Since we've moved into our new place, time has been moving quickly by! With a string of good weather, broken only by a series of rain showers this week, Ryan has been very busy at the shop selling lots of bikes. On the side, he has been steadily buying gear and giving tuneups to our own 'fleet' to ensure all is in excellent working order, as with the good weather we have been giving our own bikes plenty of use.
I am now in the process of writing my dissertation, which means I spend my afternoons closeted upstairs in our bedroom with my laptop and books. We are on the top of the house and so I have a nice view, and since for the most part the house is empty during the day, it makes for a nice work environment. Then, in the evenings, before Ryan gets off work, I head out for my daily workout.
Presently, I am training for my first triathlon, which is very exciting. I am currently working on a routine of running three times a week, swimming twice a week, and cycling one-two times a week. Since taking lessons during the winter, my swimming is much improved. Doing freestyle, I can swim a 25 meter pool length in less than a minute pretty easily, with my time for 400 meters coming in at around 12 minutes. There is a pool down the street from our house and I am looking into joining their masters swimming group, which does triathlon training as well. As for my cycling, when Ryan has a day off we go to Regents Park, which is circled by a fairly quiet, flat road and do time trials around it. I am working toward being able to comfortably sustain speeds of 18miles/hour for 15 miles straight, and am getting close! He also is helping me work on my technique and posture, which is great. On the running, front, I am plugging along as slow as usual. I am signed up for a half marathon in a couple weeks, which will be fun, but still I need to work on getting faster! Overall, I am really enjoying blending the three sports and so my plan for the next year is to focus on triathlon working up to an Olympic distance race. In the process, I think I might invest in a sleeker road bike to help me get really fast, though the Specialized Tricross I currently ride on is proving to be an excellent training bike.
Lets see, what else? On the 4th of July we had a great time hanging out with a whole slew of Americans from my program at LSE up on the Hampstead Heath, and then went in the evening to hear some great live music in Camden, where my friend Tom's band the Navarinos were performing. (They are REALLY great, by the way. Do click on the link and check our their myspace!)
On Sunday night, we went to see Lucha Libre, an exposition of Mexican pro wrestling (like WWF but with tights and shiny masks) at the Roundhouse theater. Which was extremely cool, I might add. It was my first time ever seeing something like this, and it was really exciting. The wrestlers were really different from anything you would see in the US. They were really big guys but not at all musclebound. In fact, quite a few of them were pudgy! They all had these really fantastic outfits, covered in sequins and lightning bolts! You could tell that they had to work together a lot to make the most impressive moves work. However, they also really smacked into each other, often going right out of the ring and into the metal dividers between the ring and the crowd! They also did a great job playing up the different characters, between the good guys ('technicos') and bad guys ('rudos'). All in all, it was a great night!
This is Solar, one of the wrestlers we saw last Sunday!Other than that, life goes on as usual in London. I have been working a bit everyday on the garden and begun to tease so nice looking flowers out of it. This next Sunday I am attending my first meeting of a new book club I have joined and Ryan is going to play ultimate frisbee with some Americans we have met. For the most part, though we spend our time these days relaxing and hanging out with our housemates. Last night we played dominos together until almost 2 am!!
Till next time!
love alletta
