saturday after getting home from Masters Swim workout. On Sunday after the warm, muggy, and rainy race, I met my TNT friends downtown for lunch. We were celebrating since my friend Ryan ran his first full marathon AND qualified for the Boston Marathon.

So last Monday night I had 2 sweaty hour of bike work on the trainer in the Hot Box as I got to watch Red on the iTunes rental. Hot was an understatement. It had gotten up to 79 degrees that afternoon and the stagnant air in the Hot Box was warmer than the cooler evening air of 68 degrees outside. With that workout done, I had to feed up, clean up, and sleep up for my 5:30 am cycling class at the gym.

The next morning was warm and muggy. The weather dude had talked about a blazing cold front that was going to bring snow by the end of the week. Well, as class was coming to a close around 6:15 am or so, the large plate glass windows of the gym started to buckle and vibrate from the wind and rain fiercely pelted the windows. I saw the street lights and the lights of the shopping center across the highway go out and I wrapped up class fast since I needed to get out of there and head home to get the kid and drive him to the bus stop. The temperature dropped 20 degrees in a matter of 10-15 minutes and wind gusts were clocked at 45 mph. In Texas we call that a Blue Norther. If it would have been later in the morning, the sky to the north would have been navy blue to black in color as the front approached. By the time I got home and loaded up Bud to take him to school, the rain had stopped, but the wind kept blowing. My last check of the temperature before I headed out the door to go back to teach Pilates was at 40 degrees and we were being warned that the temps would continue to drop throughout the day.

Yup, it got cold. I had to break out my heavy winter ski coat. On Wednesday, the schools were canceling after school activities and Bud had the night off from swim team since he swims at the pool at his school. I was supposed to get a run in, but the school nurse called me to take Bud to the doctor's office for a possible staff infection on his arm that had made his arm look like a red and angry gorged tick. The next morning, the school districts were calling off school for Friday and canceling all after school activities. Just to show Bud that his mom is not a wimp (and from a double dog dare from someone who will go unnamed...) I went to Masters Swim Practice on Thursday morning.

Yes, the pool is heated...

It was 28 degrees outside and 80 degrees in the water. Still, you had to keep moving to keep warm. I got the workout done but the most painful part was getting out. The rails on the ladder were icy and the wind was blowing. Oh, and if you are envious of my knit cap with the skull on the front, you can have one just like it. Yup, I knit it myself. Pay me enough in cash or Clif Shot Blocks and we will talk about getting one for your noggin.

It was nice to "sleep in" on Friday morning and not have work or school to get up for. I had contacted my PT clients and told them that the drive would be too hard and it ended up being a good call. Ice covered the roadways and most of the freeways and toll roads were shut down. I camped out in bed in my pj's most of the day and watched movies and finished reading a book. Things warmed up enough by the end of the day that the ice melted and things got back to normal.

Saturday morning was Masters Swim at 6:30 am. Coach Tim is riding us hard. I about died on the last block that we did. After 3400 yards, a second breakfast, and a change of clothes, it was time to hit the road with my Creepy Internet Friends!

Shawn(a.k.a. Hubster), Greyhound, and Coach Carrie

We tackled about 72 miles of the IMTX bike course and dealt with some wind. At one point, Coach Carrie and Greyhound dropped me off like a cheap dog along the side of the road. I was a little pissed about it and I just struggled on. After the ride and when I got home later that night, I took the bike out of the car and the front wheel was not rolling very well. IT WAS RUBBING THE BREAKS!!! Holy Catfish Batman! I remember hitting a bump in the road and having to react quickly to keep from going down. I guess that is where the wheel issues came in. With all the wheel issues that I have, one would think that every time I stop that I should check to make sure my breaks are not rubbing....not so much. I guess I am a glutton for punishment.

On Sunday, it was Run Day. We hit the IMTX run course and got some miles in there as well. Things started out chilly, but at the end of the first loop we had to ditch clothes in the car. The sun has been out for the last three days, but there is another blast of arctic air coming our way. It looks like I will be doing another Polar Bear Swim on Thursday morning. I got a run in today to break in my new shoes before having to use them for the Austin Half Marathon in 12 days. The wind kept temps in the running pants and long sleeve shirt zone.

And in other highlights, Bud had his first UIL (University Interscholastic League) Solo and Ensemble competition for band and he received all 1's (highest score!) and got a fancy medal on a ribbon that was pinned to his shirt when I picked him up from band sectionals. Last night he practiced his trumpet for over an hour on more music for competition and I also heard the Rocky Theme in there somewhere. What also surprised me was that I caught him watching "The Bachelor" and he exclaimed at the end of the rose ceremony that Michelle was, "...crazy! She needs to go!!!" Well, at least he may be learning about psycho girlfriends with out having to go through the process himself. I guess it is good to know how to spot them and know the warning signals. Ack! He is growing up too fast!

Ok, more fun swim pics to come.

Later Gators!

Liz

First race of 2011 in the books...

2011-01-23T21:23:00.002-06:00

The weather was cool but dry. There was a breeze, but it was not too bad. The competition was stiff, but I rose to the occasion.

Coach Liz's First Duathlon: 3 mile run, 15 mile bike, 2 mile run

3 mile run: 23:26.5 minutes, 7:49 pace, 8th place in the AG

T1: 1:12.7, 9th in the AG (I was having trouble buckling my helmet. Whatever...)

15 mile bike: 45:10.7 minutes, 19.9 mph average, 3rd place in the AG (Whoop!)

T2: 0:47.6, 4th in the AG

2 mile run: 15:51.1, 7:56 pace, 7th in the AG

Final Time: 1:26:28.9 6th place in the Female 40-44 Age Group 112th out of 257 participants.

Ok, the Bud did AWESOME at his swim meet this weekend. He swam 10 events and dropped time in every one of them. The BIG highlights are as follows:

A drop of 10 seconds in the 100 Breststroke

A drop of 7 seconds in the 200 IM

A drop of 17 seconds in the 200 Breststroke

A drop of 7 seconds in the 50 Fly

This was an especially great meet for him to do so well because the Gold group coach was in charge of the meet this weekend. I told Bud that Coach John does not get to see him swim and that he needed to treat this meet as a "try out" so that Coach John could see what kind of swimmer he was. I think he hit the mark. I am super proud of him!

Ok, more fun and hilarity on what my training will be like coming soon.

Later Gators,

Liz

First Race of 2011

2011-01-21T08:06:00.003-06:00

Nothing like a good cold front and some possible rain in the forecast to make for awesome race day conditions! That being said, I will be attempting to dress properly for my first (and possibly last...) Duathlon. On Sunday I will be racing in the Frost Yer Fanny Du at one of the local parks near my house. I took a look at last year's finishing times for the gals in my age group and I am going to get my ass handed to me in a Polar Bottle. Who are these gals??? I have not seen their names pop up on triathlon results. How can they run that freakin' fast??? I'm not looking forward to this.

My goal is just to get it done at this point. I have dealing with some crap workouts and my run times and bike power flying out the window with some of the junk I have been dealing with. Dr. H has worked on me and said that there was just a bunch of little stuff that made me feel like I was falling apart all over. I have a few new stretches and my flexibility is coming back.

On the positive front, Bud had his Challenge Night at last night's swim team practice. He had hit the Silver team times at a workout a few weeks ago and the coaches had been talking about him moving from the Competitive Prep group to the Silver group this spring after the Short Course season ends. Well, I told him to stretch and try to hit the Gold standard times. HE DID IT!!! He is unsure that he is material to move to the Gold Team. He is just a little scared if you ask me. He knows it will be a lot of work and there will be more expectations from the coaches. I knew he could do it! I am very very proud of him. If the coach recommends that he stick with Silver for half a season I will be cool with that but if they recommend going Gold, I will support that decision.

Ok, time to head to work. Have a great weekend and I will be back with an update from the Du and how Bud did at this weekend's swim meet.

Later Gators,

Liz

Ok, Here We Go...

2011-01-14T07:54:00.006-06:00

Yeah, ok, I get it. I have to put my goals in writing so that I see them and they are real and I throw them out there for everyone to look at and laugh and point fingers and take bets if I will really reach them.

Here we go...

1. Be better about logging my workouts in Training Peaks. (STOP LAUGHING AT ME GREYHOUND!!!)

2. Get better at finding balance in my crazy life. (Oh stop rolling your eyes at me.)

3. Race a sub 13 hour Ironman. (Yeah, start placing your bets.)

There you go. I am sticking with three for now. Most of them are measurable and there is a deadline to get it done. Others are a bit vague. Oh well, just deal with it. OK?

For those of you craving for more, here is what I really want to do in 2011...

1. Get a dog.

2. Start working on putting together a Boston Marathon qualifying time.

3. Get closer to taking my certification with the Pilates Method Alliance.

All of those are pretty "pie in the sky" but hell, I put them out there. I have not had a dog in 3 years and El Esposo is against it. Me and the Boston Marathon in the same sentence is like saying Ricky Gervaise and sex symbol in the same sentence. I have been studying and teaching Pilates for over 11 years and the PMA exam scares the hell out of me because there are still a few pieces of equipment that I need to immerse myself on and I know questions on those pieces of apparatus will show up on the exam. I just have to find the time to do that....and the money.

All right, start placing your bets and stay tuned for the results to see if you won.

Later Gators,

Liz

Happy New Year! 1.1.11!!!

2011-01-01T19:56:00.039-06:00

The Year in Review...

As 2010 comes to a close, it seems that it rushed by quicker than a rabbit being chased by a greyhound. Maybe it seemed to rush by because I had lots of things on my plate. I had little time to focus on one thing and that made the clock run a little faster. So lets take a look back over the last 12 months to see what I have been up to.

January:

I kicked off 2010 by heading out to Walt Disney World for Marathon Weekend and the Goofy Challenge. I am not sure, but 2010 may have been the coldest Marathon Weekend on record. I went with Team in Training, having fund raised over $4200.00 and I, along with my buddy Tim Allen, took on the Donald Duck Half Marathon on Saturday in snow and freezing sleet and then turned around the next morning and ran the Mickey Mouse Marathon in sub freezing temperatures. I was able to run with another friend of mine, Sarah, lovely wife to my TNT buddy Geoff. As I recall, I ran the half marathon in 2:09 and the marathon in 4:35. Not bad for 5 weeks after Ironman Cozumel.

After finishing the Half Marathon...

Finishing the Full Marathon the next day...

My hardware...

February:

Coaching the 2010 TNT Cap Tex Triathlon TEAM was kicked off at the beginning of February along with my strength training program set up by my coach. I watched the Winter Olympics as I did all manor of single leg squats, single leg dead lifts, single leg jackknifes on a stability ball, and single leg ball bridges. I dealt with some knee problems that popped up but my awesome sports doc, Dr. H, referred me to Dr. Lehman, an orthopedic doctor who could find nothing wrong with my knee but found my blood work to be off. I was diagnosed with a severe Vitamin D deficiency and put on 8,000 IU of Vitamin D per day as well as 1,000 mg of Omega 3, B-12, and Magnesium. Within less than 2 weeks, my knee pain was gone and I was back to running without the feeling of a knife being thrust up under the patella on my right leg. Bud was having a great swim season and I was a very happy swim team mom.

Our first TEAM practice...

With our honored Teammate...

Bud and I ran the Rockets 5K...

March:

I had made a deal with my step-brother at Christmas that he could run a marathon and that if he did, I would run it with him. So, not wanting to back down on my promise, I started my training for the Seattle Rock n’ Roll Marathon. My training got derailed by a loss of motivation when our family Spring Break cruise to Cozumel was canceled due to fog. I was bummed out. I had lost my mojo. I was in a funk. I continued preparing my TNT Triathlon TEAM for their Olympic distance triathlon at the end of May, but more importantly, for their first Sprint Triathlon at the Gateway to the Bay Tri in just a few weeks.

Time to get on the bike when the wild flowers are out...

April:

I had the bars of my cage rattled by my trusty training partner Greyhound. He asked me to run with him as he prepared for the Ogden Half Marathon. I told him that I would be good company until I could no longer keep up with him. Little did I know that those interval sets that he had to run were also helping me prepare for my marathon as well. Did he know that? Hmm, I don’t know, but Greyhound got me up off my butt and got me back in the mix again. My mojo was coming back. I was keeping up with my strength training and just focusing on that and running was doing me some good. My TNT TEAM successfully got through recommitment, The Gateway to the Bay Sprint Tri, and the Lonestar Sprint Tri which became a bike and run race due to rough seas and a cancelled swim. I saw my TNT friend Laura finish her first half Ironman at the Galveston Memorial Hermann 70.3. Little did I know that in just a few weeks, she would announce that she had signed up for Ironman Cozumel!

Got my picture with Andy Potts and Matty Reid at the Gateway to the Bay Sprint Tri!!!

Got a picture with TJ after he finished the Galveston Memorial Hermann 70.3...

With Terenzo after his win at the Galveston Memorial Hermann 70.3. Does anyone else see a pattern here? Hmm???

May:

Summer League Swim Team began for Bud and I had to balance training my TNT gang and then hustling to a swim meet to see the fish swim. My distance for marathon training was getting into the long miles now. I had helped provide some witty banter on Greyhound’s long runs but now that his half marathon was over, I was on my own. My TNT team was almost ready for the Cap Tex Tri. There were a few members who gave me second thoughts because they never showed up for practice. So I had no idea how well they swam, if they had a bike, and if they were keeping up with their running. Bud was swimming so well that he qualified for the end of season Championship Meet after his first team meet. To end my solitude on my my long runs, Greyhound came out to run 9 miles with me the morning before I had to leave for Austin to take my TEAM to their big race on Memorial Day Weekend. Everyone finished and I got rave reviews for being the best cowbell ringer on a lonely stretch of the run course.

YAHOO!!! My TEAM made it to the Finish Line!!!

June:

It was time for World Cup Soccer and my 21 mile run. The first weekend of June was hot and humid. I decided that since there were hills in Seattle, I needed to head back to Austin to do my 21 miler. Thankfully, Greyhound was in Austin for work and he paced me 9 miles and then kept tabs on me for the rest of my run to make sure that I did not run into a bad patch. The following weekend I was back in Austin with Kathleen, my Houston Racing Tri Club friend, her friend Kim and her boyfriend Wilmer, and Greyhound for the Shammies and Koozies ride in the hill country. We were not able to get the event in due to extreme flooding in the Canyon Lake area. We made due with a hilly ride around the Austin area and a long run around Town Lake. I tapered down my miles and on June 26th, I flew up to Seattle. I did packet pick-up with my step-brother, Eric on the 27th. I ran the marathon and finished with Eric by my side on the 28th, and then hopped on a plane for a Red Eye flight to get back to Houston on 29th for Bud’s big Championship Meet and to volunteer. I had a huge PR at Seattle Rock n’ Roll with a 4:16. A 14-minute PR on a hilly and hard course. I was stoked.

Wilmer, Kathleen, Kim, and Greyhound as we head out for a 60 mile bike ride in Austin...

My brother, Eric, at mile 11 of the Seattle Rn'R Marathon...

We crossed the Finish Line together!

July:

It was time to watch The Tour de France and to hop back on the bike. I had missed being on the bike and now it was time to get my pedaling legs back. July was rainy, hot, and humid. I signed myself up for the Longhorn 70.3 race in Austin in the fall and even though it was a long way off, I really took the training up a notch. My coach started giving my TRX workouts and I used the one at the gym I work at and bought one for at home as well. My running was getting faster. Test sets were showing numbers that I didn’t think were ever possible for me. I worked hard and I found a little bliss in that.

August:

Time for Altitude Training Camp!!! This was our second year for Bud and me to head west to Breckenridge, Colorado and spend 10 days with Greyhound and his family in the mountains. I got some good bike riding in but more importantly, I got a a lot of great trail running in. I used to hate running on the grass. I was learning to love it. When I got back home to sea level, it was time to get ready for the Clear Lake International Triathlon. The only thing that was going to keep me from doing well at this race was a mechanical failure...and that happened less than two weeks before the race. I was out riding with a strong and fast group of roadies and hit a raised lip on a pavement joint at 26 mph and cracked both of my ZIPP 404 race rims. SUCK!!! I had said I was going to ride them until I cracked them just a few weeks earlier. Well, Greyhound came through in a pinch and let me use his race wheels off of his road bike for the race. I had a smoking bike leg and came in 3rd in my age group!

Near the top of Peak 8 in Breckenridge getting ready to run down...

Third place finish at the Clear Lake International Tri...

September:

Training continued. I headed out to Austin to hang with my friends, Coach Carrie and her hubby Shawn, and to run the Zielker Relays. Shawn and I would be running on a team with Coach Tammy and Greyhound. Each person ran a 2.5 mile leg and I was the anchor of this ship. For a hilly course, I knocked out a sub 18 minute leg. Shazam! I found out that ZIPP was going to give me a great deal on a new set of race wheels. I just had to get some cash together to get the ball rolling on “Project Speed Weaponry”. Swim team got rolling again for Bud and he was starting Cross Country at school. And then I fell off of my bike. It was not a spectacular crash, but a stupid “I couldn’t unclip” moment about 10 feet from my car. Even though it was not showy, and I only had a couple of nice bruises on my rear and down my leg, my pelvis was really screwed up and out of place. Dr. H put my back together over a few appointments and I started to get back to training. I am sure I needed a few days off to rest but I was antsy to get going again. The low point of my month was having one of Bud’s swim coaches and one of my tri friends get hit by a car on his morning run and killed as he was training for Ironman Arizona. I doubled up on my blinky lights and reflective gear.

Me, Greyhound, Coach Tammy, and Shawn getting ready to run the Zielker Relays...

October:

Time to race! Oh yeah, It was my 40th Birthday as well. My awesome TNT friends gave me a surprise party. After the excitement of the party, the excitement of watching the events at the Ironman World Championships, it was time to head to Austin to see if all my training for the year was going to pay off. And boy did it ever! My coach’s instructions were to get the swim out of the way, take it easy on the bike, and murder the run. I got the swim out of the way in something like 38 minutes. I was not really happy with that. I had a 19.6 mph average on the bike! That was taking it easy. I was very well hydrated. I made sure not fall off on that. When I got to the run, I was ready to rock n’ roll. Almost half of the run course is hilly and off-road and the trail running from Breckenridge paid off! I ran a 1:57 half marathon! My second fastest and my fastest in a triathlon. I had a PR of 16 minutes!!! 5:33!!! It was time for off season....yeah....right. Right after I win Female Masters Overall Winner at the Monster Mash 5K in 22:13.

My TNT buddies threw me a surprise party for my birthday...

My huge PR at the Austin 70.3...

Getting a hug from my good friend Lauren after the race...

This has happened only once before and I left that race early because I did not have a clue that I had won. Now I stick around!

November:

I had gotten antsy and was going on little runs here and there but November brought a new training plan from my coach. There was more TRX work, more interval running, and more 5K races. So far I have won every one that I have entered. And I am not the fast girl! I did some riding with my bike mechanic and my training was progressing nicely. The best part of the month was that the Spring Break cruise that was canceled due to fog in March was going to set sail the week of Thanksgiving. And the best part? I was staying in Cozumel to watch my girls Laura and Lauren race their first Ironman! Along with a little swimming with the dolphins and an Andy Potts sighting on my run, November was by far the highlight of my year!

I think I am in love...

Laura and Lauren before they start their Ironman race!

And after they crossed the Finish Line!!! I am so proud of them!

December:

Yeah, there was that month too. I got a viral infection that has sent my training into a tailspin. I am getting better but it is small steps. I am certain that there are only a few other times in my life where I felt worse. I have a high threshold for pain but sometimes it is not the physical but the mental pain that you have to work through. I have been waiting patiently for Dr. H to get back from his holiday break so we can start putting Humpty Dumpty back together again. Muscles are pulling and tugging me into submission. But for all the low moments during this month, there were a few bright spots. Santa was very good to this rag-tag swimbikerun girl. My Element was over 227,000 miles old and only running on three cylinders. It ran fine but idled rough. I was just waiting for a cop to pull me over and nab me for an expired inspection tag and force me to buy a new car. Christmas morning I found a set of keys under the tree. The other bright moment was this morning. I had not done any interval running due to illness and injury and this morning I was determined to do an interval workout and knock it out of the park. Thanks to Greyhound for providing time countdowns and motivation from his bike, and holding off until the end on going all Full Metal Jacket on me, I was able to get in 20 X 60 second intervals on an all out pace with 60 seconds recovery between each one. I did it. It was a small step of getting the mojo back.

Santa brought me a new Honda Element!

So what does 2011 hold? Well some of you already know but you don’t know the entire playlist for the party. You will have to check back in to see what’s in store for the new year.

Thanks for coming along on this magical mystery tour with me.

Later Gators!

Liz

The Grinch's heart is melting...

2010-12-22T07:21:00.002-06:00

After a healthy dose of "A Charlie Brown Christmas", "Elf", and getting my kid to decorate the Christmas trees I am starting to feel a little more in the spirit of the season. I still have some other stuff to sort out such as buying people gifts before we head to my Dad's tomorrow while still having to work today.

Physically, I am that sad bag of Misfit Toys from the Rudolph TV special. Some things are getting better. Other things are out of control. Right now, my main pain is coming from my pelvis. I went to Spine & Sports Therapy on Monday for some tightness in my left IT Band, a feeling of instability in my left Sacroiliac joint, and a pinch in my right shoulder that gave me a zinger of a pinch on my Saturday Masters Swim Workout. My regular Doc, Dr. H, is already on holiday so I saw the new doc in the office, Dr. Jeff. Dr. Jeff did a release on my Sacrotubural ligament, put some vertebra in my mid back and neck back in place and I felt great walking out of there. Things were fine at work on Monday. On Tuesday morning I woke up before my alarm and I knew things were out of sorts.

I don't know if men really understand how hormones and their constant ebb and flow of them in the female body can wreak havoc on our health and ability to function. Throw in a viral infection to the mix and things start spiraling out of control. I was able to get through a Pilates mat class with some Tylenol and other pain relief options but by the end of the day I was having trouble getting comfortable. The pain in my pelvis was back and now something was compressing my Sciatic nerve and sending radiating pain down the back of my left leg.

This morning, the one morning I could sleep in without having an early class or to get someone up for school, was something I was looking forward to. Well, not so much. El Esposo was snoring louder than a freight train and woke me up at 4 am. THREE HOURS before my alarm. I moved to the guest room to sleep, but the pain in my pelvis (butt) was so intense I could not get back to sleep. I crawled out of that bed after 45 minutes and ate breakfast and looked at the latest copy of Outdoor magazine for about 90 minutes and then tried to crawl back into bed. The pain was bad but if I could just get 30 minutes of snoozing before the alarm went off I would be happy. Nope, the snoring started again mere minutes after I crawled back under the blankets.

So now I am waiting to see if I get a call back from Spine & Sports to go back in and get fixed again.

No running, just hobbling. No cycling. I don't think I could swing my leg over the bike. I don't know what I am going to do about the noon class I teach. Oh well...

More later,

Liz

My Christmas Wish...

2010-12-12T21:49:00.003-06:00

Yeah, I am still around.

I had a great time in Cozumel watching my friends Lauren and Laura finish their first Ironman race. I got to fly home in the comfort of first class sitting next to an old acquaintance and I had a great day the next day after I got home.

And then things got turned upside down. It is little stuff and it is big stuff. I have been told that what does not kill me will make me stronger and that I just need to put my head down, readjust my pace and keep putting one foot in front of the other. Easier said than done.

I have been called Scrooge because I am lacking Christmas Spirit. I'm sorry but if I see one more car with fake antlers attached to the car windows and a red pompom tied to the radiator grill, my head might just explode. Thankfully I have avoided having to hear any holiday songs by Karen Carpenter or Band-Aid singing "Do They Know It's Christmas Time..."

So what is my Christmas wish? Well for starters, more sleep. I will also take silence, like the silence of that first snowfall out on a country road. I would like caring and compassion rather than ostracism and avoidance for all people. And last of all, I want my smile back. It might be hard to find in all the logical places but if you do find it, it is free. Take good care of it while it is in your possession. If you need to hold on to it for a while, I will understand but remember that I need it as much as you do. Oh yeah, and I would like a dog.

Don't worry if you don't see any posts for a while. I will be training and you can find me on Facebook if you need to. I just need a little time to consult my compass and my map to find a new path and possibly a new destination.

Season's Greetings,

Liz

Thanksgiving Fun

2010-11-27T14:57:00.017-06:00

Hola Chicos y Chicas!

Last Monday, with our bags packed and arrangements to be absent from work for a week, we boarded the Carnival Ecstasy and set sail for South of the Boarder. This was the second cruise for me and El Esposo having taken one 18 years ago on the Carnival Festival to the Bahamas. This was Bud's first cruise and the first time out of the country. We hoped that he would appreciate the cruise but also get a chance to see a bit of "The Real Mexico" on our journey.

Now I am not one to judge what is deemed to be questionable in taste....oh all right, yes, I do judge from time to time. Heck, I had a mother that I'm sure Martha Stewart took tips from. I had a card carrying member of the Etiquette Police as a mother. With that being said, I do find myself picking up on the things that most people overlook due to the busy society we now live in, the forms of electronic devices that they seem so interested in rather than the people and sights around them, and their own lack of manners from no formal training. A cruise ship is like a wacky shop of horrors for people like me. Here are just a few of the highlights that stand out in my mind:

Is it appropriate for a cruise line to play Celine Dione's "My Heart Will Go On" (Theme song from Titanic) over the intercom and piped into your room before the ship sets sail?
Is it appropriate for the Regge Band on the Lido Deck to play Shaggy's "It Wasn't Me..." ( Honey came in and she caught me red-handed
Creeping with the girl next door
Picture this, we were both butt naked, banging on the bathroom floor ) where kids are splashing in the pool and grandparents are lounging on deck?
Is it appropriate for the DJ running the cocktail mixing contest on the Lido deck to play the Paradiso Girls " Patron Tequila" (By the end of the night
Imma have you drunk and throwing up (hey! )
By the end of the night
Imma have you so f--ked up!) again with kids splashing in the pool and grandparents lounging on deck?
If your cruise includes wonderful meals why would you eat hamburgers and hot dogs up on the Lido deck or have pizza from the 24/7 cafeteria? Are you too lazy to get a shower and get dressed up?
Yes Sir, I know what you are checking out behind your glasses and I'm sure she is under 17.
No Ma'am, I cannot tell that you have had plastic surgery at all but thanks for trying your darndest to show me that your additions probably cost the same amount as the price of this cruise.
Girls! Really??? Pajama pants and Uggs on a cruise??? REALLY???
Wow, isn't that great that the entire family and extended clan all have the same t-shirts and tropical shirts on each day so they can find each other in a crowd. Very helpful if you get lost somewhere between your cabin and the water slide. (And all the men in the family went along with this???)
Just because it is there and free does not mean that you have to eat it.
As you approach the small round hot tub to climb in, what is the number of people you would think it takes to make a full hot tub? 9? 12? 15??? And you still want to try to climb in?
Why is there a Men's Hairiest Chest Contest? WHY??!!??

Just so that I do not come off sounding like I did not have a good time, I did. I really did. I had some excellent meals and because the other four chairs were empty at our table because the other family decided to partake of the hamburgers and pizza on the Lido deck, we had a nice family meal each time we sat down. El Esposo even rented a tux one evening and I wore a nice LBD (Little Black Dress). I was able to read my book, work on my tan lines, and take it easy. We were so relaxed sitting and having coffee one evening in a quiet part of the ship that some guy passing by sarcastically told us to settle down and not get too crazy. Bud will have to have a vacation from his vacation because he stayed up every night past midnight hanging out with other kids in the Circle C club and doing fun activities. I was a dull girl and was in bed every evening by 8:45 and fast asleep by 9:00 pm and never heard El Esposo come in from the Karaoke bar or the evening show. Each morning I was up and on a treadmill by 6:00 am to get a workout in before breakfast.

In Progresso, Mexico we took a kayak trip through a mangrove "forest" and saw pelicans, flamingos, sand pipers, gulls, and fish jumping out of the water. All I can say is that I am sure there were some sore people the next day after that adventure. I was the only person in the excursion that had a single kayak since we had an odd number of people and I was the only one in the group with any kayak experience. The wind picked up half way into the trip and we were headed into the wind the entire way back. Even my arms felt the burn of the lactic acid but since I am in shape I had no soreness the next day.

Progresso is a sleepy little coastal town. Most people were taking excursions further in to Merida for shopping or to Mayan ruins 60-70 miles away. Only one cruise boat docks per week in Progresso and we were it for that week. Progresso has the longest dock in the world at almost 4 miles long. In the next few years, the pier will be extended out into deeper waters to allow more cruise ships to dock. I am sure the town of Progresso wants the added American dollars flowing through it.

Our next port of call was Cozumel. After some paperwork and wrangling, we were able to get off the boat and I was able to get off with all of my luggage. We met my friend Dennis who runs Casa Deja Blue and he drove us to his villa. We got changed into swim gear, walked down the street, and swam with the dolphins! Seriously, Dolphinaris is two blocks from the villa. The dolphins were amazing! I think I am in love and my new boyfriend's name is Linco.

We got to swim up to and pet the dolphins so many times I lost count.

We got belly rides,

hugs,

kisses,

and hand shakes as well as other amazing displays of jumping and singing. Our dolphin Trainer, Anna, had a degree in marine biology and was very good at answering everyone's questions about Linco, Marina, and the other 15 dolphins at the park. With the dolphin adventure over and fajitas in our stomach, it was time for El Esposo and Bud to head back to the ship. I stayed behind on the island!

Now many of you know what is going down this weekend on the island! If not, you will need to stay tuned to all the details that will be coming.

For now, Adios from South of the Boarder and from the island.

Later Gators!

Liz

P.S. Sorry for any typos. Here in Mexico, spell check does not work so well with all English.

Imagine No More!

2010-11-19T19:09:00.004-06:00

Today at lunch I was checking my e-mail and found a message from Carol Nash, the Advancement Coordinator from the Awty International School. My blog had popped up on her Google Crawler and she was nice enough to send me some of the photos from the Ram Run 5K. Thank you Carol!

So imagine no more and look at me run:

In both photos you will notice that BOTH of my feet are off the ground!!! I really look like a runner!!!

Leave it to my buddy Shawn to comment that he was glad that I was able to pass that 10 year-old behind me. There were some fast kids at this race. The female overall winner was a 12 year-old with a pace of 6:05! The organizing committee did a great job of putting on this event. There were fun activities for the kids, guest appearances by Ronald McDonald and Pepe the Parrot from Fiesta Grocery, lots of great food and drinks at the post race party, and a DJ that was awesome. Everyone was dancing in the street in front of the stadium. El Esposo's boss had two kids who graduated from the Awty International School so I decided to give back to the school and support their athletic program.

Tomorrow is the Kingwood HS Rock the Band 5K and the money they raise will help send the band on their trip to New York. We shall see how I do. Check back in for details.

Later Gators,

Liz

Ooops, I Did It Again....

2010-11-18T13:13:00.009-06:00

Ok, so I'm no Brittany, but I did it again.

This is from the Awty International School Ram Run 5K this past Saturday...

Overall Female Masters Winners

Place Name Bib Age Overall Time Pace

1 Elizabeth Garcia 63 40 22 22:15.3 7:11/M

And this is crazy because I am NOT a runner. I would include a picture of me running in the rain in my bun huggers and arm warmers, but the photo proofs cannot be copied. Sorry, you are just going to have to use your imagination of me running down the road.

Try really hard on the running part because again, I am NOT a runner.

Swimming, biking, and running adventures are just around the corner! I will document as best I can and make sure that I don't leave any of the excitement out.

Later Gators,

Liz

He's at it again!

2010-11-12T07:21:00.003-06:00

Hey boys and girls,

As the holidays approach, have you looked back to see what list you are going to end up on??? Have you been good and done all of your workouts your coach gave you or did you skip one too many? Did you increase the amount of fruits and veggies in your diet or did you increase the amount of beer in your diet? Did you get 7-8 hours of sleep a night or did you pull a few all-nighters?

There is still time to turn things around! Head on over to DCRainmaker's blog and get registered to win a Garmin Forerunner 210 and get your training back on track. Do it now!!!

Have a great weekend kids!

Liz

AND....My 2 weeks of recovery are over...

2010-11-08T05:35:00.020-06:00

I was told by a very wise person that it is hard to have an interesting life and still have time left over to blog about it. Well, for the last two weeks, I guess that has been the case. Each morning I opened my daily coaching e-mail from Coach Woofie and saw, "You have no upcoming workouts." At first, I felt a little lost. But, then I started to think of all the fun (er, trouble) I could have (er, get into).

So, in order to keep it short and so I don't get too wordy, here is what I have been up to the last 2 weeks:

1.) I baked some cupcakes and sent them off in the mail to some very worthy runners...

2.) I carved a pumpkin...

3.) I ran a 5K with a 5'4" (or taller) banana and I really gave myself a fright...a good one!

Time of 22:13, pace of 7:09!!!

Getting my Frankenstein head trophy with Overall Female Winner, Rebecca Marvil.

4.) I attended the symphony...

5.) Went trick-or-treating with the 5'4" banana...

5.) Got rid of both of these hideous wall papers in my downstairs bath and and got paint instead...

6.) Got a treat of my Zipp 606 wheel set!!!

7.) Did a bunch of knitting...

Sleeves on a sweater I am almost done with.

8.) I bought more yarn...(you have permission to yell at me if I buy more)

Alpaca, angora, and just some fun chenille yarn...

9.) I did a little shopping...

Swimming adventures are on the horizon!

10.) I spent a weekend at my kid's swim meet...

And then today in my mailbox was this message...

Elizabeth Hi

I have your next four weeks up in TP. Next week is testing, mostly. I am holding your TRX workouts and foam rolling but I have added a couple of TRX workouts. I expect you to find the challenging but this is more in my campaign to bulletproof you and keep you injury free.

I will re-send all your exercises that we are re-using together with a PDF that has links to films of the new TRX exercises.

R/Woofie.

PS: You will see I have added 5Ks with expectations :-)

So today it was back to TRX and foam rolling goodness. I know I am going to be a little sore in the next day or two. Tomorrow is swim testing and run testing. This weekend is another 5K. We shall see how it goes...

Thanks for stopping by.

Later Gators,

Liz