Where to begin...

A lot has happened since I last blogged about Vineman. When I say a lot, I mean, A LOT! I'll do a quick recap:

Raced Rev3 OOB - Steve did the 70.3 and I did the half aquabike - I had an awesome ride, and Steve had an awesome race! The swim was kind of nuts, the current was CRAZY. That's really all I can remember at this time, ha!

Lobsterman Olympic - again, the current in this swim was crazy, therefore everyone's times were about 3-6 minutes slower. I had an ok day - I didn't run for 3 1/2 weeks leading into this race due to some piriformis issues I was having - I raced as hard as I could, and when it was over, I was pain free the whole run, so that was a big plus. We spent the night in Portland, parking our butts at Novare Res. I've blogged about Novare Res before -- I sure am going to miss it! (More to come on this, if you don't know already). This was our traditional trip to celebrate Steve's birthday. Normally we celebrate it in the off season, but it had been kind of a crazy year for us and we thought we deserved a fun night of big craft beer.

Rev3 South Carolina - this was the most adventurous 70.3 we've ever done. We drove from NH to Anderson, SC, it took us 16 hours. I was sick as a dog so Steve had to do most of the driving on the way down, thank you! It was almost 2100 total miles of driving. Phew! I'm tired just typing that. This was a very fun trip for us, we enjoyed all of it, even the 2:30 am drive post race!

Back to the race. Anderson, SC is in the heart of Clemson fanatics and the Bible Belt. So just imagine orange and white, bible reading, waffle eating, fast food loving people.

There was so many waffle houses and Popeye joints I was reminded how gross we are as a nation when it comes to the nutritional choices over 50% of Americans make. 

Since I was sick all weekend, race morning came and I was only able to put down half the applesauce I'm supposed to. This may not seem like a big deal, but given that I was very dehydrated from the days leading into the race where I'm usually sucking down NUUN and water, but wasn't able to for this race because my throat was so sore it set up the race for a pure suffer fest. The swim was my worst 70.3 swim to date, YAY! I was happy to be out of the insanely warm water and get on the bike. I was so hungry and thirsty, I immediately sucked down an entire bottle of Perform and had my half power bar, 20 minutes later and I had the second half which I always carry on the bike in a 70.3 for emergency use - this was one of those times. Steve took off in the first swim wave, I took off in the last swim wave, in a race that had under 380 participants -- needless to say, it was a very quiet, lonely ride. I was surprised how poor the road conditions were for being down south. They were just as bad as in NH where we have pretty nasty winters with snow, salt and plow trucks that destroy the roads every winter. When I finally got to T2, I thought about stopping. I was depleted of everything. It was low 80's but very high humidity. I racked my bike, put on some icy hot on my piriformis as a precaution. Sneakers on. Off I went running. I didn't realize it was a two loop course and about 400 meters ahead was Steve! I tried like heck to catch up to him, but he was running very strong. It was nice to see him on the course, even if was his backside! The entire run was awful, I had to stop at every potty stop, and I felt lightheaded, dizzy and nauseous all at the same time. Steve finished the race, and I was heading out onto the run, he yelled how do you feel -- apparently I gave him a not so nice look. After one more loop, which went by faster since I could remember different sights and aide stations. After more potty stops, wanting to crawl over in the fetal position I made it to the finish. Was so happy to be done. Ended with a small PR, but it should have been much better given what I put into the race and my fitness leading into it. Steve had an awesome race - great swim, solid bike and awesome run!

Immediately following the race, we changed and jumped in the car to make the 10 hour drive to Bethlehem, PA! We arrived at 3 am, woke up at 7, showered and got to Steve's (eventual) new boss's office by 8:30. After a couple hours there, the head HR guy, Jon - drove us all around LeHigh Valley to show us the area. By 3 pm we decided we were moving to the area as Steve accepted the new position! We stopped to grab dinner and toast to the new opportunity and we headed out back to NH. After another long drive, we arrived home, in our driveway at 1 am. Ahhh - bed!!

Wait, job? Bethlehem, PA? Moving out of state? Huh? Yes, that's right folks, most of you already know this by now, we are living in Bethlehem, PA as Steve is the new VP of Enrollment Management at Moravian College down here. After doing some job searching, applying, interviewing, I also got a job as Associate Director in FA!

In between South Carolina and IMAZ was the packing and moving. We decided on a start date with the college for Steve and we had 2 1/2 weeks to pack up our lives and move. This was right smack in the beginning, middle and end of overload. Needless to say, I only hit about 10% of training during that time, looking back on it now, it was actually a total of 3 swims, 2 rides and 2 runs. During weeks that were scheduled to have swim, bike, run everyday. After some emailing back and forth with Tim (who is awesome, by the way), I decided I would hit my workouts the two weeks leading into AZ and continue with the plan to race. With Steve starting a new job, and only two weeks left til race day, he decided to not race. This was a good idea. Sometimes, making the decision to NOT do something is tougher than making the decision to do it.

Steve and I met up in AZ at the airport, after not seeing him for 10 days. I was so happy to see him! I hit all my training those two weeks and I was actually feeling really good well rested. I maintained my diet and got to where I needed to be, despite eating out for about 10 days in a row while we were packing and moving (gross, I know, but this is real life when you work full time and have to up and move your whole life).

I raced, had a nice PR in 140.6, I biked very well for me and couldn't have been happier with the results. I got what I put into it.

Enough with the writing, here are some pictures from post Vineman to now:

Road trip to SC!

We stopped here for breakfast

Love Rev3 transitions

Total miles for road trip.

Steve and Sam. Best buds.

Soaking up some rays.

Mmmm, salt water.

Getting some work done.

Congratulating my mom on her first marathon finish!

Packed up again, this time for the move!

Peeps are made in Bethlehem, PA.

Doing work on the trainer, I was saying hi to Steve over 300 miles away.

Transition at IMAZ.

There she is, no one to the left, but the next morning, somehow about 7 more bikes fit on here.

First post race off season meal.

Swim start. Photo cred: Mary Eggers

Best Mex ever.

I changed out of the tri kit, because I knew it got dark and and chilly at like 3 pm in AZ. Decided being in dryer clothes for 26.2 miles would be helpful. It was.

We shot guns for the first time - Steve was really good. Clearly, as shown above, I'm not.

Vineman 70.3: I will bring you water, if you will bring me wine

Wine, wine and more wine!  So we just got home from Vineman, and it was a splendid trip!  Update: I've slowly been writing this on from the comfort of the couch, on my lunch breaks and in the normatecs so I apologize for any spelling errors.  

We flew out of Boston on Virgin America, and had a direct flight, DIRECT FLIGHT to San Fransisco.  We left Boston and it was 80 degrees and 90% humidity, gross.  First, let me tell you, Virgin America is fantastic, the guy charged us for our bikes $25.00 each!  The website says $50.00 for sporting goods though, so that was a nice surprise.  The flight was nice, TV's for each seat, Steve fell asleep and I was busy watching an SVU marathon on USA and flipping to CNN to watch coverage on the Travon Martin case.  I became fascinated with it, kind of lame, I know. 

When we got into San Fransisco, it was a cool and cloudy 60ish degrees.  We were actually cold!  We waited a little while for our awesome 2013 Chrysler Town and Country minivan.  We packed everything in, and off we went to Windsor, CA where we would be staying for the majority of our trip.  When we got to Windsor, it was no longer cloudy and it was nice and warm, but a DRY heat.  Ahhh, no humidity!  We unpacked the bikes and clothes (well, Steve unpacked his clothes, I prefer to just pick out of the suitcase).  We then went off to dinner, but first, we made a pit stop in the hotel lobby for a free wine tasting.  We typically never drink the weeks leading into a race, let alone 3 days prior, but, when in Rome... The wine was fantastic and we went to dinner at Johnny Garlic's the food is ok, probably a bit better than say a 99, but the bartender was fantastic, they were super busy and he kept on top of things.  Before you even ask, yes, we each had a glass or maybe two of wine!  We are in wine country, there were vineyards everywhere, we couldn't NOT try some good wine.  Right?!

The next morning we woke up and had a nice easy swim and bike on the schedule. It was cloudy from the fog that rolls in, so we decided to hang out and watch more of the George Zimmerman case.  Around noon time we headed over to Guerneville, CA where the swim start was and did a nice easy 20ish minute swim. I opted for no wetsuit since I dislike my wetsuit a great deal. The river is extremely shallow so the water was pretty warm.  After the swim I had the directions on my phone for the bike course and we decided to drive the course to get an idea of what it was like.  We were so glad we did.   What a gorgeous bike course, flat/rolling with some nice technical spots in the beginning.  By nice I mean awful since my bike handling skills are that of a 5 year old.  Within the first 3 miles we pass by the Korbel Vineyard!  I'm not a huge fan of champagn, but the vineyards are incredibly gorgeous!  Vineyards were on both sides for about 45 of the 56 miles. 

Once we arrived to the end of the bike and T2 at Windsor high school and strategically located 1 mile from our hotel (strategic about 9 months prior to the race when I booked the hotel.  We had to wait about 40 minutes post race to get a shuttle back to the car at the swim start!) We got a glimpse of what T2 would look like and tried to figure out the bike in, run out and finish.  

We then went back to the hotel and headed out for an easy 60ish minute ride.  We ended up riding the last 6 miles of the bike course in reverse and then back in the right direction since we did a simple out and back.  After the ride we showered up and headed to dinner.  Of course we made a pit stop in the hotel lobby for another free wine tasting!  

On Saturday we had the typical day before a race agenda.  Pancakes!  This race was a point to point race so every athlete had to attend a mandatory meeting.  Now, they always say it's mandatory but for AGers it's really not.   However this race would stamp your hand after the meeting and no stamp = no race packet with all your bibs and stickers.  So we attended the first meeting at 9:30 am.  Got our packets and set up T2.  Sneakers, socks, cliff blocks and hat.  No sunscreen though.  

After we set up T2 we headed out for a 25 min ZR run.  Where my Garmin decided to freeze and there we were in the middle of a neighborhood with me freaking out and Steve calmly fixing it.  Phew!  After the run we headed to grab lunch then go back to the hotel to relax.  We decided to hang poolside since there was no one else hanging out by it.  It was sunny, warm and quiet.  I took about a 40 minute nap, woke up and was really hot so we went back to the comforts f our air conditioned room and turned on jury deliberations coverage of the Zimmerman case (notice the trend).  Went to dinner at some point, came back and was happy to see we did not miss the verdict.  About 20 minutes later we saw it.  I'm certainly not going to get into that whole mess here though.  

Race morning came quickly as always, yet I seemed like I had a pretty decent nights sleep. After all it was 6:30 AM back home!  Apple sauce, protein, banana and perform were consumed, we packed up the bikes and were off!  Since this was a point to point race, everyone had to check the bikes the morning of, so it was pretty hectic in transition, which was massive from the nearly 2800 athletes!  Although I just read they limit it to 2300 athletes, I swear it had more than that.  

Thankfully Steve and I had decent swim wave times, we were both off by 7:30. (The last swim wave was around 8:40, ouch!).  I had about a 16 minute head start on Steve and my goal was to get to mile 10 of the bike before I saw him (which I did!).  

Swim: this is how it went and what was going through my mind as it was happening.  Air horn goes off: ok here we go, go out hard Til you can't breathe, 2 seconds in, on man, this stuff hurts.  This water is so gritty I'm going to be peeing dirt later on. I hope I don't see any catfish like the ones on river monsters.  Faster, harder, turn over those arms, go go go go! Sight, ok I'm relatively straight. Swim some more, harder go, moooove Melissa what is wrong with you.  Got to the first of two  bridges. Oh man this swim is awful.  Worse than Miami and the jelly fish sting. Go, you're almost at the turnaround... I think.  It can't be that much further.  Sight.  Oh man I'm pretty much on the shore, there I go again not swimming straight. Can I see the turn around buoy yet?  Where is this thing.  Breathe.  Why is that guy walking?  Oh that's right my fingers are dragging on the bottom.  Doesn't he know walking in water is so much slower than swimming?!  Oh look the turnaround!  The buoy is the same freaking color as the rest!  What the heck!  Oh look more people are walking.  Ouch! Just grabbed some dirt.  Got up and did a semi dolphin dive/belly flop. Ok can swim without grabbing dirt again. Good.  Sight.  Agh the bridge is so far away.  Ouch.  Just got knocked on the head and wrist.  That feels odd.  Is my watch on. Oh crap, look really quick, it was half on!  Stroke, stroke, quick click it back in, phew!  Swim swim, man this swim really sucks.  Keep it together, push hard.  You're only feeling it because you haven't swam more than 1000 meters in six weeks.  Damn you base phase!  Oh look the swim exit!  Oh man there's some tall grass and Lilly pad looking things.  That can only mean one thing, snakes!  Ewwww!  Move!  Finally!  Stand up and take off the wet suit.  Whoa whoa just tripped over my own feet.  There we go.  Whooaaaa!  Just did a legit belly flop dive!  Awesome.  Everyone is laughing!  Onto the bike!  

Bike: pretty uneventful. I pushed and stayed at the top of Z2 and still managed to do the typical 3:20 ride time.  Doh.  I had less than 3 bottles on the ride but peed about 6 times (not lying).  I usually do 1.5 bottles an hour in normal conditions.  For some reason I thought overcast and low 60's was less than normal so I didn't drink enough.  I would feel the affects of this on the run.  

Run: after a very long transition run I finally made it to the bike rack, made decent time and off I went!  But I stopped at got a quick sunscreen application to my shoulders!  I felt really awesome the first half, I saw Steve as he was around mile 9-10 and I was at about mile 6.  Got to La Crema Winery and did about a one mile loop around the vines on a dirt road, there was some shade and I was feeling ok.  First half of the run I was averaging 8:22.  Second half came and I was feeling awful!  My legs would not move!  Annnnd here's the affects of not enough fuel! (I would discover the lack of fuel post race).  My second half dropped to over 10 min/mile.  Dear lord Melissa what is wrong with you!   Managed a small PR and if I could have fueled properly my run probably would have been what my training was reflecting.  There's always the next one though!

Steve had his second fastest 70.3 ever and came off of only three weeks of base training.  He hurt his back badly the weekend after Quassy and could not do any training.  I was so pumped for his results!  He works so hard and is one of the toughest people I know!

This race is spectacular and we both highly recommend everyone get out there to do it I you can!

Onto the fun stuff.  Vacation!  I'm just going to describe the vacation portion in some of the over 200 photos I took!

Minivan packed with our gear. 

Golden Gate Bridge 

Sonoma!

Beginning of the bike course: Korbel grapes 

The wine caves at Alexander Valley Vineyards.  Amazing Zin here!

Full sampler at Russian River Brewery 

The horses from our wine and carriage vineyard tour!

Fresh bay leaves

Standing INSIDE a redwood!  

Fresh blackberry pie from Moms Apple Pie.  Steve got the apple pie which was equally as fresh and delic!

The Redwoods which were absolutely incredible.  

Laguinitas!  One of our favorite craft beers with a beer bag from Bert's.  If you stop in the store you'll see this picture on the wall!

We've been home for a few weeks and have been spot on with nutrition and getting leaner and meaner.  We have Rev 3 OOB in two weeks, whoa, wait, two weeks?!?! We are both feeling really strong and ready to get after it!  AZ will be here before we know it!  Happy training everyone!

The hills are alive - Rev 3 Quassy

So the title should say it all.  This course is legit. 

First, the weather, all week my trusty lying weather app had been saying it was going to cool down for Sunday, low 70's with some clouds and less humidity.  This of course, was not the case come race morning.  First thing I checked when I woke up at 3:45 was the weather, mid 80's and typical New England summer time humidity.  Awesome.  I wasn't going to let the thought of all that Perform I was going to have consume damper my mood though.  I was feeling great, my run had been turning an amazing corner the 3 weeks leading up to this day and I was two lbs lighter than at any other time last year. 

Steve and I got to transition right at 5, and all of a sudden it was right before 7 am and the pros were taking off.  My wave was at 7:30 and Steve's wave was at 7:50.  At 7:15 I started to get in a nice warm up, the water was amazing, 70ish.  It's amazing how sitting on a pool deck at 6 am and dreading getting into the freezing cold 82 degree pool, yet come race morning, I wish for something in the 60's.  My swim was awesome for me, finally a swim time I could smile about when I saw my watch, 36:03.  What makes this even more impressive is the fact that according to my Garmin I swam 1.45 miles, in a swim that's supposed to be 1.2.  My navigation skills are horrific, everytime I would look up I knew I was swimming anything but straight! 

Onto the bike, knowing I had a 20 minute head start on Steve I was secretly hoping to get to the first aid station before he caught up to me, this was at mile 15.9, I saw him around mile 20, sweet!  I was pushing hard up the hills and trying to gain time going down them, I improved on my bike time from last year by over 15 minutes, this is such a huge improvement for me and my lack of cycling muscles.  Around 90 minutes in, I started to feel GI issues going on, so for the whole time on the bike I was only able to consume 4 bottles of Perform, which is not ideal for me.  It was so hot out there and I had sweat dripping in my eyes, everytime I tried to wipe it out, more sweat would go in them.  I usually pee at 90 mins in and I didn't pee until around mile 45 and it was a forced little dribble.  Good times.

Onto the run, I knew there was a potty stop between miles 1 and 2 and I just NEEDED to get there, stopped and ahhh, finally felt better.  I started to run after grabbing three cups of ice, two for my sports bra and one I would hold in my hands and pop in my mouth at points.  The ice melted within 5 minutes.  Literally 5 minutes.  Even after the bathroom break it took until about mile 3 for my stomach to feel good and more normal.  I was taking in water at the aide stations until mile 8 when I tried the gatorade endurance they had, and within 2 minutes I started feeling nice GI pains again, so after that it was back to water.  My run was almost a minute slower than last years, which I can live with, given my nice improvement on the bike.  All and all, I improved my time by 16:17 over last year!

I will sum up Steve's race with this: he did not pee until Monday morning around 10 am.  Enough said.

On the transition front, my T times were awful, much slower than last year.  Not off to a good start on the T battle with Steve!

Rev 3 puts on a great race, they really pay attention to all the details, like having ice and cold drinks at every aide station.

I want to take a quick minute to give a huge shout out to my friend Tim, http://abrandnewfocus.tumblr.com/ he's been putting in a ton of hard work and he completed the Tough Mudder Boston (which was actually held in the mountains in NH) the day before Quassy. I posted a video on my twitter of him crossing the finish line on his own power. I saw a still photo of it race morning before I started, and I usually will look at Tim's blog or FB page race morning for that little extra dose of motivation. It always puts things into perspective and when I wanted to go jump into a dirty pond to cool off while on the run, that image came into my head of Tim. This is a video of part of the Tough Mudder and Tim's team.

Post Quassy we spent last week relaxing, drinking a beer at the end of the Bruins games celebrating their victory over the Penuins and the biggest baby in hockey, Crosby.  Now, it's onto the Stanley Cup Finals, which is the most exciting thing in sports.  Hockey players like Campbell who took a puck to the ankle and ended up breaking his leg while blocking a shot in a key PK in Game 3, yet continued to stay on the ice for a minute make people like Lebron James look like a baby penguin.  Except baby penguins are much, much cuter.  Anywaysss, here are some pictures from the weekend!

Awesome transition set up by Rev 3

Steve's all done!

Me looking for a tub of ice to jump into

Weeeee!

Steve finishing the bike

Can barely see me starting the run, my younger brother captured this moment.

We have Vineman 70.3 in five short weeks!!  Post race we will be spending the entire week in wine country, hiking through the red woods and eating our way through San Fran!

Crank the Kanc

This past Saturday Steve raced in Crank the Kanc, which is a ~22 mile TT UP the Kancamagus Highway here in NH.  The nitty gritty on the race can be scene here  Since it was up in Conway, we had to get up early, first real early morning race wake up call of the season, 4:00 am, OUCH!  Good practice for Quassy though.

This would be our first real outdoor ride since Miami last October.  Well, I had the Wrentham Du in April, but that was only 11 miles.  We had been meaning to get outside for quite some time now, but we got our bikes tuned up and sadly the bike shop we used had nothing in stock for us, so we had to wait another week, but then when they further looked at the bikes they saw Steve's seat post had been cracked (more like shredded), so we decided to not ride outside for safety reasons until the new seat post came in.  THAT issue took two weeks to resolve.  The local shop in Manchester is not a Cervelo dealer, so we had to go to another shop who said they would have the seat post in a week... which turned into two weeks.  Fun stuff.  I should preface this with the fact that we had been using a local guy for our bike needs, but it was almost 40 minutes away and we wanted something closer for convenience, however, if he ordered something, it was always there the next day.  We may need to rethink this whole bike shop strategy...

So back to the TT, I had a Z1/Z2 ride and a Z1/Z2 T run that day so I was going to ride up the Kanc in Z1 (good stuff).  I was doing just fine until the last 7 miles where it got a little steeper.  The first ~15 went by super fast and it was rolling terrain going slightly up.  Then, the last 4 miles were just obnoxious, and I had to throw the Z1 effort out the window if I wanted to simply keep moving forward.  I got to the top and waited for Steve (I took off about 25 minutes before the start of the race and it was in a TT format with one rider taking off every 15 seconds).  I had no idea how long I would be waiting for since I had no idea what time he took off at.  Luckily I stuffed a long sleeve shirt in my jersey pocket and was able to get warm since my jersey was soaked in sweat.  I took these pictures from the top!

I saw Tim Tapply of QT2 cross looking quite strong, and after about 20 mins I saw Steve!

We made our way back down the Kanc and we couldn't chat with some other riders we knew since Steve was freezing due to all the sweat and neither one of us thought to put a drive shirt in my jersey for him.  The first 4 miles down was fun, no need to pedal and the braking situtation going downhill is getting better, I barely touched them at all!  Now, I just need to get more comfortable being able to move faster by hammering the pedals while going down.  I feel more comfortable on the bike each season though, so that's a plus! 

We then made the drive home and made a pit stop in Meredith and grabbed some lunch.  On our way back into town we kept up our tradition of having a beer post race and grabbed this bad boy from Bert's

It was a gorgeous late spring/early summer day so we just sat out on the back deck until the sun went down.  It was nice doing normal people things for a few hours!

We have Rev3 Quassy in just under two weeks, eeek!  Super pumped and excited about it since it's the first A race of the season and we've both been working hard and spent long hours in the dark and cold basement on the trainer since November.  Should be interesting since we will only have two rides outside under our belts when race day rolls around.  Hopefully all that hard work and gains we've both seen indoors will translate to outdoor riding.  Rev3 puts on a great race and is super family friendly!  I just read each race participant will get two free tickets to the amusement park, so any of my family that wants to come to CT can get in for free!

Treadmills...

Today I was forced to run on the treadmill due to the snow.  Since I was already at the pool where I was planning to do my swim and then a deep water run to make up for the run since the roads are covered in the fluffy white stuff.  I had the right frame of mind at 5:30 am to pack shorts and a T just incase no one showed up to open the pool.  I arrived at 5:50, waited around until 6:15, and no one showed up.  Well,  there we have it, a 71 minute Z1 run needed to get done since I had to be in the office by 8.  Treadmills.  Dreadmills.  They are the epitome of evil.  See the definition of evil .  It causes me discomfort and repulsion.  Therefore it is evil.  Here's a list of other reasons why a treadmill is evil:

1.  You have to turn it on.  When we run outside, what's there to turn on?  Nothing.
2.  Fitness gains are nonexistent, in fact, I wouldn't be surprised if we lose fitness on a treadmill.  Think about it, what work are you actually doing?  The belt just moves your feet for you.  (I should note, I have no scientific evidence to prove or disprove loss of fitness, it's just how I feel).
3.  You can't spit or snot rocket anywhere.  When outside, I'm free to do this whenever and wherever I want.  Which is always often.
4.  TV's and music.  I get enough TV and music while on the trainer.  Heck, this morning I couldn't even figure out how to turn off the TV.
5.  Other people.  Let's be honest here.  I like people, but I don't like people enough to run next to them for 71 minutes while they are singing to themselves, talking on their phones, texting, being smelly - this is the worst.  At least while running outside, if you come across something stinky, you just keep running on by it.  On a treadmill, you're literally stuck in place.  This morning I had to run next to a guy for part of my run who was doing what looked like hill bounding.  On a treadmill.  Really?
6.  Sights.  There's nothing to look at.  Outside we get the trees, animals, cars, people (again, not stuck next to someone for 71 minutes)
7.  Last time I ran on a treadmill I hurt my back for two weeks.  Enough said.
8.  What if the treadmill breaks?  Or the building loses power?  You don't need electricity outside.
9.  Boring.
10. Sounds.  The sounds of outside are much better than someone else's iPod listening to something horrible (think country music, horrible). 
11. If you're talking on your phone or texting while on the treadmill, you're not working out.  You can't do that outside, you have to pay attention to your surroundings, which then forces you to enjoy the great outdoors.
12. The hours.  If you only run on a treadmill, you're forced to run on one whenever the gym is open.  If you run outside, you can go whenever you want.  Freedom.
13.  Sweat.  Of course you sweat outside and I love a good sweat.  However, when running inside, you can't cool down, so you shower and come out still sweating.  Gross.
14.  Time.  At most, if not all gyms, you're limited to 30-60 minutes of use on a cardio machine.  Well, that's a real bummer if your run is scheduled to be longer than that.  Also, on today's treadmill, it only runs for 60 minutes.  So, after 60 minutes it stopped.  I had to shut it off then turn it back on to do the remaining 11 minutes I had.  If outside, you can just keep going.
15.  The course.  Completely nonexistent while on a treadmill.  While outside, you can always exlpore and discover new routes to run.  Where you actually have to turn.  GASP!  You mean you don't have to run only straight and in place?
16.  You go nowhere.  I get enough of this on the trainer.  I get hours and hours of sitting and cycling in place.  Even when the weather is nicer, I don't do BST'S, tabatas and recovery rides outside.  In fact, I usually on do my Saturday long rides outside.  There's no reason to add to this whole moving nowhere with running on a treadmill.
17. Boring.

I could probably list a bunch more, but the thought of typing that word one more time makes me nauseous.  So get outside, enjoy the fresh air and this great world we live in!

IRONMAN and Sacrifice?

Recently I read this blog post from Jennie Hansen and comparing IM to intoxication.  Jennie clearly states her dislike for alcohol in general.  This got me to thinking about what are you willing to sacrifice to reach your ultimate goals?  I say this because I do enjoy a nice craft beer once in a while.  In fact, about twice a month, Steve and I would take Sam to an open field on a Friday after work after stopping at Bert's to pick up a couple of adult beverages.  We would let Sam run around like the crazy little boy he is, while we sat on a blanket and soaked in the afternoon Spring/Summer/Fall sun.  Once we started with QT2, that all changed.  Does this get me all upset?  No, in fact the opposite, we look forward to training and racing more than ever.  We do splurge the night of a race we just finished and get some bad food and beer.  Last year on our birthday's we couldn't even eat a piece of cake due to the impending races we had.  On both of our birthdays we had a race in 48 hours!  This might not seem like a big deal to some, but I LOVE my birthday and I LOVE ice cream cake.  It's so delicious.  Everything about it. 

I've sacrificed  made choices while training for IM.  My diet, which I don't consider to be a sacrifice anymore, since I feel so much better when I'm eating in the core.  Friends birthdays due to training time.  In my family, the majority of the birthdays fall between June and August, Steve and I missed quite a bit of those summer BBQ birthday celebrations due to long rides on Saturdays and long runs on Sundays.  One thing we like to do on Sundays is wake up super early, get out trainer ride in, then hit the beach to do our run before it gets super hot and all the people are out.  How many of you wake up at 6 AM on a Sunday to do that?  Sacrifice sleeping in until noon on Sundays.  I used to do this pretty much every week.  I've had my fair share of fun times, I wouldn't trade them for anything.  That's what our college years are for.  I've met alot of great people, went on a cruise with 7 girls (midnight Mex buffet, still the greatest meal of all time), got to go to Vegas and sit front row to DMB, went to D.C. to see D&T perform and Jane Goodall came out on stage - again, Jane Goodall.  Post show got in a party bus and got an amazing picture outside the Washington Monument late at night.  Was handed something called "blended wine" when Erin and I asked for a glass of red wine (we're pretty sure it was a bunch of red wines just mixed together).  Spent way too much money on a bottle of wine at a restaurant, that we later googled and saw it was only $7.99 (or something insane like that).  Witnessed Erin recite Warren G to a Warren G look a like at the Bat Hotel (she's a 5 foot tall Irish dancer mind you).  Had many Sunday Funday's, some wore shirts so everyone would know. 

While watching football on Sundays we now eat some sort of healty, core friendly soup.  No nachos, buff wings, beer etc.  However, when we wake up on Monday's to hit the pool, we don't feel sluggish (unless the Pats throw away the AFC Championship).  Which is why I can honestly say I love Monday's and it's ZR swim day where my legs usually need it.  Ultimately, this is about sacrifice, but also about choice.  I've made life choices the past four years that have brought me to a different path, and I am more happy now than I ever have been.  I hear people talk about how much they sacrifice for whatever it is they're doing.  Yes, it's sacrifice, but ultimately it's your choice.  So if you're choosing to do IRONMAN instead of going out to eat, going to the movies, drinking a glass of wine with your girlfriends, it's a choice, not a sacrifice.  I'm choosing to do the best that I absolutely can and making changes to get to that goal.  I don't like the word sacrifice, it sounds more negative than choice. 

What do you choose for your life?

Also, if you're looking to do Tough Mudder Boston and want to join a team, join this one to help my good good friend Tim!

Spice of Life

My love for spicy foods is no secret, I've previously talked about habanero corn nuggets and how awesome they are.  These are some of the other staples in the household that Steve and I must keep on a regular basis.

First of all, Sabra Hummus is the best hummus ever.  When I first discovered Supremely Spicy Hummus, well, it was a whole new love affair.

I don't get to enjoy this as much as I'd like since it's real PB and I usually eat Powdered PB.  (There's a whole post on how good that is.)  However, this is delic.

Excellent for veggie stir fry, from the same people who make Siricha.  If you don't like Sriracha, you should just go away.

This bad boy deserves a week's worth of postings.  It is so amazing.  AMAZING.  Mrs. Renf's is the single best salsa ever.  This bad boy's brother Ghost Pepper Salsa is equally as good, but we usually keep Habanero at all times.

No words.  It's that good.

I'm really not even sure where to begin with black pepper.  If you've ever seen me with a black pepper grinder in my hands, I tend to go a bit overboard.  Just sit back and watch the show.  Black pepper of course, is not spicy when you use a normal amount, but when you use the amount I put on, it is.  I mostly put this on soups, all kinds of soups.  To me, soup is not soup without it.  What's worse than grinding the thing for about 5 minutes, is when I'm in a situation in the dining hall and I have to open those little tiny packets that hold the normal amount for normal people in a single packet, I put about 30 on a cup of soup.  Maybe more.  Go ahead, judge me.

We discovered these at a farmer's market in VT.  As you can see, they are sriracha pickles.  I'm not sure if I can explain how good these are. 

Any type of habanero hot sauce, this is my current fave.  It's almost gone, which means it's time to buy a new one... or five new ones.

The name says it all.

Ok, so we found this little gem in Portland, ME at a little spice shop.  We decided to try just the powder on a stick, 10 minutes later we were drooling on the streets of Portland in search of ice cream.  Two months later when we went back for our annual brew pub tour, we bought it.  Add this to chili instead of the weak younger sibling "chili powder" and you will have yourself a divine pot of gloriousness.

The amazing older brother of habanero powder, just last night Steve made a concoction of Ketchup, Gulden's Mustard, relish and this powder.  Dip some sweet potato puffs in that, if you can handle the heat.  I dare you.