My CD0.1's Maiden Voyage

Last Thursday, I decided it was time. I had this sweet new ride calling my name, and I was SO eager to take it out, despite previously described apprehension being 11 weeks postpartum. I dug through my drawer to find a pair of bike shorts that fit me, handed Henry off to Steve, and set out for a quick spin to try everything out. I hadn't been on a bike since May and haven't been able to ride outdoors Since mid-October last year.
Henry and I posed for this pic before I set out:

Henry likes the new ride. Mama likes it more!

It. Was. Glorious.

I only went for 15 miles or so, but I felt great. This bike is crazy fast, and though I was a little nervous that it would take a lot of time to get to know my R2C shifters, it seemed to click pretty fast. My average wasn't spectacular, but given my time away from the bike, it really wasn't that bad, especially considering the number of stop signs I hit.

I felt like me again riding. Although my running is progressing, my times aren't really coming down. I still feel slow and heavy, but on my bike, I felt like an athlete, like a person, not just a mommy milk machine.

I got home with a big smile on my face, and Steve snapped this photo:

Home after a quick fun ride.

I squeezed in another ride on Saturday. Same thing. I felt great, and with that, I signed up for my first and only tri of the season - the St. Croix Valley Sprint Tri.

I have been in the pool twice since Henry's birth, but my swims went OK. I've lost a lot of speed, which I'm hoping to get back once H is not so cranky that he can't go to Kid's Care at our Y. I'm confident I'll be fine in the 1/3 mile swim. The bike is only 10 miles, and the run is 4 miles. It will be my first ever sprint tri, and although it will no doubt be embarrassingly slow, I have to keep telling myself that I gave birth 12 weeks ago and need to cut myself a little slack. I am really hoping to focus on getting my speed back over the winter to see what I can do in shorter distances next year, and this will be a great starting point.

On the running front, I've been increasing my mileage pretty successfully. I logged nearly 30 miles last week with my long run being a 16 miler. My speed just isn't coming back as fast as I'd hoped, but now that I've been able to get back some of the distance, I hope to incorporate some speed work back into my regimen before my marathon in a month. The race this weekend will serve as my "recovery" day. Next weekend I'll put in an 18 miler. The following week I'll shoot for 20, and then I'll taper for 2 weeks and see if I can hit the finish line in the 6 hour time limit on October 2. I'm really hoping that being at the back of the pack will allow me to meet some new people who need a little encouragement. I thrive on getting people excited out there. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the TCM course and will show it off whenever I can.

On the Henry front, things aren't going much better, which makes me really nervous to send him to be with someone else when I start work next week. I mean, if his own mother has trouble settling him down some days, how is a stranger supposed to do it? Fortunately, we have a neighbor caring for him. She has 2 kids of her own, and one of them was a crabby baby. We had a 2 hour trial the other day, and it went really well. He was sleeping when I got there to pick him up. By the end of last week, he was extra crabby. I had cut out ALL dairy for over 2 weeks at that point (save for one day when I had a moment of weakness and ate a cookie with butter in it), but it really didn't seem to help his disposition. We thought it was helping his intestinal issues, but he had another bloody poo on Saturday, so we're back to square one. I ended up cutting out all wheat, soy, and eggs for the last few days, but the LC today told me to forget about it. It's been a really frustrating process. We've seen 2 doctors, a lactation consultant, a Douala (the teacher for our birthing class series where we had a reunion yesterday) and a chiropractor within the last 2.5 weeks, and all of these "experts" think that they know the cure-all and are contradicting the information that the other ones are giving us. By this afternoon, I was really ready to call it quits on all of them. I know that the real "cure" for colicky babies is usually just time, but it's so hard to watch your baby scream and not do anything. I would feel terrible if there were really something wrong, and we just ignored the signs. Then, as if to tell me everything would be just fine, I figured out how to make him giggle today, and that was worth all of the frustration I'd had in the morning.

My last race was one week before Henry was born. My next one will be 12 weeks afterward. I think it's going to be a pretty surreal experience having him at the finish line. Wish me luck!