Sunday, May 5 - my 42nd birthday! It dawned overcast and chilly with rain showers in the forecast. What a day for a super sprint tri. My first tri was a Ramblin Rose - women's only event with lots of support and encouragement from lots of bystanders. This event was in a different location. I had driven the bike route the day before so I was at least somewhat familiar with it. A friend from work, Becky, and her friend, Caryn (who wound up being a year ahead of me in nursing school and lived on my floor) were also doing this tri.
Found my spot in transition and got set up...found Becky and Caryn for a few photos. Ready for this thing to start!
The swim was a 200-yd pool swim with an out-and-back in every lane before switching lanes. Oh my goodness - can you say HATE THIS?! It was so crowded, couldn't pass effectively. Wound up breaststroking the whole thing because my face was in the feet of person in front of me otherwise. Yuck!
Fairly strong swim, considering. Quickly out of T1 (for me) and on the bike. Man my legs felt amazing! I was passing people right and left. Before I knew it, I was over halfway done with the 8 mile loop! Whoo Hoo!
On the final legs of the bike ride, I'm thinking, "You'd better save some of those legs for the run. Quit going all out." So I did.
Back into T2 - did not fall getting unclipped - a huge deal for me! Running shoes on and out to the run. Well - most of the run was a trail run - I HATE trail runs. I like pavement. I'm too clumsy to run on a soft, uneven surface. I did run some and walk some, which was better than the White Lake Tri. Unfortunately, I saw people that I passed on the bike course now passing me, BUT I passed them first and they were young, lean, and fit looking, which made me feel better. I know I'm slow as Christmas when running. Ah, the finish line! Finally!
I shaved 11 minutes off my previous Ramblin Rose tri time and was happy with my results overall. Some things I learned: read the event descriptions carefully. I do not like up and back pool swims. I do not like "trail" runs. I know this now.
I also know that I like the longer distances, like the sprint and hopefully the Olympic :)
Now, I have lots of academic work to do...summer is not "off" contrary to popular belief.
More posts coming later...lots to discuss including a "down" period I had last week, run-walk combos, and motivation...
TTT
Sunday, May 26, 2013
Thursday, May 2, 2013
End of semester and training
Well, it's the end of the semester, which means papers and final exams to grade. What joy! I can't believe how quickly my first academic year flew by. I had a breakfast meeting with my dean and a coworker on Wednesday, and there's some promising and great changes going to be proposed from the rank, promotion, and merit committee at our faculty breakfast next week. I think these changes are greatly positive, making the promotion process more transparent and having a review every 2 years to ensure new faculty are "on the right track" with their scholarship, teaching, and service. This is so exciting to me...I definitely don't want to be left in the dark with no clue as to what the committee wants, as another colleague was at a different institution. She submitted her tenure portfolio to the first committee in the process, only to be told she didn't have enough publications, which meant she had to work her butt off for a year to get publications out in order to get tenure. I saw how stressful that was for her, and I don't want to be in that situation. So transparency is a great thing.
As for my performance this year, I am mostly happy with my teaching and service, but not at all happy with my scholarship. I have submitted one manuscript to my coauthor for her revisions, but it hasn't been submitted to the journal yet. I have great ideas for two to four manuscripts from my dissertation, and a student really wants to do a research project with me, which could lead to another publication, or hopefully a poster presentation at the very least. So why can I not get off Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, and Spider Solitaire in order to get these things done??? I wish I could get IT to block these websites somehow (that I couldn't reverse) so that I can be more productive. Not to mention that the rest of this month will be consumed with writing our accreditation candidacy report, department goals, and how our program meets two of the university's core compentencies - ugh!!!
Triathlons - love the nutrition plan and training! I've lost ~20lbs since I started working with Lea in February and I feel great! But tris are another distraction from writing - I'm obsessed with reading blogs of others who are in training and dreaming of when I'm training for big races, like half Ironmans and Ironmans. But it's a healthy distraction :)!
I have a mini-sprint Sunday, almost the same distance as my first triathlon in September 2011: 200 yard swim, 8-mi bike ride, and 2-mi run. My time in that tri was 1hr 24min (that was a 250 swim, 7 bike, 2 run)...I would love to finish this Sunday - my 42nd birthday! - in under an hour but will be moderately happy as long as I finish ahead of my old time - a little nervous, but more excited!
I will provide a race report after Sunday's performance :)
On a somber note, one of my best friend's father is very sick with colon cancer & bowel obstructions. Surgery is scheduled for May 10, but he will be in the hospital with intravenous feedings (TPN) until the surgery day...praying lots for this family, but still feel so helpless and wish I could do more. All of my coworkers are struggling with issues. I feel so bad for them too. But at the same time I feel selfish being so happy with my training, weight loss, and athletic performance. I feel so bad blogging aobut my accomplishments and feelings about tris and tenure track when I should be doing something for these struggling people - what, I don't know, but it feels wrong to concentrate on myself, even though it's good for me right now. Just say a little prayer for me and the rest of my peeps :)
My daughter was chosen to become part of the high school marching band (she's a rising 8th grader) - a great honor! Excited to be a band parent :)
Enough for now...have to go make more protein poppers since my husband loves them and ate all of my last batch :/
Have a great week!
TTT
As for my performance this year, I am mostly happy with my teaching and service, but not at all happy with my scholarship. I have submitted one manuscript to my coauthor for her revisions, but it hasn't been submitted to the journal yet. I have great ideas for two to four manuscripts from my dissertation, and a student really wants to do a research project with me, which could lead to another publication, or hopefully a poster presentation at the very least. So why can I not get off Facebook, Candy Crush Saga, and Spider Solitaire in order to get these things done??? I wish I could get IT to block these websites somehow (that I couldn't reverse) so that I can be more productive. Not to mention that the rest of this month will be consumed with writing our accreditation candidacy report, department goals, and how our program meets two of the university's core compentencies - ugh!!!
Triathlons - love the nutrition plan and training! I've lost ~20lbs since I started working with Lea in February and I feel great! But tris are another distraction from writing - I'm obsessed with reading blogs of others who are in training and dreaming of when I'm training for big races, like half Ironmans and Ironmans. But it's a healthy distraction :)!
I have a mini-sprint Sunday, almost the same distance as my first triathlon in September 2011: 200 yard swim, 8-mi bike ride, and 2-mi run. My time in that tri was 1hr 24min (that was a 250 swim, 7 bike, 2 run)...I would love to finish this Sunday - my 42nd birthday! - in under an hour but will be moderately happy as long as I finish ahead of my old time - a little nervous, but more excited!
I will provide a race report after Sunday's performance :)
On a somber note, one of my best friend's father is very sick with colon cancer & bowel obstructions. Surgery is scheduled for May 10, but he will be in the hospital with intravenous feedings (TPN) until the surgery day...praying lots for this family, but still feel so helpless and wish I could do more. All of my coworkers are struggling with issues. I feel so bad for them too. But at the same time I feel selfish being so happy with my training, weight loss, and athletic performance. I feel so bad blogging aobut my accomplishments and feelings about tris and tenure track when I should be doing something for these struggling people - what, I don't know, but it feels wrong to concentrate on myself, even though it's good for me right now. Just say a little prayer for me and the rest of my peeps :)
My daughter was chosen to become part of the high school marching band (she's a rising 8th grader) - a great honor! Excited to be a band parent :)
Enough for now...have to go make more protein poppers since my husband loves them and ate all of my last batch :/
Have a great week!
TTT
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