Two weeks to PCOT July 23, 2009

Nick started calling the Pacific Crest (Olympic) Triathlon that we’re signed up for the PCOT and that sounds hilarious to me.  I laugh in my head everytime he says it.  Okay, so here’s the run down on the workouts after the Dirty Half and before the PCOT.

June 14: After the DH, Muffin and I headed out to Prineville Reservoir to go camping w/ Jaylynn and her boys.  This doesn’t relate to workouts, but it was fun and it’s my blog so I’m putting it in.  Jaylynn’s boys were great w/ Muffin…John was calling her Muffins and I’ve been doing the same ever since.  The boys walked with Muffins all over the campground and the beach so she was loving that.  Jaylynn is a cooking genius over a campfire…very impressive!  Jaylynn also introduced me to peanut butter s’mores which may be the best thing to happen to me in years.  Holy goodness!  Thanks for a fun Sun/Mon Jaylynn. 

My favorite SSC girl!

Jacob, Jaylynn, Josiah, and Johnathon

Jaylynn’s camp site

Fell from the sky right into Muffin’s H2O bowl…nice shot!

Muffins!

June 15: nothing

June 16: Meissner bike ride.  Time 2 hours 4 minutes; distance 28.12 miles; average 13.6 mph; max speed 39.2.

June 17, 18, 19: nothing…I had to work.  The 18th was my 30th b-day though!  At work Maria and Rosa had a midnight surprise party in the conference room for me: licorice, fruit platter, and chips w/ hummus and salsa.  It was so good.  Matt and Laura came, too.  I love my co-workers!  I opened presents from family and friends before work and had lots of lovely facebook messages and phone calls.  Thanks everyone!

June 20: I took Nick to Phil’s trail so he could try a trail run.  I think it went longer than he had hoped, but he seemed to like the concept.  We started on the DH route for a few miles and then cut back on some trails I hadn’t done.  There are lots of trails out there and I hope to explore more.  Time = 1 hour 13 minutes.

June 21: Meissner bike ride.  Time 1 hour 58 minutes; distance 28.14 miles; average 14.3 mph; max speed 37 mph.

June 22: Swim 50 minutes; run 55 minutes (I had to walk a couple of times b/c I was just exhausted, but I didn’t count the walk time; this was unusual…I don’t usually just crash like that).

June 23: Juniper swimming with Jaylynn!  I did lap swimming on my own for about 30 minutes and then we did lap swimming together for another 20 minutes.

June 24: Skyliner bike ride.  Time 1 hour 11 minutes; 16.4 miles; 13.8 mph average; 34.9 miles max speed.

June 25: Jodie and I tried hiking to Mirror Lake in the Cascades, but there was so much snow on the ground that we kept loosing the trail and didn’t think it would be wise to risk getting lost.  Muffin couldn’t find the trail either so we headed back to the car and drove to Elk Lake for a nice view.  We ended up on the Deschutes River Trail and put in a couple of easy, but very pretty miles.  In the late afternoon I did another du: including the bike to and from my house I had 1 hour 28 minutes, 20.95 miles, 14.2 average, and 31.9 max speed.  Official results: bike split 45:56, run split 25.05, total time 1:11:01.  So it looks like I officially failed my du goal, but it’s good to have a better idea of my capabilities for goal setting next year (yeah, I think we’re going to do this crazy goal thing again!).  I’m not sure if my du goal was flat out unrealistic or if I just didn’t train enough, but I suspect it was a little of both. 

June 26 and 27: Rest days before the PCOT!

Dirty Half July 23, 2009

Sunday was my 1st half marathon ever.  It’s put on by the Foot Zone and is a trail run out on Phil’s Trail here in Bend.  I had gone to two of the training runs that covered the course so I was feeling okay about being able to do the run, but I was still nervous b/c the last few miles always seem to be really rough for me.  I totally forgot to pick up my registration packet the day before so I left early the morning of the race to get it.  I biked there b/c it’s only a few miles away and they were promoting green transportation through prizes for biking or carpooling.  I totally wanted a prize.  I biked for a bit w/ a cool old dude on his way to the race, too.  He was so kick back, biking w/ his coffee mug and chatting about all the other DH’s he’s done over the years.  I arrived and checked in my bike where I got the secret password “buckaroo” to obtain my prize at another tent…a super sweet DH pint glass.  Woo hoo, I love free stuff.  Then I walked around, watching the crowds arrive…800 entries sold out!  I searched out DVA Amy b/c I knew she was volunteering and she helped me decide to loose the long sleeve shirt…good choice b/c it really warmed up.  Then I found Heather from the previous training runs and she convinced me to do a warm-up run…good idea, I didn’t really have a game plan.  My neighbor, Scott, was out there, too.  So I did a warm-up run and headed out to the start line.  Holy people.  It was fun to see so many people w/ the same goal in mind.  Wave 1 had already left when I got to the start area.  Wave 2 was getting ready and Super Dave was providing interesting commentary…seriously, I could have listened to him talk all day.  Wave 2 left and we finally got to move up to the start.  Ugh, 10 minutes between waves seems like a long time when you’re anxious!  I had a little trouble moving forward for the first quarter mile b/c there were so many people.  I found my place and my pace though and it became easier to pass people as we strung out.  The course is of course amazing.  It’s through the forest on dirt trails, mostly single track.  It had rained the night before so it wasn’t super dusty and the air was cool in the morning, but warmed quickly.  I passed more people than I was passed by; passing on single track was interesting at times though.  I gave a lot of “passing on the left” shout outs and most people made room, but even so there were still some sprints off to the side in the vegetation to get through.  I fell in line w/ a pack of five girls for awhile and it was easy to follow them.  Eventually one of the girls broke away though and I decided to, as well.  We ended up together most of the race after that, but she lost me in the last couple of miles.  I did stop at all of the aid stations, but only for a sip of water or Heed and the rest I gave to the ground, wanting to continue on as fast as possible.  Still need to figure out what I’m going to do for a hydration system in the future (H2O belt? Hand bottle?  Waist bottle?  Camelback?  Just aid stations?).  Anyway, as usual, the first 8 or so miles were great and then I felt really tired/slow.  I kept on, but I was definitely feeling it and wondering if I would ever do a half again?  At the 2 miles left sign, I was thinking the answer was “no”.  When the last 1/8 mile came into view I gave every last drop of energy I had to sprint to the finish.  Nick, Pippa, and Will were on the sidelines cheering; I was so surprised…I didn’t know they would be there!  As I passed the finish I glanced at the clock and it said 2:17 or so which seemed pretty slow.  I didn’t think about it too much though b/c Mary Yax was the volunteer in the finish chute and I was so surprised to see her, too, and say hi.  I didn’t have the strength to rip my time chip off my bib even and a volunteer had to do it for me.  Then I was handed a free pair of socks!  Woo hoo, more free stuff; I love it.  I made my way over to Nick and the kids; I was so stoked to be done that I think I rambled off a 10 minute play-by-play for them…who knows if any of it made sense though!  Free heed, bananas, and grapes…starting to feel less like a slug and more like a human again.  I chatted w/ Mary, Justin, and Annalee for awhile (yay Annalee, I haven’t seen you in forever!); about the time I was thinking of heading out it started to rain.  I was soaking by the time I biked home, but having completed my first half marathon I was happy as a clam.  I checked my race results and hadn’t taken into account that I was in wave 3 and the clock started at wave 1.  Total time = 1:5630!  I can’t believe I finished under 2 hours!  From the training run times I wouldn’t have guessed I would do that; very exciting for me!!!

The only proof I was there is this pic from Pip's kiddie camera!

June is my month June 17, 2009

So June has been full of super sweet workouts, great weather, and fun friends.  Kelly, from the New Mexico EPMT days, was up this way from Vegas to climb Mt. Hood and since he was only a couple of hours away I caught up w/ him for another hike at Tunnel Falls on the 1st.  Tunnel Falls was just as great as last time, maybe better b/c of the excellent company (Kelly and his friends Shawn & Joe).  No ankle pain this time…I wore my running shoes.  On the way back Joe decided to cliff jump at Punchbowl Falls.  Ah!  Long way down!  We ended the day eating at McMenamin’s in Troutdale along w/ Shawn’s g/f (Abby), Abby’s sister, and Abby’s sister’s g/f.  Fun times.

June 2, 3: Nothing.

June 4: Happy Birthday Mom!  I biked to Tumalo Reservoir for you!  This time I added on Taylor road, too.  1 hour 31 minutes, 22.13 miles, 14.5 avg, 32.5 max.

June 5, 6: Nothing.  Okay, I did take a walk with Kelly and Muffin by Meadow Camp on the Deschutes, but I wouldn’t call it training!

June 7: First, my running shoes fell 13000 feet, as Nate wore them skydiving for her bachelorette party.  Nice!  Then I went running (1 hour 22 minutes) at Benicia State Park.  The first four or five miles were pretty, but then I tried to run along the shore of the Carquinez Straight and it was really rocky/ghetto.  So I took some other trails and got sliced by yellow starthistle.  I continued on to a marina towards the Carquinez bridge, but this became even more unbelievably ghetto and I was pretty sure this was a great place to get stabbed.  I ended up jumping a fence just to get back onto the streets that seemed safer.

June 8: 55 minute trail run at Shasta Lake (Bailey Cove trail).  Wow, very pretty lake, some more yellow starthistle on this trail…ouch.

June 9: Went swimming at Juniper, but after 10 minutes got kicked out due to lightning.  Since I never go swimming I was super disappointed b/c I actually wanted to do it for once.

June 10: Went to visit Amy at DVA and stopped in for a few minutes to catch up w/ Nick and Rob.  They’re like, “Are you doing the du tomorrow?”  I’m like, “Wha?”  They’re like, “Just do it.”  I’m like, “Well, I don’t have to work ’til 11pm so I guess I could.”  They’re like, “Okay, you’re doing it.”  I go home and I’m thinking, what the heck just happened?  How did I forget to look at the dates for the du race series and am I really going to do a du w/ one day notice?  Of course, last year Nick called me the day of the race and convinced me to do it so really I was at an advantage here.  So I decided to bike Skyliners to get familiar w/ that road again.  1:16′54, 18.2 miles, 14.6 avg, 33.9 max.

June 11: Ah the du.  The perfect brick/speed workout.  Said hi to Mary and Heather…two super awesome Bend athletes.  Chrissy, Jack, Laura, Pippa, Will, and Oliver were there to cheer us on.  Rob started two minutes before I did and Nick one minute ahead of me.  My turn!  Said hi to Wade and then I was off.  Eek!  I was passed by tons of bikers…it’s amazing to watch them…I just can’t imagine being that fast or that muscular.  Holy smokes.  Close to the top I finally passed Nick.  “Bad dog!”  Always a highlight except for that I know he’ll pass me back on the downhill b/c that’s the way it always plays out.  I saw Rob running as I biked in and he didn’t appear to be that far ahead except for that the running course was changed this year to go in the opposite direction first and then double back.  So he actually was like a mile ahead which is awesome; he made great time on the bike.  Nick was still at the transition point when I arrived, but he was off running before I was.  I never passed him on the run and that was unusual.  Darn it.  I still managed to come in 17 seconds ahead of him though overall and that totally made my day!  Not that we’re in competition w/ each other, but we like to give each other a hard time.  Total bike stats to and from house were 1 hour 8 minutes, 15.76 miles, 13.8 avg, 32.0 max.  Race stats: bike 48.25, 12 miles; run 25.55, 3 miles; total 1:14:20.  Just for comparison my best time last year was 26.54 on the run, 45.25 on the bike, 1:12:42 total.  I set a goal this year to have a total time of 1:06, but that seems a little ambitious now!  I did 5/6 dus last year, but this year I’ll be lucky if I can do 2 b/c of work.  Wish I could do more of them; they’re a blast!

June 12: Nothing.

June 13: Went to Wickiup w/ Nick, Laura, Muffin, and the kids.  Nick and I wanted to try this area since the Pacific Crest tri will be here.  My wetsuit is suffocating.  Holy tightness.  The water was cold, but not horrible.  There was good visibility so that was nice, too.  The bad news is I can’t swim.  We were out there for 20 or 30 minutes I think and I was very stop and go w/ a lot of backfloating and breaks.  Now I’m very scared.

My 5′2 next to 175′ falls

W/ Kelly at Tunnel Falls

My running shoes flying!

Race ready

Transition!

Nick running

Sprint to the finish

Year of Awesome, Good Luck, Amazing Feats

The fam

Cakes

Another month June 17, 2009

April 28: Run 90 minutes

April 29: Nothing

April 30: Bike 1 hour 14 minutes, 16.7 miles, 13.6 avg, 32.2 max

May 1, 2, 3: Nothing

May 4: Oh no, back on the bike trainer!  1 hour 8 minutes, 15.65 miles, 13.8 avg, 16.8 max.

May 5: Swim 20 minutes.

May 6: Run 1 hour 8 minutes.

May 7: Nothing.

May 8: Run 1 hour 10 minutes w/ Nick.

May 9: Biked with Nick and Rob as they towed Pippa, Will, and Ginger in trailers up Skyliners.  Had some issues w/ the distance clock, maybe b/c we stopped at the top for a break?  Time 1:01′34, avg. 14.1, max 27.7, distance 14.46? (Dist 2 = 35.19…does that mean I didn’t reset my clock?).  Honestly, I’m not even sure this is the right data for this entry (I have a few scraps of paper where I wrote down the data, but didn’t attach it to a date.  Stupid!).

May 10: Nothing again.  Man, I suck.

May 11: 1 hour yoga and swimmming w/ Jaylynn!

May 12, 13: Nothing.

May 14: Run 1 hour 23 minutes.

May 15: Nothing I think.

May 16: Took a new bike route past Shevlin and up O.B. Riley.  Beautiful ride.  Again, have a scrap of paper that I think was for this ride, but not 100% sure (1 hour 6 minutes, 14.65 miles, 13.2 avg, 31.9 max).

May 17: Run 51 minutes.

May 18: Bike 1:45′37, 23.44 miles, 13.3 avg, 37.3 max.  I did the Shevlin Park to Johnson route, but then went out to Tumalo Reservoir before heading up OB Riley.  This was really beautiful!  No bike lane, but it was out in the country so there wasn’t much traffic.  Lots of farms w/ sheep, cows, llamas, ponds, open spaces, fresh air.

May 19: My first brick workout for the season.  Nick, Rob, and I biked up Century and then ran towards the Old Mill from DVA for about 10 minutes.  Bike stats: 2:13′36, 28.81 miles, 12.9 avg, 38.1 max.  This was awesome b/c Nick had made fun of me when I told him my stats for biking up to Meissner earlier in the season…now here we are and he’s just as slow.  Payback.

May 20-23: Nothing.  Wow, I hope I was doing something important.

May 24: Eek!  There has been a free Dirty Half training group; they started with 7 miles and each week add 1-2 miles.  I hadn’t been able to attend any of the sessions b/c of work, but this day I was finally able to join.  The run was 12 miles (the most I’d ever done) and it was on Phil’s Trail which is the actual course for the race.  I was super nervous b/c I didn’t know anyone and I didn’t know if I’d be able to cover that distance.  It was a gorgeous route and it was tons of fun to be out w/ about 50 other runners.  I ended up only knowing Teague, but I met a nice girl, Heather, too, and we chatted a bit as we ran.  I must have been extremely dehydrated though; I spent the rest of the day in bed w/ a splitting headache.  I think I was at 2 hours 2 minutes for this run.

May 25: Nothing.

May 26-30: I’ve no idea!  How did I not write down if I worked out or not?  Is it really that hard?  What’s the matter w/ me?!  I do have a scrap of paper that says bike 1 hour 58 minutes, 28.09 miles, 14.2 avg, 38.8 max so I’ll assume this happened sometime in this time period, but apart from that I’m at a loss.

May 31: Another Dirty Half training run.  This time it was the full course, 13.1 miles and my time was 2 hours 10 minutes.  Heather and I were matched in pace for the first 8 or so miles, but then I really started slowing down and couldn’t keep up.  I was better hydrated this time, but I was just dragging for the last few miles.  So happy to know that I can cover the distance and will be able to finish the race though.

Weekend with Wendy June 17, 2009

Wendy climbing

Water break

Scoping the “no hippies” sign

South Falls at Silver Falls S.P.

Wendy hiking

Getting above the Gorge

Dog Mt. summit

Wind Mountain overlook

Fairy Slippers

Punchbowl Falls

Eagle Creek

Taking in the greenery

Chocolate lily

Tunnel Falls

Twister Falls

Fav part of the hike!

Woo hoo!  Mini-vacation/road trip.  Wendy planned a super sweet weekend for us to hang out, mt. bike, and hike.  On April 25th, I drove from Bend and she drove from Portland to meet up at Silver Falls State Park.  We did about 8 miles of beautiful mt. biking though a forested area.  There was a little rain, but the trails were good.  There were some serious uphills and I had to walk a few of those; I fell over a number of times going uphill b/c I didn’t have the power to climb and once I was off there was no getting back on for me on a grade.  I really enjoyed the biking though and afterward we took a walk to see one of the 10 waterfalls on the other side of the park.  There is a hiking trail to see all of the waterfalls and I hope to get back there later this summer to do that.  On Sunday, we hiked Dog Mountain(http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Dog_Mountain_Loop_Hike).  There were a number of trails up there, but I think this website shows approximately what we did so maybe about seven and a half miles?  There were great views of the Columbia River Gorge and Wind Mountain.  Wendy brought some field guides so we learned a few plants (fairy slippers were the best…they smell so good!) and Wendy is amazing at identifying bird calls so she was a great guide.  We had a personal display show by a hummingbird, too, and that was funny.  He was zooming back and forth in a half U shaped pattern and doing some kind of call.  We were entertained.  Besides our outdoor adventures, we kicked it at Wendy’s and she made really yummy food.  I had the best salad with dinner and a huge breakfast w/ toast, hashbrowns, and eggs.  I seriously felt like I was at a casino buffet!  We also played a boardgame, Blockus, with Wendy’s boyfriend, Richard, and I think I’m addicted to that game now.

On Monday Wendy had to go back to work, but she gave me directions to a super sweet hike at Eagle Creek to Tunnel Falls (http://www.portlandhikersfieldguide.org/wiki/Eagle_Creek_to_Tunnel_Falls_Hike).  I was a little nervous b/c I had my bike locked in the car and I didn’t want anyone to try to break in (there were signs all over the parking lot and in the guide book about it being a high theft area) and also b/c Wendy told me it was a hike w/ some serious heights and drop-offs.  Yikes!  I’m always up for a challenge though.  The hike was about 12 miles.  I took the side trails to Metlako Falls and Lower Punchbowl Falls…great views and beautiful scenery.  At Upper Punchbowl there was a high school club of kids kayaking over the falls.  It was crazy to see these kids, so young and fearless, going over these falls in such tiny boats!  Very cool though.  About 4 miles into the hike my right foot started hurting.  I was wearing my winter boots b/c I thought it might be rainy (and it was!) and I didn’t want to hike w/wet feet.  So I carried on, but they progressively got worse.  I crossed into the Hatfield Wilderness and finally reached 175 foot Tunnel Falls.  An “engineering marvel”, a tunnel was blasted behind the falls where the path continues.  Kinda sad for the land, but cool for the hikers.  Not far beyond that was a waterfall I really wanted to see, Twister Falls.  There were high drop-offs throughout the route, but none quite as dramatic as the last stretch to reach this fall and for the first time I held onto the cable bolted into the rocks.  It was all worth it though; Twister Falls was stunning, my favorite by far.  Then the rain really started in so I headed back, but now my foot is killing me.  With five or so miles left I began to hike at a snail’s pace.  I undid my laces, but that didn’t help much.  I hiked for a couple of miles w/ no boots on and that gave me the best relief for the sharp, shooting, drop-me-to-my-knees ankle pain, but all the rocks were hard on the bottoms of my feet.  When I finally hit the parking lot I just stopped.  It seemed like I wouldn’t even be able to take the last steps to my car.  The pain was unbelievable, but I’m still happy I did that hike; it’s one of the best I’ve been on since moving to Oregon!

For Cole June 17, 2009

Okay, I suck at keeping my blog updated…I know!  I think I’m up to 4 or 5 comments from Cole on the last post about being a slacker.  Thanks for reminding/harassing me, Cole!

The following is a list of the workouts I remember, more for my own record than for a blog worthy of reading…details are scarce (not sure of where I went or who I went with…so sad).

March 30: My first pool swim of the season!  Jaylynn and I did an hour chakra yoga class (so fun and I ended up being way more sore than if I had done a seven mile run which I thought was interesting) followed by about a half hour of pool time.  Yeah, I still swim as bad as I remember.  I also went for a 46 minute run.

March 31: Another 1 hour yoga followed by swimming and some basic weights.

April 1: I paid for the Dirty Half!  I’m committed to my first half marathon (financially anyway).  Run with FootZone noon group 7.3 miles, 1hour 5 minutes.  Ah, this was the run where this seemingly 70+ year old woman kicked my ass.  I wonder if I’ll ever be that fit, let alone at that age.

April 2: Bike 1 hour, 14.26 miles, 14.2 average, 17.9 max.

April 3, 4: Nothing.

April 5: Bike 1 hour 7 minutes, 15.54 miles, 13.8 average, 30.1 max.

April 6-10: No idea.  Didn’t write anything down.  Probably didn’t do anything on these days, but maybe one 54 minute run.  Meh.

April 11: Run with Annalee and Carol for 1 hour, 6.5 miles.

April 12: Bike 1 hour 2 minutes, 13.9 miles, 13.4 average, 16.6 max.

April 13: Nada.

April 14: Run 47 minutes with Nick, Carol, and Annalee.

April 15: Zip.

April 16: Bike 1 hour 1 minute, 14.15 miles, 13.9 avg, 18.5 max.  Then I did a 1 hour 7 min run later in the day.

April 17, 18: Nothing.

April 19: 1 hour 4 minute run.

April 20: Didn’t write anything down…who knows.

April 21: This must have been my first bike to Meissner for the season.  2 hours 10 minutes, 30.5 miles, 14.0 avg, 38.9 max.  That seemed to have taken a long time compared to last year, but I did take a detour that added a number of miles onto my route.  Nick made fun of me and said that I was super slow.

April 22-24: Again, didn’t write anything down so not sure what I did. 

And now for a fun blog!

Time flies… March 29, 2009

…when your running or not working out and I’ve had my fair share of both in the last 2 weeks.  The 16th I was back on the bike trainer: 1 hour, 13.83 miles, avg 13.7, max 17.6.  I managed this at some unthinkable hour of the morning so I ended up running the same day, as well (46 min).  Two workouts in one day, unheard of!  Unless you’re Nick who seems to manage 2 a day on a regular basis.  Sigh.  Snowboarded the following day, but going into a work “week” (I use that term loosely since I only work 3 days/week) I figured I better do a real work out since I generally miss at least one when I’m working.  Good thing, too because then I skipped the next 4 days.  Wow, I suck.

I had a much better week the 22nd-29th though.  The first Sunday I decided to pick up the distance and ran my usual route, plus the dirt trail portion on the far end of Farewell Bend park (1 hour, 8 min; approx. 7 miles…really, I would have guessed 8, but the shady map I drew on mapmyride.com puts it closer to 7).  Next day I met up w/ Gina and Annalee for the regular Old Mill Loop version of the run (45 min) and the day after that I was back on the bike trainer, but not for long.  After 30 min (7.32 mile, 14.6 avg, 17.2 max) I was so over it.  Nothing for Wed. except for the seemingly bazillion miles I assume I walk while I’m at work.  Thursday I did the longer 7 mile run loop again and surprisingly to me in the same time.  Friday the “funning” continued w/ Nick and Rob on the Old Mill standard loop at 38 minutes and Saturday was the same run (except the starting point was my house instead of DVA) at 42 minutes.  Today I hauled out the bike trainer (I swore on Tuesday that I had put it away for the season and would hit the streets, but it got really cold and windy the past few days…argh!): 45 min, 10.94 mile, 14.5 avg, 17.6 max.  The good news is I did it to my swim instruction DVD so I was kinda hitting 2 birds w/ one stone because I was mentally preparing for my first pool workout of the season which will be tomorrow.  I’m sure I’ll have something to say about that!

Seeing how we’re 2 days away from the end of March, that puts us a fourth of the way through the year that we’ve alloted to accomplish our goals.  Let the panic begin!

Bachelor March 15, 2009

Valerie invited me to Mt. Bachelor w/ her on Saturday and I had a fabulous time!  Between the packed snow in the morning and my newly waxed board, the runs were a little intimidating to start.  A storm rolled in and put some nice powder down in the afternoon so the run conditions went from good to practically perfect in no time.  The mountain was quiet; maybe the threat of the storm kept the crowds away.  The storm wasn’t anything to miss a great day on the mountain over though!  We traversed back and forth across the mountain, taking 3 different lifts and numerous different runs.  Valerie also brought her friend, Susan, and she was quite lively!  We spent about five hours on the mountain…ahhhh!

Last week rocked; this week not so much March 14, 2009

So last week I did five days in a row and I was so happy with myself.  I continued Tues. with the bike trainer: 1 hour 3 minutes, 14.95 miles, avg 14.1, max 18.4.  I found that I can bike just as hard and far watching Planet Earth as I can to Race Day.  That’s good b/c as much as I enjoy Robbie’s company (he’s so cute!), I’m totally addicted to the PE series.  The footage is unbelievable and totally inspiring.  I get really sad when one animal eats another one though or they freeze or starve.   And I get really out-of-sorts with the havoc created by mankind on the planet, but this doesn’t have anything to do w/ workouts.  So Wed. I did the FootZone run: 4.7 miles and 43 minutes with Nick and Amy.  Thursday I was back on the bike trainer w/ Planet Earth: 1 hour 1 minute, 15.06 miles, 14.8 avg, 17.1 max.

This week I started Sunday with a 45 minute bike trainer ride: 45 minutes, 11 miles, 14.6 avg, and 18.3 max.  Monday I went snowboarding w/ Jaylynn and her three boys, Matt, and Jodie (my co-worker friends).  Ah, so fun!  We did about five hours of snowboarding and the powder getting out to the NW lift was crazy.  It was all fluffy snow drifts and it made falling a dream!  What a great day.  I was feeling so good about snowboarding afterward that I finally took my snowboard to Joe’s Sporting in town to have it tuned and waxed.  I hadn’t wanted to put any $ into this hobby b/c I wasn’t sure if I would stick w/ it since I sucked so bad.  I really love going though and after I bought boots, pants, a coat, and a helmet, tuning and waxing were the next logical step.  My board is a hand-me-down from Cindy…I’ve had it for about 3 years and it was probably in Chrissy’s closet a couple of years before that.  I never had it waxed before and there are some decent scratches on the bottom.  I’m so excited to get it back and take it out.  Work took the applesauce out of me so no workouts for Tues, Wed, Thurs.  Ugh.  Friday I finally made it back to Mary Yax’s running group though after quite the absense.  There turned out to be just 3 of us.  I finally met Boo who I’ve heard about several times and the best part was I finally got to spend time again w/ Annalee!  Oh my gosh, I missed her.  So we did the Old Mill Loop, approximately 45 minutes, and it was great to catch up.

Saturday.  Nick and Rob are running a 10K today so a shout-out to them for a good race.  Valerie invited me up to the mt. w/ her so I’m super excited about that.  I only realized at 3:30 this morning that my snowboard is still at Joe’s though.  Shoot!  They haven’t called yet to tell me it’s ready and I totally forgot it was there so I’m just waiting for the store to open up at 8am and hoping that my board is done.  Keeping my fingers crossed…

A good start March 2, 2009

Since I sk*pped (bad word) so many workouts last week I’m trying to make a comeback this week.  So far, so good.  Sunday I did Race Day w/ Robbie on the bike trainer: 1hour, 3min; 14.11 miles; avg 13.4; max 34.9 (b/c I forgot to put the resistance on when I first started!…yeah, I had to restart the video).  Today I met up w/ Nick and Rob for a rainy day run on the Old Mill Loop: 41 min, 5.3 miles (according to Rob’s blog).