Why I love mornings

I am into my training plan for the Olympic Tri I will do in a few weeks. This morning was my long bike. The Dad thinks I'm nuts to get up so early in the morning but I love it.

I woke up this morning and the sky was crystal clear. I could see Orion sharp and clear above me and off to the South was a beautiful lightening storm.

I headed inside to check out 4 different weather sites to make sure that storm wasn't headed toward my ride route then I set off.


I had to stop and take this picture... Good Morning from the Lord!

Mad Dash Miles

Have you ever decided on a plan of action despite it being a bad idea... Then something unexpected happens that turns it into a really bad idea?

There was a heat advisory today but the girls were tucked away so I decided to bike to the gym, swim, then bike home. It's only 6km to the gym so I made sure I had plenty of water and set out. I had checked the weather, which is why I knew about the heat advisory.

As I'm swimming, I hear whistles but figured it was adult swim or something. No. It's thunder and we have to clear the pool and deck. I still have to bike home.


I made it, but I rode REALLY fast. This was the sky when I got home... with lots of rumbling behind me!

 

4000 Klicks in the best of ways

These last 600 kilometers have been earned in so many interesting ways and in so many interesting places!

Last day biking to and from school this year....

Finding the Texas State Capitol Building...

Swimming Klicks with fun swim teachers...

Meeting some interesting walking partners along the way...

Taking our rolly-polly-pill-bug-doodle-bugs for walks...

Camping Klicks...

Biking Klicks...

And more biking Klicks...

Fourth of July Firework Klicks...

And more friends along the way...

Lifting Klicks...

Subway Klicks...

Jelly Klicks?!...

Vertical Klicks...

Longest Street in the World Klicks...

(Yonge St in Toronto, who knew?! http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yonge_Street)

Ice cream Klicks with feathered friends...

Running Klicks. Oh wait, he's not in our family!

This is my brain on wheels

I love to cycle. It makes me happy!

This is me, mid-30K ride, taking a 'selfie' to send to my brother because I am riding and I am HAPPY!

This also makes me happy. This is me, behind all three of my girls, all without training wheels!! Oma and Nonno came for a visit and we went on an "epic ride." The girls did so well, as did Oma and Nonno! We rode along the bayou ("bi-yo" with a long i and a long o for those of you not from around these parts). We found snails, birds, alligators, squirrels... all sorts of life!

Happy Mother's Day!

I asked the girls to take a "super long bike ride" with me for Mother's Day. My request was no fussing, we go far, and have fun.

The girls delivered and I don't think my gift could have been any better!

It was cool and misting which was a great way to ride. We took a path along the bayou near our house and even went under the highway (which the Middle Bit thought was Ah-Mazing!).

We saw lady bugs, mystery beetles, red birds, frogs, fish, turtles, birds of all kinds, butterflies... and had a wild blackberry feast.

And now, we've crossed the 3000KM mark!!

Paola, my pretty pal

Dad, aka Mr. Fix-It, earned some serious points this weekend by spending time with my other love...

This is Paola, my pretty bike . My slick and speedy friend. I have not had her out of her traveling case since we arrived in Beijing and I have missed my friend, Paola.

This weekend, Mr. Fix-It helped me get her put back together and set up on a borrowed bike trainer. Please note, by "helped me" I mean "did it for me while I held things." I can do many things but for some reason, putting bikes together is not my forte. 

My beautiful bike sits right next to my beautiful air purifier. I can ride whenever I please! I do not have a working bike computer so I will be estimating speed.  When I was riding consistently, I averaged 30km/hour. I don't think I'm close to that fitness level right now so I'm going to estimate 24km/hour when I ride.

In fact, I think I'll go have some girl time with Paola today....

Such a beautiful day!

I am so very, very proud of Big Bit and Middle Bit! The weather was perfect today: low AQI, sunny, not cool, not warm, just right.

We rode bikes down to another compound to play at their playground. The big girls rode all the way there, played and rode home. They then rode all around the compound neighborhood visiting friends.

Somehow, I didn't get any pictures of the fun playground but did snap a shot over my shoulder as we rode down the road (the purple is Little Bit's helmet). My trail of children!

Later in the day, I got in a 5k run. I did intervals and tried to keep my turnover high even during my slower sections. I hit the best 5k time I've had in a while. Still not my best, and still pretty slow. But I was moving faster than I have in a while!

Total today? a Whoppin' 36 kilometers!

Happy Back Home

Chrissy has been cleared by the doctors, she is smiling and calm and is heading home!

Nonno said she was giving some very nice smiles today and seemed to know something good was happening.

In celebration, the air is nice so Rachel and I went for a nice long bike ride.

So glad Chrissy will be home.

Happy Monday!

Welcoming in the week with 22 klicks today. Starting out strong!

Another low AQI day

AQI was low, humidity was low and the temperature wasn't as high.That makes for a good day for traveling some kilometers!

I have decide the best way for us to rack up the klicks is to bike. If not, we may never reach our goal. To that end, I pulled Rachel in the trailer today and biked for a bit. While riding, I figured out we need to be covering 115km/week if we want to finish by May 31, 2014. That's approximately 17km/day. We had best get moving!

Today, 23km

Rollin up the Klicks!

We were out the door on time again today so we were biking to the bus! Little bit and I ran errands and by the time it was all said and done, 20 Klicks.

Despite the look on the littlest face (she was upset when I made her stop to have her picture taken... she was "winning" at the moment!), the girls are really enjoying Klicking for Chrissy.

Catching Up, Posting Klicks

It has been a whirl-wind few weeks. This is my catch-up post.

We've walked, biked, run and swam some clicks in the last few weeks. One thing I am finding interesting is that our 5 doing 5000 goal is becoming part of our daily discussion. I am impressed with how attentive to this goal, this idea of doing something for Chrissy, the girls are.

So, to catch up:

Dad:
Walking to work every day for 3 weeks: 22.5
Running: 11
Biking to and from school: 10

Mom:
an Olympic distance triathlon (whoot!): 51.5KM
I finally was able to go run! Clear head and sweaty: 4.5km
To and from and to and from and to and from ... the bus stop: 4km

Girls:
Again with the to and from and from and to... : 12km

Add them together and...
115.5

Biking Smile

I was able to ride the bike today! I used my Mom's "beater" bike and just rode for fun (until my grandmother called to ask when I was coming home....)

25km later...

Bike those Klicks

I rode with my step-dad today in the rain. We went 6 loops around his neighborhood (3.22 klicks)... some good hills... x 6! 19 more done.