Snow!

On christmas day Karen and I went for a short run in the snow. Its been hard to fit in full workouts with the weather we had, but we figured a short one is better than none at all :).


a snowman we built in the back yard.

Snow!

Extreme Seattle weather has put a bit of a damper on our training. Last monday night our outdoor running practice switched to circuit training (it was about 20 degrees outside). Wednesday every single school in the area closed because of snow. and by snow I mean the ANTICIPATION of snow. We didn't get a flake of snow, but everyone was terrified we would, and everything closed, and thus swimming was cancelled as the pool was closed.
Thursday the snow then dumped down, and we got about 3 inches by friday. Which then froze as the temperatures dropped, making biking and running for Saturdays practice pretty hard. Bikes and ice don't really play well.
(unlike snow and Boomer - see below).



Then Saturday at about 3pm, it started snowing again. And this time it came down long and hard. By Sunday we had a few inches. Boomer Kyle and I went for a quick run in downtown Bellevue park through the snow. And by Sunday night we had over 10 inches of snow.

So basically, most of my week has been spent admiring our weather, and not much training. I'm trying to get in a few trainings, to keep in shape. I set up my bike trainer tonight, and put in 40 minutes on it, but it doesn't really compare to outside riding. Suppose the holidays our trainings often taper down...

So Happy holidays everyone! Hope ya'll say warm and dry, and find some creative ways to get some miles and yards in.

The excersize gods are against me

Last week I had a pretty good week - workout wise - in 7 days I fit in two runs, one strength, and two swims. The goal is to do two of each each week - and I finally realize the reason I've struggled to fit them all in, is that is 8 workouts a week. So if I take a rest day, I need to double up twice! I need to work on a schedule I can keep up week after week.

But this week the weather is not helping! Sunday we showed up to do the 12 ks of christmas race (the 5k version) in kirkland at 9am in the morning (after "partying" till 4 am the night before), only to find out it was cancelled due to icy roads. (Though my dog still won the costume competition as "dreidle dog", the only jewish dog competing)



Monday outdoor running was cancelled due to temperatures in the 20s (in seattle!) so we did indoor circuit training instead. Which was pretty good, except not quite as hard as xfit.

Tuesday, I decided to try the indoor biking at East side multi sports - instead of biking into work. Then get a call at 2pm saying its cancelled. To be fair, I was worried about biking to work, due to black ice, and freezing temperatures... But now I missed my bike ride for the week...

And now today, Wednesday, swimming tonight is cancelled, cause all the schools are closed for a snow day. Oh, did I mention we have no snow?? Just a scary weather forecast?

Saturday biking outside may also be cancelled... due to icy weather... sigh.

So this week is going a bit rough, but hopefully I'll get in a few workouts.

Miles since kickoff:
Swim: 5500 yds
Bike: 40 miles
Run: 28.05 miles

Bike commuting: lessons learned part two

Last week I learned some lessons about what to wear, and how to lock up my bike.

This week my big lesson was bus times. I planned on biking to the bus Tuesday morning, but didn't check bus times till 8:45 as I was getting ready to leave. I see there is a 9:50 bus, and a 9:09. Ugh. So I raced out of the house, and down the hill - I was glad to finally be dressed correctly for the weather. But of course I missed that 9:09 bus by a few minutes... However I then got super lucky and caught one of the out of service buses across the bridge! Which was exciting.
It left me with another 3 mile ride on the other side of the bridge, but that was good for me.

So now for future reference, I should look at bus times the night before. Hmm I thought I had more interesting things to post in the entry, but apparently not. Sorry it was boring :).

Back to Back

I did another set of back to back work-outs tonight, and now I'm tired. At Crossfit, we did "Barbara" which was one of the hardest workouts I've done, even though I had to leave early, so I didn't do it all.

Barbara:
20 pullups
30 pushups
40 situps
50 squats
5 rounds!!

I only did 4, due to time. And I did the pullups in a rubber band - no way I can do 100 real pull ups right now. At the end of the workout, I was so tired that lifting up a dixie cup of water felt super heavy...

Then I drove across the lake to running practice w/ the team. We did interval training - run 5 minutes at a faster than comfortable pace, then 2 minutes recovery, 4 times. I did better at this then I expected (I thought I'd be super tired after xfit). Though I 'm sure I would have been faster had I not done that right before.

Dinner when I got home tasted soooo good.

Dressing for the weather

My most recent challenge is figuring out how to dress for the weather, especially when biking. Thursday I biked down our giant hill, to Fremont, where we work from occasionally. I looked out the window in the morning, and the sun was shining, and the sky was blue, and I was so excited by the weather, so I just went out in my jeans (w/ a leg rolled up to avoid gears), and a sweat shirt. Well. It turned out it was like 40 degrees. And that when you go downhill fast, on a bike, the air feels even colder! I got there (only 1.5 miles) and my hands and leg (w/ the jeans rolled up) where quite numb!

Then in the evening, the sun had set already, and I was worried it would be even colder. So I bundled up, w/ extra layers, and my hood up and under my helmet, and set out, to climb up the hill. Shockingly, I got warm and sweaty pretty fast going uphill, and had to take off layers... sigh. I guess next week I'll be a little more prepared.

In other news, I'm proud, because Saturday I went running in the cold, instead of shopping w/ my family.

The Bike/Bus compromise

Yesterday I tried a new way of commuting. I biked about 1/2 way to work, and then hopped on a direct bus across the bridge. And it was pretty amazing.

When I bike the entire way to work, I have to go a lot longer route (to hit the brige w/ the bike lane), and it takes me close to 1.5 hours to get in, and even longer to get home, due to the route. So its pretty hard to make that big a time commitment very often, and to get up early enough to make it into work on time.

But this bike bus compromise - actually takes me about the same time as driving! And its even faster if there is traffic. I only have to bike about 4 miles to the bus stop. Officially that is barely even a workout, but I figure its fast enough I can actually do that a few times a week, and 8 miles a day, is way better than nothing! And otherwise getting in a bike ride during the week is hard, stupid sun going down early.

So I'm excited to try and do it more in the next few weeks. We'll see how I do.

Approxmiate Miles since kickoff:
run: 23 miles
swim: 1800 m
bike: 30 miles

Thanksgiving

So, as I should have predicted, thanksgiving was about eating, and not so much about exercising. I got in a 2 mile walk, and a few shorter walks, but otherwise didn't do much active. But When I got home Sunday I jumped back into working out - I went to crossfit Sunday morning, went running Monday, and a little biking tuesday.

I haven't gotten in any oyo swims yet - but starting next week we are going to try to go to a masters swim at lunch. Now we have the plans, we just need to follow through. Ugh.

Biking to work

I biked to work today - in my attempt to get in two workouts of each type each week... I was reminded again of how timid a road biker I am, and also how out of biking shape I am!

The beginning of my ride starts with going down Queen Anne Ave, a super steep, long, busy road ... And I end up braking the whole way down, while worrying a car is going to turn into me any minute, or that I'll hit a hole/bump in the road (of which there are many), and go flying. Then I navigated across mercer, and finally made it to 2nd ave. I then take 2nd ave all the way through down town, till I can hop onto 90, and cross the water. Half way down 2nd ave, I realized there was a bike lane... on the left hand side of the street. I've biked here a lot, and always forget about it. There was an accident on the road today, so I got to whiz by all the stopped cars, backed up for blocks - that was pretty fun.

I then made it into the bridge, to find a delightful strong headwind pushing against me. Luckily I made it across w/o getting blown off the bridge, or into the cement barrier. I found the small hills on mercer island harder than I remembered them from last year - my poor legs. I finally made it to bellevue, and was sorta relieved to get off my bike... and Eat break fast! (because I wasn't smart enough to eat before heading out on a 15 mile bike ride).

So, hopefully by march, my bike to work will be much more enjoyable and less painful. Oh, and hopefully I'll do it more than twice a year also :).


Miles since kickoff:
run: 11.5 miles
swim: ~800 m
bike: 25.5 miles

Running

We had running practice again yesterday, and again, the weather was beautiful. well, I knew it was, cause at 4pm when the sun was still out, the sky was blue. By 7pm, it was pretty dark, and got even darker when the lights on the track turned off, but there was no rain, and I thought it was perfect running temperature. Cool enough that you don't get too hot, and not cold enough for my feet and hands to go numb.

We did a mile at a moderate pace - to get our times at 75% of our max heart rate. Near the end of training in February, we will do the same exercise, and hope that at that heart rate, our running speed has gone up... Then we did strides - down the straight part of the track, you speed up faster and faster, till max speed, while trying to keep up good running form. Then we get to recoup on the ends of the track.

It was a somewhat light workout, as we are still discussing form, and base building, but I think after thanksgiving they will begin getting more intense.

Miles since kickoff:
run: 11.5 miles
swim: ~800 m
bike: 11.5 miles

First rx crossfit!

I managed to fit in a crossfit workout before running today. And I did my first prescribed one! The workout was :

AMR in 20 min (as many rounds as possible)
5 pullups
10 pushups
15 squats

Usually I would do pullups in a rubber band, and pushups on my knees... But I had just learned the kipping pullup, and figured 5 was a small enough number I could suffer through it. I ended up doing 10 rounds. The pushups were not as hard as i had expected, though half way through I had to switch to break it up to 6 and 4...

At the end i looked down at my hands and saw I had totally ripped open both of them! I now have lovely flaps of skin hanging where I used to have calluses. wohoo!

first bike practice

Saturday was our first team bike practice. The team had a decent turn out, though almost half our tribe was missing. The weather was beautiful though - we woke up to a mostly blue sky, and all the leaves are still changing colors and glowing, and it was even warm through the ride. It couldn't have been nicer. A small group stayed with Cathy and worked on bike skills, like how to get your waterbottle while biking (I didn't know we should always use our left hand..), and the rest of us went out and back on the Burke Gilman trail. So it was a fairly easy practice - given that the trail is nice and flat :).

It was my first real bike ride on my new bike, and it felt good and smooth. So yay! Now I need to go out and buy a water bottle cage for it... and maybe some lights... Oh the tri shopping never ends.

According to my moms bike computer, we did about 11.5 miles.

Miles since kickoff:
run: 9 miles
swim: ~800 m
bike: 11.5 miles

Crossfit was hard today!

I've been going to NW crossfit, to get in my strength and core workouts. I'm going to go twice a week, while keeping up the triathlon training. Today, I was already sore from Tuesdays crossfit (my poor quads), and swimming yesterday... And todays workout was HARD:

row 1000m
50 db slams
50 knees to elbows
50 kb sumo deadlife high pulls (w/ a heavier weight than usual!)
50 pushups
800 m run.

Somehow the run was the hardest, I didn't want to walk at all. Halfway through it, as I turned around I saw kyle was just a second behind me, and that made me push myself the rest of the way. But I think my breathing sounded like a dying animal. Ugh!

I decided I deserve a rest day tomorrow.

I bought a bike!

Yay, I'm excited. As usual it was more than I had intended to pay, but I think its worth it, since I'll keep it for a while. Saturday I'll hopefully get a good long ride out on it, and still like it.

practice has begun!

Monday was our first running practice. We did esentially 3 miles. The first mile very slow, the 2nd moderate (a pace you could still keep a conversation at), and the 3rd mile at a fast past, and recorded our average heart beats and times at each. I was a bit slower than last year in my last two miles, and I probably should have pushed myself more for the 3rd, but overall it was good. And it was fun seeing so many people at practice! I think almost our entire tribe was there.

I did have a slight problem with my heart rate monitor - it apparently put it self on a setting where it beeped whenever I was not in my zone. every second. annoyingly. As I was running my first mile I was assuming that by the 2nd or 3rd mile I'd surly hit my zone.. But it never stopped beeping! Finally after practice I played w/ the settings and figured it out - apparently my "zone" is between 220-250 bpm.... Yeah right. Guess I need to actually set up my heart rate monitor :) At least it doesn't beep anymore.


I just came home from our first swim practice right now. Cathy spent about 20 minutes telling us about the stroke etc, and how we should be swimming, and what to aim for. Then we did some drills. I temporarily moved up to the 3rd lane (last year I was in the 2nd slowest), cause the first two lanes where getting comfortable in the water, and swimming less. Though I don't know if I'll stay in this lane, we'll see. But it makes me feel fast, to pretend I can move up a lane each year. All I have to do is come back three more years and I'll be one of the fastest swimmers I'm sure! :)

Oh, and I bought a bike today! yipee.

(On a side note, not sure right now if I'll maintain two blogs or not. For now I'm cross posting on weSwimBikeRun.blogspot.com as well...)

Miles since Kick Off -
Running - 9 miles
Swimming - 800 m ish...

Running...

through some pain.

Boomer and I did another run tonight - though a pretty short one. Lately I've had random parts of me hurt a little when I run or excersize, which is a bit disconcerting... First my knees hurt a little, then the arch of my foot, then my shoulder... today it was light enough though that I just ignored it. Maybe I'm just old (:) j/k). I'm suspicious it had something to do with the fact that I basically took the summer off, then went to crossfit 3 times a week right away, w/o easing into it. Oh well, hopefully it will go away.

Boomer on the other hand felt awesome tonight he reports. He even trotted fast up some hills, which is rare for him. (He points out and demonstrates that he is very speedy at going down hills).

I tried bikes again today, I'm closer to making a decision! Though i find it hard to tell the difference between lots of them. I will hopefully purchase it this weekend, and post some pictures.

Official first training is monday, yipee!

distance since kickoff
Run: 5miles
Bike: 0! - though I did try out a few bikes up and down the burke gilman
swim: 0!

Running in the rain

Boomer and I went running in the rain this morning, and we both actually liked it! While I had been caught in the rain while running in the past, this is probably the first time I started a run, during a full seattle drizzle. And it was nice! The air is still pretty warm in seattle, and the rain keeps you cool. So while I ended up soaking wet, I was a pleasant temperature the whole time. And there is just something about it, I'm not sure what, that I liked. You sorta feel more alone out there, and into the running, as the rain comes down all around you. Or something.

I had been worried about Boomer because two weeks ago when we tried to run around greenlake, he started limping a mile into the run. However he was great today - stayed ahead of me, at a good pace, the whole run. AND he showed off his handsome rain coat that his aunt got him last year. It was the first time he'd tried it out, and it kept his back dry, and his tummy dry, AND he looked good. We'll try to get a picture of it at some point.

Miles since kickoff! (11/6/08)
run:3miles

Lavaman 2009!

The triathlon season (for me at least, I guess for most this is the off season) is about to kick off for the 2009 season, I'm very excited for training to start!

My mom and I are once again doing the Lavaman Triathlon in Kona Hawaii, with Team in Training. This year I am mentoring for tnt - which means I help a group of people (mostly new to tnt/tris) and answer questions about fundraising, training, etc. There are a lot of people back from the last two years, which is fun. Obviously lavaman is the best event, and keeps people coming back year after year.

I decided that since this is my 3rd year doing lavaman, and I hope to do victoria (a half ironman) hopefully this year, or maybe next, its finally might be time to invest in a bike of my own. I've been using my moms 30 yo road bike the last few years, and its worked well, but apparently technology in the last few decades has progressed, and bikes are way lighter now. So I did some bike shopping sunday, and found a pretty bike I like. I'm going back to Speedy Reedy thursday hopefully, and will walk away with a new bike. Yay!

Our first real training is running on monday, and then hopefully this blog will kick back into action. Go team!

We did it!

Well, we are all back from Hawaii, tanned, (aka sunburned), and now officially triathletes.

The weekend went well for almost everyone - We got off to a rough start with TWO airlines going bankrupt in the week we took off. ATA stopped flying the day we left, and two of our team mates got stranded in Seattle - Which really sucks after training long and hard, and fundraising all winter!




The rest of us made it to Hawaii Thursday afternoon. Friday morning and Saturday morning we arose very early and did some mini tris to get used to the area. Friday we walked along the hard part of the run course (full of chunky coral, and sand), had our first open water swim of the season in A bay, (where the tri would take place), and then retrieved our bikes, and did a short bike ride. (I saw two turtles on our swim!)

Probably one of the best parts about doing the event with Team in Training is seeing everyone overcome their fears over the course of the training and event. Much of the team are first time triathletes, many of whom are new to at least one of the 3 parts of the tri. My room mate spot (Elizabeth) - was relatively new to swimming when she signed up for it back in November. Plus she was scared of the open/deep water. The first day in the water she was obviously very nervous, but different team mates talked her through a few practice swims, and I believe her nerves where much calmed by Sunday, though of course we were all still nervous.

Well, Sunday came, and went, and everyone did great! Spot finished the swim, then went on and did the bike and run...My mom shaved 45 minutes off her time from last year. Kyle - also his first tri - Was ahead of his predicted times, for all the events... that is until he managed to hurt himself with only 2 miles of the run to go! He still finished (and much faster than me), then went straight to the med tent.. and later the hospital and crutches! It turned out to be just a bone bruise.



While I personally was a little slower than I had hoped for (only 10 minutes faster than last year), I was still happy I had done it again... I was much more confident in all three of the events compared to last year - though my feet hurt in the run - I had been meaning to buy new running shoes for a while... and never got around to it.

And I was especially happy that my mom and I inspired so many other people to join us this year. My mom and I were joined by spot, Kyle (the bf), Scottie (a friend of my moms) and my dad... All completing their first triathlons.

Next year hopefully we'll cross the finish line with an even bigger group :) - any of you ready to do a tri ?



And Last, but definitely not least - our seattle team of triathletes raised over $300,000 for cancer research! So thank you everyone for your support throughout this season.

My bags are packed!

And I'm ready to go... standing here outside your. ...

I mean My bags are packed, and we get on the plane bright and early tomorrow morning! eek. I suppose we're ready! I hope I haven't forgotten anything! (ooops, must remember to move camera to bag...).

I'll try to update once or twice from Hawaii, wish me/all of us luck!

And thanks to everyone who had donated and supported me this year! I've raised over $5500 for blood cancers!

Ok this post was full of exclamation points, can you tell I might be excited?

Miles logged in training this season:
Bike: 184 miles
Run: 108 miles
Swim: 20650 yds

Counting the days...

We take off for Hawaii early Thursday morning!

Yesterday I went swimming with my mom - and found that my stroke count is way down for the season! I'm not sure if I'm just pushing off more from the edge... or actually more efficient, but either way, its good :) I also bought the final things I need for the race... and got a bag to hold my spare tire, and tire changing tools. (Hopefully I won't be needing that).

And I met my fund raising goal today! So I suppose that means I'm all ready!

We are having one last fund raiser tomorrow night. Its at the Showbox GreenRoom, doors at 8, show at 8:30. Only a $5 cover, and door proceeds go to LLS. See flyer below, and email me for more info. Please come if you're in the area! and bring friends!

Tobey

This Saturday I took Tobey, from the Seattle Animal Shelter out for a run. I got my first impression of him, as I walk into the shelter, and see his back legs a few feet off the ground, as he tries to look out the window. I thought to myself, "I'll leave him for one of the more energetic runners." Well it turns out he was the only one left, who wanted to run. Saturday was his first day out, since he got neutered. and man, he was happy to be outside. However he was quite a gentleman!

He was just happy to be out, trotting around, and for the most part, just trotted just ahead of me, barely pulling, and great. Near the last mile of our run, he did think about jumping in the air a few times, because he could, but overall, he was a pleasure to run with. so if anyone is in the market for a 10 month old, energetic sweet puppy... Drop by the Seattle animal shelter.


Training so far:
Bike: 184
Run: 104.5
Swim: 19650 yd

The last swim! and bikes are gone!

Last night was our last coached swim practice before Lavaman! Wohoo. We did a warmup, some drills, and then a 1000 yd swim... Our lane was smaller than usual (only 4 people), some of whom I'd never swam with before, and we did the whole 1000 with anyone passing! It was nice to all be the same speed.

The distance went by, as I just kept swimming... And didn't seem too horrible. As usual it was nice to finish.

I'm excited, we leave for Hawaii a week from today! Also, I've made it to within just a few hundred dollars of my fund raising goal. I dropped off my bike on Tuesday morning to get shipped - it is now en-route to Hawaii. Now I really just need to remember my pedals.

I'm a little worried that I won't really be faster than last year. I'm not sure I've really improved much, though I suppose I just put in an equal amount of work as last year... sigh. I should be a few minutes faster in swimming, and hopefully I'll push myself more in the run.

Training so far:
Bike: 184
Run: 100.5
Swim: 19650 yd

the last long practice!

Yesterday we biked around Lake Sammamish (with a little added on out and back) to make it a 26 mile bike ride, then ran about 4-5 miles. And it went really well!

I got my bike tuned up last week, to prepare it for the race (and make sure I didn't have tire issues again), and I was amazed at how much smoother my bike rode after. It shifted gears so smooth, and even just coasting seemed better. (My mom tells me this is because I do not maintain my bike well enough... hmph). And everyone at the bike store was in love w/ my bike. Which is a 30 yo road bike, my mom got in Toronto, and moved around with, and after spending a "few" years in the garage is back in action. And just as good as a new bike I could get today.

Anyways, the training went much better than the previous week. My mom got a new bike a few weeks ago, and now is as fast, if not faster than I - so I had a riding partner the whole bike ride, which made it fly by so much faster. We finished the ride w/o any events - I forced myself to eat some shot blocks en-route, for practice. Then I pushed myself to run the entire run. I generally end up walking some - mostly due to my brain, as opposed to my body feeling tired.

But my goal for this tri is to not really walk any of the run, other than maybe the humongous coral section near the end - as I'd rather not twist an ankle.

I'm dropping off our bikes tomorrow to get shipped to Hawaii! Yay. No more long practices, we are ready! (or something). and now my favorite part of training for an endurance event - tapering!

Training so far:
Bike: 184 Miles
Run: 100.5 Miles
Wwim: 16250 yd

How far we've come

Just some quick facts to show how far the Leukemia and Lymphoma Society has come over the years:


Therapeutic Advances

Chronic Myelogenous Leukemia:
1987: Five-year survival was less than 55%.
2007: With the use of the targeted drug Gleevec®, five-year survival is 95%, with high quality of life.

Non-Hodgkin Lymphoma:
1987: Five-year survival was 52%.
2007: Targeted drugs such as Rituxan® have increased five-year survival to 63%, with dramatic improvements in patients’ quality of life.

Myeloma:

1987: Five-year survival was 12%.
2007: Five-year survival has nearly tripled with the use of targeted drugs such as Revlamid® and Velcade®, with major increases in patients’ quality of life.


Patient Services

Family Support:
1987: Groups available in 14 chapters, with 1,500 patients and family members served.
2007: Groups available in 68 chapters, with 9,500 patients and family members served.

Information Resource Center (IRC):

1987: Free, national call center for patients/caregivers not available.
2007: The IRC responded to 74,325 inquiries.

Financial Aid:
1987: Financial assistance was provided to 5,500 patients.
2007: Financial assistance was provided to 16,958 patients.

Advocacy
1987: The Society had no voice in Washington, DC.
2007: More than 20,000 Society advocates are working to increase federal research programs.

Campaigns
1988: Bruce Cleland ran the New York City Marathon with a small group of friends, raising $320,000.
2007: Team In Training has trained more than 340,000 participants who have raised more than $800 million.


Research Funding
1987: $6.4 million in research grants awarded, cumulative total: $50 million.
2007: $64.7 million in research grants awarded in fiscal year 2007, cumulative total: $550 million.

Three cheers for Daylight!

Today, I left work a little after 5, drove across the bridge, got home, put on my running clothes, and then went on and completed a run all before the sun went down! It was great! so three cheers for the sun, and daylight savings!

I'm pretty sure this will help me get in more after work training sessions. Boomer and I ran around the top of Queen Anne. When I run in my neighborhood I find it a struggle to find routes long enough for my trainings, that avoid placing me at the bottom of the hill. Ugh that is a long steep hill to run up! Today, I managed to do a 35 minute run, and only went up and down one hill, so I was content with the route. (In the past, I've found myself thinking I'm running on flat surfaces, only to find myself suddenly looking up a very steep hill.

Now off to do some core excersizes.


Training so far:
Bike: 158 Miles
Run: 95.5 Miles
Wwim: 16250 YD

Mental Block

Yesterday we joined along with the half ironman team and completed almost the full race distance of biking and running. The suggested route was to do two (13 mile-ish) laps around mercer Island, followed by a 5ish mile run. I woke up not feeling too great - I've been a bit sick ever since I got back from Indonesia, and I also felt unprepared, given I hadn't biked in like 3 weeks. So I was just a little intimidaated by the route.

I also have a mental issue with the two loop routes, as opposed to an out and back. When you're pushing yourself through the first hilly long loop, its so hard to keep thinking about how I'll have to start it all over again. And it was even worse because I had noone to bike with, so the thought of doing 2 hours of lonely hilly biking just didn't sound fun. Within the first 5 miles of the first loop, I convinced myself I couldn't do it, and that I should just do the 20 mile route. It was one loop with a out and back added on, for some more distance. And once I'd considered this option, it was of course what I went with - as I couldn't make myself think of the longer distance...

So I completed the 20 mile bike route, and it wasn't too bad - other than being a little cold, as I was not dressed properly. I got lost twice near the end, and was grumpy. Then I started on the run, and there got lost a few more times - I apparently should have known to follow the blue/white arrows, not the super large orange arrows. I finally found Kyle after I think I had already run like 3 miles (he was only mile 1ish) maybe, then we followed the arrows on the way back... So I think I ended up doing more than 6 miles. Though I could not push myself, and allowed myself to walk up the hills. once again - mental block.

So overall the practice was bit rough for me. I finished it starving, and ate a lot of food, then took a nice nap. Next weekend we will do a similiar work out, and then we'll ship our bikes off to Hawaii! <3 more weeks to go! eek.

And still over $1000 to raise!

Training so far:
Bike: 158 Miles
Run: 92.5 Miles
Wwim: 16250 YD

Early morning swim!

Friday morning I actually woke up early (I am not a morning person!), at like 6:30, and went swimming! Now, when I say woke up early, what I actually mean is, Kyle dragged me out of bed, while I moaned and complained, and pushed me into the pool.

The pool was slightly more crowded than ideal - at one point, for a whole 5 minutes, we had like 5 people in my lane. but most of the time it wasn't bad. I got in some drills I had been meaning to work on since the swim clinic I took abouth a month ago, and then I did a medium main set. And went back home to bed at 7:30...

I was nice to have gotten a work out out of the way, before even going to work. I tell myself I should do it more often.... But, that is until the morning of when I'm lying in bed feeling tired. Sigh. Hopefully we'll do it again this week though. Yay.

fit with... Skittles

This afternoon I finally made it back to the animal shelter, and took Skittles out for a run. In the shelter, he was sitting in hiskennel SOO politely. Just patiently watching as people walked by, w/ a look on his face that was like Oh, I'd love it if you could take me out, but no worries if you're too busy... And he convinced me.

Then, we get outside the shelter, and he really, really wants to eat his leash! Not only that, but he keeps it in his mouth, then runs in circles around me for the first mile. Which makes it very hard to avoid not kicking him/tripping over him. I came very close to falling quite a few times. Luckily after the first mile, he ran less circles around me, and the last two miles, he even didn't hold the leash in his mouth. Which I was very grateful for.

It was nice to be back at the shelter, I hadn't been in a few months, due to being busy and other lame excuses etc... And Boomer got so excited when he saw me put on my running shoes, so I feel bad ditching him for another dog! But I tried to explain to him that he is much more fortunate than the shelter dogs, and should not complain. hmph.

Off to indonesia!

I'm off to Indonesia for 10 days! Then I'll be back for more training, with lots of pictures.

Chilly Hilly!

We had an action packed tiring weekend. Saturday morning we ran just over 6 miles, along lake Sammamish. Overall it went pretty well - although I think its time for a re-adjustment of my running shoes (or new ones) as my left leg is starting to hurt a bit now. The Boomer dog came with us the whole way, and afterwards, even had enough energy for some playing and swimming in the dog park. I don't see how he got so fit.

THEN Sunday, three of us headed down to the Seattle Ferry and rode Chilly Hilly. I'm pretty sure none of us really knew what we were getting into. While the sun did come out during our ride, making it not so chilly, it was definitely hilly!

I got off to a rough start - near the beginning of the ride, a few miles in, we came to our first steepish hill. We were still in a somewhat crowded pack of riders, since it was early on, and as people got off bikes to walk, they got yelled at, since they would suddenly stop in front of other bikers. I was careful to not do this, however as I went to downshift to an easier gear, suddenly I couldn't pedal! I almost fall off, as I'm clipped in, and surrounded by hordes of other angry bikers (mad I'm in their way). I make it to the side of the road, and discover my bake tire somehow slipped over, so it was pressed against the frame, making it not spin. I fiddled around with the quick release, and think I got it fixed, but that definitely make me nervous for the rest of the ride - as I didn't want that to happen again!

Luckily my tire seemed to stay put for the whole ride. I ended up having to walk a few of the super long, and steep hills. Being clipped in made it a little scary to get off! as I had to unclip while pedaling fast (in a low gear) up the hill and dodge other riders.

About 20 miles into the ride, we came around a corner, and where back on the east side of the island. It was slightly down hill, and I saw the ferry to our right, and thought that The ride must be almost over. I thought to myself how it really wasn't so bad, and I'm not that tired etc, and it was almost fun... Then I keep biking, and biking, and biking and after what felt like a long time, and a few more hills, the ferry went out of view, and I saw a 5 miles left sign... Ugh.

Those last 5 miles where the hardest part of the ride. While the hills where not the steepest of the ride, and were not THAT long, after the previous 25 miles of hills, they felt hard! I pushed myself to not get off, and keep biking. Mile 5 went by not so badly - in about 4/5 minutes... then mile 4 somehow took me like 20 minutes. and was super painful, tiring, and I really just wanted to be done. I swear it must have been signed wrong. Somewhere in mile 4 was a relatively long hill, though not too steep - I was pushing myself to not get off and walk, when I suddenly realized my legs where shaking! So I got off and ate some clif bar - I hadn't eaten anything in during the previous two hours of biking - that may have helped!

When we finally came around the corner to the finish line I was very excited.

So now I have done chilly hilly. I'm not sure if I'll do it again next year. I have to say I overall found just chilly hilly harder than the entire triathlon last year! I think I need to bike more :)

I slept really well saturday and sunday nights .

My first fall!

I finally had my first fall thanks to my new bike shoes and pedals. I came up to a roundabout, just as a car was arriving. The car slowed down, and I waved them forward, intending to slide in behind the car. However, the car proceeded to turn left, without going AROUND the ROUNDabout - ie coming right in front of me and my clipped in feet. I fell, in slow motion, to the ground.

While it didn't hurt that much then, after the bike ride I found my pants had a nice blood soaked area on my knee. And my thigh now has a large bruise.

After the long bike ride (only 21 miles, but we got lost, stopped for picture, stopped for talking etc, meaning it took us over 2 hours) we went out to a large delicious breakfast.

But then we had to bike home. Granted it was only 2 miles, and flat... but man, after sitting, and eating lots, my legs where not happy! I decided if in the triathlon, we had to sit and eat a meal between the bike and run I'm not sure I could complete it! blegh.

"Boys wish granted on big yellow school bus"

http://www.ketv.com/family/15304410/detail.html

Just read this article from a link on cnn. A little boy who was diagnosed with Leukemia at age 2.5 just had his wish granted by the make a wish foundation, for his 4th birthday. He got to be picked up by a yellow school bus, and spend a day in kindergarten. His birthday isn't till March, but they were not sure if he'll make it till then.

I just thought this article was touching - and shows you how leukemia affects peoples lives. To have a wish that is so simple - to go to school shows how we really shouldn't take anything for granted.

After spending a day in school, the bus returned him tot he hospital.

Monday Run

We did interval work again this monday. (I'm not sure if interval is the right word... but oh well). After warm up we ran fast for 1/2 mile, then slow for 1/4 mile, and repeated for about 30 minutes.

I was back to my about 8min pace for the parts I was pushing myself, so I was happy. (Last time I did a workout like this my fast pace was equal to my normally slow pace...). And it was nice out again! yay good weather again.

I still haven't done any long runs yet this season, so I'm going to try to fit one in soon.

Brick

Saturday we did a decent brick. It was originally planned as a 26 mile bike ride followed by a 45 minute run. However we had a party to get to afterwards (the whole team did) so it was shortened to a 13 mile bike ride and a 30 minute run. I can definitely say that I, and the people who ran for the 30 minutes w/ me, where happy it was shorter! We were pretty tired by the end of it.

The bike was around mercer island. I started off strong, and in a good mood, then about 2/3ds of the way I got bored, and was biking alone the whole way. I finished fine, but was happy to be done at 13, and not only half way done... Also, we had good weather! which made it nicer. The run however was not so easy. My legs felt weird, as usual (I forgot to do my pedal fast trick at the end of the bike ride), AND it was a hilly run! I don't run hills very often, so blegh.

Only 8 weeks to go till lavaman! the fact that I found Saturdays work out tiring scares me a little bit! but we did it last year, so hopefully it will only be easier this year.

Oh, then I went out and bought a bike trainer! so hopefully I will get more miles in on the bike. that is, once I get it set up. must find a wrench...

swim test

We had a TEST today at our coached swimming. They wanted to make sure we could each do a 500yd. Given that the week before our lane did 3x 300, 500 isn't so intimidating, and we all did fine. Although, there where some counting issues. when a few people where done, i thought I still had 50 more to go. So I either did 550, or they did 450. Oh well, close enough.

Then we did a fun sighting exercise - we tried to swim to the end of the pool w/ our eyes closed, to see how long we could make it. I made it about 3/4 of the way down the first time, which was way more straight than I expected to be. I only made it like 1/2 way down the 2nd time. Its weird to have your eyes closed! I felt like I had no idea where I was, or what direction I was swimming in...

Then we did a quick drafting exercise - we took turns following right behind another swimming , which apparently saves you about 10% effort. While I did think I could feel the difference, I felt like I was always about to bump into her feet. also, I'm not sure if I'd feel comfortable doing it in a race, behind a random swimmer I don't know. I'd be scared of getting kicked etc... But we'll see.

8.5 weeks to go! eek.

All day swim clinic

Saturday I jumped back into training, after a week off being sick, with an all day swim clinic. It went from 10am-5:30pm!

It was slightly intimidating when we get in the pool and the warmup is to swim 300yd. I'm like hey! that distance is usually reserved for our main set... Not all of us are pro swimmers! but the day progressed well. We swam for about 1.5 hours - as they took turns video taping us by groups. We got videoed last - we each swam about 4 laps alone, so they could video from different angles.

Then we had a lecture on swim techniques etc, and took a break for lunch. THEN the main part of the clinic - in a group of about 8 we watched each persons video, and the coach pointed out all the things we did wrong. From the above water view - I actually didn't get too many critiques, and he said I had a good body position! Yay I do something correct! Underwater - I could see that I'm not bending my arm at the beginning of the stroke - thus I loose some of the possible power in my stroke. We where given drills to work on to improve our flaws - I also need to work on kicking w/ straighter legs. But I've always been a terrible kicker... sigh.

Then we went back into the pool - and did drills - and he showes us the RIGHT way to do all the drils we'd learn in the past. Obviously if they're not done right, they're not effective.

Overall I thought it was useful - though I wish we could go back in a week/month and get videoed again, to see if we've improved. However Liz on our tnt team has a underwater camera - so we're going to try to tape ourselves more....

This post was rather rambly - sorry.

Saturday before (well, during the first half of) the super bowl 3 of us went for a bike ride! We only did about 12 miles - but I was happy because I find it hard to get in the oyo bike rides.

Sick...

Well, I woke up with a little bit of a cold on Saturday , and then went running in the 30 degree weather with the team for 1.25 hours. I felt fine while running... However I then woke up Sunday with a much worse cold, and now I have been battling that for a few days... I blame the running in the cold.

So I'm a little behind on training, and am not sure if I'll go swimming tonight (Its hard enough to breath when I'm not underwater) but hopefully I'll be better soon, and get back into training. Less than 10 weeks to go!

Miles logged so far:
Run: 67.5 miles
Bike: 70 miles
Swim: 11800 yards

Seattle is cold!

Apparently Seattle is now a town which requires an ice scraper! I've had to use mine quite a bit on these super freezing mornings we've been having. Last night we went running at greenlake, and it was about 30 degrees out. However it was a super clear sky full of stars and a full moon!

The workout went pretty well, although for some reason I was slower than normal. We did one mile at our "lactic threshold" pace, then a lap at an easy recovery pace, then repeated for about 30 minutes. Usually I run about 8.5 min miles, when I'm pushing myself like that, however I was doing more like 9.5 last night, which is almost at my normal running speed. I'm blaming it on either the cold weather, or me not pushing myself enough... I need to remember to calculate what my 85% hr is, because I think I was below that - which implies I should have just gone faster.

I still got in 4.5 miles, which is pretty good. The triathlon is coming up soon, less than 3 months to go!

Miles logged so far:
Run: 61.5 miles
Bike: 70 miles
Swim: 10150 yards

Lake Sammamish

We biked around Lake Sammamish on Saturday. It was my first time doing that loop, and I liked it! It was a nice distance (22 miles) and had some nice rolling hills - similar to Kona, though probably a little steeper. My mom and I biked together the first 12 or so miles, then I went ahead. Once I got back to the car, went for a 10 minute run (uggh, my legs felt ick), put on some warm cloths etc, I was told that my mom had a flat tire and was trying to call me! But by the time I heard and was ready to go pick her up someone else on the team had helped her change her tire, and she made it back to the parking lot.

We had another lucky weather day - basically no rain and nice temperature during our ride, followed by pouring rain an hour after the ride.

It was super nice out on Sunday, so the Boomer and I went on a short run. Didn't want to run too much before running practice tonight :)

Also, with this weekends bike, my biked miles has passed running! Now I need to keep it that way.

Miles logged so far:
Run: 57 miles
Bike: 70 miles
Swim: 10150 yards

Slacking...

From the blogging world that is. Luckily I have actually been training, then forgetting to blog. So here's a recap.

About two weeks ago we biked around Mercer Island for the first time this year. The weather gods blessed us w/ huge rain drops, wind, and cold weather. Nari reminded us that deciding to go biking in the rain, was much better than being forced to endure chemo...
I stayed relatively warm while biking, only to FREEZE once I stopped. And my shoes where full of water, and my gloves soaked, and I was just cold to the bone. I took a hot shower, put on running clothes, and then ran around Greenlake w/ The Booms and Helen.

Last wednesday was pretty exciting. I went swimming as usual (and fit in a run before hand! look at me go!). However at one point in the practice coach Cathy came over, and said "all of you... [hesitates] EXCEPT rachel need to work on keeping your head down while swimming." I was singled out for doing something well! First time that's ever happened in swimming. I'm doing something correct!!!! yay.

Last weekend we had a big birthday bash, and 10/15 of us went running saturday morning! how cool are we. I did a 4 mileish run w/ helen, and The Booms (ditched me) and did a 6 miler w/ Kyle...

Anyways, training is going relatively well. Its time to get back on that fundraising bandwagon though. Also, I'm still behind in biking. But we're going Saturday!

Miles logged so far:
Run: 55 miles
Bike: 48 miles
Swim: 10150 yards

Back at it

I really didn't want to go swimming yesterday. And the fact that my mom and Kyle where both not going, made me even feel like I might have an excuse to skip it... But Spot and I forced ourselves to not give in and go, and I guess I was happy I went.

Well, I wasn't happy I went when I got there, but after the practice was over, I was. Apparently much of the rest of our team felt similiary, as evidenced by half of them not showing up. I was excited at first when there where only two of in our lane... But then to even out lanes, the lane beside us (faster) sent half their people to my lane. So not only did we now have 4 of us, but the other 3 where all faster than me! But I stuck with it, and we did the medium workout. We didn't finish all of it again, but I think its partially because we are starting 10 minutes late.

Near the end of the practice, Nari basically told me I need to swim faster. Ie I pause too long between each stroke, so I tried a few laps at a faster pace, and it felt good. And not more tiring, surpringly. So we'll see how that goes next week.

Miles Logged since signup:
Run: 42.5 miles
Swim: 8550 yards
Bike: 35 miles