Got Your Mojo WORKIN'! group - CLOSED (Page 136)

For 2011 to date, despite the injuries and June's collapse (six months):

Wow that is quite the increase 50% 100% and almost 200%. Impressive.

My Dad is first generation in Algeria. My grandmother moved there from Sicily. My grandfather is 1st or 2nd generation. On my Mom's side, she was born in Tunisia. My grandfather ran a lighthouse there for the army. They left Algeria with my oldest sister and suitcases. Moved to Canada, stayed there until they got too cold and then headed to California. My sister had a year of english in school (she was 11) so she was the interpreter. She went to look for jobs with my Dad. I couldn't imagine doing now what they did then. It's a different world! I learned to speak english in kinder. I remember having to stay in for recess to learn my vowels and the Pledge of Allegiance I could go on and on! My parents had to quit school when they were 10 and 12. My Dad to work when his Dad died and my Mom because it wasn't safe for little French girls to get too far from home with all the unrest. My Mom went back to school in California and got her high school diploma then went on to community college. She became an LVN (nurse) and then went back to get her RN. Can you tell I admire them both??? My Dad is going to be 84 next week and he was outworking my building my aviary. He rocks

Wow! REALLY impressive numbers!

It'll be a little smaller then the ones at the zoo! I will be able to walk into it though. I'll have to duck going in

Your bike rides sound like they have been adventures!

California might be trying to go broke but we sure have nice weather! I grew up in Southern Cal so I know Santa Monica well.

Happy Canada Day to you as well! We were in Vancouver one year on an overnight before taking a cruise to Alaska and our hotel has much evidence of some Canada Day celebrations

Good Morning All,

 I had another harrowing bike ride with the BikeRats.  I guess I am not ready for prime time.  It sounded like a good idea.  On Saturday they woud ride from Frederick to Gettysburg and back, about 67 miles.  Well the weather was fine and but that is a long way when the crowd is traveling at about 22 miles an hour.  And it is all uphill. Really it is!  Well they were reenacting the battle when we got there ( I wanted to be taken prisoner so I could rest for a while). It seems they had the wrong war going on for the Fourth of July but I did not mention that since they were a vrey serious bunch of guys.  We did stop at a McDonald's to get ice and water and there were Civil War soldiers sitting down having a Big Mac.  That seemed pretty strange.  Oh well.  We did make it back.   The fast people moved on and a friend and I finished the ride alone as fast as I could go (he is too polite to say otherwise).  I'm not sure I am getting to be a better biker but I sure am getting more humble.  They went out again yesterday and today but I stayed home.  Going for a run now.  I hate to even mention the fact that running is my limiter and if that is so I am probably in the wrong sport. But I'm going to stick it out since I woudl have t take up something like curling or chess.  Steve, you must know about curling. Do you have to be able to ride a bike fast?  I'm pretty sure chess does not involve anything too aerobic. 

Steve and George, I hope you are feeling better and back on track.  Happy Fourth to everyone.

Ellen

Steve,

Thanks for looking over my plan.  Yes I think you are on the right page.  I have been doing some modifications to it since I wanted to take advantage of riding with a seasoned group.  They will go out again on Monday night and fdo 30 miles at 15 mph. That I can handle.  So I try to get all the workouts in but not necessarily in the order given and not always their exact distances.

I am not sure about Fort Ritchie. It is so close (geographically) and seems like a good idea, but I think I should keep focusing on Nation's. I don't suppose doing an Olympic 1 month prior would hurt but I am thinking of volunteering and not racing. 

I still need to tell you about cadence. On the treadmill it is pretty close to 90 but I am not sure that translates to outside.  I have to check. 

Ellen

Steve,

I checked my cadence on the road and it is also 90.  That is my right foot strikes the ground 45 times in 30 seconds. 

You asked about staying in my comfort zone and I would say that I stay there about 90% of the time .  I slow down when I am breathing heavily or my heart rate gets to about 145.  It seems to almost be an unconcious thing, it just happens. I really have to concentrate to push harder.  That is why the track workouts with the Frederick Steeplechasers seemed like a good idea.  But then I started to bike on those nights.  Maybe I need more days in the week but that probably is not going to happen.  It that work thing, if only..;..

Hope your week is off to a good start.  Mine is since it is a holiday and I am going ot a picnic with my Morrocan quinuoa basil pesto salad that I made.  I'm supposed to bring a side dish so I randomly picked a salad from the Cooking Light Vegetarian Cookbook.  It sounded very adverturous so there you have it. 

I'll let you know if anyone actually eats it. 

Ellen

I finished the Possum Pedal in Graham Texas (West Texas). A very enjoyable little west Texas town and small town atmosphere. This ride used to be a staple on the North Texas Rally circuit but had been on hiatus for 20 years (came as a shock to me to realise I had been around cycling that long). For that reason and the somewhat and the questionable choice to have the even on Monday (July 4) vs Saturday or Sunday made for a fairly small turnout. I did chat with a lady who did Ironman Texas this year, didn't get her name. The route was fine, they went North to avoid Possum Kingdom lake and holiday traffic, this also reduced by a huge amount the climbing. So we ended up with some nice rolling terrain, nothing special. But it is pretty, lots of large rocks and rock faces,  cactus, oil rigs etc. The North bound loop also brought us back to town into a South Wind-oh well. We started and I sat in with the lead group-hard to avoid on a small ride, stayed with them out of town and maybe 7-8 more miles before letting that group go. I could have hung on a bit longer but wanted a strong finish and not trash myself early. The rest of the ride alternated between solo or small groups off and on, Ironman lady passed me in the first 20 also. I  was holding a 22 mph average for a while, then 19.9 until we began to work our way back South and East, and the averages dropped from there. That tailwind built a false confidence when you blow out of town at 27mph! Anyway I wasn't surprised by it, you take what the course gives you. I finished to a friendly reception and cold water at 3:25:xx around an 18mph average. The best part of the ride was feeling good at the end, I felt like I could run without much difficulty, if I wanted to, which I didn't.

The night before I hooked up with an aviation friend from this town who was doing a short route with his wife on their hybrids. I had flown with him some and had been out here before to their airport, that was fun

At noon a double amputee parachutist, a former member of The Army Black Knights parachute team jumped right into the town square with a giant US flag on his prosthetic leg so I got to watch that and stayed for the posting of the colors and National Anthem, headed back to camp for a shower, broke camp and came home.

Hey guys...not even gonna attempt to catch up on all the posts. Sorry I've been MIA. I had planned to do an olympic in August, but in all likelihood, will scrap it and do the sprint. My volume has been lacking and I'm just not feeling 'strong' in my aerobic or physical abilitities. I just started some chiro/rehab on my right shoulder which has been bugging me for about 2 months. It never really bothered me with triathlon...maybe a bit with weight lifting but then last week, during a swim, it acted up. A little impingement going on.

Anyhow... you all look to be doing awesome! And great to see folks reach their goals and more importantly, having fun out there!