Last night I decided to get a bike fitting done by a FIST certified guy at Hi-Tech bikes because my knees had been feeling funky lately, and I wanted to prevent any of my old knee pain from starting up again. My knees are really 'knock-kneed', and with my SPD pedals, it felt like they weren't moving correctly. Also, I was using mountain biking shoes because when I bought my bike, I had no idea I would like this sport so much. Anyways, after all was said and done, I decided to give speedplays a shot, and bought a new pair of tri shoes as well! Turns out my old shoes were a bit small, and they just weren't fitting right anways. As soon as I slipped the SIDI T2's on, I loved them. They gave my foot so much more supprt, it was weird! The speedplays also felt great right away, even though at first having all that float was a bit weird. Now when I pedal, my legs can move more naturally, so hopefully it will help. He also tweaked my seat position, and I feel a lot more confident with my bike fit.

So this morning, I HAD to ride with my new shoes, and they are AWESOME!! I had such a better transfer of power through my stroke from having a much stiffer shoe. The speedplays are also really cool, and I didn't have a single tweak of knee discomfort, even when I did the brick. Hopefully this time I really have it solved. If not, then I'm screwed, and it's just a biomechanical issue that I can't get over- my femur is abnormally long. When I got home, I compared my leg length to my boyfriends, and although he is 3 inches taller than me, my legs are longer than his- I'm a freak! Here's a pic of my new shoes:

I'm still contemplating doing the tri 101, but I don't know what type of training plan to follow, and I also can't decide whether or not to risk doing a brand new race during its first year. Does anyone know of any training plans out there, or does anyone want to do the race with me?! Pretty please :)

NOOOOO!!!!! NOOOO!!!! I just found out that I'm 25- NOOOO!!!!

Sh*tf*cksh*t!! Now I'll never win my age group ever again :( I did not realize this, but according to the USAT, at any sanctioned events, your age is determined by how old you will be by 12/31 of that year. Since my 25th birthday is in August of this year, I am considered 25 by the USAT. This sucks a lot. I was really hoping I could bank on being in the 20-24yo age group for a bit longer to actually podium, but this is not to be (unless I race the non-sanctioned events). I guess I better get faster on my bike in a hurry! Grrr..

Would doing Wildflower HIM 19 days after Boston be a bad idea?

I feel a whole lot better today; my life feels back to normal, finally. I underestimated how much those trips would exhaust me and I'm glad that I'm basically done. I'm looking forward to having my weekends back.

Now I just have to decide if grad school is worth leaving southern california for- tough decision! I know most people here think I'm nuts for wanting to leave- and it's not that I want to leave San Diego, I'm going to have to. It's ridiculously expensive to buy anything here, and on a grad student stipend with a teacher for a bf, we can't buy anything here, and renting sucks. Also, there is absolutely no space, and the overcrowding is kind of annoying. On top of that, I haven't heard from UCSD, so most likely I'm rejected :( That's OK (sortof), because the Neuroscience program is ridiculously competitive (not in a good way) and the students are miserable. I want to be able to get my PhD while still being able to train.

Have a good Tuesday!

I have to work a full week this week- this will be my first 5 day week in over a month!  Ugh, I think it will be a long one!  I'm just really excited I finally don't have to travel for a weekend, and can relax for a bit before my Colorado trip.  I don't know how people that travel for a living can handle it- it's exhausting!

Happy Monday! 

Grrr....Here is my laundry list of everything that went wrong with this run:

-Drank a lot more than I intended to last night, and alcohol and long runs don't mix well

-Didn't have enough time to successfully get all 20 miles in because of my stupid interview obligations

-SNOW SNOW SNOW!! It snowed at least 1 foot over night, and Minnesota is NOT as good as Rochester, NY at getting rid of snow, and so most of the roads weren't well plowed, and the sidewalks were super slick. Everyone else that was out and about was cross country skiing on the same parts of the road/sidewalk I was on. I swear, I went backwards more than forwards.

-I had really awful stomach cramps because I had to eat breakfast immediately before I ran. My stitches were so bad that they are still bothering me when I was walking around the airport.

-I ended up running the last 4 miles of the run on the treadmill because I had to be at the hotel to get my stuff ready and catch my shuttle, so that screwed things up too. I had to stop a bunch of times on the treadmill to make sure I didn't miss the shuttle, than I didn't even have time to shower before catching my flight (eewww!!)

Ok, I'll stop bitching now. It was an OK run overall, I was just really frustrated that I couldn't keep my pace up because I had absolutely zero footing. My legs felt amazing the entire time, and after I had gone back to the hotel and run on the treadmill, I held my pace for 7:10min/miles for the last 4 miles to try and make up for my lack of time. The fact that I could pull off that pace at the end was a good sign. Anyways, I guess I just get moody if things don't go off perfectly, especially since the breakfast that I had to go to in the morning was super lame. At least next week I'll run 22 to make up for the missed mile! :)

Overall, the trip to Minnesota was just OK. The absolute BEST part of the whole weekend was meeting Bridget because she friggin ROCKS! She braved the snowy, cold, and terrible conditions to drive to a bar all the way across town just to see ME! How cool is that!? I had a ton of fun hanging out with her and her friends. I'm sure pictures will follow soon :)