Shopping + riding....

Seems Jen and I have a new gig. We ride, we shop! So it's Friday-hooray. Well yes and no. Yes, it's the weekend and no, well, I am tired and still have a big weekend of training. Yes, it's good!

Today was big swim, masters and then a 90 min ez ride. Well today is also Swim West's bi-annual sale. So we powered out the swim, gulp, biggest for me this year 4800 yards. I have to say I am pretty darn happy. 1- did the yardage without shoulder pain 2- it was sprint Friday and we did 50's and I pushed hard. On the last 50 I approached the wall and decided to make it 100 and see how my time shaped up. I was gasping for air but yes, the 100 was a good one. Now mind you, it was only 1, but I could do it and that is a good sign. On the right track for O'side and IMSG.

Shower, change and on the bikes up to Encinitas. We yammered the entire way so we were there before we knew it. 2 of my favorite suits, 50% off, but they are ugly. One has postage stamps and airplanes- please. But I am not picky. More concerned about the fit than the fashion. After all it is for masters....no need to be sporting a cute suit only to be trashed by the chlorine and spinner at the pool.

Love this sale as we are sure to run into other tri buddies and sure enough we see Diana and Darcy. Lots of chatting catching up and meanwhile I am stuffing my jersey pockets with suits and goggles. Jen over bought and had to use the backpack but she got suits, goggles and swim paddles that are guaranteed to move her up a lane at masters. We contemplated the speed suit for $170 and maybe she could move up 2 lanes. But opted out.

The ride back was not as cheery....the lactic acid we both expected after our respective days of training yesterday finally caught up with us. More complaining but we manged. We kept reminding ourselves, this is an ez spin, right? Right.

Whew...done and guess what. Hungry you got it! I had to boogie home for a work call so I drove along with hunger pangs, not wanting to raid the glove compartment for a power bar or shot blocks, I wanted real food. I arrived with 1 minute to spare before my call- grabbed a double shot out of the fridge and the phone rang. Well, the call should have been short. I am doing my part and then the topic drags onto a subject that does not concern me, but I need to stay on the call and I begin to realize how hungry I am. Now my office has many food options: gel's, gu's, shot blocks. No I am not going that route. Call ends 40 minutes later. I have not convinced myself I am on the brink of starvation, I am seeing starts, my body is eating itself. Okay, minor exaggeration. Totally satiated with ErinBakers Power Crunch granola, greek yogurt and dried blueberries (hopefully I did not overdo it with the berries)

And done for the day....well training and eating anyway. Work- yes have to get some done.

My dilemma for tonight is that Riley is going to a party from 7-11! Ah that is 2 hours past my bedtime. Have to be awake and present when she gets home. So I think I will set an alarm for 10:55 and come downstairs and wait. Why can't my kids like to go to bed at 8:30 as well???

And the week rolls on....

Yes, another run on Tuesday and no pain! I am faithful to the foam roller twice a day and have kept up my intimate relationship with the ice pack as well. Not going to let this hip issue sneak back on me.

Last night John brought home a visiting worker from China. Fascinating guy...30 and his mind is always going. Very intelligent and inquisitive. Very child like in some ways with his questions and eagerness. Considering he lives in China his English is very good and he is willing to work and struggle with the language to keep the conversation going. John took him back to the hotel via Ranch 99 and REI (which he was amazed about) No REI in China, although very ironic that 90% of what is made in REI is made in China. Looking at some of the sleeping bags he noted they would cost over $1000 in China. Something about that just does not seem right.

In deciding what to cook for dinner I pondered....and went out on a limb and made chicken curry. He loved it, raved about it and had 3 helpings. Either it was that good or he has been living in a hotel for 2 weeks and home cooked meal would do the job. We loved it and there is something about a guest for dinner to break me out of my usual weekly dinners.

Wed was GWL day....and it was sunny and a bit chilly. Ian, N, E , B and I rolled around 8- a very sane hour and rode reverse. I was very happy to have all my gears today- only had to get out of the saddle on the steep part of Lyons Valley and when I was very tired coming up Stinker Hill. I, N and I opted for Descanso....well I and N turned around at I8, I just cannot do that. If I go that far, add the 6 miles of climbing, I have earned a trip to the store for a Starbucks Double Shot. So I went alone and filled my bottle with the coffee and was rolling soon. Popped in my iPod and had a nice ride back to the car.

Pondered a T run but decided not to push my running luck. After 3 days of running, just riding today seemed a good idea. Plenty of time to run tomorrow.

Day 3 of lacrosse tryouts for JD for high school.... 5:30-8pm tonight- what's up with that. I am ready for bed and he is just rolling in. So sad, increased training and all I can think about is going to bed at 8:30. Really, I need to get a life. I do have a life....husband, kids, swim/bike/run and eat - appetite is at it's peak again. Must be apparent as I write about food, think about food and well eat food.

Food highlights....latest favorite- toast with almond butter and honey, as soon as I wake up. Seems I wake up hungry most days now. Greek yogurt with honey, almonds and dried fruit. Absolutely delicious. Homemade pizza for dinner.....pepperoni/onion for the kids. Me...onions, broccoli, Greek olives, roasted peppers, cheese and then I eat all the kids crusts. Okay the blog is boring...discussing what Julie is eating.

Ciao....

Hard to beat the Saturday adventure....

Really what can top that....riding in the snow? been there, done that.

The good news is I am running.....yeah! Long run on Sunday 1:40- yes! Minimal hip pain while running but flared up when I finished. But thanks to ice (one of my dear friends), the foam roller and good stretching the pain was nearly gone by Sunday night. Awesome! Not sure how fast I am running...probably not real fast but I am running longer and longer. That is step one. Ran with some new cool girls and that is always fun. Big loop on the road ( prefer some trail but it was wicked muddy) so road was good. Lots of chatter about life, men, kids.... amazing how that helps the time pass.

These girls run early! 6am. So I was home by 8:15 and ready to go....fishing. Yes, the new family past time. Well JD's anyway. He asked if I would take him and I agreed. I jokingly asked if RM wanted to come and much to my surprise she said yes. So off we went at 8:30 to Lake Poway. JB joined us later and we had a happy family morning fishing and chatting. We brought Zen and he nearly killed himself with excitement over the geese. He was shaking and pulling at the leash.....let me at them, let me at them. He had to be leashed and was not allowed in the water or within 100 feet of the waters edge. His math is not all the good so he kept breaking the barrier and eventually the guy on the loudspeaker reprimanded us and ordered the dog away from the shoreline. Poor Zen had to hang out in the car. So we sat and fished and it was a day of fishing...not catching. No fish but some good family time. We had some good laughs and supported JD in his ongoing effort to feed the family.

Reward or consolation, depending on how you look at it, was a trip to Starbucks and a donut binge for the kids. Gotta love a good Sunday splurge sometimes. JD was off to play golf with Granny and Papa and we headed home.

Afternoon with the Tri Club and Riley joined as well- very cool kid she is. And then the vacation ended....kids were out of school for a week so it was harsh reality this morning getting up for school. I was hoping to ride but it was rainy and windy. No thanks, had enough on Saturday. So I headed to the pool for a tough, tough, did I say tough, Masters workout. Oh my aching arms....times were respectable but I was wiped out, could hardly lift my arms to wash my hair (okay maybe a slight exaggeration) But I was tired and while the times are getting better the effort is very high.

After the swim and food....I mean I was starving. Eggs, brown rice and coffee....still hungry and had avocado and toast. Okay settled down and did some work, very productive in fact. Next was hitting the gym....ugh not my favorite but the last few times it has been on my schedule I have, well ignored it. Okay, coach puts it there for a reason so I go. It is cold and rainy and I am cold so I decide to warm up a bit on the treadmill before hitting the weights. I am running and feeling good so I crank out a nice 30 minute run while watching CNN. Nothing fast but a few extra miles without pain is a good thing!

And we are back in the school routine....lacrosse practice for Riley, lacrosse tryouts for HS for JD and homework, homework. Eggs for dinner- seemed like a good cold weather dinner, kids loved it. Yeah it's not chicken or pasta for a change.

Hoping for a bit warmer weather....I know I am the one who complains most about the heat but riding in the wind and rain is just not fun and I am riding tomorrow and Wed. So if I can request at least one day be nice, I will go with Wed. GWL in the rain and cold is tough.

Saturday Shopping with Jenny.....

Some chicks meet their girlfriends for coffee and shopping on Saturday....well I kind of did the same. Started out with the boys....JB and KP as well. We headed out for a ride, pending rain, but optimistically we hoped it would not rain until afternoon. We rolled out at 7:30 with intent of picking up KP along the way and heading to Dudley's for a 5 hour ride.

Started out great. Soon as we start climbing Scripps Poway Parkway it begins to rain a bit. No worries just a bit of mist. Looking ahead we see ominous clouds and serious fog. In fact we cannot even see the top of SPP. We move along. About 1/2 way up Braman says this is not what he signed up for and reminded me of my comment last night- I'm not riding if it rains. But it was not raining when we started and well now it was. But now we are on our way and we decided to at least climb SPP and then determine what to do. Braman turns around and we suffer the wet, windy climb.

As we roll to the top the rain clears and it is seems nice. Okay, lets ride to Poway RD and turn around. We hit Poway Rd, clear and nice and roads even seem dry. Looking East we see some blue sky and some massive black clouds. We choose to see the blue sky. Soon thereafter Jen flats- while it was not a 2 minute flat change it was respectable considering it was cold and wet and muddy. We are soon rolling and chilly and wet.

Not the quandary is how to get home....We do not want to descend Highland Valley Rd in the rain. The rain lets up and once again we are optimistic and rolling towards Dudley's. The next line of thinking is, lets stop at the bike shop and get a jacket and maybe dry socks and arm warmers and keep rolling. The bike shop does not open for 20 min. KP heads to Dudley's and recommends we head down, kind of felt like skiing and being up top and freezing. We decided to head back but pop in for coffee first.

Nothing like pulling up to a coffee house in pouring rain on bikes. We scramble inside and it is warm and smells good! We really want a delicious muffin or treat but we have only been riding 1:40 so we have not earned the big treat. We settle for delicious cappuccinos and debate what to do. Well our coffee stop gave the bike shop time to open so we rolled to Kirk's Bike Shop . We hustle in looking like drowned rats. Kirk looks at us with shock and pity.

The bright yellow jackets are a beacon for us. Women's sizes and there is 1 small, 1 medium and 1 large. Kind of like Goldilocks and the 3 Bears. Just the right size for each of us, well Jen and I. My arm warmers can be wrung out so I look for some and find very stylish polka dot pink ones. Tags off and one my arms. Jacket on and zipped up!

Life is getting better by the minute! Jen decides she needs dry socks and buys the ever popular socks with the sexy lady on them. Once she washes and dries them, they will make a nice gift for Tim.

We are feeling good now. Hanging out inside, warm and near the heater. Okay time to roll. We decide NOT to go to Dudley's but decide to ride down 78 and then home. The road is dry....we should have known better, every time we came upon dry roads it was soon raining. We are basking in the few rays of sunlight laughing and chatting and then it starts....small drops and then a downpour. Now riding downhill in pelting rain poses a huge problem- keeping your eyes open. Ouch, ouch, ouch. Putting your head down is the best option but well not all that safe while descending on a bike in the rain and watching out for flooded areas.

We are not laughing so much now. But we are loving, loving our jackets! And then it stops and we are rolling but the Wild Animal Park laughing again about our big adventure. Flat tire....muddy bike, good place to stop though and no rain. Rolling soon, more rain, we are definitely going home!

Finally as we hit RB the sun is out and it is nice....this is when the smart people are beginning their rides. We are, well finishing. Tempting to add an hour but then not so much. We have been out for 5+ hours yet have not been riding even 4 hours. So as we approach home we add on the 10 minute loop just so the computers say over 4 hours.

What an adventure....we are soaked, muddy and bikes are trashed. But we still rally for a transition run and Riley even joins us. All in all a good day and fun adventure!

Life of triathlon....

Zen will not be injured.....

If only us triathletes could or would listen to our body like Zen. He is jumping and eager to go at 5am or whenever he hears a russel from the covers. Tongue out, tail wagging "I'm ready to go, I'm ready to go"

And he takes off full sprint on the run...no warming up, sometimes a quick stretch when I put his collar on. He is fully engaged and running for 20 minutes and then starts to bonk, die, slow down.....I would love to put a Garmin on him. Mile 1: 5:30 Mile 2: 7:30 Mile 3 9:30 Mile 4: garmin stops because he sits down.

Tried today to push him to 35 minutes....at the point where we add on, he sits and waits. Not moving, not going that way, no thank you! He will sit for as long as it takes me to come back or even do a hill repeat. Now Rocky would have run , and did at time, himself into the ground just to stay with me.

Not Zen....the so call unconditional love, definitely has conditions with this dog!

Ice bath.....

Here is John on the top of Mt Laguna taking a quick ice bath while waiting, yes waiting, for the girls to climb up Kitchen Creek. He hammered up only to tell us he decided to scream down Sunrise Hwy and be done for the day while we rode another 2 hours.

The girls who did the entire ride

Big weekend of riding.... Saturday we rolled out early and cold for Pine Valley for 80 for Haiti. Cool ride for a great cause. Adventure Corps, producers of Badwater and some other epic races put together a last minute charity ride for Haiti. 80 miles for $80. It was a fun ride...yes, no, well maybe. It was a good cause, good people and good training. The ride is actually a perfect IM training ride as you have over 6000 ft of elevation but no major hills so you can be aero most of the time. Which by the way caused a lot of pain! Have not been aero for 5 hours and the shoulders and back screamed with pain. Rode with some fun guys and we put in a good effort and worked together throughout the ride.

Rolling to the finish I was happy to get off my bike and who do I see but Trevor heading out on a transition run. Ugh.....peer pressure. So I put on my shoes and ran for 20, minutes that is, not miles. Hip felt pretty good- so glad I did it. More than the run it was fun to see the faces of all the roadies who were eating pizza and chilling and could not fathom running. Gotta love the triathletes :)

Sunday....really wanted to run San Dieguito but did not....hip is not 100% and a wicked hilly ride just would not have been a smart thing. So I only ran 45 minutes and am working to be healed.

We died...okay not died, but nearly melted at Riley's lacrosse tournament. We were in the RB High Stadium- all concrete and we had umbrellas and were still sweating buckets ( pleasant sight I know) It was amazing how much heat is generated in that place. 2 games and thank goodness we were done!

Milestones....

Made it past the one week anniversary of Rocky's death-phew! Was doing great until I receive a call while cooking dinner. Caller says, we have Rocky for you. What, what do you mean, he is reincarnated and running around? What kind of a joke is this? Ma'am, this is the crematorium and we have Rocky's remains. Gulp....uh, call my husband. That is one way to deal with it right!

My devoted husband agrees to be here to receive Rocky. I was suppose to be riding GWL but it was raining and we moved the ride by a day. So I was buys swimming and yogaing (I know, not a word but I like it) Delivery was 9-11am and I roll in around 11:15 and John is asleep in his car in our driveway. I startle him awake. Why are you in the car? House is freezing and it is warm out here. Of course....okay honey go back to work. I will wait for "him"

Close to noon, door bell rings and the man hands me a cedar box in a nice bag. He gives his condolences and when I take it from him I nearly drop it. It is heavier than a brick. So instead of crying I laugh, thinking of Rocky when he was his fattest, looking like a cow ready to give berth. I carry him in. Nice box closed with a dog tag that says Rocky and a plaster paw print (his I am assuming) We sit in the kitchen and I feel good to have him back. Where to put him...on the kitchen counter seemed appropriate as he spent a lot of time there in his younger days stealing food. Eventually we placed him on the mantle- seems that is where most ashes go. Right? It's not like we have a collection.

We were planning on scattering him on Dog Beach but we have decided we like him here for now. Somehow seems just right.

Okay the other milestone is my 3 week anniversary of giving up gum. Now I was not a closet gum chewer, most who know me, know I always had gum. But that was just the surface...I chewed packs upon packs daily in my office and car. Horrifying to see the trash when emptied, piled high with silver wrappers. I was addiced for years and to one brand only. IceBreakers. They use to sell it everywhere. I bought cases for years from Costco,. And then about a year ago it was only at Wall Mart- the store I hate became a weekly stop for me to buy as many 10 packs as they had. And then about 6 mos ago they quit carrying it. I was devastated and tried other brands to no avail. Quit? No I found it on Amazon and began ordering it monthly, auto ship in fact. It was out of control. I cannot imagine how much $$ I spent or the amount of trash I created single handily. I received a notice that even Amazon was no longer carrying the gum. In utter disbelief I wrote to Hershey and demanded an explanation....days went by and I was plotting how to escalate my request when it hit me. Julie, time to quit. I vistaed my stash and to my horror only had 2 10 packs. I debated, do I ration it out or just for for it. So I had one last binge and 2 days later it was gone. I told no one and woke up and quit, cold turkey. See there is not "patch" for gum.

So I did it.....3 weeks and no gum, no urges and I can be near people chewing gum and not want to rip it out of their mouth and have a chew. The bad news is I started smoking ;)

Training.....tired, hungry, tired, hungry. That sums it up. Swimming is coming along. Hard but making slow improvements. Running was rocking until Wed and the hip flared up - Damn! Walked home, pouted and am dealing with it. Saw KP for ART and went to PT. Feels much better but am giving it a few days before I test it again. Not panicking, okay I am but, pretending that I am not.

So I rode GWL + Descanso with Jen today to take my mind off the running set back. The sad thing is my legs are tired from the Mon/Tue runs and especially from the killer exercises at PT. 45 minutes of random torture exercises with bands of all colors. Strengthening muscles that support my hip and are most definitely underused, maybe never used but are necessary to ride as they were burning on our ride today. It was a double coffee ride- stopped in Descanso for a Double Shot and then hit Sbux when we got back to the car. Earned it indeed!

So PT is quite an experience. Most of the patients are older doing ROM exercises. My therapist is awesome but is tough as nails and funny. We cut it up and I complain like I am 2. Once she is done the assistant runs me through the drills. There are 10 PT's working around the room and it is relatively quiet. I am balancing on a wedge throwing a ball at a trampoline and catching it. Quite fun actually and suddenly my ass burning, the muscle that is. Suzy (my PT) who is helping an older many with his shoulder ROM (loudly) asks how I am doing and I (loudly) reply my ass is burning. Everyone looks at us and we cannot stop laughing. Okay, so maybe you had to be there but it was fun. Meanwhile I am asking, when do I get ice and stim? Anyway, back tomorrow and hoping for a cure ASAP.

Cheer's to Riley! A on her Algebra test- huge improvement and we are so proud of her. Instant reward and we jumped in the car and went to Cool Cravings for a delicious yogurt celebration!!!