The hills are alive with the sound of muuuuuuuuuusic.

Today was an early start from Coach's house, out along Marine to 16th and then back along Marine to Iona. AM suffered a flat one minute before we were supposed to the leave the house but YAY she ended up joining us by fluke at the "Fraser Arms - is it still a strip joint?" stop. Then it was some sort of Iona-Steveston loop...turn left at the "church"! Sadly, we lost Catherine at Iona (damn rib!) and then Lisa somewhere on the way back from the "church" (damn Richmond!). Then the TFNB peleton shattered one final time just before the AL bridge as I need a pee stop (damn tiny bladder!) Somewhere after the "church", the temperature dropped about 10 degrees ("it's an arctic outflow!") and it started to rain. boo. AM and I had lovely ride back along the Cypress bike route to home (read - our fingers and toes were frozen little popsicles). A not so speedy change into running gear and then out the door to Speed Theory with AM running with her bike! Crazy triathletes & their multi-tasking! Speed Theory was mad busy so by the time we got out of there, we were DONE and ran the WHOLE FIVE MINUTES back to our house. Ha! Bricks are SO easy ;)

"Like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of TFNB"

md

TFNB conquers Cypress!

So we finally got a group snap showing us all in TFNB colours from the 1st lookout at Cypress which we hit on last Saturday's ride. My ride up Cypress was much more controlled than our last attempt. That is, I didn't feel like puking, crying, driving my bike off the side of mountain, etc. While I love shattering my time from my previous attempts up Cypress, I also like being able to stay mentally intact. Plus, it's nice for Coach not to have to listen to that racket on the way up!!

Cheers,
md

hello

I haven't felt like doing anything this past two days. I did manage to get my ride in yesterday and my run today. A little off with things right now. Have to figure out what to about mama and that is all really I've been concenered with.

But.. I can't wait for tomorrow.. hills, hills and more hills.... I love hills.. They make you faster!!!

Night girls

First trip up Cypress today for me

So I am home now. Showered, relaxed and fed and I've had a chance to reflect on today. And I've come to the conclussion that I worked really hard (as did everyone!)

The begining of the ride was pretty average. Ride from M&A's place through Stanley Park and over Lions Gate bridge. It was nice not stopping all teh time and just riding with a few meet up spots. We met at the end of the bridge and decided that the next meeting point was Whytcliff park. Starting from there it turned into a complete hammer fest for me. The first hill out of West Van was good. We all seemed to stay together and then the hammering really started. I tried to stay with you ladies but damn, you are quick! It was a great ride out to Whytcliff and it seemed to go by very quickly. I remember the days when that would take me FOREVER. I really enjoyed the ride out of Whytcliff park today. The first time I rode that it seemed really hard and long. Today it was a quick and painless.

The ride out to the base of Cypress was a hard one aswell. I tried to stay in aero as much as possible on the highway. I was going to take off my jacket for the climb up cypress but it was far to chilly for me. Started my watch at the shed for the climb but I haven't downloaded my watch yet so I don't know how long it took to ride to the lookout. So, I was a little unsure if I could make it up to the lookout because I haven't ridden it yet this year. But Angela assured me I was close to the lookout and that I could do it and it was fine. The downhill was the best part. I forgot to start my watch on the way down so I have no idea how fast I was going. But man, it was SWEET!!! Then it was the normal ride down the highway to Taylor Way. I just dropped into my biggest gear, tucked on down and rode like hell to Taylor.

The rest of the ride was uneventful but good. My legs are shagged. I am knackered. I haven't felt this tired after a ride in a long time. Next time when we go to the second lookout I am going to try and sit more and spin at a higher cadence as I have a really hard time with a high cadence.

So once again. Thanks again for the ride ladies I had a great day.

Lana's Race Report

So here it is!

To start, I woke up at 4 am which was actually 3 am with the time change. Left the house just after 5am because I wanted to insure I got a parking spot at the pool. So there I am at the parking lot just before 6am on race day. Please note that my heat didn't start until 10:30! I walked around a little bit and just waited until package pick-up was ready. Rigth around 7 I picked up my race package, did my biek check and headed towards transition, (which wasn't ready yet), to get rid of my bike. All I wanted was either a nap or a really strong coffee. There wasn't any coffee shops open yet so I went to the pool and had a nap on the stairs. Around 9am I went in and could finally get some coffee.

Now the race.

Lining up for the swim seemed oh so simple. We all asked eachother our times and tried to seat ourselves correctly. Well, either people didn't time themselves or I swam faster then I should have. But I do believe there were alot of people who didn't go and time themselves as I passed about 10 people in the pool. It was not a relaxed swim at all, but not to bad for me at a 15:08 swim. I wish there was transition times but those are included in our swim and bike times.

Bike-not to eventful! Normally I can pull the big chain on the way down Marine to the turn around but not that day. Well I could but it felt really hard! There was a few people on mountain bikes, a few in shorts, and a few who just didn't understand passing either on the left or passing on the turns, we just all need to be careful. The ride felt like it was over so quickly and I was ok with that.

The run was actually good for me. 28 minutes for my run (yeah). I was a little unsure of how my foot would feel but once I started it was fine. Ran to the turn around all happy and having a good time and then realized I should probable run faster. I think I picked it up a bit on the way back. I ran nice and strong up the hill towards the finish line and then just gave my all. In retrospect I probable could of ran faster but I now know for the next race!

Anyone up for the Delta sprint on April 25th?? Sorry for no pictures. You can't take them off the website.

Race Reports??

Do you ladies feel like posting race reports?? I will put mine up tomorrow!

Riding

All I can say is it is GREAT! I am loving our rides. They do nothing but challenge me and I want to push harder then ever.

It seemed nice and quick to the Spanish Banks. The hill workout in the dark last night was so much fun.. as long as you miss the potholes along the way. 5 repeats seemed like a good number. But how about next time we do 3 repeats, then a quick ride up to almost Blanca, back to the hill for 3 more repeats? That's a good one to. Just a thought.

Today I rode from my work to Pete's work so I could get a ride home. I worked super hard and stayed in aero all along the Kent bike route and the road down to peters work. It was really windy but such a good ride. It was 44 minutes of solid riding.

That's all I got for you. Not so good at blogging.

Oh.. we still need a team picture. :)

Been Awhile

So this past week, recovery week, had been a bit of a right off for me. Monday was usual day off (guess I should of trained that day) Tuesday through Friday I had a crazy rash, which was apparently just hives, on my body. I was having crazy itch fits...not fun.

Saturdays ride was amazingly fun. I think we all worked really hard yesterday! WTG ladies! The paceline was quick and not painless. But if we keep riding like this I may have a good chance of a great ride at IMC.

Saturday night I stayed at home with Peter. So I slept in and went running later in the afternoon. Sunday Pete and I did some errands and just generally enjoyed eachothers company.

I am excited for next weeks training.

Lana