:*-(

There are really no words to describe today. But once again, I will try. With a lot of words

With a 6:30 clip in time goal, we were on the road by 7:15. Shannon and I did our best to keep our pace down, as it was to be an 8+ hour day. All was going pretty well - we were having a good ride, keeping our heart rates down, I took a quick bathroom break and then mile 21.
"D@mn! Da#n! Dam*, do I have a flat?" was about what I said to Shannon.
An f'ing FLAT!!! Remember this post, where my only request was for a new tire that would NOT give me a FLAT! Needless to say, I was more than upset to have another flat on my BACK TIRE!!!

20 minutes later, it was changed and we were back on the course. I would like to say I handled it well, but no. I mean, less than 50 miles on NEW tires and I got a flat. There was no hole in the tube, the valve didn't seem to leak - we had no idea why. The rest of the loop I tried to calm down, knowing it was still a long day. But I just wanted to be off my bike. My foot hurt, my shoulders were hurting, and I was no longer having fun.

Once we got back to the cars, I thought it would be a good idea to top off my new tube with pump air (vs. the CO2 used during the ride). When I unhooked the tube, the pin from the presta valve popped off! NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That meant I had to change my back tire AGAIN! Seriously!? SERIOUSLY!?!? I lost my $hit at this point. In an email, I told the girls my goal was to cry at least one point, but I thought it would be from pain - not 2 flipping flat tires.

Eventually, I let them help. And with a new tube from Shannon, CO2 from Tammy (just in case) we got a new tire on, and were back out for another loop. But the sun was out and it was hot. Melissa turned off, and the 3 of us kept going. We took a few extra long stops, just to stretch.

When we got back to the cars, 85 miles in. There was no way I could make it 27 more miles, so I settled on another 5 for a smidge over 90. One would think I would be happy with 90 miles, but I just couldn't get past the flats. And my bad attitude about them.

So, here are some other things about the ride. We saw a blue crab, wild turkeys, deer, turtles, mama bald eagles and her babies, and a deer leg (yes, a leg. On the first loop I thought it was a stick, but Shannon was quick to point out the hoof. "Sticks don't have fur"). Shannon actually said a lot of funny things and stories that I can't remember. Tammy has really improved on the bike and I couldn't keep up with her. Melissa's longest ride this season was about 25 miles (and she had a rough day yesterday - went to the wrong hotel, lost her cell phone, found her cell phone on Rt 50). They each had a great day and I was happy for them. And my day did get better at dinner. A peach margarita and queso always make things better.

I guess someone always has to have the bad day - and today it was me. Just hopefully not tomorrow. Or anyone for that matter.

That Was Fun!

I took the day off to hang out with some kids doing their first triathlon. It is this great nonprofit organization called Achieve. They have kids from different wards within the city and in 6 weeks, teach them all about swimming, biking, running, training, nutrition, and lots of other valuable lessons for kids. My job, I was an athlete tracker. I made sure my athlete did 4 lengths of the pool (100 yards), 10 laps on the bike (5K/3.1 miles), and 3 laps for the run (0.75 miles-ish). It was AWESOME! He did such a great job. And super fast on the bike. It was a really good time. I am very luck my boss lets me take off last minute for events like this. Thanks Boss!

Now, Shannon, Tammy and I are heading down to Cambridge for a training weekend. Why, because we like pain. It should be an interesting time... And Tammy's car just went WAY up in value.

Week Catch Up Post

Hi. I know, I was doing better. I even have a whole new background/look to the blog (and a note to those of you who only read this on google reader, check it out!!) but I am not sure what happened this week.

Tuesday night I went to dinner with a friend to discuss his first Ironman. Somehow dinner turned into 4+ hours of pure Ironman and triathlon talk. It was awesome. And he signed up for another and I am sure he will do just as well.

Yesterday, I compromised with myself to skip my swim so I could make a healthy dinner and do laundry, and do a double today. A morning ride and evening swim before Project Runway watching with Diane and Mary Elizabeth. Also, I did another practice run with my new form yesterday so I figured I was okay. Good plan, right?
They are always good plans on paper...

This morning I crawled out of bed to bike with Brooke, Mary Elizabeth, Karen and Erica. We don't all ride together, but we are all out there at the same time so it's close enough... Anyway, it was a good ride, especially considering how humid it was.

I made it through a crummy day at work and really tried to talk my self into going to the pool (even though Mary Elizabeth was at the bar waiting for PR to start). So I did what anyone would do - ask the Magic 8 ball. And it said "All signs point to no" or some type of negative "DON'T GO" way. But, I figured, what does a Magic 8 Ball know??? Going to the pool was the right thing to do. Big mistake. Huge.

I left work and of course, metro was broken so it took about an hour to get too the station. Of course, this being DC, there was a typical freak DC thunderstorms, and I turned the corner and got soaked. I got to the pool and of course, there was a masters practice going on, which took up 4 of the 8 lanes. Also, of course, there was water aerobics class taking up 2 more lanes. That left 2 lanes for the general public, but I was there and of course decided to go anyway. Until I got to the locker room and realized I forgot my lock. Of course I did. And there was NO way I was leaving all my stuff in a locker to go swim. Enough was enough and I finally took my cue to not swim and go eat queso instead (which Diane bought for those of you keeping track of my new year's resolution).

Lesson in all of this. Always listen to the Magic 8 ball.

"Someone Has A Case of the Mondays"

Yes, someone actually said that to me today at swim practice. He was lucky I didn't smack his goggles on his face. Really, who says that???

It was all in good fun as I really really didn't want to swim. Not sure why, I just didn't. But S and AJ where there to pull me into the pool, keep me swim for (most of) the workout, and all and all, had a good time. Except for the "Case of the Monday's" quote. But that was kind of funny.

And half my tri friends just signed up for Ironman Lake Placid. Good luck everyone!! Can't wait to watch you all cross the finish line!!

PeasentMan! (Sunday's Post)

Today was one of those days where best intentions don't always win.

After a day of Jellyfish yesterday, and the hottest day of the year, there wasn't much room for a workout. I did hop on the treadmill in my building to work on my new running technique from R. It was much easier with him there, but I will keep working. After a carbo loading dinner, it was an early night and an even earlier morning.

Due to some shenanigans from the fine people at Sandy Point State Park, the bike was first, followed by a quick dip in the beach. And no run, as running wasn't allowed in the State park... Yup, that's all I am going to say about that...

So, Karen and I headed out a tad early for the bike. We caught up with the volunteers taking their posts and it was a bit frustrating because Bryan; an amazing biker, swimmer and runner; and we are going up a hill and he passed me. Why is that frustrating? Because he was on a mountain bike. In flip flops. Rude Bryan, rude.

I cut the ride early so I could go hang out with more jellies. I was stung 20+ more times even though I had on my wet suit. This time they went for the right foot. But a few people got in and sway the 500M course. And there was no run.

So basically what started out as a guy who wanted to get some friends together for a swim, bike, run, turned into a ride with a BBQ (including cupcakes). See, best intentions don't always. But everyone had a great time and that's all that matters!

Jellies Are No Fun

NOTE - I started this post on Saturday afternoon, but blogspot changed the way they do the posting.  Now it shows when it's posted vs. when I meant for it to be posted...


I did my good deed this morning by helping out with a swim clinic. And why was it a good deed. One word. JELLYFISH! They didn't look so bad when I took this picture I took at the Georgia aquarium. Man, was I wrong.

Sandy Point State Park had a nice sign that said "Swimmers Beware of Jellyfish". Also, Tammy said they were bad, but I had no idea they were that bad. When you walked about a foot into the beach, you could see the little suckers. Or stingers.

I have been stung before by jellyfish, but not like this. They were everywhere! I am just really glad I on my wetsuit, even though it was the hottest day of the year. They did a pretty good job nipping at my left foot and right shoulder as I was doing my in water rescue support.

It's Been Awhile

since I signed up for a running race. April 6, 2008 to be exact. My events tend to have swimming and biking before them. Or just the swim and bike...

Well, I was talked into doing something that always seemed fun but I never put in the effort to find an event. Luckily for me, Sandy found one and e-mailed just the right people at just the right time.

I was on my excitement from my running session with R and thought it would be a great idea and a lot of fun. And I still do... sort of. But as Lindsey reminded me, "SOLIDARITY".

So what am I talking about? Sandy, Lindsey, Carolina and I signed up for the Warrior Dash. 3.15 miles of the "Craziest Frinkin' Day of your life!" There is fire leaping, mud-crawling, and beer drinking. And a Warrior Helmet! How can you not want to do this for a Warrior Helmet! Oh, and we decided there will be costumes.

This Mid-Atlantic 'race' includes 3.15 miles of hustling over a hay, scaling giant steps, some type of going under water weave log thing, going over a wooden warrior wall (this is what I said I was most worried about to which Lindsey reminded me about solidarity), a tangled rope web thing, tires, rappelling, black tunnels, go through uncharted forest, leap over fire, and finish through a mud pit under barbed wire.

Doesn't that sound like fun!?!?! Yeah, I am kind of questioning why I signed up too... But the ladies said we would do it together (as they are all actual runners) so I think it will be a good time.

Or something...

I HEART R!!!

I didn't ask if I could use his name, so I better not and just say R. And I 'heart' him. Here is why.

Brooke and Diane gave me a running session with R for my birthday. R is a seasoned triathlete, and now a tri coach - including running. He is the coach of a few of my friends, pretty active in the club, and was the instructor for the Sunday 3-hour spin classes I took over the winter. After meeting with my foot doctor, R and I held off on the running session until my podiatrist said it was okay. My foot finally seems to be in a place where I can go 3 miles without wanting to cut it off (huge improvement) so we thought now was the time to learn proper technique, and adjust the inserts again (if needed) once I had correct form. And this morning was the morning to start the learning. And the reason I heart R.

We started off on the treadmill and the good news was my run wasn't too horrible. But, there were a lot of small things I could correct to become more efficient. R put things into terms that made sense and I could easily adjust. At one point, I felt instantly stronger and freer, while going 0.3 mph faster!!

After the treadmill, we headed to the indoor track for more drills. After trying a few, we determined the best on for me to really focus on what needed to be changed. It felt tremendously better. I was sweating like a, well, a lot - but I could really feel the difference. And also, my quads were burning! And in that "I haven't used this muscles properly and it feels so bad it's good" way. Seriously, I would be surprised if I racked up 2 miles, but my legs feel like the just ran 10.
Things I need to work on (and if I write it down, I am more likely to remember it. And now I have a nice post with notes to refer to for myself)

1. Proper lean. First, R held me up as I leaned forward, lifting one leg. "If I let go, what would you do?" It made so much sense that my other leg would come down. TaDa! Running! R then tied a rope around my waist to help with the proper feel of the lean. And it worked.
2. Cadence. My goal is about 22 strikes, on one foot, every 15 seconds. I was around 16 or 17. But increasing my cadence does not mean increasing my speed!
3. Light touch. Don't pound on the treadmill, track, ground, etc.
4. Use my arms. Pump the arms, and the legs will follow. Charles used to yell this at me when we were going up hills around Capitol Hill. I just to remember to do it.
5. Long stride - ish. It's more of a bent knee up and pushing back thing than reaching forward. R demonstrated on the treadmill and I could see exactly what he was talking about.
6. Mountain pose. When I was doing a few laps, R yelled mountain pose and I immediately straightened up, used my core, and had a better lean. That was the cue I needed and will hopefully remember.
7. Run with open palms. I hunch my shoulders up. Running with open palms forced me to relax - and not more hunched shoulders. That was just wasted energy.

So, those are notes to me, which all 7 of you get the pleasure of reading. I am going to work on these for a few weeks and go back to R for a follow up and see if they worked. Keep the mileage low, listen to my body, and don't work on all of these things at once. R also put the drills into terms I can understand - swimming. I wouldn't do catch up, 3 beat kick, and a sighting drill all at once - so I can't expect to do these drills all at once. And I also know if my form starts to slip in swimming, my shoulder hurts. Same with running. That's how you can tell a great coach, they can put any concept into terms you are comfortable with and can understand. And this is why I HEART R.

Thank you R!
And thank you Brooke and Diane!!

AND, I got Blain back last night with some new tires. Here is to no more flats!! (Knock on wood)

Burmp

That is basically how the day went. (NOTE - and for those of you who don't know burmp - a statement used after a disappointing comment. awful, unlucky, that sucks, too bad, unfortunate)

I woke up at 5:40 a.m. to meet Karen at HP for some laps. When I saw that parts of Connecticut Avenue and Rock Creek Parkway were shut down due to "Police Activity", I should have taken the hint.

We started off fine, cruzin' along and about half way through our second lap, I could just feel it. Another bleeping flat on my back tire. I turned around and rode as far as I could back to my car until I hopped off and walked. I wasn't going to get all dirty to change my back tire just to go a mile back to my car. The moment it happened, I knew I was going to head to Conte's to get new tires. I thought about it, I had one original tire and one new tire. Thankfully, I kept a blog back then and could look up my previous tire issues to see that this happened in July of 2008. I figured it had been at least 2500-3000 miles for each tire and new ones were needed.

I made it home, eventually, hopped on the metro to go to work and it said 15 minutes until the next train. And the platform was PACKED! So, I got on a train heading north, away from my office, to find a station tad less crowded (3 stop), and eventually made it to the work (about an hour after I left).

As I was crabby, it didn't make for a great work day. I left a tad early to head up to Conte's to see what they had. When I got there (and they are starting to recognize me again - or at least Blain. He is very noticeable.) I explained my tire issues. They were very nice and said I still probably had a few 100 miles or so left, but no. I don't like dealing with flats, it was worth the money for new ones, so they started asking what kind of tires I wanted.
Me "The kind where I won't get a flat".
Them "okay, what about weight".
Me "The amount that won't give me a flat".
Them "do you have race and training tires?"
Me, first I giggled, then said "I want the kind where I won't get a flat - please".
I think they got the point.

Unfortunately, they were out of the kind that won't give you flats. So I left Blain there over night and he should be ready tomorrow. And (hopefully) no more flats.

3500 Yards

It's been awhile since I did a full swim workout, so today felt nice. Toby had her friend join us in our lane. The 'problem', she was a former D1 college swimmer. That meant not a lot of rest, or TALKING!!!

And it was one of those workouts that I was really not excited about, which is kind of ironic as I am the one who wrote it... But overall, I had a few moments really strong, fluid swim strokes - which is something I haven't had in awhile.

Woo Hoo!

Saturday's Ride and Sunday's Treat

What a good ride!

Friday night started with a really good dinner with great friends. I am sorry to Diane and Mary Elizabeth for pretty much falling asleep in my wine. But, I had to be up at 5:30.

And this time, my alarm worked! I was up, and at our meeting spot, clipped in with Sandy by 6:35. Why so early you may ask - because it was already 85 degrees!!! Humid, hazy, and gross. It was actually hard to see out of our glasses because they kept fogging up.

Overall, the ride went pretty well - given the conditions. And by conditions, I mean HOT! Sandy was great and stuck with me, waited for me at the top of the hills, and took me on a much shadier route to get to the turnaround point in Poolesville. There were a few other DC Tri friends there, which made it even better.

But the BEST part of the stop - the most brilliant nutrition decision I ever made. If anyone remembers, one of my favorite Ironman stories from the bike was when the guy passed me with about 6 Snickers bars in his back jersey. About mile 70, I saw a Snickers on the ground and had never been so tempted to take something off the ground and eat it. (For the record, I did NOT take the Snickers off the ground.) I figured if I even get the chance to eat a Snickers off the ground again, I should train with Snickers. So a Snickers I ate. And it was DELICIOUS!!! I cannot even describe how wonderful it was. And yes, it was 9 am. I am convinced that is why I had very few problems on the way back. Because it just became hotter and hotter and hotter.

I did the best I could with taking water, Gatorade, and electrolytes. I kept pouring water on the back of my neck and head to stay as cool as I good. That all helped, but I am pretty sure it was the Snickers.

After we all got back to the cars, 60 miles later, Karen, Lindsey and I headed back out to do just a bit more on the flat parts. Of course, 1 mile into our extra ride - I got a flat. On the BACK TIRE! And was my chain clean.... NNNNnnnnoooooo..... I was too tired the night before. Oh well - I did successfully change the tire with help Karen and Lindsey. Solidarity ladies. Solidarity.

Overall, 62 miles and 3719 calories burned. AWESOME!

I earned all the bbq and ice cream I ate last night. And today.

But that wasn't today's treat. This was

I Haven't Done That In Awhile

My alarm was set for 5:45 am. My bag was packed. Tires filled with air.

So, I had quite the surprise when I woke up at 8:15. I had my alarm set for 5:45 PM and my phone was on vibrate, so I didn't hear that alarm either.

I guess sleep was needed...

(NOTE - at one point, I had more to say - I just don't remember...)

Dare I Say It???

No, I am not going to say it. I can't say it because if I say it, that makes it true. Well, not really, I can say a lot of things that aren't true, and won't be if I write them. For example, I will win the lottery! That's not true, but it would be awesome.

So, what I am talking about... Well, I had a board meeting tonight so I couldn't make it to swim practice. I biked last night and am really hoping I can get up tomorrow to go biking. So, that leaves one thing. The 'run'. Things have been going pretty well with the 'run'. It has to end soon, right. Well, not today. I once again had another good 'run'! I was back on the treadmill and did better than I did last week! Not much better, but a smidge further in a faster amount of time. And I still felt good. And still have very little pain. Could this continue???

I will not it. I will not say I am enjoying running.

But I will say I want to win the lottery.

What Did I Do To You Mother Nature?!?!

Another day, another chance for Mother Nature to ruin my workout.

Tuesday means Conte's hill ride, but we all knew a storm was coming in, and there was a power outage in the area. Traffic was bad, but not as bad as 2 weeks ago. But I went anyway...

And dare I say, they weren't as bad as I once thought. Who knew that training actually works?!?! Don't get me wrong, hills still suck, just maybe a smidge less today. But then, half way up a hill, my chain dropped! I never drop my chain!! But, to my shock and pleasant surprise, I was able to start pedaling, without falling over, and made it up the hill! Woot! And I hit the turnaround just as the rain started to fall. Good timing on my part.

But not great timing. It was Mimi's last Conte's ride (sad) so we went to celebrate by heading to dinner at Ray's Hell Burger - where all the cool people go. YUM! But it wasn't that easy. Right after I parked the car, the torrential downpour hit. Yes it was raining, but this was sheets and sheets of rain. Basically, when I got to Ray's, I look liked I just got out of the shower - with all my bike clothes on.

But it was worth it. Both having dinner with Mimi, and the burger!

FORE!!

I have to say, it was a great way to spend the late afternoon/evening. I haven't swung a club in years. I was too worried last year with the back issues, and I didn't play much in 2008 because of the Ironman training.

It was Rose's birthday and she wanted to golf, so golf we did. It was so nice to be outside in the quiet area of Rock Creek Park, playing a few holes of golf. We golfed until, of course, the rain hit. What is with Mother Nature ruining all my plans this week?!?! First Swim 4 Life, now my golf plans!!!

Anyway, it was nice to be out there, swinging the clubs again, and getting in a bit of a workout. It was very hilly, and HOT. I mean, we did use a cart, but there is still a lot of walking! I think it counts as a workout!

Swim For (Your) Own Life

Happy 40th to me!! Today was my 40th endurance event. Woot! Well, sort of...

It was Maryland Swim 4 Life day, with the biggest decision being to swim 3 or 4 miles. Yes, there were thunderstorms, but I couldn't control those. With the help of my DC Tri peeps, I decided on 4 miles. We just had to wait for the storms to pass.

Shannon, Carolina and I sat around my car waiting for the race to start. It was raining and very humid, so of course we were fogging up the windows. We were talking about this and that and
Shannon says "Where did this a$$ come from??"
Carolina sat up super fast from her nap in the back to look out the window "Where?!?!?"
Us, laughter. Carolina missed the first part of the conversation and was expecting to see a hot guy, an interesting speedo - nothing. Just funny.
This was followed by a bass boat going by painted with a camouflage design. Shannon, again with the great one liner "That's a nice boat, too bad I can't see it because it's camouflage."
Aaahhh, the humor we have on little sleep before a race.

It looked like the storms cleared during the pre-race meeting; however another bolt of lightning came. Once the Coast Guard cleared the river, we turned in our timing chips and decided to call it a day. However, it cleared up quickly and the race director decided to shorten the swim to a 1 or 2 mile swim. After some prodding, Carolina and I ran back to get our chips, and I was in the water.

The first 0.5 mile, 18 minutes. Not too bad, as I was going into the current. The second 0.5 mile took FOREVER! The rain started, I was getting passed by all the 3 milers - who had yellow caps, the same color as the buoys. That meant it was even harder to sight. Boo! Total 1 mile time... 42 minutes. That's very slow for me.
After the turn around, the next 0.5 miles, 11 minutes. And my over all finish time: about 1 hour 3 minutes. YAY!

Given the conditions, no wetsuit, and actually having to swim for my life (for fear of swimming in a river with thunderstorms in the area...), it was a fun day for a great cause.


AND, HAPPY BIRTHDAY KAREN!!

Um... Interesting

I have been doing pretty well since I have been back about keeping to some type of workout activity. Wednesday was a swim, yesterday was a bike, so today... a jog. It's still unbearably hot out, so it was off to the treadmill for me.

Now, I am not going to say I had a good run. I am not going to say that I felt those "endorphins". But you know what I did feel. NOTHING!!! For the first time in as long as I can remember, nothing hurt while I was jogging. There were of course a few twinges here and there, but otherwise; I didn't want to cut off my foot, I didn't have any spasms, and my knee didn't throb when I took off the brace (and yes, I am knocking on my fake wood desk as I type this). 2 minute warm up, jog 6 minutes/walk 1 minute x 5 (plus an extra 2 minutes on the last one because a really good song came on and I was feeling awesome) and a short cool down. WAA-HOO!!!

It was slow, really slow, but it was. And for me, that is all that matters.

Oh My Legs!!

First of all - sorry for the delay in posts about Deep Creek, I have had some computer issues. The posts have been written, but couldn't get them to upload. Silly computers...

Anyway, Mary Elizabeth and I decided to meet up this morning to go for a ride. There is no way I would have gone if I wasn't meeting her. It was 85 degrees at 5:45 IN THE MORNING! With horrible humidity. Blah!!

But we got there, said hi to AJ and all the other fast people, and we were clipped in by 6:30. It was good ride! But my legs are feeling it. They weren't so happy to be back on the bike, pedaling again. Especially in the heat. And once we were done, my hair. HA! I was thankful no one around had a camera.

Remember Snowmageddon... Those were the days...

The Rest of The Weekend

I wanted to write this Monday or yesterday, but it was just too hot and I was too tired.

The rest of the weekend was very relaxing and enjoyable. By 1 o'clock, we had ridden 25 miles, walked (I walked, they ran), had brunch, and were relaxing on the dock with a beer. Happy 4th of July to us!! There was swimming, napping, relaxing, and reading. Well earned after 2 tough days of riding.
For dinner, we had a crab feast! Followed by a good by cake for Mimi. And beer. And wine. And more beer. Which can only lead to one thing

HOT TUB DANCE PARTY!!

(and of course, this picture was taken before HOT TUB DANCE PARTY really started. But this is the internet. I am picky about the pictures I use :-)
Good times. And we even managed to see some fireworks from behind the tree lines. But one of the best moments for me, a few of us kept running down to the lake to cool off from the hot tub and I wanted to watch the stars. Both dippers were in full sight as were the thousand of starts - and there is not a picture that can do it justice - so I am not even going to try.

All in all, one of the best 4th of July's I can remember. Even with my little break down on Foy road. A huge thanks to Sandy for organizing and letting me tag along. To Carolina and Julie for being fun roomies. And to everyone else who made it such a wonderful weekend.

That Was Nice

No, not the ride, but the people I rode with.

After everyone crushed the half course yesterday, I really didn't feel like I could complain about how my legs felt. They rode twice as far as I did and climbed more than twice my total. So when we all clipped in for our 25 miles of the new Oly course, I felt bad "ouch"ing as loud as the rest of them.

We headed out and I was quickly left behind. I was hurting, I was on a slow steady incline, I was dropped and feeling bad for myself and very much wanting to turn around. But I kept going and on the first left turn, there was everyone. When I asked if all was okay, they just said they wanted to keep it as a fun casual ride. So nice!! And I was really happy I didn't turn around (as there is horrible cell service and no one would have received a message).

We hit our first climb and I saw everyone slowly fade away in the distance. This was immediately followed by a fast decent right when it ended, I turned the corner and sure enough - there was everyone again. I felt a few tears start to form as everyone was talking about their top speeds going down the hill and I realized when you max out at 45.7 mph, your eyes water.

We kept going and on the second climb, just as everyone made it to the top, I started to fall over. I made a pathetic "OOhhhmmmmuuuuuhhhhhwww" sound as I fell onto the gravely side of the road. Luckily, I was going about 3 mph so it didn't hurt too badly - just shook me up a bit. After walking Blain up to some level ground, I got back on and tried to catch up with everyone. Once I did, there was one more climb. I told a few people to just go, as I was having a rough time, and I would see them all back at the house.

Sure enough, that last climb killed me. I clipped out and started to have a panic attack. Short breaths, shaking, mad, frustrated, and hating biking, life, and myself. 2 days of riding hills, by far being the worst in the group (and yes, I know it was a ridiculously talented group of bikers I was with... but still), it all just got to me on Foy Road. Not very helpful when you are still 10 miles from the house.

I managed to calm myself down enough to get back on and keep going. The rest of the ride was back to the rollers I enjoy and started to hate biking a bit less. Once I got back to the house, everyone was on their way out for a run (see, they are a ridiculously talented group triathletes) and I decided to go for a walk. I forgot a hat and water bottle so didn't want to push it, but I also didn't just want to sit around and feel bad for myself.

The walk helped. It was beautiful out and I veered off the road onto one of the trails, which was really nice. I was still in a bit of a mood when I got back, but after a shower and a delicious breakfast, I was feeling much better.

Oh, and HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMERICA!!

What Was I Thinking???

Seriously? I actually thought I would do more than 1 loop. HAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

More on that in a minute.
We made it up to the house last night a bit after 10. We either missed all the traffic, or we went in the opposite direction as everyone else. Once we unloaded the car, bikes and all, it was a pretty impressive sight in the living room.

Saturday morning.
The other house made it over around 8:30 and we all were getting our finishing touches on the bikes to head out for our adventures.

Tammy, Mimi and I decided to do last year's Oly course, as all the nuts-o people were doing the full Half. The nuts-o people are planning on riding the new Oly course tomorrow, so figured we could 'join' them tomorrow.

Good plan.

But we quickly learned why they changed the course.
First of all, the first hill, it took me forever. I thought my heart was going to pop out and my lungs were burning. Not a good sign for the first 5 miles. When I caught back up to Tammy and Mimi on a downhill, I went to shift, and I was already in the big ring. In other words, that first hill - I did it in a very hard gear. Oops.

After a massive downhill, with "SLOW" spray painted we quickly found the ups. And then came Frank Brenneman Road. See, leading up to Frank, I was already in my lowest gear, so when I took the left turn, saw the hill, a lot of words came out of my mouth that are not suitable for this blog. What I found out in regards to this hill.
Frank Brenneman Rd: Cat 1, 0.7 miles avg 10%, max 23%. Last 0.4 miles, avg 15%, max 23%
Did I make it up, no, not so much. Did Tammy. Nope. Mimi - HECK YEAH!! There were 2 sections and she waited at the break, and then powered through the finish.

The rest of the ride had some rollers and we did a great job of waiting for each other (aka, they waited for me a lot). And of course, it ended with a lovely hill called Toothpick.
Toothpick: Cat 4, 0.25 miles avg 9%, max 16%.
Considering my currently training (or lack thereof), I was actually pretty happy with the day.
And looking at the elevation chart, I hope you can understand why we called it after 1 loop.
But, this left us plenty of time to relax by the lake before the rest of the crew made it back. Feeling bad for the suckers who like pain, I decided to be nice and have fresh backed chocolate chip cookies waiting for them.

Now, it's just time to sit back and relax.

My Plan

After a tough day at work today (Ha! I mean really, it is DEAD here today. There are maybe 5 people in the office...) I am heading up to Deep Creek Lake for some training. The training is on the SavageMan Triathlon course - also known as the "World's Most Beautiful and Most Savage Triathlons". The Olympic course I am planning on riding will be challenging for me, but not bananas like the Half course that other people are doing.

Me (and possible Carolina, Tammy and Mimi)
Others (people who are bananas)
My course is about 23 miles with some climbs. If all goes well, I might do it twice.
Or I found last year's SavageMan Olympic course cue sheet and might do both courses.
Or I might go with Carolina's plan and "just play in the lake and get drunk. I don't need no stinkin' cue sheet for that." I mean, I do owe her after missing out on our Cleveland Park adventure...

I'm Starting Somewhere!!

Now that I feel I can slowly build in some running into my training, it makes beautiful days like today that much better. I am ready to get back into the grove where I don't let a meeting that runs long or an early afternoon meeting determine if I workout our not.

And today was one of those days. Perfect temperature, low humidity, slight breeze - I couldn't have asked for anything better, especially on July 1.

It wasn't far. It wasn't fast. But it was. Finally!!! (knock on wood)

And this weekend I am off to Deep Creek Lake for a training weekend. And there are hills. Lots and lots of hills. I am not nuts enough to do the half course, but I will challenge myself with the Olympic distance course.

Hopefully, good times will be had.