Adjusted Reality

Oh Vegas.  You are a beautiful and cruel mistress.  Although, we embrace you knowingly, it’s so easy to forget the pain after your departure.

The trip, quite honestly, was relaxing and fairly uneventful.  The first night we had fancy steak dinner at the Luxor (or in my case… a 30 dollar kobe beef and crab burger… yes, it was TOTALLY worth it and you know you wish you had ordered it…).  Then, we killed a bottle at the Jester bar in the Excalibur playing video poker and talking until sunrise.  I vaguely remember shots, toasting with champagne, eating brunch, and then going to sleep.  I woke up feeling ROUGH the next day, but a little walking around, digesting, leafy greens, and by about 5pm I felt right as rain and was ready for round 2.

We walked around and gambled a bit at the New York New York (my fave place to play slots, I almost always win there), and then searched out some dinner.  Mexican food fit the bill so Cabo Wabo near Planet Hollywood it was.  I had a taco salad because I was needing some more greenery (albeit with beef, sour cream, cheese, and guac on top, lol).  We then chilled at the room a bit waiting for the food to settle, and were supposed to meet up to go dancing.  That didn’t happen (no one was up for it) so Zliten and I just moseyed around and gambled more.  We weren’t feelin it, so we retired early and read our books.

The next day, I woke up feeling great so I wanted to check something off my Vegas bucket list – actually do a workout while in Vegas.  I got to the gym figuring on an elliptical or bike ride, but all the ellipticals were out of order and there was no bike.  Treadmill or stairmaster was the options, and I was NOT going to walk on a treadmill when I have Vegas to traverse so the master it was.  I’d never done one for more than 5 mins.  I set it for 30.  It was pain.  Then, Zliten was up so we hung out at the pool for about an hour at the Trop (nicest pool on the strip!) and I did some lazy laps.  Then, we got dressed and got some buffet lunch at the Luxor.  It was actually right between lunch and dinner so we got lots of different things to try.

However, before that, we decided upon slushy, high octane drinks.  Mine was called cat-5 (I got a kick out of it because I thought it was named after cat5 cable, not a hurricane…I’m kinda a dork).  It was delicious rocket fuel (and not in that make-me-run sorta way) and made for the start of a fun day (why can’t I start the day like that all the time, hehe!).  We took a cab to the real downtown (Freemont Street) and had a lot of fun playing some more quarter poker and then becoming brave and playing some blackjack at a table.  I can see why people like tables!  We ended up about even after playing for HOURS.

Now with more friends in tow, we decided to go back and get daquiris – or at least ONE BIG ONE (pictured above).  It was shared between 6 people at least.  We lugged our… get this… big Dick’s Stick (which came from Dicks Last Resort, heh) around and played some more slots.  Zliten hit it big at the Star Wars machine, and everyone else got sleepy, so we said our goodnights because we were out pretty early in the morn, and headed back to the Tropicana to play our comps.  I lost mine in a sneeze, but Zliten hit some big wins.  Then, we split that and hit more moneys.  After a 50$ bonus round win, we called it a vacation, headed to the room, read, and slept.

The trip home was pretty uneventful as well, we got our favorite Nevada sammiches (port of subs), hit the PHX airport for an hour on the way home, and landed safely.  Then, we got our car, made a beeline for the salad bar, and then went home.  Laundry is still on the floor, lizard has been huggled and loved, couch has our butt prints again, and life goes on.

Two years of 3 Vegas trips, and I think we’re refining the process.  Three nights is too few unless things go perfectly (and no one really wanted to follow my control freaky plans, which was fine, but it would have been cooler if they did, heh).  Five nights was too many.  Next time, we’ll try 4.  Also, we found out from hotel services that if we book through them, and tell them we got married there, they will upgrade us to a suite.  Zliten took a tour of them while I was in the room feeling poopy and has one picked out, heh.  So, I do believe we will be booking a four night stay sometime soon for next year early October.

So, besides being a little fatigued  from 20-ish miles of walking, a little less sleep than normal, and just being away from good food and home, I’m not really much worse for wear.  Except one thing.  Nevada nose.  I get it every time I’m there.  I had it when I lived there (and just thought I was defective).  Within a day, my nose boogers become dry, crusty, and black/bloody.  Yeah, I know, hawt, but it happens every time.  It fixes itself within a few days of being back in less Vegas-y climates, but it’s just ODD.  Again, glad to not live there and have a constantly itchy nose anymore.

Now, back to reality.  It’s a little rough with the 10 hour days and high volume of tri training, but I’ll make it.  More on being back to reality later.

Less than four weeks and counting to the Olympic Tri, and it’s time to kick things up a notch…  it is time for some distance shit up in here.  Gone gone gone for a while are the days of an hour being the long workouts.  If I’m going to need to be prepared to be in motion for about 4 hours (I’m predicting 1 hour to swim the mile, 2 hours to bike 25 miles, and 1 hour to run the 10k), I need an hour to feel like a warmup.

Not to say that every workout will be over an hour, but the hour days will be the short ones.  Strange to think that half training will actually decrease the time commitment (but increase the intensity with 3 hard runs per week).  Definitely looking forward to switching things up, though I think I have fallen in love with tri training…

I was able to track my food this week and kept either just a little under or at my calorie range to create a 500 cal deficit.  I have been CRAVEY with the dairy like crazy lately so I’ve been incorporating more cheese and yogurt in my snacks.  Although I slipped up one more time with the fried food (another french fry incident and a bite of funnel cake – hey, I’d never tried it… and I never will again. 😛 Ugh.), I did well with the good healthy foods.  My body unfortunately did not reward me with any weight loss but I’ll just keep on keepin’ on.

The MO this week – try to get through the 4 days of stress and long hours while making time for my workouts – and eat like a saint.  Because… Saturday, I take off for Vegas and while I’m actually going to try and not go hog wild with the food, I’m not going to spend the weekend eating spinach and drinking water either.  I’m allotting for 4 days of no training, though I would LOVE if I could get some laps in at the pool and/or maybe a ride at the hotel gym if I’m feeling so motivated, but if I spend Saturday afternoon through Tuesday morning drunk (which, face it, is a distinct possibility), I’ll be ok to jump back into it (slowly with yoga) on Wednesday.

There are some key workouts this week though before happy fun party vacation time begins.  Monday was impromptu partner yoga with Zliten and and sprints.  Yesterday was an 8 mile run.  Saturday, before I hop on the plane, I plan to do the next step up in bricks – 20 mile ride, 5 mile run.  It’s definitely been a heck of a week and I’m just looking forward to getting through it alive.

Last week’s workouts:

Monday: 30 mins arc trainer, 9 miles bike (600)
Tuesday: 7 mile run (825)
Wednesday: yoga (250)
Thursday: 15 mile bike/4 mile run at gym (1200)
Friday: off (worked late)
Saturday: 32 mile bike outside (1500)
Sunday: off

This week’s workouts:

Monday: partner yoga/thai massage and 5 miles sprints (800)
Tuesday:  off
Wednesday: 8 mile run (950)
Thursday: spin (500)
Friday: arc trainer (500)
Saturday: 20 mile bike/5 mile run outside (1500)
Sunday: off or laps at the Tropicana

Since I don’t anticipate having time to update again before I’m back from vacation, here is my life in bullet points:

-I am in a magazine!  In the interest of being annonymous, I’m not going to say which one, but I got a 4 page interview published on my game.  One of those pages?  A full page picture.  It’s a little much, but it’s flattering that they thought lil’ ol me was worthy of that much paper real estate.

-I have worked 3 days of hours in the last 2 days.  The next few weeks are going to be brutal.  Just in time for tri training to ramp up too!  Wheee!

-We went to a minor league ball game over the weekend.  It was a blast!  Baseball on the TV bores me to tears, but actually being there and hearing the crack of the bat and getting up to cheer for home runs… so much fun.  It was the second to last game of the year, but we plan to go back a few times next year.

-We have gotten some torrential rain!  The creek area where I usually practice open water swimming got totally flooded and is closed for a while.  Which is super convenient ’cause my pool is closed for a while too.  Mother nature and the universe is definitely putting obstacles in my path to keep me from practicing swimming. 😛

-My weight has been bouncing around in the lower 160s.  I’m just not sure what to do to make it go down any more.  I think I’m being fairly honest with my calorie counts and I should be seeing about 5 lbs a month.  Oh well… something to really dig into AFTER all this racing nonsense.  The goal is to at least STAY HERE and not gain before the half in Nov.

I’m sure there is more but I can’t think of it right now, so I’ll leave you until sometime next week when I’ll catch up with you after Vegas.  All photos were from the Yelp Glitterati party in August.  Too fun!  Vinyl shorts!

So for some reason, signing up for races is nerve wracking.  I love setting my sights on a race.  I love training for the race.  I love the taper and the prep.  I don’t love the getting up early but it’s part of the territory.  I love the anticipation waiting for the start to cross the start line.  I love the test of my mettle during the race.  I dearly love crossing the finish line and I love celebrating after.

However, the actual signing up, paying, and committing to the race?  Not a fan.  Frightening.  That is the point where I have to say 1, 2, 3 and actually jump off the platform.  Everything after?  Just momentum, folks.

I’ve committed to everything I planned to do now for 2010.  Except one optional race (and it’s a 5 miler… no biggie)

9/19 – Casa 5k (mostly a fun run with work people – I’m not expecting a PR or anything)

10/3 – TX Tri Olympic Tri (holy crap, really?  I actually have to do this insanity for reals?)

11/14 – San Antonio Rock and Roll Half Marathon (um, what am I doing to myself here? 6 weeks to train for a half?)

11/20 – Warrior Dash (again, fun with work friends)

11/25 (tentative) – Turkey Trot 5 mile run… if Zliten wants ta.  He’s the one who mentioned this…

Then, I do believe I’m going to take up knitting.  Or maybe professional couch sitting.  Something not making my body conditioned for 2-4 hours of consistent punishment.  Actually – I have some ideas, you’ll have to stay tuned.  Definitely in the realm of switching it up.  I’m excited and scared and intrigued by some ideas at the same time.

But yes, I have to get through the next 3 months.  My goals are to extend my long run to 10 miles (inside – treadmill style at the gym) while working on the other two disciplines, so for the next 6 weeks after the tri, it’s just maintaining the endurance.  I did 7 this week, and it wasn’t so bad.  Doing my first 30+ mile bike ride this weekend.  Next week I’ll tackle more swimming.

Wait, did I really just sign up to do all this stuff?  Oh well, the time to jump has already passed – I’m committed.  Time to freefall and enjoy the ride.

So I’ve been neglecting the blog.  Apologies, my lovelies.  I sort of took the opportunity to ignore my calorie consumption as well.  I *meant* to count calories, it just didn’t happen.  I *meant* to get in a swim on Sunday, but it didn’t happen.  I *meant* to stay away from fried foods like I’m supposed to but there was an…um… incident on Saturday night with some french fries (and then Sunday with an eggroll and a few bites of general’s chicken that I can’t blame on being drunk).  I *meant* to continue to do no sweets but there was a piece of high quality dark chocolate Thursday.  And then Swiss chocolate Friday.  And Sunday.

None of these things is horrible in and of itself but it was a reminder that getting cocky is bad.  I was down to 161 again on Friday and this morning I weigh more than a truck (thank you salty chinese takeout).  It’s all well and good that I completed a tri.  It’s a great accomplishment to have completed my first long workout outside (16 miles biked and 4 mile run in the heat).  Burning about 1700 calories on Saturday certainly entitles me to a bit more food than the norm.  However, on a weekend where I’m going out partying, I have to remember that replacing that many calories is VERY, VERY easy.

So, today it’s back to it.  Back to tracking, no sweets, no fried foods, and I’m going to make an attempt to be really on the ball for the next two weeks (because I leave to go to Vegas then).  I’m going to do my best to NOT go crazy there food-wise but we shall see.

So last week:

Monday: off (recovering from the tri)
Tuesday: 10k run
Wednesday: yoga class for 1 hour
Thursday: spin class for 1 hour
Friday: arc trainer for 35 mins
Saturday: 16 mile bike, 4 mile run (then later 4 mile walk)
Sunday: off (was going to swim but I kinda didn’t leave the house except for groceries)

This week:

Monday: 30 mins arc trainer, 9 miles bike
Tuesday: 10k run
Wednesday: yoga class for 1 hour
Thursday: 15 mile bike, 4 mile run (at the gym)
Friday: swim (either gym or open water)
Saturday: 30 mile bike ride outside
Sunday: off

Weight high/low: 163/161

It’s very swim light, and I’m thinking about changing that, but here is the plan for now.  Maybe add to the crazy on Saturday or a trip to the springs on Sunday before the ball game we’re going to… who knows.

So yep.  The goal is to log food every day from now until Vegas, stick in the reasonable range, eat back enough calories with good food on crazy exercise days, and try to weigh less than a truck this time next week.  Economy car perhaps…

So, here is the long version…

Saturday, I spent the day running around, hanging out with my parents, shopping, picking up the packet, and getting the final stuff I needed.  I mean, it seems obvious that there is more gear and prep for a swim/bike/run than just a run but dang.  There is a lot to think about.

Against my better judgments, and I’ve never done this for a race before, I bought a new shirt to wear on top of my singlet because nothing I have was right and proper for what I was looking for (wicking, not skin tight, and not BLACK to be easier to spot and be cooler).  I ended up taking a chance and the shirt worked out well, but I definitely spent a long time looking for something perfect.  DON’T TRY THIS ONE AT HOME KIDS.  I also knew that worst case I could just peel it off and roll in just my singlet, and it only occurred to me after the race that while I swam in it, I never ran or biked in it.  Again, NEVER wear something new.  I’m glad it worked out for me.

So, my gear list for the swim:

-goggles
-swim cap for my heat
-singlet
-sports bra
-flip flops to run from the water to the transition area

They suggested some anti-fog stuff for goggles, but I just went with new ones.  Again, never do this the day before a race.  Don’t be me.  The swim was so short I knew if the goggles were fubar it wouldn’t be that bad but still…

Bike Gear List:

-running shoes/wicking socks
-shammy to dry my feet
-new shirt with race number pinned to it already
-big heavy ass hybrid bike
-bike helmet
-sunglasses
-towel to set everything on
-bike rack for car
-special adapter for said heavy ass weird bike so it fit on said car rack
-multicolored lei to tie to the back so I could find
-backpack with emergency tire pump, sport beans (which I didn’t need), and camelback
-patch kit that attaches to my bike

I was one of the only people with a mountain bike.  I figured there would be more noobs like me, but I guess most people can at least get their hands on a cheapo road bike.  I had never changed a bike tire, and I didn’t give myself enough time to learn, so I just decided worst case scenario, I would walk the damn thing through the course.  Thank goodness that didn’t happen.  The lei was good to help me find my bike in the racks and racks… definitely stood out in the crowd.

For the run, I just plunked my backpack down and didn’t need any extra gear.  Some people have special bike shoes, I of course did not.  I mean when I bike I usually wear my OLD broke ass running shoes, but I was able to make an exception this time.  Other things I brought – my slippers (I will never go to another distance race without them – it feels SO NICE to slip into them after being on my feet a while… and a change of clothes so I didn’t have to go home in a sweaty singlet.

So, back to the race happs.  I ended up not getting to bed that night until 11 (thank the DEAR FLUFFY LORD I had gotten great sleep all week) and the alarm got me up bright and early at about 4:50.  I don’t know how you morning peoples (Miz, Mrs. Fatass, etc) do it.  Anyhoo, got up, got everything loaded in the car, and took off.  Ate a big breakfast bar and spent the whole morning crossing my fingers that I wouldn’t have any tummy problems – the earlier I get up, the more likely I am to be a little queasy.  I held it together though.

We got to the spot and it was still dark, and walked my bike and gear through the tall grass.  First, I got body marked – both biceps, both quads, and age on calf.  It so tickled.  I had to contain myself from squirming.  Then, I bid Zliten adieu and rolled everything into the transition area and set everything up on my towel.  I had to run out to get a few pre-race pics with my number on, but I had plenty of time.  Then, I went and got my timing chip (which straps on your ankle, very different from other races) and it was getting close to time, so I went and stood by the water.  I put my toe in and thankfully it was NOT as freezy as Barton Springs.  I debated between a practice swim or not and decided against it.  I’d made peace with open water and didn’t want to be cold when I got out.

Then the pre race briefing started and I started getting NERVOUS!  I knew once I completed the swim I was golden but being that it was the FIRST thing and I was in the second wave (glad it wasn’t the first, but still), I didn’t have much time to watch and learn.  Good thing that the waves were really small and there was plenty of room.  Before I knew it, I had stepped up with the other orange cappers and heard 3,2,1 GO!  And I started to swim.

And I found that we were so close to shore for that first leg that I kept running into branches and rocks.  D’oh!  I started with the freestyle and mostly kept it up to the first buoy, but after that I felt wiped and sort of alternated between breast stroke and freestyle for the rest of it.  My only goal was to finish NOT last in my wave, and I came in about the middle of the pack, so I was thrilled.

I got out of the water (they had about 8 people helping us out which was supah nice), put on my flippy floppies and hotfooted my way to the bike transition.  I think I made pretty good time – I dried my feet, did my socks and shoes, slipped on my sunglasses, shirt, and helmet, grabbed my bike, and ran it out of transition, mounted and… oh look, let’s start with a hill.

And the hills kept comin’.  I’m glad I had practiced outside the last 2 weeks, because my easy 25 mile pedals in the gym were NADA compared to this.  And, see my “heavy ass bike” complaints above.  I had totally underestimated how important the quality of your bike is.  Running races… you have your shoes (very important, but really, about 100 bucks and a good fitting and you’re good to go), your brain, your training, and the road.  Biking is a whole ‘nother story.  It’s all about a lighter bike.  I don’t mean to be mean, but there were people who were obviously in worse shape than I was FLYING past me on the bike course with their racers.  I heard “on your left” way too many times.  One race volunteer even told me I should get a heavier bike, hehe.

Also, let me say that after making sure I had the camelback full and iced down, when I got on the bike I couldn’t ever reach the damn straw.  1 hour of biking in the hot sun, knowing I had icewater on my back, and not being able to grab it was kinda torture, but I was not about to get off my bike to do it.

I made it through my 2 loops of 12.8 miles and headed back to the transition to dump my bike and bag and chug some water (it was still cold!  Score!).  I jogged the whole way in and it was a great warmup – I started running and my legs felt GREAT!  All the brick work I had done totally paid off.  I got major vindication passing up a lot of people on the run who had passed me on the bike.  Everyone kept saying – out and back, out and back.  So I go out, I go back, the finish line is in sight and then… I get directed AWAY, up a HILL, and told that it’s about one more mile.  Bugger!  I definitely pouted a bit there and slowed down, but once I got up the hill and rounded the home stretch, I kicked it up a notch and sprinted to the finish.

Woohoo!  I am a triathlete!  All in all, a GREAT race for a tri-virgin – people were very supportive and I didn’t feel like a jerk for not being an elite athlete.  After…there may have been a little too much junk food and ummm, FOUR bottles of champagne split between Zliten and I that day, but I freaking deserved it.  I took yesterday off because I figured I’d be dead tired but I felt great.  Today, it’s back to business.  10k run today to get back into the business of running longer than 5k, and more fun and games to follow this week.

My biggest desires with the training:

-Be able to do 25 miles bike/10k run OUTSIDE (heat training/accurate conditions)

-Be able to do 5k run/25 mile bike/10k run at the gym (endurance training)

-Be able to swim 1500m in the pool then bike/run (transition training)

-Do a 30 mile bike ride and 10 mile run (more endurance training)

Everything else will just be filler workouts to keep up the calorie burn/cardio.  I feel like I could do double distance if I really pushed myself (oddly enough, the BIKE felt like it would be the most troublesome), it’s now just getting more comfortable with 4 hours of constant activity and improving times.

More soon on the specifics.  For now, I’m going to enjoy my week and get my head around longer distances.  So, my question of the day – what is the one thing you could not live without for races (or workouts), besides the obvious?