What a moron

So I usually clean Franky's (my totally rad gerbil) cage once a month and since I was getting things together for Wildflower and doing some other cleaning, I decided that it would be a great time to get that done as well. After completely scrubbing the cage and wiping down all his toys, I go to put new bedding in and cannot find it anywhere. I honestly do not remember running out, but must have because it's nowhere in the house. Of course there are no pet stores open at 8pm on a Sunday night, so I put an old t-shirt down until I can get some bedding in the morning...ugh, I'm such a goof sometimes.

Great weekend with training, friends, the sun, etc. Big work day and a little shakeout swim and bike tomorrow. Getting ready for the big trip on Thursday...WHOOOAAA :)

80*, Tapering, Shopping, OH MY!!!

So much going on in the past couple days...the weather is finally starting to turn with 60s yesterday, high 70s today and 80s tomorrow!!! Wildflower is exactly one week away and I have started to slow down a bit and begin a light taper to rest up my body for a stellar race next weekend.

For the first time in about a year, I went to the mall yesterday afternoon after work and picked up a few things for the summer...that was the first and last trip to the mall for the year as I absolutely hate that place and despise shopping :)

Heading out for an easy swim with JZ and Simon (or should I say in the lane next to them) then an moderate 2.5hr bike in the beautiful weather! Oh so excited!

Ugh, just one of those days

Isn't it weird how you can feel a crappy day coming on right when you get out of bed in the morning? Well I sure had that feeling with my first step out of bed and ended up having an absolutely crap-ass day.

Legs felt like there were 20lb bricks in each one of them during my run this morning and then as soon as I got the motivation to do my hill ride, the clouds rolled in, the sprinkles came down and the wind picked up. Needless to say, my legs never recovered from the morning and could barely turn over for the entire 2+hrs. Came home, took a shower, slept for 2 hours and now it's feeding time.

The only thing I want to do right now is watch my freaking Red Wings and the one station that the internet has to watch them online for free (since I don't have a TV) will not work. At least I can watch the Pistons, right...too bad they're losing!!! Okay, I'm done being a sour-puss, off to the Zeiger/Shenk household to go watch a little Grey's Anatomy.

What is this crap?

Seriously people, 70s and sun all weekend and now we've been rained on for almost 24hrs straight and it's supposed to turn to snow and continue all day tomorrow!!!!

I've run on the treadmill a total of about 4 times this whole winter while we were getting feet of snow and today was one of them...ridiculous! I just couldn't bare the thought of being outside for 75min in 40*, rain and 30mph wind...yucky.

Cross your fingers that tomorrow isn't as bad as they say it's going to be...I want to go ride my bicycle outside :)

Start of a new week.

After a very successful day of training on Sunday (2hr run, 5K swim, 1.5hr bike) I had a great swim this AM and trying to enjoy the day at work. My boss came down with pink eye so I'm trying to be the nice kid and help him while having a positive attitude :)

Not much else going on except that the weather seems to have shifted a little in the more 'unpleasant' direction if you will...rain/sleet/wind/possible snow is in the forecast for the next few days...we'll just have to wait and see! Ya never know what can happen here in Colorado!

Time for some Power!

Finally got it together yesterday afternoon and put my second Powertap wire harness on the Trek so I can start tracking my cycling improvement throughout the season. Took it for a little spin to test it out after a killer 90 minute run session of hill repeats up 6th St. and a little shakeout swim in the mid afternoon.

After a hard swim with JZ this morning, I headed out for a 4 hr ride to Carter with a few efforts...looks like the Powertap works well...also looks like I could use some improvement!!! It's still April so I have plenty of time, right?!?

Other than the fact that I almost got hit by a car and saw a plane almost land in the middle of a 4 land road on my ride, not much else is going on. Still struggling with the battles of work, but being tough and not letting it get to me TOO badly :)

T-2 weeks until Wildflower!!! Holy crap.

The day is almost over....

What a day...today that is. Howling winds, irritations at work, lots of eating, 4 hour nap in the middle of the day...ugh. Finally got some motivation to do a 2.5hr bike/run/bike brick around 4:30pm. Went fairly well and then watched a little Grey's Anatomy with JZ to top off the evening.

Since I have been sucking at posting on a regular basis, might as well update from the past couple days so you don't fall too far behind on my super, exciting life :)

Tuesday - Almost died running. No joke. Simon had us do 4x2K intervals on the Cottonwood trail with half time rest after a little warm up from the gate of the rez. Let's just say that my heartrate was at 193 after the first effort...hmmm...can we say STUPID!!! Well I don't know about you, but I sure can, because I was pretty much S.O.L. for the next 3 runs. After almost killing myself getting through them (and being dead last) I rejoined the group to cool down back to the rez. I jacked my heartrate up so high during that set that even jogging I couldn't bring my pulse under 170...uh oh. Not to mention the fact that I pretty much just wanted to lay down on the side of the road and cry I felt so awful. Long, solo walk back to the rez but after getting some food and water in me, I felt much better and finished the day with a decent swim and easy bike.

Wednesday - killer swim in the AM and great 3min hard/1min ez efforts on the bike from Lefthand canyon up to Ward. Went and saw Tim over at Colorado Multisport to get another opinion on my bike fit since this new Trek seems to be a little uncomfortable. He got me stretched out a bit and I think that might just be the key to being comfy again.

It is now way past my bedtime and I am still pigging out beyond belief...this has been sooo weird. I don't think I've ever eaten this much before...craziness.

KILLER JOB JZ!!!

That's my girl kicking it in hot pink who totally rocked it at Ironman Arizona yesterday. Third overall person out of the water, held a 7 minute lead over the women throughout the bike and completed the race with a stellar run to finish just seconds behind first place. Off very little Ironman training, I couldn't be more proud of her. I know she'll definitely be looking forward to the 'Fluff' heading her way in the next couple days! Joanna - you're such an inspiration to us all! GREAT RACE KIDDO!

As far as the weekend in Boulder...couldn't have been better. Great 4hr bike/30min run brick with a shakeout swim on Saturday and a phenomenal 2hr run/5K swim with shakeout bike on Sunday...all with 70+ degrees and sunny weather :) And a fun BBQ at the neighbors' to top off the weekend!

I'm officially a Colorado Resident!!!!

...and I almost burnt my house down last night, but I'll get to that disaster later.
So I finally got a CO driver's license, CO insurance and registered to vote in the state of Colorado this past week. In June, when my registration expires, I will have that transferred as well. It's kinda creepy to think I don't belong to Michigan (or my parents for that matter) , but pretty cool. I know my parents are definitely stoked that I won't be canceling out their votes anymore...haha! However, I'm not quite satisfied. The next and final process of the deal is to purchase that dream house I've searching like a hawk for and have Miss Tingle move in as my roommate and get the training show on the road :) OH yeah!

It's been sort of a busy/funky week with weather, work, training, you name it. Wednesday I had a great swim in the AM and was really excited to get out on the new bike and take it up in the mountains for a little cruise. Got about 10min out and blasted with a huge cross wind that almost knocked me completely sideways. Decided that there was no reason for that so I turned around, got on the trainer for 2.5hrs and completely thrashed myself...mostly bc I was so irritated that I had to get on that stupid thing again.

Since we were supposed to get dumped on with 6-12inches of snow on Friday, I decided to change my hill run to Thursday so I wasn't covered in snow running up to the top of NCAR...PR'd by almost 3minutes which was very exciting, however, ended the day with getting into a giant fight with my boss. It was not good and may be a stepping stone to getting a new job, but I'm doing my best to work through it as I know he is going through a difficult time right now. The worst part of the day was coming home to a letter in the mail saying the medication I take on a daily basis (and pretty much is the reason my days run smoothly) was taken off the market bc it has a high risk of heart attacks. How fabulous...still working with the docs on that.

Friday was a bit better...kinda. Killer swim in the am in the sleet, then jumped on the treadmill with Laura and annoyed everyone at FAC bc we were chatting so loud while running and then headed to work. Never got the snow that was predicted, and instead had 40* and sunny weather from 11:30am on. Got super frustrated with my position on my new bike last night and ended up dismantling the whole thing...need to figure out an efficient position before I get back on the Felt and put Trek stickers on it. JUST KIDDING!!!

As of now, I have 5 candles spread throughout the house trying to get the awful burnt smell out of my 400sq ft place. I attempted to bake a cookie in the toaster oven last night (since I don't actually have a real oven) and forgot I had put it in there. Well that was until I saw all this smoke come in my room and came flying out to roaring flames coming out of of the toaster oven...oops. I immediately threw water all over it, then reached in and grabbed the sheet that the cookie was on and chucked it outside. Yeah, talk about a moronic experience. Now the house freakin' reeks and it's all my fault. Oh well. Glad no one got hurt and the house is still standing!

Alright enough babbling, heading to the pool to get in a brief swim this morning and then either doing the long bike/short run or the long run. Weather dependent. Still a possibility of heading down to Phoenix to watch Ironman Arizona tomorrow so stay tuned.

About time huh?

Yes, yes...my blogging posts have been slacking quite a bit the past couple weeks, but once the weather gets better and things start settling down with work, I'll be back on track!

So the weekend was a bit unusual with lots of snow/rain/sleet/coldness/you name it. Changed a bunch of workouts around and ended up swimming with JZ in our wetsuits on Saturday morning and getting in a decent bike on the trainer in the afternoon. Killer dinner with the Coopers at Moongate and a delicious dessert afterwards at the Boulder Cafe. Easter Sunday was not so typical either. Woke up and made myself a nice pancake breakfast and hung around waiting for the snow to stop falling so I could head out for my 2hr run. It stopped around 11am and as soon as I got out the door it started again and pretty much dumped on me for the whole 2hrs...brrrrr. Not so fun. However, I did have some great company and had a nice brunch afterwards followed by a trip to the movies to see "Blades of Glory" which was hilarious. Good weekend despite the nasty weather.

Since I was unable to get in the long ride over the weekend and it was supposed to be 65 and sunny on Monday, the plan was to shift everything over a day. Great ride out to Carter and back, just a tad windy - one of these days it will be calm coming home from Carter Lake...one day. Shake out swim in the afternoon after a little work and a fun time cheering on Jon's kickball team later in the evening.

Crashed Simon Lessing's interval session at the rez this morning with about 5 other girls...super fun and got a killer run in. After running around all day and finally getting Chautauqua settled and sold, I was able to get on the trainer and kick out 2hrs of intervals with Mercedes! Loud music, lots of sweat, gotta love it!

Now it's time for bed. Night Night.

What the F***???

Seriously people...30 degrees and sleet all day?!?!

Sucked it up like a champ and did my long hill run anyway...however, I did come back with a layer of ice on my face, clothes and glasses...not cool. The swim afterwards was quite interesting as well as I was still frozen solid from the run and swimming outside just wasn't exactly very warm.

Good trainer session in the afternoon with Jo and a relaxing evening. Looks like the next couple of days are going to be cold and snowy around here so I guess we're just going to have to deal with it...happy, happy, joy, joy!!!

I still love Boulder...even if it is 27 degrees and snowing right now :)

Work, Photo shoots & Training

Wednesday was the typical catch up day with a random photo shoot in the middle. Had a little miscommunication with packing up my bike down in San Diego and unfortunately it didn't actually make it back with me for the shoot and there was no way I was going to be able to do it on a Felt or Ben/Trek might bite my head off. Luckily, Jimmy Archer saved the day and brought me a Trek WSD Equinox that he had used as a demo and was sitting in his office...that was a close one. Shoot went well...got a little crazy if you really wanted to know, but will post some of the more appropriate pics when I get them back. The photo/article will be in the June issue of Inside Triathlon if at all interested. More work all night and well, no training for the day...boo.

Today was a little more productive with a 45min shakeout run in the AM, lots of work at the restaurant and then a 2.5 hr interval ride on the trainer since there were black clouds hovering over the mountains when I got home...sorry, no riding outside in 40* and rain. Got a sweet massage from the roommate afterwards and have been cranking out payroll and inventory journal entries ever since.

Now it's time for bed. Night Night.

Timex Team Camp Part 2

The much awaited post has finally come. Sorry for the delay...I always forget how annoying and stressful it is returning to work after being gone for a few days...

Anyway, the rest of camp was absolutely awesome. More fun and learning with the sponsors and staff at Timex and a couple photos to finish up day 3. Laura and I were selected to do the 'running' photo shoot later in the afternoon which turned out to be hilarious. We pretty much couldn't stop laughing and run seriously and I'm almost positive Ben was about to kill us...however, according to Jon (our kick-ass photographer from Colorado whom I will be traveling to Wildflower with), he said that he will be able to use about 30 of the 400 shots he took...craziness. Kinda interested to see them.

Built up the rest of my bike with Tristan later in the evening and watched a little 'Bachelor' with Laura back in the room as we attempted to pack everything we had received from the camp...wow, lots of stuff! Had a killer tempo/interval run in the early morning before the last session of the camp. Hit the pool then hitched a ride from Ben to the airport where everything went smooth sailing from there (well kinda...will explain in next post).

Fun times with fun people and looking forward to a killer race season with a killer team!!!

GO TIMEX

http://teamtimex.timexblogs.com/

Timex Team Camp Part 1

San Diego, the team, the sponsors, the training and well, everything has been absolutely awesome the past few days.

Saturday was a blast traveling with Laura on the plane and then meeting all the team members and sponsors for 2007. After a great dinner, I slept like a total baby...how great.

Sunday - long run along the ocean in the morning with Laura and Kim that was sooo beautiful, lots of media and training with the team, a little swim, then a fun Mexican dinner downtown Carlsbad with the entire team. Definitely some good laughs!

Woke up this morning and enjoyed a nice cup of Joe with Laura and then headed out for a nice easy hour run. Went through some strawberry fields, a few random trails, then trotted around Legoland for the last few minutes. Easy 2K recovery swim to stretch out and loosen up afterwards. More media, a little lunch and now it's time for a few photo shoots and team camaraderie.

Lovin' it.