Gu's and Water and Weather...OH MY

Shef - you are amazing. Remember how much we trained for that half-IM last spring?! That was one of the hardest things I've ever done in my life and you just cruised in there thinking, "no biggie." You're a rockstar. And a dummy. (I say that with a lot of love, of course.) But seriously - who just goes out and DOES a half-IM on a Saturday morning?! We didn't even have to do that in the training program yet! Like I said...dummy rockstar. But you survived and probably won't make the same mistake twice, right? And I want to hug that lady for you! What a sweetheart! There are some dang good people in this world.
And Beth - amen to healthy eating. I've been doing SO well for the last 2 weeks. (not counting my 2x/week dairy queen, but I've been snacking on healthy foods instead of jelly beans and snicker bars)...oh until yesterday. Teacher Appreciation Week. I had 8 cookies. Yep. 8. And then Jake wanted DQ for dessert that night...you can't really expect me to say no to that? So yesterday was a bad day...I'll try to do better. BUT - May is whacked! We were out of town last weekend (more to come on that), and this weekend I'll be in Wisconsin for a bachelorette party, next weekend up at Jake's family's deer shack for turkey hunting (yep!), one weekend off for landscaping around our house, and then my cousin's wedding over memeorial weekend and then the denison 5 year reunion road trip to Ohio. Needless to say, I've had to be creative with scheduling my workouts. I skipped my "Monday off" to move to that to Saturdays for the next couple of weeks when I'll be without a bike, and am doing some early mornings to try and fit it all in. Not ideal, but that's life, right? And I'm not going to NOT do all the fun things because I have to train. Then I'd reaaallllyy hate this ironman business. Anyway, it'll be an interesting month.
While Shef was dying of heat stroke last weekend, I brought my bike up to Grand Rapids, MN for a weekend with Jake's grandparents. I had the 3 hour bike ride and I was hoping to get in at LEAST 50...I think I was close. Anyway, it was the worst ride ever. 40 degrees outside, freezing rain, and winds 30 mph. I unclipped at one point because the wind seriously almost knocked me over. It was absolutely awful...and by far the best mental training I've had in a long time. The last 40 minutes was straight head-wind and I wasn't moving anywhere. So mother nature and I had some serious talks. Basically, I was egging her on to give me her best shot. (I'm not kidding, I was somewhat delirious and freaking freezing...I was off my rocker) so I'd be like, "That's IT?! That's all you have?! Come on, there's a hill coming up...you're not just going to let me ride up that hill are you?" She said, "Hell no...take THIS, Jill Boo!" and then she got me good. This went on for 40 minutes. We were quite cross with each other when I finally pulled back into Grandma's house. A hot bath and the fireplace helped. But I, also, could have eaten a little more.
Last bit - I got aerobars!!! An old teacher of mine (and colleague of my mom's) had an extra pair! So I haven't put them on my bike yet, but I can't wait to try them! Any tips?
Miss you guys!!!
love,
me :)