Spring

I keep saying I am going to update my blog and then I get distracted. It is a Friday night in March. I have been studying most of the day for a pharmacology exam on Monday. This quarter looks easier on paper with 3 half days per week, but on May 21 I take the first step of my national board exam. I spend all of my free time either reading, doing questions online or something pertaining to this exam. If this was the only thing I had to do in the next ten weeks that would be okay but no, I still have classes to attend to and exams to take and while I know I am capable of getting through this I can't help but feel so overwhelmed that I want to shut down and go to sleep and wake on May 23 when we are leaving for Costa Rica. I know I shouldn't complain, there are thousands of people that didn't get into med school that would kill for my spot, but some days I still wonder who's idea this was.

I have attempted to continue my training and have managed to be fairly consistent with my running. I even formed a running club at school with another classmate. I also recently purchased a bike trainer so that I can ride my bike indoors, which in Chicago is a good thing. It is the first day of spring today and it has been snowing all day. I have not, however, managed to find a place to swim that is near by.

That is about all. I know I lead such an exciting life. I did rank all my rotation sites for 3rd year. Most of them will be in the city, Chicago, which means we may be moving. Also thinking about a new smaller more gas efficient car.

What, It's October Already???

School has started. What does that mean? Well, 3 tests per week, which is light compared to last year. I am taking Microbiology (the most difficult and time consuming class), Pathology, Pharmacology, Osteopathic Manipulation, The Practice of Medicine, and ......I think that is it. I am at school most days 8 am to 5 pm and spend 90% of my free time studying. I am still running, doing yoga-lates and weight training. I hope to start swimming indoors in January. Triathlon season is over for me but I am planning on continuing to do some 5ks here and there, maybe a bike ride every so often.

Today was my nephew's one year birthday. Here is a picture to brighten your day. I agree, he is the cutest thing ever.

I Am Still Here

A lot has happened over the last month or so. I will start at the beginning. On July 28th I did my second triathlon in Wauconda, IL. It involved an 800 meter swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. The hubby and I went the day before to scope out the course. The swim was across a lake, and the bike and run courses were hilly. I didn't let that bother me. We got up at 4 something a.m. the day of and headed off to Wauconda, about an hour away. We were some of the first people there and I got to pick a pretty good transition spot. This race only had one transition area. so I set up my area and waited. The start of the race was across the lake so all the participants had to hop on a bus to get to the start. I get to the start with about 15 minutes to spare and begin my pre-race stretching and restroom using routine. The first wave of swimmers goes off, then the second, then the third, then mine. We are in the water and swimming across the lake. I am going at a steady pace trying not to get run over. Nothing dramatic happened and all the sudden I am across the lake. I am out of the lake. I am running to my bike. Now I am on my bike and riding like Lance. The bike course was hilly but fun. I didn't pass a lot of people and didn't get passed by a lot of people. At mile 13 I remind myself I still need to run and should save some of my legs. I get back to the transition area, put on my running shoes and I am off. On my way out I see the hubby and high five him as I go by. The run was hard. Running is not my strong suit and did I mention the course is hilly. I allow myself to walk twice for 1 minute only and suck it up the rest of the time. I finished strong, sprinting to the line, running like a Kenyan. My final time was 1 hour 44 minutes, 174 out of 251 and 10th out of 18 women in my age group.

Then I went to Texas. In the middle of summer. When it is like 120 degrees there. But who cares. I went to see my friends and go to the women's mountain bike camp that I go to every year. Camp is at Lake Bonham in Texas. It is three days of mountain biking, eating and being goofy with my friends. On the agenda: karaoke, all surface ping-pong, launching stuff off the teeter-totter, teaching a wheelie clinic, floating in the lake and general mayhem. You should know we do all this without alcohol. It was a great weekend involving very little biking but lots of free bike stuff.

My friend Sherry took me to girl camp, so I went home with her to hang for a couple more days. Sherry is the woman who will become my wife if anything ever happens to our husbands. She is my goofy counter part. The best analogy is when we are together we are like 3rd grade boys that egg each other on until we laugh so hard we pee our pants. The details of our time together are classified.


My plan was to leave Sherry's and visit my bike shop guys, my friend Jennifer, my friend Lori and try to get to see my old co-workers at the Medical Examiner's Office. I was able to accomplish most of this, but in the middle of my visit with Lori I received some bad news from my family in California. My 13 year old cousin was in a tragic and fatal mountain biking accident. If you would like to read about her you can do so here but I will not give any more details about her death. I left Texas to go to California to attend her services. When I got there I was told by my sister that my father had been in the hospital, and within 24 hours of my arrival he would return to the hospital and remain there for three days. After some tests and scopes he was diagnosed with diverticulosis. He is required to quit smoking and eat more fiber, but he is okay.

In all I was gone three weeks. It was a good and bad trip. School will start in 2 weeks and I will be back to the grind. I plan on continuing to train and have picked out some triathlons for next summer. I will continue to post through school when I can, but thanks for coming along so far.

Are There Sharks Out There?

So I just looked at my watch and realized the date. I haven't been up to anything real exciting except I have been swimming in Lake Michigan to prep for my next tri. One of the beaches has a designated swim lane, so after checking it out with the hubby I decided it was time to get in. Lots of people swim at this particular beach because of the swim lane and all the lifeguards posted along the swim lane, so I figure it's relatively safe. Also you can stand up most of the way out. I decide to make a day of it so I went into the city and hung out at the Shedd Aquarium, which is one of the best aquariums around. It was cool, but good lord there were sooooooo many kids. It was like every school in Chicago decided to go to the aquarium that day. Kids are cute, but I am of the thinking that they shouldn't be taken out in public. Of course that doesn't apply to my niece and nephews who are so cute they can be as rowdy as they want. I guess if everyone has that logic that would explain all the kids out in public. Anyways, I left the aquarium at lunch time and walked up the lakeshore path to Navy Pier. If you haven't figured it out I live in the Chicago area. Grab some lunch at Navy Pier and head to the beach about 5 minutes away. The whole idea is to sit, eat my lunch and work up the nerve to go in the water. Now, I grew up spending most if not all my summers at the lake, water skiing and what not, but I have never swam in the lake with the intention of actually swimming for distance so I was a little overwhelmed. So I ate my lunch, found someplace to change and sat on the beach some more. Finally I got up and walked out to the water. Now remember I said lots of people swim here? Well, while I was working up my nerve about 10 others got in the water and about 10 others got out of the water. No worries there is plenty of room. I pull on the swim cap and goggles and away I go. For like a minute. The water is choppy and I am pretty sure I swallowed half the lake but I keep on moving. I swim out about 400 yards, turn around and come back. Holy crap, that is way harder than it looks. So I ask this girl who just got done if she has any tips. "No, this is only my second time here" she says. "Good thing I signed up for that open water swim clinic this weekend," I am thinking to myself. Sunday rolls around and I am on the beach 9 a.m. ready to be taught the tricks of swimming in open water. The clinic was well worth the $10. I learned about drafting, sighting and how to swim with hundreds of other people all trying to get to the same place as fast as they can.

Since the swim and run are the two places I need to improve, that is what I have been focusing on. My friend tells me "to get a faster run time, run faster." Uh... that never occurred to me. I take this to my tri friend MJ. She tells me "negative splits, it will train your legs to run faster when you are tired." So I try this and it actually feels good. I run the first mile in 11 minutes, the next in 10 minutes and the next in 9 minutes. I have only done this workout once, but I'll keep you posted.

My biking is down to about twice a week right now. I know how to go faster on my bike...pedal harder/faster.

I got a heart rate monitor last week. Apparently this is a must have if you are serious. I am still figuring out how to use it most effectively with my training. At the moment it is a cool functional gadget that has the potential to be very useful.

Okay...what else....Oh I got my teeth cleaned today. This created a lot of anxiety in my world because I hate going to the dentist. I am happy to report that I have all my teeth, it didn't hurt and I didn't cry. Now I am off to drink coffee and eat blueberries.

My First Tri

I did my first Sprint Distance Triathlon today. 400m swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. I was nervous and spent most of the week leading up to the race obsessing about whether or not I had everything I needeed and how I would set up my two transition areas. I decided in order to calm myself down I would create a mantra for myself. So all week I have been saying to myself "I swim like a dolphin, I ride like Lance and I run like a Kenyan". On Saturday night I finally told my husband my mantra to which he replied "alright".

The race had two separate transition areas 3 miles apart. So before checking in I had to drop off my run stuff at T2 (transition 2, where you get off your bike, put on your fancy runnin' shoes and take off). T2 was in a park parking lot and I was one of the first ones there. While I was hesitant to leave my stuff, several others had already done so and my hubby assured me no one would mess with my stuff. Off to check in. This was also where I would set up T1 (from swim to bike) and where I would do the pool swim. I wasn't sure how they were gonna do this pool thing. The pool was divided into 8 lanes so we would swim up cross over to the next lane, swim back and so forth with someone starting every 10 seconds. The registration form asked for your estimated swim time so the order was based on that. However due to a clerical error I was one of the last in the pool, which actually ended up being okay. I was out of the pool in 9:34 minutes, 9 seconds slower than my usual time. Now off to my bike.

I'll admit the bike is my strength. So one by one I start picking people off. I was only passed by one guy at mile 3, only to cruise by him at mile 13. I don't have my official time on the bike but I estimated the 15 miles took me about 47 minutes. I was feeling good as I pulled into T2. Found my hubby near my stuff, dismounted, shoes off, helmet off, running shoes on, water in mouth and over my head, and off to run. Legs feeling a little tired but I pushed through the first mile and found my legs and my pace. As I came to mile 2 I start my mantra. At 2.5 I begin to become aware of my legs but people are shouting "Almost there". I pick up the pace. Then I hear "just around the corner", and now I am sprinting. I round the corner and see my husband, and now I am running like a Kenyan. Again I don't have the official but I think I finished my run at 31 minutes bringing my total to about 1 hour 34 minutes, including transitions. I felt so good afterwards and had so much fun doing it.

I drank my recovery drink, ate a banana, got my t shirt and hung out for a little. All and all I am happy with my results. I wanted to be under 2 hours but mostly I wanted to finish with a smile on my face and that's exactly what I did.

Jelly Donut Pancakes - The Breakfast of Champions

I know, I know, I haven't written in a couple of days. A lot has happen since we last spoke. My hubby and I were in the city a couple of weeks ago and decided to take advantage of being in the city early and having all day to blow. Blowing a whole day in downtown Chicago takes energy and for that I needed food. The hubby had been researching some funky eateries online for just this occasion and suggested a place called Orange. They are known for their frushi, fresh fruit sushi. This sounded good to me, so off to Orange we go. The place is funky with waitresses that act like they don't care but are actually pretty good at their job. While perusing the menu I notice the famed jelly donut pancakes. Anyone who knows me knows I'd much rather eat junk food than anything healthy for me. So jelly donut pancakes it is. They did not disappoint. It was a stack on pancakes with blueberry filling in the middle and orange marmalade butter. The whole thing was sprinkled with real sugar, and to top it off real maple syrup. I ate the whole thing, which is amazing for me, I never finish a stack of pancakes at home. I should mention the hubby had the frushi and it was excellent. Then off to the Museum of Surgical Science. The museum is in an old house right on the lakefront. Had all kinds of old school amputation kits, fake limbs and my favorite, a vaginal speculum the size of hedge trimmers. Anyways, that was our day in the city.

I have also been volunteering at some local clinics affiliated with my school, a way to keep my head in the game so to speak. Well last week at one of the clinics I got to do an EKG on my patient. I didn't do it by myself, a fourth year student helped me, but it was cool none the less.

The training program I am following is based on minutes per week. My goal for this past week was 250 minutes. I had a bit of a head cold last week and almost died so I missed two of my workouts and ended up being 55 minutes short last week. It is okay because I was able to pick up the pace on my run. This past weekend I went to watch some of my friends compete in The Subaru Womens Triathlon in Naperville. These girls are the LunaChix tri team. I rode with them last summer and just started riding with them again this summer. It is not a big deal, the rides are open to everyone. They have been giving me alot of advise about tri training and race day tips. I had never been to watch a triathlon and I must admit it was pretty inspiring. Women of all shapes and sizes, young and old. Hell, there was a women there doing the bike leg on a single speed cruiser bike with all her stuff in a basket attached to the handlebars. It was great to see all those women looking like they were having the time of their lives. My first tri is July 8. It is a 400 meter swim, 15 mile bike and 5k run. I did some swimming drills today and will run tomorrow. As part of my training I have started using a new supplement called Powerthrist. Check out their ad below.

Oh, I forgot to mention I helped my hubby's cousin buy a road bike last weekend. He ended up getting a pretty good deal on a used bike that had barely been ridden. Kind of fun to get someone else involved in biking.

That's all for now.

I'm No Longer a Virgin

This past Saturday was my first 5K. I had set out to complete the event in 30 to 36 minutes. I had no idea if this was reasonable, but my husband assured me it was. So Saturday morning rolled around and I was up by 6:15 am. Had some breakfast, my usual oatmeal with peanut butter and honey and a little iced coffee to get me going, and we were out the door by 6:45. The race was about 15 minutes away but I had not pre-registered so I needed to get there early and get my racin' bib. After signing up and getting all my goodies there was still 35 minutes left to the start time so the hubby and I found a spot on the church steps and hung out. I am told there are always people at these races that are super competitive and take these small local races quite seriously. No joke. There were people doing warm up laps around the block, wind sprints and all kinds of what could only be viewed as warm up routines. After a good chuckle I decided I should maybe stretch a little. I opted out of the wind sprints but struck gold when I found a secret bathroom. So secret I was the only one in it 10 minutes before the race. At 7:50 a.m. the announcer called for everyone to line up at the start. It was at this moment that I realized how annoyed I get with inane conversation. All these people standing around trying to make conversation. I say just stand there and shut up. At 8:00 a.m. the only wheelchair guy gets the go ahead and at 8:02 we are off.

I have never run with anyone other than my husband so I have one idea what starting in a pack of hundreds felt like. Here is what it feels like.....like I am going to fast. My first mile took 8:54, I have never run less than a 10:24 mile. I decided I needed to slow down. My next mile was at 10:51. Did I mention I have a hard time pacing myself? I get past mile 2 and I am thinking "okay, no problem, one more mile." It was a hilly course with an uphill finish. So I am coming into the finish, uphill. I can see the finish line. I can see my husband standing there waiting to take my picture. My lungs where burning and I needed to walk, but the finish was right there. This internal struggle goes on for about 10 seconds and I decide, I'll walk for about 30 seconds to catch my breath. My 30 seconds are up. I am running, trying to sprint to the finish. I cross the line, 30:58. My husband says "good job" and I say "water."

That was my first 5k. Sunday brought a 15 mile bike ride and hours on the internet trying to finds ways to pace my run. What I never found in all those hours my husband found in a mere seconds. www.djsteveboy.com has a list of house music with the tempo listed. So I used one with a 154 tempo to do my 3 miles this morning. I was skeptical because I have never liked house music, but to my surprise it kept me on pace and motivated. I ended up doing 3 miles in 32:24. The tempo was a little slow, so I'll speed it up a little next time, but I was pleasantly surprised at how good I felt at the end. Tomorrow is a swim day. I'll keep you posted.