Pirates and Bike Rides

It was a good weekend.  An old friend came up from NYC to visit and watch Pirates of the Caribbean 4 with me.

Rrrrooowwww.

It's embarrassing how much I was looking forward to this movie.  And how much, in retrospect, I loved it. I read some reviews on Rotten Tomatoes before going...I honestly can't believe it's only getting a 33%. It wasn't as good as the original, but it was still fun!  And!  It turns out I've been very wrong about mermaids this whole time.

THEY HAVE FANGS!  And apparently they have Spiderman-esque web-making powers, but, you know, with kelp. Yup, didn't see that coming at ALL. I was a little surprised they let her keep her voice at one point, but I won't spoil which point.

I did like the twist they put on the fountain of youth, but I won't spoil it.  I will say, I hope there's a director's cut, because it did feel like there were a lot of gaping holes in the stories, like where entire scenes had been cut out. I'll definitely be buying it when it comes out, but I guess now that I'm writing it out, I can see why it's getting bummerific reviews.  Oh well.  I'd still run off with Captain Jack given the chance. :-D Sorry, hubs.

Anyway.

Sunday was a nasty day out, all cold and drizzly. Which is why I was making this face:

PedalHubs made me go for a bike ride with him, to train for that silly little century ride we're doing in a few weeks.  I was not a happy camper until about half a mile into the ride a woman stopped at a light, just so she could tell me she loved my socks.  Those are the socks I've been wearing on race days (minus TM) since HIGH SCHOOL.  I'll have to see if I can find a picture of that somewhere.  I think I've been rocking basically the same race day hairdo since then too (ok, the pom poms were up a little higher back then) so that should be entertaining.

In the end, we went about 11 miles in around 45 minutes.  That sounds sad, but we got a little lost and spent a while at a conveniently-placed map debating how to best go about getting to where we wanted to be (him: further out. me: home, in pajamas, on the couch).  It was a fun ride though, in spite of the cold. And I never once regretted wearing that ridiculously warm vest. Not even a little.

Scaling the Seven Seas

Ok, well not seas, peaks.  But you get it.

Last night was a fun (last minute) ride.  The profile was seven total hills, sort of lumped into 2ish hills.  Each one was meant to simulate the highest peak on a continent.  I picked music with a little bit of creative liberty (for example, Pitbull is from Brazil, so he got play during the South American peak...Final Countdown is by Europe, so they were played during the European peak).  Overall, I think it was a hit.  If I'd had more time to prepare, I could have done some more research about each peak, but then I would have just ended up talking more.  This profile is a modified version of one I got from a fellow instructor on pedal-on.com, so don't go thinking I'm the creative genius behind it 100% or anything.  I shortened it to fit 45 minutes, modified the cues to match my music a little better, and changed the music 100% from what he suggested.

I would have LOVED to have a projection screen for this ride, but instead we just had our imaginations.  Maybe that was better anyway. :-)

Tomorrow I'm going for a long ride outside, to start actually training for this century fiasco.  I rode from the auto shop to my house this morning and it felt WONDERFUL.  I can't wait get back out!

Peer Pressure Isn't Always Bad

This week while I was logging my hours at the desk, one of the personal trainers walked up with a new client.  They were talking about his training schedule and whether he should do PT and TRX this week.  He was hemming and hawwing so I leaned over and said "If you're looking for someone to peer pressure you into doing both, I'm pressuring you into doing both."  He laughed and said "oookkkk...I'll do both". I told him I teach spin on Wednesday, so if he's unhappy about his choice he can come and tell me about it on a bike.
See?  Peer pressure isn't always bad.  Read on for more examples of peer-pressurized silliness.

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Yesterday I went to two CEC classes: Rate of Perceived Exertion and Race Day.  Both were really good classes, but Race Day definitely was my favorite.  We did a Lactate Threshold ride, and I found out my LT is 89% of MHR, which is 178 BPM.  I plan on doing that ride again in a couple months after I've trained more, to see how far I've come. I didn't feel like I gave up at any point, but there were definitely a few points where I was frustrated with the fact that I simply couldn't keep pushing at that level. We have a few race day rides coming up in about 5 weeks, at the end of our periodization, so I'm looking forward to having something to train for.

I tried to find an inspirational "Race Day" picture, then decided I needed a friendly reminder that I did, at one point, race.  So here ya go, in all my pre-tri glory:

Foxy, I know.

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Speaking of something to train for...

Yesterday, I got a message on facebook that my mother in law wants to do the Walt Disney World Half Marathon in January.  My cousin in law also wants to do it, and so does my mom.  By extension, so do I.  So that's my cue to get up off the bike and start running again I guess.  I think by the end of the year I'll have convinced myself I want to do a full marathon.  Just to check the box, you know?

I also signed up for the Tough Mudder in a month, and while I had looked at the course previously and had decided it was hard but doable, I looked at it again last night and wasn't sure what part made me think "doable".  There's even a jump off a 15 foot platform into water.  Have I mentioned that I've never *actually* jumped off a high-dive before?  Nope.  Bungee jumped, rappelled down 120+ ft rock walls, but jumped into water from a really high place with no rope attached?  Count me out.  Until May 8th apparently.  Geez.

OMG part of it involves them shooting the snow makers at you???  Crimeny.

Well, at least we get a free beer out of it at the end.  Any ideas on what to wear to this catastrophe?  I'm running it with my friend Julie, so a duo outfit is even better.

Also, Tough Mudder proceeds go to the Wounded Warrior project.  If you'd like to donate to the cause, go here and look me up.  It's a good cause.

I'm also looking at doing a century ride this summer (the only race Nick will do with me), and I think I found one in the end of June that's doable and cheap.  Actually, after some yelling over the washing machine, it's been decided...we're going to do that ride.  So June 26th, everyone come to New Haven, CT and cheer us on!