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holiday habits

Sunday, November 30th, 2008

The holidays. Eating too much, and getting lazy… no thanks.

This year Mike and I had our first family Thanksgiving – just us and donutdogg. And I’m please to say that (well, until the donut I just had) I was coming out of the holiday weekend feeling in better shape than going in.

With just the two of us, even Thanksgiving day turkey meal was somewhat a normal meal. We didn’t gather house ahead and start snacking (well ok I had some clam dip with breakfast, but it wasn’t like some hors d’oeuvre sessions). We didn’t stay at the table chatting for hours, but instead cleaned up once done and went for a chatty walk. We didn’t have a thousand desserts, but kept it simple. So that helped.

What also helped was some family workouts. Still running everyday (on day 60 or so now). The pool was closed for the holiday, but we also got on the bike each day. A big ride up to the cider area in the mountains near us, and some shorter stuff. And a ride on the tri bikes, which hadn’t been out since Muskoka 70.3.

Here are some pics from the climby ride:

Oh and there was a walk. Started as a 2hr walk, but with some crafty path choices we made it out alive in about 3hrs and when it was no longer light enough to easily find the car. Even donut was done after that one! Here are some walk pics:

Yeah, looks like it did get a bit longer than planned… here are Gracie and I at the end of the walk:

Life is good 🙂

Posted in biking, donutdogg, mike, pics, running, Training Thoughts | 2 Comments »

still movin’

Wednesday, July 11th, 2007

I’m alive, I just haven’t posted lately. I was thinking about it as I drove to work today, and I average ~9 hours of work a day, 2 of driving, ~2-3 of working out and showering after all the workouts, ~6-7 of sleeping (gotta get better there), and about 2 of sitting on the couch (working, interneting, eating, chatting with friends online/phone, etc.). And then I realized I have no idea what I do with the other 1-3. Really… I have no idea. That’s really all I have done lately. And yes, I’m very happy 🙂 I’m lucky that a run or a bike counts as “time together” even if I only see Mike at the start and finish.

Actually, I’m very very happy with how things are right now. I have better self-image than in a long time. I have a wonderful boy, and I feel very loved. I think if all goes well I have a good chance at PRs in my B (Vineman 70.3) and A (IM KY) races this year. I’m enjoying all the training. I’m not feeling stressed. I am in the middle of figuring out details on applying for a Masters in GIS program that I’m interested in. I do miss some people I used to see more of, or talk to more, but we still talk some and we are not losing touch (and it’s not just my life that has caused the change).

(oh, and I had a wonderful birthday — the wonderful boy gave me something shiny and important and that I’ve been dreaming of… dura ace brakes for the PX! wooo!)

And now the stats part for a few “fun” workouts:

last 2 long bike rides: 117mi @ 16.7mph, 103 mi @ 17.9mph
last 2 long runs: 20.1 mi @ 10:06/mi (in the heat of day on the 4th), 20.2 @ 9:18/mi (this am!)
Swam a 1:35/100yds (pulling) last night! Super fast for me, and it felt pretty relaxed and easy!
Ran over 8mi at a 8:49 pace!

And since I mentioned it, why do I think I can PR? Well, for IM KY I just feel stronger than ever, I’m running and biking faster, and swimming faster and easier. I’d never really done 100+ mile training rides, and since May of this year I’ve done 7, and 6 were over 112 (and one over 120!). I’d never been this smart and consistent with running — I’ve got a number of smartly built up to 16, 18, and 20 milers under my belt. So here’s hoping for a sub-13:49 (for a PR) and hopefully it will be a good amt sub that!

For Vineman it’s mostly because all the IM mileage, and another little factor: I’ve only ever done one half IM! And I was definitely in different shape then, as it was my 4th tri ever. My half PR? 7:18. Yes, you are reading right. More than half of my IM PR time 😉

Yup, life is good. And my lunch today is packed in a bag I often use for all my swimgear. ‘Cause I was hungry. And I’m eating pita chips and humus and it’s good, too!

Posted in biking, Life Outside of Tris, mike, Planet X, running, swiming, Training Thoughts | 6 Comments »

wow…

Wednesday, June 27th, 2007

Have I really not updated since May??? That’s kinda crazy. But then again, life has been, too. Still training and in big weeks right now. And work had its biggest week of the year (ok one of them).

So what is new…

I’m having some tendinitis issues in my left foot. Icing and ultrasounding and wrapping like crazy. Took a couple easier run weeks. It’s mostly better now, but still sore by the end of the run today (15 mi). Sore enough that Mike drove me the last half mile having passed me and knowing it would be smart to go get me. We’ve changed my training plan already since my body hasn’t been too happy with the current 3 weeks of LOONG runs, one shorter, lather rinse repeat. Instead I’ll be doing LOONG, long, LOONG, shorter. Basically I was doing 3 weeks at 16 (in May), 18 (in June), and 20 (in July) before an easy week. Now I’ll be doing the target distance of the month only twice, with the middle of the three weeks at 13-16 miles.

Pace-wise for the run I’m happy. I seem to be living around a 9:10-9:30 average, which is better for me! And heat training has started. It’s still in the “hard” phase.

I’m definitely feeling more confident on the bike now. I’ve been getting in serious miles on the weekends. I have a new longest ride ever! Just a bit over 120 miles on June 10th, and at 16.3mph! Awesome… as I used to always average about 15 🙂 And then I did the same loop, but with out the 5 mile add-on at the end, for 115 miles at 16.7 this last weekend! Wooo!

Looking at some stats, it appears I’ve done 8 rides over 100 miles this year (and 4 of them were over 112 miles!). Let’s compare that to a single ride in 2006 (Vineman) and 2 in 2005 (a century and IM AZ). Yup, I’d say I’m better prepared for IM KY 😉

Moving on to the swim — feeling better here as well. With the foot I’ve been doing a lot of pulling (the kicking seems to really piss off the tendon). And my avg speed there is getting MUCH better, too! I used to hit 2 min/100 yds too consistently: independant of the set length, etc. Now I actually have multiple speeds! And last night I did 3 sets of 3 100s for speed, and I hit all the times! One set at 1:50/100yd, one at 1:46/100yd, and then 1:41/100yd (all pulling, but no paddles). I’m pleased 🙂

Posted in biking, running, swiming, Training Thoughts | 4 Comments »

starting a well-earned rest week

Tuesday, May 29th, 2007

It’s finally here… recovery week! And just in time! My legs feel well-worked, and I’m getting to that overly-tired-when-the-alarm beeps feeling. And I had 3 great weeks, being right on with my 16 mile run each week, a nice long bike each weekend, and quality and consistency during the week! Well this weekend was my longest bike ride ever: 115 miles, and again I smoked it (17.4 mph avg!!)! Although I was trying to chill through it since my legs were heavy going in. Oh well they get this week to recover 🙂

I’ve been doing great on the food front — lots of good meals this last week. Any time when my recent past includes sushi, tilapi, steak, pesto, spinich & crasin salads, and ice cream have to have been good!

And I am tired this week, and in need of some strenuous doses of ice and rest, with a bike or swim, and maybe another easy run, thrown into the mix.

Posted in biking, General, running, Training Thoughts | 5 Comments »

so that’s what I’ve been up to

Tuesday, May 1st, 2007

Totals for the year to date:

swimming: 115000 yds, 41:59:17 (avg pace 2:11/100yds — including resting between sets)
biking: 1625.95 mi, 109:16:56 (avg pace ~15.1 mph)
running: 329.33 mi, 53:59:12 (avg pace ~9:50)

A few others as well (mtb, yoga, weights, core, etc) and my total workout time this year is 217 hours, 18 minutes!

May 1, 2006 my totals for the year were:

swimming: 48780 yds, 19:11:40 (avg pace 2:22/100yds — including resting between sets)
biking: 1236.59 mi, 85:43:10 (avg pace ~14.6 mph)
running: 266.76 mi, 49:07:34 (avg pace ~11:03)

And the few others (more mtb by a lot) brought it to 193 hours, 56 minutes!

Then I think about how my IM is even a few weeks later this year, and I get more confident that I am moving in the right direction! Namely stronger and faster 😉

Posted in biking, Ironman, running, swiming, Training Thoughts | 7 Comments »

the rest of the weekend

Monday, April 16th, 2007

It was a good weekend, but man am I tired!

Got in over 162 miles of biking last week, and my biggest week ever was 163! And of those 162, a Saturday 35 mile ride involved 39 MPH headwind (up at the girls weekend), and a Sunday 75 mile ride involved rain (back down here and out through Rancho Cucamonga). Just keep pedaling…

Also got in 5 days of running last week, for a total of about 28 1/2 miles, which is also a pretty big week for me — 7th biggest ever, it looks like.

Swam this morning. It started off a bit rough. I just wasn’t feeling it, and was just going through motions. My mind wasn’t in it. Zoned out even more and started the main set: 6 repeats of 100 yards on 2min 10 sec, with the second 50 of each faster than the first 50. Well suddenly I noticed my time was about 1:55 on these! I’m usually around 2 min/100, so that was good. Then I got to the next part of the main set: 6 repeats of 100 yards on 2min 10 sec with each 100 faster than the one before it. Well the first one was on 1:54 and I thought I was in for trouble hitting faster and faster times, but I did it! 1:54, 1:53, 1:50, 1:47, 1:45, 1:41… so basically I was able to do faster than my goal IM pace (1:49), and I never felt like I was going too crazy fast (except on that last one).

Had a pretty cool Saturday evening. I was up at the ST gal thing still (I ended up leaving that night as I just needed to sleep in my own bed and by my own boy) and ended up meeting Mike part way there to get the bike case from a girl who had gone up through my house but found another ride down the next day. I mentioned I was going to do a bike fit with Dan that evening, and so he ended up coming back up with me. Dan is sort of THE bike fitter. He designed the main certification for fitting triathlon bikes, and was a huge part of developing tri bikes in the first place! So this was definitely a cool treat (and Mike hopes to take his class, so wanted to see him in action)! Since he was busy this weekend, he was only going to do a 10 minute “no foreplay, no cuddling” fit (it can take 2-3 hours for a first round). But he loves his work, and we got in a groove, and an hour and a half later we were wrapping up! And my bike already feels much better, and I have a few adjustments left to do on it (getting a different stem, for one). Man I’m lucky I was able to do that.

Posted in biking, mike, Planet X, running, swiming, Training Thoughts | No Comments »

pushing me

Thursday, March 15th, 2007

Sometimes I have a day where I feel great. All day I plan what workout I’m going to do, and where. And I’m just itching to do it.

Yesterday was one of those days, and so the evening run became the week’s long run (it’s usually Weds morning but had been moved to Thurs morning due to shoes being at the other house… and then the Weds night since it was TIME). 12 miles. Not at quite my “it’s base so let’s go easy” pace but just pushing a little bit to see what I could do. Well I impressed me 🙂

So here it is: 12 miles in 1:53:53. 9:30 pace. 715 ft of climbing and of descent. Avg HR 162

Not super speedy, you might say. Until you look at last week, when I was really keeping it at what felt nice and easy for the first part and pushed a bit on the second half: 11 miles in 1:52:45. 10:11 pace. 570 ft of climbing and descent. Avg HR 162

Well damn! Same HR, and this week one more minute = one more mile! And the route this week was tricker too — and included running a bit of dark trail. And an owl, 2 bunnies, a coyote, and lots of birdies 🙂 I did something right… maybe it was the good eating and the sleep (although not good sleep, better than last week).

I’ll take it.

Posted in running, Training Thoughts | 3 Comments »

longer and shorter than planned

Monday, March 12th, 2007

Yes, both in one ride. Started out with 80 in mind as Mike had to get to work and the time change stole an hour. We started out together as usual, each armed with nuun and a bar and a gel. It was nice out, and I even opted for the tank jersey. Mike took out his PX for the first time to start getting it dialed in since he is racing in a few weeks!

We split for a while, and then met up again for the path along the beach. I mentioned thinking about extending the ride a bit, and he said it might be good. After it (around mile 40) we planned to split for the day so that he could get home and to work soon. We did, and around mile 50 I decided to “not think, just do” as BBB tells me. So at mile 60 I turned around and went back down the path 10 miles to make it about 100 miles total.

But those 10 miles! Headwind, and pretty strong. I was feeling it, and the bar long gone sucked down the gu at 71 as I turned back. The first few miles felt easy and fast, and then the wind changed! So it was more headwind… and too much for me. I called Mike to find out where the nearest convenience store was as I was fading fast. I couldn’t see any from the path, but he knows the area better. Turns out I couldn’t see any since there aren’t any :-/ He had also bonked near the end of his ride and realized I had nothing left with me and had worried, so he wasn’t surprised to get the call, and offered to meet me at the one street the path crosses with whatever I wanted. I was still about 10 miles from it, but it was still 10 miles sooner than I’d get anything if I waited for home, so I took him up on it. I arrived to a smiling face complete with a bagel, coke, nuun, cold water, and gel!

Unfortunately, those 15ish miles of bonking were too much for my gut, and it was not so happy to have food added to the sloshing water, and I called it a day at 92 miles. But I did hydrate better than the last time when I did 101 miles with 2.5ish bottles… this time it was 7 bottles! Oh yeah, it ended up getting WARM! The high at our place was 96 for the day, so I’m sure that played a part in the long hard ride being so tough for me.

Oh and Mike says the bike felt good. Only issue was that the seatpost slipped a bit. But it felt sturdy and handled better than he expected for a TT bike, and he was generally pleased.

Something else Mike didn’t tell me until we were in the car on the way home… the headwind only got stronger the next 7 miles I was facing, and after that turn it wasn’t too bad to home. I’m glad he waited to tell me, since I didn’t let the wind stop my day, but I stopped because, as he said, why keep going at that point? We know the mental part isn’t my weakness…

Posted in biking, nutrition, Planet X, Training Thoughts | No Comments »

moving AGAIN

Thursday, March 1st, 2007

At some point I will live in one place for a long time again…

First out of college I lived in the same place for a year. Then Irvine was the longest at about a year and a half. With Holly has been about 15 months, but that was in 2 different locations. And now for another new one. Yet again increasing my travel time to and from work. But I drive the longer version half the time now anyways… and it will mean not spliting where I am all the time, which does get old. Yes, Mike and I will be moving in together. We’ve been talking about it, and have found the perfect place and have been approved! He moves in THIS WEEKEND (we think) and I will slowly be joining him, finally really living there Aprilish. Crazy… and scary!!!! My first time living with a boy that I’m dating… It feels sorta like before an Ironman — I’m nervous and worried and wonder if I’m ready or not. And part of me is thrilled and excited and wants it to be here now, knowing that I’ve prepared as I need to and really shouldn’t be so scared. Yet the scared hangs around 🙂

On a training note, I’ll be farther from the mtn biking areas I know and love, so will have to find some new ones. And I’ll get to find some new running and biking areas, although much of the long rides will be unchanged as our usual loops went sorta near both houses, and all the “near work” routes will still be the same.

And I biked this morning… but not long since I had to get in and work. Thursday is often my easy training day each week since it’s my crazy-busy life day.

Posted in biking, Life Outside of Tris, Training Thoughts | 4 Comments »

one oh one

Monday, January 8th, 2007

… and I don’t mean the race series. Instead, I’m talking miles. You know, those long training rides that required hydration and food plans? And that make you hungry for days? Yup, got the first one of the year under my belt yesterday.

I prepped Saturday with a 9 mile run (my longest since Vineman and foot injuries). It felt pretty easy, but afterwards my hips were a bit stiff, and my legs just a bit tender.

Then it was Sunday and Mike and I got up and headed out for a ride. He was meeting up with one of his speedier buddies, and I proposed doing a similar loop to the 85 mile one a few weeks ago, where I go down one bike path and then back up it, and he goes down a different path and then has to jump over to mine and catch me. This time I hit the end of my path and gave him a call to let him know and find out where he was, and he was about 3 or 4 miles from me in the connector between bike paths. However, they were stopped at a Starbucks for a treat. I just headed back up, figuring he’d still catch me by the dam (where we had split out paths). Turns out I beat him by about a mile and a quarter, so I added a short out and back along the dam as I waited. His buddy had done a hard ride the day before and was feeling it, so their pace had slowed as well as mine. With the bigger loop to get to the start, and his buddy’s sore legs, it ended up making his day about 108 and mine 102 (it was about 101.5, but then the GPS website corrections made it 101.95 — and I had the 101 goal). It was a tough ride, with some winds and such. But I like the path. I definitely slowed near the end, and was really feeling it at about 90 miles, but got my “almost home” wind around 97.

I love rides that I start and end with Mike. Even if the middles are different. It really helps keep me out there knowing I get the starting and ending treats (including some checking out of his ass, I will admit — and sometimes he drops behind me when cars need to pass, and I don’t ask why). It’s nice to know that he’s a few miles away, pedaling along just like I am (although often faster).

After the ride we ended up at our current favorite post long ride restaurant: Casa Jimenez. Mexican food. And really yummy Mexican food. And good chips and salsa. And $8.25 for all you can eat. It always hits the spot, although I don’t think we’ve ever done more than the 3 items that start the all you can eat (it’s all you can eat where you order each piece, starting with 2 or 3 items). As we left, we laughed at how the people are starting to recognize us, and how (hopefully) over the next few months they will know us better, and know us as the people who come in every week and stuff our faces with all you can eat yumminess and tons of chips, and waddle out on sore legs, but are somehow dropping weight.

Ok now it’s time to eat more… all this typing has made me hungry again! 🙂

Posted in biking, nutrition, running, Training Thoughts | 1 Comment »