Melissa - Vain Triathlete

'How in the hell am I going to fit in all this training when things really heat up?' I asked myself this morning as I was timing the last segment of a three part workout. I am wondering just how long my half iron workouts will become. You know the ones that come when you are in good shape and you've had probably at least three months to build up to these workouts. The "main set" if you will.. To try to compare, in marathon training, because this is all I have to go on right now, it's the weeks of 60+ miles that I am thinking about right now. Because I KNOW the workouts will be REALLY LONG, I was trying to come up with inventive ways to fit more in. I thought of things like, skip a shower here and there. No one would notice. Maybe. I could start to "rough it". Then I re-thought. Since I still have to work 5 days a week I have come to the realization that I really only have about three choices: Get up even earlier than 5:am. I could probably get up at ...

Sometimes I feel so self centered. Last night I signed up for two half iron triathlons. This is no small feat to take lightly. The fees are substantial and non-refundable. And, who's to say that in five and eight months from now I will definitely be able to participate in these events. The mandatory early hotel reservations are also non-refundable. I HAD to make reservations to be sure I had somewhere to stay. One hotel was ALREADY FULL! This triathlon hobby of mine is expensive. Kathy says "don't complain about how expensive this stuff is to other people because they probably don't have enough money to buy groceries and you will sound ridiculous". She could be right however most of the people that I know can manage their weekly bills and also have some disposable income. But still, last night it felt indulgent to pursue my athletic goals. I have never felt this way before about a stupid race. Now I feel like, damn, I am so lucky to be able to do this. I feel like...

I need to vent a little. I’m beginning to think that the triathlon community of bloggers is VERY difficult to break into. I have left approximately 10 posts on new tri bloggers. I sought these people out through Mary and Ange’s blogs. On most of my posts I mention Mary and Ange so that they know where I am coming from. I'm simply trying to correspond with other triathletes to share knowledge and triathlon "stuff". To this day I have only received two replies. Today I found that Triguy actually DELETED my post. Am I THAT pathetic? Am I so "green" that I am not worthy of correspondences from more experienced triathletes? Even if I am "green" why would they not want to share their experiences with a newbie like myself? I certainly wouldn't deny correspondences if some new runner came along and wanted to share their new experiences with me. I would, quite honestly, be flattered that they even contacted me. So, regarding those bloggers, I can only conc...

Isn't' it true? As I lay here nursing my injury I think, god, if I could only train they way my schedule says I should then I would be so happy right now. When I'm in full training mode, injury free, I think, god, if I could only have a day off from training I would be so happy. So, here I lay, on the couch nursing my back sprain. Instead of being so bummed out I am only going to make a commitment to to myself to strengthen my back once I am able. That's it. I'm not going to be all bummed out about this. Things happen and you just have to deal with it. On another note. I'm signing up for the Mooseman rather than the REV3 Half IM in June. I will know people at Mooseman and be able to meet other triathletes. Sometimes I feel like I'm all alone on this triathlon journey so it's important to me to meet other triathletes. Running is not like this. Running has been so popular for so long that there are a plethora of running clubs to join in the state of MA. S...

I am so pissed at myself today. Yesterday, we took off for Florida at 6:00 pm. We had not eaten dinner and decided that since we had a big lunch we would not really worry about having a real dinner. After all we had some nuts and popcorn to curb our appetite. We arrive in Tamp and drive 1.5 hours to N. Venice in a van to find Maureen and Paul partying it up with their friends. Great! We needed to relax a little and unwind after the de-icing stress on the plane. We were Grateful to have made it out of the snow alive. :P So it's new years eve and I am making a Cosmo. My second favorite drink. After the first one I decided I would have a second. It was, for some reason, like drinking juice. I didn't feel like I had drank too much after a couple of hours. I was very wrong! I awoke today to a miserable, nauseating feeling that took half of my day to recover from. Yes, I was severely hung over. Bad, bad, judgement on my part. Not enough food and too much alcohol. Plus, with my weight...