Three Things Thursday

Happy Almost Friday!! I hope everyone has had a super week so far. Mine has been really busy, but enjoyable for the most part. :)

• My time trial results were finally posted. Woop Woop! Overall, I was really happy with my results and glad that I now have a base line for my training.  Here are my results.

Lap 1: (Each lap was approximately 7.2 miles)

Time: 0:25:06

Speed: 17.2 MPH

Lap 2:

Time: 0:25:29

Speed: 17.0 MPH

Overall:

Time: 0:50:35

Speed: 17.1 MPH

Pacing: Positive split (1.5%)

• I got in to the Nike Women's Half Marathon!!! Totally pumped about this.  I cannot wait for April 28th! 
• I am getting the Garmin 910xt.  Merry Christmas to me!! 

Three Things Thursday

1. I am almost 2 months into my MCM training, and my hill workouts are finally getting easier. Woop woop!  Last night after a brutal day at work, I pulled on my trainers and went for a run on the Custis Trail.  Running was the last thing I wanted to do, so I wouldn't say my heart was really in the run.  However, after the first 3 miles, my legs loosen up, and I negatived spilt the last 3 miles.  Translation- AWESOME!!  It is nice to see that my training is paying off.  My hill workouts were kicking my tush last month, so I am thrilled that I am now doing the tush kicking. 
2. My friend just posted some of the vacation pictures from Costa Rica. Yep, that's right, I was in Costa Rica. :)  If you haven't been, I highly recommend going to CR.  The people are very friendly, the country is breathtaking, and there are a ton of fun things to do.  I will post more pictures later, but here are a few.

   

   Horseback riding was a blast.  Clearly, I wasn't expecting to go that afternoon or I would have wouldn jeans and boots.  :)

   

   I tried Rambutans for the first time.  Here is what Wikki says about them.

   

   I saw wild monkeys!!! They were everywhere.  Check out this guy above. It looks like he is taking a nap.

   
3. Today is new shoe day.  I know it is silly, but I get excited when I get to buy new running shoes. I love the feeling of running in new shoes.  It is like you are running on clouds. #Totalrunnerdork. 

Happy almost Friday!

Three Things Thursday: Running & Surprises

• Working late yesterday prevented me from getting my run in last night.  Instead of getting upset about it I used yesterday as a rest day and did my run this morning and will swim on Friday night.  Who wouldn't want to spend their Friday evening at the HP pool. :) I think I might be getting the hang of this balance thing.  I just have to be a little more creative when it comes to planning.
• I think I have finally settled on a marathon training plan- well kind of.  After looking at a bunch of plans, I wasn't able to find one that gave me exactly what I need. My solution- combined them.  I think this blended plan will give me everything I need to be prepared to run a great race.  What is great you ask?  Well I am not really sure what that means right now. A PR would be nice. A BQ would AWESOME.  What I am really focusing on is enjoying my training and staying healthy. If I PR and/or BQ, that would be fantastic, but I am not putting that kind of pressure on myself.
• Huck's birthday is coming up, and I having been planning his birthday surprise for almost a month. I have no idea how I have managed to keep it from him, but I am pretty sure he is clueless. Well he knows that we have plans on Sunday, but other than that he has no idea.  WOOP WOOP!

Dear Sunday, Please get here as soon as possible! Thanks, Whitney :)

I hope everyone is having a great Thursday!

Three Things Thursday: Confession Time

1. I slept through swim practice this morning. I had everything packed and ready to go last night, but after getting home around 11pm, I just didn't have it in me.  I turn into such a bear when I am sleepy, so I thought it would be better for everyone if I got the extra hour of sleep.




Not a good look! 


2. I am really excited about the 237th Army Birthday Ball aka Prom 2012. :)  What do you think about this hairstyle? I think this is how I want to do mine. 



3. I may have gotten really excited when Hanson came on my Pandora this afternoon.  Now, don't judge. Everyone needs a little mmmBop in there life.

Happy almost Friday!!

Three Things Thursday: Crazy Excited/ Just Crazy Girl Edition

• Last night I was dreaming about cupcakes.  Everyone knows I love cupcakes, but dreaming about them? That might make me a little crazy. Crazy or not, I did what any self respecting cupcake lover would do- I ate one on my way out the door to swim practice. The workout went great, so maybe cupcakes will replace my eggs in the morning. :)

I <3 cupcakes

•  It is officially February at work, or at least that is what my calendar says.  Yesterday, I was flipping through my cute Golden Retriever puppy calendar and I have decided that the February's puppy is the cutest.  Therefore, it will be February all year long.



Isn't he cute?

• This weekend is going to be awesome!  I got the okay from my boss to work from home on Saturday, so I do not have to go into the office. Yay! Plus, JC and I have a cooking class at Sur La Table and I am getting fit for my tri bike. Double yay!

Can't wait for Saturday!


Happy Thursday!! 

Three Things Tuesday: Plus or Minus One Edition :)

Happy Tuesday!!  I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season.  I know I certainly did.  I apologize for posting so sporadically since IM. It is really hard to make time to blog when you are stuffing your face with Christmas cookies, wrapping presents, eating more Christmas cookies,  going to parties, spending time with family and drinking lots of wine.  Don't worry though!  I am back. :) 

1) It just occurred to me the last night that I never shared the results of my MRI.  I had my MRI on December 5th and by December 6th, Dr. Moses called with the results. CLEAN!!  The MRI showed no sign of a tear which was fantastic news!  Woop Woop! 

2) I had a great run with Team Z on Saturday.  The run was super, but what was really awesome was the fact that I saw a pack of labradoodles.  CUTE PUPPY ALERT!  These dogs were so cute that I darted across the street walked across the street like a mature adult to pet them.  Do you blame me?? I mean really guys, they were super cute!  After my puppy fix, I caught up to my teammates and finished the run with a huge smile on my face. #IHeartDogs!

3) I am struggling with nailing down my 2012 races.  I want to do all of them! This weekend, JC mentioned doing Ironman 70.3 Ireland in September- which would be a great excuse to go to Ireland and it would be a pretty cool race.  There are just so many races out there that it is hard to limit yourself to just a few.  However, I do know that I want to do a bunch of team races.  Here is what I am thinking at this point.  Like I said above, I am having trouble nailing down my schedule, so these are subject to change. :)

Rock 'N Roll Marathon- DC

Rumpus in Bumpass

American Odessay Relay

Kinetic

Musselman

Luray

Ragnar Relay

Rev 3 Cedar Point (70.3- no full IMs for me this year) or maybe Ireland 70.3??

Marine Corp Marathon

4) Did anyone else have a very triathlete Christmas??  My family and Hercules got me a bunch of little triathlon things for Christmas- everything from Nuun and nutrition bars to Bibfolios and race pictures. 

They taste even better now that I am an Iron Girl! :)

Travel coffee cup to help get my tush to early morning sweat sessions

ID and Cash in one!

I finally have a place to put all my old bib numbers.

 

Have a super Tuesday! 

Three Things Thursday: Chubby Bunny!

1)I know this RAD chick named Ashley, and she happens to work for a little company called Rev3. #SweetJobAsh!  She wants to put together a Chubby Bunny contest, where you would say I love Rev3, instead of Chubby Bunny.  I definitely want to participate!  Now if you are not familiar what Chubby Bunny is please watch the video below.  This guy is a champ.  20 marshmallows is VERY impressive. :)

2) Perfect Pita just opened up near my office, and I am PUMPED!  It is soooooo yummy.  Chicken Hummus Veggie Pita = NOM NOM NOM

3) I am super excited about Ironman!  Over the past few weeks, I have mostly nervous and scared for race day, but the excitement has finally kicked in.  Thank goodness! :) 

I am not going to stop until I cross the finish line in Cozumel!

Three Things Thursday: More random than usual edition :)

The weekend is almost here!!  WOOP WOOP! Now on to my Three Things Thursday...

1) I have a new favorite snack!  Sweet potatoes and Nutella. NOM NOM NOM  Now it might sound gross to some, but it is actually pretty delicious. It is not unusual for me to have a sweet potato or two sitting on my desk at work.  They are very yummy and super easy to cook at the office. As for the Nutella, you better believe I keep a big jar of it in my desk.  Nutella makes everything better- bananas, apples, oatmeal, etc.  So for yesterday's afternoon snack, I decided to combined the two.  I mean, how could a Nutella sweet potato love child, not be delicious? Best decision of the day, BY FAR! 

2) Sticking to the all things new theme, meet my new BFFs- lacrosse balls, ice packs and ACE wraps.  Please note that I am using the term BFF very lightly.  Actually, I am definitely not friends with the lacrosse balls, I hate them. But if Dr. Moses tells me rolling on them will make my hip better, I am going to do it.  I would say I am BFFs with the ice packs and ACE wraps though.  They actually make me feel better. :)

3)Yesterday Lauren asked me what I think about when I am swimming, so here is a list of what I was going on in my head during practice this morning.

• I am so dumb!  Why would I want to get up at 4 AM to go swim.  Clearly, I am not the sharpest tool in the shed.
• So hungry!!  I want pizza ASAP
• Holy crap, I just met Kona Chris!  He is a total badass!
• Just keep swimming.  Just keep swimming. 
• I hate zone 4!  I am serious- I hate zone 4.
• I'm on the highway to hell (insert AC DC music here)
• The water is really hot. 
• So hungry!
• Oh no, I have a wedgie!  So embarrassing.
• Is it time to get out of the pool yet?
• I wonder if traffic is going to be bad today?
• Thank goodness we almost done!
• HOT TUB TIME! #Winning!

Have a super Thursday :)

Three Things Thursday: Life is good!

Happy Friday!! Thursday!! Today is my Friday, and I am totally pumped about it.  After work this afternoon, I will be heading up to Cumberland, Maryland for the Rangar Relay. Yay!!  Totally excited about the race and what I have planned for the rest of the weekend. 

1) Dani and Target = Whitney and Dunkin' Donuts. We had donuts and coffee at my morning meeting today, and of course I had to have one.  No biggie, right?  I mean no one in the right mind would be able to pass up a glazed chocolate cake donut.  The problem was that after the meeting, I went and grabbed another donut.  BAD WHITNEY!  I do not even like jelly donuts, but of course I didn't realize that until I already was half way through it, and had powdered sugar all over myself.  #ThankgoodnessIrun! #Iamsuchapig! 

So good, but so bad for me!

2) Going on dates is so much fun!  Last night I traded in my workout clothes for a cute outfit and went out.  Don't worry, I did my bike ride in the AM.  I am so happy that I am taking advantage of this new work-life-training balance that I have recently found.

3) I recently purchased some pretty nerdy, but necessary awesome running gear. With the days getting much shorter, and the sun not coming up until 7AM, I really needed this stuff.  And maybe I should consider wearing them out Saturday night?  Too much?

Cute, right??

What about this one? 

I hope everyone has a wonderful weekend!!  Come back on next week for my Rangar Relay and my NUTRILITE product reviews.  (Kate, I promise I haven't forgotten!)

3 Things Thursday

• I made it to swim practice this morning!  Until about 2 weeks ago, I was going on a regular basis, but then I decided that I could swim on my own after work. WRONG!  My evening swims went from awesome 100% effort sweat sessions to swimming 1000 meters and then bailing.  Lesson learned- I need to get up and swim with the team.  So this morning, I pulled myself out of bed at 4:45 and hit the pool.  Totally happy that I went!




My favorite place to be at 5 AM.

• I saw close to 10 super cute puppies on my way to work today!  Because of this I got into work 15 minutes later than normal, but I had to stop and tell the owners how cute their dogs were and ask if I could pet them. Totally normal, right? Who wouldn't do that?  Normal or not, I just couldn't help myself. It was hard enough for me not to ask their owners if I could  take pictures of their cute pup for my blog.  I cannot wait until I have the space for a dog of my own.



Darla the Saint Bernard c The Daily Puppy

• Thank goodness I went to swim practice this morning. My co-worker Kristin asked forced me to go with her today. Best decision I have made today.  Shake Shack is awesome! I repeat AWESOME!  My burger, crinkle fries and Thin Mint milkshake were delicious.  I wonder why I am not losing any weight during IM training...

Delish!

Three Things Thursday: BIG BLOG NEWS Edition

I am so happy it is Thursday! This week started out pretty hectic, but it things are now starting to calm down.  As you all know, I was on vacation last weekend, so coming into work after 5 days off is never fun.  I also found out that my check card information had been hacked.  Since I had to cancel the card, I have been living without my debit card since Tuesday.  This is a huge pain in the butt because I use it for everything!  Not a fun way to start your week. Despite the hectic start, I am pretty pumped about my Three Things Thursday.

1) BIG BLOG NEWS!! Tommie Copper started following me on Twitter earlier this week, and you are probably thinking- big deal! Who cares?  But I reached out to them and asked if I could do a product review, and they said YES!!! Yippee!!  I get to do my first product review, and I cannot wait.  My gear should be arriving any day now.  Oh, and for those of you who are not familiar with Tommie Copper- they sell a line of comfortable compression gear that combines the healing power of copper with the benefits of compression. Pretty awesome, right?  More to come later on Tommie Copper. :)

2) I officially signed up for the Waterman's Half.  I have been meaning to do this for awhile now, but I actually signed up this week.  So it looks I will be racing at least once a month until IM.  Luray is this weekend, Ragner Relay is in September, Waterman's in October and then IM in November.  

3) My foot pain is back. :(  Damn you flip flops!  Nothing major, but the pain was bad enough for me to skip my 40 minute run yesterday.  I am hoping that with a little rest and not wearing flops that I will be ready for Luray on Saturday.

Have an awesome day!

Three Things Thursday

The weekend is almost here and I am totally pumped about it.  After today, I only have 1 more workday left until VACATION. Yay for time off! Everything is going great at work, but I am really excited about some time to relax.  On to my 3 Things Thursday

1) Dear lady who was driving a black Infinity cross over on the GW Parkway at about 8:30am,  You stink!  Laying on your horn and shouting obscenities is not very nice. You do not own the GW Parkway.  People are allowed to merge in front of you.  (Fuzzy- if you are reading this, it was a top notch swoop! Just like you taught me- you would have been proud.) Whenever traffic is driving me crazy, I crank up the radio and sing along. Maybe you should try it? This would have been a better use of your energy this morning.
Kind regards, Whitney

2) Homemade Cupcakes+ Sushi = Happy Whitney!  This morning there was a surprise birthday party for one of my coworkers.  Normally office birthday parties, baby showers and other celebrations can be a little awkward; however, this one was pretty awesome.  Bring delicious homemade cupcakes to any party, and I am happy!  Great way to start my afternoon.  Then I grabbed sushi for lunch. Nom nom nom!  Sushi and I are BFFs.  I think I could probably eat sushi at least a couple times a week and still not get tired of it.

3) I have gotten in all of my workouts so far this week!  Go me!! I have to admit that I had to do a little rearranging because I was a little under the weather yesterday. Not to worry though- I just moved my rest day to Wednesday, and shifted my Wednesday workouts to Friday.  This isn't my favorite thing to do, but it will work for this week.  I normally look forward to having Fridays completely off. 

Well I hope everyone had a super day!  Happy Friday Eve!

Three Things Thursday

*Number 1*
I forced myself out of bed this morning and made it to the pool.  However, today's practice was not pretty! If you didn't know any better, you probably would have thought I was drowning. I felt like I was swimming in pudding, and I am pretty sure my shoulders hate me.  I cannot wait for my swim fitness to come back!

Swimming in pudding makes me sad.

*Number 2*

 Last night I stayed up super late (11pm- I know that is only late for crazy triathletes) watching Love and Other Drugs. Rotten Tomatoes gave it a 48%, but I definitely thought it was better than that.  I would have given it a 75%- a solid C. This is definitely not a movie for guys- the Captain would have turned it off after the 10th time Jake Gyllenhaal showed his butt.

*Number 3*

For lunch, I decided to face the heat and make the trek to Chop't. Big mistake!  It is crazy hot out today.  I would have turned around and just grabbed something from a place in my building; however, I had my heart set on a Kebab Cobb.  It is so yummy!  Because I went at 1:15ish- I would have expected there to be no line. WRONG! Not to worry though though, the line tends to move fast.  After about 15 minutes of waiting, I finally had my salad and was ready to pay.  I didn't mind waiting in line for 15 minutes in the crazy heat or being rushed while I was ordering- but the chicky at the register didn't give me my free fountain soda.  I even asked for it and she looked at me like I was crazy! Grrrr!  After a few uncomfortable seconds of silence, I gave up and left.  I will be back though.  If they try to pull the same stunt when I earn a free dessert, I definitely will not be so nice. :)



Only 2 more salads, and I get a free dessert!



Three Things Thursday: The Small Things

The older I get, the more I realize that life is about the small things...

Before

5 minutes later...What can say, I was hungry.

1) Oatmeal with fresh fruit makes me happy!  It is one of my favorite breakfast options. I think I could eat it every morning, and I usually do.

2) DC traffic has been amazing this week!  I love being able to drive into work in only 10 minutes. NO TRAFFIC= HAPPY WHITNEY

3) Whoever knew that Road Rules/Real World challenges were still on?!?  Between watching that and the tail end of America's Got Talent, I was able to knock out my late night spin session yesterday. Yay for reality TV! I know you secretly love reality TV too, so don't judge! :)

Love this show! 

What session is this? 50?

Three Things Thursday: Take 2

Happy Almost Friday!

1) You know its going to be a good day when you wake up, stumble into the bathroom and find your cat practically in the toilet.  See exhibit A below. Yes- that is my cat Allie drinking from the toilet because she has decided she no longer wants to drink from her water dish.  My cats totally run my apartment. They are the bosses, and I am just there to feed and clean up after them.

2) Yesterday was, my friend and fellow teammate, Sam's birthday.  A big group of Zers met up at PIOLA and surprised Sam for her b-day.  I love surprises, but they really make me nervous.  Before Sam got to the restaurant, my heart was beating like crazy!  I was probably in Zone 4 or possibly 5a while we were waiting for birthday girl to arrive.  I don't know what causes me to freak out.  Surprises are supposed to be fun, and not nerve-racking, right? I guess I just wanted everything to go off without a hitch and for Sam to be surprised. Who knows- does this happen to anyone else?  I really hope I am not the only one this happens to. :)

Happy Birthday Sam!!

My delicious pizza with speck, zucchini and fresh mozzarella.

 

My awesome teammates!

3)And most importantly- I joined Twitter!  How exciting, right??  I am still figuring everything, and I haven't tweeted yet. But stay tuned!  Oh and you can follow me @TRIing2BIronGrl.

Three Things Thursday: First Edition

Happy Friday Eve!!!

1) I live for Fridays.  No matter how awesome the week has been, when I wake up on Friday morning, I am totally pumped!  I get so excited for the weekend, whether I have plans or not.

Sorry I couldn't resist.  Hopefully this song is not stuck in your head for the rest of the day! :)

2) Christmas is my favorite holiday.  Not very unique, right?  But I actually have a CD of Christmas music in my car, so I can listen to it when I am having a bad day. 

My Christmas Tree- please note that I live in a studio apartment, but insist on having a HUGE tree.

The Grinch from ICE at the National Harbor

The Captain and I at the National Christmas tree.

3) My second toes are longer than my big toes. My mom says this is a sign of wisdom.  Wisdom or not, its a huge pain in the butt!  Two words- Blister City!  Not to mention, it looks weird.  Any thoughts on how I can prevent the blisters and black toes nails?  I have learned to cope, but it would be nice to be able to have cute feet in the summertime.