Zeus on the Loose

A little more info on Zeus-
Eric and I have been talking for about 6 weeks on getting another dog and what kind. We narrowed it down to a cane corso (italian mastiff) or an english bulldog. The corso was a better fit for us and we started looking at puppies. Then last Thursday I came home and there was a little guy sitting on my couch asleep wearing antlers!!!! I'm super excited, but he does make me miss my beloved Fuji really bad. But, our other dog, a pit bull named Shy is already acting happier. She has been super mopey since fuji's been gone, and she and Zeus (what we named him) have been flopping around with eachother. Ill post pictures later, but he's 11 weeks old, blue brindle color and his eyes are grey colored. We are not cropping his ears. He's 19lbs, and has rancid toots. He'll be about 110-130lbs. We have him enrolled in puppy kindergarten starting next week because they have to be socialized A LOT because of their protective temperments.
Google Cane Corso to find out more info on the snuggly little guy. ;)

Confection perfection

What I'm doing right now: Christmas Eve peanut clusters. Mmm mmm good.

Oh, and I totally just realized I hadn't discussed the new family
member!!!
This is Zeus. He's a cane corso and my new puppy!!!
-Courtney Staton
www.triathletebride.blogspot.com
Sent from my T-Mobile Sidekick®

Functional Strength Training Winter Attempt #1

Gail at Gorilla Multisport sent me this great packet on Functional Strength Training for the triathlete last week. Tuesdays are late start work days for me, so I decided I would start it today.

I got on the treadmill and did a little warm up for 10 min at 9:52 mile/pace (FYI For some reason I just run WAY faster on a treadmill. This doesn't feel even CLOSE to warm up pace on the road). While I was running away one of the trainers, whom also works for me as a swim lesson instructor and water fit teacher came over and picked up my packet. He flipped through it, not seeming all that impressed (um, whatever, this is for triathletes, not body builders, duh). After I stretched and completed my 2 sets of 12 walking lunges with the med ball, he came back over and said something to the effect of Hey, why don't you let me put my personal twist on this. Fine, it's free personal training, so, whatev.

Some how, instead of finding myself happily doing 1-arm rows, I'm now standing on top of an upside down bosu ball, squatted, and doing 1-arm rows with the cable machine. The workout only progress to harder from there. V-twists with the med ball on top of a fit ball. Step ups and burpees, pushups on the fitball- that actually was directly from Gail's packet and was H-A-R-D. The push ups, planks, and tables, all mostly Gail's directive, but with Nate's "Don't be a pussy" speech.

I

Effing

Hurt.

I will continue on with the GMS Functional Strength Training, but, with out The Nate as I don't want to tear/hurt/harm anything, and this PT school student leaves town to get back to class shortly, allowing me to gradually work up to things as I should.

However, I see what a long way I have to go. But hey, it's still not even Official Training Season, right?

EveryMan Tri

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Things That Annoy, Irritate, and Bug the Eff Out of Me Part Duex

I once went on a rant about things that bother me. Now I'm back, with a few more.

• Fitness professionals that aren't fit.
• People that smoke on oxygen machines.
• When someone says "I can't" when they should say "I won't try."
• Jealous people.
• The BMW's parked off of Gregory at houses worth half as much.
• The word "asxe." As in, "Hey, I gotta question to asxe you."
• The City of Blue Spring's inability to plow my street.
• The lady that lives cate-corner to us.
• That lady's kids.
• Hair tie's and bandaids stuck in the pool gutter.
• Most of the water buffalo.
• Spam email. I DESPISE spam email.
• Conference calls.
• People that don't know what the hell they're talking about, and they're discussing MY field of expertise.
• Bratty, obnoxious kids.
• Their parents.
• Snow on the road.
• People that blow their second chances (or third, or fourth).
• Nurses that smoke.
• The economy. Amazingly, not gas prices! :)
• The cost of new cars.
• Economic bailouts.
• W.

Hey, I must be in a decent mood. This is all I could come up with for now.

Feel free to leave a comment with your own.

Chocolate Coma

I just seriously ate like 3 snack size Mr.Good bars and 3 kit-kats. I feel like I'm going to ralph!

I was hungry and didnt want to leave work. I cant find the can opener to have my tasty tuna and fruit, so I went for the snack drawer in the back closet. GROSS!!

Now I seriously feel sick.

Holiday Hammer Triathlon

So, I left everyone hanging on the details of my triathlon! :)

Well, it was a 500 lcm swim, 10 mile spin bike, and 5k treadmill run. Here are the results:

Courtney Staton 1st 20-29, 2nd Over All (Ha, I know, right!?)

Swim: 7:06.70 <--- Where I pulled this out from, I have no idea. It was a "go hard, then die" swim.

T1: 0:42.5

Bike: 18:47.40

T2: 0:22.02

Run: 31:50.93

Swim start Lane 3 First to the bikes! Me on the far end! :)

I thought I won the OA, but then a girl a heat behind me went 55:41. She's the spin instructor though, so she should have out biked me anyway, right?? :)

NO! No no no no no! Breathe, dammit, breathe.

Today is NOT going the way it was supposed to. I'm afraid I'm getting set up for a bad couple weeks. That is NOT ok with me. Remember, be positive? All that jive? Super posi!? Huh? I mean, really. It's not that bad, right? UUUGGGH.

How Did I Enter a Triathlon in December?

Oh wow! New things! Yippee!

Yesterday my fancy new fluid trainer arrived via UPS along with my Mavic wireless cadence computer. I'm big time, I know. I set everything up in the basement once I got home from work last night. Alas, that wasn't until about 8:45pm, so I didn't get to assemble everything until after 10:30pm. But that's ok. Because that means tonight I have to get my ass on my bike and ride for a little while.

See, I really haven't been on my bike since um ::cough:: september ::cough:: and that was cough:: one time ::cough:: (Excuse me, can you pass a Ricola, please? Thanks). And we all know how much I've been running, or not running, as the case may be. Well, there's this little triathlon that I kinda entered in like, August. And it's This. Weekend. As in, Saturday, 8:00am. Yeah, it's indoors, so I'll be on a spin bike, and running on a treadmill, but still, I have to actually compete. I guess it will be a good place to determine my current fitness (um, none).

I'm off to look up a tv schedule for what's on this evening. Hopefully something worth spinning to.

These are a few of my favorite things...

This morning Shy dog and I went for a run. Well, Shy went for a run, and I held on for dear life. I think it's time to get her a harness, the collar just isn't cutting it. But, I digress.

The weather this morning was stunning. Not stinging, but stunning. There's still bits of snow on the ground, but I didn't feel like I was swallowing knives everytime I took a breath. The sunny was shinning, and I was alive.

It took about 40 minutes of hem-hawing around before I kicked my own ass out the door. I didn't plan to take the dog along, but she knew what I was doing and was bound to see herself going with me. Fine, she makes me run faster, anyway.

We jogged around a newer route and then came back to a familar home stretch. It was then I started thinking about the hardest runs and how they ended up being some of my favorite memories.

My first 10 mile run. Julie and I had a mapped out route through the plaza and brookside. It was the first weekend in January 2007. The temperatures were probably in the teens. Dawn started with us as well, but eventually it was Just Jules and I beebobbing along to our iPods and muffled footsteps on frozen pavement. The end of the run was one of my most triumphant.

Another favorite was the icicle run. The ice icile run was a 6 mile run on what was supposed to be chat, but was actually snowed and frozen ground. Oh, and it was in the middle of an ice storm. No really. MotoMichele and I layed claim to the wintry sights around us. It was so incredibly painful. When we made it back to her truck, we both found that our hair was frozen, and the snot inside our muffled up noses was as hard as a rock. Then we went to QuickTrip and loaded up on HotChocolate (that's a recovery drink, right?) and I had my first ever ClifBar.

I also loved my first 18 mile run in the summer with Julie along the same grounds as the icicle run, but this is winter, so we'll talk about that more in like, oh, July.

These runs are some of my favorite moments. I'm excited to find more this go-around.

I've also picked out a coach, but I haven't told them yet. And, RedMan registration opened today, and after a quick peek at the bank account, it looks like I'm hold off to probably Friday before I sign up. Thankfully it doesnt fill in seconds like every other Iron distance race does, so I have that option. Things are really going to be different this time training for IM. I cut up all the credit cards, so now I fly on the cash in my pocket, which means being a little more careful on how much cash I dump where and why.

But no matter what, I'm growing more excited...