My lemons are known as ITB syndrome  and it all started with a bicycle seat in the wrong position.  I’ve been battling the demon for a couple of months and I finally got out the big guns and went to a physical therapist who treated it.  We talked about training through the pain (a fairly common methodology for triathletes) and that just didn’t work.  I tried to run off the bike and the pain was intense and I was defeated so he said he thought 6 weeks of rest along with some glute strengthening exercises he gave me would do it.
Excuse me – did you say 6 weeks?

SIX WEEKS???!!!

Holy mother of God – I can’t NOT train for 6 weeks and oh, by the way, I have a race in 4 weeks.

But the gig was up – if I can’t run off the bike then I can’t very well do a triathlon so bu-bye Oceanside.  You were a great idea a few months ago.

So where is the lemonade?  I have a bunch of glute strengthening exercises to do and although they aren’t difficult and they aren’t too terribly painful to do my buns get really sore from them.  I can also do core work as well as a little upper body work.  So – in however many weeks I can hold out (I’m committed to 4 at this point) I will do my glute and ab hardening work and come out of this with a great butt and a six pack!  Or a 4 pack!  Or no pack at all but a nice flat, hard tummy.   Just look at the physique in this picture of a person suffering ITBS. I think that says it all.

So there’s your lemonade.  Or maybe it’s not lemonade – maybe’s just an Arnold Palmer because it will be a cold day in hell before my butt ever looks that good but it will look better and I loves me an Arnold Palmer (the drink, not the man) so, in the parlance of the 21st Century, it’s all good.

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1) Two Minute Rule. Don’t get scared by the seven-syllable word in this tip…but physiologically, several changes take place in your body during the first 120 seconds of exercise. Namely, at about that 2 minute mark, your cells begin to more easily utilize oxygen as a fuel, muscle temperature begins to rise, and exercise suddenly becomes easier.

2) Use Irrational Psychology. This is a powerful trick for triathlon motivation, and involves affecting the appeal of one workout choice by comparing it to other choices. Here are some examples. Say it’s time for a 90 minute hard cycling session, and you just don’t have the triathlon motivation to get on your bike and head out. So give yourself three choices, and make two of those choices more unpleasant: Choice #1 – go on a 5 hour easy bike ride; Choice #2 – Do a 90 minute interval run on a treadmill instead; Choice #3 – do your 90 minute bike ride. The 90 minute bike ride suddenly seems relatively not all that bad.

3) Use Very Small Goals. In the middle of a race and feel like giving up? This trick works very well. Tell yourself that you’re going to take just 200 more steps, or 100 more pedal strokes, or get to one more buoy. Promise yourself that at that point you can either A) stop or B) keep going. By giving your brain the reward of having completed a small, intermediate goal, there is a slight infusion of dopamine that occurs which drives you to keep going when you get to that point.

4) Use Extrinsic Motivation. Humans have an innate desire to be accepted, and an innate detest for being rejected. We internally fear being judged by our failures, and crave to be accepted for delivering on our promises. Here’s how to use this principle for triathlon motivation: the next time you’re waffling on a workout, go to Facebook, go to Twitter, go to your blog, or call your best friend or spouse and tell them, “I’m just about to go to workout ______ (you fill in the blanks) Should be fun!”. This tiny social expression will instantly give you a powerful urge to deliver on your promises.

5) Re-Train Your Brain. There is a big difference between wanting something and being prepared to receive it. In other words, it’s not enough to have triathlon motivation goals and want to achieve them. Instead, you must actually train your subconscious to realistically see yourself achieving your goals.

ps- don’t forget to check out my fund raiser with drawing for cool stuff!  1 of the items in the prize basket can not be gotten any other way!  Don’t miss out on a five dollar chance on getting a very rare, sold out Chico Bag from the inaugural Levi Leipheimer Gran Fondo!!

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Sept 19-20

Saturday September 19 – no pictures. I ran 2 hours and felt reasonable (which is HUGE!) and then I went to visit my CASA kid.  If you haven’t read up on CASA please do and if you have any time in your life at all (as in your kids are grown and gone or you don’t have any) consider becoming a CASA – it’s  a very   important organization that does critical work.  You really can make a difference in the life of a foster child.  Enough said.

So here’s my run – yawn

Sunday was a great, great, day.  It was the day my new triathletes had been training for – the Tri for Real. I already wrote about this in great detail so here are the pics and a little video:

I didn’t race – I helped someone on the swim and then I ran up to the water station to cheer.  You can see me at about 7:00 in that video  but what you really want to do is start watching at about 6:20 so you can see our Tres Amigos de los Speedos who did the whole race ‘old school’ in their Speedos.   Words don’t do that justice.

Some of my fabulous Newbies

Aren’t those kits gorgeous?  I love our team kit.

After the race it was off to ride Mines Rd.  This was a pretty epic ride for me because I was with women in their 30s who are all much more fit and fabulous than I, it was hot, it was windy and we had to do some serious climbing.

We took pics at the junction

We finally got back to the park where we started and took cold, outdoor showers, washed and headed off to the Challenge  Weekend BBQ a mere 90 minutes late (for  2 hour party – oops).  Some certain people were very worried about me although I had spoken on the phone to others.  When I got there I did a little speech to congratulate my newbies and then they speeched me back and said all kinds of wonderful things that made me quiver and blush and then they gave me a present:

Reading the card

Do I look surprised! Like I'm going to cry? They gave me a Garmin 310XT and a gift certificate.

My fabulous Newbie Graduates

Sept 25-27

The Challenge Series  weekend was hard to beat but I managed to have another one that came quite close.  Summary – Bad Girls Book Club goes to the beach.  Friday afternoon  I drove over to Stinson  with a not Bad Girl (definitely a guy) from my club and we rode our bikes from Stinson Beach to Marshall and back and it was spectacular. Friday night was dedicated to hot tubbing, eating, drinking and for the rest of the group, Guitar Hero.  I was shot and went to bed.

Saturday I ran for 2 hours including running up the mountain.  Then we  had a massive brunch,  went to a sand sculpture event and then I hiked back up the mountain to take pictures, dragging a couple of bad girls with me.  I’m hoping they will forgive me any day now.  Saturday night we made a fabulous dinner and then played Guitar Hero.  Hysterical.  There was hot tubbing, too.  Sunday we kayaked and then we just played at the beach.  The weather was perfect.

Harold and me in Marshall, CA where the population equals the elevation (15 ft.) plus the speed limit (35)

People like to make sculptures on the beach all the time

We learned how to make sand balls from local artist Zach Pine (http://www.naturesculpture.com/) That is one of his

We made these sand balls

Taking Pictures on the Beach

Saturday Brunch of Cheesy Scrambled Eggs, beans, guacamole, sour cream, salsa, tortillas,bacon, cottage potatoes, fruit salad and mimosas. My hair is wet because I had already run for 2 hours. I really enjoyed that food!

Learning to make sand balls from Zach Pine http://www.naturesculpture.com/

Hiking up the Matt Davis Trail

Kayaking (those are my friends in the boat, not me)

I hiked back up here Saturday aftenoon because I saw this in the morning and just had to have a picture of it. It was further up the trail than I had remembered

I think the reason I skipped Monday Monday is obvious. I’m staying stuck in my weekends as long as I can.

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Saturday was long run day – I had to run 2 hours.  It was also a day when many members of my club race at the Back to School 5K or 10K and those not racing go out and volunteer.  Many of my New Triathlete Program people (NTP aka newbies) said they would volunteer and I really wanted to be there to see them the day before our big triathlon and just to be a part of it all.  I also really needed to go see my foster kid for whom I am an advocate through the Court Appointed Special Advocates program (check out the national site to see more).  This child lives hours from me so I had to allocate 2 hours to run and 5 hours of travel time plus the visit plus I had to be up at OMG:thirty on Sunday so I needed to get home early.  I couldn’t work out getting the race in (I guess I could have raced 10K and then run another hour but there aren’t any showers there and racing wasn’t on the plan) so I didn’t go and it felt sort of wrong but very right.  There are things in life that really are more important than triathlon and race clubs and foster kids in need of an anchor is definitely one of them.

My 2 hour run was fine – it felt good and that was exciting because the run and I have not been such good friends lately.  Score!

Sunday was the day of the race I’ve been training the Newbies for.  Most of them had already done a shorter sprint and some had even done an Olympic distance race but this was our big club event and I was so excited.  I didn’t race but I did do the swim with a woman who was very nervous about getting run over by the swim waves behind us (our club gets to go in the first wave en masse and there was quite a mass of us!).  I was there to defend her water space and help her stay calm and I did and she exited the water all in one piece.  After that I ran up to the bike course to cheer people on and then I headed up to the water station to cheer some more and pass out water. Turns out I positioned myself incorrectly and missed some people that way but it was fun.  Then I went down to the finish line to cheer everyone in.

I really wanted o stay and be at the award ceremony and just hang out and talk to everyone about their race  and I wish I had because NTP had people on the podium! How great is that??!!  Alas – I had a long ride on the plan so off I went with my 2 new BFFs and a friend of theirs.  It was a tough, long ride and it was hot and windy but it was great.  There was a moment when I was sure I couldn’t do it and I really worried about how I was going to get out of there but some cold water and a PayDay later and I was fine and rode strong – no problem.

Elevation from gpsvisualizer (top) and from MapMyRide (bottom)

That's it - you ride almost 40 miles and this is what is there

We got back to the park where our cars were right about the time the Challenge Weekend Celebration BBQ was starting but we were sweaty and gross and really needed to get cleaned up.  I had neglected to bring clean clothes but my BFFs had several outfits each with them as well as soap and shampoo and cream rinse so we all used the outdoor, cold water shower and cleaned up in our tri suits and then put clean clothes on (in the privacy of the ladies changing room) and finally, finally headed to the party arriving a mere 90 minutes late to a 2 hour party.  Great.

But it was great because I got a chance to say some words about my fabulous Newbies who stepped up and trained and made their dreams come true.  I’ve hatched a litter of tri-junkies and I couldn’t be happier about it.  I’m so proud of them and so very happy to have played a role in giving them a chance to do something they might not otherwise have done.  I said my words and I handed out a little memento to each of them and then they took the floor.  One of them read a whole story about how there is no “I” in  TEAM and about how great the program had been and how she had made friends and accomplished something wonderful.  Another woman gave a speech about me that made me blush and made me proud and made me feel loved  and then they gave me something to remember this inaugural season with – a Garmin 310XT and a $50 gift certificate to Forward Motion Store, our primary benefactor.  Wow – just wowl  *Channeling Sally Field* -“You LIKE me… right now.  You  LIKE me!”  I’m so humbled and so happy and so very jazzed about my new toy!  But I’m more jazzed that several of the newbies want to ban together to train for an Oly.  Success!

Looking forward, one of the things possibly on my plate is getting a slot for IM Canada when I race Oceanside.  Because it is so early in the year the carrot they dangle to athletes is the potential to get a slot at any of a couple of NA Sports M-dot races and Canada  is one of them (but shhh… don’t tell everyone about this because it’s kind of a secret, okay?).  I have several friends who are going to race and a few more racing Oceanside so they can get slots.  It’s a possibility but one I don’t think I’ll take because this weekend I figured out something really important about me.

My “moment” came when I realized that triathlon is a fundamentally self indulgent endeavor but I am not a fundamentally self indulgent person.  I spend a lot of time volunteering and giving to others because I like it and it makes me feel good.    I feel good about having become an athlete, too but the trade offs cause me stress. This weekend was a great example of that where I was torn between being with my race club and being with my foster kid and being with my race club and getting in my training.  I had to just take a deep breath and let it go but it was difficult.  It all worked out in the end but in the process it made me feel a little crazy.

I’d like to do the NTP next year again and I’d like to help organize this year’s newbies to train for an Oly and I’d like to train with them.  This year my direct participation in their training fell off because I signed up for Beach 2 Battleship and if I raced Canada I’d have a worse problem because it is in August and the training would consume my whole summer.    So again – the opportunity for conflict and stress is huge and I’m a ‘want it all’ kind of gal.  I’m a problem solver, too so here’s the solution:    I’m going to race Oceanside which means training up  a 70.3 on  March 27.  I’ve also decided that  I’m going to attend IM St. George in some capacity.  If I love 140.6 after B2B I might do a fund raiser and buy a community slot for 2010 (I’d pay my $550 and raise the rest) and attend IM  St. George as a participant.   If  I don’t want to do that I can just go be a Sherpa and then sign up for 2011 on-site.  Either way my IM training and season will be over in early May at the latest  and I can get on with the business of playing, training  newbies, and racing shorter distance races.  Brilliant and perfect and what a great Monday it’s been.

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Here’s what I did over this long weekend (warning – this is probably really boring but I’m doing it anyhow because I don’t have time to be interesting and you asked me to blog so I’m blogging!)

Friday – Swim masters (2100 meters with a lot of kicking and breast stroke); run 40 minutes having to pep talk myself the entire way (come on – one more song.. just keep going.. you can do it), OWS in the evening with a whole flock of people for probably about 1400 meters.  Of course I zig zagged all over and could NOT get to the rest of the people and they just kept being ‘out there’ so I finally gave up and swam in, blinded by the sun.  Note to self – wear mirrored goggles next time and stay on someone’s feet!

Follow up swim with burgers and wine with favored training bud Caroline.

Saturday – leisurely ride with BFF masters friends and  former riding partners, one of whom is recovering from a back problem then drive out to time trial clinic and do 2 laps (3 miles) in the horrific wind.  Got 5 seconds faster the second time around so yea!

After ride head out to East Stump Hole to spend the day with CASA kid.  Get home at 9:00 PM (because it’s a 2.5 hour drive out to see CASA kid)

Sunday – run with newbies in my New Triathlete Progam (I got 20 people in the program – woot!), talk about importance of stretching and demo foam roller.

Then go for trail run up Mt. Diablo with Caroline.

Monday – get ass handed to me riding with my training BFFs Dana and Maggs who were doing a dress rehersal for IM CdA.  I thought that if they already had 56 miles on their legs I could keep up. WRONG!  I struggled desperately to hang on to a wheel and was successful at times but would then lose it.  Net result was 40 miles at 16.7 mph average – PR!  I’ve never ridden that far, that fast before and we were going into the wind much of the time.   I ♥  training with those ladies.  They did another 16 to finish off a full 112.  They are machines!   I think they ran for 6 miles after that, too.  I ran for 15 minutes and baby it was HOT.

Go to other BFF training friend Vali’s house for BBQ which was both delicious and fun.

Today – rest day!  I worked but it felt like rest after all of that.

Tomorrow- swim/run

Thursday – conquer Mt. Diablo with Maggs. I am determined to make it all the way to the very, very top!  I’ll let you know how it goes.

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So here’s what I did this weekend.

First Climb Diablo to Junction then climb Morgan Terrirtory

** update**

I just re-read this post and realized that if you aren’t a cyclist it sounds like I am a nutjob who speaks in some strange tongue.  I’m not going to re-write it.  Just an observation.

** 

That second climb looks a lot like the first but the general concensus around here is that it is much harder. I didn’t really know when the climb started because the road winds  through a heavily wooded area so you can’t see what’s coming. I found myself thinking “this had better be the climb because if it isn’t I’m in a heap ‘o trouble!”  When we got to the very steepest part I had no idea what to expect and my HR was in the stratosphere so I stopped for a minute to let it go down.  Then I started up again – going up a steep hill.  It’s still easier when you have O2 in the system.  Of course that part  flattened out a bit just around the corner but the climb was not done.  Oh no – there was a ways to go.

I only used the little chain ring for that 1 part and the rest of the time was in the middle chain ring.  My climbing was really good and I felt a huge sense of accomplishment for having done this.  On the way back a couple of fast guys pulled us slower riders in and then I kind of ran out of gas.  When we were just about back – close enough that I got dropped, I flatted.  No princes in shining spandex came back to rescue me so I had to change my own tire.  I was actually kind of glad of that, too because I did it in a relatively short amount of time and it worked and it’s always nice to know you can save yourself.

Sunday I took a nice recovery ride follwed by a whopping 20 minute run and Monday I did an open water swim and a little run – a whole 30 minutes.  My next race is The Relay which is all run.  It takes you from Calistoga to Santa Cruz (199 miles) in 36 legs for each 12 person team.  That means you run 3 times in about 30 or so hours so I need to practice running some more.  I think I’ll skip practicing the sleep deprivation and enduring a lot of stink, though.  That is something that needs to be endured real time because there’s just no reasonable way to simulate that experience.

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I’m better – almost 100%!  I didn’t workout today but I also didn’t sleep.  I didn’t take any cold meds.  I am almost all better and so very grateful for that. 

2).  Does  anyone who watches food advertisements on TV really think “YUM!”  I mean really – does greasy pasta drowning in cheese sauce with a side of garlic, butter infested bread sticks look good?  How about lobster swimming in 2 pounds of butter with a side of fish covered in cream sauce and a baked potato with sour cream?  Tasty?   GAG!  The mind boggles until I think about the endless reports of obesity in this country.  Well duh!  If people really think eating like that is a good idea then no wonder we are a nation of lard asses.

3).  Oceanside is a mere 4 weeks away and I am trying not to panic about it.  Not that I’m really panicked.  I could “do it” tomorrow but it would suck and it would not be worth the price  of admission.  Between the rain and the cold I have not been able to get in the training on the bike that I really, really need. I’m sure I could have been working harder on the trainer doing intervals but what concerns me is the hills and to be a good climber you need to climb.  And climb I will – just as soon as I can.  I just hope it is soon enough.

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1). First off my dealings with Comcast – my internet/phone/cable TV provider.  On December 12th I called to have HDTV installed and to get their ‘triple play’ bundle that included phone/internet/TV.  The actual installation didn’t happen until January 5.  My bill reflected a credit on my old service from 12/16 – 2/6 and payment for my new service for the same period.  Hmmmm…. I thought.  Why would I be charged for something I didn’t have installed?  The conversation went like this:

Me:  Why are you charging me for service from 12/16 when I didn’t get installed until 1/6?
Her:  We turned your HDTV service on you just couldn’t get anything in HD.  You had those extra channels, though
Me:  Well- I didn’t know that and I couldn’t use the HD so why would I pay for it?
Her:  Ma’am – you had it.  You just couldn’t get the HDTV channels until they did the install.  But you had those extra channels
Me/Her… 3 or 4 more times of me explaining that having extra stuff come through the wire without me knowing it and without me being able to use it didn’t constitute ’having it’ and her contradicting me and  with me getting more frustrated.  Then  a light went off when I noticed the term ‘bundled’ in the higher charge.
Me:  Well – you are charging me for a phone/TV/internet bundle but I didn’t get your phone service until the installer came out.
Her:  Just a moment ma’am while I check on something…….5 minutes go by….. Ma’am – I’m going to issue you a credit for $77 to cover the time when you were not receiving those services.
Me: Thanks so much for taking care of that!

I ask you – on what planet is it okay to charge for something  you have yet to deliver?  How much bank must they make on this crap?  Their system is set to start charging as soon as a work order goes in even though it is well known that it can take weeks to actually install the service.  Maddening.  But I solved the problem so I moved on to:

2).  Kaiser Bill for my son’s health insurance.  I went on-line in December to try to get him insurance.  I filled out all of the forms including giving them my ATM account information.  I finally was notified about 2 weeks ago that he was approved and insured.  Today I got a bill that showed they had charged me for 1 month and another charge  for 2 months retroactive.  Huh?  How can they charge for 2 months retroactive when they didn’t approve anything until 2 weeks ago?  So I have my son call them and she explains that they bill 3 months at a time. Okay fine but why are you billing me for 2 months when I had no coverage?  “Oh – no problem, sir.  When would you like us to change the start date to?”  SERIOUSLY??!!  This was optional!??  Sweet baby Jeebus who thinks this stuff up?  So we change it to start Feb 1 and she tells me I will get a new bill for Feb/March/April.  So then I ask about the money that’s already been paid and she says, “Oh yes – I see that you paid that already so we will apply that to February”  Awesome!  But really – WTF??

3).  In other news – let’s talk about training.  Yesterday and earlier today I was at that point where my training plan was really bugging me and wearing me out.  I was asking the questions we all ask at one point or another – Why?  Why do I do this?  Who do I think I’m kidding?  What is the point??!!!  Saturday the Good Doctor and I went for a ride on a route that is hilly and full of rollers and by the time we got to the top of a place called The Three Bears I thought I might die.  When TGD got there (and I’m so kicking his ass on the bike these days!) I said, “God that was HARD!  That makes climbing Diablo look easy” and he told me I was nuts.  It wasn’t hard at all and it was nothing compared to climbing the mountain.  You be the judge:

Ride up Mt. Diablo to Top

Three Bears from Reliez Valley Rd.

Note – the scale is quite different – Mt. Diablo goes up to 3500 ft and the 3 Bears is only 900 ft.

I think I was just tired – fatigued. 

I had Monday off and yesterday I did 90 minutes in the trainer.  This morning I swam but it was an easy workout.  Tonight I ran with my race club – one guy in particular.  I knew I was going at a really good clip for me and I was chatting.  After about a mile I started to fall off the pace but I kept going as hard as I could manage without feeling like I was killing myself.  My splits:

7:52, 8:45, 8:47, 8:34, 8:33 (last half mile)

So maybe the person who first got the idea that  training hard would make you faster was on to something  because that is my previous 5K race pace, not my ‘going for a run’ pace.  I’m running a 5K Sunday.  I hope it is somebody’s idea for me to PR.  I think it might be mine.

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So today in email I was directed to  this article

Top Cyclists Can’t Eat Anything They Want…

So maybe I knew the whole “I’m training – pass me a cheeseburger!” thing was a myth but did I need to see it spelled out like this?

“When the Amgen Tour of California pedals around downtown Sacramento and launches off from Davis next week, its 136 cyclists will rely on fine-tuned nutrition to fuel their efforts over the 750-mile trek. The right timing of meals and the right combination of food and drink may mean the difference between a podium finish and a spot back in the pack.”

On the other hand, who’s looking for the podium?  I’m just out for fun! 

And what about this:

“What distinguishes the pros from the amateurs is at the elite pro level, these athletes are really tuned in to their needs,” said Dr. Helen Iams, team physician for Fairfield-based Team Jelly Belly. “When the margin between first and fifth is 3 inches, a 1 percent difference in your performance is huge.”

Is it just me or is there a twee bit of a disconnect between talking about great nutrition and being on Team Jelly Belly?  For me 1 serving = 1 huge bag of Jelly Bellys so I’m not getting a whole lot of good nutrition there, am I?  Is there something about the magic bean I have yet to discover?  I don’t think they even make the sport ones anymore because really – $22/pound for jelly beans wasn’t fooling anyone.

“It’s not unusual for a pro cyclist to down the whole box of cereal at breakfast (with fruit and yogurt, too) and four sandwiches for lunch. And unlike athletes in most other sports, cyclists have to eat and drink while in the midst of intense competition. They’re constantly refueling their “engines,” their muscles.”

Okay – now we’re talking!!  THIS is what it’s all about, right?  Think I could fit a 6″ Subway sandwich in my bento box?

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Click to see full image

  In 2005 Nike launched an ad campaign that was intended to be body positive and pro-running (well duh- it’s Nike!)  One of their posters showed a nice, healthy pair of thighs and declared in large print – I Have Thunder Thighs and in smaller print “And that’s a compliment because they are strong and toned and muscular.  And though they are unwelcome in the petite section they are cheered on in  marathons.”

I thought it was a great campaign and applauded their efforts all the while having to ignore 99.9% of the skinny models in their other ads.  

Today I declare myself to have thunder thighs for my own reason.  Reasons having to do with  my bike. 

When I first started riding with TGD (the good doctor) last May he could always kick my ass – always.  At first I could keep up with him pretty  well but as the months went by he got stronger and I really didn’t and so keeping up with him became a struggle.  When we climbed Mt. Diablo he would get way ahead of me and, like everyone else, have to wait until I caught up.

Today we rode our bike to the junction on Mt. Diablo which involves about a 2,000 foot climb.  It isn’t super hard but you do have to work to make it up the hill.  TGD was on-call and had to stop to answer the phone repeatedly but I wouldn’t know he had stopped until I looked back and down the hill (it goes switch back) and not see him.   I would stop and wait and then, when he didn’t show up for a while  I would go back DOWN  the mountain to fetch him and then go back up again.  Last year this would have been flat out unthinkable.  No way would I have headed down for fear of never making it back up to where I was.  Every inch of climb was an air robbing, gasp laden struggle.

But wait!  There’s more!  My bike has a triple on it and I generally have to resort to the small chain ring by the time I’ve climbed about 800 – 900feet.  Not today.  Today I made it up to the junction in the middle chain ring – and it wasn’t even that hard.

WINNER!

So today I declare myself to be a woman with Thunder Thighs.  Nice, thunderously strong, thighs – and for probably the first time in my entire life I appreciate them.

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Then I went to a ladies tea party given by a friend from masters.  She gives them once or twice a year and they are ever so refined and delicious.  We had tea and scones and gooseberry jam and little sandwiches and chocolate. Yum!  Saturday night the good doctor and I hung out and drank wine and yukked it up.  It’s so nice to have some company around the house.

Sunday was one of those days where I was busy without accomplishing much. My baby got home from college which was great.  Beyond that my main activity was to make a fancy dessert for the Forward Motion Race Club Holiday Party.  Last year I won the prize for best dessert and I was trying to defend my title.  The party was entertaining enough and the food was great but as though that wasn’t enough the club  awarded me a gift certificate to a restaurant for getting our website overhauled and up and running.  I felt so special!  And then I won 3rd prize in the dessert contest (there was way more competition this year) which turned out to be 2 pounds of delicious M-Dot Kona Coffee.  YES!  3rd place has never tasted so good.  If you have never tried this coffee I highly recommend it – it’s on special right now.

The only fly in the ointment this weekend is that the rains came.  Sunday  night it just poured!  Monday  my training partners and I arranged a garage, trainer session and of course, the sun was beaming but it was cold and the roads were wet and we just stuck with the plan (due at least in part to a lack of helmets).   We did 3 x 8 hard intervals. That means 8 minutes pedal to the metal and 3 minutes recovery.  We needed 4.  We switched it up each session by doing high cadence for 2 minutes followed by 2 minutes of big chain ring ‘climbing’.  It was HARD and it hurt so good.  At least no one got away from me and had to wait up – that was great!

So let it rain, baby!  I’ve got the heated pool with my masters group, the trainer rides with my race club, the runs in the rain or the dreadmill and I’ve got some tasty brew.  Sing it with me now… chestnuts roasting on an open fire…….

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Saturday’s Ride:

It wasn’t quite as hairy as that elevation chart makes it look but it was hard enough. I kept up with the group until we got to that little pointy thing right before the big climb. Then I just fell back and could not keep up. Toward the top a guy was nice enough to come back down to get me and let me suck off his back wheel until we caught up with my guardian angels Dana and Maggs. By then I was shot because although I had a bottle of Infinit on me it only had 300 calories in it and I was too busy keeping up to drink very often so by the time we got to the top of the climb, 35 miles into the ride I’d consumed a whopping 100 calories (on top of a bowl of oatmeal before I left the house). Not good. I was D.O.N.E after that ride. Shot.

Too bad I had already decided to run 18 miles on Sunday and committed to meeting Dana to do it. There was no turning back so we met at 8:00 and off we went. Just to show you how deceptive elevation charts are over distance this is what it looked like:

That run is fundamentally flat. You know you are going slightly down on the way out and slightly up on the way back but it’s really flat. We were doing great for the first 15 or 16 miles, constantly calling out 9:15! time to slow down as we checked our pace but by mile 16 I was done. I had to stop repeatedly and catch my breath but I refused to walk very much. Just can’t handle it. Running time was 3:09 for a 10:28 pace but reality was 3:35 for an almost 12 minute pace. That included stopping at Whole Foods to use the bathroom and stopping several times to fill water bottles.

But none of that is the interesting part of the story. The interesting part pertains to my performance at the Nike Women’s Half last weekend. As you may recall, I ran that race in 2:10:41 which is a very reasonable pace, particularly considering that the course looks like this:

Elevation Nike Women's 1/2

That elevation map counts – that’s a tough run.

Anyhow…. Wednesday night we had a board meeting for my race club and when I got there someone congratulated me on the race and said, “You’re a real runner now”. I fairly glowed with pride. Then on Sunday I went to a party of people from my race club and another guy, a man quite famous for busting ‘em off on everybody remarked, “You’re not slow any more”. Oh man. Oh man, oh man, oh man. That was so nice to hear.

And on the wings of my newly bloated ego I will keep training – for nothing. Because I can and because it works. I really does.

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10, 5, 14, 4, 2, 16, 5, 7, 28, 22

Notice a slight jump, there?  Oh my aching glutes – they were killing me.  I think it was the right thing to do, though because this is the most I’ve ever trained for a half so it should be good.  It also was the result of running with other people and holding their (faster than mine) pace AND talking.  That’s a new one.  The camaraderie,  the discovery of my ability to keep up, and being  sociable have been  great.

I was going to go for a group trail run on Sunday but the email about where to meet up never made it to the prospective participants (which is really too bad because this run involved going out  to breakfast afterward) so I went riding   instead.  I was so happy.  I love those Sunday rides – they are just the best.  The wind was horrendous but the day was clear and bright and the company was great and I had what felt like  one of the best rides of my life.  It was the fastest for those conditions, anyhow,  and that made me happy. 

In fact, these days my bike always makes me happy and that creates a sort of meta-emotional positive feedback loop of happiness because I used to fear my bike and I used to hate riding in the wind and the hills and although I claim no love of the wind I do love conquering the wind.  I love the way I feel after a hard ride.  I love seeing so much fantastic scenery in the course of a workout although admittedly I spent quite a bit of time focused on the wheel of the person in front of me which explains the speed.  I kept up… I tried.. I worked hard… I was not a total pain in the ass whiner who kept everyone back – I was a cyclist and I had a great time.

I think that will be my story of  this training  season   when the end of December comes and I, like everyone else, feels compelled to summarize.  Training more and training harder rule.  Perseverance furthers.

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Up the North side of Mt. Diablo (cilck to see details)

I rode up the north side of Mt. Diablo to the Juniper overlook.  It was a first for me as I have always gone up the south side.   I let myself go just over 32 mph on the way down – whee!

I feel human again.  In fact, I feel great!

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This weekend I needed to run 12 miles in preparation for the Nike Half Marathon on Oct 18 – the one I have not trained for 1 bit.  As you may recall I ran almost 9 miles last Wednesday and could barely walk on Thursday.  I was doubtful about being able to force myself to run 12 solo so I went to the Nike group run and lined up with the 10:30 pace group. 

I had my earbuds for my iPod in my ears but didn’t even turn it on for 6 or 7 miles.  That’s what running in large group does.  It makes the miles tick by and the experience remarkably pleasurable.  The only reason I turned it on for the last part is because by then our tight knit group had sort of spread out and it was sort of a loose collection of people all running on the same path in the same direction and my legs were getting tired.  The last 3 miles were a bit of a challenge but in an effort to bring it to an end I picked up the pace and brought it home. 

Perhaps one of the best parts of running with the Nike group is that the Jamba Juice people were there at the finish, doling out cups of Jamba Juice. And there was Bare Naked granola and some baked potato chips and other tired, sweaty runners, all of us happy for having gone the distance.   

I feel okay today – not bad at all.  Tomorrow I swim with masters and then run about 9 with some friends.  If you don’t hear from me for a while after that you’ll know its because ramping up my running volume so fast has made my legs fall off.

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