Sunday, February 28, 2010

Olympics end :o(...my season begins... :o)

Less than a week until I head to Florida for a couple triathlons!

I'll be doing a draft-legal sprint race the first weekend & an Olympic distance TT the next weekend. I'm excited that the season is starting up and looking forward to seeing where my fitness is, as well as seeing my coach and my parents! ...not to mention the warmer weather - get me outa this never-ending winter! :o)

Tuesday, February 23, 2010

"All in"

I had to steal these pics of my little nephew...His 2 loves right now are balls & books...drums, pianos, and the guitar have dropped on the totem pole (at least momentarily).
I crack up just looking at these! ...Way to be in attack mode, even if the goal seems beyond impossible! Haha. Talk about "soaring on wings like eagles", little Andrew is gonna literally need those wings!! :o)
Press on toward the goal...
Ciao for now!

Sunday, February 21, 2010

Mr. Groundhog wasn't kidding...

Oh, man, is it spring yet???
Another snow storm is predicted for this week!

Thursday, February 18, 2010

Lovins

I have the best friends who send me wonderful, hilarious gifts!!!
I don't keep ribbons or medals, but these are definitely worthy of mounting on the wall! Haha. Thanks to Frances, Kimberly, & Rachel for thinking of me as you 3 fine ladies hung out in 'Bama. Stephen and I kept smiling just looking at them - especially the bike ribbon - such a good reminder that I can ride my bike!!! My bike looks slightly different than the one on the ribbon, but that is most definitely a glass half-filled type ribbon with my profession = triathlon! ...and of course loved the little note with the Olympic spirit - "We're sure you'll treasure them as much as any Olympic medal"...
awwwwe....Love & miss you guys!
PS: It sort of reminds me of a card that my parents sent before a race last season...I think my dad got it as a piece of junk mail at his office...hehe. Somehow, regifted, it gained oh-so-much more meaning :o) xxoo!

Monday, February 15, 2010

There to Here...Here to There...


Here's a brief summary of 2009...into 2010.
Last year in 2009...
Jan: Honeymoon to Sedona: hiked, ran up trails, mountain biked, hot air balloon...and etc...Started teaching ESL at Southern Nazarene Univ in Bethany, OK ...taught there until December. :o)
Feb: General training & teaching. (2009 training was bike specific training since it was my weakness.)
Mar: For 2 weeks, went to CO to train with Sean Wendt & Riptide and was fortunate & thankful to live with Amy & Jordan in Golden, CO - fun & great training.
April: St. Anthony's - wanted to get my pro card here...the swim was canceled because of the choppy water conditions...no pro card.
May: Got a new road bike the weekend of Captextri. (Unfortunately, it didn't have aerobars for the TT race.) I raced on it and was the 4th amateur overall...needed to be 3rd to get a pro card. The next weekend in OKC, I decided to jump in the local Route 66 race...which happened to be the Best of the US qualifier. I ended up winning.
June: By mid/end of June, my back was throbbing and was strained. Initially, I thought I just needed to get used to the new bike position, so I kept riding, but my back only got worse to the point that even lying down was painful. It ended up that the frame was too small, so I got a bigger one. 
July: Recovered, started training hard again...Steve Schlegel gave me a loaner TT bike and also loaned me Zipp wheels to use in my races.
Aug: Went out to CO to train with Riptide again...a couple weeks after getting home, went to Age Group Nationals in Tuscaloosa. Won my age group, 5th overall which qualified me for a pro card. Yay! With Best of the US amateur race a month away, I decided to wait to get the pro card so that I could compete there.
Sept: Pacific Grove - (TriCal puts on such great races!) very fun race...the Pacific Ocean is COLD :o) I won it, and again qualified for a pro card and felt like my fitness was the best it had ever been. 2 weeks later was Best of the US in Mission Viejo. I had the race of my life there, and ended up winning.
Oct: Literally 3 days before leaving for Dallas, I got word that I could race at the US Open, and decided to go up against 5 of the top 10 women in the world...and...I got smoked by 15 minutes! The main problem for me was that they were MUCH fitter than I was and had much more experience! To make things worse, it wasn't my day - just as in Pacific Grove & BOUS everything went great, in the US Open, everything went wrong...I made some bad errors and my brain and body didn't seem to be clicking...Going into the race, I knew it would be more of a learning experience than actually battling out with those girls for a medal ;o) but I just wanted to get the experience before the year ended. It was definitely inspiring and a reality check for me to understand where my fitness & experience was compared to them. 
Nov: Asked Barb Lindquist to possibly coach me...ended up being a great fit - yay! :o) I started swimming with the local swim club here in town – Chesapeake Swim Club…I can’t remember the last time I was doing 7K yards in the pool with a 1:10 base on the main sets! (have I ever before been able to do that?) :o)
Dec: Decided to join Team Undiscovered. They are fast & furious...and also fun & funny. Lucky me that they aren't triathlon haters :o) and invited me to be part of their team!
2010...

Jan: Still enjoying the grueling training...wondering where Stephen will get a job and my training will then adapt to the new (or same) training areas…
Feb: Decided to make my first race a sprint, draft-legal one in Clermont, FL! (hello, learning curve!) I'm excited to see where my fitness is and gain experience at draft-legal racing. I feel pretty comfortable at all the group rides here in OKC, but I'm sure it's different in a race...which is also a reason why I'm excited to race a bit with Undiscovered!
The oh-so-tentative schedule :o)

Mar: Clermont Sprint; Miami Internat'l Tri
April: St. Anthony's Tri
May: Rev3 Knoxthrill; CapTexTri
June: Coteau du Lac
July: Treasure Island in San Fran; NYC Tri
Aug: Kelowna ; Chicago Tri
Sept: Pro Nationals
Oct: US Open

Friday, February 12, 2010

Olympics, Valentines, & the Job Hunt

Let the Games Begin!
T-minus ZERO till the Olympics are here! How exciting. I'm not a cold weather fan, but this winter sure has put me in the mood to watch all those cold sports. :o)
the Best
I must mention that I have the absolute best Valentine! He's an incredible guy, and I truly can't get over what a lucky girl I am...(insert huge exclamation points.) Thanks Lord! :o)
When we got married, I remember several people telling us we'd love each other even more with time. As with other pieces of "marriage advice", I was definitely thankful for the encouragement, but placed it towards the back of my mind as a small chunk of mental storage, since it required the vague "time" word. :o)
...But now that we're seasoned (hehe), approaching the big 1.5 yr mark, I can say that it's actually true (!) although I didn't feel like I could have loved him more than I already did the day we tied the knot!
How the whole marriage thing works is amazing, beautiful, and crazy, ever-changing, growing and...everything else you can't completely describe - that's it...and I'm sooo thankful for the Valentine that I snatched - I just couldn't possibly dream him up.
Home sweet....where??
The job hunt is teaching us many-a-thing...eg: Trust the Lord, Have Faith in His Plan that is Best, Hope in Him alone, Love as He loved us, (repeat)... :o) 
I might be slightly biased, but Stephen's the top of the top in his field...so it's not surprising to me that he's gotten some interviews and then second interviews...traveled a bit...
We're currently trying to "not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God."(Phil 4:6)
Obviously, this is much easier said than done...but the nice part about getting older is that when these situations come up, all we have to do is think back on other situations in our lives, and then we quickly remember how faithful, loving, and trustworthy the Lord has been in every situation...and He never changes! We have nothing to fear, but look for Him to work since He started it in the first place (!!) and He promises to continue what He's started in us until it's “finally finished"...(Phil 1:6)
Enjoy the journey!!
Btny

Tuesday, February 9, 2010

happy birthday, ma!!!

Wish we could've spent the day with a hot momma like YOU! :o)
Hope these 2 lucky guys made you feel very special & loved...because you are!!!
Glad that Spencer drove in for your birthday! ...and that he could also get some other less important things done while he was in town! :o) Thanks for being such a great mom!! We LOVE YOU! xxoo

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

OK City = Siberian Tundra... ;o)

Some triathletes do winter training blocks in locations like the Aloha state, So Cal, or hang out with Kiwis or Aussies, but I have chosen (wink wink) to do the Rocky plan...i.e., staying in the blizzarding conditions and train using techniques involving...snow & ice...this youtube video is pretty much me lately...
...minus the part that people are chasing me (or even care how I'm training!) haha.

Well, I guess it's time for me to load up my sled with some rocks and drag it around the neighborhood for a while...
Till next time...
btny
PS: Phil predicted 6 more weeks of snow. (BOO!) I was wondering if his prediction would have changed if someone unplugged the heater in his burrow?!