WOW

Last night's storm was out of control! It woke me up at about 11:30pm with hail hitting our bedroom window. Rick and I are always scared that a storm will rip up the tree in our backyard but thankfully it didn't happen last night.

We lost our power for about five hours and now we know why. All of the power lines on 40th St from Shea to Cactus are down and we live right in the heart of it, as does our friend Hollon.

Nevertheless, Ironman training continues. I've been mtn biking and hiking all week as well as a gym workout today with Dave. It was a super tough workout that included lifting 20lbs! I've been doing well with 15 so adding additional weight is exactly where I want to be.

We are headed to Vegas Sunday for some fun with friends and more biking so expect some fun posts next week!

Happy Trails!
(click on the image to enlarge - it's amazing!)

Butt Butter??

This week has just been outstanding. I've been spending lots of time with my friends who are also going to be my teammates during the Gilmore Adventure Race next month. We've been logging lots of mountain bike time as well as hiking followed by Dave's workouts....speaking of.....

Today I was on the CompuTrainer again for a special treat - mountain biking! It was pretty cool and I was able to add additional miles towards this months 250 miles goal.

Okay, who has used Butt Butter? Sounds pretty gross but I can't stand the chaffing that my poor cheeks are getting. So how does it work? You slather up your ass and then put your shorts on or squeeze it into your shorts and then put them on? Any ideas or solutions would be appreciated please.

So Rick and I are headed to Vegas this weekend after his Nav clinic for some fun and some mountain biking! Watch for updates and photos by next Tuesday....

My hairy legs....

My friends Jennifer and Leslie on top of Squaw Peak. It only took us 30 minutes to reach the top and that's a time I'm proud. It was humid today on the mountain and I didn't have a dry patch on me - yuke.

You know, I'm not afraid to admit that I don't shave my legs every dang day. They get hairy and pretty fast. I'm blessed with the hairy gene and the maintenance is just too much. As I get older I don't give a sh*t anymore ya know....

Of course it's when I haven't shaved in about two days that Dave, for whatever reason has to touch my legs. Today he was helping me do some parallel bar apparatus, I don't know what it's called but nevertheless he was holding my legs up and all I could think about was poking him in the fingers with my overgrown stubble :) Sorry Dave...I'll try to shave more...maybe.

This weekend was non-stop so I'm ready to take it down a notch today. (that's code for NAP TIME!) See you outside ;)

A Day of Firsts....

I know, I'm behind on my posts. These past few days have been action packed but with the few minutes I have, I've got to tell you what I've been up to.

First, I'm feeling much better after my last post. Dave gave me a much needed chat and well, I'm going to try and relax a bit. Things will be okay for me I'm sure.

A Day of Firsts:

1. Biked with a women's group
2. Spent time with Vickie's sister Christine
3. Got lost
4. Fell off my road bike

Well, I finally did find that women's riding group that I was searching for and today was my first ride. Vickie's sister Christine came along and that really made a difference seeing a familiar face. I'm glad she decided to join.

Off we go and right off I knew that I would have to work hard to keep up. Those women mean business when it comes to riding. Christine and I were doing well enjoying a good chat and then we started to climb some hills. If you read my blog you know that hills are a challenge for me. Christine and I broke up and ugh...the first hill was done. Somebody has to be last so why not me.

Our separation didn't last long and we were together again...until the next hill :0 About this time we are near Camelback and the hills are getting really steep. I had two choice, I could take the easy route, which some women opted to do or ride the hill Christine was going up. I really wanted to work on my leg strength so up the hill I went. Getting passed is not a big deal to me until I realized that I was almost at a stand still and nobody was behind me. I tried something new and stood up on my bike to pedal up the hill. Man, my legs were toast and I quickly ran out of breath too. I just don't have the leg endurance yet for those kind of hills.

I needed to rest for a second but oops...didn't get unclipped fast enough and down I went! It didn't hurt because I wasn't moving fast enough lol. As I lay there with my bike over my legs I realized that I was alone and nobody knew I was there. I was alone and I better get the lead out. Unfortunately I was so far behind that I didn't see which way my group turned and now I was lost.

For a while I felt like a lost child looking for my mommie. It was crazy and I was bummed that I had missed the end of the ride....I headed back to the start. To my surprise the group arrived shortly after I did.

Fortunately several women wanted to continue so I was able to add an additional 10 miles to my ride. I was happy ending the morning with 30 miles under my belt.

See you next Sunday Christine!

I've got some things to say

My girlfriend and I were mountain biking this morning and low and behold, there is a snake! YIKES. He was not happy to see me and I'm so thankful that I didn't fall on him.

So I have some pretty serious things to say today. First, this is a reminder to all my readers that this blog is my personal journal. It just so happens that it's public but I don't want the fact that it's public to stop me from saying what I need to say.

This whole experience has been really good for me. I have remained super positive and steadfast in the belief that I will finish the Ironman in 09. I have visualized the finish over and over and sometimes I feel it..deep inside my heart I felt the victory. My life has become this race in everything that I do. I schedule things around upcoming events and around my training. I rally people around me to help push me past some plateaus and I've done everything I can think of to surround myself with like minded people. I've certainly conquered my fears along the way. I'm happy....right?

Yesterday during my workout something happened to me. Something I'm a little afraid to say out loud because I might make it happen if I do. When I was finishing up my last mile I was miserable and I thought to myself that if this is how I feel during the Ironman, I'm not going to finish it. Here is the worst part....not finishing is simply another failure and I'm ready to accept it, is what I thought.

Some of you will write me and say that not finishing is okay and I appreciate that but here is what you don't know. I have accepted "failure" or second best my entire life. I've talked myself out of success or greatness perhaps because I didn't feel qualified for it. It's only been recently that I faced my fears head on and started to steer my own destiny but yesterday was a step backwards and I'm a little frightened by it.

I don't want to be the person I was. The person who accepted failure based on lack of effort because I got hot or tired or because things were just too hard. I know this is a process and exercising my mind is just as important as exercising my body.

During part of the bike section yesterday I was moaning and groaning about the heat. We made it to a little down hill section and Dave said something about how nice the breeze was...his cup was half full and that's the kind of attitude I need. So maybe Dave is teaching me more then how to physically prepare for the Ironman and I just didn't see it before (thank you Sensei Dave).

Maybe it was just a really hard day, and maybe it's not as complicated as I think it is....

How about this...maybe I'm in the "transition area" of my first discipline? (cute huh)

Today's Duathlon

Dave put me through a duathlon today at Papago Park. I'm going to be honest here and say that I'm a big baby when it comes to running in the heat. I really am and I know this. The tantrum starts and my attitude sucks. I don't like that about myself.

After the duathlon I was not feeling so great. I was hungry and tired but part of me wanted to go with Dave to swim so we loaded up the truck and off we went.

Jumping into the pool was great but several laps in I started getting a headache and just wasn't having any fun. At this point I decided I was done...I needed to go home and take a nap. Low and behold I forgot to bring a change of clothes! Nice photo huh....what you didn't see were my running shoes...I'm glad I didn't get pulled over in that outfit!

Anyway, I came home with horrible stomach pains, bloating and the toots.....really bad toots too...The bloating got so bad that I looked about 3 months pregnant and it HURT. I know that's too much info but hey, if you know about the Maxi Pads under my bra you should know about my toots too. I finally went to bed and three hours later I'm feeling much better. Sometime during my nap I had the baby and alls well now :) My family is glad too.

Really fun bike drills

I'm not sure what was more fun...running into a tree with my bike or stopping on the downhill to balance without putting my feet on the ground.

Today was just pure fun and I needed it...I've been working really hard and to laugh at myself doing some of these crazy things was what the Dr. ordered.

Let's cut right to the fun stuff! Dave is teaching me balance and self-confidence on my mountain bike. After a few other drills we did something unusual (well, not for Dave) and that was to ride my bike into a tree, balance, turn and keep riding all without putting one foot onto the ground. Totally FUN!!! Try this at home folks. At a steady pace ride your front tire into the tree, bounce, balance then turn and ride away..LOVED IT! I could have done that 10 more times it was so fun. I wonder what the people around us were thinking when they saw us :)

Another fun one was to stop my bike and balance while in the downhill position. Again, LOVED IT! We had already practiced balancing the bike without putting one foot down so adding the hill was perfect. Down I go, stop in the middle and balance without putting my feet down and then continue. I could have done that 20 more times....

What a refreshing workout...if you see me ramming my bike into the side of things, it's just practice...no need to panic ;)