What's A Brick?

A brick is when you put two of your sports together and perform them back-to-back in training.  It is either swim to bike or bike to run, most commonly the latter.  The idea is to solicit your muscles to do what they will have to do in race conditions.   Bricks are great for training and usually occur on days when you have a tough workout planned.
I decided to make this week a big training week, as it is safely far enough away from race day but close enough to provide a spike in training.  Having not raced for a while I needed a little boost.  Happy to report I am feeling strong and yesterday's brick was successful. 
On the PR front, I have had some good outreach from Hawaii.  There may be some interest in my campaign, all in an effort to educate the women of the islands about early detection and signs and symptoms.  Looking forward....

T Minus 30 Days

A month from today, on November 24, I will race the Lavaman Triathlon in the last state of my 50x50x100 campaign.  It has been an incredible five years and there are mixed emotions as it draws near.  On the one hand, it will be nice to have a little more free time and a little more disposable income.  The hours of computer time with research, logistics planning, public relations and blogging won't be missed.  I have been able to quit one of my four jobs because I no longer need to earn the money it cost to support the campaign.  On the flip side, I have been so defined by this campaign, I suspect I will feel a little lost without it.  I have loved the travel, meeting people and feeling like I am making a difference.  It is very rewarding to work towards a higher good.  I will miss that aspect very much.
In the meantime, there is another month of training ahead of me and a big PR push to spread the message as much as possible.  No time to rest yet...it's T minus 30!

Sleeping In

I just could NOT get out of bed this morning.  With a 7:30 am swim practice planned, my eyes opened at 6 am and my mind started fighting me immediately.  Just another 10 minutes, please!  So two taps of the snooze button later, I started the internal tug-o-war between my lazy self and my triathlete self.  Could I stay fit by missing one practice?  Could I recover the fitness at this evening's cross fit class?  Was sleep more beneficial than the training?   I opted for the sleep and although I felt slightly guilty, I got over it.  My next alarm went off at 8 am...heavenly! 

Cross Training

Usually by now I am deep into the off season, resting on my laurels with a solid tri season behind me. This year is different.  I've got an "A" race in November, my 50th state.  Since there are 22 people joining me for this big event, I want to show up lean and mean and strong and put on a good show.  Actually I am not doing it for anyone else; I am just incredibly competitive.  In order to keep my motivation strong for the next six weeks, I decided to take a weekly cross-training class with some of my swim buddies  Fit For Life is where I will be on Wednesday nights for the next six weeks.   It's not rocket science but it will propel me to do the stuff I hate the most and at a level that I would never do myself.  We'll see how it turns out.  Today I am sore from last night's workout... inner thighs and some ribs but I think it'll all be worth it.  In the meantime, have a safe and wonderful holiday weekend.

Rapid Fire Presentations

Mandl College was a huge success.  On the last day of awareness month, I was able to present my story to seven different classes.  Literally walking from room to room, I sometimes forgot who I said what to but luckily I am familiar enough with the story that the highlights were all covered.  It was rapid fire presenting for sure.  The students were very engaging and had great questions.   Risk factors seemed to come up a lot and that's not something I usually talk about.  Here are some facts:

• There is no specific age for diagnosis although 40s-60s make up most cases
• Not having a pregnancy increases your risk
• Being on birth control pills reduces your risk

Mandl put together a great table of information, lined with snacks (always a good thing when trying to attract students) and asked everyone to come dressed in TEAL for the day.  Probably the funniest moment of the day was when the surgical tech students asked to see my scar.  Without hesitation, I pulled down my pants.  As a triathlete, I am pretty comfortable with disrobing but I still think it caught them off guard that I would actually do it.

Thanks to the Director of Enrollment, Randie Sensor for asking me to come to the school.   I think we were able to impart some great information to these future healthcare workers that can possibly save a life.