70 is the new 100...

And flat is the new hilly. Less is more, right? Today it was. Before your bullshit meter reading goes off the chart (like the voices in my head saying, "Slacker!!"), let me explain...as much to myself as anyone.

Thursday's run pretty much wiped me out and I spent much of yesterday feeling like I'd been hit by a truck. Although I had a pretty good lake swim (of course, because I love the lake even if it's throwing me whitecaps) and lifted weights, a lot of yesterday was spent fantasizing about a nap on the couch. It didn't help that yesterday's afternoon activity at work was loading and unloading a huge truck full of cr...um, I mean valuable and wonderful auction items for tonight's gala (an event for which I have about as much enthusiasm as riding directly into a 40mph headwind, but apparently "team player" is in my job description). So yeah...when I got home from work and landed on the couch, I pretty much didn't move until it was time to go to bed. Seujan was sweet to me and brought food/dishes back and forth from kitchen to couch which was heavenly. Eventually, I moved to bed and was out cold by 9 p.m.

The schedule for today had a 100 mile ride/2 mile run brick and originally, I was planning to do the Flying Wheels ride with Seujan. However, yesterday the coach downgraded that hilly route to a flatter outing, suggesting a ride to Flaming Geyser. I had a cue sheet from the stack Dave gave me last summer that was a ride from Cascade to Flaming Geyser and, from where I planned to start at J&J's, would have been about 90 miles RT. I figured I'd start and see how it went...I had to stop and look at the cue sheet a bit in Renton, and then there was some detour crap going on with the Green River Trail and I was riding through Kent on some roads I'm sure I couldn't find again...and eventually I hit the Interurban Trail and just went south. Fortunately, the wind was coming straight at me from the get-go, so I knew I'd get a boost on the way back. I got tired of looking at the cue sheet and well, just tired in general (or perhaps I started that way), so I went to mile 35 and turned around. 15 miles of tailwind on that flat trail was really nice. I got tangled up again in Renton (not full blown lost, just a little tangled), but recovered and found my way back to familiar territory. I had a few fleeting thoughts of going around the south end of the lake and over Mercer Island to get more miles, but fortunately, I managed to think something else before I talked myself into it. My legs are still heavy and I really think the smartest thing for me today was to back off.

I was not looking forward to the run, but my legs and I discussed it and they decided they'd give me the 20 minutes, so off I went. It wasn't that bad at all, really... a quick out and back in the arboretum and I was done by about noon.

I'm glad I truncated this one...I have to be at the gala (see above for enthusiasm level as it has not changed since yesterday) at 4:00 p.m. and might be there till midnight, so a little couch surfing with "Top Chef" is coming up!

My HR Monitor was schizophrenic today and must need a battery...it ranged from 0 to 42 to 205 to 38....to things that intermittently looked normal. No clue what my avg. was for this one.

69.8 mile ride
4:22:48
Avg. pace: 15.9

20 minute run

LSD, re-defined

Long run today...and literally the longest run of my life (haven't said that in a few months) at 17 miles. It was NOT pretty, but I made it.

Now that I've embraced the whole "walk break" format, I've been reading more of Jeff Galloway's advice on marathon training (he's a big advocate of the walk thing and running only 3x per week for masters' athletes--what's not to love about that, right?). I recently saw a quote from him in Runner's World (or Competitor, or Triathlete, or Active.com, or some damn place as I'm obviously reading too much of this stuff) that said you really can't run the weekly LSD run TOO slow and that it should be as slow as 2 minutes per mile slower than the target marathon pace. Although that seems like it'd be about as slow as walking backwards, it was another person besides the coach advising a slower training pace. So I set off to tone it down and try to keep my pace and HR down to the 135 I was supposed to average. Well, I'll tell you the ending: mission accomplished, but it's probably more because my fast twitch muscles are on strike since last Sunday, I think. Anyway, I left a bottle of Ultra fuel on John & Judy's porch (perfect turnaround point) near MOHAI and drove down to Seward Park. I ran out and back down Lake Wa Blvd and up through the arboretum with a little extra by J&J's house so I'd turn around at mile 9 and have 8 miles back to the car. Route was great...love running the trails in the arboretum.

The first 4-5 miles were nice and relaxed...hip: silent. HR: low. Lake view: nice. Wind: none. This might actually be FUN, no wonder people do this slowly. I actually (kind of) let go of caring about the fact that my avg. mile pace was well below 10 minutes...started thinking about LSD being LLSSSD: Leisurely, long, slow, strong, steady, distance. However, that party did not last. By the end of the second hour, I was continuing to think of all the other things LSD might stand for...I was WISHing I was doing a "Leisurely, Strolling Dog-walk" like some of the happy golden retriever owners by the lake. Yeah, I wish. More like Ludicrous Slogging Deathmarch, which by by mile 13 degenerated into Limping Stride Degeneration and Like (I'm) Scared (of) Dismemberment (OK, the last one is a bit over-dramatic, but on a 3-hour run you think of a lot of meanings for "LSD" and they are excellent blog fodder, no?). The last hour sucked and I was feeling pretty beat up; the usual suspects (left hip, right hamstring) were pissed and vociferous...and they were joined by some new cranky friends (left heel, left shoulder, and 2 almost-blisters seeking a home in my right shoe). I was quite happy to make it back to Seward Park...walked a little and semi-collapsed on the grass and tried to stretch a little, ate a banana, and got my legs in the lake immediately for the pseudo-ice bath.

I did well on fueling during the run with the Ultra shake stuff, but I think I need to step up the hydration a bit...I was pretty thirsty when I got done. The shakes are liquid, but I think the concentration might be a little thick to cover all my energy and hydration needs, especially since it's not very hot here and my next 2 races are basically in the desert. How lucky for me that next Thursday is an 18 mile Long Slog...Damn (see? another LSD) and another opportunity to work on this.

I did well on recovery nutrition and I actually felt really good within a half hour or so. I called the PT, though, and got an appt. for Monday. I've been trying to ignore the left heel thing for a couple of weeks, but it feels plantar fasciaitus-ish and I'm not interested in having another minor injury. I swear I'm not a hypochondriac, but I do worry a bit about 41-year old things breaking down before IMC and I'm doing my best to do preventative maintenance.

Stats:
17 miles
3:01:05 (Avg pace = 10:37)
Avg HR = 133

Race Report: Blue Lake Olympic

Well, the taper worked...I had a really great race yesterday and I'm sure my bike and run paces were PR's. The course is crazy fast (flat) which, of course, helped. The unfortunate part, however, is that this race is a qualifier for age group nationals which made me a medium fish in a huge pond. The field was really competitive and I finished 241 out of 478 (incl. men) and was 8th in my age group (out of 28). At least I was top 13% in the swim (64th) and about 1 minute out of the top 10 of masters' women.

I was in the 5th starting wave and just before I got in the water, it occurred to me that I was most looking forward to the run...what a ridiculous foreign thought. I've done so much work on my running in the last year, I quite liked the feeling of "10k, no problem, bring it."

The swim was a bit more fiesty than most races I've done...which, as Duncan and Julie reminded me afterwards, is good training since IMC will be a mass start of probably 2,000 barracuda-impersonators. As far as I could tell, I was one of only 2 weenies in an insulated cap and I was quite warm in the water...they announced the water temp. was low 60's, but I think that was a low-ball figure. By the 3rd buoy, I was passing other colored caps from earlier waves (many of whom were swerving all over the damn lake and a bit in the way) which is always fun and a confidence builder.

T1 was good...even though Seujan wasn't there to yell at me, I followed her directions and didn't put on socks (or any other additional layers) for the bike...got out and on the bike with no problems. T1 was 2:41 which sounds bad, but there was quite a jog with the bike out of the area. My odometer already said .2 when I hit the line to hop on my bike.

The bike course was flat and fast with basically 2 out-and-backs, making it possible to see people faster and slower than me. It was fun because I could look at lots of bikes and could scope for Julie and Duncan and yell at them in various spots. As usual, I was passed by a good number of people on flashy fancy cervelos and the like...but I think I got dropped less this race than usual. On the longer out-and-back, I swore the long grass was blowing toward me and we were going into a headwind...however, just as I was starting to look forward to the 8-10 miles of tailwind I was earning, we passed the airport, and I looked over and saw a windsock blowing at about a 10:00 angle, almost perpendicular...crap, that means the same wind on the way back. Yup, it was...no wind gifts. But I was aero almost the whole ride and kept a good cadence. What was great, too, was that it felt similar (even easier) than the TT I'd done last week in the wind, so I was confident. I averaged 19.65 mph on the bike...flat or not, that's damn good for me. Love my bike! Although the wind didn't help, the weather did...I'd thought sure it'd rain, but it didn't and the temp was low 60's...comfortable.

I sort of botched T2 a little...I'd decided to carry my bottle with the Hammer shake for the run (was really glad I did later), so putting on my cap while running out of transition wasn't going to work like usual--not enough hands...and I also had to put on my race belt. Both the race belt and my cap had some minor mechanical difficulties, but after swearing a few times, trying to calm down, and taking a second look/adjustment of both, I was off and running...T2 was 2:16. I can certainly clean up that process next time.

The run was also flat and fast, out and back. I made myself try to relax and start the first mile slowly...and took my mile splits to keep things in check. Mile 1 was my slowest mile at a 9:01...just the start I wanted. From there, I felt strong and kept thinking "Keep it loose, keep it tight," push it, but enjoy it. The enjoyment part was pretty much over by the last 2 miles. At the turnaround, I started to smell the barn a little too early...mile 4 was my fastest at an 8:12 and the last 2 after that were tough. I don't wear my HR monitor for races because I'm afraid the information will freak me out. Good decision. The last 2-3 miles I kept thinking that it was probably really high...by the end, I knew I was leaving it all on the course---no question of whether I could've pushed a harder pace. The last half mile is really pretty, along the lake through the park...which I'm surpised I even noticed. I finished strong and was really happy with the race.

Duncan and Julie were in the wave that started one behind me, so I kept waiting for Duncan to catch me. I managed to hold him off since I had the head start, but he did finish with a faster time...both he and Julie did the Honu Half Iron last weekend, so this was a walk in the park for them.

I had a nice drive home, listened to some country music (go figure), and arrived home really stiff...a 3-hour drive is not recommended for "cool down" after an ass-kicking race. Seujan took me out for a mountain of sushi (mmmm...salty soy sauce) and I slept like a rock.

Today is recovery...which is a little wierdly like the taper, but I better savor it as I'm back up to a 17 mile run on Thursday and a 100 mile ride on Saturday.

Race stats:
Swim: 23:33
Bike: 1:14:31 (Avg. 19.65mph)
Run: 53:35 (Avg. 8:37 per mile)

Run splits:
Mile 1: 9:01
Mile 2: 8:36
Mile 3: 8:42
Mile 4: 8:12
Mile 5: 8:23
Last 1.2: 10:39

4 weeks till the Osoyoos Half Ironman...

Taper schmaper

This is a light/taper week before the Blue Lake Olympic Tri in Oregon on Sunday...tapering is growing on me a little, but not much. Mostly it's just wierd. I'm NOT looking forward to the week before IMC as I think I'll be a complete head case anyway and then not having the regular training volume will likely make me a nuisance to myself and anyone near me (Seujan often points out an obvious fact unenthusiastically, "You process externally..." What a nice euphemism for "Please shut up, you're driving me nuts").

Anyway...I'm looking forward to the race on Sunday and am trying to enjoy the reduced training volume in between annoying self talk ("Am I eating too much? Am I really doing enough this week? Am I doing too much this week? Will I really get the effect of the last few weeks on Sunday? What if I'm sluggish? Should I be getting my bike checked this week or just wait to do it before the next longer race? What do 'normal' people do with this much time on their hands? Is it crazy that doing one short workout per day seems whimpy?").

So yeah, this morning was a good short interval run:

Warm up: 2 miles: 17:51 (Avg. HR = 148)
3 x 400: 1:44, 1:45, 1:47 (Avg HR = 150, up to 162)
1 x 800: 3:38 (Avg. HR = 157, up to 165)
1.5 mile run/cool down: 13:50 (Avg. HR = 143)

Total: 5.6 miles (4.75 of actual running)

Did a half mile or so afterwards of the run/walk thing just to keep practicing it.

Great week wrapped up...

Yesterday morning we opened lake swim season with a GREAT swim at Madison beach...I was looking forward to it all week, and it was really fun. The mountain was out, the water was calm, and it really wasn't that cold with all my accessories (insulated hat, neoprene socks, full wetsuit). I'm SO excited that the weekly Friday swims are now in season...they are my favorite workouts of the week in the summer...and I always look forward to coffee and raisin toast with the team afterwards.

I wrapped up my highest volume training week (about 19 hours!) of the year this morning with a really good brick. I parked at Maltby Park and rode up to Snohomish to do 2x 10-mile TT bike intervals on Lowell-Larimer Rd. This is the perfect road for TT riding because it's flat for 6 miles, there's not much traffic and no stop signs/lights, the pavement is nice, and it's kind of scenic. There was a fairly strong wind down there, but the good news for me was that I went out into the headwind on each TT. The second half of each one was way fun with a tailwind (that was 100% responsible for negative splitting both intervals). It was a tough workout and I felt my legs a bit, but I also felt strong and it was really fun to be in the sun in just a tanktop...I think the sun gave me energy again. Few things make me as happy as a bike ride in the sun, especially with the new bike (we are still in the honeymoon phase and it's looking like this infatuation could last all summer).

The best thing I can say about the run part of the brick is that it was the first voyage for some brand new running shoes. Although Maltby is a great place to stage a bike ride, it totally sucks for running. The roads around there have no shoulder and I ran around the area for 21 minutes dodging big ugly trucks and various other unfriendly vehicles going to/from Hwy 522 and looking for a decent place to run. But it was pretty much over before I could get too cranky about the route...20ish minutes is a slam dunk at this point. Anyway, overall it was a great workout and I drove home with the windows down thinking that I am really digging my training program and am looking forward to my first race of the season next Sunday. I'm sure there will be weeks this summer when I'm totally getting my ass kicked and wondering why I'm doing this...when those happen, my plan is to remember this week because it was pretty damn perfect and I feel great.

Next stop: Mish's massage table at 3:00 p.m....rest day tomorrow and it's supposed to be 82 degrees. Whoo-Hoo!!!

Summary of today:

10 miles warm up ride
10 Mile TT: 28:40, Avg. HR = 148
5 miles recovery
10 mile TT: 29:11, Avg. HR = 147
15 miles moderate ride
Total = 50.5 miles
Avg pace overall = 17.7 (sweet!)

Run:
21 minutes (2.25 miles? Not sure, didn't have GPS)
Avg HR = 145

Long run day...

I really felt Monday's ride for a couple of days...I did a 3 mile run on Tuesday and my legs were really pissed...it was NOT fun. I felt pretty good on the bike again by yesterday and had a nice ride around Mercer Island, but I think it was more because the sunshine made me so happy I didn't pay attention to how heavy my legs still were. Anyway, I wasn't so sure about today's long run. I usually start getting a little anxious a day or 2 before my long run days and I was definitely a little escalated before today's 16 miler. That apprehension may have been a good thing as I calmed down a bit from last week's long run and slowed it down...did the first couple of miles purposefully slow and started the nutrition/hydration right away. That whole "train smarter, not harder" idea has some merit as I actually enjoyed a good bit of this run!! I held to the 9 minutes run/1 minute walk routine the whole time with just a few variations to accomodate a bathroom stop and a couple of water fountains... and am forced to admit that I'm now getting quite fond of those little walks! My hip was barking by the end of the run and is really stiff now, but not any worse than usual. I'll ice it this afternoon...

The weather is absolutely gorgeous and I parked down at Madrona again so I could hop in the lake afterwards. There were several toddlers splashing around down there under the watchful eyes of their moms, but I was the only adult in the water. The water felt great and I'm totally psyched for tomorrow morning's first lake swim!!! I've been looking forward to it all week like a little kid and just can't wait to get out the wetsuit and get in the water. Tomorrow is an easy workout day and I have a reward/recovery massage scheduled for Saturday after my brick, so I'm looking forward to some recovery after a couple of hard training weeks. Life is good!

Summary of the run:

16 miles
2:42:03
Avg HR = 143
Avg pace= 10:08

Ride report, 7 Hills of Kirkland

As per my annual tradition, I did the 7 Hills of Kirkland ride today. Seujan is still coughing and hasn't slept well in almost 2 weeks now...so when I bounded out of bed and started filling water bottles and choosing cycling layers, she was less interested than usual and crawled back under the covers. Since she finally could sleep, she rode solo later and I did the ride alone. Ran into a few people I know, but rode the century route by myself, which was fine. If I can't ride with Seujan or Dave, I like riding alone best. The sun didn't really break out till well over halfway through, but the temperature was fine, there was no rain, and the food stops were very well stocked...it was a good day on the bike. I ate and drank all day, so I wasn't dead at the end (although it was FINE with me to be done by then). I also didn't break any speed records, but felt good and had fun.

Seujan did a 50 miler on her own and met me at the car in Kirkland...then we came home and made HUGE burgers on the grill. GREAT holiday!!

This was the 4th day of a 4-day weekend and I could easily find things to do for another 4...but unfortunately, it's back to work tomorrow.

Ride stats:
99.7 miles
6:43 riding time
7:46 total time (had to wait in line at the portos a few times, so stops were longer than planned)
Avg. speed: 14.8
Avg. HR = 121

Base/build butt-kicking

Today was another good, healthy butt-kicking. Nothing says "holiday weekend" and "recover from a 15-mile run" like a brick with 2 time trials included. This is why I pay a coach...if it wasn't on paper and I had to send myself out there and make this shit up, it probably wouldn't happen in the same doses as prescribed by the pretty color-coded spreadsheet tacked to my wall. It didn't sound so big and bad, just a 50 mile ride with 2x 5-mile time trials and a 2 mile run at the end...and I DID do it, so I guess it wasn't cruel and unusual.

Seujan and I parked by our friends' house near MOHAI and rode down to Lake WA blvd. (which is where I swear we should just pitch a tent in the summer to save gas and time...been there to train 3 days in a row). She's still coughing a bit and slowly recovering from the worst cold in history, so she was excused from the speedwork and rode on ahead of me around the south end of the lake. My legs are pretty trashed from yesterday (legs and I discussed using the big chain ring from time to time and continually decided against it), so I figured I should do the 2 time trials toward the beginning of the ride in case I had nothing left at the end...good decision as I would've been dreading it the whole time otherwise. I had "permission" to walk the run part of the brick, but I butched up and ran it. Since I was right by the arboretum, at least it was a pretty setting in which to suffer...love those trails. This was the most tired my legs have been for a brick so far this year, no question. But it's good to operate on tired legs and I just thought about how the Ironman might feel more like today's workout than like the last few easier bricks, so I need to get used to it...and I visualized the announcer guy at the finish line saying, "Ruth Frobe from Seattle Washington, you're an IRONMAN," remembered tomorrow is a rest day, and stumbled on through the arboretum. I was totally smelling the barn at the end and negative split the run by 9 seconds, although I certainly didn't feel stronger at the end than at the beginning. Came home, ate lunch, iced my hip (it's a little pissed from yesterday), passed out on the couch, and feel pretty good now. My parents are still in town and we're all going out for dinner and to see "West Side Story" tonight...sitting in a theater, not moving, and being entertained sounds perfect!

Summary:

Bike:
5 mile warm up
5 mile TT: 14:40, Avg. HR = 149
5ish miles recovery
5 mile TT: 14:55, Avg. HR = 147
27 miles moderate
Total distance: 47.8 miles
Total time: 2:59:19
Avg. pace = 16.0 mph

Run:
10 minutes out, 9:51 back = 19:51
Avg HR = 143

Not exactly a walk in the park...

But there were some walks in the park. I took today off work to get a 4-day weekend and to do my long run...up to 15 miles now. I decided to follow the coach's instructions and start teaching my body to do the run/walk thing from the very beginning of my long runs...the plan was 9 minutes run/1 minute walk and I actually followed it pretty well and, I must admit, I kind of liked it. It's definitely easier to start running after a walk when it starts sooner than an hour into things (I know, I know, sometimes you have to hit me over the head with a baseball bat for me to listen to solid advice). However, my former stubborn "I don't want to walk" attitude seemed to morph into "well, if I'm going to walk, I better make up for it when I run..." and my HR was a lot higher than it was supposed to be. I swear, I knew I was doing it and wasn't supposed to, but couldn't help myself. Thus, the LSD run sort of turned into a bit of a fartlek situation. The fact that I also loafed on my bike ride yesterday may have also guilt-catalysed the overkill on the run today. It's all such a head game!

Anyway...I'm calling it progress because I DID walk as instructed and, especially by the end, I was very much looking forward to those little walks. It was nice to enjoy the scenery a little more and do some shoulder rolls to stretch things out. I also taped one of my hips which I'd forgotten to do on my last few long runs and it seemed to help for a while...but the tin man is back as usual now and the ice will be necessary here in a while.

I parked at Madrona and hopped in the lake for a while afterwards to cool my legs down which was great. I haven't gotten on the ice-bath-post-run bandwagon yet, so this was a good replacement. It was cold, but not bad at all. I think it's swimmin' time in the lake very very soon!

Run summary:

15 miles
2:27:08
Avg HR = 148
max HR = 167 (oops)

On the MAP

I'm gradually decompressing from the Tour (now called Tour de Ruthless by Jeff since the century route has 6,000 ft. of elevation on it), although I still dreamed about routes, cue sheets, and rest stops last night and also dreamed that Seujan wanted us to buy an ice machine like the one we used at Marymoor with shelves of 40 lb. bags of ice, no idea why...But yeah, I'm slowly coming down from the whole thing and getting my physical energy back a chunk at a time. Had a good 46 mile bike ride yesterday, and a good swim and a decent run today. I fully intend to rest on my laurels for a little while (OK, maybe for the whole summer if I can get away with it?) at work and focus on IMC training. My boss told me to take a break this week, so I'm leaving early when I can and am taking Friday off to do my long run.

I found out yesterday that I received an ADA national "MAP" (Mission Appreciation Program or something like that) award for the changes and work on the Tour de Cure. I'd wanted to put our event on the map in terms of TDC events nationally (there are 80+ of them), and getting myself on the "MAP" doesn't hurt, either...good thing to put on the resume (which I am, of course, updating...I'd insert my clever 30-second elevator speech here, but I still need to create it...stay tuned).

Anyway...so far it's been a decent training week and with few more good nights of sleep, I should be back to running on full cylinders. Seujan has been sick as a dog for a full week and I'm pounding Zicam, Airborne, and echinacea lozenges hoping I can dodge the bullet.

Tour de thrashed

It appears I haven't blogged in a week...there really wasn't any time since it was the week of the Tour de Cure and a LOT more work hours and fewer sleeping hours than usual (most of those were spent dreaming about work anyway, augh). I did get in about 10 hours of training and stayed with most of the schedule, but didn't have time to talk about it much. With some stellar support, awesome volunteers, and months of good planning, we pulled off a damn good event. The weather goddess didn't exactly smile a full-on grin on us, but she wasn't completely surly...it was crappy in the morning and full-on raining when the century riders went out at 7:00, but it improved as the morning went on. By the end of the afternoon, it was sunny and the beer garden raked in an extra $500...people hung out to listen to the band and it was a pretty cool scene. The wind was brutal all day and I was secretly happy to have ridden all the courses on good weather days of choice over the months I was developing them instead of yesterday...although I was more exhausted at the end of the day than I think I ever have been after a bike ride (RAMROD included). There were some fires to put out over the set-up and event day (running around the course to move a misplaced sign indicating a rest stop where there wasn't one, locating and moving a lost volunteer who scared the crap out of me saying he thought part of the course was marked backwards and--thank god--was wrong, putting up signs that were blowing over all day long, the generator running out of gas silencing the band and emcee for about half an hour, several spats escalating into full-on fights among the staff, hiring a last minute security guard to watch my beer on site overnight friday when a volunteer backed out), but no fires remained burning at the end and we got a lot of compliments on the ride, the new routes, and the whole thing. Today I'm pretty out of it and just thrashed...no energy for planning anything. I'm quite happy with how it went, though, and I think I kicked some major ass on this event. My mom & stepdad are in town and put in some major volunteer hours over the last 2 days and Seujan rode the 45 miler with Jeff (despite the fact that she's had the flu and has been totally levelled for about 3 days). I had great family support which included cheeseburgers on the grill and a beer when I finally fell through the door at the end of the day.

Although yesterday was a good 15 hours of movement and generated some sore muscles (the first 40 lb. pound of ice I lifted at 4:30 in the morning woke my back right up...ow), it sort of counted as a rest day in regards to Ironman training, so today's assignment was a a 45 mile ride/3 mile run brick. The weather looked crappy this morning and I just couldn't deal with it, so I did 2 hours on the trainer and a 30 minute run in the rain. Now I have no interest in doing much of anything that would involve getting off the couch. I have a bit of a scratchy throat and am using Zicam and Airborne in an attempt to not get the damn bug SJ has...I think it's time for a nap and some trash TV.

Tomorrow I will meet with my coach to get the next set of marching orders...

Today's brick:

2 hours on the trainer
Avg HR = 127

30 min run
Avg HR = 139

Don't believe what you read

Damn technology. Seujan and I ran the Kirkland Half Marathon today...somehow the chip timing thing didn't work and my chip didn't register...and neither did Seujan's name. However, my name was associated with her chip and I have now received credit on their results website for Seujan's results. Unfortunately, she ran a minute per mile faster than I did...thus, I am listed as being 13 minutes faster than I actually was and she is nowhere to be found. We probably should've run the Tacoma Half today instead of Kirkland. We waffled, but went with the closer race which ended up starting late (we were freezing!) and had less than great scenery and shirts. Oh, well...it was a great workout and I'm still proud of a good, strong effort for both of us.

I didn't really do a race plan for this one. After working on more stuff for the Tour de Cure yesterday and dreaming about work the last few nights (enough bananas at the rest stops? schedule for the trucks to drop things off? etc., etc.), I was excited to just go to an event for which I had no responsibility and do a long run. I was pretty well tapered running-wise, but I did bike 200 miles in the last week, and with everything going on with work, I just wasn't in the mental space to "race" this one. My goal was to start out slow for the first 2 miles or so and then just go with RPE, push it without killing myself, and see how things went. I also didn't have my long run nutrition shake on the last 2 half marathons, so I felt more confident about this one since I now have that aspect a little more dialed in.

I looked at my HR once early in the race and it was a bit high, so I decided not to look at it again and to just go with RRE and mile splits. That was a good decision...as much as I love my gadgets (esp. the new Garmin 305!), it's good to just listen to my body sometimes, I think.

Anyway...the course was interesting in a hilly sort of way and I was glad I'd looked at the map and knew where to expect them. Miles 8 and 9 were the fastest as they were totally downhill.

The Garmin mostly agreed with the mile markers, but not entirely (again, I say, Damn technology)...I hit my lap button on the watch at every mile marker and here's the summary and discrepencies:

Mile 1 (.99) : 9:58
Mile 2 (1.0) : 9:28
Mile 3 (1.02) : 9:56
Mile 4 (1.01): 10:06
Mile 5 (.97): 9:30
Mile 6 (1.0): 9:49
Mile 7 (1.01): 9:44
Mile 8 (1.0): 8:59
Mile 9 (1.0): 9:01
Mile 10 (.85?): 7:52
Mile 11 (1.0): 9:48
Mile 12 (.97): 9:36
Mile 13 - End (1.24): 10:35

Total: 13.04 (Acc. to Garmin)
2:04:13
Avg HR = 150
Avg speed: 9:31/mile

First century of 2007

With only 10 days until the Tour de Cure, I wanted to ride the century route to make sure it was really the right distance...we've made a lot of changes to it, so I had the excuse to get in a long ride on a sunny day. I also needed to take some photos of the rest stops, etc., so it really was a credible day at work on the bike. This was my first century of the year and it was definitely a LONG ride and lots of hills. I was dragging a bit in the middle, but felt pretty good at the end...I've been eating a lot on the bike lately and I think it really does make a difference. Doesn't seem to matter, though, for the after-ride appetite...Despite the 1,200+ calories I took in during the ride, I wanted to eat my weight in cheese by the time I got through traffic and got home. And I was pretty wiped. Fortunately, Seujan took over dinner prep (dinner did not end up being entirely cheese) and let me take a long shower and be a vegetable on the couch.

My hips and hamstring have been pretty happy this week...with the half marathon coming up this Sunday, the running has been short and less intense the last 10 days or so, and I feel almost normal and pain-free. I did see a new PT yesterday (insurance bullshit has made me re-locate), but he wasn't that impressive and didn't have much to say about how to deal with it, etc...but at least I have a new clinic for the rest of the summer when I need it.

All's well that ends well

Today's training assignment was a brick = 85 mile bike + 2 mile run. Today was also the last Tour de Cure training ride so I had to mix the personal and the professional. Ed from Cycle U. and I led the group and we had about 15 riders who met at 10:00 at the Redmond Chipotle...2 people went out on the trail and the rest decided to go around Lake Sammamish, with one group breaking off for a 25 miler and the rest of us going on to May Valley Rd. and up/over Tiger Mtn. for 45. I remembered on this ride that I don't really prefer group rides. Although we had a pretty well-paced group, there was the usual overly frequent re-grouping, a few spurts where I felt like there were 10 people up my back wheel who wouldn't pass because they didn't know or read the route, and then one guy got a flat at mile 32 (and had trouble changing it the first time, then broke the valve on the tube, didn't have another one, and I gave him one of mine...while sending Seujan a text message saying that "this will be an infinite day..."). Although the actual pace was pretty good, we left late and it took about 4 hours to ride 45 miles. The last 10 miles of that first loop I was thinking about where I should ride the rest of my miles and my enthusiasm waned...The idea of just ending with the group (it was after 2:00 p.m.), having the free burrito, and calling it good was very tempting. HOWEVER, I knew I'd be mad at myself if I bailed, I figured this was an opportunity for mental toughness, and I also knew that Seujan was out there somewhere doing the assignment. So I quickly re-fueled and went another loop of 35, a do-over of the first one without the Tiger Mtn. part. The solo ride was pretty good and the run was fine...I ended up with 80 miles on the bike (close enough to 85, yes??). It was a llllooonnnnggg day, but I feel good about getting it all done (albeit with slightly lower customer service than I could have exhibited on the group ride part....).

The best thing was that I went into Chipotle over 2 hours later than the group and not only did I get a burrito free to bring home for dinner, they gave me another one for Seujan and I chatted with the Mgr. who is psyched to do the food for the Tour de Cure again this year.... Chipotle is the best food sponsor EVER!! I'm a brand loyal person and Chipotle is tops on my loyalty list.

Stopped at the liquor store on my way home for Tequila...Cinco de Mayo margaritas and burritos were total heaven after a long shower!! I'm now happily immobilized on the couch.

Stats on the day:

80.2 mile ride
4:58:38 (actual pedal time)
Avg pace: 16.1

Run
19:55 (out 10 minutes, barely negative split)

Total:
5:18:33
Avg HR = 124

REST DAY TOMORROW!!!!!!!!!!!

Me and eminem?

I love the theme song from the eminem movie, "8 mile" and it's an ipod favorite for the gym...definitely a good psych up song. Anyway, today I happened to run 8 miles for my long run of the week...backing down this week to prep for the May 13 half marathon. I'm happy to report that an 8 mile run now feels like a SHORT long run. I took the luxury option today and slept in--over an hour past the time Seujan got up and went to swimteam...then ran from the office during an early lunch break. Nice to change up the route and I went through my favorite street, Interlakken, back down Boyer to get a pedestrian level view of the University Bridge situation on Eastlake (lots of worker bees, traffic not allowed on the bridge, big mess..."sink hole de mayo" as I saw on the news). Anyway, I went a little faster than usual...it was fine with me to cut it at 8 miles, but I felt strong throughout.

Total:
8.15 miles
1:14:24
Avg HR = 142
Max HR (on a hill) = 158

17 days...

I realized yesterday that I'm about 17 days out from the Tour de Cure...I have started dreaming about aspects of it, although last year I was way more freaked out and the anxiety dreams had been going on for quite some time by the beginning of May! The water is rising and the last minute crunch is approaching. Found out today that we got a front page article in the new May Bicycle Paper about it, so I'm psyched about that!!

Got in a short ride on Monday afternoon with one of my favorite volunteers (thus, riding was a "meeting" for work)...it was only 13 miles, but it was a decent pace and after running intervals that morning, my legs felt like it was enough.

Yesterday was a good swimteam workout in the morning and weights at lunchtime.

And that brings us to today. Did my bike intervals on the trainer this morning and swam on my own at the gym at lunch.

Bike workout:

15 min. warmup
7 x 3 min hard (HR 150ish on each one) and 2 min. recovery
10 min cool down

Total: 1 hour
Avg. HR for total ride = 132

"Here's where you grow..."

I remember running with one of my professors (who was also the women's basketball coach) in college and being toward the end of a longer run (for me, at the time, it was maybe about 4 miles instead of the usual 3). I was dragging a bit and I remember her saying, "Here's where you grow..." That thought pops into my head from time to time toward the end of a long run or on the last few laps of an interval workout...it has always stayed in the back of my mind and it's a good one for the mantra arsenal. Anyway, I felt really good during this morning's interval run, but I did think of MaryAnn saying "Here's where you grow..." on the last couple of 400's and tried to finish strong.

It's a gorgeous day and rain is predicted the rest of the week, so I think I'm going to "carpe diem" my schedule a little and swap tomorrow's aerobic bike with today's gym/weights. Can't let that good sunshine go to waste.

Today's run:

2 mile warm up (19 min)
2 x 800: 3:34 and 3:41
4 x 400: 1:43, 1:41, 1:42, 1:44 (HR up to 168 on these)
2 mile moderate/cool down

Total: 6+ miles
Approx. 1 hour

out-and-back-and-out-and-back-and-stats

2 time trial/tempo rides on the bike today within a long ride that was also part of a brick...this yields lotsa numbers! And today, I'm happy with the way all of the numbers crunch. Seujan and I had a GREAT workout today and I'm really proud of us. It was a lot of out-and-back as we did the same part of the trail twice and parts of E. Lk. Samm 4 times...but it worked out great.

The assigned task today was a 50 mile ride with one 10-mile TT and one 5-mile TT in the middle, plus a 2 mile run/brick. We drove to Log Boom park and rode from there to Marymoor to warm up, about 14 miles...then did the first 10 mile TT along East Lake Sammamish, toward Issaquah, ending at about Lake Samm State Park. This was an excellent decision as it included a tail wind and the rollers along E. Lk Samm go more down than up when travelling in that direction. I pushed it hard, but still felt a little guilty about the gifts of the course...but not guilty enough to do anything different for the second one! We rode back almost all the way to Marymoor and then did the 5 mile TT in the same direction as the first. Seujan's bike computer does not agree with mine---her's always says we're doing less than mine does (guess whose computer I like better?). Thus, I'm arguing that I really did a 5.2 mile TT as I went the same distance she did.

I pushed the HR a bit higher on the 5-miler...on both of the TT's today, I was able to push more than I did on the one we did 2 weeks ago...felt good about that. Tempo bike rides are WAY more fun than tempo runs, for sure. We ended up getting extra credit miles to get back to the car and I ended up with 63.

Both of us doing a brick presents a bit of a logistical challenge since we can't stuff both bikes into the car--especially when trying to do a quick transition-- and neither of us wanted our bike unlocked on the car rack. So...Seujan was very very nice and let me run first while she did the Juanita Hill on her bike. This was truly an act of love as I was DONE with the bike, especially after the last 13 miles of headwind. I felt great on the run and went out a little over a mile (10 minutes) and negative split back to the car.

Felt great after this workout...pushed the tempo parts, got in extra miles, and felt really good on the run. We talked about Ironman on the way home...I'm totally psyched about it.

Here's the batch of stats:

Warm up 14.6 miles

10 Mile TT: 28:31
Avg HR = 145

13ish miles moderate

5.2 Mile TT: 14:39
Avg HR = 149

20ish miles moderate

Total bike:
63 miles
3:47:56
Avg pace: 16.5 mph

Run:
2ish+ miles
19:38
Avg HR 142

insert clever title here

Right brain disengaged...no creative title has come forward for today's entry.

Yesterday was a swim and weights day...good after the long run on Wednesday. Is it crazy that 3000 yards and weights feels like an easy day? Wait, don't answer that...

As always, I'm glad it's Friday and sleeping in this morning would've been nice and crossed our minds. However, the speedwork-free week with a day off from work on Wednesday has resulted in not feeling like somebody's doormat by today. Swimteam workouts were good today and yesterday.

I wanted to do my "optional" bike ride outdoors today and brought my bike and all my stuff to work...but it wasn't looking so great outdside by late morning, so I went to spin class at noon. I haven't been to a class in a while and not much has changed--I still don't like them. But I just did what I wanted, kept it aerobic, and got in the short workout I wanted without killing myself. I also didn't participate in the dorky "pushups" which are the signature move of this particular instructor...when the hell would anyone ever do fake pushups on a bike for godsake?? WHATever. Anyway, I also bagged out on the sprint stuff and some of the standing as I want to feel good for the more important ride tomorrow.

Is it time for Friday Happy Hour yet????

First long run at 41

It's hard work thinking up blog entry titles...today's cheesy title popped in my head during the long run today, along with lots of other things, all of which I've pretty much forgotten at this point, except, of course, the visualization of the crossing the Ironman Finish Line that I think about regularly...

I took today off as a birthday/mental health day...I did my 14 mile run after actually having breakfast which I haven't had the luxury of doing in quite a while. Although I've discovered that I can pull off a 13 miler right out of bed with the super Hammer energy shake, I definitely felt a bit more of a boost today, about 2 hours after a big bagel and 2 cups of coffee. Ran along Lake Washington Blvd., around Seward Park, and back. I ran 14 and then did a bonus mile to practice the run/walk routine; alternated 1 minute walk/1 minute run about 12 times to finish the 15th mile. The usual 41-year old body parts are starting to stiffen up and hurt now, but the run felt fine. I was smelling the barn on the 2nd half and kept noticing that my HR was a bit high, but I felt OK, so I didn't worry too much about it.

As a continuation of the self-spoiling birthday week, I got an overdue haircut and am going soon for a massage...I've decided to rationalize a monthly massage for recovery and reward up until the Ironman...a little over indulgent, probably, and expensive, certainly, but it certainly works for motivation. And I swear I read in Triathlete magazine that it's a good idea for recovery (or wait, was that a blog entry that I wrote myself? No, honestly I read it somewhere!)

Run summary:

14 miles
2:18:27
Avg HR = 140
Extra mile of 1:00 walk/1:00run:
11:50

Total time for 15 miles: 2:30:17

Happy Birthday to ME!

Today is my 41st birthday...so far, I don't feel much older and it doesn't appear that dementia has set in...and hopefully, there will be nothing from the AARP in the mailbox today.

This week's training plan from the coach features NO speedwork. I'm not sure if it's a birthday gift, pity, or an actual strategic plan, but I'm happily accepting the plan regardless of its intention. Started out the day with a run...we woke up early without the alarm, so Seujan had time to run with me before work. We both felt yesterday's bike ride in our legs, but it was a really pretty morning and a good sunrise, so it was fun to be out.

Yesterday, we did the Daffodil Classic ride in Orting with our friend, Dave. We were supposed to do a full century, but...we didn't. We had a great ride around the 62 mile loop and somewhere along the way, our enthusiasm for doing the other 40 mile loop afterwards faded. At the second rest stop I still had my head firmly wrapped around the century idea and my legs were feeling pretty good. I was ready to lead the charge and do the 100. However, by mile 50....when it started raining and my legs piped up with a "maybe 62 will be just fine today" message, I told Seujan I was no longer leading the charge...neither was she. So we decided to end after the first loop when we still felt good and enjoyed the ride rather than beating the crap out of ourselves. I know, a rare flash of rational decision making.

We got back home at a reasonable time, cleaned up the bikes, and Seujan took me out for a really great birthday-eve sushi dinner...great day!

Ride summary:
62 miles
4:06:25
Avg. pace 15.1
Avg. HR = 117
2,477 ft. of climbing

Quick report...

Yesterday was long run day and weights later...after backing off a little on Wednesday, I felt pretty good and did the whole 13.25 miles at regular pace. Probably should've practiced the run/walk thing, but didn't want to and ran the whole thing. I felt like the tinman every time I got up after sitting for more than a few minutes for the rest of the day, but that's pretty standard of late.

13.25 miles
2:13:19
Avg. HR = 136

Today was a good, but not killer (fine by me) swimteam workout in the morning and a good bike ride I managed to sneak in this afternoon...my legs and bike enthusiasm were back and I had a nice ride, followed by sushi with Seujan. Tomorrow is a mandatory rest day due to work...hoping to do the Daffodil Classic ride on Sunday if the weather holds up.

bike ride:
41 miles
2:39
Avg. HR = 118

One step forward, one step back...

There was a small quad explosion after that hill workout on Monday...I was good and sore...still feeling the last bit of it today.

Yesterday I had a great tough 3300 yd. swimteam workout in the morning (9 x 200's-whew) and then had a super lousy bike workout after work. I didn't want to go...it just felt like a hassle to get all my crap together and get out there and I just wasn't feeling it. But there was actually some sunshine and it wasn't an optional bike day, so I dragged my ass out. Even on the new bike, it wasn't fun. I was supposed to do 8 x 2 min hard/2 recovery...I made it through 6 of them, but just didn't have it mentally or physically and called Seujan for a scoop. The crappiest part was on the first interval when I was sprinting as fast as I could go, in my drops, and 2 separate dudes passed me in cruise mode. AUGH... and my bad attitude plummets further...

Anyway, Seujan was nice enough to pick me up, drive me home, and listen to my very convincing impersonation of a pouty 5 year old in near-tantrum mode----which, by the way, I was completely aware of and apologetic for, but needed to be irrational and cranky anyway ("I hate the wind, I hate it when it's cold, I didn't even want to come out here, I hate how much of a hassle it is to work all day and then get all my crap together to bike after work, there's not enough time in the day, my legs are beat from hills yesterday, I hate it when dudes drop my ass on the bike, I just want to go home and eat warm food and watch crap TV... ") I decided to rearrange the rest of my week a little as a result of yesterday afternoon. I was supposed to do my long run today, but my legs have lobbied for tomorrow instead. I listened for a change and went to swimteam this morning instead...this proved to be a good decision as I wanted some LSD in the pool and Emily made the main set 1,000 yards for time...exactly what I wanted. I also found the sweats I'd forgotten yesterday after workout in the same locker where I'd left them.

Summary of last night's sucky bike ride:

17 miles
1:09
6 x 2 min hard/2 min recovery (HR up to 144-150, but could only reach 150 on one of them)

Monday hills

This morning was a hill repeat run. I chose a different hill this time, the one at Lower Woodland from the tennis courts up to the picnic pavillion area (pavement, not through the trails). It was a serious butt kicker (literally, butt muscle continues to be more verbal than I'd like to listen to...). I did 8 of them, all between 1:26 - 1:30. I was feeling pretty good about it until I read an article called "Run Hills, Run Fast" on the Triathlete magazine site
http://www.triathletemag.com/Departments/Training/2007/Run_hills__race_fast.htm#
that included this ego smasher, "Once you’ve done 15 X 2:00 of a tough hill, one minute of climbing a similar incline in a race will feel easy."

OK, it won't be easy for a while, I guess.

I practiced the run/walk thing on the way back, running 5 minutes and walking 1 minute.

I also won't plan to have Stellar Pizza as a pre-race meal, by the way...had a bit of a garlic hangover this m0rning and was pretty thirsty.

I'm thankful that Seujan qualified for the Boston Marathon, but chose not to do it this year. Sounds like those runners are sloshing around in abysmal conditions right now...

Summary:

20 min warm up (2ish miles)
8 x hill repeats 1:26 - 1:30 (HR 161-165)
21 minute run/walk cool down (2ish miles)
Total:
1:10
6ish (?) miles

Betty Crocker, eat my dust

My favorite quote (other than, "Put on a jacket, I'm cold") from my mom's words of wisdom is, "If you can read, you can cook." I'm not one of those culinary wizards who can look at 4 random ingredients and make a magnificent souffle', but I must say I'm a damn good recipe follower with skills honed as a longtime loyal subscriber of "Cooking Light" magazine. Usually I do a recipe fairly proud and things taste good, but it often happens that, despite my literacy, things don't look like they do in the magazine photos. Today, however, I think I could've earned a spot in a test kitchen with this one:

Seujan never got a cake for her birthday (kinda tough to pull off in New Zealand) and we never really celebrated the birthdays of 2 friends of ours, Michele & Cathie, in February, either...and now mine's on the horizon. We're going to Michele's tonight for pizza and the last 2 taped episodes of the "L Word"--we regularly freeload their cable subscription-- so it's birthday catch-up time and I had the excuse to make my first angel food cake. Who knew it took a dozen egg whites for one angel food cake??

Anyway...today was domestic engineer day for me with grocery shopping, laundry, and the cake...while Seujan went to work with her tools and destroyed and re-assembled her new cubicle. We're wiped and bagging the Triathlon Expo to rest up until our pizza date with Michele & Cathie.

Back in the saddle...

Feeling pretty dang successful at the moment...not only did I survive the rest of Friday the 13th relatively unscathed (well, except for going right by Safeco during rush hour before a Mariner's game, but that all seems like such a long time ago now...), Seujan and I had a really good bike ride today. The task was 40 miles with a 10 mile time trial inserted somewhere. We started in Montlake and rode down to Lake Washington...both of us had about a 6 mile warm up and then did our own time trial on Lake WA Blvd....Seujan wanted to insert the upper hilly part of Seward Park, but I was all about my aerobars and flat-o-rama, so we each did our own thing and then rode the south end of the lake together. I hadn't done a TT like this before and I actually kind of liked it---way more fun than a tempo run, although it's kind of the same thing, I guess. Anyway, I stayed right at AT the whole time and could feel that it was exactly AT, which was kind of cool if you like the whole physiology thing (which I do)...my legs were exactly at a low burn the whole time, but it was a pace I could just sustain. We did the 25 miles after at a decent pace, but didn't push it too much...both of us could definitely feel our legs on the short hills at the end. Mission accomplished and now it's weekend...we have enough energy to go OUT to a movie! Go figure.

Summary:
6 mile warm up
10 mile TT:
140 Avg HR
30:51

44 miles total
2:52
Avg. pace overall 15.3

Friday the 13th

It started off nice enough...Seujan talked me into sleeping in (bless her heart) and we skipped swimteam, had coffee, and carpooled into work. Then I got to work and spent the first hour on the phone with the Helpdesk as, first of all, my computer died beyond rescusitation efforts, resulting in a new hard drive being ordered...then, two other workstations in the office were in solidarity with the dead machine and didn't want to play with me either, resulting in further helpdesk conversations until I could access the network.

Went to the gym for a mediocre workout (3.5 miles on the treadmill --thank god for "Ellen" as I wasn't feeling inspired at all--and swam a mile for time). I'm glad I got through it, but I was operating at my "Friday dragging-ass intensity" of late. I then had to hurry back for a trip to our storage unit with Mark, the "sign guy" from my event committee, to get some materials. We got to the storage unit and couldn't access the building. "There's a problem with your account, come to the office," the voice in the speaker box said. We then got to experience the wrath of the storage building manager regarding the fact that our account is past due, somebody else from our office left a heap of trash by the locked dumpster earlier this week, and nobody from our office has returned the manager's call regarding the trash or the past due bills (which, btw, are only 50% of what regular customers pay since we're a non-profit, making us an even larger source of frustration for this poor guy)...none of which had anything to do with me. This situation allowed me to flex my customer service background and apologize profusely. About 30 minutes after we returned to the office, Mark called to tell me my cell phone is in his truck; he, of course, went back to work. Sigh.

It is only 3:00 p.m., meaning Friday the 13th is only 5/8 finished. I usually don't believe in this crap, but there is a small black cloud following me today. I am counting the minutes until Happy Hour and can't wait to go home tonight to see which major appliance is leaking or dysfunctional...

Anyway, back to what matters which is my training. Yesterday was a triple with swimteam in the morning, weight training at lunch, and I got in a ride to Seward Park (25 miles) after work. I waffled for a good bit of time about whether to ride (51 degrees and gray, will it rain? My usual), but SJ had gone out with a co-worker, so I figured I should do it, too. Got to ride the new bike and didn't use a HR monitor, just rode. I didn't kill myself (avg. 13.9 mph), but legs were a little heavy this morning, anyway.

Yesterday:

Swam 3200
Lifted
Biked 25 miles
1:47
Avg. speed 13.9

Today:

Ran 3.5 miles treadmill
33:30
Avg. HR = 136

Swam 2000m
1600m (1 mile): 25:22

Wednesday long run

Did my long run early this morning. I'm supposed to begin inserting a minute of walking every few minutes during my long runs to get my body (ok, really my brain) used to the idea. I've been a little (OK, a lot) resistant to the plan as it's hard to wrap my head around the concept that walking isn't slacking/bailing out and not only for the reward at the END. It's also already hard for me to learn the patience required for long runs and walking seems like a way to make something already really freakin' long even longer...not appealing. However, I do realize that there's no way in hell that I'll be running the entire marathon part of the Ironman (will be lucky to run half of it, probably), so I have to buck up...or, I guess, buck down, and try this walking thing. Plus, with various body parts complaining, walking might be a nice gesture to prevent them from falling apart. That being said, I tested out the walk deal, but I cheated. The plan was to walk a minute every 15 minutes, but I didn't start until an hour into the run...it just seemed wierd to walk after only for 15-30 minutes. But I did 4 of the 1 minute walks every 15 minutes starting at the one hour mark. It was probably good because I was running a little higher of a heartrate than intended and it brought me back down. By the end of the run, both hips and my right butt/glute/hamstring were all getting verbal and I was quite happy to be done...the complaining was worst when I started running again after the last minute of walking.

Summary:
12.1 mile run
2:02:03
Avg. HR = 136

Back on track...

Back in the pool this morning and swimming was the regular amount of fun again...the main sets were as hard as usual, but I was into it again. Not sure what was going on last week, but hopefully it was just a blip on the radar. I am definitely looking forward to lake swimming (is it summer yet?), but pool workouts are OK, too. Anyway, did the usual 3,000 yards this morning before meeting with the coach for a check-in and preliminary plan for the next several weeks' training.

This afternoon was an interval bike workout...I wasn't that enthusiastic about it and was waffling about indoor vs. outdoor. I rallied a bit of a good attitude and started to get ready to take the new bike down to Lk. Wa Blvd., when I noticed the rain on the windows...nope, not doing it. Got out the old bike again and put it on the trainer for what turned out to be a good workout...was definitely glad I did it. As soon as I was done, Seujan came home from HER was-gonna-be-an outdoor ride and took over the "spin room," with her rollers before dinner. I can barely remember what the hell I did before I had that trainer...oh yeah, let my biking slide or did time in bad spin classes.

Summary:

15 min Warm up
4 x 3 minutes hard (up to 145-148 bpm)/3 minutes recovery
2 x 2 minutes hard (up to 150)/2 minutes recovery
2 x 1 minute hard/1 minute recovery
15 minutes moderate
Total time: 1:05
Avg. HR: 130

Attempted Tempo

Had a lousy tempo run this morning...It was wet and really damn windy at Greenlake this morning, but that wasn't the most awful part. I was supposed to do 2 miles at a higher HR than I've ever done a tempo run (160). The last time I did one at 155-158, I felt like I was tripping on my tongue, so just seeing this on paper was enough to keep me stalling at home prior to going out (hmmm...are those dishes clean? Yeah, I think I need to put those away...better put the coffee in the coffee maker for when I get back...I could say hi again to Seujan who's on the rollers and check the news for the temperature, now need to find gloves...OK, for godsake, buck up and get out the door!!!). Once I got down to Greenlake, though, I really did intend to do the workout. Honest. I ran a 1.2 mile warm up and then hit it hard (up to 160 HR as directed), but died about after about 12 and a half minutes into the tempo part. Got a horrible sideache and could barely get my breath. I had to walk for a minute (after which HR was still at 132), then made myself start running again. Recovered at a moderate pace for about 6 minutes, then tried to salvage the workout and get the word "failure" out of my head (not being able to handle a 2 mile tempo run is pathetic), hitting another half mile hard (up to 164 bpm), then did a mile cool down. After 45ish lousy minutes, the best part of the early morning was a story I heard on NPR on the way home; Coca-Cola is stalling the release of a movie in which Jesus is shown drinking a Coke because, "Jesus is not an official representative of Coke." Hilarious.

Workout summary:

1.2 mle warm up
12:30 Tempo (160 bpm)
6 minutes moderate (145ish bpm)
.5 mile hard (164 bpm and about 3:50)
1 mile moderate/easy

5 miles
45:24
Avg. HR = 147

Hit by a brick

Well, I got my ride/brick done today, despite a small comedy of errors start to the day.

We got up, looked outside, and turned on the news to hear the weather...it looked a bit drizzly, but most of the pavement ourside was dry. After the usual breakfast conversation of "Where should we ride? What are you gonna wear? Should we drive our bikes somewhere and start from there or ride from home? How many miles would THAT loop be?" And now, my new question, "Which bike should I ride?" (which I'm sure is annoying as hell to listen to as I waffle back and forth, poor SJ), Seujan and I had created a ride plan. We loaded up our bikes (I chose the new one after much consternation), gear, nutrition, etc. and were about to leave when Seujan said, "Look outside...it's raining." Crap. So we stood there looking out the window, turned the weather channel back on, and thought more about it (I wonder how many triathlete homes in Seattle have an identical scenerio every Saturday to ours?). I decided I wanted to go outside regardless since my last 2 Saturday mornings have been spent on the trainer. Seujan decided she did NOT want to go outside, so she went to the video store to get a movie to watch while riding on her new rollers. She had a really stressful week and I totally understood not wanting to go out in the rain. So...of course, I changed my bike preference and decided to ride the "rain" bike which means: get the bike out of the garage, switch out the back wheel, move the bento box and saddle bag from the new bike to the old, etc. etc. Went to pump up a tire and the valve blew, so then I had to fix a flat. Oh, and this was after we ran out of bread and I had to make my PB&J on a hamburger bun I found in the freezer. OK...finally out of the house now and drove down by the trail across from Ti Cycles. Got on the bike and realized my computer battery was dead. Unacceptable. So...ran into Ti cycles, got it fixed, and finally was riding at 10:30, approximately 3.5 hours after we woke up. Fortunately, by this point, I'd paid it forward and all mechanical processes functioned properly henceforth.

I rode over to Mercer Island and rode the long side of the island out, back, and out again. For 30 miles, it was dry and plenty warm, leaving me second-guessing my bike choice. But then at my first stop, it started raining and I got pretty well dumped on for about an hour...still ate the PB&J bun with my soggy gloves while riding along...yum! My feet were soaked and my toes went numb for the rest of the day, but I had plenty of company out there as there were lots of bikes...and I was warm enough and commited by this point, so it actually wasn't too bad. I went around the south end of the lake, through Renton, Seward Park, and back to my car by the U. I had to go 2 miles past my car to get to 70 miles (I'd been assigned 75, but decided 70 would suffice), then I ran for 16 minutes in my dirt caked bike shorts and gross dirty legs. I must admit, I felt like a real triathlete. It was almost sunny by this point and the run felt better than the bike did...on the bike, my legs were tired by 35 miles, really protesting by 50, and pretty well hashed by the end. Fortunately, Seujan happened to call at my last pee stop which gave me an excuse to rest a little longer and throw more food at the problem...which helped a little. I felt really beat up afterwards...a bit of a headache and my stomach felt like post-race yuck, but by the time I drove home, I was fine. I'm not moving any too fast and do not plan to do much of anything today or tomorrow, but I'm psyched about this past training week...I got in 16 hours and did everthing the coach told me to do. I'm gonna be an Ironman, dammit!!

Summary:
70 mile ride
Avg. speed: 15.3
Avg HR: 123
4:35
Quick stops at 30, 45, and 59 miles

16 min run., tried to keep HR below 145

Sunny Friday

It appears I haven't blogged all week...2 night meetings, 3 double workouts, and the regular attention to eating and sleeping seem to have taken priority.

Good training week this week...I've followed the coach-prescribed schedule pretty well including HR and distances, and although the schedule says "Base phase," I've had a few moments of thinking about how crazy the peak phase will be. I guess I will cross that bridge when we get to it...so far, so good. The hip is down below a dull roar, for the most part, and things are good.

Anyway, this week I moved the bike intervals from Tuesday to Thursday as Tuesday was a "Carpe Diem" sunny work-on-the-route day and I was able to ride 44 miles "on the clock." I made up for it, though, and did some bike intervals last night. There was a clusterf*&%! of bike traffic on Lake Wa. Blvd. as the racers were headed to Seward Park for the weekly crit, but I managed to fit in 6 x 2 minute intervals, albeit with rest times ranging from 1 to about 12 minutes. It was warm and riding with short sleeves and no jacket was GREAT.

I'm very infatuated with my new bike and I think it is likely to move past infatuation to full on true love. I'm very smitten and feel like a bit of a poser on a bike that I'm not quite worthy of (yet!). I didn't think my old bike was a bad partner, but compared to my old bike, this one brings me flowers, cooks me dinner, does the laundry, and says nice things to and about me. Every day. (Kind of like a 2-wheeled version of Seujan). I don't dare look up the blue book value on my 12 year old, 116k miles-on-it car, but I'm willing to bet that the bike has a higher market value. We are in the honeymoon phase, for sure.

Swimming has been a bit of a drag lately for some reason...it's OK, but I just haven't been as inspired as usual lately to do hard sets. Maybe it's because I'm doing more running and biking at high intensity, not sure. Today there was no swim team workout (closed for Good Friday), so I slept in, did a short Greenlake run this morning, and swam on my own at lunch. I dragged myself to the pool and did a mile straight, no sets, and a little kicking...just not very inspired and a little wiped from the week.

Tomorrow is a long ride/short run brick and the weather might actually allow for a full outdoor ride!! It's beautiful and WARM outside and the itinerary for the rest of today includes meeting Seujan after her first full week at her new job for an outdoor happy hour beer (or 2).

Yea for spring!!

Ah, weekend

No alarm, no Saturday work-related activities, time to caffeinate and make waffles and scones, an overdue massage...ah, weekend. Not too sure why, but last week's training schedule seemed to kick my butt so I'm very appreciative of the weekend this week.

Yesterday's workout was supposed to be a 30 mile bike ride with two 5-mile time trials somewhere in the middle. I wanted to get the workout in with some time to spare before my 2:00 p.m. appointment in heaven i.e. a massage), and, as usual, things were wet and cold outside. I just couldn't get excited about that, so...back to the indoor trainer on the old bike. I hopped on the trainer just as Serina Williams was starting the second set of the final match in the Sony Erickson Open...again, Saturday sports TV saves the day. I improvised the prescribed workout a little and battled along with Serena, doing 4 x 10 minutes hard in between moderate 15-20 minute time chunks. Serina came from behind and beat Henin leaving me with about 30 more minutes to ride...I changed channels and-- timing couldn't have been better as I was losing my enthusiasm for the project --came upon the end of the Ironman 70.3 race. I then finished up the last few minutes with some show about the NCAA and whether football and basketball players should be paid, etc. etc....luckily, another topic that is immediately engaging to me and kept my interest all the way through. It wasn't exactly fun, but I got it done and I think it was close enough to what I was supposed to do.

After an overdue and wonderful massage (lots of work for the hip and my tight upper back), Seujan and I went to Home Depot for some little fix-it projects and then ate pizza on the couch with a DVD...perfect Saturday night!!

Today is a rest day with the usual grocery shop and an afternoon planned with Ja'Narah to color Easter eggs...and Seujan wielding a drill in the kitchen and installing some new cool stuff.

Yesterday's ride:

4 of the following:
5 min easy/moderate (HR 110-125)
15 min. aerobic (about 130 HR)
10 min. over AT (HR = 142 -148)

Total time: 2:05
Avg HR = 133

Early long run

Did the long run this morning before work...had to start early and without caffeine or breakfast, but it was fine. Drove down to Greenlake and ran from Jock 'N Jill down Stone Way, around Lk. Union, and back. Took the magic shake, as usual, and it was enough nutrition. Morning was perfect for running, 37 degrees and clear...saw rowers on Greenlake in the dark and rowers on Lake Union as it got light. Nice run, felt good, and was right on pace and HR as assigned by the coach. Now I just have to make sure I get up from my desk regularly so I don't get too stiff all day at work!

11.25 miles
1:51:57 (i.e. 9:57 pace)
Avg HR = 135

Sunday I hosted a household lazy-a-thon. The most active thing all day was grocery shopping, during which we ate scones and strolled through QFC. I thought about going to the gym that day, I thought about doing core that day, and I thought about walking Greenlake that day...but...I did a soduku, read the paper, watched a LOT of bad TV and fell asleep on the couch during a basketball game while (a rare and wonderful occasion) Seujan cooked dinner. In between all of the above activities, I ate to maintain the pace. It's a good thing I took a rest day on Sunday as the training schedule hit hard first thing yesterday...

Monday morning was my first hill repeat workout. I ran around Greenlake and then did 4 repeats of the 5th Street hill from 71st up to 80th (.3 miles). 4 doesn't sound like many, but it was hard. Then I lifted yesterday afternoon at the gym.

Today was back to swim team (which felt hard despite the fact that I swam 3x last week during the spring break from the team) and tonight was intervals on the bike trainer. I'd taken my bike and all my cycling crap to work with the intention of riding outdoors this evening, but of course it rained so I came home and got on the trainer. Seujan had taken her bike to work, too, and ended up driving it home again in the back of her car like I did. I think the Ironman has caught up with her as she went to bed before 8 p.m. tonight, so I'm doing my best to watch all of American Idol before I hit the hay, too.

Anyway, back to the bike workout. This wasn't exactly fun, but I made it through 50 minutes of it and 10 intervals, although they weren't all back to back:

15 minutes warm up
5 x 1 minute hard (HR up to 150-154)/ 1:30 recovery
5 min steady
3 x 1 min hard/1:30 recovery
few minutes steady
2 x 1 minute hard/1:30 recovery

Tomorrow is long run day (11 miles) and I'm happy that it's something SLOW after 3 interval workouts in 2 days...LSD is sounding pretty good. I also get to go see Erik again tomorrow for the continuation of the new bike fit and another hip check (hopefully, more ultrasound)...the new bike is still at the shop and unridden, but now has aerobar-compatible handlebars...by the weekend, it might be ready to GO!

March Madness

Base training has begun. I was supposed to bike 60 miles today...Although Seujan was brave enough to go out in the pouring down rain, I wimped out and hopped on my trainer at 8:00 a.m. for the morning. The rain wasn't too disappointing as my new bike isn't quite ready yet...long story, but basically, I need different handlebars so the aerobars can be mounted. The fancy carbon ones can't take it...Anyway, in 3 hours on the trainer, I watched an hour of morning news and an entire women's basketball game...thank god for March madness or I'd have had to watch cartoons or god forbid, NASCAR. I took a short break at the 90 minute mark to refill a water bottle, but pedalled a full 3 hours and then did a short 15 minute run around the neighborhood for the first brick of the season. I know it would have taken more than 3 hours to get in 60 miles outdoors, but I had to be at Cycle U at noon for a Tour de Cure clinic, so I had to cut it short...wait, let me re-phrase that...I had a credible excuse to limit the ride to 3 hours. My butt was very thankful when the ride was over...youch. Plus, I'm telling myself that 3 solid hours on the trainer at a sustained HR is really equal to 4 hours on the road since there's no coasting or downhills...and I've almost convinced myself. The run part of the brick actually felt fine and my legs weren't noodles...now, a few hours later, I'm feeling them a bit more.

Tonight we're going to the annual benefit auction and dinner for Passages Northwest. Yea! Food and booze for a good cause! Seujan is on their board so she's recruited a group of our friends to occupy at the event. It should be a lot of fun and a little bit fancy---I may even blowdry my hair for this one...and tomorrow is a rest day...Yea!!

Today's workout:
3:00 bike
15 min run
Avg HR = 132

Double digits!

Today was long run day. I'm trying a re-arranged workout schedule where I do the long run midweek and the long bike ride on the weekend...or I guess I should say "WILL" do the long bike ride as I haven't done any yet and the weather forecast is crap, so I'm not sure how it's going to happen this coming weekend. But I digress. I came into work early and this long run on Wednesday idea seems to work pretty well so far. I can't decide whether working is a break from working out or if the run is a break from work...I think it will depend on the day! At the moment, sitting at my desk with an ice pack on my hip is fine with me.

Anyway, the assignment was to do 10 miles and it's the first double-digit mileage in quite a long time. I ran 10.5 miles...from the office, down and around Lake Union with Boyer/Interlakken added on. Coach said I should try to keep my HR down to about 137 for the long runs now, so I tried to slow the pace down. I didn't quite crawl slow enough to avg. 137 (cardiac drift + inclines in the last few miles contributed, I think), but the pace and the HR was slower than the last few long runs.

10.5 miles
1:46:46
Avg. HR = 139

Calendar vs. thermometer

Thinking about New Zealand...here's a shot of Auckland from the little ferry we took back and forth to the B&B in Devonport...

Today is the first day of spring...yeah, RIGHT...it's in the 40's and raining. Oh...I guess that is the definition of spring in Seattle. Perhaps I should minimize my griping and use memories of New Zealand to be grateful that I had more than 10 days of summer when it was snowing in Seattle a few weeks ago!

It's spring break at Seattle Univ., so we don't have swim team in the mornings this week...this is a good news/bad news scenerio. The good news is that I can flex my workout schedule and sleep a little more...the bad news is that I swim at 24-Hr Fitness which is a bit dismal and requires that I make up my own sets and workouts...oh, and deal with a little road rage in the lane from time to time. But I just got done with a pretty good lunchtime swim and no one drowned or was dismembered by my steamroller attitude.

This morning I did a workout on the bike trainer as prescribed by Cheryl. It was the hardest one I've done at home on the trainer and it kicked my butt. I also realized by doing the one-legged drills (that I've thought for a long time I should do but haven't) that there is a big 'ol dead spot in my pedal stroke...information I feared, but preferred not to know. Crap. Anyway, other than that, I did some substantial lactic acid production (illustrating not only bad form, but also minimal current cycling fitness...nothing like a double whammy before breakfast) with some interval sets. Anyway, I survived about an hour on the bike and the intervals were dang hard.

10 min warm up including aforementioned 1-leg drills
5 x 1 min hard/1 min. recovery (HR up to 146 - 153)
8ish min. of steady/aerobic
5 x 1 min hard/2 min recovery (HR up to 150-155 this set, needed the 2 min recovery)
more steady and cool down

Now, back to those happy NZ flashbacks, shall we?

Here's a shot of Lake Taupo from our hotel room, where the IM swim course was...this was taken on the evening of the Ironman. Seujan was still finishing up her run at this time and I was going to pick up her bike from T2 area and meet her at the finish line.

All coached up again...

Forgive me blogger, for I have sinned...it's been 13 days since my last post.

I still have a slightly visible "z" shaped tan on my feet from my favorite Chaco sandals...my favorite shoes which now lie dormant again in my closet. The tan is fading and peeling...and I'm trying not to let my happy vacation attitude do the same. At least my favorite chacos in the closet are near some new bike shoes purchased yesterday with my REI dividend--woo-hoo! It will be fun to try new shoes and a new type of pedals soon...oh yeah, on my NEW BIKE!! Yeah, baby...new wheels.

I met with Cheryl last Thursday and got my Iron Plan officially started...it will be in 5-week chunks starting today. It's nice to be planned up again...I tend to do well with assignments! I will probably do a half marathon on May 13, some form of early season short tri, then the half-iron in July and the big Kahuna in late August. In the meantime, I'm hoping the weather will improve so I can train for some of this and can test out the new bike soon.

My long runs are still around 9-10 miles at the moment...the hip that was almost symptom free in New Zealand (funny how vacation cures all), has been making itself known again the last few days...so I may need to watch it a bit. I'm going back to Erik, the PT guru, this Thursday to get an assessment. I've done more abduction leg raises in the last month than can be counted (ok, maybe I COULD count them as I keep the O.C.D. schedule of all training, but it'd be a damn lot is my point)...so hopefully, getting the hip area stronger will help.

Not much else to report except that Seujan has accepted a new job at Starbucks starting next week! I'm already mentally brewing up the free java...a pound a week! Bring it on.

I still need to get some of those great NZ photos posted on the blog...will get on that soon.

Party's almost over...

We're at the Auckland Airport waiting for the flight home that I'd be more than happy to miss...of course, we're 9 zillion hours too early for the flight because of the way the bike storage was set up (see last post under moronic Tour guy for the reason...). Augh. We found out yesterday that we'd need to pick up our bikes at "airport freight" today by 5:00 when it closes...our flight is at 11 p.m. Yeah, convenient. Nobody told us that we'd have to hoof it from the terminal a good distance (let's say about a half mile) in the RAIN with all our other crap (which got soaked) to even FIND the air freight place...augh...I was so pissed. However, the stressful, angry hour didn't wreck another fabulous day in paradise...it did rain this morning, but most of the day was great. We had a nice day of sightseeing and last minute support of the local economy before we had to go on the bike box hunt.

We had the last 3 nights in a wonderful B&B hosted by 2 charming women who've been together for 22 years...gorgeous house and great energy. Anyway...it's been an amazing fun trip and Seujan has had to (very nicely) deal with me getting increasingly more depressed over the last day as I know we have to go home...I'm not ready yet!!!

We'll come back to New Zealand...and hopefully, I won't be too much of a behaviour problem on the LONG dreadful flight home.

I hate it when vacation is over and the chacos and cargo shorts go back into the closet :(

Ironthing does it again...

Who else pulls in 2 Ironman races and a Boston qualifying marathon time in 7 months' time? Seujan did GREAT yesterday!! It was a perfect day and I'll let her just blog the race report and have all the glory on her blog.

In the meantime, I'll bitch about the organizer of our travel group who is so lacking in organizational and communicational skills, it's appalling. Thank god we're now away from the group and safely in a cozy wonderful B&B in a part of Auckland called Devonport. So anyway...before the happy ending part...the moron leader guy has been pissing me off all week...just not communicating what's going on and creating plans by the seat of his pants. And charging a lot of money for it. Last night after we had to hear about HIS race for way too long, he said we'd be leaving Taupo today at about 1:30...great. Then this morning, I went for a swim, we were having coffee...and he comes to our hotel at 8:30 and says we're leaving in ONE hour because he forgot about some crap....this meant one hour to miss breakfast, take apart our bikes, and pack all our crap. Mind you, SJ is barely mobile and sore, too. I was SO damn mad. Then, we get in the van with him and he backs it right into the hotel owners' car....Augh!!!

Anyway, rest of the day was fine and mroe about the trip later!

Iron Mate...

I have a bracelet for tomorrow that says, "Ironmate." I couldn't help but think, "Always an ironmate, not yet an iron..." But my day will come (6 months and counting...) I think the purpose of this bracelet is to get me into a section of the grandstand at the finish area, but I'm not quite sure yet. Seujan is #644 and she and over 1000 of her fellow racers have checked in their bikes, bags, and miscellaneous crap for tomorrow and we're almost in count-down mode. As the twitchy triathletes around town are doing little mini workouts and trying to calm down, I've been taking over their course to play on today...woke up and hopped into the lake again where I was alone...then later had a nice 30 mile bike ride on the course where there were very few triathletes once I got out of town (however, lots of wind and lots of sheep!).

Happy hour with the accountants soon...race reports tomorrow or the day after!

I think she can be tracked tomorrow on www.ironmanlive.com.

Send good energy!

Accountants and trout....

So last night's boat ride was really fun...New Zealand accountants appear to be a raucous bunch and with a cooler full of booze and snacks, we had a great tour of Lake Taupo...it was a chartered fishing boat and Lake Taupo is apparently the trout sport fishing capital of NZ. The skipper did everything, but both SJ and I each got to wind in a fish and pose for photos looking like we knew what we were doing. Fortunately, the fish hoist didn't include either of us having to touch a hook or use the little bat to send the poor fishies to heaven...I'm not so hip on killing things, but I must admit that I'll be interested in tasting it once it's been smoked. We've been invited to another happy hour at the firm Friday at 5:00 where the 4 unfortunate trout that were caught yesterday are to be served (hopefully, with more Tui!).

It's raining today, but hopefully will clear up...I got in a good long run this morning along the lake and am scheduled to do a high ropes course at a place called "Rockin' Ropes" just outside of town all afternoon. I've been psyched about it for weeks, so I hope it's not still raining.

Seujan is registered, has her number, and is less than 48 hours from race start...GOOOOO #644!!

Chasing Aussies...

Seujan and I went out for a ride on the I.M. Course again today...it was a but windy and the road has a lot of chip-seal (guess who forgot her gloves in seattle and is getting a good case of rumbled hands?), but otherwise great. We saw a herd of sheep stirring up a big cloud of dust as they were actually BEING herded by a dog and 2 ATV's (nothing like modern technology roaring up the hillside!). Anyway, since SJ has only has 2 rest days between she and Ironman and I have, well, 6 months to train for one, I thought I should buck up and I went out further when she turned back. I flipped around at mile 24 hoping that the headwind I'd been fighting the whole time wouldn't flip when I did, but alas, Murphy's law of biking headwinds is also in effect in NZ. No tailwind for me. However, I scored when 2 Australian women from our Endurance Sports Travel group came up behind me (they'd been vanned out to the 28 mile turnaround, so they were only about 6 miles into their ride). I let them pass and then hopped on for a nice draft. They, of course, were on much nicer bikes with much fitter legs, but I managed to hang on (sans aerobars, which are home with my gloves). They were very friendly and it was a great ride back into town. I have a LOT of training between me and August, but I'm on vacation now and trying not to feel like I'm behind!!

We're off for a boat ride in a little while...Seujan has been "adopted" by a local business (they do that for foreign Ironman racers), so we got invited out on a boat ride with "drinkipoos" with several accountants. It's been great being IN the lake, so we're looking forward to being ON the lake...

Good on ya!

I thought "Good on ya'" was Australian, but I've heard at least 2 kiwis use it here in NZ, so I'm using it, too!

We're in Lake Taupo and Seujan is already entertaining the idea of retiring here...which I'm becoming more and more in favor of! We got here day before yesterday and have already been swimming, biking, and running...and...sampling!! I'm on a quest to sample many flavors of New Zealand beer and so far the project is going swimingly. Unfortunately, the one I like best so far, Tui, is so good that I may have trouble making the list much longer. But I'll persist...

Flying to NZ from LAX is a long and grueling 12+ hour affair, but somehow we managed to make it...plus the 3+ hour van ride to Lake Taupo after that...I proudly stayed awake until 7:30 p.m. the first night and went into an 11-hour coma until yesterday morning. It's going to take a few days to really recover, I think, especially since I was pretty exhausted before we even left Seattle. I was at the end of a cold when we left Seattle and the travel seems to have revived it...I'm feeling pretty dragged out and am coughing a lot. We went for a run this morning and it was really really hard...however the weather and scenery was spectacular. I figure if you have to be sick, this is the place to do it. Fortunately, I'm not racing on Saturday, so I can relax and train as much or as little as I want.

Our hotel is right across the street from Lake Taupo and in the middle of the Ironman swim course...yesterday, we woke up, walked across the street, and hopped right in...water was calm, fairly warm, and really pretty and clear. You can see the bottom even in deep water. Then yesterday afternoon, we biked about 32 miles of the Ironman course...during which time we experienced, sun, wind, and a few complete soaking downpours...but it ended sunny and we were dry at the end of the ride. Nice to get out in shorts and short sleeves and be plenty warm!

Tonight we're going to see Huka Falls, just out of town and watch the bungy jumpers...on Thursday, I'm going to "Rockin Ropes," a high ropes course that I've been totally psyched about for weeks. Seujan is going along and MIGHT do it, but I think I may be solo on the participation.

Anyway...we're loving it here! They stamped "3 month visitor pass" on my passport at the airport and I don't think it's really fair to tease a girl that way...sounds like a damn good idea to me!!

More reports to come as the week goes on...

On the mend?

Well, the marathon plan for March 31 is probably out the window...but the good news is that my hip is improving. I'm continuing my remedial work on running form and I was able to run about 4.5 miles on Thursday and 6 miles, a full hour, today. The hip doesn't exactly feel great right now, a few hours later, but it's better than it was. And it was OK during the run. I still feel like a total goofball and running is a bit of a mental project these days as I plod along with a sound track in my head of "choo-choo, foot strike, choo-choo, footstrike...why does everyone else going around greenlake look so much more relaxed than me? choo-choo, footstrike....are they noticing how stupid I look? choo-choo, foot strike...are they thinking, "Ooooh, she's working on form, and it's not going well" choo-choo, foot strike...that dog sure is cute, maybe he doesn't notice how slow and goofy I look... choo-choo, foot strike...what? 31:32 and I've only gone around once? choo-choo, footstrike...how many weeks has it been since I did speedwork? Damn, I've lost a lot of running fitness...choo-choo, footstrike...ok, at least I can run and it's not killing me! This is good...choo-choo, footstrike..." I'm slow and things are differently sore, but it's getting a little smoother, I think. I'm sure it would be invaluable (albeit horrifying) to videotape myself, but I just haven't gotten to that point.

Anyway, after my "long" 6 mile run and the daily abduction and core work (I'm more religious about this stuff than ever trying to deal w/the hip), I went to watch our little sister's basketball game...Seujan did an 85 mile day on the bike. Tonight is more basketball as we scored an invite with the Cycle U guys to the Sonics game. Pretty cool!

Neal's Clue...

So Erik, the PT/guru, told me yesterday that my hip injury is something having to do with my Cluneal Nerve (to which I replied, "Who's Neal and what clue does he need? For chrissake, I want to do a marathon..."). Erik thinks it has to do with overuse...too much running mileage increase in the last few months, with less than stellar running form. Surprise, surprise. Fortunately, he showed me a taping thing that might help a bit and he watched me run and gave me some form feedback/homework. The plan is to reduce the running training volume and run correctly...not totally sure, but I think the Yakima Marathon may have received $60 of my money for nothing. We'll see how it goes. I also had some ultrasound, electrical stim, and was told that my hip abduction strength has basically gone to crap. This was a little odd as I'd tested very strong on hip abduction in October, but very weak yesterday...he thinks this, too, might be some kind of wacky result of overtraining. So I'll be doing 3 sets of abduction EVERY day to get the strength back up to snuff. I'm happy to report that I did it yesterday and today and have no intention of letting it slack. My hamstrings, btw, have improved a lot since October when I was told to work on those... He taped up the hip yesterday and encouraged me to do a short run last night to test the tape AND to work on the form stuff. Thank god, permission to run.

Formwise, I run too much on my toes with too much side-to-side upper body motion, so I have 2 cues to practice: "Choo-choo" with my arms (i.e. hands open, arms chugging forward, less side-to-side motion, and "full foot strike" with my feet...with more heel strike rather than on my toes. For the first time in weeks, I didn't go to Happy Hour on Friday night, but went out to practice and ran around Greenlake. To be honest, I better call it a jog, not a run...I was a total dork trying to work on my form and did the inner loop (2.8 miles) in 29:33....pokey and a little stupid-looking thinking "choo-choo," and "full foot, smaller stride" continually, but at least I got to run! Hip hurt like hell by the end, but recovered OK and the rest of me wanted to run 10 miles since I have run so little lately. I'm also assigned to ice after running and in the evening, and heat in the morning...I currently have an ice pack on my hip.

So...that's the injury report. I swam this morning and then got to watch Craig and Ed from Cycle U train the instructors who will be running our training program for the Tour de Cure this year...very cool and I picked up a few things that might help my personal cycling training, too. Seujan, in the meantime, braved the elements (i.e. crappy rain and cold) to get in her 70 mile ride. By the time I got home, she was showered and warming up on the couch and I wanted to spin...so I got her to move to the back room where she could lay down under the covers while I got on the bike trainer and we watched some Netflix together for 50 minutes...

We're going to a small party tonight at Katie & Ted's...not sure we'll last very long, but we'll make an appearance.

Rest day tomorrow...weights only!

More lucky than smart?

Yesterday I took a look at the weather report and my calendar and decided that today would be a good day to work on (aka bike) one of our Tour de Cure routes. I asked Jeff along and he readily took some vacation time to join me. We decided to meet at Marymoor at 8:00 a.m. because I had a 3:00 meeting I wanted to get back for. Weeelllll...it was cold. Damn cold. Well below freezing and nobody should be on a bike cold. And Jeff had battled worse traffic than I did (2 hours worth) to meet. And he felt like crap and did not look very enthusiastic upon arrival. Normal people would've made a bee line to Starbucks and bagged, but we went for tough guy points and took off about 8:30 toward Snohomish. We didn't talk much for 2 hours. We both hit potholes (is dexterity loss and impaired vision a symptom of hypothermia?) and it's surprising that iced appendages did not fall off when we hit them. After less than 30 miles, a coffee stop was more than required and when my fingers regained feeling, it was not a feeling they liked. We rallied again, shivered on out, and thankfully, the sun, the mercury, and we climbed and the day turned out GREAT. Although we broke no speed records, we were successful on our fact finding mission, ascertaining that the "70ish" mile route is actually 71, 72, or 75 miles (depending on which gadget you trust) and includes about 3,300 ft. of elevation gain. And we've pegged mostly where we want the rest stops.

We were way slower than I thought we'd be (hello...off season...3rd ride of the year...duh) and I got to my car about 2:50 p.m. Phoned it in for the meeting whereupon I heard almost nothing but static on the call, ate my beef jerky, and drove directly home to shower and finish working there...avoided the office entirely today.

We met another chilly cyclist in Monroe who told us there had been accidents on Paradise Lake Rd. and High Bridge, due to ice...guess who rode on those roads a few hours before those accidents occurred? Tough guy points for Jeff and me!!

72 mile ride
5:17
3,227 ft. gain
Avg. speed: 13.7
Avg. HR = 111