Quick "First" Ride

After a few quick errands this morning, I hit the road to Columbia.  Stopped in and checked with the surveyors on a project and then went to the LBS just after it opened.  I loaded up a big ole' shopping bag with new shoes, cleats, helmet, flat kit, extra tube and two ankle strap reflector things.  WITH the 10%discount it was still over $200 - ouch!  But I figure I shouldn't have to buy much else (for biking) for a while.  And the guy who helped me also put my bike on a trainer and gave me basic lessons on clipping in and out (which I got to practice several times - yay).  He also gave me a few thoughts on my fit (though he said I was pretty close already). 

I finished just in time to meet my friend Georganne for lunch.  We had a nice visit, meal, catchup bull session (about both business and personal stuff).  Then I busted a move back to Jeff City in time to go for another crazy ass windy ride.  I managed to clip in, ride, clip out twice (just to see if I could), ride and clip out at the end (almost fell the last time as I wasn't paying enough attention trying to look at my watch to see how long it took me and open the garage door at the same time - oops).  Knocked out 7.7 miles in 36 min give or take so I slightly improved my average speed (though I didn't do the hills in the middle of the ride like I normally do, but was fighting the insane 20 mph winds).  I did totally space taking water and was super thirsty when I got back!

Might go again depending on what homework needs to be supervised.  But I was ecstatic about my "first" ride with all my gear.  I'll try to snap a pic soon, but here are the two big purchases (photos lifted from Bontrager site):

New Shoes

New Helmet

CTER 140.6:

Swim: 2.02/2.4
Bike: 77.5/112

Run: 34.5/26.2 

Windy Ride w/ My Boy

Weather warmed up considerably today, but like many times over this mild winter (if you can even call it that) - it got WINDY!  Yuck!  I had a super busy day and was just changing my clothes to go ride when the kids got home.  Son decided to go with since it was nice-ish out.  But we fought the freaking wind the whole way!  We went to the National Guard and back and added one little stub up Wakoda for 5.3 miles.  Not really my plan, but time was limited so it had to do.  Then it was time to fight the crowd at McTeacher night (what a disaster), then hit the grocery store while the girl was at Brownies and then home to get everything else done that had been put off for the evening.  Fingers crossed for more riding tomorrow.  Really don't want to DNF my first virtual long distance tri.

CTER 140.6:

Swim: 2.02/2.4
Bike: 69.8112
Run: 34.5/26.2

My Day w/ Dancing & Abs

I had the usual morning antics with getting two kids to school near 7:30 AM (returning to school with a missed lunchbox - grr), off to Columbia to get ready for a meeting that I thought was at 9:00, but no one showed - one person thought it was at 11 and another thought it was on Tue.  Ugh - but managed to catch up on some pending projects (fingers crossed) with the surveyors and a structural engineer friend.  Rescheduled meeting for tomorrow.  Spent some quality time in the LBS looking at cycling shoes, helmets, trainers, flat kits, clothes, etc.  It will be an expensive trip the next time I go (though I'll postpone the trainer).  I picked out a lot, but didn't have my bike with me to verify everything. 

Checked that I was not in charge of kid pickup and dropped some books at the library.  Got home just as they were pulling in the driveway.  Got everyone started on homework, took two client calls and moved another potential project forward.  Cooked dinner (but didn't have time to eat) and headed out to take son to Judo (Parks and Rec - pretty low end, but worth a shot).  Ran some errands while he was there and then picked him up to shuttle to Boy Scouts (didn't realize when signing up for Judo that this would be a conflict because he hadn't crossed over yet). 

Got home and shuffled him through shower and dinner in time for Stacy to come over.  I was pretty tired and sore from yesterday's bike ride so we decided to Just Dance it out for a bit (broke a sweat though) and then do AbRipperX.  Tomorrow is supposed to be warm so fingers crossed I can get the bike stuff sorted out and try to crank out some more miles.  I'm fearing not being able to finish the 112 miles.  Takes so freaking long when you are as slow as me.  Unfortunately, tomorrow will also be super busy with two dr appts in the morning, client meeting at 11, checking in with the surveyor on a project that I need topo on asap and getting back to supervise homework before Brownies and McTeacher night (great - thanks for encouraging fundraising for the school with crap food!).  Hate these busy weeks!

Oh, almost forgot - MMNW was 170.4 - a new record low!  Yay!  Better get some rest for tomorrow.

Time in Old Saddle

Closing in on the last week of the CTER 140.6 and I'm struggling to get in the bike mileage.  Even with yesterday's road bike purchase, I took my trusty old mountain bike out today when the weather warmed up into the 50's and was relatively sunny (that is, until I got about 2 miles down the road and here came the clouds and wind - ugh).  Today was all about knocking out some mileage.  I did a few hills along the way, but mostly hit the flat-ish stuff around the Scholastic complex.  Frustrating how slow it goes.  It took me 1 hr 45 min to do 18 miles (that included 4 real hills).  I know I was getting tired and sore along the way, but it is still kind of frustrating.

So here are the new CTER 140.6 totals (with a week to go - ack! - knew that bike mileage was going to be tough):

Swim: 2.02/2.4
Bike: 64.5/112
Run: 34.5/26.2

New (to me) Bike

I've been drooling over road and tri bike porn for a while.  But today I took the plunge.  It was pretty easy as a guy in my tri club put on the list serve that he was selling his Cannondale.  Apparently, he bought it from the club VP a year ago, but it really was too small for him and he was trying to decide if he really wanted to get into road biking (had been a mountain bike guy).  Apparently, its first owner was more my size so this all worked out for me.  While it may not be the end all-be all, it was well within my budget leaving me plenty of room for everything else.  And I liked that it was blue.

You can see he had the seat post jacked all the way up and the handle bars twisted up so I'll have to play with fit once Mr. Allen Wrench (aka my husband) comes home.  I will probably have to spring for a proper fit by a trained pro at a later date.  I also have absolutely no gear to address potential flats so I need to make a minor investment there (not so much of a worry on my knobby mountain bike tires when I mostly go on roads).  I also need the appropriate footwear for these:

Yep, it is time to enter the world of "clipping in" with hopefully minimal face planting.  I may splurge on a new helmet too given I am sure my current helmet is older than both of my children.  Then there is the need to find a very reasonable trainer to put it on when weather isn't cooperative.  And, of course, a carrier for my car so I don't have to listen to the husband grumble when I want to take the truck to haul it around.  But once I get everything all figured out, I'm looking forward to time on this:

YAY!

Book Review x 2

On the plane to Vegas, I managed to get over half way through a new book and some trouble adjusting to the time change allowed me to also finish said book.  It was a pretty easy read and an interesting story.  The book was "The Long Run".  It is the story of Matt Long - a NYC firefighter that while riding his bike to work during a transportation worker strike was hit by a 20 ton bus and severely injured when impaled by his bike's seat.  Given about a 5% chance of surviving with incredible blood loss, his family was prepared to lose one of their many members that night just before Christmas. 

But Matt fought and fought to recover.  With very skilled doctors and tons of committed family and friends, he managed over the next few years to go from near death to returning to the sport of running (albeit never again as fast) and triathlon.  I liked this book for much of the same reasons I liked the other books I've read about relatively regular guys who've been through medical trauma and found their way through sport.  I did not particularly enjoy some of the graphic references to his injuries, but I do understand they were necessary to fully understand all of the barriers to his recovery.  But overall, the book reminds us that with incredible determination and some grace from the good Lord above, the human body and spirit can be incredibly resilient.

I also recently finished "You Are an Ironman".  I had seen some other reviews of this book that were less than favorable and had put it off, but I actually enjoyed this book for the most part.  It basically follows a handful of first time age groupers going after those infamous words of Mike Reilly at IMAZ.  From how and why they signed up through their challenges throughout training and their experiences on race day.  It is not a training book.  It is simply a story that exemplifies why and how many of us get hooked on this crazy sport.  While I understood why the author did this, I found it sometimes hard to follow as he jumped between characters.  It was reading multiple story lines along the same time line, but often I had to stop and think about which character he was talking about and their individual story within the larger story.  I found each story inspirational in its own way - much like I find many of the stories I read on blogs.  I can see how it would be more inspirational to someone who hasn't been on the IM journey though.

I got both of these books from the library in Columbia.  I was not sent these books to review.  Just sharing my experiences with them. 

I'm Back...

Hey everyone!  I'm back home now and trying to catch up from being gone since Sunday.  The trip was decent though I was a little disappointed in the weather (umm...warmer in Missouri??? plus crazy wind!!) and the conference was just ok (whereas I had had higher expectations).  My presentations went well and were well received from the comments I got.  I did get out a little bit for some fun.  Happy hour Mon night in a hospitality suite, Tues night listening to a small Irish band play in a pub with one of the guys from my chapter, and Mystere on Wed night. 

But the biggest news is that my weight held pretty well even with the crazy food they served us every day at the conference.  This, of course, was due to the crazy amount of walking and little bit of running I did while out there.  First, my daughter called me Monday morning before school to complain about the way Grandma does everything.  The problem is that with the time difference, it was 4:30 AM for me.  I couldn't go back to sleep so about 5:15 I got dressed and headed downstairs.  Found out the "fitness center" didn't open until six and since I assumed it would be "warm", I decided to run outside.  It was mid-40's so not awful, but not "warm" either.  I ran from the Gold Coast hotel down to the strip and up past Treasure Island and then back.  I pretended it was the RnR Vegas Marathon since it was still dark, but most of the casinos were lit.  I was mildly surprised to see plenty of people and cars out.  The sun was just starting to come up when I got back.  I mapped it last night when I got home and found I covered about 3.8 miles. 

After cleaning up, I headed (in high heels - ouch) from the Gold Coast to the Rio where the conference was being held.  Front door to front door is about 0.4 mi, but the conference center is about another 0.25 mi towards the back of the property.  The first day I walked this inside (Tue it was sunny and slightly warmer so I walked around the parking lots to the back of the conference center).  Plus, of course, there was tons of walking around to find the right rooms for the seminars, etc.  And then back to my hotel at the end of the day (while schlepping my very heavy computer and other crap along).  Blister on right heel from pretty shoes, but we'll say that was another 1.3 miles for the day.

Tuesday, I was smarter by wearing my running shoes to walk to the Rio (and back), carrying my dress shoes.  There was even more walking around inside the exhibit hall (all afternoon), but I won't count that.  Then, I changed back at my hotel and met my friend back at the Rio to share a cab to Mandalay Bay to go listen to music so tack on another 0.4 for that (though he made me take the taxi back to my hotel when we returned as it was 1 AM).  So we'll say the official total for Tue was 1.7. 

Wednesday was another hike to and from the Rio = 1.3 (completely skipped the pretty shoes this day!).  But when the conference was all done at 6 PM and I couldn't get anyone interested in going out, I decided to try to catch a show.  So I walked to the strip (Bill's) to a Tix4Tonight spot and picked up a ticket to Mystere.  Then I strolled up the strip, but missed the closer bridge to go across to TI (the one I planned on taking was closed on the east side for construction) and had to walk further up and double back.  Then after Mystere, I walked back to Bill's and took the shuttle the mile and some change back to the Gold Coast.  I mapped it the best I could and came up with another 3.1 mi for the evening for a total of 4.4 for Wed.

Thur morning, I wanted to head back to the strip to pick up a couple souvenirs for the kids.  I had seen a couple of things the night before, but the shuttle didn't start running until 9 and I figured I'd get there sooner by walking (although it was about a wash).  I did take the shuttle back from Bill's, but even then still covered 2.3 miles.  I won't count all the walking in the airport (though my gate was a hike and a half away from security) or through the hotels and casinos (just crazy how much walking you do).  But in four days, I'll officially call it 13.5 miles.  Holy half marathon! 

I did stop by the "fitness center" Thur morning, but there was only one recumbant bike (no regular bike) and an old man had just got on it.  So now it is time to kick it in gear on the bike.  Too bad the cooler weather followed me home.  I missed a bunch of 60's/70's while I was gone and now the high for today is mid-40's.  I have a lot of miles to cover in the next week and some change.

CTER 140.6:

Swim: 2.02/2.4
Bike: 46.5/112
Run: 34.5/26.2

Finished another book on the plane that will be due for a review plus I think I skipped one I read after Marathon Woman so I will catch up on that next week.  Now to go skim and see what I missed on everyone else's blogs.