Potpourri!

Haven't posted nor commented in some time.... time catch up with miscellany and brevity....
1. Talked with Michelle and Jerry today for a while. I suggested that anyone dealing with a sports injury go to a sports medicine doctor/fellow trained. Primary care docs and surgeons usually do not give the same treatment plan nor suggestions. Here is a local one I'd suggest: WCA Sports Medicine Center at (716) 664-8604. Dr. Mitchell is a great Doc.

2. Upcoming plans:

Signed up for GA marathon on January 16th, 2010

If the marathon goes well, or at least not terrible, I may try to redeem myself for the 1/2 ironman. I would possibly go back to the Lake Tupper Tinman on June 26th.

20 pull-ups update- Was doing great until my right handed developed some pain. I was in week 6 of the plan. I started at 6 pull-ups and can now do 13!! Doesn't matter which way the hands are positioned. I need to get back at this and finish the goal!!

That's enough big plans for now. I've been running 4 days a week and 1 day of either bike or swimming. Which is the best I've done in quite a while.

Of course Tango is on the list too.

What do the rest of you have brewing for 2010?

Get out and run before it's too late!

I ran 5 miles on Friday late afternoon and 6+ on Saturday morning before the snow hit. I can't remember the last time I've run on a dreadmill. I'm hoping the roads clear before Tuesday. I'm afraid that if I run on the dreadmill in a nice warm house, I might not go outside the rest of the winter!
As I was running Saturday, I figured we would swim around 5PM. So I got home showered, ate some oatmeal and Genine says we are swimming with Maija in less than an hour. This will be interesting.
Genine is the keeper of the swim workout book. So when I get out to the pool deck, she's already there with book flipped open to today's workout. I think it was called Force 10 and it had a ton of pulling. (proving Genine really does love me). My legs were very happy about this.
The main set looked like this 3x (2x200 pull, 4x50 pull fast) then 4x50 with hand paddles. Genine and Maija both hate the pull buoy as much as I hate a kick board. So they modified. Initially I thought I was going to be able to pull the whole time but eventually my shoulders needed a break. I'm guessing I did 75% with the buoy and got 2500-2700 meters in.
It was another good swim for me. I think that's about 5 in a row. Hopefully the pool is open tomorrow and I can make it 6.
The snow started to fall as we were walking into the pool. On the way out there was already a couple inches on the ground and the roads were covered. We drove to the grocery store and picked up ingredients Genine wanted for baking. We were both getting very hungry, I'm surprised we didn't start opening stuff to eat as we were shopping. The soy crisps made it out to the car before being opened. Then when I got home it was recovery food time. I shovel the snow off to make room for the grill. I roll out the grill from the garage, got it warmed up. Broke out a bag of shrimp and trimmed up the steaks and headed back outside to grill. My neighbors must think I'm nuts... Standing out there in a snow storm grilling, but it's so worth it.

Oh I almost forgot. I think I posted the other day that I ran and it felt like my shins were cramping up on me. Terrible run. Well I figured out why that happened and it's plenty stupid. Today at the start of my run only one shin was bothering me. It's because I over tightened the laces on the one shoe. Once I adjusted it, I was fine. It would seem that I've forgotten how to tie my running shoes. The elastic laces "crutch" has crippled me.... at least mentally. I gotta get those normal laces outta there.
And there you have it.

Swim Groove / Bike Seat/ Training Wheel

I almost hate to say anything as I might jinx myself. It's just that I feel that I might be taking one of those steps forward and I'm digging it. I swam a 1:35 100m very comfortably tonight. I would have been interested to see how many 100's I could have done on short rest. I'm hoping I keep it rolling and I'll try it out this weekend.

I also put my new saddle on the bike the other day. It's not love at first ride. I'm not sure any saddle is. Is it? It seems to me any change is going to feel off for awhile. I was hoping to get an hour in Tuesday night. Unfortunately I was also having trouble with my gears.
I have a spare wheel with the exact same SRAM 9 speed cog set. So I put that on and it's fine when I'm on 26,23,21,19.. Then after that the gears hit the chain so off center that it just can't be right. I spent a ton of time trying to adjust the derailleur but there doesn't seem to be a fix. I may have to take it to a bike shop and let them adjust it. Or perhaps I've built something incompatible somehow??
Any ideas?

Greek Food and Green Lightning

For some reason that I can't seem to figure out, all of my joints and muscles have been tired, tight and achy the past 2 days....more than normal that is. Not sure why. I'm sure I am in need of some good stretching, heat and some foam rolling. Hopefully if I whine enough, Santa will leave some gift certificates for massages under the tree! ;-)

At any rate, Matt & I got to the pool both days this weekend. Good swims. The rest of the weekend was spent trying to clean and reassemble the rooms in our house that FINALLY will not be having any more construction happening in them. Matt installed the new exterior light fixtures on the house. They look great! Still no date of completion for the house projects. All I can say is that we may be getting close. I wish I could say with some certainty, but I can not. ::sigh::

There were 2 highlights from this weekend:
Friday night Matt and I were invited to my friend Eleftheria's house for dinner. It was a small gathering- just her & her husband Niko, and Mary & Christin from work. Eleftheria is my "Greek Godess"....my savior at work when I need to escape or vent. She has a wonderful way of making you instantly feel comfortable in her home. And as I have mentioned before, she is also an AMAZING cook. Dinner was fantastic...delicious Greek favorites complete with waaay too much wine & cheese. Mmmmm..... But the best part of the night was getting to spend a little time outside of work with these special people. One of the few true rewards from the retail insanity I work in is the handful of honest and truly good people that have become a part of my life. What a blessing they are...and for that I am thankful.

And.....check out my new bike trainer! I love the lime green color!


Matt & I are almost ready for our side-by-side showdowns in the basement! woo-hoo! Can you tell that I'm trying to psych myself up for indoor bike season? It should be good. I need to get my ipod loaded with some new tunes and hope Santa comes through with the new spinervals dvd's on my wish list. It's also rumored that we are going to have tv and dvr connections down there. Man, we are living the high life!

Cedar Point

If only there was an option for half iron.
Rev3 Cedar Point Triathlon

Got to the pool both days this weekend. I've been feeling good in the pool recently. (Probably because I haven't been sharing a lane with Bob this week).

My run mileage really dropped last week. Guess that was my recovery week. I'll try to get on track this week.
Bike is on the trainer ready to go. Next I've gotta get my ipod loaded, put the new saddle on and find new shoes. I'll put the new pedals and cleats on when I get new shoes.

Yoga tomorrow night.

I'm not even going to bother giving an update on the house renovation.

A new trend????

So tonight at masters was the third swim in a week that has felt improved to me. I don't necessarily feel faster, but it feels smoother, stronger pull and....I think I may be rotating (a little more). Shocking! I haven't kept track of times yet. At the very least it leaves me feeling hopeful about what the future holds for my swimming. We'll see...... I'm also not afraid to say that I have enjoyed masters the last few weeks. Swimming has been solid, 25m races, diving off the blocks for fun and practicing flip turns. Coach Elana even said that she's trying to get permission to allow us to use the diving boards! I see fun times at masters ahead. Although, Coach Elana also told me last week that she was going to stuff my goggles with paper towels so I would have to practice swimming "blind" to overcome my fear of not being able to see in murky water during races. Hmmm...ok maybe not all fun.

Work is finally starting to chill out a tiny bit for me.....whew....big sigh of relief. Despite the toll the past few months has taken on my training and fitness level, I am hopeful as I look forward to the new year. I'm ready to set new goals and plans to achieve them. Even though it seems like a long way off, I'm excited to be able to race again and to cheer on my friends as they race toward achieving their goals. I'm eager to start training. Our bikes have made it from the garage to the basement. One step closer the rocking it out on side by side trainers!
Fun times ahead indeed.......

Knees

Knees seem to be the topic lately. I came across this in the NY Times today.
FYI, I typically not a fan of their health articles. They never seem to have a conclusion. It's always just food for thought. Here it is anyhow.

NY Times Article on Knees

Busy

Quick update just to get something on here.

I seem to be managing at least one workout a day.
Running 3 or 4 times a week.
Swimming 2-3 times a week.
My bike... is locked in the garage, thanks to my contractor. (there is no key, I'll have to break something to get in)

My left foot pain is being managed best with a tennis ball massage every night.
My low back pain is being managed best by doing 20 minutes of stretching as soon as I roll out of bed.
I've started doing the pullups again. Underhand only so far. So far the bicep has been good.
The weight loss has been a disaster. The renovation has destroyed our living space and has made it difficult to cook at home. (the grill is also locked in the garage with the bikes)
My speedwork run workout plan has been sabotaged by whomever decided to fix the fence where we used to sneak through to get to the track. Funny how we were disappointed by that. Most people would find that to be a relief!

I've ordered a new saddle for my bike. I'm hopeful that this will be a huge upgrade in terms of comfort. The Adamo Racing Saddle.
Now to find some new bike shoes!

I've heard reports from both Ruth and Michelle regarding their MRIs. I love that both of them are on a mission and don't plan on letting something like a knee stop them.

It was a great visit to Warren last week. Looking forward to the Xmas break. It will be another quick trip tho. Thursday to Sunday is my guess.

That's the news.

Here's the ad!!

My picture of Laurel is the 2nd picture in the ad.

It will be in ESPN magazine and Self as well.

It's official

Have I mentioned how frustrating this home improvement project is? It was another brutal day spent at the house finding flaws with "completed work". So I have to compose an email with pictures to send to the contractors. Equally as annoying.
I've definitely learned a few things along the way. I need to make a point of putting them in my database so I don't make the same mistakes the next time we take on a project like this.
So as I'm putting together this email and I'm kind of steaming. I receive an email from the advertising company that wants to use my picture of Laurel Wassner. It seems that the ad is approved! I'll be paid for the picture and it will be used in a national campaign. I instantly stopped writing the email to the contractor to write this post. I'll be sure to ask what magazines the ad will be in and when.
I'm still amazed at how this all happened. The internet made it all possible.

Alright. Back to this email. Then Yoga. Then to the pool.

I haven't been saying much

With all the projects going on at the house. I'm having a hard time staying positive. Things aren't exactly going smoothly. That seems to be the normal state of things for the workers though...
I guess the stressful part is this. I have to do quality control on everything and guess what. I don't know all the things to check for and that is frustrating. This isn't going to go on forever. There is an end. I just can't say the end is in sight yet.

I posted my workout schedule last week. It was listing 2 workouts a day. Well I managed 1 workout a day and I'm fine with that. It will get better.

Michelle and Ruth, I hope you get some solutions from your MRIs.

I'm looking forward to seeing friends and family this holiday weekend.
Jim remind me that I wanted to talk guitars with you.

Apologies for the boring post.

Xcountry 5k

Wow reading Genine's post was incredibly inspiring. She IS a warrior! So I thought I'd share my not so warriorish post.  As you know I've been taking a running class with New York Road runners. And the saga continues. Once a week. Beginner's class. This week (WEEK 6) we're up to 8 minutes 2x. The class has been good. According to the coach we're running at 12 minute pace which is a great improvement over the 15 minute mile which was my best pace this summer.

Well I decided to see how this improvement translated to a 5k. I had the brilliant idea to sign up for the Cross country championships at Van Cortland. I haven't been jogging for any 1mile+ distances lately  but since I knew the course I felt comfortable. HA! I thought we would do the FLAT loop plus the little wooded loop, twice. I was sadly mistaken.
The course was expanded to go over the little bridge into the wooded area that I had never gone through which  I swear was 2 miles of uphill! Or it seemed that way to me. Hello. What was I thinking? Excellent challenge though. So I sadly admit I walked the entire wooded area to bring my time down to 54 minutes. Yeah I know. I know. Almost the last one in again. But I did the first mile in 13.5 minutes! So I felt good about that (small victories!) So this is another race to add to my goals for next year. Maybe some of you would like to run it too! I'm doing those &*%% hills! The weather was absolutely perfect. And the course not too muddy. And the crowd was extremely generous with their cheering. It made me misty eyed.

I do want to congratulate my volleyball teammate Nina, who decided to run the course with me just to see how she would do. Damn. The girl is a machine. 28+ minutes. Can't imagine how'd she do once she begins training.  She wants to do more races. The winner, Frank Corrigan, did the course in 15:55 minutes at a 5:08 pace. HOLY COW! Congrats Frank!


I gotta say I really enjoy the cross country running. It's so much better on my possibly torn meniscus (grrr MRI coming) and the view is gorgeous. I saw a Blue Jay and a Mocking bird (I know I should have been concentrating on the run but hey!) and tons of squirrels. The trees were all shades of yellow, orange and red.  What a great course! Afterwards we treated ourselves to a large unhealthy breakfast at the Coffeshop under the bridge for 4$ each.

All in all, a great day at the races.

Hurts So Good

I finally got myself to the yoga class that Tiffany teaches on Monday nights. Ever since our Wednesday yoga lessons at her house have dissolved (schedule conflicts on both sides), I have been wanting to get there. Tonight I did.....aahhhhh. How can something so painful feel so good? My gluts, hamstrings, hips and calves were screaming. But by the end I could feel a huge improvement in my flexibility and I felt so relaxed. This is definitely going into my "soon-to-start" winter workout schedule. I'm going to build into the training plan between now and January, so when the new year starts I will be ready to go full force. My plan is to increase my biking via the trainer, get back to the pool and continue my base running. I also will be adding kickboxing to my cross-training along with intensati. Sounds a bit ambitious, but I really want to see what I can build into this winter. Can I keep healthy and focused on my goals?

I guess I should set some goals then, right? Those are still a work in progress. For now, let's just say my goal is to get my mind set back to a more scheduled workout plan....add some "non-sbr" stuff in for fun and see where that takes me. I'll be sure to keep you posted!

I'm also looking forward to some workouts with our Warren friends over Thanksgiving vacation. Jim: You can count me in for maybe 5-6miles of your 13mile run. Michelle: Shall we line up some swim and spin time at the Y? Craig: Will you be in Warren over the holiday?

Gotta work off that stuffing, potatoes and pie!! ;-)

Atlantic City Trip

Last Friday night I went to the chiropractor because my lower back was really starting to give me grief. If I had to guess about the cause, it was either butterfly kicking with fins or perhaps because it had been so long since I’ve had my back adjusted. I was hoping to run a 5K race the next morning. I didn’t make it to the 5K. I slept right through it. My back wasn’t much better anyhow. So it was probably for the best.

Genine and I then took a bus down to Atlantic City with Tiffany and Jimmy. It was a fun day, not profitable for anyone but Tiffany, but fun. I’d go again. Genine would too, only she wouldn’t spend any time in the casino.

Sunday was a gorgeous day and we managed to get ourselves out the door in the afternoon to do some biking. 71 degrees! My back was fine during the bike. The trouble was getting off the bike, and putting the bikes back on top of the car. My lower back was super tight.

So I finally realized I had better start taking some NSAIDs.

I had hoped to swim Monday morning but decided to play it safe until I saw my chiropractor in the city. He got some really good crunches out of my lower back. That’s a good thing, sometimes I’m so locked up it won’t move. Then I asked him if I should be taking time off. He said only if it seems like the activity is causing a problem. Guess I’ll find out as I try some workouts.

I think I’ve come up with a bit of schedule finally. I’ll try it out and see if it works.

Monday: AM Swim / PM Yoga

Tues: AM run speed/ PM Bike

Wed: AM Yoga & Core / PM Swim

Thurs: AM Run some intervals/ PM Bike

Friday: recovery day

Saturday: AM Run / Afternoon Swim

Sunday: Bike / Swim

Lastly, I hope not to jinx myself. I think I’m making progress with my foot. I’ve been diligent with the icing and rolling it out with a tennis ball and the boot at night. Maybe it's just the pain in the back is masking the pain in my foot... It's always something.

I am a WARRIOR!

As you all know, I am a firm believer in the principles of the practice of IntenSati developed by Patricia Moreno. I started almost 2 years ago, and I can say without question that it is an integral part of the positive changes that have transpired for me these past few years. It has empowered me and enlightened me. It has shown me how to find the best in myself and others. It has allowed me to find my inner strength, not only in sport....but in life. I have become acquainted with some amazing people...most notably my friend Tiffany. She inspires me to dig deep and keep moving forward no matter what the hurdle. it was Tiffany who nominated me to be featured in the SatiLife monthly newsletter and I was chosen! I have pasted a copy of the section from the SatiLife November newsletter below. My story is found in the "A Higher Level" section. (If you click on the article, it will zoom to a bigger size which is easier to read.) It is such an honor for me, so I wanted to share it with all of you. If you want to find out more about IntenSati, just click on the link.

I told Matt what a lucky guy he is. Instead of PlayMate of the Month, he is married to the Warrior of the Month! So much cooler, right?! :-)

The Triangle

Some might not know about "The Triangle". The sides are triangle are labeled: Good, Fast, Cheap. There are many situations in which you can use this triangle. Here is the deal, you can have any two sides but not all three. I'm currently wondering where the home improvement falls on the triangle (good and cheap I hope!). I'm going to withhold judgement until the end. I'm hoping I don't miss all 3 of them!

There are times that I wish that I had time to use my camera more. Well, I've been using my camera quite a bit lately. Unfortunately, it's been to send pictures to our contractor so he can see the problems. Or because Genine is at work, I'm sending her pictures so that she can approve of things that are being done.

The one good thing I'm sure of is this. Because I've been hanging around so they can get into the house, and because the place is trashed and because there is a huge dumpster in the driveway, I decided it was an opportune time to pull the paneling out of 2 of the rooms. Those 2 rooms have left the 70s. Which is awesome. What is amazing is that there was a full length mirror hanging in one of the paneled rooms when we bought the house. Well I guess that mirror has been there for a long time. Under the paneling was 2 layers of paint. The mirror was painted around when the 2nd layer of paint went down.

Triathlon: Great bike on Sunday with Genine. We really dug in at the end of the ride and did better than we expected.

Monday night, we went to the pool. My main set was 10x50m on 1 min. Then 5x100m on 2 min. I also did some butterfly and free kicking with fins. It was a good swim.

Tuesday night, 3 mile run with Genine. Good to get out and run it was a nice night.

It's amazing how the workouts help me relax. I've been stressed out over this renovation project and after the workout I feel great... until we start talking about the project again. Ha!

Grateful for Today

After a day filled of construction frustrations, Matt & I took advantage of today's sunny 60 something degree weather and got out for a nice bike ride. We got in almost 33miles and enjoyed every minute of it! What a treat for a Sunday in November. The other fun part is that is was the most challenging ride we have done in months. (although that's not saying much considering how pooped we've been recently!) We got in a few intervals and a couple decent hills. It felt good to be able to get out there and feel well rested and have some energy. It is amazing to me how debilitating fatigue can be. I've been so used to feeling like Dawn of the Dead. Sleep is a beautiful thing! I have 1 more week of total insanity at work and then it's back to the normal holiday crazy. Give me strength...almost there!

The renovation

Here are a few pictures to give you an idea as to what's up.

Before:


New Roof New upstairs windows.


The back porch before. But the new roof is on. Old windows in the dormer.


Back porch framed out to become a dining room. New upstairs windows.


All the windows in the house will be replaced the front door too. The awnings will be gone and the entire house will have new vinyl siding. It will look like new.

swimming

I went to masters swimming last night. It's been awhile since I've done a swim workout that's actually been a workout. I feel like it's been a solid 4-6 weeks "off". Well the workout went much better than I had expected. I got into a groove and had some speed. I finished my 100m "races" on 1:37 for all 3. Way better than I expected and I didn't feel that I was going 100%.
This morning I was reminded of how swimming is a full body workout. I had some tight back and hip muscles. Fortunately I woke up with enough time to do 20 minutes of stretching. I prefer feeling like this in the morning compared to doing nothing and still having aches and pains.

I realize the pushups and pullups kind of disappeared. I keep trying pullups and my left bicep keeps telling me to take it easy. So I'll continue to do some every day but not following that plan at all.
Pushups I think I can handle again. So I'll start that plan... again.

November... time flies.

Still on track with the nutrition. Still have this lingering cold. Still wearing the boot at night for my foot.

I get into my car Tuesday morning and there is frost on the windshield for the first time this year and the car stinks. It’s going to be a nice day so I leave the sun roof open a crack to let the car air out. After work it’s better. I go buy groceries, open up the hatch to load them in…. bam! There’s the stink. We forgot to get our bike shoes out of the car after riding in the rain on Saturday. Yuck!

It’s an beautiful night to run but I have too much to do. I text Todd to find out if we are running in the morning, we are. 4:45 wakeup then.

The contractor called me today and wanted to know when he can get access to the house again, that along with a million questions. I tell him I will email him all the answers tonight. So now I sit and compose an email for about 2 hours with descriptions and pictures to answer all of his questions. He will call me in the morning to discuss everything. (this call never happened)

5-6 hours of sleep and it’s Wednesday morning and I’m out the door to go running. Left foot is not getting better or worse. My plan is to ice and ibuprofen for a week to see if that makes a difference.

Our run was only 4 miles and it wasn’t speedy. Not a big deal, makes it easier to talk when you are running slowly… Did I mention it was 38 degrees? Todd shows up wearing shorts and a T-shirt. He misread his thermometer. He read the indoor temp thinking it was the outdoor. Fortunately he had a running jacket and gloves he had left in the car.

I enjoyed the run. Those of you that haven’t tried running in cold weather, you need to give it a try. After the first mile or so, it’s really very nice. (unless it’s windy).

We had hoped to go into the city to watch the marathon this past Sunday. That didn’t work out, but we did watch on TV. The winner averaged a 4:55 min/mile over 26.2 miles. I now need to get back to the track to find out if I can even go that fast for ¼ mile.

Kevin has run this 2 years in a row now. If his lottery luck continues 13 more times, he will be an automatic entry because he will have completed it 15 times. Ha ha.

I looked up the qualifying time I need to run a half marathon once I hit 40 in June. 1:30:00. That’s a 6:52 min/mile pace…. Typically, I'd say anything is possible, but that is quick!

My next option is this. After you’ve been denied 3 years in a row, you get in. I’m fairly certain I’ve applied in both 2008 and 2009. So I should be able to run in 2011. I’m going to have to dig through old email to verify that I registered both years.

If not, I will join NYRR and attempt to run 9 NYRR races in 2010. I’m already thinking I should race at least once a month, maybe twice, January-March. Just so I keep focused on adding run speed during my workouts. Most of these will be 5K or 5 milers. There is the NYC half marathon March 21^st, I’m kind of looking at that to be my long run race for the spring.

Lastly, I passed up free Knicks/Pacers tickets for tonight’s game so that I could go to masters swimming. Had they been Yankee Tickets, obviously I would be in the Bronx tonight. I’m still surprised I passed on them tho’.