For this week's cycling strength training click here. Jen N....you can use a ball or some Tide bottles filled with water so you don't kill anyone! HA HA!
They bought me a puppy. One look at her and I forgot all about the name Spike. I called her Cocoa. This is not good. She comes home in 3 weeks, but here she is:
This picture says it all.......................... welcome to the family Cocoa!
For this week we've got some strength training exercises that will help your cycling gain power. Now remember, to become a faster cyclist you need to ride your bike. Period. Adding some of these moves can help, but again ride your bike to become a faster and stronger cyclist! Have fun with these, and if you don't' have a Bosu Ball, try one of those discs. They are cheap and they work great!
It's that time of year when the colds begin, the fevers rise, the flu shots are administered and sooner or later you find yourself feeling like C.R.A.P., under the weather, like a truck has hit you or what I professionally call...... you have the whole schabang (oh no..... did I spell that write? So nervous about my grade here!)
In all honesty, what better time to happen than right now? The off season, the beginning of preparation, if there is going to be a time I am listening to no motivation, feeling tired, achey it is right now.
Last night I went to bed at 6:30pm and I am so glad that I did. It meant missing a run in my running camp but ... there are days when we have to be sick.
I wrote a little diddy last year with my opinion on how to train when sick. Now I just need to listen to it. I suppose I will have to have a small chat with my coach. When things are missed part of me wants to make them up and the other part, the smarter part reminds me to let it go, let things heal, let things get better before they get worse.
Our bodies have a magical way of healing themselves. Medications are nice and important at the right time but really they just support the natural abilities of the body. What supports that better than anything however is not trying to control it, not trying to fight it or beat it, but just allowing nature to take its course.
After all, it is just a viral illness. Just a cold. To me, an annoyance. To some people in this world it is complete devastation, meaning that a cold, could very well kill them.
The interesting thing about the Internet…. is that you are never quite anonymous. Especially here in blogland. I have been very fortunate that I have not had the hate mail that other fellow bloggers have had to experience. When I read Cathy's experience and the idiocrasy that ensued on her blog yesterday….. I had to shake my head. I then got an anonymous comment about my spelling, and I laughed even harder. I have arrived!
Good thing this isn't a term paper. Whew!
Here's the thing about the Internet and about blogs…… I don't send my writing to you. You must make an effort to either type in the address, or to save it to your list of favorites, or to click on the link from another's blog. YOU COME TO ME.
The moment you do that you are identifiable. Leave a comment, even better. An anonymous one..... isn't anonymous. Even if you are commenting from Starbucks.
The company that manages my website has an amazing tracking system. I can tell you exactly what your ISP address is, and then I can find your name. Actually, they do it for me. In addition I have Site Meter, which gives me a back up.
Because truly, if you are going to make idiot comments, at least you should have the balls to identify yourself. If we were having a conversation could you not say "Hey Mar…. you are a horrid speller." Tell me something I don't know. If this were a term paper I'd care a bit more.
When you visit this site I know your ISP address. We get about 1,300 hits a week and they've got all the addresses. Now if you download a picture form my site….. I have en more information about you. See how the web gets deeper and deeper? It's kind of interesting.
Think of it this way: you are one of these blogger anonymous stalker folks, you visit a site with an existing chip on your shoulder. Which in all honesty puts you into a certain class of people right there (FREAK). You take time during your day to visit a site. Don't bother me now honey….. I am stalking Cathy! You take time to read that site. You take time and energy to get all riled up because someone wears something you don't like, or someone says "I won a race", or someone shares something…… your reaction is energy, your reaction is your time. Then you get so fired up that you take the time to make a comment, and even if you are making an "anonymous" comment…… you are not. Then you actually (and I can prove this) check back a few times to see if it has been published. Then you take even more time checking back to see if it is responded to.
Look at that time, look at that energy and look at the level of angst, hatred and negativity you have given?
You are a parent who is responsible for raising a child to be a productive part of society and you act like this? You are whoever you are in your career, and this is how you act?
That puts you into the next category of …. psycho.
About a year ago I did have someone who routinely harassed me on this blog. Not only was I able to identify them, I pressed harassment charges and I was able to settle. Once this person was identified (and I didn't even know them … so they got all hot and bothered based on what I wrote) I was written a long letter of sob story and apology. Which I laughed at because this person was such a freak!
So you have to have thick skin to be a blogger. You also have to be careful. To the people who have to be the subjects of such psychotic behavior I advise to be careful. If someone is willing to take this much time and energy to make an anonymous comment, then they are either a real whack job and someone who would actually attack you on the street, or just a coward.
Remember: they come to YOUR site…… you don't email it to them, you don't force them. THEY COME TO YOU. And the moment they do, their identity is not secure.
So if you've got a chip on your shoulder, or you are that full of hate, or that full of envy... get some help. Or how about this...... don't visit the site.
I find that some people are so focused on looking what is inside your mirror, that they never look inside of their own. They are afraid to see what is in front of them. So they focus on you. When people find something to harass you about it is either because of envy or because you represent something about themselves which they are not comfortable with.
Freaks!
I would like you to know that Spike is the perfect name for a girl. Did you know that my middle name is Michal (pronounced as the boys name Michael) and I was called Michael until I started doing triathlons? They kept entering me in the men's division, it became a big pain in the ass, I finally started entering as Mary and then I met a whole new group of people who called me Mary.
I like to tell my high school friends I am in the witness protection program.
I have some very serious concerns about my husband…. whom we affectionately call The Man around here. It began last week when he decided he will go grab an IMFL 09 spot at Muskoka (June). It continues this morning when he set the paper in front of me and asked me to inquire about a Chocolate Lab Puppy for Luc for Christmas. A girl dog.
For the better part of 2 years I have been searching for the perfect dog. Until this morning I had my heart set on a French Bulldog. In my dog dream I pictured my little bulldog named Spike, he would have a spike collar and he would be my friend and my protector. I would teach him to snarl at people who talked to me on the street. Beyond that snarl he'd be a nice dog. He'd sit at my feet and he'd be cute.
He'd be my little buddy. My little friend. My protector. I have a wild son; I don't need a wild dog. I run with myself, I don't need a dog to run with. Mine all mine he would be…..
Notsomuch.
Apparently this dog needs to be for Luc. SIGH.
Curt has decided that Luc needs a dog since we can't give him a sibling. Something to be responsible for, clean up after and the list goes on. A Chocolate Lab would be perfect because the dog could play, run and swim.
Who is going to train this dog? Oh right….. that'd likely be…… ME.
So I have declared that this dog's name will be Spike. I want a boy dog because girls and hormones make me uncomfortable. (That's why God gave me a son). If I had to be subjected to having a boy's name all my life than so will girl Spike. I turned out just fine (enough….. enough!) and so will she. It will make her tough.
Now this is all still in the inquiry stages. Nothing is set in stone, and contact hasn't even officially been made.
I once had a dog in college; it was actually my roommate's dog. This dog had serious psychological issues (of course it is fate that I would end up living with a dog like that). It wore a cone and it had to wear mittens due to obsessive licking of its paws.
I shall keep you updated, and Luc has no clue. Santa will hopefully be bringing a dog for Christmas.
I thought I had the Trump Card when I bought the Wii (hidden….. hidden…..). Am I a bad person for secretly bringing out the Wii when no one is home and practicing as Guitar Hero?
The snow is falling outside my home office window, and while the sky is grey I can't help but have the feeling of warmth. I've noticed that the stores are filled to the brim with Christmas gear and already.... the Carole's have begun playing.
If I were in charge of this world the Christmas Carole's would be playing from November 1st through January 25th. The season is far too short and when else can we tap our feet and hum to the tunes of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer?
If I were in charge of this world there would be mandatory morning meetings around a bonfire on every corner and the drinks were hot cocoa. The hot cocoa with the big marshmallows. We'd all stand there for a few minutes each day and catch up. The way neighbors used to.
If I were in charge of all of this we'd have a Christmas party every weekend between now and January 6th. Just for the sake of getting together. I would make dressing up optional, but it's Christmas..... it's fun.
If I were in charge there would be mistletoe everywhere.
If I were in charge every single person would wear a Santa hat, every single day. Just like my son does right now.
I know the years of believing in Santa Claus are numbered, but this kid believes hook line and sinker. While it's the world's greatest bribe (don't make me call Santa...), it's the feeling of believing of something bigger and beyond you that I love so much.
I am glad stores are back to greeting each other with Merry Christmas. Happy holidays? Say that to me and you'll get Merry Christmas in return. Arrest me and send me to the North Pole where I will paint toys the rest of my days. That's not so bad!
Christmas is beyond religion for me, beyond Santa and Jesus..... of course it is all of that. That stuff is important. But to me what this really all comes down to is that for a few weeks of the year we are all a little nicer to one another. For a few weeks of the year we all gather for parties, we drink some wine, spread some cheer. We take a break form the grind and we take time for each other. For a few weeks we get to watch wide eyed children watch Santa and his helpers in the mall, at pancake breakfasts, or in the parade.
The making of Christmas cookies is the making them together part, when you scoop some dough into your mouth, and laugh as you make silly designs. The cookies are the bonus.
Our family is scattered all over the world, and usually we come home together every other year. Just so happens this year we are all coming home again. My mother makes all of us (11 in total) matching pajamas with our names embroidered on the shirts with the year. While the kids sleep we play pool in my parents basement and drink beer (legally now!), and we catch up.
More than presents there is laughing. There is sledding. There is fun and there is togetherness.
None of it happens if you don't believe in something. Call it Santa, call it Christmas, call it what you want. There is something hopeful about believing in something bigger than you, something that you aren't sure exists but you have blind faith that it does. That to me, is the true magic of the season.
Click here for this week's dryland swimming workouts.......
Click here for a great article on the pros and cons of racing flats.....
Click here for information on our 2009 Lake Placid Camp!
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Day 21 of running camp is approaching, and I feel great. At the beginning of this camp it seemed like a large undertaking. 30 runs in 30 days? Would I make it? That's a lot of days of running..... in a row. Coach T would be proud.
All of the runs except for Sundays have been 30 minutes in length. 30 minutes is so easy to do. Anytime, anywhere, any feeling. I feel stronger and I have been tilting past E pace this week. My run test is December 6th and I will run this pace until I earn a new V dot. I am not a runner by nature, so this is my priority as I begin my season. This season I become a faster runner, and I do it by being smart and methodical. With my cycling and swimming there are times I can be less methodical..... those are the events where I can so often train by feel.
Nutrition is also going well this week as I strive to eat more primal. The funny thing is that when you seat more fruits and vegetables ...... you drop the calories pretty darn quickly. Good for weight loss (down 6.....) yet you have to make sure that you are eating enough for 12 hours of training per week. I know..... rocket science.
After a few days you crave the sweets so much less, and the sweet tooth is replaced by the sweet tooth fruit. I am hooked on Mango yogurt...... which is actually incorrectly named because it is literally just pureed Mango. My other new favorite dessert is Pumpkin Pudding. This more elaborate recipe has two entire ingredients: organic canned pumpkin and organic vanilla yogurt (saying organic makes me feel so earthy......) 1/2 cup of each and there you do. A dash of cinnamon and it is heaven.
I might become the pureed fruit girl by the end of all of this.
I have even taken a look at the people around me and who I choose to surround myself with. I have stepped back from some of the people who carry around negative energy. We all have hard lives, we all have ups and downs. But self created drama is draining. And I don't need it.
But I am learning. And feeling good. And so looking forward to what the season will bring this year. My main goal is to get my 70.3 time to where it belongs...... in the 4:45 range and to improve my overall speed. Ironman can just suck that stuff out of you, can't it?
This morning we began our group runs along the canal. We gather at 7am and as we start to run we split into our various paces. Each week we will get anywhere form 2-15 runners, and I love it. This morning I ran with Sarah, she's heading to IMAZ this week. It was perfect. How many long runs did we spend together this year? How many times did we lay in the parking lot at Pappa Johns? It's been her who I have leaned on in the wake of everything that has happened to me this season. And it is Sarah I will be screaming for next week as she tackles her third Ironman, second of the year.
Best of luck to all of you competing. It's a late one. No Ironman is easy but as the weather gets colder and some of us have already completed our off season, it gets mentally tougher. Funny thing is though...... that's what the Ironman takes. 
