Fast forward to last week. For my birthday we went to Disneyland on Sunday. By Monday evening I started to feel a little tickle in my throat that eventually became a sore throat. On my actual birthday, Tuesday, I already had the day off from work and relaxed. Wednesday I turned into a mess and couldn’t even go to work. I was coughing, stuffed up and was hoping the little rest I would get would help. I didn’t leave the house at all on Wednesday and was loading up with Airborne and cough medicine.Thursday I was able to go to work, but still a bit of a hot mess. I was getting worried that I wouldn’t be able to race on Sunday, but I just stayed positive. By Friday and Saturday, I still had symptoms but they were manageable. When I heard that Chrissie Wellington dropped out of Kona because of a cold, I thought maybe I should do the same. But I realized how detrimental a cold would be for a professional athlete and at an Ironman race. I knew my race would be hard, but I finally decided I would just go for it and deal with the consequences later (potentially getting even more sick).

In addition to being sick, I was a little concerned about my nutrition. I knew this race would take me at least 3 to 4 hours to complete and I had never done a triathlon for that long before. About two weeks before I asked Nancy (club member and Ironman athlete, also does a lot of longer distance stuff) what I would need. She knew I would need some kind of substance, like a clif bar, and a few gels and of course lots of water. I took her advice, more on that later.

Sunday morning I woke up at 4:30AM, last bite of food was in my mouth by 5AM. I made sure to have a pretty good size breakfast, since at Nautica I didn’t eat enough and right before the race I was starving. We got to the race site at 6:15ish and parked, got all our stuff together and headed over to transition. Sport Chalet was the premier sponsor for this race and New Balance was the presenting sponsor. They were out in full force and they even had an area for athletes if you were wearing New Balance shoes. This area included dedicated porta potties and some food items (coffee!). It just so happens that I run in New Balance, so I had access to all this goodness! It was so nice being treated  like a VIP…I could get used to it. Also, Sport Chalet has really stepped up their game in terms of Triathlon gear. Would I go to it now for things? No…but it is good for the beginner athlete that doesn’t know a thing about triathlons and needs all the basics.

The race was pretty small, so transition was manageable. I found a nice little place to rack my bike and got set up. There were about 40 women that competed in the Olympic distance, a small showing, but it was a tough race and not one for the faint of heart. At 7am the long distance folks headed off around 730 we headed down to the beach. Got in the water (a nice 68 degrees) and got acclimated. By 7:45 we were at the beach start and they gave us a few instructions on the swim. By 8am the buoys had been reset and the 1st of 4 waves were off. George was in that first wave, so I made sure to give him a good luck kiss and off he went. Then the 2nd wave went off, then it was all the women in the 3rd wave all 3 minutes apart. There was one more wave behind the women, and that was the race.

So off the women went in the 3rd wave, and I was right along with them! We got into the water and started swimming. The first few meters were fine, but then we started getting into this part of the lake that had a mini under water forest. I started to get a little freaked out and then I got a lot freaked out when I got tangled up in this stringy mesh kelp kind of thing and it felt like it was attacking me and I really didn’t want this to be the end of the race so I swam to the side and got out of it! Major panic attack! I kept going and it really felt like I would never get to that first buoy. I finally did and turned and from that point on I just swam. I hardly stopped, just focused on what Alex and Amanda over at Formula H2o had been telling me (head down, maximize stroke, grab a lot of water, etc.) and swam the rest of the way. The arch on the beach felt like it was closer than it really was, I caught up to some people in the 2nd wave and eventually caught up to people even in the first wave and out of the water I went up the hill to transition.

T-1 was fairly uneventful, I took my time and got everything together. I wore cycling gloves for this race because I knew I would be out on the bike for a while. So had to struggle to get those on… before the race I had loaded up my bento box with 3 gels and a mini clif bar. I had 2 bottles of water (1 water & 1 HEED). Got everything on, and started to run out. Heard Lisa and another PTCer cheering me on, I distinctly remember Lisa because of her cowbell! Then off I went on the bike…

Oh, the bike…where do I start…well, here is the elevation chart -

A couple weeks before the race they announced that they were able to have one transition area at Castaic Lake, no more point to point. While that is very convenient….they had to update the bike course and they came up with that little doozy. Overall it was 4,000 feet of climbing over 24 miles and it was killer. The first 7 miles are up hill (around a 4-5% grade) then you drop down 4 miles, only to come up that 4 miles (around a 7-8% grade, sometimes maxing out at 13%) then drop down another 1.5 miles and come back up that. The first 7 mile climb felt pretty good, and went by pretty quickly. At about 4 miles in I started to feel this weird feeling in my glute, I should preface this by saying that I never get cramps, well…it at some point I realized it was more than just a funny feeling…it was a cramp. Got off, stretched a bit, got back on and kept going. Was fine for the rest of the climb and dropped down the 4 mile descent. At this point, I knew that there wasn’t going to be any water until after this 4 mile climb. I had been rationing water up to this point and was a little concerned. I was hoping I would get a surprise and there would be water at the bottom of the 4 mile descent, but no go. So I had to do the climb with what I had. It was a very hot day and I really struggled to get through that climb. I needed more water and at that point I was very upset at the race organizers for not putting water at the bottom of that hill. I had to stop a number of times to stretch out my glute, at one point laying down on the ground to really get in a good stretch. I finally made it up that miserable hill and took my last little bit of water. I was completely out at this point, and the temperature must have been lingering around 85 – 90 degrees. I got to the bottom of the short decent where the aid station was a pulled up to 2 girls working the station. When I pulled up, I said I needed WATER (imagine someone crawling on the desert gasping for air) and they ran over and assisted me. One girl grabbed my bottle and filled it up with HEED, the other gave me a bottle that I chugged down. She also filled up my water bottle and gave me 4 endurolytes. I had a few on me, but I am glad she gave me the 4. I finally recovered a bit and left the aid station, completely grateful for those 2 volunteers. Climbed the last little hill and started my 7 mile descent back to transition. When I got to the top, I was so happy! I used some of my new water to put on my head and face, it felt amazing! At that moment, I was so happy to almost be done with the bike. Now I just had to get down safely. There were some viscous cross winds on some of the switch backs and I was getting tossed around. It was a little tricky, but I made it down safely.

T – 2 had even more cheering PTCers! Had my feet out of my shoes and made for an easy dismount. Ran through and got to my stuff. Reloaded my container with endurolytes, put the left over clif bar in my back pocket (took a bite on the bike ride) and another gel. I was out fairly quickly on my way to the run. Got to the first station and a little boy threw water on my back, awesome kid! The run, for the most part, was uneventful. Just so you know, it takes an hour and 30 minutes to walk a 10k. I was just surviving at this point and trying not to over do it. Through most of the race so far my cold hadn’t really been an issue. I felt some tightness in my chest on the bike, but by the time I got to the run is when it really kicked up. I would feel some tightness in my chest, cough a bit and hack up some lovelys. It was hot, I was using the water at each station to dunk myself. I had a bottle of water that I was using for drinking and just sort of jogged/walked most of it. It was 2 loops and a pretty decent run course, no complaints from me. There were a lot of people walking and everyone was just trying to be supportive. It was a tough run, but I managed through it.

A LONG time later….I was finally done! I don’t think times are really relevant for this course, unless you are super fast….I think it is more about completing it. It was challenging at all levels and I sure picked a hell of an Olympic to do as my first! (George too) Now, whatever Olympic race we do, we will PR. Overall, I did great on my nutrition and stayed pretty hydrated. I had 2 gels out on the bike and the 3rd on the run. When I was on the run I actually got a little hunger pain and remembered the rest of my clif bar and gobbled that down. So thanks Nancy for the great advice!

After the race we went to the quiet PTC tent and relaxed. I grabbed a couple of burritos from the VIP New Balance tent and shared with George…those got scarfed down. Jose gave us some nice watermelon and we relaxed for a bit. It was a little ironic, I was craving a soda and all they had were diet drinks. I was thinking to myself this is the LAST group you give diet drinks to, we need the sugar and the calories! Whoever went out and bought the drinks, FAIL.

I ended up placing 1st out of 2 for Athena…and if I would have raced my age group I would have placed 3rd. So either way I would have had a podium…but I wasn’t that excited about it because the group was so small.

George and I got home, showered, relaxed for a bit and then went to dinner. We had a dinner for champions, 2 big beers and a veggie pizza (add sausage and pepperoni! haha)

Everyone in the club did well, we all finished. It was a great race and well put together. I encourage more people to come out for it next year and really test yourself! Today i am very sore, stairs are my enemy and I am still sick. It is definitely in my chest now…just going to drink a lot of water and after work today…REST!

This race report is a tad late, but better late than never!

George and I signed up to do a century and a week before the race we were completely unprepared. I hadn’t done a ride over 2 1/2 hours and I wasn’t really sure if this was going to happen. But the hotel room was booked and we were going to make the best of it. So the week before I put together a little training plan, went something like…ride Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday…HARD. Rest Thursday and Friday, and test myself on Saturday.

On Friday, George and I loaded up the car and headed up to Marin. We took the long way along the coast, and while it was a beautiful drive…it took ALL day and we will probably never do it again. Few pics from the drive:

Before we got into Marin, we made a quick stop at Sports Basement at Crissy Field in San Francisco. This place is like the athletes DREAM store and I envy all those NorCal people that get to go to it on a regular basis! The place is HUGE and has EVERYTHING. On top of that, they have some great deals and everything is really well organized. We cruised around there for a while, got a couple things then finally got to the hotel.

We were up fairly early on Saturday, and we were off on the ride by 7:30AM. The first leg of the ride to the first stop was absolutely gorgeous. We rode through some redwoods and it was so pretty. On the way back we stopped and took some pictures, more on that later. One thing about this ride is that there were a lot of cows…

This was at the first stop, and it would not be the last time we saw cows.

Our overall strategy for this ride was to keep our heart rate around 150, to lube our areas as much as possible and not kill ourselves. And for the most part…it worked. There was one little bit that had some viscous headwinds, that took the wind out of our sails for a bit but we just kept riding.

Here are some pictures from the ride:

Quick side shot of George

Self portrait

Long road ahead of us.

A cow

Me with a cow

This is when we met up with the rest of the team at one of the last rest stops...we were pretty tired at this point.

This is about 90 miles in, we were pretty delirious at this point and just wanted real food.

Me with the redwoods

George and I almost there!

We made it!

Overall, the ride was incredible. It was very well organized and a pretty challenging century. During the ride I never wanted to do another century…but now I kind of want to do another one. My training plan worked pretty well, although for the next century…I think I might try to get some long rides in more than a week before the event.

The next day George and I headed a little south, and we stopped off and had root beer floats:

George looking a little tired.

I’m not a big fan of root beer, and looking at this photo makes me a little sick. But we had to try them and we got some cool beer mugs out of it!

We also spent some time in the city, went into China town for the evening then stayed with a friend for the night. On Monday we loaded up and headed back home. We took the 5 this time and it took us 5-6 hours to get home. I also had my first Chic-fil-a…and my last.

Century ride = done!

]]> http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/09/20/marin-century-race-report/feed/ 1 kshadburn OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA Suckin George's wheel! http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/nautica-malibu-triathlon-race-report/ http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/09/14/nautica-malibu-triathlon-race-report/#comments Tue, 14 Sep 2010 19:24:02 +0000 kshadburn http://enduranceturtle.com/?p=1595 ]]> This is my blog right? I wouldn’t know since it has been so long… I have just been super busy with training and work that I don’t really know what to do with myself. I’m also lazy when I am not busy, so that would explain a lot…

Okay, so I still owe you all a race report for the Marin Century, that one is coming down the pipeline as well….eventually….

But let’s focus on the most recent race, shall we? Mostly because I can actually remember most of it.

The night before the race I got everything packed up and was in bed by 9:30pm. I was very conscience of what I ate the day before, mostly focusing on veggies and not hard to digest foods. I woke up at 3AM Sunday morning and started to get ready, there was a coffee panic attack when I couldn’t find my k-cups, but alas, they were hiding in the cupboard….of all places! Was able to get down half a PB&J, i had a late dinner so I wasn’t too hungry in the morning. We were out of the house by 3:45 and at Zuma by 4:45. We secured a nice parking spot along the running path of the race and hung out in the car for a while. We realized it was pointless to freeze our tails off near transition, so we stayed in the car and made out stayed warm. At 5:45 we got everything together and headed over to the start. I would really like to compliment George and I for being very efficient. We just threw our 50 pound transition bags on our back and rode into transition. I can’t tell you how many people I saw schlepping way to much stuff, balloon? Unnecessary… Got through the crowd and set up transition. George went over to the Triathlon Zombies tent and got some gels as well as some TriSlide which he ended up loving. Blah Blah Blah…got wetsuit on…listened to an American Idol cast off sing the national anthem and off to the start. As usual, I had over an hour to kill before my wave. So I got into the 57 degree water and warmed up for about 30 minutes, stretched for another 10 minutes, listened to my stomach grumble (because I didn’t eat enough breakfast) for another 20 minutes then lined up for the start. Second to last wave and we were off!

Swim- 19:57

The swim felt amazing! Through the club we have had an opportunity to do swim lessons over at Occidental College, although I have only gone to 2 sessions (still have more in the works) they gave me some great tips on my technique. I usually stop a couple times when swimming out there in the ocean, and this time I only stopped twice to let someone go by because they weren’t spotting and heading directly out into the ocean and once to burp. Otherwise, I had my head down and focused on maximizing my stroke. There were no waves, it felt like I was swimming in a lake. I actually wanted to body surf in, and couldn’t…no waves….

Got out of the water and started running up into transition. Felt strong as I ran through and got to my transition area.

T1 – 3:23

I could have made my transition a bit faster, but I forgot to turn my Garmin on before the race so I was screwing with that as I was trying to get everything off, then on. Really have to remember to turn on the Garmin…

Bike – 1:03:11

Bike felt good, stayed aero for most of the way and passed a lot of people and only had a couple pass me. I kept playing bunny rabbit with this one chick. She would get me on the hills, but I would get her in the flats and downhills. I came in before her on the bike, but she passed me on the run. I named her “She Best” because she has a She Best top on….or at least I think that is the name of the brand….

My stomach was getting fussy with me while I was on the bike, but I focused on little sips of water and trying to keep the burping going. I knew that if I needed to I would just barf while on the bike, no time to stop and deal with that….

Before the race Michael Epstein told us not to win the race in the turn arounds, so I really made sure I took my time in those areas. One girl tried to pass us at Leo Carrillo and couldn’t get her gearing straightened out and dropped her chain…that’s what you get for not listening! Headed back to transition, took a gel, some endurolytes and cruised in.

T2 – 1:56

T2 felt great for me, I had practiced pulling my shoes off while on the bike last Tuesday and did it during the race and it worked perfectly. It was great not having to run that long transition in cycling shoes! As I was coming to the line with my feet on my shoes there were a few people yelling “she has no shoes!” I just laughed and kept moving…obviously they did not see the pros come through. Got the running gear on and was off.

Run – 46:08

Yes, I still suck and running…but this was a good run for me! Garmin clocked in the distance as 4.17 and I did 4 minutes running and then 1 minute break. This worked out really well for me and I stayed on schedule. My feet were still numb from the water and when I started running the only thing I could think of is “Geez! This feels weird”. Feeling came back around mile 2, I am thinking for cold water tri’s in the future, I might get those hot sole thingy’s that heat up and I can put them in my cycling shoes. George thinks I should do some stretches while on my bike to get blood back there…i’ll try both because George is usually right (please don’t tell him I said that).

Before I knew it I was running to the finish, this year it felt really good and I didn’t feel like I was going to die…just another training day.

Total time: 2:14:37, around 6 minutes faster than last year and good enough to get me 5th place in Athena.

Overall, the race felt like it was over and done with really fast. I had a great time and felt like I executed very well. I am hoping to be even faster next year and get under 2:10, as usual, I could gain the most by becoming a better runner!

Congrats to everyone that did the race! This one is a lot of fun for me, I like the celebrities…although there weren’t that many good ones this year. George and I have no time to rest, on October 10th we are doing our first Olympic distance and we need to start training for that.

I’ll be back with pictures in another post.

1. George and I plan to keep our heart rates between 130 and 150. By staying in that range there is a good chance we could ride all day! Or at least until our butts start to hurt.
2. Stay hydrated and use endurolytes. I have discovered these little pills lately and they are amazing! I get a dose of endurolytes before the ride and go into the ride ready, instead of trying to catch up during the ride.
3. I am riding every day this week and Friday will be my rest day. I just got my bike fit last week so I need to get my body used to the geometry. Yesterday, I rode about and hour and a half and felt really good. Today I plan to ride over my Griffith Park, Wednesday is the PTC brick and Thursday I plan to do a ride.
4. In order to keep up the above schedule, I am going to use my Compex (muscle stim) to help me recover each day. Last night I spent about and hour hitting my quads, legs and lower back and today I feel really good. I am hoping that the Compex will allow me to recover really fast day over day and I can increase strength on the bike.

What it comes down to is that I am basically going to train for a century ride in 5 days, wise? No…but if it works…it would be kind of cool

So yesterday I did an 1:36:31 ride and went 20.22 miles, here is the link: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/43011510

There was some good climbing involved and I felt really good overall. There was some tension in my neck and shoulders, but that is from me not using my core.

In all of this I also plan to keep up my nutrition. So no alcohol for the rest of the week and only good, healthy meals! I might even start taking my vitamins again…

I also replaced the crank on my bike, I have actually replaced a lot f stuff, but the most recent was my crank. My new bike came with a standard double, so I actually got myself a compact crank I really like it.

So now I have a 10 speed on the back and my compact crank which gives me all the gears I need. The ones to get me up the hills and the ones to let me crank down the hills. Curious as to what else I bought my new bike? Well, I got a new bottom bracket to match the Shimano crank (they need to be compatible), a new cassette, and a new seat post (zero setback).  I swapped out my stem from my previous bike and I plan on getting new pedals…mostly because the ones I have now are starting to really show their wear.

I also have to say that I really like this bike, yesterday I was coming down a pretty technical road and I was able to take the turns much tighter and it felt really good. It is also a lot lighter than my old bike, so it makes it a bit easier to get up those big hills.

What I like to say is that my bike is top of the line, like 5 years ago….which I am okay with

By the way, we are doing the Marin Century…I am thinking this one will be a gorgeous one to do.

Last week I was in San Diego for a conference and on the last day I was finally able to get a ride in. I decided that I wanted to go over to Coronado, so I mapped it out the night before and wrote down all the directions. It was mostly on bike paths but there was some rough road riding as well. Since I was in a mostly industrial neighborhood, I must have crossed over at least 6 sets of railroad tracks.

Here is the route I took, I used the google maps bike feature for the first time and I liked it. I had some trouble at one point finding the where the bike path cut to but eventually figured it out:

This would be the last real ride I would have on my Specialized, and while I was riding I finally named it….Big Red….because it is too big for me and is bright red Overall, the ride was really flat. The steepest grade was 4%, and that was for 2.5 seconds as I went over a bridge. It started to get a little bit boring after a while, and I started to miss the San Gabriel Mountains. Once I got to Coronado, I hopped on the ferry and took it back to the convention center since I had to get back for my last session. I also had to get back because I was going to a Padre’s game with my cousin. We had pretty good seats, and I really like that stadium….makes Dodger Stadium look like a dump!

Then, when I got home, I coordinated a time to pickup my new bike! I bought it used off of a friend, it is the right size and is SUPER light. It has an all carbon frame and Ultegra components. I still have to get a new compact crank for it, right now it has a standard double, which i’ll get to later. Here she is in all her glory, I still have yet to name her:

I’ll probably change the handlebar tape to black, the white just gets too dirty!

So yesterday, I was finally able to get out and ride on the new bike. George and I started out near Northridge and headed toward Simi Valley. We climbed a pretty steep hill, and in my standard double I was struggling to get up but I managed to do it…which made me happy

Here are a few pics from the ride, this first one is when George said “we can take a left and go around or walk over the dirt.” I opted for the dirt…

Then we get to the other side, and George got slightly lost…. this was him circling while looking up on his phone where we needed to go:

We somehow managed to get to some sort of camp area for kids. But George figured it out and we were on our way. We eventually got to the hill we needed to climb and I told George that I would take it nice and slow. Being in that double wasn’t going to help me get up the hill any faster…. I eventually made it up, this is George and I under some shade after the climb:

George is very euro with his jersey all unzipped It got pretty hot on the ride up, we were in a canyon that doesn’t get much of a breeze and it was about 3 o’clock in the afternoon.

On our way back we stopped by REI and George picked up supplies for a new saddle bag, he lost his recently. Then we ate and headed back, on the way back I took this picture…I really don’t know how he does this. I have tried and I can never do it…

Hope you had a great 4th of July weekend! Time to get back to work!

P.S. Now my bike is for sale….2007 Specialized Allez, size 56″ for $650. If you know anyone looking for a bike in the Los Angeles area, let them know about it.

Craigs List posting: http://losangeles.craigslist.org/sgv/bik/1828314975.html

]]> http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/07/06/i-got-my-new-to-me-bike/feed/ 1 kshadburn San Diego Ride 6.2010 http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/major-fail/ http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/major-fail/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:50:51 +0000 kshadburn http://enduranceturtle.com/?p=1581 ]]> I haven’t kept up on my blog, I have been training…just not writing about it. Major FAIL!

Here are some pictures from some rides recently, maybe it will help you catch up

First off, I participated in a race and had to DQ. It was a 1,000 meter swim and I got caught in a rip current, my calf severely cramped and I have to get pulled out of the water. On the drive home, I hooked up my Compex to my calf and let it go to work. Not sure if it helped, as I still was in pain for a few days after the race:

One Sunday, George took me for a nice challenging ride. We went up to Foothill Blvd where some of the grade’s were over 20% and then we rode over to Pasadena and climbed up to Sacred Heart High School. It took me a while, but I made my way up. Here we are at the top:

I also did a ride with a group call WE Ride, it’s mostly for women (men come to). I like it because it has a fitness component to it, not only are we encouraging people to get out and ride, but it is also a challenge.

I’m over on the right…

I have been doing my brick workouts pretty regularly, but this week I threw out my back and am just trying to walk at the moment. I know it will get better eventually, but it can get a little depressing when every morning I wake up in severe pain. I went to physical therapy on Tuesday and go again tomorrow. Just trying to relax the muscles and get them to shut up!

I am also planning on selling my bike. Our friend is going to sell me his Giant TCR all carbon bike and before I buy that off of him, I need to sell mine. The new bike will also be the correct size for me, which I am really happy about and a heck of a lot lighter!

Anyway, that’s all I got for now. One more day till Friday!

]]> http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/major-fail/feed/ 0 kshadburn http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/zecco-trading-get-4-50-stock-trades/ http://gokristen.wordpress.com/2010/06/24/zecco-trading-get-4-50-stock-trades/#comments Thu, 24 Jun 2010 16:10:57 +0000 kshadburn http://enduranceturtle.com/2010/06/24/zecco-trading-get-4-50-stock-trades/ ]]>

Anyway, my weekend was busy and fun. Friday, George and I put together his new bike that he got. It is a full carbon fiber frame and has Shimano Ultegra all the way around. It also has a pretty cool crank too that I am jealous of:

He rode it up and down the driveway a bit to test it out.

Saturday, I woke up when the spirit moved me which was 9AM, did 3 loads of laundry and then got my cycling gear on. I didn’t get out of the door till 11:30AM and it was already pretty warm. I decided to head north and do some gradual climbing. I went up a new street (for me) and at some points the grade was 13%. I was starting to get really hot so I was using my water to cool me down and my sweat was starting to make my sunscreen on my face drip off. So needless to say I was a tad uncomfortable…but I made it up to Foothill and biked over to Ross where my mom was. I surprised her and we decided to eat lunch down in Montrose. So my ride was only 40 minutes, but whatever, I was hungry!

Later in the day I groomed one of my dogs, Meeko and gave both Meeko and Toto a bath. I realize my grooming skills are not that great, but to get both of them groomed would cost me $80 and they are freakin dogs! They don’t care if there is a little wisps of fur on the legs

Sunday was pretty busy, but I got an early morning ride in. It was so beautiful out and I rode for about 30 minutes. I actually use the rides to clear out all the crap in my sinus’ because I have to sing for church and it isn’t pretty when there is left over snot from the night before. After church we actually had to go to church again! George was getting confirmed, so we met up with some family for lunch then went to church for the big event! Okay…it wasn’t that big….but now we can officially get married in the Catholic church…thrilling stuff really….Later we went to JAX in Glendale (a local jazz bar) and had a drink. There was a lot of drinking that day and I fell asleep with a bit of a headache.

Then Monday I woke up to go to church AGAIN! I was singing for Memorial Day mass and I decided to take my City Cruiser. I rode down and sang my little heart out then decided to go to the market after to get some ingredients for a cake I wanted to make as well as BBQ stuff. Well, I got a little excited and ended up having WAY to much stuff to carry back home. In order to get home, I put 2, 2 liter bottles of soda in the basket in the back along with my music book, shoes and purse. On the front I managed to hang a reusable bag on the front and it carefully sat on the fender. Then I had another reusable bag that I managed to sling over my shoulder like a back pack and I slowly made my way home. I seriously felt like a Nigerian woman traveling over the desert to get food back to the family. In retrospect, I should have just called my mom to pick me up…but I guess I wanted the challenge. All those bags made the bike a bit unstable, but the faster I went the easier it was to control.

Once I got home I unloaded everything and started on my cake. I made a Raspberry Lemonade Picnic Cake, with Lemon Buttercream Frosting and homemade Raspberry Purée drizzled on the top:

It was really good, and a great cake for a hot/warm day!

Overall it was a really nice weekend and I am glad that I was able to get on the bike all three days. I am also starting to lose some weight…so that is nice too.

P.S. I also don’t eat much of the cakes I make…got to keep that weight off!

Little Lion says hi -

You see, I applied for a sponsorship with a company called Compex and actually was selected as one of the ambassadors! They sent me one of their units to use through training as well as a nifty hat that gets too hot because it is black.

Hot Hat

They also sent over some temporary tattoos that you will probably see me wear in some races.

Anyway, what is Compex you ask? Compex is a muscle stimulator that can be used from warming up before a race, to recovering after a hard workout. Here is a quick description on the unit they sent me:

“The new Compex Sport Elite Muscle Stimulator features nine programs which target specific muscle groups and enables athletes to maximize muscle strength and development. The Active Recovery® Program increases blood flow and circulation, reduces lactic acid and promotes muscle relaxation so athletes can recover quicker after a strenuous workout or competition.”

It came in the mail about a month ago, and here is a picture of what came in my box:

If you have ever used a tens unit at a physical therapist, it is similar to that. From that little unit comes some chords which hook up to little pads and sends pulses to the muscles and it feels really good. Anyway, I have been using it during my training and I really like it. The biggest difference I have noticed is that I recover so much faster and then I can get back out there training. Sometimes, I would have to wait a day for my muscles to rest but now I feel great the next morning/day. If you want more information, you can visit their website here: http://www.teamcompex.com

I can also get you a 10% discount if you are interested in buying a unit, so just shoot me and e-mail and I will give you instructions (and the code) to buy it.

In other news, I went for a run last night and I am pretty dang proud of it. I also figured out how to use the Garmin Connect and I am pretty proud of that too! So now if you want to see all the nasty details about my runs or rides I will post a link, like so: http://connect.garmin.com/activity/34476172

I decided to just do 3 miles, but to do it hard and fast. And yes, 10:53 average pace is fast for me you rabbits! Anyway, I was starting to get some side cramps toward the end and thought I was going to die but I really wanted to test myself and see how well I could do and I am pretty dang proud of my run. If they had a medal for this training run I would wear it proudly around my neck! I have a 5k next weekend out in Huntington Beach and I am really hoping to do well.

And last but not least, my little heart. I had my physical yesterday, and we went over all the stuff you go over in a physical. A week ago I had my blood panel done and so I was able to see all my cholesterol levels. Everything looked great and I am not allergic to Pigweed…in case you were wondering. But I wanted to talk to my doctor about my heart, at last Wednesday’s brick while I was climbing up Lida…my heart it 217 (max heart rate is 220). After I got to the top I immediately got a sever migraine and barely made it back to the car. I have been battling some pretty severe allergies and took some Zyrtec D, so I think the D part assisted in making my heart rate spike. But on average I am hitting 205…which is still too high for me. So she is going to set up something with a cardiologist to do a fitness stress test and try to figure out why my heart rate is so high. Not sure when this is going to happen, but I am sure there will be a post about it

Today is my day off from training, George and I have a little potluck this evening and I will be making mini red velvet bundt cakes. Then tomorrow I plan to ride into work, then do the brick in the evening that will consist of a long run. Thursday, I am going to ride into work again and then Friday I will take off.

That’s all I got for today…