Motivated to Succeed

9:45 AM -  So part of the family reunion has begun. My aunt, uncle and two cousins from Denmark/Indonesia are up here for the week, with a lot more family expected to show up on Friday or Saturday. My youngest brother is at camp for the week, and I dropped my sister off yesterday at the airport (She was home 2 days from CA and now is headed to Las Vegas for a week! Lucky girl!). Took Jonny into work today and then zipped home for a  bike ride. My mom is hiking with our relatives up in Lake George, but I work at 3:00 so I needed to be home this morning. Worked in my favor. Longest ride of July, and longest ride on my new roadie ever!

Temperature was 68-70 degrees. Sunny for once! I couldn't resist the need to get a decent ride in. Put on my new bike spandex things and headed out. I think this is important to mention because my new bike tights I think made me look like a serious biker. Actually got three waves from riders going the other way, just the courtesy wave, but I gave it back, snickering to myself and muttering under my breath, "If only you guys knew I am a runner in disguise you might not wave with all those fingers! Muahahah". Ended up going 34.0 miles even today. The last 14 were hard only because my mom snagged almost all our waterbottles. So I only had 1 x 18 oz. waterbottle which I drained by mile 20. Got home and drank about 32 oz of Gatorade-water mix. Weight for the day was 169. Feeling strong. Feeling lean. Feeling fast. And feeling like the rest of today will be a great day!

Total Time: 1:49:55 Total Distance: 34.0 miles Average Speed: 18.6 MPH!!!*

*FASTEST SPEED FOR A LONG RIDE I'VE EVER DONE!!

9:45 AM - Part II of my split up weekend that I didn't get last week. Have today off from work, then work 8am to 5pm on both the 4th and the 5th. Pretty stinky! Weather this a.m. was overcast and high 60s with threats of rain. Actually it didn't start raining until I was about at mile 3 of my ride today. Funny. Though biking in the rain is a blast. Almost as good as puddle stomp running in the rain! Mission of the day: to have fun and get a good ride in without killing myself. Ended up doing 20 miles and felt awesome. Not too much soreness from yesterday's ride. Tomorrow tons of family arrives. We are food shopping today for the second time in one week! I suspect we will have to go buy more food after this weekend too! Man our family eats a lot!

Total Time: 1:04:19 Total Distance: 20.0 miles Average Speed: 18.7 mph

10:00 AM - Didn't really get in all the miles I wanted to last week, but I'm going to try harder this week, even though I'm scheduled for a full 40 hour week since they still haven't replaced people at work. Emma came up on Sat. night after work. It's a crazy weekend, as 28 people are expected to be here for dinner on Sunday night. I don't think I've ever seen so many people at my house! And to think this is only including about half of my mom's nine brothers and sisters! Sheesh! Went for a bike ride with Emma. Rode up to the school, did one .6 mile loop of the nature trail and then biked home. Saw two other bikers,though have to say we looked much sleeker than they did. YeOw! Great day today. Now time for barbeque!

 Total Time: 58:24 Total Distance: 12 miles Average Speed: 12.1mph

10:00 AM - The fun continued today with about 25+ people thereabouts finishing up what was left of the "fried turkey" yesterday; My uncle made a gumbo with the turkey, kielbasa, and shrimp with jalapenos, habaneros, and other spices. I think I heard Emeril yelling BAM! as my uncle was adding all the ingredients. Muggy and temp about 90 today. Before lunch Emma and I wanted to get out of the house, and as her laptop fried after 4 years of a long, healthy life, we decided to take a trip to Best Buy. In only 7 minutes we were able to locate a laptop, look at the specs and pay and get out to the car, only had to dodge the Best Buy people like 3 times as they were trying to sell us gimick $299 warranty deals. Lame! Before hand we went to Spa Park and did the 5k loop, and had a blast! So much fun, even if we were sweating before we started jogging! Ended up completing the course in a blazing 28:47. Good progress from a week or two ago when we tried to tackle the course. Didn't get a bike ride in, but plan to after work on Tuesday. Hopefully a good 25 or 30 miles. Recovery is a blessing. So happy that I am coming back. All you FRB joggers better watch out! Howling Commando Numero Dos esta aqui! Hoo ha!

Total Time: 28:47 Total Distance: 3.1 miles Average Pace:  9:17

5:45 PM - Long day at work. Very humid today. Got out of work and zipped home, and went for a bike ride to get the stress out. Temp was in the mid 80s, partly sunny but man was it humid. Almost to the point where it made me want to melt. I brought along about 45 oz. of liquid, 24 ounces of water and a 21 ounce bottle of gatorade. Ended up having a phenomenal ride. Did 30.4 miles in a time of 1:38:32. Felt really great!! Came home and ate two of the biggest sandwiches I have ever seen. Now it's time for a nap! Today turned out to be a super day. I read somewhere that the weather is no excuse for reasons you didn't get your run or bike ride in. Today was not a favorable day for biking, but I made the most of it, and I feel a lot better that I got the ride in. :)

Total Time: 1:38:32 Total Distance: 30.4 miles Average Speed: 18.54 mph

9:30 AM - Overcast with threats of rain and temps in the mid 70s. Humidity continued from last night. Surprisingly I wasn't too tired or sore from last night's ride, though I slept from about 10pm to 7am so I got my sleep in for once. Did a nice recovery ride and felt good the whole time. Went down Jockey St. and then east on Rte. 67 through Milton into Ballston. Felt good. Is it bad that I last saw Emmy like two days ago and I already miss her like crazy?! :( Blah.

Total Time: 1:31:50 Total Distance: 27 mi Average Speed: 17.6 mph

5:45 PM - Got out of work and zipped home. Overcast and temps around 70-73. Perfect coditions for a bike ride. Jonn decided to go with me and I dropped him off after 26. I did most of the pacemaking, but that was expected as he hasn't been biking as much as me. We had a fun time and it was nice to finally ride with someone else just to break up the monotony of it all. Ended up doing 32.42 miles total. Felt really great. Tired now. Time for a nap and then up for work.

Total Time: 1:50:22 Total Distance: 32.42 miles Average Speed: 17.6 mph

5:45 PM -  Had an incredibly long day at work. Really pissed off at the management. Needed to destress. Nice to know that a dude they hired three weeks ago has precedence for a promotion before me, who has been there how many YEARS? Sigh. Hot and humid. ~85 degrees and wicked humid. Yuck. Ended up doing 17 miles in 58:00 though. Now time for dinner and watchign the Tour. TGIF (for me at least).

Total Time: 58:00 Total Distance: 17 miles Average Speed: 17.6 mph

Total Miles of Biking for the week: 118.95!! Goal for next week: MORE THAN THAT and a long ride of 40-45 miles.

9:30 AM - My mom's birthday is today! I went out for a ride in the early morning before everyone woke up, and after my shower I am baking her two cakes and then I think I am going to take the whole family out for lunch/dinner.  I am excited. It's not every day your mom turns "29" :-D. My mom is truly the most amazing woman in the world. Figured that it was rainy today. First ride in the rain with my bike. It was actually kind of fun! I love the rain. Temp in the mid 60s. Wet. Felt completely relaxed during the whole ride!

Total Time: 1:14:00 Total Mileage: 21.0 miles Average Speed: 17 mph

9:30 AM - Overcast to partly sunny and temperatures in the mid to high 60s. A little stuffy and humid out. Nevertheless, decided to get a ride in. Was a great decision. Ended up doing the longest ride of the year! And arguably the longest in more than 3 years. Definitely the fastest that I've done a long ride. First 29.0 I did by myself to Saratoga via Charlton and Ballston Spa in a blistering 1:30:15!!!. Highlight of this portion: speeding going 33mph in a 30mph zone PAST A COP with a radar gun. I'm surprised he didn't choke on his donought. Muahaha. Then met up with my mom, my sister Su and brother Harry and we all went riding. Saw my dad on a bike today for the first time in 22 years. He used to ride all the time, but I don't recall ever seeing him. He seemed to enjoy it :). I hope we can all go on family rides soon. Oh, Jonny also biked to work and back, so all six of us rode bikes today. Pretty sweet! Mom and Su did a great job and rode at their own pace. Harry was awesome and kept with me. We had a good chat and really enjoyed ourselves. So awesome to be able to bike with family! Can't wait for the next ride. Now time for a ton of food!!!

Total Time: 3:18:00 Total Distance: 51.5 miles Average Speed: 15.6 mph

Note; Someone saw that on my Facebook.com account I made a group "Training for a 100 mile Century". He sent a link and suggested I consider a local ultra bike race in September: http://www.adkultracycling.com/adk540/index.htm   I don't know if I should consider it or what..

5:45 PM - Long day at work. Was happy to finally get home. My mom went out and bought us all red tshirts and wanted "Team Lightning" to go for another ride, so of course I could not object. I went easy and we had a blast. It was a lot of fun. Sunny and temps around 78 or so. What a fun time on the backroads of Galway!

Total Time: 54:36 Total Mileage: 11.5 miles Average Speed:  12.7 mph

No riding today. The worst day I've ever had since the day my grandpa died when I was nine. Our St. Bernard Geri is about 9 and a half and she hasn't been doing well for the last few months. Our vet said she probably would have a good summer, an okay fall, and a hard winter... We thought it was some kind of bone cancer. I guess the cancer progressed faster than expected. She has been breathing weird for the last week or two and then between the time I left for work this morning and the time I came home, her head had swollen up and her eyes swelled shut and she could hardly breathe. We had Cliff our vet come over and within thirty minutes of me getting home I had to witness the hardest thing I've seen in my life. It ranks up there with when I had to watch my mom's dad during his hospice treatment. I've never seen my family cry so much. It was gut renching to have to help carry Geri out to the backho and then watch our neighbor help bring her down to the pet cemetery. Geri wasn't just a dog. She was part of the family. It ripped my heart out to see my mom and dad break down in tears, and when I gave my mom a hug and told her it was okay, she nearly collapsed in my arms. It just isn't fair. Life is so great that I think sometimes we take it for granted just how short it is. It puts things into perspective when you lose someone or something you love. Geri will always be part of the family; it's just going to take a while for me to come to terms with this. Oh how things change in a matter of hours. :'( Tomorrow is going to be the suckiest and hardest day of work.. I don't want to go anywhere. Just want to be able to see our puppy :-. *sigh.

"Geri" Geraldine the Great of Galway - 9.5 years (b. 1999 d. 2008)

5:00 PM - Today was a hard day at work and then coming home and only seeing Libi and not Geri :(. Sigh. It's going to take a while for the pain to go away I think. Total was hot and humid. Temp about 85 when I hopped on the bike and sunny. I did the back roads again. Overall a good ride, except I think my back rim is bent and that is actually the reason behind the squeaking noise all along. I bet warranty doesn't cover it though since I just now figured this out. It's been rubbing on the break pad all along. Gr. Felt good though. Two more days of work this week.

Total Time: 1:35:06 Total Distance: 27.4 mi Average Speed: 17.3 mph

5:00 PM - Very hot and muggy. Temperature around 90. Went for an easy 10 miler, but stopped because something is out of whack with the wheel. It's been squeaking since I got it. From some research it sounds like the rim is "out of true". So I'm going to have to drop it off at a bike shop and see what they can do with it. Hopefully it wouldn't take too long. I really don't want to go a week or two without my bike!

6:30 AM - Overcast, damp and temps in the low 60s. I had a nice weekend at Emma's and came back and worked yesterday. I went to the bike shop after work to pick up my bike and found out it was done, only that it decided to downpour starting half an hour before I went there. So bike ride was out of the picture; or so I thought. Ended up turning into a beautiful evening but I already had dinner and was tired and decided to go out and do a ride this morning. I should have gone last night... Things started off okay, but I got to about the 10 mile mark and the road went from wet to instantly dry. Cool! right? Wrong. Went another 7 miles and started to sprinkle so I decided to head back, only I was riding into the storm. Things went from wet, to soaking to downright scary. On top of that it was not just a rain storm. I love rain. I can deal with running/riding in the rain no problem. But it was the thunder and lightning that were the scary part. I saw lightning within several hundred yards, but there were no pull off rest stations or gas fill ups available so I just kept riding as hard as I could in the rain. Absolutely soaked through, but thankfully when I was about 6.5 miles from home my sister called before she left for work wanting to know if I was okay. She said she could come get me. So I rode hard to meet her and she picked me up, I threw the bike on the back and jumped into the car (shaking both from the damp coldness as well as a little rattled, especially as there was a lightning strike only 100 feet away!!!). Definitely will pay the weather station more heed next time. I checked the radar and there were no storms, but who knows when the radar was updated. This will be a hard week to get miles in with meteorologists expecting 5-7 INCHES of rain in the next 48 hours here. Guess we don't have to worry about forest fires though, right?  :)  Thanking the fact that I have one of the most awesome little sisters right now!! Oh and as for the bike, everything is wonderful. All the gears now work!! And the brakes are phenomenal. Those guys really did a great job, even if it cost me 65.00 bucks. Now time to go watch L'Alpe D'uez! Viva la Tour!

Total Time: 1:37:03 Total Distance: 30.23 miles Average Speed: 18.7 mph

5:30 PM - It's been a long week and finally this a.m. the rain stopped! I sped home from work and jumped into my biking clothes before even taking my shoes off and before I knew it I was out the door. Had a great ride today. A couple noteable things: 1. Almost ran into 3 rabbits on the same road, almost as if they were trying to test my reaction time spaced out about 1/2 mile a piece; 2. At about 18 mile mark, I see a shadow behind my shadow. I didn't know if it was Brent trying to sneak up on me, me seeing double because of low glucose, or perhaps a secret spy sent to undermine the Howling Commando. No worries; It was an old timer just out to draft off a youngin. He drafted off me for about a mile then I burned him. No freewheeling with the HC that's for sure! Temps in the low to mid 80s. Slight wind. Beautiful day. This is the ride I needed this week :).

Total Time: 2:11:46 Total Distance: 40 miles Average Speed: 18.2 mph

MY FIRST EVER METRIC CENTURY!! - 100 KILOMETERS / 62 MILES!

7:45 AM - I did it! My first ever metric century ride. Started off in the mist this morning with temperatures actually cool to the point where I almost felt chilled. Roads were wet and covered with debris from last nights monster storm that came through. Our internet only now came back at about 3 in the afternoon! Felt really great and all except the last 5 or 10 miles where dehydration set in. Only had 2 waterbottles for the ride which stunk. Went all over Galway, Charlton, Scotia, up to Spa Park, and back. Saw quite a few other bikers out celebrating the last day of the Tour perhaps? Man that was tiring. It didn't hit me until an hour or two after I finished, but I really REALLY needed food. Went to Panera with Jonn and got a sandwich, soup and I drank 64 ounces of Fruit Punch. Mmmm. My first question in the car after, "Right. Now what's for dinner?!" :). I'm kind of proud of myself that I was able to do a solo metric century. After riding 62 miles, another 38 wouldn't be that bad provided I had sufficient food and energy gels, etc. As I write this the rain is back. I count my blessings that I woke up early on my day off to get the ride in!

Total Time: 3:29:12 Total Distance: 62 miles Average Speed: 17.8 mph

12:30 PM - Sunny and temps in the low 80s. Humidity creeping in and thunderstorms expected later. Decided to get a recovery ride in with Jonn after he got out of work this morning. We had a blast. It really is a change to be able to ride with someone else. Made the ride fly by. It's funny how after barely making it 20 miles at the start of the summer, now I am just getting warmed up at 20. Felt really strong and only a little soreness. Jonn let me set the tempo on the hills though and we cruised on the downhills. Hit 40mph at one point. Fastest speed of the season :). I drool thinking about how fast we might get going down a mountain in the Adirondacks or the Green or White Mountains! Had a blast. Now time for a shower, reading a bit, and then going to a produce stand out in the country to pick up some salad goodies!

Total Time: 1:21:35 Total Distance: 22.2 miles Average Speed: 16.3 mph

10:00 AM - Sunny and temps in the low to mid 70s. Gorgeous out. Strong headwind though so it made me have to work for this one. Legs are a little sore - I've done some monster miles in the last seven or eight days so that's expected I guess. Did the hilly lake loop that I did with Jonny yesterday. Felt pretty good. Two downers today: First had a few dogs give chase to me. Didn't catch me but broke up my rhythm so I didn't like it much. Second, really hate the "townees" - the kids that live in the village that have nothing better to do than to be annoying and cause problems. I've never liked them since I moved here about sixteen years ago. They're usually the kids that barely pass to get their diploma, or drop out by tenth grade. This one a**hole kid today was maybe fourteen or fifteen. I know him becaus I used to work for his neighbor a few years ago doing yardwork. He was a problem then and he certainly is a bigger one now. I'm crusising down a hill doing close to 34 or 35 mph and he comes peeling out of his driveway on an ATV no helmet no lights, and starts speeding towards me in my lane going the wrong way. I look behind me and see no cars, so I peel off and cross to the far side of the road. He proceeds to zig zag and comes towards me again so I let off the "gas" and put on the brakes and wait for him to make the move. I stare at him with my sunglasses on and he just gives a retarded smile and a wave and moves back over to the side of the road. I really had to restrain myself from using some profanity and flipping him the bird. I really just hate punks. I didn't do anything to him, and he had to not only ruin my ride but jeapordize my safety. Imagine if there were cars coming the other way!!! Hmpf! At least I made it home in one piece!

Total Time: 1:18:09 Total Distance: 22.5 miles Average Speed: 17.3 mph

5:40 PM - Long day at work. Storms passed and it actually turned out to be a perfect evening. Temps around 81 and sunny. Hopped on the bike to try to destress. Turned into a great bike ride. I knew that if I did a decent ride I could end the month far surpassing the short term goal I had of having a month with 400 biked miles.  I think that this ride puts me at just above 500 miles!!! Went up into Charlton, biked a bit on Charlton Road to Route 50 and back. Coming back stunk because it was all into the wind. Had to fight hard to stay on the bike. Definitely feeling a lot more comfortable and stronger on the bike than at the start of the summer.

Total Time: 1:54:47 Total Distance: 35 miles Average Speed: 18.3 mph