Happy Valentine's Day!

Valentine's Day should be celebrated every day. What a great holiday where we get to express our love to the important people in our lives and be grateful for those we love. I really am so blessed to have so many people I love and who love me!

Here is what my training plan said for today:

B: Long bike again this Sunday (ahem, Saturday). Try to find couple hills to throw in but keep climbing efforts seated.

As I laid in bed, luxuriously, until after 8:00, I wondered to myself what the weather was supposed to be like today. I thought maybe I'd take my long ride to the streets since I got my new stem yesterday. It's so nice and stable now! Then I got up and looked out the window. It was all white outside and still snowing. Here are the kids waiting to be covered up with snow. Needless to say, they weren't patient enough to let this happen.

Another thing my training plan says for this week is:

Mental Health: Try to get in outdoor workouts in the best and worst weather possible. The more cold, wet, windy, and sweltering conditions you experience while training will carry over to much higher confidence come race day. You can’t prepare much physically on race morning, so confidence and motivation reign supreme.

I do agree with this recommendation, but I think going for a ride in a snow storm is a little extreme. I think I will take my chances that it will not snow on race day in the middle of July. Watch me be wrong on that one! I do hope to get outside soon, though.

I made heart pancakes for breakfast (Whole wheat, of course.), which was fun. 

Pete took Mindy out to lunch and to get her hair cut. She got bangs! Meanwhile, I got Elle down for a nap then did a 2-hour ride on the trainer. I watched Clue while I rode. This is a family favorite and is always fun to watch. Pete and I had planned on watching it on New Years Eve, but didn't get it in time, so I decided to watch it today. The kids watched it with me, but I don't think they were able to follow it very well.

I had a bottle of water that I sipped every 10 minutes and 2 servings of Hammer Gel that I took every 50 minutes. My one bottle of water didn't end up being enough to last the whole time so I had Pete refill it about half way.

I decided to try wearing my tri shorts today to see if it seems possible to wear them, and I actually felt more comfortable than ever before! That was kind of unexpected because tri shorts (for those of you who are unfamiliar with the nuances of triathlon vs. cycling clothing) have much thinner padding so they can dry out quicker and be easier to run in. Maybe the padding on my cycling shorts was getting in the way and making me sit on the saddle wrong or just rubbing wrong or something. I don't know, but I'm happy to know that I should be able to wear tri shorts without a problem. I think Pete just wore his cycling shorts for the long bike ride. (correct me if I'm wrong on any of this, hun.) Pete even said that I looked much more comfortable in the aero bars than he ever felt, and that is really comforting. Maybe I will be able to do this!

After my ride, I stretched, drank some recoverite and had some apples with peanut butter. 

I made lasagna for dinner, and some truffles for desert. We all dressed up to have dinner at a "fancy restaurant." This was all Mindy's idea, and we had the flowers Pete got me as a centerpiece. I love how excited she gets about everything! That girl sure has a lot of energy!

It was a fun Valentine's Day. I hope everyone else had a good one too!