Change of Scenery

Okay first off let me say that trying to work during the Olympics is HARD. I just want to sit in front of the t.v. and watch them. Hmm, wonder if my boss would let me put up a flat screen on the empty wall? haa, haa.

On Friday I decided to email Coach Paul and ask him what our workout for the weekend was. I decided that if it was an easy workout I'd just do it on my own on our side of the tunnel instead of having to drive to San Ramon. Sunday's workout was in Berkeley so it was a good weekend to stay closer to home. Coach Paul responded and sure enough it was an easy 70 minute ride followed by a 15 minute run both at a LVL 3-4 :o) I can handle that.

Jeanette has been wanting to ride her bike so I invited her out and we met in Alameda at 8am. It was SO NICE to see the East Bay Run Team and get the much needed love that we've been missing on our team and that we need once in a while. I got to see Coach Al and Mama Lisa a whole lot of peeps I haven't seen in a long time.

Jeanette and I rode almost 14 miles and although it was chilly and a bit windy at times it was a good ride. After we got back I put on my running shoes and went for a 15 minute run. It went by quick but I was having some major pain in my left shin. I think maybe I was pedaling weird on the bike and it caused some pain on the run. Other than that I felt great and feeling much better about transitioning from the bike to the run.

We hung out for a while chit chatting with everyone and then headed to breakfast with Chris, Meenu & Lisa. It was a yummy breakfast which we all needed. Then we ALL took a trip to the bicycle shop in Alameda. It was quite funny and I'm sure the lady at the store thought we were crazy. She was super helpful though, THANKS JOY at Alameda Cycle. Meenu & Lisa are thinking about buying road bikes so they tested out the same model I have. It seems to the popular model for 2008 for anyone who's just getting into cycling. It's the middle model for the Specialized Dolce's. It's not the most expensive but also not the cheapest so it's perfect for us newbies. I LOVE my bike and have been super happy with our purchase. Rocky and I had gone to the bike shop because I needed a new tire.

Let's back up to Friday Night :o( I usually get my stuff ready the night before training and that's a good thing and comes in handy quite a bit. It also means I don't have to get up an earlier and if there are any problems we can deal with them. I was getting my cycling stuff together and noticed I had a flat tire :o( good thing I was at home and so was Rocky. He took the tire off and started inspecting it and noticed that I had small gash in the tire. I'm not sure if this is why I had the flat a few weeks ago in Danville or if something happened in Alameda on Wendesday night. It was small enough that Rocky could patch it but we did need to buy a new tire.

Joy at Alameda Cycle was super helpful and sold me 2 new tires. I am replacing my old ones with Specialized All-Condition Armadillo Tires. I know that probably means nothing to most of you to me it means....this tire features Specialized's legendary Armadillo technology for ultimate flat prevention ....I sure hope this is true because these were not cheap but everyone agreed that my tires were kind of on the low end of the spectrum and that these were a good investment. Hubby will be putting them on today and I'll try them out on Wednesday.

After our outing in Alameda we headed home and did NOTHING. It was so nice to have an afternoon/evening of not having anything planned. We napped, we ate, we watched the Olympics. It was a perfect Saturday.

Sunday I was up early again for a run in Berkeley. I did 4.25 miles in a little over 48 minutes. No issues with the shins while running which was good. It was hot but it was a good run. I left there quickly to head home and shower and then head to Daly City for Grandma's (Rocky's mom's mom) 86th Birthday.

It was a fun evening especially since it was a sursprise. Rocky's mom had gotten a hold of 4 of her friends and invited them over. Grandma had no clue. They ladies had a great time hanging out and we even caught them dancing when Rocky's mom was playing the piano. Too cute.