January - It's a wrap (almost!)

Yes - January, despite my sense of lackluster motivation and a slow start, ended up being a good month and has concluded on a positive note.  Returning to work after the holidays is always a bit brutal, but the Jan. schedule at the school where I teach is pretty awesome and allows for much socializing.  Add to that my birthday and some solid training weeks, and the month rounded out quite nicely!

Yes, my birthday - another year older but not necessarily wiser.  I used to hate having a January birthday (mainly when I was a kid because I wanted a pool party which was never possible, not even in South Texas), but I've obviously gotten over that and now embrace getting older.  I think that, once I'm closer to the big 5-0, I might enjoy celebrating it a bit less, but for now, I'll continue to raise a glass to my health and happiness.

Drinking a home-made margarita by the resident mixologist and sporting a great little Smartwool pullover that my parents got me - total win!

With my birthday, I didn't move up an age group, sadly, but hopefully it will be a good year for me in the 40-44 group!  My actual birthday was filled with some star power - I attended a CalTri season kick-off meeting and met the very inspiring Hillary Biscay who talked to the group.  I admit that I didn't know who she was until I got my first Smashfestqueen kit, but then I started reading about her and wow, she's pretty amazing.  And I really do love the kits that her company makes - the designs are awesome and the kits are comfortable.  Anyway, I wavered - to introduce myself as a fan girl or not?  I finally decided that it would be kind of silly to not say anything to her, so I ended up talking about how great the kits are, showing her a picture of me wearing the Fly kit, and then we blabbed about triathlon. I was a little starstruck, I must admit, and she was very nice.

Hillary with Maik Twelsiek - the following photos are courtesy of CalTri (and Harrison Shao)

No pictures with Hillary but Harrison snapped one of me with Maik - he only came in 11th at Kona this year!  He was swiping my credit card so that I could make the following purchase:

I know, I know!  Another kit. But so cute and I love the fish scales on it!  And Maik also talked with me about the St. George course - and the hills!

My "real" birthday celebration followed - Michael and I spent an afternoon hanging out at LA's Grand Central Market , visiting the Hudson River School exhibit at LACMA and eating and drinking quite well.  To be honest, there might have been a bit too much over-indulgence over the course of the month, but how can I complain about *having* to spend time at some of my favorite places - Amigos, the York, Golden Road Brewery and POV (this last place has forever ruined pizza elsewhere for us) with friends.  Also, I had my first ramen experience - since the days of Top Ramen - at Tsujita.  The LA Weekly claims that you can find better ramen, but you have to get on a plane to do so.  I'm not a ramen expert, but I can say that it was one of the most decadent meals I've ever had.

Perhaps my favorite part of the meal (except for the ramen) - Glad that no one died while we were eating the ramen!

I mentioned drink, and I know that serious triathletes and runners eschew alcohol.  Sigh.  Obviously I'm not one of those serious athletes, and I've developed a recent crush on the Old Fashioned and variations of said drink (such as the Claremont).  Also, Golden Road's "Better Weather IPA" is one of the best beers I've had in ages which I would drink on a more regular basis except that it has 9% alcohol or something ridiculous like that.  In other words, it packs a punch.

Despite a month of eating and drinking a bit too much, I would say that the rest of my training regime is on track.  Yes, despite my mid-month groaning and moaning and belly-aching, it's been a solid training period.  I started off the month with a great run in Boulder on New Year's, and I started today with an early morning long, slow distance run.  Many of these have felt like a slog, at least at one moment or another, but I enjoyed every moment of today's run. I feel that some of the training is beginning to click, and I'm looking forward to a more focused month in February.

January flashback

I know, I know, it's February, and I'm actually quite excited about this shorter month.  It already seems to be moving at a faster pace, both for school and also for that training-thing.  But I thought that I would back up to January because I dug around and got some photos and also because it felt like such a strange month.

Not 'weird' or anything truly exciting, but it was not the month that I expected.  What did I expect?  For some reason, I did not think about what I would actually be doing in January but thought of it in general terms as a new year, a time to really focus on training, and blah blah blah.   The reality was that January ended up being more of a challenge and there was way less consistency than I expected, so I did NOT settle into a routine at all.  Some of that was due to things like getting a cold, which I did not anticipate (fortunately it did not wipe out for days on end, so I consider myself lucky because a lot of people were not that lucky).  I also traveled a lot - returning from Boulder at the beginning of the month, going to Carlsbad/Encinitas, and then also taking a quick trip to Texas.  While I tried to be active during some of these travel days, it's not the same as following a plan at home.  Plus, I was super sore following the Carlsbad Half-Marathon - a good sign that I really pushed myself, but I had a light week after that race because I needed to recover.

Here are a few snapshots from the month:

This was an awesome beach around Encinitas - we're actually going back that way in March and we can't wait!

A post-race photo with everyone!  I think that our dogs were officially grumpy and ready for a nap at that point.  I was too!

Ah, the trainer.  I made an "upgrade" to the bike - aerobars!  I thought that I would have to learn how to ride all over again, but it hasn't been that challenging, and I even put in a 50 miler with them!  But a decent amount of my saddle time is on the trainer.  Still, time in the saddle is time in the saddle.

I usually dread February for different reasons, but I'm actually excited about consistent training and getting in the yards in the pool and the miles on the bike.  Running and I are currently on a hiatus, but hopefully we'll make up soon!

January review

Happy end of the month!  A part of me hesitates to produce a "this-is-what-I-did-in-January" report because then it reduces all of the experiences and emotions to a handful of final products.  So, we'll see if I nix this month-in-review thing before I become obsessed with some report to myself.  On the other hand, since I do want to focus more on the triathlon thing, I am interested to see if there are changes from month to month, not so much in my overall performance but in my attitude towards the whole swim, bike, run thing.
I did, however, want to start the 2012 year and an actual training cycle with a different mindset - a bit more serious one - and I also decided that to improve overall, I needed to focus on the bike portion.  My swimming skills aren't super awesome, but in the whopping two triathlons that I've finished, I don't completely suck at the swim.  I do, however, suck in the saddle.  To that end, I have spent plenty of time going to spin classes, but, more importantly, I was in the saddle a whopping FOUR times this month.  Okay, that makes it obvious to anyone that I do not pretend to be a biker chick, but it is about three times more than I rode last year in January, so I'll take it as progress.  Additionally, for each ride, I had a great time and even thought to myself, "I could learn to love this!".
The other change for 2012?  I am determined that I will not suffer an injury (love that I think that I have absolute control over that).  Last year, I endured two months without running, and I would very much like to avoid that happening.  With that in mind, I have resigned myself to being a low-mileage runner.  Not that I am limiting myself to two or three mile runs (nothing wrong with that, by the way), but as a weekly average, I barely break 15 miles and sometimes don't even hit double digits for the week.  As a result of the focus on biking and on not injuring myself from running too much, I am quite convinced that my running game has suffered.  To add to the sense that I'm a failed runner, I haven't even signed up for a running race/event for 2012 which makes me feel totally lame.  At this point, a part of me fears that I will  lose my running mojo and not remember HOW to kick it into gear, and then another part of me realizes that such a fear is complete nonsense.  Sort of nonsense.
At any rate, I am realizing that it is impossible for me to truly balance the swim/bike/run thing and feel content with every single skill set that I do or don't have.  Mainly don't have.
As for not suffering an injury - in addition to lower mileage than makes me truly euphoric, I've committed myself to continue to see the chiropractor, to weights and to pilates!  I'm not 100% that the chiropractor's snaps truly help all of my IT band/joint/problematic body issue(s), but it does make me feel that I am being proactive and I do feel better on runs following visits to him.  Lifting weights hasn't gone too well since I only lifted weights once in January.  Maybe I'll do some tonight?!  I know, however, that I need to continue to do strength-training exercises for my knee.  Finally, I attended my first pilates class in 5 years last week, and the experience was transformative!  I left feeling stretched out, as though my muscles and joints were finally in line.  Mind you, my abs were screaming the next two days, but I really liked the class.  I can't do yoga because so many poses put stress on my knees (I know that it is probably not yoga's fault but my own since yoga is miraculous for everyone - eye roll over here), but pilates rocks!
Two final notes - okay, maybe three.
One other change I wanted to make this year was to connect with a "tri-community" here in Southern CA.  Let me first say that just hearing/reading that phrase sort of makes my skin crawl a bit for a few reasons.  One is that I am still a newbie when it comes to the "tri" thing.  Secondly, community means people and that means that I have to socialize, probably with random strangers, and talk about myself and about them and relate to people that I don't know well.  I don't consider myself a social idiot, but I don't revel in meeting new people.  So, this goal definitely pushes me out of my comfort zone.  However, I met the challenge that I set for myself and joined a facebook group (I hate facebook, but that's an entirely new topic) and have now gone out on two group runs during which I actually spoke to interesting people.  This coming weekend, I am planning/hoping to hook up for a ride.  Now that will be a new experience as I actually ride WITH people!

Shew, that was a lot of talk about my body.  Moving on, one of my other goals for the year is to try out  two new recipes a month, and at least one has to be from one of the many cookbooks that we possess.  I made it until Sunday without meeting this goal, and then I ended up cooking a new chicken dish from Good Meat, a cookbook that I gave Michael for his birthday, and trying out this pumpkin and feta savory muffin recipe.  Both were pretty much successful - the chicken was a cardamon roasted chicken for which we also got to use the mortar and pestle that I gave Michael for his birthday last year (hmm, see a trend?), and the muffins are a healthy snack to eat during the day, packed with butternut squash (not pumpkin for us), kale and feta cheese.  I do feel that they could use a bit more fat in them - maybe I'll add some bacon grease?!

One final note about January - I did have a pretty rockin' birthday and am, so far, enjoying my 40's.  I still don't see myself as middle aged, but I do have to recognize that I'll be there sooner or later!  While it would be rude (I think) to talk too much about presents, I will say that I scored with these two in particular:

A 5-inch Shun Nakiri knife that is one of the most awesome things I've ever used in the kitchen, maybe even out of the kitchen.  I do worry about my fingers though!

Ah, Patagonia sweaters, how do I love thee?  I was given this in bordeaux rather than seaweed (color shown above).  I also think that I should be a Patagonia model.  They clearly haven't discovered my talent!

Oh, January, how do I love thee?

Let me count the ways...

I do feel that I should be less gleeful about the month of January, but after the initial and totally BRUTAL re-entry to school/work, we then have to endure MLK weekend which is quite the gift. A three-day weekend that follows so closely on Christmas and New Year's heels? Oh, please, torture me some more! And then, while our students endure mid-term exams, the teachers celebrate and enjoy what is truly the best time of the year - mid-term week. Actually, some teachers also enjoy finals week, but I don't have that luxury because I will have to accompany the twelfth grade class on their senior trip, a final farewell to their high school experience.

But back to mid-terms week which will officially start on Wednesday... That's right, Tuesday is the ONLY full day of class for the next two weeks. Bliss, oh bliss! Yes, I will have to proctor an exam a day, sitting in a room for two hours, making sure (on occasion) that students are not cheating, and then I will have to grade through a pile of exams. BUT, I will have much freedom to go to the horse races, eat lunch or brunch with friends, get a pedicure, go to the gym, take a nice, long bike ride, prepare for a trip to Yosemite.... Life will be good!

And in the meantime, I will pack tonight (quickly) for San Francisco! Michael and I depart tomorrow and return on Monday. A good friend will be turning 39, so her husband is throwing a surprise party THIS year rather than next year since that would have been too obvious. Unlike our last trip to NoCal/SF Bay area, we will be unaccompanied by our dogs. As much as I love to travel with them, it is a bit like traveling with children. So, we will be free to go out to bars and to stay in a fancy-schmancy (for us) hotel! After the lovely Motel 6 stays with our dogs, almost anything is fancy, but this place LOOKS like it really is nice. Michael and I slum it pretty regularly, and I don't mind staying in cheaper places. However, I also love a nice hotel experience, so this WILL be a total TREAT!