Monday is a rest day for me (from exercise – it tends to be busy with “real life” stuff), which means I don’t get a good head-clearing sweat session. Boo. Here are some of the things traipsing around in my brain:
- Today is the beginning of Week 2 of my Half-Iron training. Week 1 wasn’t the rousing success I was hoping for, but it wasn’t a suckfest, either. Pool workouts are going *ahem* swimmingly, with my “long swim” clocking in just a little faster than last week’s of the same distance. Yay! I got back on the bike after a few weeks off and it felt great – also yay! But the running…well, I’m not sure what to do about the running. My piriformis/hamstring troubles aren’t resolving themselves like I hoped they would. I can run a very short distance at a very slow speed without pain, which is certainly good news, but anything over two miles is still ouchy. And it’s tough because it’s so hard to tell if it’s the sort of pain I should run through or rest from. I feel like it’s getting better overall, so I’m going to keep on keeping on.
- I realized the other day that the Half I’m training for is called the World’s Toughest Half, aka WTH, as in, “WTH was I thinking, signing up for this???” Ha, ha!!
- I’m going on a bike ride this weekend with some people in my new TRI club!! I am very excited and more than a little nervous. I have ridden with IronHubs before, but I’ve never done any sort of a group ride and I’m not sure about group etiquette. Thankfully, this is a newbie group, so (hopefully) nobody will be too offended if I do something dumb.
- In honor of MLK Day, IronHubs and I took the kids out for a little community service and picked up trash around the creek trail near my house. We made it less than 1/8 of a mile before we had filled three trash bags – unbelievable! I live in the suburbs in an area of nice houses, but the creek trail is a walking path for lots of high school kids who apparently don’t know how to use a garbage can. What an object lesson for Big Boy and Little Boy! They were completely disgusted and dismayed by all the trash we found – I’d estimate we picked up about 15 pounds of junk. When we got home I
made the boys bathe in bleachreminded the boys to wash their hands and put our clothes in the laundry. Yuck.
Happy Monday!!
So cool about your tri club and group ride! I haven’t been riding at all. Need to get back to the club. Great job getting the kids out there–that pic is hilarious!
Way to go with the community service! And hang in there with the running. Hopefully your pain will go away so you can train to the best of your ability. I’ll think about you as I’m training for a half-marathon in 12 weeks.
Matt
go-smitty-go.blospot.com
Do you think it might make sense to see a medical quack/professional to rule out anything serious and to jump start your recovery? I’ve had success with ART on hammy/butt issues.
Great stuff with the community service! So good for the kids.
Glad to hear the swimming and cycling are moving along. One thing to consider on the butt issue–is your bike fitted perfectly? Sometimes that aggravates that area, even if you’re only feeling it on the run.
WTH – I love it!
Great job getting those boys out there for some community service. And good idea about the strong cleanse when they got home! 🙂
Here are my tips for riding in a group…if you don’t know the people that well, hang to the back or ride to the front. Those are the places where I feel safest with people I don’t know. In the front you don’t have to worry about the others as much and in the back you can watch to see who swerves while they ride, who has horrible pacing, etc. If you see a pothole or gravel call it out so those behind you know why you are moving over (one of the groups I ride with uses hand signals the other doesn’t.) Take a turn on at pulling on the front if it is windy, or at least offer. Most importantly…Have fun!
Fantastic way to teach your kids about community responsibility. Sorry about the Piriformis:(
I love that you guys did your very own community service!
I was just noticing how much trash was on the side of the highway driving home the other day. Even though it’s the highway, I still can’t believe it. Who are all these people throwing their trash on the side of the road? I mean, who does that?!
Group riding is fun. My guess is that a group ride full of triathletes is way more mellow than a group ride full of old school roadies.
Call out hazards, stay off the aerobars in a pack, take your turn in the paceline, all will be fine…
It’s sad how much trash is out there, but props to you for helping pick it up.
What a great way to spend MLK day!
We have a group here called the Trash Runners who end up with bagfuls of the stuff at the end of each run.
Riding with the newbie group will be so much fun and you’ll learn a ton right away. Don’t be scared! I still don’t know all of the rules of group riding etiquette but other riders are always more than willing to educate you.
What a great way to spend the day!
Your Half Iron training this season is going to turn you into a completely different and better athlete! I think the Half Distance really grows a triathlete up WAY better than the shorter distances.
Its gonna be a good season!
yay for community service! love when you teach them young!
looks like you’re right on track! go you! 🙂
that’s awesome that you did community service with your kids!!
Have fun on the ride! Love the pic of your family hamming it up. Awesome thing to do on MLK day!
What a great idea to take the family out to do community service together. That is a lot of trash!
Have fun riding this weekend!