3 Weeks to Ironman!!

Tomorrow it will be June, and before I know it, we'll be driving up to Coeur d'Alene! I'm getting excited!

This week was a recovery week so I didn't have a huge long ride scheduled for yesterday. I would have liked to sleep in, but Pete had to get up at 7 to get ready to go mountain biking with some work friends. I did get to spend the morning at home, relaxing, though. Well, kind of relaxing. Actually, I was cleaning my house like crazy all morning. 

For the last few weeks I've put housework kind of on the back burner, and it has gotten really backed up. I did 5 loads of laundry earlier this week, and yesterday I did 4 or 5 more. It takes forever to get this much laundry done because I have to run the dryer 3 times to get a load completely dry. It's kind of sad because my dryer is called "Speed Queen." She must be past her prime. Pete says maybe my loads are too big, but I don't know if that's the problem or not.

I decided to just bring all the laundry downstairs and fold it all together while watching a movie. I always used to do this when I lived at my dad's house. That's the good thing about watching TV, you can get some other things done while you're doing it. You can't fold laundry while blogging or reading blogs, I've discovered. 

We've had Northanger Abby from Netflix for a really long time because Pete never wants to watch that kind of movie, but he came down and watched with me/helped me fold laundry when he got home, and I think he enjoyed it as much as me. It was really well produced and had some really good actors for being a made-for-TV movie. This is the only Jane Austin book I haven't read, and I'm kind of kicking myself for watching the movie before reading it. How could I do such a thing? And I call myself a Jane Austin fan! Anyway, it was really good, and we got all the laundry folded!

When it got over, I realized that it was 3:00, and that I needed to get my workout going so I could be done in time for dinner. This was scheduled for yesterday:

S: 60min continuous, using wetsuit if you will be doing in race. Also do swim in morning if possible. Note nutrition habits/needs as well as details like morning toilet routines anticipated.

And this was scheduled for today:

R: 90 minutes. Remember when 90 minutes was the hard long run?!
Optional race.

Since I rest on Sundays, I decided to do them both Saturday. I thought it would work out perfectly for me to run to the pool because I looked it up and it's 9.4 miles away. Then I could just do my swim. I know this isn't exactly what I was supposed to do. I didn't do it in the morning, and I didn't wear my wet suit because a) I wouldn't be able to carry it with me on my run, and b) I thought it would be too hot to wear a wetsuit in the pool. It's not like I've never worn it before, and I'll get to wear it in 2 weeks when I do the Battle at Midway so I figured it would be ok.

I wore my old tri outfit that I don't care as much about since I didn't know how it would react to the chlorine. I filled up my fuel belt, and put my swim cap and goggles in the back pocket of my tri shirt.

I started running, and I went the way I normally do when I ride my bike up to Bountiful, but it has me go the wrong direction for a while first. I hadn't looked at the map very closely when I looked up the distance, I just thought this was the route they were talking about. When I got to the 30 minute mark, though, I thought, "There's no way I'm 1/3 of the way there!" The whole run started to seem really daunting to me then. I reassured myself that I ran for 3 hours last week so I would be ok if it took me a little longer than 90 minutes.

I made it to Bountiful by the time I got to an hour and a half, but I was still a long ways away. I seriously considered hitchhiking a few miles for a second. Of course this never was really an option. I knew I could do it. I felt good, and just tried not to worry about the fact that I was running longer than scheduled during my recovery week.

It took me 2 hours to get to the gym. Now that I go back and look at the map, it had me going a different way that I didn't know existed to make it 9.4 miles. The way I went was 10.4 miles. Silly me! It was ok, though.

I did the swim, and just took it nice and easy. I swam for an hour, and didn't count my laps so I don't know how far I went. Probably 2800 or 2900 meters. Something like that. My heart-rate was around 140 for most of the time, and I tried to practice sighting. It's weird, because just doing this little thing where I look forward every other time I breath really helped simulate the feeling you have when you're out in the lake. I mean, it wasn't exactly like it of course, but it was easy to imagine that the little orange cone at the end of my lane was really a huge faraway orange buoy that I'm trying to get to. That's really what I think about when I'm out there swimming, "Don't die, don't die, don't die. Just get to that buoy, you can get to that buoy." Maybe not even that complex. 

Maybe it's more like, "One, two, three, breath, four, five, six, orange? That way. One, two, three, breath. . ."

Whatever it is that goes through my mind when I'm swimming in open water, I was trying to simulate that just a little bit during that swim. Sometimes I would forget to sight when I breathed on my right side, and I would have this little mini panic. Nothing bad, but just like, "Ahh, I forgot to look, should I sight on my left side and throw off my rhythm?" But then it would all get sorted out and it would be fine. I liked being able to prat ice this. I did several races where I would veer way off course for awhile before I really learned how to sight. It could have saved me valuable time. Of course, at the time I just thought, "Wow, I must be going really fast to be ahead of everyone else!" 

Pete brought me things to take a shower and get dressed, and he even threw in a protein shake for me which was very thoughtful! We went home and had dinner. 

I decided not to write about this last night because it just takes too much time, and I just don't get to see Pete enough. He didn't sign up for this Ironman with me because we knew it would be too hard for both of us to be training, and that we'd never get to see each other. Then the triathlon season started, and I can't blame him for wanting to get started on something. I'm glad he's started training again, but it does make it hard to find time for each other. Pretty much every night, when he gets home from work at least one of us needs to get out and do some training. It was nice to be able to just spend the evening with him last night. If it weren't for him I wouldn't be doing any of this, and he's just been so supportive and great about the whole thing. Thank you, Pete, I love you.

Fun bike, easy swim

This morning I got up at 5:30 so I could ride and be back by 7:30.

B: 90min at RPE 3-4

It was the perfect time to ride in the city. It was just getting light and there was not too much traffic yet. I worried it would be cold, but it was just about right. Maybe a little chilly as I got up higher. 

I rode 800 S. up past the zoo. There is a really steep hill on that ride that is so hard I have to stand up, and even then can barely push the peddles. It's good for me though, and I made it up! I got to the zoo after about 45 minutes, but decided to keep riding until I got to 50 because I knew it would be way faster on the way home. 

I rode up the canyon until I go to the monument for Donner Hill. It happened to be right around 50 minutes, and it was a good place to turn around since I could actually see if cars were coming from there. I've been through this canyon several times, but I've never seen this monument (it's not really very big). I read about it in the book about the Donner Party I read recently so I've wanted to go up there and see it. This is the hill the Donner Party finally decided to go over after cutting a road most of the way through Emigration Canyon. It's amazing that they got their wagons over that thing! I'm glad I got to stop and see that this morning.

The way home was just really fun. It was mostly downhill, and the really steep part is just such a rush. You come up to it and it's almost like a drop-off because you can't see the bottom. It's fun and scary at the same time. My eyes were glued to the road for most of the way down, but I was able to look at my speed towards the bottom, and it was 39mph. Fun stuff!

I still had a swim to do, and so did Pete so we decided to take the kids and go in the evening. I did mine first since it was really quick:

S: recovery 
4 x 300 (300 easy, 300 kick, 300 easy, 300 kick)

I didn't look at this right before we left so I ended up doing pull instead of kick for the last 300. It was a nice little swim. Then I went and played with the kids. Pete had to swim for about 40 minutes, so they got to play at the pool for a long time, and they had so much fun!

During nap time, I worked on editing a video for Against Malaria from one of their net distributions in Uganda. I just love that I'm able to do this! For one thing it's really cool to see and work with video from so far away, and for another thing, I'm glad there's something I can do to help. Even if it's just a little bit. I couldn't help crying as I looked at all these people just waiting in line, hoping to get a mosquito net for their little kids. When I showed it to Pete, he tried to count the kids in one scene and there were just so many! I will link to this video as soon as it is up. How cool to be able to actually see the people the nets you buy go to! If you haven't had a chance to donate to this simple, yet important cause, please take a few minutes to do it now: againstmalaria.com/colleensironman 

If everyone who reads this blog and all my friends on facebook and twitter just bought 1 net (just $5), I would easily reach my goal of 140 nets, and probably exceed that. Then just imagine how much we could do if all of you got even one more person to donate! I can use all the help I can get! Thank you all for your support!

Busy Biker

I was so tired this morning! I need to stop going to bed at midnight.  

After dropping Mindy and Pete off, I went over to our photographer's house to order our prints. I'm so excited to get them!

We stopped at the library on the way home, then had an early lunch. Then I hooked the bike trailer up and brought Ethan to school. I thought for sure he would be late, but his teacher was still outside waiting when we got there! How nice, I always hate leaving the bike outside to run him in.  Elle was almost asleep as we dropped him off, so it didn't take her long to be totally out once we got riding. 

B: 2 hours, RPE 4-5 with some hills.

Um, I did 2 hours, but I didn't really do many hills because I had the bike trailer, and I don't think I was up at RPE 4-5. I should have checked this before I left, but I was running late - as usual. Oh well. I didn't take it too easy, I kept my heart-rate between 140-150, and it wasn't too easy on the way out because the wind was against me. I like it when it happens that way, though, because that meant the wind was with me on the way home! How fun is that!? I even got going upwards of 16 mph on the slight downhill on the way home. Yeeeha!

Ok, so that isn't really that fast, but with the bike trailer I have a hard time getting to 14 mph so I thought this was good, and it was fun. 

It was really hot today, I found myself wondering when my drink timer would beep a lot, and I didn't have trouble drinking it all by the end. My Hammer Gel really stung my throat when I took it because I was so thirsty. Maybe, in the future, on hot days I should take a drink before and after the gel.

It was a good ride. Elle was getting a little fussy by the end since she woke up at around the half-way point, but even then she didn't really cause a problem.

Total time: 1:55

Total distance: 20.2

Average speed: 12.2 (this doesn't really add up to me, but it's what my bike computer said...)

When I got home, I didn't even have time to shower because I had to go drop the Jeep off to get new tires, then walk over to the school to pick the kids up, and walk back to get it. (Man were those new tires expensive! This is the first time I've bought tires for such a large vehicle.)  We then went to the store to kill time before picking Pete up. I just felt like I was moving non-stop today. It was good to get the kids to bed so now I can just relax for a few minutes, after finishing putting the turf builder on the lawn of course. 

How many miles?

This morning I went to the gym at my usual time, after dropping Mindy and Pete off. I deposited the kids in the child care and plopped my tired self into the pool. Swimming always wakes me up.

S: recovery swim
5 x 200 (50 Easy, 50 Build, 50 Easy, 50Hard)
150 easy

For some reason there was no warmup listed, so I did my own warm up. I did 200 swim, 50 kick (I would have done more but I didn't take the time to find flippers in my size and it takes soooo long to do it without), 200 pull buoy with paddles. I love using the pull buoy with paddles because it really helps me focus on my technique. Today I paid special attention to using my whole forearm to pull the water, and making sure my arm goes as far forward and as far back as possible. Does that even make sense? It's kind of hard to describe swimming.

My 200s were all around 3:53. Not very fast, but, after all, it was suppose to be a "recovery swim" right?

As soon as I got home I started working on putting the "turf builder" that I bought yesterday onto my sad looking lawn. I took a break for lunch and to take Ethan to school and put Elle down for a nap, but other than that I was obsessed and kept working on it until it was time to get the kids. In fact, I'm wondering if my back porch light would be bright enough to work by right now. . .

Pete got home from work a little early so I was able to get out on my run by 5. This was nice because I like to run right before dinner, but it is just so hot at that time!

R: 60 min at RPE 3. When finished with run, do 6 x 20 second strides.

This time I went to the bathroom after about 10 minutes so I felt a lot more comfortable than yesterday. Well, at least for half an hour. I still haven't put music on my ipod either. Pete offered to put some on really quick before I left, but then I couldn't even find it. Why do you have to be so small little shuffle? Oh well, I got to run to "Do Your Ears Hang Low" courtesy of the ice cream truck that seamed to be driving parallel to the path I was running on. At least I think that's what song it was. Anyway, that's the song it made me get in my head. Not the most inspiring running song of all time, but I shouldn't complain. 

I really should get used to running with no music because ipods are not allowed at triathlons. In fact, I was so used to not bringing an ipod to my races that I was surprized to find pretty much everyone else at the St. George Marathon wearing one. Now I not only didn't have music, I also couldn't talk to anyone because they were all in their own worlds listening to music only they could hear. I'm kind of glad they are outlawed at tris, talking to people on the way is part of the fun in racing (at least for us slow people).

So I will just try to prepair myself for 14 or 15, or 16 hours of listening to my own thoughts. 

Now I'm going to figure out how many miles I've done with these shoes. I'm worried it's getting close to retirement time for them, and I don't want to do it too close to the race. You're supposed to replace your shoes every 300 miles. The doctor told me that running in old shoes might have been one of the reasons I got that stress fracture. 

.

Ok, it's all added up, are you ready for the number?

284.5

Wow, I've ran 284.5 miles in these shoes, starting December 8th! That's just 5 1/2 months. Crazy isn't it? 

One more long run and I'd hit 300, and I'm thinking that's pushing it just a little too much. I don't want to end up getting another injury because of old shoes. They're not that old, just beaten up a lot. I need to play It's Time by Ben Folds for them now. 

Dang it, where's my ipod?

Shoes are expensive too.

Back to the grind sttone

That long weekend sure made it feel like summer! It was kind of hard to go back to our daily rutine of school and work and training. I got up at 7, had a banana and headed out for my bike ride:

Bike: 75 minutes tempo
Wu: 10 spinning at RPE 3
main: 7x (5t,3r) 5t at RPE5, 3r at RPE2
cd: continue cool down until 75 minutes are up. RPE 2

I tried to keep my heart-rate up above 150 on the intervals , but it was surprizingly hard. It's kind of weird because I kept my heart-rate above 160 for the whole St. George Tri (uhh, duo). I guess I just didn't have any motivation this morning. 

Total Time: 1:18

Total Distance: 19.9

Average Speed: 15.5

I really thought I could do a short tempo workout faster than 15.5 mph. What a disapointment. Of course, I did stop to try and fill my tire up half way because it was getting really low and I was getting worried. I thought it would be good to try my CO2 gun again so I will know how to use it in an emergency. Well, it's a good thing this wasn't an emergency because I did it wrong again. I just can't figure out how to use that dang thing! I'm thinking about buying one like that other lady had that just screws on to the top.

I used the rest of the morning to mow the back yard. Elle then slept the entire time Ethan was in school, and I totaly wasted that time. 

When Pete got home, he did 15x intervals and fell over on his bike. Ouch. I hate it when that happens!  He didn't get hurt too bad, though. Luckily.

My friend, Rachel, posted about Peanut Butter Oatmeal Chocolate Chunk Cookies today. Are you kidding me?! That's all I could think about today. I told myself I would wait to make them for a special occasion, or at least wait until the weekend, but that didn't happen. I made them while Pete was out riding, making dinner later than usual. They are so good! I ate way too much dough before dinner, then I ate way too much dinner. We had Hasselback potatoes which were also a huge hit!

I took time to read the kids their books for bed, and let my food digest a little, then got out on my run by 8:00.

Run: 45 minute easy run at RPE 3

It was supposed to be easy, but I didn't wear my heart-rate monitor and I think I ran harder than easy. It was a little hard, plus I still don't have any music on my ipod so I was running without music which is harder. The loop I did took exactly 45 minutes, though. I'm getting pretty good at figuring out routes for myself!

Total time:45 minutes

Total distance: 4.1 miles (what?? That should have felt way easier!)

Average speed: 10.98 minute miles

Oh well, it was supposed to be an easy run right? Actually, the reason it felt so hard is that I had to pee towards the end, even though I went right before I left. I hate that, it just ruins the whole running experience for me! Anyone else have that problem?

Ok, time to go fold laundry. . . and have one more cookie.

Heber - Photo Special

We started our nice long weekend off with some yard work, and Pete got up on the roof to fix our swamp cooler. He eneded up scraping, then spraying out our gutters because they were so full of gunk that trees were starting to grow in there! It looked kind of cool, I wish I would have gotten a picture before he cleaned it out.

After getting the conspiring trees under control, we went to Heber. I miss it there so much, espeically at this time of year when it is just so nice. I can't say I missed it much during the winter, though it is still beautiful then (just really cold), but I do miss it now. If only we had an extra $300,000 or so. . . 

The horses next door came over to see if we were handing out apples. Sorry, Sarah (Ethan's name for her), the apple trees are just blossoming now:

How could I NOT want to live here? I was thinking about how when you're a little kid, you think the town you live in is the best in the world. Then you get to highschool and any other town would be better than the one you're in. I, and all of my friends, felt so trapped in this little valley. We would drive for at least half an hour to find anything moderatly fun to do elsewhere. It's funny how after I left, I learned to love the place so much again. I must have been blind in high school!

The back yard canal was covered in little snails - much to the delight of the children, who spent hours catching them, and much to the grosing out of my dad's girlfriend, Angela, who we all think is wonderful by the way. 

It's a miricle no one is wet in this picture! Don't worry, Ethan got his shoes and pants wet soon after.

Here's Elle pushing Aria in the swing. She sure loves her little cousin!

I love this one of Aria with the monkeys on her back. Look at that cute little pony tail!

Memorial Day Weekend

Happy Memorial Day! Sorry I haven't posted for 3 whole days! Whatever did you do without me? We had a fun long weekend, here's what we did:

The kids were out of school on Friday so headed up to Heber. We brought our wet suits to maybe go swimming in Deer Creek, but we ended up just visiting some friends and relaxing for the night. 

Saturday was my long ride. I wanted to do at least 90 miles, or 6 hours, which ever came first.I put off leaving because I had just brought my tri outfit and not jacket, and it was kind of cold. I finally rummaged through my sister's closet and found a jacket to wear. It was too big and bulky, not aero dynamic at all, not wicking, and not very visible since it was brown, but it sure made me feel better when I looked at the gray sky ahead of me. The jacket ended up being getting wrapped around my waist after the first 10 minutes, but I was glad to have it when it did start to rain on me. It felt so cozy and warm when I put it on! It didn't rain enough to cause a problem, just enough to be glad of a jacket. Thanks, Katie! 

Here's the ride I planned out:

I went through Midway up to what I thought was Echo, but turns out it was only Colsville. The way up was really good. There's one really long, big hill that took me about half an hour going about 5 mph to get up, but after I got to Kamas, it was really fast and fun. It was also a really beautiful ride. The only downside was that I had to ride along a highway most of the whole way, and there were times when there was pretty much no shoulder. That was a little scary, especially because most of the vehicles that passed me were big pick-up trucks, and most of them were pulling big horse trailers and going way too fast. I survived though!

When I was getting close to 45 miles, I started thinking I wouldn't make it to Echo, but then I got really excited when I got to this little town that I recognized. I got to 45 miles right past the high school where you park for Echo Tri so I stopped there to switch my water bottles, call Pete, get my cliff bar out, and reaply sunscreen. I only put more sunscreen on my face because everywhere else was covered up at least part of the time.

The way back was WAY harder than the way out! It seemed like it was uphill most of the way, and the wind was against me so I couldn't get going faster than like 14 mph. I felt like I was pulling the bike trailer. 

It just took forever to get home, and toward the end I was having a hard time keeping my legs moving, and I was so sore. My legs and knees were sore, my back was sore and my neck was sore. I ended up just going through Heber instead of Midway because I knew it would be shorter and mostly downhill. Even the downhills were not that easy, and I couldn't even get going more than 35 mph going down that long hard hill. Dang wind.

I got home and Pete showed me his timer. I had been gone just about 7 hours! No wonder I was so tired! I didn't want to, but I was supposed to run for 20 minutes. As I was putting my running shoes on (and just hurting everywhere), my dad comes in with KFC. Pete told me just to cut my run short so I could come eat with them. I had no problem with that. When I first started running, my leg hurt so bad I thought I had pulled something and that I wouldn't be able to run at all. I kept trying, though, and after about 5 minutes, I felt just fine. I probably could have ran for the 20 minutes, but I had already decided to just do 10 so that's all I did.

I was very glad to go get my recoverite, my stretching, my bath and my dinner. 

I really hope Coeur d'Alene is easier than that. Pete doesn't give me much hope though. It was good to experience such a hard ride and now I know what it's like to be riding for 7 hours which is what I want to shoot for in the Ironman. I just need to go 22 more miles in that time.

Total miles: 90.9 miles

Total time: 7 hours

Average speed: 12.9 mph (pretty dang slow)

Sunday was a much needed rest day. I was pretty sore, and had no problem taking it easy.

Today was scheduled as another rest day. I'm into my rest week now! Yeah!

We went to the zoo all day before coming home. It was fun even though it was super crowded. We got to see the bird show which is always fun to watch. Maybe I'll post some pictures for you on a shorter post. :) 

It's nice to be back home!

Flying fast - 16.3

This morning my alarm didn't go off because I set it for 6:00 pm. Ah, that old mistake! Luckily, I woke up at 6:15 anyway. Way to go body clock! I was supposed to leave by 6:30, but by the time I got dressed, had a little oatmeal, stocked my fuel belt, put sunscreen on and went to the bathroom twice, It was probably more like 6:45 when I left. Elle woke up just as I was about to leave, and I just told her, "Mommy has to go for her run now, but you can go get in bed with Daddy." She didn't make a fuss about it at all, just turned around and went to climb into bed with Pete. I'm sure he loved that. I guess I'm getting her pretty trained on me leaving for my runs too.

I did almost the same route as last week, only I looped around a little further on the way out:

I did the first 45 minutes or so really easy with my heartrate in the 140s, but it went up when I got into town and started getting to the hills. As usual, I really enjoyed running in The Avenues, and I'd like to thank Cucina Deli for being there for me when no on else was when I needed to use the bathroom at about 1:30 into my run. I still need to go eat there some day so I don't feel so bad about usuing them for their restroom (which is really nice). At least Pete's eaten there before. (Hm, maybe I could re-do their website)

After my stop, I felt refreshed, and continued trying to get to the top by 1:38 (15 minutes after last time). Now I can't remember what time I actually made it to the top, but it was after that. I think maybe 1:50? Anyway, I love that turn-around point because when you get there you've conquered the hill AND you're now on your way home. It is so fast and fun running down the hill too! I was careful, again, to make sure my knees didn't hurt, but they didn't so I just had fun. 

When I got to 2:00, I started feeling hungry which worked out perfectly because it was time to take another shot of my Hammer Gel. I was drinking Gatoraid on the half-hours and Hammer Gel with water on the hours. Pete doesn't think this is enough, but I don't want to make myself need to pee any more than I already do on a run, and this seems to suffice for me. What do you guys think?

Sorry, Ethan took this picture for me, and I could not get that boy to stop moving!

I wore the fuel belt again today, and I'm starting to like that thing. I hated it when I first started wearing it, but if I wear it nice and low on my hips it doesn't bounce around much at all so it doens't really bother me anymore. I'm actually thinking of maybe wearing it for the Ironman because then I'd get to have the things I like with me instead of being stuck eating/drinking whatever they have. I don't know if I want to do this, though. I should take advantage of the awesome aid stations when I can, plus I would look so much more dorky with it on. Any opinions on that?

I was trying to keep moving as I put my flask (I'm always afraid when I say "flask" you're going to think I brought a little whisky along for my run, but I swear it's just for the Hammer Gel.) back into my fuel belt when my foot hit an uneven part of the side walk and I tripped. Luckily I caught myself with one had barely touching the ground, but my flask was launched a couple yards in front of me. I was really glad I didn't get hurt, that could have been bad! When I ran up there with Heather, she told me about a time where she tripped on a string while running and went flying. That sounded really painful!

For the way home, I turned up on Redwood Road instead of going all the way back out to 2200 West, and I felt really good. When I got to that point last week, I was starting to hurt and having a hard time keeping my feet going. I was tired today, for sure, and my feet were starting to hurt, but it wasn't bad enough to really slow me down too much. I stopped running at 2:05, then walked the last block to my house.  

My total distance was (drum roll) 16.3 miles. That puts me at an average of about 11-minute miles which would be just under 5 hours for the marathon. Sweet.

I got home just in time to make Pete late for his meeting. (Sorry about that, hun.) It was about 9:50 and he was trying to get there by 10, so we just jumped in the car and I dropped him off. I drank a strawberry Recoverite (Pete picked some single serving packs up for me yesterday because we are out of the big one) while I drove, then did a lot of stretching when I got home.

By the time I got out of the shower, it was almost time to take Ethan to school, but I was starving! For some reason I was feeling like it was still breakfast time, plus I never made bread yesterday like I had planned so I hurried and made some omelets with avacado, cheese and chicken and drank some OJ with it. It was really good, and I even got Ethan to school on time!

Elle and I stayed and played at the school for half an hour because Mindy was having a short day, and I didn't want to go home just to come back and get her. Elle got to play on all 3 of the playgrounds there so that was a lot of fun. I mostly just sat in the shade and watched her because my legs were tired. When Mindy got out, we went home and Elle and I took a nap until time to pick Ethan up. Then we had orange/bannana smoothies. Yum.

Now, where did my day go? It's already almost over!

Trains and Trailers

Today my legs were a little bit sore from my hard run yesterday, but that didn't stop me from crankin' out my 2-hour bike ride today:

B: 120 minutes spinning at RPE 3.

I thought about waiting to do it in the evening so I wouldn't have to take the bike trailer because I'm getting a little sick of the rides I can do with that thing. There are pretty much 3 options for good places to ride without much traffic or huge hills:

1. The bike path by the river. Yeah, if I want a thorn in my tire. No thanks! Plus it's not really an option because it only goes for about 3 miles.
   
2. The bike path ajacent to Beck Street that goes up to North Salt Lake.
   
3. Or the bumpy yet farm townish 2200 West that also leads to North Salt Lake.

Then I thought about how much faster I went on Saturday after doing so much bike trailer work. I wouldn't mind getting even more faster so I decided to go with the bike trailer again. 

I chose option number 2 and, after I dropped Ethan off at school and stopped back at home to put some more air in my tires (for some reason they were low which made me nervous, but they were ok after I filled them up), I headed out to the Beck Street bike path. Elle was asleep by the time I stopped to fill my tires:

We made it another 20 minutes or so, then we had to stop for the train:

Luckily it was a short train so I didn't have to wait too long or choose a different rout. I also was very lucky to have a dump truck pull up to the light at Beck Street at the same time as me to turn the light green. That's one good thing about riding up there on a week day. The down side is that you've got to put up with all the dump trucks triving by you for part of the way.

Anyway, I went up the bike path and came back down when I got to the top. I went back up and down 2 more times, each time taking me about 9 minutes. I could have gone up it one more time, but I got sick of it so I headed back towards home. There was a truck spraying water on the road as I rode down, and he stopped the spray as I rode by. I thought, "That was so nice!" A few minutes later, though, I was riding on the wet road and thinking, "So much for my nice, shiny new chain and cassette! Why do they have to spray the road anyway?" I was a little anoyed, but tried not to worry about it too much.

When I got back down to the train tracks, there was a train there again. This time it was actually stopped right in the way:

I was just turning around to see if I could find another way around, when it started moving. Elle woke up just in time, and was very excited to see the train! When we got to our neighborhood, we still had 20 minutes so I headed over to the spot where the ducks usually are, but they weren't there today. I just rode by and looped around to come home. I was a few minutes under 2 hours, but I was kind of in a hurry because I wanted to stretch and shower before picking the kids up - which I was able to do!

I didn't really push it as hard as I could have today, and I didn't pay attention to my heart-rate very much. I hope it did me some good, though.

Running in the woods - in the city

Today I was supposed to do a swim and bike in the morning, and a 45 minute run in the evening. I had planned on getting up at 4:30 so I could get to the gym by 5:30, on my bike by 6 and home by 7:30 to get Mindy ready for school. It didn't work out that way. 

I was good and was in bed by 10:30, but I never fall asleep right away, and at about 11:30 Elle woke up, and procedeed to throw the biggest tantrum ever. We didn't get her calmed down and back to bed until around 2. I have no idea what the deal was. She was just freaking out, but once she calmed down she was the sweetest thing. We're hoping she got all her crying out for the next few years.

Laying in bed at 2:30, the thought of waking up in 2 hours just didn't sound very appealing. I still thought I might do it, but when my alarm went off at 4:30 there was no way I was getting out of bed! I went back to sleep 3 more hours, and that was nice, but I was still pretty tired when I had to get up. Elle, on the other hand, was just bright eyed and bushy tailed. Crazy girl. 

I ended up deciding to just throw todays workouts out the window and do tomorrow's instead:

Run: 80 minutes wth strides at RPE 3-4

I wanted to do this today so I could shift everything else down and do my long run tomorrow since I like doing my long runs on Thursdays so I can have a day to rest before my long bike. I don't know if this is a good thing to do or not, but it sounds like a good idea.

I didn't get out on my run until after 8:00 because I went to a church activity and took the kids since there was going to be a daycare there. Pete did his run during this time and called me when he got done. I left the activity just as they were serving refreshments. The kids were very upset to have to leave right in the middle of their game of "Duck, Duck, Goose," but I didn't want to be running in the dark so I made them leave. I'm such a mean mother.

It was a really good run. It seems like it's been forever since I did a good run with strides. I did them every 5 minutes after the first 10 minutes, and it was really fun. I ran on the river trail and it was really pretty running by the river at twilight. There are also a lot of trees, and in some parts it actually feels like you're running through the woods instead of the city. You just have to ignore the spots where they've painted over the grafiti on the path. I even saw what looked like a beaver in the river. I don't think it would have been a beaver, but I didn't stop to get a better look.  

I stopped by the house after an hour to get some hammer gel and a drink of water, and to use the bathroom. The kids were nicely tucked away in their beds. Then I went out and finished the last 20 minutes. I just ran around pretty close to our house becaues it had now gotten dark, and we're not exactly in the nicest part of town. Our neighborhood is pretty good, but I wouldn't want to veer more than a few blocks from it at night by myself. I didn't really do strides for the last 20 minutes either because it was too dark to see my watch very well.

It's funny how 80 minutes used to be such a long run! I remember when an hour just seemed like forever to run! I also was thinking, while I was running, about how I'm not just some girl out running around. I'm out there training. I have a purpose in every workout I do. I think that has made me like working out. Working out used to be such a chore and I hated every minute of it. Now I can actually enjoy it while I'm doing it.

One of my teachers in college always used to say, "It will feel better when it stops hurting." And I just thought that was the most rediculous saying. Of course it will feel better when it stops hurting, what is he talking about!? But now I think I understand. You can't really have that awesome feeling you get after you run, or whatevery workout you do, unless you go through a little pain and work for it. For this reason alone, (forget all the getting healthy, loosing weight, getting better at something) I would suggest training for something, anything, to everyone. You just need something to work towards, and it really makes it so much more worth it, and it feels so good when it stops hurting! Call me crazy.

Extreme Ice Cream

I was so good for the longset time (ok maybe a week or two) about not eating very many refined carbs, and I hardly had any sugar. Well, the past little while I've just kind of been eating whatever I want. I've made a cake the past two weekends, and had ice cream almost every day. It's pathetic. I thought I was getting used to not eating so much junk food. I kind of blame it on being too busy to sit down and write a good shopping list and think up a healthy menu for the week so I end up not having anything good around the house. That doesn't really explain the ice cream, though. 

Have you ever had Extreme Moose Tracks? Here's the description: "Rich chocolate ice cream with Moose Tracks® fudge-filled cups and famous Moose Tracks® fudge" Oh yum. Don't ever try this kind because you'll never be able to give it up or go back to regular ice cream flavors. Even Moose Tracks sounds so plain now. How can you just eat Moose Tracks when you could have Extreme Moose Tracks?! 

And what is it about getting my kids to bed that makes me want to eat junk food? It's almost automatic for me to start looking around the kitchen for something good to eat once the kids are asleep, and that can be for nap time or bedtime. So here I am, at 1:14 pm, sitting around with a bowl of Extreme Moose Tracks.

I'd say that I'm going to try to be better, but I haven't decided if I want to be better or not yet. Isn't that terrible? Ok, I do want to be better. I will try to cut down on the refined stuff, but I'm not going to cut my Extreme Moose Tracks no matter what you say.

I did workout today, though. Here's what my training plan said:

S: long day
wu: 200swim, 200kick, 200pull, 200swim
main: 1900 ladder. Do a set of 300, then 275, 250, etc…until 25
10 x 100 (descend 1-5, 6-10)
cd: 4 x 50, each slower than last

Everyone was really sleepy this morning, so Mindy, Elle and I just had oatmeal together. Then I took Mindy to school and came back to get Ethan and take Pete to work. I also had to run to the store for bread, milk and eggs because there was nothing to eat for breakfast (other than oatmeal and I didn't really want to make it again for some boys who wouldn't even want it). Of course, Pete just ended up eating chocolate cake so I don't know why I bothered, and now I'm going to be singing, "Dad is great, he gave us chocolate cake!" all day long. To be fair, though, I he didn't give the kids cake for breakfast, he just had it himself.

Anyway, I didn't get to the pool until an hour later than usual. My workout was scheduled to take 90 minutes, and I didn't really have that much time since I would have to take Ethan to school. Once I got done with the ladder, I just skipped the 100s and did the cooldown. Even just doing that, my shoulders got pretty sore! In fact, I'm still feeling it. What's the deal with that?

We hurried home and had some sandwiches before I took Ethan to school. I'm getting this entry done now so I can go to bed early tonight. I plan on waking up at 4:30 tomorrow so I can get my whole swim/bike workout in before school/work. Let's just see if I can pull that off! See you tomorrow, I'm off to do the dishes! No more ice cream, Colleen!

5 Weeks to Ironman

Cynthia from Oasis Writing Link (OWL) bestowed The Honest Scrap award on me. Here is the definition:

This award is bestowed upon a fellow blogger whose blog content or design is, in the giver’s opinion, brilliant. This award is about bloggers who post from their heart, who oftentimes put their heart on display as they write from the depths of their soul.

I am very honored to receive such a nice award. I always try to be honest in everything I do, and that includes in my writing on this blog. It is my belief that that God has commanded us to be honest in all our dealings, and this is what I strive to do.

President Gorden B. Hinckley, former president of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, has this to say about honesty in this article:

The thirteenth Article of Faith of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints affirms that “we believe in being honest, true, chaste, benevolent, virtuous, and in doing good to all men.”

We cannot be less than honest, we cannot be less than true, we cannot be less than virtuous if we are to keep sacred the trust given us. Once it was said among our people that a man’s word was as good as his bond. Shall any of us be less reliable, less honest than our forebears?

Those who are living the principle of honesty know that the Lord does bless them. Theirs is the precious right to hold their heads in the sunlight of truth, unashamed before any man. On the other hand, if there be need for reformation in any member of this Church, let it begin where we now stand.

Brothers and sisters, the Lord requires his people to be honest. May we desire with all our hearts to be honest in all our relationships and in all the things that we do. God will help us if we seek the strength that comes from him. Sweet then will be our peace of mind and our lives. Blessed will be those with whom we live and associate. And God will bless and guide us with his loving care.

I know that being honest will lead to a much happier life. I always get so frustrated when I watch movies or read books where the main conflict is caused by one of the characters being dishonest and it ends up causing more trouble than it's worth.

Along with this award, I'm supposed to list 10 honest things about myself, and to tell you the truth :) I don't know what to say. I'm hoping I can get some input from you readers as to what I should write. Do you have any questions you'd like to ask me or anything you think would be interesting to know? I can't promise I will answer any question, but most questions I will. Just leave the question in the comments area, and I'll also be thinking about it. Thanks!

An AWESOME 86 Miles!

First thing this morning, (well, actually second thing, we had to have breakfast first, and the bike shop didn't even open until 9) I went and picked up my bike from getting her tune up. It cost me a pretty penny, but boy did she look nice! They re-taped the aero bars (they were coming unwrapped and getting very sticky and annoying), replaced the chain AND cassette (It's been having trouble shifting and making a lot of annoying sounds), and they fixed my breaks. I wanted to take a picture of how nice and shiny the chain was, but I couldn't find my camera. I'm sure you're all really bummed about that. 

When I came home, Pete put another water bottle holder behind my seat so I could cary 2 more water bottles with me. I brought two 2-hour bottles of perpetuem and two bottles of water that I switched off drinking from every 10 minutes. I also brought my whole flask full (5 servings) of Hammer Gel that I had every hour, and a little mini cliff bar - just in case. I put the cliff bar in my little bag with my spare tube, two CO2 canisters and gun, a couple tools, my phone and a $20. All for just in case.

It's weird how we associate things with whatever happened last time we did that thing. I kind of wasn't looking forward to this ride because my last few long rides have been either really hard with the bike trailer or freezing cold with rain pouring on me. Today, however, was a beautiful day and I was just going to be light and free by myself. It was really the perfect temperature for a ride - pretty warm with a nice cool breeze, but not too much of a breeze either.

I started out, and only made it a few blocks before I noticed something hitting me in the back of the legs. It was my water bottles in the back. They had tilted down so they were parallel to the ground. I went home, and Pete tightened it for me so it didn't seem like it would happen again, but he put the little screw drivers into my bag just in case it did.

I started out again on my usual ride up through Bountiful, but when I got there, the street I usually go on was closed because of construction. I rode up a little bit to see if I could get to Davis from the street I was on, but it didn't look like it so I went back down and up 89 to the next street. I still ended up having to ride on gravel for a little ways, and the road was all torn up so it was really bumpy. When I finally did get up onto Davis, I noticed that the back water bottles had tipped down again. I found a park and stopped there to fix the water bottle holder and go to the bathroom. I got it nice and tight this time so it didn't bother me again.

It seemed like I was just getting going really slowly so I decided to just go until 40 miles, no mater what the time was. 

As I got into Kaysville, I saw about a million cyclists going the opposite way as me. I didn't know what was going on, but I wonder if they thought something was wrong with me. Why was I going the wrong way? It turns out it was the Salt Lake Century, and they all started and ended just a few blocks from my house! I road the same rout as them for quite a while, though sometimes they would take a detour but end up on the same road as me again. They were pretty much all gone by the time I turned around, though.

I turned around when I hit 40 miles, and that was exactly at 2:50 which seemed like the perfect time to turn around too. I was not feeling very good at this point. I was sore and tired and thinking, "How am I going to do this?!" I rode for 10 more minutes until my timer went off at 3 hours. Then I stopped and switched my water bottles out so I could reach the fuller ones better, and I got my cliff bar out. I thought the cute little mini cliff bar was just perfect because I never want to eat a whole one of those. I usually don't really like them, but this one was Chocolate Brownie, and I really enjoyed it. It was kind of nice to have something to eat and something to think about other than just "peddle, peddle, peddle."

I passed 56 miles at around 3:30, and that's about how fast Pete did his first loop of the Ironman so I was happy with that! Then before I knew it, I was back in familiar territory and my timer beeped for 4:00. I was like, "More apple pie already? Don't mind if I do!" Is it weird that I still like my apple cinnamon Hammer Gel so much? I was starting to feel better now.

At around mile 70, I got emotional. I wasn't in pain or sad or anything, but an SUV with a bunch of little girls passed me and they all yelled "Hi!" to me. I waved back and smiled. This made me think about how I'll have people cheering me on during the Ironman and this just kind of made me get misty eyed. It didn't last long, though. I had things to do.

You would think I would have been dreading the big, long, hard hill going up 400 North, but I actually welcomed the hills for a change of pace. I was getting sick of just going 16 mph on practically flat ground for so long. Going up that big hill was hard, but my heart-rate stayed below 170, and even though it was hot only going 5 mph, I felt good. When I got to the top, I stopped to put more sunscreen on, then I started up again.

From here on out it seemed like my bike was trying to get home, and I just had to help her a little. Maybe I should give my bike a name? We do spend a lot of time together. . . Anyway, I just felt so fast on the way home! It was awesome, and I felt so good! I was surprised that I felt so much better when I hit mile 80 then I did when I hit mile 40! It was just fun, and I was going about 20 mph most of the way home from Bountiful. When I got home, I felt so good. Much better than my last few long rides where I could hardly get myself to peddle. I would never have thought I could feel that good after 5:26 hours of riding.

My total distance was 86.7 miles with an average of 16.5 mph! Wahoo!

My top speed (at least when I dared to glance down and check) was 38 mph going down that 500 North. That's almost 40 miles an hour guys! And I didn't even cry! Are there any other cyclists out there who can top that? Come on, I know you've all gone faster than 40. Tell us your top speeds! (I know Pete's is really fast, maybe he'll grace us with a comment about it).

Right after my ride, I ran for 20 minutes, and it was a good run. Like I said, I felt really good. I was able to run at a pretty normal pace without a problem, and it was fun. What a great day! I hope everyone else had a good day too, it was beautiful!

Good Food, A Belly Dancer, Dooce and Star Trek

I took today off, and it was really nice not to have to worry about figuring out when and where to do my workout. I took the kids to the zoo, and tried to take a little nap afterwards, but that didn't really work out. That's ok, though, it was just a courtesy nap (courtesy to my legs). I wore my compression socks all night last night and all day today. My legs didn't really feel sore which seems amazing to me! If I'm not used to running, I can go run 2 or 3 miles and my legs will be killing me the next morning, but now I must be a little bit more used to it because you'd think I would be sore after 14 miles! Pretty amazing what the human body can adapt to isn't it!? 

My legs were tired today, though. I can't say they were as good as new (especially going up and down stairs), but they weren't really hurting. Even so, I don't know why I thought it would be a good day to go walk around at the zoo for a few hours. It was fun though. We got to see the elaphant show which was really cool. The elephant's name is Christie and she is going to be having a baby this summer so we're really excited about that! I told Ethan that she was going to have a baby soon, then a little while later I asked him if he wanted to go see some other animals. He said, "No, I wanna wait until after she has the baby." I had to explain to him that she wasn't actually going to have the baby today, but this summer. I guess soon to me and soon to a 5-year-old is a little different. 

Tonight we got a sitter, and Pete and I got to go out on a date. We went to The Cedars of Lebanon and had some delicious Lebanese and Moroccan food, including Baclava for desert. We had heard they had belly dancers there, and we were looking forward to watching that, but when she came out we were just like, "Woah!" Lets just say she seemed a little more like a stripper than an authentic belly dancer, but what do I know. It did seem a little weird though. There was even this lady there who Pete called a "cougar" who got up and put some money in the dancers belt. We were just like, "Um, ok. . ."

So, we were a little let down by the dancer, but not by the food. I would recommend going there for the food.

Afterwards we went to Star Trek. Pete had already seen it but he wanted to see it again, and I wanted to see it since all I've heard is about how good it is. We got there, and Pete asked some people if they could move over so there would be 2 seats together for us. Then I sat down and Pete says, "That woman you're sitting next to is Dooce." I was like, "Really?!" If you don't know who Dooce is, she is one of the first professional mommy bloggers. (According to Pete) He actually followed her for a couple years. I just started following her and when he saw her on my twitter, he goes, "Dooce? Welcome to blogging!" I hadn't even realized she lived in Salt Lake. I'm obviously not a very good follower, I've just read one post and her tweets.

Anyway, it surely was her. I spent the whole show feeling weird about the fact that I knew stuff about this lady sitting next to me, and she didn't know I knew. It was weird. I kind of felt like it would be cool to say hi or something when the movie got over, but neither Pete or I could think of anything to say that wouldn't be awkward. And if Pete wasn't going to talk to someone, I sure wasn't going to. We just got up and left when it was over, talking about how weird it was once we were out of ear-shot. It just makes me wonder about this whole blogging thing. I mean, do I really want people I don't know to know things about me and my family? I never had a problem with it before, but it was just such a weird, uncomfortable feeling seeing her. I guess that's how it is seeing any celebrity, but now that I'm blogging I can kind of see myself in her place. I know, I really have nothing to fear, I've got 18 followers - most of whom I know personally, and she's got a book deal. Who knows how much she's made off of her blog. It seems like a cool thing to do for a living, but is it worth it? I wonder how often she runs into people who know her. 

But the movie was really good. I would recommend it along with the Lebanese food. It was a really fun date.

Big day tomorrow, guys - 5.5 hours on the bike. Will I be able to do it? Will I go crazy in the process?  We'll see. . . 

14.2 Miles!

My run. Pretty impressive hu?

Today I took it easy until Pete got home from work, then I headed out for my run:

R: Almost 3hour long run. Maintain RPE of 3 throughout. Use
nutrition/hydration you worked on in past weeks. Long stretch afterwards
and hearty recovery meal of both carbs and protein.

I don't know exactly what "Almost" 3 hours is, but I decided to shoot for 2:45.  The house smelled like curry when. What a nice thing to look forward to coming home to!

I did the same run I did for my last long run, up through The Avenues, but this time I planned to come back the same long way I went. It seemed pretty slow going, but I was hoping to get to my turn around point at the top  by 1:30, and I made it there by 1:23. 

I felt so good when I got to the top! This time I was more careful, and took the big down-hill turn wider on the road where it was more even, and I had no pain in my knee at all! It was awesome running fast down that hill too! What a great way to practice going fast without having your heart-rate shoot up! As long as you're careful not to hurt yourself., that is.

I stopped at that beautiful little deli on the way down for a bathroom break. I love that place. 

I felt so good and fast for a while that I was thinking I might have to add a mile on at the end or something. I needed have worried about that, though. By the time I got about 2 miles from home, my feet were starting to hurt and I was having a hard time enjoying myself. The bottom of my left foot had a few minutes where it started having pain. It wasn't the same foot I broke, or in the same place, but I just kept hearing the doctors words in my mind: "If you would have kept running on it, it would have broken all the way." So I was just thinking, "Please stop hurting, please stop hurting," and it did stop. It was fine. 

When I got to the last mile, Vertigo by U2 came on so that really helped me get home. I was able to stop thinking about my aching legs and feet for a little while. Then I stopped, and everything started hurting. Isn't that weird that when you stop running, it starts hurting? At least that's how it is with me. I got home at exactly 2:45 so I guess that was a pretty good route I planned out!

I did a total of 14.2 miles at about 11:30 minute mile pace. If I can do that for the whole marathon (which I don't know if I could, I was feeling pretty tired and sore at the end), I would finish at almost exactly 5 hours. That would be great!

I've had a bath, and my curry (though it was quite disappointing - didn't taste nearly as good as it smelled), and now I've got my compression socks on and I would like to go to bed. Elle is still up and crying, though. Hopefully she'll go to sleep soon.

Oh, and I forgot to mention that Ethan seems much better today! I didn't even worry about taking him to a doctor, I think it was just the scratches hurting him so bad. What a relief!

St. George Tri Photos

The professional photos for the St. George Tri were taken by Zazoosh and they are online at: http://www.zazoosh.com/events/193

If you want to see me, put in 778 for the bib number. You can also just sit and watch their little slide show for some fun pictures, or click on "Lost and Found" for some really good ones of the guys in wetsuits watching the water to see if we'd get to swim or not.

Fun times!

Do I Deserve These Angels?

I'd like to thank one of my readers, who is also a cousin of mine, for donating to Against Malaria today! Thank you so much, Carey, you are awesome! We have now bought 45 nets! Less than 100 to go to reach my goal of 140 (the distance of the Ironman)! Go to http://againstmalaria.com/colleensironman if you'd like to help out! 

I am really feeling all these long hours. Last night, after my awesome long swim, I just could not sleep. I was exhausted. At least my body was, I guess my mind wasn't because it didn't want to stop thinking. What was I thinking about? I have no idea. Something dumb, I'm sure. I was also feeling pretty allergic so that didn't help me sleep either. It wasn't a fun night, and I really could have used some good rest. 

I was planning on waking up a little early to do my quick run before taking Mindy to school, but Elle came and got in bed with me just a little before I wanted to wake up and I didn't want to wake her so I had to go back to sleep for an hour. Right?

Luckily Pete didn't have to be at work too early so I was still able to run. I was thinking we were done with being cold for the year, but it was a little cold today! Mindy rode her bike and she insisted on wearing her big coat and snow gloves. I just wore a light jacket and that was fine. I ran with her then ran some more to get 45 minutes with strides as my plan says:

R: 45 minutes at RPE 3 wth strides every 5 minutes.
B: 90 minutes with hills

When I got home, I did a TON of laundry after taking Pete to work, then proceeded to vaccum the basement. Of course, while I was doing this, Elle peed her pants (a food away from the toilet, don't you love that!?) so I put her and Ethan into the tub. Once they had just enough water, I turned it off and told them to be careful and not hurt each other for a few mintues while I finished vacuuming. (Sign of a negligent mother #1) I've left them in the tub before a lot, and it's always been fine. Well, when I turn the vaccume off, I hear Ethan crying and saying that he got hurt. My first response is to get mad. "Didn't I tell you to be careful!?" This isn't really what a hurt little 5-year-old needs, though, so I tried to be more understanding and asked what happened. I guess he had stood up to get Elle a toy (what a good brother right?) and slipped, landing right on the corner of the tile shelf by the tub.

Poor boy was scraped on his arm, armpit, and down his side. He said it hurt so bad it made his legs shake. I gave him two of our giant band-aids and some kid pain killers then helped him get dressed and lie down for a little while. When it came time for school, he said he didn't want to go, but I told him he wasn't hurt bad enough to skip school. Plus I needed to get my ride in, and he makes the bike trailer too heavy (sign #2).

I dropped Ethan off, and he seemed happy enough, playing outside with his class, then Elle and I headed out for our ride. She fell asleep almost immediately, I've got her trained pretty well in the bike trailer!

We rode for about 40 minutes, and I was just having an especially hard time getting up the overpass that was going to really be my only hill before turning around, when I looked down and saw that I had a flat tire! No wonder it was so hard! I pulled over and had the bike trailer unhooked and my bike upside-down before I thought, "Maybe I should get off this bridge." But it had a pretty wide shoulder, and Elle was just content in the bike trailer so I commenced trying to get my tire off. And trying, and trying. I called Pete and asked him if there was some trick to getting it off, and he told me to kind of roll it off, but he was heading into a meeting so I couldn't talk to him long. I was trying this when I guy pulled up on a motorcycle and asked if I had everything I needed. I told him I did, but I that I couldn't get my tire off. He came over and worked with it for a little while before finally getting it off. 

I pulled the old tire out, put the new one in and popped my CO2 cartridge into it's little gun to fill the tire up. Well, I haven't done this very much, and I did something wrong because all the air just rushed out, freezing my hands, before I had a chance to even get it close to the tire. I was like, "No, no, no, no!" I had that nice man standing there watching me and I felt like such an idiot!  I didn't know what to do now, but this guy says he'll go get his truck and just give me a ride home. As he was leaving, he reminded me that we didn't check the tire for any thorns before we blew it up. It was probably a good thing that cartridge backfired because, after he left, I found the little offending thorn still stuck in my tire. I had to pull it out with my teeth.

A few minutes later, another cyclist stopped by to see if I was alright. She was this cute red-head with a cool cycling club outfit on. She said she was done, and offered me one of her cartridges. I didn't know if I should take it since I had that guy coming back anyway, but she said that she had two so it would be alright so I figured I could try it. We got to talking, and she's training for The Little Red Riding Hood ride that I'm also doing in a few weeks, and had just finished 70 miles! I was like, "No wonder you're tired!" I'm just so amazed that after riding 70 miles, she still stopped to help someone she doesn't even know! What a great girl. 

We used her CO2 head instead of mine because hers was a lot simpler. After calling her husband for advice, and playing with it for a little while, we got my tire filled up! Yeah! She was telling me that she's never done it before either, so hopefully it will be easier for her now if she ever gets a flat. I felt so much like Chrissy Wellington because the same thing happened to her at Kona. Something went wrong with her CO2 cartridge, then another racer gave her hers. Read about it on Chrissy's blog: http://www.chrissiewellington.org/blog/?p=42 We just have so much in common, it's crazy! Same shorts (well almost), same CO2 story (well, almost). . .

I think this cycling angel's name was Natalie, but I could be wrong. She had a cute, very slight Canadian accent. I didn't notice it until I talked to her husband, and his was more noticeable. I hope she comes on here to say hi, and so I can say thank you again!! Thank you! You were a life-saver, and I hope to see you in Logan. Good luck with your training! From now on I'm going to cary at least two cartridges with me in case I mess up with the first one, or in case I see someone else in a similar situation. I never stop to help people, and I always feel bad about that. I need to "pay it forward" as they say.

By the time we got my bike all fixed, Elle was getting a little sick of sitting in the bike trailer, but she had been really good for a long time! She was also freaking out because little bugs were getting in with her, so I had to catch them and get them out before we started going. I also had to call Ethan's teacher because there was no way I was going to be back in time to pick him up. I told her to just have him go with Mindy and have them wait for me together. It was already 2:30, Ethan gets out at 2:40 and Mindy gets out at 2:50, and I was still half an hour away! 

I was just about to leave, wondering about my first angel, they guy with the motorcycle, when he pulled up in his truck. I just told him thank you again, and headed back on my bike. I wasn't sure how comfortable I would have been riding home with a strange man with Elle and no car seat anyway. He was very nice, and took a lot of time out of his day for me. I doubt he'll ever see this, but thank you!

I was also glad to get to finish my ride, and finish it I did. I rode as fast as I could to the school, worrying about my little kids the whole way. When I got there, they were just being so good and sitting on the bench in front of the school, waiting for me. They were happy to see me, but they said it was ok that I was late. What little sweethearts! 

I had told Elle we could play on the park when we picked them up, but now I noticed that either I hadn't filled my tire up as much as I should have, or it was leaking again so I wanted to hurry home before it went flat again. I told her we could drive to a different park later. Now I was in a riding fast mode, so I kept leaving Mindy behind as we rode home. She is just so varying in her speed too, so one minute she'd be going the same speed as me, but the next she'd be way behind me. 

It was one of these times when she got behind me, when I was slowing down for her to catch up, and we were also approaching our turn. There was a car coming, but Min wasn't to me yet so I just slowed way down and expected her to come to me, then we'd turn. She thought I was missing our turn, though, and just started turning without looking. Well, there was a car right there! It seemed to go in slow motion and all I could do was scream her name. Luckily the car didn't hit her, and she was fine, but I don't ever want to feel that way again! I just felt so helpless, it was awful! I'm so glad she didn't get hurt! (sign #3) I ran over and hugged her, and she was crying, but I think she was more mad at me for yelling at her than scared. At least she said she wasn't scared, who knows. I told her I wasn't mad at her, that I was just glad she was ok.

When we got home, I finally got in the shower, and I did not want to get out. I thought, what else could go wrong today? And I was so tired. I just felt like such a bad mother today, but I was blessed with so many angels. My 3 wonderful children, my awesome husband, all the people who have donated to my cause, and 2 more today that I didn't even know who stopped to help a stranger. Do I even deserve all this? I have been so selfish lately, I really need to follow the example of these people, and try to make the world a better place for the people around me.

I did get out of the shower (you could have probably guessed that), then I dropped my bike off at the bike shop for a tune up. I asked him 3 times if it would be ready before Saturday and he said it would be so hopefully my bike will be running beautifully for my loooong ride on Saturday. 

After we picked Pete up, I made some PB&J sandwiches and we went to the park by our house for dinner. It is such a fun park with a lot of really fun things so we had a lot of fun! 

We were really worried about Ethan because he's been keeping his arm to his body in a way someone would do if something was broken. But he played just fine on the park, and it didn't seem to be bothering him too much. But then we got home, and he was acting helpless again. I don't know. I really hope nothing is broken, but if he's still acting like this tomorrow, I'll probably have to take him in to get an X-ray.

Whew, and that's it. I'm sorry this post was so long, but this was just one of those days! It's after 10 now, and I really need to get to bed early. I think I'm going to take Friday off because I am just feeling exhausted! I need to do my long run tomorrow, though. Then I'll rest really good.