baselines

Laying down the baselines this week to give myself something to reflect upon in 6 months and a year. Last week was crazy with the two day trip to Vegas for Interbike and then catching back up at work; Friday was insanity. I came home late Friday night and the boys had been enjoying the brew a little too much. I knew Kyle would be super crabby in the morning when we woke up to the alarm for the impending doom of Palomar for Jo's birthday. [awesome cycling chica]. Let's just say my thoughts were quite accurate when we woke up at 5:45am. After 15 min of complaining and indecisiveness, I made him say yes or no, because if it was no, I was going to Fiesta Island for the TCSD triathlon.

road trip to vegas - back of the van. horrible shot cause
i lost my iphone, so i have the old 3G no front camera.

Workin' - Felt founder Jim Felt talking Felt Bikes history.

probably not safe for public view. but hilarious.

Back to the club race: Packed rather quickly, skipped breakfast and had to get Kermit ready. I hadn't ridden him in quite a while and I had a bunch of stuff to do for him to be okay to ride. Left my house at 6:21am for Fiesta, with a 7am start time. Had quite the warmup and made it in time to score a sweet [yet unfair] transition spot in the bushes, register, and get the wetsuit on.

Swim went well; stayed on Kosuke's feet for maybe 250 yards. Turned the buoys alone, and swam back next to a dude and Mr. Prez [S. Banister] and apparently some dolphins. Yes dolphins deep in Mission Bay - they must have been very lost, and quite disgusted - if dolphins can feel disgust.

Bike was alright. 5 loops of blah, and getting passed by some road bikers with aerobars, which is so not awesome; can't wait to put some work in on the bike and start crushing souls again. There were the usual cheater drafting groups ["we've been switching the entire time!"]  = not cool buddy, way to set an awesome example for all the new peeps and I can't believe you are actually admitting to cheating! I do have to poke fun at one of my swim students, Mo. He passed me and asked me in his awesome foreign accent if I was "on my turd lap or fourth?" I had to crack up a bit internally, as yes, I felt like I was on my turd poo feeling lap, but as the case was I was on my fourth. Thankfully.

Headed into T2 and took a while to put on my [non] running shoes. I think a chica passed me there, and then 2 more passed me on the run. Ended up 4th and ran 8:22s.  Got an awesome blister on the side of my foot from the [non] running shoes, even with socks. Found my actual shoes in my car later that day. Running those almost 4 miles got me thinking; holy hell, I have 1 year to get ready for Tahoe, and I will be running 22.2 more miles. Daunting.

Ended up 1:16 something. There's the base, although the swim times can change, I'll be looking to improve upon my 34 min bike and 31 min run. But really what matters is in exactly 1 year from this race, I will be toeing the line at Ironman Lake Tahoe. 7:00am Pacific Time.

After the race I went for a 30 mile easy coffee stop ride with Chris and Kyle, who yes got out of bed to ride his bike, leaving at a relaxed 9:20am. We headed to Stone Brewery for dinner with Jo, since we missed her b-day ride that am, and then went out in PB and finished off the evening with a 10 mile ride on the tandem. Fun.

Parlee Love at the coffee [tea] stop

Yesterday I rode with Noko and new friend Maureen [who has ridden on the Moment ride before] in east county. They dragged me around the loop for a 2:41:21 ride time [and no breaks for this lady, since I was back of the pack as evident by the 2:43 elapsed time, waiting at a construction stop.] Those two ladies are fresh off their Vegas performance and fitness...boy was it a struggle for me; but it gave me the motivation to bounce back into it.

Since I often do TCSD club races, and ride the Great Western Loop, doing these two this week while "out of shape" has given be the base upon which I will grow and get speedy.

Ready or not, next week is approaching. 

Oh, and a quick Happy Birthday to my amazing husband. I vowed to you that I'd never slow down; so this year you better keep up!