Before & Now

This past Saturday I met Ken and Brian at the club for a ride around Lacamas Lake. Each loop is about 12 miles and I needed to do it a few times to get my mileage in for the weekend. We only ended up doing 2 loops, but it worked out because I did almost 40 the next day with Denise C (2 Bridge Loop with some meandering through Vancouver for coffee).

Rewind to about a month ago when I was going through some old photo boxes and trying to make the miscellaneous piles smaller. I came across a select few "before" photos that make me cringe to even keep around. But it's a good reminder of how far I have come. Fast forward back to Saturday, when Ken took a photo of me and my new bike. Here's a comparison.

Photo 1: Me, 2.5 years ago. Keep in mind that this is about 10 pounds lighter then when I was at my ultimate heaviest (I don't have ANY photos from then because I refused to let people take them).

Photo 2: Me, on Saturday (4/26/2008).

50 Down...

Today marks the day that I have lost a total of 5o pounds. Woohoo!

I came home from work and my friend Brian was there visiting with Ken. He had also brought me these as a congrats for my weight loss:

I should mention that Brian, his wife Nadine, and I all began a weight loss competition about a week ago. It began at the same time that I began my training for a half ironman and majorly changed up my diet, so in one week I lost over 5 pounds. We still have almost a month before the final weigh in and Nadine and I are each determined to beat the other person. So while Brian brought me flowers today, this is what she gave me:

My First Triathlon Award

I got my very first triathlon ribbon today. Jenn came up to me in spin class and gave this to me. It says "Sarah Gets Faster Each Race Award." Even if I ever get a podium finish, this one will still be my favorite!

Bridge to Bridge to Brews

I did a run called Bridge-to-Bridge-to-Brews this morning. I think it's been put on in Portland for a number of years, but it used to be just Bridge-to-Bridge. They have since changed the course to go over the Fremont Bridge (only event in Portland to do so) and the Broadway Bridge. It starts and ends at Widmere Brewing in NE Portland. Very convenient for a post-race beverage!

I had another PR (personal record) today!!! I am very pleased with that considering my super hard workout day yesterday. I won't get into too much detail, but it started with a long swim and ended with back-to-back spin classes. I also did a bunch of yard work after the gym. Needless to say, my legs were toast before I even started the run today...

Here's my race report. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos because my memory card for the camera was left at home.

Race: 2008 Bridge-to-Bridge-to-Brews 8k Run
Date: Sunday, April 20th
Location: Portland, OR
Distance: 8 km (4.97 miles)
Time: 00:53:09 (a new 8k PR!)

Pre-race/Warm-up:

Oatmeal and coffee for breakfast. Carpooled with the girlies: Angie (long-time friend, not a Headhunter), Nadine (fellow Headhunter and training partner, read previous posts for more about her antics), and Jenn (also a Headhunter and training buddy). It was about 36° out and we arrived a tad early, so we all huddled in the car to stay warm. Made a quick porta-potty stop and lined up for the race.

Run:

I wish I had taken my lap times, but it was something like this --

Mile 1 = over 11 min/mi (very hilly as it started by climbing up and over the Fremont Bridge)

Mile 2 = low 10 min/mi

Mile 3 = low 10 min/mi

Mile 4 = haven't a clue

Mile 5 = slower due to climbing up and over the Broadway Bridge. That, and I was t-i-r-e-d!

What would I do differently?:

I would of course be able to run faster, but since I had fried legs, this was a hilly course, and I still managed to have a personal best, I have zero complaints.

Warm Down:

Met back up with the girlies, shivered in the cold temps, downed a free IPA, and drove home to take a hot shower.

My New Bike

Cervelo P2C Ultegra

Coming soon: Dura Ace crank, super fast & fancy race wheels (Zipps or HEDs perhaps?), X-Lab hydration setup behind the saddle...and a name! My baby needs a name! Any suggestions?

See, I had to buy it. It was looking at me longingly in the bike shop:

Ken (best boyfriend ever) wiring up my cadence sensor:

I Heart Sunny Rides

For the first time in what seems like decades, the sun was shining today! Over a dozen people met at the gym for a sunny bike ride. The plan was to do the 2 Bridge Loop (from the club into Vancouver, across I-205Bridge, along Marine Dr in Porltand, back into Vancouver via the I-5 Bridge, and then back to the club), with an option for an extra 10-20 miles out to Vancouver Lake.

I've been fighting either a nasty cold or allergies all week, so it was a miracle that I even got out of bed. I was going for just the 2 Bridge Loop (32-36 miles depending on who's odometer you trust), and thankfully Denise came along and had the exact same thing in mind.

Denise after crossing the I-205 bridge into Portland:

And here are some token shots of K-Dawg:

2008 Beaver Freezer Sprint Tri

This past Saturday I ventured down to Corvallis for the first triathlon of the season, Beaver Freezer. Along with a couple dozen other Headhunters. It was also the very first tri for my friend, Kristin. I think the best part of the day was watching her finish! You can go here for her blog and details of the day. Jeff also has a fun blog. Here is my race report...

Race: 2008 Beaver Freezer Sprint Tri
Date: Saturday, April 5th
Location: Oregon State University, Corvallis, OR
Distance: 500 yd swim, 12 mile bike, 5k run
Time: 01:29:18 (and a 5k PR!!!!)

Photos here.

Pre-race:

On Friday afternoon I met up at my club, Lacamas Swim & Sport, with all of the other Headhunters silly enough to do a triathlon called Beaver Freezer. As the wind howled and the rain clouds loomed overhead, we loaded up the van and made our way to Corvallis where we were staying for the night. Conversations ranged from socks/no socks in transition to swinger parties to who was going to get a mohawk at the hotel.

Bike trailer on the HH van:

Upon arrival we drove the bike course (paying special attention to pot-holes and gravelly corners...still present from sanding the roads due to snow no doubt). Next was packet pick-up, dinner of pizza and beer, and a mean game of volleyball in the hotel pool. Instead of going to bed since it was already approaching 10pm, we piled into Jon's room for head shaving and huddling on the bed intensely watching "Rock of Love". Finally after getting our transition bags ready and numbering our bike, we all drifted off to sleep. My sleep was restless as I listened to the rain coming down outside, geese fighting over territory, and fretting about getting my first flat tire. That's correct, 1000 miles on the bike and I have yet to get a flat.

The alarms went off across the hotel at 5:30am. We wiped the crusties from our tired eyes, marched down to breakfast, loaded up the van, and drove in silence to the race site at the Oregon State University campus. For some reason, the classic circus tune was going through my head. "Doo doo doodoodoodo doo doo doo doo." Odd, but fitting. And it drove everyone nuts as I walked around muttering it under my breath.

We arrived on campus, set up transition areas, covered everything with towels/plastic bags, and wandered into the pool area. I was separated by everyone from this point and sort of lost, so I just followed the "Pool: -->>" signs. I walked through a door, realized I was in a locker room, looked up to see a bunch of men staring at me, and suddenly felt the blood rushing to my face. At the same moment I heard, "um, maam, this is the men's locker room." Yes, I turned around and left. No, I didn't get any pictures.

Warm Up:

The swim was in an indoor lap pool with 8 lanes; there was a diving pool available for warm-up. The heats were seeded by estimated swim time, with the slower swimmers going first. Most of the Headhunters are decent swimmers, so a lot of us were in the later heats. We sat on the pool deck and cheered other Headhunters on. As it got closer to my wave, I had the most irrational fear that I had forgotten how to swim. So I hopped in the warm-up pool for a few laps to calm my nerves.

Swim:
00:09:14 (pace = 1:51/100 yard)

There were 4 of us in our lane. Three of us were Headhunters; the other one admitted to sandbagging her time and would surely be faster than us. Thankfully she was in Position 1. I was position 3. We were sent off in 5 second intervals. I was given strict instructions not to let Kevin (Position 4) pass me until after 100y because he has a tendancy to go out too fast. He did good pacing himself though and didn't even want to pass in those first two laps. After about 250yd we passed Natalie (Position 2), then Kevin passed me, then the stranger girl passed all of us. However, the three of us did a pretty good job of sticking together and drafting off of each other. The entire time my breathing felt totally under control, my arms weren't burning, and I never felt like I was going too fast. Before I knew it, they signaled that we were on our last length and we were climbing out of the pool headed into T1.

What would I do differently on the swim?:

Maybe go faster on the second half of the swim. However, I was enjoying drafting off of Kevin for those last couple hundred yards. If I had attempted to pass him I probably wouldn't have gone much faster, but I would have expended way more energy.

T1:
00:01:42 -- third fastest in my age group!

I had laid out arm warmers and a long sleeve top in transition just in case I came out of the pool shivering. Outside air temps were pretty dang cold, but I decided to just throw on bike shoes (no socks) and helmet. The ride was only 12 miles, so figured I could just tough it out. As a result, I had a fast T1. The only thing I might do differntly is get new shoes that don't have ratchets. My shoes are smelly anyway and it's to the point where I cringe when I have to put them on my feet.

Bike:
00:44:58 (pace = 16.01 mph)

Since we had driven the course the previous night, I knew what to expect. It doesn't look like much climbing, but there are slow and gradual hills with some false flats. And lots of turns as you make your way out of town. Denise had told us, "if you find yourself going like 12mph here, don't freak out." Going slow wasn't freaking me out, however, I have been stressing about the possibility of my first flat tire. So for the first few miles I was convinced that I was going slow due to a flat. I kept looking down and behind me to check, but I couldn't really see anything. I finally asked Jenn (yet another Headhunter) who passed me, as well as some volunteers, if my rear tire was low. Nope. I was just going slow...

After the final turnaround it was mostly flat and downhill. I picked up a lot of speed here and managed to pass a handful of people. That was a blast, since I'm usually the one getting passed. As we got closer to OSU, I had so slow down quite a bit for the turns again, and also due to more congested traffic.

What would I do differntly on the bike?:

Go harder. Since it was a short distance I should have stayed outside of my comfort zone for longer. I also need to work on the 90-degree turns. On a dare I made "woosh woosh" sounds to simulate race wheels every time I passed/got passed. At least I was having a good time!

T2:
00:01:11 -- fourth fastest in my AG, even with all the nonsense.

Someone had racked their bike poorly and it had basically fallen over onto my stuff. Their gear was also strewn over about three spaces. I had no place to rack my bike and I couldn't even get to my running shoes. I always take care to keep my transition area neat and out of other people's way, so I don't have a lot of patience when others don't do the same. Really, you can have a fast transition and still not make a big mess out of other people's spaces. I threw the bike out of my way and went on with my business.

I really wish I could do a super cool flying dismount, but I'm scared to even practice it, let alone do it in a race situation. Maybe someday...

Run:
00:32:13 (pace = 10:23 min/mi) -- 5k PR!!!

I had heard about this one "hill" on the course that gives people issues, so I was concerned about being able to run the entire course. I was also curious to see how my injured (but getting better) knee would perform. I didn't care how fast my run was, I just didn't want to have to walk.

Coming out of T2 my legs had the usual rubbery feeling, but I felt much better than I have in the past. The hill appeared about 3/4 through the loop and ended up being basically a hump in the road. I am lucky enough to live/train in an area with A LOT of hills, so pretty much anywhere else seems flat in comparison.

My first lap was WAY too fast. I have yet to run less than a 10 minute mile on a TRACK, let alone a rolling course after swimming and biking. My first mile on this course was right around 9:45. I sort of scratched my head and tried to figure out if I had read my watch incorrectly. I felt solid, so just kept pushing.

Lap 2 was a little harder and I had to work to control my breathing, especially after the "hill". I focused on getting deep breaths and keeping my body loose. I also concentrated on my gait and keeping my feet lined up properly. This seemed to help, since I finished lap 2 with a 10:30ish pace and my knee still felt strong.

Lap 3 was a little tougher since I was still running faster than I normally do, but I was happy to almost be finished. And my knee still didn't hurt!!! I came into the finish chute with a sprint. A REAL sprint this time. Felt great.

I glanced down at my watch and realized that I had beat my goal time by over 5 minutes. No one could have wiped that grin off my face if they tried.

Warm Down:

I walked over to the drink coolers and crossed my fingers that the unmarked container was water and not Heed. It came out clear so I was hopefull. I took a big chug and OH MY GOD, BLEH, GAG, YUCK, YUCK, YUCK. It was warm, gross Heed and tasted like someone had spit their mucousy grossness into my mouth. Thankfully a Headhunter (Terry) had a bottle of water with her and happily gave me the rest.

Kristin was still out there and I really wanted to watch her finish. But I was cold and my sweatshirt/camera was a few blocks away in transition. I ran over there, grabbed what I needed, and ran back. On the way back I saw her coming around the corner and decided to run her in to the finish. When she saw me she told me that she still had another loop left. I shrugged and started trotting next to her for that last mile. I veered off before the finish line so that I could watch her cross.

Event Comments:

For a small event, the OSU Triathlon Club does a fantastic job putting it on. It was well organized (with the exception of the pool signs leading me into the wrong locker room). There were TONS of volunteers at each turn on the bike course. Lots of cheering students along the run course. And plenty of raffle prizes and winners awards. This is surely going to be my favorite way to kick off tri season in future years!!

2008 Shamrock Run 8k

Race: 2008 Shamrock Run 8k
Location: Portland, OR
Distance: 8k (4.97 miles)
Time: 00:55:17 (11:12 min/mile pace)

Pre-race: Ate a PB&J, poured my coffee, and got geared up. Running shoes? Check. Tutu? Check. Flashing nipples? Check. Race number/timing chip? Check. Okay then, I was all set to go.

Me at the house before heading downtown:

I met up with my friends, Nadine and Deb just after 7am. We drove to a nearby MAX station, and then took the train to downtown Portland since a 10 minute train ride is faster than circling for a half hour trying to find parking. As we got to the event, the announcer said that it was a record number of people this year. 16,000 up from 11,000 last year!

Me at the MAX station with my scary face:

Warm Up: It took all of our cushion time just to find the bag check, hit the porta potties, and work our way through the mob to the starting line. No real warmup, just jumped around a little to fight off the chill in the air. And smiled and waved as people oggled our outfits.

We ran into some Headhunters who had just finished the 5k. Here is me and Kevin "K-Dawg":

Run: Nadine showed up at my house in the morning feeling pretty sick and not at all in the mood for a 8k run. But she toughed it out and decided to do the run anyway. We knew that Deb would be going at a much faster pace than us, so she went ahead and did her own thing. Nadine and I stayed together, only stopping a few times so that she could strech out her calves. She just wasn't having a fun day run-wise. After the long uphill, my knee started to ache, but then it really felt great at around mile 3.5. I was able to pick the pace up and make it to the finish line feeling really strong. Since I haven't run more than 2.5 miles since the half marathon in January, I was pleasantly surprised at how easy this felt.

What would I do differently?: Not much. The whole point of today was to have a fun time!

Warm Down: We walked past the chowder/beer lines and decided that it wasn't worth waiting in line for an hour just for a free drink. So we got back on the train and headed home. Nadine's husband, Brian, came over to the house and cooked us an Irish lunch of bangers & mash while we sat on the couch and watched television. Nice, huh!

Event Comments: I have no idea how any event is able to deal with over 16,000 athletes and multiple runs going on within an hour of each other, but they did it! Plenty of porta-potties, well marked course, great live music, lots of free water after the event, smooth bag check, etc., etc. The only downside was trying to get anywhere fast due to the large amount of people, and the lines for food/beer afterwards were way too long. I would definitely do this event again!

Nadine, me, and Deb after the run:

Swimsuit Heaven!!!

Anyone sensitive to over-consumerism, quit reading now.

One of my very good friends, Nadine, has a fabulous friend who works at Jantzen. She was awesome and got us into a sample sale today. I wasn't quite sure what to expect, but had swimsuits on the brain for the last couple of days in anticipation. I was OVERWHELMED when we walked inside. Racks and racks of swimsuits in size 8 and 10. My size!!! In fantastic brands like Nike! And...a posted sign with the price of the suits. It went something like this:

One-piece suits -- $2
Matching two-piece suits -- $2
Single tops or bottoms -- $0.50

Shorts -- $2

I just kind of stared in disbelief at the whole scene and slowly walked around the room not quite sure what to do with myself. Then I just started grabbing anything I was remotely interested in. When I couldn't possibly hold anymore, that was my cue to check out. As soon as I got home from work I went straight into the bedroom and started trying everything on. I started laughing hysterically when I counted 22 suits. And then I almost started crying when I put them on. THEY ALL FIT!!! Swimsuits never fit me! I added up all of the price tags for a grand total of $1444 (retail price). My price? A whopping $44. Nadine has been completely forgiven for the whole New Year's costume incident.

2008 Jack Frost Time Trial

I competed in my first ever bike time trail yesterday. It was a blast! Here's my race report. For the full set of photos, go here: http://picasaweb.google.com/SarahDBryant/2008JackFrostTT

Race: Jack Frost Time Trial
Location: Vancouver Lake, WA
Distance: 20k (12.4 miles)
Time: 40:51:00 (pace = 18.26 mph)

Pre-Race: People from my club, Lacamas Swim & Sport (aka The Headhunters), attend this event every year. I came along for my inaugural time trial and I ended up being the last person from the group to race. So I brought my camping chair, warm clothes, and lots of munchies to keep me comfy during the day. It was a cool morning and had rained the night before, but soon the sun was shining and drying everything out. Coach Denise brought hot (homemade) chicken soup to share with everyone. One of the Headhunters (Mike) brought a fire pit…and very large fire starter…to keep us all toasty warm. After checking in and getting my number, I pretty much sat on my tushy for a couple of hours and chatted with other club members. It was pretty much like a fun camping trip!

Fellow Headhunter, Natalie, and I were the last to go so we were able to watch everyone else warm-up and take off from the start line. This was entertaining, but we also had the most amount of time to work up our nerves. For whatever reason, I was more anxious for this event than I was for either of my two triathlons last year.

K-Dawg dancing, er, showing off his race number:

The Swimming Sperm (aka, Denise and Bob Croucher):

The boys warming up:

Warm Up: Put the bike on the trainer for about 15 minutes. Mostly just spinning, with a few minutes of harder tension. Right around this time my Mom and Ken showed up – I was really happy that they were able to make it out to watch me start.

Then I did about a mile on the road to make sure everything was in working order and that I still knew how to handle a bike. This was only going to be my second ride outside for the year so far!

Natalie and I warming up:

The Ride: I was in the Women’s 4/5 category, which can also be translated to “women who probably don’t know what they’re doing, but are too young to enter the Masters category”. Unfortunately for me, most of the other women in my group knew exactly what they were doing and were sporting fancy shmancy machine with matching race garb. I definitely had some bike envy going on.

We were sent off one person at a time spaced 30 seconds apart. A volunteer holds you upright from behind the saddle while both of your feet are clipped in and another volunteer tells you when to go. Then it’s basically balls on for the next 20 kilometers until the finish line.

I had a pretty good start considering this was my first time trial. And I was able to settle into a nice cadence right away. I didn’t wear my HR monitor (on purpose) and I never switched the bike computer to MPH. I monitored my RPMs and tried to keep my cadence between 85 and 95. This seemed to work well for me and kept me from fretting about my average speed. After the turnaround there was a bit of head/side wind to contend with that was blowing off the Columbia River. I was tempted to see how slow I was going, but instead just shifted to an easier gear and tried to hunker down on the aerobars while keeping my cadence up. It was around this time that some of the other girls from my category started passing me. Guys from the next wave also started flying by me like I was standing still. That bummed me out a little, but I still made sure to say something nice to each person as they rode by.

I was surprised to see a “1 km remaining” sign posted towards the end of the course. I was even more surprised to find that I was able to down shift a few gears and still maintain a high cadence without much effort. I held this pace through the finish line. I guess I probably could have pushed it a bit harder than I did…

Me starting:

What would I do differently?: Ride faster. :-)

Warm Down: Crossed the finish line, and then rode the half mile back to the parking lot where my Mom, Ken, and other Headhunters were cheering us on. Denise and Bob had cooked yummy grilled chicken and sausages for everyone. Mmm...

Me, Stormy, and Nadine after the race:

Event Comments: This was a fun experience. It was great to watch how other people ride and to look at all of the wildly expensive bikes and accessories that everyone had. I had set a secret target of finishing under 40 minutes and this was the first time that I missed my goal. I was a bit bummed about that, but someone said to me “if you hit all of your goals then maybe you’re not aiming high enough”. I’m going to work hard this summer and I’ll be sure to beat my time at the end of the season!

It's True...

My First Physical Therapy Appointment

I had my first physical therapy appointment today for the knee. I was diagnosed with patellofemoral stress syndrome, as well as ITB syndrome. Basically, my ITB is so tight that it's pulling my knee out of alignment and causing tightness around the patella. So the friction on the cartillage behind the patella is what has been screaming at me for the last 4 months.

The therapist did a basic evaluation where she checked everything out, had me do strength tests, looked at my (lack of) flexibility, walking, etc. Then she went in for the kill...massaging both IT bands. I may have some scar tissue build-up on the left side and when she was working on that I was pretty much bawling into the pillow. It's been awhile since I've had a good cry, so at least that's out of my system. My appointment was followed up with ultrasound on both sides. And an appointment card for 2-3x/week for the next 5 weeks. Good thing I have a job (and insurance) to pay for all of this...

Here is my post-PT face (I cried all my makeup off -- don't judge):

First Bike Ride of the Year!

It was a glorious day for an outside ride. An OUTSIDE ride!!!! The sun was shining and the roads were dry. Aside from an annoying wind that popped up every once in awhile, it was the most beautiful day we've had this year. About a dozen of us met at the club at noon and did the 12-mile loop around Lacamas Lake. I wish I had a camera with me, because as we were finishing up the ride and heading down Lake Drive, you could see for miles. The lake, the green hills, the forests, the snow covered foothills in the distance... Beautiful!

It was a great warm-up for the Jack Frost Time Trials next weekend. That's gonna hurt.

La Knee-na

I have a renewed sense of hope about the furious storm that's been brewing south of my waistline. I'm talking about my KNEE people. Hee hee. I had an appointment with a fantastic sports med doctor at OHSU on Friday morning. Aside from a scarily thin cartilage under my patella (either from genetics or the trauma from my volleyball days), the rest is fixable. I apparantly have "the tightest IT band known to humankind". Since this was spoken while the doctor was near my backside, I wanted to say, "why thank you very much doctor, but I hardly know you" but I resisted the urge. So anyway, I'm off for 2 months of physical therapy and then a follow-up visit. I should be good as gold in the near future!

My First Half Marathon

I finished my first half marathon!!! It wasn't pretty, but I'm okay with that. I also read in the local paper that this course isn't certified (for distance), and that Sunday's race was likely more than 13.1 miles. Woohoo! Here's my race report:

Race: Vancouver Lake Half Marathon

Location: Vancouver, WA

Distance: Half Marathon (13.1 miles)

Time: 02:53:55 (pace = 13:17 min/mi)

Pre-Race: Due to a persistent knee injury and a recent bout of strep-throat, I spent the last couple of days debating whether or not I would actually participate in the run. I finally decided that I didn’t want a “DNS” next to my name. So I would start, get through the first couple of water stations, and then decide if I wanted to continue or not.

I woke up early, ate a PB&J on whole wheat English muffin, downed some coffee, then tried to hydrate and get Ken out of bed and moving. We carpooled to the event with a bunch of people from the gym in the official “Headhunters” van. It was so much fun pulling up to the parking lot and everyone staring at us.

Warm Up: It was just over 30 degrees, so we huddled in the van and breathed each others CO2. I had Denise (coach) tape up my knee. Then did a couple of "warm-up jogs" to the porta-potties.

Run: My friend Mark signed up to do the run with me and said he would go at my pace the whole time…even though he typically does 8min miles. On a good day I can barely pull a 10:30 pace out of my legs, I was expecting more like a 15min pace today. We got out of the bathrooms with 5 seconds to spare before the gun went off. We started in the back to be out of everyone’s way and in about 30 seconds we were all alone.

The course begins with a short out-and-back, passing back by the start line around mile 3 (with the first aid station) for a longer out-and-back the other direction. This makes it boring for us, but fun for the spectators to see us several times. I came through that point feeling a bit winded, but the knee was good. I shed some layers and continued on.

The next aid station showed up around mile 5. This is where the knee started to throb and my gait fell apart. I really just wanted to quit here, but reasoned with myself that almost anyone with 2 legs can get through 8 miles, even if it means walking. Mark kept me running to the final turn around at mile 8.3. As the first runners started to pass us from the other direction, we clapped and cheered them on. Only the first place male and the first place female acknowledged us. Mark and I turned it into our little form of entertainment -- we counted over 40 people before we got another response from any of the runners. Not even a smile! This was surprising, as even though those people were fast, none of them are fast enough to have that big of an ego.

At the turn around we walked for about 5 seconds to take some Gu and water and I realized that walking was way more painful than running. Short of hopping in the sag wagon, there was no other way to get back to the finish line except to suck it up and run. Well, running may be an overstatement, but I did maintain a solid waddle.

Mile 11 and 12 were really long, as was the last half mile. Every time I started to complain, Mark interrupted me with a silly story to take my mind off the pain. As we got closer to the finish, we could see the parade of cars leaving the event. It was a bit demoralizing, but since it was cold out and they had probably been finished for over an hour, I couldn’t blame them. When we approached the finish line, all of the Headhunters were there cheering us on and chanting my name. It was so motivating that I managed to sprint in the last 20 yards. It felt like a sprint anyway. I was thrilled when I looked up and saw the clock was under 3 hours!!!!!

What would I do differently?: I really did just about everything I could considering the circumstances. When my knee was injured around the first of the year, I pool ran 4 days a week. When I got strep-throat last week, I stayed in bed and rested as much as I could. It took a lot for me to just get out to the starting line.

Warm Down: Walked to the cookie table and inhaled a bunch of goodies as I hobbled over to the finish line to cheer on the last few folks. Then off for burger and beers. Mmmm...

Event Comments: The course was flat flat flat – perfect for my first half marathon. It did get a bit monotonous, but my body couldn’t have handled any hills, so I was grateful to at least have company for the entire run. The volunteers were awesome, especially since it was freezing temps. I was at the back of the BOP and made sure to thank them all for staying for us stragglers. And whoever baked all of those cookies did a fantastic job!

Determination

I've always been determined when it came to things like learning to tie my shoes (I still do it wrong), talking my parents into buying me something, getting through college, teaching myself to knit, etc. Not so much when it came to exercise. As soon as I became injured or sick, I gave up and quit going to the gym. Times have changed it seems. I have recently been dealing with a pesky knee injury. And this past week I ended up with strepthroat and the hint of ear infections. While nowadays this wouldn't be a huge issue, this week is different... I have a half marathon coming up. TOMORROW actually.

I haven't ran on pavement since New Year's eve (see earlier blog), but have been doing my pool running religiously. Four mornings a week you'll find me "running" lap after lap after lap. Talking to anyone who will listen just to quench the boredom a bit. Monday morning I headed outdoors for a test run. I wasn't feeling too great but figured I had just lost a bit of fitness over the past few weeks. When I got home and my temperature was 102 I felt totally defeated.

Five days of bed rest, lots of ibuprofen, and a whole heck of a lot of determination -- I'll be at the starting line tomorrow morning. I may be the last person to cross the finish line. Hell, I may not even get to the finish line. But I will NOT have my first "did not start" next to my name when the results are posted.

The Scale

I'm not sure when it happened, but I'm comfortable talking about my weight. Really, I look the same to you whether I say that I weigh 120 or 220. I had to laugh yesterday when taking out my drivers license. The photo doesn't look much like me anymore. I weighed close to 215 pounds when that picture was taken, yet my license declares that I was 160. Silly, huh.

I honestly don't know what my heaviest weight was. I put the scale away at 208 because I just didn't want to see those numbers anymore. And I did keep gaining for a bit after that. So I estimate 215 was the top end. I rang in 2008 at 176.

Tonight before my workouts I stepped on the scale again in the gym locker room. I put it right to 176 and it wasn't level. Dang it! Nudged it up to 177 and it still didn't budge. My heart sank as I kept moving it until it hit 180. Then a light bulb went off -- "move it the other way!". Today I weighed in at 174.

The best part about that? Only 24 pounds until I get a new tri bike. :-)

Two 5k's on New Years Day

I didn't want to start off 2008 like all of the others -- hungover. So I signed up for the First Run in downtown Portland. It started at midnight and was only a 5k. I had also commited to swimming a 5k at my gym on New Year's morning. Here are my race reports...

Race: First Run
Location: Portland, OR (downtown)
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Time: 00:32:45 (pace = 10:32min/mi) -- a smokin' PR for me!!!

Pre-Race: I had read in a reminder email that there would be a prize for the best costume. I looked at last years photos and didn't see anyone in costume, so I asked Nadine (who had done it a couple of years ago). Her reply: "oh yeah, there are TONS of people dressed up. Yeah, yeah, you'll see lots of crazy stuff." I was super excited, so I pulled out my hot pink tutu, matching wig, and pink/black bustier and headed to downtown Portland. My super sweet boyfriend, Ken, came with me (I couldn't talk him into running it thought) and tried to convince me that everyone on the Max train was staring at me because they thought I was pretty. We showed up at the World Trade Center around 10:30pm and the place was already packed. Yet, not a single person was in costume!

Warm Up: Sat at the WTC and shivered and answered questions about why I was wearing a tutu.

Run: It took me over two minutes to reach the starting line, but it was a chip timed event so my finish time is accurate. After crossing the line it took awhile to get past the walkers and slower (than me) runners. After about a mile it cleared out and I could run my normal pace. My HR was pretty high, but I didn't feel like I was working too hard. It must have been the "pink tutu" power. The best part was all of the drunk people on their way home giving me props for my outfit.

What would I do differently?: Not forget my matching pink ruffled panties. They probably would have knocked another minute or so off my time. :-)

Warm Down: Waited for the Max, drove, home, crawled into bed.

Event Comments: Super fun way to ring in the new year! The only bummer was that I was cold and couldn't really enjoy the activities before the race and had no interest in staying afterwards.

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Race: Sharky Swim
Location: Lacamas Swim & Sport, Camas, WA
Distance: 5k (3.1 miles)
Time: 1:40:00 (pace = 2min/100m)

Pre-Race: Stumbled out of bed after only a few hours of sleep (I did the midnight 5k run to ring in the new year), shoved a PB&J english muffin down the hatch, and headed to the gym. Ken came to count laps. What a guy!!!

Event Warmup: Nothing -- I didn't want to waste a lick of energy. I really was scared that I wouldn't be able to complete the distance.

Swim: We had 4 people in our lane and kept a pretty good rythm. We would each pull 100m and then fall to the back of the line. The pace was a bit slower than I would have liked, but when it was over I felt like I could swim another 5000m.

What would I do differently?: Other than have our group keep a faster pace? Nothing. But I loved the ladies I swam with, so it was great.

Warm Down: Ate a ton of food, drank a couple of mimosas, and took a long nap.

Event Comments: 5000m in the pool gets a bit dull. But this was a great New Year's activity and served its purpose of keeping me from the party scene.

Running Update

It's been awhile since I've updated the blog -- the holidays and all... Here's a list of what I've been up to in December:

• The new shoes did wonders for the right knee/hip pain I was having. Unfortunately that has been replaced with ITB issues on the left side.
  
• My new HR monitor rules! I'm not yet a good judge of my perceived exertion, so looking at my wrist to see if I need to slow down or turn on the juice has been helpful. I haven't quite figured out how to play with the pretty graphs and stuff though.
  
• Our long runs on Fridays have increased to 120 minutes. I'm running an 11-12 minute pace (if I'm feeling healthy), so this should translate to about 10miles. Last week I only made it about 9, but I was proud of that.
  
• The two most excrutiating run-related workouts have been 1) hill repeats up Dahlia (a 31% grade if you don't know of it) and 2) the 2mile fast-pace run. I hit well over my max HR that day.
  
• I haven't been swimming as much as I like, nor spinning as much as I like, nor lifting as much as I like. But darn it, I'm getting my runs in. And that's the point for off-season, right?
  
• I have, however, enjoyed a few token mornings of sleeping in, a mini-vacation with my sweetie pie, and way too many Christmas treats. I may be up several more pounds than I'm happy with, but I'll have fun working it off in January!

Ken and I on the way out from Clear Lake Lookout Tower:

Ken and I before heading to the Nutcracker:

I Love Food

My biggest downfall in regards to training and my struggle with weight management is that I love to eat. One of my favorite things about the holidays is the food. In a mere 48 hours last week I consumed an entire large pizza and 2 tins of Christmas cookies. Yes, by myself. To make it worse I wasn't feeling well (suprisingly, it wasn't because of gastrointestinal issues...) and I missed my Thursday workout. No surprise when Friday's weigh-in showed that I was up 2 pounds from the previous week.

I'm proud to say that I headed off for my long run on Friday with such disgust that propelled me to completing the 7.5 mile loop exactly 10 minutes faster than last week. Saturday I swam in my upper heart rate zones (yay for the new heart rate monitor), added 5 pounds to my lifting routine, and even managed to drag my butt out for a recovery run. This morning those 2 pounds were back off.

Unfortunately I scarfed down a half bag of Chex Mix that my Mom just sent while working on endless spreadsheets at my desk. I should mention that it was a quart-size bag. *Sigh......*

If I make it through to 2008 at a neutral weight from October, rather than the original quest of a net loss, I will consider my goal achieved.