swim, bike, ...fun.

I think it's kinda funny that I originally started this blog to help me focus on getting better and stronger at mountain biking, but almost every single post so far has been about triathlon training. Welp, that's the breaks! Give me a couple weeks- 4 to be exact- until I get another sprint tri under my belt, and I'll switch back to some good ol' lessons learned from mountain biking... :)

The title of this post basically sums up the last few weeks my "training" and just life in general. I won't go into the workout details too much but will just quickly recap some new, personal highs that have taken place over the last few weeks (I know I say that every time and end up writing a novel, but I mean it this time!):
-I've done a handful of solid road rides since my last post, all of them over 30 miles which is about +8 miles more than I would usually do.
-My best ride out of those: 32 miles to Ocean Ave in Laguna Beach, up the 2 mile-long climb of Newport Coast Drive (timed it- 9 minutes total), back down and back to HB. 19.3 mph avg the way there, before starting the climb.
-I've added some good distances up in the pool (good for me anyway... wasn't too long ago that I'd feel totally winded after a 300m "warm-up!" haha), including a 2000m workout (250 warm-up, (3x) 500m without stopping, 250 cool-down).

I'm happy with some of these workouts but know I still have a looonnnnnggg ways to go if I want to reach my ultimate goal of feeling strong enough on the bike, both physically and aerobically, to finish a solid, 2 hour race.

It sucks to say that my triathlon training hasn't been complete for a long time now, without my good running knees... which is why I don't have anything to add to that list up there, unfortunately. The longest distance I've been able to run before having my knee(s) lock down on me is one, pathetic mile. I did it at an 8 minute pace, too. After talking with Ryan about it a couple times, I've realized I can't just get pissed off every time it happens because I know that right now, if I'm gonna be honest with myself, I have to admit: it's just not a priority of mine to figure out what's really wrong and to get it fixed. Of course, I don't want my knees to hurt anymore. Who wouldn't want that? But I also know that until I dedicate the time and money to rehabbing it, it's going to hurt and it's going to lock up on me. And since I have a bunch of other things going right now that require time and money like, ohhhh a WEDDING and trying to really establish my business from home, maybe :) ...since those are just 2 of my primary focuses, my knee will have to wait. So no more complaining from now on!! I'm just gonna do the best I can with the next 4 weeks I have before the race, and do my best on race day when it's time to do that 3rd leg. And if my triathlon win streak snaps, I guess I can deal. ;)

Something else came to mind though recently that I've lost track of over the past few months, something I think could definitely be related to my knee issues.. which is my weight. I totally have a sweet tooth that I give in to once in a while (Ryan is well-aware!), but in general, I feel like the food I do eat is pretty damn healthy. So I didn't think my nutrition was a factor in my training and/or in my knee until I weighed myself last week. I couldn't believe what I saw when I looked at the scale.. 121 lbs. Almost down to what I weighed my freshman year of HIGH SCHOOL... which is kinda scary for someone standing at 5'10". I knew I had dropped a few pounds over the last few years but had no idea I had dropped even more in the past few months alone for some reason. Whatever the reason though, I really need to start taking better care of myself and need to focus more on not just on what I eat but on how much I eat. Anyway, don't want to turn this into a big nutritional post, but I did just want to get it down in here for now- where I'll feel like it will help me stay on it if other people have read about it. More on it later, probably.

Aside from the training stuff, it's been an AWESOME summer. Ryan and I went to visit my sister Val and her husband Doug in AZ, and met up with my other sister Liz and her now fiance, Mike (they just got engaged last night!!! so happy for them). So the 6 of us had a lot of fun. Definitely going out there again next summer for some more Salt River tubing! I turned 24 back on the 14th and had a great day, relaxing and celebrating with Ryan, then later with family. And it's just been a pretty mellow month, hanging out with friends and fam, enjoying the perfect weather, BBQ-ing some seriously tasty dinners on the patio!! Well, Ryan has been the BBQ King while I'm the... I don't know, preparation princess? something like that; He's seriously getting better and better on the grill somehow every dinner we have together while I'm only good with easy salads and side dishes. but I'm hoping to change my rank soon.. especially since my family got me a bunch of cooking gear (books, pans) and literally enough funfetti cake mix to feed all of our wedding guests for my birthday! If you don't already know, we're making the cake for our wedding and it's going to be the greatest cake in the history of weddings. So "come see me" as Ryan would say. :)

Welp, next up will be another week of good fun, I'm sure. At the same time though, I'm really hoping to pack in a handful of swim, bike and RUN workouts. Hope everyone has a great week!