Last Weekend

Ken and I made a quick trip to South Lake Tahoe...for my little brother's wedding! The weather was gorgeous, it was wonderful to see my family, and fun to meet all the new people. While we were there, my Mom and I attempted to do some workouts. I say "attempted" because we were kung-foo'd by the elevation. I did manage a swim and about 7 miles of running. Here are some of the views:This was our hotel lobby. Three flat-screen televisions, a channel with crackling fire and sound effects with toads and owls, birch bark scattered around, and random green balls stacked on top. Weird.Some select photos from the wedding day (since we took hundreds)...

My beautiful mother.Ken and I waiting for everyone to get ready.The happy couple.Mom and I dogpiling JoshyPoo after the ceremony.

And...

...in case you were wondering, I ran the additional 4 miles today for a total of 16 miles. All that time on the pavement did a number on my feet, so to prevent more chaffing on the blisters, I switched to my VFFs for the last part. Good call. I would rather have achy feet than more angry blisters.

I am so lucky to be able to run where I do. Here are some views (and me) from tonight.

Me, by Officers Row (bad picture, but it's a good chance to show off the IM hat):

The landbridge by Ft. Vancouver that crosses over SR-14 and looks over Pearson airfield:The multi-use path along the Columbia River:

Training totals for the week:
Swim - 2700 m (bad, but getting better...)
Bike - 40.5 miles (trainer miles, so this doesn't mean a whole lot)
Run - 23.3 miles (is that all? it seemed like more.)
Plus some other miscellaneous crap like lifting
Total = 8.9 hours

Marathon Training Run

Today was my first "long" run this season that wasn't a race. A few months back, a bunch of us agreed to run the Shamrock Run in downtown Portland. But I had also signed up for the Eugene Marathon and needed to bust out a 16 mile run today. While I was deciding what to do, Shamrock sold out. Decision made! I opted to do my long run from our house in Vancouver to the race in downtown Portland. What's better than a long run with friends and a beer garden at the end?!?

This being the first day of Daylight Savings Time, it was pretty dark this morning when I headed out. The first 4-5 miles of the route had me going through some skeevy, sketchy neighborhoods. Thankfully The Hubs didn't mind too much when I roused him out of bed at 6am wanting him to ride his bike next to me until the sun came up.

Here I am about to cross the I-5 bridge. I guess the reflective vest is pretty reflective!

Sunrise while crossing the bridge into Oregon.

Best husband ever. I swear, he is the most patient person. No way in hell would I get out of bed on a Sunday morning before sunrise to ride 5mph. I should mention that it was 32 degrees with frost on the ground and windshields iced over.

Random marine propeller on Marine Drive.Ken hung with me until about mile 10 and took a quick pic before he headed the other direction. I then proceeded to get lost trying to find the right bridge to cross into SW Portland. Oh well, I needed some extra mileage anyway.Looking north while crossing the Burnside Bridge.Looking south while crossing the Burnside Bridge.

After arriving in downtown, and after getting stuck at a railroad crossing for over 10 minutes, I quickly met up with Jeff, Jon and Jessica and enjoyed some warm chowder in the beer garden. After they left, I met up with Jenn and Kevin and enjoyed a tasty beverage. Total mileage ended up being just a hair longer than 12 miles. Now I need to find the motivation to go back out this evening for another 4 miles to make it over 16 for the day. At least the sun decided to finally make it's way through the clouds!

March

How did it become March already? And it's already half-way over!

So first, a review of February... My goals were to 1) swim 2x/week, 2) ride 50mi/week, and 3) lose 5 pounds. How did I do? I swam, um, twice. I rode whenever I felt like it. And mega-stress led me to eat ice cream almost every night when I got home. But let's focus on the positive, shall we? For starters, I ran about 60 miles, including my very first trail run where I finished 15.5 miles of epic hilly muddiness. I did ride my bike about 100 miles. Even though I was doing triple this...per week...during IM training, it's a start. And despite not losing any weight last month, I didn't gain any.

And now for March... I have managed to lose a few pounds so far. Take that, Chub! I have been to the pool more frequently. I got an actual membership at the gym by my house (finally). I signed up for the Portland Marathon (that makes 3 marathons so far for 2010). And I'm starting to feel stronger and less out-of-shape. Now hopefully I can keep this good-groove going!

The Weekend

Chub and I had some good battles this weekend. Overall, I would call it an even tie.

On Saturday I was busy running errands all over the greater Portland/Beaverton/Vancouver area and almost ran out of time to squeeze in a workout. But I let some other tasks go and managed to get an hour on the trainer and then a short brick barefoot run. Win!

Today, despite a late night at the Nano Beer Fest with Jenn and her husband last night, I still managed to get up early for a run in Forest Park. It was my first time running there, and apparantly it's a very popular place on Sunday mornings. Not exactly the quiet solace I was hoping for...I'll look for something a bit more remote on the weekends I think.

After the footwear fiasco at Hagg Lake last weekend, I invested in a pair of trail running shoes. The Adidas Adizero trail runners. I know what you're thinking: "wow, those are really low key and not flashy at all." I'm pretty sure you could spot them from the moon. These ones are made by Adidas, so even though they were comfy in the store, I was a bit apprehensive. My experience with Adidas is that their gear looks good but generally doesn't meet expectations when it comes to function. There was plenty of rocky, muddy terrain for a good test run this morning. And I was pleasantly surprised. Lots of sticky grip, lightweight, and springy.

I also have a pair of these on hold. The New Balance 100. They are even more lightweight, and will probably be the ones I go to when it's not very muddy.

But back to the run. It was a gorgeous morning, the trails were fun, but I felt like garbage. Ken and I were both up and down all night with sinus pain, and it just kept getting worse all morning. Headache behind the eyes, burning sensation in the nose, and achy teeth. When my teeth started throbbing in time with my heartbeat, I found the next turnoff to the main road and called it a day.

Chub Wars

Me vs. The Chub. It's on.

3 months post Ironman and I've managed to pack on 9 pounds. Seriously. I swore up, down, and all around that I absolutely would not gain 10 pounds afterwards...as someone so kindly insisted that I would, hmf. And most definitely not the 15-20 lb that seems to find its way onto some post-Ironman bodies. So before I gain one more pound and cross that threshold, I am declaring war on The Chub.

Round 1 - After the craziest busiest several weeks at work, I managed to get out of the office an hour early today. I was tired and wanted to eat comfort food, change into my comfies, and curl up on the couch with some newly acquired yarn. Instead, I put on my Vibrams and headed out for a run. Me = 1, Chub = 0.

Round 2 - Instead of going for a swim, I am curling up with said yarn and a frosty glass of homebrew. Me = 1, Chub = 1.

Hagg Lake 25k

I've been intrigued by trail running for awhile. But have been too lazy/too busy/[insert lame excuse here] to get my self to the trails. Except for the packed dirt/gravel at Lacamas Lake, which doesn't really count, as I discovered today. I went into this race knowing that I was unprepared...HUGE understatement. Thankfully, I was having too much fun to really notice. I get it now. I'm totally hooked after my first one.

I woke up this morning and went through the normal pre-race routine: get dressed, mix fuel bottles, load gel packets, pack gear. Except when I got to the "pack gear" part, I was a little stumped. I put on a pair of normal running shoes, but they were too clean for a muddy trail run. So I put on an older pair of running shoes, but the laces were elastic and I knew I would step right out of them in the mud. I finally settled on my racing flats, solely because they had laces that tied and didn't stretch. I quite possibly had the most ill-equiped footwear out of anyone there. I was tempted to ditch my shoes and run in socks, but I promised my Mom that I wouldn't go that far barefoot.

Fast-forward to the race site. After signing in, Ken and I sat down at a picnic table in the sunshine and soaked in the warmth. We watched the 50k runners head out and waited for the 25k countdown.

Ken said that it looked more like a group of ambitious campers, than a group of runners. I guess we're both used to the atmosphere of road races. This was much more mellow and relaxing.The start.

The race started with a 1.5 mile out-and-back on a packed gravel road. Packed gravel = not so bad, right? Except that I was walking within 5 minutes due to the incline. I seriously thought about turning around, running back to the parking lot, and leaving. Except that I had already purchased a hat with the race logo on it. So I kept running. Er, walking. Finally we hit the turnaround and headed downhill. Okay, this isn't so bad.

After running back through the event area, we made a right hand turn onto single-track trail. It wasn't terribly muddy at this point. I played with technique, like running in the deep grooves without breaking my leg, and how to get downhill without hitting a tree root and flinging my body to the bottom. No broken bones, so I was at least partly successful. There were a few puddles, and my feet were soaked at about 30 minutes in. I came to a sign that read something like "bridge washed out, detour to the right". And next to it "Hagg Lake race, to the left". It's difficult to describe this section, but I was very muddy and very wet afterwards. I also lost my right shoe. And then my left one.

I reached the part were the route turns back to pavement and crosses the damn towards the first aid station. I saw Ken here -- he was riding loops around the lake on his bike while I ran. Here is a pic of his pretty new bike:

Shortly after the aid station, I saw a sign that marked the half way point. Yeah! I was feeling good. Going slow, but feeling good. The middle section of the course was fun. Lots of uphill, lots of downhill, and a moderate amount of mud. I perfected the "downhill skip", you know, where you sort of skip downhill because it's too muddy to put on the brakes without falling, but if you don't brake you will careen out of control over the edge of the hill. I learned a lot in this section. Oh, and I tossed my headphones in the trash. I doubt if I'll ever listen to music again while trail running. There really is no need.

Somewhere in the back half of the course I remember thinking "huh, they talked about all of this mud, but it really hasn't been that bad". Then I saw a sign that basically said "warning: MUD!". Oh yeah, LOTS of mud. And no way around it. And remember, I'm in the back of the pack, so almost 400 other people have churned and slicked it all up by this point. I saw someone fall, and laughed. I hit the same spot and both feet flew out to the side and I landed with a "squeeeesh" in the thick of it. I got back up, trudged on, and lost my left shoe again. But didn't immediately realize it. I reluctantly went back for it. A little further down the course, the trail narrowed and steep walls were on either side. Smack in the middle was, yep, mud. Deep mud. I fell here again. And lost a shoe again. But it was all so funny, and not frustrating at all.

After winding around several fingers of the lake (there are many, and it is always deceiving how far away from the finish you really are), and rounding one of the final corners, I knew I was close to the end. My body was starting to throb a bit. A sign marked 1 more mile to go. I had a few bunnies (aka pace booty) in front of me and did my best to catch up. To my own suprise I still had gas left in the tank and was able to make a pass. Finally, the finish!

If you look really close, I am the pink dot on the far hillside. This is maybe 1/4 mile from the finish.The finish line! Final time was actually 3:46. Yes, I am that slow. And yes, I am very proud of that time. It was a hard course!

Ken had made a trek to a nearby store and was waiting with water and beer. I headed into the water to wash off the mud...and stayed there for about 15 minutes. It was like a natural ice bath. We headed out for burgers, beers, and fries (!!!) and now I'm getting ready for a 7pm bedtime. Fun, fun times!

Note: this is a VERY well organized event. Top-notch volunteers, well stocked aid stations, the most awesome cookies ever at the end, and some pretty rad swag!

Uh...

Number of previous trail races = 0
Number of prior trail runs in training = 0
Number of trail shoes owned = 0
25k muddy, hilly trail race tomorrow = priceless

Another day, another race that I'm underprepared for. I'm trying to think of it as more of a 15.5 mile hike with some running, than as a 15.5 mile race through hills and mud. There is also a 50k going on during the same time, so even if I'm the last 25k-er across the finish line, no one will really know.

Riding for a Different Reason

How many people reading this are currently battling cancer, have had it, or know someone who has? My guess: 100% of you.

This year, I will be joining my friend Jenn and my husband Ken for the 100-mile LIVESTRONG ride in Seattle on June 20th. Sadly, I will be riding in honor and memory of many people. My Mom is a survivor of colorectal cancer, my Grandmother is a survivor of colorectal cancer, my Grandfather had prostate and skin cancer, and my husband's father passed away of a cancer that I can't even spell or pronounce. One of my best friends mother died of colorectal cancer, another good friends mother is a breast cancer survivor. My Mom's best friend died of brain cancer when I was in grade school. Almost every week I listen to a friend tell me about a family member or close friend who was recently diagnosed. The list goes on and on.

Help us raise money for cancer research by logging onto one of our donation pages. No donation is too small, every little bit helps.
My Donation Site
Ken's Donation Site
Jenn's Donation Site

Another Month Bites the Dust

32 days of running! Guess what I'm doing tomorrow? Not running. It was an interesting experiment though. I realized that I can, indeed, get my feet out the door no matter what sort of excuse I try to come up with. The quality of my running probably suffered, my body is feeling the cumulative effects of no rest day in over a month, and my biking and swimming sort of took a back seat. But here are the positives: I still love running, my form has changed (in a good way I think), and I covered 91.5 miles on my feet. While healing from a possible stress fracture. I'll call that a "win".

February:
* Swim 2x/week
* Ride 50 miles/week
* Lose 5 pounds
That doesn't sound so difficult, right?

2010 Vancouver Lake Half Marathon

It's that time of year again. Icy rain, howling winds, and bone chilling temperatures have loomed over us for the last couple of months. And that's what is in the forecast for the next 30-something days. For those of us who participate in endurance sports during the warmer months, we are likely just starting to get back into the groove of some semblance of training. The aftermath of the holidays still clinging to our midsections. Our ability to go long hasn't quite gone away, but our ability to go fast is sort of missing. We look at the calendars, and HAH! OH LOOKSY! A half-marathon is on the calendar. Tomorrow.

And so it happened that on Sunday morning I woke up early, mixed my nutrition bottles, prepped my gear, and went through all of the pre-race routines like I have done so many times in the past. Despite the lackluster feel to the whole thing, I was excited to ride my bike to the event with Julie. And I was looking forward to seeing some tri peeps that I haven't visited with in a couple of months.

I tossed all of my stuff into a backpack, and headed out on my squeaking Cervelo (it really needs a tune-up!) to meet Julie in downtown Vancouver. At about the same time we met up, the first sprinkles started to fall out of the sky. A mile later the sprinkles had turned into a steady drizzle. Pretty soon I was squinting to keep the sideways raindrops from pelting my eyeballs. As we were turning into the park, her rear tire went flat. My rear tire stopped turning because of the amount of wet road crud lodged between the tire and frame. We dismounted and hoofed it the rest of the way in. Not exactly a motivating start to our day.

After getting our packets and changing into some dry clothes, we met up with Mark (my running partner for this race for the THIRD year in a row!) and huddled in Ken's car until it was time to line up at the start. I don't recall a bang or a boom. We all just started moving forward.

And then we ran 13.1 miles in the cold rain. Then finished. Then rounded up in dry clothes for bloodies and burgers.

Final time = 2:29:17. About a minute slower than last year and 4 minutes slower than a PR. Not bad, not great, just another 13.1 mile run.

Big thanks to Mark for keeping me company with fun chatter again this year. So much fun! And thanks to The Hubs for standing out in the rain and waiting for your slow wife to finally cross the finish line.

Mid-January Ramblings

I just finished Run #20. It's my longest days in a row of running ever. There were a few days that I walked, due to the healing stress fracture. And a handful of days where I really only ran 1 mile. It's starting to become a routine and not as much of an inconvenience as it was a couple of weeks ago. I wonder if I can go all year? Okay, okay, I better just get through the month for starters. I'm just over 52 miles for January. Not spectacular, but not too shabby with the obstacles thrown my way so far.

Here I am heading out for Run #13. Since 13 has been my lucky number since high school sports, this seemed monumental for some reason. It doesn't seem that way so much anymore, but here is the picture anyway.

I still haven't been to the pool. It's been over a month now. One of the reasons (and admittedly not a very good one) is that the only swim cap I have is a condom colored latex one left over from a local triathlon. I also have the one from my Ironman, but I'm not wearing that and risking ruining it. All of my silicon caps were either lost or ripped right before IMAZ. But, yesterday I came home to a box of caps from TYR. Here is my favorite. So, no more excuses this week.

On tonight's run, I was chased by TWO different dogs. My run was all of 1.13 miles. Yes, TWO dogs in just over ONE mile. I understand that pets get loose once in awhile, but I see dogs out all the time. Irresponsible owners. Right after I'm done with this post, I'm purchasing some of this:And anything that threatens me while I'm out by myself (dog, squirrel, stupid teenage boys that insist on yelling lewd comments at me) is getting a nice long spray up the sinuses.

To end this post on a happy note, I feel obligated to let everyone know that I have found coffee nirvana. A micro-roaster just opened up down the street from my house. It is always packed. Like standing-room-only packed. I was curious, so I bought a couple of pounds while out for one of my runs. I brewed some up the next morning. Ooooooh wow. Good stuff. Good good stuff.

Das Foot

The results from my foot appointment today...inconclusive. All signs point to stress fracture. Except for the x-rays. Not a sign of anything, which is awesome. But apparently these sorts of things don't always show up right away. I left the docs office with a prescription for a mega anti-inflammatory, instructions for hot/cold treatment to get circulation to the area to promote healing, and a stern warning about my activities over the next 3 weeks. I go back in 4 weeks for more x-rays and see how things are healing up. The pluses: I don't have to wear a boot (!!!!). I am allowed to run in the near future if I keep it short, stop when it hurts, and wear shoes. I can bike as much as I want. The bummers: I have to keep my distances super duper short and I have to do it wearing shoes. Preferably shoes that are stiff enough that you can't roll them into a ball. Clearly, my doc doesn't understand the allure of having your feet free. And during the day I am to wear my Danskos (the compromise to not having to wear a boot).

The January Challenge has been in effect for 10 days now. I have ran for 11 days in a row, since I also went for a run on NYE. My longest running streak ever. How is everyone else doing on it? We're almost half way there!

None of my 11 runs have been very long (6 miles max), and some of them were only exactly 1 mile. But getting out the door every day for at least one mile has been a suprising challenge. It has highlighted how I have an excuse for everything and can rationalize just about anything to myself. "Oh, just this one cookie, I was good all day" or "it's okay if I skip this one workout, I'll just do extra tomorrow" or "I'm just not feeling so hot and it's okay to cheat/rest/be a total sloth today". However, when I put a challenge out for myself and really dedicate to it, I have a tendancy to stick with it to a fault. I'm battling an injury in my foot...it may be minor or it may be major, I don't know yet...but I have still ran every day this month. Because I said I would. Which leads me to my next challenge for February. I think it should be food based, but I haven't decided yet. Maybe no sugar, or no processed food, or something like that.

My week in review:

I worked a lot. The first part of the year is always nuts-to-the-wall crazy for me. It's okay, since it's not a year round thing, but it's hard to adjust after having the holidays off. So I spent most of this week either working, running my 1 mile for the day, or sleeping.

I succeeded in eating healthy all week. The only sugar/processed food that I consumed was in the form of chocolate covered espresso beans (these things are what got me through the week) and a little bit of ice cream on a couple of evenings. I feel 10 times better because of it.

Since I can't seem to get up when the alarm goes off at 4:30, all of my runs have been done after work. In the dark. I have almost been mowed down by cars like 6 times this week. So I bought a new reflective vest. (Please excuse the hair...it had been a long day.)

And, as much as I hate to admit this, I have done too much too soon while barefoot or in the Vibrams. And I hurted my footses. Rookie mistake. Even worse, I sort of knew that I was doing it. But I loved being barefoot so much, that I didn't want to stop. And after being barefoot or in the Vibrams, my regular runners felt like I was wearing truck tires on my feet. So even when my foot hurt, I resisted going back to the running shoes. *Sigh*. I tried to compromise by getting a pair of racing flats, but the damage is done. I see the tootsie doctor tomorrow. Please think positive thoughts that it is only an irritation. That half marathon in 2 weeks should be a blast...

I managed to get a couple of trainer rides in. And 1 glorious outdoor ride -- AWESOME in January! Sadly, we forgot to take a photo. Total training for the week = 6 hours.

Snowshoeing Adventures

After saying "we can't wait to go snowshoeing" a bunch of times, and then life getting in the way a bunch of times, we finally went over New Years weekend for the first time this winter. Jeff, Julie, Ken, and I headed up towards Mt. Hood with no particular place in mind and in no real hurry to get there. Coffee, cookies (of course), and a bit of Miley sing-a-long started our day. An hour or so later we ended up at the sno-park for Trillium Lake.

Here's Julie, somewhere between the parking lot and the lake.And Ken with his behind-the-shoulder model pose.

The lake is about 2 miles in, mostly downhill. We stopped there for a little picnic of snacks (crackers, cheese, salami, and dill dip) and drinks (mimosas, peppermint patties, and wine). Hey, a heavy backpack = a better workout. So yeah, Ken and Jeff got a better workout. :-)

Jeff was the first to jump in the snow and make an angel. Awesome idea, except had he taken about 2 more steps, he would probably still be a the bottom of Trillium Lake.

Instead of coming back out the way we came, we decided to finish going around the lake and do the full loop. I think the reasoning at the time was that it was shorter to go that way, but in hindsight, that makes no sense at all. It was still a pretty easy 5ish miles. And we came across a great field perfect for snowball fights and making snowgirls!