I swear I'll be better...

I am quite possibly the worst blogger ever. It has been far too long since I have posted anything on here. So here goes a little catch-up entry. (This will be slightly glorified bullet points.)

After Strawberry's early departure from us, I quickly put her memory aside and replaced her with a younger woman - Snowflake. She is a gorgeous white Haro commuter bike and is doing a great job at getting me to swim practice and to work occasionally. Speaking of which, yesterday was the first time I got yelled and cussed at while riding to swim. Bikes have the right to take the entire lane on Pleasant Valley as you cross the dam, apparently this gentleman didn't read the sign. Oh well.

(OK the picture is crappy, but she really is pretty.)

Training is going well. The heat has certainly taken paces down a little, but I am sure that they will start to climb back to normalcy once I get fully acclimated. I have had to go out to my parents a few times over the past few weeks so have managed to get some good rides in out there. But, there is one road that looks incredibly innocent, but I swear it just shreds my legs every time I go down it. By summer's end, I will master you, Ranch Road 1900!!!! I have meant to do two loops out there but my legs are always down after one for whatever reason. Oh well.

Since I am already signed up for the Big Bend 50k in January, I am having to augment my triathlon training with trail running. I LOVE TRAIL RUNNING! it is beautiful, infinitely harder, and you cannot drift off while doing it or you fall. I am trying to start using my long trail runs as my long runs, but this is a new strategy and have yet to really implement it...stay tuned.

Last week I met Panther, my coach, at Gold's Gym and for the first time in my life, am entering into a weight training program. I have no intentions of getting big, but am tired of having pathetically no upper body strength. Today at lunch will be my first trip back to the weight room. We shall see...

That is the jest of the past month. I promise to get back on my blog post and get at least a post or two out per week. Colin is kicking my ass both in training and writing!!!!

Long Time Coming

Wow! I had not been planning on taking two weeks to make my next post. Sorry about that. I'll try to sum it all up fairly quickly.

Two weekends ago I went up to Fort Worth to see Sam and help him get ready to move into his new house. Well, the painting had not been going at the expected pace, so there wasn't much to do. But we did manage to ride our bikes from the house to his office so he could see if it will be a manageable commute; it is. But on the way back to his apartment, the straps holding my bike rack to the trunk snapped sending both bikes tumbling into the median. Thankfully the bikes and rack did not hot any other cars. (My knots holding the bikes to the rack held.) We were able to pull off to the side, back up, and pick up the bikes. Sam is still trying to decide if his is worth saving; my bike, Strawberry Shortcake, was going to cost $150-200 to repair, and even then it might have needed more. So I have ordered (and received) a new bike.







Last week there wasn't too much of excitement to report in the world of training, but I did make it out to my parents' for the long weekend. Thanks to my friend Mike, I managed to get a new bike rack and took Beva, my tri bike, out to the country. Saturday I was able to get about a 45 mile ride in. There were a ton of bugs out that day and by the end of the ride, my shoulders were speckled black with gnats. Sunday I wasn't able to get out early so I settled for an 8.5 mile run that evening in the heat. Monday morning I got up in time to get out on the road for a 20 mile ride and a 5 mile run for my brick. All in all, it was a great weekend for training. It was also nice to see the folks. :)


This week has been a blur, partly because it is short and partly because I am just busy as can be. Tuesday evening my group did hill repeats on Mesa in NW Austin. Not an easy run and even harder with the heat. Yesterday I got to go pick up my new commuter bike, Snowflake, and then do about 11 miles of trail running on the Greenbelt. We managed to get off the trail just before the storms hit. The storms came and went and this morning I crawled out of bed way too early and met my group, Riff Raff, for fartleks at the track. All I can say is that my legs are not feeling to fresh after all that. We shall see if I make it to swim this evening.

Oh! Last Thursday, Stacey and I ran the Rogue Raffler and had a blast. To top it all off, we both won some goodies! Stacey won a gift card to a restaurant and I won a pair of Adidas running shoes. I walked away with a pair of Adidas Marathons that feel great! Looks like I just made the Sweedish Olympic Team.


That pretty much catches you up. I'll try to stay on top of this blog a bit better in the future. Until next time, run friendly.


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