Sunday, April 12, 2009
Happy Easter!
My allergies have gotten a little better since the steroid shot, but I'm still coughing quite a bit. I've taken the cough syrup at night and I took some yesterday afternoon, but I don't want to take it if there's a chance I'll be driving soon. Because of the whole allergy situation, last week was pretty much a bust when it came to working out.
Thursday afternoon was beautiful and I was going to get in a quick ride before picking Madison up from soccer tryouts. I needed to put a box in my car though and when I picked it up it almost ripped apart. Somewhere in trying to save the box, I tweaked a quad muscle in my left leg. With the allergies and the muscle, I decided to head up stairs to the recliner instead. The good news is that when I picked Madison up she told me she made the soccer team!
I was off work on Friday, but wanted to make sure I would be ready for Saturday's team ride so I slept in, did laundry, cleaned a bit and took the kids to the store. It's amazing what you can get done on a day off.
Saturday morning I woke up early and heading way down south for out team's group ride. One of the writer's from the city paper was their with her photographer. She rode with us part of the ride and he took pictures of us before and during the ride. Those of you who are local - be on the lookout for an article on Team in Training in the Statesman in the next few weeks.
Despite the coughing, I made it through the 40 mile ride. At one point I was with the fast group doing 23-25 mph and then the cough attack hit. I hung back and one of the captains hung back with me. We rode together to the next rest stop. The fast group was just leaving as we got there so we weren't too far behind, but we waited for the rest of the riders to catch up and headed in as a group from there.
After the ride we all hung out at the house of some of our teammates for some burgers, chicken and fajitas along with lots of other yummy treats and drinks. That's what I love about the cycle team. As much as we love to raise money for a good cause and get in some long bike rides, we love the social part as well. There are some really great people on the cycle team.
After filling my belly I headed home, took a shower, took some of that yummy cough syrup with codeine and hit the recliner where I stayed for the next several hours. My daughter was at a friend's and my husband took my son to see one of his friends play soccer. I had the house to myself (well, me and the dogs anyway) and that does not happen often. At one point yesterday I even had BOTH dogs in the recliner with me.
This morning we went to the early service at church and then Sunday school. We will go to my brother's in a little bit to celebrate my neice's birthday. Nothing else in on the plan other than enjoying the day.
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Allergies - 1, Me - 0
So, still feeling miserable today I decided to go to the doctor. With all the sneezing I've been doing I was pretty sure it was just allergies, but with Easter weekend coming up I wanted to make sure it was nothing else. Nope. Despite being on Allegra, Advair and Nasocourt I still had severe allergies to the Oak. So guess what I got? A good old fashion shot of steroids in the butt. My kids think it's funny. But I already feel better. Still not 100%, but good enough that I did a 30 minute bike ride while Madison was at soccer tryouts today and then I headed over to meet the team for hill repeats. I only made two hill climbs but that's ok. It's a hard hill even when allergies aren't bothering me. And before I go to bed tonight, I'm taking a cough syrup with codeine that the doctor prescribed. Here's hoping for a good night's sleep!
Sunday, April 5, 2009
What a Weekend!


Wednesday, April 1, 2009
I'm IN!!!!!
In my quest to branch out, I registered today for the Marine Corps Marathon in Washington DC. The marathon is October 25th, but it fills up fast, so when registration opened this morning my friend Brandi and I logged on and registered. I've wanted to do this marathon for a while, so I'm excited. The only downside is that it's the same day as the Austin 70.3 triathlon I've done the past two years, so I'll have to pass on that this year. I knew I would if I got into the Marine Corps Marathon so I'm ok with that.
It should be a great marathon to run and I'll have to decide if I'm going to train for time or if I'm going to have a fun marathon, stopping to take pictures along the way. I'm going to be helping out the fall TNT marathon team as they train for the Nike Women's Marathon October 18th and the San Antonio marathon in November, so I'll be able to train with them some which will help when I get to those longer runs.
In other news: Madison had her second track meet today running the 400m again. She still did great in my book, but did not qualify for the district finals tomorrow. That actually kind of helps us out as we have a busy Thursday. Heck, we've had a busy week and my training has suffered somewhat. I want spring break week back where I was able to get in several long rides. So far this week I've run 3 miles (Mondady), gone to yoga (Tuesday) and run 5 miles (Wednesday). We'll see what I can squeeze in on Thursday. Friday will be pictures for our church directory, so no working out before those. Saturday I'm committed to being soccer mom in the morning and will be missing my workout with the cycle team. The fields aren't too far from our house, so I think I'll run there. Then Saturday afternoon I'm participating in a Spin For Cash from 2:30-5 to help with my fundraising efforts. At least I'll get a decent workout then.
And in doggie news: I spoke too soon about how good the dogs had been. I can't remember if I have mentioned it before or not, but a while back Roscoe put two holes in my sheers in the office. The office window looks out into the front yard and when he saw our neighbors cat, he jumped up and when he came down his paws caught the sheer and put two holes in them. I was mad, but could deal with it. I mean... we've been in the house 8 years ... maybe it's time for new sheers. Well, then Tank saw them hanging lower (because of the holes) and started playing with them. What he actually did was make the two holes converge as one BIG hole. So, I tied the curtains up. What this did was leave a 1 1/2 foot wide section of window with nothing in the way to block the view. When Roscoe sees strange people outside he growls and barks. Well, Monday afternoon some neighborhood kids were playing hide and go seek. One even came up on our porch and ducked behind our bushes under our dining room window. My husband went outside and asked him not to hide there because we didn't want our dog to rip the curtains. If that would have been all he did, I would have been happy. Shortly after asking that boy to leave, I left for my run and Joel left to take Dalton to soccer. And right as I was finishing my run, Madison called and told me I needed to get home - NOW! I'm not sure exactly what happened because I wasn't here, but Roscoe broke the front office window. Luckily it's a double pane window and he only broke the inside pane. He's not hurt - no blood anywhere. But we have a lovely hole in our window that now has to be fixed. Oh the joys of dogs.
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Knowing Your Limits Pays Off
Thursday afternoon was Madison's first track meet. She was selected to run the 400 meter and there was no way I was missing it. We weren't sure what order the events would be in, so I went straight from work to the stadium. It was a beautiful day for a track meet. And I got to enjoy a couple of hours of it sitting in the stands waiting for her to run. Yes, it took that long. She ended up 4th place - out of 4, but I was so proud of her. I didn't have my stop watch and they didn't post official times, but according to my watch, she ran that 400 meters in about 1:30. That, my friends, is faster than I can run 400 meters! And she never gave up, even when it was obvious she would come in last place. And so, that's how I spend my Thursday evening.
Friday was spent doing laundry and running errands. I had already decided to "rest" on Friday because I had a scheduled long bike ride and a 10K race for the weekend. And the forecast showed the winds would be returning for Saturday's bike.
I woke up early Saturday to head for the Rosedale Ride. My original plan was to do the 62 mile route. I did it last week and felt great and then ran 5 miles the next day, so why not? Well, I'll tell you why not. It's called 20-25 mph wind with 40 degree temps, lots of hills and horrible chip seal roads. One of these at a time I can deal with, but all three combined. Forget it. I had started out with a group doing the 62 miles, but got a little behind them and just decided I wasn't going to push it. So, at the first aid station I stopped and waited for a couple guys from our team who were a little behind us and were doing the 42 mile route. The three of us headed off at a nice relaxed (sometimes a little slow) pace and had a great time riding. I hung out with the team for a while after the ride before heading back home.
And I'm glad I made that decision, because today I totally rocked my 10K. My previous record for a 10K is 59:20. Today's time on that same course: 55:50. Oh YEAH! And it felt great. The temps were still in the 40s, but I know myself when I run. Forty degrees is shorts for me. I did have on a long sleeve under armour shirt on top. I was freezing at the start, but once I got going I warmed up fast. In fact, at one point I wished I hadn't worn long sleeves. But I didn't let it get to me. And I didn't look at my accumulated time at all during the race - just my splits as I hit each mile. I knew if I kept each mile under 9:30 I'd beat my time. Here are my splits:
Mile 1: 9:06
Mile 2: 8:35
Mile 3: 9:23
Mile 4: 8:55
Mile 5: 8:49
Mile 6: 9:13
last .2: 1:46
Goal accomplished!
If I would have pushed on and finished the 62 miles yesterday, I know I could have finished the 10K today, and probably in a decent time, but I don't think I could have done it in 55 minutes.
After the 10K, I headed back to our church. The youth group was in charge of worship at our Creekside Gathering and I didn't want to miss it. I put on a little makeup in the car, sprayed myself with some Vanilla Body Mist from Bath & Body Works and headed in for worship. And I'm glad I did. The youth did a wonderful job and had a great message.
After church I took Roscoe for a walk and then spent some quality time in the hammock. Nice!!!
And speaking of dogs, they both are doing great. Roscoe loves his daily walks and gets a little hyper without them. Tank has lots of energy as well and sometimes we have to send them outside because they play too much in the house. They like to play chase and they go full speed. Roscoe is very protective of the home and when he hears or sees something unusual he will go to the front window and growl or bark. Once we look and know things are ok, he is fine. He's a very spoiled dog and is loving his forever home. Tank has adjusted well, too. He likes to antagonize Roscoe at times and nips at Roscoe's feet. But he can be a cuddle dog as well. He sleeps in his kennel in Dalton's room and knows when it is night-night time. They keep us on our toes, but we wouldn't trade them for anything.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
You Know It's Springtime In Texas When......
After a gorgeous day Saturday, we had a repeat on Sunday. We had gone to late church because we had a meeting at noon. I probably should have gone for another long bike ride, but I've got a 10K race coming up so I decided to run instead. I got 5 miles in and then a nap on the hammock. Nice!
Monday was still nice but I was short on time so I only got in a 3 mile run. Tuesday brought rain during the day but by evening it was dry and overcast. I went out for a nice easy spin on the bike. Only got in 13.78 miles before having to get ready for yet another meeting.
And then there was today. The weather forecast indicated it would storm today. All day the weather was just overcast, but no storms. I wondered if the forecast was wrong. Then before I left work I checked to see what the weather was going to be so I'd know what kind of workout I could get in. When I checked, I discovered we were under a Tornado Watch. Now, that happens a lot here so I wasn't too worried, but I decided I'd walk Roscoe as soon as I got home to get that out of the way and then I'd run on the treadmill instead of biking outside like I wanted.
I got home, got Roscoe walked and turned on the tv as I got on the treadmill. Yikes! There was a storm coming. And it was a big one. One with possible rotations (meaning possible tornadoes). The news even cut Oprah off the air so we could be kept up to date. I did manage to get 5 miles in on the treadmill and just in time. I got off and came downstairs to the first sounds of hail hitting our house. It wasn't as big as I've seen, but it was decent size and was making some noise. I'm just glad I didn't go out for that bike ride and get caught in it. That would hurt!
Saturday, March 21, 2009
A Great Week of Cycling
After Monday's run in the hot weather I was looking forward to a good week of cycling, and I got it. My Tuesday night yoga class was cancelled due to spring break, so I got in a 36 mile ride with Patrick, one of the captains on our team. We made pretty good time going out on Parmer, but in typical fashion, once we turned around we had a strong headwind. Uggghhh. Wednesday night, I met Meredith and we did the same ride, only just a little shorter. We got 25 miles in.
I was hoping to get a run in on Thursday before dinner with some friends, but I forgot we had dental appointments, so no time for a run. And of course, after dinner I was too stuffed to run. So Thursday turned into a "rest" day. Since I didn't want two rest days in a row, I ran a nice easy 3 mile run on Friday.
Last weekend I was suppose to do Spokes & Spurs, but it got rained out. Well, today was the makeup ride and we couldn't have asked for better weather. Not many of our teammates did the ride (most of them did the buddy ride elsewhere) but those of us who did the ride had a great time. I wasn't really sure in the beginning if I was going to do the 44 mile route or the 62 mile route. I took my tri bike out today and I haven't been on it much, so I didn't know how I would feel. We had to make the decision at the 25 mile aid station.
When I started out I was with two guys from our team. Two other teammates had started with the 62 mile group, so they were a little ahead of us. We were doing well and I was having a blast on the straights and downhills on the tri bike. I feel like I'm flying on it, especially on the downhills. When we got to the 25 mile aid station we found out we had caught up with our other teammates - and four of us decided we were going for 62. So off we went.
It ended up being a great ride. There are some tough hills toward the finish and they are one right after the other. The hills always get me and I know that is one area I need to improve. It looks like I'll be doing hill repeats again this year when they start back up.
After I got home, I did a little yard work, played with the dogs and then lay in the hammock for a little bit. Then I showered and ate dinner. It's relaxing stuff for the rest of the evening.
This week I've ridden 123 miles on my bike. Wahoo!! I love weeks like this and I LOVE days like today!



