Murhpy Strikes AGAIN!

as in Murphy's Law kids....

Let's review the past few days...

*Lost my pink iPod at Frostbike somehow
*Left Frostbike with a raging case of bird flu that has kept me from being a productive member of society for 4 days now
*Had over $700 mysteriously disappear from my checking account (somehow related to my slumlord, but still unexplained at the moment)
And if that wasn't enough...
*Managed to nearly bite it last night on the pavement thus resulting ina sausage link of a finger now making me even more useless at work.....

Can we just call it March already? February isn't ending so well....

Frostbike and all things PINK

I feel like I should at least get a t-shirt that says "I went to Frotbike 09 and all I got was this lousy case of the bird flu."

Ok, maybe I got more than a raging case of the want to stay in bed, can't swallow, not even thinking about training today, bird flu, but that my friends is the more memorable.

Second to that comes to mind the weirdo staring at me while I was running like a hamster in the hotel fitness room. What's this you say? So Saturday morning, before my case of black death set in, I got up at 6am to log a little quality tready time (you know, keep CoachE happy). In case you missed out my last treadmill run, the not so skinny of it is thatI am not sexy ledy when I am grunted out mt runs. There's no make up and no casual pony tail tossing. I am all about getting down to business and sweating my way through the run. Well this is no different at 6am. Here I am chugging along trying to get a couple of miles out of the way before the long day, and along comes Mr Creeper with his coffee. Mr Creeper proceeds to stand directly in front of me in the window (thus obscuring my view of the vacant, and need of a good cleaning, pool) and sip his coffee while staring straight at me. To give you a better idea, Mr Creeper was probably mid-40's, balding with a hottie comb-over, and dressed all in black. Black turtleneck tucked into his black dress slacks, paired with some black shoes and a black belt. Yes, I had time to look, he was staring! He stood there for a solid 5 minutes. IT. WAS. WEIRD.

Anywho, back to the show. I got to touch base with some cool peeps, hob know with some of the other vendors, and oggle lots of gear. Here's a few of my fav's....

QBP has rolled out (excuse my punn-iness) a new line of components known as All City, and here's my favorite part:

I bet you can't guess why I love them?? I'm thinking those might need to come home to me and be a part of the Pinglespeed. Not the Pig, the recently acquired 29'er singlespeed from the running buddy, but the almost as awesome single speed road bike I had custom painted last summer but never finished assembling....Taz, you know the one, you pressed the headset for me.....yep, still no wheels for that cutie. Maybe these are the winners tho.

Then there was this PINK-afied beauty.

The frame may not be pink but the over all look is delicious. I even dig the polka dot wheels. And it was sporting the same pink and white star grips the Pig is wearing. Put now I want the pink crankset for the Pinglespeed, which already has a perfectly good never used crankset, but this one's pink....

So maybe loving this little gem is a conflict of interests, but hello, its just so cute! And when I'm cruising around on the Pinglespeed I don't need power, so why not streamline it while a pink cylce computer? Shhhh....just don't tell my boss... ;)

And the show stopper, if I do say so myself, the new Saris T Bones. Hitch rack extraordinaire, this bad boy comes in at like 12lbs, schleps 3 bikes around town, has a quick release that lets you pop it off the hitch and take it inside (garage, house, or in my case TINY apartment) and put it on its included base and use it as storage. Yeah, its just THAT cool.

Thoughts from the treadmill...

CoachE had me rocking out a tricky workout last night. Keep the pace up, keep the HR and the time down, yadda yadda yadda. It didn't go as well as I wanted it to, but it went about as I expected it to. So I was ok with the end result. Seeing as lat night was my first time on a treadmill in eons, I came to realize a few things...

First and foremost, treadmill running is just no fun. Its really not. I get it though. Its a great effective controlled workout. But man alive, it is miserable! You're going nowhere, there's people all around you sweating and huffing and puffing (except for the girl next to me, but I'll get to THAT in a minute), the air is stale and damp, not to mention not blowy, and you've got the display just staring you in the face telling you just how far you have not gone, how slowly you've been going, and how much longer you have to stay on the god forsaken machine. All I could think about for 60mins was pitching myself through the window I was facing while running.

Then there was the girl next to me. Here she is, my height'ish, but easily 40-50lbs lighter than I am (and I am not a complete whale here people). She is skinny skinny!! And she is make up-ed out running along much faster than I am, and making it look good. And easy. She's not even breaking a sweat. No hairs out of place. Who is this bionic boetch next to me making this look so effortless and pretty?

Well folks, that's just not me. Nor will it ever be me. I am going to sweat and turn radioactive red, and then I am going to sweat some more (and wouldn't you know, they were out of towels last night, so there was nothing I could do about my drippy-ness). Oh, and I am always going to have some amount of stunk about me after exercising. Its all part of the sweaty package. There will always be a little extra here and there that will wiggle just a little bit more than it should. And my shorts are always going to creep up as my thighs are just a little too robust and wubbly. That's just me.

I'm never going to be that itty bitty skinny thing that makes everything look good. But I don't want to be seen as the "butch " girl (thanks Bryn for giving me a complete complex). I just want to be the best version of me.

And if that means occasionally giving in to coach and getting on the tready, then so be it. But I'm not going to like it.

Even wonderful weekends must come to an end...

Last week was really pretty unbelievable and wonderful, and this past weekend was no different. So it started with the butt kickin' PINK bike (thanks running buddy, you are the BEST!!) and ended with beautiful flowers showing up at work for me on Friday (really running buddy, where'd this A game come from??). No doubt about it, I was spoiled silly last week.

Check 'em out...even the vase is PINK!

Then, the icing on the cake.......drum roll please.....I finally ordered my new tri bike!!! EEK!! I am sooooo excited. Big important purchases, like bikes, tend to tkae me years to come to a decision on. So the very fact that I commited to a bike an made the purchase in like a year and a half time span is pretty impressive. When it came down to it, I went with the bike I have LOVED since I first laid eyes on it....

08 Scott Contessa Plasma

Isn't she beautiful?? And even more exicing, she'll be in my posession Thursday of this week! What to name her....what to name her.... (Oh! The PINK Rig has finally been named. She is now known as "The Pig." Pink + Rig = Pig....yeah its simple and I LOVE IT!)

Part of this new bike agreement with myself is that I have to commit to some trainer time. No more excuses, just get on and do it. The running buddy even brought me his rollers so I can try them out and see if that eases my dislike of indoor cycing. One way or another I have got to start logging some quality bike time.

Woah, so that was last week. There was even a sprinkle of training mixed in there, but not as much as I would've like because my knee is still sore and I'm trying to be smart.

Saturday I spent the whole day in bed. That's right. I crawled out and welcomed the day at like 3:30....just to get dressed and ready to run and the promptly fall back asleep and take a mini nap at like 5. Opps. There went that run. The running buddy and I had a mellow V Day plan. A little food, a chick flick, and relatively early to bed. It was wonderful. Follwoed by the promise of escorting me on my long run Sunday. What a guy!

Iwas probably mid 20's and partly sunny when we headed out to run Sunday. Not too bad. My knee didn't even feel like it was going to explode until about mile 5. The running buddy kept mustter sassy things and telling me I'm in for it when its warm enough to bike outside. That he plans to make me suffer on a bike like I have made him suffer through my runs. I said that I will interpret that as he wants to be a support coach and help me become a better stronger rider. And I agreed that when my weekly long run is over 13m he doesn't have to run them with me, he can bike along side. I thought that was quite nice of me.

This Sunday I discovered my new favorite post long run, I'm sore and feel like dying, remedy. Its called swimming. Who knew. I went and did an easy swim about an hour after my long run, followed by some hot tub soaking and I almost felt normal the next day! What a glorious discovery.

On another swimming related note, Bryn came with on my swim last night. It was great to have someone else to train with in the pool. As a result I have started a "Join My Gym" campaign with Bryn. And I think its working. :) She'll be a member and regular visitor with me in no time. Right Bryn??

PINK!! PINK!! PINK!!

So the short and sweet of last night is that the running buddy is even less capable of keeping a secret or a surprise than I am!!!  While I had knowingly texted and begged and pleaded for the running buddy to pick up and deliver my running shoes, little did I know that he had left one heck of a PINK surprise in my apartment for me....

Hello my PINK love!!!

That's right, that's my new PINK-tastic, PINK-erific, PINK-alicious 29'er!!! So admittedly I knew about the frame, but I did not know that he had been stock piling pink everything and planning to deliver the bike complete!

Complete with PINK Chris King hubs!! 

(which match the PINK Chris King headeset)

PINK housing!!

And PINK grips!!

Have I mentioned what a GREAT guy this running buddy of mine is?  Yeah, he's pretty wonderful.  And I am one lucky LUCKY lucky PINK loving girl.......

All things weekend related...

So last Friday, finally feeling a little better I managed to get out a better run at lunch than I had in a while. Not much better, but better.  Initially I had planned another 2-a-day with swimming after work, but after an epic-ly yucky day at work I opted for a lil retail therapy instead.  Don't judge...

Saturday was the planned "long" run of the week.  I use the term long loosely here as really 6 miles is not long.  Not by a long shot.  As me and the running buddy headed out for a run we had decided to do only 5 as I was still on the mend.  Around the 2.1 mile marker the running buddy decided to cash in his chips and stretch while I did the next ~.4miles.  Welllllll, as I continued on on my own, I suddenly felt like what the hey, why stop at 2.5 miles when I can do 3?  So kept running I did.  I made it to the new 1/2 way point and turned around still feeling pretty a-ok.  However, as is the nature of all things Katie, by the time I had picked up the running buddy on the way back I was starting to regret that extra mile.  Within a mile from home I was starting to bonk.  Guess I still wasn't feeling too great.  We finished out the run, and while the time wasn't stellar, it wasn't too far off.  The run was followed by some serious stretching and a whole lot o' icing of the knee.

Sunday was a pretty low key day.  Lots of R&R, elevating and icing of the knee.  Late in the afternoon I headed out for a swim.  Nothing long or impressive, just a little pool time followed by a little hot tub soakin'.

So today, Monday, mid-day I left my cubicle and the stress of work for another work day run.Wait, back up.  I must give credit where credit is due.  I got to work to realize that I had packed my running bag and gear....only to forget my running shoes by the back door.  Grumble!  After a few pitiful pleading text messages the running buddy was convinced to pick up my shoes and bring them to work (on a day he didn't need or plan to come in to the office no less).  What a guy!  The running buddy saved the run!  Woo Woo!!  Anywho, having laid low the day before I was feeling well rested and ready for a push.  So I headed out on my usual 3.34m loop (and yes the .34 is important, every tenth of a mile matters) I decided to see what I had in me.  And you know what I found out?  I had a PR in me!!!  That's right, for the first time in YEARS I averaged an 8 1/2 mile for a 5k.  That hasn't happened since, well, a loooooong time.  I was super stoked!  Go me!!

So that's my training story for the past few days.  There's going to more rest, ice, and training to come this week.

Slowly but surely...

So I finally felt well enough to venture out for a little run this afternoon.  On my lunch break I did an abbreviated version of my normal run, and well, it was great.  I was tired (and even kind of hungry) by the end of it.  And it felt good to be active again after 4 days of rest.

I'm venturing to the pool for a short easy swim yet tonight.  

And then I plan to lather, rinse, and repeat tomorrow.

Slowly, but surely, I will feel better and get by butt in gear.  IM 09 or BUST!!

Are you happy now, Ryan??

So there's been some debate and inquiry as to what the actual status is of me and the running buddy. In fact, it seems to me that it is a daily discussion between me and my coworker/friend on our drive to work. It just so happens that Ryan came across the above comic today, and well if the shoe fits.... (Granted this debate never happens between me and the running buddy, so the conversation would be a little different, but you get the idea.) Yes, I admit, the running buddy IS statistically my significant other.


* * * * * * * * * * * * * *

On a different note, I cannot seem to shake this stomach funk going on. I have been reduced to liquids and the blandest foods I can find. I'm dehydrated, hungry, and hurty. And these symptoms do not make for effective training.

I was going to try to muscle out a short work day run today, but feel like I am running on empty. Coach says to rest and not push it. That that will only lead to a longer recovery time. but seriously, I feel like a lump. Maybe a lower impact workout is in order...

He's lucky I didn't pee my pants....

Courtesy of Geoff and his new toy.