Trainer Party

At 1pm on Friday afternoon, Old Dominion University announced it would be closing at 3pm because it would begin snowing then....we got 1 inch of snow... Coming from Rhode Island, I found this quite amusing, and our Canadian friends found it downright hilarious. That being said, it actually can get dangerous on the roads here when it snows even a little because they don't have the stuff needed to clear it and very few know how to drive in the snow.

We had been planning a ride from our house for Saturday morning followed by breakfast with everyone. That wasn't going to happen but Fat Frogs Chesapeake graciously agreed to open their doors 3 hours early so people could bring their trainers in and ride in good company. It actually made for a really enjoyable ride. I usually watch movies on the trainer but I didn't even look at the shop tv, it was all about good conversation. The camraderie with that group is very strong and the support is awesome. Really looking forward to seeing what the Fat Frogs tri team/club is going to do this season.

On Sunday (today) I had a longer run and wasn't looking forward to running by myself. I headed out to the park hoping to find someone to run with. I was able to run with our friends Stephanie and Mark and the miles just flew by. Barely looked at my watch but felt great and had a strong run with good conversation and just really enjoyed the morning out in the park. Good running buddies are hard to come by and I have been blessed with several. I can't wait for a couple of the other girls to get back to the area so we can have some ladies runs (followed by coffee of course). There have been times with this group of ladies that I have had to stop running because I'm laughing so hard.

This evening we had my cycling buddy Michelle over for dinner. We were introduced by friends and after only meeting once briefly she came out and rode long with me last summer. I am not the easiest person to ride with because I tend to just want to go the pace I want to go, or that my workout dictates. She is a strong cyclist so she pushes me, is fun and lovely to talk to and sooooo encouraging. We ride together all the time now and I have come to really enjoy those long rides. She is headed out to Linsey Corbin's camp next week so can't wait to go on some more rides when she gets back!
Anyway, a bit long winded, but this has all reminded me of how important it is to surround yourself with supportive, fun and positive people. We paced our friend Brenda Carawan last year in a 100 miler and I remember her being so adamant about all of us (her husband, Brian, me and her) crossing the finish line together. I said something like yeah but this is your race, you should have your moment. She then explained to me that no, this was about more than just her, it takes a village to get through a tough race. I can see that now, the support and encouragement of friends is an incredible thing. We are blessed with a supportive community that follows our racing and always has a kind word. I couldn't be happier with my coach Tara, she picks me up when I'm being too hard on myself and gets my butt in gear when I need it. Brian is of course wonderful and knows just how to motivate and encourage me. My friends and family are always there to listen to my neurotic worries or laugh about silly moments. A bit mushy, but I really just wanted everyone to know how much we appreciate everything that this community, our sponsors, friends, family etc. etc do for us. It makes the training so much more fun.

Rachel

Base Training

Brian and I had a wonderful time over the holidays. We spent Thanksgiving here and my parents and brother came down. Christmas was spent here with Brian's family and then we drove to RI for New Years. We were both still getting a fair amount of training in, but it was nice to have some of the pressure off and to not worry too much about diet. We have also been having a ton of fun with our new puppy Gunther. He is a Llewellyn Setter and about 15 weeks old. He's a good little guy but a handful at times. We are working on getting him used to commands and walking nicely on the leash and he's doing pretty well. He loved the snow up in RI. Now that the holidays are over and I am back from my conference in San Francisco (Society of Integrative and Comparative Biology, our big conference for the year) we are really getting back into training. Workouts are starting to get a little harder but I think we both appreciate the challenge. We are both far ahead of where we started out last year so that is encouraging. We are back into the swing of things with meal planning and healthy eating with cheats so we don't go crazy. I am getting the itch to race so may do some smaller races in the early season. Really hoping we can make it to the Zoot camp at the end of March because it's always fun to see our team mates. Looking forward to some hard training and racing this year!