How many times has this happened to you?  You go on a trip hoping to get in your swim workouts and you find yourself trying to locate the closest lap swimming pool.  As triathletes, I can assure you we all have been though this scenario before.  Just last week, I was on a cruise ship and there was no shortage of pools.  Unfortunately, most were shaped like the head of Mickey Mouse, not exactly the type I needed to get in 5000 yards in preparation for IM CA 70.3.   However, I did find one that was square, 85 degrees and about 10 yds. long.  I started swimming in it as I normally would but it took me 5 strokes to get to one end and 6 stokes for the other end with barely enough time to do a flip turn.  I needed another solution if I wanted to get in a quality 75 min workout.  Luckily I brought my Stationary Swimmer distributed by Aqua Sphere, and only costs about $20.  I rigged it up to the ladder and there I was for 75 minutes, swimming in place, non-stop, getting strange looks from the ships crew.  Since I couldn’t really do sets I counted my strokes, and did the math to equal it to my desired distance (80 strokes =  approx. 100 yds.)  Sounds crazy, but it worked!  It was either that or Mickey Mouse right?

Train safe,

Tim

My travelling swim partner

Some times by the end of the day, I just don’t have any more energy to cook dinner for everyone.  Yesterday was one of those days.  I dropped my son Matthew off at school who’s a first grader and my 2.5 year old daughter Brooke at daycare.  I went to the dentist, got in an 8mile run, had ART (active release therapy) on my tight muscles from Dan, grabbed a sandwich for lunch eating it in the car, biked for 2.5 hours-trained a client for an hour of it, did homework with Matthew  for an hour then it was 5pm.  My husband wasn’t traveling so we all went out for  pizza at BJ’s.  Before we went to dinner the local ice truck came through the neighborhood (of course at 4:30pm right before dinner!) and I told Matthew he could get dessert after dinner.  He got a sundae and said he’d share a few bites with his sister. Well, next time I’ll pay another $1.25 for a second yummy sundae, because remember the old saying.  I scream for ice cream we all scream for ice cream.

Watch the video for a good laugh at the end of your busy week.  Happy Friday!  May you all treat yourself to a dessert this weekend!“

dinner out-1

I don’t think I have OCD, but there are a few things that I do on a regular basis that may be a bit borderline. And there are also a many other things that I often wonder about on a regular basis. So you tell me, am I the only one who…

…has a certain order that things are done in the shower. Shampoo the hair first. Condition the hair second. Wash the body third. Wash the face last. Finally, rinse out the conditioner while rinsing the face. Shower done. Repeat tomorrow (or after next workout)

…is a “best for last” eater. I almost always eat the food in the order in which I like it. That way I finish the meal with my favorite food

…thinks to myself “I’ll make a massive amount of food, so that I will have a few meals over the next couple of days of this same dish.” Then I sit down to eat the “first serving” and eat the entirty of of the proposed 3 meal concoction

…has to go pee as soon as they brush their teeth? I swear its the perfect example of Conditioned Response. For years, as a little kid, my mom would always say “brush your teeth and go to the bathroom” before going to bed. Now whenever I brush my teeth, I HAVE to go to the bathroom (even if I just went)

…thinks the world would be a better place without people like Rush Limbaugh, Paris Hilton, and the entire cast of Jersey Shore

…feels like a little kid whenever I eat mac & cheese

…cuts off all the tags on my t shirts. Those things drive me nuts! They always seem to make t shirt tags out of recycled sandpaper, fiberglass, and starch. I’m convinced that the ink is infused with poison ivy as well

…likes to eat hot dogs cold

…wants to know who put the bop in the bop shoo bop bop? Who put the ram in the ram-a-lama ding dong?

…who is constantly surprised by so many things is the world (good, bad, and everything in between)?

My Super fast Orbea Ordu has just turned up. Very nice lines and paint job to go with a aero and very stiff frame. Pro bars, Durace wheels and groupset and I am ready to roll fast :) Check out some photos below…….

Nice Lines!

Love the Kiwi flag  Elevation view   Up and close   Pro bars – very comfortable

The first quarter of the year has passed me by quite quickly.  I sometimes feel like I am riding a high speed train from which I cannot get off.  Well things finally came to an abrupt halt, or shall I say shaky jolt, last night here in Thailand when our hotel room started to wobble. Big earthquake! As Dan and I ran out the door (him in his jocks and I in my traveling outfit, the first thing I could put my hands on) the big TV set came crashing down the floor with a booming noise but we didn’t even bother to look back as we were in a state of panic—we had to run down four flights of stairs! Luckily the fire escape was easily accessible.

In the street all the other hotel guests who were mostly triathletes racing in the Mekong River Festival for the weekend came spilling out one by one in various forms of undress…I will never forget the vision of dear Coach Rick charging out of the lobby whilst putting his pants on :)

Through the course of the night there were 56 more aftershocks in different intensities, the main one registering 7 on the Richter scale.  We ended up sleeping either outside the hotel with our sheets or in the massage room by the garden, at times waking up to do more “accelerations” from sleeping to 20kph every 45minutes or so. Very interesting way to get ready for the race I must say!

But the next morning it was business as usual for the jittery and sleep-deprived athletes.  I came here to race with Dan and his athletes from the Philippine Duathlon and Triathlon Teams.  They had quite a good result, 5 Male Elites out of 5 broke into the top 10 of the ITU Asian Duathlon Championships and LC, our lone Female Elite entry in the ITU Asian Aquathlon Championships finished 2^nd.  As for Dan and I we won our respective age groups in the Standard Distance Duathlon and are raring to race again in the Mekong River Triathlon on Sunday, quake or no quake.

I always have the highest intentions of being diligent with blogging and posting small updates on my activities but somehow I just end up filing all the material away in an obscure corner of my laptop…so here, for the benefit of my sponsors (and family :) ) who want to know what I have been up to, are the highlights of my year so far in bullet points, till the end of March anyway. After this, the next Big Thing that I am preparing for is my wedding on April 16.  And I for one know that I am going to enjoy that ride!

January 

• Alaska Ironkids School Clinics, Manila
• Facilitator/ Main Instructor, International Triathlon Level 1 Coaching Course, PSC Ultra Pasig City
• Age Group Training Camp, Bacolod
• Bike for Hope with Senator Pia Cayetano, Palawan
• Pinay In Action Run Training for PE Teachers with Younghusband Football Academy, Palawan
• Adidas Adination Run Race Newport City, Manila
• Female Network Womanity Awards – Finalist for Sportswoman of the Year

 February

• Alaska Ironkids School Clinics, Manila
• PAVIC Run Clinic for the Blind with Pinay In Action, Quezon City
• Subic Rotary Run, Olongapo
• Team Timex Camp, New Jersey USA
• Ironkids Run Race, Manila Polo Club
• Subic Age Group and Junior Training Camp, Olongapo

 March 

• Timex Shoot with Piolo, Makati
• Adidas King of The Road Launch, Makati
• Pre-Wedding Party of Dan and Ani, Sydney Australia
• Subic Age Group Training Camp, Olongapo
• Robinson’s Mall Run Clinic, Ortigas
• Cosmopolitan Magazine Fun Fearless Female Awardee
• Mekong River Festival, Chiang Rai Thailand