Iron Girl Atlanta Race Report

YAY!  I got to race again!!  Sorry had to get that out right away :-)

This past weekend Nina & I went back to Atlanta for the Iron Girl Sprint triathlon.  It is a 1/3 mile open water swim, 19 mile bike & 3 mile run at Lake Lanier Island Resort.  It is a great race venue.

Saturday was packet pick-up & bike check in.  We headed over around 11AM.  I took a bunch of Clif Bars to hand out to the ladies waiting to check in.

While working the line I found Swim Bike Mom.  I have been following her blog since I started blogging.  I was excited to meet her in real life. She is one cool chick!

SBM, Me & Nina

Once we got through the USAT check-in line it took no time to get our packets & shirts.   We then headed off to check in our bikes & get our timing chips.   Once that was done we watched the tire changing demo because you can never see that done enough times & then cruised through the expo.  I picked up an awesome t-shirt.

Back of the shirt.  So true!

Before leaving Nina made a cheer sign for us.

We finally left Lake Lanier & headed back to the hotel to chill out for a while before meeting my friend Kara & her husband Larry for dinner.  Kara did the Iron Girl with me in 2010 but I have been unsuccessful in getting her to do it again.  

We were back to the hotel & lights out by 10PM.  We decided to set the alarm for 4:30AM this year.    

Usually at some point during race day I have a 'why the hell do I do this' moment(s).  For this race, my moment was at 4:30AM.  To date, I have never gotten a good nights sleep before a race & this was no different.  It was a bit frustrating too since I wasn't nervous & I wasn't trying to set any race records.  I think it is just the fact of having to get up so early that worries me.  

We were dressed & ready to go just after 5AM.  We got to the parking lot around 5:25AM & make the 15 minute trek to transition.  (In case you are wondering why all the detailed times - I referred back to last years race report several times this weekend.  It came in so handy to know what we did last year & how we should plan this year.)   I found out the night before that fellow Tough Chik Karen was race number 982, I was 987 & SBM was 995 so we all shared the same bike rack.  We had transition fully set up by about 6:10.  

Nina aged up this year so she got to go in the 7:15AM wave.  I was still in the 7:25AM wave.   So we  still had about an hour to wait.  We headed to the beach to chill out on the beach chairs.  We made a final pit stop then headed down to the swim start.  Air temp ~60 degrees, Water temp ~74 degrees.  

This is the 3rd year I have done this race & every year the swim is different.  They call it a 1/3 mile swim but I think they use that very loosely.  This year the swim start & exit were right next to each other.  It was a rectangle swim.  They also moved the timing mats from right next exit to quite a ways away from the water.  

I usually place myself way in the back of the wave but this year I decided to get up close to the front.  I was off to the side & was about 2 people back.  I thought the people in the front would start off swimming & not lollygag.  Boy was I wrong.   When they started our wave it seemed to take forever for everyone to start swimming.  This was the worst swim I have ever done.  It was like a washing machine.  I got kicked, hit, swam on..I kicked, swam on, got hooked on someone shoulder & inadvertently pushed someone down.  It was terrible.  I kept trying to get to the left but it was crazy.  Every kayak had tons of people hanging on them.   I started to see some clear water when I got to the first turn but had really burned a lot of energy getting there.  Once I made the first turn I was able to get into a bit of a rhythm & when I made the last turn I really found my groove.  I was finally able to swim for real.   I passed quite a few yellow caps & even a couple red caps.  These were the earlier waves.  This never happens so I was thinking I was swimming pretty strong.   I didn't bother wearing a watch this year so I had no idea what my time was when I got out of the water.  It was a good thing too because I would later be very frustrated with my time.

T1 was uneventful.  I did have a little difficulty clipping in at the mount line but once on the bike I was good to go.  I did have my bike computer on but really only wanted it so I could watch my cadence.  My goal was to average 90 & keep my legs from burning out too quickly on the hills.  Since I had only been on my bike 4 or 5 times this season & my longest ride was 18 miles I had no idea what to expect time wise.   My plan was to rip it as fast as possible on the downhills because I knew my hill climbing was not going to be strong this year.  Over all the bike was smooth sailing.  I only had a couple cars to contend with which was much less than previous years.  

I headed back into T2 again not having any idea what time it was.  I dismounted, took off my bike shoes & ran in to rack my bike.  I got my run shoes, hat & bib on & then headed out for the run.  My plan was to listen to my body & see what I could do.  Thanks to my injury I had not run 3 miles since August.  I used the Couch to 5K program to slowly build up my running but my longest run was only 2.6 miles.  I felt surprisingly good on the run.   I never got too hot or had any cramping issues.  I felt the slightest twinge of piriformis pain a couple of times but was able to keep it mostly at bay for the entire run.  As I approached the finish line the clock said 2h29 minutes.  I did some quick math in my head & realized I finished in about 2h05minutes which is only 5 minutest longer than last year.  I was super excited.  

I waited at the finish for Nina.  Since she started before me this year we finished within a few minutes of each other which was awesome.   We met Charity, another fellow Tough Chik at the finish line.  

Thanks Charity for getting this shot!

We chatted for a while with Charity before heading back to transition to pack up our gear.  

Iron Girls!

After a quick stop at the hotel to change & we met SBM & friends for lunch.   Best way to end a race - new friends & beer!

SBM & Friends

2012 Iron Girl Atlanta by the Numbers:

My time is exactly 5 minutes longer than last year which I am super happy about since my bike & run training was a lot less this year.  Steve told me what my times were shortly after I finished & I was pretty frustrated with my swim time.  It was only 25 seconds faster than last year.  I had such high hopes for a faster swim this year because I put so much effort & focus on swimming this past winter.  

Once I was back at the hotel I fired up my laptop & started doing some comparisons to last year.  That was when I started to think the swim was long this year.  Here is why:

2011 Swim Time: 18m45s

2012 Swim Time: 18m20s

2011 Swim OA Rank: 810/1005

2012 Swim OA Rank: 494/1038

2011 Winning Swim Time: 7m57s

2012 Winning Swim Time: 10m34s

Either the entire pack was slower this year or the swim was long.  I am going with the latter because it makes me feel better  :-) 

I did set a new PR on max bike speed.  42.6 mph.  There are some screaming fast hills here & I took advantage of them to help get my average speed up.  

Nutrition:

Saturday night dinner - Goat Cheese Stuffed Chicken, yukon potatoes, haricot verts & a beer.  Oh & some bread pudding.  So maybe not the best pre-race dinner.

Sunday morning - Mix 1, ice coffee, banana & water.  Gel 20 minutes before the race & water

During the Race - 30 oz water on bike & gel at mile 14.  A little water at the 2 water stops during run.

After Race - I ate pretty much everything in sight.  Muffin & fruit at race, nachos, chicken wrap, fries & Fat Tire for lunch (Taco Mac).  Ice Americano mid afternoon.  Hibachi grill (Shogon) for dinner.  Bruster's ice cream for dessert.

On a sad note - one woman had a pretty bad bike crash today.  Rumor is that her front wheel fell off. Keeping her in my thoughts for a speedy recovery.  

Race safely y'all.

Week 5 of Iron Girl Training and Seasons First OWS

I had a good training week.  I am cautiously optimistic that the bike adjustment was the source of my pain the bum.  Nina & I rode 18 miles last Tuesday & I had no pain during or after the ride.  No issue during Friday's run either.  Woot!

Today Coy & I, along with our kayak support Steve & Luis, headed out to Cave Run Lake for the seasons first open water swim (OWS).  Actually, it was Coy's first open water swim.  She is doing Memphis in May next weekend & wanted to get some time in the dark murky water before race day.

There is a no boat area next to the Cave Run dam that has buoys every so often which makes it a perfect area to swim. The air temp was about 73F when we started.  The water temp was 70F.  We both had sleeveless wetsuits & besides the initial shock when we first got in the water felt great.

We started out swimming to each buoy & then taking a break.  It always takes me a little bit to get into a rhythm of sighting & breathing.   We kept swimming that way until the last buoy, about .45 miles out.  When we turned around we had to swim into the waves...just baby waves from the boats...nothing like St. George waves but it still made it a little more challenging to sight & breath.

We swam a little more continuously on our way back.  It seemed like in no time we were at the last buoy & swimming back to shore.  It felt great to swim without the lane line.  Sure, open water can be challenging but to me it felt like an awesome soul cleansing.   It just made me happy.

At the 1/2 way point

As an added bonus to the day, Coy & Luis took us to see some newborn foals on our way home.  They are just so sweet!

This one is a day old

This one was only a 5 hours old

That was definitely the highlight of the week.  Now here is how the rest of the week went.

Sunday - C25K - W7D3, Yoga
Monday - Swim 2200 yards, Pilates Reformer
Tuesday - C25K - W8D1, Ride - 18 miles
Wednesday - Swim 2100 yards
Thursday - Rest
Friday - C25K - W8D2
Saturday - OWS - 0.9 miles

One more week until Iron Girl.

That's just crazy y'all.

Week 4 of Iron Girl Training and the Source of the Pain in my A$$

I had a little setup in the injury category this week but I think I have found the source of aggravation.   During the ride last Thursday night I noticed a pain originating at my right sit bone.  It  wasn't too bad during the ride but a few hours later & the next day it was pretty darn sore.

Friday I did some google searches on 'sit bone pain cycling' & came across a bunch of forums that say to check your bike saddle size.  One referenced an A$$-o-Meter.

Since Mother Nature messed up our open water swim plans on Saturday, I took the opportunity to head to my local bike mechanic to do some research.  I explained to Jim what was going on & the things I read on the forums.  He measured my bike saddle & then had be sit on the Bontrager saddle fitting system aka A$$-o-Meter.  As it turns out my saddle is properly sized to my a$$.

Source

Jim then set my bike up on the trainer to see how well I was fitted to my saddle.  After taking some measurements & watching me ride he said I was reaching for the pedals on the down stroke.  This puts additional strain on the hips as well as bouncing in the saddle.  He dropped the saddle about 1/4" or so.  You wouldn't think a 1/4" would feel any different but it did.  Not just a little but a lot.

The other thing I thought of while I was there is to ask about my riding shorts.  I told him all I ride in are tri shorts.  His response was to only use those during races & use cycling shorts during every training ride.  True cycling shorts have a lot more padding in them than tri shorts.  So I left Scheller's with an adjusted bike fit & a new pair of cycling shorts.

Before heading to our Derby party I dropped of Fuji to get tuned up.  I figured Fuji never hurt me so maybe I should alternate riding Fuji & Jake until I can get this all sorted out.  

I am going to take a few extra days off from riding to give my sit bone some time to heal before trying out the new fit.

Here is how week 4 went:

Sunday:  Barre Amped, Run (C25K W7D1) with LexRunLadies
Monday: Swim 2000 yards, Pilates Reformer
Tuesday: AM Run (C25K W7D2), PM 45 min Spin & Yoga
Wednesday: Swim 1800 yards (including 200 yard TT - 4m23s)
Thursday: 13.4 mile ride out of Masterson Station
Friday: Scheduled Rest day
Saturday: un-Scheduled Rest day (was Open Water Swim w/Coy - Mother Nature intervened)

Did you have any fun Cinco de Derby plans?  Did your horse win?

We have a very popular Mexican restaurant at the end of our street that makes our neighborhood very, very busy on Cinco de Mayo.  When I left for the bike shop at 10AM the music was already blasting out of the restaurant.  We celebrate Cinco de Mayo by complaining at how many cars are parked on our tiny street.  Yep, that is how we roll!

We did go to a friends Derby party.  It ended up being a beautiful day despite the storms in the morning.  I didn't win but I didn't bet either.   Steve did bet but he didn't win.  One person at the party did bet on 'I'll Have Another'.  Her $2 bet won her about $56.   Not too shabby!

Have a great week y'all!

April Stats / May Goals + Clif Giveaway WINNER

OK - I will get to the fun stuff first.  The Clif Bar Giveaway Winner!

There were 36 comments on the Clif Bar giveaway post.  Random.org picked comment #9.

Congratulations to fellow triathlete Stefanie Frank of On the Edge who is currently training for a 70.3!!   I think it is cool that On the Edge is a new blog for me to follow.

Stefanie please send me an email at andreawilson70 (at) gmail (dot) com with the address you would like me to ship your prize to.

Now on to stats & goals.....

Despite being sick with a sinus infection this month & not getting as many rides on the road as I had hoped I am still happy with how the training is going.  I am most happy with how the running is progressing.

April Stats

• Swim (Goal/Actual) - 12 miles / 10.8 miles - I did get in the pool 12 times this month but was still short on yards.  
• Pilates Reformer (Goal/Actual) - 4 / 3
• Yoga (Goal/Actual) - 4 / 3 
• Spin / Road (Goal/Actual) - 8 / 6 (100 miles)
• Run (C25K) (Goal/Actual) - 12 / 12 (29 miles) - Ended the month on W7D1.
• BarreAmped (Goal/Actual) - 1 / 1
• April N2U CT Challenge was Kickboxing at the Y
• Rest Days (Goal/Actual) - 4 / 6 - I needed a couple extra due to sinus infection

Total Miles = 141

Total Time = 32 hours

2012 Nike Go the Distance Challenge (Goal / Actual) - 200 miles / 49.25 miles - ooof, I am getting way off on this one.  

Injury status - I would say I am about 90% recovered.  I have had 3 gloriously pain free runs  in the last week.  I do still feel a little discomfort during spinning or road riding.  Afterwards there is no pain.  I am trying to be religious about the cross training & stretching.

May Goals

My first race of the year is the Atlanta Iron Girl. Last year my goal was to finish under 2 hours & I just made it in 1h59m47s.  This year I am not setting an overall time goal.  I don't think my bike & run fitness are where they were last year.  


My goal for this race is to race the swim & have a solid bike & run leg.  Usually, I don't swim hard at all.  I swim at a comfortable pace to keep myself from any panic situations.  Since I have spent so much time in the pool this past winter I want to see if it has paid off. 


My swim time last year was 18m45s.  My goal is to be under 15 minutes this year in the swim.  Honestly, I am not sure if that will happen since I haven't done any timed swims over 100 yards or any open water swims this year.  The last time I did 100 yard repeats they were consistently at 2m20s.  So, a sub 15 is theoretically doable.


I am contemplating doing the Horsey Hundred over Memorial Day weekend.  I plan to volunteer with either TNT or BTC on Saturday & I am hoping to do the 30 miler on Sunday.  I will make the final decision after Iron Girl.


The other fun thing that happens on Memorial Day is the BTC practice Tri.  This really signifies the kickoff to Summer since it is the day that the Tates Creek pool (50m) opens in Lexington.  So can't wait to swim long course again!


Now on to my May workout goals:

• Swim - 12 miles - including 1 open water swim
• Pilates Reformer - 4
• Yoga - 4
• Spin / Road - 8 (130 miles)
• Run - 12 (32 miles)
• May N2U CT Challenge - TBD
• Rest Days - 4

I did keep most of my Saturdays in April as rest days which I loved but honestly I did zero home improvement projects.  We spent one Saturday at a UK baseball game, one was spent recovering from sinus infection, one was spent as a rainy day at home cleaning & doing other boring house chores (does that count as home improvement?) & one was spent at a joint Kentuckiana / Bluegrass SWE event in Shelbyville.  


I plan to keep most of my Saturday's in May as rest days.  I like having one day of the weekend just to chill & do whatever we feel like doing which probably won't be home improvement projects. 


Happy Training!!

Week 3 Iron Girl Training + 1st Blogiversary

This week was recovery week on the training plan.  All workouts were to be at low intensities.  I am slightly concerned that I haven't had too many road miles on the bike.  I am hoping the weather starts cooperating a little more in the upcoming weeks.

I did have my best run on Tuesday in many, many months.  I felt good, I felt strong & best of all I felt no pain.  Fingers crossed that this is the new reality.

Here is how week 3 went:

Sunday:  Run (C25K W6D1), 1 hour Spin
Monday: Swim 1400 yards, Pilates Reformer
Tuesday: Run (C25K W6D2), Yoga
Wednesday: Swim 1950 yards
Thursday: Un-Scheduled Rest day - Made it to the gym to spin but forgot my shoes - doh!
Friday: Run (C25K W6D3)
Saturday: 75 minute Spin (was Scheduled Rest day)

This past Wednesday was Bluegrass Tri Chick's 1 year blogiversary.  I want to say a big THANK YOU to all my readers.  Thanks for reading & all the kind words over the past year.  It still amazes me that people (other than my mom) are interested in what I have to say!

In honor of the first blogiversary I thought I would share a few stats from the past year.

• Most popular post - Vila Mat Guest Review - Thanks Rian!!
• Highest Pageview from non-US country - Sweden
• Followers & RSS Subscribers - 136
• Blog Posts - 97
• Pageviews - 12,746
• Number of races - 9
• Number of injuries - 1 - I hurt my heiny & it took forever to heal!
• Swim, Bike, Run Miles - 1,469

Steve showed me a cool website the other day called Wordle.  You enter in your URL & it creates an image like this.

I find it interesting how Clif is so prominent.  I imagine it has to do with all the hits I had on my last post thanks to the Clif Giveaway.

Speaking of which...have you entered?  You still have until midnight Sunday (4/29/12) to enter.

CHEERS!

Let the Clif Bar Season Begin and a GIVEAWAY!!!

This year I was selected to be a Clif Ambassador.  What does that mean?  In exchange for being fueled by great Clif products I agree to spread the word about Clif & hand out samples at various trainings & races over the next 7 months.

Having Clif as a 2012 sponsor is very exciting for me.  I have been a HUGE fan of Clif products for years!  I started eating Clif bars about 8 years ago when my husband & I were out hiking & kayaking.  Clif bars have sustained me on numerous trips to China for work.  I could rely on these bars to give me the vitamins & minerals I needed while working long hours at the factory.  Later in 2009 when I started endurance events I would buy Clif bars by the carton.  Love these bars!!!


About Clif Bars & Clif Builder's bar:


CLIF Bars are 70% organic and come loaded with 23 vitamins and minerals, which makes them the ideal nutrition for athletes. Whether you’re riding your bike or exploring a new trail, CLIF bar is crafted to sustain energy for your next adventure.


CLIF Builder’s bar is the protein bar that works as hard as you do. We only use ingredients that help to build and repair muscle – so you can get the most out of your workout. Builder’s is crafted with the best carbohydrates and protein, and no hydrogenated oils, trans fats, artificial sweeteners, sugar alcohols or GMO’s. 

The bars are not the only thing I dig about Clif.  Reading through their website you will find that they not only make great nutrition products but they are  a socially responsible company too.  I love their 5 Aspirations - Sustaining our Planet, Community, People, Business & Brands.  It is more than just the bottom line for them.

On Friday I received my first Clif shipment.  It included 400 mini Blueberry Crisp bars & 300 mini Chocolate Mint Builders bars.  YUM!  Also included was a black short sleeve Tech Shirt, 6 pairs of Clif Bar socks, 5 Clif Bar water bottles & a 4 foot Clif Bar banner.

This was only a 1/4 of the samples I have received in this shipment!

Keep an eye out for me.  I will be out & about at various local training events & races.  I also plan to be at the Atlanta Iron Girl in May.

Now it is GIVEAWAY time!!  For one lucky winner, I will send you (within contiguous 48 states) 5 mini Clif Blueberry Crisp bars, 5 mini Clif Chocolate Mint bars, 1 Clif Water bottle & 1 pair of Clif Bar socks.

You have 3 ways to enter - Leave a separate comment for each:

Like Clif Bar on Facebook (mandatory)
Follow Clif Bar on Twitter
Tell me what your favorite Clif Bar flavor is

Entries will be taken through midnight EST April 29.  Winner will be selected & announced April 30th.

Good Luck!

Week 2 Atlanta Iron Girl Training & A Pet Peeve

Week 2 of 6 went marginally better than last week.  Monday morning I had a 6 month follow up with my allergist & found out I had a bad sinus infection.  I was sent home with 10 days of anti-biotics & 5 days of steroids.   Overall, I felt better this week but had lots of sinus congestion & a little bit of fatigue.

Here is how week 2 went:

Sunday:  Run (C25K W5D1), 1 hour Spin
Monday: Swim 2000 yards, (skipped Pilates Reformer)
Tuesday: Run (C25K W5D2), Yoga
Wednesday: Run (C25K W5D3), Bike 15.5 miles on Legacy Trail
Thursday: Swim 1500 yards
Friday: Swim 2100 yards
Saturday: Scheduled Rest day

The drama of the week came during our ride on the Legacy Trail Wednesday when I almost ran over a dog.   Big, big pet peeve of mine - People walking their dogs off leash while wearing headphones on the trail.  Seriously?!  The dog was a terror terrier of some sort, maybe a jack russell.  As I started to pass on the left the dog (which I didn't realize was off leash) bolted out at my front tire.  The dog was behind the 2 owners who were blissfully ignorant.   I yelled something like 'GET YOUR DOG' & when they didn't immediately turn around I then yelled 'WHOSE DOG IS THIS?' as I was passing them.  That is when I noticed they both had headphones on.   They heard/saw me then & when I looked back they were wrestling their dog to the ground.  Again, seriously?!  Put a leash on that thing!!!  Nina saw it all from behind & as she went by she reminded them of the Lexington Leash law.

Moral of the story - if you are going to walk your dog (or child for that matter) on a mixed use trail STAY ALERT to your surroundings.   These trails are awesome for everyone (walkers/runners/bladers/cyclists) but we all have to be considerate of each other.  I really, really, really don't want to run over your dog!

In other news this week, Steve & I received our new Road ID's this week.  Our old ones were the velcro style & we had worn them so much that they didn't stay on very well anymore.  This time we both got the Wrist ID Slim that slide on over your wrist.  This style allows you to interchange the bands which I was all over.  I got 4 different colored bands to match my different race kits.  Steve stuck with the traditional black.  These come in very handy for the first responders especially if crash when you run over someone's dog on the trail.  On both of ours we have our names, city, 2 ICE contacts & general medical info.

Train safely y'all!

Week 1 Atlanta Iron Girl Training + Iron Chef

Week 1 of 6 of the Atlanta Iron Girl training could have gone better.  Monday started off with little sniffle that I tried to blame on allergies.  I denied that I was sick for a couple more days but by Wednesday night it hit me hard.  It was a bummer not just because my training suffered but I was in an intense 4 day training class at work & didn't have time to be sick.   I hung tough though Friday afternoon.  After class let out I went home & promptly took a nap.  I spent Friday night on the couch catching up on some DVR'd shows.  Real exciting.

Here is how this week went training wise.

Sunday:  Run (C25K W5D2) + 16 Mile Bike
Monday: Swim 1500 yards + Pilates Reformer
Tuesday: Run (C25K W5D3)
Wednesday: Swim 1400 yards
Thursday: Sick (was Run + Bike)
Friday: Sick (was Swim)
Saturday: Scheduled Rest day

I contemplated trying to make up a couple workouts on Saturday but decided against it.  I will pick up training again on Sunday.

Wednesday night we did an Iron Chef team building competition.  There were 23 of us in the training.  We were split up into 2 teams.  One cooking vegetarian & one cooking meat.   Each team was split into 3 smaller teams.  One made the appetizer, one the main dish & one dessert.  I was on the dessert team.  

The appetizer our team made was a seared skirt steak with asparagus.  The main dish was pork with pear & almond rice.  The dessert was cheese cake in phyllo cups with the choice of chocolate sauce, berry sauce, whipped cream and/or graham cracker.

The other team made carrot pancakes with a salad for the appetizer, Thai noodles for the main dish & ginger chocolate chip cookie sandwiches for dessert.

Our team won 2 of 3 of the courses.  Only our dessert lost because we plated it with with all the options and the judges said it just had too much going on.  Oh well, 2 out of 3 isn't too shabby.

Appetizer - Seared Skirt Steak

Main Dish - Pork, Pear & Broccoli over Almond Rice

Dessert as Plated for Judges

Dessert - Mini Cheesecakes with Toppings

I must say this was the best forced fun team building experience I have ever had with co-workers.  The food was all so yummy & it really was a great way to build new relationships.

Here's to a better Week 2!

Weekend Rewind

With the days getting longer I haven't been blogging so much.  I think my posts will turn more random since they will be fewer & farer between until DST ends.

I have made a few changes to the blog layout this weekend.   I think it looks a little cleaner & reads easier.  Whad'ya think?  The new main picture was taken today during my first road ride of the season.

This morning I did Week 5 Day 2 of the Couch to 5K program (C25K).   Previously I had never done the C25K program but I am really digging it for my return to running after my piriformis injury.  I am using the C25K app on my iPod touch.   It gradually takes you from non-running to running 30 minutes in 8 weeks.  For me, it also is keeping me from doing too much too soon.  So far so good.  The past 2 runs have been pain free.  Yay!

Today was also Day 1 of the 6 week training block for the Atlanta Iron Girl.  After doing the run this morning I met Nina to ride the Markey Race for Women's Cancer bike course this afternoon.  It was a nice easy ride for my first ride on the road this season.  We took a quick bike tour of the horse park at the end along with an easy walk on the Legacy Trail.

Horsies on Mt. Horeb

Have you ever wondered what 'fun' smells like?  No?  Me either before today.  As I was putting on sunscreen before the ride I told Steve how much I love the smell of sunscreen. About the only time I ever apply the Coppertone is when I am about to do something fun.  Go to the beach, go ride, hiking, kayaking, etc.  It just smells 'fun'.  It reminds me of being on vacation & carefree.

Yesterday Steve & I went to our first UK Baseball game thanks to a buddy at work for the tickets.  It was a perfect day for a game.  Unfortunately, they lost to Ole Miss.  They lost big.  Such a bummer since they were the #1 ranked team in the nation.  Regardless, it was fun.  

Oh & the other thing that kicked off this weekend?  Funky tan line season.  Bike shorts, cycling jerseys, helmets & gloves.  Bring on the funky tan!

Happy training y'all!