Bike Commuting

Today I was a bike commuter! O-k, well I rode my bike to work for a few meetings then rode it home. My total count in 21 miles were 4 cars that chose not to stop at stop signs & instead almost ran me over, 1 'hey baby' from our local homeless man, 3 dogs that tried to eat me (o-k, really they just barked really loud & scared me to death) & 3 ambulances - wow they are loud when you are on your bike.
It's nice to be able to incorporate training into every day life but boy is it hazzardous!

I was feeling better yesterday & this morning but after a really busy & long day I am wiped w/ another sore throat. Mono sucks.

Climbing Mill Mountain

I have been trying to convince Nina, a training client & friend to climb Mill Mountain (on the bike) for the first time. She is still resisting my efforts. Never fear though, I will eventually win out.

This has gotten me thinking about my first trip up Mill Mountain. I too had avoided it for years. It just seemed too hard, too steep, too long of a climb to tackle. Add that to the fact that I was (and still am) afraid to actually ride my bike on the road - I wimped out of many a ride to get out of that climb.

Finally my wonderful friend Kate offered to take me up the mountain. I thought that would be a much better choice than going w/ Paul, so I gave it a try. WOW - that was hard. About half way up I thought I might not make it. Seriously, I wondered how bad it would look, me walking my bike up the mountain?! I do know that at times I was going around 5 m.p.h., so joggers could have passed me, luckily they didn't.

We kept going and rode out to Explore Park. I guess I din't notice the nice downhills going out on the spur on the way out. They hurt on the way back. Anyway, I made it up - YAY!

The next time my dear friend Kate and I were riding up she asked, 'Hey, do you want to go up the old route?' My obvious quiestion was - "Is it harder?" Lies, Lies, Lies - Kate said, "No, I think it's about the same."

Now I can ride up the new way or old with not much struggle or pain, but I still smile triumphantly every time I get to the top!

Lessons of a Long Trainer Ride

It's amazing what you will learn about yourself when you spend 3 hours on the indoor bike trainer! Here are the lessons I have learned from 2 weeks in a row of 3 hour (50+ miles) on my indoor trainer:
1. I am a much better leader than I am a follower. Last week I followed a Spinnervals video - it was hard & I didn't enjoy it that much. This week Nina, a training client came over to share my pain for most of the ride. I lead our workout instead of using the video. Maybe it was the company, but I enjoyed the ride much more & my avg. speed was 1 mph faster.
2. I want to train to qualify for Kona someday. I used to enjoy the fact that I was training to finish the Ironman & I didn't care about time, never had aspirations to qualify for Kona, just wanted to do it for the sake of doing it. Last week on the trainer I realized that I really, really, really want to push myself to the limits to see if I can do it one day. I have a long way to go & it might be several years before I'm ready to really pursue this one, but someday I want to find myself on the big island pedaling against the wind in the heat w/ the big dogs of the sport. Crap, how come I always have to raise the stakes on myself?
3. Pain is really only temporary. I find that if I can ride out the initial pain in the butt (literally) it subsides. What it really takes is focus to work beyond that pain. This is a skill I am still working on acquiring, but I'm getting better.
If this crappy Sunday weather continues I'm sure I'll have a lot more lessons from the trainer to come!!!

Dating

My how life has changed. At first dating Paul meant going to Comedy Clubs, bars, resteraunts, even romantic ski weekends. After marraige and kids dating meant going out to the movies for special movies (we're very cheap), resteraunts, and special occasions like weddings etc. I think we have the best dates ever now.
Yesterday Paul took a long lunch & we went for a nice 2 hour bike ride. After dinner & getting the kids to bed we did our PM Yoga tape together, then laid in bed & watched House together. Well, as much as I could stay awake for.
We've struck an agreement w/ our babysitter, who is a young adult, not a teenager that is engaged and in need of some personal training & overall health coaching to get herself healthy for her own sake & get herself in shape for her wedding. She is babysiting a few hours every Sunday while Paul and I ride bike in return for training. A date every week, and it's all FREE! Also a weekly outside ride to help reach my 4000 miles in 2008 goal.
I still have anxiety about riding outside but I am looking forward to it much more. Mostly I enjoy being out riding with Paul enjoying some much needed alone time!!