I learned the lesson “you get what you pay for” again last night. Cory called me on the way home from work to surprise me with sports massages for that night. He booked them a Massage Envy since it was last minute, a chain “spa” it’s really cheap, if you are a first time visitor you can get an hour for only $39. When we arrived we quickly filled out some forms before talking to the receptionist about why we were visiting. We explained that we were training for a marathon so we had tight leg muscles. She then asked if there was an area that we wanted the therapists to focus on, we stressed that our legs needed the most work. After being shown to our room the therapists asked us again what we wanted focused on (why did I just tell the other lady all of this information?) both of us again emphasized that our legs were sore and needed the most work, in fact Cory said his back felt good and didn’t need any work at all. So how much time did they spend on our legs? 10 minutes! After about 40 minutes on my back I was wondering why they even asked us what we wanted in the first place. The back work did feel good but it wasn’t what I needed after running 22 miles and biking 50. Lesson learned, next time we will go to a real sports massage therapist.

Moving on, the plan for this week is:

Monday: Rest =)
Tuesday: 16 mile bike, outside!! pm: Track practice with RMTC, we will do between 4 and 6 miles of intervals
Wednesday: am 1900 swim (not sure of exact workout yet), pm yoga
Thursday: 90 min spin class straight to a 6 mile run
Friday: 6 mile tempo run with an easy 1600 m easy swim
Saturday: I have to work a long day so I am unsure of our workouts……
Sunday: Either a long brick of 40 miles on the bike followed by a 12 mile run OR a 55 mile bike with hills and then a 16 mile run on Monday, what would you do?

Winston says it’s time to get back to reading blogs.
Yes we keep blankets on our couch, it’s new and we have three dogs.

I woke up this morning with my quad pain nearly gone =) I was able to go to spin class and run after with no issues. I did drop my planned four mile run to two miles because I didn’t want to push it too much and I have a big weekend planned. I can’t decide what days to do what. Saturday is supposed to be better weather and weather effects biking more than running (at least for me). But I am not sure it’s a great idea to bike 50 miles the day before a 22 mile run. I can’t believe my marathon is exactly a month away! I am doing everything I can to help my legs recover and get ready for the weekend including icing, wearing recovery socks to work and drinking a protein shake from mix 1, so good! March re-cap March was a pretty good month for me training wise. Both Cory and I had to work a lot this month so we didn’t hit every workout but I am happy with what we did get done. I am happy with the progression of length I just wish I was faster. I keep trying to remind myself that I have been doing triathlon for less than a year and only seriously running a little longer than that, but that doesn’t stop me from wanting to do better.

Totals for March were:

Swim: 10,400 meters
Bike: 203 miles
Run: 115.7 miles **on track to get 1,000 miles this year.
Strength/stretch: 240 minutes After the marathon is over then I really need to up the swim and bike!

Goals for April:
Swim: 14,800 meters (will start swimming longer when open swim starts in May)
Bike: 308 miles
Run: 120.5 miles
Strength/stretch: 480 minutes

That’s it kids, what are you doing this weekend?

Normally I love spin class but this morning it was horrible. My nose was running the entire time and my lungs felt like wet sponges. I kept hacking and coughing, and people were looking at me like I was a horrible person who would infect them. Maybe I am =( I have been taking my antibiotics for almost a week, why am I not well yet?!?

I am starting to feel like I will never be 100% well again….Dramatic? Yes but being sick this long is really grating on my nerves. I am trying to keep perspective on this. I am sick but not that sick, I can still train even if it is not full effort. There are much worse things that could be happening to me. I did make it through class and followed it up with a 3 mile run.

I am trying to brighten my mood by drinking my favorite coffee

And it sucks. I am still trying to get over my sinus infection and when the alarm went off at 4:10 am I felt so horrible and was so tired that I just decided that I needed more sleep. I went back to bed and slept 3 more hours! I also missed last nights interval workout because both Cory and I had to work late (again). I am really bummed because this week was supposed to be a really hard training week leading up to next week being an easy week because I will be out of town. So I hope even though today is a long work day that we might get a run in so that I don’t feel like a complete sloth today. At least I rode my bike to work today.

My bike sitting in my office, I don’t trust is outside the gates.

I was at costco the other night and came across a kids book about animals so obviously I had to flip through it and I came across this:
Can anyone tell me what wrong with this picture? This is supposed to be an educational book
and they but a picture of a chimpanzee and label it a Monkey. Chimps are not monkeys, they are Apes, but this is why so many people don’t know the difference. I know I may be one of the only people that care but a printed “educational” book about animals should really do their research.

**stepping back off my soap box.

I have been a bad blogger, it’s been so long since I have posted AND I haven’t been reading other people’s blogs either.I have been working, training, eating and sleeping…and that is it. We are down seven people at work so everyone has been working like crazy. We are getting ready to hire for our open positions but I am committed to being more balanced because working 60+ hour weeks and having no me time is draining me. So to jump back into posting I will start with something easy and fun….the ABCs!

A~Age: 30

B~ Bed Size: Queen

C~Chore you hate: Dishes

D~Dogs: three! Daisy-Chihuahua, Winston-Pug, Bailey-Boxer
*the Golden Retriever is Colby my brother’s very sweet dog

E~Essential Start your Day Item: COFFEE!

F~Favorite Color: hard to choose but green, purple and yellow are top picks

G~Gold or Silver: lately it’s been rose gold

H~Height: 5’7.5″

I~Instruments you play: None now but I used to play the piano and the flute

J~Job Title: Manager of Youth and Teacher Programs

K~Kids: Not sure yet, check back in a few years…clock is ticking

L~Live: Colorado

M~Mom’s Name: Cathy

N~Nicknames: Bethy

O~Overnight Hospital Stays: Never, I am very lucky.

P~Pet Peeve: Rude people

Q~Quote from a Movie: Hey, I’ll tell you what. You can get a good look at a butcher’s ass by sticking your head up there. But, wouldn’t you rather to take his word for it? Tommy Boy

R~Right or Left Handed: Right

S~Siblings: Older brother, Erik

T~Time you wake up: 4:10 on weekdays, 6-7am (no alarm) on weekends

U~Underwear: Important but should not be visible.

V~Vegetable you Dislike: Cauliflower, it smells like farts to me

W~What Makes You Late: Other people mainly I HATE being late.

X~X-rays You’ve had Done: Too many to count, my doctos joke that I will glow in the dark.

Y~Yummy Food you Make: Cupcakes.

Z~Zoo Animal Favorite: So hard to pick, I work in a zoo and love all animals. It is my life’s passion to work on conservation projects and educate people about conserving our environment and the animals that share the world with us. I am so lucky that my job allows me to do this. This is a long winded answer so I will end by saying I have a soft spot for African Lions.

How do you choose your races you want to enter? Do you like big races with a lot of support or quieter races without tons of people, do you prefer a city race or on that’s out in the country?

I prefer smaller races that are not in the city, the ideal is a small trail race, the draw back is that these races don’t tend to be well supported. I really don’t like big races that run through the city, which is funny because I chose to live IN Denver (when I retire I want to have goats, pigs and live on the Oregon coast. Thank you all for your input on doing an ironman this year. I am still debating about a fall 2011 ironman, I am heavily leaning towards doing it this summer, now I just need to choose a race and convince my husband!

It’s too late to sign up for a fall Ford Ironman, so I will have to choose from unincorporated races. I am trying to choose between Rev 3 cedar point, Grand Columbian and Redman.

Have you done any of these races, which one is the most rural and scenic?

Normally Cory and I go out of town for Valentine’s day or our dating anniversary (March 2nd, this year will be 8 years). Last year we went to Aspen and it was so much fun.

(getting a Valentines hug from a bear in Aspen)

This year we can’t go anywhere for Valentines day because we both have important projects at work and can’t take a long weekend. I hope that we get to go somewhere in March but we haven’t had a chance to plan anything yet.

Instead of running 16 miles today Cory and I decided to push it to tomorrow night (romantic side-by-side running) so we could spend more time hanging out today. We had a wonderfully laid back day. It seems like forever since we have had a day off together where half the day wasn’t spent working out. Today we got up and had omelets and homemade cinnamon rolls, after doing some chores we headed to Whole Foods for lunch. I had a vegetarian toasted sandwich with brie and apples, Cory had a slice of margarita pizza. I also got a cupcake that I will eat later tonight 🙂
Then we went to Pinkberry for some yummy Blood Orange frozen yogurt to eat while browsing around Barnes and Nobel, I love book stores. We then headed to the mall so I could shop for my 30th birthday present. My birthday was about five months ago but I just couldn’t decide what I wanted….until now! I wanted something that would last and that I would love and I finally found what I wanted in a magazine. I decided I wanted a rose gold bracelet set with pave diamonds.
I went to Nordstrom to try on a similar style before buying it online. I am so excited, I love it and it will match the rose gold watch Cory got me for Christmas. We then went to watch Just Go With It, the new Jennifer Aniston and Adam Sandler movie. Unfortunately it wasn’t as good as I thought it would be, but it was still really nice to just hang out with my hubby.

I am off to eat my cupcake, our local weatherman issued a cuddle alert for tonight and tomorrow =)

Happy Valentine’s Day!

Luckily not my melt down….the snow!

I am so happy to see the streets clearing up and not to have my hair freeze when I go outside. still hoping to ride my bike outside on Saturday.

This mornings workout was a little baby brick, very soon we will start half ironman training but a short brick workout is a nice way to ease in. Our baby brick consisted of a 1.5 hour spin class and 2.5 mile run on a treadmill. In the spring our bike-run bricks will get longer and will move outside. For now the spin and treadmill combination is a nice easy alternative.

Do you do brick workouts when training for a triathlon? If so, what do you do?

Happy Thursday!

After such a great run on Sunday it was extra difficult to have a “low” run this morning.

We had a 4 by 800 interval run with a mile warm and cool down on the calendar this morning. We headed to the gym and as soon as I stepped on the treadmill my knees were achy, I had some GI issues and my asthma was acting up. It was a painful run but I didn’t want to quit so I put on my big girl pants and just ran slower than I would have liked.

I know there are high and low days with running so I am just moving on and looking forward to running outside soon =)

Also I think I am paying the price for my diet being all over the place lately, so I think it’s time to clean it up and focus on eating “real” whole foods.

One of my favorite recipes is Quinoa Caprese:

Ingredients:
1 Cup quinoa (I prefer Inca Red, but didn’t have any)
1 14-ounce can chicken broth (or sub. 2 chicken bullion cubes dissolved in 2 C. water)
6 oz cherry tomatoes, halved
3 oz mozzarella
2 1/2 Tbs lemon juice
1 Tbs olive oil
1-2 cloves of garlic minced
Cup chopped fresh basil leaves
salt and pepper to taste

1. Place quinoa and and chicken broth in small sauce pan and bring to a boil. Once boiling, reduce heat and cover. Simmer until quinoa has absorbed all of the liquid (about 15-20 min.).
2. Mix together remaining ingredients in a bowl and hold aside.
3. Once quinoa is down, fluff with a fork and allow to cool.
4. Toss everything together and serve.

It’s refreshing and filling, if you aren’t a vegetarian it can be really good with grilled chicken, but it’s great all it’s own as well.

I have been a bad blogger, after a stressful week at work (11, 10 and 12 hour days) and a packed weekend, blogging was put on the back burner, but I am committed to getting back to reading and writing this week!

I did have a wonderful weekend though.

On Saturday we decided to scrap our normal long bike ride and head to the mountains to go snowshoeing instead. It was really nice to get out in the snow and we were ahead of schedule on our bike miles so we weren’t concerned about skipping a long ride.On Sunday it was still really cold, snowy and icy so with a bit of dread we accepted that our fifteen mile run would have to move to the treadmill. After last week’s Carls Jr. fueled run I thought I would try eating a bigger meal again before running. Cory and I headed out early to a nice large breakfast then waited a few hours before hitting the gym. Once I was on the treadmill I felt good, I could even read a magazine while I ran and normally can’t do that. I felt better and better the longer I ran. By mile 14 I was feeling really strong so I cranked up the speed and ran the last mile and a half with a huge smile on my face (runners high kickin in big time). We ended up running 15.5 to make it an even 25k. I was so happy when we finished and felt like I could keep going much further.

After the run we took ice baths and settled in to watch the super bowl with recovery socks and lots of food =)

It snowed again all day and the high in Denver was nine degrees, so all workouts will be indoors again this week, but we are warming back up so fingers crossed that both our bike and run will be outside next weekend.

Hope everyone is staying warm, Happy Tuesday!