Well training is what has finally crushed my resolve as a vegetarian. After a good long run of several years as a vegetarian, and then a few as a pescatarian (a veggie that eats fish too), I've (andrea) been eating meat--poultry only-- with fervor.

I am certain that there are good ways to get what my body needs from non-animal sources, but frankly, I don't want to. I have been craving meat and finding that it is the most satisfying thing. Which is huge because since Sunday I haven't been able to keep up with my hunger. If I ignore it I start to shut down so that only vital functions remain (breathing, heartbeat, ect) and all brain function stops. This is new for me. I've been watching Murph experience this for years, but I can't ever remember this for myself. I'm feeling sort of animalistic myself...I get to the point that my long-held beliefs about meat don't really matter to me, I still believe them but they don't matter as much as satisfying my hunger.

Again, Team in Training always knows what I need just when I need it, and they're offering a nutrition clinic tomorrow night. I'll be there to learn to feed the beast (aka myself) for the next few weeks and that might mean more meat.

now is probably the most important time to stay grounded in why we're doing this, bc it is the busiest in our outside lives (new job for andrea, end of school year wrap up at work for murph) and the most intense trainings (1hr45min bike AND 45 min run tomorrow, starting on upper west side - an hour from our apt - at 6.45 am). it is asking mucho mucho mucho of us right now, and we're trying hard to hang on and hang tough.
and why try: bc cancer is a bunch of malarkey. a bunch of total bs, and we know it first hand and this is a way to fight the fight that needs fighting and celebrate the fights that we've won. cancer must be cured - it just ain't right that it exists at all. we are funding, with your support, research that can and will make that happen. that is why we go to bed so obscenely early on a friday, why we get up so disgustingly early on a saturday, why we're in PT to keep going, why we're pushing on in the face of difficulties on many levels: our push mirrors, supports, and celebrates the push to survive. it's as real and as simple as that. real simple.
john

murph here. fresh back from our big weekend practice, which was a 25 mi bike followed by a 5 mile run. we're inching up on the race distances, in combination with each other! tomorrow: a timed .75 mile swim. get ready to eat our wake, brooklyn!!
(actually, i will be choking on ANDREA's wake, while the rest of brooklyn eats mine.)
ditto andrea's thoughts on writing about pain: it's painful to think about pain on top of having pain, never mind writing or reading about pain, so we've kept our distance from the blog to spare ourselves and you. i've been generally in funk, too - it's that time of year for me, the end of every school year is kind of a depressing time for some reason - and it's really extra no fun to read about someone's boring old funk. trust me.
and so:we have been reaching deep into energy reserves just to perservere in the face of really busy, kind of hurting, trying to have a little fun, and making sure we don't fall behind on training / communicating with family, friends, or each other. and doing, in the end, a decent job of it and i think we're coming out of it - the practice today was really good for both of us. but dang. i'm tired.

I (andrea) have been realizing the last few days how much I tend to compartmentalize different parts of my life. Doing so has helped me with creating boundaries, but it also keeps those people that I encounter and relate to through the different parts of my life (work, TNT, family, friends) separate to a large extent. Like keeping the peas out of the mashed potatoes by using one of those children's plates or cafeteria trays. And that is a partial explanation of the slow down in blog entries. But maybe I want to try some peas in my potatoes.

We've been busy with big things happening other than and in addition to our training. I finished my time working for Tenants & Neighbors on Wednesday--after about five years. Murph attended orientation for his grad school program this week. And here I am with Hope, Susan & Mari in Chicago last weekend for the very wonderful wedding of Sara and Clark. Lifelong friends from the college years that it was, as always, to so energize to be with. I laughed through a good portion of the weekend. And in addition to that core workout of laughter I got in some running with Team Chicago! (Hope, Martin, Courtney, John and myself)

Thanks to Team Chicago! I was better able to pinpoint some of my running troubles in PT. Apparently I run mechanically wrong. Somehow I don't use my butt to stride when that is what makes the most sense. I've been pushing from my hamstring causing hip pain and tight hamstrings.

And this is the other reason for the slow down in blog entries. Writing about abouts pains and frustrations is not that fun --for you or us-- but it is real. All the advice that we're both getting is that it is better to be undertrained and healthy for race day than overtrained and injured. I think that Murph and I are both playing it really safe and trying to follow the lead of our bodies.

The one place where there is no pain for either of us is in the pool. And on Tuesday we got to swim with our wetsuits on for the first time. They're very cool...well technically they're hot...in the swimming pool we didn't really need the extra warmth that they provide. But they really help make you more buoyant and hydrodynamic. I was having trouble slowing myself down everytime I came to the wall. Plus Murph looks like a superhero in his--I'd say that I more resemble a woman wrapped in tire rubber than anything else.

"but you're an athlete so you'll do fine." music to my (murph's) ears: i started physical therapy today, with 6 weeks to race day. they told me not to worry, i'm fit enough to stay training AND getting treatment for injured feet. it's a nervous line to walk, but as andrea said: it's a question of endurance, and not just enduring over distance during the race but enduring over time and struggle as we get ready.
i've been away from the blog because: morale has been a little low for me since my feet have started hurting. i was SO juiced up that training was going so well this year compared to marathon training, where i was injured from the 2nd week until race day. so it was a hard hit to have to slow down, rest, heal, and - as andrea said- feel like everyone is passing me by. but i have to run my race on race day, not anyone else's on the team. so i need to practice for my race, not theirs, and my practice demands rest and PT for now.
in a week or two i'll be back to spoon feeding people my dust (heh heh heh).
putting the BIKE CD in the mail tomorrow. feeling a little deadbeatish for not being more on top of creating and sending out these mixes, but i want to do them well and time is tight with training, traveling, and living. this weekend i'll squeeze in 2 workouts while i'm home alone: andrea is off in chicago at a very good friend of ours' wedding. why am i not there? bc i'll be at a wedding upstate tomorrow. love is in the air!
meanwhile: if yer waiting on the cd, i'm doing my best. demand has overwhelmed, which is awesome, but i'm getting guilty. time to pick it up. watch yer mailbox.