That's What I'm Talking About.....

It's a Wednesday, In December, Nearly 80 degrees and I am riding my bike with the girls..... Oh and did I tell you it was Amy's birthday!

 So we did the best ride ever....Great Western Loop!  It was Amy's first time- really, how can that be!  But it was....we rolled out at 9 and it was already warm...no vest, no socks, just arm warmers! 

 And we rode clockwise and let the climbing begin....it was all chatter and enjoying the magnificent weather!   Just for fun, we added on 12 miles and went to Descanso and with the warm weather we actually needed more fluids.

We like Skyline Truck Trail for the descents but due to a fire we were forced to ride by Lyons Valley- really beautiful but I am convince more climbing.  As I was apologizing for more hills to Julia, she smiled and said, better to climb than ride through flames....see it's all about perspective.

Post ride.... Trader Joes Brownie mix made with Pumpkin instead of oil and added some 70% cocoa chips.... delicious (if I do say so) Birthday Brownies!  See Amy loves them too.....

Sensational day.... good ride, great weather, best company and treats at the end!  And I had a free Starbucks coupon-  oh yea - iced skinny peppermint mocha with an extra shot!   Life.....IS GRAND!

And the riding continues.... more riding tomorrow, Saturday and back in East County to kick of the New Year!  Lots of base miles.... nothing hard, nothing crazy, just logging time in the saddle with great friends (who are all off work)  

Upgrade or downgrade.....

Going from a 1999 Infiniti QX4 with 150,000 miles to a 2007 Audi A3 6 speed performance car was definitely an upgrade.....



Old crappy car



new (to me) really fast, fun car...summer 2009!~

Love the car, love the car..... but well in October.....enter Mako

(cutest pup ever)

What does new dog have to do with car......well the Audi is not meant for dogs in the back- bucket leather seats and Zen cannot even hang his head out the window.  Zen lives for car rides....and used to hop in all the time with me- for the last 18 months maybe 1 or 2 times he comes and slides around the car, not loving it-  So you are saying - its a dog!  But I love my dog(s) and I want them in the car, going to the beach etc....and the Audi is tough- add 2 kids and forget it-  the hatchback is not right for the dogs.....

So bye, bye Audi (sniff)  Oh and the amazing 6 speed fast car- is not exactly fuel efficient.  So I drove and drove and drove suitable options....1- JD goes to college next year so we are looking to decrease expenses not increase- so I stayed away from the high $$ options- Lets face it -
-  I want a car the dogs can be in and out of and I really don't care
- car cannot be  total dog as in 0-60 in 30 minutes
- needs some basic amenities- blue tooth, power stuff, iPod adapter- yes all this can be done aftermarket but it is REALLY expensive (trust me I know and usually it sucks)

So....drum roll please........ my new ride!  (4000 miles old that is)

with the idropboys plates and an mDot sticker- she will be ready to roll!

Holidays, training and life

I have fallen off the blogging wagon..when that happens I cannot get back on. So much is happening that I don't know where to start....


Training- back at it and it feels good.... still consuming the cookies and eggnog- BUT am logging a lot of miles on the bike and some on the run to the lbs are no longer compiling on my body.

Yes these are my Granny's sugar cookies and I LOVE them....really the only cookie I will indulge on,  Well the molasses cookies were good this year- confession, I took a zip lock bag of them on my last ride.  Hey carbs, sugar and fat - all good right!!!

Last week was about logging base miles on the bike, Christmas Shopping (online), baking cookies with kids, going to dog beach and NOT working.

Lucky for me JD was working each day and Riley slept in, so I could ride my bike and still get all the pre- Christmas fun in.   I rode with John one day, with Beth (now a pro-triathlete), James ( kick our ass) and Noko one day.... let's just say Beth no longer needs to hang on my wheel....she was waiting for us on every climb! Impressive!   Another ride with Jen, while Riley babysat Anika and then a few days of trail running and an awesome Christmas Eve ride with friends.    Good week.....logged some good miles and none of them were crazy hard to the volume was able to creep up with out me being smashed. Since I am not running with a Garmin and all is in hilly trails.... no stellar stats there.  By Christmas I was tired but not dead!  Perfect week and time for 2 days of eating and drinking

Christmas Eve at Mom's with Champagne and Crab....

Belgian Waffles Christmas Day!

Followed by presents and fun....

Oops wrong partner

and then a great trail run with the dogs and then Christmas Dinner!  If you saw Julie and Julia or you own Julia Child's cookbook you know of the infamous Beef Bourguignon - a mater piece and a labor of love...well Kathi took on the recipe for Christmas dinner and it was truly one of the best tasting entree ever- wonderful food, wonderful family and friends....really so very thankful!

Dad wants these with prescription

Another trip to Vegas......

I much prefer my Vegas trips to include swim.bike.run, whether it be training with the girls or a race.  The past 4 days was all about work.... Yes we had some fun, but meetings from 9-6 and then evening events until 10-11 or later is way out of my comfort zone.... 1st I had to figure out 6 outfits that do not include spandex or running gear- yes 6- 3 days and 3 nights.... I had 6 pairs of shoes- really? 1- zoot running shoes 2- Merrill comfy shoes 3- 3 pairs of boots (1 brown and 2 black -1 flat and 1 heels and 6- dress shoes.  I could have done the bring 2 pairs and wear them with everything but I work at home, travel little for work and rarely dress in real clothes- so since I was recently shopping with Riley and have new clothes, shoes etc- why not schlep them to Vegas and wear them all.

Yes I had to check my bag for a 4 trip...yes I brought a lot, but I wore everything and the only thing I wore twice were my running shorts that I washed out.  So I was dressed well for each evening event and snappy for the daytime meetings.  My feet, however, are KILLING me.  New boots x 2 and heels + standing on my feet for 8+ hours a day are as damaging to feet as Ironman.   I still have 4 black toenails- 2 from Kona and 2 from the fateful weight dropping on my foot.   In any case, I survived....

I am totally wiped out.  I ran every day for an hour!! Bonus.....was in bed by 11 and one night up until 12:00. Now that is late, really late for me, but for this group, I was a total wimp. There were many up until 3 or 4am and even 2 today who never went to sleep.....seriously- cannot fathom not sleeping unless it was some kind of 24 hour race.   I took heat for " ducking out" when really 11pm is really, really late for me- see I prefer to be in bed by 9, okay 8:00 if I can swing it.  So when the reception starts at 7:30 I know I am in trouble....

But it was all good- mostly because it is December and it is the off season- so a few drinks and too much food is pretty much par for the course...but I tell you - 1 week and all this craziness is ending.   Yup,....7lbs folks- that is the current weight gain since Kona and my jeans are no longer comfortable.  I knew it was a few lbs...but 7 is close to 10 and that is the limit.   I could even by at 10 after 3 days in Vegas...but I am NOT going to find out.    What I am going to do is keep running, ride more and get back in the pool.  Drastic food cut back is not necessary, yet, I am going to increase training first.

And Mako......yes he too is gaining weight every day- but he is growing too! Seems he grew inches in a few days..... all is good!!   7:45 and I am off to bed and out to ride GWL tomorrow.

Fitness where are you?

Off season is good, let your body fully recover, lose fitness to get stronger, gain a bit of weight..... ok I have done all that and it is just not FUN!   It's great to read about all the successful athletes who do it and come back stronger...but when you are the one who has gained 5lbs (maybe more - no longer checking), power is down, legs are sore from a 3hour ride, running cadence is somewhere around 80 and pace is slow....it's not fun.  Maybe mid January when my bike shorts fit and I am nailing my power numbers I will be on my soap box preaching about the importance of a solid break at the end of the season or maybe when I PR at O'side at the ripe ol age of 45 I can profess the value of losing fitness and gaining weight only to get stronger....but for now-  I am not feeling it! 

The good news is.....most of my friends are in the same boat - not necessarily the "i need bigger bike shorts" but in the same fitness situation. As we suffered our way around GWL on Wednesday Noko was complaining as much as I- although she is doing things like temp runs and intervals and I am trying to run about the neighborhood.  

My schedule from coach as been "do as you like" ...my choice because if I saw a scheduled with X swims, bikes, runs...I'm pretty sure I would not do it- just because.   Although I uploaded my last 4 workouts to TP and then emailed coach with my plans for the next few days (all the while winging about my sore legs and that I need some ART on my IT Bands) and he let me know....time to ease up!   Honestly I knew that was the case.....others wise I would have suffered on riding and running hard and forcing fitness too soon.   2 day off.... and still walking up the stairs winds me.  It would be a great time to swim, yes swim....but the f'ing pool heater is broken and then temp is 72 and the air temp is 40 so that is not going to happen....yippee another excuse NOT to swim.  And yes that is only pool in all of San Diego!

Going to ride tomorrow with the girls....as that is part of my fun- I don't have a social life so gossip and chatting on the bike is critical to my sanity.  Luckily most of the group is not killing it right now and if they are well- wait for me sister I will be coming along shortly. 

And Sunday I am off to Vegas..... company meeting and with a company like mine that means late nights and all day meetings - little time for fitness.  Recovery I guess....

GU Peanut Butter.....

Peanut Butter ranks as one of my all time favorites....I love spoonfuls of crunchy all natural peanut butter right out of the jar!  I love soft peanut butter cookies. PB cliff bars, powerbars, balance bars you name it....and now GU comes out with PB GU.  Rachel had a pack on Wed and I was uber jealous as she enjoyed it at the top of our biggest climb....I was determined to score a taste. I was able to score a packet and it was every bit as good as I hoped..... This is the best GU has done!  I am already thinking of a gel flask and mixing PB and Chocolate!!