This weekend...

...has totally kicked my butt!!! I've gotten so much done and been so productive!!!!!
-indoor tri
-volunteered at the shelter - few hours
-peewee hockey game (SO AWESOME)
-Lowe's scouting adventure
-Wii experience
-Boondock Saints (x2 - finished on second attempt)
-scoped out a new bike shop
-Lowe's second scouting adventure
-HHGregg - price compare, deal making
-last of Xmas lights - down
-lighting fixture in hall - changed
-garage door keypad - installed
-garage door light - changed
-laundry

Holy cow...no wonder I'm toasted.

ALSO - just when I thought I was going to grab a quick nap this afternoon - Noah hauled me out for a run. An hour run. With half into a REALLY strong headwind (like leaning against it at a light strong)...ran for 1:01:22. Good run. Nice to run without many expectations. Feet are a bit achy now, but still pleased with the effort. 6.14 mi. total.

Surpassed the plan's requirements this weekend...only down a few on the week total. Not bad for only running a couple of times. Back on track next week.

Shamrock Indoor Tri

So if you're "in it to win it" at the Westview Healthplex Shamrock Indoor Triathlon on MARCH 7th - you've got issues. We're all there to have fun and get an idea of where our fitness is and have a good time and just shake out some cobwebs. You're there all serious and whatnot, you're a tool. That said, there were a couple of impressive athletic performances there...not by me, of course, but whatever...like i said, cobwebs...this was the first time my legs have spun in a cycling fashion since 11/9/08.

Fairly pleased, felt ok, had a good time. Pretty ok with the run effort - though I seriously felt like puking at one point - pretty sure it's further than i went last year.

Swim - 20 minutes - 59 lengths - 1475 yds.
Bike - 20 min - 7.2 mi. (on a spin bike..ick)
Run - 20 min. - 20 laps (1/8mi track) - 2.5mi

Decent. Fun.

What a Schlep...

I was a worthless swimmer on Thursday. Good thing I didn't set a specific swim goal for March. The travelling and the pressure of the SC Program deadline caught up with me - it turned into a very late night (2:30a) working on the project. I was pretty late to practice, jumped in the middle of the warmup set and just didn't feel like making it up. Chatted afterwards for the camaraderie and then went home...

150WU
2x25 fast-ish
6xset:
1x50 on 1:00 moderate, count strokes
1x50 on 1:00 faster, same count as above
2x set:
1x200 on 4:00 moderate
1x100 on 2:00 catch up
2x50 on 1:00 fast
1600 TOTAL

Wow, I'm worthless!!!

Ski Weekend...

So I spent the past weekend in Southern California playing. We have meetings Tuesday up in Stockton for Aisin and I figured since I was headed out here anyway I might as well have some fun. We zipped up to Snow Valley on Saturday so I could start small. "Zipped" isn't really correct - it's about 2 hours. Whatever, it wasn't like we were scooting around this mountain road that had a sheer, steep, amazingly high cliff off of one side (driver's side for most of the way up, thank you). Wasn't scary at all....maybe. Either way, once up at the top - 140 turns closer than the actual Big Bear Lake and resorts, we commenced shusshing around on some snow. Had a blast.

Had some quality assholes & elbows runs, where things would go great and then all of a sudden I couldn't ski 10 yds without flailing and falling. Of course, these increased as I got more tired. I think there were only 2 real disastrous runs total though.

Headed up to Snow Summit (part of Big Bear - 140 turns FURTHER up that treacherous mountain torture) on Sunday for Day 2. Crawling out of bed (the Motel 6 up at Big Bear isn't a bad place...really) I could have told you that there were new muscles already on my body. My left butt cheek doesn't take kindly to being the main point of impact for my body - and I apparently grip the poles with the third finger of both hands the hardest. Hilarious.

We grabbed some coffee and headed up on the hill for Day 2. Snow Summit is much bigger than Snow Valley, with a wide array of terrain. Gar and I spent most of the day in the section classified as the "Family Fun Park"....or something like that. I think it's all green, fairly easy and really laid back with some decent spots and one fairly decent pitch. What he doesn't tell me ahead of time is that to get back down to the lodge I'm going to have to go down the scariest set of pitches ever...at least in my mind. I was too scared throughout this whole process to take pictures of it. That would have meant moving, which could have shifted my weight and sent me plummeting down these stupid hills.

For all that everyone thinks I'm crazy, fearless, gung-ho and a bit of a dare-devil, they've clearly never seen me ski. Apparently I have an "oh shit" button that flips in my mind when I'm looking down a fairly steep hill. I become a total pansy and overthink everything and get way uptight. I know (because I've proven it) that I'm not going to go screaming down the hill and break things, worst-case scenario I slide on something or other and get snow down my pants (again). Either way...it was hilarious and I had a blast. It got up to almost 60 both days, meaning the snow slushed up fairly bad (which, the first day, was a decent thing as I relaxed a bit and just went with the flow...Sunday, however, I got way uptight and started catching more edges and smooshing more snow up/down my clothing).

For all the fun that skiing was and eating GREAT Mexican up there, the drive down that stupid mountain is absolutely terrifying. Apparently I'm not the greatest passenger in a car anyway (ha), now take that car and send it hurtling downward from about 6,000ft. While you're at it, throw some really sharp curves into the road, some really steep drop offs (yeah, driver's side on the way up...scary as hell when you can't see the bottom on the way down and it's right outside your window). Apparently if I hold on to the roof of the car, scrunch down into a ball and/or curl possessively around the center console with my thumb in my mouth - my chances of survival increase. Oh, and the reassuring part, "Most of the cars that do tumble off the side of these cliffs get stuck in trees only about 100ft. or so down from the road." Thanks, Gar, really. Nevermind that rescuers would have to RAPPEL to get to you, and that there's another 300ft drop that spindly, little Cedar sapling is protecting my ass from. But good on ya there, thanks for that pointer! I don't know who Kathleen is, but she drives a fairly old 4Runner that now needs new brakes. I'm pretty sure I could have done a better job of driving that road than she did, crying, sniveling and all. I survived the drive by the grace of Gar's camera, with my hand randomly held out the window (wrist strap on) snapping photos of the descent.

Waiting on a flight to NorCal now for the meetings tomorrow. Desperately looking forward to a good dinner and good wine and sleeping like the dead (again). What a blast of a weekend. Some practice closer to home and I'll show Snow Summit who's boss - and go show that 4 year old that schooled me down that hill who's the big girl after all!"

Make a pizza" my ass.

Saying of the day...

Sitting in the Orange County Airport (ha...anyone that knows me knows that's just a really funny situation) waiting on a flight up to San Jose for a meeting tomorrow. Spent the weekend down here with Gar playing up at Big Bear.

One of the best quotes I've read in a long time sitting here -

Big legs mean we're stable in high winds.

Heck yeah. Here's to not being "the little girls" that get blown away!