7/31/11

Iron Girl Dress Rehearsal

swimstart

Saturday was the Iron Girl Triathlon “Dress Rehearsal”. Actually a practice swim and run clinic in preparation for the Iron Girl Columbia Triathlon on August 21st. What a wonderful race this is going to be. Everyone was so nice, supportive and encouraging.

 

I met so many wonderful ladies. Women of all shapes, sizes & colors. Just beautiful.

                 kathryn  terri

waiting

I made a new friend in Kathryn who is racing with Team Fight and hung out with Terri, Cassandra, Beth and a few others at Centennial Lake as we waited for our swim wave to get in the water. The set up was awesome. The organizers set up a 1100y course and they had all of these volunteer “swim angels” – someone who would swim along with you, giving you tips and encouraging you along the way. WOW!

   sheila  swimangel

I saw my friend, Sheila, from MidMdTri club – look at her coming out of the water VICTORIOUS. Terri had a swim angel with her and they both got out of the water smiling – ANOTHER VICTORY.

 

After taking a little rest break and having a snack, a few of us ran most of the Iron Girl run course – one of the most brutal run routes imaginable. That hill at about a mile out is RE-DAMN-DICULOUS. I have got to step up my run game or I’m going  to be in the HURT LOCKER!

 

Despite the suffering (and slower race time) that is undoubtedly going to happen on this race (the bike & run routes are just UGLY & WRONG) I am really looking forward to this race.

 

We are women, hear us roar – WE ARE TRIATHLETES!

7/28/11

Hill Hell

steep-hill-to-bike-up-by-steffe

Yeah…that’s what I’m in right now- recovering from HILL HELL! Yesterday, I went to a workout with the PG Run Club and what was on the schedule…HILL INTERVALS. We ran a mile UP A HILL to a park, entered the park and then ran down this crazy azz hill. We gathered at the bottom and we did 8 hill repeats (run up that forsaken hill for a minute trying a different technique/adding on each time). I wanted to just DIE!

 

I did it. ALL 8 INTERVALS and ran back to the car.

 

Then, tonight,  I went a swallowed the crazy koolaid and went on a 20 (22 to be exact) mile bike ride with a group of mostly guys that ride like a bats out of hell on a hilly course…and I gave it EVERYTHING I had in me to keep up. I pushed until I thought I was gonna hurl. Then, my buddy, TaniaB, took pity on my pathetic, suffering soul and hung back with me giving me the MOST AWESOME cycling tips along the way – and MADE me implement them as we rode. She saved my life.

 

I got home and dragged myself into the house. It prolly looked more like a modified low crawl. I knew I had pushed these past two days to the limit. I gave it my all…in hopes of those inches/seconds of improvement. This whole Triathlon business is not for sissies. I may cry (I often do), but I keep pushing – nobody really can’t tell the difference between tears & sweat/pool water. Just keep it moving.

 

Do or Do Not. There is No Try…only TRIATHLON!

 

Hill Hell…GET THEE BEHIND ME!

 

I AM A TRIATHLETE!

7/23/11

The Rain & 7th Level of Hell Ride

This morning a bunch of us from TriUnify attempted to go on our 2nd group ride for 30 miles (combo of Columbia Tri/Iron Girl route). Our first ride two Saturday’s ago was great despite 2 flat tires, a chain falling off & a fall. This morning we were greeted to more mayhem in the form of dark clouds, thunder & lightening…but the sun was shining just round the way. Seriously. We made the command decision to go with the ride, got about 2 miles out and WHOOOSH!!!…the heavens opened and it started pouring. We turned around and headed back to the park. I needed windshield wipers on my eyebrows, it was raining so hard.

 

We got back to the cars and tried to wait it out…but gave up after about 15 minutes when it was still coming down cats & dogs.

rainride_becca rainride_lisa

We went back to my house and had breakfast and tried to decide what we were going to do for our workout. Well, after several panny cakes, eggs & bacon…everybody went their separate ways to try again another day.

 

NOT ME! My crazy ass decided that I would do a 20 mile ride from my house. DA HELL WAS I THINKING?!!

 

“Somebody call 911. Shorty Fire Burning on the dance floor bike seat. OHHOOHAH!”

 

That was me. I got out about 9-10 miles and the overcast clouds WERE GONE and the hot fiery ball of death was upon me. I felt like I was in the center of the HEAT DOME. Out the window went the 13-14 mph pace. I was just happy to be able to pedal. The air was so thick & hot that powering up the GAZILLION hills was damn near impossible. At mile 15 or so…FUGG THOSE BIG HILLS. I just got off the bike and walked up those hills. It was so bad that I actually contemplated calling someone at the house and getting them to come and pick my on fire ass up out of the heat. I made it back to the house and promptly threw myself into a cool shower while downing (2 bottles of water – yes, in the shower).

 

22 miles. DONE! Jesus be AC unit.

 

The saving grace…I snagged me one of these jerseys today! I AM A TRIATHLETE!…and even more importantly…I AM THE 12th MAN!

armyblackknightscyclingjersey

7/20/11

Personal Paparazzi

I just HAD to give a shout out to the QueenMum – my mother @GmaSandyL. She went with me to the Finger Lakes and sat/stood out in the sun for hours while I did the Mini-Mussel Triathlon. She acted as my personal paparazzi for the entire weekend documenting all of our fun (antique shopping, street fair, motorcycle riding, hanging at a beautiful Victorian home, triathlon) for the weekend. When I say she takes the most fabulous pictures – IMHO – she TAKES FABULOUS PICTURES!

 

I thought I would share some of her AWESOMENESS with you….

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IMG_3415 IMG_3413 IMG_3425

How about this from my ride on @LeaderhipJoe’s Motorcycle to pick up my triathlon race packet…

IMG_3427 IMG_3421

IMG_3433 IMG_3423 IMG_3430

Most importantly….Don’t forget to…

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7/18/11

MusselMan Tri: The Mini-Mussel

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I spent the weekend with our best friends (and Classmate) @LeadershipJoe & Terri up in the Fingerlakes area and well, ya know, while I was up here I scheduled myself for a Triathlon nearby at Seneca Lake National Park – The MusselMan.

 

I was all excited about it as I felt it was a chance to redeem myself (at least on the swim) after the swim fiasco during the Philly Tri, but when I went to pick up my race packet – even though the method of transportation I took was EXHILARATING – I had never felt more “alone” in my life. Standing in line with hundreds of people and I didn’t see another person of any color participating. Sigh. I know “we” do the threesome so…where were we. I was bummed. But I didn’t let it get me down for too long. I was representing…so there. And I had my mother, my girlfriend and Princess Cara coming to cheer me on and be my official paparazzi for the day.

 

…and let me tell you…the QueenMum is one hell of a paparazzi even with a peg leg.

IMG_3446  IMG_3447  IMG_3450

So, Saturday morning I got up to participate in the mini-Mussel Sprint Triathlon

750 meter swim - 16.1 mile bike - 3.2 mile run

 

Here are my results:

Swim (750m)
Bike (16.2 miles)
Run (5k)
Final

00:23:48
01:07:06
00:41:00
02:20:08

 

Did I shatter any world records? NO. In fact, I was last in my age group for women. Demoralizing, but only after the fact when you start to analyze the “data”.

 

WHATEVER. I finished, under my own power and without the need of rescue craft or carts. What I DID do was achieve the goal of improving my swim time from the debacle last month and I did that with FLYING COLORS. Even if I added another 5 min (or even 10) to do another 100m – I beat my The Philly Embarrassment Experiment handsdown. GO ME!!!!

          IMG_3450  IMG_3453

Philly Tri                                                     MusselMan Tri

Swim (850m)
Bike (15.7 miles)
Run (5k)
Final

00:37:30
01:05:59
00:39:23
02:32:28

Swim (750m)
Bike (16.2 miles)
Run (5k)
Final

00:23:48
01:07:06
00:41:00
02:20:08

The goal of finishing in 2 hours or less this season is looking reasonable. We will see. That’s ambitious, but if I shoot for the stars, I just might hit the moon! I only have one more sprint distance left so far so lets see what we can do at Iron Girl. If I can shave off another 5 on the swim, 10 on the bike & 5-10 on that damn run and 5 between the 2 transition times (yeah I diddy daddle in transition)…it is achievable. I CAN DO IT!

 

What you think?

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SWIM: We got in the water and had to go about 25m to the bouy start line and WAIT till the horn sounded. HUMPH. I was NOT going to wear myself out treading water for 5 min. DA HELL. Remaining calm like COOL HAND LUKE was the name of the game so I got out there, flipped on my back and floated till they blew the horn. Then I counted to 5…one-one thousand; two-one thousand, three-one thousand, four-one thousand, FIVE and I started swimming. My race. My pace. By counting before I started, I let everyone go ahead and kick the hell out of each other…then I got started. I may have been last in my group to get out the water but I GOT OUT THE WATER – 15 MF’n minutes faster than less than 3 weeks before.  YEAH BABY.

 

MY RACE. MY PACE.

IMG_3459 IMG_3461

IMG_3469 IMG_3470

BIKE: I am SO glad that I have been training on the hills mountains of the Columbia & Iron Girl Tri. JESUS be a gear shifter. The seemed to be just constant long & gradual uphills the whole 16 miles. Like SERIOUSLY. Just stop. There were points where I knew I wasn’t pushing as hard as I know I could…if I was just riding and didn’t have to also run when this ish was done…but run I had to do. Key learning…DO MORE BRICKS!

 

Oh, and I’m tired of saying this…some of ya’ll need to take a friggin valium before the race. STOP BEING AN ASS. All that yelling at other cyclists and ish as if you own the damn course is just RE-DAMN-DICULOUS. I was as far over to the MFn’ left as I could go without being in the cornfield. STOP YELLING & CURSING at people about how we need to “stay out of the way of faster people” etc. and perhaps your dumb ass won’t get DQ’d for unsportsman like conduct.

 

I’m just saying. *sticks tongue out* That’s what you get. I love the USAT officials.

             IMG_3476 IMG_3479

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RUN: DA HELL!! By time I got to the run part, it was hot as Hell. NO JOKE HOT. And to add damn insult to this final part, found out that there was only ONE water station and it was at the 1.5 mile mark. There was NO SHADE either. Can you say I felt like I was inside an OVEN. Thus, I was a little slower – not by much – than last time. I was never so glad to see the finish line in my life. MUST WORK ON BRICK workouts if I am EVER to get to a after bike pace of just above frozen molasses.

   IMG_3518Looks like I’m BOOKIN’ IT doesn’t it. Not in the least.

 

  DISAPPOINTMENT! There was NO BLING. I crossed the finish line looking for some volunteer to put my medal around my neck – NOTHIING! NADA! ZILCH. WTF!??? There was a nice lady that put a cold, wet towel around my neck and directed me to the sprinklers and inflatable pools (WHAT?!). While I appreciated the towel and those sprinklers were a God send (my shoes STILL aren’t dry), I WANTED SOME BLING and I gots nuttin!

 

BLOWN!

 

Oh well. Personal satisfaction will have to do on this one.

 

Still…I’m feeling some kinda way about not having any fugging bling. HUMPH!

 

N.E.WAY! I feel I had a good race. I lived to tell the tale and I have pictures and an improved race time to show for it.

 

I AM A TRIATHLETE!!!!!

7/15/11

Living BuckFluffy

My Classmate - @LeadershipJoe - took me to pick up my Musselman Triathlon race packet on his Harley. EXHILARATING!! LIBERATING!!!

Best pre-race pickup...EVER!

7/14/11

My Girlfriend, Terri’s Garden

I’ve been friends with Terri for over 20yrs. She has always referred to me as her city girlfriend and I called her my country girlfriend. Over the years, I have watched her work a farm, raise chickens, pigs, cows, goats and build a kick ass garden. I suppose that over the years, reading aloud from books such as “Goat Husbandry” over martini’s and actually reading some of the books Terri sent me, something must have rubbed off.

 

I’m up visiting with @LeadershipJoe (WP Classmate) & Terri and doing the Mini-Mussel Triathlon on Saturday and have been checking out her handiwork at their new crib, this KICKASS Victorian and her garden & stuff. Just amazing.

gazebo2

         terrigarden2  terrigarden

                chicken tomatoes

And to add insult to injury…she’s growing GRAPES!!! and CORN. GTFOOH. I thought I was doing something. At least my cucumbers are bigger than hers and I CANNED SOME OF MY STUFF. *sticking tongue out* HUMPH!

               corn  grapes

               peppers  broccoli

Boy do I have ideas for next years garden…and perhaps Princess Cara will set up a little stand. GREEN ACRES IS WHERE I WANT TO BE….

...And The Final Cereal Drawing Winner Is...

Kristin!

Send me your mailing addy & phone to wpdiva87@clear.net so I can get your prize pack off to you!

True Random Number Generator
Min: 1
Max: 3
Result:3

7/13/11

Nighty Night

As cute as Princess Cara is…she snores like she is mowing down Yosemite National Forest. AND grinds her teeth on occasion. So, on a recommendation from my Dental Hygienist friend (and personal torturer trainer extraordinaire),CathyD,  I took her to my pediatrician who said that her tonsils were HUGE and she might have OSA (Obstructive Sleep Apnea). That lead to a referral to an ENT (which took 30 days & a $50 copay to get in to see) who decided that it wasn’t just a simple matter of taking her tonsils out and be done with it.

 

He wanted to make absolutely sure that it was in fact OSA and that she NEEDED her tonsils out before he put her under the knife for something she just might out grow. Good for him. I liked him immediately.

 

No so good for me as I sit in the bowels of Howard County General with the Princess as she snores down the building. Was I supposed to sleep too?

     sleepstudy  sleepstudy2

And with the nurse coming in every 30 min to adjust something on her…SERIOUSLY? No rest for the weary. Hopefully, I can get a few hours sleep before sunrise…and we still have to wait for the results to come back. SIGH!

 

Have you ever done a sleep study?

7/9/11

Princess Cara’s Garden: Making Pickles

harvest2  todaysharvest

Princess Cara’s Garden has been putting off a great harvest every week of tomatoes, green peppers but mostly CUCUMBERS! OMG. What am I to do with all these cucumbers? I can only make & eat but so much cucumber salad….and then it hit me…

 

MAKE PICKLES!

 

So, I became one with Mr.Go.ogl.e and looked up how to make pickles. I found me a all in one kit that came with a book for canning/preserving, got me some jars and the ingredients needed based on the type of pickles I chose (HAMBURGER DILLS) and when it all arrived this week…I GOT BUSY.

  supplies2  supplies

My grocery store (Gi.an.t) had all of the extra ingredients I needed (Ball Salt, Kosher Dill Mix w/Pickle Crisp, Labels and more) and I only had to get the Kosher Dill Mix & Labels as my pot came with everything else I needed. I mixed the water, vinegar & mix in a pot and brought to a boil. At the same time I filled the canner pot with water and got it started towards a boil to “process” the pickles once I got them in the jars, put the jars in the dishwasher to sterilize and the lids on the stove. Once I got that going I washed all the cucumbers and got to slicing to make hamburger/sandwich dills.

 slices  brine

Once I had all my slices ready, I pulled the jars out of the dishwasher and packed them with slices. After packing the slices,I poured the boiling mixture of dill mix into each jar leaving a 1/2”  space for expansion. Put a lid on then add the twist cap – hand tight.

  jars jars2

pickels3

Now that you have your jars packed. You place them in the canning pot for approx. 15min to “process”, remove from pot and let sit for 24 hours. At the end of 24 hours, check your seals and then let sit (somewhere where the temp is around 75 degrees) for about 4-6 weeks and….

 

 WHA LAH! Pickles!

    processing  pickels

pickels2

Green Acres is where I want to be!