Pallas Athena

Tomorrow we leave for Michigan. A week of county fair showing and attempting to get my training done as well. Should be a challenge. The beauty of it is that there are many new places to explore on the bike. Roads there tend to have a shoulder. Mapmyride .com has some nice routes on roads I am familiar with. Presque Isle is a must just for the view. The family will take in some swimming at Deer Lake. No, not Superior...it is just to cold. Some of you can relate, having just been in Lake Michigan. For those in the know, Superior is a lot colder because of the depth. It doesn't give up her dead either, and one sure way to not be one of em' is to not go in in the first place. Maybe I will get some running in too. Will just have to see how the week works out. With any luck, we will be back in town for the Tri Out on Tuesday.

So, here is the problem. I eat anything and everything I want whenever it occurs to me to eat it. Bike progress is slow. Run progress tapering. Swim progress???? What is that? CJ said something yesterday that turned on that old bulb waaayyy back in the attic of my brain. Not so much what was said, but what is behind it. We all want to do our best. She simply said "The muscles don't fire right with the wrong kind of fuel." Yeah, and they fire much better when there is less to haul around, too. It isn't that I have a lot of weight to lose, but there are easily 5-8 lbs around the waist that should go. There are several very nice bike jerseys I do not wear because of the sausage effect. Someone at my health club asked me if I was going to lose all the weight I put on for Green Bay (MORTIFIED!). My diet is terrible. I pound the gatorade every workout. So each workout is easily 6-1200 calories of the stuff. Not good nutrition there. Most days I forget the vi...

Today was IM WI bike loop x 2. Did IM 06, and hadn't been back to bike it. I don't know why, I just haven't. I've been around it so many times, it was like visiting an old friend. Yesterday was a slam, with 2 hrs of intense hill work. That meant that I couldn't give the ride today the justice it deserved. But, other members from SWAT were out there too and still fighting the fatigue from Spirit of Racine. For three years, I have fought with a bike helmet that rubbed the crap out of my forhead. There were 2 big red marks always on my head. Last week was magic, the helmet did not make it through the HIM. Someone must have knocked it down, because the front piece is split!!! YAH! Could kiss whoever did that. After the ride today, I cruised into Erik's and ordered a Specialized 360. Seems to fit right, the one I tried. We shall see. For now I ride with a cracked shell. The best part was finding 2 new pairs of bike shorts on sale. Keep finding holes i...

The family headed to John Muir for the day. It was a great time. We started out with a picnic lunch and then headed out on the trails. Chey was leading the group which quickly turned out to be a mistake. It could take that kid a week to realize her breaks do not work, because she never uses them. She went flying down a stretch of tree roots and did a bounce off her seat onto her crossbar and slammed her crotch good. She at least was laughing as Nubs asked if she needed the seat pulled out of her rear. From here on in, it was decided that Nubs would lead because she is a bit more cautious. That lasted for two miles and then she wanted to take off. Mike and her left Chey and I half way through our loop. Wasn't far down the line and Chey started to crap out on me. Luckily I didn't have to nag. The mosquito's were quite persuasive . When we turned back, Chey took off down a stretch of tree roots again and hit a corner kind of fast. She slipped off the edge an...

I'm a shit. Totally not sore from the HIM on Sunday. The best time previous was a 7:10; I cut that time to 5:52......Thought no way to the Pigman, would be to sore. Now, I think it wouldn't be a problem. That is ok, I prefer to continue the IM AZ training and not have recovery from misc. events to deal with. I need a week of lay off. Tomorrow, we will do some mountain biking with the kids out at John Muir. Nothing too strenuous. Sunday, we will kick it back up. My heart rate was very low throughtout Spirit of Racine. Hypothermia was a factor, but it didn't pick up a whole bunch. My rims are fine, although they took a hell of a hit. Kyserium rims are the way to go. Besides, figure anyone who can't at least go 20mi./hr looks pretty crazy with $3,000 zip rims. Really, won't improve your time more than my losing 20 lbs would help mine.

This weekend was awesome. No other word for it. We triathletes are an interesting group in any setting. I was worried about joining a tri club for fear that it would somehow interfere with training, and failed to see what an asset they can be. For the most part, everyone is warm and welcoming. Saturday night, the SWAT met at Infusino's for some good food and camaraderie. Service was slow, because of the overwhelming influx of the SORT groups. That was actually not bad because there was plenty of time to get to know some people better. Our hotel reservation fell through, but a call to Expedia moved us to Brookfield for the night. It was an hour away, but worth the drive. Never book a hotel you don't know if it isn't a chain. Lesson one for this tri . We were up at 4:30 in the morning and headed to Racine. Mike stopped at McDonald's and I ate a very nutritious breakfast, as I'm sure you can imagine. Fried taters are magic...those fats act like carbohy...

Yikes, the lake has really been cold lately. I am beginning to freak out about the temp. I do not own a neoprene cap, but own booties. Calling all over Madison, I was unable to locate anyone with any left. Middleton Cycle says they got about 15 calls today requesting just that sort of cap. Currently, there is a silicone cap that I can put under the latex cap required for participants. Lame, I know. There is a brand new Grand Prix 4000 waiting for the front rim of the "precious". For those of you who have ridden slicks before, you know they are not a good idea for wet roads. Cheap side says they are fine, the rest of me says "not after a swim behind an ice-breaker!" So, a quick trip to Budget Cycle, and I will change it out in the morning. My husband, Mike says not to worry about the temp. He reminded me of April 2005, wandering around Lake Decatur with no booties or hat. We were navigating around, him in the canoe. The water was about 40 degrees Fahre...

Wow, July 20th creeping up fast...I've been freaking out about all of it. Usually when stress increases, I start dreaming. This time I was at the swim at Lake Michigan. It started out as incredibly difficult just walking into the water, as it kept pulling me down and I couldn't stay upright. When the water was deep enough to begin swimming, I suddenly realized that I had forgotten to pull the top half of my suit up. Somehow, I ended up on my bike but off course and nobody seemed to know how to get back to town. Fortunately the alarm went off, so I don't know how the run went. I can only say that I know I didn't finish because the dream went on all 8 hrs of my night and I hadn't begun running yet! The only cure for this is a real plan. Start packing the car today and take the bike for a short spin to be sure EVERYTHING is in working order. Get the food and drinks set, lay out the outfits, etc. Marathoning is so much simpler! All these transitions to think...