Thursday Things

I was going to say 3 Things Thursday but I think it's going to be more like 6 things Thursday.

1.  Last night was a bit of a cluster as I had to run a couple of errands for work and got stuck in horrendous traffic.  The weather was terrible, it was hailing and pouring rain, which caused a couple of accidents on the roads further backing up traffic.  At this point, the running gods were really telling me not to do my track workout.  Instead of calling it a day with my awesome morning swim, I headed to the treadmill and busted out the best speed workout I've had in a really long time.
1 mi warmup 6 x .25 (.10 recovery) 1 mi cooldown.  I did the first 3 .25's at 9:30 pace and the last 3 at 9:10ish. It was awesome!

2.  Tonight is Girls on the Run.  I'm both excited and a little nervous.

3.  This weekend is the Eugene marathon that I'll be once again spectating.  I am so excited!  I love spectating.  One of my signs even made the internet (thanks Maritza for sending me this link)--check out #11: http://www.buzzfeed.com/mjs538/30-awesome-marathon-spectator-signs/  I have to figure out where I plan to be on the course.  Probably similar spots to last year.  For those running Eugene I'll be sending an email with a rough idea of where I'll be located.

4.  A co-worker yesterday told me my arms look buff and my husband said I felt solid.  Guess all this tri training and healthy eating is paying off.

5.  Sweet potatoes are delicious.  I just really love them.  I made a baked one last night and can't wait to eat the other half at lunch today.  I don't like the orange kind only the white ones. Mmmmmmmmm!

6.  I have re-discovered Pandora.  I don't usually listen to music at work but I created a new "mellow" station that I have been really digging lately.  Lots of Norah Jones and a bunch of mellow people I've never heard of but am liking--it's helping to keep me calm through what has been storm after storm at work lately.

Barb's Race Training Week #6 + Cali Trip + Marathon Spectating

Dismal week of swimming and actually not that great running either but the runs I did get in were quality at least.  Biking was the breakout star of the week.  I am really starting to feel strong on the bike.  My long ride of the week I did on Saturday and I had company for part of it from my bestie Kristen, as I was down in Cali for the weekend.  I felt strong and at the end of 41 miles definitely felt like I could have kept going!

Mr Pi and I were down in Cali for the Big Sur Marathon.  Mr. Pi kicked serious butt with a time of 3:19:55--yeah, he's fast! 

Onto my week of training recap and the short and sweet spectator report.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: 4.5 treadmill run + 30 minutes of weights at the gym

Run was good.  Did another RunningLaur workout.  10 minute warmup and cooldown with 4 x 2 min sprint (2 min recovery) and 6 x 1 min sprint (1 min recovery).  Felt good though I think I have finally become a treadmill hater.

Line for the pool was 4 people deep so I did extra abs and called it a day.

Wednesday: 2500 yds Endurance workout #5 in the book + 45 minute spin

Uneventful spin.  Great swim then a lovely evening walk with the doggie.  Lovely, other than dropping my key somewhere along the route and having to go to the office for a key replacement (3 times, since the first two keys they gave me didn't work).

Thursday: Awesome Double Brick workout

25 minutes on the trainer, 3 minutes in zone 3, 1 minute in zone 2.

1.5 Brick Run with Zoey, avg 11:03

35 minutes on the train, 2 minutes in zone 3, 2 minutes in zone 1, 5 minute all out sprint

1.5 Brick Run with Zoey, avg 10:30

I will definitely be doing that workout again.  It was awesome and I felt sooooo strong.

Friday: Unplanned rest day (i.e. Long a$$ drive to Cali)

Saturday: 41 mile ride in Sacramento

Left the house early, 6:30 am and rode to the bike trail.  Kristen met up with me around 7:30 and we rode together for about 20 miles.  We chatted and in general made the miles fly by.  She took off for a swim at the gym and I continued on.  I hammered the last few miles solo and told myself I wasn't going to let speed drop below 16 MPH.  My butt was on FIRE when I finished but I increased my overall avg by .2 in the last 7 miles.  41 miles/2:47/14.7 avg

Sunday: Short and sweet 6 miler along the beautiful California coast

Kicking myself that I didn't bring the camera!!!!!  What was I thinking?!?!  It was a great run with Tara (also in town spectating Big Sur) and E, who was a gracious host for Mr. Pi and I.  Bummer no pics.  Anyway, it was an easy run (for Tara) and definitely pushed me a little quicker than I would normally go on my own. 6 miles/10:45 avg

BIG SUR Marathon Spectator Report

Mr. Pi and I had a great dinner with RoadBunner, Aron and their friend Jessica.  It was weird to be eating a sandwich when everyone else was downing pasta!

E made Mr. Pi and I a yummy dessert which I happily partook in since heck, I wasn't running a marathon!

We crashed early since the alarm was set for 3:00 am!  That's right 3:00 am!  I dropped Mr. Pi around 3:45 am at the buses in downtown Monterey and headed back to bed for about an hour and a half.  On the way back to E's pad, I saw a bunch of dear along the side of the road, it was kinda scary I didn't want them darting out in the road.

Anyway, after about an hour and a half of sleep I got up and had a wonderful catch up session with E.  Tara showed up around 7:15 and we all took off for a run.  Like I said, I am sooooo bummed I didn't have my camera, it was a gorgeous run along Pebble Beach and the famous 17 mile drive.  Ahhhhh that's the life.

After the run, Tara and I headed to the finish line.  We both had a little bit of "race envy" watching.  I know after hearing about the course I've decided to put Big Sur half on the list of to-do's.

Not long after we arrived at the finish line, Mr. Pi came bounding by.  He is amazing.  PR'ing at a course like Big Sur.  Sometimes I wish I had his legs (minus the hair).  His official finish time was 3:19:55.  (If you were wondering Nik and Dan, he kicked Dean Karnzese butt.  Dean finished in 4:0X.)

Not long after Mr. Pi finished Aron came along.  Sadly we didn't get to see RoadBunner's 40 minute course PR finish since we had to hit the road and start out on a long drive to Mr. & Mrs. Pi Senior's house.


GREAT finishes all around!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Here are some race photos:

Tough!

Thumbs up, lookin' strong.

 Picture he took along the course.  SO PRETTY!!!

Bixby Bridge.

Racing to the finish line.  He had just given a double fist in the air but I totally missed it.  Ooops!

 PR FINISHER!  

Someone added a .2 at the end of the mileage for Big Sur.

Feeling Stressed

The past couple of weeks I’ve been feeling really stressed. Part of it is work stress and part of it is being in Week 6 of HIM training and feeling the “am I doing enough” BS that we all ask ourselves at some point in our training cycles. Well, maybe not everyone, I don’t think Mr. Pi has ever thought this about training.

I know I’m following my plan pretty closely, I’ve skipped a few things here and there and have dropped my running mileage to avoid further running burnout BUT for the most part completing the key workouts--why am I still freaking out?

To compensate I’ve been psyching myself out of workouts (i.e. NOT getting up in the morning for weights and this morning swimming, which now I have to make up after work along with my ride and brick run) and SNACKING. Oh holy snacking. A wise-woman said to me the other day, “food is supposed to make you healthier and if you eat bad it will catch up to you! And not even necessarily in outward appearance. Your body and training and everything will thank you if you eat healthier.” Thank you everything tri-related Guru---so true. So, I am now on day two of "the healthy eating train" and I do feel better. I can tell I haven’t been eating healthy because I’m craving sugar---that usually only happens when I’ve been over eating sugar and now denying those overloaded amounts. Anyway, baby steps (hopefully in the opposite direction of the candy dish).  So far, so good.

I think I’m doing enough but I’m feeling a bit of a plateau with my workouts. I had that one awesome week of 11+ hours and then I got sick and I haven’t been able to find that groove again. Blah. Rant OVER.

In other news, I’ve signed up for Girls on the Run. I’m really excited about meeting my running buddy, I meet her next week. The time commitment isn't much and I thought it might motivate my running.  Anyone done this program and have stories to share?

Barb’s Race Training Week #5 + Weekend Trip

I felt much more on track this week.  I did skip a swim (my tri club swim since we were out of town) and one run mostly due to work issues.  Mr. Pi and I capped off the week with an awesome weekend trip to Bend.  I’d never been and he hadn’t been since his childhood.

Totals for the week were a bit lower than I’d like but still decent, here’s the recap—lots of pictures from our trip at the end.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday:  Run with Amy

It had been FOREVER since I got to Tuesday run with my running partner but we finally got out there this week.  We did a RunningLaur workout of 10 min warmup and cooldown with 6 X 1 minute pickups (3 minute recovery).  I was aiming to do the pickups at a 10:00ish pace but our pickups were as follows: 8:57, 9:08, 9:45, 9:03, 9:12.  The problem with our doing these quicker than anticipated is that we had to walk some of the 3 minute recoveries.  Next time we’ll be aiming for 9:30-ish which will be challenging but hopefully won’t get us to the breathless state.

Wednesday: Swim, 1.5 hour Spin + 2 mi Brick run

Swim was uneventful.  I haven’t been able to do a full workout from the book yet due to time and/or being sick.  Next week it’s on!

Spin was good.  I got to class early and stayed after to get in a full 1.5 hours.  I did a quick transition and headed out on my brick.  When I first started I looked down and saw 11:30 pace and thought “this is going to be tough” but after a little warm up I felt great.  I saw Jen and Zach and my pace quickened after seeing them.  I met up with Marya and her hubby for a few minutes then headed back to the car.  All in all, a great brick run. 2 miles/9:35 avg pace!

Thursday: Weights AM, Spin AM, Swim PM

Spin after weights is always brutal but it was even more so since the instructor for both was Chrisanthe.  I love her but my body sometimes hates her (in a good way).

My swim was pretty terrible and it was just a matter of getting through the yards.  I did 3 long sets of 500’s and then some quick 100 builds.

Friday: Rest

Unplanned rest day due to lots of work stress/emotionally drained from a rough Thursday night.  ‘Nuf said.

Instead when we got to Bend, we carbo-loaded at Bend Brewing.

Saturday: BEST BIKE RIDE EVER (35 miles with Mr. Pi in the Deschutes forest at elevation 4500 ish)

I did not want to go on this ride.  I wanted to sleep the day away in our hotel room but man am I glad that we didn’t!  We set out toward the Deschutes State Forest area but couldn’t find the right parking lot for the start of the ride I found online.  Instead we ended up on some dirt trail that lead us to this:

We couldn’t resist a few pictures. 

We improvised and ended up parking down some random road.  The ride said it was 39.3 miles with some rolling hills but nothing too crazy.  The loop we did ended up being 35.1 miles and the hills were mild but good practice for rollers.  

 Happy Smiles

Mt Bachelor

I started out tired and wondering if I was going to make it the whole way but somewhere along S. Century Road I found my cycling legs.  We were going at speeds of 18-20 MPH and the perceived effort level was maybe a 2!  I don’t know if it’s that I found the right gear to be riding in or if that my Gu kicked in but we were both feeling GREAT.  Our average went from 14 to 16.6 until we turned onto the last road and encountered a nasty headwind that dropped our average to 16.2.  Still, this was by far the best ride I’ve had to date and really boosted my confidence!

 All done!

 Racking the bikes after a great ride. 

On the way back into town we made a detour to the house Mr. Pi's grandparents had built and that he had visited as a child.  It was a really cool round house right on the river.

Sunday: AM Run with Zoey

Mr. Pi had 12 miles on his schedule and I went back to a baby long run this week of 6 miles.  We took our dog with us to Bend and I was going to take her with me for the first couple of miles then drop her back at the hotel.  Well, I ended up taking her the whole 6 miles with me and we just went slow and made it a walk/run.  I had looked up a bunch of running trails but the website wasn’t that helpful on where to start so Mr. Pi, Zoey and I just headed out from the hotel.  We parted ways early on as Mr. Pi is much speedier and had farther to go.  Zoey and I ventured on Mt. Washington Blvd which essentially went uphill at a decent grade for about 2 ish miles.  When we made it to the top we were treated to absolutely stunning 360 views.  I’m bummed that my iPhone ran out of batteries for photos.  

Week #5 is in the bag.

Portland Peeps

It's widely known on this blog that I have a TON of runner friends to meet up with.  One of the best things about running in Portland is running into a runner friend that you didn't expect to see.  Case in point, last night I was on a brick run, on my way to meet a new Ptown runner Marya, and I saw this blonde girl with an ironman hat on.  I thought, no way, that's not Jen and sure enough it WAS Jen!  Couple minutes later, Zach came bounding along!  I heart having random runner meetups.

When I ran into Jen and Zach, I was on my way to meet up with Marya.  We have been planning a meet up but it just hasn't worked with schedules until yesterday.  She and her husband are super friendly and nice.  For being newer to running, they are speedy (at least by my standards).  Yesterday we really only had time to do a "hi, how are ya, nice to meet ya" but we're planning an actual run soon.  Hopefully I can keep up.  I did bring my camera for proof that we did meet! 

Looking forward to an actual run soon!  (PS For anyone that cares my brick run was awesome. 2 miles, longest brick run of the year, in 19:10--yes, that's a 9:35 avg! Heck yeah!)

In other news, Race for the Roses pictures were posted and there were a couple of me that aren't terrible!  Shocking!

Barb’s Race Training Week #4 + Half Marathon & Bestie Weekend Report

I got back on track this week starting Wednesday and feel pretty much back to 100% health-wise. My best-friend Kristen flew in on Saturday and we had an awesome weekend together, including a successful (i.e. non-raining, non-sob fest) half marathon yesterday. Mini-race report and tons-o-pics at the bottom of the post.


Weekly re-cap
Monday: Rest
Tuesday: Weights AM/45 min trainer ride + 1.5 mi brick run PM
I felt like hell still but I managed to get out of bed for weights class. Felt great once class was over. Decided to ride the trainer instead of run on Tuesday evening, just didn’t feel up to running. I ended up doing a quick brick run after the trainer ride with the doggie since the rain held off and she needed some exercise.


Wednesday: VERY slow 4 mi PM
Took it easy and went for a SLOW 4 miler with the doggie.


Thursday: (back in the game!) 2000 yd swim PM/30 minutes stationary bike + 1 hour spin PM (swim/bike brick)
I took the swim super easy. I didn’t follow any of the specified workouts in my awesome book but rather just did easy sets. I did a few 400’s and then switched to 200’s and added a couple of faster 50’s but just concentrated on breathing (since I was still kinda stuffy).


I jumped on a stationary bike before spin class and rode pretty hard for 30 minutes then went to spin class with Sarah. LOVED the instructor. We did tons of intervals with no breaks in between, it was a glorious sweat fest.


Friday: Rest
With a big weekend coming up, I took Friday as a rest day.


Saturday: TriClub Swim 3200 yds AM/PM shopping and hanging with my bestie!
Saturday’s swim was HARD. There were a TON of people in the mid-lanes so coach moved me to lane 8 (i.e. the super speedsters). It was challenging but also satisfying to know that I could keep up with the fast lane peeps. I don’t think I’d want to go to that lane every week but once in awhile it’d be a good challenge.

I went straight from swimming to pick up Kristen and then we went shopping, to lunch with Mr. Pi and in general just hung out.

Being sly with picture taking since stores don't like it.  If you look in the mirror you'll see K and I at the check out!

Sunday: Race for the Roses ½ Marathon + breakfast + lots of shopping
This course was my PR course last year and that PR still stands. I knew the race would be tough as I’ve been sick and just not into running lately. I haven’t run anything over 10 miles in 3 weeks and most of mid-week runs had been 5 miles or under. Not much to say about this race other than I’m not sore at all today, which means I should have pushed harder. I think post-Barb’s race I want to copy Maritza and train for a half. I’ve never really trained for a PR for a half, it’s always been in the midst of marathon training or just something for fun. I have a lot of work to do mentally for a PR.


Like I said, not too much to report from the race. My first two miles were under 10 minute miles (obviously too fast) so I slowed from there and let Kristen go on ahead. I kinda forgot about one hill and it was tougher than last year. My tummy was also kinda upset so I made two port-o stops (luckily no lines at either stop). The weather was perfect, sunny but not too cold or too hot (yes, even I have a too hot zone). The one really annoying thing about this race was that police stopped runners for the light rail trains and traffic a couple of times—I kept time on my watch and I think I was stopped for about 2-3 minutes in total (annoying!). Mr. Pi was the BEST spectator ever, he was all over the course and gave me a couple of quick kisses each time. Thanks honey you’re awesome!


I got super tired between miles 3-4.5, so those miles were slow (read: 11:40-12:05 slow) but then I picked it up on the downhill sections and got a second wind about mile 8 which carried until mile 11 when I wanted to be done. I picked a couple folks ahead of me and tried to pick them off. I successful beat Mr. Tall Black Socks and Mrs. Running with a Stroller—sadly, Mr. Bright Yellow Shorts was too speedy and I couldn’t “chick” him.


All in all, successful race—I didn’t cry or feel like I wanted to die and not a PW. Garmin said 2:34 which is about 10 minutes off my PR but I didn’t let the 12:00 min mile group pass me so I call it a success.

I’m actually starting a new half marathon “plan” which I’m inserting into my Barb’s race training plan for the running days. It’s not a PR plan because obviously trying to PR a half marathon AFTER swimming and biking would just be silly, but it’s a plan to hopefully instill some running mojo back into my life.

 Waiting to start RUNNIN'

 Near the start

 Purrty, Mr. Pi took some great shots of the city.  So calm that early in the morning.

 Kristen looking hardcore.

Me waving at the camera.

Finishers!

Shopping!

Some new shoes!

Barb's Race Week 4:

Run: 18.50 miles

Bike:17.2 miles + Hour spin class

Swim: 5250 yds

Other: 1 hour weights class

Easin' on down the road...

(Now who has the urge to watch The Wiz?)

This week has been about getting healthy and getting back into my routine.  After a rough start to the week (i.e. not enough sleep on Sunday), I've been slowly feeling better.  I've been taking it easy and easing back into my workouts.  I know Barb's race is a long way off but it's still frustrating to have setbacks. 

I'm happy to be feeling better because it just so happens that I have a little race this weekend.  Not little actually, it's a half marathon.  Oh yikes.  I'm definitely not in PR shape so I'm going to run on feel and enjoy the run.  The best thing about this weekend is that my BFF is coming to town.  Kristen and I have known each other for two freakin' decades--how awesome is that?!?!  Many pictures will be taken, I'll be sure to have a picture filled post on Monday.

Since I don't really have much else to say I'll do a Three Things Thursday:
1.  I got to leave work early today b/c I was at work until past 9:00pm tuesday and wednesday.

2.  As I was driving to work this morning it was sleet/snowing.  It only got to about 45 today.  Where did spring go?

3.  I went to a kick ass spin class with Sarah tonight and had a good swim too.

Barb's Race Training Week #3

Thanks to all the great advice on my last post and HIIYEEEEE to all the new readers, I will be checking out your blogs soon.

As alluded to in my last post, I spent a lot of last week getting better.  I took it pretty easy and by Friday I was feeling better.   We made an impromptu decision to go down to Cali to see Mr. Pi’s family.  While we were there I did my longest and fastest bike ride ever and with my sister-in-law in her first 5k.  It was an awesome weekend however; we got stuck in a bad snow storm that caused an accident that shut the freeway on our return trip.  The delay ended up having us get back home at 2:00 am!  Anyone that knows me knows I’m not a night person.  Needless to say, today I felt like death and am soooo happy it is a rest day.  I think my cold regressed a little and I’m going to take it easy this week.  Lots of fun photos at the end of the recap.

Monday: Rest

Tuesday: I skipped weights class but went for a super slow 4 mile run.

Wednesday: Skipped swimming, as swimming with a head cold bites.  Rode the trainer for 1:15 and did a quick 1.3 mile brick run with the dog.

Thursday: Hour on the trainer.  Skipped both weights and swimming.

Friday: Easy 5 miles on the treadmill, felt really good and on the mend.

Saturday: EPIC bike ride.  48 miles most with Sarah (thanks for pushing my pace and staying with me).  I met up with Sarah and a couple of her friends (read: very good cyclists) and we trekked out in the chilly morning air.  It was an awesome ride from Mr. Pi’s hometown down to the fun college town of Chico and around.  The others trekked back up this giant hill but I stayed in Bidwell park and paced Mr. Pi for the last few miles of his 20 mile run.  48 miles/15.7 avg pace

 Sunday: My sister-in-law’s first 5k!  We have been planning to run a 5k together for awhile now and this race happened to be a time and worked for us both.  Mr. Pi and Sarah were doing the ¼ marathon, which is a little over a 10k (6.55 miles).  It was a trail race—which was a first for me.  It was definitely a challenging course but Jill did great and finished with a smile—she powered through the tough spots and kept a great attitude.  I’m so very proud of her and can’t wait to run another one with her.  Mr. Pi won his age group and Sarah came is as first female—rockstars.

 As I mentioned there was a huge backup on the freeway---here’s the view from the side of the road.  Lots of people were walking up and down the gridlock.  I’m hoping that by tomorrow I’ll be feeling back to normal but we shall see.  I didn’t swim at all last week so I plan to get back in the pool this week.  I also have a half marathon coming up on Sunday which I’m really excited about since Kristen will be here.  I think I have decided to run for fun versus run for a PR.  Since I’ve been sick and in general sick of running, I think it’s best to play race day by ear and if I’m feeling speedy speed up and if not then I’ll just cruise along.

Hope everyone had a great Easter!