Fitness Pole Dancing-High Heels Optional!

Yup, you read correctly. Pole dancing was the "activity"of choice for Women's Adventure night. This group, know as WAN, gets together for a monthly dose of fun filled 'adventure'. Although this group originated from a weekly group track workout, it's evolved to include activities such as speed skating, bra fitting, Hip Hop cardio classes etc. Tonight, it led us to Flex Appeal Studio in downtown Minneapolis for a Pole Tricks class. Although, we only had 4 courageous WAN ladies at the studio, the class was full and we were ALL ready for a big jump out of our comfort zone. With Jen, Darcy and Shawn, I was guaranteed a fun, humor filled evening, and that's exactly what I received. Our class was focused on learning new moves instead of a full fledged cardio workout. We stared with a basic spin, and before too long we were dangling upside down. Evidentally, my tri training did not seem to help reduce the number of bruises I'll find on my legs tomorrow, but it certainly qualified as Adventurous. Careful girls...you were almost too good with the Pole--You may be recruited!!

Please Be Safe Out There!

As spring approaches, many of us are so trilled to take the bike off the trainer and venture out to the open roads. The key part of that sentence is that YES, THE ROAD IS OPEN, which means everything, including cars, garbage, road kill, flying debris etc. are hazards. My point here, is that this time of year, as we are so excited to hit the road, we must remember to stay focused and safe.

In the last week, I’ve been painfully reminded of the dangers we face when we ride outside. I was devastated to read the story about Pro triathlete Kristy Gough, who was killed in California by a Speeding Sheriff, then a few days later I read again that a West Virginia triathlete, Charles Williamson, was struck and killed by a motorist while cycling. Of course, I don’t know these individuals, but we are all connected with our love for the ‘open road’. Just recently, while checking my favorite blogs, I read a sad story on Jennifer Harrison’s blog about Marit Chislock-Lauterbach’s bike accident. Although, I have never met Marit personally, I know she is an outstanding athlete with a wonderful spirit, and like many of us, has a deep love for triathlon. She was in her final prep stages for Ironman Arizona, and while on a training ride in California, she crashed with her training buddy, and ended up in the hospital with a fractured sacrum. Although looking on the bright side, it could have been much worst, I feel so sad for her and the pain she must be experiencing. In just seconds, thoughts shift from qualifying for Kona to merely walking again. I wish nothing but the speediest recovery for Marit and hope that she finds some relief knowing how many people care about her and wish her well.

PLEASE be extra careful out there! These sad stories have deepened my appreciation for what I have; Life is indeed fragile and cannot be taken for granted, so go and make the most of it, BUT be safe!

Milestone Weekend

I know, it’s rather unusual to be writing about my weekend on a Wednesday, but I’m slowly getting into the blogging routine. Last weekend was certainly one to write about with several notable events to report.

The fun started Friday afternoon when I met Jen and Julie for a social 50 min run. I’ve been slave to the treadmill for many weeks now, but with daylight savings in full swing, we decided a “girl catch up time” run was in order to kick off the weekend. It was fun to be outside again, and share the stories of the week. Jen had a pretty eventful week, but I won’t go into her story here…needless to say, she’s staying strong and will get through it and be in better place soon!! Julie had just returned from a fun trip to Bellingham, WA, so it was wonderful to share in her enthusiasm for fun travel and family. I am so thankful to live so close to such a wonderful group of training buddies!

The milestone events started early (6:45am) Saturday morning at Lifetime Fitness: 5500 meters on the ‘Plan’ for the morning, so I was mentally prepping myself for the longest swim session of my life. Kerry was up for the challenge and Julie H showed for her milestone workout as well.
500 warm up, 100 back, 1500 strong, 100 back, 2x 750 strong, 100 back, 3x500 strong, 100 back.
Everything was going well until I hit the 2nd 500 of my last set. Wow, did I start sinking. My 500 pace dropped 10 seconds from the earlier 1500 pace. I guess that’s what happens when you go for a new swim milestone. I made the 5500m swim and then it was recovery time in the hot tub with Karl, Julie and Kerry. There, the 2nd milestone of the weekend was born…It was a bright sunny morning and it was glorious to see the sun shine brightly through the windows at the club. We all had a 2 hour trainer ride on our schedule for the afternoon, so we were discussing ways to make it more enjoyable. With serious spring fever, we decided it was “the day” for the inaugural MN outdoor ride. Yes, this was a great idea (as we were in the hot tub with the sun shining brightly), but let me say that it was still under 40 degrees, with some sort of wind-chill. But we made up our minds and there was no turning back to the dreaded trainer! Although it took us a good 30 minutes to dress appropriately and get our bikes ready for outdoor riding, we finally pulled out on the road and it was official. It was deemed a “small ring ride’ but of course, we kept it moving along nicely. We lasted about 80 minutes, and then decide it was time to retreat to the warmth of our house. Although very chilly at times, it was GREAT to be outside again. Way to go Team!!

Milestone #3: The Human Race 8K in Saint Paul. I did my first short running race of the year! Pure running races have always been extremely daunting for me, but I really wanted a benchmark for my running fitness, and this was a great race course for that purpose. The race started at 1:20pm so it was challenging to stay fueled, but not eat anything that could haunt me during the race. The SCS team was there, so it was fun to catch up with them before the start. The gun when off, and we all took off with the masses. It was my goal to go out steady and negative split the 5 miles. My first mile was ~6:35, so I knew I had room to pick up the pace. I felt steady at this point, and hit mile 3 at 19:30. This was a little slower then I was hoping, so I really tried to dig deeper for the final two miles. Kerry and Mark were just ahead, so I desperately tried to reel them in. I managed to catch Mark, and yelled “get ‘r’ done Mark, less than 2 miles to go” (this is noteworthy as Mark always makes fun of me for being mute when I race). Anyways, I knew I had to pick up the pace in order to break my goal time of 32 minutes. I finally raced the last mile with a 5:50 split and finished in 31:48. Yes, Kerry stayed a few seconds ahead to maintain his undefeated (vs. me) running record. A large group of us did a nice 45 min cool down run along the Mississippi, then if was off to Noodles for dinner and chatter. Thanks guys for all the fun stories. I’m so excited to get the season going to enjoy more group training and racing.

My First Post

Wow, I can't believe I've finally come around to creating a blog. I'm certainly no stranger to blogs, but my activity has been limited to enjoying others stories, and posting the occasional comment. I've been so motivated and entertained by all the great stories of support, training and friendship, than I knew it was time to jump in myself!