july highlights: threeseat.com is back!, "Ruopollo" the scooter, World Cup...
Wednesday, July 31. A plague of Grasshoppers and better swimming.
I didn't get my run in last night since I was doing so much around the house. Actually the house and the garden needed some major attention. I also finished off some "Grasshoppers" (chocolate mint cookies) that were at the housesitting job. This wasn't part of my nutrition plan to lose 25lbs, but they sure were tasty. That and a big lunch yesterday at OceanAire restaurant but me at 207lbs today. My bad.
The swim this morning felt great though. Lose, stretched out, OK times given where I'm at getting my training started back up (1:18s for 100s). Should be able to get into the yoga tomorrow which will help me get back on track overall, as well as get me stretched back out.
Tuesday, July 30. Two swims and a run.
I've had two swims and a run since my last entry. Guess that means its time to start full on into the training program since I've given myself the three practices in each to get back on track before I start timing myself again. Both are feeling OK, but I'm way off of where I was when I was in a consistent training program. I'm still 25lbs heavier too, some of which is muscle gain, but most is overall...well you know what. I'll keep a running report at the end of each entry till I get back to 185 --> 7/29=205lbs. I start back into fencing in August and should be able to shoot regularly too since I've stepped back a bit from my Lowe's job and am only working weekends.
Thursday, July 25. Lesson by Laurel.
Susan and I carpooled to riding tonight so now crazy Vespa/highway stories this time around. I gave Laura and Susan t-shirts from World Championships...hey, the more publicity we can get for this sport the better. Laurel, one of the junior/Pony Club riders taught our lesson tonight. She did an awesome job, this old man learned a lot during the lesson. Merlin was a bit slower/under control tonight than usual. Kinda nice but I ended up having to rev him up for a couple jumps. Laurel expressed interest in getting her Pony Club into tetrathlons too so that's pretty cool. Gave Susan a tour of the new "Blue Room" in "Chateau Limon" (my house) when she dropped me off. Also introduced her to Ru.
Wednesday, July 24. Water boy and no-fun run.
The swim felt good for about the first 3/4 of the first lap. Felt really good. After that, it felt average the whole rest of the workout. It's also been several weeks since my last swim so I chalk it up to my muscles being way out of shape. Even did my arm and ab routine afterward. Missed yoga on Tuesday so hopefully catch it on Thursday. I have a late Lowe's shift tonight so will hopefully get a shoot and a run in.
The run tonight was no fun at all. I was still sore from the run on Monday. Turns out I beat my time by about 15 seconds, so even though it felt miserable, I did run a bit faster. One more leasurely run before I really start timing myself and working towards getting some speed back.
Monday, July 22. Back on track.
Yep, I'm finally back on training track in preparation for the Great Lakes Pentathlon coming up in September. Tonight I dusted off my air pistol and took a few shots just to see what might happen. Low and behold I shot 3 tens and 6 nines. Yee haw! I haven't lost everything. Next it was off for my first run in...in...well, lets not worry about how long it's been. The run felt pretty good, which it should have considering how slow I was running. Twenty-three minutes plus for the Portage Bay course...four minutes slower than my best time, but hey, its been a while. Hopefully going to hit yoga tomorrow and then back to the pool on Wednesday.
Friday, July 19. World Cup report.
I've been able to get over to watch World Cup happenings in the evenings this week and should be able to spend a little more time on the weekends as my Nordstrom business trip agenda winds down. What I have seen of the World Cup has been very exciting. Unfortunately, we only qualifies one woman, Mary Beth Iagorashvili, in the women's final and no men for the men's final. The team relays are on the weekend so the Americans will be able to show there stuff there at least.
Thursday, July 11. Back in the saddle and jumping big fences.
So my first night back riding after over a month Laura not only has me jumping, but jumping rather large fences (3' and over) and doing courses. We also were jumping outside which was pretty cool in itself. I guess its good for a pentathlete to just ge thrown back in like that. Actually, the jumping went really well. I was on Merlin and surprisingly we worked well together for once. I was soft and he didn't charge the fences. There was a crazy Swedish oxer on the course as well as a "skinny" made out of barrels.
I did take my scooter "Ruopollo" or "Ru" for short all the way up to the barn. I hadn't intended on riding on the short bit of freeway from Bothell to Woodinville, but I missed the turnoff so ended up doing so. It wasn't too bad, but I'm just not used to going 60 on Ru yet. I did find the off-freeway route on the way back though.
Wednesday, July 10. Threeseat is back!
Yes, it's true. Threeseat.com is back. Talkcity has been having some major issues so I've been unable to update my journal. Hopefully this Geocities website will do for now.
To be honest, I haven't really been up to a whole lot. I've swam a couple times here and there and started yoga up again on Tuesday. But that's about it. I am planning on participating in the Great Lakes pentathlon coming up over labor day weekend in Clevelend...so it's high time to get back on track.
Oh, and I did buy a scooter to get me around. A black, 2001 Vespa ET4 to be exact. Although I loved Milo (my truck, a mint and hunter green 79 Ford F150) dearly, I was spending a lot of money on gas and a lot of time waiting for Milo to get over his vapor lock issues. For now, I've named my scooter "Ruopollo" after the main character in Il Postino. I'll get a picture up soon.
I do have a jumping lesson tomorrow night. Should be interesting since it's been over a month since I last jumped.
