Links for the Week

I'm especially excited about the first link. These are my favorites for the week.

• Dude Perfect interviewed on TexAgs radio. These guys rock.
• Easter is coming. Here's why we celebrate.
• CU Yellow Jackets Softball. My alma mater, and they are playing in town. I had to go out and watch!

Sunday: Easy run and weights

Monday: Rest!

Tuesday: Long, long run. Strava stats.

Wednesday: Morning swim, evening long walk and isos interspersed. I love living on the greenway!
Thursday: Morning weights, afternoon ride at Endeavor Performance. This was a great workout.
Friday: Run at PW with Kat. Strava stat.
Saturday: AM ride with the Ride615 guys, lunch ride with Kim, PM walk. Today was a BEAUTIFUL day.

Pink Cookware

This week has been pretty busy. We've had lots to do at work, and I had a practice 5K to run for Girls on the Run. Add in my normal training, running around with my cousin, and life in general, and I needed the 10 hours of sleep I got on Friday night!

This was the last time I'd be able to shop for stuff included in the Pink Cookware rebate, so I took advantage of another great week of sales at Publix. You get to see what I bought :-)

11-22-13 Publix Trip

Publix Trip (11-22)

Item (Quantity)	Regular Price  (multiplied)	Sale Price	Coupons	Final Price
Barilla sauce (2)	2.59 (5.18)	BOGO (2.59)	2 x $0.55/1 MQ	$1.49
Publix oats	3.49	--	--	$3.49
Duncan Hines cake mix (2)	2.89 (5.78)	BOGO (2.89)	2 x $1.00/1 MQ	$0.89
Puffs tissues (3)*	1.50 (4.50)	--	$0.25/3 MQ (multiplied)	$4.00
Sargento cheese (2)	3.99 (7.98)	BOGO (3.99)	$0.40/1 MQ (multiplied)	$3.19
Haggen Daaz ice cream pint	4.69	BOGO	--	$2.35
Downy Unstoppables*	7.99	--	$1.00/1 MQ	$6.99
Cover Girl lip gloss*	4.99	--	$1.00/1 MQ	$3.99
Duracell batteries*	2.49 (4.98)	--	2 x $1.00/1 PQ	$2.98
Bird's Eye veggies (2)	2.19 (4.38)	BOGO (2.19)	2 x $0.55/1 MQ	$1.09
Freshmate wipes*	2.69	--	Free wyb TP MQ (-2.69)	$0.00
BFAST shakes (2)	4.19 (8.38)	2.00 (4.00)	2 x $1.00/1 MQ	$2.00
Charmin TP*	9.79	6.99	$0.25/1 MQ (doubled)	$6.49
Publix eggs	2.00	--	Free wyb 2 Sargento PQ	$0.00
Totals: 22 items	$76.82	$55.64	$4.00 in PQs (**+1.75?) $12.69 in MQs ***$5 in Kroger Qs	+$4.19 tax $37.39 total (saved $39.43, or 51%)

Since I had to buy $30 worth of product to qualify for the rebate*, I'd say this was a pretty good result. Also I'm pretty sure my math is off, and I'm not sure if I included all the Qs. I didn't mark up my receipt right away and can't remember now what goes with what.

* Qualify for the Proctor and Gamble Pink Cookware rebate
** The top of my receipt shows three Qs I think came from my Publix card: 0.25/Charmin, 1.00/Pasta, and 0.50/Duracell. This would contribute to some of my math issue in the table above.
*** This was a competitor's (Kroger's) Q for $5 off when you spend $50.

Workouts for the week

Monday: Rest
Tuesday: cardio/iso workout in the morning, isos in the evening
Wednesday: isos in the morning, run in the evening (7mi)
Thursday: isos in the morning, GOTR run (with my girl Anslee) in the afternoon (6mi total with warmup and cooldown from Radnor Lake parking area)
Friday: isos in the morning, too many push ups to count in the afternoon
Saturday: 11-mile run (1:34:10) in the morning

My goal this off-season/pre-season is the get stronger, so I've been spending more time in the gym and less time outside. When it's 40* outside, I don't mind being inside. When it's 60* outside, I'd much rather be out running or riding!

Some of the Week in Review

Good mail day, thanks to Michelle from
I Heart Saving Money and Kohl's!

Monday was a rest day and I walked a few miles. Tuesday I lifted weights at lunch and then rode home. On my way, I rode up to Radnor Lake and then stopped in some intersection to pick up 75 of these:

Pennies!

Wednesday I rode in to work and then hiked 5 miles with Kat at Radnor Lake:

A nice lady took our picture

Thursday I went on the step mill instead of running because it was raining and super windy. I wanted to make it 60 minutes (I did) at a level between 6-8 (I started at 6). I always put it on random play, and it varied, starting at level 6 and making it to level 13 somewhere in there. My goal was to stay aerobic the entire time and use it in place of an easy run. Besides that I wanted to lower the workload the final 6 minutes (I didn't), it was a great workout and I finished up with 61 push ups. Friday I started the morning with 3-minute extreme slow isos.

Publix Easter Week

Publix Trips (3-23, 3-28)

Item (Quantity)	Regular Price  (multiplied)	Sale Price	Coupons	Final Price
Luna Protein Bars (4)	0.99 (3.96)	--	2 x $1.50/2 Whole Foods Qs	$0.96
Scott paper towels	6.99	4.99	$0.75/1 MQ $1/1 PQ	$3.24
Scott wipes	2.29	--	$0.50/1 MQ (doubled) $0.55/1 PQ	$0.74
Dove chocolate eggs (2)	4.29 (8.58)	1.50 (3.00)	$1/2 MQ	$2.00
Blue Bell pint	2.39	--	--	$2.39
Purity pint	2.29	1.67	--	$1.67
Smithfield turkey	3.89	2.50	--	$2.50
Eat Smart veggies (5)	2.50 (12.50)	1.00 (5.00)	--	$5.00
Totals: 8 items	$42.89	$25.80	$2.75 in MQs, $1.55 in PQs $3.00 WFQs	+$1.49 tax $19.99 total (saved $22.90, or 53%)

I shopped this ad once earlier, too, on March 21 (spend $10.91, saved $28.79/73%). See that trip here.

Super sale on infant formula for my nephew!

Kroger Trips (3-25, 3-27)

Item (Quantity)	Regular Price  (multiplied)	Sale Price	Coupons	Final Price
Gerber formula (2)	24.76 (50.52)	6.19 (12.38)	$3.25/2 Kroger eQ	$9.13
Cookies (2)	1.99 (3.98)	0.99 (1.98)	--	$1.98
Prestone coolant	6.99	4.19	--	$4.19
Planters PB (10)	3.59 (35.90)	1.99 (19.90)	4 x $1/2 MQs 2 x $5/5 KQs (mega deal)	$5.90
Romaine lettuce	3.29	1.09	$0.40/1 KQ	$0.69
Diet Coke	1.79	1.59	free product MQ	$0.00
Totals: 5 items	$102.47	$41.13	$5.59 in MQs $13.65 in KQs	+$2.41 tax $24.30 total (saved $78.17, or 76%)

Monday's workouts were good ones. Tuesday's ride at Endeavor kicked my butt. Todd broke me, and I cried. Twice. Ouch.

Wednesday's PB deal

Wednesday I got in a good long walk outside, spent some time on the elliptical, and had a good workout. I finally hit the pool on Thursday, the first time since February 14, and got in 1,000 yards. They all felt pretty good, so I'm glad I braved all the spring break kids having fun int he pool. Thursday's class at T's was just as hard as Tuesday's, but I'm getting stronger and faster, so it's all good.

Lagooned

Easter box for my soldier

I also sent a box to my younger sister and my mom this week. I am grateful for the USPS this week! Monday was a rest day. After the time change this weekend, I needed it!

Quick Kroger trip

The MetRx bars ($1.99 originally, on closeout for $0.99) and Perfectly Simple bar (rang up as Zone Bar, $1 each) were free with Qs (Kroger home mailer - $2/2 MetRx MQ; catalina - $1/1 Simple bar), and the protein was on closeout plus I had a Q ($23.99 regularly, $11.99 sale price, $1/1 Pure Protein MQ = $10.99). That plus $1.38 tax = $12.35 total (savings of $16.62).

Monday was a rest day. Tuesday I did a morning workout and then rode at T's. This series is my favorite and least favorite all rolled into one. It is a strength series, so I can't really do all my other workouts, but it is the one that has the most benefit, by far, for my training. I can't simulate it outside, so I like the challenge. It hurts, though, as evidenced by my sprints (628 and 632, which should be much closer to 700). Wednesday I did a tempo ride on the trainer. Thursday it was back to T's for the same workout, but it felt better than it had on Tuesday. See, it's already making me stronger!

GMS Spring Play

Friday was amazing, and I met Kat at PW for a red-trail/candy-cane-trail 7-mile hike after a fun solo ride. Then it was off to Lauren's school for her spring play, Lagooned. Lauren did a great job, and it was fun to watch her perform.

Friday's ride

Saturday Val and I hit the road and enjoyed the sunshine. I had church later, and we had the biggest class, with 9 kids; that was our smallest class yet and quite fun and manageable.

Saturday's route with random mile and kilometer markers

Sunday we all (minus 2, it was amazing to have most of the team together!) rode another 50 miles, and it was a great team ride. Lots of hard work, lots of learning to communicate, and no one was super frustrated with others or super tired by the end. That is a good day's work and a good ride.

Sunday ride

I love my girls and was so happy to be able to spend a lot of time with them this weekend. I also got some stuff done around the house and finished a book. The only thing I should have done but didn't do was get my emissions tested. That is going high on my list for Monday!

I got some sun on Friday. Thank you, Garmin and Road ID, for helping with the tan lines. Of course, I still won't leave home without them!

Strength and Power; Reading List

New reading material!

Thanks to my mom (happy birthday!) and dad for the new reading material. At the rate I read last year, these will take me all year to finish, so I'm hoping to get through them all before I get another Amazon gift card. They haven't all come in yet, but here are the books currently on my "Read in 2013" list:

• Nineteen Minutes, Jodi Picoult (finished 3-05-13)
• Custom Nation, Anthony Flynn and Emily Flynn Vencat (finished 3-17-13)
• The Bible (currently reading Psalms and Matthew)
• Through My Eyes, Tim Tebow with Nathan Whitaker (finished 5-17-13)
• Microsoft Manual of Style, 4th Edition, Microsoft Corporation (currently reading)
• The Associated Press Stylebook and Briefing on Media Law, The Associated Press
• The Winner's Brain, Jeff Brown and Mark Fenske with Liz Neporent (finished 6-15-13)
• Mind Gym, Gary Mack with David Casstevens (finished 4-15-13)
• As Good As Gold, Kathryn Bertine and Katherine Switzer (finished in October)
• Moments of Truth, John MacArthur (year-long devotional)
• The Truth About the Lordship of Christ, John MacArthur (finished)
• Firehouse, David Halberstam (finished 6-20-13)
• The Penny, Joyce Meyer and Deborah Bedford (finished 6-23-13)
• How to Be a Best Friend Forever, John Townsend (finished)
• How to Get a Date Worth Keeping, Henry Cloud (finished 9-5-13)
• The Guide to Healthy, Pain-Free Shoulders, Will Roberts (finished 12-30-13)
• Love by the Letter, Melissa Jagears (finished 12-29-13)
• What The Fox Learnt, Aesop (finished 12-28-13)

For the next 4 weeks at Endeavor Performance we are focusing on strength and power. Basically getting better on hills. This is my favorite and least favorite series. Tuesday's workout was GREAT. Surprisingly. I wasn't looking forward to it, but I felt like I rode well (100 times better than last week, so definitely a success). I still have a lot of work to do on these hill-like workouts, though.

Tuesday: worked between 165 and 181 bpm; rested between 135 and 158 bpm; sprinted to 701W

Wednesday I spent a lot of time at the computer and except for doing 58 push ups and a few other little things, my only workout was 40 minutes on the step mill. But it was the cardio that I needed and wanted, so it was a good workout.

Thursday: worked between 165 and 184 bpm; rested between 140 and 161 bpm; sprinted to 696W

What are you currently reading?

What's on your 2013 reading list?

Hard Work

Tuesday afternoon's class at Todd's kicked my butt. This was by far the hardest class so far, even though it wasn't much different than last week's classes. What was different, however, was my seat. I was trying a new saddle, and it was fine on Sunday when we rode outside. On the trainer, though, was a completely different story. It was so uncomfortable and annoying that it was all I could think about and by minute 56 I'd decided to get off, get my saddle from my car, and have Todd change them out. It meant 7 minutes off the bike, but it was worth it since the final 30 minutes went so much better. I rode at my normal 230W threshold and sprinted to 714W at the end. We did one 10-minute tempo block and two 25-minute tempo blocks, the final 5 minutes of which reduced me to barely pedaling. Like 80 RPM rather than the prescribed 95-100 RPM. But besides the equipment fix I never got off and never lowered my threshold, so success!

Tuesday morning I did a short but tough workout at home. Monday afternoon was another similar workout. Wednesday was a different, fun workout that I haven't done in a while, and because I actually left on time, I got in the entire workout before work.

Wednesday was great. The morning and afternoon workouts went well (I'd forgotten how much I like the step mill), and then I went over to my teammate Shannon's house for dinner. We chatted a ton about training with power, something I've been having a hard time understanding and appreciating.

Thursday morning was another good workout and then a good swim at lunch. Each hundred was fairly consistent (albeit a little slower than elite level), but I was happy with a slightly longer and good-feeling swim. Todd's class again was brutal. I asked midway through whether it was the same workout as last week's in terms of intensity, and he said yes, the first two blocks (warm up and subthreshold) were the same. I knew then that I was pretty tired and knocked down my watts. Both Tues and Thurs my HR was well above my normal aerobic zone within the first 20 minutes. That meant I was working super hard to achieve the same results and was outside the zone I needed to be training in. With about 20 minutes left, I went from 230W to 200W to keep it in my aerobic zone. So. much. easier. and tolerable. Here's the results of the first 56 minutes from the last four workouts:

2-05-13: 168 bpm (final sprint: 701 W)
2-07-13: 166 bpm, (final sprint: 726 W)
2-12-13: 174 bpm, (final sprint: 714 W)
2-14-13: 176 bpm, (final sprint: 709 W)

This is not trending in the right direction!

18 Laps = 1 Mile

Thursday's fun: the carousel at Opry Mills Mall

Monday I went to the BFY to work out after work. I'd wanted to run but didn't want to spend time on the treadmill, so my options were MFY and BFY because they have "tracks." Brentwood is slightly more convenient, so that's where I ended up. I laced up my shoes and headed upstairs, expecting to have to count lots of laps. For some reason, I had in my head that 14 laps was a mile. Much to my surprise (and dismay), 18 laps was a mile. That meant even more counting, turning, leaning, and laps. I started my timer and set off, catching the mile splits on my watch. Mile 1: 7:30. Mile 2: 7:15. Mile 3: 6:55! Hooray for an unplanned tempo run and a 21:41 3-miler (the extra second must have come from the decimals). I finished with a mile cooldown, half in 3:50 and the other half walking (6:20), for a total of 31:51 and 4 miles. Not too shabby!

Then I did a good 5 minutes extreme slow workout--my hips definitely needed something that didn't require running around in circles.

Tuesday's class at T's was much better than last week's, but I had to get off early to make it to work on time and missed a 19-minute tempo block. I had time to stay on for a few more minutes than I did, but I didn't want to get off in the middle of a work set so I didn't do any of it. In the afternoon I went to the DHY, where 20 laps = 1 mile. No, I did not run. But I did do 300 squats, and even without any weight that's a lot of squats!

Wednesday I ran 5 miles at the Cool Springs Y while watching The Flying Scotsman. It was a pretty interesting cycling movie, so I'm glad I'd decided to go into the cardio theater. I few of the miles were running, and a couple were walking at up to 5% incline. I wanted to get in some hills and work out some of the soreness from Tuesday's squat workout.

Thursday all my coworkers and I went over to Opry Mills and had lunch in the food court. Everyone was happy because we all could get what we wanted. Then we all jumped on the merry-go-round and had a fun 3-minute ride. Oh, the little things in life. The afternoon meant a GREAT ride at Todd's and Inversion. I knew from being sore that I'd have to work hard, and the workout did not disappoint. All my big leg muscles were tired, so my little muscles were forced to do their share of the work, and they did. By about 10 minutes into the 90-minute workout, I knew I'd be able to product my best sprint watts yet, so I rode the rest of the workout with that in mind and smile. Sprint watts = 719, 5 more than previously (1-03-13). Success!

At Inversion, Dr. Easley gave an overview of Why We Believe What We Believe, and I can tell this is going to be an informative, interesting series.

Friday I went for a run through Maryland Farms, finding a new path and exploring. Six miles, done.

Saturday I did 6 miles on the elliptical in the morning, rode a good 42 miles in the afternoon with Jes, Kat, Valerie, and Shannon, taught my Pre-K kids that we all can talk to Jesus and show Him that we love Him, and then did another 6 miles on the True elliptical.

Sunday after a 3-mile walk and church I met up with Anna, Parri, Shannon, Kat, Kiki, and Catherine for 38 fun miles:

Week's run miles: 30
Week's bike miles: 155

Office Christmas Party

Pretzels, Hershey's Kisses, and M&Ms...perfect finger food!

Tuesday I rode at T's in the morning, worked, swam a quick 500 (better than nothing, I figure), had a GREAT 5-min ext. slow workout later, and then went to Sambuca in The Gulch for our office Christmas dinner. I was surprised that I actually liked the chicken I ordered, because it did not sound good from the menu but was the only thing on our pared-down menu that I thought maybe I had a chance at liking.

Wednesday I slept in and then trained and walked 30 minutes on the step mill. I always choose Random Play for a set amount of time, and I typically select the max level (9). The stronger I get on the bike, the easier this machine gets. I might have to move away from the step mill and to the TRUE elliptical machine soon. Or perhaps choose a different workout.

Thursday morning's workout was 6-6-6 EDI (another good one), Dalmuti at lunch during work, and T's class again for the afternoon. This week's workouts have seemed harder, but I'm also working at 1% higher watts than last week and a gear harder (first 20min on Tuesday and the entire class today). I have tons of room for improvement and am really liking the 1% increase per week thing, both mentally and physically. I'm thinking I might increase till the end of this session (6%) and then go down 5% and continue the 1% increase per week for the next session, repeating for the rest of the off-/pre-season. That is, unless I test way higher, then I'll re-evaluate. In this class, my mind was MUCH stronger than my legs--if my legs had their say, I'd have been off the bike, down a gear, or down 5% within the first 20 minutes. But I knew I could do it and do it well where I was, so I stayed there. Little victory!

Friday morning's workout was rough. Everything was tired. But I did the 3-min isos followed by 100 phasic reps. Then off to work. Then I went on a great 8-mile hike at Percy Warner. It was beautiful out and I wanted to take advantage of it. We are having a treat day at work on Monday, so I made some stuff. The pretzel/M&M treats pictured above were simple. The chocolate peanut butter bars, not so much.

Looks like it's ready to go...

I thought I was ready to move from the first steps (mixing the first 4 ingredients and spreading into the pan) before melting the chocolate, so I did. But then I looked back at the recipe and realized I forgot one of the four ingredients. I'd have made my mama proud with my baking skills :-)

I really thought I was ready...I even poured and spread!

Instead, I removed it from the pan, put it back in the mixing bowl, and added the missing powdered sugar. It turns out the consistency of butter/peanut butter/graham cracker crumbs is just not what is should be without the sugar. Once I added the sugar it was much better, so it went back in the pan before I melted the chocolate/peanut butter and spread that on top. It turned out much better and tastes pretty good.

Saturday morning, Cath and I rode for an hour on the trainer after I went tot he Y for an hour workout. Then Lee, Cath & Madi, Anna, and Shelly, Megan, & Jess went to lunch at Calypso Cafe before shopping at Lululemon. There is some great stuff in that store. I wished I had more discretionary money so I could spend it all on one running top and one pair of tights that would last forever! In the Giraffe class at church that night, Charlotte, Brooks, Susan and I had 17 4-year-olds to play with and tell about the angels telling the shepherds about Jesus being born. They were excited to act it out :-)

First set of barriers
source

Sunday I walked 2 miles before church and then went out to watch Anna do the 4s state CX race and race my P/1/2/3 race with teammates Kat, Shannon, and AJ and other competitors Andrea, Kim, Amy, Stephanie, Laureen, and Kathy. Our race was 45 minutes long, and I got lapped within 2 to go and rode 7.75 miles. My average speed was under 11mph. Crazy slow! But considering that this was a CX race, on grass, leaves, sand, and mud, that's pretty much normal, I guess. It was a super fun race, but not exciting for me to get last place. Lots of room for improvement! Will was there to watch - he's been training me for something like 3 or 4 years and never seen me race my bike, so it was great to have him see what it's all about and pray with me before the race. We went to lunch at Red Robin, and then I went home and, after cleaning, chilled on the couch for the rest of the afternoon.

Shannon's husband took tons of pictures during the race, and I'm hoping to get a few to share.

Rudolph 5K and Weekly Wrap-Up

Brentwood Christmas tree lighting

Monday: eight 30-second sprints on the elliptical at the CSY in the morning; work; walk on the River Park trails; 5 minutes of work in the afternoon; Brentwood tree lighting ceremony and Ravenwood concert

Tuesday: ride at T's in the AM (I increased my watts 1% for the whole workout and shifted into one harder gear for the first 21 minutes; results: just the workout I was looking for [not too hard but more challenging than last week]); work; Jacob's Ladder (500-ft time: 5:01; this is HARD!)/elliptical/step mill, then 5 minutes extreme slow in the afternoon.

Wednesday: altitude drop legs and front delt in the AM (the best workout I've had in a couple weeks); work; run in the afternoon. I probably should have mapped out my planned route before starting, but I didn't. I was thinking about doing maybe 6 and ended up with 13.1 in 1:47:28 with no water, gu, etc. And I'm pretty sure that's a half PR for me (at least it is from the races I've recorded). After I started, I knew it would be more than 8, and once I hit 8 I decided to tack on whatever necessary to make it to 13.1. And I did, even though it meant running past my apartment. Success.

Wednesday half

Thursday: tried to sleep in a failed, so I spent some time on the foam roller before work; at lunch at Panera with some coworkers; rode at T's. I stayed the whole class at 222W and in my normal gear. Surprisingly, it was not any more difficult that Tuesday, and in some ways it felt easier.

Friday sunrise

Friday: watched a beautiful sunrise. Sigh. Worked. Had lunch with some coworkers. Hiked with Kat. Did some Christmas shopping. Ran (terribly) the Nashville Rudolph 5K. Actually, it wasn't completely awful. Last year I didn't even finish the race, so this year was an improvement. Plus I ran the first 2 miles in 15 min. It was the last mile that was sad.

I found a friend and chatted with her, and then I stayed downtown for the Christmas parade.

Fireworks after the race before the parade

My favorite float - the Boy Scouts were carrying
this, and it looked like a mattress from a distance

Saturday I got to enjoy the morning Christmas shopping for the kids of a new friend Lenis with more new friends Daniel and Ashley. After wrapping the presents, I spent an hour on the trainer before a long lunch/dinner with Will. After church I decided it was time to wrap presents and put up a few Christmas decorations.

Christmas presents for my sister's family 

My little tree

Sunday I learned how to mount and dismount a cross bike. Now to race a cross race.... We had a team ride that the rain held off for, but because it had been raining there was a bunch of debris on the road - which meant lots of flat tires. AJ, Anna, Kat, Parri, Shannon, Valerie, and I rode about 35 miles in FOREVER because we had to stop 3 times to fix flats. But it was a beautiful day and a perfect ride otherwise.

Parri, Kat, and Anna working on Parri's tire

Parri and me on her tire again...the stem and hand pump
broke, so we had to use another tube and CO₂ cartridges

Publix Trip

Got all this for 13.06!

After work and a workout at Centennial Park with Kathy, I went to Publix because today is the last day of this week's sale. There were a few things I wanted that were on sale, so I got the following:

Publix

Item (Quantity)	Regular Price  (multiplied)	Sale Price	Coupons	Final Price
Publix deli meat (16oz)	4.99	3.99	--	$3.99
Kraft cheese slices (7oz)	2.99	2.49	$1/1 PQ	$1.49
Cheerios (14oz)	3.69	1.85	$1/1 MQ	$0.85
Chocolate Frosted Flakes	4.29	2.49	$0.50/1 MQ (doubled)	$1.49
Odwalla Smoothies (2)	2.50 (5.00)	2.00 (4.00)	2 x $0.55/1 MQ	$2.90
SoBe Life Water (4)	1.49 (5.96)	1.00 (4.00)	2 x $1/2 MQ	$2.00
Coke 20-oz (3)	1.59 (4.77)	--	3 x $1.59/1 MQ	--
Totals: 13 items	$31.69	--	10.87 in Qs (+1.44 somewhere)	+$1.77 tax $13.06 total (saved $18.63, or 59%)

Basically, I paid for the meat, cheese, and Cheerios and got the rest of the stuff for free.

Basically paid for only this!

Since I will eat and need that food and will enjoy the rest, I'm pretty happy with this trip.

Then I came home and made supper with the Colavita noodles that I'd won as a prime in the East Troy Crit back in June. Hooray for free food :-)

RB's Hill Route

Today I did a different-than-normal Tuesday ride; instead of riding with the Harpeth Bike Club and doing the Cool Springs Route, I rode with the RB's Cyclery group and did the Hills of Hell Route. I met Catherine at the shop, and we rode with Todd and Matt for most of the route. Catherine pulled me up the first hill, on South Berrys Chapel, and it hurt to stay with her. But it felt great, too, to work that hard! I climbed Lynnwood at my own pace (the first red line in the graph below), and then descended fast to start the short, steep climb up North Berrys Chapel in front. The next climb was Manley, and this is not quite as steep but a little longer, and there is a sprint sign at the top of the hill. Catherine and I started this fast, and I tried to not let up at all. This meant that I went up the whole thing in my big ring, and thankfully the descent came immediately because I needed the rest! North Berrys Chapel from the other direction was just as hard as Lynnwood (the second red line, surrounded by orange, in the graph below), and then we did the opposite side of South Berrys Chapel. Finally, we went up Country Lane. Todd was out for a sprint ride, so I decided to push the pace starting this short climb (all these climbs are fairly short, but some are shorter than others, and this was one of the shorter ones, but it was steep and I didn't know how far it went). I went for as long as I could and then basically started going backward up the hill. Maybe after a few weeks of this I'll be able to ride fast up all these hills!

It took about 1:15 to do this entire route, so pace wise it was pretty slow, but we climbed over 2200 feet in those 17 miles, so I'd say it was successful.

NC.com Crit #4 and Avery Trace/Cookeville RR Course

My herb garden is growing! Well, just the marjoram so far.

AJ and me after Saturday's race

Saturday's race was a very hard race. Not sure what made the first 20 minutes some of the hardest 20 minutes of a crit, but they definitely were. I wanted to drop off the main group at minute 19 (at the time, it was me [Belladium]; AJ [Treehouse]; Jes, Kathy, and Katie [SVMIC]; and Paula and Shannon [Vantaggio]). Right around then, we caught Valerie, who motivated me to get back up and stay with the group. I did, and eventually it slowed down a little, but it still was hard. We averaged 23 mph over that 0.6-mile, 6-turn course, so you know we were riding fast!

(front to back) Katie, AJ, Paula, me mid-race

(L to R) Me, Paula, Katie, Shannon, AJ, Jes mid-race

This was where I decided to make my move—but it really looks
like we just couldn't get organized or no one wanted to lead

Besides making sure that AJ and Jes didn't get away, I didn't have to do too much work, so I didn't. I just sat back, plotting when I'd have to make my move in order to win. I made it at the right spot, and I won the race. Woohoo! Definitely thanks to Valerie for the motivation, Will for the coaching (even though I had a workout before and after the race), and Todd for telling me to stand up and sprint because AJ was coming for me at the line!

Stats: 40:18, 15.36 miles (~26 laps), 23 mph, 186 bpm

Cat 4 start line

Cat 4 race (Shelly in the mix)

Val and Jess having fun on the podium

On Sunday, Anna, Parri, Val, Kiki, Todd, and I headed east to ride the Cookeville/Avery Trace road race course. I didn't know anything about it and am glad I went to ride it. It was much more challenging than I'd thought! The day and the company ended up being wonderful, though, so I was happy to get in a good hard 50+ miles! Not that my day ended there, though, as I had to go to the Y and do a workout still (I ended up combining the AM/PM workouts into one since we left early in the morning and I didn't want to have to go out again).

Sunday team ride/Cookeville Road Race route

This course is definitely a rolling-to-hilly course, except for up on the rim. However, there, it's pretty windy. The good thing about the course is that when you go up, you pretty immediately come down—so it's very rewarding. It's also long and beautiful.

CompuTrainer Class: Muscular Endurance V

Here is today's workout, which was the same (or nearly the same) as two weeks ago:

The warmup was at about 50% of 216W. The 12-minute tempo efforts were between 84% and 104%, but I did only efforts 1 and 3 at their prescribed percentage; efforts 2 and 4 were between 84% and 104% of 200W (Todd suggested that all of us Team Belladium ladies go down a little so that we could continue recovering from our team camp last weekend and preparing for the Sunny King Crit and Foothills Road Race this coming weekend.

Surprisingly, I felt GREAT. My legs were tired but my mind was not, so I was golden.

This afternoon, I did 3 min extreme slow lunge, squat, standing ham, pull up, curl, and push up. It's been a while since I've done that workout, and today was a good day for it.

Monday I did 1h on the step mill and took a 3-mile walk at lunch around the pond.

Rain

The rain only slightly altered my plans this weekend, and somehow it seemed like I had even more time than I’d expected. Maybe I just made the most of the time I had. Friday I got up early and rode and then took Lauren and her friend Amy to the MFY pool. We met Valerie there and thoroughly enjoyed the slightly cooler and cloudy day. Later, after a quick supper with the fam, Lauren, Amy, Luke, and I headed to Fellowship for a Downhere concert. They are releasing a new album in a month, and they played a few songs from that album. They also played a few songs we all knew and could sing along with. Overall it was a great concert. They write some great songs with deep lyrics. Of the ones I heard and can remember, How Many Kings and Rediscover were my favorites.

Saturday the rain came, and instead of riding with in the morning, I ran a bunch of errands, did 5 minutes extreme slow (bench w/45lb, standing curl w/18lb, plate front delt w/5lb, GHR, and lunge), and took a nice long nap. It was wonderful. Then, after church, I headed out to celebrate Lisa’s birthday with another concert (The Kickstands, a band comprised mainly of cyclists—how appropriate) at her friends house. I met a couple new people and enjoyed the music and conversation and spent just enough time there.

Then, because we had been rained out Saturday, Valerie and I met for an early ride on Sunday morning. We did a route very similar to the one we’d done last Saturday but cut out the hill on North Berrys Chapel and added a mile. Surprisingly, though, we finished faster than last week. We must’ve gotten better over the week!

Stats: 53.91 miles, 3:07:06, 17.3 avg (46.3 max), 155 HR (186 max), 4382 feet total ascent (4370 feet total descent). Here’s a graph of heart race, distance, and elevation. This is something I recently realized my Garmin can show me, and I’ve been enjoying it. I also tried the Courses feature today, and if we’d have done the entire course, we’d have beaten our time from last week. Even though we didn’t do the exact same course, because we got back on course, it put us back on course and told me when we finished, “You win! Course complete.” Pretty exciting.

5-Minute Ext. Slow Workout

This was not a good workout today, but I did it. It is what it is, I guess. I'd been hoping for a bike ride tonight or tomorrow morning, but given the flooding today and the chance of rain tomorrow, I guess I'll have to wait for the State RR on Saturday. At least I'm looking forward to racing.

• Lunge L, R
• Bench with 30lb
• Standing ham
• Curl with 10lb

CompuTrainer Class: Muscular Endurance I

Last week was spring break week, so I haven't been in to Endeavor for two weeks. But I've been riding outside, so I didn't take two weeks off! I don't want to take the time to describe everything, so here's an abbreviated log:

• 1:25:00, 157 HR (185 max)
• Trainer warm up: 13:10, 125 HR
• Real warm up: 13 min + sprint, 149 HR; 2 min active recovery (AR), 143 HR
• 6:50 tempo + sprint, 157 HR; 3 min AR, 160 HR
• 11 min high tempo, 174 HR; 4 min AR, 164 HR
• 13 min high tempo, 176 HR; 4 min AR, 161 HR
• 13 min easy tempo, 169 HR; 3 min cool down, 155 HR

I did a short workout this afternoon before Inversion, and I'm looking forward to racing this weekend! After a 20-minute run (4 min run, 1 min walk, repeated 4 times), I did 3 min extreme slow:

• Bench
• Curl
• Plate front delt
• GHR

Team B This Weekend

We had a couple different things going on this weekend, and that made for a fun weekend. Friday I rode solo and it was nice to get outside. It was a little chilly, but everything but my feet stayed warm.

Then I got a new phone and played with it all afternoon. Saturday was way nicer, up to 70*, and though I wanted to ride with some of my teammates, they were all riding earlier when it was not going to be as warm. I had to run a few errands and decided to actually run them, so I ran a good 5 mi and then cooled down. This was a good route, and since I am not running more than twice a week, it felt great to do a slightly longer run than what I can do at lunch.

For my ride, I waited until after noon and headed out solo again. I lasted 1:57 in a 13–15-mph wind and did the following route:

My initial plan had been to add another shorter loop, but after having dealt with the wind for so long already, I'd had enough.

After church, we all headed to RB's Cyclery in Franklin, which Jay, Kat's husband, opened recently. They had dinner brought in, a few people brought desserts, and we hung out and shopped. It was fantastic!

Sunday morning I did 3 minutes extreme slow (push up, push up, lunge R, lunge L, curl w/10lb dumbbells, curl w/10lb dumbbells, and standing ham. Then, in the afternoon, Team B headed to the stadium, out to Shelby Park, and back to the stadium to practice starts, pace lining, and cornering. If I mapped it out it would look like a crit, so I won't. But we rode 18 miles, most fast but some slow, and all did so much better today than a couple weeks ago. The more we ride together, the better we get, and I am looking forward to racing with these strong women!

CompuTrainer Class: Tempo/Aerobic Training III

Today I was slightly more tired than I was yesterday. Perhaps the two days in a row did something for my legs. But, I'll be recovering today and ready for more of the same tomorrow! I rode at 211 for the whole class today, knowing that I'll be back for more tomorrow.

Tuesday (2-01), Thursday (2-03), Tuesday (2-08), Tuesday (2-15), Wednesday (2-16)

• Total time: 1:30:00, average HR: 156 (max 177)
  Total time: 1:22:30, average HR: 154 (max 175)
  Total time: 1:28:00, average HR: 162 (max 185)
  Total time: 1:30:00, average HR:  155 (max 185)
  Total time: 1:25:00, average HR:  159 (max 182)
• 7:30 warmup to warm up the trainer, 108 HR
  11:45 warmup to warm up the trainer, 113 HR
  14:30 warmup to warm up the trainer, 117 HR
  11:00 warmup to warm up the trainer, 113 HR
  12:45 warmup to warm up the trainer, 114 HR
• 10-minute warmup (long start plus the first uphill), 141 HR
  10-minute warmup (long start plus the first uphill), 147 HR
  13-minute warmup (to the chimney), 158 HR
  10-minute warmup (long start plus the first uphill), 137 HR
  10-minute warmup (long start plus the first uphill), 148 HR
• 3 min to the chimney, 147 HR
  3 min to the chimney, 154 HR
  
• 7 min across the chimney through the downhill, 158 HR; 3 min AR, 148 HR
  7 min across the chimney through the downhill, 159 HR; 3 min AR, 151 HR
  7 min across the chimney through the downhill, 172 HR; 2 min AR, 168 HR
  10 min to the chimney through the downhill, 148 HR; 2 min AR, 146 HR
  10 min to the chimney through the downhill, 161 HR; 2 min AR, 154 HR
• 4 min of 1-legged drills, 156 HR; 2 min AR, 157 HR
  4 min of 1-legged drills, 156 HR; 2 min AR, 156 HR
  4 min of 1-legged drills, 166 HR; 3 min AR, 163 HR
  
• 11 min across the first M, 165 HR; 3 min AR, 153 HR
  11 min across the first M, 167 HR; 3 min AR, 156 HR
  12 min across the first M, 176 HR; 3 min AR, 168 HR
  13 min across the first M, 165 HR; 2 min AR, 162 HR
  13 min across the first M, 171 HR; 2 min AR, 164 HR
• 11 min across the first box, 167 HR; 3 min AR, 163 HR
  11 min across the first box, 170 HR; 3 min AR, 162 HR
  13 min across the first box, 179 HR; 3 min AR, 169 HR
  16 min across the first box, 171 HR; 2 min AR, 165 HR
  16 min across the first box, 176 HR; 2 min AR, 169 HR
• 11 min across the second M, 170 HR; 3 min AR, 164 HR
  11 min across the second M, 170 HR; 2:45 min AR, 157 HR
  12 min across the second  M, 178 HR; 1:30 AR, 175 HR
  15 min across the second M (moved up to 215 watts), 171 HR; 2 min AR, 163 HR
  15 min across the second M, 178 HR; 2 min AR, 169 HR
• 11 min across the second box, 173 HR; 30 seconds cooldown, 173 HR
  5 min of the second box, 166 HR; 2 min AR, 165 HR

* AR = Active Recovery

I had a great 3-min-extreme-slow workout between work and a Premier Jewelry party at Anna's:

• Bench press, 45lb
• Curl, 15lb
• Plate front delt, 5lb
• Standing ham (sort of—DHY doesn't have anything to use for GHR, so I used the hamstring stretching machine and did double duty with elevation!)
• Lunge L, R
• Zurcher squat