Friday thoughts: food, wetsuits, and my mother in law laid down the gauntlet

So, here we are another week has passed, and thankfully, my hard work is continuing to move my weight in the right direction. I was back down to 314 on the scale this morning following the 14 miles on the bike yesterday.

Here are the thoughts for this weekend:

- Today was the Morning of Temptation, and I have to admit I have succumbed to the free food and availability of money for additional food purchases on this fine payday Friday. We'll make sure to work out today so that the consequence of eating too much for breakfast don't stick with me. I don't remember what's on the schedule for tonight, but we'll be doing something for sure.

- Going to be really smart this week about food, especially as we taper a little bit on our workouts. I plan on doing this race at a lower body weight than any of my previous triathlons. Lots of water intake, and no great carb loading as this is a sprint.

- I called into Fast:Splits and rented Rachelle a wetsuit for next weekends race. It should fit her appropriately, but we're going to run over and have her try it on today before we take it for the week. The plan is to do an open water swim on Sunday in the lake where the race will take place. Water temperatures are in the mid 50's with most of the coming week expected to be in the 70's. Race day is currently predicted to rain and be in the mid 60's, but weather changes in a second out here so who knows. With the expected temperatures, we're also considering neoprene swim caps and swim shoes (both legal by USAT and ok'ed by the race director). Cost will be a consideration, as we can't rent those, so we'll probably decide after the our swim this weekend.

- Friend of the blog Fat Cyclist is participating in his first Ironman triathlon this weekend. Suffice to say I'll be rooting for him and using his halfway splits for each segment of the race as some set of goals for Timberman. Maybe I can make it a challenge that if I can't meet his half splits, that I have to donate to his Livestrong team.

- My bike's mysterious creaking sound has not dissipated. It comes only when I apply pressure to the left side of the handle bars while turning the cranks. I am quite sure this bit of information will help the mechanics at the local shop with their tuneup of my bike. The store where we got Rach's bike/wedding gift provides a year of free maintenance, so we'll be getting hers a once over as well.

- A few weeks ago, my mother-in-law competed in her first 5k. She's in good shape, regularly visiting the gym and participating in zoomba classes (I've never asked what Zoomba is but the name would seem to indicate some sort of Jazzercise classes mixed with alligator wrestling). She picked up on the idea of running last fall, did some training, and put in a 34:26 in her first race. She's talked a little smack over the phone and on Facebook, so now I have to step it up. I've been shooting for 12:00 miles for the early part of my season (I'm not there yet), with the idea of 10:00 miles for Timberman as an ultimate goal. This will be a developing story as we've all now entered a 5k race for the weekend we're visiting Wisconsin for my brother-in-law's high school graduation. Expect the blog to be the home of some smack talk of my own.

- I've been giving more thought to meeting with a run coach. My swimming has clearly improved after the swim clinic early this year, and my running is the area that can use the most help, and I am the most clueless. We probably can't afford an ongoing basis kind of thing, but looking for a 1 time set of advice is probably within our means.

- A busy day at work precludes me sharing the longer post about my goals for next weekend, but that'll come next week for sure.

I hope you all have a good weekend, and enjoy the weather by getting out there and exercising in whatever form you choose!