Just an edit

Just as an edit, I have mentioned my 2008 training totals in a previous post. Here they are again:

2008 totals
Bike: 18h 18m 51s - 16.4 Mi
Run: 29h 26m 04s - 68.5 Mi
Swim: 140h 13m - 65275 Yd
Strength: 4h 43m
Yoga: 6h 00m

You may notice the distances look very low for the amount of time I had been training.

Just as an explination so that you don't think I have replaced Mr. Snail:



The workout distances were only from the workouts where I actually recorded distance. In all of my workouts, I record time, but only in some workouts do I record distance. This is usally because I don't have accuratly measured courses to track distance. Sometimes (such in swimming) I don't want to count every lap I swim, especially when a coach is designing the workout (and I don't have to worry about designing my own).

So in short, I am not Mr.Snail (Mr. Snail just gave a huge sigh of reilef). Those distances are only from a couple of workouts- not all of them!

Whew! Okay. Over and out!

One year triathlon anniversery!

I offically became a triathlete one year ago today! I never thought I would stay with the sport so long. When I used to workout, the longest time I ever did it consistently was for about 5 months. This was from a few years ago when I was running almost every day. I never did run more then 4 miles at once though. Now 4 miles would be considered an easy run!

I love working out consistently a lot more than just randomly starting and stopping (which I have done for the past few years). I hate the feeling of gaining fitness, only to lose it all a few months later.

I started keeping a workout log on the computer this January. This log actually totals up all the workout distances I have done thus far. Since January first, I have done this much:

2008 totals
Bike: 18h 18m 51s - 16.4 Mi
Run: 29h 26m 04s - 68.5 Mi
Swim: 140h 13m - 65275 Yd
Strength: 4h 43m
Yoga: 6h 00m

This is not including everything from June through December of last year!

Also, this past year, I have done 4 triathlosn, 2 5K races, countless swim meets, and a bicycling event.

I wounder how far I will have came a year from today?

Ice skating!

I swam the VCS open water challenge in Lake Erie yesterday. The water was so frigid, I am suprised the lake didn't freeze over and become an ice skating rink!

I began the journey to this lake on Friday. This was a day before the meet actually began. I had to leave this soon in order to make the four hour drive to Sandusky, Ohio (where the meet was held). My parents and I left at about 5 O'clock in the afternoon on Friday. We arrived at the hotel at about 9 O'cock in the evening.

I can say nothing about the drive except that it was incredibly LONG! I am not a huge fan of long car trips. They are so boring and mind- numbing! This car trip did, however, give me plenty of time to work on some of my summer homework. It also gave me plenty of time to study my driver's handbook, which I am going to memorize cover to cover. I really want to learn how to drive!

When we arrived at the hotel (it was a Hyatt) I was extremely suprised about how nice it looked. Everything about this suite-type hotel was extremly modern looking. This included the TV!

A neat screen saver type-design was flasing across the TV. I must have stared at this design a good 5 minutes after I walked in the room. I never saw anything like it before! The next thing I did after arriving in the hotel was to immediately fall asleeep.

After I woke up the following day and ate breakfast, me and my parents had to begin another hour long drive; this time we drove from the hotel to the place where the swim meet was located (the closest hotel my mom could find was an hour away from the swim meet).

After arriving at the meet and checking in, the first thing I did was to test the water and see how cold it was. I knew it was not going to be very warm, after hearing someone say that "it was the coldest water we've had in a long time" but I was still curious about the exact temperature.

Oh my gosh! The water was freezing! It felt like ice from the deepest parts of the freezer! It felt like Antartica in the winter! It felt like being barefoot in the snow!

Did I mention it was cold?

I spent the entire hour long warm-up trying to get used to the water. I stuck my feet in first. This was followed by my legs, followed by my waist, followed by my face. This warm-up (a.k.a. "freeze up") did not happen all at once. Every time I dipped a new part of my body into the water, I would have to run back out to dry land for a minute to warm up.

The only reason I was doing this "freeze up" in the first place was to prevent myself from hypervenilating when the actual swim race started. I also did not want the shock of stepping into cold water for the first time; I wanted to get used to the water gradually.

By the time "freeze-ups" were over, parts of my body were turning blue. I was also shaking like a leaf. The last thing I wanted to do was to get back in the Antartic waters.

I had to step back in eventually, though. The race director was calling for my wave to start!

While waiting to start, I was extremely nervous. I was also still shaking like a leaf. By this point, I would have rather gotten my head cut off then to go back in that frigid water.

By the time the horn blew to begin the race, I had to put all these doubts aside and just enter the water!

Oh my gosh! The water was frigid! I waited for the longest time to put my face into the water. By the time I mustered up enough courage to do so, the entire pack of swimmers was already long gone. For the rest of the swim, I was on my own.

By this time, I was not concered with swimming fast. My goals were just to survive the race, not freeze to death, and not get lost. With no pack of swimmers in front to guide me, I had no idea where I was going.

Eventually, I got so lost that a lifeguard pointed out the rest of the course for me. I followed her instructions while still freezing myself, but not yet ready to quit.

As I kept swimming, the water would continue to get deeper. This added depth brought extra coldness. Oh my gosh! It felt like the coldest day recorded at the North Pole, minus about a million degrees.

As I rounded the buoy where we were supposed to turn, I kept getting increasingly cold. I started woundering about quitting. I could not take these freezing temperatures any longer.

How should I do it, I woundered. Should I just swim to the shorelone about 100 yards away, or wait untill I finish this first lap (out of 3) and just stop and not do any more laps.

Thankfully, I did not have to think through this puzzle much longer. I started swimming with my head up. It must have been an instinct thing, with my body trying to conserve its little remaining heat.

Another lifeguard came to me and asked me if I was okay. I told him that the water was freezing and that I wanted to quit. He called down a boat to pick me up. By the time the boat arrived, two other swimmers also decided to quit. Apparently I wasn't the only one that found the water freezing!

The boat arrived, but we had to swim what felt like a mile in order to reach it (and was probably only about 25 yards). By this time, I could barely move my arms and legs because they were so cold and stiff. After doing an intresting compination of arm and leg dragging, doggie paddle, and breaststroke, I finally reached the boat.

A lifeguard had to literally drag me on to the boat. Like I said, I could barely move my arms and legs (making climbing on a boat impossible).

When I arrived on the boat, me and the two other people that had to quit all looked freezing. One boy's cheeks were bright red. My mom later said my cheeks were tomato-red as well (she also said my nose was blue).

When I arrived on the boat, I huddled myself in a ball, shaking like a leaf. I was also covered in goosebumps. I was overjoyed to be out of that freezing cold water! After an awesome 5 minute boat ride across the lake, it was time to offically quit. I gave the race director my number and walked off the boat. We had to walk across some knee-deep water in order to get off the boat, and to shore. I ran through this water as fast as I could!

When I arrived back on shore, I huddled myself in a towel for several minutes. I also later took a hot shower and changed into some warm clothes. I felt really bad about quitting, but knew I couldn't have physically went any farther- even if I had wanted to.

I remained shaking and freezing cold for about half an hour. I was still a little chikled even after the shower! I was only in the water for a total of about ten minutes during the race. No telling what would have happened had I decided to go farter.

After another long car trip, I was glad to be home. I had a fun time during this trip. It was nice seeing a new side of my state that I have never visited before, and despite the frigidness, the lake I swam on was a beautiful lake.

I was so glad to get home though!

Revealing the secret...

I saw the light! (a.k.a. I actually learned a little bike lingo today).This means I can tell you exactly where the Secret Gear on my bike that makes me go oh-so-fast is located.

120 degrees north of the equator!

Never mind. I'll begin now with the awesome terminology I learned.


On the chain rings, I put the gear on the middle setting (my bike is a triple) and with the cogs (I have 7), I put it on the smallest cog (and shift to bigger ones when I go up a hill).

See, wasn't that neat! Can you belive a back of the backer who can only crack 10 mph going down a hill can actually say (err..write) those teams!

If you don't know what that means either, here are the definitinons.

Chainrings - Those are the gears in front, by your pedals. Most bikes have either two or three chainrings. Bikes with three chainrings are called "triples". How many does yours have? The biggest one is called the "big" ring, while the smallest is called the "small" ring. If you have three rings, then the very smallest is sometimes call the "granny" gear. And yes I have a granny gear.

Going from the smallest to the biggest rings will make pedaling "harder" but "faster" given the same cadence. Likewise, going from the big chainring to the smallest(smaller) chainring, will make pedaling "easier" but "slower", again for the same cadence.

Cogs - These are the gears by on your rear wheel. 9 or 10 cogs is the usual today. Here the opposite is true regarding easy/hard, slow/fast. Going from bigger cogs to smaller ones makes it harder to pedal, but you go faster for the same cadence while going from smaller cogs to larger ones makes it easy to pedal, but you go slower. Again, given the same cadence.

This was all explained to me by a nice person on beginnertriathlete.com who is great at helping confused newbies.

You learn something new everyday!

The Secret Gear

I discovered a secret gear on my bike that makes me go incredibly fast! This Secret Gear made me 5-10 minutes faster on my normal training loop.

"How did you discover this Secret Gear", you may be woundering.

Well..if I told you that, then the gear wouldn't be a secret anymore! Now would it?

Okay, fine. I will tell you. It probably won't make sense though. I don't know any bicycle lingo.

The Secret Gear is the middle gear (gear 2 out of 3- my gears correspond to numbers on my handlebars) located on the side of my bike that controls the big gears. This is followed by the gear with the greatest resistence (highest?) on the side of my bike that controls the gears you adjust more often. The gears you adjust more often are numbered from 1-7. 7 (the gear with the greatest resistence) was the gear I was riding the most often. This (highest?) gear will change a few places up (to a lower gear?) when I am riding up a hill.

I told you I didn't know bike lingo!

All I know is that it was a complete accident that I found this gear. The way I found this gear (completely giving away the secret!) was that I heard a clicking noise on my bike. Thinking the bike was out of gear, I shifted some of my gears to correct the mistake.

I moved my big gears up from the lowest gear with the least resistence , to the middle gear. After moving to this gear, I noticed that I actually moved forward. This is opposed to the gear I had been using which caused me to pedal madly, yet move nowhere!

The entire remainder of this quicker-than-normal bike ride, I blasted up hills and was actually able to pedal the downhills, instead of merely coasting them! This was all thanks to the wounderful new gear!

The only thing I regret from this ride is that I didn't find this Secret Gear sooner. I also regret one other thing: My knees were kind of hurting while in this Secret Gear. I tink I need to make the seat on my bicycle a little higher. My knees felt really squeezed-in while riding today. I was probably putting too much pressure on cramped knees.

I hope this new found speed wasn't just a fluke. If I am able to ride at a faster speed more cosistently, I have a good shot at being able to do an olympic triathlon this summer (in less than 5 hours)!

Happy swim workout!

Both yesterday and Friday, I swam on my own in the health club lap pool (swim team is only Monday-Thursday in the summer). On Friday, I swam a 5300 yard workout. Yesterday, I swam a 3600 yard workout.

Yesterday's workout was broken up into two parts: The first part was a little over 2,000 yards. The second part was a little over 1,000 yards.

The reason these workouts were broken up was because there was lightning in the pool. This meant I had to get out of the pool for about an hour until the storm passed. During this time, I decided to fo a little bicycle riding on the stationary bikes at the health club.

Unfortunately, there is one thing I always forget to bring when I plan to go swimming, but am not prepared to go bike riding

You guessed that right: Sneakers!!!

Just like a couple of weeks ago, I did my entire, hour long bike ride in flip-flops; however, being the amazingly talented flip-flop bicyclist I am, the shoes did not fall off even once!

I also got a blazing fast average speed while riding the stationary bike: 13 mph!!! If I could go that fast on my mountain bike, then I likely wouldn't finish triathlons in last place!

Maybe I need go bicycle riding in flip-flops more often...

After looking out the window about once every two minutes to see if the pool would finally re-open (I was ready to get off that bike! Stationary bicycling is so boring.) I finally noticed people in the pool after about an hour.

By this time, I had been working out almost two hours and only wanted a quick cool down (hence, my last swim only being just over 1,000 yards); however, there were some obnoxious kids in the pool during this swim!

These two kids decided the funnest thing to do would be to wander into my lane to play Marco-Polo (They had the entire, otherwise empty, pool to do this). They played in my lane for about the first ten minutes of my swim. After wandering away for a few minutes, they decided to come back in my lane to practice their cannon ball skills. They finally left after I unintentionally ran into them while doing the backstroke.

Despite the annoying kids, I had a wonderful swim (like there's any swimming that isn't wonderful!!!). I can not wait for the open water swim meet I am doing this weekend!

I also had a nice, quick 45 minute run this morning. After a cople more long runs, and some shorter runs during the week to build a good running base, I will be SO ready to run a half marathon.

My first post on Pool Stories

If you want to see my first post on Pool Stories click here:

More bicycling than you can imagine...

I did a lot of bicycle riding these past 2 days. All together, I have done 3 rides in the past 36 hours, totaling up to almost 3 and a half hours spent in the saddle.

"Why so much bicycle riding?" you ask (Is that sentance grammaticly correct? Just woundering...)

There are a number of reasons I have been working so hard on this section of a triathlon merely between an awesonme swim and a nice run:

1. Because I am horrible at it and need more practice
.
2. Because I don't want to run and further hurt my ankle (After Sunday's 2:10 run followed by a giant shopping trip, my pancake-flat feet rebelled against me and decided to give me ankle pain)

3. I couldn't go to swim practice because my parents went to a Willie Nelson concert at the same time as practice would have been.

Because of all these things, I had plenty of time to work on my bicycling. I rode my bike for a little under an hour yesterday morning. I dragged my Schwinn out again yesterday night to ride for 1:30 (instead of going to swim practice).

This afternoon, being unable to run and wanting some exercise, I rode my bike yet again. This afternoon I rode it the same duration as yesterday morning- a little under an hour. My quads were definately tired this morning. I am not used to that much bicycling!

Don't worry though. This swimmer is leaving for tonight's practice in about 20 minutes. I will be back in the pool where I belong! I may still do a short bicycle ride tomorrow though. Bicycling may never be as good as swimming; however, it is fun to see myself improve in this unfamillar sport.

I can tell I'm impriving because I am finishing my regular training loops a lot faster then I was able to complete them even a month ago. I am even starting to enjoy sprinting up hills.

Yes, you read that right! I am sprinting up hills! There is a really steep hiil (to me anyway) on a section of a street I ride. This street is right on my way home from every bicycle workout. It is becoming a tradition for me to ride up that hill as fast as I can!

In other news, I was selected to author an awesome blog called Pool Stories. It is a blog about swimming and all the intesting thigs that happen at the pool. I have been reading the blog ever since it got started. It is a very intresting and funny blog! If you havn't read it already- you should. I am so honored I am able to contribute to this blog.

A full weekend

Yesterday, I had a wounderful day at the lake. I went up to the lake to have open water swim training with my swim team. We trained for the big open water meet that is comming up. The meet is three hours away in Cleveland. It should be fun!

We drove for about an hour and a half to get to the lake. When we got there, I got to splash around in the water a little before we started practice. After splashing around in the lake a little, the practice begun. All I have to say about the practice is that IT WAS SO MUCH FUN!!!!

We ended up swimming in various sections of the lake for a total of about fifteen minutes. I enjoyed every minute of it! I love swimming in lakes (unless they are freezing cold!). It feels so liberating. In lakes, there are no endless laps and blazing fast swimmers comming up from behind me every lap to pull on my toes. It was just me and the water!

The swim ended quickly because lunch was ready, and apparently we wern't going to do a long swim workout. I was disappointed we stopped so soon. Stopping the swim short was like taking a bite of a delicious food, and having the rest of the dish dangiling in front of you, but being unable to eat it. I enjoyed every moment of that short swim and didn't want the enjoyment taken away from me!

Despite not doing as much open water swimming as I would have liked, the rest of the day at the lake was wounderful! After lunch, we took a pontoon down to another section of the lake.

At this section of the lake, we were able to just splash around in the water. Little kids played games, daring individuals (not me!) decided to water ski. There were also a lot of rafts set out along the water. I decided to just lay on one and enjoy the lake. The lake was too cold to get fully submerged in!

We stayed out on this section of the lake for most of the afternoon. When we came back to the house where the get-together was held, I was very sunburned and tired. After dinner, we drove home (I fell asleep in the car) and arrived back at the house by 8:30 at night. We left for the lake at about 9:00 in the morning. This lake adventure made for a full day!

After I took a shower and washed all the grimy lake stuff off of me, I was ready to go to bed. When I woke up this morning it was time to go running. I ran for about 2:10, making for at least a 9 mile run -probably longer. This was the longest run I have ever done and I was very proud.

After my run, I went out shopping with my mom and grandma. I got some new clothes from Hollister (a cute pair of plaid shorts, and a blue top), a new swimsuit (my other swimsuits were getting old and baggy) and a pair of fins (I don't have any of my own and need some for swim practice).

All and all, this made for a pretty full weekend!

You might be a ____if...

I always love those "you might be a ____ if..." jokes. I always find them extremely hillarious, even if I am the complete opposite of what they are describing. Here are a few I found from various websites that I thought would be fun to share.

YOU MIGHT BE A TRIATHLETE IF…..

· You are sick to your stomach at 2:00 in the morning and check the back of the Pepto Bismol bottle for caloric content and grams of carbohydrates, fat and protein.

· You have plenty of water bottles, safety pins, and t-shirts. · You have trouble keeping lunch less than 2000 calories.

· You usually wake up at 4:00 in the morning but do not get to work until way after 9:00.

· You have a $4000 bike strapped on top of your $2000 car.

· You have no trouble pushing a day’s caloric intake to over 8000 calories.

· Your estate needs rain badly but you’re mad when it does because it screws up your run and bike schedule. In fact, you might be mad but you still go out for your ride or your run in the rain …

· You’re always wet! Either sweat, pool water, seawater, shower water, bath water or its p*****g down outside~

· Your bed time reading on your nightstand consists of a pile of: DeSoto catalogs; InsideTri; Triathlete, VeloNews, USMA Swim, etc.

· You haven’t bought work clothes in two years, yet you own bike shorts made by every manufacturer under the sun and can recite the merits of CoolMax, Supplex, etc. in your sleep!

· Your car has at least one Power Bar wrapper and two sets of work out clothes!

· You know you could make a killing at Jeopardy if only the categories were:- Pat winners of Hawaii Ironman – Legs shaving techniques – 40-30-30 diet- Aerodynamics racing wheels- Gastrointestinal problems and long runs- How to justify a $4000 bike……

· Your kids’ idea of playing is a bike and run race followed by cliff bars, water bottles and awards ceremony.

· Your laundry constantly smells like if someone locked the cat in overnight.

· You leave your apartment or house in the morning with your swim bag on one arm, bike on one shoulder, a change of clothes in another bag in case you can get away at lunch for a workout.

· You look like a pack mule wherever you go.

· You wave at other cyclists, because all triathletes are friendly and if they are not, they are probably purist cyclists trying to get into triathlons and they do not know that triathletes are friendly.

· You can’t decide what tee shirt to wear to your next race.

· You no longer take vacations but weekend triathlon junkets.

· You have far more pairs of shoes in your closet than your non-tri wife does in hers.

· The only “suit” you own has a QR on the chest.

· You think about having sex, but you don’t want it to affect your morning run splits. (Or if you do, you wear a heart rate monitor and measure your recovery time afterwards)

· Your living room has the “swim pile”, the “bike pile”, the “run pile” and the “weight room pile” and you pick and choose from a cafeteria-like area on your way out the door.

· Your kitchen cupboards are organized into “protein”, “carbs” and “etc”

· Your breakfast consists of enough bagels that the bagel guy hands you a freezer bag with your order.

· You’re tempted to do your long rides in a Speedo so that you don’t have a stupid tan for your next race.

· Your bath towel is never dry.

· You bring bottled water to a party so that you’re properly hydrated for the next morning’s long run.

· Everyone else at the party also brought their own bottled water because you don’t have a social life outside of triathlon. Oh yeah, and they all showed up by 7pm and left by 10pm.

· Your company announces mandatory unpaid shutdown days – every other Friday throughout the summer – in order to cut costs and stay in business, and your response is “Great – now I can do two long workouts on the weekends and still have an easy day.”

· You buy a separate dresser for your entire race t-shirts.

· Your 8-year old comes home with the school record for the mile and told you he took it out in a nice pace he could hold… everyone else died.

· You fill your kids’ water bottles with Cytomax instead of blue Gatorade.

· You can ask your mom and your sister and all other girlfriends for shaving advice!!!

· You say that you went to a race last weekend… and somebody responds “running or biking” and you are again forced to explain…

· Your co-workers catch you with a “King Sized” meal deal from Burger King, and you can smile and tell them that you will have no problem working this off on the way home.

· You started the day with a protein shake had a scone and latte after swimming and commuting, then head out for coffee with the co-workers and have a bagel and cream cheese.

· You wear your bathing suit under your work clothes to make a fast transition from work to swim on your lunch hour.

· You name your two new puppies Kona and Hawi.

· Your RST time is cut short by training.

· The dog hides until you’ve showered.

· Your spouse wants dinner out and a movie, so you agree, but fall asleep during the previews and catch hell.

· You realized that mowing the lawn is really smart – after being pinned at all morning.

· You show up at the neighbourhood pool on your bike in a Speedo and embarrass your teenage daughters.

· You’ve spent more on bikes in the last 10 years than you have on clothes for the past 50!

· Y our hair is never dry.

· You were awake for the Northridge quake (4:30AM) because you were out running… and you showed up for 6AM Masters swim workout and wondered where everybody was.

· Somebody hands you a cup of water and you have to restrain yourself form pouring it on your head.

· You forget that talking about daily LSD (Long Slow Distance) and speed freak some people out.

· You have no FRIGGIN idea what to do with yourself on your off day. (Dimmit, I mowed the lawn, cleaned the house, washed the car, and there’s STILL 4 hours of daylight left! Aarrgghh!)

· You come into the office every morning and check RST before you check your email.

· You return from your *Mini-vacation* more exhausted than before you left!

· You feel like you took the day off because all you did was swim 3000 yards.

Haha. I can Identify with about 10 of them! I would probably be able to identify with more if I was older and had been in triathlons for more than a year.

Here's a couple extras I thought of:
1. You never have less than 3 swimsuits drying on your towel rack at one time.
2. You have ran in a blizzard...and actually enjoyed yourself!
3. You go through about 5 swimsuits in a year.
4. While running in the rain, you have had someone tell you "you should be indoors." You just smile and keep running.

Another "You might be a ____ if" list...

You might be a swimmer if:

>If whenever you hear an electronic beep, and you instinctively jump, you might be a swimmer.

>If you have rings around your eyes unrelated to the amount of sleep you got, you might be a swimmer.

>If waking up before dawn to exercise seems normal, you might be a swimmer. (You might also be crazy)

>If jamming a piece of Styrofoam between your legs is not a kinky sexual activity, you might be a swimmer.

>If bugs die of chlorine poisoning when they land on your skin, you might be a swimmer.

>If you sport long, curling hair with split ends on your legs, you might be a swimmer.

>If the phrase "This set with fins" is better than hearing "You just won $1000," you might be a swimmer.

>If you answer, "I don't need to" when someone asks when you showered last, you might be a swimmer.

>If you love a good lightning storm when you have outdoor practice, you might be a swimmer.

>When you learn how to squirt water 15 different ways, you might be a swimmer.

>When your long term goal is to slap your bicep on your lat, you might be a swimmer.

> When you wake up before six for the free doughnuts, you might be a swimmer.

>When you go through so much latex in one season you could wallpaper your room, you might be a swimmer.

>If a friend asks how a certain guy dresses and you reply, "I only see him without his clothes on" you might be a swimmer. [SPEEDOS!!!]

>If your friends have stopped asking you about your plans for the evenings, you might be a swimmer.

>If you go from store to store desperately trying to find your favorite sports drink, you might be a swimmer.

>If the first place you go when you're stressed out is a swimming pool, you might be a swimmer.

>If among your heroes are Janet, Jenny, or Amanda, or you know who I'm talking about, you might be a swimmer.

>If your daily apparel is held together by knots or is torn and see through, you might be a swimmer.

>If you have an inhaler in every color of the rainbow, you might be a swimmer.

>If the phrase, "50 double armed backstroke with a breast stroke kick makes you happier than anything, you might be a swimmer.

>If being fish-like is a compliment, you might be a swimmer.

>If your friends don't even call you anymore because they know that you have no time to do anything, you might be a swimmer.

>If your nightmares consist of a series of numbers ending in 0 or 5, you might be a swimmer.

>If you have hickeys on your neck, you might be a swimmer or you might be lucky.

>If you sweat chlorine even after showering, you might be a swimmer.

>If you just don't understand the charm of the swim suit edition, you might be a swimmer.

>If getting smacked on the butt doesn't bother you at all, you might be a swimmer.

>If someone asks if you have any siblings and you start listing teammates, you might be a swimmer.

>If you cut yourself every time you shave, because you only do it 3 or 4 times a year and are out of practice, you might be a female swimmer.

> If you are determined, strong, smart and tough, you might be a swimmer.

*If you shamelessly walk around the hallways at school in your bathing suit, you might be a swimmer.

*If you think bald heads are hot, you might be a female swimmer.

*If the person who sits behind you in you're math class always tells you that you reak of chlorine, you might be a swimmer.

* If land is your second home, you might be a swimmer.

* If you sometimes have trouble walking because you aren't use to it, you might be a swimmer.

* If you suck at running, you might be a swimmer.

* If your stronger than many of the guys and all the girls in your grade, you might be a female swimmer.

* If you have to try on 30 shirts just to find one that fits your shoulders, you might be a female swimmer.

* If your hair remains in a wet ponytail throughout the day, you might be a swimmer.

* If when the life guard tryouts say you have to swim a 500 in less than 9 minutes you laugh, you might be a swimmer.

* If you have a permanent suit, goggle, and cap tan, you might be a swimmer.

* If all you ever do is eat and sleep during school, you might be a swimmer.

* If all your saturday and friday nights are spent around water, you might be a swimmer.

* If The Toadies "I Come From The Water" is your theme song, you might be a swimmer.

* If the first thing you look at in a guy is abs, you might be a female (maybe even a male) swimmer.

* If you are at the school so early in the morning for practice that you beat the janitors there and the lights in the parking lot are off, you might be a swimmer.

*If a practice of only 5000 yards sounds like heaven to you, you might be a swimmer.

*If you practice 3 or more times a day during the summer, you might be a swimmer.

*If your used to takin a 2 miinute shower and rushing to get dressed just to make it to class a minute after the tardy bell rings, you might be a female swimmer.

* And finally, If every time someone complains about how early they got up to get ready for school, you turn around and bite their head off and almost beat the living **** out of them, you might be a swimmer.

*If your shoes always squeak when you walk down the hall, you might be a swimmer.

*If you walk around with minimal amounts of clothing on, you might be a swimmer.

*If the only thing you can talk about is swimming, you might be a swimmer.

*If you pee on the pooldeck then walk around barefoot, you might be a male swimmer.

*If there are wet towels over every door in your house, you might be a swimmer.

*If your siblings call you beefstick, man-shoulders, Amazon, or Behemoth (emphasis on the HE), you might be a swimmer

Haha. I can identify with almost all of them (except the no showering and the long hair on my legs. Eww!).


What I aspire to be one day..LOL!

You might be an ultrarunner if:

Your wife tries to introduce you to your three children and you reply "Three?"

You spend more time in the drug section than the food section of the local market.

You wonder why they don't make all running socks a dusty brown color.

You have more dirt on your shoes than in your garden.

You think that flagel and ibutrophin belong on the breakfast table.

You get more phone calls at 5:00 AM than at 5:00 PM.

You don't recognize your friends with their clothes on.

You have more buckles than belts.

You postpone your wedding because it will interfere with your training.

You keep mistaking your boss for Norm Klein.

6am is sleeping in.

Your feet look better without toenails.

Your idea of a fun date is a 30-mile training run.

You're tempted to look for a bush when there's a long line for the public restroom.

You don't think twice about eating food you've picked up off the floor.

You can expound on the virtues of eating salt.

You develop an unnatural fear of mountain lions.

When you wake up without the alarm at 4AM, pop out of bed and think "lets hit the trails".

When you can recite the protein grams by heart of each energy bar.

You don't even LOOK for the Porto-sans anymore.

Your ideal way to celebrate your birthday is to run at least your age in miles with some fellow crazies.

Your ideal way to have fun is to run as far as you can afford to with some fellow crazies.

You know the location of every 7-11, public restroom, and water fountain within a 25-mile radius of your house.

You run marathons for speed work.

You have more fanny packs and water bottles and flashlights than Imelda Marcos has shoes.

You visit a national park with your family and notice a thirty-mile trail connecting where you are with the place your family wants to visit next, which is a 100-mile drive away, and you think "Hmmmm".

Someone asks you how long your training run is going to be and you answer "seven or eight ... hours".

People at work think you're in a whole lot better shape than you think you are.

You actually are in a whole lot better shape than you think you are.

Your weekend runs are limited by how much time you have, not by how far you can run.

You always have at least one black toenail.

You buy economy-sized jars of Vaseline on a regular basis.

You tried hashing, but felt the trails were too short and easy.

You think of pavement as a necessary evil that connects trails.

You rotate your running shoes more often than you rotate your tires.

Your friends recognize your better dressed in shorts than in long pants.

You really envied Tom Hanks' long run as Forest Gump.

You carry money around in a zip lock bag because store clerks complained that your money's usually too sweaty.

Any time a plain old runner talks about her aches and pains, you can sympathize because you've already had that at least once.

You put more miles on your feet than on your rental car over the weekend.

You don't need to paint your toenails; they're already different colors.

You start planning the family vacation around races, and vice-versa.

When you start considering your next vacation location on the merits of its ultras only.

You spend you entire paycheck on running gear, ultrabars, and entry fees.

You miss a work deadline cause you just had to have that "one more minute" on-line writing to the list.

You become a quasi-expert on different detergents so as to not "hurt" your tee shirts.

You leave work early to hit the trails.

You wear t-shirts based on if you've had good work outs when you've worn them before.

Have a trail shoe collection that would make Imelda Marcos envious.

You walk up the stairs and run down them.

Peeing in the toilet seems unnatural.

You start wearing running clothes to work so you're prepared for afterwards.

Running trail is better then sex. (even if you don't get any)

Vaseline isn't just for fun anymore.

When the start of a marathon feels like a 5K and you're wondering "Why is everyone in such a rush? Where the ##@@**!! is the fire?"

As an infant you were dropped on your head.

Nobody recognizes your power T's. Met a guy at the market the other day who was wearing an AR50 T. So was I. I gave him a hearty, "Ta-da." He said, "Oh yeah, I tell people we were all acquitted and the charges were dropped."

You sign up for a 10K and
you strap on your fanny pack because you never know where the aid stations are.
you bring your own drinks.
you bring potatoes and salt.
you start fast and a six year old passes you.
you are the only one walking the up hills.
you run it a second time because its not far enough to call a training run (and you were racing the first time through).
you are the only one around who is eyeing the bushes THAT way.
you punch the lap button on your watch instead of the stop button at the finish.

When "NEXT GAS 36 MILES" signs start sounding like tempting runs.

Your pedicure kit includes a pair of pliers.

Your number of toes to toenails doesn't match.

You drink from a water bottle at the dinner table.

You consider the mold and mildew in your bottles extra electrolytes.

You just found out Poison and Oak are words by themselves.

You see a 1 quart water bottle colored like an Advil bottle, and don't realize that it's not in fact an Advil bottle.

You know you're married to an ultrarunner when Valentine's gifts come from Ultrafit.

You know you're married to an ultrarunner when she helps you up and says, "Come on, suck it up, keep moving!" and you know she means it in love.

You know you're an ultrarunner when a prospective employer asks for a photograph and all you have is race photos.

You know you're an ultrarunner when the races you enter end in a different area code. -and pass through several different Zip codes enroute.

You know you're an ultrarunner when your crew tries to keep you motivated by saying, "You're in second place and only 6 hours behind first with 25 miles to go!"

You know you're an ultrarunner when you go to your 8:00 a.m. college geology class and you can use the salt crystals, still caked on your glasses frames from your early morning run, in your talk on the category of sedimentary materials called evaporites (and I'm not making this up).

You know you're an ultrarunner when, on the night of a bad thunderstorm and downpour, you ring for a cab, and your announcement that this is the *first time* you're not getting home under your own steam causes a stunned silence in the office.

You bother to argue about (discuss the meaning of) what an UltraRunner is!!!

when you don't finish on the same day as the winner.

your dogs can drink out of water bottles

When you meet the opposite sex you see:
A possible crew.
A possible pacer.
A possible search and rescue team.
A possible race director.
A possible source of race entry fees.

You ask advice of hundreds of people on a list, looking for answers you have already determined to be correct, taking hold of only those, and running with 'em.

Your wife asks you the morning after your first 50 miler if you're still planning on that 100K in five weeks, and you say "Sure!"

You strap on your water bottles and walk the hills... in a 5 K race and consider that your 10 minute pace is a blistering pace.

People praise you to the high heavens for being able to finish a marathon, and you feel insulted.

You do a triathlon and it is your RUN time that is slower than the years when you specialized in triathlon.

You are told *not* to run another marathon during the next few months (because that would be bad for your health), and you really follow that advice - by immediately sending off the entry form for your next 50/100 miler.

Somebody asks about the distance of an upcoming race and you, without thinking, say, "Oh, it's just a 50K."

You're running a marathon and at mile 20 say to yourself, "Wow, only 6 more miles left, this is such a great training run!"

You know you are a clumsy ultrarunner when after running headfirst into the trail for the third time get up and continue running even though you are bleeding and covered in maple syrup where your gel flask exploded and you have another 20k to go.

You go for an easy 2 hour run in the middle of a Hurricane and think it is fun to get wet, muddy and run through the rivers that were once trails.

You get to the 81 mile point of a 100 miler and say to yourself, "Wow, only 19 miles left!"

You try to tie double knots in your Oxfords.

You pass a swamp towards the end of a run and think 'How bad could it be?"

Livestock salt blocks look good after a run.

You're embarrassed that you've only done 50K's...

Your wife/girlfriend/significant other asks you if you want to have sex on any particular night and you respond with:
"sorry, I don't have time, I have to go running"
"sorry, I'm too tired, I just went running"
"sorry, I would rather go read all my messages from the ultra-list"

You go down a flight of stairs, uh, backwards, after an ultra and everybody laughs.

No one believes you when you say "never again".

You refer to certain 100 mile races as "low-key."

You number your running shoes to distinguish old from new, since they all look dirty.

Prior to running a difficult race, you check to see if local hospitals and urgent care centers are in your PPO.

The only time major household projects get done is in a taper or race recovery.

Everything in your life, everything, is organized in different sized zip-loc bags.

You call a 50-mile race "just another training run".

You think a 100-mile race is easier than a 50 miler because you don't have to go out as fast.

You say, "Taper? Who's got time to taper? I have a race coming up this weekend."

You're tapering/recovering, and you'd rather drive 50 miles to watch Ann Trason's heavenly running style for 20 seconds than the Super Bowl.

You have to rent a car to drive to a major event because you and your pacer own stick shifts and neither will be able to drive them on the return trip.

You actually DO drive a stick shift home with a severely pulled left hamstring

You meet someone of the opposite sex on the trail of a 100 and all of conversation is about what color is your urine, can you drink? and were you able to dump.

Ya know you're and ultra runner when a girl changes her tank and her bra in front of you and all you do is take another drink of water, look at your watch, get up and tell your pacer "Let's hit the trail."

On a long drive you see the road signs listing various mileages to different places and think of how long it would take to get there on foot rather than by the car your driving.

You've started a race in the dark, run all day, and finished in the dark (if your lucky).

Your non-Ultrarunning running friends look at you strange when you tell them that 10:00/Mile is a fast pace for a 100 mile race (not to mention most ultras).

You don't hesitate to lie down in the trail (anywhere) when you are falling asleep on your feet during the early morning hours on the second day of a 100 miler; and it feels so comfortable.
Finally...

You know your an ultrarunner when you actually sit down and read all of the postings about, "You know your an ultrarunner when..." and can laugh and relate to all of the comments.

If you have any other "you might be a ___if" jokes, post them!

Lots of bicycle riding!!!

I did another bike ride this morning! This makes for a total of four bike rides this week! You heard that right: This swimmer actually got her butt on her Schwinn, turned the petals, and repeated this process a total of four times this week.

I think I rode my bike this week as many times as I have done so far this entire year. Before this week, I have only gotten on my bike maybe five times for the whole year.

I don't know why I have been avoiding riding my bike so much- maybe because I am horrible at it (insert lots of laughter here:_______________________________).
Seriously though, I probably climb up hills at about 2 miles an hour, am terrible at shifting gears, and it takes me about 3 hours to ride my bike 20 miles. Of course, if you have been reading this blog, you alredy know I am no Lance Armstrong :)

An intresting thing is happening though: I am actually starting to love spending time on my bicycle. I love the thrill of speeding down a hill at a supersonic speed (10 mph?) with the wind blowing in my hair. I love the way my legs burn when I am pedaling up a steep hill. I love the feeling of absulute freedom I feel while riding my bike.

This morning was also a beautiful day for a bicycle ride. The weather for the morning was sunny with temperatures in the mid 60s. Gotta love those cool mornings! I was actually riding a lot faster today than I normally do (I may have upped my speed to 9 mph! I need to get a non-broken cycle computer to double check).

In my quicker-than-normal bicycle riding today, I even decided to sprint up a couple of hills. It was a great bike ride today, and I am definately planning on many more rides in the future.

Sadly enough though, this morning was my last bike session of the week. This is because tomorrow I am taking a day off (I need one because I havn't taken a day off since last Tuesday). Saturday, my swim team is going up a lake to do some open water swim training.

We have a big open water meet comming up the week after next. My coach decided that everyone participating in that meet could use a little practice beforehand.

The coach has decided that we will go up to the lake and start the swim around 11 O'clock or noon. We will swim for an hour, then we will have lunch and hang out at the lake all day. It should be fun!

I am SO excited for the open water meet in two weeks. We will be swimming 3000 meters, which is the longest I have ever swam in a meet. The lake the meet will be at is right near Ceader Point, a huge amusment park. Hopefully I will be able to go on a few water rides (my favorites!) while I am up there!

You might be a back of the packer if...

<------ Not me!

So far, I am adding lots of biking and running to my training! I am doing all three sports instead of mostly swimming like I have been lately. Yesterday morning, I ran 3.5 miles in about 45 minutes. I then went to yesterday evening's swim practice and swam for an hour.

The reason I only swam for an hour this time is because we had to get out early due to thunder and lightning. I decided to spend the last half an hour of swim practice (what would have been practice anyway, if there were no thunderstorms) riding on the stationary bike in the gym.

The funny thing about this ride: I didn't bring sneakers with me, thinking I was only going to be swimming. All I had with me were my flip-flops. I ended up peadeling twenty-five minutes on the bike in my flip-flops without the shoes falling off. I was pretty impressed.

The only thing that was wrong with the flip-flops is that I could feel the little harness on top of the pedals that you put your shoes in (don't know the exact name, but you know what I mean) digging into my feet. Another huge accomplishment, I ended up with no red marks on my feet! Yet again, I was impressed.

Although I discovered last night that I am great at bicycling in my flip-flop, I much prefer bicycling in my sneakers. I will definately remember to pack sneakers in my swim bag next time there is a threat of a thunderstorm.

I actually ended up swimming, biking, AND running last night. The swimming was great, but you know what? The biking and running weren't so bad either!

I was looking through one of those triathlon forums I like to read yet again (It's summer. I'm bored) and came across a funny thread titled "You might be a back of the packer if..." and of course I thought of plenty of things to say in that thread. I also thought of plenty more ideas that I didn't write down. Here are some of my thoughts:

1. You try to race people running... while still on your bike!

2. Everybody's packed up and leaving, and you are just about to start your run.

3. You consider it a huge victory when you finish second to last.

4. Many people finish Olympic distance triathlons in less time than it takes you to finish a sprint.

5. In all or most of your races, you finish dead last.

6. You get passed by ten year olds, eighty year olds, and 300 pound men- all in the same race.

7. You actually have people tell you to "fix your gears" while on the bike section of the race.

8. You have had a lifeguard ask if you were okay during the swim (Yes, this did happen during a triathlon in freezing cold water. My body does not do well with the cold at all. I wasn't wearing a wetsuit, and I started hypervenilating).

9. You have expierenced riding your bike or running all by yourself, with no one else in sight...in the middle of a race with over 200 people registered!

10. You do a sprint distance race and have people doing the olympic distance race pass you on the run. Never mind their race started half an hour later that yours and they swam and biked twice as far before passing you!

11. In the back of the pack, there is an intense competitipn not to get last place. In one triathlon, you lost that competition and had the "winner" (second to last) brag about beating you!

12. You have never onece said "on your left" on the bike...but have heard it said to you so many times it makes your head spin.

13. Besides the date and location of the race, one thing you have to take into serous consideration when choosing a race is the cut off times.

14. You scroll up from the bottom to read the race results instead of down from the top (I didn't make this one up, but read it on the triathlon forum. I found it SO true).

Swim meet!!!

I had a great swim meet yesterday!

The swim meet took place about an hour away from where I live. Warm-ups started at 7:00 in the morning, meaning I had to get up at 5:20 A.M. I was really excited to swim, however, because I havn't been to a swim meet for about 3 months!

The warm-up was very entertaining. I am the slowest swimmer on the whole swim team. I was also the slowest swimmer, I think, at the whole meet! This is partially because I suck at all sports. Another reason is because most of the swimmers have been swimming since they were five years old. I've only been swimming year-round for less than a year

Every single swimmer kept pummiling over me during the warm-up. My swim coach kept telling me to "stay to the right of the lane" so that I would not get myself injured! I also could not do flip turns, because every time I tried, I would end up running into someone comming from behind me.

This went on for about 45 minutes. I kept thinking to myself I hate being slow. This really pumped me up for the rest of the meet because I wanted to swim fast d%mn it!!!

I ended up swimming the following events:
100 backstroke (which took 1 minute and 52 seconds)
100 freestyle in 1:37
50 fly in 51 seconds
50 breast in 52 seconds

I normally only sign myself up for three events, but felt like doing four events this time. This was because I was only able to swim in one day of the meet. The meets run for three days, but I could not go to all three sessions since the meet was so far away. My parents refused to drive an hour each way three days in a row!

I was very tired at the end of the meet. I actually had to force myself to stay awake during the car trip home. The combination of the early start times and the number of events I was in made me exhausted!

I did end up swimming faster than I normally do. I wouldn't know it by my times because I was swimming in a longer pool than I normally do. This meant (ovbiously) that each event took longer to complete than it normally would.

My coach said I did well, however. On the 100 backstroke he told me "I never saw you swim that fast before." I was still last place in all my events, but it felt good to beat a lot of my previous times.

I also learned something intresting at this meet: Many times in practice, I have seen people wear two swim suits. I used to think it was some strange fashion statement. Now I know the reason they wear the two suits.

As explained to me by my coach, it is becuse swimming in two suits creates drag and makes you feel heavier in the water. When you wear two swimsuits, you eventually get used to swimming with this extra heaviness.

When you put on one, tight fitting suit for the swim meet you will feel blazing fast in the water. As told to me by my coach, you feel "like snot on a doorknob." This idea of intentionally creating extra drag in the water is similar to some walkers wearing ankle weights for extra resistance.

I tried the two swimsuit techinque while swimming laps at the health club today. I did feel a lot heavier near the middle of my body. Hopefully I will get used to the two suits, and when I take one off for my next swim meet, I will shatter my previous times!

Oh, and one additional announcement: I rode on the stationary bike at the health club for 35 minutes today after my swim! You are probably woundering what the big deal is. Anybody can ride a bike for 35 minutes!

The big deal is this: I actually got on the bicycle today instead of doing more swimming. Normally, I like to swim for over two hours at the health club. I may do triathlons, but swimming has always been my favorite sport out of the three.
Don't you agree that swimming is funner than bucycling and running?

Despite loving to swim, I need lots of work on my running and bicycling. I have many goals for myself that I would like to acheve by the end of summer. You may have read these goals in previous entries in this blog; however, I will say them again for clarification: I would like to run a half marathon, and do an olympic distance triathlon.

Crossing the finish line of my first triathlon gave me more satisfaction than any swim meet ever will. I LOVE swim meets, but there is just something about triathlons that competitive swimming will never have. This "something" would probably have to do with the endurance aspect of triathlons.

I have always loved endurance more than I have enjoyed speed. This is partially because I have no speed (insert laughter here:_________). The main reason, however, is because anybody can go fast (except me. Haha.). Not very many people can do endurace events.

Think about running a 100 mile ultramarathon or completing the Ironman triathlon. How many people can say they have done that? Just to let you know, all Ironman finishers and ultramarathoners have my strongest respect and admiration.

Another, larger reason I love endurance events or workouts are because they are so calming. Doing the same motions over and over again for hours on end without anything to distract you gives yplenty of time to be alone with your thoughts.

You can be alone with your thoughts while working out without becoming bored and anxious like you would if you were sitting still and doing nothing but thinking (how boring would that be?). I have thought of some of the best ideas and solutions to problens while out on long swims, bike rides, runs, etc.

I also love the way you feel after a long swim, bike ride, run, etc. You feel so calm and relaxed and have the hugest endorphin rush. You also feel on top of the world after conquering a distance onece thought unimaginable.

Like I said, I love swimming. I love the thrill of competing, the feel of the water, and the way you feel weightless. I would ,however, love to get into some longer events.

For swimming, the longest event (which I love, by the way) is the mile. The mile only takes about 30 minutes to swim. For some triathlons and running events, you can go for days if you want to (think: double Ironman).

I now realize I will not get better at running, or be able to do the bicycling I need to do for longer triathlons simply by swimming. With this realization, I looked through my training logs for this year.

These are the total amounts of each sport I have done so far this year:
Bike: 9 hours 23 minutes 51 seconds
Run: 22 hours 41 minutes 04 seconds
Swim: 122 hours 08 minutes

Notice the discrepancy?

If I did more biking and running throughout the year, I might have been able to achieve some of the goals I had set out for myself a lot sooner. I could have already ran my first half marathon and be setting out now to run a full marathon!

I need to get my butt on a bicycle and my feet in running shoes!

I am going to enjoy every moment of swim team for as long as I possibly can (and will definately sign up for a masters swim team when I get older) but this summer, I am hoping to stretch my limits and do all of the endurance stuff I love. Not just swimming!

Half-marathon?

I did a nice, long run today of about 8 miles (not exactly sure of the distance, it was just whatever I could cover in about 1:45) It was a great run. It tied for the longest I have ever ran so far.

The run was really HOT though. I started running early in the morning when it was still supposed to be cool oustide. The coolness ovbiously did not happen. At eight in the morning it was already almost 80 degrees! I was dripping sweat through out the entire run.

The last two milles were really hot and difficult but I am hoping to run even farther. I know I can because if it wasn't so hot outside on today's run, I would have definatly been able to go longer. I want to do a half marathon this summer(hopefully) or fall (if I can't do one this summer.)

I have been planning on doing a half marathon since August, but swim team practice got "in the way" of training. I leave "in the way" in quotes because swim practice is definatly not an intrusion. I love every moment of it!

Since the swim team practices are fewer in the summer (4 days a week instead of 6) and I have a lot more time in the summer to train, I have decided that now is the time when I will start training for the half-marathon. I am sick of woundering what a half marathon would be like. I just want to do it.

I have actually found another great race directory on the internet. I found it while browsing some forums while bored. It is the most comprehensive race directtory I have ever seen except for Trifind.com.

From this directory, I have found a couple of potential races I would like to run. This is all very tenitave because of the Olympic triathlons I would like to do this sumemr as well. I can only do about one race a month because I have to depend on my mom in order to have transportation to the races (I know, I am going to learn how to drive very soon!). My race scheduule is whatever is convienient to her (except for swim meets. I always get to do swim meets.)

I would like to do one or more of these races this summer/fall:
Lifeline of Ohio Dash for Donation- July 26 (only if I don't do that other triathlon I want to do planned a week before)
Columbus Half Marathon and 5K- Aug 24
United States Air Force Marathon (Only about half an hour away from where I live)-Sept 20
Dayton River Corridor Classic Half Marathon (again, only about half an hour from where I live)-Oct 12

I would love to be able to live out my dream this summer!!!

Psycho treadmill

I had a psycho treadmill run last night. I was using the treadmill because there was a lot of nasty thunderstorms outside. I had to be indoors. When I went on the treadmill, however, it kept shutting off. I would turn it on for about 30 seconds, then a huge "E6" sign would flash across the display menu. After this sign flashed, the treadmill would shut down.

I tried unplugging and restarting my treadmill about 3 times. Finally, I went to ask my dad for help- he is a construction worker and good at all things mechanical.

He found the owner's manual for the treadmill and told me to turn to the "troubleshooting" section of the manual. After looking through the manual, I found out that the treadmill needed to be lubricated. Apparently there is some wax coating on the bottom of the treadmill that wears off every few months.

My dad said he had no idea how to wax the bottom of the treadmill; however, he found the wax stick, stuck it under the belt and tried anyway. My dad never uses the treadmill, so fixing the treadmill would be a shot of pure luck for him.

I went upstairs to ask my mom if she knew how to fix the treadmill. She should be able to, I figured, since she actually uses the treadmill sometimes.
After I asked her to fix the treadmill, I found out she apparantly did know how to apply wax to the bottom of the treadmill. She was sick, however, and didn't feel like going down to the basement to fix the treadmil.

My dad continued to play the guessing game of how to rub the wax under the belt. after a few minutes, he stopped and I was able to get back on and start my workout. The treadmill was actually running smoothly for about 3 minutes from the time I climed on. I actually thought Dad had the treadmill fixed!

Suddenly, however, the treadmill came to an abrupt stop. The famillar "E6" flashed across the screen. After a total of 7 minutes of running on the broken treadmill the whole frustrating night, I finally gave up and decided to lift weights instead.

Wolves in the neighborhood!

Yesterday I went for an hour and a half run in my neighborhood. It was a great run. One of the longest runs I have done this year. I think I went about 7 miles or more. When I came home, however, I found out that there is a pack of wolves in our neighborhood. The animal control people came over to our house last night to tell us.

A PACK OF WOLVES!!! CAN YOU BELIEVE IT????
We found out that the wolves are still a couple of miles down the road, but they are still pretty close to our house. That is how you know you live in the middle of nowhere! When you are being threatened by wolves! I am very thankful I didn't get attacked!

You know what the funniest thing is? My mom thinks she heard strange howling noises a couple of days ago? She could be imagining the noises, but that is still kind of strange.

I guess untill the animal control people figure out what to do about the pack of wolves, I am not going to be able to run or ride my bike much in the neighborhood. Perfect, as soon as the weather gets nice, I get chased inside again by a pack of wolves! That is Ohio for you though. A very bizzare state.

I want to pet a wolf! Haha. Just kidding. I would probably run for my life if I saw one.

One exam down...three to go

I took my English final today. It was pretty easy except for a section of random quotes characters said in The Great Gatsby. Some of the quotes I don't even remember seeing before. Most of the questions, however, were over plot details and things from other units we studied in English. I think I did pretty well on those sections.

All I have left to take is Spanish, which I am taking tomorrow and am already done studying for. My last two finals will be on Wednesday. I will be taking Biology and American Studies. American Studies will probably be my hardest final, if only for the amount of studying I will have to do.

Then after Wednesday, I am done with school for the year and have three whole months of summer! I can't wait. Only 2 days of school left!

As for my workouts, yesterday I swam 3 miles. I can't belive I am saying this- but that workout is starting to become old news. It dosn't even feel long anymore. I wounder what I can do this summer to challange myself in the pool? I am thinking of adding some speed workouts. I am SO slow and would really like to be able to go faster.

My two-a-day workouts that I am doing this summer are also starting next monday. I am thinking of doing two-a-day workouts on Monday-Thursday, resting on Friday, and doing some longer workouts on the weekends. I don't know yet. All I know is that I am extremly ready to start training for a half marathon and an Olymplc-distance triathlon this summer!

Speaking of summer, here are my results from a flip-flop test:

What Your Flip Flops Say About You

You are an outdoorsy person. You feel most comfortable in nature. Beautiful scenery and good weather always brighten up your day. Being outside allows you to feel calm and connected to the world. Problems don't seem so big when you realize how small you are in the scheme of things. Your ideal warm weather place: Costa Rica

The Flip Flop Test

Happy almost Summer everyone!

Why would anyone do this?

I was looking around on the internet and found these race reports by people who have finished double and triple ironman triathlons. These events consist of a 4.8 mile swim, 224 mile bike, and 52.4 mile run for the double ironman. The triple ironman consists of a 7.8 mile swim, 332 mile bike, and a 78.6 mile run. These athletes do these enormous distances continuuously- for however long it takes them. Thhey don't even stop to sleep.

I have always been intresed in what it takes to do ultra distance races, but these distances sound insane. In the race report I read for one of the people doing the triple, she was hallucinating, falling asleep on her feet, and towards the end she needed to have somebody help her sit down and stand up.

I don't think I would ever do an event of this magnitude unless someone was holding a gun to my head and threatened to shoot me if I didn't participate. The stress on the body after an event like this seems unbelievable.

I do admire, however, the level of mental toughness it would take to complete an event such as this. I would get SO bored doing nothing but swimming, riding my bike, and running for 2-3 days nonstop. I also would never be able to cope with the lack of sleep and there would be SO many times that I would want to quit.

It must feel like such a huge accomplishment crossing the finish line after an event such as this. I'm still unsure, though, the reasons for competing in an event such as this. Why would you want to do all those things to your body?

I can see why you might want to for an ironman or something. The event is over within the same day, and you would feel such a strong feeling of accomplishment; but to keep going and foing for over 2 days straight? I just can't imagine!