Am I in an Episode of True Blood?

Well yesterday’s swim was interesting. I had about an hour to swim since I had to get my son from his after school program. I met one of my tri friends at the Greendale YMCA for an open water swim in Indian Lake. Now if you’re from Worcester you know the lake. I know a lot of people swim in it but man it is kinda creepy. But I did not have another option due to time, so what are you going to do.

First I pull in the parking lot. Getting out of my car I forgot to put it in park. Yup… almost rolled away! I swear this Ironman is going to kill me somehow. So I get ready to swim, wetsuit, goggles, bathing suit, and swim cap all accounted for. I make my way to the lake and as I get to the edge I wasn’t sure I could do it. It was green and murky. A layer of pollen covered the surface. OMG!! It was scary. What came to mind was the opening to True Blood, that murky water with the fish with the horns. EEK!!!

Anyway, I suck it up and get in the damn water. I was afraid to put my face in, but I did. I had a few panic stokes. Okay, a lot of panic strokes. Seriously, you could not see your hand inches below you. I always get freaked out like I am going to see eyes staring up at me. Like I am going to bump a body! I have mistaken my swim bouy for a body once and started flipping out in the water. It was really funny but not at the time.

So I finally settled into a nice swim. We managed to swim about 1.4 miles or so in 43 minutes. So overall that was good. I finally got that opening from True Blood out of my head and relaxed. But seriously it was creepy. But I guess it is a body of water, right. I need them. And to boot I don’t have a third eye or nipple today. Success!!

Great Training Weekend

This was such a great weekend. The sun was shining and finally it warmed up. Yesterday I joined some friends for a nice run at the West Boylston Rail trail. Ran 11 miles at a nice steady pace. Nailing my running training by heart rate. It is hard but I am trusting the process.

Today I did the Kinds of Quabbin metric century. Let's call it 62 miles of hell! There was no god damn flat road anywhere on this ride. And I am so not kidding Up, down, up up, down, up up up. It was crazy. So we get to the first rest stop at mile 22 and we get food and fill up our bottles. Great people at this rest stop. They were very fun and nice. So I ride down to the porta potty and come back. I am with my friend K.G. She asks me where is our other friend S.H. For some reason I go to tell her an I realize my bike has stopped moving and OMG.. I need to clip out. Well guess what I go down like a ton of bricks. Right on my right ass cheek. I was horrified. But got up and laughed it off. The water stop staff came over to see if I was alright. I guess it was a good try to get out of riding the 62 miles of hell. hahaha! All and all it was a great day. I had a lot of fun. Got some good sun too!

This week is a recovery week.
Mon- 50 min open water
Tuesday- 6 miles
Wed- endurance swim 1.5 miles inside trainer ride
Thurs rest
Friday 50 min swim and hilly 1.00 ride.
Saturday 2:45 in the saddle.
Sunday 9 miles

It has been a busy few weeks. I have no idea where the time is going. I can barely keep up. So Memorial Day Weekend was busy. Ran the Boston's Run to Remember with some friends. We had a great time. Laughs, running, and making fun of people. Because we are so perfect, hahaha!!!! I think the best part of the day was we finished at a little after 9 a.m. we were tailgating in the parking lot and drinking sangria. That was the best. I think I will run with these girlies more often. :)

Memorial Day!! Oh the fun continues. Rode with two of my tri friends. One of them told me she was taking me on the apple dumpling loop. Here I am thinking okay is that the name of the loop must be. So we meet and ride. We get an hour and a half out and stop at an apple orchard. Damn she wasn't kidding she orders up a couple of apple dumplings with vanilla ice cream to share. OMG! I had never had one of those and it was so delicious. So good.

On the way back karma from eating the apple dumpling kicked in. My girlfriend got a flat. Hahaha! Thank god she knew how to change it. But she had never used a CO2 cartridge. OMG! the thing sounded like a shot gun. Hahahaha! I almost pee'd my pants. It was so funny.

Well that was two weeks ago... let's get more recent.

Interesting 13 mile run...

So yesterday I set out for my long run, 13 miles to be exact. I went to a local rail trail since it is nice and cushy under the feet and not pounding on pavement. I get there and it is mosquito heaven. Ick! I had my car open trying to get my fuel all ready and they were swarming. I thought oh this is going to be good. I was already tired from my morning swim and was mustering up the energy to swat them away. No bug spray but I was there and I wasn’t going home.

Once I got running the bugs weren’t bad. It was nice until I took a breath and swallowed a mosquito. I could feel the frigging thing flying around by through so I was hacking heaving to dislodge it. Got it out and kept running. About 3 miles later the same thing happened this time I really vomited. What the fuck! Gross! I was so aggravated. That sucker I must of swallowed. So ran some more and I am running along, NO I didn’t swallow a mosquito I stepped on a snake… OMG!! I screamed. A yellow and black one and it rolled up over my sneaker. Ahhhhhh!!! I had a heart attack and the guys on mountain bikes came to a stop. You think I was getting stabbed. Haha!! All good got the snake off my foot stopped freaking out and on my way I go, only to swallow another mosquito a few miles later.

This was an interesting run. Moral of the story, Keep your mouth shut Wamback and watch where you are running!!!

Update.. things are going well.

I have been a bad girl at updating this blog. I was thinking maybe at the beginning of the week I will give you a little taste of my workouts for the week and then write about them after I complete them. There has to be a few funny things that happen to me right! Haha! Not that anyone reads this damn thing. So I am talking to myself. Which is not uncommon I often talk to myself.:)

This week is a recovery week. I had no idea! What an awesome way to start the week. I wake up Monday morning and just assume a swim is on my plan since it has been for months now. So I get up at 4:30 a.m. and get my ass to swim at 5 a.m. As I get to the pool I decided to check my plan. So yes I had a swim thank god! Because if I got up at 5 a.m. for nothing I would have been pissed… You don’t want to see a pissed red head. So I had been preparing all weekend to do a long run on Monday after swim. I thought I had to run 13 miles but when I check my plan it was an hour run. OMG!! I don’t think I have ever been so excited in my life. I was ecstatic! A short run for me. Wahooo!!! Made my day! Sometimes it is the little things! :)

As for the rest of the week, things are going well. I put a good 50 minutes on my time trial bike this am. No pain in the hip, but the tri bike is so different than the road bike. It is a lot to get used to. I think I am going to use my road bike for the big event. I just feel more comfortable. I am not feeling very confident about the tri bike. But it is okay. I tried it. So if it doesn’t work out I am good with it. Just buy a nice road bike for my 40^th and a jeep wrangler to go with it. Haha!!!

Swim has been good and runs are good. Things seem to be falling right into place. Feeling confident.

Tired Legs and a Tour Bus Peep Show!

This week has been another tough week. My legs are completely fried. They ache but a good ache, getting stronger being able to do the volume that I need to get through this race. When I think about how tired and how much pain I am in I really think about those who would love to be doing what I am doing but because of a disability or illness this may be far out of their reach. I also think of my nephew who is in my thoughts while I fund raise for his cause Wolfram Syndrome. If you would like to learn more and donate see an earlier post.

The legs are tired. Yesterday during my run I felt like I was going nowhere and my legs were bricks. Not to mention the damn head wind on the Canal. It was brutal. I can’t even escape the damn headwind this week. Enough already! I still have a lot left to the week too. I have to swim tomorrow in the early a.m. which always helps flush the legs so I am looking forward to that and run 7.5 miles. I am sure I will be toast after that. I am looking forward to my rest day Saturday.

I have to share this story that happened to me yesterday because it is such a Kim story. I was at the Cape Cod Canal getting ready to run. I had to change in the car due to restrooms being closed, and quite frankly I did not want to walk the mile to get there since I parked so far away. So I am parked in an area where there are no cars around me, planned it that way. I start to change and just as I am exposed on the top a tour bus lets out behind my car. Hahaha!! Free peep show for the tour bus! OMG I was laughing so hard. I could not even believe that had happened. I was horrified. Why do these things happen to me! Well it was funny and made me laugh. Onto the next workout! Thanks for reading J

Rut, Rain and wind but I win!

I know I have been bad at writing. I am so tired lately. Jeez I wonder why. Hahaha!

Last week was tough. On Monday I started off the week with a great swim and then I had to run. Oh it was not good. My poor brother in-law ran with me and it was not pretty. Stomach issues! Nuff Said! Hahaha! Tuesday I got a cold and that just ruined my momentum. I was sick Tuesday and Wednesday. It was so hard to get  back in the grove. It really throws you for a loop when you get knocked out of such a rigorous routine.

So Thursday I had enough. I still felt like shit but I was getting back on the horse even if I soooo didn’t want to and I felt the rut getting bigger and bigger. But I did it and it felt okay. Friday up and at them at 5 a.m. for swim. Felt decent and had a good swim.

Now for some fun! The wind this weekend was unbelievable. I rode Saturday a.m. for a short ride because I had a wedding to go to so I could not squeeze in the long ride. So Sunday would have to be long ride and the weather was looking pretty good. Ahhhhh… so frigging wrong! Sunday I get up and take my time since the temps were still in the 40’s and that is cold. So I leave my house at about 11 and have on tri shorts, a short sleeve shirt and my jacket. It was so sunny but god damn the wind was a force to be reckoned with. Of course, I had to pick a super hilly route for this ride too. What the hell was I thinking? Anyway, I ride feeling like I am going to die with the wind gusts and I finally make it to the turn-around in Hardwick center after climbing and wind. So I am thinking sweet tail wind on the way home. NOT! Why is it that no matter what direction you go you have a fucking head wind! I was so pissed, I was literally swearing fuck out loud as I rode. I guess Mother Nature had her panties in a bunch from me swearing, so she decided to make it rain. That bitch!!! So now it is windy and rainy and I still have about 15-20 miles to go. Whatever Mother Nature be a bitch I didn’t stop or quit. I may have cried but you got nothing on me. 46 mile ride in 3:15.