Weekend Recap

My weekend was filled with lots of fun things, that included cycling, visiting with family, more cycling, and eating yummy foods.

Sometimes training for a tri is not fun to do (ie waking up super early), but Jason is convinced that I love this stuff!  The alarm went off at 4:45 on Sat morning and I rolled over and shook Jason awake, for him to just give me the eye and say "you love this shit so much." Umm... I don't think anyone likes getting up that early on a weekend, but with the weather in the 100s, waking up early is really the only choice!

Lake Anna

We packed our car with our bikes and headed down to Lake Anna in the Fredericksburg, VA area. It took awhile to drive there and we made it to the lake by about 7am to start our ride.

I was a little nervous because there was no shoulders on the road, but the cars were super friendly to cyclists! It took my legs a bit to warm up, but once they did, it was a great ride. There was some rolling hills along the way (I only walked up one of them) and the weather actually felt better in this area. We stopped at about mile 34 to get a coke at a local little store and it tasted so good! I wanted to get in 50 for the day, but we only got 48 miles in. I know this is close enough, but those last little two miles really bug me!

Getting our bikes ready

Ready to start a ride in a new area!

Lots of Jason Bum and farm land to look at

 
After our ride, we headed over to my Aunt's and cousin house for a great visit! My cousin started a chicken farm (for eggs, etc) and I got a chance to feed some of the chickens... oh boy! 

I feel like I'm on a farm

 We got back into DC around 8:30ish and just happened to drive down 8th street and pass 32below on our way home! Umm... frozen yogurt .. I had to have some ...so good! 

All the toppings you could ask for

So yummy!

Buzz, Buzz, the alarm went off at 5:45 on Sunday morning. Originally I wanted to drive up to Columbia, MD to ride the Duthe2 bike course, but decided I rode enough hills on Saturday and would be fine with the course. Plus, I really didn't want to load the bikes back up and drive somewhere and waste precious time when the weather was still cooler!

So, instead I just rode up to the Mt. Vernon Trail, to 4 mile run, to some of the W&OD, then 2 laps at haines to get in 26 miles. The trails and Haines Point were annoying and leaving out the door at 7am proved to be too late. I almost crashed into someone as I couldn't clip out fast enough, but thank goodness I somehow missed disaster.

But, my big mistake of the day was eating an english muffin and eggs before my brick. I felt so so sick the entire time! I thought the feeling of wanting to puke would go away half way through the bike, but it never did. I pushed on anyways because I figured this is how your stomach can get in a race as well, so miswell learn to deal with it. I was pretty happy to see my house and ditch my bike after an 1:40 minutes.

The run actually started off great and I planned to do a 2 mile loop twice so I could stop back at my house for water. While running I ditched that idea thinking it's only 4 miles and decided to just run a 4 mile loop. This was mistake number 2 of the day. By mile 2 I was so thirsty and I felt like I was going to pass out! It was already pretty hot out and I thought the safest thing to do would be to walk. I really didn't want to pass out on a sidewalk by myself without an ID or phone or anything on me. I walked for about .75 of a mile and decided to just suck it up and finish the damn run.  My splits were not the best averaging in the low 9s except the mile I walked. It's ashame I wasn't smart to bring water with me because my legs actually felt ok on this brick. But, by the time I got home I felt dead!

I'm so tired

Kiwi is also tired from too much cycling!

 

Later in the afternoon, Jason and I went to lunch at Cava. We had lots of yummy food and I had a really good raspberry mojito. 

The rest of the day was spend napping, grocergy shopping, and cleaning. fun fun.

What was your favorite thing you did this weekend? Hope everyone had a great one!

Five Things Friday

1. I have seriously ate cheese and crackers every day for dinner this week except for one! Don't get me wrong I love cheese (obviously if I ate it 4 times this week), but it's getting old, and I'm getting hungry! I have had no time to go to the g-store this week and we have no food at home. Plus, I guess it's no secret that I don't know how/don't like to cook. And what did I eat that one day I didn't have cheese... I met up for dinner with other DC area tri bloggers at Surfside! It was a wonderful time filled with good company, food, and drinks. It was just all around an awesome night, but what night wouldn't be compete without ice cream! Chloe sums up the night pretty good over on her blog, go check it out!



With Victoria, Chloe, Steph, Erin, Emily, and Lauren

2. In my head I thought today was a rest day, until I looked at my schedule yesterday and saw run: 7 miles. Ok not a big deal, my alarm was set for 6am and my plan was to run right into work to save myself time in the morning. Shower - smower - who needs one right? I went swimming last night (does that count)? I got dressed and was all ready to go, but something in my just didn't want to go. I had a head ache, I was hungry (cheese will do that to you), I etc, etc, etc. Anyhow, completely dressed in my running clothes I just laid back down and slept until 6:45. And for the first time while walking to work this morning I didn't get jealous when I saw other people running!!! They did not look like they were having fun and looked hot as hell. Bad ass I am not today. I didn't feel bad that I had skipped my run either. Hopefully I will feel this way after work and not wine to Jason that I wished I had ran in the morning.

3. I see lots of cycling in my future this weekend! The plan is to go up to Columbia tomorrow morning and run/bike the Duthe2 course. I am usually the type of person who just looks at the course maps over and over again, but with my lack of cycling confidence, I want to bike the course before the race. Plus it's a good excuse to get a brick workout in. Then on Sunday I am visiting my cousins and aunt in Fredericksburg VA. But before the visit, I plan on getting in 56 miles of cycling fun on the Kientic half course around the lake anna area. I have a century coming up in Sept and have to start upping my miles. Can someone remind me again why I even registered for this?? Oh yeah I was jealous to let Jason ride it by himself.

4. I need a trainer and a bike rack for my car. Any suggestions?

5. I'm hoping my DC Tri Club gear comes in soon so I can wear it in my up coming races. I couldn't make it to the Happy Hour or race at Rocket's landing to pick it up. So, it will be coming in the mail some time. Hopefully sooner, than later though!

I hope everyone has a great weekend! Any exciting plans? And good luck to all racing!

Confidence or lack there of ...

Is it the end of the week yet??? Yep I think it almost is!! Yippy!

 

Anyhow, my week has been going pretty good except for my cycling! I'm in a cycling doom phase, meaning the thought of even riding makes me want to curl up in a ball and stay in bed. After last week at Conte's hills and my melt down, my confidence was a bit shaken. I couldn't make it to the group ride this week, but attempted some hills on my own instead. The ride was just as bad for me and I wanted to throw my bike down and cry. I don't necessarily want to cry because it's hard. I want to cry because I'm so slow and sucky and can barley make it up hills. Yes, I'm having a pity party for myself. I thought I was making some cycling progress since I started riding in late Feb, but now I feel like I haven't made any progress at all. Which I think that is the most frustrating part for me. Since my self confidence level is about zero right now on the bike it makes it really hard for me to ride. I know that with lacking confidence, I actually ride worse because of the attitude that comes with it. I am a big believer that if you have high self confidence in any sport that you will perform better. So, I really need to work on getting my confidence level back up to were it needs to be and keep getting on my bike even if I'm dreading it. Nothing gets easy without practice, so practice I will do.

 

On a little bit of different note... I swam at Wilson for the first time yesterday and loved the 50 meter pool! Hopefully with the longer pool, my swimming confidence will go up as well. I feel as if the 50 meters will give me a little more practice as to what 1500 meters will feel like without a nice comfy pool wall to push off of. I know I can swim a mile without stopping in a pool, but open water, with tons of other people around you is a whole different story. Ok, I just made myself nervous about my upcoming tri.

 

 

Happy Thurs All! Have you ever had your confidence knocked down a couple notches? If so, what do you do to build it back up?

Wordless Wen.

So my bike ride went terrible last night and I don't want to talk about it! Instead  I'm sharing some pictures from my vacation because these make me happy. More from the other countries to come next week.



Copenhagen, Denmark




Copenhagen, Denmark




Porvoo, Finland




Porvoo, Finland




Helsinki, Finland




Square in Helsinki, Finland




Being a nerd in Helsinki




Tallinn, Estonia




Handstand time in Tallinn, Estonia




Look out tower in Tallinn





More of Tallinn





Russian flair in Tallinn




Relaxing




On the streets in Tallinn





Awesome kitten mittens from Tallinn




in Stockholm, Sweden




Swedish Guards




Streets in Stockholm




Ice Bar, Stockholm .. yum!




Building in Stockholm




More streets views in Stockholm



Three Things Tues

1. I had a great weekend visiting lots of family in Philly. I had lots of laughs, good food, and just all around fun. I love my family and I love spending time with them, even if it's only for two short days. I forgot to bring my camera so I have to wait to get pictures from my sista.

 

2. I feel that since I got back from my vacation I have been in a training rut and have been having a hard time getting back on track. Or it may be the fact that life just got in the way and my weekends have been busy leaving me with no time for long bike rides or runs. And I guess that is part of the fun of training for me...all the juggling to fit everything in! It would be great not to have to work during the day and have all the time in the world to workout, but it's fun being busy and trying to squeeze workouts in here and there. Anyhow, back to the point, I was feeling disorganized. I made a spread sheet two weeks ago, but it seems hard for me to follow. So, I went old school yesterday and just got a planner and mapped about my next 4 months of training on that :)

 

 

3. I really need to add some core work to my schedule because as of right now I'm not doing any, which is so bad! I really need to find the time to start doing this 3 times per week. I'm thinking lunch time would be perfect in my office's little gym. A half hour is all I really need, which is perfect because this is how long of a lunch I get. 

 

Happy Tues All.

The weekend is almost here ....

I will start of with my disappointed last night at the pool. As I pulled into Fairland's Sports and Aquatics center yesterday and saw the lot filled with cars I knew I was in trouble! Parking lot filled means there is a swim meet going on! My suspicions were confirmed when I entered the building and saw all the parents swarmed around the pool. I thought no biggie, maybe they will be done by the time I'm done coaching gymnastics and I will have the chance to swim in a 50 meter pool instead of a 25. Well to my disappointed the meet was still going on, which made me a sad girl. My swim is by far my weakest event in the tri and missing a swim for me really hurts! I'm going to Philly this weekend, and I have been looking at pools to swim at, but without a car I'm pretty limited. So, I do have my suite packed, but I may be stuck swimming in my hotel pool. I guess something is better than nothing.

 

No swimming last night, did however mean I could go to bed at a somewhat decent hour of 10:45. And guess what ...I did it .. I finally got my be-hind up this morning and did something! I wanted to get a short brick in because I have been lacking in the brick department and my duathlon is right around the corner. My alarm went off at 5am and I was out the door 15 minutes later. But man oh man, even at 5:15 it was so humid and hot that you felt like you were sitting in a sauna!! I had time for a quick 14 miles which meant a shot ride to haines - 2 laps - and back home. I'm still feeling out of cycling shape and don't know if this milage really helped me at all?

 

Once I got back, I threw my bike in our shed, changed my shoes, and I was off. I only had time for two miles and was happy that I was able to hold a 8:40 pace in the heat.

 

This left me with 20 minutes to shower and get the rest of my stuff together before leaving for work. I was still over heated and sweating and my two mile walk with my big weekend bag was not that fun!

 

But, you know what? It's Friday and I already have my workouts done :) At 5 o'clock I will be on my way to Philly to visit my family. I'm pretty excited!!!

 

Hope everyone has a great weekend! Good luck to everyone racing this weekend!

Three Things Thurs

1. This week is just one of those weeks for me. Nothing seems easy about it and I can't seem to pull myself together to get motivated! It's like all these races are looming over my head and with each workout I skip, I worry that I will not be able to finish them. Trying to fit a workout in is not always easy or fun. Usually I make up a workout schedule in my head for the week and don't have a problem sticking to it. But, my excuse this week is really a big lack of sleep. I have been having to stay up till 12 all week for one reason or another and getting up at 5 / 5:30 is just out of the question for me. My body likes 8 hours of sleep and even though I'm not getting up to work out, I still have to be up at 6:30 to make it work on time. Tonight tells the same tail. I will not get home till 10 from swimming, then I have to pack for my Philly trip. Which means another late night. I know everyone sacrifices something to fit a work out in and I know am just complaining here. I just hope when my alarm goes off tomorrow morning that I can get myself out of bed and onto my bike for a short brick workout. I guess sometimes I wonder why we put ourselves through all this?

 

2. To go with the theme of #1. I'm going to keep complaining. Something around my right hip has really been hurting me. It has actually been a problem since about 09, but seems to come and go. One would think that I would go and have this checked out, but I haven't. During a ½ marathon in fall of 09 it was hurting so bad with every step that I took,  that I ended up having to walk the last three miles of the race. Even though I was walking, it still hurt with every step and tears were rolling down my face. This is the only race I have walked in, and as other runners went flying past me I felt defeated and that I had given up. Jason saw me from the side lines about 200 meters from the finish line and he jumped in the race next to me. We ran side by side to the finish as he was cheering me on! I loved that he was there for me and pushed me to build up the courage to run through the finish instead of walking. Once I finished, I started crying because I was in so much pain, but also because I was happy that I actually made it to the finish! I guess long story short is, whatever this problem is, it seems to act up with I really start over doing it on running. Which is odd because I haven't running really that much at all. It started to hurt again while on vacation with all the walking I was doing and seems to have gotten worse since I have been back.  

 

Finishing up a painful race .. but I was still smiling

 

3. To turn my focus off of tri-ing, I hosted a block happy hour at my house last night. I had lots of yummy food for everyone to eat to include: Cheese, grapes, apples, and crackers || Humus and mini breads || veggie plate || chips and salsa || cookies || and Swedish meatballs. Actually I had too much food, as I usually over do it at parties because I never want to be that host that runs out of food. It was a great time and some of our neighbors stayed over till 11:30 or so.

 

 

Do you ever keep pushing yourself when you know you probably shouldn't be? Happy Thurs All!!!

Conte's Hills ... where to begin.....

 

I don't even really know where to begin with this post...I have been planning on going to Conte's hill ride for some time now, but for some reason or another have never been able to make it until last night!

 

I was pretty excited to go to this ride and I basically knew I was going to get my ass handed to me on a plate, because I suck at hills and never really ride any. Hence why I want to do this ride. Jason was also joining me on this ride to help him get ready for the back roads century that is full of fun hills.  

 

Once Jason got home from work we had exactly 1 hour to make it Conte's and about 9.5 miles of city / trail riding to get there. Once I hit Curtis trail (which is also filled with hills) I was already struggling! At one point when the trail is at it's steepest I even walked by bike and felt like I big looser. I wasn't feeling the ride at all on the way over! Plus, we weren't exactly sure how to get there and I was getting pretty frustrated and wanted to turn around. I stopped for about 5 minutes to catch my breath and decide if I wanted to be a wimp and turn around and go home?? I really honestly thought about it, but thought that would be a stupid decision since I was almost there and Jason really wanted to do this ride. I kept looking down at my watch and the minutes were just clicking away with no Conte's in site. I'm thinking to myself when in hell are we going to get here, and that I'm already tired and am not going to make it on this ride.

 

We finally rolled up to Conte's at 6:25. As stated before I was already pretty tired from my commute over and said to Jason, "I'm not doing the ride, and I'll just wait for you by the store." But then my pride, or the fact that I get jealous when other people do something and I don't took over and as the B group rolling, I took off with them and stayed in the very back!!!

 

The first few miles were fine and I was having fun riding with the group. I was glad that I decided to come alone and not be a baby and stay back. But, then, umm, there came the hills! I'm not a strong cyclist to begin with and I certainly am just about the slowest person to ever ride up a hill. I looked down at my gps and saw 7 mph! I wanted to laugh because I was riding so slow. Some straggler biker said something to me, I'm not sure what? as he went zooming past me on the uphill. I could see the group getting farther and farther out of my distance, but I stuck with the hill and wasn't going to let myself walk up. Slowly and I mean slowly I made my way to the top and I was really sucking wind hard and thought my heart might jump out of my chest. But, yippy a down hill! This repeated for awhile until I had no clue where anyone else went?

 

I finally saw Jason standing by the side of the road and I was mad that he had dropped back and waited for me. I had told him several times, not to worry about me, and to continue to ride. He thought the group went one way, but we never saw them and thought it would be a good idea to just turn around before we got really lost. We had no clue where we were going and I yell out, "I should have just stayed at the store and I'm sorry for ruining your ride." Jason shots back in a nasty tune of voice, "I agree, you ruined my ride! " It is at this point I pull over and got off my bike and start crying! I was already emotional from not being able to keep up, and truly felt bad for wrecking Jason's ride. I had myself a small one minute pity party and jumped back on my bike. I slowly made my way back to the store getting lost a couple of times and having to do a couple of u turns and what not.

 

Total distance rode during Conte's semi ride was 10 miles. Which I guess is just 3 miles shy of the B group.

 

This ride was just terrible to me, from the horrible commute there which somewhat trashed my legs to even harder hills once I got there. There was nothing fun about yesterday and while I was riding I was thinking that I wished I had never signed up for another race that included cycling or hills! I was even a baby and rode the metro home with my trusty bike sitting next to me.

 

But you know what, I will be there next week and the week after that. I don't think it will get easier, but maybe I will get faster?  

Three Things I'm excited for!

So instead of complaining about how hot, humid, and sucky the weather is here in DC, I'm going to write about a couple of things I'm pretty excited for!

 

1. On National Running day I registered for the San Jose, Rock n' Roll ½ marathon. One of my best friends, Jessica, moved out to Monetary, CA back in June and I haven't had a chance to visit her yet. She had already registered for this race and it didn't take much convincing to get me to sign up for it as well. I have never done a rock n' roll series race, nor have I been to this part of CA. So I'm pretty excited for both, but I am mostly excited to spend time with Jessica and be able visit and run with her! It's going to be a great weekend and we both hope to PR on the half.

 



With Jess after the National Half

 

Nice flat course to PR on!



 

2. I just registered for my first 70.3, ironman mooseman, taking place next June 3rd. I know it's basically a year away, but if you registered this week you got a discount and got to save some moola! and saving money is always a good thing! I was looking to do my first 70.3 this fall, but couldn't find any that fit my already busy race schedule, so I settled on this one based on location and hopefully not boiling temps that time of year. Although the bike course looks like it's going to be pretty hard. And on a side note, I don't know if I would have ever registered for something this hard if I didn't start reading everyone else's blogs. So Im not sure if I should thank you guys or hate you guys?

 

 

3. I'm going to Philly this weekend for a small family vacation! My family is flying in from Ohio and Jason and I are taking the Amtrak up on Friday. I'm really looking forward to seeing my family as I have not seen them since Easter. And that is one of the down sides about living in DC. I miss my family so much and wished I could spend time with them every week, not every couple of months. So to say the least, I'm going to have a great weekend!

Weekend Recap

My weekend started off great and slowly rolled downhill, with no one to blame for it except myself!

Sat, I had registered for an open water swim clinic that started at 8:30am. I gave myself an hour to get there since it was being held in Lorton, VA. Of course the traffic wasn't bad to my surprise and I made it there by 8, which wasn't a big deal. The clinic was great and I learned a a lot of good tips for sighting and not panicking while in the water. They had set up a 500 meter course which was 150 meters from the shore, so in my option it was an 800 meter course. There was seaweed and other gross stuff to get out to first buoy, but after that it was great!  If I wasn't out of swimming shape I would have done the loop 3 times, so that I got the full 1500 meters in. So I'm kindof mad with myself for not swimming more while I had the opportunity, but I still feel that this clinic was very helpful.

After the swim, I tagged on with some of the girls from Team Lipstick and went for a ride with them. This was really my first group ride and it was fun! Minus the fact the roads had no shoulders on them, but the cars seemed to be nice and went around us with no issues. It was nice to ride with a group and to ride somewhere new.

I was absolutely starving by about 4 since I think I was in the negative calorie rang with only eating breakfast. I had a taste for one of my favorite restaurants, Lauriol Plaza! Since Dupont is about 4 miles from my house and I didn't feel like taking metro or a taxi, I had the bright idea of trying out the capital city bike share program.

First off, they put a 101 dollar hold on your CC for 10 days to take out a bike! OMG, why?!?! This was fail number 1 for me. Fail #2: the bikes are the size of a horse and move like an elephant. No wonder I always pass people riding these bikes, it's because they don't move! Fail #3: I wore a short dress, so all of DC could see my goods as I rode across the city! What I did get out of it though is lots of laughs! I was laughing so hard most of the way because I felt like such an idiot. But overall, I think it's a great program because it gets people out there riding a bike instead of using a car, plus you don't have to worry about locking your own bike up.

After dinner I treated myself to a  pedicure :) It's nice to feel like a girl! Jason also got one with me :)

Afterwards, we went to Jack Rose's. I loved this place! It has a really sweet roof top deck and it was a great night out. What meant to be one drink after dinner, turned into 2, then 3, then so on! For some reason or another I knew I had to get up in the morning and do a long ride, but I stayed out till 1 in the morning.

The morning came and went and I stayed in bed most of the day. The only time I got out of bed was to move to the couch. I watched the Tour de France, IronMan 2010 world Championships, Final game of the Women's World Cup, and a movie.

Yes I wasted my entire Sunday because I stayed out and partied! I'm mad at myself for not getting my long ride in yesterday and I'm mad that I wasn't responsible enough to go home earlier. Not sure if it was worth it, but I did have fun!

How was your weekend? Do you ever just push your training to back of your mind and let yourself have fun knowing it's going to ruin your next days workout?

Random Friday

1. On wed it was raining cats and dogs and I didn't want to ride my bike home. I was scared to leave it in the parking garage, so I brought it up to my cube and had the pleasure of looking at my bike all day on thurs.

 

 

2. I finally registered as a USAT member because I'm so sick of paying that stupid $10 fee for all the races! I wish they would reimbursed you for the races you already signed up for.

 

3. Ever since vacation I have a sweat tooth and want candy, cookies, and ice cream.

 

4. I didn't get my first cell phone until my jr year of college (02). Yes I'm old.

 

5. I love cats, but I think everyone already knows that!

 

6. I hate birds! My parents have had the same bird since I was 7. It's still alive and I still hate it.

 

7.  I love popcorn! I will eat it for dinner sometimes and make myself sick because I always eat too much of it.

 

8. I have about a million nick names for Jason and never call him Jason except for on this blog or if I'm mad at him.

 

9. I have to sleep with a cover on, even if it's super hot out, but I always let my feet stick out the end of it.

 

10. I also have to sleep with a sound machine on.

 

11. I hate white shoes on guys! When I was single and someone hit on me, if they had on white shoes I didn't give them a chance.

 

12. I love history but can never remember any of it.

 

13. I wanted to get married in a castle and make everyone dress up like the 17th century.

 

14. My first night at college me and my roommate played on our computers. Can we say dorks!

 

15. If a good song comes on while grocery shopping, I defiantly start dancing.

 

16. I like the put an "ie" at the end of a lot of my words. Example, chips becomes chipies

 

17. I hate hearing people sneeze and cough, especially at restaurants.

 

18. I wish I was truly good at something

 

19. I used to collect troll dolls as a kid. Man what was I thinking? Those things are so ugly!

 

20. I peed my pants when I was 12 in a department store dressing room. My mom promised me she wouldn't tell anyone, but I found out when I was 19 that everyone in my family knew!

 

Happy Friday! Hope everyone has a great weekend! And good luck if you are racing!

Three Things Thurs

1. Jason is running his first half marathon the Baltimore Half! So this morning he joined me for his first training run towards the half :) I don't think he was too happy to be running at 6am, but we all know it's too hot to run later in the day. It was a beautiful morning out and it was so nice to have someone to run and chat with. Plus, it's a wonderful feeling that I have had positive influence on Jason and that I have motivated him to do something he probably would have never dreamed of doing on his own... a half marathon!

 

2. I still have post vacation blues and don't feel like being at work at all. This week has dragged on and on and we still have one more day!

 

3. I signed up for an open water swim clinic this Saturday. I am hoping that it goes better than my first one at Sandy Point a couple of weeks ago. I need as much practice in open water as I can get because this part of the tri scares me the most and my stomach still turns every time I think about swimming. My main goal is not to die or have to hold on to boat during the 1500 meter swim. So hopefully this clinic will help me get one step closer to that goal.

 

By talking about running or tri-ing have you had a postivie influence on others?

 

Back to Square One

So, as I get back to reality this week I realize that two weeks of doing basically nothing has really hurt my training. I not only feel like a fat sloth, but I also feel like I'm starting back at square one with my fitness level.

And on top of just feeling awful about myself, this weeks training is going less than perfect with the wonderful DC humid summers. I usually like to either run or bike in the morning, then do the other in the evenings. Well, yesterday was just way to hot to do anything, at least to me it was. So instead or riding, I played around on the computer looking at all my vacation pictures, went to the market, and was in bed by 9. Why did I skip riding, when I haven't been forever I haven't no clue? My excuse was and still is the heat!

This morning I was down at Haines Point by 6am to get 22 miles in. I was excited to be riding again, but my legs absolute hated me! Can we say out of shape! Great... how perfect!

And, I don't want to even talk about my swim on Monday night because it was terrible! My shoulders hurt and I felt like I did when I first starting swimming because I was having trouble making it 50 meters across the pool. I did manage to force myself to stay in the water long enough to get in 4 x 200 and 2 x 400s.

I am somewhat in panic mood and am worried that I may not be ready for my Duathlon and Oly tri August 7th and 15th. I have been training my ass off for I don't know how many months and I feel like it was all for nothing. Going back to square one is not a fun feeling at all... But I will try my best to stay positive... that's about all I can do right now.

So, in conclusion not training for 16 days equals a bad idea. But, do I regret going to awesome countries and having the time of my life. Absolutely not! This was such a great vacation!! I suppose my life will go on if I finish 5, 10, or 30 minutes slower than I wanted to at my races.



Copenhagen, Denmark

 St. Petersburg, Russia .. my fav!