Chisago Triathlon - Volunteering - a new perspective.

Last week, Kris and I both received and email from MN Masters Swimming indicating that Chisago Triathlon still needed volunteers and they were offering a free entry into the 2015 Triathlon in exchange for volunteering. We both have a participated in the race before, most notably when in 2009 I blew up on the run after turning myself inside out trying catch up with Kris on the bike. And then in 2010 we were signed up for the Sprint and never made it because of our epic bike ride late into the event and were too tired to get up the next day. So the idea of getting a free entry to try again had some appeal. Unfortunately, it meant getting up at 3:45am to get ready and drive to Chisago. 

Once we checked in, our first job was body marking which was a lot of fun, I have never had that assignment and it was nice to chat with all the athletes before the race, when most of them were still in high spirits. Highly recommend volunteering as a body marker. After that we were moved over into transition and I was assigned the Mount/Dismount line along with Doobie (Hopkins Royal Triathlon Race Director), Kris was assigned down at the road for the turn in/out of the parking lot. I also had a fun time with this assignment. Truth be told, part of my USAT Official came out and although there were no penalties to be given out, I made sure to be plenty loud making sure everyone respected the orange line. The one thing that surprised me was that even though I was being firm with the mount/dismount line, most participants were quick to thank me for volunteering which was really nice.

The one problem with volunteering at a Half Iron Triathlon is that with no relief you are at transition until the last biker comes back, which in this case was slightly after the 4 hour bike cutoff. When you get up at 3:45am, it makes for a very long morning.

We brought our bikes with us and we had planned to get in our 90 minute ride after we were done volunteering (and brunch) but after a handful of miles, I noticed that my left crank was really loose and on the verge of falling off. We stopped and I tried to tighten but it only lasted about a half a mile of our ride back to the car. There is nothing quite so surreal then having your crank come off your bike but still be attached to your bike shoe. So as it became apparent that I would not be able to ride back to the car, Kris rode back on her own to get the car and come back to me. Good thing my car is now a Automatic. Got the ailing bike into the back seat, I was afraid the crank would fall off during the long drive home and we were on our way.
(Now he got just a tiny hint of what happened to me during Gear West Du a few years back.   I still get worked up thinking about that race.  One of the few times in my life I new I really, really lost it!)

The other piece that I failed to mention is that both Kris and I were EXTREMELY sore in our quads. And I kid you not, it felt like we had run a marathon the day before and not just a 5K. For any of you who have run a marathon, you know the feeling, climbing stairs up is a challenge but walking down stairs in next to impossible. I know that we are out of shape and we did push it a little but this is ridiculous, there is no way we should be this sore from a 5K. As I write this Blog, it is Tuesday and I am still very sore and stairs are still a challenge. I am cringing just thinking about having to run for 10 minutes tonight as part of our scheduled brick.The price we pay for letting ourselves get way out of shape.
My bigger fear is the hip/leg/IT band.  I've decided to go back and chat with my PT again to see if we should look closer at my spine and hip because I'm really feeling like that could be the root cause but it is actually turning out to be just a muscle imbalance issue so I just need to foam roll more and do my core/hip exercises.

Things are Looking Up and a Change in Racing Plans

Kris: This is going to basically be a quick mish-mosh of some of our current happenings that, for once, are all moving us forward!!

Injury-wise I'm still only running 3 days per week but been keeping a decent pace on the longer runs and knee is feeling less and less achy on the days I'm not running.   Mark took a week off due to an Achilles strain and then took it easy and has been running with me this week and seems to have avoided any further damage.

It did dawn on us yesterday morning that we are less than 3 months from the Pipestem XTERRA triathlon and haven't been in the pool for a training swim in months.   Luckily the financial situation is turning around a bit so as long as we can motivate ourselves out of bed next week, we can pay our way back into morning Masters swim training 2x per week.  Getting out of bed has been impossible for us lately but we've been trying to force ourselves to bed earlier so it's not such a short night.

MY TOWNHOUSE IS FINALLY GOING UP FOR SALE!!! :D  :D :D
We managed to get a loan lined up and so the townhouse is being listed next week.  Granted it is being sold for much less than I bought it for but at this point, it's killing us financially so even at a loss, we'll end up with a smaller, much more manageable loan.   That will allow us to start paying off some debt, fix up our current house and start thinking about buying one that is better suited for us.  Cross your fingers!!

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Well we did just find out one UNfortunate thing this evening.  Boulder 70.3 filled up before we got around enough money and courage to sign up for it.  Sorry Team Baby Dinosaur :( :(   So bummed that we aren't in for this one now but maybe we can rearrange and create a solid plan to come visit Colorado in September ;)

But that does mean we are now looking at any other race possibilites for July and August.  Something probably here in the Midwest so we can just make it a weekend driving trip.   Road or off-road triathlon or some unique endurance events.  

If you know of a great off-road triathlon, half iron triathlon or some other fun, unique endurance event, please comment and let me know!

Surviving Winter Triathlon Training! (My Social Experiment)

Kris: So I'm sitting here at work and can't help but think about how lately I haven't been training nearly enough and feeling like a TOTAL slug.   I know I've been coming up with a number of excuses including lack of time and $$ but the things that seem to keep me from wanting to go out to the pool or spin or run (outdoors or at the club) are:

• Snow
• Cold Mornings
• Icy Trails
• Cold Afternoons
• Shorter Days
• Lack of Sunlight
• Layers and Layers of Running Clothing

So as an active member or the social media community, I've decided I want to reach out and see if you would all be willing to help me put together a list of Your Best Ways to Stay Motivated!

So no matter what your outdoor sport, please post your best "kick in the butt" reason or saying or whatever so we can all have a place to come back to and read when we are feeling like sitting on the couch and not getting out to train.  If I get enough feedback, I'll compile them into a separate blog post for you all.    Please send this to all your athlete friends who are also trying to survive this winter and ask them to post! 

Thanks in advance, you are all awesome :)

Snowmageddon - Round 2

Kris: Yesterday Mother Nature decided we needed another foot or so of snow.  The sad part is that it was supposed to be done by Noon today but I think we're getting more fluffy stuff today than we did yesterday.  Argh!   Luckily, Saturday we got a bunch of required errands done.  Then on Sunday, got our daily cache early in the morning and spent the day working on house projects.   Mark worked on the main floor bathroom.  It hasn't been functional in years due to bad flooring that needed to be replaced.  So he got the new duct work in and the new subfloor :D Mark: I plan of writing a full blog with pictures from the very beginning to the end of the project after the bathroom is finished. Kris: I worked on a bunch of cleaning and focused on getting all the wallpaper off the walls in the kitchen.

Wallpaper was developed by devils....they thought it would be funny for the next guy to try and REMOVE from the walls.

I also enjoyed that I got to cook this evening.   I made the Thai Chili recipe from our new favorite magazine, Clean Eating Mark: For any guy reading this, please note if your signifigant other likes/loves to cook, Clean Eating is the greatest magazine that you can get a subscription too. Not only does Kris get excited about reading through all of the recipes and planning on what she is going to make next but we get to eat much healthier food which tastes really good. I have tried more different types of foods for the first time since we got Clean Eating. Celeriac, Squash, Turnips, Collard Greens and Rapini. A win-win for all involved.

And here's a picture that was finally posted from BonTon Designs of when we went to a mosaic art class back on the 12th:

This afternoon we ended up making a couple short videos so I'll use those to finish this post :)