Friday, January 13, 2012

MIA

I have been MIA (in life) for the past month or so. Between the holidays, working more weeks of nights than I was supposed to work, and coming down with a nasty sinus infection last week, I have not been "living the good life" lately. No complaints, just sometimes it happens.

Thanks to a some lovely bacteria, I was knocked on my ass for the better part of last week. I called in sick 2 days (out of a 4 day week) and missed FOUR DAYS of workouts. I started feeling bad Monday night, and I finally gave in and went to my doctor on Friday morning after being unable to kick the sick on my own in 4 days (including Wed. and Thurs. nights off - I was working overnights). P.S. I think "kick the sick" is going to be my new catch phrase because I'm awesome and just made it up and it rhymes and everything!

Sunday and Monday I forced myself through some workouts because I couldn't take being sedentary for any longer. Now I am finally feeling back to normal, although I still have a runny nose and some sinus fluid drainage (sexy, I know). Unfortunately, I can DEFINITELY feel the hit to my fitness levels, however, illness happens and I'm glad that I took those 4 days and rested rather than push through and exacerbate the situation. How can I tell I am not totally recovered and back to normal? Well, for once I am actually able to ride in my Z1 on the bike without killing myself. I am pretty sure it isn't a "hey my legs are magically stronger" moment and more of a "wow my body is still fighting off an infection" kind of thing. Also, swimming on Wednesday (I was doing 300s) was really hard. Like really, really, really hard.

Anyway, the end is in sight. After this week I am off of nights for a little while, I am feeling 98% healthy, the rehabilitation of my knee is going well (PT, functional strength training, and 10 min. of running at a time), and my birthday is next week!

I am turning 27 again, not 28 (FYI), so if you are going to gift me a time machine, you'd better make it fast. If not, I'll figure something else out. :)

Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Resolutions and Goals

Happy 2012 Everyone! I know I am a few days late.. whoops!

I like the idea of making New Years Resolutions but I am not always the greatest at thinking of good ones or keeping the ones I have made. Last year I feel that I did pretty good. My four resolutions were: read more books, simplify life, save money, try not to be so neurotic. Haha! I definitely think I met all of those resolutions. I read tons of books thanks to my Kindle, I simplified life by moving into a smaller apartment and selling some things (like my road bike) that I wasn't using, I saved money and completely paid for the 2 Ironmans that I did (by myself without having to convince my parents that a condo in some obscure town was the perfect vacation.. not that I did that for IMLP or anything..), and I was WAY less neurotic, I swear!

I am so proud that I actually kept my New Years Resolutions for once in my life! And actually, I couldn't remember what any of them were until I looked back to last year's post, so these must have been things that I REALLY wanted to change without needing to remind myself about them.

I try to keep them separate from race goals because I feel that resolutions are life changes that will improve your quality of life and race goals are just arbitrary goals that you strive for in order to improve.

So..without further ado.

2012 New Years Resolutions

1) Save money, for real, in a SAVINGS ACCOUNT (and NOT spend it on races/gear/toys/clothes/etc.).

2) Learn some things about wine. I have discovered in the last year or so that I really like drinking wine. It's (mostly) affordable, it's classy, it tastes way better than beer, and I am surrounded by it with the Finger Lakes region a short drive away. Unfortunately, I know next to nothing about wine, and tend to just buy the same 2 or 3 kinds over and over again whenever I hit up Disney World for adults the liquor store. Or I'll go to a restaurant and stare at the wine list for 20 minutes like an idiot.

3) Make more time to be social (I am doing pretty well with this one already but I want to improve), and actually dress appropriately for social outings (i.e. like the almost-28 year old female that I am) - yoga pants do not count! Actually, Lululemon apparel (even though I love it) in general should not count.

4) Ride Cherry 1x per week for the entire year.

5) Expand my social circle beyond Train-This and my 2 bike shop friends (seriously, I am not kidding.. all of my Rochester friends ride bikes). Unfortunately, the shift work required by my job hinders my ability to take classes or do activities that meet regularly, which I guess is the way that people make friends? I have no idea..
 


2012 Race Goals

1) Sub-1:40 in the half marathon - I am currently at a PR of 1:40 in 2011.

2) Sub-5 hours in the half-IM (this is a HUGE stretch.. so realistically, I am going to say sub 5:10) - my PR is currently 5:16 from 2010.

3) Run a 1:45 half-marathon split in a half-IM - my fastest split is 1:50 - 2010.

4) Run a legit marathon time.. which at the moment is TBD.

5) Learn to do a flying dismount.. FOR REAL. This has been a goal for the past 2 years and I have yet to even attempt to learn this trick. I am scared. I am not graceful, and my bike has an X-Lab on the back. To me, this screams disaster waiting to happen!




I know my blog sucks lately, so maybe I should make that a resolution - actually post more! I do read posts from everyone on my blogroll and I try to comment when I can (i.e. when I am reading on a computer and not on my iPhone while in bed). At this point, I feel like I have already blogged about all of the exciting parts of triathlon training, I've raced pretty much every distance out there (minus anything "ultra" and I don't think I'll ever be going to that "special" place), and I don't really know what else I can contribute that isn't repetitive. So until I get something else to write about, I don't want to bore people with "well today I rode my bike and then ran for 30 minutes" because pretty much everyone does that already and no one cares!

Also, I have recently started using FourSquare on my iPhone (it's actually kind of fun) and all it does is prove how boring I really am. The only places that I "check in" to with any regularity are: my work, the Y, and Wegmans. Seriously, does life get any more exciting than that, my friends?

Here is to a new year, a less boring blog, and new and exciting things to conquer!