A 9 Minute PR....what???

I had hoped to post my race report for the WIN for KC Sprint Triathlon today, but I just haven't had time and I'm leaving for vacation in the morning, so the full report will have to wait.

But, I am super excited to say that I finished 9 minutes and 8 seconds faster this year than I did last year.  I cut time off my swim, bike and run!!  Improvement in all three areas feels pretty great.

More to come!

Bring on the Vaca!!!

Only 2 more, yes 2 more days of work and then I am on vacation for a week!  How am I spending my vacation you ask?

Well, first I'm starting out bright and early Saturday morning with a Triathlon.  And when I say bright and early, I think I really mean dark and early because I'm leaving my house at 4am, which means I'm getting up around 3am.  It's going to be an early, early morning.  I am doing the WIN for KC Women's Sprint Triathlon.  It's technically shorter than a Sprint with a 500 Meter Swim, 10 Mile bike, and 5K run.  It is an all women's event and there are nearly 1,000 women registered.  Pretty amazing!  It was my first triathlon ever (just last summer).  My total finishing time was 1:37:38.  I really hope I can beat my time from last year, and if you had asked me about 3 weeks ago I would have said I could, but with this extreme heat, I'm just not sure.  It was hot last year, but not quite this hot.  The water is going to be pretty miserable too.  The lake I swim at on Monday nights was 90 degrees this week!!  90 degrees!!  It was so hot, I had to swim about 100 meters and then swim back to the shore to get out of the water to "cool" off - and it was 99 degrees outside, but it still felt cooler than the water.  I imagine the lake I will be swimming in Saturday won't be much different.  It's like swimming in a cup of hot soup....or a hot tub.  The race doesn't start until 7:30 am, and I probably won't start until after 8am...I wish it was a little early, but oh well.  It will still be a GREAT day!

Then on Sunday I'm headed to Hot Springs, AR for a few days of relaxation.  It's not the most exciting place on earth, but I'm meeting up with a girlfriend who I have barely seen for the last 2 years.  She lives in AR too, but about 3 hours from Hot Springs in Fayetteville.  She moved to Fayetteville to study for her PhD - yea, she's pretty smart!  And AWESOME!  I'm so excited to see her.  We already have a spa day booked.  I can feel the relaxation setting in already.  She's training for her first half marathon, so lucky me I will have a running partner while I'm gone.  I am also hoping to swim in the hotel pool.  The only sport I will be missing out on is the bike, but I'll be home Thursday, so I hope to get in a bike on Thur or Fri and then again on Sunday.

My life has been so crazy lately with work and training so I truly can't wait for vacation.

Thanks to everyone for all your comments and suggestions on yesterday's post.  I'm considering all of them and trying to make some decisions.

Now, I will leave you with some random pics.

Pic taken before my 50 mile bike ride a few weeks ago

Pic taken after the 50 miler.  So happy to be done, or delirious...I think we might be delirious

Me & Jim at the Royals Game Friday night

Group photo of my Tri 101/102 class - last night of class

Now I Have Questions For YOU!!

OK, I let you guys ask me all kinds of stuff, so now I have a few questions for you.  I need some advice on a couple of training issues.

1.       My first Olympic Triathlon is just 6 weeks away!  Yikes!  The race is a 1500 Meter Swim (just under a mile), a 25 mile bike, and a 6.2 mile run.  As far as the running and swimming go, I have been putting in more training miles than my training plan required.  But, I haven’t been as good on the bike.  I have been riding at least 2 times per week, sometimes 3 and I have gotten in a 50 miler, a 42 miler, and several rides in the 25-30 mile range, but my training plan called for my long rides to be 35-40 miles for the last several weeks, and I haven’t always met that.  I usually do my long rides on Sundays.  I only have 5 Sundays before race day.  This Sunday, I will be leaving for a short vacation and will miss my long ride all together (but I am doing a Sprint tri on Saturday – but the bike is only 10 miles).  So this means I only have 4 Sundays to get in long rides….so here’s my question.  On one of those weekends I have the opportunity to do another Sprint Distance Triathlon.  I kind of want to do it because a lot of my girlfriends are doing the race and it’s in my hometown of Lee’s Summit.  I also did the race last year and it would be nice to compare my times and see if I’ve improved.  I’m on the fence about whether or not I should do it for two reasons:  1)  It’s exactly two weeks prior to my Olympic Distance Race and 2) I wouldn’t be able to get in my long bike that weekend unless I did a long bike the day before the triathlon.  So here are my questions for you?

·         Would a Sprint distance race hurt my ability to do an Olympic Distance race in 2 weeks?  i.e. would I not be recovered enough?

·         Would I be better off to do my long bike instead of the race?  Or could you kind of count this as an endurance event that is equivalent to a long bike.

·         Should I do both – i.e. do a long ride on Saturday and then the triathlon on Sunday? 

2.      OK, my second issue is my 1^st marathon that is coming up in January.  As most of you know I am a slow runner.  I anticipate my marathon time will be around 6 hours.  That’s a long, long time to run.  I had a training plan kind of together that would start on August 22.  It’s a typical plan that builds for 3 weeks, and then has a 1 week recovery plan.  I have already started kind of using the Jeff Galloway run/walk method and that seems to be working.  I know there is no way I can run an entire marathon.  I’m just not there yet and won’t be before January.  However, another part of the Jeff Galloway training plan is to do a long run every other week and a shorter “recovery” run every other week.  Disney has a couple of different marathon plans on their website that all incorporate this plan.

According to his training plan you only run 3 days a week, which I think is not enough.  He does say if you are already running more days than this you can keep doing so.  I think I would still plan to run 4 to 5 days a week.  Anyway, his plan has you running 30-45 minutes 2 days a week and then alternating doing a short run and then a longer run every other week.  For instance – Week 7 is 2 short 30-45 min run and then a 4 mile run as your long run, but then Week 8 is the same 2 short 30-45 min runs, but 9 miles on the weekend.  You basically build your “short” long runs from 4-7 miles every other week, and then you go up 2 miles per week every other week for your other long run.  So you go from 4 miles all the way to 26 miles in the training plan.  On the one hand it sounds great because it really only means 2 long runs per month vs. 3 in most traditional plans.  But I’m afraid by using this plan I just wouldn’t feel ready for the marathon.  On the other hand you run a 26 mile run in this plan vs. most other plans that top out at 20-22 miles.  So here are my questions for you:

·         Has anyone ever tried this training method or know anyone who has?

·         If so, what was your/their experience?

·         Do you have another first time marathon training plan you would suggest?

Great Weekend!

Well, the weekend was busy as usual, but fun-filled too! 

Friday night we headed to the Kansas City Royals Game with some friends.  It was so hot!!  We were all a sweaty mess, but the Royals won so it was still a good time.  I took pictures but haven’t had time to download them yet.  We got home around 11pm, which meant we weren’t going to get much sleep.  I was up at 5am the next morning for my long run.

So Saturday I completed another 8 mile run in the stifling heat and humidity.  I got to wear my new Camelbak during my run though.  I love this thing!!  I bought the kind that goes around your waist vs. the backpack.  I really love it!  I think the backpack would have driven me crazy, but the waistpack is great!  It was so nice to have water (well Gatorade) anytime I needed it.  Last weekend on my 10 mile run I didn’t get any water until mile 6 and thought I was going to die.  Last weekend I also tried to incorporate a walk/run strategy.  I did 9 minutes of running and 1 minute of walking.  It worked pretty well for about 5 or 6 miles, but then I totally bonked at the end.  Running in this heat and humidity just really takes it out of you.  This weekend I decided to opt for a 4 minute run/1 minute walk.  It worked great.  I was able to keep this up for 7 miles with no problem.  My last mile had some major hills and I was tired, so I ended up walking a lot more that last mile, but overall I thought it worked well and I finished about 30 seconds per mile faster overall than during my 10 mile run – even with walking more.  I think this might be the strategy I use for my marathon training.



This is my new Camelbak....cute even :)



Sunday, I got up for a long bike ride.  It was overcast and gloomy and by the time I made it to the lake it was raining.  I was riding alone.  I almost thought about going home, but decided not to be a wuss.  It was actually a beautiful morning.  It was the first rain in at least 3 weeks.  The sun was peaking through the clouds – it was gorgeous!  It was also about 10 degrees cooler for a change too.  The high yesterday was only in the low 90s vs the 100s and the humidity was a bit lower too.  It rained on me several times during my ride, and both me and my bike were a dirty mess when I got home, but I still had an enjoyable ride and put in 33 miles.

Just before my ride.  Beautiful!  Great pic even with a camera phone

After my ride I met up with some girlfriends for a day at Oceans of Fun (a local water park).  We had a blast.  The rain finally moved out and the sun came out.  It was perfect!  It was nice to just relax by the pool and enjoy some sun and girl talk.

Overall, I have had some great training weeks over the last month.  My last three weeks I put in 10 hours and 12 minutes, 10 hours and 21 minutes and 10 hours and 23 minutes of training per week!  That’s a lot for me.  This week I will scale back a bit.  I have my next Sprint Triathlon on Saturday.  Then the following week will be a bit of a recovery too as I will be on vacation.  I am going to try to run and swim while on vacation, but biking will be limited.  More on the vacation later!

I hope everyone had a great weekend too!  What did you do this weekend?

You Can't Handle the Truth!

Well you asked questions.....I have answers!!  Can you handle it?  NO, YOU CAN"T HANDLE THE TRUTH!!!  I was going to make this a 2 parter because there are alot of questions, but considering how long it took me to respond at all I thought I better just go ahead and just do the whole thing.  Sorry for the long post.  It's truly not very exciting, but here goes.

Lisa @ Eat.Pray.Run

Q:  How the heck have we never run into each other living just miles away?

A:  I have no idea!  I think we need to stop leaving it to chance and set up a “play date” J

Coy @  First in Philly

Q:  What kind of bike do you own?  Do you like it?

A:  I have a Specialized Dolce road bike.  It is a women’s specific bike which is great and I really do like it, but I would like a better bike.  It is very much an entry level road bike, but for the money was a great bike compared to other entry level bikes.  However, my recommendation if you are in the market for a bike is to buy as much as you can afford.  I am already ready for an upgrade and I’ve just had mine a year, but I want something lighter and faster and with better components.  Next year I will be in the market for a new one J

Christi @ Pedestrian Runner

Q:  Are you doing the OKC ½ marathon next year?

A:  Probably not, but who knows!

Tahoe Girl @ Got Miles?

Q:  What is your favorite place you have traveled?

A:  Hands down, Maui!!  Jim and I spent our honeymoon there and I think it’s the most spectacular place on earth. It is truly beautiful and I can’t wait to go back again.

Q:  Do you take better care of your every day clothes or workout clothes?

A:  My biking and triathlon specific clothes.  They have the padding in them and can’t be dried so I am very careful about washing them and making sure they don’t make their way to the dryer.

Q:  Flip flops or heels?

A:  Flip Flops!!!  I probably wear heels more often because flip flops aren’t a work option, but I would wear them all the time if they were.

Q:  What is your favorite thing about Jim?

A:  He’s funny and he makes me laugh all the time.

AJH @ Age Groups Rock

Q:  What has helped you the most as you have become a better biker?

A:  I think confidence more than anything.  I started out so scared on the bike.  I was afraid to make turns, or go down hills without braking.  As I have gained more confidence on the bike I have gotten a little faster.  Just putting miles in makes all the difference.

Q:  Where would you live if job/money was not object?

A:  Maui.  I love the beach and the outdoors.  I love perfect weather.  I love Maui it is beautiful.

Julie @ You Just Have to Tri

Q:  Did you go to your high school dances?

A:  Absolutely!  I loved getting all dressed up and dancing the night away!

Freshman Dance

Sophomore Dance

Junior Prom

Senior Prom

Q:  What will you do after you rock your Oly (Olympic distance triathlon)?

A:  Directly after- smile for days!  My next athletic endeavor – the marathon – Disney – Jan 2012.

Deb @ Deb Tris
Q:  What were you doing on New Years Eve 1999 (turning over to 2000)?

A:  I was at a party at my sister’s house.  We decided to have a “formal’ New Year’s that year.  It was fun getting all dressed up and then just hanging out at her house.

Big Daddy Diesel

Q:  At a movie theatre which arm rest is yours?

A:  The one on the left.  Jim always sits to the left of me so it’s easier to share the arm rest if needed.

Q:  Why does grape flavor smell the way it does when actual grapes don’t taste or smell anything like it?

A:  If you wanted something that tasted like real grapes you would just eat grapes.  Grape flavor was made as a nice grape alternative.

Q:  Can you cry under water?

A:  Absolutely, why not?

Q:  Why don’t woodpeckers get headaches when they slam their head on a tree all day?

A:  Technically they don't slam their heads into the trees, just their beaks and beaks can't get "head"aches, so they are set.

Meg @ watchmegorun

Q:  How did you guys meet?

A:  We were going to the same church at the time.

Q:  How long did you date before you got married?

A:  About 4 years

Q:  Did he do anything crazy for a proposal?

A:  No nothing crazy, it was simple but sweet.  I lived in a house that was built in the early 1920s and I just loved my house.  However, we knew after we got married I would have to sell it.  So Jim proposed to me in my house.  He just got down on one knee and asked me to marry him.  He said he wanted to do it at my home so I would have a nice memory from the house.

Chris K @ The Manly Runner

Q:  What is your favorite TV show?

A:  I have almost completely stopped watching TV since I started blogging, but my can’t miss show was Glee.  Although, I’m kind of losing interest in it, which is a bummer.  It was a really good show when it started, but is starting to lose some of it’s magic.

Q:  What is your favorite TV that you and Jim watch together?

A:  The Office.  I think it’s the only TV show we both watch together and enjoy.

Q:  Do you ever get tired of people telling you how young you look?

A:  Seriously???  I am a woman you know, so NO I would never get tired of someone saying I look young.  Are you crazy?  Go ahead tell me again J

Q:  Where do you most want to go on vacation?

A:  Well, I absolutely love the beach and seem to always been drawn there, but I would really love to go to Spain and Italy some day.

Nelly @ Nelly on the Run

Q:  How (or why) is your family so hilarious?

A:  Well, Jim is the truly funny one, but I consider myself pretty funny sometimes too I guess.  My Dad is pretty quick-witted and everyone always says I got that from him.  Jim makes me laugh all the time and I really love that about him.  We both enjoy being goofy and taking fun pictures.

Q:  Can you adopt me?

A:  Sorry, we are not in the business of adopting grown men.  I think maybe there is some kind of law about that.

Q:  Do you like the same music as Jim?

A:  HECK no!!  He likes crap Country music and hard core screaming.  He tells me I like music that 13 year old girls like.  Well, that’s probably true.  I do love crap pop music.  Can’t help myself.  I like crap TV too.

Q:  How do you get rid of the chlorine in your hair?

A:  I use a clarifying shampoo at least once a week and try to use a good quality shampoo and conditioner all the time.  I also use a leave-in conditioner.  But I love long naturally curly hair that is naturally dry, so I really have to focus on keeping it conditioned.

Q:  Does wearing a speedo swimsuit or wetsuit make you swim way faster than wearing board shorts?

A:  I hate seeing men in speedos (no offense if you wear one), but yes, I sleeker swimsuit – like say some tri shorts will make you faster in the water.  Board shorts cause drag.  Actually in a class I took we would wear shorts and a t-shirt over our swimsuits for just that reason.  It was like a “weight” workout in the pool because of the drag from the material.

Q:  What is the next triathlon distance you are going to tackle?

A:  I have an Olympic distance race in about 6 weeks.  I am also considering doing a half Ironman (70.3) in 2012…..I’ll keep you guys posted.

Cory Reese @ Fast Cory

Q:  What is your ultimate fitness goal?

A:  I would definitely like to do a 70.3 someday.  I don’t know when, but someday.

Q:  What is your favorite junk food?

A:  Almost anything chocolate.  It’s hard to pick a favorite but I would probably have to go with Chips Ahoy original chocolate chip cookies. 

Terzah @ BQBy40

Q:  How do you make time for such cool blog posts (photos & graphics with the rest of your life being so busy (training & work)?

A:  Well, you can tell by how long it took me to post my responses, that I haven’t had much time to blog, but when I do take the time I want to do a nice post, so I’ll spend a little extra time on it.  I have to admit Jim helped me with the “Inside the Actors Studio” pic though.

The Unexpected Runner

Q:  Tri bike v. road bike?

A:  For me definitely a road bike.  The tri bike scares me a bit.  I’m don’t think I’m fast enough to really justify a tri bike.

Q:  How do you get up so early to train?

A:  I just set my mind to it and do it.  It’s much easier in the summer when I know if I sleep in too late it will just be too hot to get my workout in.  I am up about 4:30 am most mornings through the week, and up at about 5:15-5:30 on the weekends. 

Chris @ Tri 4 Success

(In  honor of Inside the Actors Studio)

Q:  What is your favorite word?

A: Awesome

Q:  What is your least favorite word?

A:  Cancer

Q:  What turns you on?

A:  Confidence, but not cockiness.

Q:  What turns you off?

A:  Overbearing people

Q:  What sound do you love?

A:  The ocean

Q:  What sound do you hate?

A:  The alarm clock

Q:  What is your favorite curse word?

A:  Oh, I have one, but this is a family blog J

Q:  What profession other than yours would you like to attempt?

A:  A dog trainer or something to do with dogs.

Q:  What profession would you not like to do?

A:  Anything to do with dead people.

Q:  If heaven exists, what would you like to hear God say when you arrive at the pearly gates?

A:  Welcome home and make yourself comfortable.

Caroline @ Canadian Runner in Exile

Q:  Does it bother you that Jim does not get why YOU are in fact always RIGHT?

A:  No, not really.  I know he is just a man and men aren’t that smart, so I forgive him.

Q:  Do you really love baseball or do you just tolerate it out of LOVE for Jim?

A:  I like baseball, but I really don’t love it.  It’s fun to go to a game, if they were only like 30 minutes I would probably love it.  I’m usually ready to go about that time.

Q:  When are you guys coming to California, the southern part, to visit me and that guy from San Diego?

A:  I would love to visit.  Maybe next year?  We had planned San Francisco as Jim’s California marathon, but I’m thinking maybe we pass up those hills and com give you guys a visit.

Q:  Where did you go to college?  What did you study?

A:  I got my undergrad at Morehead State University – a Bachelor of Business Administration (General Management).  I got my graduate degree from the University of Missouri – Kansas City – a Masters in Business Administration (MBA).  I’m all business my friend!

Q:  Who would you like to meet?

A:  Will Ferrell for sure!

Q:  What do you think of Chris’ new profile picture?

A:  I think I’ll plead the 5^th on this one!

Jim @ 50After40

Q:  How are you so smokin' hot & married to such an ugly dude?

A:  Hmmm.....first you know you are a cutie :)  Second, I wish I was smokin' hot, but I think maybe I'm just luke warm.

Q:  Even though he's ugly, don't you admire his brilliant mind?

A:  I admire his sense of humor, confidence, and determination......brilliant mind......not so sur about that one.

Q:  What's for dinner on Tuesday?

A:  I will be at Masters Swim, so whatever you want to make.

Inside the Actors Studio with Michael Weatherly

Well it's a brand new Craze......care of Chris K of the Manly Runner.  You Ask/I Answer!!  I feel just like a celebrity being interviewed.  I know there are a million things you have always wanted to ask me but were afraid to ask right?  Well, now's your chance.  Ask away.  (Yes that is sarcasm - I have no idea what you would want to know about me, but hey here's your opportunity)

Sweet Caroline of Canadian Runner in Exile nominated me for this great...award??  I don't think it's technically an award, but I'm not really sure what to call it.  Part of this is that I'm supposed to pass it along to 5 other people.  I have to say I haven't been able to read a single blog in over a week, so I just don't know who's gotten it yet.....so I'm going to be bad and not pass it along.  Sorry!

However, I am trying to play along.  So ask away and I'll post my answers later this week.

                                                                    ME!

I Love Lamp!

I love Anchorman...one of the funniest movies ever.  Just throwing that out there.

I have no time to blog.  Life has seriously been crazy for about the last 2 months.  Work is super busy and I’ve been training a lot (which is good), but it leaves little time to do anything else.  I am usually only home 1 or 2 nights a week and lately even the weekends have been jam packed.

Anyway, training is going well….here the latest from last week and this week.

Last Week:

·    Got in almost 10 and a half hours of training – the most training hours I have logged in a single week (at least since I’ve been tracking – but it has to be a record)

·    Swam my longest lake swim ever – 1.5 miles!!

·    Completed a 50 mile bike ride – my longest ride ever!  It was 103 degrees when we finished the ride.  It was STUPID hot!

·    Completed an 8 mile “long run” – my longest run since my half marathon

·    Spent some wonderful time with my niece Ashley.  We went wedding shopping and purchased her veil and jewelry.  She gets married in just 4 weeks.

This Week:

·    This week has not been great.  I’ve been physically and mentally drained. 

·    Yesterday I went out for a 4 mile run – just wasn’t feeling it at all.  I ran about ¼ of a mile, stopped to walk trying to get motivated and just ended up walking about 3 ½ miles.  I just wasn’t up for running.  That’s the first time in a really, really long time I’ve just quit on a run.

·    This morning I was able to get my 4 mile run in (with a 2 mile speed workout) so I was happy again!

·    I failed my second week weigh in miserably.  I lost 5.5 pounds in week 1 and gained back a pound in week 2, not exactly the direction I was hoping to go.  This of course sent me on a downhill spiral this week, only for me to find this morning that I had gained back a total of 4 pounds!!  What the heck?  I finally got mad enough at myself this morning that I officially got back on track today.  But probably not in enough time for a good Week 3 weigh in, but we shall see.  Why isn’t weight loss easier?

·    The HEAT here is still just awful.  When I got up Monday morning it was 88 degrees at 5 am….with 85% humidity.  It’s just crazy.  The last 2 mornings it has been cooler – only mid 70s but with 100% humidity.  The forecast doesn’t show any breaks either.  It’s going to be in the upper 90s – lower 100s with humidity between 85-100% for at least the next week.

That’s enough for now.  I’m sorry I am missing out on reading everyone’s blogs.  I will try to do some catching up over the weekend.

Don't Mess with a Cold Blooded Bunny Killa!

Don't Mess with Jack!

That's right.  You heard me right.  You guys know me as sweet ole Jack, but I'm a cold blooded bunny killa!  

I make em' think I'm just chillin', but I'm lying in wait, just ready to nab one of those baby bunnies.

****************************************************************
Unfortunately, we have a plethora of baby bunnies in our back yard.  Jack true to his nature hunts them every time he is outside.  Poor little fellas.  I really don't think he wants to eat them.  I think he just wants to play with them.  He never kills the poor things or even breaks their skin.  Just carries them around in the back yard in his mouth, like the happiest dog ever.  And sometimes for fun he throws them up in the air like one of his toys and then runs after it again.  It's really quite awful!  This afternoon one was playing chicken with him.  It was just outside of the fence, outside of Jack's reach.  But it kept trying to creep under the fence.  Every time it did Jack would paw at it and it would jump back and do it again.  I finally got Jack inside before he could get his paws on it.  Oh sigh....

 ***************************************************************
Ended up doing 8 miles this morning instead of 7, and then swam about 20 laps at the neighborhood pool (probably only about 400 meters) as a cool down.  It was hot, although not as hot as last weekend.  Getting up and out the door by about 6:15 am helped.  I was still drenched from head to toe and lost over 2 pounds of sweat on my 8 mile run.  The rest of today was spent with my wonderful niece shopping for her wedding veil and jewelry.  She is such a beautiful young woman.

Hope everyone has a fabulous weekend!

Some Like It Hot!!

And some sweat (buckets) when the heat is on........

I remember just a few months ago when we were experiencing conditions like the one below.  I was begging for the Winter to end.  No more snow, no more freezing temperatures.  I promised that if Summer would just come I wouldn't complain one time.  Bring on the HEAT..........Famous last words.

While I'm not dreaming of snow...I would love to have some cooler temperatures.  It is so HOT.  You can't go outside anytime of day and get a break from the heat.  I will run tomorrow morning and it will  actually a bit cooler than it has been.  The "feels like temperature" at 5am tomorrow will only be in the low 80s and the actual temperature will only be about 75.  Gee, a cool front.  Most mornings lately it has been between 78-82 degrees with humidity around 80-90% and feels like temps in the 90s.  To show just how humid it has been, Jim took a picture of our kitchen windows the other morning.  This picture was taken about 5 am.  You couldn't see through any of the windows.

When I looked back through my runs in the May - June time frame I was doing my long runs a minute to a minute and half faster.  I was averaging about an 11:30-11:45 minute mile.  Now I am averaging anywhere from 12:30-13:30...which is slow for even me.  What the heck?  It sucks!

7 miles tomorrow in this heat; and then a 50 mile bike ride on Sunday.  It's supposed to be the hottest day of the week.  Yea!  Something to look forward to.

*************************************
On another note.  The hubs (Jim at 50after40) will complete his 12th marathon on Sunday!!  Good luck baby!!  You will ROCK it as usual!

Let Freedom Ring!!

First - Happy 4th of July everyone!!  I hope you all have a safe and fun Holiday.

Monday Morning Weigh in Results:
5.4 pounds!!!!  Wahoo!!  I know the first week is the easiest, and that it's mostly water weight, but I will take it for sure!  It was a successful week.  This weekend was a bit more difficult with all the cook outs, etc., but I really tried to watch what I ate.  It's easy for me to quit at this point....so now the hard work begins when you have to work really hard for just 1 or 2 pounds a week.  We'll see what week 2 brings!

Other Stuff

• The weather is pretty much miserable in Kansas City.  This is the time of year when it is 80 degrees when you wake up at 4am and there's already humidity of about 80-100%.  There is truly no break from the heat - it doesn't matter if you try to run at 5am or 10pm, it's still HOT!!  But you definitely have to get your workouts in at "off" hours because the heat of the day is just way too intense.  My 6 mile run was awful Saturday.  
• I had some personalized cycling instruction yesterday.  It was really helpful.  I know how to make things easier or harder on my bike, but that's usually about it.  I learned yesterday that I actually do have a triple crank and a granny gear - who knew?   We mostly worked on hills, and how best to gear and get up them.  It was great!  Hills are not my friend.  The gearing instruction will help, but I still really need to develop my leg strength. 
• Went to see the new Transformers in IMAX 3D!!!  Loved it!!  It was a bit too long, and a little slow to get going, but overall I really enjoyed it.  I love these kinds of movies though!  The special effects were AWESOME!!

• Got some new AWESOME triathlon shoes.  I love them!  Can you say "Got Love for my shoes - KSwiss!"  I need to trade out the shoe laces for some Yankz, but these are so cute!!

• If you missed my Interview with Ryan.....Ironman.  I hope you check it out here.  It's really great!
• Have a fabulous day everyone!!!