Good Things

In spite of a stressful and overly busy year, I'm trying to stay focused on the positive. And remind myself of how very blessed I am. Some of the recent "good things" that I am very grateful for:

1) Getting this blasted clunky annoyance off my foot. Perhaps a bit earlier than recommended, but it's off!

2) An extended weekend of camping for our annual trek to the Lochsa in Idaho, where I got to spend time with my favorite boys, ride my bike in the sunshine next to gorgeous scenery, watch sillyness on the river, and hike/trail run to the hot springs.

Ken blasting through Lochsa Falls:

Some of my favorite photos from the weekend. From top-left, clockwise: the trail on the way to the hotsprings, Nate making his shaft sticky while the guys spectate (hehehe), and Eric and Kelly putting in on the Fish Creek/Lochsa confluence on their river boards.

3) PASSING MY PE EXAM!!!! Washington state results were issued just after 5:30 this morning and thankfully my letter began with "Congratulations" (which I was able to barely read by peaking through my hands covering my eyeballs), my Mom sent me beautiful flowers to the office, and Ken came home with a sweet card and then took me to a celebratory dinner. Not to mention all of the wonderful calls/texts/emails/posts from my amazing circle of friends and family. Thank you!

4) Cute boots. Not the healthiest obsession as far as my wallet is concerned, but hey, at least I'm not smoking crack.

5) Running! I had my first post-fracture run this evening. In the weird sunny rain that is notorious around here lately. It may not have been endorsed by the doc, but it didn't hurt, so I'm going to start slowly ramping back up. It's like I've taken a 1 month break from really important therapy.

6) Very very soon, I will be lounging here with hubby. If you haven't heard from us in about a month, it means that we did not come back.

P90X - Initial Thoughts

About a month ago I started the P90X program. It's a 90-day full body fitness program and a coordinated nutrition program. With an incredibly annoying trainer/host person. It consists of a huge packet of DVDs, some books, and requires weights and/or band and a pullup bar. All you have to do is set up the minimal equipment somewhere in the house, pop in a disc, and hit play. And have nothing planned for an hour or two. I took my "before" photos and took my starting weight, body fat, and measurements. Wow, depressing. And then I did only a week of it, but I didn't have the pull-up bar yet, and I didn't even crack open the nutrition program. The workouts were hard, but I wasn't that into it. Probably because I had a marathon the following week. So I put it on hold until after the race.

After the marathon, I restarted the program. This time with the pullup bar (of which I can do a whopping total of zero unassisted pullups), but I still disregarded the nutrition plan. I was getting good workouts in, but was still half-assing it. It was also extrememly hard to juggle swimming (haha who am I kidding), biking, running, AND 7+ hours of P90X per week. Not to mention this thing called work. I hit 17 hours of training that week. The week AFTER a marathon. Apparently, my I left my brain somewhere in Eugene. Burnout City was just around the corner. But then...then I found out I had a stress fracture in my left heel and my refuge of running was yanked away. About 6 hours per week of "free time" magically opened up.

So I re-restarted the program on Tuesday. This time I'm using the nutrition plan. I have never seen an eating program THIS CLEAN. So clean in fact, that after only 4 days, I feel like I'm cheating by eating 1 tsp of chocolate chips. One flippin teaspoon. I used to knock back an entire bag of those without blinking. This plan is time consuming, both in the matter of preparation and cooking, but also as far as eating 2400+ calories per day of whole foods, and then logging said calories into the online calculator. Do you know how much lean protein and veggies it takes to equal 2400+ calories? Here is a sample day:

Breakfast: 6-8 egg white scramble with veggies and maybe some grilled chicken, turkey bacon, cup of strawberries

Snacks: protein shake, maybe some cottage cheese, whole wheat bread with almond butter if I'm still hungry (I haven't been)

Lunch: salad with grilled chicken and veggies, maybe some soup, maybe some sweet potatoes

Snacks: string cheese or soy nuts, apple with almond butter

Dinner: salmon, lemon-dill sauce, asparagus, wild rice, roasted red pepper soup, protein powder in the soup
Other: recovery drink after workout(s), whatever carbs/calories I need during workout(s) if over an hour, and whatever else to get me above 2000 calories. Because, seriously, the above list doesn't get me to my target amount. And I'm so full that I'm almost puking.

I'm either working, working out, cooking, or eating. And sleeping a solid 5 hours a night. What, 5 hours is not enough? No, no it's not. I'm working on that. But aside from not getting enough sleep, I feel fabulous. My digestive system is perky and happy, my muscles have that hurts-so-good sore and fatigued feeling, and I was able to do 2 big-girl pushups today. Go me. And I've lost SIX pounds. I was able to button the top part of my jeans this morning and I didn't have to undo them after lunch. Small victories. Only 2 pounds until I'm at Ironman weight, 7 pounds until wedding weight, and 23 pounds to my goal weight. Woah, 23 pounds? Ack, I'll just focus on losing only those 2 pounds for the moment.

Now if only I can get Ken, aka Mr. Mega-meat-eater, to enjoy the squash soup, turkey bacon, protein shakes, and soy sausage as much as I do. But even if he has no interest in trying it, at least he isn't complaining about ME eating it. I'll report back on my progress and thoughts next week. So far, so good.

2010 Eugene Marathon

Ken and I arrived in Eugene early on Saturday afternoon, navigated the crowded and overheated expo/packet pickup at the Hilton, met up with Rondy (Rusty), Skully (Sondra), Jeff (Jeff), Tom (Tom), and some other girls for dinner, then settled in for an early bedtime. Side note: there are lots of evil ducks, geese, and nutria roaming this town...beware.

Race morning was just as uneventful as the prior evening. I slept like crap as is customary on race-eve, decided to finally just get out of bed around 4:30am, showered, ate a skimpy hotel continental breakfast, and then sat in the car near the race start trying to stay warm as long as possible. Ken was dropping me off and then heading back to the hotel to have a leisurely morning of packing back up and checking out. With about 30 minutes until go time, I made my way to the porta-potty lines and then the starting corral. Unlike my last stand-alone marathon (Portland Marathon), there was no wandering anxiously between pace groups. I saw the 12:00 sign and parked it right there until the gun went off. Based on my training lately, I wasn't fooling myself or anyone else by shooting for something faster.

Apparently the national anthem was sung and someone said enlightening and significant things over the PA system. Back in the 12:00 pace group, you don't hear any of this. I didn't even hear the start gun. Right around this time Jeff wandered up nonchalantly, as if there wasn't even a race starting. He was doing the half marathon, and this was a nice, calming aura to be around at this moment. Thanks Jeff! He ran with me for about a mile or so, and since he typically runs about 3:00/mile faster than me, I finally told him to go start running.

Miles 1-8 felt great. I was running ahead of pace, the crowd was energizing, and the air was cool and crisp. And I got to see Ken a couple of times. Miles 8-11 were still fun, but I was starting to think "I could just split off at mile 11 with the half-marathoners and then let the officials know". When mile 11 showed up, and every single last person around me split to the left, I continued right to complete another 15.2 miles. It got pretty lonely here, but the sun was starting to peak out, I had some nice tunes on the iphone, and I was falling into my groove. That "groove" is why I love to run. I can't say that I ever really experience the "runners high". But when my feet fall into a rythm, my breathing matches the foot falls, and my mind gets quiet, not much else compares to that.

Miles 11-20 were great as well. I had the biggest ear-to-ear grin on my face and didn't ever want to stop running. The crowds along the course cheered so loud, which made me smile even wider. Usually, the loudest cheers are for those who look strong and also for those who look like absolute hell. I like to think that these cheers were not due to the latter. I was also on track to have a smashing PR by over 20 minutes.

I should mention that by this point, I had taken in about 3 gels (100 cal/gel), 1/2 banana (50 cal), and maybe 4 oz of gatorade (less than 50 cals). So yeah, less than 400 cals over 20 miles. Nothing sounded appetizing, and I wasn't able to force myself to eat. I wish I had that problem ALL of the time... Anyway, it was no suprise that I started to lose steam here. My short-lived dream of a huge PR disasppeared, and I was forced into salvage mode.

From miles 22 through 25 I ran when I could and walked when I couldn't. I was still having fun, but I was fighting hard against that famed trip to Bonk Town. My legs still felt okay, my feet hurt a bit, but I was getting really sleepy. Ken gave me a little pick-me-up at mile 23, and then it was up to me to bring it in for the last 5k.

Finally, mile 25 appeared. 1.2 miles to go. I started crying here. I don't usually cry in races, but sometimes endorphins have a way of triggering the waterworks. I was also extremely thankful that I would be able to take off my shoes soon. The final stretch of the marathon takes you into the entrance of Hayward Field, one of the most historic track and field venues in the country. Being towards the back of the pack, I pretty much had the entire track to myself. The stadium seemed enormous at that moment and it was a little overwhelming. The finish line is half-way around the track. Cross through, get a medal, get a space blanket, get your chip off, and then pancakes. Yes, pancakes. They were awesome and the first thing that sounded appetizing all day.

After moseying around the finishers area, I wandered behind the grand stands to meet up with Ken. As we were walking back to the car, I could not think of anything more marvelous than laying in the shaded green grass next to the sidewalk. So I did. And within 5 minutes I was asleep. Ken came back with the car, loaded me up, and took me straight for salty food and recovery drinks. But only after helping me change out of stinky clothes in the middle of a busy parking lot. What an awesome husband.

Final time = 5:16:11 (12:05 pace), for an almost 2-minute PR

Fun races, long runs, and blister triage

The title of this post pretty much sums up my non-work life lately. Things have felt a bit chaotic, so I'll just jot down some random thoughts.

• Beaver Freezer was cold and not as put together as previous years (what the heck happened this year, race organizers?), but it was still tons of fun because of my awesome friends and hubby. Compared to last year I had a slower swim (no big surprise...I've been in the pool less than 10 times since Ironman), a much faster bike, and a slightly faster run. My overall time was about a minute slower, but that can be mostly attributed to the long transition this year due to the women swimming in a pool further away. Aside from a crash coming out of the pool (I slipped on the wet tile, crashed onto my right hip and elbow, and flew across the floor taking out an entire row of chairs), I felt pretty good and wasn't sore afterwards. My weight was the same as last year -- TOO MUCH! Overall, I'm satisfied with performance, but clearly I have a lot of work to do this summer.

Me, Jenn, and Laura - cold, but finished:Dirty, muddy bikes:

• In prep for the Eugene Marathon that is quickly approaching, I have been running lots. Well, lots, by my standards. Lately my feet have been developing blisters and hotspots after about 4 miles. Sometimes it's 1 annoying blister, or sometimes it's like 8 or 9 of them. Our Sunday night ritual is blister triage on the couch. Sexy, huh. I have no idea why this is happening since it has never been an issue before. As a result, I've bagged a couple of my long Sunday runs after only a few miles. No good. I've tried 4 different pairs of shoes, I have invested over $100 on all sorts of new spiffy socks, and applied body glide, vaseline, and sport shield. The most frustrating thing is that my legs feel GREAT. I wasn't even sore after 20.5 miles last weekend. If I can't figure the blister thing out, I'll likely drop down to the half marathon for Eugene. Or just walk it once the blisters show up.
  
  On that note, does anyone know of a super super super clean salon that doesn't mind touching feet covered in dead blister skin? A couple of toenails may fall off in the process. My feet really need help.

I present to you, the most hideous (yet comfortable) racing flats available on the market. Probably my footwear for Eugene. Not one item of my workout clothing matches these beauties.

• I ran the Bridge-to-Brews 10k last Sunday. So did Jenn, Kevin, Jen, Laura, Cory, Lori, and Jason. Fun crew! It was also sunny and warm...the first run this year that I wore a tank and shorts and was still sweating.
• I started the P90X program this past week. You have probably seen parts of the infomercial on tv. You know, the annoying ripped dude that won't shut up, and tons of success stores with "before and after" photos? Yeah, I bought it. Thanks, Lori, for the hookup! Day 1 was Chest and Back. Pushups, pullups, pushups, chinups, pushups, pullups, pushups, chinups, and then lots more pushups. Day 2 was Plyometrics. Meaning, do different variations of jump squats for an hour. Day 3 was Shoulders and Arms, plus Ab Ripper. I may not be able to lift my arms to wash my hair and it may take me an extra few minutes to lift myself off the toilet. But if this helps me gain some points on The Chub, then who really cares.

Yes, he really is this abnoxious:

• I've lost 4 pounds since April 12th. So at least I've got that going for me.


• Vancouver Bike Club Time Trials have started! Every Thursday night at the Port of Vancouver. 10 mile course. $2/rider for non-members. I had my slowest time ever, but at least I showed up. And I was so out of it after P90X, that I forgot to don my Zipps or aero helmet. Argh! It was Ken's first time trial...and he beat me by 25 seconds. I didn't even let him. But it's ON next week!

Gear Review: Nathan Hydration Vest

Since I'm admittedly a huge gear-whore, I decided to start doing periodic reviews of some of the products that I love, some that I abhor, and anything new and cool that I come across. Meet my latest investment:The Nathan Intensity. It's a women's specific hydration vest from the Nathan Sports line. Some of the features (as taken from their website) include:

-- women-specific shoulder straps and torso length
-- 3-way propulsion harness
-- 2L bladder
-- dual front pockets

Price paid: $84.95 (this included shipping and handling)

Location: This product seems to be backordered at several places. I found it in-stock at http://www.runningunlimited.com/. You could probably find it at just about any online running or sporting goods store, and also at REI (online only).

I have become increasingly dissatisfied with my fuel belts. They are great for some of the shorter runs, but I think they are contributing to an upset stomach after about 10 miles, they aren't quite large enough to hold water for the longer runs (on routes where there is no option to refill), and there is no spot for maps/phone/fuel without adding on a bunch of extra pouches. And I'm sorta tired of looking like a mall cop with all of the crap hanging off my waist. I have tried 2 different camel backs, 1 off-brand pack, and 1 from Gregory. None of them fit the bill when it came to exactly what I was looking for: light weight, small enough to fit a girls frame without smooshing the melons, no weird straps that will rub and chafe, and roomy enough to hold everything without being majorly bulky. I was very skeptical when I ordered this one.

My first impressions out of the box:

1) The bladder seals by rolling the top down and sliding a hard-plastic seal over the top, rather than a screw top.

2) There are no shoulder strap adjustments and I thought this was weird.

3) It's super light.

4) The back pocket could be a tad larger.

Here is a view of the top of the bladder, with the sliding seal at the top:

My impressions after a run:

1) I actually like the sealing mechanism. It's a cinch to fill and it's easier to get the extra air out than the screw tops.

2) The fit is AWESOME! It doesn't matter that there are no shoulder adjustments. The waist adjustments are plenty. The pack rides high enough on the back that it feels like it's just sort of floating there. I had the bladder completely filled, and it still didn't weigh the pack down.

3) The front pockets are sort of hard to access, but I do like that there are pockets in the front at all. Genius. Also, the pockets did not get in the way of my arm movement.

4) No jostling! No bouncing! Win!

5) My only real complaint: the chest strap is not meant for buxom ladies. It is adjustable. However, the highest position is pretty much directly across the nips and the lowest position is underneath the girls. I think that underneath is the most comfortable for me.

The front view. Ignore the big wet spot on my belly...user error.

I'm pretty sure this will be a keeper. Based on the short test run, I am extremely happy with this pack, and already love it infinitely more than my waist belts. The true test will be my 20+ miler this weekend.

Training Photos

I'm trying to get my butt out the door for my long run this morning. So instead of writing a long post about the last couple of weeks or the Beaver Freezer triathlon yesterday, here are some photos from recent training runs:

And a few from the race yesterday:

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.