How tough is it to make a latte correctly?

Apparently very tough. I made my usual stop before work this morning at the local Safeway Starbucks. I waited in their long line and ordered my usual skinny vanilla latte. After another long wait, she finally calls out skinny vanilla latte, I grab it and walk out. It was very hot but I took a sip. Even through the scorching heat I could tell it wasn't sweetened so I went back and asked her to add the vanilla that I had paid for. She did, capped it up, I left. A few stop signs later I took another sip and realized she had made it with whole milk. Yuck ick and I can't drink that. To recap, my non-fat sugar-free vanilla latte was delivered to me extra hot (scorched, actually), whole milk, no syrup. I poured the entire thing down the sink and had to go out an get another latte elsewhere.

I wouldn't have fussed about it (too much) but in addition to my daily caffeine, my latte is also my breakfast. The 8 ounces of milk keeps me full until lunchtime and has all the nutritious benefits and calcium for early in the day. I also count on it as being "food" in my stomach that I need before I'll take any advil. Which I needed after last night's track workout.

You can see details of the workout from Phil and Claudia, so I won't list all the drills here. I managed 1.25 miles on the warm-up at an easy-ish level 3, then once around again before starting the drills. I had no problem with the squats and actually managed the side planks this time. Not easily and off my elbow with a bent arm and with sweat pouring down my face, but I did them. Again around the track. Doing the mule kicks I could feel something grinding in the small of my back but I figured it was just things moving into position after disuse. I did 10 push-ups, regular form, one at a time. Around the track. Arm/leg extensions were no problems but I skipped the burpies. I don't need to be doing any kind of explosive movements with my knee, don't need to be jumping on it, so I just skipped 'em. Around the track. Crunches and one-legged squats, check and check. Around the track.

Unfortunately I was faster this time than last week so I had to repeat the first circuit before they decided it was time for the 10 minute cool-down. I did 2 laps and called it a night. My knee was aching, more from the drills that involve kneeling than from anything else. Ok, maybe a little from going round and round on the track. My back was starting to hurt too and I had a feeling I might have overdone the mule kicks.

We all hung around a little bit, stretching and chatting and finally headed to our cars. This week I had the second half of an energy bar in the car and I nibbled on it while I drove. It was delicious; I'm not sure if I was just starving or if it was really good. It was a Think Thin bar in white chocolate chip and slightly heated from being in the car. Half the bar is 30g and has 10g protein, 13g carbs, 4g fat and 120 calories. Gluten free, no sugar, no trans fat and good grief, it tasted wonderful. I have a couple of other flavors at home and I think these will become my lifeline for after late workouts.

By the time I got home and cleaned up it was 9:00 pm and although I was starving, nothing sounded too good. I nuked a Boca Burger, put it on a slice of sourdough and covered it with lettuce shreds. Boring but filling and easy. Because I had the bar I wasn't ready to eat everything in sight and could go with the quick dinner.

I had gotten to the track early and I sat in my car for almost an hour knitting. My arms and hands are worn out from the swimming; I was actually having a bit of trouble holding onto the needles. It was even worse when I got home. I've signed up for knit-one-one's Magical Mystery Knitting Party and there's homework. When I finished my gourmet dinner I rummaged through my stash to find a total of 50 yards of two contrasting colors in a worsted yarn. Not too tough, most of my scrap yarns are worsted since it's my favorite weight to knit. I ended up with a dark gray and a bright red. Typical, hmm? But then I had to cast on and knit 8 rows and my hands were so tired the needles were flopping around. I got it done but I'm not sure it's my finest work. I'll look at it again tonight, but I don't anticipate I'll be any less tired then so I'll probably leave it be.

It's supposed to be hot hot hot tonight - perfect for our outing to Shadow Cliffs!

Tweedledeedledeep

While I'm not a birder or even a bird fancier, I have nothing against birds. I've been known to ooh or aah over a particularly beautiful or unusual specimen but mostly I can take or leave them. Except when they're outside my bedroom window heralding the dawn at 4:30 am. At 150 decibels. Then I'm thinking about finding a slingshot or maybe a howitzer and taking them out. Damn birdy, I have enough trouble sleeping as it is, I don't need to be serenaded in my bed and awoken hours before my alarm.

I really needed the sleep after the hellacious swim workout last night. Because Claudia and I have decided to swim at Shadow Cliffs on Thursday, we decided to switch the scheduled workouts for the two nights; do Thursday's drills on Tuesday and Tuesday's workout on Thursday. Got it? So I printed out both sets of workouts and brought them to the pool. We convinced Phil to switch with us so we'd all be doing the same swim. Claudia taught us that if you soak the paper it will stick to the side of the pool, making it easier to keep reading the drills.

The reason we did this was that Thursday's schedule was for a bunch of repeats of sets of different drills; Tuesdays workout was just several hundred yards of different levels of effort, making it easier to remember what we were supposed to do while we were swimming in the lake without a cheat sheet. So we did all the warm ups and went to read what we were supposed to do next and -- whoopsie -- the sheet was at the bottom of the pool in the next lane. I swam over and got it but by then the paper was pulp. We ended up doing the intensity drills instead and holy paper pulper, Batman, that done us in!

I figured that like in running I have about 2 speeds in swimming: slow and slower. But the drills we were doing called for level 2, 3, 5 and 7. Level 7?? 200 yards of level 7?? Oy. For the first time I was really sweating and overheating while swimming. In fact, I felt just as crappy as if I'd been running speed repeats on a track for a mile. I even managed my first ever hot flash while swimming. And don't even get me started on asthmatic breathing.

We made it through, complete with a nice little cool down. We dragged our sorry bodies out of the pool and anticipated that we'd be nice and sore for track tonight. Oh yeah, it's going to be a challenge doing track drills!

We're going to be so darn well trained for our triathlons that we're going to kick butts and take names. If we don't fall on our faces and sleep through the next three month's training ...

Is it just me, or is it hot in here?

A week ago, just a mere week, I was complaining that I was up all night because I was so cold. Be careful what you wish for and all that, because last night I was up all night because I was so hot. Sheesh, I even turned on my a/c for a bit to specifically combat the sleepy-time heat but it wasn't enough. That and the fact that I'm just not sleeping well at all and chalk up another sleepless night. I'm very curious about one thing. At one of our tri clinics we were told we should increase our sleep to help repair the little injuries we're causing by the intense training. Is there actually anyone anywhere that's able to just say okey dokey and begin sleeping more on command? Are there people who can just fall asleep and wake up whenever they want? Without drugs? If so color me green for envy of that ability. Just because I've had insomnia my entire life doesn't mean that it's any easier to deal with in my old age. Er, middle age. Sleepiness makes me feel older.

I had a sort-of nice run last night with Pam and Olivia. None of us was brave enough to call the others and cancel so we all showed up, despite starting time temps over 90 degrees. We agreed to take it slowly, both because of the heat and for my benefit. Despite our piddly pace I was still having trouble breathing and it felt like my inner organs were baking so with about a mile to go I sent them off ahead of me. From there I walked in the sunny parts, ran in the shade, and finished feeling like I had had an intense workout instead of the easy run I'd signed up for. I love to run with them and don't think I'll be giving it up any time soon, but I'm not sure it's working well with my tri training. Oh well, I'll just make it work!

Week 1 done, take a breath

Wow, this training stuff is hard. Heh, I guess I'd forgotten what working out 6 days per week is like. On the one hand I feel like I'm not doing anything ("only 10 miles on the bike??" "only a 3 mile run?") and on the other hand I'm pooped. I don't know if it's just so many days in a row or maybe it's the cross-training. Although I've heard rumors that cross-training is supposed to make you feel better, not worse.

To recap, week 1 consisted of running a half marathon on Saturday (well, that was really my own decision, not part of any training plan); swimming and cycling on Sunday, running with Pam on Monday (again, my own decision on what should have been an off day), swimming in a pool on Tuesday, circuit drills at the track on Wednesday, swimming in the pool again on Thursday, and collapsing on Friday. Oh wait, that was my decision too; it was an optional day off and I grabbed it with open arms. A girl's got to do laundry some day!

Saturday was another swim/cycle day, complete with clinics. This week we were at College Park High in Pleasant Hill. Less pool than at Campolindo so it was more crowded. I jumped into the pool with the intermediate swimmers and I think it was a good choice, but the lane had 5 people in it so there were lots of pauses to space ourselves out. The advanced swimmers are just too fast and although I have the stamina to keep swimming without all the pauses, I'd have to keep pausing anyways to let them pass. We all swam the same total time and I don't think anyone made it through all the sets of drills.

I was told I keep lifting my head when I breathe and I think I sounded defensive when I replied that I do that because (1) I've never tried breathing on the right side before and I'm learning, and (2) I noticed I don't swim straight and I'm doing that partially to sight. I really wasn't trying to be a smart ass to the coach, I'm very appreciative of critique and criticism. Otherwise I might as well just train alone, right? Sigh. I think I'm getting that pain in the ass reputation I was trying so hard to avoid. He told me to work on form and worry about sighting later. Okey dokey. I liked it better before we had to put our names on our caps so they'd know who we were.

Speaking of failing in my plan to fly under the radar, it's not easy being invisible when you have to stand up in front of the entire group with a silly hat on your head. Before the swim they announced the person who had raised the most money so far. Claudia tried to tell me it would be me, but she was wrong. Whew. But that was "whew" too fast; he wasn't there and I was the second highest fundraiser thus far. So I got to stand up wearing the purple pirate hat. I know that this all promotes team spirit, as does the spirit cape, yada yada, but I really detest having to get up in front of everyone. I didn't like it when I was a mentor and I don't like it now that I'm a plain old peep. I mean participant. Then I made the supreme mistake of scurrying out to get my bike and legitimately forgetting the hat at the pool. Ooopsie. Got a couple of dirty looks for that. Hey, I'm just trying to do the training, do the fundraising, meet some people, do a tri. Let someone else be the problem child.

The bike ride didn't go badly at all. I stuck with the Olympic group on that one; scheduled for an hour ride. By then it was warm, sunny, and my quads were feeling like melted jello. I was surprised how little oomph they seemed to have. I tried to hang with the front group and made it almost a mile with them. But only because they had to keep stopping at red lights. We're big on following traffic laws in this group, but that means you can't blow through a stop sign even if you can see the way is clear. Even if said stop sign is at the middle of a big freakin' hill, and you know you'll have to continue climbing from a dead stop.

The route was somewhat easier this week. It was just as hilly but rollier; there'd be a big uphill, followed by a big downhill, rinse and repeat. I'm getting to know my granny gear very well. Those 5 mph uphills were followed by 25 mph downhills. I was happy to get to 31 minutes and turn back. Whereupon I tried my utmost not to get lost. This time I made it back since I was able to follow someone, but within the next 3 months I know I'll get irretrievably lost. Either there aren't street signs, or I can't read the street signs, or I'll turn the wrong way. That'll be me, the lost person who doesn't sign out and has to be the little teapot.

We met this morning at Heather Farm in Walnut Creek for a lope along the Contra Costa Canal Trail. Unfortunately we didn't meet until 8:30 and didn't get started until even later. You know how I've been whining about how cold it's been? Buh bye coolness, hullo sunny heat. I think it was only in the low 70's, but the sun was just pouring down. The groups were running by time and I picked 40 minutes; less than the longest group would be out there, but long enough so I'd feel I actually ran a bit. Nobody is running my pace so I ran alone. Probably anyone running my speed is just a beginner and not out as long as I am.

So I'm wondering when the fun starts? We're at such small mileage that I don't feel I'm really doing anything, but we're doing so much of it that I'm tired. I'm frustrated with my lack of conditioning but not experienced enough to do anything about it. I want to schedule a half or two this summer but I don't know how I'll manage to get in 6 mile runs, let along a 10 miler. I feel like I'm swimming wrong, cycling wrong, and if anyone actually saw me they'd say I'm running wrong. After running a gazillion races I was feeling like a pro (fine, a very slow pro) and now I feel like the rawest beginner. I had come to terms with my lack of running speed but confirming that I swim and cycle just as slowly as I run is hard to take.

And then I feel I should just stop whining about it all and suck and up and embrace my ineptitude and inexperience and just get over it. Yeah, the inside of my head is real lively these days.

Swimming, shaking, then some rest

I was sleeping peacefully in bed last night, minding my own business, when a loud noise woke me up at about 1am-ish. I thought it might have been my neighbor slamming his gate (which is right outside my bedroom wall). Or maybe another neighbor starting his very loud truck. I tried to go back to sleep and lightly dozed off. Then at about 1:50 am another very loud noise startled me. I thought it might have been an earthquake, or a truck hitting my house, or that gate being slammed again. Or maybe someone breaking into my garage. My heart rate had finally returned to normal when just after 2am my bed starting shaking and I could hear my washer and drier slamming against each other.

It was actually nice getting confirmation that it was "only" an earthquake! According to the USGS there were 3 little quakes; 3.0, 3.5, 1.7, centered in Alamo less than 10 miles from my house. The first one was at 1:51 am so I still don't know what woke me earlier. Nevertheless, it was a challenge getting back to sleep.

I've decided that swimming is oh-so-very-nice in a clean, toasty warm pool. Such a difference from open water like Shadow Cliffs. But I'm still not certain that I'm getting as good of a workout in that nice shallow pool.

Tuesday and Thursday are swim nights and Claudia, Phil and I are determined to swim every scheduled lap and do all the drills. We all met at the San Ramon pool on Tuesday, swam all the drills and laps and lengths. I was tired afterward, but doing ok. Last night Phil and I met again at the San Ramon pool and the cumulative workouts for the past week caught up with us.

The pool was full of students. What's up with that? It's supposed to be adult lap swim time and there's nowhere to swim. We finally scooted into the very last lane when some young students vacated. It's a hard lane to share because the stairway narrows the lane at one end but we were managing. We even told another woman who showed up that she could join us, but it would be tight. She disappeared somewhere else.

Then a woman stops Phil and tells him she's giving a private lesson and we need to move to another lane. We told her there wasn't another lane. She repeated and insisted that she needed the lane to teach. I told her in a very polite manner to stuff it and try the other pool. No really, I was polite, and it wasn't easy. We swam off and she must have found somewhere else to go.

Both Phil and I were tired, but we were determined to do all the drills and complete the timed swim. I was having cap dysfunction. This happened Saturday too and I'm not sure why; same cap I've been wearing since I started. But it kept slipppping off my head, taking my goggles with it. Believe it or not, the first couple of times I managed to pull it back on my head without a pause in my swim. But the fourth time it happened I stopped and tried to rearrange it, putting my goggles on under the cap, thinking that maybe they were the problem. I was wrong.

Luckily it was time to cool down. My cap stayed on while I did my cool-down laps in sidestroke. Restful, peaceful and soon I was done. 1300 meters and well finished!

Except for my shoulders and upper arms I'm not sore from track, I'm just very tired. Very very tired. Extremely tired. Friday is my day off (exercise day off, not work day off). Yay! A chance to rest and recharge for the busy workout weekend!

The Right Stuff

I've been single for a long time, the majority of it quite happily. I like having nobody telling me what to do, how to do it, when to get it done (been there, done that, got the decrees). Still, there are times I'd like having that someone special. Someone who cleans up well and can go places. My search is over since I've finally found Mr. Right:Straight from his birthplace at the Vermont Teddy Bear Company is my newest bear. To quote the VTB, "He's cute, huggable, and dressed to impress. No doubt about it, this guy is Mr. Right. Wearing a satin-lined tuxedo with satin side seam stripes on the pants, a white shirt front, handkerchief, black bowtie, and boutonniere, you can't go wrong with Mr. Right." And they're absolutely correct!I wasn't planning on getting a new bear. I have a few (hundred) already, I haven't run a full marathon recently, my house is looking stuffed (literally). But this little bear is different. We all know that I'm not sparing in my admiration for the VTB. I think they have a great product and I'm fortunate enough to be able to indulge my habit of bearification in my home. I've written about their bears here, here, here, here, here, here, here, and here. Not to mention a few postings about waiting to receive the bears, thinking about ordering a bear and so forth. I'm a true believer (addict?) and love getting their emails every couple of weeks to see what's new and tempt myself.
But I currently wasn't in the market for a new bear. So I was surprised, honored and truly astounded when I was contacted by the VTB. It seems they've been blog-stalking following my bear adventures for some time now. And to misquote Sally Field, they like me! They really like me! And offered me my choice of a new VTB bear, if I wanted one. Hokey Smokes Bullwinkle! It took me the better part of a (work)day to decide which bear I wanted in my life. I was literally "ooh ooh, that one" and "ooh, no, that one" and "ohhh, that one!" all day. I didn't want to be greedy and get the most expensive bear, thought about getting a classic bare bear and dressing him up, considered a red bear to match my house, maybe an elegantly dressed bear, a casual bear, even a bear for a marathon I haven't run yet! But I kept coming back to the very handsome Mr. Right. He can't fix my drippy faucet, won't repair my broken fence, won't be cleaning or polishing anything in the house. He'll just sit there and look adorable, be soft and fuzzy and loved. Thank you so much, Vermont Teddy Bear Company!

This tri stuff is a lot of work!

I finally made it; first time ever I went to a track workout at the Clark Kerr track in Berkeley. Eight seasons of East Bay Run where I'd never scoot over there in the dawn hours, but I went there after work yesterday. It's not really the easiest place to find either. The track itself is off the road, hidden away. I got there early and was able to chill for a while, knitting away. A nice rest and needed!
The track is a dirt track in the hills with a gorgeous view of the entire bay. I was fortunate that my first time there was a totally fogless evening, we could see practically to the Farallones. Well, maybe a slight exaggeration. But for the few seconds that I had a chance, it was beautiful looking that way.

And the goats! The hillside was being groomed by a large herd (trip, tribe) of goats. Big ones, little ones, gray ones, black ones. They seemed fascinated by our workout and probably would have liked to join us. Bad idea little goatlings, our workout was hard!

Hi, I'd like to join the Team!

Before the workout Coach Paul asked for shout-outs. Either the crowd is very lucky not knowing anyone who currently has Leukemia, Lymphoma or Myeloma, or they're just private or shy. Since my very personal honoree is dead I don't open my mouth. I sent quiet shout-outs to my other honorees, Raji and Anita's sister. It was a nice moment and reminds people that we're not just there to become studlier.

You can get the gory details of the track workout from Phil's blog over here. Being much slower than him I only had to do the circuit once. As the warmup I ran 4 laps, then 5 laps during the circuit training, then another 4 laps to cool down. I probably did the first ones too fast and I concentrated on slowing down the last ones. Heh, I'm consistent enough that each lap on my final mile was 2 seconds slower than the previous one. And I was really trying to go slower.

I'm reconfirmed to myself that I'm abysmal at circuit drills, one of the reasons I've blown off track in the past. I have zero upper body strength. I'm completely unable to do one of the side planks. Just Can. Not. Do. Them. And yes, there were coaches everywhere, correcting form and very nicely not laughing at my attempts. I managed 5 push-ups, done regular instead of girly style. I'm so careful of my knee that I just don't want any weight on it so I tried the regular ones and no, my form wasn't perfect.

Leg lifts (even done correctly), squats, no problemo. I refuse to do any lunges so I was told to substitute more squats. I find that although my doc warned me about doing them, if I'm very very careful and use good form I can get them done. Unlike lunges which always hurt my knee. As I went to do the crunches I asked Coach Paul whether I should have bent or straight legs; he said either, the upper body form was more important. I told him that I actually have pretty strong abs, in fact I've always thought that if I lost 40 pounds I'd have a great six-pack. I managed to crack him up on that one.

I think by the time I finished the entire circuit all of the coaches had found out I have knee issues, which I had sort of wanted to keep quiet. I don't want to be the injured one, the one they keep an eye on, the one who's different. Bad enough being old and fat and slow so I don't want to add to it. Several of them asked me after the workout how my knee was and I honestly told them it was ok. Hahahah. No, that was a lie. It was very sore and achy by the time I finished. But there are two type of pain I've had in my knee (and all over, for that matter); ow-this-is-sore but will go away tomorrow pain, and holy-crap-I've-screwed-it-up it'll-hurt-for-days pain. I'm thinking I'll spend the entire season with the first type so I'm just not going to mention it. If it isn't advil pain that I'm going to smile and say I'm alright. I know my body, my pain tolerance, my injuries well enough by now to know that I won't have a pain-free season. I'm a marathoner, I'll suck it up.

The worst part of track was the long drive home and not getting out of the shower and headed to food until 8:45 pm. By then I was ready to start chewing my arm off and even a Lean Cuisine takes some time to nuke. I'm highly torn between wanting to eat everything in sight, and realizing I don't need that much food and if I'm careful, I might drop a pound or two. No, I'm not really trying to lose weight but I certainly don't want to gain anything either, and with me it's a fine line. So I don't want to eat 100 calories of energy bar in the car when I can have something good (and slightly more natural) to eat later. I'm going to have to work on this, figure out something to do as our weekday workouts get longer.

I slept well last night, the first time in days. I think I got 6 straight hours of sleep which I haven't gotten for -- um -- weeks, at least. So I'm not as fatigued today as I expected, or as sore. I'm feeling the workout in my upper arms and shoulders, a little residual soreness in my knee. I'm ready for tonight's swim!

See Jane Run Half Marathon report

They ran out of chocolate!

Last Wednesday I trekked into Oakland to pick up my race packet for the See Jane Run Half Marathon. Packet pick-up was at their Oakland store either Wednesday or Friday, in SF in Thursday or before the race on Saturday. I decided to get it out of the way early. It's a nice little store with a very good selection of athletic clothing, shoes and gear. Including a rack with large sizes, yay. There was a table set up where they were handing out bibs, shirts and goody bags. The shirts were a light-weight tech fabric, short sleeved and v-necked, in white. The back is blank and the front had their race motto: "I run for champagne and chocolate."
I had ordered a large size and it was very large. Too bad it's white; we know how I feel about white running shirts. I'll probably wear it at home for cross training though. The goody bag itself (which they ran out of before Saturday, although an email has already been sent saying they'll be mailed out to those who didn't get them) was a wonderful reusable shopping bag. It had the saying "A Fit Woman is a Powerful Woman" and all the letters were pictures of women athletes. Very cool.Inside was some literature, race announcements, a couple of samples, a Luna Bar and a discount coupon for See Jane Run Sports. At least as nice as you'd get at bigger races.

Early Saturday morning I carpooled to the start with Bree and Sandy. We drove around for a while, looking for street parking, and it was tight. There was apparently a lot charging for parking but we wanted a free spot. We finally got one and walked over to the start area. There was a humongous line for the porto potties so Sandy and I stood there while Bree went to pick up our chips.

While we were standing and waiting Cynthia joined us in line as we inched forward. It didn't take too long and then we headed toward the start line. There were signs with pace but they were really close together. We lost Cynthia, but Bree and Sandy and I lined up together.

The weather was cool, about 50 degrees, and completely overcast. The wind was strong and swirly and could become an issue later. I wore shorts, a short sleeved shirt, a disposable poncho and gloves. The gun went off and woosh, so did Bree and Sandy. Mr. Garmin told me they were going about an 11:15 mile pace so I hung back and got into my own pace.

There seemed to be about 1000 women running the race (oh, did I mention? It was a woman-only race.) and the race results show 995 finishers. Pretty impressive for a small race. It was crowded but I was still able to get into my rhythm without too much weaving and bobbing. A lot of women were run:walking but they were mostly being good about getting out of the way then they slowed down. Mostly.

My plan was to 9:1 it for as long as I could, hopefully not have to walk any additional time because of my knee or my breathing. It worked out well and I managed to stick with it the entire race. The course was a typical Alameda run except for some back and forthing in a couple of business parks. I got totally confused at a couple of points but there was very good course control. At any corner with a questionable turn there were people directing runners and stopping traffic to let us by. I didn't see any markings on the street but maybe I just missed it. It didn't make any difference since the traffic directors and police were very efficient.

Water stops were about every 1-1/2 to 2-1/2 miles apart. They all had water, some electrolyte drink and Gu. Different flavors of Gu were at each table so it was easy to get what I wanted, even though I had some of my own. I was tired and heavy-footed so I took my own Gu on a shorter schedule than I'm used to, about every 40 minutes instead of 50 or 60, hoping the calories and sugar would pep me up.

There was very little crowd support except for some family members cheering on their mom/wife/sister/daughter/friend. These people cheered for everyone and it was nice to see them. Except for one woman at about the 6 mile mark who kept shouting "you're almost there" and I wanted to "almost there" her upside the head. I couldn't restrain myself from telling her to not say that, we were way the hell not almost there. A woman running next to me cracked up and agreed that "almost there" only counted when you could see the finish area.

The sky remained overcast, with maybe a little bit of moisture falling here and there (although that could have been sweat falling). The wind was an issue mostly because I have problems with my allergies and asthma when wind blows into or across my face. I think for a large part of the race the wind was like that, with a couple of short distances of tail wind. My breathing was crappy but I tried not to let it slow me down. I had ditched the poncho after about a mile, dropped one glove after a couple of miles, tossed the other glove after about an hour and a half.

I was happy to finally head back over the bridge, knowing there were only a few miles left. There was a lot of slant on the roads and I tried to run at the crest. I also tried to take every single tangent there was. Mr. Garmin told me that around 6 miles I had run .1 mile more than posted and after that I noticed the mile markers were almost all correct. They were just little signs stuck on pylons and there seemed to be 1 or 2 missing.

I finally got to the park, got to the finish area, crossed the line. I was handed my very cool finisher medallion, a sterling silver charm on a black cord:But they were out of chocolate.

I finished in 2:49, a good time for me. I had basically sprinted the last mile, while needing to walk, because I wanted to break 2:50. I don't know why I needed to do that, but it was a mental thing. I stuck with my game plan throughout, walking only at my 1 minute interval or through the couple of water stops where I got water. Otherwise I ran whether I was wheezing or not, whether my knee hurt or not (and after mid-way it hurt a lot), whether I wanted to stop or not. I was very pleased with my finish time.

After I walked off my little last-mile sprint, I looked over the food to see what was good. They had cut up bagels (3 flavors), some fruit, yogurty things, no chocolate. We walked around the booths and got our champagne. There was about 2 ounces in a glass, perfect. It's the principle of the thing: if a race has free champagne (or beer) at the end you have to drink it. Even if you're feeling like you'll puke it back up. Heh. I just thought of it as bubbly rehydration. We walked around the area and tried to find the chocolate but it was gone. Long gone.

It was still cold out, we were tired, so we didn't hang around too long. All in all, a good morning. My knee was aching, my lungs hurt, I was cold and tired and very happy that I'd been able to run another race. I think the race was well done for a small club-type race.

But they should have had more chocolate!

This is June?

I awoke in the early hours of the morning today, freezing. I had gone to bed with socks on and when I do that in the middle of winter I alway toss them away after an hour or so because my feet get so hot. They were still on my feet and good grief, by this time of year I should be sleeping with just a sheet instead of 3 blankets. The past several weeks I've been waking up very early and not falling back to sleep. This just isn't going to work well with training almost every day. Wah!

Last night Pam and I ran our usual short short route. I wasn't sure how it would go, my legs are feeling tired and a bit sore from the weekend. But I was fine, if a little slower than normal. Monday is supposed to be my day off but I really like running with Pam so I'm going to try to jiggle the schedule somehow. I'm pretty sure I'll take the optional Friday day off since I like being fresh for my big workout on Saturday. But that means training Saturday through Thursday without a break. Oh yawn!

Speaking of track, tomorrow is going to be the very first time, after 8 or so seasons on the marathon team, that I'll be going to the track in Berkeley. Looking back, I made it to Clark Kerr a grand total of never. I wasn't able to get there first thing on Thursday mornings since it would have meant going San Ramon, Berkeley, San Ramon, Walnut Creek. I'd never have made it to work on time. The run team had an evening training on this side of the hills and when I'd attend any track, that's where I'd go. But the tri team only has the 1 workout and it's in the evening and I don't really have a good excuse since I'll be off work. Except that I always used to get hurt at track and I'm starting with an injury and it might be easier to just not go rather than have to explain why I'm not doing lunges or speed work or whatever.

That and $4.50 gas and a 40 mile round trip may have me training closer to home!

One day down, three months to go

I'm alternately excited and terrified and so far out of my comfort zone that it isn't funny. Yesterday was my first day of tri training and holy schmoly, why in the world did I ever agree to do this?? I have GOT to stop drinking with Claudia and agreeing to her ridiculous suggestions.

The team met in the morning at Campolind0 High in Moraga. After a talk and then an explanation and demonstration of swim techniques and drills it was into the pool. I decided to go in with the intermediate people since I'm slow. Although I can easily do the distance I don't need to get run over in the lane. It worked out pretty well except my brain just will not remember the laps I've completed and I feel like a dolt trying to figure out how far I've gone. The swim coach told me to time one lap, then swim by time. Hmm, I can probably do that!

It was lovely getting in a warm, clean pool after all our swims in nasty Shadow Cliffs, but turning around every 25 yards is a drag. I just don't feel I'm getting any rhythm when I do that. I can work on my form, which is important, but I know that once I get in the open water everything changes. Hopefully all the drilling will help with, I dunno, muscle memory? I think that's the theory, that even when your brain forgets what it's supposed to do, you can keep going without thinking. Good, because I've proven over and over that my brain is not reliable during sports.

Once the swim was over we quickly changed into cycling gear and then sat and had a short clinic on fluids and nutrition. Seriously, for a while there I thought I was at an introductory Weight Watchers meeting. Maybe it's just because I've been eating like that for years and years and years, but I felt Coach Paul was very clear and concise in his information. Small meals and snacks, carbs over protein, low healthy fats, drink enough but not too much, blah blah blah. Don't worry if you're not losing weight, don't weigh yourself every day, experiment with gels and drinks and so forth. I listened but didn't really hear anything new for me.

After a short instruction of bike etiquette and rules of the road, it was on the bikes. I was sticking with the shorter training group yesterday but I think I'm going to train with the Half IM group, just to get in extra miles. We were supposed to ride 40 minutes; head toward Canyon and turn around after 20 minutes. Okey dokey. I was in the last group to set off which included a few people who were actually slower than me. The route passed through Orinda and up a hill. Coach Paul caught up with me at one point and we had a nice conversation.

He told me he wanted to see me spinning at higher revs. I told him that I had a bit of exercise induced asthma and that spinning higher would make me gasp. I told him the short version of my athletic history (joined TnT in 2001 and ran 30 marathons since then and nobody else on the team really has to know that about me). I told him I was probably going to be one of his slowest participants but I could outlast almost anyone else there. He gave me the party line that speed doesn't matter (uh huh, and you're wearing Ironman gear instead of TnT gear why?) and I said that as long as I finished before a time cut-off I didn't really care. I'm hoping I got across that I wasn't saying I don't try to go faster; I'm trying my hardest and not slacking but I realize that speed isn't one of my talents. And yes I do find it frustrating to look like a slow, fat, middle-aged asthmatic woman. And be a slow, fat, middle-aged asthmatic woman. My heart thinks I'm a gazelle but my brain knows I'm more like a rhino.

Anyway, I asked him what he thought of my being able to train for a fall marathon and bottom line, he thinks it should be possible. He told me to run the Half IM group's mileage and that would put me at 13 miles, 4 weeks before my tri. I could then jump up my miles right after my tri and in theory be ready for a November marathon. He thinks that if I'm in tri shape I shouldn't have to do more than an 18-20 miler for my longest run and I didn't tell him that it's a mental thing for me to have to go longer. But that's what I'll shoot for then. I'll be studying races later this week to see what I can do.

The coach also gave me instructions on how to pedal more efficiently up the hill and it helped on the big 'un. I was down to my last granny gear but I made it to the top without stopping (and unfortunately several of the other people in the group did not) and was going a turtle's pace of 5 mph. I was really happy at the top that it was exactly 20 minutes; I wouldn't have to ride down the back side of the hill and back up again!. I told the people behind me we could turn around and I think everyone else was as happy as I was. The return was mostly downhill but I was fatigued by then and I think even the easiest ride would have hurt.

Once people returned we had a tire changing clinic. Could have used it 2 weeks ago! I was interested to see that he didn't take the tire off completely. Mostly what he showed was exactly what we did, only considerably faster. Hey, I've already said I was slow!

So what are my initial impressions of my new team? My goal, other than completing my first tri in good form and time, was to not be the oldest, fattest, slowest or poorest runner/swimmer/cyclist on the team. Yeah, I set high goals, don't I? I'm pretty sure I have that taken care of. I just have to make sure that all the other newbies on the team don't progress faster than I do, or I'll fall to the very bottom of the heap. There are lots of coaches on the team (head coach, swim coach, run coach, bike coach, all those other coaches) and lots of captains and mentors. I didn't get to find out who they all were since I wasn't at kick-off. I didn't find out who our honorees were. There isn't the team spirit I'm used to with Coach Al's team but I'm starting to understand just what a unique gem Coach Al is. I may have been in the locker room or something but I didn't hear anything about the cause. No "go team" and really, no team bonding stuff at all. That may be the nature of the sport; you can't swim or cycle with someone else during the race. Or it could be that it'll come later.

Oh. And I'm NOT HAPPY that the pictures on the team website include one of my fat ass in a bathing suit! Now that was something I could have gone forever without having to see!

Bubblewrap club

I did not start my day right. It's one thing when I trip and fall down while I'm running. It's a whole 'nother thing when I fall down when I'm ... getting my coffee in the morning.

I was early this morning so I decided to head for the Starbucks that I like, instead of the closer Safeway as I normally do. I was walking from my car, quickly since a few people were behind me, noticing that the store was crowded with people and this was going to take awhile. I should have been paying more attention to my feet since I caught my toes on the curb and tripped. I had high hopes that I'd be able to catch myself but no such luck.

Boom, down I went. I landed on my hands, my left hip, my left knee (yeah, that knee). Worst of all was the humiliation. I popped right back up again -- nothing to see here folks, move it along -- but I was shaky and trembly. At a minimum, 20 people saw me go down. The few behind me and a couple in the store asked if I was ok and I brushed it off, Joe Cool-style. "Yeah, I guess I really just need my coffee" yuck yuck. But I wouldn't take off my sunglasses so nobody could look me in the eyes. I wouldn't even look at my hands or my knee.

I finally got my latte and went back to my car. My Levi's made it through with nary a scratch. My knee wasn't as lucky. It's bruised, scraped and swollen. And it hurts.

What a klutz.

Another little swim

Tonight Claudia, Phil and I did our last pre-training swim at Shadow Cliffs. It was cold and breezy and deserted. We inched our way into the water, Phil bravely diving in and heading toward the swim lane. We decided that we'd swim 5 laps and go get warm.

The mid-buoy was still missing and the lane narrowed down to a couple of feet in the middle. After a couple of near collisions with Phil I decided to swim on the outside of the lane, along the straight edge. I worked on keeping my feet up and I can do that fine. Except then I start messing up my arms and breathing. I can't quite get them all right at once so it's good that training is just about to begin.

After we had done 6 laps Claudia kept going, so I did too. We ended up with 8 and I was icy by then. Cold hands, cold feet, cold everything. I was a few seconds faster per lap than I've been so that's good, but the teeny additional speed didn't make me any warmer.

Big weekend ahead; running, partying, swimming, cycling. It's going to be great!

I'm the spam queen

If you've recently received some spam from my work email address, you're not alone. Some nefarious do-badder has stolen my address and sent about a gazallion emails promoting everything from designer purses to erectile aids to mortgage assistance. How do I know this? Because in the fine tradition of spammers everywhere the emails are sent indiscriminately to all kinds of made-up addresses. When they reach an email server that exists, but doesn't have that particular email address name, the server bounces the spam. Right on back to my email inbox.

Over the weekend I had hundreds of these returned emails with subjects stating:

Delivery Status Notification (Failure)
Undeliverable Mail
failure notice
Mail delivery failed: returning message to sender
Mail System Error - Returned Mail
Returned mail: see transcript for details

and the like. Several hundred get filtered by my company's very efficient spam filter (which regularly gets rid of thousands of spams addressed to me each week). A few hundred more get stopped by Thunderbird's spam filter. The rest end up mixed in with my regular email.

I had hoped that it was a once-in-a-lifetime occurrence, that spammers realize that offender's email addresses get banned for excessive volumes, but no such luck. Today at approximately 11:15 am another batch of spam crap got sent out. Here I am trying to work and hundreds of returned emails start flooding my inbox. It's distracting, to say the least.

The funny thing is that lots of these spams aren't even in English! Heck, they're not even in an alphabet I can read! I just don't get the point. Are there that many stupid people out there with email access who actually buy the product being shilled? Would YOU buy something from a spammer??

FO and WIP

I'm still knitting, even though it's not horribly exciting. Well, it is to me but probably not to anyone else. I finished knitting and wove in the ends of my Mistake Rib scarf. I used 1 skein of Lorna's Laces Shepherd Worsted in Charcoal, a plush superwash wool with lovely dark shading.It was a simple, mindless 2x2 rib with 1 extra stitch (hence the "Mistake" part of it) and I enjoyed just going back and forth while I paid attention to other things. I used size 8, 16" fixed Options circulars and I love these needles. It's my first mistake rib and I like it more than a real rib. It's stretchier and softer and the detail is nicer looking.
It's short, since I only used the 1 skein but this was just a tester, remember? I knit this so I can determine whether I can tolerate the yarn on my bare skin. It's one of the tester projects that I'll be doing before I finally attempt my first sweater (ok, sweatshirt), the Wonderful Wallaby. Now I just have to wait for it to get colder out before I can test it. It's pretty darn cool out but not quite wool scarf weather.My other current project is my Keep it Simple Scarf that I'm knitting out of Tess's Designer Yarns Superwash Merino. The scarf is a 10 row repeat with 6 rows being knit. Couldn't be easier, and it's knitting up quickly when I actually have time to pick it up. I love how the colors are coming through and the yarn is soft and handles well. I could be working on this for a while; training starts this weekend!

We didn't just leave and have hot cocoa

Tonight Claudia and I went to Shadow Cliffs for another swim. We were both dreading it because neither of us was feeling at the top of our game. And it was cold out. Hellllllooo spring, where are you? The temp was hovering about 63-65 degrees but the wicked wind chill had it down to the upper 50s.

The only difference that having passed Memorial Day made was there were lifeguards present. Of course, they turned around and left very soon after we got there, before we had even made it into the water. There was a large crowd of young un's (hi, I'm 87 years old!) hanging out on the sand and acting exactly like people in their early 20s tend to act. Nobody was in the water. Not even the geese.

We stripped down to our swimsuits and walked to the water. It looked cold and surprise surprise, was. We walked very slowly into the water, inch by inch, feeling it was even colder than the first time we swam there. Even though we were both "you want to leave?" and "yeah let's go" we decided we had to go at least 2 laps. We finally dunked under and after some girly shrieks we started swimming.

Even the swim lane was cold and shrunken; possibly one of the side buoys was missing so the lane narrowed down to a couple of feet in the middle. At least only the 2 of us were dumb enough to be swimming so there were no collisions. The wind was nice for training because the surface of the water was much rougher than any other time we'd been there. It wasn't nice for my breathing pattern and I kept swallowing water. Ick.

After 5 laps we gave it up and swam to shore. We were frozen, couldn't feel our feet. The cold water in the outside shower actually felt warm, compared to the lake and the air. It was great after drying off to get in my hot car.

I'm glad we've been doing all this training prep. Maybe on Sunday when the real training starts I'll have left my wussiness at the door and there will be no loud expressions of dismay or horror at icy or inclement conditions. Hopefully!

Made a decision

I registered for the See Jane Run Half Marathon. Kick-off? What kick-off? I figured this is my last change to run a half marathon before training starts on Sunday. I'm excited!

Still no decision

In my quest to determine whether I can run the half marathon next week, I decided to attempt a 10 mile run on Saturday (and notice I said "can" and not "should"). Bree and Sandy were running hills so I took myself off to the Lafayette-Moraga Trail, bright and early in the morning. Actually not so bright; it was cloudy and cold and gloomy. I had brought my iPod with me so I could keep myself from getting bored but decided at the last minute that I'd rather have peace and quiet.

The plan was to run to about 4 miles, turn around, run back to the 2 mile marker, reverse and run to the 3 mile mark, then run it in home. Or limp or hobble, depending on the situation. I carried my cell phone as a just-in-case, feeling uncertain and a bit paranoid about the condition of my knee and not even knowing if I would have to call someone for a ride. I slowly ran along and when I got to 4 miles I decided to continue, see how my knee felt on the couple of hills leading to the 5 mile mark. It was still cool and cloudy and perfect conditions for running.

I turned around at 5 miles, happy to be heading back. I've been having some stomach issues and I was looking forward to stopping at the Lafayette Senior Center, the one place along the route with bathrooms. Unfortunately they were locked up when I got there. Darn, no choice but to continue running.

I wasn't drinking very much and it wasn't too surprising when I got to just about 9-2/3 miles and I bonked. Very strange, my legs just decided to stop running. My brain would be thinking "run run run" and my legs would be moving in a walk. I ate a couple of sports beans and firmly told my legs to get a move on and was able to run the last little bit. My knee was sore, but nowhere near as bad it was in Nashville or even after some recent shorter runs.

I was tired, cold and drippy and so what better idea than to pick up bagels, lox and cream cheese and head over to my mom's for breakfast. I only had a dry shirt with me, and the damp shorts I was wearing, so she gave me a blanket to wrap myself in while we ate and chatted. I should have showered there, saved myself water! Next time I'll remember to bring clean clothes and shampoo.

Sunday morning was another gloomy cold start and Bree and I intended to get our ride in no matter what. I was feeling tired and under the weather and thought riding to the Peet's in Danville would be a perfect ride. Just too short. We rode into Alamo and turned around before our normal turnaround, meaning we wouldn't be riding the 25+ miles we had intended. We did stop at Peet's since I was out of coffee. I bought a pound and had them put it in 2 half pound bags and we each stuck a bag in the back pocket of our jackets. I also got a cup of coffee and sipped some of it before we went on our merry way.

It must have been that extra half pound weight because we were really dragging the last 6 or 7 miles and we had been speedy before we stopped. Unfortunately the biggest hill was ahead of us and I swear, we were only going 5 mph. We were happy to make it back home with no mishaps and no flats. I decided that riding without our usual big headwind was a vast improvement.

Sunday afternoon I headed back to my mom's house. I helped her with her paperwork for a couple of hours, helped set up an cabinet contraption she had bought and then took her out for sushi. Since my stomach was still upset I now have leftover sushi for dinner tonight. Yum.

This morning I met Pam for our usual short short Monday run. Since we both had today off of work we had switched the run to the morning to get it out of the way. I had some little thoughts of maybe running an additional distance but thought better of it when I was actually out there. We got in our 3+ miles and were happy to call it a day.
So what's up with this weather, hmm? It's Memorial Day weekend and it's cloudy/overcast, cool to cold, windy as heck. I know I shouldn't be complaining because we'll get some crushing heat soon, but c'mon. I don't need to be paying for heat when it's late spring, I don't need to be running with long sleeves or cycling with long pants and a jacket. I did not enjoy my time working in the yard after my run today. I should be sitting with my back door open, smelling the fabulous jasmine or peonies in my yard.
Or outside fixing my fence.

Less fish, more geese

Last night Sandy joined Claudia and me for a swim at Shadow Cliffs. It was cooler than it had been and very windy. There were tree limbs and leaves and stuff all over the ground. I had hopes that the water would still be warm from our fleeting heatwave but no such luck. It felt almost as cool as our first swim, so about 67-68 degrees. Big brrrr.

Again the area was almost deserted with only 2 guys horsing around in the water - they got out before we stepped in. Seeing the lovely expanse of empty water the goose families decided that they'd take the little ones in for a dip. As we headed toward the water two different families of stinky poopy geese stepped in and started swimming, with mom (or dad?) in the lead, little goslings in the middle and dad (or mom?) following behind to keep the kids moving. We waded on in and realized that the birds were swimming back and forth right in the swim lane. Great.

I was leading the way as we were wading, kicking up the sand so that we wouldn't see any fishies. We got out to the lane and made noise and splashes and the geese finally turned around and headed to shore. I'm sure they left all kinds of little presents in the water for us though.

We decided to swim 6 laps and regroup, and although I started in the lead Claudia quickly sped ahead. I enjoyed my swim although I didn't get quite the rhythm that I felt on Tuesday. When I finished the 6 I decided I had to go at least as far as I had before so I swam the last 2 and decided my skin was shivering and shriveling off and it was time to go. Sandy and Claudia were waiting for me and as we turned to shore it appeared that the geese were blockading the exits from the water. Really, they were lined up along the shoreline and wading and swimming into the shallows.

We angled away from them and found a gap and got out. My legs again felt like rubber. I've realized that although I'm not really kicking, when I breathe on the right side I do a weird little flutter-kick to keep from sinking. I'm working on it, along with all the other problems with my form. Which are plentiful and hopefully will get worked out throughout training.

I'm hoping to run long tomorrow, a test of how my knee is doing. It will help me decide next week whether to join Bree and Sandy at the half marathon in Alameda or whether to go to Kick-Off. I'm very torn, I want to be both places at the same time. I don't know what to do!

Time for a bear, isn't it?

My little side feature of a Gratuitous Bear of the Day, which became the Gratuitous Bear of the Week, looks to becoming the Gratuitous Bear of the Month. Or Season. So in honor of the posting that mentioned cows I thought I'd introduce Elsie.In fall of 2005 Sandy and I were looking for an "easy" marathon to help us train for the Detroit Marathon. We decided on the Sacramento Cowtown Marathon, recently redone with new management. It was a flat double loop with a cute shirt, in a town where we could stay overnight with relatives (Sandy's). Our plan was to run 20 miles hard, then cruise in the last few. Our expectations for race support had been lowered (indeed, erased!) by the lousy New Mexico Marathon we had just run a few weeks earlier in Albuquerque so almost anything would have made us happy.

There was a half marathon that ran only the first loop and most of the crowd disappeared then. Course support was good and even late in the race there were plenty of water stops with water and Cytomax. There weren't always people at the water stops, but lots of fluids available for the hot day.

There was a 6 hour limit and I intended to take most of it, since I wanted to run at least the last 4 miles very slowly. There were more than a couple of dozen people behind me and since there were only about 225 people total running the full marathon, I was surprised that there wasn't much left at the finish when I finally got there. I think they were taking down the mats and lines and the photogs were long gone. There was some food and drinks left so I was able to refresh myself. The medal was the best of all, a functioning cowbell with the logo, on a ribbon.

Amusingly enough I managed to place in my age group; 3rd of 5. I didn't think I'd get anything but a couple of months later I got an engraved little medal. I impressed myself, my first age group award!

There was only one choice when it came to the medal bear. It had to be the funny little Vermont Teddy Bear Holstein bear. I ordered her, and here's Elsie with both medals:

Go fish

I don't like cows. I think we all know how much I don't like cows. It's a combination of a strong self interest against being chased (again) by an big unhappy cow, and a plain old irrational fear of cows. As it says, irrational; don't try to tell me how sweet and gentle cows are, don't tell me I won't get chased, don't tell me to get over it. I have problems running around cows and that's that.

So I understood when my swimming buddy freaked out because there were fish in the water. Laughed my head off, but understood.

Tonight Claudia and I again went to Shadow Cliffs for our swim. Although it's been hot lately, today had cooled down to only a high of mid-70's, and windy. By the time we got there it was only in the mid-60s. Again we saw the other people climbing into their wetsuits and we all smiled at each other. One lady asked us "trying again?" and we had a conversation about tri's and swims and wetsuits.

We walked to the water, this time empty of all other people. Nobody was playing around and the only other swimmers had just gotten out. There were some people fishing way off in the distance but we had the water to ourselves. We started walking in, slowly since it was cold, and Claudia shouted and hightailed out of the water. While I laughed uproariously glanced quizzically at her, she explained that she wasn't going to swim with the fish. I told her to get over it and get in the water. She said the fish was THIS big. I told her the water magnified things and it was smaller than that and to get her ass in the water. I kept inching deeper, she stood on the beach and said that she wasn't coming in.

Ok then. So I dove in and started swimming. I actually had a good swim. I had the entire lake lane to myself so I was able to swim my own pace, working on form and breathing. Since we had swum 5 laps last time I intended to swim a minimum of 6. Back and forth, back and forth, stroke stroke stroke breathe. The water was a little warmer than last week, thanks to the heatwave. Swim count breathe sight. Since nobody else was around the water was clear to the bottom. I was able to see clearly in the water and yeah, there were a couple of fish. But they weren't even keepers, just little guys.

Heading back on the 8th lap all of a sudden both calves cramped up. After an instant of brain freeze I rolled over onto my back, relaxed my legs, and tried to keep moving with my arms. It worked and I quickly flipped back over. I finished my lap and turned toward shore. Depending on whether you believe the lap is 120 or 16o meters, I swam either 960 or 1280. Probably somewhere in-between. For purposes of easymath I'm believing it's 150 and that I swam 1200 meters with only a short pause at the turnarounds to slap the lap button on my watch.

Claudia was sitting on the life guard tower, watching me swim back and forth. She had managed to take a picture of a big school of fish swimming right in front of her. They looked big but I'm pretty sure they were minnow size, magnified by the water. Irrational fear or not, she realizes that she'll have to get back in the water, probably Thursday night.

Oh, and one last thing: ha. Hahah. Hahahahah. Bwahahahahaha. HAHAHAHA!

Another little run

Tonight I met Pam for our regularly scheduled Monday night run. Olivia couldn't make it; she had too good of a weekend and wasn't feeling up to it. Heh. Kinda like I felt yesterday, I guess.

We ran our regular short short route, a little 3+ miler. It was pretty warm out, mid-80's when we started. We ran at my pace, definitely slower than last week. A couple of minutes slower total, in fact. At that point just about a mile into the run, where my knee gave out a couple of weeks ago, I got a big painful twinge. I shifted my weight a little and that made it better so I kept on running, but slowed down. Our second mile really was slow, then we sped back up for the last mile. I stretched, we chatted for a while, then we went home.

My knee is feeling pretty darn good now, probably the best it's felt after a run since this whole thing began. There's a little pain, maybe a 1 on that scale that docs are so fond of using. To me, it's amazing. My hopes are up!

Hey, I've got a mentor for next season! I was sitting here eating my dinner salad and watching a season finale when the phone rang and I considered ignoring it. I didn't recognize the name but it was local and I got curious. I'm glad I answered! We had a long talk, introduced ourselves, talked about our TnT history and trainings. I'm pretty psyched now, very excited about the new team, new mentor, new coaches, new training. Heh, she tried to talk me into doing the half IM and nuh uh, no way. Noper, my first tri will be a plain vanilla one.

Hey Phil - we're in the same group! This is going to be fun!

BANG!!!hissssssssssss

Not the sound you want to be hearing when your sad, hungover body finally gets on the bike to start your ride. But that's not where the weekend started.

Saturday morning I met Bree, Sandy and Anita for a little run along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. I had subverted Bree's attempt to run hills by shanghaiing her email and saying I'd be staying on the flats for now and anyone was welcome to join me. We changed the run to 7:00 am and were afraid that would be too late. We've been having a lovely heatwave and the temp was expected to soar.

I was hoping to run 6 miles without any knee pain and managed the first part. Anita turned back with me at the 3 mile mark while the others continued on. I was having the normal achiness that I've been having but thrilled not to have any shooting pains. I enjoyed the run, the lovely morning, the company. We finished before it got too hot and headed home.

I scurried to shower and dress then headed over to Claudia's house. I was going to Sonoma with her and Rocky. Ymmm, wine. We had a fabulous day and entirely too much to drink. Yikes, we should have stopped after the first winery. Or the second. Or the third. Maybe the fourth. Absolutely I didn't need dinner, I think that's what sent me over the edge. Ow.

As I tossed and turned Saturday night I considered texting Bree with a plea to cancel our 8:00 am ride. I didn't, but that doesn't mean I was happy about dressing and getting my bike ready. I've been having problems with my tire pump, but after Bree got here we managed to fill the tires and headed out for our anticipated 25 miler.

Which ended up being a 435 footer. Seriously. We were less than a block away from my house when we heard a loud bang. Or pop. Or blowout. I'm not sure what happened but the tired blew and went flat. We got off and walked home.

Sigh. It had to be the back tire, the tough one to fix. Bree asked me how many tires I had actually changed by myself and the total was a big fat zero. We knew the theory, not the practice. So we took a break and went and had coffee, so we could think about it first. We came back and Bree got the tire off the bike and between the two of us, we managed to replace the tube with my (only) spare. We went to inflate it and it just hissed at us. After trying over and over we finally stripped out the tube and found a tiny hole in it. Damn!

So we grabbed the wheel and headed over to a local bike shop, ready to have them change the darn thing. The mechanic very nicely gave us step-by-step instructions for repair, most of which we'd already figured out. He put it all together, went to fill it up and ... hisssssss. Yeah, it was another bad tube with a hole in it. He stripped out the tube, put in a new one and inflated it. I bought a couple of extras just in case and we went back to see if we could get the wheel back on the bike.

After fiddling around the bike was finally whole. I took it for a spin around the block, made sure we hadn't screwed up the gears or the brakes, took it back home and hung it up. Way too much effort! It was late enough that we postponed the ride until next week.

At least I got to run!

Yay for California

Events like yesterday's state Supreme Court ruling about marriage warm my heart and make me proud to be a Californian. I agree that any constitution that guarantees any right to any person has to guarantee that right to all persons. Ditto for duties, but that's another issue entirely.

I can't understand why people feel so personally threatened by this, for other than strictly religious reasons. Yes, I think any religious group has the right to dictate their own marriage rules and regulations. It's the whole separation of church and state thing. The argument that a secular marriage is sacred is ridiculous; the divorce rate is well beyond 50% and climbing all the time. Even church marriages have a horrendously high divorce rate.

The argument about tradition is just as bad. Traditionally a marriage is between a woman and man. Ok then. Traditionally a woman was the property of a man. Traditionally people of color were the property of white men. Traditionally women couldn't work at most occupations. Traditionally only white men could vote. The fight to change those traditions were long and hard and ugly. This fight looks to be just as long and hard.

Everyone should have a right to marry his/her sweetheart. And everyone should have the right to a storybook life. And when that doesn't work, everyone should have the right to an ugly divorce!

Bike to Work Day

Today has the unfortunate occasion of being Bike to Work Day. Why unfortunate? It's also the first Spare the Air Day in the Bay Area. That means that there isn't enough air for all the cyclists to breathe. Well no, not literally. It means that ground level ozone is expected to be at such high levels that the air is unhealthy for sensitive individuals. A goal on such a day is to reduce particulates in the air by, say, biking to work! As long as you wear an air tank or carry your inhaler.

It's also finally warm here. Warm now, hot later. At 8:00 am in Walnut Creek it was already 80 degrees. While that doesn't seem too high to people in places with naturally warm summers, you'll have to remember that the Bay Area cools down at night. A warm evening happens only a few times each summer. We're predicting triple digits of smoggy delight by this afternoon.

Perfect weather for our second outing to Shadow Cliffs! Maybe the hot air will warm the water up. Or maybe it'll just feel good by comparison!

More challenging than I thought

I've been saying that I could probably throw down that tri right now, no problemo. What an asshole. Yes, I could do the swim and yes, I could do the bike ride and yes, I absolutely could run the measly 10k. I could even put the ride and run together with very little problem, even though I'd be tired afterward. And if the swim was in a nice little heated Olympic-sized pool where I could sight along the painted lines and kick off the wall every 25 meters, I could probably even do that. But open water? Ah, there's the rub.

I've been swimming almost my entire life. My first swim lessons that I actually remember were when I was 3 years old, on a Florida vacation we took (long story about my parent's separation and my mom's get-away that maybe I'll tell some other day). I had lessons at the JCC when I was 4 and 5 and by the time I was 6 I was being sent away to summer camp where every year I'd become a stronger swimmer.

Michigan isn't called a water wonderland for nothing. In addition to the huge Great Lakes there are little lakes everywhere. We spent many weekend days in the summer at Sandy Beach (yeah, it was really called that) and at Kensington, a couple of local lakes with nice beaches and all the facilities. In those days nobody was too worried about kids playing alone or drowning, and we were in and out of the water all the time while my mom slathered on oil and worked on her tan (kids, don't try that at home; sun is bad for you!). My comfort level in water has always been very high and although my skills are rusty I still feel at home when I'm swimming.

When we started swimming a couple of months ago at the San Ramon pool I realized that I'd have to refine my swim techniques and form. Waaaay back when I learned to swim we were taught to keep our body as still as possible and breathe to one side. I was taught to flutter kick from the knee. Now I find out that twisting through the water is good, you should breathe from both sides and kicking is from the hip. The kicking part was easiest to fix; if my knee starts hurting I know I'm kicking wrong. In addition, for a tri you want to kick as little as possible, save the legs for later. I'm mostly kicking now just to keep my legs on top of the water, instead of dragging down behind me. Harder than it seems.

Working on the drills in the pool has helped with body motion but I've still just been breathing to the left. My asthma is better swimming than running, but still not great. I need to breathe through my mouth, great gulping deep breaths, and that's where I've been spending most of my effort to smooth out the stokes.

Last night Claudia and I decided it was finally time to hit the open water. Actually, we decided that on Friday after a couple of cocktails. I dunno, drinking with Claudia gets me in trouble, I'm going to have to be careful what I agree to with her! Since we're both registered for the Tri for Fun we thought that we might as well go to Shadow Cliffs in Pleasanton. The heat wave has arrived and it was warm enough to swim outside. We thought.

Last night when we arrived the air temp was hovering somewhere around 80, maybe a little less. The lake was pretty empty, maybe a half dozen guys playing around in there. While we stripped down to our swim suits we noticed two women getting into wet suits and chuckled about their wussiness. As we walked over to the water one of the women yelled out that the water temp was 67 degrees. Oh crap, that's much colder than we're used to. Brrr and no we can't back out now.

Inch by inch we crept into the water, feeling like weenies. Cold weenies. There is one big swim lane at the back of the recreational swim area and we headed that way. We finally decided to take the plunge and ducked under and started swimming. Brrr. We swam over to the lane and took stock.

Hmm. The water was murky and deep and cold and had a bit of wave action going on (not to mention the unsanitary duck-poop-filled water). Not what I was used to. For a moment my brain decided to freak out about it and I forgot how to swim. Heh. Then I remembered that I've been swimming for more than 50 years (yikes) and get a grip lady. We decided to swim to the mid-buoy and take a break if we had to.

Well. That's different. No nice little lines to sight along. I really really didn't want to open my mouth in that nasty water so my breathing was off. I was able to turn my head both directions to breathe but I wasn't getting enough air. My legs were dragging. I had apparently forgotten all the drills I've been doing, forgotten even what I had learned back when I was a little tyke. When we regrouped at the buoy I told myself sternly that I knew how to swim, so do it. Just relax and get over the water conditions.

The second half of the lap was easier because I really did relax. Wasn't swimming much better but I wasn't having mental issues any longer. I realized that I had to sight almost every breath or I'd veer off to the side, wacking into the lane rope and ouch. In the pool I was breathing every 4 count, here I started every 3 count which meant changing sides to breath. That worked well, although breathing on my non-dominant side sent me swimming that direction too. Something to work on. And yes, I opened my mouth in the water and it didn't kill me.

We decided to do 5 laps, a good beginning workout. My hands were getting colder the more I swam, but my form improved until the end of the last lap where I was tired and it got sloppy again. I think I swam twice as far as I should have because of the veering off to the sides. A straight line is quicker but I was swimming back and forth like a drunk driver. It was hard walking out of the water when we finished, I was that tired. And cold, although at that point the air felt pretty warm in comparison to the water.

We think that the lane is 160 meters. That or 120 meters, but more information points to the longer length. So that means for our first open water swim we either swam 600 or 800 meters, not too shabby considering the tri is 1200.

But I'm also pretty darn sure that last night I couldn't have climbed on my bike and then gone for a run afterward. Yep, good thing this is just pre-training. Imagine how well I'll do when I've actually completed four months of real training!

Better this week

Tonight I met Olivia and Pam for our regularly scheduled Monday night run. My plan was to run about a mile with them, at my speed, then send them on their speedy ways while I trailed behind. Not a bad plan, except for that whole rabbit problem I have. If someone I'm with or near is running fast, I'll do my best to keep up. If they're just in front of me, I try to catch them.

We started out at my speed, stopped to stretch, then started up again. Faster. Faster. Fasterfasterfaster. Mile 1 went by at 11:47; not fast for most people but too fast for my gimpy knee. Wave g'bye, send them on their way. I did slow down, some. But they were still right there, juuuuust in catching range.

My goal was to run this 3+ mile route with about a 12:45-13 minute average. And 12:19 is close, right? I'm glad that the reason I was breathing hard was because I was running hard. My knee didn't hurt nearly as much as it did last week, and still isn't feeling too bad. Not good, but not too bad. I could live with this level of pain, if that's my only choice.

I'm trying this week to not eat or drink unhealthy things. I had 2 fabulous nights of food and drink last weekend; one with Claudia and one with my mom at our new favorite restaurant. I ate oysters, a mixed seafood cocktail in la playa dressing, grilled anchovies, brandied shrimp, seafood paella, fried squid; topped with a mojito and a couple Cielo Rosso cocktails. Yum. Er, I mean "shame on me" for going that far off the plan. So this week is the restart of the good-for-me food and no (or less) booze. That's the plan until this weekend anyway. All bets off then!

And since my knee is feeling less sore I'm going for 5 workouts in 5 days. Hahahahah!

Eeeek!!

Things skittering across my floor might surprise that reaction from me, but didn't this time. Saturday afternoon I opened the door from my house to my garage, opened the garage door, and stepped into the garage. And almost stepped on a snake slithering up to the house door. I leaned over and slammed the door and the snake curled into a hissing ball at the corner.

I ran over and grabbed a shovel and broom, intending to brush the little guy onto the broom and carry him out. I did not want him sneaking under the door and surprising me in my sleep ::shudder:: or in the shower or something. I ran back and tried to sweep him up and discovered he had legs; it was a lizard (or maybe a salamander), not a snake. About a foot-long skinny lizard (or salamander). Okey dokey then, the plan remained the same. Only he wasn't playing by my plan.

There are tons of (heavy) things against that wall and he ran behind everything as I worked frantically to keep him in sight and away from the inside door. At one point he even ran behind the attached sheetrock but I was able to get him out and headed in the right direction. Finally he was outside on my driveway, but still trying to get back inside.

I'd sweep him, he'd hiss and glare and scoot away and try to get back inside; over and over again. At last I swept him into the street and he headed under my neighbor's truck. I warned my neighbor and ran back and closed the garage door. My neighbor looked and looked but we didn't see the lizard (or salamander) again.

Anyone else who thinks he sneaked back inside my garage while I wasn't looking raise their hand!

TGIF

I've caught a bad case of cranky. I'm tired, achy and don't want to get out of bed. I called in sick to work yesterday because I couldn't face sitting up at my desk and being creative and polite all day, I just didn't have it in me. It would be lovely if I could just stay home and sleep but I it appears that I've given up sleep for the month of May.

Oh wah!

This is progress?

Last night I met Pam and Olivia to join them for their regularly scheduled Monday night run. I was a little worried since last time they ran wayyy too fast for me, but I decided I'd just drop behind and have a nice run on my own, if I had to.

The weather was cool and breezy, nice. I know sooner or later it's going to heat up to blistering temps but for now it still seems like winter. California winter, that is. Perfect running weather. We all got a good laugh when we started since none of us had a watch. I had left home with Mr. Garmin but as it finally located the satellite it showed "low battery" and shut down. Perfect chance to run without any monitoring, just a fun run.

As we headed off I felt that we were going too fast for my comfort. I was already wheezing and we hadn't even crossed the first street yet. I gasped my way to our stretching point and caught my breath and told myself that I just wouldn't be running with them. We stretched and took off again, this time with me in the lead and trying to force them to slow down to my pace. We were all chatting and talking and running and it seemed to be ok, but then they both eased around me and increased their paces a bit. I still managed to keep up, talking, but then I felt something in my knee kinda slip and pains shot through it. The pains I wasn't having anymore since I've been in therapy.

My initial thought was to ignore it (smart, hmm?) but even Pam noticed that I winced and stumbled. I was going to go on with them but it was really the perfect point for me to take the short short short shortcut and head back. I waved them on and continued running, very slowly. I took a walk break but that hurt more than running, so I ran back most of the 3/4 mile that was left. I went home, stretched and did most of my legsercises, iced. It was painful for the rest of the night.

This morning my knee was back to it's usual slight achy-ness, nothing too bad, maybe a little more sore than usual after a run. I had physical therapy and now he's thinking that maybe what's bothering me really is the torn meniscus. Well crap! He told me not to run tonight (which I wasn't planning to do), to take it easy, and see the doctor if it gets worse.

I'm planning on treating it as if it's a one time aberration, the final last gasp of my sore knee before it returns to normal. Positive thinking!

Passed and kept on blah blahing

Apparently I've written over 300 posts. I missed the landmark somewhere last week or the week before. Darn, I was going to have a party to celebrate! Eh, no probably not. Too many other things to keep me busy.

Speaking of keeping busy, I did my own version of a tri this weekend: run, cycle and knit. What, that's not good enough? I enjoyed it, all of it! Soon enough I'll be doing the more strenuous tri so I'll enjoy the knitting events while I can.

Saturday morning I met up with Anita and Mary Ann for an easy run along the Lafayette-Moraga Trail. It started off cool and overcast but cleared and warmed by our last couple of miles. We ran to the Senior Center and back, a total of 6 miles. I love that run because it's almost automatically negative splits, with the last mile being the fastest. Saturday was no different, we aced that last mile. It was fabulous running with the gang again, even though most of the gang was MIA. My knee? Not so good, but not so bad either. I'm slowly resigning myself to the fact that I may never run pain-free again, and those 6 miles could have been worse.

I didn't help it any by spending the next few hours gardening. I have a very low maintenance garden, but it isn't no maintenance. I pruned the lemon tree (and have the scratches and cuts from the thorns to prove it), weeded in a couple of spots, watered the dry places, tied up the peonies. I also hosed down the gazillion insects on the plants; I have a veritable bug feast growing out there. Aphids, ants (oy, are there ants), thrips, beetles, spittle bugs, gnats, moths, grasshoppers; they're all out there chowing down. I don't use any insecticide, at least I haven't for a while, but it sure is tempting. The only thing that stops me is a lot of the neighborhood cats pass through the yard, and there are lots of birds out there too. Don't want to cause any harm.

After that my knee was well and truly sore, so I iced a couple of times during the day. I'm trying to stay away from too much ibuprofen since I bruise so easily and had a glass of wine instead. At least it helped me fall asleep.Sunday morning Bree and I went for our third big bike ride. This time Mr. Garmin actually worked. Except for the altitude thing, where it's claiming we gained and lost about 1400 feet each direction. That would be a big fat no, it was more like 350. Not like we were climbing Mt. Diablo or anything. If you could actually read that chart above, the elevation is in the dark color, speed is in the purple. The reason our speed is up and down like that is that we hit every single damn stoplight as it turned red. One after another after another. Stop stop stop. Good workout for our brakes. We went 20 miles again, up and down San Ramon Valley Road from my house to Walnut Creek. I was tired afterward, but not as badly as last time. I'm improving! And my knee again felt much better after cycling than it did before I started.

The knitting was simple, mindless back and forth on my Lorna's Laces Mistake Rib scarf. I love this yarn and hope my skin will tolerate it for the Wallaby. The scarf will be much shorter than my normal scarves since I only have the one skein. I don't know how long it'll take me to finish it since I don't get too much knitting time these days.

The rest of the weekend was normal weekend stuff; laundry, errands, unpacking my mom's shit beautiful belongings, bill paying, dinner at my bro's, etc. Tired and ready to start another busy week!