"I'll have what he's having"........

Apparently my husband took some kind of stimulant this morning, or else he's been cheating on me with his bike at night when I fall asleep. Should I be worried? Hmm.

I am not sure if there was an extra shot or two of Monster energy in his Gatorade this morning, or what. (or maybe I'm just a weenie........Charlie, you backin' me up on this one? ;)

We decided to bike outside for the first time since, ohhhhh, last August. Yeah. Trainer rides were becoming a LITTLE, ughhhh, OLD, and this was the first chance it might actually turn out to be a beautiful day, so we wanted to take advantage of it. We had a 3 hour ride scheduled, and the Ride for Orphans didn't start till 8am. It was chilly at the beginning, but we layered well and my hands/feet were the only thing that actually got cold, even though I think the ride started out at around 35 degrees? The longest option was 62 miles, so we took that option.

8am:

Off we went. The "really fast" group started off and we hung with them for oh,
maybe 2 minutes :) I was going to just draft off whoever was around Matt. The
first 20 miles were ok. I knew I wasn't used to hills, and expected a few hills
since we were in Madison. I DIDN'T expect my husband to fly up those hills
QUITE as swiftly as he did, however. He forgot his heart rate monitor/watch at
home, so he couldn't go by that. Well, buddy, I could, and my heart was
screaming "STOP child!!!!!! You'll never make it 62 miles up these hills that
fast, especially after the tough week you've had and the tiredness you've been
experiencing!!!!" But, oh no. It was either draft like a crazy woman from hell,
or get left and be out on my own. I chose option A. Bummer. I know. I was the
only woman around and didn't even know it until around mile 35 or so, when we
took a water/food break. Hmm......this isn't good. Where's girls to whine with
when you need them. I just whined to Charlie since Matt was so far up ahead
there was no way he could hear. Sorry Charlie ;)

I kept reassuring myself, "This is how you get faster. There is NO hope for you
on the swim, but you can make up for it on the bike and the run." My legs just
didn't want to agree with me at the time. I hung in there pretty well,
for our first outdoor ride with hills since last year. I gotta lot of work
to do before Canada though ;) I think I said to Matt once we got up Lake
Cavalier (my FAVORITE hill in Madison, by the way) "Canada is going to chew me
up and spit me out." I don't remember his reply. Or maybe I didn't hear his
reply b/c of the loud nostril/mouth breathing thing I was experiencing after
Cavalier. Ok, I am exaggerating. A little. ;)

The thought of doing this up Lake Cavalier DID cross my mind ;)


So, thanks dear for one heck of a ride in Madison today. In a few hours, I may
forget the visions of you ahead of me on the bike that I saw for 3 1/2 hours.


But,hey, I WILL thank you for it this tri season when I am a monster just like you on the bike. Maybe. Don't hold your breath. I love you dear ;)...........except when you're Satan on the bike ;)

......And the word for the week is TIRED............

Everyone say it with me. T-I-R-E-D. Let's say it together: Tirrrrrrrrreeeeeeeeeedddddd. Wow. I think Ironman training is starting to take its toll on me. Combining two-a-days with early morning wake-up calls, craziness at work, and a change in my diet routine have really made me a whiney butt. (Just ask Matt ;) The saying, "Train. Eat. Sleep. Repeat." is no joke when you train for an IM. Throw work in the mix and any part of something that resembles a social life and you are one tired cookie.

Tiredness is about to break me this week. BUT, I am hanging on!!!! I know this is part of the word called IRONMAN. I have gotten through it before. I will get through it again. The day-to-day training is the tough part. This is what makes you an Ironman. Not race day. The non-motivated, "train when I would much rather be lazy" kind of days that you push your body through are the days that prepare you for this one big day called an Ironman. If can make it to the day of the race, you have already succeeded in my opinion. Race day makes it all worth it. All those months of training, sacrificing, exhaustion. It all fades away when you accomplish your big goal ahead and cross that finish line. With that being said:

MOTIVATION WILL COME.

Sometimes you don't know when it will come. BUT, it always comes. Sometimes all it takes is that first race of the year!!! The tiredness will pass. I just have to hang along for the ride. And no better to person to hang on with me besides the man I have ;) He pushes me to do my best, understands me at my worst, knows when I am exhausted and truly understands that, because he trains right beside me most of the time. It's a feeling that you can't truly understand unless you have been there. I know it must be very difficult as a spouse that isn't a triathlete. The early mornings, the two-a-days, the early nights to sleep, the mood swings from exhaustion. I know that must be VERY difficult if you aren't along for the ride with that person. That's why I realize that I am blessed that we BOTH enjoy this sport. For example, last night I came home exhausted. We woke up at 4am to get a 2 hour trainer ride in. I drove to Meridian for work, had to give a nutrition presentation that night, then drive back late.We were supposed to run yesterday as well, but both decided to put it off until today. He bought dinner, folded and put away the clothes, AND washed the dishes. I am a blessed woman, I say ;)

We have 7 weeks until New Orleans 70.3. My goal is to have a more controlled swim (I tend to add distance on the swim, due to my horrible lack of sighting. MUST do better this year than last........don't even get me started ;), perform with a better bike time, and with stronger legs off the bike, perform a better run than last year (which won't be too difficult--the heat last year seemed to kill us all!!!)

Let's focus on the positive for a moment, shall we?!
1) I AM getting the workouts in. 2)I AM seeing improvement in my stamina in the pool, along with a timed 400m Matt and I did last week that showed improvement in times since last year (with less swimming.) 3)I am not having the delayed soreness from leg weights that I got in the beginning. 4) My runs are still exhausting, but that's to be expected with the increase in biking our coach has prescribed this season. 5. I have succeeded so far with restricting my "candy addiction" during the week. I have replaced it with more healthy snacks throughout the day and I am keeping myself full enough through extra protein/fiber so that I don't actually crave it as much!! This is HUGE success in my world ;)
6) I haven't weighed myself yet, but plan on doing that next week. I don't like to be a "slave to the scale", because I think it sets you up for disappoint if you don't hit a number you may be wishing for. The negative side of weighing when you are a triathlete is , in my opinion, the fact that the number on the scale can fluctuate tremendously on a daily basis, depending on your fluid intake, food intake, training sweat rate, etc. When you throw weight training into the picture, you might not see a budge in the scale at all, or even might see a gain, which women especially are not happy with ;) I DO know that my clothes fit more loosely and I feel like I have toned up a little. We shall see next week. I plan on weighing 1-2 times per week just to get a perspective on things.

MS Heat tri team planning is coming along well. Headsweats visors came in yesterday. They look SWEET!!!! ;) We are in the process of sponsorship for the 2010 year, as well as planning Soak Up the Sun tri 2010. Bill is doing an excellent job this year as our race director. Planning is coming along nicely, and we should have some very exciting sponsorship opportunities this year!!

New Orleans getaway ;)

Matt and I both love New Orleans...........mainly for the food!(Ok,almost entirely for the food ;) We got to visit for a couple days last week due to Matt having an oncology conference there. We got to visit the Melting Pot restaurant, which we have never been to, but always wanted to try. I must say that I fell in love with the dessert fondue!!!!!!!!!

"Honey, you have a little chocolate on your face" He doesn't care.....he's lovin' it!


Pure BLISS :)



I told Matt that we didn't have to ever come back to eat an entire meal, but every time we are in New Orleans from now on, we can make it a habit to at least come for the dessert ;) You can create your own chocolate fondue---we created a version that involved milk chocolate, peanut butter, caramel, and Oreo crumbles. The plate they bring you consists of: marshmallows covered in Oreos and graham cracker crumbs, cheesecake bites, brownie bites, rice krispie treat bites, and pound cake bites, along with a few strawberries for dipping. I was in HEAVEN!!!!!!! As I mentioned earlier in my blogs, my weakness is sweet foods. I am trying for tri season to cut out my candy/sweet treats during the week completely, and only splurge on the weekend nights. Oh man, was this weekend worth it!!!!!!!

We also tried Mother's restaurant for breakfast/lunch, and decided that we might try to make another visit the morning after New Orleans 70.3 next month. The biscuits sure were tasty!!!!



This little sign hung on the wall at Mother's cracked me up ;)

We went shopping on Magazine Street, made a visit to Whole Foods, and then shopped a little more around Cafe Du Monde area (can't remember that street name!) It was a fun little getaway that we both needed!!!