threadwalker

I am limping around the job site today. My hamstrings are so tight, it hurts to walk, stand and sit. (The muscle that connects your butt to your knee... or something like that. don't quote me, but I know what it feels like.) My arms, shoulders and pecs are also sore from weight lifting and yoga. I've been pushing myself harder since I entered the 12-week window for my next race. Go figure. I also spontaneously switched to a morning work out over the holidays and it's kicking my butt more than the evening ones were.

It turns out the morning workouts are more intense and driven than my evening ones because of the time-factor. In the evening I have lots of time whereas when I arrive at the gym at 5 am, I'm already counting down to the time that I must quit working out in order to get to work on time. That time pressure has really slapped me in the face with how valuable my time is. I walk into each workout saying, "I will get out of it whatever I put into it. And my time is my most valuable commodity, so I might as well make this worthwhile or I shouldn't have even come." Also known as "bring it or stay home."
( gorey details and how I kick my own butt )

One of the questions I always get is "how do you make the time to do all that." Or others say, "We know you don't sleep."

Truly, I do sleep. I function pretty nicely on 6hrs of sleep, especially when I'm in my fitness groove. In fact, sleep is very important for thinking clearly at work, being nice to people, and physical health. Sleep is good. I don't like less than 6 hours sleep and I refuse to tackle Mt Diablo on less than 6 hours of sleep.

Work-out time does not create itself. I have to make the time to work out. I was done getting kids into bed, doing some more sorting/organizing in my closet, and packing my gym bag at 9pm last night. I chilled out in the office with F for an hour (I was perusing my one of my triathlon magazines) and I went to bed at 10 pm. I had 1 hour yesterday where I wasn't commuting, working, child-rearing, working out or doing chores. 1 quality hour spent relaxing with F. I used to spend hours and hours playing computer games and watching TV, but I've traded that in for something that makes me feel better.

My first Tri of the year is not going to be in Auburn because THAT race is on 5/31. I go to a biking training camp on 6/4 for several days of mountainous cycle training and I have no desire to show up wiped out.

Nope. THIS is my next race, Windman. Where? In (drum roll) LOS BANOS!


Weren't we just there? I wonder how it will smell in April. At least I know where I want to stay if we get a room. Bwah-ha-ha!

It was all good. Victory all around.

Personal Victory: I finished in approximately 3 hrs, 20 minutes, which is WAY faster than I was even hoping.

sirst finished in less than 4 hrs, his personal goal. AND he did it without goggles!!! Yikes! And for someone who's training was sporadic, included no bricks and was interupted with a car-accident.. all I can say is "Hot DAMN!" how can I get me a slice of that cardio base!!!

And for super fun stuff, we kept passing each other on the run laps. We were yelling encouragement across the barrier. That was so awesome. One of my best memories.

And SassyCat, our third member of Forward Momentum, is riding 150 miles this weekend to raise funds for MS. Woot! Woot!

Go Team Forward Momentum.
We's da fun in motion!
( the gorey, salty details )

We stayed at the Gosby House on Lighthouse ave. Totally awesome accomodations. And I must have +6 to my planning stats. I booked our accomodations without knowing where, in Pacific Grove, the race would be. I had no idea of the lay of the land. We were 4 blocks from the race. yeah.. I totally rock. sirst parked next to us and we walked our gear to the race. And in Santa Cruz we were 1/2 block from the transition. Yeah.. definitely +6 planning bonus. And the B&B... did I say it was awesome? It was.

next up: recover from race and then tackle pushing my mileage up on my tempo runs/rides, and fiddling with the speed training stuff I've gleaned. I'm excited and motivated. I am suspecting the Tri at Pacific Grove is going to happen again next year.

Last week was a light-work out week. All the stuff I've read states that training goes in 4 week cycles: 3 weeks intense, 1 week light.

It amuses me that over and over I read, "and during the light week take a day of recovery after a long ride or run. And that does not mean doing a light run on your recovery day; running is NOT recovering."

It cracked me up because I'm exaclty the kind of person who needs to be told that. You can hike, do yoga, walk your dog, but no running.

Last week would, in hindsight, be my light week. It was also me week for eating like a teen. Two words: Scale Avoidance. Anyway...
( prepare to be bored. Fitness/nutrition blah-g )

There is nothing quite like physical exhaustion to take the edge off of stress.

I got in from the gym at midnight feeling utterly drained and exhausted; 2 hours of running and super sets. I pre-packed my bags and laid out my bike gear and then crashed in bed. Sally and I did Wildcat Canyon this morning. Brrrrr! But we did it and I got to what I think of as "my rock" (the one I bled on last week when I fell) in 42 minutes. I am now at one with my universe and too drained to feel upset by too much.

Although Barry came into the office today to say, "Wow, you don't look like shit today. I gotta say, you looked terrible last week and you didn't laugh at anything. You look much better today."

yeah... hmm... thanks. So the yard stick is how not-shitty I look? Good thing I like Barry.

( the down side of Wildcat Canyon )

Death Ride
No, I'm not even going to TRY to talk anyone else into actually doing this ride. I don't want to turn all my friends against me. Although I did note that the volunteers are called "Skeleton Crew". I almost fell out of my seat laughing - that's too cute. But if my plans work, I will be campaigning for a pit crew to feed me PB&J at pit stops and root me on. There will probably be bribes offered.

tri-training - bike and SHIRTS!!!
With Death Ride in mind, I think my current tri-training routine is going to be Wildcat Canyon (40 min of climbing; total ride 1 hr 20 min) on Tuesday and Thursday mornings and then on Sunday 3 Bears (Everyone else calls it 3 Bears, I don't know why, but it's the same 2.5 hr ride of rolling hills from Orinda to Concord I did a few weeks ago). Any joiners welcome.

I got a link for making custom shirts and tank tops. I need to float this by Andrew and anyone he may have talked into joininig our Shark-athlon, "Forward Momentum" shirt would be cool with "Don't look back" on the back. And a "Roadie" version for our Loyal Support Network. Maybe we could do a space-pirate motif. Or dead man dancing thing. Or just a black dot with white skull and cross bones.

( F's take on Death Ride )

Yeah, the detox definitely worked if my brain can whirl away on all this other stuff. Hurrah for physical exhaustion.

You can tell it's monday when your boss spots you and is gleeful. He has stuff for me to do and it's due... TODAY! I get to lock myself in my office again and watch air move only it's not my footage, my equipment or my peeps. YARG! I will insert the caffeine drip and spin up some AC/DC. His parting shot, "Sorry, about this. I guess it's kind of a curse to be able to turn out quality work on short notice."

Shoot me now!

1. a&s:
Good: Lots of fun. Lots of bruises (sleeping on the ground is for kids!). Lots of new friends. Got to spend time watching my apprentices teach. They rock! The kingdom enrichment program... WOW! Totally cool and great classes. Wulfirc: always makes me die laughing. Do not be drinking while he's talking unless you want to risk fatal choking. I got to meet Brandee and talk to all the horses and riders.

Bad: peer pressure. dang! My sisters are devils. If you weren't there friday night, then you don't get the scoop from me.

Ugly: none.

Next year: Apparently my super-human ability to drink, maintain forward momentum under the influence of alcohol, get less than three hours of sleep, and bounce out of bed feeling chipper is going to be put to the test. ( we need a man-bodice )

Possible future race:
Of all things, I met a triathlete while packing down my camp. Woot woot! He had on a super-cool jersey with little skulls all over it and the logo "Death Ride". I love the skull art and dia del muerte, etc. I couldn't help introducing myself to ask about it - hey, it's all about the cool schwaag, Baby!

It's a race jersey for the same-named race, so now I'm researching "Death Ride", which is a 130 mile race developed by Greg leMons to train for the Tour d'France. From the description, it sounds really hard. And yet... that's why it's so interesting. I had bike dreams last night (sadly, most of them involved flat-tires). Why is this new race lodged in my scheming mental landscape? But it comes down to why keep climbing the same mountain? The challenge is in finding higher, steeper peaks that we push against; to test our mettle, our edge, our commitment, our passion. And if we fall, then retool; figure out what needs to be done differently and then overcome it. I think I would wither if I didn't have a new challenge to hurdle myself at.

Training window, Day 1
yeah. hm. That said, today is day 1 of my 12-week training window leading up to my next Tri.( freaking out - race in 12 weeks )

Sunday was a road-riding day for me.

Yay for public transportation. I rode to my Concord station and I took BART to Orinda. (Take THAT evil petroleum moguls!)

One small snafu at the Orinda BART station. My BART ticket was loopy; it let me in the Concord station, but not out at Orinda. The nice station agent and I chatted while she wrote it up and created the receipt so that I'd get reimbursed via mail in a month or 2. I wasn't bothered; the day was beautiful and I was about to ride my bike; what's a little train ticket red tape compared to that? So I joked that BART and I have a long relationship and that as long as we continue to respect each other and make time for open communcation, all will be well. I played on that theme while she worked up my receipt and after dying laughing, she gave me a free courtesy ticket. See, being nice DOES pay!

And then, to the sound of trumpets, I was off. (No real trumpets, all in my head). And .... I couldn't figure out how to get out of the BART parking lot. LOL. (Mental trumpets stumble and crash). I had to circle a few times to figure out (1) where I was wrt North-South-East-West (2) where the exits were and (3) which exit ramp I wanted.

Reboot trumpets and I was off again! Yay! The ride was awesome. The day was beautiful. The rolling country side was amazing. I saw other cyclists, circling red-tails, a deer, cows, horses, and some little brown bird with a crest on its head paced me for a bit, hop-flying along a length of fence and chirping at me. I figured it was using me to "hide" from winged predators.

It was a serene ride that was challenging and really emotionally centering. And I've named my bike Sally. She's earned it.
( ride details )

The race was a blast.  I'm already planning my next foray!
(my lj-cuts didn't work very well at home. I promise to clean this up later) 

Small Edit: Victory moment

pre-race stuff
The DJ/Announcer at the race was hysterical. He gleefully informed us over the PA that 60% of the race was women. He immediately spun up "Brickhouse".  There was a lot of athletic eye-candy there, too. Vic overheard me mention that to Catherine and he was quick to agree! hahahaha! The winner of the race was a 41 year old man. Woot Woot for the 40+ age group.

What? We want to talk about the actual race? The best race ever despite a terrible run and my worst nightmare come to life. 

The swim aka

The bike aka  

The 4 mile run:  "Training to fail proves itself"


On Racing the Boss: 
 
The shower afterwards... total heaven! And I got a shiney medal! Our victory meal was at Denny's in Cordelia. And I had the brownie Sunday.. nom nom nom.. well earned.

Monday I'm registering for the Tri at Pacific Grove and sending in my membership for USATriathlon. And I'm going to look for 1-2 smaller ones between now and then. I'm hooked. 

Post Race Pondering: 

I am about to brag on myself ... my mom would be HORRIFIED and I feel silly doing it, but!

I fell asleep before 8pm last night - right as N and I finished his reading homework. I woke up at 11pm, immediately bummed that I'd fallen asleep and missed my work out. It was a key work out because I'd missed Sat, Sun and Monday's, so I feel like I'm losing ground. I started scheming to get up at 3 am when 'the voice' said, "When was the last time THAT plan worked?" There was some heated internal dialogue where the second voice argued that it would work THIS time. So the question was, "What, now, brown cow?"

Options:
a) Roll the dice and hope that THIS time I get up at 3am? Has not worked yet.
b) "Reschedule" it to Thursday and count the 3 extra points I ate to go towards my 35? Rescheduing seems to get cancelled half the time PLUS I was planning an intense Brick*, which needs to be followed by a day of rest. But with swimming Friday morning, I wouldn't get the needed rest if I worked out on Thursday
c)Or "just do it" - get out of bed and go to gym? This has worked in the past.

I went with option C. Yay! ( the gym at midnight and my work out )

1. Work: Partner with group X. Progress is good.

2. Projects: Sew eyelets. My lunch and BART project this week. I should get 90% done by Friday morning.

3. Kids: N needs to read more. sigh. We seem to cycle up and down on the reading and it's in direct relation to my energy/input on this. In order for all of us to succeed, I need to get to work early by 7am so that N is doing his evening reading earlier enough while he's still alert.

4. Fitness Challenge: My company has a holiday on Friday, so I'm going to mock-up my triathlon on Friday while the kids are at school. It won't be as hard as the "real deal" since I won't have open water, rolling hills or other racers to deal with. But it will be a good practice run and my home-base will be Cowell Pool in Concord.

After I am done torturing myself Friday and get cleaned up, it will be time for a robust, protein based lunch. If anyone's in town (Contra Costa Co) and interested in lunch plans, shoot me a message either here or a text on my cell.

And after that's all done, I shall retreat to the Corbie Cave for sewing madness and another installment of Babylon 5

( gorey tri-training details )