New Year’s Day: Now is the accepted time to make your regular annual good resolutions. Next week you can begin paving hell with them as usual.
Mark Twain
For those who actually follow through with their resolutions (or at least try):
Cheers to a new year and another chance for us to get it right.
Oprah Winfrey
Happy New Year!
Looky, looky:
Ok, so the yellow LIVESTRONG bracelets aren’t anything new, but this one is new to me! My old one broke a while ago, and I finally have a new one.
I haven’t always been Lance’s biggest fan - let’s be honest, I didn’t really think about cycling much at all until I decided to do a triathlon - but I’ve always thought LAF & those little yellow bracelets were great. Maybe it’s because I’m a sucker for a cause, maybe it’s because they’re yellow, I don’t know. I was in need of some new train reading a few months ago, and Cap lent me his copy of It’s Not About The Bike. It went from train reading to lunchtime reading to commute-home reading, and I finished it in one day. I was totally absorbed in Lance’s story. Before I read it, Lance Armstrong was just some dude who had won the Tour de France an obscene amount of times - a really good guy who survived cancer and started that thing with the yellow bracelets. And now? I’m in awe. I just finished Every Second Counts, and I’m about to start No Mountain High Enough. Lance Armstrong, you have a new fan.
Want a LIVESTRONG bracelet? They’re a dollar. http://www.livestrong.org/
The February 2008 issue of Runner’s World is out, and there’s a feature article on the 2007 LaSalle Bank Chicago Marathon. Check it out. I picked it up for some plane reading on the way back from Cleveland, mostly because I saw that on the cover.
I also found a new goal. Inspired by Tony Reed (there’s an article about him), I’m going to aim for 50 marathons by my 50th birthday. Seems like a pretty reasonable goal – I’ve already done one, so that averages out to two per year plus one more. Life-altering injury aside? I think I can make this.
Happy Christmas, everyone! I hope Santa filled your stockings with lots of nice toys. I found some fabulous tri-themed goodies under my tree this year:
Insulated water bottles At first, I thought Cap was trying to suggest that we take the bikes outside this winter, but then I remembered that insulation works both ways. These bottles keep cold drinks cold. I’ve always been a fan of cool or lukewarm water over ice cold, but Cap reminded me that my 70.3 is at the end of July, and in addition to keeping hydrated, I’ll need to keep myself cool (Chicago Marathon, anyone?).
A bike computer Definitely something that I needed, but wouldn’t have bought for myself anytime soon. I’d held off on buying one of these because my focus was on keeping my balance, figuring out the gears, and getting used to being in the saddle. Tracking my stats seemed like a secondary objective. But, now that I have a computer, I’ll have the equivalent of my Nike+ for the bike – I can log cadence, wattage, and mileage, and I’ll be able to set benchmarks for my training.
A wetsuit My parents are fabulous. When I told them a year ago that my New Year’s resolution for 2007 was to do a half-marathon in May and a marathon by the end of the year, they thought I was crazy. They know I’m stubborn, but didn’t entirely expect me to train for either event, much less finish. How do they feel about 2008’s resolution of a 70.3? Well, they’re making sure that I won’t be too chilly during that swim in Lake Michigan! They’re coming to visit at the beginning of January, and we’ll be going wetsuit shopping.
A day planner La Roommate got me another something that I wouldn’t have picked up myself, but which will be super super valuable – a pretty little day planner made by Graphic Image. I just filled in the dates of the races I know I’m doing in 2008 (Flying Pig Marathon, Spirit of Racine Triathlon, Chicago Marathon), and I’ll be using the week-at-a-view agenda to log training stats. Sure, this info goes in my Outlook, but I like to have a hard copy of everything, too! This particular planner also has maps of major cities, so if I decide to go for a run in Prague, or swim off the Gulf coast, I can log those. Oh yeah, and the cover is shiny.
[I’m writing this away from home, so I don’t have everything in front of me right now. I’ll update this post later with specs and photos]
carpe viam
(seize the road)
Once upon a time, way back in September, I did a little analysis of a 1/2 IM training plan I’ve been looking at. It’s a 20-week plan, and while I originally intended to start it this fall, that didn’t exactly happen. I ran, I swam, and I got a little bit better on the bike, but I pretty much forgot about ze plan.
Enter a New Year’s Resolution of sorts: start this plan in January of 2008 (specifically, start it on the first Monday of ‘08, since I’m weird and would rather start on a Monday than a Tuesday), and work onward and upward from there.
Some things have changed since this fall: I got a bike, it got too snowy/icy to run outside, and post-Christmas, I’ll have a wetsuit (yeah, it’s not really a surprise gift). Some things need to change before I start a more focused training program: I’ve been a bit lax with my daily water intake, I could be eating a bit healthier, and I really ought to get more sleep.
The first 20 weeks of 2008 will be intense, but I’m definitely looking forward to it. Serious Runner, are you joining me on this plan?
I need to find a new gym. Here are my current options (although I’m open to suggestions for reasonably-priced Chicago gyms!):
The gym at school: For $78 per quarter and $39 in the summer, I can go to a rec center with a four-court gym, a six-lane pool, dozens of cardio machines, three racquetball courts and strength-training equipment. It’s open from 8am to 8pm, and is on my commute route between home/school/work.
The gym at work: For $30 per month, I can use the fitness center in my office building, which is filled with top of the line cardio and strength training equipment, expertly designed entertainment systems, beautiful finishes and offer[s] a wide array of innovative classes, personal training, massage, nutrition counseling and much more. It’s just downstairs from work, so I can drop in at the end of the day. The extra bonus is that if I get a membership, I can use the showers on days that I bike to work in the spring. The not-so-bonus part is that I’d be locked into a 12-month agreement, and if I stop working in the building, there’s not much of a point.
Suggestions, anyone?
Tomorrow is the first official day I start my swim training for the 1/2 ironman. It’s gonna be more of an experiment trial to test my swimming endurance. I’m also going to ride the bike a little bit, which will be good for some cross-training. I have to ease back into my running, which so far so good. If my hip starts acting up again, the doctor wants a bone scan. So I’m keeping my fingers crossed!
If you want to learn to swim, jump into the water. On dry land, no frame of mind is ever going to help you.
Bruce Lee
The beautiful blue box that showed up the other day contained my swag from the Nike+ Women’s 1/2 Marathon - a spiffy little keychain that just doesn’t photograph as well as I want it to (although I just ordered a new camera, so maybe I’ll get a decent photo with that!). If you’re a runner, that’s not a disappointment. If you’re not a runner, well, there could have been more exciting things in that Tiffany box.
I also got a pretty little technical tee. It’s my favorite race tee so far. Nike knows their stuff!
Speaking of presents…there is an overabundance of gift baskets in my office. I like to think that I have enough self-control to not gorge myself on the contents of said gift baskets, but it’s definitely a challenge. Lucky for me, I don’t like sweets very much - there’s a giant basket of chocolate-covered pretzels and fudge sitting right in front of me, and I’m totally ignoring it. The gourmet popcorn tin? Not so much…but popcorn counts as carbs, right?
Pssh. I’m going to be logging lots of miles on the bike this week, anyhow. 24 on dvd + trainers + cyclist boyfriend = I’ll be dominating the roads by spring!
We’re Jenny and Kayleigh, two cousins who are training for assorted events leading up to (eventually) an Ironman triathlon. This blog exists to keep us in check and (sometimes, when we remember to) log our training. We’ll also post about events, nutrition, fitness apparel, and anything else we can think of that relates to running, biking, and swimming.
