corporate cycling challange!

Well we did it! the Nuggets went to the Corporate Cycling challange yesterday and we rocked!!
We got downtown about 715 (some of us earlier than others...some of us forgot our water bottles!) and met at Susie's garage..headed down to registration and grabbed some bagels and bananas for the road. We headed down to the starting line a little after 8am...and they hadn't actually started yet...there were TONS of people so i was a bit nervous with my feet clipped in..but managed to keep it on 2 wheels at the start, even with the tandems and the chairs on wheels all around! (i packed bandaids to ward off the falls!) the weather was awesome for our ride! the 1st part of the ride was quite bumpy! all sorts of holes in the road as well as rough train tracks! lots of people were pulled off on the 1st couple of miles fixing flats! we got lucky on the ride up and didnt have any problems...the road was pretty flat for the 1st part of the ride...until we got closer to ft calhoun on the highway then we had some hills to contend with...but none were too horrible that I felt like I couldn't do..we rolled into ft calhoun and regrouped. had to wait forever to pee...but other than that everyone was feeling good! Leaving ft calhoun there was quite a hill going out of town...but we all survived it pretty well too! the next several miles were rollers, that were a lot of fun and the scenery was awesome! we seriously got lucky with awesome weather, nice and cool and breezy, not too much wind.
We regrouped again back at the highway and then headed down and up of course for a while on our way back towards north O. Met back up with Jeremy and Mike and then while back on Abbott Drive i started to feel my left hip cramp up...this is pretty normal for me, my hip really aches a lot of the time i ride or run but this was becoming unbearable...i tried to ride thru it...unclipped that leg a couple of times and shook it out but nothing seemed to be making it better, then all of a sudden my knee started to cramp along with it...it was getting so bad i could barely push down on the pedal without a shooting pain down my leg from my lower back all the way down to my knee..the boys had pulled away from us again, and we saw them up a head with what looked like a flat tire...as we got closer the pain was unbearable and when we caught up I had to jump off my bike and lay down in the grass and have Donny stretch my hip and thigh...I was able to get up after a few mins but was still pretty sore...Jeremy finished fixing his flat and we headed out again...I had to take it pretty slow, with about 5 miles to go I was still hurting...about 2 more miles and I had to start unclipping my left leg and pedaling with just my right becuz i couldnt stand to push down on my left leg. after about 2.5 miles of that we finally reached the end! (after going back over the train tracks and bumpy road!)
Rebecca and I were lucky enough to run into the massage tables and got a quick massage...while the others went to get the cars! Donny came back and picked us up and we headed to Jazz for lunch with the Nuggets! Other then the hip and knee problems the ride was awesome! had a lot of fun and loved the route! Hoping to get this mess with my hip and knee figured out so when we get back from Portland we can head out on the hills again!
Tonite is going to be a light swim and the hot tub for me, before I start packing!

"taco riding" our own way!

Last night was a blast! we had the whole group of nuggets over for a nice easy trail ride on the west papio trail. got in about 17 miles and then headed back to our house for an awesome meal of tacos..and yes...we actually got to eat! we had tacos, made by yours truely, guac that was awesome,made by Rebecca, yummy roll ups made by Susie, saffron rice made by Adrian, and Carrie brought our dessert yummy chocolate chip cookies...are you seeing the theme here..yum yum yummy!
today Rebecca and I met for swimming...the pool was quite murky today..something was up with the filter in the pool..so it was a bit sketchy...but we made it through. I was working on my "talk to the fishes, listen to the fishes" not sure i do it exactly right...but it will get better with practice i'm sure! we did our 500 meters and then kept going for a bit for a total of 700.
Sunday is the corporate cycling challange..hoping for no falls, and everyone to make it safe and sound! can't wait!

ok guys tell me if you get this

experimenting with sending this to you...let me know if you got it!!

running AND swimming

well today Rebecca and I decided to go big or go home!! we hit the treadmill for a 2 mile run (did some intervals with hills) then jumped in the pool for our 500 meters. I tried the "talk to the fishes listen to the fishes" i'm not quite sure how often to breathe but i did feel like i was going faster! my goal is to definitely be able to go all 500 meters without stopping...i didnt stop too many times just a few breaks here and there...but managed to finish in about 22 mins for the swim and 20 mins for the run. all in all not too bad of a workout. hip is a bit sore this evening though.
tomorrow is our make shift taco ride...we're starting from our house and riding around zorinsky and back...

my 2nd spill

so the nuggets went riding this last sunday. we met in Bennington at the school and headed towards Waterloo. It was a gorgeous ride! Adrian saw a large deer up close and personal, luckily they both missed eachother! We got to waterloo and got some snacks and then headed back..on the way back after the bitch of a hill i had one foot clipped out and had moved over on the side of the road but before i could get the other foot out i took quite a tumble...bruised and scraped my left knee and bruised my arm. ugh. you live and learn right? it was more embarrassing than anything! but we went 26.1 miles burned about 1011 calories and we all made it back safely!

the day before donny,becca,susie and i hit the pool at 24 hour fitness for our 500 meters, it went really well. i tried to do some underwater swimming. i 've got a long way to go on that one! but at least got some practice in!
last night did some cross training with step class, however the ac wasnt working so it was pretty hellish in there but we made it! taking today off and rebecca and i are swimming tomorrow!
this weekend sunday is the big corporate cylcling challange...42 miles of fun! i've heard rumors theres going to be like 4000 ppl riding! pretty scarey! hopefully they dont knock me down!
my hip and knee have been bugging me a bit this week. probably becuz of my fall, so i've been icing. i ordered some shoe lifts. im hoping they help with my hip! should be here in a week or 2.

this week has been the 1st week of the olympics in bejing china. its soo cool to watch. i love watching the swimming with mark phelps kicking all kinds of ass! the best was the 400m relay when the frenchies were talking smack about beating the USA and then we ended up with the Gold! it was awesome to see!its also very motitvating while i'm training for the tri!!!

my training so far this week...

2nd try at swimming went really well..i bought a new suit that morning..not a tangerine one..but a speedo..its black and blue like a bruise but fits well!!! it was a little slower going and a little tougher after the 40 miler this weekend...but still not too shabby..finished 500 meters in about 22 mins...and kept going for a total of 600. Becca came with me and did awesome too. we had a little trouble with one lady in our lane that was sort of half ass jogging or standing there, but we seemed to manuver around her without too many troubles. note to self...120th gym is a lot bigger so i will plan to swim there as long as theres no aqua class! all in all it went very well and we rewarded ourselves with thai food!

yesterday was my cross training day..I did my leg weights...squats,lunges,dead lifts and then took kick boxing with Carrie. it was tough and i'm sore today so i'm going to take the night off..besides, i have to shop for Donny's bday! and then tomorrow its running time! not sure if i will do outside and try for 3.1 or if i will do inside and also do some weights . it all depends on how i feel tomorrow morning! hah

1st OFFICIAL RIDE

Last Saturday we headed out on the 1st official ride for our "bike team"!! it was me,Donny,Rebecca,Jeremy,Susie,Amy and Adrian. We're still trying to decide on our "official"team name...we've come up with things like "team shake and bake" then we changed that to the "black sheep squadron" our motto is now Shake and Bake!!! and we've also taken to calling our team members Nuggets...after our last not so successful "taco ride w/o the tacos"
anyway....our ride started at the butt crack of dawn...we fueled our bodies and got ready to ride...everyone was on time and when we got there they told us they had just ripped up the trail headed to harrison street so there wouldnt be a stop at the trek store, which was a bummer, but we made do..
we headed out... all together at 1st..the boys went off on their own a bit..kept a pace with susie and becca of about 15mph..not too bad...met up with the others about 13 miles in...
we kept going..got a bit off track. i was feeling pretty good with my new seat except for my hip was bothering me a bit..stopped at 19..but i kept going quickly so i would have 20! then it was time to turn around...we tried a pace line to keep everyone together becuz the headwind was horrible on the way back...luckily the heat wasnt bad at all though...
had to really push it back...pace line didnt relaly work out for us too well...so we kinda got all split up..i decided in the last 8 or so miles that i wanted to be done so i took off and kept a pace of between 18 and 23mph...it took about 3 hours and 9 mins and i burned about 1300 calories! yay!
all in all it was a great ride, lots of fun! we have our next one on aug 17th for the corporate cycling challange! tonite rebecca and i will do some swimming! i bought a new speedo! hee hee..though its not tangerine and its not gross like a guy's speedo..but i feel better swimming in that than in a bikini! hah
more soon...

swim training...

my 1st swim!! YAY!!! I did it!! our swim for the Tri is 500 meters..which i figured in the gym pool is 20 laps...well when i got there an aqua aerobics class was going on so i decided to join in with them...it was cake...but i figured a good warm up...and good becuz they stretched at the end...so after they cleared the pool i started swimming my laps!
I decided to just try and finish the 20 laps...time myself but not "go for time" just see how long it took me. I didn't do one stroke the whole time. i was doing the back stroke, side stroke, front stroke...you name it! but i ended up finishing the 20 laps in 17 mins! pretty awesome! i just swam continuously back and forth and didnt allow myself to stop! after the 20 was done I decided to keep going so i took a 2 lap breather with the floating device and swam til i had 32 miles! I met a lady named Chris who was swimming too and just talking to her while i did laps made it go quickly and in no time at all I had 800 meters (took me about 35 mins!) yay! so the part of the tri I was the most leary about i feel a lot more comfy with now! YAY! i know i have a long ways to go and its probably going to be 100% different in a lake..but now i dont feel so intimidated by it! Now...the run outside...thats my toughest part to conquer! But I CAN DO IT!!
tomorrow is our 40 mile ride (wear yellow ride for lance armstrong foundation) 2nd time in my clipin pedals so wish me luck! will let you know how it goes!