Moving and prepping for Spokane

.... the past 4 weeks have been a blur. We got back from Moab, promptly packed up the house, moved into our new one, and began the long job of unpacking and settling in! Mix this with a heavy month at work and you get ... a quiet blog :)

It's that time though ... prepping for Spokane! I picked up the '10 Faze two weekends ago and and on her maiden voyage I killed my fastest lap time by 3 minutes!!! And I did it 3 laps in a row. Nice. That bike floats. I'm still looking fror the hole where they put the helium ... it climbs like a goat and the descending ... i made up a minute on the climb (25 min) and 2 on the descent (down to 17 minutes). That thing just rocks the downhills. I fell in love the first lap.

I've been taking it out every weekend since and beating my lap times each ride (faster and faster!)... until today.  Today was different ...

The day started out innocently enough  ..but with cloudy skies and a wet parking lot i knew I was in for a wet ride. I was cool with that ... it kinda suited my mood - i needed to release some energy so I wanted something hard. Well, i got it. I made good time up the climb and down the super technical singletrack. Even on the wet roots and rocks I was smoking fast. I was totally soaked and cold ... couldn't feel my fingers ... but I was loving it!

Out onto the road and then it happened. Absolute downpoor. I couldn't see 10 feet in front of me. I am not kidding. It was dumping buckets. What can you do? Keep pedalling. Pedal faster ... my legs weren't super co-operative as they were freezing cold but I kept moving. And then.... yup ... hail! Ouch! that hurt. Little balls of hail spitting at me out of the sky. Not nice. Need to pedal faster!!! Eventually I got back to the car, lementing my lap time when I realized I had tied my best lap time from last year. Sweet!

I can't tell you how dirty and wet I was. It was like i stood under a stream of muddy water ... I'm putting the clothes through the wash for the 3rd time :)

But yeah, ok, now I feel tough enough for Spokane :)

Tomorrow I head out to Samammish Valley Cycle for a final tune up on my bikes ... it's coming fast!

Now that's what I'm talkin' about!

Saturday morning, 20 degrees Celcious, start the day with a mtb ride up to Poo Poo point on Tiger ... beautiful views of the city all the way up, warm feeling of 'the burn' in the legs while climbing... feeling super fast on the climb (i was testing out the Norco Hardtail) ... and fun, fast descents. Life couldn't get much better! Well ... maybe if I started every day like that! :) Not bad ...

Today is the first day of my recovery week in this training cycle ... only one ride today (and a short 90min one at that). Spent the rest of the day running errands (you know, pesky things like getting groceries, cleaning, and other chores), planting potatoes, playing in the garden, and generally enjoying the sun.

Tomorrow is supposed to be raining ... fittting as I'll be racing again! My legs were rebelling today so tomorrow should be interesting ... all part of project 'race into shape' :)

Where's Waldo?

So, it's been a bit quiet on the blog lately which means my life has been nothing of the sort ... here's what we've been up to:

Christmas in Nova Scotia with my family. We felt like true celebrities with a different group of friends/family visting us at Mom & Dad's each day of the 7 days we were home. Mix in a few long runs, some hockey, loads of great friends, visits, and family time and you have an awesome Christmas.  We even got to visit our friends Alan & Gita on the way home which was the perfect end to our vacation!

New Years on the bike. Yes, we are still biking on dirt trails here in Seattle. Bringing in the New Year on the trails with fellow mountain bikers ... need I say more?

Checking out new trails. The mountain bike community here in Seattle is amazing. We are getting new trails all the time .... this time of year is a great time to check out the trails.

Working too much. OK this one is lame ... but I'd rather be working harder this time of year and easier in the summer. it's all about balance and priorities :)

That about sums it up... I'm glossing over loads of details but you get the picture :)

Turkey Day ... Atkinson style

Happy Turkey Day!

And what are we doing on this rainy turkey day? Well, the weekend involves the following activities:
- Turkey a la mountain (hiking in the rain - gotta love the rain if you live in the NW)
- Turkey a la snow (snowshoeing ... yup, we have to drive a bit but we will find snow!)
- Turkey a la bike (no comment needed ....)

OK, we actually aren't eating THAT much turkey, but you get the picture. Thanksgiving (2 days off) is an excuse to play for 2 more days!!!

The weekend got off to a nice start with a break-through ride for me (intervals ... I am becoming friends with lactic acid again ... ) and a record-setting run for Fraser! Not a bad way to start Turkey Day #1.

Saturdays mean long rides, making soup, and enjoying time with friends

I love Saturday's in the fall ... they are all about long rides, making veggie soup, and enjoying time with friends! Today was just that day ... starting out nice and early for a good 3 hour ride, clean up me and my bike and then into the kitchen for a 3 hour cook-fest (omlettes and veggie soup - no, I did not eat it all in one sitting). Gotta love fall. Don't get me wrong, I love the race season ... but I also love cooking and the fall gives me plenty of time to cook to my hearts content!

Apparently my body disagrees

So my mind was totally ready to be done with 'transition' and move into training mode ... I was getting my plan figured out, had my wish list of races listed for extra motivation, and was getting ready to make the move ....

And yup, you guessed it, i got sick. Tonsillitis none the less. It's a real pain in the neck (literally and figuratively) ... I am so bad at being sick. The thing is I think even though I DNFed at Moab after 12.5 hours, I don't think my body has fully recovered from the flu/cold that I had. So, to teach me a lesson and get me to 'knock it off', well, my tonsils hurt like heck.

I even stayed home from work today. Yup, watched some bad movies, read a book, and layed around in bed feeling sorry for myself .. oh, and drove Fraser nuts. I'm sure he'll be as excited as me when I recover. it was a good call though ... I went to work Tuesday and Wednesday and was totally exhausted when I got home - could barely make myself eat. Now look at me ... I'm even blogging.

The hardest thing for me is to RECOVER and REST. But I am determined. I can do it ... more bad movies, here I come ... I want to be better FAST :)

Heat wave in Seattle

We came back to a heat wave - can't beleive I am saying 'record temperatures' and 'Seattle' in the same sentence but here we go ... we broke the record for the all-time high in Seattle last week. Temperatures hit a high 104F.

Admidst the heat I presented at TechReady, tried to catch up on work and sleep, and ate a lot of watermelon and anything else cold.

Our new place

We moved in the month of April and have been slowly but surely settling in to the new place. We have such a fantastic yard that we've been spending more time setting that up than we have unpacking. Of course the essentials (bike, bike clothes, and bike gear) has been unpacked for a while :) It's the non-essentials like pictures, etc that are lagging.


We still have several boxes to wade through but are getting settled. I have to hand it to Frase - he is doing most of the work!!

We have a cool yard with a holly tree, an apple tree, a huge pine tree, and several unknown trees. We have a little garden set up and the beans, tomatoes, lettuce, spinich, cucumbers and potatoes are starting to get big.

It definately feels like home :)

Heat wave in Seattle

I really didn't ever think I'd say 'heat wave' and 'Seattle' in the same sentence but it's true! Ever since the the NW championships it's been hot and humid here in Seattle. The government has actually issued a 'heat warning' for the next few days -it's supposed to reach 90F today and tomorrow! Bring out the fans, boys and girls, it is going to be HOT.

So with all this hot weather I have to admit that sleeping has been tough (no A/C in Seattle) but on the up side i am slowly becoming adjusted and dare I say it? Acclimitized!

It also means that my favorite haunt, Tiger, is nice and dry (read: fast)!! The commute has been nice - early in the moring and later in the evening (my commuting times) it is nice and cool so it's not that bad.

The other fun thing about all this heat and sun is that my garden is growing like crazy! I have one bean plant over a foot tall and multiple tomatoes plants that are flowering already ... I love fresh hand-picked veggies!!!

I won't complain - it's been a rainy cold spring. I welcome the sun!!