Finished!!!

Yep - I finished! It was a GREAT race.  Well run and so much fun!

500 Yard swim

9 mile bike (mountain bike, single track)

3.5 mile Run

Finished in 2hours 2minutes! whoot!

Run Girl Run!

So, as I mentioned earlier - Hubby and I met up with a running group in San Francisco after work and did a run with them.  It was our first time with this group so we didn't really know what to expect.  I've had bad experiences running with folks in San Francisco before because... well they are all so FIT.  But this group seemed to be a nice cross section and I felt really comfortable.

The plan for tonight was to do a 4.5 mile run around Lake Merced.  At the designated time we all lined up, someone yelled "GO" and we were off!

I really wasn't expecting to be able to keep up with the pack.  It's just not the way it is for me - I'm slow and I know it :).  They all pulled away at first and then, magically, they stopped gaining ground!  I did a mental check and found that i wasn't struggling, really, so I just went with the flow, keeping a few folks in site.

The first mile rolled past rather quickly and I checked my watch.. WHAT!  11 minutes!?  I kept going.  Mile two came -- another 11 minute mile!?  But now the running path was starting to head up hill.  I was hitting the wall that I always seem to hit somewhere in mile three.  I was tired, I was winded,  I was hurting... But I was determined.  Even as I saw the others pulling away and eventually go out of site I knew what my goal was.  I was going to run 3.2 miles (a 5K).  

I kept running.  I felt like I was barely moving.  I wanted to stop, to walk for a while, or even maybe halt all together to catch my breath.  But I kept running.  I was determined, no matter how slow I had to go, that I would reach my goal of 3.2 miles.

And I did!  I finished that 3.2 miles in 37:15 - averaging an 11:38min/mile pace!  (that's 5.2 @ 1% incline if you're used to the treadmill).

But I wasn't done yet.  Nope - the route was 4.5 miles long.  I had reached a milestone, but wasn't to the finish yet!  The last 1.3 miles I did a run/walk combo and in the end, I finished the 4.5 miles in 53:53 - averaging a 12:06 min/mile pace.  Not too shabby!

What was really exciting was that when I got to thinking about how far I've come...I realized that the first "Marker Set" we did while training to do Lavaman we were asked to run 2 Miles and record our time. That first time out (On 11/20/09) I ran that 2 miles in 31:35.  Just a little faster then I ran OVER 3 miles tonight!  WHOO HOO!!

A Peacefull Easy Feeling

Not much to say today.  Took my rest day last night so no workout.  And my weight rebounded a little bit this morning.  No worries, I was expecting it.  

The plan tonight is to go run with one of the local running clubs.  They do a 4.5 mile loop around Lake Merced every Thursday, so hubby and I are going to stop there, and do that before heading home.  I can hardly believe that I look at a 4.5 mile run as such a 'normal' thing now.  I like it.

Otherwise - not much else to say... lol.  Perhaps I'll have some amazing insight later on today :)

I had the most amazing workout!

The night started like any other. I got home, looked outside and really really didn't want to get on my bike. (we're having a really 'un-california' like spring - windy, cold and threats of rain).

So, like many a night I told myself "I'll get on the trainer instead". 

As the night wore on I found myself putting off my ride. Trying to keep myself focused on training while inside 'spinning' is really hard, and I usually end up giving up within 30 minutes or less if I even manage to force myself on it at all. So, I decided to scan the internet to try to find something to make my indoor rides a little more interesting.

Podcasts to the rescue! Since I use podcasts to run with I thought I would do a little search over at iTunes and see if anyone else had the indoor training issues I have had and whether someone had filled that need with a podcast. Low and behold, someone (a few someones) had! After searching and reading and reviewing I finally found one that sounded promising, 'subscribed' and downloaded the first workout. It was called The SufferFest And trust me, it's aptly named (in a good way)

The Sufferfest #5 started easy enough. And then things heated up! Here's the description per the website...

5 minute warm up – Get the legs going while watching some 1987 Paris Roubaix, 1988 Gavia Pass Giro D’Italia (truly, truly horrific what they had to do that day) and 1987 Tour of Switzerland (Bob Roll in his early, timelessly classic days).

1minute interval – Crank it up and climb with Hampsten in the 1987 Tour of Switzerland as he tries to limit the damage to Winnen on the climb to Laax.

2 minutes tempo – Tempo along with the front group in the 1987 World Championships as Stephan Roche takes the win.

2×25 second sprints with 30 seconds rest – Winnen wants the sprint, but Kiefel wants it more. Sprint hard for 25 seconds and then recover while the pack returns to Zurich velodrome.

3×10 minute over/under slogs – Now it gets seriously hard. Here is how it works…you’ll do this three times. The first time you’ll follow Lemond and Hinault in the 1986 Tour de France Alpe d’Huez stage (stand up when Lemond stands up), then Lemond and Fignon in the 1989 Paris time trial, then Argentin and Kelly in the 1992 Milan San Remo final.

• 2minutes “Over” – Get your effort just barely above your anaerobic threshold. If you don’t know what that is, then find the point where you just about can’t talk anymore and really wish the pain would end. Then go a bit harder.
  
• 2minutes “Under” - Get your effort just below that threshold. It should be pretty damn hard, but you should be able to recover just barely enough to make the big effort again.
• 2minutes “Over”
• 2 minutes “Under”
• 2 minutes “Over”
• 4mins rest - Recovery pace between each slog (If you do these right, you’ll thank me for every second of this recovery). Follow Sven Nys, the cyclocross cannibal, during a snow covered 2008 world cup race (sorry, no 80s cyclocross footage…). Don’t let your heart rate drop too much though…keep it just in the aerobic zone.
  

4×40 second heavy resistance climbs with 20 sec recovery - Here, with Paris Roubaix 87 and Tour de France 86, you get 20 seconds of moderate resistance and then 40 seconds of heavy, heavy, heavy resistance while standing.

5 minute(ish) warm down – Take it easy. You deserve it after that misery. Some more cyclocross, then some classic quotes from 89 Tour and 87 Tour of Switzerland.

-------------------

I seriously couldn't believe I did the whole thing, but I did. Yes, it was hard and yes I wanted to quit a few times, but I did it and MAN do I feel great.

Uh-better get some sleep now!

'night all!

P.S. -- Can someone help me up the stairs now?

Deer Valley Tri

Finally posted the photos from the Deer Valley Tri - and so I bring you:

Start



Swim



Bike



Run



Finish



All photos per my loving and wonderful husband! :)

Ummmm - Holy Cow!

When I signed up to do Anchorman - I thought the challenge would be the .75 mile swim in the bay.   Well today I finally got the race maps working and took a look at the bike... ULP!!!  As you know, hills arn't my strong suite (yet).  Check out the elevation map on the puppy!



Oh and we're supposed to do that - twice.

It's good thing I've been doing 1/2 my training on my rides into the wind!

The ride of (for) my life

Tonight I had a 10 mile bike ride on my schedule. I may have mentioned before that I live in a really small community – it’s barely 6 miles square; so long bike rides have been a problem for me. I either have to start in and ride around another town or I have to ride on the country roads around here where people drive fast and there is no shoulder. I certainly can’t ride on those kinds of roads in the dark (I wouldn’t even if I had a caltrans set of super lamps traveling over the top of me the whole time) so, when we got home late tonight (BART delays – AGAIN) and I was facing riding in the dusk, I knew I was going to have to figure out another route. As soon as we got home, I got changed, kissed my hubby and headed out on my bike. The idea I had was to ride a circuit around the outside of our community (about 6-7 miles) and then do part of another circuit to total 10 miles. The ride started ok, I was fighting a cross wind, but riding around here, (where the wind is always blowing) I’ve gotten used to it. I made my first turn and hit the headwind; this was my chance to do ‘hill training’. Since there are no hills on my planned circuit, I shift my bike into a low gear and hit the wind like it’s a hill. It’s quite the workout! I made the next turn and just kept on riding. Things were going great, just as planned. The next turn took me onto the busiest road on my route – Byron Highway. Hubby and I had scoped out this road before. Although it’s a highway with a posted 60MPR speed limit (which means people go 70 to 80), it’s got nice big shoulders, and we’ve seen people riding on it before so I had figured I was good to go. As soon as I turned I realized that things weren’t going to be as easy as I thought. On this side of the road there was construction going on and there were big cement barricades in the shoulder. It looked like it was only for 100 yards or so, so I went ahead, and kept going. Only, the barriers didn’t stop! Now I was worried. I was on a highway, were cars regularly ZOOM along at ridiculous speeds, at dusk and having to ride in the road with a cement barrier between me and the safety of the ‘non-road’! So I started peddling as fast I could. Surely the barriers would end soon. I peddled, and peddled, praying that no cars would come. My lungs were burning, my legs were shaking and still there was no shoulder and OH NO! a car was coming. I could hear the tires of a giant 4X4 coming up behind me, and fast! And worse, there was a car coming in the opposite direction! I hugged the barrier as close as I could and was practically riding with my eyes closed waiting for the truck to pass me. It did, and as you might already guess, I survived! As much as I wanted to stop I had to keep going, and going fast, I wasn’t to the turn off yet. I finally hit the corner, made the turn and slowed down. My legs were shaking so bad I couldn’t even stand on my peddles and I was gasping for breath, feeling a little sick from the air in my tummy I had sucked in. And yet… I felt fantastic! I had pushed myself harder then I ever thought possible and survived! The rest of the ride I was in a cloud of euphoria. I hit the wind tunnel and pushed my legs again. I weaved my way through the neighborhoods back to home and finished up at 9.6 miles and it took me a little less then 40 minutes. The best part was getting home and looking at my GPS download. That section of road that I pushed through was 1 mile long and I didn’t drop below 20 MPR the entire time! For me – someone who was struggling to maintain 11 MPR on my rides a few months ago – that’s a BIG DEAL! Now remember, 7 months ago my idea of a 'workout' was walking up the stairs to go to bed at night. And that used to make me out of breath. And yet - here I am doing 20MPR bike ride! I'm not AT my goal, I'm not in perfect shape but I'm doing it. I'm getting out there and making improvements every day. It took me starting out 'running' 1 minute and walking 90 seconds at first. And getting on my bike and barely managing to ride 3 miles @ 8 MPR before I was exhausted and my girl parts hurt so bad I couldn't pee afterwards. (I've since done a 30 mile ride - it was so much fun) It just takes one step. Do as much as you can do TODAY, and then tomorrow take two steps, and then next day three. If you say "I can't" then you're right. Don't place those kinds of limits on yourself!