Three-Peaks Cyclo-Cross

A friend of mine in Ireland is doing this race this year. Holy balls. She has been a racing beast this year. I'm wicked proud of her, and hope Three Peaks is as successful as the rest of her season has been.

Stay To the RIGHT!

No, this is not a post advocating conservatives and their politics. I would never do that. Yuck. You don't know me at all!

Dude. I'm really new to all this swim/bike/run stuff. It's a continual learning process. I do my best to educate myself on the etiquette involved in each discipline. It doesn't seem like it's hard stuff. So correct me if I'm wrong, but...

I live in an area where, let's face it, they hate cyclists. In MY town, it's not as bad as in SpringVegas, but still. I've been scared by cars passing too close whether it's back country road or the highway. I've jumped hearing a horn on my left even though I knew the car was there and maintained my line, but they just had to honk at me. You have to be careful, stay alert and stay to the right. STAY. TO. THE. RIGHT.

I was coming home yesterday on ZZ hwy and the truck in front of me suddenly hit their brakes. WTF? Then I saw why. There was a group cycling up the hill. The shoulders on this highway are purposefully HUGE. They are designated for use as bike lanes and are more than adequate for cyclists. I've ridden in them. And learned very quickly that cars flying down the highway at 55+ mph may ride the white line, so stay to the right.

So when I saw a GROUP of cyclists in their fancy gear on their fancy bikes trying to ride 3 across with a couple of people riding OUTSIDE of the shoulder, causing traffic to almost stop and freaking out drivers who EXPECT YOU TO STAY IN THE GIANT LANE DESIGNATED FOR YOU, I got pissed. This one guy almost got hit by 3 different cars because he just HAD to pass other people in his damn group.

And they wonder why the locals hate cyclists. These are the types of actions that piss of drivers who may have otherwise not cared about those of us out on two wheels. But now, you may have freaked them out enough that all they'll remember is "Danger! Don't hit that guy!" and figure it's easier if we just aren't out on his/her roads on our 2-wheeled, leg-powered death machines. By the way, the "fancy gear on their fancy bikes" thing? I couldn't really tell you if they were "fancy". But to a non-cyclists, if you're on an expensive-looking road bike and your clothes are quite obviously technical, that's probably what THEY are thinking about you.

A sign with a picture of a bicycle that says "SHARE THE ROAD" doesn't just mean "Yeah, drivers of cars and trucks! Share the road, jerkoffs!". It means WE also share in that responsibility to remain safe and not be assholes.

I Tri’d! � In Search of Awesome

I Tri’d! � In Search of Awesome

Yup. I'm being lazy again. Click that link if you want to know how my first triathlon went and the crazy thing that happened to me 11 days before my 'A' race! ;)

No Fear � In Search of Awesome

No Fear � In Search of Awesome

Okay, seriously. Click that link. It will take you to the "Awesome" blog. There are pictures. Who doesn't like pictures?!

Buh-bye, June

Engage your abs.

Yea, you know. Because they're there. So you should, right? I don't know. I keep hearing that in my head at various times during various activities. Seems like a good idea.

Okay, so June is over. Well, I guess it's not technically over yet. But it's the last day of the month. And what a month it has been.
In June, I:

» Officially started paying rent for a new massage space (loving it!)
» Had a bit of a mental breakdown (okay, it was a pretty good one, but whatever)
» Swam a total of 2.1 miles (more than I've ever really swam...swum...swimmed? whatever)
» Biked 119.54 miles (definitely more than I've ever ridden in my life)
» Ran 23.29 miles (need to do more of this)
» Stayed up late on Sunday, the 27th, to watch Ironman Live (I hate your damn leader boards!) to watch Jeremy Webb kick ass and become an Ironman (wicka wicka whoohoo!)
» Lost 6 lbs. (4 of them were last week)

Thanks to some great pep texts/emails, I pulled my shit back together and I'm only moving forward from here. Thanks you guys. You know who you are.

A “Fish” in water � In Search of Awesome

A “Fish” in water � In Search of Awesome

Once again, I'm too lazy to post this in two different places. So please wander on over to my fitness blog and take a gander at what I learned about swimming.

More goals? Yes, please.

Today I registered for my first half marathon. I'm going to do the Maynard Cohick Half Marathon at this year's Bass Pro Outdoor Fitness Festival. Last year I ran the 5K. That was my first race ever. I have sense run in three other 5K events and have one coming up this Saturday. I may not be very good at it, but I love running. It's a challenge every time I head out. I dig challenges. Especially self-imposed ones.

I ran today. I felt I had to. I wasn't really feeling up to it, but after receiving email from my "athletic advisor", Bobby, telling me how great I'm doing, I felt guilty not doing something. I've been riding my bike 13 miles and running as far as I can on Sundays. Last week was great. Today was meh. I'm okay with that. I wasn't really hydrated enough to be out running, but still managed to keep my pace under 00:13:00. I can totally live with that.

Here are my current goals:
Keep running 3X per week and work on getting my pace down to 12:00/mile
Ride my bike, John Holmes, for 13 miles, twice per week. I need to start watching my speed and keep my average at about 13.5 mph.

These are awesome realistic goals. I don't what I would do with Bobby. He says he's not my coach. HE calls himself my athletic advisor (I know you were wondering who said that since it was in quotes), but that sounds too much like athletic supporter. This has resulted in his new nickname from me: Jockstrap. And here I never thought I would need one! ;)

What's the dealio?

Let's see... I've been in a pool ONCE since my last post. I (obviously) did not drown. I've been running and riding as I get the chance. Those also have not killed me. I have a buckeye account which rocks so I can SEE how awesome I am (or badly I suck).

Having trouble running lately and not sure why. Sunday before last I ran 4 miles and felt awesome. That was the farthest I've ever run. I was super proud of myself. For various reasons, the rest of that week I sucked on my (attempted) runs. Not getting more than about a mile and a half in before complete failure. What the hell? I don't know. This past Sunday, I managed to eke out three miles. But only because I had to make it home. I was in so much pain when I finally struggled up the few steps from the garage into the house. I started bawling and managed to make it into the living room before making it to the floor and crying some more. WHY did my damn legs hurt so bad? What had happened? What changed? Why was I able to kick so much ass just a week before this? I took my very first no-ice ice bath that day. I ran enough cold water to cover my legs and got in, fully dressed. HOLY SHIITAKE!!! Well, it made me stop crying... Because I couldn't freaking breathe! I seriously began to think I would never take a full breath ever again. How do you people DO that??! Jeebus.

Yesterday was better. I biked 12.29 miles in 26+mph winds with gusts up to 40 mph. Yes, I will mention that every time because it made it really damn hard. REALLY hard. If you have any idea where I live (near Wilson's Creek Battlefield) you know that there are some pretty decent hills nearby. I'm new at this. Those hills hurt like a mo'fo'. But I did it. In just over an hour. A couple of hours after that, I headed out for a run. I ran 2 miles and it took an eternity. Okay, really it only took about 29 min. I had to walk a lot more than I wanted to because my left leg started up again.

So here's what I need to do:
* sign up for swimming lessons (I swam 300 yds in 17:20...REALLY need to improve THAT)
* find the $$ to pay my dude co-worker to perform 2 hrs of magic on my legs/hips/glutes at least once a week
* stop whining... I swear, I'll work on it. But sweet baby jeebus, it gets windy here in the middle!
* take my baby, John Holmes, in for a spring tune up. They're free for crying out loud.

I promise to work on the whining thing. I will try to remember that with training conditions like this, I could very well be a machine by August. ;) And that would rock faces.

On a funny note, I got a haircut yesterday and the girl cut it too short. It's so hard to tell when you have curly hair how short it is until it's completely dry. I will be rockin' it Mammy style (or finding time to straighten it) for a while ;). So here's a pic of the result....