Nov/Dec -  Jan -  Feb -  Mar -  Apr -  May -  Jun

May 2003
4/28 – 5/4
Pretty typical week. Tuesday/Thursday masters, Wed/Fri run, Monday ride, Wed group ride. Saturday I did a 5-hour ride, about 2:30 of which was a climb up McKenzie Pass. Just a note: anytime you see the word “Pass” in the name of a destination, avoid it like the plague. It was dang steep. We froze our buns off coming down that bad boy.

On Sunday I had a 2.5 hour run scheduled, and my speedy runner friend Sharley wanted to join me. She only planned to run about an hour, so we thought we’d do one lap together and then she’d head home. Well, she was screaming fast. Although we’ve ridden and swum together, this was the first time we had run together. I was huffing and puffing! She ended up running part of the second lap with me. My knee started giving me a little trouble toward the end of the run. Probably from not running enough during the week. Ugh. I hope this is not a sign of things to come.

5/5 – 5/11
This week included yet another business trip, this time to my least-favorite city of all time: Atlantic City. The trade show ran Tuesday-Friday and I got there as late as I could and left as early as possible. I’ve done enough traveling the last couple of weeks that someone ELSE can set up the booth :). Saturday I went to morning masters, then Jeff and I climbed Horse Ridge as part of about a 5 hour ride. Felt great the whole time and wasn’t really too sore afterward.

Sunday was a two hour run that turned into a Gallowalk. My knee was really bothering me so I decided to take it easy. I may be pumping Advil during the race….(what else is new???).

5/12 – 5/18
This week was really fun. We’ve started riding with a group of friends on Wednesday nights for a couple of hours or more. It’s so much more fun to train with a group! I still haven’t found a runner with comparable speed, but my swimming and cycling has improved dramatically from training with other folks. Regular Tuesday/Thursday masters, tried to run a couple of times but was getting sharp knee pain so I stopped. I’ll just take it easy with the running and try and get this healed up.

Saturday was a 5.5 hour ride, and I tried out Sustained Energy (from Hammer Nutrition/e-Caps). Robin/Ozzy said that works well for her. I had to doctor it to make it taste like something (mixed it with raspberry fruit juice and raspberry Hammer gel – YUM). THAT STUFF ROCKS!!!! If you tend to get a funky stomach on the bike, this is a godsent. I was living on Clif bars and they really upset my stomach at New Balance last year (felt like I swallowed a brick). I was still full of energy after 5 hours and ended up dragging Jeff home through the wind (well, I was trying to, but I kept dropping him :) I can’t say that very often, so I’ve got to get it in there when I can !)

Sunday was a 2.75 hour trail run. It wasn’t stellar, but I ran most of it. I think I have Patellar Chondromalacia or whatever that’s called (Runner’s Knee), so the uphills and flats were fine, downhills felt like someone was stabbing me in the knee. So I walked the downhills and took walk breaks when it hurt. The Advil people better bump up production.

5/19 – 5/25
Very typical week for me – Monday off, Tues/Thurs masters, 3 hour group ride Wed, short attempt at running Friday (it hurt). Saturday was a 6:30 ride (managed to get in 96 miles). Sunday was an easy 1:45 walk/jog. Didn’t feel too horrible. Work is crazy this week so I’ve pretty much worked, trained, and slept. Oh, and eaten. I never forget to eat :)

5/26 – 6/1
Monday was Memorial Day, so Jeff and I headed out around 11:00 to swim. We did one of Molina’s sets that he sent Jeff – 1000 warmup, 10 x (100 IM, 150 freestyle), 1000 warm down. I LOVED it. I led the IM/Freestyle set, since I can get far enough ahead in the IM stuff that Jeff just catches me at the end of the freestyle set. I love how all the things I’m better at than him (IM, kick sets) have absolutely no bearing in triathlon :)

I went for a group ride after swimming and then we had everyone over for rib-eyes. We were in a BEEF mood. Two of our training buddies are vegans, so we made a bunch of veggie skewers for them since I don’t have the foggiest notion how to cook tofu :)

The rest of the week was pretty typical, except our Thursday masters session got canceled after the warmup due to lightning. Gotta love swimming outside.

Saturday I swam at masters, then attempted a trail run. It wasn’t pretty. All was forgotten by Sunday, though. Wade, Gina (yes, one of my training buddies is named Gina…these are the folks who run FreshAirSports and THEY ROCK) and I did a supported century ride in Redmond. Well, Wade did the century ride and Gina and I sat on his wheel for 100 miles. It was really fun. And HOT. At the last aid station around 70 miles, they had ice-cold WATERMELON. That was the best thing I have EVER eaten!! We met another guy doing IM-CdA from the area – he stopped for a chew at the first aid station. Gotta love rednecks.