Tag Archives: running

Weekly Recap 6/13 – 6/19

20 Jun


As I mentioned a few days ago, I am going to post weekly recaps of  my training and time with God.

This past week went pretty well training-wise. I was able to stick to my schedule and get in all my workouts except for one.

Monday: Rest Day

Tuesday: Swam 750 yards; Ran 4 x 800 (in negative splits: 4:30, 4:20, 4:10, 4:07!!); abs

Wednesday: Biked 14.4 miles in 1:06

Holy hills batman! This was supposed to be 15 miles but I couldn’t remember the route I had mapped so I just followed the trail but ended up turning back early.

Thursday: Swam 1,500 yards; Ran 2.6 miles with pooches in 29:40 

Can we say spastic dogs?

Charlie actually did really well on my run. Her attention span waned after the first mile and a half but she didn’t pull on her leash or misbehave hardly at all.

Running makes some hungry dogs (like they aren’t hungry all the time, though):

 And a very sweaty me:

See the sweat dripping off my chin?

Friday: Supposed to swim 1,000 yds but instead ran 4.1 miles in 45:50.

Saturday: Hiked 7 miles in 4 hours

Travis and I went down to Divide (an hour west of Colorado Springs) to visit some friends. We hiked to Pancake Rocks and little did we know that the trail was all uphill on way out and downhill on way back. It was a challenging hike so we went up at a leisurely pace, enjoyed our lunch at the top, and then hiked back down. When we got back to their house, we watched Flushed Away and took a nap.

The hiking crew

Sunday: Biked 20 easy miles in 1:35 ish (13.5 with Travis, 7.5 on trainer)

The trail that I had mapped out (Clear Creek) was closed about 4 miles into our ride, so we improvised by going down the Ralston Creek Trail, which was actually very pretty, and then taking side streets home. The last 7.5 miles on my bike trainer were brutal because I was so bored. I need to figure out something to do on the trainer that keeps me entertained.

I also did well at spending time reading the Bible every morning, except Saturday when we were visiting friends, and Sunday when we were going to church.
It was a good week but I am living up my much-needed rest day today (by doing laundry and cleaning the house).

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Race Recap: Greeley Sprint Tri

13 Jun

That was my face getting out of the swim.

Already, you can tell the race went well.

But let me back up. I did my second open water swim practice on Saturday afternoon at Big Soda Lake Beach again. This time, there was only one other (real) swimmer there using the lap lane so I didn’t have to worry about running into someone else. I put my pool tactics into practice and the swim actually went very well. I was swimming relatively straight and was relaxed. I {almost} panicked after my first length because I feared getting out of breath but I just slowed my stroke down and took longer breaths. I did 8 lengths, which I calculate to be about 640 meters (each length is about 80). I went to bed that night feeling more optimistic and less scared.

Race morning came early at 4:00 am. I woke Travis up (we had discussed the need for his prompt rising, which he did – I was so proud and grateful), then took a quick shower, got dressed, and put my hair up and lotion on my arms and legs where I anticipated no body marking to be. As I’ve mentioned before, lotion helps wetsuits slide off easily but it also makes body marking rub off. So I use regular lotion (to avoid weird tan line blotches) and just put the lotion where I know there is/will be no body marking – on my arms from right above my elbow down and on my legs minus the back calves. But I forgot to put on Body Glide before getting dressed, which I was painfully aware of during my post-race shower. Chafing – ouch!

Since it was so early, I wasn’t that hungry when I woke up so I put peanut butter on 2 bagels (one for me, one for Travis) and packed that, along with 2 yogurts and some grapes, into my lunchbox to eat on the 1-hour drive up to Greeley. I also decided that it was long enough until the race (we weren’t scheduled to go until 7:30) that I could venture to drink some coffee. We were pulling out of the driveway (after returning once to retrieve our phones) at 4:40.

We arrived at the race site at 5:45, after some arguments over roads being closed and wrong directions (sleep deprivation = snippyness). I got my packet quickly, set up my transition area, near D (my racing friend), Michelle, and Susan (who both work with D at the racing company I worked for last year). For both of them, this was first triathlon and they were a little nervous about the swim.

I appreciated having the extra time waiting around because I feel so much more mentally prepared and peaceful when I have more than enough time to get everything together – even though its probably a little boring for Travis. I remembered to tape my Shotbloks to my bike, had time for a 10 minute jog to warm up, and used the restroom twice. So far, so good.

Swim

Five minutes before transition closed, I discovered that because the lake was so small (see picture above) and the swim start was a time trial instead of a wave, the warm up time was over when transition closed. Meaning I had missed the warm up time. Crap it! There went my strategy for the swim… Even though the water was about 10 degrees warmer than the Boulder Res, I was still worried I would get in, get out of breath with the cold water, and be toast.

As we waited around 20 minutes for the Adult Age Group to start, I had decided to go use the bathroom when I heard the announcer say that the Age Groupers could get in the water and warm up while we were waiting. I chose warming up in the water over going to the bathroom, which I believe was a good, but not ideal, decision (more on that later). The water was actually fairly warm and I was feeling good about the swim.

After warming up, we waited another 30 minutes to start due to timing issues (since I was a race timer last year, I can’t really be mad – it’s complicated and messy.) Finally, almost an hour later than planned, the Age Groupers started going. The order was Men, oldest to youngest, and then Women, oldest to youngest. So I was in last 30 or so people to go.

Finally, it was my turn. When they told me to go, I waded down the rubber mat into the water (this was a man-made lake, so the drop-off was pretty steep) and then did the breaststroke for about 10 seconds, letting the water get back into my wetsuit before putting my face in the water.

Then I started swimming. The first 100 meters were great – I felt totally relaxed and at ease. I can totally do this! I thought to myself.

Then I started noticing water getting in my mouth when I turned to breath so I started swallowing when I should have been breathing out underwater. My breathing got slightly off and I was tempted to panic. Why am I doing this again? Since when do I like swimming? As I rounded the second far buoy and started making my way back, I had the thought, “Why would I ever want to do an Olympic triathlon? I can barely stand 500 meters, let alone 1500!” I was able to mostly keep my cool through the whole swim and slowly, the yellow ducks marking the swim exit came closer and closer. I actually made it the whole way swimming! I did it! I did it!

Now you can see why I was smiling and giving a thumbs up when I came out of the water. The swim was OVER!

Official Time: 13:19

T1

The race organizers had wetsuit strippers on hand but I don’t have that much difficulty getting mine off myself so I declined their offer of help. Like usual, I pulled my wetsuit down to my waist during the run to my spot, then pulled it all the way off at my bike. Both Michelle and Susan, who had started the swim after me, were both at their bikes already! Those little speed demons! I was glad that they had survived the swim though. (Susan later told me that it was a horrible experience and she didn’t think she’d ever do another one. I can relate to that feeling!)

I put on my socks, shoes, race belt, helmet and sunglasses, grabbed my bike and was off.

Official Time: 2:06 (gotta love those smaller transition areas!)

Bike

Just like at the Boulder Sunrise, I was pleasantly surprised by how good my legs felt on the bike. I passed quite a few people and definitely pushed myself (maybe a titch too hard). I ate my Shotbloks around Mile 4. The only noteworthy thing about the bike was how bad I had to pee for the last 3 miles. It was seriously painful. I had had to pee since before the swim took off. I now wonder why I didn’t run to pee then, since we stood around waiting for almost an hour. I had contemplated peeing in my wetsuit but didn’t want to do it standing around and couldn’t do it while swimming. I contemplated peeing on the bike but that’s just gross. So I resolved to pee (in a portapoo) when I got back to transition.

Official Time: 35:19 (17 mph average)

T2

After racking my bike, taking off my helmet and grabbing my hat, I made a mad dash to the bathroom. I stopped my watch while I did so, in order to know how long my bathroom pitstop took me when compared to the official time. It probably cost me about 45 seconds. But it was totally worth it.

Official Time: 1:38

Run

Once again, I was confronted with sluggishness on the run, most likely caused by going too hard on the bike. The way out was almost all slightly uphill, so that didn’t help either. I had to stop and walk a couple of times because my heart rate was around 175, which it should have been around 165. The run course also meandered a lot with dog legs so I felt like it went on forever. I felt like I was running very slow and was so ready for the race to be over, although now that I see my running pace I’m not that disappointed – sub-10:30 is pretty good for me lately. Finally, there was the finish line – a giant gorilla!

Official Time: 32:03 (10:21 pace)

Overall Official Time: 1:24:24

Overall Watch Time: 1:23:09

Gender Placement: 74/121

Division Placement: 10/15

I like to think that if we hadn’t had to wait around so long for the race to start, I wouldn’t have had to pee and my Watch Time would be the Official Time, making this race my new PR! (My last race at this distance was only a 350 m swim and I did it 1:23:40). Because it doesn’t really matter one way or the other, that’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

As far as the race itself is concerned, I think this is a great, very well-organized local race (it’s put on by the Greeley Triathlon Club). The website is informative and has course maps for the swim, bike and run. The race director sent out 2 emails before the race with information about where to park, race day timeline, etc. You get a t-shirt (very cute!), finisher’s medal and towel, plus water, a protein drink, and free burrito post-race. They play good music and the transition area, finish line and swim start are all located in the same general area, so it has a cozy atmosphere. I would recommend this race!

What I Learned:

1. I need to work on my Bike/Run transition.

Even though I have done more running than either swimming or biking in my “racing career,” the run is definitely where I’m struggling the most and not living up to my potential. And I’m pretty sure it’s because my brick workouts in preparation for these races were pretty wussy. For my future bricks, I am going to hammer it on the bike and then run, to get used to the feeling I have during racing (the only other alternative is to not go as fast on the bike and I don’t like that!)

2. If I’m serious about doing an Olympic distance, I’ll have to do the breaststroke.

Doing freestyle for an entire Olympic swim scares me enough that if my only options were that or not doing the race, I’d choose to not do the race. Doing freestyle makes me feel like I’m all alone in a watery world and it’s also harder for me to breathe calmly, especially after swallowing water or running into someone. I am glad that I now know how to do the front crawl (in case of a pool swim, like the Leadville Tri-It-High) but the breaststroke is definitely my most natural swimming method. Plus, I was actually faster doing the breaststroke. Seeing how sore I was after the Boulder Sunrise, I’ll definitely have to slowly transition back into the breaststroke. I’m still going to do plenty of the front crawl during practice, though, because I’m loving the definition in my arms!

3. I need to get me some Athlete’s HoneyMilk.

They were handing this out at the finish line and while I normally shy away from anything even remotely sugary for a good 3-4 hours after a race (even chocolate milk is too much), I decided to take a chance on this protein recovery drink. I’m glad I did! Not only did it not upset my stomach, the Honey flavor was delicious! I think I’ll buy some of this for after intense workouts and races.

What’s Next:

I think I have finally convinced Travis to do a triathlon! We just need to get him a road bike, some tri shorts, a swimsuit, and he’ll be set! (Sportsbasement.com, here I come!) So we may do a different race than the Leadville Tri, since that one is a pool swim and Travis would prefer to try his hand at open water. But I’ll gladly change plans if it means Travis will do a race!

I’ve looked for other Olympic distance triathlons in the Denver region and it appears that the Steamboat Springs Tri on August 28th is the only option for when I’ll be in town. So I’m still planning on that. I also created my new Olympic training plan last week:

{UBW stands for Upper Body Weights – though I might do some Lower Body Weights too. We’ll see. I adapted this training plan to come up with this schedule.}

This plan is subject to change, since I calculated that each week involves 7-8 hours of training – pretty much double what I have been doing. I’ll talk more about my philosophy of training in a different post but for now, I’ll say that I need to have a good balance that involves time with God and my husband. I’ve over-trained before and it resulted in me doing nothing but training, working, eating, and sleeping. Not again.

If I do need to cut back, I’ll do one long and one short workout of each discipline a week, plus one day of strength training.

Last but not least, I have decided to discontinue my triathlon training blog and merge all of my triathlon-related posts into this blog (note the tagline changed to “A Twenty-Something’s Thoughts on Life, Health and God). I started my other blog in 2009 because I felt like this blog’s focus wasn’t physical health, but spiritual health. But as my friend Cathy has been discovering and sharing with me, our spiritual health and physical health are intertwined. And because I love training for endurance races and believe that God has given me that passion, I want to try to show what it looks like to glorify God through personal excellence in a sport (and world!) that is so often rife with pride and selfish ambitions. (But I’m definitely a work in progress, so bear with me!)

Plus, it was too hard to maintain 2 blogs. 😉

That’s all for today!

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Race Recap: Boulder Sunrise Tri

6 Jun

My pre-race fuel (minus the banana)

Packet pickup on Friday night went well – it was fun being back with the gang in that atmosphere but I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t happy to leave right when it was over instead of staying to pack and load stuff up. I didn’t really get to eat dinner, which was a downside to volunteering. I ate a PB&J while I was at packet pickup, then an apple on the way home. Once I got home, I had a bowl of cornflakes and went to bed.

I actually slept very well that night until about 4 am, when I woke up and remembered “Crap! I’m doing a triathlon today!” Between random thoughts about rack markers (“Maybe I should’ve bought a balloon…”) and hairstyles (“I have to make sure my ponytail will fit with my helmet and my hat”), I slept a little until I got up at 5:00. Because I had gotten everything ready Thursday night, I just had to get dressed, wet my hair down and put it up into a messy bun, put on lotion (so my wetsuit would come off easier), and eat breakfast.

My breakfast was two pieces of peanut butter toast. I brought the banana along but ended up giving it to Travis because I didn’t need it. Over the course of the 2 hours before the race, I also drank 16 oz of H2O. I was worried that I’d have to pee during the race but I didn’t.

Then I made the first mistake of my triathlon career: arriving to the race site too late. We left a little later than I had been planning because Travis has a really hard time getting up in the morning but really, I should have planned to get there when the transition area opened at 6 am. Instead, we got there at 6:45 and transition closed at 7:10. It would have been fine if I could have chosen where to rack my bike. But the racks were assigned by race number and of course, my rack happened to be one of the fullest. Me and another girl got there at the same time and squeezed our bikes onto the rack between two other girls’. I had to move some of the other girl’s stuff around and ended up being able to stack my bag and wetsuit (after the swim) on the end. So it worked out. But it took quite a bit longer to set up my transition area than I had planned.

The result of that was:

1) I didn’t get to check and recheck everything.

2) I didn’t get to take a picture of my transition setup.

3) I didn’t end up getting to do a jog around the parking lot like I had planned. Instead, I settled for a couple of small laps in a grassy area. I probably looked like a fool but oh well.

4) I forgot to tape my Shotbloks to my bike, which I remembered just as I was leaving transition for the bike.

5) I felt very hurried.

So I will never show up late to transition again! If you know me at all, you know that I HATE being rushed and I hate being late. Boo!

[Note: I just realized that after all that, I went down to the beach where the race was delayed for 30 minutes because the paramedics hadn’t arrived yet. So I didn’t need to be that rushed after all! Aargh!]

Now for the race details:

Swim

I had been somewhat nervous about the swim but I’ve done open water swims before… how bad could it be? Surely I was exaggerating…

Gulp.

My wave was the 3rd sprint to leave, 5th wave including the Olympic athletes. Once both Olympic waves went off, I got into the water to warm up. It was pretty cold. But I was actually pleasantly surprised by how warm my wetsuit kept me. Too bad I didn’t have a wetsuit for my face. For some reason, putting my face in cold water like that just sucks the air right out of my lungs. I got sort of used to the water during warmup but there was probably a good 5 minutes before that and the time I actually started swimming… or should I say “swimming.”

They blew the horn for my wave. I walked out behind the swimmers in front of me until it was deep enough to start swimming. I started doing the front crawl with my head out of the water but then realized it probably wouldn’t be very good to get winded swimming that way so I put my head down in the water. Like I said earlier, it sucks the air right out of me. I was instantly out of breath, cold, and panicked. “I don’t want to do this. I don’t want to do this. Crap! I hate this. Why am I doing this?” was running through my head. I seriously considered taking my cap off to wave it around (I had kept swimming so was farther from shore by that point.) I saw about 10 other pink caps around me struggling – doing the side stroke, the backstroke, floating on their backs. One even said they just wanted to survive. Another waved her cap and was picked up by a jetski to be brought in.

But no. I can’t quit. How many people have I told about me doing this race? How long have I trained? If I get out, I will be defeated. I am not a quitter. I will finish this swim, if it takes me an hour.

So I kept swimming, doing something that resembled the breaststroke, keeping my head above water, and trying to calm my breath as much as I possibly could (I was only somewhat successful). I will say that that swim was one of the painful, tiring, emotionally trying things I have ever done. Everything in my head and body screamed NO! I finished out of sheer willpower. For that, I am very proud of this race. I persevered against overwhelming odds.

I got in sight of the red flags marking the Swim In. It seemed like I would never get there. But then I saw a swimmer in front of me stand up. Hallelujah!! I made it to the shore!

Out of the Water Time: 24:12

Official Time: 25:12

T1

As soon as I got out of the water, I started taking off my wetsuit – partly because that was how I had practiced my transition but mostly because I was sick of not being able to breath. I walked up the beach with my wetsuit down to my waist, then jogged into transition, and as I neared my spot, started pulling my wetsuit down my legs. I couldn’t quite get it off by stepping on it (I think because the legs end so far up on my calves) so I had to reach down and pull each leg off. Then I washed my feet off, dried them a bit, put on my socks and shoes, took off my goggles and swim caps (I wore too because of the cold), put on my race number, then my helmet and sunglasses. I grabbed my bike and after getting encouragement from my friend D (who was also the race director), I was off to the bike mount.

I figured the transition had taken me more like 3:30 but since my goal was 2:00 and I wasn’t in my best form after that swim, I feel pretty good about this time.

Official Time: 2:27

Bike

The worst thing about riding a bike when you’re wet, IMO, is that your socks get all wet. I hate that feeling. I had the thought during the bike that I should get some wool racing socks. Right now, I just wear Nike DriFit ones and while they work (they don’t give me blisters), I just wonder if wool ones would work better.

The bike was actually the best leg of the race for me. I felt really strong and passed quite a few women (I guess that’s what happens when your swim takes so long!) I only got passed by the front runner Olympic athletes (their bike course was only 5 miles longer than ours) so I felt pretty good about my bike performance. Like I mentioned earlier, I forgot to tape my fuel onto my bike so at the first aid station (around mile 6), I grabbed a HammerGel. Even though I know it’s a faux pas to try something new on race day, I figured it was better than nothing. And it didn’t give me any issues for the most part. I still only averaged 16 mph but I made my goal time.

Official Time: 1:04:07 (16 mph average)

T2

T2 consisted of me racking my bike, removing my helmet, and grabbing my hat to put on as I ran to the Run Out. Travis tried to take a couple of pictures of me as I came back but instead, managed to shoot 2 seconds of me and 20 seconds of himself walking (he had left the camera on video mode from the swim so he thought he had taken a picture of me dismounting but had really just started to record. It’s actually pretty funny.)

Official Time: 0:52

Run

I started jogging but had to stop and walk a bit to catch my breath or else I knew the run would be a battle like the swim. I started running again when my heart rate got down to 145 and settled into a nice, comfortable pace. I didn’t have the energy or desire to push myself by either running faster or doing intervals. Even if I had had the energy, my needing to go #2 for the last half of the run would have probably prevented me from doing so. My pace ended up being right on my training pace so I can’t be too disappointed.

Coming in to the finish

Official Time: 34:43

Overall Official Time: 2:07:20

Age Group Placement: 27/37

Gender Placement: 98/147

So I missed my goal time by 7:20 but I finished!

I can tell that I haven’t trained as intensely for this race as I have for the other ones I’ve done. So my take-aways from this experience are:

1. Never underestimate the value of open water swim practice.

I credit this for my swimming FAIL. I didn’t get into the open water once to practice before this race. I am going to remedy this for the coming weekend by swimming tomorrow and Saturday in open water. I might also have to revert back to the breaststroke – I think part of my problem was the thought of not being able to see where I was going. I don’t like that thought.

2. Never underestimate the value of intense brick workouts.

I had done about 3 bricks in training but none of them were intense ones. I did a wimpy bike ride followed by a wimpy run. I need to do an all-out, hard as I can go shorter bike ride so that my legs can really get used to what they feel like during the race.

3. Never underestimate the value of getting to the race with plenty of time.

In addition to being able to fit in a warmup and finding a better spot on the rack, this is a mental thing. Being late to a race is the stuff of nightmares.

Race bib and Finisher's medal

So I am still planning on doing the Greeley Sprint Tri this coming Sunday. Like I said, I am going to get in some open water swims this week (plus one run and one bike). The water is also expected to be 70 degrees (a good 10 degrees warmer than the Boulder Reservoir!) and it’s only 500 meters. But I think those open water swims are going to be clutch.

So that’s my triathlon recap.

 

I have had some really good thoughts about God and trials lately that I’ve been hoping to share… in the next day or two.

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First tri of the season tomorrow!

3 Jun

 Tomorrow is my first triathlon of what promises to be a very exciting 2011 race season. And I am READY!

I have tapered this week with only 2 workouts – I swam 800 yards on Tuesday and ran 1.93 miles on Wednesday. I was going to go on a bike ride last night with Travis but I had a margarita with dinner instead (and I had been feeling a little tired so I figured, I’d rather rest than push myself to do another workout). The margarita was delicious and wonderful at the time but this morning, I woke up with a headache (like I knew I would). These days, whenever I drink alcohol, no matter how much or what type, I always get a headache. Boo!

I am also volunteering at packet pickup tonight (since the race is being put on by my employer last year and the race director is a friend of mine, they asked me for a last minute favor) so I wanted to practice my transitions and get all of my gear packed up last night (which I did – and holy crap, I forgot how hard it is to get a wetsuit on!). Tonight after packet pickup, I am going straight home to bed. I figure I can be in bed by 9:15 or 9:30.

Tomorrow, we are going to leave the house around 5:30 (5:45 if Travis is dragging his feet), which means I will get up around 5:00. The transition area opens at 6:00 but my wave doesn’t go until 7:15. While I want to get a good spot, I don’t know if I want it that bad. It’s a 45-minute drive so we’ll still get there by 6:15/6:30. I plan on getting body-marked at packet pickup so I should be able to just walk right in to the transition area.  Then it’s time to set up my stuff, check and recheck everything, and wait.

My fueling strategy is that I’ll eat a slice of whole wheat bread with peanut butter whenever I’m first hungry (usually right when I wake up) and drink some water. Around 6:00, I’ll eat a banana and drink some more water. Then unless I’m full, I’ll eat another slice of peanut butter bread around 7:00. Bananas and peanut butter toast are are my tried-and-true foods. I’ve tried dried fruit and yogurt  before races but never felt quite right. During the race, I will eat 3 Shotbloks during the easy stretch of the bike and try to drink some water then too. I’ll probably drink some water at the run aid stations (depending on how hot it is). I thought about wearing my Camelbak for the run but decided against having the additional thing to worry about in transition. Maybe for the Oly triathlon I’ll consider it more seriously.

I’ll post a race recap in the next couple of days. In the meantime, get out there and enjoy the sunshine!

Are you racing this weekend?

 

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Gearing up for triathlon season!

18 Jan

Since going to Mexico, I’ve been a big lazy bum. I worked out twice in Mexico (swimming and elliptical) but since then, I did nothing except take Katy on walks (which is better than nothing). It’s only been a week and a half and I didn’t gain any weight (amazingly, even in Mexico where I felt like I was stuffing my face!) but when I stop exercising, I just feel soft and flabby. I like how exercise makes me feel fit and firm because I’ve used my muscles.

So last night, Travis and I finally went to the Rec (after much hemming and hawing) and then I swam with D this morning. It’s always easier to exercise again when you’ve pushed yourself to just do one exercise session. I realized last night that since I am currently unemployed, soon to have a part-time job, I can take advantage of the classes at my gym that occur in the middle of the day. Yay! There’s a  Yoga class that meets a couple of times a week and a Mat Pilates class on Tuesday. Hopefully those work out (pun not intended)!

Swimming this morning also reminded me of how much fun I had training for triathlons last year. After the half-marathon in November, I was all psyched up to start training for a triathlon but then I lost my job and the reality of me getting a tri bike seems further and further away so all of my motivation fizzled. But I don’t need a tri bike to do another tri. I did 2 last year with my crappy mountain bike and I can do it again! Plus, the triathlon I’m planning on doing with D, the Greeley Triathlon on June 12th, is only a 10-mile bike. And it will be at least a month or 2 before I start biking outside again and who knows, hopefully I’ll have an income by then so I can get a new bike (that would be SO exciting!!)

Now that I have a triathlon picked out, I need to get my training schedule together and figure out when I need to actually start exercising with a purpose. Until then, I will definitely enjoy doing the elliptical, taking yoga/pilates classes, and running when I feel like it. 😉

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Life lately

12 Nov

It’s been longer than I’d like since I posted last. I keep thinking of things that would be great to post about but this week has been so busy that I haven’t had the time.

But it’s been great! After my last post about discovering the lies I was believing, I got to have coffee with my good friend Cathy Kellerman. She has helped me immensely to see truth and understand how to hold on to hope instead of drown in my failures. That has been a huge blessing and enabled me to appreciate my job situation for right now.

Here’s what else I have been up to: Last Friday, our friends Amy and Michael Leon stayed with us as they were moving from Yellowstone to San Antonio, Texas, for their next seasonal position as a park ranger and wife.

On Saturday, D and I went up to Boulder to finally get massages (I also got a manicure) with our gift certificates from our bosses. It was a VERY nice spa and an excellent massage – very relaxing. Saturday night, we had some friends over for dinner and played Scrabble.

Sunday, we went to church and then to a chili cook-off. We made chili as a kind of after-though – I looked up a recipe for elk chili online on Saturday and made it Sunday morning – and we won by a landslide! I have to admit it was pretty darn good chili. Sometime this coming week I’ll post the recipe for all of you (and you don’t have to use elk to make it!) Then Sunday afternoon, I helped Travis rake our front yard (8 trash bags full of leaves and pine needles!), took Katy on a walk, made our hotel and car reservations for this weekend (more on that shortly), and read Jane Eyre – definitely a page-turner!

Though the weekend was full, it was very enjoyable. This week has been the same. Monday, I worked and then volunteered at the church. Tuesday, I worked, volunteered at the church and then had a women’s book study at our church. Wednesday, I worked, made more of the Elk Chili Sensation and went to care group. Yesterday, I had coffee with Cathy, worked, then we had some friends over for dinner and played Scrabble again (different friends but I won both times!). And then today, I ran 2 miles, packed, did the dishes, watered the plants and cleaned out the fridge, am currently in the process of buying some new running songs and putting them on my iPod (among them are Lady Gaga’s Deluxe Fame Album, as well as Sexy Bitch by David Guetta – don’t judge me; it’s a great song to run to!)

Wow, I am exhausted just typing all of this. It feels like this is the busiest I’ve been in a long time but it’s with fun stuff! And it’s amazing how being joyful in the Lord can make all these things, even the cooking and cleaning, enjoyable and pleasant. So it’s been a great week overall.

I did find out last Saturday, however, that my job position with the race company is being eliminated at the end of December. I am not in the least disappointed – except perhaps by the fact that I am not being eliminated right away. 🙂 I see this news instead as God’s indication to me that I am indeed supposed to move on to a new season of life, which I will gladly do. I am meeting with the pastor at our church next week about working in the office as the administrator. So I’m still hoping and praying that I get that job. But if not, God still has a plan. It might just take a bit longer to discover. In the meantime, I’m still working at home with the race company, designing the shirts and medals and stuff for next year.

But I’m not thinking about that this weekend – I’m going to have fun and relax, enjoying being with my parents and hubby in Malibu, California! The marathon is this weekend – I was going to run the full but switched to the half after all the issue with my knee and IT band. Which is just as well because I really don’t think I would’ve had the time to train for the full anyway. Plus, this way I can still do stuff on Sunday after the race instead of needing to be wheeled around in a wheelchair!

What’s better is that I finally get some time off – I took today completely off and I’m taking Monday completely off. I’ll be working again on Tuesday, though not full-time. I added up all the hours I worked for the past 9 weeks and found that I averaged 44 hours a week. Since I am not going to be with this job at least by the beginning of January (if not sooner), I figure I can take that extra 36 hours I worked and spread it out over the next couple weeks, so I really only have to work about 25-30 hours every week. (This past week I only worked 22 though!) Oh well. I’ll buckle down if I find out I’m not getting the church job. Otherwise, I am really enjoying being able to have some free time again.

Life is good right now – thanks be to God!

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Week 1 of Marathon Training

16 May

So this past week was officially week 1 of my training plan. Well, not really. I did go on 2 runs – one 4 miles and the other 5. But that was about it. This week is the first one that I’m actually following a training plan. But I started my marathon training plan including last week so I’m counting it. 🙂

Travis and I have about 99% decided to do the Malibu Marathon on November 14. It sounds like a cool one (you get to run along the coastline!) and the first weekend of November didn’t work (Minnesota deer season opener is that weekend).

Here’s my training schedule:

That's a lot of running!

I used Hal Higdon’s 18-week Novice marathon training program but modified it to be a little longer. I also highlighted the weeks in light purple that I would be out of town and possibly not able to run at all (definitely not long distances at any rate). The pink cells are the most important runs because they’re the longest ones. The green Race in the middle is the Mt. Sneffels Half Marathon that I’m planning on doing August 29th.

I also included a key on the bottom so that if I have to shuffle workouts around due to my schedule, I knew what kind of workout I was supposed to be doing on which day. Sundays and Thursdays can alternate between rest days and short run days, depending on the week.

I bought 2 running magazines at the store today. I feel like I know a decent amount about running and training since I have done races before. But I haven’t done anything even close to a marathon, reading about running gets me excited and I’m sure there is more I can learn.

Woohoo!

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Elevation makes a difference!

11 May

People have said that running at lower elevations than Denver (which is a mile above sea level) is so easy. They feel like they could run forever.

Well, I tried running in Minnesota one summer and it sure didn’t feel any easier. But then I thought, maybe I was trying to run at too fast of pace or the humidity was just as bad as altitude.

I’m pretty sure it was one of the two because this morning I went on a run in St. George, UT, which is about the same elevation as Minnesota and I felt absolutely AMAZING!! The first half of the run was even uphill but I felt great.

This experience has made me even more optimistic that training at altitude for a marathon at sea level will work out in my favor. I just have to be very careful that I don’t try to run too fast and end up screwing myself over like I did when I ran my half marathon 2 years ago.

I am SO excited about marathon training… it feels good to have a goal again.

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Doing a marathon

8 May

So I think I’m finally going to do it: a marathon. I had really wanted to do the Twin Cities Marathon, since the course is pretty and it would be easier for my family to come and watch. But now I’m toying with the idea of doing one in California. There are 4 different ones during the first 2 weeks of November that I would be interested in. And doing one in November (instead of the TC Marathon at the beginning of October) would be more desirable for many reasons.

One, I would be able to train longer. Right now, I can run 6 miles (which I just did today and I barely made it through). I saw Hal Higdon’s marathon training program is 18 weeks long and I actually have 21 weeks until October 3rd. But there are 4 weeks in there when I could potentially not be running at all (due to being gone and extremely busy those weeks for work). So that leaves me 17 weeks. Which is doable but not ideal. Waiting until November would give me back those 4 weeks. And I will definitely need those, since I think I’ll only be able to squeeze in 1-2 short runs + 1 long run a week due to my work schedule.

Moreover, our race season ends the 3rd week of October. So I would have a good solid 2 weeks to recuperate, relax, sleep and de-stress before the marathon. AND if we did one in California, we could squeeze a mini-vacation into it as well. And I’m pretty sure my parents would fly out to see me too (my bros probably wouldn’t).

So these are the races I’m looking at:

Santa Barbara Marathon & Half

Santa Barbara, CA

November 6, 2010

Eye-Q Two Cities Marathon & Half

Fresno & Clovis, CA

November 7, 2010

Morgan Hill Marathon & Half

Morgan Hill, CA

November 7, 2010

Run the River Marathon & Half

Folsom, CA

November 13, 2010

Travis would run the 1/2 marathon, so it’s convenient that all of the above have that option. Hmmm… my vote right now is for the Eye-Q Two Cities Marathon because it looks the coolest but the only drawback is that the closest city to Fresno that Southwest flies to is San Francisco. Not that San Francisco is bad (it would actually be fun to spend some time there) but it’s a 3 hour drive to Fresno.

And the beautiful thing is that November in California should be pretty nice. Could be on the chilly side in the morning but overall, should be pretty nice.

In preparation for the marathon, I’m planning on running a half-marathon and I found one on August 29th called the Mt. Sneffels Half Marathon. It starts at 7,500 feet up in the mountains and ends at 7,000. I like the sound of that! And the best part, it’s only $30 to register.

I’m totally pumped!! I’ll let you know which one I end up deciding on.

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Dustin’ off my running shoes

19 Aug

Ever since we went on vacation in early-to-mid July, I haven’t been exercising much. As in only 3 times in the past month. It’s crazy how time flies! I kept telling myself “Tomorrow I’ll start again.” “Next week I’ll start again.” Then all of a sudden, it was a month later and I have nothing to show for it.

But I’m okay with that. We’ve been really busy with work, moving, unpacking, decorating, watching the Olympics (they only come around every 4 years you know!). But lucky for me, when I get busy, I don’t eat as much. Eating is more of an inconvenience–I am really hungry so I have to eat but I’d really rather just get down everything I have to do. That’s my personality–I hate stopping in the middle of things. Even if it’s a task I loathe and it’s mind-numbing, I will sit there patiently, meting out my time minute by minute, until it’s done. When it comes to food and exercise, though, it means that I don’t gain weight even if I stop exercising (but ONLY if I’m really busy! Other times, it doesn’t work like that.)

So I started exercising again this week. Yesterday morning, I got up and did one of my new workout videos–called Super Slimdown with Ellen Barrett. It’s a combination of yoga and pilates. It was a fun workout and boy did my arms feel it today!

Tonight, Trav and I are going to go on a run. The first run I’ve done in weeks. I have no idea how it’ll go but here’s hoping.

Ever since I completed that half marathon back in May, I’ve been kind of here and there on my exercise routine. I tried to balance it out but it wasn’t exact. So now I have developed a routine. Mon, Wed, Fri, I’m going to do yoga/pilates. Tues, Thurs, Sat (so I can do longer runs on the weekend), I’m going to run. Sat I’m going to do full body weight lifting as well. And Sunday will be my glorious day off (so I can take my 2-hour Sunday afternoon nap without feeling the slightest bit guilty!!)

Now comes the hardest part: sticking with it. 🙂

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