Training and Baking ... or is it Baking and Training?

Especially in these winter months, they often seem to go together!  The past 8 days have been interesting ... starting with a ride consisting of >10,000 ft of climbing (70 miles), and then a 'attempt to break every PB you have set over the last year' week! This means beating every Personal Best from 5 seconds to 3 hours (i have lost count of how many).  And I did it too! I didn't beat all of them, of course ... but i beat more than 70% of them, and made a really good try at the others! It was a tough week, and it feels great to be done.  Oh, and of course the last few were fueled by pink cupcakes ... don't laugh ... keep reading :)

The weekend brought some baking  ... Emily has been asking for  Pink Cupcakes all week ... let me explain. She has a 'pink counting purse' book which has 8 cupcakes on the Number Eight page ... thanks aunt Jenn ;-)  So she's been pulling out her 'counting purse' book and opening to page eight, and asking 'please'. Every day. No, more like several times a day :)

On Thursday Em had a fever and was still asking for cupcakes. So I made a promise for pink cupcakes on the weekend ... and so we made pink cupcakes ... and bread ... and taco soup .. and popsicles!!! Fun weekend, even though little Em was a bit sick (still has a cough)

Race Report: Duathlon Madness!

My first race of 2013!!! So much fun ... Here are the details by the numbers:

• Run: 3.1 miles
• Mountain bike: 16 miles
• Run: 3.1 miles
• Vertical feet: 2300ft
• Place Finished: 3rd
• Time on the course: 2.5 hours

What a fun race! The best part was having Emily and Jonathan there to cheer me on (and they even snuck in a run/nap while I was riding) and having Yvonne to chase around the race course :) 

The start came kinda quick. I was sneaking kisses from Emily and Jonathan told me I had to go ... I stood up to hear 3 - 2 - 1 START! and off we went!!  As usual it took a while to warm up so i tried to keep up with Yvonne ont he run but she dropped me about 5 or so minutes in. After that it was pacing and then picking up the speed as my legs started to warm up a bit and I started to catch a few women. In the first transition I spent a bit of time chasing Emily around for a kiss and then hopped on the bike. Pretty funny :) The biking part was fun - lots of good singletrack and a bit of climbing ... and it was a nice break from running :) Yes, i love my bike!!

I started to pick off some riders on the 2nd and 3rd laps, and passed Yvonne at the end of the 2nd lap. She's a stronger runner so i tried to put in a bit of a gap on the 3rd lap and managed to pull it off!  Into the last run my legs were tight - i'd pushed it on some of the climbs and my legs were feeling it ...  but eventually they warmed up and I picked off a few more women to finish 3rd! Yvonne was hot on my heals, finishing 4th :)

Some photos:

http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h5186628e#h518967e2

http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h5186628e#h5194849a
http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h5186628e#h51948974
http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h5186628e#h51a5b1da
http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h519b5292#h519b5292
http://stevesandersphotography.com/p840101718/h51a5225c#h51a5225c

Naps DO make you faster

Emily has taught me many things since coming into my life ... the most recent being how amazing naps are!

Emily sometimes naps 2x a day when she has weekends with us ... and sometimes only once. When she naps twice in a day, we often go for a run for her first nap - she loves napping in the Chariot, and will often 'ask' for a morning run when she is feeling a bit tierd. It's pretty cute! Running with the chariot is fun, and Jonathan and I take turns pushing it down the trail, trading off every one mile.

For her second nap we often join her, and that means we get a nap too! If I am not feeling tired, i hop on the trainer and get in an hour or so spin.

When she naps once we often start napping with her and  then wake up after an hour and then ... again, i hope on the bike and ride till she wakes up. Some days she'll sleep for 3 hours - that is a long training ride ;-)

Napping with Em is awesome! Of course Emily is even more aweome ... she has taught me so much ... especially how to enjoy the many things we forget to celebrate in life.