A love hate relationship its complicated

Yesterday marked my second week trucking myself up Mt. Diablo from the south side this season and less than two weeks until Wildflower so to subside my anxiety I thought I would talk about my favorite and most hated ride.  I started cycling about 3 years ago when my boyfriend took me bicycle shopping.  He wanted to start riding more since his bike spent most of the time collecting cobwebs and I figured I would shop a little, but I wasn't entirely sold on the idea.  But then I saw her...the fuji finest 2.0...she was beautiful in white and purple the perfectly girly dream bike for me, although as I grow as a cyclist she feels more like a tank.  Anyways, I have gone on many rides by this time in my cycling career but I always return to 1, my first one, Mt. Diablo. 

It took me 3 tries to make it to the ranger station and one more time to make it to the top.  Even when I made it to the top I bonked so hard I fell in the gravel when I got back to the car.  Not only was the ride to the top challenging, but I ended up wearing out my break pads with how slow I'd go down the mountain.  I always feared crashing hard on the way down.  I've gotten better as the have passed and eventually my hatred for this ride has long since passed, so much so that I enjoy inflicting the pain of Diablo on myself on a regular basis, it really is a disturbing and abusive relationship.  Yesterday evening a friend of mine managed to capture the beauty of Mt. D as we decended down the mountain and I thought it is definately worth sharing



Does anyone else have this kind of experience with rides or routes they do?

Salud to the Marathoners!

Today marked one of the biggest and most exiting event in a marathoner's running career, THE BOSTON MARATHON.  This marathon is known as America's oldest marathon and has some very difficult qualifying standards.  Although I have about 7 half marathons under my belt I can say I've only ran one marathon so far and it was one of the most difficult things I've ever had to do.  There are certain things that become normal to you that don't seem normal to the average person.  For instance:

Going out for an 11 mile run seems like an average everyday thing, not to mention a fairly short distance

Having 10 toenails seems unusual

Anti-chafe, nipple guards, vaseline, chamois butter and tri glide become your best friends that you'll never leave home without

Weekly hang outs with friends usually involve running or eating

No matter how much you eat, you can never feel full

7a.m. starts to become sleeping in on the weekends

You carry a water bottle everywhere you go

Ice baths actually start to feel good and sound like a good idea

And of course at the end of it all you feel accomplished and say, why do I do this to myself?  I'm attempting round 2 of a marathon this year in December, although I don't know that I'll make Boston qualifying standards I will be working hard to beat my current marathon time.  Cheers, to all you Boston Marathoners, you really kicked some butt today!  May your evenings be filled with margaritas, ice baths, and a sigh of relief that all that training really paid off.  

With 2 weeks to go...

This week was a GREAT week!  Why? Because this is the week of Spring Break!  There are a few perks to being a high school teacher and spring break is definitely one of them.  I started the week out in Long Beach after we previewed the Wildflower course in SLO.  Working out in Long Beach can be hard sometimes because there are so many distractions and I'm not too familiar with cycling routes since I didn't cycle when I lived in So Cal, but overall my week went pretty well.

Monday:
I slept in and then woke up to a bit of a hazy morning, the perfect weather for a late morning run.  Nick and I set out to do 5-6 miles and since the track workout was posted I decided I would try to tempo 3 miles of my run.  I started slow and easy running through the Long Beach Grand Prix course and then off we went down the beach.  I love running on the beach!  I've always been able to let loose and forget everything when I'm by the beach, this is the one thing I truly miss now that I live in the bay area.  After 5.5 miles we were back to shower and meet up with friends and family.

Tuesday:
I got ahold of a friend of mine from high school who is an awesome triathlete.  We picked her up around 9 and she directed us to a cycling route in Santiago Canyon.  After a great 35 mile ride with rolling hills we dropped Megan off and thanked her for getting us out riding (Thank you Megan!).

Wednesday:
I had a harder time being motivated this day.  Nick headed up to LA to visit with some friends so I decided I would head to the Belmont Pool in Belmont Shore and get some much needed laps in.  Usually once I get in the pool I get with the program and start enjoying the workout or approach the workout with determination, but not today.  I was sluggish and ready to get out, so I settled with 2200 meters and headed down to 2nd street to meet my mom.

Thursday:
Nick and I decided to test out the scenery and bicycle route that is the Palos Verdes Drive loop.  All 30 miles were gorgeous along the coast on a beautiful day.  Unfortunately, my legs didn't feel so beautiful, but I stuck with it and got the ride done.  I even managed to throw in a short brick run afterward.

Friday:
We headed back home where I set up an open water swim test with the Shadowcliff Orcas so we could do some open water swimming with the rest of the Forward Motion Triathletes.  Later on we returned to the lake in full wetsuit to swim a mile in the open water.  I can't say it went too smoothly for me since I took a long time to warm up while swimming and my chest felt tight from the cold 58 degree water.  I made it out to the rock pile and back even if it did take me a while.
We followed up the cold swim with a short trail run and then PIZZA to finish the night off.

Saturday:
I planned on going running with my sister around noon so I decided to truck my butt out of bed and up Mt. D.  Since I was short on time I only went up to the junction and back, but luckily my legs felt better than they did on Thursday.
I met up with my sister for a ride through the Haight, Castro, and Delores park where I had to climb a few hills and one giant mountain.  I definitely felt that one this morning.

Sunday:
I really didn't want to do anything today, but I felt guilty not getting my run in so I headed out to Clayton with some friends and went for a trail run.  After 5.5 miles and 800ish ft. of climbing I was glad it was over with, and then I finished the week with some tacos, yum!

Now there is only two more weeks to go and after seeing the course and freezing my butt off in the lake I'm getting a little nervous, but I'll just have to wait and see how everything pans out.

I have a lot of friends and team members out in Boston this week and I just want to wish them well and good luck as they race the Boston marathon tomorrow morning!