First Ride of the Year

 The sun was shinning and mother nature was gifting us with great 60 degree weather, she threw us a little bit of wind our way to test our moxie, but we still went out. Eight of us. All happy Mammas, sporting our spandex shorts and bright jerseys. Laughter and jokes going all around. Hubby pumping air into the tires (all the bikes--he is so great!), us fixing our hair and fancy eyewear, doing last minute water preparations. A 3pm start ended up leaving closer to 4pm--that's what happens when you get eight moxie babes on their first ride of the season. We went out without a clear route, wanting to avoid the wind, we figure we could decide as we rode. Around 4pm, we rolled out, waved goodbye to the kiddos and hubbies, and went for our first cycling adventure of the year.

We decided to go up Blacksmith Fork Canyon--uphill for the first half, but sweet, joyous downhill for the  last half. You never realize how out of shape you really are until you are going up the gradient...your lungs burn, your legs scream (specially if you did Leg workouts the day before), and you wish with every ounce of your being that you had not eaten that last cinnamon roll. But even feeling all the burn, it is not enough to discourage anyone from pedaling up the hills. You keep an eye for your friend up front and you pedal trying to catch her, trying to support her and to find support back. When she sees you or you see her and share smiles or a "hey, I am here"...your soul fills with strength, just that little extra that you needed to pedal past the next little hill.

Finally, at the 10 mile marker up the canyon, we congregate again, we laugh, we talk about our their pale legs, our chubs, the ins/outs of our lives, our desires for the up coming season--and in all we bond again! Roadies, friends, sisters!  The winter season may have separated us however the road and our bikes bring us back together each Spring. I love my group. Each one of these moxie gals brings joy to my life and offers me support. I say, it is a great start to another cycling season.

Triathlon Song

I saw this over at Triathlon Jones and I had to cross post it. It got me excited about the upcoming season and the races that I have signed up.

Triathlon Jones has great tips for triathletes especially new wannabes like myself from swimming to biking. If you are new to the sport, hop on over and read his great tips.

Spring has arrived!

The weather has turned to beautiful sunshine and toasty days. I so love Spring and Summer. I was raised in the coast of Mexico and cold weather has never really been my forte. I tend to be okay for the first month of Fall and then my seasonal depression sets in and I have good and bad days, more of the latter. I try to keep myself occupied with different activities: knitting, loom knitting (you have probably seen an increase of patterns during the Winter, yeah, it is due to me trying to keep busy), and the anti-chub pursuits aka exercise, but sometimes they are not enough. Some days I am just crabby and hubby knows to just leave me alone and he takes over the house for the day. Usually, a shopping trip makes me feel better but it is short lived. I need the sun to function. I need the heat to feel alive. I sometimes think that I am like a crocodile--need the warmth to be able to get energy to move.

The sun has been gracing us all week and temperatures have been around 40-50 degrees and it has helped me considerably. I was even able to go out for a run twice this week and tomorrow, Saturday, I will be going on my first bike ride of the season. I will most likely have to wear a jacket but the sunshine is beckoning me to jump on my bike.

On the knitting front: I have received the first 25 pages from my manuscript and I need to revise it and edit what needs edited. So far, I am very pleased with the illustrations. Also, I have been cleaning my little "hole" downstairs and have gone through most of my yarn and I am setting some aside to be donated to the local thrift store and some other that will go to a certain friend. No worries, I still have about 6 huge plastic bins...I have enough yarn probably to last me 5 years and enough sock yarn to make about 100 pairs of socks. Oh yeah, and I also have started working on the Spring issue of LKC.

Exercise this week was phenomenal! I put in about 6000 yards at the pool, lifted weights 3 times: 2 days for my upper body, 1 day for my legs, and I still have tomorrow with my Personal Trainer. I ran 12 miles--outside--so wonderful. Also I did my regular routine with the spinning class.

Tomorrow promises to be a full day starting with a session with the Personal Trainer, swimming, running, and then in the afternoon a short 15-20 mile bike ride. I love the hot weather--it allows me to do so much.

In other less important to the world news but important to me: for the first time in many, many years (about 7 to be exact) I am liking what the mirror is reflecting. I am transforming my body into what I have always wanted, not skinny-fat that weighs as much as a feather but someone with definition and muscles. I am looking forward to a year from now and see the impact weight lifting will have on my body....perhaps even some abs will start showing instead of rolls.

 

Looms International! Hanaami Loom

Edited: We found out what these little things are called: It is the Clover Hanaami-Loom. Check this link out to see how they work. They are supposed to be used as flower looms :). Cute! Also, be sure to check out this website for patterns--I can see lots of hairbow possibilities!

A year or so ago I came into the possession of this cute little set of looms. I don't know what their intended purpose is, I know if I put some time into them I could figure them out. They are sure adorable though. They are made by Clover Japan.

They all fit nicely into a little see-through box that measures only 4"x4".How many of them are in there? Well, let's see: there are 3 little round ones, 2 squares, and one hexagon. They all fit into this little box--watch out though, if you take them out you best remember how they were all packed in because it is a bugger getting them back in.

The coin is a dime--yep! They are that small. It is a cute little set. But it wasn't for me and it is now going to its new little house where hopefully a little girl teen can put them to good use.

Anyways, if you come upon a set like this one and yours has instructions, drop me or Denise a note, we want to know more about them.

 

Bowl with Me

Hubby and I went on a date on Saturday and for the first time ever, we went bowling. We doubled with  Hubby's brother, Wendel and his wife Lucy. They had all been bowling before but it was my first time ever.We went to a little place in Preston, ID called Poppin Pins, an older place but super clean and with superb service! The gentleman at the service desk was really nice providing me with different shoes to try. And even helping me find a bowling ball that wasn't too heavy. I ended up with an orange 8lbs ball. With shoes and ball picked out, I was ready for the challenge.

I was afraid that I would make a terrible date, but after rolling my first bowling ball, I felt great. They were all so supportive and enthusiastic. I really enjoyed it. Even putting shoes that didn't belong to me was a fun experience...fun colorful shoes. Since it was my first time, they put the sides up so that I didn't get gutter balls--they were trying to be so nice to me.

Overall, I got beginner's luck and I got second place overall! At one point, I even got two strikes in a row (when all the pins go down at once, I think it is called a strike, lol), I was feeling so great!! Of course, I also had bad rolls with the ball only dropping one pin, however, the company and the support from my hubby and BIL and SIL made it sure fun. I am already looking forward to my next time, this time around with the kiddos. I think Bryant and Nyah would really love going.

Spring is Around the Corner

The sun is shinning, the snow is almost all melted, and even the birds are coming back and gracing us with their lovely chirping every morning. It is getting warm enough to go out for a nice run...sans gloves! It gets me excited for all the upcoming activities: cycling, triathlons, half marathons, running and even camping!

Last week's workouts rocked! Even though I was down with a cold for 2 days, the other days saw me giving it 100 percent of everything I had. I increased my swimming by 250 yards (5 extra laps) for each day, which meant that cumulative, I added about 1,000 yards to the week's totals, definitely stoked about this change!

Another huge change: my meetings with a personal trainer. He is helping me get proper posture while lifting and by pushing the weight a little higher. He showed me how to use some of the machines that I didn't know how to use, one of them, the Barbell Squat machine. Since I usually have to lift the barbell to place it on my shoulders, I lifted only 40 or 50 lbs, but since I don't have to lift the one on the machine, I was able to squat with 75lbs!!! I am so excited about this change and the way it will improve my leg strength. Another push came in the Dumbell Rows, all along I have been doing them with 15lbs and the trainer gave me a 20lbs dumbell, at first I laughed and said I couldn't do it. He said to try. I did, I had done 15reps and I wasn't tired so he suggested going up to 25lbs. I was able to complete 3sets of 12 reps with 25lbs!!! Stoked for sure! Of course there were other places where I sucked terribly such as the Australian Pull Up--couldn't do more than 8! I have to work on those a bit to bring them up to at least 12.

My weekly totals:

Swimming for this week:
8,000 yards

Run:
7 miles

Spin:
2 hrs

Weight Lifting:
4hrs (both upper and lower)

I am hoping that this next week brings sunshine so I can run outside, health so that I don't have to miss any days at the gym and I can get 10,000 yards of swimming, and lastly fast recuperation so that I can lift weights and start shedding some of the lbs so my cycling goes smoother this season.

In knitting news: I am still on break from both loom knitting and needle knitting. My hands still hurt from the sock knitting I had to do. I figure another week or so of no knitting will help my wrists. However, I am conducing a Sock Loom a Long if you want to join us. We are working on one design for the entire month so you can still join us.

Gotta jet for now but I'll come back and share with you my adventure in Bowling!

Loom Knitting DVD

It is finally coming up! Loom Knitting with the Sprite I.
I have a Database over on the DA Yahoo group where I am collecting names for the first round of DVDs but I have found out that there are a few people stopping by my blog to put down their name. Since I don't know of an easier way, just drop your name in the comments section, be sure to enter your email address in the box (don't worry, no one else can see it). I need a basic number so I can prepare the first batch of DVDs and have enough to go around.

Tentative Contents of Loom Knitting with the Sprite: Just The Basics

E-wrap Cast On
Long Tail Cast On
Crochet Cast On
Cable Cast On
YO Cast On
E-wrap Stitch
Double Stitch (variation of e-wrap)
Braid Stitch (variation of e-wrap)
Knit Stitch
Flat Stitch
U-Stitch
Purl Stitch
Ribbing (2x2)
Garter Stitch
Garter Stitch Tip (when working with e-wrap)
Flat Panel Knitting All Pegs
Flat Panel Slipping the First Peg
Basic Bind Off (open removal)
Single Crochet Bind Off
Gather Removal Method
Creating a Brim

They will all be exactly like the Free ones that are currently available on my blog and through the DA site. Don't worry, after the DVD goes on sale, the Free Videos will still be available for your to view online.

Thanks and if you can think of anything that goes in the Basics section, drop me a note in the comments too.