21st Century Mom

One last time

2008-11-05T18:29:21Z

That is http://21st-century-mom.com/

The RSS feed in the subscribe button on the browser is hosed. You have to use a subscribe button on the blog page if you want to subscribe. This blog is no longer updated.

Thanks!

One more time

2008-10-21T18:53:38Z

My Nike Women's Half Marathon Race Report is thataway ---> (click the arrow).

My RSS feed is fixed if you use the subscribe buttons on the blog - not on the browser toolbar. That one is badly broken and I have no idea at all how to fix it. It has my feed misspelled. If you know where it gets the feed info please let me know!

Thanks

Does Anyone Understand RSS?

2008-10-18T16:38:24Z

The subtitle for this post is 'why I'm starting to hate Bloglines'.

I am on my 3rd blog. First I had blogger, then I had this blog and now I'm on a WordPress blog. I have never before had issues with my RSS feed but with this blog I've had nothing BUT issues. It isn't the platform, though - other people's blogs work fine. Mine- not so much.

There are probably 3 or 4 posts over there you've missed (not that you are missing much) and I can't get bloglines to 'claim' my feeds even though I followed instructions for the claiming process.

Sigh... I think I'm going to switch to google reader. I hear it is working fine.

Toasted

2008-10-13T17:53:37Z

The reason I switched blogging platforms is because I just don't get MT 4.2. It outgeeked me. I applied a new template and then my posts didn't wrap in the post column and the template were trashed. Jeff fixed it.

Fortunately my new blog's feed is working now. Please update!

Before you go let me direct you to my sponsors who have treadmills for sale. Please visit them.

Hump Day Miscellany

2008-10-09T15:13:14Z

Thata way ----->

My feed is broken - still. I have a feedburner feed now but it still doesn't seem to be working. Maybe tomorrow?? If you are an RSS expert please feel free to help me out!

More stuff over yonder

2008-10-07T06:28:29Z

My feed is not quite fixed. It's a very annoying problem. Anyhow - I have a new Monday Monday post yonder.

One more time - but my feed is fixed

2008-10-02T22:39:34Z

I have put up a couple more posts over there -----> at my new blog.
I finally fixed the RSS feed so you should be able to make the switch as long as you pick the atom feed. The RSS 2 feed doesn't show any entries in bloglines. I have no idea.

Psst - Jane is Over There-------->

2008-09-25T17:22:57Z

Jane left this building and moved in to another one. Please hop on over there for a visit. She even has her very own address http://www.21st-century-mom.com.

If you read me via RSS reader you might want to up date your link. At least I hope you do because I won't be posting over here any more. Bookify icons at the bottom of every post make that easy to do. See you on the flip side!

Hump Day Miscellany - The Suicidal Squirrel edition

2008-09-24T22:10:40Z

While everyone is writing about fall and the colors and the crisp air we are having our usual Indian summer here in the Bay Area and it just gets hotter every day. After hot comes wet so I'm not complaining. Onward to the ~~humps~~ miscellany in Hump Day Miscellany.

1). My friend, Michellie Jones injured herself doing a 70.3 race in Cancun and can't race Kona. So sad. No - she isn't really my friend but she came and spoke to my masters swim team and she let us fondle her silver Olympic Medal and I'm pretty sure doing that helped me with Vineman 70.3.

2). This morning I heard a loud voice doing a monologue outside and looked out the window to see a man cycling down the street talking in his cell phone. Dude - turn off the phone and enjoy your ride!

3). I went for an almost 9 mile run with the other 2 women in that picture above, this morning. We kept up a sub 10 minute pace and chatted and I did not die. Actually, I only ran the first 1/2 with them and then I turned around and headed home and I kind of almost did bonk in the last mile but I made it! That's my longest run this year except for Vineman, I think. Nike Half - here I come!

4). Four was the right place to put this bit of news. I came in 4th in my age group on Sunday. 4th out of 7. I was 3 minutes and 5 seconds off the podium which is a big enough margin not to get too mad about in a race this short. I was also, for the third race in a row, exactly in the middle. This means that I have officially moved from BOP status (back of the pack) to MOP (middle of the back) status. I'll take it!

5). Why is it that some days it seems like there has been a Squirrel Hari Kari convention? I must have gone past 6 or 7 squished squirrels on my ride last Thursday. I was on high alert for the ones that want to go out with a dramatic bang by launching themselves at my wheel - it's not a happy thing when the spoke they land on makes its way to the frame. Ouch.

6). Jane Jetson will be making a come back but in a different spot. I'll be announcing a move in a few days. As someone I know would say - stay tuned.

Monday Monday - Tri for Real Race Report

2008-09-22T18:46:22Z

I raced the 15th Annual Tri for Real in Pleasanton yesterday. It was my 4th time doing this race and if you are interested you can read my history with eventhere. My goal for this race was to do it in under 2 hours and I did!

Before the race I met Muppet Dog Molly who was having a bad morning. I wished her well and went off to join my team mates at the edge of the nasty, duck poop infused waters of Shadow Cliffs. When you stepped in the water you had black goo squishing between your toes. It was majorly nasty. Once we got away from shore the water was fine and I did my best to draft. Coming in we had to swim through these nasty water weeds which was gross but c'est la vie with this race.

I was not last out of the water! My race club goes in our own wave and most everyone else at Forward Motion is way faster than me so I was happy. T1 was pretty quick due to my not wearing a wetsuit and I was out of there fast but then I got passed on the bike within a quarter mile by a couple of people. The last one to pass me took 5 or 6 miles and happened when I had stopped to help a fellow team mate with a flat.

As far as the stopping goes - I probably lost a minute or maybe 90 seconds but the rest seemed to really help and when I started riding again (because she told me to get going) I was much faster so worst case it was a wash and best case it really helped. Sadly, my friend's race was over.

When I got to T2 there was a trio of FoMo ladies screaming at me "GET OUT OF THERE!!! HURRY UP, PAMELA!!! GET MOVING!!!" at the top of their lungs. After I recovered from the red hot sting of feeling chastised I grabbed my stuff and hauled out of there yelling "You Guys are Making me Crazy!" with a huge smile on my face. Good times and I had my very best transition time ever.

I passed the guy on the run who last passed me on the bike but he was the only Forward Motion person I passed. Everyone else was way ahead of me. I got passed by several women in their 20s and 30s who had started behind me but the further I got on the run the better I felt when they passed me because it took them so long to catch up! I felt less excited about the 66 year old guy who passed me but what are you going to do? I just kept running, reaching for that sub 2 hour finish.

As I approached the finish I looked up and saw 1:55.something on the clock and was SO happy. I can't wait to see that finisher pic!

I waited a few minutes until Molly came in. She started 20 or 25 minutes after me so the fact that she was behind me by 2 or 3 minutes meant she had a great race. I told her there was a rule that if we didn't get a picture no one would believe we had met. Here we are - she is adorable and I look like an old but very happy hag

So here are the stats as I pulled them off my Timex watch (I didn't wear a HRM)

Swim - 700 yards 15:05
T1 - 1.45 (that's what no wetsuit will get you)
Ride 16.7 miles - 58:42 (17 mph)
T2 - 53 seconds! (That's what having 3 women screaming at you will get you!)
Run - 4 miles - 39:53 (it was hilly)

Total time 1:56.12

PR - 10 minutes off last year. Life is good.

What's next?

For sure:
Nike 1/2 Marathon on Oct 19
Oceanside 70.3 on April 4, 2009
Weight training and Abs Watch! Stay tuned for that.

Maybe
California International Marathon December 7
A 10K some time since it's time to have a 10K PR

Jane Has Left the Building

2008-09-20T04:51:06Z

You may notice that my template has reverted to something sort of vanilla and nice. But I've lost Jane Jetson.

My benefactor, Jeff, has upgraded the platform and in so doing had to lay down a new template. The beauty of this plan is that it has anti-spam features which I desperately need. Spammers and email hackers should all be sent to jail - immediately!

Anyhow, I'll be dressing the place up again anon although I'm kind of liking this clean look for a moment.

The Financial Crises Explained

2008-09-18T19:57:48Z

Not by me, of course. I'm going to have to read this thing about 10 times to internalize it.

This was put together by Steve Levitt of Freakonomics fame who also couldn't work it out so he called on some friends to do it for him.

This article is a MUST read for all of you - and I MEAN it! The Mom has spoken.

Shout outs to my former colleague and current friend and occasional (as in once, so far) triathlon training buddy, Tim Lang.

Hump Day Miscellany - Tri and Get it Right

2008-09-18T00:38:39Z

1). Small Things Amuse Me - Shout outs to the Super Poke people on Facebook for the Hump Day poke they did today. Hysterical. If you don't know what I'm talking about consider yourself to be a person who uses your time a little more wisely than do I.

2). J Lo! Who am I not to say something about J Lo and her initiation into triathlon? First of all I'm proud of her just the way I'm proud of anyone who trains up and toes the line - way to go! Second of all 6+ minutes in T1? I guess that insane tunic she wore took some time to get on. And third of all - what was up with that thing? I know she just had twins and is probably sporting a gut but that was just the most absurd cover up job I've ever seen. For the love of God, girl - you did a triathlon just after having twins - it's okay if you have a belly. Of course the press would give her no peace so I should just shut my pie hole about it. I'll just stick with You Go, J Lo!! Well done!

3). Learning the Hard Way - There are some lessons some of us need to learn repeatedly. Such was the case with me and a flat tire. I was scheduled for a Sunday ride with my friend, the Good Doctor so Friday night I checked the bike and the rear tire was flat. I went to get it off and it was too hard so I put air in the tube, pretending that that might work. Oh sure - it went flat in moments. I gave it 2 more tries and finally was able, with the help of 2 levers, to get the damned tire off the rim - on one side. I pulled out the tube, made a rough assessment of where the leak was, reached up under the tire and felt around and didn't feel anything so I stuffed a tube in there, blew it up, got the tire back on (easier than getting it off, oddly enough) and put it back on the bike. I checked it in the morning and it was flat again so I decided it was a bad tube and repeated the same process. When the Dr. arrived I had to invite him to have a seat while I changed the tire, yet again, only this time I took the tire all the way off the rim (like you are supposed to do) and really felt around. It had a pin in it. A very sharp, nasty pin that stuck out about a centimeter. Lesson learned. Being lazy when changing a tire puts you on the road to HELL!

4). No Wonder My Arms are Tired - I looked at my swimming mileage for the year and as of today I have recorded 98.78 miles in the water. That doesn't include races, though so with races I'm over 100 miles - whee! That makes me happy.

5). And speaking of swimming - I was looking at the times for the Nations Triathlon (a race I SO want to do next year) and the swim times are long. The first person out of the water took 19:41 which is a really long time for a 1500 meter swim. I suspect the swim course was long so if you did that race and weren't happy with your swim time feggedaboutdit - it was the course.

Monday Monday - Sliding in to Home

2008-09-16T00:47:37Z

This coming weekend is my last, scheduled triathlon of the season. That doesn't mean I won't bow to peer pressure and end up doing another one but it does mean that I have no plans to do another one. This one is my "A" race - the place where it all started for me in 2000.

For those new to my life, in 2000 I was a first time marathoner (did the San Diego RnR marathon with Team in Training in 1999), a rookie swimmer (my son's coach started a masters program) and I had a bike in the garage that I had paid $10 for at a yard sale years and years ago. I got the bike tuned up and put new tires and tubes on it and rode it about 3 times. I got some friends from work to sign up with me and they showed up with rented cruisers complete with wicker baskets on the handle bars.

I raced in a regular bathing suit for the swim, then I pulled on some bike shorts and a t-shirt (I guess) and did the ride and run. This sprint distance race (700 yd swim, 18 mi bike and 4 mile run) took me 2:31 to complete and I was very nearly DFL, but not quite. When I was done I swore I would rather run a marathon every day of my life than ever do THAT again! Sadly, I have no pictures.

Fast forward to 2006 when I had been swimming for 6 years, 3 with a US masters program, had spent a summer cycling and was still a runner. I had started blogging and then bumped in to running blogs and then triathlon blogs and I got the itch to give it another go. By then I had a hybrid bike and a little more spandex in dresser and possible a little bit better idea of what I was getting in to. I did the swim in a regular bathing suit and then pulled on bike shorts and bike jersey and then changed shirts for the run - so I guess didn't really know what I was doing but I felt like I did. I even had spd pedals by then. I cut my time to an official time of 2:08 but I think it was 2:11 (not chip timed and they didn't have my time for days and had to kind of make it up).

I looked like this:

Are we having fun yet?

The biggest difference between race 1 and race 2 wasn't how long it took - it was how much fun I had. I LOVED it the second time, contrary to what you might think from looking at those pictures. Also, the course volunteers were mostly from Forward Motion Race Club and I thought, "wouldn't it be fun to train and race with real people instead of getting all my support on-line" so I joined the club.

Last year I did this race on my sex-ay carbon bike in a tri suit and had great plans to smash my time from 2006. No such luck. I came in at 2:06 which was better but not better enough. I did have a great time, though, racing withy new friends from FMRC in my FMRC team kit. This race is special for everyone because we get our own rack and our own wave start and we dominate!

I looked like this -

I felt good!

This year I have a new goal and I have reason to think I'll make it. The goal is to finish in under 2 hours and I am just so much stronger than I was last year it seems very attainable. Having goals like that puts some pressure on the race but I'm feeling confident and I have most definitely trained way more. Let's look at the rough numbers:

	2007	2008
swim	80 miles (total)	95 (to date)
bike	610 miles (total)	1665 (to date)
run	300 miles (total)	335 (to date)

Think those extra 1000 miles on the bike will help? Me too. Just look at the profile pic up above compared to my finish picture from last year.

So that's the state of affairs as I spend the week training a bit at the beginning and then resting at bit at the end and then racing. In next weeks edition of Monday Monday I'll tell you how it went and what's up next.