I’m officially back into my training now… it took a couple of good, long weekend rides and some perfect fall weather to get me back into the mindset for next sesaon. Don’t be completely suprised– I was on my road bike both days this weekend. Both rides were good tempos, so nothing overly hard but not an easy tooling around the Triangle either.

Saturday was Mission Valley and Sunday was Blue Jay Point. I was suprised at how much better I felt on Sunday, but even though my legs seem to have come around quickly my butt sure hasn’t! I can tell I’m not used to sitting in my saddle that long yet. It won’t take long to “acclimate” to that. hehehe

The weather around here has been absolutly amazing the past week. No rain in sight, bright blue skies with patches of white clouds, and the colorful fall leaves popping out everywhere. It’s like a perfect canvas. I wish I was a painter. Things look that pretty around here.

The one thing I am sad about is that the candy pumpkins are starting to cease to exist at the store. Argh. No fair. I thought they lasted until Thanksgiving but I guess everyone has figured out how good they are and they are selling out.

Today I officially start my training for next year… it’s been a good break this past October.

The fall is my favorite time of year… I’ve been mountain biking everyday this week. It’s nice enjoying the leaves and the cooler weather out.

We had a lot of trick or treaters, but we still have a ton of candy left over. Aggghh! That’s scary. Joe and I have been eating it all. Not so good… we’re going to have to take this stuff to work or start feeding the birds with it or something. Hmm… maybe the deer at Umstead will eat it?

Speaking of deer, I see TONS of deer everyday out there. On one ride I saw 8 deer. There was another ride that I stopped for a pee break and three deer were staring at me when I stood up. Here I thought the trail was “all clear” for me to have a bathroom break and I had three peeping toms!

Official training starts next Monday. I can’t wait! It’s going to be fun. Until then I am enjoying my last week of unstructured training. Joe has decided that he wants to do the Myrtle Beach Marathon, so we have been running together in the mornings before work at Umstead.

Today I will meet Alicia as well for a nice longish run, then I hope to hit the trails at Harris Lake this afternoon.

I’ve been hanging out at Umstead quite a bit this past week… either on a mountain bike, cross bike, or on my feet hitting the trails. It’s a lot of fun being so close to the park at work. I’m a 10 minute drive from complete paradise! …best of all NO TRAFFIC.

Joe got me a mountain bike for our anniversary, so I’ve been mountain biking quite a bit the past couple weeks. Only thing is I’m pretty slow and all because I’m still learning, but it’s so much fun I don’t care! It’s a great way to cross train in the cooler weather and just do something different. For those of you who haven’t mountain biked before I highly recommend giving it a try!

Today I bumped into an old friend from Boone, Jason, who reps for Specialized Bikes now. He’s in town visiting a few shops and he decided to hit the Crabtree Trails after one of his meetings. It was cool seeing him out there, he was the mechanic that worked on my road bike constantly when I first started riding a few years ago.

Now it’s time for bed, it’s spose to be all rainy tomorrow… so it’s probably going to be a trail running day for me!

It sure is a dreary day today. I worked for a few hours this morning during the Inside Out Half Marathon. Man what a perfect day for a long run… it’s only about 50 degrees out, gray, dreary, and drizzling. Absolutely miserable for any type of outdoor activity, but that is the kind of weather I love running in the most.

I skipped this half marathon and worked instead to make some extra money and to fully enjoy the off season. I have a few short weeks before training resumes, so I need to take advantage of it while I can. I did a short run in the morning with my dog, Symba, but other than that I enjoyed sitting on the couch. There’s not many days you’ll find me doing that!

A friend of mine is putting on a winter time trial series that started today. I wonder if anyone went out there in this mess! If they did, more power to them! I will probably make it to some of the later TT’s but not during my break time. Hmm… there’s the “off season” again…

Time to go run some errands… stay warm!

As many of you know, October is Breast Cancer Reasearch Month. And for those of you who didn’t know, that might explain why you’ve been seeing all the pink stuff in stores… pink m&ms, pink ribbons, pink labels on products, ect…

Today I rode in the innaugural le Tour de Femme, a benefit ride for breast cancer research. The ride started at Cycling Spoken Here in Cary at 9am. I rolled into the parking lot just in time… I kid you not. I was pumping up my tires as the group was leaving so I had to play catch up for the first few miles. Whew, not the way I wanted to start this 60+ mile ride! But I have to admit it was a great way to warm up in the cool weather.

I had the best time chatting and meeting new women out on this ride. You could tell that all the girls were really out there and into being on their bikes.

The ride was very well organized and I must say that my favorite part was receiving a pink carnation for completing the ride. The flower had a note attached to it thanking you for your help in fighting breast cancer. How cute is that??

Thanks to the volunteers that were out at each intersection pointing us the right way, and to those who were at all the rest stops making peanut butter and jelly sandwiches. We also had a police escort and a personal SAG wagon with a photographer… we were definitely given the royal treatment!

Again, thank you for the great ride… thanks to all the women who came out in the name of breast cancer research. I hope we made a small difference in fighting this disease.

With the weather cooling off this time of year I have noticed that I am reaching less for cool, crisp salads and going more for warm, hearty soups and baked squash.

I love grapefruit- great source of vitamin c and I love how tart it is… but with the cold weather, the thought of my usual cold fruit salads with cold yogurt or cold cereal for my morning jump-start just doesn’t do the trick.

Here’s a great recipe for you to try for breakfast before a fall weather workout that will warm you right up…

Warm Grapefruit Yogurt Pourage

1 grapefruit, peeled and cut up into a bowl
1 banana, mashed
1 cup blueberries
Plain Yogurt (I use Soygurt)
Walnuts
Cinnamon

• Place grapefruit sprinkled with cinnamon into microwave safe bowl. Microwave for 2 minutes or until it’s as warm as you like it.
• Put mashed banana and blueberries in microwave for a minute. Mash up more and stir together to make a puree-like topping. Microwave longer if you want a thinner consistancy.
• Pour mashed banana-blueberry puree over the cinnamon infused grapefruit.
• Dallop with cool plain yogurt and sprinkle walnuts and flaxseeds.

Enjoy! Hit the trails with a warm tummy!

That’s right! Lance is running the New York City Marathon on November 5th. Runner’s World has an article about it in this month’s edition.

The website has mp3 excerts where you can listen to parts of Lance’s interview, a video download, and predictions about how fast Lance will actually run the marathon. >>read the article< <

So I’m not the only crazy cyclist that is running a whole heck of a lot too!

*disclaimer– above statement does not refer to Lance as being crazy… only Alisha.