PIZZA, on the GRILL??

Yep! Rich and I found a cool recipe and thought we'd try it! It was AWESOME! Put the dough directly on the grill, when it starts to bubble, turn it over with tongs, and add toppings. Cook til the cheese melts. We put on home-made roasted tomato sauce, artichoke hearts, kalamata olives, salami, fontina and Parmesan cheeses. YUM!

Time flies...

Can't believe it has been almost three weeks since we posted last. Where does the time go? What have we been up to? After coming back from fruita and running the half marathon we settled into working and training. Karen did a off-road tri at the U, and OF COURSE.... FINISHED 1st in her age group!!!!!!!!! A little slow in the swim (another pool swim), but then put the hurt on everyone on the bike (in the mud) and ran very quick to smoke her age group peers and WIN!!!!!

We then took a trip to CT for a surprise birthday party for my mom, (age withh

eld) which was  a LOT of fun, though too short. 

Now back home we are back to training for a week. Put in most of the new garden on the side of the yard. Next week Karen heads to Moab for some fun and I have to work. Then Moab again for Memorial day? Whew. I'm tired. 

SLC Half Marathon and Bike Tour

Rich and I participated in the annual SLC Marathon events this weekend. An unusual turn of events, though - Rich ran and I biked! I've done the run for the past 4 years, one marathon and 3 half marathons while Rich was always spectating and chasing me around on his bike. This year, because I've been working on these sprint triathlons, I havent been putting in long run miles yet. Rich decided to do this half as a training run and I decided to do the Bike Tour for the fun of it. The bike tour allows riders to ride the marathon course with the streets being blocked off and no stops. It was a great training ride for me as it allowed me to just push a big gear and pedal hard for an hour and a half, building some strength. The start was a little hairy, though, and very cold. We got up at 4:30 a.m. as I had to be at the start by 6:00. Morning temp: 38 degrees. Brrrrr. I couldnt get over how many people were there! Wow, over 1500 riders all starting at the same time - a little chaotic to say the least. The ride started off on a slight downhill stretch for a couple of miles, causing some teeth chattering and shivering, but once we got to Sugarhouse Park and I was able to push a big gear up a couple of hills (re: working hard to create warmth!) I started to thaw out. It turned out to be a lot of fun. Rich ran a great race - finished in 1:35, a pretty quick pace, although, he was not finished there! His training program called for a 3 hour run that day so he decided he would just continue running back to the car at the start. He added 8 miles for a total run of 21 miles. I couldnt believe it - the "after run" was all uphill to the car - what an amazingly strong guy he is! I rode along with him on my bike, I'm not supposed to admit it but on the really steep ups, he beat me up the hills! Lame! :-) Haha. Ah, well... We got home by 10 a.m., couldnt believe it was ONLY 10 a.m.! We put our jammies back on, made coffee and read the paper - starting the day over...

Gettin Old

Another snowy weekend here in the Wasatch. While it has been other worldly for the skiers, for those of us trying to train for summer activities it has been difficult.. to say the least. Maybe I am gettin too old to drag my sorry ass out there to train, but I WANT TO WEAR SHORTS!!!!! Having the worst run I can remember on saturday (snowing, 40, hip pain at 8 miles, walking alternately at 10, only 13 miles in 2 hrs... boo who, cry, wine...) left me with little motivation for a nice day on sunday to ride for more than 1.5 hrs. I went home and rode indoors for another watching Flanders. The only way for me to explain it is I am old, well maybe I'm a sissy too, but I'm sticking with old. Being old though, has given me a renewed desire to train hard, get out there so I can get this Ironman thing out of the way. So this week, I will get my 15 hours in....regardless. Anyone for 4 hour ride this weekend?

rk

Icebreaker Triathlon

I can say that I love races. What I particularly love about them is the scene, the people, the energy. I love the camaraderie that accompanies each race no matter how different they are, no matter what level you race at. There is something about that early morning rising anticipating the day that really appeals to me. This race was no different. This was my first "real" triathlon. I have done multisport events before and even did the Turkey tri last November - but that one was backward so it doesnt count as a "real" tri. What is real? Swim - Bike - Run.
Good friends Eli and Eddie did the race as well. Actually, I can blame Eli for getting me into all this craziness! :-) What a great thing to have friends at the races who are supportive and encouraging and who you can laugh with and celebrate with. I would also like to give a big thanks to Kathy for all her support and her awesome photos that allowed me to chronicle the experience. And of course love to Rich, who was on call so couldnt be there, but he was greatly helpful and supportive, and of course bought me some really fast new wheels! heehee. :-)

Early rising - but not too early as the race had a generally late start - 9:00 am. Contemplating the amount of coffee I should drink, the amount of water and trying to settle my nerves. My nerves are not in my head, I am feeling calm and ready, but my body is telling me otherwise... my stomach gurgles and I have to use the bathroom too many times to count... yep, definitely nerves. We arrive at the venue and enjoy an amazingly beautiful morning. The sun is rising over the mountains, there is a hot air balloon floating effortlessly... a good sign indeed. After setting up my transition area I head off to get my timing chip and body marking. There's something really cool about having those numbers written on your arm and leg.

I head to the pool to get some warm up in, knowing that I will have to warm my lungs so I dont get asthmatic in the pool or get my heartrate up too high so that I have difficultly breathing (something that happens to me when I exercise)... after warming up and waiting, waiting, waiting, freezing, freezing ... for the race to begin we are finally lining up for the swim start. I notice that I am surrounded by a bunch of big guys, and I'm feeling a little nervous! (check out the photo of "me and the guys") We get in and I am literally swarmed by big, clumsy men swimming all around me! They were like bulls in a china shop and were swimming up over my legs, smacking me along the sides, and then getting in front and kicking up the water like crazy - definitely not finesse swimmers! then one starts swimming breast stroke, taking up the whole lane! Grrrrrrrrr. Needless to say, I was so uncomfortable that my heartrate started rising, I couldnt catch my breath and my swim was awful. I ended up stopping at the end of the lane to let them all get past me because they were
such a nuisance! I'll be curious to see what my swim time ended up to be (official results are not on line yet). I'm sure it wasnt the 7:00 - 7:20 time I log in the pool all by myself!!

Well, having survived the swim, I made my way out into the cold to the transition area. It was around 35 degrees at this point, but my adrenaline and warmth from the swim carried over and I didnt feel cold. I added layers, took the time to actually put on two shirts, a jacket, a pair of tights, a cap, gloves, socks and shoes! Riding it sub 40 degree weather is COLD, especially when you're wet, and I didnt want my time jeopardized because I wasnt warm. A warm body functions much more efficiently. Although, I'm not sure wearing one's tights backward helps! Of course, in my haste, I put on my tights backward, which I didnt happen to notice til the run... oh well, I dont think it slowed down my bike any. I love the bike. I am a bike rider, and it felt like freedom getting on that bike after that ridiculous swim. As soon as my legs started turning the pedals I felt joy and normalcy and that made me smile. I feel so out of place in the water that this was like coming home and I needed it at that point. The course was pretty easy, only one long hill up and the rest was flat or with a bit of a downward slope - made for a fast and fun ride.

The run was just as great, the transition was smooth and my legs felt strong. By now, it's sunny and quite pleasant, although still probably only 40 or so degrees. Finished strong and feeling great in one hour, nineteen minutes. 1:19 - good enough for first place in my age group. Now.... what am I going to do about that open water swim in June?? :-)

March Madness

No, not basketball - just a very busy month! :-) Have been enjoying the spring weather, as Rich said, watching the flowers bloom, but the poor things, every time they get happy, they get snowed on which is going to be the case again tomorrow! Ah well, that's March for ya!
The early part of the month brought visitors! First, Beatrix came out for a 10 day stay - we headed down to Moab for the first weekend, just a quickie getaway, but makes it seem more vacation-like. We did a little hiking and a little biking, but mostly took it easy and relaxed - beautiful there, of course. I had to work some during the following week, but we managed a couple of hikes and a movie in between. The next weekend, Dad and Jane came out - a quick visit, but really nice. Dad has been watching the "Diners and Dives" program on the Food Network so we took him to a couple of places that he saw: The Red Iguana, Blue Plate Diner and the Buger Bar, but that was closed! Also on the list - for you SLC'ers - are Lone Star Tacoria, Cotton Bottom, Ruth's Diner and more. We all went cross country skiing at Sundance on a gorgeous sunny day - well, all except Rich who was being diligent and getting his training in.
Friday, Kathy and I enjoyed a day at the spa, courtesy of Mom and John, who sent us gift certificate long ago that we finally got to use. The Avenues Day Spa was VERY nice... oh so relaxing! We then went to an awesome dinner at the Oasis Cafe - a perfect girls day!
Yesterday was a record breaking 74 degrees - we both had a great workout and did some spring yard work and ran some errands, of course including a trip to the DQ! Rich bought me some new wheels for my bike and they are AWESOME. Felt like my riding was effortless (of course the 10 mph back wind helped! haha) sooooooooo smooth and quiet and really great! I had such a great ride, I doubled my planned distance, then had to do a 3 mile run right after - that was killer! :-) Rich cooked an amazing dinner of lobster and shrip on the grill to cap off a perfect day!
Today, rain, tomorrow, snow.... March Madness for sure!

Spring has sprung

As today is the first day of spring, it was only fitting that it was nice.  Since I had the day off I went for a run in the am and ride in the pm. Nice little cruise up to Ruth's and back. Some wheel sucker from porcupine sat on for the ride, until I turned off to come home. Strange how some people will ride any pace, change gears to go slower and NEVER come around for a pull. Timid? just followers? or maybe stalking tendancies? Anyway, I had a nice easy ride in the beautiful wasatch. It will be short lived for the shorts, but hopefully not more than a week, until it is warm again. After a swim and long ride tomorrow, maybe Dairy Queen? Yum!!!