Book a massage during the Massage for Peace weekend at the Boulder College of Massage Therapy

Get a great massage May 2 - 3 and help support our trip to Dharamsala, India.  Professional and student therapists available, $35 - $50 per session (you can’t beat that price!).  Sessions available 9:00am - 4:30pm.  We need you to help fill those slots and get us to India so we can do our part to create world peace.  BCMT has been a non-profit for over 30 years and we are finally asking for help, we need your support, help us fill these sessions.  We are also looking for therapists to volunteer, if you know of any please send this information along to them.

Pass this post along to your friends and family - send them our newly launched website www.massage4peace.org.  I mean really, we’re asking you to get a massage at a discounted price from a college with an international reputation for being a leader in massage education, not the worst request.  Now, book your massage!

Be Well All!  Thank you for your support!

You know, it doesn’t really seem to matter what I’m training for, extra time just doesn’t come easy.  If I were training more, I’d be probably just sleeping and working less.  Since training is lower this year, I’m find myself getting a good amount of sleep each night but I’m working much more than last year.  My business is crazy - when I look at how far out I’m booked I get a little nervous for the summer.  I’m not sure how I’m going to accommodate all of my clients or how I’m going to deal with not accommodating my clients - it’s very hard to say ‘no’.  Either way, a good problem to have.

Sunday and Monday I ran - legs are feeling good and they are loving the consistency.  Swam yesterday and biked on Monday in shorts with not a one chilly moment, I’m so appreciative of this weather but then again I loved and appreciated last week’s weather.  Which I guess brings me to a little tiny rant….as you read this pop in a thick New England accent, squint your eyes and shake your head back and forth in disappointment.  Oh and do something snobby with your mouth.

People! Man, you just can’t please people no matter what….even beautiful mother earth.  I couldn’t believe all the moans and whines about the 3 days of precipitation and much needed nourishment for the earth that we received last week.  People drive me nuts with their petty complaints…’oh I can’t ride on the trainer one more mile’, ‘I had to run on the treadmill, poor me’, ‘i thought it was supposed to be spring’, blah blah, more stupid petty complaints, it makes my skin crawl.  Here’s what I like to say to all those ridiculous whiners….

You know what people?  Shut your mouths it’s not about you!  It’s about the earth and it’s resiliency and its patience and its suffering.  It’s about feeding the ground that you ride on, it’s about sustaining the life of the surface that you run on and it’s about having aquatic flotation for your races this summer.  So next time mother earth decides to insert a minimal break up in your precious training schedule - suck it up and know that it’s just not about you.

Ok, that’s done.  Today looks like another beautiful day - looking forward to my massage at 3:30 and tomorrow’s long run 11 miles.  Fort Collins here I come!

Saturday morning - my husband brings me coffee in bed, helps me with my newsletter and sets up my bike on the trainer….we ride together for a few hours as he intermittently cheers me on, telling me how strong and tough I am.  He drives me to my office, helps me bring my stuff up and wishes me a great day at work.  Texts me about 5pm to find out the exact type of cheese I need to indulge in…(Parrano of course).  Shows up at 7:45 to pick me up, jumps right out of the car to help me with my things and takes me home.  I walk into a very clean and lovely smelling house, he’s washed the floors and dusted the furniture, then proceeds to make me dinner, clean up and helps my sleepy ass to bed after falling asleep with Harry on the couch.

Granted, when BJ married me he knew he was marrying the 50/50 girl, BJ is nothing less than my partner, we take care of each other and go the extra mile when the other needs it.   We have our jobs around the house - most of the recap above is not out of the ordinary although the cleaning of the floors and dusting the furniture was nothing less than above and beyond.  He knew I worked hard yesterday and would be tired when I got home, working Saturdays is not easy - it adds a 6th day to my work week and can be quite exhausting after a long week of training/work already completed.

So thanks Beej - thanks for rocking out the husband role so damn well.

Up bright and early on Thursday (thanks BJ) for my 10 mile run.  I had some very familiar, not so comforting 4 metatarsal pain on Saturday and Sunday of last week….little sucker is jerking me around…so I took a few days off from running to rest it.   By the way, it’s healed….like I said just jerking me around a bit.

This was a good move although taking that many days off from running left me with slugglish leggers for my run yesterday.  They felt like lead stems and my feet little balls of lead.  I embraced the way I was feeling and did my best to stay light on my feet.  I loaded ‘The Shack’ audiobook on my ipod and headed out the door just before 7am.  It was drizzling and cold, overcast and wet…I loved it, felt like a good ole’ New England day.  I love these days, so much so that I pretend I’m back on Cape Cod as I channel in some seawater smells.  It’s a fix, what can I say? It’s the best I can get right now for ocean time and I”ll take what I can get.

Today is a swim, short run and massage from my boy Todd - my brotha from anotha motha.

Mom has come and gone - great visit!  And now it’s back to the books, training and work.  Had a serendipitous run in with Eney Jones on Sunday at the North Boulder pool.  In about 5 minutes she gave an incredible amount of help with stroke feedback and improvement techniques.   Swam 1800 today with the new techniques - feeling it in my back and lats, exactly where you should feel it as Eney believes.  Apparently I’ve been swimming up front, using my little anterior delt to do most of the work which is probably why it’s chronically injured.  BJ took video today and I can certainly see a difference, I feel like my reach is alot longer and my pull stronger.

We’ll see, more work to be done.  I feel like we are onto a good thing….we’ll be working more with Eney in the future.

Up and adam at 5am for a swim with the beej. I felt great…the beej…well I kind of beat the crap out of him yesterday and he was experiencing, what we in the holistic world refer to as menken. Sometimes you need to get worse before you can get better.

Finished up my original swim (combining two workouts, only picking my favorite things and adding distance) and off for a gorgeous 3 mile morning run. Excellent way to start the day.

Tomorrow, tomorrow, I love ya tomorrow - my rest day is less than a dayyyyyyy aaaaawwwayyyy!

Busy day today but since I put in the extra effort yesterday I was able to make time for my workout before heading to the office for a big day of clients.  I had a 19 mile OD ride and followed that with an hour of yoga.  Great recovery workout after yesterday’s brick.

Another big day tomorrow - early morning workout, heading to the office for another big day of clients.  Trying to get everything in between today and tomorrow for my mom will be arriving on Thursday.  Once that happens there will be little time for serious stuff, just fun, food and wine.  Looking forward to it.

Yep, that’s how I think things are going with my run.  I am eager to start my runs, never dread them, feel strong during the workout and my recovery (thanks so much stretching and self care) is top notch.  My legs have never felt better.  I’m running strong on my long runs and off the bike during my bricks.  Today was no different.

I rode 2:40 on the trainer with a little Z4 thrown in then ran 1:10 off the bike.  The Z4 on the trainer is difficult but its not impossible, I just need to put the effort in and most importantly, not bitch about it.  Simply suck it up sister!  After its done it feels awesome, mentally and physically.  The run was a bit blah for the first 10 minutes then my legs kicked in and I felt like I could have run for hours.  I’ve said this a bunch of times but I truly believe 4 months in the gym while I healed my stress fracture was key to how I’m feeling now in my training.

With Oceanside 70.3, IM Australia and New Orleans 70.3 this weekend (plus a bunch of other races) the Gumkowski’s are psyched for race season.  I can’t wait!  Just 4 short weeks and I get to run the Fort Collins half marathon - going to break 2 hours on that course (fast to me, not fast to many).  I’m ready, my legs are ready, my mind is ready the only thing not ready is the calendar.