Wanted...

A swim coach. Male or female. Someone who will motivate me and make me work. Someone who will tell me what the heck I'm doing wrong and why I'm slower than molasses. Someone who won't laugh at me when I show them my "stroke" and tell me that I'm not meant to be a swimmer. Oh, and someone who won't laugh at the way I look in a swimsuit!

I'm not asking a lot am I?

I got in the pool yesterday. It's been a while. Okay, who am I kidding. I've swam 3 times since the Ironman. That was over 3.5 months ago. It wasn't pretty.

Tom, God bless him, tries to make it less dreadful. He bought me a Finis SwiMP3. It's one of those crazy under water MP3 players that doesn't go in your ears, but instead vibrates your cheekbones. It looks something like this (although for some reason, I hope I don't look like this girl when I put mine on because she kind of makes me giggle. Just something else to be self conscious about at the pool)

It's a really cool thing actually and *might* make me want to swim more. I enjoyed bebopping along to Duffy, Cold Play and everyone else that Tom loaded it with (brave, I know. We like some different stuff. Guess I shouldn't have been that surprised when Tiny Dancer came one. Such a pump-me-up sort of song! I love you dear!) I'm sure I looked like this... music notes following me and all. Actually I choked a few times because I found myself starting to sing when a new song came on, forgetting that I'm underwater. Damn you MP3 player that makes me forget I'm under water! I'll continue to use it, hopefully it'll help get me back in the water, and just so all you know...

I'm serious when I say I need a swim coach! :)

PS - this picture from the Finis website makes me laugh. She's probably not going to get much better swimming like this.

Team Type 1

I have to post this because it's too cool! My husband Tom is on Team Type 1. For those of you that don't know about it, Team Type 1 was created in 2004 by Phil Southerland and Joe Eldridge, a pair of avid cyclists with Type 1 diabetes. In 2006 and 2007, Team Type 1 won back-to-back victories in the eight-person team division of the Race Across America (RAAM). In 2008, the team grew to become a 15-rider Continental team that included four riders with Type 1 diabetes.

This year, Team Type 1 is growing again – in addition to the pro men's squad, they have a triathlon team (which the hubby is on), a developmental squad, a women's professional squad and two teams for RAAM: Team Type 1 and Team Type 2. The Type 1 athletes in these programs strive to instill hope and inspiration for people around the world affected by diabetes. The teams not only race, but work hard to spread the message of controlling of diabetes through diet, exercise and the use of the best treatment and technology available today.

The pro bike team is awesome though. I'm talking super studs! They are racing in the Tour of California starting this coming weekend. For those of you that know anything about biking, the names Lance Armstrong, Levi Leipheimer, Floyd Landis, Christian Vande Velde, David Zabriskie and Ivan Basso should ring a bell, as well as teams like Astana, Columbia Highroad, Garmin-Slipstream, Quick Step and Rabo Bank. These are some of the big names of the Tour of California, and Team Type 1 will be right in the mix! They might be quiet underdogs, but don't let that fool you. Some of their wins last year include:

• A rider finish first overall in the Tour of Arkansas.
• The team took first overall and a rider finished first overall in the Vuelta Mexico.
• The team took first overall and a rider finished first in the sprint classification in the Tour de Beauce.
• A rider took first overall in the KOM competition in the Tour of Ireland and Jayco Herald Sun Tour.
• The team finished second overall in the Tour of Langkawi
• The team finished third overall in the Tour de Georgia.
• The team includes two Olympians, representing New Zealand and Mexico.
• Forty-five victories overall and 100 podium finishes overall.

S. T. U. D. S.

Watch them on Versus starting February 14th. Cheer for them! Hell, even go to http://www.versus.com/cyclysm to vote for them as the favorite US team to win the Tour of California. (They are currently in 3rd out of 10 teams)

Team's Website: www.teamtype1.org

Oh happy day...

I'm having a good day. I get to go meet my dear friend Trisha's new baby Delaney in a little bit and I'm so excited. Her pictures are adorable so I'm excited. Plus I haven't seen Trisha lately so it'll be nice to catch up with her! :)

I have awesome friends. I feel like I need to shout that out to the world. For so long, I've been searching for a great group of friends that both Tom and I get along with well and have fun with, without the cattiness and everything that can come with groups of friends. Last night we had 8 people up to our house for dinner. Besides some plumbing problems (don't ask... although the guys all learned a lot about soldering from Tom!) we had a great time. These are the kind of friends where you can just sit around a table, eat, talk and laugh and it feels like we've all known each other our entire lives! Tom and I are so lucky to have them all in our lives! :)

It's been warm enough in Ohio the last few days that I was able to get a 9 mile run outside yesterday. I was kind of excited about it (as excited as you can be about running in Delaware) and let me just tell you... it was a beotch! WOWZERS! I don't know what it is about running outside, but my legs felt like they had cement around them. I just couldn't get them to go. I'm sure the 20 mph winds didn't help, but come on, I've raced a half Ironman in a hurricane - 20 mph should nothing! :) Anyhoo... I was totally depressed about how I felt, went through the whole "I'm never going to be able to do a marathon in May" conversation, but I finished and averaged 9:18's. I shouldn't complain. I have the ability to run and I should thank my lucky stars for that. But why does it have to feel like I'm pulling a sleigh behind me every time I step outside for a run? :)

Oh well - I'm hoping to get on my bike this week outside. I've still yet to test out my FlashPoints and to be honest, they whisper to me every day that they are ready to play!

29

In honor of my 29th birthday today, I thought I'd change up the 25 random things about me post that's going around and write 29 random things about me:

1. I married my best friend. Cliche, I know, but we spend every minute practically together and I couldn't imagine my life any other way.
2. I talk to my dogs and they talk back - well Charlie does. She's my little girl.
3. I think that I'll have a hard time loving a child as much as I love my dogs, but I'm willing totry some day.
4. I really only want one child when I do have one and I'm secretly hoping it's a boy. :)
5. I have only DNF'ed once in a race and it changed me as a person forever. (it was Chicago Marathon 2004 by the way)
6. I feel like I'm cursed whenever I race a half Ironman distance tri. I've NEVER had a good race. Maybe this year is the year!
7. Although I've finished an Ironman, I don't "feel" like and Ironman. Hum...
8. I love pasta, but hate pasta sauce. It's butter or cheese for me please!
9. I could eat Cheetos with every meal, although I much prefer the baked Cheetos to the real ones.
10. Diet Pepsi is my drug of choice!
11. My sister is one of my best friend. We haven't always been best friends though... it took some growing up for me to realize how special she is.
12. My mom is my other best friend. I think that's the way it's supposed to be for a mom and daughter though.
13. I have a niece and a nephew that I don't think I'll ever see again. It makes me sad and I think about them all the time.
14. My hubby is on a triathlon team and I'm completely and utterly jealous of him getting free uniforms!
15. I met 6 of my closest girlfriends friends online.
16. I met my hubby online too...
17. If I could change one thing about me, it would be the way I see myself in the mirror.
18. I was an exchange student during 9/11 and still to this day feel like I didn't "experience" it. When I hear people talk about it, it's a very different memory for me.
19. I've lived with an Italian girl who made the most amazing food and said the cutest things. I'd love to find her today, although I know she's in Milan somewhere... and her English wasn't very fluent any more.
20. I played soccer for 14 years of my life. I've often thought about joining another team, although am scared to get hurt while playing.
21. I have a cousin with the same name as me, and my sister's sister-in-law shares my name, but I've never met anyone else named Colleen.
22. We only have one car for our family, but 4 bikes (which total cost about as much as our one car!)
23. Someday I want to go on a cruise to the Mediterranean, but I have to have a balcony on our room! :)
24. I hate the cold weather, but love the snow.
25. I will exercise for food - biking 100 miles to an ice cream festival is not a big deal to me.
26. I clip coupons and VERY rarely will pay full price for anything. I'm a Lynch girl through and through.
27. I'm addicted to trash tv like the Real Housewives of Orange County, Matchmaker, Made, and the Hills. Secretly my hubby is too. :)
28. I know my hubby is serious when he calls me "Colleen". That's a rarity.
29. It doesn't phase me that this is my last year of being a 20-something, but it scares me to move up an age group bracket in racing. Does that make any sense?

Progress

It's been a while since I've written a post about my training and how it's going. It's funny, I guess I felt that Ironman training was so intriguing and that people would be interested in reading it. Looking back now, it's kind of silly to make that assumption. Who knows!!!

In any event, marathon training is fully underway. I'm in week 4 of my program and I'm really enjoying getting back to the basics of running. I'm still biking and well, intermittently swimming, but it feels good to just run. I'm working a lot of speed which is a new challenge. There isn't a feeling in the world that compares to your lungs burning after a good fast run!

Today I was supposed to run 50 minutes. That's all the program said. I've been using my Tuesday workouts as speed workouts, doing intervals on the treadmill. It's been going well. Today I changed it up a little and just ran. I ended up doing a 10k in 50:38! I was so excited. That's coming a long way in my book. For the first 3 years of running, I would aim to run a 10k in 62 minutes (obvious 10 minute miles). Last year I probably would have aimed for 9 minute miles on really great days. Today, I ran 8:10's! And the best part... I felt AWESOME and it's only February! I'm hoping to keep the speed work up, get faster on my longer runs and hopefully this marathon in May will be a pleasant surprise of the progress I've made. I have a 4:44:48 PR to crush! :)

While the cat's away...

The mouse learns a lot! :)

Tom's been gone in California since early Thursday morning and it's been a busy couple of days. I have a brand new appreciation of Tom's job within our company because wow... it's a lot of work. I'm sure he has found shortcuts and whatnot that I haven't quite acquired, but I feel like he does so much more than I could ever imagine. And of course I'm so worried that I'll mess up, which is funny, seeing as how I'm the "owner" of the company.

I've also learned that Buddy, our oldest dog, is a pain in the rear end when Tom's gone. He's completely housebroken, but pee'd in the house 4 times within the first 24 hours of Tom being gone and cried non stop!! I think more than anything, it was a sign of rebellion toward being left with me! I cried the first morning when Tom called. How will I ever be able to be a mom if I can't even tame my dogs? HA! He's gotten better, but he's still a stinker!

I've gotten a ton done though around the house - had some girlie movie days, made more applesauce for the freezer, made muffins (Fiber One Apple Cinnamon muffins are awesome by the way!), done laundry, visited with friends and family, shopped, worked, slept, worked out... I feel like I have such a huge amount of time to do things without Tom here. I wonder why that is? HA!

Training is going well. I'm starting week 3 of marathon training. It's pretty tame right now... max of 8 mile runs at one time. I did a tough 7 miler on Friday and was lucky to get outside before the snow came this weekend. It was actually 45 degrees which was a nice change, although it was windy!!! I felt pretty sluggish, but finished strong and felt good that I was able to get it done alone. This is a new concept for me - training alone! Yesterday I hit the gym for 1.5 hours and it was really fun - I kind of just escaped in my own little world for a while and got a good workout in.

All in all, it's been a good few days alone, but I miss my hubby so much! :) Guess I'm spoiled being with him all the time! Luckily he comes home tomorrow! YAY!

I don't totally hate winter

It's freezing cold today - like 15 degrees without wind chills and the snow is coming down like crazy. This is the kind of winter that I like in Ohio. When it is just gray and slushy, like normal Ohio winter days, that's when I get blue. How can I complain when this is what I see looking out my sunroom window?

Makes housesitting at the inlaws even better - they have a 2 story stone fireplace in their log cabin on 7 acres in the woods and a hot tub out back. And we get paid to stay there! It's rough, but someone has to take care of the house, dogs and cat! Now if only there were hills in Ohio to get some skiing in! My skis have been unloved for over a year now... it's been too long! :(

I've had a tad bit of free time (not much... I squeeze it in when I can) but I took on a new project that a girlfriend of mine got me into. Liz made the most adorable barn star for a friend at our Christmas exchange and I instantly wanted to be as talented as Liz. Although she's way ahead of me in terms of ability (she distresses hers and all kinds of good stuff) I took a stab at two and am pretty proud of myself. Here's one for our bathroom

And a little sneak peak for Kristen's kitchen... I'm pretty proud of myself! :) Thanks Liz for the inspiration (and instructions!)