Views from Left Field

Diet Update

2009-11-12T12:32:00.003-05:00

I'm sure you've all been waiting... so, here's my promised update.

Down to 220 lbs, a loss of 3 lbs from last week! I feel good too, and it's been getting easier. I think my eating habits have just fundamentally changed, and I'm pretty happy about it. It hasn't even really become a sacrifice anymore which is pretty nice.

I've not even been real strict, allowing myself an occasional cheat but making sure that it doesn't snowball. Really looking forward to more progress in the next few weeks!

New Diet...

2009-11-05T09:36:00.003-05:00

Well, this isn't a particularly new theme for me... In fact, it seems to be pretty much an annual event where I set a goal of trying to lose some more weight. So, what's different this time? Well, I'm not sure exactly yet but things are definitely headed in the right direction.

A little background: I was 29 years old and Christmas was right around the corner in the Fall of 2002. I was staring at my 30th birthday in April and realizing that something needed to change... Fast approaching 300 lbs and feeling it every time I walked up the stairs. I distinctly remember walking out of my office building, and heading up the walkway which has 4 flights of 5 stairs to get to the parking lot and feeling totally out of breath. I'm not sure how or why I thought the Atkins diet would work, but I realized that I needed to try something. As I recall, it wasn't really all that hard after the first week or so... the removal of carbs from my diet totally killed the cravings. It really gave me a kick-start, and then my wife bought me a mountain bike for my birthday and I realized how much fun it was to start riding. About 50lbs later and a lot of triathlons, running races and biking and my diet had sort of stabilized of the last 6 years. I really didn't follow Atkins strictly after the first couple months, it was more the principles of removing carbs and sugar. Since then, I've fluctuated from 235 to as low as 208 (the morning after my Ironman!) but haven't really gotten to where I'd like to be.

For some reason this fall, I decided that I need to make a significant change again in order to bust through this plateau. Having read a lot of information about Atkins, South Beach, Zone, etc., I decided that cutting sugar was really the way for me to go. I remember the change in cravings after a week on Atkins and I decided that I needed to make the same sort of shift to kick-start my approach again.

It's now 2 weeks into my attempt to remove sugar from my diet. It's been a relatively positive experience so far with a couple slips (Hey, Halloween was smack in the middle of those 2 weeks!) At any rate, I've really seen a difference in cravings again, and have managed to change my diet significantly. Something has clearly clicked, and I'm just more interested in better food. As I've discussed with my wife, it's not a "diet" for me, more a change in mindset and realizing the impact to me when I put sugar into my body. I still have a craving to eat a lot of food, but it's not a danish or cookie! My next step is to start tuning the quantity, but I'm not really worried about that yet, just want to focus on more protein and better choices.

Results so far have been great, I'm at 223 lbs... probably down between 8 and 10 pounds from where I started, but more importantly I feel good. This morning when sitting at my kitchen table and bending over to tie my shoes I realized there wasn't as much pressure on my midsection (translation: my gut is smaller :). I've also kept up the weightlifting because I've enjoyed it and I think that I'm adding muscle while losing fat which is why I'm trying not to be fixated on the scale as much. I have to admit that I am a bit focused on the weight though, my goal is to get under 200 lbs by February. That's a little more than 5 lbs a month, and it will clearly be difficult over the holidays but for some reason I'm much more mentally into this time than I've been before.

Ideally, this will be my "secret" weapon going into next years triathlon season. What is the impact of carrying 25-30 less pounds up hills on my bike and run... I would think significant!

I'm going to try and hold myself accountable by posting every Thursday after a weigh in at the gym in the morning. Just one more reason to keep my motivation a bit higher...

Moutain Biking in Utah?

2009-10-27T07:49:00.001-05:00

Wow... I posted this on Twitter as well, but wow... this is worth a look. Man I would love to go ride out west a few times!

http://lacemine29.blogspot.com/2009/10/mo-whizzler-ack-she-own.html

Another Killington Weekend

2009-10-08T08:41:00.002-05:00

Looking forward to this weekend when I head back up to Vermont and hit the downhill slopes at Killington...

Hopefully we have as much fun as we did last time.

I'm thinking of bringing my road bike and going for a long spin on the road as well... of course no matter which way I go it will ultimately result in a big climb.

Look forward to a recap, hopefully with some pictures....

"Offseason"

2009-09-29T14:47:00.002-05:00

I've taken a few weeks off to rejuvenate a bit and let my ankle heal. As most of you readers know, I've been whining about my sprained ankle for the last few months as I've struggled to get my form back and mostly failed. (One could argue that my form consists of struggling, but I digress...)

In any case, the time off seems to have helped as my ankle continues to feel better bit by bit. I have been able to still have fun, playing the occasionally Racquetball match and riding a bit, but it hasn't been very long or very intense...

That changed a bit a week ago on Sunday as I headed up to Boston for Hub on Wheels, and ultimately the 50 mile course. It turned out to be a really great course, basically they took what seemed like every park in Boston and connected them all together. Check it out here.

I'm still on my "Off Season" though!!

Raced at Terramungus

2009-08-21T07:51:00.001-05:00

Raced a sprint tri last night along with a bunch of folks from work... here's the results, not too bad a showing, I ultimately ended up running fairly well... couldn't recover from my poor swim though.

Results

Here's my uncle finishing the run...

Running results

2009-08-18T21:06:00.002-05:00

Sorry... let me correct this, it was intended to be a link to the 2.6 mile Bolton Race results that my uncle and cousin did last week...

Cool Running- Bolton XC Race

While I'm at it, I should mention that I also did a 5k last week, my first in about 6 years and set a nice P.R. 25:56 for a 8:22 pace on a fairly hilly course. The official results show over 26 minutes, but I'm going to go with my watch time (mostly because I like the results better!) since I think it's a bit more accurate in this case.

Recovery Ride??

2009-08-15T09:44:00.001-05:00

Morning bike ride with Eric

This site does not support embedded trip maps. View the trip here instead.

Training Works!

2009-08-12T13:45:00.002-05:00

The running I've been able to do in the last 2 weeks has started to pay off... I felt faster throughout the race and fresher once I hit the run. It was a bit of a struggle towards the end of the course, but I still hit a P.R. on this particular bike course... Fastest Swim time, fastest Bike time and fastest run time!

Swim: 9:26 Bike: 28:54 Run: 30:22

Total: 1:08:41

http://thelastmileracing.com/results/results2009/09windingtrails9.html

Running with my new Toy

2009-08-08T16:17:00.003-05:00

I've been wanting to try out the AllsportsGPS tracking software for my phone for a while. Essentially it uses the GPS in your phone to track your pace, elevation, distance, etc. while you're running and acts as a training log for your workouts. It has a running and biking option along with a few others like hiking that I can use to gauge how I'm performing.

I got to use it for the first time last evening when I ran from my house to my in-laws where my wife was spending the afternoon by the pool with the kids.
This site does not support embedded trip maps. View the trip here instead.

Distance:	4.22 mi (Change units)
Calories:	714
Average Speed:	6.7 mph 0:09:00/mi
Duration:	Total: 0:46:55 Active: 0:38:01 Resting: 0:08:53
Elevation:	Total Gain: 299 ft Total Loss: 299 ft Net Change: 0 ft

It seemed to work pretty well, although I'm not sure how it figures the resting part and the elevation. I did stop twice, once to answer the phone and the second time when my mother was passing in her van and pulled over to say hi. I'll continue to use it and track my runs over the next month to see if I can get it dialed in pretty well. At the very least it will be a fun way to record my running as I get ready for the Hartford 1/2 Marathon which is back on the "probably" list after dropping off the list during my injury hiatus.

It's Race Day!

2009-07-28T07:51:00.001-05:00

Another Winding Trails Tri race day today... and it's not even raining!

I'm pretty stoked to be racing again, watching the Ironman this weekend has gotten me fired up! I'm all packed up and ready to go after work, hopefully the weather will stay just like it is now, cool but not raining.

It was really a great weekend, I'm planning to write up a report even though I didn't get to race.

Ironman USA weekend

2009-07-28T07:06:00.009-05:00

What a great weekend, I was able to hang out with my two older kids and watch a great race on Sunday...

We arrived on Friday night, but pretty late and crashed in the back yard in the tent my brother set up for us. His place is pretty small and there isn't much room, but the view and location are worth it.

On Saturday morning, we headed down to the town of Lake Placid on our bikes which was a bit of an adventure with a 9 and 11 year old. It's got a pretty steep downhill and some steep uphills and about 5 miles in total to get all the way to the Olympic oval. On the first downhill, my 9 year old looked back at me and went into a high speed wobble which raised my heart rate a bit. Fortunately she recovered quickly before I had a chance to try something stupid to catch her.

We went into the Oval where they have the expo set up to look around. It's kind of fun to walk around and look at the merchandise and all the crazy bikes as people are walking them into transition. We ran into my buddy Dave who was racing and a bit frantic at the moment with some bike issues. His wife and daughters were also there, and they know my kids so we hung around with them for a while as they got their faces painted, one of my daughters got the IM logo and the other got a butterfly... go figure :)

The girls had some questions about the race and what it was like for me 2 years ago when I competed and I showed them the transition area and where you entered and exited.

They both got to try on some aero helmets and play with some other cool stuff as you can see.

After hanging around for a bit, we were ready for the ride back out of town and up the hill to my brother's place. It was fun to ride with the kids, they were really excited to be out in town and you could tell a lot of people thought it was pretty cool to see kids riding. The vibe over the weekend is very much a biker and runner friendly atmosphere and there were calls of encouragement for my kids from lots of folks going past.

As we got close to the last big hill out of town, I told my brother to go ahead and grab the truck to pick up the kids. It was a bit easier for them, and then fun for me as I loaded up the kids and then took off after my uncle who had continued up the hill. I caught him, gave him a sneer and a challenged and promptly dropped as I accelerated past! He's going to need to work on his climbing before next year!

That afternoon, we met my sister-in-law at the Addirondak Loj where she works and went for a hike up Mount Jo.

The view was great and it was a perfect day for a hike... after a short stay, we headed back down and then had a nice dinner at my brother's place and watched the Mount Ventoux stage of the Tour de France.

Fun day all around!

Race Day - Sunday

We were scheduled to work the first bike aid station which was conveniently a 1/2 mile up the road from my brother's house. Our theme was funny hats, my uncle has the umbrella hat and my brother is the hombre...

Most of my day was spent running back and forth getting water and Gatorade to the folks handing them out to the bikers. My daughters were doing the same thing, and I think they really enjoyed their day.

Bikers came pretty fast and furious on the first lap as we were only 10 miles into the course and they hadn't spread out all that much by the time they reached us. It was hectic, but pretty smooth in general...

The second loop was where things got a bit more interesting. First, the leader went through and it was over 11 minutes until the second place competitor was seen. As we found out later, Mark Twelsiek was in the process of dominating the race. I didn't get a chance to catch the leading woman, as things quickly go busier. The second wave of bikes was definitely more spread out and we started to see some pretty tired riders. We also started holding some bikes as a people began getting off to use the toilet. I think this was the part my daughter enjoyed the most, holding the bike for the racers and then helping them with whatever fluids or foods that they needed before they started back up.

We also had a bit of excitement as an ambulance pulled up to the front section of our station. Since I was further down the road, I didn't really know what happened, but it turned out that a racer had experience some heat exhaustion and was in pretty rough shape. Fortunately it turned out fine for him health wise, but his race was over as he was pulled from the course. Slowly, the stream of riders slowed and we saw more and more of the folks that were struggling. It's a bit inspiring, but also tough to watch as I had to assume that some of these riders were not going to make the cutoff.

All told, a very good experience, we wrapped things up around 2:30 or so and then cleaned up and headed back to the house. We decided to chill for a bit, eat some dinner and then plan to head downtown again to watch some of the run.

We rode our bikes down again, a bit more controlled this time and slowly rolled through the run course. At this point it was about 7 PM and a lot of people had finished, but there were still a ton of competitors out on the course. I had expected Dave to be finished at this point, but it turns out he had a bit of a meltdown so we actually got to watch him finish. I also ran into my friend Sean's wife and she mentioned that he was also just about to finish and I was able to high five him on the way past. We hung out for a bit and watched a bunch of people finish up and then headed back up the hill out of town.

This time we decided to try the whole hill and it was fun to see the dynamics of my daughters working up the hill. The younger one is much more of a competitor and really pushed the whole time even though she was on a single speed bike. My oldest is much more laid back and she shifted way down and just moseyed along. A fun bike ride until my pedal fell off! I had switched out my clipless pedals with flats so that I could ride with my running shoes. They were old pedals though, and for some reason they weren't holding into the cranks. On the bright side, I did get to do a brick as I ended up running the last 1/4 mile trying to keep up with my daughters. A very good day indeed!

Monday morning I packed up while my uncle and brother waited in line to register for next years race... and then the long drive home. I'm looking forward to my next visit to the area again already!

Tinman weekend!

2009-07-23T15:32:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I'm a slacker for not posting this quickly...

I headed up to Lake Placid on Friday afternoon with my uncle for the weekend with bikes and gear in tow. We through the mountain bikes in the truck, thinking that perhaps on Sunday after our race we would get a chance to go for a spin either downhill on Whiteface or perhaps on some local trails. It was a relatively smooth ride, although we hit a wicked rainstorm coming through Keene just before going over the pass into LP.

We got to my brother's house just before he arrived home from work, and we thought about breaking in just as he arrived there. After heading down the road to pick up my sister-in-law, we decided to go to my uncle's place in Long Lake which would be only 15 minutes from the race in the morning. We had a nice dinner at the Lake Placid Brewery, (I love their UBU ale), and then headed to the race site to pick up our race packets! It was a little bit funny to see the operation in action, it was a couple of older ladies who clearly had no clue about racing. One of them asked which race I was doing since there was a sprint and 1/2 Iron. I answered "I'm doing the 1/2 Ironman race"... she looked at me blankly for a few seconds and then said "Do you mean the full Tinman?". A different perspective then the crazy good organization that is the Mooseman.

Race morning went pretty smooth as we got to the transition area in plenty of time to set up our stuff. It rained a little bit off and on, which turned out to be a pretty good barometer for the day. We had brought plastic garbage bags to keep things dry and it turned out to be a great help. I set up my spot as usual, but pulled the garbage bag over and around all of my stuff to be sure I at least started my bike ride dry once I got out of the water.

The swim started out fine, I was in the third wave, 10 minutes behind my brother and 10 minutes ahead of my uncle. It was a relatively smooth swim, probably a result of the fact that most of my training had been in the swim lately with the sprained ankle mostly keeping me off the roads and running. Ran into a little bit of weeds here and there which was a bit freaky at first, but once I got used to it I was fine. Got out of the water and noticed imediately that I felt good, but it was pouring! Swim: 46:14 - A bit below expectations

T1 was fine, I had tucked my stuff under a plastic trash bag so it was relatively dry... which didn't last very long! T1: 3:20

Biking was on an out and back course with very few turns. Afterwards I recalled that I didn't need to touch my brakes except for the turn-around and then at the end of the bike. So from that perspective it was a pretty good bike... but other than that, not so much! I ended up getting very cold, it was pretty much pouring almost the entire time. My legs felt pretty good and I managed to stay fairly aero for much of the ride. I passed my brother coming the other way before the turn-around, and noticed that he was in front of my pace (he started 10 minutes ahead) but detailed math was a bit tough at that point. Then, after the turnaround I noticed my uncle also ahead of my pace... making me a bit nervous :) I sure didn't want him to catch me, so I pushed a bit more on the way back. There was a pretty low point for me at about 45 miles as I got pretty cold and was really feeling poorly. The good news was that Eric didn't catch me, and the sun came out when I was a few minutes out from transition.

Bike: 3:21:51 - 16.6 mph

T2, no issues... I was very happy that I had my sneakers under the plastic and then were dry. One decision that I had to make was to skip the socks, I pulled my wet ones off and decided to go without for the run. T2: 3:48

Run... yeah, it got ugly... real ugly. Almost immediatly my ankle was sore and I could barely run. The start was almost all uphill and that didn't help at all. Much of the first couple miles I was walking and in quite a bit of pain. There were a number of thoughts running through my head... "why the heck did I do this again?"... "My uncle is definitely going to catch me"... "I can't do this"... I certainly felt like quitting, and was struggling quite a bit. Gradually, I could run a bit, mostly because my ankle and foot got numb, but there wasn't a whole lot left in my legs. As I mentioned, not a lot of running lately, and it was coming back to haunt me. The course was two loops that met in the middle close to the transition area with some hills and an interesting cut through the woods in a couple spots. On my way back from the first loop I was feeling very poorly and really considering bailing entirely but fortunately ran into a cheerful lady who had me run with her for a couple miles and brought me past the turn for the transition area so I kept running fairly well. Unfortunately, that didn't last very long and I started really suffering. From this point forward, approximately at mile 7 it became a total slog... walk a few steps, job a few steps, pull up in pain and start walking more. My body was really rebelling as I headed out over a sand path to the second of the two loops and the most hilly section. The one good constant was the plethora of aid stations with oranges and water and gatorade which at least broke the monotony of the trudgery.

I'd long ago resigned myself to have Eric catch me which would ultimately mean pass since he only needed to finish within 10 minutes to beat me... but bit by bit it dawned on me that he must not have been having a very good day either. Miles 8,9 and 10 seemed to take forever... I knew I needed to finish a loop and get back to the place where the run course split but it seemed every step was taking me further from where the road came together and I would have knowledge of the course to the finish. Finally, I turned a corner and saw the intersection which was not where I expected but that was actually pretty buoying to my spirits. At this point I knew the rest of the course and could gauge what I had left. It still hurt a lot, but when I turned one of the last corners and headed downhill towards the finish I decided to see what I had left. Coming into the park area I was stumbling and hurting but as I slowed a bit a spectator yelled at me and I pushed on. I crossed the line gasping and choking... but another race done. Run - 3:01:51 Pace - 13:31

In retrospect I'm fairly happy with the results considering the amount of training I was able to put in. The results were over an hour slower than my fastest 1/2 iron time, but at least my uncle didn't beat me :) It also made me resolve to train a bit more for the next race, but bottom line is that I had fun again!
Overall - 7:12:02

Back from Vacation

2009-07-20T10:57:00.001-05:00

Tinman Race Report still coming...

Went to Hershey Park in PA for a week and didn't do too much else...

Ironman USA this weekend, looking forward to watching it with my brother and uncle.

Photos from TinMan...

2009-07-06T14:12:00.001-05:00

Yeah, I know I need to do a Race Report... it's coming I promise!

http://www.brightroom.com/view_user_event.asp?EVENTID=47474&BIB=191&S=230&PWD=

Pervasive Ads

2009-06-19T06:26:00.003-05:00

I'm always amused by what ads pop up on my site... you may recall that I was losing focus at one point. This morning I saw the following after my recap post... wonder where the connection with looking for hot chicks and this blog come in??

Winding Trails Race Recap - 2009 #1

2009-06-18T14:20:00.002-05:00

The first race of the season went down this past Tuesday and I had a good time as usual. The family was represented by myself, uncle Eric and cousin Jason...

The usual butterflies were in place being the first race and all but I got through that before the start of the swim. I did a really quick warmup in the water and then had get out for the first wave to go off. I'll be in the second wave all year since I don't swim under 7 minutes and that was the cutoff that they chose for the first wave. I felt really good throughout the swim and managed to draft a bit more than usual. Came out of the swim right behind Eric but passed him on the run up the beach. Time for the swim was 9:47 and 45th place, which includes the longer run to transition. I'm guessing it's a minute and a half to two minutes for the run which means about an 8 minute swim, not too bad.

Transition went fairly well and I jumped on the bike. My biggest issue on the bike is that the middle ring in the front is shot and was dropping the chain every time I put a lot of power on while in the second ring. In retrospect, I really should have brought it up to my buddy at Tolland Bike to get it fixed (I have since dropped it off so I don't get this excuse next week). Finished the bike feeling really good and ready to run. Time was 32:13 for 62nd place. Clearly, I think I could have gone faster with a better middle ring, but we'll see next week.

Off on the run, and the usual results... not great. It was exacerbated a bit by the sore ankle, but mostly my lack of running conditioning hurt. I've been trying to strike a balance between letting my ankle sprain heal and getting some good run training in. The run was where the excitement came in though... I was walking on the last hill when my uncle came by moving pretty good. Immediately I took off after him, and actually felt pretty good about my chances because I had been able to catch my breath going up the hill. The other factor was that you can't coast down to the finish from that point anymore, the line has been moved out. That was the difference maker, as he couldn't hold the pace all the way to the finish and I caught him just after the old finish line but with 100 yards or so to go and pulled away. Run time was 31:38 and my total was 1:13:38 for 75th place out of 128.

Check out the full results here: http://thelastmileracing.com/results/results2009/09windingtrails1.html

Nice job to Tom Cornish by the way... #1 overall on the bike!!

Sneak peak at Winding Trails 2009

2009-06-11T11:28:00.003-05:00

Despite getting rained out on Tuesday night, I rode the new bike course and then followed it up last night with the official "Demo Day" at Winding Trails. The course has changed this year as the race has gotten much bigger, over 300 racers over the course of the year as opposed to 80 or so when I first started 5 years ago.

The swim course is the same, although I did find out that there will be 3-4 waves instead of the 1 or maybe 2 that we have had in the past. It appears that there will be an attempt to seed folks based on predicted swim times which would certainly be an important difference from the past. In order to support this they've moved to a chip system for tracking which will also give better split times and better accuracy. The other important difference is the location of the transition area which is going to result in a longer run out of the swim. It's close to a 300 meter run after getting out of the water on a sand covered road which has a couple interesting implications. First, coming out gassed and then running for that long will definitely slow down some folks and it will probably make sense to pace this run a bit more than the normal sprint. Secondly, your feet will be covered with sand so it may be worth having a water basin for your feet or even some shoes near the swim exit. Lastly, the question of where to take off the wetsuit will take some thought as well, I haven't entirely decided what my thoughts are on this yet.

I got a chance to ride the bike course twice and although I was originally disappointed because it seemed easy, I think it will be a decent course and definitely structured to not get congested. The main difference from last year is that the first mile or maybe even two is wide open trail and although it's a bit hilly it will be fast. Clearly the goal was to get the racers to spread out and I think that will be the case on this course. It gradually adds some single track and some hills as you get through the bike course. There is still very little technical demand to the course but cornering skills will be very helpful in making a difference to your race. It's definitely a twisty course with a lot of braking and accelerating where bike handling will help you a lot in addition to being in shape. The final touch of the course is where you ride on the deep sand that they laid down to protect the feet of swimmers running into transition... ug, really sucks your legs down just as you're ready to run!

The run course is the same as it was last year but shifted a couple hundred feet to the new transition area. Ultimately, this means a few less steps to warm up before the hill and then your finishing kick will obviously have to start at a different spot. I'm thinking just as you get to the bridge... but this will have to play out over the course of the season.

All in all, I'm really looking forward to next week and the start of the "real" season!

Washout...

2009-06-10T06:51:00.002-05:00

No race at WT last night, but it was postponed to today. Hoping to get back there tonight and bring my latest newbie along with me...

I did go for a bike ride on the course last night, it's changed from last year. It felt a bit longer, probably because there was no one else on it and we weren't pushing hard. Also, I have to admit to being a tad disappointed that it wasn't more technical. I have an advantage on tougher bike courses because riding skill becomes more important than fitness :) However, most of the single track sections are still in and the steep hill is still there but they've all been moved to the end of the course. I suspect the thinking is that this will allow racers to spread out a bit before the logjams.... we'll see how it plays out.

Rec track at Soapstone

2009-06-08T10:55:00.001-05:00

Took "our kids" to Soapstone Mtn to run for track on Saturday... one of the parents took some pictures, check them out...
http://smilebox.com/playEmail/4f5463774e7a51334e5877784f5467794e5451324e513d3d0d0a&sb=1

Winding Trails!!

2009-06-02T08:40:00.002-05:00

Free demo day next Tuesday!! http://65.75.50.50/announcement.php?id=29

Worth a trip out to check it out, then the weekly series starts the week after.

Made the big time...

2009-06-02T08:25:00.002-05:00

Sometimes it takes years, sometimes it takes months... we all dream about hitting it big and making it to the next level. When you get a break and it happens, you feel on top of the world. I've managed the feat once before when I won the Mr Average award at the Winding Trails race in 2007!

Yes, I was invited to play with the "A" team in Racquetball in the mornings!!

Note, while the above is a bit of sarcasm, I am indeed playing Racquetball tomorrow morning with the group of guys that have been playing for years. I'm really looking forward to it, it's been nice to have a regular game with Eric on Thursdays, and this will give me the chance to play even more.

The critical question??? Lefty or Righty?

Couple snapshots from the past few days...

2009-05-26T09:55:00.004-05:00

I did get in a nice long (56mi) bike ride yesterday up in Vermont, and then spent some time with the kids and my parents biking and hanging out in the hammock along the CT River in Vermont....

Here's some pics from the weekend, first my favorite sign during my bike ride!

Post ride recovery in the hammock with my youngest!

Took the two older ones one a rails to trails bike ride... lots of sand, so it was pretty tough actually. They also had some covered bridges, including this one here.

Here's my middle daughter, she's a trooper. She hung tough on the ride, struggling through the deep sand which took her down a few times. She's pretty determined though, and wouldn't quit!

Essence of my trip to Virginia

2009-05-21T07:14:00.001-05:00

Or at least the drive anyway....

Crazy week planned

2009-05-19T07:40:00.002-05:00

I'm headed to Virginia tonight with the family for a "vacation". The reality is that I will be spending the whole time in the hotel room working remotely for about 10 hours a day, but after that it will be fun!!

The good news is that once again I was able to find a Crossfit affiliate within driving distance and I'm hoping to get to work out a few times with them while I'm down there. My elbow goes back and forth, but the new strap that my uncle got me to brace it seems to be working much better. Hopefully it will hold up to a few workouts while I'm away and then I can be back at it.

To make the week crazier, once we get home this weekend we're supposed to go to my aunt's place in Vermont for the holiday weekend. Maybe I'll get a nice bike ride in though... hoping that Memorial Day is nice enough for me to head out for a few hours.