I'm tired!! And HUNGRY.

I'm entering my 4th week of triathlon training, and have hit a wall. I'm flipping exhausted.

Last night I did the 'extra-short' option at track training, I just had nothing left to do anything more. Thankfully today is a break, and tomorrow is swimming. And, even though swimming is hard work, it's a different type of hard work from running and cycling, and one I feel like I can do. I've contemplated skipping a session or two, but I just can't do it. :)

So, in the last 4 weeks I've had track training (interval running) every Tuesday, swimming every Thursday, 2 hours of cycle every Saturday, and an 8-10K run every Sunday. Plus 2 soccer games on the weekend. Plus an occasional ride to work (13K). I knew I was exhausted to the core when my ride to work on Monday morning took me 45 minutes. I can't even fathom getting on the bike before this Saturday, and in fact, one of my friends is driving me and my bike home from work tonight. Thank god!

My biggest issue is food!! I am obviously working out much more than I have recently, and initially I felt like I was eating enough good stuff and was feeling good. But now I have to think about food and make sure I have snacks with me... it reminds me of college, when I was rowing, and I had to eat so much, all the time. I used to hate having to think about it and having to plan ahead. I really wanted there to be a pill or something I could take once and have enough energy for the day! Not appetizing, because I do love my food, but I do hate having to think about it. Seriously, I feel like I've got no idea what to eat. Any suggestions???? Particularly in the dinner arena - my standby of chicken and rice is getting old. Snack food ideas would be most welcome too!!

I bought a team trisuit last night - sort of like the unisuits we rowed in at UCSD, but with a little chamois in the butt for the cycling bit.

Countdown to first race: 25 days.

Katie update

I've definitely settled back into life in Canberra. And man, what a difference a bit of sun and warm weather makes! I"m so much happier now than I was a year, even 6 months ago. Partly because I have some really great friends now and partly because I know the place a bit better and have more stuff to do (see the great friends part).

The training with the Bilbys has been totally awesome. Last night we had our second swimming session; that is some hard work! But I'm loving it. On Tuesday night we have track training - I did 6 repeats of 600m with 200m recovery. It has been SO long since I've done track workouts (like 15 years!!) and I loved it too! It was hard work and painful, but so flipping great. I can't help but play scenes from all my favorite runinng movies in my head when I'm doing running sessions (Prefontaine, The Four-Minute Mile, Chariots of Fire, Without Limits). There are some cool people doing the training too - tonight is a dinner for all the novices; I'm looking forward to meeting people outside of a workout session.

This past weekend I was about dead on Sunday from the amount of sport I did. Saturday morning: an hour soccer match. No pretty goal this week like I had last week, but not too shabby. Saturday arvo: a 2 hour cycle session with the Bilbys where I learned new skills - how to ride RIGHT next to someoen and RIGHT on their wheel, how to brake quickly, and how to sit on a bike seat for 2 hours (ouch!). I had planned to go to a show on Saturday night, a local acoustic band, but was in bed by 9 pm after a good Vietnamese dinner with my housemate. Sunday morning: 6K run with the Bilbys. We did the bridge to bridge run, basically running around Lake Burley-Griffin - over one bridge and back across the other. Sunday arvo: lunch at my friend R's farm, Fleetwind, wher ei Picked olives in May last year. Sunday night: indoor soccer - an hour of getting my arse kicked. There were no girl subs (this is 4 a side) so my friend F and I had to play the whole game. I was so exhausted already that I made some really stupid decisions. After taking a ball at close range square in the nose I then decided to put myself in the way of two foncoming blokes at full-speed. Needless to say I got RUN OVER. I went into goals after that and it was all I could do to stand up, holding onto the goal. BUT - I had a shut out, and it wasn't for lack of trying on their part - I think the opposing guys were getting quite frustrated with me. In fact, I have a bruise the size and shape of the ball on my inner thigh from one of the shots. I got a free kick for blocking that one (there's a power rule in indoor that guys can't shoot on girls with full strength. The bruise is still fully visible 5 days later - I'd say it was full strength. In any event, I was dead after all that and slept SO well on Sunday night.

This weekend I'm headed up to Sydney with my friend F, I'm super stoked for a road trip and a night out in Sydney with people that live there. I get to spend Sunday on Manly beach, which I'm also looking forward to.

Instant time travel

Isn't it crazy how quickly a smell can take you back?

The other morning, as I was getting out of the shower and I put my face in my towel, I was instantly in Tucson, by the pool at my grandparent's house. I'd put my towel on the line to dry in the sun the day before and somehow the smell of the Canberra sun and my towel was exactly the same as the smell of the sun on the tiles in their backyard, the creosote plants in the sun (my most favorite smell of all time), their dog (an Australian Shepard) Mathilda, and that time. Made me think I should call them to say hi. Which I haven't done yet, but I will!

Then, later that day, when I was on the bus to work, I was sitting behind a woman with a fresh newspaper. As soon as she turned over one of the pages and snapped the paper open, I was in my living room at 5 in the morning, folding newspapers with my Dad, tying them with a red ribbon for Christmas on my first paper route. I took over for a guy I TOTALLY had a crush on, who was a few years older than me and whose mom was friends with my mom. The first time I 'shadowed' him on the route, which was about a 30 minute bike ride route in my neighborhood, I just remember being in awe of 'hanging' out with him outside of school! He lived around the corner from me, next to the convenience store, where, on pay collection day for the paper route, when I'd go door to door and get the check for the month, plus a little bit of cash if I was lucky, I'd go and immediately spend my tips on Tart'n'Tinys. I LOVED those things and now they only come with a candy-coated shell, which has totally ruined them, in my opinion.

I'm going to be a Bilby!

Tonight I started down the path of becoming a Bilby. What's a Bilby? Well, it's like a rat, a small marsupial, with big ears and a long tail.



Ha. Not that you really thought I was becoming a marsupial, but in case you did, I didn't.

Bilby's is the biggest (and coolest) triathlon club in Canberra and tonight I joined the novice program for this year. In 7 weeks, on 25 November I'll be doing my first tri. I'm so STOKED!! www.bilbys.org

I was on the reserve list (and was considering doing a ballet class if this didn't work out) and got a call this morning saying they'd had a few withdrawals and would I like to join? Heck yeah man!

So I went to the info session tonight, which was just like my first introduction to Triton Crew in 1995, without the "These are the Days' by 10,000 Maniacs playing for the slide show. There are about 90 novices this year and as we arrived, the existing Bilby's (cocahes and committee members - there are 320 Bilby's members in Canberra, only about 10 on the organizing committee) were setting up T-shirts, singlets, and water bottles. You'll never guess the colors... BLUE AND GOLD. Yep, once again I will be wearing the blue and gold in a skin tight uniform (if I decide to get the tri suit). Funny how a theme can follow you.

And for those of you that were Triton crew with me, you'll remember the gold Avigon shirts that the varsity wore? These were as coveted on the women's team as were the striped shirts on the me's team. You only got them after your novice year - or, even more scandalous, if you were dating a varsity man you might 'accidentally' wear one of his striped shirts one day - so they were definitely a status symbol. Within the small world of Triton crew.

Well, these blue shirts are given to each novice class and have a different Bilby mark on them (feet, the tail, the whole Bilby) to mark the year. This year is the 20 year anniversary of Bilby's (which is about how long triathlon has been in Canberra and Australia total) so we got these cool race singlets with a new 20 years sign on them. But no blue shirt (which I already knew I needed, but wanted to 'earn' ). BUT, they had boxes of old blue shirts that they let us have! No way would that have happened at UCSD - but I like it better... I've paid my money, I'm in.

Now I just have to show up! Sessions start next Tuesday -
Tuesday, 6pm - Running
Wednesday, 6:30pm - Info Session (how to change a tire, wha tto wear, etc)
Thursday, 7pm - Swim (! The last time I was in a pool doing laps was when I was a hornet in 1992! Oy!!)
Saturday, 2pm - Cycle
Sunday, 8am - Running

I'm so excited to be part of a team again, to be around fit, positive, enthusiastic people! BRING IT ON!!!!

her own worst enemy

While I feel bad for Britney and her custody battle all over the news, there have been some funny comments. My favorites are along the lines of "Brad and Angelina or Madonna should adopt her kids."

I remember a few years back when she and K-FEd had announced they were getting married, one of the morning DJs on a Q100 "wrote" a letter to Britney imploring her not to and to pursue adoption by Angelina.

I actually don't know what's more sad - that now all 3 of them (Britney and her boys) need a real mom, or that I know SO much about all of it.

Sheesh. Maybe I should try looking at some real news.

oh yeah, I'm a girl

Today is the first day in about 6 months that it's been warm enough (YAY!) for me to wear a skirt to work. It's funny to see the reaction from people... I wear pants all winter because it's just too darn cold to even do skirts and tights and it 's such a change to be in a skirt...people notice. And that's one of the fun things of being a girl!

And - sort of not related, but sort of related... I'm starting to look for a beginning ballet class for adults to take this spring/summer. I missed the registration deadline for the local novice trathlon training club this spring so need something structured! I never did ballet as a kid and have a really strong urge to give it a go. Should be fun. Maybe I'll even get to do a recital?! In a tutu!!! :)

All footy, all the time!

So, this weekend has been great. In addition to a public holiday today (woohoo!! - Australian Labor (maybe Labour?) Day) there were multiple grand finals to watch.

After playng my own soccer game Saturday morning - no me gusta elbows and attitude from the tall man - we all wached the AFL (Aussie Rules Football) grand final. It was a complete slaughter - with a 119 or so point differential - about 20 goals different. There really should be a mercy rule of some type. That was followed by lots of singstar - the new singstar came out, Rock Ballads. My favorite (and Im not ashamed to admit this) is Meatloaf - I would do anything for love. CLASSIC. I also sang every song about the south I could (we had multiple discs at our disposal) - Walking in Memphis, Sweet Home Alabama... it's all good stuff!

Sunday night was the grand final for the NRL - Rugby Leauge. I even sort of understood the game this time. Leauge is a much quicker game than NFL, where the refs control everything and there are different soecial teams - in Leauge all the players do all the positions and switch from offense to defense and the refs are just sort of there to prevent complete chaos. And the hits are ridiculously harder in League - well, at least there aren't any pads to dull the impact!

The NRL final was followed by y the FIFA women's World Cup Final - Germany and Brazil. Good stuff! I love watching soccer at that level, although Brazil appears to have chosen the wrong game plan - "pass to Marta" only worked a little...

Then this morning, I got to watch NFL!!!! One of the guys on my soccer team gets ESPN and is a 'gridiron' fan and we watched the Eagles and Giants - Sunday Night Football at 10 in the morning! I'm just stoked I have someone to watch the Superbowl with this year!! But, yeah, NFL is so differently paced from aussie footy. I sort of like the speed of AFL and NRL, but NFL is so familiar to me. But, NFL is SO catered to the consumer society (all the ads!!!!).

Now I'm home and reveling (feeling content with...) in the amount of sport (and beer and party food - I had my first pie floater this weekend!) I've had this weekend. Good times! (And I'm pretty stoked to have found a new favorite thing to do - Singstar rocks!!!)