Tuesday, January 31, 2012

Two Things Tues.

1. It's going to 63 today! Yep 63 in Jan!!! So, to take advance of the nice weather I came into work an hour early so I could get off at 3pm to ride :) On my way into work though at 6:30 this morning (when it's pitch dark out) I noticed as I rode in other bike commuters without any lights on their bikes. I passed about three other riders without lights. Am I missing something here? You can't see these people at all on their bikes!!! Riding without at least a back light is very dangerous! I would think it would be common sense to put a light on your bike if you are riding in the dark.
 
For me personally I use a Knog Light. They are cool little jelly lights that rap around the post of your bike.
 
This makes it easy for me to transfer the lights from bike to bike depending on which one I'm riding for the day. Plus they come in all kinds of colors. For me it was a no brainier and I purchased pink ones :) It's a little tricky to get them to fit on my tri bike, but I made it work this morning.
 
Ok I guess I'm done with my little rant...
 
2. I registered for another race yesterday: The Kinetic Half ~ aqua velo only. I will be using this race as a training race only. I still feel pretty uncomfortable with the swim leg and wanted to get some more open water practice in before mooseman. Originally I wanted to do this race as a relay, but then I got greedy when I looked at my training schedule and saw I had a 3.5 hour bike ride for that day. So I figured I should just do the bike leg of this race and knock out my ride for the day and test out my nutrition as well. It should be a fun day.
 
Happy Tues All :)

Monday, January 30, 2012

Weekend Recap

My weekend was pretty uneventful.
 
As I mentioned before I had to move my long run from Sunday to Friday after work because of a gymnastics meet I had to coach at. All day of Friday I watched out my window and saw how warm and sunny it looked. By the time I made it out of work at 4pm,  I stepped outside in a t-shirt and capris. It no longer felt warm and I ran back upstairs to get my long sleeve shirt just in case I needed it. And boy did I need it. I never got warm on this run at all and I was so thankful I was smart enough for once to dress correctly. It was so windy out! At times I felt like I wasn't moving forward or I was getting blown to the side. My garmin died just .5 miles into the run which really upset me! I have been having so many problems with it that it's not even worth running with anymore! It freezes, it turns off, it doesn't charge.... the list could go on. Anyhow, I just decided to run to my old place and use some of my old running routes which included visiting the zoo. 
 
 
Once I got home, I used map my run to map out the routes I ran just to double check the mileage. 10.3 miles, not too bad. Overall this run was a big struggle for me, but I am glad I did it.
 
Jas got home shortly after me on Friday night and he still wanted to go to the pool, but I just wanted to melt away into the couch with warm comfy blankets on. And I did just that and watched a bunch of episodes of the Walking Dead. I actually got hooked on them and stayed up till 12:30! yikes! that's late for an old lady like me.
 
When my alarm went off in the morning at 6:30 to get on the trainer I did not hesitate to turn that thing off and go back to bed till 8. No worries though, the nice thing about a trainer is it's easy to pack. I was going down to Fredericksburg again for the day to visit my aunt and just figured I could set it up there while I was visiting. It was a nice day out and while I wish I could have just rode outside, I did the next best thing and set up my trainer on their porch and rode for an hour and half.
 
 
It was nice to feel the breeze and have some scenery to look at. Also, their dogs were crazy and it was fun to watch them play.
 
 
Actually their dogs were looking at my like: "Hey, if you are going to be outside for this long you should be playing with us, not riding on that stupid thing!"
 
How was your weekend? Hope everyone had a great one :)

Friday, January 27, 2012

5 Things Friday

1. All I can say is that DC has had some crazy weather in Jan. Last Friday we had a mini snow storm (only DC would call it a snow storm) and this Friday it was super hot at 63 degrees when I stepped out the door this morning for my easy 2 mile run into work. I had long pants on and had to run back into the house to change. The entire time I was running I was like oh my gosh, I can't believe this is Jan. And of course the thought of "I wish I was biking right now" crept into my head as well.
 
2. My team has their third meet of the season this Sunday :) Which for me means I will be in the gymnastics world from 8 in the morning until around 9 in the evening leaving me no time to get my long run in. Not a problem at all. I just switch my long run (10-11 miles) to today. And with the weather being so nice (minus the rain) it should be an enjoyable run.
 
3. When I first started dating my M, our Friday nights consisted of either going out to dinner/drinks or partying with our friends. Oh how the times have changed! On Wed. he asked me out on a very special Friday night date: the pool! Yes, the pool :) M is on a mission to improve his swim and asked me to help him on his form/stroke. Even though I don't know if I'm on the best person to help him... 
 
4. On the nights I coach, I need to come up with a better nutrition plan. I work my full time job from 7:30 - 4. Run or bike home, change and am in my car driving by 4:15. Then I coach from 5 - 8:30 and sometimes swim afterwards (sometimes not) but I usually don't get back home until 9:15 - 9:30. It's a super long day. I currently bring a snack in the car which usually consists of the following: a cheese stick, a granola bar, and fruit snacks. Then when my team gets their 15 minute snack break I take one as well and eat a yogurt and a piece of fruit. But by the time I make it back home I'm super hungry.  I guess the easy solution would be to bring more a dinner type snack for the snack break. You would think after doing this for I don't know many years I would have figured it out by now, but I haven't.
 
5. I don't get to sleep in this weekend. I guess that is nothing new. Oh and I finally slept last night! I think my insomnia streak is over with.
 
Happy Friday All and I hope everyone has a great weekend :)

Thursday, January 26, 2012

3 Things Thurs

1. I got pretty excited on Monday when I looked at the weather for Tues and saw that it was going to be in the high 50s for the day!!! I had 1 and half hours of biking on the schedule for the day and thought if I don't have to get on my trainer, it would be the most wonderful thing in the world. So, I rode my tri bike into work, feeling a little stupid doing so. I was excited all day to ride and when the end of the day came I jumped right on my bike and rode down to haines. It ended up being a great ride and I rushed to finish my last lap as the sun started to set. I did however start to get a little cold near the end and I really couldn't feel my toes anymore. On a side note: after getting fitted I dropped my seat down because I felt like it was to high. Since moving my seat my knees have been hurting, so I know I messed up my fit. I did measure where it was and will be moving it back in hopes that will help.
 
2. The last two nights, I have been a mess and haven't been able to sleep at all. It can't tell you how much it sucks when you are so tired, but you can't go to sleep. Yesterday when my alarm went off at 6:15am to swim I actually got up and put my suit on them just crawled back into bed. I couldn't make myself go. I re-set the alarm for 7am so I could still go run. When it went off I just turned it off and went right back to bed. When I finally got up at 8 I just rolled out of bed and into my car to go to my aunts. I would have loved to stick with what was on my training plan for the day, but life just doesn't always work out that way. I felt disappointed and upset with myself for skipping the workouts and kept thinking it was going to be an unwanted rest day. It wasn't till 7pm when I was driving back home that I thought I could just flip flop my Wen. and Thurs. workouts. So, as soon as I got home I jumped onto my trainer and got an hour ride in. And to my surprise I actually enjoyed myself on the trainer! I think that may be a first :)
 
3. When my sister was in town last weekend I was talking to her about trying to fit in 3 x 1 minute planks before she goes to bed since she is super busy with work and two kids. Then I realized something, I was telling her to try something that I don't even do myself. So, I'm taking my own advice and will begin doing 3 x 1 minute planks before going to bed. I'm also going to get my own and only in on the action since he needs more core work for his cycling.
 
Are you flexible with your workouts? Or do you stick with what's on your training plan?
 
Happy Thurs. All :)

Monday, January 23, 2012

One week Down - lots more to go

My first week of Half IM training went off with much of a hitch. Here's how it went:
 
Monday:
Monday is a rest day on the schedule, which somewhat kills me. I did do 25 minutes of core strength though
 
Tues: Bike: 1:30 on the trainer : 22.5 miles
Originally on the training plan I am using they have Tues. as the shorter bike day. It works out better for me though to switch Tues. and Thurs. and make Tues. my longer bike days since I don't have to coach after work on this day. It also ended up being super nice on this day too. I wished I had my bike/gear with me at work so I could have just rode right after work. By the time I got home thought it was already starting to get dark. so I did the next best thing and rode my trainer outside! It was an awesome workout.
 
Wed: swam 2500 yards in 51 minutes, ran 4.22 in 35 minutes
I did these two workouts back to back since I go and visit my Aunt on Wednesdays. The swim felt great, but my run was a struggle. It was windy out and my legs felt like mush. Maybe from biking yesterday? Or maybe from the swim? Who knows?
 
Thurs: Bike 1 hour: 15 miles, also snuck in a 4 mile bike commute (20 minutes)
I don't really count my bike commute as a workout since it's so short, but it gets me to work.
My actual training session sucked!!! I don't get home till after 9 o'clock on the days I coach. So I didn't get on my trainer until 9:10 and was spinning while trying to eat some dinner and half falling asleep. I don't think I got much out of this workout. This week I will try to get it done in the morning.
 
Friday: AM run of 30 minutes: 3.6 miles
Nice little run in the morning on my way to work. I was suppose to swim after work for 30 minutes but forgot my swim suit which really made me mad!
 
Sat: Bike 1:30 for 22.5 miles
Went out with Chloe and some other friends the night before and stayed out too late. Getting up at 6:30 to bike was really hard! But I got it done and was out the door to visit my aunt by 8:30 or so.
 
Sunday: Ran: 1:26 for 10 miles, swam 45 minutes for 2000 yards
Really had to force myself out the door in the cold. I know sooner or later I will complain about it being hot again, so I miswell just suck it up. Ran into the other Sarah on this run :) and also decided mid run that I had to have a pair of pants from Athleta in G-town that I saw Chloe wearing on Friday. So, I finished up my 10 miles right in front of the store and got some nice comfy pants :) Then I froze my ass off riding the metro home as my sweat began to freeze. But I did kill two birds with one stone :)
 
I had a nice lunch (chicken cut up in a salad) then headed to the pool with M. This was my make up swim from Friday :) My swim went alright, but I don't think I ate enough for lunch and was hungry most of the workout.
 
Overall:
swim: 4500 yards
bike: 64 miles
run: 17.82
 
hours: I'm to lazy to add them up :)
 
Hope everyone had a great weekend.

Friday, January 20, 2012

Friday Randoms

1. I have always struggled with my body image. This week is no different. I have been feeling like a big blob
 
2. I need to add back in strength training into my routine. This will make me feel better about myself.
 
3. I can't remember the last time my alarm went off and I didn't feel tired
 
4. I wish strawberries and blueberries were in season
 
5. I have never been snow boarding/skiing. Every year I say I will try and every year I never go.
 
6. I am lazy and need to clean my house more
 
7. I would love to live out of the states for a couple of years
 
8. The apples I bought this week are bad, but I still have three more to eat.
 
9. I'm still thinking about joining g-town law's gym for their pool. They are right next to my office building. it would make life easy. But I'm cheap.
 
10. M surprised me with a new cat calendar yesterday. This made me really excited because I needed a 2012 one for my office.
 
11. I would have rather been surprised with a real kitten :)
 
12. I can never find my license. I don't know why I don't just kept it in my wallet.
 
13. I used to love purses and still do, but lately I just make M carry everything I need and don't carry one.
 
14. I like that M pays every time we go to dinner. But then I look at our checking account and remember that we have joint checking.
 
15. I'm still scared to death of open water swimming and 2.4 miles seems like forever in a day to me!!!
 
I hope everyone has a great weekend!

Thursday, January 19, 2012

Half IM Training has Began

So, this week has kicked started my official half ironman training plan. I guess I could also say my IM training since it will really just all blend together. My two A races for the year are Mooseman 70.3 and IM Louisville.

I decided not go with a coach for a couple different reasons, and I'm still not sure if this is smart or not? But, I did find a 20 week Half IM training plan that I liked online. I'm not even sure what site I got it from anymore because I converted it into my own spread sheet awhile ago and it's been hanging out on my desk top ever since.

One of the things about the plan that make me nervous is the amount of running or lack there of. I feel like I should be running more, but I don't want to kill myself/burn out either. It's only Jan and I have a long way to go before I make to August 26th. For now, I have changed all the long runs from minutes to mileage while I'm training for the B&A Half marathon. After that, I will go back to following what's on the sheet.



The first block also only has me swimming twice a week, after that it ups to three days a week which makes me feel better. Since most IM training plans are in times only I will refer to my IM training book for swim workouts that match the times. At about week 17 of my Half training I will pick up my IM training plan (at week 9 of that plan). The first 8 weeks are basically a base and the two plans should blend together nicely. I hope!

Since I am still pretty new to the sport, I hope, I pray I am being smart about all of this. I have restrained myself from registering for "junk races" later in the season, so I can stay focused on crossing the finish line at Louisville.

Input/Advice is always welcome :)

Happy Thurs All

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Another Race: VA is for Lovers 14K

With my addiction to races in full swing I couldn't pass up on this fun little Valentine's Day race ~ Virginia is for Lovers 14k.


I was talking to one of my best friends on the phone, who is just getting into running, and she mentioned to me that she registered for two spring races already. I was super excited for her!!! We had both wanted to run the VA Beach Shamrock half together, but it didn't work out with my coaching schedule. So when she mentioned to me that she was registered for the the 14k, I thought this would be a great race to do together.

My arm didn't have to be twisted too hard and after I looked up the race details my credit card was out and before I knew it I was registered for what is going to be my first race of the year.

Last time I visited Jill she supported me during the Freedom half marathon that I ran. Now instead of just cheering she will be running with me!!!!  Or the other way around, I will be running with her :)


What I am really looking forward too though is just visiting Jill for the weekend with the race just being the icing on the cake.

Happy Wednesday All :)

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Running through History

Over the three day weekend I spent my time visiting with my aunt in Fredicksburg, VA. I was a little worried that I would not be able to get my 8 mile run because the roads are 55mph out here and I had no clue were the running trails/paths were at.

Then my M in shining armor came to my rescue and did what any one would do and went to the real knight in shining armor: google. I soon realized that my cousin only lived about 10 miles from the Spotsylvania Court House Battlefield. The battlefield offers lots of paved roads that are basically traffic free, so I knew this was the spot to run :)


It was also cool that this battle was part of the Civil War Trails. Well, cool to those who like a little history I guess.


Once I got out of my car I saw a cool map and thought it might be fun to run along the path they had mapped out and if I wanted to, I could stop and do a little reading along the way. But I got a little lost once I started and ended up just running.


  

My one fault to my perfect battlefield run was that it was about 22 - 27 degrees out when I started this run at 7:30. It was freezing!!! But what idiot doesn't like to run in the cold before the sun is shining....Oh me, me! My first mile I was sucking in the coldest air and I pulled my hands into my shirt even though I had gloves on already. No one else was out running and I thought to myself:  yep I'm an idiot. Never the less, as I ran along I did start warming up.



Despite the cold, it ended up being an enjoyable run over all. As I ran along the park road there was informational points of interests stating the history of the battle.



Even though I only stopped to take some quick pictures, it would have been nice to take the time to read everything. It was interesting to run through a battlefield and think of all the history that took place in this spot, plus the scenery was gorgeous.



Another plus of this run was all the hills! There was no shortage of them and well I need to fall in love with hills over the next few months. So what a perfect day to start my new love affair.


I was back to my cousins by 9am with a little slice of Spotsylvania's history with me and a whole lot of oh my josh I'm cold.


Happy Tues All :)

Friday, January 13, 2012

What to do do?

Things I wanted to do today: get to work early! Things I didn't do today: get to work early! My weekend is going to be somewhat busy and I had this big plan in my head to get my longish Sunday run of 8 miles in today during lunch. Since I only get a half hour lunch my big plan was just to come to work a half early so I could take a hour running lunch. Easy Right? Wrong! When my alarm went off this morning I turned it off instead of hitting snooze and didn't get up until M's alarm went off at 7:15. Bummer! Not only was I not early, I didn't even make it on time. So there goes my grand scheme of running 8 miles during the day light.
 
I could always run after work, but I'm really torn between running now and swimming. I haven't swam all week and would really like to get some pool time in. Although I think the running might be more important at this point since I have the half marathon coming up. But yeah I think the swim might win today. 
 
Which means I will just push my run back to Sunday and have to try to find somewhere to run in the Fredericksburg area. Anyone know of any running trails there?
 
Oh the decisions ....
 
Happy Friday and I hope everyone has a great weekend :)  

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Blast from the Past - The workout that was not

I'm not really sure what I want to talk about today, but I have this one story stuck in my head.
 
Around 2008, I joined the Washington Sports Club and used the gym on Connecticut Ave in Dupont. I wasn't really a big fan of joining the gym since I hate running on treadmills, can do my core/arms at home, and well lets face it: I'm cheap. But never the less I joined because the group classes looked fun and appealed to me. I figured working out in a group would motivate me and help me to push myself.  
 
Whenever I am trying something new, I am super nervous. I waited about a month after joining to attempt my first class. For whatever reason I decided on a boot camp class that was offered on a Saturday morning. When I arrived in the class room no one was giving any instructions and women were running all around grabbing mats, jump ropes, weights, and weight bars. I had no clue what to do and just followed suit. There was a ton of people in there and it was over crowded. I set up my little area and went to go fetch one more thing that I noticed other people had and by the time I got back to my area someone else had laid claim to it. I thought WTF, I don't need this and just left the room in a huff not doing the class at all. Instead, I went and found M in the gym and busted down in tears. Attempting the class was so overwhelming and frustrating I didn't know what else to do besides cry. Actually that's how I always seem to handle stress: cry.
 
Needless to say I never attempted that class again or any other class that the gym offered and finished out my year membership and never renewed it. I usually always try something at least twice and I usually don't quit things. But I don't know, the hustle and bustle of the crowded group classes just didn't seem worth it to me. Maybe I was being a wimp.... 
 
Years later, I still have not tried another group class but would really like to. I think my best option would be to do one in a smaller studio setting instead of a big gym. Plus well, I still don't want to pay for a gym because I'm cheap and I always have the option of using my office's gym to use weight machines, etc. 
 
Have you ever felt overwhelmed during one of your workouts. How did you handle it?
 
Happy Thurs All :)

Tuesday, January 10, 2012

A Spring Half

I have been looking to run a Spring half marathon. I really had my heart set on the National Half (RnR half now, whatever) but of course I had a coaching conflict so I was bummed.  Anyhow, when Victoria and Carly mentioned on twitter that they were running the B&A Trail Half Marathon on March 4th, it took me a whole whopping 2 seconds before I convinced myself to run this race.
 
 
Right away I was on the race website looking up the details and double checking my coaching schedule. March 4th was free which meant as soon as I got home I ran upstairs to our computer and registered. And the best part was, this race had a low registration fee which meant my credit card was happy with me too.
 
M on the other hand, was not as convinced as I was, that this was a must do race. I tried and tried to tell him that training for a half in 8 weeks is a smart idea, but all I got was the evil eye. That's ok he can be our camera man and get lots of good pictures. Overall, I think any race is fun but doing a race that some of your friends are registered for is even better.
 
Now for my own training plan, I have only been running 4-7 miles about 3 x a week because well I wasn't training for anything. I guess I better add back in some tempo runs and speed work. I would love to join the PR party that the other two have planned, but it's not a goal of mine for this race.
 
Oh and did I mention that the swag at this race is some kindof track pant?!?! I don't know why this excites me, but it's something different than a t-shirt and that makes it cool.
 
If you are a race junkie and are free that weekend, come join me :)
 
Happy Tues All

Monday, January 9, 2012

Weekend Recap ~ Warm Weather

I was in a sleep coma during work on friday and I had a big struggle with myself to go to the pool. I knew if I skipped it, I would be upset with myself so off to the pool I went. The weather felt great when I left my office and running the 1.5 miles to the pool really woke me up and I was tempted to just keep running instead of swimming. But when I arrived at the pool I didn't keep running and went into the water instead. The first lap was a struggle and it didn't get any better. I wanted to call it quits after 400 yards, but once again knew I would be mad at myself if I did. The entire swim felt like I was swimming against a current and the guy using the kickboard in my lane gave me some extra water in my face. I kept telling myself that I had to stay in the water because these workouts that just plain suck are just part of the training. This was a mental toughness day for sure! My swim never go any easier and I just did 5 x 200s and 11 x 100s with each one more painful than the other. But at the end of the day I was happy I forced myself to stay in the water and finish.

Everyone has been warning us about global warming and Sat had a high of 65. I would like to say: thank you global warming and thank you for giving me a chance to finally ride my new tri bike outside!!! and in shorts!


I decided to visit my old best friend: Haines Point. I would have loved to actually ride somewhere else, but was scared I might really be out of bike shape or scared that I would have no clue how to ride my bike. This was also M's virgin ride on his new road bike with different pedals/clip shoes than what he is used too.


We made our way slowly down to Hains laughing and looking a little goofy riding our bikes so slowly. Once at Haines I tested out riding in aero! While in aero I was wobblying around like a drunk sailor. My front end of my bike was going all over the place and it was scary.


But after a few laps I started to get the hang of it and felt much better riding. The big challenge of the day came when riding up the only hill of the day: Capitol Hill. I was scared I may not be able to change gears as easily as I can on my road bike, but it wasn't a big deal and it went well. Overall I love my bike and wished I rode longer than 20 miles, but hey I'll take it. However, on sunday I woke up with a sore neck from my ride :(

The rest of my day was spent in the gym coaching at my girls second gymnastics meet of the season. I would have loved to be outside since it was so nice out, but I also love gymnastics, so it's a win/lose I guess.

Sunday I woke up early and was out the door by 7:20 to run for an hour. For some reason I was expecting it to be 65 degrees out, but it wasn't...boo! The more I ran the more DC was starting to look like a zombie apocalypse! Not a single soul was out, not even any cars. It was so eerie and while I was running down by the ball park metro the stop lights were counting down out loud, but no one was around.


It was like the whole city had been told to stay off the streets and in their homes. As I made my way down the mall I still only saw one runner! One runner the whole time... so weird!


Anyhow, I did this run without my garmin watch. I went onto dailymile afterwards to map out my run to see how far I went. I was happy to find out I ran 7.2 miles. I had forgot my garmin at my parents last week and turned around to get it and what do you know, I have forgot to charge it since then. But it has been refreshing to run without the gramin.

After my run I jumped in the shower and then headed down to Fredericksburg to visit with my aunt for the day.

Overall, I am happy with my workouts this weekend even though I wish I spent more time on my bike.

Hope everyone had a great weekend and Happy Monday All :)

Friday, January 6, 2012

5 Things Friday

1. I had not run for a week and yesterday my body was craving a run more that anything! So of course I planned on running a nice 5 on my lunch break. I had rode my bike in yesterday and it actually felt ok and my hands weren't freezing, so I'm not sure why I thought it was going to be extra cold during my run at 11:30. But for some reason I headed out in a long sleeve running shirt and a vest. I'm not sure if I just wanted to wear the vest so I had somewhere to put my work ID or what? but it was not needed at all. Within a half of mile the sweat was rolling off of me and I was over heating. I took off my gloves which cooled me down for a little bit. Once I got down to the Lincoln I stripped my hat off to cool me down some more. The bad thing about vests is you can't really take them off because you can't tie them around your waste, so suffered is what I did on this run. And even though it seems like I'm doing a lot of complaining here, I was actually quite happy to be outside running despite being a little over heated. Overall, I felt like a million bucks when I made it back to my office, even if I didn't look like a million bucks the rest of the day.
 
2. I never use music when I run. The trainer is a whole different story though. I don't know if I could make it through an hour on the trainer without music! I have tried watching TV and it still just makes the time click by ever so slowly. I recently downloaded Pandora on my phone and love it to work out too. It really helps me get through trainer hell. I just can't wait till I can ride outside and it seems like every nice day I am busy or not in town and can't ride outside. uggg...
 
3. I got a new swim suit for x-mas and it was a grab bag special (they pick the suit for you). I have always been scared of the grab bags thinking I would get a really ugly suit. But guess what? it wasn't ugly and it was a cute :) I will defiantly order another suit this way because it's cheaper and it's kindof fun to take a gamble on what you are going to get.
 
4. I need to start watching what I am eating and stop eating so much candy and cookies. I have gained 3-5 pounds and feel like a blob. In addition, I need to start bringing my lunches to work again instead of wasting my money and buying lunch every day. I have been good this week and brought in my lunch every day.... a turkey sandwich (with just turkey and spinach) and an apple. The problem with this is I will probably eat this same thing for months and get burned out and not want to look at another sandwich. I also need to bring in an afternoon snack because I'm super hungry by 3 which makes my after work workouts hard to do.
 
5. It feels like it has been forever since I have done a race. I would love to find a small one this month, but know that I don't have the time on the weekend to do one. Oh well I suppose.
 
Happy Friday all and I hope everyone has a great weekend :)  

Tuesday, January 3, 2012

Life has been crazy over the past couple of weeks and I have not been blogging lately and I fear I will not have the time to do so regularly for awhile.
 
My holiday was a little different this year as my Aunt has been struggling with lung cancer for the past 6 months and had to go into the hospital over x-mas. There is nothing more important than family, so with my other family members we were there by her side. Hospice was set up and she was released to go home on 12/27. I felt guilty for leaving that day and going to Ohio and actually continued to feel guilty most of the time I was there.
 
Even though Fredericksburg, VA is not too far from DC the traffic makes it near to impossible for me to make it there to visit after work. So I have been rearranging my schedule and will be down there every weekend. With that said, I am not sure how I will fit in my training and I'm not really to worried about it. My half IM training was suppose to start on Jan 16th, but if I can't get in all the workouts I can't get them in and life will go on.
 
I have also started thinking about trying to fund raise for the cancer society, but I'm not even sure how or were to begin?
 
Anyhow, I wish everyone a happy 2012 and will try to keep up with the blog world.