If you don't succeed, tri, tri again...

Well, this past Tuesday was quite interesting. Cara and I did our normal Tuesday open water swim and trail run, except this time we had company. Jetpack (Tyler) from New Jersey came to Texas for a training visit and he met up with us at the lake. He's a fellow Triscooper. Lucky for me, he gave me some new pointers on my swim technique that I'm very excited to try out. I actually started implementing them in the water on Tuesday and felt a major difference in my energy conservation. It seems as though I was keeping my head poised out of the water when I would turn for air. He told me to rotate my body rather than my head and that seemed to work really well. I've read that in so many books but I guess its much easier to understand when someone is there instructing you. So, Jetpack, if you read this, thanks. You've given me a whole new reason to get back in the water...I have a ray of hope to make it through another race. Just when I was really giving up on the swim idea, he gave me really great advice. So this week's lesson: If you don't succeed, tri, tri again!!! You'll get there; it just takes lots and lots of practice. Not just practice but practice the right way, with good techniques and even better spirits!!!

Other than that, work outs are as scheduled. I'm going to Arkansas for the holiday weekend and plan on taking my bike, hopefully. So I should get some good rides and runs in while I'm there. We're going to the lake on the 4th I think, so there's an open water swim calling my name. Yea!! My future's so bright, I gotta wear shades!! I'm off...

Here's a picture of Me, Cara, and Jetpack after our workout. We went to Big Buck Steakhouse for an after workout beer and burger. Mmmmm...

This Weekend's Adventures

Well, this weekend's workouts went really well if I do say so myself. I only ran but I realized this weekend how theraputic running is for me. I added some abnormal running music to my MP3 and took off. I just zoned out and ran! Some of the newest, unusual featured songs on my MP3 this weekend were: Ella Fitzgeral, Aretha Franklin, Glenn Miller, Louis Armstrong, Bach, Rossini, and Beethoven. Yes, I know, those aren't your usual running tunes, but for some reason they really suited me this weekend. I completely organized my thoughts while running on my old trail that I miss so much. The days this weekend were perfect, a little hot, but perfect. I loved the energy I got when "Natural Woman" was playing in my headphones. And of course I had to bump it up a notch when "William Tell Overture" came on. One great thing about this sport is you get to have "you" time, which is so important to one's health. So running is definitely a good thing. Looks like I have an open water swim and run scheduled for tomorrow. Be sure and check out our SHOW 6! It's a doozey! Okay, I'm off...

Back to Bricks

Well, vacation is over and bricks are back in my life again! That's a good thing I think; I've missed the regular routine that I've been neglecting recently. This afternoon I did an open water swim and trail run. I've done many trail hikes in my day but never a run so it was a nice change of pace from the big city. Being in nature is one of my favorite things and today was no exception. As you'll hear from show 6, I'm trying to focus more on the strengths of my sporting (cycling and running) and less on the weaknesses (swimming). I guess I'm already aware of the fact that I'm not the world's best swimmer and I'm okay with that. SO, I've decided to try to improve and do what I can, the best I can. What more can a girl do?! I feel that it's hindering my fun factor of the sport and I don't want to do that so I'm going to work on new focuses: my strengths. =)

I'm actually considering joining my old running team again; they've recently started pre-season training. I received an email from one of my teammates this week asking if I was interested. I ran a marathon with them and I found them to be extremely motivational and just plain ol' cool. I really enjoy the sport and I never felt more fit than when I was with that team. Sooo, I think I'm going to increase my running again and consider doing more long distance races in the future. Just a thought to toss around! Well, I think that's it for now, I'm off...

A little more about the trip and then I swear I'll move on to Tri

This week's podcast is a special edition all about our trip overseas. Don't forget to visit our "In Transit" website at: www.intransitduo.com for the show or you can subscribe to the show through Itunes. Hope you enjoy!

This is me standing on the edge of the Aegean Sea in Mykonos, Greece. What a gorgeous country.

Well, there's really not too much to say about our voyage on Mykonos, except there were lots of tourists and the streets were very labyrinth and somewhat confusing. The entire country of Greece is really, really beautiful. I just can't even begin to explain the blueness of the water; I couldn't pass up the photo-op at the edge.

Here I am, leaning on a camel in Cappadoccia, Turkey.

As I've said before, Cappadoccia was the most amazing part of the trip for me. This shot was taken on the first day of hiking through valley. We came across a camel along the journey and luckily he was nice enough to allow me to have a picture with him.

The most relaxed I've been in a while.

This is me sporting my happy face after a glorious Turkish bath in Selcuk. This was also taken shortly before I got my oil massage so you can imagine how comatose I was after that! That'll be the day I remember after a hard workout. Nice and relaxed!!!

More Trip Review

Well, like I said in my last post, I had such an amazing journey through the beautiful lands of Turkey and Greece. My expectations were met and exceeded in Turkey. Contrary to most of my family's thoughts about the safety of Turkey, I never once felt in danger or scared. The Turks were extremely friendly and willing to help out Americans however possible. I haven't mentioned that my travel buddies were 3 of my friends, Cara, of course, and two other friends from Iowa, Mary and Deb.

This picture is of the Blue Mosque in Istanbul, Turkey. I took this shot from the ferry as we were headed over to the Asian side of Istanbul.

Most Muslim mosques have either 1, 2, or 4 of the pillars that you see in the picture. The Blue Mosque is the only mosque in the world to have 6 and Mecca is the only one to have 7. It stands across the way from the Church Hagia Sophia, which is a gorgeous mosque a couple of hundred yards away and sports only 4 of the pillars. If you ever plan on going to Istanbul, prepare for prayer times 5 times a day starting at 4:20 in the freakin' morning. After a while you don't even hear the incredibly loud speakers with the cantor, but it takes some getting used to.

This is me standing in front of the ever-famous Parthenon in Athens.

People, including myself, often get the Acropolis and the Parthenon mixed up. But to set the record straight, the Acropolis is the actual hill on which the Parthenon sits. And let me tell you, it's quite a hike up that steep hill but well worth the view of the beautiful city of Athens. I kept getting the feeling that I was standing on such a major part of history and that's a pretty dang good feeling. It was breathtaking to be at the actual location that I've only read about in my lifetime. Fortunately we arrived at the Parthenon about an hour before it closed. I say that's fortunate because there were hardly any people there and I got some amazing shots of the structure without the spectators. It's a must see for travelers but don't plan on spending the whole day there; it doesn't take that long to visit the ancient ruins.

Okay, that's all for now. I'll post some more later!

Back in the U.S. of A.

What a relief!! I'm back in the wonderful USA! It was the most amazing trip ever and I wouldn't change anything about it but it sure was nice to get back on American soil. Here's the order of locations from the trip.

While in Turkey: Istanbul-->Cappadoccia-->Selcuk / Ephesus / Pamukkale / Izmir
While in Greece: Samos-->Mykonos-->Santorini-->Athens

This is my favorite shot from the hot air balloon ride the we took in Cappadoccia, Turkey. It was such an amazing sunrise from the sky.

Cappadoccia was by far my favorite location of the entire trip. The land was amazing, the people were so kind, and the food was to die for. Everything about Cappadoccia was well worth the extra lira to get there. We hiked through the Red Valley and various other places. I managed to keep my calories burned while treking through the lands.

This picture was taken in Pamukkale, Turkey at the Calcium Springs. It looks like snow but that's acutally blinding, white calcium.
I had no idea that there was a place like this on God's green Earth. It truly was a mountain formed of calcuim with so many levels and wading pools. The calcium actually starts as a gel and over a short time in the air and sun, it begins to harden and form the hard stuff that you see here in the picture. We started our barefooted hike at the top of the mountain and went down to the middle. Then of course we had to hike back up, which got very hard on the feet, but was well worth the journey.

Now it wouldn't be a trip to Santorini, Greece without a donkey ride up an amazingly steep mountain!

This donkey ride was taken just after we hiked up the Volcano that formed the island of Santorini. I actually stood in the largest volcano crater in the world! It was hard to wrap my head around because it didn't seem that large while we were in it. However, when I actually saw the crater from the top of another mountain nearby; it was absolutely huge!!