the 3 lucky RoadID winners

thanks to everyone of you who left comments on my blog for this giveaway. i wish i could give all of you a RoadID but unfortunately there could only be 3 winners. here they are:

~ Cynthia O'H at Balls in the air ( i love that title because it can be translated in so many different ways).

~ Angie at Barefoot Angie Bee (she runs barefoot!)

~ Matt W. (who does not have a blog but really should).

congrats to all of you! if you go to my profile page on blogger, you will find the link to my email and if you could just send me a quick message and then i can reply back to you with the code you will need to order your RoadID. Thanks to Outside|PR and Sports Marketing and of course the folks over at RoadID for the giveaway opportunity. it has been fun and for a great cause...our safety!
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time to go out and play in this glorious weather. according to the weather widget on my blog, it is 72 degrees and feels awesome. i already got in a great run this morning (8.25 miles) before work and now gotta get my bike on.

is it friday yet? much love and peace out!

hard hat area

just messing around with different layouts, color schemes, etc...this is by no means the final look. i'm a visual person so i need to apply the changes, digest them a bit and then decide what goes and what stays. we shall see. i liked the way my blog looked, but i didn't LOVE it. i want to really LOVE it. so bear with me as i will probably change things here and there throughout the week until i get it just right.

it's a rainy monday here today. has been raining on and off since yesterday afternoon. no swim this morning but did get in week 2, day 1 of the hundred pushups challenge and it is now starting to live up to the challenge part of the title. i ended up with a total of 53 "guy" pushups for today. the pump in my arms was somethin' scary and fierce to be seen(ha-ha)! i also did about 45 minutes on the bike trainer. might be able to sneak in a swim tonight.

hope everyone's monday is starting off well. welcome to some new followers and i'm looking forward to following you as well.

much love and peace out!

i need a vacation

no, i don't need a vacation because i'm tired. i need time off to work on my blog. i would like a solid block of undisturbed time to redesign my blog, which is something i've really wanted to do. i have a picture in my mind's eye of what i want it to look like but again, just need TIME to do it. i'm a virgo and we are perfectionists...we don't do anything half-assed! i tried to do it last night but a piece meal approach isn't working. gotta study the schedule at work this week and see where i can carve out a day off or a half day at least.

from the training front, this week was a really good week. i felt strong, didn't overdo anything, a nice balance if i do say so myself.  i mentioned we were doing the strawberry century today on an earlier post but as we got to the interstate, the fork in the road if you will, we both decided to head north instead and hit the hills since that is what we need to focus on most with the upcoming 3-state-3-mountain Challenge (3S3M for short). gotta keep the training specific! we got in a solid, hard 70 miles with lots and lots of hill repeats. we had a blast! anyway, 2 weeks after the 3S3M ride, i'm signed up for an oly distance triathlon scheduled for May 15th. swim buddy and i are going to do our best to get in 2 open water swims with a tri coach in April so we can both be ready for our May events. plus, i really want to test out the new wetsuit.

here are my numbers for the week:

ran:
total time: 2:45:00
total distance: 25.0 mi.

biked:
total time: 9:00:30
total distance: 188.0 mi.

swam:
total time: 2:00:00
total distance: 5000 m.

weights x 3 (a mix of weights with week 1 of the hundred push challenge) bring on week 2!

abs x 1 (usually i get in 2 or 3 ab sessions...not sure how i only got just 1 in?)

oh yeah, and another reason that i need a vacation day is because i want time to catch up and comment on all of my favorite blogs. i like to really read them not just skim. i had no idea when i started my blog on december 23rd, 2009, how much fun it was going to be and how i've met (not in real life...yet) so many awesome people who have their own cool blogs too. i've really enjoyed reading and learning about how everyone kinda got started with running, cycling, swimming, doing triathlons, losing a lot of weight, coming back from serious health issues, getting back in shape, etc....there are lots of inspiring folks in blog-land and i'm loving every minute of it.

i think that's all i got for now. all in all, a great weekend!

don't forget that tomorrow at 12pm est, the RoadID giveaway ends, so go here if you haven't already, follow the directions and maybe you could win one of the 3 RoadID's i have up for grabs.  the winners will be picked by random.org and i will post the results some time on tuesday, march 30th. good luck!

much love and peace out ya'll!

training babble and a new award

this morning starting off like most, wake up, drink some coffee, run, swim, bike, go to work, yada, yada, yada. however, this morning as i was riding the bike on the trainer (didn't have enough time to take it out on the street today), i used some of the time to catch up on a few blogs. one of those blogs is by a guy i like to call, BDD...short for big daddy diesel. you can find his awesome and very entertaining blog titled Tri Diesel, here.  for the sake of keeping things simple, i'll stick with BDD when referring to big daddy.  anyway, BDD has a special award he likes to dedicate to a reader each week and it's called the pukie award. it speaks for itself. if he reads your posts and you've trained hard enough to puke, he honors you with this award and you are the star of his blog post that day. bloggers and followers are breaking down the door to get this pukie award bestowed upon them. so this morning as i was reading his post, he mentioned the fact that this week he has been quite "cranky" all week...his word exactly. the weather has been crappy for him, he locked his keys in the car while the car was still running, and he received a mean email. i applaud him for admitting his crankiness. not everyone has the guts to do that. i sometimes don't and keep it bottled up because i know someone out there will surely email me and say something like, "you should be thankful for everything you have, there are people worse off than you, blah, blah, blah." and you know what, that's not the freakin' point folks. we are all entitled to have bad days and we should not feel intimidated to say so. it has nothing to do with being ungrateful. we all know how lucky we are to be able to run, swim, bike, spend time with loved one's, go out to eat, see a movie, all of those simple things in life. i truly appreciate everything and everyone around me but we all have bad days and those who say they don't are lying. our blogs should be a safe place to write about it too. so if you are cranky, blog all you want about it and you will feel better instantly. having a few "off" days every now and then, helps us to appreciate all the great days we do have.

so without further ado, i present this weeks winner of the first ever (and not the last), Golden Cranky Award to Big Daddy Diesel at Tri Diesel!

BDD, you are gonna have a great weekend, i can feel it! who will get the award next week?
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this weekend is gonna be a killer weekend with lots of cycling miles. we'll be doing hills tomorrow and the 28th Annual Strawberry Classic Century Ride on Sunday. gonna be a great weekend. plus, i got in all of my running and swimming this week so i'm not cranky (he-he-he!). this week's training recap coming sunday, until then, have a great weekend everyone!

much love and peace out!

got bats?

don't forget to get in on the action for the 2nd reader appreciation giveaway! go here and follow the directions. thanks to RoadID and Outside|PR, i have 3 RoadID's to giveaway. the giveaway ends next monday, March 29th

 at noon est.

i forgot all about these little icky creatures until this morning on my run. i'm thinking they were waiting for the warmer weather so they could come out and play. you never know where they're aiming because they fly up and down and are so erratic. last year, one almost hit me in the face as i was running along the golf course in my hood. so now i have a new strategy. when i see them flying all around (i can usually see them because they fly up near the lit up street lights), i put my hands over my face and peek thru my fingers as i run past where they are. thankfully no one is around to see how silly that must look but i just don't want to have a face full of bat or an eye taken out by one. With so many animal encounters, i'm beginning to think i live in a wildlife preserve...deer, hogs, wild turkeys, sand hill cranes, rattlesnakes galore, gators, bobcat, armadillos, racoons, etc...

these are the other pests i've run into lately on my bike rides. i've encountered them on 3 of the last 4 rides i've done and they won't move for shit! they will also lunge at you to try and peck you with their beaks. they are probably the dumbest birds known to man. most birds will fly to get out of your way, not these! they also like to peck shiny cars. a former personal training client of mine came for a session one morning and parked her black, shiny mercedes near these crazy birds and they could see their refletion in the car and started pecking at her car. she had to go out and move the car away from them.

enough animal encounters for today, i hope. still have round 2 on my run this afternoon since i woke up late. i have a really good excuse for waking up late the last couple of days. i won't blame daylight saving time anymore. the last 2 days, the park by our house that we usually do our afternoon/evening rides at, has been closed for hog hunting...that's right, hog hunting because they are a huge problem, so we have done our crit ride in the hood the last 2 days. let me just tell you how this ride just kicks my butt! the intensity of these rides is incredible thanks to jc and jm. i love riding with boys! we end up getting done around 7 or 8 pm depending on when we start the ride, so coming down off of the adrenaline rush is very hard. it gets me so revved up that come 9pm, my usually bed time, i'm still too wired, which then leads to my waking up later than planned in the morning. i still managed to get in a decent run, but not the full run that i wanted. no worries though, the day is young.

hope everyone has a fab day. the weekend is almost upon us, hang tight! much love and peace out!

smackdown monday

some days ya just gotta go with it, so yesterday, i kicked my own a$$. i mean that in a really good way too. i always start off the morning with a little coffee, a little facebook, and a quick sweep through my emails, then hit the workout, whatever it may be for that day. yesterday, i started off with a 1 mile run to warm up and then did day 1 of the hundred pushups challenge. after finishing up day 1, i ran another mile. the goal was to run each mile a little faster and i did just that. in between each mile i threw in bicep curls, lateral raises,  overhead tricep presses, and killer abs. ended up with four sets of 1 mile run intervals and a very pumped up upper body, especially my arms.

for some reason, i couldn't stop thinking about hans and franz saying..."Ve are goinck to pump... (clap) ...YOU UP!" so after all the pushups, running and weights, i headed to the pool, which was open on time. i went a little later just in case the lifeguards were running behind. OMG, the first couple of hundreds were awful. my shoulders were toast! thankfully, after about 10 minutes, i settled in and was fine. played around with the paddles again. they felt a little better than they did last week...not as awkward this time. i ended up with 2500 meters. after the swim, i did a 12 mile bike ride on the trainer, then it was off to work.

needless to say, after that WWE style smackdown yesterday, i slept in this morning. my definition of sleeping in, is waking up at 5:30am instead of 4:15am. i think i earned it after yesterday. hitting the road later today...the weather is primo and my roadbike is begging to be let loose.
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don't forget to get in on the action for the 2nd reader appreciation giveaway! go here and follow the directions. thanks to RoadID and Outside|Pr, i have 3 RoadID's to giveaway. the giveaway ends next monday at noon est.

much love and peace out!

reader appreciation giveaway #2

did i mention how much i love my new RoadID? i can be stylish and be safe all at the same time. i meant to buy 2 RoadID's for Christmas for me and love of my life but somehow with the hustle and bustle of the holidays it never happened. i was so glad when Scott from Outside|PR mentioned that RoadID is one of their client's and gave me an opportunity to order my own and to giveaway 3 to some lucky readers.

when i received the RoadID recently, i happened to read the story about how RoadID actually got started and here i wanted to share it:

The inspiration for Road ID was born in the fall of 1999. For my father, the inspiration was his concern for me as I trained for my first marathon. For me, the inspiration was a black, King Kong size pick-up truck that I nearly came face to face with on a long Saturday run.


Earlier that fall, I began training for my first marathon. My father worried about me logging all those miles and would often tell me to “be safe.” One day, he suggested that I carry an ID so that he could be notified if I had an accident while training. Of course, I dismissed that suggestion. I thought: “What could possibly happen to me while running?”

So, there I was, in a ditch, on the side of the road, having nearly been hit by the aforementioned pick-up truck. From that ditch, my father’s suggestion to carry ID started to make a tremendous amount of sense. Luckily I was OK. But, what if the truck had hit me? I would have been rushed to the local hospital as “John Doe.” Without proper ID, family members and friends could NOT be contacted. Likewise, my Medical records could NOT be accessed at the hospital. How long would I lay there unidentified? This freaked me out.

A few months later, from my father’s damp basement, he and I launched Road ID. To us, Road ID has always been far more than a business. We are on a mission to save lives.

nobody likes to think about any mishaps on our runs or rides but anytime we are out on the open road, we are taking a chance, but it's what we do as triathletes and runners and we don't let that stop us.

RoadID has several styles to pick from. For example, you can have one that straps on to your running shoe. There are dog tag type ID's that you have engraved on one side and can pick a logo from their list to place on the other side.  they have one's that go around your ankle and 2 styles that go on your wrist. the wrist style comes in 2 different materials. the one in my picture is like a rubber type of compound and comes in many colors. i went with yellow because it reminds me of LIVESTRONG. the other wrist ID is a type of softer material, almost like a watch band you would find on an ironman watch. i liked that one too but thought it might get a little stinky when i sweat all over it. you can customize the wording on it as well. mine basically has my full name, my emergency contact, allergies, and at the very bottom the motto i live by...LIVE STRONG-NEVER QUIT! you can visit RoadID here to see all of their styles, colors, and graphics.

here's how to get in on this cool giveaway:

1. visit RoadID by clicking here, then comeback and leave a comment on which one is your favorite and why. this will count as 1 entry.

2. become a fan of RoadID on Facebook by clicking here. (1 entry).

3. become a fan of RoadID on twitter by clicking here. (1 entry)

4. become a follower of my blog, 140 point 6 miles by clicking here. (1 entry)

5. add my blog to your blog roll. (1 entry)

6. post about this contest on your blog. (1 entry)

for example, your comment can look like this: "hi, it's kc in tampa. i visited the roadid website and i love the dog tag id's A LOT. i just became a fan on facebook and twitter, i already follow your blog and you are on my list of blogs that i follow. i also just posted your contest on my blog post this morning."

that's 6 entries just like that. easy breezy! just be clear in your comment so i know how many entries to credit you with.

the contest will start today and will end at 12 PM EST on Monday, March 29th and I will post the 3 winners the following day. 

Thanks to Outside PR and to RoadID for this opportunity.

much love and peace out!

rants and raves, but mostly raves

this weeks workout numbers:

ran:

total time: 3:35:31
total distance: 26.0 mi.

biked:
total time: 11:15:15
total distance: 212.6 mi.

swam (not even worth posting):
total time: 1:00:00
total distance: 2500 m.

weights x 2
abs x 2

let me get the rant part out of the way early here:

the YMCA sucks lately! there i said it. i completely understand wind, rain, lightning, as valid reasons for not opening the pool on time but now,  lifeguards oversleeping? i've been hitting the pool an average of 2 times per week and the last 3 weeks, at least one time per week, i've either had to wait, because they are still rolling the pool covers off or the pool covers are still on and no lifeguard in sight. swim buddy and i even decided that maybe it would be a good idea to give the lifeguards more time and not get there right as 6am, which is the time the pool is supposed to open. so friday morning, i get to the pool at 6:15ish, and nobody around, pool covers still on. by the way, it takes a good 30 minutes to get the covers off the pool. some people have suggested, why don't i take my workout gear with me and just workout inside with weights and cardio. my answer to that is, that's not why i'm there. i'm there to use the pool, period. i can hear some people saying, "well, the lifeguards don't get paid very much and it's early and they're young." to that i say, i was young at one time too and i had a job that paid crap but i showed up on time, every time, no matter what. anyway, friday morning was just frustrating, as i have to once again, turn the car around to come back home, which is now getting old and then just get ready for work instead of swimming like i really, really need to be doing. sure, i could have gone later but i was feeling stubborn and said, 'the hell with it, i'll get back on track with the swimming next week." plus, i really needed a nap. i did redeem myself somewhat by doing a brick (21 miles on bike and 9 mile run). later this evening i need to sit down and write out an alternate swimming schedule that works with my cycling and running schedule and with the love of my life's cycling schedule. can't imagine having any kids to add to that tricky mix! you triathlon moms and dads out there rock! ok, done with that rant and moving on. new swim schedule in the works for next week.

one of my main goals within the next 4 weeks is to get in an open water swimor two or three (you hear me Lynie?). now that i have this lovely xterra vortex3 wetsuit, i can brave the water without suffering from hypothermia. i have a few tri races in mind over the next few months but will save that for a later post. need to get in the water first, then i can plan ahead.

overall, i had a great week of running, cycling, and weights. i'm very much looking forward to Jeff's hundred pushup challenge starting tomorrow. if you want to get in on it, visit jeff's blog here for more info and you'll need to do the initial fit test asap(no later than today), which is basically to do as many pushups in perfect form until failure, then let him know what your number of pushups was. he is keeping a list on his blog so we can check in and see how everyone else is doing. should be lots of fun and in the process, we'll be getting ripped!
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a quick note on our rides this weekend. did a strong 72 mile ride in the hills yesterday. even got sunburned! started off with arm warmers but forgot to apply sunscreen. i think the arm warmers came off at about mile 25 so pure sunlight the rest of the way on my poor arms. it is so easy to forget when you haven't needed to use any sunscreen in months. today we were supposed to ride the hills again but early rain was being called for and sure enough, it was an accurate forecast. we opted to stay close to home and ended up with 35 miles. got a little wet for the last 10 and thought about doing more but i could feel the temp dropping and i was starting to get uncomfortably cold. and it's pouring now! glad to be inside all warm and cozy.
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a few bloggers that i follow and who also follow me are getting ready for the Boston Marathon coming up April 19th. i think a few of you thought that i am running boston this year and it may appear that way based on my main blog banner with the 4 Boston medals, but i'm not. although i am qualified, i decided last year after running the nike womens marathon that i wanted to shift gears a bit and start swimming and ultimately focus all of my training for an IM distance race. believe me, i will be following all of you who are running come patriot's day and probably wish i were there. i plan on being there in 2011 though!
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reader appreciation giveaway #2 coming up tomorrow...3 RoadID's up for grabs. by the way, i'm just loving mine. kinda has a LIVESTRONG look to it, huh?

much love and peace out!

and the ryders eyewear winners are...

the 3 winners were picked by random.org and in this order:

Tri-James @ Ironman 101
Robyn @ Ramblings of a wannabe writer & runner
Tri-Mommy @ Going the distance

So James, you get first pick on the shades. Your choices are: the blue framed Drills or the matte army green hi-jacks. Obviously, if James picks the drills, then our 2 lady winners will both receive the hi-jacks. If James picks the hi-jacks, then Robyn has to make a choice.

James, Robyn, and Tri-Mommy, please email me your addresses at the email address found on my blogger profile page so i can send you your shades.

Congrats to the winners! Everyone else who commented, tweeted, facebooked, became a follower, linked me on their blogs, and/or mentioned my giveaway on their blogs...THANK YOU! I appreciate it very much.

Thanks again to Ryders Eyewear and Outside|PR for their generosity.

Next up on the giveaway scene...RoadID!  I will have 3 RoadID's to giveaway beginning Monday so stay tuned for that.

Have a great weekend everyone!

beautiful day

i think U2 said it best when they sang these lyrics:

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

It's a beautiful day

Don't let it get away

today, i stopped to smell the roses on my 11 mile run. here are parts of my run in pictures:

fresh controlled burn brings out the trail

more controlled burn

one of many bat houses. aren't they cute?

fire road that i run on that leads to the main loop-a paved loop

water station at end of fire road. you can find these water stations every 2 miles on the loop. a god send on hot, summer days. especially when running

this is the flooded part of the park i mentioned in my previous post. you should have seen it over the weekend. it was at least 4-5 feet deep. i know where i'm riding tomorrow morning!

part of the main loop. not a soul around. peaceful.

off one of the fire roads

one of my favorite trail/fire roads to run on

a couple of triathletes riding by the water station on my last water stop before heading home

white ibis on one of the ponds heading home

last pond on the way home. see the waves? the wind has been horrible here lately and i can always tell by looking at the pond. i was glad to not be on my bike today.

catch me if you can!

video thursday

happy friday eve my friends! i recently got a flip hd ultra and have been playing around learning how to use it so i took it out on wednesday evening to test it out. remember the rain video from last week? well, after all of that rain for 2 days straight, the park we ride at, near our house, was flooded out big time, so we decided to do a ride in the hood.

i'm pretty good at multi-tasking but i was careful and only took video when we were on straightaways. we named this ride, criterium in the hood. criterium in the hood is 6.1 miles for 1 loop and consists of 7 turns. the best part about the ride is that after every turn, you have to stand and pedal, pedal, pedal your a$$ off to get the bike back up to speed. i've enjoyed this ride more than i thought i would. we've been doing 4-5 loops depending on time.

when you watch the quick video i posted, pay attention because the next reader appreciation giveaway item is in there somewhere. you can't miss it!

if you haven't already done so, there is still 28 hours left to win yourself some nice shades. go here and just follow the simple directions to get your name in the hat.
 
much love and peace out!

tuesday ramblings

what a difference a little more daylight makes especially for the cycling portion of training. i feel like i haven't ridden the trainer in ages and that's a good thing. good bye trainer, hello open road! not to jinx myself but in the past, daylight saving time used to kick my butt for at least a good week. i would have the hardest time getting up in the morning and I AM a morning person. i can usually get up at 4:30am with no problems. i might need a bit of coffee to get going but i'm rarin' to go in no time. so far, so good though. i haven't felt that one hour we lost...the week is still young. i'm hopeful though.

yesterday, i was at the pool bright and early but not too early. although the pool is supposed to open at 6am, but every now and then something happens, like wind wreaking havoc on the pool covers and twisting them all up. so my new strategy is to get there about 15 to 30 minutes after the posted opening time and that worked out beautifully. i was suprised that there weren't more people swimming since it was set up for long course and it was neither too cold, nor too hot out. best of all, although i'm not a lane hog, i enjoyed a lane all to myself.

i tried these new speedo hand paddles yesterday based on a recommendation from my friend Pati. i must say that they felt very strange. the first lap i tried with them, i felt all out of whack and i thought to myself, "i don't like these stupid things." second and third time, not too bad, but nowhere near comfortable...yet. i need to practice a little more with them. i also need to remember to tighten the rubber straps. i think that was another reason they felt strange. i tried to tighten them between sets but for some reason, they would not budge. not easy to do when your hands are all wet. plus, i didn't want to waste time fooling around with toys when i need to be training. for me, time is always of the essence, especially training time. if anyone has any tips or tricks on how to get more comfortable using these things, i'm all ears.

speaking of training, on the training schedule for today: abs and stretching this morning, bike after work with jc, then run a few miles after (optional).

don't forget reader appreciation giveaway. i have 3 pair of Ryders Eyewear up for grabs. to get involved, go to my previous post here and follow the directions. friday at noon EST is the deadline, so there's still time and it's so easy to do.

the 3 lucky winners will also receive some goodies as pictured above from GU. GU recovery brew and GU chomps.

much love and peace out!

my first reader appreciation giveaway - 3 pair of ryders eyewear

as i previously blogged about in my prior post, i was given an opportunity to try out some sunglasses made by Ryders Eyewear thanks to the folks at Outside|PR.

i have 3 pair to giveaway. one pair just like the one's you see on me above but in blue and

2 pair of hi-jacks in a matte army greenish color, so they are not shiny. don't let the color fool you, they look really good.

How to Enter to Win a Pair of Ryders Eyewear:

This quick giveaway will run from today thru Friday, March 19th-12PM EST.
Follow these steps:

1. Comment on this post for 1 entry. (In your comment, make sure to note which of the following things you did.) If you’re not a blogger, give me a little info so you’ll know if you get selected as a winner. (ex. “Hi, I’m Kris Cee from Tampa”).

2. Follow Ryders Eyewear on Twitter by clicking here to earn an entry! Send the following tweet (copy and paste) to make it known:

I just entered the @Ryderseyewear giveaway on KC@140point6miles blog- http://my140point6milejourney.blogspot.com

3. Become a fan of Ryders Eyewear on Facebook by clicking here to earn another entry! Follow the link and click on “Become a Fan.”

4. If you want a 4th entry, you can become a follower of me...at KC - 140point6miles through your blogger/blogspot account by clicking FOLLOW (see upper right hand corner widget) and
by back linking KC at 140point6miles blog to your blog-(http://www.my140point6milejourney.blogspot.com/)

You can do any of the above for any number of entries.

So, for example, your comment may look like this: “This is Kris Cee from Tampa. I followed Ryders Eyewear on Twitter, became a fan of Ryders Eyewear on FB, and I’m following "140point6miles" and have your back link on my blog roll. So put me down for 4 entries! Thanks!”

Or this: “I don’t do all that complicated social networking stuff, but I’m commenting, so put me down for 1 entry. Thanks!”

Get the picture?

now for the Fine Print:

• If you’re already a follower of my blog and have me back linked then you are good for 2 entries. So make sure to note that in your comment.


• You can comment now through Friday at noon (eastern standard time). So you don’t have long! Enter now!! I will assign a number to every entry and use random.org to pick the winners. The first pick gets first choice and so on.  Good luck!


• The winner will be announced sometime on Saturday. Check back to see if it’s you!

THANKS Ryders Eyewear for making such a great product and for being so generous and to Outside|PR and Sports Marketing for the opportunity!

much love and peace out!

what a great weekend!

i couldn't have asked for a better weekend. warmer temperatures, lots of sunlight, and 2 great rides in the hills. this hilly area i refer to often, is a part of florida known as the kumquat capital and there's even a festival that celebrates this icky fruit. it's also a mecca for cyclist and for runners who are preparing for the boston marathon. we all meet up on saturdays and sundays at the "ballfield" parking lot and go from there. no matter what route you take, you will be climbing. it's a gangta's cyclist's paradise!

as i mentioned in the previous post, yesterday's ride was a 70 miler and brutally windy, especially crosswinds and today we did 50.5 miles on a route with more climbing than yesterday's. i was thinking my legs would be toast after the 70 miles yesterday but no, i felt great and hit the climbs hard. i love group rides but i cherish the one's with just me and love of my life. we can read each other so well. can't remember ever having a bad ride with him.

here are my numbers for the week (slightly disappointed in my lack of swimming time this week but next week is a new week and i will fix that right up):

ran:
total time: 3:20:07
total distance: 25.2 mi.


biked:
total time: 11:20:15
total distance: 229.0 mi.


swam:
total time: 1:50:00
total distance: 4350 m.


weights x 2
abs x 2

oh, and i almost forgot...i just "signed up" to do this:

thanks to one of my favorite bloggers, Jeff at dangle the carrot...a triathlete in training who put up this hundred pushups challenge on his blog. i think it will be fun to do and i love to mix it up on the workouts, so this should be a blast!

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i had a chance yesterday to test out some nice Ryders Eyewear sent to me by Outside|PR & SportsMarketing.

these are from the adrenaline essential line and the model i chose to test out is called Drill. i had a pink and a blue pair to pick from. not a hard choice...had to go with the pink. the first thing i noticed about them was that i could see really well when i looked to the side versus the shades i usually wear that have a frame that wraps all the way around. these only have the frame on top and slightly down the side. therefore, no blindspots. i liked that a lot. i also found that when i looked back for cars, that i didn't have to turn my head all the way around since i had more viewing area from the sides. i loved the color and i thought they looked pretty cool. the only negative was that i didn't like the way it felt on my nose. since there is no frame on that part of the sunglasses, it touched the sides of my nose a little. it wasn't bothersome enough to take them off but i was aware of it. the good news is that this is only one of many styles. i would definitely go with one that has a different nose pad or no nose pad, where the frame is thick enough in that area to lie comfortably on my schnoz.

on that note, tomorrow, i will post details on my very first (and definitely not the last) reader appreciation giveaway and how you can get involved and win some free Ryders Eyewear.

much love and peace out!

what the...huh?

i just saw this video and i'm still trying to figure it out. can anyone out there tell me what's so great about it? not to mention, who has the set up to do that anyway and the scuba gear lying around ready to use? my first impression...silly. second impression...waste of time.
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i rode today but not underwater. i rode in the hills; my favorite place to ride. we did a 70 mile ride and the wind was incredible. chicago may be the windiest city but i know for a fact, that florida has to be the windiest state! i'm sure my florida blogger friends would agree. overall, my cycling mileage for the week was a whopping 228 miles...that's what i'm talking about!

a few pics from today's awesome ride:

leaving home this morning, the sun was peeking out above the trees. after two days of no sun, she decided to come out and play and for that i am thankful.

bike parking lot. half way there and time for a stop at "the mall." the first time i heard that we were riding out to the mall, i had visions of a shopping mall. the only thing i kept thinking was, we're gonna walk thru a mall to get drinks dressed like this with cycling shoes on? come to find out, the mall is the lake lindsey mall and it looks like a shack with gnarly wood on the exterior. inside, it's a cyclist's paradise. all the refreshments and eats we need to make it back to the ballfield. and a bathroom! check out the store's sign.

my beauty up against the newspaper machines.

a few more bikes of a different variety. this area is well known for motorcyclists as well. nice winding, hilly, country roads. makes you feel so alive.

some reminders along the way. i love church signs with witty sayings on them. this sign was for the church's day school.  i'm so glad i had my camera with me this time.

this was across for the day school sign for the same church.

i'm not buying that it was 86.8 degrees when we finished our ride but i thought a few people up north would get a kick out of it. it was really about 70 degrees. not sure why my computer was off by so much but it was right on the distance (70.3 miles) and average speed (19.3mph)...the more important things.

i already hear the hills calling us back up tomorrow and i have already answered...i will be there! hope everyone is having a fab day. what did everyone do today for their training?

much love and peace out!

rain, rain go away

i took this video about 20 minutes ago and as i was uploading it, a lightning and thunder clap scared the hell out of me. good thing it didn't happen while i was taking the video because i would of crapped my pants and there would have been video evidence of that.

feels like a typical summer day here. supposed to be more of the same tomorrow so don't know when i'm going to be able to swim. guess i'll be hitting the Y over the weekend, which is supposed to be real nice.

thankfully, i got in a good 8.25 mile run this morning before all the rain started. it was coming down in sheets on my way home from work and i could barely see. tornado warnings all over the place. glad i made it home safe and dry and i did not see any tornadoes.

i guess it's time to get on the bike for a fast spin to nowhere.

happy friday eve everyone! much love and peace out!

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side note: i did end up being able to swim afterall. the ugly lightning and heavy rain took a break and the Y said, it's a go, so go i did. i feel much better now. thanks to swim buddy for calling me with the update on the Y.  i hate feeling like i'm getting behind, especially on the one thing (swimming) that is my weakest link.

gettin' giddy with it

OMG! do you see the high temps on the 7 day forecast above? words cannot describe how freakin' happy i am to see this. i'm even happier that this weekend we spring forward. it boils down to this 1 simple equation:
warmer days + longer days = more biking miles
me and favorite cycling partner are headed out to get in some miles this afternoon and i can hardly concentrate on anything else. i'm so over the bike trainer, although i train on it consistantly in the winter, it isn't the same. there was a great article recently written in the new york times regarding this topic. you can check it out right here.

don't forget to set your clocks ahead on saturday so you can get out early on sunday and ride, ride, ride! i will be riding the hills all weekend since the park near our house is hosting an event all weekend called the squiggy classic, which you can check out here. it is a series of events, like a 6 hour mountain bike race, time trial, road race, trail run, roller blade race, adventure race. so anyway, the park is closed to anyone not taking part. that's good by me because lord knows i need all the hill work i can get with this 100 mile ride coming up at the beginning of may.
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some fun stuff planned for my blog. i'll be hosting a few contests very soon, where you can win some cool stuff like a RoadID or a sweet pair of Ryders eyewear...so stay tuned for more on that.

hope everyone is having a grand week. i sure am.

much love and peace out!

sad to see a great weekend come to an end

my new aero helmet came in this week. jc says i remind him of rick moranis on spaceballs. he also said i've officially entered the world of dorkism. it does look funny as it should after years of wearing a "normal" not so aero dynamic helmet. here's a picture from this morning with the new giro advantage 2:

i haven't worn it to do a ride yet, i was just being a poser this morning. here's what it looks like out of the box:

i wasn't mentally ready to wear it out to flatwoods this morning. plus, i want to just save it for race days, not so much for training days, but i will take it out for a test ride before hand to make sure it feels comfortable.

this weekend was wonderful. started off in the 40's in the AM but quickly warmed up to high 60's and today it hit about 70 and pure sunshine all weekend. we had a great 51 mile ride in the hills yesterday (yes, we have hills for those who read my blog and think florida is flat) in dade city. kicked my butt too. haven't ridden the hills in over a month and first time back always hurts but you know it's so good for you. we ended up with about 1700 feet of climbing which wasn't our normal route. usually, we do a 60 mile route and end up with about 3500 ft of climbs. we weren't quite ready to tackle that yesterday, plus, the wind was a biotch!

this morning, we met our friend joe out at flatwoods and cranked out 49 miles. once again, the wind machine was turned up full blast. i told jc to think of the wind as hills in disguise...i don't think he was amused by that.  normally, this ride is a 50 mile ride but jc got a flat on the last mile, so i rode home and came back to retrieve him in the truck, that way he didn't have to waste a CO2 cartridge. all in all, a hundred mile weekend on the bikes.

can't wait for the time change next weekend because that means, a significant jump in my weekly cycling mileage and warmer temps. it also means no checking weather.com 20 times a day to see if i can swim in the morning and i can hopefully start putting away all of my winter workout garb. i'm excited about that. enough of the cold temps, lets spring forward!!

here are my training numbers for the week starting sunday, feb 28th and ending saturday, march 6th:

ran:                                                                    
total time: 3:33:12          
total distance: 27.1 mi.               

biked:
total time: 6:45:45
total distance: 133.0 mi.

swam:
total time: 2:00:00
total distance: 5000 m.

weights x 2
abs x 3
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swimming has been going well. planned on doing 3 swims last week but i ended up only being able to do 2 since the weather has been cranky. one nice thing about rearranging the swimming schedule is that i start my swim just as the sun is setting and the moon is rising...so awesome; there is a peacefulness about it that i can't explain.
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i want to thank my swim buddy for letting me borrow the total immersion, freestyle made easy dvd. i watched it, studied it, and will incorporate it into my swimming this week. good stuff!
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update on my greek yogurt taste testing. i tried the vanilla yoplait greek yogurt this week and didn't care for it at all. they cost about $1.09 per cup,  has 2.5 grams of  fat, 12 grams of protein and 19 grams of carbs (18 of those grams from sugar, which is not good). the yogurt reminded me too much of regular tasting yogurt, not as thick and yummy as the chobani brand and i thought it was too sweet. i won't be buying it again.  next on the list is fage, so stay tuned.
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have a great week everyone. much love and peace out!