Did you miss me?

Ok, don't answer that. Apparently I had the "grass is always greener..." syndrome because moving to a different blogging site was not as good of an idea as I thought it would be. I liked being able to track my workouts, but I never actually followed through with it. The other reason I came back is because I would get SPAM! Spam on my blog? I never got that on good ole' blogger! So I'm back, and I apologize for making you change your links again....for all 2 of you that read my measly little site.

So, I guess I could actually tell you about my workouts today. Captain Cartwheel, Dr. B and I went out to Afton to ride the monster hills. This was my first real ride out in Afton because my last attempt was with the team and it got cut short. Just so Captain Cartwheel doesn't have to re-live the events of the day, I'll just tell you that it involved a crash, bang, and a skid (or two..). Back to today's ride. Hills. Many, many hills. I was told by my ride-mates that the hills we rode were not even close to as long as the hills we didn't ride in the area today. I was thankful for that because I was done with the all the hills by the end of the ride! It was fun though, and I'm really glad we went out this morning. It was really nice to finally get out and do a long ride with other people. It has been lonely doing all my long rides alone. I really don't have anything interesting to talk to myself about. I think I just told myself I think I'm boring. Anyway, we rode 77 miles of hilly countryside and I felt pretty accomplished when we finished.

Today I tried a product called Carbo-Pro, and it is a flavorless powder that you can put in any liquid to add calories. I put it in my bottles of Accelerade since I need to figure out a way to pack more calories in during my rides without having to carry a sack of groceries with me. I really liked what Carbo-Pro did for my performance today. I didn't feel hungry, I had a lot of energy I know I wouldn't have felt on a such a long ride, but there is one side-effect that Captain Cartwheel warned me had happened to her when she first used Carbo-Pro. (Warning: The following is not for the faint of heart!) I can spell out what Carbo-Pro did to my body in three letters: G-A-S! Holy buckets. My tummy started rumbling and I think I realize now why I felt so strong on the bike. I did about half the work with my legs and the other half with my bum. I could have powered a jet airplane, and I'm really surprised I didn't launch off my bike! So, if you can handle it, I have some Carbo-Pro that I will not be using and you can have it! You may want to take some Gas-X first..just a suggestion.

Happy trails!

I'm moving....

...to a new blog site. I can track my workouts AND blog all in one! It's (hopefully) going to be fantastic. So, change your links to here: http://rhtriventures.sweat365.com/

Happy blogging! Enjoy the heat wave MN!

-Ms. R

BRRRRRrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.....

I heart the weekend, and I especially heart long weekends. Yesterday was Martin Luther King Jr day, and I have to admit that I didn't do anything to really celebrate the legacy and dream of MLK Jr. One of our security guards at work, Willis, asked me if I was looking forward to "Black Peoples Day," during lunch last week. I told him I was looking forward to having a day off because it is much too hard to work five consecutive days after all the time we get off from Thanksgiving through New Year's. Well, that and I heart black people. Willis agreed. I cannot get across to you how funny Willis is, so I am done trying. He is my favorite security guard, and he will always try to "steal" your food or iPod when you're going through the metal detector. Those kind of things are the constants I have a hard time living without. I digress...



This weekend was a long weekend and that is due to the benefit of working for the government. A big THANK YOU to the ten paid government holidays I get every year, YOU ROCKASAURAS! It was a good weekend to burrow under the comforter and stay in bed all weekend because it was (as Kimmi would say) brisk. I do have to say that Kimmi uses that word liberally and often describes an October morning as brisk and carries that on into February as far as I can tell. I am trying to teach her the meaning of COLD and FREEZING, but she has a certain affinity to "brisk", one which I will never understand. Again, I digress. Instead of staying in bed, which sounds extremely appealing right now, I headed up north to the cabin. Yes, I went outside! ::Gasp:: It was a good time though, we spent most of the day on Sunday painting my bedroom up there so now there isn't BRIGHT PINK paint in there anymore. Talk about a pink nightmare. That room was a little much to be desired. Yesterday, my dad, The Silent Fury and I went out on the snowmobiles for some trail riding. It wasn't all that bad outside, but when the sun went down we could definitely feel the temperature change. A tid bit nipply...

So, I haven't told ya'll the best part of my weekend! I went to my FIRST EVER Minnesota Wild game. The SF and I went with a fellow tri buddy, Boomer. Boomer and his wife have season tickets and super sweet seats. It was a seriously good time. I'm hooked! I can't wait to go again, which may not be this year because tickets are not exactly cheap. We were close up to the action and it was amazing. Those guys are like OGRES on SKATES! Anywho, my break is over and in turn, so is this post. Have a fantastic (short) week!

Imposter!

This post is dedicated to my dear friend, Easy Rider. ER, I appreciate your concerned email, and I admit, I am an imposter. It has been quite awhile since my last post, and I apologize to those of you who actually read this blog. I appreciate you checking back, and yes, to answer your concerns, I am alive!

I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season. It is always a whirlwind during the holidays, and The Silent Fury and I have decided we need to make a better plan for visiting the family. We spend most of our Christmas Day in the car traveling between his mom's and dad's celebrations. It is hard to please everyone, and I think next year we are going to have to please ourselves more than anyone. I have a genuine appreciation for what my parents went through when we were kids. I cannot imagine having to lug three rowdie children all hopped up on sugar around during the holidays.

So, Christmas was wonderful. SF and I wrapped up a couple of "gag gifts" for my parents. We gave my dad a used charcoal grill for the cabin. The best present was the gift we gave to my mom. We wrapped, in a GINORMOUS box, the deer head Mike had mounted from last year. It is, in all fairness, a really nice looking mount, but seriously, GROSS. I do not even want the monstrosity in my house, and so it currently resides in the garage. I can not help but feel bad for the poor little guy every time we park the car, he looks so sad. I am torn though because he tasted so good...mmmm...sommer sausage = DELICIOUS! Alright, back to the gift opening. We, and when I say we I mean 'I', convinced my mother that it was something really nice. She started opening the gift thinking it was a bird house or something she actually wanted. She lifted the lid to the box and SCREAMED and RAN INTO THE DINING ROOM! Her face was all red and she was breathing heavily and I could NOT STOP LAUGHING! Oh, it still makes me laugh! Of course this did not make her very happy, but she was a good sport about it. I know she is going to be pretty skeptical anytime she opens a gift wrapped in a large box. I cannot blame her. SF and I just wanted to give her something nice to hang over the fireplace at her new lake home, but apparently she does not agree.

In other news, my parents bought a new lake home and we all went up there after Christmas to go snowmobiling. There is only one way to describe that place: A-W-E-S-O-M-E! My mom would move up there today if she could, but there is something called responsibility that she has to take care of first, and then comes retirement. Soon enough Ma, soon enough...

The Silent Fury and I went up to the cabin to meet up with the fam the friday after Christmas. I was super excited because my brother, A-Dizzle, and sister-in-law, L-Dawg, had just bought a new snowmobile, and I couldn't wait to see it. SF and I got to the cabin around 9pm, just in time to see the crew (consisting of my cousins, brother and sister-in-law) off on the sleds. They were going to go out on a night ride so L-Dawg could get some bonding time with her new sled. I got to glance at her new ride only briefly through the window, and then they were off to the trails. My aunts, cousin, dad and SF dove into a rousing game of Zioncheck after the crew left. It was not a full 30 minutes later, we got a call from my younger brother from the trail. My sister-in-law had an accident with her new sled. She had hit a tree and totaled her sled. They were not sure of the extent of her injuries, but she was conscious and somewhat responsive. It was quite possibly one of the worst phone calls to get. Albeit, it is not the worst phone call we have received in my family, it is definitely in the top three, ok maybe it is number two.

Anyway, my parents and I drove down to the mouth of the trail where the accident occurred. L-dawg had hit a tree about 3/4 mile from the highway on the trail. The first we got to see her when the paramedics were pulling her off the trail on a stretcher. This was not any normal stretcher though. They had a big machine that looked like a snowmobile trail groomer, and I have attempted to find a decent picture of one, but I cannot. I am not making this up, seriously, trail groomers do exist, I just cannot prove it. Anyway, the trail groomer thing had her strapped-in on the back and she was harnessed down to a body board and in a neck brace. They put her in the ambulance waiting on the side of the road and shortly took off to the hospital. A-Diggity road to the hospital with one of the Sheriffs and my mom.

There were about three or four Sheriffs out at the scene, two on snowmobiles and another taking pictures of the accident scene and another that was....ok maybe there were only three. My younger brother drove L-Dawg's sled up to the mouth of the trail by the highway so my dad could come back and pick it up with the trailer. The Sheriffs that was documenting the scene, took out his flashlight and shined it on the sled. I could not believe what sat in front of me. The sled did not look like she should have survived. When I took my snowmobile safety course, they showed us pictures of sleds from accidents where the drivers were being careless and were drinking and wrapped their sled around a tree or a sign post or rolled it or whatever and only a couple had survived their accidents. That is what L-Dawg's sled looked like. I still can not believe it.

L-Dawg's accident was not due to her being careless, reckless, or driving too fast. It appears, from the tracks left from the accident, that she took a wide turn, her ski got caught off the trail and the rest of her snowmobile followed. She hit the tree before she had time to react. L-Dawg, after spending the weekend in the hospital, is going to be ok. She faired with a broken arm, two broken ribs and bruised liver, and will be going in tomorrow to have surgery on her arm. That is my exit call. I need to give her a ringy-ding-ding and wish her luck tomorrow. Until next time!

Ouchie! My Bum!

Yes, as the title of this little rambling lets on, I will be talking about my bum. Alright, alright, before you get too grossed out, I'm not going to go on about the workings of my fine little tushy, but rather my fantastic gluteus maximus. I heart my gluteus maximus, a lot. That puppy helps me grind up hills, power through snow drifts in the morning, and provides a nice amount of cushion to sit on all day long at work ( and in the off-season, maybe a little too much). Thank you gluteus maximus. I don't know where I would be without you, other than not fitting into my pants.

Ok, you may ask where the h3ll I'm going with this business, but I assure you I do have a point here people. On Saturday I paid (and yes I did pay a pretty penny) a visit to my massage therapist. I heart her a lot. As you have probably read before, she has the hands of the Incredible Hulk. Instead of turning green when she is angry, she takes it out on your body during a massage... Ouchie! So, back to Saturday. I had the impression that Terri would be working mostly on my lower back and pelvic area because I had once again successfully thrown my hips and lower back out of whack shoveling the weekend prior. Yeah, I know, I'm that good. So Terri went through her normal routine and it was time for me to flip so she could work on my backside.

::flip::

My back had the usual knots that Terri dug her elbow into, and then she got down to my aforementioned bum. Holy Jesus, Mary and Joseph did that woman find treasure (please people, get your heads out of the gutter!!). I have never been dealt such pain from that woman in all my visits! It felt worse than the time she worked on me after I crashed my bike into a fence (yeah, we'll save THAT story for another time...). I was whimpering, SHE MADE ME WHIMPER! It was a good thing it was a Saturday and no one else was in the clinic to hear how pathetic I sounded, it may have been embarrassing. Trudging through the snow to the bus stop has done a number on my fantastic gluteus maximus. My apologies to my bum for the abuse the past few weeks! I hope you can forgive me, but mostly I hope you can forgive Terri. She means well...

On the Verge...

...of another season. Last night was the mentor workshop for Team in Training. It was really great to see everyone again. Well, by saying that, it sounds like I haven't seen most of my teammates since last season which is not true. I have actually seen most of them over the course of the short off-season that we have had thus far. I guess that is a testament to how good a group of friends we have all become. I am excited for the season to begin, although I really am enjoying the unstructured time off that is the off-season.

I think we have a really great group of mentors this year that is anchored by a crazy and fun coaching staff (a little bias there, I know!) and such a fantastic and supportive staff at the LLS offices. I know I am extremely thankful for how supportive the staff were to me last year and I can expect the same stellar performance this year. Recruitment starts soon and I am especially psyched for that. (AHEM! Yes lady friends of mine that complain about not seeing me once the season starts, I'm talking to you!! Want to spend time with me? SIGN UP! hehehe) There is no better feeling than knowing that you helped someone make the commitment to join the team and accomplish something bigger than themselves. Awesome.

There are always the downfalls of the season... Raging hunger (ugh, I get tired of eating and bored of the food I cook), no time to do anything but eat, train, work and sleep (and eat and eat and eat and eat), missing all my favorite tv shows (good thing the writers are on strike!) and just generally feeling like I'm missing out on all the good weather up at the cabin (yes my family feels left out too). Oh, and I forgot to mention that I'm not ready to hear from everyone again, "must be hard to eat whatever you want." and "I don't know how you do that. I can hardly drive that far!" I think that is by far the worst part of training and/or being and endurance athlete, having to constantly explain yourself to people that just don't get it and probably never will. Their loss right?

Now that the season is upon us, I really need to kick my fund-raising into high gear. I feel like I have been slacking, but I suppose that is because I have been. At the meeting last night, I picked up some TNT stationary so that is added motivation to get my letter written and send it out. For some reason, not many people have been responding to my emails. Hm...harass them at home it is! hehehe

Alright, I am going to go and not do core work with Mr. Fury...something about coaching and needing to be in shape. Yeah, I know right? Blah, blah, blah...

M.I.A.

Ever since I hurt my back, I have been a major slacker. I felt better after a couple massages, a bottle of advil liquid tablets and making friends with both the ice pack and heating pad. Since October I have gone to one swim class and ran twice. I am a bum. This usually happens around the holidays so it's not unusual given my history, but I really need to step it up. It's not going to help that there's going to be a good amount of food on the table come Thursday. I heart turkey and mashed potatoes and green bean cassarole and gravy and corn and salad and more turkey and more potatoes and more gravy and bread and pie. Of all the tasty Thanksgiving treats, I do not heart stuffing for sure. I helped my grandma make it and I haven't eaten it since that nasty tradition started. I don't care if there are no turkey parts in it all you no turkey parts stuffing makers. Whenever I see the abomination, I cannot help but think of my 8-year-old self stuffing turkey liver, heart and neck into the meat grinder. S-I-C-K! Alrighty then, I will leave you with that pretty visual. Happy Thanksgiving!