On Blue Ridge Rides, Beaches, and Races

Ok. So I've been AWOL. Hopefully this post will bring everyone up to date.

First up, our first Blue Ridge Parkway ride.
Many TriGirls, and some others, are signed up for a little 1/2 iron race in New Hampshire called "Timberman" this August. I believe the beautiful Susie Q is to blame for getting us all to sign up by saying something about being up there visiting family, thinking of doing it, and "who's in?" Apparently, not many TriGirls can pass that up. Add TriGirls sitting around a computer drinking wine and talking about races, and inevitably it'll turn into a frenzy of registering for at lease one race, right Deanna? New Hampshire is hilly, which in Coach Blake's world equals yummy.

In addition to our oh so fun Tuesday night hill rides with Coach Blake, he had lined up for us a series of three rides on Virginia's Blue Ridge Parkway. Ride #1 was June 21st (two Saturdays ago). On tap for us Timberman and IMFL folks, a 45 mile ride and running afterwards. The subsequent rides will all increase in milage. In chorus now can I hear you say, "YUMMY!"


This is a map and elevation profile of our milage. We park at mile 13, ride down to mile 0, back up to mile 23, then home to mile 13. (OK, I just did the math, and that's actually 46 miles.) If you go by the mapmyride elevations, we climbed over 2000 feet. Ironman Jeff drove an SUV full of girls and bikes (and some wine and beer) that day--I had been slated to drive, but I grabbed the opportunity to be a passenger instead. In addition to the two of us, there was Melissa, Deanna, and Lynn. As a group, there were 23 of us on the ride. The weather was absolutely perfect. Overcast and quite cool in the morning, which turned into blue skies and warm in the afternoon. Post ride, we feasted on hummus, pita chips, and beer before heading down the mountain for some great BBQ! The day in pics:












Beach week!
That Saturday while I was punishing my legs on the BRP, husband Joe packed up the kids and beach toys and headed to the new beach house in Sandbridge, just south of Virginia Beach. Sophie and I joined them on Sunday. It was a great week, doing a whole lotta nothing. Maybe I shouldn't say nothing, because over the course of the week I did install the new window treatments in the living room and dining room, get all the new furniture installed in the living room (and the nasty, frat-house looking sectional OUT), swam a bit, started and finished Pillars of the Earth, hung out with my sister and the kids, and went for a 2 hr bike ride.

What I didn't do was run. I know I'll pay for it this week, but it was hot. Like almost 100 by 10am hot. Which is ok when your A/C works, but the new A/C system we had to install two weeks ago still needed tweaking. Friday was spent dealing with the A/C man and finding more things to spend money on. Here are beach pics:









So that brings us to today, and the RACE!
When we pulled back into town yesterday, I noticed lots of people going over to the local tri shop, which is just up the street from me and remembered that today was the "I Love the Tavern" Sprint Tri. I realized that many of my usual training buddies had either done their long brick yesterday, or were racing this morning, leaving me high and dry to get a long brick workout done all by myself in sweltering temperatures. Not a fun prospect. Luckily they still had walk-up registrations available, so I signed up! On tap at 7am this morning, a 750m open water swim, 19 mile bike, and 5k trail run. Other than a crappy swim in 85 degree water, I think the race went really well. I passed more people on the bike than passed me (which I think is a first!), and was able to push pretty well on the run despite the rising temps. I finished in 1:51. I don't know what my splits were, but will post them when they're available. There was a good showing of TriGirl pink on the course, and I felt good about getting back into the swing of "race season." This was my first tri of the year! Can you believe that IMFL is just 4 months away???!!! Ack.