Pacin', Prayin', Poopin', Pedalin,' Parentin' and Piggin' Out

Could it be that the wonderful weekend has already slipped through my fingers? Congrats to those who raced in Jack's Generic Tri in Austin, Steelhead 70.3 in Michigan and countless other events that have popped up!

Friday, August 1st

I consider myself fortunate that I can get up and tackle my long runs on Friday when necessary. Skud was leaving town early on Saturday to pick her son up from camp and asked if I would knock 18 miles out with her on Friday instead. I think it's funny to even say, "Knock out 18 miles," as if it was just a quick 5k. It wasn't long ago that an 18 miler would have me trashed for the weekend. I'm talking ice baths, naps, stretching and refueling and overall pain. Now, I can tackle it and still be to work by 9am, ready to punch in a full day of kissing my clients' asses.

It was a slightly disjointed run as Amy popped into a little church on Exposition at 6am (and at Mile 4) of our run tohave a few private moments. It's a church I've driven and run by countless times and have always said, "I've got to go in there" because it looks more like a kid's playhouse than a real church. She had her moments and we proceeded up Exposition to 35th Street when her tummy starting grumbling. "Damn, must be the cookies I had last night," she said. Of all choices, we ducked into a Burger King at 6:30am so that Amy could do her biz-nass. FYI--the smell of french fry and tator tot grease is not appealing that early in the morning. I'll be damned if the waiting around didn't spur something in my GI so then she had to wait for me. We weren't even 7 miles in and we'd already hit a church and the john and we still had roughly 12 miles to go. The rest of the way up Shoal Creek was uneventful (thank goodness). We stopped at one convenience store to quickly get some gatorade on the way back, but we were able to pick up the pace and ended the run right around a 9:00min/mile average. It's a little slower than I like to go on my long runs, but it was also 80 degrees when we began the run too.

On the way back, curiousity also got the best of me and I ducked into the little church that has intrigued me for so long. It's so cute and I can certainly see how it could provide comfort and solace (but not a place to pee).

Saturday, August 2nd

That damn T3 Lindsor forced me to go to Happy Hour on Friday night after work. It's all her fault! Actually, I behaved quite well after one Mexican Martini and two Blueberry Cosmos. It was over the span of 4 hours afterall and plenty of food thrown in for goood measure.

I felt ok on Saturday, but wasn't all-together excited at the prospect of doing two Bee Caves loops. My legs were still a tad sore from the run the day before. I started with a good pacing pack that included Michelle, Lilliana, Dionn, Nancy and a few others that surrounded us throughout the ride. Once the wheels started rolling and I got the cobwebs out, it turned into a wonderfully decent ride. The first loop of about 27 miles seemed to fly by since I was in and out of conversations and pacing with people. My mind wasn't stressing about "the ride," which is always a good thing. I started the 2nd loop by myself assuming that I would eventually be caught and passed by some of my pals. It never happened, but I still remained strong throughout the second loop as well. That is until I hit SW Parkway the last time and had to do the final long climb towards William Cannon. That totally sucked for some reason! I also struggled a tad on Escarpment heading back to my car. I think I was just mentally done at that point and the chip seal of the new pavement was getting on my nerves. I forced myself to ride until it hit 56 miles and ended with 17.3 mph. My max average was about 17.6, but I lost my edge at the end. Still though, it's my best overall pace ever on the hills of SW Parkway, 71, Bee Caves, 360 and Mopac...not an easy loop.

I can't even type this post without a huge hi-five and shout out to Hubster for completing his longest training run EVER of 16 miles. He was up on Saturday morning running before I was up to ride. I wonder how many times he used my name in vain for signing him up for the Marine Corps Marathon?! (hee hee...evil grin)

Sunday, August 3rd

We were both happy as larks to have our workouts completed so that we could head to San Antonio the rest of the weekend and hang with his parents. On Saturday night, we hit church and a wonderful dinner at Wild Fish (same folks that own Eddie V's in Austin). It was so incredibly yummy and decadent and I know that one meal negated my entire workout of the day. But you know what? It was worth it and so was the Godiva Chocolate Molten Lava Cake for dessert!

On Sunday (rest day), we helped with a couple of minor projects around the house while his Dad continues his shoulder rehab from the the bike crash. He told us he's been practicing his rehab by lifting wine bottles. The only wine bottle lifting I saw was to pour it into our glasses so that's good enough for me.

I know it was supposed to be a rest day, but I couldn't resist a spin on my Mother-in-law's sweet Trek Lime bike. This thing is awesome (and I would kill for a seat like this on my tri-bike). It shifts gears automatically, so it was funny to be pushing up a hill and then feel the gear suddenly downshift. I'd go from a 70 cadence to like 120 on a hill. Obviously, the bike is smarter than me and I worked up a sweat after a whopping 10 minute ride as I tried to figure out how the darn thing worked. It did have a cool bell on it, but the basket was left off. I wasn't going to the farmer's market that day, after all.

I'm guessing this won't help me in the next race, but it was nice to ride in flip-flops

On Sunday afternoon after watching a movie, Shawn and I headed to their pool and just did minor kicking drills and swim drills. The pool wasn't really long enough for laps, plus it was about 90 degrees in the water. Still though, it felt good to be outside in some water doing something.

It was another fabulous weekend filled with the most important things in my life: family, faith, friends, fitness, wine and chocolate (couldn't come up with "f" alliterations for those)

Oh yeah--it definitely doesn't compare to the Eddie V's godiva cake, but if you're in dire need of dessert, this just might do in a pinch!