3 More Sleeps

Then it's Go time. Camp time. Tucson time. Fun time.

That is what i am calling it bc gosh do i know this winter has been rough.

A few goals for camp:

1) Do the work. That may mean the work is done at my own pace and that i take a bit longer to ride or run. Or i walk a bit or I stop before i fall into a cactus.

2) Dont break down mentally or physically. This is a fine line. I want to challenge myself and get in some good training but with the winter i have had and with the season SO young for me, my mind needs some " OH YEA! BABY!" wko's not some "OH BOY, WHAT DID I DO NOW?" wko's.

3) Smile alot and laugh with my buddy Kari.

*** wait, this just in...Kari and I climbing Gate's Pass 2010. I had a fabulous close up of Kari but i think she may hit me if i post it:)

4) Enjoy time with my hubby and my mother in law after camp at the post camp party south of Tucson. That's right folks, no Chris Harrison but there will be an "After the final wko" episode where i head down south to do some more riding and running and maybe even a swim in the 90 degree pools. Seriously. MY hot tub 84 deg YW will seem so wonderful then.

I love this pic. It's from 4 years ago, wow, when my bike team went to visit my mother in law and Rich had a women's bike team to accessorize his ride. What a great view, and this is where i will be after the work of Camp. Yes that is me on the far right. Holy Long dark hair!

That's all I've got for ya now, other than its raining cats and dogs and I hope all the snow is gone when i get home. Here are some pics from our ride this weekend:

Waiting.....

I am waiting for the thaw. I had hopes of riding outside today but windchill advisories and temps in the teens made that decision a no brainer. The only good thing about not riding outside for over 4 mos is that there is never any 30 min "get dressed, decide, assess, get too hot, get too cold, put heat warmers in your feet, but arent they too hot? pack fluids, will they freeze, what route, where is the wind? how long, do you have another Cross tire tube? I cant fix that in cold weather so who is coming to get me if i flat too far from home?...." blahblahblah.

Inside its just all about which WTA tennis match is on, or is it Davis Cup? or like today it was Top Chef and then a few Versus Reruns of cycling in Nice. Good times..

Friday we finally hit 40, and that lasted about 8 hours. They say we are hitting the 40's all next week so that means two things:

1) Operation Move everything out of the basement that flooded last year, ( race wheels)

2) GET OUTSIDE on my bike. I have permission to ditch any trainer wko for my cross bike. And i intend to take advantage of that more than once if possible.

We still have A LOT OF SNOW. I know some of you have lost your snow by now but i cant even open the back door bc of the snow and its literally piled up across the city. I heard friday that they had to "move" the snow at Parade Stadium to get it ready for baseball in April, but they werent sure WHERE to move it. That is insane. What about dumping it in the river? We are gonna flood like there is no tommorrow so whats some more snow?

Here i am icing my leg in the snow in front of our house. For scale you can see my green boot below. It's pretty easy to take a snow bath at my house.

And keeping it light and happy I am working to take each day as it comes, ice down as i can, and rest if i have to. Things are not 100% on the body front by any means but I am determined to let things play out and try not to be so stressed if they dont play out as i had hoped.

We all saw last week how quickly a life can be taken ( Sally) and like so many of you it stopped me in my tracks and made me think that my life is pretty darn good after all.

I am sorry for any of you that knew her, so sad.

I hope you all have a great weekend and that you arent waiting for dry ground as well!

Ok all the cool kids are doing it so...

A: 44

B: Bed ...KING and the best joke of all is that after Rich and I had just gotten married we got this sleep number KING bed. One night i said: "This is the best bed ever. It's like you arent even here." Yup, out of the mouth of a newleywed who has never shared her bed in 4o + years.

C: Chore i hate....cleaning toilets. So i dont do it. ( dont worry someone does)

D: Dogs? Ruby, but she is my parent's so technically no dogs. Yet.

E: Essential start to my day? brushing my teeth. I am married to an oral surgeon. enuf said.

F: Favorite Color? Tourquoise or Periwinkle Blue.

G: Gold or Silver? I like them both.

H: Height 5foot 8 and 1/2 inches. Yes I want it all.

I: Instruments: Piano as a kid. I never practiced bc I was playing tennis, so i quit after 7th grade.

J: Job Title, I have a few. Physical Therapist, and Wellness Fitness Expert :) I didnt make that up I am not sure who did.

K: Kids. Not of my very own. Rich has 2 kids and I am a step grand mom, with one more on the way. ha, yea that is funny to me too.

L:Live? St Paul, MN

M: Mom's name? Helen!

N: Nicknames, well I have had alot. "Toots" from my family ( yes, dont ask), "Pluto" from my tennis team in college, "JuJu" from some riding buddies

O: Overnight stays in the hospital, just with my hubby!

P: Pet Peeves. Barista's that have no clue on how to make a good cappucino. Foam people, its all about making foam.

Q: movie quotes. Oh boy i could write all day on this. " Careful....I have a beverage here..."

Ok that isnt really meaningful and i dont really care about the beverage but it reminds me of the Dude, and that cracks me up.

R: Rightie

S: Siblings. Two older sisters, and a younger brother.

T: Time i wake up? Depends but usually btwn 6 and 7 am. I am a solid 8 + hour a night sleeper.

U: Underwear? Sometimes..

V: Veggie i dont like? That is a tough one. Uncooked Brocoli is all i can think of. makes me burp.

W:What makes me run late? SNOW and ICE and WINTER in general.

X: xrays? Oh I think just about every extremity, and my jaw even when i played basketball I got knocked around good.

Y: Yummy food i make? My mom has this great recipe for honey mustard chicken and also turkey wild rice casserole. So i try.

Z: Zoo animal? Like y'all i love giraffes.

Recess Is over

Or is it?

Thanks to you all for your support and thoughts. It means alot to me to know i am not alone in some of the feelings I have been having. And despite feeling sad that i missed some fun "events" this past weekend I Really did the right thing. The only thing i did for 5 days was swim. Once, with no workout, no clock, no nothing. It was pretty darn nice. And when i woke up on monday morning i knew it was time to Test the Leg and I sorta had this "Hmm, how do i want this week to go?" thought.

What i mean by that is that I was ready to get back on the horse, but mentally I was not ready to get back on it and GO 100 MPH. So this week has been all about doing some easy stuff, and remembering that I am the one in charge here, I am the one who wants to do this and really really not stressing about workouts AT. ALL. And you know what? It's working.

Today i woke up and it was -5 and -16 windchill. Seriously? IT's March.

I do dumb things when the sun is out. I Wanted to go outside SO BADLY to run.

So I emailed coach just to say " You know I want to go outside but i think i should be smart and stay in, do you agree?" I got a one word reply: TREADMILL.

I laugh that i need to have someone keep me from hurting myself. But sometimes drastic weather causes me to go insane, see previous posts:) The other thing i have been doing is eating a substantially larger breakfast and lunch. I dont need to go into details on that unless you really care, but in looking at what was not helping me, we found that my diet was lower in heme protein than i think i need to add the strength into my SBR. So my old diet of lots of grazing all day long then a bigger meal at night has been altered to include a bigger lunch with more meat and more eggs, and also some supplemental drinks. I Am also drinking milk with dinner wheras in the past i was just drinking water or Kombucha. So far so good. I feel like a Taurus Bull :) Which i am, by the way.

So just wanted to say thanks and that it's nice to be honest on my blog and not have people say HTFU. I say that to myself way too much and in the future i am working on keeping this wonderful sport in perspective and enjoying it. Because I do. Alot. Just want to get this show outside. Sometime before June!