fleeting trip down memory lane

Trigirl briefly visits Grandma today, who lives near the Teddy Bear Hotel. She was reminiscing about how she used to stay with Grandma in the school holidays and play in her tent in the garden. Trigirl particularly remembers tea at Grandma's: white bread sandwiches, crisps, fruit and a Kit Kat, which she nearly always ate in the garden. Happy Days!

Grandma still has a sense of humour - she was telling Trigirl on the phone today that she was an old hag. Trigirl would have liked to have stayed longer with Grandma. She is going to be 93 in August.

Enduring a pre-breakfast run

Trigirl went for an early morning endurance run of about 50 minutes. Since she is staying at the Teddy Bear Hotel, where they do not serve breakfast til 8am, she decided to go running before tucking into her bowl of cereal.

She found out today why she never ever goes running before breakfast, even the morning after a three-course meal. After about half an hour, at the furthest point from the hotel, Trigirl started feeling really tired and hungry. Since she is used to two-hour runs, this feeling is most unusual.

off to the Teddy Bear Hotel... yayyy!

Trigirl and family are off on fab weekend away with Trigirl's parents, brother, sister-in-law and nephew. Trigirl's mum and dad are very generously paying for everyone to stay at the very quirky 'Teddy Bear Hotel' (as it is fondly known). Trigirl has been visiting this cosy little establishment since she was a little girl.

milk run

Trigirl cycled 1.5 miles to the petrol station at 7am this morning to get milk for breakfast.

Not running like the wind, yet

This is a picture of a red-faced Trigirl immediately after today's 5K time trial. She did it in 25:11. This time is way off her best, but it is not surpising since she has put on weight and has done very little speedwork since February.

Given these circumstances, she is actually quite impressed with herself and predicts a much faster time next time she does it. Can she do it in 24:11 in six weeks?

Self-sacrifice

While Junior Trigirl 1 was at a party, Trigirl took Junior Trigirl 2 to the pool. Junior Trigirl 2 had a fantastic time swimming about three metres from the edge of the pool to Trigirl and back again. She did this for about 45 minutes. Trigirl was cold and bored. This is true self-sacrifice.

yesterday's news: 20K bike time trial

Trigirl meant to say that she did a 20K bike time trial yesterday.

She forgot to set up her heart rate monitor to stop recording at 20K, so in the end she did 21.45km in just under 51 minutes. This is very very slightly faster than when she last did her 20Km time trial in February, which is quite surprising because after her holiday and recent sugar cravings, Trigirl has definitely put on a few pounds.

Tooth Fairy tonight

The Tooth Fairy will be visiting Junior Trigirl 2 tonight. Trigirl had to cut out a tooth shape out of paper since nobody could find the real tooth and Junior Trigirl 2 was worried the Tooth Fairy wouldn't come unless something was left for her.

Junior Trigirl 1 is at last getting one of her front teeth. She lost them over a year ago when she bashed them on somebody's head at a party.

BBQ

Trigirl and family have been to a barbecue at neighbours, ML and JL. Trigirl enjoyed her PIMS and burger, and the Junior Trigirls had a great time playing with the other little girls.

It's great to see you!

An unexpected visit from T and E (who live about 250 miles away)! So, in their honour, the two Junior Trigirls have an impromtu afternoon off school!

Junior Trigirl 2 took this picture of Trigirl, T, E and Junior Trigirl 1.

not quite Rebecca Adlington

Trigirl did a 730m time trial in her local pool today. It took her just under 19 minutes, which is two minutes less than in February! This is great news since swimming is Trigirl's weak point.

CRAAASSSSHHH, CRUNCH, SNAP!

... was the sound of Trigirl falling over backwards into a bush and breaking lots of branches this morning. Trigirl would have been mortified if anyone had seen her, since this ridiculous accident only happened because she was running backwards.

And the reason for this aberrant behaviour? Some while ago, M set Trigirl a series of exercises, including running backwards, to improve Trigirl's running style. Trigirl always knew this particular drill would go awry one day.

CRAAAASHHHHH!

...was the sound Trigirl's jaw made as it hit the keyboard just now. The reason for this shock? Old Flame, N, has just contacted Trigirl via Facebook. She last heard from him in 1992!

Tri-ing in pictures

Out of the swim... on the bike... and just about to run over the finish line. Trigirl in action in the East Grinstead Triathlon on Sunday.

CLICK ON THE PICTURE TO SEE A LARGER IMAGE.

Tri action shot

Here is Trigirl in action on her Bianchi at yesterday's triathlon. She was 13th out of 24 women in her age group. The leading woman was 26 minutes faster than Trigirl.

Even though she says it herself, Trigirl thinks she looks pretty good in this picture.

First tri, 2009

East Grinstead, West Sussex, was the setting for Trigirl's first tri of 2009.

It consisted of the following:

Swim 500m / Bike 26km / Run 5km

Trigirl crossed the finishing line in one hour, 40 minutes. She was pretty happy with her efforts. The transtions went very smoothly; the swim was OK; the bike ride went well; and the run was probably a bit slower than usual, but that is only to be expected since she has not done much speedwork in her training in recent weeks.

She began the race at 7:15am and starting so early was very much a mixed blessing. On the plus side, Trigirl only saw about half a dozen cars in the whole 26km bike ride, even though she was cycling on main roads that were open as usual to traffic. On the downside, Swimmingman had to take Trigirl to the race, and was practically heading for the nearest divorce lawyer once he realised he had to get up well before 6am on a Sunday.

Miss Sweet Tooth

Trigirl has been suffering from a very sweet tooth lately. Maybe it is because she is tired? The night before last she couldn't sleep and was shopping on the Web at 1am (and she now has a lurvelly new pair of winter running trousers as a result!).

She has just eaten half a bag of out-of-date jelly babies. Normally, she is not even tempted to eat them unless she is running ten miles or more.

So smart: pink nails, dress, jewellery and perfume

After school, Junior Trigirl 1 is very impressed with Trigirl's manicured pink nails and her new £2 earrings. She insists that everyone should put on their best dresses, brush their hair and have a squirt of perfume.

Junior Trigirl 1 is far more stylish than Trigirl.

oh what beautiful hands...

This morning, M persuaded Trigirl to have a manicure. This is quite an achievement on M's part because this is not the kind of thing that Trigirl normally does. In fact, she has never done this ever before and she feels out of place going into a nail parlour. Anyway, she was happy to go there with M.

Trigirl's hands have been transformed from gnarled work tools into something approaching femininity.

ooops, forgot again

Trigirl is getting forgetful all of a sudden. She apologises humbly to her loyal readers.

No more ouch

Trigirl went early this morning to visit M. She massaged Trigirl, especially her legs. Trigirl finds it amazing that she can go into M's house feeling stiff and come out an hour later feeling normal. Massage is amazing and M is very good at it.

ouch, ouch, ouuuuchhh!

Trigirl has just collected her bike from Cycle Chick G, who kindly brought it back from Woodbridge in her van. As she was cycling it back the one mile to her house, Trigirl was saying "ouch, ouch, ouuuuchhh" to herself all the way, especially on the steep bit. Her calves were mooing pitifully.

Some statistics from yesterday's ride: 102.9 miles cycled in a time of 11:22:30, with an average speed of 9 mph, an average heart rate of 130bpm and 4518 calories burnt. The total ascent and descent were 1859 metres.

Trigirl must have spent more than an hour recuperating at the four tea huts that were set up for the ride. She has never tasted such delicious canned soup, such yummy Tracker bars, or lovely egg sandwiches as she enjoyed in those rest stops. She also consumed three-and-a-half rounds of those egg sandwiches after the ride!

Trigirl's first 100-mile bike ride

Today Trigirl, M, Cycle Chick G, and Ironman did the Suffolk Sunrise 100-mile bike ride, starting in Woodbridge. Absolutely beautiful! Trigirl and M have never cycled so far before.

Trigirl had been planning to do the 50-mile route, but during the ride Cycle Chick G and M persuaded her do the 100 miles instead.

After about 50 miles, Trigirl had a very sore undercarriage. She spent almost all of the next 50 miles standing on her pedals to avoid any further suffering.

off to Woodbridge

Trigirl is off to Woodbridge today. She is staying the night with her Grandma and tomorrow she is going to do a cycle race. Last time she stayed with her Grandma, it must have been about 1979.

FIVE kids for tea and a new Cycle Chick

Today Trigirl picked up FIVE (yes, that is 5) kids from school... three 4-year-olds and two 6-year-olds. Luckily, they are all lovely, sweet, well-behaved kids, so Trigirl did not have to use any real discipline. A great time was had by all (see top picture). Even Trigirl herself was highly amused at her joke that the headmistress would come and tell them off if they talked too much instead of eating their food. All five girls thought this hilarious, especially when Trigirl pretended she could hear the headmistress knocking on the door.

Suddenly, Junior Trigirl 1 has found a new love for cycling. She is practising in every spare minute. The picture above shows her on her bike before school, at about 7:30am, yesterday morning. She knows that Trigirl always wears gloves while cycling and has adopted some gardening gloves for cycling!

Swim, work, run!

Early morning swim - bad (not in mood for swimming, pool was chocca, pool is not sea)
Midday work - good (got a lot done)
Late afternoon run - good (in sunshine, beautiful woods)

oh, and evening pilates - good (as always!)

What a day it's bean

And the theme of the day is... BEANS! Trigirl popped round to M and discovered that, for reasons only known to herself, she now has a model 3m beanstalk 'planted' in her garden! That's to say nothing of Jack, her 4m model giraffe that has pride of place on her back patio. Shortly after that, Trigirl's mum reminded her to sow the bean seeds that she had given her last week. The Junior Trigirls did this after school.

The day would have been rounded off perfectly if Trigirl had thought of having beans for tea, but she had already promised Swimmingman that she would make make mini pastry-less quiches, as published in Runner's World mag a few months ago.

no socks

Trigirl is getting ready for her first tri of the season, which is now less than two weeks away. She prefers to race without socks since it is only a waste of time putting them on after the swim. She cycled sockless to a local coffee shop today to see if her shoes are OK without socks. They are - or, at least, she didn't get blisters, but she did find the whole experience a bit clammy.

in the zone

While on her Sunday run today, Trigirl 'woke up' and was surprised at her location. She last rembered being at another point half a mile away. She has no idea what route she had taken.

Treating the little monsters

Today, Trigirl and family treated themselves to some one-size-fits-all economy sunglasses ... or perhaps they went to the Imax cinema in London to see Monsters and Aliens in 3D.

standing up to Miss Stinky

Trigirl was asertive today.

Miss Stinky wanted Trigirl to make her a cup of coffee. Trigirl firmly said 'no'. Miss Stinky was taken aback because she is not used to people refusing to do things for her.

Miss Stinky is Swimmingman's sister and lives with Trigirl. She sits in a chair all day long, asking the nearest sucker to tend to her every whim. She is disabled but also very lazy and uses her disabilities as an excuse to make no effort whatsoever. If at all possible, she only gets out of her chair to go to the toilet or go to bed. Trigirl does not want to be a carer for Miss Stinky and has decided it is time to make it clear to her that she must at least try to help herself before Trigirl is willing to step in.

Miss Stinky does not wash either, except under duress from the most wonderful J, hence her nickname. J went on holiday today, so Trigirl is in for a very smelly fortnight.