There has to be a number I can call

I went on a buying spree this week. First it started with some online shopping. I bought a supercute running skort to avoid anymore camel toe pics of me crossing a finish line. Then I bought some clothes, then I bought a heart rate monitor. Then I realized the heart rate monitor I bought was bogus, so I cancelled that and headed to a local running store that offers 20% off for TNT participants.

Off I went to RoadRunner Sports, and ended up with their Garmin 405. This gem will not only tell me my heartrate, it does pace, distance, and automatically connects to the computer to tell me where I went, the elevation and all that good stuff. As I was checking out (of course I picked up some cute shirts, a box of Gu and a box of Clif Shots) they convinced me that I should get fitted for sneakers because the wait was short. Well the wait was not too short and an hour and a half later (bri was PSYCHED) I had my feet totally evaluated (aka more people telling me I have awful running form), shoes picked out and actual orthotics fitted and molded to my feet for my high arches. I am giving them a shot and will see how it goes.

I feel as though I should address my running form (feet out, knees in, messed up hips) because when I was a baby I had deformed hips. My parents had to put a metal rod between my legs (please dont be gross) and I had to keep them like that because doctors feared I would "not grow." Clearly the growth turned out to be a nonissue, but my form is no doubt affected by whatever ridiculous way that dr's thought they should treat hip problems back in the day. Anyways I power on, I dont really care how I look doing it, I just want to do it in a way that I don't injure myself everytime I do it.

SPEAKING OF INJURIES, I knew it would only be a matter of time before I got a work related injury. I had a student fall and I wanted to break his fall (mostly because he was so kind to punch me in the gut a few minutes prior to this) with my ankle. It is feeling rather bruised and tender. Mainly because it is the same ankle that I have broken or sprained about 7 times....no joke. I iced it right away in the hopes that I would not have any residual problems, but it is kind of tender right now. I am debating on what to do today. We have a group run tonight, so we'll see. I do want to try out my new gear!!!

I made it back down to the pool yesterday and am starting to feel some more strength in the pool. I guess I am feeling stronger overall. I am really looking forward to this weekends workout. We are taking the train to Orange County, and riding our bikes back. It is supposed to be a relatively flat ride so that will be nice and i'm sure riding along the ocean won't be too shabby either!

MV

Mouth Vomit

A new term that I coined after my workout at Rehab United tonight. I write this post from my couch, with a whey protein shake next to me and two bags of frozen peas on each knee. I legitimately threw up in my mouth TWICE during tonights workout. Our lovely Scot took over for the whole time. Normally we only have to endure her craziness for 40 minutes, tonight it was about 80. We did intervals on the bike and transitions into our "trainers" which is Scot for "sneakers" (I am learning so much) for crazy pliometrics. We were doing wind sprints, crazy jumps, and a bunch of other torturous acts, and I sucked wind the whole time. We went through this circuit from hell 3 times each. It was intense. I will leave it to my lovely friend Lisa to add great quotes from both me and the Scot on her blog. I kind of blacked out.

Monday Bri and I went down to the pool for a great swim. The water was so warm that it loosened my knotty back right up. I definately need to work on my "lungbusters" (breathe every 3, 5, 7, 9, then 11 strokes) I can only get up to 9 and I pretty much gasp for air at the end.

Shwetty Eye

What a great day. So I managed to do a 12 minute run, and then a pyramid workout on my bike that I had previously done at my Tuesday night workout. I have NEVER sweat like I did this morning. I set my bike up on my trainor in our driveway in the sun. I literally had sweat pouring into my eyes, very weird because I don't normally sweat at all. After 40 minutes on the bike I went back out for a 30 minute run. I tried to push it a little faster than normal and did some intervals towards the end at the park. I was slightly concerned when I got home and stretched and kept moving around because I thought I was lying on something hard. Turns out it was just my knee crackling EVERY time I moved it. OYE. I had no pain or anything but its just one of those things that happens in your old age I guess.



We then mozeyed on over to our neighbors open house to snoop a bit. It makes us want to buy a house, especially after seeing Bri's eyes light up at the kitchen (isn't that supposed to happen to women??). It was pretty amazing but we will stay put for a while.



My TEAM had a group swim in La Jolla which I skipped. Everytime I get sick and sleep all day I then end up with spasms somewhere in my back or neck, or both. Today it was my neck so I figured after my morning workout that I would take it easy and join the group for the bbq after the swim. I am so glad I did. One of my friends from the team is Australian and I keep getting caught up on his little sayings. For instance we were discussing how sucky the team wednesday night swims are. It is really cold, and when we are done we have to cover the pools and I almost always end up underneath the pool covers panicking for my life, and its cold. So my friend says "yeah it totally gives us the shits" I say, "Is that what it is?!" As if the pool water gives everyone the shits. THey just looked at me like I was crazy. I had to say "oh is this one of those funny Aussie sayings?" It was. It means "we really hate that swim, its a drag." Gotta love it.

It was a beautiful Spring day in San Diego. I could take it about 5-10 degrees warmer, but it is quite nice. Bri and the dog joined me which made it even better.


After the bbq we headed to our friends Ness and Nick's for dinner and the Sox. Good times had by all. Another weekend done and done.

Stats

So I was bored this morning and was trying to think about how to get faster in my old age. In years past everytime I tried to push myself, I got injured. I feel like I am in the best shape i've been in for quite some time and I am ready to start to push it.

In an effort to get faster, I did some digging on old race results.

2003 where it all began:
law enforcement half: 2:22 (10:52 pace) Got injured right after and could not run for 2 months
San Diego Rock N Roll Marathon: 5:45 (13:10 pace)
2004
law enforceent half:
Boston Marathon: 5:40 (12:58 pace) Not injured, but it was 90 degrees
2005
Boston Marathon: 5:12 (11:54 pace) injury free
2006
law enforcement half: 2:20 (10:43)
2007
Mooseman Olympic Triathon: .8mile swim (39.02)/ 28mile bike (2:06/12.95 speed)/ 10K run (1:16/12:16pace) -total time 4:09:06
2009
Carlsbad Half Marathon: 2:26 (11:11 pace (very ironic number))

My upcoming triathlon is double the length of my previous one, I would think I should just double the number. HOWEVER I am biking and running way more than my previous training. ALso the biking out here in California is extremely hilly, which should help to make my legs stronger. I think that the places I can decrease my time are on the bike and run. My previous triathlon I really only ran about half of it and had to walk most of it.

Here are my goals:
do the bike in under 4 hours, and do the half marathon in under 2:45
no more playing it safe

I will try to run with those faster than me and bike with those who are usually in front of me.

On that note, I am off to run/spin/and run some more (keeping it local cause my stomach is still out of sorts)

Setbacks

I returned back to San Diego on Tuesday night right after Nana's funeral. Our trip home definately started with a jolt. Bri and I took a red eye to Boston and just as we started the descent, Bri started having excruciating pain behind his left eye. He was convinced he was having an aneurysm and was pretty panicked, as was I. I sat there like a deer in headlights just staring at him. We watch way too much house, so then I was just waiting for him to start seizing or something. We landed and the pain started to subside a bit, so we figured it was most likely due to the pressure in the plane. Once he started spitting up blood we decided it would be a good idea to go to the hospital. After a CT and full eval, they ruled out any kind of hemmorhage but said he probably blew out a sinus or something. PHEW!!! That would have sucked.

While it was very sad to say goodbye to Nana, I know she is in very good company and is happy with her Bill and Betty Lou and SOOOOOOOOOOOO many others. It was also great to see family and spend some quality time with all the crazy little ones in our lives. It gets harder and harder to leave the little ones the older they get. No "Auntie JOdes" for me, I am now "JO JO." I'll take it.

I tried to continue some workouts while home but it was nothing compared to what my teammates were doing back in SD. While they were doing a 40 mile ride which included a 7 mile uphill, I ran around the Charles River for about 8 miles. Since it was Marathon weekend there were many runners out there, and I even got to talk smack to a Kenyan and raced her for about .008 seconds. Even the ones who look like they are not that good are FAST.

I also made it to the pool one day and pretty much felt like I was in a race. I shared a lane with a TOTAL SPAZ! This girl was ALL OVER THE PLACE. I constantly had to spot (which is look up to see where you are going and who you are going to bump into during a race) and swallowed more water when I happened to breathe on the side she was on. SHe splashed and thrashed about like noone I have ever seen in a lap pool. Gave me good practice though!

We got back to SD and I was pretty much beat so I took Wednesday off from training and got a whole bunch of sleep. On Thursday I met my teammates at Torrey Pines golf course for our run. We started at the top of Torrey Pines (a giant hill) and ran through two of their trails. It is probalby the most beautiful view of SD. So it went by quickly and I only rolled my ankles on the trails about 4 times. At one point my running coach behind me asked "jody how is your running going?" I say "great, no injuries and I am feeling good." She basically tried to do what all running coaches do when they see me and help. However every time I have ever tried to correct my ridiculous running form (shoulders hunched, knees in, feet going out) I end up injured. I tell her this but still ask her what she thinks. She suggested trying to keep my knees far apart and that that should keep my feet from going out. I will give it a whirl. ANyways we made it through two fo the trails and then ran down the Torrey Pines Hill. Now this is a hill that even when you walk up it, the heart rate sky rockets. I have walked it, biked it and now I have run up it. I am not sure which one is harder. I made it up running the whole way YAY ME!! I then ran back through one of the trails but it started to get dark so we just nixed the second trail so we could make it back to the cars with some light. I think it ended up being 6 miles,but with those hills, I felt like I was satisfied.

I took Friday off because I wanted to be fresh and ready for Saturdays "MOCK TRI." My coaches put together an olympic length tri (.8 swim, 28 mile bike, 10K). While I was excited for this, I woke up around 5 to get all my gear together and felt pretty sick. My throat hurt and I was rather sick to my stomach. I figured I would just suck it up and see if that feeling would go away. After packing my car up and getting the bike on the rack, I sat in the car in the driveway for close to 15 minutes. I was pretty much waiting for the sick feeling to go away. It never did. So now I am on my couch sipping alka seltzer and praying I don't throw up. I am so totally aggravated. I guess the travelling and all that has caught up with me. I am hoping that I feel better later on so I can at least get a good workout in. I am going to have to figure out what to do tomorrow if I feel better. I have 3 months left so I am not going to fret, but this is now two weekends in a row that I missed my group workout.

I would like to take this time to make note of a wonderful woman who lost her battle to Ovarian Cancer yesterday. Tina Duca was my friend Gianleo's mother. She was diagnosed about 3 years ago, and fought so hard for her life and for her family. Please keep her and her family and friends in your hearts and prayers.

Nana

I got the very sad call this morning that my Nana passed away early today. I am going to miss her so very much, and am a little bit jealous that she is now in the presence of all those who went before her. I can only imagine what kind of party was thrown for her arrival.
XOXO

I might melt

We started our ride out this weekend with a sobering reminder about how dangerous this sport can be. One of our mentors and veteran triathletes came hobbling to our practice. She wrecked during a race last weekend, went flying over her handlebars and had to be airlifted to a hospital. She had a bleed around her brain, and fractured her pelvis, and still managed to make it to practice to support us.

Come to find out it is not super safe to bike in the rain. We took off for our what was supposed to be a 35 mile ride and about 15 miles in it started to get real ugly. At one point I found all those ahead of me huddled under a tree. My coach decided to cut the ride short since there were a few minor accidents. It was the type of weather that as soon as we would make a turn, the roads were dry and it had been untouched by rain. Very strange. We ended up doing 25 miles and it was COLD and wet. It was kind of fun though. You just know that people riding by in their cars with the heat on are looking at you and thinking "what is wrong with those poeple?" We got back and did a 40 minute run. THe runs are getting more comfortable and its kind of crazy how a 25 mile bike ride is now a cake walk. I AM SO TOUGH! I was going to give the whole peeing on your bike thing a whirl today but I was unsuccessful. I figured I was already wet enough so noone would know. Although I probably just would have told everyone anyways. There is something hard about peeing while you have a giant seat sticking up your hooha.

I am now in the warm/dry comforts of my home. ahhhhhhhhhhhhhh. Happy Easter!

Play Ball

The trip home was great and I wish I was still there, but I had to come back and get back to some normalcy and get my ass in gear for training. Here are some pics from the long weekend. We started off with a suprise 60th bday for my dad which was very fun to see everyone at the same place. And although I am the worlds worst liar I managed to pull off suprising my dad and getting him to the bar.

I got to spend the next day at Mark and Christine's and had a great time with Elizabeth during bath time, and then got to wake up with her the next day to hear her say " I love JoJo," bestill my heart. Turns out though that she thought my name was Belle. SHe kept calling me that for a few days until I realized it, and then I realized that whenever we are on the webcam, we always say "say hi to Belle." Obsessed much!

The beach cruiser tricycle that I bought for her bday.

The Sox game was postponed by a day so Mark and Chris could not get the day off so my old neighbors from Medford came along with Veenters. It was an absolutely ridiculous day from start to finish, but I have not enjoyed myself like that in a while (okay not so long ago, but I have not enjoyed myself in Boston like that for a while). Good times.

Started off at my favorite donut shop D WITH A D! Perhaps I should have eaten a little more that day before the rest of the festivities.

My favorite fenway bartender, and the one I blame for my drunken display.

No I do not know these guys, nor do I remember how this went down, but whatever!

I got soul but i'm not a soldier!

I am pretty damn spent right now. This week was a pretty grueling week for training. Our focus was strength which equals crazy hills. We headed out to Poway this morning and rode some of the longest steepest hills yet. Unfortunately I felt pretty lousy this morning with "bottom blues." And even though I wanted to scrap the work out altogether, I figured that there is no guarantee how I will feel race day so I just packed some extra tissues just in case and took off. It was yet again a beautiful ride. My coach kept warning us about the 9% grade downhill (thankfully it was a downhill) at mile 25. We pretty much climbed for about 20 miles, then hit a bunch of downhills. My hands were pretty much aching and I was just happy not to go over my handlebars. Nonetheless, I soldiered on! When I actually hit THE HILL, I could not believe it. I kept it at 15mph and pretty much prayed that no cars came by since it was pretty windy. After that it was pretty much a flat ride with some rolling hills. I can hardly believe I made it the whole 40 miles. It took 3 hours and 15 minutes. When we got back we took off for a run up a hill and I pretty much made it about a half hour before I decided that I had enough. All in all a good day.

I am taking off for Boston tonight on the red eye, so I should sleep well! Can't wait to see my family and friends and have a little fun at Opening Day at Fenway!!