Ready, set, SCHOOL

As for the start of school, we had mixed reviews.

KP was really nervous and did not want to go.  Until he got on the bus and saw his buddies, then he seemed to breath a bit easier.

PJ was the first kid up, did her chores and even made her own lunch with 30 minutes to spare, standing by the back door with her backpack on.

CT eased into the morning and was fully ready to embrace 5th grade.  I think it helps that his best friend Sam is in his class this year AND he got the teacher he wanted. I call that winning the 5th grade lottery.

Here is to the beginning of a GREAT school year!

Last day of summer

Who would want to go to school when you can hang out at the beach all day with your buddy on the lifeguard stand?

Time to learn the skill

We were eating dinner last night and KP had excused himself from the table.

After a few minutes we hear this call from KP coming from the bathroom (please do this next part in your best English accent), “Excuse me, could I have a wipe servant please?”

Time to hone the wiping skill!

Get’n right down to it

Here we are, the LAST hard week of training before taper starts.  Honestly, I can’t believe it.  I feel like I am on the highest point of the roller coaster ride, right before the cart engages and you hear and feel the jarring of that last loud CLICK, right before free fall.

Last weekend was spent in Madison at Ironman Camp.  It was a great learning experience and I walked away feeling confident that I will cross the finish line (yes, that is my goal for this race anything above that is just frosting on the cake).   Here are the photos from the weekend.  You will notice that there is a lot of Surly beer hanging around, thanks Omar!

It became our mascot and training aid, I mean really don’t you think Surly and ironman races go together?

Anyway, here is what this last week looks like:

Mon – Do something. Easy.

Tues – 1) 4-6 mile Clearance Run. 2) Pool interval swim (50s, 100s) and plenty of technique work.

Weds – 1) Track Workout 20 400’s at 1:36 with 1 minute rest in-between. 2) 50-60 Foundation Ride.

Thurs – Open water swim @ 5:45am. 10 beach repeats (1/2 mile swim to the beach, beach repeats are .2 miles each and back to the beach we started from).

Fri – 1) 20 mile Foundation Run at 3pm (which is the time we will be starting our run in the race)  2) Optional easy pool swim to shake the legs out.

Sat – Clover Leaf of Death bike ride, plan on 70-80 miles of hell!

Sun – OFF

Almost there.  I’m going to say it again, I can’t believe it.

Heavenly Angels

Only one week of summer left.

How can this be?

Outerspace Eye Exam

Slight astigmatism and a little bit farsighted but no glasses…for now.

QT

I have long given up the idea of quiet time for my kids.  Mostly due to the fact that we are NEVER home.

Today all the kids have their annual exams and we have an hour to kill.  I told them that everyone was going to have quiet time, in their rooms, to read, listen to music, draw or just chill out.

KP turns to me and says, “So, can I climb the walls?”

She says…

She is starting a band.

I have no doubt.

She made up a song called Blue Lightning and I can’t get it out of my head.

Can’t wait to see the hair, make-up and boys that go along with it.

Crab-tab-u-lous

I’ve hit it.  Whatever “it” is, I smacked into it two days ago and it has not let go.

The past three days have got me in a place I question if I will be able to crawl out of.  That’s bullshit actually, I’ll crawl out, it’s just not pretty and very dark in there.  It’s not like I’m dying of cancer, I have CHOSEN to train for an ironman.  What was I expecting, a picnic?

The week started fine enough with a 35 mile ride and a 3 mile run (this is where Adam says I sound like his dad replaying his golf game–let’s talk Den).

Tuesday morning’s track workout got aborted due to childcare issues, so I had to do it at 3pm, when it was BLAZING hot.  Once I was on the third of 8 800’s at the track, I decided it was not smart to continue (the temp gauge in my shoe read 104 degrees) on the black track of death.

Wednesday was a 2 mile swim, which went fine and then a 60 ride.

Many months ago, Jon rode with us and spoke of his “pain cave”.  The place where you get to when it hurts so bad you don’t want to continue, but you have to, so you find a happy place and try to live in the cave and hopefully then it passes.  Well, I am pretty sure, in that 60 mile ride, that I bought a pain cave, lived in it, remodeled it, had a family in it and then sold it for another better pain cave all by mile 54.

I seriously crushed my 100 mile ride last week and crumbled on 60 this week.

Today, due to the fact I did not finish my 8×800’s (which I will reattempt next week), I got to do an 8 mile time trial run down by the river.  So for me, the goal was to run an average pace of 7:30’s or so.  THIS IS HARD WORK FOR ME PEOPLE.  Again, I had child care issues, so had to do it later in the day, thank God it was cooler and slightly breezy BUT when I came to the half way point (this tt is timed and then posted and then you race against yourself again later) there was construction on the way back, which brought me off track and out of the way on a detour.

I decided to stop to figure out how to get back (which totally screwed my time and rendered the tt useless), then I limped along wondering if I would ever get back, then I got back on track and THEN I decided to try to haul it home (darkness, should I keep going or not, does it really matter or not, who cares it’s totally a waste because it’s not the same as last time is what was beating in my brain) only to be smacked in the face with a 20 mph head wind.  Needless to say, all that effort seemed like a waste.

So here I sit, crabby, exhausted, mean and nasty. Simply wondering what problems I will have on my 18 mile run tomorrow and how the hell I am going to finish 115 miles on my bike on Saturday.

Maybe I should just bring a little bit of the Windsor along, because THAT will help with hydration in this heat.

So perfect

A few years ago, we were teaching CT about money and bought him three containers to separate out his allowance into three different areas:  SAVE, SPEND & GIVE.

The system fell apart somewhere along the line and per usual the containers where lost, living under a bed, thrown behind the couch or eaten by the dog.

Today, KP told me he has found a new home for the new thumb tacks and was wondering if he could keep them in his room.