I hope you all are having a great weekend. Thanks again for all of the great support - you guys are awesome.
I started the weekend fishing with my dad (oh, I am an official Daddy's girl, by the way). It was pretty awesome, this is the part of the Kennebec River I grew up on, and I just love being there. It kind of hit a re-set button for me regarding training too - more on that later.
Fishing with my dad.
We did well, caught and released 12 fish between the two of us. OK, dad caught 11, I caught 1. But he had sinking line and I didn't, and they were bottom feeding. That is my story and I am sticking to it.
My boy Bailey, keeping an eye on things
I just really like that picture of Bailey I took while we were fishing - I have no story to tell about it really except to say he is awesome.
Training
The re-set button is official pushed. I can bike, and I can swim - so it is time for me to focus on what I can do instead of lamenting about what I can't do. I want to work on my swimming endurance and speed (and technique, always technique) and I want to get stronger climbing on my bike, and this is a perfect opportunity to concentrate on those two things.
I went for an awesome 43 mile ride today to Parlin Pond from my house. It got delayed a little when I went to top off my tire and something funny happened. Specifically:
I went for an awesome 43 mile ride today to Parlin Pond from my house. It got delayed a little when I went to top off my tire and something funny happened. Specifically:
Huh. Something is funny, the air won't go in.
Yeah, I know, I need to mow the lawn. Check out Main Street in Caratunk, that is as busy as it gets around here.
Oh yeah, the valve. I somehow managed to break the end off of the presta valve. I think I would rather start a ride like that then to have it happen mid ride in the pouring rain or something. And the good news is that I got some practice changing my rear tire. I need to practice that some more, I am kind of slow at the ole' tire change.
The ride was a blast - hilly on the way there, and downhill on the way back. During the week this ride is out because of flying log trucks, but it is a great Sunday long ride.
There are pretty much no houses once you leave The Forks and start to climb up to Parlin Pond. Usually I see a few moose on this ride, but not today. The one thing that kind of sucked was there were really strong headwinds the whole time pedaling up hill. But it wasn't awful, and I figure bring them on now, so if we have them on race day, I will be ready.
Once I got to Parlin, I had a quick Hammer Bar and a drink and hopped back on my bike. I thought the wind will be at my back heading down. Well....not so much. It was hitting me from the side, moving my bike 2-3 feet towards sideways. I thought I was going to get knocked off of my bike a few times. I just held on, stayed on the hood as down in aero position I didn't feel quite so in control of the wind.
It took me 1 hour 45 minutes to get to Parlin, and took me an hour and 5 minutes to get down. So yeah, it is a bit of a climb, but totally worth it for the ride down at the end (barring any crazy crosswinds).
I am trying to figure out a good way to show elevation change on my rides, so if anyone has a good suggestion, let me know. This is kind of fuzzy, I did print screen from MapMyRun and then cropped it.
Oh yeah, the valve. I somehow managed to break the end off of the presta valve. I think I would rather start a ride like that then to have it happen mid ride in the pouring rain or something. And the good news is that I got some practice changing my rear tire. I need to practice that some more, I am kind of slow at the ole' tire change.
The ride was a blast - hilly on the way there, and downhill on the way back. During the week this ride is out because of flying log trucks, but it is a great Sunday long ride.
Northbound on Rt 201
There are pretty much no houses once you leave The Forks and start to climb up to Parlin Pond. Usually I see a few moose on this ride, but not today. The one thing that kind of sucked was there were really strong headwinds the whole time pedaling up hill. But it wasn't awful, and I figure bring them on now, so if we have them on race day, I will be ready.
My bike needed a break once we got up there.
Once I got to Parlin, I had a quick Hammer Bar and a drink and hopped back on my bike. I thought the wind will be at my back heading down. Well....not so much. It was hitting me from the side, moving my bike 2-3 feet towards sideways. I thought I was going to get knocked off of my bike a few times. I just held on, stayed on the hood as down in aero position I didn't feel quite so in control of the wind.
It took me 1 hour 45 minutes to get to Parlin, and took me an hour and 5 minutes to get down. So yeah, it is a bit of a climb, but totally worth it for the ride down at the end (barring any crazy crosswinds).
I am trying to figure out a good way to show elevation change on my rides, so if anyone has a good suggestion, let me know. This is kind of fuzzy, I did print screen from MapMyRun and then cropped it.
Congratulations! I just want to give a shout out to a few folks who raced this weekend.
- A big CONGRATULATIONS! to Big Daddy Diesel on his first place overall Aquabike finish at Tri for Joe! Way to go BDD!
- James at Ironman 101 came in first place at the Pump and Run he competed in this weekend! Congratulations James, you are a rock star!
- Regina at Chiu on This finished the Great Hudson River Swim this weekend! Congrats on finishing the 1.3 mile swim across the Hudson Regina, you are awesome!
- Jeff (from Dangle the Carrot) and Annie ran a 5k yesterday, I can't wait to hear all about it, but I know Annie totally crushed it!
- Mark at Journeys of a Triathlete Father of Five - RunnerDude's Blog runner of the week! Check out his interview HERE for a dose of inspiration.