It was a great weekend

It was a great weekend that started Friday night with yummy Thai food at Merlion. While we were waiting on our food, the Kemah Friday fireworks started! We got to walk just outside and watch the fireworks, and by the time we got back into the restaurant, our food was waiting. Perfect.

Saturday night I made it to St. Arnold’s Brewery for the first time for the HARRA Summer Banquet. I enjoyed some great Mexican food, free St. Arnold’s beer, and the company of my fun running friends — Jon and Waverly, Cassie and Manny, Edwin and Donna, Erin and her family, Joe, and Bill. I was also officially elected (along with a bunch of others) to the HARRA Board via a mass “aye” hand-raising. Yep, I’m the new HARRA webmaster for the next year!

Yesterday morning I had the best. breakfast. ever. J spied a can of eggnog waffle mix that had been sitting in my kitchen, unopened since Christmas, when I ended up with it as my white elephant gift from the branch holiday party. I had no waffle maker, thus had made no waffles. A quick trip to Target and $10 solved that problem, and yesterday we had eggnog waffles with blueberries and real maple syrup. It was YUMMY.

In between those activities, I watched a lot of soccer (US vs Italy of course — whew!! — plus Brazil/Australia and France/Korea). I’m gonna be on pins and needles Thursday morning as we tackle Ghana and Italy faces the Czech Republic. Go USA! And go Italy!

The rain that I was waiting for all weekend, after being told on Friday that it was going to pour and pour and pour, finally came this morning. I woke up to thunder and the sound of rain pounding on the roof. Thankfully it let up for just a minute as I ran to the car, where my umbrella sat happily.

My triathlon training program officially started on Saturday morning, and I now have my schedule for the next six weeks. There’s a beginner option and an intermediate option; I took one of each and plan to do whatever workout seems right for that day, though I hope to stick to the intermediate schedule as much as possible. I’m going to be busy working out, and I’m a little worried that the amount of training will be overwhelming. But I’m also glad to have some structure to follow. So we shall see how things go.

Stroke evaluation was on Saturday morning, and I got some good pointers on things to improve. Breathing on my left side, obviously, and I knew that going in. But there were a couple other things. I need to keep my head slightly lower in the water, and keep my hands closer to my body as I pull beneath the water. Apparently I have a straight arm recovery as well, but they said that wasn’t necessarily bad. “Hey, it worked for Janet Evans,” said the swim coach.

Yesterday called for a bike ride. There was a group ride scheduled at 8:00 but it was rainy and I didn’t want to get up that early, so I rode on my own later in the day.

Schedule: Bike, 12-15 miles, easy
Actual: 15 miles, moderate, 55:29 – 16.2 mph

Biking in the summer is funny. I never realize exactly how hot it really is until I stop, and the sweat comes pouring down from my forehead where it’s been soaking what little padding is in my helmet. Sexy, right?

The only bad thing about biking lately is that since I’m just getting back into it, my muscles aren’t prepared. I end up with a sore tailbone and a sore neck. No fun.