Quick Holiday Note

I just had quite the Thankgiving weekend - very busy for a Thanksgiving without any family get-togethers.

Thanksgiving was 60 and sunny - UNHEARD of for up here this time of year - so Dr. Z and I went on a Thanksgiving Day ride down in Keene. On our road bikes with just some UnderArmour. Insane. The only downside was that the 19 miles felt closer to 30. It was painfully clear I haven't done any real cycling since IMLP!

Friday morning started off beautiful too, although the weather went to hell in the early afternoon. Took a day trip up to Montreal for a little side project I'm not ready to fully disclose...yet. Anyway, we didn't get home until 9, so that was another day eaten up.

Luckily the rest of the weekend was quieter, although the weather all of a sudden dropped 20 degrees and turned to full-on winter. Yes, 60 and sunny to 20 and snowing in 24 hours. Welcome to the Adirondacks. Looks like this time winter is finally here to stay. 

And now I have to run to the pool because I haven't swam since last Monday thanks to the holiday closure.

Friday Film #21

I've been a huge Les Mis fan since I was in high school and have even read the brick (not to mention meandering...THREE HUNDRED PAGES DESCRIBING THE BATTLE OF WATERLOO? *REALLY, HUGO?!?!) unabridged book.

Anyway, I stumbled onto this completely by accident one day while browsing around YouTube and just LOVED it. Have since exchanged several Tweets with Andrew Varela (playing Javert and yes, actually plays Javert in the 25th Anniversary U.S. Tour cast for real) and he is a really cool, hysterically FUNNY guy. Who enjoys wearing thigh-highs (don't ask).

Stay after the credits to see Javert order tongue from a taco truck. And if you can't put "Javert," "tongue," and "taco" into a dirty joke, well then I just can't help you.

I Love This Product - Tri-Swim

I've decided to start a new series - "I Love This Product." It'll be stuff that really makes my tri life better.  None of it's sponsored - I'm not fast enough to have companies send stuff to me.  (Although any companies that WANT to send me stuff can feel free to! *G*)

So...between the swim being my weakness and living in a cold climate that only allows OWS for three, maybe four months of the year, I spend a lot of time in the pool.

It does a real number on my skin and hair - in fact my hairdresser started me on argon oil last winter because my hair was in such bad shape. In addition, I stank of chlorine no matter how well I showered. It would finally wear off....just in time for my next swim session.

To summarize: Dry hair and itchy, stinky skin.

The solution?

The Tri-Swim line:

Seriously guys. I had gotten samples from my tri club but when one of the booths at IMLP was selling the full-size bottles, I picked up the entire line (shampoo, conditioner, body wash, lotion).

This stuff is THE BOMB if you spend time in the pool. Normal products (and I use the GOOD stuff) just left me feeling (and smelling) like I still had chlorine in my hair and on my skin. I don't know how it works, but the Tri Swim stuff just obliterates any Eau de Pool. My skin and hair also feel NORMAL instead of gross and gunked up.

Yes, me naked in the locker room with my beloved Tri-Swim Lotion. You're welcome.

My favorite has to be the lotion. The smell is INCREDIBLE. It's this wonderful, clean scent.

The only downside is that each item is $10-$13. I don't mind that for the shampoo and conditioner, but it seems overpriced for the body wash and lotion. Despite that, it will remain a staple in my pool bag because it works so darn well.

What I've Been Up To

...I know, all this talk about getting the blog back up and running and I disappear for over two weeks. Hey, at least it's not two MONTHS this time.

Anyway...off-season. Yeah. I pretty much trained through last "off-season" because of the Cowtown Half Marathon in February, so this is the first time in two years that I'm not having Coach Karen tell me what to do. I was a bit lost not having that reassuring e-mail from TrainingPeaks waiting for me in my inbox every morning with my workouts for the day.

I've gotten to do some stuff that I haven't done in a long time thanks to how all-consuming Ironman training is. I went for my first hike since last Christmas on Sunday. I thought I was still in pretty good shape, but scrambling over rocks going straight up in the ice and snow is a whole different beast.

Top of Pitchoff Mountain

Then this week it was time to return to Karate, also about a year since my last class. I actually put on a white belt at first because I felt so rusty, but Sensei made me put my black belt on. It was really bad - I have NO flexibility, my accuracy in kicking is WAY off, and I can no longer smack things with my forearms like I used to.

Me putting yes, a teenager in an armlock. Hey, Selena is about my size and stronger than she looks!

It's funny - I think of one of the benefits of triathlon as being that you stay a very well-rounded athlete, but compared to pre-triathlon "Do Karate, Running, Hiking, Paddling, Snowshoeing, Skiing, etc. etc." me, I've actually become very focused as an athlete, with all the strengths and weaknesses that entails.

Luckily I'm not racing anything longer than HIMs next year, so although I fully intend to hit the SBR HARD HARD HARD and get some PRs, I should also have enough time to at least occasionally attend Karate class or pick up a paddle.