Oh . . . my . . . god. I can ride up hill. It's not easy, but it's possible. Today I went for a ride with Sara. We debated between two routes and decided to stick with riding a loop the Stanford campus, it's about 5 miles from Sara's office. Last year we did the route a few times while training for the Mermaid Triathlon in Fremont. When I was riding The Thing it was not a fun ride. It isn't steep but Stanford is on hill, and any incline was hard riding my old bike. Today, I rode up that hill and was truly surprised when I got to the top. "That's it? The hill seemed much longer last year." We did the complete loop twice and then I voluntarily went up the hill a third time. On the third trip up the hill we turned left on to Juniperro Serra where I hit 21 mph. My fastest ever. Overall, a great ride on my new supafast bike with Sara and her new bike.
Oh, and it was an absolutely beautiful day!!!
Saturday, March 28, 2009
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
"You don't trust your legs."
My coach said this to me yesterday. And, you know what, she's right, I don't trust my legs. I'm not exactly sure why I don't but I have a few ideas.
#1 When I was 6 I walked through a sliding glass door and ended up with a knee full glass. They didn't get all of the glass out and I have scar tissue in my knee. It took awhile for the knee to heel and I learned to "baby" my knee. Doctors has told me that the body has an amazing ability to adjust from childhood injuries and that the old injury probably doesn't have anything to do with current pain.
#2 As a kid I would frequently "turn" my ankle when I ran. Not sprain it, just kinda twist it.
#3 My weight. I still have a significant amount of weight to loose and its hard on the joints. All of the joints.
#4 In November 2007, I tried running, my knees started to hurt, and I was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome. (aka kneecaps that slide around.)
#5 In fall of 2008, I tried running again and my feet, knees, and back started to hurt.
Gee, I wonder why I don't I trust my legs? However, I just did a 10K where I ran twice as much as I walked. So, I guess I will give try to give the legs another chance.
#1 When I was 6 I walked through a sliding glass door and ended up with a knee full glass. They didn't get all of the glass out and I have scar tissue in my knee. It took awhile for the knee to heel and I learned to "baby" my knee. Doctors has told me that the body has an amazing ability to adjust from childhood injuries and that the old injury probably doesn't have anything to do with current pain.
#2 As a kid I would frequently "turn" my ankle when I ran. Not sprain it, just kinda twist it.
#3 My weight. I still have a significant amount of weight to loose and its hard on the joints. All of the joints.
#4 In November 2007, I tried running, my knees started to hurt, and I was diagnosed with Patellofemoral Syndrome. (aka kneecaps that slide around.)
#5 In fall of 2008, I tried running again and my feet, knees, and back started to hurt.
Gee, I wonder why I don't I trust my legs? However, I just did a 10K where I ran twice as much as I walked. So, I guess I will give try to give the legs another chance.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
My First 10K
After a few absolutely beautiful spring days, showers were forecast for the Mermaid Run this morning. When I woke up I could hear the downspouts dripping from the rain during the night. Maybe the rain had passed. Maybe not. I dressed in layers of shorts, shirt, pants, fleece, and parka. I had no idea what I would end up wearing for the race. (I still hate calling them races.)
I headed out to Shoreline Park in Mountain View, the freeways are nice and empty at 7am on Sunday. I got out of the comfort of my nice warm car to see Molly pull up. Silly girl was walking around in shorts! Dude, it was cold and windy out there at the edge of the bay. Brrrr. . . .
I met up with all my friends who were running or walking, Chris, Justine, Sara, Heather, Michelle, Christina, Mary Sue, Meredith, Wilma, Jill, and Amy. Then there was Gina, Gina, and Marcia serving as cheerleaders. They deserve a lot of credit for waiting around in the cold, wind, and occasional rain. Brrrr. . . . it was cold out there.
We started of close to the 8:30 am start time. I tried to start to the side and in the back because I knew I would be one of the slowest. Sure enough the pack pulled away from me right away and I was out there pretty much alone for most of the race. That was fine with me because I didn't have to worry about being in anyone's way.
My goal was to run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute over and over for 6.2 miles. I had been at the run site about a month ago and did the 5K route in an hour, my goal was to finish the 10K in under 2 hours. I hit the 1 mile mark and thought, I only have to do this 5 more times. Just a little after that my left hip flexor and my right knee started to hurt. The knee was normal but the hip flexor was kinda new. I persevered stretching my hip flexor during the walking intervals. I would be feeling good and then make a turn into so nasty wind. Ugh, it was awful!
Run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minutes, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute. I just kept moving forward.
When I was around the 2 mile mark the 10K runners started heading back. I saw Amy who used to swim with me, Molly who was out there for a training run, Heather who placed 5th in our age group, Chris, Amy, Justine, and Sara. Some how I missed Michelle. "Just keep moving forward." I was so happy to reach the turn around however once I turned around I was hit with more nasty wind! "Just keep moving forward." I slowly crept up on two women walking ahead of me. For about two miles all I could think was, "how can the be walking faster than I am wogging?" At around mile 5, I passed them! Woot!
With each mile I thought, "you are one mile closer." As I was at the beginning of the last mile there were two Canadian Geese on the trail, I said, "Hi, geese." Then they decided to take of and fly towards me. ACK! You may not know this about me but fluttering birds completely freak me out. I let out a scream but luckily there was no one around. Stupid geese.
I made the turn for the last 500 yards (?) to the finish into more wind. Ugh. It was blowing so hard that all I could hear was the wind. As I inched towards the finish I could hear Heidi on the mic and see to women walking towards me. I could have sworn I heard Justine's voice but I thought I was just imagining things. But no! It was Chris and Justine they paced me in. I did my last walk, and the we broke into an easy jog. Justine told me to stop trying to talk and just breathe. Then C & J said, "okay, you are going to pick up the pace at the man in the grey sweatshirt. I mean woman." :-) We reached the grey sweatshirt and kicked in the last bit of energy. I could hear and see out of the corner of my eye all of my buddies cheering me in. It was wonderful!
I finished strong and met my goal of finishing under 2 hours. Time: 1:34:25, 307th out of 327. :-) Not bad for someone who sprained her back in January (?), planned to walk the 10K until the end of February when she gave this 2 min/1 min thing a try.
Thanks for pic, Molly! Heading in for the big finish!
Chris is on the left and Justine is on the right.
I headed out to Shoreline Park in Mountain View, the freeways are nice and empty at 7am on Sunday. I got out of the comfort of my nice warm car to see Molly pull up. Silly girl was walking around in shorts! Dude, it was cold and windy out there at the edge of the bay. Brrrr. . . .
I met up with all my friends who were running or walking, Chris, Justine, Sara, Heather, Michelle, Christina, Mary Sue, Meredith, Wilma, Jill, and Amy. Then there was Gina, Gina, and Marcia serving as cheerleaders. They deserve a lot of credit for waiting around in the cold, wind, and occasional rain. Brrrr. . . . it was cold out there.
We started of close to the 8:30 am start time. I tried to start to the side and in the back because I knew I would be one of the slowest. Sure enough the pack pulled away from me right away and I was out there pretty much alone for most of the race. That was fine with me because I didn't have to worry about being in anyone's way.
My goal was to run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute over and over for 6.2 miles. I had been at the run site about a month ago and did the 5K route in an hour, my goal was to finish the 10K in under 2 hours. I hit the 1 mile mark and thought, I only have to do this 5 more times. Just a little after that my left hip flexor and my right knee started to hurt. The knee was normal but the hip flexor was kinda new. I persevered stretching my hip flexor during the walking intervals. I would be feeling good and then make a turn into so nasty wind. Ugh, it was awful!
Run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minutes, run 2 minutes and walk 1 minute. I just kept moving forward.
When I was around the 2 mile mark the 10K runners started heading back. I saw Amy who used to swim with me, Molly who was out there for a training run, Heather who placed 5th in our age group, Chris, Amy, Justine, and Sara. Some how I missed Michelle. "Just keep moving forward." I was so happy to reach the turn around however once I turned around I was hit with more nasty wind! "Just keep moving forward." I slowly crept up on two women walking ahead of me. For about two miles all I could think was, "how can the be walking faster than I am wogging?" At around mile 5, I passed them! Woot!
With each mile I thought, "you are one mile closer." As I was at the beginning of the last mile there were two Canadian Geese on the trail, I said, "Hi, geese." Then they decided to take of and fly towards me. ACK! You may not know this about me but fluttering birds completely freak me out. I let out a scream but luckily there was no one around. Stupid geese.
I made the turn for the last 500 yards (?) to the finish into more wind. Ugh. It was blowing so hard that all I could hear was the wind. As I inched towards the finish I could hear Heidi on the mic and see to women walking towards me. I could have sworn I heard Justine's voice but I thought I was just imagining things. But no! It was Chris and Justine they paced me in. I did my last walk, and the we broke into an easy jog. Justine told me to stop trying to talk and just breathe. Then C & J said, "okay, you are going to pick up the pace at the man in the grey sweatshirt. I mean woman." :-) We reached the grey sweatshirt and kicked in the last bit of energy. I could hear and see out of the corner of my eye all of my buddies cheering me in. It was wonderful!
I finished strong and met my goal of finishing under 2 hours. Time: 1:34:25, 307th out of 327. :-) Not bad for someone who sprained her back in January (?), planned to walk the 10K until the end of February when she gave this 2 min/1 min thing a try.
Thanks for pic, Molly! Heading in for the big finish!
Chris is on the left and Justine is on the right.
Sunday, March 15, 2009
Look . . . no hands!
Today the family was celebrating Mom's birthday. She wanted us to go for a ride while she served a SAG. First, Sara picked up her new bike, whoo hoo! It's a beautiful black and red Specialized Roubaix. So sexy. She is going to need coordinated clothes to go with it. Especially a new helmet.
Once we got going it was a great ride. Perfect March weather. We decided to try out the recreation trail along the San Lorenzo River. Not very long, but good for trying out new bikes and avoiding people, stop signs, and lights. :-)
And, we're off:
(someone remind me to not lock my knees in pics.)
Our destination, East Cliff Drive. Sara and I pose with our supafast bikes:
The ride to the beach was a little faster than we expected, so Mom wasn't there with B-B-Q yet. We rode around the Seabright neighborhood and then down to the harbor.
The Endurance Chicks:
Caleb (with helmet):
Dad with his new bike (next purchase bike pants):
On the way back I finally got the nerve to try to ride no hands and I did it!!!! I'm so stoked. I love riding no hands and totally couldn't do it on my hybrid. Unfortunately, I had the camera so there is no visual documentation of this skill. You will just have to take my word for it. ;-)
Once we got going it was a great ride. Perfect March weather. We decided to try out the recreation trail along the San Lorenzo River. Not very long, but good for trying out new bikes and avoiding people, stop signs, and lights. :-)
And, we're off:
(someone remind me to not lock my knees in pics.)
Our destination, East Cliff Drive. Sara and I pose with our supafast bikes:
The ride to the beach was a little faster than we expected, so Mom wasn't there with B-B-Q yet. We rode around the Seabright neighborhood and then down to the harbor.
The Endurance Chicks:
Caleb (with helmet):
Dad with his new bike (next purchase bike pants):
On the way back I finally got the nerve to try to ride no hands and I did it!!!! I'm so stoked. I love riding no hands and totally couldn't do it on my hybrid. Unfortunately, I had the camera so there is no visual documentation of this skill. You will just have to take my word for it. ;-)
Saturday, March 14, 2009
swim, wog, eat, sleep
Swim: What is with Saturdays? I had another crappy swim this morning. It was like the pool was full of jello rather than water. It may have had something to do with the cheese and bread I have for dinner last night. It was frustrating.
Wog: Today was my last "long" wog before the Mermaid Run on 3/22. I wogged (1 min walk, 2 min run) for an hour and 45 minutes. I was tired and my knees were irritated at the end but felt like I could keep going awhile longer.
Eat: Well deserved lunch with Mary Sue, Christina, Sara, and Michelle. My favorite quesadilla.
Sleep: That's up next!
Wog: Today was my last "long" wog before the Mermaid Run on 3/22. I wogged (1 min walk, 2 min run) for an hour and 45 minutes. I was tired and my knees were irritated at the end but felt like I could keep going awhile longer.
Eat: Well deserved lunch with Mary Sue, Christina, Sara, and Michelle. My favorite quesadilla.
Sleep: That's up next!
Thursday, March 12, 2009
Yes, I still swim . . .
I know. There has been a lot of run, jog, walk talk lately. Only two more weeks of all this run talk. But first here is some swimming.
I have moved myself over to lane 4, the somewhat fast lane. I usually swim last and barely make some of the intervals but that is the only way to get faster. Right? Here is the workout this morning with my sarcastic comments:
I have moved myself over to lane 4, the somewhat fast lane. I usually swim last and barely make some of the intervals but that is the only way to get faster. Right? Here is the workout this morning with my sarcastic comments:
- 12 x 25 on :30, :30, :20
- 8 x 75 kick, IM order - some interval
- 200 IM
- 200 non free
- 6 x 50 kick (I think)
- 4 x 100 on 1:30
- 8 x 100 on 1:30
- And, then something about pool lifts.
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