Recently in Running Category

I have a new best friend, compliments of Timex. My new best friend looks like this:

I said I would review their new training site but that I needed a HRM to do it justice and so they sent me one - what a lucky girl!

The training site has a few things to offer. First of all, if you like house/techno music they have some for free download for your training pleasure. I prefer rock so I'm not using theirs but it has the right BPM so please, help yourselves.

They also have some training plans designed by Gale Bernhardt and Dave Scott. Specifically they have 2 beginner sprint distance plans and 1 beginner Olympic distance plan by Gale Bernhardt, 1 novice and 2 intermediate Olympic distance swim plans by Dave Scott, and a strength building plan by Dave Scott. Since I swim with masters and since I'm not a beginner any more I will be using the Dave Scott strength building plan. Developing greater strength to help me better my triathlon times is next season's goal.

I will be also be mounting an "Abs Watch" series of posts in which I reveal my bare midriff as it evolves for what I hope will be your viewing pleasure. I took the first picture and let me just say it will not be revealed until I can compare it to the first picture showing some progress. I know I've done it before but apparently that was just a lucky shot. I'm not ready for you to see what I've going on just yet.

Getting back to my new BFF - I have tried it out a few times now. I did a very hilly ride yesterday on Mines Rd, coming up out of Lake Del Valle that looked like this:

Whether you are doing an Ironman for your first or fifth time, running your first marathon (Steve in a Speedo ) or your 9th (his lovely wife IronPharmie) or doing your first ever triathlton (Go Jeanne!) make this your day! I hope everyone has a great race and remembers this day as a fabulous achievement.

REMEMBER YOUR REASONS

REMEMBER YOUR ONE THING!

It's all about you, baby! You and the things you care about.

I got tagged by Juls just in time for episode 2 of the rebirth of Hump Day Miscellany.

Before I get to that, though I need to talk about food.

1). My cat is eating! I have not force fed her for 2 or 3 days now. At first I had to pretty much hold the food up to her mouth but she seems to be getting the hang of it again. I have snatched my kitty from the jaws of death!

2). I never in a million years thought I would say this but I'm looking forward to the end of Vineman training so I don't have to keep eating so much. My whole sense of scale is all thrown off. I finally fell in to a comfortable pattern of eating well and now I am starving all the time. Training tapeworm - die! I did really enjoy that Snickers on top of Diablo, though so there's always that!

Now the tag/meme thingie. There are 5 questions about running and then I need to list some rules and stuff. First the 5 questions:

1. How would you describe your running 10 years ago?
10 years ago I was a novice runner. I think I started running in 1997 and on Nov 30, 1997 I ran my first 5K in 38:23 which is a 12:21 pace - and it hurt. I'm thinking that in 1998 I was in about the same shape and swore I would NEVER do a marathon. I did my first one in 1999 and have done 2 since.

2. What is your best and worst run/race experience?
I think my best was my first marathon because it was such a thrill to finish. I cried like I had just lost my best friend.
I think a lot of runners will say that their best race experience was the first marathon - it is just such a HUGE accomplishment.

My worst was the run at Wildflower last year. I was totally nauseated and walked almost the entire 10K. Very disappointing.

3. Why do you run?
At this point I run because that's what the 3rd leg of a triathlon demands. I started running because I was the single mother of 3 young children and I needed to find a way to get the best exercise in the shortest possible time.

4. What is the best or worst piece of advice you've been given about running?

Best piece of advice is to not make any big changes before a long run (I know - it was Juls best also)

Worst is to drink water until your pee runs clear. Doing that starts you out with depleted electrolytes and puts you at risk for hyponatremia. It is not a good idea.

5. Tell us something surprising about yourself that not many people would know.
For my sophomore and junior years in high school I was a total bad ass of a kid. I wanted to drop out. The one really good thing my mother did during that time (possibly the only good thing) was to refuse to let me drop out of high school. My senior year I made high honors the first semester. I slipped up a bit toward the end of the year but at least I figured out I had some potential and that carried me to a successful adulthood.

Here are the rules:
If YOU have been tagged, you will find your name at the end of this post. You should then, copy the rules (or your version of them), and the set of questions onto your blog post, provide your own answers, and then tag 5 new people.

In this case, all 5 questions are all about RUNNING. How easy is that?

Just to be sure that everyone tagged knows they have been invited to play, go to their blogs and leave them a special comment letting them know, and refer them to your blog for details.

One more thing, once they've answered the questions on their own blog, they should come back to yours to tell you.

I don't usually do this but 5 quesitons is easy and who can't use a little blog fodder once in a while sooooo... I tag
Jeanne, David,
, Katy, DPR, and Donald who can either respond to this thing or write up how he killed Calvin and Hobbes or whatever that story is.

It's Tuesday! So shoot me - I just didn't feel like writing yesterday. I thought about all of you all week and all weekend as I blogged in my head repeatedly. I thought about how it's the little things in life that make a lot of little smiles grow into a big one. Little things that happened that made me smile:

1). The cat ate a teeny, tiny piece of turkey that I didn't have to cram down her throat. And then she stopped and it was back to the force feeding. At least she tried.

2). The cat has started leaving my bed to come sit on my lap when I'm watching TV. This is HUGE

3). The cat visciously attacked my hand the other day while I was petting her - she's coming back to life!

4). I had a great call with Humbly Ann who was struggling with some stuff and I helped her feel better. Nothing warms a Mom's heart more than helping her child out of a shadow. (That and learning that she didn't get eaten by a shark - see previous post).

5). I was good about getting my 2 weekday rides in. I even rode the road that has the hill that kicks my butt and it did not. Good times!

6). The weather was gorgeous this weekend. My 90 minute run did not suck as much as last weekend's 70 minute run so I was very happy about that.

7). I ran out of book on the run and started listening to music and heard the most perfect, sunny day running song, Sunny Day by Hyim If you click on that link you can hear it, too. The tempo is a little slow but on a hot sunny day when you are out running it feels just right.

8). I went to a bike maintenance clinic and not only learned some stuff but was finally told I look like I've lost weight. It wasn't really the first time. Humbly Ann told me I looked skinnier in early April but I hadn't started noticing it yet so it didn't have the same impact as me noticing I'd lost weight and then not hearing that from other people. Now I SO appreciate both comments. I'm 6 pounds down and doing fine.

9). I climbed to the junction of Mt. Diablo again on Sunday. It wasn't quite as hard as it had been the week before. The rest of my group went on to the top but I just didn't feel like it was my day to do that so I'm scheduling that for May 17.

10). I have 2 events coming up! Next Saturday I am riding the Wine Country Century (metric) and May 10 I have my season opener triathlon, The Golden Bear. I'm excited!

11). I went to swim clinic Saturday morning and went from flailing in the water like a crazy person to actually pulling some water and making some progress. It was really great to have that experience BEFORE my first tri where I'm sure I would have gone nowhere fast for the first 10 minutes of the swim, otherwise. I love my race club!
And all of those little things add up to big things - sunny days, training progress and happiness.

This is my life with the cat now. We do this 2 or 3 times a day:

I got a spot in the Nike 'Women's Half Marathon today - woo hoo! I got it through work and I am SO excited!

Pirate tagged me a while ago for my 6 word autobiographies so here are a few:

The most comprehensive one I could come up with:
Old and Fat no more - Triathlon!

Regarding my sick kitty who I am force feeding twice a day and getting my hands remodeled (mottled) in the process
Fat cat , you hogtied my heartstrings

About tonight's ride:
Weather.com lied - ride was dry - phew!

About life:
Looking for hard in all the right places

and that one violated the rules which means it's time for bed - you're all tagged now!

What a beeyootiful weekend. Saturday was the first day I had to slowly strip off layers as the sun warmed up. I was volunteering at a swim meet doing check in so I had to be there at 7:00 AM. I started the morning in jeans and a long sleeved poalr fleece shirt and running shoes and within a couple of hours I was in a technical sleeveless shirt, shorts and flip flops. Glorious!

At noon I headed up Mt. Diablo to volunteer at an aid station for the Mt. Diablo 50 mile ultra marathon. By the time I got up there it was hot, hot, hot and those runners looked beat. One runner I was particularly interested in seeing was our very own Donald of Running and Rambling. He had already come through the station on the way out before I got there but I saw him on the way back at his mile 37, Here is photographic evidence and as you can see - he looks fresh as a daisy whereas I look totally beat. Go figure.

I don't know how those runners do it because after 4 hours at the aid station I was beat! I had to get home and rest up for Sunday's race - 4 miles of hilly hell. Last year I had more training but I was somewhat injured. This year with only 84 miles of training on the year I PR'd by a little less than a second minute. (have I ever mentioned that I have a tendency to under estimate and/or appreciate myself?). I went 40:41 compared to last year's official time of 41:34. It's still a PR which is the right way to start the racing season.

After the race I headed home to shower and then go visit my CASA kid (just call me Helpy Helperton). I stopped by Ironman Live to check some results. Far, far away in South Africa Coach Tammy nailed it with a time of 15 hours and a bit. Go Tammy! Back here in nasty hot Arizona IronBenny brought it home in 13:39 - GO BENNY! Our friend Commodore was not so fortunate. He got very severely dehydrated and is in the hospital with serious kidney problems. He's a fighter and he always manages to bounce back but it couldn't hurt for everyone who is good with prayer to put some out there and for everyone else to send some healing vibes his way. We love you Commodore - get better!

Tonight I finally got on my bike after almost 2 weeks and rode an hour and a half with a woman who is both younger and faster than me - it hurt but it was great! I also swam this morning at 5:30.

The lawn is still not mowed, the laundry awaits but it matters not because summer is definitely making it's way to California and I'm feelin' groovy.

What IS that?

Is it what happens when you hand a satellite photo of a track to a small child holding a blue crayon?

Is it what happens when you play with a laser pointer from up in space?

No - No it is not.

It's what happens when you attend a track workout with people who are a whole lot faster than you are and you wear a Garmin. You can't see the places where I swallowed my pride and mustered up my humility unless you click the picture.

Ego smooshing aside it was a great experience because I went to get help with my form and I did. Every time I look at a race photo from the professional photographers my feet are very, very close to the ground. Usually one foot is flat on the ground and if you squint really hard you can see a little light under the other foot. I know this is not because they just always get me at that point in my stride - it's because I don't run properly. Turns out my stride is way too long and at the track workout I learned how to run taking baby steps and keeping my feet under me. Much better.

Also - in spite of having to cut across the field to stay with the big fishies (and I was not the only one who had to do this) I had great splits. The workout was (600 fast with a 400 recovery) x 6 only for some of us it was 400 fast because ... well you get the idea. It was pitch black when we started so I had very poor Garmin control to start but my last 3 fast 400s were at about an 8 minute pace and my overall pace, recovery laps included, was 9:32! And that lets me haul my pride up out of the depths and let it shine and I call that picture "Me running better and faster" and I like it.