The Hurt Weekend

I've had some really solid training over Memorial Day weekend, including some heavy cycling and running. The pedal-pounding pain was delivered thanks to racermate's evil (and fantastic) training tool known as computrainer. Load a real course video on one of these puppies, and you will be pedaling every single foot of every single mile you log. I'd like to think my fitness is decent, but let me go ahead and admit just how much ouch this thing dished out on me. It hurt.

Aside from the hours spent on the computrainer in the hurt garage over days, I also had an awesome LONG run with one of the my best friends. For me, it was a nice & low perceived effort for the even pace we were blasting. I'm not about to go quoting numbers or making predictions, but let's see what happens at Coeur d'Alene when the dust settles.

Additonally, Donovan and I took Theresa swimming with us on and we got our hotcakes and waffles on (as always).

Peace

Training with the stars

This past weekend I got invited to tag alongside a couple of the top rock stars in the state. Fellow BLUE rider Michael "Pedal Pounder" Gordon and Kara Nielsen planned a long suffer fest, and I got sent an RSVP to get my butt kicked. Sure-why not? It's always nice to be humbled by riding with power houses.

Look at these two geeks...

The ride turned out to be actually really nice, though we did get hit with a heavy shower during the first hour, and the air temperatures made us wonder if Spring is ever going to come. We were able to hit some long stretches of open road, and made sure we got some good headwind beating on us. Last time I went out with Michael on this route, I was gasping for air- at least I was able to hang off the back this time.

Don't let the smile fool you- she bends crank arms just by looking at them.

I got a chance to practice my IM race-day nutrition and hydration, composed of First Endurance (Liquid Shot and EFS) and NUUN, while Michael and Kara shared a couple almonds, a fig and some cheetos. Maybe that's the secret to going fast... In any case, I got my fueling strategy down and feel confident with the 4th discipline come race day.

Small and Medium Triads. Can you tell which one is which? Mine is the more aero.

Another solid weekend of training in the books for me. Now a few days of down time, and then it's time for the final build block ending with Boise 70.3, all in preparation for IM Coeur d'Alene.

Thanks Michael and Kara for the long ride!

10 de Mayo

Día de la Madre. It's a chance for me to think back on the time I had with Mona. I remember many 10 de Mayos when a phone call was as close as we could be. I would play one certain mariachi song that celebrates mothers' love and remember her crying happily on the other end of the phone. Sigh... There's also the part of me that looks at my present life and is grateful for the family we have and what an awesome mother Theresa is to our little guy.

Speaking of parenting, we had a tough weekend in that department. Donovan underwent oral surgery at Seattle's Children's Hospital. The end result is he doesn't have his 2 front upper baby teeth anymore, a product of tooth decay from having really big teeth crowded into a tiny mouth. In the greater scheme of things, it is not so bad, and it helps to see he quickly accepted what happened, is adapting, and back to being his usual happy self. My point is this- we worried, we stressed, it was mentally draining. In any case, my thoughts go out to parents and their children who battle the really tough medical conditions. You guys are on whole different level of toughness.

training, training, training

Not much else to say... busy with life otherwise...

At this point, I've decided to skip Florida 70.3 on 05/16 and keep training hard, targeting Ironman Coeur d'Alene. I will race at Boise 70.3 two weeks out as final prep for IM Cd'A. Should be good....