This is so disgusting. I went for a bike ride yesterday morning (after swimming, before running, like I do) and at one point I rode through a veritable swarm of tiny bugs. I’m sure I swallowed at least one, inhaled a few more, and at least 50 dead bugs were stuck in the sweat and sunscreen on my arms and chest. I look like your parents’ car after a long road trip.

The run wasn’t gross, but involved a knee that put it’s foot down after two miles.

The swim was lovely, right at sunrise, and sadly my last open water swim of the season aside from two more races. Thus must be what the skiers are so mopey about in May. It’s sad to see something end for the year.

Surprise!

I already had a list of reasons to be nervous about my next triathlon, and now I come to realize there’s one more: It starts at 2 pm.  What?  Grrr.  It didn’t occur to me to check what time it started since, you know, 99.999999997% of triathlons are in the morning.  The only reason I was looking at the time was to be sure it started really early (like, 7 am) instead of later (8 am) so I’d be avoiding the heat.

But no.  I’ll be wrapping up my race after 5 pm. WTF? 

Looking on the brightside, at least I can sleep in and don’t have to get up at 4:30 am.

But on the much broader dark side, what am I supposed to do all morning?  Sit around and be nervous? Drink Gatorade?  It’s just weird.

I emailed the race officials to suggest they make the time more apparent, and they replied, “It’s on the main race page Mel… not sure how we could highlight better.”

I’m sorry.  If it’s not above the fold, I don’t think you can say it’s “on the main race page.”  If you have to scroll down past the transition maps, hotel information, pictures of the t-shirt, sample training plans, and three charts of pricing, I’m not sure how you’re not sure how you could highlight better.  How about in the nice white space under the date and location…the time?

It’s just making me feel even more over it and ready to start reallocating my free time from the gym to the couch.

Gratuitous Picture of Yourself Wednesday! Bridesmaid Edition

I got my bridesmaid’s dress for my sister’s wedding!  It has optional skinny straps, which I will probably use for the reception to facilitate intense boogying down without worry of accidental nudity.

I want to get a big gold statement necklace, like this or similar:

And I want to get some sun.  Who knew I had tan lines?  They’re not even tan lines.  Just different shades of pale lines.  I thought it was just the shadow of my head, but you can see them on my back, too.  

I think I have slacked a bit in the maid of honor department, but the least I can do is show up all one color.

Weekend Update

I feel like such a lame-o lately on Mondays.  Because everybody’s all like, “What did you do this weekend?”  And I’m all like, Think of something cool, think of something awesome you did. But pretty much every Monday I say, “I swam. And biked.  And ran.  What about you?”

I have been in training mode since January.  Because I had a lot of ground to cover to get from occasional workout DVD-er to triathlete.  So while I have enjoyed long rides on the Platte and swam miles in beautiful Bowles Reservoir, I’m also kind of just ready to be done.  The end is in sight!

• Next weekend: bridal shower in Seattle.
• The next weekend: Boulder Sunset! My first Olympic.  Ack.
• The weekend after that: wedding in Minnesota
• Then one weekend “off,” and finally the sprint in Longmont the next weekend, 9/25.

One more month until my “season” is over.  It started back in April, so I feel like I have put in my time.  I am ready to hibernate.

Oh, right.  I started to write down what I did this weekend.  I actually ran farther than I have ever run, 7 miles, on Saturday.  That was cool.  Then yesterday we swam a mile in the reservoir, biked 10 miles on the Platte, and ran for 30 minutes, also on the Platte.  Less than half the distances for the next race for the bike and run, and I was hot and tired.  Not encouraging.  (Though perhaps I ought not have enjoyed so many free cocktails at Eden Saturday night.)

My favorite part of the weekend was going on a meandering walk in the neighborhood last night.  We rolled around with Harper in the new grass by the old hospital.  Do all dogs love grass this much?  We don’t really have any (we have plants and trees and brick in the yard) and H-Dog goes nuts for it.

Also I made Harper try on glasses.  Because it’s hilarious.

Gratuitous Picture of Yourself Wednesday! Cute Doggie Edition

There are three mammals in this photo:

1. Winston, the large dog who is the actual owner of this dog bed.
2. Me, the person sewing up the hole in the bed.
3. Harper, the smaller dog who chewed the hole in the bed and who is playing on it while I try to sew it back up.

Renting FTW!

Three years ago I was all about renting.  I was pretty anti-homeownership.  I liked my flexibility, the market was scary, you get to call someone else when stuff breaks, and owning in San Diego was way more expensive than renting anyways. (Plus, you don’t own your home anyways, you lease it from the government and pay “rent” in the form of property taxes, but that’s a whole ‘nother thing.)

What can I say?  Both my parents were in the Navy.  I went to four high schools.  My parents didn’t buy their first home until they were in their 50s.  It’s genetic.

But then, hey, there was a story on the news about tax credits for home buyers proposed as part of the big stimulus bill back in 2008.  Um, okay.  My principles are for sale.  I suggested we consider looking at homes on a Thursday.  That Saturday I met with a realtor.  We looked at six places, and the next Sunday we made an offer.

And I love our place.  And the tax benefits.

But hello, summer of 2011!  The air conditioning broke.  The water heater leaked.  And a drafty window let water seep into walls, creating a lovely musty odor.

The problem with these issues was not how much they cost to fix. (About $2,100.)  The problem was that the air conditioning went out at about 8 am on a super hot day.  The repairman came around 3 pm. 

For seven hours I was terrified that we needed a new air conditioner, that the guy was going to tell me I needed a new one even if I didn’t, that it would cost maybe $6,000 ( I couldn’t get a good estimate from the internet), that the guy would sort of fix it in a way that would cause it to explode, that it was leaking something scary into the ground. The potential for disaster is seemingly limitless.

I miss renting.  And not having to worry about having emergency house repair savings. Meh.

22 Days until the next race!

My next race is the Boulder Sunset Olympic triathlon.  I am nervous about this race for a few reasons:

1. It is the longest tri I have done.  And the longest race I have ever done.  And just the longest workout I’ve ever done.  My goal time is 3:30-3:45.  Even my long workouts usually top out at 2:00-2:30.
2. I swam in the Boulder Reservoir for the first time a few weeks ago.  The water was a lot choppier than the calm Bowles Lake I was used to.  Did not like! 
3. The swim start will be in waves.  I haven’t done that before.  The first tri I did was in a pool, and you just swam in your own lane until you were done.  The second was a time trial start, so we went one at a time into the lake at about five second intervals.  I’m a bit worried about getting kicked in the face.
4. The bike looks insane.  Above is the elevation profile.  The downhill is as scary as the uphill, if not more.  Above is from the website.  But this is what I see:

So, the next 22 days will be all about bike hills!  Well, who am I kidding.  The next 22 days will be all about swimming (because I love it) and spending time worrying about hills.

Flip flopper

I am considering wearing my flip flops for the bike portion of my next triathlon. Why?

I should start by saying I don’t have fancy clipless pedals, and I have no intention of getting them anytime soon. Because I like to ride my bike around without having to wear silly looking shoes. Because you don’t get much more efficiency from them. And because I like to move my feet just a bit backwards and forward for comfort on a long ride. To each her own, but no special bike shoes for me.

The last two triathlons I put on my running shoes after the swim, wore them on the bike ride, then obviously kept them on for the run.

It’s kind of hard to put socks and shoes on wet feet, though. If I waited until I was done with the bike, then my feet would be dry and it would be easier to put on socks and shoes for the run. Plus, if it’s hot, it might be nice to have nearly nekkid feet.

In researching googling what might be good or bad about this, one thing I saw was that a big advantage to cycling shoes is that they have stiff soles. This allows for more efficient transfer of energy from your foot to the pedal than with soft soles. Running shoes, with their softer soles, can sometimes cause problems or foot injuries for cyclists. (Probably for more serious cyclists than I, but anyways.)

But my flip flops have really stiff soles! Stiffer than my running shoes for sure.

Bonus: If I wear flip flops on my bike, I will dramatically lower expectations for my performance. “Oh, that girl is wearing flip flops. She is clearly doing this for fun, not to win. I should refrain from judging how slow she is.”

I’m really not seeing a downside here. What am I missing?

Oh, hello.

Since we last spoke I …

• Got a glorious new bed and moved it into a different room in our home.  It’s a bigger room, but like our old bedroom, it contains only a bed, two nightstands, the dog bed, and a ton of natural light.  It’s so zen I can’t stand it.
• Went to my company picnic.  Got a ridiculous rug burn on my elbow from the inflatable slide.  Felt awkward in my Tyr Maxback while my coworkers hung out in bikinis on the swim beach.  But…one, I could hardly dress more modestly at work unless I wore a hijab.  Two, it was free entry to the Boulder Reservoir!  Damned if I wasn’t going to sneak in a free open water swim.

  

• Discovered doing a six minute run/one minute walk combination means I can run much farther and crazy faster.  Like, 2-3 miles at 11-12 minute miles vs. 5 miles at 10 minute miles. What? I KNOW.
• Feeling much better about the 6.4 mile run in my Olympic triathlon coming up.  Less doomed, more just regular dread.
• Received many of the RSVPs I worried about so much are starting to come in for my sister’s wedding.  My bridesmaid dress will be here soon, and I want to find a big gold statement necklace to wear with it.
• Finished another book.  I’m at 16 down out of a goal of 25 for the year.

 The summer has been silly busy.  I look forward to things calming down in the fall.