Last Week in FL

7 more days in DeLand until I fly out to San Diego, CA to train at the Chula Vista Olympic Training Center. Of course I have not even started packing or shipping things out there...but there's nothing like a little procrastination!
This last week has been filled with great training sessions. My weekly total was really impressive...196 miles on the bike and 28+ running miles. (I won't mention the swimming yardage because it's kinda embarassing!) I did some Sugarloaf climbs on Wednesday...still feeling those in my legs today. Saturday I ran a 5K race in Ormond Beach...19:15...impressive, I know:) Coach Mom turned the morning into a great training session by having me run the 5k course once as a warm-up, then again during the race (I was 2nd woman overall), and then I ran the 5k course again as a cool-down.
The Gator swim teams had TWO home dual meets this weekend...one on Friday against the University of Virgina (UF men and women won)...and another dual meet on Saturday against the Univeristy of Tennessee (UF men and women won again!). Although all the Gator athletes swam very impressive races and fast times...the only one that matters to me is DUSTER BUSTER! He swam the 200IM on Friday...1:53 for about the 30th time. On Saturday he swam the 200 IM again...1:53 for the 31st time and he swam the 500 Free in a best time of 4:31!!! (and he got 2nd place!!) Go Gators, Go Dustin!
I'm really proud of my Grandma Jane. I have finally encouraged her to get out and participate in a senior citizen exercise program at the DeLand YMCA. It's called the Silver Sneakers...they do exercises that are perfect for her age and mobility level. Today was her second time going and I hope that she continues to participate after I leave. Maybe I should make a big poster with the time & dates and tape it somewhere in her apartment:)
I was looking at the International Triathlon Union's web page...where they list the triathlons all around the world that you can get points at...I found an AMAZING race...it is on an island off the coast of Honduras on March 12th! I soooo want to participate...the only thing holding me back is the expensive air-fare! Oh well...unless it rains Speedo here any time soon...looks like St. Anthony's will be my season opener. Until then...off to pack for California!

Long, Cold, Snowy Weekend Update

It's now been more than a week...but I will still give you the update from my weekend in Philadelphia, PA. It started last Wednesday with an early morning swim practice at the Ormond pool (the Port Orange pool was freezing because of a heater malfunction). After about 7500 yards of swimming, mom and I drove to the Dayton Beach Airport for my 12pm flight. Everything went smooth on the first flight. I didn't have to worry about my bike box because I shipped it on Fed-Ex the day before directly to the bike shop in PA. The day started getting worse when I arrived in ATL and they informed me that my 2:40 flight to Philly was canceled. No problem, right? They confirmed me on the 5:40 flight, I grabbed some lunch and headed over to the gate to wait. While I was chillin' and reading a book at the gate...the loudspeaker informed me that my 5:40 flight was now at another gate...all the way across the airport! No worries, grabbed a snacked and walked the length of the ATL airport. At the new gate, I was informed that the flight was delayed until about 8pm. No worries, grabbed some dinner, and waited some more! Since 3 flights to Philly had been canceled...the 8pm flight required a bigger airplane and a different gate...no worries, I wandered over to that gate to wait some more! Around 9pm, our flight was boarded and we were on our way to Philly. (Note: 'on our way' does not mean 'end of story'). As we neared the Philly airport...the snow storm was still there, and a lot of other planes were trying to land...resulting in an hour of flying in circles above the airport waiting our turn to land! No worries, chilled in the plane until landing and wandered over to pick up my one checked bag. Over an hour later the bags showed up on the baggage claim but it was fun because Kelsey and Manny (other members of the U-23 team) were waiting with me. So the group of athletes that arrived on Wednesday finally got back to the hotel around 1:30 on Thursday morning!
After some well deserved shut-eye, we got up and went for a 40 minute jog in the PA cold weather. It was a new experience to jog through snow and slush. Next came a trip to the Cadence Cycling Shop where we were presented with our new bikes! Here's a cool article for more info and a photo of the U-23 team riding on the CompuTrainers in the shop. (I'm in the upper left corner in the USA jersey). http://www.runnersweb.com/running/RunnersWeb_External_Links.html?http://www.procyclingnews.com/?pg=fullstory&id=2855
Most of the day on Friday was spent at the bike shop. We started with a time-trial in the morning. We didn't actually GO anywhere...but we raced 3 miles as fast as we could on the stationary trainers...my first 3 miles were 7:50 and my second 3 miles were 7:55. Lots of sweating! After cooling down, we each got professionally 'fit' to our bikes. The seat and handle bar height were precisley calculated...stem lengths changed...handle bar width switched...and pedal-shoe location altered. Then I spent the remainder of the day exploring the cute main street that the bike shop was located in. Bought some snow boots...which came in handy the next day!
After we were all fit to our bikes we headed to Germantown Academy, the local high school for a 5000y swim practice. It was the home pool of Olympian Maddie Crippin and she was there coaching the 8 & unders!
Saturday morning...back to the bike shop for a 2 1/2 hour stationary bike ride! (It really made me miss the feeling of a ROAD under my tires!) As we finished riding...the snow started falling...and falling...and falling. We loaded EVERYBODY and EVERYBIKE into the 15 passanger van and slowly made our way back to the hotel...where in continued to snow the rest of the day and most of the night...it the morning there was about 2 feet of snow!! Bummer that it wasn't good 'snow-ball snow'!
Sunday morning arrives for a drive to the airport to depart for SUNNY Florida. First thing Delta tells me at the counter..."We're sorry, all flights have been canceled today, we can get you home around 11pm tomorrow"!!! I was calm, collected...and I asked "Is there ANY way to get me home TODAY?" After a bit of running around the airport, I managed to get my ticked signed over to AirTran who flew me to Orlando! (Thanks to Dad who drove down there to pick me up!)
The trip was eventful but fun. I met a bunch of other triathletes my age...and it looks like it's finally time for the USA to get on the podium at Worlds!

ICK!

One word to describe the weather for the past 3 days: ick! I started raining on Friday...and has not decided to quit yet. The lovely rain has brought the chilly weather with it so it is no longer 80 and sunny in Florida. Bummer! But that doesn't mean anything in the realm of training...neither rain nor sleet nor snow shall stop me (okay...snow WILL stop me, but only because it would be a geological phenomenon)!
It has been about a week since I last sat down to write a blog...and what a week that has been! Lots of swimmin', bikin', and runnin' and not much of anything else...except of course for the all important RESTIN'. I put in quite a few miles on the roads...enjoying the last couple of rides on MY bike. I leave Wednesday on a trip up to Pennsylvania for a Junior Triathlon camp. We are picking up 'team' bikes that we will be riding all season. The bonus is that I'm getting a new bike (can't complain about that) the un-bonus is that I like the bike I'm currently riding (especially becasue it is Orange & Blue!).
Earlier in the week I picked up some health insurance...thought it would be a good idea for when I inevitably have a huge crash on my bike (another bonus about getting a 'team' bike...I wont be as sad if I crash it!).
On Wednesday my dad celebrated his birthday...mom and I made a lovely chocolate cake from scratch (nope, we didn't just open a box, add water and then cook it!) and next Wednesday it's mom's turn to celebrate her b-day...too bad I'm flying to PA that day!
Funny stuff: I got a copy of the Gainesville Adventure Magazine in the mail yesterday. The cover photo was of me standing at the UF pool. Nice article inside, especially since I wrote it...the magazine interviewer send me some questions in an e-mail, I answered them in a return e-mail, and he decided to just publish exactly what I wrote...hummm.

Easy week is OVER!

Summary of Today, Monday, January 10, 2005:
6am - drag butt out of bed
7am - start swimming
9am - finish swimming 6000m
11am - start running
12pm - finish running 7 miles
3:30pm - start biking
6pm - finish biking 39 miles
right now - dead tired!!!!!
tomorrow - do it all over again!
outlook - I love my life!

I am waiting for Dad to replace this old, slow, old, slow computer (I couldn't think of any other descriptive words) with the nice new one in the box on the floor behind me! The one in the box is the beautiful computer that I used at UF for about a year. It has all my files, photos, programs that I would like to use. The most important program is the one that uploads photos onto my blog...that's why I'll I have is words!
I've got an idea...I will describe a photo with words:)
Yesterday afternoon I was helping with some yardwork...mostly raking up leaves in the front yard...and our new cat, Trek, came around to visit. I filled the wheelbarrow with a huge pile of leaves and then I grabbed Trek and set him in the middle. Then I proceeded to cover him up completely with the leaves. He LOVED it! I ran in the house, grabbed the camera and took a bunch of photos...kinda like the ones you see in an animal calendar...I will post it here soon!
The moral of this story is to warn you not to do the same with your cat...after exiting the wheelbarrow, that darn cat ran full speed from one pile of leaves to the next, where he would slide into them and scatter all my hard raking efforts:) But it sure was funny!

Winter????

This week's weather forcast (I'm not kidding): 80 degrees, 80, 80, 80, 80.
It is BRUTAL living in Florida this winter! First Charlie, Frances, and Jeanne blow all the yummy fruit off the citrus trees...and then it stays so hot that the few remaining oranges still on the trees go bad! What could be worse???
I guess a tsunami could answer that! I hope that all the people affected by that disaster will get all the supplies they need and all the help that we can provide.
Yesterday I rode a long 70 miles with some other members of the Orlando Road Club. It was hot but fun...and neither of the two flat tires that we had were on my bike! I must have slept for 3 hours afterwards...well deserved! At the beginning, we did some interesting riding: one legged!We did one minute sets of pedaling with just one leg to practice fluid pedal strokes...it was tough and my hip flexors agree!
Congratulations to the Gator Women Swim and Dive on winning the Invite in Miami! I bet they came away with great tans as well as a bunch of wins:)!

Post Torture Comments

I HATE HILLS!
I would like to fill you in on the conversation I had with my dad/bike mechanic/training partner the night before riding in Clermont. We were standing over my bike and he says: "What low gear do you have on there? A 23? Oh, that should be fine for Clermont tomorrow." And I said (the last time I'm ever going to believe anything he says): "Oh, okay."
Well guess what??!
A 23 is NOT FINE for riding in Clermont!! Especially when I have not rode there in 2 years. I was struggling over bumps in the road! It was painful. All those hills I mentioned in the previous blog...I went twice as far up the hill (criss-crossing) because there was no way I could go straight, I would have fallen over!
A big "thanks" to Dad for driving to Clermont and riding the 40 with me.

Other topics...has anyone read any of Janet Evanovich's books with the character Stephanie Plum? Titles like One for the Money, Two for the Dough, High Five?? I just finished the first three of the series and seriously did not put them down until I was done...and now I'm searching for more!

Clermont Torture Tomorrow

Sugarloaf, Buck Hills, Hospital Hill, Grassy Lake, Citrus Hill...look out, here I come!!! If you are a bike rider in Florida, you know those names...and they are fearfull names! If you are from out-of-state, this is the place to go for HILL WORK!! So far, 4ish weeks into my triathlon training program, I have managed to remember how to ride my bike on flats and down hills. I have also re-mastered riding in a pack (drafting). So now it is time to take on the dreaded UP hill challenge. My quads are already shaking in fear because I'm up at 6am tomorrow to drive to Clermont and take the hills head-on...well, maybe not head-on!
News for the past couple days has been slow...it's an easy week so I've been taking care of some items on the 'To-Do' list. I'm looking for health insurance (probably should have got some before bike riding tomorrow), thinking about car insurance (or deciding to just not drive:), investing my prize money from South Africa (I know, it has taken a few weeks to get around to that:), squeezing some fresh orange juice from our orange grove (also known as "Heaven in a Glass"), mailing a package to my brother (no, its not actually IN the mail yet...but I'm thinking about getting it there), reading some books that I had lying around (do you have any idea how much reading time you've got when you're not in school anymore?!?!?!), and planning my first year as a professional athlete (which is kinda hard when no one is posting race schedules!!!).

2005 is here!

And how did I start the new year? By going to bed early and sleeping in this morning! I am so sore that I can actually feel EVERY muscle in my body throbbing as I sit here and type. I've got swimming muscles that are saying "3 weeks off means pain when you get back in the pool", my biking muscles are saying "how do you expect us to work after 2 years of no use" and my running muscles...well, they have just been screaming since Wednesday's 10k at race pace!
Coach gave me a few extra hours off to recover...so my next adventure is a little ride this afternoon (instead of yesterday afternoon)!
In January I will be meeting the other member of the USA Triathlon U-23 squad at a bike fitting camp in PA. They are flying us all to PA with empty bike boxes so they can fit us to new bikes and then give them to us! Yep, I'm getting a new bike (that explains why we have to go to the state of PA in the middle of the winter). So that is the next out-of-town adventure that I will be embarking on. I just got an e-mail that says we are flying up on the 19th (Wed.) of January...that will really cut into my training schedule (darn)! Actually what might cut more into my training schedule is the fact that I'm sitting here eating Jellybeans! (Stupid Christmas and all the candy, sugar, cookies, & chocolate that comes with it!:)
Dustin was the McLarty who had to rush back to UF after the holidays this year. Not me! He drove back on Wednesday night for morning practice the next day! It was great to spend Christmas with him and I know that it sucks to have to go back to UF...but train hard and have fun!
Sunny day in Florida on this January 1st. Temp is about 75, clear skies, light breeze. Say 'hi' to the snow for me!