Week 40 - starting Monday 18 June 2007
Actual hours: 15hrs 04mins
Straight into it this week with long workouts and intense workouts and no easy stuff really at all. Except the swimming - twice out in the lake early in the morning again. I find swimming quite easy - not fast but I definitely have the endurance, especially floating around in a wetsuit.
Another 6 hour bike and 3 hour run this week. Only one more of each to go before taper time (eek!).
I had to make the most of the first half of the week for training time as the kids finished school for the summer on Wednesday. So, Monday was my long run. Wow- what a hot one! Could definitely put this one down to heat acclimatisation. I started at 10.30am and it just got hotter and hotter. I did a new route of 2 loops (refuelling stop after first loop) with the 10min run, 1 min walk strategy and I was glad of those walks towards the end. I chose a route with lots of hills as I know I need to work on those. I don’t think these will ever get easier so I just tell myself I am getting stronger.
Tuesday was time for long bike. I met a fellow trainee (actually fellowess!) at her house in Fairport and we headed out to Sodus and back and then some local roads. I can honestly say that I have never cycled or pushed so hard on a longer training ride. I am used to hilly terrain where I push, then recover and repeat. This was constantly pedal pedal pedal and my companion set a great pace. I could keep up for the most part but I definitely think I was working harder than her! At 4hrs 40mins a storm cell came over (not unexpected as we were watching for it) and we stopped to shelter at a fire station as the winds rose. Minutes later it was so windy we could hardly hold our bikes and then the rain just poured down. We were surrounded by thunder and lightning. The decision was to call in my friends husband to rescue us as he wasn’t far away which he did, thank you so much. It was so hard stopping though when we wanted to get our 6 hours in and only as another bolt of lightning flashed the way we would cycle did we reluctantly get in the car. I wasn’t sure what to do - help my key workout was incomplete! So, I drove home and finished it off on the indoor trainer (first time dragged out since the winter), hopping off a couple of times to wave at bus drivers as the kids came home. Phew, got it done.
Having chomped on powerbars and forced one gel down like nasty medicine on my long ride I have decided I need to revisit nutrition before it gets too late to experiment. I thought I had it nailed up to the Placid training weekend but I really haven’t wanted to eat a gel since then. Think I may have to opt for some protein (which I was going to avoid) and stick with powerbars (if I can find an easy enough one to chew) or try something completely different like carbopro.
I had three Breakthrough workouts this week. An interval running one which I did on Thursday and then the two others that I had to do on consecutive days at the weekend. First was a bike “attack” hills workout which was hard (but it was supposed to be) and I ended up with my highest average pace for a training ride of 18.5mph so the effort was worth it.
Sunday was a BT brick and I put it off and off- until 6pm - and as it was 2hrs long I had to go then or never before it got dark. It was a duathlon style brick and I hate duathlons so I decided this was part mental training too so I had to do it. The bike had a 10k Timetrial in it which is the first I have done - I averaged 20.6mph so I was very pleased.
This week seemed to have more intense stuff in than for ages and I am definitely expecting to feel sore at the beginning of next week.
I think all the early mornings are starting to catch up with me. I am just one of those people that need their sleep. I ended up going to bed at 6.30pm on Friday night and not waking til 8am Saturday. Hopefully that will stock me up for a while!
Next week is a repeat of this week although I will have to shuffle things around a lot now the kids are home.
4 WEEKS TO GO
Tuesday, June 26, 2007
Monday, June 25, 2007
Marian, June 25th, 2007
I had a really bad weekend. On Thursday night I was feeling pretty tired and got home really late from work. We ended up having dinner around 10:30 at night. I must have looked pretty bad because Rolando looked at me and said: "you know last year I was skipping a lot of workouts at this point, right?" Well, the next morning I had a pretty bad stomach ache. I went to work, took some medicine and around 9 in the morning I was folded over a garbage can. I spent the rest of the day in bed and Saturday I was still unable to eat. I picked on bread and juice and had my first actual meal on Sunday night. This morning I was feeling pretty good so I did a one hour ride. I think my body was just too worn out and was determined to stop no matter what.
Hopefully this week goes on uneventfully and I can start taper. Looking forward to it. I'll be so happy after the long ride and long run are done this week.
Hopefully this week goes on uneventfully and I can start taper. Looking forward to it. I'll be so happy after the long ride and long run are done this week.
Monday, June 18, 2007
Jackie D - Week 39
Week 39 - starting Monday 11 June 2007
Actual hours: 8hrs 33mins
Recovery weeks don’t seem to get any easier. I have been mooching around like a lost soul this week and I feel sorry for my husband having to put up with me. It got so bad with me not having to do much that I ended up not wanting to do anything. In fact one day this week, I had an hour easy bike ride to do. Kids were at school and I just kept putting it off and off. It’s not that I don’t have other things to do (I am trying to landscape our garden) but I just didn’t want to do them. So at 2.15pm (first of kids gets back at 3.30pm) I decide I have to do this bike ride or I will regret it. But I become a bit of a rebel. I don’t change clothes into cycling shorts etc. I just put $5 in my pocket and hop on in my civvies aiming at Starbucks for a nice chilled drink to sip on my way round my easy bike ride. Of course once I get going I felt much better and just pedalled around….and I never did stop at Starbucks - although I did make myself a wonderful, healthy smoothie when I got home J
Since that point I have got out my book of Mental training and have been working my way through that again - after all they say Mental training is another of the aspects of Ironman.
However, there have been lots of positives this week. Many small, but they all add up. I managed to zip my own wetsuit up for the first time ever. I wore my new running skirt for the first time and it felt so comfortable and made me feel all girlie. I got a flat tyre on the way back from an easy ride and I successfully changed it in under 15 minutes (first time ever for success on this bike out on a ride). OK I checked the pressure when I got home and it was only 70psi but a vast improvement for me- and I managed to get the tyre on with my hands (must be my old bike that is just very difficult).
As an aside, I noticed towards the end of my long bike last week that my left hand got really weak and I had trouble using my fingers to change the gears - in fact I ended up having to push with the palm of my hand. I assumed it was just overuse (see Mary, changing gears lots, that’s good for Placid right?) and it would go away quickly. Well it’s taken the best part of a week to feel normal again. Have to see what happens next week.
The week ended on a big high note. Early Sunday morning, I met some people I have got to know from a triathlon website for my very first ride around Canandaigua Lake. I got introduced to some hills I have only heard about (and others pointed out to me) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable 2 and a half hours. Even though I was called a cissy for going into my granniest of granny gears pretty much at the bottom of Millers hill. I got up it - before anybody else - so it must have worked. Spin spin. They were just jealous they didn’t have a granny gear bike like me! It was all in good humour though- perfect weather, perfect scenery and great company. This was my first group ride as well so it allayed some of my fears about that. It was casual and one of the guys taught me a bit about drafting. I had a go but really don’t like being so close and not being able to see much in front of me. He told me I had pulled him up a hill though so at least I can say I took a turn at that. When I got home, this ride was followed by bike ride to a restaurant with the kids and hubby for lunch, orienteering in Webster park and then miniature golf - an excellent day!
Now I have to get my training head back on for the last 2 big training weeks before we go into the 3 week taper to race day.
5 WEEKS TO GO
Actual hours: 8hrs 33mins
Recovery weeks don’t seem to get any easier. I have been mooching around like a lost soul this week and I feel sorry for my husband having to put up with me. It got so bad with me not having to do much that I ended up not wanting to do anything. In fact one day this week, I had an hour easy bike ride to do. Kids were at school and I just kept putting it off and off. It’s not that I don’t have other things to do (I am trying to landscape our garden) but I just didn’t want to do them. So at 2.15pm (first of kids gets back at 3.30pm) I decide I have to do this bike ride or I will regret it. But I become a bit of a rebel. I don’t change clothes into cycling shorts etc. I just put $5 in my pocket and hop on in my civvies aiming at Starbucks for a nice chilled drink to sip on my way round my easy bike ride. Of course once I get going I felt much better and just pedalled around….and I never did stop at Starbucks - although I did make myself a wonderful, healthy smoothie when I got home J
Since that point I have got out my book of Mental training and have been working my way through that again - after all they say Mental training is another of the aspects of Ironman.
However, there have been lots of positives this week. Many small, but they all add up. I managed to zip my own wetsuit up for the first time ever. I wore my new running skirt for the first time and it felt so comfortable and made me feel all girlie. I got a flat tyre on the way back from an easy ride and I successfully changed it in under 15 minutes (first time ever for success on this bike out on a ride). OK I checked the pressure when I got home and it was only 70psi but a vast improvement for me- and I managed to get the tyre on with my hands (must be my old bike that is just very difficult).
As an aside, I noticed towards the end of my long bike last week that my left hand got really weak and I had trouble using my fingers to change the gears - in fact I ended up having to push with the palm of my hand. I assumed it was just overuse (see Mary, changing gears lots, that’s good for Placid right?) and it would go away quickly. Well it’s taken the best part of a week to feel normal again. Have to see what happens next week.
The week ended on a big high note. Early Sunday morning, I met some people I have got to know from a triathlon website for my very first ride around Canandaigua Lake. I got introduced to some hills I have only heard about (and others pointed out to me) and it was a thoroughly enjoyable 2 and a half hours. Even though I was called a cissy for going into my granniest of granny gears pretty much at the bottom of Millers hill. I got up it - before anybody else - so it must have worked. Spin spin. They were just jealous they didn’t have a granny gear bike like me! It was all in good humour though- perfect weather, perfect scenery and great company. This was my first group ride as well so it allayed some of my fears about that. It was casual and one of the guys taught me a bit about drafting. I had a go but really don’t like being so close and not being able to see much in front of me. He told me I had pulled him up a hill though so at least I can say I took a turn at that. When I got home, this ride was followed by bike ride to a restaurant with the kids and hubby for lunch, orienteering in Webster park and then miniature golf - an excellent day!
Now I have to get my training head back on for the last 2 big training weeks before we go into the 3 week taper to race day.
5 WEEKS TO GO
Monday, June 11, 2007
Jackie D - Week 38
Week 38 - starting Monday 4 June 2007
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 30mins
Actual hours: 16hrs 57mins
Ooo look, naughty, naughty, I haven’t done my training time for this week! But the difference is just in my two swims. Instead of an hour plus each time at masters I went swimming in the lake again for both swims. AND they were done in the MORNING. I actually got up at 5.00am both times. Swims were only 40-45 minutes though because I had to get back to see to the kids. The second swim was in quite choppy water - it reminded me a bit of swimming in the ocean.
But not just 2 early mornings for me this week - but 3! Because of some school trip commitments I got up early to do a 2 hour brick before the kids woke up.
I can honestly say I HATE the moment the alarm clock goes off, but once up and going I LOVE it, and I LOVE the feeling of having accomplished so much before breakfast. I am going to keep reminding myself of this - and in fact once the kids break up from school in a couple of weeks I will probably have to do some early morning sessions just to fit things in.
My long run this week was fantastic! So, unlike last week when I felt I was just shuffling round trying to do the time required. I did the 10min run, 1min walk strategy and I ran the furthest I have ever run in my 3 hours - just over 20miles! In fact that is the furthest I have ever run, period! I was very pleased with that. I still couldn’t face as many gels as I should have had though but managed to force some down.
My long bike the next day was a different story. I kept it quite slow, so had a dreadful average pace but I did also purposely go looking for hills and purposely made sure I stayed seated on the hills so granny gears were used a lot. I went the route over from Honoeye to Bristol and was really wary of coming across the dog that had chased me last time. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was so each time I saw a grassy bank that looked familiar, I speeded up and if clear went right into the middle of the road. It was finally right at the crest of the hill I think, ‘cos I heard the tell tale barking but I sped away - he must have been in the back and not have had time to get round. Seems daft to me that someone wouldn’t make sure their dog stays in their yard anyway - what about the cars that whiz up that road?!
In fact this week seems to have been an “encounter with animals” (not least because of my fellow trainees having encounters with chipmunks and turtles!) because I was also chased briefly by a goose. I was just cutting along a section of path to our neighbourhood and there was mama, papa and their brood on one side. I kept as far away on the other side as I could but one of the parents decided that I was a threat and launched itself at me as I cycled by. There was an oncoming cyclist grinning at me as I went by him so I just wished him luck!
Recovery week next week - my last one. Eeeek!
6 WEEKS TO GO
Scheduled hours: 17hrs 30mins
Actual hours: 16hrs 57mins
Ooo look, naughty, naughty, I haven’t done my training time for this week! But the difference is just in my two swims. Instead of an hour plus each time at masters I went swimming in the lake again for both swims. AND they were done in the MORNING. I actually got up at 5.00am both times. Swims were only 40-45 minutes though because I had to get back to see to the kids. The second swim was in quite choppy water - it reminded me a bit of swimming in the ocean.
But not just 2 early mornings for me this week - but 3! Because of some school trip commitments I got up early to do a 2 hour brick before the kids woke up.
I can honestly say I HATE the moment the alarm clock goes off, but once up and going I LOVE it, and I LOVE the feeling of having accomplished so much before breakfast. I am going to keep reminding myself of this - and in fact once the kids break up from school in a couple of weeks I will probably have to do some early morning sessions just to fit things in.
My long run this week was fantastic! So, unlike last week when I felt I was just shuffling round trying to do the time required. I did the 10min run, 1min walk strategy and I ran the furthest I have ever run in my 3 hours - just over 20miles! In fact that is the furthest I have ever run, period! I was very pleased with that. I still couldn’t face as many gels as I should have had though but managed to force some down.
My long bike the next day was a different story. I kept it quite slow, so had a dreadful average pace but I did also purposely go looking for hills and purposely made sure I stayed seated on the hills so granny gears were used a lot. I went the route over from Honoeye to Bristol and was really wary of coming across the dog that had chased me last time. I couldn’t remember exactly where it was so each time I saw a grassy bank that looked familiar, I speeded up and if clear went right into the middle of the road. It was finally right at the crest of the hill I think, ‘cos I heard the tell tale barking but I sped away - he must have been in the back and not have had time to get round. Seems daft to me that someone wouldn’t make sure their dog stays in their yard anyway - what about the cars that whiz up that road?!
In fact this week seems to have been an “encounter with animals” (not least because of my fellow trainees having encounters with chipmunks and turtles!) because I was also chased briefly by a goose. I was just cutting along a section of path to our neighbourhood and there was mama, papa and their brood on one side. I kept as far away on the other side as I could but one of the parents decided that I was a threat and launched itself at me as I cycled by. There was an oncoming cyclist grinning at me as I went by him so I just wished him luck!
Recovery week next week - my last one. Eeeek!
6 WEEKS TO GO
Marian, June 11th, 2007
What a great end to a bad week. Last week started pretty bad. I was very tired and after loading up on antihistamines was having a very hard time getting anything done. It was also a very stressful week at work and at home with the whole moving thing. I knew it was bad when I sat ont he deck steps at 9pm crying because I hardly got any workouts in, the posting of the house was not showing up online, my boss and one of my co workers got into an argument that day (when your part of a staff of three, it's a big deal), I was told I have to start going three times a week again to the chiropractor and for some reasons one of my new plants I planted out front is dying. Well that last one seemed to push me over the edge. Rolando suggested I just go sign up for Keuka and concentrate on that which would get my mind off of everything else. So, I did that. Went for run on Friday but sat in my swimsuit watching the weather report to decide I wasn't driving to Canandaigua with the storm coming. Did nothing on Sarturday, just sat outside watching the people of the community garage sale and talked to some neighbors I had never even met. Got up early on Sunday for Keuka. I picked up Jay at his house since he was riding back he needed a ride down. I felt really good afetr the swim which was a lot warmer than last year and Dana and I did the whole thing side by side, not on purpose, it just worked out that way. I felt good on the bike and started the run. Halfway on the run, I caught up to Chris and we ran the last three miles together. When I saw the clock at the finish line, I got very excited, I finished 11 minutes faster than last year. I think it was mostly on the bike but I haven't checked my splits yeat. I don't wear a watch at any race because I'll obsess over it and go to hard and burn out. So, I got home feeling pretty good about myself, had a beer and pizza and took a nap. Perfect Sunday afternoon.
Sunday, June 3, 2007
Jackie D - Week 37
Week 37 - starting Monday 28 May 2007
Scheduled hours: 15hrs 40mins
Actual hours: 15hrs 28mins
During the workouts in the first half of this week I felt a bit deflated. It was all from coming off the high of the weekend at Placid I know. After a complete day off on Monday it was time to do a brick. Following my thoughts on wanting to get stronger on hills I have decided that I am not going to use the flat canal path (which is so close and convenient for me for bikes or runs) unless it is recovery zone 1. So, I headed round some local roads just thinking of a hill near by and then riding it whilst thinking of the next bit of the route. My strategy was to push a bit up the hills and take as long as I needed to to recover on flats and downhills. Nothing majorly big but definitely not flat. I ran on the roads away from the house in a direction I don’t normally go. It had some rollers and I only went up side roads if I could see a slope! With this strategy I am going to end up doing extra exercise because I normally take the dog along the canal path but don’t think it is safe enough (or fun enough) for her on roads so there was extra dog walking for me this week.
I couldn’t quite believe that Wednesday had me doing another long run of 3 hours. Again, no flat for me anymore so I went down to Mendon Ponds park and did some loops around that terrain, running 10min and walking 1minute and looping back to my car to refill with water and Gatorade. I still didn’t really feel like gels so probably only took in about half the number I should have for that amount of time. Each one I did take I had to force down like a nasty medicine. I seemed to survive OK with extra Gatorade though.
Even more insanely, the next day had me doing another long bike ride of 6 hours in mid 80 degree temperatures. Actually whilst cycling you get a bit of a breeze so I was probably cooler than most! I couldn’t face gels at all so I loaded up with power bars and Gatorade instead. They seemed to go down well although I wasn’t really riding with any high intensity so will have to try again - just as I thought I had nutrition nailed I start changing it! I didn’t pee on the bike and I didn’t get the red chafing rash so think they must have been linked last weekend which makes for a bit of a dilemma. Oh, and about 4 hours in I noticed that my bike computer timer kept stopping for a few seconds at a time. So, I watched it a bit and it actually stopped for a few minutes at a time. Luckily I had noted the time on my wristwatch that I had set off and saw that I had done nearly 5 hours rather than 4! So, I just added 10minutes to the 6hours to allow for my water refill and pee stops and went by my wristwatch. I will have to look into that - probably a battery I guess. No problems with hitting the saltstick today though.
I swam at masters early on in the week and although I felt absolutely fine, however hard I tried, my times were really awful. Mary said she wasn’t surprised because I couldn’t have been recovered from the weekend but it was just weird (and frustrating) because I felt fine, just no power.
The second swim of the week was just plain FUN. I went in the lake for the first time this year. With my longsleeved wetsuit of course! They said the temperature was 67F and it felt absolutely fine. And I spotted a big fish - which I was reliably informed was a bass. It was SOOOO good to be swimming in a lake again and a great break from the pool - hope I can do both my swims in the lake next week.
An easy zone 1 recovery run made me start wondering whether my zones are correct. I ran an easy pace and breathing seemed fine but my HR stayed for much of the run in the late teens (over a hundred of course!). My zone 1 for running according to my chart doesn’t start til 124bpm. Hmm. At least I think I am confident enough now to train by feel I think.
The week finished with a sprint triathlon, the Pittsford triathlon. My first triathlon of the season. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. My husband and kids even got up early to come and cheer me on. I love sprint triathlons because of all the different types and ages and abilities of people all out there to achieve their personal goals and have some fun. This was the first triathlon I did last year (and the second one ever, the first having been done 5 years previously) and despite all the long, slow distance stuff I had been doing I was keen to try and beat my time from last year. I achieved that, knocking off a couple of minutes which was great and gave me 3rd female place. I have yet to see the splits for this but could summarise how I feel about them right now as:
- disappointingly slow swim (aaarghh - I know same old broken record)
- much smoother transitions
- good bike except (a) couldn’t get clipped in so had to stop to do so (b) my chain fell off for the first time ever on the first steepish hill and I had to get off to put it back © I had to slow down to tell a marshall about a boy off his bike a bit further back on the course that I had passed.
- run much stronger than last year (I hope) and I felt I finished strong (and I even got a clip of me finishing on local TV)
Next week is another high hours one. In less enthusiastic moments I look at my schedule saying 6hr bike or 3hr run and I think - why? I know I can do that, I know I can do it on the actual course so why do I have to do this again. At these times I wish the race was next week. It is hard to take up your whole day for a bike ride - I don’t know how people with families and full time jobs manage to do it. I am a very, very, very lucky girl to be able to do this whilst kids are at school so I don’t miss too much time with my family.
7 WEEKS TO GO
Scheduled hours: 15hrs 40mins
Actual hours: 15hrs 28mins
During the workouts in the first half of this week I felt a bit deflated. It was all from coming off the high of the weekend at Placid I know. After a complete day off on Monday it was time to do a brick. Following my thoughts on wanting to get stronger on hills I have decided that I am not going to use the flat canal path (which is so close and convenient for me for bikes or runs) unless it is recovery zone 1. So, I headed round some local roads just thinking of a hill near by and then riding it whilst thinking of the next bit of the route. My strategy was to push a bit up the hills and take as long as I needed to to recover on flats and downhills. Nothing majorly big but definitely not flat. I ran on the roads away from the house in a direction I don’t normally go. It had some rollers and I only went up side roads if I could see a slope! With this strategy I am going to end up doing extra exercise because I normally take the dog along the canal path but don’t think it is safe enough (or fun enough) for her on roads so there was extra dog walking for me this week.
I couldn’t quite believe that Wednesday had me doing another long run of 3 hours. Again, no flat for me anymore so I went down to Mendon Ponds park and did some loops around that terrain, running 10min and walking 1minute and looping back to my car to refill with water and Gatorade. I still didn’t really feel like gels so probably only took in about half the number I should have for that amount of time. Each one I did take I had to force down like a nasty medicine. I seemed to survive OK with extra Gatorade though.
Even more insanely, the next day had me doing another long bike ride of 6 hours in mid 80 degree temperatures. Actually whilst cycling you get a bit of a breeze so I was probably cooler than most! I couldn’t face gels at all so I loaded up with power bars and Gatorade instead. They seemed to go down well although I wasn’t really riding with any high intensity so will have to try again - just as I thought I had nutrition nailed I start changing it! I didn’t pee on the bike and I didn’t get the red chafing rash so think they must have been linked last weekend which makes for a bit of a dilemma. Oh, and about 4 hours in I noticed that my bike computer timer kept stopping for a few seconds at a time. So, I watched it a bit and it actually stopped for a few minutes at a time. Luckily I had noted the time on my wristwatch that I had set off and saw that I had done nearly 5 hours rather than 4! So, I just added 10minutes to the 6hours to allow for my water refill and pee stops and went by my wristwatch. I will have to look into that - probably a battery I guess. No problems with hitting the saltstick today though.
I swam at masters early on in the week and although I felt absolutely fine, however hard I tried, my times were really awful. Mary said she wasn’t surprised because I couldn’t have been recovered from the weekend but it was just weird (and frustrating) because I felt fine, just no power.
The second swim of the week was just plain FUN. I went in the lake for the first time this year. With my longsleeved wetsuit of course! They said the temperature was 67F and it felt absolutely fine. And I spotted a big fish - which I was reliably informed was a bass. It was SOOOO good to be swimming in a lake again and a great break from the pool - hope I can do both my swims in the lake next week.
An easy zone 1 recovery run made me start wondering whether my zones are correct. I ran an easy pace and breathing seemed fine but my HR stayed for much of the run in the late teens (over a hundred of course!). My zone 1 for running according to my chart doesn’t start til 124bpm. Hmm. At least I think I am confident enough now to train by feel I think.
The week finished with a sprint triathlon, the Pittsford triathlon. My first triathlon of the season. It was a beautiful day and a lot of fun. My husband and kids even got up early to come and cheer me on. I love sprint triathlons because of all the different types and ages and abilities of people all out there to achieve their personal goals and have some fun. This was the first triathlon I did last year (and the second one ever, the first having been done 5 years previously) and despite all the long, slow distance stuff I had been doing I was keen to try and beat my time from last year. I achieved that, knocking off a couple of minutes which was great and gave me 3rd female place. I have yet to see the splits for this but could summarise how I feel about them right now as:
- disappointingly slow swim (aaarghh - I know same old broken record)
- much smoother transitions
- good bike except (a) couldn’t get clipped in so had to stop to do so (b) my chain fell off for the first time ever on the first steepish hill and I had to get off to put it back © I had to slow down to tell a marshall about a boy off his bike a bit further back on the course that I had passed.
- run much stronger than last year (I hope) and I felt I finished strong (and I even got a clip of me finishing on local TV)
Next week is another high hours one. In less enthusiastic moments I look at my schedule saying 6hr bike or 3hr run and I think - why? I know I can do that, I know I can do it on the actual course so why do I have to do this again. At these times I wish the race was next week. It is hard to take up your whole day for a bike ride - I don’t know how people with families and full time jobs manage to do it. I am a very, very, very lucky girl to be able to do this whilst kids are at school so I don’t miss too much time with my family.
7 WEEKS TO GO
Marian, June 3rd, 2007
What a great weekend. Yesterday, we biked twice around Canandaigua Lake: That's Miller Hill twice. The second time was very much a mental climb. I had to really dig deep and convince myself that I could go up. I concentrated on Dana's feet and tried to keep her cadence, because if I looked at the road ahead I would not have made it up. We finished the second loop 8 minutes faster than the first one. that felt good, specially since on the second loop, the air temp was 87 degrees. My knees were a little sore at the end of the ride so Mary said to ice them. It helped a lot.
This morning tha Title Nine Tea Party met up at Dana's house for a run. We were all running diffrent distances so I had Rolando drop me off and then ran home at the end. This run soon became an Animal Planet TV show when just a few minutes into the run a chipmunk was crossing the road and was hit by a car. It was still alive and had one eye popping out of it's head. We knew what we had to do. Kitima thankfully offered to end it's missery and stepped on it. Soon after, we saw a turtle crossing the road. We went to push it out the way but it was almost on the other side so it really did not need any help. Then we saw another snapping turtle crossing the road. This one was going right into the path of oncoming traffic. We sprinted as fast as we could, which was not very fast at this point, and a car was able to go around it. The turtle was getting quite aggresive. We knew the only way to move it would be to push it we a stick. We ran across the road, grabbed a small fallen branch. By this point it was really mad. Gently poking it was not doing the trick, it was not moving. So, Kitima reminded us of a saying from her orthopedic surgery lessons: "If you applied force and it didn't work, youd did not applied enough" (somethig like that)She tried to push it harder, the turtle turned around, bit the stick and almost broke it, it latched on and would not let go. That's how it got dragged back into the safety of the brush.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventfull. Can't wait until next week
This morning tha Title Nine Tea Party met up at Dana's house for a run. We were all running diffrent distances so I had Rolando drop me off and then ran home at the end. This run soon became an Animal Planet TV show when just a few minutes into the run a chipmunk was crossing the road and was hit by a car. It was still alive and had one eye popping out of it's head. We knew what we had to do. Kitima thankfully offered to end it's missery and stepped on it. Soon after, we saw a turtle crossing the road. We went to push it out the way but it was almost on the other side so it really did not need any help. Then we saw another snapping turtle crossing the road. This one was going right into the path of oncoming traffic. We sprinted as fast as we could, which was not very fast at this point, and a car was able to go around it. The turtle was getting quite aggresive. We knew the only way to move it would be to push it we a stick. We ran across the road, grabbed a small fallen branch. By this point it was really mad. Gently poking it was not doing the trick, it was not moving. So, Kitima reminded us of a saying from her orthopedic surgery lessons: "If you applied force and it didn't work, youd did not applied enough" (somethig like that)She tried to push it harder, the turtle turned around, bit the stick and almost broke it, it latched on and would not let go. That's how it got dragged back into the safety of the brush.
The rest of the day was pretty uneventfull. Can't wait until next week
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)