Random Tidbits

I'm not normally at a loss for blog topics, but seems like this week I just haven't had much to say. Weird, huh? Things are just humming along... training... selling coffee... working with my athletes... and of course, being a mom. Oh, and watching the Tour this week too. I haven't had a lot of time to watch TV the last few months, but this goes to show that you *make* time for anything that is a priority because I've found time to watch the Tour (at least the exciting parts of it!)

So here are some random tidbits from the week:

~I'm trying to make a habit of spending special mommy/daughter time with Moana after I pick her up from day care. I get her at 4:00, so from 4-5:30 we go do something fun. Lots of times it is the playground, but sometimes if it's warm enough we go to the pool. I took her to the pool yesterday and she just had a blast! I know there are swim lessons for toddlers but we haven't worked on any actual skills yet... we are just playing in the water.

~Speaking of playing in the water, I've added a swim day to my training week. All winter/spring I pretty much got in 3x/week, but now I'm in 4-5x/week and I know that's what I need if I want to actually swim well this summer. 3x/week I can maintain what I've got, but 4x is required for me to improve. It's great though, because I do my Thursday swims alone. I work on technique stuff and strength in the water and don't worry about speed at all. It is SO nice to have a day where I'm not busting my a$$ in the water.

~ I haven't talked a lot about my running on here lately, but I'm still humming along nicely on the run. It's not my focus right now, but I'm trying to maintain a decent level of fitness- enough to get me through the run at the Rev3 Half at Cedar Point on Sept 12. That's the only triathlon left this year that I'm planning on doing. After that I will drop the bike training altogether and just swim/run in preparation for the Honolulu Marathon and the Double Roughwater Swim in December.

~ I've actually been running lots of hills and quite enjoying it! In a few weeks I'm headed back over to Moloka'i... partly for work but the trip is planned around the Moloka'i Mountain Run... Sounds like such a cool event! It starts at sea level and goes up up up on dirt fire roads and trails. I spoke with the race director trying to get details about the run... It's a 'show up and sign up' type of low key event (island style for sure!). She said she wasn't sure exactly how long it was... nor the elevation at the finish... But she did say it was between 12 and 16 miles. Lol. Um, that's a big difference, you know. Whatever. 12ish miles up a mountain with stellar views? I can do that.

~ I should have named Moana "Cathy"... as in, "Chatty Cathy". She talks *all the time*. Sometimes she wakes up in the middle of the night and talks to herself (and her stuffed animals) for like an hour. Cracks.me.up. She repeats everything we say. Tonight she was all squirmy and giggly and I called her a 'nut bag'. So she said, "Nut bag." Ha!

~ There's nothing not to love about Andy Schleck. I think part of the reason I like him so much is that he's just so real. In his pre and post race interviews, you just get the feeling that he's telling the truth. He's not playing games and/or hiding anything, which is rare when it comes to cyclists- or athletes in general. Seems like lots of athletes (cyclists are the best at this though triathletes are good at it too) never really give you the whole story about how they're feeling or what they're thinking. But Andy does. I respect that about him.

~ Tomorrow is Scott's birthday! So Happy Birthday to him! I'm gonna try to make homemade carrot cake for him tomorrow (his favorite!) and surprise him at work with it. He doesn't read this blog all that often so I can feel pretty safe about not spoiling my surprise by typing it out here. And with that thought, time to make my shopping list! :)