Orcas -- killer whales

Twins !! Here we are in our wet suited glory.
On me, the P Flex refers to my puny muscles.

The real workout is getting into and out of these snazzy little numbers. exhausting.

Today we did a 1.5 mile swim. We joined Coach Lesley, so there was no leisurely sidestroke or back floating. 42:00 of swimming. We had to alter the route a bit, as an armada of geese were blocking the way at one point. Don't want to mess with them.

Tomorrow we'll go off on a 60 mile ride. Will it never end??? :) We shall do the entire Lake Washington loop. We're heading out early with hopes to be home in time for Brazil - France game. This morning we left with Argentina up 1-0 , figured they had it in the bag. Nope, Germans pickpocketed that bag, tie-ing it up and winning in PK's.

Tour de France starts tomorrow, too. Who shall we root for?? Jan Ullrich? nope... Ivan Basso? nope... Blood dopes. or at least they are "suspected" of such bad behavior. More on this in future postings. wow !

4 weeks to go

This past week has been a "down" week for workouts. What with the colonoscopies, and all. Hard to exercise when you can't eat and then have to flush your bod of all you didn't eat. Hey, it was nuthin.

But today we ran a 10K race. with a 4 mile warm up, of course. Gina and I placed #1 and 2 in our age group in the Pride Race. Gotta love a race with not too many participants. Makes for a good shot at the ribbons.

We did test drive the wetsuits on Friday. This time we entered the water near the American fishermen, who seemed glad to see us. Although, as we got out I gave a wave to one of my Russian guys, and he seemed happy to see us,too.

Tomorrow we are doing a 1 mile swim race here at Green Lake. Should be interesting. A chance to swim hard for that distance (without running into a wall, or a fishing line or a kayak) and with lots of other swimmers thrashing around. Kind of triathlon race start training. Followed by a quick 25 mile bike ride.

Hopefully, we'll be home in time for half of one of the soccer games. Or at least the Mariner game.

Riding Fools

This was from the day AFTER. I think we rode up there.




This is Coach Lesley, from last year's sunny , hot ride.



Well, we went to Lake Chelan to participate in the Century Challenge. a 100 mile bike ride. of course, we were only going to do 60 miles. (Coach did the 100, she's an Ironwoman , we're only Half Ironwomen) We thought it would be good to go to the hot, sunny part of the state for some warm weather training. right. Saturday morning was cloudy and cool. And then it got wet and cold. Oh, and those 60 miles. a bit of elevation was involved. You know it's going to be a hill when the signs are pointing to the ski area. That part was great. That hill was 40 minutes of climbing.

Of course, what goes up, must come down. And I'm sure you're all sick of hearing me whine about going downhill. But please, this was a winding, steep descent. In the pouring rain. Like I trust my brakes in that. and did I mention it was freezing out? Because we do not believe in riding in inclement weather, we don't have the rain gear. We've needed it several times now.
We sped back to the hotel to jump in the hot tub.

But no flat tires. Even tho I was ready !!

So, I shouldn't have dissed the Canadians regarding the World Cup, because the US played like it wasn't in it , either. PPP, pretty poor performance.

Today we watched soccer, rode the bikes indoors for 90:00, HARD. watched another soccer game , then hit the pool for a million laps.

Coupe du Monde

Yes, folks, it's yet another sporting event for some of us to go GAGA about. and spend hours in front of the tellie. At least we'll be spinning on the bikes when we watch.

FIFA World Cup. that's soccer to you Americans and hockey / Stanley Cup lovin Canadians.

I, of course, hate soccer when played at any level other than the World Cup or Olympics. My intro to World Cup was 8 years ago (wow) when I was spending a month on the couch after my achilles tendon surgery. I saw every game. Vive le France and Zinadine Zidane !! les bleus I would have seen every goal, too, except as we all know, those soccer b------s only score when you've finally hobbled on crutches to the bathroom . But my God, those games are exciting. Just because there is no scoring.

Anyway, our soccer LOVING friends in California are way excited. Traci has given me the name of a book, The Thinking Fan's Guide to the World Cup. No, it's not similar to The Idiot's Guide to the W. C.. I've just started, but each country is written about, and I don't think the guys on the team are even mentioned. Well, I've only read about Angola. But it seems depending on the author of each chapter, there will be something historical, sociological, or political, or even hysterical. The appendix, of course, has W.C. stats. But also demographic info on each. I've just noticed that the United States is in the lead in Executions per year. and 18th in Literacy. The Aussies lead the way in that category. Go figger. :) just kidding. I'd comment on where Canada is in one of these categories, but, oh yeah, the book is just about the 32 countries that made it into the tournament. GO OILERS !!!

Those crazed Californians (traci, denise, and annalise) will actually be in Europe for a good portion of the tournament. Ah, yes, to be in Paris, and spend 6 hours a day in front of a tv. A tv chattering away in a foreign language. Have I mentioned Denise Bender who was on the Original U.S.A. womens world cup team ?? Check out my earlier posts for fan fotos.

First game tomorrow morning. USA vs. Czech Republic on Monday morning. check your local listings.

omigod, i just found the world cup web site. There's a page on each of the 736 players. I'm sure you'll hear about some of them. I've already seen a photo album of players' wives or girlfriends. An unbelievable number of these guys are dating models. who'd a thunk it? It's as if they were NBA or PGA or baseball stars !

gotta go !

Fixing Flats

On Saturday we had a brief lesson from Coach Lesley on how to change a flat tire on our bikes. It was a it of a fiasco for me. I figured if I ever get a flat in a race, I might as well chuck it. (the race and the bike) Or Pick the bike up and run it in.. Does that count ?? Gina had no problems, as it brought back how she used to change flats on her bike, as a kid. I can say with some certainty that I never had a flat tire as a kid. Am hoping that luck carries over and thru adulthood.

But, yesterday, with no tutors to pitch in and help, I sat in the back yard and practiced. I think I've got the part about getting the tire off the rim and the tube out, and a new one in. Now, I've got to work on the "quick release" of the whole wheel from the frame, and "quickly" putting it back on. And for sure, there is nothing quick about it. YET !

Of course, doing this all in the middle of a race with soaring heart rates, and adrenaline rushing, and on the side of the road, will be a totally different scene. And for sure there won't be a cold beer there once I am successful.

But I shall give it more practice.

And we now are the owners of new, full wetsuits. We are pro's. We hope to give them a trial swim this weekend. I'm sure there will be photos .

And tomorrow I will run 8 miles. A new mileage high for my running. Am I happy or what?

Oh, Yeah, THE M A S S !!!

I think I had sent a few of these pic's in an email, then forget when posting all to the blog. ooops.