Adjusted Reality

Part 1 here (Jan – Apr).  This is the uber awesome sprint triathlon + some section of the year.  Let me tell you – after a triathlon a month, these things become routine (at least, the prep part).  There were some triumphs and some disappointments, but each race definitely helped me refine my craft of racing.  I also had some major mental gains here – I finally sub-10 min mile’d a run leg of a tri, and I went from some major bad ‘tude after a race that didn’t go my way to being able to shake off a bad race with no issues.  And I even had a magical happy fun sparkly catching unicorns race too!

May 6 – Rookie Triathlon (300m swim, 11.2 mile bike, 2 mile run)

Time: 1:14:12 (course PR by 3 mins)/Zliten: 1:17:42 (huge, like 20 minute course PR for him) Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: first tri of the season, Zliten absolutely crushing his time last year, course PR for me by 3 mins in worse conditions.

Lessons learned from this race: transitions can help you PR – I took 3 mins off this race just by being better, carnage hill isn’t so bad if you’re ready for it (I was not and had to clip out and walk), racing flats are not so good on mud and sticks, and that tears are never allowed after a PR (especially in bad conditions), even if you’re feeling down on yourself.  Get over whatever it is and move on.  Also, OMG, you should have gotten yourself a visor years ago instead of lameing it up with crappy headbands.

Zliten notes from the race: This race got me all excited to be back in TRI season. It’s short enough to make me just want to do more, but long enough to know that its the first one of the season and I really have to keep working on my transitions. Although I did get a faster t2 than Quix. The atmosphere here is always amazing and I wish I could have every one I know come out to it. The Rookie is for everyone!

May 19 – Vern’s No Frills 5k

Time: 27:58/ Zliten 29:02 (PR) Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: best 5k I’ve run in a while, went sub-9 min miles, kept my head in it and a consistent pacing/effort strategy, and watched Zliten massively PR his 5k!

Lessons learned from this race: Catching my PR is going to take a significant amount of speedwork, of which I did next to none this year.  Find a mantra that will keep you going in the middle (from about 1.75-2.5).  Also, sadly, I didn’t document what I ate the night before, but DON’T EAT THAT (had some digestive issues that AM).

Zlitens thoughts from the race: Run faster, don’t puke, run faster, Breathe BREATHE BREATHE!!!! Don’t let Quix out of your sights, Run FASTER, no slowing down. Not until you cross the finish. Try to only look at your pace on the garmin, not your total time, Keep the pace in the 9’s!!!!

June 17 – Pflugerville Sprint Triathlon (500m swim, 14 mile bike, 5k run)

Time: 1:32:12 (course PR by 8 mins, pace PR for each leg)/Zliten: 1:33:28 (huge, like 30 min course PR for him) Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: Putting together a just about perfectly executed race on “home turf” (we train here almost every weekend) and solidly PRing each leg.  Keeping my head in it the whole time and sticking with it.  Oh yeah, and freezy pops at the end.  Every race in summer should give you freezy pops.  I chased the unicorn and caught it!

Lessons learned at this race: Don’t listen to the announcer.  Hearing your husband finish as you are just hitting T2 and the sun is coming out and it’s getting HOT is demoralizing (though I suppose a bit motivating).  Also, that you will catch your unicorns if you chase them long and hard enough.  Also, do whatever you did the evening before and for warmup and junk because it obviously worked well!

Zlitens thoughts on this race: Pf is the “best” place to TRI if only because its where we train the most. I wish I could train out at this little lake every single run/bike/swim. It just feels like home. So much so I keep looking at houses near it. Not that we would leave North Austin, but sometimes I wonder… But back to the race. Had a great swim, a fast bike and my best 5k on a multisport ever. Once I finished I had about 30 minutes to wait for Quix, and made a friend named Brian. From then on out we ended up racing and training with Brian at least once or twice a month for the rest of the season. That made Pf even better. I can’t wait to do it again! I can’t wait to go out there and train there again! I can’t wait to just go out to the lake and paddle around or fish or anything. HEY QUIX lets go out to the lake please.

June 19 – Splash and Dash (750m swim, 3k run)

(pic not from this race but just go with it…)

Time: 38:12/Zliten: 39:23 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: racing HARD after racing hard two days before was a challenge, but fun.  Pushed myself pretty well on the swim – ~17 mins for a 750m.  Figured out what it really meant to try to hop on feet.  Also, pushed and pretty much replicated my Pf pace/intensity on the run.

Lessons learned at this race:  Biking really helps to catch your breath, going directly from swimming to running and transitioning on a steep rocky hill is challenging.  Running right by a fancy restaurant 3 times, with yummy smells coming from their patio, after work before eating dinner was not nice, but motivating.

Zlitens thoughts on this race: Well just a few days before was Pf and we rocked that. While setting up here we ran into Brian again and started talking, then into the water and out for a nice little………. swim. At this point I had not swam that distance much at all, so this was a bit challenging for me, that and its a mass open water start unlike most tri’s we have done where its has an age group water start. I got kicked, swam over, pushed down, knocked aside as the mens wave started, then just settled in the back and swam away. Then about half way in, I got kicked, swam over, pushed down, knocked aside as the women’s wave caught up and passed me. Then there was a little 3 loop run. Ugg as usual, Don’t puke don’t puke was the words in my head when we would pass the restaurant. I also learned here that I never want a all white tri singlet. Some poor lady in front of me I am sure was wearing hers as a back up suit, because it looked like a gel had exploded in the pocket in the back a few races before and stained it a nice yellow brown color.

Beer and hot dogs at the end were just kinda bleh, mostly because when I run I try to not puke. When I stop I still feel kinda gross when I really push it like I did at this race. The best part of the whole event though was as I was swimming the last dozen yards or so there were fish swimming right along under me and the sun was at just the right angle to make the water look crystal clear and shimmer off the fish.

July 15 – Couples Triathlon (800m swim, 11.2 mile bike, 5k run)

Time: 1:43:19 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: I got to start and finish this race with my Zliten!

Lessons learned at this race:  It is REALLY REALLY FREAKING HARD to race a full triathlon with someone else side by side.  Also, no walking on a 5k run, no matter how many creative curse words come out of your mouth, how many twigs get in your shoe, and how awful the hill at the end is.

Zliten notes about this race:  The swim wasn’t bad at all, we both just swam it. Apparently I swam it just a little harder than Quix thought I would since I exited the water about 3 seconds after she did. The venue for this swim is the same as the Rookie but compared to Pf, its just not as nice of a swim.

The Bike was ok, we both got out of T1 at about the same time and were going. Quix fell back a little due to clip issues (I am sure I will too this year) but we were back together before carnage! This is where she took off and as I got up out of the saddle, my foot slipped and I dropped on the bike. NO PROBLEM, without missing a beat I was back up on the bike and going up the hill before anyone noticed the fall. (Well some people did but not Quix or Brian so thats ok.)

I pulled into T2 a few seconds behind Quix and we dropped off the bikes, grabbed the run gear. I was starting to feel gross like usual at the beginning of the run, so I took it slower than Quix wanted, but I knew from looking at the map we had lots of gross trail to run on and some big hills. I wanted to pace myself better. It was getting very sunny and hot and about 1.5 miles in I slowed down a little bit again and Quix took off. I caught back up with her at the big downhill on the backside of the course, and passed on the uphill following. Then slowed down so we could finish it up together.

It was so much fun to get to race side by side, but if we ever do it again like that we need better signals for speeding up or slowing down together. Also we found that the results weren’t about finishing together just both finishing fast. I think next time we will probably have our own races, just start together.

July 17 – Splash and Dash (750m swim, 3k run)

(again, pic not from this race but please imagine it was since it was 2 days previous)

Time: 38:30/Zliten: 40:31 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: Tired, crampy, bloating, hurting, had a bad day, miserable, in pain, and I only came in ~20 seconds slower than the month before (faster swim, slower run)

Lessons learned from this race: Sometimes you’re the windshield, and sometimes you’re the bug.  All races end, you just have to get there.

Zliten notes from this race: I really didn’t do so great on this one. I had some bad leg cramps on the run and just finished. Nothing special here. Just glad it was over. I did get to work at like 5 or 6 am for this since we were working mandatory long hours at work that day. I had to get them in early..

August 5 – Jack’s Generic Triathlon (500m swim, 13 mile bike, 5k run)

Time: 1:43:19/Zliten: 1:38:17 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: I didn’t die?  Lunch and champagne after?  The cooling soak after I got through the finish line?  Pretty much nothing about the race at all… ok, the bike course was kinda fun, compared to the yucky water and the stupid hot no shade hilly run course.

Lessons learned from this race:  DO NOT DO YOUR PEAK WEEK OF MILEAGE BEFORE A RACE.  No matter how “B-” you think it is.  Take a recovery week, then use the race to kick that peak week shizz off without going through a race with a bad attitude and feeling like a zombie.

Zliten notes from this race: We did too much the week before this. I was dead on my feet the day before the race and the morning of because of Over Training and a lack of sleep, I had to keep waking Quix up on the drive out there. Not good when your also tired and have to be on the road at 4:30am The race itself went really well for me. I felt for a bit like I was just going through the motions, but I guess that’s what happens when you train a good amount. I didn’t have to think about everything I just did it.

In the last quarter mile of the race Brian ran up behind me and said kick it up. So I did and sprinted as hard and fast as I could to the finish. I ran right through the finish line into the medical tent where I took an icepack and laid down. People rushed into the tent, and I assumed that they were one of those medical practitioners, who take up the course and get certified from places like https://www.vocationaltraininghq.com/.

So hot, so heart poundy. So good! I did great at this race. Once Quix crossed the line we went and waded in the lake for a bit to cool off. It was stupid hot… Then got all the gear packed up, Quix took a little nap in the car as I went and got us some ice cream, then we came home. This was also the night where I ended up fracturing my skull and getting my face all tore up from the ground.. No happy here but… hey I lived and am better now! *Quix note: Never beat me again… because you see what happens? Face to the curb…. *Additional Quix note: I promise I did not curb stomp Zliten.  He did it to himself. 🙂

August 19 – America’s Finest Half Marathon

Time: 2:32 and change/Zliten: 2:39:45 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: Running in my old stomping grounds!  Started on the top of a mountain and ended up at the park by our old apartment!

Lessons learned in this race: For the love of jeebus – all summer distance races = camelback, unless you are CONFIDENT in the race organizers to have water stops in the right places (aka, Jack and Adams Tris, etc).  Also, ’tis much better to bonk and walk than ruin your vacation finishing in the med tent.  Still don’t regret that decision, even if I was on pace to be close to my half marathon PR for the first half of the race until I got dehydrated…

Zliten notes from this race:  WooHoo San Diego!!! Got to spend time with my folks, you can see them in that picture up there. We got to run in places that I love. I did take my camel back and learned how to fill it fast at a water stop. There was some amazing support staff out there. Its a big busy city and I never felt in danger of getting run over on the major roads. I did have to stop at a trolly crossing near the end, and you know that’s ok, my legs wanted a break by then anyways.

What a summer!  Lots of fun in the sun and becoming BFFs with Lake Pflugerville and ramping up the training hours – but things were about to get epic.  Coming up, in the 3rd and final installment, we had Zliten’s first Olympic Tri, our first Half Ironman, and my first marathon.  Stay tuned!

Trying to do some more “bite sized” posts, rather than just once a week novels.  So, here we go!

Last year, I was living race to race.  It was all about getting myself to a start line happy and healthy.  There were rarely any valleys, just a lot of peaks.  This year, I don’t have a race on the docket until APRIL 14 (possibly the indoor tri in Feb though I certainly won’t be doing any specific training for it), there is a lot of no-mans-land where I can get lost.  I’ve seen a lot of bloggy folk being accountable monthly, and I actually used to do that myself back in the olden days, so time to get back on it!

Without further guilding the lily, it’s time for my January goals!

-Eat mostly fruits and vegetables.  Eat a few servings of good quality beans and grains and corn and starch per day.  Eat some lean protein with every meal.  One meal of whatever I want one day per week (the sign that I indulged just right over break – I can’t even figure out what that is this week…). Do things to get to the goal of 175 by the end of the month. ~1500 calories of good quality food should do the trick.

-Batch cook each weekend to have most of my meals for the week ready.

-One day of drinking per week max.  Attempt for that to not be a marathon 8 hour session to cram all the fun in.

-Schedule at least one game night at the house with friends.  Do at least one “out of the house” activity that doesn’t involve drinking.

-ZERO cigarettes.  Use my little happy puffer thing.  Try to stick to the 0 nicotine one as much as possible.

-ZERO sweet treats this month.  If I want desert, it can be fruit, yogurt, or arctic zero.  Das it.  I need one of these type of months to get off the “white pony” and back to the point where I can consume it responsibly.

-Train with my heart rate monitor every time.  I need to get in this habit.

-Consistency.  My brain is REALLY raring to get back to those 3-5 hour training days, which is a great sign that offseason did exactly what it was supposed to do, but my body is NOT.  Do the workouts on my schedule as prescribed, and don’t add because it’s scary to only be training 6.5 hours (including 1.5 hours of weights) this month as prep.

-Get my sewing machine set up and at least put some stitches into something

-Clean out our closet and get a bunch of stuff donated.

-Investigate Scuba Certification and set a time to get it done.

-Get my damn eye exam.  It’s been way too long.  Had it scheduled for over the break, but my back being fucked made me have to cancel.

-Cheer for runners at 3M on 1/13.

13 things for the first month of 2013.  Hooray!

Going to print these out and put them on my fridge as well.  It’s a lot, but I’m ready to put in the work this month.  I want to look back at January 2013 and think that I worked hard.  I’m ready.  Let’s do this!

Question of the Day: What’s your biggest goal for January 2013?

It’s my favorite time of the year!  Ok, not quite better than my birthday.  Or triathlon season.  Or patio weather.  Ok, fine, it’s a time in the winter that I hate less than others, let’s all get excited!  IT’S RESOLUTION RECAP TIME!

Last Years Resolutions:

1. Take care of the weight problem.

–Totally unspecific and total FAIL.  I’m the same weight as I was last year.  July and August were nice on the scale but September, November, and December put it all back on.  Boo.

2. Play more games, read more, make a pitch doc

–Games – check-ish, at least later in the year when I decided to start working my way through Telltale Games library of adventure games on the PS3 and especially now that we have the office set up this last week or so.  Read more, big check.  I’ve read more this year than I have since I was in college.  At least ~20 books.  Pitch doc – total FAIL.  My brain is just not there yet.  However, I have big plans with the office being set up!

3. Race goals:

Finish a marathon, a century ride, and a half ironman.
—Check, check, and check!  (I may have INTENDED a imperial century but I did 2 metrics so I’m totally counting it…)

Note that with this goal, I’m NOT making the next goal to PR everything.
—CHECK. Glad I said this.  My running this year was DISMAL compared to when I just focused on it, but I pulled some other PRs out this year.

Really concentrate on my bike times.
—CHECK. My short game improved a little, but I got MUCH faster at longer distances.  My first 50+ ride was under 12 mph, my half ironman pace 6 months later was about 16 mph.

Complete all TX Tri Series races (6 tris in 5 months).  PR at least 1.
—CHECK!… and PR’d the two I did last year, 40 min Olympic PR, and since I did my first 70.3, that counts as a PR too!

Take at least 3 months of the year not in training (off season) to mentally and physically rest.
—Well, 7 weeks between my marathon and the start of prep is not quite 3 months, but it’s definitely ENOUGH.  Calling it CHECK.

Stretch after every workout.
—Ha!  Ha!  Hahahahahah!!!! Ha- oh wait, I was serious.  Dang it, I REALLY need to be better about this.

Strength train 2x week (catch another crunchtime class at lunch?)
—Up until September, total check.  Usually 3x.  Fell off after vacation though… glad to start back up next week once my back is fixed.

Let’s try this again.  Run a race somewhere outside Texas.  I’ll have some opportunities next year, very likely San Diego.
—CHECK!  America’s Finest Half Marathon, check.

Volunteer at more races.  I was able to volunteer once this year and while I think it’s what got me sick for vacation, it was a great experience.
—Ooops.  Racing 24 times really made it hard to volunteer (excuses excuses).  Next year, I already have at least 2 races that since I’m not racing, I want to volunteer at.

4. Start one major house renovation this year.

—Windows (new through the whole house), check!  Started AND finished.  Chigidy check!

5.  One liners (these seem strangely familiar)

Get the office set up as an office/craft room
—Check-ish.  Office is finally set up, there’s more work to be done, but it’s finally in a usable state.  Hooray!

Decide what to do with the savings now that we have some
—Errrr.  We’ve done a little but we could do more.

Do more batch cooking so having healthy lunches and dinners available is easier.
—Big fat fail except one experiment in December which rocked my socks off.  This is a huge goal next year though.

Learn to sew.
—Kinda hard to do without a sewing machine, but now that I have one… yeah.  2013 on this one, bitches!  

-Learn the party rock anthem dance.
—Yeah…no.  But I’ve definitely gotten drunk and PRETENDED that I knew it a lot in 2012 so I’m calling it CHECK! 🙂

So, I hit some pretty big goals last year, but some things definitely fell to the wayside pursuing all those races (note that it actually wasn’t in my resolutions for 2012, because Zliten decided on that one…).  Next year I’d like to be a bit more centered, focused, and balanced.

Without further ado… 2013 Resolutions!!!

1.  Be a serious, focused, well and specifically trained triathlete following the Triathlete’s Training Bible plan.  Make a plan and stick to it. I want a shiny new PR for each tri distance at least, which shouldn’t be difficult.  The goal is to just to do better in each repeated race than I did the year before.  This will be discussed in detail on this blog because this is what I do – so for now we can leave it at that.

2. Probably the single most thing I can do to improve my times is improve body composition.  I’ve had a few false starts at this, but 2013 is my year, I think, partly because I’m finally really getting it in my head that it’s not about looking good in jeans, it’s about PRs – which actually matter a lot to me.  Instead of vague goals, here is what I would like to do:

• Back to 2012 race weight by Feb 1 (175)
• Lose 5 more by March 1 (170)
• Maintain through March (birthday month) and April (cruise)
• Lose 5 more in May and June (160)
• Maintain 160 through end of season
• Don’t go above 165 in offseason

And, I realize that my strength is making goals and plans.  Here are the things I am going to do to get there:

• Fruit and veggie cleanse first week in January before training starts to get this party started, then no sweet treats in January
• Batch cooking – having my food mapped out and ready for me ahead of time so the week is just all about execute
• Allowing just one meal off plan, and one day of drinks that slightly elevate calories per week (not on the same days, and try not to have them be off workout days)
• Realizing that what goes in Zliten’s mouth does not need to always go in mine and to lose weight I need to eat what makes Zliten lose weight minus 500 calories
• Careful planning and tracking of calories to make sure I’m getting the right amount, monitoring the food quality to make sure I’m at least 80/20 organic, whole, and healthy food.
• And, if I inevitably fuck up, get right back on track the next meal

3. Keep taking steps towards making my house not look like a slobby college student is renting it.  Our goals this year are:

• Get a new stove, couch, front door, and coffee table
• Get granite counters instead of this white formica crap
• Spend the year focusing on getting more organized.  Each month, we will pick one room or “zone” (because some rooms need to be divided and some need to be groups) and pull everything out, see what we can get rid of, and buying or utilizing a better way to store and organize it.  The zones are: 1. garage 2. kitchen 3. breakfast nook/bar area 4. living room 5. guest room 6. workout room 7. living room 8. office 9. bedroom 10. bedroom closet 11.patio and mud room 12. all other common areas/bathrooms

4 Social Habits:

a) Get better at being social without drinking like a fish.  With work and training, I can get into a rut where I either want to just get drunk, or just sit on my couch with Zliten and not talk to anyone else because I’m both physically and mentally fatigued.  It got real bad this year to the point where we didn’t see friends for months during peak training unless they came over during our few hours of approved party time.  This year, I would like to get better at two things:

• Doing at least one non-alcohol related activity with friends per month.  Movie, bowling, pool, dinner, game night, etc etc.
• Being able to go out, have a few drinks, and then not come home and get sloshed on my patio.  Figure out where I go from happy buzz to catching a second wind and stop just short of that most nights.

That being said – I love my drinking habit!  2013 will definitely involve some patio + vodka time because it makes the soul happy.

b) Completely cut out cigs by April 1.  I know, shocker – I’m an athlete and I still indulge in a few smokes when hitting the bottle.  My goal in 2009 was to run a marathon and still smoke (I know, stupid now), and inadvertently I did it, not really meaning to since I haven’t quite managed to completely cut the cord.  While it really isn’t enough to truly do much damage, and I’ve been smoke-when-I-drink-ing for 3 years so there’s little risk in it coming back as a full blown habit, I’d just like to be done with it (plus, I bet I see some improved times).  Last week, we got e-cigs (a low dose of nicotine, but no other tar/chemicals), and while they are not quite the same and an adjustment, I’ve smoked about 1/4 or less of what I would on comparable nights (and after NYE, I’m going to be a bit more stringent – no “analogs” unless I’m really and truly going to go fucking nuts and hurt someone).  We have one cartridge of the lowest nicotine level, and one of 0 and plan on seeing if it’s the nic we really miss or just the habit and taste.  I love to smoke, but I also like living, so time to deal with this.

5. Do something with the blog.  This space was just really a place for me to learn web design and host my resume and art and crap back in my other life where I was going to be a web designer/artist.  In 2008 after being idle for years I just slapped a blog on it so I could have a little soapbox to the world and be done with LiveJournal.  Zliten and I are working on collaboration between his new GoPro and video making skills and my writing, and I expect to see some changes to my little space here instead of being a dilapidated little shack of a blog that barely still stands and allows me to journal what I’m doing once a week.  Still trying to think up a name though.  All the cool ones are taken.

6. One liners:

Learn to sew.  I got a sweet sewing machine and table for Christmas.  I’d like, by next year, to have produced one article of clothing from scratch that I can wear out of the house.

Take a nice, week long vacation somewhere in November or December once season is over (i.e. not crap both vacations this year into 3 weeks during peak training).  Hawaii? Costa Rica?

Learn to scuba dive before our cruise in April.

Take mental health days when I need them, and make sure that I monitor my crispiness during training to make sure I’m not too fried

Play more games.  Since the office is set up, I can actually play things on my computer and I will continue to work through telltales’ library on the PS3.  Get caught up to level cap in my own game.  Continue to derive inspiration from my industry.

Host a game night once a month.

Continue to read more.  At least 20 books this year.

Volunteer more.  At races, at the park, etc.

…and that’s all!  Time to get the house ready for our awesome apocalypse-end-of-times New Years party!  Question of the day:  what is your biggest 2013 New Years Resolution?

So, I had a fantastic amazing Christmas Eve and day.  I was all….

But then on Boxing Day, the day we had planned to wake up and do 100 miles on the trainer, I was all…

Nothing crazy epic, just went to sleep fine and woke up FUCKED.  My back decided to go out and in a bad bad way it hasn’t since 2011.  I’ve been going through 2.5  days of excruciating pain and not being able to get out of bed, shower, dress myself, make food, be awesome, etc.  For someone like me who is all traintraintrain and if not training then partyparty and not really conditioned to restrestrest especially when I’ve been doing that lately and also REALLY not a fan of just staying in bed all day… misery and torture.  Today though, I have finally, after 2 chiropractor visits, lots of ibu and 303 muscle relaxers, finally turned a corner and can sit up for more than 3 minutes at a time without agony.  I expected my Christmas break would be full of epic shit, but instead it’s full of a lot of not doing much.  Bleh.  At least I’m at the point now where drinking and video games are a viable option (hello 2004, missed you maybe?), that last two days was a NIGHTMARE.

Even if I feel better, I’m not cleared to do anything more exciting than casual swimming until at least Wednesday, so it’s another forced week of rest.  Boo.  Training starts Jan 7th, so I don’t see a stupid long trainer in the cards, and, well, that’s ok.  I’ll be doing lots of trainer miles soon enough and I’ll apply this fire to that.  Running I’m most ok with since I have kept up on it a lot late this year (yay marathon), but there have been so many pretty running days in the last 2 weeks I’ve had to stay inside that it makes me sad.  At least I can play with my swimp3 if I feel better and the gym is open.  So wheeee for that!

So, I have two more wrapup posts of our 2012 races started.  Also, the annual 2012 resolution recap, and the 2013 resolution extravaganza started too.  Now that I’m able to sit in front of a computer for a bit, they’re coming, just not as quickly as I would like.  I’m sure no one cares but I, but still, I was excited to get these words down and out there!  Sigh…

Forgive the attitude, but I haven’t ran since Dec 15 (the start of my heel being a jerk), haven’t biked or swam since Christmas Eve, and barely being able to move has me in a little bit of a dark place.  It’s a good thing I was too hobbled to attack all the Christmas sweets too hard.

Hopefully tomorrow will be a new day.  A day where my back isn’t angry as fuck at me.  And I can get on with my life.

Apparently offseason hates me.  Next year, I need to take up epic underwater basket weaving to give my mind a break but keep my body going, because apparently not serious training = injury after injury.  Fuck you, body.  I guess the only consolation is that I’m not ruining any real training – but from the last race until the first day of training, apparently I’m going to be impared.  Is it my body’s way of trying to keep me from doing anything, or finally the permission to break down, or just Murphy’s Law?

Either way, I will listen, even if I’m dragged kicking and screaming, if only to tip the odds to having a fabulous, injury free 2013 season.

Question of the day: what was your worst injury in 2012?

Holy crap. After almost a week, I’ve gotten over the funk I was in and I’m ready to bask in the accomplishment of actually getting to the start (and finish) line of 24 races this year in one piece.  Things I’ve learned overall:

How to get to the start line

• What works for me to eat the day before and when (meat, taters, veggies or giant sammiches, around 2-4pm is optimal and then a snack before bed).
• How to warm up for each distance (triathlon, a lot of walking around, then a half mile run with pickups, then as long of a swim as I can get – 100m at least)
• What to pack for each type of race
• What to eat for breakfast (oatmega or PR bar, chai tea, and organic lactose free milk or a honeymilk/muscle milk if it’s a distance race) and when (as early as I can)
• How to calm the race nerves, and know that you’re too burnt and racing too much when you have absolutely zero butterflies.

How to keep my head in the race

• What to think about before the race (visualizing the whole race going smoothly and going through the entire race plan several times)
• Being strict about not going out all “happy puppy” (thanks to Libby – I love that expression) and building intensity through the race.  I’m not great at negative splitting races, but I’m getting closer than I ever have and definitely not fizzle-booming like I used to.
• When your head starts going to the bad place, eat.  Shove something in your mouth.  That’s what that means.
• Z- EAT MOAR!
• Even if something goes horribly wrong (lady cramps at mile 16 of a marathon, dizziness and lightheadedness at mile 6 of a 70.3), or it’s just not your day, don’t just give up.  Push as long as you can, slow down, take stock, assess the situation, make steps towards fixing it, and get going again when you can.  Reassess your time goal and make another one.  Even if you have to do this 20 times, I guarantee you’ll get to the finish line faster than if you just say “fuck it, I’m not PRing, I may as well walk it in” and you’ll still have a race to be proud of.
• Sometimes a victory is finishing a race happy and strong even if your race time isn’t what you expected.

After the race

• Get some calories in right away even if you’re not hungry and don’t feel like it.  Even with the great stomach debauchle of the half ironman, I ate til I felt sick, let it pass, and continued that cycle to get at least a few hundred calories of food down and as much as I could drink.
• Every race deserves champagne, from a slow 5k to a triathlon PR to a first marathon.
• Z- Have some bubbly every race! it is important to celebrate your effort. Before the results come out!
• Wear your race medal all day, and you’ll probably need to take a picture of yourself biting it.  It’s just tradition!
• A race day is considered a holiday in my book, and thus I am allowed to eat whatever I want that day.
• Sunday races suck – but most triathlons are on Sundays, so just get to bed early enough the hangover isn’t TOO heinous the next day.  Nuun while drinking also helps with that.

So, without further ado, here’s a quick play by play:

January 21 – Austin Gorilla Run (5k)

Time: 31 and change

Coolest thing about this race: Running around Austin in a gorilla suit and after training up Zliten all winter, he PR’d his 5k in a gorilla suit at a fun run.  As the kids say, BEAST.

Lessons learned from this race: 5ks in the January cold are much better in a thick gorilla suit.

Zliten notes from the race: 2 years in a row at the gorilla run, and this year it wasn’t in the 20’s. It was still cold, but much better then before. Somehow I ran it faster than any other 5k before, but then again I was in training for a half marathon at that point.

January 29 – 3M Half Marathon

Time: 2:27 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: full on downhill course in our bike stomping grounds so we knew it well, and it was Zliten’s first half!

Lessons learned from this race: Not every race is about my PR attempts – it was a blast just pacing Zliten and dancing around to my music and being silly at the spectators.

Zliten notes from the race: WooHoo all downhill and 13 miles done. The only thing stinky was the school busses they  used to get us back to the start. They had an odor of smelly runner. I really enjoyed the start of this race, getting to run on roads I drive on all the time was neat.

February 20 – Austin Half Marathon

Time: 2:29 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: my fave race shirt and silicone pint glass schwag came from this race.  Also, Zliten almost crushed his PR set a month earlier on a much harder course.

Lessons learned from this race: if you’re not sad when the marathoners split off and you were supposed to be running the marathon, you are totally not ready to run a marathon.

Zliten notes from this race: This course was way harder than the 3m, but it was awesome since I got to run it with Quix and a few co workers. We all stayed together until about mile 6 where I just took off! It was a rough finish but also very fulfilling.

February 26: Lifetime Fitness Indoor Tri (10 mins swim, 30 mins spin bike, 20 mins treadmill run time trial)

Distances: Quix swam 450m in 10 mins, biked 15.5 miles in 30 mins (not accurate distance), ran 2.38 miles in 20 mins – 2nd place under 40 out of 11! (Indoor Tri PR – can I call it that?) Race Report / Zliten swam 325m in 10 mins, biked 22.2 miles in 30 mins (not accurate distance), ran 2.13 miles in 20 mins

Coolest thing about this race: first race in 3 months I was able to just open up and race, loved the format, first place under 40 on the bike!!

Lessons learned from this race: I got really down on myself when I didn’t hit my bike goal and I came in first by a long shot (though I had no idea at the time).  I took out some frustration on the treadmill but a better attitude would have been “hey, I may have not done quite what I wanted on the bike but I did my best, so let’s try to kick some major ass on the run” instead of feeling like I had to make magic on that run or I was worthless.

Zliten notes from the race: Well I had the best distance on the bike by quite a bit on this one. But my swimming was poor and my run was disappointing. That is ok. It was a fun morning and great to see a bunch of people do their first multi-sport event. The crowd was very different from what you see out at a regular triathlon, and there was almost no spandex here. I think Ill wear my tri suit at the next one.

March 11 – Blue Norther Duathlon (5k run, 14 mile bike, 5k run)

Time: Quix 1:58 (Duathlon PR – my first :D) Race Report / Zliten 2:06

Coolest thing about this race: first real sanctioned duathlon, held some really nice 5k paces both times, did not melt or wreck and die riding in the rain for the first time ever ever.

Lessons learned from this race: I needed clipless pedals badly (which I had but hadn’t put on yet), and needed to get on the bike more and ride more hills

Zliten notes from the race: Cold and rainy to start, humid and hot to end. But the bike was all magical unicorns if unicorns were muddy cold rain beasts. I had a few bike malfunctions but was able to stay on it, then the second run and I had some talks about slippery mud but again I stayed upright. We didn’t know how we did placement wise so we stayed until the awards were given out. And of course we didn’t place, but we finished and that is the most important part.

March 24 – Rosedale Ride (62 mile bike)

Time: 5:15 Race Report

Coolest thing about this race: first metric century OMG!  …and we didn’t even go into the race meaning to do the distance.  Crazy/stupid/impulsive/fun.

Lessons learned from this race: holy crapballs, use your new pedals for more than a week before doing a 60+ mile ride with lots of stops (hello 3 crashes), also, more time in the saddle was SO needed because this was the most sore and tired I had ever been in my life after a race, and I was to be doing a 1.2 mile swim before and a half marathon after.  Also, I didn’t die so I’m sticking with the 60 mile turnoff was a good decision.

Zliten notes from this race: Should we turn here? Yeah its the 40 to 60 mile turn we can make the 60 mile choice later. Should we turn, why not we are feeling great! What its only 38 miles in, why am I feeling like I want to die and never ride again? Food, yes oh thank you boy scout troop what ever you were at the next rest stop. I think I had 8 cookies! We finished, I made it a few yards past the finish line and laid down in some grass. I didn’t even care about the ants biting me for a few moments.  The drive home was more difficult than I expected, my legs really didn’t want to work all that well.

April 15 – Austin 10/20 (10 mile run)

Time: Quix – 1:41:51 (auto PR – 1st 10 miler) Race Report / Zliten 1:49:52

Coolest thing about this race: first 10 miler, closest I’ve ever come to negatively splitting a race, kept a great pacing strategy, started in my work parking lot so it was 5 mins away from the house.

Lessons learned from the race: fast and flat doesn’t mean pancake – conserve a little more for second half slight incline of pretty much 5 miles.  A little more speedwork/specific training would have helped me get a little closer to my 1:35 goal.

Zliten notes from the race: First race where I had to take a stop and find a porta potty. Also my glasses fogged up real bad in said porta potty and were useless the rest of the race. The organizers did a great job with this one. A band every .5 miles and plenty of water stops, there was even an ice cold towel stop at mile 8ish. Just great!

April 25 – Georgetown Red Poppy Ride (66 mile bike)

Time: 5:05 (Metric century PR) Race Report

Coolest thing about this race:  the second time wasn’t nearly as hard (I felt like maybe I could have ran a few slow miles off the bike instead of just dropping to the ground in exhaustion), and no crashes on the pedals!

Lessons learned from the race: EAT EAT EAT a lot on the bike.  Feeling like a little piggy in the first half = energy in the second half.  Also, no matter how well you plan, you’ll want whatever isn’t in your bento box.  Also, as before OMG more long bike rides needed.  Also, also – WIND SUCKS.

Zliten notes from the race: Wind wind wind and a little bit of a mental breakdown at one point. I did not eat nearly enough. I had to stop 3 times and just sit down until I felt better. I learned from it though and did better on every long ride after. I would love to do this ride again but with a little less wind. It was beautiful to be out riding in farmland.

When our bike shoes touched down at that finish line, it became officially tri season!  Look for the next post for our summer of triathlet-ing!