I don’t want to end up like this poor girl.
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Monday Monday – Where Have I Been!?
I’ve been right here. Here but not inspired to blog. Must be that time of year, non? I will soon be not here – I will be there. There with all 3 of my kids, my son in law, my sister, her kids and in laws and her husband and I AM SO EXCITED!! I have to pack now but my Christmas gift to you is a couple of shots of Mr. Dog sleeping the crazy way he sleeps.
Happy Holidays to All!!
He really sleeps like this - a lot
He also sleeps like this - up against the wall
Posted in Family, Monday Monday
11 Comments
Monday Monday – Let the Rains Come and the Revelry Begin!
I had a lovely weekend. On Saturday I went for a chilly bike ride with the good doctor. He is not really in riding shape so the way out was easy going. The way back is usually really fast because it is a gentle, constant downhill grade but it was also into a strong head wind and I was working really hard to keep my speed at 18 – 19 MPH. Turns out The Doctor was digging on that and just tucked up behind me, sucking on my back wheel. When we got home I said, “Phew! That wind was ferocious” and he said, “Really? I didn’t notice a thing! You know you get about a 40% advantage when you ride someone’s wheel” Apparently he turned the cranks about 3 times the whole way while I was just busting my ass. It felt good, though.
Then I went to a ladies tea party given by a friend from masters. She gives them once or twice a year and they are ever so refined and delicious. We had tea and scones and gooseberry jam and little sandwiches and chocolate. Yum! Saturday night the good doctor and I hung out and drank wine and yukked it up. It’s so nice to have some company around the house.
Sunday was one of those days where I was busy without accomplishing much. My baby got home from college which was great. Beyond that my main activity was to make a fancy dessert for the Forward Motion Race Club Holiday Party. Last year I won the prize for best dessert and I was trying to defend my title. The party was entertaining enough and the food was great but as though that wasn’t enough the club awarded me a gift certificate to a restaurant for getting our website overhauled and up and running. I felt so special! And then I won 3rd prize in the dessert contest (there was way more competition this year) which turned out to be 2 pounds of delicious M-Dot Kona Coffee. YES! 3rd place has never tasted so good. If you have never tried this coffee I highly recommend it – it’s on special right now.
The only fly in the ointment this weekend is that the rains came. Sunday night it just poured! Monday my training partners and I arranged a garage, trainer session and of course, the sun was beaming but it was cold and the roads were wet and we just stuck with the plan (due at least in part to a lack of helmets). We did 3 x 8 hard intervals. That means 8 minutes pedal to the metal and 3 minutes recovery. We needed 4. We switched it up each session by doing high cadence for 2 minutes followed by 2 minutes of big chain ring ‘climbing’. It was HARD and it hurt so good. At least no one got away from me and had to wait up – that was great!
So let it rain, baby! I’ve got the heated pool with my masters group, the trainer rides with my race club, the runs in the rain or the dreadmill and I’ve got some tasty brew. Sing it with me now… chestnuts roasting on an open fire…….
Posted in community, Cycling, Monday Monday, training
Tagged Forward Motion Race Club Holiday Party, I spit on you, rain!
4 Comments
Hump Day Miscellany – A Day Late and a Few Words Short
I was tempted to skip HDM because I’m just not feeling the blog but I feel duty bound (as though you care) so here we go. I call this Swim, Bike, Run, Why Bother?
Swim – there is a woman at my pool who often gets into the lane next to me. She is very round. I am not so round. I feel I should be able to glide through the water faster than her but no – not even close. I often watch her slide through the water like an eel, leaving me in her wake. She is not the only very round woman who does this to me. Where is my speed? WHERE?? I’m happy to say that it’s getting better and that I swam descending 100s on the 2 minute interval today but still – I find this all very annoying.
Bike– Bike is good. I still get my ass handed to me quite regularly by my riding partners Dana and Margaret but it’s okay – they work hard. Margaret and I rode Monday even though it was about 40 degrees and very foggy out. My pedals were sporting a pair of feetsicles, for sure. I think it might be time to put the bike in the trainer for a while and do some Endurance Nation Hurl Level 4 intervals, though.
Run – The run is okay, too. 10 minutes/mile feels kind of pokey and that’s new. My new thing is trail running which I love. I tried to run with Mr. Dog on our walk today and ended up having a very close and uncomfortable encounter with the asphalt. He’s just not ready to be a running partner but next time I try that I’ll be sure to be on the trail and not on the road.
Why Bother? – I had the opportunity to use an electronic device to measure my body fat today. My BMI was 22 something and my Percentage fat was 30. 30% fat. Not a happy thing. Fortunatly we have plenty of cookies around here to drown my sorrows in.
Hump Day Miscellany – of Men and Ironmen
There are men to write about. Or perhaps I should say a man, a male and a word that includes ‘man’.
1). NBC is airing the Kona Ironman World Championship race on December 13th at 2:30 EST. Check your local listing for the broadcast in your area. Here is a trailer if you need one to get fired up about watching Ironman
2). Last year I kept lamenting heavy training because it kept me from doing other things like hiking and kayaking. When Vineman was over I must admit I did not run off to the woods to hike. This past Sunday I finally went hiking. In fact, I went on a hike the Friday after Thanksgiving, too but that hike involved a bike ride first. This hike was just a hike that was taken because hiking is awesome! I went on both of these hikes with the Good Doctor.
The Dispea Trail
View of Mt. Diablo from Mt. Tam
A stream along the Dispea
The Good Doctor has much nicer camera than me. He did take a picture of the 2 of us but it has exposure problems so I don’t have it to share.
3). The reason the Good Doc and I have spent so much time together lately is because we are housemates. That’s right – he lives at my house. He lives downstairs and I live upstairs and it’s a great arrangement because he needed housing and I need money so he pays rent and when it’s time for an early morning ride and either of us fails to get up the other one can just bang on the door and get the sleepy one up. Perfect.
4). The other male in my life is this guy:
Mr. Dog
Mr. Dog and the Good Doctor came as a package deal and I couldn’t be happier. I was needing a dog but can’t afford one so once again we have a match made in heaven.
5). I bailed on my ride this morning because it was foggy and gross. Now it is getting sunny so I feel a need to go ride the mountain. If it is good enough for Macca then it’s good enough for me. If only I knew he was up there the other day. Oh well!
Monday Monday – tagged
I had a lot of stuff to write about today. I was going to write about the new men in my life. That’s right – men. I have a house mate and he brought a dog – a boy dog. That will have to wait, though. I was going to talk aobut the glorious 4 day weekend we had with fantastic, sunny, clear weather that I filled up with eating, biking, hiking and swimming. Glorious! But that will have to wait, too, for I have been tagged by Don at Studio YVR. The deal is that I have to pick the 6th picture on the 6th page of my flickr account.
Turns out that I only have 5 pages but there are a string of photos from my daughter and they are of her adorable puppy, Tuck so that’s what you get.
In the spirit of keeping this going I now tag:
Posted in Monday Monday
11 Comments
Hump Day Miscellany – The T-Day version
I had all sorts of things today but decided to boil it down to this:
HAPPY THANKSGIVING!
I love Thanksgiving because I have so much to be thankful for and having the opportunity to really focus on that is always a nice thing. I have good health, healthy children, great children, a loving family, great friends, a body that lets me swim and bike and run, I have resources and a nice house and live in a beautiful area.
I am Thankful and Happy and I hope you all are, too.
Posted in Uncategorized
8 Comments
Monday Monday – Paying it Forward
Stronger has started another super secret fund. This one is genius – it’s GREAT! She wants people to toss $5 into the ring and then find out what it is for. It’s an act of faith and let me assure you, you won’t be disappointed with where the money is going.
So what’s five bucks to you? Coffee and a pastry? A beer or two? A burrito you don’t really need because you could just go home and make a decent dinner? Go ahead, do it! Just click here and drop 5 or 10 bucks for a really great cause. You will be SO happy you are a part of this fund. I promise.
Tap Tap Tap – is This Thing On?
I must be getting boring because the comments have dwindled to a trickle. But never mind that because I have more important matters to discuss than the drivel that describes my life.
My daughter’s friend has made a pilot for she hopes will be a 6 episode web show. She needs to show the money people that this thing is of interest and that involves having people click on her film. So please – click on her film. They protagonist is a highly annoying, lazy ass douchetard named Jerry. I know I’m not in the target demographic for this little show but apparently the younger generation loves it so please give Jordan a boost and click away!
Posted in Uncategorized
4 Comments
Hump Day Miscellany – Biiiicycle, Biiiicycle
Me Wheels
2). I had my first ride in a while with The Good Doctor on Sunday. He hadn’t been on the bike for a while and he thought it would be cold so he was over dressed. He didn’t put water in his water bottle. I ended up riding the poor man into the ground – literally. He got dizzy so we stopped, I handed him my water and a pack of Gu and he downed them and then laid down on the sidewalk. We were quite the spectacle. A couple of minutes later he was fine and we finished up.
3). Today my training partners Dana and Maggs took me out with them and handed me my ass about 10 times. I don’t know how they do it. I tried – I really did but cruising at 20-21 mph is just a tad out of reach for me still. Hope springs eternal that some day I’ll be able to keep up with them.
4). Capping off a 40+ mile ride by going out for a burrito is definitely the way to go. Yum! Joe Friel can just bite me if he doesn’t like it because I sure did.
5). Riding without a working Garmin (mine died 2 miles into the ride) ends up feeling like I didn’t ride at all. I can’t see my mile splits, I can see where we went. It’s a good thing my legs and glutes are sore or I might think it was all a dream.
6). I think I figured out today that I need alonger stem for my handlebars. I am constantly pushing myself back on my seat and that must be because I’m not stretched out far enough which I think means I need my handlebars to be pushed out a bit.
7). I love my bike but it will soon have some competition. Shhhhh….. I’ll tell you later.
21st-century-mom.com 