Hurts so good!  Just a quick and dirty lifting session to get my muscles warmed up.  On Monday I'll start heavy lifting again.  It felt very good to lift, even though I could not put in the time that I would have liked.

My calves are still pretty sore from yesterday.  Running two days in a row is probably not a good idea for me at this point. 

It looks like it'll be pretty cold on Sunday morning.  I may regret going out on the SCT but it's the only time I can do it.

The biking was 10 min. warm-up and cool-down.  I was the only one to show this morning to run.  I guess the others figured that if Henry could not come, they did not need to either.  I decided to run the 5K race route.  My legs were still feeling pretty beat from yesterday so my time was not as good as I would have liked.  I guess I'm still not ready to run two days in a row.  I'm eager to get back in the water tomorrow.  I intend to get there early enough to get a lane in the big pool, rather than be relegated to the kiddie pool.

 I really need to get back in control of my diet.  I had been doing pretty well until mid-September when it went to pot.  I'm really going to try to get back on track for the rest of the month, especially since I will be unable to work out for 7-10 days at the end.

Yee-Hah!  I'm getting a trainer for Christmas!  I know that this news would not excite most people but I have been able to bike only once a week due to the fact that I can only work out in the morning on weekdays.  By getting a trainer I'll be able to bike at home while "watching" the kids (through judicious use of DVD's).  Since I will not be able to get a tri bike in the forseeable future I need to improve the engine and strengthen the connecting rods.

After yesterday's birthday cake-fest it felt really good to get out and run.  I did hills on the exercise bike first for 25 minutes.  Then I ran for a little over 4 miles.  I originally intended to go a mile or so but It felt so good to run.  The weather was great and there were surprisingly few people out running in the park.

I want to do the same testing that Meredith (lawyerchick) did but I don't know how much I'll put the results to use.  I am a bit conflicted about my workouts for triathlons.  I really enjoyed doing the triathlon and want to get better but I am afraid of getting frustrated by the workouts.  Not in terms of how often or gow hard I have to go, but in their structure.  So far I have really enjoyed working out.  I like running with Henry's crew even though it is not the kind of running I should be doing to prepare for a triathlon or to build my base.  I also like to go out and swim but not to do drills.  I enjoy going out and biking with other folks but not doing repeats and other drills.  But I do want to get faster.  So far I have kept up with working out mainly because I really enjoy doing it.  I'm afraid that if I start doing more structured workouts designed (correctly) to improve my swimming, biking, and running more efficiently that I will get bored or frustrated and will quit altogether.  I had 15 years of couch-potatoism before this year and it would be too easy to slide back down into that pit.

1:15pm  -  Wow!  My calves are feeling it today.  I don't know why but my calves have been giving me alot of trouble the past two weeks.  I'll try to stretch them out really well whenever I work out.  No, I did not adequately stretch after my bike/run today.

Henry can't make it tomorrow so I've been charged with leading the run crew.  I hope that I'm able to recover by tomorrow.  I'm thinking the short route through the park is in order.....

I finished the Emerald Pointe Triathlon in about 1:34.  I'll post a race report later but just wanted to put up a couple of thoughts:

It was great having people I knew there.  It would have very hard for me to keep pushing if I were not looking forward to seeing steamy, nealphelps, lawyerchick and NAMSC crew on the course.

Triathletes are really nice people.

For those who do half- and full- ironmans: HOLY CRAP!  I bow down before you in awe and admiration.

I'll definitely be doing this again!