Things I did and didn't do over the weekend...

Things I did…


-Drove 1000+ miles
-Built part of a shed, which involved moving lots of lumber multiple times (counts as strength training right)
-Ate lots of yummy but not healthy food
-Ran my “long” run on a pretty paved bike trail near my in laws house

-Spent lots of time laughing and enjoying family time
-Mowed my lawn
-Lots of laundry
-Cleaned out Mr. Pi’s closet
-Lots of vacuuming (sad our roomba might be dead)
-Watched “The Kings Speech” and really liked it


Things that didn’t get checked off the list…


-Start the book club book
-Re-do blog layout
-Design my patio
-Weeding the flower beds
-My long swim
-My tempo run


All in all, a successful long weekend. We spent two nights with my in-laws in CA and got back home really late on Sunday night. Monday, I spent not thinking about work but doing lots of house and yard work.


Week 1 of tri training went pretty well. I’m loosely following a plan I found online. I didn’t get in my tempo run or my long swim BUT honestly, the biking is really where I stand to make lots of improvements and I kicked biking booty last week so much so that my booty is even a little sore from sitting on the bike seat. I did three strong cycling sessions. 1) Hill repeats on the trainer where I really pushed myself HARD + an easy 1 mile brick run; 2) An easy 30 minute spin after a great swim; and 3) A kick ass, booty busting, spin class, where I got there early and stayed after to get in an hour and 30 minutes total + a fast, heart pumping brick run. My two swims were also good. I did an effortless pool swim and another open water swim with this girl—thanks for always being my OWS buddy. My runs were okay, still trying to maintain running without pain. I didn’t do any strength training-need to work on that this week.


I’m dreadfully behind on blogs. I have been reading from my iPhone but commenting from there is just a pain. Here’s to another week!

Three Things Thursday

1) Tri training has started. I’m feeling good about tri training so far, yes I know it’s only week 1 day 4. I DO need to figure about a better morning routine. Meaning, I actually need to get up! Anyone want to be texting buddies at o’dark thirty? I’m loosely following a plan I found last year but have modified some of the workouts to fit the days I need them to fit. So far, so good.



2) Dailyplate. I am still dailyplating and have started to concentrate less on counting calories and focus my attention more on protein, fat, fiber and sodium. So far, I am down a couple pounds but still much heavier than I’ve been in a long time. Slowly this is changing. I’ve been good about eating fruit for “dessert” which is great b/c I’m finding the more I steer clear of the sweets the less I miss them. Right now I am LOVING kiwis! MMMMMMMMMMMMMMM-YUM! I can’t wait for the return of the Rainier Cherries. I have always liked cherries but there is NOTHING like a rainier cherry.


3) My foot. Well, I have decided to revamp the “building” plan. There is plenty of the summer left to build up to higher mileage. Right now, I’m focused on running shorter (3-7 miles) and stopping whenever my foot hurts. On Tuesday, I met the girls for Track Tuesday. I walk/ran 3 miles at about a 12:05 pace and then walked another 1.8 miles. For some reason walking really doesn’t hurt. Now that I’m consistently biking and swimming, I figure the running can be scaled back a bit.  I'm going to work on listening to my foot and when it hurts I'm going to stop and walk.

Happy Birthday to ZOEY

Today is Zoey's 3rd birthday!  She has been such a great addition to our house.  Zoey is my very first dog and I couldn't have asked for a better one!  She is the sweetest dog ever!

Puppy Zoey!  There was lots of sleeping!

And lots of playing...

Over the years we've subjected her to ridiculousness...

Her expression is awesome here!

I can't believe we put her in this outfit...the booties lasted about 10 seconds.

I swear she hogs more of the blankets in this house than anyone.

She's got a BFF.

And she's been through a couple of moves with us including the day we got our house KEYS.

Happy birthday my little fur baby!

Lots of Randomness

This post is going to be a bit of a mind dump!  First, I'm going to share a photo of the GORGEOUS flowers Mr. Pi had waiting at home for me last Sunday when he came to pick me up.  They have almost all opened and they are sooooo pretty!  I have the best husband ever.  Stargazer lilies are my favorite.  I planted some lily bulbs but I'm not sure how they are going to do.

I was a good girl this week and did exactly what I said I was going to do...rest my foot.  I only ran twice and both times when it started to feel twingy I stopped.  This is hard for me.  I rarely start runs without a goal distance in mind...I usually do whatever I have to do get to that distance but this week I didn't...I stopped short when my foot hurt.  Being injured really is the pits.  I wonder how people can run and run and never get injured.  I wish I was that person---wonder if I'm doing something wrong?! The other annoying thing is that when I'm not running I hardly notice it anymore.  It's like the one thing that I want to do it won't let me do!  Injury preventing tricks anyone?


As I mentioned in my last post, I got back in the open water...brrr!  It actually wasn't too bad.  At least it was sunny out that day.  Going back to the open water means I'm officially back in Tri mode.  I have a sprint coming up in a few short weeks and an olympic at the end of July.  Past that I'm not sure what's in the cards.  My plan is to go back to a balanced plan of 3x3 sports per week.  This means double days are going to be a reality again.  This means, Alisa MUST get out of bed for morning workouts.  I have tried to no avail lately to get out of bed in the morning and it just hasn't happen.  Any tricks for getting out of bed early?


I have been cooking a bit again.  I made a delicious Vietnamese noodle and salad dish last week.  I have some chicken marinating in the fridge right now for a Indian curry pita pocket meal for tomorrow night (no recipe for this one, it is an Alisa experiment).  AND right now the house smells of thai red curry as I have the slow cooker going with a mixture of all sorts of yummy veggies and red curry.  I really like making my own food, I like to know what ingredients are going into the things that I eat--plus, it is rare that the final product isn't tasty!  Any good recipes people want to share?


It's that time of year where the weather is totally schizo and the clouds bother me even MORE than usual.  Growing up in California, I am and will always be a sunshine girl, most of you know this already.  While I have come to really like living in Portland I still HATE the weather and it is the source of much of my negativity about the city (that and those people that go around thwarting popular culture b/c they think it's "cool"--that annoys me...they have created their own culture so their strive to be all unique is totally NOT working).  For example, thursday and friday last week were right around 70 and full of sunshine.  Today, it's very GRAY, dreary, sprinkly and high 50's.  I wish it had been this weather thursday and friday and the sunshine and warmth for the weekend.  Alright enough complaining...it WILL get nice and when it does I'll be basking in it!  I just need to remember it does get nice here for more than one or two days at a time...

This week there is a very special birthday!  My little fur baby-ZOEY-is turning 3!  She will always be a puppy to me though!

My little pup!

My sophisticated lady!

Alright, here's to a week of foot healing, sunshine and getting back into tri-training (and getting up early)!

Three Things Thursday

1. My foot is almost totally back to normal. I’ve been taking good care of it. I took Monday and Tuesday completely off and I think that really helped. I can still feel it a little especially if I’m walking in the house barefoot but I’m hopeful that it is on the mend!

2. I did it, I got in the open water yesterday. It helped that it was about 67 degrees and sunny out. Last year, in April and May, it hailed, poured and was in general really crappy for almost all my first of the season swims. The gazelle and I fought our way through horrendous traffic and swam. There were a few other folks swimming as well but the place was mostly empty. They’ve changed it around and added a couple of docks that weren’t there in years past but I did the normal 600 yard loop. It was the first time that I only did two loops. I normally do 3 or 4 but it was getting late and I figured there was really no need to do 1800 or 2400 yards. I can check this goal off of May!

3. I thoroughly enjoy my lunchtime walks, which I take every day that I can, usually I can go all but one day during the week. It has been fun to watch the neighborhood gardens, flowers and trees come alive. I saw the most beautiful peony’s (which I LOVE) on Tuesday.

Aren’t they gorgeous?!?!

I never really have a route in mind I just walk the streets and keep track of time via my iPhone. However, on Tuesday I was curious about the distance I cover. I never walk very fast, I keep it leisurely but I figured it was probably at least 2 miles. I have the RunKeeperPro App on my iPhone, which is a GPS based exercise app that I use for running if my Garmin is out of batteries or I forget it, but I never thought about using it for walks. I turned it on when I left my building and 55 minutes and 2.89 miles later I was back at my office building. I was actually pretty shocked that I walked almost three miles, I really had no idea it was that far. I find walking at lunch a great way to get outside during the day, to clear my head and just be alone for an hour. I highly recommend taking a walk break during the day. I think it helps my afternoon productivity.

It's almost friday!

Weekend Trip to Cali + Half Marathon 'Race' Report

I owe a race report from this weekend’s half but I think the best thing to do here is just combine the “race” report and a recap from the weekend!



Friday I left work about a half hour early to get to the airport. Once I was boarded and on the plane I got to stare at this for 1 hour 15 minutes. I love that it only takes 1 hour 15 minutes! Short flights are the best.

Saturday was a busy day. I got up and went to visit with my Mom, step dad and Grandpa. They all live about an hour from my Dad’s where I was staying. I wish I’d taken some pictures at my Mom’s as she does have a pretty awesome view but I didn’t. After a nice visit, I came back to Sacramento and got to relax for a little bit. I made a salad to take to dinner and even squeeze in quick 20 minute cat nap. Once my Dad and step mom arrived we were off to see my step sister and her baby for dinner. We drove out to her house and had salad and costco pizza (I love pizza or plain pasta before races) and visited. Her little son Dominic is pretty darn cute.

Sunday was even busier than Saturday! We got up at 4:30 and were loaded in the car by 5:00 to get to my race. Gotta love parents that are willing to get up at 4:30 am on a Sunday and then wait 2+ hours for you to run your race. They are the best. We got to the race location in plenty of time for me to pick up my packet, which included a gender specific tech shirt (I’ll take a picture of it this week when I wear it---it’s a really nice shirt) and hit the porto’s twice. Smaller races are nice since the lines aren’t very long. Here is me pre-race!

I was soooooo worried about the weather but I truly lucked out. It was cloudy and pretty windy but the rain totally held off. I opted for the running skirt, a tank and my long sleeve. Honestly, I probably would have been okay with arm warmers but with the wind I wasn’t sure how warm I’d get. I ended up taking off my long sleeve about mile 4.


Mini-Race Report: Avenue of the Vines Half Marathon


Not a lot to say here. The course, which I did in 2007 as my very first half marathon, is flat as a pancake. It’s definitely scenic, you run through wineries and rural farm land---it’s nice and peaceful. I set very low expectations for this race as my Morton’s Neuroma has been an ongoing nagging injury that’s really slowed me down as it hurts less to walk than to run. I’ve also just not been fast lately. Most of my long runs were in the 12:45mm range so I figured I’d aim for a 2:45-2:50---this is about 25-30 minutes off my 2:25 half PR.


My whole goal was to complete the run and have a good time. Running at the back of the pack has some serious perks. Most people are super friendly and always genuinely seem to be having a good time even if they are struggling. About mile 10 my foot was really flaring up and I also got calf cramps. I have never had leg cramps of any kind running---I’ve had them on the bike before but never running, it was not pleasant. Anyway, the last 5k was really slow and there was a lot of walking BUT I thoroughly enjoyed myself and the runners around me. I knew once I rounded the corner to mile 12 that I’d be able to see the finish line---this is a blessing and a curse. I was glad that I knew about it in advance because the first time I did this race I was NOT happy about seeing the finish line with a mile to go. I was expecting it and welcomed it. As I got closer I saw my Dad waiting patiently, I waved and gave him a smile as I headed for the finish line of my 8th half marathon. According to Garmin (I couldn’t get the race results from the website it wouldn’t load), I crossed in 2:52:10 which is definitely slow---but not my slowest half marathon. Given the amount of walking I did and my ailments I was pretty happy. I gathered my wine glass—which is bigger than the one they handed out 5 years ago (I am lame and didn’t get any photos), stretched and we hit the road. They had free tasting for runners but I skipped it because we had our own wine tasting to get to.

In the warm car with my medal!

We drove about 40 minutes to my favorite wine region—the Shenandoah Valley/Amador County. This valley is better than anything out there I’ve tried and I’ve tasted wine in several states, including all the famous spots in CA, plus France, Australia and New Zealand. This valley also holds a special place in my heart as it is where Mr. Pi and I were married almost 4 years ago.

Picture from our wedding day!
It looked very different than the photo above as the crazy weather had set in! It would POUR down rain, then the sun would come out, then the thunder and lightning started, then the hail and the sleet. Here is a pic of my Dad’s car door with the accumulated sleet—YIKES! I was anticipating 80 degree sunshine.

We tasted at our favorite spots and as my wine stash began to grow I realized I was going to need to borrow a suitcase for the plane ride home as all I had brought was my tiny duffle bag. Oops! We left the wine region and headed back to my Dad’s and the weather continued to be just nutty. We got home and I had to snap a picture of the pool. I was hoping I’d be able to sit out by the pool with an afternoon snack---fat chance!

Pretty soon it was time for me to head back to the airport, sad, but I did have an amazing weekend. When I went to check my bag the lady asked if I rocks in my suitcase since it was so heavy! Nope, just this…

Homemade cookies and wine!

What TO Wear

As faithful readers of this blog you know I am a shorts and tank top type of runner. I long for summer runs where temps soar and I sweat buckets. Living in Portland there aren’t a whole lot of days that I get my wish which is probably why all 4 of my marathons have been run in states touted as sunny havens (Arizona, California and Florida). However, here I am faced with my 8th half marathon this weekend in my sunny mecca known as California where the weather forecast is calling for 50% chance of rain. Yikes! I’m hoping for the best but need to plan for the worst which leads me to the question of the day…what should I pack to wear?



I can normally gut out a chilly start in shorts/tank and I’ll warm up but if the forecast is calling for rain and highs of 65ish, which honestly aren’t going to be coming at 7am when the race starts, I have no idea what to wear. Do I stick with shorts and a tank and throw in arm warmers? Do I switch to capris but stay with a tank on top? Do I wear the shorts, the tank and add my favorite running vest? I think what is confusing me is that we haven’t really had any warm rain yet this year, it’s been cold rain. I don’t remember how to dress for warmer rain.

Help!

Readers, what would you wear for a race forecast of 50 low/65 high and 50 % chance of showers?

A month in pictures…

As I mentioned in my goals post, I am taking a picture a day in May. I wasn’t quite sure what I was going to do with the photos but I decided that maybe once a week I’d post some of my favorites here. So here is a sampling from the first 10 days of May. So far, I’ve remembered my photo a day.

We spent May 1st at Mr. Pi’s parent’s house, well the morning. This is a photo looking out over their deck. The first time I went to his parent’s house, I made a comment about it feeling like camping. I think it was the combination of the large pine trees and the peace and quiet of the surroundings that made me say that because going to the Senior Pi’s casa is NOT like camping at all---we are always spoiled and it is not roughing it at all. Anyway, this is the view Mr. Pi saw growing up—peaceful ain’t it?

This picture is from May 4th. This picture really doesn’t do this justice. Out on my lunchtime walk I was noticing how much my eyes are drawn to the green leaves on the trees. There is something special about spring green. It is almost refreshing to look at, if that makes any sense. Anyway, I was walking under some gorgeous old tress and looked up at the leaves and this is what I saw (again, does not do it justice).

This picture is from May 5th and no, it’s not a margarita. I was out in the yard admiring all the wonderful blooms and new sproutlings growing in our garden beds. As I was admiring the blueberry bushes I noticed that the blossoms on the blueberry bush actually look like blueberries, except they are white.

This picture is from May 8th during my long run. I was so sure that I was going to get poured on during my run but it stayed mostly sunny for my 9 miles. I ran up to Mt Tabor (which is one of only 3 volcano’s located within city limits in the United States). Mt. Tabor offers some great views of the city and was a runners haven when I was there on Sunday. I wasn’t the only runner who waited until after noon to get their butt out the door for a run. Good things do come to those that wait sometimes =). This shot was taken in between the lower and upper reservoirs on the west side.

Giveaway Winner

WINNER of the Running on Empty giveaway is...

one of my favorite ultra runners RUNNINGLAUR!

Three Things Thursday

1. Return of track Tuesday. I now have a standing track + sit out on the porch and relax date---man, summer cannot come soon enough. Lay your favorite track workout on me!



2. Building up the base. I’ve been debating what my next “big” goal is going to be. Sure, I have a couple of halfs coming up (which I’d like to PR in July) and a couple of tri’s (which I’d also like to PR) but I’ve been really thinking about what the next big thing will be to tackle. I haven’t ruled anything out (including a possible go at another 70.3 in the fall) BUT I’m leaning toward building up my base running throughout the summer and getting to a place where 30-35 miles is comfortable. All in anticipation of a late fall marathon. I’ve had my sights set on CIM for awhile as it’s my hometown mary. I checked and daylights savings ends during taper so I would still have light for most of my training. I got the Pfitz (for mortals) book for Christmas last year and have really wanted to try it out. It is INTENSE and I want to have a really good base built up before I attempt to tackle that intense of a plan. I figure with all my friends running Portland and some crazies doing an ultra I will have a plethora of training buddies or people in training around me to stay motivated. I think I may have caught race envy from all the peeps that are signing up for fall races---my future wallet, as I haven’t signed up for anything yet, says a very sarcastic “thanks.”


3. Pictures. I’m enjoying taking my picture a day for May. I think it’ll be even more fun to look back over the month and see them all. If you haven’t tried it, I encourage you to try it even for just a week. Pictures are lasting memories. I know I love looking through old pictures!

April Recap and May Goals

Another month bites the dust!  I can’t believe it’s already MAY!  Time to recap April goals and set some new ones for the month.  But before I get to that…don’t forget to enter my giveaway for the book RUNNING ON EMPTY---it’s a great read and will be sure not to disappoint!

April Recap

1.  Run 100 miles this month.—CHECK.  Despite my Morton’s Neuroma acting up BIG time, I managed 101 miles this month.  My highest weekly mileage was 26—I really wanted to get to 30.  Maybe in May.

2.  Go back to "crazy" weights class, aka Bodypump, 24SET, 24LIFT.—TOTAL and UTTER FAIL.  I started off the month with weekly weights at home but that petered off rapidly.  This is a goal that’s going back on the list.  I love the feeling of weights class--I feel strong and I usually lean out a bit, I just need to convince myself that getting out of bed at 4:50 am is worth it.

3.  Re-do my blog layout.—FAIL.  Man, lots of fails this month.  I didn’t have a chance to sit down and revamp things the way I’d like, so again, this is goal is probably going back on the list.

4.  Limit my coffee buying.—Semi-success.  I have stopped going twice a day with co-workers.  If I go with them in the afternoons, I don’t buy anything.  I have been making my coffee at home in the mornings, or trying to, though I have on occasion forgotten my cup on the counter.

5.  Have an awesome weekend with my in-laws when they are in town.--CHECK.  Major smashing success we really had an awesome weekend.

6.  Continue using Dailyplate and be faithful to using it in the evenings as well.—Semi-success.  I went through fits and starts and am still not great about keeping it up to date in the evenings—again, I am sensing another roll-over goal.

Bring on MAY goals…

I normally don’t like to set more than 5-6 goals but since I’m going to have some roll-overs I’m going for the gusto and listing 10!

The rollover goals.

1.   Go to “crazy” weights.

2.  Re-do my blog layout.

3. Continue Dailyplating.

The newbie goals.

4.  Set weekly distance goals on Sundays. I won’t necessarily be posting these every week but I’m going to consciously write them down somewhere instead of just doing mental notes.  So far, this has been a good way for me to have a bit of structure but also daily flexibility.

5.  Run a 30 mile week.  Alright, at least one week this month I’ll be setting a weekly running distance goal of 30 miles.

6.  Send happy spring cards.  Since the Pi’s didn’t do Christmas cards this year, I’ve been wanting to send happy spring cards.

7.  Set a course PR for my half marathon on May 15^th.  Given that this was my very first half marathon and I think I posted a time of something like 3:0X, I think I’ve got this one in the bag.  I mentioned before I’m not going to be going for an overall PR with this race as I know that would be setting myself up for disappointment, one thing I want to concentrate on in this race is not mentally giving up.

8. Go swim in the open water.  By this time last year, I’d already swum a number of times in the freezing, rainy, hail-y, open water.  It is time.

9. Take a picture a day in May.  I’m too late to hop onto the a year in pictures in crazy, I thought I’d try out a month in pictures.  I’ll be posting some of the highlights here.  (I’ve already started this one.)

10. Do at least one fun house project this month! Last month we cut down a tree, planted hop plants and lily bulbs.  The list of projects is pretty endless so there is NOT a shortage of things to do.

I'm IN...

Yup, I got into NWM for the third year in a row. On October 16, 2011, I’ll be proudly collecting my Tiffany’s bling and waving to the firemen as I complete the largest half marathon in the world for the third time. There will be plenty of…



1) Hills


2) Crowd dodging


3) Picture taking


4) Ogling over the expensive but chic race gear


5) Wearing our Tiffany’s bling proudly


While I don’t love this race, due to all the people and frankly, all the hills—it’s become a tradition for Kristen and me. The views from the course are really superb and since we always take our time, we’ve gotten plenty of good photos. Here are some from 2009 and 2010.

2009

Sarah, me and Kristen

All sorts of bloggers!

Finish LINE

BLING!

2010

The group got larger!

Wearing our Tiffany Blue

BLING!

My first FALL race of 2011 is on the calendar! Why is it that one race registration always spurs me to contemplate and pull the trigger on others?  This happen to anyone else?