Still Room for Improvement

Today I slept in instead of swimming; I'll have to make up the swim on Sunday. I did ride the hour, only now my hour ride is taking me less time still. Last week it took me 56:56. Yesterday it took me 55:58. Today it took me 54:48 (avg. 19.3). That's actual ride time. Unfortunately I hit just about every red light and that added time on the road. I wouldn't have cared except that I wanted to make it to Susanna's softball game before it started (I missed the first half of the first inning). She ended up having a double header, so it worked out OK. We (Rob and Sandy, Sara, Mille, Dawson, and I) left early to get some ice cream at Baskin Robbins to celebrate Dawson's graduation from preschool. Hopefully Sandy will post some pictures that I can include here—he's definitely a cutie!

It was fun to watch Susanna play and to watch some softball. She played well, but part of me just wanted to get out there on the field and either play with them or help them; there are a lot of beginners on their team. The Marreros are such a great family and they will be my best fans if I do make my triathlon goals. Although after chatting about it tonight and having been thinking about it over the last few days, I think I definitely have some work to do and need to improve my speed on my feet for sure (if not on my bike also).

Psalm 134:2 Lift up your hands in the sanctuary, and bless the Lord.
Proverbs 14:1, 10 The wise woman builds her house, but the foolish pulls it down with her hands. The heart knows its own bitterness, and a stranger does not share its joy.

I’m really trying to concentrate on pushing and pulling and engaging my muscles while I ride. The last few rides have been faster, and I wonder if that’s part of it. the thing is, though, when I stop at stoplights, I pretend that I’m breathing on the wall and really turn on my muscles. That’s when I wonder whether I’ve been using them and what I’ve been doing. I know I’m getting stronger, so this should translate to more speed if I can train myself to use those muscles.

I’ve also been trying to not let the wind (which has been whipping lately) affect me. I have to tell myself to not use it as an excuse when it’s against me or sideways (higher cadence is my recourse) and then I have to remind myself to use it as an aid when it’s at my back.

Today was faster and along with trying to ride faster, I did not go seated/high cadence on the hills—I powered through and stood up as necessary. Otherwise I was aero around 90% of the time.

Often I wish I had someone who cared about what I am thinking, who would listen, and who would give solid biblical advice.

Asleep at 10

1. 1:00am Something about sewage and draining in Sheboygan. It was on track to be another wet one. Anne was going to walk from whoever's house she, Alicia, M, and I were at to the Y at the Factory or the other one down the road. We said each was about 2.5–3 miles away. Dad gave her his cell to take with her.
2. 4:56 I was making breakfast on the stove—pancakes in the front and eggs in the back. I was using 2 spatulas but kept switching them. The eggs had broccoli in them. I accidentally turned that burner off once, but they were still done first. They went on my plate, which was in the pancake pan. Then I finished making the pancakes. There were 5 of them and they were thick. They went on the plate on top of the broccoli that had fallen out of the eggs.
3. Casey from Inversion—I had a huge crush on him. For some reason we were sitting inside because it was raining and he had his hand on my left leg. Sara Marrero was there and had a crush on him too—he was one of Leland’s friends. We were upstairs and she was downstairs. She said something about a TV show he liked and he went down to talk to her. Someone came to pick us up (I think we were where we were for a tennis camp) and take ups home. I was rushing to get my stuff together and left my charger and something else. The driver had a red Mustang. He dropped off Casey first. he lived a few floors up and was walking up the stairs. We were supposed to drive up but couldn’t find the correct way up. After we left, Casey called me to apologize about something and ask me about something else for 4 o’clock the next day. Casey was a lot like Brian my triathlete neighbor.
   
   The reason I think we were there for a tennis camp is that I had been outside by tennis courts. I was running around the outside when it started to rain. There was a sign saying to stay wide and pay attention. When I got to the back of the court I was watching for balls being hit out. I was one and tried to find it but it was a heavily wooded area and was getting dark. Instead of that ball I found another but it was a softball. It hadn’t rolled too far back because there were ropes in the shape of a V keeping things from rolling down.
   
   When Casey had his hand on my leg, I kept wishing he would put it on my right leg instead because of the hard stop I have there that I can feel when I shave. I thought it might help to have someone massage it out. But I never said anything, just thought it.
   
   I think I kept thinking I didn’t know whether I really liked him or just like the attention; I didn’t know whether he was a believer and we didn’t really have much time to talk.