SugarHouse Park

This morning I had planned to do 3 x 1 mile at 10K pace but felt really sluggish and a bit out of sorts. I decided to swap w/Friday's workout and do an easy 1 hour. I went to SugarHouse Park (which was totally beautiful in the morning light, with the snow-covered mountains around it - the photo is not from this morning, though), around the park 2x, and back to my house with a little extra added on to make somewhere between 5.5 and 5.7 miles, I'm guessing.

Here's a picture of the park from the air. The road around it is 1.4 miles.

I finished in 56 minutes.

First spinning class

Today I tried spinning for the first time. I have never liked the stationary bike too much, so I wasn't sure I'd like this. But it wasn't too bad. It was a very hard workout, much harder than I would have gotten alone on a stationary bike. I wasn't bored, which was good. But all in all, I'm not sure it would be something I'd want to do all the time. I will only have 4 classes of it, and then it will be back to the usual weight training regimen.

I did sweat a LOT, and that was one of the major downers about the workout. I usually racewalk outside, in the cool (or downright COLD) of the morning, so the sweat evaporates readily and doesn't trouble me much. But cycling indoors with 20 other people generates a lot of heat, and even with fans, it was fairly warm in there.

It's nice for a change of pace, but I think I know why I like racewalking better!!!

Saturday & Sunday & Monday workouts

Saturday - easy 45 minutes planned; ended up doing 1 loop of Liberty Park and it took 42:30 from my house to the park, around the park, and back. That was faster than I though I'd do :)!

Sunday - easy 8 miler in about 1:27ish. Felt really great this morning, but my hands got unusually cold. The post-workout hot shower was awesome.

Monday - no weight training because I'm taking spinning Tu & Th for my interim class (until summer semester starts). So, I did a track workout. Warm-up and flex drills followed by 1600m in 9:25, 1200m in 7:01 (trying for 7:04 - a little fast!), 800m in 4:35, and 400m in 2:17. 2 min rest in between each, and then 1600m cool down. I felt good - could have gone faster and/or done more repeats, but I'm trying to work up to the fast stuff since I'm coming off the half marathon distance. All the same, it felt pretty smooth, and next time I'll go for a little harder workout.

Today at the park

After the Liberty Park workout this morning (2 laps very easy to teach Debbie some racewalking technique; I was pushing the stroller), I took the kids to the playground. They loved it! This was Michelle's first time on the big swing, and she did so well. Calvin always swings like this (on his stomach) and I can't convince him to try the regular way. He is such a non-conformist!

Confocal microscope

Here's a photo of the very expensive ($175,000+) microscope I use at work regularly. It's a really neat piece of equipment and I love using it.

Photo from yesterday

My piano students had their Guild auditions yesterday (well, 2 of them did - the other one who is doing Guild will be on Saturday). They did VERY well and the judge was quite complimentary to me :). Michelle had fun while we were there - she tried out all of the digital pianos.

Workouts

Wednesday: biked to weight training class, then lifted for 50 minutes. It was a good hard workout to finish the semester. I'm taking spinning the next 2 weeks, just to do something different, but then it will be back to weights again.

Thursday: First workout for my 10K race; I did a hard but short workout to get going on the faster, shorter distance. I did 1 mile warm-up and cool-down, with 2 x 1 mile at 9:30 (goal). I actually did 9:23 and 9:24 for the 2 miles. Pretty speedy :)!

Today: Did 1 hour easy walking with the dogs, then came home and got the kids dressed. Took them to Liberty Park to meet the Wasatch Walkers. Debbie (a soon-to-be member - this was her 3rd workout and she is going to join!) and Glen (prospective member) were there. Debbie is starting to understand a little more and her knees were a little better today. She is picking it up pretty fast, I think! It was awesome to meet Glen. He is the former record holder in the 50K Masters' age 50-54. His record time was 5 hrs 13 min, set in 1986. WOW! That is a really fast time. I asked him what his fastest marathon was, and he said 4:07. I am really impressed. He gave Debbie some great pointers, and he told me I look really good. I pressed him and he said maybe I could have a longer stride with a bit more toe-off. He has been a judge before, too! He is now 72 years old, and can still walk an 11 minute mile in training. I hope I can do that at his age! Anyway, he was a super nice guy and he had lots of interesting racewalking stories to tell. He says he's coming to the Tuesday workout, so maybe I'll figure out a way to attend (I usually can't go because of work).

50 things about me

My dad's cousin Luann tagged me to do this. The first few are going to be things she listed that I could also list (marked with a *).

*1. If in my teens and twenties I knew what I know now, I would have relaxed and enjoyed life a lot more. (My dad tried to tell me this when I was in college, and I did listen, but I just didn't quite get it, I guess).
*2. One of my secret pleasures is watching Desperate Housewives. I watch it on DVD from the library, because I hate commercials. I usually eschew TV, but sometimes I cave in to societal pressure, y'know?
*3. I am blessed beyond measure with good friends and a loving family.
*4. I am a recovering control freak with frequent relapses.
*5. Every year that I live, my life gets happier. (At least, that seems to be the overall trend; I heard this week on the news that research shows that, contrary to popular belief, older Americans are happier us young-uns).
6. My parents lived in Taiwan from 1987-1989 (my first 2 years in college), and I spent most of 2 summers there and visited 3 other times.
7. Related to #6, I took Chinese in college and speak a smattering of it now. It's a really neat language, but it is hard to learn.
8. I wish that I didn't have such a temper. I think I get it from my dad (no excuse, just reality). I tend to get irritated too easily and blow up at the people I love the most.
9. I really dislike winter. I get cold easily (especially since I've lost weight), and I'm too cheap to heat my house about 65F.
10. Related to #9, I hate driving in the snow. This is somewhat tempered by my new Rav4; the 4WD makes it bearable to a degree.
11. There is nothing better than getting lost in a really great book.
12. I like non-fiction, but #11 is not likely to happen unless it is fiction.
13. I'm not very good at carving out time to just sit and do nothing of significance. I need to learn to schedule some relaxation time into my overly busy life.
14. Though I am athletic now, for most of my life I was a ridiculed couch potato. I am terrible at ball sports, and since that was the only thing that was valued when I was in school, I thought I was destined to remain physically un-fit.
15. I played the clarinet in my high school marching band, and I was in the 1986 Tournament of Roses Parade.
16. I was born in Louisville, Kentucky, but only lived there for 6 months and so have no memory of it.
17. Related to #16, I have always loved horses and watched the Kentucky Derby. If a filly is running, I want her to win every time!
18. Growing up, I had a huge collection of model horses and dreamed of learning to ride. I still don't know how.
19. I skipped second grade. I am not sure it was beneficial; I think I always felt later that I had to prove I deserved to be where I was, and it fed my perfectionistic tendencies.
20. I was tied with four others for valedictorian out of a high school graduating class of 777.
21. In college, I was one of four to be honored with the Muir Scholar Award at graduation.
22. Despite #19-21, I never went to graduate school, mostly because I realized that I was so achievement-oriented that I would drive myself crazy in life if I didn't learn to relax a little.
23. After graduating from college, I got a job working for the now giant biotechnology company called Invitrogen. At the time, it was a small company; I was employee #77, and I knew everyone that worked there.
24. My former boss at Invitrogen is now CEO of their subsidiary Molecular Probes in Eugene, Oregon; I am a senior lab technician at the University of Utah. I'm glad I'm not in his position, and I love my relatively low-pressure job.
25. Now on to some of the little stuff. I wear sheepskin slippers from Costco to keep my feet warm.
26. I refuse to pay much for furniture, so pretty much all of what we own is hand-me-downs or used.
27. I like to shop for clothes at thrift stores.
28. My favorite season is spring. I love flowers!
29. I volunteered for the 2002 Olympics and had a blast.
30. The week after the Olympics I had the worst flu in recent memory.
31. I don't know about or care too much about pop culture, and like it that way.
32. I have a major weakness for all things peanut-butter-and-chocolate.
33. Family stuff: I have one brother who is 2 years younger than me; he is married but doesn't have any children yet.
34. My parents are still married and are coming up on their 43rd anniversary.
35. Loren and I got married on my parents' 28th anniversary.
36. I have 2 grandparents that are still alive, and don't get to see them as often as I'd like because of distance. I get to see my grandma this summer, though! :)
37. I met Loren in chemistry class our freshman year of college, in September 1987. We started dating that December, and dated 5 1/2 years before we got married.
38. We had problems with infertility, and tried for 3 years to get pregnant with Calvin. When he was 11 months old, we went to the infertility specialist to see about trying for #2, and got pregnant on the first try (with medication), so our kids are 20 1/2 months apart.
39. Though we love the ones we have very much, we don't plan to have any more children. Two is enough.
40. I am a Christian and take my faith very seriously; as a scientist, I do not see any conflict between my faith and science. I see my faith as a rational and logical worldview.
41. I am interested in theology, particularly Calvinism, and have completed a Certificate in Christian Studies from Salt Lake Theological Seminary (2001).
42. I play the piano for the prelude, offertory, and communion most Sundays at the church we attend.
43. I wish I had more time to practice the piano and to play chamber music with friends. This season of life, with little children, has too many conflicts with that, unfortunately.
44. Instead I get to go to Kindermusik each week with my little ones. I trade with the Kindermusik studio owner; I teach her daughter piano in exchange for Kindermusik so that I don't have to pay tuition for it.
45. I have two dogs and a rabbit.
46. Five totally random items to finish: There are lots of magnets on our fridge from national parks we've visited.
47. My living room has blue paint and I'm tired of it. I think I might change it sometime this summer.
48. We used to have a hammock in our back yard and I loved it. It fell apart after a few years outside and I would like another one.
49. My favorite color is pink.
50. I love grapefruit without any sugar on it.

OK, now it's your turn!

Taking it easy

I'm taking it easy for a few days after the big race! Yesterday 15 min easy walking to warm up for weight training; I did a hard total body lifting session (hmmm, maybe that wasn't taking it so easy?) but felt good. Today I just did an easy 6K in 41 min or so.

Tomorrow - more weights; hopefully the weather will be warm enough to bike to class. I enjoy a little biking!

I will probably write myself a training schedule for the next 5-6 weeks soon, and begin working toward my next race: a 10K on May 31st. I wish I had a coach. I wish I could afford a good coach. I should call Jennifer and get her to coach me a little again this spring/summer. The budget might be the deciding thing, though.

Races tentatively planned for the rest of the year:
May 31st - Bridal Veil 10K in Provo Canyon
July 24th - Deseret News 10K in Salt Lake City
August 7-10th - USA National Master's Championships in Track & Field, Spokane WA; 5K & 10K judged racewalks
October 19th - Nike Women's Marathon in San Francisco, with Team in Training

Race photos

You can see them here. Not too bad... most look good, a few have me leaning forward a bit from the waist (ugh! I thought I had cured that habit, but maybe it's the weird angle?). My knees look good so at least I'm legal :).

Here's the best one:



Oooooh, just noticed they're only 50% done assigning bib #s to photos. There will probably be more later :). I love pictures!

Official results

152. Tammy Stevenson
Salt Lake City, UT
Bib 5900
Sex F
Age 38
Time 2:14:12
Pace 10:14
Age group 152 / 323
Overall 2153 /3819
Female 1115 /2341

Not too shabby! In the top half of my age group vs. runners and in the top half vs. all women. I'm pleased. In the Athena division (women over 140 lbs) I would have been 61/174.

Other Wasatch Walkers results:
Marjorie Mullaly finished 3rd in her age group in 3:33:14!
Leah Malone got a new PB of 2:57:58!
Cindy Goshert finished her first half marathon in 2:58:15!

My runner friend from church who started the race with me beat me handily (and this after saying she was planning on a 2:45:00 finish!):
Stephanie Goeres 2:03:00


all race results here

Calvin's room is done now!

Here's one photo. More at this link.

Link for more pics

I have a few more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/lortam93/SaltLakeHalfMarathon if you are interested. Hopefully the MarathonFoto guys got some good ones, too. I'll post those when I get a chance.

Happy finisher

 

mile 8

 

Loren took this on his camera phone (he forgot the good camera - drat!) as I went by mile 8.

Stephanie & Tammy at the start

 
I ran into my friend Stephanie at the start - she did the half. I hope she did well - I didn't see her after we got going.

At the start

 

Salt Lake Half Marathon

Pictures to follow - stay tuned!

It was so nice & warm this morning. I was actually worried it would be too hot, but it could not have been more perfect. It was windy, but for the most part that didn't hurt much. There was a strong headwind for miles 1-3.5, but fortunately, most of that was downhill, so it evened out in terms of effort. Then we had a lot of tailwind with only a few more headwinds for the rest of the race. The tailwind was nice and cooling, as I did get a bit warm (but it was fine). The only really bad spot wind-wise was at mile 12.5ish, when I was about to turn north on Rio Grande to finish the race. The headwind was SO gusty and strong I could barely WALK, let alone racewalk. It was pretty amazing, but mercifully brief (20-30 sec?).

I got off to a great start, doing the first downhill mile in 9:30 or so. A bit fast, but I wanted to take advantage of the downhill. It was pretty crowded, but it didn't slow me down too much. The 2nd mile was mostly downhill but had some uphills, and I completed it in about 10:00. The 3rd mile was also mixed, and my watch said 30:11 total when I completed it. I was feeling really good, so I decided not to slow down, even though I was ahead of pace. The 4th mile was downhill to SugarHouse Park, and it was fast - I did another 9:30 for a total of 39:41. I was getting a little tired but breathing well at mile 5 in 50:05. I was quite pleased with my time at this point, though a little worried I would run out of gas since I'd gone out so fast. Miles 6-8 were a little tougher, as I did start to feel the distance, but I kept up the pace pretty well and hit mile 8 about 1:21ish (not sure how far). I took a bunch of water at mile 6 and a GU about mile 7, because I felt I needed a little nutrition. I saw Loren and the kids just before mile 8, as they had walked a couple blocks from our house to come out and see me :)! Going on, I passed some walker friends at the TNT cheer/aid station at mile 8, but they didn't see me even though I slowed quite a bit to take some water. I was feeling better now (the GU and water kicked in I guess) and got to mile 10 by 1:42:00 even! Awesome! Since my goal was 2:14:16, I had 32 min to do the last 5K. I knew I could do it, even though I was tired. I pulled a really fast mile out of my hat from 10-11, getting to mile 11 in 1:52:05. That might have been a bit fast, because mile 11-12 was very painful (had some intestinal cramps, too, which always happens to me in long races; the adrenaline/blood flow diverted to muscles does not agree well with my gut). I got to mile 12 about 2:02:30ish? (not sure) and the last 2 miles were a slight uphill... ouch. Still, I knew I could do the last 1.1 in 11ish minutes, so I poured it on, and the crowd was SO fantastic at the finish. I actually finished a few minutes ahead of the first male marathoner, and so the crowd was really big, because they were anticipating the marathon winner. I could hardly believe it when I clicked my stopwatch at the finish and it read 2:14:14!!! TWO seconds under my goal of 2:14:16! There were a LOT of runners finishing around the time I did, so the announcer was not able to read everyone's name, but even though I registered as a runner (there was no walking division), when I crossed the finish he said "and here's a racewalker, Tammy Stevenson"! I was so excited that he knew I was racewalking, and was elated with my time.

I made my way through the food line, got some food for Loren & the kids (I can never eat much immediately after a race) and saved a few items for myself for later. Called Loren, found out where he was, and had a sweet reunion with my family. They were so glad to hear of my fast race and new PR!

I'm pretty tired now, but feel good. I think my calves may be a little sore tomorrow - I was really working on my toe-off, and I feel it.

Oh, when I got home, there was an e-mail from an older gentleman who found my e-mail from the Wasatch Walkers website. We have been e-mailing all week since he's been rw'ing for about 25 years and used to have a club called the Wasatch Walkers! He came across our website and wanted to join, possibly. Anyway, I told him my race plans and he was there in Liberty Park (about mile 9.5) and said I looked perfectly legal with good form! This made my day even better.

Now I'm going to take a brief nap before teaching a piano student and going to the symphony tonight (and this after going to a 2-year-old's birthday party w/my kids! Busy day!).

Pre-race

Yesterday: Light racewalking + easy weights.

This morning pre-race: it's 59 degrees (15C) at 5:49 am! Wow, that's warm. I think I'll go with shorts and a short-sleeved shirt (hmmmm, maybe I should wear a singlet? Naaaaa... short-sleeved will be fine). It's windy, too, which will help keep it from being too hot. Crazy worrying about too hot in April.

Updates

Our day: Was as fun as I thought it would be, and Calvin was the model of good behavior today. Yippeee!

***

Sci-fi short story download: It was great - I loved the story, and it was pretty amusing as well as entertaining. Clever concept, and well done with a little twist at the end. All in all, a fun read and well worth the small donation. See yesterday's post for the link to download it yourself. Note: It is R-rated, but nothing gratuitous - all necessary for the plot I thought.