Day 4 with the Tridiva club

Today is the fourth time we have met as a club, the tridiva club. A club for women who train for triathlons. Love the name! We swam a couple of times and ran two times in the last 2 weeks. The girls are great. Everyone is getting to know one another. I've learned alot in the last 4 meetings. Never thought I could last an hour in swimming (I said that before, huh?!) But I did and it's not bad. Well, that's why I joined, because I wanted to meet others who "tri" and learn what to do better for myself. I've learned that the water outdoors is not so bad, and I don't have to woose out, and can't complain about anything. I found out that I can run on a track, and I'm not terrible! I've also found out that I can ride in cold weather and I won't freeze to death. It's all pushing me out of my zone, my comfort zone, that is. I could make an excuse and say well I don't really want to, it's too cold or too late, or too---what!! No more, life's too short. I've got things to do. Knowing there's other people doing the same thing I am, I just do it. (Isn't that a saying?! Oh yeah, just do it) What have you done today?! Besides the laundry or vaccuming. I mean fun wise....it's time. The weather is prime and you couldn't ask for anything better. Now it's time to sleep and repair. Until next time, adios chaquitas! (sp?) Loni

Swimming for life...

Just got back from a weekend in Chico with my Dad. My kids and I headed up to "Paradise" the town right above Chico. A very nice mountainous, sleepy, retiring community. It's a 4-hour trip to get there. The drive was very enjoyable with my chatty sons, Tony and Beau. So I'm back home now and I'm a bit sore and tight. Got back from Paradise around 2:00 pm and rested for a bit before going to my swim session with the Tridivas at 5:00 pm at Ridgway pool. I love this. It's so cool. We swim for about 1 hour and do drills, work on technique and pace. I never thought I could swim for an hour! But I do and I love it. The women are very supportive and very kind. I get to work on many things and by the time we get done, it doesn't even feel like an hour. It goes by very quickly. There's one girl there that's a boxer and she has to kids, her youngest is 2 years old. We hit it off real quick. She's having to get used to the "kindness" of others. She's been used to coaches telling her to "push harder" and do one more push-up or sit up. She's liking this different way of working out, it's much nicer! So we talked last Wednesday during the run/track workout. It's been a great experience meeting all these girls. There's probably between 20-28 girls doing this. Well, my arms and eyes are tired and I'm ready to hit the pillow hard! So have a great evening everyone and get ready for a lovely, sunny week, can't wait! Sweet dreams. ...Loni

Got a bike?

Forgot to mention, I'll be leading a bike ride from Tone on Friday, 10/12 at 9:00 am. Anyone that wants to join, feel free. All types and levels. Come one, come all. It's a blast!

Here's a little clip on some biking around the world starting in Rwanda:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WPReMcBTF2M&feature=dir

Bike riding vs. cars....

I forgot last week, my hubbie got shot in the ass (sorry right off for the frenchie), but he did! I guess some teenagers were riding by and decided to see if they could target a biker (which happened to be Steve). Well, they got lucky and struck his silly, diaper-looking biking shorts that has thick padding, because that's where it hit him, square in the butt!! Thank goodness for those silly shorts. That saved his little hinney. Do we need to wear butt of steel shorts?! Those kids must have had a high-powered air-soft gun or a strong BB gun, from the look of the broken skin and welt around it. It looked pretty bad. Why do people do this? Is there really not that much to do, that our teenagers have to resort to this? At this point I wonder about the parents of these kids, think they'd be proud of him? So I guess what I'm thinking is, everyone, take care of your own. Talk to our kids, hug them, listen to them every day, as much as you can. I try all the time. You just might learn something from them.

Just now, Anthony, my oldest son, came in the door from school, and said "guess what!". So there begins my listening skill. He resumed to tell me that in his circle of friends, two of them got into a fist fight over a girl. (Go figure!) I'm so thankful that my boys are able to talk to me about anything. I'm sure there's some things they don't tell me, but for the most part, I'm pretty happy with things right now, hopefully I can be that way until they make it to college!!!

Has anyone seen the movie, "Into the Wild" about a young man that decides to go live in the wilderness after not being able to make it in the "real life", and decides to go find "life", and somehow doesn't make it ultimately. Let me know, I'll like to hear about it.

Happy trails, luv Loni

Tri, Girl, Tri...

That's the name of the triathlon I did today in Napa (Lake Berryessa). And oh boy were there girls, ladies, moms, you name it, 700+ female athletes meeting in the same place to swim, bike, and run and eat. That's my favorite part! So, I have to say, this is also the first time I slept pleasantly well before any kind of an event, like soccer or tri's. I got 8 hours sleep, which was my goal and wake up energized for the race. Well, it worked, with maybe a little setback on the windy road up to the lake. Got a little car sick. But after we got there, got excited about the race and the sight of people being busy around the transition areas setting up their little spots on towels next to their bikes. My hubby, Steve and Jeanne, mom-in-law were there to partake in the events. They helped me set up transitions and watch me exercise to the best of my ability for the next 1 hour and 44 minutes. That's how long it took me to do a 1/2-mile swim, 15-mile bike and a 4.1 mile run. It was breezy at first, but after you get warmed up, the lake looks better and better to jump back in when you get heated up on the bike and run courses. The social aspect of the whole event was awesome. Met some more great people, plus saw a girl I graduated with in high school in 1981. Okay that's dating me a bit. But we got to chat for a few moments before the race started. It was great to see a familiar face from Napa. Also met a girl from Santa Rosa that's interested in joining TriDivas, a company that helps out female athletes in each of the sports and helps you train to prepare for races of all kinds and levels. So that will be fun to meet up with her again and discuss all the tri stuff.

Now that this race is over, I can ease up a bit on all my training and change gears and do some dancing and maybe more biking, which is my first love. So far the year for training has been the best. Can't wait to see what next year brings up. The weekend isn't over yet, so get out and walk, hike or sip coffee outside and enjoy what's left of our indian summer. Take care, until next time.

Loni

Fall time...

This week for my training is very light right before the race on Saturday. I'm looking forward to it. I'm feeling better, finally losing the head cold I got last week. I swam and biked on Monday, the legs feel good. I biked 23 miles on Sunday and about 10 on Monday. Played about 20 minutes of soccer and nothing going wrong, knock on wood! The swim still feels iffy, but just have to flow with it. I'm going to try and get some training thru TriDivas, a group of girls that get together and train together. Sounds like fun. I ran yesterday with my lab, Bosco. He's so funny. He loves to run, but on a consistent run like what I had to do, he'd rather stop for a pee then move on. It does make him tired and we all sleep well. Around this time, October, I love this month. Probably because my birthday is this month and the pumpkineeey stuff everywhere. It's probably the only time I don't mind the color orange! Plus, I get motivated to cook, bake and slow-cook. I love trying new things and revisiting some past favorites. I'll have to say the thing about tri training is that it makes me more discplined, more organized and motivated. It's all a good thing. Okay, I smell pumpkin pie, oh good, it's in my kitchen. Gotta go. Luv Loni