2010 - Year in Review

Or Better Late Then Never...

2010 will not go down in any record books for me. Truth be told, I'm just glad that it's over. This is also delayed because the year ended with me sick...sick almost consistently from 7 December until YESTERDAY (I did have a 5-day break in there, but still) a MONTH of sinus infections, ear infections, walking pneumonia, and bronchitis. Apparently my immune system went on holiday.

Rather then go month by month, here's a summary:

- I did my first Polar Plunge, and will be repeating it in 2011.
- I ran my first half-marathon, guess you could call that a PR!
- I participated in one Relay (should have been two but more on that in a bit) and did one Oly - did NOT PR in either.
- I did two 70.3's. One in Hell (Florida) and one at a fantastic venue (Musselman - Lake Seneca, New York) that I'll be returning to in 2011. Did NOT PR in either.
- I got robbed in the MicroMussell and will redeem myself in 2011.
- I did not do Marine Corp Marathon (but if you look at my results you'll see that "I" finished in 4:08 - that was actually my ROCKSTAR cousin who came down here with 3 days notice and still finished in 4:08. BTW, she's also skinnier and prettier then me...BIATCH).
- I ran the Marine Corp 10K against Doctor's orders. Did NOT PR.
- I travelled to North Carolina to do an Ironman Relay and ended up attempting the whole dang thing. I got to the halfway point in the marathon and called it a day (and I am STILL kicking myself for not finishing)!!!!

If you remember my Motivation Plan, I was to "give myself" $5 for every workout I did. Well, I "made" $605 - that is sadly 2.32 workouts a week which is almost exactly what IM AZ costs. Convenient!

In total...
I swam 52,365 meters, or 12.4 Iron-Distance swims,
I biked 1,217 miles, or 10.85 Iron-Distance bike rides, and
I ran 445 miles, or 16.97 marathons.

Compared to 2009 (which I quit tracking in Sep 2009):
I swam 100,312 meters, or 23.75 Iron-Distance swims,
I biked 1,518 miles, or 13.53 Iron-Distance bike rides, and
I ran 512 miles, or 19.52 marathons.

Aside from racing/training, I had a blast in Vegas with some great friends, I got promoted at work (which includes my very own parking spot), I got a bad-ass tattoo, I went on a non-race related vacation in Grand Cayman and I'm still head over heels, madly in love with Dude.

All in all, LIFE IS GOOD!

BRING IT 2011 - it's time to KICK AZ!!!!

2011 Race Schedule and goals coming soon!

Friday Edition of a Much Delayed Thursday Thirteen

1. Despite the lack of blogging – LIFE IS GRAND. And I really do have a lot on my mind, and talk myself through a blog post quite often. I just never have the chance to sit and type anymore.

2. I’m still “running” MCM…running, that’s funny! I’ve done two 16 mile runs so far. My next couple of weekend’s run mileage will be 18, 20, 16, 14, Race.

3. Two weeks after MCM is the B2B Bike Relay (Full Iron-distance). I’ve been loosely training for this. My next couple of weekend’s bike mileage will be 90, 100, 112, 60, 40 (MCM), 60, Race.

4. Somewhere in there I have a silly little Warrior Dash to do. Run through a pit of fire AND give me a furry warrior helmet. HELLS YEAH!

5. I suppose I should mention I rarely exercise during the week. Work, family, work, laziness, work, prior commitments, etc.

6. Even with the lack of exercise I’ve “maintained” my post Ironman weight. I gained about ten pounds in the depressing months following the race. I managed to lose five by Spring and have stayed there since. I’d still love to drop another 5-10 (marathon weight) but that would require eating less and exercising more.

7. A couple weeks ago a bunch of friends competed in Ironman Wisconsin. I couldn’t make the trip to cheer so I sat behind the computer and cyber-stalked them. WOW! It was fun to watch, text, message, etc. with people there and on-line. And it got me excited thinking about next year’s journey to Ironman Arizona!!!

8. My deal with Dude is I promised I wouldn’t be as obsessed about it as I was for Switzerland. I think I can make good on that…I know I can do the distance, I know my nutrition needs, I know what the training will be like…so I should be able to maintain some semblance of sanity

9. I got back from a week in Grand Cayman last Saturday all refreshed, relaxed, and happy. That lasted until around 10 am on Monday. Stupid job! Stupid career! Stupid need to stay clothed and fed!

10. While on vacation I realized I need to find something I’m passionate about (besides Dude, I can’t retire and do Dude…well I could but…). Once I identify that “thing” I need to try to make that a priority in my life.

11. The top things that come to mind are cooking (eating) and writing (reading). I suppose triathlon/exercise ranks up there, but that’s already relatively steady in my life.

12. So now what?! How can I turn these hobbies into something?! Anyone…Anyone…Bueller…

13. Holy crap – where has this year gone?? I just looked at my calendar and realized (1)it’s is October, (2) I’ve been incredibly busy since July and have done a ton of things, and (3) I haven’t been blogging about any of it!

BTW, did I mention I have a tattoo?

At long last...Musselman 70.3 Race Report

I am officially the worst blogger in the universe. And just so you know I’m only writing this race report so I can get to the cool picture at the end. Without further ado…

Package Pick-up Since nothing is popping to mind, I’m assuming it was uneventful.

Pre: Per the usual, Team Z rocks, pancakes with Nutella! We were also set up along the start/finish line so it was nice to be able to just hang out with the team before getting in the water.

Swim 1.2 Miles – 40:34 You could walk to the first buoy and that was my plan until I heard a guy talking about his brother’s best-friend’s cousin’s babysitter (or some strange relationship) that walked last year and fell and broke his ankle. DOH! So I swam. And I swear the course was lllooonnnggg. It felt like I was in there for an eternity and at one point I said if that next buoy is not the finish line I’m stopping. And I did, until someone ran into me and made me swim again. That swim SUCKED!

T1 – 3:10 So I put on the skirt to change and was shocked at how easy the bike shorts went on. I continued to get ready for the ride and when I went to put sunscreen on my legs I realized I still had my tri shorts that I wore during the swim on under my bike shorts. Clock was ticking so I decided to ride with both tri shorts and bike shorts. Would I pay for that later???

Bike 56.2M – 3:28 The answer is NO!!! It was actually quite comfortable. The bike ride ROCKED! I was cruising along thinking this course has NOTHIN’ on Mooseman, this is EZ-Peazy! Then I turned a corner and saw a steep wall disguised as a hill. The hills continued but overall it was a great ride and the scenery was GORGEOUS.

T2 – 4:53 This time I really did take off BOTH pairs of shorts and donned the compression shorts. No extra layers this time.

Run 13.1M – 2:31 My calves/ankle hurt at the beginning so I did the 10/2 run/walk. There was a lady that kept passing me and would chirp “you’re doing good” which got VERY annoying so I eventually passed her and never saw her again. The course was hilly and there was a soul-crushing gravel hill that lasted about a mile around mile 7. After that I ran everything except a couple of hills. The locals who were out cooling us off with their hoses are my new BFF’s – true saviors! Overall, I’m happy with my time but I do need to figure out what the heck is wrong with my calves/ankles though!

Overall 6:48 I thought I was going to PR this race and I was SOOOOOO close – two minutes to be exact! Dang-it!

SWAG Best ice-cream in the world, really good juice, a metal thermos, and a cool finisher medal made out a bike cassette (that I would later use as the outer ring of my tattoo).

Yep, you read correctly, I now have my Ironman tattoo. Instead of the MDOT I went conceptual to represent the sport instead of one race.



And now you know why I finally wrote this damn race report!