Indianapolis: Day 4

I feel like a broken record but Wednesday was another busy day!  I’ve never been good at resting on vacation and this vacation turned out to be one of the busiest active-wise!  But it was pretty fun so I’m not complaining.

On Wednesday, Sister and I headed out on a 4 hour bike rental.  She’d gotten some free coupons with her conference so again I lucked out by being her tag-along.  We set out to explore the Broad Ripple area.  It was about 8 miles from where we picked up the bikes which didn’t really give us much exploring time but that ended up being ok because we really just ended up aimlessly wandering again…

If there was fun shopping here, we missed it…

We did stop in a couple of store but the kind of shopping district I was picturing was not quite what met up when we got there.  We did find a couple of dog store to try to find something for our pooch but were not successful in finding something his picky little butt would appreciate…

He probably would have shared this cookie with us…

We also spent about 20 minutes trying to get our bikes locked together and to a bike rack… sounds easier than it ended up being when we just had one solid U-lock to try to use for two bikes + bike rack…

We wandered around a health food store in the area that was pretty cool and reminded me of one we went to in Kauai.  It had floor to ceiling supplement and healthy foods!  We found a few scores – namely peanut butter ginger chews!!! – and a good granola + some cookies and then ventured on to try to find a cupcake place that had gluten free cupcakes, called The Flying Cupcake.  (It sounds like we eat nothing but sweets on vacation and to be honest, that’s kind of the way we like it – lol! Not so healthy but live’s too short!)

Our cupcake after it’s 10+ mile bike ride to our picnic location!

We just took one to split later when we had our picnic lunch, a Maple Pecan.  Then we headed back since we were not sure how long it would take us to bike and we were quite a  ways away and figured we could eat lunch after we’d returned the bikes.

The not as paved part of our journey…

We made the 10ish mile loop back along the trail (the Monon Trail) and realized this trail was not quite as pretty as the downtown Cultural Trial but it was still nice to have a trail to ride along.

Almost back… just wanted to make it at least 20 miles!

We made it back to the Bike Hub, turned in our bikes and then walked the City Market real quick to try to find some drinks!  We ended up with just some Snapples but they tasted so good!

Most beautifully photographed lunch ever!

We ate our little random picnic lunch outside the Bike Hub – lunchmeat turkey, pretzels, sweet potato/carrot chips applesauce + our cupcake/cookie desserts.

Then we made the 1ish mile walk back to the hotel to rest a little and allow sister to shower and get ready for a few hours of working this afternoon.  I typed up a few posts, watched a few episodes of Angel and lazed around for awhile to wait for sister to finish working.

Once she was done, we went out walking again and decided to climb this monument but it closed at 5:30 so that will have to wait for another trip.  So we walked around a little more and then ended up at dinner at Adobo Grill Indianapolis.  They had a specific gluten free menu which initially brought me to their website but the very unique set of offerings convinced us we needed to give it a try!

I

We shared the guacamole to start and then I had pumpkin and black bean enchiladas.  They were really good but I’d eaten so many chips + guac that I could hardly eat any of my main meal… oops!

After dinner we walked around some more and then ventured back to the hotel for an early bedtime.  Sister was beat from working so hard and I was tired from being lazy so it worked for us – lol!

After dinner, we strolled the canal a ways and got to view a beautiful sunset!

Only a small portion more to recap and then it’s back to regular vacation-free posting for awhile

Indianapolis: Day 2

Today was an exhausting day… but fun!  I had another laid back morning, eating breakfast in the hotel and also doing a little Jillian Ripped in 30 (in the hotel room – lol).  I decided to attempt the 3rd week on the DVD and man, it was a butt-kicker.  My legs felt dead which was not my intention at all when doing the DVD because I was supposed to have my bike ride this afternoon that I needed my legs for… I swear the other weeks I’ve tried are more tiring to your upper body…

Crunchy Flax Cereal + banana + banana bread + almond butter

I had to shoo the housekeeping staff away mid DVD so when I was done, I decided to let them get in the room and go for a little walk.  I didn’t end up walking too far but ended up just chilling in the park for a few minutes.  By the time I got back, they were done with the room though so it worked!  I showered quick and ate lunch and then wandered towards my afternoon biking tour starting point.  I left quite early but it ended up working out fine and I think we got to leave early since I ended up being the only tour-ey.

Lunch – Lettuce + turkey + almonds + sweet potato chips + Mary’s Gone Crackers Pretzels + applesauce (actually consumed this part today!)

DESSERT!

I found Active Indy kind of randomly by just looking on the Indy tourism site but it ended up being a very good find!  They offer bike, walking and running tours all around Indianapolis.  I chose to do the Automobile Heritage tour because I wanted the chance to get to the Indy Speedway Museum without having to drive there.  I suppose driving would have been a lot less work but it was pretty cool to bike this tour instead.

Time to bike!

We started out in Downtown Indy and took a tour of their awesome urban trail system.  I am seriously so jealous of this path system!  It’s so nice to be able to walk and bike downtown without the fear of traffic (which for me is very intense…).  Our first stop was the Stutz building which used to be a car manufacturing plant.  Now it’s being repurposed as a rental space for small manufacturers, artists, etc.  The building is really massive, a whole city block + four floors.

Some of the oldies.

After that is was a longer trip on the bike path and then we got to Marian University which happened to have acquired the mansions of the 4 men who founded the Motor Speedway. Their houses were incredibly ornate… don’t think I will be taking any decorating advice from these fellas…

Top left – outside of the Wheeler Mansion; top right – inside the Allison Mansion, a creepy large aviary room; bottom left, Wheeler mansion walkway to what used to be a heated 7 car garage; bottom right – inside Allison mansion

A few miles of biking later, we came upon the back side of the Speedway and biked up one of the straightaways.  It apparently took us about 4ish minutes to do that small .6ish of a mile portion of the track when the race cars can do the full 2.5 mile loop in about 40 or so seconds.   And here I though bikes were as fast as race cars Kidding!

 

Then it was a brief walk through the Motor Speedway Museum.  They have many of the winning cars from all years since it first began in 1911.  One thing I found kind of funny is that the first year’s winner averaged about 75ish mph and now that speed limit can be found on regular highways (or close to it!).  Now if only we could figure out how to get rid of traffic, I would say we are really making technological progress  We also watched a short video on the history of the area which was kind of a summary of what I’d been learning all day.

1911 winner + 2011 winner; row of cars

After that it was a quick trip back to the starting point to drop off the bike.  This tour was really an awesome way to see the city and I would highly recommend it if you are ever in Indianapolis.  I am trying to figure out how to possibly fit in their running tour in my week!

By the time I got back to the hotel, I was tired + hungry.  I had a bowl of cereal to tide me over until Sister got back which ended up being a really good thing because Sister and I wasted way too much time trying to figure out what to do for dinner so we didn’t have time to eat before she had to leave again which put me on my own for dinner again.

Snack time! Chocolate Chex + almond butter <3

Dining alone is annoying, dining alone + dealing with food allergies when you are trying to eat it is so depressing and overwhelming.  Sometimes the thought of not eating sounds much more appealing…

I did end up finally coming up with a good option!  Weber Grill Restaurant!  I got carry out and they had a gluten free menu which is awesome!  I am pretty sure they take food allergies pretty seriously at this location because the manager type worker ended up bringing me my food and assured me it was gluten free.  It’s also so nice to get that kind of respect when you know all it takes is someone at a restaurant picking croutons off your salad to make for a very sick couple of days…

So good! Chicken Chop Salad + Whipped Sweet Potatoes with Bourbon Maple Butter

After that, it was just chilling in the hotel room because I am incredibly exhausted and a little headachey likely from dehydration + lots of sun today.  Not sure what I will do tomorrow but I am thinking it’s going to be a little more low key than today!

Total steps for the day = 14,500 + 20(+/-) miles on a bike!

 

 

Ride Flashback: 2012 Krankin’ for Kids

Alternate title for this post – The Three Hour Tour

For some reason that kept running through my head this morning while I was riding because I thought that was about how long it was going to take me to finish.  But, to be honest, it was rather annoying to keep having that song pop into my mind.  I don’t think I’ve even ever watched an episode of Gilligan’s Island which makes that even weirder…

But anyways, my morning started bright and early getting everything packed up to head to my bike ride this morning.  It’s harder packing up for a bike ride over a run… you must check your tires, find your helmet, shoes, fuel, water, etc., etc.  And I still managed to forget my garmin which ended up being a really annoying thing later in the morning (think no clue what point you are at in a 3 hour bike ride…).

Nice bike carrier.

I got to the ride start about 30 minutes before my ride began which was more than enough time.  It was a very, very small ride (or it seemed that way) so it didn’t take much time to get all set up.  But once I got my shirt and goodie bag, I did still have to wrangle my bike out of the trunk, re-check the tires and get helmeted and shoed up.  At about 7:30am, I was off!

SO cold this morning!

The start of the ride was kind of annoying because we all started together and no one really wanted to be the one to take the lead.  I ended up behind some slower riders so I had to suck it up and pass.  I was terrified of riding 36+ miles on the side of a road with traffic and with other riders but I figured it was going to be a long morning if I didn’t just get over it and find my pace instead of just bringing up the rear.

By about 4-5 miles in, I was really not feeling this ride.  My stomach was feeling really sick and the hills were really killing me + it was sooooo windy.  Three things that were really hard for me to ignore and I was definitely not trained for the hills.  If felt like the first 12-13 miles literally took forever but getting off my bike and stretching at that first rest stop ended up helping me a bit.  It also helped I shed my long sleeve t-shirt because despite the wind, I was still pretty toasty most of the time.

 

I kept riding on for awhile and came upon another big hill that I thought would kill me but I ended up making it up just fine, shocking, right?  And made it to rest stop #2.  In hindsight, I should have known this was coming but I got off my bike at this stop and walked to the covered bridge to take a picture… through the mud… If you’ve ever walked with your clip-in shoes through mud, then you know I was in trouble.  I ended up with mud packed into my clips so I had to sit on a rock and dig the dirt and stones out of my clips to try to salvage my ride.  At this point, I really wanted to quit again but I didn’t really have that option so I had to just make it work.

The mud didn’t really come out of my shoes but I got them workable-ish so more biking ensued.  This stretch was kind of painful and I felt really lost the whole time because all of the signs had disappeared at this point!  The first half of the 36 was really well marked with signs but then all of a sudden… nothing.  I hoped that meant “keep straight” but I hated feeling like I was getting lost.  Anyways, I ended up being just fine and stayed on the route.

At probably about 30ish miles, the wind all of a sudden was so strong and directly in my face.  I felt like I was being pushed backwards on my bike… Again, I really, really just wanted to be done with this ride!

Just a few more miles later, I did finally make it to the end and it was so anti-climatic.  I guess I am so conditioned to finish lines and medals that turning the corner to… nothing was kind of depressing.  I just rode by bike back to my car, loaded it up and headed home. The End.

Done, done and done.

So Anti-Climatic!  But I did finish, I am sore and I don’t know if I am as exited to some-day attempt a Century ride… I guess that was one thing I was trying to figure out by doing this ride so we shall see… but I do at least have a new Bike PDR!!  And got to spend almost 3 hours enjoying the beautiful Wisconsin morning.

Happy Saturday Everyone!  Anyone run or ride any other races today?

Four Day Week Friday.

Yikes.  Where has the last week gone.  I can’t completely blame my lack of blog posts on my level of busy-ness but rather because I am pretty lazy + sort of busy!  So to recap the past happenings of this week, here is another edition of random information Friday!

1) On Saturday I did my last long training bike ride before my upcoming 36 miler!  (it’s tomorrow, btw!)  I made it 26-27 miles in a little less than 2 hours and realized the kind of speed necessary to run a marathon in that time… crazy, really.  I can’t even bike that fast, let alone run!  I felt OK for most of the ride and I am pretty sure the ride tomorrow will be fine but towards the end, I started getting a little flare up of back pain.  I think I should be able to help that by taking a couple of breaks along the way and resetting my posture.  I’m hoping that’s all it takes anyways!  Looks like the weather is going to be very fallish which I am not ready for yet on my bike anyways?!  I have summer-y bike things but what about for cooler weather?!?

Pretty view on my 26 miler

2) My “long run” of the week was supposed to happen Sunday with sister.  Now, I am not sure if the utter failure of a run had more to do with the ride on Saturday, not eating enough carbs Sunday or some other outside factor but this run sucked.  Like mega-sucked.  Like I don’t really ever want to run again sucked.  I think I made it 7.5 miles and hated it the whole entire time.  I am clearly in a running funk and nothing seems to be able to help me break out of it!  Yuck.

3) In lieu of said horrible run, I am once again taking an extended break from rigorous exercise.  I just feel so burnt out most of the time lately and I am not sure if it’s just being lazy and out of shape or actually being “overtrained”, etc.  I am only taking walks this week, nothing else.  I’m hoping a little more rest will set me right again in the running department.  If not, I will either just cheer Sister on in the 1/2 marathon in two weeks or attempt to walk/run it also.  I’m planning to play it by ear until the very last minute.  Whatever is going on is so not like me that I can’t really force myself to run because I just loathe it if I do.  But this loathing feeling is now spreading to exercise in general which is REALLY not like me…  Maybe being in a race environment will re-kindle my love for running?  Either that or it’s going to be a long 4 months “training” for the Disney Marathon…

4) Last night was the first time I got to meet my Girls on the Run group!  We start next week with official lessons but this week was a meet and greet and it was so cool to have this opportunity to introduce ourselves as coaches before the actual training starts.  Hopefully all the girls enjoy the program, it seems like a very promising group of girls and the coaches also seem like people I will be able to get along with… although that could always change at a moment’s notice  But in all seriousness, I am very excited for the opportunity to make a positive impact in these girls’ lives and I am hoping I can live up to my intentions.

5) I’m headed out of town next week and I am going to miss this little butt so much!  It would be so much easier to leave him if he didn’t give this incredible guilt trip every time the suitcases come out… Poor bud!  I will miss you!

Irrational love of blankets and the color pink…

6) When did it get to be 1 week into September?  Just when I think the summer went fast, the fall proves it will fly by even faster!!

7) As proof that I am incredibly lazy + this year is going fast, my winter boots are still sitting in my office.  I really did plan to bring them home in like April.  Whoops.

Also envelopes I intended to return about 6+ months ago. #procrastinator

8) I am so, so, so sick of this election bull already… blech.  Still like 2 more months?!?  I am so anti-politics it’s got to be unpatriotic.  But when you are picking between a rock and a hard place… And seriously Mr. Ryan?  How in the heck can you not remember your marathon time by over 1 hour.  Why lie about something SO DUMB!?  Or why even talk about it at all…  But I bet with enough training he could probably pull off a 2:00 marathon, nbd.

9) This is the first year since I graduated college that I had zero sadness about not going back to school now that it’s fall!  And when did all the freshman start looking like small children?  I swear I am not THAT old.  Maybe a little but I still get confused with being a high schooler so apparently it’s just really hard to judge a person’s age?

10) That’s all I’ve got this week!  Hope everyone had a speedy 4-day week if you had Labor Day off and are now ready for another September weekend!  Happy Friday!

Workout Recap.

I had every intention of doing a weekly workout log entry blog post but somehow it’s been two weeks and I have not yet caught myself up to date.  Luckily I have at least been sort of jotting it down on some paper somewhere!  I think it will be important for me to at least track what I do manage to get in running-wise especially since I am not following any training plan to at least be able to track week-to-week.  Plus, then when everything totally bombs for me, I will be able to look back and remind myself why

So to catch myself up to date, here are my entries from the past 2+ weeks:

8/13: Physique 57 + upper body weight DVD
8/14: 2 mi run + 15 min total body weights
8/15: 2 mi run + Physique 57
8/16: 2 mi run + Ripped in 30
8/17: Rest
8/18: 4.5 miles + quick upper body circuit (pushups, bicep curls, tricep dips 12reps X 3 circuits)
8/19: 12 mile bike ride + 300-400m swim + Yoga DVD
8/20: 3 mi run + 15 min upper body DVD
8/21: 2 mi run? + Ripped in 30 ( I either walked or ran this morning… for the life of me can’t recall for sure which!)
8/22: 3 mi run
8/23: Walks + Yoga
8/24: 2 mi run
8/25: 10 mi bike ride + 40 min weights
8/26: 30 day shred + 30 min Thigh and Seat Physique 57

Overall, I have not been hitting anything super hard lately.  I’ve been trying to get back to feeling normal and exercising less has been feeling better for me and my leg issue so I’ve been sticking with that for the time being.  Also, I’ve had too many after work events lately, it’s been messing with my routine

One quick note on swimming, man, it made my shoulders/body so tired and sore for DAYS!  Crazy how something new on the exercise front really manages to send your muscles for a loop!  I’m hoping to get a swim in 1x ever 2 weeks or so once I decide which gym to join!

Hopefully these next few weeks I can up the ante on running and biking.  I have my 36 mile bike ride in 2 weeks and then a half marathon walk/run in 4!  Time is sure flying and I would like to at least attempt to finish these things, even if I come in last place

Post-Marathon PDR and a Brick.

This past weekend went incredibly fast and I am not really happy about it.  How can the weekdays drag out sooooo much but then once it’s Saturday or Sunday – boom, it’s time for bed.  If only I could find that job that let’s me work two days and have five off, I think my life would be complete.

This past weekend I did manage to get in a few workout type activities.  Sister and I visited a local gym to check out membership options so on Saturday we both checked out the treadmills and weights.  I was planning to tackle 50 minutes on the treadmill with a walk/run technique and did manage to make it.  It was incredibly frustrating to not even make it 5 miles in 50 minutes because my leg would start feeling a little painful if I tried to push it too much but felt perfectly fine if I went slow and took breaks.  Go figure.

My leg also felt tons better when I stopped than it did before I started running so I really can’t figure that one out.  I’m becoming more and more convinced it is totally sciatic nerve related though because that would explain the exercise eventually making it better once I stop.  I guess for now I just do what I can and stop if things seem like they are getting worse!  I’m just crossing my fingers I can shake this at some point before the big marathon in January!?!  So annoying though.  But anyways, I got 4.5 miles done and really didn’t feel like it was as hard as I thought it would having now gone almost 2 months since running more than 2-3 miles at a time!  We shall see if I am singing a different tune when I attempt a 9-10 miler….

I REALLY want to earn this :S

On Sunday I decided to combine a few exercises and attempted to bike to the gym to swim.  I almost died multiple times getting there (or so I imagine) but I did manage to get there and back in one piece  Biking with traffic was terrifying (as I imagined it would be) but also not nearly as bad as I thought.  I am hoping to find a route that allows the avoidance of a left hand turn though because those just plain suck when you are biking on the side of 2-3 lanes of traffic…

The ride to the gym took about 30 minutes and then I attempted to swim/float in the pool for 25 minutes or so.  I realized how badly I will need to practice this skill if I ever want to attempt a triathlon… I maybe swam 200-300 yards with many, many breaks in between.  Most sprint tris include at least a 400 meter swim that you don’t really want to take an extended break during.  Yikes!  I also need to practice putting my head under the water while swimming but I ALWAYS manage to get a nose full of chlorine.  I think I need to invest in a nose plug!

Maybe need some fashion sense also. In my defense, it was laundry so most things were dirty…

I’m hoping after a few weeks of getting back acquainted with the water that I will feel less intimidated by it and will hopefully start to like it.  It is a really fun way to workout, minus the chlorine inhalation part, and really makes your muscles work in ways they don’t normally.  I was quite sore on Monday to say the least!

I’m still not really sure what made the weekend go fast but it’s already Tuesday morning so I guess it is really, truly, officially over… but only 4 more days to the next weekend, right?!?

Did you do anything fun over the weekend?

22 on a Bike.

I know it was a long time ago already but I had a really good ride on Sunday and wanted to post a little something about it  I just had too many post-worthy items all happen last weekend.

After a Saturday filled with running and watching runners, it was time for me to hit the trails and go for a ride again!  It had been way too many days since I was on my bike and I was happy to get out and enjoy the beautiful weather we have been having.

I was pleasantly surprised that it didn’t feel as scary or challenging to bike for once!  I could tell I just felt a lot more confident on the ride and I think that made the whole trip a much better one.

By biking 22 miles, I ended up making it into some new bike trail territory but was kind of not as nice as the part I am used to riding and running on  I had great hopes of someday making a really long ride on this trail but now I am not so sure.  Maybe I just hit a rough patch and it would get nicer again!  I did kind of miss a turn at one point and was close to half way so I just decided to circle around town and then head back.

On the way back I pulled into this little bike rest stop to eat a Clif shot and drink some water.  I am not very good at drinking + biking yet!  I also got to overhear the bike conversations going by me for a few minutes which was kind of funny…

Convo #1 (paraphrases, not actual quotations):

Dude #1: Oh, geez, my heart rate’s only like 108, isn’t that cool, I’m hardly working to keep this pace, what’s yours?
Dude #2: I don’t know, I didn’t wear my heart rate monitor but probably like 130…
Dude #1: Oh yeah, that sucks.

Is that the new thing?  How hard can you workout while still having a really low heart rate?  Nice.  Such an accomplishment.

After like a 5 minute break, I headed back home.  The way back always goes so much quicker!  I circled around my neighborhood a little to practice my drinking and biking and then called it a day.  After running Saturday and biking Sunday, my legs were TIRED!

I’m really liking biking more and more!  Now the only thing I need is to find someone to bike with so I am not as scared of being 20+ miles away from home!  Sister really needs to get on that  Or I need to find a biking group to join!  I also need to be less annoyed with the dumb shit people pull on the bike trail.  Exhibit A being the guy and his wife pulled over side-by-side hogging the whole bike trail to look behind them in their bike trailer to check on their childdog.  Seriously folks, I should not have to ask you to MOVE OVER!  And Exhibit B being the idiot on the bike swerving back and forth on the trail and speeding past me when I was stopped at a crossing to re-clip.  Let’s just say I quickly showed him what it’s like to be flown past on a bike.  Nice try, though!

I also may have located a certain swimsuit, swim cap and goggles that I’d purchased many years back… now I officially have no excuse to not train for a triathlon.  Oops!

The suit fits but it sure ain’t pretty

A New Kind of Race.

Yesterday, I signed up for a race.  Not another running race luckily… although I always have to talk myself off of that ledge.  Also, not a triathlon even though I really want to give one of those a try too!  This time though, I signed up for a bike ride!  I guess you probably don’t really call it a race when I am involved but regardless, I am pretty excited!

I signed up for the Krankin’ for Kids ride which is held only a short drive away from my house and I picked to attempt the 36 mile route (a mid-metric century if you will!).  This should be a good distance for me with about a month more of riding.  I’m hoping this weekend I can fit in a 22ish mile ride and try to also get in at least one 25-28 miles ride before the race.  I think that should give me enough butt endurance to sit on a bike that long!

One thing that I am excited about for bike races is the whole rest stop phenomena!  In running, you only stop in the worst case scenario but in biking, it’s really no big deal to stop and stretch, drink some water, eat a little something and go back on your way!  This should be good for me to practice taking things easy and not making every single thing I do a stressful event.  Also should help with the stress of training for it as I always have the option to take a break!

I only have two main goals for this race:

1) Don’t embarrass myself; and
2) Get used to riding near other bikers.

Going to try not to crash!!!

I should be able to get a little experience with both of these without much training.  I will be practicing the whole clipping/unclipping at stops thing though… or #1 might be more of a concern that I can’t avoid.  I also should probably try to determine what I should wear that won’t make me look like a clown on a tricycle.  I seem to be very good at combining workout clothes combos to really set a new element of style for the fitness world  I should probably also practice riding up hills… so many little things to work on now!

I am mentally prepared for my upcoming half/full marathon(s) to not quite go as I would secretly like so maybe this biking thing will be a good diversion?  Since not all my eggs will be in one basket with determining what makes me feel like I am being active/setting new distance records for myself.

The race is in one month so I guess I should go hit the trails for a ride!

What kind of race/what particular race would you like to sign up for if there was nothing limiting your ability to do so?  (either physical, time for training or financial).  I would have to say a Half Ironman, as crazy as that sounds… I did say there would be nothing limiting me!

It’s like learning to ride a bike.

Ever heard that totally cliche saying that normally refers to something relatively easy to learn?  Well, it’s bullshit.  Or the genius who started this saying never rode a road bike with clipless/clipin pedals around people with a wish to kill bikers with their cars (especially those who fall into the “Sunday Drivers” category).

When I first bought my new bike, I was ridiculously terrified of trying to learn something new at my ripe old age of 9626.  But darnit, I was bound and determined to not let some stupid pedals win me over.  It took me a few weeks of practice but I feel like I am finally getting to a place where I am not a hazard on the road when biking.  At least not the whole time I am out anyways…

However, I am now finding there are certain things about biking that I never knew before and no one ever warned me about.  Here are a few rules of the road I have learned in the last 3ish weeks:

1) Road rash hurts SO much worse when you fall a height of 5′+ rather than falling when you are five and probably more like 3′+ tall.  Way more than a little princess band-aid can fix up.

2) Road bikes actually go FAST!  Making said falls so much more painful if they happen at any kind of speed.

3) Cars will inevitably be annoyed you are on their road.  Last I checked I had as much of a right as you to be on the road in your car.  The most dangerous drivers are those I would describe as Sunday Drivers.  I think you know what I mean.  For some reason, a large target appears on my back when said drivers are near…

4) In my opinion, the rule of yielding at intersections/crossing should be as follows: runner/walkers always have the right of way, then real bikers (aka, those who pedal and are on two wheels), then sitting bikers (ESPECIALLY those with powered bicycles?!?)and finally cars.  Just because you have more power does not mean you can bud ahead and take out a walker/biker with your car/powered go-kart/bicycle thingy.

5) Helmets are not optional.  Stupid looking and total hair-do ruiners, yes, but optional, no.

6) It’s not OK to go topless on a bike.  Unless you have rock-hard abs of steel.  Then yes, there is a double standard.  But if your belly flops on the handlebars?  Yeah, that’s gross…

7) Drinking while riding a bike is even more challenging than clipping in pedals.  For this reason, always leave your water bottle in the open position.  It’s 200x harder to both open the bottle and drink while riding without falling on your face.

open before leaving…

8) You will get hit by bugs/stung by bees while riding.  This will hurt and cause you to fall off your bike.

9) You don’t have to be nice to people when you pass them going the opposite direction on the bike.  (something I often feel compelled to do when running) In other words, it’s fine to keep that scowl on your face as long as you want!  Especially when said powered bicycle riders try to run you off the road.

10) You heart rate will not get as high as it does when running so it’s not a substitute.  A compliment to running, yes, but it’s (so far for me anyways) endorphin high free.  Unless you count the adrenaline rush you get when you start to fall but just barely catch yourself – that DOES indeed make your heart rate accelerate.

So that is what I have learned thus far.  If you are contemplating getting a bike/riding the one you have, my advice is stock up on first aid gear, buy a helmet and have fun*!  Eventually you will start to feel more in control of the situation and really, really enjoy it.  Or at least I do!  Maybe that’s my need for speed finally getting a little action?!  Clearly that never happens with running…

*I am not trained to tell you this so please don’t take my word for it.  You may be much more graceful than me and not require band-aids.  If so, more power to you.

Weekend Workouts.

This past weekend was rather slow in the organized event line up for me but was very full of exercise related events in the form of me doing them as well as me watching them on TV!  I don’t even want to add up the amount of time I spent planted in front of the TV watching Olympians make me feel like a lazy human  Even the kids I babysit for were enthralled by the events on Saturday night so I didn’t have to do anything except explain what the pummel horse is!

Saturday was the day I set out for my longer bike ride of the week.  I hadn’t really gotten much time to ride earlier in the week so it was nice to be able to spend some quality time “in the saddle” (learned that one watching Women’s Cycling the other day )  I ended up covering about 18 miles which was a good amount for working up to something longer.  It was long enough that I felt like I’d worked pretty hard but not so long that my body ached or anything.  I am feeling more and more confident on my bike each time I ride.  I am finally not getting a major panic attack every time I start or stop on the darn thing!  (Now it’s just a minor attack).

By going 18 miles, I ended up venturing further on the bike trail than I’d ever been before so I came upon this scary little serpentine thing that they worked into the bike trail to make people slow down before crossing the railroad tracks.  That was by far the most scary event of my weekend.  That and being tailed closely by some dude on a bike as well.  When I said, “please go ahead” he was like “I’m waiting for someone actually” and I wanted to reply then leave me alone!  Why are people so rude on bikes?  This is one thing I am really not liking about biking….

After the bike adventure, I came home and did Level 2 of 30 day shred and waited for sister to be done with her AM yoga class.  After she got home, we both ventured out to a running shoe store to attempt to find some new shoes.  A friend of hers had recommended Performance Running Outfitters so we went to go see what they had to say about what kind of shoes we should wear.

I really liked this shoe store compared to the last one I’d visited because they actually videotaped you running on the treadmill and then you could watch it to see what your feet were doing.  It was very interesting for me to see that I have a little late stage pronation when I run which likely messed with my ankle and knee and might semi-explain my recent issues!  It was weird but after running slowly on the treadmill for like 5 seconds in the shoes that made my feet work the best, my knee felt so much better!  It was so weird how quickly the pain improved.  I’ve been struggling with this issue for weeks!  And it still seems to be doing a lot better even days later… weird.

What kind of shoes did I end up with you may ask?  Nikes.  I feel like a total hypocrite because I am sure I have said some not so nice words about Nikes in the past when I was such a firm believer in the dramatization that the barefoot running books all lead you to believe about Nike – that they created the running shoes that lead to people’s problems.  I think the thing I am realizing is that barefoot works better for some people and more supportive shoes work better for others.  And it’s a matter of finding what works for you and not judging what works for other people!  I still do love my Vibrams for walking though!

The shoes I got are not really corrective by any means but rather help prevent my ankle from rolling and creating an issue (hopefully anyways!).  It’s funny though because I ran in Nikes FOR YEARS before switching to fancy running shoes and never ever had issues!  Hopefully rediscovering my running routes helps me in the long run.  But who knows… I could very well be singing another tune in another 6 months !

Also got “The Stick” – works Amaaaazing on massaging your calves!

My new Nike LunarGlide 3 shoes!  I’m a little concerned they don’t actually make these anymore… Hopefully when these are worn out I can find something comparable… That would be just my luck!

Then on Sunday, I just had to give my shoes a little test run.  It had been 5 weeks since my last run so I was not expecting much but it ended up going better than I thought it would!  I wore my new shoes!  and just did a short 2ish mile loop around my house.  I ran for a few minutes and then would walk a little just to recover but I probably could have kept up the “running” for the full 2 miles.  Now that I am back running, I am planning to go s-l-o-w-l-y to hopefully avoid aggravating anything.  Going slow also helps me work on my form better and pay attention to how I am landing to further help with injury issues.

Wearing a marathon shirt to run 2 miles. And no, I never clean the kitchen…

My knee/leg felt a little weird and stiff at first but as I went on, it actually started to feel quite a bit better which is encouraging!  I’m hoping this keeps being the case!  I’ll set out for another run this morning and I am hoping for the best!

After the “run” I also wanted to put in a few more miles on my bike so I set out for another 12 miles to wrap up the weekend with 30 miles of biking!  My car did not even move that far this weekend!  It was really nice to get to cover so many miles but feel absolutely fine the day after.  If I would have ran that far this weekend, I would be wiped!  Biking is so much more efficient ;)

More Olympic watching action then followed!  Go Team USA!

Anyone else being extra inspired to workout because of the Olympics?  I know watching Women’s Cycling on Sunday morning is what made me eager to get out on Sunday!