Tomatoes

Our tomatoes are making progress. They started off very small; photo above. Now see how big they are (photo below)! There are a lot of tomatoes on there, and also a lot of flowers. I think it's gonna be a good harvest starting in a month or so.

Mmmmm ice cream

Took the kids to Baskin-Robbins last Saturday. It's SO cute watching them pick the flavor they want.

More photos here.

Likes to write his name

 Calvin loves writing his name. This is his latest creation; he did it all by himself, unprompted. I thought it was pretty darn clever!

sleep-deprived stupidity

I really should get more sleep. This morning, I drove the Rav4 up to my weight training class, and got there about 10-15 min early so that I could racewalk to warm up for class. When I pulled in, my instructor was just getting out of his car, and I was distracted because he was dressed up in a shirt & tie. I was asking him about it and re-arranging my car keys at the same time. I meant to put my Rav4 key in my shorts and put the other keys in the car. However, I did just the opposite, and then locked the car. I did not realize what I'd done until I was 1-2 min into my racewalking, when I heard my keys jingling. "That's odd", I was thinking. I reached back and grabbed my keys and realized what I'd done. Major bummer.

Fortunately, I live only 2.9 miles (just under 5k) from the U, where the class is. I racewalked home (all downhill!) in just under 28 minutes, grabbed a quick shower and my husband's keys, and went to switch cars. I couldn't have him just drive me up there, because we have the kids and the Buick has no car seats. So I drove up there and switched the cars, and drove home. Meanwhile, he showered and dressed the kids. I got back and we piled everyone in the Rav4, and took Loren up to get his car. He drove to work from there (less than a mile) and got to work early. I took the kids to day care and made it to work about my usual time. I guess it could have been worse; I got my workout (not the one I'd planned) and it all worked out OK. Still, I think maybe more sleep would be good.

6 miles at marathon pace

6 miles @ marathon pace was the task for this morning. I did 6.15 miles (just under 10K) in 1:04:41, for 10:30/mile. It was downhill for the 1st mile, uphill for the last mile, and mostly flat in between. Average heart rate 142 (low for that pace!). Still not sure I can do the whole marathon at 10:30; probably 10:40 is more realistic, but I'll train hard and see what happens.

Been staying up too late these days, so I am going to sign off and get some sleep now, before it's too much later.

Hills in City Creek Canyon

This morning I got up at the crack of dawn (really!) to do hills in City Creek Canyon. I had a hard time dragging myself out of bed, and I was dreading the workout a bit. But I was out the door by 5:35; I took Copper with me in the back of the Rav4. She was so excited to go for a ride! We arrived at the canyon mouth at 5:50 and started up the hill.

The schedule said 7 miles (11.25km) of hills, and City Creek is nothing if not hilly. It is pretty much UP, UP, UP for 6 miles to the top. However, dogs are only allowed up the first 2.9 miles (4.7 km) from the gate (because of the watershed), so I turned around at mile 2.9, headed back down 0.6 miles (1 km) to mile 3.5 on my Garmin, then back up to the watershed signs, and finally down all the way to the bottom.

[Side note - I remember the first time I went up this canyon - it was on a bike, about 7-8 years ago, with Sarah and Bryan and Loren. I was SO slow and out of shape, but everyone was very patient with me. I wonder how long it took? I have the feeling that I racewalked it today faster than I biked it years ago! WOW! What a cool thought!]

The weather was gorgeous this morning. It was 55 and clear, and in the canyon it was probably 5 degrees cooler (50F or 10C). My hands actually got quite cold in the first 1-1.5 miles, and I wished I had gloves! Even my legs were a bit cold. Hmmm, maybe it was only 45? Perfect weather for a hard workout, though, as the chill makes it so much nicer when you start sweating.

It was a hard climb for the first 2.9 miles, but not as bad as I was imagining last night when I was thinking about this workout. I tried to do it moderately hard, and that was a good decision, as it felt great. I did the first mile in 10:54, and the second mile in 10:53. Not too shabby for the incline, and ave HR was 143 for the first mile and 153 for the second mile. After that I didn't really do splits for each mile, though my split through halfway (3.5 miles) was 36:45 for 10:30/mile (6:31/km).

I was still feeling pretty good when I got to the watershed signs the second time. All the same, it was great to be headed back DOWN the hills to the car. I did pick up the pace quite a bit and finished in 1:09:26 for 9:54/mile (6:10/km) with an average HR of 150 for the whole workout. Wow, that is really very fast for the incline! From 0.0 to 2.9 miles the elevation increased from 4700 feet to 5260 feet, or 560 feet (171m). I'm not sure how much I went back down from mile 2.9 to 3.5; it looks like about 100 feet (30m) or so. Of course, then I went back UP that part, so I probably climbed something like 660 feet (201m) through mile 4.1.

That's not as much as the 900-1000 ft I have to climb in my hilly leg of Portland-to-Coast, and it's about 80% as steep. Holly (our team captain for PTC) has me down for 11:15/mile on my leg. I think I'll be ready. Yes, the hill is steeper and longer than what I did today, and some of it is gravel road, but I was a lot faster than 11:15/mile, and I could have pushed harder had it been a race situation. I'm getting excited - less than 7 weeks to race day (Aug 28)!

And yes, I did stop (very briefly) a few times on the way down to get some pictures. Here are the other photos.

Monday long racewalk

Today the schedule said 13 miles easy (20.92km), so off I went. I had no problem keeping it very easy; in fact, I had trouble for the first half pushing my heart rate much about 132-133. Not sure why, but it was just one of those days when I felt sluggish or something. I did manage to pick it up a bit about 7 miles (11.27km) in, when I was done with the hilly part (I started on some hills and then did a flat part). Ave pace for the first 2 miles (very uphill) was a quite slow 11:42/mile (7:14/km). Anyway, I just felt tired today, and I know I really need to get more sleep. I'm just not sure how to fit it all in. Y'know, work, training, being a mommy, doing laundry & housework & cooking, etc. Sleep seems to get the short end of the stick a lot.

Overall, 10:59/mile (6:50/km), 13.00 miles (20.92km) in 2:22:52. Ave HR was 135.

No pain, though my R piriformis is still a bit tight. It's getting better, though.

***

Oh, and yesterday I did an easy racewalk around Sugar House Park (3.65ish miles?) in 39:17.

Michelle stuff

Sadly, Michelle spiked a fever just before we were to hand the kids off for 24-hr of kid-free time yesterday :(. And the friends who were to watch them can't do it again until August 21st :(. Oh well, I guess the delayed gratification will make it that much better?

***

On the funny side, I talked to Michelle today:

T: What's your favorite store?
M: Costco.
T: Why?
M: Because I can buy samples there.

:) She meant that she gets free samples there :). The kids love going to Costco and tasting whatever they are handing out. Very cute.

TNT workout; RW form

TNT workout this morning. Did 10.7 miles (they were doing 8 or 7); about 1.5 running, maybe 6 walking fast, and the rest walking moderately or slowly. Had a great time taking photos of the team and analyzing walking form for some of them. I plan to get pics of more of them next week along with some of the runners. Everyone did very well today and finished just fine.

 At the end of the workout, I had Danielle get some shots of me so that I could see where my form is at. It's looking improved from last summer; arms are better (though still chicken winging a little) and for the first time EVER I have some shots w/both feet briefly off the ground. This is legal as long as the human eye can't see it, and just the teensiest bit of lifting like I'm doing is probably a little more efficient gait. I'm still overstriding just a little with my L leg, and will have to keep working on it.

More pictures of the team members and of me here.

quite tired

I was SO tired after the lack of sleep the past 2 nights. I really was quite a wreck at our small group meeting last night :( but thankfully everyone was good to put up with me. In any case, I had planned 6 miles at marathon pace for this morning, but decided I would sleep as late as my body would sleep (I am a morning person and don't sleep in well).

I woke up at 6:10 am, and felt decent but only had time for 4 miles before work. I went around Liberty Park (~3.9 miles) in 41:16. Good pace, and I felt great - was so glad I went.

Hopefully I can get in a good weight training workout tomorrow.

1 mile up

Looking UP at the 3 mile point on my walk yesterday; same route as my ride today.

I did some cross-training today. Had to get up early again because Loren had his dentist appt today and he had to leave at 6:45 am, so I had to be back by then. I normally have my weight training class on Wednesdays from 6:30-7:20, so obviously that was out of the question. But after 10 miles on Monday and 6 miles of hills yesterday, a day of rest from racewalking was in order.

So I hopped on Loren's hybrid bike (more gears than mine), complete with bike light and rack for carrying stuff, and up the hills I went. I decided to do the same route I did yesterday racewalking, only I wanted to go farther up the hills. I biked up as high as I could going that way (a road I thought I could take was actually private and gated, with no access), which turned out to be 5280 feet = 1 mile up (1.609km)! OK, so I didn't actually bike up that far...I started at 4350 feet, but still, that is 900+ feet of elevation gain. Not too shabby on a heavy commuting bike (someday I'd like to get a real road bike, but it's kinda low on the priority list at the moment).

Photo looking down when I started down the hill yesterday on my walk (same route as bike ride today).

It was about 3.3 miles up, and then I went on more level roads up there for a bit, and then I biked home (fast... very fast... topped out at 31 mph = 50 kph). Total workout was 7.59 miles in 43:46; ave speed 10.4 mph and ave HR 135 (ave HR going UP was more like 142, and going down it was about 115).

I felt great when I got home, and now I have piano students in 5 minutes.

Zebrafish

Today I immersed myself in the world of zebrafish research. I learned quite a lot for my first day: how to breed fish, how to collect eggs/embryos, how to do whole mounts of embryos on slides, and how to remove a yolk sac from 72-hr embryos. Oh, and I also learned (the hard way, with accompanying laughter) that the water pressure on the hoses in the fish room is rather high! The boss, J, is a patient teacher and all-around nice guy. Co-worker E and student C are easy to get along with as well. I think I'm really going to like this job :).

Pain-free hills :)

I decided to do a hard hill workout today. I had to get up really early because Loren had a dentist appt at 7 am (which later turned out to be a false alarm...it's tomorrow not today, so I get to get up really early again tomorrow), and I was out the door by 5:20 am. It was light, though :)! Love summer!

I went UP UP UP the hills today. Started at my house (4350 feet elevation; 1326m) and over the course of 3 miles I walked uphill almost to the Bonneville shoreline (SLC used to be a giant lake, Lake Bonneville, which receded thousands of years ago) to reach 5100 feet (1555m). Took me just over 34 min to do the 3 miles (just under 5k) up that very big hill; I was pleased with my 10:47 pace to the top. Then I walked back down (much faster, of course!), and my overall pace was 10:13/mile (6:21/km) for the 6 miles (9.65 km). Average HR was 147 for the whole workout. On the 3rd uphill mile (the steepest), my HR was 155 on average. I could have pushed a bit harder for the first 2 miles, but I was tired and it took me a while to warm up to the idea of working hard :). But I'm glad I did this workout - it is pretty similar to the steep leg of the Portland-to-Coast relay, which has 900 feet of elevation increase in 4 miles. I plan to do this one again, and go farther next time!

Oh, yes, almost forgot - I had no IT band or piriformis pain on this workout. My R hip was a little tight but that was it. YAY!

AWESOME photos

This will stretch the budget, but I LOVE these photos. They remind me why I coach. I just love the finish line thing with TNT participants. My fave this time was sprinting with Gwen - the photos get us laughing and are just perfect. Have got to buy these, somehow...

Racewalk with a friend

This morning I did 10 miles or so on the Jordan River trail with my friend Sue. It was pretty warm (68 to start at 6 am, and 75 when we finished at 7:50 am), but quite lovely by the river, which keeps the air a bit cooler.

I was shooting for a 11:00 pace, but as usual when with Sue, I went faster. She's a runner, and her natural long distance pace is probably a 10:30, so she is usually a step or 2 ahead of me. I am too competitive to back off much and I really like her company a lot, so I just go with it. Today we did the 10 miles at a 10:44 pace, and it was great. My IT bands did not bother me at all, which was a relief because they were pretty sore on Sunday. Rest and anti-inflammatories did wonders.

I love racewalking with friends. I rarely get to do this because I'm too fast for most walkers and too slow for many runners. Sue is actually a very talented runner (she BQ'd a few years back) but likes to take her long days nice & easy, and enjoys the company. We had a great time chatting it up about all sorts of things. She will be out of town next Monday so I'll have to walk alone, which is not nearly as fun.

We mapped out some mileage on the trail, which was super for future TNT workouts. All in all, a great way to start the morning.

Some good news :)

I got a new job :). I've actually known about this for a month or so, but I didn't say anything until all the relevant parties knew about it.

A couple months ago my previous employer, S, called me and asked me to come work for him temporarily, as he had some $ for a quick project. My first day back, I was cryosectioning and just shooting the breeze w/a tech in the C lab when she told me of a part-time position in another lab for an experienced tech. I was quite interested and gave her my info. She passed it on, and later that afternoon, J came and talked to me about the job. I interviewed the next week but left things up in the air, wanting to wait and see because S had 3 pending grants, and I loved working for him. Well, long story short, after discussing for a long time with Loren, we agreed that it was best for our family if I went back to work PT, and that I had better jump on this rare opportunity. So I told J I wanted the job for sure, and he was quite happy to arrange things.

I start tomorrow, and will work Tu & Th all day and F mornings. I'm excited, and the kids are very happy to be going back to "school" again to see all their friends. I really do think PT work is the best of both worlds. I miss the lab and am eager to get my feet wet again :)!

Canyonlands 1/2 Marathon

 Finally caved and bought this pic of me in the Canyonlands 1/2 in March. That was such a gorgeous course & I loved it; didn't have any pics during the race so decided I just had to have this one.

More Saturday stuff

My brother and Erica (in photo, at The Red Iguana) left this morning after church, and I was sad to see them go. It's been a busy day but I did squeeze in a nap before I had to do dinner prep (mmmm grilled pork tenderloin with strawberry salsa!) and menu planning for the week.

Finally, I have a little time to complete blogging for the weekend, so here goes.

Forgot to mention that at the end of Saturday's hike, while going downhill, my right IT band was acting up a bit. Then later, while walking to Sugar House Park for the fireworks display, it was bothering me a little too. I took a rest day from walking today (Sunday), but am a bit nervous about my planned 10-miler tomorrow. It's a flat route, so maybe if I take my anti-inflammatory (which I've been doing since last night) and stretch on the foam roller I will be OK.

After the hike, I taught a piano lesson and then we were off to the Red Iguana for dinner. I love that place. As usual, I consumed large amounts of food, but didn't feel a bit guilty because of the 14 miles racewalking plus 5 miles of hiking :). Gotta love exercise! Alex & Erica enjoyed themselves immensely; every time Alex is in town he wants to go there. The food is really outstanding - best Mexican in SLC, IMO.

We returned home to pack up a few things and then we walked over to Sugar House Park to hang out and watch the fireworks. We got there a couple hours before they were slated to start, and we enjoyed relaxing, playing Scrabble (travel set Alex has; I lost badly), and watching the kids get excited about the fireworks.

During the fireworks display, Michelle was SO cute. She kept saying "GO FIREWORKS! YAY!" and was clapping a lot. She really loved it, though she did tire by the end; she took a 3.5 hour nap this afternoon! The video here (all sound and zero picture --- it was DARK!) is her doing just that :).

Fun weekend

Friday: After an easy 3.6ish miles around Sugar House Park in 39:xx, I took the kids to Liberty Park Friday for some serious play time (2 hr!!!) with my friend Ye and her son Adam. The sprinklers were on and Calvin ran around in them, getting pretty wet (fortunately, it was warm and sunny and he dried quickly).

My brother Alex and his wife Erica arrived later that afternoon, and I made paella to feed us all, and peach cobbler for dessert. The kids were SO wound up that night because of the excitement of having guests over.

Saturday: Early morning (6 am to beat the heat) TNT workout from the State Capitol, featuring 10 miles through City Creek Canyon (hard uphill for 2 miles!) and the Avenues. It was a gorgeous morning, though it did get quite warm by the time my walkers finished at 9:15 am. I'm glad we changed the workout time to 6 am, even though it did mean an early morning for everyone. I ended up doing 14.12 miles in 2:49 for 11:58/mile on average, including the time I spent with the walkers. Not too bad.

I'm still trying to figure out how best to get in my own long miles, but I think Mondays are working pretty well for me so far. It's just not quite the same to coach a TNT workout as to do long miles at my own pace; with TNT sometimes I run a little (I ran probably 1 mile on Saturday), sometimes I racewalk fast, and sometimes I racewalk slow, and sometimes I just plain walk. Yes, it's mileage, but not the same as doing it alone.

TNT workout photos here

As soon as I got home, I ate some Kashi Go Lean Crunch with vanilla soy milk & berries (one of my favorite breakfasts post-workout) and then packed a lunch for a gorgeous hike to Lake Catherine w/my brother and his wife [photo at L is us at Lake Mary, on the way to Lake Catherine]. We averaged 25 min/mile over the 5 miles, but keep in mind the elevation (8750 to start) and elevation gain (1200 feet - to 9950 ft). We were also NOT in a hurry and enjoyed a moderate pace, not pushing too hard. It was a gorgeous day for a hike.

hike photos here

More later when I have time - of course we did see fireworks and I have photos but I want to hang out w/Alex & Erica right now :)

What is an athlete?

This is spurred by Ollie's post on Facebook, in which he remarks that he considers himself a "faux" athlete. For those of you who do not know Ollie, he has done countless 5Ks & 10Ks, numerous marathons, and even several 24-hour (or more) walks. He trains hard with racewalking, running, swimming and yoga. He does care about his finishing times and has specific goals he sets for himself. However, because he is not fast enough to be winning or placing in his age group in running races, he doesn't consider himself an athlete.

Now, for some more background: I never considered myself an athlete until a couple years ago when my friend Sara from church remarked that I was an athlete. When she said that, at first I rejected the idea, but after thinking about it for a while, I decided she was right. I was training hard, wanted to compete, and was engaging in physical activity for more than just staying in shape.

Here's the definition from Merriam-Webster:
Main Entry:
ath·lete
Pronunciation:
\ˈath-ˌlēt, ÷ˈa-thə-ˌlēt\
Function:
noun
Etymology:
Middle English, from Latin athleta, from Greek athlētēs, from athlein to contend for a prize, from athlon prize, contest
Date:
15th century

: a person who is trained or skilled in exercises, sports, or games requiring physical strength, agility, or stamina

Notice that it says "trained OR skilled". You can be trained without being particularly skilled. I personally think that people who train to compete are athletes, regardless of skill.

What do you think? Comments please.

Would you count it?

So, some of my racewalking/running friends and I were chatting about when you count a marathon. Some argued that 26.2 miles in itself is not a marathon; they said you can only count it if you raced it on an approved course. That excludes what I did in Seattle and in April in SLC, because 1) I did not RACE either one (I was coaching, which meant that speed was variable), and 2) I did not do the whole course. Both times I did 26.2 miles, though.

I feel like anytime you do that many miles it oughta count. But that's just my 2 cents.

Would you count it? Why or why not?

ouch

Not sure why this happened, as I have never had trouble with it before, and I always buy my shoes 1/2 to 1 size too big to prevent it. I have the dreaded black toenail. Well, in my case, it is more like purple toenail. My big toenails have been bruised and purplish since the race on Saturday. It wouldn't be so bad, but my children and dogs STEP ON THEM at least 3x/day. Michelle just did it and it hurt SO much. Ouch.

Workouts Tues-Thurs

Got behind again. My mom has been visiting, which is a big help, but because I had help I schedule extra stuff this week, silly me. I have a bunch of stuff to post about, but we'll start with my workouts.

Tuesday: easy 1.7 miles to the track in case some TNT people showed for the workout (no one did...sigh), dynamic flexibility drills, and then an easy 1 mile around the track while waiting for people to show up. I then stretched some more and did an easy 1.7 miles home. Total of 4.4 miles in about 47 minutes, with HR of upper 130s on average (didn't pause Garmin during stretching so these are approximations of when I was actually racewalking). Average was about 10:40/mile. I felt really, really tired and realized I needed to take a day off from racewalking. Gee, wonder why ;)?

Wednesday: drove my car to weight training and did a good hard lifting workout and drove home. Went swimming with the kids in the afternoon at Liberty Park, though that was NOT a workout :).

Thursday: Plan was to do 6 miles at marathon pace (10:30-10:40ish). I ended up going faster because I just felt like it. 6.11 miles (just under 10K) in 1:03:30 for 10:23/mile w/ave HR of 142. Good workout; wow, my HR was lower than I thought it would be, because I did push quite a bit at the end, which was uphill. The only thing that marred it was my dog, Sahara. I made the mistake of taking her, thinking she could keep up. Not only did I have to finally let her off the leash (because I was dragging her), but she managed to have diarrhea while we were out; embarrasing, and impossible to clean up w/o a hose :(. I have reluctantly decided not to take her with me on walks any more. I can take Copper, who can keep up just fine, and will continue to do so.

Calvin reads a whole book to Grandma

Calvin's reading is getting really good. He read a whole book to Grandma tonight :).

Michelle dancing :)

Michelle thoroughly enjoyed dancing around when her grandma took us to dinner at Red Lobster.

because I'm crazy...

...I did 8 miles at marathon pace today :) with my friend Sue, a runner who is just a bit faster than me, but she is usually happy to slow down a bit to accommodate my racewalking ways. It was VERY nice to chat the whole time - made it pass SO fast. I love racewalking with someone!!! I was tired the last mile and feeling the sore muscles, but I'm glad I went.

Total 8.05 miles in 1:24:45 for 10:31/mile; ave HR 146.

Seattle RNR in detail: Saturday & Sunday

(at L, me at the start) Race day dawned very early - 3:15 am, as I mentioned in my last post. Diane and I toasted a couple bagels for ourselves, grabbed some bananas and our gear, and were out the door at 3:40 am. We arrived at the hotel and met the others in the lobby around 4:15 am, and got on the bus to Tukwila, where the race was to start. I think we arrived in Tukwila about 5 or 5:15 am. That gave us LOTS of time before the race. It was quite cold and I was glad for the warm clothes I'd bought at Fred Meyer (I got a Nike dri-fit pants & hooded sweatshirt for only $27 at 60% off because they were out of season!). We walked around and checked out the start; they had ample food (bananas and bagels! Guess we could have saved the trouble!) and cytomax and water. There were a TON of porta-potties (but probably not quite enough...) and lots of grass to sit on. We put our gear bags down because the grass was damp, and kicked back for a while. The time passed more quickly than I expected, and pretty soon we checked our gear bags and I got in line for the porta-potties. I thought it would be about a 15-min line, but it was more like 25 min and I really had to hustle to make it up to corral 13 where my first participant, Jason, was waiting for me. I figured I'd start with him because he was the fastest, and then work my way back.

John Bingham was the race announcer at the start, and he was still in fine form, telling us all kinds of jokes and getting the race going in style. It took Jason and I 19 minutes to cross the start line (and my last participant, in the last corral, waited almost an hour)! Thank goodness for chip timing. All the same, the race and the start were VERY well-organized and I'd do another Rock N Roll marathon in a heartbeat. They REALLY know what they are doing.

So, off we went, and Jason told me he wanted me to pace him for 10:30 miles; he was wanting to start off easy and speed up later. I must be pretty awesome at this (hahhaha) because the first mile was 10:31, and the next 2 miles (slight uphill) were in 21:21. By mile 6, despite a bunch of uphills, we were averaging about a 10:34 by my Garmin. I stayed with Jason until mile 9, when the course splits for marathoners & half marathoners. I wanted to make sure I could touch base with all the participants if possible, so I wished him good luck and told him I'd see him a bit later.

(at L, Lake Washington) A bit about the scenery - the first 4 miles were pretty unremarkable; industrial/commercial mostly, but not too ugly. Then mile 4-5 was in a neat neighborhood above Lake Washington; shaded, with pretty homes. Miles 5-9 were SO beautiful, along the shores of Lake Washington. Then the split; the marathoners went on the I-90 floating bridge in the middle of the lake - way cool, but I didn't do that part. They rejoined the half marathoners to go through the I-90 tunnel, where there was a BAND of all things (well, OK, I know this is a RNR marathon, but still - in the TUNNEL? The sound quality was HORRIBLE and it was waaaaaaay too loud!). Still, the tunnel was pretty cool to run/racewalk in. After the tunnel we ran in the express lanes between the regular traffic lanes. I thought it was really neat to racewalk on the freeway, especially since it was only for a short distance (1.5 miles?) and had pretty nice views. Then we came down into the city for the end of the 1/2 marathon along the Alaskan Way viaduct - gorgeous views. Full marathoners went north on the viaduct whereas 1/2 marathoners went south to the finish.

Back to the race, at mile 9, after leaving Jason. I walked back toward mile 8 to try and find Gwen, the next participant --- no easy feat, swimming against the tide :) but I stayed on the sidewalks a lot. I had to watch SO carefully to find her - there were a LOT of purple TNT shirts out there. I saw her after only about 0.3 or 0.4 miles and walked w/her; I told her Jason was just ahead and that he had said he'd slow down a bit so they could run together (he never did, and finished about 5 min ahead of her!). I was only with her a few minutes but she looked great; then I had to turn around so as not to miss my half-marathoner, Laurie, who was next. I walked back a little, and heard someone yell "TAMMY!" and saw my racewalking friend, Mary Snyder, from Boise, who is doing Portland to Coast with me in August. She is a FAST walker and I have seen her at several races now (once she beat me at 5K, and the next year I won at 5K and 10K; however, she is 57 or so, so she is waaaaay faster than me!). I had fun walking with her for a few tenths and the needed to get back to work :).

I wanted to find Laurie now; I walked back about 0.5 mile and didn't see her, so I called her, worried I'd missed her. But about 10 seconds after she answered the phone, I saw her! She was amazed at my timing. It was mostly luck, but some of it was knowing her pace and where to expect her. I had decided to walk her in to the finish, because Gwen and Jason wouldn't need me until the end, and my friend Diane would be several miles back (racewalking and run/walking more slowly than usual due to severe piriformis trouble), and Jeannie, my last participant, would be doing 18 min miles and would be way farther back.

(at L, view coming into downtown) Laurie had a sore foot (on top, kinda odd), but was doing pretty well anyway, and put on a game face to run to the finish for her niece, who has a very severe case of lymphoma. She said that any pain she had was much less than her niece ever experienced with cancer. I admired both of their strength, and took her all the way in to the finish of the half marathon. I thoroughly enjoyed the scenery and shot a whole bunch of pictures.

I knew Diane would be next, but knew with her sore hip I had a bit of time. I called her to see where she was (she was around mile 10.5 or 11) and walked back, stopping at an aid station to eat a gel and take some water and luxuriating in about 30-60 seconds of standing still to do it :). I found Diane about mile 11.8 or so, and walked her in to the finish. She was quite sore, and a bit miffed about her time (slow for her; 3:01 rather than her usual 2:48 or so for the 1/2), but happy to finish, since she had been in a LOT of pain the previous weekend and had not walked since.

Then I had a decision to make - I had called my next 1/2 marathoner to see where she was, but she didn't hear her phone, and so I had no idea where she could be. She was very well-trained and I knew she'd finish well (she'd done two 14-milers), and Diane (TNT coach for 10 years!) advised me that the full marathoners would need me more; the courses were different enough at the end that once I went after the full marathoners I'd have trouble getting back to walk Jeannie, my 1/2 marathoner, in. So I chose to go up the viaduct (backwards on the course) and find Jason & Gwen. Good decision. Diane was right - they did need me.

(at L, Jason hates mile 23) I found Jason about mile 20, and he was quite tired and just wanting to be done (I know that feeling!). He was strong in the face of adversity, though, and just kept on going. He had slowed quite a bit from our initial 10:30 pace, and was doing maybe 11:30 miles at this point, poor guy. I felt a bit bad for pacing him that fast to start, except that he did the SLC 1/2 marathon in 2:02 so I figured he had a 4:15-4:30 marathon in him, and he had wanted to get a 4:30. But at this point, he didn't care about his time any more and really just wanted to finish; it was his first marathon so he was going to PR anyway. I stayed with him until mile 23 or so, where there was another out-and-back (very convenient race for coaching full marathoners, not so good for coaching both 1/2 and full).

(at L, Gwen and I at mile 25, just after the hill) I went back for Gwen, who Jason had reported was about 0.5 mile behind him (he'd seen her at several turn-arounds). Sure enough, I spotted her pretty quickly and she was really glad to see me; her knee has been bugging her and it was hurting quite a bit now. I stayed with her for about 1-1.5 miles until I saw Jason coming back on the out-and-back, and went with him up the hill (why a hill THERE?!?! awful!) at mile 25. It was a short hill, but pretty steep and felt like a mountain. He looked good to go at the top, so I wished him good luck and went back for Gwen. She was hurting, and walking a lot. I walked slowly with her for a while, and then we went up the hill too (yeah, I got to do that beauty TWICE!). The last 3 miles of this race were just brutal --- out and back in an industrial port/container yard, kind of hot by this point (70, sunny, but at least there was a nice ocean breeze), ugly scenery, and that HILL. Icky. Yeah, the weather was pretty great, but about 10 degrees warmer than would have been ideal; still, I'll take it - with the breeze, and with dumping water over my head at the last few aid stations, I felt good. Gwen, on the other hand, was very hot and miserable, and her knee was hurting. Still, she gamely ran/walked on, and as we grew closer to the finish, her eyes lit up and she wanted to go faster. Pretty soon she was really pushing the pace. With only 0.2 to go, she really sped up and I stayed w/her, panting a bit. She egged me on, and we basically RACED to the finish - yes, raced. It was crazy and funny and actually very entertaining! We really sprinted at the end, and the announcer teased us, saying "Coach, why are you racing her to the finish? You're not supposed to do that!". Seriously, it was SO fun! I didn't think I had a sprint in me, but I got my HR up to 167, and we were flying and laughing our way across the finish. If there's a good photo of us, I am SO buying it!

(at L, FINISHERS!) I got Gwen to the medical tent for some ice for her knee, and stayed with her while I stretched. Then we grabbed some food, went to the TNT tent, and I found Jeannie. She had finished well and was very pleased and had had a great time. I apologized for not being able to walk with her, but she was OK with it and had so much fun she didn't care. Phew. I made the right decision, for sure, because Gwen and Jason had really needed me more.

I had to hurry to get my gear bag and get back to the hotel, because Diane needed a ride to the airport. She had showered in Jeannie and Laurie's room, and had met her daughter for lunch while I finished w/Gwen & Jason. I took her to the airport, and then sat in awful traffic for an hour getting back to my aunt & uncle's home. My right piriformis, which had been stiff during the race but not painful really, started to hurt quite a bit from sitting in the car (my high school friend Glen called it "driver's ass" at lunch, and he was totally right about that - it hurts so much when driving!), plus I was very, er, well-hydrated, and uncomfortable. I did find a gas station with a restroom eventually (whew!) and made it back "home" for a shower.

I was tired but wanted to see my grandpa, so I went over there and showed him race pictures and pics of the kids for about an hour. Then I drove downtown to attend the victory party with Jeannie and Gwen. Lots of good food, but the buffet line was WAY too long - not enough lines. I was SO hungry by the time I got my food, and it was quite unpleasant. The venue was nice - it had bowling alleys and pool tables (not that you really want to bowl after 26.2, though!), but I was too tired to do much besides eat. I got back to the hotel, picked up some souvenirs for the kids, drove back to my aunt & uncle's home, and hit the sack.

Awoke too early the next morning, so I decided 3.5 miles or so was in order to loosen things up. I did 3.5 hilly miles in about 38 min for an 11-min pace, and it felt pretty darn good. Hamstrings are a bit sore, as is my right shin, right piriformis (same ol' same ol' there), and my right deltoid. My lower back is a bit sore too, but overall, I feel good. Seriously, I've been a LOT more sore after a tough weight training workout. Tomorrow may be worse, but I've got 8 miles planned with a friend, so I'll be out there stretching things out :).

After my walk I had breakfast w/my grandpa, packed up, and headed to the airport. Jeannie almost missed our flight, but got there just in time. Other than that, the trip home was happily uneventful, and I got in a great nap :) (and now am having trouble feeling sleepy... oh well). Speaking of sleep, I'd better get some, but first a few stats.

Marathon:
Total miles: best guess is 27.8 miles (Garmin kicked out during one tunnel, but still gave me the miles; the other tunnel it didn't register the mileage, and the course map said 0.4 miles. I went through it both ways for 0.8, and my Garmin said 26.98, so that makes 27.8 total).
Total time: including ALL stops (I never stopped the watch), it was 5:24. Gwen finished in 5:16, and she started 8 min behind Jason, which makes 5:24. The total time also includes the slower walking I did with Diane and with Gwen at the end.
Average time per mile: 11:40. WOW. That is really good, considering that I felt pretty decent at the end (much better than at Nike last October), and considering that I could have gone faster for a good part of that time. Makes me hopeful for a great race in Portland this fall.

MORE PHOTOS HERE

Seattle RNR in detail: Thursday & Friday

Wow, this is the first time I've had time to sit down and blog all weekend --- and probably only because I'm home now and got the kids in bed.

Here are the details of the weekend:

Thursday I arrived at Sea-Tac on time (yay Southwest!), got my rental car and drove straight to my grandpa's assisted living to visit him. I took him out to lunch at the Issaquah Cafe, and visited with him a bit at his apartment afterward. He is doing pretty well for 89 years old, though he has definitely deteriorated quite a bit since the last time I saw him. Still, he seemed pretty aware in general. He knows what all his grandchildren are up to, is aware of at least some current events, and talked to me at length about things he's done in his life. He ran the 400m high hurdles in high school - I had no idea that he'd done that! He said he never won, because the city champion also went to his high school. I bet he was pretty good, though, because his daughter (my aunt) is a fabulously talented runner.

After meeting with my grandpa, I went to my aunt & uncle's home, where I was going to stay (they were out of town, so I couldn't visit with them, but it was wonderful to stay at their gorgeous home). They had left some wine & cheese & crackers & fruit for me :). I just had a little fruit and saved the rest for later. After settling in a little bit, I left to drive to meet my friend Heather (in photo at left, with me). I've known her since early 2004, when I joined an online buddy group for pregnant women due in late Sept 2004 (Calvin was born in early October, and so was Heather's daughter). It's funny, but I really feel like I know this group of women really well, even though we have never met in person. I had never met anyone before that I only knew online, and it was great! Heather and I hit it off really well and it seemed like we'd known each other for ages, even though we had just met. I met her girls (same ages as Calvin & Michelle), saw her house & yard, and then we got to go out to dinner together at a very nice little Italian place in the Magnolia area of Seattle, where she lives. It was a lovely evening, and by the time I got back to my aunt & uncle's home, it was pretty late.

I slept very poorly, despite wanting some good sleep because of the impending race. I awoke at 2:30, kind of anxious about the race details, and could not fall asleep. I decided to look over the course map, and do a few other things. I finally fell back asleep about 4 am, and then had to get up at 5:30 to get dressed and drive downtown. I drove to the hotel that the TNT participants were staying at, and met them in the lobby for an easy 20-min workout to get the kinks out of their legs. Only one participant of four showed - the others planned on going later. We enjoyed a very easy walk around downtown (the participant who showed was a walker), and then I was off to the staff & coaches' meeting. 90 long and mostly boring minutes later (though there WAS some GREAT info in between the dull parts, so I'm glad I went), I left the hotel, grabbing some breakfast on the way out (one apple & a biscotti), and drove to the airport to pick up my friend Diane.

Diane and I then went to the race expo, where we met up with some more online friends: Elizabeth and Dora, alumni from Dave McGovern's racewalking clinics, and Elizabeth's granddaughter Nicole. Glen, a high school friend of mine that I haven't seen in over 20 years, also met us there. We just became Facebook friends a few weeks ago, and discovered we were both TNT coaches! He lives in Seattle, and is a talented runner who ran cross-country in high school and is now an avid marathoner - his PR is 2:35!!!!! I very much enjoyed reconnecting with Glen and chatting with all of the racewalkers. Elizabeth's practically encyclopedic knowledge of racewalking facts entertained all of us, and we had a great time despite the horribly slow service at the restaurant (guess they hadn't planned on the race expo traffic, despite the fact that they were across the street from Qwest field, where the expo was held). And darn it, I just realized I totally forgot to take pictures of us at our lunch :(, but I do have one of Glen at the expo (at left) :).

After lunch we explored the race expo for a while (typical, and unremarkable... I never care much for them), Diane and I drove back to my aunt and uncle's home, with a detour at Costco and Fred Meyer to find some warmer clothes for pre-race, as with the humidity in Seattle it felt much cooler in the mornings than the same temps in Utah. Yeah, I'm the coach, and wasn't really prepared for the cooler weather ;). At least I could remedy that situation, so it all worked out. At my aunt & uncle's home, we enjoyed wine, crackers, and fruit, and a brief nap (me; Diane was unpacking) before heading to the pasta party.

TNT pasta parties (photo at L of some of the team members (all except Laurie) and Diane) are great, and this was no exception. John Bingham (aka "The Penguin"), Runner's World columnist, was our speaker, and he was in rare form. Even though I've heard some of his jokes before, they were just as funny the second time. The food was pretty darn good, too. My only complaint was that it ran a bit long - started at 7 and ended at 9:30 pm, which meant Diane and I did not get back until about 10:15 pm. I was asleep by about 11 pm, but we had to wake up at 3:15 am. UGH! More about that in the next post... so keep reading!

Seattle RNR very briefly

Just finished coaching the Seattle Rock N Roll Marathon & Half Marathon; all of my team finished well and are OK. I did about 27-28 miles on a beautiful course (tunnels obscured Garmin readings so not sure exactly). It was a VERY well-run race and organized and lots of fun. More details and pictures to follow when I get a chance.

Happy Birthday, Michelle :)

Blowing out the candles

Trying to hold up 3 fingers

Lots of birthday photos here.

Happy Birthday to Michelle!

Here's the cake. Can't wait to try it... yummy! Yeah, this might not be such a good week to lose weight, what with the birthday and trip to Seattle. Sigh... but if I can at least avoid gaining this week that will be good :). I think that might work!!!

Here's the recipe. I think this is going to be amazing. Tried a bit of the edge from the pan and it was incredible; ditto for the frosting. Oh, and there are oreos INSIDE the cake, AND it has a whipped cream filling. Yum!!!

My cake is darker than the one on Good Things Catered, because I used dutch process cocoa instead of regular Hershey's. Mmmmm... dark chocolately flavor.

Short but intense track workout

This morning I did a short track workout. Short because I have the Seattle RNR Marathon to coach this Saturday and I want to be fresh. I figure I'll do at least 20 miles, and I want to be feeling good for it.

I warmed up with my usual 1600m acceleration. Today I was very fast - ave HR of 138, and a 10:04 for the 1600! Still, that was starting from rest, so the ave HR is a bit of a misleading statistic.

Then I stretched out with some dynamic flexibility drills and started my workout: 2x1600m with 2' rest. I did the first 1600 in 9:14 and the second in 9:13. Yeah, that was very fast - faster than last week, but I knew I was only doing 2, so figured I might as well fly. I was focusing a lot on my technique, and have been thinking about that more the past week, and I think that helped. My ave HR for the 1600s was 154 and 160 - compare that to last week when my first two 1600s were 9:29 and 9:26 with ave HR of 153 and 156; I was faster this week with similar HR. Maybe it's just random fluctuation due to who knows what, but I hope it's a trend toward speed. I'll keep working on it. I've been thinking a lot about my stride length since watching this video, and working on extending through the toe push as well as getting my elbows back.

I want to walk like Olga Kaniskina.

I finished my workout with a 1600m cool-down in about 12 min, a little regular walking, and a good stretching session. Interestingly, my piriformis was not bugging me at all today, despite the fact that it was quite sore Saturday. And thankfully, my IT band has been really great - let's hope this is a trend :).

Frustrated, but hanging in there

I had 2 really good food weeks and lost 1.2 lb each week, followed by 2 more good food weeks in which I gained 2.2 lb total. I am frustrated.

On the other hand, it *might* be water weight. My pants are fitting better, which is really a better sign than what the scale says.

Still, I was stupid enough to eat my frustration last night. I ate about 10 points just because I was mad/frustrated/tired. That was really dumb. You would think I would have this figured out by now, but y'know what? 4.5 years in, I'm still messing up. Life is messy & complicated, though.

Overall I've been doing very well. Let's face it: the good news is that I lost 100 lb and have kept it off for over 2.5 years now. And I am NOT gaining it back any time soon. I can do this, but there are hard days and hard times to get through, and there is still a lot to learn.

Right now the main problem is sleep, and I know it, and feel a bit powerless to do much about it. I need more sleep, but I also need more "me" time. How do I balance these? The sleep is very important for my training as well as my eating; I want to sleep more, and yet it's just hard to find the time.

TNT workout

PHOTO: Me with summer team members Suzy, Heather, and Jeannie. After the hard 5K, I still had to coach the TNT workout. The bulk of the team was doing 6 miles, thankfully. I did have two people doing 10 miles, a very FAST runner (he is shooting for a 3:10 to qualify for the Boston Marathon) and a walker (who ran/walked about a 15-min mile pace).

I keep forgetting to set my Garmin to autopause for the TNT workouts, and then I hit "STOP" and forget to restart. So my Garmin said 6.31, but I know I did at least 8 miles. Oh well! I had a great time chatting with people and hearing about how they are doing with their training. Most seem to be doing pretty well and are taking it fairly seriously. Of the 8 miles, probably 5-6 of it was at a faster pace (<12 min/mile) and the rest slower.

I did run a little with the fast runner (though in truth, I had a LOT of trouble staying with his ~7:30 pace!), and then the rest with the other runners and walkers. After bringing in the last walker for the 6 miles, I went out after my 10 mile walker and brought her back in. The running didn't seem to bother me too much today; I had maybe one IT band twinge and other than that it was fine. My piriformis, on the other hand, is really bothering me. It's not hurting so much that I can't walk fast, clearly, but it sure is annoying. I really ought to call my physical therapist but doubt I can get in Tues or Wed, and I'm leaving for Seattle Thurs, so I guess I'll massage it a lot and hope for the best.

Oh yeah, Seattle... am going to Seattle with the 4 summer team members (2 half, 2 full) and it's going to be great! I have lots of socializing planned with friends & family (my grandpa lives there), and I'm excited :). Probably shouldn't have done a hard 5K the weekend before a marathon, but what the heck, I'm coaching, not doing it for time, so all should be well.

Wasatch Walkers 5K handicap race #3

This morning our club had our 3rd 5K handicap race of the season. I did the handicapping, assigning club members times by 1) the average of their last 2 club 5Ks, or 2) their 5K time calculated from a recent 1/2 marathon.

Nine club members came to race, and one came to cheer us on. We met at Liberty Park and did 2x around the park (1.4 miles each) and finished the last 0.3 to end in the middle of the park.

I warmed up a little and did some stretches while waiting for my turn to start. I was the last to start; 18 minutes and change after the first person to start. It was a bit intimidating to have so much of a lead to make up. The woman who went first is our newest club member, and she's improving rapidly. In fact, she was 3:41 faster today than at our last 5K! Needless to say, she won the race today. I like the handicap races because they do favor the walkers who are still improving rapidly, giving them encouragement and a needed boost to their nascent walking careers.

I had a very good race. I did mile 1 in 9:18 with an average HR of 159. I was trying to be fast but save something for the end. Then I did mile 2 in a perfectly consistent 9:18. I felt I still had something left, though I was tiring. Starting on mile 3 I really gave it my all, and the last 1.1 I did in 10:11 (a 9:06/mile pace!). I was really breathing very hard that last 1.1, and struggling to pass someone, anyone. I did pass Diane, but she was walking quite slowly, and as I went by I asked "Are you OK?" (how I squeaked out that question I don't know, as I was pushing so hard!). She said "no" and at the finish she told me her glutes on one side were extremely sore. She is signed up for Seattle RNR 1/2 marathon on Saturday so I hope she is able to do it :( :( :(. I also passed Leah, who had a good, fast race, and finished just behind me. But I was not able to pass any of the other 6 walkers, and so I came in 7th. Total time by my watch was 29:47 (official time was 29:49 somehow... close enough I guess), only 11 seconds slower than my PR for the distance, and either my 2nd or 3rd fastest 5K (can't remember but think maybe the Murray Fun Days last July 4th was a bit faster? I could look it up on here but too lazy).

I am quite happy with the race, 7th or not, because I was FAST today! The other walkers in the club were even faster, which is awesome. I think most were quite pleased with their times, except for Diane. I called her later and she was feeling a bit better, but was still hurting.

After the race, I rushed over to Sugar House Park for the TNT workout, the subject of my next post :).

More photos here.

Full results here.

lazyish Wednesday & Thursday

I normally go to weight training on Wednesdays, but felt like meeting the Wasatch Walkers at Liberty Park. I racewalked from my house to the park (12:30ish for the 2k) and then we went around the park a few times to measure the course for Saturday's 5K handicap race. We averaged what the Garmins said to figure the distance. My friends were doing run/walk intervals because a bunch of them are taking the Galloway class for the St. George Marathon this fall. I racewalked with their run intervals and then walked with them on the walk intervals. It was a nice, very easy pace at around 13:00/mile. Then I racewalked back to my house. Total about 6 miles.

***

I usually do a hard tempo workout on Thursdays, but today I skipped it because 1) I was feeling tired & sluggish, and 2) we have our 5K on Saturday and that plus 10 miles with TNT will be enough! A hard 5K is tempo enough for this week, I think. So I did Sugar House Park instead, and did the 3.7ish miles at a 10:20 pace. Pretty quick - I felt quite good (surprisingly!) after the 1st mile, so sped up as I went. The dogs were dragging by mile 3, which was pretty irritating, but I was able to coax them into getting home fast enough.

Tomorrow an easy walk + weights is in the plan.

Kindermusik SPLASH!

We've been going to Kindermusik summer camp this week and last week. Here is a video of some activities in one of the classes:

by request: homemade granola recipe

I got this from Food Matters by Mark Bittman.

Anything Goes Granola
Makes about 9 cups

5 cups rolled oats or other rolled grains (wheat, rye, kamut); I used oats
1 cup mixed nuts & seeds; I used pecans, almonds, cashews, and sunflower seeds(Bittman calls for 3c but I used 1 to keep calories lower)
1 cup shredded, unsweetened coconut
1t ground cinnamon, or other spices to taste
1/2 to 1 c honey or maple syrup (I used 1c lite maple syrup)
1t vanilla (optional; I used it)
1-1.5 c raisins or chopped dried fruit (I used 2 c of chopped dried fruit: apricots, plums, pears, apples, craisins)

1. Heat oven to 350. In large bowl combine oats, nuts, seeds, coconut, cinnamon, sweetener, & vanilla; sprinkle w/a little salt. Toss well. Spread on rimmed baking sheet and bake 30 min or longer (it took mine 45-50 min), stirring occasionally. Granola should brown evenly; the darker it gets w/o burning, the crunchier it will be.
2. Remove pan from oven & add raisins. Cool on a rack, stirring now & then until granola reaches room temp. Put in sealed container & store in fridge. It will keep indefinitely.

8 WW points per cup

dated

My mom sent me this photo, and it just cracks me up. I'm old enough now that my high school photos are very dated. Scary, even. Here's homecoming my junior year, with Jesse DeEsch.

You can see that actually I weigh less now that I did then :) by about 15 lb or so, plus I'm much better toned. Yay!!! That's fun to be able to say!

Mon & Tues workouts

I worried I'd be sore from rowing on Sunday, but my conditioning must be good because I was just the smallest little bit sore in my right deltoid (shoulder) and other than that I felt perfectly fine yesterday and today.

So, yesterday I did a good hard weight workout; only arrived in time to do 8 minutes of racewalking to warm-up, and then I did the weights and abs. After stretching, I drove home and plopped the kids in front of PBS kids and squeezed out another 20 min on the treadmill. Total: 2.7 miles in about 27 min (yeah, that seems fast... but my ave HR was only 135... something must be a tad off, but whatever, no big deal).

Today I took on a very big challenge. 1600m acceleration warm-up in 10:12 (1st lap about 2:45 and last lap probably 2:20ish?), then mile repeats. Well, OK, 1600m repeats, but since a mile is 1609m it was pretty close :). I intended to maybe do them in between 1/2 marathon pace (10:00/mile) and 10k pace (9:30/mile) but ended up doing them at 10k pace. I felt good and wanted the challenge. I did SIX repeats (yeah, I feel VERY virtuous now!) in 9:29, 9:26, 9:30, 9:28, 9:29, and then I really pulled out all the stops and did a 9:22 to finish. I was pretty trashed so basically walked 2 very slow laps (15-16 min miles?) to cool down and then stretched a lot. My IT band was completely fine but my right piriformis is still bugging me a little. I think I'll do the foam roller & tennis ball a little more later today.

Oh, forgot to mention that I offered a track workout to the TNT people this week and last week, and no one showed. I'm not really that surprised, as that's the way it's been pretty much every time I've offered them; I'm lucky to get 1-2 people to show.

Rafting weekend

Ahhhh... marvelous! You really must raft the Colorado sometime. It's wonderful.

We drove to Green River on Friday night, an hour outside of Moab. It's a truck stop on I-70, essentially, and it was only $50 for Motel6 instead of $100. Definitely worth the savings.

I enjoyed a warm (almost 70 degrees at 5:45 am!) 8.9-miler at a 10:55 pace to start my weekend. Photo is of me by the Green River, for which the town is named. I was going to do 10 miles but ran out of time; still I knew I would need the points for the food on the trip, so I did as many as I could. More pictures of Green River here.

Then we drove to Moab to meet our group (Leah and Cindy from the walking club met us there, and a retired couple named Jeff & Jean joined us as well) for the rafting expedition. The guides loaded up our belongings and we drove up highway 128 for 30 miles or so to Dewey Bridge, where we began our journey downriver. The first day was a very calm float trip with only one small rapid. Still, it was very beautiful, and I was out there for the scenery and the relaxation, honestly. Loren would have liked more rapids, but was enjoying the trip anyway.

We camped on a small island about 10 miles downstream. It was quite lovely, though very windy. The wind calmed down just in time to enjoy a yummy dinner of pasta, grilled chicken, asparagus, and garlic bread, with dutch oven brownies for dessert :). Over a little wine, I was wishing aloud that I could get some more exercise the next day (can't racewalk on a little island covered with brush!), and one guide, Landon, said I could row the gear boat. Cool! I was pretty excited about that. Loren thought I was a bit crazy, but I was game to learn.

In the morning we got on the river pretty early (9:30 am) after breakfast and breaking camp. Good thing, too, since the guides told us that the river gets VERY crowded on weekend days, with a hundred or more rafts. We did not see any other rafts at all, which was great. Landon was true to his word and showed me how to row the gear boat. I rowed it through all of the rapids except the last one, which was more hazardous. He was going to let me do it, but I chickened out and got in the other boat with the group. I actually loved rowing the gear boat through the rapids - it was pretty fun attempting to make it go where I wanted to go, and I did OK. I made it through all of them very well except for one, where I got a bit sidetracked and bumped into the canyon wall. Oh well!

More pictures of our rafting trip here and here.

Takin' it easy

I am doing some serious R&R this weekend. Loren and I are headed to Moab to raft the Colorado River for 2 days. I should be able to get in a nice long racewalk tomorrow morning before we go rafting (we have to be at the rafting place at 9:30 am), but I'm not taking my computer, so you won't hear about the weekend's activities until Sunday night or Monday at the soonest.

This morning I was gonna racewalk and then lift weights, but got up too late and just lifted only. The good news is that I did actually get 8 hours of sleep last night for the first time in weeks. Ahhhh.

OK, got to go - lots to do & clean before I leave.

Full Norwegian, interrupted

This morning I had in mind to do a full Norwegian fartlek workout. It's a great workout, and one I can do on the roads instead of the track, which is nice :). It goes like this: 10 min warm-up, 2 min fast (10k to tempo pace), 2 min easy, 4 min fast, 2 min easy, 6 min fast, 2 min easy, 8 min fast, 2 min easy, 7 min fast, 2 min easy, 5 min fast, 2 min easy, 3 min fast, 2 min easy, 1 min fast, 10 min cool-down.

I did do the whole workout, and had fun; however, it was interrupted by a couple things. 1) after the 8 min fast I really had some GI problems and stopped to use a restroom in Liberty Park. I haven't had any GI problems in a while but whatever it was was probably caused either by a virus or something I ate, because I had some trouble last night and later this morning, too. At least I was still able to do my workout :). 2) during the 7 min fast I saw a friend (Team in Training - from the summer team) in the park and stopped to chat for a few minutes. Other than that, I was able to do my workout without interruption, and my dog Copper (pictured) happily kept up with me. She can handle the fast workouts, while Sahara, our other dog, cannot.

Here were my paces (by Garmin) and HR for each fast segment:
1) 9:23/mi; 140 (pretty low, but it was downhill and at the start of the workout)
2) 9:42/mi; 146
3) 9:41/mi; 152
4) 9:27/mi (10k pace!); 151 (wow HR is still pretty low for this pace)
5) 9:32/mi; 156
6) 9:52/mi (some uphill); 158
7) 9:48/mi (some uphill); 160
8) 9:46/mi; 157

Pretty good workout. My HR was a bit lower than I'd like for some of the longer intervals; maybe I need to think about stepping up my pace? I think I might be getting 1) fitter as I've been training harder for a few weeks now, and 2) more efficient in my gait as I have been racewalking for a few years now. Finally, the added weight loss can't hurt :). I am wearing a pair of jeans today that is super comfy; a few months ago they were too snug to wear more than a few hours. Yay!

catching up

Been a little busy so let me update you as to our goings-on.

Sunday: 3.94 easyish miles around Liberty Park; a bit stiff from Saturday and thought I'd be slow, but averaged a 10:34 mile pace with ave HR of only 135! Pretty fast for that HR!

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Monday: Weight training in the morning. Then in the late afternoon, Kat (former co-worker) and I ran/hiked up to the Living Room together. It was quite a sight w/the storm brewing. It was very windy and a bit cold, but we managed the 2.43 mile (by Garmin) round-trip in 48:30; the elevation change was 1000 feet each way (wow!) in that distance. My heart rate averaged 145 on the way up, for 18:56/mile. Yeah, it was steep. We went down more slowly than we came up, though, because the footing was not easy and I'm kind of a hiking wuss.

Here are more pics on Flickr.

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Tuesday: Track workout. Yasso 800s. Hey, does anyone know if these are predictive of how fast you can RW a marathon just as they are for running? I'd guess the answer is yes, but I'd like to know, because I was pretty fast today! (For the uninitiated, Bart Yasso of Runner's World is known for 800m repeats; he says if you can do about 8-10 of these at a certain pace, e.g. 4 min 35 sec in my case, that predicts a 4 hr 35 min marathon). Anyway, after a warm-up and stretching, I did 6x800 (not that many, I know - but I will do more as the season progresses) in 4:36, 4:32, 4:33, 4:37, 4:31, 4:31. Despite feeling pretty sluggish (not enough sleep) and having a bit of soreness from last night's hike, I surprised myself with the fast pace that I did these at. I am sure I could have cranked out a few more at 4:36-4:38 if I had to. So... maybe a 4:35 or 4:40 is possible this fall in Portland? I'd like to think so :).

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Happy me! I was down 1.2 lb at Weight Watchers again, for the 2nd week in a row. Morning weight still around 146-147 but hopefully we'll get it down to 143-145 and keep it there by fall.

TNT workout

 Me & Jeannie after our workout

Today we met at the Jordan River trail for our long run. The fall team, in their 3rd week, was doing 6, 5, or 4 miles, depending on the race they are doing. The summer team half marathoners (the full marathoners were out of town and did 20 w/me last Sunday) were doing 14.

I started out w/the faster runners, including one of our summer team half marathoners. She hasn't been able to attend the workouts, so it was super nice to have her along today. I did about 3 miles pretty fast, and then about 3 miles more slowly, with going back and forth with everyone. After escorting the last of the fall team walkers back to the start, I went out after our summer team runner (who had decided to do 10 rather than 14) about 1.5 miles and brought her back to the start. Finally, I racewalked way out (about 4.5 miles?) to get our summer team walker (who did the full 14) and then walked in slowly with her.

My Garmin said 16 miles, but I accidentally had it off for a while, so I really did more like 17.5 or 18, I'm guessing. About 2/3 of that was reasonably fast (11:30 or faster) and the rest was slower.

Some tidbits from the workout:
1) I really enjoyed walking with the fall team walkers. They were VERY into learning more about racewalking and were super enthusiastic. It was a blast! I think I might have a racewalking clinic for them.
2) We have 3 guys training for the Dublin Marathon (yes, in Ireland!!!). They are lots of fun and I really enjoyed getting to know them better. I was telling a couple of them that I'm a racewalker, and the one guy says, "Hey, no kidding - a couple years ago I was doing the Salt Lake 1/2 Marathon w/my buddy and about mile 8 we passed this speedwalker. Her shirt said on the back 'if you can read this, you just got passed by a speedwalker'." I started laughing really hard, because he was describing ME! I told him I wore that shirt at the SL 1/2 in 2007 (and of course my shirt said "racewalker" not "speedwalker"), and it was just one of those hilarious small world moments. He said when he saw the shirt that he told his buddy he'd get carried out on a stretcher before being beaten by a "speedwalker". I thought that was pretty funny. We had a good laugh about it and he and his friend seem to be enjoying having me as a coach.
3) The weather was perfect today - started in the upper 50s, and got up to upper 60s or low 70s. It was nice & breezy, so it didn't get too hot. Actually, it was pretty windy, come to think of it, but it didn't bother me. I enjoyed it since it wasn't cold.
4) We saw swallows, LOTS of ducklings, and enjoyed being outside a lot. The river was still quite high from the spring runoff from the mountains.

If anyone is still reading this...

Yeah, I know, it's been 3 days since I posted. Sorry. I'll write more about the busyness later.

Meanwhile, if anyone is still reading this, yes, I am still here. I'm pretty exhausted - have not been going to bed early enough (tonight is an example - I have to be up around 5:00 am and I'm still here on the computer finishing things up), and have been getting up early and having busy days. Tomorrow should be a bit more restful; after the morning TNT workout I should at least have the rest of the day to relax a bit, as my usual piano student is not coming tomorrow due to a swim meet. We're going out to dinner w/a friend, so I won't have to cook, either :).

So, what have I been up to? I'm up late enough that I want this to be brief... so I'm just going to write about my workouts, quickly. Wed & Fri I had weight training; on Wed I racewalked 2 hilly miles in 22 min before my class, and today I biked to class and back. Thursday, I was very tired from being up late at our small group (a church group; we had an amazing discussion that I hope will lead to some very good community-building - I'm quite excited about it) and I was worried about my IT band, which was a bit sore after Tuesday's track workout. I had planned a tempo workout but decided to start easy and see how it was. It felt OK, so I started to accelerate. I did a 6-mile acceleration, with HR ranging from 140-160 by the end. Average pace on a somewhat hilly route: 10:34/mile (ranging from 12:00/mile (uphill, 1st easy mile) to 9:46/mile). Then I cooled down for 0.5 mile and stretched. I felt pretty good and am hoping that I will be trouble-free tomorrow for the TNT workout.

Finally!

Finally managed to get in the full 12x400m track workout. I wanted to do a couple 8x400m workouts first, to build up to it. Then last week I intended to do it, but just flaked. Today, I was bound and determined to do it. And guess what? It was pretty fun, and though it was hard, it wasn't as hard as I imagined.

I warmed up with 1600m acceleration and some flexibility drills. Then I got into the meat of the workout. I planned on 2:14/400m (5k pace) but ended up going a little faster, because I felt pretty good. Here are my times: 1) 2:12, 2) 2:11, 3) 2:13, 4) 2:16, 5) 2:10, 6) 2:12, 7) 2:13, 8) 2:11, 9) 2:12, 10) 2:11, 11) 2:12, 12) 2:08 (gave it my all!). I rested about 1 minute-1 min 15 sec in between each interval. Then 1600m in 12:19 to cool down.

My IT band bothered me just a little bit today; not too surprising given that I did a very hilly 20-miler on Sunday and that speed work was the last thing to come back after my injury. Today it wasn't bad enough to be stabbing pain or anything, just an ache that I noticed and did a little extra stretching for between 400s.

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This morning my weight was 146.4 :) which is the lowest it's been since before Christmas. Yay! I have been really working hard on this the past few weeks. I have had to reduce the number of activity points I was eating by quite a bit, but it seems to be paying off. Of course on the days when I go long I eat most of them :). I am not sure why my metabolism has changed, and it stinks to have to eat less, but I am willing to do it so that I can be fast this summer and fall.