When you feel you don't want to run, watch this

Today I really didn't feel like running. I did muster up enough energy to get outside, and I did go, but before I stepped out the door I watched this

Now I'd like to tell you it inspired me to want to run a marathon, but it didn't. ;)

What it did do was get me out there.

I didn't have a great run, but had I not watched that I may not have gone at all, and considering I'm a short distance runner, I ran 4 miles, and walked some of it. That's what I consider not great.

I hope I can keep pushing myself like Joy.

I'm a 5K-er and proud of it!

You know, there are a lot of people who want to run a marathon or a half marathon, and I say go ahead. The more I think about it, the less I want to run more than 5 or 6 miles.

Much to Jo's dismay, I know, but I love the 5k distance. It's fun. It's doable for the average person, and I can still work on speed.

Speaking of 5k, I ran one yesterday: 31:47. 2nd fastest time. Maybe I'll run a 10k next year, we'll see, but right now I'm very happy running in the 5k races. And my main goal is for this to remain fun!

BTW, yesterday was my first race in my new age group! Boo to getting old!!!!

Struggling

Ok, so after the DALMAC I was sore for 1 day. 1 day! I think that is awesome. I mean, I basically was working out 5-6 hours a day for 4 straight days and I had mild muscle soreness in my quads. I am pretty proud of that fact.

By Tuesday I was ready to go! However, it is very important to rest after big events. Reward yourself, so to speak.

I, of course, feel guilty the whole time I am resting because I feel like I should be doing something, however, Master Jo says that I should rest so I did. I slept in every day and took 1 full week off and it really was quite wonderful.

Now, though, I am struggling to get back into it. I've had a pretty good week so far, 2 - 3 mile runs and 3 weight workouts, but it has felt harder than usual. I think this is where I gave up running before. I ran the 10 mile crim in 95, then I took a break that never ended!!! ;) So I definitely don't want to do that.

So wish me luck as I push through this first tough week back.

And a note to Master Jo: If you have advice on how to deal with this (though I assume you never have these feelings because you are super woman), please let me know!

DALMAC 2008

Well, I'm back from th 38th annual Dick Allen Lansing to MACkinaw bike tour, 4 day West Route.

Day 0

So the ride officially started on Thursday, however we spent Wednesday driving first to Lansing to drop off our bikes and a car and then up to the Bridge to drop the truck off so we had transportation home on Sunday. My friend Brian was SO AWESOME to follow us up there, take us on a side trip to Harbor Springs and a preview of part of the ride through the "tunnel of trees" and then back to Lansing where we stopped at the MSU Dairy and then later ate and stayed with him mom and step dad. We also registered and go all ready for the next day's ride.

There are SO many things to tell you, my faithful readers (all 3 of you!), so I am going to break out each day with a brief intro and then bullet points so I don't bore you too much, but it will probably still be long. If you have a short attention span, here are some photos to break it all up: DALMAC Photos

Day 1 - MSU Pavillion to Vestaberg High School (72 miles)

We started Day 1 about 9 am, about and hour or so later than I wanted, but it was fine. Brian's crew left at 7:30, but we were waiting for Tim's friend Dan & Kirk, Dan's Friend's Kim and Doug and our friend Rex. These are the people we rode most of the ride with, which was really fun. We had never met Kim and Doug before but it turned out Doug and Tim graduated from High School together but never knew each other. We ended the ride about 4 ish. About 4 1/2 hours in the saddle and the rest on breaks. Day 1 highlights:

• The start - The DALMAC is 5 different routes, over 2000 riders. It was an exciting atmosphere to see all the riders starting.
• The first Stop: Sweetie Pies Bakery in Dewitt. I split a muffin with Rex.
• Seeing some families ride. One family had a 10 year old (first DALMAC), a 13 year old (3rd DALMAC) and a 15 year old (fifth DALMAC). They were so cute.
• Riding through country roads where you could ride 2 abreast and socialize with each other.
• Biker camaraderie - if you are stopped on the side, others passing by ask if you're ok and when you're in a pack, other riders letting you know about obstacles in the road, cars coming, etc.
• LOTS of corn fields and farms
• Flat course
• Our shuttle to the hotel - the owners agreed they would drive us back and forth to and from the hotel for $10 bucks. They were VERY nice and kind of stereotypical small-towners. Gave us a "tour" as we drove from podunk Vestaberg to BFE Edmoor (7 miles) and in between was Cedarview which consisted of about 5 houses
• The hotel - 70's linoleum in the bathroom and wall paper "paneling", but clean and cheap (and the only option)

Day 2 - Vestaberg to Lake City (84 Miles)

Everyone said that the second day is the hardest and they were *mostly* right (see day 4). The first day you are very excited to start. The second day, the excitement has waned and now you're wondering what you've gotten yourself into. And what we didn't plan on was a 15 mph headwind. Plus Day 1 was mostly flat and day 2 we got into some hills. Hills and headwinds don't mix well. Today was about 5 hours in the saddle, but we ended roughly the same time as the day before because we left a little earlier. Day 2 highlights:

• Starting off in the fog was kinda cool
• Amish buggy crossing the street in the fog - right out of a movie
• A doe and a fawn running in front of us (but we were slow enough to not be in danger).
• Getting out of farmland and into beautiful Michigan.
• Fun biking jerseys: My favorites were AC/DC, Speed Racer, A Tuxedo and Crash Test Dummy
• All walks of life on the ride. They ranged from the serious biker to old to young to thin to wide. You name it, they were on it
  
• Our hotel was totally a dive and totally awesome at the same time. The TV was from the 60's (no remote even), the alarm clock was one of those flippy number clocks, if you put a tennis ball on one end of the room it would roll to the other, the sink, toilet and tub were PINK and the sink had a stick holding it up and the bed was slanted. But it was clean, cheap and close.

Day 3 - Lake City to Boyne City (92 miles)

Well I didn't quite get my first century in because of the way they routed us, but I did clock about 96 miles that day because of back and forth to our hotel. I felt really good on the third day, it seemed like everyone did. It was a very long and hilly day, but the hills were mostly short up and long gradual down so it was fun. We left around 7 and spent about 6 hour in the saddle and ended around 4:30. Highlights:

• Chilly start to the morning
• We did 60 miles by lunch time (we did leave very early though)
• Torch Lake was GORGEOUS
• More hills, but big payouts.
• Incredible views at the tops of hills
  
• Great lunch at Shorts brewpub in Belaire.
• *ALL* kinds of bikes: Road, Mountain, Tri, Recumbent, Tandem, Tandem Recumbent, you name it!
  
• THE WALL - A very steep hill at mile 80 that we all walked. Approaching the hill was a 3 mile false flat, by the way!
• Finishing. Holy crap, it was a hard day, even though I felt pretty good.
• This the was the first day I had any soreness, and it was all in my quads. (other than chaffing that is.)

Day 4 - Boyne City to Mackinaw City (69 Miles)

It's a tough choice for me which day was harder, Day 4 or Day 2. Maybe I say Day 4 because it's more fresh in my mind, but for it being the shortest day, it was pretty long and the hills were the hardest. But it was the most scenic day BY FAR. In Harbor Springs you went along the lake where all these big beautiful houses were. Then up into the Tunnel of Trees along the shore of Lake Michigan, it was just awesome. Highlights of today and the whole trip:

• The hotel was the best one we stayed at the whole trip. So I don't have any cute stories about it. ;)
  
• Another beautiful Michigan summer day with awesome scenery. The weather the whole trip was just awesome.
• Tough hills - felt the hardest today, but could be because my body was just tired.
• The only problems we had the whole trip in our group of 7 were 1 cracked rim, 1 broken spoke, 3 flat tires and 1 melt down. (2 of the flat tires happened on this last day and well I am sure you can guess who had the melt down).
• I got to eat what I want, because I was burning roughly 3000 calories a day. And you NEED to eat often or you will have a melt down. (Only happened one time though!)
  
• Got to meet some new friends in Doug and Kim. Our groups was a mix of some people who didn't know each other but all got along really well and it made it that much more fun.
• The hosts at each of the schools were so nice and helpful. The food was typical school cafeteria food but it was hot and plenty of it and it wasn't bad either (even Tim ate it). Plus when your biking 75-80 miles a day you kinda don't care.
• I didn't get to spend enough time with my Brian, but I did get to see him a little. :)
  
• Tim got a massage every day and can write it off.
• "Tent City" at every school we ended our days at. Probably close to 400 tents scattered around each school grounds. It was pretty cool to see every night. (But still glad we stayed in hotels!)
  
• We averaged 14-15 mph each a day. Not that I was in a hurry, but I was happy with that pace. Though sometimes we would get in these pace lines and be taking flats at 22-25 and it was awesome (because it's less work when you're at the back!). But there were some really slow up hills too. My fastest downhill pace was 42.3 mph!!! (fastest I have ever gone.)
• No crashes!!
• And lastly - I did it! I can't believe it. I biked 325 miles in 4 friggin days and my body feels really pretty darn good. It was so much fun. Not sure I'll do that one again, but maybe a different one to see a different part of the state or country!

The Corner From Hell

As I was biking on Saturday, we were riding through the little town of Milford. It's 25 mph through there, but there is no room to pass if you needed to. Also there are 3 cross walks for pedestrians that you have to stop for if there are pedestrians present, so your speed through town is usually pretty slow. We were averaging about 20 mph through there, which on a bike is a pretty good clip, but we were mostly staying with traffic.

As we got out of town, we were approaching the infamous corner where I got hit by a car in June, and we were looking to see if we could get in the left turn lane and it was clear, so we got into the turn lane and stopped at the light. All of a sudden this lady in a jeep came up behind us quickly and started yelling at us. She told us to get off the road and onto the sidewalk because we were holding up traffic. She repeated it over and over again like we were 5. Ever time she said it, we kept telling her that it was illegal and dangerous for us to be on the sidewalk and we have ever right to be on the road. We went back and forth until the light turned green and then she sped around us and left.

Why are people so ignorant to biking laws?!?!?

I bet she yells at baby ducks too!

Update

Just so all my many fans out there don't think I've fallen off the wagon, I wanted to give you a little update as to what I've been up to. :)

Last week I was traveling all week, but I did work out most of the days I was there. I did a combination of the eliptical and weights. I had some pretty good work outs and it was a welcome break from the other things I've been up to!

Yesterday we cranked out 40 miles on the bike. We are starting to ramp up our rides in preparation for the DALMAC (Labor Day weekend).

I haven't run in a week, but I plan to this week, starting tomorrow picking up my speed work again, which I'd dropped for a few weeks.

I also revitatlized my weight workouts, and am just trying to ramp those up for a little variety.

You'll notice swimming isn't in the mix right now, and for that, I am very happy. :) I don't HATE it, I just need a little break from it, and then I'll go back at it.

So I hope this message puts you all at ease. ;)

Happy Trails 2008

Well, my final triathlon of this season is completed. I'm pretty happy about that fact.

I've been struggling a little with my training over the last month, and finishing was a pretty big feat. I'm mostly happy with the results. I was 2 minutes faster than last year, though that wasn't any thanks to my swim (1 minute slower) and my run, which I walked plenty of (pretty much the same as last year). But my bike I did in about 47 minutes, which I was pretty happy about. With transition times being roughly the same as last year, my overall time was 2:01:23.

I'm missing that elusive mark under 2 hours; maybe next time.

I'm a little burnt on the swimming right now, so I'm taking a little break from that, but will be focusing my summer on the DALMAC, and Since apparently biking is my best of the 3, it'll be nice to focus on that, and still running in between.

The day was marked by an impending storm, which never really materialized, though it spit a little during my bike portion, and it made the grassy run course just a little slick. That's pretty much how the whole spring and summer has gone though. So it was an appropriate ending to my tri season this year.

I'm probably not done with these things, because they ARE fun.

Here are some fun photos from the day.