New Addition to the Family...

We decided that we needed a new, more efficient family member. Pedro drives to work and with his truck he was needing to refuel about every work day. With the cash for clunkers going on, we figured we could get more for the truck than what we paid for it originally.

We looked at a few cars, even a few that were cheap but came with no radio, air conditioning, power anything, no little storage compartment in the car. Yes, car's without a/c or radio...I didn't know that was possible!

After researching and looking we decided on a new blue Nissan Sentra (much better than the one I had in high school)!

Here she is!



We have only had her for 1 day and Pedro has already washed her!

Week 1 recap.

This was officially my week 1 training toward IM Florida, in Nov. I forget how "easy" it is on week 1, but with my knee bothering me I decided it was best to start at the bottom.

The week started off with a trip to the lake with Kurt, Dena and kids. We spent most of the afternoon there tubing and knee boarding (no wakeboarding for us this time). I decided the tubing is the most fun! I was laughing so hard that my abs started to hurt! It was a lot of fun going off waves and flying in the air! I never let go of the tube, but Pedro flew off after hitting his face on the tube. You might be able to tell by the picture but I was bracing myself with my arm so that I wasn't "flat" on the tube.


Pedro and I about to tube (my new hair, much better in person!)


I also experienced knee boarding for the first time. I was a little worried with my knees, but it was way more fun then expected!


Pedro on the kneeboard..soon he will be trying tricks!


Week 1 of training has gone like this:
Monday 3hr bike ride.
Monday 1hr run with run club. This was my long run time for the week, so instead of doing my run the next day, as scheduled, I had to make this my long one..ooops!

Tuesday 25min easy run
Tuesday weights
Tuesday 45min easy bike
Tuesday 1200m tempo swim

Wednesday 2,200m swim (with swim club)
Wednesday 30min stairmaster (extra workout)
Wednesday 1hr10min tempo bike (with pedro)

Thursday 1hr35min mod bike
Thursday 35min tempo run (2min fast, 1min jog)x8

Tomorrow is "legs off day" so I have a 4,000m swim.
Saturday I have a moderate run with run club.

On Weds, Pedro and I met Linzy to have our usual mexican food. It is only the second time I have seen Linzy during her pregnancy. She is due very soon!



This weekend I have to coach in our last college coaches viewing period tournament. Pedro is back to working nights, which is a lot better for us!

Hard week...

After 10 straight days on the road (ugh!) I am happily back at home. On Weds (I arrived home late on Tues), I decided to start my working out slowly. I went for a 38mile bike ride, which was horrible. My heart rate was very high and I was feeling tired. I decided that I needed to get that out of my system and figured my evening run (with run club) would be much better. It wasn't. I ran 4.2 miles and was very tired. It felt like a LONG run. It didn't help that it was about 90 degrees and I haven't acclimated much to the heat.

The next day I went for another 4mile run. Again, figuring I had got all of my bad workouts in already. Wrong again. I wore my heart rate monitor this time and my hr was around 180 the whole run. It was hot, but I was struggling. Not good. My knee didn't hurt, so I will take whatever positive there was.

Friday I just swam. Swimming went well. I figure next week I will get back into full training mode. I also looked up my "altitude" and you can begin to lose red blood cells after 10 days, and I definitely feel like I have!

Saturday I ran with run club nearly 6 miles, in cooler early morning temps. I ran an 8:55 pace and didn't feel like I was going to die, though if I wore my hr monitor I'm sure it would say different. Then came WORK.

I had basketball practice right after run club. That wasn't work compared to the rest of the day.

Pedro and his stubborn ways decided he was going to pull our tree out front, that was dead. I tried to help, but was then informed I was no help. So, I sat and watched him try to pull the tree out for about 2hrs. He didn't want to ask anyone else for help either. Finally, my neighbor came out and got my other neighbor to come over and help. We ended up with four guys and one stump of a tree.

One of the neighbors had an electric saw and helped saw out the roots, so we could eventually get the stump out.

Four guys one stump of a tree:


Pedro trying to pull the stump out:


How many guys does it take to get out a stump?? Maybe if they ALL worked!



After all the work we had to get a new tree. We didn't want to spend a lot on a tree. We looked at a few places and finally decided the tree was going to cost at least $70. Until...Pedro found a tree on clearance!!! Yes, a tree on clearance...? It has a one year warranty so it couldn't be too bad?! We bought the tree, which is about 10 feet tall and a baby evergreen for the backyard.

Check out our new additions!





Besides that I got my haircut today...no pictures, you have to see it in person :)

On the road...

The worst part of my job is now. Ten straight days on the road. The annoying part for training is that I am not going to run until my leg is better. I am not sure any of the training I am doing is fine for my knee either. The days may not seem bad to some people. We have played three games a day since arriving in oregon. We spend time going to games, playing and eating.
I can't explain it but you are so tired. Not tired like after a five hour ride..but maybe worse. I guess it would be mentally exhausting. So I want to sleep a lot.
For working out I have done elliptical and stationary bike. But the most amazing thing is I have gone swimming twice already. The problem is that the first pool was just cleaned and was only about two feet at one end. It was also cold..a few others got in and out quickly. The next swim I went to a different gym. This one was disgusting! The water was so gross that I could barely see the lane line. When I got to the wall I had to guess it was approaching because I couldn't see the wall until I was right there. None the less, I swam about two miles in the gross water.
We have tomorrow off then leave for chicago on friday. The time change of two hours should be fun.
I'm hoping my leg is better I am missing running and training.

4th of July weekend!

Without being able to run and without Shamu I had a short week of workouts. Shamu is back and in a clean working condition...we had a nice ride today before I leave for ten days.

This week we went to the boat with Kurt and Dena (will post a picture later). Pedro and I wakeboarded. I got up on my 3rd try (not for long) and on my 4th try and Pedro got up on his 5th try...however, he stayed up for a lot longer than I could. He also kneeboarded, which he thought was great! We can't wait to go again!

Friday night (3rd) we went downtown to a nice steak dinner at Willie G's, it was a nice filet and Pedro, of course, got the porterhouse. After dinner we walked around for awhile and then grabbed a coffee and went down to watch the firework show at coor's field.

Here is Pedro enjoying the fireworks:


Pedro and I waiting for the fireworks to start:


I tried on this hat (looks pretty good!) Pedro thinks I look like I belong at a Polo match or in Cape Cod or something...



On Saturday, Pedro wasn't feeling great and I went out for a four hour ride. Later in the evening we went to Kurt and Dena's house to watch the kids light fireworks and have a bbq. It was Pedro and I, Kurt, Dena and their kids, my parents and Craig, Lisa and their kids. The kids had fun lighting all the fireworks and surprisingly no incidents (like lighting fireworks inside!). It was a cool evening for the fourth.

My dad in his "superman" blanket:


We looked like an old couple in the cold, watching the fireworks:


Pedro, Katie and I..


Pedro lighting a "roman candle"


Tomorrow I leave for nearly 10 days. The ten days a year that I have to "work". I'm sure the dogs will miss me (not sure about Pedro!).