I Don't Want To Go!

Seriously. Once again, the LAST THING IN THE WORLD I WANTED TO DO WAS GO SWIM.

Here is a list of things I would have rather done.

• Have a drink with Mr. Shorty Shorts (which totally would have happened but I left my ID in my biking wallet from last night, therefor couldn't go get a drink - it's Intern season and every bar/restaurant is carding, even thought I am CLEARLY over the age of 21 - by many, many years)
  
• Dye my hair
• Paint my toenails
  
• Sit on the couch
• Play Angry Birds
• Clean the kitchen
• Go through my junk mail
• Read a Real Simple magazine
  
• Scrub my bathroom tub
• Organize my shoes
• Do laundry
• Cook something
  
• Eat chocolate

That's what I was thinking about while I was in the pool. Yes, while I was in the pool. It wasn't a great swim, but it was a swim. I did a few IM drills, some kicking and pulling - which was better than just swimming straight. And I'm glad I went. And even happier I get tomorrow off!

Bike Clinic

So, it's actually pretty embarrassing, but I have really poor bike handling skills. I never got around to getting a proper bike lesson, or figure out the 'right' way to do things. It's not just staying up right and moving forward.

Tonight I had the opportunity to take part in a bike skills clinic with a former pro biker (who was also my physical therapist). I learned a TON. Mainly that I am still very wobbly and have lots to learn. But after some handling, close riding, and tight turn tips - we got to what I really wanted - HILLS!

I learned a bit more about gearing and how important cadence really is to efficient biking. And how I really shouldn't sit back on my saddle, but more forward. Lots of stuff to think about while I pedal hills this weekend. Thanks Sonja!!

Blain Update!

First of all, Blain is fine. I have been meaning to write about this for awhile, so decided to give this its own post.

Basically, I felt Blain wasn't getting the love he needed. After the whole saddle height thing - I thought maybe if I bought him something shiny, it would make him happier. After all, it works for me!!

So after last week's 4 hour ride, I took him up to his favorite shop for a new rear cassette and chain. After talking with my PT (months ago...), Coach, and lots of people who know way more about bikes than I do, people suggested getting a 12-27.

What does that mean? Well, from what I gather, it means the following:
I have a 9 speed, so there are 9 rings on my rear cassette with 'teeth'. The smallest right has 12 teeth and the largest ring had 25. If I were to go to 27, those extra 2 teeth would make climbing hills easier. I would lose a gear in the middle, but would notice on the hills. Or so those people said.

So, I figured why not - I could use all the help I could get. I am not great on hills, am working on getting better with cadence (which I really need with hills instead of mashing) so I figured I would give it a shot. Not the best picture - but trust me, it's new and shiny!!

I went on Tuesday to test out the new gearing and I was immediately disappointed. I was skipping gears, making a lot of noise, and just not happy. Oh, and my chain dropped TWICE! I haven't dropped a chain in YEARS! (knock on wood)
So, Tuesday after work I headed back to the bike shop for some answers.

Of course, as awesome as they are, they put Blain on the stand and got right to work. They apologized for me having to come back, but explained the fickleness of Blain and how everything needs to be just right. And since it was a bit off, and I didn't' replace the cables and front rights, it just threw things off a bit more. It helps that I have known these guys for years, and bribed them with cookies and chips so I get good service. But I never feel stupid when I ask stupid question and they will explain every little detail I if I want them to - or just gloss over the facts. And I never feel like I am being taken or they are trying to sell me more than I need.

I was eager to take Blain back out on Thursday, but I was benched due to Wednesday's run. So when I headed out on Saturday's ride, with hills, I was a bit nervous. But Blain stepped up to the challenge and shifted like a pro. No loud noises. No dropped chains on the hills (knock on wood).

And how were the hills you are wondering - I was SHOCKED at the fact that I did notice a difference. My 8th gear was more like the 25 I had, so when I went into that last gear (the 27), it was much easier to keep a higher cadence. I only had to use it a few times but it did feel a lot better.

I don't think I was any faster, which is fine because I do think it helped the knees a lot! And that is also very important.

Blain will have a few more updates and a tune up before IM Moo. But right now, I am super happy with the way he is handling and hope I don't let him down.

Trying To Keep Up

Really, I am.

The good news is that not too much exciting happened this past week. Just what feels like lots and lots of training.

The rest of the weekend of the 18th included a Puppy show where my favorite dog won first prize as Most Adorable Small Dog. And a going away party for Rachna – who has been an amazing friend since we first met during my first marathon.

Sunday was fun day as Karen and I meet up to cheer on our peeps at the DC Triathlon. I have to say, it was a lot of fun watching everyone else workout hard while Karen and I ate snacks and cheered.
I had my swim stuff and I tried to come up with excuses to not swim, but there were none, and I swam. A simple 2000 meters, but it was the first since the Bay swim and felt like the first since the 4.4.

Monday was another swim day.

Tuesday was a bike day – which I cut short because it really started to rain and I wasn’t feeling that hard core. I also had my teeth cleaned. Exciting!

Wednesday was a failed run day. The Personal Cook and I went after work, on one of the most humid/hot days to date. But I knew I had to start to get used to the heat, however my body quickly rejected the forward progress I was trying to make. Luckily, the PC knew something was up, so he slowed me down, and we ended up walk half the loop. But he was motivational, positive, and kept me from jumping into the Potomac. Seriously, that’s how delusional and hot I was – I really was about to jump in.

Thursday I suffered the aftermath of Wednesday’s long run attempt. I had hot/cold flashes all night and a very unhappy stomach. I felt better in the afternoon, just in time for dinner with Diane and Mary Elizabeth.

Friday I took to the treadmill for an easy 30 minute run – I was too nervous to go outside again – not sure what my body would do. I had a great 30 minute run. It’s amazing what a controlled pace in an air conditioned room did for me!
So, the PC and I celebrated with a fantastic dinner. I am going to have to limit my new $19 lobster roll obsession…

Saturday was long ride day. Most of the K-train was off to tackle Total 200/k so that left me, Julia, Erica, and Cat. Julia and Erica peeled off early, so I talked Cat into heading to Poolesville with me. I followed this up with some extra hill loops on my own. It was a decent ride. Not fast, not slow. Just a good, steady, 5 hour ride – right where I wanted to be in terms of pace. But after looking at my total elevation gain, I need to find more hills. Yes, I just wrote that for the entire world (or 9 of you – if there are still 9 of you out there…) to see.
The PC and I celebrated again with another dinner. And started a mini golf war.

Sunday was a swim, which I did in a 25 yard pool. It really made me realize how lucky I am to have access to 50 meter pools. They are sooooo much better!
And the mini golf war with the PC continued. I tried to use the argument that if I have the most holes-in-one on the score card, I win. And I am sticking to that argument.

Monday was back on the treadmill for an easy, maintenance run in prep for today’s long run.

Today’s long run – it was made clear that running and I are not getting along. First, I managed to pick the worst hot/humid day since my last attempt on Wednesday. Even though I went in the morning, it was still bad. But Coach and I took most of Sunday/Monday off in prep to have a good long run. I just felt off. Poor form, forced breathing, and never felt natural. The best part was seeing Mary Elizabeth about 10 minutes into the run. Oh, and the second best part was having access to a bathroom 5 miles into the run. I will leave it at that.
But I did the time in. And that’s what matters.

Coach had me look up a saying last week – “Amat Victoria Curam”. One of the translations is “Victory loves preparation”. I need to keep that in mind.
Less than 12 weeks to go...

Saturday, June 18th Post

Friday was an easy 40 minute run. I wanted to try something different and just run without a set 4:1 or 5:1 pace, and walk the lights. That was a stupid idea. First of all, it was a lot hotter out than I expected. I was getting too comfortable with the cool mornings and comfortable afternoon workouts. This lunch run caught be a tad off guard with the humidity and sun.

Second, per usual when I run on my own, I went out too fast. I stink at pacing when I am by myself, even after I talk to the PC who says "Go run (I didn't want to go). Don't go out too hard." I went out too hard. So I slugged back to the office and it just wasn't pretty. Lesson learned.

Saturday was 4 hour bike day on the K train (that's the name that has formed for people who follow Karen around on bikes. It's fun and the people are awesome.) After some debate, we decided to divert off the normal River Road/Poolsville routes because of a little golf tournament going on close to the area. So, we headed to Indian Head, MD and General Smallwood State Park.
Karen had a few routes with different distances and we all started on the 41 mile route. All you ask? Yup, all. (Here we are; minus Lindsey who took the picture, at an "undisclosed location along the Potomac River (see the private property sign). They all even LOOK faster than me. And don't ask me why I am standing like that. I think it was a "must suck in, don't get bulg-ie arms" thought...) And because I hate being last, I went out way to hard again. So maybe that lesson wasn't learned on the run the day before...

Anyway, it was good to push a bit more. Even if I did have a slight panic attack/break down around mile 20. It was mainly I wasn't hydrating enough. And why you ask? Well because I left my bag of water bottles/Accelerade hanging on my closet door. Yup. No water. No Accelrade. Luckily, I remembered before getting into the state park and had time to stop at a 7-11 and buy $8 worth of water and Gatorade in all different bottle sizes (I didn't know what would fit in my cages). Thankfully Lindsey had an extra bottle so that helped. I was still nervous about running out in 41 miles... So as it was good for me to push, it probably was a bit too much, especially with poor nutrition. And faster people who I felt bad for as they kept waiting for me at turns. I appreciate it and hate it at the same time...

The second loop was 23 miles and I made myself slow down. I had a significantly better ride except for 2 things.

1. I got chased by a dog. Karen and Sandy were ahead, then me, Catherine, and Lindsey. This dog came flying out of a yard in front of my bike, so I slammed on the breaks then peddled as fast as I could. He came after me again and did the same thing. Eventually he turned back and I spun off, seeing Catherine and Lindsey way back and lost sight of Karen and Sandy. Oh, and my HR spiked to 192! I really thought I was going to get my leg chewed off by this dog! SERIOUSLY!

2. I was in aero having a grand time when all of the sudden a BEE FLIES INTO MY HELMET! I am not sure how I didn't fall over (especially without my PowerBalance Band...) but I managed to fling it out and keep going until a turn where Karen was waiting. Thank goodness I have a lot of hair, as I think that is the only thing that saved me.

So I learned that animals don't like me, especially dogs in that area. I know this because I remember going out there for training last time, with Brooke and other DC tri people (turns out one of them was Karen...). When I check to see the date, it was about the same time. June 22, 2008. It's kind of fun to compare the training from last time to this time! And prove that dogs in Indian Head, MD don't like me.

Overall, I was really happy with the day. Loop 1 was too fast. Loop 2 was too slow. My average was fine. It was nice to take a break from major hills. The 15 minute run/walk after felt better than expected. And there was BBQ and ice cream on the way home.

Thursday, June 16th Post

Something was going on with Coach because he gave me Wednesday off too. He was pretty happy with the 'long' run, but also worried about me getting sick. All the up and down weather had me feeling a bit off. So, I got another day to sleep! WOOT! But it was up early Thursday morning for my brick of the week.

The weather didn't look so good, but I went anyway. Because I'm hard core. And I had plans that night so I really didn't have the 'choice'. Loop 1 was pretty uneventful, but I did see Karen, Erica and Katie after my turn around. Knowing Karen, I thought "I bet she tries to catch me". Sure enough, about 3 miles later, the ladies rolled up. I hung on with them until Erica and Katie peeled off and I told Karen she could just go. Instead, she hung back with me and I speed up a bit to keep up with her.

Half way through loop 3, it started to rain. Not down pour, but a nice drizzle. Of course, I wanted to stop, but I already said I had to do 3 big loops and 1 small loop. So, we started the 4th loop. Then I looked at the time, realized I was way faster than normal and had time for a full big loop. That was 4 big loops with an average about 1 mph faster than previous rides (thanks Karen!!).

I was a tad concerned of how the run would go after a faster ride, and I got to do a 5:1 (not just a 4:1 - holla!) but I felt pretty good. So I started, and had a fantastic run. It was still drizzling, there was no one around, my form felt good, and I felt great.

Realistically, I did have 2 days off and was pretty rested from the swim, but still. It was raining, Karen and I proved we are water proof, and my workout kicked butt.

Tuesday, June 14th Post

It started off as a sad sad day because my parents left. I always have such a good time with them and am sad to see them leave. Thanks again mom and dad for a wonderful visit!!

Coach was nice enough to give me Monday off. But the real reason was so I could have fresh legs for my long run on Tuesday. I talked the Personal Cook into going with me after work for a fun filled 75 minutes. And by fun filled I mean him having the watch and being able to pick the route and tell me when to run, walk, slow down, speed up, light feet, lean forward from the hips, pump the arms and the legs will follow - pretty much everything I have mentioned in the past I need to work on. Doesn't that sound like fun?? :-)

But actually, it was. It was a huge help to have him along and kept me freakishly consistent. With the warm up, the total was just a hair under 6 miles and about 4 of those miles the laps (.5) were within 10 seconds of each other. Woot.

Coach and I are slightly worried about the run, but he said "I would rather you in a state of training then in a state of recovery from injury".

True, very true.

Onto The Swim

Wednesday's Post

After yesterday's catch up post, I left off at the end of Saturday, ready to take on the tiny little race the next day.

My number one goal for this race was revenge. Remember my last attempt in 2009? Yup, so I wanted pay back. I wanted to and needed to prove that I could swim 4.4 miles again. For some reason finishing successfully in 2006, 07, and 08 was no longer enough. Unfortunately, time got away from me and I just didn't put in the training.

So I had a Plan B. Training day!
It would be an open water swim for as far as I could make it in the time allowed. I realized I had nothing to prove to anyone, I didn't put in the time for training, and this wasn't a goal race. So, I ate meat the day before. I had a few beers. And I frantically packed my sparkly wet suit bag before my parents arrived to head to the Bay. In fact, they had to pick up ear plugs for me because I ran out, forgot, and wasn't close to a 24-hour CVS.

My favorite, and faster, brother was doing the swim as well, and when he got into the car he said "I don't want to do this", but with a few more colorful words.

But we made it to Sandy Point State Park, ! got checked in, and waited for the start. An 11:30 start. As nice as it was to sleep in - I really just wanted to get going, it was hot! But it was nice to chat with Arin's g'friend. And Kristin made it out for the start too. So there were plenty of distractions instead of thinking about the upcoming 4.4 miles.

Eventually the announcement were over and it was time to put on the wetsuit. The body glide melted, as did the bag balm. Did I mention it was hot? Many people chose no wet suit, but even with the 80 degree water, I went with the suit. It was a good choice. After standing around for way too long, Arin and I posed for pictures, said our good lucks, and were off.

The first mile was fine. Flat water and I only had to kick a few people off for poor drafting and swim etiquette (which there really is no swim etiquette in open water. Just don't touch the person's feet you are drafting off of more than once).
Mile 1 - about 28 minutes.

Mile 1 to 2. Oh mile 1 to 2. The race director made this big deal about how this was the best conditions in 20 years. First a current going south, then north on the far end (opposite for the other 4 swims I have done) but mostly nothing. It would be such a great day.
Huh-uh. Sure. Maybe he missed that section from mile 1 to 2. I kept thinking that if this was easy with no current, then I was not in shape and this open water swim thing just wasn't for me any more. I wanted to stop. I wanted to quit. I had nothing to prove, I didn't train, and had no desire to keep going. The mile was FOREVER TAKING and I just didn't care.

Finally I saw the aid boat right before the two mile buoy. I stopped, took off my goggles, and reevaluated my life. But for some strange reason, I put my goggles back on and kept going.
Mile 2 - 48 minutes.

Mile 2 to 3 wasn't much better. The current seemed better, I wasn't fighting to stay in between the bridges any more, but I had very little in me. I counted to 50 (about how many strokes for me to get get across a 50 meter pool), 10 times (about a 500 meter), and did that 3 times until I really looked for the next buoy. It was a nice distraction. Which was needed. And worked because the mile 3 buoy was very close.
Mile 3 - 44 minutes

I stopped at the aid boat before mile 3 and had my Accel Gel. I had taken it on the 4 hour ride with Hillary and FLEW by her on a slight incline (which just shouldn't happen) rambling about how nutrition was awesome. I was hoping for that same affect, but not so much. I do believe it gave my arms the power to keep moving. Because my legs stopped. Kicking was too much work and not getting me anywhere, so I just dragged them along (another reason the wetsuit was key!).

I flipped off the bridge somewhere in that mile between 3 and 4, knowing I wasn't going to get pulled out this year as I did in 09. It felt good.
Mile 4 - 38 minutes

Mile 4-4.4
Once I got outside the bridge and the current tried to push me back in but I wouldn't let it!! Also, once you get the side of the rode, you can walk. And walk I did. Yes, I did have the internal debate with myself:
- It's a 4.4 mile swim, not walk!
- Whatever, you just swam 4 miles after only training for 4000. You can walk!
- Swim dang it SWIM!
- Shut up
- Fine, I'll swim

So I swam the rest of the way in, passed a few walkers and was never so happy to finish. Also because I looked behind me and saw a very dark cloud. They were starting to pull swimmers (I found out later 62, or 10% of the total swimmers) due to an incoming thunderstorm. I was LUCKY! And happy.

On the ride home, I started rambling about other things I thought about on the swim - and thought I would share.
- What were the birds on the wires thinking? Do birds think? Did they just see us as potential food?
-There was a bird that flew right over me (I was in a yellow cap) and I was convinced he was going to peck at my head because he was hungry (and I wasn't moving fast).
- Whenever I swam from cold water to warm water, I figured I just swam through someones pee.
- At times, there were loud screeching/scraping noises. I figured it was the mermaids and they were about to come after me.
- I saw a semi drive by and was pretty sure it was about to come crashing into the water. What was I supposed to do if that happened? Would I be able to help?

Yup, that's what happens when you are in the water for 2 hours 54 minutes and a few extra seconds. I was extreamly happy to finish. And even happier that I finished the race with my brother (well, not 'with' as he finished about 30 minutes before me). AND even happier yet my parents were there.

Starting To Catch Up

So much has happened this past week! Where to start, where to start...

Thursday
After I realized my saddle was so low, I was excited to see what would happen with a proper seat height. But another early morning was so hard to get moving. However, with a code orange day, and a hair cut in the evening, it was morning or never. So I went. And as I learned it was hard for me to hold 10-12 minutes comfortably hard (went out WAY too fast), but it was a good ride.

Friday
Once again, it was HOT! The Personal Cook and I went for a semi-early run. Or at least we thought running at 9 am would be early enough. NOPE. It was one of those slug through - just keep moving - I wanted to walk but the PC wouldn't let me - runs. Not fast, not slow, but held the 4:1 and finished.
And that afternoon, the best parents EVER arrived. And I don't say that because they brought me a fantastic shirt as motivation.
Cows - no.
But it is black and white. Beer. From Wisconsin. AND BIKES!
Thanks Mom and Dad!!

Saturday
As I said, I have the best parents. And they are very supportive of my training. As is my brother. So when I said I had to get in a 3.5 to 4 hour ride in the morning, there were no questions asked. Just "have a good ride, let us know if there is anything we can do, call when you are done".
So, I hopped on the Karen train for my ride.
The Karen train you ask? Well, Karen is training for IMLP so had a much longer ride than me. She just rode all over town picking up people, doing loops, and we would all meet up at specific points. It was awesome. All the ladies are faster than me, so they would do a loop, I would go straight, and we would meet up for treats. As Sandy said about the waffles "training not treats!"
The ride was awesome. It was great to be able to 'ride' with the ladies and even when I was on my own, I knew someone was withing 5 miles. I really hope we can do this more often this summer.
When I eventually made it home (it took way longer than expected - just couldn't move my legs much faster) and we all headed out to the PC's lawn sports/meat wave bbq. Let me just say I had my fill of protein. YUM!

Oh, and all of this was in prep for Sunday's 'race'. Coach had asked if I wanted to back off the week's workouts so I could have a good 'race' on Sunday. I said no, because he was training me for the Ironman, not the swim. And if I could finish the swim after a 4 hour ride the day before, and the longest swim I had done being 4K - even better.

But more on that tomorrow. I am tired and need to go to bed. Yes, it's 9:30. Don't judge me.

Stupid. Really.

This morning was my brick of the week. By know you know I hate getting up early, so when the alarm went off at 5:30, I was super close to going back to bed. But, there was a heat index of 100+ and a code orange day - so I knew it was the morning or never. And never isn't really an option right now - so I got out of bed and headed to Hains Point.

The first lap was pretty good - slow and low HR, but mostly in areo which felt good. Then I remembered that my nickname became Squeaky because something was going on with Blain. I thought it was the pedals again so I gave them some chain lobe - but no luck. Every time I sat up (not in aero), it was so loud. Then I remembered Casey saying "are you sure it's not your saddle?" I blew it off - pretty convinced it was the peddles - Blain didn't squeak when I wasn't peddling so that was my assumption.

During my second lap, I noticed I couldn't see the line for where my saddle was supposed to be. So after lap 2, I stopped and sure enough - the bolt for my saddle was pretty lose. I adjusted it a bit and just figured the line and worn off. But something kept me moving the seat post around and sure enough - I kid you not - I raised my seat 1.5-2 INCHES and there was the line. Over the past year, my saddle had fallen 1.5-2 INCHES!
Then I started to think

• For the race in Columbia, I thought it was strange the sticker didn't fit better on my seat post. I just assumed the sticker was bigger
• When I saw Hillary clip out, I thought - wow, she is really high off the saddle - her legs just dangle. Mine don't do that anymore.
• Often when I would get into aero, I felt cramped, but figured it was just the way it was...
• Recently, I had to stand for some hills and thought I was because I was getting better and sitting through the hills wasn't working

And a whole slue of other thoughts over the past year but NOT ONCE did I check my seat height. Lesson learned.

So, when I got back on Blain for laps 3 and 4, I was instantly 1-1.5 mph faster! Also, I felt it in very different parts of my legs. Almost like I was re-teaching my muscles how to ride. Thank goodness I figured this out now, and not 3 months from now right before IM Moo. Casey - thank you for suggesting the saddle. I honestly don't think I would have ever thought of that on my own.

The rest of the ride was pretty eventful.

• I had to turn early on my 3rd long loop because there were what looked like two Presidential helicopters landed in the park. A man with a large gun gave me the signal to turn around, so I did. Especially because of the large armed cars, Army dudes with large guns, and lots of white guys in suits who looked important standing around - so I turned around and peddled away fast.
  
• On the end of Hains Point I saw 5 plain clothed Army dudes running with face masks (not comforting).
  
• There was a nasty crash and I saw 3 ambulances heading towards them. I did offer to stop and help, but they said they were okay.
• NO MORE SQUEAKING!
• There was something else but it was 14 hours ago and I forgot.

After my ride, I did my 30 minute run with a solid 4:1 and was very happy.

YAY training!

Now I need to go to bed and get up early (again) so I can work on rebuilding the proper bike muscles (again).

Yesterday

Tuesday's Post

I made it a swim day. It was supposed to be a day off, but I had to flip a few things around due to my schedule. So, I got in and got to work.

One problem - the people in my lane were stupid. Here are a few examples:

1. Gentleman in the blue knee length shorts - pull buoys are for pulling. Not seeing how hard you can kick with the pull buoy in-between your legs. Unless you were doing some weird drill - but I doubt it.
2. Girl in the string bikini. No judgement on what you were wearing to LAP SWIM, but please don't stop in the middle of the lane and hold onto the lane line. Yes, 50 meter pools are longer than 25 yard pools.
   
3. Dude in the way too tight black short speedos. Please don't stand at the end of the lane, in the middle, with your legs spread apart. When you did that, you gave me no where to flip turn, turn, or do any sort of push off the wall. Don't get mad at me when I push off your belly because there is no wall available.
   
4. Other girl in the 2 piece. I should not be able to pass you on the right. If I do, that means you are in the middle of the lane and that isn't good for lap swimming.
5. Guy in the black shorts with a red stripe. I am faster than you. Don't get mad at me when you push off the wall right as I am turning, I pass you within 15 meters, and you try to sprint to keep up. It won't work. I wasn't even working hard and I am just fast than you. Deal.

All that being said, I still managed 3000 meters.

Updates. Updates.

It's time for some updates.

Remember my DCL weekend? Yes, let's catch up on that weekend.
It was awesome. After Saturday's ride, we had a fantastic family style dinner. Lots of relaxing, chatting, and massaging.
It pays to be the organizer of the house!!

Sunday we woke up to another beautiful day. I mean really, this was the view from outside our window. We all did our own things and during my 90 minute ride, I saw Lindsey, Jenny and Chris, Ryan and Adam, Sandy and Ty, Karen, Sheriece and Doug, and Julia and Steve. Again, even though I was on my own it's so nice that there were so many people close. I had a pretty good 90 minute ride and headed out for a 30 minute "run". It was more of a power walk, but felt good to move after the bike.

The rest of the afternoon was filled with a 2 day dream of Steve's. A rope swing.

And Monday, before we headed back to reality, I did a nice 60 minute run. I won't say much else about the run. It was an absolutely beautiful morning. Quiet and peaceful around the lake. And actually made me thankful I was up and running so early - as it was also one of those mornings where you know it's going to be really REALLY hot. And it was on the drive home. In Steve's non-air conditioned car...
I am so glad I decided to go. It was a lot of fun having 2 house of DC Tri people up there. But of course, ours was better ;-) Thanks for another fantastic SWC vacation!!

The rest of last week was spent 2 ways:
1. Recovering from the DCL hills (resting and not working out)
2. Actually doing my job (the real reason I was resting and not working out and not blogging)

I managed a few runs - on the treadmill do to the 100+ heat index. Made it to the pool for a very exciting Friday night. But that was about it.

Saturday was a 4 hour ride with my new riding partner Hillary. She is training for IM Louisville and we are both in the same boat. Riding 4+ hours and average around +/-15 mph on hills while most of our friends are much MUCH faster. So we decided to ride together and it was GREAT! Hans and Casey joined us too and we just had the best time. It was an amazingly beautiful day - one of the best we will have this summer. 4 hours and 20 minutes later, 66 miles - longest of the season. Woot!

And how did I celebrate? The Personal Cook took me out to dinner to celebrate 3 solid weeks of training (Columbia, DCL, and 4+ hour ride!!) and I took a break from the diet. SOOO worth it. What is it? A cheeseburger sub, fries, and pitcher of beer. Yum.
I promptly fell asleep about 30 minutes later. After I had some ice cream.

But no worries, I still made it out for my 60 minute run on Sunday. The PC did a good job keeping me to a solid 4:1 (run 4 minutes walk 1 minute) and it wasn't fast, but I was very consistent. This was followed by a 3 hour nap :-)

So, that is my update. I am very happy with my training. Still feel like I should be doing more, wish I could be magically faster, hope the pounds will melt away on their own - but I am not focusing on those aspects. I am focusing on making my workout counts, the pace I do go, and eating properly (most of the time ;-)

NNNNNNNNOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!!!!!!

Not my dumbo feather?!?!

I knew it was starting to break, but I thought it would last a bit longer. Not sure how I am going to stand up straight, not fall over, and keep my centered balance.

WHAT AM I GOING TO DO!?!?! I may have to dig out the duck tape to get through tomorrow's ride...

P.S. I still want to write up about the rest of last weekend. It was awesome, there were no tears, and I felt good. But the office is actually making me do work, so I just haven't had the chance. Soon.