Thanks to everyone for all the sweet, funny birthday wishes. Boy, it sure is different having a birthday on Facebook – I got so many messages, it was overwhelming!
To top off the wonderful day I had, Jeff surprised me with a Powertap before dinner out.
I was so excited with my new toy, the dogs had to join in the fun. Well, maybe it wasn’t fun for them.
And then we went to dinner together.
Thank you to everyone involved for making it such a nice day!
Not that Marit’s “Pony” song isn’t a great one to run to (it turns out it is!), but the chorus from Fort Minor’s “Remember The Name” is the one my brain seems to have keyed into this week and will be repeating in my head as I get my race head on this weekend.
This is ten percent luck, twenty percent skill
Fifteen percent concentrated power of will
Five percent pleasure, fifty percent pain
And a hundred percent reason to remember the name!
For whatever reason it resonates quite well with me when I think about racing.
In other news, I’m 32 today. I’m still not having any age-related freakouts (everyone I knew had one at 30 but I ran a marathon that day to celebrate instead). Maybe it’s because I feel like my life is only getting better each year? It is true though; especially since my mid-twenties, every year is a step closer to being the me I want to be, to the me that feels comfortable in her skin, and to the me that is happy just being me.
Try saying that 5 times fast.
In any event for your viewing pleasure, a retrospective look at the last 32 years!
Birth. This is what 27 hours of labor will do to you.
5 days old and already rolling my eyes at his jokes
The shaggy dog love came early
Will those 70s stripes be back in fashion one of these days?
Oy, the curly hair started early
So did the SciFi fan-dom
Look closely, Cat! Once upon a time, it wasn’t just about dogs!
Passing the black belt test while looking like the most intimidating midget out there
Too cool to acknowledge the awkwardness of adolescence.
Cleaning up at the graduation awards ceremony
The college years…crew team (yes, that is the same sweatshirt I am still seen wearing everywhere 15 years later)
Summer at home with the Cutest. Baby. Sister. Ever.
2nd half of college was also the sorority years. Don’t even ask me to try to remember what we were doing here.
College graduate – uh oh, what do you mean, “real world?”
About 4 years later started the dog years
Which inevitably led to the Jeff years
And the running years (crossing the finish line of my 1st 1/2 marathon)
And naturally progressed into the triathlon years (finished with my 1st tri)
I guess that means what comes next is the Ironyear!
Hockey season for me is essentially over. My team was knocked out of the playoffs last night. It’s times like these where I very much appreciate being raised as a Cubs fan because I know how to support and love my team, win OR lose. Unlike the win-or-we-don’t-watch fair-weather fans around here, I believe in sticking with my team through thick and thin. Here’s what you WON’T find me doing over the coming weeks:
They had a rough series, they didn’t get the bounces and they got outplayed. At the end of the day, they’re still my team, I still think they are awesome, and I’m grateful for all the fun and entertainment (because let us all remember, this really is just entertainment) they gave me this year.
Rock on, Sharks! See you in September!!!
My trial with Max went well this weekend – no amazing victories, no qualifying for Nationals (yet), but an accomplishment of the goals I had in mind. Since we have trialed very little in the past year, I had a few things I wanted for this trial: (1) contacts – I wanted to really work the contact equipment in a trial environment and reinforce the good thing we had going last year and (2) calm – trials are crazy and exciting and nerve-wracking and it’s not always easy for the dog or handler to be calm. I wanted to work on keeping Max calm leading up to his turn in the ring by whatever means necessary – hiding behind tents until we are called, focusing him on me and food and games while we wait, etc – anything to keep him from going out of his brain watching a border collie tear around the course. I also made it a point to think about ME staying calm – it’s all too easy to rush through a run and handle your dog poorly as a result. Having not trialed a lot lately, I find I get nervous doing this again! My poor stomach…
We had two very successful Gamblers runs with nice controlled openings and many contact obstacles performed correctly, even if we did not get the gamble either day (and I knew from the course setup on both that we would not – Max is a clingy dog, perfect for Snooker!).
We had a really nice Steeplechase run yesterday, but for a blown A-frame contact (boooo!). If we hadn’t had the fault from that, we’d have been fast enough to qualify (you have to come within X% of the average times of the top 3 dogs). I spent the 2 hours before our run volunteering as a bar-setter for the Championship classes in Steeplechase. Imagine 100+ dogs running the course and at least half of them drop a bar on a jump, sometimes three or four or five. My job was to sprint out there, pick up the bar off the ground and fix the jumps so the next dog could run. Repeat over and over and over, and my glutes are SORE today from all the squatting/bending/standing. Oops.
Today we had a run in Grand Prix that I was really proud of. Again, not a Nationals qualifier because of one boo-boo where I pulled Max away from the dogwalk. But this was a really hard course, people were blowing up on it left and right, and I was thrilled to get through it otherwise clean and – yes – calm. And with all our contacts!
When I got back from the trial today, it was time for my bike/run brick. What follows is like a poor man’s version of Marit’s post from the other day.
Unlike everyone else in Blogland’s fancy bike trainer setups with TVs and carpet, I am exiled to the garage so as not to disturb the other occupants of the house. A laptop on the freezer is the best I can do for entertainment.
And entertainment I have! All loaded up with mindless distraction for my ride. That will be the most I can handle with all the Zone 3 and 4 intervals ahead on my plate. It turns out A Cinderella Story is EXACTLY the right length for a 90 minute ride.
But first, the ritual sugar cookie carbo-load.
My run gear is waiting anxiously by the dog food, calling out to me to skip that stupid bike and go play outside.
After dripping sweat on the ride and taking myself to all sorts of fun painful places (yes, I tried to take photos; no, I am not sharing them), I finally got out the door to run. 25 minutes with a large chunk of that in Zone 3. Instead of Marit’s beautiful beach scenery, I just have suburbia (no, I didn’t take the camera on the run).
After a brief couch collapse that allowed my fan base a chance to reacquaint themselves with me after that terribly long absence…
I rolled out my sore spots with the Quadballer and decided to excavate the tub from layers of drying swimsuits for an ice bath.
This was a lower volume week with some speedy efforts to prep for Sunday’s race. My upcoming week will be a taper for the Napa Valley Sprint Tri. My chance at redemption after some bobbles at Vineman Showdown!
Training totals for week 18 (April 20-26):
Swim: 7100 yards
Bike: 56.8 miles
Run: 13.7 miles
Total time: ~9.25 hours
(plus 2.5 hrs of yoga)
One of my favorite things – agility training with the baby muppet. Here we are working on some of our foundation behaviors that will pay off in the long run!
I did a lot of practice with Stanley today because he will be staying home this weekend while Max and I compete at a trial in Prunedale. My training will be squeezed in around the event – swim early Saturday, run at the trial, bike/run after Sunday’s trial. Fingers crossed that we do well!
*Hey, guys, this one isn’t for you – go on to another blog and come back at the end of the weekend – I’ll try to have something for you then. Tri men, exes, family members, yes, all of you. Here, go look at Rachel in a short skirt and read her story about running 8 miles down the road in a pink bikini. Thanks.*
Hormones suck.
That is all.
OK, not completely all, you know I can’t get away with saying that little.
But having your body play games with you – especially when it’s not supposed to (hello, hormones, didn’t you get the memo?) – is not fun.
Being moody and knowing you can’t quite stop it? Not fun.
Waking up constantly at night from being too hot, too cold, too hot again – all in the space of 15 minutes? Not fun.
Bursting into tears in the shower and not being able to figure out why – was it the hockey scores? was it something someone said today and I can’t even remember what? was it that someone ate the last sugar cookie? oh no wait it can’t be that because Jeff never eats my damn cookies when I want him to. WHY WON’T HE EAT MY DAMN COOKIES?!!!!
Um, yeah. I’m just a boatload of fun to live with the last few days. If I didn’t exercise, I might actually explode. I am beyond thankful to have such an outlet for my stress.
P.S. Given how helpful my little mental squirrel has been, do you think I should stop telling the dogs to “go see who’s outside” when I see a squirrel trying to dig up a nut in the yard?
I can’t believe I forgot to rave about my track workout yesterday. I love the track! It’s been a while since I did speedwork on the track so I was super excited.
I told Liz in my post-workout comments that the track makes me happy because I always feel like a big tall fast jock there. (Yep, all 5-foot-nothing of me!)
At least next to the middle school gym class kids that run there at the same time.
So I warmed up nice and easy. Ran some steady controlled 800s (around my 1/2 marathon pace), ran some faster 400s (maybe a 5-10K pace?), and then it was time for the hard 200s.
Let me note that prior to hiring Liz as a coach, I’d never seen anything faster than a 7-something minute per mile pace in my fastest sprints. So it was on to the hard set.
I took off down the track and I felt GREAT.
The middle school kids were cheering.
I think. It was hard to tell over the whoosh of the blood pounding in my head.
I could only glance at my watch at the end of each set and it seemed promising. I saw the full results when I got home and loaded up the data.
My 200s were done at an average pace…DRUMROLL PLEASE…all in the 5-something min/mi range.
Bear in mind I could never sustain that pace for any long distance. But to see it, however briefly?
WOO-FREAKIN-HOO!
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Now on to today’s session at masters swim. Swimming, as you know…NOT my most confident area. But I read Liz’s post from yesterday and took it to heart. I was going to go to that pool and be the fearless squirrel and have a great swim. No. Matter. What.
Warmup…is that my arms feeling sore? No, it’s your arms being strong! You are smooth and fearless.
And then my No. Matter. What. happened. A silly little thing really but I got booted to the wall lane by the fast people (because the swim team kids didn’t show up today). I spent about 30 seconds thinking Well doesn’t this suck I was the first person in the pool today I shouldn’t have to move someone else should now I get to sit over here and swim by myself on the stupid freaking wall. And then I snapped out of it and remembered.
Great. Swim. No. Matter. What.
Sprinty 25s…there we go, that’s how you do it, strong strong strong, fearless squirrel fearless squirrel dammit.
Long set of 50s…I’m going to make this interval every time even if it means no rest. You can, so what if it hurts, you CAN. (And I did!)
100s of pull…Just keep swimming just keep swimming just keep swimming. No rest? Rest is for babies, you don’t need no stinkin rest, make the interval. Fearless fearless fearless.
100s of freestyle…Go go go go go. This is nothing, you could do this all day, strong and fearless. Fearlesssquirrelfearlesssquirrelfearlesssquirrel.
Um. OK. So maybe I took the squirrel thing a little seriously? Point is, it worked. My Tuesday swim was all about blah blah blah I’m tired blah blah I’m sore blah blah I’m slow. Was I any faster today? Who knows! But I worked harder and I ended the swim feeling like I’d done my best.
I may not be the fastest swimmer in any of my races this year. In fact, odds are good I won’t even be close. But I want to toe the starting line knowing that I worked the hardest of anyone out there to face my fears and post the best improvement I could.
And that, young grasshopper, is the way of the squirrel who wants the nut. Did I pick the right coach to motivate me or what?
I realized almost everything I had to say today involved other bloggers, so hump day shoutouts it is!
Before I get to that, the only updates in my world are:
Now on to the meat of this post, meager as it is….
* If you haven’t read it already, you should go RIGHT NOW to Liz’s blog and read her post on confidence. I’m going to be the fucking fearless squirrel this year and I want that damn nut.
* It seemed my iPod playlist needed a little refreshing, what with Barbara regularly baffling me with her weekly Facebook songs of the week and all. But it was Marit’s post today that actually prodded me into a minor iTunes shopping spree. Her song is funny. And very very dirty.
* Today is Wednesday and that means it’s only a week and a half till I get to see Cat again! *happy dance* Cat and j. are venturing to the “other” California so that she can race the Napa Valley Vintage Half-Iron triathlon. I can’t wait to spend the day cheering for her! Then they are going to be kind enough to watch me race the Napa Valley Sprint tri the next morning before they head back to SoCal.
* Today I totally want to give Jen Harrison a big hug and a blast of hot weather. Since I can’t do either, I can just mention it here. And say she rocks for all the cold weather training she’s been suffering through.
* A HUGE congratulations to Meredith, who ran an amazing fast race AND set a new PR at the Boston Marathon this week. Nobody PRs at Boston, Meredith!
* If you like awesome pet photos with captions that make you fall on the floor laughing, there is none better than Three Woofs and a Woo.
* And finally, in my round of shoutouts for the week, thank you, Melissa, for some mornings being the only reason I dragged myself out of bed before dawn for masters swim. Because I know you will know if I didn’t go and publically humiliate me accordingly.
Don’t I wish, huh? The longest swim I’ve ever done today! The swim part was not TOO bad…the locale though? As I mentioned before, I was hamstrung by time today and had nowhere else I could swim – my wonderful parents got me in as a guest at their fancy swim club/gym. This is the place all the rich kids swam at when I was a kid but I’d never been there. Take a look at this picture…I think you will see why this swim was painful?
Sadly, much like cigarette smoke (who remembers the old anti-smoking campaign billboards in California? “How does cigarette smoke know to STAY in the smoking section?”), children do not know how to stay outside the lap lane, nor do their parents have any sense of lap swim etiquette.
And I do NOT want to hear from anyone how many of them were probably peeing in the pool. This was not exactly the clearest water I’ve been in.
But it is done. 3000 yards in the bank and it’s only going to get longer. No more Sunday afternoon swims though!
I’ve gotten a few questions for details on the Infinit I used yesterday. Here’s a real basic summary of what I did.
Began with Infinit stock blend Iron Distance Lemon flavor.
Assemble my helpful support staff.
I calculated that I’d need 2 calories per pound per hour. This meant that 3 “servings” – at 275 calories per serving – would add up to exactly what was needed for my 4-hour ride.
I used measuring cups to work out the exact markings for each hour serving on my water bottle (and every 15 minutes from there). From there, it was simply the task of mixing up the solution in my bottle and adding water to volume. Put it in the fridge for the night and had a full bottle ready to go in the morning.
I will add that this is not a sports drink - it is nutrition. I did not find the taste very exciting with only 1 serving in a bottle but concentrated it was much better. You still need to drink water or sports drink for your hydration with this.
Training totals for week 17 (April 13-19):
Swim: 7600 yards (!!!!!)
Bike: 89.6 miles
Run: 14.2 miles
Total time: ~12.25 hours
(plus 2 hrs of yoga)
Jeff, George, Nigel, my dad and a few other riding friends were all doing the Tierra Bella 100k ride today (last year we did our first 100-miler there), so I thought it would be the perfect venue for my planned ~60-mile ride.
My only picture from the ride was right before we left! After that I was too busy hammering away to pull out my camera again. Here, Chris walked right into one of my dad’s jokes.
Highlights and Lowlights:
After the ride and run, it was naturally time for recovery: FOOD. We all went to the nearby El Toro Brewpub in Morgan Hill. I was mostly still focused on rehydrating and had a lot of water. I was still nursing the same glass of beer when we left; everyone else had polished off multiple pitchers.
My dad, who had trained to do the 100-miler and changed events recently, was glad to be done with the ride! [See that nice bike jersey I had made for his birthday with his company logo?]
Andrew and Nigel have a lot of pitchers over there…
Chris, with George, kept me trucking today!
We. Are. TIRED.
Got home, unloaded our gear, walked the dogs, stuffed ourselves with sushi, and spending the rest of the evening in front of the TV doing NOTHING. I have a feeling I will be asleep by 9pm!
Nothing in particular today, just the swirling thoughts in my brain…..
That’s about all the random I can think of for the moment. I’m off to yoga to stretch out my achy body and then I get to spend the afternoon brushing and grooming the wooly mammoth so he looks good for Sunday. Have a great weekend!
Hi honey! Aren’t you glad you check the blog daily?
Remember when I told you last week that I did something and I wasn’t ready to tell you what yet? And then I changed the subject?
and then I told my internet friends but not you?
First off, I swear, despite my obsessive planning personality, I have not been giving any thought to 2010. 2011, surprisingly yes (thanks to Jenn and her nudging about Coeur D’Alene), but not 2010. Mainly because I’ve bitten off quite enough in 2009, thankyouverymuch.
But…well…you know how all my friends were racing 2 weeks ago? And my friend Andrea kept sending those text messages from the race expo all weekend?
Um. Well. So she successfully convinced me to use her discount code and sign up for her hometown race for next year. *gulp*
Yes, before I’d done a single race this year, I was signed up for one next year. New Orleans 70.3 2010, here we come.
Let’s look at the positives though!
And with that, I’m not going to think about it anymore until the challenges of this year are survived.
Did I mention I talked to Kate on the phone today and she's putting together a group for Vineman next year?
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Recovery is going well – I’ve eased into my week with a long recovery spin and a morning swim at masters. I just realized I will be swimming more yardage this week than ever before, by A LOT. Fun and excitement abound! Happy Tuesday everyone!
“Many of the truths that we cling to depend on our point of view.”
-- Obi-Wan Kenobi
When I was little (5 or 6 years old), I always took note of this quote when I watched Star Wars. I thought it was referring to those scenic view stops on the side of the highway – that you should go look off various ones of various heights and you might see things differently.
What does this have to do with today’s blog post? Nothing really, except a chance to quote one of the BEST. MOVIES. EVER. and lead into what I did today.
10 hours of sleep only did so much to cure a tired post-race body but it was a good start. I found some new sore spots when I woke up – calves, abs, etc. We started off the morning with a 4-mile walk for the dogs (including a stop at a nearby restaurant – bagel, lox and mimosas = perfect rest day breakfast) and then I dropped my bike off for repairs – it turns out my gearing/chain dropping problems of yesterday were a result of a bent part that is easily (and cheaply) replaced.
The day was so lovely and sunny that I suggested to Jeff we finally take his (convertible) car out for a drive up Mount Hamilton. This is the large mountain that looms over our valley and atop it sits Lick Observatory. Built in the late 1800s, it at one point housed the largest telescope in the world. The road to the top of the mountain was constructed in 1875, for the purpose of horse-drawn carriages hauling observatory materials to the top. As such, it is a reasonably gentle grade that climbs 4600 feet over 19 miles (but full of stomach-turning hairpins). This makes it a popular – albeit still challenging – ride for local cyclists. One of these days, I WILL do this ride!
One point of view – Mt Hamilton and Lick Observatory from the valley floor (note: I stole this picture from another website, you can tell because it's summer and the hills are all brown!)
Going up up up in the foothills
Early in the drive, looking back towards home
7.5 miles up and it still looks so far!
Grant Ranch County Park, where Jeff and I did Muddy Buddy last year
And then finally we made it to the observatory! I hadn’t been there in roughly 25 years and they’ve added quite a few telescopes and domes in that time. This one, however, was the very first, the one they built this place for nearly 125 years ago!
Jeff with the view to the south, towards Henry Coe (the insanely steep mountain climb from our first century ride)
Large crane in place to install the newest telescope next week!
View to the north – I LOVE these mountains in the spring when they are still green
The road back down. One of my few memories of visiting this observatory as a child is stopping on the side of the road so my brother could toss his cookies.
How could I not appreciate Obi-Wan’s words with this view of home?
I have a heavy build week ahead in training, starting out easy as I recover from yesterday’s race and ending strong with a really long ride to simulate Boise and test my nutrition/hydration as well as my longest swim ever. Enjoy the rest now for I will be back to tired soon!
Training totals for week 16 (April 6-12):
Swim: 3350 yards
Bike: 19.5 miles
Run: 8.4 miles
Total time: ~4 hours
(plus 1.5 hrs of yoga)
