Happy Thanksgiving!

Well life is a bit crazy busy, work is busy and working the website is a bit busy so updating my own blog hasn't been happening :o( I might have to stick to once a week updates til things calm down.

This week has been a bit lazy and not much working out has been done. It'll probably be that way til next week. I do plan on riding on Saturday though I just haven't decided if I'll ride with the team in Sausalito or in Sonoma with a co-worker, her hubby and my hubby. I still have to check with Rocky and see what he'd like to do. Other than that our plan is to enjoy our time with family tomorrow, eat lots of yummy food and try to relax since we are off til Monday :o)

I hope everyone has a wonderful and safe Thanksgiving!

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Monkey See Monkey Do

Well at least that's why our yoga teacher says :o) although yoga didn't happen much for me this week. Tuesday night I was in a meeting all afternoon and didn't get back to the office til almost 5pm so I ended up working late to go through phone calls and emails from the day. It was too late to go to class when I got home so I ended up googling "free yoga video's" and found one on youtube I really liked. I did it at home, alone in the comfort of my own home. I did good and pushed myself but I feel I try harder in an actual class with an actual teacher starting at me. Oh well, at least I did somthing.

Wednesday night I didn't do anything. I was suppose to ride but still have the small issue of not being able to :O( it's too dark to ride alone and I have no stationary bike BUT that problem will be solved soon :o) I've decided to go ahead and get a cycle trainer since we can get them at a great discount through TNT. I will use the cycle trainer during the week. I will also pray I don't cycle so hard I land in our downstairs neighbors lap..haa, haa. It's one of the reasons I didn't want to get one but I'm hoping it won't be too loud and I can get my workouts in.

Last night we had a team social at Sports Basement. Since I'm the web cappy I brought my laptop and helped a few of the participants with website questions. We were able to get 20% off also at Sports Basement so I bought a new wind/rain jacket for cycling which I really needed. Other than needing the jacket it's been very nice for my check book that I haven't really needed to buy any gear since I have it all. It can get quite expensive buying all the stuff we need especially in the winter when you need extra layers of stuff.

Tonight I will rest and get all my gear ready for this weekend. We have a team ride in San Francisco on Saturday and on Sunday we are to do a 60 minute recovery ride. I'm guessin that ride won't happen til later in the day since the hubby has a gig Saturday night :o) I'm sure sleeping in will be in the plan for Sunday morning.

It's back to being chilly and I'm not liking it. Riding in the cold is no fun although I'm happy it's just cold and not cold/rainy.

Happy Weekend!!

Week 1 Recap

Thursday

I was pretty sore on Thursday from Tuesday night's yoga and wasn't quite sure how I'd survive going back. Every muscle in my body hurt. I still went to yoga though and funny thing is that once I got going I wasn't feeling all the soreness. My muscles were nice and loose and I did the whole class. It felt great and I really think it's going to help with strength. My schedule this week is a bit weird so I'm not sure how many days I'll make it but I'm hoping for at least once or twice. We'll see how it goes.

Friday

REST DAY! My favorite day of the week :o) Our friends Cynthia and her boyfriend, Ray, have joined the triathlon team and I had a few things here and there that I don't use anymore that I gave her. They came over to pick the stuff and we made dinner and hung out with them. It was nice since we are all so busy and are lucky if we see them once a year.

Cynthia might be buying my old bike from our friend Belinda. Belinda has joined the Iron Team, crazy girl, and ended up buying a triathlon bike and so now she's selling the bike I sold her. It's funny how I am attached to it and would like it to stay in the family :o) I am hoping it works out for Cynthia.

It was a nice evening with them and I'm glad we were able to get together.

Saturday

Met the team at Las Positas College in Livermore for our Saturday morning Team Ride and our Flat Tire changing clinic.

By the way, I do NOT like changing tires :o( they are no fun especially the back tire.

Our ride was scheduled to be 23 miles and I'm happy to say that I did the enitere mileage. I also moved up one group and I think this is where I'll stay. I was kind of in the middle for most of the ride. Not with the fastest people in our group and not with the slowest. Just kind of in the middle. The ride through Livermore was beautiful, you'd think we had left California. We even got to see cow's, horses & llama's. The weather could not have been perfect, actually it was a little warm but I'll take 80's over freezing cold and rain.

I felt great during the entire ride. I did have a little bit of knee/shin pain but after talking to the coach's it looks like it might be the position of my cleat. I just need to adjust it a bit and see if that helps. I might take a few adjustments/rides to figure it out but hopefully that will help. Everything else seems to be positioned in the right place.

our team manager, coaches, mentors & captains

After the ride I headed home, had a yummy chicken salad lunch and then got ready to head out to Ms. Brandy's 35th Birthday Celebration. Today is her actual birthday......

HAPPY BIRTHDAY

BRANDY!!

It was funny because we were joking about how old we are getting or at least feeling. 10pm hit and everyone started leaving. If we were going out to a club in the city you wouldn't even be leaving til 10pm, haa, haa. Not us, we were ready to go home and go to bed. We had a great time though hanging out with our friends and meeting and chatting with some of her other friends. Brandy also made some super yummy home made pizza's and a yummy chocolate cheesecake.

Sunday
Another sort of early morning, I got to sleep in til 7:30 :O) that's late for us these days. I headed out to Berkeley Marina and did my 60 minute recovery ride. It was nice and flat. I did about 9 miles out and back from the Berkeley Marina to Emeryville and then I did 3 miles out and back from the Berkeley Marina to Albany. I felt good and was happy that I got out there and did it.

The rest of our day was pretty mellow. Rocky and I vegged out, ran some errands, had a super yummy dinner at Yankee Pier in Lafayette and then headed home for some more relaxing.

It was a nice weekend and a great end to week #1. I'm enjoying cycling, well just have to see if I'm still saying that when I'm riding 80 miles mostly up hills :o( yikes. I think I'm also enjoying it because it's all I'm doing. I'm not having to swim a gagillion yards and then hop on my bike for a 2 hour ride. Looking forward to week #2 which actually has a few extra days of riding.

Monkey Yoga

Well the training week has started off well, I've signed up for Yoga. Our training schedule for the Cycle team is not as crazy as the tri team which is kind of nice. Two days a week we are suppose to work on Stretching & Sit-ups so I decided that maybe doing yoga would be good.

A few weeks ago I did some research on yoga centers near our home. When looking around I found Monkey Yoga which close to the house and it has a class that starts at 7:30 which works out great for me. A lot of places I have no time to get to the class with out rushing or it's too early :o( A 7:30 class will allow me to get home, change and make dinner and then head out. I don't have to rush there. The other great thing was they were offering a 30 day pass for $30, it's a deal. Normally classes are $13 per class. I made a mental note to check it out once the new season started.

A few days ago our friend from TNT, Candace, had posted on her Facebook status that she was starting yoga at Monkey Yoga :o) I chatted with her a little and decided that I would join her, it's always nice to have a buddy. She said Monday didn't work for her because she had to watch Dancing with the Stars, haa, haa, priorities. We decided to start last night.

OMG, it kicked my butt. I took a class a long time ago and never really went back. I think it was a different type of yoga though. I remember it being hard but not as hard as last night and not as intense. I tried really hard to do all the poses and although they are hard it will get better with more time and practice. The class was 1 1/2 hours and I sweated like a piggy. I was actually surprised at how flexible I really am. I think it's something I will really enjoy as I go more and I'll be getting my 2 days week in of stretching :o) Today, I am SORE but it's a good sore. I was going to go tonight but I think it's best I rest tonight and not over do it. Tonight is also a different instructor and I think I want to stick with the same one until I'm more comfortable. I have decided that I'll just go every other day and try to get in 3 or 4 days per week. Hubby said he might even join me :o) There was actually quite a few men in the class last night.

I am really looking forward to working on my balance, flexibility and strength.

Kickoff and 1st Ride

The season has officially started :o) woohoo. I am excited to be working out again and I'm really excited now to take on the new challenge. Scared? yep still scared but I love our coaches and our team so here we go.

Saturday was our Kickoff celebration at the St. Mary's Cathedral Event Center. It was a new location for us but it was set up nicely and all went off well. I met Meenu at Lake Merritt at 7am, we grabbed coffee at Peet's and then headed in to the city. We mingled with the Alumni for a while and then we went over to our post, the Fundraising Clinic Table. We were only there a short bit and then were re-assigned to the New Registration table.

At 10am the main program started in the big room and we listened to the MC who is also an Alumni and former LLS employee and then to a team honoree. After the main program in the big room was done we headed into our individual sport rooms to meet with our coaches, mentors, captains and meet the new participants. We had a great turnout and we have some fun people on the team. It's always fun to meet the newbies who have never done anything like this before. They are nervous, they are excited and eager to get started and see what it is they signed up for. After it was all over Olivia, Phil and I headed out and stoppe at CPK for a much needed lunch, we were all starving. The rest of Saturday Rocky and I just hung out at home and relaxed since it was such and icky rainy day.

Sunday was our first ride of the season. We met in Pinole at 8am and the day was filled with lots of information. It was a busy morning for me since I'm also trying to learn but at the same time I have to do my web captain duties. It's okay though it all keeps me on my toes. Everyone got fitted on their bikes, Coach Cyd went over some information on clothes and gear and also the rules of the road. Coach Kerry led us through some stretching and then we were on our way.

I decided to ride in the slowest group. I've never ridden with this team and since I'm as slow as a snail I didn't want to be to confident and think that I could ride with the faster group. I am happy to say that I am not the slowest and that rididng in this group was actually a little hard because I wasn't going at a pace that I could actually feel good at. During some points we were going so slow I couldn't pedal cause I didn't want to slam into the mentor that was leading our group. I have officially moved myself up to the next group :O) I will ride with the next group this coming Saturday and see how I do there.

Our route was an out and back of about 12 miles which inlcuded going up Mama Bear but our group was told to turn around at the base of Mama Bear (Three Bears refers to the section on Bear Creek Road which has three climbs called Papa Bear, Mama Bear, and Baby Bear. From Alhambra Valley Road, Mama Bear is first, Baby Bear is in the middle, and Papa Bear is last) and not do it. I was very happy at the moment not to have to do it but now I'm bummed I didn't since it also meant I didn't do the full mileage. I will stop being a baby and push myself as hard as I can from now on. I am not the slowest and there is no reason either why I shouldn't be doing the full mileage. No more being a baby :o)

It was a good ride though and I felt great. I am also really enjoying being web captain and I've gotten good feed back from my teammates about our website, yipee!

A New Season, A New Team, A New Sport

Well my quiet, restful, sleeping in weekends are over. Tomorrow is Kickoff for the new season and Sunday is my first ride. Yeah, the Cycle team doesn't mess around, we start Sunday.

Technically it's not a new sport for me since I have been riding my bike but it's a new distance. Each mile after 25 miles for me will be a new goal accomplished. I can't wait to get to 100 miles :o) although I'm sure by hiney has a different wish, can you say OUCHIE..LOL!!

Last night we had a staff social at Pizza Rustica in Rockridge which was nice since I don't know anyone on the staff besides Meenu. We are the newbies to the team although it sounds like everyone is new to working together. Everyone has been on a team at some point just not the same team and working together. I'm excited and I think it's going to be a great season.

I'm also nervous. I know how to ride my bike and I know I can ride for 2 hours (25 miles) no problem but I still have so much to learn. I don't do well on the hills. I am slow going up and I am slow coming down because scared to death of going so fast, going around turns and riding next to cars. It's going to be a new challenge for me but I think the end result will be good. Stick to the schedule, learn as much as I can from the coaches and have fun. I have 4 months and 1 week to get there :O)

History was Made!

America stepped up to the plate and came through.

The Day is Finally Here