Yin and Yang

As you know, the Yin-Yang symbol represents the ancient Chinese understanding of how things work. The outer circle represents "everything", while the black and white shapes within the circle represent the interaction of two energies, called "yin" (black) and "yang" (white), which cause everything to happen.

I've never really understood the concept until this week. Now suddenly it seems to make sense.

I've experienced what they call Yang energy (bright, active, upward, hot, expanding, strong) in my exercise this week.

On Tuesday I ended up going to the gym for W1D3 pushups. I was also introduced to the ab roller for crunches. It helps keep the back and neck in the correct position. It's an awesome thing. That evening was the progressive run. 15min easy, 10 min hard, 15min easy. It was a tough workout for me because 10mins seems like a L-O-N-G time for running hard.

Wednesday I commuted by bike and did 4x25 crunches using the ab roller thing.

This morning 1000 yd swim, followed by W2D1 pushups. Yes, I've finally advanced to week 2. Woot! Soon I'll be out the door to meet with the group for a hill workout consisting of 15min easy, 8x800 hills, 15min easy. [Updated to mention that I did 10x600 instead of 8x600. Woot!]

In contrast, I'm seeing Yin energy (dark, passive, cold, downward, contracting, weak) in the form of resurfacing anxiety.

OWS - I'm looking foward to testing the water again tomorrow, but am apprehensive already.

MSF class - I also have my motorcycle safety class and skills test on the agenda, which will be Friday evening and most of the day on Sat & Sun. I have concerns about getting my scooter to the class and if they'll even let me take the class on my scooter. I have concerns about whether my hiking boots will be sufficient or if they'll kick me out of the class for wrong attire. I have concerns about my ability to learn the skills and pass the test at the end. I'm trying to convince myself to take a 'whatever happens happens' attitude, but deep down this has me more anxious than any race I've done.

Missed opoportunities - Because of the MSF class, I'm missing Son's initial marching band performance for the parents. This makes me sad.

Visitor prep - We need to get the house ready for visitors that are arriving next week. I don't even know if I'll have time to do what I think needs to be done with a busy weekend.

I guess the good thing about the Yin-Yang model is that these things end up being intertwined resulting in some sort of harmony. We'll see about that...

Tuesday Tidbits

I normally do a short swim Sunday mornings, but decided to take a rest day instead.

Yesterday morning I went for a 1500 yd swim. It felt good. I forgot my watch, so I have no idea how long it took. I think I'll be okay for the upcoming pool swim sprint tris, but OWS is an entirely different thing and I'm not feeling so good about that right now. Something to work on before end of September.

I've always liked having two pairs of running shoes on hand that I can alternate between. With different colors, I can easily keep track of which pair to wear next. I was pleasently surprised when my 2nd pair of Nike Vomero +3 (white with orange trim) showed up outside the door yesterday.

This evening I meet up with the group for a progressive run. I've been hemming and hawwing about whether I should bike commute today or if it would be better to show up fresh for the run. I need to make a decision one way or another in the next 10 mins or so.

That's all I've got today. Have a good one!

Saturday = Endurance Day

No speedwork today, today was all about Endurance.

In the early morning, I met up with my new running group for a 50min easy run. I'm pleased with the splits for two reason: 1) I actually did a decent job of pacing myself today and 2) I think this is my first time ever to accomplish negative splits. Hoooray!


Rested for a bit, then was back out the door with Husband for a long bike ride. The route was mostly flat and we targetted an easier pace than yesterday. I've graphed our speed for 5 mile increments. The first two hours weren't bad. I actually thought I was going to negative split my bike ride too. But as you can see, it was all over for me shortly after mile 30. I was Done! Kaput! Finito! Those last 8 miles were miserable, but I did make it home under my own power so Yay for that.


Whatever you have planned, I hope you enjoy your weekend, folks!!

Focus on Speed.

Joined up with the running group again last night. The workout consisted of "jogging" 1.2 miles over to the hill base, 6x600M hill repeats, then "jogging" back to the store. I didn't wear my Garmin, but the group's idea of jogging and my idea of jogging are two different things. I fell back with one other lady who seemed to be struggling to stay with the group. I told her they'd still be there when we got there, and suggested we just go easy like we're supposed to.

It's no surprise that I was one of the last ones to finish, but I found the hill repeats to be fun in a sick and twisted way. Next week we're increasing the repititions to 8 and I'm actually looking forward to it.

Afterwards, I spent quite a bit of time thinking about my approach to training. Pretty much all of my workouts have been based on building endurance. For an entire year I've been going for distance, not speed. Case in point: I had planned on getting up early this morning, swimming at the gym, then coming home for ~30 easy miles on the bike. Purely focussed on endurance.

I think it's time to add in some speedwork. This is not to say that I should throw out endurance training, but I'm ready to add in some focus on speed.

And with that, I devised a new plan for the day. No swim. One bike loop (~16miles) with hills. Push it. No stopping!

The route I chose is not super hard, but challenging enough to make for good practice conditions for the hilly sprint/oly triathlons that I have on my calendar.

I'm all giddy with the results. I'm no speed demon, but this is particularly fast for me. I'm even okay with my speed up the hills because I know I worked hard.

I'm excited to be rework my training plan for the next few weeks and see what happens.

Tuesday Training Tales

Yesterday I did a short swim followed by W1D2 of the push-up challenge for the third time. Push-up progress continues to be slow, but I do feel that I'm making progress and intend to stick with it. Then this morning I did upper body strength work in the AM.

Here's where it gets interesting. Remember when I mentioned getting new shoes on Friday? Well, while I was there, the shoe guy asked if I was training for anything and I mentioned the chips-n-salsa half marathon in September. He casually asked, "Why don't you join my running group? We're training for that race."

My fist instinct was "No!! I don't want to join a running group!!" but as he talked with me about it, it seemd like something I should at least try out. They meet on Tuesday and Thursday evenings at the store for speed work and Saturday early mornings at the Bosque trail for long runs.

This evening, I met up with them for the first time. The workout consisted of jogging over to the high school track, a few warm up laps, then a fartlek run of 3 x 4minutes of tempo running with 2 minutes jogging or walking in between. I opted for walking. He specifically said that tempo running should feel a little easier than 5K race pace, and that he would be asking us to run harder in a few weeks. Aftewards, we did some high knees, butt kicks, and one other drill. Then we jogged back to the store and called it a night.

I left my Garmin on during the jog over and running around the track. The map cracks me up because of all the arrows going around the track.

After analyzing the data, it looks like I did about a 10:25 pace during the warm up laps and a 9:15 pace on the tempo segments. All I can say is that it's a good thing that I'm pretty comfortable in my own skin. That's pretty speedy for me and I actually should have gone a little easier on the tempo segments, but I was one of two runners that quickly fell to the back of the pack. Having said that, I enjoyed the structure of the workout. I plan to join up with them again on Thursday. :)

Women's Distance Festival 5K

One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn't do. - Henry Ford

Friday afternoon: I went over to a local running store to look at and discuss running shoes. I learned that I do not over-pronate and therefore could/should wear a neutral cushioned shoe rather than a stability shoe.

After running around the store in many different pairs, I settled on Nike Women's Vomero +3 which have a totally different feel to them than the Asics 2120s I have been wearing. Although I was nervous about buying something different, I hoped they might help my aches and pains.

Saturday afternoon: I gave the new shoes a little test run and decided that I would wear them at the 5K. I also bought a new jog bra from Target. It's quite cute. I'm hoping to wear it on the swim at the upcoming triathlons and then throw a loose sleeveless shirt over it for the bike and run. I figured I'd give that a trial run at the 5K as well.

Yes, two new and un-testested items at a race.

Sunday morning: Woke up to unusually cloudy skies and a cool morning. What a delight! Arrived at the race location plenty early. Met up with a friend from church who was running her very first 5K as well as Cindy and a friend of hers.

The course was flat, my Garmin says we had only 50 ft vertical gain from the lowest to highest point. It was also mostly pavement, with just a short stretch in the dirt. The shoes and jog bra both performed well. Hooray!

Official time: 29:43, something like a 9:34 pace. I'm quite pleased with that.

My friend doing her first 5K ran the whole way and finished in someting like 33:30. Yay! She even admitted that it was fun. She asked me if we should stay for the awards. I explained that since I wasn't expecting to win anything and needed to get home to get ready for church, I wasn't going to stick around.

So I went home, made sure Son was awake, texted Daughter about when I would pick her and friends up for church, & uploaded my Garmin stats. Before I made it to the shower, my cell phone rang. It was Cindy, calling to let me know that I had actually placed in my age group - 3rd F40-44. What?!?!?! You've gotta' be kidding me!! She had kindly picked up my award and was holding it for me. As for Cindy, well, you'll just have to check her blog to find out how she did. ;)

[Update, official results are up! There were 13 women in our age group. I beat the woman in #4 spot by 2 seconds. Although I didn't know it at the time, I guess sprinting at the end paid off]

So I dashed out the door to meet her over at the Bosque trail. She was preparing to run another 13miles, crazy woman. The award is a cute charm bracelet with the "medal" being an engraved charm. We goofed around a little bit taking pictures with our phones, then I rushed home, showered, picked up a car load of teenage girls, and made it to church on time. Okay, I walked in with wet hair, but I wasn't late.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks. Make the most of it!

How Not to Pace Yourself

Running again today wasn't Plan A, but it was an acceptable Plan B. As such, it was supposed to go down was like this: ~3 easy miles(~12 min/mi pace). That's not quite what happened, though. What can I say? I'm really excited to be running again.


Wheeeeeeee! I'm running again.

(happy face)

Life is good. I really missed this.

Mile 1 - 9:21 min.

Oh crud. That's too fast. What am I doing? I'm going to hurt myself again if I'm not careful. Must.Slow.Down.

(concerned face)

Ooooh lookie! There's a couple running together up ahead. I think I could catch up to them.

(devilish smile)

Hi there! Great morning for a run, isn't it?

(huge grin)

Wheeeeeeee! This is fun. I can't wait 'til the 5K on Sunday.

Mile 2 - 10:27 min

That's better, but it's still too fast. Time to slow down for real.

(scoldy face)

Okay, this is more like it, I think, but somehow not as fun...

(bored face)

Mile 3 - 13:48 min

Are you kidding me? Now I'm going too slow.

(scowl)

I give up on tryng for an easy pace. I'm almost home. I'm just gonna' finish strong.

(determined face)

Wheeeeeeeee!!

(fist pump in air)

Final .25: 2:14 min (9:02 pace)


Summary: 3.25 miles, "average" pace 11:02, real pace all over the map

Happiness is...

Today is marked on my calendar as Okay to Run!

And so I did an easy 2.9 miles.

Leg felt great.

Back is somewhat problematic, but I can work with it.

Happiness is....running again. :)

One step forward, two steps back

The leg is holding up pretty well. I'm chomping at the bit to run again. I *need* to run again, and soon.

Yesterday I sent in registration for another local sprint tri in September. My schedule is shaping up like this:

mid Jul - 5K
.
.
mid Aug - sprint tri
.
.
early Sep - (tentative) half mary
mid Sep - sprint tri
late Sep - Oly Tri
early Oct - (tentative) metric century
Mid Oct -(tentative) half mary

Basically, I'm taking this big ol' break at the moment, but I'm hoping to step it up an notch in Sept-Oct. No worries, as long as I'm injury free. That's really the only reason I have so much still tentative. I wanted to test the leg.

So get this. Yesterday while making soup, I reach for some spices and get this twinge in my back. Now my back is killing me. Uggggh!! I feel like I'm a hundred years old. My theory is that I've been spending too much time on my rear while giving the leg a rest and that's why my back is acting up now. I truly believe that being active will be better for my back than sitting around, so I'm planning to keep moving even if I'm even slower than usual.

In any event, I'm hoping it's just a one or two day thing. I have a race to run on Sunday, some training to catch up on, and some pushups on the horizon with my name on them. ;P

This and That

Yesterday, Husband & I went out for an easy ride. It was my first time on the bike since I've been resting the injured leg. My main goal was to have fun and not make the injury worst.

In the end we had 26miles behind us and my leg felt great! This morning I wondered out loud if I could run again yet. Husband suggested I wait a few more days. Always the voice of reason.

The 5K next Sunday is going to be interesting. My first time back to running won't be until Thursday.

Push-ups are still a pain in the abs, but my confidence is building. This morning I was able to drop and give 'em three. It's still not enough to start W1D2, but it's an improvement.

Here's my "Grrrrrrr, I'm strong and I can do this push-up challenge" face. Pretty intimidating huh? I bet you totally don't want to run up against me in a dark alley now. LOL

Enjoy the rest of your weekend, folks!!

A Kick-in the ABS

Everyone seems to be doing the Push-up Challenge. I was feeling left out. In some ways, I'd really like to do this. However, I stink at push-ups. Really stink at them. Probably worse than *anyone* reading this. I took the initial test and could only do two. Sigh.

You totally stink at push-ups. You'll never be able to do it.

I have never really understood why I have such a hard time with good form push-ups. I thought it was mostly arm/shoulder strength. You'd think with the swimming, that I'd be able to do these. I'd really like to get better at them.

Since when have you given up on a challenge? If you put your mind to it and work hard at it, you can do this.

Yesterday I did Week 1 Day 1. When I woke up this morning my Abs were killing me. Not my arms. Not my shoulders. My Abs. And tomorrow I'm supposed to start with four (4) push-ups. Huh?!?

Quit while you still have some dignity. You're a loser. You'll never make it through Day 2

So I did a little research on push-ups, and sure enough, it works the core. My core strength is poor. Maybe this is just what I need.

Modify the plan if needed. Don't worry how long it takes.

At this point, I'm thinking maybe I could just repeat Week 1, Day 1 tomorrow and again on Monday. And then from that point on, try moving through the plan as written. Does that even make sense?

Don't give up. You can do this.

June Tally

The Numbers:

Swim - 13,200 yards
Bike - 161 miles
Run -29.6 miles
Races/Events - Metric Century, Mariposa 10K

Thoughts:

Of course I'm not happy about the injury, but I'll do what I need to put this behind me. I am happy to be spending extra time in the pool while trying to learn some TI techniques.

July Plans:

Another week of resting the leg. A fun race planned, a Women-only 5K. Primary focus is training for end of summer events. Think about starting the push-up challenge.

When life give you lemons

Admittedly a tired old cliche, but it works for me right now. I've had to find ways to 'make lemonade' while I'm benched.

Here's the deal. I really want to put ths injury behind me for good. So while cycling isn't on the banned list, I've decided to stay off my bike at least until next week. Here's what I've been up to:

More Swimming -I've been to the pool 4 times this week. Something cool happened, too. I met some guy who recognized that I was working on Total Immersion techniques. The next day, he brought me the video and a few articles on kicking from the hips.

Techno Geek Stuff - I spend all day yesterday trying to get info transfered from my old laptop to the fast shiny new one and debugging issues that I was having with wireless, email, etc. I'm pretty much up and running on the new one now. Then I loaded about 2.5 GB of music onto my laptop and into my new Sansa player (4 GB for $45 - thank you, Woot). I also have some research in the works regarding cell phones and carriers; that's the next upgrade on my list.

Event and Training Planning - Assuming my pain is gone for good in a few weeks, there are a few more events in September that I'd like to sign up for (Half Mary & Sprint Tri). I also have an Oly at the end of that month. I've had to rework my training plan, but I think it's still doable.

Have a great weekend everyone; don't forget to make lemonade with whatever lemons life throws your way!

Anatomy Lesson

Popliteal Region - The space behind the knee joint. The space is bounded by ligaments and contains soft tissue including nerves, fat, membranes and blood vessels.

Most common causes of pain in the popliteal region are Bakers's cyst or popliteal tendinitis. Doc didn't think I had either.

His theory is that I overextended my leg during the original injury incident causing a sprain/strain at the hamstring-popliteus interface. It obviously hasn't completely healed.

He said he could tell from my "runner's legs" (I'll take that as a compliment!) that I probably wouldn't like what he had to say, but if I wanted the fastest path to get back to full training, I really needed to let this heal. Anything that fully extends the leg is preventing healing and possibly making it worse.

So the plan is to try rest, heat, and Traumeel Ointment 2x per day. No running/jogging for 2 weeks (eek!). Try to minimize walking as well, especially stairs/hills. Cycling is okay as long as I don't stand on the hills, because my leg is protected from full extension. Swimming is okay, but easy on kicking. If it doesn't seem to be getting better or gets worse, go back in or see a sports medicine guy.

Seems reasonable, so I'm giving it a go.

Not too long ago, I signed up for a 5K that is now 2.5 weeks out. At this point, I'm looking at it as a training run rather than a race. If I can run without pain, I'll consider it a success.

The Return of Pain

Sounds like a good movie title, huh? It's really not a very interesting story, but it's turning into a bit of a mystery.

Waaaayyy back in early May I did something to my right leg. Not while cycling. Not while doing strength work. Not while running. While taking my dog for a walk. Bandit & I have something in common. We both chase bunnies. He does it a little more emphatically than I do though. On this particular walk, he jutted out to the left after a bunny faster and in the process, I stepped or stumbled funny. That was the beginning of Pain. I first mentioned in a post after Run for the Zoo, but it actually happened the day before.

At that time, I noticed that Pain got worse when I ran hard, but it wasn't unbearable and it went away when I walked. I tried to take it easy, but Pain returned and really messed up my attempt at the Virtual 10K on the 10th.

After that, I took a few weeks off from running. Pain seemed to go away completely.

Now it's back with a vengence.

Pain won't go away. Not when I walk. Not even now while I'm sitting and typing.

I tried to get an appt with my doctor to figure out what this Pain is, but can't get in for two weeks! I think I'll go to urgent care tomorrow and see if they can figure out what it is and what I should do about it. Pain is primarly in the area behind my knee (my knee pit, if you will), but radiates up my leg at times.

All I know for sure right now, is that this can't be good.

Swim like a fish...

I did 1500yds at the pool this morning as planned. That is good.

One of the things that I did was count strokes. Not so good.

First I counted strokes using breast stroke. It took me 25 strokes. I'm sure that's not great, but I don't really know how to do breast stroke and I only do it occasionally to mix things up.

Then I counted freestyle (front crawl). I expected a much lower number since it's a much more efficient stroke. Not so much. It took me 22-23 strokes. Yikes! I counted several times to make sure I was counting correctly.

This simply won't do. I decided to stop at Borders and pick up the Total Immersion book. Surely it can't hurt. First impression - there is a lot to read!

My next scheduled swim is Sunday morning bright and early, so I'm going to have to read, study up, and make myself some drill sheets (enclosed in a plastic baggy) between now and then so that I can practice the basics and begin to learn how to swim like a fish.

If anyone has any other ideas (dvds, swim drill resources) please let me know asap.

Happy Friday. Happy Weekend. Best wishes to everyone racing, especially the Ironman CdA folks.

EDITED SUNDAY AFTERNOON: I found a site with some short clips showing the various drills used in Total Immersion and studied those along with the book. I spend most of my time at the pool practicing the overswitch. At the end, I couldn't resist trying to swim using most of the concepts. I went slow, focussed on form, and counted. It only took me 17-18 strokes to get me from one end to the other. WOW. Hopefully I'll have the hang of it in a few weeks. If it doesn't make me faster, it should at least make me more efficient, requiring less energy in the long run.

Yes, I did!

I successfully cycle commuted Monday through Thursday, adding up to 52 miles. I also managed a couple short runs after my commute in. Yes, I'm planning to do it again as long as no thunderstorms are projected or any unforseen circumstances that would suggest that driving is a better choice.

I must share a few comments that made me smile:

* from fast cyclist passing me for the umteenth day in a row on the hill: "You just never give up, do you?" - Nope, I don't. And I'll take that as a compliment, thank you.
* from colleague at fitness center: "You're going to run after riding in?!? What are you nuts?!?" - Ha! You should meet some of my blogger friends. :)

And some things I learned:

* Much planning is required especially if there are any deviations in your normal routine.
* Pay close attention to what you pack. Keep back-ups at the office where possible.
* Bring plenty of snacks. You still need fuel, but it's food instead of gasoline.
* Errands after work are doable, but by then you smell *really* bad. Keep them short or do them some other day.
* Nasty hills don't get any shorter just because you travel up them every day, but they do become ominous each time they are conquered.

I think I can

I have committed to cycling in twice a week. Thinking about it some more, as long as the weather is reasonable and I don't have any external commitments, there's no reason why I can't take it up a notch. I challenged myself on Sunday evening to cycle to work four (4) days this week unless something absolutely required otherwise.

I think I can.

Could I really accomplish this? This week the forcast tells me to expect it to be hot (98deg high) with low wind and very low chance of thundershowers. Seems reasonable enough to me.

I think I can.

Cycling in all four days means that I need to leave extra early a few days to include running. It would also remove the option to swim on Tuesday and require my Friday and Sunday swims to be a bit longer than originally planned.

I think I can.

Monday - left the house just after 6am so that I could go the the fitness center first. I usually go an extra 2 miles out of my way to take a safer route. On Monday, I wanted to try the shorter route since I was leaving so early. Well, I did make it to my destination alive and well, but I am acutely aware now why I decided to go the extra 2 miles out of my way. Yikes. Anyway, I wanted to do intervals on the treadmill, but the little fitness center at work has only two treadmills and neither was working on Monday. So I ran around the campus instead. I hadn't brought a watch or a Garmin, but I think I went about 2 miles. Not great, but better than nothing. Oh, and I had to bungee my running shoes on my bike because I couldn't fit them in my bag. That looked pretty funny, but it worked and I didn't lose a shoe on the way in. Day 1 was a success.

I think I can.

Tuesday - left the house closer to 6:30am, intending only to shower and change (no other workout) before my all day class. Imagine my surprise when I realized that I did not pack a matched set of shoes! D'oh! I'm really not sure how that happened, but clearly I need to pay more attention to what I'm packing. Luckily, I had enough time to run over to grab the exra set of shoes I keep in my office before my class started. I barely made it to the class on time, but I did make it. Day 2 was a success, with a litle hiccup.

I think I can.

Wednesday - Plan is to leave at 6am again and be able to run even longer, this time with Garmin. And don't forget to pack a matched set of shoes!

I think I can.

Thursday - I think I have an errand to run after work. We'll see how that goes.

I think I can.

Mid Point Check

"Thirty days has September
April, June, and November"

Since today is the halfway point, I wanted to check my numbers to see if I'm making any progress against May. If I can just keep it up, I'm currently on track to maintain the bike mileage while increasing the swim and run slightly.

Swim - 3600 yds by June 15th (vs. 4900 by end of May)
Bike - 109 miles by June 15th (vs. 199 by end of May)
Run - 19 miles by June 15th (vs. 23.25 by end of May)

In other news...got my hair cut and colored on Friday. First thing Daughter said was "It's short!"

Well, despite what my family may think, I can tell you that it was heavenly when I ran yesterday. I also appreciated it this morning after my swim. And I'm sure they'll get used to it soon enough.

Happy Father's Day to all the dads out there!!

Fitting it all in

My focus right now is on evening out my training and the first thing that I need to fix is swimming. I'm going to have to do something different because I just can't get my body out of bed early enough to get it done before work.

Yesterday, I went to the pool at 7pm, arriving just as a water aerobics class ended. That worked out pretty well. I'll try that again next week. A few weeks ago I showed up at the gym Sunday morning right when it opened and made it home in time to get to church. I may try that this week as well.

I was hoping to go to Cochiti with GeekGirl, Cindy, and others tomorrow, but my work schedule isn't going to allow that to happen this week. I'm going to have to try to get to the pool early instead. Sigh. This is a bummer, because I need OWS practice for Elephant Man.

Once I get the swimming figured out, I'll put some effort back on running if needed, but I think that will happen naturally. My running was down last month mostly due to injury/illness, not because I was having trouble fitting it in.

Speaking of running, I was tagged by Jen in Budapest. I'm not going to tag anyone, but if you want to be tagged, consider it done.

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
Running? What running? I have only been running for a few years.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?
See my last post for the worst. My best was probably my first 5K. Even though I was one of the very last finishers, it felt so incredibly awesome to cross the finish line for the first time.

3. Why do you run?
The short version is "simply because I can."

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?
Know what your goal is for each training session and pace accordingly.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
People seem to be surprised to discover that I have a hummingbird tattoo on my upper left shoulder. Personally, I don't think it's a big deal, but whatever.

Stick a Fork in Me...I'm Done

Part 1: Albuquerque "Metric Century"

Summary: I put the distance in quotation marks, because this ended up being closer to 112K than 100K. My Garmin measured 68.85 miles with 1238ft of climbing. Add on the distance from/to the car and we easily did 70+miles. Despite this, I was smiling as we packed up the car to return home.

The course proflie: I messed up something on my Garmin, so I ended up capturing the ride data in 2 chunks. The first 10miles looks a lot like the last 10miles, nothing too exciting, just imaging an extra 10 at the beginning that look like the last 1o. It's pretty obvious where the hard part was.

Thoughts from the experience:

* Love the Novarra Mezzo shorts (those are the ones I mentioned in an earlier post...only with the pro chamois rather than the recreational gel). I bought a second pair on the way home.
* Love the event jersey that we purchased for an additional fee. Worth every penny.
* Don't love climbing. Probably never will.
* Don't love riding downhill on streets with traffic and no bike lane. In fact, downhill is scary for me. I start reaching for brakes when I see 24+ mph.
* Definately need gloves for long rides. Didn't have any, but bought some on the way home for next time.
* The aqua rack rocks. So do the insulated polar bottles that I bought to load into the aqua rack rock.
* So do the boy scouts that held my bike at rest stop #2 while I used the porta-potty
* 70miles is a long way. I increased my longest ever cycle distance by 32miles. Experts don't recommend increasing you distance by this much in one ride. Several parts of my body agree.
* Yes, I would do another one, but I would inquire more carefully about the exact distance in advance. Every inch after mile 60 was a struggle for me. The fact that the course ran long was almost enough to put me in tears at the end.

Part 2: Mariposa "Death March"

Summary: The Mariposa run was this morning. We chose the 10K distance. This was supposed to be fun and scenic. Okay, I admit it was scenic, but fun was totally missing for me. No happy face at the end of the race. In fact, I was quite grumpy. This is a first for me.

The course profile: First off, please note that the starting elevation is basically up where the top of that bike ride was on the day before. The first mile or so was downhill. Yikes. That means we have to go back up hill. And then it just seemed to go up and up and up. I did a lot of walking. And grumbling. It seemed like we should end up going downhill for the last mile, but instead, this is where the course took a left, offroad and onto the mesa. And it was mostly uphill in sand. What the font?!? I felt like I should switch to hiking shoes. Who designed this course and what made them think that this little stretch at the end would be fun?


Thoughts from the experience:

* The race was very well organized, but the course must have been designed by sadists. I won't be back next year.
* Final time was 1:14:something. For the record, I'm not unhappy because of my finish time; I'm unhappy because (in my opinion) the race course sucked.

Ready for the weekend

Tomorrow morning is the metric century. I've got my jersey, bib number, shorts, socks, shoes, all laid out and ready to go. I've got my drinks mixed and in the fridge/freezer. I've got my snacks ready. The bike's in the car with a freshly cleaned and lubed chain and air in the tires. My sunscreen, cell phone, id, $$, helmet, sunglasses, map, camera (may or may not bring it), etc are all sitting out waiting for me. That sure seems like a lot of prep for a non-race, don't you think? I guess the first time for just about anything can be exciting.

Oh yeah, and then there's the 10K on Sunday. I'm fairly certain that is going to be a train-wreck, so I'm not nearly as excited about it. Husband reminds me that I wanted to run it because it sounded like an interesting and potentially scenic course, not because I expected to do well. I'm guessing I'll need to remind myself of that come Sunday morning.

Anyway...whatever you're doing this weekend, have fun doing it. Catch you on the flip side.

Wind. It Blows.

Bike commuted to work today. On the way home, it was windy (as usual for this time of year) something in the 20-30mph range.

I spend a lot of time thinking about the wind on the way home.

First off, I don't so much mind a headwind, but the cross winds and gusts are rather difficult for me and downright scary at times.

Next, we really, honestly, and truly should find a way to take advantage of the wind energy in this part of the country. What a waste to just let it blow and not harvest it to it's full potential.

Third thought - I realized that I'm out riding in wind that would have kept me off my bike last year. I rock. Or roll. Or get blown off my bike. Whatever.

Final thought, have I mentioned that I don't care for the cross winds? I guess so. No harm in repeating myself to make a point, right?

So here's the deal. I cannot bike commute on Thursday. I don't work on Friday, so I have to ride in tomorrow if I'm going to hit my minimum 2x per week. Forcast for tomorrow is same as today only with gusts up to 40mph.

The ride home may not be pretty, but I think I'm going to go for it. <

May Tally

- Numbers -

Running: 23.25 miles. that's it?? yikes.
Cycling: 199.7 miles. Oh man, I wish I had gone an extra .3 somewhere
Swimming: 4900 yds :(
Other: 1 each of Zumba/Strength
Races: Run for the Zoo with a PR, baby!

- Thoughts -

It was frustrating to lose so much training time this month for a tweaked right leg early in the month and then a week of Bronchitis. But since I started the month off with a 10K PR and really kicked it up a notch on the bike, I don't feel like it was a total loss.

- Plans -

First full weekend in June has both the 100K bike tour and a 10K road race. After that, I'm going to try to focus on balancing out my running/cycling/swimming.


- EDIT -

Two things I feel like commenting on now so I don't need to include in a separate post.

1) I forgot to pack a sports bra on my trip. D'oh! So I needed to shop for one. That may have been a good thing, found something that I might like better than my others. Woot!

2) Came home to a broken water pipe on the roof. Had to turn the water off to the cooler. That means it's 90ish degrees and we have no cooler until Husband comes home on Thursday. Sigh. I'm going to bat my eyelashes at work tomorrow and see if I can get someone to help us out. Meahwhile, it's HOT in here.

Where's Waldo?

If anyone's wondered if perhaps I've fallen off the face of the earth, the answer is no. I've been out of town. Right now I happened to have hopped on a computer in the business center to check in and get boarding passes for our return flights. Had enough time to leave just a few of you some comments. I'm looking forward to catching up with everyone's blogs later tomorrow.

For my own record keeping - I ran intervals on the treadmill yesterday and an easy 2.5 miles this morning.

Everyone have great races, runs, bike rides, swims and/or whatever else you have planned this weekend. Catch you on the flip side.

Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes

I got the "all clear" from Husband to start exercising again. Yay! We decided to go for a bike ride today. I had originally wanted to get in a ride of 55 miles but since this is my first time back on my feet in a week, we opted to target 40-45 miles instead.

The weather forcast was promising, and I was very excited to test out some recent changes:

1) A few weeks ago, I removed my aerobars. The fact is, I was simply never comfortable riding with them. They made my right shoulder hurt and I didn't like being away from the brakes and shifters. They don't do much good when you don't use them. I'm fairly certain that removing them was a good idea, my bike handles better and I think I've picked up some speed. There is a downside, though. I lost the capacity for a third bottle, my aerobottle up front. Which leads to the next item.

2) When I was feeling miserable on Friday, I went to the local Performance bike shop and picked up a Profile Aqua Rack. I learned about these by riding with Cindy, this is the rear bottle holder contraption that she keeps hitting her leg on. I wasn't sure how it would fare for me, I have a much larger underseat bag than she does. I had to mount it quite a bit lower and it barely fits, but it does seem to solve my hydration problem for now. Yay.

3) Speaking of seats, I switched the seats between my two bikes last fall, putting the comfy women's specific gel seat on my carbon bike and the less comfy women's specific seat on my commuter. Since then, I've noticed that the seat height was a tad high on my carbon bike and a tad low on my commuter bike. I always forget when I'm at home, but quickly remember when I'm riding. Anyway, the aqua rack mounts to the seat post, so I had to take the seat post all the way out and put it back in, so I figured that was a good time to bring the seat height down a bit. I think it's perfect now!

4) I've not been happy with cycling shorts. The pads have enerally caused more problems than they solve. And none of them seem to fit me very well; they are uncomfortable all over. So I pretty much ride in tri shorts. This is okay for shorter rides, but for longer rides, tri shorts don't seem to be cutting it. I tried on at all kinds of shorts this weekend at REI and Performance, and decided to buy a pair of Novara Mia Gel Road . They are different. First, they are made of a microfiber material, not the typical spandex material. Also, the front part of the waiste band does not have elastic; it has a crossover stretch fabric instead. For someone like me, who has a "hip-challenged and tummy flab rich" body shape, this is incredibly comfortable. Finally, the padding was narrow enough that it didn't seem to rub in a bad way. They passed my first riding test well enough that I think I might buy their Mezzo shorts (same design, but a 'pro chamois' instead of the 'recreational gel' and a little more $$).

5) After hitting the wall last time, I decided to modify my nutrition and rest stop strategy. I packed some whole wheat tortilla peanut butter rolls in my bento box along with a broken up luna bar. I carried 3 bottles accelerade and one bottle water. Rest stops were planned every 10 miles or so. What a difference! I never hit the wall today and was still going strong all the way to the end of the ride.

Our ride ended up just short of 44 miles in about 3hrs riding time. We passed lots of other cyclists frequently found ourselves clipping along at about 17-18mph. For me, that's pretty darn fast. Our average was much slower with the rest stops, but I felt strong and am happy with all the changes that were implemented. Best of all, I've regained confidence about the 65mile ride on June 7.

Aye Carumba!

I'm begrudgedly following the whole "if it's below the neck stop exercising" thing. The fact that Husband threatened to take my front bike wheel, running shoes, and goggles away if I wouldn't promise to rest may have influenced me slightly

Anyway, I'm a little freaked out about the upcoming metric century in two weeks. It doesn't help that I'll be out of town Wed-Sun. When I get back it will be only 6 short days before the cycle tour.

Husband says not to worry. All I have to do is start at the beginning and keep going until I get to the end. And it's not a race, its a tour. Just go have fun. Piece of Cake. Sounds good on paper, but despite his well-intentioned words, I can't help feeling under-prepared.

Well....it gets better.

There's this little 10K the day after the bike tour that I had wanted to do. Wanted. Past tense. That was before signing up for the metric century.

Husband is perplexed as to why I might not want to do both in the same weekend. His argument is that I've done stuff like this all in one day before, so what's the worry? Of course, that's not quite true. The longest all.in.one.day was oly tri distance. This particular bike ride is 2.5 times that distance!! Not quite apples-to-apples.

Long story short, the 10K is now on my calendar as well. Good thing they have a fitness center at the hotel. I surely wouldn't want to be under-prepared for *two* events in the same weekend.

We interrupt this program...

for BRONCHITIS?!?!?!

Aye carumba. I really do not have time for this.

Okay, so I'm actually on day 3 of meds and feeling much better than I did on Tuesday when I finally drug (dragged? what tense to I use here?) my carcass over to urgent care, but I've pretty much had to throw my plans for the week straight out the window.

There's a bright side, well, at least I know there MUST be. I just don't know what it is right at this moment. Sigh.

[updated: so the bright side might be that without my bike ride tomorrow, I will have time to set up my indoor "garden of eatin" [strawberries and tomatoes] and might even be able to head to performance to pick up one of those snazzy profile aqua racks that Cindy has. Honestly, I'm aware that this doesn't counter-balances the missing bike ride, but I simply have to work within my limits at the moment]

Matching Game Monday

Here's how it works. Answer each question with a whole number from 0-5 inclusive. No number is used more than once. Today's questions are from the category "Lisa's Cycle Commute"

A) the number of times I had to stop on my way up the hill today

B) the number of time I had to stop on my way home to adjust my pannier rack

C) the number of times I plan to cycle to work this week

D) the approximate speed I maintained at the steepest part of the hill


Imagine Jeopardy music playing while you think about it. Answers are below

.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
.

A) The correct answer is 0! That, my friends, is a huge milestone. :)

B) The correct answer is 2. Grrrrrrrr. It is user error. I put my new rack on this weekend and gave Husband his back. But I didn't tighten things down enough which caused problems on my ride home. He has since tightened everything for me and I'm sure it will be fine next time.

C) The correct answer is 3. I rode my bike to work today and plan to ride again on both Wed and Thurs. I hope I can keep to the plan!

D) Since the real answer is 4.5, I'll give credit for either 4 or 5. I seriously wonder if it would have been faster to hop off and walk. LOL. In any event, I'll worry about speed later, right now I'm just thrilled that I made it up to the top without having to stop and take a break.


So....How'd you do??

Catching up

On Wednesday, I tried intervals on the treadmill again. It was a tough workout, as always, and probably a big mistake. My right leg was screaming at me afterwards. Drat.

Thursday was supposed to be a swim/upper body strength day before work. However, I really hadn't slept well that night and didn't feel like getting up at 5:15. So I slept in instead. I didn't want to totally blow off my workout, so I took my swim stuff with me hoping to try swimming at lunch time. It's okay as a plan B. I got in a 1200 yd swim. I returned to work with wet hair and still smelling like chlorine (no time for a shower or drying my hair). Luckily, I didn't have to work *with* anyone in the afternoon so it was all good.

Friday was my cycle day with Cindy. We met up at the trailhead at lunch time. The weather was beautiful. We shared lots of laughter along the way. Time sure flies when you're having fun. When it was all said and done, I had a little over 43 miles on my bike computer. Other than hitting the 'wall' at about mile 35, it was a perfect cycle day for me. But those last 8 miles were a real struggle. I've got three short weeks to figure out how to get from 43 to 65. I think that taking more frequent rest/stretch breaks will probably go a long way toward getting me there.

My schedule says that today is a long run day, but I think I'm going to skip it or possibly try a short run. I really need to let my right leg heal up.

Tomorrow I plan on showing up at the gym right when they open so that I can swim before church. We've got plans all afternoon, so if I don't get the swim in, it will probably be nada for me. Oh, and I'll also be tracking Wes while he's doing his first 70.3 in Orlando as well as checking Javamom's blog for an update on how her first Oly went.

Whatever you're doing this weekend, enjoy it!!

Your Mission should you choose to accept it...

Back in April, the kind people from Mission Skin Care offered to send me some samples of their new products to test out and write about. I received the samples promptly and have been testing them out on the run/bike. Last weekend, I noticed that they have them for sale now at Performance Bike store.

Here is what I received:

MISSION Sunscreen SPF 30 is designed to guard against environmental and sun damage. It boasts anti-sting technology to protect a sweating athlete’s eyes, is completely greaseless and oil-free, absorbs quickly, and provides long-lasting UVA and UVB protection while nourishing the skin with vitamin E.

MISSION Lip Protector SPF 20 is designed to protect an athlete’s lips from environmental and sun damage. It prevents moisture loss, and provides long-lasting UVA and UVB protection while nourishing the lips with powerful antioxidants.

MISSION Anti-Friction Cream possesses superior anti-chafing properties, and helps prevent discomfort, pain, irritation and inflammation due to skin-to-skin and skin-to-gear contact. Fortified with an antibacterial formula, it instantly heals, cools and moisturizes while helping to prevent irritation and infection in friction-prone areas. Mission Anti-Friction Cream is engineered to stay dry and cool through extended activity, and is compatible with all fabrics.

MISSION Foot Gel is engineered to relieve and rejuvenate hot, tired feet following strenuous activity. Fortified with vitamins A and E, It targets dry, cracked and inflamed skin, and delivers cooling, soothing, hydrating and revitalizing nourishment while helping to stimulate circulation.

MISSION Revive Gel is designed as a super-charged aloe gel for reviving skin after sunburn and windburn. Used by all types of athletes after sun and wind exposure, this miracle gel is used to hydrate, nourish and replenish damaged skin. This lightweight, scentless, clear gel is fortified with vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. The gel also works as a high performance vitamin moisturizer after a workout and even a vitamin shave gel and restores the skin’s natural pH balance.

I'll share my thoughts, but first I need to mention that I have very sensitive skin.

Sunscreen - Generally, before I apply anything to my face, I search for the words "non-comedogenc" on the label. That means that it's unlikely to cause my face to break out in a rash. Instead I saw "Stop use and ask a doctor if rash or irritation develops and lasts." Yikes. I tried it only on my legs. I didn't like the format, this is like a giant chapstick that you rub on your body for sunscreen and am afraid to try it on my face. No thank you.

Lip Protector - It has a pleasant scent, includes sunscreen, and works well. No sunburned or chapped lips and it seemed to have some staying power. I liked it.

Anti-Friction Cream - By far the best product of the bunch. I really like that it's a gel/cream and not a stick. And it works great. Very nice. I'll use this in the future.

Foot Gel - I like how my feel after using this. Admittedly, I'm thinking more along the lines of pedicure than athlete product, but I like it.

Revive Gel - I wanted to like this. But it made some of my rashy areas (remember, I have sensitive skin) worse and left the other areas of my skin sticky. No thank you.

In summary: Love the anti-friction cream. It would rock if they would send me more (hint hint). If not, I guess its good that I now know where I can buy some. I liked the lip protector and foot gel; will have to think about whether or not I'd buy them though. Didn't care for the sunscreen or revive gel.

Gulp.

Just signed up for an event in June

a metric Century (with Husband)

Looking at the calendar

It's only 3.5 short weeks away.

Sounds fun, but ummm.

My longest ride EVER was 48miles.

That was after riding several times a week month on month.

This season is different.

I really just started riding again a few weeks ago.

Oh yeah, and one more thing.

I'll be out of town Memorial Day week.

Makes me wonder; maybe YOU have some idea??

Just what exactly *WAS* I thinking when I hit that "Enter" key??

Just doin' my part

Husband & I made and effort to stimulate the economy this weekend (that's my new way of making a shopping spree sound righteous).

First stop was REI where I scored a pannier bag that was on sale that seems to be just what I was looking for...bigger than my old bag, but smaller and lighter than Husband's bag. I also picked up a new rack to use with it. Next we stopped at Performance where I picked up a new sleeveless orange jersey and he bought another pair of cycling shorts.

I am happy with the pannier bag, but quickly discovered that while it works nicely with Husband's rack and the rack I bought that day, the new rack would not work with my bike. So I returned the new rack and have one similar to his on order. Meanwhile, I'm borrowing his.

I rode into work with the new set-up today. I thought it might be weird to have all the weight on one side, but it was fine. I'm thrilled with the bag; everything fit inside perfectly. And best of all, I only had to stop once on the hill.

I wore the new jersey today too. I like it enough that I think I'll stimulate the economy just a little more and buy another one in a different color.

No need to thank me, I'm here to help.

Virtual 10K on the 10th

Where to begin. Today was my first attempt at running since I smashed my 10K PR last Sunday at Run for the Zoo. I've been nursing a mild injury all week. I thought about claiming last week's run as my virtual 10K and not attempting to run today at all. But I figured that was cheating. Mostly cheating myself out of the opportunity to get outside and move my body.

It was just about three years ago today that I got the crazy idea that maybe I could do a sprint triathlon if I trained for it. It took me a full three months after the idea popped into my head before I bought running shoes and got myself out the door for the first time. I couldn't make it a half mile without feeling fully out of breath. I wondered how I would ever run 3.1 miles, much less afer a 400m swim and 12.5 mile bike. I thought maybe the bike would be easier, but my first attempt yielded 6 slow miles and completely wore me out. It would be another 6 months before I got serious about swimming and took lessons. And it took a full month of lessons before I could swim one length of the pool and back.

My lifestyle has changed sooo much since then. I rode my bike to work twice last week. I often wake up a few hours early, eager to get to the pool or the gym. I had an awesome 27 mile ride with Cindy on Friday. Husband & I now regularly run races together (5K, 10K,Half-Mary). I've done a handful of triathlons including a couple Oly distance.

The truth is, I've come too far to let a poor performance keep me from going outside and doing what I love.

So the plan for today was as follows: Go easy. Leave the pride at the door. Take as many walk breaks as needed. Try to cover the distance. Do NOT make the injury worse. It's a beautiful day; enjoy the moment.

I knew in the first half mile that my leg wasn't fully recovered and that I was going to do a lot of walking. I stuck to the plan. I went out easy. I left my pride at the door. I took as many walk breaks as needed (including one that was 2 miles long - ha!). I covered the distance. I don't think I made the injury worse. It was a beautiful day; I enjoyed the moment.

And with that, I proudly submit my PW (personal worse) 10K time of 1:27:54 for the 10K on the 10th Virtual Club Run. It may have been painfully slow, but it sure beats sitting on the couch...and for that I am grateful.

That was better

That which doesn't kill us makes us stronger, right? So today I was determined to commute by bike once again.

This time I borrowed Husband's bag/rack combo. First impression, his bag is plenty big enough for all my stuff. Too big, actually. Also, it slides on and off the rack easily and the pannier sides secure to the pannier rack nicely. The whole contraption is quite a bit heavier, though, and probably too heavy for me. It would be ideal to find something bigger than mine and smaller (and lighter) than his.

Had to stop 3 times going up the hill. How pathetic is that? I don't think I've ever had that much trouble before. I've decided to blame it on the extra weight from his bag/rack combo. Yeah, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

It was quite windy on the way home. Made it down the hill without much problem and then noticed I was really cruising (20-21mph) without much effort on the flat stretch going toward home. I'm attributing that to 'wind-assist.' I also experienced a considerable slow down (9-11mph) after turning *into* the wind at the very end.

No flat today. That was a huge plus. But something isn't quite right with my front wheel, so I need to take a look at it before I take the Giant out again.

All-in-all, a much better experience than Tuesday.

Should have listened to the leg...

Didn't do much yesterday, I have a minor injury to the back of my right leg. I believe I may have pulled my hamstring. It's definately not the good sore you get from a hard workout, it's the bad sore you get from an injury. This morning I wanted to commute by bike to work. As it turns out, this didn't go so well. I'm convinced now that I should have listened to the leg...

Problem number one. I spent about 20mins trying to cram things into my trunk bag and then get it to attach to the rack on my bike. I could not for the life of me get it fully zipped up or attached to the rack correctly. I ended up bungeeing it. Husband has a bigger bag and pannier racks. Next time I will try his out. If that works for me I'll get one of those and sell mine on ebay.
I was a little behind schedule when I took off toward work. About a half mile in, I realized that I forgot my badge. This is not good. I need to scan the badge to get into the fitness center (to shower and change). I also keep my bike lock key and my desk keys on my badge. So I had to turn around to pick up my badge. Drat.

Second time out, things were going pretty well until I got to the hill. There is a parking lot about half way up, just after the steepest part. I turn into to sometimes to take a water break. Today I couldn't make it that far before taking a rest. I know I can do it when I get back into the commuting habit, but not today.

Eventually made it in, showered & changed, rode the bike another mile or so from the fitness center to my parking spot (in street clothes now). I was a bit late getting into the office, but all was well.

That is, until the end of the day when I realized that I had a flat. The flat had been caused by a goat head (grrrrrr) and even though I had goo tubes in, it just wouldn't hold air so I needed to change the tube. No problem, except that I could not for the life of me find my tire irons (you may call them tire levers). How the heck do you get a tire on/off without them? I guess you don't. Time for plan B.

I called Son who just got his provisional license on Saturday. He was happy to get a chance to drive on his own to come rescue me. We got the bike loaded up in the SUV and then stopped to pick up extra set of tire irons on the way home. Of course, I found mine in my bag later. Go figure,. I guess it never hurts to have extras.

While fixing the flat in the comfort of my own home - which is much nicer than doing it on the side of the road - my cross necklace caught on my something on the bike and the chain broke. GASP!! Anyone who knows me well knows that I *ALWAYS* wear my cross. I never take it off. I just don't. And now the chain is broken. Sigh. It's a rather dainty chain and I neither Husband or I can fix it ourselves so I need to get it repaired at a jeweler and/or replace the chain. That was about enough to put me in tears.

Yeah. Pretty much a crappy day. And to think I did this to myself by deciding to commute by bike to work. Should have listened to the leg!!

I'd be out of character if I didn't at least try to find the positives in the situation. So here we go:

1) I got 8.1 miles of riding in today.
2) Son had the opportunity to put his new license to good use.
3) I now have extra tire irons.
4) Put a brand new goo tube in the front tire of my Giant. Should be good to go next time.
5) Had another chance to practice changing a tube. Apparently I need practice, because it took a long time.
6) I don't have to go a without my cross (whew!); I found a cheap chain in my jewelry box that I can use until I get the other one repaired or replaced.

Run for the Zoo Race Report

This morning, Husband & I awoke early New Mexico Run for the Zoo 10K. The weather looked nice. It was about 45deg and sunny. I opted to run in a skirt with a long sleeve shirt over a tank top. Brought the hydration belt with 2 bottles accelerade. Also brought my shuffle and headphones. And of course, I wore one of my headsweats hats.

This is a popular local event. It draws thousands of participants for the various races (10K, a 5K run, a 5K walk, and a 1 mile fun run). Many of the participants stay to visit the zoo afterwards. We tried to arrive early to secure decent parking, but still ended up walking quite a ways to the start area and standing in a very long line to get our chips. Not to worry though, we had sufficient time and weren't rushed before the race began.

We decided to line up somewhere between the 9min and 10min pace signs. I was hoping for a PR today with my sights set on a finish time in the 01:03:00-01:05:00 range. Husband looked over at me at the start and said "You're on your own this morning." I nodded, knowing that he had intended to run his own race today.

This race doesn't have a start mat, so I started my Garmin when the gun went off. We were off like a herd of stampeeding turdles. It took about 25sec to hit the start line, and then I was able to find space to run.

I'm not feeling particularly bloggy at the moment, but I annotated my splits graph to give you some idea how the race went down for me.

Long story short, we both PRd! My finish time was 01:02:19, a 10:01 min/mi pace. Husband's finish time was 00:55:48, an 8:58min/mi pace. [Now updated with official results!!]

I'm quite pleased about my 10K PR, but not so happy about how my right leg is feeling at the moment. More on that later...

Next weekend is the Virtual 10K on the 10th. I'm participating, but will not be trying to better my PR. I need to give my legs (particularly the right one) a chance to recover.

Back on the saddle

This is going to be a shocker, but I actually rode my bike. Can you believe it?!? In fact, my bike computer says that I went 26.2 miles today. Not too shabby, eh?

Most of the credit goes to Cindy who invited me to meet up with her on the bike path this morning. That's all it took to get me off my rear and onto my bike. I was a little apprehensive on the way to our designated meeting spot when I realized how windy it was. However, I rather enjoyed the whole experience and hope we can do this more often.

After arriving home, it became obvious that today's ride totally wore me out. I didn't feel like doing much more than sitting on the couch. I guess that's what happens when you take a long break from cycling and decide to pick it back up on a windy day with a nice little 25+ mile ride.

Oh, and I must have been too tired to think straight this afternoon, because I went ahead and registered for Elephant Man. Yikes! Guess it's time to get serious now...

Monthly tally

The Numbers:

68.8 miles running, 8600 yards swimming, 12.0 miles cycling, 5 strength sessions, 4 Zumba!*, 1 race (HM)
* aerobics plus core

Looking Back:

Running focus remained (happy about that), HM PR (yay!), swimming coming along, loving Zumba!, probably shouldn't have continued strength at cost of cycling.

Looking Forward:

10K this weekend. Virtual 10K weekend after. Want to sign up for Oly in Sept. Need to seriously add in bike and keep it there. Zumba rocks. Also, when can I run another HM??

Not what I was hoping for

I was going to say that my weekend went from Fun-tastic to Crap-tastic, but after reading Wes' recent race report, I think I need to reserve that word for him (you really need to read the report to understand...lol).

I had a 6-7 mile run planned for this weekend. I decided to get 'er done on Saturday afternoon. I should have known it wasn't going to be a good run when I had to turn around at the end of my driveway because I had forgotten my cell phone. I should have known it wasn't going to be a good run when I put the cell phone in my pocket instead of in the pocket of my hydration belt where I usually keep it. I should have known it wasn't going to be a good run when the sand started blowing (20-30mph) in my eyes again.

But no, I didn't figure it out until I hit my second walk break and reached down to grab a bottle for some hydration. That's when I realized that I had left the hydration belt at home. Sigh.

Your mileage may vary, but there's no freaking way I can run 6-7 miles without hydration. I've learned this the hard way, but at least I've learned. I turned back toward home and grumbled. Ran a little, then walked for a bit. And grumbled some more. Ran a little more, then walked some more. Did a lot more walking that running and basically gave up.

mile 1 10:24
mile 2 12:04
mile 3 13:28
mile .45 12:35

When I got home, I decided to shake it off and simply hope for a do-over today, but that didn't happen. I don't want to dwell on it, but this was was definately not the training experience I was hoping for this weekend with a 10K next Sunday. Confidence for a PR is basically shot, but I know I still have it in me to Have Fun if nothing else. And that is what I intend to do.

Fun-tastic Friday

Friday morning, daughter is played flute at State competition. She needed to be dropped off at 7:45 and picked up at about 9:10. The judged performances are closed door, so I had almost 1.5hrs to kill. I figured, what the heck, I'll use the time to go to the gym and swim.

There were two lanes open. Nice. This is apparently a good time to go to the gym from a crowd standpoint. I had enough time to expand my planned 1600yd workout to 2000yds total. I felt awesome.

Since the midschoolers had the day off school and I was off work, we had some of the band kids over after State to watch a movie, play a little guitar hero, and such. They left mid-afternoon and I was off for a long overdue hair appt. This time it's less layered and a little more bob-ish. Very cute.

Next it was time to return to the gym for my Friday Happy Hour Zumba!! I had more fun in the class this time than ever before. I think it's because I'm learning the moves and spent less time trying to figure out what they were doing. Fun stuff.

Have a greet weekend everyone!!

Mid-week randomness

Thank you for all the encouraging comments on my last post. That was a race experience that I won't soon forget. I keep replaying it in my mind and it still makes me smile.

This week is recovery week. For example I did hills on the treadmill today....2.5 miles total, but at a *very easy* recovery jog pace. I think I'm going to come out of this stronger as a result of giving my body some time to heal, but mentally, it's been a challenge.

I am looking to further ramp up the swimming and put cycling back in the fold starting next week. I roughed out a schedule that doesn't have me doing any triathlons until Aug/Sep, so I'm not under huge time pressure, but I can't put this off indefinately.

I am soooo proud of Son. We went to the top 10 awards banquet last night. It was a lovely dinner event. He's currently in the top 10 of his class of over 800 studends and received some impressive academic bling.

Daughter's piano recital is on May 4th. She has declared this to be her last year playing, so I'll probably cry. She really plays beautifully. I hope she continues playing even after she stops taking lessons. She also plays flute and is competing at state this Friday. Once again, this is her last year playing, so it's special and sad at the same time.

Last year I tried several different distances and did two events each: 5K, 10K, HM, sprint tri, oly tri. I liked HM the best. I liked 5K and sprint tri the least. 10K and oly tri are in the middle somewhere. This year I want to spend more time on what I like best, and less time on what I don't care for as much. This year, I plan to focus on what puts the sparkle in my eye and the spring in my step.

And with that, I am NOT participating in the Jay Benson sprint tri this year. It's one of my least favorite distances, it's on Mother's Day, and I dont' care for the reverse tri format.

We're probably going to San Diego at the end of May, flying out the day of the RnR marathon there. I was very excited at first because I thought we could do the half while we were there, but there is no half. Bummer. I really would have loved a shot at a HM at sea level.

Stopped at the insurance agency today to take care of some business and also inquire about insuring Son assuming he gets his provisional license in the next month. Yikes. On the way home we also stopped at a few places for him to pick up job applications. Enough said.

It's been very warm the past few days. Might be about time to hook up the swamp cooler. This may not seem like a big deal to some of you, but in our house, we have to choose between having the option to use heat or the option to have cooling. Can't have both. So the switching decision needs to be made carefully.

I'm running sixes for the next three weekends: 6-7 mile training run this weekend, Run for the Zoo 10K the following Sunday, Virtual 10K on the 10th the Saturday after that. I'm kinda hoping there might be a 10K PR in there for me, but it's okay if it doesn't happen.

Enjoy the remainder of your week, everyone!!

Unser Half Marathon Race Report

Woke up bright and early and checked the weather channel which claimed that it was currently ~45degrees and would be sunny. Nice! I decided to go with a a running skirt and tank top with a long sleeve shirt over that. Had my hydration belt ready with 3 bottles accelerade, one bottle water. Wore a headsweats hat to keep sweat out of my eyes and the evil sun off my face. Stuffed a gel in each pocket. Had a cup of coffee and half a bagel with peanut butter and was ready to go.

We got to the race venue, parked the car, and walked over to get our timing chips. Shortly after installing chips on our shoes, Cindy and husband were picking up theirs. We chatted for a bit which helped take my mind off the race. We followed a group down the road trying to find the start line, but nobody really seemed to know where the start was. Eventually, the starter guy showed up and gave what seemed to be detailed directions on the course, but he wasn't using a megaphone so nobody really heard him. After a bit we were finally on our way.

The course was quite nice. We wound our way in and around some nice neighborhoods in Los Ranchos de Albuquerque. Nice quiet streets. We ran up past my daughter's middle school. Then over to the bike path for the return trip.

As the sun came up over the mountains, the air temp was lovely. I took off my long sleeve shirt somewhere around mile 6 and tied it around my waist. There was no wind. Really nice running weather. I felt good, wasn't in pain, and had Husband right there by my side. I was taking in the sights and truly enjoyed the moment.

Cindy and husband were on the sideline when we were making the final turn toward the finish. It was so nice of them to hang around. My spirits were really lifted when I saw them standing there cheering! Thank you, Cindy!!

Now for numbers. If you recall, I averaged about a 12min/mi pace for the two half-marathons I ran in the fall. My stretch goal today was to come in slightly under an 11:30min/mi pace and break 02:30:00. Based on my 10K times, the McMillan Running Calculator predicted that I could do a half marathon in 02:27:00, one more data point that suggested that I had set a reasonable, but agressive goal.

Let me begin by telling you that everytime I checked my Garmin, I shook my head in disbelief. A few times, I even said "Wow." I'm still in shock.

Updated with official results: 2:21:36 (10:49min/mi pace)!!

How the heck did I pull that off?!?! I've been thinking about that all day. At the moment, I tend to believe it was the combination of setting a realistic goal and just sticking with consistent training focussed on the half-marathon.

Hope everyone has a wonderful weekend.

Happy Happy

Goals Achieved!! Longer post with details coming later.

"Enjoy the Moment"

First things first - my workouts week to date and the plan for the next few days.

Monday 1250 swim + upper body strength. Boy my arms and shoulders feel it the next day! But in a good way.

Tuesday - Zumba! I've decided to stick with Zumba 1-2x per week for the rest of the month and then see where it fits in after that. It is a good core workout, it's fun, and it makes me sweat (aerobic workout as well).

Wednesday - 2.6 mile tempo run on the treadmill - same pace as last Sunday.

Tomorrow if I get my butt out of bed early enough, another swim and upper body workout before work. Otherwise, I'll skip the swim and maybe just a mile on the treadmill with strength following.

Not sure what do to on Friday, I'm partial to the idea of doing Zumba in the evening and letting the cards fall where they may for Saturday morning.

Obviously Saturday's Half Marathon is heavy on my mind. I looked back at my goals from a previous post and they still hold, but I need to add something. I fully intend to "Enjoy the Moment"whatever it might bring. This is an important part of who I am and why I do this. I think it's a shame that so many athletes simply aren't happy unless they are going faster or fast enough or longer or long enough or whatever. I find that there is more joy in the monent itself than in the numbers that describe it. Personally, I don't *ever* want get caught up in that other stuff to the extent that I stop enjoying the moment.

On that note...not sure if I'll post again before Saturday...if not, I'll catch you on the flip side!

Taper tales

On Friday, it was too cold and windy for my liking, so I skipped the bike ride. Yes, I know I'm a weather wimp. It wasn't a total loss. I did go to Zumba as planned. The music was great, the workout made me sweat, and my abs were a bit sore the next morning. Good stuff. I think I may go again, but I'm not sure my friend will join me. It should be fun once I learn the moves.

Saturday morning I sulked around the house feeling thinking that I really should go for a bike ride since I didn't go on Friday. But I just didn't want to. I don't know why, I just didn't. I decided to do what I really wanted to do instead and went to the gym for a swim. That made me happy.

Today the plan called for a 6-7 mile tempo run. To my delight, Husband asked if I wanted to run with him. I felt good and ran strong. Somehow I managed an overall pace of 10:46 for the 6.6 miles that we covered. My 10K split time was only ~45sec slower than my 10K PB. And this is from a training run, not a race. Unbelievable. I guess this training stuff is working.

At this very moment, I'm feeling ready for the half marathon on Saturday. I hope I feel like this on race day.

Quick update

I did intervals on the treadmill Wednesday morning. It was so nice out, I wondered if I should be doing them outside instead.

I must have jinxed the weather.

Later in the day it started raining. And this morning it was cold, there's snow on the mountains, and it's windy. Bleck!

Anyway, I swam again! I had trouble with my goggles leaking which is weird; my goggles never leak. After about 15minutes of struggling, I figured out that my swim cap wasn't on so well. It was riding up the back of my head, taking the goggles up as well. Once I sorted that out, the goggles were fine and I got into a nice rhythm. But I only got 1250 yards in as a result of lost time fiddling with goggles.

Afterwards, I did some upper body strength work. I expect my arms will be sore in the morning.

If the weather cooperates, I plan to get out on my bike tomorrow. I also found a friend to go with me to Zumba, so I'll be checking that out as well. I'll let you know how it goes!!

Swimming again!

I did a recovery walk/jog Monday morning and thought about swimming the whole time. I love swimming. I have no idea why I didn't swim more often at my old gym before they shut down. The pool was absolutely gorgeous.

I'm actually not sure which I love more, swimming or running. My dream event is the aquathon, but they don't have those here in NM. So instead, I struggle at triathlon. Mind you, it's not that I'm much better at swimming or running than cycling, it's simply that I *love* swimming and running. Cycling...eh...not so much.

Anyway, I renewed my expired-for-over-a-year-and-a-half membership at Defined Fitness so that I could swim again. Sorry Cindy and GeekGirl, I'd really love to able to swim with each of you, but your fancy Sports & Wellness gym is too expensive for me. Besides, Defined in RR is close and I can easily fit in swimming before work.

The pool looked short to me. I timed my first 100 and quickly concluded that this *must* be a 25yd pool rather than a 25m pool because I was 15sec faster than my fastest 100 at the other gym and it sure as heck isn't from some sudden speed improvement. I proceeded to do a short 1250 yards workout today followed by some upper body strengh training. I don't love this pool, but I love swimming. I'm looking forward to going back on Thursday.

On my way out, I noticed that they gym has a Zumba class Fridays at 5pm. Has anyone done this? It sounds like fun. I just might check it out...

Bring on the taper!

First, to re-cap my running earlier this week:

* Monday - 3.5 mile 'recovery run'

* Wednesday - intervals on the treadmill. 5min warmup, 30min alternating 1.5min fast running (6.3mph), 1.5min brisk walking (4.0mph), then a 5min cool down - 3miles when all was said and done. This was actually a rather difficult workout for me, but I liked it.

* Saturday - hill running (2.0 miles total). The first mile, including up the hill, was 11:50. The second mile, including down the hill, was 9:20. It felt good. Next time I think I'll do that loop twice.

Which brings me to today, the last long run before the half marathon. The plan was 10-12miles total, 60-90sec over race pace. My desired race pace is 11:30min/mi accomlished by a 9:1 run/walk, so that suggests an overall target pace 12:30-13:00min/mi for today with the same 9:1 run/walk.

* According to the numbers, it was a good run. I accomplished the target distance and training pace by completing 11 miles in 2:21:09 (12:50 min.mi)

But in other ways, it wasn't such a good run. I happen to be running low on Accelerade. So I did something a little different today. I had enough Accelerade already mixed up for two 8 oz bottles in my fuel belt. I filled the other two bottles with some gatorade that we had in the fridge. I figured that I could alternate between the two and would be good to go. As it turns out, I guess Gatorade doesn't work so well for me. It made me feel a little sick and my legs felt heavy the whole time. Oops. Guess we'll chalk that up to a learning experience. I'll definately be stocking up on Accelerade and won't deviated from my "tried and true" nutition plan on race day.

Now it's taper time. Yippee!!

Oh yeah, and I still need to find/join a different gym so I can swim again.

Plan B

"When at first things don't succeed, perhaps it's time to seek Plan B"

Bandit didn't do so well with the petsitter while we were on vacation. While it's fresh in my mind, I wanted to investigate alternatives for next time. I must thank Cindy, because she tipped me off to something that led to a potential Plan B (kennelling with day camp option). We tested the waters with Doggy Day Care today, and he did well with that. Yay!! Thank you, Cindy!!

After dropping him off this morning, it was my intention to get in a good swim, 1600-2000 meters depending on how I was feeling. I arrived at the gym that has the pool that I swim at to find no cars in the parking lot, no lights in the building, and the doors locked. Hmmmm. That can't be good. I came home, contacted a friend that also swims there and discovered that they closed the doors for good last Friday. So now I need a Plan B for swimming as well. Grrrr.

Looking at the comments from my lack of cycling last month was interesting. Seems like there are two schools of thought out there. Some of you encouraging me to get back on my bike, and others who think it's okay that I haven't been cycling. My absolute favorite comment came from brendaj who offered the perfect plan B "You could just become a runner! That would justify buying a lot more skirts!!" Ha! Now that's my kind of thinking!! :)

With swimming off the list of options for today, I needed a Plan B for my workout. The weather was delightful, so I decided to change into cycling gear, put air in the tires of my Lemond, and head off for a short 12 mile ride at lunchtime.

As it turns out, sometimes Plan B isn't so bad after all.

Month in review

March totals

Running: 67.25 miles
Swimming: 1600 meters
Strength: 5 sessions
other: 3 hikes significant enough to include in my notebook
Cycling: uh, what's that again?!?!

Thoughts

It is obvious where my focus is at. For me, it was all about running this month. Perhaps April will bring numbers that more closely resemble triathlon training. Or not. I guess time will tell.