Found it

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

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!

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!

Why I miss running workouts...

Cowboys wander into my house unannounced straight off the rodeo...and drag me off to my landlord's bar

 

And then we do the Texas two-step...such a sucker for a good ole fashion dance :)

...and that's why I didn't run tonight...oops!

Best Triathlon of my life (don't worry I'm still bad at them)

It all started when I went to pick up my packet the day before. They marked your hand and put your age on your calf (and put on your beer ticket wristband) so you had the rest of Saturday to walk around like that. I was bummed I was number 327 but it was pointed out to me that 3 + 7 - 2= 8!

Being the sarcastic individual I am, I thought it was so clever to put this status up on fbook: "Really tempted to wear my timing chip for the tri tomorrow out right now and tell everyone I'm currently in a race... See you all in Southie tomorrow!"

The timing chip would end up getting the last laugh but we'll chat about that later...

So I headed over to the race with the infamous Greg and I knew the morning was off to a rough start when our conversation went like this:

G: Can we have a little Eminem?

Me: I don't have any in my car.

G: No, I want a some Eminem before the race.

Me: Greg,  I don't have any M&M's in my car....

G: Cat, the music, on your iPod...

O.....gotcha. 0 for 1

After that successful conversation we make our way over to transition. I rack my bike and start getting all my stuff together. I go to put my bib number on my race belt and I notice...MY TIMING CHIP IS NOT IN THE PACKET. #1 rule, put your timing chip on ASAP...and I messed that up. Such a bad triathlete. I panicked and looked around everywhere. I knew I could get another one but it would cost me $50 for my lost one ugh. I run back to my car and somehow it was on the back seat floor of my car. Whew! I will never joke about wearing it out again haha Cat fails: 0 for 2

I then come back to find the girls that have their bikes racked near me looking kind of panicked and I saw my stuff moved. They look at me and say, "Sorry!! We had to move your stuff because she is really 321 and your stuff was there and we didn't know what to do and we were so confused. We talked to the race officials and they said it was ok to switch spots...." I'm like wait what? I can move if you want me to? I was so confused...and then I realized I had mistaken the 1 for a 7 and racked at 321 instead of 327. Cat 0 for 3 on the day.

I decide to join the ridiculous bathroom line and try to get my head on straight for the race. There are older men in front of me and an older guy who wasn't doing the race comes over and joins them. He then starts telling this story:

"Wow! There's a lot of people here! I remember when I did my first race. It was a 5 miler in Cohasset and I just came back from 'Nam and ran it with my combat boots on. No joke! I was a cocky Marine. Anyways, there were only 117 people that did the race and I did not do well! I was running behind this super old guy and I was so mad an old guy was in front of me but then he died. During the race. Swear on my mother's grave! He died. Right on the corner. He was running and he just fell over and had a heart attack.  Died in the middle of the race. I placed like 113 out of 117...well I guess 116 because the old guy died."

Yup.

So after that uplifting story and the long bathroom line, it was finally time to exit the transition zone and head over to the race.

A weird thing happened before we ran out the swim-I was surprisingly very calm. As we lined up and waited to go, I just sort of stood there and closed my eyes for awhile. The swim went off and I did ok. I kept trying to tell myself to stay with the pack but unfortunately I really do have trouble swimming in a straight line. I noticed I was far out from the pack and spent most of the swim trying to get back to it. I kept telling myself to hurry up and just to get back to the pack as best as possible. I was still away from the pack and all of a sudden I felt this woman swim right into my side. I was like lady, I'm not going the right way but you're REALLY off course haha I did manage to knock about 6 minutes off my time from last year but there is still a lot to improve on.

The bike was pretty uneventful. It's just flat so you can just stay in one gear and crank it out. I'm still not a great biker but I did do better than last year. It was also great having buddies on the sidelines cheering you on-no better feeling :)

I should probably add that I think I'm the happiest little triathlete ever. As my friends who were there can attest, every time I went by I had a big ole smile on my face. I had a blast.  It really was the happiest tri I have ever done.

When I went out on the run I felt great. My legs were a little stiff (as they normally are after swimming and biking) but then they just felt great. I did have to do my hair coming out of transition so the photographer got some pretty sweet photos of that. I ran at about an 8:13 min/mile. Not too shabby (for a bad triathlete.)

I ended up finishing the race 8 mins (I swear I didn't make that up) faster than last year and felt a hell of a lot better. I ended up 3-0 for beating my times from last year (nice switching of odds from the morning) and the only time I was slightly slower in was T1. Boston Tri definitely has the best after party-right on the beach and all-you-can-drink-after-racing Harpoon! I really love a great post race atmosphere. No beer tastes better than after a race :)

The other really funny part of Boston Tri is that they have the Bustonian as the shuttle back to your cars. Yes, the party bus that has the stripper pole in the middle. Amazing. There was this 64 year old male racer who definitely had some moves to show off. Besides side-ways planking on the pole he went inverted and slid on down, legs in the air and all.

After that is was BBQs, beers, sunshine, rootops and Southie all day (and night). Such a great day :)

And o year, race numbers brought to you by the Men's Journal:

Rooftop!

Overall...best race to date! I'll like it :)

 It also inspired me to actually sign up for my first Olympic Distance Tri (Lobsterman) on Sept 15th! Yes...I might have booked the campsite before I actually signed up for the race but that's ok :)

PS
Big thank you to Yifan for giving me some great swim instruction at the pool yesterday!

No surprise that today is 8/8....

If I don't post about this morning, I think I'm going to get some major blog hate so...

I actually didn't even realize that when I got up to swim at Walden this morning (the alliteration is back-Walden Wednesdays-wait does that even count as an alliteration?) that today is the 8th. Eight is my favorite number if that wasn't clear by me drawing attention to the date.

It's also the day I swam the farthest I ever have (a little over a mile) and went into the dragon cove at Walden :)

After being very disappointed with last week and mentally committing myself to do an Olympic distance tri in September, I knew that today was going to be the day. Too bad I'm still a really slow swimmer. I warned my group I was going to be out there for awhile but I still hate making people wait. I know that the only way to get better is just to take everything one step at a time even if that means being the last one done with a workout.

When I headed out, the cove seemed so freakin far away for a long time and the fact that there was a misty haze on top of the water didn't help things. I actually swam further away from the shoreline (crazy, right?) and just accepted that if the pond monsters were going to get me well...I guess today is the day. I swam away from the shore line because on a the little map thing we have of Walden a mile is measured straight out from the boathouse to the cove so that was the only measuring tool I had to work with. My co worker joined us today and I saw him in between the end of one shore line and the cove. He asked if I was going over to the cove and I said ugh, yeah I have to. He informed me that it was stale water, had duck poop in it and to not put my feet down. Delightful! Way to make the sound cove sound even more enticing haha He also referred to it as "like two feet away" (it's not) but him belittling the distance left to it made me even more determined to visit the duck poop filled dragon dwelling cove of gross wonders. And I did.

Having that description in my mind, I only went about half way in but I went in enough to make it "count." I swam in so I had both sides of the cove around me. I saw a white cap on the other side and I assumed it was one of my swim buddies, Greg, so I shouted out and waved, "Greg, I'm in the cove!!!" It wasn't Greg.

Moving right along after that mistake, I knew I couldn't really rest anywhere so I just headed back. If you have ever been to Walden you know that there is this Cape style boathouse thing on the shore that works as a good landmark when you are swimming back. Unfortunately, due to the haze this boathouse was impossible to see. I am terrible at swimming in a straight line, absolutely terrible. Without having that landmark as a good indicator of where the shore was, I definitely swam all over the place. The Sun was also coming up in a blinding fashion over the trees. Although all this light impeded me from seeing the boathouse even more, I knew I could use it to try to find the way back. The Sun told me that two things: 1) That was East (not that knowing that helped me much) 2) When I was pointing back towards the shore its rays were hitting me on my left goggle; so I figured if I always felt the Sun on that part of my face, I would be ok. I also had this moment where I actually thought Walden swimming was really pretty. Shocking, I know. The Sun was casting its rays on the water and I saw in front of me a silhouette of a swimmer and it just looked like the perfect moment. Hey painter friend, that's the image I want on the painting I'll commission from you!

Anyways, my following the Sun's rays on the left part of my face wasn't the perfect plan but it did kind of work. After much expletive language in my head, I finally saw the boathouse. I also saw my swimming buddies already standing on the shore but I did my best not to feel bad if I was holding them up and just concentrated on finishing my swim.

Greg (recently accomplished Ironman and good triatlete) took a pic of me finishing up and looking like a terrifying pond monster:

TA-DA! If the bad triathlete can do it, so can you :) Here we go Boston Tri this weekend!

In closing, here is my first first product review: Speaking of boathouses, this drink is freakin delicious! I don't think it's that bad for you either? It is quite wonderful to have after Walden. Wait...I just realized it's called Bolthouse not Boathouse...not as cool any more-but it's still very tasty.

Nope, got my own :) ...and apparently it has more protein and calcium than yours??

Have a fabulous 8/8 everyone!

Goooooood morning!

Happy Pt Tuesday everyone! Who watched men's triathlon this morning? ( I didn't, total bad triathlete move)

 

At least the PT said I'm still really flexible, so hopefully that it's added help to my injury-prone self :)

Also, while over analyzing my blog stats I found this in the key word search:

 Ummm....1) Triathletes make FANTASTIC co workers, clearly this person does not read my blog 

                 2) I really hope this search was not performed by someone in my department

                 3) Who is coming out to watch some bad (and probably really good) triathlete action 

                 at Boston Tri in Southie this Sunday?

I'm Declaring August The Best Month Ever

One of my all time favorite jobs to date, was being an overnight camp counselor deep in the woods of NH. Here I had no cell service, I barely had internet and I didn't see anyone except for my co workers and campers from June-August.

I had 12, 12 year old girls whom I shared a cabin with along with my fellow co counselor and athletic specialist. I'm sure you can imagine all the energy, drama, Jonas Brother's posters and stories I had all around me after a summer like that. One of my favorite stories from that summer is what I'm about to blog about. (Many more stories to come later.)

I call it: My Best Day Ever Theory.

I will leave my campers unnamed, obviously, and only refer to them as Nice girl and Mean girl. Nice girl was awesome (clearly). She was an easy camper to have because she was not a pain in the butt, loved sports, loved activities and just had a good outlook on life. On the other hand, Mean girl, not so much. All the other campers followed Mean girl (she was their leader) and she made our lives as counselors not so fun. Nice girl was kind of intimidated/scared by Mean girl (I think I was too, to some degree) and wanted to please her so she would be able get in her circle of friends. If I can remember correctly, one day Nice girls' parents sent her (heaven forbid) the SAME Sigg waterbottle that Mean girl had!!! O. M. G. Of course Mean girl accused Nice girl of copying her (the black spot label of death to a pre teen) and Nice girl was beside herself in tears.

Of course, as a counselor, I had seen Nice girl struggling to fit in with the Mean girls' clique, all the while thinking "...Mean girl really sucks and when she gets older everyone is going to think she's horrible" but you can't really say that as their counselor :) Trying to console an inconsolable girl, I wanted nothing more than to tell her how awesome she was compared to Mean girl and that she was going to have much better friends, relationships etc... but I knew I needed to phrase things a different way. After Nice girl kept telling me countless times she wanted to go home against my telling her how much we wanted her to stay, I knew it was time for a different method.

As sternly asi I could, looked at her and said, 'OK, then let's go back to the cabin and pack your stuff.' We go about 10 steps and she looked at me and (not surprisingly) said, 'actually...um, I kind of want to stay.' Still to this day I have no idea where I came up with this idea but I looked back at her and said, 'alright, then tomorrow you have to have the best day ever.' She looked confused and asked what that was. I told her, 'tomorrow she was not going to care what anyone else thought. She was going to have so much fun doing whatever activity she was doing and she was only going to do things that made her happy and made her feel awesome. Nothing was going to stand in her way tomorrow because it was going to be the best day ever.' And have the best day ever, she did. She actually yelled at me half way through the day, "CAT! I'm having the best day ever!" Win.

What's even better was that when further along in the summer another camper was having a bad day, Nice girl ran by and said "Cat, tell her to have the best day ever!" Even more of a win.

So, I woke up this morning (at 2:20 because I haven't slept through the night in 3 weeks) and felt terrible. I've had so much anxiety lately, my stomach feels like it is in more knots than a 3 year olds' attempt at a making a friendship bracelet. I missed going to Walden this morning because I felt so crappy. Every time I get more things added to my plate at work my first thought is, "Run awayyyyyy"overall ahhhh

No more.

August is going to be the best month ever. BOOM. Yup, I'm doing it. I'm declaring the second half of the summer to be the better half. Just like the girl in MTV's most thought provoking series, Is she really going out with him?, August is going to make the first half of the summer look like a one-eyed, limping donkey. Yup.

If you're ever not quite feeling it some day this month, may I suggest wearing your favorite color. Or, no coincidence that it is my favorite color, the happiest color of all time: yellow. In fact, tonight, I am wearing my favorite color combinations (yellow and blue) as I'm blogging this post in a bad for typing efficiently position and I'm completely content :)

(even though my hair is not done after showering, my bright yellow skirt is still rockin!)

Now let's go have the best month ever!!

I'll leave you with this iPhone tri humor: