I can't believe I'm writing this. ME?? running a marathon? Last week I had conflicts early in the week and couldn't get in a run and on Wednesday afternoon I went to see my new GP doctor. We had a very productive visit and I left feeling like at least someone was listening! she's ordered a sleep study for me and some more labs, plus faxed in a prescription for ambien (which I was just informed is ready for me!). I got so excited thinking after my doctor's visit, I'd just pop over to Schlotzsky's, check the work email, change into workout clothes and meet the womens' group at the park. Cool! I got there like 30 min early and nobody was arriving.. what the heck? Finally at 6:25 I called Susan's phone but she didn't answer. Neither did she call me back... Finally at 6:45 I called Steve and asked him to check the women's group workout location. DUH! I was at the SUNDAY LONG RUN location.. Wednesday was supposed to be Balcones Pool.. silly me. And that was sort of in my neighborhood. By the time I did get to my neighborhood, it was like 7:15 so I just blew off that workout. darn it. I was all ready to go, too.

Thursday evening I couldn't run after work because I had to test some firmware before the end of day. That meant it was completely dark before I was done working.. I decided I'd try to run the equivalent of a marathon over the course of the weekend...

Friday I finally got out there. 8 miles after work-and the temp was pretty warm. Saturday, Steve and I had brunch at Hoover's north and later I ran 6.25 miles around the house (again, very warm!). I got to go to dinner as Mindy's guest for their annual "recognition" dinner, which was at 7:30 at Cannoli Joe's in far Southwest Austin. Mindy had to work till after 6:00, so I went to get her just before 7:00, and we headed down Mopac. We got caught in horrid traffic around the Lake Austin Blvd exit. Thinking it would clear up after we passed whatever wreck happened in front of us, we just kept creeping along. she had to call two of her friends who were already at the restaurant to tell them we were stuck in traffic. It took FOREVER to get to the 2244 exit, then Barton Skyway. THEN, we find out ALL THREE LANES of traffic had to exit at the lp 360/Barton Creek mall exit. Great. And I didn't realize you had to squeeze into the right lane to go straight at the light, so I had to turn left.

I was just glad to get out of the mess and figured I'd find the place eventually. We had to take back roads and such but eventually found ourselves on the backside of Toney Burger Center. Thank goodness I've lived here 25 years and knew what's what we were driving next to. It was probably 8:30 when we finally got there, but they were very nice to us, gave us drink coupons (I immediately ordered a glass of merlot) and the food was really good, even for buffet that was probably not "real fresh" when we arrived. I had to get up early the next day so had to rein in the food intake. I had one plate with salads and one with pastas. The desserts looked scrumptious but I had to pass on them. Mindy was so cute - she ordered a glass of white zinfandel for her first drink and a frozen margarita for the second (did I mention I was driving?).Since we were pretty much the "end of the party", the Great Clips owners came and sat with us and we had a really nice conversation. She's got a pretty good deal with them and they seem like they treat their employees more like family. Really enjoyed that outing and Mindy got a certificate for one year of service.

It was 11pm when I got home (yikes! I wanted to take a benadryl to help me get to sleep...) I had the running stuff already planned out (thank goodness!). Was probably close to midnight when I fell asleep, I woke up once and I guess I went back to sleep pretty easily cause the alarm had to wake me at 6:15. It was again pretty warm as I met the group - since this is the last long supported run before the marathon we all started at 8:00. Susan took a few pix and then we all took off. I kept Praveeta in my sights for about 2 miles, then she disappeared and I was all alone as usual. I got new earphones for the ipod - the kind that hook over your ears-and they had worked well for me.

Coach Kim had our first rest stop at Brentwood school (around mile 3), so I had my gu and water, then she was on White Rock around mile 6 so I had a clif shot & water. I knew the cutoff time was 90 min so I told her not to wait up for me, I'd run the last 3 miles "alone". So I did, it took me 2 hours to run that 9 muggy miles! Went home and saddled up "Buzz". Coach Cindy had concocted an informal bike ride starting at 1:00 at Lake Pflugerville. Windy?? you bet! Kim was there, newly ok'd to ride, and Coach Gina came from "south of the river" with her right knee braced up after the skiing incident.. We had quite a little group - two people I hadn't met before (Jeremy and Jennifer), Coaches Cindy and Gina, Kim, Carolyn, Vickie, Kenneth, Emmie and I took off on a modified "Pflugerville Tri bike course" 13 mile loop. WINDY??!! goodness.. it was just survival.. I was riding just behind Gina when the wind finally died down enough to talk to each other. Gina said,"I'm naming this the Bob Seeger Against the Wind ride!".. Gina, Emmie and Kim called it good after one loop and the rest of us went on for a second one. Cindy's friend Cynthia had showed up between the loops and they tacked on another 4 or 5 miles to their second loop. Me - after running 9 miles in the morning and riding 26 miles "against the wind", I was done.

on my way back home I called Steve and told him I was starving so we met for early dinner (I wiped off the top layer of salty sweat) at Casa Chapala. I like that place - unfortunately he'd eaten most of the excellent chips and custom mixed salsa before I got there!! oh well.. I had plenty of food with the mole negro. Steve ordered sopapillas so I was "obligated" to eat one of those also!  When I got home and cleaned up and put things away and got the workout clothes in the washer, I had to smile to myself. I had a decent amount of sleep, I'd run and cycled like crazy and had two very nice dinners. What a weekend! now I have to be good till Sunday evening!

Well, I managed to do NO swimming again in the month of January. I cycled only  84 miles and ran 82. And I missed the long run again yesterday. I am sick of this insomnia. Literally. I've decided in the less-than-2-weeks left before Austin Marathon, I will take the drugs that my previous doctor prescribed, at least on nights when I simply can't spend 10 hours in bed to get 5 of sleep. I just don't see any other way for the short term. The last long run I did (if you can call it long) was 8 miles, the Thursday before 3M. Of course if I'd known I wasn't going to run 3M, I would have made that run even longer..

off to the ACA meeting now..

so tomorrow I get to have my very first Austin Cycling Association hosted ride. It'll probably not be ideal weather. The idea behind hosted rides is that many people (me included) express the dismay that you have to load your bike in the car, drive some distance/time and then ride your bike for a while. My policy has been "if I gotta drive farther than I intend to ride my bike to a ride, seems worthless". So I did something about it. I went to training to become an Austin Cycling Association hosted ride leader.

I created a 30 mile bike ride starting at WilCo regional park, that is on the ACA website as a hosted ride. It'll be cold tomorrow.  Wear lots of layers.
http://www.mapmyride.com/ride/united-states/tx/-cedar-park/829867267445

I had the best of intentions. I really planned to follow the prescribed workout schedule. But with my colleague out and me taking VUTO next week, I didn't do the Tuesday workout and my Wed workout did not follow the 'plan'. I did, however, go on a 24 mile bike ride Wednesday after work. I couldn't convince anybody to join me, but off I went to Berry Springs Park on my own. As luck would have it, a nice gentleman in a yellow jersey noticed I was about to embark on a ride, so he accompanied me. Ralph occasionally also rides with the Cyclopaths, lives in Georgetown, and knows those roads like the back of his hand. We got going about 4:00, but had to haul buns to ride before sundown. I hadn't really figured in the cloud cover being a concern of early sunset. As we were heading back, we were treated with the most gorgeous sunset, the two of us riding along looking over plowed fields. I thanked him for getting us back safely (my route would have taken us on 971, which has no shoulder, and it was getting pretty dark by then!), and hoped his wife wouldn't be angry if he was late!

Thursday was the always-fun Turkey Trot (new route this year), but it was a little warmer than I would have liked! (and let's not talk about the parking situation) I met up with some of the TriZones crew beforehand, met Kenneth's parents and Red's "new dog", Kona. Kona was making all kinds of new doggie friends! Pretty soon triman appeared and we exchanged Happy Thanksgiving hugs. Kenneth and Cindy were rarin' to go and Kim said she'd like to run with me (!). It was her first "race" since the bike crash. About the only friend missing was Emmie. She'd emailed that she was going to stay home to do family stuff. Kim and I started off very slowly (well, that IS my race pace!), we saw Michelle cheering from the sidelines and we settled into a fairly comfortable pace. My sunglasses kept fogging up! We stopped and walked thru all the water stops, which I Was glad for because I needed the water to splash on my face/neck. I hadn't run since the previous Sunday, and it showed. So we ran/walked pretty darn slow. Over near Windsor, we came up on triman again and Kim hastily explained her injury as we ran down the hill. After we finished I went in search of a banana, but only got half! Caught up with IP Maggie, triman again (where Kim went into more explanation about the bike crash), hung out with Coach Tracy and the TriZoners for a champagne toast, then Kim & I went up to the top of the parking garage where I had a mimosa and we visited with our Texas Iron crew.

Walking back to my car at 16th & San Antonio, I passed dozens of tailgaters cooking up meat and setting up generators to run blenders for their marnagritas.. made me extremely hungry!! Got to Steve's, showered and we headed over to his parents house for dinner and a viewing of Steve's Hawaii slide show. It was very touching, he put something very special at the end.. awwwwwww! Right after dinner I started yawning a lot. I hoped that didn't mean.... migraine a'comin'... we sat on their sofa for a very long time (lots of foooootball, of course), and that started to take its toll on my back. I got up occasionally to phone some family member and wish them Happy Thanksgiving. Except I only have 3 daughters, one mom and one grandma <G> It was so good to talk to Grandma, I haven't called her in forever. I'm a Bad First Grandchild... Once again, a FABULOUS sunset, which is always lovely viewed from the top of Cat Mountain. We stayed pretty darn late (I didn't get back to my house till after 9pm), and I was hurting pretty bad.

Friday I woke up very very sore and decided to bail on the Longhorn Half Iron course bike ride. I think the only person who did show up is Red, and she said the ride was actually okay,she got back just before it started to rain. Me, I stayed in all day. In the afternoon, Steve and I again journeyed to the Dead Fish Grill for dinner on the way to 6man in Moody. Unfortunately, Calvert lost this time.

Yesterday, Carolyn sent us the news that Emmie's sister had unexpectedly passed away that morning. What a shock. This morning I got up at 6, expecting an "easy 9, maybe 10 mile run" at 7:30 from the stretching rock. We went out LAB, right at Enfield, left on Exposition where Jamie was set up at Casis, I took a chocolate accelerade gel and water, shucked my gloves and 2005 Decker shirt and continued on. Turned right at 35th, ran past Camp Mabry and the Austin State School and kept going (the actual marathon route would have turned left onto Jackson, but our route continued up 35th/38th, took a right at Duval and Jamie had a second rest stop somewhere near 32nd street, then off I went to finish the route. Down SanJac (nicely deserted!!!), RT 11th, LT Congress, back on the trail west to the stretching rock and my finish line for 11.3 miles. Downed a banana, stretched, went to Westlake Great Clips to have Mindy give me a shampoo and cut, ate lunch at Hangtown Grill (Rowdy Burger and Reeds Salad - yum!), got a few groceries at HEB, then back over to HCRC for some gus (they were out of the knee high Sugoi sox that Andrea was wearing this morning) and over to Jack and Adams for some gatorade endurance and a couple more gel options. Finally back home for cold water soak and wash up all the stinky running clothes from the week.

Training totals for month - really skewed!  I  don't think I've ever run more than biked in a month!  (and no swimming.. I'm so damn fat right now I'm embarrassed to put on a suit)

Bike: 44 miles
Run:  82.84 miles

Prompted by a question from  triman - I decided before I went to work yesterday that I'd pack stuff for the bike time trial. I was mostly successful, even remembering the bike, but I forgot the timing chip. I left work, and started to drive down Mopac when I was overcome with complete fatigue. I should have not have been driving. Truly I was 90% asleep. Traffic was moving soooo slowly and I told myself when I got to Kiker I'd just put the seat back, close my eyes and rest up a bit. So that's what I did. When I decided to see what time it was, it was 6:52. Since I didn't have my chip anyway it didn't really matter when I crossed the mat, but that left really no daylight for a warmup. I hopped out, stretched a little, decided I was awake enough, turned on the Garmin and headed over to the mat. I should have guzzled more gatorade on the ride to the starting mat but I wasn't out to break any speed records anyway given all the weirdness my body has gone through lately. I did slow down a couple of times on the first loop to sip gatorade and didn't feel steady on the aerobars, so that cost time as well. It was horrifying to see 14:25 on the Garmin just after the u-turn.. oh well... but as usual, the trip back was much faster than the trip out. First "unofficial" loop: 25:49.

Made a u-turn at LaCrosse to do a cooldown lap, but take more time to drink as much gatorade as I thought I needed (oh yeah, I also turned on the rear blinking red light). 2nd "unofficial" loop: 26:53. Total riding: 18 miles, about 1 hour. I felt better for having gone out and done it and stopped by Taco Bueno for their Ultimate Chicken Bowl. Yum. heading over to Pure Austin now to meet Rita to swim....

I went to the doc Wednesday afternoon. Naturally, my temp was only 97.4 in the office (with those disposable strips they use). I had also taken an advil earlier in the day.. She did comment when checking my lymph nodes, "your skin is really hot to the touch". Given that it didn't look like I had an ear infection, my throat didn't look too bad, and no obvious sign of infection, she suggested a viral infection or possibly... HEAT EXHAUSTION. (I probably shouldn't have told her I rode the LH HIM course last Saturday..) So she told me I can't do the LH HIM bike course this weekend, to stay indoors in A/C as much as possible and don't work out. She also told me not to take any antihistamines and she changed my BP med from one that has a diuretic component to one that does not - it wasn't helping the diastolic reading anyway.  We've been on this quest for the right BP med for me for several years. Nothing seems to help the diastolic reading and it frustrates me to no end.   She did order several blood tests to check my electrolytes, thyroid (ha! as if I, battling my weight for nearly 50 years, could have an overactive thyroid!), and red/white cell count.

I left my car at the shop overnight Wed so I'd have reliable A/C while driving. It was ready about 3pm yesterday so I rode my bike from home over to pick it up. Here is more evidence of not being "all there" - I hadn't thought to put a pair of running shoes in my trunk to change into. Duh. So I just drove home in my sock feet - I don't think it would be real safe to try driving a standard with bike shoes.. So I've missed two full days of work and I'm not planning on being here all day today either. There are many people missing in my lab, and those who are here are sneezing a lot. I sneeze a lot when I'm here too, and almost never at home.  There's supposed to be a product launch party at Marriott in RR but I know I couldn't tolerate standing around in a room full of people.

Will probably ride from my house tomorrow morning, out to 3405 and back I suppose.. sigh. Still planning on doing the OWS on Sunday, although my sinuses seem to be trying to convince me otherwise. 

haven't been feeling quite right lately... I swam with Cindy and Kim Friday at QL - I did two loops, they did FIVE
But I did finish my two loops before they'd done 3!! We rode the Longhorn HIM course Saturday, then Mindy & I went to Marble Falls to see my niece who turned 10 on Thursday. No workout Sunday - Steve & I went to brunch at El Mercado, then watched part of the Olympics before I had to take him to the airport. The A/C in my car finally came on about the time we reached the Montopolis exit ;-) I need to get that fixed... Last evening Cindy, Esther and I went to the Street Closure Task Force meeting (along with about 200 of our closest tri/running friends). It was pretty informative, but the signup sheet was already full when trimanarrived so he didn't get to speak! 

Waiting on the Sears guy to come do my final warranty work on the washer, I finally took my temperature. I never have fever but I've just been feeling like I'm constantly overheated (even when I take the estradiol). Normal temp for me is 97.0 and this morning it was 99.3. So there's something going on, and I'll skip tonight's bike time trial. Maybe go home and 'sleep it off'... 

So I took the plunge (so to speak) and signed up for the 1.2 mile OWS Sunday! gulp!

Several groups met out at Lake Walter E. Long (or near there) for the Sat morning ride of the Longhorn bike course. I parked near the TZ group (Cindy, Arron, Stephanie), then we rode down to where the Austin Triathlon meetup group was meeting. Coach Colleen and her friend Jenn was there, also Tune and Cindy's friend Bonnie. A few introductions, then triman got us going. It was fun, almost like a real triathlon with so many of us riding! Just after the turn on Lockwood, Patrick rode up along side me and we introduced ourselves. The TZ crew had planned to stick to the actual route, with personal SAG support by Rita on Balch Rd. The meetup group's plan was to take a few miles detour to the Texaco at 290/95. A nice leisurely rest stop, bathroom break, gatorade swill station and water bottle top-off from triman's gallon of water purchase. 
Although I didn't get my run in Sunday (hoping to do it today), I felt like the weekend was a success! Thanks to Rita and triman.   Garmin sez I rode a total of 63 miles. Yeehaw!

in my userpic - I was #412 and she was #413 at this year's Danskin. She had a nasty bike crash on Saturday doing the Longhorn HIM course with hubby Tom. She said while trying to get her head to stop spinning, she heard a car engine, looked up to see a van drive by without even slowing down to ask if anything was wrong, could they help, etc. triman to the rescue! All of us thank you for being a good cycling friend.

After the So. Mopac TT tonight I noticed he was standing next to a car that wasn't his. So I spun my legs out a little, came back to see what was up and found a "situation". Not the intended course of the evening. But it's not my story to tell. Suffice it to say it was my turn to ask if they had everything they need. We'd all made an agreement last night at GM swim that when we see a fellow cyclist down, we'd ask (and be sincere about it), "do you have everything you need?".

Carolyn reported that although she's not brave enough to get into Lake Travis to swim right now cause her wounds aren't scabbed over yet, she did do a short ride. Hope to see her this weekend.

As for my TT, forget it. I bombed on my schedule today. I should have done a 3 mile run before work but last night stayed up too late(that TCM network showed 'Apocalypse Now' till damn near 2am) so blew it off, then my Intel meeting went the full hour and I didn't get in my pool swim w/speed work @ noon, so plan B was to do the So. Mopac TT after a 2-3 mile warmup, then a cooldown lap and then do that 3 mile run. Forget it. It was so damn hot and the wind (Hurricane a'comin???) was a factor. I'd only brought one liter bottle of gatorade (hey, it's only 8 miles, right?) but that was drained pretty much during the TT, which my unofficial, Garmin 301 reports was an abysmal 25:30. That's about 1:15 slower than the last time I did it with Coach Jen, and about 90 sec slower than what I had hoped for. But then I was also hoping for windless conditions like last time, which we didn't get. Thank goodness for the Source Endurance tent - I filled up my bottle after the first loop and said my grateful "thanks for bringing this out". Then I went out for a "cooldown" loop. That one took a leisurely 30 min.

That's when I caught up with triman and Randy. Hope everything worked out okay.

tomorrow: I gotta do that damn 3 mile run! then I have TxI women's swim. Back at HH.. oh boy!

Michelle, Mindy and Mindy's friends came over Tuesday evening and we set off 24 fireworks in honor of Mindy and Cindy's 24th birthday. Cindy had gone off to some person's party and wasn't there. It was a traumatic evening since Mindy wanted to give Cindy the presents she'd bought her, and Cindy didn't bother to show up.

Wednesday was soooooo hot I was dreading the workout that evening but showed up. I pumped up my tires and set up my little 'transition' area and while Coach Susan was describing the focus of the workout, we heard SSSSSSSSSSSSS from my bike. Wha??? The tires were fine when I put the bike in the car, and fine when I pumped them up. The front tire just went flat! Susan continued to talk while I changed the tube out. I bought these tires back in March and hadn't had any flats up till this week. After I got the tire changed, we went on the warmup bike loop, about 3miles with a couple decent hills thrown in. After we regrouped, I checked both tires. The REAR seemed a little low so I put the pump on there and it only had 40 psi! sheesh. So while Susan continued to talk I pulled off the rear wheel. That tire had numerous cuts in it. So many that I was uneasy about continuing to ride. Changed the tube in the rear, put the tire back on, aired it up, waited a little bit and then checked both tires again. Susan said I could cut the loop short if I felt like it but I went ahead and did the full loop, then did a quick transition and did my little short, hard run. The workout was supposed to be run, bike run x 2 but all I got was bike, run. That was the end of it. Susan gave us the choice of a little short bike cooldown or a 3 min out/3 min back run. I was the only one who chose run. Deb rode by me and said "my hat's off to you girl!". Running still hurts. I asked Susan for new tire recommendation...she mentioned she has Specialized Armadillo and rarely gets a flat, and never due to tire failure. Good enough for me!

Thursday I had PT with Pieter and Lex again and those guys made me work!! I admitted to planning to do Couples Sunday and Marble Falls the next Sunday, so Pieter told me "just know that you should be taking it easy and you're going to have some pain but if you're okay with that, we'll continue to work on you after your events". I had originally planned to go to the office for about an hour, then meet Coach Cindy at Balcones pool at 11:30 to swim. Well, since I was right there near Bicycle Sports Shop, I dropped in to buy some new tires and tubes. Thank goodness they had all of it, $140 later I had new tubes and tires. At that point, it made no sense to go to work, then over to the pool, so I just headed home and answered work email from there. Met Cindy right at 11:30 and we had the pool practically to ourselves. We chatted a few minutes, I was prodding her for ideas about the type of workout I might need to do. I suggested 300 warmup and she thought that sounded good. We both did 300 warmup. Saw her grab her kickboard and although kicking sounded non-appealing to me, I realized I hadn't done any real "work" in the pool other than swimming. (Bad, I know). So I did a 50 kick, then she asked if she could borrow my fins, so I said sure. I figured they'd fall off her feet cause my feet are huge! But I think she did 50 or 100 with the fins. I didn't want to keep stopping her and asking questions but I really was seeking feedback from her about my swimming. I decided to do a 100 for time - I haven't done any of those since T3 (nearly a year ago) and was pleased with myself that it was 2:50. I was just hoping to come in somewhere about 3:00 and it was a really easy 100. I bragged to Cindy and she suggested something that works for her, which was to swim 25s as fast as possible. I asked about recovering at the end and she said take as much time as you need but do some more 25s as fast as possible. I did four of those, with time anywhere between :28 and :31 (which includes the second or so it took me to stop the watch). She said that was about the time it took her to do 25s (I, of course, didn't want to believe that I'd be nearly as fast as her). Still I was not completely winded after these 25s, so she suggested doing something to get me even more winded and I thought maybe breathing on the 3s. I did 2 more 25s with breathing on the 3s and that did wear me out a little more but still kept the time about :30.

Did 200 with pull buoy breathing on the 3s, and then told her I thought since I did so well I'd do a timed 500. I'd already swam a little over 1,000 so wondered how doing a timed 500 at the end of a workout would turn out. Cindy said she admired me for being so disciplined! what a compliment, especially coming from her! my timed 500: 14:15. Yay! I was very very happy. Went home and showered and finally got to the office about 2pm :) Mindy called me from work and the poor thing had another misfortune involving her car! This time it was parked in front of Hangtown while she was in there cutting hair at Great Clips and some guy driving a Lincoln Navigator had run into the neighboring bank without setting his parking brake in the spot across the parking lot from Mindy. Well, this Navigator ROLLED DOWN THE HILL across the parking lot and struck Mindy's car. This was discovered when Mindy's coworker looked out the window and asked why Mindy had parked crooked in the parking space. Mindy answered, "I didn't". So they went outside and found the damage. Mindy took a couple digital photos with her phone. Her car was at a 45 degree angle out of the space and the closeup of her spare tire bracket showed it was all bent out of shape. This time, she got the guy's DL, insurance policy number, etc. etc. and filed a claim against him. At least it was driveable.

Today was an off day but very intense work-wise. Then there's the whole rumor mill about impending mass layoffs again. We'll see. Went to get my Couples packet but "someone" ordered me a large shirt. I went tonight because Cindy was going to be doing packet pickup. She was busy so the other woman prepared my packet.  She made me take the too-big shirt, so I guess I'll show up Sunday and see if someone will swap it for a medium. Otherwise I'll have to drag out the sewing machine and get creative. It's kind of a weird green color. I did like the beer mug in the "goodies" though. Since I was there at 7:00 and hung around a few more minutes (I toyed with the idea of asking Cindy if she wanted to go get some food somewhere), after Dan arrived I asked if I could help them do anything, tote boxes of t-shirts or something. The other woman said, "no, this is a volunteer thing". Uhhhh.. if you're reading this you know that couples is nearly the first event I HAVEN'T been a volunteer for. I was taken aback and replied, "well, yes, but the more people you have to do it, the faster it goes". Nothing.  No reply suggesting maybe I help stack boxes or anything. I stuck around and read my race packet booklet but still nobody asked me to lift a box, so I said goodbye to Cindy and left. On my way home, Cindy called me and asked if I was till downtown (she'd had the same thought about getting some food somewhere) and I told her no, your volunteer partner obviously didn't want me there, so I left. Seriously, I've done so many packet pickups and know that the more bodies to help pack it in, the easier it is on everybody. It was so weird to not only be told you can't help but it was done in such as way as to hint that I was a nuisance. I had chatted with Cindy for a few minutes so the other woman couldn't possibly have missed the fact that Cindy and I obviously were friends. Whatever!!

Tomorrow I'm planning on getting the new tires & tubes mounted on Buzz, take off for a 30 min easy ride, then a 10-15 min ez run and if possible a short pool swim. Not sure what else I'll do (besides get packed for Sunday), I had planned on getting my UAR waterbottle from BSS while at J&As but they were closed by the time I got my packet. I'm not going to drive downtown again tomorrow with gas at $4 a gallon to get a free waterbottle. If I'd known I would be too late, I would have asked Kim to get my bottle as well.

Didn't manage to get in that swim Thursday - went to take Mindy to get her new tires and we spent about 2 hours standing around in best buy. I was too tired to swim by that time!

Friday we met at Kim's house in Cedar Park to do hill repeats on the triple bitches. Well some of our group did repeats. I did the ride to Volente, then back and was about to hurl after the second "B". Pulled over into the driveway on the left, rested a bit, then attacked that final one. Unlike the first time I attempted this (about 6 mon ago, I think), that day I felt like I could have done all 3. Not Friday morning. Got to the top and rested a little, then decided we were already out there, Kim & Cindy & Arron were on their third repeat, so surely I could repeat that last one. So I did. Total riding time: about 2 hours (24 miles). Went home and trimmed & mowed the yard. Meant to swim at Steve's parents house before watching fireworks, but again ran out of steam (I'd also moved the furniture out of my living room to prepare for Saturday's madness). Mindy went with us to watch fireworks and when I took her home we stopped by a stand and got some to celebrate her and Cindy's birthday Tuesday. Spent the night at Steve's.

Saturday we went to Waffle House for breakfast. YUMM.. Oddly enough, although it was a holiday weekend, there was no wait at WH. That's unheard of on a Sat morning. I came home and proceeded to spend 6 hours (at least) steam cleaning the carpet in my living room. The new machine doesn't suck up the water like the old one did. I might need to check it before using it again. It's been nearly 24 hours and the carpet still isn't quite dry. Then of course I have to move the furniture back in there.

Today met some of our little group at the Couples race course. We rode one loop "for a warmup", messing severely with Arron. Then we said, "this second loop will be at race pace". I passed him out on Decker Lane and he didn't catch up with me till I was on Big Bastard, at which time I dropped my chain :D Cindy, Kim, Gina, Laurie and I ran the run course. Well most of it. My PT told me not to run more than 2 miles at a time, so I stopped running at 2.25 miles and walked the rest of the way. Cindy and I drove what we thought was the Longhorn 70.3 route but I had done the turn by turn late last night (and did not print out a map) after all that carpet cleaning and I missed a rather critical turn onto Blake-Manor from 973. We managed to pick up the route on the east side of Elgin though, so I got at least half of it right! Finally showered up and am about to veg in front of the TV for a while. It's been a nice but exhausting (due to the lawn work and moving furniture/steam cleaning) weekend. Total riding: 22 miles, 1:20, running/walking: 3 miles, :45.

 New month, new resolve. 
Tuesday, July 1 - went to Gold's in RR and got ready to swim.. and... once again somehow got all ready to swim but left the cap in the car! Dangit! EVERY time I go there to swim, the cap's not in my bag - and I'm too lazy to go back to the car after pulling everything off but the swimsuit. So I twisted my hair up in some sort of knot-thing, put on my goggles and swam 1,000 meters.

Wednesday, July 2 - TX I women's. We brought our trainers to Zilker Park and did trainer/brick practice. It was a short but very intense workout (3 sets of intervals: bike, then a one minute out, one minute back run at "holy shit" effort). Very good. I wore my new shoes that I bought from Coach Jen at HCRC. Niiiiice. Cycling: about 12 miles, Running: probably .75 mile. Afterward, I went to my daughter Mindy's apartment, took a shower and she cut my hair.

leaving work now (yay!) and on the schedule for later is 30 min recovery swim. yes, I made sure to pack the cap in the bag this time.. tomorrow we're doing the triple bitches at 7:30.. ;-D

I feel pretty ashamed of my June totals but considering I was hurting for much of the month, I guess I shouldn't feel too bad:
 

Bike:	7h 39m 27s  - 107.5 Mi
Run:	3h 46m 32s  - 16.87 Mi
Swim:	1h 34m 23s  - 2570.21 Yd

I can't believe I didn't even break 200 miles on the bike -- but I'll just have to do better this month. Got my TxI calendar printed out in my office, and am going to do as much as possible to stick to it. 

Last Wed, TxI bike workout in Steiner - no, not hill repeats down to the lake & back (which I was grateful for), but multiples of the 2 mile "D" loop, practicing race pace intervals. 16 miles, 75 min.

I did not other working out till Saturday when I did a modified Pfinally Pflugerville ride with ACA. I ran into Robbie there - both of us had invited some "newcomers" to join and all of them showed up! I rode alone though because there was no "official" 33 mile PP ride. 33 miles, 2 hours. then Steve & I drove to Llano to meet a guy he went to college with at Cooper's. The guy now lives in Spain and his wife spoke only Spanish. Spent the remainder of the day at the guy's mom's house on top of a hill in Llano. Very nice place.

Sunday I went for my first run since probably Danskin. It was HOT and I was sore. Coach Jen had suggested running on a softer surface and I thought about going to Brushy Creek trail. Then I remembered: I've been paying my RCNA dues for 9 years and there is a small trail thru the park. So ran slowly from my house to the trail (about 7 minutes), then ran on the trail for 20 minutes, then back home. Not much distance, but I did "run" the whole time: 2.6 miles, 35 min. Steve & I went to his parent's house - they had postponed Father's Day for 2 weeks so more BBQ!!

Monday was an off day and I took it off. Today I had PT with Pieter, who is now back from vacation. There is something about the left side of my SI joint - it hurt when I arrived but after he worked on me, things felt better. He said that "situation" is what's causing me residual pain in the hip/hamstring area. I had to do my little exercises and then he turned me loose. I go back next Thursday. In the meantime he said not to try and run more than 2 miles.

In honor of George Carlin's passing, I've re-watched "Life is worth Losing" and "It's Bad for ya" . Good thing he left us all that material to enjoy for years to come. I tried to see him THREE TIMES here at the Paramount but he canceled every time (once for no reason, once for a freak ice storm we had and I forget the 3rd one... maybe for sicknes?). 

I wish I could figure out why I feel so weird. Haven't felt "right" since before Danskin. Not running at all (the PT said to do that "as tolerated", because of the pain). Did the UAR Sunday of course, but not much else since except a little core work. Should be "back on track" somewhat tonight though, TxI women has a bike workout in Steiner Ranch. Lessee.. what kind of workout will that be? hill repeats, perhaps??? Coach Susan's grandfather passed away so I guess Jen will be there. If not, I'm sure we know how to make up our own workout. Except maybe for Kim. She'll have to follow me.

too freaking long to put here, and is a bit negative, so will hide 

couple of the "known checkpoints" have changed (Pease Park, REI and Rogue are new):

Checkpoints: Checkpoints can be reached in ANY order

• Bicycle Sport Shop: 517 S. Lamar


• Rowing Dock: 2418 Stratford Dr.


• Ozone Bike Dept: 3202 Guadalupe


• Jo’s Coffee: 1300 South Congress


• Jack and Adams: 1210 Barton Springs Rd


• Pease Park: 1100 Kingsbury St.
  


• REI: 601 N. Lamar Blvd (Enter from henderson St.)
• Rogue Running: 500 San Marcos

and my partner, the Fabulous Kim Hanford (who again registered us as Lady Cyclopaths) will likely get the advance links. I'm counting on my lj buds to help with the quiz/clues due out on Wed. Next couple of weeks will be fun!!! we got splash n dash Tuesday and then UAR on Sunday!! Help us figure out the clues! be our "lifeline" (so we can call you when we're on the route between mystery checkpoints) tripam, shubbe, pammyaggie, shaayla, we're counting on you as our "phone a friend"!

I love this event!!

Thursday: lovely 21 mile bike ride with Cyclopaths

Friday: 3rd session with Personal Trainer - it was supposed to be an "off" day and we tried some new stuff. More on that later. Packed up everything I'd need for the TZ practice, plus AHCC, etc.

Saturday: up at 5:30 (again) & out to P-ville. Leading the OAs out on the 15 mile loop. For some reason I was not feeling real peppy. We had 9 ladies in our group with Becca sweeping. I asked at the start of the ride what speed they were comfortable with - they said 15 is okay. Judy stayed pretty close behind me & when we turned onto CR139, we all stopped to let everyone catch up (and get a drink). It was all I could do to keep ahead of them the rest of the ride. Chris caught up to me back at Weiss Ln. We were supposed to do 15 min run after the ride but I couldn't do it. I did, however, ride the 15 mile loop again with Coach Cindy and Becca. Perhaps I should have taken Friday REALLY OFF like the schedule said..

Off to Liberty Hill for the next adventure. I arrived just about noon (timing was on purpose!) so had me a sub sandwich and smoothie drink. For a couple hours there wasn't much to do volunteer-wise at the finish, so as my buddies came in from the ride I'd visit with them. Saw xomox after he finished his run and he'd said the volunteers/signs caused them to ride an extra 10 miles! Then a fabulous-looking shubbe appeared after the post-ride run and she was none too happy about the extra mileage either! After the ride, I looked at the map they were given and it did have confusing directions, for sure. It didn't help that some kids switched two of the signs - we might never have known that but the guy from the Spokes n Spurs ride (Clyde?) noticed it and got it fixed. When that got fixed, I'm not sure. It also didn't help that apparently the walkie talkies were not properly transmitting. Last year, I was outta there about 5:30, but this year, the "Big Truck" (wherein all the leftover rest stop supplies were contained) didn't arrive till about 6:00. Then we had to unload it, stack stuff, cart whatever we wanted over to our cars (just thought I'd throw that out there, one perk of being a cleanup volunteer), then we had to re-load the truck because a lot of the stuff was going to the Tour de Cure. I didn't leave LibertyHill till 7pm. Twelve hours of being outside. At least from noon-7 I was mostly in the shade. Cleaned up and went over to Steve's for the night.

Sunday - I ran 5 miles while Steve rode (hybrid) 5.75. Called my mommie to wish her happy Mother's Day - she was on her way to get Grandma and take her out for lunch. Cleaned up and went to Threadgills - we were in charge of bringing "side dishes" to Mother's Day brunch. We were there a little longer than I would have liked and I was getting kinda tired. Plus Michelle and Mindy wanted to take me out for dinner.

Called Michelle while driving back to my place - she suggested we all meet at Mindy's since Mindy had just got off work. I decided I really just wanted a big ol burger so suggested Waterloo Ice House. Michelle said, "I love that place!" so that's where we went. Mindy bought me a little bag of ghirardelli raspberry-filled dark chocolate squares and a bouquet of iris (purple's my favorite color!) and Michelle got me a card, 4 hand dipped strawberries and she bought our dinner. It was a Happy Mother's Day. I saw Cindy for about 10 min but she had left "my present & card" at her friend Justin's house. Whatever.

Monday - swam 1500 meters after work @ Gold's. Practiced sighting the last 300 to simulate Skees!
oh -- in the Battle of the Hypertension dept -- the last 3 times I've measured it, it's been like barely 100 over 70something. I hope that's okay! today it was 97/77!!! maybe we got the right drug, finally??

Friday is Bike to Work Day!! Yay! I talked to Monica Leo after she rode the AHCC on Saturday - we'd been trading emails but thought it was a good idea to introduce myself in person.  Dave's going to have breakfast tacos from Smoky Moe's and smoothies from Keva Juice! Yes, Music City Cycles on Parmer lane, between Corpus Christi dr and the intersection with McNeil. Y'all come! 

Finally managed to get to TxI Women's group workout (I was the first one there today!!), which was a bike at Mission Oaks. The first 3 mile loop the 7 of us practiced pacelining (my least favorite thing, but we pay for this, right??). Then Coach Susan split us up into groups of two, Kate was my partner. Kate pulled us up the hill on the first loop so I made sure that I pulled when she and I did the second loop. Then it was Kate's turn on the 3rd, only I kept right up with her. She said, "man, this seems hard, do I have a flat?" and I assured her that her rear tire was okay. We stopped and sure enough, her front tire was flat (there was a major scattering of broken glass that we all had to dodge on these loops). As we were at the end of the line, we decided I'd go on ahead to let Susan know what happened (after I asked Kate, "you have everything you need?" - but I failed to notice she had NO BLOWOUT BAG). Susan sent the rest of us on a 'recovery loop' and told us to meet at the park - she'd go the opposite direction to help/round up Kate.

Well, when Kate arrived in the park, that's when she announced she didn't actually have 'everything she needed'. She'd picked up her bike from a tuneup or something and apparently the blowout bag didn't make it back on her bike! Susan had apparently done a patch job on Kate's tube. Then poor Debbie went down again. There's something wrong with her cleats/pedals because she's too good a cyclist to have that happen again. This time, she couldn't clip out. Hope she gets that figured out. We finished the workout with the famous "sponges" course, only without sponges - we had wet napkins that kept blowing away in the wind! After the turning/cornering practice we did the waterbottle between shoulder blades and I'm proud to say mine stayed put, even as I went over speed bumps! Finally did a quick waterbottle handup practice, then back to the start. Total riding according to Garmin: 14.2 miles.

Coach Cindy talked me into joining her sister, and their OS (Other Sister) Friday @ 5 @ Pure Austin. I know Cindy wanted to swim in the lake but I just wasn't up for that yet. So the four of us swam in the outdoor pool (which was quite nice). Total swim: 1200yd. We then went to celebrate by having dinner at Baby A's. I'd never had a purple margarita so I had one. Coach Cindy scared me into only having one. Even though I'm not the lightweight that she apparently is... I ordered Shrimp Fajitas and although I stuffed myself, could only hold about half that food, the rest went home with me to becoming Saturday's lunch.

Saturday - up bright n' early to get to Caraway School to help with TZ Women's bike workout. I'm not real familiar with that neighborhood, but I had to lead, so I took notice of where the cones & flags were on my way there. Coach had me demonstrate cadence of 70 on one street, then cadence of 110 on the next (which, for those of you who have run Motive, was up Oakview!), 70 on the next, then 110 again. Repeat 3 times. Then we went on a longer loop (4 miles) twice and I finished with one more 1.5 mile cadence loop. I saw only 3 lost people on my last loop, told them to follow me and we all got back fine.

I wasn't sure what the coach/Team Leader post-workout-workout was to be, so Kim, Cindy and I decided Lake Pville. They donned the wetsuits (I'm about 15 lbs away from wearing mine) and as luck would have it, someone in a kayak noticed us and asked if we were doing the Lake Pflugerville Tri in June. Answer no, but the guy said Glenn Beck (RD) had asked him to set buoys out there so people could practice. And there they were! they're little red/pink (couldn't tell from the shore) bubbles sitting on top of the lake! one is 250 yds from shore, the other 250 yds from the first). That was really nice of them! Although I'm not doing that particular Tri (It conflicts with The Urban Assault Ride , it'll be good practice because Kim, Cindy and I (and possibly others) are going to start the "Cindy Sunday Tri Series". Well, practices anyway... So they swam 500 yds, then we went out for two of the Cele/Cameron/JesseBohls/Weiss loops (15 miles total). Then ran around the lake (3 miles). As I hadn't planned on being out that long, I hadn't worn sunscreen. My shoulders are a little upset with me, but it's not bad. Cleaned up and went to Steve's so we could go to dinner at Drakula Romanian Restaurant.  When we had gone to Sarah & Raz's birthday bowling party in Jan, they had brought a cake from there and sure enough Steve had to order a piece for dessert!

Sunday - nothing. Steve and I had brunch at The Omlettry, which is always good and reasonable. I went back home for a few chores then we were supposed to meet this guy at 6:30 at the Little Woodrow's up by my house. Consequently, I didn't have time for any working-out. And the guy never showed.. boo hoo.

Monday - after work, dragged my rear over to the Gold's Gym that I just joined. As luck would have it, Sarah was in the locker room as I made my way to the pool. Actually I was lost, so she pointed the way! I swam 1200 meters and met a nice lady named Denise who had been watching me swim for the last 800 or so. She said, "You really inspire me, how do you keep going like that?" (I really needed a compliment right then, too!) so I mentioned that while swimming in a triathlon, there's no stopping out in the lake! She replied that she'd done Danskin and had been a competitive swimmer in college. So to have a compliment on MY SWIMMING from someone who swam competively in college just made my day. I then changed and went outside to run 5 miles. Whoop! yeah, FIVE miles!