rain weekend rain

was a little worried that the red poppy ride was going to be really wet after the rain on friday night...but it turned out to be a perfect day...nice, cool and overcast to start clearing as the day went on...got to the 9th grade center in g.town about 7.30 to p/u the packet and get ready to ride...parked behind the school...just next to some of the team baraka girls...a nice way to start the day...

got all packed up and ready to roll headed to the start at about 10 till 8...they did a raffle and i think i won something...but i couldn't remember my number...it was pinned to my back...oh well... we will see if they mail it to me :) then we were off...

they started the 62 mile group first...i was riding alone...so i was able to chat with some other riders through out the ride...and stop when i wanted/needed to not every time...stopped at rest stop 3...and just kept riding through to #6 where i indeed took my first spill...!...looking back on it...it was one of those...how did i even fall...i was almost stopped and had one foot out of the pedals which i have done a million times...just tipped over and boom...only a minor scrape on the knees and a gear scrape on the calf...the rocket ship suffered minor injuries to the handle bar tape...she told me she feels tough with the scratch and wants to keep it for now...i said ok...refilled the water after trying to recover my pride...and was off again...

i tried for the first time to stick to a nutrition plan as i need to start figuring out what and when and how much to eat on the bike...so at 11pm after dinner out on friday night i made one and a half raspberry jam and sunflower seed butter (like pb but made with sunflower seeds...it is awesome...and contains salt...a necessary nutrient) cut into squares and packed into a ziploc to carry in my jersey...a granola bar and ~20 oz gatorade....i was figuring about 4h for the ride and was going to shoot for ~200kcal per hour...after checking my watch and seeing that i was already into the second hour of my ride..oops...i started in on the plan...opting for the granola bar first...and followed quickly by one square...kept up with it for the rest of the ride...coach will be so proud of me...i even took a water bottle off the back left cage...while riding...refilled the aero bottle and returned the empty to the cage without killing myself or others...

ended up finishing the ride in 3h45m with just a few oz of gatorade left in the bottle....i finished that while i got my running shoes on and headed back out on the bike course for 30m run...15 out and back...i really like running off the bike during these rides...you get cheered on by all the other triathletes out there...its like a mini race...makes the run that much better...there were a few others out running too...camaraderie is good...tummy felt good and my energy was also good...seems that my nutrition worked for me on this day...might have been easier to eat with a bento box and not having to dig into my jersey pockets...i'll look into that...was on my way home about 12.30...pretty good morning workout...i was pleased...

j was picking up the farm share when i got home so i started in on some nutrition reading...was falling asleep so opted for a 20 minute power nap...then back to the books for pretty much the rest of the afternoon...made a yummy pasta with shrimp, tomatoes, asparagus, lemon garlic and basil with an arugula salad and garlic bread...tasty...watched breech about the robert henson (sp?) espionage...very interesting...i liked it...

sunday am was to be an open water swim at mansfield damn...but the weather was not going to cooperate...the sky looked sooooo dark and the lightning was a little scary...so the swim was back at nitro...inside...driving was a little freaky...my trying to beat the death looking sky to the swim place...and not getting hit by lightning....there were some BIG bolts out there...cool...made it with not took much rain...but not too many others from the cap tex group were there...maybe 10 maybe...a bunch of danskin girls too...swam about 2500...pool was arranged in 25m way today...did some drills while 7 of us shared a lane...not circle swimming 4 and then 3 splitting the lane...trying to simulate race conditions...it was strange being the one at the front then swimming through all those people coming towards you...but it was good to be around all those people...one girl was having a really hard time with it...she's a former swimmer...i think i probably just feels really weird...i think the more people the better...practice right?

and now...i am not on my long run...i am having a second cup of coffee...and watching the rain clear to what right now is a bit of sun...a little break for me...on account of the weather...so i am going to go enjoy it while it lasts... :)