Skiing!!!

I know I have been starting almost every post with "It's been a while since my last post..." but I can't think of anything more appropriate! So...it's been a while since my last post...but I have been pretty busy! That swim block with Lauren made the time fly by. It was a lot of training but it was great! I cut the 3 weeks to 2 weeks and 5 days as I broke down just short of th final date but I have been having a nice rest since Christmas eve. Just keeping things light..I just got back from a ride where my cranks nearly fell off and I started thinking about all the funny/unfortunate things that have happened in the past few weeks... This wasn't the first time my cranks came loose. This happened on a few occasions but on one particular ride my cranks were coming very loose on the way home and fell off completely! I was caught riding through town only pedaling with my right leg while I held my left up in the air with a crank dangling from my foot! Yes, I give triathletes a good name. :P I stuck it back in place when I got home but didn't have an alan key to tighten it so I figured I'd get it fixed later. Well, I forgot about it completely and a few days later was setting up for a trainer ride and realized they were still broken. So I called my emergency number 1-800-whitfield and he helped me out.

The next week Joel, Lauren, Andrew and I headed out for a long cross ride on our first day of snow! It was freezing but I was not dressed appropriate (as per usual)..neither was Andrew and about 20 mins in he opted for the trainer (sorry the rat you out andrew but it makes my story better ;) So Lauren, Joel and I kept riding out, the temperature dropping as we went. I have bad circulation at the best of times but I was getting so cold I could burst into tears at any moment even though other than being cold I was perfectly happy. But we made it back into town and almost ran over a guy crossing the street without looking who looked at me and said "sorry buddy" ..yep he thought I was a guy...just what I like to hear when I'm already fighting back tears! haha (feel free to write comments about how I don't look like a boy :) haha ok so by the end of the ride my hands were so numb that I could no long brake or change gears. I made it to my house dragging my iceblocks (feet) on the ground to stop myself and tried to find my keys in my back pocket...not going to happen..so i tried to unzip my jack..again not going to happen. I ended up using my wrists to unzip my coat and grabbed my keys..now the hard part..getting the key in the door. After seriously almost ten minutes since I dismounted, I made it in the door and attempted to jump in the shower...waaay too painful. I had expericenced that thawing feeling before but never like this. It was like the nails were being ripped on my hands and feet. So I hopped out faster than I hopped in and put on my fuzzy house coat, 2 toques, mittens and my Ugg boots! (I don't think the Aussies know how useful their product is in North America!) I was full on crying by this point hoping Kim and Dave uipstairs couldn't hear me. I ran around my 1 bedroom aprtment, skipping and hopping up and down desperate to warm up. After 10 or 15 mins I was ready for my shower. I took my time and for the first time was not thinking about the bill coming along with it! After that I went out and bought new gloves to be prepared for next time!

Ok this is long but I am in a writing mood so feel free to cut it short any time..

Remember how I wrote a few weeks ago about falling into a puddle in that running race? Well I have probably fallen running like twice in my life..including that time! But my luck kept coming when I was out for an easy jog last week. I was running at Beacon Hill when it started to get dark. I kept going until it got really dark and decided to move it to the road before I rolled my ankle or something.. so I'm running up towards my chiropractor, Rob's house when I had to move off the sidewalk because there was construction blocking it. The worker was looking at me as I ran towards him through an area with no street lights (right infront of ROb's house). Before I knew it I was rolling on the ground holding my new Ipod over my head (It already miraculously survived my first fall, I didn't want to test it again!) I stood up fast and looked my to see what I tripped on..there was a big hole in the road that my ankle tipped into and somehow I wasn't able to recover! The worker was like "Are you ok?? walk it off,walk it off") It was SO embarrassing! "Of course I'm going to walk it off! you think I'm going to starfish in the middle of an unlit road??" haha actually I just said "I'm fine"..giggled and kept running so much for taking the safer route. Besides a bruised hip and swollen elbow, everything was fine..including my Ipod!

Lets hope my list of stories stays at that! ok back to the update..

I had a nice quiet Christmas with my parents and sister and met my Aunt and her family on Boxing day. My cousin Andrea is in town playing Tinkerbell in a Peter Pan ballet that I am seeing tonight. I just got home today from a ski trip at Mt. Washington. I tried skate skiing for the first time and it is surprisingly aerobic! It took me a few minutes to get the hang of it. I could barely move forward at first..my feet kept sliding apart into the splits and I would fall forward..one time plating my face into my pole! (which reminds me of the time I accused Kyle of kicking me in the face in an open water swim practice, to which he responded "well don't put your face where my feet are!" one of my favorite quotes of the year because he said it seriously!) anyway..I reminded myself not to put my face where my pole was and continued on. My dad and I went up some pretty rigorous hills convincing ourselves that we were only stopping to look at the scenery even though everything looked the same. All in all it was a good trip! Nice and relaxing in the lodge and then fun out in the snow (and I avoided the temptation of boxing day sales back home!) Now it's pretty light training until Tucson and I will update from there! Hope you are still awake at the computer screen!

Now thats cross country!

ok upon request, here is a mini report from a pretty fun run today! 10 miles....250m elevation...it was pretty much layed out as; rolling technical bit...couple miles up, couple miles down and back to rolling technical...fun fun fun! The best was about 15 mins in when I was trying to avoid a GIANT puddle and stepped on the bank on the side which happened to be extremely muddy...down i went! totally submerged, freezing and about 10 pounds heavier than 30 seconds prior! But it made the race all the more BAMF! I have never raced more than 10k before and this was a pretty brutal 16 (and a bit long) so i took the first 40 mins somewhat lightly and negative split to finish in 1:12:01...i know..sounds slow but this was a wild course! Through creeks..more like rivers! fallen trees, ducking under or jumping logs..super rocky footing..it was great! Going to be a little stiff tomorrow... 3 hr cross ride and 7.5k swim on tap!

got it!

Ok so I've been locked out of my blog for a while..got back on...well i was just using the wrong email address :P SO good with these things!

Lots going on now! Still keeping up the art classes but training more now too. I was building up my run volume to about 110k last week and swimming 5k swims daily with a few rides. Now I am joining Lauren in a swim block for the month of december..8-10k a day. We just started on monday and are hurting already! Joel is back on deck and cracking the whip! (in his oh so fashionable new crocs :P) the run volume will be reduced a little but still pretty high. I have been having lots of fun Christmas shopping and baking! Now I'm off for another run ..1:20 with 12 x 2mins then its back to the pool at 4:30! I'll try and update a little more often! i swear i will get the pictures of the new place and car...not so new anymore...i've been lazy! and andrew filled my camera up with a movie and i have no idea how to get it off!