Happy Halloween

It’s a freezing Halloween night out here in Colorado Springs…I would hate to be a little kid dressed in a skimpy costume tonight! So instead I’m going to be a kid dressed in a big, warm costume tonight! Hahaha…I’m not actually going trick-or-treating…some of my friends are having a party and we are thinking about dressing up and going later tonight. I will NOT be going in a skimpy ‘tennis hoe’ costume…that was restricted to indoor activities surrounded by people I know well. I’m going to put together the ‘ultimate Gator football fan’ costume…Gator PJ bottoms, Gator sandals, Gator t-shirt, Gator swimming sweatshirt, Gator ball cap, and a beer in my hand!
I would love to post photos of my costume for you to see…but I dropped my awesome digital camera and it’s currently BROKEN! I’m really upset about it because I love taking photos and I am completely unable to do that right now. There is a store in town that might be able to fix it…hopefully I will be able to get there tomorrow…cross your fingers for the status of my camera! In summary, when I turn it on, the lens does not fully extend…it gets stuck about ¼ of the way and then makes an awful clicking noise.
I got back into training this AM by arriving at morning swim practice and busting out 5000m! It felt great to loosen up joints that had gotten stiff during my 1 week break! I’m looking forward to putting in base miles in all 3 sports this winter. Since I was unable to do a ‘base’ period last year (due to the fact that I was still being a ‘swimmer’) next year I should be able to produce even better race results!
I’ve spent most of today in front of this computer. About half of the time I was studying for the GMAT test and the other half I was downloading tons of music from the internet. My brain is SLOWLY turning back on…at first I was freaking out because I couldn’t remember the most basic of algebra problems...like how to solve for x!!! Now that I’ve been working on word and math problems for a few hours, I’m getting the hang of it again…and once I have multiple choice answers in front of me…it’s a piece of cake!
Dinner time…later Gators!

U23 Women's World Championship team...prior to our departure for Japan we made some intimidating t-shirts:)! (A small explanation: our team bikes were called the Karma)

Jaz and I in TJ's car on the way to Denver for VeloSwap.

Sam, Jaz, and Erin on top of a rock at midnight when we drove to the top of Cheyenne Mountain to build a bon-fire!

The triathletes on the 3rd floor rocked the Halloween Costume competition! This was us right before we made our grand entrance into the dinning hall! (Nurse Sarah and her Patient Nate...Lt. Dangle from Reno 911...TJ the golf pro with Jaz & me as his tennis hoes:)

My Wonderful Week Off!

Today is officially my last day of doing NOTHING! It’s been a fantastic week…watching TV, catching up on e-mails, watching movies, staying out really late, etc. But the truth is…I’m really looking forward to getting back on the bike, start running again, lifting some weights, doing more yoga, etc. (notice how I didn’t include the words: get back in the pool!)
If you haven’t heard the big news in my world of sports: the 10K open water swim race is officially an event in the 2008 Beijing Olympics! The news was posted earlier this week straight from the IOC (International Olympic Committee). I’m not sure if this means that I need to make a decision about anything or just continue doing what I was doing. Just understand that I will be spending more than one minute thinking about what this means to my future.
I have officially applied to the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs MBA program…paid my $60 and sent it in on-line. Then I signed up for the GMAT test…another $250 for the test and $20 for the study book from Barnes & Noble. Now, if I can only get myself to sit down, open the book, and spend some time studying.
Yesterday…GATORS WON! We beat Georgia 14-10! It wasn’t a very well played game for us…we scored 2 touchdowns in the first quarter and then let UGA start to catch up. In a more important sport…UF swam at UGA on Thursday and split…men won, women lost. Dustin was in the 200IM, 200 fly, 200 back…nothing officially in the ‘distance’ category, he loved it!
The EXTRA hour of sleep that we got last night was delicious! The new alarm clocks that Hilton put in our bedrooms AUTOMATICALLY updates for daylights-savings. I woke up this morning and one clock said 10:30am but the Hilton said 9:30am…good thing it did that because I didn’t actually know that we were supposed to set our clocks back this weekend. What would I do without technology that updates my phone and alarm clock for me??
I’ve put together a water bottle, my iShuffle, some snacks, and a jacket in my backpack and I’m headed off for a hike. I think I’m going to head up the Barr Trail. It eventually goes all the way to the top of Pike’s Peak…I’m not going the whole way today…that is officially saved for Wednesday. Today, I think I’m going to get in about 3 hours on the trail, kinda as a warm up for Wednesday.

What's left of Cancun?

I’ve finally got that update regarding the World Cup in Cancun…it is postponed indefinitely (in English that means it is canceled this year). This means that my triathlon season is over for the year…I just did a bit of extra training at the end! I’m a bit bummed about not getting to race in my first world cup race…but I’m also excited to do some exploring of the area around Colorado Springs.
Today I headed out on my mountain bike to Palmer Park to do a bit of riding and practice my lacking skills…I managed to completely wipeout and taco my rear wheel!! My new bike is already out of commission…I’ve got to go buy a new rear wheel before I can ride again! I came out of the crash with a few small cuts and a few bruises that will show up in the next couple of hours…proof that I’m hard core, hahaha.
I’m also looking to hike to the top of Pikes Peak before another snow comes this winter…it will be my first ‘fourteener’. It is an ALL day adventure and pretty strenuous because you are eventually hiking above 10,000 feet and there’s not much oxygen up there!
The book that is sitting on my bed-side-table (and reminding me that I need to read it) is the Safety Training for Swim Coaches manual. I am trying to get certified as a swim coach in the next few days…I’ve just got to get through this incredibly boring book!
The ski slopes are starting to call my name…on Saturday night, Jasmine, TJ and I went to a party in Vail, Colorado. It was a ton of fun; I met a lot of guys on the world cup skiing circuit! The ski runs were right outside the party (there was no snow on them but they look ready and waiting for the start of ski season). I don’t know if I mentioned that I just picked up some new ski boots the other day. I’m excited to be wearing my own, comfortable, boots on the slopes this year. I have no problem renting skis and poles…but at least my toes will be happy!
On the way back from Vail we stopped in Boulder, CO to watch (and obnoxiously cheer for) Sam and Alan in a Cycle-Cross race. It was the first Cross race that I have ever been able to watch live…I’m hooked! It looked like so much fun and something different. Alan ended up winning the race (we did the obligatory “I KNOW HIM” cheers:) and Sam finished 5th (it was his 2nd time EVER on a Cross bike!). I can see myself looking for a Cross bike soon to add to my growing collection of bikes!
Last night I finally watched The Jacket. I rented the movie from Blockbuster about 2 weeks ago and it’s about time I take it back…although they claim to NOT have late fees anymore…they do end up charging you for the whole movie if you keep it long enough (just in case you haven’t learned that the hard way yet!). So, anyways, The Jacket was a good movie, it keep me guessing the whole time and the ending didn’t disappoint. I’m actually off to Blockbuster right now…peace out:)!

Wilma + Cancun = RACE???????

If you have been living in a box for the past few days, you might have missed the news about Hurricane Wilma. She is currently a category 4 hurricane with 150+ mph winds. Oh yeah, she is also stalled over the Yucatan Peninsula…or Cancun, Mexico as it is better known. They are predicting that she is going to chill right on top of Cancun for about 2 days, strengthen, make a 90 degree right/west turn, and head straight for FLORIDA! My dad just told me that he heard someone predict that it will take 10 YEARS for the Cancun area to rebuild.
Well, that’s just great because the World Cup triathlon race is in exactly 9 days! The International Triathlon Union website has posted a release that says the race organizers have moved inland to Mexico City for safety and as soon as they are able to assess the race site, they will decide the status of the 2005 Cancun World Cup Triathlon.
I can only thank some lucky stars that the race was not this weekend and I’m not one of the 1000 tourists that were stranded when the airlines canceled the flights out. I will keep everyone posted as soon as I hear news!

Back to the ol'Routine!

Sunday (yesterday) was a glorious day! I’m not sure what the temperature was, or if the sun was shining…but I am sure that I didn’t have to do ANY form of exercise…and I loved every minute of it!
Welcome to the world of triathlon training…where I’ve learned that Sunday is not thought of as “with-out-a-doubt-day-off” like in the world of swimming. It’s been about 4 months since I’ve had an OFFICIAL day off from anything resembling sports. (Travel days don’t count and race days sure don’t count).
I just want to remember the feeling I had yesterday when I woke up at 10:30am and didn’t have to prep for any type of strenuous activity. Today I’m back in the normal routine…a hard swim practice this morning, followed by a team meeting, a short bike ride, and yoga later this afternoon.
The Cancun World Cup (my last race of this season if you haven’t been paying attention) is getting closer. It’s only 13 days away…the starting list is posted on line at: http://www.triathlon.org/?call=TVRFdw==&id=NTQw&keep=sh#. Click on the left hand side where it says Start Lists/Results. The ‘start list’ is everyone who has entered the race…some people might not show up on race day…but it lets us athletes get a pretty good idea of who is in the race. This is the first time my name is on a World Cup start list…pretty exciting:)!
Exactly 1 minute before my alarm went off this morning, my phone rang…don’t you love trying to answer the phone with any semblance of sanity when you have just woken up!? Example of me this morning: “Whhatizzzzt? Whhhhho, Helllo?” Fortunately, it was my dad so I didn’t need to be charming:)! He was calling me to say that my mom suggested going on a trip/vacation…he was buying airplane tickets to Cancun…and wanted to know what hotel I was staying it for the race. It was 7:30AM...but it still didn’t take me long to decipher the fact that my mom and dad are flying to Mexico to watch my race (oh yeah, and have a vacation, but that’s only a second thought, of course:)!
Already my mind moves away from triathlon…I’m so excited to finish this season…I’m in the market for some snow-ski boots! I now live in COLORADO…there are great ski resorts right down the road…my feet are done growing and it’s about time to invest in a good pair of boots that will be comfortable when I hit the slopes! Now I just need to locate the $$ for this great idea…where’s the tree that money grows on???

There is some Massive Updating in this Blog!

Lots to update everyone about. My life has major-ly taken a turn to the BUSY!
I’ve blogged about the T3 Coaching job…I’m waiting for Denny (my coach) to get some free time to explain the computer program to me. He’s been busy the last few days helping his wife pack up to move to Germany for 2 years. She is in the armed services and has to be stationed overseas for a while. The good news is…we might be staying with her during our time in Europe for races next year! More about the “Europe Trip” when it approaches:)! Check out the site (my coaching bio will be up soon): http://www.t3coaching.com/
I’ve also blogged about my volunteer coaching position at Colorado College. I’ve been to one swim practice so far (on Wednesday). The team is at their first meet this weekend, I’m not sure where! I’ll be back on the pool deck on Tuesday morning. The web-site is: http://www.coloradocollege.edu/athletics/varsity_sports/swimdiving/ Eventually I should show up on the ‘Coaches’ page!
An update on the snow blog…it snowed A LOT & all day on Monday! I had the genius idea to go to the top of Cheyenne Mountain in the snow and try to mountain bike. It would have been a better idea to go cross country skiing for all the success I had on my bike…it was a ton of fun though for a girl from Florida to go biking in 8-10 inches of snow. I didn’t get very far on the bike because I kept stopping to have a snowball fight!
The good news is: the swimming pool is in-doors here…we don’t have to do the “parka drop and run” like in Florida on cold days. When we had to start swim practice in the out-door pool…we stand on deck huddled in our parka…when we get the first set we yank the parkas off, drop them on the fence and run full speed into the water! So swimming is the easiest in cold weather…biking and running are a different story. Running short runs on the treadmill is okay and biking for about an hour on the trainers is okay…it’s just bad when I have to put on 4 layers of clothes to head outside for workouts:)! Since I need to stay acclimated to warm weather for the Cancun race in 2 weeks, I have to wear EXTRA clothes, even when training inside…I love to sweat…hahaha.
A few weeks ago my mom suggested I write to the organizers of the IronKids Triathlon series. We had heard earlier in the year that the races were all canceled for the year…then she heard they were back on. I wrote to some friends who were involved with the races and asked them if they could put me to use in any way at the races. I got a great response…they wanted me to come to some of the races as the USAT representative. In the end, out of the 6 races on the calendar in October, November, and December, I am going to be at the Clermont, Florida race and the National Champs in Tempe, Arizona. I think I will be talking to the kids on the day before the race and then doing the awards stuff on race day.
To imagine what this means to me, let me explain a bit. One of the years that I was an IronKids national champion…I got my award from Janet Evans, World Record Holder & Olympic Gold Medalist swimmer! I think the shoes that I’m filling are a bit big on me!!!:) I am so proud to see that the IronKids series is continuing because that is definitely where I found my love of triathlons. I hope that things go well this year and maybe I can work with them again next year a bit more. Check out IronKids here: http://www.ironkids.com/
The Golden Goggles are an awards show for USA Swimming. It was started last year after the Olympics as a red-carpet event in the Hammerstein Ballroom ballroom in New York City. This year will be the 2nd annual, a bit less formal, still in the ballroom in NYC…and the entire 2005 World Championship team was invited. I am making this point because the Open Water team was included! I’m flying to NYC in the morning on Monday, November 14th…the awards show is that night in the Ballroom. It is formal attire but not black-tie and each athlete sits at a separate table…it’s sorta a fundraiser for USA Swimming so the rest of the seats are for sale to swimming supporters and fans. Each USA Swimming athlete gets to bring a guest…Dustin is flying up to NYC from Gainesville to go with me! We get to spend half a day in NYC on Tuesday and we have flights back home around 5pm. Check out the press release here and vote for the awards (VOTE for CHIP as the Breakout Performer of the Year…he was on my Open Water team at World Champs!): http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewNewsArticle.aspx?TabId=0&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en-US&ItemId=860&mid=45
WOW…now that you’re updated on A LOT of the things that I’ve got on my plate now…I should also say that training is going great. I’ve got one last triathlon this season…it’s getting closer to October 30th, race day! I’m flying down to Cancun on Thursday, October 27th, racing on the 30th and flying back to Colorado Springs on the 31st. This week has been a very intense training week…I’m looking forward to finishing it up tomorrow. Denny has given us Sunday completely OFF…it should be a relaxing…but wait, it’s not going to be!!!
The Hilton Hotel Renovations of the rooms at the Olympic Training Center are taking place this month. It’s a great thing…we are getting some amazing things. I’ll start with the FULL size, Serta, pillow-top, box-springs beds that we are all getting! This will be the biggest bed that I’ve ever had…twin size all my life! We are also getting 4 new lamps, all our walls re-painted, really nice sheets and a down comforter for the bed, a radio-alarm clock, and a new shower curtain with a rod that curves out-ward so that we have more room in the bathtubs!! It’s all pretty sweet…except for the stuff I have to do to make my room ready to be painted. Since I moved in here…I have covered my walls with photos, quotes, flags, and race posters. I had to peel them all down and then move EVERYTHING into the center of the room so the painters can do their thing! I’ve got SO much stuff in this room it’s going to be a LOT of work! But, since I’ve seen what the finished rooms look like, I know that it’s going to be worth every moment! I’ll have some photos up of the new set-up after October 19th when my room is scheduled to be completed!

T3 Coaching

Along with starting as an assistant swim coach at Colorado College this week, I’ve also been asked to become a part of T3Coaching.com. T3 Coaching is the brainchild of my triathlon coach, Denny. He has about 8 coaches that are affiliated with T3 Coaching…it’s mainly an on-line coaching site. If someone is looking for coaching, technique work, racing advice…they can go to the site, hire a coach, buy a basic training plan, fly the coach out to work one-on-one, etc.
If you couldn’t guess this already…I’m the “swim specialist”:)! I’ll be writing some 12 week swimming training programs for all distances of triathlons. I can’t believe what a perfect opportunity this is to get started and practice in coaching…anyone looking for a triathlon coach? Check us out at www.t3coaching.com!
This job, along with my coaching position at Colorado College, has encouraged me to look into getting certified as a USA Swimming coach. I’ve done a bit of research online and found that it’s not that hard, just a few tests and CPR/First Aid. I’m getting into this coaching thing, it’s fun to work with people and share my knowledge of the sport that I have learned through experience.

IT'S REALLY SNOWING!!!!

RIGHT NOW! As I sit here at 11pm looking out the window! The first snow of the winter (down in the city…we’ve seen snow on the top of the mountain about a week ago). I just ran outside for a bit to get the full effect. It was landing on me and staying, not instantly melting. My car has a layer of snow on it! I hope it’s still there in the AM because I want to take a picture…my Xterra’s first snow!
This means that bike rides are going to be a ton of fun…haha (sarcasm). This also means that I’m going to be very acclimated to the temperatures of Cancun on race day…haha (more sarcasm).
Whatever…it’s beautiful outside and I can’t wait to get on the slopes for some snow skiing this winter (I’m leaving for Florida too soon…but when I return to Colorado Springs in January…I will be hitting the slopes A LOT). Got to get some sleep in my heated room for swim practice in the AM…thank goodness for indoor pools!

Just Call Me 'Coach'

Lately, I’ve been trying to find something to get involved with out here in Colorado Springs…other than training and sleeping which has been the majority of my activities. Some of the many ideas I’ve come up with are: going back to school for my master’s degree, starting my own race organizing business, find a job, etc.
About a month ago, I spoke to the swimming coaches at the local college, Colorado College, about being a volunteer assistant coach. I got the idea because our triathlon team has been swimming at the college for a month while they drain the Training Center pool for repairs. The CC’s swim team practices officially start on October 12th. Brian, the head coach, was very excited about having me on deck for some extra help at practices…I will be starting coaching next week and helping out about 3 times a week!! I’m SOOO excited to help coach the athletes…on Friday I attended the Inter-Squad meet to meet the team and watch them swim.
It was a bit sad for me to watch the CC inter-squad meet…my Florida Gators were having their inter-squad meet on the same day, followed by the banquet, the alumni meet, and parent’s weekend…obviously, I was in Colorado and unable to attend and cheer for my brother and former teammates!
On Wednesday, the first official day of CC swim practice, I will start my job by helping out with the distance group. The college is Division 3 (so no scholarships) and all the athletes are on the team voluntarily. Since they are at school for ‘school’ the coach only asks that they attend 80% of the practices. It will be a bit more ‘relax’ of an attitude on the pool deck than I an used to…but I think it will be a good change for me…work with swimmers who are in the pool totally on free will.
They’ve got a huge board with team & pool records (so I had an idea what speed of swimmers I would be working with before hand) and on Saturday swim practice I set the 1650 pool record in a time-trial! Although I hated EVERY moment of the actual time-trial (because I though I was done swimming 1650s!!) it was like deja-vu setting pool records!:)