Another Dental FAIL

Tuesday was supposed to be one of the last stops on my Dental Express... but alas, FAIL. It seems to be a recurring theme with the dental work thus far... a series of setbacks. My oral surgeon was supposed to drill the implant in and let that start healing for the next 90 days (for those of you keeping count.. that means a new tooth just after IMLP!), at which point a crown could be fashioned and I would officially be done with the dental work. Simple, right? In a sense, yes. Compliments of health insurance... no. Nothing can ever be simple with health insurance. Apparently they haven't pre-authorized my treatment yet, so no go on the surgery unless I want to pay out of pocket and be reimbursed. Pass. Seriously though... WHY haven't they done the authorization?!?! It's not like this was a surprise. I'm pretty sure they've seen close to 40K worth of dental work from this accident (not even including my hospital bills)... this should be something thats instantly approved. Alas, no. So, I'm stuck waiting for another 2 weeks or so until Aetna decides they want to do their job and pay my insurance. Awesome.

Training and work has been taking up most of my time. I'm looking forward to heading home today for my sisters bridal shower. I'm also going to explore the Emerald Necklace in Cleveland (and by explore, I mean ride 90 miles). It reminds me of The Wizard of Oz, and I have a feeling that there will be many times I'll catch myself singing "we're off to see the wizard". If the Emerald Necklace does indeed have anything to do with the Emerald City, I'll be sure to snap some pictures of the yellow brick road.

A Long-Winded Post

Or perhaps a post about wind.

On the schedule for this past weekend was a 63-mile ride Saturday, and a 15-mile run Sunday. The temperatures looked to be great for both days, and I was excited to not have a rainy weekend for the first time in what seems like a while.

And then the wind blew. Relentlessly. I've never thought it was possible to be blown off my bike, but I'm pretty sure it almost happened a few times on Saturday's ride. We started out from Tyler Elementary in Gainesville. The first 10 miles were on Rt 245, into a direct headwind. After drafting off Es for two miles (thanks bud), I figured I was strong enough to push harder. I instantly recognized the savings of being in the aero position - sitting up, I was struggling to stay 10 mph. Dropped down aero, I was averaging about 19-20. And then we turned off 245. My bike and I, attempting to stay together as a solid unit, started to dance with the wind. Between every house and break in landscape came gusts which were so powerful, I thought I was going to lose my bike out from under me. Forget taking a drink from a bottle, I couldn't let go of my handlebars. Aero position was out of the question. A quick stop at a 7-11 around mile 16, which was filled with people from the 40 mile ride (left from a different location 30 minutes following the 63's) caused a long pause in my ride. Hoping to catch Es, I threw on my and went screaming down the road. Dropped into aero, I felt awesome.... rocking out going maintaining between 25-28mph. I went sailing past one of our SAG drivers, and waved as I continued down the road. All of the sudden, my coach comes up with the SAG driver whom I just passed in their car, and yells at me to stop. Thinking I was about to get a lecture about riding in the center of the road (I was avoiding potholes on the side of the desolate roads).. I pulled up to their window. Ed, trying to keep a straight face.. says "look at your reflection".

I put my helmet on backwards. Wow.

I can't even explain the logistics of how that actually worked, and how I didn't NOTICE that my helmet was on backwards... but I digress. I fixed my helmet, laughed, and continued on my way. I picked up speed again, and then hit a major pothole. I maintained control, but it beat me to the core. I listened: No flat tire, no bent rims. Life was good until I reached back to grab my Gatorade out of my rear bottle holder. Gone. I stopped, and I literally broke BOTH bottle cages in the hit (side note: I have the same set up as Ray, who also has only lost a bottle due to failure against a severe pothole. Luckily, I didn't break my seat). Rt 713: 2, Lindsay: 0. Once I got everything together, and laughed a little more about the fact I zoomed past a bunch of people with my helmet on backwards, the rest of the ride was rather uneventful. Since I had lost two water bottles in the pothole fiasco, I was way down on calories for the ride. It started to heat up, which wasn't helping, nor was the wind still gusting at 35 knots. I slowed down, and Gina along with another teammate caught up to me. We tackled Snickersville Turnpike together. I'm not sure on the score of Snickersville vs myself, but it was a close match. There were points I was going 3 mph up the hills, every turn of the cranks burning my quads in a strange enjoyably masochistic way.

And then the breakdown started. Groups of motorcyclists were coming from the opposite direction. I couldn't help but think that my dad (proud owner of a Triumph Bonneville) would have loved to been out riding on a day like today. And then came a flood of emotions I've been repressing. I'm sure my teammates had no idea I was bawling under my sunglasses, attempting to keep the tears from welling into my eyes, because I needed to see the road (not that it was passing by quickly - I was still struggling to maintain 4mph up the hills..) I think if I wouldn't have had some teammates there, I would have gotten off my bike and curled up against a tree for a few hours and thrown a self-pity party. I'm glad they were there. The remainder of the ride was good after that, and I returned a bit quicker than I thought I was going to.

I planned to ride on Sunday again with a teammate, however my ass wasn't going to have it. I switched to tri shorts on the 63 miler, and, although comfortable, they take a bit of getting used to. My ass was not that happy with me Sunday. I decided to forgo the additional biking after cheering on teammates at the Cherry Blossom 10-Miler. Instead, I came home, took a nap, got my 13 miles in (hey, I rode around town for a while.. that should count as 2 miles of running).


I miss sleeping in on the weekends.

Food makes me happy.

I'm one of those people that tends to not like Mondays in general. The day seems to be a constant reminder of how short the weekend really was, what I didn't finish last week that I still need to do this week, and, after a recovery week, how much this week is going to hurt.

Today is not one of those Mondays. Sure, I have plenty that I have to catch up on from work last week, and it is the start of another build cycle. That hasn't changed.

But I'm looking forward to eating all day today.

Breakfast: Grape Nuts Flakes with blueberries and bananas, fresh pressed apple juice (mmm)
Lunch: Spicy Thai-ish Beef with brown rice, topped with red, orange, green, and yellow peppers, plus a salad complete with kale
Dinner: I have a cut of pork in my crockpot with a honey mustard glaze. Semi-cooked carrots (I hate cooked carrots, but my teeth aren't strong enough for the raw ones right now... so I just soften them a bit), and a baked sweet potato. Most likely will much on some peppers while I finish cooking.
Snacks: Cashews, raisins, or granola.. whichever sounds good at the time.

After kind of eating like crap all weekend, I welcome the health foods. I'm going to try to make Kale Chips, compliments of Maggs tonight, and see how they go. I'm intrigued.

This weeks schedule includes:
Monday - Run: 40 minute z2, strength workouts, swim
Tuesday - Swim, Bike: warm up, 30 min z2, 3 z5 a/b hill repeats, cool down
Wednesday: Strength, Run: Warm up, sprints, mile @ z3, 800 z4, recovery
Thursday: Swim, Bike: warm up, 5 min single leg drills, 20 min z2, Z4 work, cool down
Friday: swim, resistance workout
Saturday: Bike - 50 miles of Skyline!! ouch.
Sunday: 10 mile run, race Scope it Out 5K, swim.

Busy busy week ahead, but I'm looking forward to it. I think I'm going to test out the new wetsuit this week. I'm pretty pumped.

12 Days.

Until they cut the first set of wires binding my jaw closed. I'm stoked.

I went back to the oral surgeon for my week 3 checkup yesterday. No x-rays this time, just a glance at my teeth, asked me to try to open my mouth (Umm.. buddy, you wired me shut remember, I cant. I'm guessing he was checking to see if it needed to be tightened at all), and told me to set up an appointment around the week of December 15th to have the wires cut. Apparently my eyes must have grown wide with excitement, because he quickly stomped on my dreams of cheeseburgers, noting that I still wouldn't be able to open my mouth much. I'll have rubberbands replacing one set of wires so I may begin strength training in my jaw. Needless to say, I scheduled for 9:30 on December 15th - the first possible appointment.

Feeling brave and adventurous, I went to swim practice last night; my first physical activity since the accident, unless you can count walking to the fridge for another Ensure as activity. As I pulled into the parking lot, Coach Ed was walking to his car. Before I could gather my towel and such, he was standing outside my car door, asking "Are you here to see me for something? I'm heading home since we have 2 other coaches on deck, and I'm swamped with paperwork for the fiscal year." Nope. Here to swim sir. He was impressed that I was already trying to get back on board, and as he admired how much better I looked that last time I saw him, and how phenominal the healing has been I think I saw a slight tear in his eye. Awww.
I was extremely nervous to get in the water. Will I be able to breathe? What if I can't.. I'm just going to get frustrated and dissappointed. How much will I have to throw my form off in order to breathe? How much slower have I become since I've been out of the pool for 3 weeks? And, with that, I slid into my normal lane with Matt, Sebastian, and Fabrice. Iwan hopped over the lane divide to give me a huge hug when he realized I was back in the pool. And so began swim practice. I was a bit late after talking to Ed in the parking lot for a while.. so I missed most of the warmup. Matt suggested we add a little time to the w/u so I could adjust. Good call. The first 50 yards might have been the scariest lap I've swam in a long, long time. We're talking since I learned to swim with my face in the water, circa 1991. I found it easier to attempt to breathe on my left (weak side..), because I have a missing tooth from the accident and am able to suck air in a bit quicker on that side. I had to really focus on the glide part of the stroke, so I could leave my head turned upwards long enough to breathe. It was difficult to get used to turning my head high enough to have my lips completely clear the water. I have very little feeling in my bottom lip-post accident, so I couldn't make my lips do the strange contorted movement we all normally do when breathing during freestyle.

The first set was Kick, Catchup Drill, Tarzan Drill, Fist Swim, 4x100 (we're on a recover week) Kick, no problem. Catchup, no problem, Tarzan.. okay starting to get tired, having to breathe more often = sucking in more water = starting to panic inside my closed jaw, Fist drill... Pass, I'll just kick instead. Each set of 100 lost another drill off the end, so the final set I was just doing pure kick drills for 100. Luckily, I LOVE kick drills, and stay on pace with the guys doing the other swim drills. We then started a set of 800 Z2. Since the four of us suck at counting after a while, we rotate every 200. I mentioned I probably would just hang in the back - they don't want me leading, I'm going to be pulling the pace down. Sebastian looked at me and said "Nope. You're going to have to lead sometime!" I focused on staying as calm as possible during the first 600. Somehow it worked, and I actually stayed on Seb's toes until he peeled off and I lead the final 200. I felt very accomplished, and I'm glad Seb pushed me. We had 3 more sets of 800 prior to climbing out of the pool for the evening, and I only skipped 1 lap after sucking in too much water. Not too bad. I felt like Darth Vader trying to swim though... Not the easiest thing to do, but I guess I'll have excellent breath control once this is all over with.

Nothing else too exciting is going on. I'm not tired of Ensure yet (surprisingly), and I'm excited to get a new flavor sometime this week - mixed berry, to add to the stash of high protien Chocolate, Vanilla, and Banana currently stacked in my room. Mashed potatoes are slowly losing their appeal though. I find new smoothies to make daily, keeping the taste buds happy. I have yet to attempt making any common food into a smoothie - I'm not that desperate, and seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, I don't think you'll see me drinking a processed steak.

Off to get ready for that thing I was extra excited/nervous about a few weeks ago, that was supposed to happen the day after my crash, and they were kind and understanding enough to move it to today. :)

Blog? What blog... Ohh.. that blog.

I figured I should probably update my severely neglected blog. In my defense, I've been training. I think its a very good excuse to be neglecting the computer a bit.

Where to start..

My brother got hitched on October 18th. I made my way down to Chapel Hill, NC for the festivities. It was a nice, small wedding. Nothing exciting to report from that weekend really... I'll post some pictures up eventually of me and the fam.


I have a new love in my life. He doesn't have a name quiet yet, and I haven't gotten around to snapping pictures when he's not looking. In the meantime, I'm stealing a picture from a hilarious tease written by another awesome tri-blogger.

Only, its much, much smaller. I'd guess his to be a 58 or 61... mines a 48.

I took the new investment out riding this past Sunday to the 3 covered bridges ride. First, a rant about DC's traffic - I picked up my friend Iwan for the ride.. he lives in NW DC. I read all the road closure times for the Marine Corps Marathon (which, congrats to all those who ran!), and planned my route accordingly. Embarked on my drive, and of course, every road I had planned was closed. I stopped to ask a cop what the deal was, and apparently they had a "security breach".. so they needed to close all of the roads early on in the morning. So much for being early to the ride. It was a stunning 42 mile ride through the historic covered bridges in Frederick, Maryland. Have I mentioned, I LOVE fall? Its my favorite time of year, when the air is crisp and cool, and the fall colors are lit up by the golden hue of the sun. I think Ohio gets a slightly better glimpse of fall, more intense shades of orange, red, and yellow; however, this area has this hillsides to really showcase the array of colors. Back to the bike though - I felt extremely comfortable on it, aside from occasional neck soreness as I got used to the aero position. I felt like I had much more power as I pedaled along, and felt much faster. Unfortunately, I cannot back this claim with data, as I forgot to adjust my polar computer from my 700c wheels to the 650 wheelsize. According to my computer, I rode 59 miles, and averaged around 27 mph. Pretty sweet for a rolling terrain, no? I kind of want to leave the comp as is - it makes me feel super fast.

I feel like I'm also getting stronger running, but I need to make more commitment to the activity. Instead of just plodding along, I need to focus on form, my weaknesses, and building strength as well as speed.

I got to do the "moving on up" song/dance combo this morning at swim. We were doing sets of 500, and I led my lane. As I ended the set, the coach was standing at the end of my lane.. looked at me and said "you aren't even breathing hard. Did you start the same time as them?" I turned around and looked, and I was about a full length ahead of my lanemates (? new word..). I just kinda smiled and let out a sheepish "well.. yes.." "move. you're not allowed to swim in this lane anymore.. move up another lane. Say goodbye to Lindsay" Well damn. Another lane up.. only 2 more to go until I'm in the ultra fast lane. Goals... I gots 'em. :) On a more serious note, resistance bands are my secret. Strap some of these puppies to a stable anchor, and work on the freestyle stroke. I tie loops in my therabands (I have tons, from years and years of PT) for my hands, then work a freestyle set on land 3 days a week. I may invest in some of the swim cords, with the paddles for a more realistic feel. Oh, and lose a little weight too. Thats gotta help something. I was pretty excited to move up, but now I'm further and further away from the people I always sit around and chat with! Bummer.
**Edit: I dont know what happened to a few lines in that paragraph at posting, but it made no sense. Fixed.


I went to an endocrinologist on Friday (sorry, this is a very non-chronological blog... stay with me). I don't normally talk about any strange disorders I have, but this one might prove to be very interesting. I'm being tested for Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). One thing that strikes me about this, is the associated insulin resistance - meaning my muscles don't properly absorb glucose. As we all know, glucose is one of the feeding agents for energy in the muscular system. Its treatable, with a daily dosing of a drug often used in diabetes, Metformin. How will this affect my training? Doc thinks I would become a much, much better athlete, as my muscles will be fueled efficiently and firing properly. Interesting. Now I just have to wait for the lab results (which, by the way.. they took 8 large vials of blood... not those little tiny ones I normally see, after being on an 8 hour fast. I give blood routinely, but this was the first time I stood up and almost passed out. Scary feeling.)

Before this post drags on any longer.. I'll go be productive. Looking forward to making pasta and carving pumpkins with some friends tonight. Again, I LOVE FALL!

-Linds

But its only September...

Yes, the 2009 race season is now upon me. I've been evaluating what our team is doing, and what races I want to do.... so without further ado, I present the 2008-2009 Race Calendar

Jingle All the Way 10K
Sunday December 14, 2008
Washington, DC

Christmas Light Run (4-5 miles)
Wednesday December 17, 2008 (7pm)
Washington, DC

Myrtle Beach Marathon
Saturday February 14, 2009
Myrtle Beach, SC

Cherry Blossom 10 Miler
Sunday April 5, 2009
Washington, DC

Kinetic Half Iron Triathlon
Saturday May 9, 2009
Lake Anna State Park, VA

Kinetic Sprint Triathlon
(I've always wanted to do a back to back..)
Sunday May 10, 2009
Lake Anna State Park, VA

Ironman Training Weekend (Team Z)
May 22-25, 2009
Lake Placid, NY

Mooseman Half Iron Triathlon
Saturday June 6, 2009
Newfound Lake, NH



FORD IRONMAN LAKE PLACID
Sunday July 26, 2009
Lake Placid, NY

-------------------------------------

Okay, well, thats actually all that is planned so far. In the running for post Ironman include the Nation's Triathlon, Patriots Oly (Nice flat course), or Bassman sprint or half in October. I guess it depends on how much I like the half iron distance.

I'd also love to throw in some sort of cycling race. My brother is big into road racing, and I'd like to do a few and earn up in the "cat" division.

So there you go. The season ahead looks both challenging and terrifying. I'll be shattering all sorts of records for myself in terms of distances.

Oh my gosh, thats MY car

So last night, I hop in my car to go test ride a few more bikes, and then to my Thursday night swim. I head out of the parking lot, and there's a Honda in front of me. I think to myself, man, that's a loud exhaust. Upon rolling down my windows, I realize that it is MY exhaust that sounds like a dragster. So, I immediately call my dad and ask him what's going on... as if he should instantly be able to tell me from 400 miles away. After pulling into the parking lot of a LBS, I checked the front of the car, nada. Look in the back... and my tail pipe is corroded off, and there's a hole in the side of my muffler. Sonofa.. Called one of my co-workers who had previously recommended a mechanic and had him send me the info. Continued with some bike testing (which, fyi LBS employees, i do NOT want a pink bike. Stop trying to sell me a pink bike. I realize I'm short, blond, and a girl, but that does not mean I want a pink bike. Nor do I want a a light blue bike. I want a predomenantly black, carbon fiber bike), and then went to swim practice number 2 for the day. I went to our 5:30-6:30 practice, and did the same z4 work again at night. Slightly exhausting. Went out to grab some sushi with a few teammates afterwards (forgoing the beer due to the onset of some resperitory thing, and an upcoming race).


Result of 5 years living in the snowbelt... salt corrosion.

Today I scheduled an appointment at the car doctor, and decided it would be a perfect opportunity to get in some extra riding. I planned on stopping by a bike shop on my journey, so I looked up some directions via Google "walking directions". FYI - these do not work well for walking, nor bike riding. I rode across multiple on ramps for 95/395 following these directions.

Google or Garmin - please invent an "Avoid Ghetto" option on your maps and GPS. I wandered down Duke street and some other side streets today, and rode through some areas even I, the "bad ass city girl", was nervous riding my bike through. I passed a bum fight, a taxi driver and their passanger in a screaming match outside the car, and a bum who actually got up as I was approaching near him, and started yelling "Hey baby". Needless to say, I rode as fast as I could, prayed for no flats, and wished I would have eaten breakfast. The plan was to take the remaining few sips of gatorade along with me from last night, and then stop along the way at CVS, 7/11, or something of the sort. No chance I was stopping. On my way back to the house, a Starbucks came out of no where, and looked amazing. I'm not much of a starbucks coffee person, as I can make better tasting stuff at home, but today it sounded delicious. I grabbed a light coffee frapp, sans the whipped cream. Just as I got it, the mechanic called and my car was ready. So, I decided ride back since it was only about 3 miles away.

I was excited it fit in my cage. I had to stop though and pour it into a bottle.. the lid was rubbing against my legs as I pedaled. And, to avoid getting flamed - I realized I was out of CO2 cartridges today, so i had to strap on my old school hand pump.


I got in a good 4+ hours of riding, and realized I LOVE LOVE LOVE my saddle... this is the most I've been on it at once since I bought it. Ass is still happy. :)

All for now. Next update will most likely be after the Nation's Tri... My parents are coming into town. Hopefully the upper resperatory crap clears up. Its supposed to be in the mid 90's for the race... ugh. Can't I have DECENT weather for a race this year? Its either been pouring rain, rained out, or scortching hot.

See? I'm terrible at this.

There's not enough hours in the day it seems to keep up with a blog, work, homework, training, friends, and sleep. I just have to get through the next two weeks to finish out class, move, and get set up in the new place. I'm going to miss living so close to work, but, alas, cheaper rent means I can spent more on triathlon stuff.

I swam at Lake Barcroft for a bit on Saturday. Easy 1000' or so, then worked with Lynn on her stroke. I have to laugh, every time I tell someone I'm only 22, they are very surprised. Lynn's comment was "if you would have told me you were 32, I would have completely believed you, and envied how young you still looked. Maturity wise though, I would have believed 32." I feel young and old at the same time. Went to the Redskins game Saturday night in the SAIC Corporate suite (I can't lie, it was pretty sweet). I was looking forward to the "OMG-WTF? :-(" ride on Sunday, so I only had a glass or two of wine, and drank a lot of water. Unfortunatly, the food decided not to like me, and I was throwing up around 5am. So much for the ride. Went back to sleep, got up around 11, and went out to get the miles in on the bike. Didn't get the full 68 I wanted, more like 45, but it was good to be out riding at least. Stomach still hurt a bit. I didn't swim on Sunday or this morning.. Trying to let my shoulder heal up a bit. I have a 60' Z2 ride tonight on the W&OD, so that should be nice and relaxing.

I was looking at our workout locations and such for the next month and a half, through the end of September. I'm excited that my vacation coincides with the TeamZ vacation too. Sweet! Then it hit me. When the next set of training documents go on... I'm going to be on the 140.6 track. Holy shit. I'm training for an Ironman.


In other news, I'm hoping the team does the Gasparilla Marathon in Tampa Bay. I mean seriously... a PIRATE themed marathon? How entertaining is that?! I would totally wear some sort of Pirate striped socks or something. :) But, Austin also sounds entertaining, though a heck of a drive. At least with Tampa Bay, we could crash at the house in Hilton Head.

All for now.

I'm starting to enjoy training.

Training this week has gone pretty well.
After work on Monday I went up to Hains Point to swim. Walked in around 5:45 - score, no attendant taking $$ since it was near the 7pm closing time. This pool (pictured below. be jealous) is by far one of my favorite places to swim.
50 meter outdoor pool, has a few lanes roped off for swimming, and usually a plethora of decent looking triathlete guys to swim with. Heading away from the starting blocks, if you look up to practice sighting, you can see the tip of the Washington Monument ahead. It just reminds me that I really enjoy living here, and wouldn't trade it for anything right now. Some days I still can't believe that its where I live. Must be the lack of 8th grade field trip to DC, so its like I'm still experiencing all of this for the first time.
Did a few loops around HP to get the legs spinning, went to the roomies softball game. I was looking forward to a nice, deep sleep, however I had to go take care of some unfinished business. Guys confuse me, and I remember again why I should swear them off and just stick with my training. Though I have interest in someone on the team currently. This would make life easy, because they understand the need for sleep and the time commitments triathlon takes.

Tuesday, did an easy early morning swim, went to work, and then rode from McKinley afterwards. Helped Marie with her riding on the W&OD for about 45 minutes, drafted Matt most of the way back (which, is awesome because I hardly had to peddle. He did notice though, saying he could hear a lot of coasting going on behind him), did two hill repeats (ouch. I need to get better at those), and called it a decent workout. Took Talia home, and met up with Collin, Benke, and Matt for dinner at Rincome Thai on Columbia Pike. Tim joined in later and told more stories about the 'boys' and their chaffing from Ironman than I cared to hear about. :) Walked over to Baskin-Robbins for a scoop of icecream, and called it a night.

Wednesday, I went for a short jog in the morning, came home, preceded to fall asleep until 8:30, and frantically got ready for work. Went for a 2000m swim at Tysons Sport and Health, where I was able to really develop the catch phase of the swim, and work on my flip turns.

This morning, I swam with Chris Wren. Yep, the age group record breaker at Lake Placid... sub 1 hour swim for 2.4 miles. Tuesday night he made a comment that no one was in his lane and he was sad, so I told him if no one was there again on Thursday, I'd swim with him. I laughed that he was alone again when I walked by, and he was like "join me.. I dare ya!" So, I did. What a freakin workout to keep up with him. Almost embarrassing being 23 and barely able to keep up with a 60 year old man. But, he's a damn good swimmer. It made me realize that my catch is finally where it needs to be, but I don't have the muscle power to really pull me through the water like I need to. We had a lot of fun, and he didn't lap me at least... so it was a good work out. Haines Point for some speedwork tonight, though I'm most likely donating blood, so it will be a nice slow ride.

3 Covered Bridges ride this weekend, pretty excited. Not so excited about having my shoulder drilled into tomorrow. More on that later.


-L

Lazy Sunday

I was supposed to get up this morning and ride Skyline Drive. Instead, I didn't set my alarm, and woke up around 8:30. Since Skyline is an hour and a half away, and the other ride option of Rileys Lock started at 8, I had to ride alone today. So, I decided to sleep in until 9:30, got up, tossed my bike on my car, and headed to the W&OD. Started out at a good pace, shifted into my big chain ring, and all of the sudden it felt like I was braking. Looked down, not in the big chain ring. Shifted back and forth again. No luck. Hopped off the bike and pretended to be a mechanic. Turns out I'm not, and I made shifting my back derailleur more difficult than before, and still couldn't switch into my big chain ring. I accept this, and continue plugging along in the little chain ring for another 12 miles, and then turned around and headed back to my car. Passed Ken along the way... always nice to see Team Z'ers out even when its not an organized ride.

I went to the pool this evening and worked with hand paddles. I love those things... it makes you swim correctly. My strokes after I took them off were as close to flawless as I know how to get. Awesome. :) Came home, ate some Naan and strawberries, and came to check mail/post.

Off to do some yoga, then sleep.


-Deezy.