No Title Day

I can't think of a creative title for this post, so deal with it.











First off, I just made a KICK A$$ LASAGNA!! It's about as healthy as lasagna can get: Whole wheat pasta, Turkey meat, and low fat ricotta cheese, among other things. I've gotten several compliments from people including my roommate and his girlfriend, myself, and Junior. I'd say that's pretty solid.

Had an almost 9 mile run last night. It was actually 8.6. It was pretty slow, but my legs felt great. I ran a pretty hilly course for Memphis, so I guess I had to feel pretty good about it. What I was most proud of is the fact that I listened to my coach, and recovered SMARTLY. Can I say that? I don't care. That's what I did. I woke up NOT SORE for the first time in a loooong time after a long run. As the day wore on, my hips became a bit sore, but nothing compared to what I usually deal with. I guess Coach is right sometimes ;)

Tomorrow....I have a 5 hour ride. I'm actually a bit nervous, because it's the longest training ride yet. Should be approximately 75 miles or so. That's a lot of freakin miles. I'm planning to ride up to Bartlett (about 12 miles away) to a group ride. I called the bike shop and they're planning to do 50. Then I'll ride back home and that should be about my 5 hours. I have a 20 min run off the bike. Then...after a shower and some major chow, I have about 7 hours of babysitting for an 8 month old (thank goodness I won't actually be chasing around a toddler, as I will be recovering smartly) and also some work thrown in there since I'll have time and I'm much behind on my work. But don't tell my boss that...

Also good news today: I'm a finalist for the St. Jude job!!! YAY! I actually knew this yesterday because I contacted the doctor I interviewed with and she told me. But today made it official with them asking for my references. They said they'd probably make a decision by late next week or early the following week. So best case scenario I have a job by the end of next week. Worst case scenario...I'm not even going to mention it.

So that's the last few days (and tomorrow) in a nutshell ("Look I'm in a nutshell!" -that's for you Corky!)

My Dog is a Pimp

Enough said.

Pics from Daddy-O

My dad was the official photographer of MIM for me! He took some good ones, and here they are! Enjoy your Monday off!

That smile won't last too long!!

Already passing the chick in front of me

Dismounting (falling off) my bike

Running into the finish. I tried to look strong!

Nass and I looking hot (literally, not figuratively) post race

I'm baaaack!

Well Florida was a yes and no success. I'm glad I went to check out this job (though it costed a lot of money...not even mine-thanks mom!). However, its not looking like I would take it, if they offered it to me. It's too soon to say for sure, but there are a ton of likes and dislikes. I'll get to that more later. I'm tired of talking about it! Meanwhile, I still need your prayers on the St. Jude job to come through....

They posted pictures of the race! Man, I always forget how UN-HOT people look when they are racing. Check it out....

Memphis in May Race Recap

Pics to come soon!

Swim-22:27-1:22 pace (per 100 yards) Last year-25:29 Time dropped=3:02

I was so happy with my swim! Major improvement from last year. I credit this to 1.)more consistent training, 2.)wetsuit, and 3.)staying as close to the turns as possible. Besides swimming over a guy (and accidently punching him in the process), the swim was pretty uneventful. It was very consistent. The only thing that went wrong was that after the last turn, when I was headed back to shore, I was trying to spot the huge, inflatable arch of the start/finish for the swim. Apparently (I found this out after the race), right after I went in for the swim, they lost all power at the start! This included the pump that was keeping the arch inflated! So it slowly sank down and volunteers had to stand and hold the arch up until they figured out the power issue. When I didn’t see the arch, I freaked out and thought I got turned around and was heading back out to swim it again! Quickly, I realized this didn’t happen, stopped and treaded water for about 5 seconds so that I could figure out where I was. Then, I laid the hammer down and swam as fast as I could to the finish.

T1-1:37 Last year-1:26 Time added=:11

Though I added a few seconds from last year, this wasn’t bad by any means. The added time was probably for the fact that I had to strip off a wetsuit this year. Maybe I should practice that?

Bike-1:18:21- 18.8mph pace Last year-1:19:21 Time dropped=1:00

This started off bad because coming out of transition is a small hill. I do quick transitions, with my shoes banded in place, so I jumped on my bike, and obviously any forward momentum I had was sucked up by this hill. I immediately fell over, but luckily I wasn’t in my shoes so I was able to catch myself. It took me 30 seconds just to get on my bike! So annoying… I thought I would have dropped more time from last year, but I suppose not. I was talking to Seth, and we decided that it is a little harder to drop time on a flat course…you can go fast with little training on a flat course! Which was me last year J I felt more consistent on the bike. I wasn’t fluctuating in my speed or cadence which was definitely good. However, about mile 10, my hamstrings started getting tight. I tried to stand and stretch whenever I could, but they just kept screaming. It didn’t hurt too badly, so I just ignored the pain and kept pressing on. Mile 16, I passed a turtle in the middle of the road: a little confidence booster…I’m faster on my bike than a turtle! YAY! Mile 18, a car backfired right behind me and I thought I was getting shot at….Hey…it is Memphis! Once I hit mile 20, I knew I was close so I just pedaled it hard to get back to transition.

T2-2:24 Last year-2:37 Time dropped=:13

This started off with me running into my corral, and some guy going out for the run running behind me with one of my bike shoes…apparently it had fallen off right when I got into transition. Thanks random guy! Since my hamstrings were on fire at this point, after I racked my bike and bent over to put my shoes on…my hamstrings completely seized up. I almost fell over. I got my shoes on, put my hat and number belt on, and hobbled out of transition. I tried to look strong when I exited transition because my parents were there taking pictures and cheering me on. I wanted to look like I wasn’t dying…though I think my hamstrings were dead at that point.

Run-1:06:43- 10:45 min/mile pace Last year-1:09:13 Time dropped=2:30

It took me the first half of the run to get my hamstrings to stretch out. When I was running, I had to be going about a 10 min/mi pace. I had to walk up 3 short, steep hills because the flexion in my foot caused my hamstrings to stretch and HURT. Once I got past the halfway point, I was able to run it home, though not completely pain free. I knew I only had 3 miles left, so I just pushed through it. My nutrition was completely off during the race (I was too focused on going fast), so by the last 2 miles, I had no energy. I still beat last year’s time, however, with my training this year, I definitely expected to go faster. Oh well, this year I’m kind of training for distance and not so much speed. It’ll get there!

Overall time: 2:51:30 Last year: 2:58:05 Time drop=6:35

I’ll just go ahead and round that time drop up to 7 min J I wasn’t as happy with my race until I saw my splits. Basically my run is what killed me. I ended up 11/29 in my age group, though my swim rank was 7th, my bike rank was 10th, and my run rank? Freakin 20th!

To keep it optimistic, which I am an optimistic person, I found 3 things I was very happy with:
1.) Swim split. You cannot be upset with a 3 minute drop! Plus I felt good doing it!
2.) I much improve my age group finish from last year (14/26).
3.) Though I was hurting during the run, I was still determined to finish, and finish by leaving it all out on the course. I definitely could not have put forth much, if any, more effort. I completely exhausted myself by the finish.

Now for some improvements:
1.) Regular stretching! I think this is the reason why my hamstrings acted up. I have been fitted for the aero position on my bike, so that shouldn’t have been the reason. More stretching is in my future.
2.) NUTRITION!! I tend to forget during a short race to stay on top of my nutrition. I’m too worried about racing. I feel like taking a gel slows me down so much, but in reality, it slows me down much more to not take a gel, and slow my pace down for quite a while.
3.) Longer speed workouts on the bike. I felt pretty consistent, but I feel like I can be consistent at a faster pace. We’ll see.

I’m happy my parents got to watch me race for the first time! It was definitely exciting to see them experience what I do now! Also, I FINALLY got to meet my coach, and a teammate! Leslie was there representing DFT/QA3 also! It was so nice to meet her and see her out on the course. Having a teammate there made it extra fun! Thanks to everyone who came out and cheered me on (including my roommate!). Next up…KANSAS 70.3!!!!

New Year's Resolution (starting May 16th)

I came up with my New Year's Resolution today. You see, because Nass and her Mom are staying with me for the next two days, and because my parents will be seeing this apartment for the first time (and I move out in two months, maybe less...ha!) I had to clean my room, bathroom, living room, and kitchen.

What's that? Why am I complaining about this? Well, because it took me TWO DAYS to do it all. Why is that you ask? Simply because I SUCK at keeping up with cleaning. I'm so much happier, and even sleep better, when my room is clean. However, when training and life takes over, and all I want to do is come home and rest/recover, cleaning is the last priority. Also, because I only share a room with Junior, who doesn't seem to mind the mess and may actually prefer it, there's no one else to bother.

So back to yesterday and today. I tackled the kitchen first. After 3 loads of the dishwasher, wiping down counters, and mopping the floor, it looked fantastic. The reason the kitchen is such a mess is because my roommates and I are constantly in and out, and sometimes there's just no time to empty the dishwasher, thus dishes pile up. Since I'm the one home most of the time, I end up cleaning up. If I get behind on it, then the kitchen gets disgusting.

Next was the living room. This didn't take long to pick up, but then the vacuuming...OH MY GOSH. I started by emptying the vacuum cleaner. By the time I finished just vacuuming the living room, it was COMPLETELY full again. One word: Disgusting.

Next, today, was my room and bathroom. It was crunch time. Nass and her mom will be here in an hour and a half, so I stayed home from work today to get it done. I knew it'd be a big project. Throughout the day I did laundry...about 4 loads. And I even folded them, too! Sometimes, I'm good about doing laundry, but then clean clothes sit in a basket and I pick them out of there for the week :) I finally cleaned up, dusted, swept, and I could see my floor! Junior took part in his ritual back scratch in the middle of the floor right after I swept (I still love him).

Next, was the bathroom. First, I had to pick up the erupting volcano coming out of my closet that are my dirty clothes. I cleaned everything, including the shower, which still had dirt prayed up the walls from Junior's "rolling in the mud fiasco" of last week.

Finally, the place smelled of clean. A sigh of relief. And now I wait. For what? For Junior to pull toys out. For Junior to bring sticks in without my knowledge and mulch my floor. For a huge air mattress to cover my floor while Nass and her Mom are here. But, until all that happens, I am content. And my New Year's Resolution is to keep my room like this. I swear I will try this time. Because it takes so much longer to clean like this, and you have to miss work. Good thing I don't have a real job yet. They probably don't understand staying home to clean.

Oh yeah, T - 1 day until Memphis in May!!!!

T - 2.5 days and counting

2.5 days until MIM! I'm so excited! I have had a very weird week for me. I have been in and out of the office due to interviews. Yesterday, I was at St. Jude for 8 hours...interviewing. Who has an interview for 8 hours!?! It was a long day, but completely worth it. In a nutshell (look, I'm in a nutshell! That was for you Court), it sounds like this job would ROCK. Plus it would put me in a good spot to get my PhD in a few years. So, best case scenario, I'll have to choose between this job and the Florida job. Please say some prayers!!

Needless to say, after being on my feet for 8 hours yesterday, mentally exhausting myself, and to the point where I was tired of talking, I came home, took my bike to get worked on (thanks Bike's Plus for staying late to work on it!) and came home and collapsed. I fell asleep for 90 minutes and woke up wondering what day it was. Those are the best naps! But, that meant I didn't get my quick run and bike in. Coach wasn't mad, she said I could benefit from the rest. Today I will swim and do yesterday's run. I'll probably jump on my bike for a few minutes, just to check out the improvements! Then, I'll clean as tomorrow Nassly and her mom are coming to stay with me for the race!

I have quite the busy weekend, looking something like this:

Thurs: "work"; swim; pick up bike; run; bike; CLEAN
Fri: "work"; babysit; welcome Nass and her mama; (off day of training)
Sat: go to race site, pick up packet; swim, bike, and run at race; drive course; possibly babysit for a few hours; church; welcome parents to Memphis; pack for race; EARLY TO BED
Sun: Wake up super early..........RACE!!!!! ; Graduation party! ; Collapse
Tues: FLORIDA

So, if you don't hear from me until after the race, that is why. Plus, all I really have to talk about at this point, is the race!!!

Good luck to everyone racing here on Saturday and Sunday, and to all my friends racing in other states. It seems like this is a huge race weekend!

T - 6 days and counting

I've never been so excited to race as I am for this year's Memphis in May tri. It was my first olympic distance race (last year), and I'm looking forward to destroying my time from last year. Here's the top ten reasons why this year's race will be so awesome (compared to last year).

10. I have a coach this year who has trained me so well
9. I get to race with my coach
8. My parents and brother are coming to the race, and its their first triathlon
7. I know the course, since I competed last year, so I'll feel more comfortable
6. I know SO MANY people racing (Liz, Leslie, Nass and her mama, and numerous others from around Memphis)
5. I'm literally miles ahead in my training of where I was last year at this time
4. I had the BEST brick workout ever on Saturday
3. It's freakin Memphis in May..one of the best races in the whole country!
2. Bike's Plus managed to squeeze me in for some bike maintenance on Wednesday, even though they'll be building all kinds of bikes being shipped in for the race. So I will be racing on a tuned up bike!

And the number one reason why this year's Memphis in May race will be so much better than last year's....

1. I DON'T HAVE A BROKEN LEG.

That reason in and of itself will make this weekend so much better. I won't be limping to the finish line! YAY! I had a dream (more like nightmare) about the race last night. In true Robyn fashion, it was a whacked out dream, so its not like it would really come true, but when triathlons creep into your dreams...its a little weird. At least that's what Patrick just told me.

!!!

The title of this blogs describes my last 24 hours.

So you remember how I didn't get the job that I pretty much thought I had? Well, I'm beyond over it.

I applied to approximately 735 jobs on Monday (give or take) and have/had 3 initial interviews set up. One was yesterday (we'll get back to that), one next Thursday, and one yet to be scheduled.

Next Thursdays is for a teaching position at a personal training school in Columbus, OH. While this sounds like a job I'd really like, it's in Columbus, OH. Need I say more? If it were the only job that I could get, then I'd be more excited about it.

The interview yet to be scheduled is for a position here in town at St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. It's for an exercise specialist, where I'd be exercise testing various populations. This is very similar to what I've been doing for the past two years getting my masters. I'd get to work with a former grad student from Memphis that just graduated last year. Again, this sounds pretty cool. I could do it.

BUT- yesterday's interview, if you read the previous blog post, was for the place in the Florida Keys. It's at a Wellness Center and I'd be an exercise specialist, though for this job, its a bit closer to personal training in special populations. Plus, its in the KEYS! I know my mom is probably like "Robyn, there's more to a job than location". And I agree. This job sounds so great for me. I'm not going to go into details, but it includes just about everything I need (i.e. BENEFITS...mother...). This morning, I came in to work to see I had an email from them asking me to come down for a personal interview! Sounds more like a vacation to me....kidding. Hopefully in the next couple weeks (once Memphis in May is over), I'll be heading down to check it out. I think they really like me (I mean, who wouldn't? Kidding, again). So please pray that either this job, or another one for that matter, works out for me.

If you need me, I'll be here:

Nothing new

Not much to report here. Its recovery week, so pretty easy on the training. Monday was a run, and it went surprisingly well. I felt pretty good, which is awesome because lately my runs have felt awful. Yesterday was 2800 in the pool. I'm doing more speed work to get ready for Memphis in May. My arms felt a little fatigued, which is odd because I haven't swam in 5 days. No reason for them to be tired! Today I have an hour ride with some spin ups-again getting ready for the race.

In other news, the job that was supposedly "mine", is no longer. Long story short, someone more qualified applied, which was completely unexpected. So back to the drawing board. I'm surprisingly ok with it, because I know God has bigger and better things planned for me. I just wish he'd hurry up and tell me what they are! Yesterday I applied to probably 10 jobs, and I already have two phone interviews set up. Tomorrow, I'm interviewing for an exercise physiologist position. Look where it is! That's right...in the Florida Keys. It wouldn't suck to live there. But we'll see what happens...its just a phone interview! Can't get excited about anything, yet.

Long Ride by the Numbers

Saturday's Long Ride

Miles Traveled = 69.77
Hours Ridden = 4:38
Estimated number of leg rotations = 23,630
Ounces of drink consumed = 90-ish
Gels consumed = 4
Bars consumed = 1
Salt tabs consumed = 3
Dead snakes = 5
Dead turtles = 2
Dead possums = 2
Dead frogs = 3
Dead armadillos = 1
Dead birds = 6 (one just looked like it fell straight out of tree...it hadn't been hit or anything!)
Chicken wings (yes, like one you get at BW3's) = 1
Number of squirrels attempting suicide by running in front of my bike = 4
Times I repeated "I love my Coach. I Love Ironman" = 2
Times I wondered who I would call if I crashed 25 miles from my house = 7
Number of sunburnt shoulders = 2
Number of hours babysat on Saturday alone = 9 (not good for recovery)

Just deal with it

I was reading my friend's blog today and it made me think of so many things. First, let me preface this story with what happened yesterday:

I have pretty much all guy friends in Memphis. It comes with the territory of the exercise science field: Very male dominated. I can deal. I don't mind being a standout woman amongst a field of men! But, what happens when you get a bunch of guys together? They tend to regress in maturity. Sorry, guys, but you know its true. Most of the time, I can handle this. We are all very joking/sarcastic people, and I don't mind. I grew up in a sarcastic family. I've got tough skin. But sometimes, being the only one around with two "X" chromosomes...it really begins to where on you. I'm still a woman. I still have days where I just don't feel like dealing with the immaturity. Between last Friday and yesterday was one of these times.

Remember last Friday, I was D.D. for the guys. No big deal. I never go out with them so it's nice when I get to. Whenever something is going on, we send a mass email around, and everyone responds by "replying all" so everyone is on the same page. Well, after some miscommunication about who D.D.'ed last Friday, one of my friends replied all and proceeded to rip on me, pretty badly, to all of our friends. I was done. I sent him an email explaining how he's taking it a bit too far, and I was sick of it.

That was a long story short, basically to talk about how I'm starting to feel the impacts of IM training:

1. I'm poor. That comes with IM and transitioning from student to big girl.

2. I never get to hang out with my friends. Most of the time, I'm ok with this. As my officemate just came in saying he got home at 4am and how he feels like crap today, I kind of chuckled and said "Reason #492 why I don't go out."

3. Sometimes, it gets pretty lonely. I don't have a specific training partner for IM LOO, so doing solo 2 hour runs (yesterday...ouch) or Saturday rides, or just being home for several hours with no one to talk to but Junior, I get lonely. There's nothing anyone can really do. Comes with the training really. Because if I didn't have to run yesterday, and then lay in my bed to recover for an hour afterwards, I probably would have been out doing something else, involving real live people.

4. Want to go visit a friend somewhere? PAH! Yeah right. Between wanting to visit my sister, Seth, peeps in Kansas...that's a lot of money and TIME. Neither of which I have. Well, actually I have time next week since I won't start my job yet, but no money...which is pretty important. But even if I did have the money, I'd have to load my bike wherever I'm going, and make sure my workouts get done. That becomes more difficult when you're on the road.

With all that said, I go back to my friend's blog. Yeah, you make sacrifices. Such as me not going on vacation with my ENTIRE family because I'll be doing Kansas 70.3...an extremely important lead in race to IM. One of my aunt's said "So she'd rather drive to Kansas, swim, bike and run for 6ish hours, and drive back all in the same weekend. She'd do this rather than lay on the beach with the family?" Well...simply put...at this time in my training, yes. It's a sacrifice I'm willing to make to meet my goal of crossing that finish line in Louisville come August 31. I'm not super excited about not getting to lay on the beach with an adult beverage in hand with my crazy family around me. But its what I have to do. IM is not just a month commitment. Its a YEAR long commitment, in some cases more. Its a complete lifestyle change that you and your family and friends must be willing to deal with.

I'm there. I've committed. Which is why sometimes your friends rip on you for staying in on a Friday night because you have to get up early and train. Or why you must miss an amazing family vacation. Or why sometimes you get lonely. But when I cross the finish line on August 31 and Mike Reilly says "Robyn Karlage, YOU are an Ironman!" all of it will be worth it. All the negatives will disappear and I will only remember the positives. I can't wait.