I'm Nerdy and I Love It

The dating life of a female athlete is far from relaxing. When boys want to get to know me, they are usually forced to get "actively" involved in my life (haha). This guy at the bank used to ask me out for drinks every time I would go in; each time, I would remind him that I don't drink because I'm in training. One day, it finally hit him that going out to a bar wasn't going to get my attention and if he kept asking me to do so, he would continue to have his offer turned down. I remember the day I walked in and he said, "I'm going to start running. When I get good at it, would you please go on a run with me and we'll call it a date?"

Since I started taking my training seriously, I've been on maybe 3 or 4 real dates; by real date, I mean the kind where the boy brings you flowers and you have to worry about your hair being perfect and wear the dress that shows off your toned calves and ordering the proper thing off the menu. Most of my "dates" this past year have been ocean swims, two-hour long bike rides, late-night hikes, speed work on a grass hill and maybe, if I get lucky, a quick protein shake to end the night.

When a boy decides he wants to know me better, he ends up running ten miles, taking an hour-long Ashlee Power Cycle class (which is not easy) or sweating out his daily fluids in my plyometrics class. These are not normal activities for some. Only the strongest survive. The guy at the bank gave up before he even started. It's hard to date me, true story, not gonna lie to you.

Don't get me wrong, I love going on dates that don't involve doing stadiums at the track. Occassionally you will see me eating sushi, walking on the beach or sitting at the movie theater. I love, love, LOVE getting flowers and feeling special. My training schedule just does not allow for much of this.

Life Behind Bars

 It is hysterical when people come into class and they say to me, "I have been up since 7AM and I had to work until 5PM. I am so grumpy. Don't push me today because I really don't even want to be here. I would rather be in bed. Do you realize how long my day has been?!" Sometimes I want to look at them and say, "I work 7 days a week. Week days I work 5:30AM until 10:00PM most days with a very short lunch break. My weekends are only slightly less packed. Shut up and get your butt on the treadmill." Instead I smile and tell them I understand, but I have faith in them. I have to remind myself that just like I get irritated by them complaining to me about their "busy" schedule, there are people out there that work more than me AND hate their jobs and would roll their eyes if I told them that I "had to" work out for 15 hours a day. Oh, boo-hoo, Ashlee. No, seriously, I love my jobs. Although I may be exhausted at times, I could not be more satisfied with the line of work I've chosen. Moral to my story: maybe I'm meant to date my bike, my running shoes and my swim cap. Three different significant others? Man, I'll never be lonely! Oh gosh, I'm a dork.

Now, time to catch up on the week. I did my swim test last Thursday afternoon in the outdoor pool. Unfortunately, I swam the 1000 yards in the same amount of time I did my swim test last month. This is probably due to the fact that I have not been swimming much as of late. Yesterday, Matt and I did some swimming; his mom is an instructor and his dad is a lifeguard, so he was able to give me some pointers; I tried them out and immediately noticed some improvement. That was a good feeling, so I'm more motivated to get back in the pool this week.

Friday... what did I do? Oh, I slept through Drea's class because I was exhausted. I figured it was the one day of the week where I had a choice as to whether I would go to class or not, so I chose to sleep. I'm bummed that I missed the class, but I needed that sleep so badly. Tuesday's no-sleep night has been hanging onto me like a child hangs onto his mother on his first day of school.

I did have to wake up and go to work eventually. I ran 9 miles and taught Pilates and that was it workout wise. The rest of the day was just work, training Richard and hanging out with Ben. The 9 miles felt good though. 3-mile warm-up in 28:32; 4 miles in 30:40 (7:40 avg pace); 2-mile cool down in 18:11. It felt good. As I was running along the beach, I remembered back to when I used to run this same stretch about 3 months ago. That used to kill me. Now it feels easy. Ladies and gentlemen, I think I'm finally a runner... maybe. If I have to second guess myself, does that mean I'm not there yet?

Saturday morning, I must have been exhausted, because I slept straight through my alarm and woke up half an hour late for work. Shoot. I hopped out of bed and threw my clothes on. This was a bad week for it to happen because we are in the middle of a calorie-burn challenge at work and everyone is trying to get in early and burn those buggers. I rushed out the door and apologized to the eleven people standing outside in the cold. To be honest, I'm shocked they waited thirty minutes. The rest of my classes that day were wonderful though. I fleeted, I flitted and I was my energetic little Ashlee self. During Pilates, Yumi mentioned that after doing this class, she felt muscles she didn't know she had. Doing laundry the next day, her quads killed her. Barbara had her heart rate monitor on and we checked the numbers. In my Pilates class, one burns approximately 411 calories in 45-minutes. That is no cardio workout, but dang, that's not too shabby! Indeed, I am taking a bow right now. I'm fairly proud of that accomplishment, thank you very much.

Tea Latte... a poor substitute for my coffee



My Dad posted this and it's exactly how I felt last week.


After Pilates, I met Dani in Maui El Diablo (MED) to have her run test. She did so well! All the older guys were standing watching her (let's be honest, they were checking her out). They would come up to me and ask, "Is that your friend? She's been running as long as I've been here! Is she just trying to show off?" She improved her last run test by a full 2 laps. I was so proud of her!

Sophia and I met up for a ten-mile run after that. We cruised along the beach. I had forgotten my running shoes, so I was wearing my old Saucony's with the Yankz... not the best for running long distances. The warm-up was a little rough. Ben met up with us right before mile two and that's when I found my drive. I mean, of course I want to impress Sophia, but with a guy around, you can't go easy, you have to show your worth. It helped to have two people, who think that I'm supposed to be good at this or something, running with me because it motivated me to keep going. There were definitely moments (miles 8-10) where I wanted to walk the rest of the way, but I didn't. I finished in 1:29.04, which I'm not too bummed about since I was wearing the wrong shoes. AND I am now past my 100 miles for the month. Can't wait to see how far I go in March! We stretched out afterwards and walked over to get a smoothie with some protein. Guess what, blogesphere? I did an incredible thing!!! I ran over ten miles and followed it with about a mile walk with Sophia and I DID NOT FALL!!!! Be proud, be very proud. Yay! The curse may be broken! Oh shoot... where is the wood for me to knock on?!

Sunday morning I woke up early and got to work twenty-five minutes ahead of time. I figured I should make up for Saturday. Cycle and Circuit went by pretty quickly, so I rushed home, threw on a dress and headed to the beach to meet Sophia for "Sophia's Day of Love" (aka Sophia's birthday. Weston will get it. Don't worry about it). Unfortunately, the restaurant was jam-packed, so I had to take off and meet Richard to train. We did lunges, high knee drills, skipping and three hill repeats. I made him do the stairs himself so I could run to teach a personal cycling class for my friends. Nancy had asked me to do it so we could finally hang out, but guess who didn't show up? It was okay though. It was a fun, challenging class and it felt good. I was bummed that I was inside on such a gorgeous day though. Matt and I hopped in the pool afterwards, which I've already filled you in on.

That evening, we went to church and Sophia and I had a birthday dinner afterwards. Then, we went to the store and got chocolate. I may have made brownies and eaten several by myself after she left. I may have done this while watching Prison Break and working on my bank statements. I may be a fatty. Love me or leave me.

This morning's cycle class was fun! I walked in to my 19 smiling students. "Good morning class," I began. "How are you alll today?" No response. "That good, eh? Well, let's get warmed up. This morning, I have created a playlist in which every single song has the word love in it. We only have a couple days left of February, so we have to get the most out of Valentines Day while we can." They were not looking thrilled. "I know, guys, you thought you were done with the lovey dovey stuff half a month ago, but... you're not!" So they were forced to listen to love songs. "I bet I know what the next song will be about..." Ha. Oh, you love me, don't you? That's okay, Jesus loves me.

Alright, I'm off to Drea's strength class. Gotta get me some hip strength!