Cycling, clogged drains, bootcamp sessions and packing

My Dad's friend and now my friend, Peter, left today to go back to the fore casted rain and snow flurries brrrr. I really shouldn't talk because I am headed to South Carolina and the weather isn't looking so great there either, you really can't beat the desert. Before Peter left, I took him out to Box Canyon which is one of my favorite aerobic rides, if you are not being chased by crazy dogs, you are riding through some sketchy areas which keeps me rather entertained ha and then ofcourse there is the beautiful scenery in the Canyon.

Speaking of entertainment, my cousin Poppy clogged our sink in the kitchen and was freaking out my Mom was gonna kill her haha so I came to the rescue. After several failed attempts of plunging with a plastic cup, I had to resort to the toilette plunger barf. My cousin was saying the most ridiculous things while I was plunging, things I am not even going to get into, that I couldn't stop laughing and in the end Peter had to help us out haha.

I was feeling a little tired this morning so I decided to take the day off of the bike and do some strength training this morning. I then decided to put my cousin through boot camp, she did awesome! She refused the wall sits, but everything else she performed like a true champ :) I wanted to take some video footage, but sadly she wouldn't let me. I think she just might love kettle bell swings :) Okay I gotta go pack up my bike!!!!

Biking and New People

So lately I have been feeling significantly better and I have even logged some decent hours on the bike and it hasn't been all Zone 1. First off, my Mom and I have discovered a way in which we can ride together and both be working fairly equal, however, there are some cons in this plan. So we have been riding side by side and I am pushing her with my right arm while she continues to pedal in a hard gear. I am amazed how efficient and fast we actually are, the con, however, is that my right arm is getting stronger than my left and I don't want another muscle imbalance. My Mom seems to love going fast though and better yet, she loves passing all of the men riding solo on the road. This is where my workout goes from Zone 2 to Zone 5 haha. As for training without an additional person, things are going pretty good. I have met up for some rides with a trialthon group led by Mitch Gold at Counterpart Coaching Systems. Annie Ewart and Leah Kirchman are also in town and joined in for some of the rides. The triathlon group are a group of people that amaze me with the amount of hours and training they put in. I actually think it is crazy, but I can appreciate what they are trying to achieve, so props to them. Yesterday was the Tour de Palm Springs which brought out thousands of people on bikes, chaos!. It was a great ride and a good pace, unfortunately, our friend, Peter, got a flat which disconnected us from the group we were originally in. We decided to take a bit of a short cut home :) which seemed like a good idea at the time, but as we were coming through the finish line so were the 55mile group. I have never seen so many close calls. People were all over the road and their bikes, I think some people might just dust off their bike and come out for this one very special day and it shows hahaha. There was one man that became part of our trio which included me, my Dad and Peter and he was the ultimate Mr. America. He was fully kitted out in a USA kit, high end bike and he was going at a solid clip, I was impressed. Okay I was getting a little irritated with him towards the end, but good for him for taking it to the line, and believe me when I say he was risking it all weaving through some of those people. I am sitting here laughing thinking about all of the funny event that took place yesterday, but words wouldn't do it justice. Well thats all I got for now, four more days and I am off to a camp in South Carolina.

127 Hours

Last night my Mom and I went and saw the movie "127 Hours." It was pretty intense and it once again reminded me how important it is to tell people where you are going when partaking in certain adventures. Anything can happen out there and it is important to be SMART and prepared. I must admit, I did some pretty sketchy hikes in 2010 fairly ill prepared oopsie, lesson learned!!! Today was a good day in the desert and it was actually super hot. I took my Mom out on the bike today and she rode for over one hour, I am so impressed. I love watching people ride that are so fresh to the sport and just purely enjoy being on a bike and feeling the wind in their hair. I need to learn to love the bike for fun at times, especially when I am sick or injured and can't train the way I want too. My Mom and I rode to the golf course today where my Dad was playing at and I spotted my him and his cousin, Doug from miles away. I actually yelled his name oopsie, I forgot that is a no no in the golf world. I think I need to take up golf, that is on my list of things to do before I leave Palm Springs.

Enjoying the desert

Aside from recovering from illness, life is pretty good in the desert! The temperature has been pretty warm, but the more important part is that it has been sunny. My parents are back in town now too, so everything is that much better :).

Back to Blogging

So I have not blogged in the longest time and I am feeling rather guilty about it, yes I know I feel guilty about everything I do ha. This is not because I think there are people reading my blog and I am disappointing them, it is more for myself and to keep myself accountable for something I started. I always want to blog when everything is going great in my life, and NEVER want to blog when I am struggling and I think I need to change that. Life throws you curve balls whether you want them or not and it is all about how you deal with them. Once again, I am not good at dealing with curve balls and sometimes it takes me some crying, some depressed days and some conversations with great friends to help get me back on track. Over the past month, I have been dealing with stomach issues, fatigue, dizziness, weakness etc. and no one knew what was wrong with me. I had some similar symptoms I had last year at the SAME TIME and didn't understand how this could possibly be happening to me again. After being disappointed by several doctors, I basically requested that they test everything and anything possible. I spent countless hours on the internet, like seriously all hours of the day and night, I had/have hehe a serious problem. And no, I was not looking at inappropriate things people!!! I came to the conclusion that I had Giardia and even though my doctor said there is no way that is what it is, I demanded that we test for it. Three days later, my results showed I have Giardia!!!! Once again, I listened to my body and I was right, this just reaffirms that you need to listen to your gut instinct. I have been on five rounds of antibiotics over the past month and my body feels it. I am currently taking multiple supplements and herbal remedies in hopes of healing quicker. I have had to ease off of the training and just ride to spin the legs out and keep the mind sane. I am starting to come around and I am very optimistic that I will be good to go in one more week. I am really looking forward to getting back on the bike and training. I am heading to South Carolina on Feb.17th for a National team training camp, so lets hope I am recovered and good to go by then.