The Exercises of the Rich and Famous

Week 3: March 16-22

Ski: 11 km (plus 2 glasses of wine)
Bike: 3 hours of spinning and no kilometers on the road!
Run: 11 km
Swim: 3000 m

Week 4: March 23-29

Bike: 22 km in the snow and 30 minutes on the spinner
Run: 30 km
Swim: 3250 m

The latter part of March was not as dedicated as the first part. This was in large part due to the fact that I had the pleasure of visiting my Grandma in Colorado. I find in exceedingly difficult to work out while traveling, mainly because I am almost completely unmotivated. This lack of motivation was exacerbated on this trip by the fact that any small athletic endeavor left me completely out of breath and thinking I might just keel over and die. It's also made me seriously consider altitude training before my next big race!

The most fun exercising I did while in Colorado was on my visit with Heidi, my little sister. Heidi decided to take me cross country skiing Aspen style. The day we went was absolutely gorgeous, with the sun so nice and hot that we managed to ski sans shirt for part of the afternoon. This alone would have made the skiing memorable, but the real treat came after the shirt came back on. Apparently when you are in Aspen, home of the millionaire ski bums, cross country skiing actually means skiing 2 km to a beautiful wooden lodge where you are fed 5 star food and drink 15 dollar glasses of white wine. You don't get much better than this:

I felt guilty (and slightly drunk thanks to the increased elevation) after our "pit stop" and we did a few tours before heading back to the car and upscale Aspen life. This may have been the highlight of my Aspen experience, but later that day we sat with Cindy Crawford for dinner. By sat with - I mean that I spotted her at the restaurant and stared at her while she tried to enjoy a quiet meal.

In Denver I had lots of fun opportunities to run around while my Grandpa played Tennis and before the daily crossword regime started in the morning. It was funny to run on bare sidewalks in a city where daffodils and tulips were already poking out off the ground.

My trip back from the States was made slightly more exciting by missed connections and an unexpected overnight in Vancouver, but when I returned it was back to slippery runs and snowy mountain bikes. The next week was slightly more diligent, especially because I had a bike trainer at my disposal. I can't think of anything more boring that biking on an indoor trainer, but I also can't think of any other way to train for road biking when the streets are covered in fresh snow.

I've realized that the best part of my Ironman training is that I get to do all sorts of cool athletic activities with my friends. Whether it is jogging. swimming or biking, I'm pretty effective at recruiting someone to come along. For my friend Princess (aka Alexis), who once told me that she didn't like to sweat, dragging her (kicking and screaming) on my athletic adventure has been particularly satisfying. This weekend she decided to attempt her first ever push-up:

Garden updates will be happening soon, as I am starting to think about seedlings...

Sierra posted this on Mar 31, 2008 from the gym | | permanent link