Couch Potato for a Day

Sunday, I didn't work, train, cook, clean or run errands. Sunday, I slept in and sat on the couch for hours watching TV while organizing my iTunes library. We even got take-out for dinner, because I didn't feel like getting dressed. The only thing, that I put on my "to do" list was walking the dog, but she ran off sometime in the afternoon and walked herself for about an hour, so I didn't think that another walk was necessary.

I think I desperately needed that. My normal rest day (rest day = no training) is during the work week and nothing is really restful to get up early and go to work... Not having a workout, doesn't make it a "rest day".... Oh, and this is mostly self inflicted. All those Sundays when I had optional workouts on the schedule and I chose the option of working out.... As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I think, I ran myself down over the last couple of weeks.

But after a day of watching every show on TV possible, including parts of the Tour de France and most of the game US vs Brazil, I think I am all set. Also good news, that this week is sort of light on the training front. Goody.

A Whole Lot Of Orange

Last Saturday, I was at my very first football game. We went to see the Clemson Tigers play Miami.

The team colors of the Tigers are orange and purple... In clothing, orange was predominant.

So far, I have only seen football games on TV and only heard about "tailgating", but really didn't have a clue what it was all about.

 

We got there a little after 9am and the rest of the group already started up. We had a tent and we had food and beverages (adult and regular)... Unfortunately, our grill plan fell through, so we were a little short fuel. Fortunately, some of us brought out stuff that didn't need grilling.

We also saw the band practice.

This is a view over one of the tailgaiting areas from the stadium.

The stadium at Clemson seats around 80,000 people and it was SOLD out!

We were all the way up (second to last row) and could see to Lake Hartwell. Saturday was also a really hot day and we got slow roasted on the stands.

Celebrations after a touchdown for Clemson.

During half-time, the band performed on the field with choreography.

In the end Clemson lost. But all in all it was a good day with a great group of people, enjoying the last warm days of summer.

Would I go back? Tailgating maybe, but the game... Seriously, I don't have the patience to watch sports for 4 hours... Granted, people tell me, that the game dragged along unusually long.

So long! ;-)

Finally! It's Friday!

How can a four day work week feel sooooo long?

First things first: Germany lost against Spain in the half final! Sad, so sad! Somebody has to get a hold of this octopus and fry it! But at least he foretold that we are going to win tomorrow. If he continues to be right, we can rethink the frying plans. Once again, we'll huddle around a tv screen and cheer for our team... That was quite a summer sporting event... A lot of FUN! With the World Cup almost over, I may finally be able to focus a little more on the Tour de France! ;-)

After my 5 hour-ish ride* on Monday, recovery took me a little longer than I thought. I guess, I didn't expect the ride to take so much out of me. Well anyways, Tuesday was pretty much a blur. I had the glassy eyes going on and just felt completely exhausted. When I got home, Terry said that he thinks I am running a slight fever, so rest it was for that day.

*I forgot to mention another first on Monday's post and that would be that I crossed a state line for the first time on the bike! ;-)

Other than this additional unplanned rest day on Tuesday, things go pretty good these days when it comes to my workouts. Actually last week, I was able to complete ALL of my planned workouts and it looks pretty good for this week as well.... Of course there is always some moving around of workouts involved, but who cares.

With my first international distance triathlon approaching fast, I still have to tie up some loose ends. The race organizers are helping out with that by offering a group ride tomorrow and next Sunday on the race course. So tomorrow morning, I will be heading up to Blacksburg to ride the 28 mile loop around the Kings Mountain State Park and after that, I want to at least run part of the race course as a brick workout. I don't think I did any bricks since the MTY sprint tri back in June, so it's about time. Also a big X on my training schedule is a 2 hour run on Sunday. The last big thing to get in before the race is an open water swim. Looking at the alternatives I currently have, I think I will join GoTri at the open water practice at Paris Mountain State Park next week or the week after. They also offer a group ride after the swim, so that would give me a swim/bike brick.

Here is a map for the bike course from the race website:

And here is the run course:

I'll definitely take my camera with me, so I can hopefully show some pictures afterwards!

Heading out for some sushi now and then take it easy for the rest of the evening..... Tomorrow is going to be another early morning for me.

Happy weekend everyone! ;-)

Can't Beat It!!!

1. Hill repeats go according to plan*? CHECK!

 *4x up the hill and building into zone 5

2. Germany moving on into the half finals? CHECK!

We met at the Bavarian Pretzel Factory and that place was even fuller than the two previous times that I watched games there. We squeezed as many people as possible on our table. The atmosphere was AWESOME... There was a vuvuzela present... NOT so AWESOME. GERMANY WON!!! What a game!

3. Going kayaking with the family? CHECK!

We really enjoyed kayaking at Hilton Head Island, so we decided to rent kayaks over weekend and took them out to Lake Robinson down the road. That lake is BEAUTIFUL and not a lot of traffic going on there, which made for relaxed paddling!

4. Get a recovery ride in? CHECK!

We went out on the Swamp Rabbit for a very easy one hour ride.... I was wearing COTTON! I looked a little like a beach bun! ;-) Not a problem since I almost didn't break a sweat! ;-)

What a great day.... Time to warp things up and get some rest... Tomorrow there will be more activity! Of course!

So long! ;-)

Quick Sunday Recap

Looks like I needed another little break from blogging after having reached the 200th post milestone last week! ;-)

Oh boy.... Yesterday was a LOOONG day. But good stuff... Fun stuff.

I started out super early for a Sunday and was up and getting ready to run at around 6AM. I set the alarm for 6.30, but I was WIDE awake by 6 so I could just as well get up.

The plan called for a 1h 20m Zone 2 run with 25 minutes at 10K race pace sprinkled in. I was on the Swamp Rabbit Trail at 6.45AM ready to roll and I was not alone. Several runners, walkers and bikers were out there already, trying to beat the heat... But honestly.... You can't beat the heat right now and especially not the humidity.

This is me at my turnaround point in Travelers Rest... That's even before I did the 10K pace portion and I am already SOAKED!

Also, while passing the "Cafe at Williams Hardware", I noticed a sign saying that you can use the place's restrooms and you can fill up your water bottle there. That is always welcome. The place is really nice, they have a screened in porch and good food... Something to keep in mind for your next trail adventure! ;-)

 No... this is not a special effect.... It's FOG!

The run itself was alright. I was happy with my race pace effort, but my Z2 run was super slow. My heart rate sky rocketed right off the bat and I was moving very slowly in order to stay in the prescribed heart rate zone. Don't know what is going on there, maybe the metric century (race ride report to follow hopefully tomorrow) from Saturday played a role in that.

After the run, I did a little bit of stretching and then headed home and grabbed a shower and then headed out the door again to meet up with some friends to watch the Germany vs England game at the Bavarian Pretzel Factory. Since I haven't had anything to eat up to that point, I was starving and gobbled down their cheese spread with two pretzels..... YUMMIE... That was good.

And then of course there was the game....  A THRILLER! Two goals for Germany, then a goal for England... Then another goal for England that hasn't been given.... Taking a couple of deep breaths over the half time break and then two more goals for Germany in the second half... Final score 4:1 for Germany! YAY! The place was packed with mostly Germans and some England fans... WHAT A MORNING!!!

Germany is now in the quarter finals playing Argentina this Saturday. Plans to watch it are already in place! ;-)

After that the day mellowed out a little... Skyping with mom and dad, watching Argentina vs Mexico, a little bit of shopping and a little bit of cooking/ house keeping and the weekend was over again. SIGH!

So long! ;-)

You Win, You Lose!

After having a glorious first game at the 2010 World Cup last Sunday, things didn't go too well yesterday for Germany against Serbia.

While the game sucked on more than one level, at least we got in a really good breakfast. You win some, you lose some!

A bunch of us met up at the Bavarian Pretzel Factory on Woodruff Road to watch the game. They have a HUGE screen set-up and of course they are already open at 7AM. Perfect! The place filled up good with tons of people about to watch the game.

It was my first time there and I thought that they did a great job with the interior design. It looks really nice and cozy with big tables... Great to sit together and socialize.

The menu is mostly Bavarian snacks (Brotzeit) items and they have a wide selection of cakes and pies and then of course the breads... Everything looked so good, it was hard to make a choice.

I ended up having the Leberkaes (a little like a meat loaf, just different! ;-) with a Pretzel and sweet mustard. The food was very good. My only complaint would be the sweet mustard. Not my favorite and normally I can eat sweet mustard with a pretzel and don't even need anything else.

I will sure be back... the Obatzda (cheese spread) just looked way too good to be passed!

So long! ;-)

3,2,1.... WORLD CUP!

Dear Hubby,

All these times that I was bickering about you watching football, golf, basketball, fishing (seriously?) and whatever other sport that is getting broadcasted.... Well, now it's your turn, because today is the first day of the FIFA World Cup and for the next four weeks we are going to watch soccer and I'll get the big screen!

I already added the iGoogle Football Gadget and on Sunday afternoon, we are going to watch our first game together....

Like the whole 90 minutes! I might have even arranged for us to meet some hardcore soccer fans, so they can give you a soccer 101 training. You might remember, that I tried to teach you the offside rule already earlier this week to give you a head start, but it cannot harm to get these rules explained again! ;-)

Your Wifey

PS: As I mentioned before, I am not a big fan of watching sports on TV, but I am a sucker for big sporting events like the Olympics, Tour de France AND the European Cup and World Cup.... This is going to be FUN! ;-)

Ultra - Crazy Stuff

Last night, I was able to snatch the POWER (remote control) away from Terry for a couple of minutes... Poor TV is always locked on HGTV. Anyways, I switched to the weather channel so I knew what kind a attire was appropriate for today. On the Weather Channel they showed a special called "Surviving Death Valley" about the Badwater Ultramarathon.

I think I mentioned before, that I have a hard time wrapping my mind around the marathon* distance, but everything longer than the 26.2 is completely insane to me. Of course, I acknowledge that my boundaries of things that are doable or not doable for me change on a daily basis, but that marathon thing still strikes me as not for me. I admire everyone that puts her/himself through this and we all know that the marathon is just the icing on a cake of long, hard and consistent workout months. But going longer that this?

*Seriously, the only two things that keep me from attempting an Ironman is 1) the time needed for training and 2) that you have to do a marathon at the end.

I won't... But people do it... And I actually think it's fascinating. Now doing an Ultra (any distance over 26.2) is one thing... Doing Badwater and such is a completely different number! Seriously... Not only is it 135 miles, in the heat of summer in the DESERT(!), but the cherry on top is the killer elevation change of 8,642 total ascent. Like the first two premises don't suck enough! And the current course record is 26:51:33 for women (by Jamie Donaldson) which translates to an average pace of a little under a 12 minute/ mile. Taking into account that even ultra marathoner have to eat every now and then and use the bushes and stuff... That means when she was running, she was actually running faster than her race average. Oh... And while we speaking of it... I guess these super humans don't nap while they race, but does anyone know for sure??

Fascinating right? What the human body is capable to endure is really AMAZING!!!



On top of everything else, it's not like a big prize purse is waiving at the athletes to go through all of this... The prize money is a BELT BUCKLE. That belt buckle business is pretty common for ultra races... I wonder where that is coming from...

-----------------------------------



Also last night, I saw that the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour is returning to Greenville for two showings (March 26th and 27th) at the Camelot Cinemas. We went there last year and really enjoyed it, so we are planning on going again and you should too. The tickets are 10 bucks, they raffle off tons of nice stuff (at least they did last year), the crowd is fun and I am sure the films are going to be GREAT.

Ornamental Warfare

You probably ask yourself at this moment how the words "ornamental" and "warfare" can possibly go together... Let me show you! ;-)

The Monday after Thanksgiving, I was greeted by a Christmas tree in the office. The Christmas tree was out of plastic and pre-lit. One ornament dangled on one of the branches... A Clemson ornament. The next couple of days, this ornament was constantly moved to be backside of the tree by the Carolina fans in the department. A couple of days later, a Bayern Munich ornament was added to the tree which was consequently constantly moved by the VfL Stuttgart fan in the office. But the VfL Stuttgart fan is also a Clemson fan and the Bayern Munich supporter also a Carolina supporter... Then we have another Clemson fan that is also a Bayern Munich fan and by now your head should be spinning. Basically, since the tree was up it was a constant battle between fan bases and the smack talk that accompanied the back and forth made the whole football season look like a dress rehearsal. Yesterday, a Carolina ornament was added and five minutes later, I took all three ornaments down and returned them to their owner in order to finally silence the smack talk. Now the tree is all decorated and looks very pretty! Those are all recycled ornaments that have gotten the boot at the home Christmas tree and now find a new purpose as our office tree decoration.

When I walked in the office yesterday morning, the Bayern ornament had made a miraculous return to the tree. Once again I took it down and it is now stored in a safe location until January when I will return it to the rightful owner.

Beside the inter-office warfare we also have a competition going for Christmas decorations per departments on site. Especially the competition between finance and accounting is getting more and more heated... May the best tree win!

Random Thoughts To Start Off The Weekend

Fridays are always welcome, but this week I needed it more than I normally do. Why? See below some of the reasons mixed in with general randomness.

1. I have another long weekend ahead of me. Since we have to get rid off all the vacation and comp time days by the end of the year, I will take off days here and there and a big vacation over Christmas/ New Year.
2. Tomorrow is a Downhill MTB Race at Paris Mountain. That sounds like a fun thing to watch!
3. I have been lazy when it comes to workouts on Thursday and today, but I am looking forward to some nice running (preferably on a trail) and a longer outside bike ride.
4. They finally forecasted dry conditions over the next couple of days... I really need a break from the rain.
5. On Fridays, I normally have a chiropractor appointment, that's a good thing... My lower back was killing me all week and my knees acted up a couple of times. Once again, Renee did her magic and all is better now.
6. Terry and I need to start making Germany plans: picking out a race that we want to do (racing internationally, baby!), pulling together some sort of itinerary... We definitely want to stay a couple of days in Bavaria to meet up with some friends and do some cross country skiing, winter hiking and sightseeing in Munich.
7. I don't get any household duties done during the week and I always feel better after I got caught up with stuff.
8. I need to catch up on sleep!
9. According to the National Geographic Adventure magazine issue from Aug/Sep '09 page 20: "Follow that German! No matter what corners of the globe you've reached before any of your friends, you've likely found one thing there upon arrival: Germans. Somehow, they manage to get everywhere first. Since August is Europe's biggest vacation month, we checked in with Hauser Exkursionen in Munich to find out where Volk are going this year - so we know where to book for 2011." I thought that was funny. By the way... Namibia, Libya and Armenia are the places to go! ;-)
10. Kerrie, my team mate from the Blue Ridge Relay is taking off for a relay ride from Greenville SC to Austin TX this Sunday. This is the Palmetto Peloton Project Challenge to Conquer Cancer Ride (P3C3). Please have all the riders and their support crew in your thoughts and prayers. You can follow them on their blog!
11. Speaking of relays... The American Odyssey Relay is still planned for next year for team D.N.R. or a variation of it. Now I learned that there will be a solo attempt by this guy. Good luck for the preparations!
12. We decided to do the Dan Davis Memorial Turkey Trot again this year. That was my very first 5K (my first ever race was an 8K a couple of weeks before) and will also be the first race that I do for the second time. It's a nice race (good course, well organized) raising money for the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society on Furman Campus.
13. This week, I was pretty good when it comes to food. There was just one cake incident yesterday (homemade banana chocolate-mousse cake), but that's okay....
14. They finally decided to turn on the heat in the office, after it felt like living in an iglo earlier this week... Well, let me rephrase this... They finally decided to turn of the A/C in the office. Thank goodness.

Have a great weekend everyone... Enjoy! ;-)

What's your Sport?

This week I tried out the Eastside YMCA. I took the cycle class on Monday, Intense Fitness on Tuesday and Body Pump yesterday. Looking at the schedules for the upstate Y's, the Eastside seemed to be the only place that offers early morning (6AM and 5.45AM) classes*. From what I saw this week, it's pretty much the same crowd no matter what class it is and that's nice and easy for the new kid. Almost everyone in yesterday's class was complaining about the same soreness due to the Tuesday class (too many hamstring exercises).... Shared pain is half the pain.

*Correction: Actually, the Caine Halter as well as the Travelers Rest Y do have early morning classes, I just plain oversaw this fact.

As said, it seemed to be pretty much the same folks in those classes, so the instructor welcomed me personally and asked for my name... The instructor on Tuesday introduced herself personally as well after the class... So much friendlyness is almost suspicious... JUST KIDDDING... It's really nice! :-) After yesterday's class, the instructor asked me, what my sport is and I just answered "triathlons", because that pretty much sums up my workout routine these days.

That got me thinking this morning on my way to work... Yes, I did one triathlon in my first season, but does that make it my sport???

I tried out a lot during my school days and was never a complete failure at anything. That even holds true to the time when I started gaining weight. I still was one of the first people to be picked in a school PE team sport setting and actually was sooooooo close to receive a prize at my graduation for my performance in PE, if there wouldn't have been this one semster that I "only" got a B+ instead of A- or better.* There was really not much I didn't at least try for one season. The sport, that I was dedicated to for the longest time was competitive gymnastics. On second place we have several years of handball (the European Handball, not the American handball) and dancing/ ballet. Throw in a season here and there of athletics and table tennis and you start to get the picture.

*Short explanation here: In Germany the last two years (12th and 13th grade) of high school determine your final graduation grades. Those two years are broken up in four semesters. In order to get the PE prize, you have to have an A- or better in each semester.

When I started getting back into shape, the triathlon thing really came very natural and completely unplanned. I always enjoyed to swim and actually swam before I learned how to ride a bike. Same thing when I finally started to bike. In rural Germany as a kid, having a bike was what you needed to get to the community pool, your friend's house, organ lessons etc. The running portion is Terry's "fault". He always told me to get into running, because it will make a huge difference in my weigh loss efforts... And he was right about that. All of a sudden, I had everything together that was needed to do a triathlon and it was the carrot, I was chasing until race day in May of this year. Even though I just ended up doing one tri this season, the tri sports just give me a lot of joy and a variety to my workouts that feels healthy and balanced.... So yes, I am a triathlete and a cyclist and a runner (I really want to love running again!) and a Salsa dancer... But how does all of that fit into a one minute conversation between the end of the early morning class and heading out to start the day? So as of now, I'll stick to triathlon as my sport!

On other news: I heard this morning, that the Gamecocks won a big game last night. I concluded that there will be plenty of donuts in the office and chose to skip breakfast in favor of the donuts. Well, our donuts supplier took the day off, so I didn't have breakfast and didn't have donuts... Fortunately, I always keep granola bars in my desk drawer and had the sense to at least pack some fruit.

Tomorrow is the Race for the Cure at the CU-ICAR campus in Greenville. Why don't you come out there and cheer for the people that will be walking and running the 5K course. Even better, just sign up for it and join the crowd! :-) The online registration is already closed, but you can still sign up in person before the race! Or if you won't be able to make it out there, please donate for this cause... As of now, they are at around 60% of their fundraising goal, every gift is appreciated, no matter how big or small.

"I can't wait for Football season…"

That's what I started saying last night to BF, when all of a sudden his eyes brightened up and he smiled in anticipation. I finished the sentence with "to be OVER!" and as quickly as the eyes brightened before, his face got a pained expression. "But it just started!" he replies. That is correct, but I just can't help it… Mentally, I am completely over it already.

In order to understand, where I am coming from, there are a couple of points that need to be considered.

1) What's the hype?

I didn't grow up in the USA. American Football was an exotic sport that was broadcasted on German sports TV in the middle of the night, when they didn't have anything else to broadcast. Nobody knew any of the teams, let alone the rules. Of course, we where "exposed" to it in American sitcoms and movies, but that was it. This has changed over the last decade or so, but I guess that was too late for me. I have German friends here in the US that are just as big a Football fan as the average American, but they are also soccer fans back home. This leads me to my second point.

2) Calm down alright!

I am just no fan material. Merchandise companies don't make any money with me. I don't have a favourite band, actor, athlete or team. I may like to listen to a band, even own a couple of Cd's, but don't asked me anything about their biography or even the name of the front man. I didn't cry when Take That split up or when KSC (the local soccer club) got sacked from the premier league. I don't sleep in front of the box office when Brad Pitt's new movie is coming out and not in the bookstore when the new Harry Potter is going on sale. I am maybe missing a gene or it's just the Y-chromosome… But on the other hand, I know tons of women that are die hard sports fans, I am just not one of them.

3) Live is live!

I don't like to spend hours and hours in front of the TV to watch the Sunday game or the golf match or whatever season we are in. What I do like, is seeing live sports. I haven't made it to a football game yet, but I have seen several soccer, ice hockey, handball and baseball games. I enjoy watching pretty much any sport when I am right there in the venue, ideally with a bunch of friends and a couple of beers. There are a couple of exceptions to that rule: Olympic games (summer and winter, every discipline), Superbowl, European and World Championship Soccer games with German participation and the Tour de France. The "ideally with a bunch of friends a couple of beers"-rule does apply to football and soccer games watched on TV as well.

4) Can't we all be friends?

The rivalry when it comes to college football games is just driving me nuts. Being exposed to it EVERY DAY of the week doesn't help. Our company is basically split in half between Clemson and USC fans with the occasional odd team of some imports. Yesterday for example, was the first game for USC and they won… The game wasn't against Clemson, but that doesn't prevent USC fans to talk smack about their team winning and the Clemson fans to talk smack about how lame the game was. I know it's all in good fun, but halfway through the morning, I was ready to hit my head against the wall.

And in case you wonder… Yes, there were donuts in the office this morning (it's Friday after all). Not one, but two boxes to celebrate the USC win… They were consumed by both Clemson and USC followers as well as the odd team fans and the non-fans (you know, who I am talking about). Maybe donuts are the universal "peace food" after all!! ;-)