When the rubber meets the road...

a little too hard, you fall over. This Saturday's training session taught me that little gem, which looking at it now could really be a good life lesson as well. We did a 5 mile bike followed by a 2 mile run and then repeated. It was meant to be a transition practice as we are all participating in the Wildman Sprint Triathlon this coming Saturday as a "practice." But, for me it was more of a lesson in stopping my bike. I can get on my bike and go... pedaling, not a problem. Going fast (for me, not necessarily others), not a problem. Stopping the bike and getting off... issue laden. I have a new bike and new clip in pedals and I need a lot more practice with the stopping issue. Particularly the unclipping portion of stopping. I need to learn to snap out that 1st foot (even when approaching stop signs), stop completely while leaning to the side with the unclipped foot and then unclipping the left foot. I have the road rash to prove it... let alone the embarrassment of falling. But luckily, I am the "pick yourself up, dust yourself up and start all over again" kind of gal. I almost fell during the 1st transition (landed square on the bar - glad I'm not male) and did do on the 2nd bike transition. But, I ran the 2 miles afterward all the same and came in 6th out of the 11 or 12 of us that were at practice all the same. So, my goal for the week is to get out there a little bit each day and practice - 1st with my sneakers just pretending to be clipped in and then a little later in the week being actually clipped in. My main problem appears to be that I hold the bike too upright when I go to stop - probably because I'm scared to fall. Ironic.

And then there is the completely separate issue of feeling self indulgent and a bit selfish after this weekend and this morning. I had practice on Saturday and afterwards our coach surprised us with a woman who is battling Leukemia now but is also a practicing sports massage therapist who gave us all massages (not to mention a big Thank You to Jose from Advanced Pro Cycles for adjusting my bike seat and giving me lessons on using my clip ins). After practice, I came home around noon and showered and played with the girls a little bit and then it was nap time. The girls took a nice long nap and didn't get up until around 5 pm, so Mr. Darcy and I played a video game that I got him for Christmas and we were toward the end but hadn't played in awhile. Then we spent a few minutes with the girls and the babysitter arrived and we headed out to a movie. We had Chipotle for dinner, saw "Slumdog Millionaire" (which was amazingly good even if it was more violent than you might expect), and then had ice cream... it counted as my Sunday for lenten purposes. When we got home the girls were in bed and they stayed asleep until what would have been 7:15 usually, which is nice and "late" so we got to sleep in. Then we tried a church nearby (and the girls were angels) and then got haircuts for the girls and Mr. Darcy, bought clothes and some shoes for the girls who are now definitely a 3T, got new bike gloves and bottles, and went home for a few minutes. Then Mr. Darcy and Ladybug stayed home while Angelfish & I did the grocery shopping and came home to dinner of fish sticks and broccoli (and a cliff bar for me for desert). Watched Beauty and the Beast with the little ladies while Mr. Darcy put the groceries away, and then had bath time for the girls and attempted to get them into bed. I say attempted because the little stinkers kept turning on their bedroom light and playing until we finally took the lamp out of their room around 10 pm. Anyway, my point is that I felt guilt in a way... as though I was doing something I shouldn't because there definitely was a lot about what I wanted to do this weekend. But, maybe it is as Mr. Darcy said to me last night when I said I felt bad about watching a movie with the girls while he put the groceries away, "You can't be selfless all of the time." Perhaps I am just trying to find that right balance still, so that when the rubber meets the road it won't be too hard.