Step Away From the Cake

Night!!! That song was just on an ad on TV and it really takes me back to my disco days. Ah, the days when we used to drink and dance all night long, pick up strange men and take them hom.... oh, never mind..... So, for the 1st time in about 2 months I don't have to work today, yeah!!!!! That means I got to sleep in a little. Yeah!!!!! On the schedule today was a brick. Since I'm feeling absolutely fine with no signs at all of a head cold, I decided to go for it. I did a 12 mile bike and a 3 mile run. The bike started off rough, I could really feel the legs, like I'd taken 2 weeks instead of 2 days off. But after about 10 minutes it got better and more important, I was having fun. I also discovered something while I was riding. I was not taking full advantage of the shoes and working the whole rotation of the pedal. I realized I was just cruising on the up part. Now I'm not sure how that happened because when I first got the shoes I was so excited because I could use th...

This weekend some of blogland will attain the coveted title of Ironman. I wish all them good luck, and may the race gods shine on them. I think it will be fascinating to see how someone does in Ironman after following their journey for so long. I can't wait and I hope they all do fantastic. Now, my problem. Here in Hawaii 10-13 days after the full moon we have an influx of box jellyfish. This happens every single month and it's very consistent. The full moon was on the 7th. My next tri is on the 17th. 10. days. This. is. not. good.

I woke up yesterday morning with a slight head cold. I took it as a sign from my body that I'm pushing too hard and I rolled over and slept a little longer. Last night I went to bed early and I'm feeling a little better this morning. Still had little tickle at the back of my throat so I decided 1 more day off would not be a bad thing. So I have nothing more to say. Just taking it easy and getting ready for the weekend.

This morning was swimming. I decided to do a time trial for my tri in 1 1/2 weeks. It's a 500m swim and I did it in 13 minutes even, no pushing, just easy swimming. My goal is to do it in 12 minutes and I think with the adrenaline and excitement of the race I should be able to pull this off. My goals for this tri: Last year: Swim: 24:51, Bike: 52:23, Run: 43:42 Total time: 2:08:10 Goal: Swim: 12 Bike: 45 Run: 35 Total time: 1:30 Okay, I can do this. Sometimes I can be slow (mentally that is). Yesterday I was supposed to stop on the way home and run. Well, we had an accident that shut down the freeway. This resulted in traffic being an absolute nightmare everywhere. It took me 2 hours to get home when it normally takes 30 minutes. Needless to say, I didn't get my run in. This morning I realized that I should have run from work and then drove home. Then I thought, why don't I do that all the time??? If I ran right after work for 45 - 60 minutes I would be done by 6 and traffi...

Okay, I love this guy. I have since the first time I saw him. He was crazy and totally loved what he was doing. He took risks and wasn't afraid to push the limits. At the same time he was a passionate advocate for animals. He believed in education and entertainment. It was because of him that hunting was not allowed in Australia. He was an amazing man who lived what he believed. Okay, having said that I had huge problems when I heard he died from Stingray. My degree is in marine biology and we studied skates and rays and I don't recall hearing about anyone who died from a sting. I know that stingrays have poison but I don't believe it's fatal. So all day it's been bugging me that he died from a stingray. Finally tonight more details came out and now I get it. He got hit with a stingray barb (they can reach up to 8") right in the heart. My god, it was like he got stabbed in the heart!!! Ugh!!! So the poison didn't kill him the barb did. My heart goes out t...

I had forgotten how much fun mountain biking can be. I haven't mt. biked in almost 2 years so it was a little scary. This trail though is perfect. There are not too many rocks and tree roots, some but it's not constant. Much of it is single track but the dropoff on the one side is, at most, 8-10 feet. Also, there are lots of trees to stop a fall and its open enough that if I hurt myself I could be seen from the trail. I only went for an hour as I was a little nervous and didn't feel as confident as I should. So I took it slow, worked on getting my skills back (yeah, have to work on those some more), and just enjoyed myself. I will definitely have to do that more often.

I haven't blogged all weekend because I've had nothing to say. Saturday I went for a bike ride and lost a screw in my cleat so that was cut short (have to remember to fix that). Sunday was running which I did, early, though not well. Today should be swimming however, the pool is closed for the holiday. I can't run again as 2 days in a row is too much for this old body. I can't ride since I have to fix my cleat. That leaves me with a couple of options but the 2 that really stick out are hiking and mountain biking. Last weekend I hiked on the trail 2 blocks from my house. I was fun and I really enjoyed it. While there I noticed a lot of mountain bikers. Since the trail is pretty wide and there are no major dropoffs, I thought it would be a good place for me to go (I'm not a great mountain biker). Now that it's time I'm nervous. Awww, what the heck. I think I'll head off and go mountain biking. I haven't done it in over a year. It should be interesting.