Wednesday, May 27, 2009

Ups and Downs

Not a post about a hilly ride......
Down - the pool I was going to swim in last night is close for renovations. Due to traffic and location of my daughter's rehearsals going back up county to swim was not an option! Thus no swim last night. This morning the sleep monster sat on top of me and wouldn't let me get out of bed. Don't think I am going to get a work out in tonight either as I didn't bring anything with me! I'll catch up on errands!

Up - my daughter's Dad ( and the man formerly known as my husband) called and we were able to get her lost cell phone replaced without it costing me an arm and a leg! Somehow I had no insurance on her phone, but I do on mine??? We got new phones at the same time! ARGH! Anyway... Last night, the ex realized that his Mom, who is on his family plan, was due for an upgrade. She didn't want/need a new, complicated phone so the kind sales staff were able to switch the new upgrade phone to my account and my daughter's number, and then they just had to update the sim card in his mom's phone. Now child is happy. She can text her fingers off. I am happy cause I didn't have to shell out $$$ for another cell phone and thankful that the former husband and I can still communicate and work out issues together when it comes to our child.

Tuesday, May 26, 2009

Training???

Lets see. I am still off schedule, but I have been doing some stuff. Lets do a brief recap:
Thursday 5/21 - bike ride with many issues - and quite humorous - issues happened to my riding partners not me - -but I'm sure my day will come. Thanks for the laughs Jeanne!
Friday 5/22 - Nothing! Oh wait I did work up a sweat trying on a wetsuit at Conte's. And then after all that effort to make sure I found the right size, I left forgetting to reserve one for June 21! I got side tracked trying on bike shorts and then picking up my bike that I had left the night before for adjustments! At least I know what size to reserve!
Saturday 5/23 - 24 mile bike ride. Feeling better on this ride although I know the guys were going slower as to not leave me totally in the dust. I did thank them both for sticking with me! I really would like to see my speed increase so I don't feel like such a turtle!! This was also a brick day, but my run was only about 15 minutes after my bike ride.
Sunday 5/24 - No real training but I did walk about 3 miles on the beach in from the Delaware Seashore State Park to Rehoboth Beach, DE. Nice day at the beach! My daughter and I had fun!
Monday 5/25 - A somewhat botched 5K race. My daughter and I decided to do this one together. This was her first time entering any kind of race. She ran for about a mile then I found her waiting for me to catch up. She said her knees and feet were hurting. She has new shoes, but I do think she may need some additional support in her shoes, like super feet. I did notice when she jogged next to me for a bit that she was really heavy on her feet. I think we may need to work on some running technique. So we walked for a bit and then ran the last bit into the finish. Definitely not a PR for me, but I am so glad that she wanted to do this run with me!!
Today so far: I went to the gym. After a brief warm up on a cardio machine I did my circuit strength work out which is mostly with body weight and lots of core work. Tonight I will swim. Tonight is also a women's ride out of Conte's but the weather is so crappy today rainy, windy, only 57 right now that I have no desire to get on my bike - -even though it is not raining right now. So it will be off to the indoor pool for me. I am so behind on swim workouts that this is probably a better plan!

This is a crazy week too as my daughter has rehearsals from 6-9 each night and performances Friday, Saturday and Sunday as her year long drama program concludes. And somewhere in all of this I need to get my house in order for my parents to stay over the weekend! I need a maid! How can I train the dog and 2 cats to clean while I am at work?????

Wednesday, May 20, 2009

Its been a busy few days!

My training is off schedule! I did get in a bike ride in the drizzle on Saturday and a run on Sunday, but the Monday and Tuesday were messed up due to a business trip through Raleigh, NC and to the lovely town of Keanansville, NC. Today I am kind of back on schedule. I did some interval running the the dreaded treadmill at the gym along with some strength and core training. Tonight is supposed to be swim night, but I have corporate meeting this evening that is derailing my pool time. UGH!

Last Sunday I got up early and watched part of the Columbia Triathlon in Columbia, Maryland. It was inspiring to watch the many athletes that were a part of the event. As I was arriving the elite men were leaving on their bikes, then I saw them come in on their bikes, and then saw them come in at the finish. WOW! This was an olympic distance triathlon with less than stellar weather conditions, but these guys were still in under 2 hours. The bike leg I know is considered challenging due to the rolling hills of central Maryland. It was drizzling to raining for a good part of the morning. Some of the later waves may have actually had more dry than wet for their bike ride. At least the temperatures were not too bad!

I posted my list of race and event plans as I have them right now. The sprint tri in June will be for training purposes and to get my feet wet. I'm excited to have a plan down! Now, if I could just learn how to operate my bike computer! I could start keeping track of my rides better! This can't be that difficult!

Friday, May 15, 2009

My Ride

This is my lovely orange and white Cannondale bike. It is the Synapse Feminine 4 , carbon frame, SRAM components. I don't remember what the wheels are off the top of my head since I'm at work still, but anyway. We are becoming great friends as we crank out the miles together!
I spent more $$ than I should have, but after test riding several this one just felt the best. I'm gonna ride it for the long haul so I felt the extra $$ were justified.

Blogging Again!

I used to have a blog long ago mostly about nothing. Then I co-blogged for awhile with my dear friend SouthBay Girl at PlanetYnnep Running while we were training bi-coastally for a half marathon. Recently we decided that I needed to create my own blog to document my triathlon training, perhaps some cycle racing, hiking and adventures in dating. (HA!) So we'll see if I have the time to keep this up. I truly would like to document my training efforts and I love reading other blogs.... so here we go!

Last night was the Thursday night social ride out of the local bike shop I now frequent. I purchased my bike from them and all that work there are very friendly. This location of the shop just recently opened, so the rides don't have a great many people showing up yet. It was a good ride last night. The rain decided to hold off until it was all done. This was third time I had done this particular loop and I am starting to get a feel for it, although I still made an error somewhere on the cue sheet and missed a turn, but found where I was either way. There is a long and short option on this ride. All the really fast guys (and sometimes even some girls) do the long ride and just zoom on away. Another woman and I did the short ride together last night. It is about 11 miles and has some good hills on it. The only downside is that some of the roads have a great deal of traffic on them as it is still in that going home from work time frame. I really want to work on getting my speed a bit faster and my cadence more even. I can tell the strength training I've been doing all winter is helping me power up those hills.... along with the lighter bike! LOVE MY BIKE! Of course the best part of the Thursday ride is the post ride beer at the bike shop!