Sometimes you wonder

Sometimes you wonder what we are about, as individuals, as a group, as a people. When I was in elementary school life would stop me in my tracks. This would most often happen on the playground when most of the school (not a very large school, but a good one) was out playing. I remember on different occasions my brain would go into some kind of sensory overload and I would stop what I was doing and wonder about what I was, who I was. In particular this consciousness that was me. Mind, you this is me reflecting back on this very distinct feeling. As I am approaching 40, I have more issues with the me and my purpose then I ever did before having my own children. Since having children I have had one identity crisis after another. My whole make up and thoughts of self were forever altered. But I digress on my purpose and thoughts. Visiting www.fatcyslist.com brings my mind to our purpose as individuals. I have trouble writing my thoughts after visiting Elden's (aka Fatty) site. Elden's wife has been fighting cancer for some time now and is not doing well. My heart goes out to her family as I read, and thankful for Elden's clarity of thought and willingness to share himself with whomever takes the time to read his blog. I hope that if and when confronted with a chronic illness in my own family that I can shoulder the load as Elden and his family have.

A wish for all is that we find and have the purpose in our lives to give us the strength to accomplish what we need to be content and happy with ourselves.

7/17

Tommorow is the mock triathlon and I should be sleeping instead of blogging this. Too many questions in my mind. I like things better when I have experience at them. Firsts make me nervous.

7/15

Whew, is it already the 15th of July??!! No way! I need more time to do more stuff this summer. I shouldn't complain, this has been a very productive and well lived summer. We have one more baseball game on Saturday for Ethan. He has done very well, as did Michael. Not going to all the games and practices will free up a bit of time, especially in the evenings. The boys actually got to go on the Tuesday night group ride. I missed it so I could go to a triathlon transition clinic. Michael rode with the faster group, he was very happy with himself (I was just plain proud). Ethan did well riding his 20" mtb bike, he stayed with the group the whole time.

My training for the triathlon has been going well. Swimming is coming along. I find that I have to use a variety of strokes to get through the 500m without stopping. Right now, I am just happy I can keep moving. My absolute goal would be to freestyle 500m without changing strokes. It is nice to have something to work on. Running is also coming along, I am running about 12 minute miles. I feel like molasses, but am up to 2.5 miles. My goal is a 5K. After the triathlon I will incorporate some interval work to bring up my speed. Right now I just want to complete the triathlon and still be able to move afterwards. This weekend is the mock triathlon at Farlington Lake. I am looking forward to it so I will get an idea of what I will feel like as a transition to the different disciplines.

Also this weekend is the Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival in Eureka Springs, AR. A race I love for the racing and the atmosphere. Last weekend I was supposed to do the OMBA Caramba, but it just did not work out. My mountain bike has literally been in pieces since April of this year for repairs on both the rear and front suspension. So I have waited forever for DH to put it back together. We got it going the evening before the race, I did not feel confident about racing when I had not ridden off road for 3 months. Instead of racing we went to Slaughter Pen Mountain Bike Park for some fun off road riding. We had a blast, although my derailleur decided that would be a good time to loose its spring tension. My suspension overall was fabulous, it worked so well I did'nt know it was working. Perfect. Hippie Tech did the work on my forks and rear suspension. The forks are sweet with sid race overhaul and new carbon steerer tube and a sweet carbon crown. Much thanks to them for extending the ride on a bike I love.

Today I was excited, yes excited, to do the Wednesday group ride. It was pretty mellow (good for me so I was able to hang on and not be shelled). We did the Mulberry loop which was about 28 miles long. We took our time and did the ride in an hour 45 minutes. I have been tracking my daily training on dailymile. An online resource that tracks your entered workouts. It is very straightforward and easy to use. I used to write down the basics of all my rides in a weekly calendar, I like this because it is digital and I don't have to drag the calendar around. It's like facebook for athletes, fitness buffs, and anyone who wants to keep track of their workouts and be able to view their friends workouts and fitness events.

6/29

Now that it is the end of June, I figure I should post something before the month is out.

Still been training decently, even with all the June races we promoted. Yeah me!! Sunday thru Tuesday was boy scout camp so did not ride or swim or run. I did get to walk from about sun up to sun down and it was hot. Monday and Tuesday were oh about 100 degrees. Yikes! NO AC!! Double Yikes. I still cannot believe it. The boys did such a good job, they were so eager to do all the programs that they did not even complain about the heat--another can you believe it.

As far as the training goes yesterday did 25 miles then ran for 20 minutes. This was the first time I had tried running right after a ride. Man did that hurt. I thought I was going to have a cramp in my left calf. I haven't had a muscle cramp in years and years. A new sensation. With only 5 weeks before the tri, I am going to build in multiple days of week where I go from swim to bike to run. That is the only way my body will get accustomed to the effort with the new sports. almost forgot todays workout. Super easy day, about 10 miles with the hubby. A bike date, how cute. We had a good time.

Other things going on, lotsa work at the shop and lotsa baseball games. Hopefully a mountain bike race in a few weeks. The My mountain bike is still in pieces from the shocks being overhauled and I haven't ridden it since September. Uh Oh, sounds like a recipe for a sore and broken body. The next race I am looking forward to is the Eureka Springs Fat Tire Festival. Always a blast.

6/6

It is now 1:33 pm and the hard part of the race is over (for me at least). I run registration-which opens at 6:30 am. I arrived at about 6:00 am to set up. I should have showed up earlier. Everything went OK, except we really should have had our pre-reg riders actually pre-entered the night before. I will try harder to make that happen in the future. Typically we have more riders show up the day of than pre-register. It would be nice if folks pre-reg. Although, they still need to have their athlete release form filled out. So, not huge time saver for the racer. Things wound up going well. We had 123 racers. The longest race (men 1/2) are cycling 139 km or about 86 miles. Fortunately, the weather is pretty good.

I am so looking forward to seeing the boys. Seems like forever (Thursday afternoon) since I have seen them. Ethan had his first baseball game of the season this morning. Sounds like he did well. Fielded ball really well, but struck out at bat. Something we can have fun working on. I really love that both of the boys enjoy b-ball. They look forward to the practices and the games. I hope that they enjoy biking as much someday. It would be so cool to race together.

Workout-nil, nada, negatory, nein, etc. As expected when you are putting on the race vs. racing.

6/5

Not much workout today. Knew that would happen with the bike race this weekend. I did get 5 commuter miles in. Today was quite busy. The PSU Technology Conference was today, along with everything else. I love learning about new tech stuff. An interesting one (new for me) was amplify.com
This site allows you to take "clippings " from websites and post them for others to see. Also learned about how different generations of people are perceived. It is not a good idea to generalize groups of people based on when they were born, but it appears that there are some characteristics of different groups of people (the greatest generation, generation x, the millennial generation, etc.) in how they respond to others and their environment. When you have several generations in one work place you have the opportunity to use the strengths of all to the advantage of the employer. If everyone can work together. There was also a session on fully utilizing iGoogle to organize your digital life.

After the clinic went to the shop and worked on making sure the race was ready.

6/4

Busy, busy, busy day. The boys and I worked extra hard to get the house cleaned up for a friend spending the next few days with us. Then went to a nephew's ballgame, dropped the boys off with their cousins to stay the night. Then ran errands for the big race. Then went to a run clinic for the tri-ladies club to learn how to be a better runner. Then went for a 45 minute swim. Whew, now I am ready to hit the hay. The way the day was going, I was afraid a workout was not going to happen, again. But it did. Yeah! After the run clinic, I did my own 20 minute run, ok jog and walk. I am easing into the running. After badly twisting my ankle a year and a half ago, I am constantly worried that I will reinjure it. Biking does not bother it at all, but I could see myself easily trying to do to much on the run.

By the way, this weekend is the Kansas State Road and Criterium Championships. Our shop is hosting them in Arma on Saturday and Pittsburg on Sunday. It keeps us very busy.

Below are some pics from previous races we have hosted.

6/3

Today was an off day. I had not planned it to be an off day, but it turned out that way. I was telling myself, it would probably be ok since I had not taken the two previous off days on my workout schedule off. It still bothers me that I let my day get away from me. Bummer news too, the WinKC triathlon that I have the training plan for is, get this, full. 550 women have registered for the Aug. 1 race, so I had to put my name on a waiting list. That will teach me to procrastinate. To alleviate the pain, I have started searching for some other races that would be similar in format. Maybe there will be an off-road triathlon out there with my name on it.

I wonder when folks start out writing their blogs if there are as many I's in it as mine has. That bother me along with letting my day get away from me.

6/2

Ok, today was a good workout day. Got up early for a swim clinic. Swam for about an hour, pretty awesome, I am beginning to figure out the freestyle stroke. I need to try to swim a little everyday so that I can ingrain everything into my mind and muscles. Directly after the swim, I rode for two hours. The ride included three five minute intervals, my first of the year. Actually my first in a very long time. I should have done one more, it took those three to remember how to do the interval. The last thirty minutes of the ride were very easy, I rode with the boys from the house to the shop. It was nice, because they were excited to go ride and I did not have to twist their arms. I was supposed to run today, but ran out of time. That workout will have to be added on to Wednesday's workout. Time wise I am pretty happy with how the day went, and very happy the boys and I rode together.

6/1

Easy ride day. Thank goodness, it took 45 minutes just to get loosened up from yesterdays 50 miler. Today I rode Bill's Loop along with Pretty Loop. A total of 12.4 miles for an hour ride.

The rest of the day was full of yard work, mostly done but has some loose ends to finish up. The boys helped out tremendously. I was very happy and proud of how well they worked.

5/31

School has been out for a week and I have done a good job of working out. I have joined a ladies triathlon club, which has been pretty awesome. My goal is to train for the summer and compete in the WinKC Ladies Triathlon. It is a sprint triathlon, so the distances are shorter. It is a 500m swim, 10 mile bike, and a 5k run. I have never been a real swimmer, always avoiding getting my face in the water, so never properly doing the strokes. I ride my bike all the time. I have not run since high school. The cool thing about the club is that there are local ladies that do triathlons putting together clinics to help those of us who need extra practice and training in a particular area. This was my first week of training. Monday was a day off, but I rode for about an hour. Tuesday was a run day, so I ran and rode. Wednesday was a ride day. Thursday was a swim day. Friday was a day off, so the boys and I went to the pool to play (no laps for me). Saturday was a run day, and we did a planned group bike ride. Sunday was a ride day. I did pretty well with the schedule, and wound up doing a little more because I did not want to give up my bike rides. Today's ride was with the group from the bike shop. It was more of a ride than I was wanting, but I am glad that I did the ride. We rode to McCune, round trip it was about 53 miles. If it had not been 95 degrees and windy, it would not have been to bad. By the end I was toast. I think that this week will be more difficult, because I will be feeling fatigue from the previous week.

I have two reasons for doing this. One is the swim, I wanted to really learn how to swim. To be efficient and smooth in the water with different strokes. I also wanted to increase my activity to aide in weight loss.

01/03/09

That's me in the middle all bundled up for a very cold New Year's Eve ride. These two gentlemen let me draft for the entire ride so that I could get my metric century in for the New Year.

What an awesome ride week. Every year since 2001, we have ridden in a New Year's day ride. Several of the cyclists ride a full 100 miles. Others do a mileage that works for them. This year I decided to do my metric century a day early. I hate looking for a babysitter for New Years Day. Anyways, I was able to ride 63 miles on Wednesday. For the week so far I have been able to log 175 miles. If I can get in 25 tomorrow I will have 200 miles. Next week will be the real test. No more vacation time. Back to juggling family, work, and exercise. I would be happy if I could get in a minimum of 100 miles per week, giving me about 400 per month, thus 4800 for the year. Getting the exercise is only a small portion of my goals. I need to focus on the nutrition side. It is way to easy to just eat whatever with no planning.