temper tantrum averted

It was close. A full on temper tantrum at 6:00 this morning. Today is a rest day but because my body is used to getting up early for my workouts, it still wants to get up even when there is no workout to do. So I spend the time getting chores done around the house, getting and keeping the family organized, laundry, catching up with my online shopping.

Melissa put me onto a fabulous website for swim gear. The selection for swim gear locally is crappy. You either have to be a skinny 12 year old girl or a larger shaped middle aged woman. There is NOTHING in between for a pushing 40, mom of 2, trying to stay fit and healthy with regular boobs and hips. Nothing cool, anyway. So when I went to the swimoutlet.com website, it was if I was in swim gear heaven! I stacked up my shopping cart but alas they do not ship to Canada!

ARGH!!!

This is SO annoying. We live together. We listen to your music and watch your tv shows and cheer for your sports teams and watch your prez get inaugurated and vacation in your resorts and hope you get your economy rolling again cause we kind of rely on you buying our materials...WHY won't you ship your stuff to me??!! It hurts my feelings.

BUT, I am determined to look cool on the pool deck. Some of the local ladies brag they have been wearing the same suit for 3 years...I say BOR-ING!! I want color! I want patterns! (if only I could have this same attitude with my running gear...did you SEE that finishing photo? Those pants are AT LEAST 12 years old, and the shirt was a hand-me down from my brother about 6 years ago...) So I found a site that does in fact ship north of the 45th.

newwavesports.com

wednesday...wednesday

Today is Wednesday.

One of my swim days. I did make it to the pool. Was an okay workout. I have a pet peeve about my Wednesday morning swims. The local tri club rents two lanes at the pool. These are long course lanes...50 meters there and 50 meters back. I figure that is plenty of room for plenty of people. But the triathletes in these parts like to

a) swim up each other's butts and

b) complain about too many people in the lanes.

Maybe?

If y'all spread out a bit, this would work a bit better.

Coming up...I talked to Coach Justin yesterday and we rearranged my schedule.

Why?

Cause I am going riding on Saturday morning with my tri-buddy Shannon...who is training for IMCDA and she needs some company for a bit. My big workout for the week is a 90 minute run and that was supposed to be done on Saturday....now I have to get my ass out of bed and do it before work on Friday morning. My legs? Will be tired for my bike ride on Saturday. But this will all count for what's coming so I shall tough it out. I even have the okay to miss swimming on Sunday if I want to...cause I am thinking I'm going to have to hussle on that bike to keep up!!

finishing pic

This is my finishing photo from the weekend. Look closely..because the boys were running me into the finish line...the small crowd that was there started to cheer us in...Luke got stagefright and embarrassed and was trying to hide...
And the best part of all, Matthew says "Mom...can you do that again? Because I want to do it with you this time!!"
Also, that will be 6 races I have done between tris and this duathlon where there is NO photo of me on my bike...it's a mystery as to why I never get photographed while on my bike...
And this is the poor gal that had to hurdle my 2 year old!!! (don't know why the pic is small...but I am probably breaking some sort of copyright law by posting these...)

Bridge City Duathlon Race Report

My first duathlon is in the books! I had no expectations for this race as I have never done a duathlon before. Coach Justin, of course, said he would like to see my first 3km run done in 5minute kms, the bike will be what it is, and the second 3km run again, in 5 minute kms.

I thought if I could do the bike ride in 45 minutes (20km) I would be super happy with that. I had no idea. I was sure my biking has improved from being on the trainer all winter, but I seriously had no idea what to expect.

Day started out kind of cool and foggy. Was at the race site super early as I was in charge of the food table and wanted to get that set up and wrestle someone into helping out while I was actually racing...cause I think we all know, I was NOT going to be the first one in!! Found the race director and asked for sure, how many entries...had a small panic attack as I was worried we did not have enough for everyone. So made a quick trip to T-Ho's for some donuts...too bad I missed Jen's phone call as there was an order in for coffee as well. Got back, got my bike set up and stood around and chatted and giggled and told goofy tri-stories for a long while. Was great to see how organized everyone was as this race was thrown together in 3 weeks and the entries were really down from previous years. The fog was clearing and the sun was coming out and it was going to be a beautiful day!

The first 3km run went really well. Did my 5 min/km pace dead on. Wasn't easy, but wasn't impossible either. Had a fun time out there listening to these two dudes behind me chit chat about girls...awwww to be young again!

Transition was slow. My bike got caught on the bike beside and had to untangle them. Lost my jacket and gloves as it was getting warm, warm, warm. Started the bike ride and felt really good! I was shocked at how easy it was!! Shocked. I had no issues at all. Kept my HR in the range, pedalled and pedalled, took in some drink, cheered for some of the Just Tri It ladies as they came by...it was steady, I was getting kind of bored...I know!! That sounds awful but it felt like I was not trying all that hard...After it was done, I was a wee bit dissappointed in myself as I could have put ALOT of more effort into that bike ride. My 20km split was 40 minutes and change...so blew my expectation out of the water!!!

The run was tough going out as it was super windy. As in SUPER windy. And gusty. The first half of the run was okay but not great, felt super slow. After the turn around I found my legs and felt like I could have ran all day...I was actually disappointed the 3km was done!! I was starting to catch someone and just ran out of path...the second 3km was done in round 16 min so a bit off my pace but I could feel myself getting stronger so maybe if I had another 5km to go??

Thanks so much for Jen for coming out and sharing a few good laughs before the race!! We always seem to get going and get the group going and my gut hurts from laughing. And thanks to Chuck for holding my keys and lip gloss for my race and watching the food table while I was on the course!

let's take this outside....

Got the yellow cervelo outside today.
Just in time for my duathlon race tomorrow.
The winds were gusting 40km per hour.
Yeah.
Wasn't so much fun.
I waited and waited all day, finally the rubber hit the road in late afternoon, but damn it was windy.
And my oh my, how I forgot how much you get tossed around on a bike! The bumps on the road, the wind, the traffic...but I am not terrified I will fall off like I was last year!!