Couple quick pics from the wedding!

Off to Vacation!

I know, I have been a terrible blogger lately! I've been very busy with training, prep for my best friend's wedding, and being swept off my feet by the biggest stud in the CTC (I'll leave ya'll hanging on that one). So just a quick update before I'm off on a 2 week vacation that will consist of:

Wed- drive to Milwaukee, bike with my dad, hang out with the fam
Thur- Bachelorette party at the House of Blues Chicago
Fri- Bridal shower and rehearsal dinner, outside Chicago
Sat- Wedding at my best friend's Grandma's house (Chicago)
Sun- Back to Milwaukee- a little father's day bonding. Maybe I'll make my dad do a brick with me!
Mon- My cousin will be in town from S. Carolina
Tue- early AM get on plane to Colorado- breakfast with Bro in Denver- drive to Fort Collins- party with my roommate Colleen
Wed- Whitewater rafting
Thur/Fri- Rocky Mountain national park- high altitude training
Fri/Sat- Hang with my brother and his family
Sat night- back to Milwaukee
Sun- back to Cleveland

Whew! Something tells me I am not going to be well rested after this trip :)

Okay, last week's training-
Mon- Bike- 8 miles - Run 5 miles- bike 8 miles
Tue- Run 2 miles, swim 1 mile (open water)
Wed- Run 4.5 miles
Thur- Rest!
Fri- Run 3.5 miles- hilly and fast (well, fast for me!)
Sat- Run 7 miles- Great run around Shaker Lakes with Matt and TriFrog. The trails out there are really beautiful.
Sun- Bike 62 miles- That was awesome, by the way! A great bike ride in Amish country. Janet and I took it on together and I think we did pretty darn well, considering it was both of our longest rides. We topped it off with a great lunch with Brooks and Matt and then I collapsed on the couch with a movie before going out for sushi. What a great day!

Totals:
Running: 22 miles
Biking: 78 miles
Swim- 1 mile (doh!)


I'll be away for awhile. I'll try to post on Sunday or Monday with some pics of the wedding and general festivities. But I won't really be back in blogland until the 26th.

Have a great couple of weeks everyone!

Trying to update my profile pic (really sick of the old one!)

Bowling Action Shots!

My 100

1. I am 27 years old
2. I wouldn’t choose to be any other age
3. I love that I have been in school continuously since I was 5
4. I hate that I won’t have my first real job until I’m 35
5. But I realize how cool that is
6. My favorite food is peanut butter
7. I could eat it for every meal
8. But I limit myself to one per day
9. I love triathlon training
10. Nothing frees the body and mind more than a grueling workout
11. I always try to dance as if no one is watching
12. and sing as though no one is listening
13. I love spending time with family- and not just my own
14. I like talking to strangers
15. I still don’t know what I want to be when I grow up
16. But I have some ideas
17. I was thinking about maybe being a team doctor for a pro sports team
18. Or maybe a dermatologist, or infectious disease doc, or a surgeon
19. I have wide feet
20. I love traveling to faraway places
21. but I get nervous on big planes
22. I know that’s dumb because it is usually the small ones that crash, but I just can’t understand the physics behind something that big staying in the air
23. I have the most amazing friends
24. I am early to everything
25. I love to laugh
26. I try not to take life too seriously
27. There’s nothing in life quite as exhilarating as falling in love
28. Except maybe skydiving or bungee jumping but I’m far too much of a wuss to find out
29. I get the most marvelous sense of calm when I am in or around water
30. But I get seasick in boats sometimes
31. I love Australia, but it’s too far away to ever move to
32. I am going to complete an Ironman someday
33. I wish the swim was longer and the run was shorter
34. I love watching movies but I hate TV
35. Except the Food Network, Modern Marvels, Myth Busters, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, and American Idol
36. I realize that I should be ashamed of my love of American Idol, but I’m not
37. I have the best boss in the world
38. I love taking my dog to the park
39. I don’t think that a house is a home if it doesn’t have a dog
40. I get frustrated by politics and closed minded people
41. My favorite time of the year is fall
42. I love watching football and making apple pies
43. I love baseball and don’t think it’s boring
44. I want to go to every major league baseball stadium before I die
45. I love big cities but I don’t know if I would like to live in one
46. I am incapable of lying to people
47. Every once in awhile I treat myself to something special
48. I like people who aren’t afraid to make decisions
49. My idea of the perfect vacation is staying in a nice hotel on the beach, running in the morning, laying on the beach in the afternoon with a daiquiri in my hand, doing some exploring when I’m tired of that, scuba diving, body surfing, and eating really good food. And then at night… that all just depends on who I’m traveling with
50. I love coffee, but I hate that I am dependant on it
51. I get frustrated when people I love don’t take care of their health
52. I’m afraid of eating oysters
53. I hate tomatoes but love everything that’s made with them
54. I wonder how long it’s going to take me to get to 100…
55. There are few things in life cuter than little kids playing hockey
56. I really hate cleaning bathrooms
57. I love cleaning kitchens
58. I love sitting in hot tubs in the snow
59. with a glass of Bailey’s Irish Cream on the rocks
60. I have a love-hate relationship with running
61. Good music is therapeutic
62. My favorite course in college was Parasitology
63. but I’m not afraid of sushi
64. I’m a big, big science nerd
65. A close family friend once told me that if I was any more laid back I’d be unconscious
66. I took it as a compliment
67. I love triathlon training with groups of people
68. I am only competitive with myself
69. I have absolutely no memory for books or movies
70. When a tree falls in the middle of the woods and no one is there to hear it, I think it makes a noise
71. I am the most introverted person in my family
72. that’s saying more about my family than me :)
73. I bake cookies spontaneously and without warning
74. especially when I’ve had a little alcohol
75. I don’t like mirrors
76. I won’t go to gyms that have mirrors for walls- I think it’s weird that anyone would want to see themselves while running
77. I’m excited that Old School is on TV tonight
78. Someday I want to learn to play the guitar
79. I sing in the car
80. loudly
81. I think you need to live through winter to appreciate the spring
82. My dad has played Santa Clause for his friend’s kids on Christmas Eve since he was 30
83. I used to be his elf
84. My mom discovered exercise this year and I’m so proud of her
85. I love wearing my wetsuit
86. I never get cravings for popcorn, but when I smell it I have to have it
87. I like drinking beer from bottles
88. I like it when I’m sore
89. it means that I worked hard
90. I hate centipedes
91. When I was little I dressed up toads in Barbie clothes
92. I like getting dirty
93. I love Indian food
94. I think that I tend to underestimate myself
95. Computers frustrate me
96. I don’t get intimidated easily
97. No meal is complete without chocolate
98. I love eating fruit in the summertime
99. I love bad dancing
100. Triathlon people are amazing

I've got a fever

And the only prescription is more bowling

Any C-town bloggers have an itch to go hit the lanes Thursday night? Sig. others welcome, of course :)

Question of the day

Should I sign up for a 70.3 this year? If so which one?

Discuss amongst yourselves. I'm getting ferklempt...

I told you I'd be back

I'm afraid to go upstairs.

I'm hearing noises.

Here's the backstory:

A couple months ago I was trying to go to sleep and kept hearing this faint scratching sound. It really sounded like it was coming from inside my room. After tearing my room apart and not finding the source of the offensive noise I listened closer. It was coming from the attic...

Squirrels!

The damn creatures had dug a hole through the wood behind my gutter and were building a spring home in my attic.

So I got a carpenter (Lester) out to assess the damages, he gave me an estimate and told me he'd be back the next week to fix it.

Wrong

In the meantime I have gone into the attic to put the screens in. And my genius self left the attic door open.

And now I'm hearing noises.

If I wake up in the middle of the night with a squirrel on my face - you'd better sleep with one eye open, Lester.

I am such a slacker

I really have to recover some motivation to do work. T minus 4 months and 25 days to the last day I can defend my thesis and still make the last re-entry date for medical school. And I am having such a problem getting motivated to write. Re-submission day for my manuscript is Wednesday. I think that's what the problem is. I Need to put this manuscript to bed before I can switch gears to number 2 (then 3 and 4 and a thesis...). So basically all I want to do when the weather is nice is train. I took off this afternoon to write and ended up biking 16 miles and running 6.

Anyhoo, enough complaining. A quick update on weekend training...

Sunday- Very nice day for a bike ride down in Brecksville. Kept a nice pace and did some very decent hills. I had a lot of fun talking to Brooks and Elizabeth and Alan. Met some other great people there, too, but they were in for a little bit more intense a workout than I was looking for. Total distance was 30 miles. Since my bicycle computer is a little too electronically advanced for my feeble mind I can't tell you stats. I have yet to set the trip meter so it just reads my odomter -1000. One day I'll figure it out. I just have far too much on my plate to sit down and learn the nuclear physics behind that contraption that sits on my handlebar and mocks me.

We finished the bike just in time to head up to Columbia for a swim. There were 5 of us in all (Elizabeth, Brooks, Rob, Kristina (who is hopefully joining the CTC soon!), and I). It was awesome. Very wavy and the perfect temperature. I realize that any normal human wouldn't take pleasure in rough seas, but I love it. It makes me feel like I'm in an Ocean. So for 30 minutes I got to pretend that I was far far away in Magical Happy Land (that's for you Rachel) on vacation with new friends. Can't wait to get back in tomorrow.

After that we had a little impromptu get together at my house. I gave into the urge to make pasta sauce Sunday morning so invited everyone over for some spaghetti. Probably should have thought about that beforehand so I could clean my house, but what the hell. It was a good time. A lot of funny stories were told and a lot of beer and wine drank. My opinion that the CTC is full of wonderful people was reaffirmed. All was well with the world.

Was supposed to get together with Brooks, Dave, and Matt to do some cycling today ( my arm was twisted into trying the GCT half course), but the planets were not correctly aligned and Verizon Wireless was having its programmed seizure this afternoon so that didn't happen. I probably would be near the brink of death right now had I biked 56 miles today, so it's probably for the better.

Done boring everyone for now! Not to worry, I'm sure I'll be back soon to keep everyone updated on my enthralling life. :)

Running mornings

Joke Time!

A Froggy Story

A woman was out jogging in the forest one day when a frog called out to her and said, "If you kiss me I'll turn into a handsome prince."She bent over, picked up the frog, and put it in her pocket.The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a handsome prince, I will tell everyone how smart and beautiful you are and how you are a Goddess."The woman took the frog out of her pocket, smiled at it, and returned it to her pocket. The frog spoke up again and said, "If you kiss me and turn me back into a handsome prince, I'll stay with you for a year and do ANYTHING you want." Again the woman took the frog out of her pocket, smiled at it, and put it back into her pocket. Finally the frog asked, "What's the matter? I've told you I'm a handsome prince, that I'll stay with you for a year and do anything you want. Why won't you kiss me?" The woman replied, "Look, I'm a Triathlete. I don't have time for a boyfriend, but a talking frog is cool."

Biking and Beer- the perfect weekend?

Arggghhh.

I am so annoyed with my coffee maker. Whenever I make less than 12 cups (which is pretty much everyday unless we have house guests) there is a very good chance the the water flow will collapse the little paper basket. So then the grounds get caught in the outflow and I have a big coffee mess. Amazingly the coffee still tastes allright. It's lucky because one of these days I am going to have to sit down and have a nice long talk with Mr. Coffee about his work performance.

I also have to stop watching the food network at 8am in the morning. I just watched Giada make some fine Everyday Italian cooking and now I have a crazy urge to make homemade pasta sauce. This urge is not at all helped by the fact that I bought a Rosemary bush from Galley's garden center yesterday and a big package of basil from the store (I decided to take pity on my Basil plant which I have consistently raped and pillaged over the past month. ) The Rosemary bush is still sitting in my kitchen and makes it smell so good!

Okay, my weekend. Went out with the blogging crew on Friday and had a very good time. I haven't really gotten out much lately so it was very refreshing. I got another reminder of the fact that I really have to start watching what I eat. I am so starving lately! I had 2 pieces of pizza when we got there (free for happy hour- how awesome is that?) and then a couple hours later I scarfed down a chicken sandwich and fries (thanks Alan! I owe you one). This is on top of the 2 huge beers I drank (again, props to Johnny Malloy's- $1.25 drafts for happy hour. I think this is my new favorite place). I didn't stay out too late, though. I had a brick date with Janet at 9am Sat. and when I invited myself to the blogging party I didn't realize it was a front for a going away party for Su, who I'd never met (Nice to meet you!). I was cuttin' Z's by 11.

I got up by 6 on Saturday. That's pretty much my new "sleeping in" time. It's pretty sick that I can't sleep later than 6, but I guess it keeps me on schedule for my 5am wake-up during the week. I met Janet down in Parkman for a nice easy brick. It was so nice to go for a ride that didn't kill me. We took it easy (but still got in some good hills) for 26.5 miles and then took a 3 mile run with her dog Matches. Matches is the cutest dog in the world (Golden Retrievers are my favorite breed). He kept our pace down by taking little siestas in the grass when he was tired (it was really funny). It was a perfect workout for yesterday because I am really worried about keeping up with the group for the ride today so I didn't want to spoil my legs (and Janet has a race today- good luck!).

For today- The 8am swim was moved to 4pm. I am hoping that I can still make it. I'm meeting some CTCers out in Brecksville at 1pm for a 2- 2.5 hour ride. They said it would be "easy", but since Matt and our friend Adam are coming I have a feeling that the pace is going the be dizzying again. Hopefully someone that comes will want to take it a little easy :)

So the plan is to go riding at 1pm and then I'm going to run north to try to get to Columbia in time for some open water swimming with the club. If I don't make it in time I'm planning on going to the swim on Tuesday night, so I'll at least get one open water swim in this week.

Time to walk the Shmutt!

And... I'm spent

Swim practice was a tough one this morning. I want to post the sets before I forget!

50 meter pool:

WU- 300 easy free
200 kick (alternating 50 flutter/50 breast)
200 pull
200 kick (alternating 50 flutter/ 50 breast)
200 pull
100 kick (alternating)
100 pull
200 IM 6 min (only takes me 3:45 so I had plenty of rest)
200 free
200 IM 5:30
200 free
200 IM 5:00
200 free
200 choice easy (100 free, 100 breast)
6 X 100 free 2:30

Total 3300 meters.

Time for some aleve!

I'm really looking forward to seeing some of you bloggers out tonight! If any Clevelend tri people want to get together this weekend for a ride or track workout let me know. I haven't scheduled my weekend yet. :)

Fun Run

I had a really great run this morning. Took the shmutt around Shaker lakes. When we went by Horseshoe lake park I saw that there were a few older ladies walking their dogs off-leash. Not one to deprive Maddie of a good time I let her run, play, swim, and get humped by a large black male dog. It was quite a sight. After all the fun we ran home- a round trip of 5-6 miles.

I biked in to work today. I have to stop thinking my commute is enough cycling for the week. I think I'll try to fit in a nice long ride this weekend somewhere.

I think that I am going to get more serious about attending the CTC training events. To do this I'll have to get to work earlier. I'm thinking I'll have to get in by 7 if I want to make any of the 6pm training sessions. Good bye to late nights! I'm thinking of making the Tuesday night swim and Wednesday night run weekly sessions. And yes, I should work on a bike ride at some point. yeah, yeah...

I'm getting excited for my summer vacation. I'm going to the wedding of my best friend (and roommate) from medical school in Chicago June 15-18 and then to Colorado the 20-24 to visit my current roommate, Colleen, who is spending the summer with her fiance. Between the two I'll be visiting the fam in Milwaukee. It should be really fun. I'll try to get in a little high altitude training in Fort Collins :)





I'll leave you with a picture of my roommates. Me, Matt, and Colleen relaxing after a tough week.

My running buddy!