Dec 4th Ironman Tracking Details

Calling all insomniacs!  In case you'd rather track my race on Dec 3rd-4th than sleep, here's how to do it:

We'll be in Western Australia, 13 hours ahead of Eastern Standard Time.  The mass swim start (all 2000 people at once) kicks off at 7:00AM which is 6:00PM EST on DEC 3rd.

There are 2 ways to track me.  The first is via computer only (no mobile option) and the second is the mobile app option which is super easy but costs $0.99.

First Option

1. Go to the athlete tracker site:
http://ap.ironman.com/triathlon/coverage/athlete-tracker.aspx
*Nothing will be loaded on the site until the actual race starts. 

2. On the very top, there will be a red bar with race options listed in white.  Click on "Western Australia" and then select the "Western Australia 140.6" option (as the half ironman, 70.3, will be happening at the same time).

3. If it is not already selected, go to "Athlete Tracker" on the page.

4. Then simply type in my last name or bib # ,which is 763, and my race info should populate.

Second Option

1. Download the mobile app, IronTrac and search for me by selecting the distance (140.6) and year (2016) and then select the race, "Western Australia." 

2. Then you can add me to your "watch list" by searching by my name or bib #, which is 763.

The third option, of course, is to just harass Nate via text or email! This Thursday (Dec 1st), we fly to Perth in the morning and then will drive 2 hours south to Busselton, where the race will be held.  The next 1.5 days will be filled with race prep, check ins, lots of eating and buying of race gear, and those silly little things like having the local bike shop build my bike back up.  (There is no option for shipping your bike on a truck like in the US here, so my bike will be in about 8 pieces in an air travel bag this time!)  On the upside, the Busselton bike shop that will reassemble my bike is not just a bike stop, but also an espresso bar that gets 4 stars on TripAdvisor!  Following race day, we will have 1 extra day to explore the Margaret River region, which is supposed to be some pristine wilderness combined with world class wineries...just a little extra motivation to push through the race!


An image of the Busselton Jetty, which conveniently goes out into the sea 1.2 miles, so the swim goes out to the end, around it, and back on the other side.
*Photo credit - Be Active Busselton Jetty Swim page on HomeAway.com.au

New Zealand Top 10

My blog posts are running about two months behind, but hopefully the stories start to warm you up as we go from spring to summer down under!  In mid-September we ventured to the south island of New Zealand and all three of us had a blast.  We really lucked out as early spring weather there could have gone any way, but it was warm and sunny the entire time. In fact, the rain forest had a drought for 8 days - bad for the rain forest, but great for us!  As a summary of our time there, below is a Top 10 list:

10.  MAJOR CAR BEHAVIOR IMPROVEMENT (not Nate...)
Many of you know that our child has been awful in the car since birth. She screamed the whole way home from the hospital at 24 hours old and continued to scream in the car for most of the next 16 months.  We haven't let this stop us from doing things, but it certainly made us want to wear ear plugs every time we drove more than 10 minutes!  Our NZ trip included a flight, long train ride, and then 2-3 hours of driving a day.  We were a bit nervous about this going in, but all of the sudden, something clicked and Isla realized that the car could take her amazing places!  She was ecstatic the entire trip and only got a bit freaked when this cheeky kea tried to peck its way into the car.

9.  HOKEY POKEY
Along the glacier hike, (see #5 below) the guide was making conversation with a few of us and mentioned that his all time favorite ice cream flavor was called "hokey pokey."  Being a pretty big ice cream fan, I asked him what exactly this meant.  He told me that is was a vanilla base with caramel swirls and honeycomb crispy bits in it and that is was a "New Zealand tradition."  OMG.  I couldn't wait to get the heck off the glacier that is melting at a rapid pace and may be gone in 20 years so that I could try this piece of culinary genius!  I then made a bit of a fool of myself when he added, "Ashley...just make sure you don't skimp when you get this ice cream. Get Tip Top," to which I replied, "Oh don't worry, I always dip my cones in chocolate!"  He stared at me for a minute and then informed me that Tip Top was a brand of ice cream and not the "choc top" I was referring to that McDonalds regularly serves in Australia.  Oops.  I got hokey pokey ice cream twice that week and a couple times since returning home.  It is quite special!  Thank you, glacier guide, George!



8. REALIZING WE ARE TOO OLD FOR BEER GARDENS IN WANAKA
Wanaka is a much more chill, quieter version of Queenstown, but both are jam packed with adrenaline junkies who jump out of planes, off cliffs, bike/ski/snowboard down mountains, and just about any other crazy sport you could think up.  We rolled into our bed and breakfast in Wanaka and started looking for a place for dinner.  It was a beautiful evening so we opted for the place with the best outside seating and view of the lake that looked to have great beer on tap.  As we settled in and were told, "sorry mates, no high chairs here!" we looked around at the crowd and realized Nate should have probably ridden a skateboard in and had a longer than work-appropriate beard, and I should have been in a romper with the bottom of my ass cheeks out if we were actually going to fit in.  We actually watched one guy skateboard in on his non-broken leg while the fully casted other leg dangled and he used his crutches to help push him along.  The food and beers we ordered were delicious and we definitely enjoyed the people watching!  Mostly, we just glanced up at each other and decided we were unfortunately getting old.  Following Wanaka, we went searching for elves and fairies while driving on this road...



7. SEAL ABOARD!
We did an overnight boat trip on the Milford Sound.  I understand this place is usually swarming with tourists and tons of boats, but since we went out on the first overnight sail of the season and no other tours had started operating yet, we had the entire, pristine fiord to ourselves (along with 50ish other boat guests).  I guess the wildlife had not yet adjusted to boats being all around for the season yet and assumed the boat was just a big rock - after eating dinner, we looked down onto the stern of the boat to see that a seal had hopped aboard and decided to hang out for a while.  Isla still talks about this - quite a defining moment in her toddlerhood so far!



6. LAKES AS MIRRORS & SUSPENSION BRIDGES
That description says it all!  With so many crystal clear lakes and so many snow-capped peaks, it wasn't very hard to just look down into some water and see a mirror image of the surrounding mountains.  And as if seeing this from a walking path wasn't enough, some of the neatest mountains and waterways are easily viewed from suspension bridges.  I had always just assumed there was some photo-shopped amazing suspension bridge cropped just right in all the New Zealand brochures, but heaps of them really do exist!  Isla loved the crap out of everything we did, but among her favorite experiences was throwing rocks into water from "up high."  We threw rocks for hours every day.  And what's more fun than throwing rocks from land?  You guessed it - throwing rocks from bridges! 

5. HELICOPTERS & CRAMPONS
We knew going into making a reservation for a heli-hike on the glacier, you have about a 50/50 shot of your trip actually going as the weather changes so rapidly.  We booked far ahead that I would do the trip of our first day in Franz Josef and Nate would go the second day.  My trip went. Sadly, Nate's did not.  But it's just another reason to go back to NZ again now!  The trip is very cool - helicopter ride up to the glacier and you actually land on the ice.  You hop out, strap on your crampons and hike through some crazy ice formations.  When the hike is over, you helicopter back to the a little rainforest landing pad (and if you are me, frantically start scouring town for Tip Top Hokey Pokey ice cream!)



4. A ROOM ON A BOAT MADE FOR HOBBITS
I mentioned our boat ride, complete with wildlife aboard.  The boat gets 2 highlights within the top 10 as it was just such a neat experience.  We had a water-view cabin and everything in it was just...precious. Teeny sink, teeny shower, teeny beds.  Isla thought the room was made for her.  We all slept soundly aboard the Milford Mariner!



3. TRANZ-ALPINE BUBBLES AND KISSES
The first leg of our journey was taking the TranzAlpine train from Christchurch over to Greymouth (on the west coast).  It's a 5 hour train ride with lots of "Lord of the Rings" views.  The train departs at 9am, so naturally, the bar opens at 9:30am. People take the food car and bar pretty seriously on their holidays and it is most economical to buy bottles of wine and sparkling.  This ride is ranked one of the top train rides in the world and it did not disappoint.  There is a "viewing car" in the very front of the train that you can walk up to anytime and it has no windows, but rather is completely open so you have unobstructed views. We walked up and down a lot and noticed one crowd of very enthusiastic individuals all dressed up in costumes and fully taking advantage of the train bar. As we got off the train and were walking over to our rental car, all the women in this group ran over to say goodbye to us (well, at least to the cutest one of the 3 of us...).  They chatted for a few minutes and then all proceeded to kiss Isla goodbye.  She was covered in lipstick and a bit confused, but we just went with it.



2. EATING A LOCAL DELICACY...JUST DON'T LOOK THEM IN THE EYE!
I read about whitebait prior to leaving for our trip and had earmarked the page in the book that described a hut called "Curly's" where you are supposed to stop for a whitebait patty.  Given that it was a patty, I was thinking this would be similar to a salmon burger...wrong!  Whitebait look like tiny little white worms with 2 big black eyes.  In the middle of beautiful nowhere, we spotted the spray-painted sign for Curly's and pulled into a dirt drive that took us down a long hill, past the cow that looked more like Mufasa from the Lion King than a cow and then past a chained dog that, surprisingly, also looked just like Mufasa.  We found the wooden hut and waited for someone to come out.  A hugely tall and very friendly guy stepped into the hut and asked us "how many?"  We got one patty to split and then we saw it - a bucket full of these tiny creatures mixed with a little bit of egg.  He fried up the patty and put it on one slice of white buttered bread.  I promptly asked if he could give me one more slice of bread to cover the patty as I was struggling with them looking at me.  "No, no, no, "he said, "that would ruin the flavor!  Just go ahead and try it."  It was surprisingly decent, but I had look away as I ate it. Nate ordered another patty as a side at dinner later on that night.



1. SUMMITING MOUNTAINS WHILE NAPPING
One of us took an amazing nap. The other two of us got an amazing arm workout.

Distressed

We are really excited to be hosting a lot of visitors this coming summer, starting in a week.  In full transparency, I must admit however, that I've found since starting my "at home mom" gig when we moved here, I've confirmed what I already suspected - I hate cleaning.  A lot.  I apologize in advance to our upcoming guests about this.  I can always find something better to do than clean. 

A few weeks ago, Nate, Isla and I were having one of our family tooth brushing sessions in our bathroom and Nate and I peered into our shower and agreed that it could really use a thorough scrubbing.  I thought about this while Isla napped for the next 2 days and then decided to just do something super similar instead:  I bought an antique desk and started refinishing it (equally as productive, as least).  Like most new activities, I approached refinishing a piece of furniture naively...I mean, how hard could it be?  You know what?  It's hard!  And I have no idea what I'm doing.  I don't even know if the right word is refinish...or refurbish? Or maybe re-vamp?  In any case, as the kind man at the paint store informed me, "It's a very simple process of painting 2-3 coats of paint, then distressing, then waxing it."  So far, the only thing distressed is me!  This project was intended to be my "break" from triathlon training, yet I had an epiphany this afternoon while painting the 3rd coat on - perhaps I should have cleaned the shower. 

Here's he progress so far:


On the upside, once we have a desk in the house, my 33 year old husband can finally take is international business phone calls from home while sitting at a desk rather than laying on the floor on the phone as if he were a 10 year old deeply engrossed in his batman coloring book.  He always looks so precious and child-like doing this, but then tries to stand up after an hour and inevitably twists something in this back and reminds me that getting older really sucks.

On the downside, between this activity, training, my very energetic one year old, and Nate traveling a ton, I'm a bit behind on blog posts!  Not to worry. Upcoming posts will include:

- The New Zealand Top 10
- Qantas is my Everything

And whatever else I think up while swimming.  Other major Aussie happenings include Cup Day preparations!  Cup Day is like the Kentucky Derby of Australia and they've really done it right here.  The festival lasts an entire week with a special name and theme for each day of horse racing, and for the big day of racing, Tuesday (Cup Day), it is actually a national holiday and everyone is off work.  The Cup Day fashion theme is "colour" and we will be heading to the track for it!  It seems the entire city of Melbourne gears up for the celebration of Cup Day - billboards on the highway, specials at every restaurant, and every store has a line of fascinators in the window.  If the actual day is half as fun as the preparation for it, we are in for a treat!

This is unrelated, but, in closing, here's another great coffee sign that caught my eye yesterday:

Reef Rap

I've written this blog as a rap song, so drop your own beat and read away!  Or for a lighter read, I suppose you could call this a"poem."

It was August 5th and we couldn't believe
it was time to head on our trip to the Great Barrier Reef

Isla dressed up for the plane in style
Checked herself out in the mirror for a while


We arrived in Cairns at night
Got screwed out of our SUV by Hertz and put up a good fight
Drove to Port Douglas and got there real late
Happy to find our hotel looked great

A balcony Jacuzzi made our room real nice
Our kid did everything in there - played, bathed, even ate take-out fried rice



The first morning, walked to the beach to find
The wildlife in Queensland is no joke - just check out the signs


(*Note, I love that the sign has to read "marine stings," indicating that any number of animals may aggressively sting you...best to sum it up by "marine stings."  Holy crap. Okay, got it...Wait, where is my child?!)

Day 2 in Port Douglas and going out on our boat
Headed to the reef and anchoring at a small platform that floats
An average day there at sea is quite rough
So many people were puking...we didn't...we are tough

I thought all Isla's clothes were cute
Until I saw her in the best outfit yet - a baby wetsuit!


Saw so much marine life under the sea
Including a massive fish that kept trying to cuddle me


We spent the next day exploring around
And came across a beautiful playground

This park looked like something out of a dream...until wait...
"What the heck?!" Nate screamed
Upon closer inspection, the most beautiful park we've ever seen
was not without animals that would quickly tear out your spleen (and you know, other organs.) 



The peaceful oasis contained another warning sign - this one about the crocs
That could jump out of the water quickly onto the rocks

With Queensland animals, no place is entirely safe we reckoned
So we watched carefully, avoided murky water, and were ready to run at any second

All in all, a successful trip - good wildlife, good times and tasty grub
No injuries to report, just multiple toddler poops in the outdoor tub

Taylor Swift Nailed It

A lot of people have been asking how Ironman training is going.  I'm in week 10 of 21 and it is progressing well overall.  The weather is starting to improve as Spring rolls in and I am just starting to think ahead to the actual race on Dec 4 as I can now envision warmth and sunshine again! (Plus, airfare, car, and hotel are all now booked!)

I think my general feelings while training, especially during those long bike rides, can best be captured by the lyrics of TayTay's song, "22:" 

"We're happy, free, confused and lonely at the same time. It's miserable and magical, yeah yeah..."  

Yup, she nailed it. That's exactly how I feel!  The only part she really left out is starving.  I am starving. All. The. Time.  Luckily, I am married to someone familiar with all of this, so he's not entirely surprised when we're chatting over dinner and I say things like, "Hey babe, did you know that at the KFC on North Road you can get 24 chicken nuggets for only $10?" Or when I text him a photo from the freezer section at the grocery store with the words, "OMG, did you know they made these?!"  The latest freezer section photo was of honeycomb and chocolate ice cream sandwiches. (Yes, they were as amazing as they sound and I am going to get more as soon as Isla wakes up from her nap!)

The swimming and the running is very enjoyable to me, actually, and neither really ever lasts that long (all put in perspective of training for a 140 mile race, I guess).  There have been quite a few swims with cold pouring rain on my back and several uncomfortable runs, but what challenges me most is the biking as I'm continually reminded: (1) Everyone else seems to be faster than me out on Beach Road where I train (Seriously, I refer to my Sunday rides as the "Sunday Morning Humble" as I get passed ferociously by far superior cyclists and massive pelotons) and (2) Melbourne Bayside may be the windiest place on earth! It is somewhat frequent that the weather changes quickly and the wind is actually going against you in both directions - I'm not even exaggerating!  I was talking to a local bike shop owner about this phenomenon last week and he told me there was this one time, 5 years ago, that the weather changed and the wind was WITH him in both directions and it was such an amazing day he'll never forget.  Ha!  I guess I haven't lived here long enough to capture one of these rare days!   I will do a 45 mile ride this week and need to work up to the longest ride at 100 miles, which is currently slated for my birthday.  I certainly won't be feeling 22 like my girl, Taylor, but I may act like it afterward with some celebratory eating and drinking!  All joking aside, I'm pretty stoked about doing this again at all and to get to do it in a place like Western Australia is still mind blowing (and slightly terrifying) to me.  As soon as my training ends, Nate's will begin and we'll switch roles for 5 months while he feels miserable and magical at the same time!  

Isla has certainly been learning about working out a lot from this experience.  She knows "the wheels on the bus" song well and applies it to my bike when I ride, yelling that the wheels go "round and round."  She also shocked me as we were getting off a plane a couple weeks ago (went to the Great Barrier Reef which was incredible, but more on that later) as she ran all the way up the jet bridge into the terminal and then immediately stopped for some exuberant stretching which lasted quite a while. I can only hope she is mostly learning these elements of a healthy lifestyle and not so much about downing an entire box of chocolate chip cookies in 5 minutes. The below photo is a pretty regular occurrence at our house. I'm on the bike trainer and Isla has decided to do a few push ups in between dancing behind me. 

On an only slightly related note, while my biking may not be the fastest, apparently our driving is too fast - both Nate and I learned the hard way that there are speed and light cameras everywhere as the tickets with hefty fines started appearing in the mail a month or so ago.  $700 later, Nate learned you can't exceed 63 km/hr on the road just around the corner from our house, and I learned you can't turn left on red. (I know, this sounds bad, but it is like going right on red in the US when no cars are coming!)  I stand by my action and think going left on red is perfectly fine. The only problem is the state of Victoria disagrees, so I won't be doing this anymore.  We don't think there are any more fines coming in, but they are about 2 months delayed so I hold my breath every time I get the mail.

We have continued to figure out these little things along the way, but Aussie slang sometimes still catches me off guard.  I was texting with my hair guy trying to schedule an appointment this week (you text/call your stylist directly here as opposed to calling a salon). Anyway, he texted me that he was sorry for the delay in responding but he "got a bit crook" this week.  Hmm, this didn't sound good so I wanted to be sure to respond with the appropriate amount of sympathy. This is tough when you aren't sure whether someone got robbed or got sick.  I later confirmed with a friend (after googling a bit) that it does indeed mean sick.  No shortage of continuous learning here! 

BYO...What?

Around the area we live, BYO is primarily used for 2 things.  The first, you may have already guessed, is for alcohol (as in, "Uh yes, it's my turn to BYO the sauv blanc to the park while our kids play together today.")  The other is actually "BYO Baby" to events, which makes it possible to do stuff that normally parents just can't do with their kids.  My favorite BYO Baby option is at the movie theater.  Two of our local theaters have one movie a week during the day where admission is half price for adults and you can bring a baby up to 2 years old.  The online description actually reads, "Kicking, screaming and breastfeeding are encouraged."  If you don't have kids, I'll admit this sounds like a godawful way to spend an afternoon, but if you have a baby, this is really awesome.  I've taken Isla at least once a month for the last 6 months. 

At first, when she was younger, she just danced in the seat and ate her box of raisins and then fell asleep.  Then she discovered she could crawl up and down all those stairs!  She'd climb to the very top of the stairs next to the film screening box and sit as high up as she could.  Every time this one male employee would enter the dark theater and come up the stairs, Isla would squint through the darkness, see a male figure, and yell, "DAD?!"  (Would you believe it wasn't him, even once?!  Toddlers are hilarious).  Now, Isla is approaching 16 months and I need to pay slightly closer attention to the movie choices.  We played a lot of peek-a-boo during shooting scenes in Jason Bourne recently so her eyes would be covered, for example. I am definitely out of the Hollywood gossip loop without seeing US Weekly Magazines on a regular basis in grocery stores, so I actually went into Jason Bourne assuming it was all about that other actor (the one from Jarhead and The Avengers who that last Bourne movie was about) so in the opening scene, as soon as I realized that was not the case, I yelled excitedly at Isla, "That's MATT DAMON!"  She giggled and we high-fived.  Eventually she fell asleep and I held her ears against me with one hand while consuming my other BYO item discretely with the other. 

Perhaps the most hilarious scene at the theater was at the BYO Baby screening of Bad Moms last week. The theater was absolutely packed ("chockers," in aussie-speak) and it was at one of the hipster theaters nearby - you know, the ones who write all the show times on brown paper with a marker just to make a statement even though using a damn Light Bright would be one step higher technologically?  The other crucial element of a true hipster theater, of course, is an extensive craft beer and cocktail list.  I've never seen so many people trying to push a stroller holding multiple glasses of bubbly at the same time.  It was like nobody let these moms (and a few dads) out of the house all week and they just broke free!  It was a fun, giggly time all-around. 

So, we are surprisingly keeping up with all the latest movies!  Nate watches them on planes during his heaps of work travel (he has an Asian country tour coming up, so I've got my work cut out for me) and I hit up hipster theaters with my kid's during nap time! 

The other excellent place to bring kids here is the horse track.  They have a ton of free activities for kids so that adults/families can fully enjoy themselves.  Pictured below is our trip to the local horse track last weekend where Isla got her face painted for the first time.

Quidditch with Shaved Legs

Originally posted July 13, 2016

One staple of Australian culture that we had yet to witness was an Australian rules football game, known around here as just “footy.”  We recently checked out our first footy game and it was really quite exciting!

If I had to describe it, I would say it is most like a combination of rugby and quidditch.  Sure, they don’t fly on broomsticks, but the players jump insanely high and the field is an enormous oval with multiple poles at the end of each side marking multiple goals associated with various point options. The game is fast-paced and invokes punching (not throwing) the ball as well as kicking it, and lots of fast running.  Given all this, the players look to be in amazing shape and they all seem to have perfectly shaved legs, highlighted by the very short shorts they wear.

I think my favorite part of the game (other than the shaved legs and short shorts of course) was the throw-in that must be done when the ball goes out of bounds, much like in soccer.  The ref turns around with his back to the field and throws it as far as he can behind him.  It looks like some inappropriate maneuver I would do while playing H-O-R-S-E on the basketball court!  It’s a really fun game to watch, not to mention the fans!

People are very into footy and since they are also very into drinking, it makes for some very enthused and energetic cheering at the game.  So much so that they carve out a separate area of the stadium for kids/families, which turned out to be awesome for us as we could even get Isla her own seat for a really cheap family package price.  The footy games are known for having very intense fans (much like going to an Eagles game in Philadelphia). In fact, I actually was reading some footy stadium FAQs online to learn a bit more prior to the game and one of the first bullets states, “The Mexican Wave is strictly prohibited.”   Nate and I figured the Mexican wave must be a really bad kind of wave that involves punching, or maybe the last person in line getting lightly stabbed or something,  but when we looked it up, it is actually just the regular old wave I grew up doing at Orioles games.  I’d love to learn how that one got banned from footy games. We loved the game and are still learning what is even happening half the time, but will definitely return to another game soon to continue our education.

As far as other updates go, we returned home last Sunday after spending a few weeks in the US. Isla is getting to be quite a good traveler and shocks all the flight attendants with the amount of food she eats on the plane (on our leg from LA to DC, she actually ate the pilot’s meal when he didn’t want it!)  Coming back to “winter” hasn’t been too tragic – I put it in quotes because the highs are still in the 50s every day; it’s just a bit raw and windy most days.  Not too bad.

Now that Isla and all the other babies in our playgroup have turned one, there were, of course, a number of kiddie birthday events and parties, but the main event was a Friday night dinner and drinks out for all the moms without the kids.  It was the perfect way to celebrate the previous year!   While I continue the mom flirting when it seems most appropriate, I’ve also found that play dates with wine very much entice lots of moms. I’m hosting my first “Mum & Bub Happy Hour” this Thursday and am expecting a decent turnout already. Afternoon wine and cheese for adults and raisin boxes while playing in our Mountain Hardware camping tent in the living room for kids. What could be better?!