opps..... ?

Let me start off by explaining that if I am in the car with my husband, he sits in the drivers seat. I like to look it as a team effort though. Yeah, he has his hands on the wheel but I make sure he is driving the correct speed limit(he calls this back seat driving), is aware of all the lights that are changing colors, and I always point out weavers. For the speed limit, I have this rule and it has always worked for me. My rule is you drive 8 miles an hour over the speed limit. My theory is that if you drive faster than that you will get a ticket and if you drive slower than that you are wasting my time because you could be driving faster and not get a ticket. The hubby doesn't like my rule and I will leave it at that(ok so maybe there have been a few arguments about my rule).

The other day we were driving home from Beaufort and I see a police car in the middle of the road and immediately look over to see the speedometer. It was about 10 over and dropping. I think to myself F*** he is about to get pulled over. Sure enough we had blue lights behind us. Hopeful about not getting a ticket I thought that chewing him out would make the situation worse so I didn't say anything to him. I had just read Carole's Blog about how to instantly predict if you were going to get a ticket or not. She says that if the officer walks up to the car and immediatly asks for your license and registration without any prior chit chat you are done, and there is no way to get out joke, cry, flash, or pay your way out of it. Much to my dissapointment, those were the first words out of the officers mouth, and I thought to myself, "damn here comes the ticket."

My husband does the normal pull the license out of the wallet, fumble with the registration/insurance and hand it to the officer thing. Now let me explain, my husband has a very Latin name(Jose Angel Fuentes). However, he is very fair skinned and speaks without any accent and this has caused him trouble more than once with his id/cc/bartenders/ect. because people don't believe that he is showing his real id. The officer glances at the license, looks at my husband and says.... "that makes sense, sorry sir. I was looking for the car with the jeep behind it. Have a nice day." The officer then hands the id back and walks away. Jose and I look at each other completly confused and unsure of what to do. It was the strangest thing.... After a few seconds we drove off without a ticket or even a warning. So, sorry Carole, there must be some exception to your theory, I have no idea what we did, but I sure am glad to have gotten out of that one.

My recommendation on the issue is to just drive the 8 over and not get pulled over in the first place.

Northern Fun

I know Thanksgiving was a week and a half ago and I am just getting around to posting about it, but we had so much fun that I have to post about it even if it is late!

We always go to Annapolis for Thanksgiving to visit my husbands family. His mother is a triathlete, his father a sailor, his older sister has two great daughters(our only nieces), his little sister is probably one of the coolest kids I know(ok so maybe she is 21 now and not really a kid anymore but I still see here as the 12 year old she was when I met her), and his brother in law works for the Boston Globe and is always good for some great conversation. I am very lucky to have this group for inlaws they are always ready to have fun and we have many common interests!

Luckily, this year we arrived to a nice warm front that hung around until the last day we were there. Normally it is what I consider ungodly cold and I HATE the cold. Despite the cold weather my mother in law, being a dedicated triathlete herself(2x kona qualifier and age group record holder at IMLP) always sees to it that we have plenty of training opportunities. In past years she has introduced us to the "4:40 group"(a crazy group that starts their 6 mile run at 4:40am and then hits the pool), arranged multiple turkey trot races, and took me on my first 30 mile bike ride(from which my husband had to bring the car and come pick me up so she could finish her ride!) As always this year we had a couple of treats. First we hit the basement for a little computrainer ride.

That's right they have 3 of them networked together in the basement for winter racing! What a blast. Then she took me to Masters swimming(a great group) and introduced me to her friend Maureen to get advice on cold water swimming. I have signed up for IMSG and have an absolute terrible time swimming in cold water. Of course with all the great advice I got, I wanted to try it out right away. Since the water temp was 53 and beach access less than a block from the house I thought it was the perfect opportunity. My mother in law(Crissy), and husband were not going to let me suffer alone and tagged along. Sadly Jose didn't have a wetsuit and went in a speedo and Crissy gave me her booties, gloves, and cap.... so they were a little colder than I was, but real troopers for supporting me. My father in law(Joe) grabbed the camera and we headed out!

The swim was the coldest water I had ever been in and it sucked. Although Jose and Crissy were cold they were able to swim a bit. However, I was fairly warm but unable to swim because every time I put my face in the water it would take my breath away. I will be looking for any advice to overcome this issue, but that's all for another post.

It was another successful Thanksgiving in Maryland and I can't wait to see what the inlaws have in store for next year!

Fun at the pool!

Today started with a swim! I typically enjoy starting my day with a swim even though most days I have to convince myself to get in the water by repeating the mantra "get in that water and the worst part of your day is over." I hate hate hate the first three seconds of being in the pool. Yet, something about the smell of chlorine and the comforting feeling of warm coffee after swimming just starts my day of right. However, todays swim was exceptionally enjoyable. I don't really know why..... the water was cloudy.... so cloudy that you couldn't see the wall until you almost ran into it. I got stuck in the end lane but made the best of it by trying to splash the lifegaurd during my "blast legs" kick set. Then when I got in the shower I noticed the shower curtain was gone. It was there monday..... and no I didn't notice it when I got in the shower and was fully exposed to everyone in the locker room. However, when I looked down to see water splashing all over my dress shoes sitting just outside the shower I became very concerned. Funny how I was unalarmed by exposing my nakedness to everyone but get a little water on my shoes and the world might end! Friday I will be sure to check for the shower curtain before I get in the shower!

What I use Wednesday coming us soon.

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What I Use Wednesday

Ok, I really LOVE this one!!!! My stick! I have to admit that when I started this sport I was in my early 20's and could get away with a lot. Maybe it was my age or maybe it was the fact that I did much less volume and intensity than I do now, but I NEVER stretched, used massage, or thought about recovery nor did I ever get tight or sore. I remember some of my training partners who were older and wiser than me doing all these things to aid recovery and complaining about being tight or "fried." I literally did not understand what they were talking about or why they devoted so much time to this stuff. Well, now those days are gone, in fact I rarely walk up steps without feeling the fatigue in my legs! So, I have slowly learned a few tricks to help my muscles feel better and the stick is on the top of my list!

It is great for when my legs are stiff, but also to keep them from getting tight. Five minutes a day is all I need. It feels so good! It is works for all the muscle groups from legs to back to arms to neck and I can even get into my hips and glutes with it. I do use it in combination with stretching to help work out the kinks and knots in my muscles. One of the big perks about it is that I can do on my own. To maximise my recovery I also use my Saucony compression socks and Ultragen recovery shakes and have seen a noticeable improvement in recovery between workouts.

I frequently give the stick as a gift and have never heard any negative reviews about it. So, if you don't have one yet..... go get one NOW!!!!

Bye Bye Crosstraining!

I have spent the last several weeks trying to be "chill." I was instructed by my coach to take some time mentally and physically off from triathlon. This was a bit of a challenge for me as I love the life style and structure of triathlon.

Of course we did some of the usual cross training stuff, a good bit of cleaning, and eating the last few weeks but I also took the opportunity to try a few new things. First on the list was a self defense class for runners. Since I will be likely running in the dark this winter and many winters to come I thought it would be a beneficial thing to do! We learned how to get away from someone if they grab you by the wrist, waist, neck, or pony tail. I really hope I never have to use this knowledge but it was fun. I also took a couple jiu jitsu classes which I really enjoyed. It was pretty entertaining to see some of these smaller girls drop 200 pound men to the floor. Finally, my last cross training activity was playing wii. I have played way to much wii over the last couple weeks. However, Jose and I have almost beat Mario so I expect until we do there will probably be way to much wii in my future too.

The official start of my training for the 2011 season was yesterday and I am so happy to see rn, bike, swim back in the routine.

What I use Wednesday

This week I am sharing one of my favorite race day products. First I want to say yes SBR is a sponsor for my team, Trakkes. However, I was introduced to and started using this product long before they sponsored my team. I will never recommend nor does my team as me to recommend anything I don't honestly believe in. Trakkers just happens to have some great sponsors!

So the product is Trislide by SBR Sports. Oddly enough my mother in law also introduced me to Trislide. Apparently she knows her stuff! Trislide is an "aerosol skin lubricant" or as I like to call it anti chaffing stuff and hurry up and get outta my wetsuit stuff!

Why I LOVE Trislide.....
1. It prevents me from getting chaffed. Obviously! But seriously it works really well. I spray it on the neck, wrists, and ankles of my wetsuit, on the inside of my tri shorts, around the edges of my sports bra, and inside my shoes.
2. Since it is an aerosol spray you get the perfect "coating" and there is no caking or rubbing over and over as opposed to some other products out there. Just a nice spray and you are good to go..
3. It doesn't melt in your tri bag!
4. It is fun to spray.

Try it.... you will love it I promise!

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Triple T

Its been oven a week since I finished triple t and I still think I could sum up that race report with one word. OUCH!

Rather than write a detailed race report of how each each segment of all four races went(which would be really long and only include declining heart rate with corresponding declining output and a lot of "OUCHES"), I will just give some of my thoughts on the race. I heard about triple t Ohio a few years ago and have been trying to fit it into my race schedule ever since. So when they added one a four hour drive from me, offered it at half price, put great prizes at stake,and it fell on a weekend I had nothing planned for, I signed up. I will say now that I greatly underestimated the difficulty of triple t, maybe I was still broken down from nationals but Sunday hurt! I was smart enough to realize that having a teammate would be more fun and managed to talk BC into racing with me. Of course the hubby wasn't going to miss out and then our friend John jumped on the band wagon. So we had a nice group of four for the long weekend.

We arrive at the race sight Friday afternoon and checked in. I was instantly excited about the weekend. Transition was set up just off the lake at an FAA camp. The whole weekend was a truly unique atmosphere. People were very relaxed and you didn't have that nervous energy that typically appears at races. We never felt the need to lock our car and left our shoes at the swim start all day. The race director did a fantastic job. Courses were well marked, every event started on time, results were quickly available, and they provided plenty of food all weekend which was free to all athletes. I do have two complaints. First the roads were a little bumpy and second they only put your race number on your right arm so it was very hard to keep track of people as you couldn't see their race numbers. Oh and one last possibly negative comment. Everyone had to wear the same jerseys. This added a very neat aspect to the race, but it made me really appreciate my awesome Trakkers kit which is made by Saucony. My race kit is much more comfortable.

I will tell a little bit more about the races. Friday night was a super sprint which was a fun way to get some speed in and kick of the weekend. And, oh yeah BC laid down a 5 minute mile for 5th fastest overall run of the day.... take that boys. Saturday brought two olympic distance races. The first one is traditional and I have nothing exciting to say about it. The second one starts at 3 pm it is a bike, swim, run and where you start to feel the pain. It is also where I learned It would probably be better to take the time to deal with a wetsuit than deal with the time lost from cramping while swimming hard off the bike in 71 degree water.

Sunday was the final race, a half. Going into the race BC and I had a pretty generous cushion between us and second place so we decided to take it a little easy. I am so glad we had that option as it was a rather painful race even at the more enjoyable pace we set. The totals are four races with over 140 miles total for the weekend.

Would I do this race again? No probably not..... this was a bucket list race for me. It was fun and I would recommend it, but it's done for me! I would however go up there again if others were racing and just race the half on Sunday. Even though I say I would not do the race again I am very glad I did it. And, oh yeah we had a bidet in our 1970's hotel, but no.... no one tried it..... maybe we will have to go back?

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