A great lunch

Abnormally warm temperatures + brand new sweet ass bike = LUNCHTIME RIDES!

I get a long lunch most Wednesdays (an hour and a half), so today I got home as quick as I could and took the puppies on a lightning fast walk.  Then into my cycling gear and out for a short, but nice ride!  I did just shy of 9 miles in about 30-35 minutes.  A few rolling hills and some beautiful scenery.  My bike handling sucks, so I am completely unable to snap pics as I ride.  At my turnaround point, I did snap one quick pic.  Yay lunch rides!  I hope there are many to come this year.  Do you ever go ride at lunch?

The end of Dry Creek Road in Johnstown, Ohio

First Race on SATURDAY

Did I mention I have my very first tri of the season THIS SATURDAY?  It's a St. Patty's Day sprint!  luckily, the swim is an indoor pool swim, but the bike and run are outside.  Right now the weather is showing a high of 60 something and a low of the high 40s, so we shouldn't turn to total icicles.  I'm guessing that bike ride is going to be a bit chilly though!

The other fun thing about this race is that a couple of teamroll members will be racing.  Our first "team race"!  YAY RACING!

I'll get to ride Grace for the first time in competition - so excited!!!!!!

I would like you to meet..........Grace

She is beautiful and everything I have ever dreamed of - a 2011 Felt Z5.  Carbon fiber frame and fork, Shimano 105 components.  18 lbs.  And amazing.  I am in love.  She is now in my living room!

And of course, I got her at roll:

Thanks, guys, for finding her for me!

July 7. Muncie.

Guess what I just registered for?

July 7.  Muncie, Indiana.  70.3 and ME.

And the mojo is creeping back in......

I go on a 4 week cycle in training.  (As a lady I go through a 4 week cycle with other things - sure, maybe they are connected....)  ANYWAY.  I have three great weeks, then a week of "Do I have to do this?"  Yes, I use these as "recovery weeks" in training, but it feels like this last "recovery week" was harder than others.  With that being said, I am feeling the mojo coming back.  That may be due in large part to the BEAUTIFUL weather we are having today.  It's supposed to be 60 today.  SIXTY DEGREES.  Spring is on its way, I just know it!!!

First things first - the Arnold Sports Expo.  If you have never been, GO.  It was absolutely and totally worth the trip.  $15 to get into the expo, and we spent about 6 hours there.  The expo part itself (with all the booths, etc) was something not to be desired.  It was redonkulously crowded.

An overhead view of the expo.  CROWDED.

We made it down one aisle and said "screw this".  I hadn't been in a crowd that packed since Mardi Gras.  Luckily when we hit the end of the aisle, this is the sight we found.

And this was "Amateur"..................

I have never seen anything like that in person.  It was utterly and totally AMAZING.  Is it strange?  Sure.  It's the extreme end of a spectrum.  But really - to see it live and in person?  Holy wow.  The dedication that takes is just unbelievable.  Say what you will about performance enhancers, steroids, whatever.  Still.  To get to that point?  Amazing.  It was like looking at people wearing costumes or some sort of disguise.  You just think "there is no way on earth that can be real."  But it is.  I was pretty much in awe.

After that, we decided to wander around and see some of the other sports represented.  The variety is pretty cool.  We watched table tennis, CrossFit, ballroom dancing, fencing, karate, boxing, weightlifting, and I am sure I missed something else in there (oh - jump rope!).  I also got to see Arnold walk past with the one and only Mario Lopez.  Can I just say DAMN that man is pretty?  (Mario, not Arnold)  Overall, GREAT event.  I had a blast, and I look forward to next year.

On the training front, I feel like I picked up my mojo today - mainly because I had an amazing run this morning.  I have been meeting a friend of mine - and she is super speedy - for treadmill interval workouts every Wednesday morning.  We meet at 6:45am and knock out a speed/interval workout.  This morning we did mile repeats.  half mile warm up on the track, then to the treadmill.  In between each mile, we went to the weight room and did three leg exercises (lunges, squats, etc) before going onto the next mile.  I am so proud of myself - I managed to negative split each mile!  First one was 8:48, second one was 8:38, and the third one was 8:21!  What a wonderful way to start the day.

Lastly - guess who is bike shopping this evening?  ME ME ME!  Hopefully some cool pics to come.........

Keep moving folks!!!!

I'll be back........

Guess where I am going this weekend?  It's gonna be sweet, lemme tell ya, folks.  Tomorrow I will be spending a good chunk of my day at the Arnold Sports Expo.  I'm going to wander and get freebie samples and gawk at all the craziness that is the Arnold thingamabobevent.  Hopefully I will have some awesome photos to share on Monday.  There's armwrestling, ping pong, fencing - all sorts of stuff.  Maybe I will choose a whole new fitness path and go into bodybuilding. Hey, if you would have told me five or ten years ago I would be a triathlete, I would have told you that you were smoking something seriously strong.  Enjoy your weekends, folks!

No cash, no buy

So, I have talked a few times here about how much I want a new bike.  I tend to suffer from a lot of self imposed buyer's guilt when it comes to purchases of any shape or size.  As many people in the US have, at a couple points in my life I was crushed with credit card debt.  The first was right out of college, and it was bad.  I had no concept of keeping spending under control.  New outfits, eating out, buying gifts for friends and family - it got way out of control.

Due to someone very special in my life, they helped me climb out - but I did pay back every single dime.  Fast forward several years, and i did it again - not nearly as bad as I had the first time around, but I had racked up about $2500 in CC debt.  Not good.

Since I work in the banking industry, I keep up with a lot of financial news.  Today I read an article from TransUnion that shows that the states with even the LOWEST amount of debt per person showed approximately $4,000 or more average credit card debt.  And that's the low end.  For the highest debt states, individuals had an average of more than $7,000.

Just reading this article made me get that nervous feeling in my gut.  That tenseness that used to come when the phone rang and I knew it was because of a past due payment.  That looming sense of dread when I would type the numbers into a spreadsheet and see the striking amount of time it would take to pay off a card at the minimum payment.

Thankfully, that's not my life anymore.  I have totally and completely changed my ways.  I buy most of my clothes at Salvation Army and Goodwill - there are some amazing deals out there to be had if you dig.  My husband and I rarely, if ever, buy anything on credit.  Our last credit purchase was our living room furniture, and we only did that because it was 12 months same as cash.  For us, it's cash or no sale.

Therefore, you see my dilemma in buying a new bike.  I carry a lot of guilt and remorse about the money issues I have had in the past.  Add that into the fact I pretty much work a minimum wage job, I have a hard time justifying a bike purchase.  I guess I throw this out there because I'm curious how you work through your sport spending.  Triathlon is anything but cheap - do you have spending rules?  How do you manage your tri/running/cycling related purchases?