Suicide

"Joe, there hasn't been a car in sight for the past four hours; can we just go back to the weeds up on the north end of the lake?"

"Randall, be patient. I can sense something coming. Plus, you chickened out on the last car. You have to prove that you can make it across before the car comes without getting run over."

"But I'm bored."

"I think you're chicken. You just don't want to play chicken because you're scared to run across the street."

"No, I'm not! I'm just bored!"

"Chicken! Bak, bak, bak, bak, BAK!"

"No, I'm not! I'm not a chicken! Stop it, Joe!"

"Wait! What's that?"

"It's too small to be a car."

"There's two of them... it's two cyclists! They must be training for Wildflower!"

"Come on, Joe. Let's get out of here."

"No, here's your chance. We'll play chicken with the bikes. The last person to go and make it across the street without getting hit wins."

"No, Joe. Let's just go to the lake."

"Come on, you can do it. You don't want all the other squirrels to make fun of you for being a scaredy-cat, do you?"

"Joe!"

"Here they come!"

"Joe!"

"Get ready!"

"Joe!"

"Go!"

"Joe! Oh shoot!" That split second cost Randall his tail. As the two squirrels darted across the rode, they both slid in front of Sloan's tire with finesse; unfortunately, I did not see them coming. Cah-clunk!

"Squirrel!" Sloan yelled.

Before I had time to question, my front tire maimed the tail and I jumped in the air, my heart pounding madly. "Ah! Ah! Ah!" I screamed. How did I stay on my bike? I looked at Sloan, my eyes filled with confusion, fear and desperation. "What just happened," I asked, bewildered.

"Did you hit it?!" He asked.

I turned around, but didn't see anything in the road.

"Hit what," I asked.

"The squirrel," was his response. "It darted out right in front of us!"

(Back in the brush on the side of the road, Randall sits licking his wounds.)

"Oh, my tail! Oh, the agony," he wails.

Poor squirrel.

Moral of the story: If you are a squirrel, stay away from my bike. If you are a bird, stay away from Sloan's car hood (we won't even get into that). It is suicide.

Speaking of suicide, Sloan and I practiced the Wildflower bike course last Tuesday morning. I took the first part of the day off of work, stayed the night with my cousin, Torrey, and met up with Sloan to go hit Hertz hill. If you are an avid reader of my blog, you know that this hill was plaguing my nightmares. I figured it was time to climb my Everest. We got to the lake around 10AM and suited up.

The first hill was indeed brutal; however, the last hill before the turnaround was a beast. I was already tired, I mean, we had been biking for 12 miles! Thank goodness for Sloan! I found out I have been climbing incorrectly for the past year! I always stay in the big chain ring for hills. Sloan looked over at me on Hertz Hill. "What are you doing? Get out of your big chain ring!" That helped a lot!

The lake is beautiful. They already are decorating for Wildflower (if you want to call it "decorating").

On every hill, I just kept counting to myself: "One, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight" all the way to the top. True story, not gonna lie to you, there were some gnarly hills. There were a couple of hills in which I thought to myself, "I am done with triathlons after this year. I hate swimming and now I hate biking. It is time to commit to running events," but I can't give up on my Giant.

Me looking like a twelve-year-old after the ride beat me up

By the way, I need to think of a name for my bike. What are some giant names? Like from Jack and the Beanstalk... what was his name? I can't believe it's almost been a year and I haven't named my bike!

Back to the hills... they hurt! But I know I can do them now. That gives me some hope. I'm glad I went out to practice the course. This morning, Jennifer and Pat were trying to convince me to do a Century ride with them next weekend. As they spoke, I smiled and nodded, but deep down I was thinking, "You crazy lunatics, there is no way I am riding 100 miles two weeks before my race! Are you insane?!"

The hills really got to me, so I thought, what better way to challenge my cycle class than to simulate the Wildflower course on the stationary bike. Most of the class was spent climbing in zone 4. By the end, they were all drenched in sweat. "Hey, think of it this way, guys," I noted during the cool-down phase of the workout. "The rest of your day will be nice and flat. No more hills. In fact, you could say it's 'all downhill from here'." As soon as the words left my mouth, I wished I could reach out and put them back in. People were shaking their heads. Soft chuckles of pity fluttered through the room. "Wow," I commented. "I'm a loser." There may have been a couple of heads nodding in agreement.

After class, I drove in the rain to my new favorite coffee place. One of my boss' friend started a cafe that has the best cappuccino I've tasted in my town. It is smooth and delicious. All the cyclists in town go to this shop. Actually, I've seen a lot of runners there, too. It's my new home. Plus, it's super cheap compared to Starbucks and Peet's. I grabbed my new book and my wet, soy cappuccino and waited for Ben. Ben and I spent an hour and forty-five minutes talking about all the important things in life, aka coffee, that guy who is running for president and home group... oh! And how awesome Oregon is!

My  new book and my soy cap

The retirement home I teach at is still under quarantine, so I decided to run. During my cycle class, one of the triathletes informed me that the hill we run at Wildflower is worse than the biking hills. Uhmmm what?! "Yeah," she began. "You should definitely go out and practice that one before the event."

"But I don't have time! I had to take work off and I can't do that again!!!"

"Oh... You may want to start running some big hills," was her response.

View from my run

To conquer these hill drills, I decided to run this canyon yesterday. It was a decent climb. Not too bad. Unfortunately, my knee was giving me issues on the bike while climbing at Lake San Antonio and it acted up again on this run. I had planned to run out the canyon and back, but once I did the canyon and went out a little ways more, I decided I would just circle around and finish on a flat, grass course instead. As a reward, I went out to my favorite beach and read more of my book before work.

I taught some classes that night, then ended with Pure Awesomeness. So, my amazing personal trainer from back in my volleyball days (shout out to Rich Hummel!) created this cycle playlist in which there are several spots where dogs bark. He uses this for sprints during a spin class, I used it in Pure Awesomeness though. During our regular weight lifting workout, every time the dogs barked, we would drop down and do 10 push-ups. During the second round of weights, we would drop the weights and do 10 jumping jacks. It was hard, but really fun. Something new and exciting.

I used the dogs again in my cycle class today. Every other song, we would stand in zone 4, next song, we were seated zone 2. When the dogs barked, we would sprint up to 110+ cadence. It was one of the most difficult classes I've ever taken and I was soaked when class finished. "You're an animal," Dave stated. "Ashlee, you are insane."

I went to talk to Denise after class. She asked why she never sees me anymore. I told her all about my eight jobs, which are all fitness related, and the workouts I do on top of them. Next, I told her about the events I am training for. With every word that left my mouth, I realized more and more just how intense I am. No wonder I don't have a social life. No wonder I sit in front of the computer and make up stories about what squirrels are thinking before they decide to run out in front of my bike. Cough, cough. Loser! Cough, cough. Sarah and Sophia both sent me a photo of a Dove wrapper that reads, "It's okay to slow down." Is it? Or, like the squirrels, am I testing the limits? Cheating suicide? I wonder...

Planning in Threes

Do you ever try to figure out what life will be like three years from now? I used to do that all of the time. I had plans for my life... big plans.

When I was 15, I was planning on what college to attend when I turned 18. I assumed I would go to Point Loma Nazarene University because that is where I attended surf camp with my best friend. We were going to surf every day. I was going to start my own surfing magazine. She was going to start an orphanage. We were going to marry cute surfer boys and live side-by-side on the beach. We were going to "save" each other on our wedding nights by kidnapping the other one before she got to the hotel. It was going to be a good life. A perfect life.

Well, I turned 18. My best friend got married. In fact, four out of five of my closest friends got married that summer. I was dating a guy my parents didn't approve of, so when marriage came into the plan, they sent me away to Bible school in Colorado. Life was not as I had planned. So I made a new plan: By the time I turned 21, I was going to be married to a handsome, strong, Christian man. I was going to attend a private Christian university in Southern California and aim toward teaching high school health.

My twenty-first birthday rolled around. I was out of shape, didn't have a boyfriend and wasn't entirely sure what I wanted to do with my Kinesiology degree. So, I made a new plan: At the age of 24, I hoped to have a husband, a house on the beach and two kids. My suitemates from college would all live in my neighborhood and our kids would play together every day. I would be teaching high school health or something along those lines. Life would be good.

Now I'm 24. As you can probably tell, my husband and kids got a little lost along the way. For the first time in my life, I am satisfied with where I am now. I love my jobS (yes, the S is capitalized because I  have so many darn jobs, as the man who flirts with me every day after my cycle class likes to remind me), my house is conveniently located, I do live on the beach (or close to it) and I have great friends. Life is good. What will I be doing three years from now? Uhmm... probably writing a blog that says, "At the age of 27, I hoped to be married with two kids and a dog, living close to my best friend, working as a sonogram technician. Now I'm 27 and I do triathlons for fun, teach cycle classes and go home to my cat every night." Uhmmmm I need to start taking a different direction with my life.

Thursday evening, it was time to swim. My friend Matt joined me at the pool and we did our drills.

Friday morning, I was blessed with Drea's class. Oh, my entire body ached going into it. Was it the Pure Awesomeness class? Maybe it was the epic cycle classes I've been using to overtrain myself. Possibly, it is a combination of all of these things. But... ow! Drea, stop kicking my butt! My glutes are on fire! Oh wait, don't stop! Make it hurt more! Try to make me sore! I can't even explain how awesome Drea is! And now we are friends; we have conversations about work and cycling and husbands and flat tires...she is pretty much amazing.

After Drea's class, I got to meet up with Lauren because she came to my class at Fit Buddha! It was so fun! She was the only one there, so she got her own private class. We followed the cycle class with breakfast at Jeannine's, which is always delicious.

Saturday was filled with cardio burn classes and Pilates. Despite the fact that the weather was incredible, I still went into the indoor pool to swim for an hour. After my swim, I stopped by the front desk and Jameisha and I made plans to go on a trail run. Then, I made some very poor decisions. I had not eaten since 6am. A friend had said he was going to buy me lunch, so I picked him up from the airport instead of stopping by my house and grabbing a snack. I was starved. I decided I could either go home and get food or I could grab some veggies at Whole Foods. Well, I got to Whole Foods and, being the day before Easter, it was crazy in there! I grabbed some protein bars and a pear, paid and walked out to my car. Well, so much for lunch. I decided since I planned on running, I would treat myself to my favorite meal: A portabello mushroom sandwich. I walked to the restaurant, waited for my sandwich and took it home to eat. I knew I should stop when I was halfway through, but it was sooooo good. So I finished the entire thing. Then I received my Easter package from my mom, which was filled with coconut and almond filled Hershey's kisses. I sat down, turned on Scrubs and ate almost all of the kisses. I have this problem where I eat way too much food. When it was time to meet up with Jameisha, I could barely move because I was so full. The entire run, I could feel my stomach bobbing up and down. Blech.

We tried a new trail today. It was pure hill. But it was the best view I have ever seen. Beautiful, gorgeous, wish you were here.

Sunday was Easter, so I met up with Katrina and Anne for a trail run before work (yes, I worked on Easter). It was a fantastic run! I stayed with them for the first half, then took off on the second because I wanted to make it to the top before work. I love the fact that most of the women I spend time with are older. They are settled, have husbands, real jobs and kids. These types of relationships are so meaningful to me because through our conversations, I learn so much about life and love and spirituality. I discover the traits that I want in my life. I am so grateful for these women.

Anyway, I made it to the top of the trail in 45:57.0 then ran back down on my own. It was a beautiful Sunday morning and the sun was beginning to send its warmth through the forest trees. I may have turned into a five-year-old and started imagining that I was a contestant in the Hunger Games. I ran faster than I've ever run before. I skipped over the babbling streams, leaped off of rocks and dodged fallen trees. I imagined that those big dogs were on my trail. It was exhilarating and I loved it! Playing make believe is not such a bad thing. It totally helped my training. Plus, I prefer trail running to road running. WAYYYY more exciting!

This is where I want to run one day:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=sipCFJMe-Bc

Putting the "Extra" in Extraordinary

A deep feeling of accomplishment and pride overflowed from my Lulu-clad body last Monday. For the first time in my life, I was experiencing acknowledgement of my success as an instructor from one of my bosses. Sure, I've had several bosses tell me, "People seem to really enjoy your classes" or "You're doing a great job. I hear you've added some core work into the class", etc., etc.; however, last Monday, Marcus made me feel like a shining star.

"Ashlee," his voicemail began. "It's Marcus. I am going to have our new instructors come take your class because I want them to see how a cycle class should be taught. I think you are invaluable as an instructor and I think they can learn a lot from you. I will be there as well. Great! See you Monday!"

Monday is supposed to be my recovery day, but I still have to teach my two morning cycle classes. In my first class, we have monitors that tell us our power output (measured in Watts), so we did an hour of aerobic endurance work. For my Fit Buddha class, we are on Schwinn bikes with no monitors, so everything is measured by perceived exertion. I never like to plan those types of classes; I would rather see who comes to the class and base the workouts on what I think they can handle that day. Without a plan in mind, I walked into the cycle studio. Aaron, Chelsea and Marcus were setting up their bikes. I had met Chelsea and Marcus before, but I introduced myself to Aaron and we chatted about bike set-up and the basics.

Marcus made an announcement: "I have asked Ashlee to lead a class for us today in order to teach us how to be a better instructor. She has a world of knowledge and can help us learn how to set-up and conduct a class. She will be watching your form and being brutally honest with you. Please feel free to make comments, Ashlee. Ask her questions at the end of class." He continued to make remarks about my abilities and my experience and I felt like I had been teaching my entire life, like I was one of the greatest instructors of all times and he was stoked to have me in there. I know I have a lot to learn and I've only been teaching for a little over a year, but to finally be recognized by an employer for my accomplishments made me want to be a better instructor! He has now participated in two of my classes, so I know he is speaking from his heart, not just based on what others tell him. Thank you, Marcus, for believing in me.

Halfway through the class, I decide to whip out a joke (as usual). "What type of room has no walls and no ceiling?" The room is silent except for the sound of my music through my headphones. "A mushroom!"

Marcus shakes his head. "Did you ever work at Disneyland," he asks.

I should work at Disneyland! I don't know why this thought has not occurred to me! I would be the perfect little corny joke teller! Send me an application, Disney! I'm your girl!

On Tuesday, I ate lots of yummy food: Crepes and coffee with Matt and Panino with Connor. It was fun to get to know a new friend and catch up with an old friend. Both restaurants were in the same area of town, which is a beautiful, Parisian looking corner with bakeries and blossoming trees. It helped me realize how much I love the town I live in. It is always warm and serene. I can run almost every day of the year without worrying about rain or sleet or snow. For the past five years, I have been so anxious to move on to the next great adventure, but I have finally reached a place in my life where I am completely happy. I live in a beautiful city, my jobs allow me to be active and involved with helping other people live a healthy lifestyle, rarely do I have to struggle to pay for food or necessities, I live within walking/biking distances of all of my jobs, etc. There really is no reason for me to be unhappy. I am so grateful for what I have and who I have become.

After lunch, I swam and ran. No biggie. I won't even bore you with the details.

On Tuesday evening at the track, Richard and I worked on sprints and muscular endurance. We did 10 twenty second sprints with 2:00 walking recoveries. During our 9th recovery, a woman sprinted past us; "You have inspired me," she yelled, pumping her fists into the air. It was funny at the time, but it's actually really cool to see how one person's desire to be active and challenge themselves can set off a domino effect, inspiring other people to push their limits. I hope she keeps it up!

My Wednesday morning cycle class was rough. We did twenty minutes of speed skills to warm up, but after warming up, we got into force drills, which are never that fun. We did three minutes of zone 5 climbs. That is 110% effort. Yuck. Then we did a 2:00 recovery and repeated five times before finishing off with ten minutes in zone 2. I didn't even have any jokes to tell the class to lighten the mood; it was all work, no play.

The retirement home I work at has been attacked by a virus, so my class was cancelled, which allowed me to go on a run with Renee. She was in town visiting, so I took her up to the bluffs overlooking the ocean and we ran five miles, enjoying the sunshine and the warmth of the morning.

I got stuck in traffic on my way to meet Sophia for lunch. They decided to do construction next to my house and once I got into the thick of it, there was no way out. Okay, put me in a car, forcing me to face my biggest fear (driving) then shoving me in stop-and-wait traffic while my stomach is empty right after a run?!? Universe, what were you thinking?! I'm just glad I didn't leave my car on the side of the road and run the rest of the way... oh... I should have done that. Goodnight nurse.

That evening, I taught my cardio core classes, then headed in to teach Pure Awesomeness. Twenty-two people were sitting eagerly waiting for me to push their limits. "Uhmmm... Uhh... I guess I should have prepared for this... Grab a partner! Wheelbarrow races!" So it wasn't the Hunger Games boot camp I had anticipated, but it still kicked butt. I think I will save my Hunger Games awesomeness for when Weston comes to visit. I want to make my class remember my name. Okay, so they already do, but still, I want them to leave the room crawling. Oh no... am I mean? I have already had three people tell me how sore their shoulders are from that class. Suckers! I should be grateful that I don't get sore.

This morning, I've been teaching since 5:30AM. Best class of the day? Well, of course it would have to be my 12:15 cycle class! Don't get me wrong, I love teaching the other cycle and cardio burn classes, but being able to do the class with my participants really picks me up. I feel like I am a better instructor when I participate because I can feel their pain. We did a lot of climbing today, mostly because I'm getting really nervous about Wildflower. People keep telling me about how hard the hill is. I already have a really hard time with climbing. I don't think I know how to do it correctly. The bike portion of Wildflower starts on a hill... a big, big hill. I don't think I've ever completed a big hill; I usually turn around halfway. Do you think they will let me walk it up the hill? I want to cry because I'm so nervous that I won't be able to make it up this hill. You have no idea how much this hill is stressing me out. How do I get over this darn hill? What should I do to practice? How do I guarantee that I don't have to forfeit the race? What if I come in last place? What if I don't finish at all? Oh no... I  think I just pulled all of my hair out of my head. Eff. Time for a wig.

Anyway, we did hill work. Lots of zone 4's (95% effort) and zone 5's (110% effort). So fun... not, but my class loves me, so we did it anyway. After class, Mike came up to me. "Ash, I ran three miles this morning. I have to tell you, you are the only instructor who makes me question running. Usually, I can wake up in the morning and go on a 4 or 5 mile run with no problem before a cycle class; however, when I know you are teaching, I question whether it is a good idea to run beforehand."

"Awwww," I made that funny noise that signifies the act of one's heart being melted. "Thank you, Mike." I love getting compliments like that.

So there is this endurance race coming up where they don't tell you what the obstacles are, but it's 100 miles of things such as rock climbing, kayaking, finding your way through the wilderness with a compass, mountain biking, running, etc. Guys, I really want to do this race! How epic would it be? I must learn how to rock climb!... and read a compass. Ready? Time to train!

P.S. I am putting together a team for Tough Mudder this summer. If anyone is interested in competing, please let me know. I would love to have you on my team. OOOOOOOOO! We can even make team shirts! Ahhhhh! Let's do it! Who is in?

Let's Turtalise 'Em (aka Give them Shell)

Riddle me this: What goes up when the rain comes down? Answer: Not my feet!

Something in the air was tempting the rain to pour when I left the house on Saturday morning. I said goodbye to the dogs and wished them luck staying dry. I grabbed some hot chocolate (because chilly mornings like these require a warm liquid to tag along throughout the day). My pink, white and green striped umbrella promised to make me look like a giant watermelon, so I grabbed it for kicks. Hey, when you collect umbrellas, you have to use them at any chance that comes your way.

Classes went smoothly, though spring break had stolen most of my clients. When it came time to teach Pilates, only three people showed up. Three is better than none. One minute sumo squat pulses, two minutes deep lunges with a tricep press on each leg and three minutes in plank position for warm-up. Ouch. The class flew by. I shortened the length of time they usually hold each move, thinking we would have more time to do some new exercises, yet the hour was over sooner than I expected. I apologized that it seemed so short, but Sharon, Kim and Kelly were not complaining. In fact, they were grateful it was over.

The rain decided to take a nap in the clouds for a bit, so I debated what my next move would be for the afternoon. I needed to run two hours and swim one, but which would come first? And I needed to clean the house I was house sitting; you know, get my food out of the fridge, wash the sheets, give the dogs one last walk, etc. I grabbed a coffee and a giant chocolate chip cookie, just because I wanted to.

Matt and I met up a couple of hours later. Many of my friends are not up for a good trail run, but Matt was willing and ready. We got up to the trail and off we went. It was an amazingly gorgeous day and it was fun to get to know Matt a little bit better.We talked about running shoes, 5AM baseball practices and Ninja Turtles. Did you know that they are making a movie where Ninja Turtles are aliens? How dumb is that? I do not support this at all. Ninja Turtles are turtles, not monstrous creatures! That is what is so epicly amazing about them! You know what's funny? I wasn't even allowed to watch Ninja Turtles growing up, along with every other show out there; however, there was a cute boy in my preschool (Zack was his name, turtles were his game) who had a Ninja Turtles pillow case and loved them. Yes, my boy crushes started at a very young age, but Zack was the first, so even though I was forbidden to watch the show and really had no idea what it was all about, I was a hardcore fan. Actually, even though Zack has moved on and has a baby of his own, I still am a Ninja Turtles fan. I am so bizarre.

So where were we? Oh trail run. We got to the top and it started to drizzle. By the time we got to the car, more than just a light rain was coming from the skies. I let the water drench my hair and my running tights. Good thing I wore my muddy old Sauconys. I would hate to get my beautiful Brooks dirty.

We said our goodbyes and I went straight to the pool. Bloggers, guess what?!?! I'm getting so much better! I can now do a 25m sprint in 19 seconds, which is 16 seconds shorter than it used to take me. I can swim over 500 meters without getting exhausted and having to stop. I remember when I used to swim with Josh and going 50 meters straight was a challenge. I am so on it. Dang girl, you swim, girl.

It was pouring when I exited the pool. Though I had planned to go to my college's school-wide musical, I didn't feel like getting soaked, so I called Heather and we went to see Hunger Games. My grandmother bought me the book, so I somewhat knew what to expect, but movies are always a bit different. The beginning totally disappointed me. As I sat their bored, I thought of how dull the colors were and how I had envisioned this story in a much different way. Then something changed. My heart started beating. The characters came alive. I felt the main character's fear, her anxiety, the muscles in my neck got stiff. I jumped out of my seat at parts because I was so into it. Oh man. Good, good movie. I totally want to be as bad A as Katniss is. I'm going to make my own Hunger Games boot camp. Get ready, Pure Awesomeness class. You are about to feel the wrath of my "hunger". Hahahaha. Get it? No. Okay. My bad.

Sunday, I met with a new client and gave her some core exercises to work on before starting class. I taught my classes then locked up the shop so I could walk home and go on a bike ride. Steadily, I walked up to the stop light. There, a woman stood with her baby, feeding it pieces of a banana. She looked over at me. "Don't you work at (insert name of one of the gyms I work at)," she asked.

"Yes," I responded. "I do. Are you a member?" This is so funny. I have cut back my hours at this gym by 3/4ths and people are finally starting to notice me? What is this? I walked Sarah and her baby all the way home, totally passing my house. It was fun to chat with a complete stranger.


I hurried home and threw on my bike gear, grabbing a bite of salmon and some lettuce before hitting the road. Angie and Kent had suggested I bike out to see the goats, which is a 34-mile ride. I wanted a new ride with some adventure on the freeway, so I started my trek. It was awesome! I did a 15 minute warm-up, gradually increasing speed and intensity. Then I started the good stuff. 8:00 in heart rate zone 4, 2:00 easy recovery five times. After that, it was a simple 45 minutes in heart rate zone 2 then a 10 minute cool down. The cool down was the hardest part. My legs were refusing to move. I wondered if I had fueled properly. There were points within the last 4 minutes where I wasn't entirely sure I would make it home, but I kept digging my legs in and home I got.

After grabbing a peanut butter smoothie, I met up with Richard for an hour of hill sprints. I kept thinking to myself, "I shouldn't be doing this. Let him do it by himself." Then I thought, "Well, that's not what a stud would do. The hills only take 2:00 then it's a downhill recovery before starting over. Eh, let's do it! Gotta keep Richard on his game!"

I had just enough time to change for church then see Mat Kearny play an acoustic concert. Great Sunday. I love Sundays.

Get Outta My Head!

Welcome to Ashlee's mind. It's a strange and scary place, so grab a bike and let's get to exploring. On the right you will see a window into one of my classes from the week. Ooooo looks like a disaster! Let's go on an adventure, shall we?

It's Thursday. Last night I got three hours of sleep. Just couldn't sleep. It happens. It's already noon and I've been teaching classes since 5:45AM. I'm tired, but I'm about to teach my favorite cycle class and I'm excited to see my friends... I mean, the members that take my class. I get to work five minutes early and take my time filling up my water bottle. When did Josh put that dorky sticker on his car? I say hello to Mavel and Cody and grab a towel before walking to the cycle room. For the first time in weeks, no one is waiting outside the room for me to open the door; however, like my cat knows the second I pull out a can of cat food, my cyclists know it the moment I walk to the door. Within thirty seconds, Barry, Dave and Lydia are already setting up their bikes. Sweet! I love it when they come to my classes! They encourage and entertain me so much during my class.

I walk to the closet to pull out my power zone boards. Barry starts talking to me about my reasoning behind power zone training. He wants to know what else I can use watt training for. He starts to ask about the method we use at my other gym. How and where did I discover power zone training? I'm getting distracted. I want to keep talking to him, but there is a new girl in the corner and I have to make sure she knows what she's doing.

A mom walks in with her eleven-year-old daughter Katie. "My daughter is going to take your class today. She's eleven but the front desk says it's okay. Are you okay with it," she asks politely.

"Oh shoot," I think. "I have to try to explain the watts to them. I hope she understands. Shoot! Two minutes until class starts. Well, it's going to be a challenge, but here it goes.."

"Alright, my class is a little different. We work with..." I begin, but don't get far before being interrupted.

"How do I tighten her cages," Katie's mom asks.

"Oh, the strap is put on wrong. Let's set you up on another bike."

"Friend," I hear a familiar voice behind me. Sophia is here! Yay! But shoot, I need to get class started. And this little girl is getting on a new bike for the third time. Uhmm... Alright, it's time for class. I'll just have them warm up while I set up my bike. "Oh hey, Ethan! Long time no see! Grab a bike!"

"Alright, start with a 90 cadence or higher, gear 9-13. We will warm-up for five minutes," I get them started while I hop on. No way! I totally forgot to turn on the fan next to the closet. "Keep warming up," I yell as I hop off my bike. I jump back on my bike.

"You didn't turn your fan on either," teases Dave. Where is my head?

"I'm sorry! Okay, in one minute, we will do one minute right leg only, one minute left leg only, three times each leg."

"What zone should we be in," questions Barry.

"No zone, just extended warm-up. If you're new to class or if you've forgotten, my name is Ashlee and I will be with you for the next hour. Get excited! Alright, everyone put your hands up in the air. Wave them in the air. Great, now we've shaken hands." I crack up. No one else laughs. Ouch. Tough crowd. Then they get it. Ohhhhh now they chuckle.

"Is  your middle name Cornball," Barry asks.

"No," I respond as my eyes light up. "But that would be awesome! Make sure you finish your water bottle before the end of class. If you don't, you have to do 15..."

Dave and Barry chime in, "Push-ups!"

I explain the average watt test to my new students then tell the other members, "While they test, you will come out of the saddle for thirty seconds with a 70 cadence, then follow it with 30 seconds seated at 90 or more cadence. We will do that 5 times, so five minutes total extended warm-up."

"What zone," Dave asks.

"Still warming up. Just keep the cadence, gear 11-15."

"Hey Ashlee," Dave starts. "You know how cigarette packs have a warning lable on them saying they are hazardous for one's health? You should have a warning sign on the door saying, 'Warning! This is an Ashlee class'." I laugh. Hard. Thank you, Dave, for making me feel like a stud.

Two and a half minutes into the test, the sound on my phone gives up. The music won't play. I try restarting the program. That doesn't help. I restart the phone. Nothing. "Does anyone have an iPod with appropriate music? Sophia, do you have your iPhone," I plead.

"Yeah," she give me a glimpse of hope then quickly shuts it down. "Oh, no, I don't."

Oh no! I'm panicking. "Does anyone have music?!" Okay, relax, Ash. There are always the lame back-up CDs in the closet. Why-oh-why did I forget my iPhone in the car?

"I have an iPod in my bag if someone wants to grab it," offers Ethan. "I would get it, but I'm testing." Atta boy. You keep testing, Stud.

Mike walks in.

"Mike!!!!" The class seems excited to see him. "Grab Ethan's iPod out of his bag," demands Dave.

"No, no. Mike, here's your power card. Grab a bike. I'll find the iPod," I tell him. I dig through Ethan's entire bag. Where is this thing?!!? Ugh... finally! I don't even know how much time is left in the test. Eff.

"Last thirty seconds," I comment. Oh man. This class is no good. Why am I so off today? Oh yeah. I stayed up late reading. "Sorry guys. I've gotten six hours of sleep the past 48 hours." I need to start going to bed earlier.

We start getting into the workout. "Take it up to zone 3 with 100 RPMs and get comfortable," I command. "You're here for three minutes. Get excited." A weak "woooo" come from the mouths of Yolanda and Kashmira. I laugh. "Well, at least two of you are excited. Let's go!" And zone three we dominate. Zone 3 is followed by an 80 cadence in zone 4, which is followed by one minute in zone 2 with a cadence of 110-120. Two minute recovery and repeat three times.

Dang. My legs are tired. I am not even supposed to cycle today. Honestly, I have got to stop overtraining myself!

"Okay, now it's time for the real fun," I inform the class. "We will be working in zone 5! Get excited!" The right hand of the room lets out some "Wooo's". "There we go! Let's go 15 seconds zone 5, 15 seconds recover. Thirty seconds on, thirty off. Forty-five on, 45 off. One minute zone 5. Yup, one minute. One minute recovery. Here we go!"  Off we go! "Dig, dig, dig, dig! Woooo! How you feeling!?!" Shouts and cheers come from the cyclists in front of me. "What happened to this side of the room," I ask Yolanda and Kashmira.

"I'm in zone 5," comes Yolanda's excuse.

I love it!

We finish the class and stretch out. Perfect! And class is dismissed. Goodbye, my little cyclists!

And that is the end of our tour. Thank you for coming and have a wonderful afternoon. Make wise choices!

I'm a Palm Tree!

An annoying chirping noise broke my sleep this morning. Usually I hit my alarm about 7-8 times before I actually get out of bed; however, this morning I knew I had to get up and get moving. I needed time to shower and go home to get my yoga mat before Drea's class. I was so proud of myself. I showered quickly, took care of the dogs, got my suit ready to swim afterwards and got in the car with 25 minutes until class.

"Wait a second, the sun is starting to come up," I thought to myself. "Usually it doesn't start to rise until after class. Oh... wait... is it... an hour later than I thought. It's now 6:40, not 5:40."By the time I got to class, it would already be over. Thank goodness I had my swimsuit in my car. I drove to the pool to find Summer life guarding. She greeted me with a huge smile. It helped motivate me to jump right in the warm water. Off I went. 300 meter warm-up, 200 meter kick, 200 meter closed fist drill, 400 meter swimming with a shirt on to work on force, 200 meter recovery swim, 250 meter kick, 250 meter cool down. An hour swim total. Perfect. At least I got some sort of work out in.

Next, it was time to teach at Fit Buddha. One woman showed up for class, so I gave Mindy one hell of a kick Buddha-y workout! Marcus was teaching, so after my class, he asked if I wanted to stay and take his Combo class: 30 minutes on the megaformer combined with 30 minutes on the bike. Totally made up for missing Drea's class. Well, to be honest, nothing could make up for missing Drea's class, but it sure helped me not to feel like a complete slacker.

I needed to go sign my time card at work, which meant I had to pass my favorite brunch restaurant. I could have resisted the temptation of a yummy soy latte and the gluten-free chocolate banana bread, but to be honest, I didn't want to resist. It sounded delicious and I needed some sort of protein, even though that wasn't the best source.

Last Sunday, my family came into town. It was wonderful to see them! Not often do I get to spend time with my three favorite people in the world. We had some great meals together, enjoyed a wonderful evening at church, said our goodbyes to Rebecca and went paddle boarding at the beach. Well, Sam went paddle boarding. Sam is Kaylee's goofy boyfriend. He fits right in with the family.

Waiting in line at Disneyland

When I first met Sam, I told myself I had to act normal so I wouldn't embarrass Kaylee. I am a dork. If you read my blog or know me at all, you know that I am the dorkiest of all dorks. I took my seat in the car next to Sam with my headphones on, staying quiet while listening to my music. The music was filling my head and carrying my mind away with its melody. I put my arms up in the air and waved them side to side. Sam looked at me. A strange expression crossed his face. I looked over at him and shrugged; "I'm a palm tree,"  I said matter of factly. So much for making a good impression.

Good news, Sam didn't judge me. And if he did, well, he loves Star Wars, so we're okay.

I am Woman... Hear my Stomach Growl

After keeping record of my daily calorie consumption on the MyFitnessPal application, I realized I was devouring over 3000 calories a day. "But you're working out all day," said Sharon, as if that gave me an excuse to eat whatever and whenever I wanted. Yes, I am, but if you laid out the amount of food I eat every day, there would be no room left on my dining room table. It's sad, really. I may be working out and keeping a consistent body weight; however, if I want to be light on my bike and easier on my knees, I should eat a bit healthier. More greens, less chocolate.

Oh chocolate. How delicious is chocolate? Well, let me tell you... chocolate is so delicious that I would give up triathlons to sit around and get fat on chocolate all day... well, maybe I would. I ate really healthy today... then I bought a chocolate bar. At least it was organic! I had a friend who had this amazing life goal of growing up to get fat, fat, fat. So fat, in fact, that he would not be able to fit through his front door and when he died of obesity, they would have to use a forklift to get him out of his living room. Unfortunately, this friend died skinny, so I am debating whether or not to live out his dream. Hey, it would be a delicious life.

My new life of luxury

 My training has gone to the dogs. I remember the base period when I way overtrained. Now that I'm in build, I'm skipping workouts, choosing friends over training, eating poorly... ugh. What has gotten into me lately?! It's a little discouraging, but I'm trying to get back on track. I remember when my life was training. My friends were nonexistent. My reading material was Joe Friel's blog. Now my life is relaxing when I'm not working. My friends are dogs that I take on long walks throughout beautiful neighborhoods. My reading material is The Hunger Games, which has nothing to do with training. Discipline, where hath thou gone? I want you back!

The big event is a month away. I am supposed to race this weekend, but I have no motivation. My knee is acting up and my shoulder is giving me grief. Dude, shake it off! Someone needs to kick my butt! Sounds like it's time for a Drea class in the morning!