Thru Endurance We Conquer!

I've started swimming with the local masters group in the mornings. Just Mondays for now, but I'll start going more frequently next year - Fridays and Saturdays as well as the Mondays. It's not that I need to swim more, it's just that I need to swim faster. I've been doing well with my three times a week, by my self, on the fly workouts, but I have not been pushing myself to swim faster. It's aways just at my comfort zone. It's really hard to swim fast without someone on your toes. Since I have to get up early on Mondays to get to work, it's a perfect way to start. Only issue - Mondays are IM days. That means plenty of work on butterfly, backstroke and breaststroke. It's good in a way, because working all four strokes provide even muscle development and better power for open water swimming. I just need to be careful. I swam fly and IM in high school and my shoulders get a little cranky some times. It is nice - I haven't been mixing it up like tha...

As I was working with a patient yesterday, I realized something. We triathletes use a lot of tools to make our lives easier that were origianlly designed for older adults. My patient was looking at my shoes and asked my what kind of weird laces I was using. I had a pair of shoes that still had the elasic laces I use for triathlons. My inital response was "well, it makes it so I can get my shoes on faster." Then I looked at her shoes - she had a pair of elastic laces that the OT had provided so that she could get her shoes on without help. That made me think of the compression stockings. I'll admit, I have a few pairs. I use them all the time while traveling, before and after races, and after hard workouts. I also use them while at work. Many of my patients also have compression stocking - not to reduce soreness and improve recovery, but to prevent swelling and blood clots. It's the same technology, just for a different function. So where will we get our next inspira...

Nick and I went for an night ride after I got off work yesterday. It went pretty good for being my first night ride all summer. I haven't had the need or desire to ride at night. I have plenty of lights and clothes, but just haven't felt like getting out after dark. I really need to practice more before 24 hours of Old Pueblo. That was the big thing that I noticed last year - my times slowed by about 15 minutes for the night laps, not because I was tired, but because I was taking it easy. Just not fluent riding at night and I didn't want to ride into a cactus! If I want to ride faster at night, I have to get out and ride - bottom line. I have to ride more after dark. I have to say, I really like the little Amoeba lights. They are so much easier to operate then the Nite Riders we use on the bars. It's just an on/off - no fancy setting that get confusing after 14 hours. I also like the fact that the light and battery pack both fit on my helmet. There are no cords to wor...

A happy Thanksgiving to everyone. I think that we all have much to be thankful for, including the ability to head out for a nice mountain bike ride with friends. It was a great day - Tracy, Fred and Mike joined me and Nick for a low key ride through Stratton and down Columbine. After the ride, the gang came over and shared dinner with us.That's the true meaning of the holiday - a time to get together with friends and family and reflect. It's always fun when we have people over. I get to try some new recipies, make some different dishes. I had a great time cooking - although the cheesecake did not turn out as well as normal. Also, thank you to Challenged Athletes and Operation Rebound. I've met some truely imspiring athletes through my participation as a fundraiser and am honored to be helping make a difference in their lives

I finally got my sewing maching up and running again. I'm all finished with my schoolwork, just waiting on the grades, so I needed something else to do. So I dug out my fabric and started playing around. I have had this funky bike fabric for a number of years, but could not figure out what to do with it. Well, I have a new tote bag now, in fun bright colors that will never get lost in the car. It wasn't that hard to do - I just needed to figure out the best way to do the side seams and the handle. This was the first draft. I will make a few changes to the pattern in my head and try again. I have plenty more fabric and once I get the lining and style perfected, then watch out!! I'm not sure that Nick is as impressed as I was. He just wanted to critique the bikes, make sure that everything was realistic. The road bikes were fine, complete with cables and everything. The mountain bikes on the other hand. He wasn't impressed with the design.

After already suffering from some major scuffs and dings on the my Truvativ Noir cranks, I was happy to accept sponsorship from Crankskins. They make high quality protection for crankarms and chainstays. I also really like the ability to personalize your bike through the different patterns and colors. Haven't gotten mine yet, but will soon. Need to figure out what colors I want! Visit http://www.crankskins.com/ for more information.

Nick and I dropped the Road Turtle off at Dee's RV last weekend so they could look at the furnace. When we did our test run in Pueblo, we were lucky that there was an electric hook-up, other wise it would have been a cold time. The furnace was blowing out air, but it wasn't warm. So we had to use the little heater fan we got at Target to keep warm. We were hoping that it wasn't an issue with the furnace, because the darn thing is so old that we would not be able to get the needed part. A new furnace would have been a little more money then we wanted to spend right now. Luckly, the darn thing was just dirty. The mechanics at Dee's pulled the furnace out and cleaned it, twice. After the deep cleaning, the furnace started blowing out nice, warm air. So we will have heat down in Old Pueblo this year. That is going to be such a nice change from last year - a warm, dry place to sleep, change and hang out. It will make the race so much better.