41 or 70 next week?

UPDATE: I SIGNED UP FOR THE 70!!!

Sept. 8 I'm signed up for the Highlander Cycle Tour through the Finger Lakes (Canandaigua). I've never done an organized bike ride before so I'm pretty stoked about it. At the end of the month I'll be doing my first duathlon at Mendon. I'm also swimming regularly and getting into the groove of a regular strength training program, so things are shaping up nicely for triathlon training.

My distance PR on the bike is 56 miles, done on all flat surface, with a nice stop for ice cream/flat tire fixing halfway through.

I signed up for the Yodeler ride at the Highlander tour. It's 41 miles. Here's the description.

"The Yodeler was redesigned last year with two objectives in mind. To provide a sample of cycling in the Finger Lakes to the recreational cyclist not ready for a century ride and to provide friends and relatives of the century riders the option to ride the last five miles together. The Yodeler Tour has three route options that meander the Bristol Valley and Canandaigua Lake scene. The full 41 mile ride involves 2200 feet of climbing, with shorter options of 11 or 16 miles with less climbing, about 400 and 1000 feet respectively. They all have the Scenic Overlook rest stop on County Route 12 on their routes, with a great view of Canandaigua Lake as seen on our home page. At the rest stop the riders can meet up the century riders and ride together the last five miles. We’ve packaged as much vista and flat terrain as possible in these short but sweet rides. With just enough challenge to create that mountain-top experience, you’re sure to come away singing. Riders will enjoy the same amenities and many of the same scenic views as the longer riders."

But now I'm wondering if I can push myself a little further and go for a 70-mile option. According to the description, the short course in the Corkscrew Century is about as tame as it gets as far as hills go in Canandaigua. The description:

"We received many accolades last two years for this scenic course and last year the majority of Highlander riders chose this ride so we made no changes to this ride. You might want to bring a camera to save some of the scenic views if not a wine glass and stop along the way. In keeping with objective of this ride, it features the scenic beauty of the Finger Lakes while taking the gentlest route possible in this hilly terrain. It is a 100 mile ride, with a cumulative climb of about 6000 feet but nothing above 10%. You can also take shorter 70 mile option."

Hmmm.....

Highest month yet!

5 days left in August and I'm already having my highest month in traffic yet, with 2,414 hits. The previous record was May 2012 with 2,288.

To be fair, a lot of that traffic came from a since-expired Chicago Craigslist link to a post I did last month about Craigslist scams.

Friday I worked with the trainer, Saturday I spun then rode, today I did spin again then swam a half mile. Now I'm enjoying some much needed couch and TV time right now with Lizzie, who's a happy greyhound because I had a definite eyes-bigger-than-stomach moment when I made brunch not too long ago, and she's a big fan of eggs and sausage.

I love love loved both the classes I taught this weekend. Today's was huge!! 28 people, I've never had a class that big! They were all really enthusiastic and worked really hard (and, as I've become accustomed, thanked me for favoring the Rolling Stones over anything techno.)

Congrats to all my Columbus friends who ran the Emerald City Half Marathon in Dublin! I'm loving all the photos and race recaps on Facebook.

Now, in reruns of Lost, Sawyer just challenged the rest of the camp to a ping pong match and Hurley got the van running.

Zzzzz...

Foodie Friday: It's 5:00 somewhere

It's Friday which means it's time to talk about food. But we're talking about something far more important than food (but can be found in a food store, so I say it still counts.)

I, of course, am talking about beverage :)

On my new and improved Foodie Friday feature, I'm comparing two glorious grocery stores, Wegman's (because I like to brag to my friends in Ohio), and Trader Joe's (which will be here in October. I may or may not be counting down the days...)

At Wegmans

I'm no longer a beer drinker. While I'm happy in my Gluten Free life, I miss my wheat ales terribly (yes, I know they make GF beers, but they're just not the same). Wegmans has a great selection of hard ciders though. One I've found is McKenzie's Black Cherry cider. Nice, dry, refreshing and yummy.

But, for all the beer drinkers out there, one beer I recognized right away is Brewery Ommegang Witte, brewed in Cooperstown. I loved the white ales and this one was especially delicious.

At Trader Joe's

Trader Joe's is known for their wine selection, although they do have a small selection of unique beers. I sincerely hope the new TJ's strikes a deal to stock more wine (otherwise I'll be really sad). There are too many wonderful wines I've gotten there, but this one stands out in particular.

2009 Cocobon. It's light, and has hints of coconut, mocha and cherries. So wonderful.

Another week almost done. Cheers!

Run bike swim run bike swim

I'm going to do the Rochester Autumn Classic Duathlon at the end of September. It will be a 2 m run, 10 m bike, 2 m run, 10 m bike, 2 m run. Naive me posted on Facebook "I can do that! That's easy!" To which my more experienced tri friends responded: "No, that's absolutely not easy." (I'm cross posting this first part from the Daily Mile with a few revisions because I'm lazy)

I'm still trying to build my running back up, it suffered during the move, so on Sunday I decided to do my own mini dual -- 1 m run, 5 m bike, 1 m run, 5 m bike, 1 m run. This was all after riding 20.

The first run felt great! I was under a 10:00 pace and sure that voice was there "slow down or you'll never make it" but silly me ignored it. Then I was off on the bike for 5 miles... which turned into just over 6 because I needed a place to lock it up.

I then went to run again. And wholly hell. My body was so confused. My legs did not feel right. But slowly I got back in the groove... just in time to get back on the bike.

The bike ride started out rough but then started to feel good, but by this point I am so tired and just want to be done. I'm dreading the run at this point.

Most of the run was rough until the very end, when I was just so happy to be done!!

Next time will be easier :)

Now back to that whole swimming thing...

After my swim lessons last week I realized that RAC's teeny tiny pool isn't going to cut it (plus it's way out in Perinton), so I'm back on the market for another place to join. I'm looking for a reasonably-sized pool with reasonable hours at a reasonable cost.

The first place I scoped out was the Y. I really liked the staff there, but unfortunately joining is impractical. I'd be paying $62 a month, and most of the stuff there I get at RAC.

Yesterday evening I went to Downtown Fitness Club. This seems like a good option. The rest of the club did not impress me, but I really liked the pool. It was quiet and a good size, and not crowded (and no screaming kids!) For $30 a month it's a pretty good option.

There are two other places I need to check out. The first is the Adams Street Recreation Center. It's a stone's throw away from my apartment and it's only $2 a session to swim. But the hours are extremely limited. There's another club called Harro East, but I can't find any information about it online.

Foodie Friday: Super size me

Last week I brought back Foodie Friday with a little catch :) Moving to Rochester means shopping at Wegman's, which ranks right up there with some of the other Greatest Places On Earth.

But I'm missing one of the other Greatest Places On Earth, Trader Joe's (and Earth Fare... and Whole Foods...) But alas! My beloved TJ's is coming in October!

So Foodie Friday now serves a dual purpose: Bragging to my Ohio friends about my new grocery chain, and educating my new Rochester friends about the glory that is Trader Joe's :)

Today's edition: Things you can buy in massive quantities

One of the most glorious things about Wegman's is the club pack. All around the store, you can get big packs of items at really good prices.
My favorites so far:

• 2 lbs of strawberries for $5 (once I consumed an entire pack in a single day)
• (A lot) of sweet cherries for $7
• A big pack of chicken (that's not inflated with antibiotics) for $2 a pound
• A big pack of 90% lean ground beef for $3 a pound
• 2 lbs of tilapia filets for $10

I'm working on my upteenth club pack of strawberries right now so I was going to compare produce, but the fact is, produce isn't Trader Joe's strong suit. But then, when I started thinking about buying in bulk, I thought of the perfect thing.

Like any good Italian, I go through olive oil like CRAZY. And it's not cheap. But at Trader Joe's you can get an entire liter of cold pressed Extra Virgin Olive Oil for $6 (disclaimer: I have not compared the price to Wegman's yet, but you must believe me that this stuff is awesome!!) 

As you can see, I'm 1/4 of the way through the bottle. I wonder if the rest will last until October :) 

Swimming lessons Day 3

I've had my third swim lesson, and today I feel like I graduated from hopelessly-thrashing-around-in-the-water to "you actually look like a real swimmer!", as my instructor pointed out.

I still can't do more than a lap before getting winded, but when I started I could only do a half lap before I had to tread water and cough the water out of my lungs. It's still a long way to go before 1.2 miles but it's progress!

I got insanely lucky with the lessons. They're supposed to be group lessons at the Y, but I'm the only one in the class. The first day the instructor really didn't know what to do. Even though I had asked for Red Cross Level 4 she said the only thing she could really teach was how to help people get in the water and do basic movements. But, the lifeguard on duty does Ironmans, so they switched places, and he was awesome! Then the instructor Tuesday does triathlons. Both Alex, the new instructor, and Randall, the lifeguard, have been teaching me with an open water swim in mind, so all the form and technique I've been learning is specifically geared toward what I'm training for. They taught me to rock back and forth and extend my arms more.

Monday and Tuesday it was hard to focus on anything else but breathing. They tried to teach me about strokes but it was hard to focus on my form because I was more worried about, well, you know, not drowning.

But today, the breathing came easier! Alex helped me form my stroke so I move faster in the water, and it worked.

One swim lesson left in this session but I'll probably do more down the line. Yippee!!!

Swimming lesson Day 1

I'm already over 1,100 hits for the month. Traffic actually has been way up the past three months, even though I had several lulls where I didn't post often during the move. Thanks for reading, all :)

This week I'm taking swim lessons at the Carlson Metro Center YMCA in Rochester. Tonight was my first one, and all I must say is: Swimming is hard! I left the Y feeling kind of defeated, but after chatting with a few Facebook friends I realized that the only thing holding me back is the breathing, then it will get easier! So tomorrow I'm going to go to the pool before my lesson to just practice that (maybe alternating with some quality time in the sauna) and hopefully by the end of the week I'll have it down!

I'm getting nervous about Musselman, mainly because there's an eight-hour cutoff time. It took me 4.5 hours to do the bike, I know I can get faster but... I'll need 2.5 for the run and at least an hour for the swim. That cuts it close! Maybe I should find another race... but I so want to do this one!!

334 days til the race!

1/3 of the way to a half iron

I had a great bike ride today, 56 miles in four and a half hours! I'm happy that I got the distance in but I would like to get faster, I averaged 13.1 miles per hour (coincidence, I think not!) I also need to get better on hills.

On the downside, I discovered that the canal path is not all paved, so I went up to Greece, then down to Pittsford, then back to Greece, then home.

On Saturday I'm going to a flat tire clinic, because today I got insanely lucky! I got a flat right in front of a bike shop in Pittsford. So I got a bit of time to explore the Pittsford waterfront, which was beautiful!

I got lucky again, where minutes after I got home it started pouring! Oh, and I also saw someone walking a cat on a leash :-/

I've decided on two events I'm going to do before the year's out.

The first I've already mentioned, the Highlander Bike Tour in the Finger Lakes Sept. 8. There's a 41 mile ride with optional 11 and 16 mile loops.

The second is the Rochester Autumn Classic Duathlon Sept. 28. It'll be a 2 m run/10 m bike/2 m run/10 m bike/2 m run. Should be interesting!!