My New Bike

Wednesdays are my new biking days! Wednesday morning I met Jen Anderson and Jackie for a road bike ride. We rode about 14 miles along the river trail. The weather is perfect, there are few people on the trail, and there is no wind. I love it!

Wednesday afternoon I bought a new mountain bike after many hours of research by my wonderful husband Skyler. I got a Trek fuel EX 5.5. It is black and pink. Wednesday night I rode my first ride on it. It was a lot of fun! We rode for about two hours in Ladera Ranch.
Tonight Skyler and I are leaving for Puerto Rico and a Caribbean Cruise. I am hoping to be able to run and swim for more than 50% of the days that I am gone. It is hard to go on vacation and not want to work out. I am so excited to go!

Outside Swim

I really like swimming at the 24 Hour Fitness in Anaheim Hills because their pool is outdoors. I like feeling the heat of the sun while swimming. Unfortunately, the length of this pool is a little bit longer than the pool at my gym, so it is hard to compare times. I swam about 80 laps in 38 minutes. At my gym, it would take about 35 minutes. Oh well. It was a good swim. Last week was mostly a recovery week, but this week I am back on track. Tonight swimming!

First Mountain Bike Ride!

About a month ago I attended a mountain bike clinic with my friend Carrie. Carrie is a veteran mountain biker, but had taken a few months off to have a baby. Every Wednesday there is a women's mountain bike group that goes to different trails around Orange County. The leader, Rich shows us technique and helps us out.Last night I did my first mountain bike ride since the clinic. We went to Aliso Canyon. We rode switchbacks, big hills, and through streams. It was a lot of fun! It was good practice for me so I am not so nervous. Downhill seems to be me biggest fear (along with going over my handlebars), but I did pretty decent.
Our biggest climb was a mountain called Cholla (pronounced Choy-ya, not Cho-la). I did pretty good with the climb, but I was definitely out of breath at the top. The downhill wasn't as bad as I thought it would be, but I was still a little nervous. Overall, I had fun and can't wait to go next week. First, I need a new bike....

Morning Ride

I don't ever train before work because I don't feel like I have the time to do that, but this morning my life was changed. I did a road bike ride at 6:30am! I went with two other girls, one girl (Jaci) did the Camp Pendleton Tri with me, and the other girl (Jen) is the wife of a guy (Donny) who did the Tri also. We did a nice 12 mile ride on the river trail. I got back with just barely enough time to just in the shower and drive to work. The only bummer is that I won't have time to read the paper in the morning, but I can do that at lunch. We are going to make our ride a weekly event. Next Wednesday we are meeting at 6:00. Maybe I will ride my bike over to the meeting spot.

Tonight I am doing a mountain bike ride with Carrie. This will be my first real ride. I don't have a bike yet, so Carrie is letting me borrow one. It should be fun!

I am AWESOME!

Saturday Skyler and I competed in the Camp Pendleton Olympic Triathlon. My goal was three hours, five minutes. I beat that goal and more! I finished in two hours, 48 minutes, and 50 seconds! Skyler finished in two hours, 43 minutes, and 7 seconds. I was only 6 minutes behind him. And, I was actually faster than him in the swim and run. I am so excited! I posted pictures and details on my personal blog. We both did so great and I am proud of us! Our times are posted here.

This next week I am going to take it very easy because I am somewhat sore. I might do a light swim tomorrow night. Skyler is gone at a conference in Miami so he will be taking the week off also.

Congrats to us!

Catch-up

Thursday night I ended up going on my own bike ride. I did the Weir Canyon ride and my time was decent. I don't remember what it was. I think my time there was 31 or 32. It was a good ride.

Friday night Skyler and I went on a hill climb bike ride. It was about 1 hour 25 minutes. We rode a lot of hills. About 17 miles.

Saturday morning I ran four miles, the longest I have ran in a long time. My time was about 33 minutes. It was a nice run outside. I miss running so much! I wish I could do it every day.

Today I swam 80 laps in 35:04 minutes. Good time! Then I ran 2.1 miles. My left shin was feeling a little bit weird and I didn't want to push it in case it is shin splints again. I am cursed with shin splints and it sucks. I just want to run for miles and miles, but I fear that I only have a few more good years of running left.

I can't believe that our race is in five days. Skyler and I talked about our goals for the race. He wants to finish in 2:45. My goal is 3:08. Swim in 35 minutes, T1 four minutes, Bike in 90 minutes, T2 four minutes, Run in 55 minutes. I can do it!

Bad Luck Left Leg

My left leg is feeling pretty bad. I don't know what the rest of my body has against it, but my body sure doesn't like it. Tuesday night Skyler and I went on a short road bike ride and while getting ready to take off, I fell and my bike fell on top of me. I took my large scab right off my left knee and it opened back up. Blood was dripping all over the place. It was pretty embarrassing because I was still clipped in. Whatever! My leg better heal soon. Here is my week training so far:

Monday- I swam and I already wrote about it.
Tuesday- I did a 45 minute ride with Skyler. It was pretty moderate, not as good of a workout as I would have like.
Wednesday- I swam 80 laps in 34:57 minutes. Fastest time yet, about 10 seconds faster than my previous fastest time. Then, I ran 3 miles in 24:39 minutes. I felt like I had lead weights on my legs. I was definitely under-nourished.
Tonight- I will be going to my spin class. I will probably do 30 minutes of cardio before.

Am I Dedicated?

This weekend we went to Lake Mead with Skyler's family. It was a lot of fun but it left me with only two training days last week. I haven't done that poorly in a long time. I did do some swimming with Skyler at the lake but it wasn't anything spectacular. If I was really dedicated I would have been up an hour earlier than everyone else to go running. Will I be ready for my first Olympic distance race next week? I hope so.

This morning I went into work late so I would have time to go to the gym. I swam 82 laps (oops, lost count) in 36:17 minutes. Average time. I am going to see my nephew tonight so I won't have time to do anything else today. This should be my hardest week of the past few months and I fear that I will have a hard time finding time to train. We have a lot of family in town and other things going on. I want to do well so I need to sacrifice sleep and get my training in. Good luck to me! 12 more days!

Go me!

I have had two good training session this week. Monday I swam 100 laps! Farthest I have ever swam in my life! I timed my swim as follows: 64 laps 28:00 minutes, 80 laps 35:07 minutes, 96 laps 42:14 minutes. I like my times. I should probably spend one day a week working on my sprints and doing drills. I would really like for someone who is good at swimming to coach me for free at my scheduled swim times. Yeah right!

Tuesday was long. I started off my running 3 miles in 23:45 minutes. Then I did the stairmaster for 16 minutes. Then I did some weights and lunges for about 20 minutes. Last, I went to my yoga class. I feel sore today so that is good.

Not sure what I will do tonight. My new plan has been to ride on Wednesday nights, but I have an eye doctor appointment at 4:45. It depends on how long that takes. If I can leave before 6:00 then I will ride, otherwise I will swim. I am hoping to get a gym session in tomorrow before we leave for the lake. Then I will be wakesurfing all weekend long!