Not for the faint of heart - saddle sores

Saddle Sores.....with some this a subject we just don't discuss because they occur "down there"  But come on people, any of you that spend hours upon hours on your bike have had at least one and probably more if you are honest.

Well I have had my share but have one that reoccurs.  I used to think Chamois cream was for wimps.  Well who is the wimp now.... I can usually keep the bastard at bay but well lets just say it has taken on a life of it's own.   A while ago when I was began having issues and my friends said you have to use cream I weakened and picked up a tube of Chamois Butt'r  and used it a few times.  One day before applying I checked the label to see what the heck was in this magic cream?  Lots of words I cannot pronounce and a few with "acid" in them as well. Uh....not so sure I want to be using that well, down there- acid?  what the heck?  So no more, I am not using a chemically ridden cream- done. 

Good idea right- sure, great until the sore starts to rear it's ugly head again.  Argh...  Luckily around this time one of my Erin Baker teammates was launching his company and the product betwixt and he sent me some samples.   No petroleum, vegan, green tea and chamomile extract, organic aloe vera, paraben free.....okay now we are talking.  Good stuff- smells good and is good.   And they also make a great sunscreen if you are in the market - zealios. So now my only issue is remembering to use it.  I remember sunscreen every day but for the life of me forget to use this stuff, until it is too late!   One other product I have to comment on Hoo Ha Ride Glide the name alone got my attention but then I read this We actually had to use our husbands' nut cream for a long ride because we couldn't find one made for a woman... How funny is that!  I found them at an expo and love it. Again smells good, ingredients I can pronounce- it's all good.  The funny thing about chamois creams is some of the names.... Assos Cycling Cream, Brave Soldier, DZ-NUTZ protect your junk,  That Butt Stuff...and more.

Then there are the complainers on bike forums  $20 for a tub, isn't there a cheaper alternative. The suggestion are Bag Balm, Diaper Rash Ointment, Body Glide ( just make sure you don't let me borrow it on my neck before a swim), Noxzema, Vaseline (if you reapply every hour- gee that is convenient).  And the classic quote - "I'd gladly pay $20 to avoid a massive seeping, bleeding sore on my ass"

Well my "friend" is back and I have had to use hot packs, ice, now antibiotic cream and am seriously thinking about standing for my next ride!  So I googled and searched for how to get rid of it. The consensus is hot packs for sit in a hot salty bath to get it to open up (really nice process as you can imagine), keep it clean, antibiotic cream until it heals.  It you can you get to it in the beginning stage, pimple medicine is recommended to keep it from growing!   And the number one recommendation is don't let it happen again.  

Well there you have it...... hard to say much after that. For me, I just have to remember!

 

Blog Stealing....

Ok not really....really more blog inspiring.  I just read Beth's blog about racing this weekend and I was actually thinking much of the same this morning.  It seems nearly everyone So many good friends are racing this weekend!  I am most excited for the IM virgins!  Amy is going to kill it an IMCdA.  And then the others seeking the oh so coveted Kona slots- they mostly seem to be at Buffalo Springs!  Debbie has some revenge to take out for missing her roll down at IMSG!  Ah- can you believe it.  MS flatted at Honu so has a revenge race in her as well.  I have 2 buddies in the same age group vying for the same spot- dude's you have to duke it out and may the best, well best on that day, win! Some Erin Baker teammates racing in CdA and BS.

And locally- the San Diego International is stacked with so many more....the women's elite race will be a good one!  Tati, Beth, Terry, Caroline and more I am sure I just don't know about.

Seriously I want to be at SD Intl to see that finish!  I want to see Amy finish CdA and could hang at BS to watch them all roll in as well!

Ahhhh.  But I will be at Del Norte HS watching Girls U13 lacrosse (and loving it)  Saturday will be more of the same....let's see 8, 10 and 3 Riley plays at Del Norte and 10 and 11 JD plays in Coronado,  And US vs Ghana is at 11.   Still working out logistics of who goes where with whom and how.  

 I  hope the iPhone is up to all the athlete tracking is will be doing.   

Good thing my legs are smashed as I head into a weekend of parenting.  No long rides, maybe a long run on Sunday.  I can run Saturday if I run at 5 or 5:30am....otherwise 4:30 but after all the games, driving, etc I know motivation to get out is tough.  But this is a good time to NOT have to ride long.  I am  not fully ramping up for Kona and well there is that minor 130 mile Death Ride with 15,000 ft of elevation but well- it's not a race.

Today my plan was to ride to Masters and ride home- leave here 6am..... not happening.  I am tired.  Much to Zen's disappointment when the alarm went off at 5am I did not get up.   I fell back into a deep sleep and clearly needed it.  So I hammered out a few hours of solid work- really I do work.  Set a goal for telemarketing calls and the reward was to ride to Noon Masters.   Done!  Another component of my job is training and providing ongoing support to our new associates and I made some good progress on that too.

On the bike and it was sunny and spectacular.  Legs are tired, I mean really tired.  So I deiced to be smart, listen to my body and make this a recovery ride to and from swim.  Funny thing happened around 45 min into the ride, the burning subsided and they started to feel good. So I picked it up, even considered just riding for 3 hours but then though I really should do a solid swim.  I left the option open as I hit Torrey Pines.  I wouldn't say I hammered up but I pushed it hard!  So much fun I decide for another - okay same efforts, same power and really not so much fun- legs rebelled and that motivated me to go to UCSD.

Friday Noon masters is awesome- sunny, long course and usually not a lot of people.  Waaat......long course pool is rented out to Water Polo, we are short course and limited to 6 lanes and there were a lot of people. Hello 6 in my lane- that is a lot short course.  Oh well once the intervals were sorted out we were down to 3 and started in on Fast Friday.  Of course it is fast, it is short course. By the time I finally converted to SC times I realized it was Not so Fast Friday.  But it was a beautiful day and I decided to enjoy the swim and worry less about the times-  surely the clock was slow???

Ride home was good- took a different route and it was a bad on to take on a Friday at 1pm- traffic, traffic and lots of lights that were not runnable.   Bummer- but I enjoyed the weather, the fact I was on my bike and I had a good play list.  Really- pretty darn awesome!

Go Hard and Go Home

Okay so that is not the quote exactly but it is my quote of the week!

I pulled off a great week last week of high volume with one track workout and 2 long rides.  I was tired but in a good way.  Felt strong on my 2nd long ride and was able to do a long run (albeit slow -as prescribed) but it was good.

So this week I knew the volume was not feasible to do a million games this upcoming weekend- Between JD and Riley they are playing in 11 games from her to Rancho Bernardo to Coronado.  I will find time to run a few times but no big rides.

Monday was an OW swim only- I was tempted to ride a recovery ride but really decided to give the legs one day off.   And it was a good thing because heading to track on Tue I was sluggish.  I met MW and C for the tail end of their track work out and it was a disaster.  2 cups of coffee+ hazelnut creamer and then a 10min WU and right into 400's put my stomach in a tail spin.   Nothing like puking up coffee and then returning to the track. But my stomach was good and I was ready to train.   Good w'out and I finished strong and ran back to the pool with the intent of doing masters.

Can we say sluggish...ugh - I kept thinking I would warm up, loosen up- but at 2K I got out-  Another lesson- metabolic efficiency is great for zone 2 training but for intervals in the track - I needed calories to avoid the massive bonk in the showers after swim.  I went straight to Starbucks and ordered up a Venti Iced Mocha- the whole chocolate milk recovery idea + a jolt of caffeine and well 3 bananas.  Honestly- that was too many but I was so avoiding the scone, bagel temptation at Starbucks.   That was my day for Tue.

Foam roller was bust that day!   Wed I rolled with the girls for a ride to Dudley's.  The weather, seriously, was perfect. Other than dense fog up Scripps PP it was warm, clear and not too hot.  Roads were not too busy and JN, LG, BW and I chatted up a storm.  No hammering but a lot of yammering...the reason we love to ride.  My legs did not feel fresh nor too strong.  They are fatigued but oddly enough around 3 hours they felt better- usually it is after an hour, but this was 3 hours -  JN kept saying oh thank goodness my legs stopped hurting after the 1st hour and I was nodding and praying for some of the pain go away to travel to my legs.   No run off the bike- I need to give my ITB a break between runs with this new intensity.

So today I am up at 5 and at UCSD ready to run at 6....first time for me on a Thur.  I ran from the pool, optimistically thinking I would do masters after the run.  Small cup of coffee so still sleepy. Luckily I dropped a 2x caffeine gel in my pocket.  Today was fun- after a long warm up we took off on the trails and  did 2min, 4 min, 6min. 8 min, 6min, 4min,. 2 min of tempo runs with 2 minute of ez run in between.  I am one of the slower ones so the rabbits take off and I found a similar paced friend and tucked in behind her as we went up and down and around the trails.   By the 2nd 4 minute I was tired but stuck it out and then ran back to the pool.

This time I knew....this would not be a 1:15 masters swim- nope, 30 min long course meter swim and out.   Spent, tired and wiped out.    So my Tue and Thur I went hard and track and went home- I am hoping as my body gets used to the higher intensity I can finish masters - okay it's not like I couldn't do the work out I just did not want to. And when my next IM is nearly 4 months away- I gave myself permission to wimp out.

So just when I am starting to figure out the metabolic efficiency I go hard and am at a loss for my fueling options.....hoping to figure this out.  I am eager to be taking Bob Seebohar's class in September so by then I will have a million questions, have tried many ideas and hope to really get good insight on this process.

Henshaw Loop

This is a classic San Diego Triathlete ride. 100 miles, 7000 ft of elevation, guaranteed heat and a good solid ride.  You hear that the great Norman Stadler used to come to San Diego and ride it regularly as part of his Kona prep.  Last year a good friend said her coach had her riding it every week.   Friends love it and rave about it.

I did this ride last summer and I did the ride yesterday and I'm not sure I will ever do it again.  I love most of the ride, but the part I dislike, I really dislike.  We rolled from Peet's and headed out to RB and out Bear Valley to the 78. This is all great - I like that climb to Ramona and love Julian Highway and even the short back on the Highway to Dudley's. The ride to Santa Isabel is beautiful and then normally the 79 by Lake Henshaw is nice too, but yesterday there were 1000's of locusts, dive bombing us and slamming into us,  It felt like someone was throwing rocks at us. CG, TV and I are yelping, ouch, oh crap and worse as they pummeled us.

After the biblical scene of the locusts the ride turns to crap.  The road is chipped seal (St George all over again) and the ride down 76 past Rincan sucks, really sucks.  The roads are crappy, not just chipped seal but bumpy, buckled and a million obstructions (which I apparently am terrible at pointing out - sorry CG)  and there is traffic, it's hot- It ruins all the rest of the ride.   Although this is when TV rides up, not happy either and says "this is child abuse" OMG totally made my day! Then you roll to Escondido - new road which is nice, but then have to navigate North County Fair traffic and the 15.  All the good vibes and love is gone!

So here I say it- no more!!!!  I would rather ride to Santa Isabel and turn around and ride back home!

Next big ride is 4th of July weekend.  A  loop I did 2 years ago with KP-  Start the same as Henshaw loop but you stay on the 79 and take the S2 toward Anza Borrego and then you climb up Banner Grade to Julian and head home!   110 miles and it will be awesome!

Huge volume week.....why?

Just logged my biggest volume week, ever, I think?  Marion asks me this AM, why?  What are you training for? My next big race is in October- so what gives?  Why, because I can, I did, was motivated?  All good answers right.  As I take on this venture of self coaching I may push the envelope a bit, may over do it but want to test the waters and see.  Self coaching?  I am planning to get my USAT Level 1 Coaching license in September and hope to start coaching other triathletes. I am also taking a class this summer at UCSD on Exercise Physiology and plan to continue classes to learn more about the human body and exercise.  I am so excited and eager to begin the process.  I am reading books, taking webinars and become more of a student of the sport that I thought possible.  Once I have the certification I hope to put some of this to practice.  Education is not free!  Well anything past high school any way so I had to make a decision about my coach.

It was so hard and one I wrestled with but finally decided I just had to do it.  I found KP 3 years ago after meeting one of his fellow athletes.  I was in my first season on racing and had just done Vineman.  Puked my guts out on the run, walked most of the last 6 miles, was racing on a stress fracture and actually did have a coach at the time, just not the right one for me.   Kevin got me healthy, eased me back into running shape and then began my journey to my first Ironman.  June 2008 I finished IM CdA and did it respectfully.  The knowledge, advice and time he committed was amazing,  I toed up on that big day, feeling ready physically and mentally.  One year later, at that same race, KP was there to support a few of us and I had the race of my life, earning a slot to Kona.  We have become good friends along the way and I am eternally grateful for his commitment to me, for believing in me when I did not, for his marital counseling skills, psychological counseling and for sharing his years of experience to often put things in perspective.    Would I be heading to Kona for the 2nd time without him.....not really sure and I am willing to give him the bulk of the credit,.  I followed his direction, challenged it at times and learned so much.

There are many different ways to coach and  I hope to emulate much of what KP is able to do. As he noted, writing a plan is not that difficult, it is managing all the other aspects. And that is what excites me about coaching- the ability to help others through the emotional ups and downs of training, balancing family and spousal commitments, time management, making compromises and more.  The kind of coach that is available to answer questions, works through unexpected issues that alter training, understanding we have to be flexible....

The test for me now is can I take what I learned and continue to grow in this sport.  Age is working against me for sure but I still have more to learn, limits to push and will see what comes next.   So I find this funny....week 1 on my own and I blow out the volume, is this a good thing?  We will see- am I planning another week of the same- NO. 1- would not be smart  2- kids have tournaments next weekend so parenting takes a front seat vs long hours of training 3- I am 43 and my body cannot take that week after week.

So it is quite interesting to plan my week but as I venture onto week 2- it seems okay!

Soccer, Date Night, Camping and oh right training....

My long ride was on Friday of last week because of JD's soccer tournament.  People say, oh you have teenagers, not like having little kids. True, they can bath, dress and feed themselves but they still require time from a parent.

Friday night I worked registering teams for our (Carmel Valley Manchester Soccer Club) Tournament.  5-9:00 I checked in teams for the tournament.  JD's first game was 8am on Saturday, which means he has to be there at 7, which means I was up at 5:30 to run and the we were off to the game.  First game is a win!  Yeah and then we have a few hours and game 2 is at 2:30 and we lost 1-0- tough game, terrible reffing but hey the US managed to tie England in the first WC game between our games.

Rushed home, showered, changed and dressed up for a nice dinner at the Hilton Mission Bay. Work event, but sure to be more social with good food and wine and a free hotel room, So JB and I headed down and enjoyed ourselves thoroughly! Good thing we had the room as well the wine was flowing, So let me note, this is the first time the kids stayed home alone.  Rule- no friends, no leaving the house and well no parties- but really not an issue for us (yet or hopefully never, but I am not that naive)  They chose a scary movie to watch. I checked in around 10 and JD proceeds to text me that Riley is scared to death and is asking to sleep on the floor of his room.  We had told JD he could sleep in our bed, near Zen, so he could get up early with the dog.  Turns our Riley slept on the other side - she was too scared to be alone.   They survived fine and we had a splendid time on a real date!!

Sunday was rough....let's just say the flowing wine was wrecking havoc on me now.  Home in time for another day of soccer.  1st game is a win and we have 90 minutes before the final and we won!! Hooray- Champions of our own tournament!  Gotta love that.

Sunday was a day off of training for me......6 hours  on the soccer field + late night + long week of training- well earned, if I say so myself.

Monday - JD is bored....Riley is off to Palm Springs with a friends family and he wants to go camping and well of course fishing.  I have work to do and assign him the task of 1- seeking out where to camp 2- where he can fish and once that was worked out 3- getting down the gear, packing the car and walking the dog.  Done- so I throw together some dinner and we are off to get John.

5:30 we are at Lake Cuyamaca, which was kind of funny, I have never driven there, always been there on my bike.  We pay $18 and are camping lake side - John sets up camp, love that guy and JD is fishing, I open the wine, get my chair and enjoy the spontaneous vacation we have just taken.

 His work is done!  Chilling with Zen



Hey success!! I am off to the lake store for overpriced charcoal, foil, lighter, olive oil and season salt.  John cleans the fish and we grill it up.



The fish was delicious!  A bit small for the 3 of us so luckily I brought dinner ( as a back up)



Happy kid!  He is a pretty darn good teenager- happy to be fishing and hanging with us,



Sunset on the lake and we are having fun. Our 5 person tent is perfect for 3 of us + Zen.  We did not bring Zen's bed so he slept on mine.  Not much sleeping and up at 5:30 with the sun. John was on his bike by 6:30 and rode back to work- 42 miles in 1:20- gee think it was mostly down hill or is he a CAT 1 racer now?  I went for an awesome run around the lake on the trails and JD broke down camp.  Another hour of fishing (not catching) and we headed home.

Fun, mini vacation!  So much fun we are going back soon.

So training...blah, blah....enjoying life right now, but actually logging a lot of miles too,  My new routine of riding to UCSD for Masters allows me to log extra bike miles and get in the swim as well.   I save on gas, parking and it is fun!  Not sure how fun it will be when it's cold and dark - well then I will be in my car.

Blogging Block

So I sat down last night eager to blog away.....and I sat and sat and sat. Really, was there nothing exciting or exhilarating to blog about.  Have the last 4 days really been that boring....come on?  So I wrote a bit and literally was putting myself to sleep.  Fortunately I did not hit publish and used the self induced fatigue to fall fast asleep in my bed.

When I woke up today I pulled up the draft to see if really it was that bad.....and yes it was that bad.  So I deleted it instead of putting out blogging fluff.

But here I am again....but really what has been the best part of the last few days?  My kids, my teenagers, yes the very ones who I recently accused I believe of sucking the life out of me at times.  Yes the same ones, whose emotional bank accounts are larger than ever.   They have been simply fantastic.  School is out- YES!

They are helpful, nice to have people to clean up the kitchen, unload the dishwasher, take out the trash, wash the car....and really without much attitude, in fact usually with a "sure mom"  The two of them have played every game we own for hours on hours and even hung out laughing with me.  They are eager to go places with me, well JD wants to drive, and well Riley just wants to come along. We take turns whose iPod is played- so we fluctuate from Pink Floyd to Lady Gaga, but it is working out just fine.  Last night, Riley and her friend and me picked up JD from lacrosse with the car loaded to go fishing at Lake Poway.  They just stocked it with Catfish and JD's research prevailed that sunset is ideal Catfish catching time. So, yes it was drizzling and cold, but we packed a picnic dinner and off we went. Sidetracked at the Farmers Market at the corner of Camino del Norte and Rancho Bernardo Road (best cherries and white nectarines we have had all year) but we soon made it to the lake only to find it closed at 7pm.  Too bad...so our road trip continued with the girls singing in the back and playing their noses, JD driving and me truly having a great time.

We had out picnic in the kitchen at the Island and John joined us.  It is now after 9 and well my bedtime but off to bed I went feeling so happy.  

My husband dropped me.....

Luckily it was just on a Sunday bike ride. So JB has been riding every day at lunch - hammer lunch ride and well it has made a difference. Awesome ride Sunday with Beth, James, Katya, Simone, Shannon, JB and me. Some of us rolled from Peets and we picked up the coastal peeps along the way. Headed up to Elfin and JB was cruising- ridin like a roadie out front attacking and easing off and attacking. But see, I am still trashed from my track work out- I know, 3 days??? Hey, that's my excuse and I am sticking to it. No up and go for me so I was not attacking and not keeping up.

Through Elfin Katya, James and JB took off....I was tempted once, twice okay a lot of times but really wanted to test my ability to stick with my ride plan. Katya and James, no problem, let them go off the front, but JB.....hard to not jump and go with him. But I did - goal was to not hammer and to not be trashed after a 4:30 ride. Goal achieved. Did not help that JB rode to work, worked the rest of the day (yes it was Sunday) rode home and was on fire. "what a great ride, god that was fun...." yeah, yeah! Okay really I am psyched for him- he is talented and built like a cyclist and it is great to see the training paying off.

We had fun- more good times with cool people! I love this sport, really!

Monday I rolled at 6:15 and rode to UCSD - took the long way so it was 19 miles and got there in time for practice. It was awesome! Loved it- I was so much more awake and ready to swim. And it was nice to ride home and since I saved $$ on gas and parking I rolled past Peets and got an iced latte in my water bottle! That was the treat for riding to swim.

Today was a big day! 8th grade promotion. We are so proud of Riley for finishing 8th grade and making it to High School! Seriously, they make a big deal out of it...so we dressed up and went for the ceremony. Of course it is great to see other parents and catch up and I was impressed they did the entire ceremony in 45 minutes. Impressive.

As we did with JD 2 years ago we went to Peet's for celebration. A few other families came and it was perfect. Nice treat, girls had fun and parents chatted it up. JD came over after his last final and we had a cappuccino toast to summer! Poor hubby had to work and miss the fun....

Riley and Granny and Papa

Riley, Indira and Astrid

Riley and her Dad

Riley and Jenny have been friends since pre-school

Riley and Kathi (Grandpa Jim is at the Dr's)

I ran at 5am so was able to chill with the kids today....unproductive work day really. Cleaned my bike, drank smoothies and relished in that reminiscing feeling of the start of summer. Kids are in the park with friends playing lacrosse. It's 6:30 and no worries about homework,. tests, finals....good feeling indeed!

Fees to fly with your bike!

Traveling to a race....it's not just airfare you need to worry about- baggage fees + fees for your bike.

Here are fees for traveling in the US (including HI)

AIRLINE	1ST BAG	2ND BAG	BIKE FEE
United	$25	$35	$100
American	$25	$35	$100 (+ bag fee)
Delta	$25	$35	$200
US Airways	$25	$35	$100
Southwest	$0	$0	$50
Hawaiin	$25	$35	$100
Continental	$25	$35	$100

Another week gone.....

Seriously this daily blogging is not happening, nor is the every other day or even the bi-weekly frankly. What the heck am I doing with all my blogging time....reading FB maybe?

Working? Right....worked harder these past few weeks than I have in a while and am getting accustomed to it. Not as many meltdowns. Although I had a few on Thursday...seriously, lack of communication is my biggest pet peave. 1- acknowledge you received the email or v.mail 2- a timeline of when you can work on it 3-when you do it 1/2 as*ed...at least note what you did and did not do. Okay, off the soap box. Busy is good. Busy is good. If I keep saying it I will believe it, really.

Kids.....what you say- 2 teenagers, they hate their parents so how can they keep you busy. Those with teenagers, you know...they (at times) purposefully or subconsciously suck what is left out of you on an emotional level. Not always not every day. Our household is a big believer in Steven Covey's Emotional Bank Account When we make emotional deposits into someone’s bank account, their fondness, trust, and confidence in us grows. And as a result our relationship develops and grows. If we can keep a positive reserve in our relationships, by making regular deposits, there will be greater tolerance for our mistakes and we’ll enjoy open communication with that person. On the contrary, when we make withdrawals and our balance becomes low or even overdrawn, bitterness, mistrust and discord develops. If we are to salvage the relationship, we must make a conscious effort to make regular deposits. Our kids are awesome kids and most of the time, the account is in the black. But with school winding down and the stresses of finals and grades looming, let's just say, it is a good thing there are no overdraft fees in our household. One more day of finals....and yes summer! I tell you, even though we do not get summer vacation as adults, there is a sense of vacation with school off the table for 10 weeks.

Training....yes that too. I felt great after the epic ride and long run until Tuesday. I was dead weight in the pool and my ez spin was even hard. Wed I had a mid week ride to do and was looking for company, I knew I needed the inspiration. My buddies were riding GWL Thursday and I could not play due to work commitments. I was going to join a Tri Club ride and bailed. I decided to hop on the bike around 11 and meet hubby for his lunch time ride. I was working on a BIG, can I say BIG proposal for prospective client. Finished it and sent if off, double checked it made it and out the door.

Cruising along working to "have fun" and I clunk and that dreaded hissing sound. Darn it, flat tire...now this is not a quick change and go. The tire has a 1/2 slice and is all the way through. No worries I have some shim's my buddy gave me, oops not in the Bento Box, oh I can use a $1 bill, nope, no $$ today. Bummer....nothing to use. Well maybe it's not all the way through (even though I can see it is) so I change and hit the road and within 2 minutes anohter huge hissing sound. Darn. No luck for me.

Call hubby for a bail out ride, only to realize he rode his bike. Great- stranded. Thankfully for his ex boss and a pick up truck to come and rescue me and take me home. As I am waiting I witness a major car accident- new Porsche 911 and old pick up truck. Horrible crash, car parts (Porsche parts) all over but thankfully both parties walked away. HR now at 200 and I did not even exercise to get it there.

Once home I give up on a ride or run. Frankly I am tired and cranky. Only to realize my proposal went to the wrong person. My (prospective) client did not get it in time for her meeting with her boss. This could cost me the business (the jury is still out at this writing) As I am rectifying, or trying anyway, the situation Zen is aggressively pestering me in the way that says I really have to go!! I am on the phone and so I just let him out to the front. He usually hangs in the driveway and bakes in the sun. Within minutes I hear screaming kids from the park and "he stole my pizza", "who's dog is this." Oh boy...I am running. Seems the elementary school is having a picnic and Zen invited himself. I see a lady holding him by the collar as he wolfs down pizza. Apologetically I drag him home and simultaneously a police car parks in front of my house. What now??? not sure he was not there for us. I'm telling you....it was 1:30 and I was done, D-O-N-E for the day. But I could not be done. Too early for wine so I went to the store and ashamed and regretful purchased a lot of gum and started chewing.

Riley saved me that afternoon with her terrific attitude and willingness to help out!!! Big deposit that day in her account.

Thursday was the 8th grade awards ceremony and we had received the generic letter in the mail "your child will be receiving an award" Riley has no clue what for....but of course I will be there. Busy day so I have to do my 90 minute run (which will include mile repeats) before 7:15 so I can get there on time. I am excited for my track work out - the last one I did was great. Well this one was, how can I say, so painful it was not fun. I only hit the pace on 2 of the repeats and was running all out to try and make the interval. Ugh....I am either very slow, tired from the weekend or well slow. Depressing indeed!

I sit though a 90 minute awards ceremony and Riley's name is not called for anything. What the heck....not fun, but well in turn with my week. Come to find out, later in the day, the school missed a group of awards- she should have and will receive a certificate in recognition for cumulative GPA of 3.5 or above for 6th,7th,8th grade. Well done and very proud! Even though I had to be proud later that day.

We rounded out the week (non eventful training) with a great dinner with Dad and K. Finally summer like weather so we ate outside and had a grand night. Only to be topped off with a game of Apples to Apples. Seriously fun game and with more people it gets better. Nice end to a week that was well...interesting.

GWL + MT Laguna

Why....because it was a long weekend and Ironman pain and suffering has faded from memory!

103 miles....Garmin say 9000 ft of elevation and mapmyride says 7300...felt the the Garmin was right but hard to day.

We had a big ol group....Jen, Tim, Beth, JB, Marion, Liz, Matiaz and another Jen. We also started with Brian, Rachel, Rikka, Ian and about 20 others..who were doing GWL only. And they zipped past us on the early climbs, in fact some even went past us a few times, doing laps it seemed. In any case, at the BeeKeeper they went right and we kept on booking to Descanso.

1st stop to regroup and Jen #2 is taking a bit longer and JB decides to be chivalrous and go back and stick with her. So the group is down 2 as we roll to Pine Valley and we are having a grand ol time. Tim cannot stop talking about a Frosty Burger Challenge. This guy is all about food....hence the Fat Cyclist jersey, although he really is not fat, just pretends to be. Tim is the guy who eats double pie, cookies and cappuccino when we ride Kitchen Creek and go to Julian. He is throwing down the Frosty Burger challenge and no one bites. Puking up burgers and shakes is not an option. Nor is hauling the extra weight we decide.

Seriously our usual chatter is keeping us going. Even as we start the 12 mile climb to the Top of Mt Laguna we kept it up. Although there were moments of WTF are we doing, how long have we been riding...for the most part it was awesome!

seriously I look 7ft tall...oh wait, they are just short

Top was beautiful and chilly. It was warming up to be a hot day but at 6000 ft still quite comfy. We stopped, snacked and relished in the fact that most of the climbing was done. Although the very disheartening thought was that we had only ridden 45 miles...55 to go- not even 1/2 way and we have been riding for 3:30. Ugh. lets get rolling and checking off miles.

Team Fattie (yeah right) Although there was a huge cyclist in the store with a croissant sandwich, chips, cookies, sodas and another 1000 calories of crap who asks Jen, what is deal with the Fat Cyclist Team? Uh....we giggle and slink away and leave her to answer the question with a straight face.

Cruising down the back side rocks - especially when the usually annoying Garmin beeps every mile. Going up the beeps are so few and far between, but cruising down at 30+mph is was a grand ol beep fest.

Before we know it we are at Lake Cuyamaca and life is good- few more climbs and we get a bit stretched out. We regroup at a critical turn only to learn that poor Beth thought she was on her Mountain Bike and did a bit of offroading on her TT bike and took a dive. Could have been a huge bummer crash but she took it like a champ and manged to take a bee sting as well. The descent out of there is steep and technical. Scary!!

Before we know it we are back at Descanso and yes eating and drinking again... now we just have to roll to the BeeKeeper and finish the loop. Marion is at a very low point...how can you tell- gee she is dead quite and noshing on a pepsi and Mrs Fields Cookie...can you say bonking? Well that any maybe her night of "playing" was not the best long ride prep....I'm just sayin.

Off we go.....and soon we are on Skyline Truck Trail. This is when I lose it- 90 miles into the ride, I'm hot, hot spot flares up and I am wondering why am I suffering so soon after IM. Jen is trying to keep me occupied with stories of when it was harder and I shut her down....don't want to hear that because it was NEVER, did you hear me EVER harder than it is right now. 5 miles later I smile and apologize for my out of body thrashing to her.

And then we were topping Skyline Truck Trail and screaming back to the car.... Showered, well dumped water all over and changed and looked at my watch and it was nearly 4:00. Holy cow....we had a late start and a long ride and wow, it is dinner time. And oh right, I was having a bbq at our house.... luckily it was family and the kids were home to get things going.

It was fun and a great time!!! I want to do it again soon...not this weekend but another one soon. But rolling at 7am and less stopping so it is not dinner time when we finish up.

I came home and was guzzling coffee without realizing well it was now 5:00... so by 9 when I knew I needed to go to bed I was wide awake. Rats...the chardonnay did not do the trick. I did fall asleep but was wide awake at 3:30 - what the heck, it is like post race. So finally at 4 I got up and started the day.

I had purposely planned to run at 8 since I figured I would be tired...now I was dying to run at 6. But met Lori at 8 in the Canyon for a great run....totally reasonable pace and it was great. Felt good and logged the miles (for what I am not sure) but was good to round out the weekend.

Plans were to swim Monday AM - Cove to Pier at 7. Well with my early wake up Sunday, Monday at 6am I had no interest in swimming. There was a 9am swim going on as well but well missed that too. And the 1pm seemed like a great idea until I went for a short run and a pool swim and decided I really did not want to do much that day at all. Let alone fight Memorial Day traffic, find parking etc.

So we cleaned the garage instead....maybe I should have gone swimming.....

Compression Sleeves

So after my weekend.... more on that later. My legs were tired. Let's just say 103 mile ride to include GWL and Mt Laguna backed up with a 2 hour run was a bit much 4 weeks post IM. One might say WTF? In any case....my legs needed help.

I did the ice bath, foam roller and increased stretching but needed more help..... So Monday, a planned day off, I went for a run and regretted it.

So I have been living in compression sleeves. I have 3 pair now- Zensah, Zoot and CEP

Zensah come in cool colors, I have purple, which is very cool but does not match anything I wear so when I sport them I look dorkier...geeky sleeves and wrong color. They are affordable, well reasonably anyway at $39. They are the easiest to get on and off and are the most comfortable. They are better than knee socks for sure but compared to the others, they did not seem to release, the cramping that was seizing my calves.

Zoot come in black and white, are $60 and feel awesome when they are on. But getting them on and off take a feat of superhuman strength. If the get rolled up when you are taking them off and you finger gets pinched, it hurts, a lot, a lot. So the Zoot are my vote if you don't have to take them off. And well that gets gross after a few days....Okay I only wore them for 24 hours but then did peel them off to shower. (serioully they can get a new photo- they make them look horrible)

CEP have the same desired affect at Zoot- as they feel like they are working. Comfortable and the cramping goes away and they feel great when I wear them. They are a tad longer so with running shoes they look like knee socks, not sure if that is an advantage or disadvantage, but more of a visual. At $39 they are in the same price range as Zensah and are easier to get on and off but offer the same feel as the Zoot's. I went for white as black seems so...hairy man at the beach with plaid shorts and black knee socks. But white, gets dirtty and trail running, sunscreen and they are looking grimy fast. But since they are easier to get off, washing is easier as well.

So there you have it..... I did wear one of each at times and once I got them on the Zoot and CEP has the same desired affect. The Zensah offered less compression. Now you can imagine how I looked with one purple and one white, in the scheme probably just a bit geekier than all white.

I have not taken the full compression knee socks for a spin- they seem so hot, for right now.