Easy Monday Run

:50, including 10' of strides. Actually a pretty nice day outside--a little cool for my liking, but bright sunshine, so I'll take it. I wore my bitchin' near-racing flats:



What is not to like about these shoes? They have black, pink, sparkliness and iridescence. I call them my Pink Floyd shoes because they remind me of the prism. The only thing they lack is magical powers to make me feel better.

Things That Are Pink (Again) and Shiny

Louis nearly complained that I pulled a bait and switch the other day, so here's me all decked out for today's run. Let's just say I got a lot of looks, but what else is new? I haven't run since last Friday when I should have known I was getting sick because a) I was fucking tired and b) my legs hurt in a way that's not your normal "I'm recovering from a marathon" way (which turned out to be, I think, muscular catabolism due to whatever virus I had). Anyway, those of you who have been playing along since early 2006 would recognize the tights as those I wore at the 2006 Goofy Challenge during the marathon, but with a tutu. The tutu is retired; the tights are not! The jacket is something I picked up on sale some time last year I don't remember when, and this is maybe the second time I've worn it. Years ago, I made myself a shiny silver jacket that I loved and wore to death and this is my "adult" replacement. I do like feeling sparkly and shiny. I guess that's why I decided to wear this jacket today.

Things That Are Pink

Summer is winding down and so is my garden, so I felt like taking some pics of the remaining, and soon to be gone flowers. I was reminded of when Cindy was here back in June and she remarked over dinner or while biking that she really liked a certain flower in my yard. I asked her which one, and she said, "The pink one!" I laughed. I have a ton of pink flowers!

The 2 pics above are of colchicum, commonly known as autumn blooming crocus. They are entirely poisonous (colchicine comes from them). I always forget about them because they send up leaves in the spring that then die away, and the flowers come up out of nowhere in the fall. They are about 10" tall, which makes them giants among crocus!
These are anemones, another late bloomer that I love because the bees (non-stinging ones like bumblebees and honey bees) love them and apparently stock up before they head into their winter nests. They are very airy flowers, and they leave pollen and petals all over my driveway, but I don't mind!
This is a small, single-petaled, striped pink rose growing in my back yard. I hadn't expected it to bloom again this late, so it was a welcome surprise.
I don't remember what exactly this plant is, but I know it's in the pea family. It is more or less a shrub where all the branches get covered with the pink flowers in late summer/early fall.
This is an annual Cosmos in my front yard. I love watching goldfinches, which must weigh only an ounce, perched on the fading blossoms to collect seeds. While I did plant fresh seeds this spring, I had a bunch of plants that came up from seed left over from last year, and I hope I get that bonus next year, too. What's funny is that many of the plants line the sidewalk in front of my house, and the plants pretty much spill over, and I see some people heading to the street instead of walking through the flowers. Wow, some people must really be afraid of nature if they can't walk through a bunch of flowers!
These are sedum. This is another plant that the bees absolutely love.
I have neglected my roses this year, but some of them refuse to give up! These two were begging me to pick them and put them in a bud vase. I didn't even bother to go get pruners to cut them; I just bit the stems with my teeth!

Food, Awesome Deal for Ladies and General Updates

First pic is last night's dinner--it's farfalle with a sausage, tomato and cabbage sauce, and Ahi tuna seared in a sauce of Marsala, Vidalia onions and ordinary white mushrooms. Man can I cook or what? Notice the tri content--just got Inside (but you already knew all this crap) Triathlon, and I guess to match Tri(constantly repeating content)Athlete magazine, the feature is on the physique. They shoulda put me in there, I swear. Anyway, when you get it, you will see that some of the women weigh EVEN LESS THAN ME!!! I am 5'3" 110 pounds, and on page 55 you see this woman who is only 37, 5'3" 108 pounds, and while she is quite lean, I think I look better than her, so I guess those 2 pounds I have on her are good stuff! Anyway, it goes to show you why when someone says I'm skinny I sometimes go postal on them because I'm not.

The other 2 pics are of a backpack that I bought specifically for when I start riding a bike (the MTB) to the outdoor pool in a month. It's fucking awesome! I got it at the online Kiefer store for $25 plus whatever shipping, and it retails for $45. I'm thinking Kiefer made a mistake with the pricing since you can't find that low of a price anywhere else. As you can see, it also comes in blue. Anyway, I found its measurements (17" x 12.5", but I think it's actually bigger) and figured it would hold my kickboard (they don't supply those at my outdoor pool) and all my other crap. Which is why I took a pic of the kickboard, pull buoy and fins in there, and there's boatloads more room. It also has little pockets for an iPod, goggles and other stuff. The only thing is there is no mesh bag inside, but hey, I always bring plastic grocery bags for my wet crap. Anyway, I love how pink it is, to the point of *SHININESS*.

In other news, I received a bunch of plants that I ordered yesterday, so I'm going to have to plant those this weekend as well as a bunch of flower seeds. I have some interior painting touchups to do, I need new garden hoses (and I found *pink* ones!) and may need to make another trip to the bike shop if my MTB is ready with new pedals and shoes. Oh, and the Barbies got some new digs--let's just say the Tiki Hut is getting a severe upgrade.

In other news, as you can see from the time I posted this, I am still not sleeping much, but seem to feel OK. This week is pure madness with all the training I'm doing. I already did dishes this morning because, well the amount of bottles was getting out of control. And then I'm cooking, too, so it just adds up. I don't know how you people manage in households with multiple people--just my own bottle/dishes mess plus laundry plus general triathlon crap strewn everywhere is enough to make someone go crazy--duh, I already am :)

Happy Friday

I'm up early. I wonder why that would be...?

Now who could this be?
















Also, I scored myself some new happy shoes. Now, you might say technically they don't qualify because the leather isn't pink, but if you zoom in you will see there is a little crystal butterfly that is partially pink--and it's made of Swarovski crystals!!!!

Happy Shoes

Stronger thought she was on Momo's blog when she saw my sparkly toes, so I guess I felt the need to exonerate myself.

I have a small collection of what I call "happy shoes." The original pair is shown in the first 2 shots, and were acquired at Ron Jon's in Cocoa Beach (Florida, where else???) in 2004. Sometime I should post the race report that goes with them here, but I'll save that for another day. The short story is I bought the shoes, and then in the morning of the Disney 1/2 IM (now a 70.3 race), I was getting ready and blurted out, "Where are my happy shoes?" And I found them and put them on and got all my stuff together on race morning.

The next pair I got are the ones in the last picture, and they are Dr. Scholl's vintage 2004 also. Alas, my right shoe has a crack, but I can still wear them "lightly." The pair with the big buckles are Kenneth Cole shoes and the last pair is by Cindy Says. I got those 2 pair late one night online shopping at Nordstrom.

I will probably get a new pair of happy shoes this year; I just need to find the right ones. But one thing's for sure--whenever I put on one of these pairs of shoes, it's impossible to not be happy!

I did leave out one pair--the ones with the flashing heels--but they can be seen here. I haven't done the pink toes yet, but trust me, they will be imminent for Triple T! Today's colors are in anticipation of my next NothingMan which I'm calling Triple Dog Dare, as I'll do a sprint on Friday, and Oly on Saturday and a 1/2 IM on Sunday.

Happy Feet and Not Enough Calories

I was feeling a little introspective and it got me a little down yesterday, but once I started making my toes all sparkly it fixed everything. It's tough to be unhappy with happy feet! I couldn't decide which color I liked more which is why I ended up doing each foot a different color. I have gone with 10 different colors at once. I thought I wanted the blood red, but once I put it on I didn't like it so much, but that got fixed up when I added the sparkle coating. Yes, I'm like a little girl sometimes with my love of pink stuff and sparkly stuff. But I have my limits. You will not catch me in a matched set of sweats with rhinestone lettering on them. Sandals with rhinestones? Sure. Diamonds? Hell yeah.

I woke up early again today feeling very hungry. I thought I had been eating non-stop in the evening, so after eating something right away, I added up what I had eaten on Tuesday. I can pretty much remember whatever I've taken in, harkening back to when I've needed to watch my intake more closely. I added up conservatively and it was about 2500 calories. I biked 1:25 and the Ergomo said I burned 830 calories in that time! I wasn't even going hard! And then I lifted weights for :45 which I figure is only another couple hundred calories, so I probably did undereat by about 500 calories or so. I'm not really sure. Which is why I'm trying to find somewhere I can get my RMR/BMR measured again so I know what I should be doing.

I used to be obsessive about wearing the HRM and noting the calories on the power meter and using those numbers to guide my food intake, but I no longer use an HRM and I haven't been looking at the bike numbers, either. I've sort of just been guesstimating what I think I'm burning, but if that bike number from yesterday is right, I am way underestimating. Yet I hate to just eat like a total pig until I gain weight--that seems stupid to me.

So today, so far I've swum for 1:05 (fairly hard) and I ran for an hour, slightly slower than tempo pace, and through lunch and recovery stuff, I've had about 1,300 calories. I think I need to eat a lot more today yet...I should probably get in about 1,800 more. I think I may need to start drinking a carb supplement . Or get back on pasta more often.

I think part of my problem is the nervous energy I'm burning up with my Dad's stuff. There is still some stress going on, I can't deny that, and one thing I don't need more of is stress or additional calorie-burning activities!

But I won't know until I find out some real numbers, so stay tuned...I really don't like it when someone says to me, "Nice problem to have." No it isn't. I need to time my calorie intake based on when I'm going to train (typically once before work and once in mid-day), and at some point I just can't put any more in. But I just thought of some other snack foods I need to start buying again--string cheese for one--and really it comes down to a couple hundred calories here and there, and that should do the trick!

Oh and there was some excellent scenery at the pool this AM. Swam this workout:

WU: 200 swim, 200 pull, 200 kick, 4 x 50 (10") Swim Golf
MS: 10 x 150 (15") as 100 Hard, 50 Easy.
100 easy swim.
2 x 200 (15") pull, Steady with excellent stroke.
8 x 25 (15") as 25 Hard, 25 Easy
CD: 100 easy swim

I was pretty fried after the 150's, but the rest was easy so no big deal.

Weekly Workout Totals 07/16/2007-07/22/2007 and Growing a Poodle

It's TWOFER THURSDAY!!! Aren't you excited? You thought I'd forget to post my workout totals just because I'm in the midst of writing my massively huge and entertaining race report.

But first, I need to report on my Poodle-Growing progress...Shelley gave me this poodle-growing kit in Lake Placid. She made me a bracelet with poodles on it, too, so I guess her MO is giving me panties and poodle paraphernalia. BRILLIANT!

Since I got home on Tuesday morning, I have been progressively getting my house organized, as unpacking set off a bomb of clothing and general tri shit in just about every room. Then I ran into a quandary because I needed a large, clear item in which to grow the poodle. I don't own a punch bowl, although I own some crystal vases, but they are to etched to see through. I remembered that I had this set of canisters that I had in college and had saved for some reason. Now I know why! In case I needed to grow a POODLE!!!

OK now everything will be in pink bold because Blogger sucks donkey balls, but I guess it could be worse...

I started on the poodle yesterday after I put away not just clothes I didn't wear in Lake Placid (really not too many of those--I did wear all the whore clothing, though), but clothes I did wear and washed and other clean laundry from before I left town last week. And then there was the tri shit and a dishwasher full of...BOTTLES! I am nearly organized, so it's poodle time.

The poodle is growing nicely, and for my next photo I will hang the damn poodle by its neck so you can see it in the upright and locked position.

Here's what happened last week:

Weekly Workout Totals 07/16/2007-07/22/2007
Swim: 12905 yards (7.32 miles) in 4.32 hours; 20% of weekly workout time; approx. 1511 calories burned
Bike: Approx. 164.5 miles in 9.98 hours; 46% of weekly workout time; approx. 4574 calories burned
Run: Approx. 38.6 miles in 6.99 hours; 32% of weekly workout time; approx. 3164 calories burned
Strength: 0.52 hours; 2% of weekly workout time; approx. 130 calories burned
All Sports: Approx. 210.42 miles in 21.81 hours; approx. 9379 calories burned
Sleep: 6.86 hours avg./night
Stretching: 1.18 hours. Massage: 1.5 hours