Step 2: sign up

"this is either a really great idea, or a really really great idea". This was pretty much my motto for the summer. Go out for dinner? Leave lab early? Late night run to get fresh doughnuts?
They were all some form of great ideas. Or really really great ideas.

As I wait in line to sign up for next years race, I can't help but think to myself, "this is either a bad idea or a really really bad idea."

I got here at 6:45 AM. Registration opens at 9:00, and they take ~2500 people (what I learned yesterday volunteering
Is that only 950-something made it to the start line yesterday), I'm probably person 500 in a line snaking from the top of the terrace down a corner/parking ramp and out on to the street below.

And we still have almost two hours before the doors even open.

Don't worry, I won't freak out wondering if this is a good or bad idea.

I'm pretty sure it's both.

Step 1.5: Don't freak out

So we're not even on to Step 2 yet (that comes Monday, stay tuned),

If I had to summarize August, I'd say it was unequivocally decent. I'd give the month a 6 or 7. Lots of socializing with friends, not that much research success 

The good:
PR in the half (1:53), I was holding 8:15s for the first 10 miles, then totally lost it.  I should have trained, but a friend of a friend was able to transfer her entry to me a week ahead of time, so it was a last minute thing. I'm proud that I raced as hard as I humanly could.  I gave that race everything I had, and for that I'm proud.

PR in the 10K.  For my birthday I wanted to run a sub-50 10K.  I enlisted my best running partner friend, enticed her to pace me with the bribe of a free race entry, and we were off the day before my birthday.  It was the most painful race. ever. EVER. My previous best was 50:07, which involved training, being in better shape, and about 10 lbs lighter.  After offering to sacrifice any birthday cake consumption for quitting on the spot, my training partner extrordenaire managed to pull me through. It was killer, but we did it in 49:56 (and my GPS said it was 6.25 miles total, average pace 7:59). That hurt though.  Seriously hurt.

We ended up both placing 3rd in our respective age groups, and got these adorable wooden plaques.  That made up for it.  Moral of the story: Train harder. Friends are amazing.

Met with a good Athletic Trainer about my lingering hip pain.  It doesn't seem to be anything serious, my hips are just a little skwewed, but I'm working with a triathlon-specific physical trainer in the next few weeks. Also met with a nutritionist for guidance about my diet.  I need to up the plant-based fats and not carry on my phobia of fat.  That means I get to indulge in full-fat yogurt and cheese and really work on this moderation concept.

Awesome birthday!! I turned the big 26, which is pretty amazing, because Iron's atomic number if 26, and this will be my Iron year.

Also great things in the past month: Joined a training group for ironman 2013, got an amazing heart rate monitor/training computer, school started up again which means I'm back to teaching 8 spin classes a week :) tried to breathe a little bit and relax.

The Bad:
I still need to work on this diet thing.  Step 1:  loose weight isn't going nearly as well as it needs to be going.  You can't out-exercise a bad diet.  Instead, I'm now focusing on healthy fats, more carbs, and a daily calorie intake ~2000 (its nice to be tall and muscular), with more calories in there on days I workout hard.

So much school/lab work.  This PhD thing is a big time suck. Science is going well for me now though, so I'm pretty happy in that regard.

The freaking exciting:
Ironman Wisconsin 2012 is tomorrow! I'm volunteering on the bike and run courses.  I'l excited to get up early tomorrow morning and go soak up the energy and adrenaline before the swim.  If you've never watched the start of a big race before, do it.  You'll be moved on a deeper level.  At least I was, but that's probably why I love the sport so much.

Next up, Step 2.0