The week in review

Well, it was a restful recovery week here in Omaha.

After tomorrow, I will have gotten in about 7 hours (oops) of light training. Nothing substantial. I am looking forward to kicking it back into gear for a couple of weeks and then a one week taper for the HyVee Olympic race. That is going to be awesome.

Monday was an easy ride with a buddy. It was his first ride back in the saddle after back surgery and he did fantastic. He is officially back to schooling me in the pool and the 25 mile ride was a piece of cake for him. (Although I think he was a little wiped out the next day.) During that ride, I managed to get pooped on. I know, super gross. I was up out of my aero bars coming across a bridge (thank goodness) and I felt something hit my right quad. I thought, wow, that was a big bug but when I looked down it was definitely bird doo doo. Yuck. I have never been pooped on before so I suppose it was my turn. After the ride, I went out and did a little brick run because the weather was so nice.

Tuesday was a nice easy run with Mr KT and one of the youth group kids.

Wednesday and Thursday were off days. Mr KT ran on Wednesday and he texted me a very odd picture that took me a while to make out. It ended up being a picture of a very large amount of bird poo on his shorts. He got pooped on too! He said that he had never been pooped on either. The KT family must have targets on their heads.



Friday was a short swim in the morning and then a run in the afternoon. My ipod was resetting itself over and over and over. I was annoyed because I like to use the Nike+ feature.

This morning we did a 20 mile easy ride with a couple of TT loops at the end. The weather was perfect! After all the rain we have had it was nice to be outside with the sun shining.

Tomorrow I am thinking of doing another bike ride and hopefully will get a chance to meet up with Blink and do a short run. We will see. Life sometimes gets in the way, you know?

Anywho, two weeks intense training culminating in... an adventure race! Yay, I am looking forward to it. My goal is not just to finish, but to not get poison ivy in the process. Feel free to ask Mr KT about that. He is currently a little itchy from putting up a fence around the lagoon at his parent's house in Missouri. Oops.

That's the week (training-wise) in a nut-shell. Later all!

A "Brick" Workout

This is a quick story about my baby, Brick.

Meet Brick. Bricko (and his sister Kona) just turned two at the beginning of May. Here are some baby pictures just so you all can get to know him.







Brick loves to run! He gets a big dopey grin. See Brick run.



Brick is so hard core that he makes every single workout a run/swim brick. Ironic, I know. (Sarcasm noted here.) See Brick swim after his run.




(Note Kona in the background, lying in the cool grass/shade, ignoring the hard work of her brother.)



And don't fret, he definitely rehydrates. Like Mr KT says, the good water must be at the bottom.

Brick is a finely tuned machine.

But even finely tuned machines need cuddle time and he is, for sure, a pro at that!

A little heart to heart...

So, there I was trying to get Mr KT to agree to doing an adventure race (with no luck) when it happened... (cue music please) a minor disagreement over training/racing. Now, we never, and I really do mean never, yell, slam doors, bite, kick, punch, pull hair, name call or anything like that. One person gets mad, Mr KT gets quiet, I get over it, he dwells on it, we talk about it the next day, and its over. No big deal. (And yes, we occasionally do go to sleep annoyed.) We just very rarely disagree about anything big enough to get mad over, which is very lucky for both of us. This was no exception, nobody was mad, nobody's feelings were hurt, we just didn't see eye to eye.

A few facts that were hashed out.
• I like to try new things, apparently that makes me A.D.D.
• He would rather stick to one sport, apparently that makes him a fun-hater.
• I am spoiled (that word was not actually used, and I prefer to think of it as well taken care of) and I usually end up with the nice new gear (note: TT bike) while he makes do with less expensive gear. Apparently all three of his bikes together equalled my baby blue tri bike.
• Mr KTs suggestion was that I focus on one thing and do it well (read the Spirit of Racine Half IM) to which I replied that I just want to finish without a trip to the med tent. I want to be fast but it is all about fun as well, and I hear the med tent is not fun.
• He agreed to run Market to Market, a local distance relay, if I put together a team but not to do the adventure race. Deal.
• I opted to impeach him as the chair of fun in our relationship. He nominated himself for the director of responsibility. Ewww, who wants that role anyway?

And all is well with the world.

Uh oh...

I am getting the bug again to try something new. I am thinking adventure racing. I still love triathlon and want to train, train, train, and race but there just aren't that many triathlons around here. It is going to be WAY expensive to get to many races this year because of the crazy freakin gas prices so I was looking into branching out and trying other things that are around. Some options might be...

1. Adventure racing (just a couple local ones, but this scene is growing)
2. Mountain biking or cyclo-cross (sorta funny, its definitely more just off road and single track because we definitely do not have mountains anywhere close)
3. More road cycling with a group (Mr KT and I may take on a century this fall)
4. Possibly an 85 mile relay race coming up in August. (The hottest month of the year around these parts.)
5. Xterra style races? (That would be great except there is only one and it is about 4 hours away which defeats the staying close thing.)
5. Any suggestions keeping in mind that this is boring old Nebraska?

I am just looking for some new outdoor activities to add to my growing list. I am sure Mr KT will be glad to hear that I am looking for more things to do. He already thinks I am not home very much. :)

What a girl wants...

So, I went for another early morning ride on Thursday, this time solo. I ride a paved trail that runs along a creek-type, drainage runoff thing. It looked like the creek was steaming but it was the fog that had settled down into the lower ground. It looked very cool. The air temp was about 45 degrees and the wind was blowing slightly from the North which meant that I got to ride home into it.

I was alone, it was a tempo ride and it was hurting. I was trying to keep my mph above 18 and think about something else. For some reason I began thinking about males and females. What is it about females that men find so perplexing? Why is the stereotype that men are simple and easy to please? Aren't we more alike than different?

Now these next few paragraphs aren't really triathlon related except that I was on my bike when I was thinking about them so if that is what you are here for, maybe I'll just catch you next time. No hard feelings.

It seems to me that women are just not as complicated as they might want men to think. For instance, what makes a girl (like me, at least) really happy? Being outside. The sunshine, the rain, the wind, the stars, the trees, and an outdoor fire. I like to eat healthy, I like to run, ride my bike, swim, climb up the face of rocks, lift weights, do pilates and yoga and just move. I like for the man in my life to ask me to go for a walk (or at least agree to do it if I ask), bring me little surprises, and just generally show that he is thinking about us occasionally.

I feel like these are the things men want from women as well (minus the walks). =0) So what actually makes it so confusing? Treat each other as you would want to be treated.

Ok, maybe we are complicated. I don't know, but, it only took me one bike ride to figure it out!

Whoa...

Let's play a little catch up on the workouts.

Sunday - 3 hour trainer ride (48 miles?) followed by 30 minute run
- I watched Juno and Extreme Home Makeover
- The ride went like this... pedal, eat, get sick, repeat
- The run was better but sloshy stomach

Monday - Got up at 5:30 and lifted weights and took the evening off

Tuesday - Got up at 5:30 and went for a sweet early morning bike ride with Mr KT.
- He acted all grouchy when I tried to make any comments to him and he had to take out his ear bud. (I know, life is hard.) So I made a mental list of some of the goofy things I was thinking about. In no particular order, here are a few of them...

1. Isn't it odd how it is hard to tell if birds are fighting or making babies?!
2. No offense but cycling capris for men are weird.
3. Hamstrings and backs don't love being crunched up in the aero position so soon after getting out of bed.
4. I love riding in the morning. I don't want my sunglasses on, I like the morning colors. I don't want my ipod in, I like the morning sounds. I should do this more often.
Wednesday
- Swam at local pool while my regular pool is closed for a whole freaking month. The water was 86 degrees and the air temp was way warmer. I chose the lane next to the open door and the water was steaming. I actually got out and wrapped a towel around me and walked outside (43 degrees) and drove home like that because I was so freaking hot. Disgusting.
-So this week is ride your bike to work week. I rode my road bike to the hospital and it took me half as much time as it does to drive, park, and walk! I dug it and will be riding most Monday, Wednesday and Fridays from here on out. The down side... (Mom, if you are reading this, it might be in your best interest to skip to the next paragraph!) I came within 5 cm of having a very bad close encounter with a city bus. Mr KT "picked me up" on his way home. He had both dogs in the baby trailer and we had to ride on the sidewalk of a VERY, VERY busy street for about 2 blocks before hitting the bike trail. I crossed the street to him and then we headed down towards the trail. I was on my road bike and he was on his cross bike. I headed across a street, thought there was a curb cut out, of course there wasn't and the choices were slam my front tire into the curb and either bend my wheel or wreck or both, or swerve around into the very edge of the street and brake. I quick looked over my shoulder, saw the bus coming and slammed on my brakes. I skidded to a stop and literally had to lean to my right so as not to touch the side of the bus as it went by. Super scary! I can bunny hop curbs but I didn't see it until it was too late. Mr KT wasn't very happy either, not because of my brush with serious injury but because he can't stop quickly with a load of dogs behind him. Oops, well, that won't happen again because I will be riding on the other side of the street. That is a super weird intersection and I can definitely avoid that spot.

Not exactly as I planned, but...

Today it's sunny and cool with a pretty good wind from the NW but yesterday... whoa.

Let me give you a quick recap. Keep in mind it really wasn't a bad day, more just a comedy of errors. I wasn't even grouchy by the time bedtime finally rolled around!

So, I woke up a little later and lounged around in my jammies. Had a long run scheduled and nothing else. Yay. It was raining and gray and windy and I was enjoying the peace and quiet. My pager pulled me out of my laziness by going off three times in about 5 minutes. I pulled my clothes on and buzzed over to the hospital to see a few patients and then back home. After that Mr KT and I went out in the freaking down pour to look for patio furniture that I have been bugging him about. We went and got groceries so that we could eat something other than ketchup for dinner. We came home and I got Kona ready to run. I had kinda been waiting all day for the rain to let up a little. I don't mind running in the rain but I don't love being soaking wet 30 sec after I step out the door. No dice. A 9.15 mile, out and back run in the pouring rain. Ran the first half in 43:30 and the second half in 39:30. Had a headwind on the way home as well as a sweet stomach ache but still managed that negative split. Whoo hoo. Came home jumped in the shower with Kona. (We were both quite a mess as you might imagine.) When I got done, Mr KT was attempting to put together a new ceiling fan for our bedroom. Yikes, not going so well. As he was doing that, I managed to knock one of the high efficiency light bulbs off the dresser and of course it fell and shattered in my underwear and sock drawer. I feel like that is a good sized problem. As my brother so kindly pointed out, that could make for a very embarrassing trip to the emergency room for stitches, not to mention some time away from the bike saddle. So, gonna have to shake all that out and wash an extra load today I reckon. After that I managed to burn dinner and set the smoke detector off. To my credit though, the smoke detector goes off even when things aren't burning. I mean who puts the smoke detector 3 feet away from the stove top? Really, I don't stand a chance on that one. I salvaged what I could of dinner and went up to "help" Mr KT finish cussing at the ceiling fan. Well, at least the lights turn on, who really needs the blades to spin around, right?

A worthy cause...

Big news at our house...

My handsome husband, Mr KT, has started a blog. I know, I know, hard to believe but he has found a very worthy cause. You may have read in an earlier post that we were considering running a marathon. Now, to many of you this is no big deal. You have done multiple marathons or even ultra distance events. Just so you know, you guys rock. But P and I, we just don't do marathons. I spent too much time and money on physical therapy school learning about how to relieve symptoms of worn out joints and rehab torn and overused muscles and bony malalignments to train enough to run 26.2 miles. You would think I would freaking know better. I will be paying off my loans until my unborn, not-yet-conceived children are out of college, literally.

Yet, we have registered for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC in October. Mr KT will be running for Team Running Strong. Click on his name to visit his blog to find out more about the organization and the fundraising he is doing for them. There is also a video of the mission trip he lead the youth on from our church where they took bikes and helmets up to the Pine Ridge reservation to the children. The video is about 4 minutes long. I really recommend that if you have time you watch it and let us know what you think. There is some neat stuff from the kids who were doing the mission work. They really came away from Pine Ridge with a paradigm shift I think, I know Mr KT did. He is very passionate about the Lakota people and I am proud of him for all the work he has done for them.

One more thing about the half...

I forgot to mention one very crazy thing!

I passed DEAN KARNAZES. Yeah, you read that correctly, passed him. He was walking and I was not! Woot, woot.



Granted, he did pass me about mile 12 to finish out the entire marathon while I was running my last mile of the half but I still passed him.

The Lincoln Half Marathon

The morning of Sunday, May 5th, 2008 could not have been more beautiful. It was 40 degrees and sunny, not a hint of a breeze when the race started at 7:00 am. The wind picked up and by 9 there was a pretty cool breeze but it was perfect.

I met up with my PT school friend Stacia and gave her brother (our Sherpa) our gear and headed off to the starting line. The cannon went off and it took us about 3 1/2 minutes to get across the line. (There were about 5400 racers for the half and full marathon combined.) We headed out and ran a slow first two miles to get warmed up and then fell into a comfortable natural, very conversational pace. We chatted for about 10 miles and at mile 11 got a lot quieter. We had planned to run easy, maybe 9:30 miles.

Stats:
Time: 1:56:45
Pace: 8:55
Overall Place: 1430
Place in Gender: 550 of 2540
Division F2529 Place: 141 of 540
10K Split: 56:03

Splits:
Mile 1 - 9:22
2 - 10:18
3 - 9:00
4 - 8:48
5 - 8:58
6 - 8:46
7 - 9:18
8 - 8:50
9 - 8:38
10 - 8:46
11 - 9:10
12 - 9:10
13 - 7:09

These splits are from my iPod so they may not be completely accurate (and NO I didn't have any earphones, I just took the ipod and the sensor so I could measure my splits).
The first mile was a little faster I think because I turned it on before we got out of the chute so I wouldn't have to mess with it. Anywho, gotta love #13! 7:09. I rock. =-)

My mom and dad were out cheering us on at about mile 6 or so. My dad took this pic of us on the way by.



So, all in all my first official half marathon went awesome. I felt great endurance-wise, definitely could have kept running or run faster. Had some pain in my right Achilles by about mile 5, pain in my left ITB by about mile 11.5 and a really sore low back the next day. No idea why.

This may be where most people's days ended but not us triathletes. I had a long bike ride to go on. Stacia and I and a few others went and had lunch at a local bagel shop. It amused me that they were ordering bagels with light cream cheese. Sign me up for a whole wheat bagel with egg, cheese, and bacon! I actually drooled on my plate when I went to take my first bite! I laughed out loud at myself but not for long, I was trying to get that sandwich in as fast as I could! I drove back to Omaha and relaxed for an hour or so and then got on my baby blue TT bike and headed out. I took a bottle of Gatorade in my bottle cage and a Camelbak of water and a Snickers Marathon bar. My plan was to eat 1/4 of a bar every 30 minutes and drink Gatorade every 20 minutes with water throughout. I didn't take into account the wind. It was about 17 mph from the WSW which made it a cross wind for a good portion of the ride and a head or tail wind for a little chunk. I ended up riding for 2 hrs and 45 or so minutes for about 45 miles. Now for those of you who are math challenged, that means that I didn't have enough Gatorade or bar for the last 40 minutes or so. I was tired when I left and I was really, really tired by the time I got home. I would extend my leg on the pedal, flex my quad and it would fatigue immediately. Pretty awesome.

The funniest part about this whole day...
I decided to take an ice bath when I got home because my Achilles tendon was even more sore when I got off my bike. No kidding, I DROVE the block and a half to the gas station to get the bag of ice because I wasn't sure I would be able to get it home. Sunburned where I missed the sunscreen on my thighs and forearms, sore joints, some little blisters, and a huge smile! What a GREAT Sunday.