ATL aka Hotlanta

Last week was supposed to be my first week to start consistent training again and it didn't go so well. My knee was killing me during/after rides and runs- this is not supposed to be happening after 3 weeks off. And with XMas coming up and a snow storm hitting Boston for 3 straight days, my training log looks pretty threadbare. I knew I'd be heading down to Atlanta to see the fam for the holidays on Tuesday (so couldn't train that day) and I was hoping to get my mojo back with the warmer weather.

I remember in high school, we'd be so excited for the first 50 degree day in the spring that everyone would wear t-shirts and shorts even though it really wasn't that warm. Well that's how its going coming back to Atlanta from Boston. All the locals are freezing and I'm just so excited to run in the summer gear. On Wednesday, I went for a run and finally felt awesome. I've been eating complete crap for the holidays and missed workouts made me just want to go hard. I needed to hurt a little. So I picked an "uphill" course and pounded out the miles with more effort than I should have but I didn't care b/c I'm feeling good again. I woke up this morning for Christmas before everyone else, downed some 53x11 coffee and got in a short an' easy jog just to get the blood flowing. As for the 53x11, I've heard Hirsch talk about it a lot so I ordered my first two bags and had them sent down South- I really like the breakfast beans and am waiting to try the chainbreaker stuff.

Since its Christmas, I figured a short run would be an accomplishment for the day so I planned on chillin' out for the rest of the day. Luckily, the weather hit almost 70 degrees today- really crappy weather for xmas but great for training- so I needed to do a little mountain biking. Surprisingly my dad wanted to join (he's the guy in the pic and pretty sure he just wanted to get away from his mother for a little bit) so we dusted off the old bikes and hit up a series of easy, medium, and advanced trails. It was a blast and got me completely stoked to bring the bike back to Boston for some cold weather ridin'. But for the time being, I'll take full advantage of the warm weather in Atlanta.

Next time you hear from us, we'll be training in Mexico...

Winter Wonderland

This past weekend was insane. It started snowing around 2pm on Friday and didn’t stop till Sunday night. I don’t know how much snow we actually ended up getting, but it’s was a lot. Since I don’t have a mountain bike yet and Justin’s hasn’t made its way up from ATL, it was to the indoor trainers for us! Yesterday I attempted to run outside, but decided against it (I couldn’t even open the window the winds were so strong)! I headed to the gym instead and ran for 60 minutes on the treadmill (ugh, sometimes you can’t fight it). The walk there was a workout of itself; I took some pics along the way, I'm the only one out!

Christmas is just three days away! I’m catching a train back to CT tonight to spend the holiday with my family, and then off to Puerto Vallarta with Justin’s family for the New Year. I’m more than excited to run away from life for the next week and a half … I’m sure one of us will post before, but if not, Happy Holidays!

Now THAT'S a good hot chocolate!

I’ve worked late this entire week (late for me is 7:15pm - I don’t get home till about 8pm). Recovery week couldn’t have come at a better time. I’ve had a few shorter length workouts this week and two days off. On the days I’ve trained, I was getting home at around 9pm. Even though the workouts are shorter, I’ve still been exhausted come the end of the night. I knew I was going to work late again tonight, so I woke up at 5:45am and got my run in for the day. Now, here I am in my apartment, in my sweats, so happy and relaxed doing nothing! Oh, how I’ve wanted just this.

Justin’s company holiday party is tonight and rules are: no guests allowed (boo). Taking advantage of the situation and the fact I didn’t have to rush to the pool or home to run, I took a short detour on my walk home from work and got myself a hot chocolate from Seattle’s Best Coffee. I swear their hot chocolate is THE BEST hot chocolate I’ve ever tasted. It is SO delicious and I just can’t say no to it … go out and get yourself one, you’ll be happy you did.

Justin and I plan to visit qt2 systems come January to get us started on a nutrition plan. We hear they’re pretty serious, so before that happens, we’ll continue to enjoy the finer things in life like Seattle’s hot chocolate before we can’t anymore!

On my walk home ... sippin’ the best...yummmmm (yes, I'm pretty horrible at taking camera pics but this is my best attempt):

cold and windy weekend rides

This past weekend, Justin and I headed to Newport, RI to take care of some much needed wedding planning. We brought our bikes and mapped out a route along the ocean/mansion drive. Newport is beautiful and made for a pleasant ride. If it weren’t for the shore winds and 26 degree temp, I’d say it was perfect. I'm sure we’ll be planning plenty more rides out there as the big day gets closer and we find ourselves there a lot on the weekends. We had to cut our 2 hr ride to a 1:30 because of a late start. We kept a slow pace and I’m learning to keep my HR down and just enjoy the ride. The route was for the most part flat, a couple short hills here and there but nothing too crazy. Occasionally, I found myself struggling to hold even a 13 mph because of the winds. Headwinds know how to make any workout miserable, whether it be biking or running. You don't want to be near me when I'm trying to workout and the winds are holding me in place, I get very very cranky.

Sunday was filled with Christmas shopping and errands. I wanted to do my ride outside but there just aren’t enough hours of sunlight in the day. I hopped on the trainer and rode for 2 hrs. I had every intention to go for 2:30 but I was getting bored and I wanted nothing more than to shower and lounge in my sweats…2 hrs it was. I listened to music the entire time and read up on materials for work. Sounds like fun to me! Check out my exciting view from the trainer.

My company holiday party was last Thursday. I planned to get my swim in that morning but didn’t wake up to my alarm until 6:30am (and it had been going off since 5:40am)! This didn’t allow for time to go to the pool before work which resulted in a missed workout, a total bummer – there is nothing that makes me crazier than missing a workout and I don't know how to handle this yet . . . just let it go, make it up by adding it onto the next day, extend another workout?

This week is a recovery week for me and Justin officially starts training today!

TV Reminder

I always forget to DVR the tri races so I figured I'd sent out a reminder:

* Hawaii Ironman- Saturday, Dec. 13 2:30-4pm
* St Croix 70.3- Saturday, Dec. 13 3:30-4pm

Had a good group from the C.R.E.W. (before I was a part of it) head down for St Croix. So hopefully some of us made it on camera.

Just a Little Dusting...and a Dash of Old People

Its been 2 weeks since the Philly marathon and I've been chomping at the bit to start a little training. I love knowing that when we're used to working out so much, it starts to feel really uncomfortable being sedentary for a few days in a row. So to get it going again, I grabbed my bike and took off for a 2 hour ride with Liz.

I haven't been riding much lately with the whole recovery thing and marathon focus so it felt great to take it nice and easy. We figured we'd stay local and stick to the city area- get some of that Boston flavor. As we pulled into a town park in Newton, I swear the ride turned into the Night of the Living Dead. Apparently every assisted living center had a field trip to our little park on Saturday morning and it became a game of dodge the elderly with walkers. I'm pretty sure a couple even had rabies. *Disclaimer- I have nothing against old people. Just old people that go catatonic in the middle of bike paths* It made for some fun jokes and gave us an excuse to pull over and take a pic.

So as us New Englanders already know, most of us got our first snow of the season on Sunday. This means that the cold, Fall gear will no longer do. Now I'm going to have to buy some serious winter swag (once bought and tested I'll give some reviews). Today even started off with 0 degree wind chill so its a battle just to get out of bed. Liz picked up some of the Holiday themed- mint chocolate GU this weekend to try out. Don't really know why but its always easier to train in crap weather when you have new stuff to try out so thats what I'll be looking forward to on the next 0 degree day.

Stay Warm!!!

No gym for me

(Liz here) Last winter, I spent majority of my workouts at the gym - on the treadmill, in the pool, or in a spin class. Rarely did you see me running or biking outside in the cold, nope, not me. I would come out of hibernation in April, but even then, the outside air felt frigid. This winter, I am tough out of luck - I’ll be doing most of my workouts outside and come April, the air is going to feel like summer ;)

In preparation, my Christmas list is full of winter weather workout gear, and I’ll be making a few purchases myself very soon (it’s getting cold, and getting cold fast). I’m not gonna let the season push me into a crowded gym.

After two swim workouts this past week, I got up this morning and kicked out a 4 mile run in 35 minutes – faster than what I should be doing, but I AM trying to take it easy. It was 33 degrees out and didn’t feel so bad! In fact, I was very comfortable. I ran the Charles River and there were maybe 5 others out running too, not many. I love when it’s empty. When it’s warm out, the Charles River gets crazy. I’ll have to take a before/after picture to show just how crowded and congested it gets. The pic here though is of a sailboat on the CR, decked out in xmas lights with Rudolf leading the way – festive!

I have two bike rides scheduled for this weekend. Nice and easy. Highs for the weekend are in the 30’s, with some possible light snow on Sunday. Hello, Winter!

T minus 235 days . . . training begins for Liz!

Hi all, Liz here.

Yesterday marked the beginning of my Ironman training!! I’ve taken four weeks to rest up from the NYC marathon and thoroughly enjoyed it. I did a whole lot of nothing and ate lots of excellent, delicious food. I had some serious knee/foot pain after the marathon, but it seems to be fine now. I doubted how much a marathon could destroy the body, but I now stand corrected.

I celebrated the start of training with a 50 minute run last night through the streets of Boston. I usually do my runs along the Charles River but with it dark by the time I get home and little lighting on the route, I chose to skip it and take alternative streets. I get annoyed running through Boston because like any city, there are traffic lights at the end of each block which makes for a lot of stop and going, but last night was relatively calm. All the holiday lights made for nice run and helped pass the time. Happy Holidays, Boston drivers! Discovered a sign on my run announcing free metered parking on Saturdays for the month of December, pretty cool. Also, did you happen to look up last night? The moon, Venus and Jupiter made an almost perfect triangle in the sky and all three were visible. It was a cool sight. I tried to get a picture but Jupiter wasn’t showing up - here's a pic from online.

John has me doing a small swim focus this month and spending my winter riding. Jus and I both signed up for a swim clinic in January to help turn us into sharks : ) Sounds like the clinic and increasing my yardage will really help me out. I am by far the weakest on the bike, hence the riding focus this winter. It’s going to suck to have to ride for hours in the dead cold but I just gotta do it! It will all pay off, that I know and I’ll be telling myself that throughout each ride to help me get through them.

That’s all for now. I do a 45 min swim tonight. It feels like forever since I’ve been in the pool.