One Addiction to Another

Well, I have had a couple of new changes in my life. I have decided that I'm tired of looking like I'm 5 months pregnant, because of all the carbonation I'm drinking during the day from my Diet Pepsi's. I've ALWAYS hated coffee, but I thought I'd give it a try, in place of my sodas. First couple of coffee drinks, I had to choke it down, but now I'm loving this whole new world. I've decided that I just love the taste of Irish Cream Brewed Coffee. Yum! I've also learned that my body doesn't handle the "Red Eye" at Starbucks very well. I'm just thrilled I'm off my addiction to soda and on to a new one. I think that as an athlete, you have that addictive personality. Thank goodness that I generally have all healthy addictions, with the exception of my new one, coffee. If that's the worse one, I think I'll be alright.
Now, another new addiction is, Twitter. I discovered it this week and it's just so much fun! It reminds me a lot of Facebook, but it's basically all "status updates." You should check it out: www.twitter.com. I think you'd enjoy it just as much as me.

I missed my bike!

You never realize how much you get used to something until it's gone for awhile. When I got into a bike crash about a month ago, I had to send my beloved pink Planet X bike off to get fixed. During that time, I rode my old Litespeed. I loved my Litespeed before I even laid eyes on my Planet X, but having to go back to it was very hard. Had a cute little bike seat on my Planet X, but was having to ride a bigger, bulkier seat that I did not like at all. Maybe it was all in my head, but I even felt slower on my group rides. Fortunately, it didn't take long at all before my beautiful bike came home. I just always thought I could get on any bike and never think twice about it, but I learned otherwise. So, I guess I won't be changing or upgrading my bike anytime soon. I'll stick with my barbie bike! :-)

To hire a coach or not.

I have always thought about getting a coach to help me put stucture into my workouts. I would run 6 days a week, never get on my bike, except for the weekend group rides, and swim a couple days a week. The quality of my workouts were bad. When not racing, I am LAZY. Why hurt if I'm not going to get a prize at the end?!? So, how would I work on my speed? I would just race a lot. It's worked out so far for me, but I want to step it up a level and know I can't do it on my own.
I have a friend that works with LifeSport Coaching and he hooked me up with one of their top coaches, Paul. Being a single mother of three, my budget is super tight. I was planning on signing up for the cheapest plan they had to offer. Paul convinced me that I needed to do the mack daddy plan, if I want to move up in the triathlon world. So, now living on Ramen Noodles and water, I am getting my butt kicked on a daily basis by my coach, Dan. I look at my week training schedule and think, "Isn't this supposed to be my off season?!? What is Coach Dan going to put me through come tri season?" Needless to say, I will either be an amazing triathlete by the end of this year or broken down and retired. :-)

I stink at Blogging!

Yep, I have figured out that I stink at blogging. I've never been one to keep a diary and so it's been hard to set some time to blog. 2009 resolution: Be a better blogger!

Girls on the Run

Part of my sponsorship with Team StayPut, is that I have to work a "Girls on the Run" race. Well, I signed up for the Atlanta 5k race in November. I wasn't sure what to expect. I was nervous about finding the race site, since I'm not familiar with Atlanta. Yes, I did get lost on the way there and even trying to find my way back to my hotel, but it was worth it. It was so neat to see all those kids running with 5k with their parents or coach. A 5k is a long way for most kids. Girls on the Run is such a neat program that prepares girls for a 5k race. They promote health and fitness for kids, which I'm a big believer.
When I finally got to the race site, my Goody's StayPut sponsors had a couple of tents set up with tables full of cute hair products for the girls. The girls could pick out what they wanted in their hair and we would fix their hair for them. Well, I'm not very good at that (you can ask my daughter,) so I felt sorry for my little victims. All the kids seems really happy just getting some really cool hair products, so that great. Even though hair styling isn't my thing, I had a blast. I would definitely volunteer again.

I have lost my mind!

You would think that injuring my back would discourage me from doing something crazy, like signing up for an ironman, but it didn't. I went to watch friends compete in the Florida Ironman race in Panama City Beach. I do this every year, because it is truly inspiring to see these athletes finish such a long race. And in the past, even though I admire those athletes, I had no desire to race that distance. Well, this year, I've been going back and forth about doing an ironman. One day, I would search for a cool ironman race to do, then the next day thinking there's no way I could do that distance. After Ironman Florida, I had a strong urge to sign up. I felt like I was ready. I didn't get up at the crack of dawn and wait in line to sign up, like most people did, but I drove the 2 hours home, went for a run, and decided that if there were still spots left, I would sign up online. Sure enough, there was. So, I signed up. Immediately after, I thought, "What the heck did I do?!?" Not sure if I made the right decision, but I'm committed. I'm not looking forward to it either, although I feel so out of shape and like a big blob right now. Maybe in August I will feel like I'm ready. I will keep you posted.

How time flies by!

Well, an Aussie friend of mine reminded me that I was neglecting my Blog and to update it. If I could only do it from my cell phone, it would be updated daily. :-)
A lot has happened since my last blog. Seems like a week after my last blog, I hurt my back. Not sure exactly how it happened, but I went to my chiropractor one morning and by the evening, I couldn't walk. Had an MRI done on it and found the a had a tear in one of my disks. Let me tell you, it was painful! I hate taking medicine, unless I absolutely have to, but I was tempted to ask my doctor for some pain meds during that time. Well, I got through it without anything. A good friend of mine works at Florida State University as a physical therapist for the all the athletes. She was kind enough to rehab me. I tell you what, those athletes have it made at FSU. I felt like a kid in a candy store. They had all the coolest equipment, had a room of just orthodics, and a huge storage room of anything an athlete might need (compression socks, etc..) Robin, my physical therapist friend, had me run on an underwater treadmill. No, it's not water running, but a treadmill in a pool, where the water was chest deep. After the first time I ran on it, I left with a huge smile on my face, because I had gone so long without running and I missed it terribly. Eventually, Robin not only had me run on the underwater treadmill for an hour, but moved me to their on land treadmill. Now, I am back running on the road and slowly building my mileage back up. I'm supposed to run in a 15K on Thursday and not sure if I'm going to be able to complete the whole race, since the longest I've run in the last month is 6 miles. Should be interesting.