I lost 5.5 lbs in June, bringing me down to a light and spry 255.  

Ran two consecutive miles today.  Getting a head start on my new training program scheduled to start tomorrow with a long run of 1.9 miles.  It's a ten week program leading up to my first tri on September 10.  I hope I'm not taking on too much with a new baby, but I've got a month off from work so it seemed like the time to start.

I'm sure your wife will tell you if you're taking on too much with that new bundly of joy.   Congrats on the weight loss and keep up the good work.

PS. I'm VERY EXCITED!!  It's officially TDF time.

So I am back from Germany. Talking with my family I find out my son and daughter both want to do a kids triathlon. Great! Except for two things: 1. both need to do some real training to be able to complete one, and 2. there are very few left in the year and they are coming up quick.

Having said that, my daughter came to the gym with me today and ran 1.61 miles in 25 minutes. I asked her afterwards if she still wanted to do a triathlon and she said yes. So we are going to try and run 2-3 times a week and we'll see how we do. I am sure they will do fine on the swim and bike. It is their runs that need work.

"This is gonna be great!"

Quiet around here today.  Hope everyones out having a great weekend with friends and family.

Good luck to all the racers this weekend!

7 hours in a U-haul, towing a corolla, with a husband who thinks 85 MPH is reasonable.  Who then realizes 3 hours into it that he left his wallet at home.  Yup.  We're flying home, and he has no ID.  Yea!

24 hours of major unloading, up lots of stairs.....the kid has LOADS of stuff and heavy furniture.  Took her and friend out to sushi.....watched them all (kids and hubby!) do sake bombs.

BEAUTITUL area....Huntington Beach...got in a good run, albeit with a tad bit of a hangover, and got hubby (and myself!) onto the flight home.  Flying without ID only added about 20 minutes!  Who'd a thunk.

What a weekend.  One kid done.    Happy Fourth, all!!  Really kinda Independance Day around here.....

I'm baaaaaaaaaack! :-)  Anyone miss me? LOL!!

   I do apologize, but life got in the way, and my hobby has to be put on hold.  It didn't help that I lost my motivation to do anything for a while. It also didn't help that I was sick for two weeks...TWICE, with a couple weeks in between. (More on my blog - and take a gander at my lovely blank month of June...lol).  I did run and bike a few times. So not all is completely lost. 

I'm starting to get back into the groove of things, but sometimes there are times that people need to take a step back from their hobbies, and put it "away" for a little while, then get back into it.  I love triathlon training, but this year things has messed up, gotten in the way, lost motivation, sickness and just plan dumb excuses. It's done and over with. No use crying over what has been lost...but I am starting to get the "OMG! I can't wait to start training" feeling again.  

The last couple runs that I did, I was really surprised because normally after about 10 minutes, I'm just tired, can't breathe right, or just feeling erratic. This time...not so.  I pushed myself into running continiously for 15 minutes, and it felt GOOD that I was able to do that.  It was then a light bulb came into my head - I'm too content to "give up" easily. I don't realize my full potiential because I'm afraid of pushing myself.  No more pity parties...enough is enough.

So what's my plan for the future?

Hiking/Overnight camping with Stardust (her first overnight trip!) at Mt. Charleston in a few weeks, then again in August. 

Run more consistently, and just get in the time. Do not worry about distance. 

Boot Camp with a friend for a month, and that should be fun!

Possibly a mysterious race in August, that involves UFO's

Train for two Triathlons that are in late season

Train for RTC Viva Bike Vegas (which means I'm skipping Pumpkinman)

Train for Rock 'n Roll Vegas Half-Marathon - at NIGHT  on the Strip

ALL of these goals are definitely doable, and I'm happy with my choices.  Next year - HIM!

Can someone KINDLY give me updates since Page 117? LOL! Any Firsts? Any injuries? Any funny stories? If you did your first HIM/IM/Half Mary/Marathons - I WANT TO KNOW - I want to read your RR's. 

Sorely Miss you all...

DJ

Happy Idependence Day everyone!!

WOW, we've had a great Holiday so far.  The weather has been spectacular--80s and not a cloud in the sky. Workouts have been pretty short so have spent a ton of time on the boat hanging with friends, grilling and generally enjoying life.  LOVE IT! More of the same today before heading home sometime late tomorrow.

Enjoy the day!

PS. Welcome back DJ.  Now get it in gear girl!

Suzy, where are you exactly? Sounds wonderful! Maybe you can post a pic from your boat.

Rob, what a nice ride in great weather!

Glad you are back DJ!!

ooooooooooohhhhhh!!!!!  i wanna go there!       glad you you had a good move.

hey dj!

happy 4th everyone!!!  i was supposed to fire up the smoker an hour or so ago.  ooops.  so we eat a little later than, oh well.   more time ti drink and blow sh+t up!!!!

Welcome back  DJ!!   Yes, we missed you!!   Yep, life does get in the way every now and then (maybe more like every now and every then).  Good luck getting your training back on track.   

Happy 4th to everyone....

Happy 4th MG!

Had a great OWS this AM. With this swim I passed my total swim distance for 2010! Hoping to double it by the end of 2011! Have a great one.

Glad you made it home safely, Linda, and congrats/condolences for sending your sweet girl out on her own!!

Jeff and Dave need to road trip together. Dave got a ticket on the way home from CDA (82mph). He also has flown to NYC sans wallet (ID and credit cards... couldn't even scrounge food on the airplane, ha!). You and I can have drinks and see what kind of trouble they can get into.

We are crashing our good friend's house on the lake today. They just moved in a couple of months ago and are out of town visiting a new baby. We couldn't stand to have their awesome house sit empty, so two friends and I told them we were gonna BBQ there anyway. They said OK, ha!!! And it's supposed to hit 80 today for the 2nd time this year. WOOT!!!! I'm busy in the kitchen this morning baking up a storm. I take my desserts very seriously.

Happy 4th!!!

Happy 4th of July, MG!!!!

This girl is resting after an adventure yesterday...well, sort of.  I was so excited for my first ever solo century...and the predicted weather was for 80 degrees at noon, so I started out my ride at exactly 7 am to beat the heat.  Well, things went really well until about mile 75, and my legs started telling me they had nothing left...I tried a gu, lots of water (I had 150 oz for the whole trip and still lost 3 lbs, tried some more sport drink....and being 25 miles away from my car, I ended up just telling them to STFU and just pedal, momma will take care of the rest.  (taking care of the rest meant keeping eyes open and riding a straight line)  Yes, Suzy, sometimes my legs need that command...but anyways, I decided to just spin it out nice and easy, it was getting so hot...then somewhere about mile 85, I hit this shady part of the ride and boom, they started to come around.  It was almost magical, and I don't quite understand it, but I'm glad I could bounce back. 

I was at mile 98 and then I hit some glass and got a flat going about 25 mph and thought, ugh!!!  However, I was right at 6 hours so plenty of time to fix the flat, still do my 2 miles to the car and 20 min run...um...no.  I got that tire off quickly, lever to remove tire, took the tube out, saw the puncture, ran my finger along the inside like I was told, got the new tube in, used my cartridge and filled the tire, wow, I couldn't believe how well this was going...and I start to put the tire back on the bike and it's starting to leak...arrrgh...and then it totally deflates...I think I may have pinch flatted it or there was still some glass in there...cuz even with my second cartridge, same thing.  I wish I had more than one tube, I usually carry two but used one last fall and must've forgotten to replace it.  damn.  and why'd i use my second cartridge anyway without taking it apart again to figure it out...i could've maybe done the dollar bill trick?  i dunno...so anyhow, it was two miles of walking in the hot sun in bike shoes, the last mile of which was straight up a very steep hill.  To add insult to injury I got stung by a bee on my beehind on this trek and started laughing...it was rather humbling.  Legs do not like walking in bike shoes after traveling 98.2 miles, try 26.2 sweetheart...now move it! 

I was going to post this in my blog, but thought I'd share it with you all, my lovely MG, it has been so quiet over here this weekend!  I learned some lessons, bring two tubes and a pump...I was kind of afraid to blow the tube up a little bit to avoid the pinch flat because I wasn't sure if the cartridge would have enough air, with a pump I could have just easily done this.  Still not sure why my legs were giving up other than it was a new distance for me and it was over 6000ft of elevation...it turns out it was 95 degrees, not 80...though I had a ton of water and nutrition.  I learned that I can rebound with perseverance, and that bee stings really hurt!  But I lived to laugh about it and tell the tale.

No T run as I was officially running late for the dinner party (at our house!)...I did have time for an ice bath and then it was yummy bbq and fun with friends.  And then I slept for 9 hours!!! Quite a luxury!

Have a good one, everyone! 

Oh Kim, thanks for sharing your story with us! You have a great mental toughness to look at things with humor and the cup being "half full" not empty. Not only did you complete your solo century, you learned how your legs respond to the distance in hot conditions. I love how you kept your sense of humor with the bee sting on the behind.  Happy 4th and great job on your century!!

Ok!  You may have had a "few" issues, but you really worked through them well. Very proud of you on that tire (something I still need to work on), super excited that you hit 6000ft (that won't happen in IM WI) and even prouder of you that you worked through the bonk. NOW, it's time to really think about your fueling plan and enjoy the fact you did your first Century!  Power on!

Happy 4th of July everyone.  Sam and kids are driving over to aunt/uncle's house for cookout, I'm riding over.

Then we're coming back to celebrate the birth of our country by blowing up a small part of it (love that Simpsons quote) and having a few beers, always a good mix : )

great job kim.  mental f'ing toughness!!!  walking two miles in bike shoes had to have sucked!  awesome attitude!!!  wor teep!!!!!

fwiw, i carried two tubes and three co2 cartridges on all my training rides (all rides were solo) .  just 15 miles outside where i started was deliverance country.  i didn't want to be stuck and start to hear banjos.  i wore a bike jersey except for two or three rides to take advantage of the back pockets for my nutrition mix, another bottle and my phone in a sandwich bag.  

I'm so glad you're okay, Kim! That's a story you can draw strength from on race day. You toughed it out and made it home!!

Love the story Kim! That's a day to remember! :-)

Happy 4th of July Everyone! Keep your animals inside safe and sound! I probably will just hang outside on the street and watch the fireworks from the Strip. 

Linda--We live on lake Tomahawk in Minocqua which is about 3:15 north of Madison.  Much of the 3300 acres is either State owned land or State Forest which makes for views like the one I posted in my blog. Special place.

Kim--I was thinking more about your fueling and one thing you should take into consideration is taking in more calories with climbing.  You're expending more energy and need to compensate for it.    I read this a while back and thought it was useful.  Might also be worth doing a bike sweat test in various conditions.  I did that a while back and increased my H20/hour quite a bit.