Sunday, March 22, 2009

Training - Week 3

Wow - already the third week of training.  Another light-ish week with 2 swims and one bike ride.  The bike ride was once again me vs the elements, but what else can you expect in Seattle, especially in the month of March?  The wind wasn't nearly as bad as last week and the rain wasn't too bad until the end.  And now?  The sun is out.  Some consolation is the fact I'm leaving for Hawaii in a few days!  Not too much longer until I'm sipping a fruity drink on the beach!

I finished my bike ride, cold and wet.  What would be the best cure for that?  A steaming, hot latte!!  Too bad I gave up lattes for Lent.  Instead I settled for putting on my sweats and cuddling with a blanket.

And that brings me to now - sitting on my couch, wrapped in a blanket, watching basketball.  I love March Madness!!  The bracket busters, the Cinderellas, the last second clutch shots - I love it all!

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Training - Week 2

It was a bit of a light training week - one swim and one bike ride.  The bike ride ended up being a bit interesting, due to the weather.  I woke up to snow this morning.  Snow, seriously?  Yes, snow.  Beware the ides of March, perhaps?  I loaded my bike up and fortunately after church the snow had been replaced by rain.  The rain slowly dissipated as I rode along and by the end of the ride the sun had come out!  I wasn't going too far as the purpose of this ride was really to reintroduce myself to my bike.  Legs, you remember pedaling, don't you?  The first half of the ride went really well, especially since I haven't been on a bike since last June!  The second half was more challenging as I was fighting against the wind.  But finally I arrived back at my car, my first bike ride over.  See you next week for more training updates!

Sunday, March 08, 2009

Training - Week 1

Alright, here we go with my weekly training reports!! I signed up for the Danskin Triathlon in Orlando on May 10th and in Seattle on August 16th. To be perfectly candid, I didn't look too closely at the distances for the Orlando Triathlon thinking it would be similar to last year. That was a bit of a mistake on my part as the distances are longer, especially the bike portion which is now 12 miles. And then I looked at my calendar and realized between vacation (Hawaii here I come!) and my quarterly busy time at work there isn't a lot of time between now and May 10th. Now that I've looked at the distances and my calendar I have realized it is time for me to get into gear with my training which is where these weekly training entries will help me to hopefully stay on track!

After this long, wordy introduction I don't have much to report this week. I did go for a swim on Friday and I did bring my bike to the bike hospital for a check-up. It has been several years now since I got my bike and I thought it was a good idea to have it looked at to make sure everything is in good working order.

I also went for a run and once again ran for 1 mile continuously! I walked a little bit and then ran back 1 mile! It really helped that I had done it before so I knew I could do it.

Stay tuned for more updates...

Sunday, March 01, 2009

31 Things Update

So it's probably about time for me to update my 31 Things list.  Let's see what I've been up to!
1. Travel to a country I've never been to before.  Done!  On my Austro-Hungarian adventure (aka my trip to Viennapest!  Thanks Jana for new word - I love it!) I visited Slovakia and Hungary, both new countries to me.
10. Bring my lunch to work (again no time frame associated with the one as I would be happy if I did it once!).  I'm going to count this as bringing my lunch to work - for a couple of weeks now I've gone to the grocery store on Monday and gotten sandwich fixings for the week.

22. Set aside some money and invest in the stock market.  Okay, so not the smartest goal for me to have actually accomplished considering the economy but I did finally take the plunge and promptly lost money but fortunately it wasn't a lot.  

23. Take a couple of weekend trips (Oregon coast, Vancouver B.C., etc.)  Woohoo!!  Over President's Day weekend I ventured down to Cannon Beach.

26. Finish up my 2005 photobook.  And done.  I also finished my 2008 book.  I haven't ordered it yet as I'm waiting for a coupon before ordering it, but it is finished.

31. And one I'll keep to myself for now.  Another personal accomplishment complete, only a few more to go.