Mermaid morning

Ah, those 3 words I love to hear, "Record heat today..." I could kiss the weatherman!

With the clear and sunny forecast (finally! Seasonal suicide tendencies averted just in time!) on the way, I emailed the unofficial Mermaid Captain, Karin, yesterday to see if I could lure her away from her pool workout to swim in the lake this morning. Hm, she was the 2nd person this week who accused me (oh, wait, I mean complimented me) on being a "bad influence" and tempting people into races and workouts. Thankyew, thankyewverymuch. Karin worked her captain powers and rallied Liz and Tatyana, so the 4 of us met at 5:45 a.m. at Madison Beach. It was the first swim of the year with Mt. Rainier and the sun smiling on the water. Oh, YEAH, this is why I live here! We swam to the yellow house and back...perfect morning!

Didn't blog yesterday, so catching up a little...Did weights and hill repeats on the bike (with its newly installed computer...kind of a buzzkill to see mph and cadence for a hill repeat day, but whatever!).

I rode over to Madrona and did it 5 times...measured from the crosswalk at the bottom to Pine St. at the top (.85 miles). I didn't exactly hold a consistent pace through the 5 hills-- and honestly, the last 2 felt kind of shabby. But being out in the sun makes everything fun, so I mostly just got it done and relished the fact that I was sweating in the sun while wearing only one layer. And I also thought about the fact that this workout will pay off later...hopefully, during the next race.

Sidebar: My training plan calls for a "mini tri" on the same day as the Seafair triathlon...I may buck up and do a sprint race...even though a $65 entry fee feels a little steep....toying with the idea...

Bike Hill Repeats:

4ish mile warm up

Hills:

1. 5:33, Avg HR: 149

3:30 recovery

2. 5:43, Avg HR: 147

3:31 recovery

3. 5:50, Avg HR: 149

3:34 recovery

4. 5:54, Avg HR: 149

3:46 recovery

5. 5:59, Avg HR: 149

3:36 recovery

Moderate ride home: 6.5 miles, 26 min.

Fireworks shmireworks

Yesterday was a pretty mellow and needed rest day...strangely unstructured, but turned into a great day and a fun evening with a new friend, followed by neighbors' loud stupid fireworks (bah humbug, I know, I get cranky about loud things that happen past my bedtime). Debris rained on the roof and scared the dogs...good times.

Today was a holiday for most people (the people with "real" jobs), but I had 2 workouts and 2 clients, so I was happily busy again after yesterday's chillfest.

Since I'm housesitting on the north end, I started the day with a tempo run at Greenlake...another double loop for mental toughness. The task was 5 miles with 3 miles tempo in the middle. I took splits for each mile as it was a bit of a "field test" to ballpark my AT. By the end of the first hard mile, I had a lousy sideache...pretty sure I just hadn't hydrated well yesterday (story of my life)...fought it the rest of the run, but managed to keep the pace hard. It was not fun while I was doing it, but somehow it got fun in retrospect (isn't that what they say about childbirth? Still not interested in that one, but I kinda get it on a small scale) when I looked at my pace stats...all 3 of the tempo miles were just under 8 minutes. I always think I "should" be running 8 minute miles as that was my usual moderate pace in college when I trained for soccer...I did realize today while thinking about that, that I'm twice the age I was as a senior in college. But I don't care, dammit, 8 minute mile pace should still be my norm and I'm stickin' to it whether I get a sideache and trip on my tongue or not.

I was supposed to have 3 cilents today, but the latest one bailed so I had more time this afternoon to get in a swim. I thought about going to the lake, but the clouds hadn't burned off yet, so I went to the gym... figured it was good to do some speedwork in the pool anyway. The forecast is (finally! Maybe the summer gods are back on the job) really good for the rest of the week, so I figured this will be my only pool swim this week. Nice to go to the gym on a holiday...free street parking and had my own lane in the pool. Sweet!

5 mile run:
1 mile warm up: 9:04, HR 139
3 miles Tempo:
7:57, HR = 163
7:59, HR = 162
7:56, HR = 168
.1 mile walk
1 mile moderate 8:47, HR = 158

2700 yard swim
42 minutes

Hit by the brick and hit it back

This weekend finds me in Dr. Doolittle double dogsitting mode...I have the pug until tomorrow and he & I are bunking with 2 other dogs at their house in the north end. The good news is that there's lots of cable, a big backyard where I hosted a BBQ this evening, and a hot tub that I'm heading into before bed...I'm feeling happily wiped from a killer brick today and another good training week.

Yesterday was a lake swim day...I got up at 5:00am and it was raining and crappy...again. I threw my shampoo in the car thinking, "maybe I should just go swim at the gym..." then realized that it's really pansy to skip a lake swim because it's raining. I bucked up and it proved to be a really good decision. The rain let up and the water was really calm. I had a really good swim with my friend, Karin, who is much faster than I am. She had raced really hard at the Canada swim the morning before, so she was in recovery mode and it worked really well to swim together.

Today was brick day...I have to say my enthusiasm was not super high again. The weather was crappy and I felt a little body tired from the week. I watched the first half of the Germany - Argentina World Cup game in the leather chair with the pug and my coffee and really wanted to stay there for the rest of the game...and maybe Wimbledon, too. But...got my butt in gear. Just like yesterday, a good decision.

The brick was a 30 mile bike + 5 mile run. I based myself at Seward Park as I wanted to do 2 laps of the park for my run. I hate doing 2 laps of anything, but that's what the run will be for the race in 4 weeks, so I wanted the mental practice of the double loop slog.

I biked around Mercer Island and some extra on Lk Wa Blvd to get the 30 mile ride. My legs were feeling it within 5 miles, but it did get a bit better as I kept going. I always love to ride Mercer Island. On the way back over the I-90 bridge I reached for my Power Bar in the bento box...note to self: don't reach into your bento box with full fingered gloves...on the bridge...when your keys are in it. Clang...keys hit the pavement. I had to circle back, stop, and pick them up...thank GOD they clanged on the pavement and didn't splash into the lake...holy crap. Spent a few minutes thinking about what a nightmare it would have been if my keys had gone to the salmon and being thankful they didn't. I kept an OK pace, but I was a little nervous about the run. However, if I say so myself, I kinda rocked it. I did a quick transition and hit the Seward Park path going counter clockwise. I was supposed to keep tempo pace, but purposefully didn't look at HR or pace on the GPS...just wanted to go by RPE and see what happened. At the end of the first loop I decided to take my split and see how the first loop compared to the second. I wasn't exactly trying to negative split, but was curious about whether I would/could at least hold pace and not get slower. By the end of the second loop, I was playing that mental game one plays with oneself (OK the one I play with myself) when the fuel light is going off in the car...do I slow down and conserve what's left of the fuel or just hammer down and hope to reach the gas station and relieve the anxiety ASAP. No surprise that I generally go for the latter of those 2 strategies. I didn't sprint the end by any means (felt more like "last mile, hashed mile" than "last mile, fast mile," but I got it done and, in fact, did negative split it. My average pace on the run was an 8:14 minute mile pace and, for me, that's freakin' fast. I was really proud of this brick, especially since I wasn't exactly jonesing to do it. To celebrate, I took myself out for a soy latte recovery drink and took my bike to the shop to get it a new computer (mine's been dead for a year).

Things I learned today: I can eat both Clif Bars and Power Bars on the bike and run well...and I probably could have eaten a bit more of both. I should plan for nutrition on the run (didn't bring anything to carry for the run and coulda used some gatorade), my knee and hamstring feel better when I run off the bike than when I run cold (although the knee was pissed after the brick). I should not mess with my bento box on the bridge. I can do half a ride and an entire run without a bathroom stop if I'm too lazy and stubborn to stop even though I have to pee. And there's always more in the tank than you think. I knew that last one already but it's always good to have more physical evidence.

Brick:
30.3 mile ride:
1:53
Avg HR: 122
Avg Pace: 16.0mph

5 mile run
41:12
(lap 1 = 20:55, lap 2 = 20:16)
Avg HR: 156
Max HR: 168
Avg pace: 8:14!!!!! Yeah, baby.

Subdued, dude

Yesterday I left Otto and Olive and moved to my next dog sitting gig, with Bugsy, the senior citizen curmudgeon pug. After getting pulled around the neighborhood all week by the other 2, this is a definite (and, OK, welcomed) change of pace. If this guy had a puppy pedometer, he'd be hard pressed to register a few hundred steps per day...he gets carried like a football up and down stairs and lifted to the couch; not a bad deal. He's a pretty subdued dude.
I tend to love old guys, especially cranky ones, so I love hanging with Bugsy (and find his little underbite charming, even when he can't see who I am and snaps it at me).

So anyway...catching up...yesterday I swam with the impromptu mini masters' group at Medgar Evars. It was a good butt-kicking and I was glad I had a swim-only day and that the workout was done early.

Today was a run and bike day...I had a good 6 mile run this morning and felt the knee and back a bit. The work day was busy (14 x mini massages at Seattle Magazine) and I would have liked to hang with Bugsy on the couch afterwards....but the power of that color-coded piece of paper is strong and it got me out on the bike. My knee hurt more this afternoon, my back was stiff, and it was in the 60's and showery...I was right up there on the curmudgeon scale myself. But the ride was just an hour and not speedwork, so it went by quick. Afterwards, I used the foam roller on my IT bands, had 2 Aleve, smeared on the Arnica, and then threw beer (of course, to complete the AAA remedy of Aleve+Arnica+Amber for the knee and hamstring) at the problem while having a great dinner with my friend, Jason, whose birthday was today.

6 mile run

55:35

Avg HR: 144

16 mile bike

1:03

Avg HR: 122

Tempo--oooohhh ride

Today's workout was a tempo ride...just 2x 5 miles, which sounds easy enough, but the legs felt heavy from the time I got up today. I was dragging all morning and not exactly looking forward to the ride. I'd actually thought that maybe I shouldn't do a "hard" ride when my legs were tired from running intervals yesterday and then I realized that oooooh, I bet that was exactly the point. I also remembered that oooooh yeah, biking hard is more difficult to wrap my head around than running or swimming hard. The tougher stuff on the bike is stuff I'd never do without somebody telling me to...so...the piece of paper with the training schedule got me out there to do something other than junk miles.

I warmed up by riding a little in each direction on Lk Wa Blvd to strategize how to do the first TT into the wind so I could go with the wind on the second one. I never figured out which direction the wind was actually blowing, but I'm pretty sure it was a headwind in both directions :)

Of course I was quite happy to have done the ride when it was over...and most of it felt pretty good, but I was definitely limping home the last mile or so. I was also trying to indirectly figure out my AT for cycling and am pretty sure it's between 138-142 bpm.

Tempo Ride:

7.5 mile warm up
5 miles Tempo: 15:15 (Avg speed 19.7)
10 min recovery
5 miles Tempo: 15:37 (Avg. speed 19.2)
20 min recovery

Total: 24.5 miles, 1:28

Seeing Double

While being fully aware of what a nerdy thing it is to love schedules and calendars...I must admit I'm quite happy to have gotten that color-coded training schedule last night, and I happily started following my marching orders from the coach today. Well, most of them. I kinda cheated a little. But I can rationalize it 100% (and I feel good about it).

Today was a double...an interval run and a swim. The interval run was to be 8 x 400's. I needed to make sure the dogs ran off some energy early and I also wanted to do my workout, so we met in the middle. I drove Olive & Otto down to Seward Park and ran them one loop for my warm up...then threw them in the car and ran another loop with the GPS so I could measure the 400's. I ended up getting in 6 x 400's...and they were hard...so I'm calling it good (while trying to supress the thought that 6 is 75% of 8 and that 75% would be a "C" if I were getting a grade, and I mostly prefer to get A's...oh god, shut up eternal chattering mind!).

I was thinking about another outdoor pool workout at Colman today, but (fortunately) had to change things up to accomodate a client, so I swam at 24 Hr Fitness late morning. Had my own lane, so no complaints.

Not much else to report...day of doubles = 2 laps of Seward Park with 2 dogs, had 2 clients, did 2 workouts...a nice day of pairs... If I have time tonight, perhaps I'll "on demand" the 2 episodes of Friday Night Lights that I haven't seen.

Interval Run:
2.4 mile warm up (22 min)
6 x 400 (with walk/jog recovery of .10 - .15 between each)
1:41
1:41
1:39
2:06
1:40
1:41
(max HR on these was 168)

Total: 5 miles, 46:29

2600 yard (2400m) swim: 42 min.

Rock 'n Roll...

I spent the morning unexpectedly on the periphery of the Seattle Rock 'n Roll marathon...

The dogs woke up amped and a little bonkers from the get-go this morning. They were twitchy and ready to blow off some steam at 6:30 a.m. (they did not care that I started the Pride weekend beer-for-dinner regime last night). I wasn't in the mood to have them pull my arms half out of the sockets walking (again), so I drove them down toward Seward Park for a run. Most of the roads to the park were closed...took me a few minutes to figure out that the Rock 'n Roll marathon was this morning and the route goes by the park and along Lake Washington. Luckily, we could weave through the water station set-up that was happening and the loop in the park was pretty deserted. We ran about 4 miles out-and-back in the park and came back out just in time to see the lead pack of the marathoners float by behind the lead motorcycles...always awe-inspiring to see elite runners, I love it. Our little 4-miler adequately flattened Olive and Otto for today, I think...shew.

After breakfast I went for a bike ride around Mercer Island...had to bob and weave a bit to get to the I-90 bridge due to the whole marathon cluster-mess and road closures, but once I got on the bridge, it was fun to ride alongside the mere mortals (those elites from earlier were long gone) who were running down the express lanes on miles 10-11 of their marathon...it was just fine with me to be pedalling, not running. I had a nice loop around the island and on the way back across the bridge, I ran into Seujan who was running the same direction as I was cycling...I slowed down and we chatted across the bridge for a bit before I finished my ride.

I got in about 12 hours of training this week...pretty sure that's the most/best I've done in a week in about 2 years. NICE to be back! Recovered by watching the US tank in the World Cup game (augh, those dudes should take a lesson from the US Women on how to WIN in the World Cup, fo sho)...and am ready for more Pride festivities and a rest day tomorrow!

4 mile run
36:01
Avg HR: 138
Max HR: 155

24.75 mile bike
1:42:30
Avg HR: 117
Max HR: 152

Back in black...neoprene, that is

Finally! This morning was my first open water swim of the year in Lake Washington...it was cloudy and cool out, but the water was flat and it was a great swim. A few of the braver and tougher swimmers have been in for weeks, but the water temp. was 59 a few days ago and I've been waiting for non-hypothermic conditions...or just a few more days that impersonate summer. But...Julie sent out the all-call email this week to the usual pod and this morning I was back in black..wetsuit, insulated cap, and socks...and was actually just fine. A little brisk on the entry, but we were in for 45 minutes and I wasn't even shaking when I got out. Many of the usual suspects were there and it was great to catch up at the Essential Bakery after the swim. I also had a great accupuncture & massage session today and my back is feeling MUCH better.

Didn't blog yesterday, but had a good early morning run on kinda tired legs and felt pretty good. Met with the coach, too, yesterday, and will soon have the color coded plan for the next 4 weeks till my race in hand...whoop!

Run:
6.25 miles
58:37
Avg HR: 140
Max HR: 153

It's all fun and games...till somebody eats the toothpaste

Meet Otto, the 2-year old French bulldog...

And his pal, Olive...

I am on day 5 of an 11 day dog sitting gig with these 2 innocent-looking pups...and, honestly, most of the time they are pretty dang cool and easy to hang with. However, their humans put them into my care with a few caveats, the main one being that, well, they get into everything if you're not careful... especially if they don't have enough exercise, human time and are left to their own devices (which, obviously, I can relate to). I have been careful to keep gym bags up high, powerbars and edibles stashed, and shoes/clothes on top of the armoir in the room where I'm sleeping. However, I appear to have slipped yesterday...

I'd picked up some groceries and left a new toothbrush and some toothpaste (both of which were still in their wrappers/boxes) on the kitchen table. Oops, my bad. I was in and out during the day, and went out last night to freeload some Showtime at some friends (sidebar, the season finale of "Nurse Jackie" was awesome and the jig is UP...next season will be great). A few times in the afternoon I kept wondering, "Where the hell did I put that toothpaste?" as it wasn't in the bathroom or in the kitchen where I left it...hmmm. I got home about 10:00 last night and let the dogs out for the last time of the day. When I called them in, Otto had a shredded banana peel in his mouth. Nice. Then Olive came trotting in behind him toting this:

I investigated further and found the staging area of the crime in the living room....

So...this morning the 3 of us were at Seward Park by 6:30 a.m. and I ran the toothpaste out of them...boot camp for toothpaste eaters, that's what I'm talkin' about. I was hell bent on making them too tired to misbehave today and it worked...we did basically a tempo run, some of which was at about an 8:30 pace (for me these days, that's pretty fast). By the last half mile, Otto was actually not pulling me and was panting pretty hard. HA!

The dogs have been chillaxing since early this morning (victory for the human!). I didn't have any clients today (well, other than them), so I went for a good long bike ride...did the north end of Lake WA and got in 43 miles...finally in shorts and a short sleeved jersey....sweet! Can't wait for that familiar ugly biker tan and got a start on it, I think. My legs were ready to be done at about mile 30, but I kept throwing food at the problem and finished pretty well. Perfect day for it.

Early run:

3.5ish miles: 30 min (didn't have GPR/HR)

Midday ride:

43.4 miles

2:52

Avg HR: 119

Avg pace: 15.3

Almost open water time...

So it's almost July and the only open water swim I've done this year was a 23 minute attempt at a campground in upstate NY last week...just haven't felt tough enough for Lake Washington yet. But I'm edging closer and am at least swimming outdoors now (I know, lame, I really do have every intention of getting in the lake by July 4 if not sooner).

I went out to West Seattle for lap swim at Colman Pool today and was pretty happy with the vitamin D production. I could use another 20 degrees, but summer is slowly coming around. The masters' workout at Colman on Sunday was kind of grim... in the 50s and raining; the poor lifeguards were wearing parkas...today was a huge improvement on that scene, for sure! Really nice to be outside and warm in the big pool.

My legs were a little hungover from that brick yesterday (OK, it kind of felt like I was pulling telephone poles behind me in the water, I'll admit it), but the sunshine made it all good and I basically did an LSD swim with a few 50s at the end.

I strained my lower back loading a truck at the end of the GYGIG ride about 10 days ago and it's yelling quite a bit louder than my hamstring and my knee put together....It hurt a lot overnight and a bit in the water today...working on scheduling accupuncture and massage by the end of the week.

3000m swim, 1:00

ReEntry...

I have not blogged in at least 6 months, and haven't raced since Troika, almost 2 years ago...after that best-of-my-life race, the injury parade started, everything else in my life flipped, flopped, spun and landed....then rinsed and repeated. But you (the 3 of you who might possibly still check this damn-near dead blog) know all of that.

In the past 2 years, I've continued to subscribe to "Triathlete" magazine, but several issues went unread as I didn't even feel worthy of calling myself a triathlete...and the 8+ months of no-running made it downright painful to see "Runner's World" arrive in the mail. Slowly, but surely, though, with several one-step-forward-and-I-hurt-myself-again stages, I think I'm reentering my tritahlon life.

Last week I gave my 2007 Ironman Finisher T-shirt away to someone important to me who's doing her first tri this summer...I'm hoping it still has a little motivational mojo in it, although it almost seems like another lifetime since I did IMC 3 years ago. I kind of figured it's time to get back out there and get create some new mojo...guess we'll see.

Anyway, my hamstring, knee, and most recently my back, are not at 100%, but I've been jonesing to race and I gotta get my life back. I mean, what's the meaning of life if not to spend time, money,and energy to earn ill-fitting ugly race T-shirts, right? And how else am I supposed to deal with everything else in my life if I don't have a color-coded training schedule to keep me grounded? (sidebar: rhetorical, don't answer that one, I know I'm supposed to learn meditation and yoga, but I'm continuing to resist). So...yesterday I renewed my USAT membership and registered for the Federal Escape Olympic distance Tri on July 31...and today I did my first (kind of kick ass if I say so myself) brick in god knows how long (boring stats to follow, of course). I also re-hired my coach, and while on the bike today, I decided it was time to resurrect this blog. I mean, let's face it, I LOVE Facebook and am happily addicted, but I'm really a little too long-winded for those little updates. Plus, my mom quit Facebook, so I feel somewhat obligated to get this thing up and running again.

So...off I go...reclaiming my triathlete identity, purchasing Aleve, Arnica, and beer with wild abandon (that's a recovery trifecta for 40-something injured athletes if I've ever seen one) and happily scheduled to meet with the coach on Thursday to get that tri-colored training calendar I love so much! Bring it!

Today's Brick:

31 mile bike, south end of the Lake
2:00:30
Avg pace: 15.6mph
Avg HR:121
Max HR: 151

2.3 mile run
20:00
Avg pace: 8:40
Avg HR: 147
Max HR: 158

Social Networking is not for sissies

Yes, I know I have not blogged in about 2 months. Again.

Frankly, I've been a little webbed-out lately and the blog has fallen to last place among the other self-promoting online presences and the cat-herding they require. I just completed my 3rd month as a small business owner and, in additon to this blog, I now have a website for the biz (www.ruthfrobe.com), a fan page on Facebook, and a Twitter account...these, of course, supplement profiles and professional networks on LinkedIn and Biznik. As of today, I've managed to get the Facebook Fan page to talk to/through my Tweets, but the rest of the cats are not completely herded. I'm sure "there's an app for that," and my love affair with my iphone grows daily.

This I have learned: Social networking is not for sissies.

However, I'm getting some tips here and there ...went to one workshop this past week on "The 10 tips for Marketing a Small Business," (guess what she said: use LinkedIn, Facebook, Twitter, and Biznik...cool, I'm on the right track) and another lecture by one of the inventors of Twitter, Dom Sagolla. He, of course, is about 12 years old (ok, maybe double that, but not much more) and talked about his 21 month old son who has-- and easily manages --an iphone and a laptop. Fortunately, Dom's presentation included a take-away copy of his book, "140 characters, a style guide for the short form" to coach my Tweeting. This book (yes, the irony of a book in actual print about using Twitter and Facebook was acknowledged by the author) is now on my stack of reading material with "Book Yourself Solid," "Outliers," and the book Seujan's mom recommended, Magic Johnson's "32 Ways to be a Champion in Business." I'm hoping that one has a strategy for how to manage 32 business building tasks at once.

The other small business owner trick that's not for sissies is improving the actual product as well as the promotion of it. That aforementioned book list also includes "Job's Body," (been trying to get to that one for a year)... and I also went to another workshop this past week on "Navigating the suboccipitals." Last week there was a skills calibration for the Washington State Sports Massage Team and I'm now on board with them and worked at the Seattle Marathon last Sunday (super fun). Believe it or not, I actually had a few clients in between all the training for how to get them and treat them this past week.

Massage School was great, but the business instruction was a little short on how to get and keep the plates spinning once you're "out there." I need a personal assistant. Oh yeah, that'd be me. And a librarian....oh yeah, that'd be me. And an accountant...think that's me again (did I mention my first conversation with the Dept. of Revenue on Friday as my first submission to the State Tax people was a little, um, tardy? Oops, all cleared up now though)...and a Marketing/Social Networking Director...K, think I'll pick up that job, too. But hey, bottom line is that what I don't need --and don't have--- is a boss or a requirement to have my butt in a cube every day from 8 to 5. THAT works for me and I'm digging it.

In unrelated and nicely familiar territory, I'm happily flattened from my longest run in 14 months. I did 11 miles today...10 running + 1 mile walk/run. I'm kind of on strike from the bike these days and the running has been fun and coming back again...not totally hammie pain free, but just being able to DO it is great...

Follow me on Twitter @FrobeLMP!

Tullamore dew drowns sting of crime

Usually, I'd be writing an entire blog entry about how we snuck in a (last? I hope not) open water swim in the dark and cold Lake Washington this morning...however, the sting of being a victim of wallet theft yesterday was far worse than the October lake water...

So yesterday was the last day of my first month "in business," and I was pretty psyched to have 2 new clients (a wife and husband) at 2:00 and 4:00 p.m. I was about 45 minutes into the first client's 60-minute session when I heard the little ring of the outer office door. Monica is out of town, and I was the only person there, so I excused myself from the client to quickly stick my head out and see who was there. A girl, probably early 20's, was standing there and said her phone was broken and she needed to use ours...my first impulse (yes, I read the book "Blink," but apparently I am one of the people he talks about who discounts a first gut reaction) was to think, "yeah, this is some kind of story..." but I wanted to get her out of there quickly and return to my client, so I said that yes, she could use the phone in the back desk area. (And, sidebar, this is in Wallingford, not exactly a high crime neighborhood for chrissake). As I showed her where the phone was, I impulsively grabbed my iphone off the counter (at least I paid attention to this gut impulse), shoved it into my pocket, and went back into my session. I heard the girl in the office area on the phone for a minute...then as she left, she yelled, "Thanks!" and I said "You're welcome!" Um, well, I didn't mean THAT welcome.

Within the next/last couple minutes of the session, I was already remembering that my wallet had been sitting in my open bag on the desk and had a sinking feeling. Sure enough...as soon as I was finished with the client, I went right to the desk and realized the reason for the enthusiastic "thanks!" she'd yelled upon her exit...bitch stole my wallet. AUGH!!!!!!!!!!! Of course, immediate panic and yelling of the "F" word a few dozen times ensued after which I tried to call Seujan...who was unavailable (and really, what could she have done about it anyway...) and I tried to calm myself down.

I had just enough time (and, fortunately the iphone and, therefore, google) before the 2nd client's appointment to call the police, stop my credit cards, stop my debit cards, and start a list of the other things in my wallet that need replacing (gym card, Starbucks card, AAA card, health insurance card...blah blah)...and simultaneiously re-set the massage table & sheets. As the 2nd client walked in, I was still on the last phone call and over the phone said "Nice to meet you...please fill out the health history...on the phone with Visa for stolen credit card...." Somehow, I managed to chill back down enough to give a decent massage (well, I think/hope so anyway), though I really thought I was losing it there for a little while.

I was supposed to meet my friend, Dave, right after work for a quick happy hour and to see Drew Barrymore's new roller derby movie. I'd gotten free tickets last week and was psyched to take Dave, Mr. Lifetime Roller Derby Fan, to the movie (and stupid thief left the movie passes in my bag when she took the wallet so this was still an option). However, in between all the calls to Visa and the 2 clients, I'd placed a few hysterical texts and messages to Dave letting him know what had happened, and he was already parked at Murphy's bar enjoying his first beer and poised to buy me drinks. He'd already decided when I arrived that we would just have drinks, calm down, catch up....and see the movie next week. He truly is my forever boyfriend! I ranted to the waitress who (thankfully, didn't card me and) recommended a shot (which Dave quickly approved and shared) to chase my beer. I learned that Tullamore Dew is a pretty smooth spirit...note to self. After a couple beers and a couple games of darts, I felt much better...went by to see Seujan for a little extra grounding and still got home in time to get plenty of sleep before the dark cool morning swim.

Today I learned (thanks to Duncan) that you can renew/replace a driver's license online and avoid the DMV...of course this requires a credit card purchase--if you still have a credit card which I do not-- of $15 (thanks, Seujan!).

Nice that good people always seem to show up and help fix things, especially when NOT good ones screw them up!!

Back on the RUN!

Yeah, I know...I said I was gonna blog more often and, well, I fell down on the job again.

It has been at least 8 months since I got to say, "I went for a run this morning..." and today I just might say it ALL DAY LONG! Yeah, look out, I'm a runner...I made it all the way around Green Lake this morning (that's 3 full miles) without stopping/walking...and in less than 30 minutes. What could have been viewed as a pansy rest day a couple years ago is now a major win.

I'm thinking what may have helped to make this possible in a wierd kind of way is that I've been sick as a dog this week...I lost my voice on Saturday and have been coughing, snotting, and slogging around with low energy all week (and, of course, gave the crud to Seujan, winning me lots of girlfriend points). Anyway, I've barely worked out this week--yesterday I walked downtown and feared I might not make it back up the hill without laying on the sidewalk-- so maybe the inactivity (and the Aleve I took for my pounding headaches) gave the dysfunctional hamstring more rest than usual? I was mostly concerned with the coughing, spitting, "farmer's blowing," and trying to breath without wheezing this morning, so the hamstring was kinda in the background. Whatever, I'll take it...and I guess I'll see later whether or not I'll pay for it.

In unrelated news, I'm slowly building up the massage practice...I'm now doing massage on Mondays/Fridays at Seattle Fitness gym downtown and am trying to network and build a client base for the space I'm sharing with my friend (the acupuncture guru, Monica) in Wallingford. Last weekend, I did several hours of volunteer sports massage for a team at the MS 150 bike ride (way fun!) and on Tuesday, I did 4 massages at the "Massage for the Cure" event at Massage Envy. I was fighting the cold and praying I wasn't contagious for that one and, even after being embarrassed and apologetic for coughing on my first client, she asked for my business card, so I guess I did OK. I haven't received any "Dammit, you gave me your cold!" hate mail from her, so I'm hoping she might become a regular client...who knows.

I'm thinking I need to get a website up and in order, but haven't quite made that happen yet...

Shameless self promotion

So....I got my business cards yesterday and am strategizing how best to wallpaper the city of Seattle with them to drum up some clients (schedule now, schedule now...like my subliminal messaging?). My pal, Shannon, in San Francisco, did the graphic design of my cards and created the little "RF" logo. He is a rock star and did a fine job, dontcha think? He also did them in my favorite colors, blue & green...I'm digging them.

Front of card:

I've signed a one-year lease for the new practice space with my classmate (and now business partner, how wierd does that sound?), Monica, and paid my first/last month's rent, so I'm set to get things rolling Sept. 1.

Tatyana, ever a member of my support staff, scheduled an appointment with me for September 1, so I've officially scheduled a paying client in the new space on my first day! A journey of a thousand miles...and all that stuff.

Until September (and yeah, I do know that's about one more week, deep breath), I'm trying to get a few more of my ducks in a row, calm myself down from intermittent freak-outs (holy shit, I'm opening my own business!), and well...allowing myself to enjoy the end of the summer a bit. Since wrapping up work on Danskin and the Portland Century last weekend, I've been swimming in the lake and on my bike a good bit this past week and, although I've been up by 7 a.m. every day, none of the wake-ups were due to an alarm clock...that's been pretty sweet.

Today, Seujan and I did a really nice 40 mile bike ride from Log Boom to Marymoor, down W. Lake Sammamish to Newport, through Bellevue, and over Juanita. It was a nice, sunny ride and she was cycling pretty mellow and, mercifully, didn't flatten me. Later, we're going for dinner and to the Storm game...nice weekend and great that she doesn't have homework this weekend and we can both relax a bit!

(schedule now, schedule now, schedule now...)

What happened to summer???

I'm getting ready to move back to the Shoebox after 10 days of dog sitting in West Seattle...although I think I've visited my apartment daily for clothes/gear/bike/etc., it seems like a long time since I've been there! It's been nice to be in a big house with cute dogs, a LOT of cable, and, well...having the housekeeper come on Friday didn't suck, either. But the back-and-forth running around can be a bit of a hassle and it will be good to go home.

Yesterday I biked to the finish of Seujan's 13 mile trail race up at Cougar Mountain (as in I biked UP Lakemont to the trailhead/finish line). I've been riding hills a lot lately, it seems, and yesterday was another great ride, despite the fact that I started with 2 shirts and arm warmers on...and in August that is really unacceptable. Seems somebody fast-forwarded the calendar from the blissful heatwave of we had going a week or so ago right through August and September and landed us in October. Um, can I please have some August back??? 60's, cloudy, blech...I don't love it.

Today I went for a swim at an indoor public pool in West Seattle...the weather was crappy again and I didn't feel like driving back and forth to Seattle to get in the lake, so I went to a lap swim. I haven't been in a pool in a few weeks now and I have to say I haven't missed it much. I got through 2,700 yards (a mile and a half), but it was boring, the water was way too hot and chlorine-ish, and I had to share a lane. Desperate times call for desparate measures and I was glad to have a pool option, but I really belong in the lake for another month or 2.

Later today Seujan and I have a date to go see the movie "Julie & Julia." I've been Jonesing to see it since the previews came out several weeks ago and, fortunately, Seujan has put aside her ambition to see the latest Harry Potter movie (zzzzz) to see this one with me. A friend of mine just posted this link on Facebook...a cool interview with Julia Child on NPR from 1989. Julia Child says that people are too afraid of cholesterol, fat, and food in general...I keep hearing that fat is not to be feared (including from one of my teachers at Cortiva, who is a naturopath) and, well, if Julia Child made it to a happy 91 years old, I might need to re-think my relationship with butter! TBD and movie review to follow...

Vanilla Boston Creme Pie...+ coffee?

Yesterday I was in a consumer focus group about coffee creamer...or, well, fake coffee chemicals that don't actually contain real creme, per se, but that people like me use in our coffee pretty much daily. The totally artificial stuff that Seujan and I refer to as "goop." Yeah, I've read the label and use the stuff anyway...and now, having been paid $80 to discuss the tasty toxin (ok, that's not proven, but it certainly can't be classified as a nutrient by any stretch) for less than an hour, my little habit has only been reinforced. Anyway, turned out that the objective of the focus group was to review some potential new vanilla flavors/combinations being considered by International Delight. There were a few that I might actually buy if they hit the local grocery shelf, but there were some that were just gross. Like Boston Creme Pie? Cheesecake? Vanilla cardomom? Chai Vanilla? Blech....I'll just stick with my hazelnut flavored corn syrup, please.

Other activities yesterday included doing hill repeats on the bike (only 3, but they kicked my butt) on Marine View Drive in West Seattle and going to a free seminar on Energy and Bodywork at Cortiva, presented by one of the best instructors I had this past year. Kind of fun to hang out at school as an "alumni" and get a little more free education. I had a little "awareness" moment when I got into the building and realized that one year ago, I don't think I had ever even been in that building...then I was there a LOT for several months...and now I've graduated. Pretty crazy what can happen in a year.

This morning was our swim group's annual bridge swim. Once a summer, Julie organizes us all and we meet under the I-90 bridge, swim a Looonnnngggg out-and-back, and then have a tailgate potluck breakfast. The last few lake swims have been pretty choppy, so swimming along the bridge (i.e. with the floating bridge as a wind buffer) made for nice calm water and a good swim, despite the cloudy lack-of-sunrise conditions. I was a little late getting in the water, but caught up with the group at the turn around...just in time to get dropped on the return trip anyway. I'm not exactly speed racer in the water this summer. We didn't go all the way to Mercer Island, but Duncan and I guesstimated that we swam somewhere between 2.5-2.75 miles. I was in the water for about an hour and 13 minutes. The air temperature has tanked this week, but the lake is still nice and warm!

Back after another blog-less month!

Looks like it's been another month since I've blogged...and, as of this weekend, I realized...it's been a full YEAR since I've done anything that required a bib number. Troika '09 was last weekend and I have not raced since Troika '08. Granted, I did a really great bike ride with Ann in North Bend last weekend (way fun) and I've got some other cool pieces of paper instead of bibs (like a massage school diploma/license and a business license), but...it's not the same. Sigh. Twice this week when I was wearing my Ironman sweatshirt, someone stopped and asked, "Did you do an Ironman??" out of the blue. I said that yes, I had done one 2 years ago...but it almost doesn't seem like I was inhabiting the same body when I did.

My stupid hamstring is still a pain in the ass...literally...and I'm pretty sure it's not just hamstring related at this point (the latest idea from my friend, Dawn, who has a similar thing is that it could be bursitis...who knows...the whole sciatic thing is a possibility, too...or maybe that I just haven't really really rested it...or trained through it correctly? Hell, I don't know). As per an idea from the coach (who I keep on retainer, but haven't officially consulted in way too long), I'm trying a little run/walk thing a few times per week on the treadmill. I'm running 1 minute/walking 1 minute, 10 times...with a little extra warm up and cool down I do 2 miles in 25 minutes. I can do the short run bouts, but it's not exactly comfortable (OK, it hurts). I know the whole thing is a little better than it was a few months ago as I can walk uphill now without having to walk backwards the whole time and I can do some parts of my bike ride in the aerobars, but...it's healing very very slowly. Last weekend's 60 mile ride with Ann was my longest ride of the year. A whole season of "junk miles" is, on rare occasions, kind of fun....but often it's just wierd.

Anyway...I think I've blogged less because it just makes me think about how I'm NOT blogging about training for anything. I'm cycling a pretty decent amount and have had some really really great swims in the lake, but there's no real training goal. Trying to see the silver lining, I must admit that despite the absence of training and races, there have been some other fun and interesting things happening. The big news of the last month was the super HOT record setting weather (whoo-hoo!)...I've been working on some cycling events including the Seattle Century-- which was a bit of a crazy day...I'm getting ready to launch my massage practice in September (spent 3 hours yesterday at the dept. of revenue learning about state taxes, giddyup)...and today I'm going to be in a focus group about fake coffee creamers ($80 to talk about CoffeeMate for an hour, sure, why not...pretty great that one of my bad nutritional habits will pay off).

I'm also dog-sitting in West Seattle for about 10 days, currently on day 7. This time I have 2 big dogs, Max and Zion. Max is an older yellow lab (apparently, I have a type) who lets me hug on him all the time--so sweet. The last time I sat for these dogs, Max was on a 2x per day feeding schedule and now he only gets fed once per day...of course, we know that I plan my own days around the periodic feedings of myself and Seujan (whether I'm training or not) and I find this one time a day bowl filling for Max a little tragic. Thus, I've been contributing to some bad doggie habits like allowing Max to hang out with me on the king sized bed watching "Nurse Jackie" on demand. He would prefer "All you can eat" food to all-you-can-eat cable, but he's getting through it and we're totally caught up on all of this season's episodes. With a few days left of HBO and Showtime, I need to maximize my opportunity and find some other trash to watch for the rest of the week.

Here are my roommates for the week....

This is Zion:

And this is Max:

I'm hereby re-commiting to more regular blogging...I do miss writing when I don't do it.

Lucky Foxy Belle

No, that's not my new stripper name (I'm not done with the current midlife crisis and career change quite yet so I can't move on to another one and well, I don't think that would be a viable vocation anyway, though it COULD be a good stripper name).

I'm dog sitting again...it's been a while! This time I'm sitting for a massage school classmate, Christine, and her husband who've gone sailing to Victoria.

This is Lucky, the 13 year old lab...super cute, super old, super sweet.

And below is Foxy Belle (seriously, I'm dogsitting for straight people, not gay men, though I didn't ask who may have named this one, maybe someone has a brother...). Foxy is 2 and, like most small dogs, "large and in charge" as far as attitude goes. There was a note about the possibility of "dingleballs" that could occur (doesn't sound so "foxy" to me, how about you?) and where the soap for such occasions might be...I'm hoping I can pretend I didn't see that note and/or any dingling things that could necessitate finding that soap (yikes, that's worse than dealing with a litter box, dontcha think?).

There's a cat around here, too...named Pixie...but we all know that I generally consider cats an after thought....except, now that I mention the cat topic, I need to admit that I've become almost-friends with Wally, Seujan's (kinda dog-ish and that's why I like him) cat. He's pretty cool...so perhaps I'll give this Pixie a chance.

So far, so good...just arrived a couple hours ago and we've all been fed (yes, the cat, too) and are relaxing for the evening. I'm here till Sunday.

50 miles for 50 states

So it seems I could be a candidate for having the most neglected blog ever...just realized it's been about a MONTH since I've updated it. Oops. When I let it go for a while, I start thinking that well...too much has happened to catch it up, it's all old news, and now there's not that much happening...I mean all the interesting stuff makes me too busy to blog and then when I have time I'm kinda boring. But...there were some cool things to report and today has been a stellar holiday, so I'm back.

OK...quick catch up on the last month: I finsished massage school (see photo above of my favorite classmate, Mari, and me at last Wednesday's graduation), I took (and passed) the massage licensing exam, I have made a few feeble---and not particularly successful or pain free---attempts at starting to maybe run but they're really to lame to even document, I supported Seujan at her 4th Ironman, and my I biked 4 of the last 6 days (140+ miles this week!). Oh, and I'm working on a few upcoming events, including the Seattle Century. And the weather has been beyond great the last week...lots of sun and I'm loving it!!

Today Seujan and I drove out to Enumclaw to bike the course of this coming September's Black Diamond Half Ironman, the next race on her list. It was nice to have the whole day free and to have a change of scenery...as much as I love riding Mercer Island, it is nice to get out of town and do something different. And it didn't hurt that there was almost NO traffic and no stoplights. We did manage to get a little off course on the first loop, but we never got truly lost. This summer, "riding together," has come to really mean just riding simultaneously as Seujan is uber-fit and I'm still struggling to get the hamstring functional and recover my cycling fitness. Fortunately, both of us are fine to ride alone and we end up in the same place within a few minutes of each other. After one of our route diversions today (OK, can I just say that Seujan over-shot a turn about 5 minutes after we discussed that we'd both be taking a left...and she had already dropped me, of course, but was in my sight, creating an uninvited interval for me as I watched my HR monitor go up and chased her down), we were backtracking on Kent Kangley road when a car just in front of us slowed slightly and a big black BEAR sprinted from our side of the street to the opposite side. Yeah, that's right, a bear!! A runner coming toward us commented on how fast the bear was running and I agreed whilethinking I was glad to be on 2 wheels and not 2 feet just in case...

Anyway, Seujan did a few more miles than I did in between the 25ish mile loops and we both went around the course again, ending up back at Nolte State Park a little after 2:00. I was at just over 48 miles and thought I should make a patriotic gesture in honor of the 4th of July and do 50 miles for 50 states. I was feeling pretty flattened and didn't feel like pedalling any more, but managed to get it done, probably because I knew I'd get to hop in the lake at the end and because I knew she had to do a brick and run after the ride. We both went for a brief post-ride dip in the lake and, after not getting invited to any of the barbeques going on by the lake but smelling all the grills raging in full force, we headed home (via 2 grocery stores for sustenance). It was a great day and a perfect way to spend the 4th of July!