Game Day: See Jane Tri

I would do this race over in a second. In fact, Viv, you should plan on doing this next year. AKA Alice, we'll sign you up for the relay. Weezee, if you even read my blog, your butt will be there next year as well.

Mom and Me as Super Jane!

This was the most fun I've ever had at a race. EVER. Yes, it probably was because I had a break between the swim and the run while I watched my mom speed off for the bike. Yes, it probably was because I was able to talk to Kelly for 30 minutes and cheer on Weezee when she ran into T1 (not that she saw me, but I did it). Yes, it probably was because Danskin was my first triathlon and I was more anxious and focused on finishing and transitions than just sitting back to enjoy the race. Those things probably factored into it, but it was a wonderful event.

We show up at 6am, it's still dark outside. We made sure we were early because we needed to pick up our race packet. Pick it up, use the restrooms (actual restrooms that flushed and had stalls and everything) and headed to the transition area. This is where we ran into our first team problem. No lights.

The registration area was in the parking lot and there were parking lot lights. The transition area was on a patch of grass with no lights. Then we ran into problem two, racking by numbers, or so I thought. All the racks had numbers on them. I'm running around from rack to rack, trying to find our number, the racks weren't sequential. That's when someone told me they weren't racking by numbers, just rack where ever, then numbers were just a space guideline.

This solved problem 2 and some of problem 1, as my Uber Super Person mom found a rack close to the bike out, bike in and run out! After this, Weezee called. It's her first triathlon, she did get an end cap, what to do now. I run over to her rack and help her set up. Now we wait.

Weezee and her transition area (an end cap!)

We wander around, picking up our goodie bags, shirts, free GU2O (which I tried and like, tangy, not sweet), free GU, free Smart Water and, of course, shopped. Now we wait some more.

About 7 minutes before my wave is supposed to start I decide I need to go to the bathroom, the lines are huge, my wave starts in 5 minutes, I decide to pee in the lake.

I go over to where I thought the swim start was, nope, swim out, walk to the other side of the beach, now it's time to line up and hear what they have to say. Mom takes some pictures of me in my swim gear, we listen to announcements, get in the water and start.

Ready for the swim!

Swim
Awesome. I got in a groove pretty fast. With the exception of some chick in a hot pink cap (we provided our own swim caps) who didn't swim straight or didn't spot or both, running into me and getting stuck between 2 breaststrokers, it was uneventful. In fact, I think it was my fastest 400 yard swim and 30-50 yard run I've ever done.

T1
Ran to our rack, ripped off the timing chip and attached it to my mom's leg, and she was off. Saw Kelly.

Bike
This was all my mom. Here is when I jogged to the bathroom (forgot to pee whilst swimming) and talked to Kelly. We also cheered for Weezee as she ran into transition. I attached my number and put my shoes on. Searched for my visor, which I thought I had laid out earlier, but in reality I left it in the car. I ate some shot bloks.

My mom, on the other hand, was doing all the hard work. Including riding 5 miles on a flat tire. She decided to ride on it instead of change it because it was only 5 miles and she thought it would be faster to ride on it than to change it. She was right. She still biked 11 miles in a bit over 38 minutes. This is why my mom is a Rockstar. An Uber Super Person, if you will. She didn't give up or feel sorry for herself. She did hope that she didn't ruin her rim. She did finish in a respectable time.

T2
Kelly spotted my mom coming into transition and I ran to the end of the rack. I ripped the transponder off her leg and put it on mine. I was off.

Run
I was having a not good lung day, despite my inhaler in the morning and my allergy pill. I was better than Pac Coast, I bet because I remembered to take my medicine. I passed the first water station, didn't even see it really. Hit up the second. Here's what I enjoyed the most about the run, every few yards there were signs with inspirational quotes. Eleanor Roosevelt, Vince Lombardi, Henry Ford, it was awesome. I will tell you I walked up a couple of the hills and a few other times to catch my breath and use my rescue inhaler. But anytime I was just ready to walk, I thought, you didn't even do the bike AND I'd see one of those signs. They were great.

And the women on the course. Way to go! I hear you coming, hurry! You're doing great! Way to pick it up (this was after one of my walking and inhaler using breaks). I couldn't believe these people. I was so up lifting.

And then I saw it, the path to the finish. All the cheering, I had to sprint, even though I didn't really think I had anything left. I kept telling my legs that they could do it, it was only my mind that stood in my way (thanks Coach Lombardi).

We finished in a very respectable time, 9th in the relay field.

Kel and Me

The best thing about the race, the event. We were all Janes, people were cheering for the Janes. Made it really easy to give us racers directions, Hey Janes, this way.

The worst thing, my mom's flat. It wasn't even that bad, because she really did enjoy the event, but I knew she was a bit frustrated.

It was the first race I've been to that they didn't care who got food from the food tent. There was plenty to go around. It was just a great event, up there with the Iron Girl races I've done.

I did learn a few things.
1) I can swim a race without my wetsuit and be fine.

2) The swim is really a warm up for the bike, which is really a warm up for the run, at least in my sprints. My legs felt slow and stiff with that standing around break.

3) I loved sharing this with my mom. Even more than the Iron Girl Mother-Daughter Teams we did. We were a team that depended on each other, came through for each other and made each other proud.Mom and Me

I think that's why it was the best race ever.

Not So Peak Week

So I'm repeating peak week again. I'm pretty sure I told you all that. It's not like I actually completed all of Peak Week last week, so it's really not a repeat. It's more like Peak Fortnight, really.

The only problem is, I'm not really peaking. There are some medical issues, such as me trying to give too much blood then want to train that same day and some phantom elevated liver enzymes. Well, the elevated part is real, it's the why that's phantom. Also, there was a birthday to celebrate and participation in a tri relay. So between my social obligations and my health obligations, I've kinda put training on the back burner. Not really the back burner, as I'm thinking about how to schedule it almost everyday, but maybe the left burner. It's the second one fill when I'm cooking.

I've completed every training session that we had scheduled, just over 14 days instead of 7. I figure it should still count. I figure when they keep taking your blood, for donations and tests, then you're allowed some slack in your schedule. Some WiiFit and Yoga days.

I'll have a race report for the See Jane Tri relay tomorrow. I'll leave you with this thought, my mom is hardcore. I love her and respect her, but after what she showed me this weekend, she's been elevated to Uber Super Person status.

Nutritionist Visit

I went for my first visit with a nutritionist today. I've been stalled or even gained the last few weeks of training. It's frustrating. However, my pants fit the same as they did before I decided to go all hardcore with this Olympic Tri and such.

However, it's really disconcerting when you're burning 600-1200 calories a work out and losing nothing.

What I learned today:
Go back to WeWa's Core philosophy. Not necessarily sticking to Core foods, but to the idea of not getting to hungry or not getting too full. Yes I know this seems elementary, Watson, but sometimes we forget...

Stop counting calories, but track what I eat and when I eat it.

Eat a bigger afternoon snack when I'm training.

Always have a quality carbohydrate with my protein. Even with that one scoop of protein shake I have in the morning.

I probably am about 27-28% body fat.

The "healthy weight range" is for normal, everyday people. Not for people training for 1/2 marathons or Olympic Distance triathlons. The 130s, although overweight for a normal person of my height, could very well be very close to my ideal weight. Yay me.

That's pretty much all I have today. I did go for a swim and the water at my neighborhood pool sucks. I'll have to call them tomorrow and complain, the water was that icky.

Up for tomorrow? Let's see Yas get up at 3:50 am to run 4 miles or swim for an hour. Peak week, coupled with a busy week = suck or hard core planning. Once again, Yay me....

The Week In Review

I know I've been absent this week. You frantically click on my blog and there is nothing new. I'm sorry about that. It's been a blah sort of week. It was, and still is for me, peak week for Olympic Tri training. It went kinda bad for me, so it's great that I get to repeat it! (if you can't hear the sarcasm as you read this, you obviously don't know me very well)

I did most of my Peak Week workout, save the biking. Monday was an hour long swim in which I completed 16-18 laps at Lake Mission Viejo. I think it was closer to 16. The lifeguards told me the distance was 88 yards per lap. This bummed me out. It meant that I didn't swim a mile in an hour. How is this possible? It isn't. On Saturday I walked the distance with my Garmin, twice. It was 377 feet. That's ~125 yards peeps. This made me feel better about completing the swim in a good for me time.

Wednesday was a run. I'm still suffering from my ill advised run with no shoes. It was supposed to be a 4 mile run with strides every 1/2 mile. I made it about 3 when I could no longer fool myself. I was not running, I was limping very fast. My left ankle, which was my good ankle, is no longer good. I have an appt with my chiropractor later this week. I'm hoping I'll get all fixed up.

Thursday I tried to give blood and failed. I still scored the Double Tree Hotel Chocolate Chip Cookies, though. The technician putting in the needle ended up hitting the artery wrong and I was bleeding slow, too slow. This was because I was already forming a bruise. They got about 1/4-1/2 the amount needed. I also found out that they can only poke you once. No switching arms for them. I still need to wait the 56 days to give blood again, though. I decided to ask my nurse friends about doing my 1.5 hour hill repeats followed by a 30 minute that was on my schedule that night. I didn't just get a no, I got a hell no and if I see you out there I will grab you by the ear and take you home no. So one missed bike ride. That's ok, I have Santiago scheduled for Saturday, I'll just run after that.

Friday was a swim, but Jeremy was home when I got home. No swim for me when I can hang out with my husband I barely get to see.

Saturday my alarm went off and my body said no. I got up started to get ready, then decided not to question my body. I had gone against it before, and ended up not running for a month and a half.

Sunday was a mile swim (done in under 45 minutes) then a run following the OC International run course. My left ankle was screaming at me for the first mile or so, then it relaxed and felt better. Then my right knee/leg started to hurt. I knew then I was doing my fast limp again. I finished most of the course, crossing the street near the finish, instead of running the last mile. It's crazy, you'll see the finish line 3 times before you cross it at this particular triathlon, once on the bike and twice on the run. It finishes at the finish line for the 1984 Olympic Cycling race.

I'm so going to do this race next year.

Thanks for reading my boring week in review. I'll have something wittier to say tomorrow.

New Hair, New Shoes, Triathlons Not Raced and Dealing with Asthma

My hair is pretty. I was one to tell people I'd never dye my hair when it turned gray. Well, it's been turning gray for about 10 years now and I haven't dyed it until today. What changed my mind? Well, highlights look better when the remaining hair is darker than the highlights. Who'd of thunk it? On to shoes.

I'm not sure that I've been blogging about my anticipation of the New Balance 1224s coming out this month. They're the update to the 1223s, which I loved, but alas, they died and my running store didn't have them in my size. I came home with Saucony's instead. Now I really do enjoy running in the Saucony's, but I wanted to give the 1224s a try.

Pretty, huh? They're nice and cushy, but that could be noticing that because my Saucony's are close to dead. So far I like them, but I've only run about 9 miles. They're not even dirty yet.

So the signs for the Orange County International Triathlon have been going up for the past 2 weeks. Now I knew about this triathlon when I signed up for the See Jane Tri Relay with Star (swim) and my mom (bike) on September 27th. I mean, who signs up for their first triathlon (super sprint) in June and just 3 months later is training for an Olympic. Well, there are a few of us crazies.
Now, don't get me wrong, I'm happy to go up north and run this race with my mom and Star, who will be there in spirit as her boss canceled her vacation. I'll swim and run my heart out and cheer my mom on the bike. However, on October 5th, when I'm waking up at 3 am to drive my butt to San Dimas and race my first Olympic, I'll be thinking about how I could have woken up at 4:00 am and ridden down to the lake. No worries about parking, Jeremy could have walked down a few blocks to cheer me on the bike and run. I wouldn't have to wake him up early to come with me. Well, there's always next year!

Bonus Topic! Coping with Exercise and Allergy Induced Asthma during a race.

So we all know, or those of you who read my race report know, I had my worst run, maybe race, ever at Pac Coast. I talked to my doctor about it and he thinks I was pushing my exercise induced asthma threshold (yea me!, really yea me!) but the allergy induced part was pushing me over the edge. I gave my coach this peace of info and here is the tip I got.

Stop.

And now you're saying "Oh so, all I have to do is stop and it'll go away? I should have thought of that, dumb ass." Yes, dumb ass. Let me try and explain it.

So you start at intensity A "walking the dogs", work to B "pushing myself through the race" and all of a sudden, or maybe not all of a sudden, you end up at intensity C which is the "Oh shit bears, I can't breath, I can't get a quality breath, my inhaler is now useless."

If you're like me you try and push through. You think maybe if I can just get it over with, things will be okay. This doesn't work. Then you think, maybe if I dial it back a little, everything will come together. Um, that doesn't work either. Apparently what really needs to happen is those little tubes in your lungs that are now inflamed, need a bit of time to calm down.

So when you get to the "oh shit bears", you have to dial it all the way back to the "walking the dogs". If you try to muscle through with the "pushing myself through the race", you'll never be able to catch your breath and move through it. You'll end up slowing down, missing your projected goal. Hopefully you won't post a DNF.

If you have asthma and this happens to you, try out my coach's advice and report back. I'd love to hear the testimonials.

Communing with my Inner Kenyan

AKA being stupid.

I know you haven't heard from me in a while. Maybe you thought the Super Collider was able to create a Yasmin-sized black hole at my exact location early Wednesday morning then figured out how to close it back up and launched a huge yet very covert, cover up about creating a black hole.

This is not what happened.

Life happened. Booking hotels and airfare for our vacation in October happened. September 11th remembrance, also know as "where the hell is my brother" remembrance day, the longest day of my life to date. Running 6 miles to work out why I'm rapidly disliking my job happened. Swimming and getting kicked out by rude aquacizers happened. Then riding 30 miles and locking my shoes in the car of a woman who rides faster than I do happened. More about this last one.

Sunday I decided to commune with my inner Kenyan by running without shoes. This isn't what I planned to do, but it's how things worked out.

Sunday morning I woke up and my body didn't want to ride. It didn't want to get out of bed, really, but I made it. Got dressed, ate breakfast, fed the dogs, got my gear together and set off to meet the rest of the Olympic Divas for our Santiago Canyon ride and 30 mile run. What a brick.

My body continued to not want to do anything, although I did average about 1.5 mph FASTER than the last time I rode Santiago Canyon? WTF? I think it was because I had Linda riding behind me (a triathlete I look up to, just ask how many Ironmans she's done, it's more than 1 or 2, that much I know.) She tried to make me feel better, as she hasn't ridden in a while, but I'm pretty sure I was holding her back. She was the sweep and I was the last rider this time.

Even with my kick ass pace, I didn't get back to the car before supah fast Jillian had already taken off for her run. She couldn't find my bag in her car to take out my shoes. When I got there, I didn't know how long she'd been gone, so after waiting a few (5-10) minutes, I decided to take off, in my socks.

Yes, I'm smart. Yes, I know I have ankle problems. I also knew I didn't want to drag on this training session any longer than it had to go. Remember, at this time, I didn't know that I was faster on the bike than before, I just knew my body didn't want to do anything anymore.

I actually was able to run for the first mile. I ran walked the next .6 miles, and walked the rest back. Even I know when to stop and let my inner Kenyan go.

Tonight I did my 1 hour swim. Usually I can mentally muscle through these with little effort, little mental effort that is. No thinking this is boring, just focusing on my stroke and siting. This time was different, but I made it. I found out that my anaerobic heart rate is probably around 125 for the swim. I'm aerobic and comfortable about 115-119. These were the things that kept me moving forward and letting me throw in the towel about 45 minutes into the swim. That and knowing that Martha would somehow find out that I hadn't completed my swim.

Coming tomorrow? Me getting beautified at the salon and coming back to blog about my new running shoes and lamenting the fact that the one triathlon (olympic) that I can ride my bike to, it's that close to my house, I'll be out of town doing another triathlon (sprint). Stay tuned.

Double Shot and Super Colliders

I had a doctors appointment this morning at 8:50 am. (Well, really it was yesterday, they told me the wrong day. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.) This meant I could go to a 5:45 am spin class this morning. This afternoon I had a 45 minute or 1 mile swim, which ever was longer. I did both.

Spin classes will kick my ass harder in 60 minutes than Santiago Canyon will. Well, if I actually work the hard in the class it'll kick my ass.

The swim was a lake swim, no wetsuit. I seem to feel more comfortable with no wetsuit. Yes it's harder, I'm less buoyant without the wetsuit or the salt, but I think I feel less confined. Maybe I need a better wetsuit, but that will have to wait.

I may have cheated a bit on the 1 mile. They shortened the swim area by a buoy, so I'm not sure of the exact length. I felt strong the whole way. My form wavered at the end, so I know I need to work on my endurance. Either way, I figure 45 minutes is good for someone who's first swim in 2 weeks was 1/2 a mile at a triathlon.

Valerio Mezzanotti for The New York Times

On to Super Colliders. In case you've been living under a rock, avoiding television, or just don't really care (how many of us do) then you'll know that tomorrow is the day. The day they flip the switch and turn on the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC). They've run little ones in the past, but this one is the real deal. It runs under France and Switzerland, mostly France, though. It's supposed to show us if there really is a Higgs boson/God Particle.

For science geeks like me, it's impressive and interesting. Either we'll see proof of a particle that has been theorized but never seen, we'll see nothing, or a black hole might be created and destroy the world. Here's a something of a School House Rock video about the Super Collider. It's more funny for them making it than anything else. Wired has a blog post about why tomorrow will come. And here's a site that you can check to see if the LHC has destroyed the earth. I know you'll figure out why it's funny sometime.

I hope to hear from you all tomorrow.

Game Day - Pacific Coast Triathlon

Woke up at 4am, had an "oh shit" moment as I'm supposed to be at Jillian's in 30 minutes and it takes about 30 minutes to get to her house. I jumped in my clothes, fed the dogs, filled up my water bottles, then my ice chest, grabbed everything from in the house and rushed outside. Loaded my gear and my bike and sped out of my driveway.

I ended up only being 10 minutes late, although I left about 17 minutes late. It helped that it was 4 in the morning. No one is on the road at 4 on a Sunday morning except us crazy people.

Loaded the bike on Jillian's bike rack, threw my gear in the back of her car, grabbed some hot water for my tea and we were off with her boyfriend. We got to the lot a bit after 5, unloaded and went to transition.

Everything was pretty uneventful until about 7:05 when a chick came over and started pushing our bikes around. Um, there were already 5 bikes on our rack. I went up and down the long rack and found a space for her, but she wasn't having any of it. You see, we got there early to get an end cap. As close to bike out as we could be in our wave. I think she wanted that. She also showed up 10 minutes before transition closed. In a preview of what's to come, when I came back from the bike I had to shove (and I didn't do it nicely) her bike over as it was diagonal across 3 transition set ups. Why do people do this? On to the race report.

Swim
I haven't been in the water for 2 weeks. I had prepared myself for my swim time to be my swim time. Whatever it was, it was. I'd finish and walk up the hill, get on the bike and my race would start there. I did notice that I had no shoulder pain, for the first time in 2 weeks. It was still a bit of a downer to realize I was the last out of my swim wave. At least I didn't see anyone behind me, although there were still bikes on the rack now that I think of it. However, those could have been people who were out and back already...

We had to run up this horrid hill to transition, I walked. Unlike Solana, no one was yelling at me to run. I think my swim, including that walk up the hill, was under 30 minutes. I need to work on putting my face in salt water and the run into the water. I didn't feel like I could catch my breath the whole time.

T1
Okay. I realized I put my right sock on inside out, but didn't care. I might try Viv's no socks next time.

Bike
My plan was to burn my legs on the bike and see what I had left for the run. It's my B race, as I'm shooting for the Olympic as my A for this part of the season. I averaged about a 14 min/mile, which was close to my 15 min/mile goal (there were hills people, HILLS) I was a bit disappointed about this bike just because I had done the 2 loops last Sunday and it didn't seem that hard. However, I hadn't swam a 1/2 mile and ran up a crappy hill last Sunday.

The only thing that killed me about this leg were the people passing on the tight turn arounds and that people from subsequent waves passed me en masse. Included the kid's tri. Nothing like an 8 year old zooming past you.

My co-worker, who's wife is joining the Divas for our fall season, yelled at me as I was rolling to the dismount line. That was a nice boost, but I still didn't really catch my breath on the bike.

T2
This one was horrid. As mentioned before the chick took up so much room with her bike I had to shove it over to put my bike on the rack, got my shoes, almost forgot my race number, grabbed my inhaler and I was off.

Run
Ran/walked through the first mile and the whole course. I had opened my Clif shot to consume on the bike, but ate the Clif Bloks instead, so it was still open. I downed it, even though I knew it was too early. This may have been part of my problem. The other part, still couldn't catch my breath. It physically hurt me to take a deep breath.

Saw Martha, not sure what she was yelling at me, run my race? Not sure, but I started jogging here. Stopped to walk and see if I could catch my breath. Was egged on by a 69ish year old to run, there's no walking on this course. You'd be proud, I didn't flip him off, I just took some puffs off my inhaler and started to jog.

Saw Jillian coming it, I'm so proud of her. We're both having us being too competitive issues, only she seems to be progressing faster than me. Although she's always been faster than me.

Was passed by Stacey and some other Divas in the wave behind me on the run. It's okay, I know what I need to work on, someday I'll finish before people in the waves behind me do.

To tell you the truth, this was the worst run I'd ever done. Not just the worst race, but the worst run. I was so disappointed with myself and my body for not being able even jog the whole 2.8 miles, well, 2.5 miles as there was a ramp I was going to walk up regardless of how I felt.

After I rounded the corner and got my lei from one of Martha's girls I sprinted to the finish line. Apparently I can sprint without having to take any deep breaths. Maybe I need to push past the pain more, I'll talk to Martha about that later. I did have to yell at people who were crossing right in front of me. I mean really people, look around. I know I'm not super fast but you saw me sprinting towards the chute. Did you really need me to yell, "I'm coming!!!!" to get your asses moving? It was Pendleton's bike in all over again.

In the end Lisa passed me at the finish line. I mean right at the finish line and I wasn't even in her age group.

I did like the course, it was challenging and that makes it fun. If I'm able to, I'll definitely do this one next year.

Chocolate Milk

I've used chocolate milk as my recovery drink for the past 7 training sessions and I've come up with a few tips. Well, really just 3.

1. Your chocolate milk should be cold.

2. You should be cooled down before you consume the chocolate milk.

3. Your stomach should be settled before you drink any milk.

I bought my chocolate milk in individual 8 oz servings. They weren't stored in the refrigerator section. I was wary at first, but since it was there with the soy milk and all other non-dairy dairy replacement drinks, I bought it.

I used the milk that same day, not thinking to refrigerate it first. It still was yummy, if not a bit odd, to be drinking warm chocolate milk after a workout.

The second time I made the mistake of forcing the milk down while I was still trying to cool down. It made me gag. I don't blame this on the milk, as anything other than water after a hard workout would make me gag, too. Probably because my stomach isn't quite settled as well as my body is a bit overheated. Maybe tips 2 and 3 are the same thing.

Enough about milk. I'm sitting here at my computer, going through my tri packing list in my head, trying to figure out if I've forgotten anything. I hope not. It's a bit late now as I'm getting ready to go to bed, looking forward to waking up at 3:30 am to meet up with Jillian at 4:30 am.

Why do I do this again?

Base-less

I'm not swimming, you all know that. Sunday will be my first swim in 2 weeks and I'm hoping my right shoulder will cooperate. Yesterday night was swimming at Corona del Mar with an optional long run afterwards. I went to do the run and decided to add another mile onto the 7 mile run, because why not? I'm not swimming and I wanted to see if I'd lost my 1/2 marathon base.

I believe I have. Maybe I haven't. I did complete the whole 8 miles, with a bit of a detour as I missed the turn off for a ramp down to the beach and had to take these rickety looking (but probably stable but made to look rickety for ambiance at the crystal cove cottages) stairs, which I used as an excuse to walk and eat a clif shot, and a short run on the beach.

Really what I did was the run course for Sunday's tri backwards and starting from about 2.5 miles away. I consumed, because "ate" doesn't accurately describe the action, 2 clif shots on my 90 minute run. I needed another one, I think.

I'm excited to train for another 1/2 marathon. I like the distance. It's comfy.

Labor Day Weekend

I've been busy. Reading, training, shopping, watching college football, going to a wedding, walking the dogs, lounging around, playing on facebook. It's been a good weekend. Now comes the unfun stuff. Cleaning the kitchen and grocery shopping.

Here are some training notes. Rode the Pacific Coast bike course and ran the run course. I did the whole bike course (2 loops) and ran the run course twice. I'm training for an Olympic Distance you know. And 2 is better than 1 anytime, right? Well, maybe not ANY time...

I still haven't swam. Some mornings I wake up and my shoulder feels better, only to hurt later in the day. I'm still doing Pac Coast. I paid for it and it's still a week away.

Sunday morning I left my house about 6:30 am and rode Santiago Canyon. I feel better about it every time I do it. It took me about 2 hours and 20 minutes to ride 30 miles, although the last 2 were a cool down around my flat neighborhood. I'm getting stronger on the bike and now I'm working on enjoying my time on it. As anyone will tell you, the bike is the longest leg of a triathlon. Well distance-wise anyway. Time-wise depends on your skill at swimming and running, I guess.

I'm off to read a bit more and watch some more football before I decide the weekend is finally over and I head on down to the grocery store. Fun times