Saturday Sunrise Ride

Due to time constraints, my Saturday road ride had to be completed in the wee early hours of the morning. I began my travels at 6:00 a.m. It was a beautiful morning. The sun had not yet crested over the mountain behind our home. I mounted my bike and took off in the direction of the Mount Timpanogos Temple. The road along the east side of the temple is a gentle climb until you reach Highland. I passed through Highland and into Alpine. I then made my way west to Traverse Mountain. By now the sun had peaked over the mountains, and the temperature was starting to rise, but there were still relatively few cars on the road.

I wasn't planning on doing a climb, but when I saw a bunch of road riders climbing up Traverse Mountain, I had to join the fun. It was a 20-minute climb to what seemed to be the top to me. I got passed by one person: a runner with huge calves. Should I be embarrassed that I was passed by a person on foot? Possibly, but I was enjoying the climb and the view too much to care. My heart rate was plenty high, so I let the runner pass me without trying to pursue and overtake him back (whilst saying something smug like, "eat my tire dust, super-huge calf man." I always like to wave or say "hi" to fellow road riders, but no one returned my friendly gesture while I was climbing up and they were speeding down. On my way down the climb I found out why: you need both hands on your bike and complete concentration when barreling down the hill. My guess is that I might have reached speeds of 40 mph (I still don't have a speedometer on my bike yet). It was glorious! After traverse Mountain I weaved my way down through Highland and Lehi, then over to American Fork and back to my home in Cedar Hills. It was supposed to be a 4-hour ride, but I only had time for a 2 1/2 hour ride, as I needed to be at my sister Hetty's wedding shower later that morning. I also found that runners said "hi" more than roadies did.

I'd ridden my tri-race bike for the first time last week, but when I rode it again Saturday, I fell in love with the bike and we got married. Our honeymoon will be at the Hawaii half-Ironman in two weeks. I'm changing my name to Cindy Isaac-Fisher. That's how much I love my bike.

I relate very well to Forrest Gump on so many levels, but when I'm riding a bike or out for a run, I love to recall Forrest Gump's words when he's describing the beauty of the earth through the places he's been. I too feel that connection to earth. There was that sunrise over Mount Timpanogos casting its rays over Utah Lake. Then there was the look of the runner's face as he triumphantly passed me. The politeness of drivers pulling over a lane to not frighten me as they drove past. It's a feeling you want to share with loved ones. I wish that joy on anyone wanting to take it.

Let me introduce you to my bikes

My husband is a gear queer. Ever since we've been married he's had the nicest bikes. He worked at a bike shop for nearly the first three years of our marriage, and I'm pretty sure he got paid in bike parts and accessories. Therefore, he always had the nicest stuff. Then he started collecting double the stuff in case a friend wanted to ride with him and the friend did not have a bike. Now I am doing triathlons and I get all his old hand-me-downs. But let me warn you, his hand-me-downs are other people's dream bikes. I don't say this to brag, really, I say this to express my heartfelt appreciation to a husband who likes to collect things, and consequently, collects things for the both of us.

I have two bikes. One bike is a training bike and one bike is a racing bike.

Traing bike: It's a Lemond Versailles. It's navy blue and vanilla painted. It's a workhorse bike, but isn't as fun to ride as my racing bike.

Racing bike: An Isaac Efficiency. It has triathlon-drop handlebars (I'm not sure of the actual term), and it feels like a rocket. When I'm in the tuck zone and speeding down a flat, I feel like I'm doing 30 mph. I don't know how fast I'm going because we've haven't put on a speedometer yet.

Getting a good, fun bike to ride really helps on those long training hours. The only other thing that would help would be a nice long road, with rollers, and no cars.

Nursing myths

When I started training for this triathlon, I heard a lot of bad advice from women, basically telling me to take it easy. Well, let me tell you; me taking it easy is akin to being the biggest slob in the world. The reason why I sign up and compete in triathlons is because otherwise, I would do NOTHING! I would be A-1 coach potato. Some of the myths that were perpetuated on me were as follows:

• Exercising changes your milk, and the baby won't like the taste of it.
• Lactose gets into your milk and causes the baby to have stomach aches.
• Your milk supply will decrease.

After researching the above topics, I found each to be false. My baby hasn't rejected my milk, even when I feed her directly after exercising. My doctor calls it a "salty margarita," because there's salt on the lip of the "glass" but not in the glass. I have been more susceptable to mastitis because of my long workout days, but we've trudged through it.

As long as I take a prenatal vitamin and eat plenty of calories, my milk supply has stayed high. It's more difficult to lose weight fast because I have to eat plenty of calories, but slow and steady wins the race.

Hawaii Half in three weeks

So more than a year has gone by since my last post. Since that time, we have added another addition to our family. Nohealani was born in February, and I started training about a month after her birth. Have I lost all the weight I gained? Nooooo. But let's not go there. Well, actually, can I just say TV folks are sooo not in touch with reality? They were making a big deal of Tori Spelling gaining 40 pounds over her pregnancy. Big deal. Forty pounds is nothing to cry about. I read that Elizabeth Hurley gained 53 pounds, and Jenny McCarthy gained 60 pounds. I myself gained the nice round number of 47 pounds. So I have between 10-15 more pounds to go. But I'm not sweating it. It will disperse somehow or another.

I've been training about one hour a day, and between three and four hours on Saturdays. My days off are Sundays. I am following a plan in a book my husband bought me and it is supposed to get me ready for a half-Ironman in 13 weeks. My doctor is also a triathlete, and he gave me the okay to start training a month after my little girl's birth. He's a pretty cool guy and I see him at races on occasion.