Tridiva

Came across this triathlon gear site somehow this morning. They haven't got a ton of stuff, but a lot of what they have is cute. The tri top is adorable (but pricey), and some of the jewelry is nice, particularly compared to some of the other triathlon jewelry I've come across. (Can you say tacky!?!) Maybe after my race I'll reward myself with the Half Ironman necklace (pictured below) that has tags for the distances of each leg. Seems like it would be a nice memento.

JP Morgan Chase Corporate Challenge

Last night, I ran this in downtown Chicago with Heath. About 23,000 people participated in the 3.5 mile run, so it was pretty packed. I was a bit worried about how I'd do since I've been fighting this awful cold for the past week (ugh a WEEK, get gone already cold), but Heath and I were able to run the whole thing in about 37 min, which is just under 11 min/mile. I'm very happy with that, and Heath met his goal of beating his time from last year (by 8 minutes, how great is that?!).

After the race, the companies had tents set up with food and stuff, so I hung out with Heath at the gigantic BCBS tent (complete with Christmast lights strung around it) for a bit (mooching one of their hot dogs and a beer) before heading over to the relatively quaint Joint Commission tent, which has a better spread, but no beer.

It was a lot of fun, and also reminded me of how helpful it is to run with somebody. It's a lot easier to keep going when you have somebody to talk to and it's nice to motivate each other. Whenever you run, you have points along the run that you don't feel so great and kind of get that pull to walk a bit. But if you are with somebody else, you usually don't both have those moments at the same time, so you take turns keeping each other going. Uh, also I need to recalibrate my heart rate monitor. Evidently, I am able to maintain over 100% of my max HR for an extended amount of time without dying. I'm thinking it underestimated my max HR by just a tad...

Next up: Run for the Zoo on June 3rd -- my first 10K run ever! Also, Quad Cities Triathlon on June 16. Race season is heating up, baby! (Not really. These and my big tri are the only things on my calendar for this summer so far. :P)

I needed some extra motivation to run, so I signed up for the Run for the Zoo 2007. The course winds through Lincoln Park Zoo and I get a nice Dri-Fit t-shirt (and we all know that the t-shirt is what really matters). I bravely signed up for this as my first 10K race, but I should be more than capable of covering 6.2 miles at this point. Small races along the way help to get my butt outside and running.

new frustration. i'm changing the tires between my two bikes since i'm going to be primarily using my "good" bike. i was excited to change to my newer tires on my main wheelset, thinking that the tires were easier to mount than my old tires. but crap. turns out that the problem isn't with the tires, but with the rims. my hands are in huge pain from trying to seat my good tires on my good rims. back to it shortly. ugh.

Where am I?

I'm back from Ireland with an aggravated hamstring injury for starters. I tried to run this morning, but was slowed considerably by it, and it's been bugging me all day just sitting at my desk. Not sure what to do about it, but I'll hang in there and maybe just up the swimming to work on keeping the aerobic fitness up.

In Ireland, I learned that I am able to cover the cycling distance for the triathlon. I also learned that hills are hard! The nice thing is that I covered the 55 miles last Monday with big heavy panniers on my bike, and not really in an aero position. The bad thing is that it was spread out over the whole day. The next step is to work on efficiency and pace, so that I can fly through the 56 mile bike leg!

Swimming had to be on the back burner since there really was no way to swim over there. I'm going to step it back up this week and try to get in the pool at least twice. I'm trying to exercise in the mornings in general, so will be hitting the pool on the mornings I'm not running. Cycling will stay in the afternoons for now, just because that works better for me for the time being. Maybe once I move, I'll shift things around, particularly if I have better (i.e., less trafficy) places to ride.

As far as fundraising goes, I've hit my goal of $2300! My Body Shop party and one more donation put me over the top. I decided to bump my goal up to $2800 to see if I can beat it by $500. I know a few coworkers that still intended to give a bit. Plus, I could always hold another party and get a couple hundred more bucks! The ladies love their bath-y stuffs!

There have been rumblings that my social life has been taking me away from my training a bit. While that is only partly true (my laziness has definitely played a role, too), it needs to be addressed. I've adjusted my training schedule to be more compatible with my social calendar, which is definitely a start. Working out in the mornings should also be helpful. I just need to get into the habit of getting up by 5 to get my workout in. I cheated and didn't get up until 5:30 this morning, but it was a start!