Monday, April 20, 2009

Sub 3!



Andy and I post Mt. Lemmon ride. We are laughing because until the Tuscon camp he
was logging more running miles than biking miles!!! It paid off in the end!


Congratulations to my client Andy Wellman who PR'd and ran sub 3 hrs at the Boston Marathon today!!! He is a machine and worked so hard all winter, doing those long runs in the freezing cold. I was jumping up and down like a little kid when I heard the news !!

Tuesday, April 14, 2009

A rare opportunity


The end of a good run


If our camera was better/ you'd see steam coming out of my mouth it was so cold



With 2 triathletes who work and have kids, it is a rare chance that Adam and I actually do any workouts together anymore. Add to it the fact that I am a morning person and Adam is a night owl, and you get 2 ships passing a lot. Then you add in his extreme speed and I need to be all guns firing to stay behind him on the bike, pool or whatever. ( I did manage to keep up with him and the Group Ride on my first ride out with them this year! Hooray!, that is mentally like winning a race for me!) Something must be working this winter!

But today for whatever reason, it ended up that we both had a track workout. No trips to paradise to train for 10 days, no work trips, meetings, my day off from the clinic, kids in school and what do you know......I get to go to the track with my husband! And, even though it was freezing and cold, we didn't have to shovel the snow off first!!! Bonus! Its been a while since I've been on the track so my legs needed slapped around, and they were a bit sore and tired from my killer strength session Mon night, but I was able to push through and get the session done (shh shh I think today on the track I actually did more than he did. It was probably his easy run with strides for him really) I had several sets of 200s all out. Hmmm I forgot what all out feels like on the track! But it was fun to find to try and dig to that extra gear. And it was fun working out with 1 of my favorite training partners. There have been times where he has the ability to push me to where I didn't think I could go as an athlete, and gotten me to believe I can accomplish a lot. and other times I just laugh in his face and walk away.

Even though our life is crazy, and we are often like 2 ships passing so much of the time, it is fun, to share something that is so big and important in our lives. So these rare opportunities are worth it in the end.

Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Road Trip!


Post workout boat cruise

Jack's prize

It was hilly and windy





In search of sun and warmer weather, I cashed in on an offer to come to Southern Illinois for the weekend. With Adam still gone, and Jack and I at home trying to find some spring break fun, we loaded up the car, and headed 5 1/2 hours south to meet up with my friend Debbie at her lake house. The long drive was worth it for some warmer temps, outside training, and just hanging out by the lake.

Friday Debbie and I switched off watching all the boys to get our workouts in. (this is just 1 of many creative ways moms of younger kids get their training in) So, Friday morning I headed out for a windy, and very hilly brick workout. It was 1 1/2 hrs of riding up and down steep hills followed by the same amount of running over the same hills. It is pretty remote and at times I was a little nervous about being snagged by someone in a pick up with a gun rack on the back of their pick up, or being bit by dogs chasing me, but the scenery was pretty and the little bit of fear got me moving over the hills. Next it was Debbie's turn to do her workout, and I played with the boys watching them jump off the dock into freezing water, swim, run around like boys, feed fish and catch them and all kinds of crazy boy stuff. Jack was having the time of his life. 6 hrs later, with both of us done with workouts, we headed out for a boat ride around Lake of Egypt. It gave me the urge to go water skiing which I haven't done in years but love.

Saturday Debbie's husband was there and took all the boys out fishing so we were able to do a long ride together in the hills and wind again. The temps eventually reached 70 that day, but the wind made our ride a little chilly in the morning. I wasn't complaining too much because I was just glad to be outside observing that there is actually green leaves and trees with purple flowers blooming in Illinois right now. Its interesting too; in southern Illinois, road kill not only includes dead squirrels and rodents, but dead fish carcases too. The rest of the afternoon we hung out, on the boat and deck (without coats even!) Jack caught fish and was so excited and having a blast being all boy, all weekend, totally making the trip worth it.

In the afternoon I got word Adam had qualified for Kona out in Oceanside. I am so happy for him and relieved to see all the hard work paying off, and yessssssss this means another trip to Kona :) and more beach and surf time for me. I'll have to dig out my Iron Maiden armor again though. I had a huge hunch I'd be dusting it off again for Kona. October is a long way off and there is a lot of Ironman training ahead as he plans to do IM Wisconsin and Kona this year.


Thanks to Debbie for a fun weekend, hopefully we didn't wear out our welcome as we may need to come back for another get away sometime.