Three Things Thursday

1. It’s the end of June, really? Wow, this month went by fast. I’ll be posting July goals tomorrow and decided I’d just recap June goals here.

                                    -Re-do blog layout. –UM, FAIL, AGAIN!

-PR the bike portion of my sprint tri.—CHECK! Totally smashed my old sprint bike time.

-Design our patio.—FAIL. But we have done a lot of talking about it and bought a book on patio and terracing. Though, we are toying with the idea of expanding the deck in lieu of building the patio. Decisions, decisions. Regardless, we wouldn’t start building it until after blueberry season since we will be moving the blueberry bushes so we have some time.

-Design our terraced front yard.—FAIL, again, lots of talk but no action. We are waiting for the tree stump to rot out enough to remove it which is taking longer than I anticipated.

-Continue to “follow” the balanced tri plan—3 x per week of all three sports.—Mostly, CHECK. I’ve been taking it easy with the running still, mostly short distances nothing over 5 miles because I’m still having foot issues. However, I have been doing pretty great with biking and swimming.

-Continue dailyplating.—Semi-check. I feel off the wagon a bit here but I’ve put myself back on track with the tracking. I lost 2 lbs this month so the scale is at least moving in the right direction.

2. Mr. Pi and I have been eating lots of our meals outside in the past couple of weeks. It has made me love being a homeowner even more. It seems like every season brings a new reason to love homeownership. So far summer has made me love eating outdoors, picking peas off the vine in the garden, plucking fresh mint for mojitos and watching all my flowers bloom (especially my roses!).

Daisy's

Fuchsia

More Fuchsia

Roses!

My favorite kind of rose, the ones you think of when you buy roses at the store

3. I’m going on vacation in T-minus 2 days! Can you tell I’m excited? On tap for our California visit is: roofing a shed, biking a ridiculous number of miles, getting in a couple of runs, hopefully finding a pool to swim in at least once, going to see two GIANTS games (fear the Beard people!) and lots of time with family. Can’t wait!


Alright, I'm bucking the trend and going for a fourth thing.  Last night I was jazzed to go for a medium long ride.  I got home from a stressful day and went out to the garage to get my bike and the tire was FLAT.  I re-pumped the tire hoping it wasn't actually a flat but not more than 5 minutes later FLAT.  Ugh!  So I sucked it up and started changing the tire, I got about halfway through and then I couldn't remember what do next.  So, I did what anyone in the 21st century would do, I googled a utube how-to video.  And 40 minutes later presto! The guy in the utube video changed the tire and plugged his bike shop all in 4 minutes but whatev's I got it done.

I got the tire off the bike and the flat off, this is where I consulted the internet.

And...DONE!  All greased up.

SUMMER!!!!!!!!!!!!

Summer weekends are the best. It’s light out nice and early which makes me less likely to want to sleep in, the long nights make it so mowing the lawn and BBQ’ing at 8:00pm isn’t a big deal and the weather is warmer, the sun is (sometimes) sun is shining and in general I’m just a happier person.



I tried to post yesterday but I was just too dang busy. But I couldn’t not share some of the awesomeness that was my week last week.


Monday and Tuesday I alternative commuted. Monday, I bused to work and ran home. Tuesday I bused halfway to work and saw Jen and Zach and they gave me a ride the rest of the way and I ran home. It was so crazy to be standing on the street and hear honking, thinking to myself what crazy person is honking at like 6:45 in the morning, only to find out it was Jen and Zach! Crazy small city.


Wednesday was a short and sweet 18 miles on the bike on the local trail. I had really wanted to do hill repeats on this one street near my house but since I haven’t been riding hills I was a little embarrassed that too many bikers would pass me (it’s a super bike friendly street). One of these days I’ll suck it up.


Thursday was Mr. Pi and I’s 4 year anniversary. To read about and see pictures from the wedding and honeymoon go here. I had done my Thursday run on Monday so all I had on the schedule was a swim. I did long sets, like sets of 500. Then, we had an amazing dinner and dessert at a local restaurant which we had money left over from a gift card (thanks Mom).

Mmmmm  Country Cat (great food for breakfast and dinner!)

Friday morning I got up at dawn, actually before, to hit spin class and do my brick run. I had THE BEST brick on Friday morning, like so awesome I wanted to keep running and running and skip work or at least be late to work. Spin was a hard, hilly, super sweat inducing workout where my legs were shaking at the end. I didn’t think there was any way I was going to get in a brick run but I hopped on the treadmill and started off slowly at an 11:06 min mile and gradually sped up to a 10:30. By the time I hit 2 miles I really just wanted to keep going but I knew I needed to get in the shower so I quickly dropped the pace and ran another .3 before deciding I really did need to get in the shower and get ready for work. I kinda wanted to pull an Emily and not shower but I figured my co-workers might like me better if I showered.  Friday night after work Jen and I headed to the local OUTDOOR pool for a quick swim.  All I have to say is swimming outdoors is sooooooo much better than indoor swimming.  I saw my shadow as I flipturned ahhhhhh I love outdoor swimming.

Picture stolen from the internet but isn't this pool awesome, it's in a city park surrounded by trees!  Best news is that it is like 3 blocks from home.

Saturday, Mr. Pi and I took advantage of the beautiful weather and headed off for a hike. We ended up going nearly 9 miles. It wasn’t too “hard” of a hike in terms of elevation gain but 9 miles is still 9 miles. My foot, which is still giving me some issues, was pretty sore after hiking but once I changed into flip flops it felt much better. In true Mr. Pi style we looked up the nearest brewery and headed to eat dinner. It’s always fun to try new beer and breweries tend to have pretty good food as well. All in all, a 12 hour + day that left me exhausted but also totally rewarded.

The hike was a whole family affair, Zoey went too!

Sunday, Mr. Pi and I headed out for our long ride. This was our second week at the 40 mile distance. I had a little bit of a rough ride where I just lost all steam but I got a second wind and ended up feeling great at the end of the ride. I have been really loving the bike lately however, I’m still terrified of our century ride in august. After riding and doing a little clean up around the house, I went for a deep tissue massage. Holy cow was it awesome. (portland peeps take note...Lindentree Massage is amazing!) Part of it kinda hurt as she was working out some knots in my shoulders and working on my IT band however, after was pure bliss. After I came home we did a little bit of yardwork and then BBQ’ed. By 9:00 pm I was exhausted and ready for bed.

Lots of restaurants and businesses around Portland renovate old homes, this is where my massage place was located, it felt so homey and comfortable unlike a stuffy spa

And, here it is Tuesday…this week is super busy but I’m ready to tackle the week as I leave on Saturday for VACATION down in CA!

I do!

4-years ago I married my best-friend!  We have shared so many amazing experiences and created so many great memories since we first started dating in 2003.  


Happy Anniversary Mr. Pi!

Cake and glasses

Married!

He didn't actually do it, thank goodness.

Happy!  Sometimes I still can't believe I actually did the flowers myself =)

A couple days later we were Bora Bora bound for our awesome honeymoon!  Bora Bora was amazing.

There were lots of fish!

Our hut.

We biked.

We snorkeled.

We hiked.

And we did lots of celebrating!

Cheers to many many more blissful years of celebrating together!

light or dark?

Last week was really great.  My heart irregularity is officially gone and was 99.9% certain it was related to the medicine I was on---so glad that's gone.  With that out of the way I've been enjoying my new plan.  I kept the running light this week and skipped my "long run" as my foot is STILL bothering me!  GRRRRR!  I called the podiatrist and made an appointment I've had ENOUGH.  Until then I'll probably keep the running light and hit the swimming and biking.  The amazing workout of the week was Wednesday.  I had 20-30 miles scheduled and was looking forward to getting outside but when I got home it was raining so I got on the trainer.  About 1:30 into the ride the sun came out but I figured I would just finish my 2 hours on the trainer.  Then, Jen texted and asked if I wanted to go for a short ride with her, I figured I'd ridden 1:45 at that point but what was another few miles.  About another hour or tooling around the city and riding through a pretty park I was back home and had ridden nearly 3 hours.  It felt great!


Anyway, on to the question at hand...light or dark?  Nope, not talking about roasts of coffee or types of wine or beer but rather hair color.  I think I mentioned before that I spent MANY years as a blonde and only recently went over to the dark side (though I had done it once before but I think it was TOO dark then).  I thought I'd post some side by sides on the blog and let y'all tell me what you think.  Light or dark?  There are definitely days I really miss my blonde hair but am happy with my choice for the time being but that's not to say I won't go back to blonde.

Short and dark  (the first time I went dark in Fall 2007...too dark, Seattle)

Short and blonde (from our engagement weekend in '05 Maine)

Still short and blonde (may 2008, nor cal)

 Shortish and really dark (first time, too dark fall 2007)

Long and blonde (summer 2007-mexico)

Long and dark (last weekend at Jen and Zach's)

Super long and super blonde (also, wearing lots of makeup and sporting a post honeymoon tan)---summer 2007--mexico

Long and dark, fall 2010--nor cal wine tasting

Blonde or brunette?

Someday's I love the brown others I wish I was back to blonde.  It's kinda nice that I can go either way.

Making Plans

First, thanks for the all the comments on my last post. I am now off the meds and feeling much better. The Sunday following the race, I did some yard work and at one point I was pushing our manual mower over some really tall grass and sweating when I noticed a sharp spike in my heart rate again. I quickly sat down and let myself rest. So scary! Since then, no heart rate spikes so I think I’m in the clear. Note to self, meds + race = not a good idea. Now that I’m recovered from that incident I thought it was time to create a new plan.



I know from chatting with some fellow P-towners that I’m not the only one that thinks making training plans and then re-working them, only to then re-work them once again for the eleventy millionth time is a fun past time. One of these times I’m going to not be training for multiple events at once and pick a schedule and just hammer it. But until that time, I’ll continue to work and re-work my training plan.


Now that Mr. Pi and I are committed to the Century Ride in August (YIKES) and I have my first Olympic distance triathlon at the end of July I decided I needed to get off of the informal plan and create something with a little more structure. So, I have a formal training plan that is back to my normal format (a word calendar document) that is color coded. (Yes, color coding is necessary.) Also, incorporated in the new plan is a vacation and some really fun training buddy meet ups, including:


Open Water Swims with Amy


Long rides with my favorite riding buddy Mr. Pi


A hopeful return to semi-regular Terwilliger runs moving from Terwilliger Tuesday’s to Terwilliger Thursday’s also with Amy


A pool scope (aka checking out a new very close and convenient OUTDOOR pool) with Jen


An EPIC riding adventure with both Jen and Zach (Mr. Pi too)


A long ride scheduled for our California vacation with my awesomely fit Dad (who I will likely be holding back with my pace) and Mr. Pi [we will likely be doing at least two long rides while in CA, one with my Dad and one up near Mr. Pi’s folks, maybe Sarah will join us?]


A long run scheduled for California with Roadbunner which will hopefully include a jaunt over one of my favorite California landmarks


Potential midweek rides with several folks—having athletic friends and office mates is great!


Buddy meet ups are a great way to help ensure a workout gets completed and motivation stays high. I went through a phase where I really didn’t want to work out with anyone; I was enjoying solo workouts. Then, I got really embarrassed that my pace (at least with running) had slowed and I was too nervous to meet anyone. A few weeks ago, I decided that really missed my buddies and that I would try to meet up with folks when it worked for my schedule (and theirs). Now that I have a formal schedule again, I built buddy meet ups right into the schedule. Even if my buddies are faster and fitter I figure at the very least it’ll be motivating to meet up, when it works with the schedule, even if we go our paces. Right buddies? I figure I’ll still have plenty of solo workouts to have a nice mix.

Do you like to workout solo or with buddies or have a mix? If you like working out with buddies what’s a fun buddy workout you’d like to share?

Blue Lake Sprint Triathlon 2011 Race Report

On Saturday I had my first tri of the season, Blue Lake Sprint.  This was the first tri I did back in 2009 (not as a relay).  I was hopeful I could beat my times and come away with a PR.  Officially, I have no idea what my time is because my stupid timing chip came off after the swim and even though I carried it with me the rest of the race it didn’t record any of my times!  Grrrrrrrr!  Luckily I was wearing my watch and I do have a bike computer so I have an idea what my times were but I was and AM  pretty annoyed.  Anyway, my watch which I started at the beginning of the swim reads 1:55:02 so I’m going with it.  Sadly, not a PR (also not a PW) but I did PR the bike which is all I was really gunning for on this race.

Mr. Pi is back in training for another 50k and had a long run to do of his own so Jen came to be my Sherpa ( and photographer) for the morning.  It was awesome to have her there!  She clearly knows tri’s and has always been a go-to person for me for advice on races, especially tri’s.  Heck, she didn’t get the name tri guru for nothing!  Thanks so much Jen!

Here are a couple of pre-race photos!  

Pre-race bag of stuff

Body marking! #58

Setting up my transition area

Amy was also doing this race.  Since we are in different age groups it’s always fun to see her out on the course.  Her age group was the second wave and I think mine was the 6^th or 7^th so when I saw her on the bike she was on her way back and I was on my way out and same on the run.  She did great and it is so nice to have a another tri buddy.

Amy, the architect (aka her sherpa) and me

Putting on my blubber suit

The swim:

Anyone that’s read this blog for any period of time knows I love to swim and that the swim is usually where I thrive in tri’s.  The minute I hit the water I knew there was something wrong.  I thought it was just the cold water or the crowded conditions so I swam to the outside of the crowd and kept going but it wasn’t that, it was my HEARTRATE.  I couldn’t get it to slow down.  My breathing and heartrate in the water is usually very comfortable.  I tried to slow down but it wasn't slowing and I just sorta panicked which is SOOOOOOOOO not like me.  I love the water! I felt helpless and just talked myself through the rest of the swim.  Needless to say my swim time (from what I remember seeing on my watch was pretty slow) was approximately 18:30.  This is several minutes slower than my swim PR and also NOT how I wanted to start my tri!

Purple caps

Into T1 don't I look dejected!  I felt it.

T1:

In T1 I still felt really weird and my heart rate wouldn’t slow down.  I didn’t even run from the swim to transition I decided to take my time and walk.  As I was putting on my bike shoes my timing chip came off.  Grrrr…I yelled to Jen and she said stuff it in your shirt so I did.  I grabbed my bike and off I went down the REALLY LONG track to the bike mount.  Again, I decided just to walk it.  I estimate T1 was at least 5 minutes--I figured the longer I spent "resting" in transition the more my heartrate would go down. Sadly, that didn't really work.

Shoving my timing chip in my pocket...grrrrrrrrrrr

Trying to get my heart rate down by walking to the mount line

Bike:

I knew I would be encountering a head wind on the way out but I just hunkered down in my drops (which I don’t normally ride in) and went for it.  I kept my eye on the bike computer and told myself nothing below 15 MPH.  My heartrate at this point was still high but I was trying to ignore it.  At this point, I had suspected it was the result of a medicine that I was recently prescribed.  It didn’t occur to me that the meds would have this affect but I figured that was it.  I kept thinking if I feel really crappy I can just walk the 5k and still finish.  So, I kept hammering away.  I was passing people!  This was shocking as I never pass people biking! Other than my heartrate I felt great.  My legs felt strong, I felt strong.  I rolled into T2 feeling better about the tri knowing that I PR’d the bike.  I hoped off the bike and glanced at the bike computer-- I distinctly remember because I was so proud of myself (and that I rechecked after the race): 43:55, which is a 16.39 MPH pace---while that might not be super fast I was really pleased.

Not feeling great but really excited about my bike performance and knowing that on a day I feel totally healthy that I can maybe go even faster!

Finishing the bike

T2:

I took my time again and drank a bunch of water hoping that would help my heartrate.  I also dropped my visor and my hair tie twice while in transition forcing me to stop and pick them all up. I estimate T2 to again be 5 minutes maybe more.

Run:

This is where things got really ugly.  I just felt awful.  My heartrate and breathing were really rapid even when walking.  I tried my best and am pretty sure my 5k was over 40 minutes, since I know my overall time and approximate times for the other events.  By the time I was rounding toward the finish, I thought I was going pass out.  I crossed the finish line, gave them my timing chip (which didn’t even work mother effer) and literally crashed to the ground.  I didn’t pass out but I felt my knees weakened and I just sat down.  Jen, Amy and the architect were all around me.  They called the medical people over and I literally could barely answer any of their questions, I was just kinda out of it.  It was one of the scariest moments I have experienced ever.  As my heartrate lowered I started to feel better but it took several minutes.  I was thankful to have so many supporters around me.  

Starting the run trying to keep moving and ignore my heart rate

Almost to the finish and feeling really terrible

Medical attention, seriously she had to repeat her questions like three times because I just couldn't comprehend what she was saying.

Finally feeling better, enough to eeek out a smile with my sherpa

Triathlon finishers

Clearly not my best race but now that it is 24 hours later and have received an email back from my doctor confirming that it was most likely indeed the medication that caused my heartrate to spike I feel much better about my performance.  I know what I need to work on for my Olympic in July.  I will be doing more bricks and continue to work on my biking.  I also plan to go out for an open water swim soon just to prove to myself that it was a fluke thing and that I still feel at home in the water.  Note to self: If getting new meds ask Doc BEFORE the race if it may affect me and then evaluate if it's worth it.  I think if I had known that the meds would affect my heartrate I might not have panicked so much during the swim and I might have been able to calm myself down.  Maybe, maybe not but at least I wouldn't have been freaking out the whole time.

The weekend didn't end with the race...later that evening Jen and Zach had their housewarming party.  There was great food and conversations.  It’s always fun to see the group outside of our sweaty excursions. I'm sure Jen will post more photos but here are a couple.

Not being shy about digging into the food!

Zach grilling up sausage that was sooooooo GOOD!

Hanging out in the english garden.  Note on this photo: I spent so many years as a blond that it still kinda shocks me when I see pictures of myself as a brunette.  Sometime I should do a comparison post and see what people like better blond or brunette.

Today, I skipped my long bike ride not wanting to risk another heart issue.  Instead I did a lot of yardwork and cleaning, fun times.  It is nice to start the week with a clean house and a tidy yard.

What did you do this weekend?  Have you ever had a medial issue during a race?

Pre-race thoughts...

I have my first sprint tri of the season tomorrow. I haven’t thought too much about this race until this week. I wasn’t really nervous until this week either. I feel prepared but also not prepared—you all know the feeling.

Goals.
#1—Have fun, be smiley
#2—PR the bike. I haven’t done a sprint tri with my road bike, last one was with the mountain bike. I need to beat a 14.61 MPH average for a bike PR.


Honestly, those are really my two goals. I would love an overall PR and I think it’s possible but I’m not really focusing on it. As Mr. Pi tells me often, I tend to get a bit wrapped up in numbers which he thinks might actually hinder my performance b/c I sell myself short. So instead of saying I want to hit “blah blah blah” pace I’m just going to work hard and leave it all out there.


Are you a number cruncher or do you focus on effort level or both?

Three Things Thursday

This is my 300th post but I couldn’t think of anything cool to write about or say so I’m doing a Three Things Thursday and just for MicaPie and RunningLaur I’ll eat some cake (or something).



1. While the weather has been warmer and drier there have been lots of clouds. Cloudy days for days on end kinda puts me in a funk. However, this morning I woke up to SUNSHINE! I heart sunshine. Growing up in Northern California, it was rare that days in the summer were cloudy and we NEVER (rarely) got rain from mid-May to the fall. Speaking of weather, I’ve been obsessively checking Saturday’s forecast. Saturday I have my first tri of the year. So far, so good on the weather, high of 70 and partly sunny, I’ll take it.


2. After reading a few of Emily’s latest posts about doing long rides in the morning, I’m considering trying this out. I start work at 7:30 and I’m not a super speedy cyclist so I’m not sure I could get in 50 miles like she did but I could probably get in a good 2 hours of riding (30 ish miles)—maybe it’ll even make me ride faster knowing I only have limited time. Anyone in the P-town area want to try and ride before work? Also, I know Emily goes to a road that closed to cyclists and does loops, since it is light out so early now what do people think about riding the bike trail in the wee morning hours, safe? Not safe? Would roads be safer?


3. I’d like to do another Q&A post, I’ve only done one and lately I feel like I’ve gotten several questions in the comments. So…if there are any burning questions out there for me leave ‘em in the comments and I’ll put together a Q&A post soon. Kristen already asked about my shopping spree and pictures so just for you girl I’ll post some pics in the Q&A section. Turtles Can Run also asked about fitting in 3x3 for tri plans so I’ll be posting my take on balanced training as well. Anything else…ask away!

It’s finally raining…SUNSHINE

And not WATER! Portland had its first 80 degree weekend and I soaked up every last minute of it. My week went great. I did take an unscheduled rest day but I think I made up for it this weekend.

The weekend kicked off by my boss letting me out a half hour early on Friday, which was such a treat! I ended Friday with a great swim and headed home for some grilling and prepping the deck for our all-day staining adventure on Saturday.

Saturday we got up early and each did our workouts. For me, I swam and ran (7 miles without PAIN—YAY) and Mr. Pi ran 16 trail miles! We scrubbed the deck down again and started staining.

Deck before (and one of the things we went "ooops" about was this stain we went to the store and got a new one.)

Enveitably, with all home improvement projects there were a few “oh no’s” and of course, the fateful trip to home depot. But the project came out great.

By the time we were done with staining and cleaning up it was time to EAT. We had super good pizza at the local pizza place down the street from our house. After pizza we even got a second wind and took the dog for a LONG walk in the beautiful evening. Needless to say, falling asleep was no problem after all of that.

Sunday we got up early and I did some laundry and a little bit of dusting and tidying. By 8:30 we were out the door for our first “long” ride (31 miles) of our century ride training plan. Yup, that’s right peeps, we’re doing a century ride in August. Yikes and YAY!

I tried to push myself on this ride and Mr. Pi did a great job of coaching me and letting me draft…drafting makes 18 MPH seem like nothing—thanks honey. After biking, I mowed the lawn and folded some laundry, got cleaned up and hit the outlets for a shopping spree with Amy. After a few hours and many dollars spent we returned with lots of new treasures. Sunday night we had Jen and Zach over for dinner which we ate out on the newly stained deck and watched as lightning and thunder rolled in (luckily it did not bring rain). I went to bed way later than usual but it was totally worth it for a super fun evening.

I’m sore and tired but I wouldn’t change any minute of the weekend---it was awesome!


Training totals for the week
Run: 3 times—with no pain and two brick runs! Total miles, still down from where I was but I’ll take it. 14.5 miles total
Bike: 3 times—1 HARD trainer ride, 1 sweatastic spin class and 1 outdoor sunny ride (4:15 total—31 outdoor miles)
Swim: 2 times—BUT I don’t feel that bad about it. (4100 yds total)