Chasin' Bunnies

wiw2wtw

2012-01-26T16:29:00.000-08:00

Otherwise known as: "What I wore to work this week," a post that is sure to bore the guys and probably some of my other readers. Sorry. It's hard to figure out what to to blog about while I'm not running.

The dress protocol at my work is very casual. As in, it's okay to wear jeans. I had fallen into the trap of wearing jeans almost every day and was starting to look more and more like a slob as time went on.

In mid-December, I decided to try to dress a little more fashionably which has required expanding my wardrobe. I'm also a bargain shopper, and as I'm experimenting with new outfits, I've decided to photo chronicle some of my them to help me figure out which look better than others.

I like the outfit with the blue print top better without the sweater, but it was chilly that day, so I wore the sweater. The grey pants that you can't see very well are from the Limited. The top is Calvin Klein. Picked up the sweater at Marshalls, not sure what brand it is.

The skirt outfit was paired with boots. I find skirts to be quite comfortable. The only thing I don't like about them is that most of my skirts don't have pockets. And looking at the photo, now I'm thinking that skirts might make me look pudgy. I remember buying the top at Kohls and the skirt at Marshalls.

I'm big on wearing scarves. I just love them. I'm surprised that I only have one outfit with a scarf so far in my photos from the week. No surprise, that outfit with the scarf is by far my favorite of the four. The whole outfit is from Marshalls, and if memory serves me, I scored that sweater for a mere $7 from the clearance rack.

I succumbed to wearing blue jeans in the fourth photo. I really like that top paired with the black bolo sweater. But I think it would have looked much better with black pants. Oh well, at least I wore dark jeans.

So there you have it, the first installment (and who knows, maybe the last) of wiw2wtw.

Questions, Questions, and more Questions

2012-01-24T16:23:00.000-08:00

A while back, I had read something about squats being good for OA of the knee. Today at lunch time I was browsing some other sites and read that squats were something to be avoided. So which is it, recommended or to be avoided?!?!? For what it's worth, I'm doing what are called chair squats - no weights and basically squatting far enough just to touch my butt to a chair, then back up.

Also read to avoid long distance running. But no definition of what constitutes a long distance. In my mind, long distance means greater than a 10K. What does it mean to you and more importantly, what do you think it means in this context?

I was told to wait 3 weeks before resuming previous activities, and that it might possibly take up to 6 weeks. Not entirely sure what resuming previous activities entails. I'm fairly sure it means that I can try run training (3x week) starting next weekend if my knee isn't hurting. But can I try running before then if it's really short or just 2x week? Or do I avoid it all together for 3 weeks?

Why does the weather not cooperate with my plans? I mentioned in an earlier post about trying to get out on my bike for cycling last weekend. Decided to aim for Sunday. Saturday the weather was lovely. Sunday, not so much. So now I'm hoping for this coming weekend. Is cycling under that umbrella of previous activities or does it depend? I was just going to try something short-ish like 10 miles.

UPDATED to add: A few people have asked me about supplements. It has been recommended for me to take Move Free Advanced which is a glucosamine/condroitin product. I believe that it helps. I've even started my mother on it and she noticed improvement. Recently, I decided to start taking Move Free Ultra as well. This is a collagen type II product. Which some research says works better/differently than glucosamine/condroitin. I decided to take both rather than one or another. The question here, how will I know if this is helping since I started taking it a few weeks before I got the injections? Probably the real test will be about 6 months from now. Also, are there any other supplements that I should be considering?

Eleven

2012-01-22T16:56:00.000-08:00

I was recently tagged by Marcia at The Studly Runner, and I am playing along especially since it gives me something to blog about.

The Rules (as stated):
1. Post these rules
2. You must post 11 random things about yourself
3. Answer the questions set for you in their post
4. Create 11 new questions for the people you tag to answer
5. Go to their blog and tell them you’ve tagged them
6. No stuff in the tagging section about you are tagged if you are reading this. You legitimately have to tag 11 people!

My Randoms:
1. The channel I usually watch before bed stopped showing reruns of The Office in favor of The Big Bang Theory beginning in September. After about two months, I finally started to enjoy The Big Bang Theory. But I really wish they'd go back to showing The Office.
2. I don't drink alcohol anymore, so now a Roy Rogers is my go-to "cocktail" when we go out. Husband cuts me off at two, otherwise I get jacked up on sugar/caffeine and can't sleep. LOL.
3. My guilty pleasure - powdered donuts from the vending machine at work. Recently they vendor interlaced chocolate donuts and powered donuts. I walked up 4 flights of stairs last Tuesday, checking the machines on each level for a machine with powered donuts. On three floors, they were blocked by chocolate donuts. On the fourth floor I finally had success!
4. We bought and sold our first house in just over a year. It wasn't planned. We were living in Ohio at the time and had just gotten married. We expected to stay there for a while, when a great job opportunity unexpectedly came along, bringing us to New Mexico. It was a good move in the grand scheme of things even though we lost money on that first house.
5. Three of my first four cars were totaled within two years of owning them. Two by my mother, one by me. Yes, you read that right, my mother totaled two of my cars. Isn't it usually the other way around?
6. When I was in high school, it was required to take either Home Economics or Industrial Arts. I signed up for Industrial Arts. The school called and told me that I needed to take Home Economics because I was a girl. I'm sure this wouldn't happen today, but it did back then. I told them I didn't want to take Home Economics, and I didn't see why I couldn't take Industrial Arts since the requirement was to take one or the other. I ended up talking them into it and was the only girl in my Industrial Arts class. By the way, I got an A.
7. I collected feathers one spring/summer when I was a little girl so that I could make myself some wings. I jumped off the picnic table and tried to fly. Needless to say, it didn't work.
8. I know I've mentioned this before on the blog, but I've melted not one but two tea kettles by leaving them on the stove and forgetting about them. I now have one that whistles when the water is boiling.
9. When I was a teenager, I didn't like pizza or soda. Weird, huh? BTW, Now I like both.
10. Not a fan of football. Or basketball. But I like baseball, preferably live, especially minor league. Go Isotopes!
11. I try to park in roughly the same spot on the top floor of the parking structure at work otherwise I have trouble finding my car. Most of the time that I try (and succeed) to get a closer parking spot, I end up forgetting about it after work until I've already gone all the way to the top floor anyway...

Questions from Marcia:
1. Do you have any pets? Yes! We currently have two dogs, Bandit and Stymie, and two cats, Mitts and Cookie. I can't imagine life without pets.
2. Most embarrassing moment? Probably wiping out coming out of the swim during my first sprint triathlon, resulting in scrapes & bruises to my face, shoulder, etc.
3. Favorite brand of running gear? Ummmmm, is that a trick question? No way I can pick just one single favorite.
4. Dream vacation? My favorite vacation was Moorea with Husband for our 20th anniversary. I really want to go back.
5. Dream race? Wow, that's a tough one. I guess I don't really think about dream races as much as dream race performances. I wish my knee would hold up for another half-marathon, but that seems unlikely.
6. Favorite GU flavor? Strawberry Banana Powergel.
7. Snow ski or water ski? I prefer snow skiing to water skiing, but I'm really not fond of either.
8. Do you get a flu shot? Absolutely!
9. Gold, sterling silver or platinum? Gold, and I really like jewelry with mixed yellow/gold.
10. What grade in school did you enjoy most? Least? - I have fond memories of 3rd grade, so that must have been my favorite. I think I liked 7th or 8th the least, awkward teenaged years.
11. How often do you get a haircut? Last time I went about 11 weeks between haircuts, but I usually go in every 6-7 weeks.

My Questions (Please embellish your answers):
1. Superman or Batman?
2. Coffee or Tea?
3. Sunrise or Sunset?
4. Facebook or Twitter?
5. Spring or Fall?
6. Breakfast or Dinner?
7. Books or Movies?
8. Beach or Mountains?
9. Early Morning or Late Night?
10. Glass half-full or half-empty?
11. Hill repeats or speed work?

My Tag-ees (is that even a word?):
ajh
lily on the road
raquelita
christine
laura
amber
lbtepa
irene
wes
amanda
carolina john
big daddy diesel

This and That

2012-01-20T14:50:00.000-08:00

Still not running, but I did get around to reading and commenting on some blogs. You all have been a busy bunch! Makes we want to take some time to mention a few things that are going on.

I read something about squats being good for OA of the knee. So I decided to try it. I've done three sets of squats 5 times and each time my knee makes all kinds of weird noises that I don't think it's supposed to be making when I do these. Kind of freaks me out. So I'm not sure that I'm going to continue.
I've been trying to do a decent amount of walking. Hoping to hit about 30 miles for the month (avg 1 mile per day). I'm at 20 miles for the month and it's the 20th, so it seems I'm on track for that. Yay, me!
It is also my son's 20th birthday. Man o' man, time flies!
There is a local 5K in 3 weeks, essentially right when I'm ready to start running again. I may or may not sign up for it.
I'm going to be doing a 365-day photo project starting on March 1. At the end, I hope to be better skilled with my camera.
Husband & I have a trip to Grand Cayman booked for 5 nights in February, just the two of us. Woot!
I've been thinking about doing a local spring triathlon that is scheduled for mid-April. I'm holding off just to make sure I know which weekend it is. I would need to start cycle training SOON if I decide to do this.
I'm anxious to get on my bike again. Maybe this weekend if the weather holds up. *fingers crossed*
I started painting our Great Room this morning. We have to paint with a brush to get the adobe bricks covered, which seems to take about 4 times as long as painting a flat wall with a roller. Plus, it's a fairly large room. Trying to break this down into smaller segments so I don't get discouraged.

Almost...

2012-01-16T17:10:00.000-08:00

Thought I'd check in. I've completed the series of three injections for my knee. I'm already feeling pain relief, but it will still be about 3 weeks until I can run again. I promise that I will be back to regular posting and reading by that time. I'm almost ready for my re-entry to the blog world, but not quite. Until then, I hope everyone is doing well!

Dec Totals

2012-01-01T07:57:00.000-08:00

Numbers

30.0 miles walking
4000 yds swimming
1st of 3 injections for knee
1 son home from college for break
1 daughter on break from high school
2 weeks off work
3 movies seen in the theatre
1 piano concert
1 bedroom painted
2 work-related Christmas dinners

Thoughts

I'm a wee bit envious of those of you who are starting the year off with a New Years Run.
Lost my motivation for swimming in the middle of the month and fell way short of my 8000 yd goal
Did okay with walking and hit my 30 mile goal.
Happy that the days are getting longer again.
Back to work on Monday. Ugggh.

Plans

Injections #2 and #3
Trying a new supplement - Move Free Advanced Ultra
Patience, grasshopper, patience...

Happy New Year everyone! May it bring health and happiness to you and yours!

One down, two to go & a time of reflection

2011-12-30T07:51:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I received the first of the series of three injections for my knee. I expect to be running again mid-February. Until then, I apologize in advance for not doing much blog posting or reading. As many of you who have been benched understand, it's tough to read about everyone else's running adventures when you can't join in on the fun.

[FYI - I'll probably need to keep going back about every 8-10 months or so to repeat the series for as long as this continues to work. After that point, I'm not sure what will happen. I'm not happy that my knee can't be 'fixed', but I'm happy to have a treatment plan that works well enough for now to allow me to do most of the things I want to do.]

In the past few weeks, I lost my motivation to focus on swimming and walking. I just really miss running. And I guess that's okay. Nothing wrong with taking a break, right?

Overall, it was a good year. I started off with an unexpected 5K PR in February. I had to give up plans to run a spring HM due to issues with my knee, but switched focus to shorter running events and triathlons. Had another 5K PR July. I had a blast at the inaugural Live.Love.Tri in August, the first all-women tri in NM. I took a good ten minutes off my Patriot (sprint) Tri time in September, mostly an improvement in cycling. I had a 10K PR in October. Cycling training with Husband was successful and we capped it off with a strong 50mile charity ride with more climb than I thought I was capable of. My knee held up until race season was over, and I'll be ready soon enough for next year.

Hope the New Year is a good one for everyone!!

not running -> not blogging

2011-12-19T08:16:00.000-08:00

Still not running. In fact, I'm still waiting on the insurance authorization for my treatment. I think I'll call later today and find out where that's at.

Without running, and with the weather too cold for my liking for cycling, I'm at a loss for interesting blog topics. Hence, this is my first post in over a week. I can't think of a topic that you'd find interesting, so I'll leave you with a few random thoughts.

One of my cats is over-weight. In an effort to get her health back on track, I've switched both cats to canned cat food exclusively. Rotating Natural Balance and Wellness brands at the moment. I was also hoping to switch to an evening feeding to get my fat cat to stop jumping on my head in the morning when she wants to be fed. Well, she still jumps on my head in the morning. And now she begs for food at dinner time too. *sigh*
Son came home Saturday for winter break. He will be here for 4 weeks. He's not coming home for spring break and he's trying to get an internship in CA for the summer. I will enjoy the time with him while I can.
Daughter is on her third Christmas working in retail. Her days off for winter break from school are filled with extra hours at work. It's good for her bank account, but it doesn't seem like she's getting any real time off to de-stress from school.
Husband & I are on day one of our two week break from work. Ahhhhhhh.
Yesterday I started taping in our bedroom to prep for painting. Isn't that how everyone spends their time off from work?! No?
I made a conscious decision to really scale back Christmas consumerism this year. I've complained about it for years, but was still stuck in the trap. Not this year. The result? Much less stress. More time reflecting on the true meaning of the holiday. Wish I had figured this out years ago.
It's snowing. This is the third snowfall so far since November. After an insanely dry spring/summer we certainly need the moisture. I just wish it wasn't during the cold part of the year when the streets turn icy. It also probably means that the inlaws are NOT coming down from Colorado this week. Bummer.
I bought a new phone about 10 days ago. Upgraded from the original Motorola Droid to an HTC Rhyme. Love it.
I've started referring to our neighbors as Old McDonald. Back in October, they build a shed and put up a little corral in the corner of their yard near our fence. Then they bought chickens. Including a rooster. Uggg. Then this week they brought home a burrows or donkeys or some such creatures. I wonder what's next?
I held off on making Christmas cookies until my son asked specifically requested them. I'd be happy not making them at all because I end up eating my weight in cookies. But how could I say no?

Just keep swimming...

2011-12-10T07:23:00.001-08:00

Got myself out of bed early and to the pool again this morning for another 800yds. I'm thinking that next month I will increase the distance per swim, but for now 800yds is a distance that seems to be working for me.

We are now one third of the way into the month and my swim total so far is 3200 against my goal of 8000 or 40%. Just like in Finding Nemo, I just need to stay calm and keep swimming, and I will achieve my goal.

Not doing quite as well with the walking goal. I've only walked 8.5 miles so far this month, which is 28% of my goal. However, just this realization alone is likely to motivate me to get out there and walk the dogs today and tomorrow to get caught up.

In other news, one more full week of work and then I am taking two weeks off. Work has been crazy busy, so I cannot wait!

Also, only 12 more days until the days begin to get longer again. WoooHooooo!!!

Knee update

2011-12-07T15:58:00.001-08:00

Orthopedic appointment on Monday went as well as can be expected. Bottom line is that I have Chondomalacia patella or essentially "worn cartilage behind the kneecap". Also the beginnings of a slight bone spur, but nothing too serious. The shots I get for treatment are basically replacement joint fluid which works to lubricate the joint and protect the cartilage. Unfortunately, this only seems to last for somewhere in the 6mo to a year range. Right now I'm waiting on insurance to authorize the treatment, then will need to go in for another series of three injections.

BTW, he assures me that my knee issue isn't/wasn't caused by running. In fact, he thinks running is great, as long as it doesn't hurt. But when it does hurt, I need to find ways to be active that don't worsen the pain. Which is why I'm focusing on swimming and running for December and January.

On that note, I did manage to drag my lazy butt out of bed on a cold 9 deg morning (which is a quite a feat in itself, let me assure you) and got myself to the pool this morning. My goal was to get in at least an 800yd swim; however, I stopped and got out of the pool at 600 yds because at that point I was both bored out of my mind and having problems with my goggles. Sat in the hot tub for a bit and quickly realized that I wasn't going to be happy ending it at 600yds at my total for the day, so I decided to suck it up and jump back in for another 200. Yay me!

New Month & Progress to Goals

2011-12-04T16:50:00.001-08:00

For those who read my November Tally post, you know that I said I was ready to stop pouting about my cranky knee and start getting active again. We're one weekend into the new month, let's see how it's going so far.

I set a swimming goal of 8000yds this month. That breaks down to ~2000 yds per week. Or 10 swims of 800yds each (which seems doable) or 8 swims of 1000 yds each (which seems less doable based on my current swim habits).

So far I'm at 1600 against my goal, or 20%. Not bad! As long as I stay committed, I know I can achieve my swim goal. The hard part is finding those times that work with my schedule when the pool isn't being used for an aquatics class.

NOTE: I should mention that I find swimming laps to be incredibly boring, which is why I have a hard time staying in the water past 800 yds. I'm pondering some sort of waterproof mp3 system that allows me to listen to music while I swim. If any of you have experiences, good or bad with this, I'd really appreciate hearing about it.

I also set a walking goal of 30miles. That breaks down to 15 walks up and down the hill (2mi route) with my dogs. Or maybe 9 walks with the dogs and 3 longer walks of 4 miles. It's aggressive, but also doable.

So far I'm at 6 miles against my goal, also 20%. Nice! This one requires more time investment, but it's easy to do from home. And as an aside, I only count intentional fitness walking, not the walking that I do from the parking lot to my office, up and down the stairs at work, etc.

One last item worth commenting on. I originally added yoga to my list of goals for December, but later crossed it off my list. The truth is, I'm really not committed to doing yoga right now. Plus I find that many of the postures bother my knee right now. I'll revisit this in Jan or Feb.

How's the new month coming along for the rest of you?

November Tally

2011-12-01T18:43:00.001-08:00

Numbers

32.3 miles by feet (11.3 miles running, 21.0 miles walking)
4 hill workouts
one cranky knee
one mysterious heel pain incident

Thoughts

Worst exercise month in a long long time, and I'm ready to stop pouting and get active again.

Plans

Orthopedic appointment next week
Get to the pool and start swimming!
~~Do yoga~~
Walk more regularly

Updated with December Goals:

walk 30 miles!
swim 8000 yds!

GAME ON!

Update

2011-11-28T17:50:00.001-08:00

Where to begin? Let's see....

I had friends lined up to run with me me on Thanksgiving morning. Which is good.

However, Son's flight was very late. Daughter picked him up from the airport so I could sleep. Which is good.

But they didn't get home until about 2am, and I couldn't really didn't sleep soundly until after they got home. Which is bad.

So I overslept in the morning and missed out on running with friends. Which was also bad.

Rather than skipping running, I ended up running solo. Which was good.

But then my knee started acting up about 1.4 miles into the run. Which was bad.

Since then, my knee has been bothering me even when I walk. Which is bad.

I haven't even tried running since then. Which is also bad.

I think it means that I'm going to need to go in for my injections again. But I haven't called for an appointment yet. Which is not so good.

At least I have a potential treatment plan that seems to work and this last time kept my knee working well for about 8 months. Which is good.

But it probably means I'll need to take off a few months from running. Which is bad.

I'm thankful that my knee didn't cause problems during the peak part of my race season. Which is good.

And I suppose I could get back in the pool this winter and swim. Swimming doesn't bother my knee. Which is good.

But I really dont' like swimming all that well. Which is bad.

Anyway, I haven't called for an appointment yet. Stay tuned...

[update: I called today and got lucky as someone had just called to cancel for Monday afternoon and I was able to snatch up that slot! score!]

Being Happy

2011-11-16T05:57:00.001-08:00

I truly believe that our happiness is the result of our attitude rather than about the things that happen to us. It's that whole glass half full, or half empty thing. Today I choose to be happy. I've compiled a list of ten things that make me happy today:

1) Got the glass replaced Monday afternoon in the Fit. Still need to have the tint applied, but that is a nice-to-have thing not a necessity. The Fit is back in action.
2) I ran yesterday! 2.8 miles with hills and my heel was okay until the very end. Yay!
3) Son is coming home for Thanksgiving. He didn't last year, so this was a somewhat unexpected surprise.
4) Son seems to be doing well, albeit very consumed with homework, at school. He's also now considering double majoring in Cognitive Science and Electrical & Computer Engineering. Sounds super cool to me.
5) Daughter is making good progress on college admission and scholarship applications. She is considering a degree in social sciences, possibly Anthropology, Communications, or Advertising. This also sounds very interesting to me.
6) Seems like the worst of my required overtime at work has passed. Should be back to normal next week.
7) Mitts, our oldest cat, has been on supplements to help with his arthritis for the past several weeks. I think his activity level is increasing, which suggests that the supplements are working.
8) My Ipad arrived. I'm still not entirely sure what to do with it, but I discovered a free Euchre game application which I am now hooked on.
9) The running that I did yesterday was with a friend who is new to running. It's great to be able to encourage new runners.
10) Husband is working a modified schedule for the next several weeks. There are some downsides to this, but the best part is that we will have a few Friday's off together.

Weekend Woes

2011-11-14T04:55:00.001-08:00

The BAD (aka "Why my weekend sucked")

1) Had to work on Friday (normally one of my days off)
2) The car that Daughter drives was broken into Saturday morning while she was at work. Smashed window, stolen ipod, camera, purse, wallet, etc. Our insurance deductible won't be met, so the cost to replace the window is coming out of pocket.
3) Had to work Sunday (also normally one of my days off)
4) Going into work early today and will probably be staying late.
5) Haven't run for 10 days

The GOOD (aka "In the grand scheme, it's really not that bad")

1) I'm valued enough at my job to be pulled in for critical assignments. Sometimes this means working overtime/ weekends, but I do recognize that being valued at one's job is not to be taken for granted.
2) Nobody was hurt. It's just glass and stuff. The glass is easily replaceable. Her ID and debit card weren't in the purse. It could have been a lot worse. Plus now I have some ideas about what to maybe get her for Christmas.
3) Heel is no longer throbbing; I think it is getting better. I'm hopeful to be running again this weekend. In any event, this happened after my scheduled races, so it's as good a time as any to need to take a few weeks off.

Ouch

2011-11-09T05:47:00.000-08:00

Spent the weekend in Nashville attending my nieces wedding. I had never been to Nashville before, so it was interesting to check out someplace new. While we were there, we walked around a museum, we walked around downtown (stumbled upon the end of a multi-day relay race), walked around the grounds for the wedding/reception, walked to breakfast, walked around the Vanderbilt campus, and walked through the airport. Lots and lots of walking. Which is a good thing. Except that my left heel started bothering me.

Now that I've been home a few days, I've done a little online research for heel pain and of course the first thing that comes up is plantar fasciitis which is NOT something that I want to be dealing with. [Granted, I don't know for certain that it actually is plantar fasciitis, but in this age of instant online self-diagnosis, I'm assuming for the moment that it is.]

On Monday, I bought some Dr Scholl heel pain orthotics for my shoes. Tuesday, my heel was feeling better. Then I wore a different pair of shoes and Tuesday and forgot to move the orthotics. This morning, my heel is bothering me again. So I guess I'm back to trying the orthotics today.

Needless to say, I haven't run since last Thursday. At the moment this isn't breaking my heart because I don't have any races planned, but nobody likes to be sidelined due to pain/injury. *sigh*

Question of the day: Have you ever experienced heel pain? What did you do about it?

Thursday Thirteen

2011-11-03T17:47:00.000-07:00

1) The race from the weekend has posted photos. There really aren't any good ones of me.

2) However, this one (you'll have to click the link) gives a good idea what the single track portion was like. I'm in the middle (black and pink) and my running partner is right behind me.

3) I'm really struggling to find my motivation. Monday was a planned rest day. I skipped my run on Tuesday. Walked the dogs yesterday. Ran and then walked the dogs today, although shorter distances for both than I originally intended.

4) Daughter turned 18 today. Despite my protests, her first act of adulthood was getting her nose pierced. Twice.

5) While I applaud her for expressing her individuality, I can't say that I'm all that happy about it (just to be clear, I'm okay with a single nose piercing, but I'm not fond of the double on one side that she decided to do).

6) I had two dozen raspberry filled chocolate cupcakes with chocolate butter cream and a raspberry on top specially made for Daughter's birthday. They are delicious.

7) I've probably eaten six already.

8) Oh, and I also ate the majority of a pumpkin pie over the weekend.

9) This, combined with the lack of motivation is wreaking havoc on my waistline.

10) Tried on the dress that I'm wearing this weekend for my niece's wedding and realized that it looked better 5 pounds ago.

11) Luckily, nothing that a pair of control-top nylons can't fix. I haven't worn nylons for a long, long time, but desperate times call for desperate measures.

12) I got a notice that the Ipad that I won has been shipped. Expecting to receive it on Monday.

13) I'm still not entirely sure WHAT one does with an Ipad, but I'm sure I'll figure it out.

October Tally

2011-11-01T05:35:00.000-07:00

Numbers

Miles by feet: 59.6 (15.5 walking, 44.1 running)
Miles by seat: 185.2
Hill workouts: 5
Events: 1 10K (PR!) , 1 half-century
Rest days (planned): 5
Lazy days (unplanned) : 6
Pounds gained: see Lazy days
days remaining for parenting a minor: 2

Thoughts

I feel like it was successful cycle-focused month aimed at the half-century with a bonus 10K PR at the end. Good stuff.
In two days, my 'baby' turns 18. How did this happen?

Plans

I don't currently have anything on my calendar for Nov/Dec. Need to fix that so that my lazy days and weight don't continue to creep up!

Boogie that Bosque!

2011-10-30T09:46:00.000-07:00

This morning Husband and I and my running partner ran a 10K all terrain race in the beautiful bosque. Last year it was mid-forties for this race. Yesterday it was 32 degrees at 7am. I wasn't sure what to expect weather-wise, but was happy when I checked the weather and saw 41 degrees at 6:30am. Decided to wear a light pair of tights, a short sleeve shirt under a long sleeve shirt, light gloves, and a beanie. I also put my number on a race belt so that I could remove my long sleeve shirt if needed and still have the number out front since the timing device was on the back of the race number.

On our way to boogie that bosque!

If you recall, my goals for the race were something on the order of "Don't fall, have fun, meet or beat last years time (1:03:14) and 1:02:00 would be even better."

I probably should have spent a little more time determining a race strategy to achieve those goals. Preferably one where we didn't start out too fast. But I didn't (determine a race strategy). And I did (start out too fast).

The way this course is laid out is that you start out on a hard surface road, then you turn onto a wide dirt road, then into beautiful single track for a few miles. Then it brings you out of the single track onto dirt road for a long stretch before you finish back on the hard surface. Personally, I find the single track difficult to run in, but it is a lot of fun and very pretty. The dirt road is much easier and nice on the joints, my favorite running surface overall. And the hard surface is of course the fastest, but probably the most boring.

Splits for the race

Anyway, while running this race, I remembered why I don't like 10Ks. For me it is too far to maintain a 'fast' pace, but too short to really slow down and have fun like I do for half-marathons. I expected to be a little behind a 10:00 pace while in the single track, be able to maintain close to 10:00 pace on the dirt road, and then and then make up time on the hard surface, and this is generally what happened. I kept my eye on the cumulative time at each mile marker and knew I was on track to hit my 1:02 goal if I could push it for the final bit. But admittedly, I was really struggling at the end.

My final time was logged as 1:01:44 gun time, 1:01:38 net time (I think that is taking into consideration when I crossed the start mat). 6th of the 20 women in my age group (F45-49); 83 of 221 women running the 10K. Not only did I make my 1:02:00 goal and a beat my time from last year for this particular all terrain course, but it was actually a 10K best for me by about 30seconds. WoooHooo!!

Final thoughts: This is a great course because of the venue, absolutely beautiful this time of year. So glad we ran it even though I'm not a fan of 10Ks. I keep thinking I might have it in me to break an hour on a flat road race, but I dislike this distance enough to keep me from actually testing that theory.

Goal for upcoming 10K

2011-10-25T06:21:00.000-07:00

The all terrain race is just around the corner. My running partner & I ran the course s-l-o-w-l-y this weekend. I made the mistake of trying new shoes, the Brooks Cascades that I won in a give-away, for a longish run. I've been walking in them with my dogs on trails and the soles are more grippy and better suited for single track than my Kinvaras, but I've been running in Kinvaras for months and switching back to regular shoes for a 7.3 mile run was not a good idea. My hips were sore! My body really likes the lower profile of the Kinvaras, so I'm sticking with those this weekend even though Kinvaras aren't ideal for trails.

While we were running, I mentioned that I don't feel prepared to run a 10K well. I'm confident that I can run it, just not run it as well as I would like. I mentioned that I need a goal, a plan, a strategy, something to focus on for race day. But I hadn't figured it out and decided I needed a few days to think about it.

A few days later, my running partner texted me, "So what's the plan? ;-)"

I went back and found my time for this race from last year, 1:03:13. If this was a road race, I'd like to try to beat an hour, but it's a single track/dirt road/asphalt mix and will be slower. I really like to run 1:02:00, but I don't know that I've trained correctly for that. That's why I don't feel like I can run it well.

My response "Don't fall! Have fun. Meet or beat last year's time. 1:02:00 would be even better"

Her response was simple, "Sounds like a plan. Let's do this!"

A little bit of running

2011-10-21T05:25:00.000-07:00

1) Cupcake Classic: We'll call this one my cupcake classic virtual run. This was another run with a warm up, then a few miles tempo, then a cool down. Happy 37th B'day, Jess!

Cupcake Run Splits. Time at 3.7 miles = 37:27

2) Interval Run: The first and last splits (10, 10:30 paces) were about a mile long, the run/walk segments in the middle were timed to be one minute each. The fastest split had me going at about a 7:11 pace. That was too fast. Most of them were closer to 7:30, which was tough, but doable.

Interval Run/Walk. Holy Heck that was hard work!

3) Planned Run: Saturday I hope to go 6.5-7.0 miles easy on a mixture of single track, dirt levee road, and hard road in preparation for the all-terrain race the following weekend.

Stubborn Persistence

2011-10-18T07:21:00.000-07:00

Elevation Profile from Half Century

I knew that the half-century had a climb in the middle. I didn't know how much of a climb until I grabbed the data off Husband's Garmin yesterday evening.

Oh-my-freaking-gosh, no wonder I was exhausted afterwards!

In yesterday's post*, when I mentioned the long slow climb being not too bad, that was 7 miles from mile 14-21 which gained about 1100 ft over 7 miles.

The short steep climb that I mentioned was the little peak in the center that gains about 350 ft in about 1.5 miles. Aye carumba! Whatever grade that works out to be is enough to make me go so slow that I nearly fall over. I knew we were almost at the turn point. I was also certain that if I stopped I wouldn't be able to get going again and would end up walking my bike. I really didn't want that to happen. I just kept repeating to myself "Don't stop. Don't fall over. Almost there." I'm convinced that it was nothing more than stubborn persistence that got me to the top.

With a little stubborn persistence, sometimes we can do more than we think we can. What is it that you are training for that will require stubborn persistence?

-----------------------------------------------

*Oh, and I should have added one more lesson to yesterday's post: Cycling tan lines are not sexy. You're welcome.

Ten Lessons from Half-Century

2011-10-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Cyclists - Day of Tread morning

1) I enjoy riding with Husband a lot more than riding by myself
2) At about 35-40 miles, I'm ready to be done
3) I'll probably never want to do a full century (see #2)
4) With more practice, it gets easier and easier to fix flat tires (learned during training. almost.every.time.)
5) Rides without flats or mechanical problems are extra awesome (discovered on day of half century, yay!)
6) The long slow climb up Tramway isn't as bad as I expected

Mid-point Rest Stop

7) The short steep climb up toward Elena Gallegos is worse than I expected and about did me in (ugggh!)
8) Peanut butter sandwiches seem to have magic powers
9) I have more confidence with my bike handling skills than I did a few years ago
10) Riding downhill isn't as scary a it was a few years ago (see #9)

Three Things Thursday: Hills, Plans, Hat

2011-10-13T05:54:00.000-07:00

1) My running partner & I finally made it to the hilly course on Tuesday we had planning on running for the past two weeks. Twice we were rained out. Not this time, though! That hilly course is tough, but it was a very satisfying workout.

2) Husband & I took the day off work with the plan of going for one more ride before the Day of the Tread this weekend. Not sure if we are going to aim for 30 miles on a mostly flat course or if we go shorter and ride the hilly part of the weekend route. We'll decide in a few hours. Looks like we're going to have a nice day for the ride. I'm also supposed to be running 4 miles tonight, not sure how that is going to go, but it's still the plan.

3) One of the best things about cooler weather is that I get to wear fun hats. My daughter knows that I like sock monkeys and fun hats and bought me a gift. That strange expression is me squealing with joy when I tried it on. I love it!

Rockin' the Sock Monkey Hat

Run, Rain, Run, Ride

2011-10-10T06:49:00.000-07:00

THURSDAY: The plan was to meet with the run group in the evening. The plan was: half mile warm up, 1 mile @~10:15, 1 mile @~9:30, 1 mile @~10:30, cool down. Here is the graph by half mile increments (because of the half mile warm up). I did okay through mile 3, had a little trouble holding the pace target for the last mile, and my cool down was too fast. But, other than that, it was a pretty good run, and a good way to practice various paces.

Thursday's run splits in half mile increments

FRIDAY: We had bought park&ride tickets for the Special Shapes mass ascension Friday morning. Woke up at some ridiculous hour only to find that it was raining. Waiting about an hour, the official status was that the events were delayed, not cancelled. Decided to go for it. Arrived at the park, had something to eat, and got the word that the morning events were now cancelled. The field was open and balloons had the option to inflate, but no flights. We saw a grand total of one single balloon while we were walking back to the bus to go home. It ended up raining most of the day, which is actually a good thing as we really need the rain. However, it also messed up my plans for a bike ride. Oh well.

Move along, nothing to see here, folks!

SATURDAY: They have finally opened registration for the upcoming all-terrain race. Yippee!! Met my running partner at 7:15 to run the course. Since it had rained all day Friday, the single track was slippery and muddy. Lots of puddle jumping involved. The footing on the dirt levee road wasn't too bad, and we had a nice view of the balloons in flight that morning. When I got home, my shoes were a muddy mess, but it was a really fun run. Still very much looking forward to this upcoming race.

Yes! Finally able to register

SUNDAY:: It was chilly in the morning. Husband & I were planning a 50 mile ride and postponed our start time a few hours so that it would warm up. This ride didn't go nearly as well for me as our ride last week. Not entirely sure why. But we got it done. When I got home, my bike computer said 49.8, close enough for me!

Pre-ride Determination: 50 miles or bust!

Wednesday Whine and Love

2011-10-05T06:28:00.000-07:00

While I'm generally in a fairly positive mood, I must admit to having a case of the mid-week grumpies. Here is a list of my current WHINES:

My run yesterday got cancelled due to rain. While I'm well aware that most of you would have run in the rain, I did not. To my credit, I think I run outside in hotter and/or colder weather than some of you do. But not in rain. Not by choice. We really needed the rain, so I'm not unhappy that it rained, but I think the timing sucks. Why couldn't it have rained on Monday, my rest day?
Looks like Thursday's run might get cancelled due to wind. If the weather forecast is correct, they are predicting 40-50 mph winds with 60+ mph gusts. No thank you.
The all-terrain race that I'm targeting at the end of the month STILL hasn't opened registration. What the heck!?! Does this mean it's not happening? It's still posted as a planned event on the organizers website, but no way to register for it.
I'm interested in getting a pair of Merrell lithe gloves for colder weather. The pace gloves are great for summer, but as it gets cold, these aren't going to keep my feet warm enough. I drove over to the local store that carries them and discovered that they had them in pretty much every size in stock except for the size that I need. I guess I'll be ordering them online.
I've mentioned the toddler sized quilts that I make for Project Linus before, right? I go in and out of quilt making phases during the year. I decided this weekend that I was going to start making another batch. About one hour into the first one that I was working on, my sewing machine started having problems. Took it into the shop on Monday and they say it will be about two weeks before they can get to it. *sigh*

To balance it out, I will list some of the cool things that are going on in my life. In the grand scheme, those whines are nothing but inconveniences. Here a list of LOVES:

Daughter, who is a senior in high school, is planning to spend spring break on a mission trip to Haiti to do work at an orphanage. I happen to think that it is super cool that she has a heart to help others and is choosing to do this volunteer work at this time of her life. This weekend they are doing a fund-raising event for the trip. I'm very proud of her initiative.
I am really enjoying the cycling time with Husband. It's much more enjoyable riding with him than it was riding solo to prepare for my sprint Tris. I think I will look at doing a charity ride with him next spring as well.
One of my favorite light weight jackets (by New Balance) had a broken zipper. I considered retiring said jacket, then decided to take it to a tailor to have the zipper replaced. Yes, I sew, but replacing zippers can be a pain. $15 later, and the jacket is as good as new. Yay!
The temps have been heavenly lately. And the leaves are starting to turn. I just love fall!
Booked flights and hotel for a weekend trip to Nashville in November to attend my niece's wedding. I've never been to Nashville before. Even though it will be a quick trip, I'm looking forward to it.
I've been feeling really good on my runs lately. And my knee is still holding out. Pain-free running is a very good thing.

Monday Musings

2011-10-03T06:05:00.000-07:00

Technology

I found out over the weekend that my work team won IPads from a company sponsored raffle related to a project that we completed earlier this year. Nifty!
Have you heard about the HTC Rhyme? That purple phone? I'm extremely interested in it. Waiting to read actual user reviews before deciding. I would be upgrading from an original Motorola Droid. Big question is whether or not I can live without the physical keyboard.

Running

As I mentioned in my September Summary post, I want to spend some time on single track this month. Started off the month with a 5.3 mile run that included 2 miles of single track. I'm off to a good start!
I'm also planning to continue running hills. I'm going to try to run the Live.love/Patriot aka killer hill course once a week. Hills makes us stronger, right.

Cycling

Our 44 mile ride went MUCH better than the 40 mile ride from the previous week. I felt better. We went faster. It was more enjoyable. Next weekend, 50.
This weekend we finally got the Yamika RailGrabbers and bars for my Jetta. We already have the bike mount pieces from use on our 18+ yr old Explorer. Haven't installed yet, but the idea for the short term is that we will be able to mount Husband's bike on top of my Jetta, with my bike inside the car. This allows us to leave one mount on the explorer as well. I'm all kinds of excited about this.

Fiesta

The Albuquerque International Balloon Fiesta is a HUGE event. Broke a world record on Saturday by launching 345 balloons within one hour. There were over 550 balloons total in the air yesterday. It's crazy.
We have mixed feelings about it when the wind brings the balloons our way. On the one hand, it is neat to be able to see them. On the other hand, it makes Bandit very unhappy. Stymie is unfaze, but Bandit highly dislikes them. Poor doggy.

Garden

Well, it's October and my watermelons are still growing, but several plants are starting to die off. Harvested quite a bit this weekend. It's been a good year. I'll be making more changes next year, constantly seeking the perfect mix of stuff to grow. Fun times.
Discovered that Stymie likes cherry tomatoes. Bandit won't touch them, but Stymie acts like they are candy. Whenever I go into the garden, he now sits by the gate waiting for me to bring him a snack. Cute.

September Tally

2011-10-01T15:17:00.000-07:00

Numbers

64 miles by feet (40.0 running, 24.0 walking)
144.9 miles by seat
1800 yds in the pool
5 hill workout
5 yoga workouts
3 planned rest days
3 unplanned rest days
1 race (sprint tri)

Thoughts

It doesn't make sense to pay for the gym just for pool access in October - I need to either save my $$ or spend more time at the gym, probably the former rather than the latter.
I'm glad to see my cycling mileage go up.
Tried yoga a few times at the end of the month. Not excited about it.
I hope my tolerance for the bike increases so that the end of the 54 mile charity ride isn't miserable.

Plans

Spend some time on single track
Keep running hills at least once a week
44-50-54 <-- planned long bike rides
Day of the Tread half century (54 miles)
Bosque Boogie 10K (all terrain run)

[edited to add: so far in October I have had one run with a few miles on single track and completed the 44 mile bike ride. I'm off to a good start!]

Going with Plan B

2011-09-30T06:42:00.000-07:00

Tuesday I was supposed to meet my running partner for a hilly 5K run. I really wasn't feeling well at all that day (allergies?). I ended up coming home early from work and taking a nap. Plan B was a solo 2.2 mile run on Wednesday instead. It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran a route that I haven't run in a few months.

Thursday, I was going to meet said running partner at the same place to get the hilly run in that we missed on Tuesday. She texted that she was stuck at work and couldn't make it. Plan B was a group 4.0 mile run instead. It wasn't what I had planned, but it was nice because I ran with the group for a change; I haven't been running much with them lately.

So no hilly run so far this week, which is a bummer, but Plan B hasn't been so bad. Sometimes it's about going where life takes you.

"The bend in the road is not the end of the road, unless you refuse to take the turn" - unknown.

Three Things Thursday

2011-09-29T05:59:00.000-07:00

1) Short Long Runs - Can you believe it? It's been six weeks since I've done a run longer than 5 miles! I'm actually okay with that. This is another tactic toward keeping my knee happy. But it is really sinking in right now, because for several years, I've run the Duke City Half marathon in October and this is the time of year when I would normally be out there for 10+ mile runs and here I am doing long runs of 5 miles instead. Anyway, I finally have a 6 mile run on tap for Saturday.

2) Delayed Registration - The 10K that I want to run at end of October hasn't opened registration yet. This is the all terrain race that is partly on single track, partly on dirt levee road, and partly on road. I guess they are waiting until October 1st. It's a local race and very popular; doesn't it seem odd to anyone else that you can't register for it quite yet? It makes me wonder if it's actually going to happen this year or not.

3) Fiesta Traffic - Balloon Fiesta starts this coming weekend. There will be hundreds and hundreds of hot air balloons in the air. On the one hand, it *is* pretty spectacular. On the other hand, it also means lots of traffic and bunches of drivers that get distracted by the pretty balloons in the air. Makes it extra *unsafe* to be a cyclist out on the road. Good thing the bulk of our scheduled 44 mile ride will occur on the multi-use trail rather than out on the road.

Riding, running, and more riding

2011-09-26T05:57:00.000-07:00

Knowing that I had a 40 mile ride on the calendar for Sunday, I went out on my bike Friday with the goal of at least 10 miles. 11.3 miles later, I was back home and feeling pretty good. Short rides like this always leave me feeling refreshed.

Saturday morning, met with a running friend for 5 miles on a dirt trail. Ahhhh, heaven! It's no secret that I am a fan of running on dirt, and I think I've converted her to dirt over the summer. The prior weekend, she ran a half-marathon road race and one of her first comments to me was how much pounding her body took from the hard surface. She actually asked me if we could run exclusively on dirt for the next few weeks. No argument from me!

Side note, it's been about 6 months since my last round of Euflexxa injections in my left knee. It's considered successful by the doctors if it gives me at least 6 months of relief. I'm hoping to extend the time between treatments closer to a year. Running on dirt seems to help. So does keeping my run distance no longer than about 7 miles. Fingers crossed that this magic combination will keep me going for another several months. I'm very thankful to have a training partner that is happy with this combination as well.

Sunday afternoon Husband & I went out for our 40 mile ride. We decided to stop ever 8 miles for just a few minutes for hydration/nutrition/stretching. Felt good at the first stop, but of course I did. Those were the easy miles. Next stop happened about six tenths of a mile ahead of schedule so Husband could replace his rear tube due to a flat. Third stop was short, and I was still feeling okay. By the fourth stop (mile 32), we had exceeded our mileage from last weekend I needed a longer rest to get motivated to finish the distance. I was hurting all over. Just past mile 35 we came upon a restaurant and decided to stop for a snack. We were there for about a half hour. Re-energized, we completed the final 5 miles to home, bringing the total to 40.1.

Next weekend we are doing a loop that should give us ~44. I hope the small increase is easier on my body than the jump from 30-40 was. Then we have another weekend targeted at ~50 and after that, it will be the bike event (54mi) that we are training for.

Three Things Thursday

2011-09-22T06:07:00.000-07:00

Garmin Love - Wouldn't you know it, after using a Garmin 205 for a good 5 years, I've finally figured out how to use some of the features. Specifically, I have it now set up to chime every mile both while running and cycling. I also set it up to auto pause. The chiming every mile has really freed me from having to keep checking my Garmin on a 4 mile run when I want to turn at mile 2, for example. I just run and listen for the chime! I'm finding auto pause particularly helpful on bike rides. I had a tendency to turn the Garmin off if we stopped for a break, then I would forget to turn it back on. D'oh! Now it turns itself off and back on if I stop for a break. I'm sure there are other cool features that I could take advantage of, but this is a start. And they say you can't teach old dogs new tricks. Hahahahahaha.

Yoga - After my epiphany about needing more strength/core work, I tried (and failed) to get motivated to go to the gym for some strength work. I also tried (and succeeded) to get motivated for some yoga. If you've followed me for a while, you may notice that I go in and out of love with yoga. Anyway, I've done it twice so far this week. It's not as intense for strength work as lifting weights, but it helps me work on my flexibility as well as some strength, so it's a good thing to so. Yoga always reminds me how terribly uncoordinated I am though.

Animal - Doing yoga means being on the floor. Being on the floor, means being reminded about how much dog/cat fur is on the carpet! We have two dogs and two cats which means the entire house is basically covered in a layer of fur. Anyway, we recently bought a refurbished Dyson DC25 Animal vacuum from Woot. It had good reviews and is specifically meant for animal hair removal. No, not from the animal itself, from the carpets. Let me just tell you, this thing is AMAZING. Yes, I am that excited about a vacuum. What can I say? I don't get out much...

This post brought to you by the letter S

2011-09-19T15:54:00.000-07:00

Switching Brands: Our local Costco stopped carrying the 12-packcase of chobani greek yogurt. At first this seemed like a panicsituation, but quickly found a replacement strategy to get me through my dailyGreek yogurt consumption needs. Walmart has a large size vanilla Chobanithat is perfect to scoop into my granola for breakfast. Costco nowcarries a 12-pack case of Fage, which is different, but also very yummy, and perfect for a mid-morning or late afternoon snack.

Strength Training: Husband thought that my downfall on the 30milebike ride was going to be saddle-soreness. Oddly, the problem wasactually shoulder-soreness. Which I take as a sign that I need to revampmy core and upper body strengthening. If my core was stronger, I wouldn’tcarry weight on my shoulders. If my upper body was stronger, I wouldn’tbe sore from it even if I did. So now I’m on a quest to add strength-workback into my routine.

September: September has got to be my all-time favoritemonth of the year. It is cool enough to be comfortable for running,cycling, etc without the wind we get in the spring. I just love it andwish it would last longer!

Speed work: I'm just not feeling it right now. I'm thinking of switching out all of the speed work sessions that were on my training plan for the next several weeks with some easy runs. This is related to my recent decision to take road races off my schedule in the short term. I just want to run for the joy of running right now, and for me, speed work takes away the joy.

Signed Up: After a successful 30 mile ride, Husband & I are now signed up for the 54 miler in mid-October. I'm glad to have made the decision so that we could sign up before the rates go up. We now have a 40 mile training ride on the calendar for this weekend. Fun stuff!

Stringing up Lights: All summer I have wanted to get some outsidelights strung up on our back patio so that we could sit out there in theevenings and be able to see well enough not to trip over stuff. Wemanaged to get some hooks up, but never strung the lights because we didn’t’need them during summer while the sun stayed up fairly late. Now thatit’s actually getting darker earlier, it seems like we might need to get thisdone sooner than later. Just need to make time to do it.

Sweet Tooth: This weekend I was craving something sweet, so I decided to make my family famous chocolate/peppermint cookies. So yummy! Too yummy, actually, as I can't stop myself from eating them. Sadly, I'm already thinking about making cookies again next weekend, this time modifying the recipe to make them chocolate/peanut butter cookies.

Swimming: I have a hard time getting motivated to swim, mostly because I don't like getting up as early as necessary to swim before work. This week I am hoping to schedule in a run-swim with my tri-training buddy. I'm thinking that scheduling a workout with a run-buddy will get me to the pool. Accountability helps!

What's next?

2011-09-17T10:50:00.000-07:00

All summer, I was training toward the two sprint triathlons that are now in the past. So what's up next?

So far this week, I have run 14.1 miles, walked 6, cycled 15.7, and swam 400M. If all goes well, I'll be adding another 30 miles to my cycle total before calling it a week. I'm hoping to accomplish these 30 miles without too much discomfort. If that goes well, Husband & I will target the 54 mile ride for Day of the Tread in mid-October and work on increasing the riding distance between now and then. If it doesn't go so well, we'll plan on the doing the 26 mile course. I'm really hoping that the 54 is within my grasp, but since most of my rides this summer have been in the 12mi and under category with the longest so far being just 22. I'm just not sure if I can get there in the few weeks that we have between now and the event. [ updated to add: We did it and it wasn't TOO bad. Would have been better if we had actually beat the storm. The last few miles were in some nasty wind and a bit of rain and the threat of lightning. Otherwise, it went well.]

On the running front, I've removed every running event from my calendar for the next 7 weeks except for the Bosque Boogie 10K. Originally, I had wanted to shoot for a sub-hour 10K at Duke City. I've decided that now is not the time for that. I'm more interested right now in running for the joy of running, not to hit some time goal. The event that I left on my calendar is an all-terrain run, with part on road, part on dirt levee road, and part on single-track. It's at the end of October when the leaves have turned golden yellow. It was my favorite event last year and I'm looking forward to running it again simply for the joy of running, not as a PR course.

So those are my next target events: Day of the Tread ride (26 or 54 mi, tbd) and Bosque Boogie 10K for FUN!

This, that, and the other

2011-09-14T06:25:00.000-07:00

Daughter went out for a bike ride with a friend yesterday. I'm thinking they went somewhere between 6 and 8 miles. I think this is the first she was out on her bike for at least 3 years. I guess this means I cannot have her bike, but if my interest in her bike had anything to do with her re-sparking her interest in riding it, that's fine by me.
Tuesday is group run day, but I didn't want to do hills or speed work, so I met a friend and went on a four mile easy trail run instead. It was perfect. Being out there running for fun, solidified my decision to take the Duke City 10K off my schedule. The next run I'm planning on is the Bosque Boogie, which is an 'all terrain' run with a section on single track. I had so much fun at that race last year! I can't wait to do it again.
This morning I truly intended to get up and go for a bike ride. Really, I did. But now it is raining, and quite honestly, I'm really not in the mood to ride in the rain. Maybe after work. Or in a few days. Whatever. No pressure, my bike will be ready when I am.
Planning on going for a 30+ mile bike ride this weekend with Husband. Depending on how it goes, we will decide whether we are aiming for a half century or quarter century for Day of the Tread, which is about a month away. I am sure I can do the quarter century route no problem, but not sure where my bike fitness is with regard with the longer route. And as with all things around here, it's going to be hilly.
Still haven't heard from the RD about race shirts, not that I'm too concerned, but I really had expected an email about that by now. There was also an event photographer on site and I'm waiting to find out where to view the photos online. I hope they got a good one of me on my bike. I'm going to order an event photo from the other tri and would like one from this race as well if they got a good shot. Maybe we'll get an email about all that today?
A while back I won a pair of Brooks shoes from a giveaway on Adam's blog. I chose trail running shoes. I'm happy to report that soon I will be able to share my thoughts on what I picked out. Yipppeeee!
Sometime in the last couple weeks, I found a site (and subsequently lost it, so I cannot share right now) that had you enter your current age and weight and then calculated speed for same race if you were a younger, lighter version of yourself (in this case, I think it goes to 23 yrs old and 110 lbs). Of course, I wasn't running at that age, but it was interesting none-the-less. I entered by 5K PR of just under 28 minutes from a few months ago and it spat out a time of something like 24 minutes. I don't know how accurate it is, but somehow that made me feel much better about my running ability. If I can find it, I'll share it for you other 'older' runners out there.

Patriot Sprint Race Report

2011-09-12T05:56:00.000-07:00

Packet Pickup

I arrived at early packet pickup within about 15 minutes ofwhen they opened. This would beuneventful, except that there were no shirts. Apparently they arrived late the day before and were still on a UPStruck. The race director seemed stressedabout this, and I’m sure it won’t be convenient for anyone who travelled in forthe race, but shirts will be able to be picked up starting tomorrow. I personally don't think it's a big deal.

It’s a seeded swim start based on estimated swim time. I was assigned 186. There were 385 participants. Came home and put my number on my bike, gathered my stuff, and prepared for the next day.

PreRace

I wasn’t sure whether I was going to be able to do this ornot, my back had been going in and out of spasm all week. I gingerly got out of bed when my alarm wentoff, stretched a bit, and my back seemed okay. So I decided that I was going to go for it!

I arrived about a half hour after Transition opened. They were racking by Age Group, my group(F45-49) was way in the back near Bike In, but not very close to Swim In. I knew this meant a longer than anticipatedT1.

As I mentioned in my summary, I thought it was very coolthat they had a Heros division and that the proceeds were going to local fireand police depts.

Swim 400 yd pool - 9:13,74 of 122 women age groupers (not including special divisions and teams)

We lined up by number. They started swimmers every 10 seconds. For some reason, I was feeling very nervous and anxious as my start timeapproached. My heart rate was up and mybreathing was shallow. This affected metremendously in the water. My form fell apartand I had a horrible swim. It seemedlike I was in survival mode. This wasunexpected; my swim is generally my strength and there was no reason to benervous. I guess it’s just anotherreminder that a large part of this sport is the mental aspect. Even though it was a struggle, I was only 45sec off my estimated time (and about 25 sec slower than 2008). That’s really not a big deal for the overallrace but certainly not a great way to get started.

Swimming (blue cap)

T1 3:16

Knowing that I had a longer trek to my transition area, Itried to hustle from the pool to my bike. Put on a shirt, socks, cycling shoes, helmet, and glasses. Took a swig from my bottle, grabbed my bike,and ran it over to bike out.

Running my bike out of T1

Bike 15.7 hilly miles - 01:03:38, 77 of 122 women

I was out of breath and still mentally defeated from theswim for the first mile. After that, Igot my head back in the game. I made it a point to shout a loud "thank you" the volunteers that were on the course, many of which who were police, fire, and military personnel. I wasn't passed by a woman until mile 6. That woman, however, ended up being my racetwin. She had the same color bike as me,same color shirt, was the same age, and similar shorts. That made me smile. Lots of guys passed me,as well as a few other women. I managedto pass a grand total of 5 people (Hey, it’s better than nothing!).

At the turn point, which was also at the topof the big climb, I was behind my predicted pace, but determined to dig in andgive it my all. I has a strong second half and ended up finishing aheadof my predicted time and also about sixand a half minutes faster than my bike split from 2008. I realized it is all relative, but when Ifirst started triathlon, I was always way back of the pack with my cycling and now I’m working my way up closer to the middle. I’ve come a long way, and I’m very pleased with my improvement in thisaspect of the sport.

Off on the bike!

T2 02:03

I took a 3 yr break from triathlon, and during that time Imust have forgotten how to really hustle in T2. For one thing, no Yanx, so I had to tighten and tie my runningshoes. It seemed to take forever. Also I put my hat on in T1, should havegrabbed it and put it on while running. Between T1 and T2 I was almost a minute slower than 2008. Oh well.

T2 - putting on my hat *sigh*

Run 3.1 hilly miles - 33:44, 79 of 122 women

I was exhausted at this point and this run is killerhilly. I really didn’t feel likerunning, but I had no good reason not to, so off I went. It felt like I wasmoving at a snail’s pace throughout the entire course. My pace was actually fairlyclose to my half-marathon pace and a bit faster than I expected. I ended up about 4 and a half minutes fasterthan my 2008 time and I’m happy with the result.

Off and running!

Overall 01:51:54, 79 of 122 women, 14 of 22 F45-49

What can I say? Despite a rocky swim and less than speedytransitions, I ended up about 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and afew minutes faster than what I predicted. There are some things I still need to work on, but overall I’m happy. I’m particularlypleased with my cycling improvement.

Running through to the finish

Post-Race Thoughts

I’m glad this was the 2^nd of the 2 sprints that Iplanned this year. It was a challengingrace, much more so than the one two weeks ago, and not as much fun. I’m guessing part of the ‘less fun’ nature hadto do with the fact that this was one of the first races in a long time where Ididn’t know any of the other participants. Everything is more fun with friends. Anyway, I’m putting a bow on my tri season. I am ready to move on to some fun rides withno race/time pressure and have my eyes set on a few charity events in October.

Sprint Summary

2011-09-11T14:00:00.000-07:00

Holy Heck that was a tough race! Full race report tomorrow or Tuesday. I am happy to report that my back cooperated and I was able to participate! I am also happy to report that my finish time was 01:51:54. That's a good 10 minutes faster than my time from 2008 and a few minutes faster than the 01:55:00 that I predicted. Yay!

A few random tidbits from the race:

I was passed by a 73 yr old man wearing nothing but a speedo on the bike. Think about that for a few moments.
I passed a 7 yr old kid on the bike course. Not a typo. SEVEN. Oh, and he passed me back and left me in the dust on the run.
I saw a lady on the same color bike as mine, wearing the same color shirt, and similar shorts. She was also my same age. I dubbed her my race twin. She was faster than me, but it was still cool to have a race twin.
I thought it was very cool that this race had a HERO division for EMS, police, fire, and military personnel and that the proceeds went to the local police and fire departments.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks. I'm exhausted and ready for a nap!

Four Things Friday

2011-09-09T05:58:00.000-07:00

1) Regarding the race this weekend. Because of issues with my back, it has been iffy all week as to whether or not I will actually be able to participate. My back was acting up on Saturday, messing up my plans for a long run. Sunday it was marginal, and I limited my activity to a short bike and short run. It seemed better by Monday, and we rode the bike course. Tuesday I had a great run at the track. Wednesday was rest day. Thursday, my back started acting up again! Ugg. Canceled my run plans and went to the chiropractor instead. Also was able to be seen by the PT on site. I have another chiro/PT appt later this afternoon as well. I really want to do this particular sprint tri, so you can bet I'll be at the race site ready to go as long as my body cooperates. Keep your fingers crossed for me!

2) Already modifying my plans for what's next. I had originally thought that I would target a 10K mid-Oct and go for a PR. However, I've really been enjoying my bike a lot recently. In fact, originally I had some apprehension about signing up for the Patriot due to the hilly bike route, but now I'm looking forward to the bike portion of the course more than anything else! And with this newly sparked re-interest in cycling, I'm leaning toward adding in a few charity rides instead of that 10K. That's one of the benefits of triathlon training, allows me to really mix things up however I want.

3) I took the Giant (road bike that I'm thinking of selling) into the shop for a tune up because it was out of adjustment. When I picked it up, the guy that helped me kept calling me "dear." I don't know about you, but for some reason I find that horribly condescending. It's one thing if someone I know calls me "dear," but something entirely different when a total stranger calls me that. Am I over-reacting??

4) Our garden is coming along nicely. Remember when the rabbits were eating my plants? Well, the reinforced gate kept them out and after that, the garden really flourished. Right now I'm eating some of my cantaloupe from the garden. I've never grown that before and it really turned out delish! I'm also excited to make eggplant parmesan this weekend from my first ever eggplants. My standby veggies (chilies, peppers, tomatoes, watermelon, beans, cucumbers) are doing well too, but these new additions are particularly exciting to try out. It's amazing what seeds, sun, and water (plus compost and some TLC) turn into.

Predictions and Plans

2011-09-06T16:23:00.000-07:00

So I have this hilly little sprint called the Patriot this weekend. Actually, it's billed as the most difficult (or one of the most difficult, depending on who you ask) sprint in the state. Lucky me!

Predictions:

I'm going to estimate to the nearest minute, not going to fiddle with seconds

Swim (400m serpentine pool swim) - 9:00. This is roughly my time from 2008. When I do a straight 400m swim, I can do it faster, but this accounts for lane changes. This is faster than what I did at my last tri, because the seeded swim start should mean very little jockeying for position in the pool (theoretically, faster swimmers in front of me, slower ones behind me)
Transitions (T1+T2 combined) - 4:00. In 2008, at this event, my transitions took 4 minutes. A few weeks ago at a similar event, my transitions took 3 minutes. I expect something closer to 2008 b/c a few weeks ago we did a reverse which has faster transitions due to starting in running shoes.
Bike (15.5 mi hilly route) - 1:06:00. In 2008 this took me 01:11:00. My cycling is a bit better since then, but not as good as I'd like. I rode the course this weekend and it took me ~1:06:00 ride time not counting a few stops to check the map. This lines up with my performance at my recent tri, so I think it's a good estimate.
Run (3.1 mi hilly mixed terrain) - 35:00. In 2008 it took me 38:00. A few weeks ago, with the run first, I did it in 31:00. I think I'm going to be tired and slow after the hilly bike ride, so I'm expecting something in between, but a little closer to the 2008 numbers.

What does it add up to? If my predictions are close, I'm looking at a 01:55:00 finish vs. 2:02:00 from 2008, with most of the improvement coming from the bike. If I can actually pull that off, I'll be happy.

Plans

I will freeze half my bottle the night before, and fill it the rest of the way up race morning.
I will arrive at the race site shortly after transition opens to get good parking and not be rushed.
I will wear my new tri shorts & a grey sports bra for the swim, and put on a bright green or yellow shirt so that I'm highly visible on the bike route (want to be sure the cars can see me!)
I will swim easy; I should be able to pull off a 9:00 400 without over-exerting myself. Save energy for the bike and run.
I will hustle through transitions; no dawdling!
I will mount my Garmin on my bike for real time speed/distance feedback and use the Timex sports watch on my wrist for the rest of the race.
I will smile and have fun and thank the volunteers who are out there.

I think that about covers it!

Monday Meanderings

2011-09-05T13:59:00.000-07:00

My back hates me. In mid-July, I experienced a back twinge thatpreceded two days of terrible-awful back spasms. It was a good 10 days before I was runningagain. Well, Saturday morning, as I wasgetting out of car to meet my friend for a 10K hilly run, my back decidedto act up again. Twinge! Spasm! Ouch! Thankfully, this time it wasn’t as bad asbefore and I here I am just a few days later and feeling well enough torun. But I’m on guard. If my back acts up again this week, I’mprobably sitting out of the sprint tri that I have planned for the weekend (see #2))
The Patriot is cursed! Okay, I don’t really believe that, but itsure has been poorly timed for me. In 2008 I did this race wearing a knee braceshortly after my DNF at a local half-marathon. The following year, I was signed up to do it again, but the race wasjust a few days after my dad died and I wasn’t in the right mental place torace safely, so I DNS. I wanted to do itin 2010, but I had just gotten the all clear to run after having my knee treatedand simply wasn’t in shape for it. Nowthis year, my back decides to act up one week before the race. *sigh*
I’m rethinking the remainder of my racecalendar. I have three potential eventslined up in October, which is cool, but limits my actual training time and puts me into back-to-back races. I"m now thinking that I may swap out one of my potential10K races in October with something at the end of this month to spread thingsout a bit. Stewing on that for a bit...
I love September! This is one of my favorite months, mostly dueto the weather. It’s starting out greattoo, yesterday the high was 77. Can youbelieve that, only 77?!?! First time in along time that it was something other than 90s and many days last week creptover 100. Of course it only lasted oneday, but it’s a sign that cooler weather is on the horizon. Yay!
Husband & I rode the Patriot bike coursetoday, or something close to it (not sure we turned around at exactly the rightplace, I measured it a little short). I thought the long climb in the middle would be the worst part, but instead, the worst part for me was actually the steep section between miles 12.5 & 13.0. Felt like I needed a grappling hook for that part. Yowzer!
I now know that It's not going to be speedy, but I can dothis. I’ll post later this week about myexpected splits and goals and such for the race.
Three day weekends rock! Not only do they make the long weekend special, they make the upcoming weekend arrive even faster. I might even like the 4 day week after a 3 day weekend more than the 3 day weekend itself. Is that strange?
I think orange Accelerade is my favorite because it reminds me of an orange dreamsicle or push-up treat, the kind I used to get from the ice cream truck when I was a kid. Anyone with me on that?
Discovered a new Chobani flavor that I love - black cherry. Have you tried that one? Totally yummy! I didn't even know they made that kind until Husband brought one home after seeing it in the store. Love it!
Sometime in the last month, I lost my camera. Finally broke down and ordered a replacement, same model refurbished. I was sure that ordering a new one would mean that the old one would turn up, but no luck. At this point, I'm fairly sure I left it behind somewhere. Bummer.

That's how I roll

2011-09-04T10:39:00.000-07:00

This weekend I decided to invest a little time in a bike project or two. My first bike project involves getting an old 20+ yr old heavy, stiff Rockhopper ride-ready and eventually commute-worthy. I haven't ridden this for a very long time, in fact, the last time it was ridden was by the kids when they were little. I had to adjust the seat quite a bit to get it into a somewhat comfortable position for me. I also think that I need to raise the handle bars. Anyway, I took it out for a test ride after wiping it down, filling up the tires, and adjusting the seat height. Wasn't a very comfortable ride, and I think something funky is going on with the front brakes, but otherwise, it seems to be in good condition and shifted smoothly.

1990 ChroMoly RockHopper replaced knobbies w/ Hemisphere EX tires

My daughter got a bike when she was maybe 12 yrs old (maybe younger) that has been sitting in the garage ever since she learned to drive. I put air in the tires and took this out for a test ride also. I don't like how it shifts compared to the bike above, but the brakes are better and the ride is much more comfortable, probably due to the front shocks. I'm thinking about asking her whether she ever plans to ride this again, if not, I may abandon the project above and work to make this my commute bike.

Daughter's 2005? Women's Aluminum Hardrock Sport

The second project that I have going on involves my Giant OCR3. This is the bike that I did my first 3 triathlons on (back in 2006-2007). It needed new tires and the bike computer hasn't been working. I replaced the tires Friday and Husband figured out how to get the battery out of the computer (replacing it should fix the issue). I have a friend who is potentially interested in buying this bike so I'm getting it ready to sell. I was thinking that I would list it on Craigslist if she doesn't want it because I haven't ridden it at all for the past year and a half or so, but now I'm not so sure. Getting rid of a bike is like getting rid of a good friend. Anyway, I took it out for a test ride today and it needs a tune up. Can't get to the small ring in front and it rattles on the large rings in back.

2006 Women's Aluminum Giant OCR3

Finally, the bike I like best. In the photo below I had replaced the front tire (have since also replaced the rear). What's funny is that I wasn't really bike shopping for myself when I found it; I was out shopping with Husband for a road bike for him. They had this in one of that stores that we were shopping at, I took it out for a ride while he was test riding something else, and fell in love with it. He didn't end up buying a bike at that particular store, but I eventually went back and bought this one for myself. This is the only bike that I truly love riding.

2007 Women's Carbon Lemond Versailles

So that's how I roll. How about you??

August Tally

2011-08-31T16:15:00.000-07:00

By the Numbers

83.2 miles by feet (37.0 running, 45.2 walking)
100.4 miles by seat
1200 meters in the pool
12 hill training days
8 vacation days (Maui, baby!!)
4 planned rest days
1 unplanned rest day
2 races (5K, sprint tri)
1 child now a Senior in HS
1 child off to CA for Sophomore year in college
1 friend newly hooked on triathlon

Thoughts

Happy with my bike training, especially given the week long vacation at the start of the month
Happy with my performance at the sprint tri
No good excuse for such little time in the pool other than it doesn't interest me that much
I really need to be more consistent with my running

Plans

Keep training hills!!
Try to get in more running/swimming volume
Another Sprint Tri

Live.Love.Tri Race Report

2011-08-29T05:22:00.001-07:00

Pre Race

I went to packet pickup the day before the race and was assigned my race number, 27. The lady who handed it to me said "first wave." First wave? The pre-race packet said it was a mass start?!?! I immediately began to freak out. The only redeeming quality about a reverse triathlon, in my mind, is that it allows as many of the fast people to get out of my way as possible. Now I find out I'm in the first wave, which means said fast people will be chasing me down and passing me along the way. Why is this a problem? Because it means the pool is going to be even more clogged up than I thought. Great. Just Great.

My friend texted me when she got her number. She was in the first wave too. That was good, we could start together and would have some company out on the course.

Got all my stuff organized and packed up the car. Put a bottle of accelerade in the freezer. Tried to get a good night's rest.

Side note: I've had several pairs of tri shorts over the years, but I like to swim in them and chlorine isn't kind to them. Before the race, I was down to one pair, my least favorite and most uncomfortable. The night before the race, I realized that I should have bought another pair. Oh well.

Race Morning

The race was sold out with over 300 participants and the only available parking was going to be on the street. I didnt' want to end up parking far away, so I planned to arrive right when transition opened, at 5:45. Got a nice parking spot.

The pre-race packet said it was going to be first come first serve with regard to transition spots, but when I arrived, I found that transition spots were assigned based on number. My location was near the run-in, but near the middle of the rack.

When my friend arrived, I showed her how to rack her bike, and we went to get body marked and pick up our chips. Then we attended the pre-race meeting and got lined up for our wave 1 start.

Run

We had run this course 4 times before the race, so were very familiar with dreaded hills and the off-road section. My plan was to go easy up the hills, and power down them when I had gravity on my side, saving my legs for the cycle portion. I felt like I did a good job running this according to my plan.

Run time: 31:13

My stuff was really close to the run-in entrance. So close that I over-ran to a different rack and then had to back track. Darn it! Changed my shoes, got my helmet and sun glassed put on. Grabbed my bottle of accelerade to take a drink only to find that it was still frozen solid. Drat! Grabbed the bike and headed out of transition.

T1 time: 1:28

Bike

I had driven the course, but never cycled it before. Started out okay, managed to pass a few people in the first half mile or so. Then I passed a few more and was feeling pretty good about how my legs were feeling. Then we got to the first real hill. It wasn't horrible, but it wasn't fun. Started hearing "on your left" as stronger cyclists from later waves started catching up. This would be a theme for the rest of the bike course. At the turn-point, we got to go downhill for awhile. Wheeeeeee. Then another uphill. Ugggh. Finished with a short downhill then uphill into transition. Overall, I did okay, but I'd say this was more difficult than I expected. Definitely would have helped to bike the course at least once before the race. Lesson learned.

Bike time: 44:00

Racked my bike, took off my helmet, shoes, socks, sunglasses. Grabbed my accelerade bottle once again, this time it was thawed. Yay! Went over to the pool. I feel like I was moving really slowly at this point, should/could have been moving faster here.

T2 time: 1:15

Swim

As I've mentioned before, it's a serpentine swim. You start on one end, go out and back in each lane, then under the rope to the next lane. On and on until you get to the ladder at the end on the other side of the pool. The problem for me with a reverse tri is that many of those ladies who passed me on the bike, aren't strong swimmers, and now they are in front of me in the pool. Anyway....I got into the pool and didn't make it one length at my own speed before being slowed down. Sigh. It isn't easy to pass in the pool when you have folks moving both directions in each lane. The best opportunity to pass is at the wall when you go under the rope. My strategy was to push off the wall, under the rope, and past one or two ladies into the next lane. So that's what I did. My swim time ended up being about what I expected for this situation, but slower than it would have been if I didn't have to deal with traffic in the pool.

swim time: 09:51

total time: 01:27:48, placed 10 of 23 F45:49, 104 of 265 individual age-groupers (that's with athenas, fat tire, and teams pulled out)

Post Race

They gave us a necklace at the finish and I gave Husband a big sweaty, wet hug. Went over to transition and put a shirt & shoes on, then waited for my friend and cheered her on in the pool. I was so proud of her! Here we are after the race, this is what success looks like!

After Thoughts

This was a lot of fun, I'm glad I did it and will likely do it again next year. I had predicted a 1:30:00 finish time; I finished a few minutes faster mostly because I had predicted longer transitions. I'm happy with that. It was good prep for the Patriot (two weeks out). I learned not to put a full bottle of accelerade in the freezer, next time I will freeze half, and fill the rest in the morning. I need to keep cycling hills, the longer and steeper the better. I also need a new pair of tri shorts (solved that yesterday afternoon).

[Edited to add more after thoughts:

I have some more info on my placement in this event. I was 104 of 265 individual AGs overall as I mentioned above. My swim placement was 84th. My bike placement (my perceived weakness) was 112th. Guess where my run placement was?? 128th!! I would have thought it would be in between cycling and swimming. Apparently not. What do I take from this? I think I've improved much more on the bike than I realized. ]

Live.Love.Tri. Race Summary

2011-08-27T11:38:00.000-07:00

A proper report later, just a summary now. My actual finish time was 1:27:48 (I had predicted 1:30:00). I had a blast, but man those hills were hard. Shirts are cute and they gave us necklaces at the finish.

A few photos for your viewing pleasure:

Three Things Thursday - swimlessness, sleeplessness, and deliciousness

2011-08-25T05:25:00.000-07:00

1) We are now T minus 2 days and I realized yesterday that I haven't gone to the pool in a month. Perhaps I should be concerned about this, but I am not. It's only a 400 m swim and whereas I find that riding a bike isn't actually "just like riding a bike," swimming is.

2) We had thunderstorms roll through last night at maybe 1am. It freaked out the dogs, so they started barking at the thunder. This irritate the Husband, so he started yelling at the dogs to stop barking. Turns out, when this happens, I don't sleep so well. Go figure.

3) I have no idea how I got to the age of 46 without discovering Bananas Foster until last night at the ball park. Oh.my.gosh have you tasted this deliciousness?!?! Perhaps it's better that I didn't know about it until now. Best part? We have tickets to the game Saturday and Sunday. You can bet I'll be back in the Bananas Foster line!

Monday Madness

2011-08-22T05:40:00.000-07:00

Oh.my.freaking.gosh, apparently I cannot do simple math. All along I've thought the Live.Love and Patriot were three weeks apart. They are only two weeks apart. Two! Not Three! Ack! Commence freak out!

And now that they've changed the bike route for Live.Love, the only differences between it and the Patriot are that in the middle of the bike route, the patriot keeps going uphill for another 3 miles before hitting its turn point (gulp). Also the patriot is standard order with a seeded pool start vs. reverse (that's actually a good thing, I don't care for the reverse order myself).

Breathe in. Breathe out. Trying to calming down. Two weeks apart and similar course means the first event is simply a very good last long brick workout for the second one. Right? RIGHT?!?

Yesterday, husband & I climbed on our bikes and commuted to a local store for some yogurt. I volunteered to be the pack mule, I figured it was good training. As it turns out, I don't particularly like riding the 4.75 miles home from the store with ten Chobani yogurts in a little triangle bag on my back. The strings were cutting into my shoulders. I should have worn a backpack with better padding. Live and learn.

My friend & I are planning to head back out to the race site and run the course again on Tuesday. This time just once. This is mostly for mental preparedness. As I have suggested to others, I am also going to be practicing transitions this week.

If you haven't yet, please take a look at the bike/run profiles for this weekend. Based on the run profile, I'm revising my time "guestimates"; I think the run will take more like 34 minutes, which rounds out my "guestimated" finish time to 1:30:00 even for this first one.

Reconnaissance Missions

2011-08-20T08:55:00.000-07:00

Mission #1: Capture the Bike Profile for the new course for Live.Love.Tri.

Would have been better if I captured it on my actual bike, but instead, I drove the course. They've changed the route dramatically, and it is now "moderately hilly" and shares much of the same course as the Patriot. It looks worse than it is, the y axis is broken down by 10 foot increments, while the x axis is in miles. However, it's definitely a hilly course.

Mission #2: Capture the Run Profile for Live.Love.Tri/Patriot.

This one I got by running the course. Actually ran it twice (the second loop was KILLER). I'm thinking this one actually *IS* as bad as it seems. These hills are steeper than the bike hills.

Thoughts: I think my bike training has been sufficient, but I probably should have run more hills. Not much I can do about it now. The good news is that next Saturdays race is essentially a nice brick workout for the Patriot three weeks later. In any event, I'm ready. Bring it on!!

T minus 11 and counting....

2011-08-16T06:42:00.000-07:00

We are T minus 11 days until Live.Love.Tri, a local all women's sprint and my personal return to the triathlon world after a 3 year hiatus. This morning I received an info packet in my email. The main thing that stuck out at me was a course change for the bike leg.

It's a fairly short bike segment, only 10 miles. The new route is describes as moderately hilly. My initial thought was "Crud! This was supposed to be an easy bike route." But my glass-half-full nature quickly kicked in. The course change simply makes it better practice for the Patriot which is a longer and hillier route yet. In any event, I'm definitely going to drive the course in advance and capture the profile on my Garmin later this week just so I know exactly what I'm up against. Information is power, or so they say.

This also motivated me to get out on my bike this morning for my ten-mile-double-hill route before work. While I was out there, I started thinking about what my time expectations might be for this race. These aren't goals, but expectations.

run - it's a hilly 5K run course so I'm going to say 31:00 although I'd like to see something faster than that.
t1 - 2 1/2 minutes, just a total guess
bike - moderately hilly 10 mile course, I'm thinking 40 minutes, will adjust guess once I measure the course profile and exact distance.
t2 - 2 1/2 minutes, again a total guess
swim - it's a 400 yd pool swim, up and back in each lane then over...serpentine style. If the swim were first, I'd say 8:45 +/- 15 sec, but it's last which means the lanes will be congested with folks that are faster than me on land and slower in the water. I'm guessing maybe closer to 10 minutes because of that.

That puts my total expected finish at something like 86 minutes (01:26:00). Guess we'll see how good I am at guessing!

As far as goals, this is what I'm currently thinking:

Don't crash/trip/fall or otherwise end up bloody/bruised/broken.
Finish strong with a smile on my face.
Enjoy the experience and be ready to do it again on a harder course three weeks later.

Ride, Run, & Race Report

2011-08-14T15:16:00.000-07:00

Ride - Had a very good 22+ mile bike ride on Friday. I actually averaged 17.2 mph for the first 10 miles. I don't think I've ever averaged that fast for 10 miles, so that makes me super happy. I started getting tired about halfway in and slowed down, bringing my overall average for the ride to 16.2mph. I'll take it! The route was mostly flat, but still this is a good result for me as I'm not a very strong cyclist. I'm convinced that the hill training is paying off!

Run - Met my running partner Saturday morning for an easy 4 miler. Most of the running group was not running at all because of the race the next day (half-marathon & 5K). I was planning to run the 5K mostly as practice for the sprint tri coming up in a few weeks and my running partner wasn't racing at all, so we decided to do any easy run anyway. While running, we also planned to meet up at the live.love.tri site next weekend and scope out the course. This is going to be her first triathlon so she's a bit nervous, but I'm excited about it.

Race Report - Last year I volunteered at the first water station, this year Husband & I ran. The half-marathon started at 6:30 with the 5K having a 7m race start. The location is quite a drive from our house and we expected parking to be challenging, so we needed to get up at 5am.When the alarm went off, I was thinking that it was silly to get up so early just to run 3.1 miles, but did it anyway.

I don't have too much to say other than I thought that the race seemed well organized. The 5K course was well marked, and volunteers were friendly. My race time was so-so for me with an official time of 29:20, 9:26 pace. I think I was 5th in my AG. There is really nothing wrong with this result, but since it was a full minute and a half slower than my last 5K, I admit to being a bit disappointed. However, given that I've only run 6 times in the past 4 weeks due to back issues and vacation, and still pulled off a fairly average 5K result for my abilities, I know that I shouldn't be too hard on myself.

[edited to add: After sleeping on it, I realized that this 5K result was faster than any of the 5Ks I ran in 2008, 2009, or 2010. What seems average this year would have been above average for me in the past. I'm feeling much more satisfied this morning than I was yesterday.]

[edited one more time: offical results are up and I want to note that I finished 23 of 134 women in the 5K which puts me in the top 20%. Happy about that also.]

Tomorrow is a scheduled rest day, but if I feel okay and the weather cooperates, I might ride my bike after work and save the rest day for Wednesday. We'll see...

Tale of Two Rides

2011-08-12T07:07:00.000-07:00

I had an interesting discovery this week. After the whole stem valve / floor pump incident on Wednesday, I got a new floor pump, replaced the rear tube, and rechecked the front tire pressure. I found it to be low by 30. Thought that was odd, because I had successfully added air to the front (I thought) just the day before.

Took my bike out on the same ride as earlier in the week. This is is my standard 10 mile, double hill loop that I like to do mid-week.

EXHIBIT A - THE ROUTE PROFILE

Yesterday I had a great ride. My splits seem to be all over the map, but that has to do with the profile more than anything. In this graph, I have it broken down to two mile increments. Just trust me, for me this is a very good result.

EXHIBIT B - A GOOD RIDE

Here is where it gets interesting. I made a graph of my earlier ride on the same route. I haven't figured out how to get my program to keep the scale the same, but what jumps out at me immediately is that the entire ride is roughly 2 mph slower than the good ride.

EXHIBIT C - A CRUDDY RIDE

Yes, there are differences day to day in weather and how I feel and such, but I wonder if maybe, just maybe, the whole stem valve/floor pump thing was a blessing in disguise. What if the gauge on my old pump was significantly off and I've been riding on under-inflated tires all summer? If I find that my rides improve consistently now, then I'd say that is a definite possibility. Time will tell.

Three Things Thursday - dryer vent, floor pump, & tempo run

2011-08-11T06:53:00.001-07:00

1) Earlier this week we had our dryer vent cleaned out (the part from the dryer to outside the house, not the lint filter). Apparently you are supposed to do this every two years. We haven't done it since.....uh.....ever. Oops. I'm happy to say that our dryer is now working like new and is no longer a fire hazard!! Will try to remember to have this done in 2013 rather than wait another 20 years.

2) I swear my bike hates me. I was having some issues (other stuff needing my attention) getting out for my ride yesterday. Finally was really ready to go, just needed to add air to my tires to get them up to pressure. As I was doing this, the stem valve from the rear tire broke off and got stuck in the head of my floor pump. Neither Husband or I were able to get the stem valve out of the nozzle head. At this point, I found myself in the situation of needing to replace the rear tube while my floor pump was out of commission. To heck with that! Took the dogs for a walk instead. Today I will stop at the LBS and see if they can help me with my nozzle situation; if not, I guess I'm buying a new floor pump.

This wouldn't be such a big deal, except that I need time on the bike more than anything. I could have used a frame pump or CO2 cartridge to get my bike up and running, but I was so frustrated at that point that it seemed better to postpone the ride for another day.

3) Finally had a decent run this morning. On deck was a 4 mile run broken down as warm up, tempo, cool down with sprint finish. I began to question myself during the tempo portion, but remembered that there is really only one question to ask yourself when a workout gets tough: "How bad do you want it?!?" That was enough to get my head into the game, and I am quite satisfied with my effort. Guess today I must have really wanted it.

Time to buckle down

2011-08-09T14:01:00.000-07:00

With Live.Love.Tri less than three weeks away (yikes!) and a 5K coming up this weekend, it's time I get out of vacation mode and back into training mode. Yesterday I went for a 10.1 mile bike ride after work in the hot windy late afternoon. Must have been 98-100 deg and winds at 15-20mph. Yuck. But I got it done.

This morning I was going to run in the cool weather, but my calves were still a little sore from the weekend. I decided to postpone and meet up with some others this evening at the track. Again, it will likely be 98-100 deg, but this time wind only 5-10mph. It's not going to be comfortable, but I *will* be out there running.

[edited to add: I did not end up going to the track, but I DID run 4 miles easy in 96deg.]

In other news, my daughter is officially a senior in high school now and my son is back in California. I guess that means summer is over. Where does the time go??

Back from Maui

2011-08-07T18:40:00.001-07:00

Had a wonderful week in paradise with my family. Although I had opportunities for both running and swimming, I did neither. Lots of walking & sight seeing, some hiking & snorkeling, and general rest & relaxation.

Today my calves are killing me, so I know I spent a lot of time on my feet yesterday before our flight home.

Hopefully I'll have some tri training updates soon; the first of my two sprints is under three weeks away! Until then, hope you enjoyed a few photos from our week (friend me on FB if you want to see more).

Catch up with you all later, I'm exhausted!

Mixing it up and July Tally

2011-07-30T11:32:00.000-07:00

Mixing it up:

I tend to get in a rut, doing the same routes all the time. This week I made an effort to mix things up a few times.

Tuesday evening I went to the track. I'm not a fan of the track, but I thought it was the safest place to test out my back to see if I was okay to run. It wasn't very crowded, so I did 800s in the far outside lane, alternating directions each time.

Thursday evening I ran on a familiar path, but alternated between hard efforts and easy efforts in varying interval lengths. This little bit of speed play kept things interesting. Where you see two fast or two slow side by side, it's because I hit the on/off button instead of the lap button by accident, so I'm missing whatever was suppose to be in between there. Oops.

Friday afternoon, I went out for a 15 mile bike ride. Usually I either choose a mostly flat route or a mostly hilly route. This time I mixed things up a bit and did 10 miles on mostly flat before hitting a hilly section.

July Tally:

88.1 Miles by Feet (walked 42.2, ran 45.9)
89.9 miles by Seat
3400 yds in the water
15 Workouts included hills
1 5K race (with a PR!)
1 400 swim time trial PB
10 days modified training plan due to back issues

Thoughts:

All-in-all an okay month. I lost a lot of time on the bike due to the back issue, but I think I'll be okay for the upcoming Sprint Tris assuming my back and my knee both cooperate over the next several weeks and I'm able to get back on track with my planned cycling.

Tiptoe through the Tulips

2011-07-27T15:40:00.000-07:00

Doesn't that lyric make you think of being barefoot? While I haven't exactly gone barefoot, I have been experimenting with minimalist shoes, a gateway to the barefoot posture.

If you believe the hype, there are many benefits to be gained from minimal (true barefoot to minimalist shoes) footwear. Some people have gone so far as to run this way, my husband is one. I’m reluctant to run in them, but willing to experiment a bit. After all, I do seem to be the poster child for injury.

I bought a pair of Vibram Five Finger Sprints a few years ago specifically for water sports, kayaking in particular, and for that purpose I love them. I have also worn them for yard work, walking the dogs, running errands, etc, and while I like them on dry land, I don’t necessarily LOVE them.

First, it is truly very much like being barefoot in that you can feel every little rock on the ground, and I live on a gravel road. I realize that if I had a pair of Vibram Trek Sports, for example, this first issue might not be a problem for me because the soles would be different, but with the Sprints this is problematic for me.

Second, I find that I’ve never been able to wear them for extended periods of time comfortably because they start to really bother the pinky toe on my left foot. This poor toe seems to want to be tucked slightly under its neighbor. Presumably due to wearing ill fitting shoes all my life, but after 40 something years, this is how my foot is. Oddly, I find them to be quite a bit more comfortable in the water than on dry land. Not sure why. Perhaps there is more ‘give’ when they are wet.

I do like the more natural feel of the barefoot posture, plus my husband swears by minimalist running. Those two things led me to try the Merrell Barefoot Pace Glove (the men’s version is called the Trail Glove). Taking my first few steps in them, the “feel” immediately reminded me of the Vibrams, only replacing the individual toe pockets that cause discomfort to my little toe with a nice wide toe box. Ahhhh. Much better.

These Merrells also have a thicker/more treaded Vibram sole than my Sprints. I believe this sole is similar to the Treks that I don’t own. This seems to have solved my problem about feeling every little rock on the trail. An added plus is they don’t give you the funky frog feet look and they have many colors to choose from. I'm having a hard time narrowing it down to only one for a second pair.

Bought them Sunday afternoon and I’ve been wearing them almost non-stop ever since as they quickly became my shoe of choice for walking the dogs, doing errands, even for work since I am often able to dress casually in the office. I have noticed some tightness in my right calf. This doesn’t surprise me because the barefoot stance changes your posture and walk/run form and I pretty much jumped right in. I imagine folks are right when they say to start off slow if you choose to run in these, if walking is already causing noticeable calf tightness I can only imagine what running would do. Eek. I should add that at this point I’ve chosen to wear socks with the Merrells, whereas I go sockless in the Vibrams.

So that’s where I’m at. I’ll share more after I’ve had more time in the Merrells. The hope is that the change in stride/posture/etc will improve the situation with my left knee as well as with my back. Time will tell. And neither shoe (Vibrams or Pace Gloves) seem like they would be good choices when the weather turns cold. I may be looking at other styles when the seasons change.

Who else is experimenting with minimalist shoes? How have you used them? Has your experience been positive, negative, or mixed?

[Edited to reiterate, I am *not* running in these. I run in Kinvaras. I am experimenting with minimalist shoes for walking, etc.]

Tuesday Thoughts

2011-07-26T06:57:00.000-07:00

1) Swam this morning. I had also gone to the pool on Saturday, and had to take it really easy on the turns due to my back. This morning I felt great! Completed my 1000 workout complete with one timed 400 at 8:31 (~2:07/100) which I believe is my fastest yet. Woot!

2) I might go to the track tonight. As much as I hate the track, mostly because all the turning is bad for my left knee, it does have a 'springy' surface that I think would be better for me to run on than hard pavement or uneven trail. Yes, that means I plan to run today. Yeeehah!

3) I love my Kinvaras so much, I ordered a second pair in a different color. They are called transition shoes because they are a transition from normal running shoes to minimalist, but for me they may be transition shoes because I've transitioned to running in them full time.

4) Husband runs in Merrells now after starting with Vibram Five-Fingers. It took him a while to transition to minimalist running, but he claims it has helped his hip tremendously. He loves them so much he even wears them to work. I have no plans of running in them, but I picked up a pair of Merrells of my own this weekend. Walked the dogs in them. Wore them to work. So far I'm quite pleased. So much that I'm trying to determine which color(s) to get next.

5) Two weeks from today, Son leaves to go back to California. This time he's heading out solo, spending some time with friends before moving back into Berkeley. In some ways, the summer has gone by way too fast. *sad face*

6) Speaking of time going by too fast, also two weeks from today, Daughter registers for her Senior year of High school. A few days after that she gets her senior portraits done. This is my baby I'm talking about, who is now a beautiful young lady. Where does the time go?

7) Right before my back started being problematic, I registered Husband & I for a 5K, about 2.5 weeks out from now. Two weeks later, Live.Love.Tri. Two weeks after that, Patriot. Race season is fast approaching!

8) If all goes well, I will cycle tomorrow. This is my weak link. Only way I know to get better is to keep at it. So that's what I intend to do.

Q&A with Lisa - Part 2

2011-07-25T06:00:00.000-07:00

Before I get to the Q&A, a quick update. My back was doing a lot better this weekend. Still not good enough to run or cycle, but I swam on Saturday and I have been walking every day (15.5 miles in the past week).

Unfortunately, I had a little bit of a setback yesterday. It twinged again while I was tending to the garden. Although not as bad as before, I guess I overdid it. Taking it easy today.

Okay, on to the rest of the Q&A! See part 1 here. Between the two posts, I think I got them all. If I missed one, sorry!

Adam asked

What would you do if you won a free pair of brooks shoes on my blog? - I’m pretty excited about that! I’d like to get a pair of Brooks Trail running shoes, probably Cascadia 6. Still waiting to hear back from the Onlineshoes people…

Lindsay asked

what song(s) would be played during the 'running-shot montage' of you in your running video? - Let’s see, during the injured segments, It would be Little Feat’s Old Folk’s Boogie (for the line “an you know that you’re over the hill when your mind makes a promise that your body can’t fill” and during the actual running segments, it would be Pink’s Raise Your Glass (So raise your glass if you are wrong, in all the right ways, all my underdogs! We will never be never be anything but loud…”
you have to take a vacation somewhere in the USA. the only stipulation is that it can't be a typical big/well-known city like vegas, nyc, los angeles, etc... where would you go? - When the weather cools off, a get-away to Sedona AZ sounds nice, beautiful red rock canyon. Ahhhh.
what random bad habit do you have? - I have a tendency to leave things on the stove and forget about them. I’ve ruined two tea kettles and a bamboo steamer this way as well as many a pot of burned rice, veggies, etcs.

Lily on the Road asked

My question is...what ARE you going to do with your new Brooks you won from Adam? - See above. First I need to actually have a chance to pick them out, then I’ll know for sure J
RockStarTri asked

Do you miss being "slow and steady?" - I still feel that way when I tri; I’m not a very good cyclist. Just probably can’t claim it anymore when running since I’ve moved up more to the middle of the pack.

Q&A with Lisa - Part 1

2011-07-23T18:12:00.000-07:00

ajh asked

Best book you ever read? – That’s a tough one. I don’t really read for pleasure. I can’t even remember the last book I read.
Favorite way to spend an unexpected free hour? – Of course it really depends where I’m at, what time it is, etc. Lately I’ve been trying to finish up a dozen simple toddler sized quilts for Project Linus. A free hour is just enough time to make some decent progress on one of those.

Marlene asked

If you could run (tri) a race anywhere in the world, where would that be? - I really loved the French Polynesia (Moorea) when we were there a few years ago for our 20th anniversary. I’d love to do a sprint tri there!

Laura asked

What is your all time favourite meal? - Without a doubt, Thanksgiving dinner!! Nothing is better than roast turkey, gravy, mashed potatoes, stuffing, sweet potato casserole, green bean casserole, cranberries, homemade rolls, & pumpkin pie. Yum!

TNTcoach Ken asked

If your running career were made into a movie, what would it be called and who would play you???? I was trying to think of something catchy as a title, but honestly my running career isn’t anywhere interesting enough to be made into a movie.

Raquelita asked

Where did you grow up? - I grew up in Toledo, OH. Lived there through high school. Went to college in Cincinnati, OH. First job out of college was in Findlay, OH. We moved out here to NM in 1990 for work and have been here ever since.

Teamarcia said...

Do you ever consider living somewhere else? If so where? - Not seriously. We've thought about moving a few times for work, but in the end decided to stay here. I love living in NM and hope to retire here.

Mid-week update

2011-07-20T06:23:00.000-07:00

1) Back Pain - Thanks for all the comments and concern and suggestions. I really appreciate it. I worked from home on Monday and rescheduled my meetings so that I had a few chunks of time available to do some rehab work on my back (stretching, icing, walking, etc). By the end of the day my back was feeling much better. I learned that walking made my back feel better than anything else. Tuesday I went to the office and essentially sat in a chair in front of a computer all day. Not good. I left the office feeling much worse that I did the day before. However, I also had an end of day chiropractor appt. The chiro does something more like ART than regular chiro stuff. He also sent me to PT (it's a joint chiro/PT office) and the PT did some electro-stimulation and ice. I woke up this morning feeling much better. Went for a walk and soon will be heading into the office. Hoping today will be better than yesterday if I make time to get up and stretch and stuff.

2) Mindset - This weekend someone asked me if I was upset about my back issue messing up my training schedule as they knew I was working toward a hilly triathlon. Yes and No. I'm mostly upset that the back problems are messing up my life. And training is part of my life. But I'm not at all concerned about the effect it might or might not have on my race. Several years ago I trained to race, but now I race to train. It's a completely different mindset. It's about the journey rather than the destination. Having a race or two or six on my schedule just helps me put structure in my training plan. But it really isn't so much about the race itself. Does that make any sense?

3) Q & A with Lisa! - I was tagged by Teamarcia at the Studly Runner to open my blog up to some Q & A. I've enjoyed reading the questions and answers on other blogs so I figured, what the heck. So please ask away...

This too shall pass

2011-07-18T08:59:00.000-07:00

So everything seemed to be going great after my mid-week update. On Thursday, I did a nice tempo run. Friday was an easy day, with just a 3.3 mile hike because I was planning on a fairly heavy weekend.

Saturday's plan was 5 miles easy on a dirt levee road, to be followed by a 20 mile bike ride, no hills, on the recently reopened bike trails. Sunday was to be my long swim with a short easy ride. And somewhere in there, I was going to do some more yard work.

Fast forward to Saturday morning, at roughly the 2.6 mile mark of my easy run. I cannot for the life of me figure out what happened, but suddenly I felt a sharp pain in my lower back that stopped me in my tracks. My running partner walked with me for a bit, then I tried running again. No dice. Walked some more, then tried running again. Still a No Go. Walked more, and finally did a bit of a shuffle run just to hurry up and get to the car so I could get myself and my achin' back to the house.

Suffice it to say, the weekend contained no bike rides, no swimming, and no yard work. Instead I was dealing with back spasms and trying to figure out how to get them to stop. Not my idea of a fun weekend.

This isn't the first time that I've had this problem. Seems that I have both a chronic knee issue and a chronic lower back issue. All the more reason to be grateful when nothing is hurting and I can get out and move my body the way that I want to. By now I know how to work through the back problems. It's just frustrating and painful for the better part of a week.

So there won't be much in the way of swimming, cycling, or running this week. And the yard work will need to wait. But I'm trying to stay positive. There will be lots of walking, stretching, and a few extra rest days. That's all good stuff. And sometime later this week, or whenever I'm feeling 100% again, I will carry on with my plans. In the grand scheme of things, it's just a bump in the road. Sometimes I just wish the road was a bit smoother. :-)

Mid week update

2011-07-13T05:49:00.000-07:00

Here's a short list of a few things that I've done in the past few days:

1) Cycled on high desert hills. Riding with Husband is always a big plus and the view of the mountains never gets old. However, when riding in the desert, one must always beware of "goathead" thorns which are death to road tires. I think he was checking his tires for thorns when I snapped this photo.

2) Got back in the pool and swam. My training lately has resembled duathon training rather than tri training. I figured it was time to rectify that. Actually made it to the pool in the morning before work. Go me!

3) Registered for local HILLY sprint triathlon. The website claims it's the most difficult sprint in New Mexico; they say that the only part that is flat is the swim. Yikes!After much deliberation, I decided to go for it. This solidifies my need to continue training hills.

4) Cleaned up my snorkel gear. We have a trip to Hawaii on the horizon and my snorkel gear has been in the garage for a few years. Got it out, rinsed it off, cleaned up the mask, and it's good to go. Crazy excited about the trip, but I've still got a while to wait.

5) Ran Hills. The rest of my run group was doing track work, but my training plan called for 4 miles on a hilly route so I went out solo. I think the route that I picked was perfect. Next time I might just do that first hill several times, but it was nice to mix it up a bit and do something other than a straight out and back route.

How about you? What have you been up to?

Weekend Wrap-Up (includes Race Report)

2011-07-10T12:25:00.001-07:00

After my hilly double on Thursday, my legs were tired. and sore. and did I mention tired? I went for a 4 mile recovery walk Friday morning and that was about it. I thought about swimming, but it never got past the thinking-about-it stage.

Saturday morning, I went for a 4.4 mile easy run. My legs were still sore. I came home afterwards and stretched a bit and used the foam roller. I was a little concerned about some tightness that I was feeling in my right calf; felt like it was on the verge of cramping.

This morning I got up bright and early for the Women's Distance Festival 5K. . Start time was 7am sharp and since I hadn't gone to pick up my packet on Saturday, I needed to be there at about 6:30am. Before leaving the house, I used the foam roller again.

Arrived to a sea of red shirts. These were the "Women-in-Training." Wow. There were a lot of them. Right before the race started, Misty came up to me. I hadn't seen her in ages. Well, at least since sometime last fall. Misty, if you are reading, just a shout out that you look great!

Ran the most of the race with my running friend. Didn't quite finish together, as I had a bit more of a kick at the end than she did, however we both finished with 5K PRs. I haven't seen the official, but my Garmin had 27:52 which is the first time I've been under 28mins. Woot! I'm quite happy with that. For a long time, I was finishing right around 30 mins, it seems like I'm at a different level of fitness these days which seems pretty amazing for someone in their mid-forties, if you ask me.

Updated: Official results are posted and they have me at 27:50, an 8:58 pace. Yeah, baby! Found a photo of me finishing from the race site and am posting it even though I look like a dork. I'm gritting my teeth because I was trying to get in under 28:00, trust me, I was smiling on the inside.

This is my third time to do this particular race. It's one of my favorites because it's a women's only race and a lot of women are out there for the first time at this distance. I think that is very cool. They also have a tradition of giving chocolates and a flower at the finish line. This year they also gave away several loaves of healthy bread as raffle prizes. I ended up walking away with a yummy whole wheat cinnamon roll. And the race shirt this year is a women's specific technical shirt with a really cute design. Score!

But the fun didn't stop there.A few hours after the race, Husband & I went out for a bike ride. We ended up doing 17 miles total. If you've been following for a while, you have probably realized that I live about a mile above sea level and it's easier to find hills than a flat route around here. Even so, that first hill was particularly tough for me!

I took a photo from the mid-point of our ride to give you some idea of the area, but I think I'll save that for another day.

Hill Sprints

2011-07-08T06:32:00.000-07:00

Yesterday was another double day. Cycled 10 miles with two hills in the morning. Then we did hill sprints with the run group in the evening. I did a double day on Tuesday as well, cycling the same route in the morning, then doing a 4 mile easy run in the evening.

Anyway, lets talk about hill sprints. The format was warm up, 10x20sec up the hill FAST, mostly walking back down, then cool down. I need to figure out a better way to capture my data. I probably should use the lap button so that I can see the pace each time up the hill, but I didn't. Instead, I do have a graph of pace by distance.

You can see the warm up ahead of the sprints, then the each sprint up the hill, and the walk back down and the cool down at the end. You can also see that I tried to pick up my pace at the end of the cool down (much to Coach's dismay) so that I had the feeling of finishing strong.

I have to admit, hill sprints are one of my FAVORITE running workouts. Somehow, even though I am way back of the pack when running on flat surfaces with the group, I am solidly middle of the pack on hills. Not sure why that is. Maybe it is more a measure of strength than speed? Sporttracks summarized my run with the following stats:

Walking: 23:04min/mi for 0.46 mi
Jogging: 11:00 min/mi for 1.54 mi
Running: 7:62 min/mi for 0.79 mi

I was clearly pushing it up the hills and my legs are reminding of that this morning. A recovery walk is on the agenda. And if I make time, I think I'll go for a swim as well.

Happy Friday everyone!

Mid-week meanderings

2011-07-06T05:26:00.000-07:00

With the Bosque fully closed, the choices seem to be running around the neighborhood (bleh) or running on the partially shaded acequia (irrigation canal) path. Seems like a no-brainer, acequia path for the win! However, I remember now that there is one disadvantage of running near water, especially in the evening. Ran last night and now I'm covered in mosquito bites! Definitely need some bug spray if I'm going to continue to run there.

The weirdest thing has happened with regard to cycling. I'm actually finding that I don't hate it right now and even looking forward to it. The bike path is closed an therefore I haven't been riding as far. Perhaps I have found the sweet spot for me. Long enough and hilly enough to be challenging, but not so long or hilly to be miserable. So far, I've ridden on Monday and Tuesday both this week. Today I'm giving my legs a rest though.

Speaking of cycling, I've decided that my bike needs to be spruced up/personalized a little bit. Stay tuned...

The pool was crowded on Sunday. I went at my normal time, when I usually find one or two open lanes. Every lane was full, some already had folks doubling up. I scanned the lanes with one person and decided to join someone who was walking across the lane. Before I finished one lap, the person started swimming and swimming WIDE with flapping arms and legs. Blah. In trying to find the bright side, I chalked it up as good triathlon training.

When I got home from my long run on Saturday morning, I signed up to run a 5K this Sunday. Should be fun. I'm treating it more like a speed work day and less like a race; I'm still planning to do my long run on Saturday.

I'm still debating whether or not to sign up for the Patriot Tri (two weeks after Live.Love.Tri). Hopefully I'll make a decision one way or another this weekend and either sign up or cross this one off my list.

June Tally & Thursday hills

2011-07-01T09:54:00.000-07:00

June Numbers:

Miles by feet: 56.1
Miles by seat: 112.2
Yards in water: 4550
Sick Days: 3
Too Smokey to Workout Days: 2
Best 400 swim: 8:37
Hill workouts: 8
Bike Flats: too many to count
New tires installed: one

Thoughts:

Tri training is off to a good start. :-)

Plans for July:

Tri training
Decide on Patriot (to do or not to do)
Lots of hills
Possible 5K (stay tuned!)

Thursday Hills:

This was my morning cycle profile. I wanted to do one more repeat, but didn't get out the door early enough and had to cut it short at three:

And this is what our evening run looked like:

Yikes. That was intense. But one of my best workouts ever.

When I went to bed last night, I honestly thought that I was going to get up this morning and do more hills on my bike. Hahahahahahahaha. Let's just say that the body had other plans. Went for a nice 4 mile recovery walk instead. It's probably best to let my body recover from that double hill workout day before I tackle more hills anyway.

Three Things Thursday - Fast, Flats, and Furious

2011-06-30T05:18:00.000-07:00

FAST: I recently purchased a pair of Kinvara 2 running shoes. They are considered to be a transition shoe, sort of in the middle between standard running shoes and minimalist shoes. Many people are getting them to run faster, but my interest in them has primarily to do with the potential to reduce injury. One thing I noticed beyond how lightweight they are was that I had to go up an extra half size beyond my normal running shoe. I've talked to others, and most of them seem to be able to wear their regular size, but a few folks, like me, had to size up. Anyway, once I got the correct size, my impression has been extremely favorable. They are lightweight, comfortable, and my first run in them was amazing. I'll do a more thorough review once I've been running in them for a while.

FLATS: After a series of front flats (don't get me started on how awful that has been), I finally decided to put new tires on my bike. They are due anyway and at this rate, I've put way more than a front tire's worth of new tubes in front so it seemed it wouldn't hurt. I got the front tire put on Tuesday. So far, still holding air. YAY! I'll put the rear tire on sometime before this weekend. Until then, I have one bright blue and one fade blue tire on my bike.

For what it's worth, my go-to tires are Vredenstein Fortezza SE from Performance bike store. They have great reviews and are one of their top sellers and the price is terrific especially when they have them on sale. What sold me on them initially is the fact they are described as having a "puncture resistance system that reduces flats by 80%." One of the nasty things about riding in New Mexico is the abundance of 'goathead' thorns that plague cyclists around here. Fingers crossed that fresh new tires will put an end to the flat streak.

FURIOUS: Due to extreme fire danger, all the trails are now closed in the mountains and the bosque, including the paved bike path. This means we are forced out on the road for our runs and rides. While I agree that this was the right thing to do, what has me furious is that they are still selling fireworks!! Apparently there is some issue with the laws; it seems that nobody has jurisdiction to ban the sale of fireworks. All they can do is ban the use. Of course this makes no sense to me. All it takes is one idiot to set off a bottle rocket in the woods and next thing you know our city will be on fire too.

Run, Run, Bike, Swim

2011-06-26T16:41:00.001-07:00

SYTO Virtual Race - The Boring Runner hosted a Virtual 5K this Saturday. I probably broke the rules by running on Friday instead. Oh well, I'm a rebel like that. Not really, it's just that I had a 6 mile run planned on Saturday at an easy pace, and I wanted to try to push it for the virtual race, so I ran the 5K on my own on Friday. The wooded trails are closed due to fire danger so I had to run in a mostly sunny area. It was freaking hot! If I actually had thorns, I'm sure I would have sweated them off. Final time - 30:33. Let's see, it wasn't fast and I don't have any pictures. In fact this is probably my most boring race report, maybe that counts for something?

Group Run - So I skipped the group run on Thursday because it was 101 deg when I left work. Ummmm. No thank you, that's a little too hot for my preferences. I ended up cycling that day instead (and hence did the SWTO run solo Friday morning). Well, I didn't skip the run Saturday morning. Met with the group and ran 6 miles. The last few miles were miserable because it was really warming up, but I'm sure it was better than running on Thursday evening would have been. This week I'm going to try to run solo in the mornings on Tues & Thu so that I can skip those evening group runs. This time of the year is miserably hot!

Cycling Success - This morning I went out for a 10 mile ride with a hill repeat thrown in the center for good measure. I've done this route a few times, but this was by far my best ride. I felt decent on the climbs, confident through the corners, and generally strong throughout. Next week I'm going to add in a few more repeats which will spread the distance out to 14 miles. Overall, I feel like this is a good route for my training.

Another Swim Time Trial - You know how I mentioned that my last few timed 400s were consistent at roughly 9:00? Well not this time. I finished in 8:37. Yeah, baby!!! To say that I'm pleased is an understatement. :-D

Three Things Thursday

2011-06-23T05:56:00.001-07:00

Up in Smoke: While parts of the country are dealing with flooding and/or too much rain in general, we're dealing with the opposite, drought. So far we've had less than a quarter inch of rain since the beginning of the year. Granted, we usually don't get too much rain, but that is a ridiculously low amount. There are already several wildfires in the area, so over the past week, all of the wooded running trails have been closed down due to extreme fire danger. That makes me sad. We can still run on the paved trails though, which is good. I'm thinking that it may be time to try a rain dance....

Who's on First?: Getting ready for my bike ride yesterday I realized that my front tire was flat again

so I decided to fix it properly rather than top it off and hope to make it through my ride. Flipped my bike over, found the offending thorn and removed it from the tire, took off the wheel, took off the tire, removed the tube, replaced the tube, started pumping it up. Hisssssssss. What the?? Then I realized that I had put the bad tube back in, the new tube was still neatly wrapped up with a rubber band on the ground! Finally got the new tube in, and the tire inflated, and was on my way. But geeeez, am I a moron sometimes or what?!?

Splish Splash: If I do sign up for the Patriot, it's a seeded swim time start, so I need to submit a time. Timed another 400 in the pool this weekend. Two weeks ago, I got 9:00 even. This week, 8:59. Those aren't stellar times for someone on a high school swim, but for a middle aged recreational triathlete, not so bad. Hey, I'm consistent if nothing else!

Mulling Things Over

2011-06-21T18:32:00.000-07:00

So, the only race I have signed up for is the live.love.tri in August. It's an all women's sprint triathlon and should be a lot of fun. There is another race two weeks later, the Patriot, that has similarities, and one significant difference, that I'm thinking about signing up for again. At the moment I'm torn. If it was a no-brainer, I would have signed up already. But it's not.

Comparison:

Live.Love.Tri is reverse format: 5K run, 10 mi bike, 400 M pool swim.
Patriot Tri is standard format: 400 M pool swim, 16 mi bike, 5K run.
The same pools is used.
The same run route is used.
The bike route is significantly different. The route for the Patriot longer, and it heads out in a direction that makes it more hilly. And those hills are what's holding me back from jumping on it.

Thoughts:

Two races two weeks apart seems good from a training perspective. Train, then taper for first race. Race, then use recovery after 1st races as taper for second race.
The fact that the format is reversed from the first to second race keeps it interesting; especially important since the location is basically the same
I'm not a fan of hills on the bike. Really not sure I want to go 6 miles further on the bike *and* toss in that climb.

Clearly I haven't decided yet, but I'm thinking it over. Patriot sold out last year, so I can't wait too long to make this decision if I end up deciding to go for it.

In other news, I had a tempo run fail this evening. It turned into a survival run. I don't know what the problem was exactly, but the 93 deg temp with mostly sunny run route certainly didn't help. I need to get serious about running in the morning again.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-06-20T07:13:00.000-07:00

Eau de Chlorine: Ever see that t-shirt that says "Chlorine is my perfume;" I need it to explain the strong Chlorine scent emanating from my body for 24 hrs post swim. Is it just me, or is it darn near impossible to rid yourself of the chlorine scent with just one washing?

Freaking Wind: Last night the wind was fierce. 40mph sustained winds with 60mph gusts. I was half expecting the house to picked up only to find myself transported to Oz. We lost power (no surprise) and it actually didn't look too bad outside this morning in the aftermath. However, there was a layer of sand all over everything in the kitchen that must have blown in since the window was cracked. Yuck.

Father's Day: We had a pretty nice father's day, if I do say so myself. Went to lunch, kids (I use the term loosely, they are 17 and 19) went with him grocery shopping to help out, and we spent the evening at the ballpark. Go 'Topes!

Cross-Training: Spent several hours this weekend doing yard work. That counts as cross-training, right? Well, at least it should. I was sore and tired afterwards. Have another round to do next weekend, then hopefully can just enjoy the backyard for the rest of the summer.

Confidence: Hopefully I won't eat these words, but I'm gaining confidence about the sprint tri in August as my endurance is slowly coming back. I don't think it's going to be a fast race, but I think I'll be in good enough shape to actually enjoy it. I'm even thinking of signing up for another one, slightly longer course, that's a few weeks later.

Hills Make You Stronger

2011-06-17T07:33:00.001-07:00

Nobody likes them, but everybody benefits from them. Yes, I'm talking about hill training. Whether it is tackling a hill or two on the bike, or doing hill repeats as a run workout.

This week I've had my share of hills. I've been trying to incorporate at least ONE hill even on my short bike rides. What I'm noticing is that over time, the hills are getting easier. That's a direct result of not shying away from them in the first place. And the weird thing is that now I look forward to tackling the hill when I head out on my bike. I certainly didn't expect that when I first started, I *hated* the hills.

Yesterday, our run group did hill repeats. The format for this particular workout was 1 mile warm-up, 6x60sec uphill FAST pace. Then a 1 mile cool down. I was very pleased with my performance on two accounts. First, I hit the same distance each time (.12 miles), didn't fade on the 5th or 6th one. Second, my hard pace averaged 8:30-8:35 consistently. Granted, it was only a minute each time, but that's faster than my 5K pace and hitting that pace window consistently on this workout made me happy.

How about you? Do you do incorporate hill training? And have you noticed improvement as a result?

Wednesday Wisdom

2011-06-15T05:21:00.000-07:00

I may not be much faster than I was when I started this whole running, triathlon, etc journey several years ago, but I certainly am much smarter. Here are are a just few things I've learned that I wish I had known from the beginning.

Listen to your body. - It's not a sign of weakness to skip a workout when you are sick or injure. It's the smart thing to do. Running when you are truly ill won't help you recover. Nor will running on an injury. Many times it makes it worse. Take a few days off and let your body recover, it's worth it in the long term.
Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate! - All year round, and especially in the summer, it is important to stay hydrated. Athlete's lose hydration when they sweat. It's important to replace those fluids (and salt) otherwise you may experience symptoms such as fatigue, fainting, puking, or muscle cramping. Trust me, it's not fun.
Track the miles on your shoes - When I first started running, I figured a pair of running shoes should last a year. Sure, it made sense to me back then, but shoes don't break down based on time, they break down based on mileage. Running on worn out shoes leads to injury. I like to change mine out at about 400 miles, but that depends on the shoe.
Socks matter - When I started running, I ran in loose cotton socks. This led to blisters. I've learned that running in the correct socks is important. You don't need to spend a lot on socks (I've been very happy with socks found at Target), but you do need to wear some made from a wicking material (I like coolmax) that fit your feet snugly. I've also found that I'm fond of injinji socks when cycling.
Be comfortable when you run - A few ladies have asked me which is better for summer: Shorts, Skirts, or tri shorts? Tank tops, t-shirts, or athletic tops? And my running friend who is beginning to train for triathlon wants to know what's best to wear to the pool. The answer is "you tell me!" When I started on this journey, I thought there was one right answer. I saw a lot of women in form fitting athletic tops and running shorts, so that's what I wore. Over time I've learned that whatever is most comfortable for each individual is the right answer. And I've learned that for me, the better answer is loose tank tops and skirts.

Those are just a few things that I've learned the hard way over the years. What would you add to the list?

Sunday Snippets

2011-06-12T06:00:00.000-07:00

Thursday bit the bullet and ordered a pair of Saucony Kinvara 2 shoes. I can't wait for them to arrive!
Missed two workouts last week (Wed & Thu) due to the smoke. Despite this, I managed to pull off one swim, one walk, three bike rides, and two runs along with two forced rest days. Not too shabby.
Currently suffering from a cold. And achy body from bike ride. And sun burn from a place I couldn't reach to put on sunscreen. This is not a good combination. Next time I'll definitely ask for help with the sunscreen. Ouch.
I had to toss out a pair of DeSoto tri shorts that were worn in the back. I was wearing them to get use to tri shorts on the bike again. I'm glad I didn't decide to wear those to the pool, it would have been obscene. Yikes!
A while back I mentioned having trouble with my ipod, a gen 4 nano that won't hold a charge long enough to get through more than a few albums. I didn't want to buy a new ipod, because I like this one (except for the battery issue). Well, I found a place that will replace the battery for me. So I will be sending it off...
My garden is doing well now. After inspecting the perimeter, we figured the rabbits were getting through by the side of the gate or possibly through the gate itself which had larger holes in the fencing than the rest of the garden. A friend helped me secure the gate with chicken wire to keep the rabbits out. No more bunny damage. Yay!
I go through phases where I create "quick and dirty" quilts for Project Linus*. Sometimes I'm busy with it, sometimes I take a long break. Well, you could say I'm busy with it again. I have completed seven toddler-sized quilts in the past two weeks. I'm hoping to get to 12 in the next two weeks, then take another break from it.
My running friend decided to register for Live.Love.Tri. I'm so excited! Today I was supposed to meet her at the pool. But I'm feeling too cruddy. We'll do it next weekend.
Stocked up on orange Accelerade. My favorite is tri berry, but I haven't been able to find it locally. The orange is pretty good though, reminds me of summer days when I was a kid, buying a push-up bar from the ice cream truck.

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*Project Linus is a not-for-profit organization that creates blankets (quilts, afgans, fleece throws, etc) for children who are seriously ill, traumatized, or otherwise in need. These handmade gifts of love are intended to provide a sense of security, warmth and comfort.

Smoke gets in your eyes

2011-06-08T06:02:00.000-07:00

On Monday I went out for a short 8.3 mile bike ride. I was racing against the wall of smoke heading our way from the wildfire in AZ. I barely beat it, but I'm glad I did. It was particularly bad that evening.

Tuesday I met my running friend for a 4 mile run. It had been hazy and smoky all day, so instead of a tempo run we decided to just run easy. My eyes were stinging and her throat was burning when we were done. Stupid smoke.

It's all about which way the wind blows. This morning the skies are blue! If the blue skies holds up through the day, I have another bike ride planned. But if the smoke returns, I might call "uncle" and let this be my rest day.

Smoky Skies

2011-06-05T15:40:00.000-07:00

We've been under an air quality alert since Thursday. Smoke started rolling in on Thursday evening from some wildfires in AZ. At the worst, visibility was poor, there was a light ash fall, and a distinct smell of smoke even in the house. At times it gets much better than that, but it has been hazy all weekend. The alert says that if visibility drops below 2 miles, it is unsafe to exercise outside. At 3-5 miles, they urge folks to use caution. I assume that visibility of >5 miles means everything is considered safe.

All of this smoke caused our run group to cancel for Saturday morning. I've been running with one particular lady who has returned to running after a 2 year break. I noticed that I could see the mountains, albeit not too clearly, and they are a good 12 miles away or so. I figured that meant it was safe. The two of us decided to brave the smoky skies and went out for a 6 mile run. We talked triathlon the entire time. She's thinking of doing the Live.Love.Tri as well. If so, it would be her first. I kind of hope she decides to jump in; it would be great to have a friend to train with.

Now, you know the saying "it's just like riding a bike", right? Where exactly does this saying come from? For me, regaining bike fitness just isn't all that easy. Yesterday afternoon, Husband was heading out for a 20-25 mile bike ride. I wanted to join him, but that seemed way too far for me. I ended up turning around short of 5 miles and logged a mere 9.3 miles for myself and that was plenty. Perhaps it had something to do with the 6 miles I ran beforehand or the smoky skies, but I really think it's a matter of cycling being more difficult for me than the other two sports.

I wonder if "it's just like swimming laps" might catch on. For me, swimming seems to come back much more easily than cycling. Today I was able to completed a 1600 swim. That's twice as far as I went on my first swim (of the return to swimming) last weekend. I also decided to time myself on a 400. My time actually wasn't too far off where it was when I stopped swimming late last summer. If I can knock off 5 seconds per 100, I'll be back to where I was. Not too shabby for having taken a 9 month break from the pool.

Brick + Rest

2011-06-03T05:19:00.001-07:00

On Wednesday (Day 9), I did a brick workout. Cycled 8.3 miles, then immediately switched to running shoes and ran 1.5 miles. Even though it was a short brick, I was quickly reminded why bricks are important as my legs felt like jello straight off the bike.

I appreciated all of your comments on my last post. Thursday morning, which would have been Day 10, it was crystal clear that I needed a rest day and I needed it now. I struck through the word "Run" on my training plan and replaced it with "Rest."

So here is where I am at. I want to achieve 3x week running, 3x week cycling, 2x week swimming plus 1x week rest. The only way this is going to happen is to plan to double up twice a week. For now, I'm aiming to swim+run on Saturdays. If I plan to bike+run one day per week as well, this should all work out.

Happy Friday!

Day 8 & May Tally

2011-06-01T05:27:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I met the running group for a 3.5 mile trail run. This morning I'm beat! After thinking about it, I realized that it was my 8th day in a row of some sort of exercise (run, bike, swim).

Side note, Husband & I *did* go out for a bike ride on Monday, but the weather didn't cooperate as well as I would have liked. We were out there in 25-35mph winds. Nice when the wind is at your back, not so nice when you are riding straight into a headwind.

Today, the plan is to cycle after work. Unless I figure out how to better double up, my triathlon training doesn't have any rest days. On the one hand, it sort of seems like switching up the sports gives certain muscles time to rest. On the other hand, my heart/lungs aren't getting a day off. So I'm not sure this training plan that I have devised is such a good idea.

If you are training for multi-sport events, how are you handling rest?

----------------------------------------

May Tally:

Walk: 8 mi
Run: 54.4 mi
Bike: 42.8 mi
Swim: 1800 yd

A little this, a little that

2011-05-29T06:28:00.000-07:00

RUN

Met with a running partner Saturday morning. The rest of the group was meeting at 7am at a spot across town. The two of us decided to meet at 8am at a place closer to home. Her schedule had seven miles, mine had five. We figured we could compromise and shoot for six.

Unlike last weekend, it was actually hot while we were out there. Uggg! And as it turns out, she forgot her hydration. Double uggg! For some reason, I had decided to bring a fuel belt with two bottles of accelerade instead of my handheld with nuun. That was more than I needed for a 6 mile run, so I let her have one of my bottles. Our route brought us back to the car at 5 miles. Rather than head out for one more mile, we decided to call it a day. Next weekend, I think we'll try meeting at 7:30 and aim for a more shaded route.

SWIM

Later that morning, I took my son out to investigate three local gyms. He's looking to get a membership just for the summer. One thing we learned is that you can't simply go by the advertised rates; two of the gyms have "hidden" fees and one of them has an unadvertised special for students for the summer. One of the gyms, however, has a pool. I have a membership at that one which allows me to renew on a month-by-month basis. While we were there checking out prices for him, I went ahead an renewed my membership for June. Having paid for it, surely I will get myself to the pool!

In fact, I decided to bite the bullet later in the afternoon and get wet. Didn't bring a watch. Simply aimed to get in the water and go for an 800 yard swim. That is exactly what I did. No more, no less. This morning my shoulders are a little sore, but not too bad, and I'm even thinking about heading over there again today!

BIKE

Husband & I are both off tomorrow and we've talked about going out on a bike ride. The weather forecast calls for a cooler day that we've had over the weekend (this is good), but more wind (this is not so good). Hoping that we will be able to head out in the morning before it gets too bad. Fingers crossed.

Gaining momentum

2011-05-27T12:55:00.000-07:00

So far my workout week has looked like this:

Mon: Rest/Buy Car

Tue: 3.5 mi trail run with wind

Wed: 8.7 mi bike ride with wind

Thu: 3.5 mi pavement run

Fri: 9.6 mi hilly bike ride with wind

I realize that none of these distances are very far, but I'm gaining momentum and it is starting to look like multi-sport training. Swimming is still missing, but I sense that will be added in soon. Fingers crossed.

I am *really* getting tired of the wind. But as much as I despise it, I'm thankful that it's really just an annoyance and isn't destructive/deadly. My heart goes out to all of those families affected by the recent tornadoes.

Mid-week training update

2011-05-25T05:51:00.000-07:00

I missed my optional run on Monday because I was busy buying a used car after work. Boy, that process seemed to take forever! Anyway, ended up getting a 2008 Honda Fit with about 40K miles on it in excellent condition with a certified pre-owned warranty. It's tiny, but has impressive cargo space. It's cute. It has good fuel economy. It's perfect for our needs. I'm very happy that the car search is over.

Tuesday afternoon the wind was just awful again, 30 mile per hour sustained winds with gust of who-knows-what. Coach sent an email that his allergies were terrible and he couldn't make it. Usually when that happens, most of the group doesn't show up. I texted that lady that I've been running with and asked "Are you up for running in the wind? I will if you do" and she responded "See u there." There were only two others that showed up. I feel pretty hard core about getting out there and getting my run done in that wind.

Today I have the choice of a run or cross-training. If it is super windy again, I will run. However, if the wind isn't too bad, I will cycle.

She rides!

2011-05-23T05:41:00.000-07:00

Well, I finally did it. Pumped up the tires, did a quick bike inspection, geared up, and went out on a short easy ride. It was windy and I didn't let that stop me. And you know what? I actually enjoyed it!

I chose an 8 mile route that has a little bit of climbing to get to the turn point, just enough to make this a good work out, not so much that it's discouraging. Here is the elevation map:

Now, if I can get out on my bike a few more times this week along with the running, I'll be off to a good start for triathlon training. Yes, I know I still need to add in swimming, baby steps people, baby steps.

Six Thoughts Sunday

2011-05-22T07:03:00.000-07:00

1) RUNNING:

My running continues to progress. I got out again on Thursday morning for a 3.2 mile run accompanied by a half mile walk. And met with a friend Saturday for a 5.1 mile run and then took the dogs afterwards for a one mile walk. Running is continuing to get easier, although it's still more of a struggle than I would like. I just need a little more time.

2) TRIATHLON:

My triathlon count down clock is now under 100 days and I *still* haven't been on my bike or in the pool. I've had good intentions, just haven't quite gotten out the door for that part of my training. Hopefully I will get my act together soon!

3) GARDEN:

A friend of ours came over to help figure out how the rabbits were getting into the garden. It was determined that the gate needed to be reinforced with chicken wire. The gap on either side of the gate was too large and so was the fencing of the gate itself. After we got that resolved, I put in a few plants as rabbit bait and waited to see if they got nibbled or not. I'm happy to report that no further rabbit damage has occurred! YAY!! I've replaced 9 of the 16 plants that got eaten and planted seeds in the remaining locations.

4) USED CARS:

I found a car listed that I'm interested in, but it hasn't been available to see/drive because it's being reconditioned. Hopefully it will be available on Monday. I didn't know what reconditioning meant, but apparently it is sort of like detailing (plus replacing any worn parts) with the idea being that the seller spends some money to get it in as good of physical condition as possible to make it attractive to potential buyers. They will call me as soon as it is available. Fingers crossed that this is the one.

5) RACES:

My local running friends keep asking what I'm training for next. I have a triathlon on the calendar that I haven't been training for and no running events lined up at the moment. I'm not going to plan to do any running races of any sort until I feel like I'm ready. There are plenty of 5Ks or 10Ks this summer/fall that I can choose from once I get my base fitness back. Until then, I'm running, not training.

6) WEATHER:

Sometimes I think Mother Natures is menopausal; it certainly would explain the crazy weather. On Monday it was sunny and hot, 80+deg, seemed like summer was well on its way. By Wednesday, it was overcast and unseasonably cold (low 40s in the morning) and windy again. This is a problem because we can only have heat or cooling (not both) set up at any one time. For Mother's Day, Husband hooked up the cooling because it seemed to be the right thing to do. And I was really appreciating it early in the week. But with the cold spell, and no heat, I was walking around the house shivering for a few days. Seems that today will be in the 70s and we will be back to 80s again by mid week.

Tale of Two Runs

2011-05-17T06:47:00.001-07:00

My run schedule has me doing four running days per week with one optional. And there are cross training days that have consisted of lots of excuses. But I digress.

Yesterday after work I went out for my local 2 mile hill course. It's short, but the hill makes it a good workout and its something I like to do when I'm short on time. Running that hill seems to make me stronger. Anyway, it was 80 degrees outside and while I realize that it will take time to regain fitness from my off time, I did not expect that hill run to kick my rear the way that it did!

Today I have an easy 3 on the schedule and I was planning to join the group after work again. But after yesterday's run I was thinking that I really should try to run in the morning instead. This morning, at a cool 50deg, I went out for my run. Oh what a difference! I'm not sure I was moving much faster, but it didn't seem to be nearly the struggle as the run last night. It was quite enjoyable actually.

Another 3 on the plan for tomorrow and at this point I plan to do the same thing...run early.

Weekend Wrap-Up

2011-05-16T05:26:00.000-07:00

Completed my "long" run on Saturday. Not pretty, but got it done. Today I have an optional short run on my calendar. I hope to find time to get it done after work. But if not, that's okay.
Went to Carmax with Husband and sold the old car. We ended up getting roughly half of what the car would be worth (per Kelley BB) if it were in excellent condition. This is actually more than we expected given that that the cost of repair needed to get it in good working condition was over 50% higher than the value of the car. They are likely to sell it wholesale for parts; apparently the parts are worth more than we realized. Nice.
While we were waiting for the appraisal and offer, we test drove two cars. I've made a matrix comparing the various vehicles that we've looked at. This has turned out to be a handy way to objectively compare pros/cons and various features, costs, etc to determine the best car for the situation. I think I've determined what I want to buy. Now I'm waiting for the right car to become available at the right price.
My first attempt of making the garden thief-proof apparently was a fail. Garden thief continues to munch my plants. Count is up to 15. Grrrrrrrr.

Random Stuff

2011-05-14T06:39:00.000-07:00

I was going to title this "Random Stuff that nobody probably cares about, but is what's on my mind so I'm blogging about it anyway" but that was too long. You've been forewarned.

I managed to run Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday as planned. Yay me! I should be running again right now, but none of my running partners could make it this morning so I'm on my own. This means I'll wait a little longer so that it can warm up a bit.
I planted my garden last weekend. Half by seed, half by plants. Something is getting in an has eaten (at last count) NINE of my chile plants. I am NOT happy about this. It's fenced in, so either the creature is getting in by the gate (most likely) or is climbing the fence (less likely). I didn't have this problem last year, so this has taken me by surprise. Not a pleasant surprise either.
As of last night, Son is home for the summer. As of today, he is should be looking for a summer job. Fingers crossed.
Daughter is just finishing up her junior year of HS. Almost a senior and thinking about college. Times sure flies.
The car that Daughter primarily drives is in need of $$ of repairs. If it were in excellent condition, it would be worth $. Car will be sold rather than repaired. Which means we are down one vehicle. Also means the kids are now sharing one 19yr old vehicle which happens to have issues and might not make it through the summer. So.... I've spent the last week looking at used cars. In case you are wondering, car shopping is definitely more fun when you actually WANT to buy a car, not when you NEED to.
The desk in our computer room collapsed while we were moving it back after I painted that room. First off, it was really scary when it happened because everything started falling off toward me and all I could hear was the sound of crashing, smashing, breaking. So just when I thought the room was about to be back together and in use, we need to find a new workstation. Oh well.
I've yet to get back on my bike or into the pool. I've thought about it, I just haven't done it. Baby steps. I'm trying to get back in the habit of running first, then I'll add the others. At least that's the plan.

Mother Nature: 0, Lisa: 1

2011-05-11T06:01:00.001-07:00

This spring has been incredibly windy. Yesterday was no exception. After work, it was a pleasant 74 degrees. Unfortunately, that was accompanied by steady 28 mph winds with gusts up to 35 mph. Oh how I despise the wind.

I was seriously contemplating bailing onmy my run. Just another example of that whole getting out the door thing. But Husband happened to come home earlier than usual and basically told me to deal with it. That was the push I needed. I put on my running clothes and headed out to meet the group.

And I'm really glad that I did. I went out 3.5 miles easy with a running partner. I didn't feel as strong at the end as I did on Saturday, but I felt okay. And this morning my legs are actually a bit sore. The good kind of sore.

The plan moving forward is a 3 mile run this evening. Then another 3.5 on Thursday. Friday is rest/cross training. Saturday will be my "long run."

I can do this.

Saturday shorty

2011-05-07T11:37:00.000-07:00

I ran on both Tuesday and Thursday. Each run was short (under 3 miles) and a struggle. My cardio fitness is basically non-existent right now. If running was always that hard, I'd hate it. But I know that if I just keep it up, it will be easier in a few weeks.

This morning I met up with a few others from my run club that have been struggling with their recent workouts for one reason or another. We slogged out 4 miles and I was able to finish (relatively) strong for a change. I'm feeling encouraged.

Patience, grasshopper, patience.

Coasting

2011-05-03T06:27:00.000-07:00

"If you are coasting, you are either losing momentum or headed downhill." - Joan Welsh

When I first started getting serious about fitness, I discovered that the hardest part is getting out the door. I've told this to others who are trying to start a new habit. And after a few months hiatus, I'm re-learning just how true it is. Right now I feel like I'm coasting, and it's difficult to regain momentum.

This weekend I thought that I would ride my bike. But it was windy and cold. So I stayed inside instead.
Last night I thought that I would get up early in the morning and swim. This morning I decided to sleep instead.
Tonight I should be joining my running group. Now I'm thinking of going to a baseball game instead.

Logically, if I want to have a good experience with the triathlon in August, I need to get serious about riding my bike and swimming. And now that my knee is going better, it's time for me to get back into a rhythm with running. It's good to know that even after a long break, I can get up and run a 5K, but I'd like to run one well and that is going to take some work.

I'm thinking if I can just get a few good workouts under my belt, I'll have the momentum that I need to get myself out the door and get in gear again...

Run for the Zoo - Good, Bad, Ugly

2011-05-01T10:49:00.001-07:00

Preface

I decided on Thursday to run this 5K simply because my knee didn't hurt anymore on my test run. I knew it wouldn't be a fast race; I was just happy to be running. On the way to the venue, I told husband I wanted to come in under 32 minutes. That would be a good 4 minutes slower than my last 5K, but was probably a realistic goal given my lack of training over the past 2 months.

The Good

I started, I ran, I finished.
My Garmin says 31:53, so I hit my time goal (barely). [Edit: Official results have me at 31:49, 10:12 pace.]
Well organized race with lots of volunteers.

The Bad

It was cold and windy, of the low forties and 25mph variety.
It was a real struggle to hit my time goal; I have clearly lost a lot of fitness.
I didn't really have fun. I usually do. I blame this on the weather.
I wanted to finish strong, but I had no energy left at the end. I tend to judge all runs by how I feel at finish, so I have categorized this as a bad run in my mind.

The Ugly

Nada

She Runs! Slowly...

2011-04-30T08:42:00.000-07:00

The long awaited test run went swimmingly on Thursday, at least from a knee perspective. My lungs, however, were none to happy. That's what a 7 week break doing not more than feeling sorry for yourself will do to you. Here are my splits. For reference, the first and last half miles are mostly flat, the second half mile is up the hill, the third is down the hill.

Decided to join my running group this morning for a 4 mile "easy" run. I am incredibly out of shape! Nothing about this was easy and I kept getting slower and slower. But the knee didn't hurt, so it's all good.

Yesterday evening, we went to packet pick-up/late registration for the Run for the Zoo and signed up for the 5K!! It is likely to be one of my slowest 5Ks, but I'm so happy to be running again that I simply don't care. I'm running again!! Yippee!!!!!

Three Things Thursday - Shingles, Easter, Knee

2011-04-28T05:35:00.000-07:00

1) Shortly after my last post I started not feeling well. Then got some weird rash. Then went to the doctor and was diagnosed with Shingles. So I've been on anti-virals and dealing with the painful burning rash that is essentially adult chicken pox. You're jealous aren't you?! Hey, if nothing else, it has distracted me from the wait on my knee

2) During this shingles episode, but after I was no longer contagious, I traveled to NW Ohio for Easter/mom's 75th birthday. It was cold, grey skies, rainy when I arrived. Actually decent over the weekend. Then cold, grey skies, rainy when I departed. I'm glad I went. I'm also happy to be home.

3) Today is the day that I will test my knee running for the first time since the injection treatment. If all goes well, I will attempt a 5K this weekend. If it doesn't go well, I'll wait another week and try again. Wish me luck!

Sunday Musings

2011-04-17T06:57:00.000-07:00

It's been 1.5 weeks since my last injection. I'm expecting to be able to resume running at the 3-6 week mark, so that's 1.5-4.5 weeks to go. Time seems to go by really slowly when you're an injured runner. And while I'm happy for all of you who are running and racing, it's also hard to read about everyone else's running adventures. So I do apologize for my recent lack of comments and hope you are all doing well.

I had high hopes for spending a few days cycling this week, but the weather has not cooperated. The wind has been horrific. I'm not talking breezy, I mean all-out gusty nasty non-stop 25-40 mph wind. The kind that knocks over heavy patio furniture and trashcans and blows cushions and trash all over the yard. Sigh.

The one day that wasn't windy was the day we had tickets to see the Isotopes, our minor league baseball team. That was fun. We had also gone to the season opener. I'm hoping to go once or twice a month when they are in town. Fun stuff.

My cross training has been of the home maintenance variety. I gave up on finding a color for the great room for now and am focusing on another section of the house. Today I'm planning to start painting the office. But before I could even get started with that there was come cleaning up to do and some wall repair. Plastic containers to store stuff and plaster/sand paper are my new friends.

I made a last minute decision to fly to Ohio to visit my mom and other family for Easter, which is also her birthday. Husband and Daughter are unable to come with me, so I'm traveling solo. I'll miss them, but I feel good about making this trip. I don't get back very often.

This brings me to my last topic. I have two ipods: a shuffle and a nano. The shuffle doesn't have a lot of room for songs, but it's the one I run with. I change up my playlist every so often, clip it on, and go. The nano has my full music collection. It's the one I take with me when I travel. Lately the nano battery life seems to be unacceptably poor. I'm considering getting something to replace it, but it's not as easy as it seems. The newest nano is more like a shuffle and the touch screen doesn't seem very easy to use. The itouch is too big. Why o why, must they constantly redesign these things?

Why Tri?

2011-04-11T05:59:00.000-07:00

It has been nearly three years since I last did a Tri. I had pretty much convinced myself that I'm a runner now, not a triathlete. So why did I decide to sign up for this one?

1) It's an all women's race. I've done a few all women running events and there is something empowering about those events. Many women who are intimidate by other events will try something in an all women environment. I wanted to be a part of that again.

2) It's a short sprint. The bike segment, my nemesis, is only 10 miles long. No matter how hilly the course is, I can get through 10 miles. And it also means that I don't need to be training any crazy long bike distances. Totally manageable.

3) It will give me the motivation I need to get on my bike and into the pool. I don't love cycling or swimming the way that I love running. Without something to train for, my bike and swim suit end up neglected. But both of those activities are good for my body and quite doable with my knee issues.

4) It really sounds like fun. I had a few questions about the race. The race directors emailed me right away and added was "It is going to be SO fun!" I'm definitely getting a fun vibe from this event, and you must know by now that I'm all about fun.

5) The timing is right. I have a good 4 months to get ready. I don't need to panic about taking a break from running or not being in swim/cycle condition at the moment. I have plenty of time to get ready.

I'm sure the seeds of self-doubt will start sprouting at some point, but I KNOW I can do this. And it's going to be loads of fun!

I'm in!

2011-04-10T12:28:00.000-07:00

Edited to add: The last time I completed a tri was in Sept 2008. I feel like a beginner again since I'm starting over...

This weather blows

2011-04-09T11:24:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I went on a 3.2 mile walk. I was going to go for another walk today, but we're experiencing 40+ mph winds. Um. No thank you. I'll just stay inside.

Instead of moving my body, I'm investigating possible events a few months out. I started by contemplating whether I might be able to pull off a 5K at the Zoo run on May 1st. Then began looking at other 5Ks and 10Ks during the summer. There are several options out there, I should have no problem finding a race or two once I'm running again.

Then I stumbled across something very interesting. An all women local triathlon, on the short end of the spectrum for sprint distance (3 mi run, 10 mi bike, 400 yd swim). This event isn't until end of August and the proceeds will be going to help a camp for children with disabilities. It has been a few years since I've done a triathlon. This might just be the event to reel me back in; I'm genuinely intrigued by this one.

Of course that would mean that I need to actually get onto my bike and into the pool. Both things have eluded me. But with an event to aim for, perhaps my motivation to cycle and swim will return.

P.S. I've been trying to catch up on folks' blogs, but the blogger site keeps crashing on me. Anyone else having this problem?

Wordy Wednesday

2011-04-06T16:50:00.000-07:00

This morning I received the third and final injection for my left knee. This means two things. First, I am on forced rest as is customary for 48 hours post injection. Second, I should be good to resume running in 3-6 weeks. In the mean time, I just need patience.

I am happy to say that I walked for 5 days straight. This totaled 11.4 miles or just under 2.3 miles per day. Three of those days involved hauling my mass up a hill. I must day that I really feel it in my glutes. Clearly walking uses different muscles than running!

The interior painting project has turned into an anxiety-ridden disaster. Okay, maybe not a total disaster. The kitchen turned out nice, although arguably I still have some areas that need touch ups. Next on my list was the Great Room. I have spent two weeks, a stack of paint chips, hours of agonizing, and multiple failed attempts applying paint samples to walls only to find myself back at square one with regard to color choice. This morning I decided that I need to step away from that all together and work on another section of the house instead. And this my friends, is how one ends up losing interest in home improvement projects...

New month, new focus

2011-04-02T09:53:00.000-07:00

It's time for me to do my monthly stats. Honestly, I stopped keeping track in the middle of the month when it became obvious that a running break was on the immediate horizon. Now it seems that there is really no point in looking back and dwelling on what might have been. Instead, it's time to look forward.

Started the new month off with a 3.2 mile walk with a friend along the acequias path. First time getting out in two weeks. What a beautiful morning too. I've missed that path. I didn't take any pictures, but it was serene and peaceful. We've already made plans to return next week.

This morning I decided it was time to head up the hill with these guys. They loved it, of course.

I feel bad because I haven't taken them out for awhile. Luckily, they don't hold grudges. If you ever want a lesson in enjoying the moment, spend some time with dogs. We were rewarded with this view on the way back down. As it turns out, I've missed that too.

I can say with certainly that my knee *is* getting better. However, it will be another month or so before I can run again. I've been thinking about what kind of exercise would be best for the next month. Part of me thinks that I should get back to the pool. But I'm just not excited about swimming right now. It requires getting up extra early and is generally a hassle to fit into my schedule. If you don't love it, why bother?

After the past few days, I can say that I *am* excited about getting out and walking again. So are the dogs. I think that's going to be my focus instead of swimming. And I'm going to try to take a lesson from the dogs and enjoy the moment.

Enjoy your weekend, whatever it entails!

Three Things Thursday - Paint, injections, and exercise plans

2011-03-31T06:29:00.000-07:00

Preface: As anyone who's ever been benched due to injury or illness knows, it's hard to blog or read blogs when benched. I'm trying to find topics that might be vaguely interesting and avoid getting trapped in the "woe is me" space. Please bear with me as my blogging and commenting may be sporadic for another month or so.

1) Last weekend I painted the kitchen. This is something I started, then stopped almost 5 years ago. During that time, the color that I picked out no longer was available at the place I buy paint. So I had to choose another color. It's all done except for some touch ups and a small area on one wall that I will take care of on Friday. Next on my list is the great room. I've been struggling with color selection for that one. I think I'm going to get some color samples to paint onto the wall to help make the final selections in there. The little swatch cards just aren't big enough. Anyway, it's a big room with some complicated surfaces (adobe bricks and lots of wood detail) so I hope I don't stop mid-project for five years again.

2) Yesterday I received my second injection for my left knee. Apparently I didn't look so good when he came into the room because he asked what was wrong. Last time, the injection really hurt (not the needle so much, but the pressure in the joint from the gel). He quickly said "Let's try it with numbing medication this time." This involved an injection of numbing medication immediately preceding the HA injection. MUCH BETTER. I think I will ask for numbing next week as well. Right now I'm icing my knee. I think it should be good enough to finally be able t get out for a walk tomorrow.

3) I have been reading A LOT about arthrosis of the knee aka osteoarthritis aka degenerative joint disease. One of the things that strikes me is that when it comes to exercise, the experts recommend "short and frequent" stressing the importance of finding the right balance between rest and exercise. What strikes me most about this, is that I have been approaching running in a "longer and less frequent" manner. When my knee is run-ready again, I just might try something on the order of 5 days per week with runs in the 2-3 mile range (long runs maybe 5-6) at first and see how that goes. I had been running 3 days per week with runs in the 4-6 mile range (long runs 6-9). If more frequent shorter runs works better for me, I may also need to change my focus to 5Ks and 10Ks instead of half-marathons.

Thursday Thoughts

2011-03-24T05:50:00.000-07:00

I started the Euflexxa injection series for me left knee yesterday. So there will be no running for me probably until end of April. Maybe next week I'll blog more about my knee and what these injections do to help. Today I want to blog about something else - my experience with running skirts!

The first few skirts that I bought were inexpensive champion brand from Target. I still like these for walking the dogs, but they aren't ideal for running because I find that the undershorts ride up. Chafing anyone?

The next few skirts that I bought were the Running Skirts brand. I haven't tried the athletic skirts (with undershorts), just the running skirts (with briefs). Now I happen to think they have the cutest skirts on the market with so many wonderful designs to choose from. However, the design with the pockets on the side doesn't work for me. I can't put too much in the pockets for fear of the skirts falling down. Also, the last skirt that I bought from them, I found that the briefs ride up. Blah. If I get something else from them in the future, I think I would try the capris or atheletic skirt.

Last fall I bought the lotta breeze capris from Skirt Sports. I love the design and this cut is quite flattering. I have a black one and am interested in possibly getting it in some other color,. I also tried a black gym girl skirt and while it fits well, I don't particularly like the cut on me. Blah. That was disappointing because I've seen it on other people and thought it looked cute. I guess it just doesn't suit my body type.

My marathon friends (fellow winter warriors) bought me a pink Brooks PR II skort. They chose it because it matches the sporthill top that I wore most weekends running with them. I actually LOVE this skirt and am seriously thinking of buying one in another color. I even wore it on spring break to the pool as a bathing suit cover and got compliments, reassuring me that the cut on this one is flattering.

So that's a summary of my skirt experience. Ladies, which skirt brands are your favorites or least favorites?

Monday Miscellany

2011-03-21T06:27:00.000-07:00

As expected, my old Garmin decided to resurrect itself (at least for the time being) now that I have a new one. I don't regret my purchase one bit though because the old one is clearly on its last legs and cannot be trusted. For now, my Husband is using the gimpy Garmin and I have a brand spanking new one to call my own.

I clearly have been afflicted by the spring cleaning bug. So far I have emptied an entire dresser from our office/sewing room (had fabric in it, I kept about half, but put it in bins in the closet), the top shelf of the cabinet in our master bathroom (had towels we weren't using), the middle shelf in the hall closet (had dish towels that we've never used...my mom keeps buying them for us). I've also devised a plan to paint two walls in the kitchen while Husband is on business travel next week. And I chose a color for the fireplaces/bancos and two walls in the great room. I'm not usually this ambitious. I'm blaming it on the "supermoon".

I woke up at 6:15 Sunday morning and baked banana cake from scratch. Sounds impulsive, but actually I have planned this for an entire week. Bought the bananas and buttermilk and cream cheese last weekend. Let the bananas ripen all week while we were gone. Oh my gosh, this cake is so moist and delicious!! Too delicious! I've already eaten an entire row single handedly from the 9x13 pan. Eek. At this rate I will gain 20 pounds by next weekend. So the new plan to take it with me this evening to my women's group Bible study and hope they find it equally delicious.

Calling the orthopedic office later today. Fingers crossed that I can start the injections this week.

Off to tackle Monday before it tackles me!