Tuesday Tidbits Vol 10

• Since I was all about gear love in last Sunday's post, I completely forgot to mentioned that we tried out a completely new route for us... It was all back country roads with wonderful views of the Blue Ridge Mountains and Paris Mountain, that came at the price of having tons of climbs on the roads. There was hardly any traffic and on several stretches not even a lot of signs of civilization. A wonderful route, that I would do again, but I wouldn't try on my own, because it's just so far away from anything.
• Seriously, I think I start forgetting some of my German. Especially when talking about the running and stuff, since I didn't do any of this when I lived over there... I sometimes, just don't know the German word for it or it sounds really really weird. I am worried.
• I skipped my run last night. I just felt tired and judging from how the ride was on Sunday, it was probably for the better, especially with the relay coming up.
• Instead of running, I took the doggy out for a longer walk. I really have to start taking a camera on those walks, now that the leaves are going to start turning colors any day.
• Recovery socks are really tight! My compression sleeves are really tight too... Why do I have monster calves?
• This morning marked the return to the pool after over a month of absence. I took it easy and the shoulder was only mildly irritated.
• I was in a lane next to the water aerobic class and the only thing those ladies seemed to exercise was their mouth... The instructor had the hardest time to break up the chatter! ;-)
• It was downright chilly when I left the house at 5am this morning.... Goody goody... Hopefully it's going to be the same tomorrow morning for my run!
• Just two more days of work until we take off for the Blue Ridge Relay.... I am very excited. The thing I am looking forward to most are the post-race beers at the Mellow Mushroom in Asheville while we are waiting for van two to finish up the race... Of course we are going to interrupt our MM session for a quick crossing over the finish line with the team!
• I haven't packed a thing yet and I should really check the weather forecast. The night run might get really cold and the day runs probably blazing hot... Are they calling for rain? Oh well, anything can happen in those mountains I guess.
• It is amazing to see pictures from races in other parts of the country and the people a clothes in long sleeves and pants... I can't even remember what long sleeves and pants are when I am outside. Inside it's another story,  I have been using the heater under my desk throughout the summer, because that stupid A/C is keeping the room at temps under 70. I know I am the only one complaining here since I am sharing the office with boys and they are always warm. Men are from Mars etc etc etc.

So long!

Oh and don't forget to smile! ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits: Taper ROCKS!

I read a lot about "Taper Madness" and such in blogs and I really don't get it.... sorry! People are just different and for some, dropping a lot of volume leading up to a race makes them antsy... And others... Well, they just enjoy all the extra time that got dropped in their laps. I belong to later type.

Here is why:

• The workout that I talked about in Sunday's blog post... Didn't happen. I didn't feel it... It was just way too hot! Also, my knees and shins just felt really crappy. Normally, I would have grinded it out anyways since I wouldn't have had the time to catch up... But oh glorious taper: I had a scheduled off day on Monday and so things just got moved around a little.
• Work outs are getting shorter and less intense. I don't have to exercise two hours a day every day to be happy... I don't have to gut out intervals to smile! Believe me... I enjoyed the easy ride on the trainer last night.
• Did I mention all the additional time that I have available due to that... I might even try to clean the house! Okay, that's probably taking it too far! ;-)

But taper is also there, to take care of myself and rest up:

• make sure to get plenty of sleep
• CLEAN diet ALL week!
• drink LOTS of water!
• stretch, stretch and stretch
• don't pack your stuff at the last moment

One tidbit that is not taper related:

Last night, I fed the dog some watermelon. Well, I never thought she would be into watermelon, but I dropped a piece cutting the melon up and Karma mopped the floor clean, so I'll let her have a couple more pieces... Healthy dog and stuff. What I didn't think of though was, that eating watermelon late at night equals having to go pee during the night. Guess who got up to take her out! I can only blame myself.

I hope everyone has a good week.

So long! ;-)

Tuesday Tidbits Vol 9

• I normally don't mind getting up at 5am to get my workouts done, if it means that I am free to do whatever in the evening and also don't have to workout in this heat. BUT this week it's kinda weird. I just don't want to get up early.... Tomorrow, I have a 1 hour ride and 1h10m run on tap and I seriously consider to do BOTH in the evening, just so I don't have to get up early.
• Some administrative information about this channel: I will be cleaning up the tags of blogs in the next couple of days, so if you use an RSS feed reader, it's possble that old posts are going to pop up as unread. Sorry for any inconvenience this might cause. What I am trying to accomplish is that the tags on the sidebar reflect some of the recurring themes in the post: tuesday tidbits, midweek inspiriation, thursday thunks etc.
• Still torn about joining the second pre-pride and swim for the AOC this Sunday. On the one hand, I would really really like to give this course another shot with knowing where I have to go and also would like to try out the swim... On the other hand, I am racing the day before in Columbia and it's a 1.5 hour trip up to King's Mtn... Descisions, descisions, descisions...
• I am pretty happy right now about the quality of my nutrition on most days.... The quanity though is a completely different subject.
• Currently my plan is to finish up my triathlon season with the Assault On Cherokee and focus on my running events for the late summer/ fall (BRR and Spinx Half). That should carve out some time in my schedule for other things like HIKING and YOGA.
• I am thinking about putting a little challenge on myself for the month of August: 10 minutes of core work PER DAY and yoga ONCE A WEEK.