The Halfway Birthday Challenge schedule

Longhorn Half Ironman (official race out at Travis Co Expo). Cheering squads welcome!
Swim 1.2 miles
Bike 56 miles
Run 13.1 miles

I think it’ll take me between 7-8 hours. Race starts in waves so I’m not sure of exact start time but if we say 7.30am I should be done around 3 pm

Pick bike up and start Pickle Juice drinking challenge (5 x 500 ml bottles) and drive to Austin for a short stop at a bar to meet up with Austin–based buddies (so they don’t have to trek out to Lago Vista on a Sunday evening). Venue NXNW. I will start the other part of the drinking challenge (a modest 5 bottles/pints of beer). Mixed with pickle juice though……..(in my stomach I mean, not in the glass!). So I’d schedule this bar rendezvous for 5 -7 pm.

Drive home (we will have a party at the house) and launch straight into the next part of the challenge:

50 repeats of Taekwondo forms (I do half the total form)
50 minutes of bedtime story reading to Phoebe (I need to get a book that would take me nearly 2 hours to read so she just gets half the story!)

Then Andrew came up with the following party activities just to make sure I am totally done for.

5 car washes (lucky lottery system or first come first served (no Hummers or Vans (Mrs Schwartz!))
5 slices of pizza
5 bags of crisps
5 mins of violin playing (ear plugs will be provided for guests)
5 mins of knitting
5 mins of reading Shakespeare aloud
5 mins of talking and computer photos about what I do (promise to make it funny)
5 mins of gardening
5 mins of sit ups
5 mins of push ups

25 species of birds see and name though the day.

make 50 cupcakes and eat 5 of them

Finish drinking challenge. Collapse into bed.

That's it - done - halfway to 100!

Long bike

I rode the course today, all 56 miles of it. It is fair to say that I was tired afterwards. One mean dog tried it on but luckily I was going too fast. Bit of a shock though to have it run out snarling and showing teeth. I'm thinking I might complete the physical part of the challenge with 50 repeats of Taekwondo forms. The tri will take 7-8 hours and then we have to get the bike back etc so I'll run out of time if I'm not careful.

Six weeks out

I am ready for this thing to be here. Even though final plans are not set yet, I want to get it done. I am hovering on the edge of injuryland. But I feel ready. A few more long efforts and I will be there. Not sure about the original time goal, but I will give it as good a shot as I can.

Pickle Juice

Training is going OK - need to get the miles up on the bike and run. I'm pretty much there with the swim.

Been thinking about the other parts of the challenge and have come up with part of the drinking challenge.......which will be 5 x 500 ml bottles of pickle juice. I hate the stuff, but it's good for you! After the tri I should be able to get 2 of them down without too much difficulty. They have to be very cold though. The other 3 will be the challenge and will be spread through the rest of the day.

Fate

The mower is dead. Well and truly dead. Maybe hubby can resurrect it when he gets back from Colorado. So the lawn, which is now about 18 inches high, has to be strimmed (for the Brits) or weed wacked (for the Americans). I'll do it bit by bit.

This week is a recovery week in the training schedule, which in practice means loads of workouts at a level of about as much as I can do. LOL. Plus I started back at ATA last night with sparring and combat weapons. It is unbelievable how hard a 2-minute round of sparring is. Anyway despite being tired and sore I headed for the pool tonight after work only to find......it was closed. The sign said "Closed due to high chemical content". Whenever I see the word chemical I think of my stepmother - she is a chemist. Her pet peeve is the way people use the word chemical like it is something evil. Everything is made of chemicals. So with regard to the pool sign I wanted to say "What, you mean the pool is too full of water"? But I suppose it was chlorine or whatever. So fate had dealt its hand. I thought "I hurt and need to rest, and here's the break I need without feeling guilty". (I thought about swimming in the lake but as I'm on my own and am really tired I thought it might be foolish"). So I'm writing this drinking a beer instead! Only one though as I have a run in the morning before work and I'll do the swim tomorrow, provided the pool isn't full of chemicals. Sorry Norma!

Full weekend

Have done 4 workouts (2 bike, 1 run, 1 swim) this weekend. Need to mow the lawn tonight and that will probably kill me as it is a foot high after our vacation and all the rain while we were gone. Andrew did 3/4 of it before he left, but you can only go 12ft before the box is full of clippings and the mower, which is old and knackered, clogs up.

New top speed on the bike 31mph :-0

Disney was great

Back from Disneyworld. A good time was had by all. I swam in the sea twice. Quite hard in the waves. Another 3 seconds has come off the 100yds time (at the first pool workout after getting home). Overall fitness has suffered and weight has gone up but my technique is improving. No more work trips now until Burnet TriHard in Sept. Going to work on the bike while Andrew and Phoebe are in Colorado.