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

Adding influenza to injury

Over the weekend, my sore throat gained momentum and turned into a full-on cold. On Sunday night, we had takeout pizza from Stellar (appropriately named) at our friend, Michele's house, but tragically, I couldn't even taste it. That really hurts. Yesterday morning at 5:20 as Seujan was leaving the house for her spin class, I thought maybe I wouldn't be able to get back to sleep, but bossy girl, aka the love of my life, yelled as she went out the door, "DON'T go to swimming and DON'T go to work!" Allright, already...I obeyed and crashed back out for a while and called in sick (but HA, she couldn't stop me from getting on the trainer later when Ellen was on TV and she wasn't home to stop me!).

Hoping that things don't actually happen in 3's like they (whoever "they" are anyway?) say, I'm slowly coming back from both the hip thing and the cold. I have started to believe that perhaps both are really temporary and I could be firing on all cylinders again soon. I haven't run in a week (yikes), but the hip no longer twinges when I walk and I did 45 minutes on the elliptical machine today at lunch and it felt great. I'm hopeful that running might be in the near future (if approved by PT on Friday) and, in the meantime, I'm really trying to work on my posture...both Cheryl and the Chi Running book have pointed out what a slouch I am. Who knew I'd need to learn how to freakin' stand up at age 40? Next, I want some coaching on my running as I never really learned the real-deal form and how to do that right, either...

Back on the bike...

Today was supposed to be a 17-mile long run...however, the hip still isn't interested in running, so it turned into a bike ride. I've been icing my hip daily, taking Aleve 2x a day for about 3 days, and waiting for the PT appt. next Friday. It feels like my running plan is getting de-railed, and I've been informed (not surprisingly), that my attitude is following suit...I also woke up with a sore throat this morning making me even more fun as I complained about that, too.

Fortunately, the weather was great today, and Seujan and Jeff were planning to ride, so I took my bike off the trainer and re-aquainted it with the outdoors. I started with them, then went on my own as they were going for more miles. I rode from home out to Mercer Island and back the same way (did the long part of the island twice)...total of about 42 miles and I felt better on the bike than I thought I would (even though the bike computer only paid attention for about 3/4 of the ride and kept zero-ing out...I think the universe is provoking me to a gripe-a-thon...for godsake!).

Anyway...it was a beautiful day, a nice ride, and I could feel that my sessions on the trainer are helping my cycling. Very cool!

42 miles
3:05
Avg. HR = 123
No hip pain on the bike

Champion of denial

I'm not good at being injured. I called for a PT appt. and can't get in until a week from Friday. So...left to my own devices (and my "Do as I say and not as I do" way of handling things), I didn't run for 2 whole days... until today. My hip thing has been hurting, and I've been icing, advilling, and tiger balming, but I thought it was a little better and that maybe running on the treadmill would be bettter than pavement. This, I thought, was a reasonable enough sacrifice to the injury gods as I was running at lunchtime and it was about 50 degrees and partly sunny outside making the treadmill seem dreadful. They didn't buy it. I did a high aerobic/low tempo short run on the treadmill and then a bit more on the elliptical machine. It hurt a bit while running, but mostly just annoying, not incapacitating. Later in the afternoon, however, it hurt(s) WAY worse. I can swim and bike with no pain, but running and walking hurts. Not sure exactly how I can get this thing to be OK for the Saturday long run...supposed to do 17 miles.

Trying to get a grip and some perspective...and beginning to read "Chi Running," a gift from Tatyana a month or 2 ago...hoping for some good coaching...

Got kiwi?

My better half has decided to do Ironman New Zealand in about 7 weeks (March 4) as a celebration of her 40th birthday...she decided this yesterday (crazy Pisces) and we are already in full swing of travel planning (who knew Kinko's does passport photos? Getting mine renewed pronto). I'm calling this "the shotgun Ironman," but if anyone can pull it off, it's her, and I'm happy to be her Chief of Staff. I am on board with this project as travel coordinator/companion, cheerleader, and assistant money spender. (Sidebar: open water swimming in March and getting in my last few long runs prior to my marathon looking for koalas and kiwi was NOT a tough sell for me!) We practiced today as Seujan purchased a new bike bag for winter bike commuting (aka part of the necessary training regimen). I accompanied and supported the purchase, just as I will cheer her on as she registers for the race to the tune of $500...chump change for a birthday party with at least 500 others in attendance, don't you think? And everyone gets shirts and medals for party favors...what a bargain...who cares if they are 500 people we don't know and who don't know it's SJ's birthday...a party is a party and this is a great deal!

Anyway...Iron Thing herself is out on her bike right now and I'm recovering from today's long run. Today's assignment was 13 miles and I wanted to get it in really early this morning since Ja'Narah had a basketball game at 10:30 in West Seattle. So...without the usual amount of time to caffeinate and eat, I just had about 1/3 of a PowerBar and a small cup of coffee before the run. Probably not a great plan, as I'd guessed. I carried my bottle of magic Hammer shake and used all of it, but my stomach was grumbling with about 5 miles left and I was a bit tired out there. But I got it done, the weather was perfect (37 degrees, some sun, no rain) and now I have the rest of the weekend to relax, read my brand new copy of "Lost Planet: New Zealand," and sit in on Seujan's meeting with our coach tomorrow while they compose her shotgun training plan. The bummer of this training week is I've developed a bit of hip pain, esp. on the right side...it was just a little annoying most of the week and on both sides, but after today's run, the right side really freakin' hurts whenever I move. Going to call for a PT appt. first thing on Monday...till then, laying low and taking Advil.

Today's run:
Route: From Jock'n'Jill, long way around Greenlake outer loop, down Stone Way, around Lake Union, and back around long way of Greenlake inner loop.
13 miles
2:09:00
Avg. HR = 138

Puddle stomping....

Nothing screams, "Let's go to the track to run intervals!" at 6:15 a.m. like 36 degrees, rain, and darkness...sometimes (like when I'm dragging myself out of the bed/car/house/insert other warm dry structure with coffee here) I wonder if maybe stamp collecting might be a worthwhile hobby instead of being a triathlete...Naaah, you can't assign yourself "tough guy" points for mornings like today if you collect stamps. So, yeah...today was an interval run morning. I ran them on the treadmill last week (blech), so I decided this week, I needed to get out on the track. Let's just say the track at lower woodland was about the muddiest goop-fest I've ever attempted to run in...during my first lap (sploosh, squish, smack, step, repeat), I thought, "you know, this probably isn't even safe...I could seriously get hurt..." There were a few places where it was reasonable, but mostly it was just squishy, muddy, and slippery...oh, and dark. However, once I was out there, I wasn't giving up and I got in the whole workout. My times weren't stellar, but they were in the ballpark and the mental exercise of choosing/focusing on the path of least resistance (literally) around the track was a new and different mental challenge...I didn't even notice till the last 400 that it had actually stopped raining. 2 days ago, I ran around Greenlake in the last of the snow/slush which was similar in texture to the mud crap this morning and I'm proud to say that despite a few slips, I stayed upright on both occasions. It doesn't have to be pretty...

Workout summary:
Warm Up: 18:15
1 x 1200: 5:50
2 x 800: 3:46, 3:48
2 x 400: 1:52, 1:53
Cool down: 10:07

Bring on the beef...

For the last month, long run days have induced a large appetite for beef...last week, I made steaks for dinner the night after my 15 mile run and tonight we made big mushroom and Swiss burgers...today's long run was 16 miles. I'm a little afraid of what culinary requirements will result from the marathon...

Anyway, this morning Seujan and I made up a great plan whereby she left the car at Leschi and ran home; she dumped me by Jock 'n Jill and I ran from Greenlake down Stone Way, through the arboretum, to Lake Washington Blvd. with a few out-and-backs on my route to equal 16 miles, ending at Starbucks (what could be better on a 27 degree morning?). This was doubly brilliant because I got a lot of downhill with almost no uphill stretches, while she happily ran uphill home, crazy girl. Note to self: it's way more fun to run TO somewhere than an entire long run out and back. I felt great--seems cold weather works for me and running-- and kept wondering if I was dreaming as I kept thinking, "This is fun...wait, it's STILL fun, am I stoned on endorphins? This is wierd, I really like this..." the whole run. I used the Hammer shake stuff again, started fueling by mile 4, and it worked great. This seems to be the new key to success for me. With about a mile to go, I ran into a woman from swim team, Allison, who was out for a 3-hour run and was going at a good clip...we chatted, I picked up my pace to stay with her, and I would've probably gone further if I'd had time; that last mile flew by and I finished feeling strong.

Seujan and I took our little sister to watch a basketball game this afternoon and I had to get home for a shower, so I kept it to 16 miles. Probably good as I'm feeling it tonight...

Anyway, here are the stats:
16 mile run (maybe a little over)
2:36:20
Avg. HR = 139

Rest day tomorrow...weights only! Yea!

Winter wonderland...

So the weather is the big news again in Seattle...making training a little more interesting.
Yesterday, I went for a quick run at Greenlake right after work, just as it was getting dark. As I started, it was dumping snow and about 32 degrees...took a little while to get warm, but it was beautiful with the snow collecting on the trees, the festive string of endless tail lights in the snarled traffic going up Aurora (where I was keeping pace with the cars!), and the few houses whose lazy occupants still had Christmas lights up. As soon as I started, I couldn't get the words to "Winter Wonderland" out of my head...It was fun and I was a little disappointed when the short run was over. I felt very fortunate considering that Seujan was stuck in the crappy traffic...we both left our offices at the same time and in the time I drove to Greenlake, ran around, drove home, and got dinner started...she barely inched home. Commuting to the East side sucks.

This morning things looked icy and I got to start the morning on my new bike trainer, spinning for an hour with the window open and watching the school closures and continual weather updates on TV. It's all sunny now and I'll head into work late...hoping to somehow wedge in an interval run later today.

Hammer Time!

Today was my first long run of 2007 and I accomplished 2 successful experiments on myself (in addition to completing the longest run of my life to date!). I met with our coach, Cheryl, yesterday to plot out the next 12 weeks of my athletic life leading up to the Yakima marathon. Two of the things we talked about that need some work are (still) my nutrition during long runs and teaching my body to walk/run (more for the Ironman, but perhaps will be relevant for the marathon). So...today I test drove "Hammer sustained energy Ultra Endurance Fuel." Jeff used this stuff for the Tour de Tucson and gave us (OK, he gave it to Seujan, but I'm taking member of the household privilege and access) a big tub of this instant-magic-just-add-water for Christmas. This stuff is a tasteless powder that has a little bit of protein along with complex carbs and advertises that it doesn't cause "performance-inhibiting stomach maladies that commonly occur when using sugar-based fuels." And I'll be damned if the label wasn't actually right. Who knew there was honest advertising? I mixed up a good batch of the cloudy potion and, carried it with me. Although it foamed a bit, it worked great. I had felt more energy throughout the whole run and my stomach didn't rebel. I'm psyched about this new find!

The second experiment I did was to end the run a mile from my car so I could try the walk/run in an extra-credit mile. For this last mile, I alternated one minute walk/one minute run. I thought it would be hard to start running again after each short walk, but it wasn't too bad. I'm calling both of my experiments a success! This was my first long run when I actually thought that running a marathon might not be outside the realm of possibility.

Speaking of the possibility of surviving a marathon, I registered for my first one yesterday. For just $60, I'm all signed up for a death march in Ellensburg/Yakima on March 31. Tatyana says I should be calling this a "romp of life" rather than a "march of death," and, from a sport psychology standpoint, I know she's right. The application was a little daunting...questions like, "How many marathons have you done?" (woo-hoo, zero) "What's your best marathon finish time?" and "Are you a member of 'the marathon maniacs' club" (now come on, isn't that redundant??) preceded my favorite question of all: "Will you be competing in a wheelchair?" Now this question only had "yes" or "no" options and I really wanted to let them know that I didn't plan to START in a wheelchair, but I'd certainly appreciate it if one was available at, say, mile 20...with someone nice to push it and perhaps offer me a beer...

Anyway...here are the stats on today's run:

15 miles Madison Beach into Seward Park and back
2:30:41
Avg HR = 143
(started nutrition 4 miles in...good decision)
One Walk/Run Mile: 11:39

16 miles total: 2:42:17

Last day of 2006....

It's New Year's Eve and we are happily home on the couch in our sweats...not exactly party animal central, but we have jetlag as an excuse this time (not sure what our excuse was the last 2 years when we were asleep by 10 p.m on New Year's, but this one seems slightly more credible? Maybe?). We got back from Georgia/Florida yesterday and had a great trip...in between my mom's famous Christmas cheesecake, her bottomless cookie plate, and the turkey dinner and piles of leftovers, we read tons, relaxed, and actually had a pretty decent week of training. The heat and humidity came back down by the end of the week and we got in another long run on Friday. I was supposed to do 15 miles, but had been sick on Wednesday (a stomach ache pretty well levelled me for almost 24 hours) and 13 miles felt awfully long (my avg. HR was 159 even though I was running a 10 min. mile pace), so I decided 13 miles was enough. Fortunately, we'd received Christmas gift certificates for massages at the local health club, so that was a nice reward for finishing the long run!

Today we started out the day with a short run around Greenlake and then, this afternoon, we decided to get re-aquainted with our bikes since it was sunny. I haven't done an outdoor ride in several weeks and a 26 mile ride was embarrassingly humbling. It was really fun to be out to finish 2006 with a bike ride, but it was honestly hard to believe that RAMROD actually happened in this calendar year...there were some serious cobwebs in my legs. I got a swanky new bike trainer for Christmas and it seems I need to start using it pronto.

Tomorrow we're hosting a New Year's Day brunch party and will attempt to send several of our closest friends into 2007 with full tummies.

Here's the summary of this week's training:

HO HO Hot, Humid, High Heartrate!!

Greetings from St. Simons Island, Georgia where Seujan and I are visiting my mom & stepdad...we arrived 2 days ago and have settled in well to being spoiled, eating well, and going to the beach periodically (it's less than a mile away). Yesterday, we did a spin class and lifted weights at the local health club and today was long run day. It's only about 70 degrees out, but it rained a lot last night and the humidity is over 70%...doesn't sound that bad, but our 12 mile run today was pretty painful---at least for me. SJ, at a good 20 bpm lower than me, strolled along easily while I tried to keep up, barely holding a 10 minute mile pace. Seujan said my breathing sounded pretty awful and it FELT pretty awful, especially in the last 2-3 miles. Fortunately, I survived (kept thinking this is probably a good simulation of how much I might not want to run during the Ironman) and we ended our run on the beach where we both hopped in the water up to our waist (regretted I didn't bring the wetsuit) and stood in the water for a while to cool down. THAT part and walking barefoot on the beach was blissful. I have a new heartrate monitor now and I'm afraid it's accurate...12 Mile run, 2:02, Avg. HR = 156. Both the half marathons I did this month were easier than this flat humidity fest run. Tomorrow is a REST day!

Recovered and re-loading...

We came back to Seattle this week just in time for the biggest wind storm in a decade and the most rainfall in a single day...good thing we didn't stay in Tucson or we'd have really missed out, huh? Winter sucks, winter sucks, winter sucks. Leaving Tucson and the 70 degrees + sunshine was a big bummer.

The recovery week went well...I was a bit sore for a couple of days, but was able to run Tuesday, Thursday, and did a 10 miler today...got in 2 spins, 2 swims, and 2 lifts, too. We also threw in some culture this week and Seujan took me on a last minute date to see "The Nutcracker." It was really fun---the sets were outstanding---and we noted that it was actually fun to be at an event without a start/finish line or porto-potties (although, fortunately, there was a halftime so I could visit the water stop). Later today, we're continuing the festive/cultural trend and are joining some friends to see "The Black Nativity," (http://www.intiman.org/plays/n_about.html), which should be great.

After the last few races, I'm starting to think about when and where I want---wait, I don't "want," but need---to do a marathon. The target timeline is March or April so I have enough time to recover and start biking again before the summer races. I was thinking about doing the Whidbey Island marathon in mid-April, but after watching how hard the marathon training, race, and recovery is every time for Seujan, I think I want to just get on with it and get through it. Today 10 miles felt good, but it was plenty. I ran my Lake Union + Howe St. stairs + Interlakken loop. Part of Interlakken was "closed" due to post storm damage, but I (and several other walkers and runners) went past the tape and signs anyway to continue through the obstacle course of branches and downed trees. When I ran past the hillside/overpass up Eastlake where usually there are several homeless people, their area looked abandoned and recently raked/cleaned. I wonder if they found a shelter or something when the winds and rain hit... hope so.

Long run today:
10 miles
1:34:26 (= 9:26 per mile avg. pace)
HR Monitor, continuing to be ridiculous, said HR Avg. = 165 (no way was that accurate, the stupid piece of crap)

Gravity is my friend!

Great race day for both Seujan and me today...she qualified for Boston (see her blog for her race resport)!! We were up at crazy o'clock to get to our shuttle busses and out to the start lines...of course, I was uber-early and we were both on the very first bus...I even was the first user of a porto-potty. My start line was basically in the middle of the road way out of town and the holding area was a freezing cold dusty vacant lot. Fortunately, there were propane heaters and porto-potties there for the race, although the lines for the porto's got so ridiculously long that I opted for tumbleweeds twice instead, as did several of my fellow runners...finally, after way too long of a wait in the dark, the race and daylight started at 7:00 a.m. and the mountains were in view the rest of the day. Gorgeous one way course into Tucson.

The idea of a "fast downhill and flat course," was something we had worried a little about (i.e. the potential for quads becoming hamburger), but actually, the course format saved my bacon. My goal time today was 10 minutes faster than 2 weeks ago on the hilly Seattle course and I definitely worked harder to hit it, but the course certainly helped. The first 4 - 5 miles were downhill (contrary to SJ's perceptions of her miles 13-17, they really were downhill) and I decided in that first chunk to simply accept the gifts of the course as much as possible today...I let gravity push me along and I worked a little harder to maintain a good pace on the flats. I had my own water and Clif Shots and ate 2 shots, starting at mile 8, and that was fine. My stomach was a little "off" here and there, and at the mile 10 marker, I got a freaking sideache...I was ahead of schedule, so I backed off a little (but refused to walk) and fought it off in less than a mile. By the end, I was definitely ready to be done and found myself wondering how the hell I'm going to do a full marathon in a few months, but I re-focused on what I had in front of me today and stayed pretty strong to the end. I worked hard today and it took a few hours to recover, especially my upset stomach...but I feel great now! We went to Canyon Ranch for spa and massage treatments, had a great dinner with Jill & May and life is GOOD!! Seujan thinks we should come back next year for me to do the full marathon and try to qualify for Boston '08, but I think she's a nutcase. We'll see...for now, I'm quite happy with this!

My splits from today's race:

Mile 1: 9:26
Mile 2: 8:38
Mile 3: 8:44
Mile 4: 8:30
Mile 5: 8:35
Mile 6: 8:44
Mile 7: 7:51
Mile 8: 8:20
Mile 9: 9:00
Mile 10: 8:22 (big downhill in this mile)
Mile 11: 9:03 (Side ache mile)
Mile 12: 8:35
Mile 13: 8:56 (the only uphill of the course, thanks for saving it till the end)
Last .1 mile: :50

Total time: 1:53:38
Goal was 1:55...NAILED IT! :) Whoo-Hoo!!

Race tomorrow...

We are in Tucson with the marathon (Seujan) and the half marathon (me) in the morning. It's been a hell of a week, but I managed to follow the workout part of my taper plan well (with the exception of one weight training workout that got scrapped). Sleep was reduced and stress was dramatically increased due to the dog...who, unfortunately, we have decided to return to the shelter. The separation anxiety resulted in a destroyed metal crate from which she escaped and trashed the house, multiple prescription drugs (unfortunately, the vet didn't give US any, and they didn't seem to work for the dog), 2 kinds of doggie phermones, a citronella collar, a lot of petsitting/training time, toys, and various other failed strategies...which fortunately, did not include the other residents of our condo kicking us out, but we were afraid we were pushing it. We are sad about taking her back, but it just wasn't the right fit...

Anyway, we have a race tomorrow and have, in the last 2 days, been able to focus on that again. I swam outdoors yesterday and today which I LOVE and am as ready as I can be-- after a week like we had-- for a good run. I'm following the same nutrition plan for tomorrow as I did 2 weeks ago, I will carry my water, and I will enjoy the scenery and sunshine. My race plan isn't as detailed as it was 2 weeks ago, but I think I'll try to follow a similar strategy: go out slow, especially since the first few miles are downhill...then maintain pace in the middle 5-6 miles, and let it go at the end, trying to hit the faster time goal. There is one hill in particular that is supposed to be steep and in the second half of the race, and I know I need to take small steps there and try to conserve the quads a bit...on the flats, I'll try to push it a bit more.

Race reports will be posted in the next day or 2!

Separation axiety woes

So Mocha, the sweetest cutest dog ever has definitely bonded with us, especially with Seujan. She also has proven that she really IS housetrained and the initial indications to the contrary were probably just the result of first day stress. This is all great...but now we're seeing that she's SO well bonded to us that there are some separation anxiety issues (those issues being loud whining and some freaking out which is not exactly "neighbor of the year" behavior in a condo). So...we're riding the learning curve...she in her new crate and we reading and googling "crate training" in between brief departure intervals to test the waters. Seujan is the top trainer of the household and had a way more difficult morning with the dog than I did on my long run...

Today's long run was really good and technologically enhanced. I went 8.5 miles and borrowed a friend's Garmin 201 GPS to test drive it, so I was gadgeted out...GPS on one wrist, regular watch on the other. I ditched the HR monitor again, as well as the water bottle. Loved the GPS (especially to verify the last mile for time) and am thinking about asking Santa for the Garmin 305 that has HR, GPS, stopwatch, etc. Nice cool sunny (!) morning and I had a nice run around Lake Union + Portage Bay.

Long Run:
8.5 Miles
1:17:41
Power burst at tempo pace for .6 miles from 4.67-5.27 miles
Last mile, fast mile: 7:44!!
No water, no nutrition

Dog Blog!!

Seujan and I became doggie parents yesterday...we met this cute chocolate lab mix, Mocha, on Sunday at a shelter and Seujan went back to spring her yesterday. She's about 3 years old, we think, and has a bit of an unknown past, although we know she's been around the block a bit. Fortunately, her maternal possiblilites were stopped at the shelter... Mocha has a few special needs including a fear of doorways and linoleum and she isn't exactly as housetrained as we anticipated, but she's sweet, sweet, sweet and we have high hopes for crate training which will commmence today.

Mocha and the snow were the big news this week...I observed several kids sledding on grass earlier this week (ok, there was some snow, but the hills were more green than white)...snow hype in Seattle is great.

Workouts have been good this week and I'm mostly recovered from the Half Marathon and thinking about the next one, although my quads got sore again the last couple of days. Did a few aerobic runs, 2 swims, 2x weight training, and a good interval workout yesterday on the treadmill. Haven't seen my bike or a spin class in over a week, though. And now, lots of dog walking is being added to the schedule!

Yesterday's interval workout:
10 min warmup at 10 min. mile pace
2 x .75 mile at 7:35 pace
2 x 1 mile at 7:35 pace
HR up to 158-162 on intervals...basically tempo pace
10 min cool down on the elliptical machine

Ran the plan, man!

So here I am today after my FIRST half marathon...which, I found out later, I happened to have run with Joan Samuelson!! OK, I didn't exactly run "with" her as there were something like 7,000 people out there and she apparently was the 4th female finisher and I was, well, 1,072nd... BUT I was running on the same course as she was for a small period of time!!! I wish I'd have known earlier that one of my all time heroes was doing the race...but oh, well, it's cool to know it now.

I wrote out my whole race plan earlier this week and am happy to report that I stuck to the plan pretty darn well, if I say so myself (there were some of those moments like the old snoopy cartoons where he has conversations with various body parts--see challenges section below-- and discusses their complaints, but mostly we all got along). My plan was to go out slowly, relax and settle in for about 4 miles...then "Keep it loose, keep it tight" and bring up the pace a little bit for the next 5 miles...then run how I felt the last 4 miles, just observing how the end would go more than trying to control the pace. My goal time was 2:05 and I ran a 2:03:58, negative splitting the course. I never felt like I was pushing super hard---none of it felt as fast/awful as tempo runs lately have, but I was definitely ready to be done by the end, that's for sure. I had a strong, consistent run and that was the goal. This was prep race for Tucson in 2 weeks and my first half marathon, so I gave myself a few breaks and didn't go out on a suicide mission.

Things that went well: taper and workout prep this week was great...I felt rested and not sluggish. Slept and ate well/lots the last few days (scale had me about 1.5 pounds heavier than usual this morning...oops, should've tapered on the pumpkin pie, too, I guess). Glycogen stores were up, for sure. Pre-race schedule and timing of coffee/breakfast was fine. I carried my water bottle and that was good, too...no screwing around and running into people at water stations. My only nutrition on the course was one Clif Shot Block that I put in my mouth at mile 9 that still hadn't dissolved at the finish...just didn't feel like I needed any calories. I got all my mile splits, but decided earlier this week not to use the HR monitor. It would be cool to have that data, too, but I know where I was on RPE and having the splits helps. It really helped to have several pieces of the course be familiar...I felt strong on those stretches in particular. I also had amazing race support from Seujan...chauffer, bag schlepper, food finder at the finish area, french toast maker post race, and "I'm proud of you" sayer. And she didn't even complain about getting up at 5:15 a.m. or hanging out in the cold rainy crap all morning the day after she ran 18 miles...

Challenges: Weather sucked. It was 37 degrees and raining/slushing for much of the race, with the occasional breeze. Puddle stomp-o-rama. Fortunately, we found rock star parking and I was able to stay warm in the car until shortly before the race started...took me 3 minutes to get to the start line, but once I got going, I was pretty warm. My numb toes checked in at about mile 3 and actually felt normal by mile 4 and after. Hills. None of them were as long/hard as the hill I regularly run home from Greenlake, but there were a damn lot of rollers. My quads let it be known at about mile 9 that they were starting to blow up and said loudly, "take note of where we are going to be really sore tomorrow..." Note taken...they are already sore now. Mental gymnastics. Mostly I stayed focused and my "my pace, my race" mantra prevailed. I had a couple of freakouts in the middle where I thought I was running a bit too slow and where I worried about whether I had enough reserves for hills and all the miles...but I let the doubts go in and back out and stayed pretty steady.

My splits are below. I averaged 9:27 and placed 1,072 of 3,458 women.

Mile 1: 10:36
Mile 2: 10:04

Mile 3: 9:53

Mile 4: 9:28

Mile 5: 10:06
Mile 6: 8:57

Mile 7: 9:25

Miles 8 and 9 together in one split: (where the hell was the "8" sign??) 19:09
Mile 10: 9:51

Mile 11: 7:45
Mile 12: 8:53
Mile 13.1: 9:45

Total Time: 2:03:58

Below is last week's workouts...just under 10 hours for the whole week.

Tryptophan happiness

We started Thanksgiving by sleeping in then running intervals...nothing like a turkey trot to start a good holiday! Fortunately for me, it's a taper week and I only had to do 6 x 400 at the track which was almost fun compared to recent interval workouts. Although my legs were a bit tired on my cooldown, it was a good workout and I held all of the 400's between 1:45 - 1:47, so I was happy with it. The next 2 days will be swimming only before the race on Sunday...will go to the Expo tomorrow to pick up my number and we'll probably take our little sister to see "Happy Feet."

With the exception of some dinner rolls that behaved as if I hadn't included yeast and got tossed and replaced by a last minute Safeway run by Seujan late in the game, Thanksgiving was a success...2 days of cooking produced a good mountain of food and lots of leftovers, so I can be lazy for a few days. The brined turkey turned out well, Seujan's cranberry martinis were a hit, Stacey helped us figure out gravy production, and I somehow managed to not eat(or drink) to the point of being stuffed and in pain. Seemed our guests were happy with the day, too. Good holiday!

Yesterday's workouts:
3000 yd. swim at swim team
30 min. Greenlake run
Lifted weights
(and cooked 3 pies, cranberry sauce, and sweet potato casserole!)

Today:
18 min warm up run
6 x 400 (1:45 - 1:47 for each)
18 min cool down run

win a few, lose a few...

This morning I decided to sleep in a little and flex my navigational skills by taking the bus to work. I won't expand on all the painful and embarrassing details, but let's just say I confidently set out for a 20 minute "express" trip downtown and 2 busses, 2 bus fares (because why would I ask for a transfer when I thought the first bus was going downtown), an hour and a half, 2 satsuma oranges and a banana (thank god I had snacks), a bathroom stop (good thing the first bus went the wrong direction near a Tullys coffee shop) and several ipod songs later...I arrived at the office. I now know to read the fine print on the Metro website and that busses 65, 66, and 67 are probably not interchangeable just because they might stop near my house with their nose pointed towards downtown. Whatever. I wasn't particularly excited to get to work, anyway, except for the fact that my cereal was there.

My midday luck was much better than my early luck today...I went for a nice aerobic run at lunchtime which included a small piece of the Seattle Half Marathon route (wanted to leave myself some good energy on the course for Sunday). I thought through my race plan for Sunday while I ran and, although it was a bit windy at the end, it was a nice, dry run with some actual sunshine at the beginning. About 30 minutes after I got back to work, a big thunder and hail storm hit the city...everyone in our office could hear the hail slamming on the windows. I'm glad my bad luck for the day (knock on wood, yes I do realize the day is not over) went into transportation and not weather.

Here's a good photo of the storm, along with stats about how this will probably be the rainiest month in Seattle history:

http://www.komotv.com/news/4711956.html

Anyway, mapmyrun.com says that I ran:

5.86 miles at a 9:13 pace. (54 minutes)

I didn't wear my HR monitor...we're not friends lately and I decided just to go on RPE.

To brine or not to brine...

I think I've decided to brine the Thanksgiving turkey this year...I've read and heard conflicting reviews of brined turkeys, but more seem to be positive than negative, so I'm going to try it. I've done at least one endurance grocery shop and am almost ready for Thanksgiving...the cook-a-thon will officially begin on Wednesday afternoon. We've located and test driven a really good cranberry martini recipe, so my goal is to have our guests somewhere between happily mellow and completely hammered by the time the turkey is done anyway, so it won't even matter whether it's good or not! Regardless, I'm looking forward to the holiday...and, of course, the half marathon calorie burn-off next Sunday.

Yesterday was my long run day and it was only 9 miles this week...went around Lake Union + Portage Bay with a little extra at the end. The weather was abnormally dry and really nice, so after my run, I biked out to Marymoor and met up with Seujan and Diana who had been biking already for a few hours. It was really fun to ride a comfortable pace on a completely flat route, with a tailwind at the end...didn't take my HR monitor or even a watch. As we got home, our friends Marci & Ann and their little one-year-old, Madison called and stopped by for a visit. After we sat around a while, I was starving, so we ordered pizza...fortuituously, one of our neighbors delivered a "welcome to the condo" chocolate cake (we've lived here since July, but her timing was excellent). So...a strong training day and week capped off with a nutritional bomb of 2 beers, 3 pieces of pizza, and chocolate cake. BOO-YEAH! Oh, well...moderation, right? I don't eat that crap every day...ok, the beer, but not the rest. Enough confessions.

The summary of yesterday's better behavior and the week's workouts below:
Long Run: 9.25 miles
Time: 1:27:00
Power surge up to 162 bpm from 46 - 51 min.
Power surge up to 166 bpm for one mile from 1:12 - 1:20
Avg. HR = 154, stupid-high...not sure if it was my faulty monitor, caffeine, or what.

Fun with numbers...

My friend, Erin, told me this week about this website: www.mapmyrun.com. I'm hooked. Not only will it map out running or cycling distances (already worth it to visit), but check out the cool calculator on the left...gives you avg. pace, mph, and calories burned. And the numbers it generates are more favorable than my HR monitor, making me like it even more. I mapped out my tempo run route today and was able to compare my pace for the last 6 weeks on the same course. Looks like my speed range for a 3.2 - 3.8 mile tempo run has ranged from an 8:03 to 8:29 minute mile...today's tempo torture run was at an 8:22 mile pace. This website will continue to bring hours of fun number crunching, I'm sure.

Today's tempo run was OK...felt my legs a bit from 2 spin classes this week, but survived.

Yesterday's workouts:
2950 yard swim at swim team
44 min. spin class at lunch (avg. HR 137)

Today's workouts:
Tempo run: 10:45 min. warm up, 31:45/3.8 miles hard (HR = 153 - 163), 14 min uphill home.
Total = 6.06 miles

Almost injured by soup

Yeah, that's right...soup. So last night I pulled out a soup recipe I'd made once a few months ago and thought it'd be an easy dinner...it was a chipotle', chicken thing with some great spices, potatoes, etc. Did I read past the ingredient list to assess the process? Of course not. As I started, I realized that the project would take longer and was more complicated than I remembered...various steps of broth prep, chicken boiling and shredding, off the heat, back on the heat...and an intermediate process where you have to take what's done so far and, in thirds, put it in the blender (the number of large pans by this point is at least 3 and we're barely halfway done), then back on the stove, add more stuff, simmer, etc. (sidebar: this is why people eat canned soup, yes, I know). So the first third, no probem...blend, into 2nd pan, repeat. The second batch, however, caused a bit of a hot, steaming, spicy eruption and I swear the goddam blender was aiming right for my left eye. It hit the mark with a nice sting from the chipotle pepper and adobo...and my sweatshirt was pretty well covered in soup debris...and the kitchen floor yelled for the Swiffer. Amazingly enough, Seujan, who was safely across the kitchen patiently enjoying a glass of wine, didn't even laugh at me and came to my rescue. I ended up somehow locking up the blender which we never fixed, but the soup was salvaged (don't worry, I didn't squeeze it out of my sweatshirt, I already had enough from the first round)...and it was damn good if I say so myself. Fortunately, there are even leftovers to continue savoring the experience. Other obstacles yesterday included there being no hot water at the gym, resulting in an arctic splash after spin class rather than a real shower. Thus, by the end of the day, I was probably a little sticky around the edges from residual unshowered spin class sweat complemented by soup debris. Happy Monday.

Despite the trials of my Monday, I did have 2 good workouts (swim and spin) and this morning I had a strong interval run...cold, DRY morning (whoo-hoo!).

11 min warm up
2 x 1200: 5:38, 5:33
1 x 1600: 7:25!!
18 min aerobic/cool down run

End of weekend...

Sunday was a nice rest day...we walked around Greenlake with "the kid" and lifted. Mellow day, but it went by way too fast and we're back to Monday already. Swam this morning...will probably to to spin class at lunchtime.

Here's last week's summary:

Longest run of my life...

I know, I say that almost every week...but it really is true. Today was long run day and I did 14 miles...ran from Madison Beach to Seward Park and back. No rain, some sun breaks, and a tail wind on the 2nd half...not bad at all for Seattle in November. As I was approaching Seward Park, I realized that my halfway/turn-around point was the same distance that I would've considered to be a complete "long run" just a few months ago. It's kind of fun to be building and hitting consistently longer distances. Of course, I now feel like I've been hit by a truck and will return to the couch soon with some Advil, but the run (ok, finishing the run) felt good! I also caved this week and bought an easy-to-carry amphipod water bottle...tried it out today and actually liked it, although I had a little bit of a knot in my shoulder when I was done running.

I have learned that I can eat about an hour and a half before a long run (bagel or equivalent) and it's fine...now that I've tested this a few times, I feel more confident about the pre-race food part of my race plan. I've also learned that I really do need to take one rest day per week...last weekend I did a recovery bike ride on Sunday and never totally rested...legs felt a little heavy by today, even though yesterday was a swim-only. I only did about 10 hours of training this week, but running is hard on a 40 year old body...the good news is that even with the fewer hours, I'm not gaining weight (knock on carbon fiber) and I'm still eating my normal amount (i.e. LOTS!).

Gritty details:
14 miles, 2:20:21
Avg. HR = 148 (too high, but the first 25 minutes the monitor was crazy high and I think it skewed things a little).
Nutrition: Drank about 15 oz. of water, had 2 Clif Shot Blocks, starting 1:20 in.
Felt good, but didn't rally for a fast mile in the middle or at the end...was a little anxious about just finishing that distance.

Haven't blogged since Wednesday...Thursday was Tempo run and lifting, yesterday was a swim-only day. I'll post the week's spreadsheet tomorrow when Seujan (queen of tech support) shows me how to do it :)

All coached up again...

Seujan and I went to meet with Cheryl, our coach, this morning. Seujan thought that we were "in trouble," but actually it was just a check-in and we're both pretty well on-track. I got in trouble for not having a better hydration strategy on long runs (and I thought my stop-at- drinking-fountains thing was working pretty well...busted), so I may actually carry some water on the long one this weekend.

The main result of the meeting is that I have goal times in writing for the Seattle Half marathon ("C") race and the Tucson Half Marathon ("A"). I guess this means I'm committed as writing things down somehow makes them real. The problem is that I prefer to under-promise and over-deliver (in training and in life). I think these are realistic, but I don't think I can over-deliver too much on them:

11/26/07: Seattle Half Marathon Goal = 2:05 (9:32 avg. mile pace)
12/10/07: Tucson Half Goal = 1:55 (8:47 min/mile pace)

I ran an easy Greenlake this morning (29 min.) and swam 2800m at lunch again. Had my own lane, got a good swim.

Hearty Seattle Puddle Stompers

As far as I'm concerned, there are 4 adverse running conditions (rain, cold, wind, darkness), and when any 3 of them happen simultaneously, a trifecta occurs whereby I won't play outside (or I pout and it's not pretty). This morning when I woke up, only 2 were present (rain and dark), so I went to Greenlake to do intervals. The track was a sloppy mess, but I splashed out the prescribed 5 x 800 and by the second one there was enough daylight to not only hear and feel the puddles, but also to see them...and my watch, too. When I got done, I decided to run a longer recovery since it was warm and I had the time, so I ran about 1.75 miles on the inner paved loop of the lake. Along the way, I realized that less than a trifecta might be the same criteria other Seattle residents use to determine whether to cancel their morning consitutionals, too. I saw a lot of people...walking dogs, running, walking with their coffee, chatting...most without umbrellas and in the pouring rain. And they didn't even look that grumpy. OK, there weren't as many out as there are on sunny days, but it still made me feel proud to be part of such a hearty and active city (or maybe it just gave me a feeling of solidarity with other wackos). My "dryfit" shirt was soaked when I was done and I needed a wet wipe to clean off my legs BEFORE I could event get into the shower, but it was a very successful workout, with my fastest 800 being the last:

Warm up: 11 minutes
5 x 800: 3:45, 3:42, 3:42, 3:41, 3:40
Cool down: 18 minutes

I also got in a 2800m swim at lunch today...pool at S.U. has been jacked up due to a broken filter, so I've had to swim on my own a bit.

Missed a few days on the blog, too:

Sunday, Nov. 5: 30 mile easy recovery bike ride...avg. HR 116 or so and 2 social chat breaks...nice.

Monday, Nov. 6: Morning Cardio smorgasbord (35 minutes of an awful spin class so I bailed + 10 minutes treadmill + 10 minutes elliptical). Lifted at lunchtime.

Growing flippers

I bought myself some new running shoes about 3 weeks ago, but have not yet used them...I keep waiting for a not-rainy day so I they don't look like crap already on their very first voyage. Yeah, right. I think I may have to just suck it up and get the new shoes dirty as there's no end in sight to the rain. I think we're all growing flippers.

Got in another short double yesterday (EZ 3 mile run a.m. around greenlake, swam at lunchtime) and due to a work-related event on Thursday night, work was over at noon yesterday, giving me all afternoon to leisurely buy groceries at Whole Foods and then cook while blasting my ipod for a few hours. My favorite kind of afternoon...I was happier than a pig in...um, a happy pig place.

Today was long run day...Seujan went out for 18 miles and I did 10ish (1:37:30). I decided to just enjoy the fall color and schlep through the (constant) rain and a few hills at a relaxed pace with no fast mile in the middle or at the end...I busted it enough this week and running should be fun on occasion, right? I did my Lake Union- up Eastlake and the Howe St. stairs- to 10th- through Interlakken- back on Boyer loop...I love running through Interlakken and it was an enjoyable, albeit soggy run. I felt good, kept the HR mostly in the 130's, and both SJ and I got our running in before the "wind and storm advisory" scheduled for this afternoon started kicking up. All those pretty leaves will be blown off the trees today, I think, and they may take some branches with 'em.

There might be a small window of opportunity for a bike ride in between storms tomorrow morning...but I'm not holding my breath.

Is it weekend yet?

Got in a double yesterday (swim a.m., spin class at lunch) and a tempo run this morning (barely daylight, 41 degrees, rain...blech)...and lifted at lunch time today. I've been sneezing a lot the last few days and feel pretty tired. If someone could change today from Thursday to Friday, I'd really appreciate it (hmm...calling in sick tomorrow sounds like a good idea...). It's supposed to rain from today until, I think, 2010. I'd like to fortify my training with some hours on the couch with Triathlete magazine and the stack of books I'm accumulating for inspiration. Oh, and also the "What It Takes" DVD that arrived last week, but has not yet been opened...can't wait to watch it, though.

Intervals are not for sissies!

This week's interval workout was 3 x one miles...and I wasn't looking forward to it (like anyone ever looks forward to intervals, I know, but still...that's a pretty harsh sentence dontcha think?). I swam this morning and had a meeting at lunch, so I didn't run until after work, my least favorite time of day to run. However, I had a good workout and the lights came on at the track so I could actually see my watch AND the track...nice feature that doesn't happen in the morning over there. Anyway....got it done and pretty respectably, if I say so myself:
11 minute warm up
3 x 1 Mile:
7:34
7:25
7:32
11 minute cool down.
HR maxed at about 161 on each interval, I think.

"That's why you train..."

Our friend, Penni, has a tried and true saying when people say things to her like, "I can't run a marathon." Simple, but right on, she says, "Of course you can't do it NOW, that's why you train." Completely obvious, but perspective-inducing nonetheless. That, along with another of my favorite phrases, "If it was easy, everyone would do it," were in my head today during my long run. I ran about 13 miles (2:15:30) and kept wondering how in the hell I'm going to do a marathon in April and an Ironman in August...2 hours and 15 minutes is a damn long time to be running, especially in the rain. But I kept thinking that's why we train and tried to just tackle what was in front of me without worrying about a marathon that's 6 months away. Future-oriented anxiety aside, I was quite happy with the run...I did a mile at tempo pace (158-160 bpm) halfway through and went an 8:10 mile (woo-hoo!), and tried to do last mile/fast mile at the end, but it was more like .75 because I didn't have much left. The rest of the run was around 10:10 minute mile pace, I think, and I kept the HR around 140 most of the time. I ran on Lake Washington to Seward Park and hit 4 water fountains, still commited to my plan of not carrying any water...had one and a half clif shot blocks toward the end of the run. Felt pretty depleted and beat up afterwards...was glad Seujan had run from home to the car to meet me so she could drive home. After lunch I was toast...had 3 advil and a nap on the couch before I could return to the land of the living.

This was my first half marathon distance run!!!!

Sun victorious over fog...

Today started out cold and foggy... the forecast was for "morning fog, turning sunny..." but the cold fog crap lasted till noon. My cranky meter was in the red danger zone for several hours as we waited for decent biking conditions...but finally my hero, the yellow orb, made its appearance, burning off the fog in the sky and the bad mood in my immediate radius. Seujan (still willing to ride with me despite my bad attitude all morning) and I headed to Marymoor with our bikes for a nice fall ride. We did the new Tour de Cure 44 mile route...2,270 ft. of elevation gain...in just under 3 hours. A perfect ride with some great fall color. Got in a good ride, but we didn't kill ourselves. Exactly what I needed...tomorrow is my long run day and the plan is to do 13 miles.

Haven't posted since Tuesday...quick week training re-cap:

Wednesday: Morning Swim Team (3300 yards), 30 minute easy Greenlake run after work
Thursday: Morning Torture, I mean Tempo Run, again in the dark: 10 min. warm up, 35 minutes hard (154-162 HR including one outer greenlake in 25:35 or so), 10 min. cool down
Friday: Swim team (3000 yards), lifted weights at lunch

Searching for daylight...

6:30 a.m., dark, raining, 45 degrees, did I mention DARK...perfect conditions to run intervals...NOT. I just couldn't face going to the track this morning and went to the gym for my run instead. My HR monitor continues to be possessed, the one on the treadmill was also way off and not in synch with mine, and my ipod went on strike completely. It was not my best interval workout, but despite the lame-ass technology (only closed captions on the stupid gym TV sets, too), I think I did something that loosely approximated what I was supposed to do. It was still barely daylight when I got done and it's probably good that I didn't slop around in the dark on the muddy track.

One mile warm up
2 x 400
2 x 800
2 x 1200 (treadmill speed said 6:58 min/mile pace, but I know the treadmill isn't as hard as real running and I was not really running that fast).
One mile cool down

Got in a good lift at lunch. I think the hamstrings are coming along slowly...

Iron Inspired

Our friend, Julie, did the Kona Ironman (as in THE "World Championship") Triathlon on Saturday...we kept checking the web site all day to see her splits and how she was doing...and she did great (rumor at the pool this morning was that she won her age group in the swim). She e-mailed her race report back to the mainland and Seujan read it to me on the couch yesterday...by the end we were both pretty much in tears. What a bunch of cheeseballs, I know. But inspired cheesballs, nonetheless. Looking forward to having Julie back in our lane at the pool once she's descended from cloud 9 and back to training with the mere mortals.

I ended last week with some good work outs...interval run last Thursday was 4 x 1200 and I managed them on 5:39, 5:41, 5:27, and 5:41. I got in one 20 mile bike ride on the same day and decided that 20 miles is a very enjoyable distance...it's a little scary just how much I'm liking short rides and how much my cycling has decreased. I'm a little worried about the build-back period next spring, but I'm also really liking the running focus these days and hoping the "off-season" everyone talks about is really a good idea.

I broke the 2 hour barrier on my long run this weekend...and made a little progress on the nutrition-while-running project. The boring details:

Night before: Crappy bar food and plenty of Mac 'N Jack's on Friday evening at Happy Hour...good to know I can run after almost anything, but I'd like to see how much better I could do with a better night-before nutrition plan that involves a little less beer, a little more water, and some "real" food. I plan to try the more sensible and responsible plan this coming week.

Saturday a.m.: Coffee and a bagel 1:45 before running...started run at 10:15 a.m. and that was good timing for pre-run food. Ran at Lake Washington Blvd. from Madrona to Seward Park, around, and back. My heartrate monitor was all over the place and took almost an hour to settle in. I was cranky about that, but tried just to go on RPE and pace...once HR monitor got accurate, it was a bit higher than it should have been for the pace I was running (my guess: dehydration). I was holding about a 10 minute mile pace and didn't do a middle or a last mile fast mile...just kept the same pace and ran 2:03, probably about 12.25 miles. I stopped at 4 water fountains, but didn't hide or carry water...could've used more. At 1:25 in, I started on Clif Shot Blocks and had 3 in the last 38 minutes of the run. No problems with them, just thirsty. I was a bit sore the rest of the day and on Sunday, but not horribly so.

Next weekend's long run bumps up to 13 miles...but I'll get an extra hour of sleep to recover with the time change :)

Took a rest day on Sunday and started the week today with a good swim...will do spin class at lunch.

What It Takes

So this new Ironman DVD just came out about 4 Ironman Champs called "What It Takes." http://www.witmovie.com/ I'd seen some ads for it and was waiting for it to come out...so as soon as the "alert" hit my Inbox, I speedily clicked to the web site to get my copy. Can't wait to see exactly what it takes (other than $30 on my Visa) and size up whether or not I'll have it in about 10 months from now. (I think there should be a Visa Ironman ad, by the way: Wetsuit: $500, running shoes: $100, Bike: Too many thousand dollars, 10 Powerbars a week: $15, Chamois butter: $10, Inspirational video: $30, Ironman Finisher T-Shirt: Priceless....).

Lately in our household "what it takes" is a damn lot of food...we've both been eating like horses and I think (hope!) it's the increased running mileage. I did a tempo run this morning, followed by the usual trough sized bowl of cereal...snack mid morning...then went to lift weights before lunch. I had to visit my gym locker midway through my workout for half a powerbar as I was so hungry I felt almost shaky. Long live metabolism (and I'm hoping that's what it is and not "pre- hibernation- winter's coming" appetite)!

Anyway...latest training details for the record:
Monday: Swam 3,050 at Swim Team, 45 minute spin class, Avg HR = 139

Today: Tempo run: 11 min warmup downhill to Greenlake, 32 minutes at 158-162 HR (did outer loop of Greenlake in 26:47), 12 minute walk/jog uphill cooldown. Total: 55 minutes.

Lifted: Regular upper body stuff...just added the hamstring stuff Erik prescribed on Friday after his assessment that my hamstring strength is pitiful (as I'd predicted).

R & R

Rain & Relaxation. As much as I prefer 80 degrees and sunny, rainy days make it easier to chill and re-charge the batteries. Clouds yesterday and rain today have made for some welcomed down time in our little household. Yesterday I was still feeling beat up from last week, so I took a mostly-rest day and only lifted weights...other than that, I didn't really do a damn thing but a a couple loads of laundry (with a nap in between!) and last night we went for a drink and to the Gay & Lesbian film festival. Seujan did an 18 mile run yesterday, so her rest day was today. Today was my long run, but a scaled back version this week of 9 miles. I hopped out of bed first thing this morning and drove down to Gasworks to run around Lake Union just as daylight was approaching...it was lightly raining, but it was great running weather and both the rain and the run were just fine with me--no inclination for whining at all this time! Plus, Seujan was cleaning the house like a tornado and I had a way more fun morning activity and got to come home to shower in a very shiny bathroom. When I got back to Gasworks, it was totally light and the trees looked like they are on fire...great fall color. I was able to procrastinate one more week on dealing with the during-run hydration/nutrition strategy as I didn't need anything for just a 90 minute run. I know, I know...I went into Jock 'N Jill yesterday to whine about the fuel belt situation and rather than coaching me to spend more money on another useless accessory, the nice guy (who did sell me $90 shoes, of course) recommended that I go with the "hide bottles on your running route" strategy. If it works for him, it might work for me and I think I'll give it a go next week.

Long run stuff: I had a really good, relaxed run...around Lake Union with an up-and-back added to get a little hill work: up Eastlake, past the little homeless colony, left over the freeway, to the base of the Howe St. stairs, then reversed back down (more homeless folks awake and shuffling around on the second pass-by) for the rest of the Lake Union loop. Kept my HR below 140 on the flats and the hills were pretty comfortable, too. I did the "last mile, fast mile" and pushed it up to about 158, hit the last mile at just about an 8 minute pace. I was almost disappointed that this week wasn't another week of adding more distance since I felt really good, but I understand the strategy and next week will continue the progression with a hop up to 12 miles.

9 miles, 1:30:27

Just the facts

Tempo run this morning as prescribed by the coach:

10 minute warm-up
One outer loop of Greenlake (3.2 miles): 26:06, HR 158-161. Fast time for me, but freakin' hard, sideache.
10 minute cool down

Tempo run = not fun.

TGIF. No more workouts today; happy hour on the schedule.

Good day at the office...

Because I wasn't there! Today after the morning swim team workout, I worked more on the Tour de Cure route...the best way possible, on my bike. I rode 60 miles of what might become the 70ish mile route and discovered that maps are nice, but they hide hills a little too well. I knew about a few of them, but the entire 60 miles ended up having 3,400 ft. of elevation gain and I got a good butt-kicking. I'm not sure we can charge people money to do this route! At one point, I saw a steep ugly hill coming up on 3 Lakes Road between Snohomish and Monroe (and I'm usually a big fan of hills) and said out loud, "Holy F$(#!" Actually, there was a good bit of swearing over the course of the day...however, I was MORE than happy to be out in the sun and working while getting in a great ride. The toughest day in the saddle is still better than the best day in the office! The fall weather has been beautiful and I'm maximizing it before the rain and dark take over all too soon.

Tatyana and I swam in the lake last night (October 11 in Lake Washington!!) at sundown and that was GREAT, too. We lasted 40 minutes and weren't even the only wackos out there...we saw 3 more swimmers at Madison Beach. I was good and cold afterwards, but god bless neoprene and the faithful water heater in our condo...hypothermia was averted and eventually I could feel my feet again.

Tomorrow is supposed to be a 5 mile tempo run and I'm also seeing my hero, Erik the PT, to talk about winter strength training and some knee issues I had this summer from my bad biking form...I'm pretty beat after 3 doubles days in a row, but I'll probably run in the morning before I'm awake enough to know what's happening.

A good accessory is hard to find....

The beauty of running, especially compared to the other 2/3 of triathlon components, is the simplicity...or so I thought. To run, one doesn't need a wetsuit and aqua accessories, one doesn't need a helmet (unless one is a very reckess runner), gloves, bike rack, tire irons, C02 cartridges, blah, blah, blah. Just point and shoot... Well, this distance crap, er, endeavoring has made it necessary to consider carrying water, nuun, Clif shots, etc. Running has become complicated (next, I'm sure will be the "when and where do I stop to pee?" problem). So I figured I'd get a super-cool hydration belt. I thought I found the perfect thing, an "Amphipod," belt with 2 very small bottles, velcro, pocket. The thing LOOKS great and seemed perfect for the task. Maybe it is on somebody else's body. I test drove it this morning to/from the track for intervals just to get a feel for it before my next long run...let's just say if the damn thing hadn't cost $30 or if I hadn't kept the receipt, I'd have flung it into Greenlake. What a pain in the butt...despite me trying to push it down to my hips every few seconds, it kept creeping up (fortunately, Seujan informed me when it took half of my shorts along --although the breeze on my butt should've alerted me)... the bottles travelled AROUND the belt, one bottle spontaneously jumped OFF the belt to the ground, and no matter how tight I velcroed it, we just could not make friends. Some accessory THAT turned out to be. So...I'm going to get my 30 bucks back and investigate other options. Possible strategies: hide disposable water bottles on my running routes, create running routes that figure-8 or out-and-back the car, try belts other than the Amphipod, or god forbid, get one of the stupid water bottles you have to carry (but then how do you eat the Clif Shots?). My shoulder is not in favor of the last idea, but it's winning at the moment.

Regardless of hydration belt hell during the warm-up and cool-down (threw the belt on the bleachers for the actual workout), Seujan and I slugged out some good intervals this morning. We each did 5 x 800's on the track. I went: 3:45, 3:42, 3:44, 3:41, 3:41. Works for me....and a nice morning...about 45 degrees and clear. Sun came up while we were out there...good start to the day.

Kid eats broccoli and other successes.

Seujan and I have a little sister who turned 13 on Friday. We had a little celebration for her yesterday which included introducing her and her new bike to the Burke Gilman trail, making dinner, and decorating cupcakes...oh, and we gave her some "Heelys." We are SO old and not hip that we had to do research on these things when she said she wanted them and thought they were called "wheelys," so we looked like total dorks asking for the wrong thing in the store last week...but anyway. Heelys are these little deathtrap shoes that have removable rollerskate wheels in the heels...kids can wear them as regular tennis shoes or put the skate wheels under the heels and skate around--the wheels pop in and out. I'm sure these things are not made in adult sizes and if they were I think it'd be a crime to sell them without helmets, wrist guards, and verification of health insurance...but I digress. The kid loved the heelys and I'm sure will be skating down the hallways of her school today rivaling the speed and athleticism of Apollo Ohno. So anyway, the most amazing occurence of the birthday celebration was that the kid ate broccoli. This is a kid who, as Seujan has described, eats only candy and beige food, preferably synthetic in nature (mac n cheese, bean burritos, corn dogs, fried chicken). Every time we have a meal with her, there are vegetables present, but she rarely touches them and says things like, "You're going to EAT that?" So, long story short, I was raving about how excited I was about broccoli with the spaghetti last night and she took the bait (Seujan says she imitates me sometimes). She actually asked for some and then asked for MORE. Granted, she dumped half a salt shaker's worth of salt on it, but I'm calling it a milestone.

Yesterday also included the longest run of my life to date. And I'm not even sore today(!), but am taking a rest/recovery day today. I got in an 11-miler and felt damn good about it. Below is the run report, boring to anyone but me probably, but I'm logging it for my own reference and because I know that I need to work on pre and during-run nutrition so I want to remember stuff.

Saturday: Biked 39 miles at HR Avg. of 116, but legs felt pretty lousy...had Seujan scoop me and needed a short nap and a lot of food that afternoon.

Saturday night: Ate a LOT of heavily garlic-ed hummus (ok, and 2 beers), later than usual dinner time (9 p.m. or so), at the Elysian. Thirsty during the night, felt the garlic.

Sunday a.m.: Up at 7:00....had one big cup of coffee with goop and an oatmeal raisin clif bar.

Run was from Seward Park to a turn-around 5.5 miles out...measured on bike and car for distance/accuracy.

Run: Started one hour after the Clif Bar, about 8:20 a.m.

First 2 miles very easy: 20 minutes, HR at 135 at mile 2

Took HR up to about 143-146; comfortable working pace.

Mile 4.25 - 5. 25 was about 9:40 at 143 bpm

Mile 5.75 - 6.75 took the HR up to 158 (AT) as instructed by Cheryl: Mile time 8:40

HR back to 143 -145 the rest of the run

Had one sip of water at mile 8

Stomach started feeling lousy between mile 8-9...

Finished 11 miles in 1:44:55. Avg. HR = 146

NOTES: Try something other than a Clif Bar prior to the run and/or eat it 90 minutes prior, not an hour. I'd intended to try Clif Blocks during the run, but stomach felt lousy...will be getting a fuel belt to experiment more with hydration and nutrition WHILE running. This was the 8th day in a row since the last rest day and I logged just under 15 hours of workouts in those 8 days (3 swim, 3 bike--one of which was VERY easy, 3 run, 2 weights).

All coached up and ready to roll...

Met with my coach this morning after a good swim team workout to start on my year training and race plan leading up to Ironman and I'm all charged up...since I received an extra helping of the "Planning Gene" at birth (when they gave me 2 left brain halves taped together and had me skip the right brain line at the checkout altogether), seeing a year's worth of concrete details and a neat-and-tidy plan on a piece of paper makes me quite happy. In addition, I have to/get to do a running AT (anaerobic threshold) test tomorrow...I know my AT for biking, but not for running, so this will fuel my detail and numbers fire for planning all kinds of structured workout activities that require minimal creativity/guesswork. Whoo-hoo! Numbers! Details! Chop- chop! I was telling Jeff yesterday on a nice bike ride (gorgeous sunny afternooon in Snohomish/Everett) that I really admire and respect creative-zen types (such as Tatyana, see her blog for definition of what I mean)...I like having those people in my life and really appreciate them...but I'm wired SO differently. It's interesting. Anyway...

Since my running is coming up, the Seattle half marathon (Nov. 26) is now on the radar as a possible "C" level race (i.e. do it dang slow and maybe even practice walking), with the Tucson half marathon remaining an "A" two weeks afterwards on Dec 10. I've always coveted the very-popular long sleeved dri-fit shirts they give out at the Seattle Half (Seujan has enough of them to have one for every day of the week, I think), so the idea is gaining appeal...will decide on that one within the next month.

In unrelated news, I caved and bought some new shoes for work/winter earlier this week...however, I can't bring myself to put on shoes requiring socks for anything other than biking and running yet. I'm holding on and wearing my chaco sandals for the gazillionth day in a row again today...long live visible pedicures and summer shoes. I am hanging on as long as possible!!

It's all relative

So this morning was my "long run day," and I'm almost to the point of considering that I might gradually be becoming an endurance athlete. Maybe. Mostly because I think my distances are getting long enough now that I'll have to stop doing long runs on Monday mornings due to 2 major things I can't control (grr): darkness and having to work for a living. Anyway, the distance thing is all relative, I guess...as Seujan ran 2 and a half hours yesterday and then had no trouble having more energy to burn and easily going shopping with me afterwards... I felt pretty dang wiped all morning after today's run and my right hamstring is still a little cranky. I think I went about 10 miles...around Lake Union with an add-on up Eastlake to the Howe Street stairs, through Interlakken, and back down Boyer: 1 hour, 36 minutes, 30 seconds. Despite going through some of my favorite routes, it felt like a damn long time and in the last 2 miles or so I was seriously questioning the whole Ironman idea. Good thing they already have my $500 and I really want the swag...and possibly the I.M. tatoo.

I generally think that running with an ipod is a bad idea...mostly for safety reasons...but I may reconsider.

I meet with my coach on Thursday to update training plans, and am guessing I'm ahead of the game for the half marathon on December 10 in Tucson...after which the really hard stuff starts and the next goal will be a full marathon in the spring.

Did I mention today was the first day for running gloves? Granted, I was the only one out there with them on, but it was 45 degrees and I think that's COLD! The second shirt was overkill, I'll admit, but the gloves were a good idea.