Loose Ends

The Good: Turns out that it was Garmin that was dying, not me! Yay!! I replaced the battery in the strap on my HRM (the Garmin brain part being rechargeable in the wall) and VOILA! Instantly (over the course of 2+ hours) I was able to stay in my target heart rate zones.
Last week on the same route I was (supposedly) camping in Zone 4 with only short forays into Zone 3 territory. This week? Right where I was supposed to be Zones 1-3 (which is interesting to me because if anything this weeks ride felt harder to me.) Also in the Good category this week...sunscreen! Worked like a charm. And #3 in the Good category? MY RUN!! Now, my pace was slow but I ran the whole way except a tiny little bit when my ITB clenched at about mile 2. I stopped and stretched for a second, walked 10 yards and then ran on with my bad self! Yay me! The weather was GORGEOUS after a rainy Friday morning and afternoon. It was sixty something, cool, and breezy. (I'm sorry to rub it in West Coast buddies!! I know you're dying in the heat out there.) The Good outweighed all else this Saturday.

The Bad: there was still some bad but maybe it was only sorta bad. I did finish those Luna Moons on the bike. They were ... ok. Not as yucky tasting as at first but I won't be buying more. I had looked for the margarita flavored Shot Bloks Cindy recommended (margaritas being right up there in my book with Lemonheads!) but sadly they were not to be found. Also, my night before nutrition is still a struggle. Maybe it's where I am in my cycle, maybe I ate too late (again), maybe it's just that Friday nights are sort of crazy in general - but I still didn't hit it quite right. My nutrition plan is a work in progress.

The Ugly: Vivian (my bike) is pissing me off!! I've been having trouble shifting through my middle ring on hills for a while. She hates it! I can either ride in the largest ring or the smallest. If I try to shift down to the middle ring as I'm going up hill, Vivian dumps me down into granny gear. It is aggravating and I've done all I know how to do. (I'll take her in to a bike mechanic when I can - but you know that winning lottery ticket of mine? Hasn't shown up yet.) Also? My brakes are not releasing or staying centered. I kept checking my back tire because I felt like I was dragging something. We stopped at the halfway point and saw that my brakes were rubbing. They stopped the tire after one spin. Donna and I messed around with them a bit until my wheel would spin freely, but I had to stop TWICE more on the way back. Grrrr. And THEN! On the last half mile I wasn't going to stop again. I felt like I'd spent more of my time looking behind me than facing front on that ride and if the brakes were clenching again - oh well. Turns out, my brakes were fine, but I had a flat tire. That's three in three rides on the same wheel. I will do what I know to do until the pennies in the bike mechanic fund accumulate. Here's what I know how to do: clean my chain, take off my tire - check it out to make sure there's nothing inside that's killing my tubes, fiddle with my brakes some more to get them to stay adjusted, look to see if my wheel is out of true (although I can't do much about it if it is!) Does anyone know anything else I could learn (from a book or the internet) how to check out/fix? I finally feel like I'm building some confidence in myself on the bike and I'm losing it in my machine.

The rest of the weekend? Enjoyed being a vegetable and watching the Preakness. (Still laugh at hearing "Maryland, My Maryland". My first day of class at the U of Md was for summer school and when I heard the Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree song ringing out from the bell tower I thought they were having some big Christmas in July party or something. Who knew it was the state song?) Had fun with my kids. Had considerably way less fun grocery shopping for four plus hours over two days (but triple coupon days cannot be missed when you have a family of 8!) My daughter's 13th birthday is today and we celebrated last night. She cried when her four brothers gave her the sterling silver, engraved bracelet they picked out which says, "A sister is a forever friend." Good times all around.