Even though low temperatures are hovering around zero this week, the longer days and daytime highs of close to thirty are giving me spring fever. Thoughts of riding my bike outside and long runs in shorts are constantly popping into my head. Since my marathon is so late in the season, this seems like the perfect time to experiment and try new things.

Yesterday, I ran 10 miles and decided to try something new for me. Natalie said it was one of her favorite things, and Helen has mentioned it in her race reports. It is:

These are tablets that dissolve quickly in plain water and, shazam, you have “a light refreshing electrolyte drink without all the sugars”. Ya, I stole that right from their website. What I get out of that is that it has the electrolytes of a sport drink without any energy. I am trying out the tri-berry flavor right now and I love it. It adds just a little bit of flavor to my water. I thought it was great for a longish run like 10 miles. The workout wasn’t so long that I felt low on energy, but I was sweating and the nuun satisfied my thirst. I’m going to keep using the nuun with water instead of my usual G2, and for longer runs I’ll use it with GU’s for energy.

I’m also tinkering around with my bike set up. I love my bike and I felt like it fit me well last season. Two problem areas, however, were my pedals and my seat. I was using the SPD clips and my pedals could only be clipped on one side. I was constantly frustrated as I had to get my pedal flipped to the correct side before I could clip in. My seat was okay but not the most comfortable on the “sensitive”  areas, if you know what I mean. I now have Speedplay pedals and a new “female friendly” seat, both of which  I tried out for the first time today on the trainer. I had to keep getting off the bike to adjust the seat and to figure out why my shoe was making an annoying clicking noise. It was driving me crazy! I won’t bore you with the details, but basically there is a wad of toilet paper in the bottom of my shoe that seems to have solved the problem for now. I didn’t ride enough to asses the seat comfort, but now that everything is adjusted, hopefully next time I can ride longer to know if it is going to work for me. I have been avoiding the bike trainer all winter, so it was an accomplishment just to get the bike loaded up and to give it a try.

I’m hoping to be working on my swimming, too. I requested a couple books from the library. Unfortunately, I’m not the only one thinking about swimming so there is a wait list. In the meantime, I’ll amuse myself by futzing around with my bike and drinking my nuun.

… to state the obvious: Please wear your helmet. Please make your kids wear a helmet. Yes, I know all of you do this already. You are perfect and do what you are supposed to do. You are good parents and your kids love wearing their super cool helmets.

He has a head ache and is scraped up but is going to be fine. Here is his bike tire:

I’m sure that the helmet saved him from a serious head injury.

I’m thankful we live in a society today that promotes people wearing seat belts and helmets. When I was a kid, we made fun of people wearing seat belts as if being safe was uncool. I remember wearing a seat belt for the first time when I wasn’t much younger than my son is now. It felt strange and constricting and a little over protective. I’m so glad things have changed. I’m so glad I am typing this right now, stating the obvious, instead of sitting in the emergency room.