sneak peeks and selfies

Last week my brother came to visit, and he brought his fiancé. (Yep, he's engaged.) They had a whirlwind trip with a night in Richmond, a night with me in Charlottesville, a night in DC, and another night in Richmond.

While they were in Charlottesville we visited Monticello, and after our tour they had their engagement photos taken. (They don't live in the same place right now, so doing it together on vacation made sense.)

Since I was with them, schlepping their backpack and extra shoes and whatnot, I went ahead and took lots of photos myself. So enjoy!

Tour de Madison

Saturday I was slated to ride 45 miles. Finding bike routes takes forever for me to do, but this week I let others find the route for me by doing the Tour de Madison. It was an excellent decision.

I made the drive out to the Graves Mountain Lodge in Madison County and got there right as the 60-milers were taking off. I rushed to register, use the porta potty, pump my tires, apply sunscreen, don helmet, gloves, and cycling shoes, and then take off! The 45-milers started at 8:45 but I ended up rolling out on my own five minutes later. It didn't take too long to catch up with some other cyclists though.

I was able to catch up in good time because I was riding my new road bike! I bought it a week and a half ago but this was my first real ride. This was also my first ride with other people. People passed me. I passed people. I stopped with groups at intersections. I didn't fall over or make anyone else wreck. It was a success!

During the ride a woman said she liked my new bike and how it sparkled in the sun. I hadn't noticed it before, but sure enough it sparkles!

The weather was perfect, and Madison County is gorgeous (think farmland in the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains). There were definitely plenty of hills, but my new blue bike and I made it just fine. This was also my first ride with a computer telling me how fast and far I was going. I think my average was around 14.8 mph. The lowest I noticed was about 6 mph while going up a long hill. The fastest was about 32 mph (eek!). I think with a mostly flat route I could average around 17-18 mph.  Toward the end of my 45 miles I was plenty ready to be done though, mostly because my new bike's seat isn't as comfortable as my hybrid's. I was also getting sore in my neck/upper back area on one side. I'm having a bike fitting on Tuesday so hopefully we can fix these problems.

During the ride there were two rest stops. I had a cookie and half a banana at the first. I had a PB&J sandwich, a big orange slice, and another cookie at the second. After the ride they had live music and a full meal. So I grabbed my food and sat outside near a river, listening to fun blue grass.

After I ate I headed back home for a long and very necessary nap. Then I went to some friends' and stuffed myself with their crawfish boil.

It was a pretty good Saturday, I'd say.

ups and downs. literally.

Last weekend I biked 50 miles in Richmond. While out on the road I ran into (not literally) a friend who's super into biking and she looked over all my gear, declaring that I need a road bike. I agree. This hybrid is great but not for really long (and hilly) rides.

After the ride I ran for 20 minutes. Apparently when I run right after a bike ride my legs automatically keep up the same cadence they just did for hours on the bike. That means I go super fast (for me), but it won't be sustainable much longer than 20 minutes.

The day after the bike ride I ran twelve miles in Richmond, which was fine, and then I swam 2000 meters. Halfway through the swim I was STARVING and became weak and wanted to throw up. But I didn't. When I got out I was so hungry and miserable that I cried in the shower. Really. Then I got back to the house and luckily my mom was visiting so she helped feed me immediately while I just draped myself on the kitchen island and whined about how tired and hungry I was.

I'm loving the warmer weather and my shorter midday morning runs. But I'm not loving Charlottesville's hills. I used to seek out every hill I could find to train for my mountainous marathon, but now it'd be nice for a little respite. Oh well.

Yesterday I was supposed to run 13 miles. But I also wanted to run the Montalto Challenge 5k, my favorite race of the year. (Yes it's all uphill. I guess I still like hills a little, just not all the time.) So I ran the 13 but it was pretty split up, which is cheating. I did an easy 2 miles to warm up before the race, and then ran up the mountain for 3 miles. I made it up without walking again (like last year), but was over a minute slower than last year. I still managed to get 3rd place in my age group though.

Good friends who also ran or volunteered.

Capturing the elevated view.

After the race I hung out at the top with some friends and watched the award ceremony, and then we went out for a post-run brunch. Then it was home to get my stuff together and head out for another 8 miles of running. Followed by another 2000 meters in the pool. I didn't starve this time.

Today I was supposed to ride 55 miles on the bike. I headed out with a mostly-new route. I was on real (but still sorta rural) streets with cars. I crossed a highway at a stop light. I'm making progress. But it was a hilly ride (they always are around here), AND it was pretty windy. So windy that I got scared a couple times a gush would send me off the road. And a ton of debris was flying out of the trees at me. So it was not pleasant. I cut the ride short at 41 miles with the intention of riding another hour on the trainer to make up the rest after church. But friends at church convinced me that since the triathlon I plan to do is flat and I'd just done all those hills in the wind with the extra work of the hybrid, I didn't need to do any more tonight. I feel a little bad, again cheating myself on this weekend's long workouts. But I'm also exhausted. Training for a big triathlon is hard you guys.