Ride Report - More Pictures than Words

Pretty much all of the artwork involved with this event was pretty cool.  I liked the t-shirt, jersey, and even the event bib:

The Event t-shirt

The Optional Jersey

Participants Bib

I tried to get a photo of Husband & I at the start which didn't turn out well due to the position of the sun. My photo of other participants getting ready to start turned out okay though.

Photo bombed by the rising sun

Just about go time for the half-century and metric century.

He has the worst luck with flats.  We didn't even make it 10 miles before he needed to fix a rear flat.  I included a photo of my car tires just so you can see how bad the goat head thorns are this time of year.

Already stopped to fix a rear flat.  Stupid goat heads

For reference, my car tire loaded with goat heads.  These things are nasty on bike tires.

We ended up turning early, and completed 45.3 of the planned 64 miles.  I just wasn't ready for the full course this morning and didn't want to turn this into the "day of the dread."  It's all good.  I finished happy, still enjoying my bike.

At our final rest stop, happy about decision to turn early.  Also sporting snazzy new event jersey.

Racked at the finish

Will probably try for the same distance next year. Just need to start training for it in earnest a few weeks earlier.

[edited to add: We didn't participate in this event last year due to the recurring problem I have with my left knee.  I feel compelled to mention that so far this year, my knee is doing okay.  I expected to need to get treatment again at about this time, so I'm very grateful to be able to be doing stuff like this.  It kind of feels like I'm getting bonus pain-free days this year.  I certainly appreciate it!] 

Weekend Riding, part 2

(If you haven't done so, I would love it if you would read part 1 first. Please & thank you.)

So the plan for the next day, Saturday, was a ~44 mile ride with Husband.  I figured if I could survive 64 miles spread over two days back-to-back, I might just be able to do it all in one shot next weekend.

What I hadn't mentioned is that Husband had been out of the country for the past few weeks.  He just got home Friday afternoon. As it turns out, he wasn't feeling up for the ride Saturday morning.  We needed to postpone until Sunday.

While postponing certainly wasn't the end of the world, it brought with it a few challenges.  First, without splitting the ride across two days back-to-back, my confidence on doing the full metric century the next weekend was dwindling. Second, the route we intended to ride intersects with the DCM, which was occurring Sunday. I did some math, and figured if we left our house at 11am, by the time we got to the DCM area, most of the marathon runners would have cleared the course.

I didn't get very many photos from the first half of the ride.  I was right about the marathoners clearing the course.  But I had forgotten about the half marathon which started later!  For about 4 miles, we were sharing the trail with way more runners than I had hoped.  But we made it through that without incident.

Here are some photos from the ride:

Took a break under this tree

Mid-point stop: south of the city by a junkyard.  Yes, someone had tagged the bench. Niiiice. 

Coming back north.  If I'm riding alone, I don't go south of this point.  See photo above to understand.

I thought it was interesting that some of these trees had dropped their leaves already

Less than 5 miles from home and Husband gets a flat.  Perhaps I should have waited at the winery?

And for the record, I pulled two thorns out of my front tire while Husband was fixing his flat.  No big surprise, but this morning, my front tire is flat.

So while I did make it through the 44 mile ride, it was not easy.  My shoulder was bothering me before we started, and unfortunately it got progressively worse as we were riding. Not good.

I'm not sure what we are going to do next weekend, but there is a good chance we will plan to cut the ride short.  Disappointing, given that my original goals for the ride were simply "don't quit and don't hate the bike when it's over."  Guess if we have to choose one over the other, "don't had the bike when it's over" is going to win.

Weekend Riding, part 1

Got my 20 mile ride in on Friday (20.8 to be exact).  Yay!  I was off work, so I had lots of options about exactly when I would ride.  The weather forecast showed strong winds kicking in slighly before noon.  I knew I didn't want to be out riding in that.  So I opted to head out at 8:30am when it was a chilly 38 deg.

I felt comfortable, except the areas of my face that were exposed.

I have to admit to feeling pretty bad@ss for getting out there on a chilly morning. The thing that scared me most was getting a flat.  Not because flats scare me, but because fixing one would require taking my gloves off.  But I figured it would only be bad at the beginning of the ride, the temp was likely to go up by 10deg while I was out there. And it really wasn't THAT cold.  I just haven't acclimated to the fall temps quite yet.

The leaves are turning!  Beautiful :-)

I didn't see very many other cyclists out there.  Probably because it was a weekday.  I must say, it was nice having the trail mostly to myself.  And it really was a spectacular fall morning.

Rio Grande full of water.  It was scary low this summer, so this was nice to see.

When I was about a mile from home, I heard that noise that no cyclist likes to hear:  "Thuk, thuk, thuk, thuk, sssssssssss"  Darn it!  I'm fairly sure it was a goat head thorn stuck in my tire.  The "thuk" sound was it hitting the brake on each rotation and the "sssssssss" was the air coming out of my tire when the thorn finally dislodged from my tire.

Since I was so close to home, I made the executive decision to ride on it as far as I could, walk the bike the rest of the way if needed, so I could fix it in the comfort of my own home rather than on the side of the road. Surprisingly, the tire held up well enough for me to stay on the bike.  Seems like a bit of the thorn was still stuck in the tire, blocking the hole well enough to stay fairly well inflated until I was done.

All in all, planned ride #1 was a success. Would planned ride #2 go this well?  Stay tuned...

Plan B

Oh, it would be so easy for me to write out a 6 week training plan that I should have followed to get ready for the metric century, but it's a little late for that now.  And honestly, I need to remember that getting ready for that ride isn't my only goal for the month. I also want to achieve running 3x week and hitting 12K steps/day on average.

What I've done so far this week:  Sunday was a lazy day, but I got in short runs each day Mon, Tue, & Wed.  The distances were 1.8mi, 3.1mi, and 3.3mi.   I realize that I'm not running far enough to train for any serious races, but it's far enough to stay healthy, and that is the main goal.

Looking forward:  I hope to get one more 3 mile run done today. Tomorrow the plan is a 20 mile bike ride.  Then on Saturday, a 44 mile ride.  Between the two days I will have gone the full 64 that's coming the following weekend at Day of the Tread. Then I hope to run on Mon and Tues again.  I'll be travelling Wed-Sat and don't expect much more than walking as exercise, although I'll bring running stuff "just in case" I get a chance Thu or Fri.  That Sunday is the metric century.

So clearly this wouldn't have been my Plan A, but it's reasonable as a Plan B, right? RIGHT?!?!

Against my better judgement, we're in!

"Do one thing every day that scares you." - Eleanor Roosevelt

Finally bit the bullet and got Husband and I signed up for the Day of the Tread metric century despite the fact that I'll be going into this under-trained. The event is in less than 12 days. I have one weekend left for a long-ish bike ride.  Guess that just adds to the adventure. And yeah, I think this counts as one thing that scares me.  And if you saw my training log from the past 6 weeks, I think you'd be scared for me too!!

For an extra fee, event jerseys are available for purchase, and we decided to go ahead and get them this year. I'm excited about that.

We'll be getting the event jerseys this year, woohoo!!

A few words on the Day of the Tread event.  It's a fundraising event for Casa Esperenza, a home-style facility for families of cancer and critical medical patients.  The event offers a marathon, marathon relay, half-marathon, 10K walk or run, 5K walk or run, 1 mi run, Kids K, 100 mi century, 80 mi ride, 64 mi (metric century), 54 mi, 26 mil ride, 12 mi ride.  Whew!  That's a lot of different choices!  There is something for just about anyone who wants to participate.

A lot of folks will be showing up in costume. Overall, it really should be an enjoyable experience. Except for the riding a metric century under-trained part, of course. Hehehehe.

What are you doing lately that scares you??

Sunday morning thoughts

• During the first week of October, I did pretty well with my cycling goals, but missed on running.
• The second week was the reverse, did well on my running goals, but missed on cycling.
• Third week's a charm? 
• I'm doing well with the 10K steps challenge, my overall average last week was 12.7K.  Yay!
• My weight is right where I want it to be. Wonder if this is the year that I am able to maintain it through the upcoming holiday season?
• I'm getting the urge to do yoga again.  Haven't actually done it, just thinking about it.
• They say a picture's worth a thousand words.  In that case, here's five thousand words worth:

One groggy doggy - poor guy has a spinal/back injury and the meds are making him sleepy

My other dog hates hot air balloons.  His anxiety is very high during  Balloon Fiesta. See why?

Self portrait post my one and only ride this week (20miles)

Another beautiful New Mexico sunrise.  I just love it when my day starts out like this.

Close encounters with Yellow Jacket balloon. 

Solo Ride and Sept Tally

Scenes from a Solo Ride

• Although I haven't signed us up for the metric century yet, I am training for it as described a few posts ago.  It's really hard for me to get motivated to ride solo, but I got out there yesterday.  It was chilly.  I actually had a false start...had to go back home and get a head sweats thing for under my helmet...then I was good to go.  Took a few photos to share:

  

  Sunflowers!

  

  Rest stop.  Notice a little clump of leaves starting to turn (far upper left above trash can)

  

  All done and happy! Don't let the blue skies fool you, it was chilly

• I need to mention that the modifications made to my bike recently (bike fit including raising bars and new saddle) have made a world of difference to my comfort.  So glad I bit the bullet and had that done.
• Next weekend I need to ride solo again, and extend the distance by 10-15 miles.

Sept Numbers

• 60.4 miles cycling
• 25.5 miles running
• 43.1 miles walking
• 1 trip to OH to see mom
• 1 cycling event 
• too many excuses to count

Thoughts

• Bleh.  Lost my motivation in Sept.  But I think it's back now.

Plans

• Wear pedometer for 10,000 steps challenge at work; try to get to 12,000 steps on avg by end of challenge.
• Train for and participate in metric century.
• Run 3 times per week, min 2 mile distance per run.  
• Short return trip to OH to accompany mom to important doctor appt

Making Progress

Short update on progress since my last post:

• I did run on Wednesday as planned.  It was a solo run and only 2 miles, but that's good enough for me to count it as a run
• I also got in a bike ride Thursday after work, 14.0 miles with a friend.  
• Today should have been another run, but it's blustery (20mph winds), so I've decided to postpone until tomorrow.  I don't feel like being sandblasted.
• Not sure when I will get my 25 mile bike ride done this weekend, but I have a route planned out to make it happen. 
• And I continue to wear the pedometer...

Overall, I feel like I'm on the right track.

New Month, New Plans, New Approach

Normally I do a tally at the end of each month.  I haven't done a Sept tally yet and I might skip it all together. Not that I have anything against a tally, but I'm really trying to look forward right now rather than look back.

Husband & I are leaning toward doing a metric century that will be 4 weeks from Saturday.  I haven't been riding much, so I need to figure out how to get from zero to 64 in 4 weekends.  Catch:  Husband will be out of town for the first two weekends, so I'll need to ride alone on my long rides.

Here's what I'm thinking.

• Get in 2 mid-week rides.  Somewhere between 8 and 16 miles.  Don't sweat so much about how far, just be sure to get on the bike
• Get in one weekend ride.  Aim for a progression:  25, 35, 45...yes the next one would be a big jump to 64, but that's okay!

Granted, this may not be the most sound approach, but it beats what I would otherwise be doing for sure:  sit on the couch until event day and attempt 64 miles with no training at all.  LOL.

In addition, I'm going to try to run 3 times a week.  It's okay if the runs are short and slow, I just need some consistency with my cardio base building.  It will help me get through the bike rides.  

One of the biggest hurdles is mental.  There is a part of me that doesn't believe I can do it.  That part is a liar!  I can do it.  I WILL do it!

How I'm doing so far:  Ran Monday: 4.0 slow miles.  Rode yesterday, 8.2 miles.  I'm calling that a successful start.  

Oh, and I'm still wearing the pedometer and trying to get to an average of 12K steps per day.  Running obviously increases step count and I get to add in cycling minutes to convert to step-equivalents so tracking the steps helps hold me accountable.  GAME ON!!

Monday Musings

PEDOMETER FUN:

So, wearing the pedometer has been interesting.  I've learned a few things.

1. I walk more than I realized
2. The number of steps I take varies greatly from day to day
3. I become very lazy when Husband is out of town

In the 7 days that I've worn the pedometer, the number of steps logged varied from 5099 to 16,619 with most days just over 7000.  The high day was a day that I ran, so no surprise there.  The low day was the day Husband left to go out of town; I should have gone for a run, instead I just sat on the couch feeling sorry for myself.  The real surprise for me is that most days seem to be just over 7000 (7100-7400).  I would have guessed it to be lower, maybe closer to the low day.    My overall average ended up being 9170, that one day with a high number of steps really boosted the average.  The challenge is to get to 10,000 steps by the end of the 9 weeks.  I'm almost there already, which is good.  But for me, I'm trying to get to 12,000 steps which means that I need to add in some running on a more consistent basis.

SMOOTHIE MADNESS:

Similar color & consistency of my smoothies

A few weeks ago, I was organizing our pantry in the garage and realized that Husband had built up a stockpile of a couple dozen containers of protein powder.  So I started making myself fruit/protein smoothies.  My favorite so far is a blend of frozen fruit from Walmart (peaches, mango, pineapple, & strawberry) plus some frozen banana slices plus a scoop and a half of vanilla protein powder, and some water.  It's yummy!  I've decided to buy Daughter a blender and give her some protein powder so she can make some of these as well.

UPCOMING RACES/EVENTS:

My race/event calendar is currently empty.  Eek. That's not a good place for me to be.  I'm trying to talk a friend into running a 5K with me in a few weeks.  Husband & I are also looking at a metric century in a month.  I guess I better get busy and start riding my bike a little more, huh?

Re-Discovering My WHY

I haven't posted for over two weeks. Usually that means that I haven't done much activity worth posting. And once again, that is the excuse. However, in the past few days, I have done some soul searching. If anyone asks me why I exercise, I usually say "because I can."  And that was certainly true several years ago. There is a story that goes with it, but feeling generally well enough to exercise was what got me out the door. I didn't want to waste any chance I had, in case I might not feel well enough again.

But that doesn't seem to be what motivates me now.  Over the past few years, I'm finding that I'm more likely to exercise if (and only if) I have someone to join me and if I have a race or other event on my calendar. If I don't have a race and I don't have company on any given day, I'm highly likely to skip it all together.  That certainly doesn't sound like someone who does it because they *can*. It sounds like someone who does it only when they *want to*.

Well, I found myself revisiting my motivation this weekend while I was in OH visiting my mother. Her health is poor and as a result, she is weak and has trouble doing what most of us would consider regular daily activities. I realized something. I really don't want that to be me in 30 years if I can help it! One of the real reasons that I want to exercise regularly is to keep myself fit and healthy. I guess I had forgotten that.

Today I acquired a pedometer and committed to another 8 week 10,000 steps/day challenge at work which just happens to be starting this week. Even though I may walk by myself, I'll be checking in with other co-workers. So I'm really not alone in this. And the program that we use to track our measured steps at work allows entering cycling time (it converts it to steps) or swimming time or other vigorous activities besides just steps.  Last time I averaged 12,000 steps per day most weeks.  That was during the summer when the days were longer and it was easier to get activities in during daylight.

We'll see what happens this time.  It would probably be good if I could just hit 10K on average with the shorter days.But I'd really like to augment walking with enough running/cycling/swimming or whatever to maintain that higher level of activity that I had achieved during the summer.

It seems that I'm off to a good start.  I put the pedometer on about 6 hours ago and currently have 5787 steps for the day. I probably had at least 2000 steps before I put it on.  And the day isn't over yet, so I'm well on my way to hitting 10,000 for the day. Knowing that my steps are being counted motivated me to take the stairs instead of the elevator, and do a little extra walking during my lunch hour.  I also made sure to walk the dogs when I got home.

So what's you WHY and has it ever changed?

RailRunner Bike Tour - in photos

Cyclists beginning to line up for this 50K bike ride (~36 miles).  There were ~150 total

Husband stops to fix Flat #1

Husband stops to fix Flat #2

Are you freaking kidding me?  Here he is with Flat #3

Proof we *finally* made it to the finish

Friday Five

1. I managed to run twice this week.  Not far and not fast, but I got out there.  Given my recent lack of motivation regarding running, this is worth celebrating.  
2. September is traditionally my favorite month of the year.  Mostly because the weather is fantastic (cooler, but not cold) and the days are still long enough to enjoy time outside. Having said that, what is with the 95+ degree days that we've been having!?!?!?  Where is my awesome September weather??
3. Attended a work dinner/event/celebration with Husband last night (his work, not mine).  It was a Casa Rodena Winery in the North Valley.   What a hidden gem!  I didn't even know this place existed.  
4. Hoping to get out on my bike a little later this morning as final prep for the bike "tour" this weekend.
5. I've been waiting for photos from live.love.tri, but haven't seen any communication about that yet.  The event was 2 weeks ago. Seems like they should be available for preview by now.

Ha!  After posting about not getting info on photos, just got an email.  Found a few of myself.  Take a look and let me know if any are worth purchasing:  run start, running looking happy, cycling, swimming.  And this one is just a random photo to give you an idea how crazy crowded the swim was. 

August Tally

Numbers

• 22.5 miles running
• 39.7 miles walking
• 61.9 miles cycling
• 1400 yards swimming
• 1 5K race with surprise 1st place AG finish
• 1 sprint triathlon
• 7 Isotopes games attended
• 3 bridal salons visited
• 1 dress ordered (yay!  the bridal dress search is over)
• 4 days in Colorado visiting family
• 3 pumpkin & 3 cantaloupe vines killed/pulled up due to squash bugs.  Ugh.
• 4 varieties tomatoes ripening
• Yet another new saddle to try
• 1 bike fit
• 1 shoulder feeling better (not fully healed)

Thoughts

• Seems like I didn't do much training, just sort of showed up at a few races and competed.  While not ideal, it worked well enough for me given the current situation with my shoulder. I don't really have a good excuse for not running other than I really wasn't feeling it; I guess that's good enough reason. Maybe I'll just focus on cycling this month.
• My bike feels completely different after the bike fit.  Hopefully that's a good thing.
• I've become a huge fan of minor league baseball and am sad that the season has ended. I do not like football, basketball, or hockey, so the next 5 months are going to be rough!
• Frustrated that squash bugs killed my pumpkin and cantaloupe plants.  I probably won't plant those again next year.

Plans

• 50K bike "tour" next weekend
• Try to find my motivation for running
• Cancel my gym membership since I don't seem to be using it to swim.

Bike Fit

Pre Fit

Took my bike into the LBS for a professional fit during my lunch hour.  I'm tired of having shoulder pain, plus I'm trying yet another saddle and was pretty sure that I had messed everything up from a previous fit about 5 years ago.

The bike fit guy is a Cat 5 racer which could have been fairly intimidating for a recreational rider like me, but he didn't balk at all when I told him that my desire wasn't to be in a more aerodynamic or aggressive position, but instead to relieve my shoulder pain.  We determined that the goal was to get me comfortable enough that I can tolerate my bike for the length/duration of rides that I want.

He first helped get my saddle/seat post in position for proper leg position, then he swapped out my 7% stem for one at 30% to raise my handlebars fairly significantly.  The idea is that this will put me in more of an upright position and take some pressure off my arms/shoulders.

Post Fit

My position on the bike certainly seemed better on the trainer and for a test ride in the parking lot, but the real test will come with attempts at longer riding.

I'm not sure how easy it is to see the change from the photos because they aren't from exactly the same angle.  I guess you'll just have to trust me, the handlebars are about an inch higher now than they were before.

How about you?  Ever have a professional bike fit? Or thought about it due to discomfort?

Live.Love.Tri 2013 Race Report

So...This is the third year I've done this event.  It's the only all-women tri in New Mexico and it's a lot of fun! If you read my last post, you know that I haven't done much training and was pretty much hoping to finish within 5 minutes of my previous times (which were 1 sec apart from each other). Mission accomplished!

Pre Race:  I found out that my race number was 118 and that I was starting in wave 3 a few days before the race.  Packet pickup went smoothly. The race shirts in the past have been short sleeve technical shirts.  This year it's a long sleeve light weight cotton shirt.  I like the shirt, but I wish now that I had gotten a large instead of a medium.

Got my stuff all packed up and into the car the night before except for two things:  the clothes I would be wearing over there and my bottle of Accelerade, which was in the fridge.

When my alarm went off in the morning, I had coffee and breakfast.  Then I fed the dogs and cats.  Got dressed and headed off to the race site leaving my bottle of Accelerade behind.  Oops.

They were racking by number, so I got all my stuff set up.  This is when I realized that I was without hydration (the bottle in the photo belongs to the lady racked next to me). Drat!

A friend of mine had an extra water bottle that she let me borrow, but I was only able to fill it up with water.  No electrolytes and no extra calories.  Oh well.  Not much I could do about it at that point.

Got body marked and found my other friends that were doing the race. All of us are well over 40, but were were out there doing it!  It's a reverse tri with a pool swim.  Here we are ready to run!

The Run:  32:50, 142 overall (previous: 32:39-2012, 31:13-2011)

It's a hilly run, which my cranky knee doesn't like at all.  It is also partly off road and it had rained the night before, so we were running uphill in deep wet sand during part of it.  And I had to jump over an area that was washed out.  Very "over the river and through the woods" kind of stuff.  I'm surprised that my time was only 11 sec slower than last year.  I would have guessed it to be off by a minute or more due to lack of hill training because of my knee issues.  All things considered, I'm actually okay with this time.

T1:  1:07 (previous: 1:08-2012, 1:28-2011)

It's a really weird T1 due to the reverse nature of the tri.  Off with running shoes, cap.  On with helmet and bike shoes. I actually practiced transitions on Friday and am happy with how smoothly this went.

The Bike:  46:15, 138 overall  (previous: 42:15-2012, 44:00-2011)

I expected my bike time to be somewhere in the middle of the previous two years.  However, right after the mid point, I experienced a really bad calf cramp.  Similar to a charlie horse in the middle of the night.  It was so bad, I couldn't pedal and thought I might not be able to finish the race.  I coasted for awhile and tried to get my calf to calm down.  Eventually I was able to start pedaling again.  However,  I lost a lot of time. Not at all happy with how my bike split turned out.  But I *am* happy that I was able to finish the race

T2:  1:01 (previous: 1:40-2012, 1:15-2011)

Again, a weird T2 because of it being a reverse.  Rack the bike, off with bike shoes, socks, helmet and race number.  Grabbed goggles and cap and put them on while heading to the pool.  I decided to swim in my shirt so that saved a little time too.  Very happy with my T2.

Swim:  10:33, 105 overall (previous: 10:05-2012, 9:51-2011)

Traditionally, the swim is my strongest of the three disciplines. I didn't expect a great swim due to the problems I've been having with my shoulder, but I figured I'd do okay.  I'm surprised at how close this was actually given the circumstances; however, I feel like my swim actually would have been on par with previous years if the pool wasn't such a  congested mess when I got there (sorry for the language, but a cluster f@ck is truly the best phrase that comes to mind to describe it).  It's up and back in each lane and you can only pass at the wall.  I felt like there was nowhere to swim for the first half until I finally got past a group of slower women and was able to swim my own pace.

Total:  1:31:44, 130 overall of 251 (previous 1:27:47-2012, 1:27:48-2011)

Well, definitely within 5 minutes of previous and I finished despite a killer calf cramp. So I shouldn't complain.  And by finishing, I got the snazzy finisher's bracelet which is very cute!

After thoughts:

This year they offered an aqua-bike which I didn't find out about until after I had already registered. I think I might try that next year so I can avoid running on hills and protect my knee.  Plus I'm guessing the swim would be a much less frustrating experience because the aqua-bikers get to the pool faster than the triathletes so it should be much less crowded.

I think the calf cramp may be related to not having my Accelerade - no electrolytes, just water.  Not sure though.  I've never had that happen before on a bike ride and hope it never happens again!  That was not fun.

This is still one of my all time favorite events in New Mexico.  Hope to participate again next year!

Upcoming Tri

While I've had a lot going on lately, most of it would not be of interest or relavent to my readers, so haven't had much to share. Given that Live.Love.Tri is in THREE SHORT DAYS, perhaps I should talk a bit about my strategy and goals going into this race.

A little background: it's a reverse sprint tri with a pool swim, definitely a weird format. The run is hilly and in sand. The bike is hilly on streets. The swim is a flat (hahahahah) serpentine pattern in a pool (up and back in each lane, then under the rope to the next lane, and so on). It's all women. It's very supportive and encouraging. They give out a jewelry (this year a bracelet) instead of a finishers medal and in the past the shirts have been cute. What's not to love?

 outfit I plan to wear, arm warmers only if needed

Oddly, one of the first things I've thought about is what to wear. This year I think I'm going to wear a bathing suit top under a technical tank with tri shorts.  I'm planning to run/bike/swim in the whole thing and then just change to a dry shirt afterwards.

Oh, and the requisite funky arm warmers if it's chilly in the morning.  Hehehehe.

I did get a chance to test out my shoulder in the pool this weekend. I got in a swim that was maybe 1000M and my shoulder didn't hurt too much. So that's good. I'm sure the 400M swim for this race will be no problem.

I haven't done much running or cycling in the past few weeks. I'm okay with that.

I've done this particular event twice already. My splits were significantly different each time, but the total time to finish was within a second of each other.

I obviously haven't been doing much in the way way of training for this race, so this time I'm really just hoping to Have Fun, and finish within 5 minutes of my previous time. Should be easy-peasy, right?

Then afterwards, I plan to get cleaned up and meet my daughter to go wedding dress shopping. Gulp.

Gaining some confidence

Husband was off riding long with a friend Saturday morning.  He's preparing for a 100 mile ride over two days in northern New Mexico in a few weeks.  My normal running/riding partner had to go into work early. So it was just me and my shadow off for a short bike ride.  It was a pleasant morning.

Me & My Shadow

Later that afternoon, went for packet pick-up for Sunday's race.  Early registrants got technical shirts.  They seem like nice quality.  Unfortunately my shirt is all wrinkly right now and this photo didn't turn out very well. The race is a half-marathon and a 5K.  Husband and I were doing the 5K.  My running partner was signed up for the half marathon.

Nice technical t-shirt for early registrants

I was second guessing the decision to do this race when the alarm went off at 4:45.  From past experience, we know that we need to arrive at the venue early to get parking.  The half-marathon starts at 6:30, those participants fill the parking area up quickly, and it's a bit of a drive from our house to the venue.

It was a nice morning, and I felt pretty good on the run.  But wait, there's more!  I guess the fast people didn't show up, because somehow I managed to snag 1st in my AG with a 28:40 finish time.  Husband also placed in his AG (3rd).  I am super excited about this.  It isn't so uncommon for him to get an AG award but it happens to me very infrequently, so it was a big deal for me.  Woot!

3rd M50-54, 1st F45-49

Next up is Live.Love.Tri in two weeks.  Stay tuned!

Hmmmmm

I've tried the following distances/events:

• Running:  5k, 8k, 10k, 15k, 20k, & half-marathon
• Cycling: quarter century, half century, metric century
• Triathlon:  sprint, Olympic

Of these distances, my absolute favorite is the half-marathon.  One small problem though, I have moderate arthritis in my left knee and have a hard time running past 7-8 miles.  I've resigned myself to shorter distances, but I'm disappointed that the half-marathon just doesn't seem to be in the cards.

Lately I've been wondering if I might be able to one though, if I planned up front on walking about half of it. Maybe something where I alternated running and walking each mile.   I'm not sure if my knee can handle being used for 13.1 miles even if half of it is walking, but then again, I'm not sure that it can't either.  I'm also not sure if walking half of it would make me feel more disappointed than just skipping out on it all together.  So for now I'm contemplating this as a possibility.  

Any thoughts?

July tally

Numbers:

• 40.9 miles walking
• 41.1 miles running
• 112.4 miles cycling
• 3700 yds swimming
• 1 5k race
• 1 new bike seat
• 1 injured shoulder
• 1 injured toe
• 1 massive storm causing flooding
• 2 weeks resting/icing shoulder and counting
• 1 daughter engaged!

Thoughts:

• The month started off great, but then injury and other issues got in the way of my planned training. It is what it is...
• OMG, I now have a future son-in-law!  The proposal was very sweet, he did it in the airport shortly after arriving.  They have two weeks together and then he's off to his next duty station.

Plans:

• A 5k race and an all women Sprint tri later this month.