Life updates...

So yeah, I've been a little lazy and haven't written for a while- back on the wagon. :) Things are going well here. On a recovery week- usually a lot of time on my hands these weeks, but school and boards has been sucking up the majority of the extra time. Here are my random thoughts from the past week...in... none other than a bulleted list.

1. Training wise, things are physically going pretty good, but scheduling wise things have gotten shaken up. This whole board retake thing has taken up the majority of this month's weekends (like, all of them) and I will not be able to do any of the three spring races that I really wanted to do ( Lone Star half iron, Altoona RR, and the race formerly known as Lincoln Plating). I didn't realize how much I was using these races as my motivation until I can't do them any more. The whole reason I wanted to do an early season half is to push me through the winter, and it did. I have put in over 370 training hours for these races, got myself as light as I have been in my adult life, set my training up so I would peak right now, and now the whole purpose for this is not there.

I am pretty sure that all of this is the root of why I am experiencing a, well, lack of training mojo. I haven't felt this way in a while (like, a really long time). Usually I love and cherish every moment that I can get out and enjoy these crazy and sometimes painful activities that we call fun. It is almost scary. Don't get me wrong- I am still getting in the majority of my training, but I am finding that my workouts aren't as focused as they should be and it takes me a really really long time to get out the door. I don't like this. @#$@#$!

Last weekend, I saw Dave R out riding, and surely enjoyed his company, especially after chasing him down for several miles outside of Ft. Calhoun. I forgot how much fun it is to ride with other people outside. I guess that is the one drawback of knowing too many fast people- you don't get to ride with them. :) With the combination of the weather still being frigid and the lack of training mojo, it just makes for a bad combination. If anyone wants to beat me with a bat with HTFU engraved on it to get me out the door- please feel free.

I have faith in the fact that this too, shall pass. I have reformatted my weekly schedule to hopefully make my life easier with the same training load. We'll see how this goes.

2. Yesterday, I think I was attempted to me hit by over a dozen morbidly obese drivers. It was weird- every time I car would get scarily close, I would look over and see a large person with a gut with the driver's seat pushed way back to accomodate for it. No exceptions- 100% of the time.

3. While riding today, cars were nice to me- only a few pickup truck drivers who feel the need to make up for their lack of genitalia with their vehicle got a little irate. Nothing new. Funny thing is that when I was riding through Dundee on my way out of town, I ran into circus people in the street. Little did I know that it was the Cirque du Soleil performers running around in my neighborhood promoting their show in town- hahaha!

4. I ran into my buddy Andy at the grocery store yesterday. It was fun to see him. As a fellow triathlete, he was loading up his cart with good stuff, but I will admit, this guy also knows his cookies and brownies. I took his word on a box of Betty Crocker cookie brownie bars. All I can say is wow- very very yummy- and exceptional straight from the oven. It is a good thing that I have roommates who don't let things like this stay around for long. :)

5. While out riding today, I was thinking about narcissism and endurance sports. Although the word may have some negative connotations, I am a believer in the fact that the trait is necessary for success in sport. Don't get me wrong, I realize that if you are bike racing, etc. there is a team effort involved- but lets face it- much of bike racing, triathlon, running is dependent upon the fact that you wholeheartedly toe the line thinking that you are awesome- no exceptions. I don't know exactly what I think of this, but I pretty sure that I like it. I like to be confident in myself, and to be around confident people. We all need to be like Narcissus every once in a while.

Well, thats it for now. Big news (think, huge!) hopefully coming soon... (and, no, I'm not pregnant...)

In the distant future...the year 2000...

Interesting article about the genetice basis of athletic performance. Being a nerd, I usually only prefer peer reviewed journal articles for my source of excercise science knowledge, but I found the topic of this one to be intruiguing, but unfortunatley it is from time/ CNN and no links to a journal article.

http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1724395,00.html

Dental boards, part bagagillion, day too many...

So, after a horrific weekend and not being able to even start my patient boards due to an examiner's call on a small unknown idiosyncracy of the patient selection criteria for the patient based board exam, I am being sentanced to retaking that portion of the exam at the U of Minnesota at the end of April. Needless to say, with this judgement call, the logistics behind completing this exam is going to consume my life for the next month and a half. Just with the dates of that weekend itself I need to miss out on my roommate's wedding and the North Platte tri (that I have been looking forward to for quite some time). Quite disappointing. I am trying very hard to accept my fate and not let the decision of that (insert long string of foul insults here) examiner consume me, but needless to say I have quite a bit of hatred and animosity built up in me right now. I don't like having this negative energy in me. It is not what I want or who I want to be, but I know it is there for a reason right now. On the other hand, I have been quite flattered by the support and friendship that I have gotten over the past few days. It is genuinely appreciated, and it is so nice to know that people care when life gets pretty crappy.

I guess one good thing from this is that every workout since this has happened has turned into LT work, whether it be planned or unplanned. :)

Well, things will get done. Like tomorrow- one more for the list. I am yet again, heading to the Prometric center to take another exam. Should be fun. In the spirits of yet another dental board exam, here is a picture of some oral pathology. Unfortunately, or fortunately, the only pictures that I have of oral pathology in my photo library is that of my dog, Rugbie. What would be at the top of YOUR differential diagnosis?

Calling a meeting of the minds...

I realize that this may be 'old news,' but I found out tonight that Lincoln Plating Stage Race is no longer- it is meerly a RR and crit, no stages involved. Needless to say, I am very bummed, and the race definitely lost its 'sparkle' on my calendar since I won't even get a chance to defend my previous year's title. There is something about the stage race aspect that I loved about that race. I know that it hurts to TT then RR on the same day, but you know what, I sort of liked it.

Now, I have dabbled in bike racing- that is it. I race cat 4 woman, and wouldn't even call myself experienced; however, this incident brings up an interesting idiosyncrasy of bike racing- sticking to the norm.

I realize that as athletes, we are all creatures of habit in some way, and that cycling is a sport deeply rooted in tradition and an overall resistance to change. I am not saying that this is good or bad, just an observation. It seems as though every race is set up in a very similar fashion as far as distances and disciplines- with the beloved TT often first to the chopping block.

So, what I was thinking is to come up with stages that are better, new, different, something to test all aspects of a cyclist, even if it may even test a *gasp*- weakness. I'm not talking hand to hand combat, an elimination challenge, or an agro-craig here (although...) - I'm talking about a new twist on a stage race.

Some thoughts...

1) a 100 mile or 100K time trial- what I would like to call the ultimate test of endurance. If anything, this would allow everyone to find their critical power. Ideally, this would take place on a pancake flat course, with a mild crosswind- no headwind here. To succeed, one must be spot on with pacing, endurance, nutrition, mental toughness, and also taint toughness to withstand hours on end in the aero position.

2) 1K time trial- this would be to promote the intermingling of track cyclists. From a standing start, this would test everyone's sprinting ability. Nothing more, nothing less. Just a true all out effort.

3) Net downhill road race. Keep it of traditional distance. This way, the race is more of a test of strategy and tactics, and less of a race of fitness.

4) Short road race- I'm thinking 10- 20 miles here, this way, it can be ridden more like a team time trial with the whole peleton.

Little, yellow, different...

It was finally beautiful and sunny for that past few days!!! just what I needed!!! YAY!

Even though I have been at school until way too late in the evening, I have gotten about a good 1-1.5 hrs of daylight left to get in some good workouts. This week I am starting my 'peak.' In other words, this is really when it is going to start to hurt. Good.

I am looking forward to this paradigm shift. I never thought that I would get to this point, but after putting in some very solid, consistent weeks this winter, this is one of the few times in my training that I am ready, and feel ready for a change, and am ready for more. Albeit nothing was perfect, but this winter, my tempo runs and rides were solid. My long runs have been dialed into some good M pace work. My long bikes have been strong and most I got them to the wattage that I wanted to. I know that the heavy drill and kick work has payed off in the pool. My lifting has felt like it has helped me out on overall strength. Besides the absurd amount of times that I have gotten sick, I have been feeling strong. Lastly, my weight has finally broken through a plateau that has plagued me for several weeks- I really don't feel that much smaller, and I know that I still have a long way to go (goal: get down to 140, which is not any magic number other than A) it is less lbs, and that makes my life easier, and B) then I can say that I have lost 100 lbs- sort of a 'century club' thing) and every bit lost helps and is less that I need to lug around a course. This morning, I wanted to crack out my summer cotton dress pants, but they did not even look good hanging off of my butt and hips, I guess I will consider this a good thing. :)

So, yesterday I ran easy from my house over to the track at UNO. Finally tried out this Daniels' "I" pace thing- never got to this point last year due to ITB crap. Yeah, it was hard, it hurt, and my body was really wondering what was going on, but I did it, and it was a good solid workout.

The one thing that I didn't expect, and came as a bit of a surprise to me is the stigma of the track. I went there simply to have a level surface to run on, and used my forerunner for pace (I thrive on consistency. :) ), but when finishing my warmup, my mind was flooded with all of my memories that went along with the track: lap running punishments in band, horrific mile 'run' fitness tests in P.E. classs. The only memories that I had of a track were from when I couldn't even run a lap without walking to catch my breath. I'm serious- I was that girl in gym class. The track was always something that I dreaded, a window that I looked into- never from, somewhat of a 'special club' that I did not even meet the membership criteria. I watched friends in their track meets, completely in awe, admiration, and respect knowing that I was completely and utterly incapable of what they were doing.

Now, here I was, running around a track at what I would like to consider a good clip. Me. Running. On a track. Being fast.

Wow.

At first the horrific memories of the track started to bring me down, and there were floods of thoughts of the self doubt and shame, but then there was this paradigm shift. I had business to do- and it was going to get done. There I was, doing exactly what I needed to accomplish that day. It is something that for some people, is not that great and possibly downright pathetic, but I know that for the person who I was several years ago- what I was doing was the unthinkable and impossible. I realized that yesterday, I had the opportunity to finally give myself a gift- and that is exactly what I was doing.

The beatings will continue until morale improves...

(warning: rant material)

It is sort of funny what your body does after a long car trip. In naivety, thought that I would be super rested, relaxed, and ready to take on the last few months of school. I mean, all it is is sitting, right- it's even better than standing! As much as I enjoyed myself during spring break, In fact it is quite the opposite. I am super tired, apathetic, and haven't even unpacked completely, finally finished laundry meerly because I was on what I like to call 'third tier' workout clothes and underwear. In most regards, life is pretty darn good, and I think that the stem of this slump is what I need to face every single day at school.

In regards to school, I have come to the realization that as much as I would like to pretend and tell myself that I do not care as much as I do, well, I still do. I keep running into road blocks and people who want to beat me down, and I have just had enough of it after almost four years of this garbage. I am taking boards this weekend, and the environment around me is condusive to about everything except going in there feeling confident . Well, that is their deal if they want to justify their pathetic existence by trying to bring others down to their level- I don't condone that. School has been eating away at me this year. Slowly and steadily. I have told myself that I just do what I need to do and not to sweat the small stuff.

Sobering reminder...

I found out today that the woman whom I bought my race wheels from (picured riding above), Kristy Gough, was killed by a car this weekend during a training ride in California. I didn't know her outside of the ebay transaction, but knew that she was both a very fast and respected cyclist and triathlete. It really touches home how vulnerable we are everyday while out training, or just in life, even when you meerly know someone as an aquantence. My heart goes out her family and freinds, and may we all give thanks to each day we are given.

More spring break madness... Days 5-9

More Day 5: Wednesday, 5 March

Got in a great ride out to a park east of town (don't remember the name). It was one of those things that I saw people on bikes heading in that direction earlier, and thought it would be a good direction to go for a ride. Turns out it was a good idea. Met up and rode with a new friend that I just met while out riding, Steve, a chef in town, and talked food for the majority of the ride. It's always a treat to have company to ride with. Got back into town, and rode around town in the abundant sunshine to check out the place on two wheels for a while.

Made it back to help show the house we were staying in, and headed out to dinner to meet the dentist with whom Matt was interveiwing with at Ernesto's italian restaurant . Awesome food- you know italian is good when the dish comes with 'a meatball on the side.' Later got to experience 'chute the box' and some beer at JC's tavern, which is the photo above. Matt looks very serious because I was taking his money- I'm thinking it was beginner's luck in my favor.

Day 6: Thursday, 6 March

Woke up and headed to Chow for some incredible breakfast with Matt which is pictured above. I had french toast made from hearty, crusty, bread with lemon vanilla ricotta and sauteed currants, cranberries, and raisins. Very very yummy. I hung out at Backporch coffee roasters and sipped coffee while taking care of some business finalizing my soon to be future job (more to come on that note once everything is final). Purchased some beans to remember the trip (I can't wait to press some tomorrow morning :)...). The guy working there thought that I was nuts buying 2# of beans. I thought he was nuts to question how one person couldn't drink 2# of beans in a reasonable time frame. Oh well. I was continually impressed with the friendliness of the citizens of Bend. I was always striking up conversations with people here and there. Met up with Matt for some awesome lunch at Typhoon Thai restraunt in downtown Bend. Another incredible meal. I went with the Pad Thai- yes, classic, but I love the dish, and love trying different variations on the theme. Later Matt and I rode up Mt. Bachelor, and also rode around town- the pictures were taken while descending- I love taking pictures on the fly on my bike. They never 'look good.' per se, but I love the randomness of a picture taken in motion.


Later visited a practice with Matt, and then got some wonderful food at Marz bistro. Got some dessert and drinks at Merenda after dinner, and called it a great night. Dinner and drinks always make it feel like a vacation. :)


Day 7: Friday, 7 March
Got up and knew it was my last day waking up to a view like this for breakfast.
Got some coffee and headed out of town. It was a treat to see the drive from Bend to Idaho during the day since the drive in was mostly in the dark. Stopped for some awesome shrimp tacos a Bajio and went for a short run in Boise. Driving through Idaho, we, er, had a little delay, which is pretty self explainatory by the picture below.

Good thing is that I got a pizza dinner out of the deal, which subsequently also marked the one year anniversary of when Matt and I ended up in the ditch outside of Ft. Morgan, CO on the way home from spring break last year and needed to spend the night there and had a pizza feast. In that instance, I was unfortunately the one buying. Fortunately, one can always find a Pizza Hut to order the 'car trouble special' which is usually some feastly combonation of the following: Hawaiian stuffed crust pizza, wings, breadsticks, cinnamon sticks, salad bar, and beer. Made it to Rock Springs, WY, where we called it a good day of driving, and got a room for the night.


Day 8: Saturday, 8 March
Drove from Rock Springs, WY to Omaha, NE. Got in about 10:30 last night. Drank a lot of coffee- yum. Final time in the car: 53 hrs, 23 min round trip travel and driving in the towns. That is a lot. :)

Sundsy, 9 March
Woke up today, and realized that between going from Pacific time to Central DST, my body thought it was 3 hours earlier. Well, this meant that I bummed around for a long time in my pjs drinking coffee, trying to unpack, and whatnot. Was bummed that it was 32 deg F outside, and made an executive decision that there is no way that I am going on the trainer, especially since I have been spoiled with some beautiful riding. What this means is that I am taking my Mtn bike out riding today- I can stand it this cold when I am not going as fast, and that is what the MTB accomplishes is a good workout without as cold of a headwind. Got all bundled up, 3 baselayers, jacket, wool ski socks, thick fleece tights, bibs, balaclava, hat, glasses, hand warmers and two pairs of gloves. Gee, I wonder why it took me a while to get out the door. :) As always, once I got going, I was having fun, but I was pretty miserable the whole ride even with all that stuff on (yes, you can call me a wimp) . Rode the Keystone, then up around the (dried up) Lake Cunningham area for a bit, got some coffee to warm up at the new Scooter's Coffeehouse on hwy 36- great place, rode a bit more, and called it good for a ride. Its amazing how much longer rides take on a MTB that is essentially a single speed (shifters broken :)...). Thawed in the shower, and then did the dangerous bit of going to the grocer after a long ride, but not a post ride meal. Well, we'll just say that I filled my empty cupboard and fridge pretty nicely. Made some samosas for dinner. I had discovered some random pie crust in the freezer and decided to use it on some really really yummy samosas that were perfect dipped in mango chutney. I will definitely be making these again. Well, that is the end of the play by play of the last spring break of my life.

I come away from things ready to once again embrace the routine of regular, everyday life once again, which is I guess one of the goals of a vacation. Time to put in my final days on this thing called dental school.

Spring break!!!... Days 1-5...
(now with pictures! )

So, as many know, for the last spring break of my life, my friend Matt and I are driving out to Bend, OR. You may ask why, I say why not. Matt is looking to practice here and subsequently has business to do with that, and I am coming with to get out of Omaha, spend some time with good company, get in some good training, and just see the country. Between the two of us, with flights and brining with our bikes to train, it was a lot of $$$$ with us still being students. I figured I won't get the time to take an huge road trip like this in a really long time. You get to see a lot and experience so much more that you normally don't when you are in a plane.

Things are going great. Matt and I have made it to our final destination: Bend, OR. With all things said and done, it has been a really, really, really long time in the car, but we have seen our fair share of US via the good 'ol great American road trip. So, here I sit at Ka'va coffee in Bend, OR., enjoying the sunshine while sipping a latte and Matt is off at his interview. Life is pretty darn good. A little recap on what has happened, and what is yet to come.

Day 1: Saturday, 1 March
The night before we left, I received a phone call from some friends trying to red eye themselves from Madison, WI to Breckenridge, CO. Needless to say, I told them to stop in Omaha, spend the night at my place, and make their lives easier. At the very least, I told them to stop in and pick up some coffee and/ or some of the multitudes of Red Bull that I tend to keep on hand. They luckily chose the former, and stopped in and spent the night. It was great to see some of my Mad-town buddies, even if it was just for a short while. So, they left in the morning, I got a nice spin in on the trainer, packed up the car, then picked up Matt to hit the road. Drove the 'beautiful' drive across I-80 to head to Boulder to see and stay with Maria, Dave, Katelyn, and Keli. The highlight was the rising temperatures across the entire trip and the sweet truck stops along the way. It was 81 deg F in Ogalala, NE. Incredible. We honestly thought that my thermometer in the car was broken until we went outside!

Day 2: Sunday, 2 March
Went to bed with warm weather and dreams of riding in the mountains the next day, woke up to our bikes covered with snow on top of my car.

Wind and snow advisories took an attempt to Nordic ski out of the question, and so the elements took us to the CU rec center with Maria. For real.

We biked, ran, I did some core work. Inside. During spring break. haahah. I guess it is one of those times that you need to count your losses, and realize that there is nothing you can do but to make your own fun with the situation. Oh well.

We later checked out some of the shops on Pearl St in Boulder, and later had some drinks with Katrina from school, her friend Lauryn, and ragbrai buddy and Boulder resident, Mark. Great to sit and chat. Later got some dinner at 'The Med' Mediterranean restaurant in Boulder. The food was absolutely incredible. They had the most amazing bacon wrapped dates, mussels, and I ordered at pizza with duck confit, and roasted figs. Awesome food, but there was a catch, I got to enjoy it again, many times. Later that night, I found myself vomiting over a dozen times. The likely culprit: the meal that we had just enjoyed. This lead to a sleepless night, a febrile state, and some pretty horrible dehydration over the next days.

Day 3: Monday, 3 March
I was still vomiting in the morning, and got ready between trips to the porcelain god. I was just trying to keep water down, which wasn't working. Matt got in a nice ride in the mountains before we headed out. We left town with an empty yogurt tub in the car just in case, and headed in the direction of Salt Lake City. Matt drove like a champ across the hellish snow and wind in Wyoming, while I curled up in a ball in the passenger seat. The best analogy, is to that of the snow planet Hoth from Star Wars. Residents of Wyoming: I hereby compare your home to the hellish conditions only seen in science fiction and the resemelance is striking. See if you can tell which one is which.


Unfortunately, Matt's state deteriorated as we got closer and closer to Salt Lake City. We met up with classmate Nic and Heather for some dinner. Unfotunately, Matt and I were both meerly poking at our food at the awesome joint of Cafe Rio (the rumors are true, it is like Chipotle, but better!). I knew something was very very wrong when Matt didn't chow down Mexican food- unfortunately, the wrath of our meal the night before had started to take its toll on him. We spent the night with the Egberts and their beautiful home at the foot of the mountains in Salt Lake City, and Matt was now the one up all night in the bathroom. I think he counted five trips during the sleepless, febrile, night.


Day 4: Tuesday, 4 March
I was finally feeling better in the morning, and was the one who got to drive today while Matt was curled up in the passenger seat. Headed out in the morning with the final stretch of our trip ahead of us. Headed up into Idaho, which neither of us have been to. Some of it looked like the drive from Fargo to Grand Forks, ND (if you haven't done it- it is flat, flat, flat, with nothing except some agriculture and scrubby bushes), some of it was really pretty with rolling, snow covered mountains. Stopped in Boise, ID for some dinner at Taco Del Mar- both of our first 'real meals' in a really long time, and I got in a little run in, which actually felt really great considering how the past few days have gone. We finally crossed the border into Oregon, which on the far eastern side looked remarkably like driving through small towns in Iowa (for a minute I thought that we were driving into Cresco, IA) except for the fact that you don't pump your own gas. :) After a while, we were driving through beautiful, winding mountains while the sun was falling behind them, and finally got into Bend to spend the night at Matt's friends beautiful home.




Day 5: Wednesday, 5 March
We're both feeling better, and woke up to finally see the beauty that we have been driving through yesterday, which is absolutely spectacular. I am taking some time to soak up the scenery and catch up on life, and Matt is off to his interview. Getting in a ride in later, and enjoying the rest of the day with what this town has to offer. Should be good.