Stress. It's a killer.

Hi negative three followers... I come bearing sad news. The infamous well-loved chevy cobalt died a sad, painful death Monday night. We (and Jazz) hit a guardrail at the breakneck speed of 30 mph and proceeded to deploy the airbag and smash the hell out of the front end of the car. Oh and it was raining. Ice rain.

It was scary. as. shit. I think I was in a little bit of shock, my neck got tweaked again, and I was just overall pretty shaken up. I had the help of some good friends that night and over the next couple days to get me squared away with a rental car and car shopping - very thankful to have these amazing people in my life.

It ended up being a very difficult week between the wreck, my neck hurting again, and work issues and I had a bit of a breakdown mid-week. I cried a lot... almost every day that week. But that support system of mine is awesome and I reflected on what I learned with my car issues last year and I think I handled it better this time around.

I'm proud of the fact that I managed the car shopping ordeal, work, and training without missing workouts last week. Training gave me something to focus on when it felt like my life was falling apart and I think I did pretty well overall.

swim: 6700 (1:55)
bike: 27 miles (1:30)
run: 17.55 (2:26)

I missed OSS sunday morning - with the hellacious week I had, I gave myself a mental health day and focused my efforts on organizing life and car shopping. I also did my taxes - yay.

had an amazing swim workout wednesday - 10 x 250s IM pace. My IM pace with a wetsuit is about 1:25/100y. My goal was to hold that pace in the pool for the 250s - and I totally did. My times were consistent, ranging from 3:32-3:35 across the board (1:24-1:25 pace). It was tough, but I was thrilled at the end about being able to hold that pace - I didn't think it would be possible at this point.

also had a beautiful outside run at haines point on saturday. it was 8.5 miles - 6 mile MAF test in the middle and I was pretty consistent with those miles too - 7:58-8:14 per mile. I felt comfortable and strong and it was glorious to run outside in shorts and a tank top in the sunny cool weather.

Light biking week (since I missed OSS), but overall good with swimming and running.

happy thoughts that I have some easier weeks ahead in life. and RIP chevy cobalt. I secretly (or publicly) hated you, but you were pretty reliable for awhile there. Thanks for being my first big girl new car purchase. To the junkyard with you love.

I can wear my skinny jeans again...

... and I am so pumped about that. I got fat at the end of 2015 with the injury and workout slump! Had to bust out the chubby jeans, HA! But I think I've lost about 10 lbs over the past 2 months and I feel like myself again. Getting back in shape sucks, but the rewards are awesome.

week in recap:

swim: 9900 yards (2:54)
bike: 83.1 miles (4:50)
run: 18.1 miles (2:50)

still in base phase and feeling good. completed a whole week (finally) without skipping any workouts and neck feels back in working order (thank god).

notable workouts include 9 miler (on treadmill) - but it was quite lovely, non painful. watched the marathon olympic trials which was amazing. had a moment with an older gentleman right after I watched amy cragg catch shalane at the finish line and I was tearing up. he was watching the tv screen on my treadmill and I turned to him and gave him a thumbs up and he returned the thumbs up and walked away. i love our sports - running, swimming, cycling - the team dynamic can be so awesome.

also had an interesting swim set - broken 250s: 100 fast, 75 cruise, 50 MAX, and 25 easy stroke with various rest intervals scattered in there between the individual parts. my initial 100's were quick - in the 1:16-1:18 range and I didn't really feel like I was killing myself. the fitness is returning...

... and training is good. makes me happy.

Neck says don't swim, I say... um, okay you have a point.

My neck is STILL bothering me BUT - I can run(ish) and bike fairly comfortably. I was afraid to swim at the beginning of the week because of the breathing and neck turning and all those things that feel just fantastic on my neck. However, I was able to do a 20 minute flop swim after the long run on saturday and neck felt tight, but not painful. Super easy swimming, I do love these short easy swims after running to loosen up the muscles and speed up recovery after long runs.

I got some quality work done this week regardless:

swim: 1300 yards (0:20 time) - STELLAR
bike: 79 miles (4:52 time)
run: 20.37 miles (3:12 time)

Did my long run of the week with Andy for his "39 for 39" birthday run. We were running a pretty steady, slow-ish pace (he was doing 39 miles...) but I was pumped that I had very little knee/hip pain and I really wanted to keep running. Did a 2.5 hour ride with Ian the day before and was happy with that - I can feel my legs are getting stronger and its definitely helping my run strength. It is SO nice to have company for these longer rides - PLUS House of Cards AND eating a sushi-burrito post-ride (that's a real thing, trust me). Lovely day!

We also did a tough hour trainer ride earlier in the week after work - 20 min warm up with a few 30 second sprints thrown in there, then main set was 15 x (30 seconds ON, 30 seconds OFF), 5 min easy spin, 30 x (15 seconds ON, 15 seconds OFF), 5 min cool down. Holy hell. My heart rate got up to 178 and I almost threw up over the last few repeats. Success.

Next week, I vow to complete every single workout and turn all those boxes green. Neck needs to shape up or ship out...

off with your head, slacker.

im slowly recovering from the neck thing. i wish i could just lift off my head and give my neck a break.

go ahead and picture that for a second.

still no swimming. light run week. i did a fair amount of biking though and that is always my major concern, so happy #1 for that. kicked my ass in spin yesterday which actually felt amazing - super pleased with that. yay. me.

my solo run of the week was an hour treadmill run - care free and easy. for the first time in awhile, i felt like my stride was smoothing out. still some IT band twingy ache, but i feel like i have more power back in my left leg. mission hip-flexor-loving is working. happy #2.

swim: none
bike: 94.2 miles
run: 6.7 miles

this is embarrassing.

but its progress.

this is a heavy week at work - I don't love the 4 full days in a row (monday-thursday) - but that means i have friday-sunday off. I have a long run sunday planned as part of my friend Andy Baldwin's birthday run for his foundation - Got Your Back Network. He is turning 39 and will be running 39 miles Sunday morning around the Virginia/DC area. I plan on doing about 10 miles with him, a short and sweet swim afterward then enjoying superbowl sunday. excited for the weekend!

Link to donate to GYBN - http://gotyourbacknetwork.org/donate

Thanks guys :)

That week DC got 2 feet of snow and I broke my neck.

Time for the weekly round-up kids. Also, a lesson to be learned here. But first, here's what I actually got accomplished in triathlon life...

swim: 5100 yards
bike: 45.5 miles
run: 4.55 miles
strength training: 1

... so. basically nothing. neck was hurting early in the week, so Tuesday and Wednesday were rest days, still sticking with the hip flexor loving but not much else. Missed a swim and bike workout on those days which wasn't pleased about, but better to baby this thing for a few days than stress it out this early in the season.

The storm began in earnst friday afternoon - so friday morning I did my run outside (MAF work) followed by a short, sweet swim finishing 3 minutes before the pool closed for the weekend (prep for storm). My run is continuing to improve a bit, less hip pain and a more fluid stride, though IT band pain still present.

Saturday was a slice of heaven on earth. I stayed in DC all weekend with a good friend and we woke up Saturday morning to a literal wonderland. The city was asleep other than a few plows that were out but the snow was falling and the city was *quiet*. We woke up early to watch the snow, then went back to sleep for a couple hours. Around 10, we met up with a friend that lives really close and we headed to Meridian Park for round 1 of snow fun. The dogs that were off leash and jumping in the snow made my cheeks hurt from smiling and laughing so much. Watching dogs play with pure uninhibited joy is just awesome.

We sledded down some steps, made snow angels, ran down more steps and jumped into the unblemished expanse of snow that had blanketed everything overnight. We decided to explore the mall and monuments so with a quick break for clothing change, coffee and baileys and travel snacks, we headed out on our winter wonderland adventure. Walking down the center of normally busy streets was surreal - it was reminiscent of "Day After Tomorrow". People were out and about, in boots, skis, snowshoes, you name it. We watched downhill skiers on 15th street. We even saw the military Humvee's out and about on U street in the newly declared disaster zone.

The White House was our first stop. We weren't the only ones searching for presidential snow angels. After an obligatory photo op and an impromptu snow ball fight with complete strangers, we continued on past the WWII memorial, the reflecting pool, and onto the Lincoln Memorial. We had a blast running through the knee-thigh (depending on how tall you are...) snow and parked ourselves on the steps. We slid, we rolled, we tumbled down the snow covered stairs to the sweet musical tones of disney pandora. We had snow beers and shared muffins with pigeons before returning to home base for a quick break.

Then - THEN - the epic sledding of 15th street. We rode down the hill sitting on a snowboard at first. Then Ian grabbed his mountain bike and a surfing leash and proceeding to fly down 15th street hill towing me in a laundry basket.

Oh yea. That happened. Theres video evidence.

All in all, we walked at least 7 miles in snow which was borderline exhausting but exhilarating at the same time. I LOVE snow. Me and snow - we're committed for life.

Ambitiously, and still riding the winter wonderland high, we then decided to take on a 2 and a half hour trainer ride. I was pretty proud of us. We had a dynamite dinner of salmon and rice and chocolate and passed out watching House of Cards.

Sunday morning, I woke up very early and checked on the snow. I headed back to bed to sleep in. An hour later, I woke up in SEARING neck pain.

Oh for the love of God, I just wanted to cry. So I did.

I ended up obtaining my usual pharmacy of drugs that I treat my disk flare-ups with (THANK YOU JESUS) but the snowball fight and snow playtime were sadly out of the question. We spent the day lounging around watching even more House of Cards until it was football time. Headed to the navy yard to his friend's apartment to partake in football and food and drinks for the rest of the night while I tried incredibly hard to sit perfectly still.

Monday morning, I felt worse. I actually woke up from crying in my sleep at 4:30 am. Thankfully, I had a more than capable caretaker to make sure I didn't off myself or die from pain so that was most excellent. I felt better through the day, forced myself into a 2 hour trainer ride sitting up which was the only position that didn't hurt. Sitting hurt, laying down hurt, but shockingly, my neck position on the bike was comfortable so I embraced this small 2 hour relief in the form of a relatively laid-back trainer ride.

The rest of this week has just been hell. My neck is slowing improving and I eeked out an hour long trainer ride this morning. Tomorrow I have an hour run on the books (which I am overly excited about) before I head out to sign an apartment lease and trek out to Annapolis for the Navy-Army hockey game and dinner at one of my favorite places in town.

Here's to a painfully slow recovery week...

Baby, I'm a streaker.

You heard me. 9 day streaker. I have worked out 9 days in a row and its cause for celebration because the last time I did that was over a year ago. I feel tired - but good tired. Plus seeing all those little green boxes in training peaks makes my OCD super happy.

I pulled out a 1:30 trainer ride and hour swim on Wednesday - I was exhausted (still getting back into this training thing...) but I was riding that lovely exhaustion where you just want to eat and chill on the couch and relax but not pass out in a post-workout-coma. Other notable workout - 2:30 trainer ride on friday and it felt good. It was hard but I pushed it and felt pretty damn decent. so, yay.

workouts from last week:
swim (2): 7050 yds
bike (3): 110 miles
run (3): 14 miles

(I missed my Saturday "flop" swim after the run because a child pooped in the pool... which I was legitimately sad about because it was a short and sweet splash in the pool and I was super sweaty from the run.)

So - training is good - I love the specificity of the workouts with intervals (thanks Sonja and RTTC!).

Snowstorm is apparently coming this weekend. Even if I'm holed up in my apartment, I've got a few training rides on the books and I can always run on my beloved treadmill...

Oh hi. It's me. I'm BACK.

Let's try one more time to stay on top of all things in the online world, shall we?

So we left off early November in a real slump. Its improved - in ways different than expected, but its improved.

My body is not 100%, lets admit that fact. Thanks to that good ole boot from weeks back, the left side of my body decided to stay jacked up - we're working on it. Hip flexor needs some lovin' - PT style. Don't be gross.

My motivation is back. Hello! New year, new you? Yea, I'm not buying that crap either, but in the spirit of new-gym-memberships-and-weight-loss-goals-and-improving-oneself, lets jump on the bandwagon and get this training show on the road, shall we?

I hired a new coach (happy dance). I will miss Taneen and her spirit and motivation - she and I had a great year and I learned a lot - about myself, about things I like and dislike in triathlon and training and 2015 was a great stepping stone to lead into 2016. I have 2 more Ironmans under my belt, I've been pretty consistent but its time to leap off that plateau and climb the next mountain. Its going to be tough and, let's be honest, I'll probably cry... because, you know... me... - but I'm ready.

I'm a week and a half into the first block of training. I did the first swim workout last monday and then promptly came down with some nasty virus that nearly killed me for three days. Jumped back on the horse friday with the first run in weeks... did 3.7 whole miles and felt awkward but the leg is *marginally* getting better. Is it all in my head? Maybe. But I think its better, so I'm going with that.

Saturday was a off day since we were doing a threshold test the following morning at off-season-spin. So - that threshold test eh... After having a few cocktails and staying up a tad too late at a party (with other triathletes, so I think that makes it legit), I showed up to OSS and kicked my ass. But I got it done and done effectively.

At that point is when my body decided it had had enough for the day. The intention was to follow OSS with an easy 40 minute run. And I'm going to say this out loud for accountability sake - I need to learn to to run easy when it says to "run easy". EASY. Especially with other people.

I started running and my leg felt even better than it had on Friday. So - I ran too fast. After a mile and a half or so, I felt my legs start to die and I knew the next 28 minutes were going to be quite uncomfortable. And they were. Even when I slowed down to an embarrassingly slow pace that a 3 year old could sustain, my heart rate was in the 700's and I was watching my legs move but they seemed to have a mind of their own. I mean, the heart rate *might* have been a shade lower than that exaggerated number... but lets say new numbers were showing up that the 910 has never witnessed.

I was grumpy (sorry to running partner...) and hangry after that brick workout. Though the bloody mary that followed put me in a much better mood and I recovered with tacos (thank you District Taco!) and How to Make a Murderer all afternoon/evening... As much as some workouts can suck - I love being in training again!