Pimp my ride...

I know how much Lauren likes pictures =0, so i'm going to post some....random ones........

My third ice bath of the season....I usually haven't needed ice baths in the past, or didn't feel desperate enough to use them......this year I did four......this one wasn't too cold since I just used ice from the freezer, doesn't really do much....you really need to get about 20 pounds in there. The day after this picture......I did another one....that one was freezing!



Post Ice Bath--this is me stretching my IT band on my foam roller...while wearing compression tights...anything for "recovery," right?
I had Sunday and Monday off and it was very nice..our floors no longer have paw prints and our laundry is no longer growing mold (j/k...but it was getting scary in that laundry basket!). Yeah, basically, I don't have a problem "doing" laundry, it's the folding part...which, lucky for me, Dave loves to do so he usually does the laundry around here..although, ever since he read somewhere that fabric softener makes the wicking fabric in workout clothes "wick less" meaning it ruins the wicking properties, he doesn't like using Bounce sheets in the dryer...whatever, he does the clothes and they're clean, one less thing for me to worry about right??

I dropped my bike off yesterday, not for a tuneup yet--but a PIMP UP, my pedals were making this clicking noise, come to find out the cleats on my shoes are shot, and there is a plastic piece that needed to be replaced on the pedals......and some bolts on the handlebars were rusted, and I wanted white bar tape instead of black, and an aero drink system AND I asked them to remove the sticky spot where my bike sticker from SOMA went. Yeah, so B&L had their hands full with my bike and that doesn't even include the tune up that i'll bring it in for next Monday! So, why did I want them to get the sticky part off? Well, because I tried warm soap and water and the sticky would NOT come off. My bike is baby blue so any dirt totally shows up on it.

My ride is PIMPED now with the white bar tape. Totally for aesthetics, nothing to do with "neccessity" but it's a cheap enough fix and looks cute =0. I can't control my sneaker color, but I can control my bar tape!

Speaking of sneakers. You ready for this? This year I have tried: Saucony's, Nike, Asics (three pairs) of running shoes since JULY...and I finally figured out what i'm wearing (as of yesterday) for Ironman. Asics Gel Cumulus and why is this at all important, because Dave wears the guy version of the shoe and he's like tickled that we have the same shoes now (although he won't admit it) he keeps asking "do you like them, aren't they great." And the truth is: NO, they're not great...they're "ok,"....but I want to be running in SUPER light weight trainers like I did last year, but the problem is.....my knees would be really mad at me, so I have to wear heavier shoes. They're not as heavy as the purple people eater shoes, but they're not super light either. They'll do the job.

What else have I been doing? Keeping the training light, it's taper time, so my day tomorrow is a 90 minute ride and 35 minute run (with pickups, meaning going fast in spurts). WAHOO! That is a SHORT workout people....very excited. And don't roll your eyes, but with tapering, I gotta watch the calories, since i'm used to inhaling pretty much whatever I want---imagine my surprise when I was in Trader Joe's today and they sell individual packets of trail mix.....in TINY packets.......for like 170 calories, I realized i'd been eating like quadruple the amount of trail mix....for a SNACK. YIKES! Even with the amount of calories I burn, a 500 calorie snack combined with large other meals is a little frightening.

I am looking forward to my hungry feasts being over. The other night, I had dinner, but went to bed a little hungry--laid awake, couldn't sleep, an hour goes by, my stomach is growling and rumbling. Got up......ate....and fell asleep. I try to find a balance between "snacking repeatedly" and starving myself just to sleep without eating before bedtime.

These are all random thoughts, but such is the life of my head! What else?

OH. So, today with the helpful advice of my friend Juls and my coach, I went and had a massage. Fun? NOT REALLY. Oh My God. I wanted to cry, and actually---my left calf actually feels like she pulled a muscle in my calf from massaging so hard. Everything else feels really good------but my calves feel super tight. Just when I was starting to feel better about not having aches and pains. On the flip side, the massuse said "OH! your body feels great, not tight at all, except maybe up by your shoulders, you feel really loose," So, I guess that is good, I stretch well and i'm not on the verge of injury......at least up until the massage I wasn't. It wasn't a typical Swedish massage......it was Active Release Therapy/and or trigger point massage. So, picture someone taking their index finger and pushing it really hard on different points of your body. Owwww! I was tough, barely winced, but man, I was biting my tongue so hard. People tell me this is "good for me," I hope they're right!
*disclaimer: the massage therapist is awesome--she does her job perfectly, it was the subject that was weak.

Mentally, how am I doing? Awesome. It's not one of those things where i'm obsessing, or worried about finishing, like I was last year. Don't get me wrong, *anything* can happen and yes, there is always the reality that I may not finish. However, I feel 100% more prepared, ready and stronger this year than I did last year. The advantage of doing a 2nd Ironman, is that you've done a first. You know how long the day is, you know what to expect, you prepare yourself to "adapt," to anything that goes wrong, that's what Ironman brings, adaptation....all day long.

I'm excited to see how far i've come in a year and I feel like i've worked harder and put in longer hours than I did last year, so i'm hopeful that my hard work will serve me well!

Picture of me on my birthday eating frozen yogurt....YUM.