'09 Resolutions

Spend less time on the computer, more time stretching.
Watch less TV, more time sleeping.
Eat less, train more.
Less mess, more clean.
Be productive with my time.
Set goals and stick to them.
Be more social and explore my new home-town.
Have fun each and every day, appreciate what I have, and take advantage of my freedom!

Carroll Street Happenings

My parents came over for a holiday visit yesterday. After cycling with my Dad for 2 1/2 hours, and jogging with my Mom for 45 minutes, we spent the rest of the day working on projects around my house:

My first LANDSCAPING project...perfect size to start with, a 3x1 foot plot of dirt outside my front door! But that 3x1 foot plot sure looks nice now!

Closer image:) Thanks, Mom, for planting all the new foliage!

Dad and I made a wall of branches at the street...

...more of the big wall of debris!

But now, this tree is no longer in danger of dropping big branches on to my roof!

I finally got around to hanging a few decorative items INside my house...

...and a couple words to live by.

Louie got a holiday present from my Dad...a 'Cat Flap'! This is going to involve a few days of me shoving Louie through the hole, or persuading him through with Cat Treats, but hopefully he will get the hang of it soon! (Eventually, that's going to be the only option for him!)

King Louie on his scratching throne (showing off the new addition to his collar, a electronic ID tag that unlocks the cat flap so only HE can enter!)

Winter Training

There's just one thing that bugs me about my winter training right now......
It's just so freaking HOT HOT HOT!!! Good grief it's HOT! It's been above 80 degrees for the past three days. I had a three hour bike ride yesterday. By the time I got on the road it was 10:30am (I had to coach swimming in the morning, then I needed breakfast, and then a nap...you see where this is going)! WOW...three hours, in the middle of the day, climbing hills, and sweating my bum off!
My bottles were empty after 2 hours...and the route I was on didn't have any fill-up-stations (yeah, that was a fun final hour:). Fortunately, I had a gallon of ice-cold Gatorade waiting for me in the fridge when I got home...it was empty in a few seconds!
So, I'm using the current weather situation to try and convince my friends to come down and train with me. There have been too many lonely bike rides and runs for me as I get back in shape. Now, I feel like I have a pretty decent training base under me and I'm not embarrassed to train with people:)
Other than that, I hope everyone had a fun holiday with their family and now it's time to get some awesome New Year celebration plans in order!

'Tis The Season

Happy Holidays Everyone! Peace on Earth and Good Will to All!
Have a wonderful holiday-time with family, friends, and loved ones!
Eat, Drink, and Be Merry...then go training:)

Races, Races, Races!

You know training is going well when I can start thinking and talking about RACES! I'm stir crazy for races...after a year of barely any competitions, I'm looking forward to toeing the starting-lines in 2009!
Anyways, it was actually an email that got me thinking on this train-of-thought. Ryan from 11 Global sent me an email late last week. He invited me down to Cape Town, South Africa to compete in an International Distance race on March 1st! It was easy to turn-down the offer using insufficient-funds as a reason (um, who isn't broke right now). But, then his return email offered to pay for all my travel and lodging for the trip!
HOW could I say NO??
Well, I thought, pause for a moment and run the idea by my coach since we have not planned a race schedule yet. We looked at some of the other early season races...some in closer proximity...and decided to stay home at the beginning of March. Instead of traveling 21 hours by plane just to get to Jo-burg, I'm just going to drive a couple hours south and race the Miami International triathlon on March 15th. A couple of my friends did the race last year and had nothing but good things to say about the race.
Other than that, I will be racing Florida's Great Escape on February 15th...right here in Clermont. My favorite race, St. Anthony's, will be over in St. Petersburg on April 26th.
I'm even thinking about a couple of 5K run races in the months of January and February. 2 years ago I did Lady Track Shack, finished 2nd overall, and I would love to be able to go back and perform well again. There is a 5K in the Orlando area every weekend so I've got plenty to choose from.

6-Hour Training Day

WOW! I LOVE THIS!!
I can't believe how much I actually missed training! It is so amazing to be back to the ol'grind of exercising til exhaustion. I don't think I have stopped smiling yet:).
Lets see, I started this morning by waking up at 7:00am. Had a small breakfast before heading out the door for a 50 minute jog. I decided to veer off the trail and run down Lakeshore drive instead. It was a pleasant morning and I enjoyed watching the sun rise over Lake Minneola.
On my way back to my house, I passed a friend running in the other direction. I spun a 180 and jogged with her for a few minutes before finishing up my 50 minute run in 60!
I made myself a proper breakfast, checked emails, and then got ready to go ride. I managed to get myself out of the house a little after 10:00am and headed out for some 'easy' Ferndale loops. (Easy is a relative term here...the Ferndale loop includes the Wall, Buckhills, Stairstepper and plenty more decent climbs.) I wore my fancy heart-rate-monitor-watch and it actually measures how much elevation you gain and loose. Over the course of 3 hours, I climbed and descended a little over 2000 feet. That is pretty decent considering my high point was 149 feet...no mountains here, just lots of up/down/up/down/up/down.
Happily, I pulled back into the driveway a bit after 1:00 in the afternoon. The sun was blazing today and I was very happy that I remembered sunscreen before leaving. (I'm only making note of this for my friends in the north that might be facing snow, sleet, and other wonderful treats that come with real winters:)
Lunch was next on the list, followed by a well deserved nap. I actually went to bed last night at 1:00am after spending a couple hours working on the website for my March triathlon camp. I wanted to make sure that I was fresh and ready to rock for the final session of the day...swim practice! Hey, someone's got to show those little 13 year-olds who is boss!
Fortunately, there is a HUGE difference between training at altitude and training at sea-level (other than the HUGE difference in elevation). My ability to recover after working out is phenomenal. After being in COS for the past 4 years, I just thought triathlon training was harder than what I was used to...nope, just living 1-mile-high was the hard part. I should have realized that after swimming at UF...NOTHING is harder than that!
Anyways, back to my 6-hour training day. 1 hour run, 3 hour bike, and I finished with a little over 2 hours in the pool...just enough time to get 9000 yards completed! No kidding, in 2 hours and 15 minutes I swam 9K! About 3K of butterfly (that sucked), followed by 3K of backstroke (not too bad) and finally 3K of freestyle (by that point, it was all I could do)!
And, the night wasn't over because I haven't been grocery shopping all weekend (blame the tri camp and eating out for 4 nights in a row) so I needed to go grab veggies and basic fridge-fillers. It was a long day but I'm trying to end it a bit earlier than 1am like last night:)

Not Forgotten

I have not completely forgotten about this blog...now that I have another one going. I've just been too busy to put some thought into a post. The workout posts on the NTC Swim site don't take any thought...I just have to regurgitate the workouts I gave at the pool.
But, other than coaching, creating new blogs, and training...I've been completely swamped with work!
This Friday is the start of my first weekend-long triathlon training camp, hosted at the NTC. The total camp participant number is sorta small, but it will be more than enough for me to handle. After the 31 people on Thanksgiving weekend, I'm actually thankful for this small group. Especially since this is a 3 day camp and the participants are much more advanced than the kids and beginners that participated in November.
I am making a trip to the Orlando airport on Thursday afternoon to pick up one participant. One athlete is driving up from South Florida, one is already in town, and the fourth and final participant is driving over from West Florida.
Fortunately, the weather seems to be cooperating. I was on the pool deck this morning withOUT my parka for the first time in a month! Even with that said, I still chose to run on the treadmill for my workout...soft surfaces, controlled pace, no bumps/humps/cracks/turns or anything else that I could possibly hurt myself on!
I'm slowly regaining the general strength in my left leg. After 12 months of favoring it, and keeping most of my weight on my right leg, my balance is not 100%. All the little muscles that help control little movements and slight adjustments are weak. I totally feel it in yoga class when we are doing one-legged-balance-poses. I can stand like a mountain/tree/rock for as long as you want...as long as I'm on my right leg. Then we do the same thing on our left leg and I'm falling over before I'm even in the final position!

New Blog

I've taken on the responsibility of a new blog!
It's is titled: NTC Masters Swimming Workouts.
Check it out and I hope it becomes one of you new favorites!

Heater and Hot Cocoa

I'm sipping a fresh cup of hot cocoa (whipped cream included) and the house-heater is cranking away! It's officially COLD in Central Florida tonight! I can't wait to wake up tomorrow at 5:30am and coach on the pool deck from 6-7:30am...parka, jacket, sweatshirt, and a few layers under that will probably be the only way I will survive!
That, and the promise of breakfast at Panera Bread afterwards! Yummy! Koren and I are meeting there and then heading to O-Town for a combination of Whole Foods shopping trip-massage-Doctor's appointment. We are both participating in Whole Food's experience (I can't get enough of that place), Koren is getting the massage, and I'm going to the doctor's office for my foot.
I was actually in downtown Orlando on Sunday night (with Koren again) for a movie night. I reverted back to a 13-year-old-girl for a few hours and watching the Twilight movie (vampires, teenage romance, etc). It was hilarious (anyone else laugh ever time 'Jasper' was on the screen?), romantic, well filmed, and a complete waste of $$! 9.50 for a movie ticket...plus the 30 minute drive to the closest theater at Universal, plus the tolls to get there?? Dang, we need that Clermont movie theater...ASAP!
Other than the random driving all over Florida that I have been doing lately, I've actually been training pretty well. Sunday AND today played host to three-hour-bike-rides...wind and chilly air included both times. Hills and sore legs also made an appearance both times. Swim practice has been fun for the past two weeks because the kids are getting ready for the Gator Swim meet this weekend. TAPER TIME! I've been attempting to sprint...but the three-hour-rides kinda ruin any fast-twitch muscles that I might have dreamed of having. The kids head up to Gainesville on Thursday night which leaves me in the pool solo...self-motivation has never been my strong suit!:)

31 People, Countless Smiles

Saturday was my first Triathlon Festival at the NTC. I was blown away by the response to this one-day event...I had 31 people pre-registered, 3 signed up on the morning-of, (and 3 didn't show up)!!

The event ran smooth as silk...thanks to the volunteer time from my brother and father. At 9am, everyone rolled out on their bikes for a 60-80 minute ride down the West-Orange-Trail. Dustin rode on a mountain bike and stayed with the novice-group. My Dad stayed with the intermediate group and I rode with the advanced group.

We all got back to the NTC within a few minutes of each other and I directed everyone down to our makeshift transition area. We only had one rack...which limited us to 6 people at a time...but allowed everyone some personal attention and more space to practice.

The troops headed back up to the NTC where they met Mary Beth in the stretching room for 30 minutes of light yoga. I realized how perfect I had timed the schedule when I was able to set up the lunch spread while the campers were with Mary Beth. By noon, I think everyone was famished and looking forward to a few minutes of 'down time'. I directed them to the multi-sport store, the locker rooms, and went over the next half of the schedule.

With lunch in our bellies, we headed down to the track for the running session. I let everyone warm up a few laps, then we did some running drills, a few 200s, an easy lap, and then I mapped out the course for the 'biathlon'.

The 'A' group ran twice around the bowl (the track is located in a big sunken bowl in the ground), the 'B' group did one lap, and the 'C' group just headed straight up the hill to the pool. I raced up the hill just in time to set up the cones marking the lanes for the "snake" in the pool.

As people started streaming onto the pool deck, the did a quick strip out of their running attire, grabbed their cap/goggles, and jumped in the first of eight lanes. One length on the first lane, duck under the lane ropes, one length in the second lane, repeat, repeat, for a 200 yard swim.

After the conclusion of the biathlon, we settled into five or six lanes and did a fun little swim practice. I started by giving them some 50s swim and then 25s working on head-up to sight the buoys. Dustin demonstrated how to quickly turn around a buoy and then the campers gave it a try. We imagined the lane ropes were waves and practiced swimming under the water. Finally, we finished with RELAYS! Three teams of seven (some people were just watching at this point of the day) for a couple of freestyle relays.

And, when everyone was completely worn out and ready for a nap...we took one big group photo on the pool deck, I thanked everyone for coming, answered a few questions, and then rushed home in time for the UF-FSU game at 3:30pm