December 31, 2008
two 2009 races on the books!
Oh I am so excited. I love signing up for races even though triathlons are very expensive! I am so excited about my 2009 season I can hardly handle it. I already have Timberman on my schedule, and thank goodness because that was probably the most expensive race I will do in 2009. Yesterday, after an email chat with my coach wherein I admitted messing up my schedule due to confusion about dates for Boulder Peak and Lifetime Fitness, I signed up for Lifetime Fitness on 7/11/09! Hooray!! This means I will not be racing at Boulder Peak this year as it is on 7/12 and even I am not crazy enough to think two races in two days is a good idea. I have to say I am somewhat bummed - I love Boulder Peak and I especially love getting an awesome tri towel for finishing! However, I do not love the weather for the race, nor do I love the run course. So I am not too bummed. I cannot wait to do Lifetime Fitness. I actually really like the Twin Cities so that should be cool. And this is so cool, I am in the Elite Amateur Division! I got confirmation from the race that I qualify, so it is for real and everything. Wow. I really cannot believe I did qualify but I did by 12 minutes so I guess I do belong there, even though it is a bit surreal to me sometimes. Now hopefully I can improve my swimming and mix it up with those chicks!
Overall it has been a great holiday season and I have had a lot of fun spending time with my awesome family. I have been training a decent amount although I took it somewhat easy last week as I did have a bad cold for a few days. I did take a trainer down to my dad's and watched The Birdcage and Juno while I rode my bicycle, that was fun! I don't usually watch movies when I ride, I did find that comedies make time go by faster than serious films (even though Juno is funny in parts it is way more serious than The Birdcage).
This past weekend the weather was actually warm enough to melt the ice and snow off most of the roads and bike paths so I ventured out for two outdoor rides in two days, on Sunday and Monday. It was extremely windy, especially on Monday, but wind is like a really big hill and it just makes you stronger in my opinion. That is if you can take it. For some reason wind always makes me mad whereas hills are just a fun challenge. Weird!
I have put together a few goals for 2009, tri-related and non-tri related. I am not really planning to share them here because I think they are very aggressive. But I did write them down, so I am going to take them pretty seriously!
I am off in a few, can't wait to get an awesome year of training and racing going tomorrow!! Happy New Year!
Posted by barb at 3:30 PM | Comments (0)
December 22, 2008
Merry Christmas to Me!
Oh I am so excited, I just bought myself an awesome Christmas gift! It has been really cold in Denver for days and days. I have not ridden my bicycle outside in a long time as 30 degrees is pretty much my lower limit for outdoor cycling (yes I am kind of a wuss). I have also hit a limit with spinning class as they are always so intense and I am not supposed to get my heart rate over 157 which is difficult when spinning instructors are always trying to give everyone some insane workout and always want everyone going super hard. Also, in the spinning studio they do not have television. And I am in a television phase. Also, it is so convenient to ride the trainer and then shower at my house and take to my bed immediately afterwards. So if you didn't guess, I bought myself a bike trainer! Oh how exciting!! I used to have one but I lost it in the divorce, I was so sad and in fact had to use my old trainer occasionally. I didn't really mind it but I do not think Matt loved having me over once or twice a week!
I did ride the spin bike at the gym for an hour and 40 minutes today. Holy cats, if that doesn't push you over the edge to purchasing a trainer of your own, nothing will! I also lifted (a.k.a. got fully jacked) after I spun, and saw my favorite gym couple. They were in matching outfits today (orange tops, black bottoms). So cute! I felt quite jacked today for some reason, that was a nice feeling.
This week is going to be pretty busy - I'm going to hang out with Michelle tonight and we're watching Monday Night Football, then tomorrow I have a swim, run, and work. Wednesday I am getting up early, swimming, and heading down to my dad's to work and then do Christmas Eve/Christmas with my parents and my little sister Kelsey who is home from college for the holidays. On Friday I will be heading back to Denver, swimming, and going to work. Working on the day after Christmas is never the most awesome, but it shouldn't be too bad - it will be very quiet and easy to get lots of work done. Saturday I have a 2 hour ride so let's hope for good weather, or else I will be giving my new trainer quite a workout!
That is about all for now, although I do have to plug a new favorite blog - http://smittenkitchen.com/. If you like cooking and looking at pretty pictures of awesome food (yeah, I'm weird but I really enjoy that), you will love this site! I better run, gotta get over to Michelle's - later!
Posted by barb at 5:18 PM | Comments (0)
December 21, 2008
Cold Out!
I am sitting on my couch reading blogs, writing in my blog (obviously), trying to resist eating all 30ish cookies I just baked, and being really glad I'm inside instead of out at the Broncos game. It is freezing - 13 degrees!! It has been really cold all weekend. This morning I ran for an hour and it was around the same temperature if not slightly colder. I really don't mind running in the cold although my quads always get cold. I think I just needed one more layer like some wind pants or some such thing. I also swam outside today (yes, I may be slightly off mentally!), but I weighed the options - sharing a lane inside, or swimming outside in my own lane. I hate sharing a lane, I mean really hate it! Therefore I ended up outside. It really wasn't bad! In fact I had a pretty awesome time and wished my workout was longer than a 1500! I did have 4 x 25 with a maximum of one breath which ended up not being completely awesome however. I had never been able to do this before as I have truly abysmal lung capacity. However, I managed to do one 25 with one breath, on my second try. I was so excited! Therefore I tried again, freaked out under water somehow, and tried to breathe in while my face was still in the water. Um, whoops! I ended up standing up coughing for a few minutes. I did it one more time and then decided that I had to try again. I got really close to another success but after that I had to get going so I could shower and get over to my mom's house before I had to meet my sister for lunch. Anyway overall it was a solid day of workouts!
Because I was feeling ambitious I also ventured out to the mall. It was a bit crazy but really not as bad as I expected. There were a lot of good sales, but I ended up not buying a single thing. The only person I still have to get something for is my little sister and she wants a gift card to a place in Castle Rock, so I'll just do that on Wednesday when I'm down at my parents' house anyway (they live right near there).
I have not ridden my bicycle outside for 8 days - I am kind of a weather wuss right now! Hopefully conditions will improve and the roads will clear this week. It hasn't snowed for several days but it's been really cold so we haven't had the snow melt we normally do. However I did feel somewhat hard core getting outside for my run today, I only saw 4 other people running the entire time I was out!
This week is going to be kind of different as I am heading down to my parents' house on Wednesday morning (Christmas Eve). I am going to work from there all day, and then stay down there until the morning of the 26th. I think it will be so much fun! I am taking some cookies I just made (chocolate toffee, they are so good! I hope they last till Wednesday!), and I think I may make brownies for my sister on Wednesday. I am also making Christmas breakfast for my family. That has become a little tradition the last couple years, I think it is so much fun! I am making lemon ricotta pancakes with sauteed apples, and of course bacon on the side. My stepmom is an amazing cook, so I like to help out with a few things instead of just eating all her awesome food.
One kind of funny thing happened at the gym yesterday, I kept meaning to write about this and forgot until I was about to wrap things up. So I will leave you with this little conversation I had with a guy in my second spinning class yesterday (I had a 90 minute ride so I rode through 1 1/2 classes):
Barb (not talking to anyone, just spinning along while the second class gets going, bored out of my skull):
Random Guy: Hey, so are you doing a double class?
Barb: Nope, I just have to ride for 90 minutes so I'm doing part of this class too.
Random Guy: That's nice, it looks like you ride a lot. Do you do Ride the Rockies? [Note: this is some 6 day stage race or some such thing]
Barb: No, I just do triathlons. How about you?
Random Guy: Yeah, I usually do Ride the Rockies, the Race across Colorado (or something), lots of races. I just had a heart attack a few weeks ago though.
Barb (almost falling off my bicycle): Um, wow, that is horrible! I am so sorry to hear that. Do you really think you should be on your bicycle right now?
Random Guy: Yeah I don't really know, I just started back into it.
People at my gym are crazy. They are even more Type A than me!
Posted by barb at 5:13 PM | Comments (0)