Tugboat Tags

More things to buy! I found these following a Tyler Hamilton Foundation link on Flatman's Blog. I might have to get these too, along with a nice new THF cycling jersey. Or should I wait until after the CAS hearing?

The "Believe" tag commemorates professional cyclist Tyler Hamilton's dog Tugboat, who died during the Tour de France last year. Tyler wore his bone-shaped dogtag in the race the following day, before he crashed out. (The previous year he valiantly finished with a broken collarbone). Some months after that, Tyler was hit with blood-doping allegations, which are still under appeal.

We need this!

Oooh, an IRONMAN double jogstroller! Since many of my days are spent pushing the girls around in the double jogstroller, I think we *really* need to buy this one, for inspiration value if nothing else. It's nearly twice the price (~$350) of the Baby Trend jogstroller we have now, but isn't the logo alone worth it!? Plus (not shown) it has the full "IRONMAN" logo across the canopy. And who could miss that day-glo yellow - almost the same color as Buttercup!?

Our jogstroller has a slow leak in one tire, so I've been pumping it up almost every day. That means it's time to buy a new one, right?

Yesterday we did a five mile walk, broken up by a half an hour at the playground. The slide was too hot to slide on, so instead I let the girls splash in the creek with their shoes on. Dad would have been horrified.

Somewhere Elisabeth decided to throw out her obligatory pacifier along the way. That's 2 pacifiers and a shoe tossed from the jogstroller in a month. It may just be time to give up both pacifiers and shoes. Then diapers, too, I hope.

Fears and Phobias

We all have things we fear. We also all have a few little semi-irrational phobias hiding in the corners, too. We tend to cover them up, and rearrange our lives so we conveniently don't encounter those things we fear. We make sure nobody sees us confronted with those things we fear. But they're still Out There.

Skatemom's comment about frogs got me thinking. Frogs are just fine with me. Bats, lizards, sharks, slimy things in the water, bugs, spiders, rats, heights, public speaking - no big problem for me, really. Getting hit by lightning? Been there, done that. Being in a plane crash? Done that too (deadstick landing after the engine quit at 7000 feet).

I've recently been reminded, however, of a few things that I really don't like.... I mean, that I actually fear. Of course, some people would think these are no big deal, and my fears are silly, but there they are, nevertheless. I don't have any dire phobias that send me into a screaming panic, at least not that I can think of. But there are things I'd truly rather avoid, if possible.

• Starting the swim leg of any triathlon. Hard to complete a triathlon without it, so I have to just do it anyway.
• Getting to the painful part of a marathon. Hitting the wall. Bonking. I certainly try to avoid that one!
• I used to fear getting a flat tire on my bike in a race, but now that I've changed a few, I think I'd mostly be simply annoyed and a little on the slow and clumsy side.
• Making "cold calls" to strangers. I dislike it and avoid it. I don't talk much on the telephone to begin with. I used to have to do this a lot for my work, and I procrastinated like crazy on calling people I didn't know.
• Asking directions from strangers. I'm a total guy in that regard. I'd rather buy a map and figure it out on my own.
• Taxis. I don't take them unless there's really no alternative. I really don't like being in a car with a strange man at the wheel who can take me anywhere he wants to go. Or go the long way and charge me some ridiculous extortionate amount. *jeanne* recently recommended taking a cab after the finish of the New York City Marathon, and I told her that I'd rather walk or take the subway, even after completing a whole marathon.
• Well, clowns, of course, but everyone knows they're evil. ;-)

What things do YOU fear? Hmm, I guess "strangers" and not being "in control" is the common thread in several of those. I won't tag anyone in particular, that's just too mean, but ... What are YOUR secret phobias?

Bloglines rocks!

I'm finally getting the hang of this blogging thing, after several months!

Yesterday I put all my regular reads into Bloglines. I used to use the tedious method of clicking through all my blogs listed in the right column to read them. How Stone Age! At Bloglines you can set up your list of blogs and news feeds to read on one clickable page. If you download a little program there, you can also get a notification in your taskbar when new posts are added to any of your regular reads (instead of repeatedly going to the page and finding no change every time). Also you can set it up so you can subscribe to new blogs or newsreads with just a click in your "Favorites" bar.

It took me an hour or two to set up, but after this it should save me considerable browsing time. Actually, if you read a similar list of triathlon-related blogs, you can even download my current list of blogs and news feeds onto your own Bloglines list HERE. Some of these may not interest you, of course, and can easily be deleted from your own list.

There were a couple of blogs that I was unable to locate RSS feeds for, notably the Kuala Lumpur Penguin and Tri-Geek Dreams. Maybe they'll enable them, or let me know where to find the feed so that I can stay tuned in.

I know some of you have been doing this FOREVER, but I just haven't come across this easy way to do it yet, so I thought I'd share!

Loops v. out-and-backs

A couple people have commented on my running loops yesterday. Just a few notes on that:

I don't run loops out of my house. Never. I would quit on the second or third loop, for sure. As a fundamentally lazy person, I would find "justifications" for going in early. Nor do I do longer runs on the track that is a couple of blocks from my house. Too close to the comforts of home.

Instead, I run loops starting at a point about 2.4 miles away from my house. From that point, there's a series of 3 different 2.4-mile loops going out in 3 different directions, none of which get me any closer to home. I have to go 2.4 miles to get home. So even if I only do one loop and "quit", I've still done a 7.2-mile run.

There's a place where I can steal cold water from the golf course that is at the center of the loop. There are plenty of places in the bushes if I need to "go". There's even a resort with a soda machine along one of the loops. I carry along salt capsules and some sports gel. I have everything I need, and I depend on no one. No excuses. No easy outs.

On the loop that I always do last, I know where the half-mile marks are because I painted them there on the street once. They've been paved over, but I still know where they are. Even if I've taken lots of walk breaks before that, it's okay. By the time I get to the final loop I've usually got some good LSD mileage on my legs. I time myself on my last 2 to 4 miles out there to make sure that I get in some faster running paces before I turn off towards the final 2.4-mile route home.

If I think I might possibly be tempted to cut short a long run, another technique I have used is to do a long, long out-and-back, but drive out first and stash water bottles along the way. I use rinsed-out used soda bottles that look like trash, hidden underneath bushes. Few people bother those. And I don't take a phone. Nobody is going to come to get me. I go out on my own two feet, and I have to return the same way.

Those are my "no-excuses" techniques of making sure that I don't cut short my long runs. Otherwise, I'd certainly take the easy way out and go home before I'd completed the planned mileage, once it started getting hard. What techniques do you employ to make sure you tough it out on the road once it starts getting REALLY HARD?

Disney 2001

Just for fun, here's a shot I just found from the Disney half marathon in January, 2001. Before I was married, even! I wore a lei because I was in training for the Maui Marathon (2 days after my wedding that March).

Disney costumes?

Remember those weird friends I mentioned that are planning to do the Disney half marathon as characters from Sleeping Beauty? One of them suggested this costume for me for the half marathon. Malificent.

Um, I just don't see that happening. I think those horns would get kind of annoying after 8 or 9 miles, not to mention the sweaty cape flapping around my legs.

Do we have any other actual GOOD ideas for Disney character costumes out there that I might possibly be able to jog in, and that wouldn't drive me wacko?

I was thinking of something easier like Nemo, but then got concerned about the fish tail thing. And running with a bum fin. And the prospect of ending up as Nemo sushi by the end of the race.

Ramping up the long runs

Today was one of those tiresome scheduled solo long run days on a HOT HOT day (official heat advisories in effect until 8PM).

So I dragged my carcass out of bed at 5AM, filled it with coffee, and headed out for my planned 14 miles on the road. On foot. At 6AM, before sunup, it was already 84 degrees and impossibly high humidity.

But whenever I get out there and do the job I'm always rewarded with interesting sights that I would otherwise never notice. Today it was several "fairy rings" of huge mushrooms that had sprouted up in big circles, as pictured.

I was meticulous with my water and sodium, because today I really needed both. My course has several loops, all about 2.4 miles in length, so I would stop (stealing icewater that is set out for the golfers every morning) and refill my 20 ounce water bottle and take one Succeed cap (344 mg sodium, 21 mg potassium) on each loop, roughly every half hour. That worked out quite well, and I only had to kick in one more capsule when I started getting a teensy bit of hand swelling, as monitored by the "tight wedding ring" test.

Glad that's done for the week! My ankles are a little tired, as expected, but otherwise I'm feeling pretty fine! Total distance (via Gmaps pedometer) was 14.7 miles. Even though it was getting brutally hot by the time I finished, I felt like I could have continued for another 11.5 miles to the marathon finish line, if I HAD to, which is exactly how I want to finish these runs feeling!

Juggling update

Well, I did my swim workout today for 1900m instead of 1500m. And now it's 102*F heat index. So I'm not doing the bike workout I had planned. Call me a whiny loser, I still ain't doing it.

I'm looking at the schedule for sunrise at 6:15 tomorrow and I'm thinking I need to get my butt out the door by 5:30 to beat the heat. I've got to get that long run done in preparation for marathon season, and every one of those 14 miles I have planned is gonna be UGLY.

I spent last night and this morning trying to figure out this Goofy thing. I booked my flights, now I'm trying to decide where to stay out of the six zillion Disneyworld options. I don't want to have to walk much except during the races, so I'm not planning on going into any of the theme parks. I may splurge and stay at one of the three resorts (Contemporary, Grand Floridian, Polynesian) served by the monorail, all of which cost small fortunes to stay at. Insiders tell me that the monorail is running before the 6AM race start, so that may work. I don't want to have to get on any of the friggin' Disney buses at 3AM just to stand around forever in the dark! I DO want to lie around the hot tub and pool all Saturday afternoon after the half marathon, sipping a tropical umbrella drink like they used to serve up at Trader Vic's, to steel myself for the marathon the following day. So I'm leaning toward the Polynesian.

Some weird friends are planning to do the Disney half marathon as characters from Sleeping Beauty: Flora, Fauna, and Merryweather. I don't think I'll pass as Briar Rose, the Sleeping Beauty. Then again, maybe at the 6AM starting line in the dark in January, I could probably do the sleeping part. Or perhaps I should take a page from Snow White and go as Sleepy the Dwarf.

All this for a friggin' Goofy medal. Just because I'm a medal ho. How dumb is that!?

More tags

I'm starting to think these are like skin tags. You know those annoying little growths, do you get those? You pull them off and they bleed like hell?

I just found 2 tags today. There may be more out there, but I'll stop reading blogs now to prevent myself from finding more. ;-)

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Shelley tagged me with this: "Who inspires you (must be triathlon related people) and why???"
I could answer with some of the celebrity tri-goddesses like Karen Smyers and Natascha Badmann. Or Lance. But to be honest, those people seem far too removed to me - people who have been fit, competitive athletes their entire lives are not people I readily relate myself to very well. They are NOT like me.

The people that truly offer me inspiration in triathlon are those everyday people who take the hand they are dealt, make the best of it with a positive attitude, start fresh every day, go out there and work harder than they ever thought they could, and give it their very best. People who take pride in their accomplishments and keep a sense of humor and perspective, regardless of what the numbers on the clock say or what the other triathletes did that day. People like those who read my blog. People with spirit and determination, like Shelley and Holly and Wil.

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Keryn tagged me with the thing Trimama started about her husband on their 15th anniversary. Congratulations, Tricouple! Much like Wil's sweet tribute to her husband she posted recently.

My husband and I met in 1997, got married in 2001 in Maui and had our girls in 2003. We were OLD when we got married - I was 42 and my husband is five years older. So we were kind of set in our ways already when we tied the knot. I'm not quite sure how to answer some of these, since many of our tastes are quite different!

Favorite movie: No one in particular. We enjoy watching a lot of BBC DVDs together - lots of historical costume dramas, Jane Austen, Upstairs Downstairs, that kind of thing. Steve likes old John Wayne movies, again and again. I almost never watch a movie twice, but my all-time fave is Gone With The Wind.

Our Songs: I don't think we have any. Right now our music tends to focus on classics like "Twinkle Twinkle Little Star" and "Old MacDonald Had a Farm". We picked three for our wedding video - "I Have Dreamed" from the King and I, and I can't remember the other two right now. Like I said, I'm not terribly musical.

Favorite Food: French, Thai, Chinese, Contemporary American - we ate in restaurants a LOT, before the girls came along. Now not so often.

Favorite hobbies together: Going to nice relaxing waterfront destination vacation spots like Maui or the Outer Banks. My husband is a private pilot so sometimes we used to fly fun places like Tangier Island, Martha's Vineyard, and Okracoke. We used to have a sailboat (he's an avid sailor) but while I like visiting the destinations and "camping out", I find actual sailing kind of exhausting.

Most peculiar: You want me to post that publicly on my BLOG!? This isn't THAT kind of blog.

Okay, I'm going to tag *jeanne* and Holly on these. I'd tag The Big Cheese if he were married, since he cracks me up, but he's not married. But maybe that would still be a funny post...

Goofy

I'm in for the Goofy medal. The Walt Disney World half marathon on January 7, 2006, followed up by a marathon the following day.

They're calling it "Goofy's Race and a Half Challenge".

The dumb things I'll do for a medal.... who is joining me? I suppose I could sign up for the 5K as well .... but if I do, just shoot me.

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One additional note: A great email list for recreational runners who are planning on attending the January, 2006 Walt Disney World races is Team Penguin Disney. They have lots of good pre-race information and will probably organize some encounters at Disneyworld. See you there!

The Workout Juggle

I knew this would happen if I posted all my workouts! For the next few days I'm going to have to do some major juggling to get them in! But since you all are holding me accountable (thanks!) I feel that I have to explain (i.e., make excuses for) these rearrangements.

Here's what was planned:
Thu 8/11: Swim 1500m
Fri 8/12: Run 14M
Sat 8/13: Bike 120 min, run 5K
Sun 8/14: Run 4M

BUT I didn't go to the pool this morning (had to stay home to get a cracked car windshield replaced), and I'm going to go for a bike ride with Holly instead. And swims work much better on the weekends anyway, when I can go to the outdoor pool. And then there's the time taken up by commuting to the Eastern Shore. I GOTTA get in that long run this weekend - that's the top priority since the fall marathons are getting near. That's the only thing I can't cut out.

Maybe I'll try this rearrangement:
Thu 8/11: Bike 120 min
Fri 8/12: Run 4M
Sat 8/13: Swim 1500, bike 45 min
Sun 8/14: Run 14M

Sound good to you?

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Update: Okay, I did 1:40 or so on the Old Blue bike on the rail-trail, which is close enough to 120 min, isn't it? It was getting dark when I got home anyway. That only bought me 15.3 miles, but it *is* the old bike, give it a break.

Hyponatremia death

It seems blogger just lost this post and all comments on it. Let me try again.

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Today's Washington Post carried a sad story of yet another preventable death from hyponatremia of a promising young police offer. My questions:

• Why wasn't the instructor on top of this situation? It's a predictable result of exercise and sweating for long periods of time in hot conditions.
• Why did it take a paramedic (who happened to be on the scene) to notice that something was seriously wrong?

My thoughts on prevention are HERE. If someone has been exercising for a long period of time and is vomiting or nauseous and dizzy, think SALT replenishment, not water.

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"District Officer Dies After Bike Ride: Over-Hydration Cited as Factor"
by Del Quentin Wilber and David Brown Thursday, August 11, 2005; Page B01

"A highly honored 25-year-old D.C. police officer died yesterday after he apparently drank too much water Tuesday while training to use a bicycle on patrol, police officials said.

Doctors believe that hyponatremia, a sodium imbalance caused by drinking excessive amounts of fluid, most likely caused or contributed to the death of Officer James C. McBride, police officials said. McBride consumed as much as three gallons of water during and after the 12-mile training ride Tuesday morning, police said.

The doctors "did mention that he had consumed an awful lot of water," said D.C. Police Chief Charles H. Ramsey, adding that authorities are awaiting autopsy results. "They are saying that is a possibility it might have contributed. . . . This is something that is really unusual. We are usually concerned about dehydration as opposed to people consuming too much water."

Hyponatremia, an abnormally low salt concentration in the blood, occurs when a person loses a large amount of sodium or consumes a large amount of water. Hyponatremia in athletes is almost always caused by drinking too much water.

As the blood becomes increasingly diluted, water moves out of the bloodstream and into cells, which swell. The swelling of the brain is responsible for the symptoms of severe hyponatremia -- nausea, confusion, seizures and coma. If pressure inside the skull increases enough, the base of the brain is squeezed downward through where connects it to the spinal cord, causing death.

McBride, who joined the force two years ago, was named the 1st Police District's rookie of the year. Colleagues said he pushed supervisors to allow him to attend the weeklong bicycle training course so he could better patrol his beat, Sursum Corda -- a notoriously violent public housing complex off North Capitol Street.

"This guy is really out here hustling to make a difference," D.C. Police Inspector Andrew Solberg said. "I read the arrest reports, and it seemed like his name was on them all the time. He just seemed to be a central component in everything that was going on."

Mayor Anthony A. Williams (D) issued a statement saying McBride was an officer who "loved his city and who served it well." Police said McBride lived in Maryland.

McBride and 15 other officers started the course Monday at the department's academy complex in Southwest Washington. The next morning, the officers did a 12-mile training ride that included hills, police said.

About 2 p.m. Tuesday, McBride attended a training session that focused on how to dismount a bike. An instructor noticed that McBride looked ill and asked him to sit down. McBride complained of dizziness and nausea, police said. He then vomited, they said. Officers initially thought he might have suffered heat stroke.

Sgt. Timothy Evans, who ran the bike course, said he was not aware that McBride had drunk so much liquid and gave him some water to cool him down.

"I thought it was heat exhaustion," said Evans, who worked with McBride in the 1st District. "It never dawned on me that it might have been over-hydration."

At some point, McBride told an instructor that he had consumed perhaps as much as three gallons of water contained in a backpack he was carrying. Bicyclists often drink water through a tube connected to a bladder contained in such packs.

Officers said that McBride seemed to be recovering as he sat out the exercise. When another officer hurt his knee, police summoned an ambulance. The paramedics noticed that McBride was convulsing and continuing to vomit. They took him to Washington Hospital Center, where he died about 1:30 p.m. yesterday.

Many experts believe hyponatremia has become more common in recent years. More people are engaging in endurance events, such as marathons, that last many hours and during which participants are urged to drink water.

The blood concentration of sodium is normally about 145, measured in millimoles per liter. A study published in April in the New England Journal of Medicine found that in a random sample of 488 Boston Marathon runners, 22 percent of women and 8 percent of men had sodium levels below 135, the formal definition of hyponatremia. One participant, a 28-year-old woman, died of the condition.

In the Marine Corps Marathon last year in Virginia, four runners were treated for hyponatremia, and two were admitted to hospital intensive care units. A 35-year-old woman died of the condition in the 2002 race.

Some experts, however, caution against overreacting.

"We don't want to alarm people into drinking too little, because dehydration can cause problems as well," said Christopher Almond, a cardiologist at Children's Hospital in Boston who headed the Boston Marathon study.""

People who inspire me

Reading my fellow bloggers' accounts of their challenges and strategies for success never fails to inspire me.

Good reads today:

Wil's story of her inaugural half ironman (in several installments)
Holly's good news about her training for the Marine Corps Marathon (while continuing melanoma treatments)
Jeanne's fun photos of her day as an extra on the set of Flags of our Fathers, filming near me in Arlington, Virginia
Linae tackling several big challenges, all at once, with a concrete strategy
Lee's determined approach with "... actions which bring results"

And let me throw in a token male blogger, just for fun:
Oldman's continuing adventures with a collie and a cup of coffee

At the same time, I find a large number of the blogs in my list have only one or two posts all summer. Time to cull my list again so I stop clicking on blogs that have ground to a halt. Stagnant blogs do NOT inspire me.

Dead Losers Challenge

Somehow I managed to elect myself coordinator for a Weight Loss Challenge which starts tomorrow. Maybe because *I* need to get serious about reducing my body fat if I'm going to improve my performance times (and overall health)?

Participants are mostly members of the email list "Triathletes of the Dead Runners Society", or TRI-DRS, my all-time favorite email list. But anyone is welcome to join in if they fork over the $20 entry fee.

Jackpot of about $160 goes to the Biggest Loser (male) and $260!!! for women!

Starting date is TOMORROW and it runs for 12 weeks! How about taking on the Challenge and cutting out some flab between now and November?

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Update: Whoa, this is getting crazy! So many people have entered the challenge that the women's jackpot is edging up towards $400!!!! Wooooo, we're starting to talk about a pretty nice chunk o' change here! :-)

Steelhead results!?

waiting.... waiting.... waiting....

"2005 RESULTS Results will be available within 24 hours of the race finish. They can be accessed from this page at that time."

Uh huh. Didn't it finish TWO DAYS AGO?

Congratulations anyway to Wil, Vertical Man, and Shelley for their inspiring HALF IRONMAN TRIATHLON finishes! And GET WELL FAST, Shelley! It's still a long road to Kona, but you ARE going to make it there in good shape!!!

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Ahhh! They're UP now! Finally!! Thanks for the heads-up, Flatman!!

And Shelley was right - she WAS the only one in her class! DAMN I COULD HAVE HAD SECOND PLACE!!! Congratulations on your FIRST PLACE, Shelley - you won it fair and square, you can only compete against the women who show up!!! :-)

Posting my workouts

You'll note on the right sidebar that I'm posting my workouts for the current and past week. I'm doing this only to keep myself honest and accountable. You see, I have this teensy little *issue* with actually doing the workouts that I plan for myself. Some people make a schedule and stick to it through thick or thin. I am most definitely NOT one of those people. I can find a million intelligent justifications (also known as "excuses") to rearrange the schedule (also known as "slacking"), postpone workouts (also known as "goofing off"), and otherwise fail to execute the plan correctly as drawn up.

So there it is, for the world to see and critique. Feel free to kick my butt as necessary.

I will interject one teensy bit of explanation about today's workout - I had intended to do the full 1500m swim as planned, but I got messed up in my lap counts and discombobulated when some fast swimmers joined my lane and started circle swimming and passing me like I was a dead fish in the water. It wasn't really an intentional slack-off, I just missed a few warm-down laps. (Hmm, what about that old saying that "explanation is just another word for excuse"?)

Movie recommendation

Chariots of Fire is out in DVD now and we watched it again last weekend. I hadn't seen it since it was first released in 1981, and I had forgotten how good it is! It truly deserved the Best Screenplay Academy Award. Although, like most historical films, it plays a little loose with the facts, it's still inspirational.

Are any of my readers also Netflix addicts? If so, there's a "Friends" feature where you can see the ratings your friends put on movies and see what they've watched lately. Let me know your email address and I'll add you as my special "Friend"! (Although by way of full disclosure I should warn you that I lean toward costume dramas, documentaries, and BBC series).

Good luck!

Here's some good luck vibes getting beamed across the continent to Benton Harbor, Michigan to everyone participating in the Whirlpool Steelhead half-iron distance triathlon, especially Wil and Shelley and Vertical Man!

It's one I'll think about doing in the future, maybe, since my Mom lives very close to there. Except the notion of jumping off a bulkhead into the water scares the bejeesus out of me. NO going back! No do-overs!

And even the name scares me. Whirlpool. I hope the swim doesn't feel like a whirlpool! And Steelhead. That's a fish? That is in those waters you're swimming in, along with you? I don't like the sound of that either! Does it have teeth?

But, um, I'm sure you will all do FINE!!!

Bluemont 5K

I ran a local DC Roadrunners Club 5K race tonight. In 99*F temperatures, it was a slow one! Plus it went up and over that bigass hill TWICE on the W&OD Trail near mile marker 5 that always kills me even on the bike. So it was my slowest 5K in a long time: 34:52 at the finish line for an average pace of 11:14 minutes per mile. Heat will do that to a person! But I finished without heat stroke or collapse -- until *after* the finish line, at least.

I had Double Stuf Neapolitan Flavor Oreos for post-race food and Oh. My. God. They nearly made me hurl. Thanks, race committee, for the reminder of why Americans (like me) have an obesity problem!

Athlete girls

*jeanne* took some wonderful photos over the weekend that she shared with us, including these two of my girls that I absolutely love:

Catherine nearing the finish line of her 50-meter dash:

Elisabeth enjoying the swings:

Blackwater Duathlon plaque

I tried to scan the plaque I received, but it didn't work well - only the logo part scanned, the rest of the plaque is too dark. It's the same artwork that's on the t-shirts, which were nice.

HERE is a link to the official photos from the event. The one on Buttercup is okay. It was funny, I think Buttercup got more cheers on the course than I did! Even when I was out on the RUN course (and Buttercup was already safely back resting in the bike rack), somebody yelled "Go Buttercup!". What's up with THAT!? LOL!

July totals

Okay, it's that end-of-month summary time again!


It's possible that I had too many July goals:

1. Log every bite of food this month: I did that for about 3 weeks, so count it 67% complete.
2. Follow the Tour de France and my fantasy cycling league: 100% complete! I even launched a new blog that revolves around the Tour de France!
3. Swim: 3520 yards (2 miles) just for practice: Not hardly. I swam about 875 yards for the month. 25% complete.
4. Cycle 105 miles: Rode 64.6 miles, 62% complete.
5. Run 75 miles: Ran 68.7 miles, 92% complete.
6. Other training - Complete 2100 crunches (100 per weekday): 740 done, 35% complete.
7. Events: Complete 1 duathlon (5K-30K-5K): 100% complete and I had a great time!

Average: 68%, if the goals are equally weighted. That's a D+! However, I clearly put more emphasis on goals 2, 5, and 7, and those averaged 97%. Plus I got four new PRs for the month!

For August, let's keep it slightly simpler:
1. Swim: 3520 yards (2 miles) just for practice
2. Cycle: 80 miles
3. Run: 80 miles
4. Other training: Complete 1000 crunches
5. Events: Complete 1 ten mile road race

Tagged again

Aaarrggghh! Flatman got me!

Q: What are you training for now?
A: I'd like to run a PR marathon this fall. I'm doing both Baltimore (Oct 15) and New York (Nov 6), but I'm not sure that either one is a PR course, so I'll have to start really working if I'm going to achieve a new PR.

Q: If you are raising money for a cause, what is it and why is that cause important to you?
A: I'm not fundraising. To be honest, I hate fundraising. I'm happy to toss in a few bucks when friends are fundraising, though, if I support their causes. Here's a good one.

Q: What is the furthest distance you've run in your training and what is the furthest distance you will run before your event?
A: I'd have to look back in my logs, but I think I did a last long run of 21 miles before a marathon once. I probably won't do more than 20 this year outside of a race.

Q:What is your favorite flavor of gu? (or other sports gel)
A: I haven't found any that I truly like. I usually use Tangerine Powergel for the caffeine but it makes me gag. I'm totally serious. I tried a mango Clif Shot last weekend and it almost made me hurl too. Yeah, it's not food, it's medicine, but still....

Q: How many days a week do you run?
A: 3 or 4.

Q: Are you injured in any way right now? If so,what are you doing about it?
A: No, but my center toes on my left foot are feeling a bit odd (knock on wood).

Q:What is one item of running clothing/gear (shoes don't count) you can't run without?
A: CAN'T? The obvious answer is a jogbra (RRS Sportek). But DON'T? A better answer is RoadID.

Q: Do you have a talisman you are planning on taking to your event? If so, tell us!
A: Um, no, can't think of one. During marathons I always wear a waistpack full of assorted stuff (ibuprofen, Rolaids, a couple glucose tablets, etc.) with $20 in a zipock bag, just in case. I usually try to carry a course map, too. You never know. OH!! I almost forgot! I wear 3 purple heart beads on my running shoe shoelaces, one for each of my 3 daughters, that somebody special gave me, which made me cry.

Q: Share one thing about yourself we don't know.
A: Who is "we"? OK, I earned a PhD twenty years ago, and I'll probably never hold a job in my particular field of expertise (sports biomechanics) again. And I love to paint in oils.

I'll tag.... I don't know. If you read this, and haven't yet been tagged, consider yourself tagged. Karen. Dawn. *jeanne*. Holly. Ellie. Folks like that.

PR City!

For some reason my last duathlon post didn't show up properly and I had to re-post it. Hmmm. Is this blogger thing buggered up?

Anyway, on to my topic for this post: PRs! I just looked back at some of my records and realized that I set four personal records in one weekend! Woo hoo!

Bike split in a race: 16.2 mph
100 m run (unofficial): 23.0
200 m run (unofficial): 50.7
400 m run (unofficial): 2:05

I'm not trying to brag, because I know most recreational runners and cyclists can go faster than that - I just want to get them here on the record here for future improvements (hopefully)! It is just motivating to me to know that my performances are improving even if the scale has not moved in the direction that I want for a while.

Yay! Of course, it probably would help those sprint times if I ran them more than about once per year. My quads were KILLING me after those 100s!!!

Fun duathlon!

Left to right: Ellie holding Elisabeth, Dianne, me holding Catherine, *jeanne*.

We had a great time doing the Blackwater Traverse Duathlon in Cambridge, Maryland yesterday! A group of girlfriends got together for it and we ALL got hardware! Woo hoooo!!

The race direction was excellent, as I had expected from the well-organized group that also puts on the Columbia Triathlon and the Eagleman Half Ironman.

The weather at the 8AM start was overcast, 74*F, humidity 84%, wind east 6mph. While that doesn't sound too warm, in that kind of humidity we were wringing wet at the starting line even without a swim leg! Fortunately the terrain was as flat as can be so the course was relatively easy, though a bit monotonous (well, except for that nice plump possum and raccoon roadkill). And maybe I'm mistaken, but it sure seemed like the wind picked up a lot more than 6 mph when I was heading into it on the home stretch of the bike leg!

Here are my official splits:
Run 5K: 34:13 (11:02 min/mile pace)
T1: 2:13
Bike 30K: 1:11:03 (16.2 miles/hr pace)
T2: 1:45
Run 5K: 38:10 (12:19 min/mile pace)
Total time: 2:27:27.10

I brought home an attractive plaque for first place over-40 Athena. I was also the ONLY over-40 Athena, but hey, you can only compete against those who show up, right? There were only 2 entries in the under-40 Athenas, and they both beat my time. Um, by a lot.

My girlfriend Ellie got a plaque for second place woman age 50-54 (I'm trying to talk her into starting a blog, so maybe we'll see more of her around here soon), and my friends *jeanne* and Dianne got plaques for the first place women's relay. Way to go, ladies!

Also, Holly was able to come over too and it was great to see her looking amazingly fit and healthy! She was an essential part of our team since she kindly watched my girls during the race. They only had one or two little tantrums, she tells me, so I think it was a pretty good day for everyone!!!

Our Track Meet

We had our own little track meet on the school track this morning, just for fun. Names have been slightly altered to protect those publicity-shy individuals among us wary of the paparazzi. :-)

50m
Catherine Toby: 40.37

100m
Web Sphinx: 21.04, 21.93
Runbig: 23.00, 24.76
Goshawk: 23.45, 28.72
Chocoliq: 24.60, 30.73
Track Zygote: 25.66, 28.44

200m
Web Sphinx: 43.43
Runbig: 50.75
Track Zygote: 58.20
Chocoliq: 1:07.42

400m
Web Sphinx: 1:42
Runbig: 2:05
Track Zygote: 2:23

Catherine was the star runner of the meet and received the most applause from the crowds and also had the most fun, so she won.

The weather transplant was a success!

Suddenly we got new weather! Yay! What a nice surprise compared to the last two days of living inside a steam bath!

So Ellie and I went out for a long run (12 miler) early this morning in my lovely old neighborhood by the Miles River while Dianne was kind enough to watch my girls. We were so spooked by the hot weather that we went out at around 5:30 AM, but it really would have been cool enough today to run any time. Since I usually train alone, it was wonderful having a running buddy along to make those miles fly by!

That left us enough time in the middle of the day to pack up the girls and take them to the pool at the Yacht Club, which was deserted today. They had enormous fun getting spoiled and played with by their two aunties, and became exhausted enough to be sleeping now like little angels. :-)

Tonight is seafood in the open-air restaurant next to the harbor. Yum yum yum! They may go for the Maryland crab cakes, but (traitor that I am) I prefer the Alaskan king crab variety. Mmm, yeah, dripping with butter. I burned off those calories earlier, didn't I? Oops, maybe I "spent" those already on those superb Bernard Callebaut chocolates that Dianne brought here with her.

Dianne, true to her word, has STRIPPED my garden of weeds. It's a world-class weeding performance. She's like an Olympian of weeding. It's like poetry in motion - truly amazing to watch. From inside. Through the windows.

En fuego!

Normally that means good things.

This week it means we've had 2 days of 105*F+ heat indices and are basically huddling inside and hoping that we don't have another 2-hour power failure!

We did some walking and running yesterday and went to the pool this morning, but I didn't get much accomplished since I forgot my goggles.

But tomorrow is another day - and it's supposed to drop about 20 degrees overnight, which will put it right down into the "merely hot outside" realm. THAT I can do!!!

IF we can get up at 5:00 AM tomorrow we're doing a nice long run while it's nice and cool. And 100% humidity, but one can't have everything....

Fun week ahead!

We're having a fun Girls' Week at my place this week. My husband has gone up to NH again to deal with finishing up the sale of his sister's house, and I'm partying here with my girlfriends. Yay!

In an hour I'm going to pick up Dianne. *jeanne* was kind enough to pick her up at the airport yesterday, and now I get her! I'll give her a quick driving tour of the DC sights and then we're heading over to St. Michaels with my two girls. Then tonight Ellie will join us, and later in the week *jeanne* and Holly will be there too.

We're going to walk and run and cycle and swim and grill on the deck and drink wine and laugh our heads off. Then we'll cap off the weekend with the Blackwater Duathlon next Sunday.

I'll see if I can get the St. Michaels computer fixed up to post photos during the week. If not, I'll still try to blog a bit while they're here, just to keep my eye on the run/bike/swim part of this week. I've been trying to convince Ellie to start blogging, since she travels a lot and does some great photography, so maybe we'll get her set up and going with a blog this week.

Doesn't this sound like FUN!?!?

Links to here

Here's a nice little tool for finding out which blogs have linked back to your own, or commented:

http://www.technorati.com/search/nancytoby.blogspot.com is how I use it for this blog, but you can just enter your own blog URL and do the same. Cool, huh!?

My cuties

I bought these denim outfits at the Columbia Triathlon (they have a logo on the right side), but we think they look like prison inmate uniforms or what the poorhouse orphans would wear. ;-)

Lance

What more can anyone possibly say about this amazing guy? I was surprised that he still has the power to get me choked up when I see him on the podium with his kids around him.

From Martin Dugard's blog:

"Armstrong also stated that he is an athlete, and will still compete to keep himself fit. He specifically mentioned doing a few running and biking events in his hometown. Then he joked about maybe doing an Ironman in a couple years. He quickly brushed that one aside, but I thought it interesting that he’d been thinking about it."

I've heard Lance mention the word "triathlon" more than once in the last couple of weeks. Everyone knows about his start in triathlon. I'd be willing to bet that he's got an Ironman in the back of his mind for some time in the next year or two.

I love my workout log

I keep my workout records on my own little Excel file - no fancy calculations, just columns for running, biking, swimming, and body weight, plus some comments. I've got the last 2 year's worth on this computer, but some of my older files were lost in the massive crash of the last computer.

Today was my long slow distance (LSD) run day, which I've unfortunately managed to miss for a week or two. I was dithering about how far to go - I wanted to do 10 or 12 miles, but it was hot, and one of my advisors was telling me to do 12km (7.5 miles). So I compromised a bit and did 9.0 (or 9.5 if you count some walking distance too). I went along my usual W&OD rail-trail, which has mile markers conveniently posted every 0.5 mile, except for the first couple miles right near my house where the markers are buggered up.

I was feeling a bit discouraged, thinking that I hadn't made much progress in my fitness in the last year, since my mile run times haven't improved very much. But I jogged along and recorded my splits every half mile, stopped for water, kept jogging, repeat, repeat, repeat.

What encouraged me today was when I logged my splits on my spreadsheet after I got back home. My average time per mile was slow, with some walk breaks in there - 12:56 min/mile outbound, 13:48 min/mile returning. HOWEVER, I was able to compare the splits to a similar longer LSD workout from a hotter day last July and I was very pleasantly surprised to see that my times were 2 to 4 minutes per mile faster this year. It may be that I was taking fewer walk breaks on a milder day, but if that's documented progress, I'll take it!

I have some girlfriends visiting with me next week and we may do a mini track meet among ourselves just for fun. I'll report on that later, since I'll have lots of extra time on my hands now that the Tour de France is finishing up! Maybe I'll even be able to get in the pool and do some laps again if they watch my girls for me, too!

Near my house

I just found this photo from 3 years ago that was taken from the street about a block from our current house in St. Michaels, Maryland. Right now there's a 1/5-acre residential building lot a few feet from where this photo was taken on the market for $800,000 - certainly out of our price range!

Invention idea

This is a "Baby Vise". According to the listing: "This is a great item to have around the house or shop. The body is made from a high grade cast iron. The bottom of the vice is a clamp that will attach to any flat surface. The jaws have been polished and they open up to 1". Small enough to fit in your back pocket!"

I thought this would be a great idea for giving Catherine haircuts, clipping Elisabeth's nails, changing diapers, etc.

My main concern is that the 1 inch version wouldn't be quite big enough for them, and I'd probably need 3 or 4 strategically placed Baby Vises to secure all the arms and legs. Let's see, $3.99 each, plus $4.75 shipping....

Hey, it's not like I'm making a Bonsai Baby out of them or anything.

IRONM4N Shelley rocks!

Here's her profile for the Ironman World Championships in Kona, Hawaii.

We are ALL going to be cheering for you!!!

Shelley is "paying it forward" by raising funds for the Make A Wish Foundation. See her donation page and give what you can.

Here and here are a couple of other stories to inspire you.

Another jogstroller day

Back out again with the girls for 3.3 miles on most of the roads that we were on yesterday. I looked carefully at each object on the roadsides on the way - including lots of empty beer cans, cigarette packs, and a whole case of Miller High Life empties that somebody kindly dumped at the end of a driveway along Million-Dollar Riverview Drive, but no sign of the errant sandal. Oh well. I originally bought them on eBay for almost nothing - why pay $$$ for kids' shoes that they'll grow out of before they're worn out?

Another anecdote I told to Tri-Daddy earlier: Whenever Catherine sees a man, she yells out, "Daddy! Hi Daddy!" She will yell this at *any* man she spots. It's kind of embarrassing when we go past the construction workers at the building site.

Today we finished up with a little walk around the school track, just to give the girls a little exercise too. I let them both out of the jogstroller and we started on our way around. It was like herding cats. They want to wander off and pick clover flowers and shake the fence and go the wrong way and fall down and Catherine will go off running some other direction and they'll do everything except walk in the same direction that Mom is walking. We only got about a third of the way around before they started getting too hot. Sheesh! Only 93*F heat index today, girls! We headed back across the infield for the jogstroller. Elisabeth had quite enough and stopped in the middle of the grass in the infield and stood there and started crying, so I had to wheel the jogstroller back to fetch her and load her in before we could head home. Awww, the poor little thing only started walking in early April, three months ago.

Totally unrelated house note: After coming down with a severe case of Storage Envy gazing at Commodore's photos, I scheduled a professional closet service to come over and give us an estimate on whipping our storage situation into shape in the utility/laundry room. In our tiny house, we need to optimize storage. They offer a free computer design and estimate, so I'll let you know how it goes.

Jogstrolling

Today the girls and I did 5.0 miles around the neighborhood with the double jogstroller. I managed to get outside about an hour earlier than yesterday, but it was still 97*F heat index. Fortunately that high reading was mostly due to a very high humidity, since the real temperature was still only in the upper eighties. It was nearly comfortable in the shade of the trees.

I checked on the girls about every twenty minutes and gave them drinks of water and squirted them every so often to stay cool, but they were getting a little cranky towards the end.

With about a mile to go I realized that Catherine had decided to take off one of her shoes somewhere along the way. Perhaps that was her way of getting a little revenge against Mom. It's a white sandal - perhaps I can spot it if I go drive our course later today. Maybe on the way to the swimming pool, after naptime. Then again, the shrieking and raucous giggling I'm hearing from the bedroom doesn't sound like napping is a big success either....

I'm in trouble

This morning after breakfast I was catching up on my email. I hear clunks coming from the kitchen. Clunks are always a bad sign. I go out there to investigate.

Catherine has learned to climb up on the kitchen table. She was sitting amid a pile of newspapers and salt, playing with the glass oil and vinegar cruets. Salt was everywhere, deep in piles and layers all over the table. Fortunately I had recently neglected to fill the cruets, or she would have been marinating the newspapers in a fine vinaigrette.

I think it's time to put the glass cruets somewhere safe, along with the salt and pepper. Catherine has not yet learned to be responsible with her condiments.

Upcoming events update

Thanks, everyone, for your very helpful advice and perspectives on my training and event plans. Your comments have given me lots of food for thought. Don't you hate it when you give a lot of personal feedback on a blog and then never hear what happens? I try not to do that and leave my loyal readers hanging!!! This is the current update, subject to revision, naturally!

Last week I entered the St. Michaels Historic Century on September 10th (although I may opt to ride the metric century of 62 miles), and the full 100 miler at the Seagull Century on October 8th. That's in addition to the 2 or 3 marathons that I'll be doing between October 1st and November 6th.

I don't have any triathlons on the "confirmed" list at all right now. I'm still thinking. I have done very little swimming since Eagleman, either, so I'll need to get up to speed in the water first before I take on any more triathlons immediately.

I think the long rides and the marathons in the fall should tell the tale for me and will help me decide whether I should attempt a full ironman-distance triathlon in 2006, or instead continue next year just doing shorter triathlons and other running and cycling events. If I can't get myself within striking distance of some of my running and cycling performance benchmarks this fall, it seems prudent to postpone entering a full ironman-distance triathlon until I get a little faster and thereby closer to knowing with confidence that I can actually finish an ironman by the cutoff times. I don't worry at all about my mental toughness, or endurance - I'm confident in those, I've only DNFd two (running) races, and those only after 12 miles when I was actually getting injured. My total concern is my speed (or lack thereof).

A friend of mine on the other side of the world is helping me work out a triathlon training plan for the next four months, when we will have the 2006 Florida Ironman drop-dead entry date. Stay tuned and we'll see what he comes up with, and what kind of progress I make. Then again, there are several good prospects for non-m-dot ironman-distance triathlons out there that I could tackle in the fall of 2006 without having the expense and long-term advance commitment of IMFL06. But they wouldn't be as fun as doing IMFL06 with my fellow tri-bloggers, it's true. Ahhh, trade-offs.

Sauna cycling

Instead of watching the Most Decisive Day of the 2005 Tour de France this morning, I took Buttercup out for a ride before it got too unbearably hot. It was steamy, no wind and full sun, but a mild 90-95*F heat index instead of the 100*F+ heat index we will have this afternoon. I still had sweat dripping off the front of my helmet!

Our total distance was 23 miles. I did a 20.1-mile time trial, again in preparation for the Blackwater Duathlon coming up in a couple of weeks. My personal rule for my time trials is that I time myself for a loop and return to the same spot, stop and then check the gauges, so I don't gain any undue advantage of tailwinds or downhills. Today without any wind I was faster than my last time trial of two weeks ago: I managed a 16.7 mph average. That still won't get me to the finish line of the bike leg of my duathlon within one hour, for which I need an 18.6 mph average. That would still only put me in the middle of the pack, judging by last year's results. Oh well, I don't think I'll gain nearly 2 mph before race day even with a big effort - but I'll do my best, nevertheless!

My heart rate averaged 141. That's 20 to 30 beats/min less than running, but you're only using about half as many active muscle groups on the bike, so heart rates are generally much lower. My limiting factor still seems to be my position on the bike - after 15 miles or so my back starts getting achy, plus my crotch gets uncomfortable, and I have to sit up to stretch or stand in the pedals for a while, both of which slow me down. I know, I know, the solution is simply more miles in the saddle.

I was hoping to watch today's stage of the Tour this afternoon, but no, I'm doomed. They're not re-broadcasting it until tonight, which probably means I'll have to endure Al Trautwig and Kristin Gum. UGH. I've already peeked at the results, and it looks like it will be worth watching, nevertheless!

Sauna training

Sometimes when I get hot and slow down in the heat I think I'm "just slacking" and being lazy. On today's track workout I wore my heart rate meter for the first time in a long time and it convinced me that it's not mental, it's really physiological! Not that I don't slack at times, but today my perceptions of exertion level corresponded exactly with my heart rates.

I had intended to do five miles on the track (including 1 mile of walking), but I didn't get there.

The numbers tell the tale:

Environment: 87*F, 75%RH, 0 mph wind, full hazy sun, 100*F heat index (I didn't look at this until I got home, or I might not have even gone out there).

Begin: Quarter mile walk warmup.

First track mile (I'm trying to take it very easy, just warming up):
11:16 min/mile, 154 beats/min average

Quarter mile walk recovery.

Second track mile (I'm still just jogging, but starting to get HOT):
12:03 min/mile, 166 beats/min average

Ugh. Half mile walking, trying to cool down, searching for a breeze.

Third track mile (It's absolutely frigging sweltering):
12:45 min/mile, 172 beats/min average

Once I get to the point I can barely maintain a jog and I'm still going into the red zone, it's time to call it a day. End of workout, four miles total.

BOP or MOP?

I just got my results for the Women's Distance Festival 5K that I did last weekend and I finished in 133rd position out of 259 women. Two more spots up and I would have finished in the top half! Jeez, if I had known that I might have run just that little bit harder! :-) Well, it's nice to have a solid middle-of-the-pack finish instead of always being the one holding the Lanterne Rouge, bringing up the rear. Yeah, if they had let the men in I would have been considerably further back in the placements, but anyway.... I'm not so interested in my placement, actually, as I am using it as an indicator of how well I did on a hot day on a hilly course. Knowing that my relative performance times are improving means that my fitness is improving too. Yay!

Help! I'm having trouble deciding!

I'm having a very hard time deciding whether I should enter Ironman Florida for November, 2006. I have about 4 months until entries open to decide if I'm going to go for it or not. Now I'm tempted to say, what the heck, just enter and see how things go, but that would probably be exceedingly foolish and perhaps a waste of money.

Now keep in mind also that I'm fatter and slower than most and old (48) and I'd be hard up against the cutoffs, even if I trained hard for the next 16 months. I sure don't want to take this on and end up with a DNF, especially considering that I did an Olympic and a half ironman in the last 2 months and ended up past the cutoffs for both of them.

So I think maybe I should have some objective performance standards that I should meet beforehand before I stick that needle in. What do you think they should be, for someone taking on their first IM with still a year of training left to complete?

I was thinking of something like these - some combination of these, perhaps complete at least 2 from the list before I make that plunge:

• Finish a marathon under 5:15
• Finish a century under 6:30 riding time
• Finish a 2-mile pool swim under 1:40
• Finish a 1500-m open water swim under 40:00
• Finish an Olympic distance under 3:30
• Finish a half IM distance under 7:00

What would YOU plug in for numbers there? What would you recommend?

Cool link of the day

Here's a map of countries that I've been to. (I didn't count Japan, where I only changed planes once. And I couldn't take out Alaska, where I likewise have only changed planes, but I've been to the other 49 US states. And not the Northwest Territory, Yukon, Nunavut, or Labrador either, but all the other Canadian provinces.) How about creating your own? Tag, you're it!



Create your own visited countries map.

There's also one for states visited HERE, which I may use instead of my own old race states map.

Transition tip

Try this flying mount technique, as demonstrated coming out of T1 by awesome triathlete Steve Smith of Reston, Virginia:

If that's what it takes to get into the sub-two-minute range for T1, I have a feeling I'm never going to get there. I can hardly get my leg over the bottles in the rack behind my seat.

The 5K that wasn't

A couple of people asked me about my second 5K of last weekend. Well, I didn't run it. No excuses, I simply fell back asleep after the alarm went off and suddenly it was three hours later. I had all my stuff ready to go, the race information and map printed out, but I just didn't manage to get myself there. Sometimes that happens when I don't pre-register for races, which is one reason that I always sign up early and pay my entry $$ for the big ones!

Instead I watched a good chunk of the first real mountain stage of the Tour de France. I've been watching it carefully each day, taking notes, and spending a lot of time doing research for my new Tour de France Lanterne Rouge blog, so that's why my commentary on this one has been a little slim lately. It's only three weeks each year.

The workout I did instead was nearly the same as a 5K. At midday, when it had gotten up to about 92 degrees, I went over to my 3/4-mile hilly path and did four repeats. It's a winding path on the Four Mile Run Trail with two major dips into gullies and a fair-sized hill, so usually I'm comparatively slow along it. Yesterday I did it my repeats in 9:01, 8:55, 8:40, and then I told myself I could quit and go home if I beat 8:40 - and then I forced out a 7:49! That was enough, the moral equivalent of a 5K without the t-shirt, so I called it a day and headed for the showers.

My own imaginary mascot

I love the Hank commercial for Starbucks doubleshot which is being broadcast on OLN during the Tour de France. HERE is a link where you can see it yourself - it's hard to find much about this on the Internet. The real name for the commercial is "Bleachers".

I thought about it during my 5K yesterday. I love the concept of taking along a personal internal cheering section wherever you go. I think I should have my own personal mascot cheering for me from the sidelines! I guess it will have to be imaginary, but as long as it does the trick....

I see a lot of blogs and race reports that have a lot of negativity in them about people's own training and performances. "I'm slow.... my times are awful.... I did terrible...." etc. When it's coming from people that are racing in the middle or front of the pack, I sometimes wonder if they have a seriously damaged self-image, if they're disconnected from reality and really don't believe how well they're doing, or if they're just fishing for compliments. When it comes from people in the back of the pack like me, I wonder why they can't be proud of their own striving and accomplishments. I can almost hear Dr. Phil asking, "What are you getting out of it?"

Yesterday outside an elementary school I saw a sign that I loved: "NO PUT DOWN ZONE". Some of us need to keep that sign posted inside our own heads. Negative self-talk is defeatist and self-flagellation and guilt do little to enhance performance until it's turned around into positive energy.

Why not be positive? It's a deliberate choice that each one of us makes. It sure beats the alternative!

Women's Distance Festival

This morning for a little workout I ran a local 5K: the Women's Distance Festival in Annapolis, Maryland. It was on a lovely, but hilly 2-loop course not far from the Naval Academy, through a residential neighborhood bordering the Severn River. I pushed hard most of the way but the heat forced me to walk a bit on the second loop. I ended up with my second-fastest 5K time and came in at 31:49 watch time with progressively slowing splits of 9:58, 10:16, 10:29, and 1:05 for the final 0.1 mile. And I also had the fun of hanging out with *jeanne* for a few minutes!

I'm considering doing another one tomorrow morning! One or two road races per month is good for me to keep my speedwork up (such as it is!).

Hmm, I see that the 2006 Florida Half Ironman, scheduled for May 21, 2006 in Orlando has just opened their entries. Do I want to tackle this race or take on the Eagleman "Ironman 70.3" course again? Decisions, decisions! I do like the idea of a non-wetsuit lake swim better than tackling the Choptank currents again. Plus a flat bike and run course.... and I see that they were generous with their finishing times last year, recording finishers up into the nine-hour range - just like me! Maybe I will go for it - and try to beat that eight-hour thing this time around. Of course it will be hot and humid, but that's okay with me. Anyone else considering this one?

TriBlog Tag Fever

Chris tagged me to name my food addiction. Then he changed his blog address, too, so I have to update my bookmarks. Sheesh!

I'm pretty much addicted to everything food. Let me put it like this: it's easier for me to name the foods I don't like than the entire universe of foods that I like. I don't like... hmm... lamb. Liver. I think that's it. Everything else is fair game, and will usually disappear quickly when put in front of me. Being a picky eater is a totally foreign and slightly suspicious concept to me.

My must-have daily ritual food item is my morning coffee, ~32 ounces, about 1/3 whole milk and with real sugar. If I don't have that, we might as well just cancel the whole day.

Ugh cotton t-shirts

Every time I forget and wear a cotton t-shirt during a hot-weather run, I get reminded very quickly why I really should avoid them. This morning I did a 10K workout on the paved trail and as the sun rose the humidity subsided to a mere 81%RH. My tshirt was literally dripping and by the end of the run it was flapping around me like a nasty wet shower curtain. How annoying! I need to dig out my Coolmax singlets NOW.

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On a more somber note, our hearts go out to those in London affected by the terrorist attacks. It seems unimaginable, such tragedy coming so soon after the happy news of the plans for the 2012 Olympic Games.

Quiet times

Enjoying a few quiet, uneventful days, not much new. Watching the Tour and setting up my new Lanterne Rouge blog.

Took the girls for their 2-year pediatrician appointment. They're really 25 months since birth now, but 22.5 months since their due date. Everything is fine, except for some delays due to their rough start. We're still waiting for Elisabeth to decide to say her first word, and we still have some questions about her hearing. And she gets hives at random times. Both girls have underbites, and Catherine will probably need glasses very early, and Elisabeth may possibly need another eye alignment surgery. But otherwise, they're perfect. They're little but they're feisty.

• Catherine: 21 pounds 1 ounce; 30.5 inches tall
• Elisabeth: 18 pounds 9 ounces; 29.75 inches tall

I'm working on my husband for a trip to the 2012 London Olympics. They'll be nine then, won't that be fun? Just the right time to get them inspired about each getting their own gold medal. ;-) I have to say I'm rather glad that DC-Baltimore was out of the running for hosting the Olympics rather early. Too much congestion and traffic here already!

But they're a lot of fun. Today they were running around the house and I looked up to find that they were both, the two of them, STANDING up in the baby swing. Which is about 2 feet off the ground. How they both got in there I'll never know.

Then later when I'm eating dinner Catherine (who ate earlier) keeps coming up and bugging me for a piece of rice cake, which I'd give her and she'd run away and (presumably) eat it. I realized after about ten rounds of this that she was taking one bite of the piece I gave her and putting the rest in the garbage can, then running back for more.

New Lanterne Rouge

Our new back-of-the-pack Tour de France rider who we are following is Iker Flores, who rides for the Euskaltel-Euskadi team led by Iban Mayo. He now assumes the position of the "Lanterne Rouge" of the great Tour de France train.

At the left is a photo of Iker from last year's Tour de France, serving as a good domestique for his team leader Iban Mayo by giving him his front wheel after a crash. Er, maybe both wheels.

According to the Daily Peleton, "his brother Igor was the Lanterne Rouge in Paris a few years back. Of course, Iker is an attacker who you can bet will be off the front in the mountains. Also interesting to note that all riders are still in the race... nobody has abandoned yet, which is a huge change from a year ago."

This morning's medical communique indicates that Iker has hip and right knee injuries, possibly accounting for a bad time in the team time trial.

Hmm, I like this! I just started a new blog dedicated to the Tour de France Lanterne Rouge....
I'll probably post most of my Tour de France stuff over there in the future, and stick more to triathlon-related stuff here.

What might have been

Poor Dave Zabriskie. I hope he doesn't feel too badly, and bounces back quickly. :-( And I hope this is not his last ride in the Maillot Jaune.

Leonardo Piepoli has pulled up significantly in the rankings, though! I'll have to introduce a new favorite last-man-in-the-peleton later today.

Go Big Z!

Dave Zabriskie rocks. Not because he's an American, wearing the Maillot Jaune on our Independence Day; not because he's the 3rd American ever to wear the Maillot Jaune, not because he's kept the Maillot Jaune for the 3rd day in a row. Congratulations, Dave! Not because he's cute in a young Jeff Daniels sort of way. And he doesn't rock because of his eloquence in interviews - in fact, he's kind of terse.

Dave Zabriskie rocks because he's an incredibly funny guy. Browse through his website, and particularly, take a look at his Main-taint-ance advice.

I fear that now that he's becoming famous after his incredible ride in the individual time trial, the public relations people will gobble him up and homogenize him and he'll have to censor funny stuff like that on his web page. Don't you hate it when that happens?

And why in the world did the USPS-Discovery cycling team ever let him (and Floyd Landis) go? According to one report, Dave's "quirky" sense of humor went unappreciated over there, and Floyd (now at Phonak) chafed at the authoritarian leadership style. Let's see how things play out in tomorrow's team time trial - CSC is going to give Discovery a run for their money! Hmm, if Discovery beats CSC by a mere 3 seconds tomorrow that puts Lance in the Maillot Jaune.

And very best wishes continue to go out to my little man Leonardo Piepoli of Italy, on the Saunier Duval team, bringing up the rear of the General Classification for the third consecutive day. YOU GO LEO! Just hold on until the mountains!

Too bad about that unfortunate choice of yellow shorts for the team attire - I nominate Saunier Duval for the Worst Team Kit Award for the 2005 Tour de France.

Oh, and here's my cool link of the day for up-to-the-minute images from the Tour: the ESPN cycling photo wire.

Tailwinds I win? Headwinds I lose

Today, in honor of yesterday's puny 19km individual time trial in the first stage of the 2005 Tour de France, and in preparation for my own individual 30km time trial coming up in 28 days (sandwiched between two 5K runs) I took Buttercup out for a little 30km time trial of our own.

I was hoping to get it in under an hour.

Ugh. That was not to be.

Going out was work, but I pushed hard for a 17.5 mph average. Not the 18.6+ mph I had hoped for. Coming back - where did that headwind come from? Even slower. MUCH slower at times. My loose left crank didn't help - time to get some work done on Buttercup.

Final time: 1:09:38 for 18.6 miles for a 16.0 mph average. That's my time to beat at Blackwater.

If I had ridden yesterday's 19km time trial in the Tour de France yesterday at that pace I would have finished in 44:12. That would be 18:41 behind the slowest finisher, Leonardo Piepoli of Italy on the Saunier Duval team, who finished in 25:31. Even he was 50 seconds behind the next slowest finisher. I'm going to be watching for Leonardo during the Tour. He's my man. :-)

Vive Le Tour!

Yay! Le Tour de France begins today! Here's the entire course for the 3-week race.

Today's stage is a 19km time trial. 11.8 miles. Let's see, how fast could a normal human ride that course? Riding at 20 mph (32 kph) it would take any of us mortals about 35 minutes to complete the course. The Tour riders will do it in considerably less (top times will be ~20 min or 35 mph).

A few of my buddies on the TRI-DRS list have set up Fantasy Leagues along with me:
Bob Mina - Team Whodat
Todd Dole - Mr. Todd's Wild Ride
Chris Baucom - Tricyclist
Cathy Morgan - Lance Plus 8
Andrew Murdock - Mutton Cadet
Lee Crumbaugh - Gotta Ride
Mark Seale - MarkS
Michelle White - Michelle's Boys
Nancy Toby - Nancy Toby

What's your prediction for this stage? Lance has two choices: Go out hard, win the stage, and put his decisive stamp on his 7th and final winning Tour; or hang back and let someone else wear the Maillot Jaune for the beginning of the Tour. What will it be? He will be the last starter, so we'll have to wait for everyone to go before we witness his decision. You can bet Jan Ullrich will be killing himself to win the stage!

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I won't give away any results right now, but you HAVE to watch this one! I was laughing out loud at the spanking that was delivered on international TV!

Tunes

Oldman tagged me to list my favorite songs. I haven't reacted to being "tagged" before, just because I'm lazy, but this is fairly short and easy for me. I'm not terribly musical - I tend to be visual (a wannabe painter), but not very auditory. The only music-playing devices I own that I can run with still involve cassette tapes and lots of AA batteries, and I haven't used those for 5 years.

If I'm putting on background music in the house, usually it's something peaceful and classical. Vivaldi's Four Seasons, while over-used, is a good example of this.

I enjoy sing-along show tunes, especially the sentimental classics from the great musicals like Oklahoma, South Pacific, My Fair Lady, Show Boat, West Side Story, Les Miserables, The King and I (we used I Have Dreamed in our wedding video). My favorite vocalists of all time are Judy Garland and Lea Salonga. Maybe we can get *jeanne* to sing us a few numbers....

I'd be hard-pressed to name a single song produced since ~1985, and most of the names I see on people's song lists mean nothing to me (like AB's and Tri-Daddy's entire lists both got a big glassy-eyed blank stare from me - but I did recognize a few of Oldman's picks).

And with that, I'll tag *jeanne* and Flatman and Vertical Man. Hmm, maybe I should also tag Linae, and see how much Jimmy Buffett she can fit into one blog post. ;-)