How Hard Can It Be? 5.0

[Veronica]

And I'm relieved to see that TE doesn't sell this particular one.

I've never really been a "print" person. I feel like I look like curtains or my grandmother in them, so a huge leap for me.

I tried on this dress in a really pretty green



It looked great from the front - really showed off the abs. But I have too much back muscle and it was pulling across my back in a size medium and a large was too large.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Presentation was a huge success; the dress looked great - got lots of compliments. My favorite, " Mrs. D. you look very nice in that dress." from my student who makes robot sounds in class and pretends to be flying airplanes with his pencils. If you watch Modern Family, he's like both Luke and Manny, depending on his mood.

My hip has been bugging me a little this week - icing and lots of yoga.

Just ten more days of school. I'm really going to miss this group of kids, but I'm ready for a break.

Veronica

[colby]

Presentation was a huge success; the dress looked great - got lots of compliments. My favorite, " Mrs. D. you look very nice in that dress." from my student who makes robot sounds in class and pretends to be flying airplanes with his pencils. If you watch Modern Family, he's like both Luke and Manny, depending on his mood.

Aww, how sweet. Way to bring him back to reality for a minute!

[Veronica]

Next race is a week from today. I was looking at my past results, from my first year of racing, and looking at the race organizer's website. I learned that my race is a qualifier for Nationals - top 1/3 in each age group automatically qualify. It would be cool to qualify, but I don't think I will. I wonder if that means the race will have more entrants than previously. IT DOES NOT MATTER. My only goals are to swim easy, bike easy and enjoy the run. It would be nice to be faster than when I weighed ten pounds more, but even that, doesn't really matter.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Stress, stress stress...

The school district went all fancy this year and we do our report cards online. But they didn't bother to update our work computers or our Internet connection. It takes me twice as long to enter all my grades at work as it does from my home computer. And it's even slower if more a few teachers are working on it at the same time.

But the system developed a bug this weekend, so I couldn't get them done, like I had planned. Now I need to find a couple of extra hours in my schedule to get these done - assuming they get the bug fixed.

Guess I won't be swimming this week.

Veronica

[Tri Girl]

Stress, stress stress...

The school district went all fancy this year and we do our report cards online. But they didn't bother to update our work computers or our Internet connection. It takes me twice as long to enter all my grades at work as it does from my home computer. And it's even slower if more a few teachers are working on it at the same time.

But the system developed a bug this weekend, so I couldn't get them done, like I had planned. Now I need to find a couple of extra hours in my schedule to get these done - assuming they get the bug fixed.

Guess I won't be swimming this week.

Veronica

I feel your pain, but such is the life of a teacher. Flexibility, flexibility, flexibility. It'll all be over soon. This is my 2nd week on summer vacation... I'm SO glad it's here!

[Veronica]

Report card program was fixed late Tuesday and I finished mine up yesterday. Whew...I really dislike administrative tasks and don't like having them hanging over me.

I also discovered I misread the website for my next event; it's not a national qualifier. One of their other events is which means I don't have to worry about being in anyone's way on the run on Sunday. Yeah, I was worried about that. I think my swim and bike times would put me in the top third, the run not so much. It's not a goal or even a dream of mine to qualify for Nationals, but I would hate to be in someone's way who had a shot and part of the run is on single track. Stupid thing to worry about probably, but I was anyway.

I don't know what it is about Wednesdays, but I often need a nap Wednesday afternoons. Yesterday was one of those days. A two hour nap and eight hours of sleep, now I feel good. Or maybe that's the endorphins - had a great 4 mile run this morning. Yes!!! An early morning run with no wheezing and no tummy upset. It wasn't a PR or anything - just felt good and was fun.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Tough workout with Shawna this morning. I was (am still) very tired from my race yesterday.

Today's fun exercise - feet in the TRX stirrups, hands on a Bosu ball, round side down. Pull feet in and then back out, followed by a push up - 15 reps.

We ended the day with 10/20 repeated 3 times, no rest - 10 V ups, 20 Russian twists.


How soon until I can nap?

Veronica

[Veronica]

I am just about recovered from Sunday's race. The muscles in my feet and my ankles have really been sore. Yes, it's the muscles. They ran 6.2 miles on almost all gravel and single track, which my feet are not very familiar with. Poor Thom has been stuck with my feet in his lap while we watch the Dauphine coverage. The massage really makes them feel better.

Today is the last day of school. I managed to not cry at our promotion ceremony yesterday. A couple of my kids cried and a lot of parents were teary, including our principal.

I have a week to train and then we're off to mountain bike Telluride to Moab. I'm a little nervous about so much riding at elevation - 8,000 - 10,000 feet most days. But I know how to moderate my effort and it will make me look at the scenery.

Veronica

[Veronica]

The Telluride trip was awesome. Pictures are here. It was some of the hardest riding I have ever done. Every day I just worked at staying in a zone where I could ride. I think it turned out to be some pretty good training. I know I came home with some wicked huge calf muscles.

It took a few days for me to recover from the trip. I found myself napping for a couple of hours both Monday and Tuesday. But by Wednesday I seemed to be back to normal. My workout with Shawna on Wednesday was just awesome, lots of plyometrics. My favorite exercise being hold on to two 12 dumb bells and jump up onto a bench 15 times. I kept focusing on how quietly I could land.

Thursday, Friday and Saturday (today) were run days. Thursday's run was hard since I had not run in 2 weeks. Friday felt better, of course it was shorter and not as hilly. Today I went out for 8.5 miles and it was perfect! I just got into the zone where I felt like I could just keep going. It wasn't fast, but you know if I could run that pace for my entire HIM in 4 weeks, I'd be thrilled.

Shawna is heading off to Alaska with her dad for two weeks, so no trainer sessions. I've got a week and then we're heading to Maine. While there I plan to get in an ocean swim and run the course of our race in August. Not sure yet if we'll bike or drive the bike course. My sister lives on a small pond so maybe I'll work on my open water skills a bit.

4 weeks until Barb's Race. I don't feel ready. That's nothing new; I've never felt ready.

Veronica

[Veronica]

Maine trip was great. I ran three times, including part of the course for Rev 3 Maine. It's a fairly flat run course with a section on the Eastern Trail through Scarborough Marsh. OY!!!! Running through the section of marsh was like running through a sauna! It's a good thing it's flat, because there is no way I want to walk through the section.

We biked about 45 miles of the bike course, picked up some pretty decent rental bikes at Gorham Bike and Ski in Saco. Oddly, they don't have a Gorham location. None of the climbs are very long, a few are fairly steep. Thom is doing this part of the relay and I expect he'll have a pretty good time. We averaged 16.5 mph without pushing ourselves and with me sightseeing along my old school bus route.

I had my first trainer session with Shawna in two weeks today. I expect I'll be a little sore tomorrow. My first set included Burpees and push ups, just ten of each, not bad. But the second round I had to do twenty and you guessed it. The third round was 30. Burpees are worse than push ups!

My HIM is less than 2 weeks away. I really need to go swim...


Veronica

[Wahine]

Good luck V. I'm looking forward to hearing how the race goes.

[Veronica]

It's not a good idea to let your mind wander when doing squats... Last round, 2nd of 15 reps... don't know what I did... leaned forward maybe. All I know is I had a sudden sharp pain to my lower back. That was Wed. Lots of icing and advil. No bike ride Wed., no run Thurs., no swim today.

It's feeling better, more like I just overworked it now. I still feel it when I bend over to scoop up a cat though. I had been planning on a 9 mile run tomorrow, one final pacing sort of run. Maybe I'll run tomorrow, maybe I won't. But I don't think it will be nine miles. It was more of mental thing, no fitness to be gained for the race at this point.

I hadn't planned on a taper, since I never really ramped up my training. It's going to be an interesting race. No matter what, I am having fun next Saturday. I may post the worst time ever, but I'm not going to stress this year. It would be ironic if I posted my best time. But I'm not going there.

One bright note - I'm not the last wave! My age group is HUGE. We're all by ourselves. The 40 - 44s are going with with the 55+ after us. I hate being the last wave, so many people to pass. They all pass me later on the run... But at least they can see where they're going and they don't run into the butts of people who are walking. It's impossible to see wetsuit covered legs that are walking.

Veronica

[Wahine]

V - I'm sorry that happened. That sucks.

I hadn't planned on a taper, since I never really ramped up my training. It's going to be an interesting race. No matter what, I am having fun next Saturday. I may post the worst time ever, but I'm not going to stress this year. It would be ironic if I posted my best time. But I'm not going there.

Well I guess you're on a taper now. I'm glad you're not stressing about it.

[Catrin]

Sorry to read that Veronica, but glad to hear it seems to be resolving. Have fun next weekend and looking forward to reading about it!