21st Century Mom

Here is a question that has been on my mind for a while. Not too many IM contenders read my blog but for those who do please riddle me this - why is there so little running in IM training? Compared to trianing distances for people who are ONLY doing a marathon, the IM training seems really light on the running. Is it because you need to spend more time swimming and biking to make that work at all? Is it because you just need to do enough to tough it out for the run when you are already totally used up? It seems like the longest run people training for an IM do is 90 minutes or maybe 15 miles - maybe. So what gives?

Thanks in Advance!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:05 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

When I look at my blog traffic and see how people got directed here I find quite a few entries that originate with a photo of Stevie Nicks I used for an old post about how only beautiful women can make it in the rock 'n roll business. The link actually takes you to the full page for that post. I decided to Google Stevie Nicks and then look at the images page and see what came up. The 6th picture on that page shows a location of edition.cnn.com but if you click it you get linked to my blog. Weird but good because otherwise I'd have very little traffic, particularly after my little rant the other day about the military hiring dancing girls who can't spell and then following up with the Big Bummer post about how sad I am to have my kids leaving the nest.

WHERE IS THE LOVE, PEOPLE!!?? Geez. If don't have some comment love in my gmail box tomorrow morning I might go out for a run to jump in front of a train.

Two Truths and a Lie
TriGreyhound (who at least loves me for my intellect) is perpetuating a little game Trisaratops started with her class, in which you tell 3 things about yourself. 2 are true and one is a lie. Your job, people, is to guess which one is the lie. You then play this game on your blog.

Here are my fun facts (one of which isn't quite true):
1). When I was in Amsterdam in 1974 I got arrested for distributing political leaflets.
2). When I got out of high school I worked in a plastic bag factory on the midnight shift.
3). I was working on getting a PhD in physiology but got sidetracked when I hooked up with my now ex-husband and turned into a party girl, instead.

Please post your guesses in a comment. I'd like to promise some schwag like Trigreyhound but I'm not sure I actually have any. I could, however, make you a mix CD.

Car Update
The clear favorite in the blogosphere is the Subaru wagon with the bike rack. I think it's the bike rack that did it but a lot of people really like those cars so maybe not. Here's the thing, though. I like my old car. It gets more than 20 but less than 30 mpg depending on the kind of driving I'm doing so that's not great but it often sits in the driveway all day as I sit in my jammies working. In other words, I don't really drive it very far. Second of all it has real bumpers - the kind that actually do some good in a slow crash. I've been rear ended about 4 times and whereas the other car sometimes folds in half, my car suffers not a bit. Third of all it has a turning radius like no other.

I think I'm just going to hang on to it until it totally falls apart which might not be for a few ears. It's an ugly old Mom-mobile but I can fit my bike in the back and that's good enough for me.

The Cell Phone Industry is Evil.

My son's phone just died. We got these phones as AT&T customers. Cingular bought AT&T and they are telling us that we can't replace the phone without changing our plan. They don't 'have that plan' any more and they don't sell those phones. Clearly the phones we have work with the infrastructure they have and we all know that you can buy an 'unlocked' phone that will work SO WHY DO THEY MAKE US JUMP THROUGH THESE HOOPS! Of course the answer is that they want to sell you a phone and put you on a contract. Very, very irritating. I have no interest in upgrading or changing the 3 other phones on the plan and I don't like being strong armed so it's off to eBay to find a phone. So HA! Take that Cingular!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 06:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

Then the ride was over and I was on my own and there I was - glued to the bed. What was wrong with me??!! It all came to a head on Friday when I was just overcome with a pain in my heart that held my whole body down like Gulliver tethered by the Liliputians.

Saturday some friends and I did what we called the Soup Chicken Triathlon. We called it that because we are too old to be Spring Chickens so we must be soup chickens. Of course compared to Mary Streobe, the 88 year old triathlete we are Spring chickens but that's another story.

We rode our bikes for about 10 miles, stopped for coffee, rode back, swam and then the other ladies walked half an hour, stopped for bagels and walked back. One of the women claims it was a Pentathlon - bike, coffee, swim, walk, bagel. I had to leave early to take my CASA kid to a picnic so mine was really just a triathlon, of sorts. In any case it was fun and I enjoyed the company and I felt a lot better for having done it.

It didn't exactly scratch my itch for a good workout, though, since we took the ride at about 10 mph and I really felt like I needed to go out and handle some hills on my bike to make up for my failure to ascend Ink Grade the weekend before. My other biking friends were not around and I was on my own and found myself playing dodgeball with my drive. I really wanted to go out and ride but I was afraid to. It wasn't that I was afraid of getting a flat or falling down and being all by myself (although I did manage to do that), I just wasn't sure I could find the inner drive to put on the biking gear and get in the saddle. I had nothing pushing me out the door but me so I had to stare myself down and say, "Go! Get out there"! It worked.

Once I got on the bike I remembered that I have a real triathlon to train for that is coming up in 3 weeks. I rode a hard 19 miles and I thought about going for a run when I got home but it was Sunday and I decided to be at least a little bit lazy. Today I went to masters workout at 5:30 AM and then I ran 4 miles.

I feel better. I feel less hollow and more buoyant and a lot less like poor Gulliver. I'm pretty sure that the problem I'm having is that my nest is getting very empty and I'm not really ready for that. Raising my kids has been my only real focus for the last 14 years. That's how long I've been single. I've had to work but work has always just been a means to an end - paying the bills. I don't really care about my work at an emotional level. Up until about 5 years ago I had lots of boyfriends but frankly I didn't really care that much about them, either, except for the one stupid @#!@ who broke my heart and even he only got a little sliver of me. I've been a Mom (that's Mom with a bolded, capital "M") for a long time and I still am a Mom but the babies are grown up and mostly out the door and now I've got to fill that spot with something else.

Enter Triathlon! Bring it on, baby - fill me up.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 07:55 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

And thus it was I ended up living in a seedy Bed and Breakfast in Bayswater working as a chamber maid. All of the other live-in employees were from Egypt and I worked all day with a guy whose name I forget but let's just call him Ibriham. Ibriham kept grabbing at me every chance he got and I kept slapping him away and telling him to stop it and then I finally just looked him in the eye and asked him if Egyptian men were always so rude with women. He looked a little stunned and told me he would never do that with an Egyptian woman so I asked him how he felt at liberty to do that with me and explained that he understood that it was okay to do that with American women - that they liked it. I told him he was wrong and then pressed him to understand where he got that idea. From the movies, of course. In particular he had seen a film called 'The Secret Life of An American Wife" (this was a Walter Mathou film, no less) and he understood American women to be promiscuous and ever willing. I got him straightened out and we had no more issues but I never forgot that when one culture gets a view that constitutes only a very thin slice of another culture problems can ensue.

The New York Times reported today that there is a dance troupe of sexy women called "The Purrfect Angelz" traveling to Marine Bases around Iraq. They dance a little in fairly provocative clothing and then hold photo sessions, letting the boys pose with them. Seems innocent enough and why not do something nice for the boys serving our country? You won't get an argument out of me that these men deserve some entertainment and some relief from the rigors of war but I do take issue with this particular format.

First of all, given that we recently had to arrest 5 soldiers for the forcible rape and subsequent murder of a 14 year old Iraqui girl it seems a little inappropriate to use women and the explicit implication of sex with women as a form of entertainment and a sort of 'spoils of war' reward. I know the primary perpetrator was a sociopath but he managed to get 4 other guys to help him out. I also know that men like women and that being around beautiful sexy women who give a come on routine probably provides a lot of relief for these guys but at it's fundament, to associate one's just rewards for being in combat with hot women strikes me as very inappropriate.

Second of all we have this quote A small group of Iraqi Army officers who are being trained by the marines were so enthusiastic they all but rushed the stage and filled their digital cameras with this sampling of American culture. Of course I immediately flashed back to my days in London defending myself from my Egyptian co-worker when I read this. As a woman I'm not happy with idea that men oogling women constitutes "American culture" and I know just how easily that association is made . Just because it is what all men do and what no man is allowed to do openly in a fundamentalist Islamic country, doesn't mean I want that behavior stamped "American Culture". Freedom, including the freedom to have sex between 2 consenting adults is one of the better parts of American Culture but using women as a reward system is not. Appreciating beautiful women is fine but it's not like they brought in a bunch of attractive female poker players and blackjack dealers and let everyone enjoy a co-ed casino night.

When will the military wake up to the issues inherent in using sexy women as a reward? How many female cadets and recruits have to be sexually harassed before that message gets through? For how long are women going to be blamed for male behavior*? It is up to strong, self assured, stand up people like you to speak out against these behaviors and quit justifying it as 'boys will be boys'. The unfortunate reality is that some boys will be everything from obnoxious to dangerous under the guise of this behavior being treated as normal and justified.

Again, I am specifically responding to the American Military providing sexy women to soldiers as a form of entertainment and reward. It isn't appropriate and it needs to stop.

---

* the argument is often made that these women were drinking with the guys and 'just asking for it'. Let me assure you that wanting to have fun and wanting some guy to force himself on you are not the same thing.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 01:34 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 12:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (17)

We got to the start, checked in, got armbands and hit the road by 6:15. Tried to, anyhow. About 100 yards into the ride I was still trying to get my left shoe in the clip and finally had to yell for everyone to stop so I could look at my shoe. Surprise, surprise -that shoe that lost a screw last weekend was once again minus a screw and the cleat was crooked. Terrific - we haven't even gotten going and I'm having a wardrobe malfunction. I straightened out the clip, tightened the remaining screw as much as I could and started off again, hoping for the best.

It was still sort of dark and we weren't entirely sure of which way to go but we managed to navigate a few corners and finally came on a guy who was just putting out the signs. We beat the sign guy but we were not alone. We met up with these 3 guys who rode along with us for a while. I thought I recognized one but we were moving along and I wasn't sure so I didn't say anything. At one point my friends decided to pass these guys which turned out to be really great because just as I passed them they started calling out - 'Hold Up! Stop! You have a tire hanging off the back of your bike". I had a spare tube tucked into some straps on my little seat bag and it had come undone and was just flapping around waiting to insert itself between a couple of spokes. I did my best not to think about how that would have stopped the bike short tossing me ass over tea kettle over my handlebars, choosing instead to just wrap it up, stick it in my pocket and ride on.

The first rest stop was a mere 12 miles into the ride. I was still keeping up with my friends so we all ended up at the rest stop with these 3 guys we had been riding with. I finally got a good look at the one I thought I knew and surprise, surprise, he is a guy I used to work with so I said, "hey - Steve" and he gave me a look that was blank as a freshly wiped white board. Very complimentary. I reminded him of who I am and then ducked into the port-a-potty which seemed like the only reasonable thing to do under the circumstances. I didn't really need to pee.

On we went.... up the first incline. It really wasn't bad at all. It was mostly up with a little down here and there and although it went on for quite some time it was never all that hard and I was able to the keep the front gear on the middle wheel (so what's that called, anyhow?). I tried to practice the good stroke technique Bold passed on and I think it really helped.

The scenery was fabulous. I really wanted to stop a zillion times to take photos since I did have my camera with me. My friends had left me in the dust, though so I just kept pushing on past Lake Hennesy, gorgeous wineries and other historical monuments like the Hubcap Ranch

I didn't know you could ranch hubcaps, either.

We hit the 2nd rest stop at about 8:30 or 9:00 and I looked around for my friends who I hadn't seen in ages. I thought maybe they had already come and gone but then I saw Steve and he said they were down the road changing a flat. I had ridden right past them! I went ahead and got some food and they showed up and we ate and then hit the road again, headed for something called Ink Grade.

Now you know that when something is called 'Anything Grade' you are in for a climb. This climb was steeper and longer and harder than anything I'd ever handled before. When my speed dropped to 4 mph I got very afraid of falling over so I clipped out and stopped. Then I did a little walking and pushing the bike but that didn't last long. It isn't really any easier and it would have taken forever so I decided to ride out of the clips. My left shoe just kept sliding right in but I kept my right out and it made me feel better. I ended up getting off the bike to let my heart rate come down a couple times but I hung in there and rode to the top. I really wanted to take a picture at the summit where you can look down and see the whole Napa Valley laid out before you and I kept looking and looking for that view and it kept not coming up which should have told me I wasn't to the top yet. Sure enough, there was one more section of up left and my legs were trashed and I just didn't' have 'up' left in me anymore but I hung in there. When the view finally showed up I was heading downhill and veeeery happy about it so no stopping to take pictures.

The rest of the ride was mostly down which I really enjoyed. Toward the end things got really crowded with the 65 and 100 miles riders joining the 35 mile riders who didn't seem to get the rules of the road. This was especially annoying since we were now traveling a road with a 55 mph speed limit and a lot of traffic. Nothing like 2 gabbers riding side by side in the bike lane at about 10 mph. Very annoying but we worked it out and brought it home. There was a great BBQ at the end so we sat and ate and talked and then headed home.

I was really glad that I didn't bail on this ride because I was afraid to go. How crazy is that? I learned an important lesson on this trip. I NEED MORE WATTS! I got no watts, baby. I am really slow and I run out of juice early on. My thighs were just completely trashed due in part I'm sure from running on Saturday at a 9:45 pace. I only went 2.5 miles but they were fast and that was a bad idea. The climbing did me in, too. I need more work on the bike so I'm glad I live in an area where more work on the bike = more beautiful rides. Yay!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:17 PM | Permalink | Comments (11)

The bottom one is last Sunday, the top is tomorrow. The horizontal axis covers the same number of miles. The difference between them is that bottom one goes from 200 Ft to 900 ft whereas tomorrow's ride goes from 0 to 1300 ft. Total elevation gain is the same. However, the grade is much, much steeper. But I can do this. I can do this.

The ride with the wild turkeys had a 2+ mile climb at 4%. I don't think this one is any worse although it may be longer.

Can you spell O-B-S-E-S-S-I-N-G??

I can do this, right?? Just.keep.pedaling.

I'm nervous but excited.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 01:33 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

The Whole Ride (or pretty close to it)

A Hilly Bit

Coming up the Back Side of the Hilly Bit (which is where the big hill is)

A Pretty Part

All in all it should be a lovely ride and I'd like to give a shout out to our Triathlete Strategist and mentor, Bold, for giving me some good strokes for this. More later.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 12:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (5)

First up - Proof that I raised my son well.

Last week I got suited up for ride wearing my bike shorts and my Peets 40th Anniversary biking shirt My son looked at me and said, "You look really official. Representing for the 40 year olds!"

I love that boy.

Next up - My beautiful Ruby Pro just sold on eBay for $1725. Someone got a really great deal because that is a $4400 bike brand new. The seller claims it was only ridden for 2 weeks. I hope it isn't hot. I knew it would sell for more money than I have in my bike budget but I did bid on it a couple of times. Oh, the heartache!!!!

Last up - I'm all in for the metric century. All 62 miles and all of the hills. I will ride my own bike because my friend's bike's brakes are not working that well. I would not want to come screaming down a hill toward an intersection on that bike because I don't think it could stop in time. Besides, I like my bike even if it does weigh a bit much.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 02:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)

hahaha... so funny.

I need some cowbell, people. Way more cowbell.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (8)

I took off at 5:50, headed for our 6:15 rendez-vous. I was very diligent to clip out when I got anywhere near a stopping point - HA! I had this down. I WOULD NOT FALL! I met up with my friends and we took off with me, as usual, working my ass off to keep up but keep up I did for a good 10 miles through relatively bucolic areas of big houses and manicured lawns. I did not fall but my friends started to get away from me.

I finally got to a big intersection and of course they had gotten through and were waiting on the other side. I clipped out and waited and waited and waited for the green left turn arrow and it never came so I decided to ride over to the pole toward my left and push the crossing button. Only problem was I so aggravated by the light not changing and so hell bent to hit the button that forgot my feet were in jail and when I pulled up to the pole and stopped I fell right over to my right. Whump!

I picked myself up and looked at the bike and inspected it for damage. I noticed a screw on the sidewalk but it didn't look like it belonged on the bike so I left it there. When the light changed I walked across (too shaky to get on the bike) and declared to my friends, "At least I got THAT over with" thinking I had had my fall for the day. If only. When I calmed down I tried to clip in with my left foot and just couldn't do it. What was wrong? Was I so aggravated and so full of adrenaline that I had jus lost it? I tried and tried and tried but could not get the shoe back in the clip. I finally took the shoe off to check the cleat and lo and behold it was minus a screw and turned sideways. Too bad I ignored that screw. My friend went and fetched it, I fixed my shoe and we were off again.

We rode and rode and rode and I got hungrier and hungrier and crankier and crankier. Finally we stopped to have an energy bar break. As I pulled up to stop I pulled my right foot free, slowed to an almost stop and leaned to the left - Whump! Down again. Friend B thought it was all her fault for talking to me while I stopped and Lord knows I'd like to blame her but no - it was the 21CM spaz show all the way.

At this point I really was a little shaken up about the whole thing. I did NOT want to fall again. As we started climbing out in the country I got really nervous remembering someone's (Nytro? MoJo? Juls?) tale of falling over from losing momentum on a hill. I started having a bit of a mental breakdown and decided the way to deal was to clip out and ride with the arches of my feet on the pedals. This is a really hard way to ride a bike, my friends but it gave some peace of mind and for a while it got me through.

I continued to grapple with a crisis of confidence for several miles. My friends were way ahead of me since they have been riding regularly all summer and are much stronger than me, anyhow. I grumbled to myself about what a wuss I am, how incapable I am, how much I hate riding long distance and on and on and on. My legs were tired and dammit I just ran a damned marathon - what was I doing going on a 50 mile ride. Blah, blah, blah on and on. On the plus side we were out in the middle of nowhere and it was beautiful. I finally got annoyed with myself for all that grumbling and tried to stop and then my energy bar started to kick in and I was fine.

I found my friends at an intersection helping a couple of other cyclists plan a route. I got the scoop on how to get back and told them to just take off and not worry about me any more. I really didn't want to hold them up.

The thing about biking that makes it harder than running sometimes is that you can go really far really fast but when you get tired you can't just give up and start walking. You can, but it might take a really, really, really long time to get home, especially since you are toddling along on shoes that are not meant for walking. I have to say that 40 miles into this ride I was sick to death of making my legs go round and round and round and really wanted it to stop. Besides, my groove thang was getting pretty sore. Other than that I felt okay and I figured out that I wouldn't fall over going uphill as long as I kept pedaling so pedal I did. Round and round and round and round. The scenery was very pretty and I knew that soon enough I would come to Peets, I could get my groove thang off that seat and my life would be good again.

48.75 miles after I started out I had a latte in my hand - ahhhhh... I called a friend to see if she wanted to join me and take me and my bike home but she was busy and that was good. I finished my latte and started the ride home and felt much better about that than I would have felt if I had taken a ride.

Coffee fortified and buoyant with my proximity to the end of the line I took off and cranked on home in record time. I even passed a few people on the way! When I got home I went to wash the copious quantities of bike grease off my legs including grease in the shape of the chain. When I started scrubbing it off it hurt! It wasn't just bike grease - I had a boo boo. That dark area is a bruise. Obviously I fell right on the big gear.

Lessons learned:
1). When in doubt - clip out! With both feet
2). As long as you keep pedaling you won't fall over
3). I need to eat sooner than my friends which is odd because they are both really lean and I am not so lean but apparently my fat is stuck pretty hard and not available and I run out of gas faster than they do.
4). I need to quit bitching when the going gets tough. I just annoy myself.
5). I don't really like long rides. I just don't. 30, maybe 40 miles is okay but after that I'm done.

Next up is either a metric century or the 35 miles alternative next weekend. I just can't decide. What do you think?

Here is a Google Earth shot of today's 59 mile ride

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 07:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (12)

When I rode my first metric century last March I was able to ride a high end, all carbon demo bike - a Specialized Ruby Pro.

Suweet! That thing weighs about as much a couple of breaths of hot air and it has great components on it. I still needed straight pedals on the thing because I didn't have bike shoes and didn't know how to use clipless pedals. I sort of felt like I defiled the bike but I really enjoyed riding it (as much as you can enjoy a ride in 30 mph headwinds and rain).

A couple of weeks ago I put skinny slicks on my bike and took the rack off the back. Nice! It weighed a little less and moved a little faster.

I am riding another metric century next weekend and my friend E lent me her Specialized Sequoia Elite

which is a much nicer bike than mine. She has clipless pedals and rather than take them off the bike and replace them with my stupid BMX pedals I am trying to learn to use these things. People - it is scary.

I bought some bike shoes and some Shimano pedals for my bike, intsalled them, put the bike in the trainer and practiced getting in and out of the not clips (which feel a lot like clips to me!). Not bad. I tried friend's bike and it was even easier. Then I decided to road test my ability to actually ride a bike with these things but I wanted to use my bike in case I fell because I don't want to trash my friend's bike.

Did I mention how frightened I am of these things? I managed to get one foot in the pedal, push off and much to my surprise I got the other foot clipped pretty quick. Then I headed for a hill because I wanted to see if I could get out of the pedal in time to catch myself as I slowed to a crawl and started to fall over. Once I started up that hill there was no way I could do anything but pump harder - I was terrified. I got up the hill huffing and puffing and then decided to try to clip out. Twist, twist, pull AHHHHH!!! I'm STUCK! WTF???!!! Pop! I came out. Not good - not good at all. So I popped my left foot out with about the same degree of difficulty and tried getting back in. That didn't go so well either. Crap. I practiced getting in and out as I rode home and managed not to fall off but I can't say as my confidence is at an all time high.

This afternoon I will try road testing E's bike. Hopefully I can get the hang of this real soon because tomorrow I'm going for a long ride and I really prefer not to do it on skinned knees from getting stuck in my pedals. Any helpful suggestions for how I can come up the clipless pedal ramp in a hurry? I need help, people!!

I figured it out!

I loosened up my clips and they are much easier to get out of. Then I got on my friend's bike for a little road test dressed in rolled up jeans, a t-shirt and socks that have little bugs and kisses all over them and say 'Love Bug' over and over. Hot-a? Not-a! Look-a like-a Dork-a! But it was a successful test and I am going to ride my friend's bike tomorrow. Please wish me luck because I'm still scared witless!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 02:44 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

The longer of the 2 is on Sept 17, the shorter is on Sept 30. If I want to spend way too much money entering events I could do both. As it is I think I'll do that Tri For Real (the longer one) to see my improvement which will be considerable. Of this I am confident.

Then, if I really, really want to I can probably do the other one since there are 2 all women's triathlons on the same day in the same area and I doubt they will both sell out.

Today I am supposed to ride 1/2 way up the local "mountain" which would be about 1500 feet over about 2 or 3 miles. It is supposed to be 95 degrees or so. We'll see.

I have a lot of things to post if only I could remember what they are. Stay tuned.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:32 AM | Permalink | Comments (4)

What is Age-Graded Scoring?
Basically, Age-Graded Scoring allows all individuals within a race to be "scored" against each other. That is done by first comparing the individual's finish time at that particular race distance to an "ideal" or best time (not necessarily the "world record") achievable for that individual's age and gender.
Age-Graded Scoring utilizes statistical tables to compare the performances of individual athletes at different distances, between different events, or against other athletes of either gender and/or of any age. Confusing? Perhaps looking at how Age-Graded Scoring applies to road racing may help clear things up.

I got the 47% grade both last year and this year and since I came in 12 minutes slower this year it must have been either a tougher day to run or a wimpier crowd. Whatever.

I have results from all of the sanctioned runs I've ever done and someday I'll share them. I really wish I could remember where I found it. If you know please remind me. I copied the results into a Word doc but now I can't remember what the website was.

---- Next ---
Rice cookers rule! I love my rice cooker because it knows when the rice is done cooking and sets itself from 'cook' to 'warm'. It is important to add enough water, though because if you put brown rice in there and only add double the water (i.e. 1 cup rice and 2 cups water) it is still a little crunchy when it's "done". I do love being able to run to the store for a quart of Ben And Jerry's some more tofu while the rice is cooking, and not have to worry about burning it.

----Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure! ---------

I learned something really interesting and wonderful the other day. For me it is even better than the 'red wine is good for your heart' legend because I don't care all that much for red wine. Dark Chocolate Lowers Blood Pressure! Isn't that fabulous.? Of course my blood pressure typically runs about 60 over 90 but still - a health nugget is a health nugget, right? I have no idea about daily quantities and frankly I'd like to stay in the dark on that count. The headline was good enough for me!

-----------BUT MOST IMPORTANT ------------

I'm looking for some input on which triathlon I should do. I have 2 choices. One of them is an all women's teeny tri - 500 yd swim, 11 mile bike and 3.1 mile run on Sept 30.

The other is the same one I did last time which is 700 yd swim 18 mile bike and 4 mile run. I came in 4th to last in a miserable 2:31:05. I was on a Schwinn Varsity 10 speed that I had ridden 3 times just before the event and those were my first 3 rides in 15 years. I had not been running much at all. There is a very good chance I could improve my time in this event.

What would you do?

Here's to getting to the short side of the work week!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 11:07 AM | Permalink | Comments (9)

I feel fabulous. The ride was just spectacular. My friends took me out to a place where there are no cars and no other people (because the smart ones were still in bed) - just us, our bikes and the wild turkeys of Sunol Valley. I had no idea the wild turkey population was so big. They were everywhere, stupid and oblivious, the way turkeys are. If you wanted to pick one off you could probably just saunter over and whack it on the head.

I only went for 30 miles because that seemed sufficient at this point since I haven't ridden more than 10 at a time since May and since I just ran a marathon a week ago. I did do the big hill part of this ride. I think it went for about 3 or 4 miles up hill but I'm not sure about the grade. I'll have to see if Lady Garmina can get a bead on that. The important thing is that I did it - every inch of it.

Did I already say I feel fabulous because I do. I'm going to take a shower, put on something comfy, toss a load of laundry in the machine and make myself a bagel and a latte and start reading the paper. And it will only be 11 AM when get there. Life is good.

Thank you Jeanne for the early AM html lesson. I'm too lazy for that, though. If Firefox can't hack the load I refuse to pick up the slack. For now an unapologetic IE user who is very good with virus scanners and pop blockers and spyware removers and that's just the way it is. Bold, it's nice to know I have some company in my refusal to shun the Gods of Redmond.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 10:10 AM | Permalink | Comments (11)

That nicely formatted list of bad foods I ate with caloric content in a nice, clean column runs into the margins in FireFox. It looks perfect in IE. All I did was use the 'pre' tag and make the font big enough to read.

I hate FireFox.

I also hate that I am getting up at 5AM on a Sunday morning to go for a bike ride. It had better be very, very scenic is all I can say.

On the plus side I was a really good eater today. Fruit, whole wheat bread, fish, corn, green tea. Yeah me. Oh- and a glass of wine. So double yeah.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:59 PM | Permalink | Comments (6)

Today I'm all better. Today I am going to eat Ruby Red Grapefruit and weeds (salad and no, I don't use fatty Ranch dressing on it) and drink green tea. I'll probably eat some whole wheat bread, too. I actually feel like eating well. I think I out foxed my body by just completely saturating my sugar receptors. HA!

Tomorrow I am going on a killer bike ride with my biker friends. I'm guessing we will do 40 or 50 miles because we have a metric century to prepare for. They have been riding big hills twice a week while I trained for the marathon so this should be interesting. I haven't been on a long, hard ride since ..... gulp..... May 6 when I ran 8 miles and rode 35 up in Napa. As I recall I felt like I was on the brink of an injury every time I rode my bike so I stopped riding to focus on marathon training (how do you IronMan people do this??). It seems like forever ago. Anyhow, this ride will be really interesting and will certainly reverse the ill effects of yesterdays sugar binge. Stay tuned.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:16 AM | Permalink | Comments (5)

Bowl of Frosted Mini-Wheats                          230 cals

1 individually wrapped serving of string chese        80 cals

1 organic apple cinnamon toaster pastry              210 cals

1 Hershey bar with almonds (almonds = good for you!) 448 cals

1 root small root bear float                         180 cals

Total cals                                          ~920

Total nutrition                                negligible 

I'm going for a bike ride.

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 05:04 PM | Permalink | Comments (7)

I have some serious guilty indulgences, chief amongst them a serious Jell-O habit. I'm not talking about sugar-free Jell-O or seaweed Jell-O or any such nonsense. I'm talking about pure, sugar loaded, fake dye enhanced J-E-L-L-Ooooooo! I love the stuff. I love orange and cherry and raspberry the best. I love grape, too. I can eat it any time and I try not to care that 1/4 of a small batch is 19g of sugar. I should care, I really should but I love the fruity, jiggly goodness in my mouth. I love the cool and slippery way it glides to the back of my tongue and down my throat. I love the way it makes me feel like a kid. Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm Jell-O. How do I love thee? Fortunately when it comes to Jell-O I'm like a periodic binge drinker. I go through short intense Jell-O binges and then I go cold turkey for months.

I swam this morning and then dove into guilty indulgence Number Two - Frosted Mini-Wheats. I only let myself have them after swimming which is daft because a bowl of Frosted Mini Wheats pretty much destroys any value I got from being in the pool but boy does it make me feel great. Really great. I love the sweet, powdered sugar crunchiness swimming in milk. I ate a small bowl this morning - and then I ate another one. The swim was great, though - my legs are almost all better.

In other news - I got my iPod Nano! It came almost overnight from Amazon with no shipping costs. Sadly enough I also ordered a plastic case with lanyard to use while running and although the case only cost $2.99 they are robbing me on the shipping charges. $8.45 and it hasn't even come yet. Dirty dogs. It's one of Amazon's partners but they do this thing where they pair a good deal from Amazon with some partner merchandise and then don't extend the free shipping to the extra doo-dad because they aren't shipping it - the partner is. I'm going to write Amazon a little note and tell them that this arrangement makes a mockery of their very fine service. Love my Nano, though! So teeny, so sleek, so functional. When listening to an audio book I can skip from one chapter to the next as well as fast forwarding and rewinding. I can play music and then come back to the book and it is right where I left it. I can put photos on it. The shuffle offered none of those features and constantly left me running along with my thumb pressed tightly on the fastforward button trying to find where I left off on my previous run. The iPod Nano is technology at its finest.

Here's to reaching the short side of the work week!

Posted by 21st Century Mom at 09:01 PM | Permalink | Comments (10)