Busy Bee!! :)

OH man it has been crazy these past few weeks! I've had a really rough time for a while 'cause I was really sick and couldn't figure out what was up. I hate, HATE complaining so I'm not going to get into that at all, except to mention that I'm really worried about how the last couple less-than-stellar training weeks are going to impact my performance in Arizona. Suffice to say that I probably won't be running sub-3 in the NYC marathon either, but that will come! December...Vegas...I am so pumped!!! :D

Life has been just great besides that though. School is a lot of fun, and I've discovered that I have a mild obsession with the archives in the Southwest Collection here at Texas Tech. Reading and research are so interesting, at least to me....ahhh can't believe I'm such a nerd! Oh well. It's really tough trying to fit everything in but so far, so good. How can I not love life? I

On a completely unrelated note, the fall weather if settling in and I could not be more thrilled. In my mind, cooler weather and squash are the best things about this season! At least in Texas, where we aren't able to appreciate the gorgeous fall colors up north. I just ate half a kabocha squash roasted and mixed with smart balance (does anyone know a healthier butter substitute, or is actual butter, as a whole food, the best option??) honey and pumpkin pie spice for breakfast, and am sipping a homemade soy pumpkin spice latte. So good! I'm planning on making a ton of squash dishes in the next few weeks. My favorites include butternut squash lasagna, where I substitute Ezekiel bread for the noodles so it ends up like a savory bread pudding. Stuffed squash will definitely make an appearance. For a sweet treat I stuff a roasted acorn or blossom squash with a mix of roasted apples, honey and spices, and top it with a spoon of homemade walnut butter. Best. Dish. Ever! Oh and soup/stew in pumpkin bowls is also incredible. I just scoop the seeds and stringy stuff out of a small pumpkin, season the flesh, bake it and fill with homemade soup! When you dip your spoon in you come away with bites of tender pumpkin flesh and soup together...ahhh I want to make this now!

Only I can't 'cause I gotta get my boy to the chiropractor. His back is hurting him pretty bad but hopefully in just a few hours it'll be fixed :) So I'm off, but more to come soon 'cause I'm so happy I want to share it! Plus I'm a girl and I ALWAYS have something to say ;) Have a great fall day everyone...train hard, smile, love life and never, ever take anything for granted :)

Congratulations Kona Finishers!

I just want to say a huge "congrats" to all the finishers of the Ironman World Championships today, especially my friends. WOW, so many of you posted great times...can't wait 'till I can be there next year. It's going to be incredible!

Training this week was really light, 'cause this next week is another crazy week of training. Starting tomorrow with a 50K run. It has been too long! I'll try to update more about school and life, but to be honest school and training IS my life, and honestly, does anyone really want to hear about what a history grad student does? I think not...but if you do be sure to let me know! lol.

So I'm done tracking for the night and off to bed. Have a great week everyone!

Ultra...week?

Well this past week of epic training is over. And I feel great! I little winded, and my legs warned me today that they will not be pushed too hard for a little while. But no matter - for I have officially logged 41 quality training hours in the past 7 days. Crazy but totally worth it, and definitely worth doing again before Ironman Arizona.

I committed to training each discipline once per day, for a total of three sessions/day. Five of the days started out with a ride, so my legs were fatigued going into the run, but hey they just gotta learn to suck it up. The cumulative fatigue towards the end of the week resulted in some less than stellar run workouts, but my goal this week was to log the miles, so I didn't care too much about sustaining a zippy pace. I just wanted to push myself as hard as I could go and get the mental boost from knowing that I am fully capable of doing what I tell myself I can.

I had a great schedule down, and just stuck to it. I would log the actual workouts here but right now I'm far too lazy. Spent all day in class and in the archives, and while I kinda enjoyed it, I'm beat. Maybe I'll put all that down later.

Anyway, today is a rest week of sorts. I was supposed to swim yesterday but the weather was just too gorgeous so I ended up on the bike for a couple hours instead. Then it was off to dinner with Heath, Jennifer and Bryton Pennel. So much fun! Dinner was incredible, and a much better success than my protein pancakes were earlier in the day. I was out of almost everything, so I tried to create my protein pancakes but omitted the oats, egg whites and banana (out), and just mixed the vegan protein powder, flax and water. EPIC fail. Ya live and learn... Anyway, today was a trail run that turned into a tempo run on the roads, and boy did it feel good to feel speed in my legs again :)

Now I'm about to hit the books 'cause I have two book reports to write by Thursday, a topic proposal due Wednesday and some more research to do in the archives. If you live in Lubbock and haven't checked out the Southwest Collection yet, go! It's really awesome. Have a great week everybody, and be sure to watch the Ironman World Championships this weekend. I'm gonna ride a double century Friday and run a 50K Saturday in honor of the epic event. My legs will hate me but it's good for them. Good luck to all my friends who are racing, I'll be praying for - and tracking, you all! :)