Rich Miller's Group - FULL (Page 15)

Good Morning People!

One thing that I did this weekend for my tri was I put a landmark where my bike was stationed so I could find it easily.  I bought a tall, cheap, bright yellow tulip and looped it around the pole next to my bike.  I was able to find my bike easily...although my transition was s...l...o...w...because of my chatting issues!  This was such a big event with over 2600 participants, it helped me.  Some women used helium balloons, whirly-gigs, flags...anything that would stand out. 

I'm so excited for you ladies.  I'm ready to do another tri...NOW!!!  I'm soooo hooked!

Have a great day, everyone!

Angela

Way to get back in the game, Caru! I think the occasional splurge is good for you - you don't want to be a slave to your tri, right? As long as you keep on keeping on.....

I have Profile Design aero bars on my bike and I LOVE THEM!!! The arm pads fold up and in the center when you're not using them, so they don't get in the way of bike computers and such.  I have also added a profile design water bottle that fits in between them, which makes keeping hydrated very easy.  As I've mentioned before, I'm coordination-challenged and reaching down to my cages for drinks frequently wasn't working for me.  I kept dropping the bottle when I was trying to put it back in the cage!! Not so good during a race.  With the bottle between the bars, I keep a second one in my cages for a refill on the road, but that's the only time I have to mess with it.  Both the bars and the bottle were well worth the $$$.

So it's Tuesday again, which means a serious workout day for me.  I just got off of my bike and I'm cooling down/refueling before my swim in a little while.

Rich, a week or so ago, you said:

My first thought when I read this was "Ha! You're funny! Have you SEEN THAT HILL?!?!"  I mean we're talking about a 7% grade over 1/2 mile, here! But I decided that I would at least give it a try.  That was my plan when I went out today.  Unfortunately, due to morning meetings again, I had to postpone my bike ride until this afternoon and it is HOT out there, so I figured I'd go until I ran out of water and then come on home.

So my first time up the hill was pretty good.  At least until about 3/4 up.  So I'm cranking away, got my head down, riding pretty close to the curb and I see a stick lying against the curb.  As I get right on top of it, I realize it's not a stick - it's a 4-5 foot rattlesnake! I  almost pedalled my right foot down on it's head! He was just lying there on the side of the road, half in the grass, hanging out doing goodness knows what.  I got a pretty good adreneline rush to push me the rest of the way up the hill.  I think I surprised him as much as he surprised me, 'cause he didn't rattle or coil up or anything.  I thought for a minute that he might be dead.  So I checked him out again on the way down the hill - nope, not dead.  He was definitely moving into a more defensive position. Yikes!  Needless to say, I stayed quite a bit further from that curb the next time up the hill.

So the second time up the hill was okay as well, in terms of my legs.  The third time up the hill, I was thinking of you, Rich, and hoping you would understand that 8x up that hill was NOT happening today! By the fourth time up the hill (and yes, the snake was still there) I was out of water, out of leg power, and figured Rich was out of his mind, so I crawled my way on home. I did a 1/2 mile jog to loosen up the legs when I got home and then went inside to rehydrate and cool down.

I think my approach to repeats on that hill is going to be 1) go only in the mornings, though it is good for me to be getting acclimated to the heat - at least one of my upcoming races will be very warm indeed; and 2) add a repeat every 1-2 weeks until I get up to 8.  Right now I can do 4 maybe 5, but 8 would probably mean I'd have to call my hubby to come bring me home!

So, an interesting ride indeed.  I'll be hitting the pool soon - I hope you all are staying cool and having a good day!

Hey Rich, I posted my race report so you can look at my results.  My race pace for the bike according to Danskin was 17.4 mph.  I was really pleased with that time.  My next tri will be in Oct.  I haven't decided if I'm going to do the Benbrook (same course as May's tri) or the Longhorn Sprint (same course as Danskin)  Either way, I'll be able to compare my times.  I'll probably do a reverse tri in Sept too.  One of my goals will have to be to stop talking to everyone around me as I transition into the next event!  I just get so excited! My next race isn't until July 15, a 25K that starts at midnight!  So I have some great months of training ahead.

Dude...

Running a 192 mile relay is a helluvalot harder than one may think.

Days later I am STILL catching up on my sleep. It was absolute insanity, and I'm still trying to wrap my head around the dang thing for a fabulous race report.

Will I do it again? OH HELL YES.

If any of you fine folks have the opportunity to do a ridiculously long relay...do it. I haven't had that much fun in a really long time. "Fun" and "Exhausting" are the two best descriptors.

So yeah...I've done a crazy amount of running the past week...and...oh...absolutely zero swimming and biking. But I'm hitting the pool tomorrow...so that's all about to change.

And...I chopped my hair for Beautiful Lengths last night (similar to locks of love)...I seriously feel so much lighter! I think it makes me run that much faster. Woohoo!!   ...all sorts of fun details on ye olde blog.

I just wanted to pop in and let everyone know that a) I survived and b) I'm catching up...I was hoping to be on last week before the relay, but I had to cram 5 days worth of work into 3 in order to take off...let me tell ya, working 36+ hours in 3 days took its toll...I was delirious before the relay even began!!

Anyone want to give me an abridged version of what I missed? Okay....it's off to bed. I'll start reading all the good stuff I missed in the morning. I am seriously still pooped!!

Hey folks!  So I've been doing this 300cal/3 hours nutrition thing for two weeks now, and I've lost 5 lbs in 2 weeks!!! Hooray!!! I'm at a new low for the year!!! I'm so excited....can you tell? Five more pounds and I'll be under 170, which I haven't seen since I had my babies.  If I keep up this pace of weight loss, I could be there by July - too cool!! Just had to share....

Hi Barb...what a fantastic relay!  I can't wait to hear more.  Crazy!!!

Kat, super job with the weight loss!!!  So, when do you get to buy the new dress for the opera?  Fabulous!

Let's keep moving forward, group!  I love all this success.  It's amazing what we can do when we put our minds to it!  YIPPEE!

Kat....that is incredible!!!! What's your secret?!

I don't know if you caught the discussion a couple of weeks ago when I was so frustrated b/c I hadn't lost anything at all in so long.  A personal trainer told me to eat 300 cal every 3 hours on the nose.  The key isn't in what I eat, though making good choices is obviously better than making bad ones.  The key is eating small amounts every 3 hours consistently, six times a day, to get the metabolism running at high speed and keeping it there.  For the first few days I had a chronic case of the munchies, but after that I think my tummy and my brain got used to it and I've hardly been hungry since. I logged my food carefully for the first week until I got used to the correct portions and developed some meals/snacks that I can call on in a jiffy. I've been eating lots of fruit and veggies (you can make a pretty killer salad for 300 cals!), yogurt, protein bars, boiled eggs, cereal, and halves of things (half a bagel, half a sandwich, half a chicken breast etc.). If I know I'm going to be out and about, I pack a few things in a cooler or my purse to eat at the right time.  I've splurged a couple of times and made a meal out of ice cream, but that doesn't seem to affect it much, as long as I stay within 300 cal.  Pretty nifty!  Oh, and I'm drinking almost exclusively water.

And Derek - YOU ROCK!!! Those are some super fast times in the pool.  Fantastic work! Everyone else is going to have to watch for your wake in the tri on July 1!!!!