I have a gorgeous bicycle.

Well I almost do :)
So obviously I decided which one to get! By convincing popular demand, it's versatility, as well as the components and material... I chose to go with the road bike! 2011 Felt ZW6! I won't actually have it until probably next weekend though :( (getting my size frame, and the shoes and pedals)  But I'm just excited that I've finally been sized, it's been ordered, and it will be here in no time!! Cannot wait to start riding :D It's a nice, pretty little bike. Don't have any pictures yet except for the ones from Felt's website but as soon as I get it I will post some! I'm seriously going to treat it like a newborn... Pillows and blankets IN the car on the way home, it'll probably sleep by my bed for a few days, and I'll give it regular baths. Eeek! Yes, I'm quite pumped ;)

That's pretty much it for now... should be a good day to train tomorrow! But later in the week not so much :-/ I'll keep you posted!

Okay guys, I need help

I have 24 hours (litterly) to make a final decision on which bike to purchase. It's between the Felt ZW6 (road bike) and the Felt S22 (triathlon bike). Personally I like the tri bike better... even though it's aluminum and weighs 2 pounds more. ;) Plus I've been set on this bike since like last race season! But just this week I've been hammered like a nail about getting the swanky, full carbon, 18 pound road bike instead so that I can also do cycling races and whatnot, not just triathlon. Now don't get me wrong, I'm not disagreeing about that... I'd love to do cycling races... But that tri bike is calling my name! Then so is the road bike...

I guess the logical thing to do is get the road bike so I at least have the option of different kinds of races. And I could get clip on aero bars? I don't know I don't know! Well I mean I do have a preeetty good idea of what will go down tomorrow, but what do you think? Which bike do you like better? [I think I know what everyone will say too ;)]  But I'd love to hear your opinions!!

Bike ridin'

Welllll I lied about running today... and swimming. Neither happened for lack of time BUT I did actually ride! A short yet hard tempo ride. It went well, minus my hips kind of hurting towards the end... which was really weird. But I enjoyed it, made me all the more excited for Saturdaaayy! :D

Also it looks like there may be 2 or 3 big additions to my races page up there! ^^^ (as well as subtractions) But they are 2 or 3 very exciting additions! Goodness, have I mentioned how excited I am for this race season?? :D I will elaborate a little more on this probably come next week. Or I could keep it totally secret... oooo suspense.... haha no. It's not THAT big, at some point I'll let it out ;)

Tomorrow will be a normal day. School in the morning, train in the afternoon. I'm not for sure yet what the training will be... probably something just kinda spontaneous!

But, Saturday, January 29, 2011, will not be a normal day.   :)

A fun, picture-filled post is soon to come!!

Let us run with perseverance

....are the words I repeated over and over to myself while running today.

"Let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us. Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith, who for the joy set before him endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider him who endured such opposition from sinful men, so that you will not grow weary and lose heart." Hebrews 12:1b-3

What a great way to stay motivated and fight through the minute leg pain! Considering the pain he went through me. "Let us run with PERSEVERANCE!"

So anyway, I ran today! A pretty wonderful 5k in (almost) record time! I was sooo excited when I saw the clock ;) My stomach did keep cramping up though :/ maybe from too much water pre-run? It was so annoying. And my ankles were feeling kinda jammed and hurting more than usual as well. But it wasn't unbearable, I finished and quickly at that!

Also, I had another good swim yesterday! 400 meters warm up and cool down, and 4 x 1/4 mile sets... So about 2000 meters total. My arms were a little more sore because I swam Monday too, but it probably wasn't enough to really be considered "sore". I'd say the training I've done so far this year as gone great! Very promising :) Allllmost time to start a count down for my first race! Haha

Well the weather tomorrow is supposed to amazing... mid 50's and sunny! So I'm definitely planning to take advantage of that and go for another run, and probably swim too. :D It's been a wonderful week training wise, and an exciting weekend ahead! I'll blog about all of the fun stuff, so check back :)

It's like math

Swimming at KDMC has become a math class of sorts. And 1st grade math is so confusing! They've taken down the huge, wonderfully convenient sign with all of the conversions such as: 2 laps = 25 meters, 64 lengths = 1 mile, etc. But now I have to stop and do all of that difficult math in my head! I guess I should try and learn the measurements as well as I've learned my name...

But anyway I had an almost picture perfect mile long swim today! No soreness, no stinging shoulder pain, no side pain, nothing. It was great. I did some 100 meter accels then a long set breaking half-way in between.

Now I'm home enjoying a yummy post-workout snack of peanut butter and banana, an apple, and like 3 gallons of water before I do workout #2: core strength. But I'm sure it'll end up being all of upper body, core, and lower body ;)


If you have never tried this... just wow. It's sooo good even if you don't like bananas! Try it!

 It felt amazing to be training after being sick, yet again! Racing starts before too long! :D :S :/ :@ (<--- describes all of my emotions about this...) Haha no it'll be fun, I'm ready for March :D

Thanks for the read, have a good week!

Clip in... clip out

Tonight we're talking gear. New gear. Or lack there of ;)

But first, a little about my weekend:
It started out last night with our youth groups Women's Retreat. It was led by sweet Mrs. Janie and Meredith and we spent the night out at the Mooney's home. We had such a fun time fellowshipping together while learning simple, practical ways to strengthen our relationship with God. And five girls sleeping on the floor 2 inches from each other is a pretty fun way to bond, huh? ;)

So now to gear. I'm just about to finally get my new bike! :D It's getting closer and closer and I am sooo excited! But sadly, you can't just buy the bike. Currently I'm working on picking out my shoes and pedals. Well actually just the shoes... pedals are done :) But there is SO many options! I've got it pretty much narrowed down to either a pair of Pearl Izumi's or Shimano's, but that is always subject to change. My pedals are Speedplay ;)

Another thing I'm looking into is new tri shorts/top. I've actually had my eye on some of the unreleased spring 2011 line of Zoot clothing that I maaaybe found a leak of... ;) But I'm not sure yet, we'll see. The main issue to be worrying about right now is the shoes... Even if I have the bike, with shoes and pedals it won't do me much good! Not only do they have to look at least kinda good, but they have to be compatible with the cleat/pedal system. It shouldn't be that big of a problem but it's something to not forget about.

There's things regarding new triathlon gear I could write 10 pages about, but I'm tired, and it might get boring :P
But new stuff is soon to come!

Hope you've all had a great weekend so far!

I am alive!

Just not as much as normal this week... :/ I have been cooped up in my bed... sick... again. AGAIN! Only this time it was a quick, gone in a jiffy stomach bug. Tuesday morning I woke up around 4:00 feeling really odd. But I blew it off thinking maybe it was from sleeping on my stomach, or I had just eaten too much on Monday and was really full. But sure enough, about an hour later I finally... vomited. (TMI?) Ahhh I was so upset, I mean I had just gotten over the flu. So anyway, I continued to be very ill the rest of the morning and got out of bed maybe once.

It's now Friday and I still really don't have all of my energy back yet! I haven't been sleeping well at night, or eating much during the day so I'm sure that's why. But other than the tiredness I feel good today! Having been sick also means no triathlon training... for a week. That's the second full week I've already missed this year! :( But I guess recovery is most important. If time permits I might try to go for an easy, recovery swim tomorrow evening, but I'm not sure yet. Just glad to be feeling better!

Well there's not really much else to say... my week has been sick and boring so far!  I'll be back to normal posting within the next day or two, I promise!

Thanks for reading :)

The greatest invention

Recently I discovered one of the greatest inventions ever to be invented. And it's simply called, The Stick.



This thing is wonderful. I promise. After a workout when your muscles are kind of knotty and stiff, it's like a miracle worker! A quick massage for about a minute or two is even enough to do the trick! Basically it aids in recovery by reducing muscle pain, as well as prepare your muscles for a workout, and help with strength and flexibility. (Read more about it by clicking on "The Stick" at the beginning of this post) It's kind of the same concept as the CEP compression socks... which by the way I still love!  Both things have proved to be sooo helpful and get you back training in no time.

Both today and yesterday I was out of town so I wasn't able to get any training in. But after a long, 11 hours of training last week, I think these were well needed recovery days! I'll get back to it tomorrow. :)

Any questions about random gear I may post about? Feel free to comment and ask! :)

Stay tuned!

Roots, rocks, and what they do to ankles

As today had the warmest temperatures we've had in a looong time, (high 40's at noon) I thought it'd be nice to do some trail running today. So I hit up the mountain bike trails! I ran 5 miles, and the last 2 quite painfully. I always always always never cease to find a good, big root or rock to twist my bad ankle or jam my knee on. I guess nothing less should be expected as it is trail running... but still!



Here you can see some of those painful root drops :S



In hopes of at least helping the oh-so-common sharp ankle pain, I stopped at the end of mile 4 to roll it out and massage it some. I made it about 3/4 of that mile with it feeling... fair, I suppose... but as for the last 1/4 mile, I might as well have hopped on one foot all the way back! It was preeetty bad. It's like a large needle poking through your skin, except from underneath it! My knee is actually feeling the same way. :/ I think I had that ever popular end of a race "I'm about to puke" look on my face. And it wasn't like I could just end it right there... 1) I was out in the middle of some trails! And 2) I was motivated to much to finish it. ;)  No pain or muscle cramps were going to stop me. Being chilly, yet burning up on the inside was not going to stop me. No crazy steep hills were going to stop me. I knew I was finishing that run, and I was pretty excited about it!



One of the dreaded short and steep hills



And I did finish the run! With everything but my ankle and knee feeling strong! So overall I am very pleased with how it went... despite re-twisting that stinking ankle, and jamming some knee joints. I'm so glad I didn't chicken out because of the coldish weather!

After running, I went to our church gym to play basketball and whatnot with some friends. And it lasted alllll afternoon. My legs were on FIRE from all the running around! So. Much. Soreness! Not sure how well I'll be walking tomorrow... :S Basically, as soon as I got out of bed this morning I never stopped moving. But it was a fun and full day! Hopefully I'll be alive enough to do at least some workout tomorrow...

Thanks all for reading!
Anna G

The day in review

Awful, sleepy, long days = a great workout! 100, 200, 400... 400, 200 100 <--- was my swim today. (100m, rest, 200m, rest, 400m, rest and so on) And I swam it hard! It's really nice to just get in the pool, with your head in the water, no background noise, no one talking to you, and just go. Quite relaxing :) So combined it was a 1400 meter main set, plus 200m warm up and 200m cool down, which makes 1800 meters, or a little over one mile. Went wonderfully, I'm just sore :P

I also did core and upper body specific strength training after I swam, then headed to ballet and got a lot of stretching in, as well as work the quads good! My tummy muscles are also like, on fire. I now dread every deep breath, twist, bend, cough, sneeze, and everything else I do on a regular basis! I'm pretty pitiful. But hey, training isn't supposed to be easy. Plus I got a full body workout and feel pretty good now otherwise... so I'll take it!

FYI: I finally updated the "races" page up there ^^ at the top! If you look at all of the dates and think I'm crazy, no worries! I'm not doing ALL of those... I just thought I would include all of the currently potential ones in which I'll decide on later. I'll probably do about 8-10 of them... the question is which ones do I nix.... 0_o

Thanks for reading, check back soon!
A

I might move to Mexico

Yeah. I'm thinking about moving to Mexico for a few months. Or somewhere at least slightly warm. When it stays in the 30's in Mississippi for over a week... preventing me from training anywhere other than the gym or my house... it's not good. I mean, I've already lost a whole week due to illness, now the weather?! Humph. Maybe I'll use this time to go as crazy as a party animal on working on swim skills and speed. I might become a pro swimmer this week! Or maybe I'll hit strength training as hard as David hit Goliath. I mean... it is the off season and all... where most hard strength training should take place... Aw shucks, I guess I can use this week (or two :S) to my advantage after all! But, I am ready for an outdoor run in decent weather. And ride for that matter.

Now, having said that, I did actually swim today! And a yoga session, and lift, and core strength, and speed exercises. So I really can't complain. It was a pretty good day! Even after only somewhere between 2 to 4 1/2 hours of sleep. But now I've got lots of energy and feel very refreshed! My swim was great, I did a few hundred meters worth of warm up laps, 5 x 100m accelerations, then a straight 1200m, then 2 x 100m cool down laps. And I felt strong throughout! I did have slight random pain in my ribs... :S but that was really it. Stretching later on helped out. So hopefully the swimming trend will stick, at least for the week. Today was also basically the opener of the season. It was the first planned session on my program! It will last around 5 weeks, then I'll switch to a different program focusing more on endurance. I think I've finally got a better picture and idea of how the year will go... but it's just so hard! It's difficult (at least for me) to make a final decision on everything and plan out the year in the most safe way to be sure to not overtrain or be over loaded with racing. But I'm still working on it, with lots of excitement! Can't wait for the first race this year!
Later :)

A

The year has now begun! ...on January 7...

Finally just swam a great mile today to start the year off! And it was beautiful. My swim was, that is. I did have a bummed, hurting shoulder for the last half of it, so I stretched it out about every 10 minutes and I was able to finish. At one point my ear swallowed a gallon or two of water... talk about painful! So that was my excuse for a little break. It was a little hot, but it just felt good to be back in the water! Especially with the newly renovated facility. They completely changed the entire fitness center building and just recently re-opened. It is SO nice now! Very, very clean and just a more inviting atmosphere. Not to mention, they added lane stripes on the bottom of the pool which makes it so much easier to swim without bumping into the large water aerobics ladies. :)

I'll be at the fitness center lots this season! Swimming as usual, and I plan to add more strength training into the picture than I did last year. Not to buff up... that's nasty. But just to tone up more than I have been. ;) Should help with my racing.

So overall, I have to say the season is looking positive! Started rested up and with a great swim! If I'm still feeling good tomorrow I may try to squeeze in a quick run for the kicks.
Okay well, enough talk. See you at the races!

Happy dance!

Sooooomebody is getting their new bike in the next couple of weeks! :D Me! I am hoping to go to the shop this weekend to get fitted and get the order in. Then next week, I'll have a bike! BUT, it may not happen until next weekend. Everything is up in the air still. But as I'm sure you can imagine, I am SO excited! Like I just cannot wait.

I've also spent the last week sick. Sick as a dog. I've gotten to know my pillow and my bed quite well. :( It's comfy, but I'm ready to get up and out and training again. It's been really hard to accept the fact that it's a new year! new gear! new training program! new everything! Annnnd I can't use any of it yet. I'm a little better today but I'm hoping to be 100% tomorrow. Minus this nasty cough. Maybe a swim worked into the day? Yes please. :) I am just so ready to try out my new stuff! My training this year is going to like, completely change. I want to actually get somewhere in triathlon, competitively. Things like the heart rate monitor which I'll use a lot of, the compression socks to aid in recovery, a new, faster bike, more experience, a harder program, and longer races in the lineup will help with that. It's sure to be an exciting year full of many, many races.

Now, don't get me wrong. I still have much learning to do. I really don't completely know what I'm doing still! So it won't be perfect... but if you try at anything you can do it. It just takes motivation, and I assure you, I am motivated for this year! It will also take perseverance, as I won't ace every training session and every race. There will be some days when my workout will beat me, not I it. And that's hard. Nor will I come in first place every time, or even second or third. And honestly, it may be hard to accept at first considering how well I raced this past season! That's all part of becoming a better triathlete, and I'm all for that. Even on these sick days... when I could PULL MY HAIR OUT FROM ANGER FROM NOT BEING ABLE TO TRAIN AND I REALLY NEED IT!!! Have to fight through it! There's always another day! It'll take hard work to get to where I strive to be, I know it will. But, I will be SO happy when I'm there. :)

Okay enough chit chat... off to get some rest and be ready for a nice swim tomorrow! Ciao!

AG