What not to say when you meet Macca

Good morning! It's another gorgeous clear, sunny, warm day in Southern CA. I don't know if this is typical weather in this part of town or not, but I am LOVING it. It feels like it's summer. I've been doing my homework outside sipping on some coffee... definitely makes paper writing a lot more enjoyable!

So this weekend was definitely a memorable one for me. I attended the Endurance LIVE event down in San Diego, which was a Triathlon Expo open to the public. The event was hosted by the Competitor Group; which many of you will most likely know as the hosts of the Rock 'n' Roll Marathon Series.

I debated attending all week (long drive, ppl I wanted to go with backed out, school work was PILING up...you know how the list goes on... haha), but I am SO glad I made the trip down!

I arrived right when it opened at 9AM. I made my way through the booths, looking at all the cool new products and services. I stopped by the GU booth, where they were just giving out samples left and right! I walked away with a GU BREW packet (never tried this, seems promising!), a vanilla GU pack, and their new flavor Cherry Lime Roctane. I recently tried and LOVED the vanilla flavor, so I can't wait to test out the Cherry Lime Flavor soon!

I also found a bunch of races I want to sign up for, including TRIFECTA, which is a weekend of triathlons, cycling, and running races in June. Um.... Awesome!

Another cool thing about the event was that there were seminars going on all day. Here is Matt Fitzgerald talking about achieving racing weight: Um yeah.... remind me again to stop eating Holiday treats. I definitely gained some this season! ahhhhh! haha. Gahhhh I know. I need to jump back on the wagon Matt!

There were some awesome bikes at the expo, too. I definitely stood there oggling bikes for a bit. They were so pretty!

Remind me to go buy some lottery tickets, yah? :)

I strolled downtown SD for some lunch, and on my way back to the expo, I was walking behind this fit looking couple. I didn't think anything of it for a few minutes until I realized....

Guess who!

Yeah I definitely felt like a stalkerazzi taking this photo!

(PS that is Kara Goucher!)

The expo was a lot of fun, and talking with all the vendors was interesting as well. There's so much fun gear associated with triathlons.

BUT, by FAR the most exciting thing about the event was this:

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
That's CHRISSY WELLINGTON and ALEXANDER McCORMACK!
Ironman World Champs!
And me!
AHHHH!!!!!

Only two of one of the most bad ass people around! I mean, omg! What an awesome experience
And wow! To see up close and personal their bodies! So lean and strong without an ounce of extra body fat. Amazing. I need to start taking Matt Fitzgerald's advice pronto! :)

Having the chance to meet Chrissy Wellington was just unreal. I mean... isnt she like, the ultimate goal/role model/motivation/inspiration for female triathletes? Her talent is just out of this world.
And you know what else I found absolutely amazing? She was so....nice! When I went up to her she just was so earnestly thanking me! Hearing her say "Thank you Julia!" was crazy! She just seemed so sincere and down to earth. I told her she was such an inspiration and it was just plain awesome to get to meet her.

I also got to meet Macca. I guess my brain got taken over by evil aliens, because out of ALL the things I could have said to him, I asked him if he bought a whole bunch of his Wheaties boxes to decorate his house with.

WTFFFFFFF!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Really, Julia? REALLY? gahhhh.... embarrassing!

One of my favorite seminars of the day was Enduring Women, a panel with Miranda Carfrae, Chrissy Wellington, Rebecca Rusch, and Kara Goucher. WOW. Hearing these womens' stories is absolutely motivating. I literally was hanging off the edge of my chair in excitement. It's so crazy how talented these women are, how driven, and how just plain awesome they are.
I tried my best to capture some of the footage, but honestly, I was way too interested in hearing them speak to really worry about filming.







It was seriously an awesome event. Except for the whole Wheaties comment, lol ;)
I could go on and on about how spectucular it was, but I am going to start sounding ridiculous :)

Now I am more motivated than ever to train hard for my half Ironman! My bike's in the shop getting all tuned up and ready for the season ahead!

The non-race report

So today's post was supposed to be a race report.

I was looking forward to doing this race for weeks.

And then I got awful, yet random hip pain. I couldn't even run 1.5 miles on Friday. WTF. Then my race partner called to cancel. Running 12 lonely miles with burning hip pain. I WAS going to do it. Three very smart and intelligent people begged me not to do it and injure myself further. I told them it would be OK. I woke up Sunday morning ready to go........ and then climbed right back into bed.

So there you go. The race that wasn't. I rode 44 miles and foam rolled the crap out of my glutes and ITB. I think I feel 80% better. It was probably wise of me not to run in the long run. Yes, pun intended ;).

Oh well. Life goes on.

BUT! I did have a great weekend nonetheless. I got to catch up with my friend, and I even got to attend the LB Tri Club Holiday Party!

Lots of yummy food was had:

LB Tri Club Red Velvet Cake. So yummy!

And then we got to talking about quirky eating habits. This was a highly interesting convo. You can learn a lot about a person's inner being ;) I will share some of my quirky habits with you;

1. I pretty much only like the frosting on cakes. I can eat frosting by the spoonful right out of the container. Any flavor. Freshman year of college, my roomie and I had the BEST arrangement. She only liked the cake. We would get TWO slices of cake and I would eat the frosting, and she would eat the cake. It was the perfect arrangement. :)
2. I only eat hamburgers in layers. First the top bun. Then the tomato. Then the lettuce. Then the meat. I usually leave the bottom bun cause of the soggieness.
3. I can eat ketchup by the spoonful. I put ketchup on my ketchup.
4. I don't mind eating a spoonful of mayo.
5. I like to eat tomato paste out of the can.

Ok. So I am a freak. I'm alright with it.

Some of the other quirks people shared were:

• Dipping french fries into milkshakes
• Only eating the cake and not the frosting
• Putting french fried on top of the patty in a hamburger, so it's sandwiched along with everything else
• etc

Do YOU have any quirks? :) Do share!

At the party we also had a fun gift exchange. My gift was a cute snowman mug, some peppermint coffee, coffee flavored Clif gels, and candy canes.

There were some fun gifts including chocolate fondue set,

A toilet golfing set (which I secretly kind of wanted! haha)

Cute photo frame set that included photos from our recent Halloween ride:

My personal favorite was this really creative gift:
Hmm.... what could it be?

Tri juice? What's Tri Juice? (Also, please take a look at these marvelous Nutella Brownies. OMG OMG OMG so good. Nutella is my crack, BTW. So unbelievably wonderful)

Tri Juice: 40% protein, 60% energy. How clever is that? Someone took a bottle of whiskey, and truned it into "Tri Juice" by redecorating the box with images of the Tri Club funders (below). I though it was such a genious idea! Everyone cheered. I was also very please with the gift I received: a bike air pump cartridge thing (sorry computer ate my photo. I had a really lovely one too. bummer)

It was a blasty and had entirely way too much cake. :)

So the race didn't happen, but there will always be another race to run. Lesson I learned this week is to listen to my body and take breaks when needed. I only have one body and its needs must be respected. As sad as it was not to race (it was probably my last chance to race in 2010), I really don't want to risk injury. Thanks to everyone who talked me out of it.

Hope you all are staying warm with some gingerbread lattes or something! :)

Feature Friday: Totally nerdified

FRIDAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Ok that is all :)

Thanks for all your interesting comments on the nutrition label discussion. It really is interesting to hear different opinions, new knowledge, etc. I think for now, I'm just gonna have to brush up on my math skills. This is easier said than done for someone who needs to use her fingers to figure out 7X9. And I wish I were kidding. (Apparently, according to my fingers, it is 63)

So I know earlier in the week, I promised to debut my new look. So even though I look like a villain from the Matrix, or some deranged online stalker, here it is:


I threw in some Japanese in there per a reader's suggestion! :)

So um yeah. It is confirmed. I've always felt like a nerd, but felt that something was missing. Now I feel complete! haha.

The story is that I never realized I had bad eyes. I mean... I knew my vision wasn't perfect, but I didn't think it was that bad. I just thought it was normal that I couldn't see far away, or read the TV screen, or read street signs. I never thought twice about it until I went to go get my Japanese driver's license renewed back in December.

DMV Man: "Do you wear glasses?"
Me: "no"
DMV Man: "And you're driving like this? You're gonna kill someone!"
Me: "My eyes aren't that bad...."
DMV Man: "Let's just HOPE you see enough today to pass the test!"

Um...ok. Uh oh......
So I went to the optometrist, and WOW! I never realized exactly how much I wasn't seeing until I tried on some lenses. WOW! Everything is crystal clear now!

And what a difference it makes when driving at night! I never realized just how much I was "guesstimating" while driving in the dark. I was guessing where the lines on the road were, guessing the distance between cars.... oh boy! (Good thing I live in a very small town with only like, one major road)

I found these Danish frames at the Optometrist's office, and I am in love with them! Of course they fit my face well because I am Danish too! Yay, how perfect is this? :)

So I know it's not running related. But there is a life lesson to be learned: Get your eyes checked out! :)

Running related updates include the last long run before the LA Marathon. 22 miles.... no biggie, right....? I am just hoping and praying to dear god that it stops raining by Sunday. I am really quite tired of this El Nino weather. Wish me luck :)

Have a super splendid awesome sweet kick-ass weekend!

Stinky Laundry....Please help!

Aren't you excited there's a three day weekend coming up?
I'm fighting something right now.... grr! but I am hoping an overdose on tea and cough drops and wearing a ridiculous amount of clothing will help. Because I have the slight issue of running 20 miles this weekend.... and maybe even by myself! Gulp!That's going to be a toughie.

Thank you all for participating in my Mind over tummy issues topic yesterday!

And now I return with another request for advice... and yet for another embarrassing topic.

Stinky Laundry.

Yup. *blushes uncontrollably* I have to admit it. I work out a lot. I sweat. A LOT. And when I do.... well, I guess I could put any 18 year old boys' college dorms rooms to shame! Ok no more details needed. You get the picture stench. (Image source)

Now my main problem lies with my dry-fit/tech shorts/pants. You would think that I would have a bigger problem with my cotton gear, but no. The problem lies in my tech material gear.

I wash it in the Cold Cycle and let it air dry. But I cannot, for the life of me, get that nasty smell out! As Steve once called it, the Swass smell. It's so awfully noisome now that as soon as even a drop of sweat touches the pants, it unleashes a fury of absolute putrid torture on anyone within a five-mile radius. I've tried soaking it in water as soon as I'm done working out, I've tried washing it with scented detergent, I've even thrown it in the dryer.... nothing works!

It's especially bad in my Nike pants, because they sew on a piece of cotton right under the crotch. My lululemon pants and CW-X pants don't have that extra fabric, so it's not as bad, but it's still pretty foul. (image source)

So now that I've bared my soul and my deepest darkest secret for the entire world to read (thank god they haven't invented smellavisions yet!) I really need your advice!

Short of doing my laundry every single time I sweat (which is almost every day , so it would be a huge waste of water), and short of buying an entirely new workout wardrobe (which is the ideal scenario, but alas, I am a broke-ass mofo), what can I do to salvage my malodorous clothes?

I've seen Febreeze Sports, Win Detergent, and other "sports specific" odor eliminators.... but are they worth the $$?Do you know of any at-home remedies for the stinky stink? (image source)

So from here on out, I should probably just change my name to "stinky mcstinkyson shoestrings", huh? Oh well. I'm stinky, nice to meet you. Wanna be my friend? :)

Ok time to go nurse my mug of tea and hang my head in shame :)

Fire Crotch

Literally, that's how I felt like last night during spinning.

For a whole hour.

Ouchyyyyyyyyyy.

The seams on my pants, my undies, and the seat were having a full on feud.
Total cat fight status.
Claws, fangs, everything.
On my crotch.

Ouchhhyyyy.

The instructor kept glancing at me, like "oh, you think you're so good, so tough, doing all the drills out of your seat. What a show off."

Truth is, getting off my seat was like taking a fire extinguisher to my crotch.
It felt glorious.

I still can't figure out why it was so disastrous. I even remembered not to wear butt floss a thong. I blame it on the pants. Maybe I need to Body Glide it up before the next class?

At least I had a bomb, sweaty workout and my quads got quite the unexpected workout!
And my crotch is back to neutral.

Phew.

Thank goodness.

(image source)

Three more days of work in 2009 and four more days till Japan!

OK so now I know why people run with toilet paper

So I've heard of sharting, where you... you know.

But what is it called when you... um... fart and... um... pee a little at the same time?

peert? farine? what is it?

And just so you know, I'm only asking this cause it happened to my friend, and s/he wanted to know what it's called.

Ok ok who am I kidding, right? haha :)

Don't worry, it wasn't anything too embarrassing. I was running alone on a trail, I was already completely drenched from sweat, and it's not like I peed my pants. haha.
But I now understand why people run with TP. Though I hope I never have to find a bush to do more than pop a squat in....!!

Um yeah. Ok let's stop with the TMI shall we?

So let's back track on this "farine" inducing run. It finally stopped raining yesterday, so there was no way in hell I was going to go run on that torture device. It was warm so I wanted to run on the bluffs by the beach.... which turned out to be muddy as F, but that was fine by me cause it forced me to slow the heck down. Actually, it was kind of fun playing a game called "Don't slip and fall and look like you just shat your pants". Seriously. I am 5 years old. Ive aceepted it :)

Other than the whole slip and slide thing going on, and the intense humidity, it was a really fun run. My knees were feeling good, it was fun to watch the dogs play in the mud, and fun to run by other walkers/runners. At one point I raced this other guy who was running. For some odd reason, whenever I see a younger guy running, I feel the need to race him. I don't get this competitive urge with other girls. I think it's because not to be sexist or offensive, but I feel particularly fast when I beat some dudes. Unfortunately, after half a mile of racing him, I couldn't quite catch up, so I fell back to my own regular pace. But it sure was an exciting half mile!

The one sad thing is that I think I am going to have to put a 5-mile limit on my after-work runs. By the time I am done, it is near pitch black outside. I know it's only 6 or 7 pm, so it's not technically "late", but I don't feel comfortable running alone in the dark. I do live in a really safe neighborhood, but you never know with these things. But with only 1.5 more months to go till the marathon, I think I will be OK with my 5 mile runs.

Other than that, it's Friday folks! This means that I am going to run my 18 miler this weekend. Holy smokes! 18 miles is an intimidating #, but this week, I have James to run with again. Wish us luck :)

Have a great Friday!

Oh and HERE is a funny story about sharting!

How to fart and run at the same time... or not

First of all, thank you soooo much for your encouraging words about my knee. I can't tell you how much it lifts my spirits to read all your comments! It helps me remember not to be too hard on myself; which is something I am trying not to do. So thank you so much for your support and for putting a smile on my face! :)

I was able to run a successful, pain free, albeit super slow, 6.3 miles yesterday. I finished in barely under an hour. In my mind I was flying through the air like a gazelle on crack, but in reality, it felt like I was trekking through a massive pool of honey. It's amazing to me how one week I can bust out sub-9 minute miles, and then the next, I can barely run 10 min miles. The body is such a fascinating thing.

Well.... I guess not everything the body is capable of doing is a pleasant thing. Case in point, I was plagued by a case of Gassius Fartitis on yesterday's run. And yes, that is totally a medical term, look it up! (haha, ok, ok, I kid) But hey, I'm not embarrassed to admit that I had HORRID gas. I don't know where it came from, but it was seriously uncomfortable! My tummy felt as blown up as a balloon at Disney Land, and I literally had to stop numerous times to um.... how do I put this elegantly.... "let 'er rip"...... I am not talented enough (yet) to multitask. I mean, I can talk and run simultaneously... but I am going to need more practice with this issue. The stopping thing kinda makes it obvious... like that scene from I Love You, Man Thank the heavens that I was NOT running on a treadmill in the gym! Since I was outside with no one around me, I could toot my horn to my heart's contempt. (Althought I did always look behind me to see if anyone was there to make sure to avoid an embarassing situation!) hmmmm... now that I think about it, I'm suprised I didn't think twice about eating beans for dinner after that ordeal! haha.

Yeah, I know. This is total TMI territory. Have you ever had to deal with uncomfortable/embarassing body issues while running? At least I didn't crap my pants......that would have been special.