Accountability

What happened to my request of NOT letting me fall off the blog bandwagon? 1 post in 14 days isn't too spectacular. I blame you, readers. Kidding.

My wires were removed on Friday! Woohoo! One step closer to being DONE with the broken jaw series. My teammate Mere took me in for surgery, and didn't make fun of me for any ramblings post-surgery. Its amazing how that works... one second you're breathing in the nitrous as deeply as you can, and then next thing you know, you're sitting in a chair beside your teammate. No recollection of walking and sitting in said chair either. Its kind of scary, actually. I go back this Friday to get (hopefully) a final count of what needs to be fixed. I should be able to start scheduling appointments with a cosmetic surgeon at this point. It will be nice to be done. Mainly, so I can bite food again vice tear off small pieces to eat. Also, I've grown quite self conscious about the state of my teeth. Looking at me, you wouldn't know I had been in an accident 2 months ago. It just looks like I have really bad teeth. I never knew how vain I was, but really.. I miss having perfect teeth. I get very nervous speaking with people now and showing my teeth. At least I'm almost done. Training is back on hold due to throbbing as soon as I get my HR up. I am doing some core and strength training though.

That thing, that I was excited about a month ago? Its surfacing again tomorrow.. so keep your fingers crossed. :)

I've been busy cleaning lately. I just moved (yet again.. ), and am still in the process of unpacking. My living room, den, kitchen, and bathroom are unpacked... its just the closet in my bedroom that needs immense amounts of attention. I'll have to post pictures of the place later. I love it, and its nice to have a place that finally feels like "home", and I plan on being there for a few years. Moving every 6-8 months has been exhausting. That said, it makes me a little queezy to know that I'm not moving anytime soon.

New Beginnings

Cheers to a new year. With the rough watered year of 2008 in the past, I look forward to 2009 and whatever it may hold. It has started out far better than 2008 did already, as I've yet to drop a chef's knife through my toe. Horray!

Since 2008 was a bust, I decided to wait until 2009 to resume training, for fear of another strike of whatever bad omen I had looming over me. Saturday I planned to head out on a 4 mile run, following a 7 week running haitus. Terrible, I know. Sadly, it ended around 3 miles, when I could no longer take the pain and throbbing in my teeth. You shouldnt feel teeth... and I could feel 158 beats every minute in at least 12 teeth. So, scratch the outdoor running, and back to the elliptical which, in the warmer rooms, doesn't phase my teeth nearly as much.

Sunday, I decided to go for it... time to get back on my still unnamed beautiful bike. I met up with the team for a flat ride out in Nokesville, VA for a 30 miler. Semi-fail. I was relieved that I had nearly zero fear getting back on the bike. My only fear was that someone in front of me would crash, and I'd have no choice but to hit them and go over as well. I guess this just means I need to lead the pack. Unfortunately, about 14 miles into the ride, I was having the same throbbing issues, in addition to a general soreness from holding my jaw open against the force of the rubberbands to breathe (my nose was taking charge of the running I've been missing). Luckily we had someone SAGging, and they took me back to my car. I came home and did the trainer for an hour. I must say, its a whole new ballgame on riding when you're instantly 25 pounds lighter. Unfortunately, some of that was muscle mass.. but its crazy how quick you feel. Not to mention, spandex looks better (a relative term... spandex doesn't look great on anyone).

I took Monday off to do some errands, and got back in the pool this morning. I was looking forward to being able to breathe in the water without the restriction of the jaw being wired shut. It was much easier to breathe, and I felt like I was gliding through the water. That is, until my jaw started throbbing from the vibration caused by exhaling. Sonofa.. So, I resorted to a few hundred meters of kick drills on my back. *sigh*.

Even with the past 3 workouts not going to plan, I'm still very pleased. I'm out there and working on getting better, and thats all I can ask for right now. The remainder of the wires come out on FRIDAY(!!!), and I'll start the dental work to once and for all end this saga. As soon as the teeth are capped/crowned/implanted, I won't have to deal with the throbbing/exposed nerves that I'm dealing with currently.


I don't make new years resolutions, but I do keep an ongoing list of goals. I have some on an "easily obtainable, so just do", "really, really want", and "not really important" list. I've joked around about going to Kona, being that there are only 6 people in my age group at Placid. It's just been a 'wouldn't that be funny/cool if I qualified'? I've decided to elevate the idea of Kona off of the "not really important" list. I've decided that my new goal is to be able to look back after Lake Placid if I DONT qualify, and be able to honestly say that there was absolutely nothing I wished I would have done up to 7/25/2009 to improve my chances. If someone is just flat out better than me, than they are.. but its not because I didn't train, and because I didn't push myself to do as much as I possibly could to be my best.

Kona, here's to you.


Cheers.

And the countdown continues!

Only 1 more week until the wires come off... woohoo! I did have a sad realization however. I'm most likely not going to be eating solid food until almost FEBRUARY. Why, you might ask? Well, I'll have rubberbands on the wires for a minimum of 3 weeks. During this time, the main focus is to teach my jaw how to open again. I've talked to 2 people who have had their jaws wired shut, and both said not to expect to open more than a finger's width for the first 2 weeks, and it took them close to a month and a half to have a semi-normal range of motion. That 6 weeks put me around the end of January. Unfortunately, however, I'm going to have to have some crazy dental work done once the rubberbands come off. Come Mid-January, I'll have to have another round of surgery to get the posts in place, a few root canals, crowns, etc etc. Soo, take another week of healing after that, and you've hit February.

This brings me to a new question. I scrapped my Marathon entry for a Half Marathon Entry at the Myrtle Beach weekend. Can I successfully run a half marathon on 1 month of training plus a 2 week taper (not allowed to run until after Monday)? I had a few 10 mile runs prior to the accident, but the last Half I did was in September. Never done a marathon. And I haven't trained for a month, with the exception of 2 swims. Hmm.

Other changes included to my list of events include scrapping the Jingle all the Way 10K, and the Celtic Solstice 5 miler. Doc said no. I am, however allowed to participate in the Christmas Light Run through DC on the 17th, due to the fact that its not a high pace environment. Should be interesting to see how well I can sing christmas carols while running through the city with bells on my feet. :)

I'm also sad I won't be able to go ice skating downtown this year :( I have to avoid any activities that increase my chances of falling and busting up my face again. I'm good at ice skating, but you never know when a small kid might fall directly infront of you and trip you (read: this happened last year, and I had a nice ice-rash on my chin). I will have to go get some pictures again of the trees. These are from last year:

National Christmas Tree on the lawn of the White House (seen dimly in the background). The National Christmas tree is surrounded by a small tree decorated by each state and territory.

There is also a Menorah during Hanukkah on the front lawn, a manger scene, and the Yule Log (which is a giant fire pit about 6 feet deep, fueled by large pieces of the "yule tree" . Keeps you quite warm while looking at the tree's) You can see the smoke from the pit in the picture above.

Trees at the Botanical Gardens. There is also a very elaborate miniature train set that goes around the front of the Gardens. The track is handmade, fabricated by little twigs. It is definitely a work of art, and I hope it is there again this year.

Capitol Christmas Tree. I personally think the Christmas Tree on the lawns of the US Capitol is much prettier than the tree at the White House. Less tacky, just simple and beautiful.

I'll post pictures of this years decorations once I manage to get Downtown. This year, I won't pick the coldest night of the year to go down like Austin and I did last year. Most of my pictures were blurry. Longer night exposure time combined with uncontrollable shaking didn't work out so well.

Oh, and also in the Christmas spirit - if you are doing a Secret Santa exchange this year, check out this site: Secret Santa. With this site, you can set up a list of people to be included on the exchange, they can go in and create a "wish list" to share with the group, and you can set up so certain people are unable to be secret santas (ie: husband and wife in a group). Gotta love technology.

okay, I'm sticking with it this time...

Seriously. Its been a month since my last post! My new resolution is to post every day in the morning, so I don't forget about it later on. This works well, considering now I get to work around 7:15 in the morning, and often don't start charging my time until 7:45. Perfect half hour to update the blog. Kinda like how my 30minute lunch is turning into right now.

Since the last update, the training has been rather.. relaxed. I built up some longer distances cycling, in preparation for the Patriot's Half Iron that was supposed to take place last weekend. Thanks to Tropical Storm (formally Hurricane) Hanna, the race was washed out. Now all that's left is Nation's Tri, and the swim for Savageman Half. Kinda a bum way to end the season, but thats okay. Its all about prep for Ironman next year anyways.

I'm working on upgrading my bike. First investment was a better saddle. The previous was a $30 saddle from a magazine, which I bought to replace my brothers saddle on his mountain bike when he let me use it for my first triathlon. The seat that came on my specialized Dolce Multi-sport was horrendous, so I switched it out for the cheapo saddle I bought previously.


It's pretty much AMAZING. I used to be very anti-thin seat. Okay, well more or less I just thought they looked insanely uncomfortable. I instantly feel "perched' ontop of my bike, effortlessly pedalling away (on the W&OD at least...). Its surprisingly wonderful to bike on. I had my sit bones measured by the Specialized ass-o-meter, and I need a 130 saddle. Apparently thats very rare. I guess I really do have small hips. It came at a bit higher price tag than I would normally have spent, but, I do love my ass, and I had some spare cash from dog-sitting at my old bosses house. The folks at Conte's hooked me us as well after our Tuesday night rides.

I'm actually in the market for a new bike. I have it narrowed down to two bikes, based on price range and fit. I need to ride both again a few more times before making the final decision


2008 Trek Madone 5.2 (Carbon in Black and Pearl White)




2007 Cervelo Soloist Team (Aluminum, in Anodized Gray)



Both are absolutely stunning bikes. I like the anodized gray frame on the Cervelo, but I'm not sure if I'm ready to join the Cervelo Mafia. It does have the flippable seat post, which is a plus, but I'm not sure if I really want a tri-set up anyways. On a course like Placid, the key is to get up the hills. I have no issues on decents whatsoever. I'll have to throw clip-on aerobars to both bikes anyways. I'm not sure if I'd really ever change into the "aero" set up. Being as short as I am, the aero set up isn't much different than the way the standard seat tube angle for the 51cm Cervelo, or the 50cm Madone. The madone is one seeeexxxy looking bike though, and not one that you see often. I like it a lot. I'd love to see a set of Hed 3's on either of these for race day!

All for now. I need to eat my turkey sandwich and yogurt before getting back to work. :)


-Linds