Ok, its been far too long since I've updated, life has been chaos. Turns out moving across the atlantic to a country you're not a citizen of takes some time and acrobatics jumping through a few hoops. Add in training for a 70.3 and life is a special kind of chaos. I thrive on it.
So I said my good-bye's to Scotland, spent a week in Calgary, Alberta. I forget how much I miss my home town just eating and drinking my fill with good friends and family. It was heaven.
I also got my first taste of elevation and the mountains. Calgary is about 3500 ft up and I didn't think it would affect me much but I was in for a surprise! Although Denver was a whole other experience. I had so much fun, there was a ride that I used to go on every weekend on my motorcycle up to Bragg Creek. Before I got into this triathlon obsession I used to see those cyclists go by on the same route and think they were absolutely insane. I would flick my wrist, the R6 engine would growl and propel me up the hills...and those cyclists were a blur in my rear view mirrors soon forgotten.
Well I became one of those crazy cyclists and decided to see what it felt like to be my own engine. I loved it. Scotland was rolling hills, this was fast straight descents that you just held on and steep uphills that made the legs just burn. I hit a new top speed on those hills of 41mph, speed wobble is a little scarier on the bicycle than a motorcycle without the safety of full leathers to keep my skin intact! It was so gratifying to ride my old favourite route on the bicycle, although I'm sure there were a few motorcyclists thinking "why?" as they flew past me as I used to.
With travel its always tricky trying to get in the training. I came up with a new game seeing how fast I could pack and unpack my bike in each new city and happy to say I PR'd :p Always fun to get to the a new city and hotel unpack the bike, hard trainer ride the next morning, pack it back up in the afternoon and head to the airport once again. I do love exploring new cities with just a pair of running shoes, running aimlessly getting lost and finding my way back. I get to know a city intimately and it doesnt get dull.
Eating was another thing. I know its possible to eat well on the road, there are so many options. What I am a little lacking in is will power. When there are so many yummy options on the menu its hard to say no when its at your finger tips. I've had ambivalent feelings towards food since Ironman, there was so much build up and I thought of that as my last race of the year then I could relax. Well I did for 2 weeks I ate and drank whatever I wanted and didn't work out. After that I was craving the workouts and have all the drive in the world to go hard, buuut the diet didn't come back so easily. I finally got back in the groove about a month later, and then we were on the road again. It's not so hard at home, but when on the road with so many exciting options I have a hard time saying no. Well we are finally settled in Denver and have a kitchen and food in the fridge after a month of restaurants on the road so trying to get back at eating things like vegetables and not having dessert every night :p
I'm so happy to be here in Denver Colorado, life is starting to calm down and return to normal. We're set up in an apartment in downtown Denver until we get things sorted and start house shopping. I'm a creature of habit and like being able to settle into some sort of routine for now. Its been a wild ride this year and there are still a few more trips to come but a couple of weeks of calm are more than welcome.
Some exciting things have happened in Denver...specifically a new machine that I can't call a bicycle because it so far outclasses the bicycle I was on before. So stay tuned!
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