Toltecs

You know who the Toltecs were? They ruled in ancient Mexico. They were legendary builders, metalworkers and artists. The Toltecs intimately understood the movements of the planets and incorporated solar elements into their architecture. They had rulers with names like Cloud Serpent and warrior clans with names like Jaguar and Eagle. You can still go down there and see what we figure are their temples, kind of like someone in a thousand years going to see Hoover Dam and saying "Now what the hell?!" Even what was left behind after the fall of their civilization is so impressive that the saying "work like a Toltec" has survived to this day.

At 5:42 a.m., while I am pulling through the last gut-heaving minutes of a head-racing piece in a bow-coxed four down on the not-so-sanitary Sanitary and Ship Canal on the Chicago River, I gain that last ounce of strength by imagining that I am a Toltec.

We've been winning gold medals at every regatta this fall.

Tacking

I'm working with a strong wind to starboard, tacking to gain ground. Even when I sit still the movement is too much for me. I need more: time, rest, space. The stolen hours are never enough. I miss Australia, the sunburnt country, and I want time to stop. The future is imminent: the work I've worked to have, the home I've waited to find, all of it so big and real that I want to throw up a billowing spinnaker against the brilliance of the light.

Triathlons are over for this summer. It will be rowing now, back in skinny boats with long oars and that spectacular sensation of flight when the keel stands balanced and runs out beneath you while your wake runs on in rivers. Let it run, they say. Soft hands. Breathe. It is meditation. It is God come down.

winding down

Today is my last day at the current firm. No triathlons are scheduled for the immediate future because we're flying off tomorrow for several weeks in Japan and Australia, visiting old friends. I may do a few late-season races when we get back, but the training is on the back burner at the moment.

In very good news, I got an MRI and MRA to see if there's any abnormality in my brain that's causing the bad headaches I get when I swim hard. You guessed it: they examined my head and found nothing. There's a history of stroke and brain aneurysm in my family, so I bolt to the nearest neurologist when I get a pain in my head. Luckily this time it's just a headache, nothing more. The MRI machine is the closest to a medieval torture device I ever hope to get. They stuck me up to my waist in it for 25 minutes and I imagined I was surfing - it made sense with all the vibration and noise. I rode the waves at Torquay and JanJuc the whole time, bobbing in that infinite, dark southern ocean, so far away nothing could touch me. It would have been too scary otherwise.

a few more workouts

Nice swim workout the other night, a good bike ride this morning with Andy and Bu as part of RAGBRAI, the (Des Moines) Register's Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa. We did maybe 25 miles on the old, unsexy hybrids with Bu on his tagalong behind my bike. He wore his US Postal jersey and had a fabulous time. Toward the end he got tired and it started to rain, but he's only three. He can go the distance in years to come.

And in other news, I won a full dismissal on the very first real-life motion for summary judgment I ever wrote.

vertical

Yesterday Andy and I went rock climbing outdoors for the first time.  We'd tried climbing walls before, but this was the first actual rock.  We went to Pictured Rocks park where you can climb limestone cliffs along the Maquoketa River.  A couple of local gurus (I keep discovering them) took us out.  One of them has come within 1500m of the summit of Everest, so I think he qualifies as a knowledgeable climber.  He also has the body fat of a gnat and scrambled up the cliffs like he was time trialing.  Andy and I did okay.  We made it to the top, or nearly, of several climbs, but today I don't think either of us could carry groceries to the car.  It was a blast.  By the end I felt like I was really getting it and trying things I wouldn't have dared before. 

In winter, they say, we can climb frozen waterfalls.  It ain't skiing, but maybe I could get into this!

fast wheels

Yesterday, while over in France they were time trialing, I went out for a nice hard 40 miler with the local cycling guru Nor.  He rode a frame he got on Ebay that was actually ridden in the Tour back in the 70s, from a now-defunct Austrian manufacturer named Puch.  I was on Ananda as usual, my Terry Symmetry, which is a great training bike but has begun to hold me back in races.  It's a little heavy for my purposes, and the components are Shimano Tiagra - bottom-of-the-line and very poorly reviewed.  They're already giving me trouble, and I clean and tune my bike (like the aforementioned unhappy reviewer) after every use.  I also put in way more weekly miles, and harder, than the average recreational rider. 

I can keep up with Nor, but it's more work than it should be.  He's talking about building up a carbon fiber racing bike for me from the infinite selection of parts in his basement, and I'm doing everything I can to encourage the idea.  I'm also stalking Ebay for a real tri bike in my size.  With the right bike, I think I really could be leading the bike leg every race.  A few sites I've read suggest the Cervelo P2k as the quintessential tri bike, and now that there are some newer models out maybe some will come available.  Luckily I'm utterly average as a triathlete in height and weight.  Fingers crossed that I stumble across one I can afford. 

Let 'er buck

That's what I say in the bike leg in a race, when I'm pulling up on someone or someone's trying to overtake me.  I lean over my bike like the cowboy in Hidalgo and say, "Okay little sister, let 'er buck," and we take off.  It's also evocative of my high school tennis coach, who had lots of inspirational and bizarre sayings, including 'let 'er buck', 'hey little girl, want some candy?', 'have some fun hitting some tennis balls', 'when E.F. Lyon talks, you better listen', and my personal favorite, "I want to hear you say, you painted a Rembrandt sir."

This morning was a run, a great run, fueled by extra adrenalin whenever the blackbirds and jays buzzed me, through an ethereal ground-effect fog on corn-lined gravel roads in a sweat-bathed dawn.  Had to stop for trains going out and coming back, but I was fast and light and my feet hardly touched the dirt.  The sun broke over the soybeans as I headed back into town, immense in the thick atmosphere, like the sun had cracked and was running yoke-like down through the fields toward the sleeping village.  I ran ahead of it, buoyed up by the haze.

ahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh

The father is safely in residence at the Iowa Veterans Home, which is by all appearances and reports the nicest place.  What a stroke of good luck that was, that it should be not only massively subsidized by the government but also a place you'd want to be.  I'm afraid we went out to dinner last night to celebrate, which felt odd, considering that in some lights I did just institutionalize a member of my immediate family.  But it's such a relief, and he seemed happy.  I believe they'll take good care of him. 

This morning I finally got to do yoga again, the beefcake dvd naturally, because if you're getting up at 5:30 a.m. to sweat the least you deserve is a little eye candy.  I feel so much better.  I'd forgotten how much it relaxes me.  There may be a few more late-season triathlons, but I'm going to give myself a bit of a break to do whatever I want.  There's also a long vacation to Japan and Australia in the works, so I can get a proper Japanese bath, eat amazing Japanese food three times a day (!), and then go back down under to the unique delights of Melbourne in winter and my absolutely lovely Aussie friends.  I love Australia.  How nice that it exists.

Bu is having issues with his child care provision.  We took him out of preschool for July so that he could just play, go to the pool, ride his bike, roller blade, all that, and we hired a friend's 18-year-old daughter to watch him along with her 9-year-old sister, whom he loves.  It seemed like the perfect arrangement, especially as he was showing a distinct lack of keenness for preschool.  I think what we really accomplished is to teach him that his daily activities are infinitely mutable, and if we wanted we could probably arrange for him to play with his best friend Martin every day.  Now he's holding out for that, creating a huge drama every day when I leave him.  It's absurd - he plays and has a marvelous time all day long according to everyone who interacts with him (and that's lots of people), but he still tries to drive Mama and Papa into frenzies of guilt at drop-off time.  Children.  Can't live with 'em, can't rely on wolves to teach them phonics.

alterna-tri

This morning I raced in the Iowa Games triathlon outside Ogden, Iowa.  I won't be getting splits on the legs or the transitions because they didn't use timing chips, and I don't think my official race time is right (it was over a minute more than what my watch showed at the finish).  But it was still a personal best.  The time I registered was 1:18:30 (theirs was 1:19:39), ten minutes faster than my previous best for a sprint tri.  The bike leg on this one was a mile shorter, but it was still a much faster race.  The swim went great, I was very competitive on the bike leg, and on the run I felt a lot better than I have lately while running.  Maybe eventually I'll find out my rank, maybe I won't, I'm not too worried.  We took off right afterward to get showers at the hotel and go see Dad at the VA.  It was a great race.
 
And what a funny race it was.  Not a USA Triathlon event, so everything was just a little ... different.  No security around the transition areas, no numbers on the bikes, no PA system, no race bag goodies, no particular anxiety about following the rules, just your basic no-frills swim, bike, run.  The crowd with the tricked out tri bikes, swish wetsuits, etc., was conspicuously absent.  A lot of first-timers, milk jugs for buoys on the swim.  It was all very Iowa and in fact very nice.

oh the humanity

Yesterday was the firm's annual canoe outing. It was all great until I clubbed a partner with my paddle while trying to defend my canoe. That's just gotta qualify as a Career Limiting Decision. I took him to lunch today to make amends. It was a great time, but I'm sore all over from all the tree-climbing, rock-jumping-off, rope-swinging, canoe flipping, beer-drinking fun. Bruised everywhere. I went for a run this morning to shake it off a little. Why can't I run like that in a race? It was effortless, just smooth and fast and gorgeous in the early morning calm.

running wet 

swimahoya!

Finally found the results for the Cornman. They'd posted them at a link on the Pigman site (go figure), so I had to google to find them. My time was 1:28:22 for 121st overall out of 221 competitors, 19 out of 48 women and exactly midpack in my age group. This is a few minutes faster than my Pigman time, plus my overall swim ranking was higher than I ranked for the bike and run! No way, you say? Way! My splits were slower than last time, but I think the course was a little longer because the buoys had blown over to one side. It was hard to go point-to-point along the buoy line. Among the women my bike leg was still my fastest, as usual, but I'm delighted to see the swim coming along. It took long enough. My transitions were fast and I was very consistent from event to event. If I can get just a little bit faster at each one it will make a big difference all around. The humidity is really killing me on the run. My times are way slower than they were down in the dry of Australia. I also need to stop taking water from the volunteers just because I think they're lovely people. It slows me down and gives me a sideache.

Oh and I beat that partner from my firm again. I don't think he's too happy. I wasn't even really racing, just doing it for a workout, not killing myself for time. Don't hate me because I'm (kinda) fast.

the deluge

Cornman Triathlon was yesterday at Union Grove State Park near Marshalltown, Iowa. Next year, I propose, they ought to call it Rainman. Definitely. I still don't have my time or place because shortly after the race finished the rains came down, the main tent nearly blew away, and we all had to run for the nearest cinder block building for protection from the oncoming tornado. Andy got so soaked that we had to go to K-Mart afterward and buy him a $9 shirt so he wouldn't catch pneumonia before we got home.

Anyway, a good race. The swim and cycling went really well, but my running is disappointing lately. I don't seem to be going at the pace I normally do, and when I get done my ribs hurt again. When I finally get the actual splits I'll post them. It's a fairly tasteful t-shirt, black with the logo in white, and we acquired a nice lawn chair that someone abandoned in the storm. Bu played Spiderman Fights Octopus Man and played a lot on the beach. When we got home everyone was so exhausted that we slept until dinner.

getting my exercise

Yeah. I am getting my exercise my dropping middle aged lawyers like a bad habit on the bar association cycling outing. Their bikes cost twice as much as mine. I take that back - they cost twice as much as my car. They have wheels I would kill for. But I'm faster. By the time I think to look around, they're gone behind me over the last rise and I have nothing but open roads and green fields ahead.

Cornman Triathlon is tomorrow. My father's extended tenure in this house has me so depressed I seem to sleep whenever I'm not absolutely required to be awake, working, doing my thing. The workouts are the only time I'm awake and fully present. Some guy on the bar outing was doing the Cornman too. "Cornwoman, I guess we should say. Pigwoman." He laughed. "I prefer beating men at the Cornman, Pigman," I said. "More glory to it."

witch doctors and grim reapers

I woke up this morning half convinced my father was dead, so to snap out of it I went for a nice hard run up and down, up and down the only hill in town. It was this dream I had around four a.m. where a really scary witch doctor came to my house and threatened me with a long stick covered in dirty grave rags. I was scared, but not scared quite the way you would be if the grim reaper had come for you. The witch doctor wasn't there for me, it (male, female, I can't be sure) was there for my father in the next room. It was more like being a spectator at a grim reaping, startling and alarming at first but gradually less so.

The vets home where dad is going says it hasn't even gotten his application from the county, where we filed it over 10 days ago. I'm about ready to check into the Holiday Inn. At the risk of revealing myself as a bad daughter and a horrible person all round, I want to tell the VA people that I don't actually get along with my father, that I'm doing this because there's no one else to do it and I've already earned enough good karma, thank you, they can take him away now (or yesterday). Good God when will this be over?

swim meet

Not mine, unfortunately. I went down to the local pool for my swim last night and there were cars everywhere. Odd, since the pool was supposed to be shut except for lap swim, which an average of 3 people attend. The pool deck was packed with people. I walked in to check it out, and the local swim club was having races. Kind of nice. Kids of all sizes flailing up and down, lots of cheering, loud music, a regular aquatic rodeo scene. Needless to say, lap swim was not taking place.

All suited up with no place to go, I rode my bike home and made dinner. I got a run this morning and felt good, no pain in my ribs, although I think I've lost some fitness in my legs. My knees always ache when I run after a break, before they harden up. There will have to be some long workouts over the long weekend to get ready for the Cornman Triathlon next weekend.

I went to the mountain

This last week I had the workout of the season. In six days I flew to Montana, cleared out my father's entire house, held a garage sale, got all his tangled affairs in something like order, and drove back out to Iowa with him. I slept on the floor. I dealt with constant and mind-boggling family craziness. I prevailed.

It's now Wednesday and we've been back two days, but when I woke up this morning the desire for another workout had not in any way revived. I'll hit the pool tonight and maybe go for a run afterward, if the ribs don't give me any trouble. My whole body is tired and my soul is fatigued.

back to the pool

There's a half hour lap swim at our little local outdoor pool. Seriously, half an hour a day. Obviously no one is training for much of anything. At the end of the half hour they turn up the music and next thing you know small children with water wings are falling from the sky. It's an invitation not to take the workout too seriously, just show up and jump in every day and do your thing as long as they'll let you. A good methodology for lots of things really. I will try to apply it to putting my father in a nursing home, which is the order of the hour. There comes a point for everyone where they turn the music up, you get out and little kids take over. It would bother me less if my father had some uncontrollable, tragic illness rather committing ritual suicide-by-diabetes at the young age of 67.

oh the pain

I tried to run this morning and nothing happened. Well, I jogged painfully for about half a block, turned around, went back to the house, got on my cycling clothes and went riding instead. It's going to put a serious crimp in triathlon training if I can't run.

This afternoon I saw the doctor about the headaches after swimming and the injured ribs. She says to try taking ibuprofen before I swim, because if it's some sort of exertion headache the anti-inflammatory might prevent it. She also got me an appointment with a neurologist (he's booked until August anyway) so that if ibuprofen doesn't help they can give me an MRI, an angiogram, and the general full-on poke-and-prod. Because of my family history of stroke and brain aneurysm she was fairly concerned, but just not the panicky type. I like a doctor who has you try ibuprofen before giving you an MRI. This seems very sane.

About the ribs, nothing can be done but take, yes, more ibuprofen. I really like mountain biking, but I like even better being able to breathe deeply and go for long runs, neither of which I can do now. Grumble grumble grumble. Silver lining: what with headaches and ribs, my cycling is getting better all the time.

mommy!

For my sins, my mother has come to town. Oh, I don't mean it like that. She's really perfectly harmless compared to my father, who has obviously been possessed by the sort of slothful alien who can be trusted never to take over the universe and go landing his spaceship on an aircraft carrier only to leap out in full Top Gun gear to shout in his unearthly tongue, "Mission accomplished!" Oh no, my mother is a more subtle menace. She'll let me get my workouts in, but I will feel guilty about it. I will. I feel guilty already just writing this post. You see how insidious it is?

Bloody marvelous thunderstorms this morning scrubbed the long run planned. Swimming this afternoon unless we see recurrence of aforementioned bloody marvelous thunderstorms.

the sky is full of blue

and full of the mind of God.

owie

My Friday workout consisted of some light weeding in the garden this morning, chased by life-threatening mosquitoes. Tonight I will run around chasing Bu. I think that's about it. My ribs hurt, my knees hurt, I can't lie down on my left side. Maybe some cycling tomorrow morning if it doesn't hurt too much to lean over my handlebars.

endo

A couple of friends from work took me mountain biking for the first time last night on the local trails in the hills around the lake. The trails are marked green, blue and black, like ski runs, and we did mostly greens and blues, then one black to see what it was like. Mostly I was fine and really liked it. However, about two minutes into the whole ride, on the first real downhill, I caught a pedal or something and flew off my bike and down the hill in what was later described as a "total Pete Rose slide". Opened up my knee, scraped up my thighs, hips, elbows, forearms, and did something as yet undetermined to my ribs. It was really lucky I was wearing gloves or my hands would be a mess. So at least I wasn't worried the whole time about taking my first fall. I got that over instantly. It didn't even hurt until I sat down after the ride and stiffened up. We rode for about two and a half hours and had a great time, went for beers afterward. What a crazy sport. Everyone we met along the trail had a more gruesome story about how they'd maimed themselves mountain biking. Clavicle breaks seem very common.

pain in the head

I got my swim last night, but the pain and pressure in my head at the end of a workout isn't going away. It feels like I'm going to pass out or throw up. My goggles are so loose that at one point they actually came off in the water and I had to dive for them. I'm going to try wearing a different swim cap tonight.

In a moment of weakness yesterday I bought Bu a little US Postal team jersey, and now he's in heaven. He wants to bike race everywhere we go, and he says he and Papa are going to do the Tour de France together. When you see the really tall guy on the mountain bike with a little guy on a tagalong behind, trailing way way way behind the pack in the Tour, you'll know it's them. Andy says that Bu pedals so hard he actually pushes the big bike from behind.

the heat begins

Last night was the first night we threw all the windows wide open and still couldn't get enough cool air. It had gotten cool enough by morning to be comfortable, but it will only get worse from here on in. I miss the high, dry country where no matter how oven-like it gets during the day, the land releases the heat at night. I woke up very early and did yoga. I feel a little sore, but strong, planning on doing laps at the outdoor pool tonight. I'm thinking very seriously of signing up for Olympic distance at the Dutchman in Pella on June 26: 1k swim, 40k bike, 10k run.

I went for lunch at Bu's preschool on Friday, and he's been getting lunch sent from home every day since. The major food group of the school lunch was cheese puffs. Fruit & veg consisted of an apple slice. The "main dish" was processed cheese, something balogna-like and butter on a white hot dog bun. It came with whole milk and a vanilla sandwich cookie. The whole thing was repulsive. Bu ate his cheese puffs and apple slice like a normal child but didn't want any part of the nasty sandwich and wasn't even too keen on the cookie. No wonder he's always starving when I pick him up. Today he's armed with a co-jack and mustard sandwich on whole wheat, raisins, almonds, yogurt, carrots and fresh apricots. Would it be over-the-top to get his lunch delivered from the great Indian restaurant up the road? The mother of the Indian boy at preschool says he has allergies and sends all his meals and snacks with him. I now suspect that this is a total fib so that no one thinks it's weird for her to send decent food for him.

first tri of the season

Yesterday was the Pigman Triathlon at Pleasant Creek Recreation Area outside Palo, Iowa. I came in 11th out of 29 in my age group (one of the most competitive apparently) and 243 out of 486 overall with a time of 1:30:36. Dead on middle-of-the-pack, but the pack was mostly men so I don't feel so bad. Actually I feel great. The wetsuit made me much faster, so that my swim didn't really drag down my overall ranking. My bike was the fastest, as always, but my run was slower than usual. I think I was getting overheated by that point. I ran 8:22 splits, which is really slow for me. Afterward I felt completely fine, not even extra hungry. I'm thinking about trying the Dutchman Olympic distance tri in a few weeks, so as to make the sprints seem really easy by comparison!

wake

Took the new wetsuit out to the lake for a trial run last night. It was great. Fit great, felt great, kept me warm, made me faster, all that good stuff. The swimming was a little weird, though. The flooding has made the beach disappear, but the buoy lines are still up, so the water was silty and opaque. Power boats kept buzzing by and setting up wake. The overall effect was a little like swimming in the ocean, but without the icky salt-in-the-mouth. Bottom line: love the wetsuit, should've gotten it sooner. And the Body Glide worked really well. The wetsuit slipped right off, no 5 minute struggle.

The only thing that worries me is that I got a bad headache again from swimming. It's not my goggles, they're very loose. The pain seems to be more across the high part of my forehead, or when it's really bad like a band around my entire head. It corresponds better to my swim cap than my goggles, but my swim cap is silicone and not that snug. I'm a little worried that it's something physically wrong with me causing pressure in my head when I stay in a swimming position for a while. It's apparently nothing to do with chlorine. Maybe I should just wear my swim cap for half an hour while hanging around the house and see what happens.

Pedy the dromedary 

new stuff

I'm messing with the template. The old one was a little too pale, but now of course I've lost all my customizations. Easy come, easy go. We'll have to see if the comments are working.

This morning, ladies and gentlemen, I took a walk. It was a very nice morning. I'm still exhausted from my dad's visit. We all are. Bu slept over 12 hours. The other big news is that I went ahead and bought a wetsuit last night, a longjohn I guess it's called, long legs and sleeveless, for $115. It's the cheapest I've seen anywhere, so I'm happy. We're going out to the lake tonight to get it wet and make sure the bodyglide stuff actually works. I envision spending 5 minutes getting the damn thing off in transition.

By the way, the camel is the one I rode and walked with for a week in South Australia. We were near Coober Pedy, hence the name. He was a good camel and wise.

Memorial Day

Beautiful day. We went to the Boy Scout pancake breakfast at the fire station this morning, saw the parade, and Bu got to bond with real live firefighters, climb in a truck, all that and a bag of goodies. The parade consisted of the Boy Scout color guard and the high school marching band, which ain't big, let me tell you. The whole thing was over in 5 minutes. It was such a big morning that Bu is currently taking a genuine nap. You don't see that everyday in Bulandia.

We're assembling the from-scratch playset that Andy's dad designed. It's a monument to overengineering. The thing will last forever. The nasturtiums, cucumbers and sunflowers are coming up and I hung all my flower baskets.

On the training front, I did the usual ride yesterday, to the next town and back. By my computer it's somewhere around 35k, but I always forget to check the exact distance. If I'm going hard it takes about an hour and 15 or 20 minutes. If I'm admiring double rainbows and cloud formations, it could take upside of an hour and a half. Sometimes you just have to stop and stare.

Today I meant to go lake swimming. I still might. There are a few errands to do, including checking into a tri wetsuit. Memorial Day means the presence of nearly immobile, cantankerous elderly people. You do what you can.

the run/weights/run one

I do this workout once a week and it never gets much easier. I hope it's because I keep pushing it harder. I fear it's because I'm making no progress. I'm doing more than I used to, so that's something. Planning some lake swimming for the weekend. It's too gorgeous out today. I need to tie myself to the chair like Ulysses tied himself to the mast to resist the Sirens. Sirene is French for mermaid. You think that's what they're really talking about?

Sorry about the sideways pic, still figuring this out

Sophie 

back at it

A half hour on my bike this morning, probably just short of 20k. I'm doing the same road a lot so I'm getting a good feeling for how far I've gone even if I forget to check the computer. My bike makes me happy. Also, my husband has promised to do Beefcake Yoga with me as physical therapy for his wonky knee. He also promises to wear a speedo a la Rodney Yee if I keep the room really warm and never tell anyone. This doesn't count as telling anyone, does it?

better news

Did some yoga this morning, felt a little better. My husband checked out a yoga video for me by this guy named Rodney Yee who apparently runs the If You've Got It, Flaunt It School of Yoga. He does the whole thing on the beach wearing nothing but snug little black briefs. He's probably a gay icon I haven't heard of. The tape was for beginners and extremely wimpy. I need some kick-ass yoga at the moment to take my mind off things. As between Ancient Skiing Yogi from Alaska and Beefcake Yogi, though, I gotta say, this is an improvement in the scenery.

if dogs have a heaven

We put Sophie to sleep yesterday. She was lying in the shade of an apple tree at my in-laws' place with me, Andy, Bu and Nadia, the vet. My brother-in-law and father-in-law had dug a hole before we arrived, because that's all they could do. Neither one of them could watch. I knew that I had to. As long as she was with me Sophie never willingly let me face any danger or trouble alone, and if she was going to walk into the valley of the shadow of death I had to go with her. I stroked her heavy paws and talked to her while Nadia gave her a sedative, and later the overdose.

Bu wanted to be there. He refused to go into the house with his grandpa until after Sophie was gone. I don't know if we were right to let him stay, but Sophie was his dog too. He loved her and she loved him, and I thought he had a right to stay with her. We didn't do this because it was easier for us. We did it because it was the merciful thing to do for Sophie, who could not stand by herself, who fell as often as not going up and down the two front steps, who was bleeding from the nose from cancer, who had lost a third of her body weight. I can't imagine what could be worse than to look at a living thing you love and make the conscious decision to take her life. Now that I've done it,
the only thing that makes it bearable is my certainty that it was the right thing to do.

When Nadia finally said, "She's gone", I put my head down on Sophie's chest and cried, and I had the strongest vision of her standing there looking down at us, younger and more beautiful than I'd ever seen her. She lowered her massive head to nuzzle me and lick my cheek, and then she leapt up full of energy and danced off through the trees into the sunlight. She was free. "Sleep, sweetheart," I whispered into her silky ear. "Come back to us soon."

Taps

Bu is well already, but the vet had bad news about Sophie. She's down to 83 pounds from her usual 120+, and the lump in her nose is cancer. Nadia the vet suggests that we put her down. It breaks my heart, but it also breaks my heart to see my girl suffer. Nadia's going to come out to my in-laws' place to give Sophie the injection so that we can bury her right there, next to Bu's horse chestnut tree. We'll remember her the way Lord Byron remembered his Newfoundland:

Near this spot
Are deposited the Remains of one
Who possessed Beauty without Vanity,
Strength without Insolence,
Courage without Ferocity,
And all the Virtues of Man without his Vices.
This Praise, which would be unmeaning Flattery
If inscribed over human ashes,
Is but a just tribute to the Memory of
BOATSWAIN, a DOG
Who was born at Newfoundland, May, 1803,
And died at Newstead, Nov 18th, 1808.

Midnite Bay's Sophia Brindisi was born August 9, 1991 outside Lincoln, Nebraska, and she will be buried in West Branch, Iowa. Her parents were champions, and she is the finest dog I ever met in every way. She swam in the Atlantic and the Pacific, which is as much like heaven as any Newfoundland could want, I think.

a trip to the doctor

Not for me, fortunately, but little Bu is out of preschool for a few days with a nasty case of strep. His glands are so swollen that he looks like one of those desert lizards that swell up their necks to scare off predators, poor little bugger. He's acted like he felt really sick a few times, but mostly he's very perky and loves his new Candyland game. Sophia the Ancient also goes to the (animal) doc on Friday. She can hardly stand and has had a very bad cold pretty much the entire winter. Nothing makes it better.

I did the run/weights/run workout yesterday, felt great, did more than usual. This morning was an hour of yoga. I'd like to go to the track tonight, but darn, I have tickets to Cabaret. Tomorrow morning then.

glub glub

Finally went for a swim yesterday. Shannon picked me up and we were going to meet Russ and Monica at the Y to go with them as guests but - uh-oh - they didn't show up. Instead we went to the public indoor pool. I usually go to the Iowa City pools so I'd never been there, and now I'm glad I hadn't. It was small and overcrowded, too warm, and very high on the chlorine. My head was throbbing by the time I got out. I did a short workout: 300 to warm up, 500 in drills, and 500 freestyle, working on swimming effortlessly and saving my legs. My tactic for the sprint tris this summer is to use as little energy as possible on the swim and make up time on the bike and run where I'm much faster. I can maintain about 17 strokes per length, move reasonably fast and pop out at the end hardly breathing hard. I'm just going to have to get over the mental setback of seeing everyone get out of the water ahead of me!

Anyway, nasty nasty pool. I can't wait until the outdoor pools open in a few weeks. And I've found a local place that sells tri wetsuits. I really am thinking about it.

Pigman

June 6 is the Pigman Triathlon in Palo, Iowa, not far at all from home. The fam and I drove up there yesterday morning to check out the course along with a first-timer triathlete from near Dubuque. Malvey came over with his family, so the non-competitors got to hang out. We did the bike and run as a brick and Malvey did some swimming afterward. I haven't bought a wetsuit yet so I wasn't ready to go leaping into a cold lake for a nice brisk swim. Either it will have to warm up significantly in the next 3 weeks or I'm going to have to suck it up and buy the wetsuit.

The bike ride was really good fun. A nearly flat course (sorry Iowa, but your charming little hills do not intimidate a Montanan) and a tailwind on the way *back* - that's what I'm talkin about! Coming out of the park I passed a couple of guys riding tri bikes worth nearly as much as my car. I mean, blew by them like they were standing still. What a feeling. They caught me later riding into the headwind, but I grabbed a wheel and let them pull me into Palo. The run crosses the dam across the reservoir, so there's a nice cross breeze. Felt fine the whole way, no knee twitches or anything. I wore my unisuit from Lake Washington Rowing Club. It's not quite like a trisuit, but it has a lightly padded butt and dries fast so it works really well for sprint distance. It was starting to rub me under the arms by the end. I might need to bring along some Vaseline on the day. Also baby powder for my socks. And my sunnies. And maybe a hat. Don't worry, I'm making a list.

tailwind

Long run this morning. Things got a little off track yesterday because the husband and I went out for a fabulous evening of salsa dancing and margaritas on Monday night that left me a soggy mess for work yesterday and not at all keen to buzz off for an hour's workout. I made up for it this morning by running almost an hour, way out past my favorite farm, getting buzzed by scary, territorial nesting redwing blackbirds. There was also a little adrenalin rush when I was almost to the train tracks, the lights went on, the arms came down, and the train started blasting away from maybe 100 meters down the track. It wasn't moving all that fast so I scooted around the arm and over the track with 3 headlights and a zillion pounds of steel bearing down on me. Gets the heartrate right up there, that does.

bring the storm

Crazy ride this morning. I got out early, about 10 to 6, expecting at least a good hour on the road. Wonderful warm morning with very little wind, which turned out to be what's known as the calm before the storm. I got about 10 minutes north of town when I started to see lightning and a few minutes later the sky opened up. Ananda and I spun around and raced back for town, only to ride out of the storm completely a few miles down the road. I cut around and headed out the road west of town, hoping for better luck in that direction. Caught a little rain on my way back in, but nothing like the dump that was promising up north. Back home the storm hit while I was in the shower: the giants in the clouds swinging from the chandeliers, like Bu's Franklin the Turtle book says. The rain is good for my veggies and flowers, but it's going to make that bloody lawn grow even faster, not to mention the dandelions.

the long desired spring

Mother's Day. Five of us went canoeing on the Maquoketa River, didn't see another human the whole time but there were great blue herons, hawks, big brown turtles, trout, deer, and beaver. Vinicio fished with an antique rod and I found an antique bottle at the bottom of the river. Bu was afloat with enthusiasms and eager to race the canoes. The thunderheads came in just as we got out.

No workout yesterday. Lots of running around, gardening, etc., but I let myself off the hook, then did intervals this morning before going to a big M-Day breakfast with the whole tribe. This week: some new workouts, definitely some swimming, and planting sunflowers and poppies.

one foot in front of the other

Big storm last night. It woke us up. I was wondering if the bike ride this morning would be possible, and when I woke up it was windy and cold. I thought about cycling. I thought naaaaaaah. I thought about running. My legs hurt. While I was thinking, I was getting dressed, putting on my fleece and my running shoes. I didn't want to do anything. Finally I thought, I'll just go for a walk, just to stretch my legs because they've been so tight lately. So that's what I did: I went for a long walk around town for about an hour, and I felt good. Softball tonight, canoeing this weekend. I need a little variety. It's been a long hard slog through the winter and I crave something new. The whole point of triathlon for me is to cater to my short attention span!

I also promised news of my dog on this blog. Her name is Sophie and she's a 12 year old Newfoundland who is, despite what Bu says, not afraid of the house. She can hardly stand up sometimes now - not dysplasia or anything, just old age - and I get behind her and haul her butt in the air so she can get her legs under her. We give her aspirin because it works as well as anything. She drags herself in and out, and on good days she walks a block to the grocery store with me, resting here and there along the way. She'll be 13 in August, if she lives that long. I think one day she just won't wake up, or she won't be able to stand at all and we'll have to have her put down. I can help her stand, but even between me and my husband it would be tough to carry her in and out several times a day. She still weighs well over 100 lbs. We'll do whatever we can. She's still my girl who shuffles over and lies on my feet so I can't get away from her. I'll miss her so.

If this is Thursday it must be Cedar Rapids

Same old same old. I did the run/weights/run workout yesterday. It's a good 50-60 minutes and usually wears me out. My legs were hurting the rest of the day, and it seems self-defeating to give myself massages. I try, but it doesn't help much and it makes me more tired. This morning I gave myself a break from working out, and I think Bu and I will go over to the track this afternoon. He does preschooler intervals where he sprints as hard as he can then flops down and lies still until he recovers. Todleks. He's not really a toddler anymore though. He's a big guy. He tells me every day which body part has grown. Yesterday he said that the house is a scary monster and our dog is scared of it. Our dog fears nothing. I won't worry until he starts writing Red Rum on the mirrors.

recovery

I did yoga yesterday, then a half hour easy run this morning. Still fairly knackered from the bike ride, and I've been going after it pretty hard in my workouts recently. I think this will be an easier week.

Ups & Downs

We did the 48 mile intermediate loop in Illinois on Saturday. Plenty of hills, plenty of speed, but Elizabeth, IL could use a few good vegetarian restaurants. I wound up eating a burger because I was starving and it was that or grilled cheese made with Velveeta. Have I mentioned yet that I'm not big on processed cheese? But the ride was grand. I was keeping up with the whizzy boys on the fancy bikes with aero wheels, no pains anywhere, not too hot or too cold, and cookie and Gatorade stops every 10-15 miles. Beauty. Ananda was an animal and everyone loved her French blue. My toes keep getting numb when I ride long, and it's not from cold. Maybe I need to move my cleats a little.

get your motor running

Up at 5:45 this morning for a nice run around town. Literally. I run around my town. It ain't that big. Out along the trail along the quarry pond, past the cemetery, along the creek, over behind the ball field, across the tracks, beside the college and back home past the high school. A long coal train came through around 6:30 and I got to run over it on the little ped bridge. If you stand on the bridge and wait for the train, the shock wave nearly knocks you over. Bu loves it. Lots of walkers out this morning. The cherry and apple trees are in bloom and the lilacs are coming on. The whole place smells like L'Occitane.

really nice sunrises in this part of the world

I'm getting in on a lot of them lately. You first start to see light about a quarter to six, so I hop on the bike and head out the road to the north of town, the quietest one around here. There are a few people coming into town early, but not much traffic going out. Peaceful. Sightings this morning: Red-wing blackbirds, doves, robins, sparrows, rabbits, squirrels and a massive dead raccoon. I just got a new floor pump so it was all systems go, keeping a great cadence and climbing more easily on the hills, feeling stronger. The drivers are nice, and maybe it's partly the early hour. Everyone gives me a full lane at 6 a.m.

This Saturday is Ride the Ups and Downs over in Illinois, getting a little pack experience. I'm thinking about which other tris to register for this summer. There are enough just in Iowa that I can do a few a month, although they're pretty expensive (about $50 each). I'm thinking about doing four this year, including the Iowa Games. I've been looking at the times and I'm reasonably competitive, but I'm going to have to kick it up a notch if I want to win anything. The cycling's going well, so I think a little speed work on the track is probably the thing.

Also this week: extreme lawnmowing, running and weights. This time the weight workout didn't kick my butt quite as badly. I've really got to work on getting to the pool more often.

big weekend

I really need to do more swimming, but it's so fantastically inconvenient without a pool nearby. This weekend I had a long run, a medium-ish cycle, dancing, softball, and generally so much physical activity that it's now Monday morning and I need a nap. Next weekend is Ride the Ups & Downs in Illinois and I'm going over with the local bike gang. Sounds like fun and we're praying for good weather.

ouch

Went for a run this morning to loosen up my sore legs. That weight workout definitely hit the right muscles - I could feel them every step. Plus I had a blister from wearing stupid girly shoes yesterday. Even in my compromised state, though, I saw the sun rise over open fields and all was well.

ommmmmm

Yoga again this morning. I was planning to run but it was nasty cold wet windy awful out and my legs were still hurting from weights yesterday, so I got out ye olde yoga dvd and followed along with Philip, who is apparently Gumby's long lost white boy twin. I do feel better. Maybe I'll get that run tonight. I also got a nice long walk in high heels while running a few errands this morning. That must be good for some part of the body, but it's not my back.

chasing lightning

Little Bu is taking off on his little Lance Jr. Trek bike. He still has the training wheels on but he hardly needs them. He uses them to corner hard. I have to wear my running shoes to keep up with him. We did a few miles last night, with breaks to watch the high school girls tennis match and to race all over the grade school playground. When he goes up hills he doesn't slow down or get off, although he has only one gear. Instead he growls. When it gets steeper, he growls louder. On the straightaways he shouts "Woohoo!" repeatedly and pedals as fast as he can. I think he gets it from me.

This morning was weights, moving on to the Power Endurance phase where I do lighter weights at insanely high reps. I did 40 of everything this morning, which sounded easy conceptually and hurt a lot by the time I got done. A new workout is always good. It keeps you thinking.

full force gale

Okay, I exaggerate, but it was a lotta wind. I was doing so great this morning, record speed, incredibly strong, until I turned around and headed south into this big bitch of a headwind coming straight at me across the less-than-mountainous Iowa landscape. You know it's bad when you have to keep pedalling to maintain speed going downhill.

Biking into the wind was this morning, Saturday was a rest day if you don't count hiking all over town with Bu hunting The Last Basselope, pulling a wagon full of supplies. We found the basselope, in case you're wondering. It was under a picnic table at the park.

Friday was a bike/run brick that went really well. It didn't hurt much at all going to the run. I didn't worry about transition, just sat down and put on my running shoes. I'll work on that part later. Plus - I've signed up for my first triathlon of the season! It's the Pigman sprint in Palo on June 6.

Still geeking out with the bike maintenance. I'm going to practice on our old bikes while tinkering very very carefully with my precious. I gave her a name today, while on the tailwind joyride: Ananda, the joy without which the universe would collapse.

en famille

So yesterday evening little Bu rode in the babyjogger, Andy rode his bike and I ran. We did a nice loop through town and wound up at the big playground where we all played until we started to get really hungry. Bu got out of the stroller a few times and wanted to run and push it himself, which was fine except that he couldn't see over the top and kept running into trees. He got enough of a workout that he nearly passed out in his burrito and didn't object to having his face washed and putting on his jammies. You gotta love spring.

still here

Sorry for the long disappearance. The new job kicks my butt sometimes, but I'm still training. I did about 40 miles on the bike this weekend, half of it into a nasty headwind. A good run, yoga, the weekly weight workout (Power Endurance phase, for those of you who follow the Triathlete's Training Bible), a track workout yesterday, and tonight I'm going out running with the whole family. This doesn't mean everyone runs. Probably I'll push little Bu in the babyjogger (he weighs over 40 lbs/18kg so it's a workout in itself!) and my husband will probably get out the in-line skates and cruise around. It's gorgeous here. No normal person could stay inside.

I'm getting out on the bike a lot more, and getting geeky about maintenance. I've been reading Zinn and the Art of Road Bike Maintenance, hanging out at the bike shop on my lunch hour, you know the signs. Mastering my cycling computer was a major triumph. Now I'm getting all the bikes in the house cleaned up and tuned. There are many excuses to buy more tools. Heh heh.

open road

I've been battling a stomach bug but felt good enough Sunday morning to ride about 35k (20+ miles), lots of hills, not too much wind, felt great. Did yoga again this morning. It takes care of all the little sore bits.

breakthrough at the gym!

It was a big day. I ran over to the gym for weights, and today I actually had a conversation with both Big Arms and her buddy Even Bigger Arms. I still don't know their names, but we're making serious progress. It's a small local gym so it was a little weird when the only other early morning lifters were total strangers. Now I feel more comfortable. The weight regime is coming along fine. I'm doing lots of core and tri-specific exercises (as recommended in the Triathlete's Training Bible). I feel very strong and haven't had a serious injury in ages.

The first (sorta) race is coming up May 1. It's a cycling tour, not for prizes, but still. Go hard or go home.

running warm

This morning for the first time since maybe October, I felt warm running. I almost wanted shorts instead of tights, but not quite. Got a little excitement too: some meathead in a monster truck nearly ran me down and shouted at me bravely - from behind his tinted windows - to run on the sidewalk. If he ever got off his fat ass long enough to run a mile, he'd know that sidewalks are murder on your knees. And if he hadn't slept through whatever minimal education he has, he might know that I have as much right to that road as he does. These were the thoughts running through my mind as I finished up my run, which is too bad. There are lots of things I'd rather think about, but I tend to get hung up on things like the wetlands being destroyed for the new McMansion subdivision west of town. Gotta have that 4-car garage to park the SUVs, the boats, the ATVs, and of course, that monster truck.

like Lance - not

I was all set for a good ride this morning but woke up to a pounding thunderstorm. Chicken or prudent not to go out on the open roads on a metal machine in the pouring rain during an electrical storm? You be the judge. I went to the gym instead and did the cross country bike training program. Average rpms: 78, including the hills. I can't wait to get on my bike.

tried to ride

The wind Sunday morning didn't know I was there. It went through me without stopping, through the miracle fabrics like a miracle on its way from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico. I rode into it until I felt naked like a chicken under plastic down at Gary's. Then I went home. The computer is kewl.

working for a living

What with it being slightly dark at both ends of the day (what is UP with this planetary rotation?) and my requiring a certain amount of sleep to function, it's a little tough right now to get in the workouts. I ran a little over half an hour at the field house yesterday (Wednesday), did a lot of footwork drills and sprints and felt fine, maybe a few twinges in the knees from running in circles. It's slowly but surely getting warmer, and as soon as I can be out running, skating, cycling in the fresh air things will be fine. Unfortunately, the thought of dragging my butt out of bed in the dark to go bounce around the gym does not fill my heart with joy. I'm a pure outdoorswoman. It's also important to see little Bu during the few hours a day we get to spend together while we're both awake.

On the Road again

It dumped snow yesterday, so the road's not looking so good. I also started a new job last week, which has me exhausted and struggling to keep up with everything. I got in a swim workout Sunday evening, was sick yesterday, and did yoga this morning. I'm trying to get back on the very regular schedule I had before the bar exam, but it's hard to get up that early and I'm knackered at night. It would help a lot to have some nice weather for inspiration! On the bright side, little Bu loves the snow and got to wear his bright red snowsuit this morning. Sophie the Large lies in the snow and eats it in delicate, drooly mouthfuls, percolating with delight.

like the wind

Got out the in-line skates for the first time this season and pushed the baby jogger + 43 pound "baby" around for about an hour and a half. What a blast! It got into the 50s here yesterday, gorgeous spring weather on the last day of February. I could have danced all night. By the time I got home my feet were a little sore from doing something unaccustomed, but not blistered. Little bu got cold but really enjoyed waving and shouting hi to everyone as we blew past. We went down one of the steeper hills in town flying with no brakes and he shrieked and laughed. Later he got on his little bike and wanted to go "fast like Mama goes." Heh heh heh. I'll make a skier out of him yet.

slack

Today was the first day of the bar exam, so excuse me if I can't be doing no hour and a half psycho triathlon workouts this week.

Lord almighty, spring at last

It was something very much like warm today, so much so that I went out and ran for an hour in only one pair of tights (and a shirt, etc.). It felt great to be outside and I got covered in mud, partly due to an overenthusiastic UPS guy who sprayed me out on a dirt road that had recently become liquid rather than solid. Fun fun fun! On the last half mile or so I outsprinted a high school cross country runner.

Yesterday was yoga. The bar exam starts on Monday. If this exam doesn't drive me to drink, I do not have the true alcoholic propensities that I've always believed I possess. Perhaps this is not a good thing to know for sure, one way or the other.

Kill the bike

I did an hour on the stationary bike over lunch, including this really hard "fit test". Afterward, the display turned off before giving me my results. Bloody technology. This week I'm supposed to be doing 6.5 hours of training and I'm up to 5 with 2 days to go. The cycling today was meant to be an easy day, except for the semi-accidental killer fitness test. Those things are usually so easy. My HR monitor thinks I'm excellent after the walk test I turned in. I ran through all the cool functions - now it knows my BMI (20.3) and everything else about me so it can tell me exactly how I'm doing and what I ate for lunch. If the monitor falls into the wrong hands I'm in big trouble.

I keep running but nothing happens

Another early morning at the gym. Yesterday was a half hour of weights, then a half hour running. This morning a half hour on the stationary bike, then a half hour running. The track is half blocked by softball and track team equipment, so the effect is an obstacle course crowded by walkers. The stationary bike is one of those weird recumbent things that doesn't even register me on its fitness test because my pulse stays too low. It keeps telling me to try again.

Snow!

Beautiful snow coming down this morning. I predict that the skis will get wet again very soon.... Yesterday was a great swim workout down at UI, where the pool is nicer than I remembered. I did a warmup, drills, then a 1000m pyramid where I went 25 slow, 25 fast, 50 s/f, 75 s/f, 100 s/f, then back down. All together around 2400m I think. I was tired at the end, but okay. My endurance is getting better.

This morning I did yoga for an hour. I let myself count yoga toward my training hours so I have motivation to do it - it's so good for my flexibility and relaxation, it's always worth it.

A Sacred Place

Today was meant to be a swimming day but we just got a spectacular dump of snow last night, so I got out the skinny skis and went to a state park nearby. Totally amazing. I skied for an hour through untouched snow and only saw another person back in the parking lot as I was loading up to leave. I went down along the river where the quiet was only broken by the sound of water and birds. I saw a large flock of geese, ducks, a cardinal, a red-crested woodpecker, half a dozen red tailed hawks and a bald eagle. When I saw the eagle I'd just come around a bend above the river and he flew out across the water in front of me, not flapping at all, just soaring out of the trees. Everything about the scene was breathtaking and sacred. I felt as if I should kneel, and I remembered a hymn I haven't sung in years:
"For the beauty of the earth, for the beauty of the skies, for the love that from our birth over and around us lies, Lord of all to thee we raise this our hymn of grateful praise."

Rest week

This is a rest week, where I do only 4 hours of training, chill out, and get motivated for the next cycle. It's called periodization. So far so good, although I seem to be eating a lot of brownies. Monday I took a day off. Tuesday I did half an hour of weights - Power Endurance phase, in which I do lighter weights but higher, faster repetitions. It felt good to switch to something new. Then a half hour running.

Wednesday was a half hour stationary cycling, then a half hour running on the indoor track. I'm breaking up the running by doing agility and form drills, sprinting the straightaways on the track, running backward, whatever. I find indoor cardio about the least interesting thing ever, and I'll be very ready to go when the snow clears up. I should get out and ski but it's, like, COLD. I need to get over it.

Recently I reprogrammed my heart rate monitor so it does more things I want it to do, and I've been thinking over the race from last weekend. It was a very slow time for me (24:40), but also very cold and hilly. I think I ran an okay race for this point in the season, but I faded at the end. After 2 miles I just felt cold and uncomfortable. I need to work on finishing stronger.

In a Prison

I got another weight workout in on Saturday, over my lunch hour from all-day bar review hell. Following along on the "in a prison" theme, I went over to the field house, where the oldest weights known to human kind are available to anyone who can produce legal I.D. to trade for a weight pin. I was lifting with a janitor in his uniform, a former varsity basketball player twice my size, an overweight and very sweaty guy who sat on the machines when resting between sets, and a wiry middle-aged woman who looked like she might be a professor. The weights are along the back wall and the main floor of the gym was curtained off for a gymnastics meet, so random snips of extremely peppy music would go on and off at irregular intervals and otherwise there was a lot of shouting. Gymnastics coaches walked by once in a while and regarded us weightlifters with suspicion. After my workout I went downstairs to the equally prison-like atmosphere of the women's lockerroom, where you have to check out a security pass card to get in and there are big panic buttons every 10 feet or so along the walls. My first time down there I bumped into a small blonde woman as I was coming out of the shower. I excused myself, but she just looked at me in terror and ran off. I suspect there are some stories to tell about that lockerroom, but I don't know them yet, thank God.

Then yesterday - Sunday - we went up to Dubuque for the Winter Iowa Games 5k. I came in third in my age group and got a bronze medal that Bubu likes. I found out later that I could have done nordic skiing instead, which I would have preferred, but I misread the schedule (or it was wrong).

Lifting with the big kids

I've been doing this "max strength" phase in weightlifting, which means with every bench press I will either get stronger or drop the bar and crush my larynx. It adds an extra thrill to the process. Every morning I have ever been at the gym there's this very big-armed woman in there, grunting and lifting everything in sight. It's practically empty except for her - always - and the occasional student athlete or soccer mom doing sit-ups. So Big Arms, as I like to call her, never even makes eye contact with me unless I nearly run her down coming around the blind side of the universal machine. She said hi once. That was a big deal. I told my husband: "Big Arms says hi!" Big Arms also has a friend, Burly Man, who starts out in a sweatshirt but soon strips down to his muscle shirt, the better to show off Even Bigger Arms. I wonder about these people. Who are they? What are their sports? Why are they ALWAYS at the gym? Maybe one day I'll ask.

Just keep swimming

Yesterday was an hour's swim at the Rec Center, where heavily tattooed men hang out playing pool on the other side of the glass wall of the swimming pool area. I wouldn't know from personal experience, but I think of it as how swimming in a prison would feel. The pool is on the warm side and too shallow, so I scrape my knees on the bottom if I go too deep on a spin turn, and my spin turns aren't that great to begin with. A good workout though. I'm thinking hard about reaching and gliding, not just powering my way through the water. Itty bitty improvements each time.

I'm also reading some mental training material. At the library I got Sacred Hoops by Phil Jackson - not bad, but very basketball-centered, obviously, and less good for individual sports. Then another one recommended by Jackson called Body Mind Mastery, written by a gymnast. I found it overly perky - possibly overly gymnast-y. The third one is called Thinking Body, Dancing Mind (or maybe vice versa), written by a Chinese athlete and an American marathoner. It's about maximizing performance using Tai Chi and Zen techniques, and I like it much better than the other two. It helps me to think about just letting myself swim, run, ski, etc., rather than forcing myself to go as hard as possible all the time. The 90% rule for example: you get maximum performance when you aren't tensing up, trying to get that last 10% of performance. Go for 90% and you'll stay relaxed and actually improve your overall performance.

On ice

Friday I got up early for more weights and some running on the indoor track at the college. A decent workout, but I'm really getting cabin fever in the nasty cold weather.

Saturday's workout was a quick run over the lunch hour of my hellish bar review. The next time you're tempted to pick on a lawyer, just remember, they too know suffering.

Today all I got was 45 or so minutes skating with my husband and little Bubu, who says he is a hockey player. He's getting better: he'll skate to me without any help, gets up when he falls, lets me skate him around backward. It must be hard to be a little guy who wants desperately to play with the big guys and sees how long a road it is to get there. Come to think of it, I know just how he feels.

Like a fish

My swimming lately is all focused on technique. I'm doing swim-on-your-side, catch-up drill, laps with fins to work on streamlining, counting strokes, everything I remember from Aida the killer Lithuanian coach I had last year. I think it's starting to come together. Yesterday I was doing the minimum possible number of strokes per 25m (something like 16) and still passing the high school swimmer working out in the next lane. Whether this translates to actual race speed remains to be seen, but I feel a lot more comfortable in the water than I used to, and I'm finally managing to do spin turns without nearly drowning myself.

Caucus injury!

My weight training today involved extreme caution so that nothing touched my elbow. Last night at the Iowa caucuses my 220 lb/100 kg husband came crashing down on my elbow, which I had allowed to hang over the armrest of my high school auditorium chair. &*(%%^% that hurts!!! I thought it was broken! Much ice and ibuprofen later I think it will only be a bad bruise. The big hulking man in question has been properly chastized.

Not getting anywhere

I cycled for a full hour this morning and went exactly nowhere, although I did review most of the Contracts outline for the bar exam. Fitness machines, imho, must figure prominently in hell. You're really sweaty, the scenery sucks, you never get anywhere, and it all smells funky. Afterward I was so hungry I ate the following: a candy cane, a Clif bar, a black bean burger, several jalapeno poppers, a few fries, half a slice of cake, and a lot of water. I achieved spiritual oneness with The Very Hungry Caterpillar. I would've eaten more but by then - like the Caterpillar - my tummy hurt. Looking forward to becoming a beautiful butterfly.

A Swim Less Ordinary

Okay, swimming is swimming, especially in winter - you're face down, following the black line, trying to maintain interest by swapping pool toys every few laps or checking out the guy in the teeny Speedo in the next lane. Lucky me, today there was one under 60.

But in order to get the workout I had to bolt early from my mother-in-law's birthday party. The husband and 3-yr-old bolted right along with me and we all went to the pool for a little immersion therapy. Ahhhhh. Bubu hasn't yet embraced the idea of getting his hair wet and Andy isn't very into swimming, so they played in the family swim area while I did laps. The less ordinary bit came about as I popped out of the water every time I heard a shriek to make sure my kid hadn't just thrown himself into the diving well. Old lifeguard habits die hard. I felt like a duck: butt in the air one second, head up the next.

It was a foreshortened workout because of the presence of Bu, but I still got in a warmup, drill set, a hard 300m piece and a cooldown before, yet again, bolting. I tri therefore I bolt. We're playing tennis tonight so all in all I will get up to my goal of 5 hours' training this week. In my world, cross training counts as much as anything. Propping up Bu during Friday night Rock 'n Skate down at the ice arena counts double.

This week is a prep week. Five hours of training, which I interpret very loosely. I've been to the gym a couple of times for weightlifting, working on building maximum strength in things like squats, seated row, and bent-arm lat pulls, because they're like cycling and swimming. I also do core exercises and leg extensions and stretch to excess.

For flexibility I've been doing a yoga DVD featuring this white-haired Indian guru who lives in Alaska and has a young guy demonstrate all his moves. I love it: "Now Philip will demonstrate stretch pose. If you feel yourself shaking, you're getting it right. The original instructions say 'do it until you shake like a leaf'." Meanwhile Philip's not shaking at all and I am in so much pain I can't do it anymore period, whether shaking like a leaf or not. Then at the end there's cheesy inspirational relaxation music and Alaskan scenery. I prefer the Rodney Yee videos, where Rodney himself is scenery aplenty, but I can't seem to find mine. Perhaps my husband hid it?

A few good runs: 45 minutes today at a nice brisk pace because going out along the Iowa River I was into a headwind and wishing I'd worn my parka. There's nothing like a headwind to make you run fast on the way out for warmth, and faster on the way back for gratitude. Apparently I should be doing drills and fartleks, but I'm enjoying putting one foot in front of the other. Why mess with that? I just wish it would snow some more so I could drag out my skis. Winter without full-on ice and snow is the pits. You would never know I was born in California.

My last blog ended in great vengeance and furious anger. I told the truth. I have a great weakness for telling the truth, regardless of how ill-advised it is, and law school failed to cure me. But this blog is entirely about ME - my triathlon training, my rash opinions, and my dog, who by definition cannot sue me. In this carefully delimited subject area I will try to keep things under control.

I'm working out of the Triathlete's Training Bible this year, just worked out my yearly training plan. I did several sprint distance triathlons last southern summer (in Australia, that is), so now I'm suffering through 2 winters back to back after moving up top. I have a 5k planned for February 1, but the main season will be June, July and August. That's what I'm training for.

A minor challenge on the horizon: finding a reasonably accessible pool. I live in a small town (3000 ish people) where the pool is only open in summer. The nearest masters squad is a half hour away and trains at 5:30 a.m. I'm still trying to get my head around the 4:45 am wake-up call. I'm a morning person, but that's not morning. That's a few hours after the late show got over.