Party!

Pretty bad ass holiday weekend.  Also a great week minus Paula being super sick.  But it was her birthday Tuesday and her mom was staying with us all week so she (and me!) was taken care of very well...clothes washed and ironed, homemade lunches, and interesting Colombian twists on housekeeping, love it!  

I was reminded once again how lucky I am to have Paula on her birthday morning...she woke at 4:30, had the coffee (fresh ground Peets with mucho vanilla coffee mate), opened her present by 4:45 (nau hoodie), and were starting a vo2 max bike and run workout by 5...all so we could go drink wine at Tratoria Trulli that night.  Simply awesome.

Unfortunately, the day kind of knocked her out as her cold got worse on Wednesday and she ended u out of work for two days.  I fought it with 10 or 12 emergen-c's a day.  

Training was somewhat light this week, somewhat of a mid-season break week.  Typically though, I probably could have been better at the 'break' part of it, but it was refreshing mentally which is often most important.  

A couple of new things this week too...started a new treatment for my hip injury.  I met  Dr. Dawn Lui at the encinitas race expo last week.  She's an ART specialist who happens to have an office right across the street from my office, Action Chiropractic.

I saw her twice and have been really into it.  She's really into the root of the problem and knows quite a bit, and it's pretty affordable, $34 a session.  

I'm going to keep at for a few weeks, but I'm feeling pretty good about this, ran today on hills for 45 minutes with no problems.  Did run easy though...

On Friday I had a bike fit with Retul certified bike fitter Dean Sprague.  It was a great afternoon.  Really just confirmed my fit.  Did a few adjustments to my cleats but other than that the fit was right on.  Guess I shouldn't second guess myself.  But it was interesting, he has an incredible wealth of knowledge about bikes and fit theories.  I don't spend enough time thinking about the little things in racing, I like being the rocket, not the rocket scientist.

Saturday was the big day though...party of the year.  It was Jeff Young's and Paula's b-day throw down extravaganza.  

Awesome night, great friends and drink.  43 people in the loft!  And I even got to play bartender again.  I consulted nyc bartender extraordinaire Jim Mehan for some drink ideas (I still like to think I taught him everything he knows, but he's surpassed me by far).    

I picked up a keg of Deschutes Mirror Pond Pale Ale along with ingredients for Alpero Spritz (thanks Jim) and Chocolate Martinis (don't need help with these!) with dark chocolate pomegranate seeds.  Jeff and Mac took care of the BBQ duties and I was able to man the bar.  Kate brought a killer chocolate cake from VG's,  James a growler of Green Flash Im

perial IPA, Marcus some killer homebrew, Aunt Susie and Dick provided plates of gri

lled Veggies, and bake Nick did it again- a incredible cake with a plate of decedent homemade sweets- can't even describe them but they were awesome and supposedly healthy- dude seriously needs to open a bakery.  

Super fun night and I even stayed up till 12:30!  Sunday has been slow though...great masters weekend but the rest of the day has been spent eat

ing chocolate frosting and having one of these- my new favorite beer...It's mid-season break right??