My BIG road bike

My husband was fortunate enough to have a 1997 LeMond Zurich given to him and with him out road riding I was feeling sad 'cause I wanted to ride too!!  He kept saying "you will hate road riding" as he was not fond of it.  Traffic, crazy drivers, pot holes, ect.  But with enough whining we bought a used road bike two years ago for my birthday.  It is a 54cm, triple butted, Miyata - Seven Ten.  I can't remember the year but it was built in the 1980's I think.  The Miyata weighs a ton compared to John's bike, even if it is triple butted!!!  It is so classic that the shifters are on the down tube!  The Seven Ten is considered Miyata's higher end model "at that time". Excellent Japanese steel. Great condition vintage bike, so John says, but it is plainly too big for me and has quite a bit of rust.  Not pretty at all!
Let me back up a bit and start from where I was made aware of the bike being too big for me as I am a little naive when it comes to bike mechanics (not to mention that John brainwashes me to believe otherwise).  In the summer of 2010 I was mounting biking with a wickedly awesome group of hard-core girls and one day I got an email asking if anyone was interested is going for a road ride.  I immediately said yes and we met the next morning.  So I show up, she looked at my bike and you should have seen her face.  It was the look of 'WTF are you riding!!!!??'  Before I even got on she said it was too big for me.  After our ride we stopped at the BEST cafe.  Domestique-Cafe Cyclo Sportif for a latte. Btw, they have the BEST chocolate croissants ever. YUM.  But while going into the cafe we ran into the owner of Freewheel Cycle in Dundas and from across the parking lot he seen my bike and said "someone needs a bike that fits them!!"  Now what does that tell ya!?


So a while ago, John creatively directed the infamous 'Frans Bike' video.  One comment that was made on FB was "it's hard to believe it's a text-to-video and not a direct recording of a real conversation", Mr. Bourne, how bang on you are!.... LOL.  The seat is SOOOO low I am sitting directly on the seat tube and I am reaching as far as I can and still not resting on the hoodies.  The stem...  oh wait, there is no stem. My handle bar sits directly on top of the headset.  Yes, when we got the bike we had to switch the stem to a BMX stem to shorten my reach, which obviously did not work.  Finally there are the shifters.  They are on the down tube.  Classic!  The conclusion is simple... It is ugly, it does not fit me and I need a new bike! ;)

With two years of complaining John has finally agreed that I need a new bike.... especially since I will be competing in the Peterborough HIM this year.  So off we went to Adena's house as she so graciouly let John size me up on her George.  A sexy, 51cm, Cannondale.  Needless to say it was a tad too big for me.  Yes, I am a midget!  Hehehe   NOW, John is seeing the light! 

We found a nude carbon frame that we are going to buy and my wonderful husband is going to build me a beautiful bike.  I got to pick out the wheels and it is going to look super h0t!!  I am so excited!


Here is a pic of the bike frame that inspired us.  Look at that nice thick carbon weave.  Sexy, isnt' it?!  I can't wait to see and share with you the finish product.

Aspiration

So after our swim on Wednesday we went to sit in the sauna.  John and I started chatting with another guy about the lady that John bunts heads with and her husband that swim there regularly.  Story is that this lady and her husband have been going to the Gretzky Centre since it was built.  They are both in their 70's and swim about 2500 meters twice a day or something like that!!!  This gentlemen goes on to tell us about the amazing trips that this couple go on.  The trip they just did in 2010 was a 40 day self-supported bike trip through the bottom of Europe.  HOW INCREDIBLE IS THAT!!!   They have done many other trips like this and I truly aspire to be like them at their age.  And you should see this ladies legs, WOW.  I caught a glimpse of her getting out of the pool one day and thought 'holy smokes, she's got better legs then me, so jealous!'  lol

John and I have the world in front of us.  In March, our boys are 19, 18 and 14.  Our two older two are starting college in the fall and our youngest, we just completed his high school registration forms this week.  Where has the time gone?? To think, in 5 years we will be pretty much be empty nesters and still be under the age of 40.  Well, I will be cough, cough, forty, cough and John will be 37. 

OMG, I can't be an empty nester.... that means I will be alone with 'him'--------->

Regardless of the fear I feel being all alone with this man I am sure we will make the best of it! LOL

In 5 years we will be able to do what this older couple is doing in their 70's and I cannot tell you how excited that makes me. 

Life is either a daring adventure or nothing. 

COOOLLDDD

I ran 5km on Monday and again today.  I think the next time I will put a thicker layer on the legs or maybe a wind breaker type pant as my legs were heavy and frozen today.  It was like picking up bricks.  Does this count as brick training????  LOL. 
Yesterday I went to the gym and did 45 min on the stationary bike and about halfway through my knees were killing me.  They never hurt like that when I am riding on the road or mountain biking.  I think from now on I will just swap Johns bike off the trainer and put mine on it and experience the unpopular pain cave! I am not looking forward to that.  :(

I am off to the pool tonight as well.  This training couldn't come at a better time.  My two older sons and their college/university choices have my mind totally occupied and I could not concentrate at work at all today.  The run was a saving grace and was able to distract me from it, even if only for a half an hour. 

A girlfriend (she will be participating in the Toronto Women's Half Marathon as well) from work came to me today and said she had a great idea and she did need to twist my arm to buy into it.  There is a spare room at work and during break we will perform some core exercises twice a week.  This is perfect for me as I need all the core I can get and my evenings are already full.  
Wish my post was a little more interesting but I gotta go to the pool now.   Keep smiling!

Day one

Last week I created a training program by using a sample from a website I've been reading, beginner triathlete, and I also incorporated another program from a half marathon plan. I had to make some adjustments so that it fit my own schedule.  It looks good (I think, as I have really no idea what I am doing) so now I just have to stick to it.

I am 35 years young, 5'4" in height and starting this blog the following are my current measurements (used from our Tanita Body Composition Monitor):

Weight - 129.4lbs (I was 128.6 yesterday but we went to the movies last night to see Tron and I ate half a the bag of popcorn with LOADS of salty ketchup seasoning, my bad!)

Body fat - 29.2% (healthy is 21 - 36%)

Water - 49.2% (normal is 45 - 60%)

Muscle Mass - 87.5 lbs

Bone Mass - 4.6 lbs (normal for my weight is 5.3)  I must have a small skeleton!  lol ;)

Chest - 35"    Waist - 28"     Hips- 35"   Thigh - 22"       Calf - 13 3/4"    Bicep - 11    Neck - 12 1/2" 

This is my photo.....  not so glorious, I know. 

But once a month I will update this photo and my measurements in hopes to see my progress which will keep me motivated.
I do not have any kind of weight goal as my priority is to finish my HIM in a respectable time.  Last year in my triathlon races I finished in the bottom quarter in my age group.  This year it would be really nice to finish in the first or second quarter.  I hope I have not set the standard too high for myself!  The first quarter is probably far fetched but the second is doable.

My first blog

I am creating this blog to hopefully help keep me motivated while I train for my first half Ironman distance triathlon.  My fitness going into this is on the lower end of the 'ok' scale.  I have been mountain biking for the last 8 years or so with my husband Lord of the Chainrings and have done a couple mtb races throughout those years.  Granted I am not the best there is but I have fun doing it as I love the outdoors. 
Last year I completed two sprint triathlons and going into 2011 I will be competing in the Toronto Women’s Half Marathon, Milton Sprint triathlon, Muskoka Long triathlon, the Peterborough Half Ironman triathlon and the Milton Women’s Olympic triathlon.
Throughout this journey my idea was to post pictures of my body to watch the transformation and maybe help motivate others and prove that they can challenge themselves to do whatever their hearts desired.  I am a busy woman with loads of stress.  I have three boys, two of which will be starting college and university in the fall so we are stressing on program selection, school choices and financing.  Then I have a very high maintenance husband and I am his domestique in every way.  He is a very lucky man!!!  :)    He will be competing in Ironman Lake Placid in 2011 and did the Muskoka 70.3 in 2010.  As well, I work full time and I am studying part-time for some professional accreditations.  With all this I need so squeeze in a whole lot of training.  January 2nd I begin so here we go.  Wish me luck!