Harbins Park Ride

This past Saturday, I had a fantastic ride with my friend Karen. She led me on an adventure around the hills of Harbins. I have to admit, being a bit nervous but that quickly faded when we started the ride. Karen made me feel quite comfortable. Given my prior rides with TNT, I’d had a chance to practice shifting in preparation for hill climbing. I had a general idea. Karen confirmed when to shift so that I could actually pedal up 99% of the hills.  I was even comfortable during the instances when she’d ride ahead and I’d find myself on the road alone.  I told myself, this is how it will be on the Irongirl course. You won’t have anyone beside you to chat with so get used to staying focused and watching the road for rocks.  Luckily, we completed the ride without being chased by dogs. However, did go through a patch of vultures.  I was so happy that they didn’t try to attack me.  I think they were preoccupied by breakfast. 

23 miles, including an awesome hill at mile 22.  As I saw it on the horizon, all I could do was laugh and think REALLY, KAREN? REALLY? But I downshifted and said to myself, count to 100 and you’ll be at the top of the hill.  I did that and at #100, I looked up to see Karen’s smiling face waiting to greet me with a cheer and high five. 

What a fabulous way to start the day!

To tread or not to tread…

One of my goals is to know how to tread water before the Irongirl. My thought is, if necessary, I can tread to gather my bearings and look for buoys. Not sure if that will be needed but it seems a worthwhile goal. So, Tuesday, I found a youtube video with instructions, watched it a few times, then thought I should be able to do this after 2-3 weeks.  I went to the gym to practice. In shallow water, I practiced the sculling hand position. This doesn’t seem to bad. I then went to 7 ft, held the wall, and practiced first a flutter, then a breast stroke kick. Hhhhmmm, this might be a bit difficult. I spent thirty minutes alternating sculling, kicking, kicking, sculling. I then tried it a few times but couldn’t get the coordination. 

This is a start. I decided to swim a few laps before leaving. I’ll try again another day but I’m on my way…

Days when I don't feel like training

Warning - this post contains a bit of whine without cheese!

So, today is swim practice with a pre-swim, run form clinic.  I don't feel like going. My body is tired, running on fumes...I guess that's what happens when training ramps up.  Since 12pm, I've been trying to figure out an excuse to avoid going. I posted on facebook and of course, my dedicated friends offered encouraging words on why I should go.

I checked email and saw an article from Active Triathlete titled 'Get Excited about Transition Runs'.  I decided to read it thinking I definitely need to get excited about training and it did the trick.

Get excited about transition runs

Reminded me to visualize the benefit of going to training [consistency and pushing myself] and the use of visualization and smiling.  I'll try all of the above over the next hour and a half. I also thought, how in the world will I complete an Ironman if I can't will myself to a 2.5 hour practice session. 

Thanks for the encouragement.

LB: Brugge

We took a day trip Brugge.  I'd been here 12 years ago so this was a nice revisit. I thought of the movie starring Colin Ferrell and Brendan Gleason.  We took an hour long city tour and walked the city. The canals were quite nice.

During the walk, we saw The Lovers and Papgano statues. Beautiful.

Also I couldn'tbelieve it but there was a Pizza Hut restaurant on the square.

While in Brugge, I started getting a scratchy throat. That's not a good sign. I remember hoping it would not affect the trip.

Life Balance: London

I was so excited about going to London! This was my first time and there were so many things I wanted to see.  A highlight of london for me was Harrods. I couldn't believe the items for sale in the store. Also, the idea that people have the wealth that creates a need for a store like that boggles my mind.  It left me wanting to be rich. Wanting to know what makes a Prada bag or a Marc Jacobs dress so special.  The memorial to Princess Diana and Dodi Fayad was nice too.  

I also enjoyed the architecture of Big Ben, Westminster Abbey, London Bridge, Buckingham Palace, and walking through Kensington Park. They reminded me of English Literature class. I also enjoyed the British Museum.

What does Life Balance mean to you?

It's been a while since my last post.  I've been writing entries but haven't had the time to post them. My recent European vacation provided much needed downtime to relax, read, and eat!!  I included life balance in my blog because it is something I struggle with. My personality is one that juggles multiple projects but typically gives the highest priority 95% and then divides the remaining 5% amongst the remaining tasks. One of my goals for the next few decades is to balance my life more. To me this means to work hard but also play hard; to enjoy my friends and family; to allow myself hobbies but also take care of my household.

A recent test for me was the trip to Europe. I wanted to go badly but was worried that leaving so early in my Irongirl training would hurt my progress. I thought of it and decided to see what would happen if I accepted that I wouldn’t train in my normal manner and enjoyed the trip.  Over time, I accepted that not following my training plan wouldn’t be the end of the world.  I continued to walk and cycled whenever possible and enjoyed the trip.  The blog entries during this time are titled LB (life balance): city.

I hope you enjoy them.

LB: Amsterdam

Ooohh, my favorite placeso far. Amsterdam had a completely different enrgy to it. I think most people think of the seedy side of it (drugs &red light district) but that was not my impression. The fist thing I noticed was the number of bicycles.  Hundreds of them. Also they were being used for functional things general tranportation [groceries, babies, etc]. Not only workouts. I saw women in heel, boots, flats and noone wore helmets! Wht the heck is going on. That goes against everything I've learned so far. I  wanted to ride a bike.

The area in which we stayed reminded  me of Virginia Highlands. We walked alot and caught the tram as needed. Walked through the Vincent van Gogh museum and toured the canals while there.  I've posted a view from our hotel balcony and a bike deck at the Central train station.

 

 

So far, this is my favorite part of the trip.