A week in the life....

I was amused to see that one person found my blog by typing in the following search phrase "person holding a book and jogging at the same time." HA! I wonder if they were trying to figure out if that is possible or find a logical explanation for something that they saw.

Not a very popular image. "Person holding a book and jogging at the same time."

Anyways, I am sitting here getting caffeinated and ready to hit Cadence for a four-hour Computrainer ride. It is cool and windy outside, and the thought of riding indoors, with friends, to boot, is much more appealing than braving the elements. 

I thought I would entertain the three readers of this blog with ‘The deep thoughts that go through my head in a week of Ironman training.’ I’ll use this past week, since I can’t remember much before that!

Monday- DAY OFF.

Happy. I need this. Legs actually don’t feel that bad. I’m kind of bummed that I can’t go to swim practice. I actually miss swimming. Huh. What to do after work? I’ve got a million things that I Could/Should do.. how about some laundry for starters. Think I will just take the girls for an extra long play time.

Tuesday-SWIM, WORK, TRAINER RIDE/BRICK

Just a little swim. Keep in mind you were missing swimming yesterday. Why is it so hard to swim after a few days of not swimming? I don’t know how people do it that only swim like twice a month.

 For some reason sorer today than yesterday. Will be glad to get back on the bike tonight.  On the bike…. ..OUCH! Guidelines say not deep, but they all feel hard to me.  Why does this never get easier? I’m going to train myself to watch ‘Dance Moms’  while maintaining a heart rate in the 170s if it kills me! The extra psychological pain of crushing yourself in your basement for 90 minutes – 3 hours regularly has to count for more time on the race course! Okay, just a little T run here, only 15 minutes. Wow, this 15 minutes feels hard. I can’t believe I did it, again!!

Wednesday- SWIM, WORK/TREADMILL HILLS

5:30 AM. Something is wrong! My alarm is broken. Oh yeah, masters swim. How long does it take to get to Mercer again? Surely not Really thirty minutes.  I need to pack an extra swim suit because I’m afraid this strap might break mid-practice. Whatever, here’s a safety pin.. I guess that will work with a swim suit. I need to stop at Starbucks for an grande black coffee.

Workout looks not so bad.  Lots of mixed faster stuff then 15 x 100 on the 2:00. Laughably easy.  OH, I forgot. Auugh… there’s enough lanes for us to each have our own.  Why is a set like the the hardest ever when there’s people there to ‘race’ but you also can’t draft. I’m drowning, drowing, but still falling behind. Dang, Jamal is getting faster at swimming. Ted is way faster than me now.  I’ll drown before I take a breath- through though.  DONE! This pool is a lot faster than the LA Fitness pool. Practice done, only 1000ish additional to make my yards.

Treadmill hill intervals. These are the worst pain of any session I do, I think. 3-4% grade sounds sooo innocuous on paper, but it’s truly evil. No watching Dance Mom’s… I’m too nauseous to even listen to my IPOD. I’m going to fall off the back at this speed and this grade.  I always get whupped running up hills… someone somewhere is doing the same thing though and not giving up.  I’m going to do this even if I literally fall of the back of the TM.

Thursday- 5300 SWIM, WORK/ TRAINER

Can I do this swim? Even though I do 4500-5000 on AT least one swim a week I still always wonder if it’s possible for me to complete it. Secret is to not take any breaks or think too much. Thinking is the enemy. 24 ounce coke is my secret weapon. 6 x 800 YIKES!! Okay, using the snorkel here. How do people actually swim more than 25-50 without having to stop and get the water out.  Man, I look cool with my simultaneous band, buoy, and snorkel use.

Don’t think, just do. Lalalalla. Had my stroke videod Wed and my latest stroke fix causes my to cross over so much I am flopping back and forth like a fish. Don’t flop. Don’t flop.  How are my arms supposed to go anyways?  I need to watch some youtube videos on swimming.

Guy making eye contact when I am at the wall. Try to look focused and out of breath so he won’t strike up a conversation. No, dude, I’m not rude but can we please talk, like, later or never? I swear that looks like Peter from the Real HouseWives of Atlanta. I can’t picture him coming to LA Fitness and kicking aimlessly for an hour with giant fins like this guy, though.  Can’t believe I did it..one of my longest solo swims yet.. maybe!

Trainer ride- Nothing on tv. Have a migraine so can’t listen to my IPOD. There are no thoughts left in my brain, just do. It’s strange how much longer two hours is than 90 minutes.  FTP went down slightly after the break…. Everything is  5 watts easier and it feels like I’m cheating. I Hate it. Oh my gosh, I can’t believe I did it… I hit everything on my plan! It never fails to amaze me.

I got a lot of flack for showing this pic as my trainer nutrition. It's usually a lot better than this, but this particular day I must have been running on empty in several ways

Friday- WORK, EASY JOG

Easy jog on the trails with Sadie after work.  Why does this jog feel impossible after all the other stuff I’ve done this week? I have the never ending migraine and I can’t take meds again. Okay, I need to hike some of these steeper grades my quads are shot.  Okay, I need to hike some of the steep downhills my brain is shaking around too much. No worries hopefully will feel better for tomorrow.

Bailey's tired after all this training! 10 psi, the perfect amount of inflation for napping.

Saturday- GROUP RUN

Group run. Nothing too hard. Just 90 minutes of running. Thank goodness for company, finally. John and Jared are fun to run with because I can just listen without having to talk myself. Leg’s feeling surprisingly good, let’s pick it up!  I see Rich running back towards me. Huh, that’s not on plan. Yea, he must be feeling okay, because I can tell by looking at him that he’s running under seven minute miles. Oh there’s a cute dog.  I must be getting back in good run shape, because my brain feels very happy. Wow, almost there already. Great run! 

P.S. Please check out the chipin link and consider donating to Sadie's rescue drive to build an doggie adoption center in Atlanta. We need every bit of help we can get!!

The next big thing

When I was a kid, all I wanted was to be an Olympic gymnast. I would stay up late at night watching tapes of meets. Every day after school I would go to our local gym and stay there for hours. There was a series of books somewhat like the babysitters club, only about gymnasts, and I would read them over and over, literally hundreds of times. Sure I was six inches taller, six years older and many pounds heavier than the successful gymnasts, but that wasn’t stopping me. Surely heart would get me there.

 So how did I end up? Heart didn’t get me .. nothin’. I started as a beginner and ended as a beginner with a fear of flipping backwards. The girls I started with were, by the time I quit, practically elite gymnasts, while the greatest distinction I ever achieved was being the first in our gym to do a cartwheel on the beam. When I was in high school my obsession turned to cheerleading. I decided on a whim to try out for the high school team in eighth grade and holy moly, I made it!

For six years, I spent nearly every day after high school and college practicing chants, dances, and stunts. After that, I would go to practices at night for an All-Star competition team which meant more gymnastics, dancing, and stunting.. But what I really wanted was to be a flyer. You know, the girl that gets thrown up in the air and gets to do the cool stuff… scorpions, heel stretches, basket tosses etc. Unfortunately for me, just as in gymnastics, the most popular choice for flyer is not the 5’7 1xx lb girl. Turns out, when we briefly had a coed squad, I was actually not the Worst flyer in the world, but I was Surely the one that my base and spotters most hated to pick up!

Pic of my Samford cheerleading days!

Of course the most obvious thing to do in this situation was to diet my way down to where people didn’t moan and groan picking me up, but that didn’t work out either, no matter how hard I tried. Stopping every morning for breakfast at Mcdonalds and every afternoon at Taco Bell or similar probably didn’t help either. Again, lots of heart, little success.

The coolest thing I did as a cheerleader was wear the cute outfits and occasionally get to ‘fly’ in a stunt while my support team cursed me from beneath. I could tell similar stories with pole vaulting, pageanting, (Although I DID win the titles of Miss Teen Polk County, and Miss Winter Haven… hello big time!!) and a gazillion other activities.

If only I had spent all that time working on something that could actually help me now, say running, or swimming? I wasn’t smart enough to realize at the time, that you should look for something where the odds aren’t completely stacked against you. I thought running was something one did to avoid getting fat, and I thought swim team was dorky. Well, the swimmers I know now sure are getting the last laugh now!

All that brings me to present day, where, I like triathlon so much that I am writing a public blog where I mostly philosophize about triathlon. I spend a lot of time training (duh), I have a coach, I got certified as a coach, I spend my time reading, thinking, and talking about triathlon.

I’d say I’m pretty entrenched. I’m entrenched yet concerned. How is this time any different from before? You see when I first started all those things, I was truly naïve enough to believe that I might be able to succeed at gymnastics, cheerleading, diving (yes, that one was quite short-lived. Let’s get the tall, tubby girl who’s afraid to flip backwards for the varsity dive team!) despite all the odds that were against me.

In the beginning you see progress, but after a few years, you realize that the progress is a lot harder to come by. Success comes in many forms and there’s plenty of people who never made the cheerleading squad, or could do back tucks, etc. who would look at my foray into those endeavors as successful. And there are many other people who were ten times better than I could ever dream of being who were in turn comparing themselves to the people just ahead of them!

Bailey.. she ain't worried about progress!!

I was thinking about this whole process in the pool. I feel frustrated right now, because as much as I’m swimming, I’m not seeing any progress. To someone a few lanes down, I’m probably ‘fast, ‘ to me, the person leading our lane is ‘fast’ and that person knows that their swim is laughably slow compared to a ‘real’ swimmer.

For where I’m about to go, let’s stay focused on SPORT as I’m close to getting mired in the deep end here. Thinking about this logical progression and where it eventually ends, I was wondering if it’s ever truly possible to be satisfied for a certain personality type to be satisfied with ‘the status quo’. When do you just say ‘ wow, I did good, I am happy with my progress/performance’ and REALLY mean it.. without any caveats or little voices you don’t admit to that say ‘If I could just do x,’ then I would be Exactly where I want to be? Food for thought 

Hogpen Weekend, Polar Bear 5k, and Resting

Right now I am taking a break from training. A mandated two day break. After a few weeks of continued decline in workouts and training, it’s needed.

I am fixated on one question. How could I forget what I am like without training to take the edge off my personality? I am absolutely impossible to live with. Impossible. And I’m just talking about me living with me. Who knows what’s running through the heads of my nearest and dearest.
So January has been fun, busy ,and very stressful.

I will focus on the training end since this is a triathlon blog. Soon, I hope to have exciting bike news, too that is deserving of its own post! All I will say is that I may or may not have appeared to be a beached whale with scoliosis on my bike (entirely due to my own fitting tweaks.. I get all the credit for that one) and that Soon I may NOT look like that! I may look like a poseur cyclist on a shiny bike, instead.

So here’s the recap on all the other training stuff….

Hogpen weekend


This weekend is soo much fun. It comes with goals attached. The Hogpen Trifecta is threefold and quite difficult to achieve. It includes maximum pain and maximum fun, then more pain. Therein lies the paradox of the hogpen trifecta. Specifically, it includes the following

1. Race up hogpen 11.5 miles and 4352.3 million feet of climbing
2. Sing karaoke that night in Helen
3. Ride your bike up hogpen the next day.

Last year was the inaugural year of the trifecta and I am proud to say that only three of us achieved this formidable goal. This year I wanted to try and recruit others, and was successful at the getting people rallied part. Unfortunately I messed up the actual planning and execution. I was tired and grumpy pre-Hogpen and it was slated to rain nonstop so we made the last minute decision to leave our bikes behind.

After a lackluster run up the hill, (eight minutes slower than last year. Yes, there was a course change that made it longer, but most people’s times were similar or faster because the added part was pretty much downhill at the beginning)it was time for the extreme fun portion.

We had a LOT of fun and karaoked until Helen closed down. The next day’s ride was not to be for anyone, as one, you generally feel sleep deprived and sore after the first two phases, plus the part about not having our bikes.

So I was bummed but I was even more sore and exhausted than last year, and am not sure that I could have pedaled the minimum watts to keep the bike from rolling down the hill backwards.

Onward to the Polar Bear 5k this past weekend. Fun because the club was sponsoring it and I believe we succeeded in getting a lot of people fired up about wanting to do a triathlon. Also, yes the actual running of it. After the way I was feeling and my Hogpen run I was the opposite of excited about this race. I wasn’t even sure if I would break 20 minutes much less the goal that I set awhile ago of wanting to break 19 sometime this year. In the end, pure ego allowed me to run the essentially the same time as last year.


Though there was like 1500 people in the race John, rich, rosemary, and I finished in succession, despite john and rich being almost 20 seconds ahead. They were going for 19 and rosemary was going for 19:30. After getting passed like I was standing still by them and many, many others the previous weekend I couldn’t go down without a fight. I started running and my legs immediately felt like someone had taken all the blood vessels, mitochondria etc, out of the middle and filled them with iron instead. Very strange, usually at least the first mile should feel easy, but I was in end of 5k pain from the gun.

John finishing (behind Rich) in a Hair over 19.


Anyways, I lost rich and john but managed to stay behind rosemary .. barely. Every uphill she pulled away and every downhill I managed to reel her in..the last 100 yards I put in a kick with the look, sound, and agony, I imagine, of a dying elephant and crossed the line 1 second before.

Last 100 yards...

Right after we finished.. photo credits to John's dad!




The next day was the Mountain Madness preview ride which I was Very excited about ..nothing was going to stop me. Not the 20 degree weather, not the fact that my legs were filled with molten iron as I mentioned previously. I managed to convince Rich and Ted to attend and it turned out that Lauren Fogarty and Paul were also there. (not that I saw Paul ..or Ted..after the first five minutes..showoffs)


So we started out riding casually or what I call “lazy riding.’ Lazy riding is where you don’t get in aero, pretty much keep in the small ring, and coast everything that is coastable. I was trying to stay super positive and was helped on that path by the beautiful scenery, Lots of Coke, and Rich’s company, who is perpetually chatty and positive. I kept reassuring him we weren’t slow because xy and z.

Lauren, Rich, and I at the first 'aid station' I look like I'm trying not to be grim and Rich appears to be contemplating some hand warmers.



So it turns out I was pretty tired because at first, I kept wondering why everyone was so fast. Second, I kept thinking well everyone out here is just really hardcore, and then I thought well they are just trying to see how fast they can ride the course. And THEN I noticed, when we were climbing the mountain part that I was climbing in low zone 2 and when I tried to pick it up, I really couldn’t and THEN I noticed at the halfway point that we were already 2:40 in .. yikes! I was thinking total ride time would be about 3:15 and instead it was 4:22!!!!!!!!!! After looking at my data later and my mouse-like average watts, it’s clear that this rest Is due.


*By the way, I have to mention that if you are considering Mountain Madness half distance you should totally do it! The scenery and the course is awesome, and though I will be occupied during the actual race, I plan to be at the preview rides as much as possible. Zone 5 proved they are awesome at organizing this weekend, too. I really had my own personal SAG.. even though I hope this is the first and last time I will be with the SAG 

** I had several friends tell me at Hogpen that they are thinking about donating to Sadie’s cause. I really really need more people to donate. In fact, I need YOU to donate.. just ten or 20 will do the trick. YOU will make a difference helping shelter dogs and I really really need your help. And I will stop bugging you and not send you a personal letter if you go ahead and donate now 

Disney Half, Etc.

Fundraising is tough!! Wow, I only have the utmost respect for those people who constantly do this as part of your job etc. I HATE bugging people about things like this, which is ironic, since I am in sales. But that it what I must continue to do.. until you donate. Then you are exempt from my pleas. Sorry.

At first I thought it would be extremely easy. Just put the word out and surely everyone would be happy to throw 5 bucks or so in. But I am thinking about it and seeing why it doesn’t always happen. I try to support such ventures myself but I’m sure there are as many times as I’ve forgotten or though, I’ll do it later, versus times I actually followed through and did it. Or thought, I’m sure this person has dozens of other people helping, they don’t really need my help.

Well that is definitely Not the case here so if you have it in your heart to donate, then please know that you will be one of a very select few and the effort will not be in vain, no matter how small the amount. Soo easy and so beneficial for those dogs whose lives you are directly saving http://sadier.chipin.com/barking-hound-village-foundation-rescue And for those who are reading this who HAVE donated, I love you and you are awesome!

waiting for cool pic from Disney to go here

On the training front, things are going well for the time of year. Actually last weekend we participated in my first race with Both my parents and John, the Walt Disney World half marathon. I had zero expectations going into this race. I really wanted to just use it as social time with parents. I didn’t even know if they had seeded corrals or if we had submitted times when we registered. I wasn’t even sure who had ended up registering us.

We waited too long to get plane tickets, which is becoming a theme lately, and didn’t arrive until Friday evening to pick up our bibs. Well I was telling everyone about my plan to take it easy and I was being totally forthright too. That was the plan. Then we went to the expo to pick up our bibs and I saw that my number was very low and had my name and the word ‘Elite’ on it.

First of all, it goes without saying that their definition of ‘elite’ is, shall we say, Quite broad if it includes me. Elite is people finishing 15 minutes faster than my seed time. But hey, they gave me one and that was that. I don’t like starting in front and then jogging. Maybe it’s a pride issue that I need to work on. But I almost feel like it’s disprespectful.

Last year at the Peachtree road race, for example a race with 50000ish people, I BARELY by the skin of my teeth managed to get a ‘ top seeded’ time, which meant I got to start in the front. Or ALMOST at the front.. so I thought. The plan for that one was to run easy, too.

In fact, I was having a conversation about it with a young cross country girl right before the start this year in July. We were at the ‘front’ but comfortable behind the line, as it was roped off on our side and full of the runners who were flown in and trying to win money on the other side.

Weren’t we surprised when the tape was lifted at the last moment and we were Forced to the LINE of the Ptree road race. Next to Ryan Hall et all. (Was Ryan Hall there this year or has my story just improved over time?)

So that was another example of when it was just NOT possible to stick with a plan of running easy. Even if the people you’re running ‘with’ are going to be done ten minutes plus before you are.

So where was I? Aww yes, the not going to run easy part. So the next morning we left our hotel with plenty of time, so we thought. I mean we walked out at 3:30 AM but for the Disney, apparently that is cutting it SUPER close. We almost missed the start by the time we got down there.
Plan was to just go by feel and look at my watch.. just to see. Start up and I was pleasantly surprised to be comfortably clicking off miles in the 6:30s. Legs were sore from my first big week back training but felt fine aerobically. Hoped sore legs wouldn’t catch up with me.

Through 10k and I basically was at my PR for that distance. To this point we had been running very straight but then we got into the park, where you are running around attractions and making a lot of 180 degree turns. At this point I started to feel very sore and like I might need to make a quick stop.

I was trying sooo hard not to think about it. I was actually on pace for a good sized PR if I just didn’t have to stop. Well I guess I thought about it too much because a stop became mandatory and after that I was just trying not to fall off the pace. Managed to squeak in with about a 6 or 7 second PR. Hey, I’ll take it!

The very good news is I think rested and with a bit more running I could really knock off a few minutes this year. John, had a great race and knocked THREE minutes off of his Publix time from last year. He is definitely going to be a force to be reckoned with in all three sports this year. Watch out, boys!

My parents both finished, too. My dad hasn’t been training a bunch and my mom was walking with a friend. Both of them finished but unfortunately, she hurt her knee in the process. Thought I understand it is healing well, I’m not sure she will be rushing to do a bunch more races anytime soon. Hoping though that many more races with the parents are in the future!

Overall a great weekend with the family. A logistically difficult race. Would do it again if it meant roping family into it, but not really a good ‘A’ race because of the crowds.

2012 Begins...

Lots of exciting changes in 2012!

Look like John and I are going to be more involved in our tri club next year. Actually a LOT more involved. More on that to come, but suffice it to say I have been working very hard over the holidays! So far just a few of the main things I have been helping with are the 2012 training schedules, lining up club sponsorships, and putting together a more formalized race team. All very exciting stuff! I’ve been trying to do as much as possible before ‘real’ work starts and I only have nights and weekends to work on things.

Other exciting projects- John and I have done a lot of scheming, and meeting, and dreaming about other exciting projects. These aren’t quite ready for the blog yet, but it’s always important to have big dreams and goals that may or may not pan out.

Individual coaching- I am going to start doing individual coaching more next year. Although I have done a lot of personal training, general fitness training, wellness coaching, and even individual run coaching, this will be the first time I am making the shift to individual triathlon coaching. I am ready. I have actually been a certified coach with USAT for almost two years now. When I first took my certification class, I was really just beginning to learn what I needed to know. Since then I have learned so much more, and as the saying goes, the more you learn the more you realize you have to learn. I am excited to continue this process of learning, and applying what I have learned so far in 2012.

Giving back- for a while now I have been informally involved with helping out animals as I come across them. I have a true heart for animals and 100 percent believe that his eye is on the sparrow I always believed that when I found the ‘right’ place to help in a more formal position, I would just know, and that’s how I feel about this cause. I felt like I couldn’t NOT help and I guess that’s how you know.

People have a heart for for all different things, that’s what makes the world go round. Helping animals is my true passion. All that said, my dog, Sadie is taking the lead on this one. She will be raising money for the barking village foundation rescue. You can read more about it here.

All I will say is that she is a dog with a BIG dream.. to raise 5000 dollars by may 5 to help them build a new adoption center. In fact, if anyone reading this (mom) has ideas to help me figure out how to raise money, I am all ears. So far I have been talking ot all my friends and family but I don’t want to be the person who constantly badgers others for money! (That being said, won’t you donate, please? Just 10-20 dollars makes a difference!)

Why is my sister getting all the attention? Look how cute I am!

Training and racing- This is a triathlon training blog after all, so 4 out of (the) 5 people reading this are likely mega-bored! Next year I will still be training under Meredith at Purplepatch. I really enjoyed working with this group last year and had big improvements to show. Coach believes I will make some big gains in swimming and cycling and I am holding her to that!

My big races are New Orleans 70.3, Ironman St. George, possibly Augusta 70.3, and Kona. I have BIG goals for these races that will get more specific as they get closer and I get a better idea of what is possible.

I actually have a bunch of ‘fun’ races coming up and the first one is this weekend at the Disney half in Florida. I am ‘really’ out of shape after my nice long rest, so this is not a PR race. I am all about ‘races are for racing’ nearly without exception. BUT if you are in no shape to race, have no shot at a PR, and have a big training week after your ‘d’ priority race, that is The exception to my rule! Therefore my main goal is to have fun with our family and friends that are also participating, not hurt myself, and be ready to hit it hard again for Monday!

I also have some big goals and additional responsibilities for my ‘real’ job next year, so we’ll have to see how that unfolds.

My goals as far as day to day are

- Not getting so stressed about time and efficiency. This is the way I’ve been my entire life and so it’s not going to be easy to change. I’ll have to settle for more of a management of this. I get stressed out about getting everything in and set myself lots of deadlines, real and artificial to make sure I’m on track. For sure it’s a good strategy if you tend to be a big procrastinator, but if you are constantly doing that for everything in life.. ie I have to start my bike workout by 6 pm.. even if you technically have till six am the next morning to get it done, it can start to suck the fun out of life (and other’s lives) really really quickly.

- Being more patient in general- this is closely related to the time thing. It is sometimes a shock to me to realize that not everyone is on the same time schedule as I am. Example- the light turns green and someone takes ten friggin’ seconds to get going! Or, say if John and I plan to leave at ten till eight and actually leave at 8:05. I need to get over it and be more gracious and considerate and patient. Note to self: get a xanax prescription ;)

- Pay attention to the little things as far as recovery and training. I’m not one to get all militant about eating perfectly or going to bed at 9 0’clock. However, there are definitely a Few things I could work on that would probably help me recovery better, and consequently be able to train more consistently, which will lead to being faster! 

- Getting more involved in our church- we have started checking out a new church in Atlanta that I am really excited about. I loved our old church but it was so huge and crowded that it was easy to get lost in the shuffle, not really get involved, or develop any real relationships. This other church that we have attended a few times is smaller, MUCH smaller so I am hoping we can be involved in numerous ways as a result.

- Make more of a difference in my friends’ lives. If someone tells me they need help, I am all ears and will do what I can (or at least I like think of myself that way!) BUT, in day to day, when I come across people that do need help, I doubt I even notice it or them half the time. That’s just honesty right there. I am always thinking about 10 million different things and I know I overlook a lot in the process. Lord help me with That one!!

Looking at this list is rather daunting, so I’d better get on it!

Type A Plus : 'Be-er' versus 'Doer'

My fellow type a kindred spirit....

Type A from Wikipedia

“The theory describes a Type A individual as ambitious, aggressive, business-like, controlling, highly competitive, impatient, preoccupied with his or her status, time-conscious, and tightly-wound. People with Type A personalities are often high-achieving "workaholics" who multi-task, push themselves with deadlines, and hate both delays and ambivalence.”

I decided to do some ‘research’ and take a test to determine personality type. The following was one of the questions with which you were to indicate how strongly you agree: “Unless you are walking with a destination in mind, you are losing time.”

Yes! Someone finally understands me! In fact, that sounds like a good signature quote.

I actually didn’t score 100 percent on the Type A test, but I think that’s only because answering “absolutely true” to a few of the questions made me feel a bit guilty.

This is my personal definition of Type A: wanting to always ‘do’ instead of ‘be.’ Not just do as in straight hyperactivity, but to improve, to succeed, to win. Whatever #winning means to you.

I got the idea when I was young that it was somehow wrong or bad to be competitive. Consequently, I squelched the overt competitiveness, the kind that would have gotten me somewhere, like trying to be good at sports, or get great grades, and instead it came out in subversive ways:

-When I was in middle school competition centered on who had the cutest boy vying for their attention and/or who owned the most sets of Bongo shorts and Explorer shirts.

-When I was in high school it was being a cheerleader or on the dance team, as well as having the cutest boy vying for their attention (this last one, by the way, is a paradox because everyone knows the very definition of the cutest boy is the one that Doesn’t pay attention to you)

Now looking back these things were ridiculous and in fact, quite superficial. But that’s not really the point. The point is that you can make any activity or daily task a game, and the point of a game is to win.


Here are some things that I readily admit to:

-Putting a time limit on everything, including tasks, social events, and.. Every. Thing. Else. I plan how long walking the dogs will take, what time I must be on my bike trainer, and what time I need to be in bed. Even if there is no really good reason for these arbitrary deadlines.

-Finishing other peoples sentences - Hey I am helping them by assisting their completion of a task more quickly and efficiently!

-Turning everything possible into a game or competition. How quick can I fold this laundry? How many lights can I get through without having to make a complete stop? How many cups of tea I can drink during a boring day of meetings? How many days can I have the same grilled chicken salad from Chick-fil-a in a row?

I have to stop giving examples now before they sound too much like DSM-IV criteria for Type A Personality Disorder. Which is something Completely different, I assure you.

And contrary to popular belief, Its not that I CAN'T relax, its that true relaxation to me occurs within the constructs of goal -oriented activity. Like say, running. There is nothing that clears my head more than a hard run, preferably one where I have faster people to chase. (And that my friends, answers the question about why there is nothing more satisfying than running/cycling/swimming till you puke or collapse. I know you wondered.)

As a type a plus, I find myself gravitating towards other people who are the same. It doesn’t really matter if they aren’t into the same things as me, I feel like I understand them somehow.

My older dog Sadie and I are kindred spirits. Sadie is happiest when she is working towards something. Typically her work involves one of the following:

-Asserting herself as dominant dog over poor Bailey, her little sister or other dogs at the park.

-Wrestling and running harder and faster than the other dogs.

-Chewing on a huge rawhide till it’s completely gone.

-Stealing food, generally eating as much as possible,

- protecting her pack, aka barking at people

When she's not doing one of these things, she’s waiting to do one of these things. And unfortunately for Sadie, that is a pretty much an exhaustive list of available competitive outlets for dogs. Which means poor Sweetums is bored a lot.

There was a time when I felt like I needed to pretend to be more ‘B’, but fortunately in recent years I have become comfortable with the good or at least neutral aspects of being Type A, and trying to improve the negative ones (Think extreme impatience and intolerance for delay s of any kind.) This process has been good for my self-esteem but perhaps unfortunate for those who I successfully convinced that I was an easygoing free spirit and now have to continue to put up with me!

I also spend an inordinate amount of time contemplating the “be-ers.” Why are they so content to ‘be’ and why are they not incited to action by my suggestions on improving their be-ing? Ex “you spend every Saturday looking at antiques? Are you trying to find the most antiques? The Best antiques?? Why why why do you look at antiques if the purpose is just to look?? !!

Sometimes I think I’m a little jealous of people who can just be rather than do all the time. But I also don’t want to BE them if that makes any sense. And they sure as heck don’t want to be me either! Trust me, I’ve been told so. More than once.

Anyways, the world needs both A’s and B’s. Without B’s civilized society would devolve into a complete chaotic lawless meltdown. Without A’s there would be less competition and competition makes society better. Also there would be no wars. And less heart disease. Hmmm…

In any case, I have to end this blog post now because I allotted myself exactly 15 minutes to work on it and I have to be on the trainer by seven sharp!

Fear of the Off Season: How it all began

I have always had an all or nothing personality. Which is probably why I hate the word ‘off - season.’ Because I’m scared of the shift from the ‘all’ to the ‘nothing’

In fact, I really haven’t taken a significant break since I began. I started really ‘training’ to run (defined as stringing together at least three runs a week together for several weeks at time) in the fall of2008 when I had a random goal of doing a marathon. I was about to turn 27 and although I had been involved in sports my whole life, and was a trainer and avid exerciser, I had fallen into a period of being relatively sedentary for at least a year.

I decided I didn’t want to turn 27 and be so out of shape, so I joined one of those early-morning boot camps. The boot camp was run as most probably are, combining running and bodyweight exercises into races and competitive games. I was embarrassingly out of shape at the beginning, but on the timed ‘almost mile,’ which was an element of the benchmark test, I almost caught the instructor who was leading the group and running all out. I almost puked, but something long hidden awakened in me.

After several weeks of boot camp, I started to get freakishly good at random things like doing the most pushups, tricep dips, bear walking and crab walking.It was like a ‘race’ every morning at 5:45 am and I loved it. Most of all, though I looked forward to the running because I had never considered myself a good runner and suddenly I was ‘winning’ in my little corner of the universe.

After a few months of boot camp, I was promoted to instructor and then it wasn’t as fun anymore. There was no competitive element and it turned into getting up way too early to attend a session where I may or may not actually get a good workout. I needed a new challenge so I set my sights on a marathon.

First step was to go to Barnes and Noble and pick up a copy of “Four hours to a Four Hour Marathon.” I picked Gasparilla Marathon in March 2009 as my goal.

I had jogged some in college but my motivation was solely to keep the pounds at bay. And for reasons I won’t go into on this blog I was never really great at it, even though I did manage to slog my way through a few races here and there. My only other previous motivation was running was something that I shared with my dad. He loved it and so it was really nice to pick out races to run together.

So back to the marathon. In the three months or so leading up the race I got a lot faster with some actual consistency. My goal gradually shifted downward to the 3:20s. At the same time I was training, I was getting fascinated with the next logical step in athletics, doing a triathlon. Okay, not really “doing a triathlon.” I probably decided I wanted to do a marathon in October 2008, and looking at my records, I had already signed up for two half-ironmans for 2009 by December. This is, of course, without owning a bike, nor really knowing how to swim.

This is also the time I discovered Atlanta Triathlon Club. I called around the various triathlon clubs and ended up talking to Ron Teed, who reflected the attitude I needed in a potential club; interested, engaged, helpful. My first 20 miler for the marathon was a thirty –degree day where I showed up randomly to an ATC group run in Piedmont Park. I think there were only a few people there that week considering it was basically Christmas! Ron was nice enough to run with me for 18 of the miles and I told them I’d see them next week.

The rest was history, and I was able to find my niche and discover a group who didn’t think it was odd that I had planned a whole ‘season’ of triathlons and marathons with little background to speak of. And three Ironmans, and a gazillion other races later, I’ve been going every since.
All that brings me to this off-season issue. The aches and pains I acquired on my First group ride, the calf pain that nearly killed me the last few miles my one open marathon, they pretty much have been with me ever since. I mean, I’m Sure it’s just a coincidence…

And while I know rest is very valuable and often recommend it to others, I have a Very hard time following my own advice. So that’s why for the last several weeks, my training totals are pathetic. And I took today off. And this is what my coach wants me to do! Hoping that it will pay off and that I don’t rest myself into forever slothdom!