Lubbock

Well I've been crazy busy with school, work and training lately, but took a break for a few days to pay a visit to Texas Tech. The history department hosted a grad student recruitment weekend, and it was a blast! They introduced us to all the faculty and several of the current grad students, who answered all our questions and gave all the prospective students an in-depth look into the program. I made some great friends there, including a fellow MA student who will be studying religion and environment. She is the sweetest lady; she is recovering from cancer and her determination to overcome everything that life has thrown at her is just amazing. I also met a retired Air Force officer who will be studying military history; he has five of the most adorable kids! I see babysitting in my future, yay! I loooove kids :)

On another note, we toured the campus and the surrounding areas while I was there...so pretty. The town itself is pretty flat, but I know from racing near Lubbock that there ARE some hills :). Friday night an awful dust storm blew through; I hope that I'll never experience winds like that again. But who am I kidding, it's Lubbock...but it'll be great prep for Kona. Hopefully I'll be able to find some training partners next year, 'cause it's been pretty lonely here in College Station! Nobody here races long distance year-round like I do, but I HATE the shorter stuff.

Umm...this blog is going to be really boring for the next few months, I can already tell. Sorry! I really don't have much to write about except school, work, Corps, and triathlon, and let me tell ya, it's just as boring to live as it is to write about. I can't wait to graduate and...do it all over again. lol! But no Corps, and I'll be teaching and grading papers instead of working with USAT. I'm sure going to miss my job though - I work as a liason between USAT and the collegiate community in the South-Midwest region. After attending a few meetings with the USAT staff, I swore I'd never work for USAT full time - too much politics! But definitely rethinking that though, 'cause it sounds a lot more fun than teaching history!

This summer I'll hopefully have some awesome adventures to document. If my work schedule permits, I'll be travelling to Champaign, Illinois to trail run, Colorado Springs to explore (and run up Pikes Peak!!!), Lubbock to find an apartment and visit all the health/natural food stores(duh), and Arizona to visit friends and train triathlon. Keeping my fingers crossed! Let me know if you want to join me, seriously. Traveling is much more fun with lots of friends :)

Back at it

Happy Monday! Back to the grind after an awesome Spring Break full of swimbikerun. A quick recap:

Sunday's run was just beautiful - I love running through the sunrise. I forgot about daylight "savings" time though, so I was literally running an hour late. oops! I had about fifteen minutes between the time I got back and the time I had to leave for Church, so I didn't get to stretch, and boy I was feeling it later on. Oh well! Swam later on and then just relaxed for the rest of the day. My friend and teammate Adam came down to train with me, and we experimented on a granola bar recipe that night..EPIC fail. We tried mixing oats, wheat germ, coconut, blueberries and almond butter into bars, and while the mixture tasted great, it turned out more like granola. We ended up eating it for breakfast instead of a mid-ride snack, but hey, at least we used it!

Monday we swam with my Mom's master's group, and it was a blast! Lots of IM sets, my favorite :) Then it was off on a century ride, Adam's first ever and my first in FORever haha. We rode along the Guadaloupe River and it was just so beautiful! We stopped to see some buffalo at a buffalo farm on the way too. The t-run was really short, probably the shortest run of my life, but even fifteen minutes is fun :)

The rest of the week was pretty much the same, and by the end of it all I finally felt like by bike fitness was coming back. Besides triathlon though, I did absolutely NOTHING. I'd train, eat, sleep and read, that's it - just no energy for anything else. I could do this for a living!!!

This week is swim week, with several shorter, faster runs and as much cycling as I can fit in. I'm going to Lubbock on Thursday to meet my professors and fellow grad students, and more importantly check out the pools/running trails/bike routes! This means that I have to get ahead in my homework though, so I'm going to spend the next few hours writing papers, translating Latin and researching American Indian dietary rituals in the 17th century. Yup I'm nuts...but if you know me, you already knew that. Then I'm off on the bike to enjoy the gorgeous day!

Coming on strong...

Well I had originally decided not to post on this blog until after I graduate in May. But after reviewing the benefits of keeping a food and training log, I realized that I might also profit from recording random events in my daily life. Actually writing down what and when I do things will hopefully help me stay on track. Senioritis, anyone??? You'd think that with the end in sight I'd put my head down, study like crazy and just see this thing through. But no, I've been getting distracted lately by things that would never ever capture my interest. The other day I watched TV with my Corps buddies for a while - which is epic for me. I NEVER watch TV, ever. I've been wasting time on the computer and just vegging out too. I just can't concentrate!

I blame this partly on my recent discovery of ultrarunning- man oh man I am head over heels in love with this sport. There's just nothing like heading out for a long run, not caring where you go or how long you'll be out, just exploring the countryside. Granted College Station isn't a great place to explore; the training here is awful. But if I carry enough chia fresca and peanut butter/honey/date wraps to last me several hours, I'll just loop around for a while, and eventually come upon a new route. The other day I got in some speedwork when three snarling dogs decided that my heels looked tasty. If I could only muster up that adrenaline rush during the latter stages of my races! haha. But I really have to muster up the determination to study now - I'm doing fine in all my classes except Latin, and if I don't pass that class I don't graduate! And since it's one of my required courses for my major I have to get at least a 'C', not just a 'D'. This means I have to ace the final...boy I have my work cut out for me. But I know I can do it...I just have to focus on being a student instead of a triathlete for the next few months. I should probably stop reading all the pros' blogs...

But on another note - it's now officially Spring Break! And how am I celebrating? By going to bed of course. These past few weeks have been pretty light training weeks for me, both because I needed to recover from two recent 50-mile trail races (sooo much fun!) and also because I wanted to be fresh for what is going to be the most intense training week of my life. Starting Sunday, next week goes as follows:

Sunday: 18mi tempo run on a crazy hilly course, and a 10K swim. I love longish swims.

Monday-Friday are pretty much all the same - I'll swim with my Mom's Master's swim group @5:30, and be on the bike by 8:00 for 5-7 hours of steady riding in the hills. I LOVE the Texas hill country! I'll follow those rides by a short t-run, just to remind my legs what's up.

Saturday is an epic 120-mi ride (hopefully I'll be able to muster up some friends to accompany me) and an 8-10mi tempo/transition run. That's gonna be a fun day for sure :D

I'm definitely looking forward to hitting the training hard, and of course seeing my family! We're going to see several movies and just mostly relax. Oh and I'm going to cook and bake like crazy - i love a well-stocked kitchen! I have several recipes to experiment on, and I'll be sure to post them here, along with some pictures. Sweet potato truffles, choco-coconut-oat granola bars, new green smoothie recipes and nut/seed butter are only a few of the items on the agenda :)

Tomorrow is an easy 3-5 hour ride, whatever I'm feeling, and a long swim @the Bryan Aquatic Center. And then I go HOME!!!