Stay Motivated

So my resolution this year was to stay motivated. And I guess since the year is half over, time to review how that has gone. In some things I have definitely done so, and in others, not so much. My main goal this year was to buy a condo in downtown Minny. Well that is definitely out the window now. My other goal was to upgrade to captain at Pinnacle. Yeah, don't work there anymore. Blessing, I know.

But one of my goals was to really manage my weight. Not just lose the weight I had put on, but manage it through proper eating, exercise, and whatnot. I began the month of January just starting to date Theresa and since she is like Ms. Super Athlete I wanted to be in shape for her so she wouldn't dump my fat ass. Couple that with a trip to Hawaii where we were competing against each other for the best beach bod and the month of January turned out pretty good for me.

In February and March I really began to see change, and have other people notice the change as well. Gray pointed out that I was now ripped, my mom said I needed to gain weight, and Theresa was very proud of me. I was even talking about doing a tri in 2009. I can attribute most of it to hard work and cutting out the booze. I also ran my first 5K, which was huge for me.

Late April saw a setback. With the job situation and having me feeling like I just got fucked in the ass, I slid a bit. My exercise was lacking and my eating tuned to hell. I noticed that I could not see the outline of my stomach muscles anymore and I definitely had a gut going again. Sure, my arms were ripped and my legs looked good, but what use did it have? I was depressed, stressed, and sad.

However, things turned around pretty quickly. I got hired by a new airline and immediately felt better about myself. I began working hard again at the gym and in my workouts. My running has improved steadily, my cycling, which sucked wrinkly ball sack at first, is getting better, and I still feel like a natural in the pool. Last week, I looked at myself in the mirror and noticed my stomach muscles again. Honestly, today, I feel the best I have felt since high school. It's weird, but awesome at the same time.

I am still motivated to do better in my 5K's this summer, still motivated to maintain my weight, and motivated to begin my triathalon training for next year. I went to the gym tonight with the girlfriend to lift some weights. We hit a little of everything. Leg presses, calf raises, her situp dealies, planks, shoulder presses, and curls.

I have to stay motivated for ground school as well. But with my brain feeling better than it has in a long time, I think I will do well for the rest of the year in terms of my motivation goal.

Lifting and a Possible New Change

Was super lazy today (seriously) so didn't work out until Brandon got back from ground school. Then, it was waiting for dinner (worst. bratwursts. ever.) then waiting a little bit for dinner to digest before hitting the gym for a quick lifting session.

If you've been reading the old bloggy-poo, you'd know that I haven't lifted in a few days which is BAD. I know while I'm currently tri training I probably won't be lifting four or five days a week like I was a couple summers ago, but I'd at least like to lift twice a week.

Anyway, I/we lifted today. Decline leg presses, calf raises, crazy weighted sit-up thingys on the decline bench thingy (i'm so technical), planks, shoulder presses and bicep curls. My arms were a bit sore ... but I also swam yesterday so I blame some fatigue on that. In any case, the workout felt unsatisfying to me. I don't know ... but if I do legs and I can walk up the stairs to the exit without feeling any soreness, I don't feel like I lifted well enough.

In any case, the ... two? maybe? people who read this will see a change or two in store like I alluded to yesterday. I want to post about my fitness inspirations, my history, my failed and successful experiments and what I have (or haven't) learned from them. Brandon is totally on board with me here and may be doing the same thing, so yay. :)




Besides, I know how a straight workout blog can get boring (even though i feel like a few of our entries have been quite entertaining - particularly the stadium stampede ones) and, if people do stumble on over here, I'd rather have some more interesting crap for them to read. That, and I am a journalist, so I may as well utilize the ol' writing skills I supposedly have.

Back at It

Been bad about the whole working out thing lately. To be fair, Friday was mostly an off day with some throwing and batting softballs in the park with the boy (along with playing like a kid on the playground!). But yesterday ... I have absolutely no excuse for yesterday. Brandon squashed in a run. I was going to run after dinner while he was at work but then he wasn't needed at the bar so he came back home.

Then the plan was for him to slowly pedal along while I ran. We were going to squish it in before dinner but didn't and then we were way too lazy to do so after. Best laid plans, man, best laid plans.

ANYWAY, I wasn't going to go a whole three days with not working out so since I'm at the end of the monthly evil (new name: vagalanche. thanks, brent and mike!), I decided it wouldn't kill me to get back in the pool, given that I haven't swam in a while. I hopped in and started swimming away ... wondering how it was going to go. The first 100m went well, so I decided to make it a long swim ...

... a plan I almost shitcanned a few hundred meters later. I almost stopped at 400m ... and 600m ... and 750m ... and 800m ... before finally making it to 900m and saying "ah hell, I'm almost there" and pushed it to 1000m total. Continuous. Did it in an estimated 25 minutes, too, which ain't bad. I think. I'm no Michael Phelps (or, more aptly, amanda beard), but it'll do for me for now.

In other news, I can fit into a few of my shorts again - yay! A few pairs get up over the thighs and butt before becoming a little too squishy for comfort in the waist which sucks. Oh well, it's Colorado and depending on how the weather goes I can wear shorts in December, so I'm not that concerned. Right now, I have a few shorts options AND, MORE IMPORTANTLY, I'm sneaking up on that tri (35 days!) so I'm concerned about that instead since I'm so chopping that 17:22 off my time.

Given that I've been reading a lot of health/fitness/body image blogs, we can say that I may be getting inspired to do a few entries that may deviate from just the simple "oh look I ran today. go me" entries I've been doing lately (or, y'know, since this thing started). I'll discuss it with the boyfriend and see if he's cool with it since it technically his blog too and all.

A goal achieved...

After a much deserved day off, I left the girlfriend at home and went out on the same run I did last Sunday.

Again, no real hurry, just wanted to run slow and keep building up the endurance. Today it was 3.73 miles in 39:19. Not too bad. Better than last time by over a minute per mile. And I really wasn't pushing myself crazy like either...which is good.

I also achieved a goal of running 20 miles in the month of June. I will set another goal for July...still TBD

A quick run followed by tears

A free skate got our legs moving in the early afternoon.

After dinner yesterday, we wanted to squeeze in a quick run before we hit downtown for Paul Van Dyk. The problem was, we ran WAY too quickly after dinner. I ended up doing 1.38 miles in 12:16, but I felt like crap throughout the run and ended up collapsing on the other side of Theresa's house in tears.

Then last night I hammer punched a few people, which felt good.

Quick Bloggity Blog

Not much time to write, so I'll just quick blog.

Did a free skate earlier today to shake out some of the leg rust ... which was amplified yesterday while climbing stairs to attractions at Elitch Gardens ... well, that and attempting to swim in the stupid wave pool.

Then, (way too soon) after dinner, we decided to do a quick run. For me: 1.38 miles in 12:25 (9:07 mile). Not bad, not great, don't care, felt like poo. Stupid food.

Now, off to finish getting ready to go dance the night away. Yay!





... this blog was stupid, I know.

Two blogs, one person

Rode 30 some miles yesterday. See gf's blog for more details.

Played hockey tonight. Scored one goal on about 22 shots. Playing posts, still...boo.

Plus green sock man was scary.

The end.

Hockey Blog

This is my hockey blog
It isn't very long
SO DEAL WITH IT!

*ahem*

Played hockey for the first time in three months. Felt like puking thanks to (what i presume to be) a bad batch of tuna salad. Played like poo. Tired and curling up into fetal position now.

The Best Laid Plans ...

Yeeeah, didn't work out yesterday - slept in late, had to work ... boo.

So, I guess to make up for it, the boy and I decided to go on a mega bike ride - bike from the house to the Platte River Trail to downtown, Light Rail it back down this way and then bike home from the Light Rail station.

Yeah. Not smart.

My brother said it would only be like eight miles to the Platte River Trail. Yeah, right. Try 11.55mi. That stretch wasn't too bad except for the time that my clipped-out foot slipped on a piece of cardboard taking me down with the bike. BOO. A little sore, but I kept going.

Finally got to the damn Platte River Trail already feeling a little shitty but pedaled on. Too bad about three miles into it, with Brandon feeling fine (yay him!), I had an asthma attack and had to stop for a while. From then on, I had to stop about every five miles or so to get my breathing okay. The stupid headwind didn't help, though.

Got downtown ... got turned around on how to get to the Light Rail ... but finally made it to Union Station 29.7 miles later and on the train with tickets (which was good, since some guy got on halfway home to check them) with about 30 seconds to spare.

Get to the end of the line near my house ... hop back on the bikes realizing our legs are DEAD and we need food like whoa and somehow struggle the last 3.43 miles in 18:44. So, overall, we did 33.13 miles in 2:34:11.

And my right hand is still weird and can't type. I've seriously taken 20 minutes to type this entry to keep correcting typos.

So to sum up: cycling 33 miles good. Doing it after not working out a day bad. Doing it in general may just be bad.

Building up endurance

Time to start longer runs and make a 5K seem easy.

I had girlfriend plot out a 4 mile course for me (3.6, could extend if I desired) and I left the house with the anticipation of just finishing the run. Not shooting for a time goal or anything like that.

I completed the run and remapped it to 3.73. Not too shabby. I felt good throughout the whole thing. Instead of pushing my time, I am now going to just keep running 4 miles, push it up to 5 or more, and make these 5K's a breeze.

Like a Fishy (fishyfishyfishyfishy)

Today was looking to be a lazy day sampling food, but since we had already taken two days off this week, it was off to the gym for a late swim session.

If I felt it, I decided I was just going to go for an endurance swim - swim slowly but steadily for as long as I could. So, I hopped in a wonderfully cool pool (80 degrees!) and started off breaststroking away. I felt like I was going reeeeally slowly, but I kept at it and kept at it and kept at it. At 800m (about tri length), I glanced at the clock and realized I was at about 20 minutes which is good ... but needs to be faster.

In any case, I swam a total of 1100m in about 26 or 28 minutes (i forget). I probably could have gone a little further, but I know it was good I didn't because when I finally stopped, I realized how sore my head was thanks to my swim cap and new goggles squooshing my head. Ow.

Tomorrow will be either running or biking or both (but hopefully biking fo' sho'.).

Working off Greek food. Opa!

After a day of sampling food from local restaurants (go chocolate covered strawberries) and Greek food at Greek Fest, we went to the gym for a swimming session.

Since I am "training" for a tri next year (official training will start sometime after the new year) I want to get into a rhythm of swimming, biking, and running. No goals right now, in terms of distance or time, except for running, since I want to do well in the 5K's this year. That said, I swam 800 meters tonight. 650 were crawl and 150 were with a kickboard. I only swam two laps at a time with the kickboard.

Tomorrow I'm pushing a run to 4 miles. Hopefully my haggard carcass won't end up on the side of the road dead.

To the Gym...

Back to the gym after a day off...

I have decided after running in the last two 5K's that I need to build up my endurance. Sure, I can run 5K's, but the problem is I MAY have peaked...I don't think so...but it's not getting easier. So endurance is now the key. That being said, I calibrated my Nike+ and started off with the 2-3 treadmill workout.

The gym was hot though, and I really didn't feel like going nuts, so T and I only did 20 minutes. I'm going to shoot for a 4 mile run on Sunday while girlfriend is at work. After we did our 20 minute workout, we did her situp dealies and then crab walked.

Still good to work out.

Gym Day

After being bad and taking yesterday off, we went back to the gym today to work out. It's toasty out, so we figured we'd do the treadmill sprint workout.

I started off with a seven minute warm-up on the recumbent bike then stretched out a little ... but probably not as much as I should have. In any case, I just decided to do 20 minutes of the 2/3 cycle, walking 2:00 at 3.5mph and then running 3:00 at 6.0mph. During the final run, I did the first half of it at 6.5mph, bumped it to 7.0mph at 18:30, 7.5mph at 19:00 and finally, 8.0mph at 19:30 to finish it off.

After that, we did a little bit of core - doing the decline bench ball crunch thingy, I did a few supermans and ball crunches and then we finished up with some ball crab walk thingys.

I may work out later, but I'm pretty sure I won't ...

4th 5K of the Season

Alright, another 5K under the belt. Summer Solstice 2008. It was hot out and DH's were EVERYWHERE, but for whatever reason I was feeling ok.

The course was flat, but I started off way too fast. I looked at the Nike+ data and I determined my starting pace is way too strong. I need to slow it down, not worry if people pass me, and keep it steady so that mile two is not such a bitch. Which it was tonight. I got to mile one feeling pretty good but after that I just bricked and slowed way the fuck down. Frustrated beyond belief.

Ah well, I can contribute SOME of the time to the heat.

30:04. Terrible. Frustrated.

5K #4 of the Season

Did the Summer Solstice Race again this year ... it was hot as balls, but still 10 degrees cooler than last year. They did a different course this year - looped twice (poopier than last year ... i don't like races that basically make you do laps) before finishing.

I felt kinda crappy through most of it and even had to walk with about .6 (or so) miles to go. I didn't walk much, but enough to slow my breathing down. Still ended up having one hell of an asthma attack at the end, but eh.

I think I did it in just under 30 minutes, but am not entirely sure ... will find that out later and edit accordingly.

*edits*

Gay piece of shit was done in 31:10 ... averaging just a tad over 10 minutes per mile. BOO.

Stupid goggles

After a wrinkly ball sack of a 5K (stupid Stadium Stampede) yesterday we hit 24 for some lifting and some swimming. Given that we are running another 5K on Wedneday (go us) we are trying to take it light over these next two days.

Lifted quickly. Shoulder presses, dumbbell rows, incline curls, lat pull down, and seated row. Then off to the pool.

My goggles which are new sucked rhino cock, so I only squeezed in 200 meters, which doesn't exactly thrill this guy, but whatever. I'll get some better goggles and take these pieces of shit back.

Mountains tomorrow.

Lift and Swim

Just a quick post out of me tonight ...

Felt okay today after Sunday's 5K but still wanted to get in a workout, so Brandon and I went on over to 24 to lift and swim. Since we want to preserve our legs for Wednesday's race, we decided we'd just lift upper body. So, a few shoulder presses, rows, barbell curls, lat pulldowns and seated rows later, it was off to the pool.

Didn't feel all that great doing my first 100m, so I decided to do my sprint workout (even though i don't swim it all that fast) of 4x100m, 4x50m and 4x25m. However, I did actually sprint those last 25m's, doing the final one in 27 seconds. Okay, so the USOC won't be calling me for a Beijing replacement any time soon, but it works for me.

"Rest" day tomorrow and then 5K on Wednesday!

3rd 5K of the Season

Stadium Stampede. Seriously, sounds like a rodeo convention. Well, that's what T and I did today, in our 3rd 5K of the season. It's kind of fun to pay to run (ok not really) but with T training for her triathalon and me being a competitive hooker, it's a fun challenge to race against other people.

Today we knew it was going to be hot. And it was. Seriously, sweat was dripping down my balls (wrinkly ball sack) and I felt not nearly hydrated enough. But armed with Nike+ and motivation, we started the race.

Started off and felt ok. Not great, like I felt in the Rockies 5K, but decent enough. The first mile came up pretty quick and I was happy about that. However, the next mile draaaaaaaaaaaaaged on. I kept looking for the 2nd mile sign, but it was nowhere to be found. I felt my pace dropping too. Plus, this course just sucked ball hair. It wasn't an interesting course like the Cherry Creek Sneak or the Rockies Run for the Hobos. No, this made you run along the Platte River, which is where the Rockies got inspiration for their 5K. I saw more than one invalid along the course, and the Platte River kind of smells. I mean, it was a flat course, don't get me wrong, but still.

Not only did I have to deal with the lousy course, but seriously, I'm getting tired of people running with their strollers. Seriously, do you need to drag along little baby junior son of a bitch to your run? Have you ever heard of a fucking babysitter?

My time chip said I did it in 30:08. Now, Nike+ ended just prior to reaching the stadium and said I did it in 26:53. As the timing chip computer registry dealie was not at the actual start of the race, but at where the finish line was, which was a difference of about .4 miles, that would make sense as to the time difference. I dunno.

Another 5K on Wednesday. Going to hopefully do even better and DAMMIT, FEED US BAGELS AND BANANAS AT THE END OF A RACE!!!!!

5K #3 of the Season

To be edited later. Suckers.

*later passes ...*

Today was 5K #3 of the season (if you couldn't - or didn't - read the title) and it was a shitty race that we shall not be repeating next year. Stadium Stampede? Go screw yourself.

Anyway, we signed up for this 5K that started at Invesco Field at Mile High (new broncos stadium) and were excited to hear it had timing chips ... but the retarded thing about the race was that the start line and the mats for the chips were at least a good tenth of a mile from each other. Does this make sense? No.

The course first looped around the stadium back toward the start and I thought, "if this gay-ass race just loops around the stadium 323857209847 times, I'm quitting right now." Luckily, it didn't, and it went along the Platte River trail* down a bit then looped back. First mile wasn't bad ... mile two, however, I swear was longer than a mile. Kept running ... and running ... and wondered where the stupid marker was ... and then finally saw it.

Mile three was also probably a bit longer than a mile too - especially according to Brandon's Nike+ thing (see his entry). This race was also stupid like the Rockies' one where you think you're nearing the end, but no! Detour inside of stadium ... at least you didn't see the finish line when you detoured. This one wasn't quite as cool, though, since we were still running on crappy, crappy pavement instead of the nice cushy warning track of Coors Field. By the time Brandon got in the stadium, Nike+ said his race was over. Stadium Stampede, however, said otherwise. Again - does this make sense? Not a chance.

In any case, I supposedly finished with a time of 32:49 ... a whole two minutes faster than my last 5K and, with 10:27 splits, a whole minute slower per mile than my run yesterday. Retarded, I know.

Plus, the post-race food sucked wrinkly ballsack. Hot dogs, apples, cinnamon rolls and ice cream sandwiches (plus nasty granola bars)? Where are my bananas and bagels? Fuckers. The only good thing about this race was the free massages afterwards ... which most races have but most other races have more people so it's not worth waiting for the massage.

In closing, fuck you, Stadium Stampede. Fuck you and your shitty t-shirts, your stupid course, your hot-ass weather (okay, not your fault, but still, man) and your crappy sense of mileage.



*See entry from a few days ago regarding the bike ride Brandon and I did. If we had kept going, we would have ended up along this same path.

two workouts, one entry

Yesterday, girlfriend and I biked 28 miles along a new trail. Ok, so I'm not in the greatest biking shape yet, but still, biking 28 miles? Impressive.

Today we did just a small run of 1.41 miles. I did it in 11:58 seconds. Not too bad.

5K tomorrow.

Quick Run

Neglected to run as intended last night due to a very large dinner. But, since we wanted to get in another short run before the 5K tomorrow, we decided to do one this morning before Brandon had to go bartend. We did a short (but still moderately difficult thanks to hills), 1.37 mile loop. I think it was too soon after I ate (only 40 minutes!) and my legs were a bit dead, but I apparently squeaked it out in 9:27.88 ... which I so don't believe. Oh well.

5K #3 of the season coming up tomorrow. Until then ...

Back to the Platte River Trail

Baby Dino has been feeling down about his workouts lately - especially his cycling - so we took things to an easier trail - the Platte River trail that I did with my brother a few weeks back.

Getting there was interesting - fitting both our bikes in Mom's car was a virtual puzzle, but we got it figured out.

28.29 miles and 1:45:56 (not including water and gatorade stops) later, we were finished. I think we shouldn't have done so much since Brandon is still getting his cycling legs back and even mine were burning for a good chunk of the return ride. Still, it was good to get a long ride that was mostly flat under our belts.

I did kick it up for the last mile, pushing the gears so my speed was somewhere around 19 mph. My overall average speed was 16.02 mph (need that faster!) and average cadence was 77 - a little lower than I'd like, but I'm wondering if it takes into account the stretches where I don't pedal and my cadence goes down to zero. Because, if that's counted, it should be higher. Bitches.

Gym and pool

Back to 24 for some lifting and swimming. Mostly a light lifting day, since we've taken two weeks off from it (blah, stupid wrist).

Did bench, tri's, and then some lunges and wall sits. Finished it up with Theresa's sit up dealies that she likes. I like them too, it really works the abs and core (plus we chased away the dirty hookers next to us).

Then swam. It didn't go well. I have 0 confidence in myself.

Swimmity Swimmity Swim

Back to the gym for a light lifting and not-so-light swimming day after an extremely relaxing and lazy day - a day I think both of us needed in some respects.

Since neither of us have lifted in quite some time, we took it "easy" (in that we didn't lift much, but what we did lift, we lifted well). Started off with some bench presses and moved on to lying tricep extensions for the upper body. Moved in to the gym for some lunges (lunged length-wise across the basketball court!), a quick :30 wall sit and 30 body weight squats - jumping up with the last five. Then, to finish off, some core - the medicine ball declined ab thingys (so don't know the name of those). We were going to do some lat pulldowns, but one was being used and the other was being weird so we said, "screw it," and went off to the pool.

We had to wait for a lane since two were being used by legit swimmers and the other by two stupid women just yammering away while walking their laps. Still, we eventually got a lane (and then two!) and did our thing. I started off swimming for as long as I could ... which ended up being 500 meters. My body probably could have gone a little longer, but my goggles fogged up to the point where I couldn't see out of them anymore. Oops. Took a short break, then finished up with 250 meters for a total of 750m.

Tomorrow will hopefully (*crosses fingers*) be a bike AND run day. Gotta prepare for that 5K on Sunday!

Damned Asthma

Ran today for the first time in a while. Brandon thinks I ran really well, but honestly, I don't think I did. Depending on who you talk to in terms of distance/time, I either ran a 9:14 mile (ha) or a 10:04 mile (more likely). Brandon thinks we did 2.32 miles; I say he may have done that but I think I did 2.11 miles. Eh, who knows.

Either way, I felt like I was overheating after a while and had a few asthma attacks. Boo. Really hoping I get better at this running thing soon ...

A workout I felt good about???

A nice day to do some running. Temps in the 60's, a little breezy, but sunny. With a 5K coming up on Sunday, we are trying to make sure we are ready for it.

After some stretching, we took off on a running path we have gone on before. I was really feeling like I had a good pace going and one thing I didn't do today that I have been doing before is checking the iPod for my progress. I just kept running.

Made it home running 2.32 miles in 20 minutes 2 seconds, for 8:36 per mile. Looking forward to the 5K this weekend.

Jesus Christ...shit...

Ran yesterday but did shitty...don't ask...

Today we swam. 4x100, followed by 4x50's, followed by 4x25's. We sprinted the 25's. I'm so out of shape still it's ridiculous. I mean, if I spend some adequate time in the pool, I'll be fine, but as of now, I feel like garbage. I was out of breath pretty easily and my breaststroke is crappy. I am ok with the crawl but would like to step it up.

Run hopefully tomorrow and lift. Need to. A week off has killed me. And made me feel very bad about myself.

Back in the Pool

After taking a ridiculous amount of time off and losing basically all my endurance, I worked out again and got back in the pool for the first time in two weeks. I was planning on just seeing how long I could go but after about 60m, I realized that wasn't happening, so I just decided to do a "sprint" workout. Therefore, did 4x100m, 4x50m and 4x25m, all breaststroke. Added in another 50m, half backstroke and half crawl.

After that, got some stroke help from Brandon and chilled in the hot tub a little.

Will hopefully run tomorrow, but I got a bad blister on top of my left big toe while shakin' my groove thang on Saturday night, so we'll see ... :(

I'm mediocre at cycling

Went cycling again yesterday with the girl, but didn't do too well again. I am struggling at this biking thing, which is frustrating beyond belief right now. I am trying to get better and hopefully will in time.

Late Bike Post

Went on another bike ride yesterday that I obviously forgot to blog about. Did the same route as last Sunday but went two exits further on the 470 trail. Felt okay except coming back - big hills and the wind is constantly pushing you. Overall, I did a little over 14 miles in a little over an hour ... which is slower than I need to be going for the tri. Granted, it was a hilly course with a lot of wind resistance, but still. Blah.

Running Frustrations

Fucking blogger with their fucking errors deleting my entry as I try to post it ...

Fuck it, I'll screw what I wrote and do the short bulletpoint version of things:

- good, cool conditions tonight for a run
- second half, felt really good and really quick
- did 1.36 miles ... in just over 13 minutes
- that, my friends, equals a 10-minute mile ...
- ... which means that I'm not really fucking improving which is pissing me right the fuck off.

First exercise since the accident

Took the last two days off due to the fact I am STILL bruised and battered from that cycling accident I had the other day. Went for a quick run tonight, just something to get the blood flowing.

Felt great out of the gate, but came up limping about .7 into the run and decided to hold up a bit and walk. Pushed T ahead of me and after walking a bit, resumed the workout. I felt good on the 2nd half of it.

Ran a total of 1.37 in 11:28.

Not too bad.

A late blog entry from Sunday

Sunday we went cycling. I collided with another cyclist. I am bruised and banged up.

Back on the Bike

Hopped on the bike for a ride with the boy today, doing the 470 trail again. I really hate that ride due to all the hills - I like flat, yo. In any case, did 7.99mi in 37:19 for a whopping 12.85 mph. I did get myself up to 31.2 mph on one hill, so go me! Probably could have pushed myself a little quicker, but decided not to.

Cadence today was pretty crappy, averaging only a 71. I wonder if that's in part due to hills where I'm going down but not pedaling ... Still, I need about 80 (and 90, acc. to this one tri training book i picked up), so that's got to improve a lot.

Today was a tough day for my baby dino as he ended up colliding with another rider. :( He now has a lumpy chin, scrapes up and down his left arm and leg and a very sore left elbow. :( I wish I had been there to help him, but I was ahead of him at the time. :(