Carbon River Glacier Hike

Biked 5 miles uphill on the mountain bikes from the Carbon Ranger Station to Ipsut Campground, tented it over night, hiked 5 miles uphill to the glacier. 

WOW.

Hiked back down to camp, rode bikes back to car & rewarded ourselves for the 30,000 steps with burgers at the Wilkeson Saloon.

Holding My Breath

Suzie hasn't gotten back to me yet about her early registration slot for IMAZ so I'm still not 100% sure if I'll be getting it or not but I'm already planning things. Diet, exercise plan, logistics.

I'm TRYING to lose weight now but that's just not happening but I am slimming down. Shakeology once a day plus 4-5 other small meals with some protein at each meal. Some of those meals might just be 12 almonds but that's keeping my metabolism going. Lan thinks I need to eat less but I've been reading more and more about menopausal women needing to eat more. I'm eating less but its better for me food more often.

I'm once again going to use the plan I had for my previous Ironmans. I'm not going to hire a coach and have them give me a plan that's just like this one or not as good and I only have to be accountable to ME. I'm not going to lie to anyone or myself and say I've been riding 76 miles when I only went 45. If I don't do a workout it will only be ME who suffers.
The plan is really good, it doesn't say RIDE YOUR BIKE 45 MILES or RIDE FOR AN HOUR, it actually gives me a workout to do, most on the bike trainer.

Sunday  RUN 1:10

You might find it helpful to mentally break this run into 35:00 chunks. I always find that to be more manageable than a full hour, for some reason, and it helps maintain the focus throughout this longer duration.

             Spend the first 20:00 getting into it, watching your HR slowly get above 60%
            2 x 20:00 @75% w/5:00 @60-65% in between
            BIKE 0:30  Immediately after the run...hold the intensity @70-75%
            RUN 0:50  I'm going to ask you to really challenge yourself here -- time to up the tempo and close out your week with a bang. Remember, you've got tomorrow off, so go out there and make this a strong effort. 
You'll be starting with a fast tempo right out of the blocks:  2 x 15:00 above 80% w/10:00 @60% after each

Run  6.6 miles / 1:20
Bike 14 miles / :50  
Run 4.0 miles / :50

The above workout was in week 27, which was a 'competitive season' week. Not only did I use the training plan but I also kept track of how much time & miles I completed, and for the bike I rode more than 2283 miles between Christmas and IMAZ 11 months later. About 400 miles run and only 20 miles swam.

I'll be honest here, I could have trained a lot more, with my work schedule all jacked up due to working odd hours, I missed a lot of workouts. This time it can be different. If I just do 50% of the missed ones in addition to the ones I did, I'll be flying high.

But this fucking plantar fasciitis needs to get better. This is so fucked up.

Spring Weather, Bike Rides

Today I had a fun ride on the mtn bikes with Leona at Banner Forest, about 6.26 miles in 1:40 hours. So much fun. Shes got skills and is about equal to me so we ride well together.

 

Here is her bike, leaning on a log. We had to climb over that sucker.

 

I've been asked to ride 32 miles tomorrow.

 

Going long.

 

This morning before I rode the bike I had a massage, she worked hard on my left shoulder and right hip. The hip is messed up because the shoulder is messed up, all aggravated by the accident. I have stretching exercises to do to help it get better and IF I JUST DO THEM it can only make me feel better.

 

I'd be able to swim faster too.

 

Horse news:

Joey is awesome.

Wifi is shedding, should be white soon.

Back On A Bike

I rode my mtn bike today for the first time since November and I only rode it then to go to a friends house and to get my 50 minutes of riding in before IMAZ.

 

 

  I asked Lan this morning if he would go with me and he agreed so we went to banner Forest at noon. The parking lot was full and the secondary parking area too but we only saw a few people.

 

I didn't crash but I did side swipe a tree, it didn't hurt at all but I got dirty. And it scared me so I lost all my confidence for a few minutes. But I was back at it in no time.

 

I wore my IMAZ FINISHERS cycling jacket for the first time and it was PERFECT. I felt like I had warm air surrounding me, I wasn't too cold at all. OK, my butt was cold but it wasn't in my jacket either.

 

We rode for about an hour and it was so perfect.

Dying... I mean dieting

Today is the last day of my diet again. I was pretty good until Brandan brought home a PIZZA!  I actually ate 1.5 slices. It wasn't good and I wasn't hungry enough for the whole 2nd piece but I ate it anyway.

I started out at 148.6 and lost 7 lbs. I'm totally happy with that. I look and feel better. I'll be getting on the Computrainer tomorrow and feeling better than I wouldn't have otherwise.

Today I got my hair cut and it feels so entirely light again. Amanda was there, its her mom that cuts it for me. Amanda and I like to ride mtn bikes together, shes got the strength and I have the skill so we are even. I hope I can ride with her a lot this winter, its so much fun.

Weather man has been saying its going to be super cold or else warmer than normal. Well then. 

Windy will be running her 1st marathon on Sunday, the Portland Marathon. Shes going to do amazingly well. Shes so sweet, she dedicated mile 19 to me because shes never gone more than 18 miles before and 19 is where she will think about me. Its humbling when someone says they have been inspired by you.

I bought a new used saddle for Sunshower; Cassie sold me her Circle Y Park & Trail leather cordura saddle. I've used it before on my mare and it fits her very well, way better than her previous saddle. So I cleaned up the old one & have it on Craigslist to sell. I paid $250 for the new one, asking 250 for mine and hope to get 200.

Today Lan & I tore the roof off the carport and tomorrow we will put a new roof on. I certainly hope it all goes easily. LOL.

 

 

We're going to put plastic corrugated roofing on the top now with some clear ones to allow more light into the house. That will make this a much happier home.

 

My road bike seat has been returned to me, last weekend someone brought it here and left it on our gate. Lan found it. I'm pretty happy, I can now ride that bike outside and have my tri bike on the computrainer.

Chattanooga



This morning while at work, my friends Suzie & George showed up. They were on their way to Chattanooga for Ironman Chattanooga next weekend. Suzie is racing, George is the Sherpa.

I made Banana Bread for Suzie because when she raced in Canada I had made some then and she absolutely loved it and ate some on her run. I hope this stuff is as good as that other bread was.

So I've been thinking about Ironman a lot lately, sometimes I'm like 'I don't need to be doing that stuff' and other times Im all excited and cant wait until I get myself into another one. I do have IMAZ2015 in my sights and am planning on going down to Arizona this November.

Oh, GREAT NEWS: I forked over $1323. somethingoddcents for a COMPUTRAINER. So excited, can't wait for it to get here. Used, on eBay but Windy bought one for $1800 new and got the same thing. So once it gets here I will start riding and she and I can ride together in the comfort of our own homes.

In horse news:
Just my horses in the barn now, no more favors for friends. Sarahs horse stomped on my foot, it hurt like hell, I told her to take that horse out but Renata could stay but she freaked out & took them both out.  Fine by me, my horses will be fine just themselves.

Crying over a bike

Today Lan asked me how I wold like it if he got me a new mountain bike for Christmas and it made me cry. Not happy tears of "Oh goody, I get a new bike!' but sad tears of 'Oh man, I'm going to miss this bike!'. Its taken me to so many neat places.

 

This is when it was brand new

 

Top of Gold Mountain countless times

 

Banner Forest in the mud 

 

West Side mtn bike series 

 

Ft Steilacoom 

 

Las Vegas, countless times 

 

Damn I was looking pretty good there 

 

Whistler, BC, Canada 

 

Sun Top, Mt Rainier 

 

Montana's Cottonwood Trail 

 

Just think of the places a new bike could take me.

Swimming

Last Tuesday I had such a crappy swim that I quit after 1 lap in the lake, aprox 1/4 mile. My goggles were leaking, wetsuit was tight & bunching up, just not getting in to it. So I got out, got dressed and got away from the lake.
For the next couple hours I was feeling blah and even cried on my way to work, with NO reason to do it. I'm not stressed out, I'm not sad, I'm not working too crazy of hours.
But work was a different day, the system was down 3 boats and we had people going all over and even though they were OK and NICE, it was still a different day.
But I met people who were missing airline flights, trains, dr appts, etc. So I felt much better because I seriously didn't have any reason to cry.

On Thursday morning I met Dave out at the lake and swam a  mile with him. I used a different arm stroke, keeping my elbows high; my toes pointed and used my shoulder to roll my body instead of pushing it with my core.
It worked, it only took us 20 minutes to swim out to the buckets and 18 for me to get back to shore. My fastest time, ever. EVER, for a mile. I felt good, my shoulder didn't hurt and still doesn't and my feet didn't cramp. I did have to stop a couple times to empty my goggles but I got back to shore 1 full minute faster than Dave.
Then a damn leech got on my foot, freaked me out, I made Dave get it off me and I got out of the water, fast. Little fucker.

Today I went back out to the lake and even though I was hesitant to get into the water, I still did and it was just an OK swim. 1/2 mile but I was OK with that since I had such a good swim yesterday.

Then Lan & I rode mtn bike sup Wildcat Lake Trail, 9 miles round trip. I pushed my bike about 3 miles UP and rode about 6 miles all together. it was a HOT ride, I was RED faced well before we got to the top but I rode more, faster, than usual. Lan was happy with me. I tipped over twice, once on the way up and get onto the dirt on the side of the trail and once again at the very end, just couldn't get unclipped on the right side. I literally had 50 feet to go to the end of the trail.

Then we went into Silverdale and did a bit of shopping, didn't find anything I couldn't live without.

Been Busy

I've been working out a lot more and just working more, for most of May & June I was getting full time & even a little OT. Not so great since I prefer part time but I do what I have to do.

I have ridden my bike quite a bit more this week than I had in the whole previous month or even 2 months. 15 with Sharon, 32 with Linda, Sharon, Erik, Steve & Lan & today Amanda and I rode the mtn bikes for 2 hours at Banner Forest.

 

This is the steepest hill in the whole park and we both have a hard time going down it. Today it only took me 3 tries, it took Amanda about 10. But we had all day and she finally did it. Both of us did it last week too, she only the bottom half but she's getting better at it.

 

The trails in the park are getting so well worn that they are like sidewalks almost. Pretty soon we're going to have to go to new ones to challenge her more.

 

Today it was just us and I was able to ride at my pace and not feel guilty for making Lan wait for me. He is great finding the way and taking us to good trails but he doesn't understand that's its not just about getting down the trail as fast as your bike can go every ride.

 

I've been out to the lake a once or twice each week, going to the buckets and back each time

(.97 mile R/T) and approximately 42-45 minutes.

 

Today Rich & Alisa hosted a swim & BBQ but I only ate good food and chatted with a lot of friends. I love my triathlete friends.

 

In horse news:

We tried to get Wifi into another Dressage show, Bridle Trails in Bellevue but they were full. That made me sad because we don't know of any more shows for a while. I can't be asking for days off every week and their next show is August 10th, 1 week before Iron Girl Triathlon.

 

We had a new horse come into the barn, a big gray TB gelding. Thomas is at least 16hh and actually quite nice looking but he has terrible feet. He came off the trailer limping and he limped as he ran around the arena and he can barely move in his stall. When he does move he's got to throw his head up to take the weight off his feet.

 

This is his right front, the horizontal line along the coronet band is a blown abcess and the hoof wall below it has cracked off. The entire area is soft and extremely painful for Thomas, there is hoof wall separation and it was terribly overgrown and cracked. The first night Lan trimmed off 3 big chunks of toe. He is walking on the sole of his hoof.

 

All of these photos were taken after he had been trimmed by Gary.

 

This is the other front hoof, its got cracks all up it and it had a shoe on that had been on for at least 6 months if not longer.

 

This is the rear left hoof, the crack is worse than it looks because its full of shavings.

 

I had Gary come look at them and he didn't have much good to say for them. He wouldn't put shoes on the horse. He did suggest a vet but at least soak 2 times daily, antibiotics and Bute. He was willing to come back Sunday to attempt to shoe the horse but he also said there was no hoof wall to hold a shoe on that front hoof.

But the owner said the limp is caused by bone chips and his hooves are FINE. She didn't want to give him any Bute, not even when I offered it for him. She disregarded everything Gary told her.

 

So today shes back, with a Mexican farrier that would have just slapped shoes on him no matter what. I told Lan to go down & stop them and I told her no way will I allow her to torture a horse on my property and she would have to remove him before she can do anything like that. The farrier was nice and understood where I am coming from but she made arrangements to move him tomorrow.

 

 

Last night she gave him a little Bute but I gave him 3 more this morning and it did nothing to stop his pain. Tonight I gave him 3 more and if I didn't have to work in the morning I'd give him more. Shes going to move him to the back pasture of the farrier, with no shelter of any kind.

Stupid bitch, she has owned this horse since he came off the track and she hasn't done shit to actually care for him. I hate people like her.

 

I'm giving her a partial refund, charging $30 for the 3 days she was here. I actually did all his stall cleaning, bedding, turn out & in, held him for the farrier and gave him my Bute. Shes lucky shes getting a penny back.

 

 

 

So much going on

Last Saturday Wifi had her second dressage show, at Peteton Farm in Olympia. Once we picked up Audi from Delicias farm, Wifi was a happy camper and she then proceeded to act like a seasoned pro.

In the warm up arena she was nice and calm, doing everything she was asked to do.

At one point another horse bolted and threw its rider. Wifi stood perfectly still and respected & trusted Delicia, even when another hors reared up right beside her. She did tuck her tail but still stood still.

 

 

 Wifi's first class was Intro A and she was the first horse of the day to use the outside full court dressage arena.

Here is her start.

 

First tracks

 

Excellent trainer in action, coaching Caryn on Audi.

 

We were all surprised to see these results and

WOW,

check out her score!

70.938

 

I'm so impressed with my mare.

 

She wasn't too happy to wear this ribbon though.

 

At 10:17 she entered the ring for her Intro B class.

Halfway through I saw it happen, she said 'I'm done' and faltered, right in front of the judges

(of course), in the middle of the arena going across. But Delicia told her she will finish so Wifi did.

 

 

 

And they WON that class too.

68.125

 

She also won 2 bags of carrots and two $10 gift certificates to a tack store.

She's earning her keep!

Here she is just chillin', waiting for the results. 

 

In other news:

Triathlon

The Kitsap Tribabes had their first BRick on Saturday, which I obviously missed, so I completed a 6/1 brick on my own today. I needed air inmy tires and couldn't find a pump so had to ride down to Lans work because I knew there was one in the car there so not only did I ride 6 miles but I had to come back up Mullenix too. Good job me.

 

I have a date at 7am tomorrow with Windy to swim at Wildcat Lake then ride bikes either  on the trainers or on the road for an hour. It feels g so good to be getting out.

 

I have another date Friday with Amanda to ride mountain bikes at Banner Forest.

Good times.

Property

We are looking for a new property to purchase that has a barn, garage, at least 5 acres and a house to live in. But Im thinking Id like the house to come first this time, not as an after thought. Here is one we talked about but its in Pierce County, they don't allow outdoor fires and are sticklers for cutting trees down. But this place is right next to Alpine Tree Forest, I wouldn't have to ride the road to get to it or only 1/4 mile on dirt roads.

I know Id have at least 1 summer time boarder wanting to use the Alpine trails and I could ride forever. No arena though and I don't remember if there is still a round pen or not.
The people are hoarders, the house could be totally trashed inside for all I know and they DO have at least 6 dogs, maybe 7. Indoors. Running rampant.

If we do move we're preapproved for about 300k but we don't want to go that high.

Is it obvious I've been busy?

Its been 3 weeks since I posted. In that time I crashed my bike, Lan & I went to Las Vegas, and I've been working.

Linda and I had planned on attempting 100 miles so rode out to Fox Island. We didn't realize it was SO HILLY. Took us about 5 hours & we only went 40 miles. Then we were heading home & I CRASHED MY TRI BIKE. The bike is fine but I had a HUGE ass bruise on my hip/thigh that hurt like a mother. Of course, it was just days before we went to Vegas so I had to go to the pool with that fucker on my leg.

In Vegas we got in 3 excellent rides in the desert. 19 miles the first day in the 99* heat and 6+ miles the next 2 days, one where it was 98* and then it cooled down to 78* for the third ride. So much fun & only 1 round of tears.

I went shopping while down there, got some nice bib shorts that I can pull down to pee without removing my jersey. Also got a new Las Vegas jersey and compression socks and calf sleeves. The socks ROCK for traveling, my legs & feet felt great when we got home.

After we left Vegas we stopped by Jeffs house where we attempted a mtn bike ride but gave up after .5 mile of 6-8 inch deep loose sand. But fun!

Here are this weeks workout totals (I tweaked my back on a ride this week)

This does not include The last 2 days of riding which were low miles/high hours.This does not include The last 2 days of riding which were low miles/high hours.This does not include The last 2 days of riding which were low miles/high hours.

Totals for May 6-12.
Swim: 5190 yards (2.94 miles)
Bike: 102.96 miles
Run: 6.25 miles
Total miles: 112.15
Total time: 14:45

Two lake swims worked out well for me. This photo was taken yesterday at Wildcat Lake, we all swam .94 mile, out to the 'white bucket dock'. Since I've just discovered its only .94 mile, I'm going to go past it next time. Which could be tomorrow...

Yellow cap in back-Lan
Yellow on left-me
green cap by noodle- Steve
Green cap in middle-Lindy
Pink cap on right-Windy

And work, ah, work. I do love my dock but I don't like working when it interferes with my working out. Since I'm low man on the seniority list for our dock, I get all the crappy shifts. I'm not (yet) on tomorrows schedule but if they call I have to drop whatever I'm doing and get my ass there. I'll have Tuesday & Wednesday off but they WANT me to work those days and on Thursday I get  the 4:10am-2:10pm shift. I tried to figure out a way to get out of it but only if I give up something else, like, my 2:30 Wednesday massage. Not gonna happen.

This is the ferry, Kitsap, tied up in slip 2 for the night and Walla Walla coming in at 1:40am to tie up in slip 1. When working night Watch (midnight - 4am shift) I have to set the auto bridge close to the height so the boat can slip under it without it being to high or too low. Then I run upstairs and lower the plank for the walking off passengers. That's where I was when I took this photo. The  Walla Walla can hold about 188 cars if they are parked very close together and the Kitsap can hold about 160.

Horsey news:
I haven't even been into the barn except to feed horses for most of this week. So dang busy! Only a couple more months and I'll have time for my ponies.

My first 100 mile week, so far

Every week I post my workout distance totals on FaceBook for the world to see. Or as much of 59 people is the world. This week I had:

Weekly totals:
Swim: 3400 yards (1.93 miles)
Bike: 86.1 miles
Run: 11.91 miles
Total distance: 99.94
Time: 13:55 hours

 

An average speed of 7.19 miles per hour.

 

This has been my biggest week, by far and I feel pretty good.  Tomorrow I'll start a new week and I hope I do at least as well.

 

A lot of it depends on work, if they give me a midnight shift I'm pretty much toast the next day and even though I had one Thursday I just changed my  workout days off & did that workout Friday. That doesn't always work and if I'm tired it sucks.

 

Walking on Beach Drive with Linda

 

This week I did Masters on Monday, swam with Heidi & Lindy on Wednesday, rode mtn bikes with Lan on Friday and walked with Linda today.  I'm also doing a lot of indoor bike trainer rides with Lan and of course, doing a LOT of stuff alone.  I'm also doing the run a mile every day in March challenge and have only missed 2 days all month, Wednesday & Thursday, due to work. But I still got in a few miles done.  I consider all walked miles as RUN miles since in Ironman they call it a run no matter what.

 

Lan and I have been thinking and talking about taking a Vegas vacation at the end of April/beginning May. I hope we can swing it, we both need some sunshine and we also both need to be riding our bikes in the desert. I am crossing my fingers and I'll find out later this week if I can have the time off or not and so will he. The week mentioned is the ONLY week that late in the spring that I could possibly get off.  Fingers crossed. XXXXXX

 

Horse News:

Today I had 2 new people decide to move into our barn, one girl has a TB gelding and the other has a marish Arab mare. It will be a nice $500 each month for hay, yay.  The TB needs a lot of supplement's, I hope that's not going to be a pain in the ass.

 

Wifi is shedding out nicely, not quite white yet this year.

 

Amy's Freisian mare, Argo, has a filly 2 days ago. Argo is the same age as Wifi.

Found a new local park

Wauna is the home of a new park, named Park 360. Its right across the road from a house we used to live in and we spent a lot of time out in these woods with our dog, Picabu Street.

Picabu Street

So the park is the same size as Banner Forest but its only got a fraction of the trails, many are brand new, many still being built.

 nice dirt so Horses wont need shoes out here


This trail is under construction

 There is a main service road in a circle & trails mostly criss cross that circle and a few are on the outside. There are also a few dead ends that were a bugger to get back out of.

This was a dead end, pretty steep getting out of it. but I got myself started and rode out.

We figure we rode about 5 miles in the hour we were there. The trails are dirt with only a little rock. Of all the places where I have ridden bikes, this is the place most like sidewalks.

I love riding with Lan, he makes me work and he knows how much I can do & makes me do a bit more.

This is the HORSE ACCESS way from the parking area to the trails.

 and an up close photo. Horses can walk over it but cars, trucks, jeeps & motorcycles shouldn't be able to get over them. Yet. They will find a way.

I want to take Sunshower out there tomorrow if its not totally raining.

This park is now part of the BuDu Racing spring mtn bike race series, they will race here March 10th. Its going to be a fast race since there are no technical areas.

This would be a great place to take Wifi to learn about trails.

Swimming makes me hungry

I had to swim today, plan called for up to 44 laps, I did 34. Which was fine, I had choices.

I chose the shorter swim because:

• A fast lady got in my lane, I felt clumsy and awkward
• Another woman & her son were waiting for a lane
• I was hungry

I ate lunch right before I left but I guess swimming doesn't care, if it wants you to be starved then you will be.

Stopped at Albertsons for a Recovery bar but they didn't have any, I had to settle for a different bar and it wasn't as good.

Horsey news:
Kate at Windstone wants me to come out Sunday to start working for her. That will be great except I wanted to go to the mtn bike races at Dash Point that day. sigh.

Riding in the snow

I hate that this site wont let me post pictures!

Yesterday we signed up for the YMCA weight loss challenge at Silverdale Y. You're supposed to have 4 people on your team but the 2 people who I had first started out with had a 3rd person & then we lost Alyssa, then we lost 2 other ladies... I think we're on a team of just ourselves. I want to lose weight no matter what so I'm going to try, no matter what, and Lan needs to eat healthier because hes got hereditary high cholesterol. I don't want him to die!

After the Y we decided to take the mtn bikes out for a ride in the snow. Actually we were going to go to Banner Forest but I wanted something more difficult, something that would make me work harder, so it was me who said Wildcat Lake Trail. On the way home from the Y, I texted Les and asked him if he wanted to go too and even though hes not a mtn biker so much, hes got a mtn bike and he decided it might be fun.

We met at the trailhead at 12:30 and started out, and it was pretty fun. The temps in the parking lot were about 34* and I was scared I'd freeze but starting out uphill warmed me perfectly so I was pleasantly heated up.

The only problem I had was that Les was in front of me & he had to keep stopping and I had to stop for him. There were a few spots where I could have kept going. I felt bad for him but then realized that I used to be in his shoes on the mtn bike and that while we're out on the road bikes its me slowing him down. So I had plenty of patience and tried to encourage him.

It was funny, though, to come around a corner and find him spread eagle on his back in a bush alongside the trail.

From the trailhead to the top of Green Mountain on Wildcat Lake Trail its about 1000 feet of elevation gain. We were only able to go about 4 miles up & had to turn back because the snow was getting a little deep and then we came to a place with trees down across the road and it wasn't cleared on the other side. it wold have been too hard to ride thru the hard crunchy snow so we had to turn back.

Coming down was a lot of fun. We had all brought extra clothing to wear down & after bundling up we headed down. I wasn't too cold, it was about 30* up there, but its hard work on the core & legs to come downhill. I did great, no crashes, no getting off to make it over rough areas. I was rather proud of myself.

My official Ironman training plan had called for 90 minutes of riding, we rode for 2 hours. I was going to call that good but last night I got on my bike trainer and did the entire 90 minutes too, timed perfectly. I went to bed and slept for 15 hours.

Today I have an easier workout so I'll get to that in a few minutes, just 50 minutes of running and 35 on the bike. Easy peasy.

My First Duathlon

Today I participated in my first duathlon, the JFROG (the J is silent). It was very low key, just 11 people from the triathlon group who showed up to do it but 1 guys bike broke so there were 10 finishers.

2 mile run through trails, 6 miles on the mtn bike & 1 mile on trails again.

I ran with Lisa and Lan for the first run, finished in 22 minutes.  Changed into biking stuff, was last one out of T1. 22 minutes.

I got lost on the trails 3 times in the first section, they were poorly marked, everyone said it & many went the wrong ways. I was getting discouraged that I was so slow. I was about 5 miles on the bike when I came upon Lisa pushing her bike. Its an old bike and the derailleur pulley was broken. She pushed/ran for a while, then Lan took her my bike to finish up. 49 minutes.

We both ran together to finish up, deliberately cutting the last mile short. Well, she was leading, I was following but it was nice to be done. 11 minutes.

Afterward we all enjoyed hot cocoa and spiced cider, then we all participated in a WHITE ELEPHANT gift exchange. Lan & I had brought a light blue Alaskan Amber sweatshirt and a DVD of War of the Worlds. The first place guy got to pick first, I was #9. The gifts we bought were taken right away (yay!) and I brought home 2 books, something about rock climbing & Jurassic Park. Lan chose a small trophy and we WILL be putting in on display and he WILL say he got it in his first Duathlon!

This is the post the organiser had on FaceBook:
Congratulations to Dane Ballou who came down from altitude for todays muddy duathlon. Getting separation on the initial run leg he poured it on during the bike and cruised off the trails in the final run. Also, a great job by Lisa B, Denise, Lan (da Hammer), Egan, Ed, Keith, Riley, Joe and the Amazing Frog, Greg Pelton...aka crash. Thanks to the support crews who kept the hot water hot and the spirits high. It was fun, challenging, muddy and fast.   Get outside and play people!

Rest Feels Good

I'm taking the summer off from hard triathlon training.

I'm going to ride my horses, swim for fun, go out on the mtn bike & take walks, maybe jog a bit.

I'll continue with the TriBabe training for Danskin, that's fun to do. Just no 75 mile hard & fast bike rides for a while.

After August I'll start back up with some good long rides, going into winter I'll need that.

I do have several races & half marathons I'm signed up for so I do have to keep in condition for those.

But for now I'll have less posts about training and more about horses for a while. I'm letting my hip flexors rest and heal, doing more stretching and might just start a serious weights & yoga regime.

I'll be back here with another year of Ironman training soon.

10 hours at work = great mtn biking and run after ward

How is training going? GREAT.

OK, I'm going to be an Ironman in 1 year so I'm trying hard to get more miles in.  This week between biking, spin and running I'm at 30 miles. Not a lot by any means but I'm doing more.

Today I got up at 3:20am, worked 10 hours and got back home at 6pm. At 6:18 I was out at Banner Forest on my mtn bike and had a nice ride for 40 minutes. Then I came home and after feeding horses I got a 3.1 mile run finished in 33:24 on our hilly neighborhood roads.

I'm really, really hoping I can get next Sunday morning off so I can do the Danskin Triathlon but wont know till Wednesday. I've even told one of the supervisors that I'll switch shifts with someone, if they were to work my morning shift I'll come in after noon and do theirs. As of right now I know there are 6 shifts not going to be covered next week so I might get overtime and I probably won't get Sunday off.

I have hired a girl to come and condition my horses for me and coincidently, Equus Magazine has an article on getting horses back into good condition. I'll have her read it and we can follow that, it will be good for the horses and save us from getting injuries if we think she should go faster. Right about the time they get into shape, it will be winter.

When you're just not in to the bike

How is training going? Not good today.

I wanted to ride my horse today, there were several people lined up to go. Then Lan insisted I ride Wildcat Lake with him instead, saying I needed to ride more. Yeah, I need to ride my HORSES more.

We went out to Wildcat but I just wasn't into it at all. My bike was squeaking the entire time, his new heart rate monitor was beeping continually and I wasn't happy. Not happy at all.

For once I didn't whine the whole time but inside my head I was bitching the whole way. I almost cried a couple times too. I pushed the bike uphill more than I did the last couple of rides and I didn't care. I just wanted to be DONE.

I did kick ass on the descent though, just so I could get to the bottom faster.

There were a lot of people hiking on the trail with a lot of dogs. Luckily for everyone, all the dogs were on leash.

One woman said we could go faster on the fire road but after pushing my bike up trails to the top I'll be damned if I ride down a fucking fire road. That bitch needs to get her ass onto a bike.

The reward for going up is getting to come back down.