Last 3 Days in Photos

Dave Friday morning. In just over a month, he's lost 17# and 6% body fat (per the Tanita Ironman scale we have) by eating cleaner.

Later on Friday, a new tri club blog I created went live. (Some of you may recognize the template from another blog I used to have but have decided not to pursue as I am just too busy!)

Saturday morning I helped out at a local race by doing some data entry. My fingers are actually my fastest body parts :-)

Afterwards, Dave and I went for a 2-hour ride. In 55-65 deg temps, he cruised along at 20-21 mph while I struggled to keep up. Grrr.

Sunday morning he set out to demolish me again, this time on a 30-mile ride. Lean MEANIE!

At least Sunday temps got up into the 70's.
(My apologies to all who are snowbound)

We saw some new bicycle-friendly signals on our route. YAY!

After the ride, a 7 mile brick run. Ended up with an 8:41 avg pace, not bad but a 168 AHR was higher than expected. Hmmm.

Then I went to a Total Immersion freestyle swim clinic for my tri club. Since I do a different style of freestyle, I volunteered to take photos/video and be there for support.

But some things are universal no matter what style of freestyle you do, like good head position and balance in the water. I must continue working on these things myself lest I be left in their wake.

And that pretty much wraps up my weekend. Hope you all had a good one too!

What's Driving You?

Last week was my first real week back in tri training this year. It was fun but also frustrating. I've definitely lost some gears and endurance in swimming so that anything faster than ironman pace feels hard and I'm feeling fatigued after just a 500 warm-up. My bike Garmin trilled and stuck its tongue at me as I fought winds gusting to 30 mph. My HR monitor cackled as I hit zone 4 on my first brick run in months.

Where's the fun, you ask?

Well, the truth is that I'm happy to have just gotten out there. My local tri club held their kickoff meeting on Saturday and I saw my old self in many of the newcomers there. The fear of having to put their face in the water to learn to swim. The terror of having to ride a bike on a road with cars or deal with a flat tire. The anguish at having to run on tired legs after a bike ride.

Yep, I remember all those feelings when I first got into tris and I've come a long way. But now with two ironmans under my belt and no plans to do another one this year, why am I continuing to set new goals for myself when I don't really feel there's anything left to prove? Why don't I just relax and play with my grandkids, host Longaberger or Pampered Chef parties, or maybe even clean my house for a change?

Well, besides the fact that I don't have grandkids yet, am an introvert who hates selling things and would rather do just about anything else but clean house, I have some other things to get me off my duff:

New friends to train with -- YAY!!!
(Me in orange with hubby Dave, left, and some folks from my tri club)

A hubby who drops me like a bad habit in 50 deg weather. Grrr...BRRR!!

Thoughts of warm weather, the ocean and beaches in my future.
(mile 9 of Kona 1/2 Marathon)

What's driving you to get out there???