Hello everyone and happy Tuesday!! How has your week been so far?? Anyone doing anything exciting? I’m sorry for the radio silence lately and how we haven’t gotten a chance to catch up for awhile! My mom and sister are in town (more on that below) so we’ve been jam packing our days with activities. I thought I would provide 10 life updates now that we are all here.
1. Elle’s first Medina Family Pool Party! We went back to Anthony’s parents house two weeks ago for their annual pool party. It fell over 4th of July weekend, which was perfect. Full of fun, games, time in the sun, and we got Elle to take a very quick dip in the pool. She isn’t a fan so far, but we are hoping we can slowly but surely get in her into the water more. 
2. Fourth of July shenanigans! A lot of our friends were having barbecues, kick backs, and pool parties for us to swing by the entire weekend. It was a good time and the first time I wore shoes that weren’t Oofos. Even though those are the best ;) 
3. While my mom and sister are here, Anthony’s mom and sister came down for a couple of days too! They both work in schools so they have a summer vacation (how do I get me one of those?!) and we all went to Balboa Park together. Rare sighting to have both of our families here since my mom and sister live in Florida! 
4. My workout schedule with the team has been so wacky with visitors. I didn’t want to take too much time away from spending with them on Thursday, so I did the track workout on the DREADMILL. Treadmill lovers- what is your secret to loving the treadmill?! 
5. Remember how I told you above we got Elle to kind of get into the pool with us? Well, we decided to take her to the beach and she LOVES sand but jumped away from the ocean. Didn’t even want to get her paws wet and just wanted to dig her way to China on shore. Hopefully a couple more beach trips this summer will get her swimming! 
6. More time on the bike :) I’m definitely not feeling 100% on the bike yet but each time I get back on, the more confident I get. Well… I say that now but I have yet to attempt aero bars so I’ll let you know how this confidence thing is going.
7. Elle has been incredible the last couple of months in not destroying or chewing up anything, so we’ve definitely been trusting her a lot more. But I think she decided enough was enough in this whole “triathlon training” business and when we came back from dinner the other night. BOOM. My Garmin band was destroyed. I’m not a very materialistic person, but I love my Garmin a lot so… I was pretty distraught. Thankfully- an easy fix!
8. Dinner with these two + Anthony make my heart happy. 
9. Elle was reunited with her first puppy friend ever, Arya! They were each other’s first puppy play date and since that puppy was a couple months younger, she wasn’t allowed to go to the dog park til yesterday. Needless to say, they were very happy to be reunited! 
10. One of my favorite Asian desserts ever- Honey Brick Toast! It’s a delicious brioche bread that is topped with condensed milk, ice cream, fruit, and anything else you can think of! Such a good combo and while it may seem strange to have bread as dessert… you won’t regret it!
10 Life Updates Since We Last Chatted!
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1. I am doing a lot of bike work on the trainer. The time trial bike is totally different from my road bike in balance, body form, and handling. One of the biggest reasons I fell 2 months ago was because I was not use to handling this bike in comparison to my tri bike. I’ve been putting work in on the trainer to stay in shape and to make sure my legs do not go into total and complete shock when I’m ready to really start biking hard core again :) 
2. I had my first ride on the road with my coach last Monday! It was so scary to get back on the bike (I don’t know if you all remember, but the first time I rode my TT bike is when I fell and broke my collarbone), but with his support and guidance, I felt so much by the end of our hour cruise. 
3. Track workouts. They are officially a thing again. Best sources of motivation: new shoes + Nuun to help replace electrolytes as San Diego goes through some crazy heat waves. 
4. Extra proof that I’m getting my speed work in ;) Everyone knows that it is easy for me to go on a 7-10 mile long run, no problem. But getting my body to want to suffer and go fast… that is an entirely different story. 
5. One of my coach’s is friends with an ITU pro who is training in the Chula Vista training center right now and she needed to borrow a TT bike for the San Diego International Triathlon this past Sunday. I was more than happy to let her borrow the bike and a wonderful friend of mine let me borrow her road bike! First bike ride up the coast and a great way to send off my friend, Brandon, who is leaving to Boston in a couple of weeks for Medical School!
6. Now that I’m back to training and my next race is in July, I am back to finding good fuel for long runs and bike rides. Stinger Waffles and Picky Bars are currently my go-to favorites. 
And as promised, adorable pictures of Elle. I’m sure she is the primary reason you all visit my blog. This Sunday was so much fun and we got to spend time enjoying the San Diego sunshine at one of our favorite dog friendly parks, Kate Sessions! 
One of my friends has had a dog for three years and since we adopted Elle, I couldn’t wait for her to be fully vaccinated so we could have a puppy play date! Elle and Striker finally met last week and had so much fun chasing each other around! Love that my friends all have dogs for my dog to be friends with! 
Anthony is currently training her to be the ultimate ping-pong partner. I’ll keep you all updated on how that goes.
The lines for all donut shops on National Donut Day were crazy!!! I postponed the celebration until Saturday morning. After an hour and twenty minutes on the trainer, this coconut chocolate donut sure hit the spot. 
The rest of Saturday consisted a lot of relaxing, time on the couch, and with my good friend, Netflix. Bo Burnham just came out with a new comedy piece that Anthony and I found hilarious. Near tears at some of his jokes!! 
This Snapchat was pretty accurate with a cute snoozing pup next to us:) 
Sunday ended up being a lot more of a productive day, starting with an early puppy training class, then acai bowls in Pacific Beach. Does anyone else have problems with their name being spelled correctly? Happens to me all the time no matter where I go. 
Post acai bowls was time to go up to Encinitas for a new bike helmet at my favorite bike shop, Nytro Multisport, and then a visit to the best dog park I’ve ever been to. Anyone in San Diego with a pooch, I highly recommend the Encinitas Community Park. It is family and kids friendly with baseball and football fields, play areas, and a skate park!
Does anyone know how we can get a puppy to look at the camera? 
Since we don’t end up in Encinitas very often, we wanted to take advantage of local hot spots and of course, had to cross of a brewery on our list, the Lost Abbey. 
And finished off the day with 7 treadmill miles. Great way to end the day and I’m so happy to be incorporating long distance running back into my schedule 5 weeks after surgery. I was feeling pretty bummed when I woke up this morning because it was the first time in 4 years I wasn’t doing some version of the Rock n Roll 1/2 Marathon or Full Marathon. Excited to get back out there soon stronger than ever. 
Had to sit on the ground for awhile after that one. Thank goodness for a cold bottle of water and Miss USA playing at the gym to keep me entertained during my stretch and cool down period.
RunMileswithSmiles 