Week in Review...

Last Saturday and Sunday were filled with Birthday Parties Galore!

Nate and Pete had their 3rd and 1st Birthday Party, and Scott had his 40th Birthday Party.

Monday held the Kick-off for the TNT tri-season. We met at TAC (Triangle Aquatic Center), had a meeting to meet all the peeps and then got in the water to do drills and a timed 500 yd swim (for the Augusta team). Ohh and I worked at a great office in Wake Forest too. I loved the staff, but it was interesting that they haven't upgraded to the computer/digital era.

Tuesday got busy, and I missed my run workout, but I had a fun time with Special Olympics swim team and the parents/coaches dinner. Worked all day at my normal office (near Cameron Village).

Wednesday was good, but I'm tired from it. I made up my run, after I had a session at the Human Performance Lab (at Meredith College). The session was a bike that I got to wear a mask so they can test all kinds of fun things. I got my testing for "free", because I'm doing a cycling study with them. It's a study to see if the duration of a warm-up effects the time of a 5K bike. Ohh and it's on 3% grade hill. My legs were toast.

Today (Thursday) most of my patients cancelled- meaning I have one patient in the afternoon. So no work for me until this afternoon. So I went to the dog park with Scout (he's pooped) and am about to do some pilates and then go for a swim before I head into work.

Back at the Bob Ride.

I had a great ride yesterday.

It's been awhile since I've done the Bob ride.

What's the Bob ride you ask?

The Bob ride is a 46 mile ride through N. Raleigh and into Durham county. It's a great ride, done with my friend Kim and her neighbor (who is also my friend) Bob. Bob just happens to be 73 (I think 73, maybe just 72). He amazing on his bike, and a pretty darn good runner too. Bob does the Cycle NC Mountains to Coast ride every year. And Bob likes hills!! In fact Bob LOVES hills. So on our way out on the Bob ride we start going up hill, and it just keeps happening. The only good thing is when there is an up there is a down. WOO HOO!! Going uphill took my bike speed down to 6-7 mph at time, but coming down I got up to 34 mph. Yeah Baby...fun times. Of course going up that slow takes forever and coming down that fast is so quick.

I've been riding out by Jordan Lake lately, and have been really happy averaging in the 18-20 mph range. A huge improvement in speed over my last couple of years of cycling. I guess riding with the fast kids has started to pay off a little. Unfortunately or fortunately the fast kids just keep getting faster! *smiles* The Bob ride, was humbling for my pace. I barely averaged 17 mph, but I'm still really happy with that, because yeah did I mention how hilly it is??

I didn't get to stop and rest as much on the way back of the Bob ride (usually there is a stop at Bruegers the bagel place), because I had a birthday party to get to (more on that in another post).

What a Day!!

I started my day with a trip to the dog park with Scout. A new "puppy" was at the park that was a shepherd/hound/rotty mix. He was cute (and four years old) and called Prince. Scout tried to play with him, but he was a little shy. Overall a good time was had.

I went over to Coach Chris's house to drop off her album. I'm lucky to be able to have a little talent in the paper crafting field. I'm pretty good at making cards and scrapbooks. Overall I'm fairly crafty, I get that from my Mom. I've always been a good colorer, and that turned into all kinds of fun stuff. I made a scrapbook for Coach Chris, and I'm pretty sure she liked it. It makes me happy when people like what I make.

My training schedule today called for an easy run (30 minutes) and an hour and a half bike ride. It actually said to do the group ride with Cycling Spoken Here. However I've done that ride before (it's been a year) and I wasn't impressed, but I need to give it another try. I decided to see if any of my friends wanted to ride with me. We kind of came up a plan to ride at 2pm around Jordan Lake. However almost everyone baled on me. No worries though, Jess showed up to ride near me. It was a beautiful day and the ride was fantastic. We had a slight break between the ride and the run, to meet a little puppy (8 weeks old) that was walking around. He was SOOOO cute. The run was good too. Nothing to crazy, just my normal 4 min run, 1:20 walk.

I drove home after all that. I got stuck in crazy rush hour traffic on I-540. Unfortunately some people don't pay enough attention while in bumper to bumper traffic. So I got a little tap from the "NICE YOUNG GENTLEMAN" who was driving behind me. Not sure why he wasn't paying attention....but HOLY CRAP!! It was just a tap, he was only concerned about the small mark he barely made on my car. I however was mostly concerned with the fact the my Multi-thousand dollar bike was on the back of my car that he just hit! ARRRGGGHHHH. My bike "looked" okay and I just let the jerk go. I went directly to my bike store (The Trek Store in Raleigh). They checked it out for me. It rolled funny coming off the rack, but it was just the brake that got twisted. I'm a wee bit nervous about the coming months and years with my bike...you know the bike that I LOVE!! Why O Why didn't I get the jerk's info?? Lesson learned, and hopefully I will never have to deal with this ever again. I did get on my bike and ride it around, it felt fine, I just hope it stays fine.

We Run (stolen in part from Bendoeslife)

We run because we have to.

We run to go fast, and we run to go far.

We run to break the tape; we run just to finish.

We run for fun when no one’s around.

We run to get inverted V muscles above our kneecaps.

We run to get the regular V above our hips.

We run to clear our mind.

We run because we’re mad.

We run because we’re ecstatic.

We run because now we know what it feels to nod at another runner. We understand them, and they, us.

We run to lose weight.

We run to keep it off.

We run to eat cupcakes.

We run to eat crabcakes.

We run for cancer.

We run when others won’t.

We run and sometimes we hate it.

But we run and we always love it.

We run up hills and we run through puddles.

We run because it’s poetic.

We run because it’s bad ass.

We run while people sleep and we run because it helps us sleep.

We run because runners have better sex.

We run because once we have that medal, you can’t take it away.

We run because some of you don’t think we can.

We run.

And we run together.

White Lake Tri (Race Report)

Me setting up my transition area.

First off I just want to say I had a great weekend hanging with the girls and cheering people on for the Half Ironman on Saturday, and doing my sprint Tri.

Sunday morning I woke up a little early (5:45...our alarms were set for 6:30). After lying in bed doing my morning stretches for a little bit, D woke up in the bed beside me and decided she was up for the day too. It was beautiful morning, just a slight chill in the air but the promise of good weather. After going to the bathroom at least 4 times we met Jenn on the other side of the lodge and headed down to get body marked and our timing chips. Because I race in the Athena category (which is the "big girl" category) I got weighed in. The girl who was body marking me was using a pen that didn't work, she "accused" me of putting on sunscreen ahead of time (which makes body marking hard), however I hadn't. She ended up getting a new marker....as in BRAND NEW, and put giant numbers on my arms and legs.

We met up with Ruth and hung out for a bit before getting our wetsuits on for the swim. D, Jenn, and I hung out at the lodge outside on the balcony. We watched the crowd and just chit chatted. Our swim wave didn't start until 8:32, so we decided we wouldn't get in the water until 8:20, but I think we got in a little bit before that because we got a little antsy. We all swam a little bit to get our goggles adjusted and wetsuits adjusted, and ourselves feeling alright. As the green caps went off we moved up the "start line" edge of the pier. (The water is really shallow) It was 8 minutes between their start and our start. So we all just chattered (it was a little chilly in the water) and either let our nerves go, or get the better of ourselves. I moved towards the front of the line. I'm a decent swimmer and usually am at the front of the pack when I do open water swimming. The horn blew and off we went. I ended up drafting a little off the girl in front of me until it wasn't working for me anymore and I had to peel off. I saw two light blue caps in front me as I was sighting and swimming and I just kept going. A couple of times during the swim I got tapped on the my feet. I'm totally okay with someone drafting off me, but if you are going to do that, don't impede my progress....I ended up kicking a little harder to get them off my feet. I was so happy to see the dock, and ready to get out and move on to the bike. Donna helped me out of the water...and might of gotten a pic of me...but I'm not sure. 750 yd - SWIM TIME 15:36

I made it into T1 and it took me forever to take my wetsuit off and just get my head settled after getting out of the water. I was the first Athena out of the water, but I was not the first Athena out of T1 (transition 1 - from swim to bike). I saw her go as I was just taking my bike off the rack. T1 TIME 2:44

I got to the mount line (for the bike) and got on my bike and was ready to ride. I felt a little wobbly, but I grabbed a honey stinger chew and gobbled it down. Then I started pumping my legs trying to keep Athena girl in my sites. It was a little rough in some spots as I imagine some people don't like to passed by a girl, and a big girl to boot. As I passed some of the guys on the route, they decided they needed to come pass me back, which would of been fine except as soon as they passed me they sat up and took a drink or something/ which means they slowed down. Arrrggghhhhh!! After they finally got passed by me enough times they either went on and kept going, or they decided they didn't want to have to try and keep up with me. I did finally catch my Athena girl. I passed her, and after a little bit she passed me back. Then I heard a loud ON YOUR LEFT!! It kind of reminded me a of movie, but I'm not sure what movie it actually is. Anywho it turned out to be my Rock Star friend coming up to pass me on the bike. She passed me and the other Athena girl and was happy to keep it moving along. Then Athena girl passed her....blah blah blah....we were all riding trying to jockey for the same spot. Turned out that the Athena girl got back first, then the ROCK STAR, and then me. It was a good bike with a few little bumpity bumps in it. 14 mile BIKE RIDE TIME 41:07 (pace of 20.7 mph)

T2 was a little quicker for me, but I always dread going into the run. Running is just not my strongest suit. I got my bike shoes off and my running shoes on. I got my hat on and my race number on. Off I went. I did stop and got a drink of water on the way out of the chute. T2 TIME 1:52

The run wasn't so bad. I stuck to my 4 minute run, 1:20 walk. It worked out pretty well as my walks were where the water stops ended up being. I just kept going. I talked to people along the way. I made it fun. I'm not sure everyone appreciated my encouragement and excitement, but I know some really did...and that made me happy!! At the end of the run I rounded into the last little bit doing my I'm still running run, when all of a sudden someone was right beside me. I looked at her and said "Let's do this" and we sprinted to the end. It's way more fun to watch a sprint to the end. Well as we were sprinting all out the announcer says "two Athena's battling it out for possible 1st place " turns out it was for 3rd place. I had no idea I was racing my competition. However she was so nice and it was fun to sprint to the end. 3.14 mile RUN TIME 34:35

After the race I cheered on D who came in after me. I hung out with the girls. I watched my friend get her award for 2nd place. It was nice to just hang for a bit!

Jenn and I posing after I finished.

My Rock Star friend getting 2nd place, and the girl that edged me out on the far right!

The Weekend Is HERE!!

I'm so happy it's the weekend...it's been a looooonnnnnngggg week. Ohh and I'm racing this weekend...so it should be a fun weekend. I'm doing White Lake Sprint on Sunday. I should be in the water around 8:30 East Coast time. If you want to follow me you can use this link and put in bib number 190.

I'll be enjoying time with friends doing the race with me, and some doing the race on Saturday (a Half Ironman).

Happy Mother's Day to all of you mother's out there.

A Special Happy Mother's Day to my Mom! I love you tons, and I'm glad that you are still on this earth. Call me if you want to talk. Miss you!

little mini tri before race weekend...and gearing up

Jordan Lake with all the People enjoying the beautiful weather.

The weather today was AMAZING!! Beautiful day out. I took Scout out to the dog park this morning and he really enjoyed his time running around with his doggy friends.

I met the girls out at Jordan Lake for a little swim (about 20 minutes worth) with our wetsuits. Then about an hour bike ride down to the end of Sharon Harris and back. Then a 20 minute run to work the kinks out of my legs (about 2 miles). I had a nice swim after we I got used to the cold water. The bike was tough but good. We had a bit of a head wind on the way out, I was trying really hard not to draft off my friends. My friend Ruth is an AMAZING bike rider. She is crazy fast, and whenever I ride with her I usually just sit on her tail and let her pull me around. So today my goal (and it was hard to accomplish) was to keep Ruth in my sights but not draft off her. I did pretty good on the way out. My legs are always fresher on the way out, and at the turn around Ruth took off and I couldn't catch her to save my life. Thank goodness on the way back the wind was at my back. It was so nice seeing so many cyclist out today. I finally did catch her towards the end, I had to go 29 mph to get back to her....didn't know I had that in my legs to make it happen. I ended up averaging 19.2 mph on my bike today over 21 miles. Once back I went out for a run and averaged 10:12 pace which is pretty decent for me.

After the run, my water bottle and shoes

Stretching (Pigeon). Not the easiest picture to take!

After the run I stretched and waited for the others to get back from their ride. Then we ended up getting some lunch. Yumm Lunch!! Home for a shower and walking Scout. Then back out for dinner at one of my athletes apartment. All of the swim coaches were invited. Her parents and brother and brother's friend were there was us, and we ate pizza, had cake, and lot's of good conversation! It was a great evening.

Next weekend is White Lake Sprint. I hope the weather is like it was today. If it is, then it should be a great race!