Saturday, December 29, 2012

Me vs My Garmin

As my last post not so eloquently told, I got the super triathlon Garmin for Christmas. Now you might remember that up until a year ago, I didn't even own a watch. When I got my friends old timex, the first time I tried to use it I wanted to throw it in the Charles. Getting such an advanced piece of equipment was a bold move for me. I'm hoping it doesn't take away from my "free spirited training" and get me obsessed with times/pace etc...

Anyways, the box has remained unopened (I put the watch on my wrist) and I've been too scared (not sure if that's the write word) to take off the screen prottector and open the thing. I also have to run 12 mile tomorrow so I figured now was as good as time as ever. I also decided it will probably be video blog worthy.


The video is 4 min and I couldn't upload my normal way, so I made a youtube video....Enjoy!


Also, here is a quick little follow up if you are interested:



I hope everyone had a happy Holiday Season and have a wonderful New Year! Maybe next time I update my Marathon progress page I'll actually have my Garmin working and have more accurate pace results than me just doing division.

As my boss wrote in my holiday card, may 2013 bring you lots of PRs! :)

-cat

Tuesday, December 25, 2012

How did I get here?

First of all Merry Christmas blog followers!

Second of all, now that Christmas is over and I don't have to work tomorrow I'm at a bar. Not only am I at the bar, I'm sitting in between two Ironmen betting each other to run the Boston Marathon right now. How did I get here?

Triathlon pickup lines I've heard tonight: "girl, I'm going to foam roll the crap out of you."

"That's a nice IT band you have there"

Also: this is what I got for Xmas

What have I become?!

Saturday, December 22, 2012

Trot trot to Boston


In the spirit of my infamous Reach the Beach videos, here is a video of our first taking the t out to the Woodland t stop (basically Newton-Wellesley Hospital) and running back to Boston to Fitcorp.

We all knew these videos were going to happen eventually. It does really amaze me how I never find people at the same pace as me to run with when I'm group running haha O well :)



Enjoyed that? Please consider donating: http://tedysteam2013.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1039935&supid=371671877

Monday, December 17, 2012

Knee jerk reactions to me running the Boston Marathon

"I heard they have to increase the Boston Marathon to 36 miles because you said it's a breeze." -Army friend

"Are you going to win?" -My 95 year old Grandpa

"That sounds awful.....I walked the marathon and that was miserable I can't even imagine running it" -My Big

" I know you talk scared but you know you are just going to do it...and all your training runs."  -Co worker and friends ...touche, I'm too stubborn not to finish

"If you must..." -My Mom

"Now we have someone to watch while we're drunk!" -Various 20 somethings

"So...you're not going to run if it's 95 degrees again...right?"-Family member Answer: No, come hell or high water I will be running. I don't care if I have to somersault into the finish line.

"O crap..." -Me


I'm not sure what else to do to this post. I do want to tell you I've had terrible long runs UNTIL this past Saturday. I ran a fantastic 10 miler from a little beyond the State House (Fitcorp) to Cleveland Circle and back. Somehow I didn't get the urge to just run to my house which is closer rather than running back to Fitcorp. It probably had a lot to do with me not getting snowed or rained on for once. I would also like to note that I had "negative splits" (I learned what those were a couple months ago and I've been waiting for a chance to mention it.) Also, I went out with my charity team for brunch after and they are awesome! I then had the audacity to swim later on that day. I know, I was acting like a real workout jerk.

Another thing that happened while I was running was that it finally REALLY hit me I was running on the course. As I ran through the Fenway area I remembered all the times in the past few years I stood and watched the marathon runners go by that crazy intersection of Comm and Beacon. Everything just sort of became more real. 4 months. That doesn't seem like a long amount of time. 4 months ago August was winding down and we were getting ready for Labor Day weekend. Crazy right? I also made a really good point to stare down Hereford St while I was on my return trip down Beacon. I know that road is going to seem like forever to Boylston Street. You might have seen the stickers that say "Right on Hereford, left on Boylston." I want that. I kept picturing in my mind what it would feel like to be making that turn and how I would probably be so delirious and wanted to have quit miles and miles ago. I'll probably be thinking how much I hate running...and then that finish line feeling hits. There is no way to describe it other than I don't think I've ever had my feelings change quicker from such overwhelming hurt/hate/pain to euphoric/positive/joy. You feel like a crazy person. But somehow the finish line you never thought you would see is here and the addiction to see how far you can struggle and still make it is fed again.

"To run in the race is to suffer, but also to be constantly told how wonderful you were—to feel a whole world of complete strangers supporting you and cheering you on. " http://deadspin.com/5966723/boom-or-bust-48-hours-at-leadvilles-treacherous-ultramarathon

For those interested in learning about why I'm running for Tedy's Teamplease visit my fundraising page:

http://tedysteam2013.kintera.org/faf/donorReg/donorPledge.asp?ievent=1039935&supid=371671877

Happy training,
-cat

Thursday, December 6, 2012

What I think about on long runs...

With the official start of training last weekend I thought it was finally time to post this list I came up with one day back in April. I made this list after a pretty hysterical 9 mile run I was on from my house to Fenway and back. I wrote them all down (when I was still on my runner's high of course) and thought about sharing it one day with fellow runners. I know I can't be alone in some (hopefully most) of these thoughts so I figured others would get enjoyment out of these 20 random thoughts that go through my head when I run:



1)      Every time I have been running there has been someone who sprints past me almost knocking me over…and then stops 20 yards later. Come on bro, I’m on a long run here.

2)      I have no idea what motivates me to go on long runs. (clearly this was written pre-marathon) Almost every run I have done over 9 miles has been because I’m like hmm I feel like running forever today.

3)      I always seem to pick up injuries along the way. Instead of stopping my first thought is, “Hmm that’s interesting, I wonder why that’s happening…yeah that kinda hurts…interesting.” Except if it’s my knee and then I’m like AHHHH I’M NEVER GOING TO BE ABLE TO RUN AGAIN!

4)      It's crazy how people on the side walk get SO freaked out when you are running towards them.  Come on people, sidewalks are used for more than just walking. It’s not like I’m running at you dressed at a pond monster with streamers yelling at you to join my running cult. Be polite, stay to the right, and we’ll all be ok.

5)      The first 2-4 miles of any run is the hardest for me. I feel like my leg muscles are stretching like a cat after a long nap…and they are pissed about being woken up.

6)      Although I know no one can hear what I’m listening to, I’m still secretly convinced that if I start a dance party in the streets everyone would join in.

7)      Speaking of music, some days it REALLY matters what I listen to other days is like la la la la o look Coldplay is on, that’s nice.

8)      Also, Till I Collapse is the best “man up and run harder” song to work out to and Born in the USA is still the best song to run to.

9)      When I think about the places I run to I’m like AHH that’s SO far but when I’m running I’m like o look there’s Fenway, time to turn around and go home.

10)   Speaking of, when I’m at my turnaround point I feel so awkward when you run past someone and right after it’s like o um, I was planning on turning around here so now I have to run by you again…

11)   Call on meeeeeeee on meeeeeeee

12)   When I’m in my “running zone” my arms take on these lazy raptor arm position, my head tilts slightly to the left and my eyes look downward to the right.

13)   However, I got really good advice from Mustache Matt from dev at work, he told me to look up at a point in the distance when I run downhill and my knees won’t hurt as much. It works!

14)   Be a Tarahumara, be a Tarahumara, be a Tarahumara, be a Tarahumara

15)   Every time I run over a bridge I still think of One Tree Hill and I wish I had a basketball with me.

16)   If I see the Marathon sports guy who sold me my new running sneakers I’m going to give him the best running bear hug and totally freak him out. Honestly, these shoes are bomb!

17)   I go out wearing shorts and a long sleeve and I’m realizing I might be too hot in the long sleeve…and then someone runs by me wearing a hat, gloves, long leggings and a winter top, um?

18)   Everyone woman who has every run a race in Boston has a Tufts 10k shirt. It’s like lululemon pants for yoga enthusiasts

19)   I really want to yell at people that block the sidewalk…STOP PLAYING DEFENSE ON THE SIDEWALK, like I do at people who block the bars when I’m out.

20)   I thought about the creation of this blog on this long run because I realized (until marathon training started) I had no set plan for my training. I just did whatever work out I felt like doing, when I wanted to do it. People would ask me how I would train for triathlons and I would just laugh and say you don’t want to do what I do. I’m a bad triathlete :)

So there you have it. I'll post another time about all the interesting people I have met along my runs and weird things that have happened to me during them.  But for now I would kindly like to direct your attention to the new tab that says "Marathon Training Progress!" We all know that social pressure is the most motivating of all the pressures out there so I created a chart to post my long run times. I've never run a race before that has so much social hype and interactions with the outside world like the Boston Marathon. I figured it would be great way to prepare myself when everyone starts asking me "how long will it take you?" Check it out, don't judge and feel free to write any inspiring comments to keep me going through the long cold winter.

On a closing note (and I can't let you all down by not having a picture): how a bad triathele does an ugly sweater for a running fundraiser: 

Yes....there were bibs on the back too :)







 Happy December !

-cat



Monday, November 26, 2012

...No really, I'm a bad triathlete

I decided that November is going to be called "No Long Run November". I decided on this title because my marathon training officials starts on December 1st and I really wanted to give my body adequate time to heal my injuries.

That's when I created what I like to call "adventure runs." These runs all got started because of my crazy friend Greg who was training for World's Toughest Mudder and convinced me to train with him at Walden one day. I declined putting on the wetsuit and jumping in and out of the pond with him but I did participate in hill sprints, push ups, squats and the trail running. I really liked this type of training and it gave my runs some variety so I decided to make up my own runs like this back home.

I decided I was going to do no more than 3-5 miles because....No Long Run November!

Here is a little map:


As far as the "set of activities" go, I've been doing lunges, squats, pushups and burpees. Don't forgot to push it up those hills :)

So you might be wondering why I titled this post about being a bad triathlete. Allow me to explain...

Very last minute had the opportunity  to run the Gobble Gobble Gobble race in Somerville. I've never run a Turkey Trot before and a nice 4 miles before Thanksgiving sounded like a great idea. I also heard there was  free beer after...I was in! I know I said I wasn't racing any more for the season but hell, we knew that wasn't going to last :)

I left work early on Wednesday (thanks job!) and decided to wash all of my bedding at my parent's house and take advantage of my free time. I had dinner plans with home friends and then I was planning on going out for a bit after and be home at a reasonable hour to rest up for the race...

Flash forward to not a very sober Cat at 3 am... Up until this point I thought I was just going to sleep in my sleeping bag (because I didn't bother to make my bed after I washed all the bedding.) However, I guess my drunk productive self decided that it was unacceptable to sleep in so I woke up (3 hours later) in my nicely made bed, running clothes laid out and I had a new playlist for the race rightfully labeled "IDK?". Yay for drunk productivity!

To say I didn't hate the world when I woke up would be a lie, but I still headed on over to the race on time.

I had a fantastic race! I can't manage to eat before short races so I thought my empty stomach would be a problem but nope! I felt great the whole time and I felt like I could going. I ran just over an 8 min/mile pace. Woot woot. I also thought we got ONE free beer after the race. I walked into the Burren and saw the bar:


 Let's just say I was late to Thanksgiving :)

First Marathon training run is this Saturday! Woot woot!

-cat out

PS
Make my day and donate to my Santa Speedo Run?
http://www.ssrunners.org/ssrun/participantpage.asp?uid=2332&fundid=1516

Tuesday, November 6, 2012

History in the making!

Tonight Elizabeth Warren became the first female Senator of Massachusetts. Also tonight, I became the first female of my house to remove an AC from her window. I believe her and I are sharing equal joy at the moment.





Ps
Scott Brown beat me by 6 minutes at the Cohasset Triathlon this year and I've never even able to forgive him for that.

Sunday, November 4, 2012

Thursday, November 1, 2012

Casual Half Marathon





I have a folder on my desktop that has saved photos I plan to blog about and I found that gem from when I signed up for the Newport Amica Half Marathon.

It's true. I freakin miss triathlons. I think I even miss the sun blasting me in the face as I struggle to swim back from the other side of Walden and not being able to spot the bathhouse to swim back to.

However, I'm also burnt out, for now.

Two weeks prior to the half marathon, I really badly rolled my ankle .5 miles from my house and near end of my run. The run was going as it always does. I hit my good stride, I'm practically singing out loud to my music, endorphins are flying, I'm almost home, I'm thinking about what I'm going to wear to the bar that night, big smile on my face and then AHHHHHHHH. Really bad ankle pain (well not as bad as the time I broke it.)

Anyways, as I do with most injuries, I freaked out, got over it, started to walk, started to jog and then started to run. I went home, got ready to go to the bar, went out and woke up with a cankle. Please see injury log for a great photo. I rested, I iced, I compressed and I elevated.

And I still went on my 3 day hiking trip the next weekend.

I was feeling pretty good but I knew I hadn't run in awhile so the half was going to be a struggle.

I told myself I was just going to take it easy and enjoy the course. I also forgot my ankle brace so I knew it was going to be an interesting run. The first 7 miles went by fine and I was making pretty decent time.  However, half way through the next mile with the 20 mph winds hitting me in the face and my ankle screaming at me, I was done. I walked.

I was ok with it. I made little milestones to run/walk for the next couple miles and then made myself run the last 2.5 miles without stopping. It actually went by really quickly and I was pretty happy for most of it. Despite the really crappy weather and intense winds, Newport is such a pretty city and a beautiful course.

Word to the wise: Don't run a half marathon after you roll your ankle two weeks prior. You will be limping for days after and you will not do well in the race. You will also get your cankle back for a couple days. Now you know, don't say I didn't warn you.

During the race I also realized I need a mental break. I want to spend November swimming, biking, doing fun workouts, strength training, making sure my knee and hip are 100% ready to go because I have my first team run bright and early December 1st. For what you might ask...



BAM!!!!! (Yes, this is my "race goals" white board for my big races)

I'm not posting it on fbook/twitter yet so you wonderful blog readers get to know before the social media world :) (I haven't told my family yet so I need to tell them before posting.)

HAPPY NOVEMBER!

I'll probably be a bad marathon runner,
-cat

Thursday, October 18, 2012

34 days....

I know what you are are thinking...and no, I didn't die at Lobsterman-might have come a little close though :) Yes, it was pointed out to me that's it's been 34 days since I last posted in my blog (well, 35 because I write at night and then edit in the morning.) My apologies it has taken me this long and it really does touch my heart to check my blog analytics and see that people have been checking in on my blog.

Without further ado...here is the post I started writing umm maybe 25 days ago :)


I want to first start this post by thanking everyone who has supported me in all my triathlon pursuits. Especially my team Zoom Multisport for all their training, guidance and patience for my irrational triathlon fears. (new website looks great btw, quote on the gear page, all me) Also, to anyone who has swam, biked or run with me and pushed me through the many hills and pond monsters.

Now race here is how it all went down!

First of all, in case you were wondering, there is no ghost writer writing this blog post, I did the race and I survived.

Friday...wasn't the best day haha I was kind of a grump (didn't get much sleep the night before) I had several red exclamation point work emails in the morning and we still had to drive to Maine. I got my coffee, put my cowboy hat on to brighten my spirits and off we went! We met up with a fellow Lobsterman athlete at the Red Hook brewery and got some lunch and the first beer of the day. Finally we arrived at the campground and it was b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l :)

After a couple beers and much talking me off the ledge due to how nervous I was, it was time to head to bed. I borrowed my roomie's bf's HUGE tent and there was enough room you could literally stand up and run around the thing. And of course I did. I'm not one for air mattresses in the woods but I borrowed one just because I wanted to make sure I got a good night sleep. For the most part I slept great except one little hitch...the animal death screams that woke us up at 2 am. As anyone would, after racking our bikes and gear the next morning I decided to calm my pre race nervous by doing a little demonstration of the noises we all heard the night prior:




Very funny Art...but seriously. That's exactly what it sounded like. Besides the death calls of the animals from the last surviving Spartan army, camping out before the triathlon was actually pretty awesome. It was really nice just walking 1 min down the dirt road to transition and leaving our swim stuff at the campsite.

The water was cold. I wore my calf sleeves this time around which proved to be an awesome idea because 1) I'm obsessed with them now 2) they make getting your wetsuit off much easier. Luckily I had a friend in my wave because we were the second to last wave to go (I hate that.) So we all walked on in the ocean and treaded water waiting for the start-not as bad as I thought. Holy crap did the swim look far! I just told myself to focus on the next buoy and go from there. As you all know, I'm terrible at swimming in a straight line so I made an extra effort to spot.  I was really in with the crowd as I was attempted to (finally) swim in a straight line and draft. I did get kicked, hit, punched in the boob a whole lot more than normal but eh, I guess that's part of the fun of triathlons. The whole swim my mind was already on the bike. No idea why. I just kept picturing the pretty course and how good I was going to feel after I got out of the water. I didn't feel any jelly fish but I did feel a couple questionable things. At first I thought it was just the hair of the girl in front of me and then a little while later I remembered that we are all wearing swim caps. Ugh. I guess it was some sort of squishy/spongy seaweed. Ahhhh. At one point I had seaweed stuck on my hands and feet and all I thought was HAHAHH who's the ocean monster now?! Might have lost my mind a little... o well. Apparently it also down poured during my swim and I completely missed that too :)

FINALLY I got out of the water and I was expecting to see a time of 43 mins or so. My watch said 34... My first thought was CRAP! My watch stopped! ...and then I felt a hand on my shoulder. I turned and saw my friend who was in the same wave as me. She was like, great swim! I was in disbelief. Actually, I'm still in disbelief. I've never come out of the water with people I know and I still keep wondering if I could have cheated some how (clearly not possible with all the guide kayaks out there.) I remember coming into transition floating on a cloud of confusion, happiness and hell yeah I swam the crap out of that course.

I quickly got on my bike and I nearly got run over several times by the gravel start coming out of transition onto the road. I just remembered being so happy with my swim I couldn't calm down. I was so excited! The bike beautiful and you know what? I had an awesome bike as well. No idea what got into me. I was passing a bunch of people especially on hills. One woman said to me, Nice climb! Who am I? I did leap frog with this chick couple times (who had the same bike that jerk!) and she wouldn't say "on your left" when she passed me while I always try to. On my final pass of her (she never passed me again) I gave a nice hearty happy On your left ! :) and went along my way. I did get stuck behind a tractor at one point. This guy was taking up the whole road and there was no way to get around. I was coming down a hill so I killed my speed and let another biker go in front of me to see how she was gong to get around him-she didn't. He finally turned off and her and I were like ahh how annoying! Let me stress again how beautiful this course was. It is definitely hilly but for some reason I got over my fears and easily saw 35 mph on my bike computer as I was cruising down the hills. What a difference from my performance at Lord of the Flies!

One weird thing I did notice the while on the bike ride was that I had this weird tightness in the back of my throat. I just thought it was excitement because I was way ahead of my goal time and was feeling so great the whole time. I ignored it and just took as deep of breathes as I could while trying to keep my enthusiastic mental happy dance party to a minimum so I didn't wear myself out more. Bike was over, racked it and high-fived Mudge Mudge (Curmudgeon)  who was filming the race and headed out on the run. I was in for quite the surprise on that run...

The first 2 miles went by fairly easy and I was happy about how good I felt. I do really hate being the final waves because you know everyone else is ahead of you and have probably finished already. I tried to be better about consuming GU so I had some just before mile 3. I was really looking forward to mile 3 because mentally I really like to reach the halfway point because I just tell myself all you have to do is run home! I hit mile 3 and kept chugging along. I realized I was way ahead of my pace and was changing my goal finishing time (apparently you can't do that mid race haha). Crowd support was great and I was just super happy...until I hit mile 4. Asthma. Attack.

You might be surprised because I believe this is my first mention of asthma on the blog and that's simply because I'm still in denial that I have it. It all started last September when I had this ridiculous cough for a mouth (just as I started my new job) and just had such a hard time breathing. I had NO other symptoms so I knew I wasn't sick but I finally caved in and went to the doctor. She told me my lungs were barely expanding and my throat was incredibly tight and that I was experiencing asthma like symptoms due my allergies. Woof. So yes, now I have an inhaler. I barely use it. However, I know when my allergies are going to be bad so if I *remember* to take it in the morning I'm fine and I usually have no problems. Given that Lobsterman was in my peak allergy season I made sure to take all of my allergy medicine that morning including my inhaler.

Imagine my frustration when this feeling hit. I feel like I'm usually great at taking long deep breaths especially after going up hills or just to keep my anxiety down. As much as I was trying, it just wasn't happening. I know I probably sounded horrible to other runners I as I was wheezing and gasping and someone asked me if I was ok and I just said, "this sucks." I feel bad because I didn't want her to think I thought the race sucks. I couldn't believe I had come so far, did so well and in the final 2 miles of a 32 mile race I had to do what I haven't done in any race so far. I walked.

It felt terrible. I felt so defeated. I struggled to get my breath back and walking was helping. I felt my eyes start to water with sadness at the thought of how such a happy successful race just turned so sour. However, the triathlon gods were looking out for me that day.

As I was walking, I happened to come across another woman who was walking because her legs were cramping horribly. I struggling to get the words out that my asthma was acting terribly and then she said the most amazing thing: "That's happened to me before. I have an inhaler if you would like to use it."  Umm, what? You are the best stranger ever. I thanked her profusely and took two puffs. Mandy from VT, you are amazing. Thank you so much. We walked together a little bit longer and she told me about where she was from in VT and I told her about this blog. I remember telling her, the name of the blog will be easy to remember, it's what I'm doing right now! Bad triathlete! I do feel really really bad I didn't update this blog until now because I wanted to give her a proper shoutout and thank her again.

The inhaler really helped. I didn't feel 100% better, but I definitely felt like 60-70% better. I wanted to try and at least run as much as I could so I started to. It was painful. My friend Greg had come down the road to look for me and had a whole group of spectators cheer for me. I just still felt so defeated I had to walk during the race. I'm editing this post because it was pointed out that I did very much start running again, ran into the finish hard and finished strong. But ouch, it was a painful finish to run into. The race also makes you run a circle around the finish line before you actually cross it so I was ahhh just let me finish! Finally I did :)

Here is my finish line race photo (and the only professional race photo I have ever bought):


I also have to note, my actual finish time was 3 hour 20 min. 10 min below my goal of 3:30. I laugh every time I see this photo because Mudge Mudge told me to do a finish line dance and in my head I was just like ahhhhh I have nothing left...I'll just do X. And I can't actually remember what X was. But hey, I guess this is what it looked like haha

I was able to find Mandy after the race, thank her again, meet her son and assure her I had no communicable diseases. 

Afterwards, Greg surprised Art and I with first Olympic Distance Triathlon celebration champagne!

I will admit, I did feel pretty upset about walking. I still do. I know I should be so happy with my swim time, bike time and overall completion of my longest distance race but ah! I was just so close to having the best race ever!

O well, that's what keeps you coming back for more right?

Here are some pics of the rest of the weekend:

Ahhh such an intimidating swim! Look at that buoy way out there!
Luckily I was provided with some swim instructions



Thanks Greg.

Beautiful transition zone :)
Such a great place for a race!
Nothing like a little post race flannel and cowboy hat :)






So there you have it. There is also a video for me running around the campsite and exploring which I tried to upload but it seems to be failing. I'll try to get that up later.

I've also been up to lots of other things, buying a new car, creating new injuries, marathon application, hiking, etc...

But more to come on that later (under 34 days this time) :)

Still your bad triathlete,
-cat

Thursday, September 13, 2012

The Final Countdown

So the week of Lobsterman is finally here and I feel...not much haha

Today was also the last official early morning Walden swim. It was another super early morning but considering it was the last one I didn't want to miss it.

Here is what it looked like when we got there:


Note: Stolen photo from a teammate :)

Nothing says let's go swimming than a pitch black pond and 48 degree weather, am I right? After several games of "Is that a person or a duck?" it finally got light enough and we jumped on in.

However, the water was so much warmer than the air there was some intense fog action happening this morning. We all decided to have a pretty quick swim out to the sandy spot and meet there before we headed back. The only problem was I couldn't see anyone. At all. So I did what any lost in the fog swimmer would do: I called out MARCO! ...and luckily received a POLO :)

It was actually a pretty uneventful swim except for our omnipresent photographer who was riding his bike all around Walden to capture our swim from every angle. In case you are finding yourself more confused than normal, allow me to explain. There is a photographer who has been at Walden super early with us for the past month who has introduced himself as a local photographer and likes taking open water swim pictures. I know what you are thinking and we have checked out his fbook page and website and he is legit.

I got a nice end of the season swim instruction from our Captain (better late than never, right curmudgeon?) and on our way we went. The scene was still pretty foggy when we left but it looks a lot nicer when you don't have to swim into it. 

It must be allergy season for the Dragons too :)

I might even make that photo my background...did I seriously just say that?

End of Walden 2012 Scoreboard:
Cat: 18
Pond Monsters: 0
Ocean Monsters: 1 


In other news, I have a problem googling things. I guess I just take things very literally and I google exactly what I'm looking for. For example, the race I did called Black Fly. I would just google "Black Fly" and much to my digust I would always just get gross images of Black Flies.

Of course Lobsterman also warrants wonderful google search results as well. Here are the images I'm going to keep in my mind as I'm racing:



I would like to call attention to the first one:




Couldn't think of a better image to have in my mind. I packed all my tri stuff for this weekend just so I could stress less. And then I also might have had my first Lobsterman freak out....




AHHHHHHH


PS
'Sup Kevin C


-cat out

Friday, September 7, 2012

Nothin' like a little ocean monster attack to start off my day...

We missed our swim at Walden on Wednesday due to lightening/miscommunication/pure laziness? Having Lobsterman right around the corner next Saturday, we decided it would be a good idea to hit up Carson beach this morning down in Southie for a nice ocean swim before the weekend.

TERRIBLE IDEA.

We get there and let's just say we were lacking motivation. The beach was looking really nice with the Sun coming up over a deep pink sky and a cruise shipping coming into port in the distance. Little did I know how ugly this swim was about to become.

 Don't let the nice calm pretty scene fool you...


The water wasn't a very pleasant temperature and I immediately was nervous it was going to be this cold the whole time. I did warm up pretty quickly so that made starting the swim a little easier. We decided to make a crescent moon shaped circle along the shore and then head back to where we started. I felt pretty comfortable with this idea because we were sticking close to shore and it was the same general area where the swim for Boston Tri was. I'm just swimming along and all of a sudden I feel something with my right hand. Not too sure what it was but I figured it was just that little whirlpool circle thing that happens during your stroke. I swam a little more and felt something again. I tried to assure myself that it was just the water swirling or just me being paranoid. ...And then I really felt something. And I screamed. Yup. In the middle of the freakin ocean at Carson Beach I let out a nice girly (I just saw a spider) AHHHHH!!!! Followed by a GREG!!!!!!! Who was too far away to hear me. I know it was probably just a jellyfish but in my mind it was:



It really didn't help that the stupid geese were totally laughing me. I know what you're thinking, and believe me, if you were there, you would have thought they were laughing too (or maybe you would be laughing at me as well...)

Trying to gather my composure, I took a look at my watch. 4:36. Damnit. I really did want to get in a longer swim so I told myself to suck it up and at least make it to 10 min. I figured if I swam 10 mins in one direction I would feel better swimming the 10 mins back and I could 20 mins in. Ok I trudge on. Horrible feeling. I kept my stroke really really close to my body and just kept chugging along. I looked at my watch and it was a little over 10 mins. I was like, you know what I can make it to 15! And then I felt another jelly around 12 mins and was like NOPE, heading back. I decided to stay very very close to the shore this time. I was going along pretty well until I smacked my fingers really hard on the sand and scared myself. Yup, I was swimming that close to shore haha With the geese still getting a good laugh at my expense, I tried to go further away from the sand. I guess the appeal of just getting out of the water and running back to my stuff was too much in my subconscious because  ended up being really close to the shore and hit my hand several more times. I got back to where we started at the lifeguard chair around 24 mins and I realized I could just keep swimming and get at least a 30 min swim in pretty easily.

At this point my mind started focusing on other things (as it usually does when I work out.) I had a pretty ridiculous event happen at work this week which still isn't completely settled in my mind and I have a show with Ledger tonight so those thoughts started to over take my mind. I decided I was going to turn around when I saw my watch hit the 30 min mark. I forgot my watch switched over to only counting hours, minutes and seconds when hits the 30 min mark so I couldn't really see with my goggles. I realized it was about 31 mins when I turned around. I saw Greg coming in and getting out of the water with the "Where the heck is Cat?" look on his face. I felt really bad because I veered off from our selected course. When I finally got in my watch read about 37 mins which was great because that's what I swam at Walden last week. Yes, the first thing I thought was, who's laughing now geese?!

I apologized for scaring him and told him about my wonderful middle of the ocean freak out. He said he felt so many jellyfish too and at one point felt one slide across his face. UGH. As we were laughing, this gentlemen yelled over at us, 'Are you guys going to work now?' We were like haha yup! And then he asked if we were professionals... I wanted to be like buddy, did you not hear my it's the-end-of-the-world-scream out there?

And then asked if we were triathletes. Ding ding ding!

...but that's bad triathlete to you buddy :)

Friday, August 31, 2012

Found it

What I think is going to eat my face off when I swim at Walden:

Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Whata Wednesday

If a day ever sums me up it's today...

It's Wednesday so we were at Walden bright and early to start the day. I was up at 4 because I was restless and nervous about swimming again :/ In the words of a fellow Waldener "It's been two years, you think you would be over it by now?" Yes, you would think so. I don't know, I can't explain it.

Anyways, it's super dark now when it's that early. We could barely see when we pulled in the parking lot. We waited until it got light enough to see each other's faces and then dove on in. Somehow I ended up swimming my fastest time yet :) However, a new person who swam with us today informed us that the pond was really low so our times are faster with the less water. Not sure how exactly that works but eh, at least it felt like a really solid swim.

And then you know...work work work.

After work, I didn't want to run but it was just so nice out I had to go. I took my strategy of immediately changing into my workout clothes when I got home and headed on out. I decided to do my hill hunting run and it was fantastic. Super fast, I felt great and I was really happy I forced myself out the door.

Which brings me to an important observation I have made about working out: I have never regretted working out but I have definitely regretted not working out. Think about it. I bet you will find that you have felt the same way.

The only bad thing about the run today was that I have a monster blood blister that has taken over the ball of my right foot. I apologize for the TMI but at least be relieved I decided against posting a photo of it :) It had been totally fine the whole run until I hit mile 3.5 and then it hurt like a mother f'er. I have been limping around every since but I'm trying to make it into more of a sway haha

It was then time for practice with Ledger for our first show after our little summer hiatus. See you next Friday at Green Briar kids :) Anyways, it's always a good way to end the day in our little practice space  over at the crazy Allston Sound Museum (if you ever have been over there you know what I'm talking about.) I do have some more lyrics to learn which is always the hardest part for me.

So that was a Wednesday just like I like it. Sleep is for boring people.

-Good Singer/Bad Triathlete out!

Monday, August 27, 2012

This has been an interesting week of workouts...

With Lobsterman looming in the near future, I know I kind of need to be kind of serious.

Sadly, I can't actually remember much of last week. (I once had a really good memory and now it's turned into mush.) I remember I got a great swim lesson and I know I went to Walden (set my wrong alarm for it...)

I did go on up to NH to watch Timberman and here is the start of my interesting workouts:

I decided after drinking on the beach for most of the day, there wasn't any way I was letting this day get away from me without a bike ride through the wonderful hills of Laconia. I set on out and found some interesting and pretty sites along the way. My slight tipsy-ness helped me be a little more bold and not hit my brakes on downhills. NH is so beautiful (and hilly) and I tried to take some pics of the nice scenes I got to bike by:



My chain only popped off once and I also realized I'm kind of terrible at finding bike routes. It's one thing when you just have to plan a couple miles to run out and then back but biking routes always are longer so I struggled a little bit. So by struggled I mean I ended up biking on Rt. 3 and it wasn't so pleasant but that's alright. I think I only angered about 8 to 10 dudes on Harleys :)

One of my favorite things to do is go to dive bars-especially in NH/VT/ME etc... So when there is a Saloon & Museum across the street how could I resist?


I also may have participated in a high kicking concert that didn't end so well for me...

Don't worry we got a workout in on the way home....

Anyways, tri sherpa made a comment about doing Timberman 2013 and I'm actually toying with the idea of doing it too. Everyone was still asleep when I got up so I decided to just drive on over and check out the swim start. I quickly realized I forgot to find out where the start actually was. I only had the Ironman static map on my phone to go with but I eventually found it. (The nice police officers also let me park right there.)

Here are some swim start pics:






Pretty crazy, eh? I really feel like the worst part of the beginning of a race is just looking at the swim start. The first buoy always just looks so far away. It's pretty great that you have the mountains in the distance this swim (although I doubt you will really be noticing them while you're swimming.)

I went on back to find see if everyone was up and I found two groggy individuals who needed a little more time waking up. I told them I was going running and they had an hour to put their happy faces on. I set off running the same way I went biking the day prior.

I also realized I forgot about these guys:

Nope, this is not in front of someone's house. It's just hanging out on the side of the road. Cool.

Somehow I forgot how hilly this route was (I guess biking just makes it go by faster) and ended up running up a hill for about 2 miles. I tried to take pics while I was running down them after but  pictures never do hills justice :(



Woof.

I also made it down to the Cape to hang out with the 'rents and got some good biking in. I went on the rail trail (which you might remember from when we did that with frame packs.) Definitely faster and less painful when you don't have a pack on. I only did about 30 mostly flat miles because my parents are still convinced I'm going to break myself every time I leave the house to do something athletic. I mean you break your leg one time...never can live it down. I also got lost one year running around the Cape and came back an hour later than expected, which caused my mom to drive around and looking for me and made us late to dinner. Oops. So yes, I try not to be out too long on my training runs when I'm hanging out with them. This trail definitely has some great views of the awesome landscape the Cape area has to offer in the summer.

Here is a nice little bog:


When I got back to Boston the next day I decided to go on a nice "10 mile extravaganza run". Tri Sherpa also recommended this powder called Scratch (I think) and I decided to fill my camelbak with it. I liked it! I'm definitely going to be putting in my water bottles during the bike. Of course I went out on this run when it was super hot/humid out so I accepted phone calls along the way, sent texts, made plans for that night, hung out by a lake etc.. which begs the question, did it count as a run?

Hmm seems like the verdict is still out :)

Here is the loop I did, which includes a nice stop over at Crystal Lake. I'm definitely going to do it for real (without the interruptions) soon if anyone wants to join:


Yes, that's somehow exactly 10 miles. It's red in the beginning because I forgot to turn on the "auto follow roads" options. O map my run :)

That concludes your very picture-happy training update so far. 19 days until Lobsterman!