Running at noon, and the party taper

I stayed up too late cleaning the house and reading to get out of bed this morning, so I decided to run at noon. Hubby came with me.

Wow, it's hot at noon! Especially when you're running up the steepest hill around here. We ran on the trails, so most of the time we were in shade, but you have to run about 1.5 miles on pavement to get there.

I found this strange, but it took me nearly two miles to "warm up" - even though I'd broken a sweat pretty much right away and stuff. My legs just didn't want to go. But by the end of the run, they felt like they could go forever. I'll have to remember that when I start my Ironman marathon - maybe two miles in I'll feel better.

So on Sunday when I did my long solo bike, I made all these plans. One of them was to not drink or party much until after Ironman Canada.

But then we celebrated Danielle's birthday Sunday night, so the not-drinking thing went out the window. I only had one drink, but still, that's one more than none. And the weekend after this coming one I'm going to Las Vegas!

And there's a party this weekend, too. So, here's my new plan: I have this week of still working hard at training before I taper, except for one more long run I'm going to do next week. So when I return from Las Vegas on Aug. 12, I am going to have a party taper, too. In bed at 10 every night. No drinking (for real!). And the weekend before Ironman, no going out. Period. I know all this partying is probably just rebellion against the self-imposed structure of Ironman training, but that's no reason to ruin a whole season by focusing more on this party/music scene that will still be there after IMC has come and gone.

Happy Monday!

Another good morning. But first, a catch-up note.

I stayed up late Thursday night to finish Harry Potter. So I skipped Friday's workout, unless dancing half the night counts. :-) (Did we ever determine how many hours of dancing equals how many hours of running?) Saturday was a planned rest day (lots of kid stuff going on), but then Sunday it was rainy and nasty...so my friends bagged on our planned long bike ride and I was left to consider what to do.

I waited until early afternoon, and it cleared up. But still no friends to ride with. I realized I'd never ridden more than 20 miles or so alone (except in a race, but you're really not alone in a race, right). So I decided I should get out there and ride by myself.

I planned a 65-mile route, all areas I'd ridden before. I procrastinated a lot on my way out the door, but eventually I got going. And I found that I didn't really mind riding alone. I wasn't bored and I didn't try to talk myself into a shorter route. I just went along, did my thing, didn't bother to watch speed or stress about how fast or slow I was going, and just enjoyed being out. I wrote a lot of letters to my friends in my head (none of which will ever actually see paper, of course) and I played clips of Paul Van Dyk songs in my head - except when I was climbing any of the three big hills, where all thoughts were crowded out by the focus I had to put on turning the pedals. Wow, there were some hard hills on my route. A couple of times I actually thought about walking my bike, but then I pretended Danielle was ahead of me and I needed to keep going.

I ended up only being able to ride 50 miles because I had somewhere to be and not enough time to get there - that was because of poor planning on my part, not slow riding - but I finished happy, and confident that I can go 112 by myself if I have to.

So this morning I had to drag my behind out of bed to swim - the goal was 4 laps, or 1.2 miles.

Well, it started out as a good morning. My hubby fixed my car so that when you press a button up by the rearview mirror the garage door opens - so I don't need an opener anymore. Then in the Starbucks drive-through, the woman ahead of me paid for my coffee. Then the sun was rising over the lake and it was just so darned pretty!

THEN - Jodi joined me and Danielle for our swim, and she wore her Garmin for the four laps. Four laps - not including the out-and-back parts - was 1.36 miles on her Garmin...which makes our total mileage about 1.6! And I think that's more accurate than what I was going on before (otherwise, I swim WAY faster in races than in practice, which I don't think is actually true).

So I had a solid swim, then my favorite coffee (from Victor's, not from Starbucks), and it's a gorgeous day (yeah, I gotta work, but it's cool). Oh, and a friend dropped by and gave me some new music to listen to - the one benefit to having a Zune over an iPod is that the Zunes can talk wirelessly to one another and share music, so he gave me two hour-long DJ sets from a local DJ, and I'm halfway through the first and it's perfect. Makes me want to dance.

But maybe I should do some work - you know, since I'm in the office anyway.

This morning didn't suck

I didn't work out this morning, and I sort of planned it that way - I really wanted to finish the Harry Potter book. It was bugging me that a kids book (I know, it's 759 pages) was taking me the better part of a week to read.

Plus, I had to get to work early to prepare for an evil meeting I had to run - where I had to present my plans for the next coding milestone and get "constructive feedback" - which usually means I end up reconsidering my career and thinking about becoming a stay-at-home mom. Note that I can take criticism - for goodness sake, I'm definitely my own worst enemy - but this team I'm on has a way of being EVIL during specification reviews.

But it actually went well! So well that it ended 40 minutes early and I had time to get to my daughter's little acting show (she's been in drama camp all week and today the kids did their final performances).

So that's all pretty rockin'. I'm fairly certain I won't work out today, but I'm cool with it. I'll definitely get my exercise in this weekend...plus, dancing tonight at Club Heaven!

Stuff I love

Running stuff:

• 58 degree weather
• Running at sunrise
• Count 'em: One, two, three FOUR girlfriends to run with me - at 5:10 a.m.!!!
• Swinging at Idylwood Park while Danielle uses the potty
• My new Asics Gel-Kinseis (even though they're not pink)
• My favorite running skirt - pink camo GymGirl from SkirtSports.com
• Eating a asiago cheese bagel while running. (In the middle of the run, we stopped at a bagel store. Gotta build that IronStomach!)
• Completing somewhere around 18 miles in three hours. Before work.
• Wolf-whistles from silly guys in pickup trucks (also, stares from construction crews. Have they never seen women running before?)

Work stuff:

• Di.fm's Trance channel. Good music all day.
• My pink Zune, newly filled with Steve Porter and Paul van Dyk - competing with di.fm, but still - good to have options
• Finally getting some big document nearly done!
• Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel
• My pink laptop
• My new office setup: two futon couches and lots of whiteboard space so my teams can work in here because this building never has any conference rooms available

Personal life stuff:

• The hours of free entertainment Facebook provides
• Cuddling with my hubby (when did I become a cuddler? It's so weird!)
• This orange hoodie I saw at the Pro Club shop on Tuesday for 50% off. I didn't buy it, and today it was 65% off! And I did buy it.
• I wish I could say something cute about my kids, but they slept over Grandma's last night so I haven't seen them since Tuesday
• You blog readers! I like that some of you are coming out of the woodwork and being my friend on Facebook. I write this because I feel like it, but it's cool to know people read it (more people than comment - I know you commenters!)

Happiness

I am happy today. Really, really happy. Happy like I haven't felt in a while (at least not sober, ha ha).

It's a gorgeous gorgeous day. I actually got in the lake and enjoyed the feeling of cool water surrounding me, and watching the sun get higher in the sky as I swam. I got my swim done with no internal whining.


I don't want to be too optimistic, but I feel back on track. I feel like the unhappiness I had been feeling for the last few months has lifted. I feel peaceful, but energetic.

I'm very close to proper eating this week - every day I've been doing a little bit better. I've swum, I've biked, and I've run this week, and I'm feeling motivated to get the rest of my workouts done. My job is going fairly well; I'm incredibly busy (I worked 12 hours yesterday, yuck!) but the work I'm doing is interesting.

Every day my kids come home from camp with new things to tell me. Here's a conversation I had with Camille the day before yesterday:

"How was acting camp, Camille?"

"Good, there's a boy who wants to KISS me!" (Remember, readers - Camille is four!)

"Oh really, what's his name?" I asked.

"I don't know. I can't remember."

"Well, we don't kiss boys, Camille. If he tries to kiss you, just say "No thank you, I don't kiss boys."

She rolled her eyes (my bad bad habit rubbing off on her). "But I kiss Daddy! He's a boy!"

"Daddy is special."

"But I kiss Papa!" she retorted.

"Family members are special. You can't kiss boys who aren't in your family."

"How about this: I will tell him he can kiss me when I'm six."

So at this, I'm about to die from keeping my laughter in. "No. You can kiss boys when you're married."

And then Gabriel chimes in with, "No, she'll be an adult when she's 18. She can kiss boys then."

Thanks, kid.

And John. Today Aleks saw John for the first time in months, and she was just gushing about how good he looks. I forgot already - when he lost weight, his face totally changed, and she's right: he's adorable. And more importantly, our relationship is improving - dramatically.

Here's hoping for continued happiness. (And more friends on Facebook.)

Must share this!

My absolute favorite running skirt is on sale at SkirtSports.com - 50% off!

It's the pink camo GymGirl. It has shorts underneath that NEVER ride up or chafe. It's super comfortable and pretty much my favorite thing to wear. I bought a second one just to be sure I always have one clean.

And because I love it so much, I'm sharing this good news with you and I won't mind at all if you go buy the same skirt I have. In fact, I think you should - you deserve it. :-)

On sale until the 30th or when they run out, I guess. Oh, for sizing: I wear a medium in this skirt, and usually a size 6 for pants.

Where am I?

Wow, I can't believe how long since I've posted. Why have I been so quiet?

Well, a couple of reasons. Facebook is a really fun waste of online time. If you're on Facebook and reading this, you can be my friend. :-)

I didn't train much last week - just not super-motivated. Thursday I did a nice 75-minute run, then yoga, Friday nothing, Saturday a couple hour bike ride...then, Saturday night.

Mmm, Saturday night. It makes me happy just to think about it. It was one of the best nights (if not the best, that's entirely possible) of my life. And I've had a happy life.

John and I went to USC 10 - basically, a huge rave (but legal - you buy tickets at Ticketmaster for goodness sake) and the music was incredible, the energy in the place was great, and we just had a blast. The party went until 4 a.m., at which point we were still so happy and wanting to dance that we went to an after-hours club and danced until the sun came up. Actually, past then - we left the club at around 6:45 a.m.

Needless to say, with no sleep and dancing all night, I didn't do anything Sunday.

And unfortunately, being out all night probably contributed to this cold I have. So I'm still not swimming - I'm willing to bike and run with a cold, but not swim. I'm stuffy enough as it is without getting in the water!

So anyway...I can't afford to have any more nights like that until after the Ironman, but boy do I plan to then. Not too often - after all, I do have two kids and a job and responsibilities - but every once in a while, it's just so awesome to let go and just play. (The kids were at John's parents, and we told them we'd be out all night so we wouldn't be picking them up until Sunday afternoon.)

Today I learned something new: cold medicine and running don't mix. I woke up so stuffy I felt like I really needed some decongestant before hitting the trails with the girls, but every time my heart rate was elevated (like, 150 or higher) I would get lightheaded. Not cool. I ended up being the slowest runner and having to walk a little (until I talked myself into behaving like this run "counted" and I needed to run it, not walk it. Preparation for IMC!).

Anyway, be my Facebook friend. :-)

Tired, again

So...this week my training hasn't been going so well.

Physically, I feel fine. But I'm still sleeping more than I usually do and I'm not super-motivated to train.

I'm letting myself off the hook. It's a really hard thing for me to do, but I am. I'm just going to get through this week, do what sounds fun, and hope that next week I feel better.

I know I can go the distance. I'm more concerned now with hurting myself, physically or mentally (in losing the desire to finish the Ironman).

Even if I don't get back in the water between now and August 26, I will be able to swim 2.4 miles. And the rest...yeah, that too.

How much better can I get if the next five weeks are productive? I'm guessing not much. So I'm going to relax this week, focus on eating and sleeping well, and next week see if my desire to train has returned.

I think it will work. And if not...whatever comes, comes. The Ironman is a big deal, and I guess I do feel like I have something to prove out there, but I haven't lost my confidence that I can prove it. Let's hope I don't.

STP Ride Report

Oops, I did it again.

I rode STP.

And all in one day!

Oh baby, baby

Oops, I think that I'm sore

And sitting's a chore...

My bike's not innocent.

Yeah, baby. That's what I did for 192 miles yesterday: re-wrote the lyrics to "Oops I did it again" by my favorite Britney Spears for my blog post about the Seattle to Portland ride.

Funny how ridiculous things get stuck in your head when you've got a lot of miles to cover.

Other songs that spent time in my head:

Beautiful Girls by Sean Kingston (I actually hate this song, too, so that wasn't fun)
Um, some song by Crystal Method with the lyric "Are you ready? We are a go"
The theme song from Sponge Bob Square Pants, because I saw a couple of Sponge Bob jerseys

Okay, seriously, I'm not going to spend 11.5 hours writing this blog post (because I know I usually do spend as much time writing my report as I did doing the event). Let's just list some highlights:

-- John did the ride for the first time and kicked ass! He kept asking, "When can we pick up the pace?"
-- We stuck to the same plan as last year: start out at between 17 and 18 mph and let all the big groups pass us. Stay conservative through the first half, then do whatever for the second half.
-- We pretty much did that except for 13 miles of trail in the second quarter of the ride - it was so flat and nice it just felt good to open it up and go 20-22 mph.
-- The third quarter remained the hardest, and where we focused on sticking to the plan and not going crazy. Those rolling hills are easy to forget - they're really not significant, but after you've eaten lunch and already ridden 100 miles, they kind of are.
-- We took turns leading, but I probably led the most, and John the second-most. There were four of us - me, John, Matthew, and Danielle. Matthew is a poor leader because he stops pedaling periodically and I think Danielle just prefers to be in the pack, not in the lead.
-- I have a lot of trouble giving up the lead - even when I'm tired and need to. I'm so competitive and I just want to be in front! But John was so strong it was nice to let him lead sometimes.
-- Our last 50 miles, like last year, were FAST. We really picked it up at the end - although I did the same thing I did last year. At every stop from about 150 miles on, I said, "So I don't think I can hold this pace for the next section." And then I did anyway.
-- We started from home, again, so we didn't do the full 204 - instead, I got about 192. Good enough!
-- I had some serious mechanical issues twice, and both times, Matthew the bike magician solved them. My bike wouldn't shift into the big ring at all.
-- We had no other mechanicals or injuries, which was nice. We also argued a bunch in the beginning, but by the middle of the ride had mostly figured out how we were going to work together.
-- At the end, in Portland, a train was literally STOPPED on the tracks - and the route crossed those tracks twice. At the first crossing, there was some space around the front of the train to get by, so we rode around it. But at the second, we would have had to literally climb over the connection between train cars. Matthew and Danielle did it; I refused. Instead, John and I followed some other cyclists to this bridge - where, in cycling shoes, we carried our bikes up the equivalent of probably five flights of stairs (it was TERRIFYING) to get on the bridge to get back on course. Scary scary scary.
-- 6100 calories burned. Definitely less than that consumed - but I did eat a few yummy things, like a Creamsicle.
-- Overall, it was a fabulous day. And I have ridiculous tan lines. (White hands from my gloves; brown arms, legs that look like I'm wearing thigh-highs even though I'm not!)
-- I'm so proud of John. He was so strong the entire way through, he managed his blood sugar well, and was just a great riding partner. Lucky me!

Yes, I got in the lake this morning

Oh thank goodness, I didn't forget how to swim.

It did take me the first half of the first lap (5 minutes or so) to get back into a rhythm and not feel like my arms were made of lead. Of course, that could be in part due to all the tricep pushups I did yesterday in hot yoga.

In fact, I woke up really sore - glutes, quads, triceps especially. It was pretty tough to get out of bed.

But the best cure for sore muscles is light exercise, I think - you can't just sleep or sit and let them stiffen up. And once I got out of the lake, 1.2 miles later, I have to admit, most of my soreness other than glutes was gone. Glutes must be from yoga, right? I don't think I usually get sore glutes from running.

Anyway, tomorrow is STP. Hopefully all leg soreness will go away by then, because that's a LONG time to sit on a bike seat and move my legs if they hurt.

The weather is looking good. I'm pretty excited! John is getting nervous, but he's been just so strong lately that I'm positive he'll have a good experience, too.

I'm a running machine!

Okay, maybe not. But still. I went out this morning at 5:30 for a 2.5 hour run, got it done, felt decent (some pain in my right arch, probably from the cute heels I wore on Tuesday, or maybe it was the flats that pinched and gave me a blister yesterday - darned hot weather), and felt happy. I felt like I could run forever...which is good, because I figure my Ironman marathon will feel like I have to run forever!

This was after I only ate around 600 calories yesterday; I'm a little better today at around 1100, but I burned 1500 in running and another 450 or so at hot yoga at noon. So...I know I need a deficit to lose some of the weight, but this is probably a bit extreme.

That said, the detox effect of eating less feels good. I love how it only takes a day to drop cravings - I walked by the candy basket outside the administrative assistant's office a few times today and wasn't even tempted.

I'm trying to figure out how to eat on STP; I think I gained 10 pounds on it last year because John drove the course and stopped ahead of us periodically and had candy, ice cream, and Hostess cupcakes in the van for me and my riding partners to consume. And consume we did. So sure, I burned like 6,000 calories that day - and, though I didn't count, could have consumed probably 8,000! BAD!

This year, I think I'll bring my Gleukos and Carbo-Pro and use that for fuel and only eat "real" food - bananas, apples, and maybe peanut butter on a half a bagel if I'm really hungry. No bars, no cookies. And especially no Hostess cupcakes or candy!

I still refuse to swim

Okay, this is getting crazy. It's been 2.5 weeks since I've been swimming. Fortunately, I don't have a lot of swimming fitness to lose, but this is ridiculous.

I just can't motivate myself to get out of bed to swim! And it's nice outside, the water is warm, there's no reason I shouldn't enjoy a gorgeous morning watching the sun rise over the water...but I just can't do it.

So, Friday. That's the day I'm targeting for a 2.4 mile swim before work.

I also skipped my intense ride for the week. I've put on a few pounds lately and to combat the weight gain, I'm backing off on the intense work I usually do. That work makes me really hungry, and I think it will be better for my racing if I get rid of the extra (well, the extra I'm not used to having) and get back to where I was for the Issaquah tri (136).

Right now, I'm at 143; I normally live around 139-140; a couple of pounds lighter than that really does equal a couple of minutes faster on the bike, and a much easier time of the run. I know how I got here; lazy eating, no meal tracking, drinking alcohol - and fortunately, I know how to fix it before it really gets out of control!

What it's like to have pink hair...plus, pole dancing!

So I'm now almost four days into the pink hair, and here's what I've noticed:

-- People stare at me in a way I'm not used to, like I'm a circus freak or something. It's just hair!
-- People ask weird questions - like, "Did you lose a bet?" or "Did you mean for that to happen?"
-- The longer I have it, the more I forget it's there until I see myself in a mirror, and then I smile.

I love it!

Anyway, training: fine. Slow. Taking it easy because I feel like taking it easy. Finally going to swim tomorrow, for real this time.

And pole dancing: I finally published my blog post for Family.com about pole dancing! Check it out here.

I have pink hair!

John just said I should change the name of my blog to "Fat Girl to Rocker Chick."

Don't ask me why I did this. I got a bee in my bonnet about having pink hair, so I consulted with a color expert and this is what she came up with.

I think I love it!

(Note to Mom: I still love you and I'm still me, even with pink hair. I promise. Happy birthday!)

I guess this photo makes it look kind of red, but trust me: it's bright, fun pink.

Maybe I'll post more photos not from a camera phone later.

Deliciously tired

First this: Yeah, I'm an idiot for not being happy with my race results. But I was talking this morning with a woman who came in 6th overall for the women, and she said her time was 1:30 off what she expected and she thought the course was long.

A review of last year's results and this year's was inconclusive (totally different people in the top; the only person in the top 10 this year and last was actually faster this year), but I want to believe it.

But whatever.

Yesterday the family rode 22 miles round-trip, Mercer Island to Seattle and back. Going Gabriel's pace - he's seven - was pretty tough, but worthwhile: I got to instruct him in how to ride safely on the road, how to use his gears properly, and so on - and he enjoyed it, I think.

John towed Camille in a trailer; I would have, but I don't want to attach it to a carbon-fiber bike. (Is that a bad thing to do? It seems so.)

The interesting thing about riding that long and slow is that my upper body - back and shoulders - feels like I did a three-hour bike, but my legs are perfect. :-)

Today Nancy and I ran for two hours - later than usual, since I was up late doing the fireworks thing last night. It felt okay - my legs definitely hurt at the end, but in a good way - and after I sit for a while at my desk today I get that "I-did-a-long-run-and-my-legs-won't-let-me-forget-it" feeling. Which actually is kind of nice. I don't mind feeling tired when I actually DO something that makes me tired. It's feeling tired when I didn't do anything that bothers me.

I still haven't swum since Pacific Crest. But tomorrow I'm promising myself that I will. Yuck.

Firecracker 5000 Race Report

Let's get this out of the way: I was really hoping for a 5K PR.

I've only actually done one 5K before; three years ago, my very first was done in 27:39, and since I expected a 31-minute 5K then, I was pleasantly surprised.

But I've done the 5K program on the treadmill lots of times, and it has hills. My best time there is 24:40. (I know, the treadmill helps you keep going when you lose steam.)

So anyway, when Nancy and Jodi said they wanted to run the Firecracker 5000 - a 5K run starting at midnight on July 4 in downtown Seattle - I thought, hey. Downtown is fairly flat. Betcha I could do sub-24.

Um, no.

I tried to nap around 8:30 p.m. and ended up resting until about 9:15. It was weird to be getting dressed to go run when I'm usually getting in bed.

It was about 65 degrees out - I was (of course) cold until we started running. But immediately I had the urge to take my shirt off. I broke a sweat right away and pretty much rained on myself for the entire time.

I hadn't seeded myself properly; Nancy and Jodi just wanted to run comfortably, so they were in the middle of the pack somewhere. After I crossed the start line, I had to dodge people right and left to be able to get some free space to run my pace - and definitely I was going slower than I wanted to. Then again, it's probably not a bad thing to start out a little slower at the beginning.

Pretty much I started pushing after the first tenth of a mile or so and never let up. The course seemed to have a lot of slight downhill, and I did my best to really open up my legs and go when I could. I passed way more people than passed me, but I'm sure that has more to do with where I started than my actual speed.

It hurt: my heart rate varied between about 163 on downhill sections and 185 uphill, and I think it hung out around 171 or so. I had pain in my side and above my heart, and about two miles in my lungs started burning.

So you have to understand why my results are disappointing. I thought I was flying.

Plus, there really weren't a ton of people around me when I came in - whereas, just three or four minutes later, there was a huge line to get your timing chip removed.


Here are the results:

Total time: 25:36 (8:16 pace)
Overall position: 265/872
Age group position: 8/71
Gender position: 70/452

And honestly, I'm happy with all the statistics EXCEPT total time. I thought I could be a little faster.

John came out and did the race with me; it was only his second 5K too. He did amazing, for someone who rarely runs. He started out with me - even faster than me - but he wasn't able to sustain the effort the whole way through and I lost him around mile 2.

John's time: 26:48 (8:39 pace)
All the rest of his numbers aren't so great because all these speedy boys who do 5Ks in 16 minutes came out, but seriously - 8:39 average? Wow!

Slightly better this afternoon

So, I biked home this afternoon too. Now, I have to admit, the ride to work is largely uphill, and the ride home largely downhill (and a different route; to work I have to go a longer, safer way because there's no shoulder on the northbound side of the shortest route to work). And I wasn't completely normal; my speed was definitely lower than usual.

But I felt like I could ride a little better, at least. I think there are a number of factors going on here:

1) It takes a little while to get back to normal after a race.
2) I haven't been eating all that well - I refuse to weigh myself right now, but I think my weight is up.
3) My sleep is not normal. I'm sleeping more than usual, not less, but still - it's different from what I am used to.
4) I really do think my bike is broken and I really am bringing it to the shop tomorrow.

So I'm working on having patience with myself for #1, eating better for #2, and for #3, not going to bed at 9 p.m. anymore. Seriously, I do think there's a such thing as too much sleep.

Something is wrong

Saturday I went out for a 50-mile ride. Admittedly, I was with the boyz, and they have all that testosterone, especially when they don't know each other well and they want to see what each other is made of.

But normally, I wouldn't have been so slow. I was pathetic and it hurt and the slower I got, the more frustrated until I pretty much just gave up.

So I figured, okay, recovery. It's only been a week since the race, and hot yoga on Thursday and Friday kicked my behind, and Friday night we went out dancing and my knees hurt.

But then this morning, I rode in to work on a street I've ridden a zillion times and even raced on. I know what I'm capable of for every section - uphill, downhill, and flat.

And again, I was pathetic. My average speed getting to work today? 12.9 mph. My average last week, on nearly the same route? 15.9 (17.1 before the big hill just before my office).

So...what's up with that?

There appears to be something wrong with my bottom bracket; I have to bike home today, so I can't take my bike to the shop now, but tomorrow I plan to.

I really hope it's the bike and not me. My runs last week were solid; I can't imagine what would affect my cycling but not my running.

So frustrating. I almost cried this morning when I just couldn't get any speed.

I only have eight weeks left. Please let it be a bike problem and not me.